Tag Archives: Politics

Trump Times Entry 278 – Begging the Obvious, He Doesn’t Give a FK

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Begging the Obvious, He Doesn’t Give a FK

August 14, 2017

Feeling scattered, getting angry again

This is my third try at writing today’s blog. Took a swing at highlighting Republican responsibility for gifting us the Donald – seemed trivial, went nowhere. Took another try with mocking Repubs for not realizing what Trump was, but upon reflection, decided they did know what he was. They just didn’t care. Both ideas fizzled, neither felt right.

Instead I kept flashing back to: they killed another one of us this weekend. And now the alt-right spokesmen are slut-shaming her and Donald Fucking Trump can’t bring himself to talk about the murder, no less condemn the perpetrators, or even mention her name – Heather Heyer.

While at the same time, Trump could specifically name and attack Ken Frazier when Ken resigned from the Donald’s council on manufacturing this morning. Mr. Frazier, head of Merck pharmaceuticals, quit “as a matter of personal conscience” and “to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.” Seemingly in response to this weekend’s events.

Trump, of course, attacked him on Twitter and threatened to “LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” (The caps are the Donald’s – he’s such an alpha-male.)

So, Trump’s still attacking, just not the alt-right. (CEO quits the Donald’s club – attack, Nazi kills demonstrator – meh.)

The Donald’s gentle behavior regarding the alt-right (and Putin, for that matter) begs the question: why? Does the Donald fear them? Is he, somehow, beholden to them? Does he think they’re too small to be concerned with? (Even when they commit murder.) Or is he sympathetic with their racist world view?

Does it even matter? While answers to those question might be of some interest, the fact that we’re compelled to ask them is telling. The reasons why notwithstanding, Trump just gave another pass to the alt-right, after a murder. And they loved it – they’ve been blogging about how cool he is since his non-condemnation Saturday.

The election, two-hundred-eighty days ago, was the first step towards Heather’s murder. Trump’s implicated and will continue to ignore alt-right violence against the republic – as surely as Trump lies or alt-right cowardice.

Resist,
osv

PS-
12:00pm:
The Donald just publicly condemned neo-Nazis and racism after two days of criticism for not doing so. He did not make a direct reference to the weekend’s violence, mention the killing or say her name. Just more generic political-speak. Perfunctorily.

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Trump Times Entry 225 – Playground Argument

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Playground Arguments

June 22, 2017

Today, the two-hundred-twenty-sixth since the election was secured by the Trump-Putin alliance, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will finally release the Republican health care plan. We all wait with bated breath for today’s disclosure, because the Senate bill has been written in secret. The thirteen white men “crafting” the legislation over the last few months have done so without input from women, Democrats or, even, other Republicans. It’s like they’ve been writing a Apple product release, without a cool new product that is.

When challenged about the secrecy, Mitch replied with, “The Democrats wrote Obamacare in secret, without oversight – so there!”

While Mitch’s statement is flatly untrue, the ADA was the result of 18 months of hearings and debate and contained over 100 Republican amendments, that’s really not the point.

The point is: someone doing something shitty first is not a good reason for a second, third, or tenth shitty response. The reasoning, “I hit Nancy, because she hit first” is a grade school argument that most parents have heard and disallowed from their toddlers,but for some reason, find perfectly reasonable from grown men.

Perhaps if we were to play a thought experiment and imagine a Democratic controlled congress creating a thirteen women committee, that secretly rewrites, I don’t know, the tax code. Since the Republicans did the secret thing with health care earlier, why not? After all, they hit first!

I suspect our conservative friends would have a problem with that committee’s secrecy (not to mention the gender inequality – such snowflakes).

The republic has too many problem and issues to be entertaining bullshit reasoning like “he did it first”. We need to learn to say, “We don’t care who started it! Go to your room and think about what you’ve done” every time politicians, from either side, offer us such childish reasons for their unacceptable behavior.

If we don’t, they’ll never learn.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

PS-
Yes, we skipped blogging yesterday, the two-hundred-twenty-fifth day of post-election bliss. Instead of Trump immersion we spent the summer solstice in the woods enjoying the sun. It was great, you should all try it; take an unscheduled day off – do nothing productive, shirk responsibility for a day. It’s okay, if anyone complains, blame us for setting a poor example and doing it first.

Trump Times Entry 219 – Catch and Release Witch Hunt

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Catch and Release Witch Hunt

June 15, 2017

Let the games begin. Please!

So, the Donald, the guy who criticized Obama for tipping his hand, tipped his hand revealing his idea to, maybe, fire FBI special counsel, Robert Mueller. After all, firing the last FBI guy did slow things down a bit – so, it was a partial victory. And, perhaps, if the Donald keeps firing people, eventually he might fire the right one and end this unfair, fake, witch hunt (and rid the DOJ of many many witch hunters).

The response to Trump’s “let’s fire the next guy” pitch was, pretty much, negative. Sure, the Trump orthodox thought it was a great idea, because it came from the Donald, but their influence is only significant in election years. All other voices, both pro-Trump and anti, suggested that another firing would be a bad idea. The optics would be too similar to Tricky-Dicky Nixon and the constitutional questions raised, too uncertain. Shit could go very wrong.

And that’s why I can’t imagine the Donald doing anything other than fire Mueller – or, least try to fire him.

Trump isn’t into inconvenient conventions and brings a certain emotional element to the presidency. Yup, one morning he’s going to wake up, angry and frustrated about Melania turning him down two-hundred-nineteen consecutive nights since the election, and decide to tweet a “You’re Fired!!” to Mueller.

At which point the courts and congress would, hopefully, be compelled to action. Maybe…

Given the marshmallow majority in congress, it may take a few more firings, lawsuits or, even, shootings before they catch on – until they figure out the Donald is too expensive. But, given Trump’s winning personality, in all probability they’ll get there and impeach.

Yeah, big fucking deal!

So, best case, Trump gets driven from office – back into the private sector, where he can fall back to real estate scamming and laundering Russian mob money – and we get President Pence. Whose first executive action will be to pardon Trump.

Damn it! That bleeding heart “Catch and Release” (the white guy) policy is taking all the fun out of the witch hunt. Makes the republic sad.

#MAGA #IMPEACH&INDICT #NOPARDON
(Yeah, I’m getting way ahead of things with these hashtags. Call me a hopeless romantic.)

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 213 – Above the Law

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Above the Law

June 9, 2017

Of course, Comey’s testimony yesterday sparked talk of obstruction of justice charges. And, of course, Trump’s Republican minions feel such charges are totally uncalled for. The reasons to go-easy on the Donald range from “Trump didn’t explicitly demand Comey end the investigation – he just wished Comey would do so.” to “The Donald is new at this government thing – he’s learning as he goes.”

That first reason offered to ignore Trump’s crimes is what we expect from his lawyer – pars the words to obfuscate meaning, look for (or create) reasonable doubt, leverage Trump’s shitty English to make what he says meaningless.

The other reason is a Paul Ryan special. Paul, in a press conference, asked us to be gentle with the Donald because he’s new at this, but he’s learning. The only rational response to this particular defense is a big old, “Fuck off, Paul!” The presidency does not offer on the job training; the candidates for that office claim they can hit the ground running – and that’s what we expect. If Trump is having problems handling the job he can always quit.

There is a third defense, suggested by Trump himself: the Comey is lying and Trump is telling the truth defense. But, no one really believes that – not even Trump supporters.

So, onto completing an investigation and criminal charges – right?

Maybe not.

Various news sources now report we cannot criminally charge a sitting president. Apparently, legal scholars claim the whole equal protection under the law thing has a loophole. Congress would first need to impeach him before charges could be filed.

Of course, the next guy up to bat, Pence, would likely pardon him – like Ford did for Nixon. So regardless of the crime, Trump will probably walk away free.

After suffering two-hundred-thirteen days of Trump crime and abuse is appears the best the republic can expected it to, maybe, fire the Donald for treason? Fuck, we need a new system.

And the Donald needs to eat more junk food and exercise less.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 184 – Nixon’s Ghost is Laughing His Ass Off

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Nixon’s Ghost Is Laughing His Ass Off

May 11, 2017

The information’s been too dense for a single page narrative today.  So, let’s go with a summary:

  1. Comey was investigating the Donald’s involvement with Russia.
  2. Trump didn’t like that and told him so.
  3. Following Senator Warren’s example, Comey persisted.
  4. So, the Donald had the Assistant Attorney General and Attorney General write up some reasons to fire Comey that had nothing to do with Russia. (CYA – ya know?)
  5. Then, Trump fired FBI Director Comey.
  6. Immediately thereafter, Trump and his miscommunication team told us that the Donald was just acting on recommendations from the Justice Department. See, look at the documents, they’re signed by the Attorney General and the assistant!
  7. The Assistant Attorney General then threatened to quit if Trump kept lying about him.
  8. So, they stopped lying about that, for the moment. But, the message was already delivered – thanks to social media and fake Fox News.
  9. The Attorney General who is recused from all things Russian, but still participated in this action, has been blissfully quiet. (He, likely, knows how close to the line he’s walking and fears consequences.  Seventy is pretty old to be starting a prison term.)
  10. Sean Spicer is caught hiding from the press behind some bushes. 🙂
  11. The Donald informs us that “after things settle down” we will all thank him for his decisive action.
  12. The very next day, Trump holds a meeting with high level Russian diplomats. The American press is barred from the meeting while the Russian media is welcomed.
  13. As if foreshadowing the apocalypse, Kellyanne Conway starts giving interviews again. 😦

So, bottom line: Trump fired the guy who was investigating him.  That’s what finally got Nixon.  Of course, back then congress was Democratic and most Republicans had, at least partial, souls.  Not so today.   Paul Ryan and the spineless Republican congress continue to support Trump and will until he’s of no further use to them.  Hopefully, they’ll turn on him before he invites Russian troops into DC.

After one-hundred-eighty-four days of post-election Trump bullshit it’s all begun to sound like white-noise.  Back when Nixon was lying to us we had to separate the lies from the truth.  It’s simpler today, since we can assume Trump is always lying – spinning stories within stories, like a cheap rip-off of a Tolstoy classic.

But the Republic really doesn’t want to learn Russian.

In Peace and Justice,

osv

Trump Times Entry 168 – Over the Line

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Over the Line

April 25, 2017

There is no line.

Perhaps there never was, but once we believed there was and acted accordingly. Mores, folk-ways, customs, whatever seemed compelling enough. If it was customary for national candidates to release their tax information, they just did it. Even indirect nepotism was bad form and an embarrassment, as well as illegal. (Yeah, right, Robert Kennedy was appointed by brother John. And that’s why the was law changed – Johnson, who hated Bobby, made damn sure presidential nepotism wouldn’t happen again.)

Ha!

The thing about the law is: to be effective, it must be enforced. An unenforced law is just a lame custom – out of style. And, rest assured, the Trump spring fashion collection features only the latest in styles. Outdated looks like transparency, ethics and embarrassability have been dropped from the product line.

And, so far, the adults designated to check presidential balance, in congress, are too busy trying to kill popular programs, redrawing district maps to fulfill anti-gerrymandering court orders and being yelled at town hall meetings. Rumor has it some Republican congressmen have gone into hiding and don’t plan on coming out until “this whole thing blows over”. Sure wish the rest of us could do that.

So, it’s not just Trump; congress is helping out bigly with erasing that imaginary line no one should ever cross, except for the entitled of course. In doing so they politicize law enforcement, but what could go wrong? I’m sure they’re doing it for our-own (or someone’s) good.

After watching the paradox , that it the Donald, for one-hundred-sixty-eight post-election days, the republic no longer sees the lines Trumps keeps crossing. It’s like the Republicans gerrymandered decency out of country to make room for Trump.

And here we thought they weren’t doing anything.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 162 – Didn’t lose is not a win

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Didn’t Lose Is Not a Win

April 19, 2017

Politics is not grade school sports – they don’t hand out participation awards. There’s always a clear, remorseless, winner; everyone else is a looser. Yet, Democrats insist on basking in the glow of not winning, bless their hearts.

About a week back, back when we were getting along with Russia, the Dems lost a congressional special election in Kansas, by seven points. They interpreted the (kinda big) loss as a moral victory in that they didn’t lose by over twenty points. As a matter of fact, they even suggested the smaller than expected loss was evidence of an anti-Trump trend – truly, the kind speculation Sean Spicer would be most comfortable with.

No, they didn’t win – morally or otherwise. They lost. Don’t care about the red demographics, media budgets or potential trends – the other guy won. Facing that may be more helpful than competing with Republicans in a game of alternate-reality. Just sayin’.

So, yesterday, in the great state of Georgia, another Democrat didn’t win. Jon Ossoff finished with about forty-eight percent of the vote – so, no win. But he didn’t lose either. Instead he gets to run off against Republican Karen Handel in June. Whether this is just another opportunity to come in second or a real challenge to Republican dominance remains to be seen. I predict some kind of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory outcome, probably involving national party failure.

So far, the national party’s support for local candidates has been tepid at best. Some theorize establishment Dems won’t support Sander’s camp candidates, and that may be true. But Ossoff is too new to be in either camp and was largely ignored by national, just like everyone else.

Perhaps, when the national Democratic party claims they don’t want to nationalize the local races they really mean it. So, it’s not a Sanders – Establishment thing. No, it’s much worse.

If the national party thinks they will hurt candidates if they associate themselves with those candidates then the solution is not: don’t associate. Local candidates need help to win; the Republicans know this and will spend, spend, spend. The Dem have little choice, but to respond in kind.

If the nation Democrats are so hated that they can’t endorse (and fund) people without hurting them then we need different national Dems. That’s all. It’s time for the Clinton/Establishment camp to step aside. It may not be fair – tough shit. Politics is not grade school sports and they’re hurting the team.

Been one-hundred-sixty-two days since the Clinton camp lost the election to a huckster. The republic needs to see some fresh talent. We’re bored and disappointed with old team – nothing personal.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 140 – Pattern Breaking

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Pattern Breaking

March 28, 2017

Today, the one-hundred-fortieth since Putin successfully gamed our election, I’m going to break protocol and not talk about that dumb-ass-whiner-man-child Trump.

I lied. We have barbarians at the gate, collapsing infrastructure, a healthcare system that resembles a rigged casino and environmental disaster imminent, yet the Donald maintains life/work balance by playing golf on a weekly basis. (Actually, he’s played 13 times over less than 12 weeks – if nothing else he’s brazen.)

So, in keeping with the Donald’s balanced life example, today I’m skipping the politics. Taking a news blackout. It’s sunny out, the snow’s gone. If you look closely, there’s green beginning to surface.

Think I’ll climb out of the dirt today and, instead, take my dog to the woods and play in the mud.

The republic needs a break – fuck Trump.

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 131 – The Pompous Ass Generalization

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The Pompous Ass Generalization

March 19, 2017

Increasing the number of news sources doesn’t necessarily enhance understanding. It’s like that old project management thing: If it takes one programmer 1000 hours to write a program, then it should take two programmers 500 hours. Following that logic, assigning 1000 programmers to our dream project should render a one hour completion. Which is obvious nonsense.

(Sorry, I know, that’s a lot of numbers of lead off with, especially when it leads to nonsense – but, bear with me. I have a point. Promise.)

The point being, throwing additional resources at a problem won’t necessarily solve that problem sooner or better. There’s sweet spot, beyond which adding stuff slows things down. We, of course, passed that sweet spot with the number of news resources a long time ago. A Google search of “news” yields over 10 billion results.

Given the huge number of news sites, I find myself headline scanning aggregators (Huffington, Salon, CNN, YouTube, …) for stories of interest. I even scan FOX, InfoWars and Breitbart, but never on a full stomach. Rapid scanning gives me an overview, an initial impression that I try to use as guidance for further exploration. New idea stimulation, as it were.

But lately, this technique has miserably failed. Over the last few days, after scanning my big three or four, I find I have the same redundant impression – every single time. No matter where I look, the overriding generality, the recurring primary player and theme has been the pompous ass.

They’re everywhere, chairing the House Intel committee, where they say they have no evidence of wiretapping, but you never know – ya know? Pompous Ass.

There’s Sean Spicer’s yelling at reporters, offering a twenty-first century version of “the beatings will continue until your morale improves” as press policy. Pompous ass.

How about the budget guy claiming there are no demonstrable results from Meal on Wheels, so the funding should be redirected (indirectly landing in defense)? Pompous ass.

Paul Ryan, with his childish attempt so scare us with, “This bill is our only chance to fix healthcare” bullshit. Pompous ass.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos – fix public education by killing it – pompous ass.

The Donald, where to start… Pompous ass.

The republic is tolerant of most personality types – this is America, so even pompous asses are welcome. But, shouldn’t they have to register or, at least, wear funny hats – so we can keep an eye on them, for their own good?

In Peace and Justice,
osv

Trump Times Entry 122 – Friday Rant

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Friday Rant

March 10, 2017

So…

Minister of Greed Paul Ryan has introduced an Obamacare replacement. It covers fewer people, but at a higher cost to the old and poor. Paul would like to get it approved in a couple weeks, so he can go on spring break. He insists this is the ONLY chance we will ever have to fix the system.

Paul is a lying piece of crap.

Trump’s campaign and White House staff seem to have more Russian performers than the Bolshoi Ballet‎. But, our soulless congress is not interested. One the other hand, they are interested in finding out who may have leaked that information. But then, what should we expect when the two investigative committees are chaired by Trump campaign staff – by two traitorous hunks of excrement.

The media continue to treat Trump tweets as if they hold some value. Perhaps we need different, more social media savvy, journalists to take over – people who can detect and starve trolls.

Our media, acting like internet newbies, have willingly become distribution channels for Trump shit-posts.

(I, obviously, need to change my repetitive metaphor – one more try.)

The Donald feels Paul Ryan’s healthcare plan is too generous. And he continues to insist all the Russian stuff is fake news, but Obama should be investigated for wire-tapping. And he just authorized the use of Russian steel for the “buy American only” Keystone Pipeline project. No shit!

(Well, that worked about as well as a Republican social welfare program.)

Fuck it, after one-hundred-twenty-two days, the republic needs a break from this ugly shit-storm – something cute. How about Robin Williams having his nose nibbled by a baby pig.)

In Peace and Justice,
osv