Captain Obivious Says, 'There's a Crazy Man in the Oval Office'

Good Day World!

I'm not sure how quickly Americans, and the rest of the world, caught on to Trump's crazy con after he slunk into office.

At first we saw a petulant grade schooler putting his billionaire buddies into high places and denying that Obama's inauguration was bigger than his. 

It didn't take long for the man child to feel comfortable enough to reject advise from the (so-called) experts he appointed. He was telling an average of seven-lies-a-day in his first year of office (according to fact-checking websites).

He's already doubled that average in the last six months. Setting aside the chaos he creates daily with mean and mindless tweets, Trump has let his conspiracy theories bloom like deadly nightshade in the West Wing.

In the last 30 days we've learned that there's a secret cabal in the government and White House, watching Trump and keeping him from doing really bad things like pushing the wrong buttons.

Speculation on who wrote the tell-all story about how crazy Trump is, and can be, had everyone from Pence to Pompeo pledging it wasn't them.

Then we find out - by another anonymous inside source to the White House - deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein suggested Trump be tape recorded, and invoked the 25th Amendment last year to remove him.

Of course Rosenstein is saying the remarks were "inaccurate" and "factually incorrect."  

Another anonymous source (NY Times has cultivated a garden of dissenters in the government) said Rosenstein was being sarcastic and made the suggestion in jest.

The Washington Post, NBC, and the Voice of America also cited insider sources saying it was a sarcastic comment.

There's one thing you can bet on...Trump is going to hit the roof and there's going to be hell...toupee! Sorry. I couldn't resist that. I'm concerned that the latest book on Trump, by Bob Woodward (Fear), opened up even more cracks in Donny's fragile ego.

By now, a year and a half into Trump's America, everyone knows the guy's a crazy egotist. Foreign leaders picked up on that quickly. Especially Putin. Trump is his poodle and he loves it when Vladimir says he's smart.

As for Trump's infamous base...their just as crazy, or they don't care if he's a loon as long as he pushes the right agenda buttons on race, guns, and religion.

As a weary nation watches, there's a crazy man in the Oval Office, and the world knows it.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Essay on the Fall: Changing Colors and Politics

                                            Good Day World!

It's a chilly morning in Medford, and as I nurse my first cup of coffee of the day, I can see the leaves on the trees outside changing colors.

My thoughts turn to red and blue states patiently awaiting the midterms...and change. 

If a leaf has an undivided blade, it's classified as a simple leaf. It's color defines what kind of tree it is. In politics there are simple leaves defining parties; Democrat, Independent, and Republican.

However, if a leaf has a divided blade-one that forms a collection of leaflets-it is considered a compound leaf. In the same way, politics become more complex when radicals infest the system.

As the weather becomes cooler it's a perfect time to go for a walk. Living in Medford, Oregon (The City of Trees), it's a daily adventure watching the leaves transform into a riot of color that deepens with every day.

The Fall brings the midterms, and changes in our political landscape as states turn from red-to-blue, and vice versa. New laws. New faces. In some cases a new direction for the country.

Hope for positive change, rides the wind, as the leaves cling to the trees. Not yet ready to let go, the leaves in a short burst of glorious colors, know they have to give way to winter, leaving the trees bare some day.

But that time is still far away. Politicians are braving the changing winds in our society to gather votes right now, like leaves from political trees with undecided voters clinging to them. 

Fall is a time of change. For better, or worse.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Future of the Supreme Court Rests With a Fair Hearing

Good Day World!

Have you wondered why Senate Republicans are in such a big ass hurry to confirm Brett Kavanuagh? 

Beside the obvious boost the party will get from stacking the Supreme Court with conservatives prior to the midterms, they have concerns that Kavanaugh's dubious history will be exposed by a woman he tried to rape when she was only 15 years-old.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "Gas bag" Grassley was forced to deal with her accusation due to bipartisan outcry, but he's trying his best to make sure she doesn't get a fair hearing.

By setting a hearing for the accusation on Monday, he intended to bypass the just way to handle the situation.  

According to Roll Call, Grassley indicated that the session won't take place without the accuser present because the nominee would not know the full scope of allegations made against him.

Any decision to cancel the session, Grassley said, Will be made at the "last" possible minute.

At this point Grassley seems to be backing off from his purposed force play. I'm sure frantic negotiations are going on behind closed doors, as Republicans face the fact that in this Me Too atmosphere they could lose a lot of votes in the midterms if they treat Professor Ford unfairly. 

Grassley has already pointed out that the senate can't ask the FBI to investigate Ford's allegations. The ball is in Trump's court as to an FBI investigation. It's highly unlikely that he'll play ball unless he politically forced to.

What we know: 

* The scheduled session to hear Kavanaugh and his accuser has yet to be determined.

* There's a growing groundswell of support for Ford to tell her story in a senate session.

* Highschool Classmate Remembers 'incident' with Kavanaugh and Ford - Says She's Overwhelmed by Media Requests

* The Latest Attack on Ford Backfired

* Lawyer Explains Why Ford Wants An Investigation

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Perjury? New Accusations Halt Kavanaugh Nomination Process

                                          Good Day World!

Trump's hand-picked puppet (via the Federalist Society) for the Supreme Court has something else to worry about derailing his confirmation now.

Professor Ford's accusation of assault and attempted rape against Kavanaugh, could be the first step in what will be a process of revelations that will eventually disqualify him from being confirmed.

Back in July a group of federal court employees came forward with information about Kavanaugh's nomination. They were worried they'd face retaliation so they approached attorney Cyrus Sanai with their concerns about the nominees suitability to be a supreme court judge.

Sanai sent a letter (in July) to Senators Chuck Grassley and Diana Feinstein, the ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

In it, Sanai wrote, "There are persons who work for, or who have worked for, the federal judiciary who have important stories to tell about disgraced former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and his mentee, Brett Kavanaugh."

If you recall, Kozinski resigned his seat on the 9th Circuit Court after 15 women came forward with stories of his inappropriate behavior including showing them pornography without consent and touching them inappropriately.

It's becoming apparent why the Republicans were in such a hurry to confirm Kavanaugh. Grassley knew that there was possibly incriminating reports, like the one he got from Sanai in July. 

The need for speed was apparent. Grassley knew he couldn't hid the reports for much longer. The truth about Kavanaugh might leak out unless he was quickly confirmed and the case closed.

Grassley didn't count on Professor Ford's story coming out before the vote, which was scheduled for this Thursday. Now that the media has broken the news about the letter Sanai sent, expect repercussions.

We know Grassley has been sitting on it, and that Feinstein obvisiously was blocked with backdoor procedures to suppress the accusations. 

Just to put all of this in context, Kavanaugh denied under oath that he had any knowledge of his disgraced former mentor's sexually predatory actions. 

Thus far, Grassley has gotten away with burying Sanai's letter. Now that the confirmation process has been slowed down those federal law clerks concerns should be brought forward.  

It's just a matter of getting them out of Grassley's dead-letter file. 

In any event, it's no secret now. Kavanaugh's biggest worry may not be Professor Ford, but getting caught committing perjury under oath. Unless, of course,Grassley covers his ass...again.

One final thought: The Kavanaugh Vote Has Officially Been Canceled

Next step: A hearing will be set up. When, and how, it will proceed are still being argued.

Time for me to walk on down the road... 

What Can We Believe In?

Good Day World!

Belief is a fragile thing. FYI: I'm not talking about religion here today. 

What I'm referring to, is believing what you see and hear in society. 

When you've been told all of your life that adults should take an aspirin everyday because doctor's say to, it comes as quit a surprise when your told otherwise.

There's a new study that raises questions about "aspirin therapy." Basically, this new study says that people who have been taking aspirin daily are more like to die than other seniors.

Frankly, I'm not sure what to believe. Full disclosure; I've never taken aspirin daily. More out of laziness than what I believed.

It's like the latest red hot controversy in the Kavanaugh confirmation process. A woman has come out and said that he assaulted her when she was just 15-years old. He was 17 at the time, and both were in high school.

Why now, after 36 years, has Christine Blasey Ford, come forward with her accusation a week before the committee was set to vote?

Here's an article from the NY Times that will give you more background in this evolving controversary. 

I want to believe Ford. But I also want to know what the truth is. Is she lying? Is he lying? I don't know what to believe. 

In this era of Trump, truth has taken a beating. Facts are converted into fake news on partisan lines. Where can we go for assurance of reading the facts? What news platforms are bipartisan? What news anchor always tells us the truth?

If you're confused about what to believe don't feel alone. Millions of Americans are. How could it be otherwise, with a sociopath and narcissist for a president?

Time for me to walk on down the road... 

#MeToo Movement vs Kavanugh's Confirmation

                                          Good Day World!

History has a habit of repeating itself. Let's hope that's not the case this time.

Clarence Thomas was going through the confirmation process for supreme court justice when Anita Hill, a former law student, accused him of sexually harassing her 10 years earlier, when they were both single.

Thomas called the following Judiciary Committee hearing a circus and a national disgrace. Hill had to testify before live television cameras with 20 million viewers watching. 

Unfortunately for her, it was prior to the Me Too Movement and Thomas was not held accountable. The Senate confirmed his nomination 52-48, the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote in history.

Which brings us to this moment in history when another supreme court nominee - Brett Kavanaugh - is being accused of an attempted rape of a 15 year-old girl when he was in high school.

Through a series of circumstances her story was brought to the attention of the Judiciary Committee and the FBI just before the confirmation vote. 

Here's what we know about her:

Christine Ford is a professor at Palo Alto University who teaches in a consortium with Stanford University, training graduate students in clinical psychology. Her work has been widely published in academic journals.

Ford said that in the summer of 1982, when she was 15, around the end of her sophomore year at the all-girls Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Kavanaugh and a friend (Mark Judge) assaulted her at a private party at a house where no parents were present.

He was 17, and at the end of his junior year at Georgetown Prep, an elitist boy's school when the incident happened.

It was no secret that Kavanaugh and Judge loved to party, claiming membership to the "Beach Week Ralph Club" and "Keg City Club." They were both known as prodigious beer drinkers.

As the confrontation between the Republicans and Ford unfolds expect a fair amount of fire works. Ford comes equipped with years of documentation dealing with the emotional scars (PTSD) that the incident caused.

Will history repeat itself? Will Kavanaugh still get confirmed?

I suspect Ford's story may make a difference in these times when women are asserting their rights during the Me Too Movement. I certainly hope so.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Warning! You May Get A Call From Trump Soon!

Good Day World!

Omg! They've really done it now...

Everyone knows how much our Liar-In-Chief loves tweeting. Can you imagine if he had a direct line to your cell phone! Brace yourself...

FEMA is testing a new system next week that allows Trump to send text messages directly to all the cell phones in America. Text messages...what's next? Phone calls? 

The word is that all wireless firms and over 100 carriers are participating in the new Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) program that allows for presidential alerts.

For the record, we already have a WEA program funded by FEMA. They're just letting Trump in on the system for reasons that go beyond my comprehension.

I don't see how Trump will resist using this new found way to reach out to his base. Corrupting government systems is one of his specialties. The temptation to reach a larger audience will be too much for the morally corrupt jerk to pass up.

Experts have assured news outlets that Trump would not overuse (abuse?) the system. I wonder what the experts were smoking when they came to that conclusion?

In a press release Karen North, director of the Annenberg Digital Social Media program at USC said,

"If you separate this from politics and personality of any president, then this is a great idea and an amazing use of technology."

Perhaps, in normal times.

But, how are we supposed to separate the fact that our president is a sociopath and narcissist who is totally capable of abusing any system?

This is an alert. Stand by...

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Political Weather Forecast: GOP Shit Storm Ahead

Good Day World!

Republicans running in the midterms are wearing their foul weather gear because Trump is causing daily shit storms on twitter.

Polls show Trump's approval rating at an all-time low, and that the House will probably flip back to the Democrats in November.

As if that wasn't bad enough news for the Republicans, they're having to deal with a lunatic who is slowly becoming unhinged. They have no way to prepare for each new day's depredations that issue from Trump's twitter account.

Instead of encouraging Americans not too worry when a natural disaster hits, Trump manages to insert himself in the conversation and caters to his base.

With Hurricane Florence lashing out at the Carolinas, Trump goes on TV and brags about what a great job he did in Puerto Rico when they were hit by Maria.

He also assaulted the truth when he claimed there wasn't 3000 deaths in Puerto Rico from the storm. He lashed out at the independent study that determined how many people did die from the results of the storm.

As usual, he made it out to be a conspiracy against him perpetrated by the Democrats and everyone else who didn't like him.

Bottom line: Puerto Ricans in Florida aren't likely to vote for Republicans who are holding onto to Trump's bib.

Trump has become more toxic in the last month than at any other time in his presidency. GOP candidates are increasingly feeling the strong undercurrents of a red wave, thanks to Trump's divisive leadership.

The midterms this fall are going to be a turning point in Trump's presidency. With a Democratic majority in the House, there will be numerous investigations into his corrupt regime, and his past.

Without Nunes, Meadows, Jordan, and the rest of that vile "freedom caucus" propping up Trump by holding phony investigations into investigations to divert from what's really happening in the Russian investigation, Trump is going to be the center of his own shit storm come November.

No more midnight runs to the White House with classified materials for Nunes, who may not even be in the House after the elections.

Dark days are ahead for Donny. But, brighter days are ahead for our country. 

Time for me to walk on down the road....

How Low Can Trump Go? No One Knows

Good Day World!

How low can you go?

Have you ever done the limbo? You know, the game (its more like a challenge).

It's really simple. Two upright bars, and one horizonal bar that can be lowered in stages. The contestant attempts to walk under the bar - bending their back in the process - each time it's lowered. If the contestant knocks the bar off he loses.

So why am I bringing up the limbo game?

It's a great analogy to Trump's approach to life. Every day people wonder how low he'll go. 

This week has been a new low for Trump as he denies the reality of what happened in Puerto Rico after it was hit by Hurricane Maria.

Trump. bragging as usual, touted what a good job he did in helping the people in Puerto Rico, in a tweet. This despite everything that went wrong, including 3000 deaths attributed to Maria.

He shamelessly tweeted that there weren't that many deaths (without evidence) and the Democrats were just trying to make him look bad.

ABC - Trump 'Dead Wrong' On Death Toll 

CBS - Puerto Rico's Governor: Victims of Hurricane Maria Don't Deserve "To Have Their Pain Questioned"

NBC - Democrats, Puerto Ricans blast Trump's 'beyond ridiculous' Hurricane Maria death toll claims

Mind you, this pack of lies came while he was supposed to be reassuring the country that the east coast was ready for the monster Hurricane Florence heading their way.

Instead Trump was doing a victory dance over how well he handled the Puerto Rico crisis. His warning that Hurricane Florence is coming fast sounded like something a 5th grader might have said (after learning a new word - tremendous):

"There's a tremendous big storm coming and it's going to be tremendously wet..."

It wasn't exactly comforting to hear our idiot-in-chief babble like a baboon with rudimentary education. The question remains...just how low can Trump go? 

The answer is, no one knows...not even Donny.

Time for me to walk on down the road...





  

North Carolina Will Pay a Price For Ignoring Science

Good Day World!

As Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast today with high winds and massive amounts of rainfall, residents of North Carolina will pay the price for political bias.

When North Carolina got bad news in 2012 about what its coast could look like thanks to climate change, the Republicans in office chose to ignore it.

They even passed a law that banned policies based upon such forecasts. The legislation drew universal ridicule. Comedian Stephen Colbert mocked the legislation at the time saying, "If your science gives you a result you don't like, pass a law saying the result is illegal. Problem solved."

But the problem wasn't solved. Far from it.

While other eastern seaboard states have been looking at the long term effects of climate change, and passing legislation addressing it, North Carolina remained mired in political hogwash. And denial of what could happen.

Fact: North Carolina has a long, low-lying coastline and is considered one the US areas most vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Instead of addressing the dire predictions coastal developers and their political allies argued the rise in sea level wouldn't be anywhere as bad as the models predicted. They claimed such forecasts could unnecessarily hurt property values and drive up insurance costs.

Orrin Pilkey, a retired Duke University coastal geologist said the state has failed to prepare for rising sea levels.

In a recent Op Ed he said, “Instead coastal development flourishes as more beachfront buildings, highways and bridges are built to ease access to our beautiful beaches. 
Currently the unspoken plan is to wait until the situation is catastrophic, and then respond.”

That time has arrived.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Sessions Pushes Zero Tolerance and No Sympathy

Good Day World!

Sometimes I wonder why Trump gets after Jeff Sessions so much. 

He's carrying out Trump's marching orders like a good zombie AG should.

This week, in another of his hate-inspired speeches, Sessions addressed 44 new immigration judges, and told them there was no place for sympathy or compassion in their job. In Session's warped worldview, sympathy is a form of violence against laws.

But Trump still isn't satisfied with his little Keebler Elf lookalike, because he recused himself from the Russian investigation instead of risking his career and covering for Trump in the upcoming war against the DOJ and the FBI.

Sessions, it seems, is a survivor without shame. He takes Trump's regular tweet attacks against him in stride. A small price to pay for getting to inject his venom into our immigration laws and making families criminals. 

A small price to pay for getting to separate families because he's a racist. There's little doubt that Trump's sometime attack dog will continue to lick his ass and ignore his insults.

The trade off is worth it to this racist weasel, who intends to inflict as much damage to laws protecting minorities and immigrants, as he can. With extreme prejudice.

Time for me to walk on down the road...