Future Shock: Grooming the Next Generation of Trumpies

"Hand over the coffee and no one gets hurt!"

Good Day World!

Watching a video of Trump addressing a group of impressionable teenagers at a Turning Point USA convention recently, made my blood turn cold.

For several reasons:

1) The similarity of another youth group - Deutsches Jungvolk (German youngsters in German Youth Group) were rallying around the cult figure, Adolf Hitler. 

The group's main goal was to indoctrinate German youth into believing everything Hitler said, regardless of how crazy it was.

2) Trump is a cult figure, with followers so extreme they're ripping apart the moral fabric of our country. We're not talking about Republican youth with conservative ideals, but a sick hybrid that is dividing the country along racial lines.

A lot like the Hitler youth did prior to, and during, WWII.

3) The sick mind of one young man, Charlie Kirk (who was 18 when he founded the group in 2012), is behind Turning Point USA (TPUSA). 

His organization has secretly attempted to influence student government elections in an effort to "combat liberalism on college and university campuses," since it's inception.

In December 2017, former employees of the organization accused it of engaging in racist practices, as well as potentially illegal involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

In conclusion

Despite calling themselves conservatives (in a pathetic attempt at some kind of political cover) Turning Point USA is really a Trump Youth Movement.

Watching Trump address the group for two hours with fiery rhetoric and racial lies mirrored history. I could hear the ghosts of the Hitler Youth movement chanting "Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!"

One more thing:

In 2018, The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hate Watch List documented TPUSA's links to white supremacists.

A Humorous aside related story: Trump Appears In Front of Doctored Seal With Russian and Golf Imagery, TPUSA Aide Fired

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

The Aftermath: The Corruption Continues in our Country

"I think, therefore I've had my cup of coffee."

Good Day World!

Anyone, like me, hoping for a High Noon moment where Mueller would come out guns blazing yesterday during his hearing, were sorely disappointed. 

It was more of a pathetic performance by all parties involved.

I seriously wondered if Mueller would make it through both hearings. He looked like he should be in a nursing home for dementia. When the farce was over, he could have auditioned for the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz.

Mueller's memory and poor hearing combined, resulted in a painstaking back-and-forth process with both Democrats and Republicans.

It was a lot like listening to someone scratch their nails on a blackboard.

Viewers weren't eagerly watching the show while eating popcorn. I heard reports of viewers nodding off on the West coast, because it started so early (5:30 a.m.).

The Aftermath

Nothing has changed. No needle moved forward towards impeachment. Just a 75-year-old man who didn't want to be there and a bunch of pissed-off politicians.

Trump, of course, once again claimed he was exonerated. Anyone that managed to stay awake throughout the proceedings knows that claim is pure bullshit. 

Jerry Nadler settled any doubts about that claim in his opening questioning when he asked if Trump was exonerated by his report.

The simple answer from Mueller was "No." That was probably the highlight of the day. The ensuing broken conversations with Mueller didn't produce any new revelations.

What I'm trying to figure out is why Mueller was so adamant about sticking to his script without explanations? It almost seemed like he didn't want to say anything for fear of some type of retaliation.

Did William Barr and the Trump team convince him that he had no right to say anything more than what was in the report? Forever a good soldier, I could see this happening.

If so, Mueller can forget about his glorious years of service to his country because when it came time to truly stand up for this nation...he failed. 

The Democrats, aka Pelosi, didn't come out and say "Impeachment time is here." The Republicans took a sigh of relief, and are still riding the Trump Train today.

The corruption continues.

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

Bomb Bomb Afghanistan and another Pearl of Wisdom From Trump

Overheard: "Somedays you make the coffee. Somedays the coffee makes you."

Good Day World!

I'll keep our meeting short today because you're probably going to want to watch the Mueller hearings. (They begin 8:30 a.m., Eastern time, and 5:30 a.m. West Coast time) I know I will be.

Related: Key Aide Will Appear Alongside Mueller in Hearings 

Meanwhile...

In case you missed Trump's latest foreign affair gaffe - more like fuck-up - our ally Afghanistan wants to know why Trump is talking about wiping their country off the face of the earth!

During a chit chat with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the White House Monday, Trump's ignorance was in full bloom. 

After bragging about how he could murder Afghanistan's 10 million people in 10 days if he wanted to, Trump claimed that India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally asked him if he would like to be a mediator in the decades long conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region.

India's Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, was blunt when asked if Trump's claim was true; "No such request has been made by Modi." Period. Straight up. Trump is caught lying again in front of the entire world.

I'll never get use to the humiliation of having a president scorned for his stupidity, and lies, by allies and enemies alike.

Living under the Trump regime has been a steady stream of Trumpisms for all occasions - from "Lock her Up!" "Build That Wall" to "Send her back!"

These hateful chants and the daily quota of lies, may be pearls of wisdom to his twisted base, but to the rest of America they're revolting and racially charged.

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

'High Noon' For Mueller Tomorrow

Deja Brew...the feeling you had this coffee before...

Good Day World!

Just for fun let's turn the clock back to 1952 to an Academy Award winning movie, High Noon, with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

You're patience will pay off. There is a point to this.

The story takes place in a small town in the New Mexico Territory of the Old West. The time has come for the town Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper), to retire after marrying Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly).

They plan to start a new life, raise a family, and run a store in another town. But life is complicated. A vicious criminal, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) that Kane sent to prison, was released and was due in town they day they were leaving.

His mission was clear. Get revenge by gunning Kane down. Aware that Miller, and his gang, were coming after him, Kane tries to get help from the towns citizens, but they were too afraid of the outlaws

Part of Kane just wanted to leave, but he was aware that he still had a duty to the townspeople, and the rule of law. It gets real hard when his new wife gives him an ultimatum to leave with her, or stay without her.

In the final scene Kane stands up to the four outlaws, killing two outright and getting wounded. You hear the train whistle, then you see Kane's wife run into the sheriff's office, grab a gun, and run to help her husband. She kills one outlaw, the last one, Frank, grabs her, but she breaks away, and Kane shoots him dead.

The end.

Today.

The question is, will Mueller run away from his duty and not cooperate when he appears before Congress tomorrow?

Or, will he break out of the Gary Cooper mode he's been in, and answer all the questions the panel asks before riding off into the sunset for the last time?

Everyone on both sides of the aisle have respect for Mueller - the lone truthful man who honorably served his government for decades before retiring. 

Is it fair to expect Mueller to emulate a character from a western movie? I think it is. 

In both cases we have a lone man who can make a difference in people's lives if he stands up for our values, and the rule of law.

Will Kane stood his ground when it counted. Let's hope Mueller does too.

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

Premature Polls For 2020 Election Are A Waste of Time

 

A new study has shown that the best time to brew a pot of coffee is right freaking now! 

                                            Good Day World!

Okay folks...let's start off agreeing the 2020 elections don't start until 2020. A simplistic observation for the current state of affairs in the nation... but necessary.

All of the current political polls pitting theoretical Democratic opponents against Trump for the presidency are a waste of time. 

Crumbs for political birds-of-a feather who are addicted to never-ending battles that suspend time-and-place in a Twilight Zone most Americans don't want to be caught up in.

Most Americans are more interested in health care, or how they're going to make ends meet every month. Not the parade of democratic candidates seeking to challenge Trump or something else to do with NEXT YEAR's election.

I'm sure there will be an uptick of interest when the democrats finally select a candidate next year. Meanwhile, the political poll pollution is a daily irritant this year.

Make no mistake...most of the polls are political pablum for each party with a validity ratio... of whatever they say it is. Having taken a class in Empirical Research in college has always made me skeptical of polls.

There's a lot of factors involved, and good pollsters know how to pull out the results they want by the way questions are asked, who they ask, when they asked the question, and so on.

Polls are bad enough, but when they ask premature -often theoretical-questions, you might as well take the results straight to the outhouse.

Polls are indicators. Nothing more, nothing less. They're fun for some people who pretend their always accurate, or for the people creating them as a yardstick to predict the future.

Perhaps the best way to look at polls is how accurate they were in the 2016 election. It wasn't Hillary who was winning like all the polls predicted, it was a con man from New York.

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

Stream of Conciousness: If Republicans Are Not Lemmings Then What Are They?

"Listen, before I had my coffee, I didn't know how awesome I was going to be today, either."

                                           Good Day World!

I just finished reading a fascinating article on lemmings which has forced me to reconsider my application of the word for Republicans who follow Trump - hell, or high water.

Lemmings DO NOT follow each other off of cliffs. That's right.

It's time for another term for those members of the GOP who drink Trump's Kool Aid without asking what's in it.

Terms already heavily bandied around in social media run from Trumplicans to minions. There's always the old standbys like cohorts, devotees, fanatics, zealots, boosters, and disciples, to consider.

But none of the above terms seem quit right for the new breed of Republicans who follow Trump like Zombies on Prozac. 

I managed to find a Republican who could speak in complete sentences the other day, and I asked him what Trump's followers should be called?

Have you ever been talking with someone who suddenly rolled their eyes until they were pale white orbs? There was a pause, I don't think he was aware of how he looked before he confidently replied, "What was that question again?"

I gave him a cookie and moved on.

Defining Trump's followers is like trying to catch chickens on meth. In many ways they're indescribable. Some, like the one I interviewed, can speak in complete sentences. 

It goes down hill from there. 

The sycophants that show up at his rallies grunt in short sentences and have a nasty habit of chanting racial slurs spontaneously (although I strongly suspect there's inside Trumpies who initiate the famous chants like "Send her back!" and "Lock her up!").

How do you compare those rowdy rally attendees to old men and women sitting in their homes counting on Trump to turn back the clock to the 50s after listening to his subtle/subliminal promises?

Coming up with the right term is really a challenge.

I continue to search for an all inclusive term for the types of followers he has, but it's like trying to catch Trump actually telling the truth about something... it's nearly impossible.

So, I turn to you dear reader, and ask for your assistance in solving this grave matter. 

Comments urged below this post, or use my email address on the side of the page to share your choice for a proper term for Trumpies. 

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

The New America: Normalizing Lies and Racist Policies

"Coffee: a warm delicious alternative to hating everybody every morning. Forever." Unknown 

                                          Good Day World!

You've probably noticed that nothing is out-of-bounds in the era of Trump. 

The truth is trampled on so often no one knows anything for sure anymore. We have a president hurling racist tropes in an effort to further divide us.

Trump's enablers/minions, in and out of government, think nothing of lying and breaking laws with impunity.

Example: FBI documents in the New York "Hush money" case (Stormy Daniels) clearly laid out the numerous contacts that Hope Hicks had with Trump, exposing the lies she told Congress during a closed-door hearing last month.

Hicks has been given a deadline of August 15th to appear before Congress and explain the difference in her testimony and what the FBI revealed.

Related: Trump Campaign and RNC Spend More Than $600,000 On Law Firm Representing Hope Hicks  

Protecting his former trusted adviser is important to Trump. The less things she says about him, and their relationship, the better. Don't be surprised if she gets in trouble, but Trump comes to the rescue and tries to pardon her.

This is the new America.

We're in the thrall of the most corrupt president America has every seen. Pulitzer prize-winning author, Jon Meachum, recently compared Trump's administration to Andrew Jackson's.

He said they were both tied for the worst president in American history. I disagree. Trump now holds that infamous title by himself.

Interesting fact: Andrew Jackson is Trump's favorite president. The next time you see Trump's fat ass in the Oval Office take a look at the wall behind him... there's a large portrait of Andrew Jackson.

While Trump continues to embrace a strategy to divide America, tell outright lies (even with video evidence contrary to his claims), we are faced with the biggest threat to everything we stand for in our lifetime.

Those that come after us (our children and grandchildren), will be left with the results from whatever actions we take to refute Trump's attempt to make America a facist state.

From now, until election day 2020, Americans need to push back against the rising tide of racism, law-breaking, and hatred that Trump and his minions are sowing every single day.

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

Rumors of War: A Look at What Triggered Tensions in the Middle East

There is NO life before coffee. There is life AFTER coffee!! - Anonymous

                                           Good Day World!

Just so we're all on the same page let's start off with the irrefutable fact that the moment Trump slung into office and tore up America's partnership in a world-brokered nuclear treaty with Iran... things have been getting scarier by the week.

Yesterday, a U.S. Ship shot down an Iranian drone that was threatening the ship's saferty. The USS Boxer waited - and warned the Iranians of immediate action if the drone didn't abort it's mission. 

When it got within a thousand yards they destroyed it. The only problem is Iran said they didn't lose a drone and the Americans probably shot down their own drone! Story here.

This was just the latest event in what has become an escalating problem with the Iranian government. 

Thus far, no military action has been taken by the US, other than to warn the Iranians to knock the shit off after shooting their drone down.

Also problematic: It's the USA (Trump) against the world, as he's backed out of every major treaty we had with our longtime allies. 

We're witnessing the effect of that stupid move now, as the whole region is getting armed and military confrontations are becoming more likely by the day.

One month ago the Pentagon announced it was sending 1,000 additional troops to the area. 

Yesterday, the Pentagon announced they are sending 500 more to Prince Sultan Air Base, situated in the desert east of Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.  

Fact: The Trump Administration is continuing its military buildup in the region, which has so far included fighter jets, B-52 bombers, an aircraft carrier strike force, Navy destroyers and - of course - more troops.

Perhaps the biggest irony in this whole mess is that it didn't have to happen. Trump backed out of the nuclear treaty with Iran to spite Obama, and now he's getting the inevitable real world backlash.

Even more ironic, Trump really doesn't want to go to war. Things have gotten out of hand and are escalating, and he's too vain (and outright stupid) to try a re-set.

It would require a compromise of some sort, something the very undiplomatic orange ape doesn't understand, or respect.

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

Trump Under Fire: Reverts to Jingoistic Tropes to Rally Base

"The only thing I'm sure about today is coffee. Everything else is just speculation." - Nancy Hoffman

Good Day World!

It hasn't been a good week for Trump, and he's becoming increasingly desperate to change that.

So he held a campaign rally last night to stroke his ego. He even came up with a new chant... "Send her back!" (Referring to Rep. Iland Omar)

After having a tweet he made against four congresswomen formerly condemned for "being racist" by Congress, Trump pivoted to jingoistic jargon to defend himself by questioning the congresswomen's patriotism and suggesting "...they all go back home."

It's been more than 100 years since Congress issued a formal rebuke of a sitting president. Unfortunately, it was non-binding and there's really no penalty to pay. I doubt if Trump is even embarrassed by the fact.

However, even if it was just symbolic it doesn't mean it was meaningless. Symbols do matter. After the smoke clears this will be a moment in history - one that will merit a line or two, when all the books on Trump have been written.

It sure didn't help Trump's temper when the Supreme Court kicked his, and Ross's corrupt attempt at adding a question to the census, out with the admonition that it was a "contrived."

Yesterday, Congress voted to hold AG Barr and Secretary Ross in Criminal Contempt over the census dispute.

Again, very little will come from this hand slap, even though it is a criminal complaint. The DOJ isn't going to do shit to their boss, or his buddy. Another abnormality in the Trump regime, where justice is perverted at every turn.

History will remember Trump's minions in crime. Enablers from AG Barr, to Mitch McConnell, will be harshly judged with Trump for their attempt to destroy our Democratic Republic and replace it with a dictatorship.

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

Quit Acting Surprised That Trump's a Racist: His Followers Knew All Along

"A yawn is a silent scream for coffee." -Unknown

Good Day World!

It was an interesting piece of theatre watching the House hearing yesterday where Trump was called out for his racist attack against four congresswomen.

The vote condemning Trump's racist language "Go back to where you came from" directed at four House Democrats, was 240-187.

There were four Republicans, and one Independent, that agreed with the Democrats. Trump is a racist. 

Meanwhile, Trump squatted somewhere in the White House, and watched the whole hearing, even canceling a planned meeting with GOP leadership at the last minute to see who turned against him.

It was a good day for Democrats, because they exposed Trump's racism for all to see. It was a bad day for House Republicans who drank the Kool aid with Trump, backing his racist statements. A vote that may well come back to haunt each of them some day.

The moment Trump came down that elevator white nationalists celebrated. They knew who he was. They also knew they could count on him following a racist agenda after he failed to criticize their hate parade in Charlottesville, Va.

There's been no lack of dog whistles along the way, as Trump constantly stirs his hardcore neo Nazi, and KKK, base up by playing on their fear of dark-skinned and Asian people.

His so-called Immigration policies, and they way he speaks about Hispanics seeking asylum in this country, are exhibit A.

At this point, let me just say that all of the people who voted for Trump in 2016 were not racist right-wing nuts. 

A lot of the votes Trump got were by default; voters who hated Hillary Clinton just a little bit more than the brash con man Trump. There were also lifelong Republicans who honestly thought Trump was a great businessman and it was what the country needed.

That's okay. I understand.

But, when it comes to racists who vote, that's another story. They're un-American xenophobes who wished the South didn't lose the Civil War. 

They saw a kindred spirit in Trump and crawled out of their chat rooms, and basements to support him. Thus far, they believe he will further their hateful agendas. 

For good reason.

As always, go by what Trump does, for evidence of his racism, and his demonstrated love for the wealthy and world dictators.

Those GOP lawmakers who are enabling him by trying to spin everything he says into another story, can't tell us what we see with our own eyes, and what we hear with our own ears.

The emperor has no clothes.

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

Memo To Speaker Pelosi: Time to Hop Off The Fence and Take a Stand

"Coffee is a language in itself." - Jackie Chan

                                       Good Day World!

"Dear Speaker Pelosi,

I've never been a big fan of yours, but I have to admit you are a canny politician who knows the ropes, and the knots in Congress. I respect that.

Thus far, I have agreed with your tactic of staying on the fence when it comes to impeaching that orange ape in the Oval Office.

Your arguments were sound... up until now.

Now, it's time to hop off that fence, take a stand, and call for an impeachment inquiry.

I know, it's a big step and there will be some political backlash from the Trumpie GOP minions who may use it to stir up the alt-right swamp.

So what? No matter how you look at it, they ARE NOT a majority in this country and it's time to acknowledge that. It's also time to fight back against Trump's all-out assault on democracy and American values.

After witnessing the president of the United States racist attack against minority members of Congress, who are duly elected officials representing Americans in their districts, that proverbial line has been crossed.

I know you stood up for them and are even planning on a resolution to slap Trump on the hand, but he needs a real kick in the ass. Impeachment.

It's up to you Madam Speaker, to lead the Democratic Congress in the right direction. Our country can't endure more attacks on our whole system of government for the next year-and-a-half.

An Impeachment inquiry will wipe away Trump's ability to tie up the courts that are pending with numerous investigations against him, until the next election.

Let me ask you, do you want to risk more - perhaps even worse - attacks against the laws of the land while you patiently await the courts to listen to Trump's appeals against the vast array of charges against him?

Timing is everything. Waiting until next year after all the court battles have been fought, is a dumb political move. I think you know that. 

If you're serious about protecting America - and not just being someone who talks a good talk, but doesn't walk the walk, then rally your caucus and open an impeachment inquiry.

Time is running out. It's time to say we've had enough of this wannabe dictator."

Related: Rep. Al Green To Force Impeachment Vote Against Trump

Related: Why Trump's Racist Dog Whistle Won't Work This Time

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