Category: News

  • Troubles All Around

    With all the news today… My head is spinning a little. I am really trying not to write about Trump and Impeachment, as I think there are others out there that do a much better job.

    What I see and feel is the anxiety that all of this creates in the community that I live in.

    Bay Area California is a bit on the liberal side, but there are very conservative people around here as well, so it’s not like everyone here wants him removed. But it does create a wait and seeing mentality. One group is waiting to rejoice, while the other is waiting to despair. Both are edgy.

    Then add all the complexities of family gatherings with this news, and it’s like no one here wants to congregate, as the conversation might go the very wrong way.

    When I talk to friends, no one seems to optimistic about anything really. I think this is the toll of the never ending confrontation of binary choices. It feels like nothing will ever get settled.

    And I even don’t like bringing it up anymore. It is like preaching to a bunch of other preachers here. But bringing it up used to at least have a cathartic feel of expressing one’s concerns. Now… not so much.

    Trying to stay positive, as we will all get through this together. I’m pretty sure of it. I can’t prove it, but I want to believe it.

  • Bad Mood

    There is that whole Impeachment thing.

    I think we all know what will happen; Trump gets impeached in the House and is acquitted in the Senate.

    Then what?

    It’s anyone’s guess, but I think he will win reelection. I don’t like that, but I think that’s what happens.

    Then what after that, is really what I want to know.

    Is there a moment that we get to have when this long national nightmare is over?

    It just feels like everything with the government is a dumpster fire.

    Funny, like 10 or so years ago, I really thought climate change would be the thing that would unite this country. People forget that in 2008, the Republican Party had their own climate change plank in their platform. I liked the debate of how to tackle climate change, but now one side denies that it even exists.

    It is a worry for me. Well, not so much me, but I worry for my kid. It just seems like we are still fighting the old Boomer’s social wars, all the while the rest of us are watching the ship sink.

  • It’s Not the Crime

    Okay, so I have read a great deal today about the new Trump scandal. These are my thoughts;

    1. It’s never the crime, it’s the cover up. As far as I can tell, Trump broke this rule, bigly. The way Trump handled the Russian prob was to claim that he had no idea that what he was doing with Russia was illegal. That seemed to be the point Muller made, that he could prove intent. If Trump intended to commit a crime. This time around, if Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department did try to hide these phone calls, and the whistleblower complaint, then that would show intent. They all knew it was illegal and had to stop it from getting out. To me, that takes away the argument that the call was innocent. The withholding of Ukraine’s defense money might also show intent.
    2. Attorney General Barr is all up in this. I know the NYTimes ran this idea first, but now that Trump is saying to foreign leaders that Barr will contact them, then Barr needs to answer why the President would think that. What conversations has Barr had with Trump about Biden? I know full well Barr will claim that he cannot talk about his conversations with the President, but is there anything at the Justice Department happening about Ukraine, and Biden? When did that get started? Who started it, and when?
    3. This is a stretch, but Rudy is going through a nasty divorce. I don’t think he has his head on straight, and can’t keep all of the truth, lines, and smoke from blending together. Investigators should lean on him, as I think he would be the first to crack.

    None of this is good…

  • It’s Happening

    I’m talking about the impeachment inquiry of Trump, and I find it very hard the believe that articles of impeachment will not be drawn up by the House. And there will be a trial in the Senate, which at this moment looks like Trump will be acquitted.

    That is the short and long of it.

    Now, I’m here to talk about the politics of it, and this is my crazy theory how the Democrats should behave if they want to win the 2020 election even with the acquittal.

    First, regardless that the polling shows most people don’t care, if you believe the President broke the law, then you have to go down this path. If you don’t it makes you look complicit.

    Second, I have heard the chatter that through the course of the investigation, the Democrats could change people’s minds and get the poll numbers in their favor of conviction in the Senate. Unfortunately, I believe that past behavior of the Senate is the best predictor of the future behavior of the Senate. Moscow Mitch will lead the acquittal charge.

    The way I see it, Republicans and Trump supports will stay just that, and nothing will sway them. That means what Democrats might lose with an acquittal are moderates and independents, and part of their own base. M and I’s will leave because no one is talking about the kitchen table issues they care about, and the Dem base will leave because it will appear that Trump is untouchable.

    So, how do Democrats win this situation?

    This is my thought…

    Once the Articles of Impeachment are approved by the whole House, go after Moscow Mitch and all the Republican Senators by saying that they are stooges, and will acquit Trump because they are spineless and put party ahead of country. Just like they did with health care, and taxes, and the environment, and all the other issues that matter. Treat the Senate trial as a far-gone conclusion, because the whole game is rigged, just like the economy. Spin it all back to Republican corruption. Even when Republicans will claim, and they will, that this trial is being forced on them as a political stunt, Democrats immediately hit back with that the Republican vote is a political stunt as well because they are afraid of Trump, and that Democrats would love to get back to the work of the people, but corrupt Moscow Mitch won’t let anything come to the floor of the Senate. So, let’s talk about the 2020 election and issues important to America. Just keep on the attack that Republicans are corrupt and the ones who rigged the game.

    Attack, and stay on the attack. Leave Trump alone. Articles of Impeachment was the best that Democrats could get, and don’t be afraid to say that. Admit it, be proud of it, and call out the other side for corruption. Don’t give in, and most importantly, don’t apologize.

  • Trump or the Emmys?

    These are the first two thoughts that popped into my mind when I thought about writing a blog today; do I write about Trump or the Emmys?

    I could say that writing about Trump, again, will do nothing but make me feel defeated and powerless. Yet again, we have another situation where Trump has gone and done something illegal, and then ho goes and gaslights the world into believing that he was doing everyone a favor for doing this thing, which in his opinion, wasn’t illegal at all. I think Bill Maher had the best reaction this past Friday which was that this will follow the same cycle of denial, then admitting to it but it wasn’t wrong, and then starting another scandal to make everyone forget about the first scandal. I also expect this to happen, which is why I feel defeated and powerless.

    Speaking of defeated and powerless, I watched part of the Emmys, and it was a rather dull affair. The only take away I had was the free broadcast television was now officially dead. SNL was the only over the air broadcast show to win, and the rest went to cable or streaming. This is the new entertainment world we live in. It is a little sad that free tv is no more, as what I mourn for are all the great 15 and 30 second commercials we will never see, as no one watches commercials. All of those jingle writers will be out of a job. Sad.