Hey Dems…the Boogeyman is Coming…and his Name is…

Michael E. Horowitz.  He is the Inspector General for the Department of Justice.  He is turning over a bunch of rocks and actually telling the truth about what lies beneath.  You can read about Mr. Horowitz and check out his job and background here @ https://oig.justice.gov/about/meet-ig.htm.

Here’s the deal: Mr. Horowitz doesn’t seem to care that he came into his current position under the Obama Administration, he seems to take his appointment duties and mission seriously, he has an impressive skill set suited to the investigation of government abuse, and he has an impressive body of resources with which to investigate said government abuse.  From all indications, Mr. Horowitz may prove to be the truth-teller that Mr. Mueller and his merry band of partisan Democrats was supposedly intended to be. 

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On a passing note, there have been quite a few quotes attributed to retired Obama Administration officials over the last few weeks; most of them reflective of their sophomoric, narcissistic, and naïve attitudes about this country and the world.  Do you ever wonder where ex-Administration officials go when they are turned out of office?  Why can’t they just…go away?  Not sure if it is valid (probably not, but you never really know with this bunch…), but here’s a story that is making the rounds and was supposedly overheard during a recent power lunch in WDC…

Ben Rhodes: Hey….Strzok has come up with a great idea for a new type of umbrella.  He ran across this old military research project that was discontinued.  Maybe we can all form a Partnership and make some money off this thing?

Andrew McCabe: I could check with McCauliffe if we need some startup funding?

John Brennan: Exactly what is this great new idea and has it been cleared through intelligence and military channels?   You know, I could help with that…

Loretta Lynch: If not, I can take care of that with them between flights.  Both our planes will be together on the tarmac for a few minutes somewhere and I’ll just pop over to talk about “golf and the grandkids”.

Sally Yates: You know…I have always harbored a secret ambition to appear on the Home Shopping Network.  This might be just the right time.  What color do you all think I look best in?

Rhodes: Here is the deal…this umbrella looks just like an ordinary umbrella except that it has three big holes in it so…voila’…you can look up to see the sun and tell when it stops raining!

James Clapper: My Gosh…that is freaking brilliant!  I will get a team on research and make sure there is no existing patent.  If there is, it will be gone by next week.  It…never…happened.

James Comey: I have a great idea.  We could put inscriptions on each umbrella; something motivational and uplifting.  Maybe we can kinda print it around the holes.

Lois Lerner: Let me handle the finances.  I see great possibilities here for a favorable tax situation.

Eric Holder: Look folks, I have some concern about the product liability possibilities in this deal.  Has anyone considered that?

Hillary Clinton (via teleconference from Chappasdljojererer…): Hey…just leave the legal issues to me.  NOT a problem.

Rod Rosenstein:  Wait a minute, you guys.  If there are holes in the umbrella, won’t that let the rain come through and make it rather useless?

Comey: I don’t see a problem; you can still read the inscriptions.  Maybe we could even make them in a fluorescent color….

Rhodes: Listen…we can line up some product trial research.  I’ve got some old frat buddies that can take care of it.  We’ll throw in a few kegs and they will tell us anything we want.

Susan Rice: The holes are not a problem.  I can arrange some Sunday Morning talk show appearances with the networks to explain how the benefits far outweigh the shortcomings and make this sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread.

James Baker: You know…this is the kind of thing that would benefit greatly from a strategic leak or two to the media; you know…just to tease it a bit.

Rhodes: One last thing.  Who will we pick to be the face of this product; the one with the big personality for all the billboards and ads; someone with a bright smile that won’t question the realities of the situation?  Somebody who would actually believe that this thing could work?  You know what I mean…Someone who is believable even though what they say is totally ridiculous?

All Together as One:  Our old Boss…Barack!!!

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What Is Really Troubling the Democrats?

What is to be made of this nonsensical, irrational, inexplicable, and monotonic resistance of the Democrats, the Liberals, and the Mainstream Media (ah, but I repeat myself) to all things Trump?  It reminds one of the new television commercial that features people who perversely enjoy activities that inflict pain on themselves.  For some unknown reason, they continue to touch the hot iron…and pull away a throbbing finger each time.

Many, if not most, of the Democratic voters know that Obama was a colossal failure.  His only accomplishment of note was breaking the skin color barrier to the White House.  So…they know that he left behind eight years worth of mistakes, mismanagement, administrative anarchy, and departmental/agency politicization.  They know this was wrong.  They were uncomfortable with it.  They know it has to be cleaned up.   But…they wanted, at best, one of their own to clean it up.  At worst, they wanted a very moderate Republican (RINO?) to clean it up.  They sure as hell did not want a rank outsider like Donald Trump to clean it up.

And that, my friends, is exactly what is eating away at the Democrats.  They knew from the beginning that Hillary was a terribly flawed candidate and they strongly suspected that she likely did not represent their best chance to win the Presidency.  Yet they could find no way to derail the Clinton train that was being constantly fueled by money and influence.  And one by one, as the election neared and as public opinion coalesced around the notion of an ultimate Clinton victory, they leapt aboard the Clinton Express.  Some leapt with some trepidation; but most leapt with anticipatory glee of what her eventual rise to power would bring to them in terms of patronage goodies.

And then…the unexpected happened.  Lo and behold, Donald Trump was elected President.  The American voters clearly recognized Hillary Clinton as the despicable and corrupt individual she is and turned instead to a reality TV star; the obvious lesser of two evils.  The imperfection of Trump as a presidential political candidate simply adds credence to the notion that Clinton may very well have been the worst presidential candidate in history.  As thick as the American electorate can be at times, they damn sure recognized Hillary for what she was (and they scored an encore with their rejection of Moore in Alabama).

Now it was bad enough that the Democrats lost a presidential election that they and everyone else thought they had locked up.  It was exacerbated by the Republicans gaining control of the House and the Senate and a Republican wave sweeping across the nation in state houses.  The thought of having a…dare I say it…a Republican cleaning up this Obama train wreck, with all of its hidden and  secret collateral doings exposed for all to see was simply unacceptable…totally UNACCEPTABLE. 

And then, who should be in the center of the perfect electoral storm but Mr. Personality himself, the Donald; a man who is literally a caricature of their worst Republican nightmare.  They could have lived with a Bush, or a Romney, or just about anyone but…Donald Trump.  “We lost to this…this blow-dried, pompous, loudmouthed, inexperienced, born with a golden spoon in his mouth, immoral, unethical, media personality? “   Oh, the horror…the horror; the indignity; the…EMBARRASSMENT.

It is a tragic pile of pathetic, immature, selfish, irresponsible, and unforgivable feelings upon which the Democrat/Liberal-sponsored “Resist” movement is based.  And ultimately, it comes down to being embarrassed.  Well, it is time to get over it.  It is time to jump in with the amateur President, help him and his able-bodied appointees to clean up the Obama civil carnage, put this Humpty-Dumpty government back together again, and restore some effectiveness, efficiency, and integrity to our nation’s structure.  If the Democrats continue to allow the Republicans to single-handedly uncover the accumulated corruption of the Obama carnage, it will not end well for them.  They would be much better served to jump into the clean-up effort, use their limited power as the minority party to its maximum potential, and be a part of setting this government back on its rightful bipartisan course.  And then, when (not if) they transition back to the majority status, they will be in much better position to implement some of their own policy initiatives.

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This whole “Trump Campaign/Russia Collusion” deal is daily dissolving while the “DNC/Clinton Campaign/Obama Administration/Russia Collusion” thing is steadily gelling.  The page of blanks that tells the story is beginning to fill and the dots are becoming easier to connect.  There are three years left in this Trump Administration and that is more than adequate time for the remaining mysteries to be revealed.  As much as I have despised Obama and how he operated as president, I now fear that the unethical and corruptive nature of his ilk ran far deeper than I thought.  If the web of deceit that surrounds the “Steele Dossier” ends up where it increasingly appears to be heading, this will likely prove to be the worst political scandal in the history of our nation.  As Andy McCarthy has so clearly pointed out, the Democratic Conglomerate was so convinced of Trump’s unsuitability for the presidency and Hillary’s impending victory that they threw all caution to the wind and transformed our government into nothing less than a full partner with the DNC/Hillary Clinton Campaign.  The cast of characters who sold their professional soul to the partisan devil is long…Lynch, Brennan, Clapper, McCabe, Yates, Rhodes, Rice, Comey, all their numerous underlings and, god forbid…maybe even Mueller and Obama themselves.  The details yet to come will doubtless be breathtaking in their sheer arrogance and shamelessness.  I believe it will be very interesting indeed to see at what point the few mainstream media institutions that still retain a glimmer of integrity choose to leap off of this Democratic Titanic and begin to actually report and investigate this historic abuse of power.

Let’s say you are living in a house with someone that you might not like a whole lot.  You find a snake skin in the basement, which tells you that somewhere in the house, there is likely a bad character lurking about.   Now even though you might not think a whole lot of your housemate, you damn sure will jump in and help find the snake in your midst.  Looking at you, Democrats. 

Merry Christmas 2017

As the thermometer drops and the stress levels rise,

The blitzkrieg of Christmas dances across your eyes.

And as you rush about to get your chores done,

You’re planning that Christmas that is “second to none”.

That list with the items that runs on and on,

Has way too many blanks and not enough done.

The days are ticking down to that ole twenty-five,

It will be here soon…in a blink of an eye.

And as you approach that moment where everything slows,

It might be exhaustion or it might be the close…

You notice those about you have a bit of a glow,

A twinkle in the eye like they’re “in the know”.

And what is this secret that everyone keeps,

The one that is with us, even in our sleep?

The one that lightens our steps and softens our ire,

That makes us more generous than we usually are?

Is it the peace of the Savior, the reward of faith’s way?

Is it the truth that we’re better than we are most days?

Is it the good we see from others that’s typically hidden and coy?

Or is it the laughter of the children and their essence of joy?

There’s just something about the Holidays that makes it all …pure,

That makes it OK to be something other than…sure.

To readily admit that all the answers aren’t there,

And to live a few days without a fret or a care.

To look for the best in others, and find the best in us.

To agree without dissension, to dispense with the fuss.

To see the treasure beneath, through the turmoil above,

To recognize the terrible cost of hate, and the magical healing of love.

And so from me to you, and those that you cherish,

May your dreams be filled and never, ever perish.

Have a wonderful season full of peace and family,

And save some for the year to come…it might come in handy.

Be Careful When Choosing Your Yardstick.

This past week should serve as a watershed moment for many of the mainstream media stalwarts; it probably will not.  CNN’s colossal and shameless reporting error on the September 14 (4?) email to Don Jr. from the mysterious Michael J.  Erickson was a terrible indictment on the journalistic standards that the mainstream media have been applying recently.  I can do no better job of addressing this specific incident, and the broader question of media misbehavior, than Glenn Greenwald.  And for those not familiar with Mr. Greenwald, let us simply say that he is certainly no bastion of conservative advocacy.  His words are wise @ https://theintercept.com/2017/12/09/the-u-s-media-yesterday-suffered-its-most-humiliating-debacle-in-ages-now-refuses-all-transparency-over-what-happened/ . 

The political schisms that have occurred in our society and culture are cancerous.  I do not use that term lightly and I do so with the full intent of placing the most onerous perception possible on this insipid disease that is enveloping our people from the Thanksgiving dinner table all the up to the halls of Congress.  If we might use this embarrassing screw-up event by CNN, etc. for a teaching moment, perhaps we should pose the question: Do we really want ourselves to be defined by our politics?  The universe of politics is at its best (the ideal) a soaring and edifying place of high ideals and human efforts directed towards improving the predicament of American citizenry and peoples of the world.  At its worst (the art), this same universe is a sleazy, immoral, and unethical bog of endless greed and corruption; whose only interest is the perpetuation of itself.  If we look at the world of politics, the substance of policy and administration and not the science of winning and losing, there are very few universal truths.  Most policy questions have varying and often diametrically-opposed positions that have both merit and demerit.  How you approach a particular political question typically hinges on how it affects you and yours, not how it affects everyone else.  In other words, the main driver for most of us in political motivation is greed.  Now is that the yardstick we wish to be measured by?   Speaking for myself, I recognize all too well my own foibles and infallibilities; but please…judge me by my few good deeds and ideals and not by my baser instincts.

Most every elected official has a mix of the ideal and the art mixed up inside of them.  At various times, like during a campaign, the art takes over and is the prime motivator.  At other times, like during substantive debates on the Hill, the ideal will take over and the better angels of the politician will shine through.  And aren’t we all like that?  After all, politics is more than just Democrat or Republican.  It is more than just liberal or conservative.  It is the essence of the game called “us against them”; it is the central theme of the coalescing of one ideal above another.  It is the consolidation of like thinking to achieve a situation in the future that is better than the present.  It is how we win arguments with our partners, how we compete with our co-workers, and how we make a point to our children and grandchildren.  As long as we can keep the mix healthy and maintain the ideal portion at a level well above the art, things should get along fairly well.  But when that art quotient becomes dominant and the ideals become subservient, then we are headed into a dangerous territory.  The ideal should always be worthy of the art.

This political cloud of poison that has settled over our nation and divides family, friends, and acquaintances is destroying us.  Our government cries out for a leader who can somehow rise above the pettiness of politics and begin to steer our electorate back towards some semblance of civility and integrity.   Each and every one of us needs to get back to the point where we evaluate each other and our elected leaders by the “content of their character”, their good judgment, their record of performance, and the ideals they promote rather than whether or not they can win the race, stay faithful to the cause, and help to maintain the upper position of leverage for our team.  At best, the political metric should be several notches down the list of redeeming characteristics when evaluating an individual. 

If we, each of us, are totally honest with ourselves, we will admit that a person’s political leanings are one of the first things we strive to decipher when we meet someone.   Well, maybe not the very first thing, but certainly one of the topics we will get around to rather quickly.  The impulse itself is nothing to be ashamed of; after all, our environment grinds that instinct into us with every waking hour.  How we deal with that instinct will be the important factor in where we as a people end up in this great and bold experiment called America.

Stuffing the Sack with Goodies.

College Football Playoff.  Well, were you offended when the almighty NCAA Committee selected Alabama instead of Ohio State for the College Football Championship series?  I was.  I don’t really care for either team; they are arrogant, entitled, and have way too much influence on the college game.  I would have rather seen UCF go into the Series as the fourth team.  Is UCF better than the other two?  Not likely; but they did go undefeated and Cinderella in the Series would be interesting.  My beliefs aside,  here is a real plan from a professional sports writer that makes a lot more sense than the current system… https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-make-college-football-playoff-even-better-032144320.html.  Once again…championships should be settled on the field and not in a board room with old gray-haired men sitting around a table.  Additionally under this plan and as Wetzel points out, a much larger share of the playoff revenues would go to the schools and not to the corporate bowl conglomerates.

The Shadow DOJ Persists.  And now we are discovering for a fact what has long been suspected about the Department of Justice under Obama; it was corrupt and politicized to the max.  Can any objective person put any faith or trust in Mueller, Comey or any other individual coming out of that politically-biased morass?  The Obama Administration politically-weaponized any governmental agency that proved useful to it and its agenda; the corruptive stain will take a long, long time to remove.  Trump was a fool not to get rid of Mueller early on when he had the opportunity.  Now he must deal with the idiocy that springs forth from this special-prosecutorial theater of the absurd.  With the mainstream media breathlessly waiting to slurp up every idiotic, anti-Trump morsel his team leaks or discloses, this special counsel foolishness will continue to hemorrhage tax money and political poison for who knows how long.  And now Republicans want their own special counsels to investigate this or that…Really?  Please…no more special counsels!!  Congress; do your job.

The Distinction between Product and Service.  As the SCOTUS continues to hear the baker’s case, we are presented with the question of discrimination applied to products versus discrimination applied to services.   Some would say that while banning discrimination from the sale of off-the-shelf products is fair and proper; it is nonetheless acceptable to discriminate, based on one’s personal beliefs, in the sale of professional services.  To me, this is very thorny issue and I am very interested in the SCOTUS decision.  I can see logic in allowing one to abstain from participating in a ceremony that they object to in principle; but I also see the danger in that logic traveling down unanticipated highways.  If a service provider can discriminate against gays; what is to keep this discrimination from expanding to gender, race, ethnicity, hair color, shoe size, college alma mater…you get the point.  If one’s profession entails providing service, should that service not be available to anyone seeking said service; the same as a cake on the shelf is available to anyone having the means to purchase it?  On the other hand, perhaps a provided service is the equivalent of an unbaked cake.  If a baker objects to a male wedding, he or she will not bake a cake with only male figures on top.  No decision has to be made whether or not to sell such a cake because such a cake is never created.  Might it be reasonable to say that a service provider’s cake is not baked until the service is provided; thus giving them the option to select which type of cake they choose to bake with their talents?   This is not an easy question.   Where do the rights of an individual to practice their personal beliefs as they see fit end and the obligation of a merchant not to discriminate begin?

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Obamacare Redux.  The Republicans have passed their tax reform legislation packages in each body of Congress.   They have done this in the first year of the Trump Presidency.  They have done this after failing to address the health care crisis in America.  They have done this after failing to pass and approve the required appropriations bills for our government’s normal operations.  They have done this in an unorganized, chaotic, insufficient, and irresponsible fashion.  They have done this in a clearly partisan way.  It is fair to observe that the passage of these tax reform packages by the Republicans is eerily similar to the passage of Obamacare by the Democrats.  The Republicans had time to do this the right way; using normal rules of order.  The Republicans had campaigned for eight years that this tax reform was one of their top priorities.  The Republicans caved into every single potentate Senator who dared, at the last minute, to threaten a desertion of the unified Republican tax message.  No matter how much this nation needed tax reform and how effective this possible reform may prove to be (once reconciled), this manner of legislating is shameful.  There can be little doubt that just as Pelosi’s Obamacare claim of “having to pass it to see what’s in it” was true; the same likelihood of unanticipated consequences will rule in the eventual passage of this Republican tax reform. 

Who Shall Judge?  And as a final note, let us turn to the fates of Al Franken, John Conyers, and Roy Moore…and others both present and yet to arrive.  Specifically; what standing might Congress have to judge whether or not a person is suitable to serve in its hallowed halls? Without addressing the merits of each of the mentioned politicians’ alleged transgressions, I will suggest one clarifying point at which to begin.  The appointed Congressional powers-to-be, be they the Ethics Committees or whatever, should restrict their resources and jurisdiction to the actions and behavior of its members while they are members.   Once a politician leaves Congress through defeat, death, or retirement, there is obviously little cause for any type of ethical judgment to be passed.  However, if the actions or behavior in question occurred prior to the individual assuming their elected office in Congress, then there appears to be a temptation by some within Congress to determine whether or not that particular individual is fit to serve in Congress.  Without going into the low altitude that the moral and ethical standards of Congress reside at, suffice it to say that matters that occur prior to assuming political office should be left to the auspices of the law, the people, and the Lord.  It is simply too ridiculous to consider the good members of Congress sitting in judgment on the wisdom of any particular state’s voters.  

When “Half a Pie” is Sufficient.

I have written many times over the past years about the poisonous political divisions within our society.  They are not disappearing.  They are becoming more pronounced.  There is little, if any, evidence that they will even begin to diminish any time soon.  While there can be much debate about when the civility and statesmanship in our government’s political nature began to recede, there is no question that a short backwards glance in the range of 25 years will find that it has not been that long since Democrats and Republicans once knew how to co-exist in a political environment without the use of long knives and hand grenades.

There is a reality among us that we must each simply address.  Our society and culture is 40-45 percent liberal, 40-45 percent conservative, and the ones in the center are not real sure where they stand politically on a daily basis.  They have no allegiance to a national party and many have checked out on the subject of politics.   They are busy living their lives, paying their bills, raising their kids, earning their paychecks, and dealing with the occasional personal crisis that rears its head in each of our worlds.  This is where we are; this is who we are; and this is how we are.  The entertainment world has embraced this situation.  Most of the late night comedians have made the decision to tailor their acts to those of a liberal persuasion.  They understand that their over-the-top rhetoric and subject matter will alienate and offend people with different, more conservative opinions and frankly…they don’t give a damn.  If you don’t drink their kool-aid, you are not a concern to them.  The majority of those folks popularly known as journalists have also decided that they can coddle the segment of the population that will warm up to their agenda and can write off the others.  Do you actually believe that Sean Hannity really cares about how many liberals watch his show?  Reality has demonstrated that a particular 40-45 percent of the population that can be effectively targeted is quite sufficient to support many types of commercial and political efforts.  Many enterprises from every segment of our culture have decided that “half the pie” is sufficient.

There is something about this seismic shift that concerns me.  Perhaps it is just me and I could be mistaken, but I believe that I see this attitude crossing over into the very fiber of our nation; going deep into the entertainment industry, mixing in with the marketing of various products and services, and dominating the polishing of images both commercial and political.  It is seeping into our judicial system, our education system, and yes…in some instances, even into our religion.  It is sobering to watch Stephen Colbert and realize that he honestly could not care less whether you watch his show or not.  If his liberal rhetoric and crude humor offends your conservative senses…tough luck.  He could really care less about you, what you think, and how you live.  He is a child of the left, just as Tucker Carlson is a child of the right.   These folks know you control the clicker and can switch channels; and they DO…NOT…CARE.  It is has gotten to the place where product and service commercials are so heavily messaged with social context that you wonder exactly what it is that they are hawking.  Is it just me or is anyone else sick and tired of being constantly bombarded by Corporate America and their marketing efforts that show me in graphic detail how our society should look…and think…and speak…and act.  What happened to the days when an actual product or service was featured in marketing efforts?  I hate myself for this, but I have to admit that part of my purchasing decision process as a consumer is now the consideration of how the manufacturer handles their social messaging.  Who really needs this foolishness?  I want tape that sticks, pens that write, deodorant that keeps me from stinking, shampoo that keeps my hair clean, investments that make a profit, cars and trucks that are reliable…well, you get the point.

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The really scary part of this whole deal is that the truth is becoming evident that we CAN exist as a divided society.  The left can sell to the left, the right can sell to the right, and there are sufficient numbers on each side to make the respective boat float.  The gulf between the two philosophies can continue to widen and each side will simply polish up their demographic targeting, pick off a few of those independents in the middle, and write off a huge part of the American people from their business.  Our institutions of higher learning and the fields of academia have long been liberal bastions; but it seems like they used to be a bit more subtle and cautious about their leftist agendas.  We now see college administrators, faculty, and organizations openly and proudly opposing even the consideration of opposing points of view.  We now see instances where this political and social tunnel vision is seeping into K-thru-12 education.  Is this the future for our country?  Will conservatives have their own preferred states to live and work in?  Will liberals exclusively attend a handful of colleges while conservatives choose others?  Will the media take that last, short step towards obvious political bias and throw away any semblance of balance? 

When we consider the possible consequences of the path we are on, it is impossible to predict with any degree of certainty where it will all end.  What can be said with complete certainty is that we as a divided nation are weaker, less just and caring, less judicious in our compassion, less admired in our global world, and certainly of less value as a culturally rich society.   The concept of America is now in full debate.  There are those who advocate allegiance to the fundamental tenets set forth in black and white with our constitution and founding fathers.  There are those that submit that we, as a nation, are an evolving experiment that can be changed, improved, and reinvented to a new and enlightened level.  And even though our nation’s founding principles provide process for changes in our government, that process to many is inadequate to address the changes they so fervently desire.   It is not an exaggeration to say that the heart and soul of our nation is at stake in the great debate and divide that is ongoing.  Has the blood and treasure spent throughout history to preserve the tenets of our founding fathers been invested to preserve the original concepts of these United States or were they the price we paid for the freedom to reinvent our nation and change it into a new and different country driven by progressive concerns and considerations?  You decide.

Hypocrisy and Hubris.

Hypocrisy first.  Every man or woman is supposed to be presumed innocent prior to trial.  Alabama Republican and Senatorial nominee Moore’s escapade is no different.   However, when numerous complainants come forward with some of the specifics that we are seeing in their accusations, there certainly seems to be the real possibility of fire down inside that smoke.  At the very least, Moore should back out of this campaign and deal with his personal issues.  It certainly seems like an effort that might require his full attention.  As an aside, how fascinating it is to see the way liberals have been reacting to the rash of articles comparing Moore’s issues with those of Bill Clinton, the fat Hollywood director/producer, and some various Kennedys.  There has never been equal justice in American courts, either the judicial ones or the ones that deal with public opinion.  In America, one gets as much justice as they can afford.  We should not expect saints in our Congress; that quest would never be fulfilled.  Who wants a saint making all the rules anyway?  On the other hand, there are certain moral and ethical standards that we can reasonably expect to be met by Senators and Representatives.  It is one of those deals where we might not be able to put the list down in black and white, but I think we all know the “pass or fail” grade when we encounter it.  Until proven otherwise…Moore has failed.

And speaking of hypocrisy…have you read Hillary’s latest comments about the possibility of a special counsel to look into her Uranium One deal?  If you want to get the real and honest scoop on Trump Investigations versus Clinton Investigations, go to McCarthy @

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453659/mueller-paul-manafort-investigation-hardball-tactics  .

Special counsels are a bad idea, whether they are investigating Republicans or Democrats.  It is an open invitation to political skulduggery and mission creep.  If our Department of Justice and other related government law enforcement agencies cannot be trusted to conduct transparent, non-biased, and competent investigations of politically-tinged issues, then we need some wholesale changes in civil service personnel.  Mueller is a joke, a farce, and the biggest bamboozle ever perpetrated on the American taxpayer.  The sooner he can complete this circus he is conducting, the better.  Appointing another Special Counsel to look into Democratic Russian monkey business would be “oh so satisfying” to many Republicans in a tit for tat fashion; but it would be a terrible idea, a colossal waste of time and money, and would only serve to further devolve the poisonous political environment that currently exists in WDC.  Civil servants, especially high ranking civil servants, are very well paid.  They need to step up, make the hard decisions they are paid to make, do their jobs, and quit passing the buck and ducking their obligations.

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Now, about that hubris…in the U.S. Senate.  Mitch McConnell, my home state Senator, drives me nuts sometimes with his total allegiance to Senate traditions and decorum.  Most times these days, I just want him to throw down and play hardball with the majority advantages that he holds.  On the other hand, I suppose for the Senate to survive in some type of semi-civil state, there must be McConnells on both sides of the political aisle.  They are likely the closest thing we have to statesmen these days.  But this absurd expectation of each U.S. Senator that has become so prevalent over the last decade of demanding legislation that is precisely according to their liking is becoming very tiresome.  We saw it most recently in the Senate Republican’s effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.  The pathetic drama inflicted upon us by McCain, Collins, and Murkowski borders on the unbearable.  And now we have Obamacare, the Sequel: Republican Tax Reform; more of the same drama and grandstanding, beginning with Senator Ron Johnson.   These people know the legislative process and they know what is doable and what is not.  They know when the process will allow for changes in the legislative product and when it is simply designed to move the bill forward to a later reckoning.  History has taught us that pushing legislation in the House is like herding cats; a frustrating and nebulous process.  But so far in the Trump Administration, the House has been the mature body with members serving their paltry two-year terms while the hubris of the “Senate elites” has exposed them to be the preening, shallow, unprincipled politicians we all suspected.  Love him or hate him, we must give a tip of the hat to Paul Ryan for moving actual legislation through the sausage factory that is the U.S. House in an impressive and meaningful way.  Unfortunately, once it has achieved House passage, said legislation heads over to the Senate graveyard to serve as a pretense for grandstanding.  Six years is waaaaay tooooo looooong for some of these dudes (and dudesses) to be serving in office.  Term limits cannot come soon enough to our nation’s government.  For the time being in WDC, we are seeing the triumph of House citizenry government over the arrogance of Senate vanity. 

Anyone who has ever been to WDC and Capitol Hill can’t help but be struck by the obvious grandeur that surrounds everything Senatorial in nature.  When you walk through a Senate office building, you can’t help but notice that the doors are little bit higher and wider, the ceilings are a little bit taller, the offices are a good bit larger, the furnishings a bit more plush, and the people are a damn sight more pompous.  It is no wonder that in this environment, Senators form their sense of entitlement and privilege.  And as we have done so many times in the past, when we graduate one of these prima donnas to the White House, the club only deepens its hold on all things civic.  Be they Democrat or Republican, there is much to be said for sending an outsider to WDC as President.  On the one hand, the established rule of order is threatened and that new outsider has a difficult time getting any cooperation out of the old heads.  But on the positive side, an outsider brings a stark contrast to the front that reminds us of how far removed our elected officials are from living in the real world. 

Our Cultural and Governmental Dissonance Continues Unabated.

It is now a known fact that the Obama IRS was weaponized to target conservative groups and individuals.  The IRS has admitted as much in a formal apology letter to those targeted groups and individuals and several large settlement checks are being made payable to those same folks.  You, me, and all the other taxpayers are paying for Obama’s IRS zealots’ misbehavior while they go merrily off into retirement with their pension checks.

• ·      Once again, it is useful to consider how ridiculous we look as a society and culture when we note that Nixon’s proposed four articles of impeachment included an “attempt” to use the IRS for political purposes.   Think about that for a moment…Nixon tries unsuccessfully to do it and they were going to impeach him for it.  Obama actually does it and skates away without a trace.
• ·      And  how about the way the intelligence agencies of our government, under the guidance of Obama/Holder/Brennan,  kind of adopted the DNC/Clinton Trump dossier, likely used tax dollars to fund its continuance, used it to execute unethical and perhaps illegal unmasking actions, and essentially used our national security apparatus for pure, political purposes?
• ·      The Obama DOJ was obviously used for political purposes to unmask, probe, and go on fishing expeditions for Trump dirt.   Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, and Samantha Power were apparently waist deep in blatantly exploiting highly sensitive and restricted intelligence data for pure political gain.  And what are the consequences for those actions…at least so far?  Nada.
• ·      Records show that Obama, who was term-limited and was a very lame duck, and through his official campaign organization, paid Fusion GPS, the Kremlin-mucking, dirt raking outfit funded by the DNC and Hillary Clinton Campaign, almost a cool $1 million.  Why in the world would that happen?  He was not running for office.  It was not spent to help elect Democratic candidates for Congress.  It was plain and simple a power play and abuse in a lame attempt to continue his perverted agenda rather than turn the government over to the reality TV show personality put up for President by the Republicans. 
• ·      How farcical is it that Robert Mueller and his band of F. Lee Bailey wannabes are now banging around in the cupboards of any individual who has ever been associated with anything Trump, spending YOUR tax dollars by the millions, and running without any oversight authority as hard as they can to pin something…anything…on the President or someone he once met or shook hands with.  Robert Mueller, who was in charge of the FBI when the Uranium One “get rich scheme” was running wide open and who very likely played a part in involving the FBI, the Obama Administration, and who knows what other intelligence agencies with the ridiculous Fusion GPS Trump dossier?  It is nothing short of “theatre of the absurd” to see Mueller and his band of merry lawyers chasing around the goblins of Trump Russian collusion when facts are breaking every few days about the actual collusion between the DNC, Hillary Clinton, the Obama Administration, and Fusion GPS with the Russians.
• ·      Obama’s absolute foolishness in foreign policy made America a laughing stock on a global basis, made us a tool of foreign leaders who chose to exploit Obama’s naiveté, and was unvarnished proof that he placed his own quest for personal acclamation well above any concerns about the security of this nation.  The entire free world is now dealing with the consequences of his misadventures involving Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
• ·      Schumer’s recent comment about the House Republican Tax Plan (“the longer it lies in the sun, the more it stinks”) is much more appropriately applied to the Obama/Clinton Administration than it is to Congressional tax reform legislation.
• ·      In my humble opinion, considering all of the devolution we have seen over the last decade in government ethics and operations, the single greatest tragedy in all of this is the abdication of the mainstream media and news journalistic community of its credibility, respect, and responsibility to serve as the public’s watchdog on our government.   We have seen the pendulum swing from a point of total and absolute enthrallment with Obama and his ilk (shivers down the leg and all that); resulting in his understandable attitude that he could get away with all things, spin the stories in any fashion he pleased, ignore the accepted standards of Executive operations and ethics, and essentially do anything and everything in his quest for his fantastical vision of Obama’s America.  And now that same pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme where there is no honest examination or assessment of President Trump and his Administration; but rather a blindly executed, knee jerk, obstinate and irrational resistance to anything Trump.  In its long history of Presidential misadventures and boundary explorations, there has likely never been a greater need for media and journalistic oversight that there was in the Obama Administration and that there will be in the Trump Administration.  And now, as with then, when we need them the most and their moment of fulfillment arrives; they are reduced to a babbling, partisan, unethical, and self-serving bunch of political hacks that no one believes in.  The Democrats know where to turn the dial to get their red meat.  The Republicans equally know exactly which stations butter their bread.  And very damn few of us take the time to sample a bit of both sides’ wares.  We simply consume our daily diet of the news that depicts the world in the way we view it.  History will undoubtedly show that when the United States needed its free press the most, that free press was out to lunch.
• ·      And what about Obama and Clinton rigging the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary for Clinton, hoping to insure a continuance of the Obama idiocy.  Do you suppose Sanders is feeling the “Bern” yet?
• ·      There is the ultimate, ironic twist to the tragedy of angst that is all things Clinton.  Had the Democratic National Party  not sold its soul to Hillary Clinton and guaranteed her the nomination, a full two months before Vice-President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek the nomination,  there is the distinct possibility that Ole Slow Joe might not have withdrawn from the contest.  We will never know how much he knew about the stacked deck the DNC and Hillary had created; but the knowledge of that unholy alliance might very well have been the deciding factor in his decision not to seek the presidency.  Considering that the longer the primary and general election season progressed (right up to the election date), the more pathetic a candidate Hillary Clinton became; it is entirely possible that Joe Biden might very well have decided to enter into the fray and oppose her for the Democratic nomination.  And had that happened; had Joe Biden been running against Donald Trump for President in November of 2016…America would have a different President today.  For better or worse?

Hillary is a Crook; Obama is an Educated Fool; and Trump is a Loudmouth Boor. Whodoyawant fer Prez?

Now let’s see how this works…If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…it is probably a duck.  Obama is the President who desperately wants to get his Iran Nuclear Deal approved to (so he believes) cement his legacy.   A key player in getting Iran to sign said agreement is Putin, who is the power behind the Iranian throne.  Putin has his greedy fingers into all things that are Russian and profit-making, such as an effort by Russian company Uranium One to corner the world’s uranium market.  Hillary Clinton is Secretary of State and pretty much has a free-hand (consolation prize from her loss to Obama and price of admission into his Administration) in all things foreign policy.  Hillary is in the midst of her presidential quest that, from all appearances, seems bound for glorious success.  Oh…by the way…uranium is a base ingredient for nuclear weapons and is the fuel for nuclear generators, which just happen to account for 19.7 percent of America’s electrical generation.  The Russian effort to get their uranium deal approved through our government involved about 20 percent of all American uranium deposits.  And…just as a side note…as is the case in all things Russian, the effort by Russian interests in seeking this uranium deal approval involved bribery, money laundering, and other various nefarious practices and…the U.S. Government knew this was going on because that had a confidential informant undercover in the negotiations, placed there by the FBI.  And to add one more layer of bizarre to this episode, the FBI and the Obama Administration chose for some reason (what could that reason possibly be now?) not to disclose this criminal activity to the Congress, who was at that time evaluating the uranium deal as part of their oversight responsibilities.  Now, that just about sets the stage.

Obama gets his Iranian Deal signed by the rulers of Iran, with the prodding of Putin’s Russia and with the shipping of pallets loaded with cash (yes…stacks of bundled currency) directly to the Iranian rulers.  Picture in your mind what a payoff looks like; yep…that’s it.  So while they are aware of Russian government involvement and sponsorship of illegal activities in the uranium deal, the Obama Administration keeps that information secret, ships cold hard cash to the Iranian rulers to use as they please (terrorists, line up for your share),  turns a blind eye to Clinton’s personal enrichment in the deal (more on that to come), enlists the mainstream media in touting the utter brilliance of the agreement, and gets Iranian rulers to sign off on a list of promises that they obviously have no intention of honoring.  Law be damned; ethics be damned; national security be damned; all things are expendable in the quest of a legacy.

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Now as Obama and his ilk were providing cover, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton watches her husband stroll over to Russia and receive a cool $500,000 to make a speech for the bank that is backing the uranium deal.  Simultaneously, approximately $2.35 million flows into the Clinton Foundation from a foundation set up by Uranium One’s (the Russian front company in the uranium deal) chairman.  And as anyone who has been paying attention whatsoever knows, once money goes into the Clinton Foundation black hole, no one knows where it goes.  So while serving in the office that is responsible as the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser, Hillary Clinton is lining her pockets with cash while compromising not only her office as Secretary of State; but also compromising the very security of this nation by enabling the uranium deal.  Law be damned; ethics be damned; national security be damned; all things are expendable in the quest for cash.

And where is Donald Trump in all of this?  Where is the Russian collusion that we have been hearing about constantly from the Democrats and the mainstream media for over a year?  The so-called collusion that Robert Mueller (who by the way was running the FBI during the uranium deal) and his superstar (?) team of ace prosecutors are seeking?  While the mainstream media is all over Donald Trump Jr. entertaining overtures of possible opposition research material on Hillary Clinton, they are strangely quiet while the Clinton campaign and the DNC is surreptitiously paying out over $9 million ($5.6m Clinton/$3.6m DNC) to fund  the so-called Trump dossier.  Oh…and by the way…no one can recall those payments for the dossier’s production and somehow it was overlooked for federal reporting purposes on campaign expenses.  While certainly behaving in a fashion that embarrasses many people (other than himself) who dearly wanted him to defeat Clinton, Trump appears to have danced with, but never embraced, the Russian efforts to feed him disinformation about his political opponent.  The DNC and Hillary Campaign Machine, on the other hand, appears to have leapt into bed with the Russian effort to sell them a dossier filled with Trump disinformation.

Chickens coming home to roost; karma is a bitch; what comes around goes around; what’s fair for the goose is fair for the gander; those who live in glass houses should not throw stones; careful what you sow, lest come the harvest; all of these seem to be formulating a perfect Democratic storm.  It is too early to tell exactly to what extent ethics and laws were broken in this escapade; and it absolutely ludicrous for anything Republican in nature to promote any comparisons that might make them appear saintly (that ain’t happening).  But we should all consider the facts, the hard cold facts, in this Uranium One story and dwell on the point that had Donald Trump not defeated Hillary Clinton for President last November, none of this would have ever seen the light of day.  So while Jeff Flake and Bob Corker and John McCain find it nigh on impossible to deal with the sophomoric reality TV star currently in the White House; they would be wise to consider what the alternatives to President Trump were.  Sometimes, the least of all evils is the best choice available.

Living in a Cocoon Changes People.

With so much very real and meaningful news in this wide world, the mainstream media is apparently obsessed with the parting shots of two U.S. Senators, their maverick cohort from Arizona, and a glitter cowgirl wannabe Representative from Florida.  It seems that anyone, anytime, and in any way can diss President Trump and become an instant rock star.  It is one thing to hear opposition and the “Resist” call from the Democratic Party; they are still in denial about losing the last national election.  But it is difficult to understand why given a rare opportunity to govern with control of the Executive and Legislative branches of government, the Republicans can’t get their act together and get something done.

On several occasions over the last year, I have written critical remarks about Donald Trump and how he conducts himself both personally and politically.  Lord knows he is not the most civil politician; but civility is not a very common trait these days in any politician.  And truth be told, how many of us wouldn’t lose our cool to some degree if everyone and their uncle was on our case about   …EVERY…SINGLE…THING…THAT…WE…SAID…OR…DID?  No doubt, our President brings much of the turmoil and drama that follows him down upon himself.  His childish and perpetually sophomoric tweeting is not only demeaning to himself and the office he occupies; but it is quite likely the largest impediment to gaining some degree of accomplishment and stature for his term in office.

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Even so, it is puzzling why so many Republicans in WDC hold President Trump in such obvious contempt.  Are they really so sanctimonious that they feel themselves to be superior to the President in character and judgment?   These Senators and Representatives who have reveled in their positions of authority and posh benefits,  held themselves up to be models of integrity and wisdom, and have been part and parcel of running this nation’s government into the ground over the last decade or more?  Flake and Corker and McCain, now being hailed as heroes by the Democrats and the liberal media, have suddenly found their critical voices after eight long years of silence while Obama fiddled away.  Flake and Corker, who have very long odds of re-election in their home states; and then McCain, who hates Trump based on their war of words and his resentment that Trump accomplished the very task that he himself wanted so badly to succeed at and failed.  It must be hard to know that you are a genius among fools and then have to accept the role of lowly Senator when the man you consider the biggest fool of all is your President.

As I have said before, President Trump can be a buffoon, he is an egomaniac, he is a poor loser, he is an even worse winner, he has lowered the civility level in the White House, and he apparently has no intention of changing his stripes to please anyone not serving his purposes.  But he is our President.  He is the leader of the Republican Party.  He is the leader of the majority national Republicans who defeated the minority national Democrats last November.  For all of his faults, he deserves the respect due the office he occupies.  However, that deference does not extend to respect for the man and his habits.   The President has not yet, and may not ever, grasp that concept of distinction.  But whether or not his self-awareness matures beyond the current high school level, he will continue to serve as this nation’s leader and Commander in Chief until his term(s) expires.  He will establish policies and make decisions that impact each of us as citizens.  Republicans should criticize within reason, speak opposition when the opportunity presents itself, and then get on the field to win the ballgame.  If they can’t do that, then go quietly into the good night.  Democrats should present the alternatives to Trump’s policies and initiatives when they honestly and sincerely disagree.  But this knee-jerk “Resist” is not helping anyone; least of all themselves.  It is hard to imagine how the mainstream media and journalistic community can sink to any lower level than the one they currently occupy; but they seem intent on plumbing those depths.

It is absolutely incredible to me that anyone or any entity could look at the fledgling Trump administration and call it corrupt on the heels of Obama’s eight years of total disregard for ethics, bipartisanship, transparency, and yes…even the law.  As the days and months pass away and we get further away from its time in space, the width and depth of the Obama Administration corruption becomes more apparent.  History will eventually show that not since Richard Nixon’s team of power-hungry faithful ran the White House, no administration has allowed itself to be so blinded by its zealotry and dedication to its own ideals and principles.

At some point, it should occur to President Trump’s manic critics that if in fact he is the idiot they think him to be, he will tangle himself up if given sufficient rope.  Perhaps rather than making themselves look foolish with baseless opposition and criticisms, they should simply play their traditional roles and let the President walk through the door on his own.  If he is as inept as they think, he will stumble through that door and fall on his face.  Perhaps their certitude of that pratfall is not so great and their fear of his successful entry through that door is a greater threat?   The American electorate shocked themselves and most of the world last November when they elected Donald Trump as President.  They did not elect him because of who he was; they elected him because of what he represented.  And because of whom he was running against.  The Republicans have not grasped that first concept.  The Democrats have not grasped the second.  And the media?  Well, they are simply clueless.