The Lipstick is Wearing Thin and Other Matters

Lipstick on a Pig.  As ridiculous as the Trump Campaign/Russia Collusion farce was, it never seemed to reach the point of absolute annoyance that the House Impeachment Inquiry has attained.  The House Democrats have put lipstick on their impeachment livestock, but it has really worn thin and if you look very closely…it hardly remains a shade of red.  Furthermore I can assure you; if the pig ends up in the Senate, where the Republicans will be running the show, it will end up as a large order of pulled pork barbecue.  Don’t be surprised if Speaker Pelosi doesn’t figure out some way to bail out of this sad episode (perhaps a censure motion?) and stave off the Senate cook-out.  If she doesn’t want to see her porcine product skewered in the Senate, she’d better be developing an alternative strategy.  The impeachment jar is empty, the voters are sick and tired of the same old Democratic story, and there is legislative business that needs doing.

Double Standard Abounds.  The mainstream media has sold its soul to the Resistance and forfeited all of its ethics and credibility through its biased coverage of the Trump Administration.  But even more breath-taking than their shameless coverage is the obvious double standard demonstrated when considering their Trump coverage versus their Obama coverage.  Point in case: https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/11/18/analysis_medias_no_evidence_biden_standard_is_a_double_standard_121241.html .  The House Democrats, in unison with their partners in the mainstream media, started this circus by accusing Trump of a quid pro quo and then morphed those charges into bribery.  The facts are that Obama literally sent a pallet of cash to the Iranian Mullahs and President Rouhani in an effort to seal his JCPA Iranian Nuclear Deal; i.e. bribery.  As recorded on video, Biden threatened to withhold foreign aid to Ukraine if a certain Ukrainian prosecutor wasn’t fired (the prosecutor was fired and then the aid was delivered); i.e. quid pro quo. 

As a side note, attorney Andrew Weissmann, formerly known as Robert Mueller’s pit bull, has taken a job with MSNBC.  The man who many believe actually ran Mueller’s special investigation is now spouting new conspiracy theories relating to the Trump Administration.  It is also rumored that the upcoming DOJ IG Horowitz report will name a former Mueller team member as one of the individuals referred to the DOJ for possible criminal prosecution.  How can the mainstream media even dare to think that anyone will take them seriously when they prop up naked partisans like these and call them legitimate news sources or opinions?  And even more bizarre, will history marvel at how the American people could ever have taken the Mueller Investigation seriously?  BTW…a detailed expense report for the Mueller Investigation has never been released and likely never will be.  I expect it would be quite revealing to find out exactly how much taxpayer money was wasted on this fiasco. 

Civility in WDC?  In past posts, I have repeatedly called for a semblance of statesmanship and civility in our government proceedings on Capitol Hill.  Here is another online voice calling for a new day in political endeavors: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/can-the-american-right-and-left-get-back-to-civil-debate/ .   As tragic and disillusioning as it is to look over the political landscape of America today; it is even more difficult to see any prospect whatsoever of any form of civility returning to our nation’s capitol.  The die appears to be cast that will condemn this current generation of leaders to the partisan paralysis that has become so prevalent in our country’s politics.  We can only hope that the next generation of leaders from both sides of the aisle will be better able to work together in the administration of our government.

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Destroying Your Enemies.  This new attitude that seems to be so pervasive in our nation about bludgeoning anyone who deigns to disagree with your opinions, political or otherwise, is quite troubling.  It is so brazeningly hypocritical for a group to decry a lack of tolerance in those they disagree with while simultaneously screaming intolerance for those they themselves oppose.  Here is a perfect example of how outrageous this whole movement has become: https://jonathanturley.org/2019/11/21/rep-blumenauer-under-fire-for-calling-for-boycott-of-sondlands-hotels-to-pressure-him/ .   

The older I get, the more I appreciate and exercise the right to spend my consumer dollars and time supporting products and causes I can believe in.  But to me, this power of personal choice is a private matter and these organized boycotts of people and businesses have a bad look.  America is a free country and we all have the right to criticize and cite valid reasons for that criticism.  But to take that strategy further into the land of organized and politically-motivated boycotts is contrary to the tenants of freedom upon which this nation was founded.

To Seek Out New Life and New Civilizations.  For those out there who are ardent supporters of spending a portion of the U.S. taxpayer largesse on exploration of all kinds, here is an update: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/initiatives/  .  While my conservative side questions the wisdom of spending millions on oceanic and deep space exploration while our federal deficit explodes; my imaginative side argues that if we are going to be a leading nation on this planet, then we must dream of life beyond what we know and reach beyond our grasp.   I will add this to the discussion…If we are going to continue to finance large exploration projects; I would prefer to prioritize the Arctic and Antarctic regions, along with the ocean depths, before we blast off blindly into space.  We can certainly manage to juggle more than one ball at a time and space does represent the final frontier; but I would like for us to explore our local options first.  There are certainly other nations looking at those local options: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2019/july/russias-activities-arctic-cannot-go-unchecked-either .

John Solomon Responds.  One of the most professional and hard-working journalists I know of took some flak this week from House Impeachment Inquiry hearings witness Lt. Col. (Mister) Alexander Vindman.  Vindman questioned the veracity of Solomon’s reporting in a rather provocative and snarky fashion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/08/you-know-his-grammar-might-have-been-right-lt-col-vindman-bashed-john-solomon-testimony/ .   Out of respect for Solomon, who is an example of those people in the news arena who are trying to do it the right way, I am linking his response to Vindman: https://johnsolomonreports.com/responding-to-lt-col-vindman-about-my-ukraine-columns-with-the-facts/ .  A proper take-down such as this needs no further commentary.

The Search for a Better President.  Our system of selecting a President is messed up.  No, I do not question the wisdom of our federal general election process; the Electoral College system works just fine for me.  What I am questioning is the method we use to get down to the final two (national party) candidates on the ballot from which we have to choose our President.  Both the Republicans for 2016 and the Democrats for 2020 have demonstrated that too many candidates in a free-for-all presidential primary, coupled with a bizarre scheduling of primary contests pinging arbitrarily across the country, leads us to a less than desirable end result.  Is there perhaps a better way?  Here is some food for thought: http://centerlineright.blogspot.com/2016/08/question-for-our-national-parties-wtf.html .  And while we’re at it, let’s go ahead and address the lack of wisdom in perpetuating a bad choice simply because they are incumbents.  Trump was a bad choice.   He was clearly a better choice than Hillary Clinton; but a bad choice nonetheless.  And once we put a person in the White House, be they Democrat or Republican, history shows us that we are likely to double down on the original choice of selecting that individual as the leader of our Party and our Nation.  Incumbents just don’t lose too often.  Consider for a moment the concept of term limits: http://centerlineright.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-place-to-begin.html . 

Term limits would free us from the arrogant extremities of Donald Trump for a second term and a better primary system would likely present us with improved choices when we go to the polls for 2020.  As all Presidents before him have done, Trump will spend the last two years of his first term running for a second term.  Every Senator or Representative in Congress spends an inordinate amount of their time and energy raising campaign dollars in order to remain in office.  That is time and energy that should be spent on doing the people’s business and all that campaign money simply leads to corruption and improper influence.