THE BOLTON BOOK

For those too busy to read

Most people have one of two viewpoints on John Bolton. Some see him for what he is, an intelligent neoconservative (neocon) while others view him as a self-serving public servant who decided that he knew better than Donald Trump. According to his book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir this Bolton curmudgeon is always right and has the power to back sell. In diplomatic terms, his righteousness attempts more to impress and less to illuminate. That being said, there is value in reading this book. For those on the left, it reinforces all the previous memoirs and hatchet jobs. For those who follow the neocon religion, you will see that Bolton is just as recalcitrant as Trump. If you call anyone who confronts President Trump’s petulance and lies a traitor, you will only get steamed.

One of the best quotes in the book is Bolton’s reaction to the way Trump typically handled communication. Bolton said, “As was often the case, Trump had truth mixed with misunderstanding and malice.” One of the low points in the tome is Bolton’s defense of his statement that we should employ the “Libyan model” when dealing with North Korea and Kim Jung-Un. In fact, after Muammar al-Gaddafi got rid of his nuclear capabilities the Arab summer came. The two have nothing to do with each other, but in the latter Gaddafi was run out of office, captured by a mob and murdered on a road. Bolton uses the Latin “post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” which means after this, therefore, because of this. The use of Latin throughout the book is a literary trick. He inserts arcane words and phrases to stamp his IQ on the text rather than aiming for effective and understandable writing.

Throughout his book, Bolton posits an incredulous vision of the past. Of course, the supreme leader in North Korea heard the phrase “Libyan model” and assumed that America was going to take away his bombs, overthrow him, then kill him and unite the peninsula. The walk-back in the book is flimsy.

Bolton clearly highlights one of Trump’s worst habits, not listening. Certainly, one can keep their mouth shut while not listening, but Bolton points out a different situation with Trump. When someone starts talking, the “leader of the free world” rudely interrupts and filibusters until everyone submits to his will and parrots his opinions. Bolton claims his role was keeping Trump from disastrous actions. He also shares his harsh criticism of the Trump term, “My Generals.” It can best be said that Bolton had a pure Napoleonic complex and viewed himself as “protecting” the nation from an ill-prepared president.

John Bolton’s book is noticeably big. Its 592 pages seem to cover every event that happened while John Bolton was Trump’s “Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.” Hmmm, his title is just about as long as the book. It’s written in diary style and follows the timeline of the way events unfolded. Don’t expect any descriptive passages based on visual observation. The book mostly focuses on the dialogs of its main characters.

Caution, in its initial release this book has many semi-typos. This is probably the result of too many hands touching the work. The White House wanted much of it to be redacted because they said it contained extremely sensitive, classified information. That’s doubtful. I think they were concerned about how the book’s details make Trump look bad.

Most of the book covers what Trump said, and how he handled leaders around the world. Those accounts are embarrassing not only to Trump, but to all of us. We elected an idiot. Trump’s lack of discipline with and execution of the duties of his office is stunningly glaring in this book. I came away from each chapter thinking the 45^th President is so misinformed that he’s dangerous.

Who should read this book? The person who first comes to mind is Donald Trump. It’s John Bolton’s big reveal of all those times he didn’t speak truth to Trump’s face and the information he didn’t share with the oversight committees in Congress. If only Trump could read, perhaps he could begin to understand how people feel about him. Of course, it would hurt his feelings, but at this point who gives a damn?

A legal specialist might suggest that much of what is in Bolton’s book is hearsay, but at least he has conveyed those things he “thought” and “witnessed.” It would have been so much better had Bolton testified during the Impeachment Trial. Those involved in supporting Trump during that debacle should study this book and then ask themselves, “Why am I supporting our imbecile president?”

I highly recommend this book to any young person who is thinking about going into government, law or politics. It clearly expresses not only how governance should NOT be conducted, but how things SHOULD work in our Executive Branch. What I took away from this book is that Bolton believes Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama are not as smart as he is. Each of his opinions is highly filtered through his own ideological prism. While at times he can be objective, his sense of humor is sarcastic and heavily dosed with ad hominem.

There are some descriptions in Bolton’s book that make me question if he wrote the opposite of what he believes or was just being sarcastic. Most of the time my conclusion was the latter, but anyone could easily misunderstand his position. I have an impression that John Bolton is just as recalcitrant as his former boss. He’s also a “save his own ass-type” with a lengthy chapter on Venezuela, which is Trump’s and Bolton’s personal “bay of pigs” embarrassment. Bolton blames everyone else for the failures, just like Trump blames Bolton. Bolton admits that he combined the pandemic healthcare group with the biological warfare group, claiming that made them more efficient. He says they did their job on the COVID-19 case but that the real problem was the empty seat behind the resolute desk in the Oval Office, a clear attempt at his own vindication.

Now that we have psychological details about Trump’s life in the new book by his niece, Mary L. Trump, Bolton’s tome will be pushed aside and slowly dropped from news coverage. For a true news freak and political junky like me, Mary L. Trump’s book is amazing. A person trying to figure out who to vote for in November will view the book’s content through their own filters and prejudices.

If you want to save your money, you could wait until Bolton’s book arrives at your public library, if it is still open during the pandemic. To me, John Bolton has confirmed what all others have said before. When your critics think you are bad at what you do, and everyone who once worked for you thinks you are stupid or foolish, what more do we need to know? Many who have any sort of conversation with Donald Trump feel that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Bolton’s book simply confirms this.

Bolton says he won’t vote for Trump or Biden in November. Although Bolton wants us to think he’s some great “patriot,” he will waste his vote on someone else, like a “Bernie-bro.” I had no respect for John Bolton before I read his book and that hasn’t changed. He’s just another person who was tormented in his youth, spent his life being a good student with an excellent IQ and worked over and over to prove himself. He may be getting back at those who scorned his intellect, but he is in no way helping America. He’s helping John Bolton. At best, the book is a B-minus. It has some pictures at then end, but still, Trump will never read it.

The book that tells it like it is…

Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: If you only read one chapter of this book, try “Take a Knee for America” and think about our never-ending conflicts between minorities and the police. I’m not asking you to take a stand but having a deep and honest conversation about why some people think the way they do would be productive. This is a book for the moment which seeks to start a conservation about peace. And if you are worried about social media, you really should check out the chapter called “Social Media Menace.”

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

POLITICIANS SUCK!

A Vacuum Without Truth

Politicians are people, and all people have moments when they make senseless statements, but what a politician says matters. Due to our fabulous free press we get fact-checking, opinions and analysis of our “public servants.” Often we see their lies.

Politicians have tons of research and think they know the beliefs of the majority. Before a politician gets elected, he or she will say just about anything to get the job, but many times they don’t follow through on their statements and promises. It gets my goat when a politician continues their lies or misdirection instead of admitting they were wrong. They prefer to make up a second lie to cover the first. That’s why THEY SUCK!

Let’s get specific. Kelly Loeffler is a big donor who bought the Georgia seat in the Senate. She is a Republican who votes 100% the way Trump would want her to do. Ms. Loeffler and her husband handed Donald Trump a million dollars for his reelection. Loeffler has also been accused of insider trading. After she heard a security briefing on the possibility of COVID-19 coming to our shore, she and her husband sold a bunch of stocks. She wasn’t the only person in Congress who sold stock, and they were all questioned and investigated by the Security Exchange Commission. No one was charged. It’s important for you to know that Loeffler’s husband’s company owns the New York Stock Exchange.

Kelly looks like the typical wealthy politician who wants your money to add to the piles she already has. She donated $750,000 to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting former Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. She and her husband recently gave the National Republican Senatorial Committee $247,500. Like I said, she bought her appointment. Trump wants Doug Collins, the House member from the 9^th district in North Georgia, to be the Senator in Georgia. Trump believe Collins is more supportive of him. It’s too bad the Democrats don’t have a top-shelf candidate to run in this special “winner takes all” election. By the way, the other two candidates are African American Democrats.

That brings us to racism. I lived in Georgia for more than twenty years, and even as late as 2000 racism could be found on every corner. As one of the original 13 states, Georgia is especially important. The population of the peach state is about 10.6 million, which will probably soar to 12 million after the census. The 2018 US Census Bureau estimated that the state’s population is 58.3% White, 31.6% Black, 4.2% Asian and 2.9% consisting of smaller races and tribes. Kelly Loeffler has no intension of serving that 31.6% of African Americans voters. Here’s proof.

Senator Loeffler owns a minority share of Atlanta’s women’s professional basketball team, the Atlanta Dream. In a letter Loeffler recently sent to WNBA President Cathy Engelbert, she screeched that Black Lives Matter (BLM) is “totally misaligned with the values and goals of the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream, where we support tolerance and inclusion.” Instead of having WNBA players wear warmup shirts emblazoned with Black Lives Matter and courts painted with the same message, the senator urged the WNBA to put American flags on its jerseys as a “unifying rallying point for the American people.” Doesn’t the arena already have a US flag that we see while singing the National Anthem before every game?

In her letter, Loeffler went on to claim that the BLM movement harbors “anti-Semitic views” and promotes “violence and destruction across the country.” Then, like most Trump sycophants, she appeared on the Fox News channel to amplify her views. During her interview she misdirected with, “This is a very divisive organization based on Marxist principles. They threatened to burn the system down, literally and figuratively, if they don’t get what they want. This is an organization that seeks to destroy American principles, and I had to draw the line.” I’m glad she can draw, but can she read?

PERSONAL NOTE TO MS. LOEFFLER: Kelly, you really embarrassed yourself when trying to link BLM with Karl Marx. I’m not sure what you learned at the DePaul business school, but if you took the time to read you would see that Marx’ and Engel’s theories are more than racist, and they probably had a great influence on Adolf Hitler. They said, “Races endowed with superior qualities would boost economic development and productivity, while the less endowed ones would hold humanity back.” That is why Hitler killed Jews and why southern racists, the KKK and white supremacists killed black people. In short, dog, you are barking up the wrong tree.

I am sure Kelly Loeffler is a “nice person” and she would probably think I’m a jerk, but I would ask her to read the chapter Take a Knee for America in my most recent book, Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs. Most rich, white people have no grasp of the Black Lives Matter movement and its layers of nuance and power of its message. They aren’t saying a white person’s life doesn’t matter, but they are demanding their lives must mean more that what they currently have.

In February of this year, the House of Representative passed a law moving lynching onto the list of federal crimes. The vote was 410 to 4 and, oh, the fucked up four who voted against it are Ted Yoho (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Justin Amash (I-MI). It has taken us 120 years to get this far, but I am sure Kelly Loeffler will vote against it when that bill comes to the Senate for a vote,.

3,446 African Americans (that we know of) were lynched in America between 1882 and 1968. Murdering Black Americans with ropes was designed to intimidate them. Louie Gohmert serves as the US Representative from Texas’ first congressional district. I am sure he would never stand by and watch any human be lynched, but his actions and words are NOT helpful.

Kelly Loeffler’s comments are just more white people talk to stir up a base. They are also a cry for acceptance from Donald John Trump. I would ask Loeffler if she is against police brutality and wrongful deaths. I would ask if her relatives ever owned slaves. Mine have, and I am deeply embarrassed about it. Loeffler is not deaf on this subject, she’s brain dead about race relations in America today. She comes off like a 1950s politician, and they really SUCKED!

Senator Loeffler will lose the election because she failed to understand the need to serve ALL THE PEOPLE. It’s bad business for her to put down the viewpoints of her players (workers) and most African American basketball fans in Atlanta. If the players don’t play, there are no games. The players of the Atlanta Dream are asking Loeffler to sell her shares of the team and get out of the way. The American dream should trump the inanity of owner of the Atlanta Dream. The vacuum in this case is obviously between Kelly Loeffler’s ears. Next.

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

COMMUTE OR PARDON?

When Criminals Become Judges

I have never liked Roger Stone. He carries an immature, frat-boy mentality and he will do anything to win. He is a morally depraved asshole of the highest order who now claims he wants vindication. He says President Donald Trump saved his life. Hey, good for him. That’s one life saved by the Donald who doesn’t give a shit about the 134,000 Americans who have left this world because of COVID-19. I can’t help feeling that if Roger Stone were sent to a US prison, he would have contracted the coronavirus and died.

Now Stone wants to go back into court and get a new trial to clear his name. Sure, will Trump pick the judge, the jury and which media will cover the new trial? Donald Trump is a criminal and, just like his Attorney General William Barr, thinks he has the ultimate say about everything that happens in our country. Trump could have pardoned Roger Stone so he wouldn’t have to endure being thumped on the knuckles by some “corrupt judge.” Ha, that is rich, Trump has decided that he knows more about law, order and justice than anyone else. What is next? Maybe Trump should pardon Putin and all the comrades at Russia’s interference team GRU? At this point, nothing would surprise me.

The Russian election interference investigation was NOT a hoax and Trump continues to let Putin off the hook. Why? Roger Stone conspired with Wikileaks and the Russians to help Donald Trump get elected. He’s a fucking traitor and forty months in jail is way too light a sentence. Roger Stone intimidated witnesses by threatening bodily harm, but that is just “doing business” In Trump’s mob world. Maybe it’s time to bring back the firing squad?

I subscribe to Dan Goldman’s insight that the reason Trump acted now is he knows he will lose in November. Let me add that Orange Boy is pissed at the virus and must get revenge, so he’s picking the Justice Department to spank. Who would want to work there when the “leader of the free world” tears up your hard work even when it’s successful? Again, I will mention the brilliant observation of one of our readers that, like a spoiled kid, Trump will trash the gameboard, take the pieces and march on home. If he can’t play, no one else may be allowed to enjoy the game.

This may seem far-fetched, but Trump’s suggestion the other day that he’s going to produce an executive order to give DACA kids a pathway to citizenship might not be a diversion. Perhaps it’s a giant F.U. to the remaining old-line Republicans. He’s railed against DACA so much, how could he possibly think his base will like that move? Wait until Laura Ingraham and Anne Coulter get wind of that plan. He’ll immediately go on their shit lists.

But hey, Roger Stone won’t go to jail. Maybe in Trump’s disillusionment he thinks Roger will be able to pardon him when the prosecutors from New York come to arrest him within hours after he leaves office. Trump is a flight risk. He owns planes and the man should not receive bail. Trump is the largest loser of all time and the most embarrassing president we have ever had.

Does Roger Stone deserve to go to jail? Yes, he broke the law when he lied to Congress and this brings me to the unbalance of power. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate need to show bravery and use their power to regain their power of “equal branches” our founding fathers gave us. Congress needs to stop being so polite!

If someone didn’t show up for a hearing when they were subpoenaed, were I the Speaker of the House, or the Majority Leader of the Senate, I would send the Sergeant at Arms to arrest them for contempt of Congress. I would put them in a basement holding cell and leave them there until they decided to testify or provide the requested documents. Congress has the power to do so, but they haven’t used it recently. The Washington Post reports it was used back in 1935 and again in 1951 when several gamblers were detained. Such a bold move would make criminals more fearful and dismantle the attitude that Congress has no power.

Don’t think this is not a real thing. It is. It’s not an arcane tradition or myth; it’s the law. The House Sergeant at Arms serves on the Capitol Police Board and is responsible for security. Upon an order from the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms can arrest and detain any person who violates Senate rules or who is found in contempt of Congress. If the Democrats win a majority in the Senate this fall, are you ready for some football!

If Lindsey Graham were the pious, old gal he pretends to be, he would call Roger Stone to testify next week. If Stone then didn’t appear, he should be arrested. That would certainly put Trump in a bind, because one of the things that Roger would have to do is tell the truth under oath. He’s not pardoned, only his sentence was commuted. If he lied again he could be tried for the same crime of contempt in the very body he lied to in the first place. It’s not double jeopardy; it’s a continued prosecution of a criminal act. The penalty the second time would probably be much greater than the seven to nine years the prosecutors sought the first time.

William Barr is not a valid Attorney General. He’s broken his oath to protect the Constitution, and under any other circumstance he would have been impeached. Barr is a political operative and liar for the President. He’s soiled himself so much that even a giant Depends diaper can’t save him. Congress is also not our friend. Their partisan drunkenness and self-dealing must be dealt with in the next election.

I don’t give a rat’s ass about Roger Stone; the man has a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back and would have become someone’s wife in prison in his first week there. Perhaps you can accept the notion that Roger would love being someone’s wife in prison. Look above to the first paragraph about depravity.

I care about America and our form of government. Donald John Trump also deserves a fair trial, but one in which he is judged by a jury of his peers. You know, rich, fat, racist, white Americans with overbearing narcistic personality disorders. Better yet, how about twelve US citizens who have been deeply hurt by the COVID-19 curse. That jury should be composed mostly of African American and Hispanic people who most deeply feel the pain of the pandemic and who have suffered most under the mismanagement of the Trump administration. It would be fair because black is the new orange.

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

BIG LIES & LITTLE MINDS

We Cannot Trust the Trump Government

Well, we’re almost through another week but that certainly doesn’t make things feel any better. There is no “light of the end of the tunnel” because we still have the same people telling the same lies, cherry picking data and hurting states with Democratic governors. With soaring, positive tests, hospitalizations and death, Trump is now pressuring and pushing to open our schools. I hope we can beat this virus, but the lies are really clogging our brains.

First, let’s take the biggest lie Donald Trump keeps telling. That because he shut down the flights from China, he saved millions and millions of lives. According to the Associated Press, “An analysis of Commerce Department travel entry records and private aviation data shows that nearly 8,000 Chinese nationals and foreign residents of Hong Kong and Macao entered the U.S. on more than 600 commercials and private flights in the first three months after the ban was imposed.” Donald Trump’s myth has no factual backing. He didn’t stop everyone coming from China and it probably hurt us, but he’s the orange knight on the white horse here to save us all.

From the beginning, Trump has downplayed the threat of the coronavirus and spent more time blaming China and its people for the origin and death this curse brought to our shores. What he totally ignored was the virus was equally spreading in Europe and the UK at the same time. He failed to understand the virus is not a product of any one country but a global pandemic. You cannot put a tax or tariff on a virus; it travels where it wants to. Trump’s ridiculous blaming of the World Health Organization and China doesn’t help our fight against the plague.

Trump has no comprehension of how a virus works. He’s too busy pushing medicines that he “heard would be a game changer” rather than listening to the experts. He invented a solution to a problem that could hurt a lot of people. On July 6, 2020, Peter Navarro appeared on CNN, talking about the merits of hydroxychloroquine and why he bought so much of it. He’s a fool. He has no medical expertise and was promoting a Trump plan that can hurt people. Why is he in the government? The obsessive Trump endorsement of an unproven drug was one giant lie.

The next lie that I find most despicable is the shell game Trump plays with the COVID-19 Task Force. I knew we were in trouble when Mike Pence was appointed to head this group. That man can talk for ten minutes, never answering any question and never offering anything but vague cheerleading, preposterous platitudes and misinformation. He must either think people are stupid or he believes all that bullshit that comes out of his mouth, which would mean he’s stupid.

The country wasn’t prepared for a pandemic and no one will admit that our sales of PPE to China early on left our stockpiles dangerously low. They lie about the wearing of masks, which I believe was caused by the rush on toilet paper. Yes, the brain trust in the White House saw so much toilet paper flying off the shelves at stores and they feared a run on masks which would hurt medical workers and hospitals. So, they admitted by omitting that good advice from the beginning that the administration was not ready.

Early in the pandemic, President Trump was asked about testing and he brazenly said, “There is no way we are going to test everybody in the country. Not going to happen.” Had I been in the room, I would have yelled out, “Why not?” If we truly are this great country with all this money, technology and medical expertise, why would we not test everyone and stop this virus as fast as possible? WHY? Because Donald Trump was unable to confirm his belief that the coronavirus was even here in the USA.

In the midst of a global pandemic, American healthcare and safety is being hijacked and put on hold by Donald Trump, whose only priority is getting reelected. Every one of his predictions, pushes and pontifications have been lies that only made matters worse.

I am about to say something here that I am so sad writing. Moving too fast to reopen the country, which was totally Donald John Trump’s idea, has killed people. With all the political misdirection, Trump has convinced the very dull that they don’t need to wear a mask. Why? The answer to this will be obvious in the new Mary Trump book, but it was also pointed by a smart comment on this blog, “I don’t think he cares anymore, period. He knows he has lost the war against the virus, the war to “save” the economy, perhaps even the war to save himself. A spoiled child who can’t have his own way will pick up his marbles and go home — game over. But a spoiled narcissist with no conscience — he blows up the game. No one can play if he can’t. I fear that is the real Donald Trump playbook we are seeing now.” Oh my God, if this is true, how can we get rid of him, NOW!

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

TRUMP’S MANIACAL MINDSET

“We are just going to have to live with it.”

Powerful people in this country don’t have a clue about what they are doing. They are killing tens of thousands of people because they cannot see the forest for the trees or the science from hearsay. These so called “public servants” are not learning the facts behind the global pandemic and they are making things worse, not better.

Let’s talk about the head monkey in the misinformation zoo, Donald John Trump. He’s clearly not qualified to disseminate information on economics, trade, culture, manufacturing, labor, healthcare or medicine. Come to think of it, he’s even unqualified to say how one should wipe their butt crack after a poop. Maybe we need to begin administering IQ tests to all presidential candidates. Forget the IQ of the nimrod currently in office, we don’t even know the details of his tax returns. He’s fought hard and spent an enormous amount of money keeping those facts and figures from the American public. Why is he afraid about what we could learn about his finances?

The wild, unreasonable, illogical and most inappropriate part of President Trump is his need for daily attention and the ways he creates conflict at every turn. A person who exhibits extreme symptoms of crazy behavior, especially when violent and dangerous, is called a maniac. The Trump-sycophant talking heads on TV attempt to laugh off his off-center comments as sarcasm or jokes but this man is dangerous, not funny. He has made racist remarks that lead to Asians being attacked. He refuses to state a clear case against neo-Nazis and white supremacists, instead he’s aiding and abetting them. Why else would they endorse him in their propaganda?

Trump plays the media like a fiddle and the cloud of rosin from his little fingers blinds those who decide what to broadcast and what to print. The intent of Donald’s Bubba Wallace putdown tweet was diverting the attention of our news people away from the shocking COVID-19 statistics. The White House test drives concepts by leaking comments, trying to position the pandemic in citizens’ minds. The lame phrase they floated at the start this week was, “We are just going to have to live with it.”

When someone is presented with a problem or challenge and their response is, “that’s just the way it is,” you can be certain they simply don’t care and won’t even lift a finger to find a solution. Donald Trump is ignoring the virus curse exploding across America. It’s just an inconvenient speed bump to him. He will drive over the death and destruction and never look back. The ping-ponging stock market proves every day that the traders have figured out Trump and determined that he’s a fool and an inopportune drag on their investments.

There’s something wrong when one tweet from the Donald can send the market into a 500-point swing either way. We are now learning that Trump benefited many family members and friends with the PPP relief money. Here’s a quote from the Washington Post, “As part of its $660 billion small-business relief program, the SBA also handed out loans to private schools catering to elite clientele, firms owned by foreign companies and large chains backed by well-heeled Wall Street firms. Nearly 90,000 companies in the program took the aid without promising on their applications they would rehire workers or create jobs.”

If this doesn’t anger you, I can’t fathom who you are. Trump lied, Congress lied, and Steve Mnuchin is a criminal with a title. My blood boiled when the man who oversees the Treasury claimed that he would keep secret the payouts to companies and individuals. The Trump Administration is awash with grifters and swindlers.

Trump tries to tell me I have to live with COVID-19, but doesn’t living with it mean I may die? Well guess what. He can eat shit, die himself and go to hell. Sorry for the old trope, but Donald Trump brings out the worst of everyone. Look at the many ways he has divided America. He made wearing a mask to protect our neighbors a statement of political affiliation, and I will never forgive him for it.

I cannot believe the President of the United States is worried more about Confederate statues, its flag and the anti-American rebels who want to overthrow our Union than he is about the health and lives Americans facing a deadly virus. If people walked through our communities spraying a toxin that killed, we would arrest them and put them in jail. If three million people contracted syphilis, the President of the United States would outlaw sex. The immoral, feckless coward currently in office won’t even sign an executive order saying Americans must wear a mask in public.

Here’s a parting thought. The statement that teachers are brainwashing kids to hate America is the most outrageous and dishonest pronouncement of any American president, ever. Trump pushed an early opening of states in a feeble attempt to get his poll numbers up, and he never considered the cost of his reckless deed — Death. If you don’t like the way I speak, ask yourself why things aren’t better. Ask yourself why we weren’t ready to confront a pandemic. Trump can blame Obama or Hillary or the Lord himself, but he will eventually face a judgement day. Let’s allow the better angels in all of us to forgive him for what he has done, and then let’s lock him up!

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

ODE TO THE DUNCE

A Pandemic Poem of Love

Ode To The Dunce

I woke up this morning and looked at the numbers of the dead,

My eyes got weary, my face grew flush, so sad, blood red.

We want to believe in truth and always go with what’s right,

Too bad we find ourselves being led by a chief without sight.

The dunce in the corner wants to do right, but he’s shrunken,

Into himself and his lies and those fans who seem drunken.

Let’s have another rally and bring them all together to cheer,

Spreading the curse, talking stupid and adding lots of fear.

The orange man filled his head with tons of hydroxychloroquine,

The unprepared dolt believes he can just command a vaccine.

We all know that a dunce hat can protect a wretched comb over,

But he keeps preaching, all this COVID stuff will just blow over.

Deep down inside this dullard doesn’t do anything to help the cause,

Can’t wear a mask, or tell us the truth, just leads us into the virus jaws.

The denials of the dunce, pull us deeper, down into the corona curse,

He wants your money for another four, he’s halfway into your purse.

There is nothing more convincing than a cold, dead body of a friend,

Never trust a damning charlatan with what he cannot comprehend.

There once was a little man who deep down just wanted to be king,

Being pushed by the bigots and angry cowards of the right wing.

He misses the point of what we are going through in this great land,

He thinks he can put out the embers, while his words are a big fan.

What must the dunce do when people all around him test positive?

He makes things up and thinks lying is his God-given prerogative.

The virus dominates our lives, it creeps closer to the dunce in the corner,

He’s so fearful of poisonous leaks but shows no empathy for the mourner.

This gutless whore doesn’t deserve to be President of this wonderful place,

He’s a disgrace to our people, and to the whole damn human race.

We all want to get back to something we can call normal right now,

But the dunce at the top, cannot help us, it’s just not his style.

He’s just another politician with his hand out and his small brain closed,

Trump told us we were on our own, with him in power, we’re certainly hosed.

And when the dunce leaves the corner for good, he’ll go back to playing golf,

We will be free to progress, while he can call his buddies, Vladimir and Adolph.

He can tell his heroes about how great he made America and lie another day,

While we’re left to kneel and ask God to save the world and pray.

May we find solace when this man is cast aside for reason and direction,

Not in a man, but in our values and conclusions after our great confession.

TRUMP WAS THE WRONG GUY. Just a dunce with a silver spoon in his mouth,

And no brains in his cranium. May peace be with you, I’m out!

___

The book that tells it like it is…

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.

DO WE NEED MONUMENTS?

The Confederate President Trump

For those of us who love historical studies and focus on the American story, there is much to be learned from the Civil War and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. However, one must read to gain that knowledge, or at least watch these fantastic documentaries: Unforgiveable Blackness, The Civil War and The Address by Ken Burns. And while you’re enjoying those fine works of Mr. Burns, check out The Central Park Five. It’s more relevant now, than ever.

Let’s examine the beginning of human beings’ affection for monuments and statues. The emperors of ancient Rome loved to honor their own heroic deeds by erecting statues of themselves around the city. Why did they do that? Well, to remind those they ruled about their power. Roman sculpture was modeled after statues in ancient Greece, so once again the Greeks get credit for the concept.

In 1866, Congress issued an act prohibiting any living person being portrayed on American currency. Our Founding Fathers believed it was unpatriotic to place a living person’s likenesses on circulated money. It could be this concept was biblically inspired under the heading of graven images. America holds the belief that there must be some distance between the living and the legends. For example, the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown cannot nominate a player until they have been out of the game for five years. It’s sewn into our common value system.

I am a northerner by birth, but I’ve lived almost half my life in the south. I get the big-deal importance of the Civil War, especially when witnessing Southerners and their elaborate war reenactments at Stone Mountain in Atlanta. That park has the largest piece of exposed granite in the world, and carved into that majestic mountainside are huge, high relief sculptures of the most famous Confederates, Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. I refuse to put the word “president” before Mr. Davis’ name because he was never the president of any country, I’ve ever lived in.

Here’s a good place to mention that when the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was brought back to life in 1915, members assembled annually at Stone Mountain to participate in things like cross-burnings and other recruitment festivities. It wasn’t until 1960 that Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver condemned the park and took full control of the property to stop the embarrassing KKK events. I’ll share this ironic side note. When I first visited the site in 1980, they still had two men’s rooms and two women’s rooms in the main building. Yes, those were once used to segregate the visitors by race.

A few miles away, the Atlanta Historical Society runs a Cyclorama where you can see a theatrical display of the battle of Atlanta. It’s very well done, and I recommend it to anyone who loves history. There is a deep need for old family southerners to believe that the Civil War was a political conflict about state’s rights. Well, that’s true, but not true. To say it correctly, the southern states wanted to keep free slave labor in their farms and plantations, while the northern states wanted to end slavery. Let’s not sugarcoat it; the south wanted their sugar cane harvested and were willing to fight for it.

As a kid, I looked up at the anatomically exaggerated statues and wondered if they really were that big or were the creators of the works just trying pay homage to them. Whatever those giant men did was not revealed unless the plaque fastened to the statue’s pedestal told a story. Even then, the words could be twisted and arranged in ways that none of the bad things would ever be known. If the person whose likeness is carved into a statue owned a slave, many today would condemn the monument to death.

I was highly disappointed and depressed to read the 1801 Last Will and Testament of my ancestor Thomas Douglas, in which he ceded his “negro wench” Hannah to his wife Susanne. Shocking, given that all my relatives on that side of the family were devout Scottish Presbyterians, but then, so was President Tommy “Woodrow” Wilson who left office in 1921. That was sixty years after the Civil War, and most historians claim Wilson did not consider the races fundamentally equal and had no intention of aligning them under the law. The more you read about him, the more you understand that he was a racist. Not only was the KKK becoming politically active and vocal during that era, but southern American towns decided to “honor” those Confederates by putting up statues. It was a distasteful burp of racism in the mouths of those who decided to rewrite history using statues to make the actions of those traitors look more acceptable. It was all a giant lie and bold endeavor of face-saving.

The Black Lives Matter movement is an attempt to unwrite the rewrite, and the statues beg the question, “Why do we need them?” What I am about to say may be greeted with anger, but those large masses of bronze and stone are nothing more than Americans trying to imitate Europe. Visit France and you will see statues in many parks, sidewalks and on all the bridges. The obsession with these “works of art” can be traced back to Napoleon, the self-titled Emperor of the liberated France. It’s funny to me that the people revolted and killed the King and Queen, then they put Napoleon in charge who decided he was an Emperor and up went the statues.

Statues are un-American and demonstrate a gaudy commercialism of our values. We use them to promote Bob’s Big Boy hamburgers and to commemorate Presidents, Generals and slave owners. I am sure there is no statue of my immigrant great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Thomas Douglas. He was a slave owner, but he’s still my relative. I could dismiss the issue by saying, he didn’t know better, or that he was just following the laws and culture of the time. I want to believe deep down inside that he treated Hannah fairly and never inflicted any demonic pain or punishment on her, but I don’t know what really happened.

This would be a great time to ask Donald Trump who he is protecting with his rage against the purge of Confederate statues. His executive order tough-talking against those who are tearing the statues down is extremely inappropriate. Trump said, “They’re tearing down statues, desecrating monuments, and purging dissenters. It’s not the behavior of a peaceful political movement; it’s the behavior of totalitarians and tyrants and people that don’t love our country.” He wants those who deface or destroy these statues to be put in jail for ten years. Really? If he were a real president and patriot, he would convene a council to determine which ones stay and which ones go. Donald Trump is a walking monument to lies and deceit, and his aggressive language is stoking the radicals into destruction. It’s interesting how he always does the wrong thing when it comes to global and local politics. He’s a complete and utter failure. We should forge a large statue of the fat, orange man and when the monument is finished erect it here.

PERFECT FOURTH OF JULY GIFT

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THE WHEELS ARE COMING OFF

Trump and Pence Must Go Away

A song came into my head when I woke up today. The noir refrain of Bullet with Butterfly Wings by the Smashing Pumpkins brought me to the computer keyboard. It’s a great metaphor for where we find ourselves right now. The bullet is the COVID-19 virus. The butterfly wings are the camouflage of misinformation and unreasonable goals for the economy coming from the Trump administration. The lyrics of song cut deeply, “The world is a vampire, sent to drain, secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames, And what do I get, for my pain? Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game.” Who is the vampire sucking the life out of America?

As we watch events unfold, it certainly seems like our President is playing a game in which the health of American citizens is far less important that his reelection. Happily, the wheels are falling off the Trump truck of fallacies, and people are now asking relevant questions. They WANT to know the facts. It’s Trump’s fault that people are not wearing masks and Vice President Mike Pence is an evil enabler and damaging distributor of lies. These people are hurting America. Why not put a doctor in the position or maybe a nurse, perhaps a social worker or even an intelligent eight-year-old child?

The President of the United States ignored the advice of medical, scientific and virologic experts by forcing a reopening of the economy before the country was ready. He took the position that a “few people” dying is okay. Trump reads Richard Nixon’s playbook and spouts rhetoric about protesters, Antifa and other imagery ghosts, but the average Joe and Jolene just want to pay their bills, send their kids back to school and return to work.

Trump would rather kill more Americans than seriously deal with the stark health aspects of the global pandemic, which has shown the world how weak the infrastructure of our healthcare system. This lyric of the Smashing Pumpkin’s song gives us more doubt than hope, “Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage, then someone will say what is lost can never be saved.” Donald John Trump cannot be repaired or saved. He should be thrown out like a swollen bag of stinking garbage. The Donald is the rat in a cage, and he is asking you to crawl right in there with him. When the cheese runs out, he will fucking eat you. Our rage is good, but what is the action to rid ourselves of this evil.

Mike Pence lies repeatedly, and the press gives him too much undeserved respect. The press needs to call out them and their LIES every time they occur. The administration might consider the media rude and thrown them off the island of the Washington correspondence club, but its time reporters study the Mike Wallace’s and Dan Rather’s of the past. Media must diligently confront the priggery and trick them into telling the truth.

Our President doesn’t merit respect. He’s a dolt, unable to do anything more complicated than arranging the paper currency in his wallet. While more and more people are dying, Trump wants us to go out and play in this COVID world without protection, why?

His statement that we would have lost millions more US lives sounds like the old baseball player talking about the big game, “Hey if I didn’t hit that eight-inning homerun the score would’ve been worse.” Donald’s teammates are sitting in the dugout, holding their heads and knowing the truth. THEY LOST THE GAME! We currently have the second highest infection rate per one million persons. Brazil is currently #1 but that country, believe it or not. has a leader who is stupider than Trump.

Bragging about your individual achievements while things are getting worse doesn’t comfort the family at the cemetery throwing dirt on their dead loved one’s casket. Trump’s lack of empathy and continual put down of those who give sound advice is more than astonishing, it’s demonic.

Donald Trump loves to kick a man when he is down. There will be only one to blame when those poor, naïve people who attended the unnecessary MAGA rallies come down with the coronavirus, Donald Trump.

Remember how Trump put down John McCain? “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured!” Well then, people of America, see where you stand. You have been captured by a virus and the orange baboon in the White House considers you nothing but collateral damage in his quest for power. That creature hears no voices unless they aren’t praising him. His staff tries to cover for him by saying he was joking or being sarcastic, but then his reply is, “I don’t kid.” This administration is a bucketful of lies.

It’s not one wheel that has fallen off the bus; all four are gone and our leader left the spare in the garage. Even as it unfolded in plain view, Trump didn’t believe something bad was happening. His lack of preparation is obvious. Life is not an adlib, Mr. Trump, it’s a well-defined structure with a beginning, middle and end. Trump’s toxic presidency must come to an end. NOW!

READ ABOUT US GOVERNMENTS MOVES

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JOHN BOLTON – AMERICAN TRAITOR

Trump Hires, Fires and Then Disassociates

I have never liked John Bolton. This humble taxpayer feels his flavor of Neo-Con* philosophy and his ongoing geopolitical power ego trip is unproductive for America and our democracy. Now we have Bolton’s new book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, providing an inside look into the administration during the time Mr. Bolton was National Security Advisor.

Of course, Donald John Trump will do whatever he can to keep this book from reaching the American public because it is damaging to him on so many levels. Trump calls John Bolton’s new book “nasty & untrue,” and he used this threadbare tagline, “If I listened to him, we would be in World War Six!” Should you think this comment about someone Trump hired is rather outrageous, consider that on the day Trump announced his appointment he told Bolton “not to get us into a war.” Is that comforting?

A Washington Post article from March 22, 2018 pointed out that, “Bolton has touted ‘the legal case for striking North Korea first’ in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. In a subsequent interview with Breitbart News, Bolton warned that the North was on the cusp of being able to strike the continental United States and raised the specter of Pyongyang selling nuclear devices to other hostile actors such as Iran, the Islamic State or al-Qaeda.” Some say that Bolton inspired John McCain’s silly song lyric, “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb-Bomb Iran!”

A few months after Trump fired John Bolton, the President was hyping his first meeting with Supreme Leader and Marshal of the Republic of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un. Trump believed that if he simply established a personal relationship with that rotund dictator, he could manipulate him into giving up all his nuclear programs and weapons. How did that work out?

Last week, Kim Jong-Un’s sister, Kim Yo-Jong, broke her silence when she threatened military action against South Korea because they protested Pyongyang’s live-fire military drill. North Korea then announced it would cut all official channels of communication with the South and used controlled explosives to blow up the de facto inter-Korean embassy just north of the border. Later that same day, the hermit kingdom announced they would redeploy troops and resume military exercises near the border. Wow talk about passive-aggressive! While Bolton might have been right about North Korea and the Kim dynasty, Trump couldn’t deal with John’s intelligence and his reality-based advice. Trump also knew Bolton was not loyal to him.

Did John Bolton sign an agreement to never to talk about what happened in the White House? Does Bolton love his country, and did he take an oath to protect the Constitution swearing that he would always do what’s best for America? He didn’t.

John Bolton’s statements and history indicate that he doesn’t like Congress, he loathes bureaucracies and can’t stand anyone who disagrees with him. He’s just like Trump.

President George W. Bush appointed Bolton to serve as ambassador to the United Nations in August 2005 as a recess appointment — a process in which a President can pass around normal Congressional confirmation hearings. After being formally nominated to the position, Bolton’s confirmation was delayed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They were reluctant to confirm him because they disliked his brusque style. He resigned from the U.N. and moved into the public sector.

It is alleged that John Bolton received a whopping $2 million advance for his new book. Publishers Simon & Schuster surely know they will get a return on that investment once the book hits the market. I bought Bolton’s book, but that doesn’t mean I endorse his actions and deeds done while a public figure. He should have honored his patriotic duty by going before Congress to testify about all the issues raised in his book.

Bolton damns the Democratic effort during the impeachment trials in his book, but in suspended animation he does he not realize that his refusal to testify before Congress was an obstruction of justice that kept those important facts from the America public. Bolton kept silent, except promising his publisher that his book would have immense value. John Bolton is an informational traitor and a self-serving asshole. He should have come forward with his “evidence” to convince not only Mitt Romney, but others, that Trump is an unfit criminal living in the People’s House, the White House, Our House.

Trump is a hopeless, feckless failure of a person. His presidency is the worst in my life, and I was alive when that “crook,” Richard Nixon, approved a break-in, a coverup and deployed the Justice Department to go after his enemies. I thought all that was bad. The man we now have is much more contemptible and corrupt.

Trump has approved breaking into a computer server owned by the Democratic party, has executed a massive coverup of his misdeeds and now, with the Bolton book, he’s clearly demonstrating he will use the Attorney General to go after his enemies. This president has offered deals to dictators suggesting he would end US legal investigations of them in return for their favors. Apply the terms COLLUDING and QUID PRO QUO here. The book claims that Trump not only asked Ukraine for election help, but that he begged China’s President Xi to buy tons of soybeans to enhance his reelection chances. Dear Susan Collins, he never learned any lessons from his impeachment.

In my eyes, John Bolton is no hero and certainly far from being a patriot. He’s just another political whore who would rather bomb a country and waste our tax dollars on nation-building instead of employing the use of productive diplomacy and strategic humanitarian aid to help our country.

Bolton might be telling it like it is, but it’s less about honesty and more about inflating his bank account and ego. Study history, and you will see that Bolton is like John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles. After World War II they overthrew the governments of other countries for all the wrong reasons. Their overt, secret and unlawful actions helped start the “Cold War” with Communist Russia. I am sure John Bolton believes he’s right, just like the Dulles brothers felt about themselves.

The Supreme Court cannot block the Bolton book, but no matter what happens we don’t need to run out and carve statues of John Bolton in our town squares. He’s a traitor to democracy and someone who must redeem himself with positive actions, now!

If the Representatives in Congress have any scruples or fortitude, they will subpoena Mr. Bolton to testify before them. Should he claim to be too busy with his book tour to attend a hearing, they should arrest him and put him in jail.

Our government needs transparency and truth. If the thought of Bolton being held in a cell in the basement of the Capitol building bothers you, consider this. He failed to honor his oath to protect the Constitution and the presidency. Bolton should be made to read his entire book into the Congressional Record as a payback to the American people. Court is hereby adjourned.

*Neo-Con is short for Neoconservatism and is an American political movement from the 1960s was started by disenchanted liberal hawks who saw the pacification platform of liberals and left leaning voters as a problem. Neo-Cons are devout supporters of Israel and prefer bombing over talking.

If you read this book, you can see why all this happened to us.

The book that tells it like it is…

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ONEROUS OPTICS OF AN OBNOXIOUS OAF

Trump’s Treachery & Actions Loudly Backfiring

We’ve all experienced the harsh reality of spending so much time with someone, like a roommate, where even small annoyances are amplified when around them. This might not be fair, but it’s something we do as human beings. I have a major uneasiness when I see Donald Trump standing. Why does he lean unnaturally forward? It looks like a bizarre attempt to redistribute his 245 pounds of heavy fat.

I remember my son’s first roommate in college was an overweight guy who never went to class, stayed in the room and played video games all day. I asked my son if he was bothered by him. He smiled, “He’ll be gone soon, Dad. He doesn’t go to class.” I was immensely proud of my son’s logical evaluation of what I would have seen as a major problem. That guy was gone after 40 days and my son then had his own room.

Admittedly, I see Donald Trump much differently now that I live in Florida then how I viewed him when he was my state neighbor in New York. I always thought he was nothing more than a bottom feeder, slum lord and classless publicity whore. He seemed a bit ashamed that he wasn’t part of the ultra-rich elite of the city. He always appeared to be trying too hard. No one of any real power and intelligence ever took him seriously.

On June 4, 2020, many of the news outlets were covering the harsh rebuke of the 45^th President by former Secretary of Defense and retired General James Mattis’ op-ed in The Atlantic. It reminded me of the September 5, 2018 essay the New York Times published titled, I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.

Mattis’ piece stated, “I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand — one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values — our values as people and our values as a nation. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”

The most potent line in the article is, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us.” While the liberal media was quoting Mattis’ frustration with Trump dividing the country, I wanted to scream, “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?”

Fox News was doing the president’s bidding by playing up a New York Times op-ed written by Arkansas’ Senator Tom Cotton titled Tom Cotton: Send in the Troops. I’m sure Donald John Trump knew the Mattis slam job was coming and recruited another cotton-pickin’ politician to write something that attempted to take the heat off Trump. Backfired, again.

Let’s deal with the truth. Cotton is a decorated veteran who served as a Captain in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s a well-educated Harvard graduate with degrees in government and law. Cotton has been against Affirmative Action and other attempts to deal with long-term, systemic racism. This is not an opinion; it’s fact. I am not saying he’s a racist, but he’s been frustrated with mandated benefits for African Americans in education and life.

Tom Cotton has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Vice President Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket. I don’t like Pence, but if Trump were to make such a big change so close to the election there would be major backlash and possible panic with evangelicals.

Of course, a soldier takes his command from the President. I suggest that Cotton’s Send in the Troops is part of a plan for Donald Trump and his administration to take more power and control the election narrative. Captain, or shall I say Capo, Cotton is wanting to control you if you disagree with him.

Do we really need a strong man wannabe dictator in the White House? It’s so Nixon-like to say that protesters, whether looting or not, should be rapped upside the head to learn their lesson. The dissenters are trying to inform the President that we cannot keep killing unarmed people, whatever their color, and get away with it. Trump clearing out Lafayette Park so that he could walk to a church and stand, leaning into the camera, with the Holy Bible in his little hands didn’t do what he imagined.

It sent ripples through the Pentagon, which created difficulty for those men and women who are sworn to protect the Constitution. It sparked more anger from those who truly dislike Trump and forced religious leaders to take a stand against what he did. Why is no one intelligently, or even strategically, discussing what Trump will do next? Well, here he goes again, saying one thing and doing another. President Donald Trump tweeted out a letter Thursday (6-4-2020) that referred to a group of protesters as “terrorists.” The letter was from Trump’s former lawyer John Dowd, who proved he’s more an ideologue than a good lawyer.

What is so insane and so obsessive is Trump’s need to always be right or seen as an honest broker. Mark Esper, Secretary of the Defense, admitted that he didn’t know why they walked to the church. Trump claimed he didn’t give the order to clear the park. He said it was Attorney General William who decided to move on the peaceful protesters. Trump preached that his church stunt was not a photo-op, but a symbolic message of hope to the country. Really? When asked whether the bible he held was his, Trump replied, “It’s A bible.” Jeez, what a stupid thing to say.

I hope that more and more voters will come to realize that Donald Trump is more than an evil threat to the Constitution. He’s poisonousness, and if you let this obnoxious oaf spend have more time in the White House he will destroy our democracy. More people will die from viruses, military force and neglect. This insanity must stop.

When we started this blog, we asked “Why Wait 4 Years?” This is not merely a Trump-thing. It’s an enticement to every person in this great land to get involved, state your case, and make people listen to what you want from your government. America isn’t just for Trump, Cotton, Mattis and old, rich white guys; it’s for all of us. As ironic as it might seem for me to use this phrase, “It’s time to take our country back.”

If you read this book, you can see why all this happened to us.

The book that tells it like it is…

Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs If you only read one chapter of this book, it’s called, Take a Knee for America and thought about this never-ending conflict between minorities and the police. It’s not really taking a stand I’m asking you to do, but having a real frank conversation about why some people think they way they do would be productive right now. It’s a book for the moment and starts the conservation of peace. And if you are worried about social media, check out the chapter called Social Media Menace.

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