Judges, Juries and Shotguns

Trumpean Language and Attitudes

It doesn’t take long for the news cycle to bite its own ass. You see, we must quickly move on. We are driven to get that next story on the air or on the front page. Our country demands the speedy dissemination of information. The strong, wise people who started this enterprise known as the United States of America were driven to emulate what they left in England, where people find truth every day by reading newspapers. We should be thankful that America was founded by a bunch of writers. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and even George Washington loved to write and see their words printed on paper.

We have a headline writer in the White House. You may have heard his name, Donald Trump. He never bothers to illuminate his “fan base.” He wants them to see only the bullet points. He places policy or opinion, lie or fantasy, into 280-character blasts and blows them out to the world on the internet. He’s a fourteen-year-old boy sitting on his toilet believing he rules the world. He knows that words matter, but he cares not if they are true.

The cable news channels can talk endlessly about President Trump’s next pick for the Supreme Court, but that institution has already done their damage. Think Citizen’s United, cake maker, union busting and travel ban. Regardless of the imperfect concept of the Supreme Court, we must follow them. But the real test coming up is whether, when challenged by an aggressive “executive,” will they give him more power, or curb the blatant abuse?

No one ever claimed that our system of a President appointing justices for life was a good idea, but what is happening in America is clearly the opposite of what people say it is. Here’s what I mean. We claim to have no bias in our institutions, but they are all biased. I can say that on “moral convictions” I cannot support Donald J. Trump, but I can’t stop paying my taxes because of that “conviction.” They would come and arrest me.

Now we have another shooting in Annapolis, Maryland at the newsroom of a local daily newspaper. Five people died. We don’t know whether the ongoing legal battle and grievances the shooter had with the newspaper were the primary drama, but this writer wonders out loud if the ongoing language of the President didn’t add some fuel to the shooter’s desire to cause harm. After all, if the Free Press is “the enemy of the people,” as Trump shouts at his rallies, could that be justification for an attack? Has the Donald figured out a way to brainwash our most mentally vulnerable citizens? Hey, he did win the election.

When this killer is brought before a jury, will they see him as a willful actor in a passion play of revenge? Will the judge manage a fair trial? As many mass shooters await their day in trial, do we go back and tell their stories? Does the press give us a clear reason why someone would commit such a terrible crime, or do these shootings simply fade with time?

One of the issues that the Supreme Court might decide in their future sessions is the death penalty. We have heard Donald Trump call for the death penalty for drug dealers. He seems to think that executions are good. What a guy, huh?

In 1989, Trump took out a full-page ad in a newspaper in New York to urge the state to bring back the death penalty and execute the “Central Park Five.” It turned out that those falsely accused and incarnated men were innocent. They were set free after DNA evidence proved they didn’t commit the crime. This is an excellent reason why Donald Trump should be as far away as possible from deciding our laws. Our Great Orange Leader is no more qualified to pick judges than he is to be President.

The good news? Trump didn’t personally create the list of potential Justices. Some of the most conservative judicial review people have assembled a group of those judges who can clear an FBI investigation and please the far-right evangelicals. I am sure their decisions will be vetted and determined if they are of sound judicial mind, or not.

The reason those evangelical “holy” men give Trump a pass on pussy grabbing and lying is because they believe this is their chance to make abortions illegal again, to get the Lord’s prayer back in our schools and to eradicate all gay rights. The puritans are in charge and Trump is manipulating them for votes. In our dysfunctional society, the minorities are ruling the majority. The White House is a disgrace to the founding fathers.

With this latest shooting, we will once again go through the drill of finding out where and how the shooter got his weapon. We will mourn the five newspaper employees gunned down at work. We will talk about their wonderful lives, loves and families., We might implement better security at the nation’s newspapers and TV newsrooms, but we will do nothing about guns and mental health. Remember, even the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris had a security door.

We will probably learn that innocent people died because of what they wrote and published. Five innocent men spent more than a decade in prison because of the hate and rancor of people like Donald Trump. Five Supreme Court Justices will determine the laws of our land. Perhaps a lifelong court appointment should be decided by more than a president. If only Congress was up to the task of rejecting judges who carry with them political memberships that affect their decisions. They will not go against this President. He has bullied them into submission or resignation.

When the founding fathers defined our system up on paper, there were NO political parties or far left or right agendas. There existed only the American agenda. The sooner we get rid of Donald Trump, the faster we will get back to a real America being truly fair for all agendas.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

These daily diatribes from a delusional blogger give you a day by day overview of the 45th President’s first two-hundred days in office. Follow Donald Trump through the tough times on his way to impeachment. Kindle Version HERE, or Get the printed book now, CLICK HERE.

The Jonas Bronck Series

BOOK ONE (IF GOD COULD TALK) A Cable TV talk show host is approached by a friend who offers a guest for his show who has never been on TV before. The Diary of a TV Journalist is the story about the host of the show and his executive producer vetting the guest and attempting to determine what would happnen If God Could Talk…

BOOK TWO (IF GOD COULD CRY) One of the most eye-opening stories about terrorism. The famous cable TV talk show host, Jonas Bronck, leaves New York on a quest for truth. He finds himself in the middle of terror and personal torment in the name of journalism. He once again asks, If God Could Cry, would he be crying for us, or with us?

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Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie

No Soup for You, Sarah Sanders

The lyrics of 1971’s “American Pie,” Don McLean’s complex and mysterious song which laments the day that rock ‘n’ roll died, asks us to unravel the history of music and faith. It’s a bitter bite of nostalgia. Various forms of the word “die” are heard almost twenty times. Somewhere in those long, haunting lyrics, McLean makes us realize that things from our youth die just about every day. We now have one more piece of that pie sitting on our plates, the death of Democracy. Will we have to swallow it?

The 116^th episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld which first aired in 1995 introduced the “The Soup Nazi.” That show has been played in what feels like a million times in reruns. The character, Yev Kassem was called a “Nazi” because of the aggressive and excessively strict regimentation he demanded from his customers. In the classic scene, George asks for bread with his soup claiming that everyone else in line got free bread. When George presses his point, the “Soup Nazi” yells “No soup for you!” and the woman at the cash register snatches George’s soup from his hand and returns his money.

Once again, the Supreme Court has set us up. They ruled that a Colorado cake maker, based on his religious convictions, could deny baking a wedding cake for a gay couple. They attempted to soften the blow of their discrimination with language so narrow it practically applied to that one incident only. Today we learned that the Supreme Court wiped away an opinion against a florist who declined to make flower arrangements for a same-sex couple’s marriage. They sent that case back to the lower court, asking them to revisit the suit using their decision on the cake maker as a guide.

When Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stupidly decided to go to a Mexican restaurant after separating families at the Mexican border, she was shouted out of the establishment by protesters. The refrain, “Shame! Shame! Shame!” was too much for Ms. Nielsen, and she wisely left the restaurant.

This weekend, another restaurant owner took things into his own hands and asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her family to leave his restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, simply because she works for Donald Trump.

America is now going to use our freedom of speech and convictions to block people from commercial services. It’s not Sarah Sanders they were asking to leave that restaurant, rather they were asking Donald Trump to leave the White House. If Trump uses Twitter to mass distribute his beliefs and conspiracies, the only way to cut through and get our message out is to take radical steps. Hateful as it may seem to some, the President’s strident use of hate demands an equally loud voice.

Of course, President Trump had to defend his Press Secretary on Twitter, “The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!”

So, this is how it goes. The President of the United States can defame and attempt to shame a restaurant because they were doing the same thing as the florist and the cake maker. He can’t handle discrimination when it happens to him.

Experts say a person can’t sue a sitting president for defamation. Is that true? Isn’t this where we’re headed? You see, with this Great Orange Leader, the Supreme Court will have to decide how much power the Chief Executive has in America. They cannot fail on this issue.

If they give him more power, we are doomed as a nation. All the Trump lovers could have to deal with the next president being worse than Donald. Or is this all just a set up to have one of his inner circle (Daughter or Son-in-Law) take the office when he is too weak to sit on the potty each morning, tweeting his vitriol and hate. Is there an adult diaper big enough to catch all the horseshit that comes out of this angry, fat, old man?

Congress, especially the Republicans, are lost. The Supreme Court is teetering on the brink of conservative nonsense and the President is losing his marbles. I’ve never said this before, but I sure hope that we have some military patriots who will protect the Constitution if need be.

That’s it folks. Sarah Sanders can’t complain about being turned away from the Red Hen because she is complicit in the remaking of an America which mirrors the values taught by her foolish father, Mike. His tweet this weekend, backing up Trump’s lie about Democrats supporting Mexican gangs, is exactly what is wrong with America. Both Sarah and Mike should probably lay off the pie and focus on the Bible. I believe somewhere in that book is the inference that lying is a sin and taking babies away from their mothers and fathers will not help during the final hours. Look it up.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

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I DON’T REALLY CARE!

Melania’s Thoughtless Gaffe

When a human being wears a garment with a message, they are saying something. If someone is surprised when another notices what is written on their chest or back, they must be brain dead.

I lived in Washington, D.C. during the big celebration of the bicentennial. A famous T-shirt was sold locally that said, “I am not a tourist. I live here.” This was a comment flipping the bird to all those people who invaded the city that summer for the July 4^th, 1976 festivities. A friend’s mother, who came from Montreal and still had a thick French-Canadian accent, always wanted to borrow it to make a statement to people she felt treated her like a foreigner in her new country, the U.S.A.

Our President, Donald Trump attempts to deflect blame backward, as if that vindicates his many mistakes. It’s like the young child who uses the phrase, “He did it first!” as a defense for any crime he perpetrates on others. Trump’s behavior should surprise no one because we have a child Commander-in-Chief.

If you expect any moral grounding from Melania Trump, you are suffering from the illusion that she is on your side. She married Donald Trump. Now I don’t’ know if it was love, good sex or the money, but she has already looked the other way. And, quite frankly, I don’t really care.

If you want facts from this fractured farce of a leader and his wife, then you are suffering from lack of memory. The reason we have loyalty and hate pitched against each other is because Trump demands loyalty above morality and he uses hate to divide and conquer.

Someone asked me, “Why all the name calling and putdowns of the leader of the free world?” I don’t really care. When I say something, or post something, or write an article, it’s with the hope that the Great Orange Leader might see it. And I know that the only way to get to him is to reach down into the mud with him. I want to make him angry, and if you don’t like it, I don’t really care.

The corruption and lies exist in bright daylight. Scott Pruitt, the swamp dweller who is destroying the E.P.A., is the perfect example of loyalty being more important than any misdeeds or misuse of office. Trump adds water to the swamp and feeds the alligators with his ignorance and lies. Pruitt is the poster boy for why Trump is a bad president.

Melania going to the border to talk to the kids was a fucking photo-op. It was a P.R. stunt designed to make it appear that the administration cares. As I have often said, the implication of the opposite is clear. Melania doesn’t care about something, we just don’t know what that something is. Remember, this is the same woman who called her husband bragging about grabbing pussy, “Boy talk.” She also claimed that the Donald was egged on by Billy Bush and that was the excuse for his comment. She even had trouble saying the word, “egged.” And let’s remember that Billy Bush lost his job, not Trump.

I don’t think Melania is very smart. If she was a thinking, caring person, she would have left Donald Trump years ago. I can say the same thing about Hillary Clinton, she should have left Bill Clinton years ago, but she isn’t dumb. Hillary calculated the risk and made the wrong choice. If she made better choices, she just might be president today. I don’t really care, Do u?

Let’s not make the model Melanija Knavs, from Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) into a protected queen. She’s just another pretty face that Donald Trump has used for his personal gain and gratification. He will dump her when he’s done with her. If she cannot communicate properly when representing the White House on a trip to see kids who were separated from their parents and held against their will, then she shouldn’t be allowed to do any official business. If you think this is a little harsh, well, I don’t really care.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

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WHAT’S WRONG WITH DONALD TRUMP?

The Real Challenge for America

A friend recently asked, “Why do you post negative things about our President every day?” After thoughtfully considering the question, I answered, “I truly believe that he is bad for America.” And, of course, I had a stronger argument. The goal isn’t bringing you to my point of view but rather giving you a few things to think about between now and the next time you vote.

President Trump created a humanitarian crisis by demanding Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen apply a “zero tolerance” policy to every person coming across our borders, whether they are seeking asylum or not. This terrible mistake demonstrates a drastic lack of thought and leadership by our President. Donald Trump continues to exploit racism and fear because his singular, perverse need is receiving love from his base supporters. We know that this group consists of maybe 30% of this great land, NOT THE MAJORITY!

Trump’s self-inflicted illusion is he alone can fix things. It’ a lie, just like most of what he says. The Donald manages to put a little piece of shit into everything he does, even his rare good plans. He is incapable of bringing our country together and that is exactly why he’s bad for America. He continually uses hate as a propellant, risking not only a potential fire but, worse, a mighty explosion.

Today, we learned that the White Supremacists who sponsored the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year have applied for a permit to rally around the White House this summer. Our Great Orange Leader will do nothing but sit back and laugh and laud the greatness of the First Amendment. Once again, those who want to stop the hate, the put downs and the pejorative attitudes will also have to march that day to match the crown size of the Neo-Nazis and Jew haters. We can only hope no one will get hurt.

And here we find another reason why Donald Trump is bad for America. He waits too long before addressing a real problem. He creates a negative atmosphere then does nothing to calm the waters or lead the country into compromise and betterment. He wastes time and money traveling to his rallies when he should be in the Capital working on challenges and constructive changes.

How do you tell a bullheaded, xenophobic old man that he’s making things worse? We learned this week that Trump believes nothing the polls or the press tell him. He has declared that media is bad and capable only of releasing “fake news.” He fawns over Fox News, but he will simply toss them into the fake news basket if they ever turn on him.

We have learned that his daughter and his wife convinced him to do something, but they are only a temporary relief from his bigoted mind. Watch, he will soon turn back to his in-house racists and fake bureaucratic bastards, John Kelly, Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller, and follow their advice to fuck the immigrants.

Stephen Miller is the evilest one. I find it astonishing that his family is comprised of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. In the early 1900s his mother’s family emigrated to the United States from Belarus to escape anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia.

The very hate that tore apart Europe and killed millions of Jews in the 1930s is now being replicated by this young man, Stephen Miller. How does a 32-year-old political science major from Duke University become such an anti-immigrant racist? Hard to say, but if I could throw only one person from the White House Stephen Miller would be my pick to hit the road. And the ejection would be covered live on TV.

General John Kelly is a phony. He supposedly came into the White House to organize people and communication and bring order. He’s a failure. Some measure of military order would be good, but he has no power over Donald Trump. Kelly, hardened by his service and with roots in the reverse racism of the Irish-American community of Boston, will not serve his country well. He should retire and have a nice life.

Jeff Sessions has always been a typical old-school southerner who relishes a good “Negro joke” among close friends. He climbed the judicial power ladder with his short legs, while posing as a law and order guy for his own purposes. When a kid has their father’s name, it provides a built-in reason to look backward. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is probably no more liberal than his father, or his father’s father.

Each generation has a reason for rejecting progress. Alabama doesn’t allow a lottery, much less pharmaceutical marijuana. But rather than focus on Jeff Sessions’ home state, just look at his policies. They are further to the right than Donald Trump’s. Sessions just locked up innocent kids. And when people talk about how well those children are existing in their Wal-Mart prisons, our government pushes the same scripts old newsreels used to explain Japanese interment camps. Who are we?

The most important aspect of Donald Trump’s caving to pressure by signing an executive order is that he was able to slip a little piece of shit into his decree. Here is the turd-burger the President added to his order, “The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.”

The executive order is a trojan horse. Jeff Session is being asked to petition the court to relax the Flores decision, which would mean the children of undocumented border crossers and those who “broke the law” (the parents) can be held INDEFINATELY. With a stroke of his big, fat felt-tipped pen, our lunatic President has created his own private Gitmo within our borders.

Under the present Flores agreement, immigrant children can be held for only twenty days. A minor cannot be charged for crimes committed by a parent, but incarceration with a parent is tantamount to being held without a charge. Imprisonment without due process is against the law on American soil, as stated in our Constitution.

When Trump cries about our laws being so bad, he is railing against the Constitution itself. His treasonous propaganda shows no respect for law. We cannot sit back and let him do this. In the end, the law will have the final say and the Sergeant of Arms will come to the White House and remove Donald J. Trump from office. That perp walk will make America great again.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

The Jonas Bronck Series

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ZERO TOLERANCE, ZERO TRUTH

Our President Doesn’t Care About People

Donald Trump is not just another politician, he’s the very embodiment of all that is bad about the self-serving and double-dealing political muck of Washington. For all you assholes who said having a business man run the White House for positive change was a good idea, well look at what you got. Donald Trump doesn’t have the ability or desire to tell the truth about anything. Why would anyone take what he says seriously? He’s trying to be funny while simply confusing the citizens of this great land and leaders of other lands.

First, this draconian policy of separating families at the southern border is immoral. The miscalculation of this policy shows Trump’s naivete. He has created a hailstorm of criticism from both parties and important voices in America. He doesn’t care about children, especially brown children, and the different reasons given by his minions clearly demonstrates a lack of message coordination. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, seem to disagree about whether these moves of separating families were designed as a deterrent. In fact, when Sessions announced the policy he said he hoped it would be a deterrent.

While these underlings with more power than brains have stoked the theory that Trump is using the children as a bargaining chip to forced budgeting for his wall, the President is using the event to blame Democrats. In a rare move, Trump is now blaming someone other than Obama. Trying to pin this immoral act on the opposite party isn’t working but, like a snapping turtle, Trump will hold on until the sun goes down.

Something else happened yesterday that, once again, shows this administration’s emotional reaction to governing rather than planning economic or diplomatic moves with the logic and experience of experts. We must now realize that whatever bad happens is Trump’s fault. He is the problem and he is in charge. No more excuses, Donald.

This weekend Trump was supposed to get a call from his new, best buddy, Kim Jong-Un, but it didn’t happen. Now we learn that Kim is making his third trip to seek the counsel of the President of China, Xi Jinping. Could it be jealousy that late last night drove Trump to announce more tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products? This is going to kill Wal-Mart and many box stores that sell tons of cheap Chinese goods. Well, when the Wal-Marts go out of business they can use them to hold kids coming across the border.

The result of Trump’s chest pounding with new tariffs has created panic in the world markets. Even the Chinese are calling it a “Trade War.” Trump tries to sell it to his base with this line about the Chinese “raping” us. Does anyone else notice how often Trump uses the word “rape.” He has a strange fascination with that word, doesn’t he? Trump says, “You can’t lose in a Trade War.” Really?

While the Great Orange Leader’s personal animus for anyone who has more money or power than him might make for venomous speeches to get applause, people around the world are laughing at America. The dislike of Donald Trump is spreading faster than democracy.

Many are saying he’s not consistent, not dependable and his word means nothing. The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, declared to her trading partners, “The times when we could completely rely on others are, to an extent, over!” There is no doubt she was talking about Trump, and she is right.

What we have learned is that political rally rhetoric and “I can fix everything” propositions should be heard and considered when we vote in our elections. Trump is the greatest example of a politician who is doing everything he promised. For some that is a refreshing change, but for others, it produces a strange guilt, “Oh, I didn’t think he would go that far.” Well, he did. And like an abusive father he wants you to hurt before he gives you love. He even used the word “hurt” when telling his fans that they would have to sacrifice now, for good things later. Why? Isn’t there a better way to do what he thinks will help America?

The Department of Justice and Jeff Sessions have pushed this “zero tolerance” by effectively blocking prison, judicial and immigration reforms. Sessions’ soulless, hard line views are changing America and taking us back to the racist fifties, and he gets camouflage for his actions by the President’s tweets. They both must be stopped.

Separating migrant families while communing the sentence of only one grandmother confuses people. Maybe Trump’s small heart changes every day. He bombed Syrian armies when their children were poisoned. Saying that he cares about children, while doing nothing to stop the evil practice of separating kids from their families at the Mexican border, is the true Trump. He’s a racist, a xenophobe and a heartless human being of the highest order.

The only way to end this peacefully is impeachment. I am not going to sit back and NOT say the word, IMPEACHMENT. This isn’t political, this is how we get rid of a horrible President. It’s the way to fix the TRUMP problem. 60% of Americans no longer want this man to be president. It’s time to work the system and start the revolution. Thank God we have the Second Amendment!

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

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SPEED DATING IN SINGAPORE

Trump’s Simplistic View of Diplomacy

What the world just witnessed in Singapore was the devaluation of reality. The bull in the china shop destroyed so much stemware and pottery that the United States will have to take out another loan to pay for it all. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might suggest that the big summit between Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump didn’t really happen. But we saw it on TV, so it must have taken place. However, the final product of the event has less backbone than a jellyfish.

The Democrats asked, “Where’s the beef,” While the Trump loyalists were toasting, “Well, Trump did it!” Yes, he took a meeting with the Chairman of a totalitarian nation, who arrests, tortures, kills and enslaves his people, but that never stood in the way of the Donald’s ego. He thinks he will get the Noble Peace Prize for this made-for-TV event, but he failed to get anything of substance from this high-level meeting. It’s pure Trump; lots of talk, lots of words, little substance.

Trump walked away with a two-page letter saying we agree to reaffirm the talks to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. We still don’t know if Kim’s definition of denuclearization matches ours. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the U.S. goal of the meeting with the North Korean despot was to get “Permanent, verifiable, irreversible dismantling” of their nuclear war machine. Mike has now become frustrated with the fair questions concerning that very pronouncement.

When Pompeo, probably suffering from the new orange form of jetlag, was asked about the fact that his words were not in the two-page agreement both leaders signed, he cited the word “complete” and equated it to “permanent, verifiable, irreversible dismantling” of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. When pressed further, Pompeo barked, “I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous. I just have to be honest with you. It’s a game and one ought not play games with serious matters like this.” Mike, Mike, we appreciate your being “honest” with us but, please, when you negotiate a complex disarmament agreement with another country, you should use precise legal verbiage. Right?

Since Trump returned from his speed-dating session with a dictator in Singapore, he has declared that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat. This, we guess, is based not on an agreement but on his perception of a five-hour meeting with Kim Jong-Un. Donald Trump destroyed relationships with members of the G-7 with insults and his lack of understanding about how trade works, and then dashed off to the big summit. He doesn’t have a solid grasp of diplomacy, so he wasted his time and millions of dollars on a giant photo-op.

Time will tell whether a pledge to start a dialog will indeed lead to peace, but there is good reason to cast skepticism over what happened in Singapore. By telling Kim that we would suspend all military activities with South Korea, we gave the autocrat a gigantic win, without getting diddley-squat in return. Trump also hinted that we might pull out all our troops from South Korea. Really? Why would we do that?

When confronted about some of the North Korean human rights violations, Trump replied with praise for Kim Jong-Un as a “tough guy,” a “smart guy” and a “great negotiator.” When Bret Baier of Fox News interviewed Trump following the denuclearization summit, our president declined to condemn North Korea’s record.

International bodies have accused Kim of crimes against humanity, including assassinations of political rivals, public executions and the imprisonment of tens of thousands political adversaries. Trump seems numb to real carnage.

The Donald disassociated Kim from those atrocities with, “Hey, when you take over a country, tough country, with tough people, and you take it over from your father, I don’t care who you are, what you are, how much of an advantage you have – if you can do that at 27 years old, that’s one in 10,000 could do that.” I guess their first date went well, judging from Trump’s additional comment, “So he’s a very smart guy, he’s a great negotiator and I think we understand each other.”

Trump believes that everyone is like him and that flattering the other person is all that’s needed. When Trump says something that doesn’t get a response, he assumes he has won. Judging by what we know so far, Trump received a few words on paper, while America appears to have given more than we got. We all hope this is real but, judging by the reaction of Mike Pompeo to a few honest questions about the agreement, maybe the Secretary of State realizes that this is not as it appears.

Trump knows how to pull out of deals, but there is no evidence that he is competent with making pacts, agreements or peace treaties. Without good people like Pompeo, Trump would just be another fat, pompous politician with promises to keep. It’s not bad that he delivers on all his promises, but those promises are terribly destructive. He has made America less great. I am embarrassed by him.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

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LEAKING AND THE LAW

Trump’s Department of Justice

The tight-rope walk between protecting national security and the need for a free press has always been a challenge. It’s essential that government and justice operate without the fear of damaging leaks to the media, similar to your need of security on your social media platforms.

Our President, Donald Trump, spends an inordinate amount of time writing and sending posts to Twitter. Some people, even many of his followers, consider this an exorbitant use of a social media platform. Trump’s tweets often get him into trouble, but our president’s psychological vomiting gives the nation a revealing look into his soul.

There is a widely held belief in our government that if the President of the United States reveals something then it is no longer classified. Under this logic, once the leader of the free world speaks whatever he says is not a leak. Trump fails to realize, however, that some of the leaks he complains about are things that he shared with his buddies on the phone. Trump uses these people as sounding boards, but they also talk to others.

Good reporting is much like a jig-saw puzzle. A journalistic sleuth will interview and prod people in power and tap official sources. By carefully connecting the dots of loosely related pieces of a story, a talented journalist can then write a complete story, hopefully with the added value of a big scoop. Once the report is written, the correspondent usually calls people in authoritative positions to have them verify the premise or the facts. Many times, a “no comment” is interpreted as approval. While this is not always correct, it is an accepted technique. The old, “Well, they didn’t deny it,” can be a bit like walking on thin ice.

Because of the competitive nature of the press, and the aggressive, often unprofessional, work of web bloggers and media sites, reporters are not afraid of rummaging through someone’s trash to get a story. Some writers have a political purpose and will bend the story to fit their perspective, right or left. Washington, D.C. seems like a big city, but it’s really a bunch of little towns filled with gossip, rumors, and bottom-feeders. The government might be the Capitol’s biggest employer, but the notion of a swamp isn’t too far from the truth.

In their quest for truth, reporters will do just about anything to concoct a good story. Because the D.C. center of power is so small, personal relationships and late-night bed partners often play into the mix. Human nature doesn’t change, but the law about protecting the secrets of government are black and white.

In 2003, a journalist for The Washington Post, James Novak, received inside information from Richard Armitage, who worked at the Department of State. Novak then published a story that revealed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Not only did this end Ms. Plame’s CIA career, it also generated a grand jury investigation.

The case was United States v. Libby and, yes, that is the same Scooter Libby who President Trump recently pardoned. Libby’s was VP Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, and he was found guilty of making false statements to investigators about leaking information to reporters. Many people believe that Libby took the fall for Cheney, who was probably also in the loop of the leak.

Now, here are some strange coincidences. The special prosecutor in the Scooter Libby case was Patrick Fitzgerald. He prosecuted and got a conviction of Rod Blagojevich, who was the Governor of Illinois at the time, for attempting to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat for money. Trump said he is considering pardoning Blagojevich. And to make the stew a little thicker, James Comey, then acting Attorney General, was the person who appointed Fitzgerald to investigate the leaking of Plame’s identity.

But it gets even stranger. Scooter Libby tried his hand at writing and published a fictional novel about a smallpox epidemic in Japan in 1903 called, The Apprentice. One can’t make this stuff up and it shows the interlocking circles of our government and Trump’s intentions.

The front-page story in the New York Times today (6-8-2018) reports that, “A former Senate Intelligence Committee aide was arrested on Thursday in an investigation of classified information leaks where prosecutors also secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporter’s phone and email records.” The story alleges that the former aide, 57-year-old James A. Wolfe, was charged with lying repeatedly to FBI investigators about his contacts with three reporters. A shocking fact is this was the first known instance of the Trump Justice Department seizing a reporter’s records.

But wait, there’s more. Wolfe and reporter Ali Watkins were allegedly dating. The New York Times went on to add, “It appeared that the FBI was investigating how Ms. Watkins learned that Russian spies in 2013 had tried to recruit Carter Page, a former Trump foreign policy adviser.” I guess the “failing” New York Times really did have a major scoop.

Wolfe has worked in a security role on the Hill for over 30 years. This puts the Great Orange Leader in a precarious position. While Trump disparages his own Justice Department, those same professionals are using the same legal methods to obtain information which could lead to a conviction, just as they did in New York with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer. This underscores the notion of no one being above the law, and that Donald Trump may be in the thick of the same kind of thorough investigation in the Russian probe. As someone pointed out, “investigation” is part of their name: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Trump has his unlimited power to pardon, as he did for Scooter Libby. Perhaps this was a message sent to anyone who might be thinking of testifying against him or flipping on him. Regardless, the media will continue their relentless fact finding. That is what they do.

There are people who consider themselves whistle-blowers and the Washington press corps craves their precious pieces of information. All the king’s horses and men will never stop the leaks, whether they are legal or not. Human nature dictates that, sooner or later, someone will leak. And we thank them for giving us the gift that Trump cannot, TRANSPARENCY.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

The Jonas Bronck Series

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FLY LIKE AN EAGLE

National Anthem and Flag Props

On June 20, 1782, the Bald Eagle became our national emblem, and those who made that selection felt strongly that the bird was a great example of long life, great strength and majestic looks.

The Bald Eagle of North America ran into problems due to hunting and the use of pesticides, like DDT, which almost wiped them out. In 1960, experts believed that there were only 400 breeding pairs left and they were put on the endangered species list. After lots of hard work by conservationists, the birds were back and removed from the list in 2007. If you’ve ever seen a Bald Eagle up close, they are indeed one of the most special birds in the world. Their wing-span can take your breath away.

Why are we talking about eagles? Well, they are the emblem of the football team from the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. After 57 years, the Philadelphia Eagles finally won the National Football League Championship game, the Super Bowl. In the U.S.A., the team winning that big game traditionally gets an invite to the White House to be honored by the Commander-in-Chief. And that was the plan, until Donald Trump learned that only ten of the Eagles’ players were going to attend the White House celebration. Professional football teams have between 60 and 80 players and personnel.

Like a spoiled child, Trump canceled the party and attempted to blame the Eagles for the last-minute change. This President, who prides himself on fast action and flexibility, seemed rigid with the requirements on this one. To say that the Eagles were not sending a big enough team for the photo op because they wanted to pull off some political stunt was not true. The Donald immediately put together a political stunt of his own by staging a patriotic song fest on the south lawn. It’s never his fault when things go wrong.

A Philadelphia TV journalist who attended the flag waving party at the White House had an interesting report. After asking six people at the event to name the Eagles’ quarterback, none could answer. In fact, most of the people on the lawn that day were not fans of the Super Bowl Champs, but rather command-performance extras from government offices — in effect, event actors. Trump once again showed his lack of tact and inability to let a setback rest.

And this has given the Great Orange Leader an excuse to resurrect one of his major campaign rally cries and false assertions that the players have a lack of patriotism. He stirs his base with the lie that professional athletes disrespect the flag, the country and the military. Perhaps what began as a way for football players to show that black players distrust the judicial system and are focused on police brutality against people of color has now kind of become a protest against Trump himself?

As we write this, the National Basketball Championship is underway. The star player of each squad, Steph Curry and Lebron James, have said that if they win it’s unlikely their team would accept an invitation to the White House.

So, we see that when someone protests the protesters, another protest ignites. The simple calculus of this president is to never stop fighting, never apologize and never attempt to hear what anyone is saying about the other side of an issue. America is dealing with this right now, and the President who knows not what he does.

Some strategists say Trump’s putting the flag, the military and the National Anthem between himself and the large number of African-Americans who play sports is actually a form of micro-aggression against a whole race. Some trained psychiatrists might offer that the real reason behind this farce is not Trump’s hyper-patriotism, but the Donald’s downright racism.

What’s truly weird is Donald Trump thinks he is doing African-Americans a favor by being President. In his quest for votes from minorities he said to a whole race of Americans, “What do you have to lose?” The answer is in. They lost a little bit of their freedom and First Amendment rights. Thanks Goofball.

Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL, along with the owners of the 32 teams have come up with their version of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell.” They ruled that players on the field during the National Anthem must stand, but those who wanted to protest could stay in the locker room. That is like sending a surrogate to a protest march. If I cannot see you, how do I know whether you’re protesting or just taking a last-minute pee?

The President’s remarks hurt a U.S. business and industry. There is a cause and effect reality that fewer people watched the game to honor the President. He has created an anti-athlete bias among his followers on an issue that would have gone away had he simply ignored it. But the big mouth Orange Man has made it a problem. Now, this matter will be played out in the courts.

Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49er who started the take-a-knee protest, has filed a grievance against the NFL for collusion against him. Kaepernick claims that the owners of the 32 teams made a pact to keep him out of the game. Most sports fans know that when the San Francisco team dropped Kaepernick, he was more qualified than most of the back-up quarterbacks in the league. Despite that, not one team offered him a job. He was “blacklisted,” a term with double meaning in this case.

It is interesting that the word “collusion” is now a part of this situation and Trump has already taken a side. I am sure when Donald Trump talks to Roger Goodell, he tells him there was “no collusion.” In fact, the use of the word collusion here is entirely correct. Trump fixates on the word “collusion” because that was a major part of his business dealings to get a leg up on the competition.

However, collusion between Russian agents and a candidate, with the intent of them helping him to win the election in the United States, is treason. Donald Trump is his own worst enemy. I’ll predict that the NFL will lose the case against Kaepernick and will have to pay him large sums of money. Trump’s words will be used against the League, which means he will once again hurt the NFL, just like he challenged the same league when Trump owned the New Jersey Generals. Trump wants only to hurt his perceived enemies, even at the risk of wounding America.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

The Jonas Bronck Series

Books available on Amazon:

BECAUSE I SAID SO

Trump’s Tricks Wear Thin

Do you remember when you got into an argument with your parents and their final salvo was a single line that ended the dispute? Their words “…because I said so,” only made you angry and more defiant. In the final analysis, you realized they had a power over you that could not be challenged. Maybe that’s why you wanted to leave home as soon as you could. The escape from parental control is also why some college students do the stupidest things in their first year away from home. It’s a burst of freedom.

People in the media use the word “optics” when something just doesn’t look right. A sharp weapon of denial is built into any liar’s quiver. This morning (6-4-2018), on NBC’s Today show, Bill Clinton was asked if he would have handled the Monica Lewinski scandal differently in light of today’s #MeToo movement. Mr. Clinton, in his raspy style, pointed to the interviewer and talked about him not having all the facts. That is funny. Why would any fact other than Clinton lying about the whole thing matter? You cannot argue away a mistake by either blaming someone else or claiming a deep state conspiracy against you. Bill Clinton did, in fact, have sexual relations with “that woman.”

It is my contention that the way Bill Clinton mishandled his sexual misconduct while in the governor’s mansion in Arkansas and in the Oval Office helped Donald Trump. Clinton handed him a get-out-of-jail card for his “pussy grabbing” comment and helped his team dilute the claims of the more than a dozen women who claimed Trump mistreated them. Both men have sexual demons, delusional darkness and shitty chauvinism that follow them long after they leave the room. The best these power-hungry men can do is merely deny their actions.

Trump’s latest attempt at trickery is the game of telling someone else to make it all go away. He claims he is innocent, there was no collusion, and he embellishes the assertions with “no obstruction.” After saying he did nothing wrong, Trump used his goofy puppet-attorney Rudy to declare that he doesn’t have to abide by a subpoena.

In true Trumpean style, Giuliani claimed that Trump could have shot Comey and gotten away with it. In so many words, Trump’s legal team is saying that the President of the United States is above the law. I’m having a hard time finding that contention in the Constitution.

The assertion that the President could even pardon himself is one of the most idiotic allegations that has ever been made, and I am not alone in my pronouncement. Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and federal prosecutor, said that, “It’s an outrageous claim, it’s wrong.” Christie added on ABC news This Week that Trump’s legal team, “…was trying to make a broad argument.” That doesn’t hold much water.

I have a lot of respect for Preet Bharara, former US attorney, who said that Trump pardoning himself would be an “almost self-executing impeachment.” Amazingly, Giuliani agreed with Bharara on Meet The Press (6-3-2018). So, why the ping-ponging opinions Rudy?

Here are the most logical questions for Trump. If you are so innocent of any charge or theory, why not clear the air, tell the truth and get back to your job of destroying democracy in America? Why the stone-walling? Who are you protecting? Why were there so many meetings with Russians and what happened during them? What is really going on?

Even a casual observer must think that Donald J. Trump is hiding something. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, while taking about the recent tariffs that Trump capriciously placed on Canadian products, said, “…a year ago when I talked with the president about the possibility of 2-3-2 tariffs steel and aluminum, he agreed that it would be insulting to consider Canada as part of the national security concerns. So, for me, that really doesn’t make sense.”

Canadians can be overly polite, and one could interpret Trudeau’s words to mean that President Trump cannot be trusted. Other nations cannot rely on what Trump says. His ruthless policies and knee-jerk reactions hurt our allies. Trump is the “jerk” in “knee-jerk” who lies to our allies in wars and trade.

The insanity of President Trump may lead him to think he has stacked the deck of the Supreme Court. But if the question of Presidential power gets to a vote with the Justices, the Donald just might be surprised if they don’t give him cover. Think about that. If the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not be held accountable for his actions and words and was, in effect, above the law, what would keep him from getting rid of the Supreme Court? And wouldn’t that be a wonderful end of TRUMP!

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

The Jonas Bronck Series

Books available on Amazon:

MISSING THE WHOLE POINT

Samantha Bee Created a Hornet’s Nest

On her TBS cable show, comedian Samantha Bee took things to the next level by attacking Ivanka Trump, a woman who works for the current administration. Coming in the same week that Roseanne Barr lost her job for a racist tweet, the FULL FRONTAL TV show also got everyone’s underpants in a twitter. Bee indicted the President’s daughter for not taking up the plight of immigrant children being separated from their mothers and fathers as they come across the border seeking asylum in this great land of the free.

Yes, Samantha Bee called Ivanka a “feckless cunt.” The words were beeped out in the broadcast version of the program, but not in the web posting of the show. After the web world blew up, the network removed the program from its web site.

Bee’s verbal abuse of the “First Daughter” was motivated by the left’s myth that they could count on her to be the voice of reason. Ha! Ivanka will not take a public stand against her father’s draconian immigration policies. We know that Ivanka is just a trophy daughter, and if that offends you, then why is she there? Tell me. I am convinced she has no responsibilities. No one has ever provided her job description or explained exactly what she does.

The pundits and talking heads on TV trying to explain how Roseanne Barr’s tweet is the same as Samantha Bee’s putdown of the President’s daughter are missing the whole point. Samantha Bee won the messaging war, while Roseanne is just another person out of work.

Most of the country didn’t know who Samantha Bee was before this episode. Those who follow the Daily Show, will remember her as an edgy and feminist correspondent on that program. Full Frontal airs on TBS, a fringe network serving up basketball games and reruns of “Big Bang Theory.” There are those who wonder what happened to Conan O’Brien. Well he’s on TBS and has been for years.

Both Michelle Wolf and, now, Samantha Bee, have made explosive launches into the public consciousness. They used their opportunity to say something, and they REALLY said something. Bee’s message would never have gotten to so many people if she didn’t use the C-word.

No one in the White House or in the house next door would have been talking about this if the Canadian-American didn’t step outside the box. Everyone is talking about Bee and the point she made. This is a huge win for TBS and Samantha, forced to apologize to save sponsors, is in a better position than ever. I am sure the tune in for her next show will be tremendous.

The effect that this will have on the judge’s decision on whether AT&T can buy Time-Warner and, thus, Turner and TBS is unknown. But if AT&T is blocked from the merger by the Justice Department Trump thinks he runs, someone else will line up to buy the large media company, and it could be Jeff Bezos. So, Mr. Trump, be careful what you wish.

Separating families at the border is immoral and hurtful. We know that there is no greater pain you could possibly inflict on parents and their children, so why are we doing this in America?

The quick answer from all those in the Trump camp is that the people coming across the border are breaking the law and the law says we must separate them. Huh? Another answer the Trumpettes give when confronted with the pain they are causing is, “We didn’t start it, Obama did the same thing.” If Obama is the worst enemy of the Trump camp, how do they get away with using an Obama immigrant policy as the justification for doing harm to kids? I don’t get it.

And with this Law & Order White House, why is Trump replacing juries and judges with his pardon pen? Trump seems to pick and choose what laws are breakable and which are punishable.

Samantha Bee should not be fired for using her First Amendment right to speak out about immigration policy, no matter who sits in the White House. You can argue that her personal attack on Ivanka was mean spirited and vulgar, but it got the job done. Her message was heard.

Donald Trump will scream for an apology, which is oxymoronic, or maybe just moronic. Our Great Orange Leader says that he apologizes to no one, not even God. He said he has done nothing requiring an apology. Really?

We are in the grip of a tyrant in the making. He has made it okay to scream back and be rude and to say anything that gets attention. It’s what he does. Trump hates it when someone else takes the stage away from him or, more accurately, the mic. He craves being the center of attention. We wish him luck on his quest for popularity.

Donald Trump will never be well-liked by all Americans. If you are African-American, Hispanic, poor or interested in making money on global projects and companies, this president is a disaster. We will see who is feckless in the long run and, for those who didn’t look up the word, it means a person lacking initiative or strength of character. Hey, if the shoe fits… I would go so far to say that Donald, not his daughter, is the feckless cunt.

The First 200 Days Of Trump – ONLY ONE MILLION LEFT

The Jonas Bronck Series

Books available on Amazon: