November 12, 2019

Are we ready for a Red Sox fan in the White House? Michael Bloomberg grew up in Medford, and, despite three terms as New York City’s mayor, did not change his allegiance. More importantly, do we want someone who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins, an MBA from Harvard, and then had a successful career on Wall St. before starting Bloomberg LP from scratch and building it into a $53B fortune? Sounds pretty good to me.

Bloomberg has been a registered Democrat for most of his life. He is regarded as socially liberal or progressive on a multiple of issues, supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, stricter gun control measures, environmentalism, and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. Economically, he is strongly in favor of free trade, is pro-business, and he describes himself as a fiscal conservative. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

I think a Red Sox fan in the White House is a lot better than the Yankee fan we have now.

November 11, 2011

Chuck Rosenberg, former US Attorney, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and MSNBC contributor, has a podcast called The Oath. He interviews outstanding Americans, who have taken the oath of office. The oath is “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

He interviews outstanding Americans who held major positions in government and/or the military like Admiral James Stravridis, Admiral William McRaven, FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe, U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, Assistant Attorney General Sally Yates, and more. They all took the oath. They have all done heroic work in the service of the United States. They took the oath seriously, and have defended the Constitution.

Republicans in Congress also swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, which obliges them to act as a check on the executive branch and any abuses of its power. However, most Republicans have chosen to defend Mr. Trump. Apparently, the oath they took is the hypocritic oath.

November 11, 2019

The public impeachment hearings are about to start. I do not expect the same level of professional comportment from the Republican inquisitors that we got in the Watergate hearings. The first tell is putting Jim Jordan on the intelligence committee because Devin Nunez wasn’t enough of a toady. Regardless, I have some recommendations for the Republicans if they want to come out of these hearings with the only shred of dignity they have left.

One. Do not argue that there was no quid pro quo. There was. Get over it. You can’t be deniers like you are with climate change. You can make the ridiculous arguments that the quid pro quo is not wrong, or that everyone does it, but don’t insult my and your intelligence by claiming it never happened.

Two. Do not complain about the “deep state.” You have no idea what the deep state is. The concept of the deep state is a conspiracy theory. And the deep state you are referring to is composed of the men and women of the state, justice, and defense departments, who have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Three. Do not tell me this is not impeachable. If this isn’t, what is? Nixon was guilty of a two-bit burglary, lying about it, covering it up, and obstruction. At it’s heart, it was a dirty trick. Bill Clinton was guilty of just being dirty, and lying about it. These acts offended our national sense of decency, but neither of these acts affected our national security.

Four. Do not try to confuse the public. I know you think the public is made up of a bunch of know-nothings like Lindsay Graham, but don’t be surprised if people have a sudden epiphany. They actually may read the transcripts. The case against the President is elegantly simple. So simple in fact that even you can understand it.

Five. Do not try to blame the three amigos…Giuliani, Mulvaney, and Sondland. Nobody believes that the gang who couldn’t shoot straight had any reason to dream up this disaster on its own. You know whose idea it was. There is only one person who has whole heartedly embraced conspiracies like birtherism and QAnon.

Six. Do not allow the President to obstruct justice, stonewall, and assert executive privilege. You said you wanted transparency. Do you? If the President hasn’t done anything wrong, you should welcome full disclosure. Sunshine is the best disinfectant blah blah blah.

Seven. Do not ask to unmask the whistleblower. You do know the whistleblower law was designed to protect the identities of whistleblowers to protect them against people like you. Is there any doubt that the POTUS wouldn’t savage the whistleblower on Twitter, call him a member of the deep state, accuse him of being a never-Trumper, call him a liar, and put his life at risk?

Never mind. Deny, complain, deflect, blame, and acquiesce. At least these are things you are actually good at.

November 11, 2019

How did we get here? We are at the point where the Republican Party and the President are major spreaders of conspiracy theories. There was Pizzagate where Hillary Clinton was accused of running a pedophile ring in the basement of a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. People almost got killed. Trump was the major proponent of birtherism, questioning Barack Obama’s legitimacy. QAnon is a conspiracy theory claiming that Democrats, the media, celebrities, and the “deep state” are working against Donald Trump, and also running child sex trafficking rings. Trump has retweeted this rubbish to his followers.

Now we are in the throes of the impeachment inquiry, the basis of which is not one but two conspiracy theories. The first is that the Ukrainians, not the Russians, interfered in the 2016 election on the side of Hillary Clinton, and, in addition, have the Democratic server as part of a cover up. The other conspiracy theory involves Joe Biden interfering in Ukrainian politics to protect his corrupt son. Both of these have been debunked. None of this acceptable, some of it is impeachable, and, as Donald Trump says, everyone knows it.

Happy Veterans Day

November 4, 2019

Donald Trump infamously said, in referring to Senator John McCain, that he didn’t like war heroes, who were captured. John McCain’s plane was shot down over Vietnam Nam, and he spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison. He preferred war heroes, rather, who were not captured. The sounds of silence from the faux conservative, hawkish, Republican Party were deafening. Fast forward to today where we have another decorated war hero, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who was not captured in Afghanistan, testifying that he heard first-hand that Donald Trump issued a quid pro quo to the president of Ukraine. As it turns out, Trump doesn’t like war heroes, who weren’t captured either. He immediately threatened to release information that Vindman is a never-Trumper, whatever that means. He has trolled numerous military people e.g. Kelly, Mattis, McMaster, McRaven among others. He has gone after Gold Star families. This from the less than artful dodger. The forever-Trumpers remained silent. My question for Trump and Republicans is what kind of war heroes do you like? You want heroes, who were not captured, who won’t testify against Trump, and who are willing to violate their oaths. Sleep well, Republicans.

November 2, 2019

The New York Times recently conducted an informal poll about who its readers thought was the worst cabinet member in the Trump administration. While there were several worthy candidates, Barr and Pompeo were one and two respectively. The question that many people ask is how these two, smart, upstanding, civil servants have allowed themselves to be corrupted by Donald Trump like so many others. I think the question misses the point, and gives too much credit to Trump’s abilities. I think these two, maybe unlike others, had a personal agenda, and were just waiting for the right time and person to allow them to realize it. Fortunately for them, a useful idiot came along, who would be the vessel for their extreme conservative views.

Mike Pompeo, raised a Catholic, has stated that life begins at conception and believes that abortions should be allowed only when necessary to save the life of the mother, with no exceptions for rape. In 2011, he voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would have banned federal health coverage that includes abortion. He opposes same-sex marriage and sponsored bills to let states prevent same-sex couples from marrying. Pompeo is affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. In 2015 in a talk at a church, Pompeo said that “politics is a never-ending struggle … until the Rapture.”

William Barr, who has been referred to a Catholic moralist, stated that he believed the framers of the Constitution did not originally intend to create a right to abortion; that Roe v. Wade was thus wrongly decided; and that abortion should be a “legitimate issue for state legislators.” Barr said during his 1991 confirmation hearings that Roe was “the law of the land,” but that he did not have “fixed or settled views” on the subject.

I believe that both of these men, religious conservatives to their cores, are willing to overlook, excuse, and defend outrages by this President in furtherance of their own religious agendas. Again, they have not been corrupted by Trump. Trump is their messiah. One might say, Trump is the Rapture.

November 1, 2019

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said “good riddance” when informed that Donald and Melania Trump had changed their legal domicile to Florida, effectively saying don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Florida and Trump deserve each other. If it wasn’t for the weather and air conditioning, Florida would have no reason to exist. If it wasn’t for racism, Trump would have no reason to exist. It is only fitting that our orange-colored President moves to the Sunshine State where the orange is the major export crop. There are websites dedicated to the craziness that is Florida. For example, check out floridaman.com.

Trump will be a prisoner of Mar-a-Lago, and not the Prince of Manhattan. Florida is brutally hot in the summer, and will be underwater soon thanks to his Neanderthal climate and environmental policies. He will be able to see the Atlantic Ocean from his lobby. On the plus side, he will have plenty of time and few distractions while he is writing his memoirs, which I suspect will win a Pulitzer to go along with his Nobel Peace Prize. Melania will get tired very quickly of ambling up and down Worth Avenue trying to spend her billions. Maybe she will take up golf, and they can participate in couples mixers at his club. I hear that he has already declared himself the couples club champion at all his golf courses to go along with his other fake championships. See “Commander in Cheat.” He will be able to go to Florida Gators football games, and not get booed.

My suspicion is that Trump will push the bounds of the laws governing state taxation by spending too much time out of state as he travels to Bedminster, NJ among other places. Fortunately, that will be a matter between Trump and the state of Florida, and not an issue for the rest of us. Florida and Trump deserve each other.