President Trump, following through on Obama's Red Line

Some are no doubt already making the case that Obama's shifting red line encouraged Syria and President Bashar al-Assad to attack a small Syrian village with chemical weapons killing and injuring scores of children. One can use the word "allegedly" but for all intents...President Trump followed this within 24 hours with 59 air strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles of a Syrian airfield believed to harbor chemical weapons. Now things get complicated with Russia refusing to cooperate with the U.S. over avoiding air conflicts over Syrian airspace. Russian warships have already moved into the region closer to our fleet so you have the seeds of a major world crisis in the making. Trump is getting bipartisan support on this one from Marco Rubio to Charles Schumer usually a critic but the base is mighty unhappy with these developments. There's that Pat Buchanan strict non-interventionist/isolationist wing to deal with. Obama was too much the Hamlet intellectual with this aspect of our foreign policy. Trump of course is taking some flack for not consulting with the UN Security Council and Congress first but if first showings are any indication we may be dealing with a very militaristic and action-oriented president on the world stage. As long as he stays away from the nuclear codes.

The strange thing is the msm kinda liked the Trump Address

RE President Donald J. Trump's first address to a Joint Session of Congress last night the New York Times called it "a presidential speech" (read that again). I watched the bulk of it on ABC News and right after when you get to the post-game the commentators said the latter part was even lyrical. CBS and NBC noted a softer and different Trump, less combative who tapped into some unifying themes. Sure he massaged the nuts of the base at times ($54 billion in increased military spending, crime in Chicago) but it's like a big jug of cough syrup came over the msm in that they were positively and pleasantly subdued. Sure for much of the night the Democrats just sat there stone-faced and sullen, Trump could've offered up a true bona-fide cure for cancer and they still would've sat there with their diarrhetic expressions but I even caught Nancy Pelosi near the end furtively clapping over something. The most emotional and poignant moment of the night came of course when Trump had the widow of the slain Navy SEAL stand up, the wife of Petty Officer William Owens who was killed in that commando raid in Yemen that President Trump ordered in January. That cut across the boundaries and the Dems momentarily came out of their stupor and stood and clapped too. Sure the New York Times has to remind us they have to fact check everything (run it through Snopes?) but it's as if we were witnessing an alt-Trump.

Trump's Russian spiral

The solid mass is beginning to form, something substantive that may lead to a Congressional investigation and possible impeachment of President Trump down the road. The story is that members of his campaign and even inner circle regularly had communications with members of Russian intelligence. Was it to discuss cronut recipes or perhaps a future vodka market for a newly refurbished Trump Vodka brand? I've long said most of the GOP would be perfectly willing to throw Mr. Trump under the bus if the Democrats start making enough trouble. Only the Michelle Malkins and the Daystar crowd would go to the mat for him. Of course the press hates him and will only keep digging. IMO President Trump's days in office may be politically numbered.

The global protesters against Trump

We have dictators and tyrants in real-time spanning the world and yet nobody's globally protesting them. I hear the Bushmen in Africa were even protesting.

I Am So Shook

Reality has finally set in and it's the Zoloft/Abilify phase for liberals, the PTSD of Hillary losing. Now in a logical universe Trump becoming president of the United States would be like if the late Benny Hill had at one time become the PM of Great Britain. Wouldn't happen, not likely to happen and really can't happen all things considered. Trump has gone on the record as saying that the use of nuclear weapons would be a good strategy in the war against ISIS but on the plus side he and Pence have accepted the official report on the Russian hacking. I got the heebie-jeebies too that vague weird anxiety ever since the Election but liberals are so shaken to the very core of their being that even in dreams they're working out their tweets and blogs and anti-Trump posts for the next day now that Ole Man Winter has set in and it's cold as a witch's tit outside so all the placards and posters have been safely stashed away gathering dust and spiderwebs ready for the first hint of spring. We'll see what happens but I hope they make it. Hang in there!

Liberal fantastical thinking

There is a vague but growing movement afoot built around the equally vague idea that somehow Trump can be impeached or thrown out even before he takes office on Jan. the 20th.  I'm unclear as to the grounds of this liberal ice-cream castle built in the air and feathered canyons everywhere to borrow from an old Judy Collins song.  Does Destiny care that much that Hillary Clinton lost?

Our country's basic economic problem in a nutshell

The price of goods and services is a runaway train while your wages stay roughly the same over the course of a lifetime. Sure there are minor raises here and there ("you're doing a fantastic job") and you can always try for that promotion down the road but generally speaking you're stuck in a rut caused by forces beyond your control although libertarians will probably disagree with this. When I was a wee lad the price of a brand new car cost maybe $7,000-$8,000 and a new house in my folks' day was just to pluck a number out of hat maybe $35,000-$40,000. Now that new Honda will cost you 22 GRAND and that house you wanna make a home in will be around $200,000 say and we're not talking mansion, Diddy digs. Of course the average rent for an average apartment these days is $1,200 and counting and that ain't nothin' fancy. Now it's not like your boss is gonna do the logical thing in your view and pay you $50/hour so you can buy that new car and house so the system seems kind of hard-rigged against your advancement in life. This is not a liberal post just an objective look at a basic problem.

What the CIA couldn't do old age did

Socialists are in mourning today. Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro dead at the ripe old age of 90. In this fast-paced and ever-changing world we're definitely talking a retro channel in History here, pre-Internet dictator, blast from the past cigar-chomping revolutionary. I had to laugh at an Onion parody once where they had "Candid Camera" host Allen Funt calling up John F. Kennedy saying the Cuban Missile Crisis was all a hoax and the photo of JFK all relieved. Castro outlasted the power of what 10 U.S. presidents? Political tortoise crawling through the ages, a perennial figure in the pages of the past all yellowed and tattered. I know Michael Moore has said the Cuban healthcare system is the best in the world. I guess you don't get a bill in the mail for colonic polyp lab analysis, dunno. All those Hollywood celebs who hate Trump here's a great place to shuffle on over;)

So why is Hollywood so almost monolithically liberal?

The Hollywood mass trauma over Donald Trump's victory continues, the mass hemorrhaging.  I'm not mad about this but it is curious.  Of course they are entitled to their pov but why is it always the same?  Actress Jennifer Lawrence recently penned a major essay saying we should all feel enraged and other hyperventilations.  I disagree alot with many of Rush's theories and opinings, haven't listened to him in years but the only thing I can come up with is as he once said.  Modern-day actors and actresses are so incredibly wealthy that deep down they actually feel guilty about it:)

The World Series of politics

Waking up the morning after a critically important Election Night is like waking up after a colonoscopy. Your first reaction is was it good or bad so you gauge faces, expressions, vibes and in this case tepidly turn on the news early the next day since you didn't stay up all night 'cause of work the next day. I didn't vote on principle but Hil was my logical prediction. I never understood geo-voting, why folks in most of the northeastern states overwhelmingly vote Democrat while Dixie goes Republican and lots Midwestern states went Trump and CA goes for Hillary. You have a political herd mentality just based on your geographical location? Don't get it. I think Hillary felt entitled to the presidency, a kind of logical thread in the fabric of time, a foregone conclusion (first black president/now woman), a political inevitability so she didn't put her heart and soul into it which goes a long way explaining why she had a major fireworks display set to go off over the Hudson around 9:30 last night. I said I wasn't gonna watch but channel-surfed other stuff and up pops an electoral map on some Spanish station and Trump was doing not bad, good even so I switched around. I saw aging commentators like Charlie Gibson and Jeff Greenfield like they seemed fairly young and flush only a few years ago. WHERE IS THE TIME GOING??? The Ole Gray Lady recently likened FBI director James Comey to J. Edgar Hoover for going after Hillary over the remaining 650,000 emails but a more mundane explanation might be he's only doing his job. Relax Gray Lady editorial board, do a group yoga thing maybe. Brokaw said people are more agitated than they realized but the msm needs to get out more imo. Putin called President-elect Trump already and some people at work looked dismayed and downcast today.

The $15 minimum wage

Not being a doctrinaire hardcore conservative/libertarian the idea of some kind of minimum wage always made sense to me but with this liberal consensus of late that it should be raised to $15/hour across-the-board I'm tempted to chuck the whole thing out and leave employers the hell alone. This is what happens when you try to intellectually compromise with liberals ("yeah some kind of mandatory bottom makes sense") but you're thinking very low and go slow over time and eventually they want everyone to make what a bus driver makes. Entry-level burger flippers at McDonald's: $15/hour and so we'll see how many clerks your local McDonald's franchise hires. Fair to strong bet longer and slower lines, angrier customers and some places closing down altogether. It's not an idea whose time has come, it's an idea whose time should never come.

The implosion of Obamacare?

With major insurers opting out of the exchange and premiums going up is it still worth keeping or even tweaking?  Will it eventually be replaced by HillaryCare and how would this differ from DonaldCare?  How are our nation's part-timers holding up those kept under 30 hours/week because of the original mandate?  Finally whatever happened to if you like your colonoscopist you can keep your colonoscopist?

Sitting out this weird election

People yell at me when I say sometimes in exceptional circumstances it makes sense to sit out a presidential election.  For me to darken in the circle for a certain candidate I have to like him or her say at least 65%.  I don't feel that here.  It'll be what it's gonna be:)

& may the fittest candidate win

Trump went on the Dr. Oz show to wave his good health around.  Conservatives seem fixated on Hillary's health (is that an ingrown toenail I see?).  Let's face it Hil has some physical health issues but what about the Donald's mental and emotional health?  Which matters more pneumonia or psychological insecurities?  I just had a slight nap and so a blog was born.

The implosion of the GOP

Having gotten a taste of the right-wing blogs re Trump and his latest controversies the consensus seems to be we really can't stand the guy but Hillary is far worse for the country so let's all do the right thing. Now I wouldn't normally say this as I respect the process but I kinda lean towards those who say the rules should've been changed so as Trump doesn't represent our brand. You can make a strong case Trump should've gotten some psychiatric treatment somewhere along the line. There's his persecution complex, ego, vindictiveness and all the rest and he hasn't behaved in the least presidential or regal/dignified way after securing the nomination so you're basically dealing with a disaster if he even gets one term. I'm thinking the vaunted independents which are the key to any presidential election will easily make the decision for Hillary based on Trump's personality alone. This is one reason I'm not joining the right-wing blogosphere bandwagon on this, I see the future and it ain't good;)

The surreal GOP convention

I found myself drifting over to Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff and their PBS coverage of the start of the convention.  With the exception of being pro-choice Rudy Giuliani offered real savory red-meat conservatism with Peter Lugar steak sauce.  It was a little thick, grilled and char-broiled and the wonderful aromas permeated the convention floor.  A black sheriff spoke and Blue Lives Matter was perhaps the main theme of the entire evening.  There's a little Melania controversy now as she may have borrowed elements of a previous Michele Obama convention speech.  The PBS panelists: neocon David Brooks noted they all had a feeling of starkness so I started to feel stark too even though I've had this starkness since I turned fifty.  There were some last minute delegates who wanted to throw the whole thing into chaos like being forced into a date you don't like.  Last observation - Chris Christie politely attended but he had your typical man's angry attitude towards rejection;)

I find myself in a sort of racial quandary

Nothing happened for a while now there's been a few more unarmed black men killed by police.  MN and LA and of course the cop ambush in Dallas.  The conservative position seems to be whenever an unarmed black man winds up dead at the hands of the police he must have done something to bring it upon himself.  The liberal position might be the cops are always 100% wrong in these tragic cases.  Meanwhile most police departments today have taken to social media platforms as a kind of warmer friendlier more community-orientated police/social service agency so the juxtaposition between the cultivated department image and these ongoing recent and tragic news events is rather jarring.  The Long Hot Summer;)

free-floating anxiety or maybe it's the state of the union

Part of def.: "a generalized feeling that something is wrong, to fear something but you don't know what it is"  - - There's the bad choice of Trump vs. Clinton,  ISIS is always in the news.  You'll be in a modern hip mall checking out the wifi at Nordstrom Rack and you do have the random thought some guy is gonna come in, shoot that useless security guy and start yelling "Allahu Akbar."  My Scripps card ain't working, am I gonna have to go on an Obamacare exchange?  What if I'm frying chicken and my heart just stops working?  I mean how many beats can it take?  Colorectal stuff, always the polypic obsession after 50...I think maybe it's not so much a mental disorder, that the free-floaters are plugged into reality and the reality ain't good.  The normal go about their day-to-day totally anxiety free because they really don't know what's going on.  Indian Point......

The FBI predestined conclusion re those Hillary emails

Yes said FBI Director James Comey it was wrong and reckless of Hillary to discuss classified and sensitive info on her private servers but you know what?  We're not gonna bring charges.  I call this Charming Rogue Syndrome (not an exact fit because it is Hillary) to describe someone who skirts the law time and again and gets away with it meanwhile Joe Shmoe gets hammered.  Anthony Weiner sends penis pics over the Internet and doesn't have a career.

The SCOTUS TX Abortion Decision

I'll be honest I don't much follow the abortion debate  anymore main reason is it's agitating especially right before you go to bed.  A large
part of society practices abortion, always have and always will so that social fact is agitating so I prefer to think of other things.  I'm tangentially aware of the issue though as Justice Kennedy didn't much care for those abortion restrictions down in TX designed to close as many clinics as possible.  Must be my advancing age, my general social irritability as when presented with the need for abortion these days I'm most likely to go had to have sex didn't you?  (Church Lady id)  Those women activists down in TX they act like they won the World Series or the Super Bowl or something.   IMO the Ole Gray Lady's love for abortion and yes it is love is on another level, otherworldly even.  OK agita;)