Category Archives: national news

national news

Shouldn’t be close, however …

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A presidential election that by all rights should be a runaway for the incumbent looks as though it’ll produce a lot of gnawed-off fingernails.

President Joe Biden is sitting on an economy that is on fire. Oh, wait. The Gross Domestic Product data came in this week a good bit cooler than expected. Am I worried that we’re about to implode? Hardly.

Here he is, now facing the probable nomination of the guy he defeated in 2020. The former POTUS is poised to take the Republican nomination despite all those criminal indictments and a history of being impeached twice by the House of Reps during his single term in office.

I’m still reasonably confident that President Biden is going to prevail when they count the ballots. My confidence, though, is tempered a bit by POTUS 45’s persistent poll standing among those who are so fed up with the government that they’re willing to give the former Philanderer in Chief a pass on his wretched behavior.

I have been visiting friends in Germany for the past 12 days. They, too, express alarm at the ex-Liar in Chief’s poll standing. My friends are learned folks. They know the lay of the land.

I am going to stand on my belief that we are better than the polling suggests of us.

This congest, by any reasonable measure, should be a blowout for the incumbent. It isn’t. Nor does it appear it will become one between now and Election Day.

That is … unless the courts deliver us some good news between now and then. Here’s hoping.

legal news, national news

Why delay, SCOTUS?

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Many details soar over my occasionally pointed head, such as the apparent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the 45th POTUS deserves presidential immunity.

The high court heard oral arguments this week from the ex-POTUS’s legal team and the legal eagles assembled by special counsel Jack Smith. At stake is the pending trial on the Jan. 6 assault on the government that took place at the former Liar in Chief’s urging.

I heard reports yesterday that justices appear inclined to deny the ex-POTUS’s claim of immunity from prosecution, but are going to drag their feet in issuing their decision.

Why wait? Why delay this matter any longer than necessary? Why not issue a ruling and if it’s the way media have speculated, then let’s get on with the trial post haste?

SCOTUS can move quickly on these matters. Look at what they did in 2000 when given the case involving the recount of Florida ballots in that year’s presidential election. They heard oral arguments and then — boom! — stopped the recount with Texas Gov. George W. Bush ahead in Florida by 527 votes, giving him the state’s electoral votes … and thus, the presidency over Vice President Al Gore.

It was done in a matter of days.

The current SCOTUS is equally capable of delivering a decision of monumental importance.

Donald Trump, national news, political news

Bannon blathers the ‘truth’?

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Steve Bannon’s blatherings normally run into one of my ears and out the other, given that I don’t trust the guy as far as I can throw him.

However, when the former inside man in the POTUS 45’s administration says what he says about what Republicans prefer in the 2024 presidential race, well, I tend to perk up.

Bannon believes most GOP members of Congress want the ex-POTUS to lose to President Biden later this year.

Why is that? Because the former Idiot in Chief is a loser and he would bring other Republicans down with him. We saw it happen in the 2020 election and in the 2022 midterm balloting. POTUS 45’s endorsements were poison to GOP candidates and they want him gone from the scene … according to Bannon.

You know what? I’ll go along with what ol’ Steve says on this one. I just hope his version of the “trick knee” doesn’t let him down.

If only some of these Republicans would get off their duffs and work to defeat the one-time commander in chief.

military news, national news, political news

Is he really that stupid?

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NUREMBERG, Germany — As you know, I am visiting friends in this lovely city in the gorgeous Bavaria region.

They are well-read, erudite and sophisticated. Alena asked me a fascinating question today about the intelligence of the POTUS No. 45. “Do you think he’s really that stupid,” she asked, “or is he just playing to the people who support him no matter what?”

Her reference point is that ghastly mini-speech he made the other day about the Battle of Gettysburg, the fight that turned the tide of our Civil War. The ex-POTUS offered not a single word about the significance of the battle, but instead prattled on about how “bloody” and “beautiful” it was.

Her point is interesting to me. She believes he might just be saying such a thing to appeal to his MAGA cult base of voters who themselves might not have any notion about the importance of this — or any other — significant event in our nation’s history.

Hmm. I thought for a moment about what Alena said. I don’t believe the former Philanderer in Chief is that sophisticated. I do believe he is an ignorant fool. She describes him as “evil.” My bride used that term,, too, to describe the presumed  Republican Party presidential nominee.

Perhaps the term “evil” connotes a level of genius. I’ll have to consider it. He strikes me as someone I have felt all along is unfit for public office, given that he’s never devoted a nano-second of his professional life to giving back to the nation,

Yes, I also believe he is that stupid.

International news, military news, national news

Nice knowin’ ya, Mr. Speaker

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House Speaker Mike Johnson might not be long for the powerful post he now occupies. Why is that?

Because he has decided to do the right thing by allowing a vote on an aid package for Ukraine, which is likely to piss off the MAGA crowd that opposes sending more aid to the nation fighting forces sent to Ukraine on orders from Vladmir Putin, the good pal of the POTUS No. 45.

“I believe Xi, Vladimir Putin, and Iran really are an axis of evil,” Johnson said recently. There you have it. He’s on the record calling Putin, the Russian strongman, part of a newly formed evil triumvirate.

Did Mike Johnson Just Get Religion on Ukraine? | The New Yorker (1ft.io)

I cannot even begin to wrap my arms around the irony here.

He is speaker largely because he was endorsed by the former Liar in Chief. Now the ex-Moron in Chief might turn on him if the MAGA cultists in the House engineer a vote to remove him.

Jiminy Crickets. My head won’t stop spinning!

He is going to allow a $60 billion aid package to come to a vote. The MAGA crowd won’t stand for it.,

It, however, is the right thing to do. Johnson knows it. So do most Americans. The MAGA cultists, however, march to their own cadence … and it is seriously out of step with the rest of this nation.

national news

Trial starts … and then ends

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It looks as though Alejandro Mayorkas is going to keep his job as homeland security secretary after all.

You see, the U.S. House impeached Mayorkas because Republicans didn’t like the way he is running his department’s immigration policy. So … lacking a “high crime and misdemeanor,” they impeached him anyway.

The case went to the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

The Senate then managed, by a narrow partisan vote, to dismiss the impeachment charges against the DHS boss.

I’m an admitted partisan on this issue. Mayorkas didn’t deserve to be impeached simply because he has done a lousy job of controlling our southern border. To the Senate Democrats’ credit, they managed to hold together to fend off this scam trial.

My hope is that Mayorkas has been issued a wake-up call and tends to the need to protect our southern border against those seeking illegal entry into the United States.

national news, political news

Peaceful transition: hallmark of our nation’s greatness

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U.S. presidencies have changed partisan hands many times over the years since our nation’s founding.

And to a man, each president who either is about to take command of our executive branch or is handing command over to a successor, they say the same thing.

“The peaceful transition of power from one president to the next is one of the hallmarks of our nation’s greatness,” they say. That transition sets us apart, it establishes for the entire world to witness how great nations should conduct this necessary function.

I have watched presidents — Republican and Democrat alike — pledge full support for their successor and “compete cooperation” as they embark on that transition.

All of this is to condemn in forceful language the hideous refusal to grant such a transition from the administration of the 45th POTUS to the man who defeated him, Joe Biden.

President Carter got shellacked by Ronald Reagan in 1980. He called the president-elect to congratulate him and to work with him as his team prepared to take power. President George H.W. Bush lost decisively to Bill Clinton in 1992. President Bush did the same thing, telling the president-elect that he wished him success.

The 45th POTUS has been nothing but a petulant, lying, stubborn wannabe dictator by continuing to foment The Big Lie about election fraud that did not exist in 2020.

And to think this former POTUS wants to “make America great again.” What … a … disgrace!

national news, political news

Democracy is strong … not ‘fragile’

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Vice President Kamala Harris needs to take a deep breath and assess carefully the strength of the democratic republic she is governing alongside President Joe Biden.

Harris told an interviewer that the 2024 election well could be the “last democratic election” this country could have. Really, Mme. Vice President?

She frets that the presumed Republican presidential nominee could get elected and enact a permanent dictatorship. Thus, we have the end of democracy in this great nation of ours, she reckoned.

Kamala Harris agrees with interviewer that 2024 could be last US democratic election (yahoo.com)

Harris was speaking on a podcast hosted by Angie “Pumps” Sullivan. “I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say this genuinely could be the last democratic election we ever have,” Sullivan said.

“You’re right,” Harris responded.

Excuse me, but I’ll butt in for a moment.

Sullivan is being hyperbolic in the extreme. For the VPOTUS to endorse that hyperbole is folly in the extreme.

All of this seems to presume that the GOP nominee is going to win the election. I am going out on that fragile limb and say, “No way in this world is that moron going to win the election this fall!”

Harris went on: “No, and I’m going to tell you. As vice president, I’ve now met with over 150 world leaders … in the last three international trips I’ve taken — which are going back to the end of last year through this year — world leaders have come up to me, expressing their real concern about this election,” Harris said.

What precisely do they know about the character of Americans? We have it totally within our power to stop this crazed lunatic from ascending to power yet again.

And make no mistake about it, the GOP nominee-to-be is flat-out nuts, a loon, and he poses an existential threat to the very government he once swore to “defend and protect.”

2016 election, national news, political news

Are we really that stupid?

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A member of my family and I disagree on the potential outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

My family member believes the 45th president is poised to regain the presidency. I disagree. He and I had an exchange that went something like this:

Family member: I think he’s going to win.

Me: No. He won’t win.

FM: You said the same thing in 2016 and look what happened.

Me: We have learned from the mistake we made as a nation. We aren’t going to make it again.

FM: I am not so sure about that. I don’t think we’ve learned anything. Besides, Biden didn’t win in 2020 by a landslide.

Me: I know. A few hundred thousand-vote switch in three states would have produced a vastly different result.

The exchange ended shortly after that. My family member does not want the 45th POTUS to win. He doesn’t exactly line up strongly in President Biden’s camp.

I do wish my family member had more faith in the collective intelligence of American voters. But … he doesn’t and I’ll accept his view that we are collection of gullible dummies. I, however, am going to stand on my wellspring of belief that we are smarter than we have demonstrated.

The former POTUS tapped into a heretofore mine of resentment in Americans’ hearts. He now vows to be “your retribution” for misperceived wrongs that have been committed against the former POTUS. He is going to unleash the Justice Department on his foes … and to think he accuses Biden of “weaponizing” the DOJ.

Are we really ready to welcome a return of this kind of political vengeance into the halls of power?

I think not.

medical news, national news, political news

Ex-POTUS now opposes national abortion ban … oh, really?

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POTUS No. 45 has just declared his opposition to a national ban on abortion, saying that states should have the final say on what happens within their borders.

What in the world are we to glean from the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee’s latest stance on abortion?

Let’s review for a moment this moron’s path through the abortion pea patch.

He once declared himself to be fully pro-choice on the issue. Then he ran for president in 2016 and promised to appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that inscribed a woman’s right to choose as a civil liberty. He kept that promise, with three judges named to the high court during his single — and hopefully only — presidential term. Republican senators declared their intention to enact a national ban, the former POTUS was silent. Now he says it’s up to the states.

While making that declaration, the former Idiot in Chief has boasted about “single-handedly overturning Roe v. Wade.”

Where does this clown stand on the issue? Don’t answer that. I think I know. He doesn’t stand anywhere on it.

He has no view. He has no policy.