Category Archives: national news

national news

Birthright citizenship must stay

Donald J. Trump oozes hypocrisy from every single pore of his overfed, orange-tinged body, which allows me today to take aim at this idea he is pushing to do away with birthright citizenship.

Two of Trump’s wives were immigrants. Ivana and Melania. For the sake of this blog post, I will look briefly at these facts about the children Donald and Ivana brought into this world.

Don Jr. was born in 1977; Ivanka was born in 1981; Eric came along in 1984.

Ivana Trump became a naturalized U.S. citizen until 1988. You know what that means? Hey, I’ll tell you. It means that Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric were citizens simply because they were born here. Their mother was a citizen of a European nation.

As a social media meme suggests, why don’t we revoke their citizenship first in the event this nutty, outrageous and patently stupid idea becomes law?

I have some good news for those, such as me, who want to keep that citizenship clause on the books. Removing it would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment contains the clause that declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States … are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Does that mean anyone? Those born within the legal boundaries of this country become U.S. citizens immediately upon birth?

It doesn’t get any clearer than that. As for Trump, he is without shame or sense of the hypocrisy that drips from his idiotic self.

military news, national news

One and done? Hah … !

Donald J. Trump no doubt is hoping for a “one and done” bombing mission against Iran’s nuclear weapons project.

He likely won’t get it. Instead, Iran is vowing to strike back at U.S. interests and most certainly against Israel. The question for Trump then becomes: What shall this country’s follow-up entail? More air strikes? Boots on the ground?

I am suspicious of Trump’s decision to send the B-2 bombers over Iran. I join him in praising the skill and precision exhibited by the aviators who carried out the mission. They dropped about a dozen bunker buster bombs weighing about 30,000 pounds apiece. Submarines launched Tomahawk missiles at the nuclear targets once the aircraft had completed their mission.

I do not want the United States to go to war against Iran. Under no circumstances should we commit our forces to fighting an enemy dedicated to our destruction, not to mention the destruction of Israel … which began this conflict some days ago with missile and drone attacks against the Iranian nuclear sites.

The political consequences of this event are staggering. Democrats in Congress say Trump has committed an impeachable offense by acting without prior consultation with Congress, which they say is spelled out in the Constitution. They are joined by the MAGA mob that says Trump campaigned for election on the promise to end “endless wars.” Spoiler alert: Don’t wait for the MAGA morons to join an impeachment movement against Trump.

These are dangerous times, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve been through them before. I could blow this off as a one-and-done deal, except that with the current POTUS, one never — not ever! — can predict what he’ll do.

national news

Our system will hold up!

I am running out of ways to say what I believe in my heart about the strength of the governmental system our nation’s founders devised in the late 18th century.

We had a spirited discussion in a worship study this week in the church I attend. It turned to the events in D.C. and whether Donald Trump was going to destroy the republic and create a dictatorship. I sought to remind my friends, many of whom have that concern, that the founders created an imperfect governing document, but imbued in it the ability to withstand crises such as what many of us believe is unfolding.

I reminded my friends of Gerald Ford’s wisdom spoken minutes after he became president in August 1974, that “the Constitution works.” I said that it worked in that moment. I believe it will withstand the tumult being stirred at this very moment.

My faith in our founders’ wisdom is about all I have left on which to rely. I reminded them that we endured a Great Depression, engaged in two world wars, killed 600,000 of our own citizens in our Civil War, slogged through four presidential impeachment trials and watched our government fumble, bumble and bamboozle its way through various and sundry crises of various sizes and importance.

What has remained intact through all of that? The Constitution of the United States of America.

I want this foolishness to stop as much as the next guy. I am using this blog to seek to wield some influence toward that end. We have an election coming up in a little more than a year from now. Another one will follow two years after that. We have the power to enact fundamental change … just as the Constitution grants it to us.

national news, political news

Shades of earlier intraparty battles

I am amazed at the level of surprise expressed by the talking heads over the growing rift between the MAGA wing of the Republican Party and the rest of once-Grand Old Party.

Why, they just cannot believe the party that is so loyal to Donald J. Trump would turn on itself over whether to go to war with Iran or to resolve the growing problem with immigration.

Really? You cannot believe it? Those of us of a certain age remember another time when another great American political party damn near tore itself to shreds over the conduct of the Vietnam War.

The Summer of Love was anything but amorous when I graduated from high school in 1967. Democrats tore at each other’s throats over the war. It was the Doves vs. the Hawks. A lot of young men were torn about whether to join the war effort or dodge the whole thing. I didn’t get caught up in the struggle. Uncle Sam called on me the following summer and I did my duty.

The nation was torn asunder by the rebellion within the great Democratic Party. The Hawks followed the dictates of President Johnson, who had his allies in Congress. The Doves became smitten first by Sen. Eugene McCarthy and then Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

That was then. The MAGA wing is angry with others within the Republican Party. This time it’s MAGA vs. The Establishment Wing of the GOP.

Where am I going with this? I don’t know, eaxcept to remind you that the country’s internal makeup is strong enough to withstand these internecine battles. The TEA Party once rose to challenge the GOP establishment. My goodness, the very nation declared war on itself in the 1860s over the issue of slavery and it survived once the killing stopped.

I don’t give a crap about the MAGA dipshits who have aligned with our nation’s adversaries in Moscow and who think the current POTUS is a man of character and achievement.

However, none of this new to the nation that was founded on the principle of dissent and seeking “redress of grievances.”

national news

News watching: testament to futility

Some of you might recall an earlier blog post in which I declared my intention to consume less news from TV because if found it (a) boring and (b) not very informative.

My semi-boycott is continuing. I’m home alone these days with just my two puppies — Sabol and Endo — and we spend time talking to each other, although I do most of the talking to them. The TV is turned off.

Occasionally, though, I switch it on to kinda/sorta get caught on the day’s events and on occasion I find myself watching a congressional hearing featuring one of Donald Trump’s sycophantic Cabinet picks.

Then it dawns on me why I launched the boycott in the first place. Invariably, this happens: a House member or senator — usually a Democrat — asks a question of the witness who then proceeds to traipse down some rhetorical path where the congressperson doesn’t want to go. The witness tries to continue on that path, the House member or senator seeks to steer them in another direction. They talk over each other — at the same time! As a general rule, the questions asked are relevant; the answers, such as they are, veer away from the point.

To be clear, neither party has a monopoly on this form of rhetorical evasion. Democratic Cabinet members have been hectored and harassed by Republican members of the House and Senate. I watched it unfold during the Biden and Obama administrations. I get that this a bipartisan affliction.

The here and now, though, is what is revelant. Trump has selected an array of ignoramuses for the Cabinet. They don’t know policy. They don’t care about details or even about facts. As I have pondered the lack of quality among these men and women, it occurs to me they reflect the ignorance and apathy of the nimrod who selected them.

I’ll stay current with events as they unfold. I just won’t rely on TV to deliver the news. We have plenty of legitmate news organizations to tell us their version of the truth. It falls on each of us, though, to parse through it all and discern our own version of what’s right.

military news, national news

When these men speak …

When men of the caliber of several general-grade military officers speak with one voice about the conduct of the commander in chief, it is time to take heed.

They all say essentially the same thing about Donald Trump. That he doesn’t honor the office he occupies and is embarking on a dangerous path toward a dictatorship.

Former Marine Gens. John Kelly and James Mattis, former Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, former Army Gen. Martin Dempsey all speak with a single voice. Mattis said Trump is purposely seeking to divide the nation. Kelly said we need to gauge who we elect as president on the basis of his character. Mullen said he has been reluctant to speak out but we have reached a “transformative point.” Dempsey said U.S. citizens are not “the enemy.”

I will follow the wisdom of these patriots at any time before I would believe a single statement that flies out of Trump’s mouth. These men all have fought for their nation. One of them — Gen. Kelly — lost a son who died in combat. They know better than most of us the value of public service and the price one can pay in service to the nation we all love.

I have stated before that Donald Trump has spent his entire adult life in pursuit of self-enrichment. That is continuing to this very moment. To think Americans elected someone with zero regard for the democratic principles he pledged to protect and defend is an affront to anyone who calls themselves a patriot.

national news

Peaceful transition is part of democracy

When I hear former presidents of the United States discuss the value of turning over the keys to the White House to successors in a “peaceful transition of power,” It is absolutely impossible to avoid bringing to mind what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.

Barack Obama famously spoke of the temporary nature of his family’s residency in the White House. As did George W. Bush before him and Bill Clinton before Bush’s election in 2000. I listen to these men’s comments occasionally on social media platforms that continue to carry those remarks.

When I do, I am drawn immediately to Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat in 2020 and the assault he allowed to occur on Jan. 6 on the Capitol as Congress met to ratify the result of the free, fair and legal election of Joe Biden as president.

Presidents must acknowledge as these recent occupants of the White House have done that they are there for a short time. Obama said that “we are renters here.”

All that happened on Jan. 6 only serves to remind me of what could occur post-2028 election if a candidate from the Democratic Party manages to defeat whoever the Republicans present as a candidate for the presidency.

It’s also why I am going to stake my country’s future on the ability of our Constitution to do the job our founders intended when they created this government. The Constitution is strong and it will endure.

national news

What goes around …

As they might say at the office water cooler, “What goes around comes around,” or so it appears now that Republicans have control of both congressional chambers and the White House.

Republicans have produced what Donald Trump has called the “big beautiful bill,” but no one has read the 1,400-page document.

Allow me to flash back to when the TEA Party wing of the GOP was raising hell in Congress. Republicans bitched out loud that Democrats were pushing legislation forward without knowing what it contained. A key element of the Democrats’ bill happened to be the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Republicans sought to derail it by exposing the bipartisan ignorance of what the massive bill contained. It didn’t work. We got the ACA and some other constructive measures … yes, along with plenty of pork stuffed into the nooks and crannies of the bill.

Now it’s the GOP’s turn to shove a bill across the finish line. It would add $2 trillion to the national debt, do nothing to reduce the federal budget deficit, award tax breaks to zillionaires and cut Medicare, Medicaid, USAID and the Affordable Care Act.

This is Elon Musk’s doing, but the planet’s richest human being calls the bill an abomination.

I guess I need to mention that the volume of Musk’s disapproval of the bill suggests he was fired from his job as Donald Trump’s go-to guy. I don’t really care about that. What I do care about is the hypocrisy among Republicans who lambasted Democrats for cramming an omnibus spending bill with too much spending are silent when their package is now under the lights.

Didn’t Trump vow to “drain the swamp” when he got elected the first time? Yeah, he did. Only the swamp is getting deeper and far more dangerous to working folks like many of you.

national news

Some sign of rememberance

Memorial Day is a time for reflection, for honoring the lives and the service of those who died defending the world’s greatest nation.

Presidents of the United States historically have taken a moment to offer heartfelt statements that pay tribute to the fallen. Not so with the current occupant of the White House.

Here is Donald J. Trump’s Memorial Day message. I’ll post it here and walk away … letting you fathom what we have as a commander in chief:

“HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN — ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL. BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS, AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN! AGAIN, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

economic news, national news

GOP is finding some backbone?

Lo and behold, great day in the morning and whatever exclanation you can recall! Republicans in Congress might have discovered their backbones and are stiffening them in a fight against Donaldl J. Trump and his “big, beautiful” tax and budget bill.

What has happened to these men and women? They have rediscovered the mantra their forebears used to recite to beat the daylights out of their Democratic opponents, which is that budget deficits and spiraling national debt are unsustainable.

U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have just signed on as “no” votes for Trump’s bill. It is looking for all the world as if the bill might be doomed. There are a few others who’ve also joined with their Democratic colleagues in opposing the legislation.

There’s a certain irony, of course, in Democrats opposing the bill on the grounds of deficit and debt expansion. Democrats used to scoff at GOP concerns over the deficit. Republicans led by Ronald Reagan blasted Democrats to smithereens because during the 1980 fiscal year, Democrats were calling for a deficit — get ready for it — of $43 billion! That amount today would hardly amount to anything.

The annual budget deficit is now in the trillions of dollars. The national debt has grown more under the Trump administration than during any other administration in U.S. history.

It is sounding to me as if congressional Republicans are getting the hint, based on their town halls and the ire they are hearing from constituents, that Trump’s notions aren’t worth backing.

What do you know about any of it?