Tag Archives: White House

national news, Uncategorized

Enough is far more than enough

OK, where do I start with this brief blog comment on a racist, vile, evil, heinous, despicable epithet spit from the slobbering puss of a UFC fighter from the front lawn of the White House?

I have run out of ways to condemn such statements … which I won’t call “free political speech.” The dipshit won his cage match, grabbed a microphone and questioned the gender of former first lady Michelle Obama.

I suppose I could bellow that “Enough is enough!” Except we crossed that line years ago with some ghastly comment from Donald J. Trump. It’s way beyond “enough is enough” territory.

Why, I cannot even summon strong enough language to condemn Trump’s absence of anger at the hideous blathering of the UFC numbnuts. Maybe I have become numb to these blatherings.

I have no need to explain to you what you already know or believe about the former first lady. She served in an office she never sought with dignity, grace and class. Her response to the moron who desecrated the people’s house with his idiocy only illustrates what we know about her.

As for the shit for brains who said what he said, I’ll let him slither into the dung heap from which he emerged.

political news

Waiting for bipartisan good wishes

I know we’ll have to wait for Donald Trump to exit the White House for this to occur, but a major part of me wants a return to what used to be a bipartisan custom among those elected to the nation’s highest office.

No matter the party of the outgoing president, they traditionally have extended congratultions and. expressions of good luck and will to their successor who often comes from the opposing party.

President George W. Bush famously invited all the living for presidents to the White House to welcome his successor, President-elect Barack Obama in early 2009. He told the new president that “no matter our party, we want you to succeed.” President Lyndon Johnson did the same thing when he turned the keys to the Oval Office over to President-elect Richard Nixon. Presidents Ford and Carter, who waged a ferocious campaign in 1976, became best friends for life after that campaign and Ford was more than gracious when he wished Carter well as he surrendered the office.

Donald Trump has brought an entirely different outlook to the White House. When he lost the 2020 election to President Biden, he never extended the hand publicly to the victor. Oh, no. Instead, he decided to launch an insurrection, a violent assault on the Capitol Building and a horrifying episode that could have gone wildly wrong had the rioters succeeded in their ghastly mission.

We’re still living with the consequences of that disgraceful display. I want a return to bipartisan good will.

local news

Good news … and news you need to ponder

I have some good news and some news that we’ll need to consider as it takes shape

First, the good news. Donald Trump’s time as the nation’s leading loudmouth politician is drawing to a close. It’s not just around the corner. Not yet anyway. But each week that passes means it’s getting a bit closer and for that I am extremely grateful we have a U.S. Constitution that won’t buckle under pressure that the dipshit in chief will seek to apply to it.

Now for the questionable news. How is Trump going to react when they count the ballots in November 2028? Especially if the winner happens to be a Democrat? I suppose I could ask the same thing if the winner in two years is a Republican, one who isn’t of the MAGA moron variety, but is more of a principled conservative with actual ideas.

It well might be that the MAGA moron in chief will rant and rail against both major party nominees.

I read something earlier today that Republicans in Congress have endorsed a resolution allowing for Trump to serve a third term. It won’t happen. The 22nd Amendment is clear: Two terms and that’s all someone gets to serve as POTUS.

It’s the process, the inexorable march toward the end that allows me to wake up every morning feeling good about the day that is unfolding before me. Each day closer to the end renders this asshole less relevant.

OK, I’ll have to toss one more uncertainty onto the mix. Trump will be gone no later than Jan. 20, 2029, but that MAGA movement will still be around. Good news once more? Without their leading Main Man, the MAGA morons will be left to fend for themselves. My gut tells me they won’t survive.

national news

Boycott still standing

I am feeling the need to offer readers of High Plains Blogger a brief update on one of the boycotts I announced the time Donald Trump became POTUS in January 2017.

Furthermore, I should acknowledge that the boycott has seen some strain and I have been tempted to forgo it when I saw him acting (more or less) presidential.

The boycott was to never attach the word “President” directly in front of Donald Trump’s name. I don’t consider him to be my president. Indeed, he acts as though he doesn’t give a Texas ruby red damn about me, my politics, my beliefs. Indeed, he seems to govern as if the only the people who matter to him are those who voted for him.

I ain’t one of them.

I am not alone in that view. I heard a U.S. senator grilling a Trump Cabinet official and he referred to Trump to the official as “your president.” There you have it. I am not the only American patriot who believes Trump doesn’t care to be president for all Americans.

There have been times when I have agreed with Trump. Those times occasionally have caused me to rethink for just a fleeting moment whether I should maintain that boycott. The moment flashes before me and then disappears, usually when Trump says something so ridiculously unpresidential … which he does with flair and panache.

I have begun watching TV news, but only sparingly. It’s usually during prime time. During the day? Nope. TV stays off most days.

I don’t like refusing to refer to Donald Trump with the title to which he was elected. My conscience tugs hard at me when I start to teeter. My best guess is that the boycott will stay put until the day Trump heads for the door from the White House for the final time.

media news

No taking it back … Donald

Social media can be a blessing, but they also can be a burden … a curse if you will, given the immediacy of the message delivered.

With that, I want to visit the hideous issue of a social media message that flashed from the White House showing President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes. Yes. As apes.

As they say about social media and its immediacy … you cannot unhonk the horn!

Trump or his immediate underlings have blamed a White House staffer for putting the image out there. Pretty damn lame excuse. It speaks graphically to the type of individuals that this White House hires to do the things required of White House staffs. I guess in this case one of those duties is to concoct ghastly images of previous presidents and their spouses, blast them into cyberspace and — I reckon — have a huge laugh over it.

The only Black Republican member of the U.S. Senate, Tim Scott of South Carolina, railed against the image and demanded the White House take it down. The Trump team did so. It does not absolve them of culpability in delivering a hateful message from the very center of the U.S. government.

Donald Trump once promised while running for POTUS in 2016 to surround himself with “the best people.” If this is his example of the “best” this country has to offer … God help us!

entertainment news

Is White House next for Trump brand?

A little more than a decade ago, President Barack Obama stood before the White House Correspondents Dinner audience and joked that Donald Trump might want to hang a huge “Trump” sign on the White House were he elected president of the United States.

The quip drew uproarious laughter. Trump, who was in the audience, wasn’t laughing.

Now, it seems that the joke isn’t so funny. Trump has just agreed to plaster his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The center board has voted to call it the “Trump Kennedy Center … “

Roll that around for a moment and consider why this is so horribly wrong. Trump’s name would appear in front of the slain president for whom the center was named … in his honor! Moreover, it’s not at all clear that the decision is legal, given that the center was named through a congressional act; therefore, it well could require an act of Congress to change the name.

Trump continues to insult the intelligence of Americans — and those around the world — through his callously disrespecful acts. Placing his name on a building intended to honor those who contribute to society’s art is beyond hideous. JFK honored the arts, along with his wife, Jacqueline. The Kennedy name alone should stand forever on the center that seeks to honor a slain — and beloved — leader of this great nation.

I am going to ask something I once thought was unthinkable: Is the White House really immune from this type of PR chicanery?

Uncategorized

East Wing destruction so very galling

I am having difficulty getting past the notion of Donald Trump deploying the bulldozers and backhoes to knock down the East Wing of the White House.

This heartless bastard doesn’t give a rat’s ruby red rear end about history or how the building where he will live for the next three years holds so much of our nation’s rich history. Dude wants to build a gold-adorned ballroom. Never f***ing mind that the East Wing is part of the people’s house, that’s my house, your house. The guy who has moved in there on a temporary basis has taken it upon himself to knock a good part of it down.

It is an outrageous violation of what we normally think of as decent, graceful and normal.

Presidents of the United States just don’t have carte blanche to destroy valuable pieces of public property. However, Trump doesn’t give a crap on what is normal.

It’s going to take me a while to get past this disgraceful act of arrogance.

national news

What if it were your house … ?

Let’s play a little game of “what if” … if you don’t mind. I’ll be brief, but the point I want to make is pretty damn big.

What if you rented your home to a tenant who promised to take good care of your property? He wouldn’t touch it. He would make no alerations to it and would return it to you in precisely the condition he found it when he took the keys to the place.

Then, suddenly — and with virtually zero advance warning — bulldozers and backhoes show up and start knocking down an adjoining structure. What if your tenant told you he wanted to build a room to make fishing flies. But … wait! That’s not the deal we entered into when I rented the place to you, is your response. That’s tough, he said … live with it.

So here we are. The man who is living as renter in the people’s house, the White House, has decided to knock down the historic East Wing. He wants to build an opulent ballroom. He wants to use that ballroom to entertain heads of state. He deems the State Dining Room, where presidents have welcomed visiting kings, queens, potentates and assorted leaders of various nations for many decades.

Donald Trump is making a mockery of the house that you and I own. Where I come from, I call it “de-facing public property.” Yes, I get that he’s a U.S. citizen, too, so he can claim ownership of the White House where he will live for the next three years. To my way of thinking, that does not give him license to destroy a couple of centuries of history by building a ballroom that likely will look like a sort of Mar-a-Lago on the Potomac.

I’m sure you’ll recall the jokes that went viral when Trump considering a run for the presidency. Some jokesters wondered aloud whether he would erect a huge “TRUMP” sign and hang it on the front of the White House. It got a huge laugh.

Today … it’s not so funny.

national news

East Wing crashing down!

I really have little to offer about Donald Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom. I am left mostly to shake my head in utter astonishment that this moron would do such a thing to a cherished piece of our national history.

Trump once promised to leave the White House structure alone were he to make significant change in it. That he broke that promise is no surprise, but it doesn’t lessen the ghastly sight of he wrecking crews knocking down the place where heads of state have met with presidents and where important events have occurred.

I am going to presume that Trump will glitter the ballroom up with the gold trimmings he already has placed in the Oval Office and throughout the West Wing. The guy sickens me to my core.

You know, of course, who is paying for this ballroom. You and I are. The taxpayers. We’re going to pony up about $300 million for a project that received zero public comment prior to the arrival of the wrecking crew. And, yes, even the legality of this work is being questioned.

Trump just makes me want to hurl.

medical news

Another conspiracy given birth

Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis is bound to run its course, no matter where it ends up.

If the former president is able to beat back the aggressive form of prostate cancer — which I and others hope happens — we’re going to see the temporary end to what is likely to occur if the president’s cancer fight ends in another fashion.

What will occur will be the birth of yet one more never-ending conspiracy theory. This one will center on allegations that the White House covered up President Biden’s cancer, that staffers knew he suffered from “aggressive prostate cancer,” but wanted him re-elected in 2024, so that he could resign and hand the presidency over to Vice President Kamala Harris.

I don’t feel good about the former president’s prognosis. He is 82 years of age. He has had cancer before, many years ago. But no one ever talks about that.

I am not privy, nor is anyone outside the White House, to what people knew during Biden’s term as president and when they knew it. A couple of questions keep nagging at me regarding the conspiracy theorists.

One is, why even worry about such a thing now? Joe Biden is no longer president. He has exited the political arena after serving what many millions of us consider to be a successful presidency. I am not going to spend a moment of my time thinking about what the White House medical staff knew and whether they covered it up.

The other is that we’ll never know the answer, except that if the White House medical team says it hid nothing, that is going to be good enough for me.

Conspiracy theories are the stuff of individuals who have too much time on their hands and too little to fill their vacuous noggins.