The Parable of the Young Congressman

Our lesson today is taken from the Book of Politics, chapter 2 verses one through five.

1. And it came to pass that there was great consternation in the second congressional District of Florida. A great plague had come over the land. People were dying including children. The the people we're demanding that something must be done.

2. The young congressman went to his leadership to seek advice and counsel. Client have a terrible dilemma he said. My voters demand something must be done. But, I received significant campaign funds from the NRA and they have told me that if I back legislation restricting gun ownership and use not only will they not back me they will back a candidate against me. I think something should be done but I don't know what to do it in this situation.

3. It is good that you have come to us said his leaders. These situations arise from time to time and must be handled carefully. You must convince your voters you are doing something without angering the NRA. We have been speaking with the leaders of the NRA and believe we have the answer. You and others should propose minimal legislation addressing gun control. For instance, raising the age to 21 in order to purchase guns; supporting legislation restricting ownership of guns from certain categories of people. Specifically, preventing those who have been adjudged to be psychopathic criminals as well as vague and unenforceable restrictions imposed on"dangerous" people. Also you can support the notion of better enforcement of registration requirements. Most importantly, you should talk about the need for more citizens to have guns to protect themselves and others.

4. The NRA will be on board with this. They of course like the idea of more people with guns and they know that the other proposals will have no meaningful effect on peoples purchasing and owning guns. But, they will be able to say that the Second Amendment and gun rights are once again under assault. That will enable them to raise more money and increase their wealth and power. You meanwhile will be able to tell your voters that you're doing everything you can to solve the problem. This is what we call a win win solution period

5. The young congressman felt great relief and thanked his leaders for solving this problem. That is why we are here he was told. In the future do not worry about problem such as these. Don't be anxious. Just come to us and we will tell you what to do. I can't tell you what a great relief this is to me said the young congressman. In the future I will not concern myself with problems such as these, knowing you will always tell me what to do. You can count on it said the leaders.

The O K Corral lHigh School

Well, we have had another mass shooting, This time at a high school. The immediate response response was predictable." Something must be done. We must stop this. This time it's different." Have we heard this before? There is something different. Young people have taken up the cry and there is more sound and fury. But will it signify anything? So far more elected officials, particularly at the state level have joined in the something must be done chorus. But the usual obstructive comments even by those who say something must be done are being made. Whatever is proposed, there is , even by politicians who say that something must be done such as Marco Rubio , the argument that" this measure  would not have prevented this shooting". And of course this is true. In a country with more guns than people and some estimated 10 to 15,000,000 assault type weapons there is no measure to eliminate mass shootings without confiscating all such weapons and that is never going to happen. Then there is the argument that it is difficult if not impossible to define what is an assault weapon. That could be done.

The most popular measures being proposed are more restrictive registration requirements and the ever popular" we need more guns not less-let's arm the teachers". Apparently it is believed that we can identify all disturbed or dangerous people and keep guns out of their hands. On the face of it that is nonsensical because it can't be done. We are all potentially dangerous and subject to triggering events that can cause us to snap. The prevalent response to such occurrences now appears to be to grab a gun and shoot somebody, or maybe a lot of somebodies.

Now let's turn to the arming of the teachers solution. This of course is the Pavlovian response of the NRA. Also, cadet bone spur appears to be favoring this. At his press conference, this nitwit blithely said that had a teacher with the gun been present in lake land he would've quickly blown away the shooter and no one would be harmed. This has provoke a response from various people who actually know something about the use of guns and who nearly unanimously suggest this is ridiculous. These vigilante fantasies may be fun, sort of like watching a John Wayne movie when you are a child-or in many cases when you're  an adult-but on its face is preposterous. There is an old saying" don't bring a knife to a gunfight". A corollary would be don't bring a pistol to an assault rifle shootout. The NRA leadership, truly despicable people, have seized upon the okay Asian to say even more outrageous things than usual. There leaders, Boris and Natasha, have deemed all proposals other than theirs as a massive assault on individual liberty, particularly the second amendment. Natasha also stated that the" Legacy press "which I assume means anyone who doesn't agree with her relishes these mass shootings because it increases ratings. That is a new low even for the NRA.

It is not likely that anything significant will happen. Pretty clearly, assault weapons are not going to be banned, even the sale of them. The long-term answer is to diminish the political clout of the NRA. And that can only be done by voting–voting in people who resist the NRA. Perhaps one promising sign is the energy exhibited by our youth. There will be a march organized on March 24 nationwide but marches happen and then they are gone. Only 16% of those eligible to vote between the ages of 18 to 29 vote in by year in elections. That March 24 March needs to beef turned into a voting registration campaign. Until we elect responsible State and local officials, nothing will happen of any significance. Let us support our youth and urge them on to register and vote.

Trump Denied Security Clearance

An anonymous source revealed today that President Trump has been denied security clearance. That came as a result of recent action taken because numerous people in the administration had not received security clearance and had access to highly classified information. Apparently one of those little lightbulbs went on over the head of one of the security officials who said "Wait a minute. Isn't the reason these people don't have security clearance is that either their background checks are incomplete or there are indications they could be susceptible to blackmail or influence by foreign agents? What about Trump? He has already blabbed classified information from Israel to the Russians. He requested the Russians during the campaign to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails. He has refused to produce his tax returns which is highly problematic because there appears to be an increasing likelihood that his companies were engaged in money-laundering for Russian criminals, probably including Putin. The trail of cash most likely starts from Russian criminals through Deutsche Bank and then laundering by Trump entities. Why else would Deutsche Bank loan money to travel entities which went bankrupt and lost $1 billion in one year in the casino business? Trump has to be denied access to classified information. Trump is highly susceptible to blackmail. What do you think accounts for his behavior towards Russia during his presidency?"

But, the source was asked," How can Trump make important decisions concerning the security of the United States without access to that information?" "Do you really think we want him making those decisions, was the response? The only thing we want this buffoon deciding is how many mulligans to take and how many puts to give himself on the golf course. It would be one thing if he was merely ignorant but he is clearly delusional and self-centered to a staggering degree. We need to marginalize this clown until 2020 and then hope he is voted out of office. Meanwhile, our job is to control the damage as best we can. There is a fair chance he won't even realize what's happening because he doesn't read his briefings and has the attention span when being told information of a five-year-old with ADD."

That is really disheartening was their response to the anonymous source." The source replied "The American people got just what they saw during the campaign. Unfortunately, although many may suffer buyers remorse, there is no return policy. We just have to do the best we can."

Once again, Life imitates art

There is a new TV series entitled" Counterpart". The underlying story is that about 30 years ago hey parallel universe sprang up in which each of us has his counterpart with identical DNA and appearance but whose personality  traits probably are much different because of different experiences in the last 30 years. People in these two universes can travel to the other and back not through some singularity but something that rather looks like a Subway tollbooth.

Having established the artistic metaphor, it has become increasingly clear to me that's what separates the pro trump and increasingly all Republicans from the opposition is not a mere difference of opinion. It is a completely different universe. In my universe in the last few days the Trump administration has received two recent body blows. First, the White House story that the administration, particularly ex Gen. Kelly, dismissed Rob Porter immediately upon knowing of his domestic abuses. In testimony by Chris Wray before the house, you should excuse the expression, Intelligence committee, it became abundantly clear that the administration had known about this for months. In response to this, those in the other universe concocted one of the most preposterous arguments they have yet devised to say only some cellar dwellers in the administration had any knowledge. Then, in testimony before the same committee it became clear that the  memorandom concerning the FISA warrant approval process regarding Carter Page concocted by the White House and Devin Nunes what's complete horseshit and that nobody in the White House asked opinions of the intelligence Community regarding security concerns before releasing it. In their universe, this memo remains evidence of FBI plots against Donald Trump.

It does not appear that there is any Subway tollbooth that allows transportation or even maybe communication between these two universes. There is no point in even trying. There are probably those who are adrift in limbo someplace between these two universes wondering where the hell they are. Those are probably the only people worth trying to talk to.

Tammy Duckworth came up with a great name for Donnie calling him" cadet bonespur after some of his typical bellicose statements. I think another good name would be typhoid Donnie because he seems to have been able to infect anyone within the vicinity of him with the lying disease. I don't see how it anyone in his administration as well as most of the Republicans in Congress are going to come out of this with any measure of integrity or self-respect left. It will serve them right.

Donnie loves a parade

It is no secret that old fat ass really loves military parades. Rumor has it that he used to drool when watching the May Day parades from Moscow. He particularly likes the reviewing stand and the salutes although he doesn't understand why they don't also clap as they pass by. He has lately been disturbed by the pictures of the military parades staged in North Korea honoring his nemesis. Then he found that even the French have parades on Bastille day. That was too much. So, our fearless leader has demanded his staff and the Department of Defense create plans for a stupendous, really remarkable, big beautiful parade. His parade working group was ordered to search history for the biggest and best military parades.

Brought to his attention was the fact that when Rome was really Rome there would be parades honoring military victories with marching centurions, even elephants and often captured enemies. He has been told about the Caesars and has become somewhat envious of Caligula who really knew how to have a good time. He has been told that elephants are  impractical but there still are military horses that could be part of the parade. He has told his desire to have captured enemy combatants in shackles and also perhaps a few illegal aliens similarly constrained. The troops will be ordered as they pass by the truly magnificent reviewing stand to give a snappy salute followed by at least one minute of clapping.

But Donnie wants more. Provoked by his newfound fascination with Caligula and the other Caesars , Donnie wants a giant toga party at the end of the day at mal de mer. This will be a $200,000 per robe toga party/fundraiser with half the proceeds going to the mal de mer resort to pay for the expensive meal which will include chocolate cake–two slices for old fat ass–with the rest going to the newly established Trump" Presidency for Life" campaign. As Donnie has stated," in one year I have achieved greater military victories than any president in history and this must be recognized." It was suggested that 4 July would be a good day for such a parade but Donnie said no that holiday already exists and we need a new annual holiday with a snappy name such as" Trump Victorious Again." The guest list for the toga party will remain fluid because who knows who might still be around. The triumvirate now known as KellyannKellySanders stated that this celebration firmly reinforces the Trump Doctrine that what's good for Donnie is good for America.

The Great Memo War of 2018

What a surprise. The Memo has been released. On the 24 hour, You should excuse the expression, news programs are solemnly taking their sides to attack or defend the relevancy importance and accuracy of the Memo. If these people didn't take themselves so seriously it would be extremely humorous to listen to the banal and predictable comments. The Republican argument as I best understand it is that the infamous Steele Dossier was partially financed by the Democrats and portions of it were referred to in one of the four FISA warrant applications and the court was not apprised of the financing and therefore that proceeding was tainted and therefore the FBI is corrupt as well as the justice department and therefore Rosenstein and Mueller need to be fired and therefore the whole investigation needs to be deep sixed. The Democrats position is that as I understand it is that the investigation into Carter had begun long before the Steele Dossier,  much more evidence submitted to the FISA court than the Republicans acknowledge or discuss and that the democratic financing of Steele is of questionable relevance at best and that there is plenty of the other evidence to cause the investigation to go forward.

These arguments are totally irrelevant. This is not an intellectual problem. The Republicans and Democrats are engaged in an adversarial combat rather like a trial with each side devising the best arguments they can. Of course, the rules about admissibility of evidence are not at play. All the Republicans need to do is create enough controversy to allow the administration and the house to end the investigation by firing Rosenstein and Mueller and be able to get away with it leaving Trump and his administration intact. I have to say they're off to a pretty good start. It is easy as an intellectual matter to totally dismiss these latest republican arguments but so what? It is extremely difficult to win a contest against an opponent that will not follow the rules. It's like playing tennis against an opponent who calls every shot" Out". I probably suffer from confirmation bias but it seems to me obvious that the Trump administration and the Republicans in the house are totally unprincipled and don't give a damn about normal rules. It's about winning which is of course Trump's pervasive metaphor. The Democrats appear to be trying to play by the rules and not release their memo without permission from House Republicans and the president and of course most of what would support their position is secret and classified and can't be used.

So, it is hard to be optimistic if you are of my persuasion. Meanwhile that huge airplane flies back-and-forth from Washington D&C to mal de mer so that the fat slob who occupies the White House can play golf which is probably his highest and best use.