[ Note: I’m refraining from writing about recent events in Las Vegas because I think it’s disrespectful to politicize a tragedy before the bodies are even cold yet.  Saving that topic for another day.  But it’s a safe bet that I will eventually politicize it.  In spades. ]

Sunday I had a couple of errands to run over in the cozy little Sherwood, Oregon.  If you’re looking to visit a slice of Americano suburbia, go to Sherwood.  Shopping malls, fast food galore, Home Depot, great schools, nice neighborhoods.  Until Sunday I had never run across anyone in Sherwood who was anything but accepting of their fellow man.

I had decided it was time for a haircut and needed to pick up a few things at the grocery store.  Shortly after pulling into the miniature strip mall parking lot, I parked my truck.  Getting out I noticed a confederate flag bumper sticker on the back window of the truck next to me.  This one was different though.  It had a snake superimposed on it with the caption “Don’t tread on me”.  I immediately drew the conclusion that this guy is a first-rate imbicile and was hoping I our paths didn’t cross.  

Taken aback sightly at the overt nature of displaying a symbol that is offensive to so may, now we’re implying that you’re the hard-working stiff and the rest of us are trying to mooch off you.  My first thought was get thee back to thy trailer and STFU (the truck was about a 15-year-old Ford popcorn wagon that can fit about 3 boxes in the back if they aren’t too heavy).

Just when I get my experience with Jasper behind me, at Safeway I see this bald guy with shades on, arms tattooed to the hilt (so far, no problem), but for attire he decided to put on a t-shirt with a message that had sociopath written all over it.  This within an hour’s time.

Like 99% of the blog posts I write, I blame the Republicans for this.  Trump specifically, with his “both sides” defense of the “Unite the Right” Nazi contingent at Charlottesville who murdered 32-year-old Heather Heyer. But I blame the rest of the Republican party for their complicity.   It’s as much about what they refuse to say versus what they do say.

Paul Ryan for example won’t be baited into saying nary a word against the man who promises to bring him a divine, heavenly Tax Reform package that punishes the blue states and rewards the 1%.  Ryan was recently asked if he had any issue with Trump’s handling of Puerto Rico and replied with “I think his heart is in the right place.”

The pattern hasn’t gone unnoticed.  Hurricane hits a red state, he’s sending orders right away to get his underlings down there.  Hurricane hits a territory with mostly brown people, call me after my tee-time this Sunday.

I’m thoroughly convinced Trump’s denigration of Muslims, Mexicans, and indirectly, African-Americans, his abject failure to condemn the Nazi’s, along with the establishment Republican silent complicit behavior are the reasons I’m seeing an uptick of these outward symbols of hate and racism. They are sanctioned. There’s no other explanation for it.

I’m also convinced Republicans have been having a wet dream about tax cuts ever since November 8th, and absolutely nothing shall stand in the way.

You can label me disappointed in my fellow-man.  But I’m furious with the Republican establishment.  The Tea Party / Duck Dynasty crowd are too dumb and too far gone to fix.  But the establishment Republicans know better and they are complicit.  At the end of the day it’s all about greed and Tax Cuts.

There’s an ancient proverb that says “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”

Hot off the press, #45 (can’t bring myself to call him President yet) just announced bipartisan work efforts on tax reform and infrastructure. This is akin to throwing the freedom caucus under the bus. I’m starting to like this guy.

Desperate for a win of any kind, I think #45 had an epiphany of sorts and realized a divided republican caucus is of no use to him whatsoever in this goal.

The biggest enemies of the people are the leaders beholden to monied interests. Chief among these is Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Both are pounding sand right now and I couldn’t be happier about it. When they hear #45 talk about “dinner tonight with Chuck and Nancy”, you can be sure their blood is boiling. They thought control of the House, the Senate, and the White House was a free pass at making their donors happy. Didn’t work out that way. If you’re looking for who to blame, look no further than the freedom caucus led by Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. Their obstinance led to their own demise.

Steve Bannon, fresh off his 60 minutes interview declared war on the Republican establishment who he claims is “.. trying to nullify the election results”.   #45 clearly ran on a populist agenda — which is 180 degrees out of sync with the Freedom Caucus.

What I heard #45 say is that his wishes on tax reform were for it to go to the middle class only. The top-tier were not going to get a tax break, and worse, their taxes may even go up. He’ll get a lot of democratic support for this idea and if voted on as a bipartisan bill, moderate republicans and democrats will pass it with no issue.  Additionally he wants to work with “Chuck and Nancy” to get some infrastructure wins.  Of all the ideas on his agenda I’ve always felt this one has the best chance of getting any kind of bipartisan support.

Last but not least, he specifically called out wanting congress to “do something about DACA” but I took it to mean some sort of compromise solution that did not involve deportation.  I truly believe he wants to do the right thing here, but he needs the specifics to be someone else’s idea for political reasons.  Ann Coulter is hotter than the fire of 1000 suns right now.

I have no predictions about where this will lead, but right now I’m happy as a clam that #45 just flipped Grover Norquist, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan the bird.

It would not surprise me if #45, seeing his entire presidency about to be neutered by the midterm elections, switched parties.

Continue reading →

I’m a Sunday morning news show junkie. I hardly ever miss Meet the Press or Face the Nation. I just find the dialog of the analysts extremely interesting.

One of the main themes on Meet the Press today was “The first 100 days” of the Trump administration and what it had accomplished. Reince Priebus did a reasonable job of defending Trump’s record so far I thought. About as well as you could do for someone with a 40% approval rating. Then Nancy Pelosi came on and countered.

Just watching her reminded me of some things I have been thinking about for a long time. As a self proclaimed ‘lefty’, I probably agree with Nancy on 95% of her liberal policy positions. But at this point it doesn’t matter. I’d like to see her retire.

I’m not here to write about or otherwise add commentary on women’s looks, but it struck me that she just looked terrible. Not surprising when you’re 77 years of age and still getting up early on a Sunday morning to be interviewed in front of millions of viewers. I’m sure the makeup artists did what they could, and who cares what she looks like anyway, but it’s the first thing that struck me was that this country is being run by too many old people. It’s time for younger voices to start getting air time.

Pelosi is a polarizing figure. There are people on the right who HATE Nancy Pelosi. I do not hate Nancy Pelosi, in fact as I said, I probably agree with her on most of her positions, but I think if she were to retire and we could get a fresh, new, youthful liberal voice in there, it would energize the younger generation to get out and vote.

The same thing is true in music. I saw a picture if Iggy Pop on TV this weekend. The guy is still trying to look like what he looked like in the 1970’s, and it looks ridiculous. At some point it’s time to step aside and let the next generation take the stage. Bow out gracefully.

I can tell just from dialog from my children, the youth of this country feel disaffected and disengaged to some extent. The Boomers have held power for far too long and history will record that we didn’t do a particularly good job of stewardship with respect to fiscal policy, educational direction, or protecting the environment. Our foreign policy is dangerous at best.

I am a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders, but he’s 76 years old. Bernie did a pretty fine job of inclusion of the younger generation in his bid for the White House in 2016, but unfortunately, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, who I will never forgive, had her thumb on the scale in favor of Hillary Clinton and Bernie could not overcome the inside bias against his candidacy, though he came pretty close. Bernie embodies everything that needs to happen in the U.S. He’s got the perfect message in my opinion. But he’s too old now. He’s 75 and will be close to 80 in 2020. That’s just much of an age gap to run for President. I would love to see Bernie pick an heir apparent to the Democratic Socialistic movement and support that person in 2020.

I like Elizabeth Warren as well. She’s a fireball that doesn’t take guff off of anyone, and a true progressive. But again, at 70 years of age, she’s too old to be the messenger / leader of the younger generation.

It’s time to pass the baton to the next charismatic leader who can connect with our youth. We Boomers have had our turn in the barrel and it wasn’t a particularly great ride. “The Greatest Generation” as Tom Brokaw wrote in his book of our parents’ travels through WWII, we are not.

But I have witnessed the youth of this country up close and personal. In a previous role I went to college campuses and interviewed engineering candidates who impressed me to no end. There is no shortage of really smart, well educated, thoughtful, hard working youth in this country, contrary to what the right wingers will tell you. They get labeled the trophy generation for the way we raised them and for sure that approach didn’t help, but make no mistake, there are some high achievers in this group and we old fogies would do well to step aside and let them lead. It’s their future.

A Facebook friend recently ‘liked’ a post about a friend of theirs who was lamenting the fact that recent Greg Walden town halls in The Dalles and Hood River were difficult to listen to because there was so much shouting.  I was tempted to chime in but it wasn’t a Facebook friend of mine so I decided to keep my mouth shut (yes, every once in a blue moon this happens).  But I really wanted to chime in.   I deserve some credit for resisting the temptation.  Seriously.

I have no sympathy for Greg Walden.  Zero.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  He deserved every ticked off constituent he had to face.  To his credit he faced them – unlike Marco Rubio who begs out of town halls altogether because they are too contentious.

His constituents are trying to send a message to him that if he goes back to Washington D.C. and gets behind Healthcare legislation that screws the common man in favor of yet another tax cut for the 1%, stands up there smugly with Paul Ryan on the national stage and pretends the bill is a ‘good deal’ for the average American, he’d better think twice because he’s not representing the interests of the people who put him in office.

The Affordable Healthcare act of 2009 turned out to be not as affordable as everyone had hoped.  Yet more Americans are covered than ever before and many literally depend on keeping their coverage to stay alive.  It’s recognized by both parties that there are obvious ‘fixes’ that can make it better.

Are the Republicans interested in fixing The Affordable Healthcare Act?  No.  Their primary intent is first and foremost to destroy any positive legacy from the Obama Administration.   As an example, selling across state lines has been proffered by both parties as a way to improve competition and lower prices.  Do you think this idea could possibly get any traction for the good of the American people?  With the Republicans governing, not a chance. To me it’s laughable that the bill failed the House because it wasn’t abhorrent enough for the so-called “Freedom Caucus.”

The primary thing that crossed my mind when I read “Why can’t we just listen to each other better” were scenes from my own childhood.  Remember a few times when you got in trouble with your mom?  Like, really in trouble.  You were getting a what-for for a reason.  To prevent future what-fors.

Walden’s support of Ryan’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) – which benefited the top 1% and kicked 24 million people off of covering under the canard of ‘choice is better’, was worthy of a tongue lashing from Mom.  His constituents gave him an earful and he deserved every rude interruption he received.

Normally I would be supportive of civil discourse.  If it were just a disagreement over a policy issue, sure.  Be polite.  Listen.  Wait your turn and voice your opinion.  But this is different.  Walden sold out.  He chose party over Country and he was getting called out for it.  I couldn’t be happier about that.  I only wish I could have been there.  I would have participated in making him as uncomfortable as possible.

I’m sad to say we’ve reached the point where civil disobedience is a reasonable option.  When the sins are so egregious that lives are at stake, courtesy can go out the window and I’m fine with it.  Sleep tight Congressman.  And welcome back to Oregon.

With each passing day I’m reminded of the opening scene from The Godfather Part I where business associates or “friends” of Don Vito Corleone wait their turn to ask a favor.  If you’re a friend of The Godfather and someone is hassling you, come to Don Vito, kiss the ring and he’ll take care of it.

The tough guy approach has its appeal with a significant number of voters as we found out on November, 8th.  Recall from the Art of the Deal, his negotiation strategy is to start at an extremely high price and then come down to what you wanted in the first place.  It’s used car salesmanship 101.

But if things aren’t going so well, he quickly falls back on intimidation.  I simply cannot separate him telling President Enrique Pena Nieto that Mexico is going to pay for the border wall from Don Corleone’s “Making him an offer he cannot refuse.”  I keep waiting to read about President Nieto waking up to a horse’s head in his bed in the near future.

Just this past week, after being told of a Texas state senator who wants to require convictions before the state can forfeit property, Trump asked for the senator’s name and said “We’ll destroy his career.”

Whenever he refers to Iraq he talks about how we should have kept the oil (never mind the experts are saying that’s easily classified as a war crime).

We are America.  We are exceptional.  Kiss the ring.

Don Vito’s story didn’t end particularly well for him, and I don’t think Trump’s attitude about the United States’ role as world citizen will serve us well either.

I’ll be curious if anyone else sees the same Mob boss mentality that I do.