Day 725

Day 725 New Year’s Day January 1, 2018  866 Days to Go

Well, we made it!

And by “we” I mean Shelby and I were awake at midnight. Moments before I popped the cork on the Prosecco I had bought to celebrate Hillary’s victory in 2016, and like her campaign’s final moments the cork plopped out, made it half way across the deck, and landed ignominiously with a pathetic thud.

The early evening had annual wrap up of the year shows. Chris Mathews was even palatable. I think this was because he had a script he had to stick to and couldn’t go on for ten minutes supposedly asking someone their thoughts on a subject while really expressing his, and then, of course, because there’s no time left, cutting the person off. No, he read from cue cards that were various awards with three nominees in each category. I like “the most ignominious firing”  which went to Rex Tillerson who found out he was fired while sitting on the toilet. Or the most obsequious, which went to Sean Hannity, who in the clip they showed of him was at a Trump rally where Sean pointed to the back of the room and called them fake news, which is pathetic on two fronts: one) they aren’t and he is, and two) he’s part of the group (supposedly) that he is calling fake.

Then there’s the speculation as to who will run for president in 2020. This looked at both parties. Interesting. First we had to go through all the old war horses, and then all the folks who said they aren’t running who are. Two people stood out to me: Kristen Gillibrand and Beto O’Rourke.  Each on opposite ends of the reasoning. Chris Mathews said of Gillibrand, “Just what the Democrats want a Wall Street lawyer.” He was being sarcastic. I think Gillibrand ended any hopes she had by the way she treated Al Franken. Then there’s Beto. I think he isn’t seasoned enough, but what do I know? The point that someone made on the show, was that Beto is the kind of candidate that fires the imagination. He’s got the magic, like Jack Kennedy had. No one else in the field of candidates has that.

Then there was some talk about what’s in store for the current president in this year. Three things kept coming up:

Nancy Pelosi,

The Investigations,

He doesn’t really want to be president but he can’t let go and he’s doing a terrible job.

Let’s look at the last point first, which is: he didn’t expect to win, and when he did he didn’t know what to do.

Then he started getting investigated. The news organizations don’t even try to list all the possible investigations, rather they group them under categories. At last count there were 85 possible investigations grouped in six or seven major areas. The FBI. The Special Counsel, The New York States Attorney’s office, The Federal District of New York, and Three committees in the House of Representatives are, or will be, investigating Trump and his associates. Not bad for only two years in office!

One commentator said he can’t quit because he’d be indicted and fighting off going to prison. I hope that everyone of these groups nails him and gives him no deal.

Then there are all the sleazy people around him and all their crimes and unethical behavior. I hope they too get tarred and feathered and sent to jail.

The most recent one is the guy who won the race for senator in Missouri. He hasn’t even been sworn in and he’s already in trouble. The picture of him with Trump shows a guy with both hands in front of him like he’s trying to stop a freight train. Apparently, he ran for AG in the state, got the job and immediately started running for senate. It was so bad and confusing that folks didn’t know whom to talk to: his AG staff or his re-election campaign, because they were all in the same office space. 

And then there’s the cheating, the bending of rules, the ignoring of rules, ethics and morality. People are starting to wake up to the fact that Wilbur Ross is trying to rig the census to better reflect Republicans than all the people in the country. Not only has he lied about this, and he and Jeff Sessions refused to get better data cheaper; it’s also unconstitutional what he is trying to do. Undaunted he is trying to plow ahead. Whether that train wreck can be stopped in time is anyone’s guess. 

I was tangentially involved in the 1980 Census and it takes a lot of time, planning, dedication and effort. Now when you have a cabinet secretary who has this as part of his mandate trying to make a mockery of it, well it’s hard to know what will happen, but I doubt it will be good.

To review:

Trump is not a businessman. He’s a con man. Every deal he’s done he’s lied about it. His dad bailed him out over and over again, and still he managed to lose all that money. He was then bailed out by Russians. Russian oligarchs looking to launder their ill gotten gains through him. He is owned by Putin. He does Vlad’s bidding. Time and time again we’ve seen it. He is aided and abetted by a group of billionaires here, who control most of the media and many of the state legislatures and much of the capital and production in this country. They have bought the Republican party. They are now greedily grabbing as much as they can and doing everything they can to deny people justice and democracy. 

There are a few beacons of hope, but the biggest thing is to elect new people at every level of government to stem this tide of abuse.

Remember the good old days when a bought politician used to try and hide the fact  that they were bought?

Ah me.

 866 Days to Go

Carry on.

PS This guy seems a little mind boggled. At the Temple of The Featured Serpent, Teotihuacan