2017 May 29^th

Here it is, Memorial Day, and we have a Commander-in-Chief who has never served in the military scheduled to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. President Trump had several draft deferments during the Vietnam War.  There were student deferments and then he got a medical deferment because of heel spurs. These eventually cleared up all by themselves but too late for him to be drafted; besides he had a very high draft number so it is unlikely he would have been called up anyway.

Other presidents have avoided the draft: President Clinton notable among them. Vice President Dick Cheney claimed that he “had other plans.” President Bush (43) served but was able to spend his time as a fighter pilot stateside guarding Texas from any invasion from Oklahoma.

At the Democratic National Convention a Gold Star family whose son, Captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq saving his men from a mine explosion, waved a copy of the Constitution asking if Trump had ever read it and wondering what Trump had given to his country. Trump as is his nature felt it necessary to belittle the husband Khazir Khan and his wife Ghazala Khan.  Ghazala Khan did not speak, so of course Trump claimed that as a Moslem woman she was prohibited from speaking in public.

Later in an interview with George Stephanopoulos Trump claimed that he had given a great deal to his country. He had worked very hard building many buildings and creating many jobs. This, he seems to believe, is equivalent to having a son killed in Iraq. No one is surprised by his comments.

Trump did not come off too well in this exchange so who comes to his defense but Breitbart News. They have determined that Khazir Khan places Sharia Law above the constitution. At the end of their piece many of their readers claimed that Khan should be deported. Breitbart had done an excellent job of distorting Khan’s position just enough to bring the bigots out in force. Their comments are a sampling from the 36 percent or so of the Americans who still support Trump and would continue to support him even if he wanted to make the United States a member of the Russian Federation.

An interesting division is upon us; It is that the vast majority, about 65 percent of active military members voted for Donald Trump compared to about 25 percent for Hillary Clinton. This is a very different ratio than that maintained for the civilian vote where Clinton won the popular vote handily.

When the active military have opinions that deviate considerably from the civilian population they are sworn to defend we have a serious problem.

2017 May 28^th

Senator Lindsey Graham was asked what he thought about Jared Kushner’s attempt to arrange for a “back channel” communication to the Kremlin through the Russian embassy. Senator Graham, ever the loyal Republican politician said that he didn’t believe a word of it. That was the easy way out and no one is surprised that Senator Graham took it.

On Chuck Todd’s “Meet the Press,” we had the fascinating picture of Kimberly Strassel of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal try desperately to claim that Obama had also done a back channel arrangement with Iran to persuade them that his administration would be easier to deal with. Iran was holding some of our citizens so this made sense. There do seem to be some differences here that Strassel has not mentioned: A few days after making the backchannel inquiry, Kushner, apparently at Kislyak’s request, met with Sergey Gorkov, a Russian intelligence officer turned banker with close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. . Reuters adds both that the FBI is looking into whether Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to Trump. Kimberly Strassel seems to believe that this parallels Obama’s conversations with the Iranians. Please!

The Trump team, now back from what they claim was a triumphal visit overseas, will not discuss Mr. Kushner’s adventures. Trump has been without a “twitter fix” for over a week so we can expect him to crank it up; he has done exactly that. A number of twitters have emerged from him in the last 36 hours and all of them rant about “fake-news.” Fake news is any information, particularly about him, that he finds unpleasant and whose source is kept confidential by the news agency publishing it. Trump does not understand that reporters depend on information from sources that must remain anonymous if they are to continue as effective sources. This is just one of the many things that Trump does not understand.

Officially classified information is occasionally leaked and that is illegal, but Trump does the same thing. In his case, as president, he can declassify anything he wants to declassify even if it was done just to impress his foreign friends…although he only seems interested in impressing his foreign Russian friends.

His first trip abroad is over so how did he do? His greatest goof was in Saudi Arabia. He has no idea that the origin for most of the terrorism comes from the Saudi sponsored Wahhabi schools. They produced bin Laden and 15 of the 19 terrorists who flew into the twin towers.  Trump believes terrorists all come from Iran; that’s silly. Iran is certainly a disrupter but the primary motivator of Islamic terrorists is the Saudi Kingdom. So we are treated to images of Trump grinning from ear to ear as the Saudis flatter him outrageously while he berates our NATO allies, even shoving the Montenegro head of state out of his way for a photo op.

How long will this last? Any bets?

2017 May 27^th

The big story now, and for the last day or so, isn’t Donald Trump, but his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Jared seems to have been very interested in developing a back channel to the Kremlin. To do this he approached Ambassador Kislyak at the Russian embassy in Washington and proposed that a secure Russian communication route be established. Kushner believed that such a method of communication would not be subject to eavesdropping by the various American government spy chasers.

We knew Jared was naïve but we didn’t know he was that naïve. It is very unlikely that Kislyak has any means of communicating, short of a courier or a carrier pigeon that American spy catchers aren’t aware of. In any event, Jared is now the principle topic of every news channel in the country. The question: what was he so desperately eager to communicate to the Kremlin, and so desperate to keep confidential? Wouldn’t Kushner be a splendid asset for the Russian intel people to have. We know that at least one of his apartment developments is in need of a major cash infusion; seems like a perfect set-up for the Russian FSB.

Trump’s advisers seem to have many Russian connections. This extends to some members of his cabinet as well. His attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has recused himself from any dealing with Trump/Russian matters because he forgot (?) to mention contacts with Ambassador Kislyak.

His Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has a brother, Eric Prince, founder of a private army, Blackwater, who lives in the Seychelles. This gentleman has arranged private meetings between himself and Russians to consider how Russia could reduce its support for Iran and Syria. A lifting of some sanctions by this country might be a fair trade. Understand that Eric Prince has no official role in this administration even though he is a strong admirer and financial contributor to Donald Trump. He is much too toxic to be officially associated with the Trump administration. (He seems to have left this country for the Seychelles to minimize certain tax and other legal obligations.)

 Another member of this Russian clique is Carter Page: on paper, Page looks like the ideal addition to a Trump team woefully short on anyone with international credentials. Edward Cox, Richard Nixon’s son in law recommends looking at Carter Page. Page is an Annapolis graduate with a doctorate from the London School of Economics and is a principal in a prominent energy company. Who wants more than that?

But then no one looks at his extensive Russian connections, or the content of the paid speeches he gave in Russia in which he savaged the policies of this country thus endearing himself to his Russian buddies. The Trump people didn’t bother to find out about that, or maybe they didn’t care about it.

Now the White House is devoting a “war room” not to foreign conflicts but to putting out conflagrations right here in their own back yard.

2017 May 26^th

This morning’s paper has a column by Michael Barone who writes for the “Washington Examiner.” Barone’s forte of late has been the vigorous defense of President Trump. Today’s column was no exception; he titled it “A competent president abroad.”

Barone cites a few of the glitches Trump has faced at home, almost all of his own making. He even mentions a “Brainy and quirky conservative columnist, Ross Douthat, who argued that the Trump cabinet should remove him from office under the 25^th amendment.” It is clear that Trump’s boo boos have affected even some of his conservative supporters right here.  Ah, but Barone assures us that Trump is far more competent once he gets overseas.

He then speaks very specifically of Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia where Trump is welcomed as if he were a descendant of the Prophet himself. There was sword dancing and Secretary of State Tillerson’s proficiency at it was so remarkable that he was asked to explain why. Tillerson said that he had done the dance many times before; it does make sense as Tillerson was a former Exxon-Mobil CEO.

Barone tells us that Trump, “...before an assemblage of leaders from about 50 Muslim majority nations, …denounced in no uncertain terms Islamic extremism and Islamic terror groups…” Oh, dear me! That was a major blunder. Using the word "Islamic," a reference to their religion, in the same breath as "terrorism" could be seen by Muslims as an affront to their faith and actually play into the terrorists' "clash of civilizations" narrative. This is the reason why President Barack Obama avoided that combination during his presidency. On the other hand, "Islamist," refers to political movements that seek to implement Islamic law and theology, making it less objectionable to Muslims when paired with "terrorism." Yes I know that is a very picky point but if it risks insulting a 1.4 billion member religion, it is worth knowing. Back at the White House apologies were quickly made for Trump’s gaff; it was blamed on the President’s fatigue from a long flight. Barone hasn’t given us his excuse but he’s sure Trump is a competent president…at least when he’s overseas.

Trump’s refused to comment on any of the Saudi’s human rights abuses, or on their treatment of women. At least he didn’t attend any of the routine Sunday beheadings in Riyadh’s main square.

Trump was all smiles at the adoring welcome he got from the Saudis. He put on a very different face when he left Air Force 1 in Europe. He met with the heads of state of NATO members and to watch him jockey for position in that group was a blast. Trump believed that it was important for him to be in the front row for the photo-op and it probably was. The doesn’t mean he should shove the premier of Montenegro out of his way as he moved to the front row. He never said a word to the man, “no excuse me,” nothing; he just shoved him aside. Maybe he is there to reinforce the ugly American image. Needless to say, his boorishness was noticed, but not by Barone.

Then he spent time haranguing the NATO country heads about the importance of paying their 2 percent contribution. He’s right of course but this might not be the best way to get what he wants. There was no mention of article 5 in the charter which says that an attack on one is an  attack on all. Maybe he should have pointed out that they get something for this 2 percent contribution to their own welfare, He will learn eventually that browbeating heads of state rarely gets you anything but enemies…or sometimes gets you laughed at. See some of the footage of the premiers snickering at the NATO meeting while Trump is haranguing them about the 2 percent solution.

2017 May 25^th

It isn’t that there is nothing political to write about; there is more than enough, what with Republican candidates, Trump style, beating up journalists. That situation will only get more interesting by tomorrow when Montana’s votes are counted. Today I have a couple of other issues, tomorrow I’ll do politics. Here is a piece from “More of the Same;” I hope you enjoy it.

Bling Bling

Bling is a recent addition to the dictionary; it comes from the hip-hop culture and it means an ostentatious display of wealth, usually jewelry. Shiny stuff has always had an attraction for people, and not just hip-hop artists. It’s even had an attraction for so-called primitive people. You may remember the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians for twenty-four dollars worth of beads and trinkets. Shiny glass beads have often had value to people we consider primitive. We civilized folks are more attracted to pieces of carbon called diamonds. They are much shinier, especially when they are cut with the proper number of facets. I doubt that there is much call for uncut diamond rings. There would be very little sparkle in them…and we do love our sparkle. Ordinary wrist watches, now encrusted with cut diamonds, are expensive enough to be advertised as heirlooms, but are no better at telling time for all their bling. There are even diamond stud ear posts too—his and hers.

It seems to me that humankind finds much merit in shiny things I believe it is built into our genetic history. You can buy polished chrome plated wheels for your new car, or indeed for your old car if you choose to “dress it up.” This could cost you hundreds of dollars depending on the plating process you want. A new Buick with chrome plated wheels adds six hundred and fifty dollars to your tab. The stock wheels are just as round. Some vehicles come with chrome plated radiator grills. These may now be more common than chrome plated bumpers. The old hot rods had engine parts that were heavily chromed. The owners were so proud of the bling that they often removed the car’s hood to make the engine visible. Of course none of this can be allowed to get dirty. Car washes everywhere are prosperous. A car must be gleaming all over…and all the time.

I am surprised that no one has thought to add chrome plating to houses. A nicely plated front door and window trim would add an interesting touch. Inside the house gleaming stainless steel is the vogue; the refrigerator, the stove, the sink, and all the appliances are stainless steel. Tall buildings are curtained in glass and stainless steel. They are said to be more energy efficient; they are certainly shiny.

Maybe this has something to do with cleanliness, which, as we all know, is next to godliness, and consequently a very good thing. It is the clean car that shines, the clean silverware that sparkles, as do our teeth, recently cleaned at no little expense by our dentist. It is certainly true that dusty, dirty, things do not reflect light very well and that brightness, or reflection, is what bling is all about. But is it possible that we have these things backwards? Maybe we value cleanliness because clean things gleam and shine rather than valuing gleaming things because they are clean.

Our vocabulary reflects our values. Employers want to hire bright college graduates. When did bright become a synonym for intelligent? It has. Why are the less intelligent described as dullards? We favor people with bright, sunny, dispositions. We avoid people with dark, gloomy outlooks. Our craving for bling even affects how we describe people and how we describe the weather.

The desire for shiny stuff seems universal among humans. Is there any evidence that it has value in the animal kingdom? Yes indeed.  Other primates and raccoons are strongly attracted to shiny objects. If you want to attract jays, crows or ravens, scatter shiny safety pins and bits of broken mirror about. One story, for which there is photographic evidence, describes starlings stealing quarters from a car-wash. The car wash owner was missing money and had accused the installer of giving the key to the cash box to an employee. A camera was set up to catch the thief. It was a starling, actually several starlings, which went into the coin box and were shown exiting with as many as three quarters in their mouths. The coins were traced to the roof of the wash where there were starling nests. The shiny coins attracted the male starlings’ attention and they retrieved them from the coin box to court female starlings. I’m sure some astute reader will see a parallel here. For myself, I have invested in several pairs of polarizing sunglasses.

2017 May 24^th

The detritus today will really be detritus, and trivial detritus at that. First, we have two instances of potential marital discord between POTUS an FLOTUS. (If I had more time and enthusiasm, a limerick might be in order here,) Two instances were filmed where POTUS reached for the hand of FLOTUS and she abruptly pulled it away from him…and this in full view of many, many cameras. Was this accidental? Almost certainly it was. FLOTUS has far more effective ways of showing her displeasure with POTUS than refusing to take his hand in public.

There has been another more interesting development; it is a difference in the attention to protocol: The Trump women, both first daughter Ivanka and third wife Melania appeared veiled and in long sleeved black dresses for their audience with the Pope. This is the expected attire for females receiving an audience with His Holiness; it is not required however. Camilla, Duchess of Cambridge, was received recently wearing a pink dress. Note that no such concern for protocol was shown when the Trump women appeared publicly in Saudi Arabia. They were brazenly uncovered and had they been Saudi women their punishment for such effrontery would have been severe.

The Trump women did exactly what Michele Obama did when she visited Saudi Arabia with her husband. She also appeared without the expected head covering. When Michelle Obama did the same thing Donald J. Trump was quick to criticize her for flouting the conventional dress. This is just another example of Trump’s numerous 180s.

Trump’s idyll away from Washington will end soon. He has already sent home Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon. No one knows why but the Trump people claim the plan was to send these two home at this point in the trip. No reason has been given for their exit and they appeared to serve no function when they were present.

It has been speculated that the administration’s troubles are deepening at home and that is why Priebus and Bannon have been sent back. Nowhere is it explained what Priebus and Bannon can do about the problem. The most recent difficulty is with the heads of two more intelligence agencies, Dan Coates, Director of National Intelligence and Admiral Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, they each claim they had been requested to make inappropriate statements. Trump asked them to deny publicly that there was any evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia. They both refused the request. Again, unfortunately for Trump, the fact that the request was made was leaked to the press.

Trump makes much of the potential for disaster if we have national security leaks. The problem for Trump is that most of these leaks bear more on the security of Donald J. Trump than on the security of the United States.

2017 May 23^rd

Now we find that our intelligence service warned the Israelis’ Mossad about sharing their sensitive intelligence with us until we could be sure that Trump was not a conduit for sending it directly to the Russians. If it got to the Russians it would then be available to their friends the Iranians. The Iranians are the sworn enemies of Israel and the Iranians would remove whatever source the Israelis had used to get their information.

The Russians played Trump very effectively and got just what they wanted. We have no idea about what they did with the information Trump gave them; we do know that Mossad, a source for it, is not happy that the Russians got it. H.R. McMasters, Trump’s National Security Advisor, claims Trump gave the Russians nothing they didn’t already have. Then McMaster claims that Trump didn’t know that this Intelligence came from Israel. Trump may not have known that because his intelligence briefers have been cautioned to give him no more than three pieces of information at a time. His attention span is too short to handle more.

There is a 1997 film titled “Being There” about a mentally challenged, out of work, gardener played by Peter Sellers. He becomes an advisor to powerful people and then is tapped as a presidential candidate. The parallels to Trump’s ascendancy are remarkable and frightening. The movie is now considered a classic. I wonder if it will eventually be banned.

Tomorrow Trump is off to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. Pope Francis is a Franciscan and as far removed from Trump’s excesses of wealth as it is possible to get.

Pope Francis refuses to live in the ornate and luxurious quarters reserved for Popes and instead lives in much more humble quarters. Trump’s residence, before he was elected president, was in an enormous Manhattan tower with his name prominently displayed on it. Inside the tower Trump claimed to own a three floor 33,000 square foot apartment. He doesn’t of course. His apartment is about 11,000 square feet. Well, never mind; many of the fixtures are gold plated and that counts for a lot with the Donald.

Pope Francis has a long record of having been concerned about the poor. So is Donald Trump. For Trump the concern is with the poor taxpayers; that is literally how his budget director Mick Mulvaney described his budget proposal. Mulvaney claimed that the cuts in Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Social Security and school lunches are all to provide poor taxpayers with a break. It does too, taxpayers earning a million a year will find a 50,000 dollar a year lower tax bill. Mulvaney keeps saying that he just can’t face taxpayers and ask them to keep funding these medical programs for poor people. I’ll bet the Pope could do that.

Even staunch Republicans say this budget is dead on arrival. This includes such stalwarts as Senator John McCain and Texas Senator Cronyn who are unhappy because the increased amount for defense is too low and Senator Dean Heller of Nevada and Senator Bob Portman of Ohio who are unhappy with cuts to other programs. Portman is unhappy with the cuts to funds to preserve the Great Lakes.

On balance, it looks like it’s back to the drawing boards for the Donald…between golf games of course.