Category: Politics

DECEMBER 12, 2019 – If you’ve noticed over the past several years, our Commander-in-Chief has an affinity for superlatives.  Among 38% to 42% of the electorate, apparently, use of superlatives is an effective rhetorical device.  Actually, “rhetorical device” assigns undeserved refinement to simplistic speech patterns. Let’s stop at “effective.” In my experience, superlatives are dilutive, …

DECEMBER 10, 2019 –  On Saturday we joined a friend for a delectable meal at a Vietnamese restaurant. After 30-minutes of far-ranging but politics-free conversation, Trump’s name plopped down into the Phô, splashing soup onto the table. “I resent the fact,” our friend said, “that Trump now interferes with nearly every conversation I have.” My …

DECEMBER 5, 2019 – I confess to my Trump-supporting friends: I’m biased. With that acknowledgment I hardly expect to change your minds about Trump’s impeachment or re-election. I understand you oppose the former and support the latter.  Fine. I get that you’re as immovable from your support of Trump as I am from my opposition. …

DECEMBER 4, 2019 – Let’s get down to basics. The hallmark of representative democracy is the dirty word, “compromise.” For all too long, we have lost the art of compromise. On the right, fear, greed, myopia, ignorance, and religious dogma have brought us intolerance and unprecedented demagoguery. On the left, disregard for real-world economics and …

NOVEMBER 20, 2019 – I apologize, or more precisely, I confess: I am a veritable political junkie; always have been and always will be.  I go at it much as my in-laws go at sports. But there’s one big difference: my in-laws are die-hard fans of certain teams, whereas I’m more a fan of the …

NOVEMBER 17, 2019 – In college I had friends who took the foreign service entrance exam—a grueling three-hour written test about every conceivable subject, a personality profile, and an oral exam, not to mention physical and security clearances.  I knew people who took both the LSAT and the foreign service exam and reported that the …

NOVEMBER 15, 2019 – Let’s understand: impeachment and trial are political procedures conducted according to rules set by the House (impeachment) and Senate (trial). Impeachment/removal proceedings are not legal proceedings subject to the Federal Rules of Evidence, which render hearsay testimony inadmissible (subject to certain exceptions) . . . and to the Rules of Civil/Criminal …

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 – As to all things Ukraine . . . the country fractures thusly: One-third (“First Estate”), knows facts and truth, panics; One-third (“Second Estate”) knows better, denies; One-third (“Third Estate”) knows nothing, cares little. However likely impeachment, conviction is equally unlikely. It will be Trump vs. [Democrat] in 2020.  As it turns …

NOVEMBER 6, 2019 – Each of us is born with a hard-wired power unit that lights up ambition and aspiration and powers all plans and actions. The power runs constantly, fueled by will, wind, or whim, depending on individual disposition, experience, and circumstance. Evolution gave us the power unit for survival. In most of us, …

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 – Yesterday, in his column, The Point, CNN commentator Chris Cillizza explained Trump’s support. Cillizza boiled it down to the attitude, “I’m fed up with the [corrupt, do-nothing but ignore me] government and won’t take it anymore!” Trump played on that in 2016 and will hammer at it for re-election.  Cillizza cited …

OCTOBER 31, 2019 – Every legal case has two parts—facts and law. Sometimes the facts are in the bag: the other side is blind, deaf, and dumb regarding the facts OR both sides stipulate to the facts. The case then turns on the law—given irrefutable or stipulated facts, how should the law be applied? From …

OCTOBER 29, 2019 – ME: I propose a ground rule: I won’t use the word “ass”; you won’t use the words, “sham” and “witch hunt.”  Deal? REPUBLICAN: Deal. You go first. ME: Impeachment contemplated by the Constitution is an extraordinary remedy to be applied only when the president has committed a seriously wrong act—a high …

OCTOBER 27, 2019 – An acquaintance running for mayor of his town recently told me he’d been labeled “racist” in a hard-fought campaign. “Being called ‘racist,’” he told me, “is the next worst thing to being called a pedophile.” He, of course, denies being racist. According to Merriam-Webster’s, “racism is a belief that race is the …

OCTOBER 25, 2019 – When it comes to impeachment, the Democrats worry me.  So do the Republicans.  But more precisely, “we the people” worry me. Why? Because “we the people” are no longer “we.” One could fairly argue that we’ve never been “we.” Exhibit A: the institution of slavery, which pre-dated by over 150 years, …

OCTOBER 24, 2019 – Yesterday I went to the doctor for my flu/pneumonia shots and annual physical. Because I’m now 65, the sign-in questionnaire was quite different from the form used on younger adults.  The “old folks” form includes such questions as, “How many times did you fall last year?” with a choice between “0-1” …

OCTOBER 23, 2019 – A Republican Facebook friend of mine recently asked me three questions about the  Democratic candidates for president in 2020.  I’ve elected to post the questions—and my responses—here. QUESTION #1: Which Democratic candidate for president would you support in 2020? The short answer is, I’d support any of them ahead of Trump.  …