Tag: Donald Trump

Guns for the mentally ill: Is Senator Grassley a hypocrite ?

Guns for the mentally ill: Is Senator Grassley a hypocrite ?

Senator Chuck Grassley seems to be a hypocrite on the subject of guns for the mentally ill.  After the recent tragic school shooing in Florida, he was asked to comment and Senator Grassley said:

It seems to be common for a lot of these shootings, in fact almost all of the shootings, is the mental state of the people. And we have not done a very good job of making sure that people that have mental reasons for not being able to handle a gun getting their name into the FBI files and we need to concentrate on that.

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Are Republicans ashamed ?

Are Republicans ashamed ?

President Trump is busy attacking the FBI and Justice Department. Republicans used to believe in the rule of law. Are Republicans ashamed ? If not, why not?

Our intelligence agencies agreed with a high degree of certainty that Russia interfered in our 2016 election (.https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf ).

President Trump denies this. In some cases he says he knows better because he is very smart. I tend to think he has other motivations. Donald Trump’s denial is called the “2017 Lie of the Year” by Politifact .

WikiPedia has a long article on Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections for those who would like to review this and some more recent develpments in the investigations.

Recently, the President and some of his allies in Congress and on Fox news have been busy attacking the FBI and Justice Department. As President Trump says “A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves”.

Of course he seems to be thinking of those in leadership at the FBI and Justice Department but I think it is the Republicans who refuse to stand-up to this attack on the rule of law who should be ashamed.

We have heard objections from Senator John McCain and Gov. John Kasich. I may have missed a few others but I’ve heard few Republican objections or even mild disagreements.

In the words of Senator McCain:

The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.

So where are the the Repubican politicians? Do they still believe in the rule of law? Are Republicans ashamed ?

Seven words you cannot say

Seven words you cannot say

Back when the Retired Guy was much younger, the comedian George Carlin told us about seven words he could not say on TV. The seven words were considered “dirty” and too vulgar for broadcast over the airwaves of the United States. A few years earlier the comedian Lenny Bruce had been arrested for using these words (and 2 more) in a public performance. See Seven dirty words on Wikipedia for more detail.
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Net Neutrality is almost gone

Net Neutrality is almost gone

Net neutrality, it’s not just for nerds.  It sounds like kind of a technical thing but most of us should care.

Why? Freedom of choice is the short answer. And by that I mean our choice. Not the choice forced on us by the company that provides our internet service.
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Russian security at our Russian embassy

Russian security at our Russian embassy

Russian security at the US Embassy in Moscow. What could go wrong?

Elite Security was founded by a former head of the KGB. At one time he was Vladimir Putin’s boss in the Russian spy agency. But Elite Security was given a multi-million dollar contract to provide security services at the US Embassy in Moscow.
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The unscientific chief scientist

The unscientific chief scientist

The Senate is ready to confirm the unscientific chief scientist. I was about to say an unqualified chief scientist but then I thought that he did have the one qualifier that matters in this case. That is, the support of President Trump and a Republican majority in the Senate that seems to approve the President’s nomininees, irrespective or qualifications or suitability.

The Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics is better known as the chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture.
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Volunteers for the Trump campaign

Volunteers for the Trump campaign

So now George Papadopoulos joins the ranks of volunteers for the Trump campaign. Sounds pretty low and the President Trump himself had made it sound even less inportant by refering to George Papadopoulos as a “low level volunteer” (see twitter Oct 31).

However volunteers are not always unimportant. As CBS news pointed out:

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We need a strong EPA

We need a strong EPA

Why do we need a strong EPA? There are many reasons but here is a good reminder to how America looked before there was an EPA to regulate pollution.

Kevin Loria’s article Vintage photos taken by the EPA reveal what America looked like before pollution was regulated reminds us of a few things the EPA is doing (or avoiding) today but more importantly shows pictures of the good old days before we decided to regulate pollution.

Perhaps there are some who miss the good old days when rivers caught fire or companies were free to poison the drinking water. But I like the clean water and clean air. I’m old enough to remember the good old days and certainly do not miss the pollution.
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Reality Based Opinions, Again

Reality Based Opinions, Again

I started this blog as Reality Based Opinions then went to RetiredGuy. I explain my reasoning for this move in the post Reality Based Opinions.

But now I decided to go back. If you like this move, you might want to thank President Trump since he and the Trump adminstration are an important factor in my reasoning.

I started this blog in mid-2009. I suppose at least part of the reason I chose that name was a reaction to the George W. Bush adminstration’s referral to “reality-based community”. Continue reading “Reality Based Opinions, Again”

A double disaster but not “real catastrophe”

A double disaster but not “real catastrophe”

President Trump insulted Puerto Ricans by calling them lucky and saying they had not faced  “a real catastrophe, like Katrina”.  Yes they are the lucky ones.  No ”real catastrophe” (who am I to contradict the President) but instead the double disaster.

Disaster one was Hurricane Maria with loss of life, loss of power, little food or drinking water, widespread destruction.  Well, you get the idea.
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Government overreach for internet records

Government overreach for internet records

Remember the protest at President Trump’s inauguration. There were hundreds of thousands in Washington and about a million when you consider all the marches in other cities, according to estimates in the Washington Post. Around 200 of those hundreds of thousands in Washington were indicted on rioting charges. Most of the rest were peaceful protesters.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is demanding that DreamHost turn over records on website associated with those protests, its owner and the 1.3 million visitors to the site.
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The Presidential dilemma

The Presidential dilemma

President Trump is stuck with the presidential dilemma of his own making. I did not support the now President Trump in the general election. He had shown no sign of being a good president and many signs of being a bad president but after his election promised to be be a President for all Americans. Unfortunately nearly everything he has done since then has indicated he is only interested in pleasing his base and, of course, protecting himself and maybe his family.

So the presidential dilemma is how should he acknowledge the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend.
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Trump makes us stronger says MS-13

Trump makes us stronger says MS-13

Members of MS-13 think that President Trump’s immigration crackdown and roundups of illegal immigrants have made them stronger. It is an interesting look at gang violence, fear in a community, illegal immigrants deportation and the so called Sanctuary Cities.

View the interviews on CNN.

Election integrity or voter suppression

Election integrity or voter suppression

Is it election integrity or voter suppression? That is the question about President Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Over the past few years Republicans have championed stricter voting requirements which they claim are needed for election integrity. But Democrats claim these requirements are a form of voter suppression since they disenfranchise large numbers of voters, most of whom are members of groups more likely to vote for the Democrat.
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Net neutrality explained  by analogy

Net neutrality explained by analogy

Net neutrality has been much in the news lately. The Trump FCC is ready to roll back the rules to benefit corporations over consumers.

It is an important issue but perhaps a bit difficult to understand. The folks at NPR Marketplace have explained it by offering a series of analogies. The Marketplace article is very non-technical and uses analogies such as ordering a pizza or paying protection money to the mob.
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