Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

First off, let me say that the whole Tulsi v. Bernie question, as to which should be the progressive party champion in 2020, is a silly  question.  They’re not going  to run  against each other, because neither one of them is about  that.  They believe in most of the same things, and they’re both fighting for them, selflessly.  If he decides to run, she’ll  probably stay out.  And vice versa.

But she’s just scored  a major success, and is looking very  presidential.  I refer to the ban on  providing weapons to Al Qaeda and  ISIS, which she’s been pushing for for a long time and  which Trump has just endorsed.
O.K., that’s two  good things he’s done (this and killing the TPP). I suspect he did the right thing for  the wrong reason – i.e. Putin asked him to. It doesn’t matter.  Without downplaying the absurdity of the rest of his bizarre and already not brief enough administration, let’s give credit where it’s due.

But Tulsi Gabbard deserves the glory.  She got  it done, and  if it meant being on the same side as Trump  on  one issue, so be it.  It got her on TV, and  it’s an accomplishment that will be remembered.

Now, it’s Bernie’s turn at bat.  He’s said he’ll introduce his MedicareforAll bill right after the current shitstorm dies down, and the timing couldn’t be better.  It’s something the Republicans could get behind without suffering loss of face, they will technically be replacing Obamacare so  they can crow  about that all they want and strut around and call  it a win; the rest of America, the 300,000,000, would get health insurance.  Win-Win.

I know it’s MedicareforAll, but I’m going to call  it  Berniecare.

Trump has said  plenty of offensive things in inappropriate settings, and got  away with them all, so I’m pretty  sure he’ll get away with the Boy Scout speech as well.

I’m not even sure that journalists are focusing on the truly  important bits of the  whole rambling, incoherent mess.  Yeah, he used a bad word.  Seriously?  He said hell.   I don’t think that’s what’s going to ruin  his  career.  They are boy  scouts, not pre-schoolers at an evengelical orpanage, in 1905.

The bits about loyalty above all other virtues was weird, and getting the crowd to boo  Obama was out of line, and his wee joke about firing one of his staff fell  flat, but it wasn’t nearly the knee-slapper that Reagan’s ‘the bombing  will  start in 5 minutes’ was.
The part that got me, though, was a bit that was left out.  He was talking about some friend of his or another, and he said: “And he went out and bought a big yacht, and he had a very interesting life. I won’t go any more than that, because you’re Boy Scouts so I’m not going to tell you what he did.”  And he didn’t, which makes you wonder why he brought it up in the first place.  I reckon he was about to  tell  the story, and what tiny bit of a mental editor he has woke up from his usual drunken stupor for a second and said “Dude, you’re talking to Boy  Scouts.”
Now, it certainly  could  be that interesting activities aboard  a yacht  might  include  things that are boy scout appropriate.  Participating in an America’s Cup  race, sailing off to exotic locations, seeking  sunken treasure, that sort of thing.
But I don’t think that’s what passes for ‘interesting’ in Trump’s world.  I’m sure  he was just about to tell a tale of  hookers  and blow, underage Russian hookers probably.
It boggles the mind that it took until he was in the middle of the story to realize that it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell it, but my guess, and my explanation for  that is that he’s probably  told the story hundreds of times.  Not for  the press.  Certainly not in front of the Boy Scouts.  Just in front of  his sleazy buddies, who all  thought  it  was just fine.
Seriously unprofessional.  Still, I bet he gets away with  it.

I get frustrated that the world does not work the way it should.  When clearly guilty people do not get charged (i.e. police caught on  camera murdering people), when good ideas get  ignored (why aren’t driverless cars all over the roads already?  Why aren’t all  supermarket parking lots covered with solar panels?  Why don’t all schools  have vegetable gardens?) or when news stories of tremendous import just disappear, without any resolution (nobody talks about Guantanamo any more – but it still exists)

There are a couple  of others in that category that I wonder about.  Whatever happened about that list of over 200 stars which were sending out weird signals, which were discovered by two scientists (Bora and Trottier) at a university in Canada?  If it was pigeon poop on  the radio telescopes, I want to know.  If it turns out that’s just a normal signal for a star that  size (about the size  of ours), I want to know.  And if it’s actually TV programming from an alien species which  has already colonized over 200 planets, I sure as hell want to know.
And what ever happened to that guy who walked off with a big box full of money from the back of a truck in New York City.  I don’t remember ever reading about  him getting caught, or turning himself in.  So, if he got away with it, isn’t that a story?  Hell, that would make a good movie.  Any number of them, really, since everything after the incident is just speculation.  In any event, if nothing more is known, then THAT is the story.

Then there is the fraud lawsuit against the DNC, which got almost no press coverage from the beginning, but there’s certainly been  no word for  the last couple  of months, and there’s no excuse for it.  There are obviously no legal grounds to dismiss the case, the  DNC’s argument for that was ridiculous.
So, what I suspect is, the judge is faced with a dilemma.  Rule in  favor of the Becks and  go ahead with a lawsuit that could expose dirty deals on an international scale and possibly murder for hire, destroy the Clintons and many of their sycophants, and change American politics forever, or buckle under to the pressure you know is being put on him (or her) and dismiss the case, with no good reason whatsoever, and leave your judicial reputation forever besmirched.
So, he (or she) is just putting it off as long as possible, hoping everyone will forget.
We’re not forgetting.

We’re back in Prague, got home a couple  of hours ago.  It feels good to write  this blog sitting in my regular chair, and I’m happy to get back  to my  regular routine, or  hopefully I can  improve on that a bit, since my regular routine this summer has been, when not  actually traveling, to sit around  the flat and do nothing all  day excepte hang out on facebook and watch TV and maybe smoke a joint or two.

But my list of things to do for the summer is long, including getting the book of poems I  have ready published, getting all of my poetry added  on to  my  website, developing a new  game for  English lessons, printing up some new flashcards, and maybe working out a couple of puppet routines, a couple of other writing projects, and losing some weight.

Action, inaction, the eternal struggle.

Tonight is our last night in Krakow,  the mini-vacation comes to an  end.  It has been a  very intense three days of sights and sensations (Poles consider borscht, or barsht as they call  it, to be something you drink, not eat, so, even  though it is soup, they serve it in a cup with no spoon), but today was so bloody hot I am knocked out, woozy, and ready to head home.

The trip highlights  will be  filed  in the memory bank – the park that completely encircles the  Old Town  Square, or rather the 3 squares that make  up the Old Town Square, the Salt Mine, the fruit and  vegetable market, the fire breathing dragon at Wawel castle, my niece asking me “Why do you always speak English with your family?” and the English lesson that followed, the ice cream, the ice cream that makes the heat bearable and the tensions of herding a bunch of little kids around a crowded tourist town fade away, and more.

Tomorrow we’ll leave  here about  10 a.m., should  be in the Czech Republic in just a couple of hours and back  home in Prague by tomorrow night.
But, if anybody reading this  is thinking of visiting Krakow – I totally recommend it, this is an awesome city.