Random Political Thoughts

1.     I am bemused by all the people shocked by the news that Mitch McConnell will allow a Supreme Court nominee to be moved forward before the 2020 elections, something he would not allow with Merrick Garland before the last election, when President Obama was still in office. Do people not understand that the Republican Party only plays power politics, uses whatever tool exists to advance their agenda and has thoroughly gamed the system? C’mon now! Is anyone surprised that Lindsay Graham is saying things that are a 180-degree turn from what he said in the past? All politics is local and immediate. Whatever gets the job done, including lying and cheating.

2.     So, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is no longer allowed to use terms such as “evidence-based” or “science-based” in any report they author.

3.     No matter how bad it is and how you cannot conceive of it getting any worse, it always does.

4.     Mueller has basically told you that he saw obstruction of justice. Now, Congress has to act. It won’t.

5.     Newspapers are complicit in our current political situation. The NYT just wrote about Hope Hicks’ “existential crisis” in deciding whether to honor a subpoena. She is a private citizen. She cannot avoid it or she will be breaking the law. There is no choice involved. Oh, and they also used a glamour shot for the article. It took more than a day and thousands of tweets before the Times changed the headline.

6.     With regard to Mueller again, watch the headlines from different newspapers. They are tailored to the audience. For example, the far-right Washington Examiner has this lead: “Mueller inadvertently confirms William Barr didn’t misrepresent his report.” OTOH, the Independent has this: “Mueller just told the world Trump is a criminal. Now Congress must impeach him.” They write for different audiences and in doing so lose sight of truth in order to score points and influence public opinion. This is why one reason why people cannot trust the news.

7.     Forbes magazine just asked if America was ready for a woman to be president. It apparently forgot Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

8.     We live in strange times. I am 66 now and could not have ever come close to predicting we would be where we are now. Nearly every major governmental agency is run by people without qualifications to handle the job. Diplomacy has been blown up. Anger and thunder all that matters. Decency out the door. Even inside my family, people have treated others with contempt and vitriol over politics, to the point where I have no intention of ever speaking to those people again until and unless they apologize for the comments they directed at, for example, my wife. How did this happen?