Green Eagle

Donald Trump tweeted Friday night that the deal “was in no way a concession.” In the same way that this was not a concession: In case you are not sure, Nancy is the one who is standing up.

I do not want to take a thing away from Nancy Pelosi, whose actions have been virtually picture perfect since reassuming the role of Speaker of the House.  I do want, however, to point out one thing about her relationship with Donald Trump. Throughout his life, Trump's success (such as it is) at being a dealmaker was largely based on the fact that throughout his business career, he always owned the business and had control of all of the money.  He could bully people into doing what he wanted, because they really had no choice.  It took no more skill for him to win an argument than it did for Hitler to beat down his generals.  Well, with Nancy Pelosi, that came to an end.  He had no threats to hold over her, so that, as long as she kept her temper and acted appropriately, she was bound to win. I hope the Democrats realize this.  I hope that, at long last, after forty years cowering in the shade, they understand what kind of power they do have.  If s...

He caved.  End of story.

“This is your fault,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?” McConnell snapped back." No answer from Ron.  He should have said this:  "Of course, you are enjoying it, you malignant son of a bitch.  There's nothing in your whole misbegotten life that you have ever enjoyed more than your chance to show your naked power and run roughshod over the interests of the American people.  You are now going down as the worst majority leader in the history of this country, in order to satisfy your lust to hurt people." Yeah, Ron stuck his neck out to tell half the truth, but right now, half the truth is not enough.

A prediction that absolutely nobody will remember several years from now, when it is proven to be true: First of all, let me remind you that Venezuela has the largest proven reserves of oil in the world. Over the course of my lifetime, and certainly under the Chavez government, we have seen periodic spasms of anti-government violence in Venezuela.  As the years pass by, the tiny minority of Americans who even remember problems in other countries discover that the United States precipitated economic collapse in Venezuela, through means such as its currently unjustifiable sanctions against the country, massively financed opposition to the government from rich businessmen and their paid henchmen, and often open support for rebel (i.e. terrorist, in U.S. government terms) armies. Why? Because the Venezuelan people repeatedly elect governments that are determined to see that a fair share of the revenue of its oil goes to the Venezuelan people, instead of having all of it taken by ...

Not that she needs my help. So Trump is threatening that, if she holds firm on no State of the Union address until after the shutdown, he will deliver a "State of the Union" address to one of his rallies, which will be almost verbatim the same belligerent, racist blast of hatred as always. Go ahead, Nancy, and then accept that demagogic piece of garbage as his official State of the Union address, to be forever enshrined with every other State of the Union address ever given.  That will serve as a perfect reminder to those who come after us, what kind of President he really is.

I've been thinking of this biblical story of the wisdom of Solomon lately. The Wisdom of Solomon, by Rafaello I'm sure you are all familiar with the tale:  Two women appeared before Solomon, each claiming to be the mother of a baby.  To decide,Solomon said, "Well, let's be fair here; we'll cut the baby in half and give each mother one of the halves."  One of the women said, "Fine."  One begged Solomon to give the baby to the other woman, as long as it could live.  Thus, Solomon discovered which woman actually cared about the baby. Well, of course I am talking about the government shutdown.  We have one party that is willing to kill the country to prevent the other side from winning a battle with him, while the other side is trying a succession of agreements to save the country. I'm not a religious person, yet I thought of this story.  Funny that the bible obsessed Christians who run the Republican party apparently never heard it. ...