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Ever wonder what the President watches late at night?  I have.  Sure, he watches cable news during the day.  But what’s streaming late at night in the residential suite?  Now I know.  At yesterday’s coronavirus daily press briefing Trump inadvertently divulged his midnight cable proclivities.

I know because I watched the exact same episode of my favorite childhood science fiction TV show which he must have also watched.  To keep occupied during stationary bike rides this month, I’ve been binging the original Star Trek series.  In the last episode of Season 1,  Operation Annihilate, the Enterprise crew struggles to stop a plague of amoeba-like creatures infecting millions throughout the galaxy.  After Spock himself is infected, a cure is discovered.  Light!  Intense bright light.   The aliens cannot stand light.  Spock is stuffed in a closet (yes they have closets on Star Fleet ships) and blasted with light.  He’s blinded, but he’s also cured.  Then the infected planet is circled with dozens of high intensity light emitting satellites that destroy the plague.

Yesterday the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,  directed his senior staff to investigate ways to stop the coronavirus by blasting human bodies with intense penetrating light.  I’d say you cannot make this stuff up, but apparently someone did.  In 1967 Gene Roddenberry along with writer Steve Carabatsos imagined the very same solution to a deadly galactic pandemic and crafted a whole Star Trek episode around it.  So yes, you can make this stuff up!

P.S.  I’m not sure yet which TV series used ingesting Lysol (the other proposed solution from yesterday’s Presidential briefing) as a plot to halt a rampaging plague.  But please don’t ingest or inject yourself with Lysol unless you want to kill yourself and the virus.

…yup, he goes with Putin.  Trump unilaterally declares victory and abruptly decides to remove troops from Syria.  As far as I can tell, his own security establishment condemns the action and has been voicing objections for the last week as rumors of this decision began to leak.   What is the reaction of the Secretary of Defense?  He resigns!  In a thinly veiled protest, he slams the President’s abandonment of allies in the fight against ISIS.   And what was Putin’s response to the removal of US troops?  “On this, Donald is right. I agree with him,” Putin said.

Think about this.  The President of the United States of America is making decisions on the war on terror which are aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin and in direct opposition to the views of his Secretary of Defense, a decorated four star Marine general with over 40 years of service.  Really?  Really!

 

After a tumultuous year, President Trump finally decided today to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.  Why?  Why today? What was it that finally brought this stormy relationship to its finale?  Tillerson’s referring to Trump as a “f***ing idiot” wasn’t sufficient grounds for termination.  One would think that would be enough cause for Trump to hit the eject button last year.  The White House is providing no reason for the sudden decision today.  But I have to admit its mighty strange that within hours of Tillerson slaming the Russians for their involvement in a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom last week, he’s canned.  Poor old Rex got out ahead of the White House and issued a particularly harsh, and justified, criticism of Russia.  A few hours later, he’s history.  Think about it.  The very morning the Secretary of State of the United States of America condemns Russian for a horrific nerve gas attack in a foreign country, he is fired!  What kind of message does that send the Russians?  And this attack didn’t take place in some backwater 3rd world country.  It happened in Britain.  It happened to one of our greatest allies.  Makes me wonder again, what is it the Russians have on Mr. Trump that would cause him to so reflexively respond in accordance with their national interests.  You don’t have to be a crazy conspiracy theory nut to connect the obvious dots.

To whom it may concern,

I am terribly conflicted and terribly upset, and here’s why. This morning Donald Trump insinuated live on your network that Ted Cruz’s father was somehow connected to Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy. The suggestion is so outrageous it deserves to be exposed and repudiated – strongly!   This deliberate, slanderous and unfounded accusation in and of itself demonstrates that Mr. Trump is wholly unsuited for the highest office. Even if this was the first time Mr. Trump amplified something from the dark corners of the internet, it alone would be disqualifying.   But isn’t the first time. He doesn’t even have enough sense to leverage a surrogate for plausible deniability, which lends credence to the argument that he himself believes this stuff. If he doesn’t believe what he is saying, it shows he has no conscience and is willing to spread vicious unsubstantiated lies for political gain.

My conflict arises from one side of me that strongly believes he does not deserve the unfettered access to cable news networks that allows him to spew this garbage (Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii, General Pershing killed Muslim POWs with bullets dipped in pigs blood, he saw thousands of Muslims cheering the WTC crumble, etc.). Yes it is entertaining like a freak show at the circus. And yes I’m sure it drives up ratings.   But this is the lowest form of politics from someone who continues to insist he isn’t a politician. On the other hand I think that this open display of complete recklessness should expose him for what he really is and it is good for the public to see.   One would think this behavior on full display for millions of viewers would elicit an appropriate response – to repudiate him and his candidacy!

 Not that anyone over there cares, but after being a regular viewer of Fox News for well over a decade, I have dialed my intake way way back to only Special Report with Bret Baier. It is time for your news organization to repudiate this vile behavior and call him out on these disgusting and disgraceful episodes. That would be fair and balanced.

Yes, this classic Trumpism is from the man who proudly asserted, “Ya know what I’d be good at – MILITARY” Well he may have the best words, but he doesn’t use very many of them. And his harrangs would be mercifully shorter if “huge”, “incredible” and “amazing” were removed from his repertoire. Nor does he seem to know how to string together his best words into proper English sentences, that is unless the sentences come in the form of a retraction.  The most recent retraction was issued to clean up the mess he made at this week’s debate.  And I strongly suspect those great sentences with the best words were written for him by someone on his staff. But why all the fuss?  Well, the man who repeatedly boasts he’ll be good at “military” didn’t realize that he cannot order troops to perform illegal acts like waterboarding or “much much much more” than waterboarding.  Yes, that issue was settled at the Nuremberg Trials, apparently unbeknownst to Mr. Trump.

During the debate Mr. Trump insisted that our military personnel will do whatever he commands because he’s a leader and people follow a leader. Even if his orders were illegal or unethical, by the sheer force of his persona the military would bend to his will. Obviously his team realized this outrageous boast needed to be dialed back, hence the clarification with lots of words neatly arranged and delivered to the Wall Street Journal after the debate. But Trump just couldn’t control himself and on Face the Nation the following morning he waded back into the issue. This time he decided the way forward was to couch the argument using one of his favorite words – competition! Yes torture and killing POWS is illegal and he would never order our troops to do anything illegal. So what is needed?  We need to change the laws so that we can compete with ISIS. He argues they are chopping off heads, but we can barely bring ourselves to even waterboard because we are sissies. If only we were unshackled from legal restrictions we could compete on a level playing field with the Islamic terrorists.  What is needed he argues are less restrictive torture laws so we can torture people – legally!

I’m with Louie CK, the leading Republican candidate for the president of the United States is channeling strains of National Socialism. I suspect his supporters would know what that is by it’s more popular designation – Nazism.

 

 

 

As Mr Trump continues to gain support I have begun to wonder what his inaugural address would be like if he is actually elected President. I imagine him reading from a prepared speech but every few minutes not being able to control the impulse to ad lib. I suspect it will be something like this which is loosely based on Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address…

President Hussein Obama, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Vice President Biden, Melania, Ivanka (…isn’t she just beautiful), Ivana, and my fellow citizens:

Wow! Can you believe this? I mean really! Wow. Amazing. This is so great. Fantastic! Isn’t this great?

The world is very different now, mostly because I’m president. But this election is really about you, the Evangelicals, the young, the old, the highly educated, the poorly educated – I love the poorly educated. It’s about making America great again.  We can’t be the stupid country anymore.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans–born in the last century, tempered by stupid wars, disciplined in the art of the deal, proud of our real estate holdings and net worth–and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of that stuff.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure our survival and success. Screw the Chinese! Screw the Japanese! Screw the Saudis! We will build a wall and the Mexicans will pay for it! Right? Right!

This much we pledge—and much much much more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share and who like me, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. But if you are a Muslim you’ll have to stay out of the country until we figure out this whole radical Islamic terrorism thing. Hey, it’s safe, right? It just makes sense. Gotta keep America safe.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge—stop sending us illegal immigrants, rapists and gang members. And we are going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it! Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, don’t even think about coming here illegally. Unless of course you’re fluent in Java, /C++/JavaScript/Python/HTML/SQL. In which case we’ve got an accelerated green card program for you. Oh, and if you are here illegally I suggest you start packing. And if you want to come back, you’ll have to pay a big tax.  If a free society cannot exploit the poor and stupid, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, have I got a deal for you! That building on the east side is looking a little dour. One of my Trump towers would be a huge upgrade. Huge! Think about, really. Big improvement.

So let us begin anew–remembering on both sides that civility is a sign of weakness, and sincerity is for losers and low energy Bushes. Let us never forget to negotiate. And let us never forget the Art of the Deal.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you. Really, just don’t ask. It is much much better if you just don’t ask.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, because we’re really not planning to do anything for you. Nothing! We’re sick of doing stuff for you. We’re sick of giving you stuff and not getting anything other than cheap Chinese goods and services in return. It is kill’n us and it is going to stop. I mean really!

The speech Donald Trump gave last week in South Carolina should genuinely scare you. The leading Republican candidate for the office the President of the United States is openly advocating for both the torture and the killing of prisoners of war as a deterrent against terrorism. This is so wrong. It is way way over the line. It is dangerously and irresponsibly over the line. It is hard to decide which is scarier, the brazen demagoguery or the warm reception to such venom from Mr. Trump’s supporters.

Even if there was any truth to the story of General Pershing dipping bullets in pig’s blood and then shooting Muslim prisoners, it is wrong. And if that story were true, General Pershing would have been a war criminal!  People on both sides can and have argued as to the legality and effectiveness of waterboarding. But I have never heard anyone argue that we should go “much much much farther than water boarding”. What does that mean? What methods would Mr. Trump sanction for officials of the United States of America to employ?

Mr. Trump has successfully manipulated and monopolized news coverage with increasingly controversial rhetoric and outrageous statements. I fear we are becoming numb to his outrages.  You would think his multiple deferments from serving in Vietnam would give him pause before claiming the mantle of General Pershing (let alone calling the decorated veteran Senator John McCain a looser for getting shot down). But I suspect his ego has long since overridden any pangs of conscience. His shameless attempt to whip up votes demonstrates he has neither the requisite judgment nor the temperament for the presidency.

I am not a Democrat, liberal or progressive. I fancy myself a conservative with Republican tendencies. But right now I’ll vote for anyone else running for the presidency. Anyone! I’ll take the totally unqualified brain surgeon. Give me low-energy Bush, heck I’d even vote for Sanders or, gulp… Hillary. The Republican leadership needs to eject this megalomaniac and toss his sorry butt out of the party. Is it worth winning the presidency by openly advocating murder? The election be damned! I’d rather be the minority party.

I’m confused. The President alternately refers to the same group as either “ISIL” (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or “radical terrorists”*. But for some reason unpacking the acronym and combining these phrases is either offensive or recruiting fodder for said terrorists. If these phases are interchangeably used to identify this group as both Islamic and terrorists by the President himself, then aren’t they radical Islamic terrorists?

*Feb 2015 remarks at the White House event on countering violent extremism

It was early afternoon and we had accomplished the first goal of the day, a delightful hike up Little Baldy in Sequoia National Park.  Rather than a hike at a lower elevation as originally planned, we opted for something higher to escape the heat and were rewarded with cool temps and spectacular panoramic views of the Sierras.  Now we were in search of lunch and the Christian Camp at Lake Hume was the most promising option.  Windows down and soaking in the intoxicating mountain air, we were driving along the western edge of the lake when a frantic young man flagged us down.

Wearing only white swimming trunks he ran in front of the car, “Do you have a cell phone?  I need to call 911!”  Of course I did have my phone, but there was no service.  We asked what he needed.  He blurted out his friend was drowning.  He had just slipped below the surface and they could not locate him.  We told him to wait right there and we would drive and get help.   It wasn’t more than a quarter mile to the camp center and I immediately flagged down two maintenance guys loading up a truck.  “Do you have a radio?  Someone is drowning!  They need help!”  One of them ran off to get a lifeguard.  A moment later 3 park ranger vehicles drove by with lights flashing.  Someone else had obviously raised the alarm.  I jumped into the car and we raced back to scene.

But to our horror, when we got back, no one was there!  The young man had returned to lake to help with the search, so the rangers not knowing where to stop simply drove past the scene and were headed off in the wrong direction.  I left my wife there and told her to flag down the trucks if they returned.  I drove back to get help, again.  This time I found a lifeguard with a radio.  Before I said anything, he asked me if I knew about a drowning.  I told him I did and my wife was waiting at the scene to guide in the emergency crew.  I explained to him exactly where to find the incident.   He promised to send help.  I asked, “Are you sure?  You’ve got this?”  He insisted he would get help.  I sped off back to the scene.

When I returned the second time there was no one there but my wife.  I pulled over to wait with her.  In the lake, about 50 yards down from the road we could see some had organized themselves to search for the missing swimmer.  A young man was barking out commands to about 6 other swimmers.  They were in a line and simultaneously dove down and scoured the lake bottom.  They resurfaced and repeated the process again and again. Someone on a paddleboard was going down the shoreline calling out a name just incase he had surfaced at another spot.  While we waited another young man walking away from the lake said it was too much for him to handle.  He had seen a group of about 4 young guys horsing around, when one panicked and then slipped under the water.

I wasn’t watching the time, but it felt like 10 minutes before the first emergency responders arrived.  A group of rangers pulled up in their trucks and immediately ran down to the water’s edge.  Then the firemen arrived and followed by more rangers.  Then the ambulance and Camp Security arrived.   But it didn’t seem like they knew what do.  Where to start looking?  Actually there really wasn’t much they could do.

One ranger took two of the boys involved back to her truck next to where we were standing.  She began to ask them questions.  One of them began to sob. The other did his best to answer questions about their lost companion – his name, where he was from.  He kept asking if he could use her phone, but she just kept asking questions.  She was firm but very calm and tender in the way she treated to him.  Then she asked had they consumed any alcohol?  His responses were all over the map.  First he insisted they had no more than 8 beers each.  Then it was definitely less than 6 bottles.  She tried to console him and assured him it was not illegal to be drinking.  She just needed to know.  They had eaten lots of food implying the effect of all that alcohol was negligible.  He kept insisting they were not drunk.  But you could feel the weight of the tragedy begin to set in.  The panic of looking for help was quickly turning to the sober realization that their friend was gone.  He was dead, submerged somewhere nearby at the bottom of the lake.  And although not malicious, in some way they were partially responsible.  And they knew it.  Who was going to call his parents?  How long would it take to find him?

She told them the divers were on their way and would search for the missing young man.  My attention then returned to the lake.  A fireman had brought out a long metal pole, hooked at the end like a giant coat hanger.   I’d never seen anything like it but I immediately knew its purpose.   At that point I decided I didn’t really want to have the image in my head of a pale lifeless body being pulled from the lake.  My wife turned to one of the young men being questioned and asked if there was anything we could do.  Still weeping, he said no, and then staggered back to the water’s edge.  We climbed back in our car and drove off.  There was really nothing else for us to do.

From there we drove to the very end of Kings Canyon.  It is quite a lovely drive with breathtaking views.  But we were both stunned by what we had just experienced.  We talked a bit, but the mood had changed.  After a lovely, if sober, hike through Zumwalt’s Meadow we headed back up and out of the Canyon.  We both decided to go back to the lake to see if they had made any progress with the search.  It was sunset and the lake itself was the picture of tranquility.   All the swimmers and boats were gone.  A few ducks disturbed the glassy smooth surface.  Families and kids were strolling about on a perfect summer evening, the longest of the year.  A handful of emergency personnel milling around the snack bar were the only sign of what had happened.

Someone told my wife it took about an hour for divers to find the drowned young man.  We were glad that he had been recovered.  But while this idyllic summer scene was playing out all around us, somewhere in the Central Valley a family was coming to grips with the realization that their son would never return.  What was supposed to be a fun weekend jaunt to Lake Hume had turned to tragedy.  And on this Father’s Day, that young man’s dad would be experiencing a father’s worst nightmare.