Mr. President, please refrain from weighing in…

The continuation of this title is “Mr. President, please refrain from weighing in…
– if you do not know the facts;
– if your comments are more harmful than helpful;
– if what you are about to say is untruthful; or
– if you do not know what you are talking about.”

Being a narcisstic man who is in a position of leadership, he feels emboldened to opine on anything. Seemingly innocuous issues become contentious, as result. It truly wears me out.

Unfortunately, he does this with intent to find wedge issues to divide, but often he just cannot help himself. If he is talking or tweeting, most likely he is being untruthful, harmful or both.

This week proved to be no exception. Top of mind:

– he denied knowing a man who he appoInted as interim Attorney General, despite evidence that he routinely met with him because he did not like being briefed by Jeff Sessions;

– he had the White House release a doctored video prepared by Infowars to portray reporter Jim Acosta in a worse light;

– he criticized, by name, Republican Congress members who lost for not genuflecting enough to his greatness, trying to distract from the negative impact he has sown;

– he accused the states of Florida and Arizona of election fraud without supporting proof;

– he was hypercritical of three African-American reporters who asked questions he did not like, yet they were legitimate questions, as most are with this President.

These are only a few of this week’s statements. I have gravitated toward the word tumultuous, when thinking of this President. He is the walking embodiment of trying to hold mercury in your hands.

So, please Mr. President, do not feel the need to weigh in on so many issues. Especially, given the extended title in the first paragraph. I do not believe a word you say, anyway, as the odds are well in my favor not to do so.

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Monday, Monday Redux

Borrowing again from the classic song from The Mamas and the Papas, here are a few Monday musings.

Water from Hurricane Florence continues to plague eastern South Carolina and North Carolina. Rivers are cresting or just past cresting. If the water flooding was not bad enough, the water includes leakage and spills from coal-ash sites, hog-waste pools, chemical plants and maybe superfund sites. This will take a lot of time to remedy.

Kudos to negotiators of Canada, Mexico and the United States for renewing an updated version of NAFTA. The were able to make necessary improvements to the agreements gaining acceptable terms. While the US President is taking a victory lap, these negotiators had to overcome his significant negative influence to the process, which made the process longer and more difficult.

My heart goes out to the tsunami victims in Indonesia. We are such small parts of this vast planet and it reveals such from time to time. Washing away over a thousand people and counting is very troubling. These tsunamis have happened throughout history, but they seem to be more frequent and impactful with the higher sea levels. It is akin to the water coming in from a higher starting point. I am reminded of the recent story of the Cartaret Islands where its inhabitants had to petition a larger island to move to as the sea consumed their island.

Finally, it disturbs me that the Republican led US Senate and President are not taking the time to investigate the veracity of all the accusations of Brett Kavanaugh. This is a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. We need to make sure that a Justice is not guilty of sexual assault. This is the opinion of the American Bar Association. The defiance by the so-called leaders is both off-putting and puzzling. It means we should look deeper, not the opposite.

Have a great week. May the force be with you. Let me know your thoughts.

Questions for Campaigning Republican Legislators

Our diligent and thorough blogging friend, Gronda, wrote a post regarding answers to questions that Republican Party leadership provided GOP candidates. Most of the questions are of many of the messes the President finds himself in of his making, but truly miss the boat on where Republicans and the President have failed to address larger US and global issues.

There is plenty to ask about of these legislators. Here are a few of my questions:

– why are you allowing the easier maltreatment of our environment by industry?

– why are you supporting leaving the Paris Climate Change Accord ignoring the rest of the world?

– why have you failed to address our water concerns in Flint and similar places?

– why have you not only ignored our rapidly rising and expensive debt, but made it worse?

– why have you stood by and let the President trash and cut our diplomacy staff and bully our allies?

– why are we placing tariffs on everyone, without concern for past failures and ignoring better channels to address China involving our allies?

– why have you not listened to Americans and improve the ACA actually harming it instead?

– why have you not done anything to materially address gun governance?

– why have you allowed a President to trash our hard working people in important government departments to create an illusion of conspiracy to save his hind end?

– why have you tolerated a President who believes the civil rights of whites matter more than that of other races?

– why are we doing things to make our poverty problem worse, not better?

– why have we not addressed infrastructure with our significant needs and resulting job creation when interest rates were lower?

That is a start. These folks have a lot to answer to. To be frank, all Americans should be asking these questions, but if I were a young person, I would be even more alarmed. Just with climate change and growing debt, this party is screwing our youth.

But, there is so much more. I am an Independent voter who left the GOP over ten years ago because of their failure to speak to the truth on real problems – Trump has made it worse and his followers have been conned to believe the opposite.

Local conservative radio host changes label

Earlier this week, a local conservative radio host penned an editorial in The Charlotte Observer called “It’s time to change my label.” Keith Larson joined the ranks of other conservative voices in denouncing the President.

Before he cites his reasons, Larson paints a picture of what he believes. In short, he says his conservatism is grounded in “prudence and decency.” He goes on to say:

“There have been glaring holes in the gown of conservatism over the years, but the Trump Era has made it unwearable.

He has outspent Obama, continued costly and deadly deployments, threatened federal authority over states and cities, started trade wars with adversaries and allies, and attacked the Justice Department and FBI in ways Nixon never dreamed.

There has been a tax cut, Supreme Court pick, and talking up God. He knows how to pander.

Then there’s Stormy. Not merely the affair but the payoff. Not merely the payoff but the lying. And so many other women and lies.

This President has a habit of lying, and being a misogynistic slime ball and just plain toad. There is nothing prudent or decent about the man.”

These words speak for themselves. I cannot bring myself to disagree with any of his sentiments. He adds his voice to other national pundits with names like Erickson, Gerson, Will, Brooks, Peters, and Douthat.

I hope people heed his advice. America needs them to.