Come Heller high water …
- Before I begin, let me just say this about today’s Donkey Hotey portrayal of a naked Trump on a wrecking ball: “Eyeww.” There are things you can’t unsee in life. That’s one of them.
- Now, can you imagine this headline: “FBI investigates possibility that FDR is working for the Soviets.” Or: “Is Jefferson Davis calling the shots for Lincoln?” Of course you can’t. Because the very idea is absurd. And if one of those headlines had appeared, there would have been pitchforks and torches outside the White
House. So how come people today seem to be shrugging off the New York Times story about the FBI being so concerned that Trump was working for – not just colluding with – Putin that they launched an investigation into it? I just don’t get this country anymore. Are we that numb? Bob Mueller, our nation turns its desperate eyes to you. You appear to be our last hope. - If I’m 2019, I’d be feeling pretty cocky right about now. 2018 was so bad on so many fronts – politics, journalism, human rights, environment, climate change, weather, stocks, Michigan sports, pop culture (here I’m specifically thinking of Snoop Dogg totally ruining Joker’s Wild, one of my favorite game shows from back in the day, and the fact that Anderson Cooper continues to embarrass himself and CNN with a New Year’s Eve show) etc. – that 2019 can flat-out suck and still seem like a vast improvement.
- Sorry. Scratch all that. The lovely yet formidable Marcia, who gets tired of all my grousing, just reminded me (via a cuff upside the head) that my New Year’s resolution was to be more “positive” and “upbeat” this year and less sarcastic. So let me rephrase that last sentence: I’m “positive” 2019 is going to be better than 2018. Which totally sucked! (An exclamation point makes it upbeat, right?)
- I’m not making any other resolutions this year. But I did take part in my #3words, which is a Twitter thing where you pick three words to serve as personal guideposts for the year. Mine are “Habits matter, dummy.” I need the reminder since I’m not terribly disciplined. So developing the habits of regular exercise, better eating, stretching, mindfulness, and thinking bigger are important. How about you?
- Does any politician ever mean it when he/she says, “We need to reach across the aisle and learn to compromise”? Maybe in the past but not today. Today, if a politician reaches across the aisle it’s to throttle an opponent.
- By the way, I know it’s hard to believe but politics is actually a lot more polite and genteel these days compared to almost any time in American history. For instance, in 1856 a Congressman named Preston Brooks savagely beat Sen. Charles Sumner with a cane over Sumner’s opposition to slavery. Afterward, Brooks was unapologetic: “Every lick went where I intended. For about the first five of six licks he offered to make flight but I plied him so rapidly that he did not touch me. Towards the last he bellowed like a calf.” Pelosi and Mitch McConnell don’t like each other much but it’s hard to see something like that happening, right?
- You didn’t ask but here are my predictions for Detroit’s pro sports teams: Tigers (worst team in baseball – they’re so bad, in fact, that the entire franchise is demoted to AAA); Lions (win the division, followed immediately by squadrons of flying pigs burying Michigan cities in poo); Pistons (trade away Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond and begin another rebuild); Red Wings (miss the playoffs). By the way, I’m never wrong about these things.
- Has anyone noticed that gas prices have been so relatively low for so long since they spiked to $4 a gallon in 2008-2009 that no one is really noticing that a gallon is now below two bucks? You know what that means, right? OPEC is about to suddenly have a shortage. You watch.
- Speaking of those loathsome years, I figure whether we have another stock market collapse and recession, despite the strong economy, is going to hinge in part on whether people with 401ks feel like Wall Street is going to do to them in 2019 what they did to them in 2009. I know I’m nervous about that and ready to put everything in my retirement account into money market funds. And if I’m feeling that way, others are, too.
- “Unpacking” is a word I’m hearing a lot on shows featuring political babble, as in “There’s a lot to unpack in Trump’s latest tweet.” Silly me. Here I thought you unpacked suitcases.
- “The four most dangerous words in investing are: “This time it’s different.” – Sir John Templeton.
Image credit: Donkey Hotey.
Someone said something like, “If you aren’t outraged you aren’t paying attention.” The new “normal” is that things that should be unexceptable are now not only acceptable but are encouraged and supported. This has been a downhill slide for awhile but Trump has taken it to a whole new level (depth). I really think our only hope is the Mueller Investigation.
The reason there is so little outrage about the recent Times’ revelation is that this behavior is expected of Trump. There was nothing shocking about it. We know we have a criminal and a traitor in the White House. Even his supporters know. They just don’t care, because their hatred for Democrats and liberals defines their priorities.
I read this line on WAPO this morning that I think perfectly sums up Trump’s presidency; “Trump is his base’s president, not America’s president.”
One of my conservative friends said “You Liberals just don’t get it. We don’t care about his morals, we don’t care if he lies, we don’t care if he insults foreign leaders, because they’ve been taking advantage of us for years and we don’t need them. We elected him because he said he was going to right this ship and turn this country around and that’s what he’s doing” How do you argue with that.
So we are supposed to go backwards??? That’s what I would ask.
Two columns in a week, thank you!
My farewell to 2018 is this: It usually ends up as a thankless job. I know you tried to be a good year, but it’s the people who always screw it up.
My three words are these: Think, Do, Positive! These are not new. I try to do them all the time. But now that they are written down in your column, I feel more compelled than ever to do them.
Words: I have had enough of “Unpack” from almost every teacher/speaker I have heard.
“Paradigm shift”: I will never get over that one.
“Redact and recuse” : no real reason, except that they are redact and recuse.
I think Pelosi could take McConnell. The guy kinda looks like a wuss!
I wish I could unsee Trump fully clothed.
I would teach Nancy some self defense moves that would leave Mitch bent over and asking for mercy.
A Senate Majority Leader who refuses to let the Senate do its job, because “he doesn’t think the president would like it” and then lands a position in the administration for a SECOND family member, makes the whole government scenario pretty scary. Either that explains why he’s sucking up to Trump, or he’s afraid that if the Senate is allowed to do what they were elected to do and vote, it would prove that the Republicans in the Senate no longer support the president. We no longer have three parts in our government, we no longer have checks and balances.
This morning’s “talking heads” are saying the Mueller report is not going to reveal anything shocking. There goes the last hope of any sanity returning to our government. The President has too much power for one person. When that power was given it assumed that a rational, patriot would be in that office. Not the fact today. The patient is running the asylum. He must be throttled or removed.
The thing with “talking heads” is that they don’t know, they speculate. The only things any of us have heard from Mueller is through his Court filings and indictments. I will wait to see what Muller says when he says it.
The Mueller Report will probably reveal what most of us suspected or knew, that there was collusion, and there was obstruction of justice. Then the Senate will refuse to act on the report, and his base will say “it isn’t true”, or “we don’t care”. And the country will be more divided than before.
I feel Andy Heller and many of you liberal posters will fail to understand reality for years to come. You are so consumed by your hatred for President Trump and Republicans that you have nothing left. You are just bitter, balls of hate. You believed the liberal media when they told you Hillary Clinton was absolutely going to be elected President in late 2016. Those of us on the conservative side have fully known for decades that the liberal media are lying bastards so we did not accept their talking points.
I doubt sincerely that Andy or any of you liberals are capable of positivity, true happiness or a good outlook. Your sexual fetish with the bogus Mueller fiasco is what you consider “positivity”. You are very sick and dimented.
Wallow in your putrid hate. Believe every BS conspiracy story the lying, liberal media tells. Get even more negative in the future.
It’s all you have. You are incapable of truth, positivity or progress.
I have no doubt that you know all about hate.
****
Abner Devereaux says
January 6, 2019 at 11:13 am
I now understand the Democrat stance on everything. I will never compromise with them on anything. They are deranged, violent, cultists. Democrats are basically terrorists that have absolutely no limits on their hatred. In order to even survive, conservatives must destroy Democrats in every way, at every opportunity.
You have brought this upon yourselves. May your pain be epic and lifelong from this battle.
*****
Good response Fred. I was just going to tell him he’s full of shit, but your response was better.
I am very positive about our national move to more domestic crude oil output. We are moving away from foreign dependence and towards full, self supply. Not only is the USA a net exporter of crude oil under the Trump administration but we are enjoying lower gas prices! I am very happy that the President understands the importance of domestic oil production.
Do you think we could see $1.50/gallon some time in 2019? It would be AWESOME!
Isn’t strange that Trump has been asked, “Have you ever worked FOR the Russians?” and the question should have been, “Have you ever worked WITH the Russians?” He may truthfully say yes to the first, but not the second.
Question on Gov. Shutdown: These people are not getting paid, but they probably will get back-pay. However? Are they still covered under their health plans? Are the Feds still paying their health care premiums? This could be a gigantic deal.
I am trying to find out: My friend Ron is on furlough from the IRS. I just emailed to ask him about his health insurance. When he responds, I will let you know.