BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

the edge of a crisis?

    People heard what they wanted to hear in the Comey testimony. Vindication or condemnation! This is a locked culture, locked into hardened views with little or no room to reason or evolve. Minds are made up and people hear only what confirms.

     It is far more complex, demanding hard thinking and honest evaluation. What mattered most in the Comey hearing was what he said in closed session. Repeatedly he said he could not answer a specific inquiry in open session. I bristle at the idea the American public is not entitled to hear and know everything about its government. But a lifetime of reporting, including investigative work and covering issues of national security and intelligence, leads me to understand why some things are better out of public view, though I regret that. As a Chair of the intelligence oversight committee told me, "Some things don't look so good in the light of day..." So it is with investigation and legislative inquiry that seek to determine if there has been wrongdoing. 

     The substantive work will occur out of public view. There are critical matters to be resolved, no matter how inflamed may be the public, the partisans or the media. 

• The Russians Attacked the Presidential Election
• Did they affect or alter votes-no evidence of that yet but the probe deepens. Newly leaked data provides a new trail.
• Did members of the Trump organization collude with the Russians? Investigations continue.
• Why did so many of the Trump team have contact with Russian principals and intelligence officers?
• Did the Trump organization's contact with the Russians violate laws?
• Why did Trump people, including Kushner go around existing protocol to have contact?
• Did Trump know about the contacts?
• Has he lied about it?
• Why did Trump want the Russian investigation stopped?
• Was there obstruction of Justice?

      Perhaps you were struck by the same thought. In all of the Comey testimony and in the memos he wrote the president never asks about how serious was the Russian attack, or what we could do to make the nation safe from further invasions. Instead, he was interested only in himself and Comey's loyalty and his efforts to stop the probe. Let that sink in for a moment-the president, after an invasion of our electoral process sitting in private meetings with the director of the FBI expresses no concern about the attack? 

      Of course this is the same man who gave secret intelligence to Russians in the oval office the day after he fired Comey and slurred him and the FBI. 

 what do we tell the kids?

       Trump admitted on national television he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation. Whether that and what he said to Comey in private and perhaps other actions constitute an obstruction of justice is a work of legal determination. 
      It could be there was nothing any of the Trump people did with the Russians that is illegal, but to stop an investigation or interfere with it is illegal. With the Mueller inquiry and two Congressional investigations, determinations will be made, according to law. But despite how Trump's words maybe parsed or how legal minds decide, what Trump did and said is offensive, immoral and wrong. It is further evidence he is unfit and unqualified. What he said to Comey is evidence of a corrupt mind. (To reach this judgment I am putting more weight in the credibility of Comey than Trump. Only a fool would not. Their own records make that case.) 

turn it down

    Much of the media lead-in to the Comey hearing was  hyperbolic  and childish. But the biggest loser of the day was the Trump lawyer brought in from New York. Marc Kasowitz fell flat on his face when he tried to discredit Comey. Kasowitz was completely wrong on the timeline, blowing his big "gotcha."  Plus he misspelled the word president in his released statement. 
     Several law firms blew Trump off when he asked for help. He brought in one of his New York gang who has threatened to sue media sources who reported on earlier trump sexual assault allegations. The sleaze is never far from the nincompoop. 
      The Trump gang is on the ropes. And to mix metaphors- they may be hanging themselves.

my how time flies

     Some of you are readers of Oddball Observations written by the Catalyst aka Bruce Taylor. You may know he and Judy have recently completed a move to a new home. Well, here is that same couple with Lana and our eldest Kristin some 30-35 years ago. As Bruce laments how hard the move was on his ancient body-I want to remind him of the inner young dude who still exists in there. 

     Take it easy.  See you down the trail.

FOOLS

corrupt? stupid?

 both?

    The mob of fools who are the trump administration seem hell bent on being the nethermost boundary of incompetence in American history.

     One senses the gravity when the old war horse Charlie Rose asks, "do we face a constitutional crisis?" Constitutional crisis! The least qualified, least experienced and least fit president has done so much to unglue and desecrate two centuries of American tradition and history it is as though what parades before us is a perverse cartoon, with life altering impact. In 5 months he's brought us to the point where the Rose question is valid.

     Jefferson Sessions luckily escaped his racist past to get the job of Attorney General. In reading the power tea leaves he assessed his own involvement in the trump campaign and the chilly Russian winds and he recused himself from any involvement in any current or future investigation of the Russian invasion of American politics. That he did until he asked the president to fire the man who was directing this nation's investigation into the Russian intrigue. By calling for FBI Directory Comey's dismissal, Sessions may well have obstructed justice, complicit with the fool who is our likely illegitimate president. Yes, crisis is a good word. 

      This gaggle of swamp dwellers, aside from being colossal fools and would be tin horn dictators, are liars. They are liars of profound proclivity. And they act as though they can say they will recuse themselves and then foul the constitution by firing the FBI director or promise to release their taxes and never do so, etc. 
      You may debate Comey's role in the presidential election or his personality, but the man is due a modicum of respect if for no other reason than his position and his years of service. The manner of his firing is a disgrace and the sure sign of a coward. Donald Trump dissed not only the Director but all of the men and women of the FBI.

       

     This is gut check time for Republicans. Will they put party interests over that of the nation and let Trump snuff out the investigation into the Russian invasion of American politics? 
      It is time for an independent prosecutor or investigation.
      A dear friend of mine keeps asking, "Why aren't we rioting in the streets?"

behold the fava

      You may recall an earlier post on our bountiful fava bean crop. Here's the follow-up report.

     There are still a few beans left, but Lana harvested most of them.

       They are extraordinarily labor intensive. Getting them out of the outer shell is step 1

      Here is where fava fans begin to differ. I'm told Italian and English preference is to use the bean with the outer cellulose packaging. The French like to liberate the essential bean, and that means more work. We prefer the French method. The discarded inner husk is on the left. The free bean on the right.

    Hours later, the harvested, shucked, shelled beans are packaged for freezing. We have our favorite recipes, but that is for another post. 

      See you down the trail.

Around the Rock

textures and feel

     A fall afternoon around the iconic Morro Rock on the California central Coast.

      This shot from December 2014 shows the rock in context of Morro Bay, Cayucos and a few of the other "sisters-" those volcano plug peaks that spine the central coast.

coming soon

getting it done

      A shout out to the Cubs, finally!  Reared in Indiana one infuses a certain Cubness even if your favorite team is something else. Non fans suffer with friends who are loyal, so their win in game 7 was sweet.  It was an exciting, perhaps one of the most exciting World Series ever. And so we'll dispose of all that mumbo jumbo about a curse and a goat and all of that.  And since we are, may I suggest a new goat as a curse on all of the self righteous in the world. Please welcome the new goat, James Comey.

    See you down the trail.

The Effect

after 

      Mid Rain

     gauging it

       The net-.7 of an inch. The first rain of the new season.

    After these moments, clean air and lots of smiles on the central coast. Hopes for a good rainy season.

on killing Black men

    FBI Director James Comey hit the nail on the head. He said videos of police killing black men is driving a narrative; "biased police are killing black men at epidemic rates." Comey added "It's a narrative given force by the awesome power of human empathy."

     But Comey notes there is no way to know if the number of black, brown or white people being shot by police is "up, down or sideways over the last three, five or 10 years." There is no national data base or tracking of people killed by cops.

     This writer finds that inexcusable in this age of data and algorithmic analysis. The Associated Press reports the FBI is moving forward with plans to establish a national data base on police use of force. In the meantime I wonder why, as a gesture of public service, police departments don't post their own internal data on use of weapons, lethal and otherwise?

    See you down the trail