A couple of things that must be said....

 

        A few shots of local color and a couple of quick thoughts

        The US media needs to chill. They've been on a frenzy, doing their best to make hysteria about the budget default conversation. Most years it is almost always a political show, not so much showdown, but kabuki theatre.

        As they would of had us think we were about to fall into the default abyss, cooler heads and those who have seen it all before, tried to remind us it is always loud, noisy and accusatory, but it gets worked out.

        True the Republican Red hats are renegades bent only on breaking democracy, so the stakes were raised this time.

        

        But, and this is the second point, Joe Biden has been around and knew exactly how to play it. Once again he played the negotiate card.

        Biden's reliance on the old game of bipartisanship has scored one more win for Democracy in America and US citizens.

        His legislative record in the first two years surpasses most US Presidents. All of those years in the Senate instructed him that things happen when people meet, talk and and are willing to compromise.

        Biden allowed Kevin McCarthy to beat him up in the press, realizing Kevin's puppet strings have many masters including some genuine anti American kooks. Kevin could get his mean talk press clips but Joe kept them talking and making progress.

        Here's the thing, unless we all look like the critter above, the "got to have it my way or no way" boneheads in the Republican caucus and in the Democrat progressive caucus" must learn you rarely, if ever, get it your way. Everyone wins when everyone leaves something on the table. That is how it works, when it works and it is working better now than in generations. Score one for experience.

    

        An imported shot reminds us of what happens when autocrats, tyrants, authoritarians and anti democracy crowds take the controls

        Putins's "victory" in Bakhmut means what? 

        This is insanity captured in a photo. Putin is repeating in Ukraine what he and Assad did to Syria. 

        Democracy may be loud and messy and rancorous--maybe no one gets everything they want, but that is life. 

        This week Democracy, guided by a Democrat won. 

        Cheers!

        See you down the trail.

Around here...and as always....

Cambria court wash

        April rain is rare on the California central coast, not being an"April showers brings May flowers" kind of place. 

    Blooms begin in February, during the fall and winter rain season. The .7 from this storm put our rain for the year at a little over 16 inches. That's a decent total during a drought year. 

    During our time on Pineridge we've swung from 42 inches to as little as 8. The coastal weather is vulnerable to ocean influence, mountains, and a high atmosphere intrigue called a Pacific Decadal Oscillation. 

          A spring moon on Pineridge may have helped turn on a cactus. Its bloom was dazzling. 

        An Oyster mushroom is back for a third harvest. A kit, given as a Christmas gift produced a batch of mushrooms and a surprising second batch. Even more suprisingly number three volunteered itself.

        Lana's magic in the saute' pan was a fitting, even if a less beautiful disposition of the artful fungus. Delicious! 

         

        As we've begun to return to the more robust style of pre pandemic life, a lot of folks have begun to say they feel aged, or unsettled by the last 2 years. A piece of life was held hostage, and now we attempt to come again to what was before, but we and life itself have been changed by it. 

        The simple rhythm of life has the assurance of normal, while absurdities of the human fall menace from our screens.

     World leaders must task themselves to find a better way to prevent barbarism and aggression and to punish those who perpetrate it.

        American voters certainly are wise to the soulless and ripping attack to the constitutional heart of the American system by the gang of cowards, liars, low-life, hustlers and haters who have stolen or who remain as condonation in the republican party.

        Savoring the quiet life has distracted from the brutality of  war crimes and the attack on our democratic republic.

    

        In volunteer work this week I was fortunate to see lights of human decency. Our capacity to care, to serve and to be about common good is hopeful.

        I'm coming to understand a constant. 

        As we probe more deeply into our majority years, we come upon truths of life in personal and cosmic ways. It is ever so. 

        We see now our good old days were myopic. As old girls and boys we tread in times of war, regressive ideas, uncertainty and threat. They were never far away in our middle years, nor have they ever been in the rise of humanity.

        We are where those before us have been, wondering what is to become of humanity. 

       Life is always on a razor's edge. 

                   

             Always spring comes and hope is alive.

            And there is always dinner....

        Peace

        See you down the trail.

        

         

 

LIVING WITH PUTIN, OR NOT!

             Hoping to provide a least a momentary break by sharing images of where I've sought solace while ruminating about Putin and his evil and destructive arc. 

        Longtime readers may recall the December 2013 post "A Bullet for Putin?" It was another of the "tells" that I saw in his emerging philosophy and world view. He has been signaling his messianic intentions to change the world map and elevate himself to that of a czar and hero of the fatherland. 

        So how do we live in a world with Putin? How do we behave, upholding human civility and the sanctity of law, while a thug with no regard for life or territorial integrity invades and attacks, committing war crimes?

            To a straightforward mind it seems wrong not to be more aggressive and to intervene to stop the invasion and brutality. That has been the plea of the Ukrainian people and President Zelensky. However from the safety of not being bombed and invaded, the world's response has been to leverage war without escalating the violence, which could quickly lead to a World War. That is made more frightening by Putin's irrationality and his stance on nuclear weapons.

        The sanctions and diplomacy are important and have already begun to have a cratering impact on Russia. But if you are a Ukrainian it seems to be not enough.

        There are larger issues here. Putin must be stopped and must be made to pay a high price. If not, he will continue with his messianic vision and mad agenda. 

        If the west were to respond militarily, they could stop the invasion where it is and if inclined could seriously damage Russian military infrastructure. Punishing strikes on Russian bases might seem an effective response to such lawless and blatant aggression. But that takes the war to Russia and there would be dire consequences.

            The draconian sanctions are a way to degrade Russian power and perhaps force and incentivize the Russian military to stop Putin. 

        The Russian economy is in free fall. Increasingly Russia is being cut off from the world. The millions of Russian citizens are unwitting victims of Putin's war. He has moved the nation backwards. The war crimes being committed are being catalogued and investigated already. This will reach into the military and the bureaucracy. Sources in the West are communicating with sources in Russia with the objective of giving doubting Russians a path to depose Putin, or to circumvent his war plans.     

            That is the best hope, and it is only that. It may be that Russian citizens will be so hurt by a devastated and isolated "life as normal"  they will find a way, even in the face of arrest and jail for speaking against Putin and his war. There may be a common sense in the military command to reason that Putin is indeed mad, out of touch with the legacy impact of his actions and that he is just wrong. The only way forward for Putin is to pursue his own grandiose vision and the Generals know there are costs, and strategic disadvantages. Finally, most of them do not want to be tried for the war crimes. 

            When the Soviet Union collapsed it was Red Army Generals who made a secret trip to Washington to talk about the disposition of Soviet nuclear warheads on land, on submarines and on airplanes. Two heroic US Senators did what James Baker and George HW Bush did not, that was to meet with the Generals and to begin the process to secure the old Soviet war heads. 

            Republican Dick Lugar and Democrat Sam Nunn put themselves at risk by traveling, negotiating and working with former Soviet commanders to keep the war heads safe, off the black market and secure. It began as an emergency appropriation, became the Nunn-Lugar Act and eventually the Cooperative Threat Reduction program.

            Russian military leadership called a halt to the Russo Japanese conflict in 1905. Again in 1917 the Russian military just quit fighting, tried of World War I. US and Russian counterparts have communicated periodically in the last half of the 20th Century and in the 21st. Military leaders understand the risk of modern warfare to the future of life on the planet.

            The first KGB officer to rule was Yuri Andropov in the 1980's. It was during this reign that planning to stage and survive a nuclear exchange was undertaken. Even though Andropov increased military spending, creating hardship in his economy to lavish the Generals, it was the military who began to reach out the west to alert the world to how "hair trigger" the nuclear game had become. The Russian military and the KGB have different world views. 

        I expect as the war crimes and the brutality of the unprovoked war continue there will increasing debate in the west, among NATO and in the US about upping our response, getting more militarily involved. 

        There is truth in the historic comparisons and questions about "what if" Hitler's early invasions and lunatic aspirations were stopped. If Putin is able to succeed in changing the map, or even survive, he will be empowered and emboldened. In my view, there is no place in the modern world for people like Putin, other than in prison or dead and used as an example. 

        

        Putin is a demonstration of why there are alliances, why NATO is important. He is an example of why democracy is essential and why authoritarians are dangerous and should be permitted only in ancient history. 

        A final thought for now. As we watch history made be careful of what you see in public opinion polls. The media ballyhoos them. 

        They are positioned as an entre' into the public mind or a validation or repudiation of a policy or statement. After several decades in journalism I've come to think there is too much emphasis on the "take" or meaning of the polls. 

        Some questions surpass public knowledge or understanding. The polls only compound false assumptions or  misrepresentation. Too many people react based on emotion and feeling instead of facts or critical reasoning. Too many people are in their own confirming information silos and do not have a complete or broad understanding.  

        A terrible use is to pose a simplistic question like "Should the US use military force to support Ukraine?" or "Should the US do more...." Yes public policy needs public acceptance, but asking an increasingly ill informed, even misinformed social media fed public is as useful as me asking the shelled denizens of the tidal pool, can I walk on water. 

        BTW there is a self portrait of sorts in the first frame.

        Nothing is a simple as some will try to make you think it is. Nothing is more difficult than watching innocents suffer, unless it is finding a way to end the violence.

        I hope a truce can be struck, and that combatants will be separated by a UN resolution. The negotiations that I hope will come will be a challenge. It will be difficult for Putin to accept anything less than some gain, and in my view that is too much.

        Modern history tells us tyrants and power mad men like Putin need to be cut down, earlier rather than later. But it has to be done properly. 

        We are in a brutal time. We can counter a bit by our humane support for Ukrainians, those who are left behind, and those who seek refuge. Everyone can do something. 

        Remember to unplug occasionally, breath deeply and de-stress.

        Peace!  

        See you down the trail. 

        

    

WAR-The Mindset-The Risks

 

Nine Minutes Past Mid Night

brutality rising

    Human kind may be passing into a savage age. Markers are apparent; life upended by a virus, patterns of vicious and freak weather, social disorder, decline of civility, political degradation and now Russia's mad war of aggression in Europe. Any one is threatening, all of them could drag us out of the peaceful world our generations have enjoyed since the end of the second World War.

        We have lived in a rare interval of peace and well being in the span of a human history full of misery, suffering, darkness and brutality. 

        Within hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine I sat in a briefing with six of the world's preeminent intelligence and security officers for a hard nosed assessment of where the new war finds us and what risks are ahead.

        The recent historic antecedent is Sudetenland in the late 30's. This is not about Ukraine and NATO, it is a manifestation of the Putin doctrine. It is an historic breaking of international law and rules, driven by man with a messianic complex who strives to change history to his shaping, remaking the map of Russia.

        The analysis from men who led Britain's MI 6, CIA, Canada's Security Intelligence Service, the British Foreign Office, and Homeland Security says Western response has been strong and united, but it will be tested by challenges, primarily economic costs. Western leadership is compromised by internal political division in the US, new leadership in Germany, Johnson's weak credibility in Britain, impatient domestic response and certitude. Taiwan looms over how this is resolved and they say it is likely to be a long process. 

        The invasion is a game changer, a disregard for law and is a piece of the rising authoritarian mindset that tramples, and seeks to destroy democratic structures and the rule of law and civil order. 

        There is a sense Putin is in an isolated state of mind as he demonstrates a messiah complex. He is in a dangerous state. He reads the West as being in a state of decay. The security veterans agree Putin must pay a heavy cost.

        The former senior CIA officer said we need to buckle up for a long ride, saying Putin's goals are beyond Ukraine, wanting to build the "Great Russia." Putin thinks "he can out suffer us, out last us and divide us."

        One of the men said we need to learn to deal with assertive and regressive leaders, that Putin is not alone. 

        They say this is an historic fight that can shape how succeeding generations will live, the degree to which law has value and meaning. Citizens should be informed of what is at risk and the cost. The costs will not be equally distributed. Gas and food costs will feed inflation in the US and elsewhere. 

        They warn of a possible spill over affect, perhaps by something as simple as a mistake. If any NATO nation is violated by cyber or military action, they say NATO must hit back with severity. 

fog in the valley, stars and moon 

        Repeatedly China was discussed. China will measure how resolved and lasting is the western response. Xi Jinping too thinks the West, especially the US is in decline and decay. He will calculate how we might respond to moves on Taiwan.

      They were quick to note the Russia-China alliance is not like the old Axis alliance of WWII. They say while China watches closely and shares a brutal resolve with Russia, it doesn't know how to be an ally. They will not make sacrifices for Russia. China will respect Putin as long as he does not get in the way or affect their agendas. 

        The China Belts and Roads initiative runs through the area of the conflict and neighboring nations. 

    

        Moments like this remind us of the interconnectedness of human endeavor and thought. In these closing paragraphs I seek to interpret the stark and hard-nosed assessment of men with years of real world knowledge, unknown to the majorities of the world.

        America has lost its way and is no longer the power that emerged from the end of WWII.

        How might this moment exist if Trump had not been subservient and a sycophant to Putin, taking Putin's word over the wisdom of his own national security apparatus?

        How might this moment look if Republicans had spotted in Trump the same authoritarian and reckless disregard for law and protocol as we see in Putin?

        How might this moment look if the Republican party stood up against the January 6th insurrection and all of the Trump effort to undermine an election and then attempt to overthrow the results? That was an invasion of our own sovereignty and dignity. And it followed the invasion of Putin's doctrine in our culture and politics.

        It is no wonder Putin and Xi look at us as in decay, and weak.

        The behavior of some elected office holders has been in my thinking traitorous. If I had my way they would be tried and if convicted they should be shot.

        I put in that number Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy.  I will not dignify what they have said but they have worked to undermine the US and the Western response to Putin's violation of international law. They are a pack of jackals in alliance with a Pariah.

       One of the British intelligence officers and a former Senior CIA officer said emphatically the Russian people must be made to pay, despite the pleas not to hurt the people because of Putin. The veteran's logic is, as long as their leader behaves as an international outlaw and Pariah, they too are culpable. They suggested yanking all Russian tourism visas, expelling Russians from international associations and sporting competitions, hitting them financially until they as a nation depose Putin or prevail at insisting the nation stop its illegal aggression.

    Until the US destroys the Republican Fifth Column we will indeed be weakened and it will encourage tyrants and assertive leaders such as Putin. Fox News personalities are amongst the anti American lobby and they have poisoned the minds of millions.

    Sad to say it, but those millions who think Trump won an election, or who elect fools like those named above, are also traitors to this nation and have contributed to the emboldening of a dictator. 

    Most of us have not lived through an event that is so precipitous. The best way forward is to adhere to principles of Westphalian Sovereignty, to listen to wisdom and experience, to remain true to our constitutional principles, think of the well being of all, reject emotion, propaganda and lies

and to be resolute and willing to pay the costs. To turn Putin on his own words, we must "out suffer, out last" him and not allow him to divide us any further.  It may take us into a brutal world, but we cannot relinquish our humanity or intelligence nor our will to prevail. 

   Stay strong.

   See you down the trail. 

The Demise

         There's a chop out there. Tough days in the newsroom, especially at CNN. Testing time on the diplomatic front. And I'm going to violate one of my mother's rules of conduct.

        Mom would often say, "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." But I can't ignore Jeff Zucker or Vladimir Putin. 

        From my view, they've been exposed, seen through and both have been up to no good. 

        They're dark agents and we deal with their legacy.

        I don't know Zucker though our paths crossed many times as we treaded the news and journalism events over the years.

        Zucker got respect for his early work at NBC bringing the Today Show to a new era. I worked 15 years at an NBC affiliate, was in and out of New York at NBC events or with the NBC crews in the field and we shared moments of history. 

        I followed his career track but when he got to CNN my opinion of his professional decisions tanked. Zucker turned CNN from a 24/7 News Network into a news and personality heavy yack format.

        Viewer interest in broadcast news rises and falls based on any number of variables, but substituting personality for reporting or investigative work and documentaries changed the nature of the network. Zucker was more about ratings and the bottom line than the public's need to know.

        

        The darker cloud over his now tarnished reputation was his fawning and irresponsible devotion to Trump. 

        Under Zucker's command CNN  gave then long shot and unlikely candidate Trump millions of dollars of free airtime during the Republican Primary. CNN's deplorable judgement  put on a countdown clock ticking away until the next Trump appearance. Never had a candidate been singled out for the spot light and free air time. No candidate ever was so propped up. No candidate was ever as undeserving.

        Zucker tossed out balance in news policy and philosophy to pander and let an infantile and crude hustler trash the sober Republican party, and infect the American political system with a rotting disease from which we still suffer. Zucker alone among all credible news group executives aided and abetted.

        I care less about Zucker's personal life. There are questions about his professional judgment and CNN is in a crisis. His damaging influence on news broadcasting is a greater offense. It is, however, another example of how self indulgent some in the information business are and how out of touch they are from the working and struggling audience and citizens.

       

        One has to wonder if Putin's campaign of interference, undermining and collusion would have happened without the  media shine on the narcissist stooge.

        In a December 9, 2013 post I referred to Putin as being a taker. The world watches as his motive and intent have been revealed and counter played by the US and allies. Thus far President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Security Advisor Sullivan, NATO, and European leaders Macron and Scholz have been more than a match for the little Russian. But Putin is old school KGB, steely and immune to public opinion. 

        The table of options of response to an invasion are wide.

Putin is counting on a moronic partisan strife in Washington. We once enjoyed the adage that politics stops at the water's edge. That was before Jeff Zucker and Donald Trump.

        Stay safe and stay tuned. 

        See you down the trail.

        

          

WHEN TRUTH IS ON THE WIND

    Fixated on a kite in the breeze we can often forget about the person pulling the strings, down below.

     It's like a puppet master. Maybe it's a bit like Washington. While we are rightly fixated on the Russian intrigues look what's happening over here-in the House.

    Perhaps you have seen a list of House Resolutions that have been introduced-reminding you in the process that Republicans who introduced these pieces of legislation, control the House, Senate and White House.

     There are bills to :

• terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
• terminate the Department of Education
• defund Planned Parenthood 
• criminalize abortion
• provide vouchers for public education
• repeal the Affordable Care Act
• National Right to Work Law-getting rid of unions
• mobilize against sanctuary cities
• repeal wildlife protection

    At the risk of being pedantic, it's like this--

  teaching a child to never turn their back on the ocean-you just never know.

  circus trumpus!

   One of the great headlines about Attorney General Jefferson Sessions

 IF SESSIONS HAD NOTHING TO HIDE THEN 

WHY DID HE HIDE IT?

     I'm curious to know why he lied, under oath? I also want to know what his fellow Senators are going to do about it?

      If a Democrat would have done this, Fox News, Republicans and Conservatives would all be in a cardiac wing or cleaning their brains off the stratosphere. That's only a toe in this swamp.

how this administration resembles 
a trash dumpster

• Russians hacked and intruded into the American electoral system
• The web of contacts of the Trump administration with the Russian government of Putin is both weird and wide
• Trump expresses fondness of Putin, has done business with Russians and is opposed to justified sanctions against the Russians
• The President, his former national security advisor, attorney general, former campaign manager, son-in-law adviser and others have all demonstrated an inability to tell the truth about their Russian connections
• The President ordered a raid in Yemen despite intelligence it was not a good idea 
• When the raid ended in the death of an American and the loss of expensive equipment he called it a success
• When the military and intelligence said the raid failed to get good intelligence Trump blamed the Generals
• Every President has always accepted blame for a failed operation except Trump
• Reich minister Bannon is at war with Secretary of State Tillerson and the Trump children/advisers Ivanka and Kushner
• Completely without documentation Trump says his phones were tapped by the Obama administration

russia house

   There are many things to know about the Russian-Trump connection. Investigations are underway and this scandal in the new administration will not go away. Will it bring down this regime? Too early to know. But in the short run Americans deserve to know why all the contact and what were they talking about? 

     Why did the Trump organization have so many contacts with the Russians? It is without precedent-but everything about this gang of ideologues, amateurs, egoists, nationalists and white supremacists is without precedent. 

     Diverting attention and shouting lies, as they have and will do, won't stop the  professionals who are digging deeply into the Trump-Putin love fest. 

     There's never been an administration so troubled and scandal ridden, even before the boxes are unpacked.

republican ethic/morality

    Americans are waiting for more Republicans to acknowledge the President and his team are either corrupt, morons, or both but who got lucky with unhappy people and with those who truly are deplorable. 

    The trumpistas have already begun to screw the unhappy Americans, but Republicans could build an infrastructure and jobs creation program and do those people, and themselves, some good. They could, if they wished to. 
    There seems nothing to do with the true deplorables except to send them back to their racist, bigoted undrained swamps or they could take that group of haters and make them a brigade to send to Syria.

    In the meantime Rand Paul almost gets arrested for demanding that fellow republicans show him a copy of the so called new health care plan. Surely they have one. How many hundred times did House Republicans try to overturn the ACA? 

    So while the President is demonstrating ways he can be a maniac his party is starting to bludgeon itself and stumble over opportunity to do something except take pot shots. A couple of Senators have shown an interest in taking on the crazy Trump. 
    The House is another matter. Paul Ryan is looking for a spine. Maybe the far right wing can get their bearings by opening another Benghazi probe. Or go after Hillary's e-mails again. Or just maybe they could show a little of that vitriol and vigor by investigating the failed Yemen raid, or the Russian hack of the election or the lying Attorney General, or Mike Pence's Hillary disease-the e-mail indiscretions when he was governor, or the GOP could go after the lying...well you get the point....

trump land the movie

    I hope we all live long enough to see the movie and to read the books about this era. Can't you just imagine how writers and historians will play this. 

   Maybe in a movie those of you who voted for Trump will be able to find a good support group to help you get over it. Yes, you were fed up or ignored or unhappy but look what you did. It's like a "last call romance." You were in a bar for too long had too much to drink, and went home with someone only to wake up the next morning in a junk yard bed sleeping with rats and a goat. Your clothes were gone except your Make America Great Again shirt, that had been translated into Russian.

     By the way Republicans, you still have time to save your own reputations for the books, movies and real history. Mitch McConnell, even you could be admired if maybe you could convince the Donald to take you by the hand and just dance off the top of the Washington monument. Now is that a movie ending? Poor taste? How can you tell anymore? 

   See you down the trail.

For the Birds- Wrong Words-and New Trump Therapy

    As we learn, life is a series of trade offs.

     Drought ending soakings may lead to slides, closings and road collapses.

 (Santa Rosa Creek Rd-Cambria down to one lane here-washed out further east)

There is flooding, downed trees and leaks, but as the water tables rise we see new sights.

     The Egret population swelled as creeks have become ponds...

       Gulls seem in perpetual frenzy in wind whipped waves and over flowing stream entry to the Pacific...

    Some days it's easy to say life is for the birds

and some days are for anger management

   
     Before we go any further history calls on "enemy of the people."
    The Roman Senate called emperor Nero an enemy of the public in 68AD. That is probably its first use. It has a sinister and bloody history.
     Maximilien Robespierre, a leader in the French Reign of Terror (think A Tale of Two Cities) said the enemy of the people is "owed nothing but death." That was in 1795.
     Vladimir Lenin used the phrase in 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the founding of the Communist Party. He paid tribute to Robespierre who engineered a radical "purification" of politics by killing enemies. 
      Stalin and Hitler used the phrase in persecuting and killing their enemies.
      Chinese Communist leader Mao used the term in identifying those he sought to eliminate. 
      More recently the term has been used by thug dictators and strongmen in repressive regimes and governments. No one with integrity uses the phrase, no one you can trust.
      It has become Donald Trump's new favorite.
      Classless or clueless? Deplorable in either case. A warning?
      
                                political karma

     Ponder now a bit of an ethical conundrum. There are some, many probably, who were not so much for anyone as seriously opposed to someone for reasons that have become obvious.

    Presently they are challenged not to say, "We told you so." It is also in poor taste to take delight in seeing this administration, explode, implode or self destruct while the bossman looks so untethered from reality as to almost earn pity were it not for the cockiness. He's got the bravado of an eighth grade drop out bully who became the insufferable bar room drunk.
    It is probably not noble to take pleasure in knowing how absolutely miserable he must be-being vilified, a laughing stock in the eyes of the world, as his approval ratings plummet to historic lows for a new POTUS. Hard times for a man of his immense ego, obsessing as he does about ratings. Don't you imagine it is crushing when his lies are challenged by reporters bearing facts-not the alternative kind-on live television. Do you think he believes himself?
     He's probably never been in a situation where an underling says "sorry boss, that's not so" or "no that wasn't just wonderful, it bombed!"  Old Washington hand Ed Rollins says that's what he needs--someone to say "your wrong...that's not true..."  Rollins, who worked with Reagan and Bush, said he had hopes for Trump. Scandal, firings, rejections, investigations, leaks from his own staff, the national security and intelligence community refusing to fully brief him and calling him unfit have created a rumpus that could signal the beginning of a crisis of government. 
      The world community doesn't know what to make of it, wondering if America has lost its mind, how did that amateur take over? Putin is said to be pleased. After rigging the election he sees America distracted and loosing confidence in it's leadership. That gives him room and opportunity.
     The investigations are needed to understand and clarify the nature of the Trump relationship with the Russian intrusion. 
     While it may be poetic justice, seeing people being chewed up by their own incompetence, it is also worrisome because he's still in charge. His attack on the media-"the enemy of the people" truly is straight out of the playbook of dictators. It was also the first stage of rolling back a free press and empowering "State Media"  by a thug named Putin. Hmmmm! 
      But for the time being it's a bit like seeing that loud mouth bully get his clock cleaned.
     

     As we've been noting---uncertain times and terrain.

    See you down the trail.