DUCK AND COVER

     A smackdown is coming. The overwhelming lack of public support versus the heavy handed nature of the Trump cabal sets a collision course. We'll get to that after visiting a ghost  conjured recently by yet another dust up--the clash of the man child leader of North Korea and his American equal. 

        It happened at the height of the cold war on an afternoon in an old classroom in Garfield Elementary School in Muncie Indiana.

        Third grade teacher Mrs. Rogers signaled yet another "duck and cover" drill. We'd seen film strips, movies, heard a Civil Defense presentation and certainly had our fill of posters. Atomic bomb mushroom clouds. Horrible, ominous dark rising swells of hell in the shape of a mushroom. Mushroom clouds were big in those days. If you had a TV set you'd see Civil Defense warning announcements. You'd see no end to mushroom cloud explosions at the movies and in those incessant films they played in the grade schools. 

      Seeing the test footage clips of houses, dummies, cars and buildings suddenly obliterated in fireballs and fiery wind storms we had a pretty good idea of what the "A" bomb could do. Some of us had mushroom cloud nightmares. That meant the campaign was working of course. The remedy? Duck and cover. 

      We would frequently interrupt the sacred process of a third grade education to learn to "save ourselves" by ducking under our desks-the old wooden variety complete with an inkwell, and covering our head. No random manner of covering allowed. No indeed, there was a proscribed technique of covering the back of your neck and head while essentially kissing your ass-good by. At least that's how I read it, as a third grader.

      It was the first time I was called incorrigible. Mrs. Rogers singled me out, told me I was a bad influence, that I was risking the lives of my Garfield third grade classmates. Why-because I refused to duck and cover.  It wasn't just rebellion. It came with reasoning that I tried to explain. 

      After seeing those army test houses vaporized and blown to smithereens complete with flying glass, furniture and telephone poles, I simply tried to make my case that ducking under our desks would do no good. Instead of miraculously saving our lives, permitting us to climb out of the ashes of a nuclear armageddon so we could go on with a reading lesson, we would just be vaporized or burned to a crisp while cowering under a desk in some unholy body twist.  

      You know, a third grade kid just doesn't get a fair shot in the world of adult logic. Mrs. Rogers was having none of it and I was as insistent about the futile stupidity of thinking we could save our lives in an atomic bomb blast by ducking and covering.  Incorrigible? Yea, maybe. Insistent certainly and an early adapter in reading the bull shit of adults. 

       How about a bouquet to the incorrigibles of Garfield elementary school! Charlotte, Connie, Benny and Tommy seemed to get on board with the logic. It's pretty much a haze now, but I can't remember doing those crazy duck and cover drills when we began to talk to our parents who, like most in those days, thought the PTA or PTO was an organization that had influence. I think they began to back off on some of the A-Bomb mushroom cloud propaganda as well. Too many kids were having bad dreams, or belly aches and the like. 

life below trump tower

      Those days of nuclear worry aren't so distant for those who live on the west coast since a strange little north Korean tin god has been trying to join the nuclear club and since our orange bully has threatened to take care of Kim Jung Un if he tries to threaten the US or makes into the nuke club.

      Intellectual weaklings, emotional children with war clubs-that's what we have. 

      Some, including a few from my decades in journalism have asked why after years of neutrality and trying to be objective have I been so nasty about the president. The answer is simple-I'm a civilian now and while that simply frees me to express an opinion it is in fact the sheer lack of competence and character of the president that compels me. Not in my life has such a jack ass achieved such influence. It is tragic because the majority of Americans rejected the buffoon, his tasteless noveau riche opulence and his despicable character. There should be a law that a minority president cannot reverse majority policy nor take to redefining how Americans conduct diplomacy. 

behaving like a dictator

    More than a handful of groups are going after the lout in chief for his boast he will not release records of who visits the White House. The man who said he was going to drain the swamp is now planning to end transparency. The previous President posted daily logs of visitors. Failure to do so undermines our laws and it shows he does not want to be accountable. Refusing to report to his employers, the American tax payer, who visits our White House is the trick of a dictator as is his broken promise to show his tax returns. What's he trying to hide?

     So to those who have wondered, I never thought I would be disrespectful to a President. Never did I think I would call the commander in chief a fool, idiot, lout, predator, liar, cheat, con man, hustler, sexual molester, narcissist or Russian stooge, but then I never thought America would stoop to such lows either. This president is a disgrace.

     Here's to the day we can climb out of the trump latrine.

important history

     The Zookeeper's Wife is an extraordinary film. It's historical sweep, passionately told and powerful story and superb acting make it a must see. Jessica Chastain is one of the best actresses working. Daniel Bruhl also deserves raves as do the animals and their trainers. And we must never forget this story or that larger event in history.  There was a time I thought such a thing could never happen again. I'm not so sure anymore.

     See you down the trail.

POWER AGAINST THE CURRENT

   San Simeon Cove, CA

   Sometimes we move against great force. It must be part of our nature. Cause, purpose, even folly motivate or drive us.

      Lampton Cliff Cambria CA

   Some have reached a kind of TED talk time of life, a point where you actually know something and have something to offer but the expiration date on who cares is speeding and the audience is onto something new. It seems wisdom and reflection count for less.

the tech addiction

    The intuitive part of the human machine hums a need to integrate, calibrate, make sense instead of a dash, made madly into the next disruption. But that very phone you may be reading this on is rewiring your brain.
     CBS's 60 Minutes explored phone addiction and reports the phone is a "drug of choice" for many. Tristan Harris a former product manager at Google laid out the premise in a report the tech industry found fascinating but, like the tobacco industry with medical reports, has done nothing correctively.
      A fellow who studied neuroscience, Ramsay Brown, a co founder of Dopamine Labs explained how they write code for apps and programs that manipulate your brain to respond in specific ways. More than just a tool, our screens are programming our behavior. 

disruption politics

      The president's short attention span and his penchant for changing the subject is a disturbing though accurate symbol/poster of what can happen, indeed what is happening to the American mind.

      Absorption into celebrity, low information, high emotion, no knowledge or appreciation of history, the inability to reason with complexity combine with quick, mindless responses. That not only nails the lout who sits in the White House but the direction we seem headed as we move more deeply into our technological metamorphosis. 

      Unless it is big, flashy, is "trending" or has an alarm tone or buzz, we are missing things.

china?

     Are you among the surprised and curious about the China Summit. It all seemed to disappear when the order to launch a missile strike against Syria came from firebase Maralago. Breaking news and distraction over substance and detail.

      The administration has no consistent foreign policy and is preciously short on expertise. That's why experienced hands were surprised by a summit so early in what has been a chaotic administration. Another evidence of the change the subject/short attention span syndrome of the orange throne. 

      The Bottom Line? The Chinese President Xi Jinping was offended by the break in protocol when the Syrian missile launch intruded on the summit. The Chinese are big on a protocol, but it's possible no one on the Trump team knew that. (There was no imperative on the time of the missile response, just an impulsive act.)

      In another failure there was no deal on North Korea. But the biggest news is that talk tough trumpster got no where on the trade issue or the currency manipulation. In fact insiders say he will break his oft stated campaign promise to label China a currency manipulator. Real art of the deal success eh? More show and no substance. More lies.

paying attention

       As our intrepid big surf swimmers were watching the wall of water they missed the gull who buzzed them. While we get exorcised about a Jenner in a Pepsi commercial, or missiles to Syria-that achieved nothing btw-we are missing more important questions. 

       The lout on the orange throne who sadly has the title president called David Farenthold a nasty guy. Farenthold is the Washington Post reporter who investigated the fraud of the Trump philanthropy learning that the "millions" trump said he gave to veterans organization was yet another lie. As he dug deeper into the trump-dumpster he also uncovered proof of the lout's sexual predatory behavior. Farenthold won the 2017 Pulitzer for his investigation of Trump's financial lies.

      against the current

     So we've come to a time when those who care need to understand the social currents that are slowly cheapening our values and institutions. AND we need to be mindful of the wonderful technology that can also be abused and even abuse us. Talking, writing, posting in ways to inform. Doing what we can to keep the focus on the aberrant and disgusting nature of the current regime. We do our selves and our children a favor by resisting and not permitting this regime to adopt a place of normalcy. He is a minority president and a man of terrible character and he does not represent the majority nor our better American values.While it may be tedious to say and read this repeatedly, failure to do  so contributes to a "normalizing" and eventually an acceptance of style, substance and technique. We can't go there.

    See you down the trail.

CHANGES and GUESSES

tomorrow is here

    So, how would you like this? A Stockholm work space, Epicenter, is offering to implant workers with free RFID microchips. 

     The Hustle reports the chips are the size of a grain of rice to be implanted between the thumb and index finger. Why? To allow access to doors and photocopiers with the wave of a hand. Epicenter figures keys and wallets could quickly become a thing of the past as a wave of the hand could pay for cafeteria items, open doors and etc. 150 out of their 2000 workers have said yes.

    Downsides? The Hustle says in theory the chips "can collect data on your health, your whereabouts, how often you are working, when you take toilet breaks and things like that." 

finally!

     Something to cheer about, progress being made.

      US Soccer has agreed to give the US Women's National team better pay and benefits. The US Women's team filed suit last year because of the huge disparity between them and the US Men's team. 
       Adding power to their request is the undeniable truth, the Women's team are the defending international champions. What they wanted was something closer to parity in pay, benefits and travel arrangements. It seems only fair, but then you know how that goes on the rights front. 

      There's still a distance to go but base pay is being increased by 30% and the bonus clauses are improved though there's still a distance to go before there is pay equity with the men. What if US Soccer simply reversed the pay scale until the men do what the women have achieved, World Champion Status?

  for whatever reason

     Steve Bannon's dismissal from the National Security Principal's group is progress, regardless of reason.

       Experienced observers say this is a sign of his diminishing influence and if so that too bodes well. Trump's paucity of experience and knowledge and Bannon's simplistic right wing, bar room ideology were a dangerous combination.
       It's become obvious to all but "true believers" the President is in way over his orange head and that he had been manipulated by the reich minister.  
       We can only imagine what three star Army general H.R. McMaster thought and said when he faced Bannon as a national security principal. He's out like the trash.

commander?

        The Syrian gassing of civilians is another act of evil in what has been a hellish barbarism. The world community must hold Assad accountable. However.....

        Did you find it unnerving to see our ill-equipped and unqualified minority President speaking about his order to bomb Syrian sites? My concern has nothing to do with the separate discussion about policy, proper military response or operations. Seeing that man in the role is just wrong. It doesn't look or feel right. How can we have confidence in such a lout and fool? I wouldn't be surprised if 2 years ago the con man couldn't even find Syria on a map.  

        In the meantime military posters and veterans are merciless in their treatment of Jared Kushner's trip to Iraq. It's not his fault his father in law asked him to go but the designer sun glasses with vest over a sport coat look made him a perfect target. As a retired navy man wrote, "When you elect a clown, expect a circus!"

so what was it?

      Thanks to those of you who answered the quiz either here or in an e-mail. Some of you are very good!
      Here's another image, that once you have seen the answer, will become more clear.

     The frame below is the object. The image is of yours truly taking a photo. It is a mirror fountain, water running over the surface of the glass.

     Bruce The Catalyst was the first to answer and he was right, but others were close.  Now that you see the riddle revealed you will probably more "clearly" see this posters shape holding a camera.

     See you down the trail.

        

Waiting and Take a Guess

what is this?

   In keeping with the confusion of these times we begin with a game. Can you tell us what is the image pictured above?

   There have been no edit tricks, what you see is an unedited photo.

    As you keen your eye and wrack your brain you will receive a couple of minutes of reprieve from our contemporary absurdity.

wistful

    Spring comes to central California with color.

the o'really? factor

     Reigning Fox pompous star Bill O'reilly got some bad news as a couple of blue chip advertisers dropped him. The New York Times discovered that 5 women brought sexual harassment charges against the TV yacking head. 

     Reportedly the women received $13 million to go away. O'Reilly is not the first at the conservative propaganda mill, the founder of Fox News was thrown overboard when his sexual harassment problems became epidemic.

life imitates art?

    More than a few people have seen scruff master and  zealot/ideologue Steve Bannon in the Brett O'Keefe character in season 6 of Homeland.

    The O'Keefe character is an alt-right conspiracy wacko who holds forth in new media. O'Keef is played by character actor Jake Weber. Weber is semi famous because as an 8 year old he smuggled cocaine into Mick and Bianca Jagger's wedding. Weber's father was one of Keith Richard's and Jaggers drug suppliers. Weber does a good job with the Bannonesque slob.

    The real scene stealer this season is Rupert Friend who portrays the damaged CIA agent Peter Quinn. Friend's work as a stroke victim has been masterful and riveting. 

what about the peanut gallery?

    How is it all going to end for this looney tunes administration?

     Heaven only knows where the Russian trail may lead but it's become consuming. The Senate and FBI probes will be revealing. Rep. Devon Nunes has compromised the integrity of the House investigation. It's another sideshow.

     The Trump budget may be its own road to a larger Trump Slump. Some of those "ignored" and disaffected who voted for Trump are wising up. His budget proposal is a slap in their face. Vital programs in low income and rural areas and those hit with large job loss would lose programs and subsidies targeted to help economic recovery. The Trump White House is on the road to joining the Taj Mahal, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Vodka and the other failed business ventures. The great deal maker huh?

      Some still hold out hope that Ivanka will be a good influence on daddy, but her security clearance and office in the White House is a flap. Is she part of the business oversight, or is she part of the government? How can she have clearance and an office and not be an employee? These related questions are yet one more distraction.

      The bozos are on the romp. 

down these trails...

faces of big sur

     Big Sur remains cut off and isolated though Cal Trans and state officials are working to repair slides, closures and to replace the Pfeiffer bridge. 
     Periodically we are accessing the archive to present scenes many await seeing in person again. Today, hiking trails.

    

       Before you click on, take a guess at what is the first frame in today's post and leave it below.  Thanks

       See you down the trail.

TO THE RESCUE

   "...these are the days of miracle and wonder, this is the long distance call..."

     Those Paul Simon lyrics meander across the mind a lot these days.

      Washington is to blame. Here we are in bucolic beauty while dream killers, planet killers and child killers conspire their ways. We'll return to that thought after first we witness a rescue. There are still plenty of good gals and guys riding this blue marble.

   One look into his eye tells you quickly this poor fellow is in deep trouble. He's miles from the colony and his mother who probably has already departed for hunting grounds. He's left on his own in the primordial drama of learning to swim, survive and orient to where he must navigate to find life sustaining food. Presently he is beached and frightened. 

   Discovered by the citizen on the left who stood guard protectively until help arrived.

   The marine mammal rescue crew traveled up from Morro Bay headquarters to the Lampton Cliff access in Cambria. 

    After consideration the experts decided the best course of action was to post a kind of "please stay away" warning while they logged his location. On this day the tide was extraordinarily low and the best hope is that when the Pacific reclaimed this rocky reef, the little fellow will be revived by the big blue and resume his seaward journey.

inhumane humanity

   The Trump toll mounts as he presses the idea the US can bomb anywhere. 

•     As many as 200 Iraqi civilians were killed in air strikes in Mosul
•     Dozens of Syrian Civilians were killed when we targeted a school in Raqqa
•     Dozens were killed when we targeted a mosque in Allepo
•     30 Yemenis were killed in the SEAL raid gone bad that also cost the life of a US combatant

    War is hell and innocents die but the toll of civilian deaths in less than two months of the new administration is appalling and worth remembering because as a candidate the President vowed to kill families of terrorists. As Commander in Chief women, children and other non combatant innocents have died, under his orders.

full speed nowhere

     the republican speedwagon

    People I know who are traditional, establishment or legacy Republicans are just sick. Their nominal party controls the House, Senate and White House and they can't spit straight.
    The embarrassment of the failure to pass health care reform exposes the bankruptcy of what has been leadership and Republican philosophy the last 6 years.
     This President didn't need Mitch McConnell's vow to put a wrench into government gears as he did to Obama. The Republican regime failed so miserably by self destruction. Do they have no capacity to govern? The failure reveals their obstructionism in the last 8 years as the betrayal of the American people it was.
    One has to wonder if the ideologues, egoists and zealots have eaten traditional and practical Republicans. 

is redemption possible?

      This is not something Democrats, liberals or progressives want to hear, nor do regressives, or that strange breed of Trump supporter-be they the angry, the betrayed, easily fooled or the true deplorable-but there is a way the Republicans can recover their decency. In fact they could do more than that, they could engineer an American power grab almost without precedent. 
     There are actually two ways forward to power. 

• Someone like James Baker could gather former Senators, Cabinet Secretaries, Senators and other Republican apparatchik, storm the Oval Office, sit the buffoon president down, kick Steve Bannon off the grounds, fumigating behind him and preform a kind of cultural/political lobotomy and soul graft onto the "first fool." Hold him for 6 months if that's what it takes to see the first evidence of competence. In all seriousness, Trump is most influenced by the last thing he saw, heard or person he talked to. Republican adults should make a policy house call.

• The other is to play the 25th Amendment clause 4 card and declare him as the deplorable incompetent bully child he is. (Read the 25th Amendment.)  Mike Pence could govern as an adult. Further, he could bench his own evangelical right wing ooga booga and he could act like a pragmatic Republican conservative. The GOP could then cobble together a mainstream, fully adult, political strategy. 

when republicans had ideas

       Democrats won't want to hear this either, but if Republicans behaved as rational politicians and statesmen, a post intervention Trump or a post-Trump Republican consensus could advance an agenda especially if they authored a jobs bill and an infrastructure repair road map. Before the current crop of self identifying Republicans get all worked up, consider these facts.

• Eisenhower built the interstate system, a huge project employing many and costing much for years. 
• The Reagan Administration fostered the Jobs Training Partnership and later a Jobs program. 
• George HW Bush Signed a Fair Labor Standards Act that raised the minimum wage, even though Democrats had pushed for more. Signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Signed the Clean Air Act. Signed a Civil Rights Act. Extended unemployment benefits.

      That sort of Presidential mindset is in the Republican DNA, despite the Roger Ailes Fox News era republican pea brains. 
       Is it fantasy land to think Republicans and Democrats
 could:

• retool our economy, seeing it as a matter of national security?
• prepare for a future with increasing automation? 
• rebuild roads, sewers, bridges, water plants, schools and other public facilities
• streamline and modernize our military profile?
• fix a health care plan? No one might be fully satisfied but could both camps get a little of what they want, both sides leaving something on the table? It used to work that way.

republican house cleaning 

     Republicans could do this. They are sitting the edge of chance to control government for a long run. But they probably won't because they "souled out." How else do you explain Trump/Bannon and the nut squeezing power of the so called Freedom Caucus of politically brain dead or Paul Ryan trying to sell his Randian approach to politics. 
     Does Ryan not realize Ayn Rand, really Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum was a fiction writer of moderate talents. Her Objectivism is not a sacred text, it was the stuff of a novelist's creative mind. It is no more valid nor sacred than Sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics that followers turned into Scientology. Maybe his own party sent Speaker Ryan a loud message about the validity of his stingy political assumptions based on his allegiance to a fictional fabrication of a worthless "pseudo philosophy."
      There is more, any Republican quoting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Alex Jones should be drummed out of the party and into the corner where they await deportation to Syria. These guys are not political gurus, they are bull shit artists who got rich pretending they know something, loudly. 
      In the meantime we've moved from the gridlock and partisan warfare of the last several years to Republican intra party warfare, ideological thuggery and knife fights, while the Democrats look for a compass and a soul.

       
       Staccato signals of constant information
       A loose affiliation of millionaires
       And billionaires and baby
       These are the days of miracle and wonder
       This is the long distance call
       The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
       The way we look to us all, oh yea
                  The Boy In The Bubble--Paul Simon

            
        Yep kids, the good old days happen this way.
     

     See you down the trail.
     

     

Springing Up

       Even as spring glories around us we find ourselves between "The Winters of our Discontent." Winters because Shakespeare's opening in Richard III and Steinbeck's 1961 The Winter of Our Discontent are the pole stars in our current fate.

       We'll unpack what I'm getting at after we pause to regard beauty that can make us forget, even if only for a moment. But for this moment enjoy early spring on California's central coast, curated in this case by Lana and her mentor mother nature.

     I am ever sorry for this bottle brush tree that still imbibes life but seems forever shamed by a brutal haircut. That brings me again to the blooming idiots of the swamp and our discontent.

the winter of our discontent

      And so to the Winter of our Discontent-in Richard III it was the sun (son) of York, Edward IV who brought an end to discontent-the rein of Richard III. The first two lines;
     Now is the winter of our discontent/made glorious by this son (sun) of York. 
     A story of a rise to power by manipulation.
   
    John Steinbeck's novel The Winter of our Discontent, is a morality tale of a man who tosses away integrity to gain wealth and status by cheating, lying and betrayal. By whichever pole you navigate this discontent, there are messages for our time. 

circus trumpus

or

government by mayhem

    The White House should be renamed Bedlam. 

    After the predator President's twitter storm about being phone tapped, Mike Pence should have called together that stellar cabinet and asked them seriously, "do you think we have a problem with the President?"

    What ever did we do to deserve the insanity that has become this administration? It was clear to most Americans  Donald Trump was unfit, unqualified and unprepared, so we should not be surprised but even those who despise this slimy character are embarrassed by how sleazy and adolescent-stupidly things are playing out. 

time to use the 25th Amendment

     

      Trump should be slapped silly for the rude and childish manner in how he treated the German Chancellor Merkel. He embarrassed this Republic, despite your party affiliation or political views. Childish, brutish, rank amateur.
      Pence should have called the cabinet together again and re-read the 25th Amendment paying attention to clause 4.4.

      I know you can't impeach a President for lying, but this man lies so frequently as to perhaps qualify him for insanity.
      
     How can we trust him to make critical decisions with our military forces when he is so untethered from reality?

     Donald Trump may be a billionaire but he is liar, cheat, sexual predator, bully and a phony. By my logic that alone crosses the threshold to invoke the 25th-4.4. It is bad already but now the real stuff begins. 

art of the russian deal

      It is hard to believe but it may end there is no smoking gun or finger prints in the Russian investigation but still the Trump Presidency is crashing and burning and the gas on the fire is the federal investigations. 
      Charles Schumer may be playing to the hometown crowd when he raises the question as to whether to proceed with the Gorsuch nomination, but there is a shred of Washington wisdom at work.
      Trump is on the ropes, his administration is floundering horribly and it will be tied up with details of the federal probe. Remember Clinton with impeachment, Reagan with Iran Contra, Carter with the hostages, Nixon with Watergate. It becomes the obsession and everything else stalls.
      If there is a finding of collusion there will be criminal prosecutions. If Trump had contact with Russians-and that is still only an if-he could go to prison. 
      Speculation on outcome is iffy, but the fact an administration is being investigated for conspiring with a foreign power who tried to rig an election is mind blowingly historic. It is also very Trumpish. The investigation will do damage to this swamp creature regime.

trump=ruin

      His war with the Republican party is real. His approval rating drop is staggering and for a narcissist like Trump it could cause his brain or heart to explode.

     He is irrational. He's mixed family and government-business and policy. We see him lie and demonstrate he really doesn't know reality. He's turned Sean Spicer, who people say used to be a nice guy, into a lying whore and embarrassment to all press secretaries. (I apologize to whores because they don't pretend to be anything else.) Trump means ruin.

use the 25th

     Someone in the Republican party needs to grab Pence by the collar and force him to read the 25th Amendment and to consider the long arc of history. 

      This goes beyond politics and policy-I defy anyone to  describe what are Trump's politics or his policies. He's a hustler and he's perverting politics, not a simple feat given the state of things, but he's a scum even by swamp standards. He's so out of touch with reality as to present a danger. 

     In the Reagan years there was talk about his mental slippage, early dementia and his fitness to serve. So it's time for the nation to begin looking for a way to get Trump out of office before he does the damage that is inevitable.

     See you down the trail.

      

     

THE SHIFTS

   While we seem be damned by current political attitudes,  profound changes are right behind us. We ponder views and the attitudes that drive them, after we first fog it up.

 Going over the Santa Lucia pass toward Paso Robles I was struck by how Morro Rock, Mt. Hollister and a couple of other volcanic peaks seem to be adrift in a sea of clouds.

 Fog moves quickly this time of year, one of the wonders of living along the Pacific.

big sur tribute

    As Big Sur remains isolated and inaccessible we are mining the archive to help those of us with a Big Sur jones.

     Fog and Big Sur are like Coffee and sugar-

We feel sorry for visitors who pick a day to drive Highway 1 when fog rules

      It moves quickly, literally before your eyes.

    

   Future posts will feature more of the Big Sur file as we lament its current status of being off limits.

  the political fog

   We should all be troubled by Secretary of State Tillerson's comment he is "not a big media access guy."
     The secretary needs to understand he is no longer a private CEO/Chairman of the Board dealing in a corporate world. He is a public employee, an official appointed by the President but responsible to the American tax payer for whom he works. This job is bigger than him and requires process and transparency.
     Tillerson's refusal to travel with at least a press pool instead of hand picking one journalist is unacceptable. It is wrong and dangerous, even more so given the pronouncements of the irrational liar and lunatic who appointed him.

here comes heart burn for non progressives

    The much maligned millennials are about to have their way. Those who are 19-35, the largest component of the Bernie Sander supporters now number some 75.5 million.

    They are a generation raised on disruption, new ways of working, living and a decidedly socialist cultural and political lean. The same goes for their younger siblings Generation Z who total some 77.9 million-they are 18 and younger but in the next two election cycles will become a force as well. Add them to the 65.9 million Gen X'ers, 36-51, and the tables have not only changed, but it is a new game. 

     Millennials and Gen Z bring such profound change to the political landscape that Boomers and the generation immediately preceding may not recognize the social landscape.

      They are decidedly more egalitarian, color blind, accepting of sexual and gender identity selections and differences, ethnic diversity, in favor of economic equality, globalism, defenders of the environment, suspicious of corporations and to such a degree as to render much of traditional political practice irrelevant. 

      One of them just sold his business to CNN for $20 Million. He has a daily vlog (video blog) with 6 million subscribers and more than 1.3 billion views. He's also been hired to be the front man for a multi billion dollar global corporation's advertising.  Here is a look at  the kind of style, cultural and political attitude that may decide the next presidential election.
      Hear what Casey Neistat has to say to "haters and doubters" and pay attention to the Titanic and Iceberg analogy. Listen to the attitude...and consider their massive numbers. Bye bye trump land..

         See you down the trail.