When Eyebrows Beat Bombast: The Subtle Devastation Wrought by Ashley Parker

As Sean Spicer tried to dig himself out of the hole he had dug himself, only to make things worse, trying to explain why Assad is worse than Hitler because Hitler never gassed his own people, or, wait, maybe he did in "Holocaust Centers" but he never dropped bombs with gas on them, which is even worse than "Holocaust Centers," cameras caught the reaction of two White House reporters listening to him.

As Spicer sputtered and fumbled and looked like, "Oh, please get me off this stage," a reporter for the Washington Post, Ashley Parker,  listened silently, but across her face, which she was clearly trying to control, flitted expressions which are simply ineffably great. Behind Ashley, April Ryan's face was far more demonstrative, but it was the contrast between the two which played so well and made this moment an instant "meme" on Twitter.  It all went viral.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/04/14/5-questions-for-a-washington-post-reporter-whose-eyebrows-became-a-meme/?utm_term=.2c18aef6080f&wpisrc=nl_p1most-partner-1&wpmm=1

It is a true Schadenfreude moment, watching Spicers squirm, in agony, on the pin wielded by the White House press corps, and Parker's response is, at first, not easy to read, more of a "Wait. What did he just say?" 


This progresses to "No! he didn't say that! And is he not going to correct himself." Then, the faintest hint of a smile plays around her lips, while she is able to contain her eyebrows, momentarily and then you shift focus to April Ryan, whose face is clearly saying: Where did they get this clown?

Where is C.J. Cregg when you need her?

It must be a little vexing for Parker, who, at 35, has been building her career, patiently, daily, with discipline. She wrote for her high school paper, wrote and wrote at The University of Pennsylvania, got a job with the New York Times , out of college and now works for the Post.  She has written reams of articles over the years and for those who notice by lines, it's clear she has built a solid body of work. 

Now, in fifteen seconds, she's become famous for not writing a word, simply listening, with effect. 

Justice Souter, Washington, DC, New Hampshire

There is something about the story of retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter which invites reconstruction, fantasy, Hollywood myth making and lots of projection.

Reading about him on line, in articles in the New York Times, and elsewhere one gets the illusion you know the man, when, in fact, like most public figures you think you know, you do not know him. You only know the story which emerges out of public articles about him.

But there are some conclusions to be drawn from the facts: 
1/ The fact is he retired from the Supreme Court of the United States at age 70.  Retiring from the Supreme Court is not common and usually the Justices work into their 80's.  It's a lifetime appointment and one can well imagine why Justices work until they die:  Most people find themselves getting ignored as they get older. What they say doesn't matter so much any more because they are no longer in power. Age begets irrelevance in our nation.

But if you are one of 9 Supreme Court Justices you remain relevant as long as you stay on the Court.

It's one of the few jobs in America where you can be a celebrity, at the peak of power, for two decades after ordinary retirement age of 65. And in Washington, D.C., where so much of the culture revolves around power, position, job title, you can sail into your seventies and eighties on top.

In New York, even if you are mega rich, by the time you are in your late 70's you have likely given up much of your day to day operational control of your companies to younger hands, and you can still go to the Met and get the best seats and you can still eat at the best restaurants, but everyone knows you are not really the pivotal player any more.

Not true, in Washington, if you are a Supreme Court Justice.  There are still cases you are judging which are current, in the news and attracting lots of attention and people want to know what you think.

2/ At the end of every Supreme Court term, Souter drove home  to his family homestead in New Hampshire.

Which is to say, he did not stay in Washington.
He did not spend his summer going to dinner parties, playing golf at Burning Tree Country Club, sailing  down the Potomac on  yachts.
He could have cashed in on his status, enjoyed the power game, and given his status as a Supreme Court Justice, not to mention his academic pedigree,(Harvard undergrad, Harvard law, Oxford/Rhodes Scholar)--he had the  keys to the kingdom in the Washington, D.C. dinner set society.

He was named by some rag Washington's "most eligible bachelor."  Because he was not seen to be capitalizing on this or simply because he never married, he was rumored to be gay, but that would not have prevented him from cashing in on the glittering evenings and social perks of being a Supreme Court Justice.

But he did none of the high life stuff. He just went home to New Hampshire, where, to listen to him, he read history. Even if he did wild and crazy things back in New Hampshire, the fact is he didn't feel compelled to say anything beyond, "I read history." In fact, when asked what he liked doing back in New Hampshire, beyond reading, he mentioned he enjoyed going to the town dump, because that's where you see your neighbors.

Can you imagine Antonin Scalia or Alito or Clarence Thomas saying they enjoyed going to the dump on a Saturday morning?

What I like about this guy is:
1/ He apparently took a look at what passes for the good life in the big city, in the glittering city on the Potomac and said, "Uh, I don't think so."
We might infer he was saying, "You all worship false gods here." But again, we would be projecting and reading into a man we do not know.
2/ He was so appalled by the Supreme Court intervening in the Gore v Bush election he nearly resigned, but friends convinced him to stay because then Bush would have not only won the election but seized control of the Court.
3/ He was ushered in as another Scalia but he actually did what Supreme Court Justices always say they will do but never do--he followed the law as he saw the law and wound up voting with the liberal Democrats, even though he was appointed by a Republican. That is tantamount to Donald Trump switching parties after his election.

Hampton, NH

What I really could not abide during my own years in Washington was the smugness. People who had been winners in their youth, getting into the right colleges,  where they told each other they deserved to be at Harvard because, after all, they merited it, they were the cream rising to the top, and they continued to grab onto the "glittering prizes" and pass them around among themselves, like A list dinner party invitations.

Tugboat Obadiah Youngblood

New York had rich people, successful people, but somehow they were not as often smug.  They felt fortunate. They exulted about the good things they had: Opera at the Met, wonderful exhibits at the museums, great meals at great restaurants, but somehow I never got the vibe, even from the really rich, they thought they particularly deserved their good fortune.  "Better to be lucky than smart," they would say.

Anyway, Justice Souter's rejection of what so many value is refreshing.  And it's not like an 18 year old kid who gets into Harvard and says, no, I'll go to Kenyon instead. In that case you wonder whether he just didn't have the confidence to take up that challenge. In Souter's case, he was already there, had already proven he deserved his place, but he said, "No, you can keep your trophy life. I've got something better."

The Schzoid Core of American Politics

"When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government...all having the direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states...the state remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsion within...sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substances...he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people...to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny...with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages."

Thomas Jefferson, et al. The Declaration of Independence, 1776.

When Richard Hofstadter spoke of the "paranoid style" of American politics, I can only think, "Oh, you have no idea." He was talking about the John Birch Society in the 1950's but, as you can see, it goes way back to the founding fathers.

 I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And People Like Me.

All this occurred to me as I started reading about the people who inspired the wonderful, creepy, indignant, explosive, smarmy character, Brett O'Keefe, in "Homeland."  At first, I thought, "Oh, Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/Steve Bannon," but as the season progressed it was clear the writers had gone beyond that level of sleaze to something sublime. 

I just play one on TV

Apparently, he may be based, at least partly,  on a certain wacko in Texas named "Alex Jones" who believes the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by federal government agents, that the Branch Davidian attack in Waco was another government conspiracy, that moon landing was staged, that the 9/11 attacks were a federal government conspiracy and that his own personal ancestors were responsible for winning the fight with Mexico which wrested control of the state of Texas for the white Anglos who died at the Alamo and whose brothers ultimately prevailed. So he is a hero by association. And, oh, yes, my favorite: Mr. Jones knows that the Sandy Hook slaughter of children was fake news, staged by lefties who want to take your guns away and deny you your God given right to own an assault rifle.


This man is a piece of work. He started out with a public access TV show, then went on to a radio show launched from home on the internet and now he is big business in Austin, Texas, which tells you something if the most liberal town in Texas has given rise to this mutant.

Puffy Pink Guy: Alex Jones

Not only that, a new world order of international banks colluding with the government is behind "manufactured economic crises" to seize control of everything.


If all this sounds far fetched, and if you are thinking "lunatic fringe," I would ask you to consider the sentences which have belched out of President Trump for the past two years, about climate change being a Chinese plot, about the Muslims who he saw or were seen by someone celebrating on the roof tops after 9/11 about Barack Obama's birth in Kenya and about vaccinations causing autism and mental retardation.
I think it might have been that lady in the parking lot who told Michele Bachmann about vaccines causing mental retardation who told Donald Trump about the celebrating Muslims.
That lady is just so tuned in!
 She knows. Ever notice how puffy white guys (PWG's) like Alex Jones and Donald Trump always start sweating when somebody asks for their sources? They are long on allegation, these PWG's, but short on substantiation.
Now, Thomas Jefferson was no PWG, but he wasn't much into substantiation either, when you come to think about it, but he had all those good words.
Mr. Trump claims to have the best words, but I'm with Jefferson when it comes to words: usurpations, perfidy, plunder, ravage, desolation.  My favorite is "usurpation."


 You can only imagine how Mr. Trump would slay a press conference if he threw "usurpation" into some remark.  "Oh, that Obamacare is just such a usurpation! It has plundered and ravaged the middle class unto desolation. It'll implode. Just you wait." Wow. That would be worth another four years right there, that riff alone.

Does he take his meals with these guys?

And people listen to Alex Jones on the radio in droves and of course, over 60 million Americans voted for Mr. Trump. Maybe Mr. Trump will appoint Alex Jones Secretary of Homeland Security. He'd be a natural.  Remember the Alamo.

Does he smell something bad?

I would submit, these guys are no fringe element in American life.  I would submit, they are, in fact, the mainstream.

Are These Guys Related? Same Gene Pool?

We might ought to check the lead levels in the water of all the counties which voted for Mr. Trump.

Grief and History, Washington DC

Fourth Turning: Talking Bout My Generation

"You are all a lost generation."
(Vous etes tous une generation perdue)
--Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway

When I was a child in northern Virginia, I remember an old Black man, who carried a very worn Bible in his hands. He was never without that book and his hands were never still, thumbing through the pages, and he would say, "Everything you need to know, every question you can ever ask, is answered right here in this book."

Neil Howe, Prophet

That guy appeared in literature, movies, in various forms, but the mindset, peculiar as it seemed to me as a child, lives on today.  People, some people, want certainty, predictability, authority, and wouldn't it be nice if there were some central depository for omniscience?
As a child, it seemed to me a very bad thing, to think everything you'd ever want to know was in one book. I was wondering about where birds came from, where the stream which appeared in the gulley near my house went to in the summer, why Mr. Welch, next door, had a stroke, what a stroke was, why the sun always went down over the west side of the South Columbus Street and what made the leaves turn colors in the Fall, stuff like that. I also wondered who Joseph McCarthy was.  Mr. Welch, before he had his stroke, didn't seem to like Joseph McCarthy one bit. Mr. Welch would sit on his back porch, his face turning bright red, talking in great agitation to my father about Joseph McCarthy. My father didn't like McCarthy either. He blamed McCarthy for Mr. Welch's stroke, which again, I wondered about.

Obadiah Youngblood, Pink Lake

Justice Antonin Scalia struck me as a person like the old Black man with his Bible, a person with a book. He wanted a single source,  the original Constitution, to contain all the answers and this would simplify all judgments--you had only to look to the original text to know the answer.
We read that Steve Bannon has such a good book, which he has read and re read--"The Fourth Turning" by Neil Howe and William Strauss.

I have not read it.
As I understand it, from Professor Google, it's about how human history occurs in cycles, which is to say, things cycle.
Well, that is profound.
And generations of human beings, exposed to large events, like war, economic collapse, famine, crop failure, are composed of individuals who are exposed to or insulated from these forces and react more or less as you'd expect people to react.

Disciple

Anyway, pop history cum sociology sounds fun and apparently it has captivated Steve Bannon, and not in a good way.
The problem with a man obsessed with a book is what that says about that man.
People brought up Catholic, in the church, sometimes take this route, but this can be seen in Southern Baptists and people subjected to indoctrination in any religious setting before age 6.
The problem is, these people are often looking for a Truth.
And they tend to be angry people. Not sure why these two things are connected. It's a syndrome, things which occur together without a clear mechanism. Maybe, they are just angry other people refuse to see the Truth which appears so clear to them.  I don't know.
I can live without knowing.

But Bannon now finds himself on the receiving end of a miracle: Trump won. And he must feel himself to be a prophet.
So we have radical Islamists in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere. And we have a radical recovering Catholic in the White House.
This should be fun to watch.

Senator Tom Cotton: Consider a Jackass

"Reader, suppose you were an idiot. Then suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself."
--Mark Twain

The New York Times today carried a column by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, which is instructive.  It encapsulates the sort of thinking (if you can use that word to describe what he does) which got President Trump elected, which fuels Rush Limbaugh/Brett O'Keefe and all those who sail with them.

Bear with me...

"After President Bashar al-Assad of Syria once again attacked his own citizens with poison gas, the civilized world recoiled in horror at images of children writhing in pain and suffocating to death. President Trump voiced this justified outrage at a news conference on Wednesday, and the next day he took swift, decisive action against the outlaw Assad regime. But these strikes did more than simply punish Mr. Assad and deter future attacks; they have gone a long way to restoring our badly damaged credibility in the world."

Ain't no Syrian gonna take my wife

+ Wow, there's a lot in here:

1. "Decisive action": We took out 6 crippled MIG fighters which could not be moved because they were damaged and in the shop, after we warned the Syrians of the oncoming attack so they could move the rest of their war planes.  The next day, Assad launched a variety of other air attacks.

2. "Outlaw regime": Well, hardly in Mr. Putin's view

3. "Deter future attacks": See above. One could argue just the opposite. Oh, if that's all you are going to do, I can live with that.

4. "Restoring our badly damaged credibility": Credibility is such a dandy word. Credibility with whom? With the Assad regime? With the Russians? With the Syrians who got barrel bombed the next day? This is one of those I-want-to-believe-so-it-must-be-true things.

5. "In the world": What particular world is Mr. Cotton living in?

I'm so well hung

"It’s hard to overstate just how low the standing of the United States had fallen because of President Barack Obama’s failure to enforce his own “red line” against Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons in 2013."

+ Oh, really? Our "standing?" With whom? Translation: I don't like Obama. He was Black and he was born in Kenya.

Of course, when President Obama went to Congress in 2013 to ask for permission to do more, Congress dithered and said NO.

 "I was one of the few Republican members of Congress who supported strikes against Syria then. Because of that, I’ve heard from dozens of world leaders expressing their doubts about the security commitments of the United States."

+ Oh? You are such a hero. You wanted to get us involved in a gun fight in Syria. And because you were such a tough guy, "dozens of world leaders" flocked to your banner, no doubt wishing you were President instead of Mr. Obama, and worried about whether they could trust us to stand up for NATO against Russia because we didn't stand with Syria.

I got credibility

"These doubts originated from surprising places. Of course our longtime Arab allies expressed their misgivings. Yet European and even Asian leaders have privately wondered to me whether the red-line fiasco called into question America’s security alliances in their regions. While far removed from the Middle East, they still depend on the United States and the threat of force to defend our mutual interests."

+ Oh, this is the special, secret, privileged knowledge ploy--what "people" are telling me, which I will now reveal to you about how very shaken our allies like France, Britain and Germany were by our decision to not get sucked into another Middle East quagmire after George W., the gunslinger, was stupid enough to make that mistake once.

"It wasn’t only Mr. Obama’s refusal to act in the moment that undermined our credibility. The fig leaf to justify inaction was an agreement with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to remove Syria’s chemical weapons, which Russia and Syria plainly violated from the outset. Yet Obama administration officials continued to celebrate it as a triumph."

Middle East Tar Baby

+ Ah! We are back to the "it's-Obama's-fault" argument. Mr. Trump launches a transparently cosmetic missile assault on a mostly abandoned air field (having warned the occupants to flee) and now we criticize Mr. Obama for taking ineffectual action?

+ Mr. Cotton, I'll say one thing for you--you've got chutzpah. That's a phrase they might not use in Arkansas: It means you've got the courage of your hypocrisy.

"It’s also worth remembering that Mr. Obama backed down partly because he so badly wanted a nuclear deal with Mr. Assad’s patron, Iran. But his weakness in Syria only emboldened Iran, ultimately producing a worse deal while encouraging Iran’s campaign of imperial aggression in the region, support for terrorism and human rights abuses."

+ What is it about these Southern gunslingers? Now we are into a connection between tolerating gassing and signing a deal with Iran? Well, just look at those dominoes.

After Trump, Moi!

"The world now sees that President Trump does not share his predecessor’s reluctance to use force. And that’s why nations across the world have rallied to our side, while Russia and Iran are among the few to have condemned the attack."

+ Wait, are we really hearing this "fear the turtle" stuff again? Have we not heard this all before? ( Oh, we have to draw that line at Vietnam, or nobody will fear us and the Communists will be emboldened and just run all over us.)

  And what "world" is he talking about?  I've heard people from France to Syria to Israel to China saying they thought the Trump attack was bogus, all show and no consequence and just plain stupid.

"The threat of the use of force — and its actual use when necessary — is an essential foundation for effective diplomacy. Mr. Obama’s lack of credibility is one reason the United States watched in isolation as Russia and Iran took the lead at recent Syrian peace conferences. It’s also why Iran got the better of us in the nuclear negotiations and North Korea has defied us for years."

+ Oh, so now we are off to the "mad man" theory of diplomacy. Well, President Trump might just be crazy enough to launch our nuclear arsenal against Syria and Russia and North Korea all at once, unless you guys roll over.  The Senator is now in the minds of the Russians, the Iranians and the Syrians. 

Tell me, Mr. Cotton, on what planet do you spend the majority of your time?

"With our credibility restored, the United States can get back on offense around the world. In Syria, Mr. Assad knows that we have many more Tomahawk missiles than he has airfields. So do his supporters in Moscow and Tehran."

+ Uh, actually, I'm not sure Mr. Assad, or even Mr. Trump knows that. In fact, those Tomahawk missiles are pretty expensive ($1 million each) and taking out 6 damaged MIGs is hardly cost effective, ($10 million per crippled MIG) not to mention not a credible threat. On the contrary, it may well reassure Mr. Assad how un-serious we are. On the other hand, using up these Tomahawk missiles is good business for Raytheon, which manufactures them and think of all the Raytheon workers who will be back on the assembly lines.  Maybe we can ship in some coal workers to build more missiles.

"Further, leaders in Iran must now question the risks of being put “on notice” earlier this year by President Trump. After all, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo are noted Iran hawks. If they recommended decisive action in Syria, the ayatollahs have to wonder if they may be next."

Oh, please doan throw me in dat Briar Patch, Mr. Trump! We are jeez quaking in our boots here in Damacus, Tehran, Moscow and everywhere else!

+ Oh, Please, Mr. Trump, Don't throw me in that Briar Patch!

"It’s also telling that the strikes in Syria occurred while President Trump dined with President Xi Jinping of China. The president has repeatedly expressed his concerns about North Korea and stressed that he expects China to restrain Pyongyang. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stated that the threat of North Korea is “imminent” and “the policy of strategic patience has ended.” Whatever Kim Jong-un may think, it’s safe to say that Mr. Xi finally takes seriously American concerns."

+ Yaasssirreee! Dem Asians got to know we talk tough. And tough talk to Asians, that's just 'bout da same as launching a nuclear strike. We got 'em back on their heels. Dey fears us now, doan you know!

"Finally, Russia’s geopolitical standing has taken a severe blow. Mr. Putin was powerless to protect his client in Damascus. Moscow now faces a Hobson’s choice of empty words of condemnation or escalation on behalf of a global pariah, which risks further American action. After years of Russian aggression being met by empty American words, the roles are reversed: Russia is wrong-footed and Mr. Putin finds his credibility at stake."

+ Oh, brother Putin is just so damaged! President Trump was so steamed, he gave the Russians advanced notice of the attack and I'm sure that scared the be Jesus out of Mr. Putin. What kind of mad man would do that?  I've heard from so many people, including that lady in the parking lot, how shook Vladimir was by the loss of those 6 broke down MIGs!

"In every theater, President Trump now has the opportunity to press our advantage and protect our interests with strong diplomacy backed by America’s restored credibility. It’s been a long time coming, but friend and foe alike have been reminded that the United States not only possesses unmatched power, but also once again will employ our power to protect our interests, aspirations and allies."

+ Yes, indeed we got a gunslinger now!  You remember that guy in "Dr. Strangelove" who put on his cowboy hat and rode that nuclear bomb out of the bomb-bay doors? That's my hero.

We done showed them Ruskies and we got the whole world taking notice.  I'm just so proud to be an American now, the buttons are popping off my shirt!

I gotta ask:  
1. Is this the best Akansas can do?  I mean, the state of Orval  Faubus was also the state of Bill Clinton and William Fulbright, but has the state IQ sunk so low that this guy really represents what is Arkansas?
2. This warrior was such a leader that after five years in the Army, he advanced all the way from lieutenant to the rank of Captain.  While deployed in Afghanistan he wrote a letter to the New York Times demanding that their reporters be tried for espionage for reporting on an operation in country. He was reminded by his superior officers about something called, "chain of command," but was not rebuked and was awarded a Bronze star for something, maybe for attacking The New York Times. Of note is the fact he went from Arkansas to Harvard and then Harvard Law, which just goes to show that applying to Harvard from Arkansas is like applying to Harvard from Kosovo--they're going to accept you just to see what people from that part of the world are like.

You Say You Want a Revolution?

Bernie Sanders usually started off his stump speech by asking the crowd, "Are you ready for a revolution?"
And the place would go wild.

But the revolution Bernie was talking about was a class struggle, taxing the rich more, and providing more opportunities for the struggling middle class, health insurance, free college education, a stairway to better jobs.

But here is the revolution Mad Dog would offer if he were running. 
When the Republicans realize they control enough state houses and governorships to convene a constitutional convention, when they are drunk with dreams of writing into the Constitution articles forbidding abortion, flag burning, speaking any language but English in public places,  taking the Trump name in vain, making War on Christmas, immigration of non whites, taking the Lord's name in vain, disparaging NASCAR, and another article re-instituting slavery, well the Democrats should just play along, smiling, nodding their way through all this and, once the Republicans have gone out and got good and drunk the Dems could slip in an article which allows states to leave the union and form independent nation states, confederations of their own choosing. 

This should appeal to the Southern states, given their history of having fought a four year war over this in the past. The Dems could frame it: Look, the Lost Cause can still be won in the 21st century.  We agree, divorce should be an option. After all, they're doing it in Europe.

It was, in fact, the example of Europe which moved President Lincoln to cleave to the idea there should be one continental American nation.  Europe had been riven by war and bloodshed for centuries and Lincoln maintained, we needed to avoid all that with an indissoluble union. Of course, later he admitted, that was something of a marketing pitch and the whole war was really over slavery, as he said in his second Inaugural address. 

But, here's the thing: If the six New England states left and invited at least some of the middle Atlantic states, say New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and the West Coast states and Illinois, and maybe Minnesota.  We could do pretty well, economically at least, as the New American Union.  

The whole idea of contiguous borders is so 20th century. With people tele-commuting, and with air travel and the internet, you really don't need to be able to reach out and physically touch your countrymen. 

And the Southern states and the Mountain states and the Southwestern states (except for New Mexico), all those "fly over states"  are always grousing about how oppressive Washington, DC is, how that federal government is an occupying power, a distant black helicopter state. They don't like government much, at least federal government. So, let them go.

They could print their own money and put Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee and George Armstrong Custer on it. They could reinstate Andrew Jackson and add the grand dragon of the Ku Klu Klan, if they want to. 
They could be happy without us. 
Well, spiritually. 
Economically, not so much. But hey, it's just money.

Economically, the states which complain most about the oppressive federal tax burden are actually the ones who get the most from it, so let them go and fend for themselves. We won't miss them.

Defense spending as a portion of a state's GDP is highest in states like Mississippi and Kentucky.  We could move all those military bases and factories to New England and California and Illinois. I count the New American Union as having: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, California and New Mexico.  Sweet 16. Others could apply. Maybe some states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin could redraw their boundaries to separate red counties from blue counties and the redrawn states could apply to the union. 
Of course, there would be some states we would feel sorry for:  The research triangle in North Carolina, parts of Florida, northern Virginia, Atlanta, Austin Texas, New Orleans. There would be those islands of sanity in a sea of red we just likely could not help. 

Our New American Union would have a Congress free of Mitch McConnell and Trey Gowdy and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Louie Gohmert.  
Think of that.  
We would not be totally  rid of all the unappetizing trolls--even in Massachusetts there were Trump voters, but we would really change the mix. 
And New Hampshire, which came within a couple of thousand votes of going for Trump, might teeter off into lunacy every so often. But, it might be people in all states would "self deport," and find themselves gravitating not just to walled communities of similar belief, but to states where they feel more at home.

In divorces, a common remark by one or both of the parting spouses is, "I never realized how much you really disliked me."  When people have to stay together, they bite their lips and just suck it up. But when they no longer have to get along, they can say what they really feel.

And I suspect, when we let Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Indiana go, folks in the  remaining New Union states will heave a great cleansing sigh of relief and say: "Why did we suffer so long? Why didn't we do this years ago?"

Obadiah Youngblood, Tugboat

John Bolton: Dolt of the Day

John Bolton was on Fox News this morning explaining how we got into such a place with Syria.
It's Obama's fault, of course.
Blame it on the Obama-onva.

He served in the National Guard--an expert in military affairs

Mr. Bolton was Ambassador to the UN under some Republican and has had posts in Republican administrations and he lives just outside Washington, D.C., so whenever Fox needs a hit man to say it's all Obama's fault, he's available.

It seems President Obama "let" Mr. Putin put in airbases in Syria in 2013, and now that the Russians have ensconced themselves in Syria, well, it's just all gone to Hell in a handbasket.

What President Obama should have done when the Russians started building those air bases was...
Well, you know.
Something.
Something really effective.
Something bold.
Something manly.

Like what President Trump just did. Calls up the Russians and says, "We are going to precision bomb that air base at Shayrat." So the Russians roll out and the Syrians can't help but notice that, so they hop in their war planes and move them out, all but the six MIG planes in the shop--so the lame planes get blown up.
Trump showed those Syrians. President Assad must be quaking in his Gucci loafers. Oh, Trump is unpredictable. Oh, he is impulsive. He is a wild and crazy guy! Not so impulsive he picked out the "bomb the palace" option from the platter his generals presented him, but he is impulsive in a way the coal miners in Kentucky will like. 
Oh, President Heel Spur is just so fearsome! Eighty-six babies get gassed and he is outraged and takes out six out of service MIG fighters! 

President Putin was not pleased. He says he's not Trump,s best bro no mo. Steel workers in Pennsylvania will be glad to hear that. Pundits on TV are all saying this takes the heat off Trump for his Putin connection during the election campaign. 
Say what?

President Trump knows how to draw a line in the sand.  

I saw that announcement, with the President standing in front of the American flag at Mar-a-largo.  Couldn't help but think President Reagan would have done it better. Peggy Noonan was a better speech writer than whoever Trump has writing his speeches. Or maybe, that's the problem. The same guy who writes his Tweets writes his speeches.  
And Reagan would have gone for a different setting, maybe an American airbase, or even an aircraft carrier, with the wind in his great hair, and the Star Spangled Banner afterwards. (Of course, given the suspicions about President Trump's hair, maybe the aircraft carrier, wind in the hair bit wouldn't be such a great idea.) It's just the idea he's at Mar-a-largo, with booze hounds in the bar, and golf courses as a back drop, sort of detracts from the fearsome warrior image. 
I mean, just the name, "Mar-a-largo."  Doesn't sound all that serious. Sort of like Bali Hai. Sort of evokes images of Polynesian women swaying to ukulele music  in straw skirts with some enormously fat guy singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  But maybe that's just me.
But I digress. Back to Mr. Bolton.
Mr. Bolton was at Yale Law School with Bill and Hillary Clinton and he never quite got over the fact they became so famous, powerful and rich and he's been marching into Fox studios ever since to show he can be just as famous and influential as the Clinton's.

He knows more than the generals

And President Obama has been just the best target for Mr. Bolton because Obama's Presidency simplified everything. Yes, George W. might have miscalculated a little getting our troops bogged down in Iraq looking for those weapons of mass destruction Mr. Bolton just knew were in the hands of Sadam Hussein. But Obama! Oh, well, just look at the mess he has made.
An all purpose mess.
Why, that gassing of babies--Obama's fault.

And ISIS, well, don't you Obama founded that group with Hillary.
Obama probably had a piece of that child sex trafficking operation Hillary was running out of that pizza place on Connecticut Avenue.
Oh, those two. Just so corrupt.

What Mr. Bolton can't figure out is why President Trump never called him for the Secretary of State post.
Obama probably black balled him.