why voting for Democratic Senators more important than ever!!!!!

Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the Washington Post had an interesting column  in mid-June after the first Democratic debates and it's worth repeating:
" Dear Democratic presidential candidates: I know all 23 of you want to run against President Trump, but only one will get that opportunity. If you truly believe your own righteous rhetoric, some of you ought to be spending your time and energy in another vital pursuit — winning control of the Senate." .....He continued with a few specific suggestions like: "I’m talking to you, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who would have a good chance of beating incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. I’m talking to you, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, who could knock off GOP incumbent Sen. Steve Daines."
And I would add that Klobuchar and Bennett are important Democratic senators who would be sorely missed if they left the Senate.

"The only way to stop Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (from Kentucky) is to take his power away, and the only way to do that is for Democrats to win the Senate."

(And the despot Senate leader from Kentucky must leave together with his wife, the crooked wealthy Transportation secretary.)

Robinson concluded: ......"We don’t need 23 presidential candidates. Some of you, please, fight for the Senate."

On to other disgusting frightening matters: Das Trumpfer, otherwise known as the Orange King had an extra dose of lying tweeting and rallying this past week.
One would've thought that his racist comments and requests that people he's afraid of  should go back where they came from might get a rise out of his "Republican" courtiers - but the Orange Kingdom has squeezed too much juice on them and they remain helpless - except for a very few whose brains haven't turned to mush.
"And the Orange King is not racist?" When he and his father wouldn't rent to black tenants looking for rentals in his Queens, NY apartment houses? When the N.J. Casinos he managed to bankrupt were told that when he and daughter arrived all black employees were to leave the floor and not be seen? When he said Jews were only good for cooking - oops excuse me  - doing his accounts and books? Or should we give him an excuse and say he learned from his father who, as a member of the Klu Klux Klan in NYC was arrested after an altercation in the streets - against NYC Police because they were predominantly Catholic?

On the one hand - it's nice to be 90 with your faculties intact - on the other hand you can remember the 1930's and the acquiescence of the crowds as they chanted with their Austrian and Italian dictators to "purify" their populations.....
Never again? Not with Stephen Miller Goebbels and the Foxy network guiding the Orange King and his frightened courtiers.

Just when you think the Orange King has reached the limits of SHAME ...

The Orange King delayed the beginning of ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at the WWII cemetery near the Normandy beaches so he could be interviewed by his Foxy friend.

The Orange King used this solemn site (close to 10,000 Americans are buried here) to call war hero and former special counsel Robert Mueller a “fool”, Senate Minority leader Schumer a “jerk” and Nancy Pelosi a “disaster” .

In 2013, my husband and I and our daughter Joan and granddaughter Miriam had the privilege and honor of visiting the Normandy beaches (courtesy of a Uniworld cruise in France). History became alive as we walked on some of the five beaches, looked at the cliffs behind us with bomb craters and remains of German bunkers. Later we visited the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, on a bluff above Omaha Beach. Uniworld offered cruise guests fresh flowers to place on graves – to honor and thank those who died. It was one of the most moving, somber days in my life.

Here are some photos I took of our visit: Two views of  the American Cemetery; views of "Les Braves", large steel sculpture on Omaha Beach, created by  French artist Anilore Banon, commissioned by the French government, to commemorate the Normandy D-Day landings.
The stone sculpture states: THE ALLIES FORCES LANDING ON THIS SHORE WHICH THEY CALL OMAHA BEACH LIBERATE EUROPE JUNE 6th 1994.

Bar Barr!!!

Why is the press not reminding us - daily - that the rule of law in our country is diminishing - gradually. How can we have a strong judicial system - with a crooked Attorney General?   

Note the unfortunate similarity in the U.S. today of  the paranoia, populism propaganda and absence of rule of law that led to Hitler's ascendancy in the 1930's? The German judiciary, slowly but surely, came under the  control of the Nazis. Alas, too many citizens ignored this failed Austrian artist as a passing  blabbermouth and did not believe what he promised. 

And when our Orange King is not reappointed in 2020 will his followers take to the streets and create mayhem? BTW: I'm waiting to heart more about enacting protective measures for honest 2020 election results. ......?

Our endangered "free" press is often a frightened press. They bolster the Orange King with biased  reporting - either by omission or commenting on every stupid Royal action. (or not calling a lie a lie!) I can only assume NPR must be terrified of losing government money; it's commonplace to note the presenters who seem terrified to question obvious misstatements by Orange King followers. 

And when will the Democrats get their act together - with goals, policies and a candidate who can beat Trump? They need a George Clooney/Reagan type candidate......

Glancing through Harvard Medical School publications, (my husband got his MD degree  there in 1952),   I read about one of the world's richest man - (Sir) Len Blavatnik who contributed sooooo much money to Harvard Medical School - for all this wonderful research/equipment that's will save lives.....if you're well healed! He gives even more money (along with his Russian oligarch friends) to PACS for conservative causes including  Kentucky's Mitch McConnell - who  will make sure that the average person will not have access to medical care. 

Every now and then, there's a sane voice that makes me feel a bit better - and this clip is lifted (my added italics, colors, underlines) from a May 22, 2019  op-ed in the Kansas City Star by former Republican Congressman Tom Coleman:

“According to the redacted Mueller report, candidate Donald Trump, along with members of his team, on multiple occasions welcomed Russian interference on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. For example, the report details a meeting between the Trump campaign chairman and a Russian intelligence asset where polling information and campaign strategy were shared........ the net effect was that the Trump campaign encouraged a foreign adversary to use and misrepresent stolen information on social media platforms to defraud U.S. voters...... the president’s election victory brought forth nothing less than an illegitimate presidency…

...Because DOJ regulations put a president above the law while in office, I believe the only viable option available is for the House of Representatives, under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, to open its own investigation, hold public hearings and then determine if they should pursue removal of the president through impeachment.... providing Americans an opportunity to obtain a better understanding of the consequences to our national security and the lingering threat to our democracy.

If this process leads to impeaching Trump .... his illegitimacy would survive through Vice President Mike Pence’s succession to the presidency. Because the misdeeds were conducted to assure the entire Trump-Pence ticket was elected, both former candidates — Pence as well as Trump — have been disgraced and discredited. To hand the presidency to an illegitimate vice president would be to approve and reward the wrongdoing while the lingering stench of corruption would trail any Pence administration, guaranteeing an untenable presidency. If Trump is impeached, then Pence should not be allowed to become president. The vice president should resign or be impeached as well if for no other reason that he has been the chief enabler for this illegitimate president.”

 ...Failure to pursue impeachment is to condone wrongdoing. To condone wrongdoing is to encourage more of it. To encourage wrongdoing is to give up on the rule of law and our democracy. To give up on the rule of law and democracy invites autocracy and eventually dictatorship. History has taught us this outcome.........it has occurred in other places including the Soviet Union and Germany, as well as in Russia and Venezuela today.”

Barring Barr is a step in the right direction - unless we're looking for a crooked orange TV host Dictator to rule our kingdom! 

Time to Topple the Orange King

It's time to begin the PROCESS  of impeaching the Orange King. Many believe that impeachment would fail in the Senate and might hurt 2020 election results. But - inaction is worse than starting the process.

Sad fact: Too many representatives and senators have not read the Mueller report. Alas, there was no skilled writer available to present the facts of this lengthy collection of data in palatable, easy to read/understand form; (today’s “readers” barely make it beyond a tweet or two) .

Congress is hunting down the facts and the King refuses to offer up any documents. (He’s the King, everybody!!!)

If the impeachment process is the best path to offer judicial access to requested documents - let's do it.

Doing nothing is worse than "waiting for all the facts" which will not be forthcoming if the King has his way.

As a 90 year-old voter I've never suffered through the reign of an Orange TV King governing the United States.  

But - Kings can be toppled too. And all his courtiers, jesters. Sounds good to me!

Banning Arabic numerals? A rally for the Orange King, July 4 on the D.C. Mall? Cheating in golf?

CivicScience (Professional poll takers) polled more than 3,200 Americans …. general topic was math instruction.  Think it was controversial? One of the questions: should Arabic numerals be taught in American schools ?

 29% of poll respondents said it’s okay to teach Arabic numerals in schools.

15% had no opinion on the subject. Duh?

BUT -  56% of these “brilliant”  Americans said Arabic numerals should not be taught in American schools.  

(Not sure where these sages were educated - but assuming they're fans of the Orange King and his  lady in waiting Betsy DeVos!)

Haven't blogged since March - so depressed, disgusted with the political scene.

It's like a tidal wave coming to drown you and you keep running away - but the wave gets bigger and closer......and no rescuers in sight since the Democrats can't seem to get their act together.

In addition to enduring battling bolton, balmy barr and pompous pompeo, we were told the Orange King left his tv and twitter account for a few minutes to welcome a fellow traveler to the White Palace: Hungarian despot ruler - Viktor Orban who both condemns and condones Jewish people - what a neat trick! Orban wants to control higher education in his country - banning anyone who disagrees with him.
He's the kind of man the Orange King loves - a thriving dictator - and the only law of the land is HIS LAW......(oh yes - he's a lawyer, so he has a few brains -which makes him scarier!) 

And now the Orange King wants to hold a political rally celebrating July 4 on the Mall - with my taxes? Is he inviting all 2020 presidential candidates to join him? Ho ho ho! oh yes - he'll even have fireworks.....really? something new? What's the celebration for? Great America Honoring China's Great Wall?

Looking forward to reading the new golf book: Commander in Cheat - How Golf Explains Trump by sportswriter Reilly. When I was younger I always felt an employer could learn more about prospective employees after playing a few sets of tennis or rounds of golf with them; hard to mask who/what you are on the court/course!

Promises, promises, Yay Nancy and pro soccer in EL Paso!

So the Orange King’s budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year has a name: “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.”

Ok – so John Cassidy in the New Yorker magazine reminds us that on June 16, 2015,  when the Orange King was running for POTUS and  emoting as he descended an escalator at Trump Tower, these gems fell out of his mouth:  “Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts,” …. “Have to do it.”  And he kept repeating this as he ran for office, appealing to his adoring deplorables. (Oh yes – he made a point of citing his terrible Republican opponents running against him in the primaries out to cut Medicare and Social Security!) And just before the election he threw in a few more whoppers which included that he alone would “protect” Medicare and Hillary would destroy it.

Really? Oh yeah – gotta deliver my promises, says the Orange King. Promised my guys a WALL to keep out the "invaders".  Medicare? What’s that?

Yay Nancy! Asked if Trump was fit to be President, Speaker Pelosi said, “No. I don’t think he is….(he’s)  ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States. My kind of politician - go Nancy, go!

The newest fun word for pols:  “socialism” . Most people don’t have a clue to its meaning – other than it’s supposed to be pejorative. Like a public school education?

Time to start promoting Ethical Capitalism!

Peeve of the week: Nothing more important than a free press – but it seems some are more free than others. There are still journalists – print/social/whatever  -  who can’t bring themselves to say the Orange King is “LYING”; they write “falsehood”, “misrepresentation” or some other synonym.

A lie is a lie is a lie!!!

A neat story for sports lovers in El Paso: 

El Paso has a new soccer team – the El Paso Locomotives. The team will be sharing the Southwest University Park with El Paso’s AAA minor league team  the El Paso Chihuahuas (affiliate of San Diego Padres). So what happens to the pitcher’s mound when the soccer team arrives? Presto magic! The Esto Retractable Mound lowers the pitcher’s mound twelve inches in ten minutes – ready for soccer – and then can raise it back up for baseball in another ten minutes. Pretty neat!!

More Lies, High Drug Prices and - Wine in flat bottles?

Addressing CPAC on Saturday, March 2, 2019, the Orange King was in top form displaying a bizarre, lying, unhinged personality; he was cheered by his kool-aid sycophants and the press just wrote it up as another day in the life of a crazy president - who included wrapping himself around the U.S. flag at one point.

And the followers ate it up – listening to the King perform;  a bizarre performance based on fantasy, deceit and lies. (The Saturday performance served up 104 lies according to press counters.)

It’s what Goebbels said in the 1930’s – if you lie over and over – you will be believed

After watching Michael Cohen’s session with the House last week (Feb.27, 2019) it’s obvious that  Republicans (read: frightened, weak legislators)  can be counted on to run interference and defense for their Orange King no matter how much he lies, deceives, cheats or attacks innocents.

As an eternal optimist I had hoped that some of these Royal serfs would jump ship and decide that our country was more important than the Orange King’s “pockets”. My optimism, alas, is waning.

Nothing new under the sun:

 Sixty years ago, a panel of senators, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver,  grilled pharma about rising drug costs and drug-company profits. Those hearings led to new legal standards for drug safety and drug effectiveness; alas controlling prices were forgotten.

So last week the Senate decided to hold hearings once again about rising prices. My guess: nothing will change. Prices will only continue to rise!

Pharmaceutical companies know how to limit regulations and protect their profits! 

I read that Florida's governor wants to allow his state to import drugs from Canada – because they’re cheaper. Pharma infers imports may be unsafe.
Oh sure! Canadians are all taking unsafe drugs? 

(Talking about safety  - one thing is sure:  they’re 100 times safer than all the unnecessary supplements U.S. residents buy that have never been inspected by the FDA or other government entity!)

My personal complaint: I use eye drops made by a U.S. company who moved their headquarters to Ireland to avoid U.S. taxes; their medication is made in various locations around the world – same box, same drops, same everything except price: about $35 in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, South/Central America and close to $200 in the U.S.! Interestingly, the U.S. price was about $75 two years ago – the raised prices indicate nothing new - except greed. There is no generic version; a few years ago the company made the medication less potent (yielding same results) but were able to claim  (in court) this was a “new” drug – therefore the patent was extended!

I’m sure one of the reasons for drug price hikes (in addition to greed) are the hefty payments for  their daily tv commercials we endure every day. If you feel fine when you sit down to watch tv, you may very well end your viewing with assorted illnesses/symptoms thanks to  pharmaceutical company suggestions.

Once upon a time, these companies couldn't advertise to the public........

Moving on to pleasanter topics: 

How about wine in a flat plastic bottle?

A story in the UK newspaper The Guardian about the Garcon Wines company invention: flat, plastic wine bottles. Their claim:  full size flat wine bottles will  reduce carbon emissions and costs in the entire wine industry supply chain. Santiago Navarro is the chief executive, co-founder of Garçon Wines; he said normal wine cases offer "costly logistics, excessive packaging, wasted resources and a grotesque carbon footprint".

Just imagine: gift a friend by dropping your favorite bottle of wine in a mail slot!