Trump Assumes Near Royal Power

The big news over the weekend is that Trump has asserted dictatorial powers.  He claims he has the unconditional power to STOP any investigation that is ongoing.  He also has the power to pardon himself according to his new attorney, Giuliani, over the weekend on the news shows.  The WH press secretary says “Of course the President would never pardon himself because he’s done nothing wrong”.   I am not a bit satisfied with that answer if for no other reason than President Trump lies literally about everything.  Thom Hartman read out of the constitution and it says that the president has the power of reprieves and pardons except in cases of impeachment.  It also says that “After impeachment, the president is liable for the usual prosecution”.   Now Thom Hartman has advanced the theory that the President can voluntarily step down and let Pence take over and the Vice President can pardon Trump and then the president has the choice whether to continue out of office, or he can exercise the option to again assume his duties as president under the 25^th Amendment.  Clearly this shows how far the president has sunk.  There are jokes about the president shooting Muller and then pardoning himself for his murder.  Hartman brought up conversations that occurred in the Nixon administration in mid 1974.  Every time I don’t think my opinion of President Trump could sink any lower in terms of personal respect, he surprises me. 

The Supreme Court decision today said it was OK for a Colorado baker to discriminate against a gay couple and not bake them a wedding cake.  What else could be expect from a Trump Supreme Court?  Actually the vote was 7 to 2 so it wasn’t close.  Also we are informed that it’s not a general ruling but the provisions are limited to just this case.  If it were me I’d serve anybody that came into my shop if they were polite and well behaved and didn’t ask me to do anything that was against the law, even if it were a white supremacist group.  My philosophy is “their money is as good as anybody’s”.   I don’t think I could argue that “since I am a Christian therefore I am not a bigot and thus could not compromise my principles”. 

The situation in Afghanistan is so bad now that ambassadors and other government officials can’t even travel down a two mile road by land vehicle and have to be transported by helicopter.   If the country is that unsafe it’s clear that after nearly seventeen years we need to pull out all of our troops from Afghanistan.   In terms of North Korea I wouldn’t count too much on that summet on June 12^th.  This country should stop throwing good money after bad and instead make friends with our allies like Canada rather than slap terrifs on them.  We stick it to our friends and alienate governments in Europe yet cozy up to every despot dictator all over the world.  It makes no sense.  There are certain bad dictators we should just leave alone. 

Saudi Arabia has at long last begun issuing drivers licenses to women.  This is a good start at bringing themselves out of the nineteenth century.  Some people argue that prior to the Iranian revolution of 1979 that Saudi Arabia was a much more moderate country.  I guess the end of Ronadon is coming up in a week or so.   This is the holiday where they fast during the day and eat at night.  They celebrate when it’s over.  I think the Moslems should conduct a public relations campaign to convince the world that the religion is just not a haven and an excuse for terrorism.  I assume there are sufficient things in the Koran that are a civilizing nature.  I’ve seen them myself.   Rather than burn the Koran maybe people should take time to actually read it.  The vast majority of Islamic Americans are good citizens after all who go to work and live “quiet lives” and go home to their wife and kids every night.  

On “Days of our Lives” my feeling about Brady throwing Teresa out of the house is that it’s less about her leaving Clowie behind as captive in Mexico and a lot more about “buyer’s remorse”.  He regrets taking her back to begin with and is looking for a way to get out of it without looking stupid.  Now he’s bringing all that stuff about Teresa from their past together but these things have always been true.  They didn’t change overnight.  The other thing is Trip deciding to make love to Claire and then backing out of it while well under-way.  Then that very moment Sierra decides to return after saying in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want to have anything to do with Trip even spending one more night together in that house.  Now she has to be very careful what she says to Trip or she’ll lose him for good and Trip and Claire will pick right up where they left off having sex.