THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION

I want to make a few observations and comments on the Russian Connection to the Trump Campaign and Presidency.

Today, May 24, 2017, is the first time I have seen the word “Treason or Treasonous” behavior in the Sacramento Bee in an article about Mr. Trump and the Russian Connection.  The words are those of Mr. Brennan, former head of the CIA, in his testimony to Congress on May 23, 2017.  The whole idea of Treason seems far fetched, but that is true of many things we read and hear about Mr. Trump.  The current published comments by Mr. Brennan, make it perfectly clear there were contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians.  We don’t know what was said but we can ask “what might they be talking about at this critical moment?”  Certainly not the weather.  The heavy financial investment by Mr. Trump in Russian business and his complementary comments regarding Putin and Russia raises a very red flag.  General Flynn lied, resigns, and now takes the 5^th amendment to prevent testifying before Congress about the Russian Connection.  The President himself passes highly classified information to the Russians in the oval office, a gathering that allowed only Russian journalists, but not US journalists, to attend.  The final blow was the firing of Mr. Comey.  Firing the leader who is investigating your behavior is an admission of guilt until proven otherwise.  We, as ordinary citizens of this country, are allowed to connect the dots above and reach our own conclusions.  The whole series of events is highly suspicious.  I am hopeful Mr. Mueller will be able to set our minds at ease with a thorough investigation of all aspects of this Russian Connection.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey

I believe Mr. Trump is now in real trouble.  Firing someone who is investigating you essentially says you are guilty.  I suspect Mr. Comey was getting close to the truth.  The FBI staff was clearly behind Mr. Comey.  The President accused him of "doing a poor job" but he said this without conviction.  The matter must now be placed in the hands of an independent investigator if we expect to get the truth.

We might ask what kind of a job Mr. Trump has done to unify the country.  In my view he has done nothing except tweet to his followers.  He continues to promote "Divide and Conquer" which only deepens the discord.  If he did want to do something to bring us together so we could at least begin to talk to one another, he could release his tax return.  He is clearly hiding something and until we see his tax return he will not be trusted nor will he be able to do a good job.

My final blog on Mr. Trump

I think one of the best thoughts on the candidacy of Mr. Trump came from John Bogle, the founder of  Vanguard funds and a man of about my age.  He says "I am going to vote for Ms. Clinton because she represents a risk I think I can understand."

Police and Racism

Police and Racisim

I watched President Obama’s excellent speech at the memorial service for the Dallas policemen.  The major issue is race relations.   Racism is very much with us and it doesn’t seem to be improving in spite of all the attention and money given to it.  I must admit that I personally have done nothing specific to improve race relations. I have always shown respect to persons of color and treat them cordially.  I have trusted in our Federal government and state and local officials to deal equitably with all peoples and provide whatever public support is available. What can I/we do at the present time to improve race relations?

I think back to Rodney king 25 plus years ago.  I watched that video of him being beaten by white police officers.  “Why are the police beating him up in this fashion?  If he has committed some serious offense, put him in the paddy wagon and take him to jail.  What is accomplished by beating him up?”  I think the police were meting out their own punishment as a lesson to Rodney as well as any other black youth that might be watching.  We saw this same approach in Ferguson, MO.   Pulling black youth over for minor auto infractions is the same as beating up Rodney King.  I see a pervasive negative ATTITUDE between both the black youth and the police.  Each believes the other side is the enemy.  These attitudes have become embedded in our society.  Here is what Swindoll says about Attitude:

“Attitude is more important facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.  It will make or break a company, a church…a home (or a country—my words).  The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day.  We cannot change the past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

 

I suggest we all begin to approach this race problem by first changing any negative attitudes we have toward the people of color and set an example by adopting a positive attitude in both comportment and speech as we enter a new chapter in race relations in our country

More on Guns

MORE ON GUNS

Three things happened to me today concerning guns.  First, I was cleaning out old files and came across a clipping from the Sacramento Bee on Sunday December 13, 2015 after the San Bernardino killings, written by Mr. Garen Wintemute.  The title “End to gun killings requires our passion and Persistence.”  He pointed out the shootings  at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook and San Bernardino resulted in 97 deaths not counting the shooters.  He went on to point out that in the 10 years ending in 2013 we lost 89 people PER DAY to firearm homicide and suicide.  In the same 10 year period we lost more civilians to firearm violence than we lost in combat in World War II—more than we lost in combat during all other conflicts in our nations history.  I have to ask, when do these kinds of figures begin to sink in to our thinking.  My own father committed suicide using an WW II 45 caliber pistol.  I refuse to have a handgun in the house for fear I’ll injure myself or one of my family.   SECOND:  The Bee carried an article today “Australia Law may offer US a Lesson.”  Australia passed a law in 1996 following a mass murder of 35 people and wounding of 19 others.  They passed the National Firearm Agreement, banned with a mandatory buyback of semi-automatic rifles like those used recently in the US.  They bought back thousands of rifles and handguns.  Since then there hasn’t been a single mass shooting of more than 5 people.  Is Australia safer?  Who knows, but in my view the results speak for themselves.  THIRD, the House Democrats staged a sit in trying to force the Republicans to vote on the gun issue.  What goes around comes around.  Obama has only himself to blame.  He forced Obama Care through congress  without ONE Republican vote.  The Republicans got the message immediately that dealing with Obama and the democrats was going to be bare knuckle politics.

HOWEVER, reason has to prevail for the good of the country and the Republicans need to compromise and reach a satisfactory conclusion to this gun problem.  The NRA is in an untenable position.

                                                    Mr. Trump and Judge Curiel
The unprovoked outburst of Mr. Trump at Judge Curiel again tells a lot about Mr. Trump but nothing about judge Curiel.  First, Mr. Trump never apologizes; second, he never forgives;  third, he never forgets and fourth he never never wrong and if things go south it is not his fault.  He is quite paranoid.  He is unable to take any criticism  and call all who might oppose him "losers" or even worse names.  He is vindictive.  I am unable to respect a man with these qualities.

Asking Mr. Trump to lead our country without any sort of a plan is akin to asking him to perform major surgery on a patient even though he never went to medical school or had surgical training.  He could say he will know what to do when he gets there, which is his frequent reply.

I take Mr. Trumps campaign very seriously and ask all my friends to consider if he represents the kind of man they want to lead and UNIFY our country as we struggle to meet the demands of modern day society

More on Mr. Trump

A few months ago I wrote a blog about Mr. Trump and compared his rise in popularity to that of Hitler after lWW I.  This week one of the members of our Sacramento bike club, David Kirk, wrote a long treatise on the dangers posed by Mr. Trump comparing his rise to power as similar to that of Hitler and Mussolini.  He very eloquently details the issues here and how the german and italian people were taken in by his message of power to correct all ills and make “Germany Great Again.”

I am greatly alarmed by Mr. Trump and believe his message represents a real and ever present danger to our country and our cherished freedoms and institutions.  He must not be elected to the presidency.   Mr. McConnell, Republican leader of the senate, stated this week that he supports Mr. Trump and thinks there are enough checks and balances to prevent him from doing too much harm.  I disagree with that assessment.  The executive branch has almost unlimited power to do what they want to do.  Look at all the upstanding citizens he has threatened this week.  I do not visualize his approach or attitude will change if he becomes president.

I want to call everyone to think seriously about the threats posed by Mr. Trump and to do whatever you can to prevent him from being elected to the presidency.  The Sacramento Bee published an article today by Adam Liptak of the New York Times “Scholars  say Trump threatens the rule of law” and he suggests the checks and balances will not be enough to stop Mr. Trump.  Mr. Trump is not a good man and he threatens everything we stand for as Americans.  Lets make great use of the social media to prevent him from becoming president.

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