Saturday, March 24, 2018

MONGER ME THIS

To say we are about to enter into a new era of US foreign policy is a huge understatement. To shift the former CIA chief hard liner Mike Pompeo into the Secretary of State role is disconcerting. But we could live with the pick. This is not as dangerous as is the appointment of form UN Ambassador John Bolton into the role of National Security Advisor.

This is a man who is historically against diplomacy. This is a man who wants to ramp up military spending, not a deterrent to others, but for its potential to be used throughout the world. This is a man who has advised for the military attacks on Iraq and North Korea as well. He is against the meeting between Trump and Kim as a waste of time, as well as is against a two party state for Israel. 

I should mention here that John Bolton is a right wing, dogmatic asshole who couldn't receive a Senate confirmation for the position of White House dog catcher. He couldn't as UN Ambassador, so they appointed him as a temp of sorts. Certainly he couldn't get Congressional approval as any member of the cabinet. Fortunately for him, the role of National Security Advisor requires only a Presidential appointment. 

He is certainly a war monger. What on earth he was doing in the UN is beyond me. Fortunately for us, the UN is a powerless, vapid organization that has little power or importance other than occasionally achieving column inches in the media. But with his appointment to be NSA, Trump's third in fourteen months, will give him the ear and attention of someone with little to no experience with foreign affairs. And given his naivete in diplomatic affairs on the world's stage, Trump will be seeking his advice on a daily basis. 

In many ways, Bolton is the perfect man for the job in the Trump administration, as his fiery, who gives a shit attitude, both in private and in the media matches that of President Trump. Bolton will certainly fire up our critics around the globe and further increase foreign alienation from our allies across the world. Certainly many will criticize the US for their future decisions as team Trump/Bolton go lockstep into the future of the world like bulls in china shops. 

Will they lead us to war? Will Trump lead us into a trade war? The world breathlessly awaits...hoping for the best, but aware of the catastrophe these appointments could signal.

There is one thing for certain...Trump's many cabinet changes (firings and resultive hirings) in no way simulate a coherent plan or policy. His moves seem to revolve around his daily whims and paranoid reactive movements regarding whomever he deems to have peed in his corn flakes the previous day....and this is no way to behave when you are the perceived "most powerful man on the planet." It is certainly not a confidence booster to our European allies who have in the past looked toward the United States as a protector and world leader. The world shutters in disbelief at the goings on and the dizzying directions (or lack thereof) of the clown car of an administration Trump is driving. 

And that is the world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading. 

Friday, February 16, 2018

A TRAGIC HISTORY THAT UNFORTUNATELY WILL BE REPEATED

I used to engage in debates after school shootings...gun control, mental illness, video games, poor parental guidance, metal detectors, armed guards... but I stopped because nothing is going to change.
The fact is this is what we have become. This is America. This is the new normal.
No one is ever going to do anything about this.
I, like you, grieve for the victims and families involved but I have become a cynical pragmatist.
This country will do nothing about these repeated travesties. Sandy Hook? Nothing. San Bernardino? Nothing. Columbine? Nothing. Conyers, Middletown, Rancho Tehama, Marshall county, Marysville, Roseberg? Nothing. And nothing will be done after Parkland. Yes, modern day gun technology has made it easier to kill more people faster, but these school shootings have gone on for decades...centuries even. And we have done...nothing.
Here is a link to a comprehensive accounting of all school shootings. You will see what I mean.
It's our history...and unfortunately, our future as well.
I wish I could be optimistic. I wish I could tell you our leadership will do anything but tweet their "thoughts and prayers" then sit blithely by doing nothing until the latest incident fades from our memory but they won't.
History documents their inaction. Their history is our history. Our past, our present and our future.
So, tweet away, ramp up the Facebook posts, have a lively debate on Google Plus, but nothing will change.
Weapons are too easily purchased.Weapons are accessible to our children, our criminal element and the mentally ill.
Personally, I don't think the Parkland killer was even certifiable.
It was the cold, calculated act of a child with access to assault weapons.
He planned it and carried it out. He took an Uber, then entered the school and indiscriminately shot everyone he came in contact with. He knew full well what he was about to do, he planned it then did it.
Cold hearted mass murder. And there are others waiting to go off just like the orchestrator of Parkland.
Lots of people knew of this kid, and did...nothing. People like this leave clues, they give warnings.
But if those in the know choose to do...nothing, then we are defenseless.And innocent people perish.
Young people perish before they even get a chance to live. And this country will do nothing about it. 
God bless their memories, God bless the grieving families attempting to cope with the aftermath of this latest atrocity.I wish someone could do something about it. I wish I could do something about it.
I wish there was an easy answer.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring. Thanks for grieving.
Sometimes I hate the world...the "World According to Kimba."
If you feel powerless at present, join the club. 

Sunday, January 7, 2018

LEADING FROM (HIS) BEHIND

I am not one of those bark at the moon Trump haters...he is now my President (like it or not--and I don't) and as a loyal American, it is my responsibility to support him and hope he succeeds.

I am not surprised at his priorities, as much as I despise all that he hopes to do, as well as the entire Republican agenda. His tax plan takes the corporate tax reduction way too far and favors the rich far too much. His domestic policies are racial biased and he has done nothing but hurt our efforts to bolster education and infrastructure.

Where I disagree with the Trump administration is his complete lack of leadership. His public childish rants, his threats and attacks on anyone he dislikes, his revolving door approach to hiring and firing his closest advisers and his inability to work with anyone who disagrees with him. In fact, any fact that disagrees with his line of thinking is completely dismissed as "fake news," even when it is obvious it is true. He is crass, vulgar and completely self-absorbed.

Whether he doesn't appreciate or even understand the inherit leadership vacuum he has created, he has led this nation down into the gutter by communicating not with press conferences but tweets in social media. He has taken the gap between red and blue and made it a chasm. He has made political preconceived notions and cynicism to outright hatred of all those who disagree the order of the day.
He embodies the kind of crass, vulgar, ugly American qualities that the rest of the world despises.

He needs to take stock of his leadership skills. He needs to see how his behavior affects the nation...and to a certain extent...the world. He needs to hire some close advisers with leadership skills. It wouldn't hurt if he even adopted a little positivism and optimism.

Kennedy once told the nation he believed in us and we would go to the moon...and we did.  Obama stated that he believed in this nation and told us we could cure cancer in ten years.

Trump is too busy attacking his enemies. All he does is state not what revolves around the nation, but himself. He will make us great again. He will win so much we will get tired of winning. It's the Trump opera...me, me, me, me, me.

"It took Trump less than a year to destroy America's good name around the globe." "Trump personifies everything the rest of the world despises about America: casual racism, crass materialism, relentless self-aggrandizement, vulgarity on an epic scale; he is the ugly American excel-sis."
Paul Thomas has it right...and we are stuck with the ugly American for at least three more years. Lord help us.
And that's the world...the "World According to Kimba." Thanks for reading.