Peaceful Warriors

As the bell continues to toll, perhaps we might turn our attention to the legion of 'warriors whose strength is not to fight' who, like Saint Francis, have experienced the horrors of war and chose to spend the remainder of their days on Earth sowing the seeds of peace while repudiating misanthropic expression in all of its ugly forms. These are the heroes we might also want to honor: the 'underdog soldiers in the night' who continue to be sent to their doom by old men in soft chairs; the countless poor boys eternally sent 'off to fight the rich man's war'.
'Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God'...Saint Matthew, the good priest from Assisi, Bob Dylan, and Steve Earle have not forgotten their legacy and neither should we.

Respect!

Tiger Woods has recently admonished us to respect the office of the Presidency. I agree and suggest that this respect should be modeled by the current office holder.

Here Comes The Blind Commissioner

As Beauregard fights back, perhaps making himself the most ironic defender of justice in history, Trump can be over heard saying: 'my kingdom for a modern day Robert Bork'!!
In related news: 'they're selling postcards of the hanging and painting the passports brown; the beauty parlor in full of sailors, the circus is in town'!!

An Alternative Judge of Character

If, as Trump suggests, Paul Manafort is a 'good' and 'brave' person, it certainly is not reflected in his defrauding the American people of millions of unpaid and evaded tax dollars, enabling international mobsters/oligarchs access to the highest levels of American government, and consistently lying about his nearly $60 million in hidden off-shore bank accounts.
Apparently in DJT's alternate universe, Manafort's actions are consistent with virtue, courage, and honesty. God help us all!!

The Disturbing Absence of Outrage

In light of today's indictments of twelve Russian operatives in the hacking of computers and the theft of files from the DNC and the DCCC (previously well documented in the book Russian Roulette by Corn and Isikoff) as well as the outright interference in the American electoral process, the president should have immediately expressed outrage at this intrusion into the functioning of our internal institutions, demanded  the extradition of the accused, considered  the expulsion of key Russian diplomats, confronted Vladimir Putin with this finding, and praised the investigating efforts of his intelligence agencies. Instead, the White House issued a statement focused only on the administration's culpability in the matter. In so doing, Trump (once again) abdicated his responsibility as the leader of this Republic in condemning the war-like actions of a foreign government against the people of the United States. His lack of proper response to these attacks resembles the actions more of a Manchurian candidate than a national leader.

Refusing to Observe the Obvious

It was interesting to note how MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell chose to frame the recent election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the House of Representatives as some sort of a demographically determined (in fact, she drew widespread support) anomaly while ignoring 1) the overwhelming margin of victory 2) the fact that she was grossly outspent 3) that she brought out the vote (an essential element to any Democratic strategy going forward), and 4) that she spoke to progressive issues that the Democratic establishment has heretofore thought 'too risky' to address.
What entrenched party apologists like O'Donnell fail grasp is that Ms Ocasio-Cortez's victory was not a fluke but rather a signal that progressive policies in fact resonate with people across a broad range of demographic categories and that the open discussion of these issues is being embraced as a fresh antidote to the stasis far too long embodied by traditional Democratic candidates. Congratulations to Alexandria...you go on ahead with your bad self, girl!!!

The Basics

In response to Trump's inability/unwillingness to simply say he is sorry...A real man will apologize when he is wrong. It's called: accepting responsibility for one's actions.