Stop the kidney punches, Democrats

            The Democratic presidential debates have been as welcome as a toothache.             Bash, trash, clash, finger-point, knee-cap. Rinse and repeat.             I’m not watching.             Those appearing on-stage are all outstanding, thoughtful, bright individuals with the best interests of the country at heart.             Any would be better in…

For political pettiness, Trump is a force of nature

            “The thing I like about Trump is that he’s not a politician.”             For dripping ripeness, that ranks with:             “I like Trump because he’ll finance his own campaign.”             (Sure, with millions from the National Rifle Association, and Sheldon Adelson, and the Mercers, and the Kochs, and the DeVos…

Hostages of lobbyists and hobbyists

           The moment cops took down the Odessa gunman, the clock started ticking toward the next mass shooting.             It will happen. Count on it. Just as you can count on Republicans in Washington and in red statehouses, like the red-granite one in Texas, to do nothing about it.             Cowardly,…

The embarrassment-a-thon continues

            It’s a stunning number.             A new Associated Press-NORC poll finds that 62 percent of Americans disapprove of what Donald Trump is doing, while 36 percent approve.             Thank of that.             An imponderable number – a little more than 100 million Americans, one in three of us –…

Whom do you trust? My goodness, not him

            So, are you good with Roundup now?             The Environmental Protection Agency, made golden in the image of Donald Trump, just pronounced the weed-killer not a human-killer.             The wind gust you just heard? That was a sigh of relief from Roundup’s maker, Monsanto. Or maybe there was no…

‘All lives matter’? You don’t mean it

           Congressman Kevin McCarthy spun the wheel of empty rationalizations. It came up: “video games.”             It could have landed on “gay marriage,” or “changing gender roles,” or “God removed from schools.” To him, no doubt, “video games” sounded fresh.             Whether he realized it or not, in his empty rationalization,…

GOP, religious right wedded in moral rot

            How far we’ve come.              From FDR’s fireside chats to grade-school tweets that light tiki torches.              From JFK’s selflessness to every man for himself.              From Barack Obama’s “Amazing Grace” to . . . the man who in 2016 took the down escalator into our nation's life.             …

‘What is and should be illegal activity’

            Those who care about the rule of law should stop buying the Fox News angle that Robert Mueller’s appearance before two congressional panels was, as at least one progressive and sympathetic commentator said, “A disaster.”             Americans shouldn’t give a rodent’s rear-end that Mueller “looked old,” that occasionally he “fumbled”…

             ‘What is and should be illegal activity’  ‘What is and should be illegal activity’ Those who care about the rule of law should stop buying the Fox News angle that Robert Mueller’s appearance before two congressional panels was, as at least one progressive and sympathetic commentator said, “A disaster.”            …

Four genuine public servants and one big phony

            I know what many want at this moment: to denounce him, to impeach him, to send him back to where he came from — a career of eluding debtors.             Sorry, but this time I’m going to thank Donald Trump.             Were it not for his unconscionable racist screed,…