There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a unique individual. It is also obvious that he has many flaws. However, he has many significant accomplishments to his credit for the first 7 months of his term, notwithstanding the lack of support from substantial segments of the Republican establishment and the implacable resistance of the Democratic party, aided and abetted by the mainstream media. 
The greatest obstacle has been the Republican so-called leadership. It should have been obvious that Paul Ryan, who is a decent man, totally lacks the skills and the stature required to be a dominant Speaker of the House. His weakness was glaringly evident in his feeble run for vice-president against Joe Biden, who in one-on-one confrontation chewed him up and spat him out. It is tragic, bordering on treasonous, that after condemning Obamacare for seven years, Ryan and his factotums didn’t have full-scale, first-rate repeal and replacement legislation ready on the first day of the Trump presidency. They did not, and the bill the House passed is weak and of dubious efficacy.
As for Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader of the Senate, he, too, is weak and ineffective. He seems to have been totally unaware that Senator McCain, one of the most over-rated politicians of his era, was planning a bait and switch of grandiose proportions. His appearance in the Senate to vote on moving the Senate bill to the floor was adored by “everyone” as an act of great courage because of his surgery and cancer diagnosis. But McConnell failed to determine before McCains’s grand-standing, what his intentions were on the vote to send the bill to conference. Everyone, and especially McCain, knew that the House and the Senate versions had deep flaws and it would require highly skilled legislators to  merge and improve them to create a successful piece of legislation.
But the crafty, egomaniacal McCain said he couldn’t vote for the deeply flawed version, knowing full-well that the very purpose of the vote was to transfer the legislation to a venue where it could be improved.  McCain’s true motivation was to damage Trump. McCain is fiercely jealous of Trump who won the presidency while he failed miserably. To compound the matter, Trump had already infuriated McCain by denigrating McCain’s heroic service in the Viet Nam war.
While this was going on, Trump and team have gotten an unprecedented 15-0 Security Council resolution against North Korea. Trump has been criticized by both sides for his powerful responses to bellicose threats from North, but even if Trump’s “friends” didn’t get it, Kim did. He backed down from threats against Guam.
In another essentially trivial event, right-wing extremists, some shouting foul epithets, marched legally in opposition to the removal of statues of Civil War Confederate leaders. They were assaulted by bat, stave and rock throwing lefties, while the cops stood by. A White Supremacist punk drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors and killed an innocent woman, seriously injuring several others. An outrage, no doubt, and Trump condemned it, excoriating violence on MANY sides. The left and some utterly foolish Republicans were furious—Trump wasn’t specific enough in not specifically naming, NeoNazis and KKK’s in the march. Trump was correct. In fact, he was referring to the many instances of violence in recent years, including the slaughter in San Bernardino, the horrific attack in Orlando, and the many incidents abroad, including in Paris, London, Brussels, and soon after in Barcelona. Trump was condemning violence in its many forms, but the left and even the right chose to view his words as relating only to the events in Charlottesville.  Later, he condemned the KKK, Neo-Nazis and the others who had marched in Charlottesville, but even that was not sufficient. Subsequently, he spoke an obvious truth: the hard right protestors had secured a valid permit for their march, and while they made many disgusting statements, it was the counter-protestors who struck the first blows. But Trump’s enemies would not have accepted anything he said, as they were determined to trash him and any of his supporters who spoke out to defend him. Very few did. Nothing Trump said was false, dishonest or disreputable in any way. But, this was used as an excuse by many in the business community, academia, etc. to condemn him, drop out of business and other fora and councils, and isolate him as much as possible. I am 87 years old and have been following politics for over 50 years, and I have never seen anything like the attacks on Trump. While his enemies gloat, they ignore—to their and our peril—the effect of this undeserved calumny of a U.S. president. There is undoubtedly a vast left-wing conspiracy, but many Republicans and conservatives who should be supporting the president and acknowledging his achievements, have disgraced themselves by joining in this cabal. I wondered whether we could ever recover from Barack Obama, America’s most dishonest and destructive president, but the despicable attempt to destroy this President of the United States is so vicious and wide-spread, I fear for the nation. I fear for Western civilization. I fear for the world. Only the good sense and high character of the vast majority of the American people can save us from disaster.
 
 

 

  
Today the nation faces one of the greatest crises in our history. When I state this, many citizens, Democrat and Republican alike, will automatically assume that I am referring to President Donald J. Trump. Yes, I am, but not because, as allegedly brilliant scholars like Charles Krauthammer  have stated, that Trump is “unfit to be president.” That is arrant and despicable nonsense, and people like Krauthammer, who ought to know better, should be ashamed of themselves for making these unwarranted remarks—for even harboring such destructive beliefs. Would they have preferred the unindicted major felon, Hillary Clinton, or the sniveling socialist, Bernie Sanders?  
The truth is that despite his occasional coarseness and sometimes seeming ignorance, Trump is the one person who can drain the Washington swamp, uncover and destroy the corrupt “deep state” and create a conservative majority that can save the union—and preserve American Democratic-Capitalism.
The first reveal by Trump is that Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, is both feeble and feckless. When the nation learned that after 7 years of disparaging Obamacare, the Republicans had no alternative ready to replace it, Ryan was exposed as both weak and incompetent. In the Senate, Mitch McConnell proved to be as inept as Ryan, and without authority in his own caucus. It was not surprising that John McCain would oppose anything that might advance the stature of Donald Trump. Trump’s foolish remarks about McCain’s military service forged him as an implacable foe. No doubt, McCain was a brave hero in his years as a captive of the Communist North Vietnamese regime. But his career since has been unremarkable at best. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules were foolish and destructive. As a presidential candidate, McCain was a disaster.
As for Susan Collins, she is as deeply a Republican as Nancy Pelosi, in other words, not at all. She runs her own little fiefdom in Maine, notable only for her lisping speech. Lisa Murkowski is another creature, indeed. Any capable majority leader would have been able to force her in line,  but not the feeble old flatus my wife calls “Marblemouth.” McConnell is serenely content with himself, having reached the pinnacle of his ambition as Majority Leader. He has a lovely and charming wife (what she sees in him is a mystery), and a safe retirement. He is unalterably opposed to dumping the non-constitutional “filibuster rule,” even though it stands in the way of a successful Trump presidency, and more important, it blocks the future of America. The Democrats will assuredly dump the rule as soon as they return to power, and in view of McConnell’s weak-kneed performance, that may happen sooner than anyone thought possible.
In the meantime, Sessions having unnecessarily recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation, a supporter of James Comey, and therefore an enemy of Trump has been appointed special counsel. If Robert Mueller were truly the honest man his supporters (and some  Republicans) would have us believe, he would never have accepted the appointment. His only conceivable goal is to revenge his great friend James Comey for being fired by President Trump.
Special Counsels (Prosecutors) always win. Mueller didn’t take the job because he thought it would be constructive to clear the air so that Trump administration could proceed free of suspicion. No, he took the job so he could be a hero and bring down a presidency. That is why this charade cannot be allowed to proceed.  Freed of this “noise” Trump can advance the prosperity of the country—of the western world—and stymie the Iranian dictatorship, the Venezualan dictatorship, the Russian dictatorship and all the other dictatorships. We can control and ultimately destroy the North Korean threat, and more important, stymie the ambitions of China, intent on dominating the world—and also revenging the damage the west inflicted on China across hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years.
Whatever it takes—Mueller must be stopped. If it can be accomplished by the president simply firing him,  should be done. If there are other alternatives, let’s find out. Allowing another egotist to insert himself into the affairs of the country is one too many. The well-being of the country is too important to leave it in the hands of Mr. Mueller. Let’s stop this travesty NOW!!!

​The majority opinion in the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the president’s request to reinstate his limited executive order on immigration borders on derangement. Chief Judge Gregory’s opinion states that the order, “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” This is preposterous; it is not a legal judgment, it is fulmination of a deeply biased judge expressing a dangerous, personal opinion contaminated by animus towards Donald Trump.  Basing a decision on statements made by a candidate during a political campaign and the comment by a political partisan of the candidate (Rudy Giuliani) on the ideas of the candidate is a concept not found anywhere in American jurisprudence. Not only must this decision be overturned, Judge Gregory should be sanctioned. He ought to be removed from the bench but clearly that is not possible in these parlous times. It is nearly 65 years since I graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, 64 since my admission to the Illinois bar, 40 since my admission to the California bar, and 14 since my admission to the Bar of the U.S. supreme Court. Never in all these years have I heard of any opinion by a major American court so poisoned by a personal, emotional outpouring.

   

​A new and terrible disease—a pandemic really—has captured the mainstream media. It has been called “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” but these words fail to express the extent and the severity of this complaint. Reports are flooding that internet that people formerly deemed to be sensible and responsible journalists have been seen foaming at the mouth, hitting their heads against walls, decimating laptop keyboards and throwing their smartphones to the pavement and jumping on them—or tossing them out the windows of speeding cars. Generations of Democratic politicians have been sighted doing exactly the same.
There is no known treatment for this ailment, and unfortunately, otherwise sane ordinary Americans have contributed to this problem by cheering for these pathetic victims, encouraging their depredations and fostering the spread of the infectious fungi who incubate these deadly spores throughout the known world.
As these people splutter and spit, rave and rant, they have reached the nadir of American political history, They can no longer be taken seriously. While they tried to paint Trump as a clown, they themselves have become buffoons, not entertaining but embarrassing and utterly foolish. In fact, depraved.

If you hear something from a Republican politician, there's a 50/50 chance it's true. If a Democrat tells you something, there's an 80/20 chance it's false. The reason is simple: Democrats have learned to use all media, traditional, social and otherwise, in order not to inform, but to win. They know that the American Americans get their information from the deeply biased major TV networks other than Fox, and if they actually read a newspaper, with the partial exception of the Wall Street Journal, they will be consistently lied to.
And Liberal/Progressives always win the name game.  When they sold the public on calling homosexuals "gay" they eliminated all negative inferences and half the battle was won for same-sex marriage (an oxymoron if there ever was one).  When they invented "transgender" they overcame "transvestite." They also claim that gender is "fluid," clever but false. There is a growing crescendo of medical studies establishing clearly the vast differences between the sexes--that's right, sexes not genders. This does not mean that men or women should no be treated fairly; they should. But the idea that men and women are identical is utterly false, and dangerous in the bargain. Obviously, your daddy is not going to get pregnant and clearly the physiological conditions that enable a woman to carry a baby have a major effect on the construction of her body compared to a man's. I've hear a leading left-wing loon, I think her name is Cathy Areu, scream that equality means men and women are equally responsible for "caring" for a child. This, too, is nonsense. I've never seen or hear of a lactating male.  
Recently, the medical research community has acknowledged the great damage done to women's health by pretending they are identical to men. Why would women want to be -- unless the idea of bearing children is obnoxious to them. But fact are facts. Only women bear children, which makes them superior to men not equal to them. A woman may need male sperm to conceive, but she doesn't need a man any further to bear a child. 
In the past, a great deal of medical research was done only on men, based on the (mistaken) idea that women should not be subjected to the sometimes rigorous protocols in use. That is no longer part of the protocol. 
​I'll have more to say, later
​

​Democrats simply cannot accept the fact that Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States. Their anguish is mixed with anger and they have decided to oppose everything and anything Trump and the Republicans propose. Trump has picked a cabinet of top drawer people, but the Democrats are doing everything possible to delay and if possible derail these nominees. In so doing, they are preventing the president and the Congress from acting effectively. 
On another front, the president has proposed an executive order limiting for a period of time immigration from certain middle eastern countries based on security considerations. The Democrats have found patsys like the Attorney General of Hawaii to file actions in Federal Courts opposing the president's orders, using  carefully selected judges to attempt to stymie the president's actions. They succeeded once before and got the pathetic 9th Circuit Court of appeals to rubberstamp these decisions and they are winning again as toadies like Judge Watson in Hawaii issue restraining orders. Judge Watson's actions are outrageous, illegal, and unconstitutional. In part, he based his order on statements attributed to Trump during the presidential campaign. This is not only absurd it borders on insanity. There is no law or precedent that allows a judge to cite the reports of a candidate's statements in a political campaign as evidence supporting a judicial order. The judge also wrote his order without citing a federal law that explicitly authorizes the president to issue orders precisely like the one Trump issued. The decision must not only be reversed, this judge must be removed from the bench. 
But Watson is not the only toady who has ruled this way. A judge in Maryland, and probably others will follow his despicable lead. 
At this moment in time, rogue judges and rogue Democrat legislators are undermining American politics, American culture and western civilization. Notwithstanding his sometimes coarse and vulgar commentary, Donald John Trump is the duly elected president of the United States. Those arrayed against him are not patriots, they are terrorists and possibly traitors. We are in a time of crisis, and foolish Democrat leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are not representatives of the people they are America's enemies. Joined by a feckless press and a contaminated judiciary they pose a clear and present danger to all of us.

This post is a further development of the previous Trump post.
​Trump is a jerk and a genius. Can this be?
Last year, months before the national election I posted my personal evaluation of Donald Trump. It was, to say the least, disapproving. It never even occurred to me that there was any real chance he would be the Republican nominee, let alone that he would be elected. I have never been more wrong about anything.
In the event, I voted for him. I could not vote for Hillary Clinton, an unindicted felon—a miserable, mean-spirited, mendacious miscreant. Nevertheless, I knew my vote was wasted because I live in California, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, for reasons mysterious to me. Of the 2,900,000 votes by which Clinton’s total popular votes exceeded Trump’s, 4,200,000 came from California. In other words, Trump won the popular vote by 2,300,000 votes in 49 states.
What now? Trump has begun his term by selecting a superior band of nominees for his cabinet—despite the fact that the Democratic party is determined to make his administration a disaster. General Flynn, a rather strange figure, is gone, and the reasons are not yet fully courts available. Puzder’s nomination as labor secretary was derailed, not because he was dishonest or incompetent, but because he was (is) both honest and competent.
The Democratic party is working assiduously to delay and if possible destroy Trump’s nominations. This dishonest program will assuredly delay implementation of many of Trump’s goals, and in so doing will damage his administration and the well-being of the country. It will limit his overall achievements in an as yet undefinable degree.
Trump has issued a number of executive orders. His order about immigration from 7 middle-eastern countries was beaten down by courts carefully selected by liberal/progressive Trump enemies. As an attorney for over 60 years, it is my opinion that the order was constitutional and legal—there is a specific law on the federal books that authorizes his actions, which are, in any case, fully within his authority as president. The judges who voted otherwise are left-wing ideologues and they are 100% wrong, but this is only part of the decline of the U.S. judiciary, which is now virtually an arm of the Democratic party.
It is far from clear what the result will be of Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. This was always a wretched and disastrous piece of legislation which nevertheless provided access to INSURANCE for millions of uninsured Americans. Most of these Americans were (are) enrolled in Medicaid, a very poor, profoundly flawed program wherever it exists. Overall, Obamacare is a disaster, with shrinking coverage, increasing premiums, and lower quality care. But now the healthcare system is “owned” by the president and the Republican party. The Ryan plan, whatever  its merits, is under attack in  both House and Senate. Some opponents, like Senator Rand Paul, are merely egomaniacs, and their sole purpose is to gain publicity and perhaps authority.
Others may be sincere, but Ryan and Trump and their supporters are going to have to wield their magic to accomplish meaningful reform.
Thus far, Trump has been energetic, inventive and open-minded. We’ll soon learn if the Republican party (despite its qualms) is willing to help him improve the American econpomy, our healthcare, our defenses and our foreign status. I hope he does far better than I ever expected. 

bNutcases in California (by far the majority) are fraudulently claiming that world temperatures are rising "dangerously"  They claim that each of the last 3 years the earth's temperatures have set new all-time highs.  This is of course absurd. In 2016, for example they assert that the temperature has risen 4 one-hundredths of a degree. 4 ONE HUNDREDTHS OF A DEGREE?? That is well within the margin of error. As are all of the last 3 alleged annual readings. Based on this nonsense, we are to change our way of life, inflict new taxes, cease doing many activities which are beneficial. How can it be that Americans believe this trash? But it is just one more nail in the coffin of our civilization. 
At the same time, the Democrat ruled legislature is debating laws that would make California a "sanctuary state" protecting illegal aliens, INCLUDING CRIMINALS from the Federal Immigration Service 
​Also on the "docket" is an initiative that would have California secede from the union. Have these ninnies forgotten the American Civil War? 600,000 men and women died in battle to end slavery and to crush rebels who believed they could secede from the Union by the stroke of a pen.
Which brings me to the recent decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Trump's immigration order. The court held the presidential order regarding potential immigrants from 7 terror-ridden middle-eastern states was illegal, affirming a lower court decision imposing a temporary restraining order preventing the US government from limiting and/or preventing travelers from these areas from entering the country. THE COURT'S ACTION IS RECKLESS AND IRRESPONSIBLE. There is no doubt that the order is both legal and constitutional, and the judges know that, but they are part of the California progressive polity that is intent on destroying every vestige of democracy and justice in the U.S. Historically, 80% of the 9th Circuit's rulings have been overturned when appealed to the US Supreme Court. But, so what? This court resides in San Francisco, the feel-good city in the feel-goo state. This court is legally, philosophically and intellectually corrupt. The USA will suffer dire consequences if this wretched institution is left unchecked. Stop them before they kill more (to adopt the phraseology of a long-ago serial killer.

My last posting on Donald Trump was an allout attack. I guess I'm lucky nobody noticed or at least they didn't bother to post a response. So what now?  Well, the voters bailed me out (a little) by electing a Republican House, a Republican Senate and adding hundreds of state offices across the country. We really are a country split between Dems on the coasts and Repubs inland. Not exactly. Trump carried Florida and other coastal states. We're also split between urban areas voting Democratic, and non-urban areas (primarily) voting Republican. What does that mean for the country? I haven't a clue. Trump has a license to govern, but does he know how? Stay tuned -- if you can stand it.

. It is no longer possible to evaluate Donald Trump as a spoiled brat who is also a clever media manipulator. Time and again he makes flamboyant, outrageous statements that are not merely rude or insensitive, they are irrational and against his own best interest, let alone the best interests of the country. Donald Trump is deranged. Whether he suffers from a brain tumor, a lifestyle that has impaired his intellect because he sleeps only 3-4 hour per night, or he suffers from some other ailment, he is clearly psychotic. His rantings and ravings are symptomatic of serious mental illness. If he were to be evaluated by a panel of qualified, non-partisan psychiatrists, I have no doubt that they would prescribe commitment. If any set of parents saw their children behaving in this manner, they would immediately realize their child was ill. Donald Trump is dangerously demented. It is impossible to consider him as a potential president of the United States.
Republicans must dump Trump and pick another candidate, regardless of Trump's insane response to this action. The welfare of the nation is far more important than complaisantly accepting this madman. Changing the party rules at the convention is a small price to pay compared to endorsing a crazed egomaniac

Donald Trump is a whiner, a schoolyard bully and a dope. He is presently wimping around because he didn't win any delegates in Colorado. Ted Cruz out-witted and out-maneuvered him. But Donald screams about the Republican National Committee having rigged the election of delegates. But they didn't. It's just the Donald being the Donald -- a spoiled brat. I've posted before my fears that Trump in his stumblebum ways will fumble us into World War III. Furthermore, pundits say we have to support him because if Hilary wins she will appoint 1, 2 even 3 Supreme Court Justices. Why should we think the Donald would appoint conservatives? He's been a lefty liberal all his life, and he's only running as a Republican because the Democrats don't have room for him. He is such a jackass, no one could possibly predict who he would appoint--maybe his hairdresser. The risk of having this ignoramus as president outweighs the risk of Hillary doing leftish stuff. The important thing for Republicans is to control the Senate, so they can block the appointments of anyone proposed by either of these disgusting people.

.I just heard Liz Wiehl, Fox News legal correspondent, stating that even though Hillary had over 2000 classified e-mails on her private server, of which she sent 200 herself, she's not responsible because she didn't know they were classified at the time. I call this the moron defense. Here we have someone who lived 8 years in the White House while her husband was president, was a United States Senator for 8 years (working on intelligence committees) and was Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and she was so stupid she couldn't detect a classified document when she saw one. This ignoramus now wants to be President of the United States. Nuff said.

   
            Never before in American history has there been a candidate less qualified and more mean-spirited than Donald Trump. He may have some business skills, but that is not self-evident. He started rich and he’s still rich, but along the way he acted despicably many times. The fact that he has used the bankruptcy laws 4 times to rid himself of legitimate debt should disqualify him immediately. Once? Maybe. Twice? Maybe. 4 times—you’re out!!!  No respectable person aspiring to be president can act in this manner and still believe he is “entitled” to be running for the highest office in the land.
            I’m pretty sure I know why he hasn’t released his tax returns: They will show that he has paid little if any taxes for many years.  Between the charge-offs for depreciation and net operating losses for all of the disastrous ventures he has create, most if not all of his income is eaten up by deductions and credits. This may well be totally legal, but it doesn’t suit the image he has attempted to portray as a tremendously successful, taxpaying citizen. He may get away with this in the primaries, but if, God forbid, he is the Republican nominee, the Democrats will chew him up and spit him out.
            There is nothing presidential about this bully. Many of those who support him are (sad to say), the losers in our current economy—those who are out of work, under-employed, feel they are unappreciated, want to get even!  The even sadder part is that the Donald won’t help them—he’s only in it for himself, and doesn’t give a damn for anybody else. He will also be unable to deal constructively with the rest of the world: First, because he’s an ignoramus, second because he has already insulted them, third because his policies of high walls and high tariffs will destroy not only the American but the world economy. He’s not just a jerk—he is that—he’s a mean-spirited, self-aggrandizing bully, and easily the worst candidate in U.S. history,