The Truth and Facts are for Losers...

          An Opinion by the Montana Troublemaker

   "Youse guys want to see how he floats with cement shoes?"

   This is the kind of talk that is whispered around the White House these days.  According to orders from the boss, everyone has a copy of his enemy list and they must know the victims by heart. And, it's a very big list, too! 

   The "big guy" insisted he had a feel for this kind of "presidential" work.  His "organization" was the talk of the town back in the day.  He filed four bankruptcies when the debt piled up and he didn't feel like paying off his debts.  He refused to pay contractors on his real estate developments.  He stiffed thousands of workers out of their wages.  He lied and cheated his way through life, always chasing that next big skyscraper that would have his name in fifty-foot letters on the front. 

   Who is he?  Why, he's the "don"...the criminal head of the "New York Crime Family"  - like the bad ol' days of "the mob," so to speak.

   Worst of all, he had the strange idea that he could run the United States of America like he ran/runs his "organization."  That is to say, mobsters have one major thing in common:  Lying.  When you're doing your job, you lie.  When the competition gets ahead of you, you lie.  When you get in trouble, you lie.  When the little lady finds out things, you lie.  When you apply for a loan, you lie.  When you are in over your head, you lie.  And finally...when the people finally find out, you lie (one last time.)

   We watch the news and visualize that we are watching the reruns of "The Untouchables" in all of their glory.  And yet, it seems the bad guys are usually winning and Special  Investigator Mueller is only catching the mob's gofers and lieutenants.  But wait...Mueller is not done yet.  Maybe he's saving the best for last.  Maybe he's got the goods on "the don."  Maybe Mueller and his Untouchables will break through the White House door with tommy guns blazing and finish the story.

   But we are all thinking the same thing:  It's really the fact that the "don" is simply unfit for the job that bothers us the most.  He's immoral, he's a pathological liar, he's a narcissist with a self-inflated ego, and he's ravaging our country and our allies in the world, while he cozies up to our adversaries.

   That's enough reason for me, alone, to re-open Alcatraz and re-paint a cell. 

     

    

  

      

What have we learned?

      The "Political Shutdown" of 2018-2019 is teaching us many things about ourselves.

   As for the reasons for such a debacle, we can all agree that politics played an overriding issue.  Some will hold to their political beliefs and deny any blame, but deep in their heart of hearts - they know it was so.  It was about a political promise that need not have been made, and a wall that need not be built. 

   But we have learned so much more than that.

   We have learned that most of the "leaders" in our government are so far removed from their own people that it is shameful.  The president has surrounded himself with millionaires and billionaires who have no clue about what identifies us as today's American.  The deep and wide chasm that separates us from them is unfathomable.  A cabinet chief says he doesn't understand why workers can't just go get a loan when they are expected to carry on without pay and have no money to buy food and make rent or mortgage payments. 

   Roughly 75% of American Workers today live pay check to pay check.  An alarming number of them live near and below the poverty line because wages have been kept far below the inflation rate.  While corporations hand out salaries and bonus' in the thousands and millions of dollars to upper management white collar folks,  the workers are falling further and further behind.

   Oh, they like to tell us the economy is doing great.  The great economy, however, is working for those who count their wealth by the number of digits in front of the decimal point. 

   Our hard working people who work in the federal and private sectors have been forgotten, abused, and used as pawns in political fights over substandard offers of minimum wages, non-existent benefit offers, and high turn-over rates in unlivable jobs. 

   The president has never seen a day when food, shelter, and health care was not available.  His cabinet of mega-rich people have no understanding, either.  Why should we be surprised that they would look at the beleaguered federal workers in any different light?

   When our supposed-leaders in the White House and Congress find a promised wall worthy of such intense angst and food tents sprouting up around the country, we need to seriously take a good look at ourselves - and them!

   A huge majority of our workers today have less than ten-thousand dollars in a retirement account.  Our country's "leaders" do not understand how that can be.  (Sure, there are those who find it easy to go in debt over their head, but they are the exceptions.)

   A huge majority of our workers today do not have the slightest idea about what to do if they lose their job.  Their fear of how to feed and cloth their families and get the basic health care they will need is overwhelming to them.

   But our president and many in congress spent thirty-five days of their lives sitting on their butts, having a drinky-poo, and counting their re-election war chests.  They gave lip service to those without pay checks only when a television camera spotted them.

   Yes,  the political pundits are saying we discovered a lot about this "shut down" and ourselves.

   But if you ask me, I don't think we enriched our knowledge nearly enough.  Because the arguments are still raging, the workers are still at the short end of the stick, and the rich guys are still way over there on the other side of the chasm...laughing, celebrating, watching the stock market and trying to understand why the rest of us can't just go get a loan.  

   And some fool still wants to build a wall.



  

As they sink slowly into the tar pits...

 

 

 

   What is happening to the Grand Old Party?

 

   In a recent column by Conservative columnist George Will, he may have just hit on the answer everyone has been looking for, and it's one of those answers that has been hiding in plain sight and revealed only by an accidental slip of the tongue.

 

   Will quotes Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican Senator, who said, "building the border wall is an existential matter for the GOP.  If we undercut the president, that's the end of his presidency and the end of our party."

 

   Simple enough.

 

   Everyone in the country - including many Republicans - wonders why there is no push back by the Congressional GOP regarding the antics of the president.  And, antics is much too soft of a word for most of his bonehead blunders.

 

   Sen. Graham is further quoted by Will as saying, "I'm a Republican, and he (Trump) is not.  He's not a Conservative Republican, he's an opportunist."  Months earlier, Graham was quoted as saying, "Trump is unfit for office." 

 

   It's interesting - and a little sad -  to watch the "de-evolution" of the Republican Party. Prior to what the world will come to call the "Terrible Trump" years, the GOP was slowly losing followers as they increased demands on their brethren. Their love of the NRA forced candidates to toe the line or get failing grades.  Their overt rally slogans made it clear they would insist that no card-carrying member would accept "free choice" on abortions, rights for gay marriages, voter's rights of minorities, various welfare rights, and on and on. 

 

  As the country experienced a widening gap in wealth - and congressional bills that would benefit only the wealthy -  the  "ninety-eight percenters" suddenly became very vocal, which caused many to search for the tent that would take in all who sought aid and shelter. 

 

  Is the GOP doomed?  Will they survive the "Terrible Trump" years?  Only time will tell.  One thing is certain, however:  How the president will fair during the next two years should give the GOP a clear sign post. 

 

   Will he destroy the Party, or will the Party finally rise up on their hind legs and destroy him. 

 

   It can't be both...it's an "either or" answer.

 

   America is hurting for a clear difference in the two parties.  Right now, we have the "vocal" Democrats, the "silent" Republicans, and the "irresponsible" Trump Party.

 

   Who's your choice?

 

 

 

    

 

  

 

  

  

  

 

  

 

  

 

The Bawdry Bozone...

 

 

Listen my children and you shall hear,

the pitiful sounds that we all fear.

 

The names of Sales and "Dollar Signs" Daines,

and Greg "The Thug", Oh Lord, the pains.

 

 

 

    Bozeman is a beautiful town nestled in the mountains of Montana where once-proud folks gathered to take in the splendor of all they possess.  The Montana State University, dining places to behold, excellent accommodations for the weary travelers, and some of the state's best fishing and skiing sites.

 

   The political scene was once something to behold, too.  The recent past political scene, however, ...not so much.

 

   So what have the town fathers been dumping into the city water supply?  They have spawned such slippery creatures as Steve Daines (U.S. Senate and Former U.S. House), Greg Gianforte (U.S. House) Body-slammer of pesky question-asking news people, Scott Sales (State Senate President) who is trying to give $8 million of our tax money to the southern border "wall/barrier", and various lesser right-wing creatures, as well.

 

   I find it strange that this clump of like-minded nincompoops all hail from one pristine area.

 

   So, to find the answer,  I beat a path to this town known by some as the "Bozone."  I parked on the main street and saw happy, busy people scurrying along the sidewalks as if not a care in the world.  Didn't they know their political world was falling down around their ears?

 

   I grabbed my pen, note pad, and strong will and stepped out of the car, ready to get my first interview. 

 

   Me:  "Excuse me, ma'am, but could I ask you a question or two?"

 

   Ma'am:  "Get the hell out of my way, liberal"...and now I am looking up at the sky as I lay body-slammed to the curb.

 

   Well, maybe this was just a one-time thing.  And I got up and headed to the next interview.

 

   Me:  "Excuse me, sir, but could I...."  And now I am looking up, once again, at that beautiful blue sky.

 

   But there is someone coming down the walk who looks familiar.  This is going to go much better.

 

   Me:  "Excuse me, sir, but..."  And there's that same damn shitty-colored sky, again!

 

   But, all was not lost.  I think I finally have this mystery about Bozone all figured out.  They have an over-abundance of terrible politicians, that is very true.  But, because of that,  they also have a real boat load of terrible voters, too!

 

   On my way out of town, I stopped to pick up the hometown newspaper.  I found an ad across the bottom of the front page that read: 'For Sale - A boat load of Right-Wing, Conservative, Trump-Lovin', maniacs FOR SALE...CHEAP!  Bring your own handcuffs and leg irons...some are dangerous!' 

 

   And some are even politicians!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The "base" is small, but noisy...

Never have so few, done so much evil, to so many
(A Watson Opinion)
 

 

   I'm old enough to remember the '56 Chevy, mom's apple pie, and the America Dream.  And those memories stuck with me and most of my friends - minus a few glitches along the way - until recently...about two years ago, to be exact.

 

   We all woke up one morning late in November 2018 and raced to the television to find out if that frightening news report we saw around midnight was true, or was it just a nightmare.

 

   It was true, it wasn't a bad dream, and he was the winner!

 

   It hit most of us like an asteroid.

 

   Only worse.  An asteroid would have spared us the horrible thoughts and just killed us where we sat.

 

   Not only must we say "good bye" to the chevy and the pie, but we would learn - in time - to say "so long" to  most any semblance of sweet dreams and fields of daisies.  We were to stagger our way into a world of lies, corruption, bigotry, racism, and whatever serves as the opposite of democracy.  We installed a president who is as incorrigible and incorruptible as anyone we have ever seen - or ever existed in the  forty-four men before him!

 

   He is called by many as a white nationalist and he very well may be.  It would be easier to prove him so than try to prove him not.

 

   A former governor from Pennsylvania has said the president's first big mistake was when he cast a large net and drug in "riff-raff" for his inner circle and cabinet heads.  The president promised to "drain the swamp," but it appeared he  not only refilled it with much murkier water, but found much murkier creatures to restock it.

 

   His opposition party in congress toys with us - and the idea -  of impeachment.  At last count, the special counselor, who is investigating the president and his campaign team's involvement in working with Russians to rig the election, has evidence and convictions on enough of the team to fill a federal prison. 

 

   Legal beagles, historians, and journalist from the Nixon Watergate fiasco are telling us that this "witch hunt" is much worse.  However, using the term "witch" to describe these folks would force all of us to apologize to witches.

 

   And that brings us to the president's base.

 

   They are a small but noisy lot.  They seem to have the president in a full-nelson wrestling hold and know how to apply amazing pressure to get every foolish promise he has made to them (in a moment of narcissistic  grandeur, no doubt) during one of his "rallies." 

 

   The asinine "wall/barrier/steel fence with spear-like pointy things on top" came to him in  one  of his least lucid moments.

 

   And because congress wouldn't give him the "wall,"   he decided to shut down the government and  put nearly a million federal workers either out of work or working without pay.  (A dream by his political party's standards, who, by the way, are mostly backing his hair-brained idea."  And the U.S.Government shutdown is approaching thirty days with no end in sight.

 

   Yup...where was that asteroid when we needed it.