Trouble in Paradise

It seems President Trump and his administration are sensing a closing-in, so to speak. Robert Mueller and his investigation seem to be methodically taking pawns from Trump, and has started eyeing closely Trump's bigger pieces on the board. With the Communications Director Hope Hicks soon leaving and Mueller's team homing in on Jared Kushner's and Donald Trump's finances there is a sense that the investigation is shifting into a higher gear.

I sure hope so. Not to sound overly apocalyptic, but President Trump's day of reckoning is drawing nigh. And I predict, when it does happen, it won't be pretty.

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Pessimism Run Amuck

I just read an interesting article on the ProPublica website titled, "How Political Pessimism Helps Doom Tougher Gun Laws." The piece makes the common-sense point that is often overlooked, that doing nothing on an issue will generally result in little headway. In fact, it can sometimes paralyze those who want change, yet don't realize how close it may be.

The author, Alec MacGillis, makes a number of good points. The one I will try to keep in mind is that the NRA's power is diminishing, albeit slowly. And on the opposite side--those who want substantial change in gun laws--is slowly being empowered.

That's not good for the NRA. One might say, there will be no prying of guns from cold, dead hands, but nonetheless, the NRA appears to be on the wrong side of this equation.

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Taking a Page From America's Playbook

I just read an excellent article, "Why Israeli plan to deport Africans is facing growing Jewish opposition," in the Christian Science Monitor. The article, dated February 2nd, says the leader of the country, Benjamin Netanyahu, believes that nearly 40,000 Africans who fled their countries and came to Israel, are "illegal labor infiltrators."

But there are many in Israel who believe their past,of being refugees themselves, encourages them to always be for the refugee or stranger. But the plan is still scheduled to go into effect this April. Yet, as the article says, "Resistance...has come from pilots refusing to fly planes used in the deportations and from authors, playwrights, lawyers, doctors, and Holocaust survivors. All are united in their call to the government to see these people as refugees in need of shelter today, just as Jews have been in past generations."

I will attempt to report back on this story in the future.

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Slightly Bemused

I didn't watch any of the recent State of the Union address. I rarely have watched any of them. I find--as I think many others do--that the main objective of presentations of that sort is to persuade through dubious means. I don't think it's always been that way, but since much of the presidency seems scripted since the time of Richard Nixon, it is hard to put the genie back in the political bottle.

Though, from the highlights of the address, it seemed the president talked in nebulous generalities and anything specific was verboten. It will be interesting to see where this presidency goes.

And I stand by my earlier prediction--that the president will be impeached before the bell tolls on four years. The longer Robert Mueller takes, the more it will be a slam dunk.

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