Perspectives of a Mid-pack Runner

This is pretty much all you need to know to decide if Republicans are pro- or anti- neo-nazis and what they stand for.

From:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/significant-digits-for-monday-march-19-2018/

A resolution in the Tennessee legislature that calls on law enforcement to recognize neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups as domestic terror groups, and to go after them “with the same fervor used to protect the United States from other manifestations of terrorism,” died in committee after 36 seconds. The lone Democrat on the five-member House State Government Subcommittee couldn’t get one his GOP colleagues to second a motion to discuss the resolution.

----

For a normal person - by which I mean an individual who is not a sociopath and therefore cares about others - the prospect of a mass killing at a school is an unspeakable horror. If you are a member of Congress, state or national, the thought of such a tragedy among your constituents should make you scared. It should spark an intense desire to avert such disaster on your watch, especially among those whom you represent.

This is, of course, and tragically, not the case. Republicans are more scared of the NRA than students being gunned down. They would rather attend funerals and face grieving parents than go to town hall meetings and face questions from angry gun rights advocates. They would rather offer thoughts and prayers than common sense legislation that is supported by 97% of the entire population as well as 97% of NRA members!

Simply put, their job means more to them than our children's lives: They think they may get "primaried" if they vote for increased regulation and feel they won't lose their jobs if they do nothing.

Most Republicans routinely dismiss climate change as a fact - or, more accurately, as a threat. This is, of course, due to lobbying by the oil industry among others. And by "lobbying", I mean payoffs and the moral equivalent of bribes in the form of political donations.

Article 133, of the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), reads:

Article 133. Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman:

Any commissioned officer, cadet, or midshipman who is convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

In this context, a gentleman (really gentleperson as it applies to both sexes) is understood to have a duty to avoid dishonest acts, displays of indecency, lawlessness, dealing unfairly, indecorum, injustice, or acts of cruelty.

So why is this relevant?

While it is true that Trump is a civilian and not subject to the UCMJ, he is still the commander in chief of the armed forces. This at least gives the military the opportunity, if not the obligation, to point out court martialable offenses by its commander. Yes, they cannot actually court martial Trump, but they can point out that he committed such an offense.

Inarguably, Trump has committed many acts of indecorum. The "shithole" remark comes to mind instantly. And defending neo-Nazis and white supremacists is also conduct unbecoming.

While it is hard to imagine that active military personnel would call out Trump on his unbecoming conduct, General John Kelly is retired and would be the perfect person to make such a statement. Since it is rumored that Trump is looking to replace him already, this would be the perfect way to go out in a blaze of glory and honor, not to mention a final, important act of service to this country.

After the government shut down beginning last Saturday, one of the Republican talking points has been that that the Democrats are refusing to pay the troops. Of course, it's not really that simple, but they had a point. Our troops, like all government employees are not being paid during the shut down. Unlike other employees, however, our troops are still working. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

Senator Claire MacCaskill didn't think it was right, so she proposed legislation to pay our troops during the shut down. This is a no-brainer "yes" vote for anyone who thinks our troops and their families should not suffer because Congress and the White House are incompetent.

I had hopes for Speaker Ryan when during the Presidential campaign he said, in conjunction with the fracas about Trump not repudiating David Duke:

“This party does not prey on people’s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals.”

Mr Speaker, it's time to stand by those words and not be the spineless eunuch that Trump wants you to be.

Trump's comments about "shithole" countries could not be more blatantly racist. There is no denying that he does not want the people from Haiti or African nations here. To underscore his intent, he said he wanted Norwegians to immigrate here instead. I love Scandinavia and Scandinavians but that is one of the whitest populations in the world, making Trumps racist intent very black and white.

President Trump tweeted over the weekend that one of his great assets in life is his mental stability.

Who, other than an unstable individual, thinks his stability is a great asset? No one! You might think you stay calm under pressure or see solutions that others miss in times of crisis-- those would be great assets and indeed, things to be proud of. But one's stability shouldn't be something that even occurs to anyone as an asset: "Hey, life's been crazy and super stressful but I'm not plunging into psychosis or displaying signs of paranoid delusions-- go me!!"

So, maybe if there's a history of mental illness in your family, you might not take your own mental health as a given. That's not the case for President Trump as far as I know. So the fact that he boasts of his "stability" is actually proof that he questions it. As do I -- meaning I agree with Trump on something, at long last.

President Trump is scheduled for a 2 hour physical this week. I doubt anything of interest will come from that other than maybe a bit of hypertension and his weight.

I bring it up because (a) Trump likes to weight shame women (and occasionally men) and (b) the weight his doctor released during the campaign was obviously wrong. As I recall, his weight was listed as 235. Trump is at least 2" taller than I am and I used to weigh 235. He was far larger than I was at that weight, so that 235 had to be lowballed to keep him below the threshold for being obese.

It appears that Trump is substantially fatter than when he took office. I estimate his weight now at 285, though it's hard to tell from photos. Plus, I'm not that great at guessing weight anyway, but 275-300 seems about right.