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Hobson's Choice - Youtube transcripts

EPISODE FIFTEEN  02/27/18

A sitting president can be indicted--Kenneth Starr.

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Thank you for watching and welcome friends to episode 15 of Hobson’s Choice. I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for gross malfeasance.

The Mueller investigation is reaching critical mass. 13 Russian operatives charged with meddling in the election; Rick Gates crossing sides to implicate his boss, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort who walks and talks like a mafia don—“Putin made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

But while we are focussed on Manafort it may actually be Gates who helps put the handcuffs on the president. Mafia dons rarely flip...but Gates? Manafort is 69 and facing the likelihood of spending the rest of his life in jail—to save the president, knowing full well that if the roles were reversed he’d be given up in less than a heart beat.

So by hammering Manafort with more charges Mueller may actually be creating a wall strong enough to withstand a presidential pardon—and while using Manafort as a distraction to everyone, the president especially, the investigative team pumps all the necessary information out of the don’s deputy.

Interesting. And it makes sense. Gates was with the mafia don throughout the Ukranian deals, was a partner with the mafia don as both ran afoul of the Kremlin and needed to raise a lot of cash—and fast. And legal is not fast.

Gates actually outlasted the mafia don; sticking with the president through the remainder of the campaign, the election and the inauguration. And Gates is seemingly at heart a family man, willing to sacrifice his business interests for the well-being of his family, willing to plead to a lesser sentence to keep his family out of the process. The attention of a trial would be enormous so he chose the lesser of two evils.

It seems inevitable; the investigation ending with the president of the United States being indicted and perhaps being led out of the White House in handcuffs. It happened to the governor of Missouri—led out of his office in handcuffs, so political offices are not a sanctuary for politicians. And the governor being charged with invasion of privacy is small potatoes compared to what’s coming for this president.

Start with money laundering. Mueller subpoenad Deutsche Bank, the international money exchanger set up by the kremlin in Germany and used by this president on numerous occasions over the years. This is where the president being owned by Russia comes from. When US banks stopped flowing money to the Trumps…Deutsche bank stepped in.

Then there are the conspiracy charges. After all the man allowed a foreign adversary to buy into an election, and then into a presidency.

How about obstruction of justice—the James Comey firing will simply be the first in a long list of obstruction charges. And there is a long line of US investigators eager to testify against this president.

There will also be ancillary charges like breaking the emoluments clause—hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent at Trump properties around the world as foreign leaders attempt to curry favour from the easy to buy president…as well as lying, cheating, stealing, sexual assault…not to mention the dozens of moral crimes he has committed against humanity that aren’t criminal but in his case should be.

He will be right about one thing—this investigation will go down in the history books as perhaps the biggest in US history.

Mueller knows Russia has leverage on the president. There isn’t anyone alive, from pre birth to after death that this president will not attack, except for his family and Vladamir Putin. And Mueller has to know that while he searches for the dead bodies Putin already knows where they are buried. Can Mueller put enough pressure on Russia to force Putin into surrendering his prize stooge?

In the not too distant future this president will be interviewed by the special counsel. It will happen; the only choice for this president is in which setting. Either with his lawyers present in a semi-formal setting or after a subpoena forces him to testify before a grand jury, without his lawyers present. His lawyers would rather stick needles in their eyes rather than let the president speak to Mueller alone…so the president will accept the lesser of two evils.

As an aside—it’s a good thing this authoritarian leader is such a bumbler—can you imagine the danger we would be in if he was less stable genius and more evil genius, like Putin.

Unless the Republican sycophants have a “come to Jesus” epiphany, the political removal of this president is lost. The Republicans have fallen lockstep behind their Republican president, and are unaware or unconcerned that their country is being taken over by authoritarian policy—they have abandoned any principle, any moral sense of responsibility to the people and have chosen a quick the route to the cliff’s edge—running behind this president and away from the burning country they helped set on fire.

If the Democrats win the November elections and take control of the House then perhaps articles of impeachment can be introduced and then perhaps the country can find its rails again. If it passes the house it would need 60 votes in the Senate, improbable but not impossible. At the very least Congress might find a way to censure this president and effectively castrate him for the remainder of his term.

But the criminal investigation; those are the hooks that will hang this meat. Maybe Mueller and the great dealmaker can negotiate a deal where this president doesn’t go to jail if he tattles on everyone involved in the conspiracy, including and most specifically the Russians, produce every detail about his finances, specifically his dealings with foreign businesses, and finally resign the presidency.

Bob Mueller knows that he is living through the first line of his obituary—and he knows that history will colour this era with opinion, but he wants to be shown in black and white—that he followed the facts to the truth. Books will be written about him; movies will be produced…there will be Hollywood gossip about who will play Mueller in the latest version of “The indictment of a president.”

Maybe you think I sound a little cocksure, after all, you say, a sitting president has never been indicted? So what makes me think it can happen now.

I’ll start with a general answer—if there ever was a president who broke the mold…and was going to be the first…this is the guy. He doesn’t even try to hide his corruption. The latest? His inaguration raised more than $107 million…

…so says the White House…finally…under duress…but they didn’t spend $107 million, so where did the money go? Apparently, with very few laws governing this, the money went into an account of an advisor to the first lady. I am shocked, shocked, I tell you to find gambling going on in here

As for the specifics—in 1973 The Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel wrote that a sitting president could not be indicted since a trial would keep the president from conducting his important duties. Notice the year…1973. The year before the Supreme Court unanimously voted that Nixon needed to release the tapes.

The Supreme Court denied the president’s claim that the tapes were classified and that privilege should apply to the chief executive. The court unanimously upheld the fundamental constitutional principle that no person is above the law—even the president. A few weeks later Nixon resigned.

Kenneth Starr, the lead counsel into the investigation of Bill Clinton wrote, “It is proper, constitutional and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties. In this country, no one, even president Clinton, is above the law.”

And Clinton was being charged in the cover-up of a White House affair he had with an intern. Imagine what Bob Mueller will write about this president.

I’ve long thought that this president would resign the presidency due to ill health—either real or imagined… a fake heart attack or some other ailment that would preclude him from conducting his duties as America’s elected authoratarian. It would be the lesser of two evils.

Till next time my friends be well.

episode fourteen 12/14/17

no moral equivalence between Al Franken and Roy Mooore

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Thank you and welcome friends to episode 14 of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for gropes, grabs and grasps; and the false equivalencies that arise in their wake.

There is a scene in King Kong when, after being taken to his lair, Naomi Watts juggles and dances to entertain and to distract her captor.

Eventually, Kong grows tired of the act and with a flick of his finger knocks her down—which greatly amuses him.

After several more knockdowns and more roars of amusement Watts gets angry and, with all her might, halts the stunned monkey’s flicking finger.

Tired and angry she says, “that’s all there is, there isn’t any more.”

The reason I bring up that scene is in conjunction with the plethora of sexual misconduct charges that have been publicized in the past few months.
 

Critics of the women who have come out and alleged abuse use the lengthy time frame between the abuse and their complaint as a reason to denigrate their claims, as if the passing years have lessened the impact and the effect of the abuse.

To those critics…you are asking the wrong question.

It isn’t, “why did it take her so long.”

The right question is “how did she manage to find the courage to finally say no to the gorilla.”

More women are saying no to the gorilla these days and its making all the gorillas very nervous.

How many voices will suddenly be heard demanding retribution for their actions?

Danger is at their doorstep. But just as homicide has separational levels…first and second degree…manslaughter—voluntary and involuntary…so should these allegations have separational levels…sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

There is no moral equivalency between Al Franken and Roy Moore.

Republicans claimed that Democrats could not voice displeasure about Moore as long as Franken held a Senate seat.

Whoa there, cowboys.

When Franken speaks the word that pops into the heads of an intelligent human being isn’t REDNECK, which is what the other rednecks shout whenever

Moore speaks. And great thanks to the African Americans of Alabama who shouted down the white rednecks of the state and voted in a reasonable man rather than a man who seemed to have been hatched two hundred years ago and who has been frozen in state ever since.

Back to Franken…he is a thoughtful, intelligent, well-spoken and, from his previous career as a comedian, a funny man, but Franken also has a minor prediliction.

There seems to be a trigger within him that he ccannot control—that if he finds a woman attractive he has a hard time halting an urge to kiss her or to grab her butt.

He takes a picture with a woman at a fair and gives the woman a little squeeze on the butt, as if to let her know he dfinds her attractive.

Is this wrong? Absolutely.

Were his actions juvenile? Stupid? Inappropriate? A violation of a woman’s rights?

Absolutely.

Should Franken pay a price for those actions?

No doubt.

But to compare what Franken did to what Roy Moore did…No way.

It’s like the Republicans are saying, yes we have a serial rapist on our side but you can’t criticize us as long as you support Jean Valjean for stealing a loaf of bread.

It is unfortunate that Franken was forced to resign. Leanne Tweeden made the first and most damning complaint—and then she accepted Franken’s apology and said no, she didn’t want him to resign.

If that’s where the complaint stopped Franken would have survived, but the numbers continued to grow…as did the frustration among Democrats at having to keep dealing with this ugly issue.

If there were six women who came out and publicly complained about Franken there are likely many more who didn’t…so Franken had to go.

And it is unfortunate. Franken was well-liked within the Senate, did a lot of good for the people of his state and who was a major voice in the fight against a corrupt administration…but he had to resign because of an adolescent prediliction he could not shake.

I believe women are smarter than men.

I believe women have always been smarter than men and will always be smarter than men.

I believe they have to be since men are bigger and stronger. To combat this inequity in intelligence men try to keep women down by instilling fear.

Men in power use that fear to invade, abuse and dominate women in order to satisfy their own perverse pleasures. To you the powerful men…the women you abused are coming for you.

It was Chelsea Handler on Bill Maher’s show who said that women, in general, are different now than at the same time last year.

When asked how 52% of white women could vote for a self-admitted sexual assaulter Handler stated that last year women made a mistake, and that women sometimes have a harder time supporting a woman than they do in targetting a man.

The women are now angry and targetting the men.

There is a danger here as well.

Women are feeling empowered, confident, secure that they are part of a team…and that they are not on stage alone.

I can only imagine how hard it must be to admit in publicv to being a victim.

But as with any movement there will be those on the fringes who seek their own vendettas…and if any are proven to be liars it could harm the viability of the movement

…but if the pendulum does swing too far in the other direction I say let it swing.

It’s been stuck on one side for far too long.

Bette Midler, who admitted publicly that she was a victim and detailed her abuse, tweeted her advice to men…

“Just give women equal pay for equal work and keep your paws off.”

Sound advice.

Till next time my friends be well

Episode Thirteen 11/20/17

it is to laugh to describe the US as a grown up nation

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Thank you and welcome friends to episode thirteen of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G. stands for grown up nation.

I was watching the news the other day, I can’t recall whether it was CNN or MSNBC, and I heard a guest use that phrase when describing the US.

The context of the comment came while discussing the possible ten year prison term facing three college basketball players after the boys were caught stealing sunglasses while on tour with their team in China.

Ten year sentences aren’t handed out here for something so minor, she said, because this, the US, is a grown up nation.

The phrase stuck in my mind because of its irony—that Americans think they live in a grown up nation even when it is largely being led by children—with Baby Huey in charge.

As well, the ruling political party behaves like it is acting out scenes from Lord of the Flies—that whenever an opportunity presents itself the gun loving Republicans take aim and pick each other off with abandon.

I don’t see how you can think you live in a grown up nation. Perhaps before, when it seemed like you were growing up, having elected a black man as president— twice, and being on the verge of electing your first female president…continuing to prove to the world that the tide was turning in America.

But now you are regressing, through adolescence…straight back to childhood.

Why aren’t the Democrats doing more to save society?
Aren’t they the so-called Adults in the room?

At this point, they don’t have to.

Basic resistance is working.

Whenever the Mad Hatter says something dangerous or stupid—he’s more a talker than a doer—they say he`s being dangerous…or stupid. And call FOUL whenever Republicans trot out one of their hastily constructed bills written almost entirely with selfish motives.

These are not your father`s Republicans—this is not the party of “tear down this wall” …this is the party of “build a wall.”

It is not the Republican ideal with which I disagree; it is the wolves in sheep’s clothing who are impersonating the Republicans of today, callously parading the ideal that they have the country’s best interests at heart when they are almost entirely enticed by selfish gains.

Ten months in and the one line I remember most from the campaign was “Drain the Swamp.” Voters were right—Washington is a swamp.

But it is unfortunate that voters were misled, taken, manipulated—for it was those who reside in the swamp who won the election.
 

The Mad Hatter boasted, “I may be bad, but she’s worse.” Ten months into the administration we know that that was also a lie. At this time I believe most Americans at least give a modicum of credence to the notion that Russia manipulated the election.

I also believe there is a rapidly increasing number of Americans who believe their president may be getting his marching orders from Putin—or at least receiving some strongly worded suggestions.

They met again this past week at a conference in Vietnam; but after a quick handshake and a few kind words The Mad Hatter mostly kept his distance, unlike their previous public meeting.

Perhaps Putin whispered time and place…time and place when a Russian agent would deliver instructions…suggestions… to a member of the American delegation. No more pubicly announced private meetings. From now on it’s strictly back-channel.

Someone should tell Putin that America is grown up nation.

He, like Bob Corker, thinks the White House is an adult day care center.

But while Corker’s comment is a criticism…

Putin loves being a day care instructor…suggester.

Health care?

While nearly every civilized nation has come to the realization that it’s better if their citizens stay alive, the United States continues to stumble along with its nineteenth century thinking…stuck on the cost…not understanding that money is an inanimate object and can be replaced, people cannot.

And don’t even get me started on gun control!

It is so irresponsible, so villanous, so egregiously cruel to allow military weapons to be bought and sold and used on your citizens. Villanously, murderously irresponsible.

Medicine?

While you can boast of great medical advancements—what good are they if your citizens can’t afford the buy the medicine? Again, stuck on the money. Prisons.

Your idea of reform is to arrest more people on minor offences and then hand out longer sentences. Your prisons are so overcrowded that in many institutions bunk beds go six bunks high…with no ladder.

A word of warning though; if the Mad Hatter ever gets around to how much Correctional Institutes cost he’s going to quickly sign an executive order chopping the budget.

When that happens, and you are faced with needing to cut costs…meaning the early release of prisoners…be careful that those who truly deserve to be in prison aren’t released by mistake.

Roy Moore?

If Alabama elects a racist, homophobic child molester to the Senate it will further cement its reputation as a state of rednecks.

Oh, and just so you know…all Bible-Thumpers are not Bible believers. Rev. William J. Barber said, quote… “This is not Christianity. Rather, it is an extreme Republican religionism that stands by party and regressive policy no matter what. It's not the gospel of Christ, but a gospel of greed.”

Well-said.

Now, I know…it’s not perfect up here either.

But when we elect a mistake for prime minister, like we did with Stephen Harper—on three occasions…at least we know our PM can’t destroy the world…just our country…like Stephen Harper tried to do.

I like that Trudeau is progressive in his ideology but mostly I like that he believes humans are the leading cause of climate change…unlike our former Prime Minister, who thought more about the money.

You see, that’s what we do in a grown up nation.

We recognize and accept our mistakes, and then we correct them.

Till next time my friends be well.

episode twelve 11/09/17

the second amendment is merely an advertising slogan meant to sell guns

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Thank you and welcome friends to episode twelve of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for growing frustration.

Thoughts and prayers…thoughts and prayers.

When I hear thoughts and prayers in response to a mass tragedy I do the General John Kelly face hide…

Now I’m sure these days General John Kelly is hiding his face less for the president and more for himself.

But this episode isn’t about how the General John Kelly many thought was the adult in the room has been stricken with an increasingly virulent strain of Trumpness and is being carried on a candy coated wave to Trumpland where truth is the name of an overly sweet breakfast cereal.

No this episode is about a growing frustration with the callousness of thoughts and prayers.

It is a reasonable response when hearing that someone else has died; someone we don’t know. It is a sign that we haven’t lost our humanity.

Hearing Roy Halladay died when his two-seater plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico; Thoughts and prayers…not only for a good man lost in an accident but thoughts and prayers for his family.

But thoughts and prayers for the 26 victims of a mass shooting in Texas?

No way.

That wasn’t an accident—it was murder by politics.

Gun ownership rights derive from the constituion; the right to bear arms…but most gun owners, who say they are willing to die for that right, who hold the constitution in their hand, gripping it like a lifeline, who pledge allegiance to the flag and proudly sing the anthem—people who are supposedly at the core of gun ownership in America—they do not want to own guns so they can one day shoot 26 people inside of a church.

Ask them and I believe they would agree there is no place in society for military weapons like automatic and semi-automatic guns.

It is a bridge too far.

But you see…the right to bear arms is not a constitutional right anymore—it has been bastardized for the profit and power of the National Rifle Association and the Republican Party.

Let that sink in gun owners.

You’re being used.

If someone owns a fully-automatic weapon, or even a semi-automatic weapon, they own it for one purpose—to kill humans.

I know that’s not what you want.

It was oddly amusing how the law enforcement on the scene in Texas repeatedly assured the public that it was a semi-automatic weapon that was used and not a fully automatic weapon.

As if the shooter’s finger might get tired with having to continue pulling the trigger for every one of the 450 rounds he fired. The man targetted the church.

He wanted to kill families.

He was a man the military had taught to kill for Americans, who now turned that ability to kill on Americans.

26 people…doing something they believe to be right—attending church on Sunday, cleansing their sins, asking God for forgiveness—and they died for it.

A family of eight…EIGHT…including a fifteen month old girl resting in the arms of her grandmother—dead.

An unborn child—dead.

The daughter of the pastor—dead.

How can you toss out the same old thoughts and prayers when you hear this?

Imagine the games being played by those in power?

Imagine the businessmen grinning with every sale and imagine every republican grinning with every donation—from guns.

This is episode twelve in my series.

And I’ve made myself clear that I think of the Republican Party is the enemy of the people.

Yes the NRA is a lunatic organization—they profit from instruments of death.

But the Republicans take the NRA’s money and provide political cover.

After each mass shooting we get thoughts and prayers from Republicans.

When bump stocks became an issue, made famous after Las Vegas, the NRA released a statement that they wouldn’t be opposed if a bump stock restriction were put in place but the Republicans stated that the ATF would be better at dealing with it as they used some arcane loophole to step away from the issue.

To me, there is little doubt that the NRA and the GOP co-ordinate their actions and co-ordinate their responses.

They work together—an organization that profits from death and the political party that allows it.

Now maybe the environment is changing.

It seems as if a majority of Americans agree on one thing—a hatred for their president.

Democrats talk about needing a direction, a platform—that they can’t continue to simply be the anti-Trump party.

Eventually the Democrats ARE going to need a platform and it better arrive long before the 2018 Congressional elections, but in the short term being anti-Trump is working.

Democrats swept though Virginia; re-elected the anti-Trump mayor of New York City and re-took the governor’s mansion in New Jersey, though new governor Phil Murphy, an average-sized- man, will have some major renovations to do at the house, slimming it down if you will, now that Chris Christie’s term is ending.

The numbers across the board seemed to indicate a renewed passion by young people; apparently young people are beginning to understand the dangers that can ensue if they don’t vote.

As I have said voting is how civilized countries overthrow their governments.

The greatest hope is that the results will make the Republicans nervous; perhaps open their eyes to the inevitable result that lies ahead for many of them if they continue to stick with the Mad Hatter.

They are the guardians of the castle. Hopefully they will realize that the Mad Hatter is poison—and by standing aside and letting those seeking truth and justice into the castle it will not only better the country but be better for them as well.

One can only hope.

Till next time my friends be well.

episode eleven 10/30/17

the pros and cons of legalizing weed

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Thank you and welcome friends to episode eleven of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for Grass.

One of the major platforms the Liberal Party ran on during the 2105 Canadian Federal Election was the nationwide legalization of marijuana.

Since being elected the Liberals have maintained a position that the government remains on course towards weed’s legalization as of Canada Day 2018.

However…There are obstacles remaining for the federal government to hurdle…large obstacles.

For instance…Over the years Canada has signed three international treaties…in 1961, 1971 and 1988, each time committing the country into keeping weed illegal.

The Trudeau Liberals, in association with Health Canada, now have a different avenue they want this country to take…away from the avenue that sees its citizens jailed for simple possession.

This seems like a sensible plan, after all marijuana has proven to be a benefit to those suffering from a myriad of medical conditions and is proven to not be as harmful to your health as cigarettes or alcohol…two legal drugs.

As well as the income the government will net from the taxing of the product…let’s just say that with as many, if not more, adults smoking grass as drinking alcohol…the numbers could be staggering.

As an example…Marijuana created 18,005 full-time jobs and added about $2.4 billion to Colorado’s economy in the first year after legalization.

It is big business.

And the Liberals want to cash in.

In order to break from those treaties though Canada needed to announce that they were doing so at least one year before their proposed legalization date…but July 1 came and went and the Canadian government… This is where if I had sound effects I’d play the sound of crickets.

So now what?

The government initially licensed 26 companies to grow medicinal marijauna.

Those companies have already begun buying and cultivating land, purchasing equipment and building factories and offices for the purpose of growing weed.

Those companies are simply waiting for the government to give them the go ahead to start producing it for recreational purposes.

They are preparing for a July 1 business commencement date.

Medicinal marijuana makes for as nice little business but recreational marijuana will take those businesses to a higher level.

Those businesses must have had an emotional rollercoaster ride of a day this past Canada Day. Let’s look back.

The day begins with great anticipation for this will be the day the Liberals officially pull out of the treaties and give them the go-ahead to start production…anticpiation for an action that never came.

So what gives?

Well, the Liberals aren’t commenting.

If they have a plan they’re not letting us in on it.

Usually, if a government isn’t boasting about its plan it’s because they don’t have one.

So, let’s speculate.

The government plans to tell those businesses to go ahead and that Canada will simply ignore the signed treaties.

It’s the old cliché…Ask for forgiveness after rather than for permission before.

After all, what are the repercussions?

The other countries may make a claim against Canada, but outside of formal protests…not much can be done.

It’s almost as if it is a ploy Trudeau may have learned from the Mad Hatter during their meeetings. Screw the laws and the repercussions…do what you want.

The Liberals could also delay the date for legalization until an agreement can be reached with the other countries.

That is a course of action, or inaction…that would please the provinces since many provincial governments maintain serious doubts whether the weed business can be properly policed.

Another route the Liberals could take is publicly insisting on amending the treaties, to remove marijuana from the list of illegal substances.

Perhaps another Mad Hatter lesson learned. Don’t worry about the story; just manufacture the headline. The International Narcotics Control Board insists that the treaties do not make allowances for legal cannabis use; that its removal is impossible.

If so then Canada cannot stay in those treaties since the INCB seems unwilling to budge. The Liberals have lowered the cone of silence on this issue; all information given states that ecreational marijuana will be legal across the country on Canada Day 2018.

There is another hurdle…Canada’s police departments…national, provincial, regional and municipal…insist they won’t be ready to enforce the new laws by that date.

The police insist that they need more time to prepare…time to train their officers in how to deal with the legalization of weed.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police estimates that there needs to be at least 2,000 qualified officers, up from about 600 now.

This sounds like a delaying tactic. The police can’t be overly thrilled with the possibility of weed being legal; even though it can reduce the manpower used on the substance’s preclusion from society.

I get the feeling, if pressed, the police would prefer alcohol be illegal as well...except of course when they want a drink.

Even one more hurdle.

If the Federal Liberals enact the new law as of July 1, 2018 then the provinces will need to be ready to properly sell the product.

In Ontario the provincial government has already assigned the sale and responsibility to the Liquor Control Board, the LCBO.

The Provincial Liberals announced an intention to open up to 150 provincial pot stores as well as an online pot depot option…all to be managed by the LCBO.

The LCBO then announced it will open 40 stand alone structures to begin with; more will be built later as warranted.

Again all will be run by LCBO management and staff.

Nothing wrong with that plan, he said, with a sarcastic grin.

From up high…pardon the pun…the plan seems sound.

Run the business like liquor…customers can only purchase the product in authorized stores, with the same restrictions of age, level of intoxication, as well as limits on locations…it can only be used in private, not in public places.

The government intends to have a monopoly on smoke as it has on drink.

All other shops will be forced to close.

Eventually cafes will open with a license to use; but at least at the beginning there will be no public places to light up.

But this is where the soundness of the plan shakes…well, explodes actually.

The LCBO is the largest retailer of alcohol in Ontario. They are a quasimonopoly—meaning they decide which portion of the business they want to secede, and what percentage—and they have maintained this quasi-monopoly since 1927.

The LCBO does not have competitors.

The LCBO plays the market competion game with itself, comparing numbers not to other businesses but to its own history. 

Competing only with yourself means you never lose; but you never win. You just play. It’s called putting in the time. Hourly staff are paid exceedingly well—it is the government after all, and are protected by an incredibly strong union.

Staff members do not fear the loss of a job, unless they steal or commit murder. And management is the same—paid exceedingly well and protected by a powerful union…in this case the federal human resources department who would rather start a fire than put one out.

The executive are managers who stayed the longest and were promoted because of length of service. Both staff and management have strong pension funds as well.

Nobody leaves; once inside the LCBO individuals simply put in the time.

So what will happen when these putting in time people are faced with a brand new business that has the potential to expand fast and quick?

To me it’s like a teenaged boy who suffers from narcolepsy being behind the wheel of a supercharged race car on a highway that has no speed limit.

There are bound to be a lot of crashes.

But who knows, maybe the federal Liberals…who seem to be in over their heads on this matter, will conclude that the country isn’t ready for legalization and will postpone it for perhaps one more year.

That would give the police time to train their officers and time for the Ontario Liberals to think of a better plan.

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode ten 10/13/17

the general john kelly face hide 

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Thank you and welcome friends to episode ten of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for graphic design.

Authorities still cannot come up with motivation…what made Stephen Paddock decide to kill?

There is no doubt that Paddock was a sociopath who elevated his disdain for his fellow citizens to an unconscionable level…that much is obvious.

What isn’t obvious…is the motive.

Why would he commit such a monstrous act?

The authorities can’t find a reason; they can’t find that trigger moment.

But what if there wasn’t one?

What if there wasn’t a single incident that created this monster?

What if he committed the crime simply because he could?

Now, when piecing together the course of events that led to such a horrendous act a certain number of suppositions need to be included in the hypothesis.

The man was a very private citizen. '

There’s not much for the authorities to go on, other than he had money, he was a successful businessman, earning most of his money in real estate, he loved to gamble, had been a frequent visitor to Vegas and had a girlfriend he had persuaded to go home to the Philippines, and to whom he wired a hundred grand shortly before the attack—presumably to buy a house.

Build a motive from that?

There is one fact here—no one should be able to acquire or construct enough automatic weaponry to arm a militia…second amendment that…

But constructing a motive?

This is when the suppositions come in.

They’re looking for a moment, an event, an incident that caused him to change…to decide that being a solid American citizen wasn’t enough anymore…and it was that incident or event that caused him to seek violence, a catastrophe…perhaps for ego as much as a purpose.

Apparently that moment never happened.

And you can believe they’re looking.

They want to find a reason; they need to find a reason.

It’s the only way for people to understand such a heinous act…if there’s a reason, a motive, a hatred…for some people, then it can be explained away.

But if there isn’t one… So for now we’ll suppose there’s no motive.

What if it is all ego?

What if he wanted to design and execute the perfect crime?

Like a TV shw or a movie. We live in an age where great ego is on full display every day; where a longshot won the presidency despite being the lamest horse in the race.

What if he feels imbued; wanted to be an ordinary man who does something extraordinary before he dies. But what can he do…selling real estate, while lucrative, is certainly not extraordinary.

He tried gambling but whether he wasn’t good enough or he if picked the wrong houses he couldn’t get close enough to pull off an Ocean’s Eleven type caper.

It certainly proved out that he was a strategic thinker…though he had the ending wrong.

He had obviously grown tired of the gambling and the collecting of guns and decided he wanted to use those guns.

The prize; to be the man who pulled off the largest mass shooting in U.S. history…an event equalled by his own brilliant escape.

Once the killings were accomplished, and with the jet fuel tanks and his car exploding and causing a diversion he could walk out of the room with only a backpack strapped around his shoulder, take an elevator to the lobby, walk outside, hail a cab for the airport, grab a plane for the Phillipines and a reunion with his girlfriend.

It is there he could read and watch the reports; infused with the glory of being a man who will go down in history having accomplished something extraordinary.

He knocked out two windows—one to fire on the crowd and the other to fire on the jet fuel tanks, but the tanks did not explode.

And the cameras he had set up to keep watch on the hallway showed that it was not one or two guards or police who approached his room it was a SWAT team. His crime was not racially motivated.

This was a white man killing white people.

Unless living with an immigrant woman had turned his hatred toward the oppressors knowing that a country music festival would attract a high percentage of white people—it gave him to best opportunity to slaughter his own kind.

I don’t believe that supposition.

He had researched other cities and other festivals, with various styles of music, before deciding.

Vegas provided the best setting.

He was a soldier executing the plan that he, as the general, had designed.

But the tanks failed to explode, and he didn’t have the opportunity to use the bullet he had targetted for the explosives in his car—his back-up plan for escape, before the door was breached.

Now, again that is all supposition.

But if there isn’t a motive the authorities will need to look at why there isn’t one; and whether this era of brash superficial talk and action infected him—and he had ingested it like a poison pill.

To quote the famous explorer George Mallory when asked why he would risk his life to climb Mount Everest.

“Because it’s there,” he said.

Till next time my friends be well.

episode nine 10/12/17

the president is walking his followers straight off the gangplank and into big water

watch here

Thank you and welcome friends to episode nine of Hobson’s Choice. 

I’m Michael G.

Hobson and in this episode the G stands for the Great Divide.

The Mad Hatter is furthering the great divide that began with the Republican Party’s insistence, after the 2008 election that no matter what follows their first priority is to ensure that President Obama fails.

Whether Obama’s policies and decisions better the country…it doesn’t matter…the Republicans were going to obstruct. It was the beginning of a political civil war.

An US versus THEM landscape.

This division gave birth to the Mad Hatter who came along, took advantage of that divide, fed off it, exacerbated it and finally built it in brick.

The fear among the nations of the world is if the divide will lead to a scorched earth.

The hope is that like most things the Mad Hatter has built it will end in receivership.

Those who fervently belong to the US side are not inclined to listen to reason— they fanatically believe that those who belong to THEM are trying to take the country by any means possible.

But this isn’t 1854 when whites ruled America…and the country will not return to that time—despite what the US side wants and despite what the Mad Hatter wants.

What he wants is to pull the cord on any progress the nation, and the world, have made during the previous administration and jam it into reverse…sending the country, and the world, back in time when America was supposedly great.

But when was it great?

If the country would be defined by its race relations not only has it never been great it has never been fair.

For the US side…the nation doesn’t belong to you, it doesn’t belong to anyone—it certainly doesn’t belong to the Mad Hatter—even if he acts like it does.

You on the US side must know that your numbers are dwindling.

From the high of 46 percent who voted for the Mad Hatter on Election Day down to the 32 percent of the latest polls.

Eleven months since the election and nine months into his presidency the numbers have dropped by 14 percent—nearly a third have changed their mind.

I’m reminded of that day when he rode the escalator down to announce his candidacy for president…in actuality it was a prescient metaphor for his presidency.

Going down.

But where is the bottom?

How low can he go?

I figure the percentage who will follow him even when he walks off the gangplank and into the water is about 28 percent.

They will go down with him and won’t realize the mistake they made until they are deep under the water.

Meaning there is only 4 percent still clinging to their initial notion that he will take the country back for them; 4 percent still clinging to the US side, like frantic guests hanging on to the side of the Titanic as it is swallowed up by the ocean.

The Mad Hatter hates these numbers.

Makes him mad.

He’s mad all the time.

He sees the numbers going down.

Even his small mind can understand the meaning.

Frustration begins his day and frustration ends his day. The only consolation he has is that occasionally he gets to win a fight—then…he thinks he wins every fight, even the ones he doesn’t start.

But there is danger in being on the US side…serious, serious danger.

When he realizes that he cannot “take back the country” what will he do for spite?

He doesn’t care about you, he doesn’t care about anyone.

He only cares about winning; about looking like a winner.

So what kind of damage can he do if the frustration boils over and he’s unable to find restitution on twitter?

Bob Corker is right saying that the Mad Hatter isn’t running the country as much as he is starring in his own reality TV show.

“You’ll find out soon enough…” he’ll say when answering questions.

“I’ll let you know as soon I decide…” OR “Stay tuned…On the next episode we will reveal our decision …and it will surprise you. So you’d better watch.”

To you, the remaining 4 percent who can be saved…do you not see the danger lurking on the horizon?

My advice is to get out now, while you still can.

You don’t want epiphany to find you after you have also walked the gangplank and are deep under water.

Big water.

Ocean water. Till next time my friends, be well.

episode eight 10/05/17

The most dangerous cliche in the US--good guys with guns beat bad guys with guns

watch here

Thank you and welcome friends to episode eight of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for…the General John Kelly face hide.

Now, there are variations to the face hide.

There is the slow face…and there is the quick.

I’m sure there are many other versions whenever the General sits in on the Mad Hatter’s private meetings.

It would probably depend on the severity of the talk and the danger that could ensue if the Mad Hatter’s plans became real.

A land war with North Korea?

All due respect Mr. President, that would not be a good idea.

But tell you what—let’s shelve that idea for now, we need to address more pressing matters. And let’s stop talking about the Turtle’s present condition.

It doesn’t do any good to debate what level of impotency the Turtle has reached. It is an issue that should be decided by Congress, the voters…and his wife.

The General appeared on the scene at an opportune time. The Mad Hatter was wild with power, in his words and his execution…Republicans insisted that someone had to be in a position to say no to the Mad Hatter.

Someone the Mad Hatter would listen to and not just berate and kick out of the office—like the outgoing Chief of Staff. And the Mad Hatter does love him some generals.

It tastes good in his mouth when he says “my friend, general…” The General is a retired marine general whom the Mad Hatter had appointed Secretary of Homeland Security shortly after assuming power.

A veteran of more than four decades in the military with a list of impressive credentials…, and the Mad Hatter does love him some generals.

There was chaos in the White House; it was obvious to even a child.

Disorder. Sensing a need for his services the General accepted the job for his country and immediately set out to stabilize the unstable and direct the aimless.

He had to have known there would be days when the shock and awe desires of the Mad Hatter could not be contained. And he had to expect damage control to be a major part of the position.

Like a mother hen picking up after her chicks the general could have to clean up the mess.

That’s why the face hide is such a defining feature in the man.

Not only is he ashamed by the words he imagines the clean-up afterward.

It’s a two reason face hide. Maybe there’s more. Maybe it also includes a sense of embarassment the country will most assuredly feel afterward.

Or a sense of loss at his inability to at least contain the extremes.

Is the general losing confidence? Or is he just getting tired.

He has seen so many extremes; so many fires stoked eirther on twitter or from behind a podium. Maybe he’s not fazed at all, and it’s just a natural reaction to…here we go again. Russia? Face Hide. Race issues? Face Hide Health care? Face Hide.

The media?

Face Hide, and hold head.

That’s a big one.

Not like the little ones.

“Puerto Rico is an island, surrounded by water. Big water. Ocean water.”

Who knew Puerto Rico would be so important?

Who knew there were Americans there?

Who knew it was an island surrounded by big water.

That wouldn’t produce any more than the subtle face hide from the general.

The first time we, in the public, saw the General John Kelly face hide was the afternoon of August 15 when the Mad Hatter came down from his isolation chamber to speak about money only to get side-tracked and then get lost within the echo chamber of his own mind as reporters shouted questions about Charlottesville.

The carefully crafted phrases amid a reasonably stated tone from yesterday disappeared as the views from an unreserved segregationist came out.

As the Mad Hatter continued to dig a hole through the lobby floor the cameras panned to the side and showed the general…staring down at the floor, arms crossed, trying to hide his face inside his shoulders.

As the Mad Hatter grew angrier, and the hole grew deeper, the first General John Kelly face hide came into public view.

The General knows that when the Mad hatter talks he talks for all the people who live inside the Mad Hatter.

When the Mad Hatter says…”many people tell me” or “I’ve heard from many people” he’s actually talking about the voices he hears in his head…voices that are always telling him how smart he is, how popular he is… and how much he is loved.

The second face hide was unveiled at the United Nations…But before I go there something happened shortly after Charlottesville.

The Mad Hatter held a campaign rally in Arizona so he could defend his words…without actually using his words.

Don’t believe me, believe me.

After the Mad Hatter finished vindicating himself he shouted invitations to the few names in the audience, to join him on stage.

Two politicians listened but General John Kelly was nowhere to be found, even after the Mad Hatter introduced him to the roar of the crowd.

The Mad Hatter was clearly disappointed that the general did not come when he called. Instead the General was probably in a car on the way to the airport, and a quick flight to Vegas.

“Get me the hell out of here,” he probably instructed his driver.

But something made him come back to the Mad Hatter.

Probably duty and service.

The second General John Kelly face hide came at the United Nations when the Mad Hatter threatened to destroy North Korea.

He didn’t threaten to destroy the regime, or the military

…he threatened to destroy North Korea. Kill 20 million people.

The general’s face hide showed that he was ashamed, embarassed, frustrated, tired and fed up.

The full gamut, for there was the president—standing up at the podium, giving at a speech at the world body for peace, to the entire world, threatening to commit a war crime.

(Face Hide)

What will happen next, to give us another General John Kelly face hide?

We know its coming.

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode seven 10/04/17

the vegas mass shooter had a reason--because he could

watch here

Thank you and welcome friends to episode seven of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G sadly stands for gun control.

It has happened again. So many dead; so many injured.

The Unites States of America is the most powerful nation on earth but when it comes to gun related deaths the government turns a blind eye.

Why?

Money and power.

When will you learn? I’m talking to you, citizens of the United States.

You like to think of yourself as living in the greatest country on earth…but in many ways you live in a regressive culture…almost as if you are a third world nation.

Civilized countries care about their citizens, your country does not. The US loves guns even though guns kill their citizens…the US hates health care even though health care saves its citizens.

Explain that to me, oh great power.

Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker writes… “Gun control acts on gun violence the way antibiotics act on infections—imperfectly but with massive efficiency.”

Yet… After Newtown, when 22 people—mostly first graders—were shot to death a bill went before Congress to restrict the sale of firearms.

The bill failed to pass.

After the San Bernadino shooting when 14 people were shot and killed another bill was created and again it failed to pass.

After Orlando when 49 people were shot in a nightclub Congress again tried to pass a bill on gun restictions and again it failed.

There is little doubt that in response to Las Vegas a bill will be sent to Congress to restrict gun sales and gun ownership…and again it will fail.

If Congress can’t get behind gun control after children were killed in Newtown, it is believed, then it never will.

It’s obviously okay with Congress if children get murdered…or anyone, for that matter. “I will give up my gun when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.”

As long as that remains the rallying cry for Republicans in Congress more Americans will die from their own hands…many many more.

The mass shooting in Las Vegas confuses the authorities since the shooter seeemd to be a normal American…an aging white male with no political affiliations and solid financial holdings.

They never recognized that the man owned enough weaponry and amunition to arm a small city.

And it is here the problem worsens.

Not only do you, American citizen, allow him to own the weaponry

…you allow him to build on it

…add to it until he needs multiple houses to store them in.

In a Pew Research study 4 in 10 Americans say they live in a house with guns. 3 in 10 adults say they own a gun. 4% of U.S. adults say they personally know someone who has been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, and 23% say they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun.

It’s as prevalent in the US as chewing gum.

Three-quarters of gun owners claim that owning a gun means freedom…that owning a gun is a right.

Health care is a privilege but owning a gun is a right.

That is regressive, third world thinking.

Two-thirds of gun owners say protection is the reason they own guns.

Protection from what? Or from whom?

The answer seems obvious—Protection from the other people who have guns.

But here`s where things get murky. According to the same study 52% of Americans believe gun laws are not restrictive enough. Only 18% want fewer restrictions.

And roughly half of gun owners say they would favor creating a federal database, they favor a ban on assault weapons and they favor a ban on high-capacity magazines.

So if so many want gun control why has it not occurred? And Nevada is one of the worst States for gun control. It is not surprising that the killer was able to collect enough artillery to start a war, and then use it.

According to the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association Nevadans are allowed to purchase, possess or sell a machine gun as long as it is legally registered and complies with federal regulations.

The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action said the state does not require a permit to purchase or possess a rifle, shotgun or handgun. And it is legal to purchase items that can turn a semi-automatic weapon into a full automatic weapon.

In Nevada guns are as loved and as accessible as gambling.

The 10 deadliest acts of violence from the past decade have one thing in common: They were all mass shootings.

Not vehicle rammings.

Not bombings.

Not chemical or biological attacks.

Shootings. After the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, how many bombings have there been on American soil that have resulted in mass-casualty levels (that of six or more dead)?

The terrorist bombing of the Boston marathon killed three.

Similarly, how many planes have been hijacked from American airports and turned into flying missiles since 9/11?

The answer to both questions is zero.

Why?

Because after these two tragic events, the federal government imposed tight regulations on explosive precursor materials and on civilian air transportation.

Legal restrictions have worked to keep the US safe from bombings and acts of air piracy But guns?

The Government won’t go there.

The common sense compromise would be the elimination of automatic and semiautomatic weapons.

There are nearly 500,000 machine guns in circulation in the United States, nearly 200,000 of which are legally transferable. H

ey US citizen…can we compromise?

Can you at least get those out of circulation?

At least then we could go back to the good old days when a mass shooting number was three of four.

In 1994 Bill Clinton signed into law the Federal Assault Weapons Ban restricting the manufacture of semi-automatic firearms.

From 1994-98 there were no gun massacres in the US. The caveat to the law was that Congress had the provision to cancel the law after ten years if it so chose, which the 2004 Congress chose.

The gun manufacturers didn’t much care for the law and pressured Congress into the change. The NRA carries a great deal of weight in Washington because they contribute a great deal of money to Republican campaigns.

Further, the second amendment of the Constitution states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Somehow the well regulated militia has been discouraged while the right of the people to keep and bear arms has been encouraged.

Who is doing the encouraging?

According to the Pew research study Republican gun owners are more than twice as likely as Democratic gun owners to say owning a gun is essential to their freedom (91% vs. 43%).

Republicans love money and they love guns, mostly because their love of guns gets them money.

The enemy of the American people is the Republican Party. In the meantime nearly 12,000 people have been killed by guns in 2017…just an average year for gun homicides.

The suicide by gun number is twice that of homicides…again just an average year.

The gun homicide average is 3.61 per 100,000 US residents.

By comparison the average in Canada, which has gun control laws, is .5 per 100,000 residents.

In 2015 President Obama said, “We have a pattern now, of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”

“This is a political decision that we make to allow this to happen every few months.” It is your politics that is killing you, American citizen.

Las Vegas is just the latest.

Shed your third world thinking.

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode six 09/28/17

ugly republicans forcibly remove the disabled from an open hearing

watch here

Thank you and welcome friends to Episode six of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for Gall.

It could have stood for GOP since the Republican Party is at the heart of this story…or at least the lack of heart.

The videos were shocking.

The Republicans were holding a last ditch hearing to save their preposterous and hurtful health care plan—a plan that essentially rips health coverage away from those who need it so Republicans can apply the savings to their grand tax cut plan.

Republicans have always believed that if people want something they should go out and work for it.

Anyone else…well, they can suffer and die.

That heartlessness was on full display this week when the Republicans held an open hearing

…an OPEN HEARING, that was attended by a group called ADAPT, a grassroots disability rights activist group.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch told the protesters that if they can’t be quiet to “get the heck out.”

Now it was quite the sight to watch the disabled…wheeled out, carried out, or dragged out by police.

Nearly 200 were arrested for interrupting the hearing with chants of “No cuts to medicaid. Save our liberty.”

What kind of gall do you have as a human being to not only watch, or allow, but insist on disabled people being dragged out of the room simply for being concerned that their health care could be lost.

These are not people who have a choice.

 People in wheelchairs, in walkers, on crutches…there was one woman in an automated chair…she had no arms and no legs.

How can you turn your back on these people?

It’s not like they have a choice.

They can’t just go out and get a job and support themselves.

They need help.

They need support.

If they don’t get it, they die.

But to these Republicans…people like Hatch and Chuck Grassle who were heard saying to each other to let the police handle it, they don’t care.

Hatch and Grassle are two of the old, white bastards that head the Republican Party.

They don’t care about people, they don’t care about Americans, and they don’t even care about their constituents— unless there’s an election campaign going on.

These are the kind of people who exude the worst characteristics of politicians.

They were saying to the disabled, get out you’re dusrupting. As far as your issues—we don’t care.

You’re in our way. You’re in our way.

How much gall does it take to have the disabled arrested for caring about being alive?

The audacity, the impudence, the insolence. You are disgusting human beings.

There is no other way to look at this. Every time I see a video or a picture of Republicans signing some important document I see nothing but old white men.

Their understanding of the difficulties in life suffered by so many others is foreign to them.

They cling to a morally superior manner; as if they know best.

Republicans have been touting trickle down economics for decades now.

Their credo is “Give to us and we shall then give to you…our loyal subjects. The money is better used in our hands than in yours.

Because if there is one thing we think of when we think of rich people it is their unwavering benevolence—their care and concern for have-nots.

While John McCain garnered most of the attention, and respect, for turning thumbs down on being morally and economically repugnant it was two female senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who stood down their old white colleagues and stayed firm.

You see, Republican voters, a little diversity can save your life. It’s funny to us, in Canada…this fight you have for health care. Obamacare is an infant in health insurance…and you Americans, always fighting to save a dollar— have no patience, and don’t realize that you will pay now and save much more later.

And while many Canadians were offended by the Vice President’s comment…it’s not Igor, its pronounced IGOR… Well IGOR said that if the US isn’t careful they could wind up with a flawed system like they have in Canada.

You mean a country where government sponsored health care is a right of birth?

Where individuals actually pay less for coverage than those who have coverage in the US?

Where citizens don’t have to be concerned with the cost of a life.

So much stupidity.

I know Americans believe Capitalism is the greatest system in the world, and it may be in many areas…but not in health care.

Well…maybe some good will come of this health care failure… I mean other than millions of Americans keeping their health care without cuts to medicaid, the largest insurer of Americans…Other than that.

Someone has to be blamed for the failure of the long discussed proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare.

It is certainly not the president’s fault.

So who is to blame?

Sounds like the blame will be placed in the lap of the Senate Majority leader.

The Turtle though is counting on tax cuts to salvage his reputation, and his position. He didn’t want health care to be their first priority…

They are tired of health care…

(Wave sheets).

They want to do tax cuts…

(Produce binder)

Say tax cuts to a Republican and a tear forms in their eyes.

It’s their anthem.

They don’t like health insurance because health insurance costs money. Sorry, but health insurance is a cost—in money…not in American lives.

Republicans want Americans to stand for the anthem…but have no issue with having disabled Americans removed from a public hearing.

Republicans insist on being the standard-bearer for the American way of life…but who are the real Americans?

Those who protest when their civil rights are being attacked or the old white men sitting in session at a Republican hearing and encouraging the removal of the diabled because they protest for the right to stay alive.

The ememy of the people is not the media, for the American people the enemy is the Republican Party. Maybe some good can come from this.

The Turtle is going to get blamed for the health care failure, and despite the years of work they put into tax cuts their plan will obviously stink with cuts to the taxes of the wealthy.

The money is better in our hands than in yours.

But the Turtle may be crossing the road in his slow, methodical manner and may be aware that there is a presidential motorcade speeding toward him.

Now I believe the Turtle knows mostly everything about the Russia investigation because I believe he was hearing about it from its inception.

Being the most powerful politician in Washington I highly doubt that he wasn’t aware of what was going on…on the campaign trail.

He knew…he may not have been involved…but he knew…from the moment it started.

He simply stayed silent so the Republicans could gain control of the executive branch…win at any and all cost.

We’ve been looking for John Dean throughout this investigation…the inside man whose soul couldn’t be completely corrupted.

John Dean was Richard Nixon’s white house lawyer who decided that he could not, in good conscience, continue with the lies, and instead told the truth about the Nixon improprieties in a Senate Concressional hearing.

Could the Turtle do the same?

He has stayed silent…but now, feeling threatened by the White House, with his position and power hanging by a thread could the Turtle walk into the office of a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and unburden his soul?

Does the Turtle have the capacity for human understanding, for human compassion?

Maybe that’s just the optimist in me speaking. Till next time my friends, be well.

episode five  09/19/17

is it collusion? conspiracy? or the art of the deal.

watch here

Thank you and welcome friends to episode five of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G stands for Gambit.

Since the US Election we have been inundated with stories, with information, with facts, with speculation, and with participant quotes regarding the Russia-Trump investigation. Deluged, you might say.

Events, man-made and environmental, continue to occur, to cause deaths and to damage property but the story that has captivated most people in this part of the world is simply a game of…did he or didn’t he.

Did the Mad Hatter win the election with Russia’s assistance?

And if so how much assistance was offered, and given, by Russia, and at what cost?

The Mad Hatter claims to be the world’s greatest dealmaker…what kind of deal could he cut with Russia? What would Russia desire?

Would sowing nationwide discord among Americans be enough for Russia?

After all, Putin loves to incite discord in democratic nations.

Loves it.

Helped Asaad push six million Syrian refugees into democratic nations and watched the discord it caused.

It’s probably the last thought he has before sleep…how will I sow discord in democratic nations tomorrow.

Or maybe it was about Putin’s deep-seated hatred for Hilary Clinton… that the destruction of Hilary Clinton was the meat, and anything more was gravy. For Putin to think America would be stupid enough to elect the Mad Hatter…that was fantasy.

The end game had to be about discrediting Hilary, not only among Americans but among the leaders of other nations.

So what was the gambit? Surely the Mad Hatter must have realized that if he fell into bed with an acknowledged adversary and was caught it could ruin his name forever?

And this for a man who stamps his name on everything he owns, including his kids.

“C’mon Eric. You know the stamp loses its definition if it isn’t updated every year. Now stop being a baby. Why can’t you be more like Ivanka…she rolled up her sleeve and took her stamp like a man.”

But this is how the history books would show him, if he was caught.

For a man who has a deep, well-known need for affirmation it is hard to fathom how the ends would justify the means.

Then again…what if the Mad Hatter does not possess the ability of foresight; that his vison is limited…that he can only see what’s in front of him; then maybe winning the election was as far as he could see.

After that…a genial shrug. After all, The Mad Hatter likes to win.

His main character trait is a deeply ingrained arrogance that he is better than everyone else. An offshoot of that trait is that he likes to win, at everything… elections, arguments, twitter fights…it doesn’t matter…and he hates to lose.

But the unthinkable happened, he didn’t lose. Russia hit the jackpot. Not only had Russia avoided an impending conflict with the Clinton led U.S…they now they have an ally, a friend, a useful tool to cause damage to not only America but to democracies around the world.

The meetings, the social media ads, the computer hacking, the deal with fellow Clinton hater Julian Assange and Wiki-leaks, the manpower needed, the money spent…and he won.

The Mad Hatter won.

Who says fantasies don’t come true. Authoritarian nations, like Syria and North Korea, are much easier to deal with for Putin.

As the pre-eminent authoritarian figure on the world stage he understands them, uses them…and that Authoritarian club is one the Mad Hatter sorely seeks inclusion and seclusion inside.

And so the US…and the civilized world…have a man in power who stopped growing emotionally the same day he stopped growing physically—I figure, about seventeen.

Today the Russians laugh and boast about how they won the US election.

Meanwhile the Mad Hatter, like a hurricane, tries to destroy anything in his path. In an editorial a German newspaper wrote that “Putin is laughing at the political chaos in Washington.

But the damage to democratic institutions and the trivialization of the presidential office is not a laughing matter at all."

The Russians are laughing.

They can’t help themselves.

They’re even boasting, in public, about how they won the US election.

It seems to be a regular thing these days…a video of a Russian official commenting or laughing about their victory.

It’s as if the Russians drove the presidential carriage though Washington stopped at the White House and helped the Mad Hatter inside…and then left him there to blow everything up.

“I don’t have any solutions, any ideas,” he could say.

“Just criticisms. I’m what they call a Monday morning quarterback.”

If the Bob Mueller probe is able to show that the Mad Hatter did indeed coordinate with the Russians, and has enough evidence to prove to and convince Congressional Republicans…then it’s all over for the Mad Hatter.

I’m reminded of the famous line from Barry Goldwater, the elder statesman of the Republican Party and an avowed Conservative, in a meeting with Richard Nixon in the final days of Watergate…answered Nixon’s wearisome query of whether the president had enough votes of support with…not enough and not mine.

Do modern day Republicans have the same moxie, knowing how poorly the Mad Hatter receives bad news?

Do Senate majority leader Turtle…and Speaker of the House Crustacean…have the same moxie?

When the time comes, and it will, we will see.

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode four 09/13/17

despite betrayal kaepernick remains a symbol for inclusion

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Thank you and welcome friends to the fourth episode of Hobson’s Choice.

I’m Michael G. Hobson and in this episode the G. stands for gridiron.

No, this isn’t a story about football, though the NFL certainly plays a major part

…this is the story of Colin Kaepernick’s imbalanced attempts at being active in civil rights, his dismissal from the team and his inevitable rejection from the league.

There are many athletes before him who chose principle over position. I highlight Curt Flood who challenged the reserve clause in baseball—a clause that essentially allowed owners to pay and to treat players like indentured servants, a challenge that eventiually led to free agency and a challenge that ended Flood’s career. But this is not the Curt Flood story; that is for another day.

This is about Kaepernick who, by taking a moral stand—or kneel, in his case, effectively stalled what seemed on target to be among the greats of the NFL.

First, some background into the player.

As the second round of the 2011 draft began a trade was made—the San Francisco 49ers traded three picks to the Denver Broncos in order to move up nine spots.

They wanted Kaepaernick. The 49ers, a highly regarded franchise with a successful history, had a starting quarterback but in the six years since drafting Alex Smith instead of Aaron Rodgers, the team had never taken off. The 49ers believed Smith was a solid NFL quarterback but lacked a supreme skill needed to take a team to the Super Bowl.

Now, for a little history the 49ers compare quarterbacks to Joe Montana and Steve Young, who between them won five Super Bowls. Smith was not of their ilk. But Kaepernick could be.

They loved Kaepernick’s athleticism and rocket arm.

The team kept both quarterbacks the first year but midway through his second season Smith suffered a concussion, which turned into Smith’s Wally Pipp moment.

Pipp was a New York Yankee first baseman who missed a game and watched his replacement, Lou Gehrig, not miss a game for fiteen years.

Kaepernick’s brilliant running and precision passing led the team to the Super Bowl—a loss to Baltimore. In the off-season the 49ers traded Smith and handed him the job. Kaepernick relished the opportunity and took the 49ers into the NFC championship—a loss to Seattle.

The 49ers saw Kaerpernick as the future and signed their new superstar to a 6 year 126 million deal.

Nice money, but in the NFL contracts are not fully guaranteed.

The team only guaranteed ten percent.

Whether it was the pressure of trying to live up to the contract or, as many experts believe, the league just caught up to him Kaepernick did not have a good season.

Midway through the following season Kaepernick was replaced as starting quarterback. While his football career waned his social conscience grew.

With his contract having been reduced to a one year deal Kaerpenick knew the team was looking in another direction, but could not have imagined that the league, run like a criminal cartel with old money, would view his actions as un_patriotic stunts and would want nothing to do with him.

If a player throws his girlfriend onto a bed covered with guns—that’s a suspension.

If a player knocks his wife out with a punch in a hotel room elevator, and it’s caught on video—well, that’s a suspension.

But show disrespect to the flag, to the national anthem—well, there’s no hope for that player.

It began when Kaerpernick sat through the national anthem in a 2016 pre-season game.

Kaepernick was affected by the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police. But it was the deaths of two more black men, Terence Crutcher, shot in Tulsa Oklahoma, and Keith Lamont Scott, shot in Charlotte North Carolina, earlier in the year that finally drove Kaepernick to action.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said, explaining his action.

“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street…and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Kaepernick though switched his protest from sitting to kneeling saying he didn’t wasn’t to show disrespect to current and former military personnel.

After the September 2016 shootings of Crutcher and Scott Kaepernick said,

"This is a perfect example of what this is about."

Incidentally, the police officer who shot Crutcher, a white female, was charged but not convicted and the officer, who shot Scott, a male African American, was never charged—it was called a good shooting.

The fight between police officers in the US and the citizens is the issue. It is not purely a black and white issue—though skin colour seems to be a divining reason for many—this is about power, and the abuse of authority.

One person should not have the right to take another person’s life simply by holding a badge and a gun. Hardcore nationalists see everything that is right with the flag and the anthem and nothing that is wrong—they don’t see the suffering of people they only see the inspiration and the glory of America. In that category of harcore nationalists? Owners of the national game. Videos were posted of people burning his jersey; where’s Rick Monday when you need him.

Monday was the Los Angeles Dodger who swoooped in from centerfield to grab the flag from the hands of a protester who had run onto the baseball field and was attempting to burn the flag. Monday is still considered an American hero for that moment.

They say Kaepernick hates the U.S. I say he loves the U.S. He’s just fed up with inequality, and injustice. But Colin Kaepernick made a serious mistake. In the 2016 US Presidential election he chose not to vote. All the talk, all the action, all the criticism—and you don’t vote. That’s how we, in the civilized part of the world, overthrow our governments.

We do it peacefully through elections. It’s the old saying—if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. I may not totally agree with that sentiment, but for a man to take a moral stand, fed up and frustrated with the system of justice—and to not vote? Makes his words ring hollow.

I can forgive him for the mistake—he certainly wasn’t alone. Just enough people didn’t vote to hand the presidency to the Mad Hatter. The moral to this story is not about the protests; they should and will continue.

No this story is for any adult who lives in a democratic nation and who is thinking of not voting in an election.

Imagine the Mad Hatter running your country.

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode three 09/08/17

houston we have a problem. cement does not soak up the water

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Thank you and welcome to episode three of Hobson’s Choice. I’m Michael G. Hobson and today G is for Greed.

As we witness the devastation, the heartbreak and the loss of life and property in Texas it is easy to forget that the state of Texas is at fault for having ignored the warning signs of its own history and instead market in a world where money comes first and people are second.

Since 1980 there have been 81 hurricanes or tropical storms that have hit the Texas mainland. 81. And there have been 18 major flood events that have hit Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas since 2015. That is as large a warning sign as there is. From Phil Bedient, an engineering professor at Rice University and co-director of the Storm Surge Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters Center, said in March 2016

(READ 1)

Annise Parker was the mayor of Houston in 2016. She saw the problem. “Here we are,” she said…

(READ 2)

Or how about Larry Taylor, State Senator, and a Republican, representing Galveston and suburban Houston, also in 2016.

(READ 3)

“And it’s time to get moving.”

Moving, he said, with feet stuck in cement.

A proposal was made following Ike; they called it the Ike Dike, a fortification and a lengthening of the coastal barriers.

They also discussed canals and runways; to build a stronger drainage system… They talk well, but when it comes to action on the subject they ignore the potential long term impact of a major storm in favour of the immediate economic boost from munipical expansion. According to an analysis made for the Houston Chronicle, between 1996 and 2010, the 14-county Houston region lost more than 54,000 acres of wetlands.

Those wetlands would have soaked up some of the massive amount of rain that was dumped on Houston. Instead the water fell on cement.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s doubtful that an infrastructure could have been built to withstand 60 inches of water but instead of the water being chest high it could have been knee high.

Drowning would have been less likely in two feet of water.

(READ 4)

Are we not supposed to learn from our mistakes?

We teach our children that making mistakes is human but to try not to make the same mistake again.

81 major storms over 37 years and 18 major floods since 2015 and…nothing.

Houston, you have a problem.

Scientists now believe the method of calculating the probability of such major storms may no longer be valid. Because of climate change “100-year” events might occur as often as every few years, while “500-year” events could occur every few decades.

Harvey will happen again, and soon.

But Texas is a Republican state, with a Republican governor, and two state senators both Republicans. Texas projects to the world that it has two priorities— oil and guns.

There is no room for environmental protection…not at the proposed costs.

The Ike Dike would have cost $8 billion.

There’s no money in life prevention.

In Texas power plants, cement factories, refineries, and other facilities produce far more ozone-causing pollutants than those in any other state, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Texas officials have been butting up against the EPA for decades. As of 2012 Texas was the leading emitter of greenhouse gasses in the US.

(READ 5)

“It’s absolutely going to take state leaders stepping up,” said former mayor Parker.

“No question in my mind.” But when? Again from Phil Bedient when explaining Houston’s issues regarding flooding.

(READ 6)

This message is to you, the citizens of Texas.

Your leaders do not have your best interests at heart.

Next election, make a change.

Till next time my friends, be well

episode two 09/06/17

dumping daca is another step toward forced segregation

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Thank you and welcome friends to the second episode of Hobson’s Choice, otherwise known as Take it or Leave it. I’m Michael G. Hobson and for this episode the G stands for Generosity…or more precisely its absence.

I ask…How does a President make the citizens of his country feel better after being battered by Hurricane Harvey? This president opens his vault of hate and targets a minority for expulsion.

In June 2012 then President Barack Obama used an executive order to create a landmark policy on US immigration. DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, which was instituted to protect the children (called Dreamers) brought here by their parents as infants and who have been raised as Americans.

To remember…President Obama needed an executive order to enact such a comforting policy needed to protect a segment of Americans who were legally not considered citizens but who were in all other aspects of American culture. You see, the Republicans are opposed to it…not because there’s anything wrong with the policy—for Republicans it has more to do with their dislike for now former President Blackman

…the temerity of this to man enact policy without our consent. That is how low the Republican Party has fallen. So it’s not really a surprise that it gave birth to the Mad Hatter. Now the Mad Hatter, who happens to be the world’s most famous segregationist, says the Dreamers will be looked at with “heart and compassion”.

Heart and Compassion.
 

On episode one I showed you these...the size of a normal human heart…and an actual replica of the Mad Hatter’s heart—a heart filled with Mad Hatter memorabilia.

The Mad Hatter insists that he has compassion for children. It was the little babies dying from Syrian dictator Bashar Al Asaad’s chemical attack that provoked Trump into thumping his chest and sending those 56 missiles into an unoccupied landing strip in Syria to create a few cracks in the cement. The Mad Hatter, noted money lover, still thinks of Dreamers as little babies, and though the concept of kicking minorities out of the country always brings great pleasure to the Mad Hatter the idea of being mean to babies is troubling. So he left the announcement to his underling, the racist cracker heretofore known as Foghorn Leghorn.

Heart and Compassion.

The Mad Hatter insists that he cares for these people but he’s willing to send them back to a country their parents left for good reason.

Heart and Compassion.

It is, as Obama stated in his response to this latest atrocity, a political manoeuvre. When Obama instituted the program more than two dozen governors, all Republicans, led by the governor from Texas—what a shock, sued the federal government to have the policy revoked. The hatred for former president Blackman went through the state capitals—apparently the modus operandi for Republicans was two-fold—hate the Democrats and block anything President Blackman’s administration initiated. The case went to the Supreme Court…the decision a 4-4 tie. That’s what happens when extreme conservatives get seats on the bench and vote party over rule of law. It would be easy to legislate that dreamers are American citizens, and maybe now that it’s going to be their idea, the Republicans can finally get behind it. Look how moral we can be.

The Mad Hatter doesn’t like the look of this. He knows what it looks like to the American people…that the president is being mean to little babies. But he had no choice…those Repubican governors were set to begin another lawsuit and backed him into a corner. It may not look good but at least by sending Foghorn out to announce it he saved himself the pain. The Mad Hatter doesn’t like pain.

Heart and Compassion.

Obama’s quote… (READ 1)

You don’t get that kind of eloquence now.

But who do Americans want to be?

If they were to rank in descending order the charcteristics they would want in an American would being white be first on the list? What about those Dreamers? It is an apt description for them? 91% of working age dreamers are employed. They contribute to the economy. They do not have criminal records. They aspire to the American Dream. What they aren’t, is white. That’s it. That’s all they are not. And for anyone to argue that this particualr segregation of people has anything other than skin colour to do with it then they aren’t paying attention.

Ike Brannon of the Cato Institute, a Conservative Research group said…

(READ 2)

Brannon estimates that repealing DACA would hit the federal government straight in the pocketbooks. By deporting these taxpayers he forecasts a potential $60 billion loss in tax revenue and a $280 billion hit to economic growth over the next decade. Wait till the Mad Hatter hears those numbers…to him it’ll be a billion dollars in the next two years…maybe two billion.

Listen, for all his talk about heart I have no doubt that if they were on a boat in the ocean and his wife and a knapsack filled with thousad dollar bills fell overboard and he could only save one…well, if that ever happens let’s hope Melania is a good swimmer.

Heart and compassion.

For the little babies.

Not knowing that the median age for these dreamers is 22…so they’re not little babies. They are important cogs in the American system. So why do it? Why not simply extend the executive order until Congress comes up with a permanent plan? Of course the base doesn’t like that idea. The base. Alawys talking about the base.

Well, what is the base? And why is the base so influential? To the Mad Hatter the base is everything, for with them he finds the love and adulation he craves. The crowds are always massive, the stadiums overflowing with followers. But still; those little babies.

"I have a love for these people,” he says, “hopefully Congress will be able to help them and do it properly.”

Yet, a memo arrived at Capital Hill later that day, and in that memo was this passage…

(READ 3)

…In other words, prepare to vacate the premises. Since Foghorn’s announcement protests have been organizing in many American cities. By my count that’s twelve organized protests against the Mad Hatter since his election. I think he likes crowds so much he doesn’t care whether they are with him or agin him.

Leave it to John McCain, seemingly the sole voice of reason, to make a statement that is easily the most proper.

(READ 4)

Till next time my friends, be well.

episode one 08/29/17

hobson's choice--take it or leave it

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Hello and thank you for joining me. I’m Michael G. Hobson and the title of this series is Hobson’s Choice.

According to the Oxford dictionary Hobson’s Choice is defined as “a choice of taking something offered or taking nothing.”

I hope to offer something. I believe there are issues today that, if ignored, will severely impact mankind in the coming decades. Now I am not affiliated with any news organization. This is strictly an effort on my behalf to offer insight on current events; it will be up to you to conclude at the end whether I have done so.

Today the G. in my name stands for General. Since this is the first of a series, it is meant to provide you with a general overview of my intentions.

First. Being a proponent of the continuation of the human species I believe Climate Change should be the most important issue of our time but there still are so many with authority who deny all the scientists and believe environmental protections are simply regulations that hinder ecomomic growth. Shame on you…thinking only of yourselves and not of your children, of your granchildren, or your descendents.

Screw ‘em, you are effectively saying to your descendents, I’m trying to make some money here.

Shame on you.

Your descendents will certainly be facing their own natural disasters—like Hurricane Harvey—only more often. Of course with the melting of the glaciers causing ocean levels to rise it may not be so far into the future where miles of coastline will be water and millions will be crowded into the center of the land watching the approaching waters like sailers on a sinking ship.

Sorry. That was grim. And it may not happen. Scientists can only predict natural occurences, like a solar eclipse, but they can’t actually make them happen. Through the tragedy; the same tragedy that is claiming lives and threatening millions Trump views the Hurricane as a marketing tool thinking he can use the coverage to announce his pardoning of Sheriff Racist Cop.

Through the tragedy however we are witnessing people helping people: I`m an optimist— despite so much information to the contrary I believe that the great majority of people in this world want to do the right thing—whether they are able to…well, that’s situational.

These are troubling times; and it`s crucial, I believe, that those whose instinct is to do the right thing need to do so…this is my contribution to the cause.
 

These are troubling times, the Mad Hatter is in the White House and A Flock of Seagulls control Congress. I love Jon Stewart`s description of Mitch McConnell…The Turtle. He talks like he`s mumbling to himself, and I still can’t fathom how Paul Ryan can stand and walk without benefit of a spine.

But with Hurricane Harvey hammering Texas, and now Louisiana, at some point in the Climate Change argument it has to be stated, shouted in fact, that this is not simply the actions of nature as much as it is a reaction to the increasing temperatures both on earth and in the water.

I appeal to the climate change deniers in power to stop looking at this issue like they would if they were looking through the peephole of a hotel room door. Peering, and then moving on. This issue needs your complete attention.

I’m not claiming that global warming created Harvey, or Sandy, or Katrina…but it is natural to assume that the waters would warm with the rise in air tempèrature. Global warming may not create these monsters but it feeds them; makes them bigger, stronger.

Katrina was considered a once in 500 year storm; Sandy was considered a once in 500 year storm and now Harvey is being considered a once in 500 year storm. Three storms, each of which is considered a once in a half millenium event, have occurred in the past twelve years. Something`s happening here, and it needs our undivided attention.

Another grievance I have is with the citizens of the United States of America. How is it possible that The Mad Hatter is still in the Oval Office? And what’s worse, no matter how many times and by how many people he is told to stop talking Trump keeps talking. Surely he’s talked so much, to such an extent that enough evidence has been uncovered to get him out. The world cringes every time your president speaks…how does it feel, American citizen? I don’t have to worry that Trump supporters are watching this video—they have a hard enough time seeing through those Trump branded blindfolds that were given out to everyone who attended a Trump campaign rally, or a Trump presidential rally.

The world sees what’s happening. Trump wants to be like Putin. He wants Putin’s total control of a country. Russia is becoming less of a communist state and more of an authoratarian state. That’s what Trump wants—he’s an authoratarian wannabe. He loves putin because Putin’s a winner. Not to mention filthy rich.

But Trump just can’t come to grips with the fact that checks and balances are ingrained in the US government system, for good reason—as we see.

Those checks and balances don’t exist in Russia, and it is those checks and balances that continue to frustrate the wannabe authoratarian.

We’re fortunate here; in western civilization. Imagine a baby born in North Korea, groomed for a single purpose—to serve the Supreme Leader.

The opposition to Trump is far greater in numbers than those who support him and, for Republicans, to think that The Perfect Storm could happen twice, and they could win another election with him…Remember, in the movie like in real life, everyone died.

I believe there are aspects of socialism that are not only useful to a society, but wise. Why wouldn’t you create programs that care and protect your citizens? Is it worth the few extra bucks in your paycheck to not know if your family will be protected? It continues to amaze me how a country as large and powerful; as strong as it is knowledgeable refuses to care for its citizens. I believe in gun control and I believe in a government run health insurance— health insurance is not a privilege, it is a right.

But the only way it can work for everyone is if everyone contributes. And gun control…well, that’s a whole other chapter. I also believe in a managed immigration policy; I believe contact football causes brain damage in its players and I believe baseball is the greatest sport ever invented.

I also believe that as a Canadian it is incumbent on us to keep our eyes and ears open on our noisy neighbour to the south. The noise they create often causes temporary blindness in the eyes of the citizens in other countries and increased deafness in our ears.

How to explain Trump’s manner? He’s like heavy metal music—the same chords being played at a high decibel.

Oh, as an aside, since we were talking about Trump—I have a bone to pick with the 52% of American “white women” who voted for a proven misogynist rather than for the first woman, a white woman, for president? It boggles my mind to this day.

Of course now that the anger and the confusion has…lessened—even with Trump in the White House I still sleep well— thankful for those checks and balances. And how are those categories defined? How does a woman get placed in the white woman category?

What if a voting age woman has a black mother and a white father…or vice versa…which line is she sent into? Is it like dual citizenship? Can she vote twice?

Another thing about Trump—because there are so many things…I remember the Richard Dreyfus character in Jaws, the oceanographer, describe a great white shark as an animal that eats, swims and makes little sharks…and that’s all it does. It’s like Trump.

In Trump’s mind he swims to the money, eats the money and afterward makes little sharks. I have some bad news for you

Donald…You have only one shark as an offspring…and Ivanka is more mako than great white. Your two boys are chum.

Unprecedented seems to be the lead to any Trump word or any Trump action; but it shouldn’t be. Trump’s words and actions cannot be compared to those who preceded him into that office. This isn’t the same game that’s being played.

This isn’t a Democrat vs.Republican baseball game. This is golf, it’s his course and there’s only one player.

Of course Trump supports white supremacy; he’s the most prominent member of the club. David Duke sings his praises. I believe that segragationism is intrinsic to his character, not only segregation by race but segregation by gender and mostly segregation by financial wealth.

It was an instinct instilled in him by the man he both feared and admired most—his father, and though by now he has a sense that being a segregationist is not a popular stance to take, especially now that he’s president, like most things he says or does…he can’t help himself. Thank goodness he’s busy being self-destructive.

I understand that politics rule…at least for now…c’mon Bob Mueller—the world turns its lonely eyes to you. SAD And I understand that Congressional Republicans are going to have to shed their shiney southern boots, likes snakes shedding its skin, for that to happen. I have believed since the election that trump would have political cover as long as Mitch McConnell was willing to give cover. That cover may be thinning as we speak.

C’mon Mitch. I know you don’t like to walk around with it…preferring to keep your heart on the bedside table, in case you may need it at some point, but McCain showed plenty of heart with the thumbs down on killing more Americans—if there is any compassion, anything other than envy and hatred coursing through that body let me say, for the survival of perhaps billions of people may I say that this is the time to show it.

I know it’s hard. Everybody always makes fun of you. You’ve been the butt of jokes all your life. But now who’s laughing right Mitch. Look at you now.

So what if when you talk it looks and sounds like your mumbling to yourself, and yes I am certain you were hurt whenever Jon Stewart referred to you as Turtle. You know, if you had even a little sense of humour about yourself you might realize—it’s funny.

So what are you going to do Mitch? You have to know that if a politcal bomb explodes in the White House there’s will be plenty of shrapnel headed your way. I’m assumoing you kndew what was hapenning at the time…re Trump/Russia. I find it hard to believe the mpost powerful man in Congress wouldn’t have heard such a juicy piece of information. I think Ryan knew too. But don’t worry I don’t think you acted…no one would ever accuse either of you of being active. I laugh devery time Trump complains that the Democrats are obstructionists considering that was the position you made it your professional duty to a\occupy for eight years. Nice job by the way. You’ve gone from having a thoughtful, compassionate,analytical, well spoken, well-meaning and moral leader of the government to the Tasmanian devil…Sorry, I need to stay consistent…the Mad Hatter.

I remember a Republican president pressing Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. Now, the Republican president wants to build a wall.

He threatens other countries for little reason, criticizes other leaders whenever he chooses, withdraws from international agreements for selfish pruposes, wants the elimination of basic health care to satisfy his political agenda and he has proposed a tax budget that may only be one page long but by its efforts to cut the funding to almost every government agency in favour of giving it to the top one per cent this proposal is most assuredly one page too long.

I believe a good number of the people who voted for Trump now feel regret. They had hoped his many, many, many character flaws could be accepted and forgiven if he lived up to his promises and made their lives better, but seven months in it is only the die-hards who do not see that Trump’s promise is not to make their lives batter but to make Trump’s life better.

Another movie line I want to quote comes from Sean Connery in “The Hunt for Red October”. When describing a fellow Russian submarine commander Connery said, “there is no room in Tupelev’s heart for anyone other than Tupelov.” Change Tupelev to Trump and…well…you see where I’m going.

I have proof. Here…is a picture, within reason, of a life size human heart. And here…is Trump’s heart. Funny thing is that he mostly uses it as a storage facility for Trump memorabilia. We know this because everything he owns is stamped.

I don’t understand why the investigations are taking so long. They must have tons of evidence by now. The man constantly contradicts himself…and it’s on video. Fake News.

In the years surrounding his Miss Universe Pageant Trump talked constantly about Russia. There is video evidence. He said that he had met and that he liked Putin; his sons—remember, chum…his sons bragged about the money that was pouring in from Russia. Imagine, a Trump bragging. As soon as businessman Trump became candidate Trump he denied having any business interrests in Russia and said not only had he never met he had never even talked to Putin.

Don’t believe me, he’s saying, believe me.

Who am I? I am a child of fake news.I have worked inside and around the fringes of the media for many of the years since I started as a newspaper reporter in1980. My mistake was not being able to accept the superficiality of certain aspects of journalism, feeling we were bastardizing the path setby the muckrakers who preceded me. I was young. I returned at different imes in the years that followed in different places.

I believe there is truth in journalism and though it is covered under many layers of opinion I still believe it exists.

And I believe that this…SHOW TRUMP’S SMALL HEART

Frightens me.Hell hath no fury like a bully scorned.

Till next time my friends, be well.