Month: February 2020

This is one of the most surreal moments I’ve witnessed in my lifetime from a historical standpoint. It personally touched me because I was in fact a member of ‘that’ Republican Party from 1976-2000. In fairness to Donald Trump my decision to leave the party came sixteen years before Donald Trump ever came on the political scene as a candidate of either party.

I utterly disdain Trump, but to be objective there was more to my decision than just the Tea Party wingnuts or the extreme direction to the far right the party was steering towards.

Most of it was about me as I got older and began to see the world in a wider more empathetic prism where it does matter how we treat those around us. I became a husband, a father, witnessed my parents age, lost both my father and father-in-law, lost my grandparents….and came to better fully understand the journey of life from three different generational perspectives….not just mine.

I wrote in John McCain in 2000, voted for John Kerry in 2004, and would have voted for McCain in 2008 if he hadn’t selected Sarah Palin ( worse than Admiral Stockdale) as his running mate. Instead… I voted for Obama and then again voted for him in 2012 when he ran against Mitt Romney.

In 2016, completely confused as to my own ideology… I went to vote with the thought I would write in John Kasich, but while standing in line felt a pang of regret and wrote in John McCain once again as a gesture of thanks for him at least standing up to Trump during the campaign of 2016.

Yesterday was in fact the end of the GOP as we knew it. With Mitt Romney’s vote to convict Trump on Article I which outlined the abuse of power… history was clearly defined in front of our eyes.

Romney’s vote to convict was the first time in American history a senator from the same party as the president being impeached went against partisan party lines to convict a president with the intent to remove attached.

This did not happen in the Andrew Johnson or Bill Clinton impeachment trials. It would have happened though with Richard Nixon if he hadn’t resigned and cut a pardon deal.

Mitt Romney knew his vote would be the only vote from a ‘Republican’ senator. He knew it was a foregone conclusion his fellow GOP senators would wilt to constituent pressure. He also knew he would in essence be a senator without a party for his remaining four years in the Senate.

In essence, what Romney did was go one step beyond Lamar Alexander and censor Donald Trump with the hope our sitting president would somewhat grow up and become a better president these next ten months and possibly beyond.

Of course, that won’t happen.

Since I live in a state where my two senators have zero political courage whatsoever it was a historic day for those of us who were paying attention to words beyond Donald Trump’s twitter account.

Thank you, Senator Romney.

I was watching.

This was my song over there at the Royce Young Edmond Day Care Center. I owned that place for two years in my prime. I forgot how much I loved playing this back in the day as I would push Royce Young to the side on his own blog. Don’t make yourself a stranger, TC. This is a quiet place where humans of a mature nature can talk away from the millennial rabble.

Those were the days.

It was the perfect speech to go along with Rush Limbaugh being given a Congressional Medal of Honor. In fact, it was by far the most disciplined speech I’ve ever heard from Donald Trump.

There was not one single mention of the Dems self-destruction in Iowa, nor was there a single mention of his impeachment. The speech was by far the best of Trump’s three SOTU speeches to date even if most of what he said in it was non-factual or misleading.

I won’t tackle the entire speech, just the economic portions on here because that in essence is what will probably get Donald Trump re-elected.

What Trump failed to mention in his speech is following the economic meltdown in 2008 was the fact the U.S. economy after the TARP stimulus package grew 200,000 jobs a month for 84 straight months leading into Donald Trump’s first term. It should also be noted that in Obama’s last three years in office the U.S. economy created an average of 227,000 jobs a months….which specifically has outperformed Trump’s economy these past three years.

When Obama took office after the 2008 meltdown the unemployment rate was approximately 9%. When Obama left office the unemployment rate was approximately 4.5%. When Obama left office he was still basically operating under the tax code changes which were put in place in 2001 and his annual budget deficits were hovering around the $500 billion plateau.

What Donald Trump failed to mention is following his corporate and individual tax cuts the U.S. is now and will continue to run trillion dollar debts for however long he is in office. The premise of the tax cuts was to free liquid capital and grow the economy at a minimum of 4-5% annual GDP growth. Obama left office with GDP flattened at around 2%. Trump’s GDP growth has registered at around 2.2%. If the economy doesn’t grow GDP at 5% then there is no rational explanation of how the U.S. even comes remotely close to running a balanced budget.

As far as trade and trade policies the U.S. in 2019 amassed a record trade deficit of $581 billion dollars plus paid an additional $18 billion dollar subsidy to the farmers who were specifically harmed by Trump’s own trade tariffs.

As far as the markets… Obama inherited a Dow down around the 6,000 mark when he entered the White House. As Obama left office the Dow hovered around the 16,000 mark. Under Trump the Dow has soared to just under 29,000 as of this morning. What basically has been created is more government debt which is offset by all this tax cut liquidity making the markets a flush with freed capital. But again is there real sustained growth in wages and in the average American’s monthly standard of living minus the current value of their 401k?

As far as the U.S. becoming the world’s leading oil producer that ironically occurred during Obama’s tenure when the fracking and horizontal drilling craze changed the U.S. oil and gas industry. As far as health care reform there has been none expect for the elimination of the mandates and as I write Trump is still trying to eliminate the Affordable Health Care Act which protects pre-existing conditions.

As far as how many times Trump lied in this speech I have no specific number. And given the fact the Dems are still trying to count the votes in Iowa I would guess they don’t care either. They can’t run a presidential primary process…so why would any of us expect them to hold Donald Trump to anything he does or says.

Having written this–if the Dems can pull there heads out of their asses just enough to realize that if they win the very same states Hillary won in 2016, plus Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania they would defeat Trump by a slim margin and regain the White House.

I finally got banned on the Daily Thunder message board after trying to do so for three years. I couldn’t take it anymore.

No hard feelings. If I ever come back as a fourth grader in my next life the Daily Thunder message board will be my first stop on my new journey.

Kind of odd it happened on the same day on which Trump refused to shake Nancy Pelosi’s hand. But it is what it is. Even in godforsaken Oklahoma there’s still a First Amendment everywhere still standing except on this message board.

You take it like a man. Move on down the road and learn from it.

God…I love this song.

Michael Bloomberg has little if any chance in the group of states such as Oklahoma in the far right faction of the Party of Trump. But for others in the country he does present a viable alternative.

If he just won the states Hillary did in 2016, plus Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania he could in essence win the White House using the apparatus of the DNC…especially if he named someone like say Amy Klobuchar as his vice-president.

He’s an interesting guy for sure.

I detest pretty much everything Donald Trump has brought to the presidency. I’m clearly a person without a party and have zero faith the Democratic Party could execute a national campaign with the nuance and chops to remove Donald Trump from office.

The Dems after three years of complaining about Trump couldn’t even conduct their first primary/caucus in Iowa without appearing to be Inspector Clouseau asking the blind man for the license of his business partner meenky.

No way…would I piss four more years of waiting for these people to grow up and behave like adults.

I do however think Amy K, Pete, and Michael Bennet are impressive individuals who unfortunately belong to a party with too many naive divisive factions working against one another.

My Bloomberg yard sign goes up tomorrow. The Dems in Iowa made this very easy for me.

Out-take from Iowa Dems in recount mode in 2020 caucus. Tell me Trump and Putin aren’t exchanging vodka shots this morning. Idiots…complete idiots. These people are going to overhaul health-care and solve climate change. Don’t think so.

I really didn’t care who won…I just wanted to see a great football game down to the final play as a fan of the NFL. Unfortunately… none of us got it as the Kansas City Chiefs obliterated the San Francisco 49’ers with a 21-0 blitz in a five minute stretch in the fourth quarter in route to a 31-20 win in the Super Bowl.

Fittingly, this Super Bowl championship caps a dazzling season for double MVP winner Patrick Mahomes and legendary head coach Andy Reid.

I like both Mahomes and Reid so in reality this is nice. It’s good to see a coach like Andy Reid get his Hall of Fame moment after all the seasons of almost championships in Philadelphia. He’s an innovative coach who through it all adapted to all of the changes in the NFL these past five years or so.

Who knows with a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes this could be the first of several Super Bowl championships if the Chiefs can somewhat keep their team together.

Tough ending for the Niners, but we must keep in mind this perspective about the one dimensional San Fran offense. If Seattle’s Jacob Hollister had garnered three more inches on the goal line on the last play of the regular season these Niners would have been the 5th seed in the NFC. The argument could be made if Seattle had stayed healthy the Russell Wilson led Seahawks would have emerged as the NFC’s entry in the Super Bowl.

With the exception of Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl championship win several seasons ago in Denver, in my lifetime I’d never witnessed such suspect quarterback play from a team entering a Super Bowl as the Niners were in this Super Bowl with Jimmy G. Maybe Joe Flacco, but even then Flacco was superb throughout his run to his only Super Bowl championship in Baltimore.

I don’t feel Jimmy G is terrible, but he’s not a guy who ‘s going to carry a team with his play. Aaron Rodgers used to carry his teams. Tom Brady used to carry his teams. Patrick Mahomes in the present tense carries his football team.

In closing, what the f–k was Kyle Shanahan thinking in this game? In George Kittles he had the most dominant tight end in the league since Gronk’s retirement and he didn’t use his unique weapon.

Two words…coaching malpractice. How do you not game plan to get Kittles at least seven touches…especially in the second half when Kittles’ physicality wears down opposing defenses. How does this escape a head coach?

As far as the best commercial…this was my winner. This was the first Super Bowl in my life I watched exclusively with women…my wife, my mom, and my diva lab Pauli. We all loved this commercial.

I will wait until next Wednesday at the conclusion of the sham Senate trial to answer my own question. He’s not a coward for sure because unlike weaklings such as Lyin’ Ted Cruz, Sissy Boy Lindsey Graham, Little Marco Rubio, and Runt Rand Paul he has clearly put himself in the crosshairs of the national debate.

He will forever be remembered for this singular vote. This will be mentioned in his obit. This will be his legacy.

So if it was inappropriate action by Trump…then why not censor our grifter rogue POTUS? Why not put up some guardrails? Let him know he’s not Hugo Chavez or Benito Mussolini.

That would seem to be a pragmatic compromise which might hopefully reign in our evangelical pussy grabber POTUS.

Why not be Solomon and judge with some wisdom?

I need to stop myself here until I witness the official conclusion of the sham Senate trial.

I called both of my United States senators twice in the past ten days. I prayed for them as well to summon up some spine, courage, and decency for the first time since Donald Trump took office. I know their souls aren’t evil, just cowardly.

Surely, this vote on witnesses isn’t the way they want to be judged by God and mere mortals when they leave this earth. Surely…there is some basic human decency in these two men other than just aspiring to get re-elected…again, and again and again and reap the secular bounty of the Citizens United PAC.

I’m going to pray for both of my senators this week-end.

Don’t look now but the streaking Oklahoma City Thunder are 30-20 and tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 6 seed in the West one game before the All-Star break. There are still deniers who hold out the hope Sam Presti dismantle the team so they can lose big for the next three years and hope the next Kevin Durant falls their way.

Good luck with that.

But for now five days before the trade deadline the Thunder with this roster have a team which is 23-9 in the months of December and January. Add to the fact the team has now won seven straight road games which I believe breaks the Thunder record for most road wins in a row.

Go a step further and you’ll notice the Thunder are four games out of the No. 3 seed in the West.

Did Lu Dort do all this by himself?

No… of course not, but he hasn’t hurt either.

This is Chris Paul’s basketball team. It is a reflection of Chris Paul’s smarts and attention to detail on the floor. Chris Paul made the All-Star team this week and rightfully so. I have Chris Paul as my No. 3 choice in the West as conference MVP… behind LeBron and Luka.

Without Chris Paul this team might be a 26-28 win type of team. With him—the serious argument can be made the Thunder could contend for a No. 4 seed depending on what transpires at the trade deadline with Gallo.

On Friday night in Phoenix the usual three guard monster was a tweaked a bit as Shai G. Alexander had a pedestrian night scoring the ball.

Didn’t matter though as Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder, and Danilo Gallinari combined for 71 points on 52 shots.

But most of all it was Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder doing what they’ve done ever since the early season west coast road trip when the Thunder were discovering what they hoped they could be at 8-12.

I have no idea what Sam Presti will do on the trade deadline. But I know this group with a healthy Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari is a pretty good team right now.

Next up the Cleveland Cavaliers.