Dispatches from Vilnius

Ukraine might have an actual comedian as president after today, but we have our own stand-up comedian-in-chief expounding on wind energy and how deep the Great Lakes are in another one of his signature rallies in Grand Rapids, MI.  Like Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskiy is backed by Russian money and would be yet another world leader in Vladimir Putin's back pocket.  The funny thing is that Zelenskiy comes across as much smarter in person, which I suppose is why so many Ukranians are taking him seriously, even if it means a tilt back to the East in their political seesaw. Trump couldn't have been any dumber this past Friday night, putting his ignorance on full display with a cheering audience loving every minute of it.  All those bleached blondes on the front row looked like they washed their brains with Clorox.  You can't help but chew over the memorable lines , because there are so many of them, which is why he draws crowds.   He is an entertainer if not...

or so Trump would like to think Our "exonerated" president has been doing a victory lap ever since his AG released a 4-page summary of the 700-page Mueller report absolving him of all charges of collusion and obstruction.  The only problem is that the WH is not releasing the full report so all we have is Bill Barr's word that this is the case.  That appears to be enough for the mainstream media, which reported the story as a major setback for Democratic leaders.  Republicans are now demanding Adam Schiff resign as head of the House Intelligence Committee since he refuses to accept this summary as the final word on the matter. The amusing thing about all this is that the Republicans refused to cease investigating Hillary Clinton for Benghazi and the purged e-mail scandals, spending the better part of four years on this literal witch hunt, which yielded no indictments, let alone prison sentences for anyone involved.  Even after the issue seemed resolved,...

If nothing else, New Zealand is showing us how a nation should come together to deal with a horrible tragedy.  The country is showing an incredible amount of unity with a Maori biker gang offering security for the mosques in Christchurch.  Women are wearing headscarfs in solidarity , and many persons are turning in assault weapons as part of a buy back program by the government included in the assault weapons ban that was immediately imposed.  This is obviously a civilized nation that seeks to protect its citizens no matter what religion, race or creed they are. We've had countless mass shootings in America, one that even reached the same epic proportions in Las Vegas, but no state let alone federal government has come together the way New Zealand has to show its solidarity with the victims.  The students of Parkland who spoke out after the horrific shooting at their school have been perpetually mocked in the conservative media and on social media.  No...

Racism is largely the product of myths and legends.  It is perpetuated through stereotypes, which is why so many persons took exception to a float in a recent Belgian parade depicting  ugly Jewish caricatures , not much unlike those that were common in Europe before WWII.  These European Carnival floats garishly display a great number of caricatures, including those of Trump.  Creators claim it is all in good fun, but you have to wonder why such gross caricatures persist. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in both Europe and the US, but it is also being used as a cudgel to stifle opposition.  We recently saw this in a tweet by Ilhan Omar , which was blown way out of proportion, forcing the Democratic-led House to pass a resolution against any form of racism or bigotry.  Many didn't think the resolution went far enough, notably Donald Trump, who called the Democrats an "anti-Israel" and "anti-Jewish" party for not publicly admonishing Omar for her alleg...

People are making a big fuss over the Donald signing all those Bibles in Opelika, Alabama, the site of a devastating tornado, but he was literally signing anything placed in front of him , including a woman's bare chest.  It's not like he put much thought to what he was doing.  The persons who thrust these Bibles in front of him did.  This is what we should be concerned about. There is a significant portion of the conservative religious community that thinks Trump was sent by God to take back their country from the liberal infidels.  Leading evangelists like Jerry Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham have been the most supportive, coming up with all kinds of excuses for his inexcusable activities.  Falwell makes no apologies for his support, saying that religious conservatives should stop electing "nice guys," fighting fire with fire with the liberal fascists.  Odd for a man who just recently invited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Liberty University after c...

International Women's Day is now universally celebrated but for the longest time was seen as a Soviet holiday.  It didn't matter that the idea originated at the International Socialist Woman's Conference in New York in 1910, it wasn't until 1975 that the United Nations adopted it the world over.  It has been stripped of its socialist origins and turned into a day to celebrate women's achievements. Nonetheless, many of those achievements go unrecognized.  It took decades for the public to acknowledge the role women played in science and technology, largely seen as a male frontier.   Hidden Figures called attention to some of the women who worked for NASA in the 1960s and Margaret Hamilton has only recently received attention for the pioneering role she played in landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. In reading the Books of Moses, it is no surprise women are largely ignored.  God didn't seem to have much time for women other than for ...

Jared and Ivanka should both be booted from the White House.  No President in modern history has involved his children and in-laws to this extent in his administration.  Throughout 2017, Jared Kushner essentially acted as Secretary of State, supposedly trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine that never materialized.  It was also reported that any foreign diplomat wanting access to the President had to go through Jared first.  Pretty amazing for a young real estate developer known for his busted deals than any great negotiating skills. Ivanka similarly gets unprecedented access to classified information and meetings going on in the White House.  She has been used principally to try to defuse tensions, but Trump only knows what else she is doing.  Like her husband, she has full security clearance and is not afraid to use this access to her advantage, especially when it comes to gaining lucrative trademarks with countries like China,...

You really have to wonder what happened to the Grand Old Party?  It's gone from bad to worst to now literally scraping the bottom of the barrel in what has to be the most grotesque CPAC conference yet.  It wasn't just Trump's rambling incoherent two-hour speech after hugging the American flag , but a litany of horrible speakers preying on the worst conservative instincts and drawing cheers from the audience. It was like Trump was staging his own version of The Apprentice with a load of has-been political operatives hoping to regain their glow in the conservative light.  Michelle Malkin was probably the worst, as she shamelessly evoked the "ghost of John McCain" to admonish RINO's in the party who won't get on the right side of the wall.  This is an Asian-American mind you playing into the white bread world of the Republican Party that has no time for new immigrants, legal or illegal.  I guess she hoped to score brownie points with Commander Trump. ...