SnakeRiverLib

We all know Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again!"  Okay, not sure if the exclamation point is there or not, but since Jeb! is no longer using it, I though why not.  What is to argue with that? It implies command as in "Hey, you there!  Make america great again!"  This is not a conservative slogan, it is a progressive slogan.  It sounds like someone, in this case, Trump, will lead us to make this country what it was.  Still loving it?  I bet if progressives read this, they would start getting all warm and fuzzy about Trump.  Maybe even get a tingle down their legs. In the First Progressive Era, which began with the assassination of President, and his VP, a Progressive Republican took over.  After William Taft replaced him, and rolled back his "reforms", he refused to follow his party's decision for a candidate in the next election.  Failing to get the nomination, Teddy Roosevelt ran as a third party candidate under the banner of ...

Today the world reacted in horror at the massive terrorist attack in Belgium, the headquarters of the EU, and a country losing its identity to a rising tide of exclusionary refugees, who refuse to assimilate, who have created NOGO zones in Brussels, and many other large cities in Europe.  We hear a lot of rattling sabers, which is typical, and maybe one of these times ISIS will be caught off guard by a real and enduring reaction. Meanwhile, out of range of the screams coming from the political gulags in Cuba, the President of the United States, the absentee leader of the free world, took in a ball game, hanging out with someone who would not agree with the motive for the attack, but would certainly agree with the end result.  The President had disgraced his office the previous day by setting a photo op in front of a monument to a sociopathic, murderous terrorist that would have smiled on the acts of ISIS.  He did take a moment, to talk briefly about the attack, before g...

Paid protesters force a cancellation of a Trump event in Chicago.  While not probably not paid by the Sanders campaign, there is no doubt where the protester support lies. Trump's Campaign manager has been accused of assaulting a reporter.  A pro-Trump reporter at that.  The campaign denies it, the news agency, once respected by conservatives, has left their reporter hanging, in its effort to be the mouthpiece for the campaign. Trump supporters punching out protesters, even threatening to kill them. Throughout the history of the republic, every time a new party or president is inaugurated, the world is in awe over the peaceful transfer of power in the United States.  During Civil War, two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the war on terror, this has happened.  It may not happen this time. We have a candidate who will say anything, to anyone.  Will slime reporters, will slime primary opponents.  He has a media presence where every news station wil...

About rights.  I had a recent discussion about rights.  I know that I have written on this subject before, but I think it is a subject that one can't reinforce enough. If something requires someone else to act, it is not a right. You have a right to live.  You do NOT have the right to demand that someone feed you, and clothe you, or provide shelter.  Obviously not referring to a parent and adolescent, or younger child relationship.  The parent chose an action that resulted in the child.  A child is entitled to its parent's support.  If the action was not intentional, then adoption is certainly a solution.  I think that an argument could be made that the devaluing of unborn life in this country has had a terrible impact on our society as a whole, drawing a sharp line between those who believe in the right to Life, and those who don't.  But this post isn't about abortion. You have a right to access whatever healthcare you can afford. ...

At the beginning of this election season, it seemed a cake walk.  Hillary had to be one of the worst Democrat candidates to come along since George McGovern in 1972.  As if that wasn't handed to the Republicans on a plate, along comes a Socialist, which would make it a Reagan over Mondale type of landslide or worse.  We had Black Lives Matter, creating an environment that was reminiscent of the Democrat National Convention in 1968 in Chicago. Now what?  Well, the Republican Party has taken this cake walk and face plopped into it.  The best that the GOP establishment is now hoping for is a contested convention to take the nomination from the outsiders.  Yes, I say outsiders, plural.  Mr. Trump himself has stated that Senator Cruz is despised, and hated by the GOP.  Those establishment candidates, Bush, Walker, Christie, Jindal, and so on, were gone, fairly early.  Now they hinge their hopes, not on a victory through the primaries, but by den...

How did that happen?  I have spent time since the conservative base was sold out in 2015 by the beltway GOP, leaning more and more to the libertarian point of view, and what?  I am with the beltway boys, against the Trump.  I suspect for different reasons, so I can hang on to that. I suspect that their reason, is that he will be the go to person, and will probably be excluded, as Trump deals with whomever.  He certainly has demonstrated his desire to pay people to get his way.  I wonder if Christrie falls in that category? My problem with Trump is that we have seen this before.  I have already highlighted the similarities with President Obama.  I also suspect that his issue with the President is not with him issuing Executive Orders, I suspect that it is, at least on the surface, an issue with what the EOs are.  He gives every indication of not being a statesman, and not wanting to devolve power back to the Congress, he actually seems to think...