Since at least the 80’s this country has leaned away from punishing, arresting, holding responsible our leaders and their enablers. So easy to predict public servants on the highest level NOT being held responsible would emboldened them, even if we have many decades showing that was exactly was happening. Nixon SHOULD have been impeached, and convicted. But by now we certainly must know impeachment is a lost cause, unless both houses are run by the opposing party and in large numbers.
 Considering the 4 times it has been attempted the result is predictable. A political answer to corruption is unlikely to ever work: at least one party in a two party system will never tolerate it. The bar is too high, and lowering it would also be used for political gain; less for actual corruption, crimes.
 Such a bad formula that; if a conviction ever does happen, most likely it will be an innocent. And the party most dedicated to purging and limiting blocks of voters that tend not to vote their way, while going over the extremist top of the political fence, will be most likely to succeed. Sorry, dear readers, that’s the way it is.
 The closest we came to a successful impeachment would have been Nixon, but that’s back when members of the president’s party had ethics. The Buckley brothers and Barry told Nixon it was time to go: albeit way too late. Good luck with that these days. Read more

 I heard it so many times I finally sat down and started typing this. The morning I started typing MSBNC was on in the living room, with a go back to the local NBC affiliate. NPR on in the bedroom for the same reason NBC was on go back: to catch weather, traffic. All of which ended up with the same story told three times. Giuliani: the “hard charging prosecutor,” America’s mayor after 9/11. Then the Trump supporting sleazy. What happened to this person between being framed as some “great man” that magically transformed him into a scuzzy suck up to a criminal and his crime-based presidency? Why skip the period between prosecutor and 9/11? Well, maybe because Giuliani has ALWAYS been worse than sleazy?
 Millie and I are originally from upstate New York State. Despite moving to Tennessee in the late 70’s we have kept our contacts, and own retirement property. Plus when I was quite young I didn’t live upstate yet. I lived near New York City. Read more

 Another in my series of fictional approaches to current issues, They pose intellectual, or theological, or partisan-based questions. Sometimes all three.
 Everyone here mentioned is white. I wrote it that way to avoid the “What would the police do if either were black?” conundrum. In this case it would distract from my main point, though I admit that too could be an important question. If you think could it not happen this way, have already decided how it always happen, have already decided which side is always to blame; you’re missing the point.
 I also added the suggestion of violence to even out the usual perspectives a little; the different sides.
 I pose my question at the end of the story.

 The year: 2026. Ron DeSantis is president, with Donald Trump as more than just an adviser. Some on the left compared it to when Putin stepped down for a term and had a stand in. Of course much of the right, and some progressives, dismiss such concerns as no more than, “Russia, Russia, Russia…” antiquated cold war-isms.
  Rebecca had heard some windows had been smashed, whether it was some of her protesters or people posing as BLM she wasn’t sure yet. So she, and her boyfriend Ron, were trying to calm things down, keep themselves safe. That included checking out new people no one seemed to know. They approached someone who no one had seen before and they introduced themselves. The new guy said, “Hi, I’m Jeff.” Then she asked, “What’s in the bag, Jeff?”
 Jeff just smiled and said, “I’m tired of the attacks on Black Lives Matter protests. I know our state is trying to ban them, made it illegal to block the streets, made it legal for drivers who claim they felt threatened to drive through a protest. If someone gets killed, well, it’s their fault.”
 ”Yeah, that makes me angry too. Really, what’s in the bag?” Read more

 Re: the case of Kimberly Ann Potter. Why is it we refuse to do nuance? Why must we always bring it down to one person is to blame? Maybe only when politically convenient? The case of Kimberly Ann Potter cries out for such in-depth analysis.
 The most obvious questions surround Kimberly Ann Potter’s long career in the police department. She was supposed to be training the officers, yet makes such an obvious rookie mistake of pulling the wrong weapon, having it in front of her for quite a while yelling, “Taser! Taser! Taser!” Then pulling the trigger on a weapon she says she didn’t intend to pull?
 Something is surely amiss. Read more

 Every once in a while I use one of my many adventures into fiction as a column. This topic is quite current. Tennessee is passing a law where rapists have a final say pre-birth. Once born they have a say too: even from prison. Visitation too. Every law has unintended consequences. My intent here is for readers to think more deeply about such topics.

  Somewhere in Tennessee…
  The area had been cleared except for what was left of the two bodies. Tucked under her dress in a place most likely not to be searched had been a small: yet potent, explosive. The dress was gone. So was most of what had been her. So much it was hard to tell she was a she. It was as bad with the prisoner. There were a few body parts. The torsos were badly burned. Irony being they were intermixed as they were before during the rape, only far more so.
  “How could this woman have made an explosive so small, so advanced, so undetectable?” the guard asked. Steven was a retired tough guy detective who had investigated many murders. His part time job here at the prison seemed light duty to him… until now.” Read more