Vivek Ramaswamy is the Only Candidate Who Makes Sense to me.   

Vivek Ramaswamy is the only Candidate who makes sense to me. Why?  Let's keep it simple.  Ramaswamy is promising to pardon Donald Trump. Other Republicans are wishy-washy about what would happen, whereas the Democrats universally call for trial, conviction and jail time. 

The Democrats need to be rebuked. They need to understand that it is not realistic to obtain a guilty verdict via jury trial against President Trump. Why not? Because the jury will be inevitably become known publicly and thus in imminent danger of death by mob violence, and their families will be in the same situation also. This is not to suggest organized crime, but DISorganized fans of Donald Trump will certainly react, and everyone with an IQ over 1/2 should understand this. So how are we going to find 12 people willing to risk their lives and the lives of their families to deliver a guilty verdict? Hello, Democrats, you are not going to do that. It is not possible. The visions of a contrite Donald shuffling off to jail will never ever come true because obtain a guilty verdict via a jury trial is not possible with 12 Democrats in a jury, and that in itself would be a sham.  If you have 10 Democrats and 2 Republicans it will be at best a hung jury, and the 10 Democrats will still be in terrible danger when the trial is over.  You cannot do this. 

The only way to successfully disengage from this disastrous path is for the next President, whoever he or she is, to grant President Trump a pardon.  

Ramaswamy is the only candidate who promises to pardon Donald Trump. This is just such common sense. Every other candidate, both Democrat and Republican is so beholden to party interests that they are headed to a crisis and they can't see it coming. Dealing with the trial of Donald Trump is a headache that this country does not need. It is conceivable that the two sides might resort to Civil War to alleviate their angst. 

On the other hand the country cannot allow Trump back into the Oval Office because he might never leave. That would be the end of the Constitutional Republic and the US government would basically become a family-owned business.

Biden would certainly not consider a Trump pardon. He would see nothing wrong with leading the USA into a new Civil War as long as he believed that the Democrats would win it. Moreover, there is no opposition Democrat, since the party refuses to sponsor primary debates. So forget all about that. The nomination process is indeed rigged so that Biden will be the nominee whether the people like it or not.  

You can look at Trump's rising numbers and interpret them as rising confidence in him by Republicans, and perhaps this is so. However, it may also be that Republicans are bailing on the party's choice,  Florida Governor DeSantis, just as they bailed on party choice Florida Governor Jeb Bush in 2016. For whatever reason, Americans seem to not like being told who to vote for. It may be that the Republican platform is a bit out of touch with the way voters really feel. My personal feeling is that Republicans talk a good ballgame of fiscal responsibility, but if you vote them in, they will spend like hell on their friends (compromising in some cases by also spending on some of the Democrats' friends), generally protecting big dollar programs while damaging American workers and people who need help. If you don't understand what I mean, go back to the 2016 debates and listen how the other candidates referred to America's "investment" in Iraq, while Donald Trump called Iraq a "disastrous mistake." That's why big dollar Republicans wanted Jeb Bush to maintain the status quo, and the voters rejected the wishes of the party, much to their chagrin.

Look, you can't have a system in which we try to throw the previous Administration in jail all the time. You are not locking up Obama or the Clintons.  You are not locking up Biden, either, despite the fact that he is a hardliner daring Trump to start something. Nor are you locking up Trump. That's just not how our system works. This is not the French Revolution, where we chop people's heads off and accept no compromises. 

Hello, this is America, where we used to--and will again--have a loyal opposition, in which we talk to each and reason with one another.  Republicans and Democrats both love their children and get along.

That is why Trump is going to be pardoned and someone else is going to run in his place. It should be someone like Vivek Ramaswamy, rather than a party favorite. Right now, he is the only one making any sense in the Republican field.  

Peace in Ukraine has no Military Solution

 Peace in Ukraine has no Military Solution

Media reports that Ukraine has gained a few square miles of land in their great summer counter-offensive is a cruel joke. Just shut up. Admit that the war is almost perfectly stalemated. Military victory is impossible because the Russian side has nuclear weapons, and President Putin would rather be personally castrated rather than suffer a military defeat on the battlefield. It defies logic to believe in a military solution.
Nevertheless, as of July 30, breathless reporting by CNN is telling us about key battles around the towns of Staromalorske and Velyka Novosylka, trying to convince us that there is real hope for a military breakthrough. 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/07/27/ukraine-counteroffensive-magic-wall-sebastian-hnk-vpx.cnn

It's not just CNN, of course. They are joined by the majority of mainstream media worldwide. However, according to Wikipedia, the population of Stromalorske, last we knew, was 839.  Velyka Novosylka was significantly larger, a teeming metropolis of over 5,000 people. God bless them, but guessing that Russia controls about 25% of a country of 40 million, there needs to be 2000 such events to win the war. A victory per week means the Russians would be vanquished in only 40 years if there are no further problems and if nuclear weapons are not employed (but they will be). This does not seem like a path to success unless there is a remarkable change.  Does the mainstream, global media feel it has a vested interest in promoting an illogical legend about an imminent Ukrainian victory? 

The Administration seems extremely content with military stalemate, though the media seems uncomfortable in reporting it that way. By calling Putin a "War Criminal," President Biden has made negotiations next impossible. Can anyone imagine a scenario in which Putin declares a willingness to negotiate peace so that he can be judged as a War Criminal and hanged?  The Republicans have completely missed the point, choosing to tease the President about another age-related gaffe. No, it is not. It was a careful, deliberate and thoughtful proclamation guaranteed to ensure perpetual warfare, and you Republicans failed to take the President seriously because you are more interested in name-calling rather than dealing with matters of serious global politics.

The Administration regards Russia as a threat to world security, not our ally, and Russia is bogged down in a war that they cannot win. Putin has been suckered into the hugest blunder of his career, and President Biden will not let him off the hook.  

President Biden is not particularly fond of Ukraine, either. Recall that he threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine while he was Vice President. If you are a Democrat, you probably believe it was to force the Ukrainians to clean up corruption in their military-industrial complex. If you are a Republican, you may believe it had to do with protecting Hunter Biden from his part in those corrupt dealings. But either way, as Vice President, Joe Biden was not a friend of Ukraine. Nothing has changed to make him love Ukraine today. He probably dislikes Ukraine less than he dislikes Russia, but he is far, very far, from a true ally. He sees no advantage in a strong Ukraine and certainly sees no advantage in relief for Russia He is content to damage both potential adversaries by supporting an almost perfect stalemate.

That is why the US supports Ukraine with maximal aid, some $113 billion in 2022, ten times more than the next largest contributor. 

The US is far and away the largest investor in the Ukraine stalemate. Note that the red portion is the military part.  

This war may never stop unless the US Congress develops enough spine to force President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to the negotiating table by threatening to limit funds for weapons.  Similarly, a leadership change in Russia would be very helpful, though nobody, including the Russians, is quite sure how that is actually brought about.  

Kennel's Law of Internet Sarcasm

 I had better write this down so I can take credit for it:

Kennel's Law of Internet Sarcasm: Nothing you can post on the internet is so stupid that someone won't take it seriously.  

The consequences of this simple law are quite profound. It means that you have to be very careful about attempting to use sarcastic humor.  Ethnic jokes?  Racial humor? Usually not a good idea. 

It's too bad. From the time of William Shakespeare, Anglo Saxons have enjoyed making fun of themselves and laughing together.  I am not Anglo by blood, but I've grown up in America, so culturally I'm pretty much tuned in to their way of thought. I let you make fun of me, you let me make fun of you, and we are both jolly good fellows. We are willing to let our guard down with each other.  However, not all cultures are like that!! Some cultures assume you mean what you say, and insults are insults.  

In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal" in which he suggested that poor Irish people should sell their children as food to rich English people. This was satire. Swift's point was that the English upper class were way too rich and draconian in their approach to their Irish neighbors. They should have come up with some reasonable plan to help ease unfair economic conditions involving Irish people. Most readers got the point and were sympathetic to the cause of the oppressed Irish people, or at least put off by the draconian aristocracy mocked by Swift's satire.  

Nowadays, if this were published online, someone would think that Swift was seriously proposing that Irish children should be eaten by rich English people. This would be standard fare on AM radio.  Some people would get very offended, or worse, others would think it is a good idea. It's hard to imagine Democrats and Republicans agreeing on anything, so one party would probably wind up supporting it.  

   

Mustang to Paducah has Comedy, Suspense, Mystery, 60's Vibe

 

Mustang to Paducah is Raul Ramos y Sanchez's newest, and--in this reviewer's opinion--best work to date. What could be more iconic than a shiny new Ford Mustang in the 1960's? What if someone was willing to pay you and your best friend to drive it cross-country? Nothing could be finer, unless of course, you and your best friend are magnets for trouble, which is exactly the situation of two likeable young men in Mustang to Paducah. Sometimes the trouble is the law, sometimes it's about women and sometimes it's lawless thugs, but somehow they either find trouble or trouble finds them.     

Hopefully this book will be made into a movie, because it has that feel. If you liked The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, you will like this book. However, this is not the story of an action hero like Harrison Ford, it's more like a comic duo Cheech and Chong, the two hippies from the 1960's.  This book is definitely a comedy. It is quick paced and fun.

This is also a period piece, so you may find yourself immersed in the 1960s like Forrest Gump. An interesting wrinkle in this story is that one of the characters, Nestor "Cruiser" Cruz, was born in Cuba but has lived in America since age 11 and considers himself fully Americanized.  But reminders of his heritage pop up in unexpected ways.

Has Hollywood ever made a comedy about the 1960s?  If not, why not?  Hurry the hell up before we die, how about?  Mustang to Paducah could be the perfect vehicle.