Observations: The Qando Podcast

President Trump said something true, but undiplomatic, which started the usual, predictable media firestorm. This is getting tiresome. We knew the guy was a loudmouth when we elected him. But, here we are. BTW, there are about 2 billion people living in awful countries around the world. Is it our responsibility to let them all come here? A Federal judge ruled that Trump, as President, does not have the authority to overturn the Executive orders of a previous president, which is insane. Frankly, we have an ailing culture, and the odious political culture we see is just an expression of the larger cultural sickness we're experiencing.

We're back from our holiday hiatus. Donald Trump made very intemperate tweets aimed at North Korea's leader, to much DC condemnation. But, oddly, Kim Jong-Un subsequently opened a hotline to Seoul. The new, Comey-free FBI appears to be investigating Hillary Clinton again. Steve Bannon made himself unpopular with the Trump Administration, based on some quotes from a new book that updates the narrative of the 2016 campaign to inform us that Donald Trump NEVER wanted to win the election he colluded with the Russians to win. Oregonians are facing the existential terror of filling the gas tanks of their own cars, while Iranians are facing the existential terror of standing up to a murderous, repressive government. Which kind of puts things in perspective, really.

Robots and AI may change our future in unknown ways, but, for now, feces is still a winning weapon in our war against the robots. The future, though, looks a bit murkier, and we don't seem to be especially prepared for the disruptive technologies that are coming. Roy Moore lost the Alabama Senate election--though he still hasn't conceded. Still, it looks like he'll have plenty of time to learn to actually ride a horse. Millenials are facing a crisis, as they face their 26th birthday, and being tossed off their parents' health insurance. In DC, Congress is trying to find out what the deal is with the Mueller investigation in their usual ineffectual way.

The Mueller incestigation came under some scrutiny this week, based on the partisan political activities of his FBI investigators and staff. This doesn't look like Efrem Zimbalist's FBI. All Franken and John Conyers resigned for being a little too...um...familiar with the ladies. Though Roy Moore will apparently get to GO to the Senate, if polls are to be beleived. Donald Trump, against all odds, appears to be governing as a Conservative.

The sexual harrassment witch hunt continues, with Matt Lauer being dumped for what seems like pretty sketchy behavior, and Garrison Keillor became a non-person in public radio for what seems like a pretty mild accusation. Mike Flynn pled guilty for lying to the FBI, a crime that seems to have nothing to do with Donald Trump. BTW, never talk to the FBI, or any other police agency about anything. You have the right to remain silent. Use it.

Roy Moore may or may not have touched a 14 year-old. We'll never know, and he's not quitting, so, whatever happens will happen. Unfortunately, Al Franken has a picture if his harrassment. We're in the middle of a sexual harrassment witch hunt. Of course, just because you're in a witch hunt, doesn't mean there aren't witches. Also, Congress is fullor morons who can't do the simplest thing.

Bowe Bergdahl got off lightly, receiving only demotion and a Dishonorable Discharge for pleading guilty to desertion and misbehavior in the face of the enemy. So much for serving, as President Obama once categorized it, with honor and distinction. Donald Trump tweeted stuff this week. So, that was a problem. General Kelly went on TV and mentioned the Civil War, which was another problem. The NFL is managed by dolts. The Astros won the World Series. In the 1970s, we were terrified of being put under surveillance. Today, we carry our personal surveillance/locator devices everywhere we go. But we don't care, because we can also use them to look at cat pictures.

So, we now know the Russian pee dossier was paid for by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign, and wasn't disclosed to the FEC. We know that this dossier was the genesis of the collusion charges, and ultimately Special Prosecutor against Donald Trump. Oh, and the FBI knew about bribery allegations in the Uranium one deal. And who headed the FBI at the time? Robert Meuller, the Special prosecutor. As far as I can tell, pretty much everyone in Washington DC is a corrupt hack. The only question is: when will the electorate take serious notice of that?

After a week's hiatus, we return to talk about how truly awful our political class is. Russians bribing officials, the GOP congress admitting they will never cut the budget, politicians becoming mysteriously wealthy, media concentration on Trump-related trivia for days on end...it's all there. Meanwhile, Michael thinks the US Army is organized into Gay Combat Teams. And baseball is still fun. For true Americans, anyway. Not the Communists who love the NFL.

Another mass shooting results in more calls for gun control...which won't solve the problem, even if confiscating 300 million guns wasn't a fantasy to begin with. Is the Left pushing the culture too far? Will the NFL exist in 10 years? Will the Astros win the World Series? Bo Bergdahl pled guilty. That's guilty! Guilty, guilty! When does the government money run dry, and we either pay off the debt and slash the government to the bone--resulting in a depression--or repudiate it and turn into Argentina--resulting in a Depression?

The NFL took a knee this past week to protest something or other. In response, the public seems, for now at least, to be shutting thier wallets. Your move, Mr. Goodell. 2Lt Spenser Rapone said many disrespectful things about SecDef, the VP, and POTUS. The US Military has a term for doing that: Court Martial Offense. 2Lt Rapone is currently on what is known as Administrative Leave. Let's hope he enjoys his free time...however much of it he has left. Puerto Rico, as it turns out, is an island that's fairly far away, making it difficult to get relief supplies in. Also, the infrastructure is trashed, and you can't airdrop in electricity. Tax reform--by which we mean nibbling at the edges of the tax code--is now on the way from Congress. Allegedly.

Donald Trump told the UN that America was fricking great, and North Korea and Iran kinda suck. The ambassador from Iran--a theocracy--said the speech was from medieval times. Who would know better about medieval culture than senior officials of a theocracy? Scientists announced this week that their climate models weren't as accurate as predicted, oh, and that Mr. Sun may affect the climate. Huh. And only last week the science was settled. It looks the Republican's latest attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare will fail. Of course, they've only had eight years to come up with a plan.

Kim Jong-Un seems to want to play games. Very, very dangerous games. Hillary Clinton has finally released her book, explaining whose fault it was that she lost the 2016 election. Spoiler: It wasn't her fault. Conservative Ben Shapiro gave a speech at UC Berkeley, and it only cost the university $600,000 in security, mainly to protect him from the "tolerant Left". ESPN needs to decide if they are going to broadcast sports or politics. A man said "boobs" on national television, and the women who have "slut marches" and wear "pussy hats" think that was not nice. But boobs are wonderful and magical.

Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Florida. Trump made a deal with the Democrats that gives them a 3-month extension on the debt-ceiling, in return for immediate disaster aid for Texas. Republicans didn't much like it, as if they weren't going to increase the debt ceiling anyway. Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education, revoked the "Dear Colleague" letter from the Obama Administration that turned universities into sexual assault kangaroo courts. The usual suspects disliked that. Everything we've known about American politics is wrong, we're on the verge of something new. We don't know what it is, but the electorate's seeming displike of the political class seems to be putting us on the road to a political realignment that we haven't seen for decades.

Google is a corporation that holds vast monopolistic power over both for-profit and non-profit industries. What, if anything, should be done about their willingness to stifle speech they don't like? What good is free speech, if corporations or the general public--not the government--conspires to silence it? Hurricane Harvey was awful, but the response of Houstonians to it has been amazing. Maybe we don't all hate each other as much as it looks like on TV. Will Donald Trump run again in 2020? Will he even be president then? GOP leaders in congress say they want to replace DACA...with 'comprehensive immigration reform'. Is Trumps immigration policy dead? Will Republicans ever do anything they say they'll do?

Donald Trump gave a speech. The Political class in the US is the worst. Navy ships need to be made of the same stealth materials that are apparently used to build cargo ships. The Antifa crowd is a buch of commie, would-be dictators that are no better than the stupid Nazis. Hurricanes are bad. Nancy Pelosi reminded us that we can't yell 'wolf' in a crowded theater. Colin Kaepernick is a bad quarterback, but Michael wonders why we even sing the national anthem at sporting events in the first place.

The first 40 minutes of the podcast is missing from the recording. Which is sad, because it contained all the good stuff. Sure, there are a few nuggets in the remaining dregs, but all the really good stuff is gone. Honestly, I'd give this one a miss, if I were you.

A software engineer at Google accused the company of creating an ideological echo chamber that was hostile to dissenting views. So, Google fired him. I guess we know who won that argument. Meanwhile, Donald Trump showed Kim Jon-Un that insane, megalomaniacal national leaders aren't the only ones who can make crazy threats. I'll let you decide who the crazy one is in that battle. Which, by the way, if it comes to a battle, will end with the Norks getting stomped like Prius driver at a Hell's Angels rally. You know what happens when you stop teaching the foundational principles of your polity? Knowledge of them is lost. Michael started to tell us about a massage he got once, but no one wanted to hear about that.

Bob Mueller has impaneled a Grand Jury for his Special Prosecution, exactly unlike what happened during the Hillary Clinton investigation. H.R. McMaster loves terrorists. Donald Trump may be the nation's first impeachable president. Sean Hannity, heaven help us, is actually right about the "deep state". Will America's national divorce be amicable? Race relations: Then and now.

The Republican party is the party of fail. Obamacare will not be repealed, but Paul Ryan promises that tax reform will be completed real soon, now. President Trump banned transgender Americans from serving in the military via policy tweet. Hey, I bet you didn't know that a company called Fusion GPS collected anti-Trump material from Russian government offials on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and disseminated it to the media, did you? Yeah, I thought not. But, remember, Russia, Russia, Russia!