The big news of the day is the  longest presidential address to Congress in history .  President Donald Trump talked for a little more than 100 minutes.  I watched the whole thing, and wonder why. Many Democrats did not even show up, and  some just left during his speech , with  Rep. Al Green  (D-Texas) being booted out.  Several held small signs.  Women wore mostly pink.  Others wore blue/yellow in support of Ukraine. He mostly bragged about doing so much. He repeated his assertion to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal. Assailed the Biden Administration a lot, calling Joe the worst president in American history.  One of his lies/exaggerations, for polls have  Trump as the worst .  In that survey, Biden came in as the 14th greatest president. Here is  one example : “Over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security databases, are aged over 160 years old,” Trump asserted. He then added there are 1,041 people over ...

The most vulnerable nominated Trump secretaries testified this week.   Kash Patel ( right ) for FBI director is the most likely to be confirmed, for he played the game.  Tossed in one anti-Trump position to show some minor independence ( didn’t think violent Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted law enforcement   deserved a break ) and soft-peddled his MAGA flamethrower persona. Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence head could not say Edward Snowden was a traitor, and this could hurt her.  Plus, did not quite provide satisfactory answers to softball questions by Republicans.  But her reputation is not severely toxic like Pete Hegseth, and she was reasonably composed. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services, continued to show a controversial position on vaccination, has a general personality which is flawed ( he looks guilty all the time ) and confrontation with committee chairman Bill Cassidy (who is a physician) make RFK Jr. the most like...

It was a rough night.  Nightmare became reality.  Not only will Donald Trump again become president, but the U.S. Senate will be Republican controlled.  Probably the House too.  Said   Time : Trump campaigned on an authoritarian agenda that would   upend America’s democratic norms , and he is already preparing to deliver on it: mass detention and deportations of migrants; revenge against political enemies via the justice system; deploying the military against his own civilians. How far he chooses to go with the power the public has handed him is a question that will shape the fate of the country. A good look at  Project 2025  provides you the Trump agenda.   Global warming?  While it might not be a hoax anymore, the U.S. will not be cooperative, citing the actual recalcitrance of China and India as reasons.  Trump is also beholden to fossil fuel interests.  The world will suffer. Freedom?   Abortion rights will b...