Forty-one years ago I formally committed to the Buddhist faith I practice today. I will confess I was somewhat less diligent at first than I am now. But events came along that offered the opportunity to deepen that faith–such as the threat of death from my prospective father-in-law. That came a more than two years later, enough time for me to soon conclude that the most appropriate response was to quickly get more serious about my practice.
I didn’t miss my morning or evening sutra recitation and related prayers for the next three years. I’ve only missed them on a few occasions since–maybe once or twice a decade due to illness or other special circumstance.
My book, Waiting for Westmoreland details more about the threat and how we overcame it–leading to the happiness of all parties concerned. The book also informs the reader how I learned that the way to make the world a better place was to reform myself. Until Buddhism, I had become a cynical idealist after my innocence was lost in Vietnam. Then my remaining illusions were shattered by Watergate.
Eventually, I realized that reforming America’s legal and political systems weren’t sufficient to cure the country’s ills. Still, politics has its place–when properly applied, humanistically. When it’s not, the results can be catastrophic for a nation. Corruption, racism, economic inequality are just a few of the problems. When you add in leaders who are incompetent, ignorant, suffering from personality flaws, quite possibly mental disabilities and worse, the nation is at peril.
The logline of this blog is “Seeing things as they really are, without the illusions or delusions.” That comes, in my belief, from my Buddhist faith and practice. But one doesn’t need to practice my faith to see Donald Trump for who he is. Anyone with the slightest awareness can see the wrecking ball he as taken to America. I won’t belabor those points previously posted here and covered on a daily basis by US and World media. I just want to focus on two points:
- What must Putin have on Trump
- GOP aiders and abettors to Trump’s treason
One can no longer conclude it’s simply Trump’s mental capacity and other lacks that are to blame for his fawning support of Putin. It’s not America First–it’s Putin or Russia First. As many commentators have said, what Trump said and did yesterday in Helsinki amount to treason. There’s no need to rehash the coverage. Putin laughed off the very question of him having something on Trump or his family. So what could it be that not only keeps Trump from EVER speaking or tweeting a word critical of Putin and now, engaging in treasonous behavior? It must be much more than a “pee tape” Maybe:
- An IOU for millions or even billions of rubles owed to Russian mobsters/oligarchs or recorded conversations confirming it–NAH, that’s not enough
- An adult video of Melania–NAH, even if there were one, Trump really wouldn’t care
- An audio (or even a video) recording of Trump grabbing a Miss Teen USA contestant by the p***y–no Putin couldn’t have that, even if it might have happened
- Solid evidence of Trump having sex with a minor and Cohen fixed it with a payoff–not enough
- What if the sex with a minor involved drugging her, like Cosby allegedly did–now we’re getting into serious stuff
- Some other perverted sex which ended in serious injury or death to a possibly unwilling participant and Putin has proof–well that could be it, but that’s getting a little farfetched (but knowing Trump, maybe not)
- The only way we’ll ever know is if Trump crosses Putin, which he apparently views as more dangerous than impeachment or jail–so whatever it is, it is REALLY bad
Here’s the irony the GOP aiders and abettors–Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows are co-founders of the so-called “Freedom Caucus.” Like Trump and on his behalf, they attack Mueller, Rosenstein and the FBI. They ask for documents to help is defense against the “Witch Hunt” that is producing indictment after indictment proving Russian agents hacking and interfering in the 2016 election on the behalf of Trump. Rather than promoting freedom, they are tacitly, if not expressly, supporting Russia’s attacks on America. They should be impeached from Congress if they are not voted out and invited to join the Duma! (The lower house of the Russian Federal assembly). Perfect! They’re all US House members now. They can move to Russia in 2019; the next election for the Duma is 2021.
Along with them Louie “Goober” Gohmert, who has a brain the size of a peanut. Trey “Benghazi” Gowdy, who spent two years and millions of dollars trying to prove (without success) that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the deaths in Libya. NO ONE was charged with anything as a result of Gowdy’s waste of time and money. The list could go on and on. Some, perhaps, are good people, as Trump might say about Mexicans. For those, maybe just throwing them out of office might suffice; Gowdy, wisely isn’t running–he’s looking to become a model for those commercials looking for the scruffy man.