Online Public Relations Thoughts

With the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC and constant turmoil from ICE, from the Justice Department's pursuit of Trump's opponents and from on-again-off-again tariffs, it is hard to be thankful this year.  But, we must recognize what we have yet to lose and is worth fighting for.  It is still good to be an American citizen, and we still have the power of the ballot box.  For that we should be grateful and more determined than ever to carry out our civic duties. Make this Thanksgiving one of renewal and dedication to bringing the country back to stability.  

The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth is out to punish six Democratic Congressmen for their video calling for the military to disobey illegal orders.  Hegseth is apparently furious at the former members of the armed services.  What Hegseth forgets is that service members from the beginning are taught exactly that:  Do not obey an illegal order.  Hegseth's ire is phony but once again dangerous.  It will end up in court for sure. 

President Trump is a master of making up facts out of nothing.  Here he is again.  His contentions don't even sound plausible but he speaks them with authority.  He is a combination of sociopath and psychopath and dangerous.  

Trump's fulminations against Democratic congressmen who put out a video telling soldiers not to obey illegal orders are an example of a loud, ignorant mouth.  They had every right saying what they said and are solidly within the constitution.

A judge is striking back at the Justice Department for missteps in the Comey investigation and none too soon.  Is nothing there?  It seems so.  A PR black eye for Trump's choice of a  prosecutor.  

President Trump in a reversal of his previous stance has now called for the full release of the Epstein files.  He is racing to get ahead of Republicans who were in revolt over his refusal to unlock them.  Rest assured that Trump knows there is little or nothing in them to compromise him or he wouldn't have done it.  It's a shrewd, though belated, PR move on his part.  

 Another Trump acolyte bending and breaking the law -- again without retribution.  

 Finally, a voice of sanity on the deportation crisis ignited by the Trump administration.  

We arrived home last night after a whirlwind three week tour of New Zealand, truly at the end of the world.  It took a non-stop flight of 17 hours to get there and a lost day after crossing the international date line.  The country is magical, still largely rural and home to people from all over the world along with the indigenous Maori.  There were few black faces to be seen, but the people we met were friendly and open about their dependence on tourism and agriculture.  New Zealand is about the size of California but has a small population and a large percentage of them live in Auckland with more than a million citizens.  We were on both the North Island and South Island and from the far south to the extreme north.  The country is set up for the athletic -- the hiker, the biker and runner.  The road systems are largely two lane and following the topography.  Food is local and on the whole very good. Wines are plentiful.  To give even a brief description of where we went is more than this blog can handle, but we would do it again. Still, we're glad to be back.