I’m kind of tired of hearing Trumpsters pretend the ImPOTUS has been tougher on Russia than any other President.  CONGRESS has been pretty tough on Russia – and I mean BOTH sides of the aisle.  But Donnie Dumbass, himself?  He’d bend the knee, unzip Putin’s fly, and get to work on national TV if Putin told him to.  (And conservatives would explain how it was exactly the right move, of course…)

Yes, Congress has imposed sanctions.  Congress, not Trump.  Congress had to FORCE Trump to sign the legislation (by passing it by a veto-proof margin).  But where the decisions/actions are up to Trump and Trump alone, Russia wins.  So far, every time…

Yes, I know the conservatives don’t know this…

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My conservative brethren have started pretending that as long as Nancy Pelosi doesn’t send the Articles of Impeachment to Moscow Mitch’s corrupt Senate, Trump isn’t technically impeached.  Of course, this is wrong.  Trump HAS been impeached.  It’s just that the impeachment hasn’t yet been adjudicated.  Think of it as an indictment.  A criminal gets accused, THEN there’s a trial.  The criminal isn’t free of the charges until the trial date.  He remains indicted.  Trump is impeached and he remains impeached with a trial pending.

Yes, I know the conservatives don’t know this…

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Okay, so Trump decided now is the time to kill a known bad guy, Qassem Suleimani.  I haven’t heard anybody saying Suleimani was a good guy.  Just the opposite, in fact.  I HAVE heard many people question the wisdom of such an action.  The concern isn’t for Suleimani or his family.  The concern is about the expected blowback.

Apparently, Iraq has voted to expel all US troops in Iraq and the killing has created a suspension in an international group dedicated to fighting ISIS.  There is no expectation that Iraq can force the Americans out.  Trump claims he’ll hit 52 targets “very hard” if Iran retaliates for the extra-judicial killing of one of it’s top generals.  (He’s just waiting for Putin to tell him which 52…)

Trump’s distraction war with Iran will be different that George’s Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Iran has teeth.  Iraq had been effectively disarmed when George misled America into attacking them.  True, they had a large army but it only had rifles.  Afghanistan?  Rocks.  (I note that we STILL haven’t defeated them, though…)

There IS an upside, of course.  Now the US can find out if Iran has finished it’s nuclear bomb program since May, 2018 – when Trump gave them permission to restart it.

Yes, I know the conservatives don’t know this…

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Patriots fans, you might want to stop here…

I’m glad the cheatin’ New England Patriots got bumped from the playoffs in the Wildcard round.

There’s an ongoing argument about whether the Pats cheat or not.  If you’re a pats fan, they didn’t and don’t.  If you prefer evidence, they did – and do.  I recently thought of a less concrete consideration in the matter.  Bill Belichick, the coach of the Patriots and one of the masterminds behind Spygate, is said to be some kind of “genius” coach.  That’s no big deal, really.  The league has always had coaches with real vision, true genius.  The thing is, THOSE coaches produce OTHER coaches who learned from the original great coaches.  The phenomenon is so common it has a name: a coaching tree.  One can trace the occasional great coach back to some mentor someplace.  Al Davis produced Bill Walsh who produced Mike Holmgren, that kind of thing.

Belichick has never produced an “offspring” great head coach.  MANY of his assistants have been picked up.  None have achieved greatness in the NFL.  Most haven’t even achieved success in the NFL, if success is defined by a winning record.  That suggests Belichick has no great vision to pass along.  He just cheated…