It appeared the Evangelists struck again as they consolidate their power in Congress. This time it was a somewhat petty maneuver but one has to admit that with their gaining the ascendancy in the United States they are entitled to the spoils that go along with gaining significant control of Congress and the White House.

It had been years that they were subject to the humiliation of the prayer that was offered at the beginning of each day. It was not being offered by one of their own but by one of a suspect faith. Father Patrick Conroy a Jesuit of the Catholic religion was the chaplain of the House of Representative. He had been chaplain since 2011 when he was appointed by John Boehner (a Catholic) along with the concurrence of Nancy Pelosi (a Catholic). His predecessor appointed in 2000 was Father Daniel Coughlin. That had the Catholics in charge of offering the opening prayer for 18 straight years.

When Father Coughlin was appointed it was after a slight controversy. A search committee had been formed to nominate the next chaplain. They took a secret ballot after conducting interviews and voted for a Catholic priest.  The Speaker, the estimable pervert Dennis Hastert, ignored the committee and picked a Presbyterian minister. Complaints alleging anti-Catholic bias resulted in the minister withdrawing and Coughlin (a different priest than the one who received the votes) being appointed.

Whether ’tis  enough for the country to suffer
The stings and lies by an outrageous leader,
And then to take arms against a foreign country
And by doing so cause many there to die and to weep.

Yes, it is said today is the day when the person in the clothes of the president will tell us what he decided with respect to Iran. He must decide whether to abide by an agreement with Iran that we entered into with our European allies, Russia and China; or whether to abandon that agreement because of his desire to satisfy the longings and prayers of Benjamin Netanyahu who has been coveting war against Iran for many years.

The odds are that he will side with Netanyahu. He has already shown his subservience to him by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. All who have followed the Netanyahu saga know that his falling out with Obama was because of the latter’s unwillingness to war with Iran but to try to bring peace to the region.

You don’t have to be around for a long time in this country to understand that we have slipped into a state of where retribution reigns supreme.

If you are from Massachusetts as I am you have seen that four of our local boys, JFK born in Brookline, Mike Dukakis born in Brookline, George H.W. Bush born in Milton, and J. Forbes Kerry, a military brat who settled here, relatively recently vied for the office of president of the United States.

Two won; two lost. JFK defeated Richard Nixon; H.W. defeated Mike Dukakis, and John Kerry lost to George W.

Nixon as we know would go on to become president; Dukakis to a career as a teacher at a university; and Kerry to become secretary of state.

Looking back to near the end of WWII in 1944 FDR defeated Thomas Dewey; 1948 Truman defeated Thomas Dewey; in 1952 and 1956 Ike defeated Adlai Stevenson; 1960 JFK over Nixon; 1964 LBJ over Barry Goldwater, 1968 Nixon over Humphrey, 1972 Nixon over George McGovern; 1976 Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford; 1980 Reagan over Carter; 1984 Reagan over Mondale; 1988 H.W. Bush over Dukakis; 1992 Clinton over H.W; 1996 Clinton over Bob Dole; 2000 George W over Al Gore; 2004 George W. over John Kerry; 2008 Obama over McCain; 2012 Obama over Romney.

A Trek’s Rest Thought:

Having read Frank Rich’s article in the New York Magazine: “Roy Cohn, Donald Trump, and the New York Cesspool” the line identifying Trump as “an enduring strain of political evil that is as malignant in its way as the AIDS virus, just as dangerous to the nation, and just as difficult to eradicate” was telling.

The article tells of the truly corrupt New York City movers and shakers of our nation’s activities where party politics are irrelevant and godless, other than worshiping “the god of the deal” to crookedly enrich themselves.

Trump took Cohn’s evilness and magnified it. The supreme irony is his biggest supporters are those who profess to oppose evil –  the Evangelists. Not only is that so ironic but think how these Southern states supporters are backing a New York City Yankee whose life long beliefs run absolutely contrary what they told us were their beliefs.

The Trump/Evangelical marriage could only have been made by the Devil.

As a life long member of the Democratic Party I’m still scratching my head  trying to understand how it let a Socialist into its party’s presidential 2016 primary. The puzzlement continues because it apparently  plans to do so in the future.

Perhaps the leaders of the party are so old they no longer think there is a difference between Democrats and Socialists. Don’t they know the aim of Socialists is to do away with the capitalistic system?

Eugene Debs ran for president as a Socialist. Bernie Sanders is every much the Socialist as Debs. Why doesn’t the party understand this? Or, is it there is no distinction between Dems and Socialists anymore?

I’m for paying the police well. I believe that the worst thing society can have are dishonest cops. If they are paid well then the incentive to be dishonest is decreased. They have to weigh losing the good pay they receive if they involve themselves in any illegal shenanigans.

For some on the police forces, especially those who walk the streets and patrol the highways the job can be tough. Dealing with the public is always going to be stressful especially when you have to tell people that they did something wrong. The higher up you move in the police ranks the less interaction with the public a police officer has. His or her duty then is to oversee the operations of those under them, those who have the hardest job of the daily interactions with the public and the dangers involved in that activity.

We want our police to be honest and alert and aggressive when it comes to providing for our safety. We have to understand that in some circumstances they are going to overreact to some of the push back they face in doing their jobs. Some who encounter the same guy doing the same petty criminal activity may act a little too harsh against him in frustration. To put up with all the tension and strain involved in this activity police officers must be well compensated.

When I go to Florida I have my mail forwarded to my address there. When I leave I have the mail sent back to my local address. I do this through the Post Office. It costs about a buck which the Post Office charges to verify who I am. I have to give them my credit card number which corresponds to my home address.

Today I opened my credit card statement. I had a charge on it of $79.95  from “addresschangeformsorg.” Tracking back how this happened I typed in US Postal Change of Address and the first site that jumped up was “Postal Address Changer – Standard US Form.”  I clicked on it. It never really read the small print and assumed it was the U.S. Postal Service I was dealing with.

It wasn’t. I was scammed. I’ll do what I can to address this but in the meantime I’m sure thousands of others are likewise being trapped. You would think there would be a requirement that these sites make clear they are not part of the U.S. government and what they are offering can be done without cost.

Someone sent me an email about an item on Brietbart news about a 48 page report written by Louie Gormert (whose he, I wondered) about Robert Mueller. I’d learn he was a Republican member of the House from Texas. Brietbart is one of those right-wing sites that continually dumps raw trash upon the heads of the American people.  Louie tells us that Mueller who served our country bravely and with honor (Bronze Star for valor) in combat in the Vietnam War while with the Marines has a history “of targeting innocent people.” 

You have to wonder why if that was the case how he was approved as FBI director by the US Senate 98 – 0 when he was picked by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001. Or how, after he served for ten years the House and Senate, a mere seven years ago, agreed to legislation to extend his term for another two years. Oh, well. I suppose it is best not to let facts get in the way of a good story put out by a Texas Congressman who said the Tea Party was an answer to his prayers.