Friday, December 23, 2016

Blogger Bob, like many political newsmakers, is taking some time off for the holidays.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

President Obama failed to slow the rise of the oceans as promised in his 2009 inaugural address, but he seized control of parts of the Atlantic and Arctic by using his executive authority to ban offshore drilling in those waters. His action is raw meat for the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress.

With only a short time remaining in his presidency, Barack Obama delivered a sharp blow to police groups and their supporters in Congress by giving a four-year term on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to Debo Adegbile, who defended former Black Panther and convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal. The action was branded a "slap in the face" and a "kick in the teeth" by opponents.

And while innocent shoppers were killed and injured in an apparent terrorist attack in a German Christmas market and the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Ankara, President Obama plays golf in Hawaii on his final taxpayer-funded vacation.


Monday, December 19, 2016

Donald Trump told voters he would go to Washington and "drain the swamp." He's not the only politician to make that promise.
In fact, Ben Carson, one of his primary rivals, also used the phrase. "Washington is built on a swamp," he said. "Together we can drain the swamp and protect our children's future." (President-elect Trump has given Carson the responsibility of "draining the swamp" in the bureaucracy of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.")
The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reports the phrase first became popular in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan said he was in Washington "to drain the swamp" of big government.
Even Democrat Nancy Pelosi, when she became House Speaker in 2006, said one of her priorities was to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.
Trump, with his selection of so many Washington "insiders" for his administration, now finds the promise coming back to haunt him.

Friday, December 16, 2016


How Your Taxes Are Spent

The Internal Revenue Service allowed 27 of its employees to spent more than $1.4 million on travel expenses in the 2015 fiscal year, including luxury apartment bookings and stays in five-star hotels. Don't try claiming this kind of exhorbitant expenditure on your tax return.

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange insists the Russian government was not the source of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman blasted the U.S. for "groundlessly" accusing Russia of meddling in America's elections. lBut the White House, despite calling for a "smooth transition", points to President-elect Donald Trump as the guilty party.

In the Watergate drama of Richard Nixon's administration, a source known as "Deep Throat" gave reporter Bob Woodward inside information that led to the president's resignation. A man claiming to be a player in the WikiLeaks release of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton in her campaign said a source passed the documents to him in a meeting in a Washington, D.C. park.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Among the stream of callers at Trump Tower was rapper Kanye West. He said he wanted to meet with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss "multicultural issues."

"All our senators and congressmen are away from Washington now. This is the season of the year when they do the least damage to their country." - Will Rogers

How Your Taxes Are Spent
In Florida, an agency paid an estimated $26.2 million in Medicaid benefits over a five-year period to dead people. A government watchdog said the agency neglected to keep up to date on beneficiaries' deaths.

Monday, December 12, 2016

How Your Taxes Are Spent
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) spent more than $100 million over the last few years to ferry illegal immigrant children around the U.S., shuttling them to relatives or among government agencies. The Immigration Reform Law Institute said the money could have been better spent on enforcement.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of the early losers who then endorsed Donald Trump, is said to be in the running for Secretary of Energy. He had told the Trump transition team he wanted to run the Defense Department and sources said he had been offered  a job heading an agency that he said in a debate he would abolish -- but couldn't remember which one.

The Daily Caller reports the Obamas have sent out their last Christmas card from the White House, but there's something missing: Christmas.  The card, signed by the president, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their two daughters, with paw prints by their dogs, Bo and Sunny, wishes everyone "Happy Holidays."

Friday, December 9, 2016

Frenzied opponents of Scott Pruitt , President-elect Donald Trump's choice to head the EPA, would have people believe he would change it to the Environmental Pollution Agency. Business owners favor "Economic Protection Agency."


It must be difficult for Hillary Clinton to accept the "real news" of her defeat as a presidential candidate. In a rare appearance in Washington she unleashed an attack on "fake news."

Donald Trump hasn't released his tax returns, but now we know what kind of music he likes. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said he's "a huge Elton John fan" - despite the singer being a longtime Democratic supporter.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

He hasn't even been sworn in yet but President-elect Donald Trump already is actively engaged in creating jobs. He persuaded Carrier to keep 1,100 employees from losing their jobs in Indiana. And after a meeting with a Japanese bank CEO, Masayoshi Son, he announced that Son would invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs.

John Kasich finally did something right. The Ohio governor, one of the 16 Republican candidates who lost to Donald Trump in the primaries, broke his loyalty pledge and refused to endorse him. He boycotted the Republican National Convention held in his state. But as members of the Electoral College prepare to gather later this month with anti-Trump feelings still running high in some circles, Kasich sent a message: "I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me..."

Vice President Joe Biden's mouth is still putting him in the news. Asked about his political future, Biden told a group of reporters, "I am going to run for president in 2020. What the hell man, anyway." Asked if he was kidding, he replied that he is "not committing not to run."  .

Monday, December 5, 2016

A $1.4 billion casino and resort with a 24-story hotel and 3,000-seat theater is opening in the Washington area - on the Maryland shore of the Potomac River -  and it's not a project of real estate tycoon Donald Trump.  Earlier this year, before being elected president, Trump opened the doors to a new Trump hotel in the historic old post office building a few blocks from the White House.

After deliberating since before Thanksgiving on the matter, brain surgeon Ben Carson accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer to be nominated for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. We can be glad Trump and the rest of his cabinet officers don't take this long to make decisions.

Fidel Castro's final trip to eternity was marred by an embarrassing incident. The Russian-made jeep carrying the ashes of the long-ruling Cuban dictator broke down in the middle of his funeral procession.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Schumer and Chelsea Handler broke their promises about leaving the U.S. if Donald Trump won the election, but Wole Soyinka kept his word. The Nobel Prize-winning author threw away his green card and went back to Africa.

President-elect Donald Trump did more than thank voters for their support in a "thank you" tour that began in Ohio, following a stop in Indiana where he spoke at a Carrier plant he kept from closing, saving 1,100 jobs. He also announced he will appoint retired Marine Gen. James N. "Mad Dog" Mattis to be Secretary of Defense.Well, it's California.

 It's now okay to urinate on the sidewalk in San Francisco. A Superior Court judge said he and his colleagues tossed out 66,000 arrest warrants because they felt it made no sense to lock people up for fines they couldn't afford to pay.