WAIT! DO RUSSIANS REALLY ‘OWN’ DONALD J. TRUMP?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Apart from the furor over the WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails is a much bigger, more troubling, question: Exactly why were the Russians doing covert electronic snooping against the American liberal party, anyway?

(Makes me wonder about the presumed security of U.S. State Department lines, by the way – the ones Hillary Clinton avoided at times, to the consternation of her partisan attackers.)

We might begin with the fact that Russian president Vladimir Putin hates Hillary Clinton, probably because of her toughness as Secretary of State in opposition to his aggression.

But now Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo makes more serious connections as he looks at what he calls “the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Quite simply, as he notes, ” There is a lot of Russian money flowing into Trump’s coffers and he is conspicuously solicitous of Russian foreign policy priorities.”

Marshall then observes, “Trump has been blackballed by all major U.S. banks with the exception of Deutschebank, which is of course a foreign bank with a major U.S. presence. He has steadied and rebuilt his financial empire with a heavy reliance on capital from Russia. At a minimum the Trump organization is receiving lots of investment capital from people close to Vladimir Putin.”

And Marshall then goes on to note the close Russian relationships with Trump’s closest advisers. That alone should be raising red flags. No pun intended.

It’s all truly frightening stuff, especially for those of us who have viewed many right-wing operatives as more dangerous to American freedoms than any of the “communist takeover” we’ve long been warned against. (Marshall, by the way, steers clear of conspiracy theories.)

How is it Trump’s Republican opponents overlooked these connections? Well, for one, they never took him seriously. He was, after all, essentially a comical TV entertainer. Or so they thought. Look at the disaster they could have prevented.

But now? Could Trump be a Manchurian Candidate?

Put the dots together, and it’s fair to guess, this is worse than we might imagine. Or, as Marshall explains:

“Trump’s tax returns would likely clarify the depth of his connections to and dependence on Russian capital aligned with Putin. And in case you’re keeping score at home: no, that’s not reassuring.”

No wonder Trump has refused to release 10 years of tax filings! On top of all the other shenanigans those documents would likely disclose, we have this reality: He’s in debt up to his eyeballs to Russians! Think about that!

Now, for more from Marshall: “To put this all into perspective, if Vladimir Putin were simply the CEO of a major American corporation and there was this much money flowing in Trump’s direction, combined with this much solicitousness of Putin’s policy agenda, it would set off alarm bells galore.”

Why hasn’t it? Go ahead, blame the mainstream media, if you must. Maybe they’ll catch up. This could be the bombshell to destroy his campaign, believe me, if additional details come to light..

Now, we can also ask: Just how crooked are Trump’s financial dealings? How shaky is his empire? Or how shady? Could it be Russians are simply trying to protect their investment?

For Marshall’s full account, I urge you to click here.

WILDLIFE, CLOSE TO HOME

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

more squirrels than girls – and there are a lot of girls in this neighborhood

two horny squirrels on a tree

neighbors report a large groundhog … where are those dogs?

possum … how funny they look, running
their back arches, and both ends drop
nearly to the ground
how laborious!

a possum in the bottom of one of our plastic barrels
furrier than I expected
turn the cylinder on its side, still takes a while
for the critter to move off … injured? stunned? no idea

a young porcupine crossing Hill Street four doors down …
a neighbor watching from the stoop …

next night, a dead adult porcupine in the street

on our apron by the back door
a small snake, whip motion,
ever so slowly

Rachel awakens me
for a scurrying, gnawing noise
inside the wall, beside our heads

in the morning, I realize we haven’t heard
the house sparrows nesting in the eaves overhead, either

none of our plans come off as planned
but we keep readjusting

poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson

~*~

Rat Tat 1

For more of my home and garden poetry, click here.

CRITTERS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Reprise

The amount of wildlife in our yard continually impresses me,
especially compared to Oakdale Avenue or Woodbine.
The abundance of squirrels, of course, and possible rats
but also skunks, opossums, the groundhog can be added in
plus snakes and insects.
We must be doing something right, or just be in the right location.

A first: amid a throng of blue jays chasing a crow, a mockingbird:
was its nest raided or threatened?

~*~

Home Maintenance 1

For more on my home and garden poetry, click here.

GO AHEAD, ASK

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Would they live by the Golden Rule? Could they live on the minimum wage, much less raise a family? Will they even donate as much to charities serving the poor as they give to political campaigns? Especially considering how the middle-class has been impoverished?

NOW THAT WE’RE IN THE THICK OF IT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Let me confess, I hadn’t intended to blog about the political conventions, but as events unfolded, I couldn’t resist.

But I am intrigued by the unexpected counterpoint my earlier scheduled postings are providing. There’s more to life, after all, than politics, though they can make daily affairs easier or more cumbersome. So here we are, bouncing between the experiences of camping in the high Cascades or walking around town or tending the garden and the manipulated circus that’s become the new Mistake on the Lake. Maybe the real wilderness adds an essential ballast or balance or at least a breath of fresh air.

I suspect this wild ride’s going to continue quite a while. Let’s try to keep our feet on the ground as we go. And don’t forget to smell the roses or coffee. Keep our priorities straight. Maybe even with a sense of humor.

NOT THE AMERICA WE KNOW IN OUR LIVES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

As the voice across the room says of Donald Trump’s 75-minute nomination acceptance speech, the longest in American history: His is not the America I know.

Maybe that’s how it looks to someone whose billions came from his parents and casinos, but to real working Americans?

Ours is not a place overrun with fear and loathing. We’re not rich in worldly terms, barely middle-class, in fact, but we have good friends, neighbors, an adequate income, a comfortable house, health care, decent folks as our police and firefighters; we can talk to our elected officials, the downtown has rebounded into a charming district, we even feel safe in our frequent visits to Boston.

Not that things are perfect. We are appalled by the police shootings of innocent American black citizens, as well as the shooting of police officers themselves, but that’s a consequence of the current interpretation of the Second Amendment, nothing we can blame on the Democrats. And we are appalled by the redistribution of wealth from the middle-class to the richest one percent of the population, but that, too, points to Republican decisions. And that’s before we get to climate change, which the Republicans won’t even admit is happening, much less that its causes can be mitigated. In other words, those who won’t even admit they created the problem aren’t those I’d trust to correct it. Yes, things could be better — much better — but we know there have always been problems.

Trump-Pence keep portraying as America as broken, but from everything I’ve seen, the country’s in much better shape than it was when the Bush-Cheney squad left the White House. And, let’s be clear, for the past eight years Republicans have done everything they can to sabotage that economic and societal turnaround. In fact, for a list of the biggest troubles and their solutions, you need to listen to Bernie Sanders rather than billionaire Trump. When it comes to fixing anything — other than in an underhanded fashion — Trump remains clueless.

If I take my car in for service, I want a mechanic who can diagnose the condition correctly before I’ll allow him to touch anything more. I don’t want him messing with the brakes if the problem’s really the latch to the trunk. I don’t want to be paying to rip good parts away or to do anything that makes the situation worse. You know what to call folks like that.

Bottom line? The Trump-Pence promises are empty, based on largely campaign-manufactured problems.

By the way, demonizing three-quarters of the population is no way to “make America one again” unless, of course, they unite in response — then you might say Trump-Pence has made the majority one again. Just not the way or the agenda Trump-Pence envisioned.

Last night will remain a dark moment in American history. But we’re praying for Light.

A TRIPPY DIP IN THE POOL

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

Sitting down at the edge of the indoor swimming pool the other day, I noticed the blue-and-white banners hanging above the lap lanes were reflected upside down on the water. Since I was the first swimmer to arrive, the surface was relatively calm, swayed only by the slow, repeated ripples my legs produced.

At first the upside-down banner images reminded me of a string of shimmering pine trees reaching more and more for the sky. Pines, of course, are also Christmas trees, so while my mind was drifting off somewhere along the holiday theme the images began squeezing, so that a blob of some kind began floating upward from each of the trees, which were shrinking in response. Almost melting. Or maybe dancing.

I’d definitely fallen into a mesmerizing time warp and hoped it wouldn’t be contagious, should anyone else show up. This was, quite simply, trippy. Very trippy.

Considering that era, I had to admit this was so much better than the lava lamps my recently retired eye doctor had in his exam room. He’s the one who’s beheld almost all of the world’s surviving Vermeer paintings in person – some of them in private collections, at that. So that, too, was stirred up. Hope he’s delighting in his freedom.

Well, it was over in a flash. Or should I say splash? Had to get my laps in and didn’t want the lifeguard coming over to ask if I was OK. How on earth could I answer that one?

“Do you see what I see?”

But that would revive those Christmas trees, and who knows where that would lead? I just might have to explain the whole hippie era to her, and we wouldn’t have that much time or spacey whatever.

JUST FOR PERSPECTIVE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Simply wondering. Does anyone remember:

  • Jeb Bush
  • Ben Carson
  • Chris Christie
  • Ted Cruz
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Jim Gilmore
  • Lindsey Graham
  • Mike Huckabee
  • Bobby Jindal
  • John Kasich
  • George Pataki
  • Rick Perry
  • Marco Rubio
  • Rick Santorum
  • Scott Walker

More specifically, just what do you remember? Anything about their agenda? Or their record? Or has it come down to hair style and bluster?

Miss any of them?

Simply wondering. Just for perspective.