Answering the Chat

About the Signal group text screwup, I have two words of advice for the Trump team: Shut Up!

The crazed lefties are like rabid dogs chewing on a bloody bone. Stop feeding them. Any further questions I would respond to with "Asked and answered. Next question?" If they persist, excuse yourself and leave the venue. If it's a congressional hearing or other official proceeding where you're stuck, rinse and repeat your reply. But stop giving oxygen to what President Trump rightfully describes as a "witch hunt."

Not detecting an unapproved phone number in the group text/chat was a bad mistake, no doubt. Was it worse than the horrific Afghanistan withdrawal? No. Worse than four years of unenforced borders? No. Worse than Biden ignoring Supreme Court decisions on forgiving student loans? Worse than the legacy media and Democrats covering up for a demented president? No.

I could go on for quite some time, but you remember the debacles of the previous administration as well as I do. The "press" and the left-wing media pundits are very picky about which "scandals" they will latch onto and run into the ground. Their code is easy to crack: Anything Democrat, good; Anything Republican, bad; Anything Trump/Musk, instant destruction of "our democracy" (our democracy = our power).

In fairness, Republicans would be all over a similar misstep by the Democrats. That's politics. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz has publicly accepted responsibility for the error--a novel approach in recent years. I have my own criticisms of how this controversial chat unfolded. Why wasn't each member's phone number verified in advance of such a high-stakes conversation? If I had been Waltz's administrator, that would have been my course of action. (Don't get any ideas; I'm retired.) 

But Mr. Waltz, you are at the highest level of government, reporting directly to the president, and you are responsible for the security of the entire nation. Can't you be a bit more careful? Hopefully, going forward Waltz can now respond to that question as "Asked and answered."

Welcoming Committee

There's so much negative news in the headlines this past week that it overshadows a wondrous event. Watching the safe return of the SpaceX capsule was a like a breath of fresh air. The splashdown went perfectly on a gorgeous sunny day off Florida's coast.

The astronauts were even greeted by a lively pod of dolphins that seemed as interested in and excited about the proceedings as I was.

We could all use more news coverage like this. Recognition of America's achievements and successes are just plain good for the soul. Even the dolphins seem to know that.

Dolphins welcome home the astronauts - March 18, 2025

Baby Brains

"We're still pretty young for a country. These are, like, our angry teenage years. ...We want this, we want that, and what do you do when you have a teenager threatening themselves and others? You just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form..."

~ U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)

Okay, we get it. Senator Slotkin reminds everyone that Republicans are immature idiots who voted for a moron. It's the standardized Democrat slur to underscore their lofty moral standing over the great unwashed masses of ignorant conservative voters. 

But the sage senator forgot one major detail. Even to an angry teenage-minded voter such as I, it's pretty obvious. 

If Republican voters are angry teenagers that the virtuous Democrats want to keep alive so that our brains will "fully form," then why do Democrats support allowing twelve-year-old children to lop off their breasts and genitals? Shouldn't such vital organs be allowed to "fully form," also? Then, using their fully formed brain, the mature adult individual can make an informed decision about gender surgery.

It seems like a fair and logical question to me. Unfortunately, we'll just need to be patient until Sen. Slotkin's brain catches up. It could be a long wait.

Our "Nice Ocean"

I suppose everyone has an opinion about the meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. I don't want to be too hard on the arrogant little Ukranian leader; after all, he has been in a brutal war with Russia for the past few years. That's bound to take a toll on anyone's equilibrium.

However, there is a limit to how much bad attitude a person can take. I watched the video of the full 49-minute meeting, not just the few-minute clip of the blow-up that has been running on an endless loop. Trump let quite a bit of Zelenskyy's guff slide by. He was more tolerant than many others would have been. Our president reached his saturation point near the very end, when Zelenskyy, in responding to a chide from VP Vance, issued a veiled threat that "you have nice ocean" but would "you will feel" future consequences. 

That lit up President Trump immediately. He admonished the Ukranian president "You don't know that. Don't tell us what we're going to feel...." The ensuing dialogue was brief, direct, and harsh. The wheels flew off and the meeting crash-landed. Good. Since "cards" were also a discussion point, Zelenskyy needs to know he's been dealt a new hand.

But let's back up to that smug comment about our "nice ocean." The implication was that we are completely ignorant of war because of our geography. Yes, we actually have two nice oceans. Neither one has kept Americans from dying by the thousands in wars. 

A few questions for the Ukranian president: Did our "nice ocean" protect us from the September 11 terrorist attacks (2,977 dead) and the ensuing wars in Afghanistan (2,459 dead) and Iraq (7,054 dead)?

How many United States service men and women died in World Wars I and II? Added together, the fatal casualties for those two wars approach one-half million American dead. Thousands of our servicemen died in the D-Day invasion operation alone, at the foreign shoreline of our nice ocean. Another 36,000 Americans died in the Korean conflict. And what about the 2,403 US service members dead in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? I can't even think about the 58,220 US fatalities in the Vietnam war.

It is true that the US has not suffered from ongoing war inside our homeland since The Civil War, 1861-65. Estimates vary, but between 600,000 and 800,000 Americans died fighting in that conflict. But Atlantic or Pacific, "nice oceans" have been beside the point as protection for our countrymen in wartime. Over the past century, Americans have died in faraway wars by the hundreds of thousands. Most American families in every war were marked by loss and tragedy.

So, Mr. Z., I must agree with President Trump: don't tell us how to feel. And stop interrupting a leader who is trying to pass you an ace.

The far side of our "nice ocean" - June 6, 1944