It was a good time reading your post in which you did a convincing impression of a computer.

If we track shipments of explosives, then there will be no good guys with bombs to stop the bad guys. Is this the world you want to live in? One where you can't just blow things up for kicks, or to protect your family? My cousin's friend was attacked in his home -- MS-13 through the front door, the New Black Panther Party through the back. He pulled a pipe bomb out from under his pillow and threatened to blow them up if they didn't leave. They scurried next door and that foolish, unmanly neighbor called 911. Like they would help! They said "You need to call the ICE liberators." He did, but the line was busy because the Democrats in Congress cut ICE's budget.

Besides, in countries with bomb control, things still explode. Boilers, gas lines, sewers, cellphones. Do you want to live in filth, tossing your poo out the window, in a cold damp home, with no cellphone? Didn't think so.

I think these should best be read as non-compete agreements. Saying terrible things about Trump and Trump's family, admitting to idiotic or criminal behavior, behaving idiotically in front of the whole gobsmacked world, saying racist, sexist and xenophobic s**t, and generally showing every day in every way that ratings machine DJT is unfit for office is Trump's thing. He doesn't need the competition.

And when you consider how steep the competition is for most odious human on earth, with strong bids from Omarosa, Bannon, Miller, Gorka, Sessions, Conway, Flynn, Manafort, Ross, Zinke and Pruitt, you can see why he might be worried. And that's just the White House Division. To claim the prize, Trump then has to beat whoever wins in the International Division, which includes Erdogan, Assad, Le Pen, Putin, Farage and BoJo (among others), as well as the champs in the Congressional Division and the Non-Fake News Division. (There are so many strong competitors in these brackets, space and incipient nausea prevent me from even trying to list them, but they know who they are, and so do you.) And you still have the Wild Cards like Weinstein and Cosby, Kobach and Corey Stewart, Spencer and Duke and even good old KSM. (It's my understanding that Roy Moore has withdrawn from the tournament to spend more time at the Gadsen Mall, but he will present the award that goes to the winner of the swimsuit competition. Don't ask, and if you do, be warned that Speedos are involved.)

So I say, let the poor man have his NDAs. He's been working toward the championship at least since he suckled at the teat of Roy Cohn (indecency sensei non-pareil); it's the only thing he's ever worked hard at. Well that, and getting into shape for the swimsuit competition.

If only the Red Hen had served SHS, Trump voters would be out of grievances. Man, that would be great. Hannity announces, "I was going to stoke resentment and ressentiment today, which is the reason you tune in, but there's nothing there. The liberals, the elites, the pointy-headed intellectuals, the academics and SJWs are silent. Should we show puppy videos? Oh, here, I see that Trump tweeted something ugly at Jimmy Fallon, but rather than respond in kind, Fallon took the high road and just sent a donation to RAICES. That's great! See, liberals can be civil and respectful. Trump went low, and Fallon went high! If the President himself joins Fallon on the high road and apologizes, and maybe also apologizes for calling Rep. Maxine Waters a "very low IQ person," I see a new birth of Grace throughout our great country."

Back to the real world. If it were possible for every single liberal and member of the resistance to model grace at all times and in all circumstances, I think that would be more effective than refusing to serve SHS or publicly confronting Trump admin officials, and would provide a great contrast to the moral horror of constant incivility, open hostility and gratuitous cruelty that emanates from Trump every day, several times a day. This is what Jackie Robinson did in his first season in the Bigs. It's why MLK, Jr. and Gandhi preached nonviolence.

As difficult as it was for Robinson, his actions were subject to his control. If a bunch of folks had gotten together to harass some opposing player who treated Robinson badly, opponents of integration would've used it, effectively, to discredit Robinson even though he was modeling opposite behavior. And of course, King (and Gandhi, I assume) was assailed for actions, like the riots in the Long, Hot Summer, beyond his control; again, effectively. History books show blacks getting firehosed, beaten, having food dumped on their heads, but to his opponents, he wasn't martyred for nonviolent resistance, but instead paid the price for his alleged advocacy of violence and disorder.

And even here, you cite the outburst of a hothead congressperson, one of 194 House Dems, most of whom aren't inciting any kind of disruption, in contrast to the actions of the Dem leaders of the Senate and House. If any one congressperson can trump Party leadership, then how on earth is anyone supposed to stop that?

Here's the deal. The Trump admin is a moral abomination unlike anything in recent memory. He's abetted by talk radio, Evangelical apologists and websites that were considered beyond the fringe, by conservatives, a few years ago. The resistance is vast collection of individual actors, some of whom are profoundly decent people, some of whom aren't. When organized into marches, they've been peaceful and respectful. Individually, some have crossed the line, and others will in the future. But, unless we're in for a whole lot of darkness, in the future the resistance will be seen as Children of the Light, as Gandhi, King, anti-Nazi resisters and anti-slavery advocates are. And Trump and his minions will be seen as the dark, malevolent creatures they are. And the people who criticized Trump's critics for intemperance will be forgotten.

Considering the last election turned on the crucial question of proper e-mail management, it is a little strange that Trump uses an unsecured phone, and can't be talked out of it. And SHS used her public, taxpayer funded, Twitter account for a private beef. Did those pesky Democrats pass another law no one has heard about, like the one requiring separation of parents and families? They must be stopped! We need to give the Republicans a fighting chance to pass some secret laws by electing a Democratic congress.

The government can't get the lights back on in Puerto Rico, but they sure can get concentration camps up and running lickety-split. A real head-scratcher.

Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown. "Nazi, Schmazi!" says Werner von Braun.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?" "That's not my department," says Werner von Braun.

If anyone who reads this is unfamiliar with the inestimable work of Tom Lehrer, hie quickly over to YouTube and check it out. You will not be sorry.

I agree that an abortion is not going to be a deal-breaker for Trump's evangelical fans. And whatever Bible-knowledge the flocks lack can be supplied by their pastors, who certainly know their Bibles (except for a few passages from Jesus that He couldn't possibly have meant anyway), and probably have a special concordance that pulls out justifications for lying down with evil for use in any rationalization.

Trump could shoot Sean Hannity in broad daylight in Times Square and Hannity would use his last breath, if it came to that, to make it clear that he had it coming, it was an accident, it wasn't Trump, he was hypnotized by one of Hillary's pedophile Svengalis, or, he wasn't shot at all, just had a rare disease that causes spontaneous wounds and bleeding. Take your pick, or make up your own. And be sure to find out what Kanye thinks,

Your comment seems a little mean-spirited. I'm not sure FW's blanket condemnation of Firing Line is justified, but the implication that today's TV, with wall-to-wall inanity, provocation and faux outrage, is his cup of tea does not follow from a general disdain for Buckley's show. If I were to say, for example, that Martin Scorcese is overrated, it would not follow that my idea of a good time is settling down in front of Adam Sandler's latest offering.

The Wasteland today is indeed vast and deep, but the non-Wasteland, however you define it, is vast and deep too. Also, in the current environment, I find it difficult to judge people for their viewing choices. In particular, I think the Bachelor is execrable, and I used to think that anyone who likes it must be a bad person. But perusing the internet, I find that some critics whose taste I mostly agree with on other things, and whose consumption and appreciation of more "highbrow" culture seems to exceed mine, seem to love it. (Heck, my sister is a good person and she loves Adam Sandler. ) To each his or her own, I guess.

Maybe I don't understand what you'e saying. The FEC website says: "In general, foreign nationals are prohibited from the following activities: Making any contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or making any expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement in connection with any federal, state or local election in the United States; Making any contribution or donation to any committee or organization of any national, state, district, or local political party (including donations to a party nonfederal account or office building account); Making any disbursement for an electioneering communication."

Or are you saying that as a result of Citizens United, this part of election law is unenforceable? That's what Obama implied in a SOTU that drew a silent "not true" from Justice Alito; "Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities." I need to refresh myself on CU, but as far as I'm aware, it didn't strike down the ban on foreign contributions. Apparently, Alito didn't think so either, or he just got so worked up by the Kenyan poseur pretending to be President that he temporarily forgot what CU says.