Every day we scour the news for something to write about other than President Donald Trump, and after Wednesday’s primary debate we we took the opportunity to take a day off on Thursday to write about what an awful state the opposition Democratic party is in, but as bad as the Democrats are most days we winding up choosing the worst thing Trump said or did.
On Thursday Trump announced that his acting director of national intelligence, overseen the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency and all the various military intelligence-gathing agencies, will be Richard Grenell, who has no military or intelligence experience on his resume. He does have foreign service credentials as Trump’s ambassador to Germany, where our top diplomat has been very irritating to our German ally but quite loyal to Trump. He’s also gained a reputation as an “internet troll” on Trump’s behalf, but those are not the credentials that any Republican or Democratic president in our lifetimes or historical readings would have relied on.
This comes at a time when the same national intelligence community that still insists Russia meddled on Trump’s behalf in the last election is now warning they plan to do so in the next race. Some Trump apologists on Fox News and other Trump-supportive media are saying the president is appalled by the suggestion of Russian interference on his behalf, but he’s always denied the possibility the Russians would da such a thing and has appointed someone who will back him up, no matter what that smarty-pants and “deep state” national intelligence community might conclude. We can’t say the damned Democrats would do any better, but it still looks awful to us.
Also on Thursday, long time Trump friend and advisor Roger Stone, who’s been proudly infamous since his days as one of President Richard Nixon’s self-described “rat fuckers,” was sentenced to more than three years in prison for perjury and witness intimidation during a special counsel investigation into the “Russia thing.” Trump didn’t get impeached for it, but it looked awful, and he’s survived an impeachment trial on an even more clear-cut matter involving the Russian beset-Ukrainian government, but if he winds up pardoning Stone, as looks likely, that will also look bad.
On the other hand, the Wichita State University won a gimme basketball game at home against the University of South Florida Bull, giving the ‘Shocks their eleventh straight season of 20 wins, putting them in such elite company as Kansas, Duke and North Carolina. They’re still in contention for a top two or three finish in the tough American conference and a slot in the national championship, too.
We don’t have much other good news to offer, but have a good weekend.
— Bud Norman
The Central Standard Times 