Yes, We Have No Bananas

Yes, we have no bananas.  We have no bananas today.

Those are lyrics from the 1920s.  Here's the tune, for those of you old enough to remember, which includes alternative lyrics for the English-impaired:

For the original version, go here.

Either way, it's the summary of Robert Mueller's testimony today.   I feel sorry for him.  A lifetime of work destroyed in a single day.  It was sad to watch.

I don't blame him, necessarily.  He worked his way up the ladder from the old soldier he once was...into the realm of prestige...and then into an honorable retirement.  Then came a clarion call.  One last request for service to country...and a chance to move from the fading shadows of oblivion into light once again, whether deserved or not.  He heard the trumpeting of revelry.  And he stood tall and marched forward, like the soldier he once was, but this time into a withering hail of bullets, which he must've known were coming, at least in the final days, if only because he signed onto the losing battle and offered his reputation as the esprit de corps for those he trusted, the women and men of his platoon.  It was a bad decision.

Today he sacrificed his honor on that battlefield.  It was sad to watch.  I do not think suicide was his intention.  He seems an honorable man.  Andrew Weissman, not so much.  In fact, not at all.  Weissman is a guy out for the kill.  His former boss simply got in the way.  Stuff happens, if you know what I mean.  I think Mueller knew it the day he signed onto the Special Council's report.  If not then, then shortly thereafter.  He could've quit much earlier in the process and said there's no further point to the investigation, as most of us knew.  But for whatever reason, probably personal, he didn't.  I suspect he knew he was only a figurehead, and his reputation would get him beyond the bar, so he let his subordinates do all the work.  If today was any clue, he was clueless about most all of which he was put in charge.  But that was then.  This is now.  He now owns it.  I suspect he wishes otherwise.

Bill Barr offered him a path to salvation.  Barr told him he didn't need to testify.  In effect, Barr offered a way out of the impasse into which his old acquaintance Bob Mueller had entwined himself.  Mueller didn't need to own up to the Special Council's Report that he put his name on, at least not on public display, and not this way.  But apparently someone else had Mueller's ear.  Lawfare?  Who knows?  Maybe one day we will get an accounting.  But it seems obvious that Mueller felt his honor was at stake.  It was.  And Bill Barr was unable to help at that point.  So he let his friend Bob Mueller hang himself.  That's what happened today.  Robert S. Mueller, III committed the last public hanging in U.S. history.  He did it to himself.  And he did it of his own free will

If I may paraphrase Bob Mueller's testimony, Yes, we have no bananas...We have no bananas today.

I don't think Jerry Nadler gives a rat's ass about bananas.  What's one more soldier sacrificed on the political field of battle?  Plus, Mueller doesn't vote in his district.

 After a long sabbatical, I've decided to resume my blog.  For some strange reason, Facebook no longer publicizes my posts.  Funny that.  Oh, well.  I've chosen to do a work-around.  Follow along if it's your cup of tea.

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“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer…” 

-- Thomas Paine, Common Sense

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Something is true because you say it is...facts be damned.  Then your mind closes and the conversation ends, except for your subsequent accusations and personal attacks.  Racism!  Fascism!  Naziism!  White nationalism!  Oy, veh.  Have you never read history outside of tweets?  (I'm not speaking to you, dear reader, but to the dolts who happen upon this site.)

We have reached a level of ignorance for which there is no rational response.  Such intransigence no longer makes me angry.  Instead, I look upon such folks the same way I view a rabid dog -- poor creature, so sorry that fatal disease afflicted you, but what's one to do other than quarantine the crazed animal until the moment of its demise...or else find a more charitable end.  Otherwise neighbors may get bitten and afflicted.  I have no stomach for such communicable problems.  I choose to keep my distance and save my breath.  I was a Democrat many decades ago.  Then the Jeffersonian democrats left me in their wake and went a rabid direction.  So much for the Founders of this country and what they staked their lives upon.

My walk-away moment came in the 1980s.  I was younger then, and anti-establishment.  I walked the halls of academe.  Then I left the academy and entered the business world.  It was an eye opener.  All I can say is, mea culpa.  I discovered I had been a Republican all along,  Then I discovered I was neither Republican nor Democrat, but instead someone who wanted to think outside party lines.  Yes, I was a slow learner, but I wasn't stupid.  In 2008, I easily recognized Barack Obama as the b**sh*t artist that he was.  How?  Because I once was him.  He was a certifiable liar.  Or a tool for his overseers   I recognized the catch-phrases, the weasel-words, and the facial expressions of an almost true-believer.  Only, I WAS a true believer in my early years, until the ice got too thin.  Then I discovered that my ideology didn't support my convictions.  I still love Thomas Jefferson, but not those who bastardize his ideals.  Such as John McCain.  At some point, one must be realistic.  It just took me a while.  A little humility goes a long way.

My politics these days are similar to the premise of Alcoholics Anonymous.  I will help with politics if you want help.  If you don't, there's not much I can do...other than vote against you... and bring five friends along.  I could offer a more compassionate, rational and balanced response, but then, what would be the point?  Rabies is what it is, politically speaking.  Donald Trump understands this.

Okay, no more offers of help.

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Lest someone thinks I'm politically biased and insensitive, there's also this:

If it doesn't come through, the video can be found here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMU2Vo6_CEQ

Enough of these bon mots.  Until next time.