Denver's Paxton Problem Worse Than Imagined

The problem with Paxton is not his really high draft slot, which in hindsight was too high compared to the quality of talent that went much lower than the first round last season. It's not even the high expectations that come along with high draft slots because, no matter the draft slot, Paxton has to justify his reason to stay in Denver just as every draftee or free agent must do given the history of the good Broncos QB's we've seen in the past. Broncos fans could also find a problem with the slow development if they hadn't drafted him with the expectation of him taking two or three years to develop.

We knew it would take time to
mature, but is Paxton digressing?

As a Broncos fan, I would love to see a problem with such a high draft choice getting beat out by a lower drafted player, but that happens all the time at other positions on the field and no one seems to care that the lower drafted player is doing so well except to take brownie points for finding the proverbial diamond in the rough when low draft picks work out.

In fact, the draft is such a crap shoot that very few General Managers get held to account for the overall quality of the high draft options as much as they are expected to add talent overall. John has had some winners, especially on defense, but in the grand scheme of things, John Elway has not done a great job when it comes to drafting quarterbacks unless you count Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler as potential successes. I would say that the jury is still out on both QB's and on Elway as a world class GM too.

So, the problem with Paxton could be an overly sympathetic boss who needs him to work out just to justify that huge contract Elway just got from the Denver Broncos, yet finding quality draft picks and free agent acquisitions can be cyclical. Elway's recent cycle of building this team resulted in a championship victory for Denver. It didn't quite happen from the quarterback position like Elway could be hoping for right now, but it happened, and the cache you build from winning is worth a new contract and a delay of the ridicule you probably deserve.

I am not certain that Elway is really great at picking players, nor do I think his penchant for holding a grudge is helpful to Colin Kaepernick or my Broncos. I won't complain if it turns into another title for us, but I also won't consider my Broncos to be the beneficiary of great leadership if we win either. In fact, the Broncos are shaping up to be the kind of team that other teams will call lucky again if they are fortunate to overcome the quarterback fiasco and finish on top.

All of that being said, none of the Elway stuff is the problem with this team aside from the problem it might become if Siemian can't be just a little better than he was last season when he came one game short of the playoffs. If the Broncos are dedicated to making use of a healthy CJ Anderson as a leader of this team and a lead option of the offense, Siemian will be better by default, and so will this team.

So, nothing about last night's preseason game against the Chicago Bears will prove to be a really big problem except one thing.

Paxton is not only not good enough to beat Siemian for the starting job, he is really not looking good enough to be a viable option at backup either. In a league where concussion protocols are supposed to limit the number of plays that players see on the field, guys who get injured easily are not in a great position to endure a season without missing games. Like it or not, Siemian is good at playing with pain but horrible at avoiding the kind of plays that cause it.

What the Broncos are stuck in the middle of deciding right now is the balancing act between the amount of plays it will take to get Siemian ready to play well enough to limit hits, versus getting Paxton enough nurturing to make him a reasonable choice in the event something does happen to Siemian. As it stands, Paxton is not a good choice to play, period. Which also means he is hardly a great person to be backing up Siemian, who is mostly winning this job because his competition stinks.

Meanwhile, the quarterback that ends up winning this job will not have the confidence of Elway or the Denver community, and, absent a championship victory, will always be the guy that Elway is looking to upgrade from because only a championship can overcome this lack of support and indecision over two players

The combination of Paxton being mediocre and Elway being too stubborn to admit when it's time to go another direction are kind of the same problem; a problem that could reveal itself in the event of a Siemian injury. To the credit of Elway and the coaching staff, that is really the only problem I could uncover after last night, and a lot of luck could leave the Broncos main problem stuck on the bench.

God, Black People, Democrats Must Fix Their Mess

As a Father and a man of African descent, I have come to accept that some messes in this life fall squarely in my lap.

Within the fictional land that we commonly call the "black community" (blacks don't really like each other enough to be communal anymore), there is a mess of spiritual angst against the tenants of Christianity and the behavior of black church leaders seen as exceedingly money hungry and doctrinally flawed in order to intentionally grab said money while simultaneously subjugating blacks, the original man, to whites, the creator of the plan.

I couldn't properly begin to debate the flaws within the Christian Bible well enough to change anyone's problem with Christianity, especially since human perception is a human reality, and Jesus hates religion too.

Besides, this angst of angry black people, pointing fingers at God and rich church leaders, is as legitimate as the angst of the Atheists, who are mad at the notion of God (the leader of all creation) being a man and/or that She (is it better if She created all of this mess?) would allow for a world of so much disarray. If you acknowledge these indictments with your defenses down, you see that angry black believers and Atheists actually have a  reasonable ax to grind. 
Who else to blame but the creator of all things for the existence of all things, including Satan?

While you are debating in your mind whether that comment constitutes blasphemy, I'll double down by conceding the accusation against money grabbing pastors, who clearly exist, even if to the chagrin of the noble pastors. Tough questions of every sort exist for reasons worthy of discussion, and when you aggressively embrace these hard questions, the questions themselves can give birth to the answers.

So, I'll ask again.

If God created everything, isn't She responsible for everything including war and the failure of trickle down economics caused by the unquenchable greed of man? And when does man assume responsibility in this mess? Somewhere in Africa at the beginning of creation or do man's problems begin when white people come to exist?

As a proud God lover and defender of Christ, I humbly concede on the blame pointed at God, as long as my black friends and family are willing to acknowledge blacks as the original man, and also the origin of every subsequent race of man that followed. Assuming ALL races descended from one race, who else can we blame for the division that produced race, religion, and politics if not the original man?

Who Is To Blame When NO ONE Is To Blame?

Will the NFLPA wield leverage to win  guaranteed
money while so many NFL fans stand ready to
boycott over Colin Kaepernick and concussions?

These inflammatory questions are questions with no definitive answers, but I offer them as poignant examples of the roots of the division and the remedy.

As WE struggle to attain agreement politically, our strained personal economies are the only problem we agree about, because economically we all feel basically the same as we've felt for years despite a booming stock market and our government insisting that things are better. Even with better budgeting, WE the People are still being slowly price gouged by inflated housing prices, at the gas pump, or wherever they can get US.

WE have allowed ourselves to be placed on a treadmill to nowhere, chasing a seemingly unreachable dream simply because WE've abandoned one another along with the formula for economic advancement. When our voices spoke loudest, they were collected and poised to bargain, not to beg for rights or wages.


Over the span of an industrialized half century or so, corporations, unwilling to operate in good faith, have tanked our economy more than once while waging their war against the collective body of collective bargaining. The disintegration of the livable wage America once knew is directly connected to the deliberate destruction of unions and of collective bargaining.

Whether you consider the benefits of paying union dues worthwhile, or you consider paying dues to be socialism, the political right has succeeded in pegging nearly every collective human action as the exact same thing as socialism, something mostly viewed as bad in the eyes of the unlearned.

Instead of potentially winning the presidency as a Socialist, even Bernie Sanders fearfully ran from the tainted label and lost while being undermined by a political party he didn't belong to.

The truth is, we'll never really know if America was ready for a Socialist president, nor do we know what exactly Socialist policy looks like even when it's staring us in the face. Whether collective bargaining qualifies as true Socialism is inconsequential so long as the ideology remains demonized and tagged to anything that involves collective agreement among the masses. Haters of capitalism have besmirched its image fairly well too, even though both economic philosophies remain fully co-dependent on one another.

As Democrats take a short vacation from the Donald Trump debacle, they are finally realizing that they represent the haters of capitalism, and it's an image they must shake if they hope to win the White House or a majority in Congress instead of hoping like Hillary that America is too smart to elect deplorable dummies again.

In the annals of gerrymandering, the Democrats are just not in a winning position to overtake Congress. Their popular vote advantage will never matter much so long as poor people pile on top of each other within big cities while begging suburban big wigs for $15 per hour and better ObamaCare. They must improve their economic message and it needs to make sense, even to the average Joe.

I'm not personally in favor of negotiating for fair wages through D.C. mandated minimums, or for waging the wage war through Washington against the same companies that must thrive for the collective to realize their wage demands.  The reality of our wage future is that some companies can afford $15, or more......and some can not.

That is why collective bargaining matters. It forces the books open and finds a wage that is fair, not just wanted. Collective bargaining doesn't beg, nor does it function like two parents divided over proper parenting, allowing their toddler to assume full control in the vacuum created by their division. Collective bargaining and the resurgence of unions is a time tested, reawakened answer to America's wage issue. Most importantly, collective bargaining is not some pointless platitude that progressive voters will tune out. It is also far from fingers pointed in the wrong direction.

While Republicans have never embraced unions, Democrats have almost abandoned them and are not currently promoting any viable plan for our economy that distinguishes them from the Russian-loving Donald or the GOP. Despite the "more of the same" stuff Senator Chuck Schumer is backing as an economic plan, America mostly views mandated handouts (Medicaid, welfare, once a year tax credits) as progressive band-aids on a knife wound that will never stop the bleeding or address the increased cost of healthcare and education worsened by stagnant wage growth.

Happy days for wealthy folks, however, is not really a positive economic indicator or even a point they need to keep mentioning so long as wages remain unchanged. But that doesn't let Democrats off the hook in the least, even though they keep thinking it does. Although no one believes in the trickle-down theory anymore, they also don't expect incremental government handouts from Democrats to close the earnings gap either.

Within any organized community, the challenges you face are the ones you created for yourself via proactive or reactive choices. Hatred, division, and Donald Trump are alive and kicking, in part, because the party for the common man has been way too busy pointing fingers towards who they think is responsible instead of directing the fingers and responsibility towards themselves.

WE- the believers in the power of collective agreement- are responsible for embracing the power of our unified will, or accepting the results of the division WE've allowed. 

God and black people bear a similar responsibility.

O.J. Simpson Finally Paroled. Was Jay Z Right?

     If sufficient remorse was the primary determinant when working on a parole board, you would likely need a lie detector to deal with the magnificent actors of the world. Are we to assume that Bernie Madoff, at 229 years old or so, won't be able to show sorrow for the billions of dollars he schemed away from so many? Even if he does, is there a way to truly trust that a criminal will never do another crime other than helpful determinants like old age and past history relative to the crime you are seeking parole from? Did the guidelines for parole sheet get tossed out in Nevada or what?

     Watching OJ Simpson begrudgingly attempt to show contrition for something he has no remorse for was rather difficult today. Listening to all of the pundits who only wanted to stick it to the black man because they couldn't stick it to him before was quite a bit more difficult.

     Don't get me wrong. I am as much convinced that he was involved with killing someone as I was when he got acquitted by virtue of good lawyering and bad policing.  The disconnect between those who wanted him to pay for the murder and those who wanted him to be proven guilty of the crime is still as vast a divide as it ever was.  There simply is no way to express to someone who has never been racially disenfranchised what it means to beat the system that treats you that way.

     Trump, and a bunch of trigger happy cops, have flipped the US to the tender side of our underbelly, and thankfully, many people who were previously disconnected to the plight of being on the wrong side of our scorching hot melting pot are now graphically becoming aware of the depth of anger that fuels those with disdain for diversity. Never again will WE question the depth of our racial hatred, the unspoken divide that still lives on in all of US or how that divide disproportionately impacts brown skinned folks in America.

Despite a defiant posture and a lack of preparation,
The Juice Is Loose....again.

     Witnessing OJ finally get paroled after almost 9 years of jail time for a strong-armed robbery of his own shit was noteworthy, especially with the struggle that the parole board seemed to have with their decision to release him. They fought against the watchful eyes of an unforgiving nation, their own understanding of justice and a horrible presentation from OJ in order to do what they know was the right thing to do years ago.

     OJ served time for being an asshole with a sharply defiant tongue, and for being a black man acquitted of killing his wife- a white woman. Yes, OJ did time in part for just marrying a white woman, an element that probably set him free when his attorney, Johnnie Cochran, used the racial history of Mark Furhman to taint the potential actions and motives of Furhman as a way of setting OJ free. It was way too easy for a nation formed and fashioned by race to accept Furhman's displaced anger towards a likely murderer, confirmed to like white women.

     Watching so many legal pundits today, with undeclared contempt for OJ the man- contempt that supersedes their love for the rule of law and justice in sentencing- was disheartening. Not because it shows that even lawyers allow their emotions to override their view of justice, but because it accentuates how vitally important it is to get proper representation if you have any illusion of achieving justice in America. And how justice really has little to do with who wins or loses a court case in America if we can not easily determine proper sentencing or whether or not you've served enough time for a crime.

     I am glad it is all over because watching America truly display itself, AGAIN, is emotionally draining. OJ served enough time for robbery and deserved to be set free today. Whether or not OJ commits another crime is not really a concern to me. As long as I think about all the black men that should have never been locked up in the first place, I feel a little less anger for guys that stayed a bit too long.
        OJ is not one of the truly unlucky even if he needed a reminder by Jay'Z, the powers that be and a few extra years in prison that he is still nigga.

Are Black Men Becoming An Endangered Species?

I don't really believe you can use the words, "no offense" without definitely offending someone so I won't offend anyone with that time-honored prequalified cop-out. I will simply say that some deaths are harder to take than others. With so much death and dying in life, we all have to come to terms with it on some level or another. But certain moments and certain people die, and it shocks you to the core.

My friends and family have endured real heartbreak from recent deaths among the category of Americans that could be pushing into the endangered species realm if something doesn't give real soon. I say that somewhat in jest because I don't really believe in an endangered race of humans because the human spirit is naturally imbued with survival level toughness. In other words, all men are made to be as tough as their environment demands, even if they must be melted and tempered like iron to reveal their rigidity.

The famous, 300 years old "Hanging Tree" of Savannah, GA is an
historic landmark from our past. But what memory does it honor?
Isn't this just a different kind of Confederate flag?  

All that being said, I am certain to my core that black men are targeted to a level equal to our immense power. While those words may sound sorrow filled, I am equally certain that we used to be targeted many levels beyond our power to address it. As a matter of physics, a greater opposing force was always needed to thwart the kind of power black men can generate. With the added force of a black woman behind him, black men have survived. One even rose to become president to the chagrin of a lot of people that questioned a black man's ability to do something so immense.

You see, once upon a time ago, it only required probable cause to snuff out the life of a black man, assuming that you consider fear as a probable cause. In essence, nothing has really changed much when it comes to losing our black men. Either we die from the fear of someone else, or we die (literally and figuratively) while running from the power that we possess because making great choices with so much power in our hands can be scary to the point of deadly.

I often say it, but it bears repeating. As a father of 5 daughters (no boys), I am fairly certain that God was giving me the desires of my desperately fearful heart, that couldn't imagine how ugly America would become for my young black son/s while thinking about how tough it had been for me and countless other black men before me.

The damaging impact of the destructive forces against black men can be hard to quantify when reasonable attempts to shine a light on the real face of Alt-Right exceptionalism get criticized as giving the assholes a platform. I disagree with that notion and totally support Megan Kelly's attempt to stick a microphone in the face of the people that made Trump possible, and a mirror to the face of US all.

Name it what you want. Alt-right'ism descends from the same people who killed black men via public display methodology to invoke power through fear. Alt-right'ers are also the descendants of the same people who knew they had to react drastically to squelch the powerful spirit of a black man- a spirit that rarely loses its will and never stops searching for a way. Even our futile attempts to refine and define this mythical concept called Black America feeds into the two separate America's that the Alt-rigt'ers covet so much.

In the first Black Baptist Church in America, you won't easily find their entry points to the Underground Railroad,
because they are built into the balcony stairs. Are the drive and creativity
it takes to be black in America both a curse and a blessing?   

An important and influential plaque that was always displayed
prominently in the home of my youth.

I support Megan Kelly and every real conversation meant to uncover racial hatred, while I moan and mourn for those who foolishly think genocide of Muslims, blacks, Jews or of any idea are even possible. Ideas are like words.  They must die a natural and unforced death if they are to ever die at all.

Evil forces could have already done away with mankind if we weren't so full of ideas for surviving and thriving on a hostile planet. Ideas are the fuel that powers this planet, and as the former president, Barack Obama often said, you have to counter extreme ideas with better ones. And, there is simply no way to change the minds of extremists who subvert black power without first figuring out who they are.

I have an extreme, somewhat ironic idea. Maybe black men are not being killed in massive unexplained numbers, but we are actually being revealed through massive spiritual purifying- somewhat like gold. For, it is from the salt of many tears that the thirst of hope is quenched. With that thought in mind, I encourage my black brethren (and those who love us) to take upon the challenge of our pain with the surety of its purpose. In other words, don't run from the cause of our pain, but instead, let us all run towards it and stomp it out.

Broncos Must Answer, "What's In A Name?"

The name Dak sounds a lot like Pax. Is there a chance that the Broncos accidentally chose the wrong dude just because the names were sort of similar?  Could John Elway comfortably believe that Siemian or Lynch can take over a  job with two Hall of Fame shadows cast all over it? Doesn't Father John always have faith that the right quarterback- young, old or somewhere in between- is always the right answer to victory, or has he been transformed by our Hall of Fame defense? Will the new coach be encouraged to take a chance on a no-name upstart in Trevor Siemian, or roll the dice on the name, Paxton Lynch, who was recognizable enough to warrant a first-round draft selection?

All of that has something to do with the questions that the Denver Broncos must answer as they ready themselves to make the best use of 10 draft selections. Mostly, the names that wear the jerseys- or the ones that select them for that matter- are part of an ever moving turnstile of people. Sooner or later, we will tire of Elway and we will hope that the organization is ready to find the next best name to replace him when that day comes along. His name and every name will always be insignificant compared to the name that's is emblazoned on the front of the jersey.

WHO ARE THE DENVER BRONCOS?!!

What perpetually haunts the Broncos, and every team working to fix the flaws that kept them from winning it all last year, is the reality that every single team in the NFL runs some variation of the EXACT SAME PLAYS, they just disguise the formation and name them something different so as to confuse the opposing defense each week.

In other words, unless you confuse, confound and overcome the opposing defense in an NFL game, defense still reigns supreme.  The defense has reigned supreme since the day the game was created, and few teams without Tom Brady and/or some semblance of a defense have ever finished the season as the one on top. In fact, most teams will always be known for one side of the ball or the other, and usually, it is the team that makes the last defensive stop that will win the Superbowl.

When Manning first arrived in Denver, a team with a defense good enough to win a playoff game with Tim Tebow at the helm was suddenly scapegoated into being the problem as Manning lit up the skies trying to win it all from the wrong side of the ball. Not only did it not work, eventually the Broncos went back towards fortifying that Tebow flattering defense and climbed to the top of the mountain while simultaneously exhibiting some of the ugliest offense in team history.

There!! McCaffrey in a Broncos uniform.
Now get the heck over it because he'll
be gone Broncos fans.

As it stands, we are who the stats say we are, and a defensive juggernaut is not something to be taken for granted. Tonight, (The NFL draft starts on Thursday 4/27, with the Browns officially going on the clock at 8 p.m. ET.)  the Broncos must decide if they will continue to win the game of football with a once and a lifetime defense, or by creating this elusive illusion of balance that never materializes into a crown with those teams that score the ball in a fast a furious way.

You simply can't keep a good defense good without keeping them rested as well. That calls for ball control, wise play calling and a willingness to punt the ball away instead of taking needless chances that result in turnovers, field-position and points for the other team.

As much as each of us Broncos fans would love to see Christian McCaffrey in a Denver Broncos uniform, he is a luxury pick that would ignore the needs at linebacker- needs that were exposed by Kyle Shanahan and the Atlanta Falcons and later exploited by every team that followed. Selecting McCaffrey potentially neglects the struggles of the offensive line as well, but I'm not sure I would reach into the first round to try and fix that flaw.

From my perspective, the issue at linebacker is real while the issues from the O-line are a little tainted by a few seasons of unspectacular play at quarterback caused by the desperate desire to be spectacular at quarterback as a compliment to our dominating on defense.  In other words, the Broncos have pressed way too hard to not be normal on offense while missing the value of normal as it relates to ball control, Time Of Possession and the freshness of our Pro Bowl laden defense. If the Broncos had always shown a stronger commitment towards using the run game, they would already be well advanced at recognizing and beating teams that load up the box to stop the run.

Flashy or Gritty?

As it stands, we have two receivers fighting to be the leader of a team that doesn't really have one right now. Their mere ability to vie for team leadership speaks to the black hole at quarterback and the unwillingness to unequivocally hand that duty over to Von Miller, Aqib Talib and the defense. Any aggressive move to get McCaffrey (or an offensive lineman for that matter) is a sign that says the Broncos are hoping to increase point production and not simply lengthen TOP, Time Of Possession while minimizing turnovers, aka., normal offense.

Critics of the team fail to see that this current offensive line came one game and two inexperienced quarterbacks away from returning to the playoffs last year. Not that the team looked to be a threat even if they had made it in, but the defense is and always will be something that gives Denver a chance to win every game. Unless of course, we fail to draft quality players to compete against the current Pro Bowl players who eventually become too pricey to keep around.

If Denver drafts McCaffrey, he instantly becomes the luxury item that might get overly used simply to justify the reach they must make to draft him. McCaffrey would be marked by other teams as a result of the Broncos desire to justify their selection of him, and he will be instantly forced into a position of pressure not really fair to someone who's father did so much while wearing Orange and Blue.

While I am not that worried about Christian's ability to live up to the hype of his promise, I am concerned about unreasonable draft behavior and that the Broncos and fans might be abandoning the reason for our recent championship for the sake of one player, a player who would never be so desperately desired by Denver fans if his last name were Edwards or Jones.

Nearly every reason that folks in Denver want "The Name" McCaffrey in a Broncos uniform again is selfish and self-serving to the point of concern for me. Whether we look for "some more juice" to our offense as new head coach, Vance Joseph, promised, or we trust the juice we already have (C.J. Anderson and those receivers) to play in a juicier manner, this team needs to understand its identity, and ours is defense. Chasing for the juice has a real potential of getting messy quick.

Don't Blame LeBron or LaVar. Blame Yourself

Is LaVar Ball a fool for branding his kids,
or would he be a fool not too/

That's all I can stand. I can't stand no more. I am tired to my core of people hating on a 15 year old basketball player for scoring 92 points in a California high school game, as if any scrubs can make a team anywhere in Cali.  I am tired to my core of those who are mad about AAU players and parents and coaches, as though all of you basketball purists actually travel to summer tournaments or determine who gets to college or watch the game outside of the month of March.

Sure, basketball is watered down from back in the day when we played the game all day every day, weather permitting. If you think things are watered down because players don't stay in college long enough to learn the game, you are probably right about that too.  Basketball, in its current form, is a watered down sport in which supreme knowledge of the game has given way to supreme athletic ability and shooting talent. There are a handful of parents and hoop mentors that force kids to perfect their games. The rest of America's basketball playing kids are playing video games a little too much during the summertime, creating a widening gap between the Ball'ers and the gamers who hoop during the school season only.

All of that simply is what it is, but none of that has anything to do with Sebastian Telfair, or Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner, or even Grant Hill who also once carried the burden of being "next in line". I could be weary from the endless comparisons made between LeBron and Jordan, but LeBron is just the current one, and the one with the best chance of living up to the hype. What makes me tired the most is each and every one of you, who has been searching for the next Michael Jordan starting several years before Jordan hung it up. It was back then when LeBron was first placed under the heat of expectation, and you all ridiculed that kid for being too cocky, even though he actually passed the ball more than he shot at the time, and the name James actually begged to be preceded with the word King. Now, you deride him for calling himself King and not shooting the ball more like Jordan did.

Did he really believe himself of biblical proportions when LeBron pegged himself King James, or was it just a cool nickname from a young boy named James with cameras in his face all the time?  At this point in his career, he's come way too close to living up to the expectations that were piled on him,  with the obvious hope of forcing him to fail.

People are generally too uncomfortable with their own success- or lack thereof- to assume the next person will live up to their promise. Consequently, it's much easier to predict doom and then root for yourself to be right, then to think that anyone will ever be the next Michael Jordan, and wait for them to prove you right.

I don't blame LaVar Ball for exploiting the potential of his very talented sons,  nor do I blame him for the hunger of a very ravenous NBA fan base who all hope to witness greatness, just so long as it's not greater than Jordan.

The inescapable truth is that all of this- the scrutiny and the skepticism- is about Jordan, a man that many of you didn't even like that much when he first retired. Today, we refuse to even dream of crowning another NBA GOAT as he is the last true king. Maybe it is because NO ONE before Jordan realized that you could make so much money from a shoe contract, so, being next up means a lot more than it used to? The window for making money in sports has forced the hand of every great player and their family. Either you embrace the shine and learn to earn it, or it will go away of its own devices.

In the end, we simply can't help but scrutinize and be skeptical towards the next great young player who we hope isn't quite as good as Jordan was. The way I see it, Lavar's kids are simply next in line.

Denying Donald's Dumbness Questions Intelligence

Donald J. Trump might actually want to follow the lead of his three previous presidential predecessors who all managed to achieve two terms of leadership over America and the free world with minimal changes over those 32 years in leadership of the intelligence community.

WE all understand the current skepticism in the two-party system and the lack of congressional leadership that made way for the dissolving of the faith from the American electorate, ie., the reason why we've got Trump. WE even understand this war with the media even if we can't see a positive outcome for anyone waging war against the fourth estate.

Where I am personally struggling is understanding how you impune an entire community of intelligence that has been trusted by 32 years worth of presidents, evidenced by minor changes in leadership over the years preceding Trump.

Every professional within the community of gathering intelligence has a duty to the other intelligence entities, and to the president that they serve, to do what it takes to keep Americans safe. The notion that any one of them would intentionally act in a way to harm Americans is absurd.


Speaking of intent, our press is an intentional aspect of the intelligence community, one with a great deal of intelligence gathering ability of their own. Rich and powerful media outlets can hire whoever they need to hire to get to the bottom of a Watergate, Bridgegate or whatever scandal we add the word "Gate" to next.

If no one objects, I'm pegging this one DummyGate while we watch Trump attempt to impune everyone he might need to keep America safe and also get elected to another term, something that won't happen if he doesn't truly keep us safe. Inciting radical recruiting efforts while publicly taunting those same radicals to see if they can beat your public declared travel ban will not keep us safe. The problem with DummyGate is that Donald is likely just the fortunate beneficiary of a whole lot of people who would rather play dumb than accept some of the signs of the walls surrounding Trumpland crumbling like Jericho.

Trump can try to create excessive doubt of the intelligence community just as he can try to win the presidency while not revealing his taxes. While one- if not both- has already worked for him, neither effort will stop people who make connections professionally from connecting the dots on both of these questionable behaviors. What Dumb Donald and his Trumpians don't quite understand is that hiding the truth is sort of unreasonable if the truth you are hiding is not a real or significant impediment to your goals.

Which is why I remain fairly certain that Trump had no real plan of winning the presidency, making the shock of his victory as equally impactful to the Donald as it was for each of US. If you don't expect you can win the presidency while revealing your taxes, you certainly question winning re-election with them. If this steady march towards uncovering those taxes, be that by Trump himself or congressional subpoena (whichever comes first), Trump needs to work on a really cool explanation for what the intelligence community is about to uncover in those taxes before they uncover it. Otherwise, he had better demean and impune American intelligence gatherers in advance just to diminish the value of what they could eventually reveal.

And there you have it folks. At this current pace of growing distance and discord between Trumpians, intelligence, and the media, Trump remains on a collision course with professional bloodhounds. From my perspective, why Trump would want to test the ability of bloodhounds chasing the scent of a trail speaks to the enormity of what they could someday find.  Nothing even close to equivalent to a pussy grabbing admissions on tape would be worth this war he's waging.

All of this ultimately leaves me to look at every so-called republican that doesn't have the courage to at least talk like John McCain or Lindsey Graham. Either you could care less what happens to the republican party after Dumb Donald quits this game and goes back to his business hustle, or you question that trickle-down identity that few republicans stand by very much anymore.

If those bad guys can get in despite current vetting measures,
nothing in your recent measure would stop them either.

In one minute, Trump claims that you can't announce a travel ban or all the bad guys would rush in during the week prior to the start date, and in the next, Trump announces the date of the new ban in the hopes of not causing such erratic travel disruptions around the world as he did with his last spontaneous combustion.

Forget the fact that his new order is just like the last in that it can only work to disrupt a bunch of people needlessly while never achieving the goal it purports to accomplish.  People don't tell you if they intend to harm you if they know you'll stop them, and the years it currently takes to properly vet bad immigrants is already enough time to uncover their intentions.

The current radicalization of immigrants who live in America is happening while in America and to the children of immigrants, not the parents who bring them or give birth to them on our soil like the Tsarnaev brothers (Boston bombers). Sometimes radicalization happens via online websites, while other times it is via other radicalized people already radicalized and living in America.  

Trump just can't understand that he looks stupid while trying to impune the intelligence community while leaking information (some involving him) that they share in confidence. In doing so, Trump is behaving like that sibling in your family who doesn't want to admit to breaking the rule of eating in his room so he hides the leftover food under the bed until it starts to smell revealing the missing dishes, broken rules and an inability to navigate something so trivial. Forget that WE somehow elected that sibling into office. In one way it's just his turn finally.  In another way perhaps, it's his punishment for being such a rule breaking prick all of his life.

Quite frankly, the only thing worse than our dumb, stinky-food hiding, rule breaking sibling are those who support him, turn a blind eye to him or keep pretending that his room doesn't smell so bad.