History-making music group for UMM - morris mn

History-making music group for UMM - morris mn
The UMM men's chorus opened the Minnesota Day program at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition).

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Not sure who the "evangelicals" really are

Should this be a MAGA stronghold?
We are inching toward Easter, a holiday that on the surface encourages joy. Joy of the resurrection? So we might have eternal life? We can feel joy if in fact all of this is true. But Christians in America have been so distracted and deluded by politics over the last few years. 
Think how long ago this all began: it was in 2016 when we had an election coming up. The media talked about the "evangelical Christians." 
I am a pretty aware person - I am college-educated and follow the news - and I cannot share with you a definition of "evangelical Christianity." Given the stripes of these people, they appear totally the opposite of the "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America." Well, the ELCA has "evangelical" right in its name. But these people are not "evangelical Christians?"
Evangelical Christians are supposed to almost unanimously support Donald Trump. They gave us Trump as our national leader in 2016. Without the evangelicals, the Democrat would have been elected. 
How could all the evangelicals be so convinced that Trump was in line with their interests? I mean their true spiritual interests? The media gave us an explanation for that. We were told that Trump offered evangelicals a base of power. So it was all about power, which would then be exercised for what purpose? To remedy something? 
Was there something wrong with how the nation's Christians were being allowed to worship? Any impediment? Any impediment at all? I attended church pretty often in the eight years of Obama/Biden. I never sensed that my freedom to worship was impeded in any way. But the nation's evangelicals in 2016 issued a plea for how Trump and the Republicans were so essential. 
 
A different mold
Ronald Reagan was never like this. I faulted Reagan because he pushed the belief that deficits could be used to give tax cuts to billionaires. And now we see hand-wringing about deficits. And so Trump just the other day said we'd have to start looking at cuts to entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. But were his statements at all revelatory? Revelatory about Republican thinking? If you think so, you must be an ignoramus who pays no heed to the news. 
Some Republicans like Mike Lee sure sound like they'd like to get rid of Social Security completely. For the benefit of whom? Well the very rich of course. I am happy for all their success. Being "rich" is no sin. But we all need to take care of each other. What a wonderful nation this would be if we could all just follow the credo "treat others as you would want to be treated." 
There is the famous quote: "I am my brother's keeper." It originated in the Bible, Book of Genesis.
 
All in this together
We can study and appreciate the words of Jesus Christ from his Sermon on the Mount. But so many Americans are deluded these days. The so-called evangelical Christians, whatever they are and whoever they are, would have us think there should be no collective concerns at all. But we see inflation rampaging forward. We hear that in the nation's big cities, enforcement of shoplifting is becoming almost futile. And who pushes so relentlessly for these lower interest rates that ignite inflation? The very richest are at the top of the list. 
We were told for years that rock-bottom interest rates were what kept the stock market advancing upward, like magic. It isn't magic. Economics is a science. It tells us that low interest rates are good for the stock market. It also tells us that low interest rates are catastrophic for setting the stage for inflation. 
I don't know if all you 401K people are so happy about the stock market that you want to see continued risk for inflationary waves. It's just my view that inflation could pose an existential threat, i.e. the threat that this nation could begin to implode. And has this already started? The biggest evidence that might be cited is the continued strength of Donald Trump. You laugh at me. Good for you. So many of us are still rooting for this rapist who has had admiring words about Hitler. More about the latter is coming out now.
 
John Kelly, chief of staff to Trump (PBS)
John Kelly says 
A chief of staff to Trump tried counseling Trump: 1) Don't ever say anything good about Hitler, and 2) You are wrong if you think Hitler's generals set an example with their loyalty to him. John Kelly told the Orange Man that the generals actually tried killing Hitler several times. Rommel was complicit. He paid with his life.
I personally have been aware for a long time that Hitler had many of his own generals killed. So I knew that. Trump needed a primer. 
I again remember the movie "All the President's Men," the scene where "Deep Throat" tells the reporter "forget this mystique about the White House." The point was that many of the president's people weren't bright at all. With Trump the problem was Trump himself. He appeared to not know much about the Nazis basically, that in fact many of Hitler's generals wanted him dead, and their attempts at making this happen resulted in their own execution.
I knew all about that. Who am I? An anonymous resident of Flyoverland. Who was Trump? President of the U.S., that's all. And he was not aware of it. 
 
In awe? No
Forget the mystique of the U.S. Supreme Court, I personally would add. Go a few blocks from the Supreme Court building, find a fast-food restaurant and select a random employee, maybe a non-Anglo person, and I'll bet that person has a better sense of right and wrong than Clarence Thomas. No exaggeration. 
So what is happening to our country? Thomas recognizes one weather vane only, the vane of what his super-rich benefactors are pointing to. Oh, maybe another vane too, his wife and her absolutely impassioned support of Trump, her emotional support. Thomas would vote in Trump's interests to the exclusion of any other interests. Whereas our random fast food employee would surely have a sense of caring and justice. It's just the way to be. And in a previous time, it was "the American way." 
I really believe that one more blast of inflation will cause cracks to start forming across America. Leading to what? "Mad Max?" 
And yet the voices screaming for more "quantitative easing" with interest rates are so loud and powerful. We recently saw a spate of headlines about how six interest rate cuts were surely on the way this year. Oh, and then the projections grew to seven! The mainstream media trumpeted these voices much to the delight of the wealthiest class of Americans. 
"Money's honey, my dear sonny, and a rich man's joke is always funny." 
So ironic: the rich capitalists are always the first to say "there's no free lunch." But. . . These same people sure do like "free money," thanks to "the Fed." 
I see no difference between expecting a free lunch and expecting free money. It's just that with the latter, the richest folks can pull off highway robbery. At the expense of all of the rest of us. 
Go ahead and select a rapist president. It's your funeral. But you'll just tune in Mark Levin on the radio again. Don't you realize how cynical he is? He plays you all like a piano.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Monday, March 11, 2024

Charlie Hanson, Alex Asmus lead scoring vs. EV-W

Here's the lowdown on Tiger boys basketball at the start of this week. Season won-lost: 20-9. In section: 8-4. Conference: 9-5. Away: 8-4. Neutral: 5-0. Home: 7-5. The next game: it's this Thursday, March 14, against Jackson County Central, the Huskies. The location is Southwest State University, Marshall. Game-time is 8 p.m. Tournament games to date: 
- win vs. New London-Spicer 70-58
- win vs. Montevideo 65-63
- win vs. Eden Valley-Watkins 57-53.

The Tigers started out the tournament seeded No. 4. Monte was the No. 1 seed, EV-W No. 2. 
 
Huskies come on strong
Let's take a closer look at the JCC Huskies from southern Minnesota. Won-lost: 20-7. Section: 12-3. Conference: 12-5. Away: 8-2. Neutral 4-1. Home: 8-4. Tournament games to date:
- win vs. St. James Area 90-45
- win vs. Pipestone Area 94-80
- win vs. Redwood Valley 59-46 
 
Focus on the Tigers
Was so glad Sunday night to discover that our MACA coaching staff submitted some individual game stats for the "Maxpreps" site. I had been unable to find these anywhere else. Amazing how the media can just "shut down" just because it's the weekend. Very disappointing. Through my newspaper career in Morris I was up for writing on Saturday and even Sunday. So I was never active in church. 
I would have been active in First Lutheran. First Lutheran is showing signs of possibly being in its death throes now. It has gotten that bad. We have a rotating system of fill-in ministers from other local churches. On Sunday it was the Federated Church guy. But Federated Church reflects the Methodists and isn't the Methodist Church split on gay rights? So there's one faction that is receptive and another against? 
Actually Federated is a hybrid with the Methodists and UCC (United Church of Christ). I'm not going to try to figure all this out. But First Lutheran is ELCA in theory and it seems not too much to ask to have a proper minister simply show up. And if that can't happen, maybe we should just lock the doors. Skip taking all the trouble. Cyrus can handle this but First Luth. in Morris cannot? I thought we were the "big town." Morris has dropped the ball with many things through the years.
 
Tigers 57, Eden Valley-Watkins 53
It isn't that easy to navigate "Maxpreps." I do have some experience. Mark Torgerson was good with cooperating on this website. The new coaching regime is inconsistent. I wish they'd follow Mark's example. I am happy to report individual highlights here on "Morris of Course." 
Charlie Hanson and Alex Asmus co-led our scoring, each with 16 points. Hanson made 7 of 14 shots, Asmus 6 of 10. We had one other double figures scorer: Riley Asmus with 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Four other Tigers contributed points: Drew Huebner 5, Jack Kehoe 3, Owen Anderson 2 and Tyler Friesen 2. 
Our team shooting numbers were 23 of 48, 48 percent. Alex Asmus made all three of our 3-pointers. He was three-for-five. As a team we were cool at three of eleven, 27 percent. In freethrows we were 8 of 14 with Riley Asmus our top performer at 3 of 4. 
Our team is young! Alex is a freshman, Riley a sophomore. Kehoe too represents the sophomore class. I remember a time in MAHS school history when sophomores were forced to play 'B' team. That arrangement was bad for the varsity performance and especially bad in terms of the development of the players. A person could complain but it didn't do any good.
 
The image from "X" formerly Twitter shows Riley Asmus (left) and Drew Huebner who were all-tournament for the December Fergus Falls holiday tournament. Heidi Asmus reported this for "X".
 
Rebounding versus EV-W had Riley Asmus topping the list with six. Huebner, Hanson and Alex Asmus each had three. Our team total was 24 of which five were offensive. Huebner had two assists and Riley Asmus one. Hanson stole the ball twice. Friesen picked up the one blocked shot. The Tigers had eleven turnovers. 
This is interesting: The Maxpreps site has a game review article generated by "InfoSentience." The article is based on data entered on "Maxpreps." Cool, in our technological age. Could not have dreamt of this when I was young. So here's their review:
 
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers walked away with it. They snuck past the Eagles with a 57-53 victory on Saturday. Winning may never get old, but Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta sure is getting used to it with their third in a row.
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Alex Asmus led the charge by scoring 16 points. Another player making a difference was Charlie Hanson, who scored 16 points along with two steals.
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-9 record this season. As for Eden Valley-Watkins, their defeat dropped their record down to 24-5.
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta's road trip will continue as they head out to face Jackson County Central at 8:00 p.m. on March 14th. Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 790 points over their last 11 games. Eden Valley-Watkins does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
   
So does this pass muster? Progress marches on.

Basketball and music
The blog post I wrote yesterday for "I Love Morris" lamented how the MAHS spring band trip conflicts with basketball. The music group will depart on Thursday, same day as the Tigers play next. So I'm quite concerned and sad about that. My own personal $ donation might have made the band trip possible. 
No pep band Thursday unless other arrangements can be made. Could Hancock help out? Hancock has a noteworthy pep band. 
MAHS band has a concert on the day I am posting this, which is Monday. I was thinking of attending the concert but now I'm a little down because of the circumstances I cover here. Here's an email I sent to a friend this morning:

I'm not sure I feel like attending band concert tonight. It might be my fault that there will be no pep band at SSU this Thursday. My $ might have been essential for the trip. I suppose you'll pounce on me now and say it wasn't, but I think it was. I always find a way to screw up in this town. And I feel bad that the basketball kids who are in band won't be able to go. I really do. It's terrible that school planning is affected so badly by never knowing how far a team is going to progress. Everyone has to get out of the way and make room. The Tigers could have lost their very first game to New London-Spicer. But no, now they're playing their fourth game. And I suppose they could win that. Then we're looking at trips to the Twin Cities. Sports is a monster that devours everything in its path. 
So I don't think I'll be at concert tonight. I'm getting old and need to slow down anyway. I don't like leaving the house after dark.

First Lutheran Church
I checked YouTube and looked like very few attending church. It is possible there will be continual drop-off because people will feel discouraged. If I wanted to hear Orendorf I'd go to Federated. And I don't know if he's a pro-gay or anti-gay Methodist because the Methodists are split on this. I'm not wild about gay rights and I don't want to hear a lot of talk about it, but I accept it.
Going back a couple months, there was no excuse for coffee hour to be canceled. This is the best example for how our church is dying. Something odd has been happening there.
Sounds like our rotating pastors will be Orendorf, Emmy and Chris Richards. Why is the Cyrus church so settled and solid with Chris having been there so long, and we at FLC are totally screwed? Dan held us back because he was a political liberal and very pro-Palestinian. I think we should just avoid the Middle East subject, it isn't necessary. Meanwhile I think Chris is just doing a good mainstream professional job in Cyrus. How did we let Cyrus gain this advantage over us? Cyrus is a wide spot in the road.

- BW

Saturday, March 9, 2024

"The 27th Day" (1957) marred by political mirage

One image stuck in my mind after my first watching of "The 27th Day." 
I discovered the movie while TV channel searching and probably arrived at a mid-point. I watched enough of this 1950s B&W cinema offering to be struck by the scene where a guinea pig person gets "vaporized." This poor soul is out on a raft in the ocean. He stands there gamely, even capable of a smile. He waves. He offered himself up for this position because of being in a terminal state. He is tested to see if "capsules" provided by space aliens have their purported power to instantly "unalive" people, to make them go "poof." 
The poor soul out on the raft is so isolated and forlorn, yet he is game for all this. And he is "vaporized" with suddenness that causes his clothing to fall when he's gone. Maybe it's the falling clothing that made such an impression on me. 
Many years passed and I could still remember the scene. Over that time I forget the name of the movie. This ever happen to you? The miracle of the Internet has offered search strategies that can solve such a situation. In fact, I came upon a thumbnail photo that showed the instant where the guinea pig volunteer had just disappeared and his clothing hadn't fallen yet! Whoever chose that as a thumbnail knew the power of the scene! My reaction was to be expected. 
Beyond this scene, I must frankly admit that I'd have trouble sharing with you a brief synopsis of the movie, its real point as it were. I knew space aliens were involved and I knew they had delivered these "magic capsules" to some (apparently) randomly selected people. The capsules could do catastrophic things, wipe out whole populations. And the container for the capsules would only open with the thought waves of the people to whom they were given. All of these elements rather captivated me. 
Thanks to the existence of the Internet in 2024, I found I could watch the movie beginning to end. So I most certainly did. And there was the pathetic soul out on the raft, just as I had remembered him. 
The plot elements intrigued me even if I was not able to fully wrap my arms around the movie. Having watched the full movie now, I am better positioned to comprehend, to explain. But, with a confession! I will confess I needed to look up a plot synopsis online to get all the pieces put in place. 
"The 27th Day" approaches its denouement or conclusion in a somewhat confusing way. A genius scientist can "re-program" the capsules, as it turns out, to achieve a laudatory ending. So in prime cinema fashion, the good guys win! Far out. But it is not nearly so simple. We're encouraged to understand that "the good guys" are the freedom-loving people of the Earth. There's ambiguity there you could drive a truck through. 
We all love "freedom," right? Oh but my, it can be such a loaded term. Our ignorance on this front as a nation is what led to our misadventure/tragedy in Vietnam. Our leaders persuaded us to be scared as hell of the "domino theory," how communism might hop from one nation to another in that part of the world. Of course it was none of our business. We needed to lose about 58,000 of our precious souls as sacrifice to the anti-communism sacred cow. 
Actually the worst of the Joe McCarthy hysteria had passed by the time "The 27th Day" came out. If the intent of the movie was to build up support for what he represented, it was a tragic miscalculation. McCarthy surely faded. "Have you no shame?" we heard directed at the man. But the U.S. remained vulnerable to the communist-fearing forces/rhetoric. 
 
Hearkening back
And some of that vulnerability remains today? We hear Donald Trump equating the Democratic Patty with "communism," don't we? And don't such statements get traction with a certain portion of our population? Listen to talk radio much? The more educated people have moved on to satellite radio. So that leaves you-know-what. And it's amazing how predictable and redundant the Mark Levin-types have become. The attitude of these folks appears in line with the messages offered by "The 27th Day," the 1957 flick. 
Fear of communism is such we might welcome the opportunity to have "vaporized" the "non-freedom loving" people of the Earth. The movie leaves dangling the question: would we vaporize the common masses of citizens of socialistic-leaning countries? Just their leaders? Shall we generalize about the "masses" who might positively accept their systems without being overtly political? Aren't most people like this? Do we want them killed? 
"The 27th Day" does not make clear whether it's just the top leaders of the "bad boy" countries that we'd want to see vaporized. Paranoia in the face of the boogeyman "commies" was so intense. We ought to fear someone like Trump trying to invoke it again. 
The most advanced countries in the world are a blend of free enterprise and socialism. They really are. Free enterprise is most essential for lifting people up. But a degree of collectivism is called for also. Conservative politicians and the talk radio ecosystem have such great fear of the latter. We must be vigilant lest we see a re-occurrence of the Vietnam war. I am 69 years old and have never gotten over the Vietnam war. 
I see "The 27th Day" in its entirety now and the folly of the premise jumps out at me. The paranoia in the movie is disappointing. You might say the movie presents a mirage. 
In many respects the movie is truly genius sci-fi. I would not be interested in re-discovering it if it were not. Try to think of an alternative ending. 
 
Home in sci-fi
Gene Barry
Gene Barry plays "Jonathan Clark." Barry is of course implanted in our minds from the original "War of the Worlds." The guy rather got typecast in sci-fi. Valerie French plays "Evelyn Wingate." George Voskovec is "Professor Klaus Bechner." 
The actors do fine. 
The producer was Helen Ainsworth, the director William Asher. Credit for the screenplay goes to John Mantley who wrote the book of the same name. 
It turns out that the space aliens wanted to test our character. The U.S. faced such a test in the early 1960s with Vietnam and we failed miserably. What would JFK have done? We can forget everything that Lyndon Johnson did with civil rights, worthy as that was, because of Vietnam. I am 69 years old and am quite certain of that. 
 
Unearthing old gems
There is another movie I saw as a kid where I forgot the name in subsequent years. Exploring the Internet gave a solution for this mystery. Eureka, the movie is "Cimarron" starring Glenn Ford. At present that movie is not available to watch for free online. I'll keep checking. 
"Cimarron" is about the Oklahoma land rush. Again there is one scene that sticks in my head: where a handkerchief is literally dropped to begin the "rush!" Did it really happen that way?
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Boys get past New London-Spicer at Tiger Center

MACA boys basketball took care of business nicely at Tiger Center on Saturday. It was game #1 of the post-season. Fans saw the Tigers roar to a 70-58 win. Our opponent: the New London-Spicer Wildcats, always a rival. 
A big thanks to KWLM "The Train" for having a nice little game summary online on this early Sunday morning. Unfortunately there is no Morris-based service that provides this. We used to have Brett Miller at the radio station. Looks like he found greener pastures and left there. These days we might get the game score from our radio station website, very little else, in many cases nothing else. And if it's just the score we're interested in, we can find that on the "Minnesota Scores" site. 
Let's feel good about the 70-58 winning outcome from our Tiger Center. The Tigers own the No. 4 seed. I'm surprised it's not higher based on our quite good won-lost record. But No. 4 it is, while the NL-Spicer Wildcats had the #5. A negligible difference, so we certainly could not have assumed any outcome. 
New London-Spicer actually led much of the time in the first half. In fact they were up by two at the halfway mark, 25-23. But the Tigers came out for the second half quite focused and determined. "Once they did, they never looked back and continued to lead the 'Cats until the very end," "The Train's" coverage shared. 
A special thanks to "The Train" for getting MACA individuals' names into this morning's coverage. I haven't been able to type these names nearly as much as I would have liked this season, sad. So we see Riley Asmus with 18 points scored. He was one of four double figures scorers for the orange and black. Alex Asmus put in 14 points while Owen Anderson and Jack Kehoe each contributed 11. 
The game-high scorer was the Wildcats' Grant Paffrath, 20 points in his last game. He was complemented by Gavin Radabaugh, 16 points. The Wildcats closed out the season at 13-14. 
"The Train" now focuses on New London-Spicer girls basketball: Tuesday night game against Minnewaska. Alas, our MACA girls team got nowhere in the post-season. I am quite convinced that our girls team could have done better. People get mad at me for saying things like that - I've dealt with this all my adult life. 
The kmrs-kkok site is "down" as of this morning, Sunday. "We'll be back soon," we read on the site. Brett Miller wouldn't do us any good this morning.

Teachers getting aggressive
Nothing subtle about the Morris teachers' grievances at the present time. I personally am offended because I don't think such internal demonstrations should be part of school board meetings. Such matters should be classified "personnel" and be handled on a different basis IMHO. 
It is depressing and disturbing to have this matter "hung out to dry" so visibly. It drags down our community morale. It might even affect the enthusiasm of people who might want to make private gifts to the school. That circle includes me. I recently provided $2000 for the band activity fund, aiming to help these kids make an exciting spring trip. 
But now we read how the teachers quite assertively say the board is a bunch of cheapskates. Look, I have been around the block a few times with such things, did not come into town on a turnip truck. It isn't just the teachers who are never satisfied, it's our whole public education system. Long-ago Governor Harold LeVander was stunned by this realization. A Republican, LeVander nevertheless felt the state had been quite satisfactory addressing education needs with $. He found that whatever satisfaction was felt, it was short-lived. That's the way it always goes in these matters. 
(When I say long-ago governor, I mean from when I was a kid.) LeVander was a classy and temperate Republican, not like the bomb-throwing (in rhetoric and attitude) Republicans of the present time. LeVander found that the education establishment cries for more all the time. When we are amenable and do provide more, it seems, we just get the education people aroused more, thinking they can work us for more. 
Kevin Pope
I am sure that our Morris Area school board is showing sound judgment now. Maybe they will be intimidated into opening up the purse strings. Maybe the pressure will get to them. I hope and pray that does not happen. Teachers have a union and that really emboldens them. Tenure contracts put them in position to be outright disrespectful if the spirit moves them. That sucks. 
We have seen a stream of newspaper articles that quote disgruntled Morris teachers. I thought we had seen enough after two such articles. But now it's getting worse. This Kevin Pope strikes me as a troublemaker. Is he such a good football coach that we couldn't get along without him? Football should probably be outlawed anyway.
  
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Friday, March 1, 2024

This should give us pause at Easter

Christian ebullience re. Trump (NPR image)
Are Christians supposed to be happy at around Easter? No clear-cut answer to this question. First off, it is the nation's Christians who have to answer for Donald Trump having his quite elevated position in our consciousness, day after day. He would not have been elected president had the USA "evangelicals" not become so committed on his behalf. 
Once in power, Trump has stayed fixed in our thoughts whether we like it or not. You might surmise that I do not like it. It's probably essential to say that "for the record." 
Why is this even debatable? It is indeed bandied about.
 
Another thing I do not like at Easter: all the attention on the torture of Jesus Christ leading up to this dude being nailed to the cross. Egad. Stay home Easter Sunday morning. Celebrate Easter with a chocolate bunny from Willie's instead! Oh but I can't, as I am diabetic. I can close my eyes and remember!
 
When it rains it pours
News articles tell us constantly that Trump is a shoe-in for the nomination from this party called the Republican Party. So the Republican Party forces us to deal with this reality: a man in a tremendous legal hole on several fronts. One of these fronts involves a porn star in a major way. And Trump's supporters just tend to smile if you bring this up. They will dismiss you, not address the matter seriously at all. 
But there is a longstanding pattern of this attitude. It goes back to "Access Hollywood." How much persuading do y'all need? Persuading on the conclusion that Trump has issues of character that should keep him out of our daily consciousness. How much damage is being done to our nation's image and mood literally daily? Every morning there's Trump's face in a photo at or near the top of Yahoo! News. 
Why this deluge of embarrassing attention for our country? 
If you all want a "conservative" leader, that's well and good. We can talk political philosophy and principle - an extended conversation to be sure, endless. But do we want a national political leader who has the absolute ton of baggage that Trump carries? Daily? Evidently many of you are quite happy to live with it still, to continue to advocate for him no matter what comes out. 
We in the 7th District elected a congressperson who voted against certifying the 2020 election results, an extreme position that even Tom Emmer did not take. These are our stripes now. And our congressperson has made the possible "impeachment" of Joe Biden a personal priority. I know because I'm on her email list. It is sad she has drunk the Fox News Kool-Aid. Actually it is "Newsmax" that has taken over for that crowd now. 
Fox these days actually offers real-time corrections of what Trump says. Fox probably has to, because they have already been successfully sued on these matters. So now we have Newsmax. Trump charges forward with his reckless statements and lies. Yes I realize "lie" is a word that gets over-used in politics. I really don't like it. But look where we are at in this country. 
 
We had the choice
Alternate history
Where would we be at, if the Democratic nominee for president in 2016 had won? 
The Democratic nominee actually got three million more votes than Trump. She had to accept defeat. We have this thing called the electoral college. 
The "what ifs" involving Clinton winning could certainly inspire books. 
I placed a comment with a Yahoo! News article the other day. I wondered what a Trump loss in 2016 would actually have meant for Trump himself and his family/associates. My comment drew quite a bit of response. I share all of that here. 
First, my comment:
 
Just think if Trump had lost in 2016 and stayed on the sidelines, how the lives of his associates and family members would today be so much more contented and peaceful. They must think about that. Is Trump himself happy, with happiness only to be gleaned from being some sort of martyr? Even if he's elected again - I had a hard time typing that - prosecutors will be on his tail, lawyers his constant companions for the rest of his life.
 
"Dark" responded:
No, narcissists don't think about that. They never consider how it may affect them, they just blame you for trying to make them responsible for their own actions.

"Zeph" responded:
He wasn't expecting to win. The Benghazi-Smear on Hillary worked too well.
 
"Just-A-Sec" responded:
Think how better America would be.
 
"Jeff" responded:
I think any psychologist would say that Trump is far too mentally frail to be genuinely happy. They would probably say he is perpetually miserable because his narcissism is at an incredibly extreme level making him exceptionally ego-driven and mentally off-balance. The guy is up half the night slamming out ALL-CAPS tweets, like an addict that can never get enough. He says it himself - all that matters is WINNING. Thus no matter what happens, he's compelled to proclaim to the world that he won. We've all seen it for years - the unbelievable volume of provable lies he's been spouting for years. The unfortunate thing across the board is that he has so many supporters with extreme daddy-issues that feed his ego that he continues to believe he's incapable of losing or being wrong. For me, it's exhausting constantly seeing his rapid-stream of nonsense in the headlines. So it's hard to imagine the vast turmoil that's always present in his feeble mind.
 
"Rick" responded:
Just think if Trump could keep his pie hole closed for even a brief moment, he would be so much more wealthy. His lack of wisdom knows no bounds!
 
"Deg" responded:
Well. . .to be fair. . .I'd guess Jared and Ivanka are enjoying their ill-gotten gains.

"JA" responded:
Bro, well said. Simple as that.
 
"Muddy" responded:
As horrible a person as Malaria [Melania] Trump is, she is reported to have cried the night Trump won election because she knew what would happen to ego-man and his house of cards. Malaria is still a woman, she had the instinct for when her man was finished.
 
"MoscowAgainGoesAwry" responded:
Hey Brian, the thing is, he did lose in 2016. He only won by the EC. And he could've just left it there, but no, he had to challenge the reporting that correctly found that he had lost the 2016 election by nearly 3 million votes to HRC. He even appointed a "committee" to investigate that, remember? When it all at once dawned upon his demented criminal mind in November, 2016, following the vote, that he was sitting on the biggest payday he had ever seen, it was too much for him, so, as surprised as his campaign was that the EC elected him, they began the GOP (Grifting Operation Professionals) anew. Money changes everything. He isn't a "sideline" kind of guy. TRE45ON? No problem, he's good with TRE45ON for a nickname. You have to understand, he knows all the angles, any publicity, good or bad, means someone will send him their money, if he whines at the right volume and intensity. A guy with a multi-billionaire son-in-law needs your money. Think of it.
 
"Notme" responded:
I'm pretty sure that this judgment and others put him in default of covenants on the loans he has on the property he owns. Not that the banks would call the loan, but they would very likely start to require that the income from the properties be deposited into accounts they control so they get paid first. It's also almost certain that he's over-leveraged on the whole works. So rather than being the billionaire he says he is, he's got a negative net worth.
 
"07" responded:
Trump is happy if he gets all the attention. Good or bad, so I bet he loves it. The only thing he loves more is money, and lately on this front he gets destroyed. That must drive him nuts :) 

"Den" responded:
Well, Trump reportedly said that he was not only a genius, but a billionaire, and an astute businessman. Perhaps another bankruptcy, the 7th, should lessen the pressure, thus relieving the RNC from having to pay all his legal pending, and future fees!
 
"Corax" responded:
I just think of the lack of action after the 1st impeachment. The same could be said.
 
"DJT" responded:
But then Jared wouldn't $3+ billion dollars.

"Brian" responded:
If Trump had lost in 2016, he would not have been able to refinance his ponzi scheme of bank loans.
 
"Scott" responded:
Trump would still be in legal jeopardy whether or not he was ever president. The difference would be if not president, we would not have to listen to the MAGA.
 
"Ken" responded:
That's nothing new though. Going in as president he had over 3500 lawsuits. Most of which he defrauded people or he just outright kept them in court 'til the money ran out. It's been his M.O. for all his life.
(wlox image)
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com