Apology

Much has happened: We now have incontrovertible evidence proving that Trump did have business deals going on Russia during the campaign. The evidence shows that Trump was relying on the criminal Felix Sater, who believed that his efforts would insure the election of Donald Trump.

We also learned that Putin allowed Ivanka to sit in his chair. I presume that he does not extend this privilege to all the girls.

This new material is damning -- or rather, would be damning if the president were a Democrat. Even on MSNBC, reporters attempted to explain away or to minimize the importance of this new evidence of collusion. No one has yet explained how a construction deal between Trump and the Russian government would result in the election of so unlikely a president.

Dare I invoke Occam's Razor? The simplest explanation is that Sater was referring to Putin's willingness to interfere in the election. In other words, Trump is guilty as hell.

I'll have a lengthy post on an important topic later today -- I hope. If not today, then tomorrow. Right now, I'd like to apologize for yesterday's intemperate outburst. I wrote what I wrote in anger, right after learning that Texas' senators sought federal aid for the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, even though these same senators had opposed aid for Hurricane Sandy, which struck the east coast.

I asked readers not to make any charitable contributions to any Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, as a protest against the ghastly hypocrisy of those two politicians.

That was a terrible thing to suggest. Although Senators Cruz and Cornyn have behaved outrageously, humanitarian concerns must outweigh all other considerations.

Please forgive yesterday's foolish display of ill temper. Blame it on the Eye-talian side of my heritage. From time-to-time, Vesuvius erupts, but the eruption doesn't last long.

Here are a couple of questions.

1. Is there any way to make Texans understand the cause-and-effect relationship between climate change denialism and these increasingly brutal weather-caused disasters?

2. What the hell is stopping Cruz and Cornyn from saying "I'm sorry" or "Maybe I was wrong about Sandy"? I was going to opine that there is something characteristically Texan about their arrogance, but the problem goes well beyond that one state. Arrogance is everywhere these days; it is the defining characteristic of our age.

I'm old enough to recall when humility was a virtue and pride a sin. 

Crowd size. We now know that attendance at the Phoenix rally truly was underwhelming. Trump fired event guru George Gigicos because Gigicos could not fill the hall.

What I can't understand is how Trump can get away with blaming the media when the television networks functioned as his co-conspirators. I saw part of that speech live; at no point did the cameras zoom out to reveal the laughably spare audience. Although print reporters later insisted that some within the crowd lost interest and started to wander off, the television coverage stayed focused on Trump and the carefully-selected group behind him. Teevee conveyed the impression that Trump was speaking to a multitude.

If the major media are so anti-Trump, why did they go to such lengths to make him look good?