Congressional committees are one of the most unprofessional and unproductive aspects of the US government. The disrespectful questioning that takes place at each meeting is appalling.

This situation is greatly responsible for the inability of Congress to effectively oversee the actions of the Executive Office including the president. The committees are also responsible for identifying bad behavior by government officials. Meetings should be a place where the best ideas and suggestions of Congress can be incorporated into new laws. Unfortunately, they are used to make speeches and ridicule members of the opposition party.

In recent years, I have casually followed the sessions of Congress dealing with difficult and political issues. It seems that people responsible for every complicated and controversial topic are dragged into a meeting where they must answer impossible questions, be criticized and then raked over the coals by political sycophants and uninformed electees of Congress looking to make political points.

RFK Jr. had a rough day last week when a senate committee met with him. Actually, anyone who appears before a congressional committee has a bad day. Democrats attacked RFK for his position on vaccines. Their efficacy and risk to the public were supposed to be the subject of the committee’s meeting.

Democrats were waiting with sharpened knives in hand. First of all, they never not once, gave RFK a chance to answer a question. They intimidated him rudely after each comment he made. They confused the issues so that RFK was all over the place trying to explain his perspectives, his actions and his expertise.

This is not a new technique to make political points. However, when congressional people call witnesses a liar and convolute the witness’ comments, it does no good for anybody.

The public has a right to know what the Executive Branch and Congress’ opinions are relating to vaccines. Sometimes opinions differ, and arguments arise. It’s good for the public to hear all sides of the story before they have to make a decision about their children. The perspectives of Congress and HHS should be vetted if they are in conflict. The meeting held was just a whole lot of screaming and name calling on both sides by various loud mouths. The loudest mouth in the group was the senator from Massachusetts (Warren).

After watching the proceedings, I have no idea whether I should have my children take certain vaccines that are readily available.

It is criminal that our electees cannot have a productive meetings on important topics.

Unfortunately, RFK was totally ineffective and unable to make points in defense of himself.

For years, Congress has been holding embarrassing unproductive meetings on the most serious issues facing our government. It’s about time that the people involved were polite and not aggressive when they try to uncover facts. The RFK meeting was just a very bad group of people trying to intimidate a government official, not for the benefit of Americans, but for the benefit of their own political aspirations. Next time you go to the polling place consider whether your representative is seeking the truth.

StatsA few months ago, I revealed to my readers that I was fearful of MRI machines. At that time, I was deathly afraid of sliding into a long tube. I had a serious case of claustrophobia.

It seems that many more maladies are being diagnosed with the information provided by an MRI test. I’ve had tests for my head (I played football and rugby as a youngster), my aorta, (a little bit of plaque), my lungs and pancreas (prevention), my shoulder (skiing accident), my knee, my prostate and my Achilles tendon. I feel been in MRI machines monthly.

Every time I walk into a doctor’s office, he or she prescribes an MRI examination. The first couple of times, I offset the claustrophobia using unusual, but effective tricks. Most notably, I insisted on receiving general anesthesia (very expensive). Once, I wore a pair of glasses that enabled me to see backwards out of the MRI tube. Clearly, I needed to man-up and find a way to survive the dreaded MRI.

My plan was described in detail in the earlier blog post. I “practiced” for an upcoming MRI and was successful. What, practice for an MRI? It was simple, and over a few days. I lied on the floor, shut my eyes and stayed motionless for 30 minutes, the standard period of time for MRI exams.

It was a gigantic moment, I bravely slid into position at the imaging company and told the technician to zap me. No problem. No fear. All the practice got me through the terror of being in the tube. That was then.

Now I’m proud to announce that I just had a cardiac MRI that lasted one hour. That’s 60 minutes of lying still and breathing in and out about 100 times. What a challenge. What an accomplishment. No one will ever call me a wuss.

I recommend, not that I’m qualified to recommend any medical treatment, to practice before you take an MRI, if you are claustrophobic. I’m happy to make this discovery for man/womankind. ‹ Softball Politics — WordPress.com

The Iran ayatollahs and their sycophants have proven time and again that they are liars, religious zealots, murders and abuses of women. Iran is a member of an axis of evil along with Russia, China and No. Korea. Specifically, Iran’s political objectives are to convert the Middle East to their sect of Islam, eliminate the State of Israel and force the U.S. out of the region. Iran’s current weakened situation won’t dampen its desire to lead the Middle East.

Currently, Israel and the U.S. have an excellent opportunity to finish the job of defanging Iran and its vicious ruling class. It would be a huge mistake to think that Iran is prepared to live peacefully and have cordial relations with the  U.S.

With such a reputation, one wonders why America waited so long to “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. But that aside, did the U.S. destroy enough of Iran’s nuclear operations to prevent it from regrouping in the near term, possibly with the help of other countries, including ones that are enemies of the U.S.? Will No. Korea, once again,  provide missiles to Iran that will be aimed at Israel and the U.S. military?

Further, are there enough nuclear parts available to put together a smaller nuclear weapons program that could be transported to surrounding countries in the Middle East, or even to the U.S. and Europe in small containers? Weapons could be transported aboard ships or passenger airplanes.

Further, will the ayatollahs regroup and create havoc throughout their region? This can be done using conventional bombs and terrorist attacks.

The theocratic government of Iran is an unholy group that revels in political murder and terror. They are not interested in living peacefully. Rather, they want to convert every person in the world to Shia Islam.

Trump keeps talking about getting together with the ruling parties in Iran and working out a treaty that ends the conflict between Iran and most of the Middle East. It’s not going to happen. The ayatollahs still control a huge military that will likely protect the ruling class. Moreover, a contract signed by Iranian rulers is not worth the paper it is documented on.

There are many Iranians that want to escape the abusive rule of the Iranian clergy. They want to see the ayatollahs fail. The U.S. should assist Iran as it burns to ashes.

The U.S. and Israel should stand by with weapons locked and loaded. If Iran makes a threatening move against U.S. allies with its military or with proxies, the US and Israel should intervene in force. Presumably, any offensives by the U.S. would be against military targets.

The U.S. should attempt to bankrupt Iran so it would be unable to rebuild its military. Without money, Iran will fail and its citizens will revolt.

It was a close call. Iran was on the brink of building a deliverable bomb. The US and Israel arrived just in the nick of time to prevent World War III.

The day has finally come. A U.S. President has drawn a line in the sand and kept his promise to deal with the growing threats of Iran.

I am not, by any measure, discounting the severity of Donald Trump’s audacious attack on Iran’s nuclear program. People are going to die because of this decision to “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It’s a strong endorsement that I make by supporting Trump’s decision.

Let’s consider the facts. No one in the world in their right mind would feel safer if Iran had a nuclear capability in its arsenal, an ability to make a country disappear from the face of the Earth. And countries are not comforted by Iran’s success in building a nuclear capability. In fact, the deranged ayatollahs would just as soon threaten and use a nuclear weapon on any one of the Sunni Arab states. So, Saudi Arabia and the Arab nations surrounding the Saudis would breathe a sign of relief if an Iranian nuclear threat was quashed.

Israel certainly is concerned, existentially concerned, with Iran’s nuclear program. In fact, a tactical nuclear strike by Iran on Israel seems like a logical move by the ayatollahs. Iran threatens the existence of Israel every day, and what would be easier than using a nuclear device in a war with Israel. Israel’s response to such an event would be World War III.

Countries in the region surely must look upon a denuclearization of Iran as a first step in the never-ending peace talks among concerned countries. Even if Iran is not inclined to use a nuclear weapon, it would use its availability to intimidate non-Shiite regimes.

And what about the US? What comes after a successful development of a nuclear weapon in the region? The probability that Iran could deliver a nuclear weapon across the ocean and strike a US territory would be next on the agenda.

American presidents have given Iran the opportunity to live in peace. Iran has repeatedly taken the dark side of this situation. It continuously supports terror strikes on its perceived enemies which include all non -Shiite countries. Peace is not attainable without first taking the nuclear capability away from the crazy ayatollahs.

What will Iran to next? If the nuclear aspiration of the country is finally squashed it would be useless for Iran to pursue a non-nuclear confrontation with the US and Israel. This will only lead to fear and destruction of peace-loving Iranian people.

If the ayatollahs accept defeat immediately, they might have a chance to keep control of the country with the support of their large army. The Iranian army will be crushed in a fight with the US military.

Finally, will China, Russia and North Korea help Iran? If they want to subsidize a long drawn-out conventional war with the United States and Israel they will support Iran. I think this is a low probability. The attack ordered by Trump is a game changer that increases the US’ standing around the world. Trump is obviously a man who will live up to his promises when he draws a line in the sand.

I’ve had the misfortune of living through testy times for our country. Some of the most tense moments included the protests affiliated with wars and civil rights.

Americans have struggled numerous times when they took to the streets to express their doubts about how our government should deal with the right of free speech, but, for the most part disagreements were addressed and peace ensued. The activities and demands of protesters currently make no sense to me and so many other Americans. Once again, freedom of speech is front and center.

To be clear, I’m a strong advocate of free speech. But there are limitations that must be honored. Free speech should be nonviolent and respectful of the rights of others. In other words, free speech is not legitimate and is unlawful if it results in any person’s bodily harm or destruction of property. So, when we see crowds of protesters throwing rocks at police and looting stores, we are seeing criminal activity that warrants police action and incarceration.

The riots in Los Angeles and other places have rekindled some dark moments pitting liberals against conservatives, young against old and white against black.

When I compare the student strikes in the late 60s to the LA riots, the latter lacks the legitimacy of the other. Students and minorities in the 60s demanded that our government be more responsive to very questionable actions by the armed forces encouraging a nonsensical war. The military might of the US was stymied by Vietnamese soldiers. More than fifty thousand Americans were lost during the war and thousands were injured physically and mentally. Young people asked why the US was fighting against a backward country without a cause. There is not one political, social or military outcome that benefitted the US from its participation in the Vietnam. 

Simultaneously, Black leaders led by Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged their followers to rise up against unfairness and inequality. With the exception of the Civil War, no other social movement was so powerful. The rationale to go to the streets peacefully and challenge a government that was not living up to its constitution is totally defensible.

Compare the current rioting to the peaceful demonstrations in the 60s. In the 60s, protesters demanded an end to a senseless war and racism in the US. In LA, the protesters are fighting for the “rights” of 20 million illegal aliens that have invaded our country and the “rights” of Palestinians in Israel. Some Americans want an end to the Zionist movement and call for the downfall of the State of Israel. 

I have to ask myself what these Americans are doing? Is there any justification of LA riots their dubious objectives? Should protesters support the 20 million interlopers in the US and blood thirsty terrorists that are calling for the destruction of Israel, one of our country’s most important allies ?

In the 60s, protest was justifiable. In 2025, the protests have been illegal, violent and unreasonable. I fully support the president’s decision to quell the rioting with our military.

It’s an old story. Should all Americans give Trump another chance to get our country on track, even if they dislike the man?

This is the second time that Trump has taken advantage of weak candidates to win the White House. He ran against Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. What a pitiful line up!

After four years of incompetent governance by Democrats, we certainly needed a change. In case you haven’t heard, Trump asked for another four years and won the election fair and square defeating a protégé of arguably the worst president in history. More than 50% of voters chose him; many voted defensively, to ensure Kamala Harris would not have a chance to add to the chaos.

The Democratic party needs a slate of good ideas presented by attractive candidates who have the experience and charisma to win votes. Recently, liberal proposals have been nonexistent or asinine, and the only candidate that Democrats have come up with is the buffoon who ran for vice president with Kamala, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

Trump is a difficult pill to swallow, for sure. He is an obnoxious man who deep down under is only concerned about his own reputation. But Americans know a lot of work needs to be done to fix the US, and Trump is the only person with the courage and strength to do it. 

In just a short period of time, Trump has shown us that tariffs by our trading partners are unfair. He has stopped the flow of illegal aliens into the country (it has been estimated that there are 20 million of them) and he is rounding up thousands of criminals who gained entree into the US. These people are being sent back to their countries of origin. Most have been convicted of serious offenses.

Democrats have been using tax-payers money to support frivolous organizations and projects that have no end. Meanwhile, the growing debt of the US is threatening to bankrupt our country, if we continue to spend money on ridiculous projects, domestically, and internationally. Say what you want about Musk, and Doge, he has identified a plethora of wasteful government spending, the elimination of which will help our growing debt issue.

But the most incredible discovery is that Joe Biden was not leading the country while he was in office. For the better part of four years, Joe Biden left decision-making to his sycophants. And so, Americans lived through a period of high inflation, rampant crime and fiscal abuse based upon poor choices made by the previous administration.

At the same time, countries that were supposed to be allies of ours were badmouthing the US while accepting support from us, another fact surfaced by Trump.

Americans have the right to know who was running the country while Joe Biden was resting in the White House and on the beach in Delaware.

To make matters worse, Democrats can’t find a reputable and qualified candidate to challenge Republicans in 2028. Strange people are popping up on liberal TV networks and cable channels.

I think Trump critics should get out of the way and let him do his thing.

Despite recent successes with the economy (tariffs), immigration and peace initiatives (Syria, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine), the resistance to the new administration continues to be relentless. Trump is just not likeable. His self-aggrandizing actions are disturbing.

The only problem is Democratic jawboning about the new Trump administration by liberal leaders has not generated any productive ideas. It must be attributable to a lack of effective leadership. Singing songs and using foul language has not paid any dividends. Now liberal politicians are storming places where illegal aliens are being jailed.

The political environment in the US has been increasingly antagonistic and nothing close to accommodative for the past decade. Dems and Republicans have been acting like street gangs taking verbal potshots at each other and making it impossible to do the people’s business. Control and power have replaced the quest for effective, productive and sensible governance. Republicans continually belittle Democratic chatter for no good reason; the complaints are moot and naïve. They should just let the liberals drown in their pitiful rhetoric.

Dems spend every waking hour trying to think of ways to incarcerate Donald Trump, or at least embarrass him. They fail miserably time and again and have infuriated Trump. Trump certainly believes in a strong presidency but claims that he is a dictator who wants to decrease the rights guaranteed in our Constitution are absurd. He in turn is now using his political clout to tear apart the Democratic Party by constantly reminding voters that Biden and his sycophants are responsible for so much chaos in our country including a weak economy and flagrant crime.

Trump effectively uses his political prowess and his bully pulpit to upend ineffectual attacks by his detractors. The liberal left was unable to prove that Trump broke the law on a number of occasions. A great number of voters no longer give credence to liberal accusations about any Trump “scandals” they claim to have uncovered.

It’s amazing that so many politicians get away with outright lies, distortions and improper use of government funds. Musk’s Doge group has uncovered billions of dollars of fraud and lies in their review of government spending. These include Social Security payments to deceased Americans and continued funding of scandalous projects that are frivolous and/or completed. Did you ever notice that money provided to needy groups in the US and overseas never runs its course? This funding never ends, even when they are not needed. There is no accountability. Democrats use federal funds to bolster political ideologies.

The real question is, why don’t Americans support Trump more enthusiastically, even when he is successful? He has assumed the role of caretaker of government spending, something disparately needed. Ten and twenty year projects are still being funded, but funds are forever going into the pockets of sham artists, not needy causes. These situations are being identified.

Trump closed the southern border in record time. Now, no one is crossing our borders illegally, and criminals are being rounded up and sent back to their countries of origin. Twenty million people have illegally come to the US. In the future, we will see dramatic situations in politics, social behavior, economic stability and legal standing as the country tries to digest these interlopers.

While protecting their incompetent past president, Democrats enacted and supported mandates that impacted every part of our nation. The rule of law and due process that critics say Trump is discarding were not practiced by liberals who established sanctuary cities and ignored crime. There has been criminal destruction of property and had total disregard for rights of law-abiding fellow citizens. The legal system fell apart while Biden was in control.

Biden didn’t stop there. His subordinates spent millions of dollars to portray Republicans, including Trump, as unpatriotic. Not one of their outrageous charges proved to be true.

And then you ask, why Trump is defamed that every turn?

No doubt Trump’s aggressive style is tough to swallow. But closing-down ineffectual and illegal programs that are costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars will benefit our country. Let Doge have at it.

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In the interest of full disclosure, I was born a Catholic and attended a major Catholic university. I stopped participating in Catholic holidays and rituals during my first year at college.

The recent death of Pope Francis is a sad event. But the adulation he has been receiving does not reflect his actual accomplishments. I do, however, feel a bit guilty criticizing a man who dedicated his life to God.

Pope Francis was no more than a satisfactory pope. He seemed concerned with global problems and world peace, and anxious to opine on some very controversial global issues affecting individual countries. Unfortunately, his followers are giving him too much credit for accomplishing any meaningful changes in the Church. And from my perspective, Francis could have done much more for his flock.

Francis and his conservative allies shot down many significant proposed changes in Catholic doctrine. The wide scale sex scandal has still not been fully addressed or adjudicated. Abuser priests of young boys, young girls and adult women should be tried by laic authorities and drummed out of the priesthood. There should be no Mulligans for guilty priests. What could be more distressing to the parents of an abused child than an abuser who has been under psychological control of the Church committing yet another abusive action. Changing venues is not adequate punishment that should be doled out to offenders of helpless people.

I believe that many Catholics who gave up their faith in the Church in recent years will not return until the situation is cleaned up and all abusers are defrocked and put in jail.

Francis did not appoint new blood to the College of Cardinals. He was elected by conservatives who accept nothing but the old dogma of Catholicism.

Women should play an equal role in the world of Catholicism, yet they cannot play the part of a priest, much less a cardinal who has the power to change Catholic doctrine. The whole world has accepted the fact that 1/2 of the population, women, deserve the right to be heard in the policies and teachings of very important groups of people. No efforts were supported by Francis to enable women to serve as priests.

The ability to end a marriage and continue to practice Catholicism has been discussed, but nothing has changed. To make matters worse, church leaders often give special dispensation to powerful people who are divorcing and want to remain practicing Catholics.

The right of a woman to choose is another issue that haunts Catholics. Francis has not helped the cause of women in this regard. His adamant stand against abortion and contraception has delayed the ability of millions of women to control their families and avoid disease.  

And then there is an issue that diminishes a priest’s ability to advise members of his flock. Since most family disputes usually involve marital affairs, money, and children, why would any person seek out a Catholic priest as an advisor? They have no first-hand experience in these areas. Allowing priests to marry and conceive children would be beneficial.

And a final note. Catholicism is generally a religion of poor people. Collecting money from poor people and amassing billions of dollars of financial assets is disingenuous. The Vatican should be more generous giving aid to its followers.

I’m sad to report that Francis left many issues unresolved. And the cardinals he ordained during his tenure will do little to change the current situation.

Brett Stephens, New York Times columnist, published a piece titled “A Tough But Sensible Way To Solve the Iran Problem.” I like Stephens’ work but was stunned by his outlandish proposals that he says would transfer Iran into a peace-loving, productive country. Note: I used Stephens’ words verbatim from his op-ed dated April 16 on many occasions to present his proposal.

On the other side of the coin is President Trump, who said he will solve the Iran problems without too much effort. This is nothing short of bloviation on the part of the president. Iran is not going to roll over under any circumstances. And the development of nuclear weapons by Iran represents a clear and present existential risk to the Middle East and the entire world.

What is the Iran problem? Stephens says it is that Iran will soon have weapons that they can’t be trusted with.

“Tehran has been playing Western diplomats for fools for decades.” The nuclear restrictions relating to Obama’s deal will soon be expiring. The arrangement expanded Iran’s regional influence by negotiating the elimination of economic sanctions, which increased Iran’s cash flow and enabled Iran to finance more terror activity. Also, Iran has a well-documented record of cheating on agreements that it signs. Stephens indicates that Witcoff is really naïve if he thinks that any kind of inspection or verification process will keep the Iran regime in check.

There are two paths that can be taken by the US. One is a new deal that is similar to the 2015 agreement and that Iran says it wants today. The deal is likely to fail because it does nothing to change the “character” of the regime. This is a very strange comment. It sounds like the ayatollahs need therapy.

The second path is a more ambitious and more promising way to negotiate. It’s what Stephen’s calls normalization for normalization.

Here is a list of normalization items for the United States:

The resumption of full diplomatic ties between Tehran and Washington. The end to all US economic sanctions on Iran.

Thousands of student visas for Iran. United States arms sales to Iran, at least of a conventional kind.

The normalization list for Iran would have the following items:

Iran would behave like a normal country. Note: I would like to be in the room when this item is negotiated. Iran’s definition of normal is quite different than most countries. What would normalization for Iran entail?

A normal country doesn’t finance and arm terrorist groups that start regional wars and disrupt global commerce. A rich country with proven reserves doesn’t need to spend billions of dollars to enrich uranium or produce plutonium. A normal country doesn’t call for the elimination of other countries, even hostile ones. A normal country doesn’t seek to assassinate former US government officials. A normal country doesn’t hang gay people. A normal country doesn’t gang rape women in prison to enforce its honesty code.

Stephens’ list of normalizations is absurd. The first thing that one must be aware of is that Iran has never lived up to a contract that it’s made with another country. There’s no way that our negotiators can believe anything that is promised in peace negotiations. The only effective method of dealing with Iran is to actually attack them or indicate that an attack is under way if they don’t behave.

The world is in jeopardy so long as there’s a possibility that Iran can build nuclear weapons. If they did build them, they would be used to intimidate other countries in the region as well as the United States. The actual use of a nuclear weapon is something that we have to consider as a potential reality.

Stephens did not give any consideration to religious aspirations in the region. Iran is a Shiite country. Its objectives are to stop the United States from being involved in Middle East issues and to eliminate Sunni Arabs. The religious spin on the whole situation will be a major item that would need to be dealt with  in order to gain any progress in a negotiation.

Opinions like Stevens’ in this essay are bogus. The only solution is all out war where Iran’s nuclear facilities and nuclear bombs are destroyed. I fully expected President Trump is going to agree with this perspective.