And stay out

It looks like some of the conspiracy theorists are having fun with the recent resignation of Justice Kennedy.  Kennedy's son used to work at Deutsche Bank, the only bank that was willing to lend Trump any money for a while.  Many millions of dollars were involved and a reasonable person may wonder if it was ever paid back.  I don't think the young Kennedy had anything to do with any loans but it is an interesting coincidence.  Money, and lots of it, seems to be the common denominator of all the current investigations which is somewhat of a relief to me.  It would be very different if state secrets or nuclear launch codes were involved.  Although none of my business, I'd like to see how much the Trump Organization owes, and to whom.  Can Trump be squeezed to affect foreign or domestic policy?

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I've read that the Russian annexation of Crimea had little to do with the Russian-speaking population but with the strategic value of the Black Sea port at Sevastopol.  Russia sorely lacks ports that don't freeze over in the winter and Sevastopol might be the only way out to deep water during the winter.  They still have to get through the Mediterranean, though, which may not be an easy task.

We've all heard Trump bitch about NATO and how the member nations aren't paying their way and the US is getting screwed.  Maybe so, but I've read (or heard) that, collectively, Europe spends more on defense than either Russia or China.  You can't say they are sitting on their hands and forcing the US to do everything, and it would really be something if the Europeans decided to throw the US out of NATO before Trump has a chance to threaten withdrawal.  Close all the bases, evacuate all the troops, and take your tariffs and shove 'em up your ass, you damn Yankees!  They can nationalize all the Trump properties while there at it, too.

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The influence of social media is well known but there is more to it than the familiar short forms like Facebook and Twitter.  A long form is emerging, based on blogs and YouTube videos, jokingly referred to as the Intellectual Dark Web.  These forays are usually long (some over three hours) conversations between (usually) reasonable people about all sorts of topics.  But they can drag on but since there is no editing you can get a good sense of what they mean; no tidy news bites here and the conversations develop and wander naturally.  Kind of like My Dinner with Andre (which I haven't seen yet) but without the dinner.  This article sums it up.