Keeper of the Clown Bell

We all know that Vox.com can't abide chaos " The Trump administration’s chaos has reached an astounding new level " and it's no surprise that The Atlantic worries about chaos " Can John Kelly Stop the Chaos Inside Trump's West Wing? " and CNN can't decide if chaos is good or bad (but it's probably bad) " White House week of chaos ends in open warfare " and for Politico it's just another day of I told you so " To America, It Looks Like Chaos. For Trump, It’s Just Tuesday. " The spawn of Norman Vincent Peale and Roy Cohn, Trump has stomped through life armed with the obstinate, self-centered tenets of optimistic thinking and the sneering, deep-seated lessons of attack, attack, attack. He creates chaos, and then he responds to that chaos, withstanding it, even embracing it, feeding on it—and then he outlasts the outrage, emerging not only alive but emboldened. “Hey, look, I had a cold spell from 1990 to ’91,” Trump said al...

I'm in the middle of getting some health insurance right now - $1K per month with a $7k deductible = $17K per year which I'll never use because I'm healthy and have always have been healthy. I've probably payed $500K+ in health insurance over my lifetime and I've never used any of it. None of my children have used it and all of that money has gone somewhere else to someone else. It's been that way ever since I started paying for health insurance which I never would have started doing if it didn't cost so much money to go to hospital (which I've never done) and I didn't want to loose every dime I had to St. Elsewhere. To point out that the government has made a mess of our health care system is obvious but that's just the history we have with " our employer ." Perhaps Trump can make it less of a mess. Enter John McCain  - "Let's return to regular order." Maybe not. They worked on this thing for years to get the piec...

The Obama era officially ended yesterday Hey O. J., where you goin' with that knife of yours? Hey O. J. , I said where you goin' with that knife in your hand, oh I'm goin' down to cut my old lady You know I caught her messin' 'round with Ron Goldman I'm goin' down to cut my old lady You know I caught her messin' 'round with Ron Goldman And that ain't too cool Huh, hey O. J., I heard you cut your mamma down You cut her down now Hey O. J., I heard you cut your lady down You cut her down in the ground, yeah Yeah Yes, I did, I cut her You know I caught her messin' round, messin' round town Yes I did, I cut her You know I caught my old lady messin' 'round town And I gave her the knife And I cut her Alright Cut her one more time again, baby Yeah Oh, dig it Oh, alright Hey O. J. Where you gonna run to now, where you gonna go? Hey O. J., I said Where you gonna run to now, where you gonna go? I'm goin...

I know, I know, I'm a day late - go pound sand. Long time readers of the KOTCB know of my strong affection for France and its Republic so it should be no surprise that I celebrate Bastille Day with the best of them . I'm an American so why not? Here we celebrate le 14 juillet and Cinco de Mayo and pretty much every other day that's important to some culture or nationality. Call it American exceptionalism because this joie de vivre just doesn't fly with our European cousins. As it happens I had two daughters studying abroad this summer and here, for your enjoyment, are their 4th of July text messages to me. First from my daughter who spent three weeks partying at the LSE and living large in the face of insane Islamic terror attacks and whatever else goes on in London (which is a lot of good stuff): Of Course the Brits hate Independence Day And then this from my high schooler kickin' it in Seville, Spain where they sleep all afternoon, eat dinner at midni...

Greatest Headline of All Time Those readers living outside of Charlottesville, VA or Central Virginia proper might not be aware of the ongoing effort to pull down and move the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from the town square otherwise known as Lee Park (not named after Harper Lee or Bruce Lee or Stan Lee but after the same Robert E. Lee). Charlottesville is a college town and like all college towns it's filled with college professors and assorted flakes who vote nincompoops into elected office as their representatives so it was no surprise to me when back in April the city council decided to do this : "Despite a pending court case that will ultimately determine the general’s fate, the Charlottesville City Council voted 3-2 Monday night to sell the city’s statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee." "Confederate General" is a sad, marginalizing descriptor for what surly must be one of the greatest Americans to ever walk this land and lead its people by p...

Live Free or Die Living in Manhattan with a dog gives one ample opportunity to stroll the pathways of Central Park and take it all in, as it were, greeting fellow travelers and rejoicing in the majesty of Olmsted & Vaux's creation. Passing under the Belvedere Castle and hugging the Turtle Pond you eventually come face to face with King Jagiello mounted on his trusty steed, swords held high. Imposing? You bet your ass it is - in fact, you can hardly believe this 15th Century warrior has burst through the time-stream to confront your skinny, latte drinking, poop picking-up, sorry self. The king confronts you and shames you and challenges you. Are you going to slink off to your cube and read green screen Bloomberg stock prices or create PowerPoint charts for the rest of your day or are you going to rally and fight your enemies unto death? What's it going to be you soulless husk of a man? Live or die? One thing's for sure - The Polish people are badass warriors who wi...

I've been tempted to post something on the KOTCB blog since the day the Elvis from Queens tweeted about Mika's bleeding face and the ensuing media meltdown flooded the broadcast airways and Internet with gunk. But every frigg'n day @POTUS lets loose another tweet or 2 that usurps whatever I was going to say the day before so I've just been waiting and watching and loving every minute of it. With Sunday's napalm strike he might have finally brought them to their knees - but there's always tomorrow. The latest tweet was immediately condemned by journalists, who said Trump seemed to be promoting physical violence against the media, while a Republican lawmaker said the president was trying to "weaponize distrust" through his postings. "Promoting physical violence" or a tactic to "weaponize distrust" don't explain it folks - this is total war waged by a pachyderm with old, scared hide who's been beaten and whipped for so ...