The Colonel's Forum

I'm by no means an expert on interpreting elections, but since any clown with a twitter account can be president, I figured I'd at least weigh in on what I think happened here in Kentucky, and what that might mean for the year ahead. Kentucky is what I'd characterize as a modern-day conservative state. By that I mean, there are plenty of counties in this state where, if they listen to any news at all, it's Fox. KY voted for Trump over Hillary by a full 30 percentage point margin. These KY conservatives support a free press in the same way that Trump does, which is to say, only when the press is serving as a propaganda/reinforcement engine for their existing viewpoints. They support freedom of religion as long as that religion involves sweet little baby Jesus, the 10 commandments on public display, and tax breaks for Noah's Ark and the Creation Museum. When the NRA ran a campaign in 2008 that "Obama is coming for your guns" and then again in 2012 that &

Here we are - end of 2019 and people are already talking as if the 2020 election is next week. That's unfortunate. I hated the last election cycle before I knew the result, and this one is shaping up to be even worse. Kentucky has gubernatorial elections in off cycle years, so 2019 is a governor's race for us as well. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell are still my Senators - spectacular clowns but for different reasons. Here's what I know. Donald Trump still lies, every day. He's made 5276 false statements as president. Out of 1000 days in office, that's greater than 5 lies per day. Seriously.  He typically does this via his preferred communications method, the tweet His supporters not only don't care that he lies, they will defend his lies, attack others for calling out his lies, and suggest that his lies are warranted, even required, because he's the first president to ever face a critical press. This is spectacular. Donald Trump has now spent over

This is a photo of a crawfish boil. We've thrown one nearly every year since we moved to Lexington in 2005. It's a unique take on something us midwesterners call a BBQ, but it would be more appropriate to say that a BBQ is a watered down boring version of a crawfish boil. I grew up in Indiana, so that shapes my perspective on backyard food parties. If you grew up in Louisiana, this is normal; burgers and hot dogs are ok, but nowhere near as fun. This photo is from 2012, but this weekend was our 2018 crawfish boil. The attendee list changes from year to year. We meet new people, people move, old friends might get busy and can't attend, but that's fine. The location changes too. We've had 5 homes in Lexington. One year we lived in a condo and a friend host this for us in her backyard. Crawfish boils are serious undertakings. My in-laws cook, because they are Louisiana natives and wonderful food is in their genes. I hope some of that passed to our son. My parent

Excerpt of an interview Bob Woodward did with Trump in March of 2016. Look at his comments about Nixon being a criminal. Look at his speech patterns, and how frequently he feels the need to paint himself as a victim, and also to portray himself as an important, successful man. Look at how he talks about winning. And look at how frequently this reads like a conversation with a 5th grader trying to BS an essay test. BW:  Any . . .  . Before coming over, Bob and I have had lots of chats. And we were thinking about this, that you are running for the nomination in the Republican Party. DT:  Right. BW:  Which is the party of Lincoln and the party of Nixon. . . . And so we have this party that you are running to be the nominee in, and it’s got two heritages. Lincoln and Nixon. DT:  That’s true. That’s true. BW:  And why did Lincoln succeed? Thought about that at all? DT:  Well, I think Lincoln succeeded for numerous reasons. He was a man who was of great intelligence, which mo

Remember logic puzzles from elementary school? I loved those things. Here's a fun one that is, sadly, a work of non-fiction. Answer all 4 questions with well-reasoned, fact based arguments, and I will mail you a bottle of the Bourbon of your choice, up to $100 value. Seriously. In 2012, Donnie said " He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election, We should have a revolution in this country! , " regarding early results from the Romney/Obama contest. He further called the electoral college a "disaster for Democracy." Donnie ran for President himself in 2016. Just before the election, he said that, if he loses, the election is somehow rigged . He offers no evidence for why this is the case, or in what way he believes it's rigged, but promises NOT to accept the result if he suspects fraud. If he wins the election, Donnie says there is no fraud. 1) Explain how it is possible for an election to be fraudulent if one person wins, and totally legit if

Trump won. I was definitely surprised by this, but the time has come to reflect, and to seek to understand. As I posted before the election, I don't think this is the end of the world, or the end of America. Unlike the anti-Obama crowd who said "he's going to ruin our country" and were counting down the days until he was out of office, I will hope that Mr. Trump is successful and can deliver on some of his promises. Certainly I disagree with many of his policy positions, but there are others I think are good ideas - simplifying our tax code, term limits for congress, a ban on congressmen becoming lobbyists, foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections to name a few. I also want to understand America better. I've been living in a bit of a bubble, apparently. Lexington is a well educated city. Most of my friends are good people who are open minded - not bigots, if you will. There is simply no denying that hate was a key part of Trump's platform. He