It has been a bit since I have written about what is happening in our country.  I was abroad for a while, ignoring the ongoing activity in Washington, hoping that, perhaps, if I ignored it, it would go away.  But, alas, it was not to be.  Having returned to my country, I am now forced to admit that things are not better for my absence.

It is fair to report that while our leaders have figured out a way to keep the government from shutting down until after the next election, it is sobering to look at the cost.  This year we will have the highest deficit in our history.  With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, most conservatives should be shouting from the rooftops, right?  But no, only Senator Rand Paul, that peculiar self-styled libertarian (he supports banning abortion), was pointing out the obvious.  If you attacked deficits under Obama, why is it ok to support them under Trump?

Speaking of our President, each week seems to contain a new revelation about him (porn stars, Playboy Bunnies as paramours), or the cast of clowns that don’t look like the “best people” he promised us.  Is it imaginable that a President who discovers his staff secretary abused his ex-wives would take a week to announce that he was against domestic abuse?  Or that with the announcement of 13 indictments against Russians for interfering in our elections would remain uncharacteristically silent?  Maybe we are a day away from a tweet blaming Obama or Hillary.  As usual, it has nothing to do with him and, after all, he has to prepare to meet with Bibi Netanyahu, his close friend who the Israeli police think should be indicted.  If Netanyahu is ultimately indicted, I am sure our President will barely recall meeting him.

So just another week in American politics.  The Trump show goes on.  Meanwhile, Paul Ryan, our own Marshall Petain (of Vichy fame), contemplates retirement.  He should go because all of his national dreams are gone as the stain of Trump oozes its way across the party of fiscal responsibility and moral rectitude.