Day: March 1, 2017

Appropriate…

Mending Wall

by Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs.
The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
“Stay where you are until our backs are turned!”
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side.
It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.
”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors?  Isn’t it
Where there are cows?  But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.
”  I could say “Elves” to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself.
I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.

A Different Trump Became President…

Last night on CNN Van Jones said that Trump became the President, the result of his address to the join session of Congress. The President’s tone was decidedly different. Trump did not use I, didn’t make the evening all about him. He talked about republicans and democrats working to move the country forward, together. Yes, there were a lot of platitudes, and, there were many less than accurate statements made by the President. It is fair to say nonetheless that last night Trump was presidential.  Van Jones even went so far as to state if President Trump maintained the tone last night’s performance going forward he would be there for four years.

Van Jones, as well as all other liberals/progressives, have deep differences with the President’s agenda and policies. And so they should. At the same time Van Jones recognizes why it is important to acknowledge what we witnessed last night. If Trump continues to comport himself as he did last night give him his dues on that, and then hammer away at those issues he is wrong on. Respectfully so. Work with him on issues where there is common ground. Because if liberals/progressives don’t they will be viewed as being no different than republicans were during Obama’s presidency. Trump and his handlers are smart enough to know this, and, they will exploit it.

Now on to some fact checking of last nights address.

5 Fact Checks From President Trump’ Joint Address

Fact Check: Trump’s First Address to Congress

Now, the public’s impressions.

Viewers strongly approve of Trump’s speech to Congress

7 in 10 Speech-Watchers Say Trump Boosted Optimism

President Trump has much to overcome as he cannot hide from his past statements and actions. Democrats will certainly and constantly remind. That and it is impossible for a leopard to change its spots. It may very well be almost as impossible for a 70 year old billionaire to change his.