Tuesday afternoon thoughts

Turns out the Liar-In-Chief and his Treasury Secretary; Steven Mnuchin have more in common than I thought. 

Both are on their third wife.  Both of their third wives have posed in what I'll describe as 'risque' photographs.  No, I'm not going to include them here.  You can go out and search for them to satisfy your curiosity if you want to see them.

Both of them are very wealthy men, although Mnuchin's wealth apparently hasn't reached to the same level as Trump's.

Both of them have their wives travel with them when they are traveling on government business and that's where the trouble began.  She posted on Instagram tagging some high-priced label attire and there was a backlash.  So she responded.

Clearly Ms Linton is the one who is out of touch, although not in a way that could possibly be described as "adorably."  She hasn't sacrificed a damn thing.  She's been married to Steven Mnuchin for less than two months.  She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth (her father owns a Scottish castle that is now a swanky hotel) and continues to live a life of privilege.

She's made her Instagram and Twitter accounts private now and she issued an apology. 

The statement released to ABC News said that Mnuchin paid for his wife to accompany him on the trip on a government aircraft.  It also claimed she was not compensated for her mentions of the designer brands she was wearing. 

Which raises another question.  Why were they flying on a government aircraft?  Most of the cabinet of Bush Junior flew commercial.  It makes sense for the Secretary of State to fly on a government aircraft.  It doesn't make as much sense for anyone else in the Cabinet, save the Vice-President and Attorney General.

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New meme.

I wouldn't want to depend on either of these men to be responsible for my safety in a combat environment.  But let's set that aside for a moment.  We've had an all-volunteer military for over 40 years.  No one is forced to serve. 

Then there is the fact that the older Trump offspring is too old to serve in three of the four military services.  The Air Force raised the maximum age for enlistment to 39 a few years ago.  The maximum age to become a commissioned officer is 35, so that path is also closed.

But this does raise a question.  The law requires these two to have registered for the Selective Service System when they turned 18.  Did they?

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Anyone who edits his own remarks made only days earlier, trying to pretend that part of those remarks did not get made; has no business calling anyone else "fake."

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Maria Chappelle-Nadal is the Missouri State Senator who posted on Facebook "I hope Trump is assassinated."  She would later delete the post and issue a public apology but that's not enough for the Missouri State Senate's leadership.  They have stripped her of all of her committee assignments. 

Mike Parson is the Lieutenant-Governor of Missouri and he has called on the Missouri State Senate to hold a special session and expel Senator Chappell-Nadal.

Missouri State Senators earn a salary of $35,915 per year plus a per diem of $104 for every day the Senate is in session and they answer the roll call.  Maybe she doesn't want to give up the cash?

She needs to resign.  If they do meet to expel her and vote along party lines, she will be ousted. 

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In Rocklin, CA the school board of the Rocklin Academy (a group of charter schools that are open to all, according to their website) got an earful regarding a discussion of transgenderism that took place in a kindergarten class.

Some of the parents were not happy that this discussion took place without prior notice to them.  One parent reported that her son was "shaking in fear" when he arrived home that day.

The discussion was generated by the teacher being given two age-appropriate books on the subject of transgenderism by a transgender child, and deciding to read them to the class.  This is one of them.

The classroom is not the place children should first learn about anything related to sex, sexual preference or gender identity.  That's the responsibility of parents to talk to their children about.  I believe that the parents deserved advance notice that this book was going to be read.

There is nothing wrong with exposing kids to this.  It is a part of the reality of life in 2017.  Just give the parents advance notice.

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Simon Cowell's comments to Mel B on America's Got Talent on Tuesday evening were not cool.

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Meet Allen Armentrout

He's the one wearing the Confederate Army uniform and carrying the flag.  He was not at the protests in Charlottesville but traveled there afterward to pose with the statue of Robert E. Lee. 

He was a student at Pensacola Christian College until they saw the photo of him.  As a private college, they have the right to dismiss him for just about any reason and they have done so.