Saturday - Day 4 of the Shutdown

Under the Tiki
Puerto Plato, Dominican Republic
September 27, 2025

 We made it to another weekend. It is hard for me to believe, but last Saturday I was enjoying time in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The farthest thing from my mind last Saturday was how our Republic is being destroyed by immoral; greedy leaders.

Now it is October. 

Day 4 Partial Government Shutdown

I find it tragic that the Republicans show no intention of negotiating to end the shutdown. The House is on recess all next week meaning that even if the Senate hammers out a compromise package, the House will be unable to vote on it. (NYPost)

Who is playing games now?

Oh yea, and where is the President? As of this morning there have been no credible reports of sightings since returning to the White House after his disastrous speech at Quantico on Tuesday. 

According to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, “Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program. No one can find him,” (MSNBC)

So where is the President? I'm sure he will reappear soon, but a bigger question is, who is running his social media account? Is he? Governing by social media is a real problem because we don't know who has their hands on the keyboard? IT is far worse than autopen.

That written, the government shutdown isn't going to end until the President actually reappears. But if he can't be found then there is no negotiation because the Republican leadership does nothing without the approval of Trump. 

Maybe leaders with integrity who are committed to fulfilling their oath of office will appear to bring the Republic back from the brink of disaster. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Return to the Rain

Fuel Barge next to Celebrity Reflection
St Kitts
September 23, 2025

 I am told that while Chris and I were enjoying hot sunny days, punctuated by brief storms, during our cruise that the rainy weather pattern we had escaped from in South Florida continued. 

It rains still. 

It was rainy yesterday, it is raining today. 

Washout. 

The picture of the day is from St Kitts during our cruise. I watched a fuel barge get tugged into place and offload fuel to our ship, Celebrity Reflection. I had never seen that operation before and it was interesting how it all happened. Unlike today in Tequesta, the day in St Kitts was bright with puffy clouds and blue skies. 

And I can't help myself--

Day 3 of partial government shutdown

Does anyone else notice that when Trump runs into opposition his response is to hurt people? And not just some people but many people across the nation. Firing federal employees not only hurts the Feds, but everyone due to loss of services. What is the plan?

Oh yea--privatize government services so the oligarchs can get richer at the expense of hard-working Americans. 

And the lies/mischaracterizations that continue to come from the White House continue to demonstrate a failing grip on reality. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

Another Black Eye for America

Kash Patel in New Zealand

 Yesterday, I was amazed at and wrote about the actions of the President and the Secretary of Defense. Today, amazingly, it is the Director of the FBI who wound up in the sights, literally. 

The story about Kash Patel in New Zealand was reported by PBS on September 30th. Wait, that was the same day the President and Secretary of Defense held their circus act with the senior DoD leaders. 

The Headline:

FBI director gave New Zealand officials 3D-printed guns illegal to possess under local laws

So, apparently, the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel, visited New Zealand and gave gifts, which is fairly common, to some of the people he met with. What was not usual, however, was that apparently our FBI Director brought into New Zealand 3D printed guns that are illegal to possess without a special license, and which he didn't have, and gave the guns as part of a mounted display to senior New Zealand officials.

Excerpts from the story:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of display stands Patel presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.

. . . 

A spokesperson for the spy agencies described the gift as “a challenge coin display stand” that included the 3D-printed inoperable weapon “as part of the design.” The officials sought advice on the gifts the next day from the regulator that enforces New Zealand’s gun laws, Chambers said.

Oops!

Our leaders need to do better. It sure would have been nice had the FBI Director directed one of his minions to check local laws regarding inoperable weapons. 

Oh well, it is just another black eye in a long series of black eyes.

Hopefully, today is a more boring day in the news cycle. 

Did I mention that the partial government shutdown is in Day 2?

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

I Don't Know Where to Begin

 Yesterday was a tumultuous day for our Republic. 

I listened to the Secretary of Defense call himself the Secretary of War and then give a very disturbing speech to about 800 of our nations finest commanders and senior enlisted advisors. That was followed by an embarrassing ramble by the President. 

At the end of the day, the unwillingness of the Republican-controlled Senate to compromise on the terms of the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for the good of the American people demonstrated contempt for "We the People." The effects of the Big Ugly Bill are beginning to be felt and that was an opportunity to correct some of the problems.  

Let me begin with Hegseth. 

During his speech me made the following statement:

We just have to be honest. We have to say with our mouths what we see with our eyes, to just tell it like it is in plain English, to point out the obvious things right in front of us. That’s what leaders must do. We cannot go another day without directly addressing the plank in our own eye, without addressing the problems in our own commands and in our own formations.  (Hegseth speech)

But he doesn't even believe what he said. He does not tolerate those who tell it like it is when disagreeing with his short-sighted policies.

Mr. Hegseth has already fired more than a dozen military leaders, many of them people of color and women. He fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who is Black; the first woman to command the Navy, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; and the U.S. military’s representative to the NATO military committee, Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield. He also pushed out Gen. David W. Allvin, the Air Force chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Kruse, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.  (NYTimes)

And then there was the President as the follow-on act of the two-ring circus.

Nearly every "fact" presented by the President was wrong. I fact checked the speech at CNN. There are just some things he brings up continuously which are just plain wrong--but no one can correct him. I was even beginning to believe that 25 million immigrants illegally entered the U.S., during Biden's term. The real number much less, but unknown. I leave it to you, my readers, to click on the CNN link and discover for yourself the fictitious reality in which our President lives. Remember, he has his finger on the nuclear trigger! 

What really caused me a huge moment of pause was the President's discussion of his signature. Wow, really? The following statement came at the end of a meaningless discussion about paper and gold ink used to sign the commissions of Generals.

And I sign it -- actually, I love my signature, I really do. Everyone loves my signature. (Roll Call)

Who says that? 

And at the beginning of his presentation he showed his true colors about disagreement when he spoke:

 

And if you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK, because we're all on the same team.  (Roll Call). [Highlighting mine]

The day ended with a partial government shutdown. Instead of the president negotiating to keep the government open, the Republicans got exactly what they wanted from the beginning--a shutdown. Why do I maintain it was what they wanted? Well, unless the Senate passed the CR exactly as the House sent it to them, there was no way to ratify the bill because the Speaker of the House sent his caucus home. Most were not even in Washington. That is governing in abstentia. 

The President and the congressional leaders should have been working to keep America running, but instead they presented a flawed proposal and said take-it-or-leave-it!

Thankfully, they left it. It is now up to "We the People" to inform them of the error of their ways!

And this was not even the topic I was going to write about today. I did a lot of research yesterday about how the military has been used to engineer change through social engineering--which is what I saw Secretary Hegseth implementing (in a very negative way) yesterday.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL