I just watched newsreel footage of a couple on Portland Place, one of St. Louis’ ritziest and closely guarded residential areas, waving firearms at demonstrators passing their house. Observations: It is a waste of a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood to have it inhabited by a couple of rednecks who would be more at home in a double-wide. She kept brandishing a pistol while he cradled an assault rifle, occasionally aiming it at the demonstrators passing by. Waving deadly firearms around in public has somehow become one of the inalienable rights of Americans, even if they are as obviously unhinged as these two. How pathetic! These people are emblematic of American gun culture.

Who knew?!!! So the Russians put a bounty on the lives of U.S. soldiers, and some Afghans have already collected it. Trump denies knowing anything about this crisis of national security. He is trying to shift blame by saying “Nobody ever tells me anything.” But if he really was not informed about this crisis, it would be more accurate to claim “Nobody ever tells me anything that I don’t want to hear.” Another excuse might be “If they told me, I don’t remember, because the deaths of G.I.s in a distant place are a lot less deserving of my attention than plans for campaign rallys.” Or, again, Trump might claim “Putin wouldn’t ever do anything like that. It must be the work of Obama people sent over there to make me look bad.” Trump is wholly egocentric and knows little and cares less about national security.

[ It occurs to me that in the Hitler Rants parodies on youtube Hitler could represent Trump and Obama could be Fegelein. ]