Guilty

    For the first time in history, an American president -- incoming, present or former -- has been convicted of a felony.
   However, the judge presiding over the case against Donald J. Trump did not penalize him, financially or with jail time.
   Whether he appeals the state court's decision to a federal system, potentially all the way to the Supreme Court, is another question. Nonetheless, he is now a convicted felon.
   The case involves lies told about his relationship with a woman in New York, and the lies were told before he was elected president, so the issue of presidential immunity does not apply. It was, at root, an event that took place before he was elected, and did not involve official government issues, either on the state or the federal level.
   Repeat: Therefore, the claim of presidential immunity does not apply.
   In any case, presidential immunity refers to things said or done in a person's official capacity as a government executive. It does not apply to issues related to a political campaign or personal activities.
   Whether Trump insists that this particular law -- or any other law -- does not apply to him, is another issue. 

Blissful It Ain't

   Ignorance may be helpful to politicians who are intent on building their power. And it may be yet more useful when listeners don't know the background of people who make headlines in their efforts to dominate public service. But when government leaders are unaware or deliberately ignore the background of newsmakers, that ignorance -- or stupidity -- can lead to harsh violence, if not outright war.

   Examples of  "blissful" ignorance: Canada, an independent nation, also recognizes the king of Great Britain as chief of state. The Canadian prime minister is the head of that nation's government. Other nations have similar details, in that the chief of state and the head of government are separate. The USA gives both jobs to its president.

   Greenland is also a self-governing, semi-independent nation, but it acknowledges that it is part of Denmark. And the Panama Canal Zone is fully part of the nation of Panama, and it always has been, even as the U.S. rented a stretch of land since about the year 1910 for a canal between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. 

  So if the U.S. wants to take over those three independent nations, as Donald Trump proposes, it could lead to a full breakdown of commercial relationships, or even to a flat-out war.

Oink, Oink

   Donald Trump sought the presidency three times. On each of those occasions, his opponents were lawyers with experience in Congress, the White House and other government agencies.
   Trump's background was in real estate.
   Yet, Trump won twice, when his opponents were women.
   What does that say about the preferences of American voters? Can you say "male chauvinist"? The only time Trump lost election was when his opponent was a man, specifically Joe Biden, a former member of the Senate and vice president to Bill Clinton.
   (An argument can be made that he did not win the first election, but rather manipulated the electoral vote in a court battle with the backers of Hillary Clinton, a lawyer, member of Congress, delegate to the United Nations and married partner with President Bill Clinton.)
   In his third bid for the presidency, Trump defeated Kamala Harris, a woman who had served as a trained lawyer, a member of Congress and as vice president with Joe Biden.