One of my ex-husband’s friends once told him that I would be really cool if I weren’t always so serious. It is a personality flaw of mine that I don’t do well with small talk, and would rather solve the problems of the world than to just sit down and have some fun. So, it is not without some sympathy that I note that Donald Trump seriously lacks a sense of humor.

Last night was the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. The event is an excuse to dress up and have some fun, usually at the expense of the President. The reporters who sit in the White House, asking questions of the administration during daily press briefings, are invited to a dinner and asked to bring a few guests. They bring people like Joan Rivers and Donald Trump—not that the two of them are anything alike! The room is filled with reporters, politicians of every color and persuasion, and members of entertainment industry, including the people at Fox News.

It is probably because of my personal personality flaw that I almost religiously watch this event. The after dinner speakers are first the President, and then an actual comedian. The expectation is that both will deliver a lot of funny lines. I’ve seen presidents bomb and I’ve seen them knock it out of the park. Obama knocked it out of the park last night. Much of his presentation was poking fun at the birthers and the field of GOP candidates for 2012. Trump was in the room, but not enjoying himself. I don’t think I saw him crack a smile even once. Of course, the camera wasn’t’ always on him…

Homework:

They're Even Talking About It in Ireland

Video of Comedian

Evidently Obama was as irritated at the continued racism of birthers as I was when I drafted an open letter to Steve King. Yesterday Obama released a copy of the actual birth certificate, on file in the state of Hawaii. And as soon as he did, the racists started yelling that it still wasn’t enough. Now they want to investigate his college records. They find it impossible to believe that any half black man could get into Harvard, let alone be President of the Harvard Law Review. Believe it. Obama is smarter than Trump. Obama won election in a landslide, and nothing will get out the minority vote in 2012 like racist attacks on one of the candidates. It appears that the GOP has been taken over by a bunch of whack-a-doodles.

There is an organization that has been working on celebrating cultural diversity in Grand Junction since 1956—The Latin Anglo Alliance (LAA). What a lot of people don’t realize is that the annual Cinco de Mayo festival presented by LAA in downtown Grand Junction is a fundraiser to raise money for scholarships for Latino kids. So, put May 14 on your calendar. Go downtown and listen to wonderful music provided by everyone from some School District 51 Mariachis (appearing at 11:45 a.m.) to a local band, Latin Knights (appearing at 4:00 p.m.) and a street dance starting at 6:00 p.m. with music provided by Mark Rendon y Deztino, New Mexico Recording artists. In addition to wonderful music, there will also be food and beer vendors. While you are there, leave some money for the organization, which is tax deductible, and goes to help bridge the achievement gap for Latino kids.

What achievement gap? According to a report issued last year (linked below) Colorado has the second largest achievement gap in the country. From the report:

•        The educational attainment rate of Whites compared to the next largest ethnic group is the second largest in the country – a 31.2 percent gap, compared to the national average of 19.1 percent.

•        For Colorado, this refers to Hispanics, who are also the fastest growing demographic in the state.

•        Currently, 15.5 percent of Hispanics in Colorado have a certificate or degree beyond high school; 8.2 percent have a bachelor’s degree.

•        Only 9 percent of Hispanic males in high school today will go on to education after high school.

Homework:

Even Breitbart Says the Flap Over the Birth Certificate is Over (Special Link for Kevin King)

Lawrence O'Donnell vs Orly Taitz, Super Birther

Harvard Law Review

Latin Anglo Alliance

Strategic Plan for Colorado's Higher Education

Evidently there were some fireworks at The View last week when Donald Trump showed up to talk about his political aspirations and suggested that Obama had something to hide by not showing his birth certificate.

Do you ever remember any other presidential candidate who was asked to show his birth certificate? I don’t. Not even Barry Goldberg, who may have been born in Arizona and who may have been born before Arizona was a state. Or how about McCain who was born in Panama?

But along comes the first black president, (who wins by a landslide, by the way) and all of a sudden there are dentists from California clogging up the courts with bogus cases claiming that he can’t be president because he was born in Kenya. She doesn’t even stop when she gets hit with a contempt of court citation for continuing to file bogus suits. The U.S. Supreme Court, which has been on a tear recently supporting all things right-wing, refused to listen to the nonsense.

In order to believe that crap, you first must believe that when he was born his white mother was so sure that she was giving birth to the future president of the United States that she planted bogus stories in the Honolulu newspaper from an undisclosed location in Kenya. Or maybe that she pulled a Palin and hopped on a plane after her water broke just so that Kenyan officials could refuse to let her fly so the poor tyke came out screaming “I’m an American.”

Oh, and then there is the certified copy of the birth certificate that Obama did show to anyone who wanted to look. It seems that a certified copy of a birth certificate is acceptable to Homeland Security if you are applying for a U.S. Passport—in fact it is the only thing they will accept post 9/11. But to the “birthers” the fact that a state certifies that the individual was indeed born in their state—and even goes to the extent of passing a bill in the state legislature about the birth, is meaningless.

If you BELIEVE that Obama was born in Kenya, no proof otherwise is ever going to suffice. It’s like religion. You have to suspend the things you can see, taste, feel, smell, hear in order to have faith that there is an invisible God. “Birthers” have to suspend the things they can see, taste, feel, smell, hear in order to just BELIEVE that Obama is not really president. Whoopi suggested that it is because he is black, and they don’t want no stinkin’ person of color in the People’s House.

And now people like Trump, who is rich enough to know better, are pandering to the crazies. Makes you wonder what other reality they are ignoring.

Homework

Huffington Post Article About Trump Vs Whoopi