Trump

Sunday August 23, 2020

70 Days until the election on November 3^rd

150 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

There’s a new report that Trump’s sister, the one who was a Federal judge but retired quickly because she would have been investigated for tax fraud as an ethical issue, has said that Donnie has no principles. This is the same sister who Mary Trump, her niece wrote a book about The Donald and quoted her aunt in it. Somehow the aunt forgot to tell her niece how she got screwed out of most of her inheritance that said sister of Donald and aunt to Mary had to have known about because the former judge benefited. Talk about no principles.

Not that anything here is really new. Okay, the fact that the sister has been caught saying it might be, but wasn’t she the one doing Donald’s homework for him? Was he too stupid or too lazy to do it himself? I go with both. He’s so lazy he can’t be bothered with running the country. Not even a little bit. (Let Jared do it.) Imagine if we had someone with even half a brain and an ounce of caring, we’d be far better off than we are now. I mean it’s excuse-a-rama with him and his group of flunkies. I hesitate to call it an administration, because they really don’t administer anything. However, we have seen Donald be singularity focused on trying to get re-elected, mainly to stay out of jail. I mean he doesn’t do the job, so what’s his reason for staying other than that? He likes everyone looking at him, and being in the news constantly, but doing the job? He has no idea what the job entails. 

He has learned that he can mess around with lots of things that everyone else holds dear and assumes won’t be messed with. So what? They’re idiots. He the sly genius. Oh my god. Gag me.

Then I get these fund raising emails. The latest one claimed a 400% match to save the post office. It had in the email address my name, but if I hovered over it the actual name was “campaign…” I’ve gotten them from candidates or at least that what they claim to be from but if you hover over you find they are from “info” or “campaign.” Sometimes I write back with the candidates name in the opening of my reply. Then I say, “if you really want to (do as you claim in your opening) write back.” No reply.

Or they say they are taking a survey. Great. I write back, “If at the end of the survey you ask for money I’m never contributing to you ever.” They always ask for money. Is it to help pay for their yachts? (Asking for a friend.)

The painting project continues apace. We shot one side and the whole upper front in half an hour. By we, I mean dean, I held the hose.

 70 Days until the election on November 3^rd

150 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Painted the front and one side, first coat.

Sunday August 16, 2020

77 Days until the election on November 3^rd

157 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

When Trump was running for President he asked, “What do you have to lose?”

We now know the answer. Our Country.

At least the way we envisioned it. Regardless of your political persuasion or political association or economic outlook, I doubt any of us thought it would be like this.

The U.S. Constitution has three concrete tangible things described: a military, the post office, and the census. Trump has attacked all three. 

There were some people who called themselves conservative who ascribed to the idea of “no new taxes,” and who wanted to shrink the federal government “to the size of a pea.” Is this what they envisioned? I doubt it.

Trump has now had his henchman at the post office decommission over 600 mail sorting machines. The claim is for efficiency. Eash machine can sort over 35,000 pieces of mail an hour and are very very reliable (like 99.4%). There is no better cheaper faster, more reliable way to sort mail. 

The Census is taken every ten years and the Constitution makes it clear that everyone is to be counted. Yet, Trump is ending the Census’ work a month early so that many people won’t be counted.

These are fundamental institutions to our democracy.

Trump has also tried out using federal law enforcement officers from various agencies as his own police force. Will he do it again? Sure, why not? No one is stopping him.

He knows that if he leaves office he will no doubt face many trials and very likely prison time. There is no retirement home for dictators. By and large they stay in office until they die. Sometimes, a deal can be worked out such as for Edi Amin or Baby Doc, but those are the exceptions. His best bet if he is forced from office is to flee to Russia.

77 Days until the election on November 3^rd

157 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS  Pierce the Bull 

Day 1304 – Two Stunning Developments – Can they be true?

Friday August 14, 2020

79 Days until the election on November 3^rd

159 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

I wasn’t going to write anything today because I’ve got a very busy day ahead of me, but then a brief look at the news and I saw two items that were absolutely stunning. I have to comment.

No, I’m not talking about the birther accusations from the right about Kamala Harris. Who didn’t see that coming?

Nor am I talking about the protests in Belarus and the similarities to what has been going on in our country.

No, first I am talking about what happened at the president’s news conference yesterday.

And second I am talking about something so shocking that I’m not sure it is real, but I think it is.

They are both related stories in that they both deal with a level of dishonesty by Trump. That’s shocking too, right?

Okay, first off a reporter that I’ve never heard of, and probably will never hear of again, stood up in the press conference and asked Trump if he was concerned about all the lying he had been doing to the American people for the last three and a half years. 

What did the president do?

Acted like he wasn’t sure who the person being referred to was. The reporter repeated and clarified. The president pointed to the next person without comment other than “Uh…”

Secondly, there is a report from the BBC that our government mandated restrictions on showered water flow that have been in place since the 1990s are being revised because they interfere with Trump’s “hair routine.” 

If this is true, it is shocking.

But now we know that he isn’t just listening to Fox and Friends in the morning. 

BTW I highly suggest you find the article and look at the accompanying photo and video. It makes clear that Trump is bald on the whole front of his head. That I knew. But what I hadn’t been aware of were the sideburns. They are long, very long, and combed back and over his ears. I’d guess that if he got his head dunked (like in a toilet by a bully) that the hair on his sideburns would hang down to below his chin. 

This gives a whole new meaning to the 50s term of “Flattop with Fenders.” These are sidewalls! That’s the 50 piece of metal that covered over the top half of the outside of a wheel well.

That is all. Carry on. Wear a mask. 

79 Days until the election on November 3^rd

159 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS The prez hair, sidewalls on a car, on the head of the president

Thursday August 13, 2020

80 Days until the election on November 3^rd

160 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Okay, we got the VP pick. Several points:

1 – She used the term “flip flop” about Trump and Pence in her opening speech. (I love it.)

2 – Earlier when asked about her attacking Biden during the debate, she laughed and said, “That’s politics.” (Yeah. Doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends.)

3 – I love seeing how the right is trying to figure out how to attack her: “too liberal,” “authoritarian,” … Wait? What? Are you trying to have it both ways? (Ask Brent Kavanaugh about that!) 

4 – A black woman guest on one of the news shows said she wanted to see Kamala debate Mike, that is she said, “if his wife would give him permission to do so.”

The last point makes me wonder if anyone can imagine Kamala standing behind Joe with that fawning dopey look that Pence has everytime he’s behind Trump.

Speaking of Trump, if anyone had any reservations about whether this man would steal the election if he can, you no longer need think about it anymore. He will if he can. There is no longer any doubt. His hand picked Postmaster General is busy dismantling the post office before our very eyes. Local Republican officials are helping out too. The Republican Secretary of State for Ohio says that there can only be one ballot drop box per county. Why? Who knows. It ain’t like it’s a law. He just made it up. Meanwhile, the Postmaster General has decreed that ballots will be treated as bulk mail, not first class. This means they will throw them out if they can’t find the person to whom it is addressed. They also are no longer keeping track of ballot counts in a log (ie the least amount of tracking one can do to make sure stuff isn’t lost, But hey, who wants you to keep track if you’re possibly grinding up thousands of ballots?)

Our form of government is being attacked. It is a full frontal assault. It is from within, and it is coming from the top. If you think it’s bad now, in four more years there will be nothing left. Do not be complacent. Do not say you can worry about it tomorrow. To quote the Beatles, “Tomorrow Never Comes.”

Both the Senate Democrats and The House Democrats have sent letters to the Postmaster General to explain his actions. When I heard this I thought, “That’s cute. I’m sure when he gets those letters he’ll jump for joy and say to himself, ‘It is working!’ “

The only thing the bully in The White House understands is force. He will break every rule, every norm, ever custom. Unless he is forcefully stopped. 

Personally, I like the concept that “No one is above the law.” I’d like to see him arrested, shackled and taken out of the White House – right now. No need to wait. Seems that the Federal Justice Department won’t step up and do it. Maybe, New York? Next time he stops by. Don’t worry about Barr, he can claim he wasn’t aware of it. Don’t worry about Mike. We can put a dummy at a lectern with a Donald wig on; tell Mike to stand behind and to one side. Play old Trump speeches and that will keep him busy until after Inauguration. 

Saw a guy in Lowe’s today. No mask, white t-shirt that read “Tea Party.” So surprised.

80 Days until the election on November 3^rd

160 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS It’s an old sign.

Wednesday August 12, 2020

81 Days until the election on November 3^rd

161 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

This is a grab bag of stuff and I’m not sure where to start but I was thinking about Strunk and White. They wrote a book called “Element of Style.” It’s a classic in the grammar and punctuation crowd. It’s not very big, but folks alway refer to it. One of the things they say to do in your writing is to pick the proper word, be precise. When I first read those words I said to myself, “Yeah, okay. Whatever.” But now, I’ve come to appreciate those words more and more. 

I think one example they gave was something like this: don’t use “go into” when you could write “enter.” Is it a big deal? Do people know what you mean? Sure. But we have a beautiful language, use it. 

This reminds me of Sarah Cooper’s assessment of Trump’s manner of speaking. She said he is really talking to himself most of the time, in a kind of feedback loop. It seems he really doesn’t know when he starts a sentence what he is going to say, or how he is going to finish it. But once he has said it; he believes it. He repeats what he says as if to reinforce it in his mind.

Alex Baldwin said of his imitating Trump that Donald seemed like he was looking for the right word, and not finding it, picked another word, and then repeated the word or phrase. As if that would make it better.

I’ve noticed, and I’m sure others have too, that Trump has certain stock phrases that he uses in most situations. The phrases have no real meaning and could apply to any situation. “A lot of people are saying…” for instance. 

There is a lack of specificity in most of what he says. 

And then I think about the coaching phrase, “I want you to give one hundred and ten percent.” Okay great. What does that mean? ( “I want you to try.”? , “I want you to try real hard.”? )

How much can a person give? The sum total is really 100%. Therefore if you take that amount and call it 110% you have in fact devalued the original 100%. So the old 100% is the new about 90%. Great. But we all know what the coach means so we let it slide. Besides when the coach is all fired up and spitting through his mask at you to get you excited to do the best you can is probably not a good time to bring up the finer point that no one can do 110%. 

But this kind of thing goes on all the time. We see it in grading and we have a name for it “grade-flation.” 

The problem with such inflation is that it cheapens the value of what came before. I’ve seen it with awards too. 

When I saw president Trump putting The Medal of Freedom around the neck of Rush Limbaugh I thought of all those deserving people who had come before him who had been awarded that medal. Now? Who would want it, now that it had been sullied in that fashion?

But this trend seems to be inevitable in so many things. Some people call it “progress.” But progress is different. It’s the idea that as things change they have improved somehow. If they haven’t improved then it’s not progress, but the same-old/same-old.

I also have seen the calls to re-introduce classes like civics, shop, music, home-ec, phys-ed and art. I’d include such subjects as ping-pong, juggling, and wooden puzzle solving. Such activities have been shown to use other parts of ones brain and lead to making one a better rounded person. So does poetry, and music, and painting and sculpting and getting out and running around.

I went to private school from the sixth grade until I graduated high school. One thing private schools did was have everyone play a sport. It didn’t matter if you were good. It mattered that you were part of the team, and you did what you could. I’d like to see more of that attitude in the public schools. No try-outs, no cuts, Everyone plays. It’s not the winning so much as it is the playing, being part of a team. I remember practicing a play in football, a sweep. It’s a complicated maneuver. The guards, (the players on either side of that ball being hiked) have to simultaneously “pull.” That means as soon as the ball is hiked they don’t charge forward to block their man, but rather step back and run to one side of the men on their team lined up on the line of scrimmage. So as the Tackle and the End on the side where the play is coming are blocking their men, the Guards are running behind them. 

While the Guards were “pulling” the Quarterback has gotten the ball, stepped back to allow the Guard on the side where the play is not going to run by him. As the QB stepped back he’s “pivoted” (ie turned) to hand the ball off to a back that is passing by him from behind. 

Depending on the backfield formation there may be another two backs involved, also running to that side of the field where the play is going.

The idea is to overload the side of the field so that the other team runs out of players to stop your advance, and the man with the ball can break free and go for a touchdown or big yards before being forced out of bounds.

A sweep requires everybody on the team act in concert and do precisely what needs to be done at the exact instant it needs to be. From the time the play starts to when the Guards pull and begin their run is a few seconds. When it works it is a thing of beauty. The whole team moves as one. The Center and the Tackles and the Ends surge off the line as the Guards step back. They begin their run to the side. The Quarterback has pivoted holding the ball out for the Back coming across and then there is the wild scramble as the opposing team tries to “contain” the play not letting the ball carrier get around them to the outside. Meanwhile Linebackers (those on the defensive side right behind their linemen) are either running to the side to head off the ball carrier or they are trying to “shoot a gap” to make it through the surging line of scrimmage and the pulling Guards who are now running parallel to the field of play so they can trip up or tackle the ball carrier.

It requires precision. It requires that everyone do their job. 100% on the split second.

To be part of that effort, when it works, builds an unspoken bond. You understand something you didn’t before. It’s a zen-like thing. 

We, as a nation, need some of that zen-like concerted effort moving together as one.

81 Days until the election on November 3^rd

161 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS The view from my window*.

*No, not now. April 2016, Costa Rica. I was on a mission. More later.