Trump Pardons Flynn

The most corrupt president in U. S. history just pardoned Michael Flynn, his first national security advisor who pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI. 

You all remember Flynn, the disgraced former general who lead the chant "Lock her up!" against Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Trump campaign rallies.

This pardon was expected but still disgusting to hear. Of course this is the first of many pardons of criminals that Trump will do before he leaves office January 20th. I guess in a way you could say this is Trump's form of conceding the presidential election to Joe Biden.

Yesterday 2,157 people died from the COVID virus. One person every 40 second. Another 170000 people were infected. U. S. hospitalization for COVID-19surpassed 87000 on Tuesday, an all time high. Since the global pandemic began, the U. S. has over 260,000 deaths and 12.6 million infections, the most in the world. And what is Donald Trump's priority? Pardoning a traitorous criminal like Michael Flynn, who conspired with Turkish president Erdogan to kidnap one of Erdogan's political rivals, a religious cleric who lives in the U.S.

Trump says nothing about the virus. He doesn't care. What Trump cares about is staying in power at any cost and enabling his like minded traitorous friends and enablers. And still, his Congressional Republican enablers, led by Moscow Mitch McConnell, say nothing. They too, by their silence, are traitors to this country. We will never forget their cowardice.

Trumpism Corrupts: Spicer Edition

Sean Spicer, White House press secretary scolding the media for telling the truth

I am worried folks.

After witnessing this weekend the worst start of an presidential administration in my life I am worried to death.  This man we have in the White House is dangerous. 

Already he has forfeited his creditability by sending his press spokesman out to state an easily provable lie.  How can his press spokesman regain the press (and I don't care what you think of the press) and the country's trust after such a deplorable and shameful display of such "Baghdad Bob" lies?

This statement from the conservative newspaper The Weekly Standard expresses how I feel exactly:

"Rule #1 for press relations is that you can obfuscate, you can misrepresent, you can shade the truth to a ridiculous degree, or play dumb and pretend not to know things you absolutely do know. But you can’t peddle affirmative, provable falsehoods. And it’s not because there’s some code of honor among press secretaries, but because once you’re a proven liar in public, you can’t adequately serve your principal. Every principal needs a spokesman who has the ability, in a crunch, to tell the press something important and know that they’ll be believed 100 percent, without reservation.

But like I said, this isn’t about Spicer.

What’s worrisome is that Spicer wouldn’t have blown his credibility with the national press on Day 2 of the administration unless it was vitally important to Trump.

And if media reports about crowd size are so important to Trump that he’d push Spicer out there to lie for him, then it means that all the tinpot-dictator, authoritarian, characterological tics that people worried about during the campaign are still very much active."

Folks, unless this man changes his way he is going to destroy out country and get us killed.  I am deadly serious.

We don't have time to indulge Donald Trump.  This isn't a reality show, this is real life.  Donald Trump needs to realize that he is working for us and to leave his fragile ego behind. 

Time to grow up Donald and time for the Trump supporters to stop giving him a pass. This country can no longer afford to indulge his childish and selfish behavior. By the way, who cares about crowd size anyway? With all that Donald Trump has in his In Box, why is he obsessing on crowd size?  

Grow up Donald.

Doomsday?

Any body else feel like I do today?

I woke up this morning with this feeling of impending doom. The last time I felt even this close was when we had trouble selling our house in Pennsylvania and were struggling paying two mortgages and facing financial ruin. The feeling I have this morning is even worse.  I fear for our country.

Do I really have to explain what is the source of my feeling of impending doom?  For those of you still wondering, it is the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States.

What have we done?  Correction, what have THEY (those people who voted for Trump) done?  Don't they realize that they voted for a person who is grossly unsuited to lead the most powerful country on the earth?  

Last night I was listening to Trump speak at one of the pre inaugural events, hoping he would finally begin to act presidential.  Didn't happen.  Believe it or not he was still bragging about wining the election instead of speaking about bringing our country together.

My immediate fear with the new Trump administration is that the Republicans in Congress will steamroll their long desired wishes to begin dismantling the social safety net of Social Security and Medicare. 

My second fear, and this folks just scares me to death, is that Trump's finger is on the nuclear button.  I haven't been this afraid since I was eight years old and told to crawl under my school desk of the Russians dropped the atom bomb.

I'm not afraid to admit that I am afraid.  God help us.

FBI Director Confirms Clinton E-mails No Change

James Comey, FBI Director

Last week FBI director James Comey sent a letter to the House subcommittee investigating Hillary Clinton's e-mails, saying they had discovered more e-mails on Hillary's aide Huma Abedin's computer that she shared with her disgraced estranged husband Anthony Weiner.  

That letter adversely affected the presidential election  two weeks before the vote.  The news media was all over it.  The Trump campaign went into an orgasmic frenzy shouting the lie  "Hillary is a criminal, lock her up!"

Well folks, James Comey just released another letter today saying "A review of new Clinton emails has not changed or original conclusion against charges."  See HERE

So what will the Trump campaign do now after this news?  They will do what they always do, lie.  

Here's the irony, the Trump campaign has the constant drumbeat that Hillary is untrustworthy and a liar.  Of course any reasonable person knows who is untrustworthy and the liar, Donald J. Trump.

Two more days folks, until we can put this nightmare of Trumpism behind us.  To vote for Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump and confirm permanently Trump for the loser that he is.  

You know it's a shame in a way.  Trump appealed to a certain portion of the electorate that has felt left out and who have legitimate concerns.  Oh sure he attracted the white supremacists, and the haters but his campaign also attracted voters who felt neglected and left out of the system.  The shame is that a con man like Donald Trump was took advantage of these people. 

In two days Donald J. Trump will be branded forever in American history for the loser that he is.   Can't happen soon enough.

Those Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Well, here we are folks.  Right in the middle of the hazy, crazy days of summer.  

The photo above I took last night as I was returning from my early evening bike ride just as the sun was setting in my development. Oh how I do love my evening bike rides.

The heaving hand of heat and humidity continues to oppress this southern Delmarva peninsula where I live.  One the one side if the Delaware Bay and the other the Chesapeake Bay.  No wonder we have major humidity most of the summer.  Just like the Florida peninsula experiences hum ditty most of the summer.  We do too folks!

So what's up with Ron today? Well, I tend to stay in my air condition manse on days like this.  I think Bill is outside doing something, who knows what.  I took my early morning walk at 7 am this morning, before the sun was totally high in the sky.  Once that sun is up there, the heat and humidity is almost unbearable.  At least it is for me, the old codger I have become.  75 years old this year folks!  Can you believe it?  Just about every day I think "how is it I have survived when most of my friends and relatives has passed on to the Great Beyond?"  

If you had asked me back in my foolish youth "How long are you going to live Ron?" I would probably have answered "Oh, fifty or sixty."  Never in a million years would I have ever believe I would still be going strong in my seventy fifth year on this planet.  

As I sit here in front my my 27 inch, iMac computer listening to my Bose radio playing my Internet Pandora Antiques Beat radio, in the air conditioned comfort of my home office, I think of all those places in the world that are undergoing almost unthinkable suffering right now.  From the failed coup attempt in Turkey last night to the truck driven mowing down hundreds of Bastille Day celebrators in Nice France, I consider myself so fortunate to be in my safe and comfortable home.  My only worry now (and I hate to admit this) is that this country would truly go to hell in a hand basket if the Ultimate Con Artist (he's bamboozled literally millions of voters) is elected president.  My concern is not only Supreme Court nominations which would roll back so many advances man in justice but to the uncertainty of a Trump presidency.  Not to go on a rant, which I am sorely tempted to do, but a Trump presidency would destroy this county.  Did I make that perfectly clear?  Trump is only interested in winning, he isn't actually interested in governing.  He's too lazy to do that.  He has the attention span of a gnat.  Stop it Ron!  I just stopped myself from gong on a rant.

So folks, stay cool.  I just did.

Thoughts On Donald J. Trump

As I predicted in one of my blog posts many months ago, Donald J. Trump is the (presumptive) Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States.

At first I liked Donald Trump. I liked the fact that he shook up the political (Republican) establishment.  Many of the things he said were things I thought.  Jeb Bush was "low energy."  Former Texas governor Rick Perry did get glasses so he "looked smarter."  Marco Rubio was "Little Marco" who was robotic.  Dr. Ben Carson was (and is) a whacko.  Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the Trump putdowns on the Establishment Republican candidates.  Apparently I wasn't alone in my admiration and approval of Trump shaking up the established order.  Trump got more votes in the primaries than any Republican candidate in the history of the United States.

Now I have to wonder if some of those voters are having second thoughts after Trump's pronouncements about the "Mexican judge" who is overseeing the Trump University fraud case.  The judge isn't Mexican.

Then last week, after the horrible mass shooting in Orlando, Florida Trump showed his abysmal ignorance again by railing against the shooter who he said was "born in Afghan."  Actually the shooter was born in Queens, New York, just like Trump.

I think by now it is quite obvious to most level headed people that Trump has a narcissistic personality disorder.  He is a pathological liar.  Even worse, he believe his lies.  

Donald Trump is a con man.  He is a fraud. 

But you know what folks?  People who continue to support Trump know these facts and will continue to support him.  Of course one of the reasons is that they hate Hillary that much (which I don't nor will ever understand). These people would probably vote for Charles Manson before they would vote for Hillary Clinton.  As I said, I don't understand that hate just like I don't understand the hate for President Obama.

However, I think the other reason I think is that those Trump supporters are so disgusted with our present political system that they would vote for any strong personality who challenges that political system.  I understand that feeling because that is the way I feel too.  But folks, would I vote for Trump?  Not on your life and nor should you if you care about our country.

One thing is for sure, the next five months are sure going to be interesting as the Republican leadership twist themselves into knots supporting a candidate that they clearly know is  certifiably insane.

Trump's Small Hands

Trump displaying his "baby" hands

Well folks, it looks like Donald J. Trump is well on his way to the Republican nomination.  I'm listening to the results of the Super Tuesday primary as I write this blog.

I could say so much about this impending disaster of Trump getting the Republican nomination and actually getting elected president (wake me up, I MUST be dreaming!), but I'm only going to address one subject in this blog.  Trump's small hands.

I was surprised when Marco Rubio also noticed how small Trumps hands were.  I noticed the same thing during the first Republican debate.  

I just happened to notice his smallness of his hands while Trump was waving them about and pointing his finger while making a point.  I thought "Why, he has doll's hands!"  I thought my TV somehow distorted how small his hands were. But now I know, he DOES have those little "baby" hands.  Man oh man Donald Trump.  

All I can say is I'll repeat what Marco Rubio said:

"You know what they say about a man with small hands . . . . YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM!"  

Wow, these are tiny hands

By the way, in case you're wondering . . . . . yes, I have large hands. You can trust me. 

Me and my "paws" after a visit to my dermatologist's office when he took another piece out of my face 

I have big feet too.

Day One of the Trip South

Here I sit in a hotel room at the Hampton Inn in Mebane. North Carolina. I'm trying to update my blog with my iPad and my teeny, tin keyboard working in HTML code. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise because this posting won't be too long. One thing I noticed right off the bat, no spell check. Watch out.

Sorry about the double pictures of the tulips. I only meant to post one but I had to put the pictures in draft form and I can't remove them from this post because I'm CONTRAINED! Bear with me.

We left early this morning. I did most of the driving (about six hours) until we got to Durham, North Carolina. That's when I started losing it. I just cannot drive long distances anymore. This will probably be my last road trip where I drive unless I can talk someone into driving (I'll rent the van and pay the hotel rooms plus meals! HINT! HINT!)

For those of you who know me and Bill, yes we started to argue only ten minutes into the ride. He wanted to go back. "TURN AROUND!" I worked it through (my life isn't easy believe me) and we managed another forty or fifty miles before we were screaming at each other. I won't bore you with all the gritty details but suffice it to say we're here now. We both agreed this will be our last road trip together. This is actually Bill's Farwell to his hometown of Toccoa Georgia. He wants to see it one more time before he departs this earth. The last time (last June) we made this trip it was to see my Mother for what I was pretty sure was the last time I would see her alive and it turned out to be true because she died three months after wse visited her. That's a sad story so I'll leave it.

By the way, this is tough typing without the use of a mouse. Hmmmm. I'm managing.

We had lunch at Shoney's. So, so. The iced tea was good and the hamburger was real although it wasn't cooked well done the way I prefer it. This evening we had dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Ruby Tuesday may be a chain restaurant but I find its food as good and usually better than the fare offered at pricier restaurants where I'm from, Beach Resort Town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Bill had Chinese dumplings and I had Chicken Florentine (yes, no SEAFOOD again for moi).

Bill's in his room now and I'm here attempting to update my daily blog despite numerous obstacles which I'm not used to dealing with including this teeney, tiny iPad screed and teeny, tine keyboard (for my big fingers). We decided to get separate rooms this time because we're on different sleeping schedules. Bill goes to bed at 7 or so and I usually go much later. We truly have very little in common. Bill even eats at different times that I do.

Tomorrow after a sumptuous breakfast here at the Hampton Inn we're off to Greenville, South Carolina to spend a couple of days with my brother John and his wife Barbara. I'll be sleeping in the same bedroom (and bed) that my Mother died. That probably should bother me but it doesn't When I stay with my brother Isaac in Pennsylvania I also stay in our Mom's bedroom and her bed. That freaks my brother out. Doesn't bother me, probably because that was my bedroom before it was hers. One of my bedrooms in my house in Delaware I have set aside as a shrine to my Mom. She never slept there but I kept it for her. I've put a basket if ger teddy bears on the her bed and I have her funeral book and sympathy cards on a bench next to her bed. That is the room I feel like she is there. She left those other rooms. It's my turn now.

But I'm getting off the subject. You know me and my blogs. I write just what comes into my mind. You all never know where I'm going. Sometimes I don't even know!

Just a couple of more things off subject before I leave you all tonight. Did anybody see Donald J. Trump get skunked last night at the White House Correspondents Dinner. President Obama, with aplomb, style and class easily handed The Donald his ass on a platter. Then Seth Myers (the comedian master of ceremonies) then proceeded to rip Trump an New One. Trump wasn't laughing. I LOVED IT! I live for this kind of Theater.

There was one other thing I wanted to talk about but I forget what it was now. My brother just called me on my iPhone to check in on me. I'm being 'eyed' out here! Talking on my iPhone while typing on my iPad. Techno Wizard here folks! Who would've thunk?

I had to come down to the business center here at the hotel to complete this blog.  It's great to be back to a regular keyboard even if it is one of those clunkly Dell keyboards (brings back bad memories). 

I removed the double posting of my orange tulip pictures (one regular and one in HD).  I wish I could post some of the pictures I took today but I don't know how to do that.  There is probably a way but it is beyond my skills right at this time.  I'll figure it out in time though.  Just another challenge. 

The worst part of this trip is over with.  The Big Haul down through the Delmarva Pensinula ending with going through Virginia Beach and Norfolk - an absolute nightmare.  And I hate the Chesapeak Tunnel.  I get very nervous going under the bay in that narrow tunnel with oncoming traffic.  SCARY!  I'm pretty sure this is the last time I am making this trip.  We're going back home a different way.  Either we'll take 81 up to Pennsylvania to visit my other brother or we will go directly home to Delaware by way of Washington DC which is what I was trying to avoid all along.  It can't be any worse than Virginia Beach/Norfolk. 

So that folks is my First Day on my Trip South.  More tomorrow!