Our scary Orange King continues to rant - adored by his Congressional courtiers

A recent speech given at the  Israeli American Council National Summit in Florida, displayed our Orange King in full TV /social media mode – full of Jewish stereotypes. He talked about Jews and greed, Jews and money, Jews as ruthless wheeler-dealers. “A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well,” he said. "You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all.”

Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. increased by sixty per cent during the first year of Trump’s Presidency, according to the Anti-Defamation League. This past year will set a record for the number of anti-Semitic attacks. 

So - on Wed. Dec 11, 2019, the Orange King signed an executive order to withhold federal funds  from colleges where students are not protected from anti-Semitism.

The Orange King’s son-in-law Jared Kushner defined anti-Semitism in a NYTimes op-ed: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.” In other words, if you criticize Israel, its policies or politicians, you’re an anti-Semite. Thus if a college/university criticizes Israel for taking over a Palestinian village (illegal under international law) they are anti-Semitic.

Using that kind of thinking -  if I oppose my country’s gun laws I’m anti-American, if I don’t approve placing children in cages at our border I’m anti-American. And if I oppose my propaganda minister Herr Stephen Goebbels Miller I’m anti-American?

Free speech? What’s that?

Gotcha Gaetz - Gargantuan Goon

In late October, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was one of the idiot Republican children who barged into  the SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) where an impeachment inquiry witness was getting ready to testify. That stupid act was a major violation of security protocol. (The SCIF had to be completely reset by security experts after some of the Republican invaders brought their cell phones into the area.) 

But there’s more!  Gaetz is a master at childish, petulant, idiotic behavior and he gave an earlier performance on Oct. 14.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was opening a hearing where Fiona Hill was about to testify to the impeachment committee. Schiff  began by inviting  Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican from Ohio and an Orange King sycophant, to make an opening statement. Suddenly, before Jordan started, Schiff  stopped him and said:  “Excuse me. Could we suspend?”

??? Schiff  saw Rep. Matt Gaetz in the room - who was not a member of any the three committees (Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight) conducting the depositions.

Strict House rules: not a committee member -  not allowed in the closed-door session!!!!

Here are some transcript notes of the ensuing "conversation" between Schiff and Gaetz ; it's hard to believe it really happened.

THE CHAIRMAN: Excuse me. Could we suspend?

Do we have any members here who are not members of the three committees authorized to be present?

Mr. Gaetz, you are not permitted to be in the room.

MR. GAETZ: I am on the Judiciary Committee.

THE CHAIRMAN: The Judiciary Committee is not part of this hearing.

MR. GAETZ: I thought the Judiciary Committee had jurisdiction over impeachment.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, you are not permitted to be in the room. Please leave. 

MR. GAETZ: Mr. Chairman, really?

THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, really.

MR. GAETZ: You’re going to include members of Congress on committees that have roles on impeachment ---

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, take your statement to the press. They do you no good here. So, please, absent yourself.

MR. GAETZ: You’re going to have someone remove me from the hearing?

THE CHAIRMAN: You’re going to remove yourself, Mr. Gaetz.

(Smarmy JORDAN jumped in then and said: Mr. Gaetz is going to stay and listen to the testimony.)

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, you’re going to leave the room.

MR. GAETZ: No, I think I have a right to be here—is there a rule you can cite as to why I am not— 

THE CHAIRMAN: You’re not a member of this committee. This is a closed-door session. You’re not permitted to be here.

MR. GAETZ: I’m on the Judiciary Committee.

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz, please absent yourself from the committee. It’s the ruling of the chair you’re not permitted to be here. Please leave the committee.........Mr. Gaetz, you are not a member of the three designated committees that are participating in this interview. You’re not permitted to be here. That is the ruling of the chair and you are required to leave.

MR. GAETZ: Do you have a rule that you’re able to cite for that?

THE CHAIRMAN: I am citing the House rules and the deposition rules. You are not permitted to be here.

MR. GAETZ: Which rule?

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gaetz you are simply delaying the procedures in violation of the rules. Please absent yourself.

MR. GAETZ: Which rule?

THE CHAIRMAN: Why don’t you take your spectacle outside? This is not how we conduct ourselves in this committee.

MR. GAETZ: I’ve seen how you conducted yourself in this committee, and I’d like to be here to observe.

Schiff never lost his cool but certainly by now, he'd heard enough garbage spewing out of this 7 year old bully Republican from Florida.

THE CHAIRMAN: We’ll wait until Mr. Gaetz leaves before we begin. I do want to say this dilatory tactic will come out of the minority’s time for questioning. 

MR. GAETZ: This isn’t dilatory. You can begin anytime you like.

THE CHAIRMAN:  We’re going to begin the clock. This will come out of the minority’s time for questioning.

(MR. JORDAN: Well, I had a statement I wanted to get to when you interrupted me.)

THE CHAIRMAN: We’re not back on the record..............

Get the picture? A short time later Matt Gaetz "removed himself from the room" – on his own!

This would be funnier if it wasn't so tragic - realizing that Matt Gaetz is a U.S. Representative. And what does it say about the people who voted for this arrogant/stupid/petulant/childish bully? 

D.C. Intelligentsia

Meet my Senator, Ted Cruz:

His learned tweet: “Under socialism/communism, people line up for bread; under capitalism, there are lines and lines of bread at the grocery for people to choose from.”

Really? Baby Face Cruz too young to have heard about the Great Depression?

A reminder:

During the Great Depression - under unrestricted capitalism
Americans were lucky to be able to line up for a piece of bread!

Wish someone would start talking about ETHICAL Capitalism! There's enough for everyone - richies can still be rich while making sure everyone has a shot at an education/job/home/and good stuff above and beyond.

Moving on to other idiots in our midst:

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM's answers to media when quizzed on impeachment issues: 

"What I can tell you about the Trump policy towards the Ukraine. It was incoherent. It depends on who you talk to. They seem to be incapable of performing a quid pro quo."

Graham's incapable boss and friends......no problem - incapable goes in the same basket as lying and narcissism (and a dab of stupidity).

Cry or laugh?

Barr Barr Black Sheep's newest shtick - Religion!!!!!

A wonderful article by Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker Magazine online Oct. 17, 2019 with his comments about the most awful speech given by Barr Barr Black sheep (my alternative name for the AG)  at the University of Notre Dame last Friday, (October 11, 2019). Toobin wrote: "Barr took “religious liberty” as his subject, and he portrayed his fellow-believers as a beleaguered and oppressed minority. He was addressing, he said, “the force, fervor, and comprehensiveness of the assault on religion we are experiencing today. This is not decay; this is organized destruction.”

Barr Barr continued  ranting about our country's moral decay - (mostly due to leftist Democrats?)

Toobin pointed out all the errors in Barr's words and then added this: "As Justice Hugo Black put it in 1961, “Neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. Neither (State nor Fed) can constitutionally pass laws or impose requirements which aid all religions as against nonbelievers, and neither can aid those religions based on a belief in the existence of God as against those religions founded on different beliefs.” 

Toobin concluded: "Barr’s speech, under current circumstances, is its hymn to the pious life. He denounces “moral chaos” and “irresponsible personal conduct” as well as “licentiousness—the unbridled pursuit of personal appetites at the expense of the common good.” By contrast, “religion helps teach, train, and habituate people to want what is good.” Throughout this lecture, one can only wonder if William Barr has ever actually met Donald Trump."

Whew! (Maybe Barr Barr attends services at the Orange King's Pussy Church of God ? Or maybe Barr's daddy introduced him to one of the faculty members at his private school for teens in NYC - the brilliant mathematician  J. Epstein?)

Meet the Orange King's Prime Minister of Hate......

He’s Donald Trump’s PRIME MINISTER of HATE. The Orange King’s recently spewed garbage about how impeachment would cause a civil war really came from Pastor Robert Jeffress, of the  First Baptist Church of Dallas. The minister was the source of this and other evangelical quotes which are worse than scary.

It’s hard to forget this minister’s  famous quote about Jews all going to Hell. On the other hand, according to Jeffress' pronouncements, it seems like the nicest people are making reservations for Hell Resorts – so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Before becoming Trumps’ Prime Minister of hate Jeffress had this to say in a Sept. 2008 sermon:

“Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism — not only do they lead people away from the true God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in hell….Hell is going to be filled with good religious people who have rejected the truth of Christ.”

Moving forward to a 2010 interview with the Christian television Trinity Broadcast Network, Jeffress  wanted to make sure we heard him in 2008 and said: “Islam is wrong. It is a heresy from the pit of hell…….Mormonism is wrong. It is a heresy from the pit of hell.”

He added: “Judaism — you can’t be saved being a Jew. You know who said that, by the way? The three greatest Jews in the New Testament: Peter, Paul and Jesus Christ. They all said Judaism won’t do it. It’s faith in Jesus Christ.”

Oh yes – the Prime Minister didn’t forget the Catholics among us: In 2010 Jeffress said the Catholic Church was an instrument of Satan and a “counterfeit religion;” In 2011 he said Catholicism was a “cult-like, pagan religion” that “infected the early Church” and “corrupted” it by showing “the genius of Satan.”

So I guess Expedia and other agencies ought to start checking hotel availability  in Hell???

Make Amurrica great?

Our despotic Orange King is preaching to world leaders at the UN in NYC this week (9/23/2019): forget about globalism and embrace “patriotism” (read “Nationalism”).

Stefan Zweig died in 1942 but this quote about life’s “worst poison” from his memoir, The World of Yesterday is worth repeating:
“I have seen the great mass ideologies grow and spread before my eyes –Fascism in Italy, National Socialism in Germany, Bolshevism in Russia, and above all else that arch-plague nationalism which has poisoned the flower of our European culture.’’

Of course the "deplorables" don't like this kind of writing -"hey - we gotta make Amurrica great!!!"


Anyone else frightened these days?   

♪♪♪ "Whistle While You Work" or "Whistle A Happy Tune"? Sorry - no music in the Orange Kingdom!

So there's this whistle blower telling us about dangerous hanky panky going on - coming from the Orange King's White Palace. Something about phone calls to foreign leaders making promises (on his behalf - not his kingdom).
Barr Barr Black sheep's stranglehold on U.S. Justice is working overtime to prevent anyone knowing the facts.
And the Orange King said:

"Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there may be many people listening from various U.S. agencies, not to mention those from the other country itself. No problem!," he tweeted.  

Your  Orange King continued: 

"Knowing all of this, is anybody dumb enough to believe that I would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader while on such a potentially 'heavily populated' call. I would only do what is right anyway, and only do good for the USA!" 

Dumb enough? He passed that test a long time ago.

Only do what is right? Good for the USA?

Oy!!! Let's all fly to Turnberry for a quick round of golf!!
                                                 
                                              

So where's Dorian going next? Just check with the Orange King!

It's been a month since my last "vent" - the political garbage spewed by the Orange King has been so overwhelming I couldn't decide where to scream first. And where does one begin to complain about the King's silent Congressional courtiers  sitting on their hands as this country goes deeper and deeper into the choking swamp fumes?
Alas, the press is doing their share - reporting the King's lies and fairy tales - but  never describing him accurately: a disgusting, inhumane sick liar suffering from a number of mental illnesses.  Whatever happened to the 25th amendment?

To be fair - journalists/reporters are fearful of losing press credentials if they're entirely honest; although they get them back, it's a pain going through the process. The "press conference" is a thing of the past - no way to ask questions with follow-ups - when you're outside with a chopper motor providing background noise. So the King throws out his lies - no questions please - and they're reported without any context.

A few of the recent horrific Stephen Miller Goebbels generated actions are beyond belief: like the kids here for medical treatment - paying their way - serving as research material for US based scientists getting letters telling them get out of here in 30 days - no ifs, buts. etc. Digest that!!
Or how about the recent rule by the Dept of  HHS - "Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care" which in addition to further throttling  abortion providers also states if there's government funding, physicians can't treat ectopic pregnancies, provide cancer care that might result in infertility and more.... In other words, Big Brother Orange Hair is in charge of medical care - not physicians. (He went to Trump University Medical School?).

And the parade of emoluments continues - the recent Irish spectacle of Half Pence staying at the Orange King's hotel for some Dublin meetings - necessitating long motor processions hours away with the lame excuse of visiting his grandmother's family home.....guess who's paying for all this? Most enjoyable: the small town of Doonbeg (where Half Pence supposedly has family) was all ready for him - a few policemen - but no town people showed up! How wonderful!!!

And the Orange King's funniest weirdo trick of the week: changing the course of Hurricane Dorian - sending it to Alabama with a sharpie. Besides being ridiculous -  it's illegal - subject to jail and fines.
Impeach or 25th amendment - either will do - just get rid of him.

Das Trumpf strikes again!

Monday, August 5, 2019

In response to weekend shootings, Donald Trump read to us from his teleprompter today. He gave his  speech writers extra time over the weekend  - so he could finish a few more rounds of golf at his N.J. golf course.

Interesting: No words about guns in his address. (except that established mentally ill persons shouldn’t get guns!)

He said the attacks were “evil” (wow ) and, referring to the shootings in my city, El Paso, the killer from east Texas was a “wicked man”  (wow again ) who killed “precious little children” (didn’t mention they were similar to the ones he puts in cages – Stephen Miller Goebbels missed this one!)

And guess who’s going to fix our terrible mess of mental illness - The Techies, stupid! They caused this starting with the “gruesome video games” of the 1990’s.

He expects techies to "detect mass shooters before they strike."

He called for more monitoring of social media and the internet, (oops, excuse me – what happened to the bill sitting on Moscow Mitch’s desk asking for more tech help in assuring safe elections – with no foreign country meddling?)

He’s looking for  "cultural change" (ho ho ho – does he even know what cultural means?)

He threw in the big words  "bipartisanship," need for  "great legislation.…

 "It is not up to mentally ill monsters, it is up to us." (So he’s not a mentally ill monster? Or is he not part of “us”?)

Wow – what a presidential speech – hats off to Propaganda minister Miller and assorted members of the money collecting Trumpf Unternehmen !!!

I'll have another piece of dark chocolate and a glass of red wine, thank you.

Some medical studies claim that resveratrol - the polyphenol found in red wine and dark chocolate - may help in elevating your mood (or lessen depression?).
Not sure about this data - but with what's going on in D.C. - it certainly can't hurt for me to indulge......

The Orange King continues to rant....On Sunday, July 28, 2019, the Baltimore Sun newspaper editorial staff had a few things to write about after the Orange King's comments on Cummings and his "rat infested Baltimore district".....:

"Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity. Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one."

Thank goodness for print media - wherever it's still alive!!

Interesting coincidence: guess who was cited as a Baltimore slumlord a few years ago. None other than Saudi lover Jared Kushner! His father in law was cited for racism in renting only to white tenants in his Queens NY apartments but Prince Jared has his own style - he just collects money for rotten housing...

why voting for Democratic Senators more important than ever!!!!!

Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the Washington Post had an interesting column  in mid-June after the first Democratic debates and it's worth repeating:
" Dear Democratic presidential candidates: I know all 23 of you want to run against President Trump, but only one will get that opportunity. If you truly believe your own righteous rhetoric, some of you ought to be spending your time and energy in another vital pursuit — winning control of the Senate." .....He continued with a few specific suggestions like: "I’m talking to you, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who would have a good chance of beating incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. I’m talking to you, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, who could knock off GOP incumbent Sen. Steve Daines."
And I would add that Klobuchar and Bennett are important Democratic senators who would be sorely missed if they left the Senate.

"The only way to stop Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (from Kentucky) is to take his power away, and the only way to do that is for Democrats to win the Senate."

(And the despot Senate leader from Kentucky must leave together with his wife, the crooked wealthy Transportation secretary.)

Robinson concluded: ......"We don’t need 23 presidential candidates. Some of you, please, fight for the Senate."

On to other disgusting frightening matters: Das Trumpfer, otherwise known as the Orange King had an extra dose of lying tweeting and rallying this past week.
One would've thought that his racist comments and requests that people he's afraid of  should go back where they came from might get a rise out of his "Republican" courtiers - but the Orange Kingdom has squeezed too much juice on them and they remain helpless - except for a very few whose brains haven't turned to mush.
"And the Orange King is not racist?" When he and his father wouldn't rent to black tenants looking for rentals in his Queens, NY apartment houses? When the N.J. Casinos he managed to bankrupt were told that when he and daughter arrived all black employees were to leave the floor and not be seen? When he said Jews were only good for cooking - oops excuse me  - doing his accounts and books? Or should we give him an excuse and say he learned from his father who, as a member of the Klu Klux Klan in NYC was arrested after an altercation in the streets - against NYC Police because they were predominantly Catholic?

On the one hand - it's nice to be 90 with your faculties intact - on the other hand you can remember the 1930's and the acquiescence of the crowds as they chanted with their Austrian and Italian dictators to "purify" their populations.....
Never again? Not with Stephen Miller Goebbels and the Foxy network guiding the Orange King and his frightened courtiers.

Just when you think the Orange King has reached the limits of SHAME ...

The Orange King delayed the beginning of ceremonies commemorating the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at the WWII cemetery near the Normandy beaches so he could be interviewed by his Foxy friend.

The Orange King used this solemn site (close to 10,000 Americans are buried here) to call war hero and former special counsel Robert Mueller a “fool”, Senate Minority leader Schumer a “jerk” and Nancy Pelosi a “disaster” .

In 2013, my husband and I and our daughter Joan and granddaughter Miriam had the privilege and honor of visiting the Normandy beaches (courtesy of a Uniworld cruise in France). History became alive as we walked on some of the five beaches, looked at the cliffs behind us with bomb craters and remains of German bunkers. Later we visited the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, on a bluff above Omaha Beach. Uniworld offered cruise guests fresh flowers to place on graves – to honor and thank those who died. It was one of the most moving, somber days in my life.

Here are some photos I took of our visit: Two views of  the American Cemetery; views of "Les Braves", large steel sculpture on Omaha Beach, created by  French artist Anilore Banon, commissioned by the French government, to commemorate the Normandy D-Day landings.
The stone sculpture states: THE ALLIES FORCES LANDING ON THIS SHORE WHICH THEY CALL OMAHA BEACH LIBERATE EUROPE JUNE 6th 1994.

Bar Barr!!!

Why is the press not reminding us - daily - that the rule of law in our country is diminishing - gradually. How can we have a strong judicial system - with a crooked Attorney General?   

Note the unfortunate similarity in the U.S. today of  the paranoia, populism propaganda and absence of rule of law that led to Hitler's ascendancy in the 1930's? The German judiciary, slowly but surely, came under the  control of the Nazis. Alas, too many citizens ignored this failed Austrian artist as a passing  blabbermouth and did not believe what he promised. 

And when our Orange King is not reappointed in 2020 will his followers take to the streets and create mayhem? BTW: I'm waiting to heart more about enacting protective measures for honest 2020 election results. ......?

Our endangered "free" press is often a frightened press. They bolster the Orange King with biased  reporting - either by omission or commenting on every stupid Royal action. (or not calling a lie a lie!) I can only assume NPR must be terrified of losing government money; it's commonplace to note the presenters who seem terrified to question obvious misstatements by Orange King followers. 

And when will the Democrats get their act together - with goals, policies and a candidate who can beat Trump? They need a George Clooney/Reagan type candidate......

Glancing through Harvard Medical School publications, (my husband got his MD degree  there in 1952),   I read about one of the world's richest man - (Sir) Len Blavatnik who contributed sooooo much money to Harvard Medical School - for all this wonderful research/equipment that's will save lives.....if you're well healed! He gives even more money (along with his Russian oligarch friends) to PACS for conservative causes including  Kentucky's Mitch McConnell - who  will make sure that the average person will not have access to medical care. 

Every now and then, there's a sane voice that makes me feel a bit better - and this clip is lifted (my added italics, colors, underlines) from a May 22, 2019  op-ed in the Kansas City Star by former Republican Congressman Tom Coleman:

“According to the redacted Mueller report, candidate Donald Trump, along with members of his team, on multiple occasions welcomed Russian interference on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. For example, the report details a meeting between the Trump campaign chairman and a Russian intelligence asset where polling information and campaign strategy were shared........ the net effect was that the Trump campaign encouraged a foreign adversary to use and misrepresent stolen information on social media platforms to defraud U.S. voters...... the president’s election victory brought forth nothing less than an illegitimate presidency…

...Because DOJ regulations put a president above the law while in office, I believe the only viable option available is for the House of Representatives, under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, to open its own investigation, hold public hearings and then determine if they should pursue removal of the president through impeachment.... providing Americans an opportunity to obtain a better understanding of the consequences to our national security and the lingering threat to our democracy.

If this process leads to impeaching Trump .... his illegitimacy would survive through Vice President Mike Pence’s succession to the presidency. Because the misdeeds were conducted to assure the entire Trump-Pence ticket was elected, both former candidates — Pence as well as Trump — have been disgraced and discredited. To hand the presidency to an illegitimate vice president would be to approve and reward the wrongdoing while the lingering stench of corruption would trail any Pence administration, guaranteeing an untenable presidency. If Trump is impeached, then Pence should not be allowed to become president. The vice president should resign or be impeached as well if for no other reason that he has been the chief enabler for this illegitimate president.”

 ...Failure to pursue impeachment is to condone wrongdoing. To condone wrongdoing is to encourage more of it. To encourage wrongdoing is to give up on the rule of law and our democracy. To give up on the rule of law and democracy invites autocracy and eventually dictatorship. History has taught us this outcome.........it has occurred in other places including the Soviet Union and Germany, as well as in Russia and Venezuela today.”

Barring Barr is a step in the right direction - unless we're looking for a crooked orange TV host Dictator to rule our kingdom! 

Time to Topple the Orange King

It's time to begin the PROCESS  of impeaching the Orange King. Many believe that impeachment would fail in the Senate and might hurt 2020 election results. But - inaction is worse than starting the process.

Sad fact: Too many representatives and senators have not read the Mueller report. Alas, there was no skilled writer available to present the facts of this lengthy collection of data in palatable, easy to read/understand form; (today’s “readers” barely make it beyond a tweet or two) .

Congress is hunting down the facts and the King refuses to offer up any documents. (He’s the King, everybody!!!)

If the impeachment process is the best path to offer judicial access to requested documents - let's do it.

Doing nothing is worse than "waiting for all the facts" which will not be forthcoming if the King has his way.

As a 90 year-old voter I've never suffered through the reign of an Orange TV King governing the United States.  

But - Kings can be toppled too. And all his courtiers, jesters. Sounds good to me!

Banning Arabic numerals? A rally for the Orange King, July 4 on the D.C. Mall? Cheating in golf?

CivicScience (Professional poll takers) polled more than 3,200 Americans …. general topic was math instruction.  Think it was controversial? One of the questions: should Arabic numerals be taught in American schools ?

 29% of poll respondents said it’s okay to teach Arabic numerals in schools.

15% had no opinion on the subject. Duh?

BUT -  56% of these “brilliant”  Americans said Arabic numerals should not be taught in American schools.  

(Not sure where these sages were educated - but assuming they're fans of the Orange King and his  lady in waiting Betsy DeVos!)

Haven't blogged since March - so depressed, disgusted with the political scene.

It's like a tidal wave coming to drown you and you keep running away - but the wave gets bigger and closer......and no rescuers in sight since the Democrats can't seem to get their act together.

In addition to enduring battling bolton, balmy barr and pompous pompeo, we were told the Orange King left his tv and twitter account for a few minutes to welcome a fellow traveler to the White Palace: Hungarian despot ruler - Viktor Orban who both condemns and condones Jewish people - what a neat trick! Orban wants to control higher education in his country - banning anyone who disagrees with him.
He's the kind of man the Orange King loves - a thriving dictator - and the only law of the land is HIS LAW......(oh yes - he's a lawyer, so he has a few brains -which makes him scarier!) 

And now the Orange King wants to hold a political rally celebrating July 4 on the Mall - with my taxes? Is he inviting all 2020 presidential candidates to join him? Ho ho ho! oh yes - he'll even have fireworks.....really? something new? What's the celebration for? Great America Honoring China's Great Wall?

Looking forward to reading the new golf book: Commander in Cheat - How Golf Explains Trump by sportswriter Reilly. When I was younger I always felt an employer could learn more about prospective employees after playing a few sets of tennis or rounds of golf with them; hard to mask who/what you are on the court/course!

Promises, promises, Yay Nancy and pro soccer in EL Paso!

So the Orange King’s budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year has a name: “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.”

Ok – so John Cassidy in the New Yorker magazine reminds us that on June 16, 2015,  when the Orange King was running for POTUS and  emoting as he descended an escalator at Trump Tower, these gems fell out of his mouth:  “Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts,” …. “Have to do it.”  And he kept repeating this as he ran for office, appealing to his adoring deplorables. (Oh yes – he made a point of citing his terrible Republican opponents running against him in the primaries out to cut Medicare and Social Security!) And just before the election he threw in a few more whoppers which included that he alone would “protect” Medicare and Hillary would destroy it.

Really? Oh yeah – gotta deliver my promises, says the Orange King. Promised my guys a WALL to keep out the "invaders".  Medicare? What’s that?

Yay Nancy! Asked if Trump was fit to be President, Speaker Pelosi said, “No. I don’t think he is….(he’s)  ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States. My kind of politician - go Nancy, go!

The newest fun word for pols:  “socialism” . Most people don’t have a clue to its meaning – other than it’s supposed to be pejorative. Like a public school education?

Time to start promoting Ethical Capitalism!

Peeve of the week: Nothing more important than a free press – but it seems some are more free than others. There are still journalists – print/social/whatever  -  who can’t bring themselves to say the Orange King is “LYING”; they write “falsehood”, “misrepresentation” or some other synonym.

A lie is a lie is a lie!!!

A neat story for sports lovers in El Paso: 

El Paso has a new soccer team – the El Paso Locomotives. The team will be sharing the Southwest University Park with El Paso’s AAA minor league team  the El Paso Chihuahuas (affiliate of San Diego Padres). So what happens to the pitcher’s mound when the soccer team arrives? Presto magic! The Esto Retractable Mound lowers the pitcher’s mound twelve inches in ten minutes – ready for soccer – and then can raise it back up for baseball in another ten minutes. Pretty neat!!

More Lies, High Drug Prices and - Wine in flat bottles?

Addressing CPAC on Saturday, March 2, 2019, the Orange King was in top form displaying a bizarre, lying, unhinged personality; he was cheered by his kool-aid sycophants and the press just wrote it up as another day in the life of a crazy president - who included wrapping himself around the U.S. flag at one point.

And the followers ate it up – listening to the King perform;  a bizarre performance based on fantasy, deceit and lies. (The Saturday performance served up 104 lies according to press counters.)

It’s what Goebbels said in the 1930’s – if you lie over and over – you will be believed

After watching Michael Cohen’s session with the House last week (Feb.27, 2019) it’s obvious that  Republicans (read: frightened, weak legislators)  can be counted on to run interference and defense for their Orange King no matter how much he lies, deceives, cheats or attacks innocents.

As an eternal optimist I had hoped that some of these Royal serfs would jump ship and decide that our country was more important than the Orange King’s “pockets”. My optimism, alas, is waning.

Nothing new under the sun:

 Sixty years ago, a panel of senators, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver,  grilled pharma about rising drug costs and drug-company profits. Those hearings led to new legal standards for drug safety and drug effectiveness; alas controlling prices were forgotten.

So last week the Senate decided to hold hearings once again about rising prices. My guess: nothing will change. Prices will only continue to rise!

Pharmaceutical companies know how to limit regulations and protect their profits! 

I read that Florida's governor wants to allow his state to import drugs from Canada – because they’re cheaper. Pharma infers imports may be unsafe.
Oh sure! Canadians are all taking unsafe drugs? 

(Talking about safety  - one thing is sure:  they’re 100 times safer than all the unnecessary supplements U.S. residents buy that have never been inspected by the FDA or other government entity!)

My personal complaint: I use eye drops made by a U.S. company who moved their headquarters to Ireland to avoid U.S. taxes; their medication is made in various locations around the world – same box, same drops, same everything except price: about $35 in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, South/Central America and close to $200 in the U.S.! Interestingly, the U.S. price was about $75 two years ago – the raised prices indicate nothing new - except greed. There is no generic version; a few years ago the company made the medication less potent (yielding same results) but were able to claim  (in court) this was a “new” drug – therefore the patent was extended!

I’m sure one of the reasons for drug price hikes (in addition to greed) are the hefty payments for  their daily tv commercials we endure every day. If you feel fine when you sit down to watch tv, you may very well end your viewing with assorted illnesses/symptoms thanks to  pharmaceutical company suggestions.

Once upon a time, these companies couldn't advertise to the public........

Moving on to pleasanter topics: 

How about wine in a flat plastic bottle?

A story in the UK newspaper The Guardian about the Garcon Wines company invention: flat, plastic wine bottles. Their claim:  full size flat wine bottles will  reduce carbon emissions and costs in the entire wine industry supply chain. Santiago Navarro is the chief executive, co-founder of Garçon Wines; he said normal wine cases offer "costly logistics, excessive packaging, wasted resources and a grotesque carbon footprint".

Just imagine: gift a friend by dropping your favorite bottle of wine in a mail slot!

Sanctions, POTUS cleaners and Pig Wings....

Politics: Annoyed  is an understatement  when referring to our fraudulent Royal Orange King and his  "courtiers" who recently lifted sanctions on yet another group of rich Russian thugs - and the end result will help Putin acquire more undeserved riches.

Added garbage: the illustrious Treasury courtier Mnuchin pushed for this- he's a buddy of Len Blavatnik - who is rich enough to play every side of the aisle - Mostly Red, (M.McConnell  is the lucky recipient of some of his millions - surprised?) some Blue and he sweetens the damage by including big bucks to Harvard Medical School. His family came from the Ukraine in the 1970's - he earned graduate degrees from Columbia and Harvard) and he's "ungeshtupt with gelt" - couple of billion - mas o menos. But I guess the more you have the more you want; Blavatnik is a buddy of Derapaska - and all buddies lead to Putin!  And Pootie boy is cozying up with China, making nice with Little Rocket  - and can you smell WWIII???

Whatever happened to the  McCarthyites and other Republicans who used to see Communists under every chair, table or bed and now are so chillingly quiet as Putin, his oligarch buddies  and flock of slaves (many former hard core Communists) work hard at destroying us and other democratic countries?

Needed: Laughter! I'm always glad to have a laugh in the kitchen - where I spend most of my happy hours. Just got a news release that made my day!

Something new from the innovative New Metro Design Group (I use their remarkable BeaterBlade attachment on my KitchenAid Mixer which scrapes the sides of the bowl as it mixes!): the ANGRY POTUS Microwave Cleaner!

Using language familiar to this creature: ANGRY POTUS is absolutely the greatest, bigliest way to clean your microwave. All you have to do is remove POTUS’ hair - add vinegar and water, stick him in your microwave for 3 minutes on medium high. Hot steam comes out of POTUS’ head – really! – which softens crusted, stuck-on microwave dirt and stains. Let POTUS sit for about two minutes- remove him – and wipe the inside of the microwave with a sponge or rag. Voila! Sparkling clean – BIGLY!!! About $15 at Amazon. (There's a less  expensive model – ANGRY MAMA – available if you have a problem cooking the Orange King!) 

More foodie news:
Robots on campus in Virginia: If you're a student, faculty, or staff member at the Fairfax VA campus of George Mason University and feel the need for a nosh - contact your local robot:  Sodexo Inc. and Starship Technologies launched robot food delivery services to the campus. The service is supposed to integrate with student meal plans and food and drinks will be delivered anywhere on campus!

And if you see Pork Wings on the menu next time you eat out - not to worry,  pigs are not flying (as of now) .This item on the menu refers to cuts from the animal's leg known as shanks. The Pioneer Meat company in Michigan gets the credit for promoting this relatively new snack type food. Their pig wings include a small attached bone (from the hog's fibula) making it easy to hold while nibbling. The company estimates  about 5 to 7 million pounds of pig wings are sold annually at this time!

Ninety - or Chai 5!!!* for me. A bumpy year for the Orange King!

Welcome to 2019!
What's on the Orange King's agenda? How about some more delusions? Like
"I could be a great general!" Really? Not after the podiatrist in his father's building attested to Orange King's "bone spurs" - (unfit for military). Podiatrist  was rewarded with quick repairs to his apartment by landlord Fred Trump!

The Orange King's  "friends/sycophants" are rolling their eyes after his story about Russia's invasion in Afghanistan. My own take on Afghanistan: no need to be there - takeovers tried since mid-19th century - and everyone left - the Brits, the Russians, etc. After 18 years of wasted men and money maybe it's time for us to leave; I'm assuming Orange King wants to leave because he sees no Trump Towers rising there. (Probably the only time I agree with the King.)

And Nancy Pelosi is a shining example that age "numbers" are meaningless when you're a smart, politically savvy politician. Brava Nancy!!

The new House Representatives added a bit of spice with a newcomer from Michigan, Democratic Congresswoman Rashida  Tlaib. She's interested in impeaching the Orange King and used an expletive to express herself at a party:  Democrats will “impeach the motherf….r” Although this is not my choice of words and does not really advance the Democratic Party’s  goals it's interesting to note the rush to criticize her.

How quickly we forget – especially if the speaker is a “man”. Dick Cheney once told Sen. Patrick Leahy to “go f..k yourself” on the floor of the United States Senate. He did not apologize – but went on to say that he believed his colleagues felt the same way and his comment was “badly needed to be said”!  (He received praise from Conservatives and was seen as “strong”.)

 Like father, like daughter -  Cheney’s daughter, a congresswoman from Wyoming was also quick to criticize Tlaib!

Fun stuff:

I celebrated my 90th birthday on the Celebrity Infinity - a short cruise in the Caribbean with most of my family. My "kid" cousin Florrie, her daughter Barbara and granddaughter Carly really surprised me - timing their arrival in Fort Lauderdale in time to greet me before we boarded our ship. (Florrie, my closest favorite cousin will reach the ChaiXFive in May!)  And thoughtful Carly came supplied with Prosecco for a toast!

I love travel on any water - ocean, river, whatever. Where we sail is not too important. We sailed on Celebrity's Infinity and once again - I can only rave about the service level on Celebrity ships. Every staff member - from officers to those polishing hand rails was always quick to ask if we needed help and,

always with a smile. Interesting note - I was able to rent a walker for my husband for the cruise and it was waiting for him in our cabin when we arrived! (We just left it in the cabin when we disembarked; Celebrity wheeled my husband on and off the ship with their wheelchairs.)

Celebrity staff sent flowers, champagne, wine to my cabin and posted a big Happy 90th sign on my door.





Happy group - Sarah, Miriam, Joan, Susan, Lee . me, standing; Ben sitting.

Birthday cake in the Tuscan Grill Restaurant:

Celebrity Infinity docked in Cozumel







*For my friends who are not familiar with CHAI: "Chai" is a word formed by two letters in the Hebrew alphabet: Chet (ח‬) and Yod  (י‬); the combination means  "alive", or "living".
 If one assigns numbers to the Hebrew alphabet, chai adds up to 18 and this is considered a lucky number. Chai X five thus equals 90!