October 9, 2019

This is the Constitutional Crisis We Feared: Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/09/this-is-constitutional-crisis-we-feared/

by Paul Waldman,
opinion writer,
October 9 at 1:02 PM
Washington Post.com

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For nearly three years, President Trump’s critics have warned that there might come a point when we face a genuine constitutional crisis, one that threatens our very Democratic system. That constitutional crisis has arrived.

The White House has released an extraordinary letter from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to congressional Democrats, a document that will live on in infamy from this day forward as evidence of how profoundly Trump corrupted the office of the president and everyone around him.

Despite the fact that it appears under the signature of the chief lawyer of the White House, the letter reads like some combination of a deeply misinformed seventh-grader’s social studies paper and a rant from Sean Hannity, randomly tossing around terms like “civil liberties” and “separation of powers” without any apparent understanding of what they mean. And when they can’t, they will then go to the courts.”

Boiled down to its essence, the letter asserts that Trump is beyond the reach of oversight, of impeachment and of any checks and balances from the legislative branch. Because he thinks Congress is not treating him “fairly” (the word “fair” appears eight times in the letter), Trump has decided that he can issue a blanket refusal to “participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry.” All requests for documents and testimony will be rejected, and all subpoenas will be thrown in the trash.

To put this in context, there are regular disputes between Congress and the executive branch over particular subpoenas or other ways Congress exercises its oversight power.

“The executive rarely if ever is willing to give up everything Congress wants on the terms that Congress wants,” Professor Melissa Murray of New York University law school told me. But the usual procedure is that after some negotiation, “they reach some compromise that’s mutually acceptable. And when they can’t, they will then go to the courts.”

.....................rest of article at link above.........................................

October 8, 2019

Very Strange Experience.

Last night, Monday Oct 7, I was at a party for a 3 month old baby. Very cute, but at the end of the evening the host played a video of me being on Candid Camera in 1964. Now that was 55 years ago. So I was a delivery boy and I went to an address, and saw a sign on a door that said "Nudist Convention Colony all entrants must be properly attired." I scratched my head and said, "Can I take off half my clothes.?.. And that was on coast to coast TV on a very popular show in 1964. ( And the host of last nights party went to a lot of trouble to get that video..believe me..)

What was strange for me, (I had seen that before) but how I looked when I was 18. A young, handsome, thin fellow delivering packages. I ain't the same now, but yes, I was on Candid Camera in 1964..

October 5, 2019

Sheriff's Deputy Delivers Baby After Pulling Over Speeding Parents: A 'Reasonable Excuse'

Nice story from Florida:

https://people.com/human-interest/sheriffs-deputy-delivers-baby-pulling-over-speeding-parents/

As a Florida sheriff’s deputy in law enforcement for nearly three decades, Robert Pounds has delivered plenty of speeding tickets over the years. But prior to this week, he’d never before delivered a baby.

Pounds put his many years of training to work early Tuesday when he helped deliver a baby girl on the side of the road after pulling her parents over for speeding

The deputy had noticed a car going 63 mph in a 45 mph zone on Airport-Pulling Road in Collier County, and conducted a traffic stop around 4:30 a.m., the Collier County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post.

As footage from the dash-cam shows, the car’s driver, Wilfrid Jean-Louis, explained the situation, prompting Pounds, a father of three, to spring into action and helped deliver a baby girl

October 4, 2019

The Bully in Charge is Going Down.

..All he had to do is shut up. He couldn't. Like all bullies, he thinks he is indestructible. He is not. He is going down and that is the truth. When? I don't know. How will it happen? I don't know. Maybe impeachment. Maybe resignation. Maybe some other way. It doesn't matter. He is going down. Watching this bully go down is invigorating. Trump is acting like he knows he is going down. That doesn't matter either. What matters is he has lost and is going down. We won, and the bully is going down.

October 4, 2019

I look for things,here there and everywhere. I discovered a trick that helps a lot.

I leave things, and then can't find them. It may be over here or over there, or in here or in that drawer. ...

Here is the trick......6 step approach. (NO, you do not have to read a book, and this ain't costing anything, so do not blame me if it does not work...)

Step 1. Try as best as you can to keep surfaces clean..We have all kinds of surfaces in our places, and if you can
keep them clean, and empty of stuff, then you have a better chance of finding it.

Step 2. Once you have as many clean surfaces that you can manage. please try to keep those surfaces clean
and clutter free.

Step 3. You got a thing and it is important, you want to use it again soon, or it is important to know where it is.
.............So, you place it on one of the clean surfaces, where you can see it and say to yourself..This is
.............is where the stapler is. Look at it. Walk away.

Step 4 Now when you look for the stapler that staples papers together, you look around to those surfaces and ,you know where you put it.


Step 5.. You are looking for the stapler, and don't know where you put it, you look at the surfaces where stuff is, and there is the stapler.

Step 6...If you are sure you are concentrating, on that item, perhaps you can put the thing in a drawer, and say to yourself. I put the stapler in that drawer in the kitchen. or I am putting it on that surface over there.

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I know, you don't think this one will work..OK. I understand..Sounds kind of silly. But, if you have an important note, or thing, and you don't have enough time to put it away, putting that note or thing in a place that is easy to see will save a lot of time. Of course, things do have their place in drawers and closets, yes, this is for people like me who are in a rush, and don't want to put it away,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

...THEN PUT IT SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU CAN SEE THAT THING. PUT IT AWAY LATER IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE SURE YOU WILL FIND IT, LIKE IN A CORRECT DRAWER OR CLOSET.

Guess what? That is it and that is all. What the hell am I doing up on the computer at 3:27am my time, Central Time..???? talking about loosing and finding stuff... ??got to hide

October 3, 2019

Trump did it again today..Attack, Attack and Attack. No remorse, just more attacks on Biden & son.

...It is all he knows. Never apology. Just more attacks. He didn't do anything wrong. Did he?..It seems to me that Trump has admitted to doing something that is against the law.
...Doesn't matter, back to the plan...Attack, Attack and Attack some more. That is exactly what Donald Trump did about 2 1/2 hours ago

October 3, 2019

Franklin Roosevelt on "Kindness, Being Cruel, and Being Tough" Radio address, October 13, 1940.

The first 2 sentences are often quoted......Almost 79 years ago.

In a radio address for the Mobilization for Human Needs on October 13, 1940, the President said:
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“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough.

The vigorous expression of our American community spirit is truly important. The ancient injunction to love thy neighbor as thyself is still the force that animates our faith—a faith that we are determined shall live and conquer in a world poisoned by hatred and ravaged by war.”

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October 3, 2019

I got a cell phone that I have not used in a few days. Got the "social security scam call 4 times

when I finally recharged it up and listened to the voice mail. In 3 days 4 scam calls saying my social security account "has fraudulent activity" call this number. This is the largest scam going on now. We talked about it months ago, but the calls do not stop, they increase....Here is one very important aspect of this:

If the scam did not work, and people were not sucked in, then the scam would decrease, not increase. More calls mean more scammers are trying it...

The Social Security Administration will never call you out of the blue, and ask for a number NEVER...

October 2, 2019

Do you think that Trump has a clue to what is coming?

It seems obvious to me that he will not be President of the U.S. when this is all said and done. Resignation or impeachment is going to happen. Do you think he has a clue? Do you think that is definite, or can he weasel his way out of this too. I think he will be gone by Jan 1, 2020, one way or another.

October 1, 2019

Sydney J. Harris: Time lost can never be regained---not for love nor money.

published in Chicago Sun-Times. (sometime after Jan 1, 1980.) date after that, .. unknown..?

A favorite column of mine, and I wanted to share it. I found the column in some saved materials. I have separated paragraphs, so it is easier to read.. Thank You.. Stuart G
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.. I have always dislike the phrase, "Time is money." That is the last thing that time is, for it is irreplaceable, and not all the money in the world can bring it back or halt it or reverse it.
.
.. Actually, time is love. People who are always in a hurry, who have no time for anything except the most important matters, fail to understand the nature and needs of love.

...Many a man in our society imagines that he is "supporting" his family by working long hours, attending innumerable meetings and traveling incessantly. But through his motives may be good, his reasoning is faulty.

...No amount of material goods can serve as an effective substitute for time spent with loved ones. The most "neglected" children are not those of the poor, but those of the rice--or those trying to get there. There are no presents as important as presence.

...We have become victims of time. Our schedules are running us, instead of our running them. While it is true that people in the Middle Ages worked many longer hours than we do, a third of the days in a year were devoted to holidays when families were together.

...Time is love in other ways as well--the time we spend with the old, the infirm, the time a doctor spends with a patient, the time a teacher spends with a student in special needs of help, the time a pastor devotes to the personal needs of his flock. In all these areas, all of us are guilty of being dominated by the clock, of rationing our time so that everyone is "taken care of," but no one is really cared for.

...Children of course at the most injured by our obsessive delusion that time is money. Fathers will spend weeks alienated from their children, and imagine that an afternoon's fishing experience or trip to the zoo makes up for this neglect.

..It would be more realistic to turn the proverb around and say, "money is time"-- that the best thing that money can do for you is buy the time to demonstrate your love by your company, your interest, your concern and your pleasure.

...Of course, I recognize that there are millions of broken families where this is hard or impossible, and that millions of mothers with young children must work in order to meet the families bills. But I wonder how many of these might still be together if the father had not put his job before his parental responsibilities. If the mother had not gone to work for reasons other than financial need..

...Time is love, above all else. It is the most precious commodity in the world, and should be lavished on those we care most about. When it is not, retribution is swift and certain and there is no turning back the clock.