Day: August 8, 2018

MLMM Photo Challenge — Soft Landing

Fandango13 Comments

img_2129Suddenly there was no wind beneath her wings and, as she looked down at the earth below her, she knew that she was going to crash. All she could do was strive for a soft landing.

She managed to land in a small clearing in the forest on a bed of fallen leaves and thick moss, so while she was shaken up, she was, after a thorough self-investigation, unable to detect any serious injury.

Night was falling and she didn’t want to linger in the deep woods for very long. She stood up slowly so as to not lose her balance, since she was still feeling a bit shaky. She looked around for a path or trail that might lead her out of the forest, and when she found one, she pulled her large wings as close to her torso as she could and began walking.

She didn’t know how long she’d been walking when she saw the twinkling lights of a small community in the distance. Despite being tired, hungry, and thirsty, she picked up her pace, hoping to find some hospitable locals who might offer her nourishment and shelter.

As she got closer to the town, she began to question the wisdom of her decision to leave the forest. She encountered several younger children who saw her and her strange anatomy and scurried away. She decided that it was too late to turn back, so she cautiously continued walking toward the village.

And then she saw a rather large group of men and women carrying torches heading rapidly in her direction. She stood as tall as she could and spread her wings as high and as wide as they could go. The mob stopped, but she wondered for how long.

Written for the following prompts:

Photo Credit: ezorenier@deviantart.

100WW — Geography Lesson

Fandango10 Comments

img_2137Danny looked at the sign and got a puzzled expression on his face. “Daddy,” he asked. “What is Toronto?”

“Toronto is a city in Canada,” Danny’s father said.

“What’s Canada?”

“It’s a country, Danny, next to the United States.

“And what is Lanai?”

“It’s one of the Hawaiian Islands, Danny.”

“But we’re in Hawaii, aren’t we, Daddy?”

“Yes, but we’re on Maui, a different island.”

“And what’s Samoa!”

“That’s another Pacific island, but it’s not one of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“And what’s Indonesia, Daddy?”

“It’s a country made up of many islands.”

“And what is Be….”

“Let’s go swimming, Danny.”

(100 words)

Written for Bikurgurl’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt.

Chipping Away at the Fouth Estate

Fandango25 Comments

89C7E486-BB48-4F09-9D7E-A8345427C1F9Are you ready for this? According to a new public opinion survey conducted by Ipsos, 43% of Republicans think Donald Trump “should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior” (i.e., being critical of Donald Trump). This includes media outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

In addition, 48% of Republicans believe that the news media is “the enemy of the American people.” And 80% of Republicans said “most news outlets have a liberal bias,” while 79% of Republicans said that they believe that the mainstream media outlets treat Trump “unfairly.”

I don’t know about you, but I find this very sobering. It illustrates how effectively Trump’s anti-press drumbeat has shaped public opinion — at least among Republicans — about the role the media plays in covering his administration.

Censoring the press and shutting down news outlets is a tactic used by autocratic and totalitarian regimes in order to silence political enemies, dissidents, and the opposition. It is not something that one would expect from a free and democratic society.

In fact, freedom of the press is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd said,

When the public’s right to know is threatened, and when the rights of free speech and free press are at risk, all of the other liberties we hold dear are endangered.

You may recall last month, when Trump was speaking before a group of veterans, he said, “Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.” He followed that up by saying, “And just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

Yesterday I wrote a post, “Hook, Line, and Sinker,” in which I lamented, “The sad and disturbing thing is that too many people are buying — hook, line, and sinker — what this con artist [Donald Trump] is selling.”

This Ipsos survey demonstrates just how naive and gullible (and either brainwashed or brain dead) Republican voters have become.

One-Liner Wednesday — Home of the Brave

Fandango19 Comments

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“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

Reporter and Peabody Award Recipient
Elmer Davis

I found out about this quote from fellow blogger Léa at Found In France. I’d never heard of Elmer Davis, so I googled him and learned that he was a news reporter, author, the Director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II, as well as a Peabody Award recipient.

Davis had been a reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times before joining CBS radio as a newscaster. In 1942, Davis was appointed to head the Office of War Information, where he won respect for his handling of official news. His liberal stance, however, especially his opposition to military censorship, generated controversy. In 1945 he resumed his career as a news broadcaster, this time with ABC, until 1953. Davis died in 1958.

This quote resonated with me because I fear that we are no longer the home of the brave, particularly with respect to the Republicans in Congress. Rather than serving as a check and balance with respect to the Executive Branch, as the Constitution requires, they have become Donald Trump’s rubber stamp.

So if the members of the U.S. Congress are no longer brave enough to stand up to the unqualified, unhinged man in the White House, how much longer will we, as Americans, be able to continue to consider ourselves to be citizens of the land of the free?

Written for today’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

FOWC with Fandango — Below

Fandango32 Comments

FOWCWelcome to August 8, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “below.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.