Day: May 20, 2019

Lies, Deceit, and Duplicity

Fandango21 Comments

454A1CFE-9F85-43E5-809D-259A570EA69DA few weeks ago I wrote a post, “Nothing to Hide,” in which I quoted Donald when he said that he was “the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far.”

Can that blustery baboon be any more disingenuous? If he’s as transparent as he claims he is, why does he always envelop himself in a fog of lies, deceit, and duplicity? The latest news in Trump’s efforts to keep the truth from coming out occurred today when the Department of Justice (DOJ), under Trump’s direction, moved to block former White House counsel Don McGahn from testifying to Congress.

McGahn has been subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions tomorrow about Mueller’s investigation of Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. But with this latest decision by the DOJ, the White House continues to obstruct Congress’ oversight investigations into the administration.

Current White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote today in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, that the Justice Department “has advised me that Mr. McGahn is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters occurring during his service as a senior adviser to the President.” Cipollone added that, “the President has directed Mr. McGahn not to appear at the Committee’s scheduled hearing” tomorrow.

I just cannot comprehend how anyone, event the most fervent Donald Trump supporters, can’t see through these blatant acts obstruction. An innocent man does not stand in the way of getting to the truth.

It’s obvious to me that the self proclaimed “Mr. Transparency” is feeling the heat. And, as the old saying goes, “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Mr. Trump, get out of the fucking kitchen (aka the Oval Office)!

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (blustery), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (disingenuous), Word of the Day Challenge (fog), Your Daily Word Prompt (fervent), and The Daily Spur (kitchen).

Share Your World — Getting Silly

Fandango12 Comments

SYWMelanie, over at Sparks From a Combustible Mind, decided to get a little silly with her questions for today’s Share Your World prompt. Well, silly questions demand silly (or maybe not so silly) answers.

Is it better to suspect something (bad or hurtful) and not know or to have your worst fears confirmed by sure knowledge?

Hmm. I’d say this question is more provocative than it is silly. In fact, I wish I’d thought of this question for my weekly provocative question prompt. Oh well. Anyway, my answer is to always opt for certainty. I’d rather know for sure, one way or the other, than speculate and agonize over something that might turn out to be nothing. And if my worst fears are confirmed, at least I have that information and can decide what to do about it.

What makes you laugh aloud? Crack up? Laugh until your sides split? When was the last time you had a great big belly laugh?

Usually it’s something that someone I know (e.g., a family member or close friend) does or says that cracks me up. I think the last time I had a really big, boisterous laugh was a few weeks ago when my daughter and her significant other came over to play Hearts. We all had some edibles and I was attempting to Shoot the Moon (capture all the hearts and the queen of spades), but because I was stoned, I couldn’t remember what my strategy for doing so was. Only I didn’t realize it (because I was stoned, duh), but everyone else did. We all ended up literally rolling on the floor laughing.

Do you suppose Noah had woodpeckers in the ark? If he did, where did he keep them? Apologies to the Darwinians in the crowd…this is merely for fun, okay?

If you believe that a 450 year old man built a large, wooden ark, gathered up pairs (one male and one female) of every living creature, and loaded them onto said ark, and then sailed around for 40 days and 40 nights while God flooded the planet and drowned every other living being who was not on the ark, then why not woodpeckers? (No offense to those who believe the Bible to be literally true.)

Why is “Charlie” short for “Charles” when they are the same number of letters?

Charlie isn’t short for Charles. Charlie is a nickname for Charles. Just like “moron” isn’t short for Trump even though they have the same number of letters. It’s an apt description.79B96BDA-EB89-413F-9C4A-9973142A1CD4

What  happened in your world this past week that made you feel thankful, joyful or grateful?

I am grateful to the intrepid journalists who, despite being called “the enemy of the American people” by the President of the United States, doggedly pursue and bring to light the acts and deeds of Donald Trump, his family, cronies, and sycophants. These heroic journalists are our only hope for recapturing our republic from the grip of a wannabe king. They dig for the truth and what they publish is genuine news, not fake news.33ADC84E-5D57-4A5D-BB4C-B74A7C82B0DB

It Sucks To Be Me

Fandango12 Comments

F290BAED-C9DF-4145-853B-AB189CE55376He put the paper down in front of me. He had a big smile on his face as he handed me a fancy pen. “Sign on the dotted line,” he said.

I remember that I could feel the cold sweat forming on my brow. I was young, I had a crappy job working at a warehouse, and I had never made a purchase this large. But my old junk heap of a car had broken down and I needed wheels to get to and from work each day and to, well, drive from place to place. You know what I mean, right?

So I signed on the dotted line and for the first time in my young life, I was in debt.

I have to admit that I was excited about my new purchase. It made me feel like a real adult to have an apartment, a job, and now a beautiful, shiny, brand-spanking new, two year old used car.

Little did I know that, on that fateful day that I signed on the dotted line, my life would start a downward spiral. A week after I bought the car, my girlfriend broke up with me. The breakup was a bad one. But what really hurt was that she was living in my apartment with me and was paying for half the rent and half of the utilities. When she moved out, my cost of living nearly doubled.

A few weeks after that, I hit a friggin’ moose on the way home from work. I was okay, but the moose, not so much. But my car was a mess and it had to be towed to a local auto body shop. The guy at the repair shop said a week and a half to two weeks. Jeez.

Then I got my hours cut at the warehouse from 40 to 25. Something about foreign competition and having to cut costs. I also lost my company health insurance plan because my status changed from full time to part time. Can you believe that shit?

So money got real tight, you know, what with having to pay the full rent and utility bills on my own, coupled with the reduced income from my job and the cost of the repairs to the car, and all.

I was forced to start prioritizing how to spend my money. First rent — a guy needs a roof over his head and a place to sleep, you know. Then the utilities — water, gas, and electric. And food — I mean you gotta eat, right? Well guess what. There was nothing left over to pay the finance company for the car. That’s just the way it was.

Anyway, about a month after I got the car out of the shop, the calls started coming in. Some debt collector started harassing me every day about my car payments. I tried to explain to him what had happened. You know, my girlfriend moving out on me, the goddam moose, the cutback of hours at the warehouse.

But the guy was heartless. I suppose that being heartless is a job requirement if you’re going to be a debt collector, you know what I’m saying?

Anyway, long story short, the car got repossessed. The warehouse I worked at closed down, and my landlord evicted me when I couldn’t keep up with the rent. Now I’m alone, homeless, living on the street, and panhandling for quarters. It sucks to be me.

All because I signed on the dotted fucking line.

Written for Paula Light’s Three Things Challenge, where the three things are “breakup,” “warehouse,” and “moose.” Also for Prompt A (character challenge: Debt Collector), and Prompt B (sentence starter: “Sign on the dotted line”), from Teresa’s The Haunted Wordsmith Daily Prompt.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #14

Fandango16 Comments

FFFCWelcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a relatively short flash fiction piece inspired by the photo. While there are no definitive style or word limits, I suggest trying to keep your posts to under 300 words.

I want to sincerely thank everyone who has participated in these challenges so far. Your posts have been very creative. I hope this week’s image will also generate some great posts as well.

So now it’s time for my fourteenth weekly Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. The image below is from Aron Jäger@unsplash.com.e6df82a2-4b29-481e-b1ae-795329bf112c.jpegIf this picture inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Please take a few minutes to read some of the other responses to this photo challenge. And most important, have fun.

FOWC with Fandango — Disingenuous

Fandango20 Comments

FOWCWelcome to May 20, 2019 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 “disingenuous.”

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.

Note: some bloggers have had issues with pingbacks not showing up lately, so if you don’t see it shortly after you published your post, you might want manually add your link in the comments.

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