Day: June 19, 2019

You Get What You Pay For

Fandango12 Comments

E184707D-3E6E-4AF0-B3CB-0C26E06F4903“Dammit!” Marla exclaimed. “This food chopper is supposed to be unbreakable, but look at this. I just bought it yesterday and it broke already.”

“Well what did you expect?” her twin sister and roommate said. “That’s what happens when you go to that bargain store and buy something with the label ‘Piece o’ Shit’ on it. You need to stop being so damn cheap and to spend your money more wisely. You get what you pay for, you know.”

“Why do you always have to admonish me?” Marla said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “I thought sharing an apartment with a sibling would be a good thing, but you’re constantly criticizing me. I was just trying to chop up some veggies to make us both a nourishing snack.”

Feeling badly, Carla came over to her twin and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry, Marla,” she said. “I’ll try to be a better sister and roommate going forward. I’ll try hard to ignore your bad habits and the stupid things you’re always doing and to not go all haywire on you.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (unbreakable), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (label), Your Daily Word Prompt (admonish), Ragtag Daily Prompt (sibling), Word of the Day Challenge (nourish), and Weekly Prompts (haywire).

#100WW — Maybe This Time

Fandango10 Comments

172A87A9-3111-44F2-B2CB-712AA3937EA8Marc stood across the street from the building waiting for the light to change. He could already feel the knot forming in his gut as he looked up at the modern office complex. He lost his last job three months earlier when the company he’d worked at for nearly a decade went belly up.

He was running through his savings and he desperately needed a job, but nobody was hiring these days. A dozen interviews but no offers so far.

The light changed. Marc took a deep breath and crossed the street. Maybe this time, he thought, maybe this time.

(100 words)

Written for today’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt from Bikurgurl.

One-Liner Wednesday — Is Politics Important?

Fandango12 Comments

B9FF2BEF-816D-4C7E-8986-98CAB7B9DAAC

“Being in politics is like being a football coach — you have to be smart enough to understand the game but dumb enough to think it’s important.”

Former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy

That may have been the case when Eugene McCarthy said it in November 1967, but I don’t think it’s the case any longer. In the era of Donald Trump, it seems that being in politics today doesn’t require understanding the game as much as it does understanding how to change the rules of the game on the fly and to cheat at the game.

And also in the era of Donald Trump, I have learned that politics is, in fact, important. If you don’t think politics is important, look at what the political shenanigans of Donald Trump and his GOP sycophants are doing to the American democracy.

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

Fandango’s Provocative Question #28

Fandango17 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration. By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

This week’s provocative question is one that nags at me. And yes, it’s political and I’m really hoping someone — anyone — can enlighten me. So here we go.

Members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, including his son and son-in-law, met numerous times with influential Russians. The Trump campaign encouraged and welcomed Russian involvement (and interference) in the election. 34 people and three entities associated with the Trump campaign have been indicted on nearly 200 separate criminal charges. Five associates of Trump have been convicted, and another, Roger Stone, is awaiting trial. Trump’s former campaign manager and Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer are in jail for lying to Congress and for various financial crimes.

Further, the Mueller Report documented at least ten instances where Trump committed obstruction of justice, including the firing of former FBI Director Jim Comey. And now Trump has instructed his current and former White House staff to defy congressional subpoenas.

And as icing on the cake, Trump has lied to the American people almost 11,000 times since taking office 2½ years ago.

So here’s my question:

“Do you believe that Donald Trump is an effective American president who should remain in office despite having accepted aid from a foreign adversary (Russia) and having committed obstruction of justice into the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential elections? Do you believe that Trump should or should not be impeached for his actions? Why?”

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ 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 most important, have fun.

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.

FOWC with Fandango — Label

Fandango27 Comments

FOWCWelcome to June 19, 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 “label.”

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.

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.

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