A Danish friend of mine who lives in Copenhagen posted this on his Facebook page.
My Danish friend is right. It is embarrassing. And I am embarrassed to be an American.
Month: September 2020
The Presidential “Debate”
Debacle. Disaster. Embarrassing. Painful. Chaotic. Nasty. Train wreck. Disrespectful. Shit show. Abnormal. Sad. Torturous. How else can I describe last night’s “debate” between incumbent President Donald Trump and challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden?
Coming out in what became a sustained fury, Donald Trump simply would not stop talking — interrupting, badgering, heckling, taunting, and sniping at both debate moderator Chris Wallace and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. Trump spent almost the entire debate lying about both his and Biden’s positions and then wrapped it up by refusing to condemn white supremacists and by attacking Biden’s family. He called Biden an idiot, smeared his family, and concocted wild conspiracy theories about everything from the Obama administration to the upcoming election.
At one point early on in the debate, after continuous interruptions by Trump, an exasperated Biden said, “Will you shut up, man.” Biden later called Trump a clown and implored him to stop yapping.
There are supposed to be two more presidential debates between now and Election Day. But I think it’s time to deliver a eulogy to dignity and decency in the form of a presidential debate process that belies what America is supposed is supposed to be about. I would recommend that Biden sit out the two remaining debates and let Trump continue to demonstrate just how unfit he is to be President.
Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (sustain), Ragtag Daily Prompt (fury), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (eulogy), and Your Daily Word Prompt (belie)
One Liner Wednesday — Cowards and Fools
“To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.”
Author Octavia Butler
Yes, I know, this is two sentences, but given that the current American “leader” is both a coward and a fool, I think it fits. Sure, I suppose if I wanted to, I could have put a semicolon between “fears” and “to” instead of a period in order to create one sentence, which would still have been grammatically correct.
But I’m counting on you to let this two sentence One-Liner Wednesday go and not tattle on me to Linda. Don’t let me down, folks.
Fandango’s Provocative Question #89
Welcome 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 about karma.
Karma refers to both the actions and the consequences of the actions.
Some religions (e.g., Hinduism and Buddhism) define karma as the sum of a person’s actions in this (and previous) states of existence, and that such actions will be a key factor in deciding their fate in their current and future existences.
In Christianity, karma is more of a “what goes around comes around” concept. The Bible says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” This is more of a “you get what you give” concept. Or as the Beatles sang, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
So my provocative question is this…
Do you believe in karma (or a similar “reap what you sow” notion)? Why or why not?
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. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.
FOWC with Fandango — Eulogy
Welcome to September 30, 2020 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 “eulogy.”
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. Please 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.
This, That, and the Other 