Day: September 9, 2020

Unadulterated Hypocrisy

Fandango14 Comments

“I have no doubt that the outcome would have been different if it weren’t for that clown who is in the White House,” James said.

“No doubt,” Sharon agreed. “He lacks empathy for those who have lost loved ones and/or their livelihoods as a result of his incompetence.”

“But it’s not just incompetence,” James said. “He knew what this virus could do, but he purposefully lied to the American public because he thought telling the truth about the pandemic would make him look bad and negatively affect his ability to be re-elected.”

“And yet he, the President of the United States, refuses to take any responsibility for the situation our country is in,” Sharon said. “That’s heresy.”

“And the Republicans in Congress at best say nothing and at worst still support him. That’s unadulterated hypocrisy,” James added.

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (outcome), Your Daily Word Prompt (different), Ragtag Daily Prompt (clown), Word of the Day Challenge (empathy), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (heresy).

Irresponsible is Not a Strong Enough Word

Fandango12 Comments

This is the headline that popped up in my newsfeed this morning.I’d call our president irresponsible, but given that the United States has had more than 6.5 million cases and nearly 195,000 deaths from COVID-19, irresponsible is not a strong enough word. Despicable is a much more apt word. Maybe even criminal.

In February and early March, Trump was telling the nation that the virus was no worse than a seasonal flu. He predicting it would soon disappear and insisted that the U.S. government had it totally under control. It was only after the evidence clearly showed otherwise that he would publicly acknowledge that the virus was no ordinary flu and that it could be transmitted through the air.

Trump called Bob Woodward in February and revealed that he thought the situation was far more dire than what he had been saying publicly. “You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff,” he repeated for emphasis.

On March 19th, Trump admitted to Woodward that he deliberately minimized the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” he said.

Despicable.

This is the same man who, it was recently revealed, called members of the American military who lost their lives or were wounded in battle “losers” and “suckers,” and who has yet to take Putin to task for allegedly offering bounties for killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Despicable.

And if that’s not enough, yesterday the delusional occupant of the Oval Office declared himself to be “a great environmentalist.” This despite the fact that he has sought to weaken or roll back roughly 100 environmental regulations since he became president. Most genuine environmentalists agree that Trump has been the worst president for our environment in history.

Despicable.

The fact that this man holds the highest office in the land and is seeking re-election is unconscionable.

And despicable.

Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down

Fandango50 Comments

HeadlampWe live in a suburb about 35 miles east of San Francisco. There are no sidewalks or streetlights where we live, so when I walk our dog at night, I wear a headlamp similar to the one shown in the picture above. Otherwise, it would be pitch black outside.

Last night at around nine o’clock I took our dog out for a walk. When we stepped outside, I turned on my headlamp and was surprised to see what looked almost like tiny little snowflakes falling, which it obviously wasn’t because it was around 80 degrees at the time.

Using my keen deductive reasoning and intuitive skills, I concluded that what I saw reflected in my headlamp were tiny bits of floating ash from all of the wildfires ravaging Northern California. It was weird.

But this morning is even weirder. It’s just past ten in the morning and it’s like twilight outside. The sky has this eerie yellow/orange cast to it. I just took this photo while standing at my front door looking across the street.This photo is not altered. That’s what the sky looks like. And, of course, the air quality index shows hazardous air.

I think I’ll just go back to bed.

One-Liner Wednesday — A Sorry Apology

Fandango11 Comments

Non-apology

“If an apology is followed by an excuse or a reason, it means they are going to commit the same mistake again that they just apologized for.”

Amit Kalantri, Indian author, professional magician, and mentalist.

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

Fandango’s Provocative Question #86

Fandango28 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.

The dream I was having when I woke up a few mornings ago was very vivid and very weird. I was Billy Joel in my dream and I was performing at a music festival. But the music festival was primarily comprised of heavy metal bands, and Billy Joel is not, in any sense of the music genre, heavy metal. Plus, as Billy Joel, I was playing a guitar at the festival, rather than a piano, and while Billy Joel certainly can play guitar, as any Billy Joel fan knows, Billy Joel is the Piano Man.That dream was one of the strangest dreams I ever remembering having, outside, of course, of some of my very weird recurring dreams that I mentioned in this post from 2017.

Anyway, that brings me to this week’s provocative question, which may not be that provocative, but based upon my Billy Joel dream, it has piqued my curiosity. So, if you’re ready…

What has been the strangest, weirdest dream that you can remember? What do you think triggered that dream?

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.