Day: May 30, 2024

Celebrate, But Be Realistic

Fandango74 Comments

Yes, the conviction of former President Donald J. Trump on 34 criminal counts, the first time a U.S. President was ever convicted of criminal charges in American history, is a great day for the American system of justice and for democracy.

But these convictions will not prevent Trump from running for president. He will obviously appeal these convictions, possibly all the way up to the Supreme Court, where three of the justices are Trump appointees and two, Alito and Thomas, are far-right conservatives. Further, if Trump wins in November, he could, as POTUS, pardon himself for his convictions.

Republican politicians are unified behind Trump, calling today’s convictions “a shameful day in American history,” “purely political,” “a disgrace to the judicial system,” “a rigged and disgraceful trial,” and “a defeat for Americans who believe in the critical legal tenet that justice is blind.”

It’s unlikely that the guilty verdict will reveal anything new about Trump to Americans. The case details were widely reported before the trial started. In today’s highly polarized political climate, there are very few undecided voters, and most polls indicate that Americans see the hush money case as less significant compared to Trump’s other legal issues.

If anything, the verdict has galvanized Trump’s MAGA maniacs and his supporters who view him as something akin to the second coming of Jesus.

So by all means, let those of us who have maintained a sense of reality, reason, and common sense celebrate today’s verdicts. Rejoice in the small political victories, which are few and far between. But do not be lulled into complacency. The battle to save Democracy continues to be an uphill one.

Sunday Six Sentence Story — How About a Lyft?

Fandango9 Comments

“Since my car is in the shop, would you be able to give me a lift to work tomorrow?” I asked my coworker who lives a few blocks from me in my same neighborhood.

“Sure, I’d be happy to,” he said, “and I can pick you up at 8:15 if that works for you.”

“Actually, I have an early meeting with my team. It’s scheduled for 7:00 so if you could pick me up at 6:30, that would be great,” I said.

“Perhaps you can either reschedule your early morning meeting for a later time or to another day when your car is back from the shop,” he suggested.

“As much as I appreciate your suggestion, neighbor, I cannot reschedule the meeting as there are people flying in from all around the globe,” I answered.

“Well, neighbor,” he said a bit sarcastically, “I don’t think I’m available to give you a lift to work tomorrow at 6:30 am, but the best I can do, at my own expense, is to secure for you a ride to the office with the Lyft car service or with an Uber if you’d prefer.”

Written for the Sunday Six Sentence Story prompt from Girlie on the Edge. The prompt word is “lift.”

Thursday Inspiration — Ain’t That a Shame

Fandango14 Comments

For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has asked us to write a post using the prompt word “shame ” or “anything else that you think fits.”

She made him cry when she said goodbye. His tears fell like rain and she was to blame. Ain’t that a shame? Oh well, goodbye.

Well, that’s how Fats Domino felt when he recorded the song “Ain’t That a Shame” back in 1955. The song, co-written by Dave Bartholomew, was a hit, eventually selling a million copies. It reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 10 on the pop chart.

This was the first song to crossover from the R&B charts to the mostly white pop charts of the day. Like several other songs previously heard exclusively in black bars or nightclubs, it was covered by the crooning Pat Boone. Concerned about how educated, upper-class whites would respond to the title, he originally wanted it changed to “Isn’t That a Shame,” but the producers realized the original title would sell better and kept it.

Boone’s cover was a huge hit, going to number 1 on the U.S. Pop charts and reaching number 7 in the UK. This gave Domino’s original recording a boost and helped it cross over.

“Ain’t That a Shame” was Fats Domino’s first hit song that was not recorded in New Orleans, where the singer lived. He recorded it on March 15, 1955 in a Hollywood studio when he was on tour in Los Angeles. Imperial Records had the engineers compress Fats’ vocals and speed up the song a bit to make the song sound less bluesy and give it more mainstream appeal. This also made it more difficult for other artists to cover the song.

Here’s Fats Domino’s song:

And for you white bread fans, here’s Pat Boone’s cover:

And for you classic rock fans, give it up for Cheap Trick:

Which is your favorite

Writer’s Workshop — Aunt Rose

Fandango18 Comments

For his Writer’s Workshop this week, John Holton gives us six writing prompts and we are tasked with choosing one of the prompts (or as many as we want) and writing a post that addresses that (or those) prompt(s). I chose three prompts for this week: (1) use the word “aunt,” (2) write a post in exactly 12 sentences, and (6) write about the most humid place you’ve been.

Have you ever been to Houston, Texas in the summer?

It’s awful.

Temperatures often reach triple digits and if you couple that heat with Houston’s 100% humidity, it’s unbearable.

I’ve been there in November and December and it’s quite pleasant in Houston, but not for all the money in the world will I ever go back to Houston again in the summer.

Or so I thought.

I belong to one of those DNA programs that takes your spit and locates all of your relatives, whether dead or alive or yet to be born.

I received a certified letter from a woman who said she was my Aunt Rose, the wife of my mother’s youngest brother, both of whom are deceased.

She said that she is dying, has only six months to live, and just learned from that DNA program that I am her nephew and her only surviving relative.

She wrote that she is an extremely wealthy woman and now that she knows I exist, she intends to revise her will and make me her sole beneficiary, leaving her entire fortune to me.

But first she wants to meet me and she would like me to catch the next flight to her home in Houston.

It’s July.

I wrote her back and said, “Sure, I’m on my way, Aunt Rose. 💕❤️”


Badge by Patty, http://anothercookieplease.com

FOWC with Fandango — Intermission

Fandango8 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “intermission.”

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, ÿplease manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.