Donald Trump

One-Liner Wednesday — Take Heed Republicans

Fandango20 Comments

1A3065FC-A048-4C25-B3CC-AAD02F7AAF08

“Not to punish evil is equivalent to authorizing it.”

Leonardo da Vinci

I actually saw this quote in a post by Paula B, at The Temenos Journey, titled “The Evil of Standing By And Doing Nothing.” It’s an excellent post and well worth the read.

Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of a renaissance man: an inventor, artist, painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, mathematician, engineer, botanist, geologist, astronomer, and paleontologist.

His centuries-old sentiment was remarkably prescient for today’s day and age. And as for those Republicans in Congress and in Donald Trump’s administration who do and say nothing as they watch Trump fiddle (tweet) while the country and the world burns, they are not only enabling his evil, they are authorizing it.

It is necessary and appropriate to impeach Donald Trump now.

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

Who Won The Week? 9/8/19

Fandango26 Comments

10CC3057-4EEA-4C80-B8C1-700C0FC6C906It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who you think won this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

My selection for this week is Newell Brands, the company that manufacturers the Sharpie.2509BB1A-9FCF-4906-BFBD-F59C2EC13CC2Sharpies are permanent makers that were made famous this week when Donald Trump used one to alter an official National Weather Service showing the projected path of Hurricane Dorian.

Trump had tweeted that Dorian was heading toward Alabama long after official NWS forecasts had shown it turning toward the north up the Atlantic coast and away from making landfall in Florida.1E4DC753-40A3-47DD-A473-36C0CA549F50But never wanting to be called out for having misspoken, Trump took a Sharpie and altered an outdated version of an official NWS map, which, by the way, is a federal crime, in order to “prove” that Alabama was in the path of the hurricane.341eb21c-3ea2-4cc4-8dbd-023a78901419.pngThis nonsense has generated what is now being referred to as “Sharpie-gate.” And yet a week after his insistence that Dorian was bound for Alabama, he’s still on a Twitter tear trying to defend his error. And he’s even gotten others in his administration to defend his error by saying it wasn’t an error and that he was right. He was not.

The Sharpie has now become a household word and sales of the markers are up. And to show just how shameless Donald Trump is, Trump’s reelection campaign has added a Trump-branded permanent marker to its web store, capitalizing on the Sharpie-gate drama.

And so I declare that Newell Brands and its Sharpie marker won the week.

And if you’re unfamiliar with a Sharpie, here are some hints on how best to use one.C21609DA-6E43-4F28-BAA2-C42350EBA94FSo tell us. Who do YOU think won the week?

The Gift of Sunshine

Fandango14 Comments

079FE3C8-9195-4D60-899A-1A342BF8A5EBRory, A Guy Called Bloke, has gifted me with the prestigious Sunshine Blogger Award. The Sunshine Blogger Award is an award for bloggers who are creative, positive, and inspiring people who spread “sunshine” to the blogging world!

Truth be told, in this age of Donald Trump, I’m not sure how positive or inspiring my posts have been or if I’m spreading much sunshine. That said, thank you, Rory, for this very kind and generous gift.

There are rules I’m supposed to follow, having been gifted this award:

  • Thank whoever gifted you and include a link to their blog.
  • Use the “Sunshine Blogger Award” logo on your post and display the Guidance. 
  • Answer the questions from the person who gifted you the Award. 
  • Choose 3 bloggers that you wish to gift the Award to. 
  • Ask 5 questions of your choice. 
  • Notify those you gift the Award to. 

So, to the questions Rory asked:

An event in history that changed your perspective on how we live as a society?

Need I say it? Okay, fine. The election of Donald Trump to President of the United States changed my perspective on what America is…and it’s not great.

Which flower or herb do you find startlingly attractive and why?

To be honest, I’m not really a flower type of a guy. My wife loves calla Lilies, though.8ACEF18C-1ED7-4C79-91B9-7E44543B393F

What is the most extreme thing you’ve ever done?

When I was a freshman in college I spent four days in a shower in order to raise money for charity.

Which one of these dwarfs are you? Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy – but more importantly WHY?

For most of my life I was Happy. But since the election of Donald Trump, I have morphed into Grumpy. Need I say why?

What is your most commonly spoken word or phrase? (Honesty required, profanity totally acceptable)

“It wasn’t me!” followed closely by “Bite me!”

Okay, now it’s my turn to gift 3 every other blogger and to ask 5 questions of my choice. My choice is to ask the same five questions that Rory asked.

So the ball’s in your court, every other blogger. Go for it!

Sweet Home Alabama

Fandango26 Comments

F6C376A4-0FDD-44D8-87E9-16AC1B5DB833Donald Trump is so insecure that when he is caught saying something wrong, he goes to extreme lengths to make it seem like he didn’t make a mistake.

Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that, in addition to Florida, “South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.”

Trump suggested the same thing about Alabama in comments to reporters on Sunday on the White House South Lawn. “We don’t know where it’s going to hit, seems to be going to Florida, now it should be going to Georgia, the Carolinas. Alabama to get a bit of a beat down. You’ll be learning more probably over the course of the next 24 hours.”

In fact, even after forecasters predicted Dorian would make a northward turn over the weekend, Trump insisted three times on Sunday that the hurricane would hit Alabama (and Mar-a-Lago).

In an unprecedented move, the National Weather Service tweeted out a correction to Trump’s misinformation about Alabama. “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian, We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east.”

But rather than admitting that he misspoke, Trump did something extraordinary. At a hurricane briefing earlier today, Trump, determined to prove himself right, showed an outdated forecast for Hurricane Dorian that seemingly corresponded with his incorrect prediction about Alabama getting hit by the hurricane that he had made several days before.

“We had an original chart that it was going to be hitting Florida directly, maybe I could just see that,” Trump instructed one of the officials before showing the chart to the camera. The chart he displayed (see the photo at the top of this post) indicated that it was made around 11 a.m. ET last Thursday, making it about six days old.

But when I looked closely at the chart he showed, something jumped out at me.AFD1FA3B-EB1E-4C16-92C0-4C89288F55E1It looks as if someone took a black Sharpie and extended the NWS track to reach into southeast Alabama. Look closely. It does, doesn’t it?

You know who likes to use a Sharpie? Trump does. He seems to sign every one of his executive orders with one. And he autographs his supporters’ MAGA hats with a Sharpie.

So I don’t know this for sure, but I think someone (Trump?) took a Sharpie and manually drew a semicircle extending the NWS storm track into Alabama in order to prove that he didn’t get it wrong when he tweeted and repeated that Alabama was going to get “a beat down” from Hurricane Dorian.

Did Trump just show a bogus, altered map to support his misstatements? As I said, I don’t know for sure. I’m just sayin’.

It’s No Mystery

Fandango15 Comments

9E95848E-447A-488F-BE19-7D204E602352Yes, it’s no mystery why Leigha Robbins was nominated for the Mystery Blog Award. After all, that award is presented to amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blogs not only captivate; they inspire and motivate. They are some of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion. And all that describes Leigha to a T.

Rather than nominating specific bloggers for the award, Leigha wrote, “So one and all join in on the fun, answer some questions and share a blog! You have been nominated!”

And then Leigha posed these five questions, which I will now endeavor to answer:

Do you like your middle name?

Alas, Fandango Fivedotoh has no middle name, but if you wish to refer to me as “Fandango NMN Fivedotoh,” I will not object.

Have you ever been a witness to a crime?

Yes. It’s a crime every time I see Donald Trump on TV, where he tells lie after lie.

What is your favorite sport?

I know many people think that baseball is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but I loves me my Major League Baseball (except when the Yankees are winning). 

Have you ever sang karaoke?

Yes, and I think I cleared the room.

If you could travel anywhere free of charge where would you go?

Around the world in 80 days.DF13B15E-3854-4E6E-869B-F6CDE210156B