The Daily Spur

We the People

Fandango9 Comments

Trump and the ConstitutionHow is it that the Republicans in Congress and those who support Donald Trump can still believe that his presidency is copacetic? Things in and around the White House are not in excellent order. Far from it. In fact, the ubiquity of corruption, dishonesty, and ineptness is astounding.

Trump and his cronies are treating the presidency like a three-ring circus, with a constant drip, drip, drip of questionable, and probably, illegal actions.

First there was the withholding of congressionally approved funds for Ukraine by Trump and his delegates. The money was to be withheld unless the newly elected president of Ukraine agreed to investigate one of Trump’s political rivals. And while Trump claims there was nothing wrong with his dealings with the Ukrainian President, his own “acting” chief-of-staff publicly admitted to a quid pro quo for political purposes and told those reporters assembled to “get over it.”

And then there was the infamous telephone call with Turkey’s dictator, Erdogan, in which Trump gave the green light for Turkey to send his army into the Kurdish homeland, a narrow swath of land in northern Syria. This act will be devastating to Kurds, who fought ISIS on behalf of the United States, and it gave Erdogan America’s blessing to essentially engage in ethnic cleansing (i.e., genocide) of the Kurdish people. It’s an almost incomprehensible betrayal of our allies in the battle against ISIS.

And what about Trump’s desperate move to defy subpoenas, to try to prevent anyone associated with the Trump administration from testifying before Congress, and refusing to comply with demands to provide documents to congressional committees? These are outrageous acts of obstruction of justice.

And finally there is the selection of Trump’s golf resort, the Trump National Doral Miami, as the site for the festivities at next June’s G7 Summit. This is in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits federal officeholders (including the president) from receiving any gift, payment, or other thing of value from a foreign state or its rulers, officers, or representatives. Having foreign leaders, their entourages, and security teams paying enormous sums of money to stay at a property owned by Trump is the very definition of using his office to line his own pockets.

So back to my original question: how is it that the Republicans in Congress and those who support Donald Trump can still believe that his presidency is copacetic? When will they begin to put country ahead of party? And when will we the people, the American voting public, say that enough is enough?

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (copacetic), Your Daily Word Prompt (ubiquity), The Daily Spur (ring), Daily Addictions (drip), Word of the Day (desperate), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (festivities).

The Man Who Would Be King

Fandango8 Comments

King Donald“This whole mess gives me pause,” Michael said.

“Well, it makes me feel jittery,” Michele admitted.

“The whole damn system is broken, as far as I’m concerned,” Chris added.

“I know,” agreed Peter, “The president is acting like a goddam king, a despotic ruler who is out only to enrich himself and his family at the expense of the American people.”

“I wish Congress would do its job and move more briskly to impeach the man before it’s too late,” Michael said.

“Hear, hear,” the others chimed in, clinking their beer steins together in a toast to a better future.

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (pause), Word of the Day (jittery), Ragtag Daily Prompt (broken), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (ruler), Daily Addictions (family), and Your Daily Word Prompt (brisk).

What a Tangled Web

Fandango7 Comments

4FAED5BD-CF6E-48C6-980C-61F53B7D17D3“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,” Carol said.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Mick asked.

“I did,” Carol said. “I was looking for a stamp, and when I went to find one in you desk drawer, I happened to stumble upon something very interesting.”

Mick swallowed hard, the specter of bad news hanging heavy in the air. “How many times have I told you that my desk is off limits to you, Carol. That’s where I keep all of my highly sensitive work documents. You’re really starting to get my goat.”

“Oh, I got you goat, all right. You definitely would prefer that I remain uninformed about the type of ‘highly sensitive’ things you keep in your desk, wouldn’t you, Mick,” Carol said. “Like that very, shall we say, ‘sensitive’ note from your secretary.”

“You’re misinterpreting that note, Carol,” Mack said. “She wasn’t referring to me and her. It was about something else entirely.”

“There you go again,” Carol said. “What are you going to ask me to swallow next, how green is blue? Unfortunately for you, you’re such an inept little spider that you’re getting trapped by your own web of deceit. I’m leaving you.”

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (stumble), Your Daily Word Prompt (specter), Daily Addictions (goat), The Daily Spur (uninformed), Ragtag Daily Prompt (how green is blue), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (spider).

I Told You So

Fandango7 Comments

E2CD6A36-613F-4C39-92EB-8D1551634415“What can I say?” Eric said. “I’m totally smitten with her. She really makes me happy.”

“I think you need to be very careful with that broad,” Deena said. “I get a sense from her that something is amiss.”

“You’re being silly, Deena,” Eric said.

“You’re being silly, Eric,” Deena said.

“Don’t mimic me,” Eric said. “You need to quit railing against her. There’s a lot more to her than you’re apparently willing to see.”

“Fine, if you don’t want my honesty, I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Deena said, “and when she shits all over you, and I guarantee she will, I’ll still be here for you. And I promise I won’t tell you I told you so.”

Our our-of-town guests are still here, but they’re leaving first thing tomorrow morning and, after a whirlwind week, they are chilling out this afternoon. So I figured I take advantage of this hosting downtime to post a response to some daily prompts for the first time in a week.

Written for the Three Things Challenge from Di, and Pensitivity101, where the three things are “rail,” “broad,” and “honesty.” Also for these daily prompts: Your Daily Word Prompt (smitten), Daily Addictions (happy), Word of the Day Challenge (careful), The Daily Spur (sense), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (silly), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (mimic).

SoCS — Whole Bean Versus Ground

Fandango14 Comments

7198FBBD-28BC-468B-A029-73D19AD400DC“You got me ground coffee,” Alex said. “I specifically asked you to get whole bean coffee.”

“What’s the big deal?” Steve said. “You should be thankful that I remembered to pick you up any coffee at all.”

“Here’s the thing,” Alex said. “I like to grind my own coffee beans and when you hand me a bag of ground coffee, I can’t do that. Do you get that, Steve?”

“I don’t know why you have this whole bugaboo about grinding you own beans, Alex,” Steve said. “Last night you asked me to do you a favor and pick up a bag of French roast coffee for you. Being the stellar friend that I am, I obliged.

“If you were such a stellar friend, Steve, you’d know that I like to grind my own coffee, and yet you bring me already ground coffee,” Alex said, throwing the bag of ground coffee onto the ground. “If you were a child of mine, I’d ground you for a month for being so irresponsible.”

“Okay, Alex, first of all, I’m not your child so you can’t ground me,” Steve said. “Second of all, you’re the one who is behaving like a petulant child. And, quite frankly, you’re making me nervous. The last thing you need right now is coffee, whether whole bean or ground. So let me fix you a nice cup of chamomile tea. Maybe that will help you relax.”

Written for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. Our task is to use the word “ground” as a noun or a verb in any tense (e.g., grind). Also for these daily prompts from yesterday: Ragtag Daily Prompt (thankful), The Daily Spur (thing), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (bugaboo), Daily Addictions (night), Word of the Day Challenge (stellar — from 10/11/18), and Word of the Day Challenge (nervous — from 10/11/19).