BALTIMORE, Maryland, Wednesday, August 23, 2016 - Media all over Baltimore led their sports reports this morning with something to the effect that there is good news and bad news about the Orioles. The good news, of course, was the Birds' 8-1 win over the Washington Nationals, their second in as many nights. The win keeps Baltimore two games behind the co-leaders of the American League East, the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. On the other hand, the bad news is that their number one starting pitcher, Chris Tillman, is heading to the fifteen day disabled list. He has a sore throwing shoulder. This is not good, especially on a team whose Achilles Heel is already their starting pitching. With Tillman out, the Oriole starters are Dylan Bundy, who beat Washington on Monday, Kevin Gausman, who beat Washington last night, Yovani Gallardo, Wade Miley, and whoever else they can scrounge up. The candidates include Vance Worley, Parker Bridwell and Tyler Wilson. Tillman has been bothered by shoulder discomfort for several weeks, and so the announcement about the disabled list is not a surprise. It's timing, however, is potentially devastating. Even if Tillman is only gone the 15 day minimum, The calendar will have ticked over to September; i.e. the proverbial precious few number of fays.
In soccer, Burnley and Accrington Stanley, of League One, will kick off not long after I post this. Their match-up is a Football League Cup second round game and will be played at Accrington Stanley's home field. Burnley is coming off of a wonderful 2-0 win over Liverpool in the Premier League, while Accrington Stanley is coming off of a loss to Exeter City in a League One match. Burnley has a history of giving playing time to lesser used players in these matches, and that is possible today. Weighing against that, however, is the fact that the two squads are virtual next door neighbors.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Some Thoughts About Public Schools, Hillary Clinton, and the American League East
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Tuesday, August 23, 2016 - Here are a few notes and other things I've seen recently. The public high school I went to is no longer a mere district school providing an education to children living near to it. Instead, it is more of what they call a regional or target school, attracting students wanting to learn in subjects it claims to specialize in. To that end, a lot of money has been poured into the school to refurbish and renovate it. One improvement, we are told, was a new sign in front of the school displaying electronic messages in red letters against a black background. Yesterday, I noticed the sign as I drove by on my way to the jogging track. It proudly proclaimed: "First Day of Classes Wednesday, August 21."
Hillary Clinton is said to be taking every weekend and some weekdays off from campaigning. I believe Romney took time off during the final week of his campaign. Trump seems to actually enjoy campaigning and isn't taking any time off. Just saying.
Hillary campaigns like she owns a bank with unlimited funds. She spends nearly one thousand dollars on hair cuts etc. Her clothes are said to cost half the national debt. I won't be crass enough to claim she is getting ripped off if this rumor is true. But it is her policy ideas that are worst of all. The only thing she claims she will cut back on is the military, and isn't that a surprise. All of our enemies - every last one of them - is arming up and we are cutting back. Who will be the first United States President to oversee a big battlefield defeat?
Here is one topic that no one is talking about, although everybody should be: military enlistment. Right now, and for the last few decades, the United States has relied strictly on a volunteer military. There is no draft. There are no military obligations. How long would that be the case if Hillary Clinton is elected and then re-elected. Near the end of her first term in office you will begin to hear that enlistment is off. The draft will be a topic of discussion. Hillary might pass the ball by making huge cuts, thereby dropping the number of recruits necessary. But you can imagine a million things that would make further military cuts impossible.
How long will young Americans continue to enlist in the "new army" if the enemy is somebody a lot of Americans have sympathy for? How about if some country currently our ally is over-run by Russia, which then uses that country as a base of further operations? In such a scenario, the United States would be looking at attacking Poland or Estonia. It could get very complicated. We wouldn't want to attack such a place, but if a line isn't established, where will Russia's march stop?
The Orioles won last night, defeating neighborhood rival Washington, 4-3, behind brilliant pitching by Dylan Bundy and Zach Britten. They are two games behind even though they lost three of four to Houston after losing two straight to Boston. The Red Sox and Blue Jays share first place. The Orioles are third and the Yankees are fourth, seven games out. If the season ended today, the two wild card teams in the playoffs would be the Orioles and whichever team between the Red Sox and Blue Jays did not win the AL East. But no fewer than six teams are within 6.5 games of that wild card berth.
Correction: In a post about Burnley's hard-fought win over Liverpool over this past weekend, I noted that the Claret have a tournament game on Wednesday. They do, in fact, have a tournament game, but it is in the Capital One Cup or Football League Cup and not the FA Cup, as I had reported. Burnley plays Accrington-Stanley, a Lancashire-area rival which toils in League One of English Soccer, two flights below the Premier, where Burnley plays..
Hillary Clinton is said to be taking every weekend and some weekdays off from campaigning. I believe Romney took time off during the final week of his campaign. Trump seems to actually enjoy campaigning and isn't taking any time off. Just saying.
Hillary campaigns like she owns a bank with unlimited funds. She spends nearly one thousand dollars on hair cuts etc. Her clothes are said to cost half the national debt. I won't be crass enough to claim she is getting ripped off if this rumor is true. But it is her policy ideas that are worst of all. The only thing she claims she will cut back on is the military, and isn't that a surprise. All of our enemies - every last one of them - is arming up and we are cutting back. Who will be the first United States President to oversee a big battlefield defeat?
Here is one topic that no one is talking about, although everybody should be: military enlistment. Right now, and for the last few decades, the United States has relied strictly on a volunteer military. There is no draft. There are no military obligations. How long would that be the case if Hillary Clinton is elected and then re-elected. Near the end of her first term in office you will begin to hear that enlistment is off. The draft will be a topic of discussion. Hillary might pass the ball by making huge cuts, thereby dropping the number of recruits necessary. But you can imagine a million things that would make further military cuts impossible.
How long will young Americans continue to enlist in the "new army" if the enemy is somebody a lot of Americans have sympathy for? How about if some country currently our ally is over-run by Russia, which then uses that country as a base of further operations? In such a scenario, the United States would be looking at attacking Poland or Estonia. It could get very complicated. We wouldn't want to attack such a place, but if a line isn't established, where will Russia's march stop?
The Orioles won last night, defeating neighborhood rival Washington, 4-3, behind brilliant pitching by Dylan Bundy and Zach Britten. They are two games behind even though they lost three of four to Houston after losing two straight to Boston. The Red Sox and Blue Jays share first place. The Orioles are third and the Yankees are fourth, seven games out. If the season ended today, the two wild card teams in the playoffs would be the Orioles and whichever team between the Red Sox and Blue Jays did not win the AL East. But no fewer than six teams are within 6.5 games of that wild card berth.
Correction: In a post about Burnley's hard-fought win over Liverpool over this past weekend, I noted that the Claret have a tournament game on Wednesday. They do, in fact, have a tournament game, but it is in the Capital One Cup or Football League Cup and not the FA Cup, as I had reported. Burnley plays Accrington-Stanley, a Lancashire-area rival which toils in League One of English Soccer, two flights below the Premier, where Burnley plays..
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Burnley Defeats Liverpool for First Premier Victory; Claret Climb to 7th Place on Table as Gray and Vokes Find Back of Net
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Saturday, August 20, 2016 - Burnley only had possession of the football for 19% of time, but oh, did the Claret make those moments of possession count. By half, Burnely was ahead 2-0. Liverpool never did find the back of the net. Given an unusual opportunity to play two consecutive matches at home to start the campaign, Burnley made the second chance count for three huge and precious points.
Last week, Liverpool won at Arsenal, 4-3. This week the Reds never did score against Tom Heaton and the sure-fired Burnley defense.
According to the BBC: "Nathaniel Clyne [of Liverpool] gave the ball away for the Clarets' first goal, with Andre Gray finding Sam Vokes to blast home. Steven Defour, on his Burnley debut, was allowed to charge forward and set up Gray to roll home the second. Liverpool had 81% of possession and 26 shots - but only tested Clarets keeper Tom Heaton with efforts from distance."
Heaton's 'goals against' average after two Premier matches is .5 goals per game.
Even though Burnley lost at home last week in their return to the Premier, their victory today, by two goals, allowed the Claret to jump all the way to seventh place.
This week, Burnley takes on local rival Accrington Stanley in an FA Cup match on Wednesday, then travel to Chelsea on Saturday.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Updated on Tuesday, August 23: The Corruption is Evident in the Democratic Campaign
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Tuesday, August 23, 2016 - According to Hillary Clinton, the world would be enriched and improved if only These United States Would Allow an ISIS-Rich Horde of Immigrants to take up residence here. I suppose that in some way Hillary Clinton wants all of us to believe that the United States owes the world the duty to take in that many people who, clearly, would not be coming here because they want to adopt the "American way of life." Instead, the would-be immigrants believe that Americans and, indeed, the rest of the world should adopt the way of life espoused by the immigrants: Sharia Law and the way of life that goes with it. To say that the "American Way of Life" and the way of life that goes hand-in-hand with Sharia Law are diametrically opposed would be a penultimate understatement. Hillary Clinton doesn't care one iota, however, because the Ultra Left, for which Hillary Clinton and Obama are poster children, want the immigrants has made the decision that their political poarty needs more voters to replace the ones they always lose when those currently in the fold wise up and move on. (Am I allowed to say that? Just Wondering).
Public opinion polls indicate that Americans as a whole are very much opposed to Hillary Clinton's hair-brained idea of allowing un-vetted immigrants; i.e., terrorists into These United States, but Hillary and the Ultra-Left are undeterred. It is yet another way that Hillary and President Obama are on the exact same page. The Ultra-Left is like a drug addict, and new voters are the drug. Without new voters, the Ultra-Left loses power. The Ultra Left would rather drink bleach than lose power.
Like a lot of the trash the Ultra Left deals in, the very idea that this nation "benefits" by having completely un-vetted immigrants - and not just a few of them or even a "fair number" of them, but tens of thousands of them - arriving in waves from the Middle East, and displaying not even a thin veneer of humility typical of new arrivals in the past, is in no way a humanist idea. Instead of immigrants desiring a place to raise children and live the way other Americans live, these immigrants arrive now literally demanding electronic gadgets and other capitalistic 'prizes' that the rest of us get by working very hard for a very long time. Millions of Americans are out of work - Obama has skewed unemployment statistics by jamming millions of unemployed into a non-counted category of those who have given up trying to find a job. Once a given number of months go by without an unemployed person finding work, they go into this category and are no longer counted by Obama as being out of work. This was one of his good ideas. Now, employers have an unexpected pool of tens of thousands of low income folk to pick their hires from, lowering any incentive some would have had to pay American a better wage. Thank you, President Obama. Thank you, Hillary Clinton.
She cannot tell the truth. It is a pathological thing. She has no idea about the proper goals or methodology for creating sound public policy. Her tenure as Secretary of State managed to pass without one even marginally successful policy initiative. Like Obama, the real and proper question is whether Hillary Clinton is, in her heart, a good person. I believe the answer is clear. But do Americans have the courage to answer the question as Americans should.
This does not mean that Mr. Trump is a beat all and end all candidate. He is rough around the edges and abrasive in his manner. But along with his wife, he has raised a good family. He has been a successful businessman. If you must, curse the narrowness of the choice, but in the name of all those who bled and died for These United States, do not corrupt yourself and cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
Public opinion polls indicate that Americans as a whole are very much opposed to Hillary Clinton's hair-brained idea of allowing un-vetted immigrants; i.e., terrorists into These United States, but Hillary and the Ultra-Left are undeterred. It is yet another way that Hillary and President Obama are on the exact same page. The Ultra-Left is like a drug addict, and new voters are the drug. Without new voters, the Ultra-Left loses power. The Ultra Left would rather drink bleach than lose power.
Like a lot of the trash the Ultra Left deals in, the very idea that this nation "benefits" by having completely un-vetted immigrants - and not just a few of them or even a "fair number" of them, but tens of thousands of them - arriving in waves from the Middle East, and displaying not even a thin veneer of humility typical of new arrivals in the past, is in no way a humanist idea. Instead of immigrants desiring a place to raise children and live the way other Americans live, these immigrants arrive now literally demanding electronic gadgets and other capitalistic 'prizes' that the rest of us get by working very hard for a very long time. Millions of Americans are out of work - Obama has skewed unemployment statistics by jamming millions of unemployed into a non-counted category of those who have given up trying to find a job. Once a given number of months go by without an unemployed person finding work, they go into this category and are no longer counted by Obama as being out of work. This was one of his good ideas. Now, employers have an unexpected pool of tens of thousands of low income folk to pick their hires from, lowering any incentive some would have had to pay American a better wage. Thank you, President Obama. Thank you, Hillary Clinton.
She cannot tell the truth. It is a pathological thing. She has no idea about the proper goals or methodology for creating sound public policy. Her tenure as Secretary of State managed to pass without one even marginally successful policy initiative. Like Obama, the real and proper question is whether Hillary Clinton is, in her heart, a good person. I believe the answer is clear. But do Americans have the courage to answer the question as Americans should.
This does not mean that Mr. Trump is a beat all and end all candidate. He is rough around the edges and abrasive in his manner. But along with his wife, he has raised a good family. He has been a successful businessman. If you must, curse the narrowness of the choice, but in the name of all those who bled and died for These United States, do not corrupt yourself and cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Trump Not Taking Advantage of Hillary Clinton's Promise to Raise Middle Class Taxes; Milwaukee Riots Lack Justification; Orioles Win With Dramatic Rally; Burnley Loses Premier Opener
BALTIMORE, Maryland Monday, August 15, 2016 - Hillary Clinton screams - literally screams - that she is absolutely going to raise taxes on the middle class. Have you heard this woman scream? Not exactly pleasant. OK, let us be honest. She is obnoxious. And she wants to have at me and you, not the rich, not the wealthy, not some other group that Americans don't like (ISIS, Iranian Mullahs, Harry Reid). Nosireee. Hillary wants our money, or, more precisely, more of our money. She's being obnoxious (again), and nobody cares. Is this crazy or what?
Most Americans are the middle class, and Hillary wants even more of our money. But Trump isn't ramming that down her throat. No ads during the Olympics. No ads during baseball. No ads during Mark Levin's TV shows. I don't get it. I don't like it. Hillary promises that she is going to take even more of our money than Obama already takes, and he takes a whole lot. Yet Trump is silent about it. Trump silent? Only about Hillary purloining our money. And it is a purloining when they get as much as they already do.
Some folk seem to enjoy ripping our cities. Others are afraid of the city. I like Cities. Enjoying them takes a bit of common sense. Don't wander through the latest Milwaukee uprising, you know? Stay away from Black Lives Matter Rallies. But don't let a few bad apples ruin a good thing. Don't live like you are afraid. Americans come together in cities. Mostly, that is good. It is when we are afraid of each other that bad things take place.
Speaking of Milwaukee, it is worth mentioning that what is going on there is a real shame. The police shooting that is said to have sparked it seems completely justified. The dead man - although only 23 or so - had a rap sheet that was book length. He had a shiny silver gun in his hand and wheeled around during a foot pursuit as if to take aim at the officer that was chasing him, and that officer shot him, as well he should have. And that is the "spark" for the riot. That was the excuse given for a lot of really down and out folk doing a lot of looting and violence. This kind of thing does no good. No one will get the idea of coming together from it. It will not spark positive dialogue. It will make a lot of observers as angry as they can get. David Clark, the outstanding Milwaukee County Sheriff, really ripped into the participants. Good for him. He called the riot "underclass behavior." He also blasted the social system that discourages families from staying together. It is hard to imagine why Democrats, which have run almost every large city, exclusively, for decades, have not redone the system to encourage family structure. But they haven't. Instead, they adopt policies that directly undercut urban families. Among these awful polices are the ones that bring tens of thousands of immigrants into these cites to compete for the few decent jobs available with the black folk and poor white folk who have been there for generations. Still, the clamor for real change comes from outside the Cities. The political folk who come from the cities seem to limit their policy initiatives to the "more money" tact. This, at a time when the country is hopelessly in debt and has no money to send there even if there were an inclination.
Sports: AL East Turning Into Season-Long Dogfight: In San Francisco yesterday, the homestanding Giants jumped on the Orioles and led, 7-1, after six innings. It was the rubber game of the series. The home team had been playing poorly - their six and a half game AL West lead at the All Star Break is down to one game - and lost the series opener to the Orioles on Friday. But San Francisco won on Saturday and now had a big lead. It did not last. Baltimore got two runs in the seventh, two in the eighth and three more in the ninth. Mark Trumbo bashed his AL leading 34th HR, but it was clutch-hitting Jonathan Schoop who got the monster two out hit in the ninth. He smashed an 0-1 pitch over the fence for his 12th game-winning hit of the season, a three-run homer that put the Orioles ahead for the first time in the game. Schoop, under-appreciated, now has 18 homers. It kept Baltimore just one-half game behind Toronto, which also won, as did Boston. The Red Sox come to Baltimore beginning Tuesday for a key two-game set. Here is the AL East Standings, up to the minute:
1. Toronto Blue Jays: 67 wins, 51 losses, .568 win pct., 2 game win streak
2. Baltimore Orioles: 66 wins, 51 losses, .564 win pct., one-half game behind, 1 game win streak
3. Boston Red Sox: 64 wins, 52 losses, .552 win pct., 2 games behind, 3 game win streak
4. New York Yankees: 60 wins, 57 losses, .513 win pct., 6 and one-half games behind, 1 game losing streak
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 47 wins, 69 losses, .405 win pct., 19 games behind, 1 game win streak
Burnley Drops Premier League Opener: Leroy Fer's 82nd minute goal was the only score for either side as Burnley lost its Premier League opener, 1-0, to Swansea City. Fer, who got away with pulling Michael Keane's jersey on a corner kick, and sending Dean Marney down in the box, scored on a rebound, after Tom Heaton saved the original shot. Burnley had not lost since Boxing Day, 2015. The Claret visit Liverpool next Saturday.
Most Americans are the middle class, and Hillary wants even more of our money. But Trump isn't ramming that down her throat. No ads during the Olympics. No ads during baseball. No ads during Mark Levin's TV shows. I don't get it. I don't like it. Hillary promises that she is going to take even more of our money than Obama already takes, and he takes a whole lot. Yet Trump is silent about it. Trump silent? Only about Hillary purloining our money. And it is a purloining when they get as much as they already do.
Some folk seem to enjoy ripping our cities. Others are afraid of the city. I like Cities. Enjoying them takes a bit of common sense. Don't wander through the latest Milwaukee uprising, you know? Stay away from Black Lives Matter Rallies. But don't let a few bad apples ruin a good thing. Don't live like you are afraid. Americans come together in cities. Mostly, that is good. It is when we are afraid of each other that bad things take place.
Speaking of Milwaukee, it is worth mentioning that what is going on there is a real shame. The police shooting that is said to have sparked it seems completely justified. The dead man - although only 23 or so - had a rap sheet that was book length. He had a shiny silver gun in his hand and wheeled around during a foot pursuit as if to take aim at the officer that was chasing him, and that officer shot him, as well he should have. And that is the "spark" for the riot. That was the excuse given for a lot of really down and out folk doing a lot of looting and violence. This kind of thing does no good. No one will get the idea of coming together from it. It will not spark positive dialogue. It will make a lot of observers as angry as they can get. David Clark, the outstanding Milwaukee County Sheriff, really ripped into the participants. Good for him. He called the riot "underclass behavior." He also blasted the social system that discourages families from staying together. It is hard to imagine why Democrats, which have run almost every large city, exclusively, for decades, have not redone the system to encourage family structure. But they haven't. Instead, they adopt policies that directly undercut urban families. Among these awful polices are the ones that bring tens of thousands of immigrants into these cites to compete for the few decent jobs available with the black folk and poor white folk who have been there for generations. Still, the clamor for real change comes from outside the Cities. The political folk who come from the cities seem to limit their policy initiatives to the "more money" tact. This, at a time when the country is hopelessly in debt and has no money to send there even if there were an inclination.
Sports: AL East Turning Into Season-Long Dogfight: In San Francisco yesterday, the homestanding Giants jumped on the Orioles and led, 7-1, after six innings. It was the rubber game of the series. The home team had been playing poorly - their six and a half game AL West lead at the All Star Break is down to one game - and lost the series opener to the Orioles on Friday. But San Francisco won on Saturday and now had a big lead. It did not last. Baltimore got two runs in the seventh, two in the eighth and three more in the ninth. Mark Trumbo bashed his AL leading 34th HR, but it was clutch-hitting Jonathan Schoop who got the monster two out hit in the ninth. He smashed an 0-1 pitch over the fence for his 12th game-winning hit of the season, a three-run homer that put the Orioles ahead for the first time in the game. Schoop, under-appreciated, now has 18 homers. It kept Baltimore just one-half game behind Toronto, which also won, as did Boston. The Red Sox come to Baltimore beginning Tuesday for a key two-game set. Here is the AL East Standings, up to the minute:
1. Toronto Blue Jays: 67 wins, 51 losses, .568 win pct., 2 game win streak
2. Baltimore Orioles: 66 wins, 51 losses, .564 win pct., one-half game behind, 1 game win streak
3. Boston Red Sox: 64 wins, 52 losses, .552 win pct., 2 games behind, 3 game win streak
4. New York Yankees: 60 wins, 57 losses, .513 win pct., 6 and one-half games behind, 1 game losing streak
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 47 wins, 69 losses, .405 win pct., 19 games behind, 1 game win streak
Burnley Drops Premier League Opener: Leroy Fer's 82nd minute goal was the only score for either side as Burnley lost its Premier League opener, 1-0, to Swansea City. Fer, who got away with pulling Michael Keane's jersey on a corner kick, and sending Dean Marney down in the box, scored on a rebound, after Tom Heaton saved the original shot. Burnley had not lost since Boxing Day, 2015. The Claret visit Liverpool next Saturday.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
The Very Long Sad Update: This Time We Name Names; Or, More Precisely, the Airline
CHICAGO, Illinois, Sunday, August 14, 2016 - When last I posted, it was Friday afternoon and I was marooned in a motel a few miles from O'Hare Airport in Chicago. My red eye flight from Las Vegas to Chicago was delayed some two hours because of labor difficulty at O'Hare. The jet's flight originated here, flew to Las Vegas and then back to Chicago. That particular jet was then going on to Ft. Lauderdale.
We speak here of Spirit Airline.
I boarded in Vegas and was supposed to disembark in Chicago and switch planes to one heading to Baltimore. But the two hour delay cut my layover from two hours to just a few minutes, a fact further complicated by problems caused by a delay in getting the pedestrian tunnel pushed up to the jet to allow passengers to disembark the jet and enter the terminal. I literally ran from my jet to my connection and arrived five minutes before it was scheduled to leave.
But the Spirit Jet had already left, even though the captain of my flight had radioed ahead to advise airline officials that the flight to Baltimore needed to be held up a few short minutes so the many passengers on the flight from Las Vegas could make the connection. Amazingly, there was no problem with the luggage being unloaded and put on the flight to Baltimore, and all of my luggage was on the Friday morning flight to Baltimore. But I wasn't. On the other hand, my problems were only beginning.
Once it was clear I was not going to get on the scheduled Friday morning connecting flight to Baltimore, Spirit, and its agent in Chicago told me that the first flight they could put me on was Friday evening. This flight would take me from Chicago to Los Angeles, where I could make a connection back across the country to Baltimore. It was their idea that I should fly from Las Vegas to Chicago to Los Angeles to Baltimore. I wasn't happy and said so, and to the agent's credit, she did then find me a ticket - the last ones, she said - on a red eye (Friday night) flight directly from Chicago to Baltimore. I retreated to a cheap motel near the airport and waited until Friday evening. At 5 pm I checked the Spirit web page and found that the flight we still set to leave on time.
Arriving at the airport before sunset, I grabbed a meal, then went to the Spirit desk at my boarding gate to check on things.
"This flight was cancelled a long time ago," the stone-faced agent advised me. I told him I'd just checked at 5 pm.
"I don't know about that," she said, "but the flight has been cancelled." No reason was offered. I went back to the main Spirit desk and ask what they were going to do.
The lad there literally told me as he peered into his computer, "Oh, the last seats on a flight this time tomorrow have just been taken. The best I can do is Sunday morning."
I said, "you're going to help me out here, aren't you? I mean, I get a hotel and some meals, right?" Not exactly. I got a coupon that was supposed to get me a 50% reduction in the hotel bill and a break on some meals. When I checked out long before dawn this morning, it didn't seem like anything was deducted, but honestly, I was too tired and too scared of missing another flight to put up much of a fight.
O'Hare Airport in Chicago in the predawn hours of a Sunday morning in mid-August seems like the crowd around the concession stands at halftime of a Ravens game. The crowds are immense, the lines are long - at McDonalds and Starbucks, the lines are in excess of 50 yards long. The lines at the airline desks are longer. I bought coffee at a hot dog vendor.
On the one wing of O'Hare, where only Spirit and American Airlines board planes, you cannot move and you cannot hardly find a place to sit down. But I finally fight my way on board my connecting flight and got to Baltimore - guess! - almost one hour early.
I do have a few questions for Spirit. Why, when a customer gets screwed - their plane left early on Friday, keeping me and a dozen other passengers from making a connection - did they put me on a flight and then cancel it? Then I get put on a Sunday morning flight even though there were at least two other flights on Saturday. I'm sure they will say those flights were booked. But doesn't somebody in my shoes have a higher claim on seats than do those who are having an easy time of things?
Just asking.
We speak here of Spirit Airline.
I boarded in Vegas and was supposed to disembark in Chicago and switch planes to one heading to Baltimore. But the two hour delay cut my layover from two hours to just a few minutes, a fact further complicated by problems caused by a delay in getting the pedestrian tunnel pushed up to the jet to allow passengers to disembark the jet and enter the terminal. I literally ran from my jet to my connection and arrived five minutes before it was scheduled to leave.
But the Spirit Jet had already left, even though the captain of my flight had radioed ahead to advise airline officials that the flight to Baltimore needed to be held up a few short minutes so the many passengers on the flight from Las Vegas could make the connection. Amazingly, there was no problem with the luggage being unloaded and put on the flight to Baltimore, and all of my luggage was on the Friday morning flight to Baltimore. But I wasn't. On the other hand, my problems were only beginning.
Once it was clear I was not going to get on the scheduled Friday morning connecting flight to Baltimore, Spirit, and its agent in Chicago told me that the first flight they could put me on was Friday evening. This flight would take me from Chicago to Los Angeles, where I could make a connection back across the country to Baltimore. It was their idea that I should fly from Las Vegas to Chicago to Los Angeles to Baltimore. I wasn't happy and said so, and to the agent's credit, she did then find me a ticket - the last ones, she said - on a red eye (Friday night) flight directly from Chicago to Baltimore. I retreated to a cheap motel near the airport and waited until Friday evening. At 5 pm I checked the Spirit web page and found that the flight we still set to leave on time.
Arriving at the airport before sunset, I grabbed a meal, then went to the Spirit desk at my boarding gate to check on things.
"This flight was cancelled a long time ago," the stone-faced agent advised me. I told him I'd just checked at 5 pm.
"I don't know about that," she said, "but the flight has been cancelled." No reason was offered. I went back to the main Spirit desk and ask what they were going to do.
The lad there literally told me as he peered into his computer, "Oh, the last seats on a flight this time tomorrow have just been taken. The best I can do is Sunday morning."
I said, "you're going to help me out here, aren't you? I mean, I get a hotel and some meals, right?" Not exactly. I got a coupon that was supposed to get me a 50% reduction in the hotel bill and a break on some meals. When I checked out long before dawn this morning, it didn't seem like anything was deducted, but honestly, I was too tired and too scared of missing another flight to put up much of a fight.
O'Hare Airport in Chicago in the predawn hours of a Sunday morning in mid-August seems like the crowd around the concession stands at halftime of a Ravens game. The crowds are immense, the lines are long - at McDonalds and Starbucks, the lines are in excess of 50 yards long. The lines at the airline desks are longer. I bought coffee at a hot dog vendor.
On the one wing of O'Hare, where only Spirit and American Airlines board planes, you cannot move and you cannot hardly find a place to sit down. But I finally fight my way on board my connecting flight and got to Baltimore - guess! - almost one hour early.
I do have a few questions for Spirit. Why, when a customer gets screwed - their plane left early on Friday, keeping me and a dozen other passengers from making a connection - did they put me on a flight and then cancel it? Then I get put on a Sunday morning flight even though there were at least two other flights on Saturday. I'm sure they will say those flights were booked. But doesn't somebody in my shoes have a higher claim on seats than do those who are having an easy time of things?
Just asking.
Friday, August 12, 2016
The Unfiltered Excitement of Commercial Air Flight
CHICAGO, Illinois, Friday, August 12, 2016 - These things happen when tens of thousands of people get on board commercial jetliners each and every day. All of that being said, however, doesn't make the occurrences a happy event when the person it happens to is you. As I noted in my post from Las Vegas, I had to fly west to meet a family member who had taken ill in Las Vegas. It was a hastily planned trip and I left Baltimore on Wednesday evening with only a plane ticket allowing me to fly from BWI Airport in Baltimore to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The jet - owned by Southwestern - took off from Baltimore at about 5:30 pm on Wednesday. Some five hours later - give or take - it landed at McCarran. It was a beautiful beautiful flight. Despite buying the ticket at the last minute, I was able to get a window seat. The entire flight, all five hours worth, was in the fading evening sun, which is the most beautiful light on Earth in my humble opinion. We did fly through a thunder storm or three but none of it seemed to matter. Watching the nation change before your eyes is a sight to behold, at least for someone like me who doesn't fly all that often.
Watching the lush green of the East and Mid-eastern United States give way to the farms of Indiana and Illinois, and the larger farms of Iowa and Kansas, is quite incredible, especially at this time of year. Then you notice the Rockies looming up below you and it is all breath-taking. Really, it is.
At any rate, I accomplished what I came to do and headed back to McCarran late last night. Back in Baltimore, another family member purchased two tickets for us at a really good price; both tickets cost the same as my one ticket from Baltimore to Las Vegas. But as soon as I arrived at McCarran, things started to go south - not really but figuratively. The bulletin boards announced that my flight, set to leave Vegas at 12:30 am today, was now delayed and would not leave until just after 2 am. Now I was very concerned. I had a connecting flight here in Chicago that would take me home. When the ticket was purchased, the Chicago layover was some two hours. With the delay in Vegas, I would only have a few minutes to get from one gate to another. And what of my baggage, which, when I learned of the delay, was already checked in.
When we landed at dawn in Chicago, it was grey and threatening. There was a delay on the ground in getting the connecting tunnel saddled up to the side of jet, a necessity for disembarking passengers. I literally ran from the landed jet to the gate of the Baltimore connection. I made it on time by the clock. That is, I made it to the gate with five minutes to spare. But the plane had already left. I did not understand this at all, especially since the captain of the landed jet or a crew member had called ahead to notify the departing jet that his passengers would be cutting it close.
Now I haven't identified the airline, but it wasn't Southwest, which I often fly because it has a large presence in Baltimore and is often the least expensive. This time its competitor was far cheaper, no doubt because of the time of the flight and the scheduled long layover in the middle of the night here in the Windy City. At any rate I got into a short line at the airline desk near the gate where an anxious pilot left early. I was told that I had two choices: take a connecting flight to Los Angeles - are you kidding? - and fly from there to Baltimore, or wait until Saturday for a direct flight. I whined more than a little and the kind woman said wait just one minute, there are two tickets left on a direct flight at 9:30 pm tonight. We grabbed them. That left me some twelve hours to kill here. My dear wife rented a room near the airport for us. Here we sit.
Whether we finally get home or not is still to be determined. Things happen. And there is a post script of sorts: our baggage did not suffer the delay is disembarking that the passengers suffered. It is, supposedly, waiting for us in Baltimore. I hope so.
Late Developments: When the changes were originally made by the airline, the flight to Baltimore was set to take off right around 9:30 pm. On a lark, I decided to check the flight status about 5 pm. There was a change; the flight to Baltimore was pushed back to 11:09 pm and the arrival time in Baltimore was changed from midnight to 2 am. The family in Baltimore is excited about driving to the airport at that hour.
Watching the lush green of the East and Mid-eastern United States give way to the farms of Indiana and Illinois, and the larger farms of Iowa and Kansas, is quite incredible, especially at this time of year. Then you notice the Rockies looming up below you and it is all breath-taking. Really, it is.
At any rate, I accomplished what I came to do and headed back to McCarran late last night. Back in Baltimore, another family member purchased two tickets for us at a really good price; both tickets cost the same as my one ticket from Baltimore to Las Vegas. But as soon as I arrived at McCarran, things started to go south - not really but figuratively. The bulletin boards announced that my flight, set to leave Vegas at 12:30 am today, was now delayed and would not leave until just after 2 am. Now I was very concerned. I had a connecting flight here in Chicago that would take me home. When the ticket was purchased, the Chicago layover was some two hours. With the delay in Vegas, I would only have a few minutes to get from one gate to another. And what of my baggage, which, when I learned of the delay, was already checked in.
When we landed at dawn in Chicago, it was grey and threatening. There was a delay on the ground in getting the connecting tunnel saddled up to the side of jet, a necessity for disembarking passengers. I literally ran from the landed jet to the gate of the Baltimore connection. I made it on time by the clock. That is, I made it to the gate with five minutes to spare. But the plane had already left. I did not understand this at all, especially since the captain of the landed jet or a crew member had called ahead to notify the departing jet that his passengers would be cutting it close.
Now I haven't identified the airline, but it wasn't Southwest, which I often fly because it has a large presence in Baltimore and is often the least expensive. This time its competitor was far cheaper, no doubt because of the time of the flight and the scheduled long layover in the middle of the night here in the Windy City. At any rate I got into a short line at the airline desk near the gate where an anxious pilot left early. I was told that I had two choices: take a connecting flight to Los Angeles - are you kidding? - and fly from there to Baltimore, or wait until Saturday for a direct flight. I whined more than a little and the kind woman said wait just one minute, there are two tickets left on a direct flight at 9:30 pm tonight. We grabbed them. That left me some twelve hours to kill here. My dear wife rented a room near the airport for us. Here we sit.
Whether we finally get home or not is still to be determined. Things happen. And there is a post script of sorts: our baggage did not suffer the delay is disembarking that the passengers suffered. It is, supposedly, waiting for us in Baltimore. I hope so.
Late Developments: When the changes were originally made by the airline, the flight to Baltimore was set to take off right around 9:30 pm. On a lark, I decided to check the flight status about 5 pm. There was a change; the flight to Baltimore was pushed back to 11:09 pm and the arrival time in Baltimore was changed from midnight to 2 am. The family in Baltimore is excited about driving to the airport at that hour.
Las Vegas: The Good and the Bad
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Thursday, August 11, 2016 - I had cause to be in this American City today. A family member was hospitalized and I flew here to see her and accompany her back to Baltimore. I had the same impression of Las Vegas that I had of Atlantic City when gambling there was in its heyday. It isn't the best impression.
The Las Vegas strip is fabulous and oozes decadence. There are unbelievable attractions and lots of very bright lights. There is a Ferris Wheel of sorts that whisks riders high into the sky. But instead of sitting in a swaying cart, riders are able to enter one of dozens of small globular "rooms" that are fully air conditioned. Drinks are served. You get a fabulous view of Las Vegas and the surrounding desert and craggy mountains. Around Las Vegas these mountains are not that high, but they do give the impression that you are in a desert valley. And, in fact, you are.
The desert around Vegas is not one of white sand and dunes. Instead, the sand is brown. There are no visible dunes. One cynical resident told me that Las Vegas has "a lot of dirt." That isn't really fair. There is dirt and sand all over the place because it doesn't rain much around here. There isn't a whole lot of green. A reservoir my jet flew over just before it landed was very very low. At a boat launch the road down to water's edge had been extended quite a distance to avoid becoming useless.
But none of this has anything to do with my impression of the City. My impression is drawn from the fact that the city of Las Vegas appears to be suffering greatly in the current economy. Just beyond the Strip there are abandoned business locations by the dozen. A shopping mall had its biggest stores abandoned. Lots of places were run down and closed. This was exactly what was going on in Atlantic City even during the pinnacle of the gambling craze. The money from the gambling industry just wasn't trickling down. Before the Democrats get fired up, let me add that the current economy is the Obama Economy, eight miserable and depraved years worth. You cannot tax the daylights out of struggling businesses and expect these businesses to do well and provide thousands of jobs.
Millions of tourists still flock to Las Vegas. On Thursday night as I checked out near 11 pm to catch a jet home, the line of people trying to check in was longer than seemed possible. I was at the Luxor, which was decadent but well-run, expensive but anxious to see that patrons got their money's worth, or so it seemed. Why was I at an expensive place like this? Well, I was able to get a room on short notice and the ad that attracted my business was in keeping with what I had heard about Vegas: they charge less for rooms in hopes you will make up the difference in the lush casinos. But the advertised rate of $41.00 per night was really $68.00 per night once the add-ons were added on. Let the buyer beware. And $68 per night was far less than I would spend for lodging in Ocean City, Maryland, and there was no minimum stay.
Because I was here on serious business, I didn't gamble or take in any shows. But I don't think that would change my impression. As for the heat, it wasn't that bad to one who spends his summers on the Atlantic Seaboard. When people argue about whether it is the heat or the humidity, believe me, it is the humidity. One other note: I met a slew of very decent people - men and women - driving taxi cabs. I learned a lot of good things about the City. But taking a cab around town will take you broke soon enough.
The Las Vegas strip is fabulous and oozes decadence. There are unbelievable attractions and lots of very bright lights. There is a Ferris Wheel of sorts that whisks riders high into the sky. But instead of sitting in a swaying cart, riders are able to enter one of dozens of small globular "rooms" that are fully air conditioned. Drinks are served. You get a fabulous view of Las Vegas and the surrounding desert and craggy mountains. Around Las Vegas these mountains are not that high, but they do give the impression that you are in a desert valley. And, in fact, you are.
The desert around Vegas is not one of white sand and dunes. Instead, the sand is brown. There are no visible dunes. One cynical resident told me that Las Vegas has "a lot of dirt." That isn't really fair. There is dirt and sand all over the place because it doesn't rain much around here. There isn't a whole lot of green. A reservoir my jet flew over just before it landed was very very low. At a boat launch the road down to water's edge had been extended quite a distance to avoid becoming useless.
But none of this has anything to do with my impression of the City. My impression is drawn from the fact that the city of Las Vegas appears to be suffering greatly in the current economy. Just beyond the Strip there are abandoned business locations by the dozen. A shopping mall had its biggest stores abandoned. Lots of places were run down and closed. This was exactly what was going on in Atlantic City even during the pinnacle of the gambling craze. The money from the gambling industry just wasn't trickling down. Before the Democrats get fired up, let me add that the current economy is the Obama Economy, eight miserable and depraved years worth. You cannot tax the daylights out of struggling businesses and expect these businesses to do well and provide thousands of jobs.
Millions of tourists still flock to Las Vegas. On Thursday night as I checked out near 11 pm to catch a jet home, the line of people trying to check in was longer than seemed possible. I was at the Luxor, which was decadent but well-run, expensive but anxious to see that patrons got their money's worth, or so it seemed. Why was I at an expensive place like this? Well, I was able to get a room on short notice and the ad that attracted my business was in keeping with what I had heard about Vegas: they charge less for rooms in hopes you will make up the difference in the lush casinos. But the advertised rate of $41.00 per night was really $68.00 per night once the add-ons were added on. Let the buyer beware. And $68 per night was far less than I would spend for lodging in Ocean City, Maryland, and there was no minimum stay.
Because I was here on serious business, I didn't gamble or take in any shows. But I don't think that would change my impression. As for the heat, it wasn't that bad to one who spends his summers on the Atlantic Seaboard. When people argue about whether it is the heat or the humidity, believe me, it is the humidity. One other note: I met a slew of very decent people - men and women - driving taxi cabs. I learned a lot of good things about the City. But taking a cab around town will take you broke soon enough.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
What Do Reporters at Today's Mainstream Media Outlets Believe They Are Doing? Drafting Propadanda?
BALTIMORE, Maryland Tuesday, August 9, 2016 - I was a journalism major at the University of Maryland in College Park. I wanted to be a writer and newspaper reporter. And I knew, from early on, that a reporter had a duty to tell the unvarnished truth, to be fair to all sides, even if you personally disagreed with what someone was saying. We were taught that one of the greatest writers in human history, John Milton, was completely and inarguably correct when he wrote that in a free marketplace of ideas the truth will emerge.
Reporters today don't follow that truism. That is one reason, and a primary one, at that, why people today don't read newspapers that much anymore, and why even those who do don't trust them. If you think for one minute that you are getting an honest picture of Hillary Clinton by reading the New York Times or the Washington Post, you are sadly mistaken. If you are reading either one of those newspapers for political news, you are already a Leftist and are doing so to get a dose of pablum about the GOP and their candidate, Donald Trump. For instance, both papers in recent days have run breathless frontpage stories about the immigration status of Trump's wife. This, while news breaks about the execution of a top Iranian Nuclear Scientist, allegedly for spying on Iran for These United States. There is the very distinct possibility that the Iranians "learned" of the spying - if there was any - from emails hacked from Hillary's non-approved and only slightly protected illegal server.
Which story has more relevance to the campaign now taking place? If I have to tell you, you've been getting way too much of your information from the Huffington Post.
What do today's reporters tell themselves about their roll in and relevance to American life? I wonder. Most of them cannot say that they are purveyors of truth. Most of them cannot say that they are reporting the news. The reporters and editors of the Post, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Des Moines Register or almost any other daily paper in the country are interested in the craft of political propaganda. They want you to vote for and support all of the current far left issues of the modern age. So, readers of these papers will see articles on a regular basis that support the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates. You will continue to read positive articles about President Obama. If you get most of your information from these papers or from the old-guard broadcast networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - you might even think Obama has had a successful presidency. (If so, I'll let you in on a little secret: he hasn't. His seven-plus years have been an example of how to really screw up a great nation. I cannot think of anyone who even comes close to being worse than he has been. But I digress.) These media outlets also regularly report on how capitalism injures the environment, how the USA is a bad actor on the international stage and gobbles up too much of the Earth's resources, how abortion is nothing but positive in modern society, how the GOP is still racist, etc.
What kinds of things will you rarely, if ever, read. Well, anything that makes Donald Trump seem like a decent and successful businessman, anything that makes it appear that Trump is picking up momentum in the fall campaign, anything that makes Hillary look like she really is, anything that makes American values or American Exceptionalism seem real or positive, and so on. Many of you know that a media outlet does most of its propaganda by not printing or broadcasting topics of the day. So, as I pointed out above, readers or viewers of the above listed media outlets will hear little, if anything, about how Hillary's incompetence and general wretchedness led to the arrest and execution of Shahram Amiri in Iran. If those readers and viewers hear about the execution, it will not include any news about Iran getting information leading to him being charged with treason from hacks of Hillary's email server.
So the truth is that today's newspaper writers spent four years at a college or university learning how to write propaganda. Does it bother these folk that they are working for a candidate of noted ill-repute? Does it bother them that they are working for a candidate who has purloined money from the USA or cajoled money from foreign nations on the only slightly disguised promise of influence in a Clinton Presidency? Guess not.
Reporters today don't follow that truism. That is one reason, and a primary one, at that, why people today don't read newspapers that much anymore, and why even those who do don't trust them. If you think for one minute that you are getting an honest picture of Hillary Clinton by reading the New York Times or the Washington Post, you are sadly mistaken. If you are reading either one of those newspapers for political news, you are already a Leftist and are doing so to get a dose of pablum about the GOP and their candidate, Donald Trump. For instance, both papers in recent days have run breathless frontpage stories about the immigration status of Trump's wife. This, while news breaks about the execution of a top Iranian Nuclear Scientist, allegedly for spying on Iran for These United States. There is the very distinct possibility that the Iranians "learned" of the spying - if there was any - from emails hacked from Hillary's non-approved and only slightly protected illegal server.
Which story has more relevance to the campaign now taking place? If I have to tell you, you've been getting way too much of your information from the Huffington Post.
What do today's reporters tell themselves about their roll in and relevance to American life? I wonder. Most of them cannot say that they are purveyors of truth. Most of them cannot say that they are reporting the news. The reporters and editors of the Post, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Des Moines Register or almost any other daily paper in the country are interested in the craft of political propaganda. They want you to vote for and support all of the current far left issues of the modern age. So, readers of these papers will see articles on a regular basis that support the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates. You will continue to read positive articles about President Obama. If you get most of your information from these papers or from the old-guard broadcast networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - you might even think Obama has had a successful presidency. (If so, I'll let you in on a little secret: he hasn't. His seven-plus years have been an example of how to really screw up a great nation. I cannot think of anyone who even comes close to being worse than he has been. But I digress.) These media outlets also regularly report on how capitalism injures the environment, how the USA is a bad actor on the international stage and gobbles up too much of the Earth's resources, how abortion is nothing but positive in modern society, how the GOP is still racist, etc.
What kinds of things will you rarely, if ever, read. Well, anything that makes Donald Trump seem like a decent and successful businessman, anything that makes it appear that Trump is picking up momentum in the fall campaign, anything that makes Hillary look like she really is, anything that makes American values or American Exceptionalism seem real or positive, and so on. Many of you know that a media outlet does most of its propaganda by not printing or broadcasting topics of the day. So, as I pointed out above, readers or viewers of the above listed media outlets will hear little, if anything, about how Hillary's incompetence and general wretchedness led to the arrest and execution of Shahram Amiri in Iran. If those readers and viewers hear about the execution, it will not include any news about Iran getting information leading to him being charged with treason from hacks of Hillary's email server.
So the truth is that today's newspaper writers spent four years at a college or university learning how to write propaganda. Does it bother these folk that they are working for a candidate of noted ill-repute? Does it bother them that they are working for a candidate who has purloined money from the USA or cajoled money from foreign nations on the only slightly disguised promise of influence in a Clinton Presidency? Guess not.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Campaign Mess-Making
BALTIMORE, Maryland August 4, 2016 - Let's get this straight. A plane-load of currencies from here and there (Switzerland, the European Union, France, etc.) - but not the USA - is sent by Obama to Iran at the exact same time that four hostages are released. Congress was never informed about the transaction. In fact, several times when relevant questions were posed by this Congressperson or that Congressperson, the regime gave misleading responses to avoid having to reveal the negotiations that led up to this sordid event. Obama and his functionaries stridently insist that the money was not ransom for the released hostages. They point to the fact that they announced in January of this year that the dispute over a long-past due payment to Iran had been settled for $117 Million. But the January announcement contained nothing about a plane load of unmarked currency from nations around the world except These United States. In Tehran, headlines in the state-controlled media say, unequivocally, that the plane load of cash is, indeed, ransom. One of the hostages released told a reporter that he and his fellow hostages were waiting for a not inconsiderable amount of time to leave Iran and that everything was ready to go but still they sat and waited. He asked an Iranian official why they weren't leaving. The official told the hostage that they could not be released until the Iranians got their money from the United States.
Who is correct? What does the evidence suggest? Many Americans believe that Obama has engaged in money laundering. Not too many believe that the money wasn't ransom. If it looks like ransom and smells like ransom...
Recently, Obama's 'Open-the-Doors' Federal Prison Policy was amended to include a boat load of new inmates, or, I guess we should say, former inmates. With six months or so still remaining in his 8 year 'folderol', Obama has already commuted the sentences of some 514 federal inmates.
By comparison, the last nine presidents combined have not commuted that many. And I don't need to remind how vicious federal prisoners tend to be, having been convicted of such crimes as gangland-style murder, bank robbery, terrorism, etc. Now, a whole bunch of them are wandering our neighborhoods. Wonderful. And all of the credit for the early releases goes to Obama. Hillary wants to be just like Obama.
A weekend talk show host in Baltimore said, in all seriousness, that he believes Trump intends to drop out of the race. He said that the things he has done to date defy all logic, that Hillary is ripe for the picking, and anyone who was half serious could defeat her. I don't see that, but this radio host, on a big station, said he was at least half serious. Others have said the same thing. I think most of this arises out of the way the Mainstream Media covers Trump. While the polls taken right after the Democratic Convention showed Hillary way ahead, those taken a few days later showed the candidates neck and neck, both nationally and in battleground states.
The Far Left Media, of course, has been totally consumed by this Kahn chap, the Goldstar Father who is, in his real life, a Muslim Activist who has campaigned for the institution of Sharia Law in these United States. He is also a dyed-in-the-wool Hillary functionary from way back. That is the main reason the Media loves him. Serious issues have been ignored, including Hillary's responses to questions posed to her by Fox's Chris Wallace. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the conversations that took place before she would agree to go on the Fox News program, and her timing could not have been more fortuitous. At a moment when Trump was down, she made a move, that for her, took apparent courage. When Wallce asked her a question about Benghazi, however, she said that FBI Chief Comey said her responses to questions were honest. But he did not say that. He said just the opposite. But the media ignored that in favor of the Kahn non-story and Trump's alleged inability to ignore him in a presidential way, or something like that. The viewing public, however, did see Hillary and the recent polls reflected it. Once a liar, at least in Hillary's case, always a liar.
A radio commentator wondered aloud whether any show host would interview a shrink about people who lie all of the time, and don't seem to be able to help it. That might happen on Fox, but not NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN etc.
Who is correct? What does the evidence suggest? Many Americans believe that Obama has engaged in money laundering. Not too many believe that the money wasn't ransom. If it looks like ransom and smells like ransom...
Recently, Obama's 'Open-the-Doors' Federal Prison Policy was amended to include a boat load of new inmates, or, I guess we should say, former inmates. With six months or so still remaining in his 8 year 'folderol', Obama has already commuted the sentences of some 514 federal inmates.
By comparison, the last nine presidents combined have not commuted that many. And I don't need to remind how vicious federal prisoners tend to be, having been convicted of such crimes as gangland-style murder, bank robbery, terrorism, etc. Now, a whole bunch of them are wandering our neighborhoods. Wonderful. And all of the credit for the early releases goes to Obama. Hillary wants to be just like Obama.
A weekend talk show host in Baltimore said, in all seriousness, that he believes Trump intends to drop out of the race. He said that the things he has done to date defy all logic, that Hillary is ripe for the picking, and anyone who was half serious could defeat her. I don't see that, but this radio host, on a big station, said he was at least half serious. Others have said the same thing. I think most of this arises out of the way the Mainstream Media covers Trump. While the polls taken right after the Democratic Convention showed Hillary way ahead, those taken a few days later showed the candidates neck and neck, both nationally and in battleground states.
The Far Left Media, of course, has been totally consumed by this Kahn chap, the Goldstar Father who is, in his real life, a Muslim Activist who has campaigned for the institution of Sharia Law in these United States. He is also a dyed-in-the-wool Hillary functionary from way back. That is the main reason the Media loves him. Serious issues have been ignored, including Hillary's responses to questions posed to her by Fox's Chris Wallace. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the conversations that took place before she would agree to go on the Fox News program, and her timing could not have been more fortuitous. At a moment when Trump was down, she made a move, that for her, took apparent courage. When Wallce asked her a question about Benghazi, however, she said that FBI Chief Comey said her responses to questions were honest. But he did not say that. He said just the opposite. But the media ignored that in favor of the Kahn non-story and Trump's alleged inability to ignore him in a presidential way, or something like that. The viewing public, however, did see Hillary and the recent polls reflected it. Once a liar, at least in Hillary's case, always a liar.
A radio commentator wondered aloud whether any show host would interview a shrink about people who lie all of the time, and don't seem to be able to help it. That might happen on Fox, but not NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN etc.
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