What's the countdown now for the end of Donald Trump's presidency? Will I even live to see the day? Now with more than 2 1/2 years still left to go, if I live long enough, then I will be age 90 when he is finally gone, gone, gone. Then I can actually die in peace, unless he ends up next as a Republican vice president, something he has also contemplated. Then pity the poor president on the same ticket. Just imagine what that unfortunate person's life might be like, having someone always looking over their shoulder and posting about it on social media.
I once considered GW Bush a terrible president, but he now seems rather harmless compared to Donald J. Trump. Could any future president actually be worse than Trump? I don't even want to imagine it. Maybe a President Pete Hegseth would actually be worse
Thanks (or no thanks) to Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, a blatant war criminal, is still on duty as US Secretary of War, still drawing a hefty salary, despite his scanty military experience consisting of National Guard and despite having given orders to murder Caribbean boaters raising their hands in surrender, an actual war crime. None-the-less, seasoned military officers are required to salute him and stand at attention in his presence. And he is trying to demote and censure an actual war hero, Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), a retired Navy Captain, for saying that service members can refuse to carry out illegal orders.
Pete Hegseth left the Army National Guard in 2021 after being flagged as an "insider threat" by a fellow service member, according to reports.Earlier in his tenure as Secrtary of War, Hegseth had posted on-line his re-writing of the children's story Franklin the Turtle, which did nothing to burnish his military credentials. Remember that episode? But ultimately Trump as president is responsible for naming him in the first place and for still keeping him on the federal payroll. I have speculated that Hegeth's family must have given a sizable donation (bribe?) to Mr. Trump to get him on the federal payroll to begin with.
Hegseth is obviously out of his depth, in way over his hed, just swimming upstream. Nor has he seemed to learn very quickly on the job. He never really has gotten his footing. But he still fits in well with Trump who displays serious senile dementia symptoms. So there they are, 2 mentally disabled guys who may somehow understand each other. Trump has been trying to put some of the blame for the Iran war on Hegseth, who none-the-less is going with him to China.
What if Trump should decide not to retire when his presidential term ends, but instead to run as vice president on a ticket with JD Vance at the top? Vance could hardly refuse. Then if they won, Trump would always be looking over Vance's shoulder, telling him what to do and threatening him with MAGA if he fails to listen.
Vance and his wife are now expecting their 4th child.
Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California and is threatening to suspend federal funding to all states if they don’t aggressively prosecute fraud in their Medicaid programs. As part of his role as the fraud czar, Vance said that the administration is targeting California because the state isn’t taking fraud seriously.
Do you really believe that Calfornia isn't taking fraud seriously or that fraud is the actual reason that the state is being targeted? After Kamala didn't quite make it, Democrats may be hesitant to back her or another woman again. But California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom now seems to have his eye on the presidency, so the Democratic Party might consider him to be a safer choice. Then we might wonder if there is really a problem that caused the Trump administration to suspend Medicaid payents to California, or, as is much more likely, if Trump, Vance, and their associates are just to try to stop Newsom's forward momentum. The Trump administration is certainly willing to play dirty.
Apparently meat sandwishes, at least in bulk, are not permitted in air travelers' carryons. This traveler, with over 100 meat sandwishes, was bringing them from Thailand without declaring them.
My son Jon, a dog lover, found this story. We'd always had dogs when he was growing up and now we have a dog named Willow. She keeps me company while Jon is at work. She would be quite capable of sniffing out meat sandwiches, but would probably like to take a few bites of them herself,
Here now is Jon with Willow.
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An Ecuadorian website asks if I've ever thought of visiting Quito.
¿Has pensado viajar a Quito? descubre su magia y alrededores.
Actually, I have visited Quito.
The altitude in Quito is over 9,000 ft. so it takes some time to adapt there. In neighboring Peru, I've been to even higher elevations, such as 11,000 ft. in Cuzco, then in La Paz, Bolivia at almost 12,000 ft. I've also lived in Bogotá, Colombia at an elevation of 8,600 ft.,
the 3rd highest capital in the world after La Paz and Quito. Then there is Denver, where I've also lived as a child, hailed as the Mile-High City at over 5,000 ft. As can be seen, I've moved around a lot living at various elevations, beginning with Copán, Honduras in 1940 when I was only 2, being bathed back then by our live-in maid. with my a baby brother (now deceased) looking on. But now at age 88, I do hope to spend the rest of my days right here in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, where the elevation is about 2,000 ft., the same as in Copán.
Longtime DC neighbors have just told me about plans by the current owners to raise the basement ceiling of my former DC house by a foot or more. Probably these new owners of "my" DC home want now to raise the basement ceiling to the standard height for legal rentals, then to put in a rental apartment down there. There is already a full bathroom in the basement. Raising it up will be a very delicate and tricky operation for such a large house with 4 fireplaces and pocket doors, built back in 1895 and with 3 full floors still above. If it should be dropped in the process, then goodbye house!
This is what Zillow says: 720 A St SE, Washington, DC 20003 is currently not for sale. The 4298 Square Feet single family home is a 7 beds, 5 baths property. $1,400,000.00.
"My" house is the red brick one with a white door just behind the tree. I had lived in my DC home for more than 50 years, raised my kids there, and had planned to stay until my death. It is detached on the side hidden behind the tree above, with a side yard and some open space between it and the next house on that side.
Seen below was the music room, situated between the living and dining rooms, where I had a player piano and also the ancient pump organ seen there. There were 3 fireplaces on the first floor, another fireplace in my master bedroom on the second floor, and a wood stove on the 3rd floor. There were pocket doors on the first floor and in my bedroom. There were also lots of stairs, but I navigated them holding tightly onto the railing.
Yes, I had planned to live there until my dying day, but my kids insisted that I move to West Virginia, where I now live with my son in a new one-story house with no fireplaces or pocket doors, a very comfortable house with a living room with 2 couches and a desk, 2 full bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, one of which I use as an office, and a kitchen/dining room,
as well as an enclosed garage and a screened porch. There is also a basement area.
This now is the house I've bought here, in West Virginia,
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