DONALD DEIGNS TO VISIT LAND OF THE RAPISTS.

Continuing my conspiracy theory that ABC and CBS are promoting Donald Trump, both networks tonight covered his visit to Mexico and gave him high points for control and diplomacy, showing him in a very positive light, forgetting that he is a narcissistic, xenophobic, paranoid, racist bigot. One can only wonder why they are acting as if he is a normal human being and a reasonable and acceptable contender for President of the United States. In the same biased coverages, both networks seemed gleeful in reporting that in a new New York Times/CBS poll Hillary Clinton's untrustworthy ratings percentages have risen. According to ABC news it was now 67%, while CBS reported it at 69%. One wonders what makes all these average citizens who know nothing factual about Hillary Clinton's past positions and responsibilities so distrustful. (Possibly the subtle phrasing of the supposedly unbiased questions?) I can't comment on the third column's coverage of the candidates because I don't watch NBC. But I suspect this trio have given Donald Trump more coverage than anyone in history, having made it very possible for him to have gotten this far and possibly elevating him into a position to totally destroy us all.

WHAT TRUMP NEEDS MORE THAN ANYTHING.

The smartest thing that Donald Trump can do right now to help him with the upcoming debates is to make peace with the Bushes. Because then he can ask George W. Bush where he got that listening device that was so obviously under his jacket during the first 2004 debate with John Kerry. Of course Trump would want a smaller model that wasn't as obvious as Bush's, and a nearly invisible ear piece. But there is still another problem. Donald surrounds himself with so many morons, who the hell is going to feed him the information on foreign policy?

THE DEJA VU EVENING NON-NEWS.

I haven't totally given up yet on the so-called "network news" at 6:30, but I'm getting closer. The reporters seem to be increasingly illiterate. In discussing the coming tropical storm on the news last night, a female reporter stated, "The biggest concern are these waves." But my newest gripe is more serious. As  most viewers are aware, these half-hour time slots are at least 30% commercials, mostly for pharmaceuticals.  So we have all seen these 60-second spots for Cialis, etc. dozens if not hundreds of times. In the past week I have noticed that I not only have to watch the commercials repeatedly, but the news as well. More and more the networks are running yesterday's news as if were fresh. Sadly one story from the night before was the shooting of Dwyane Wade's cousin; by adding one new fact, they feel they can run the entire story again. Also repeated, the tale of the two tipsy pilots arrested in Glasgow, as we knew from the night before.

THE DECIDER.

Here's a great example of free will. Shortly after being sentenced to 13 years in prison, Jason Binkiewicz, 42, escaped from his courthouse guard and jumped to his death from the third floor of the Steubenville courthouse. Some news reports call it a "tragedy". Prosecutor Jane Hanlin called it a "heart-breaking day". Certainly not for Binkiewiz who is now dead and will not have to face the daily depression of prison life. In a few brave moments (yes, brave) he avoided 13 years of misery and confinement.

THE WOLVES ARE GETTING CLOSER.

Just when I thought I might be getting too vitriolic about the media, a friend sent me two recent articles. The first, Why Trump Can Lie and No One Seems to Care by Neal Gabler suggest what I have been saying: the media, notably the broadcast media, is more interested in entertainment than fairness or fact. They don't seem to care that they might be slanting the news to the detriment of their country. Scary. The second article, Current Practices in Journalism May Reveal the Dark Side of Speculation by Todd Gitlin comments on how the media, without any factual evidence, will predict the future or irresponsibly predict how the public will respond to any given news story or even create the news story as they do when they lynch Hillary Clinton before the hearing has begun or all the facts are in. Edward R. Murrow died in 1965 and his level of truth in journalism has been slowly withering ever since. However it has taken a turn for the worse since the recent election cycles.

NONEXISTENT HIGHWAYS.

Almost every night on the network news you will hear some report about an accident or traffic jam that took place on the innerstate highway or sometimes on the innastate highway, but never on the actual location, the interstate highway. For some reason diction is no longer a requirement for announcers. They seem to be completely unable to pronounce certain words correctly, mostly words with an interior t like interstate, Internet, interview, Atlantic and hundreds of others. Amazingly many of these announcers still get paid a fortune despite this handicap, which nobody seems to notice, David Muir of ABC News being the greatest offender. And while it's true that these words are also mispronounced by the general population, they are not paid for their oratory skills. But I have to accept that this doesn't seem to bother anyone but me. I wonder why. We have a great language. I think it's worth protecting.

DOES DONALD KNOW HOW TO PICK THEM, OR WHAT?

No, this is not a photo of a senile old alcoholic in a nursing home trying to remember what day this is. And, no, that thing around his neck does not have his name and address in case he wanders the streets again. And don't let that lost expression and open mouth fool you, this overstuffed sofa of a man is Donald Trump's newest campaign chief. Formerly an Editor at Large for Breitbart news, this is Stephen Bannon. While it would be easy to dislike an anti-Semite and ex-wife abuser, he is more to be pitied than censored. Promoting Donald Trump is a depressing uphill climb it itself. Add to that that he has been charged with illegally trying to vote in Florida by fraudulently listing as his residence a house that nobody lives in. And if that weren't enough to arouse your pity, just look at him. This man is only 62.

THE MISTAKE EVERYBODY MAKES.

All of us are guilty of some grammatical error, misuse of a word, a double entendre, or even a malapropism. But there is one error we have all been making for years, maybe centuries. It is so common, most people wouldn't even accept that it's wrong, but it is. Quite simply it's this: There is no reason to say, "the reason why". It's redundant. Why say, "The reason why I went to France was to study."? when you can say, "The reason I went to France was to study." You'll find this works just as well in any reason why, or reasons why, situation. The reason I wrote this blog was I just realized this simple truth myself.

Note: See how much better the above sentence would read written correctly: Forget all the reasons it won't work and believe the one reason it will.

TRUMP'S PERSONAL PHYSICIAN.

A new NBC News exclusive delivered by Lester Holt and Hallie Jackson, gives credence to that bizarre letter from Trump's physician Dr. Harold Bornstein. This despite the fact that the unkempt doctor (shown above) is a gastroenterologist, wrote the letter in five minutes while one of Trump's drivers waited, and wrote it last December, which was eight months of stress and fast food ago. The doctor also admits he was "rushed and anxious", yet continues to praise Trump's health as he did in that completely unprofessional letter with its glowing non-medical terms.  Also I note that NBC chose to use a photo of a much younger and more glowing Trump to put next to the letter. Why? Shame on NBC for treating this story as if it cleared up some questions and had some validity when it reeks of deception.

"IT SEEMS TO I'VE HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE"

"News is supposed to be impartial. Here's an example"CNN reported the highly anti-Hillary (Rodham Clinton) results of a pol... What they didn't say—I read it later—was where the poll was taken: in the cafeteria in Washington, D.C. of some Republican group."  Writer-Producer, Paul Jarrico

I read that quote today in one of my favorite books Hollywood and Whine. I found it very interesting since I myself have complained about CNN's attacks on Hillary this week. But that complaint by Mr. Jarrico wasn't written this week, but 15 years ago in 2001. So I guess they're still at it.

IF WE STILL BURNED WITCHES AT THE STAKE.

My candidate would be Heather Bresch. Ms. Bresch is the CEO of Mylan pharmaceuticals. Since her company secured the rights to the EpiPen, they have steadily raised prices over 460 percent, and she has increased her compensation by more than 670 percent from 2.5 million to 18.9 million during that same time. With no other competitors in the United States for this essential product necessary for those who might die from allergic reactions, families are forced to pay more than $500.00 for epinephrine that costs about $1. This is hardest part of  being an atheist: knowing there is no special place in hell reserved for greedy amoral people like the disgusting Ms. Bresch.

THE ABSURDITY OF FAITH.

As an atheist, I find it amazing that in 2016 most people still believe that there is a man in the sky who is aware of their every move and gives a damn whether they commit a sin or want a bicycle. The latest in magical thinking is 44-year-old Tony Wright.Mr. Wright has spent almost 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Recently with the help of his lawyers, members of the Innocent Project, and DNA, he was released. I just saw this joyous man on the news shouting, "God is good. God is good." Why is it, I wonder, that it doesn't occur to Tony that his all-powerful, omniscient god was the sadistic bastard who put him in prison in the first place.

ATTENTION ALL TV ANNOUNCERS.

The plural of roof is roofs. I am stunned by the number of illiterate announcers covering the many Midwest storms who keep saying things like, "lots of buildings have lost their rooves."

MSNBC. TURNCOATS?

I can't stay this enough. MSNBC is promoting Trump. Right now on Wednesday at 5:45 pm, they are giving most of their coverage to Donald, interviewing his most ardent, optimistic supporters and suggesting that he has turned over a new leaf and is now more disciplined. This is followed not by Hillary's supporters, but her detractors. They are not discussing all the good works the Clinton Foundation has done but suggesting she has the most selfish of intentions. This is not fair and balanced coverage, and considering how many people have already suggested how dangerous and unhinged Trump is, why are they so leaning in his favor?

SWITCHED TO CNN AT 6 PM. What a surprise. They are showing Trump looking strong, saying that he is neck and neck in Arizona and North Carolina. And acting as if Hillary is Public Enemy Number One. What the hell is going on? As I have said before, if Trump becomes president he has the broadcast media to thank. They are about to give coverage to Trump's latest rally.

CHARLEY MCCARTHY, JERRY MAHONEY, MIKE PENCE.

On the CBS evening news tonight pinhead Pence was once again defending the indefensible Trump. One of the things this nitwit repeated was that Trump would deport families humanely. What is humane about deporting working people to a country where they may have no source of income? To conclude his interview with proof-positive that he is a complete dummy, Pence commented that things are bad because Obama and Hillary Clinton have been in control for "two generations".

Note: To my younger readers, if I have any. Charly McCarthy was a ventriloquists dummy for Edgar Bergen. Jerry Mahoney was Paul Winchell's dummy, and one wonders where Donald Trump's hand is.

POOR MISTER MONEYBAGS.

I always wondered why Donald Trump would expose himself to not donating to a charity to which he claimed to have given a lot of money. And recently when he went to flood-ravaged areas, why didn't he—with all his billions—make a generous donation. I think the answer is simple. He can't afford it. Recent revelations have shown that he is pretty much in debt and is constantly scrambling to keep up the appearance of being wealthy. He sure as hell can't afford his campaign expenses. And his businesses seem to fall like dominoes, one after another. A recent financial report stated that if he merely invested the money his father left him, he would be far more wealthy today...or wealthy at all. I can see why he doesn't want to disclose his income taxes...they would make a very poor showing.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD.

I think it's a great conceit on the part of Republicans-Against-Hillary to think there is such a thing as Top Secret e-mail. Surely the daily news reports make it clear that clever hackers can hack into anything. So really these goons just want to pillory Hillary for a meaningless crime because they don't have any other ammunition. And, as usual, they are wasting a fortune to build that rack that will never get used. Not to mention that the average American has no interest in this hyped-up charge, since most of them use their office e-mail for romantic exchanges, viral jokes, and complaining about their bosses.
So once again, some poor bureaucrats are going to have to go through thousands of e-mails looking for that one incriminating word, sentence or paragraph needed to satisfy the blood lust of an obsessed cadre of Torquemadas.

THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE POSTER.

Boy, is this a perfect example of how one's actions have consequences. A night in Brazil and a drunken  Olympiad thoughtlessly rips a poster down at a gas station. That action and a few other minor acts of vandalism are about to cost Ryan Lochte a fortune. He has lost the lucrative endorsements  of Speedo, Ralph Lauren, Airweave, and Gentle Hair Removal. This means his attack on that poster may have cost him as much as a million dollars, not to mention the $50.00 he spent to pacify the gas station attendant. Now one could say he's not really an arrogant and stupid person as many people claim. On the other hand, he refuses to apologize and constantly repeats the illiterate expression, "I over exaggerated."

HOW BROADCAST NEWS COVERS THE RACE.

What I have learned most by this year's political campaigning is how dangerous the broadcast media is. They gave us Donald Trump! Of course they they would deny that. They helped him defeat all his other Republican contenders with greater coverage and earlier amusement at his antics. They ignored some of his more hateful comments while reporting every miniscule error by Hillary Clinton. They harped on her supposed lack of popularity, while highlighting the size of the crowds who attended his rallies. They repeated endlessly every nasty invective he leveled at her, but barely covered her comments on him. Most networks were Donald Trump all the time. If they covered Hillary it was for accusations of wrong-doing never for the charitable work she has done in the world. Most recently they had major coverage on his claim that she is not healthy, but did no investigation on his trumped up and obviously fake medical letter. Most broadcast networks gave him the spotlight, good or bad, while constantly repeating that mantra that she is not popular. Bullshit. Even now they suggest that this maniac Trump can do a turn around. Yesterday ABC reported that he may be even with her by October. This was an optimistic comment made by a Trump supporter which didn't bear repeating. (His shills like Rudolph Giuliani and Kellyanne Conway get lots of air time, which they use mostly to a
attack Hillary.) If Hillary wins, it will be despite the shallow, lazy, and dangerous broadcast media who put ratings, sensationalism and viewership before balanced coverage and patriotism.

A BEDTIME STORY, OR A FACT?

I hear that more and more people are having trouble sleeping, and I have a theory why. Once upon a time all mattresses were about the same thickness, about 10 to 14 inches. Then the bedding companies figured they could make more money by convincing customers that thicker was better. So suddenly there were mattresses of 20" and thicker. This meant of course fitted sheets that were much deeper and, of course, more costly. And they became the norm, making it hard to find old-fashioned fitted sheets for those shamefully outdated mattresses.  So now all the people who are sleeping on their 10 inch mattresses but foolishly bought fitted sheets for much thicker bedding wake up to bunches of uncomfortable cotton that rode up in the night. No more nice taut sheets that helped guarantee a good night's sleep.

Note: One advertiser tries to convince viewers that they should change their mattress every eight years as has becomes twice as heavy from an accumulation of dead skin cells. Not only is this disgusting, it's absurd.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION

Over the years, I have had many massages. It was no big deal. You go to a licensed masseur or masseuse, either in private practice or as part of a spa and you get a massage. Since having back problems, I  decided to try Massage Envy. The fact that the male receptionist was snooty didn't bother me so much as their request for I.D. as well as my credit card, which has my picture on it. Did I look like a criminal who was out to rip off a massage? I also thought their recommendation for a tip was excessive. No matter. However, when another employee told me that I had to fill out a multi-question form, I rebelled.  I told her that I was there for a massage and not to apply for job, so they could forget the whole thing. And I left.  Later that month, I became a member of the Coral Gables Art Theater, which wasn't cheap at $40 a year, not including free admissions. When I didn't receive the promised newsletter I called them. It seems that I had not filled out all the forms required to receive this e-mail. Silly me. I didn't see why I should have to jump through hoops to go to the movies.  I thought my membership fee and e-mail address would be enough. More and more every place you go wants far more information than is necessary.

GUESS WHO'S QUESTIONING CLINTON'S SANITY?

Psychiatrists call it projection. Simply put it's when one person projects their mental failings on another, accusing them of the problem that they themselves can't deal with.  In this case the projector is cross-dressing, pussy whipped, mentally disturbed Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Giuliani, whose sanity was widely questioned after his arm waving rant at the Republican convention asserts that online videos raise questions about Hillary Clinton's mental health. Clinton who delivers passionate speeches without Rudy's raving mannerisms, manages a schedule that only a truly healthy person could maintain, is—sorry Rudy—the picture of strength and normality  This is, of course, the newest ploy from the Donald Trump campaign. As most people know Mr. Trump trumped up a letter attesting to his perfect health and suggesting he would be the most fit president ever to take office. One finds that hard to believe about the florid, overweight, paranoiac, inconsistent candidate, whose only positive health sign is that he's slightly less deranged than his devoted toad, Rudolph Giuliani.

WHICH SLOGAN IS DUMBER? HARD TO SAY.

Just when I thought nobody could have a dumber slogan than Xfinity with "The Future of Awesome" along comes A T & T with their "Nobody knows & like A T & T". Even they must be ashamed of it as I can find none of those dippy commercials on YouTube.

BREAKING NEWS. NOT.

This is news coverage today on the Xfinity main page. They announced that Michael Phelps "breaks his silence" about the Lochte incident and finally "opens up". Here is what he said, "No. I haven't spoken to him." and "We have good people taking care of us." At this point after these newsbreaking revelations he got into a car and drove away.

TO WHOM MY CONCERN

With his newly released "medical letter" Donald Trump has not only proven that he's a liar, but also that he's completely stupid.  This alleged letter from Trump's personal physician, a gastroenterologist! has all kinds of problems that scream "pants on fire". It has a g-mail address, which most doctors don;t use, lists  a non-working website, seems to not understand the medical use of the term positive, uses glowing non-medical terms to describe Trump's health, and he asserts that Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency". (I guess doctor went through all the medical records from George Washington on.) This letter also proves that Trump is a cheap bastard. With all his alleged billions he certainly could have paid off enough dishonest professionals to fake a believable letter instead of this comical complimentary report. Finally, if he's really in good health, why would he need a fake letter?

Note: This shocking development was not mentioned on the evening news. However, they have reported on Trump's questioning about Hillary's health. Hmmm.

THREE SHALLOW TIME WASTERS.

Last night CBS news opened with a report on the Ziki virus. This is news as it could affect the entire country and new cases in Miami Beach are very troubling. ABC opened with a report on the Olympic swimmers, which is not really news and has little effect on anyone's life. Both networks gave Trump lots of coverage, as usual. While CBS wisely considered his visit to the flood zone a photo op, CBS gave him points as a caring candidate, and happily iterated his attacks on Obama for not being there. Then there was a news story about a bus crash, which happened, according to the reporter at an innasection. That is the way that almost every well-paid reporter pronounces intersection, as well as hundreds of other words that contain an interior T. I didn't turn to NBC, but it's usually a carbon copy
of one of these networks. As I keep pointing out, broadcast news has become less and less professional and more and more slingshot coverage and entertainment trivia, interrupted constantly by about 13 minutes of commercials.

GOLD MEDAL JERK.

Unlike most Jingoistic sports fans, I don't expect our athletes at the Olympics to be any better behaved than they are at home. So I'm not surprised that young male athletes stay out late, get drunk, then act like idiots. I am especially not surprised that the arrogant bleached blond ringleader flew out early and left his other miscreants to face the music. Already Ryan Lochte's  "apology" has been ridiculed in the press for its complete lack of being apologetic and absurdly full of excuses. What he should have said succinctly was, "I lied. I am so ashamed." Someone who should also be ashamed is Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrada stating that no apology was needed, adding "We have to understand that these kids came here to have fun. Let's give these kids a break. Sometimes you make decisions that you later regret. They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes on." I guess, like Lochte, Andrada's idea of fun is to get plastered, kick in a gas station door, urinate on the floor, and then invent a ridiculous lie that was easily disproved and hurtful to all of his well-behaved fellow athletes.

RUN THAT BY ME AGAIN.

I just saw a commercial that was unintentionally funny because is was so badly written. I can't even imagine how it got produced without someone noticing the error. Here's what the commercial said.
"Do you know what your coffee creamer is made of? Natural Bliss is made of only a few natural ingredients you can pronounce."
I guess that means it's also made from dozens of unpronounceable unnatural ingredients.

KEEP 'EM COMING, DONALD.

One of the things that should make us very optimistic about Donald Trump losing the election is his choice of surrogates. Take for instance Katrina Pierson, who has been ridiculed for her incompetency by nearly every news anchor. This pathetic wishy-washy witch voted for Obama, then got a crush on Cruz and eventually ended up with Trump. Sadly she isn't clever enough to defend his schizophrenic statements so she mostly appears in front of the camera looked like a deer in the headlights and sounding like a called-upon schoolgirl who didn't do her homework. What a parade of losers Donald has in his circus: Corey Lewandowski, Jeffrey Lord, Scottie Nell Hughes, Kayleigh McEnany. And most laughable of all is that over the hill harridan Kellyanne Conway, who shrills her way through interviews without every scoring a point.

NO. THIS IS NOT PETER LORRE.

When it comes to promoting Trump another Republican cretin has been heard from: Gary Bauer. Tonight on MSNBC this almost-forgotten featherbrain was referring to Trump as if he were a sane human being or at least capable of becoming sane. These GOPs are so wacko and such misogynists that they are in a constant state of intoxicated madness in their dreams of Hillary's defeat. Gary (who always looked to me like he must be three feet tall)  like all Trump supporters, suddenly launched into an attack on Hillary. Happily the interviewer cut him off, which was welcome and unusual.

PHOTO OF AN EVIL, COWARDLY, VICIOUS SERIAL KILLER.

I've made it clear in the past that I never feel bad at the death of a bullfighter. I'm for the bull 100%, but sadly he gets killed no matter how brave he is. I also would never feel sad at the death of a big game hunter. That people make a sport out of killing magnificent wild animals and then photograph them as trophies is evil and  beyond disgusting.  In the news tonight is the national outrage about a 19-year old Texas cheerleader, Kendall Jones, whose Facebook photos show her proudly posing with the lion, zebra, leopard, rhino and giraffe she has killed. She regards herself as a sport. I say she is a heartless, amoral future serial killer. The news reports that she and her equally evil father have had death threats. If I should hear on the news that such a threat was carried out, I wouldn't be bothered one little bit to know that another heartless killer is gone.

Let's be truthful. When anyone says, "I love hunting." what they really mean is, "I love killing."

THE SMILING SCALPER.

One of the crookedest collections of grifters in the world are the members of the Olympics committee. So it will come as no surprise that one of them, Ireland's Patrick Hickey, was arrested in his hotel in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday in a ticket scalping scandal. Hickey, who heads the European Olympic Committee was connected to a scheme to illegally pass Olympic tickets to touts who were reselling them far above their original price. What is surprising is that such an illegal enterprise was profitable at all during an Olympics distinguished by so many near-empty stadiums. Considering the polluted beaches, algae-ridden pools, the many poor families evicted from their favela shanties, Rio's brutal police force, the $12 billion tab, and the feces seemingly floating everywhere, it would appear that this
year the Olympics committee took its bribe from the wrong city.

A CONGRESS OF SALAMANDERS

A group of  reptilian Republicans have come out from under their rock again to request more e-mails from Hillary Clinton, eager to prove—despite all their failures—that she is a criminal. And what they are proving instead is that they are not patriots. At a time when there are two choices for our next president, and one of them, Trump, would be a disaster, these venomous assholes are working to weaken the wise choice, Clinton. The suggestion that she deliberately sent out top secret e-mails is absurd. More absurd is these slithering politicians are sliming her with  exaggerations  about mild indiscretions while Trump, who some support, is increasingly associated with communist Russia. For the past eight years these cold-blooded Republicans have been a  plague on Congress, letting their partisanship override their concern for the government and citizens of the United States. Like any fifth column they plotted to undermine President Obama, and now they are out to destroy future President Clinton. They call it truth seeking. I call it treason.

"THANKS BUT NO THANKS."

If it's true as many pundits, like Michael Moore, speculate that Donald Trump doesn't want to win the election, then hooray. It is easy to imagine that he underestimated the stupidity of the American people and never thought he'd get this far. This turn of events, if possible, was even bigger than his own ego. It also makes sense that he wouldn't want to give up his luxurious, opportunistic and hedonistic lifestyle to sit in an oval office actually doing work. My only hope is that when does walk away from the nomination at some point, he will ridicule all those morons who so adored him. They did, after all, make his life miserable by being gullible enough to believe all his lies and ignorant enough to want him for president.In short they got him into this mess. And it isn't like he ever feels any allegiance to those who support him. Besides they're all so rural and low-brow, it's not like he'll run into them at Trump Tower or Palm Beach.

A VERY DIPPY COMMERCIAL.

I don't get this commercial at all. First of all, I never understood the game Marco Polo. I know it has something to do with a pool, but that's all I know. So my questions about this bizarre commercial are
the following. Why have those chosen an above-ground pool? Is it to show that these people are not rich? What is Marco Polo adding to this stupid game and why is he fully dressed? And most curious of all, since Marco is Italian why is there an alpaca (or is it a llama) standing beside the pool? Geico does some very clever commercials, and they also do a lot of dreck. This would fit into the latter category.

'WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK." NOT!

"We'll be right back." is the lie that David Muir told during the middle of the ABC News at 6:30 pm. It's the lie he tells every night. Because having to wade through five commercials is not being right back. And when they do come back, they usually run one short story, and then pause for at least five more commercials. Tonight this was followed by another non-story, an Olympic moment, and guess what? more commercials. I don't know why more people aren't outraged at paying for cable service and still having to spend as much time watching commercials as they do programs.

STILL AT LARGE.

These criminals are not only free, but they are being treated as if they were acceptable citizens, which they are not. Just one of the publications that doesn't seem to realize that George W. Bush is a war criminal and mass murderer is Reader's Digest. They are continually writing flattering articles about him and his Stepford wife, Laura. In the May digest they wrote, "Bush, a man who famously doesn't suffer fools or breaches of propriety...". If that were so then how do you explain Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and all the other gang members whose many breaches of propriety made all of us suffer during the Bush misadministration?

THE REAL CRIMINAL CANDIDATE.

Donald Trump has stiffed a lot of suppliers. Lock him up. He has displayed a treasonous affection for Putin. Lock him up. He has been accused by a least one woman of rape. Lock him up. Another woman insists that he molested her at New York sex parties when she was underage. Lock him up. Some insist that he expressed an incestuous interest in his daughter. Lock him up. He has said slanderous things about many famous people. Lock him up. He founded a university that has proven to be a fraud that has ripped off many innocent victims. Lock him up. In short there are many reasons to lock up this swindler, mountebank, charlatan, scammer, shyster, fraud, chiseler, flimflammer, thief, and confidence man. So every time one of his delusional, ignorant, moronic, hate-filled fans holds up a totally ridiculous sign that says "Lock her up" they are showing the world just how easily they are manipulated by this masterful mephistophelean criminal.

THINK TWICE BEFORE BEING NICE.

I personally hate it when someone offers me their seat on the subway or bus. First of all I am quite capable of standing, and secondly it's a public acknowledgement that I am old. Also I think it's a way for the offerer to feel good about themselves. Some elderly people might be delighted to have a chance to sit down, but be damn sure that's the case before you make your grand gesture. Consider the situation with 68-year-old Wayne McEntire. He was travelling on the subway in Texas when someone offered to get up so he could sit in a priority seat for the elderly, people with disabilities, and pregnant women. Not only did he decline the seat, but this is what he did to prove he didn't need it.

Two comments: I like this story, but why was he offered the seat if, as shown, there are several available spaces? Also why do press stories always use the redundant expression "pregnant women"?

GEORGE EVEN READS UPSIDE DOWN.

In a recent New Yorker article Jane Mayer, reporting on Tony Schwartz's claims that he is the sole author of The Art of the Deal, seems to have fallen for one of the most comical lies of our time. While commenting that Trump never reads, she contrasted his avoidance of books with that of George W. Bush whom she writes, "...reportedly engaged in a book-reading contest with his political adviser Karl Rove." In a past interview Rove stated that in that year's competition he, Rove, read 110 books while George polished off only 95. A totally unbelievable claim considering how often the ungrammatical Bush spouted malapropisms and slaughtered syntax. I suspect the only book that Bush read in his adult life was My Pet Goat, and he didn't finish that. In an interview in New Orleans, Bush was asked what he was reading lately and he answered, "I just read three Shakespeares and one Camus." (Spoken like a true bibliophile.) I suspect that Karl Rove, seeing what an illiterate boob Bush was fabricated the book contest, a transparent deceit which a surprising number of gullible reporters accepted. But it shouldn't come as a surprise. After all Rove convinced Americans that Bush would make a good president.

WHAT A STUPID REMARK!

Here's another rant about the network news. This time it's CBS. The good news was that Hillary Clinton turned in her tax returns today. But since the media can't abide good news about Hillary for more than a minute, Chip Reid, scoldingly said that the American public isn't interested in her tax returns but in the 33,000 deleted e-mails. That is a bullshit statement if I ever heard one. The average American couldn't care less about Clinton's e-mails. The average American hasn't even got a clue what the fuss is about. The e-mail issue is only of interest to the Republicans who exaggerate and promote it, and the news media who find it a subject they can pretend is important. Can't you just picture Mr. and Mrs. Middle America in their ranch house in Duluth. He is raving about the winners in the Olympics, but she says, "I can't think about that right now. I am so concerned what was in those e-mails." The broadcast news loses credibility every day.

VERY FAR FROM FUNNY.

I have many friends who are major fans of Dave Barry. I admit he is very incisive sometimes, but I find his wit not always on target and often strained particularly as he gets older and more bitter. Like many talents, age seems to bring out a darker and less amusing side of him. His play Peter and the Starcatchers is surprisingly scatological always a sign of being desperate for a cheap laugh. But forgetting everything else he had a joke in this month's Reader's Digest, which I found incredibly offensive and very far from funny. Here is the joke. See if you think it's funny. "Scientists tell us that the fastest animal on Earth, with a top speed of 120 feet per second, is a cow that has been dropped out of a helicopter."

Am I weird to be very disturbed by the thought of a terrified animal tossed to its death as a cruel joke by
some heartless sadist.

YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!

I have never been fashionable. I don't have enough vanity, and I'd rather spend my money on something else. This doesn't mean I can't appreciate fashion when I see it. I just don't see it that much anymore. Perhaps the most laughable fashion in recent years is the small suit for men. No man looks manly in this comical outfit in which the sides never come together and the buttons are constantly tugging at the jacket. Women have always been easy prey to the fashion industry. Lately men have fallen into these trend traps:  the man bun and the small suit being the most obvious affectations. We all ridiculed the gang-look of pants hanging down below the buttocks. I don't know if that's over, but that was mostly kids. The small suit, amazingly, had caught on with adults, many very attractive men who
would look spectacular in well-tailored suits. If I had to give men two words of advice on how to buy a suit that makes you look your best, those words would be "Cary Grant".

ANOTHER SHREW IN SUPPORT OF A PYSCHO.

Just when I thought I had seen the stupidest possible Republican bimbos on Fox News or as guests with Bill Maher, along comes a new low. This twits name is Kellyanne Conway, and she is an ardent Trump supporter. Like so many Trump fans, she has tossed all logic aside and has embraced the love of this maniac and nearly psychotic hatred of Hillary. I suspect that a psychiatrist would find that these
woman had a horrible relation with their mother and a unrequited passion for daddy, hence Trump. Creatures like Conway have accumulated some credentials which they apparently are willing to toss away having been brainwashed into believing Hillary Clinton is the devil incarnate and Donald their divine savior. And once again, my complaint about the media. Just now Chuck Todd, the anchor on MSNBC allowed this biased shrew to whine on and on about Hillary when the question asked was did Trump really mean that Obama as the founder of ISIS. She was so stupid and obsessed she couldn't stick with the issue. Despite that she was allowed to rant on and on. Why are harridans like Kellyanne permitted to air their unfounded prejudices without any editing?

NOTE: I am told that Joy Reid does not allow anyone being asked a Trump question to deviate into an attack on Hillary or vice versa.That seems to me to be a sane and fair way to conduct an interview.

TRUMP IS NOT THE ONLY ONE CROSSING LINES.

Recently Donald Trump said to his manic fans that Obama is the founder of Isis, a comment that was met with wild applause. How do we know this? Because the media will report and repeat any foul comment, no matter how vile, that comes out of Donald's mouth. Is this reporting? Or is it propaganda? If you told your coworkers that your employer was a pedophile without any reason to believe this was so, shouldn't your coworkers avoid repeating this lie for fear of being fired or even arrested for slander? Why doesn't this apply to the media? They repeat these horrible fabrications without ever saying they are grossly false or pointing out how creepy was the accompanying applause. The networks just toss them into the ether with every news broadcast, and let them pile up as indictments that the gullible can gather and assume are true since the media never fully denies their absurdity. Oddly enough the comments that Hillary makes which are true are never aired or repeated nearly as much as Trump's maniacal accusations. Why is nobody bothered by this? If by some horrible twist of fate Trump becomes president, he will have the media to thank.

NOT FAR FROM THE TREE.

For a while there Trump supporters could get away with pretending that he was a champion of the underdog and government-oppressed. They could argue that all his verbal assaults were semi-serious comments that he didn't really mean. But those days are over. With his barely disguised invitation to 2nd Amendment people to assassinate Hillary Clinton, he went way beyond the pale. So now if you're one of the defenders of Trump, you have to accept that you're an anti-social loser who approves of criminal acts and is eager to see a unhinged maniac in the Oval Office. This isn't reality television anymore. You're not voting for a celebrity but a dangerous narcissist who could plunge this country into rougher seas than we have ever had to navigate. You could insist that his children praise him out of admiration and loyalty, when —more likely—it's out of intimidation and fear of being written out of his will. After all, you might protest, look at Ivanka who is elegant, intelligent, and successful. Or you could say what kind of man produces two sadistic sons like Eric and Donald Trump Junior who so gleefully kill and pose with a dead elephant, kudu, civet cat, and waterbuck and who pose proudly with a crocodile hanging from a noose off a tree. Rational people in the United States are very wary of Donald Trump, an amoral, egotistical, xenophobic, compulsive liar.  But we should be just as wary and suspicious of any person who supports Donald Trump. 

MY KIND OF OLYMPICS.

I hate sports. All sports. Now while most people think that's very odd, it actually isn't. There are many
millions of men and women who have no interest in sports. They just don't get to be heard because our country and others are obsessed with who can play children's games more successfully. Sports fans never question whether a man who can hit a ball with a stick should make 15 million dollars a year, or why a super tall person who can drop a basketball into a net is proclaimed a legend. Even stupider they don't complain about having to pay excessive ticket prices to see these one-trick ponies make $50,000 for an afternoon's exertion.  While sedentary fans are living vicariously, club owners are laughing their asses off at the morons who are paying through the nose for tickets and even being taxed to build their stadiums.  Talk about costly stadiums and paying to travel for the thrill of watching strangers doing their athletic versions of plate twirlng, this week is really annoying because of the Olympics in Rio, which I have already noted is nothing more than an international pissing contest. I can't imagine why anyone cares who ran the fastest, jumped the highest, did the most flips, or used the most steroids. Interestingly the news today is proclaiming that Michael Phelps has won his 20th Gold Medal. Naturally sports fans who subscribe to the "We won" school of illogical thinking feel the achievement is theirs. Is it even an achievement when so many physiologists have proclaimed Phelps a biomechanical freak of nature who is practically designed to be as much fish as man? Who knows? Who cares? This infantile obsession will continue. Persons of no significant value will be extravagantly overpaid. And people like me—and there are many—will always be subject to the boorish strangers who always ask you something stupid like, "Hey. How about that game?"

MORE BAD NEWS AND BAD NEWS COVERAGE.

Not only is the evening news not news anymore, but now it's not even new nonnews. Tonight, August 9, the news on all three networks did some repetitive coverage of the tragic water slide death of a 10 year old—a sad, unnecessary story that wasn't national news in the first place. But now that they have found a depressing pet theme, they eagerly provided coverage of a Ferris wheel disaster in Tennessee, in which three young girls fell from a faulty car. Yeah, we really needed to know about this local tragedy. Except for California fires, most of the news was taken up with who-cares Olympic coverage. Being jingoistic the networks constantly promote the Olympics as an event that brings the world together. It is, in fact, just the opposite: a costly, arrogant, aggressive, elitist "My country's better than yours" pissing contest.

WERE YOU PLANNING TO RIDE THIS? I THOUGHT NOT.

This week a 10-year-old boy died when he fell off a water slide in Kansas City. There is no question that this is a sad, heartbreaking tragedy. But is it news? Why is this story covered on all three networks? Does the American public need to know what a lovely and loved child this was? Do we need to be aware of how heartbroken his parents are? Do we need the details of the horrific accident? Will knowing this story be of some benefit to us? Of course not. This is yet another example of how the American people are being cheated by the lazy broadcast news networks. There are important events happening in the world every day, international situations that will affect our lives, our finances, our health. But  we don't know what they are. We are fed only the easy to report, sensational pop stories. Do we really need a five minute report on cupping at the Olympics, or any Olympics "news"at all? No. Save it for a special. It's bad enough that we now  get fewer significant news stories with the 6:30 pm networks coverage, but on NBC, ABC, and CBS more and more time is being taken up with commercials, mostly pharmaceuticals. So basically we are watching 18 minutes of stories that have no actual effect on our lives. And most of us are paying for this waste of time with cable costs. It's not right. And it's not news.

WHO'S SIDE IS HE ON?

Here we go again. It is now Sunday and I am now watching MSNBC live. The narrator Richard Lui is listing Donald Trump's disastrous gaps and moments later speaking to a Trump supporter as to how Trump can change his image and still win the election. Is Lui nuts? We don't want Trump to create a fake image that may, in fact, fool the American people. Why is MSNBC being so helpful?  Based on yesterdays vilifying of Hillary Clinton, does Richard Lui dislike her so much that he thinks it would be all right to have a madman as president?