Waiting for President Trump to make his Exit

So the question on this July 13, 2020 is will we see Trump kicked out of office in just under four months?  It will be something we’ve waited four long years for as all;of us get a little older and a little more infirm.  Some of us don’t have that many years left.  In our old  age we would again like to see a democratic President. Roger Stone sentence was commuted to time served.  Trump thinks it's macho to throw his executive power around and pardon people left and right, who don't desserve it.  It's a regular feature of his administration.  Someone said Trump’s approval rating  was down to 26 percent.  Nobody trusts him or believes anything  he says on the Corona virus.  Now Trump wants to see all of the schools open next month at a time when all of the health officials are saying that would be a bad idea.  Randy Rhodes thinks it’s a bad idea.  You have John Boulton’s book and I don’t know what happened to it.  I thought it was finally supposed to be released.  That’s what a court ruling said.  It was kind of a veiled threat though.  Now there is a court ruling that Trump has to turn over his financial records.  His Republican court made that ruling. There is a god afterall.  Then you have the book by Trump’s niece with a medical degree saying Trump; is psychologically unstable and has a messed up family and has a narcististic personality.  This is stuff we all knew but it’s nice to have it reinforced.  In particular Trump had an abnormal relation with his father, Fred.  We can’t  bring back the impeachment hearings but we can have a littlehope that impeachment will be on people’s minds when they vote in November.  I hope they get to vote.  I’m not sure of the ramifications of an all mail-in ballot.  Will Trum;p issue an executive order to stop voting by mail?  These are all questions on our mind.  In more local news this has been a hot July, above normal.  We get a heatwave for a week and then we get a one or two day respite where it’s normal and then it’s hot for another week.  All this heat makes you tired and sluggish and I’m not writing that much to begin with. 

When Does All the Sports Arrive?

It’s July 11^th and we’re supposed to have the return of all of the sports this month such as baseball, basketball, and hockey.   You’re starting to get a little horse racing.  But so many things like the Boston Marathon were postponed till September thinking that would be a really safe date and it isn’t.  No date is safe now.  I hope the new stuff isn’t on channel seven because that quite coming in fifteen days ago suddenly one evening.   But it seems we should be flooded with all of these sans audience sports TV events soon.  I guess it must all be at the end of the month.  Political activity should start up next month if not this month hopefully.  The Presidential campaign has been on hold since March.  School is on the agenda but only to say that “the experts” say we shouldn’t have it now because it’s too risky. There are too many nay sayers out there.  That’s about all anybody can think about now is the latest Corona virus news.  What states have exploding rates and which states such as Texas are re-imposing new restrictions to mess up our day.   The United States still by far leads the world in COVID 19 cases. 

In my personal life I think I'm addicted to Ativan.   I take it just to feel what used to pass for normal before and when I skip a day I'm a wreck.  Something is wrong with my nervous system.  In other news I attend Brother Bart's Bible study not because I'm so pious.  It's more of just an insurance policy against something horrible happening in my life.  But in doing this I am not really a Christian because it says we're supposed to LOVE God with all of our heart, soul and mind.  We're supposed to  rejoyce in the Lord always.  Not just bear with God or try to negotiate a treaty but actively embrace him and want the things that He wants.  We're supposed to love the things that he loves and hate the things that he hates.  And if the Christian population is all for Donald Trump for president then I'm supposed to embrace that, too.  Finally,  there is no news about when they are going to lift the quarantine around here.  It's been in place since March 16th and that's nearly four months, and there is a rumor it might be for another three, till at least October first.  I certainly hope not.  Glen said we'd get out when Disneyland opened.  That hasn't happened yet.

The Virus that Won't Quit in Summer

This virus isn’t letting up.  We are entering the era of the second lock-down before the first lock-down was over with.  The bars are being closed down again.   Chris’s favorite bikini bar is slated to close down.  Notra Dame won’t be the same when it opens.  There are all these restrictions and half or less capacity.  They are taking the magazines out of the dentist’s office.  They say that long half hour lines have returned to the banks and the grocery stores because there is a new panic about being able to get supplies.   The death rate for the country is now $125,000 and it won’t be too long before we get to two hundred thousand.  The Texas and Florida governors are now forced into closing everything down and beaches for the fourth of July weekend have been closed down.  Nobody knows where this is going but the economic recovery we’ve seen may well be halted in its tracks.   Bars are the biggest issue because people let their guards down and don’t wear their masks and do a lot of loud talking spreading more water dropplets.   Right now Thom is talking about the massive brainwashing campaign in Chile when the Pinochet government took over.  It would seem that Trump and Mike Pence are making major fools of themselves with the satements they hve made lately about their being no new crisis now and if anything Mike Pence is proud of the progress we have made and it’s not at all like March.  The only difference is that now there is an explosion of young people getting the disease and not old people like formerly.  Then of course they’ll just transmit the disease to their elders. 

One of these days we'll get back into some religious stuff, but not today.

.  My mental state was not that great because I didn’t know what the future would hold.  I turned on KPFK on and Rhapsody in Black wasn’t on.  But there was a breeder’s cup horse race at Churchill Downs.  I baught a couple of races.  After this there was a Presidential chess set based on current political figures and a red, white, and blue board.  Then there was a thing on “crape skin”.   They have new conditions all the time.  The weather is cooler today than yesterday.  They said that rain was a possibility today and Monday morning. 

I called Paul after three.  I figured he’d be at his most receptive and I was proven right.  There actually looked to be a good chance of his going next door for me.  He said he’d call me back in twenty minutes.  He took ten to say that he’d do it when he called back.  Maybe he talked it over with Judy.  He told me to make out a list of things for him to do invluding of giving him my PIN, a jealously guarded secret all these years.   Very soon after this he said he’d be there in one minute.  I went right down but then realized I didn’t have my mask on.  I went to get it and over the PA I heard my name to come to the front door.  There was an intermediary to hand the card to Paul.  I thought it would take a few moments but I was sure mistaken.  This occurred just before four as they were getting ready to eat the first session.  I stood there and waited and waited and Paul never returned.  I was beside myself.  None of the staff including Leah was sympathetic saying that Paul was probably on erands.  I came back and called Judy and she said that Paul was at their own bank and to stay put.  It was time for me to eat.  We had an egg salad sandwich and coleslaw and chocolate pudding for dessert.  I went back here to call Judy again and this time she said it was crowded due to the Corona virus.  A minute or less later Paul called to say that “I’m here”.  I went down.   Paul didn’t get the two Cokes or eight ones but otherwise was successful.  He had to go to another Chase bank in order to activate my card.  I have his word that he didn’t change the PIN.  He gave me fifty dollars and two ones.  He left.  In the meantime I had gotten a cigarette from Mary Burnes.

Supreme Court Grants New L G B T Rights

The US Supreme Court is an institution we haven’t heard much from lately.  I thought maybe they were on a Corona virus vacation.  I’ve heard talk about social distancing even there.  However this is late June and usually there is a raft of decisions coming down before the term ends in two weeks.  Today by a six to three vote the High Court decided that being trans-gender was something you could no longer discriminate on, as well as being gay.  They say if you’re gay and you get fired all the boss has to say is that it was for some other reason.  Well today by a six to three vote they were decisive in their decision that the 1964 civil rights law covers trans-gender people.  It’s the darndest thing I’ve ever heard.  Justices Gorsich and Roberts jumped their own party to vote with the majority.  I bet Paul and Judy won’t like this decision one bit.  But we have other news.  Today a eleven Gary and Shannon had a press conference where this “Black hanging from a tree” incident was gone into.  They already have done a through autopsy.  There were no signs of foul play and it looks like suicide.  But they want to be sure, so they are putting this case under an investigative microscope.   And then we have President Trump’s upcoming executive order to be issued tomorrow.   He’s doing an end run around his own congress to lay down a bunch of nation-wide regulations that all of Law Enforcement from Maine to California have to abide by.  It sounds a little sweeping to me.  But I guess the president decides he’s trailing in the polls and needs to do something to win the election and get those middle-of-the-roaders.   Then of course we have that Atlanta police chief who resigned last Friday.  This looks like a gray area to me.  They say the drunk suspect was running away from the cops at the time he was shot twice.  On the other hand they say he was firing back at them with a taser he had stolen from an officer in a physical altercation.   This could easily be argued as a physical threat.  But I don’t know which case is true.   Finally we have this ALL Black Lives Matter parade over the weekend.  By “all” they mean gay and trans-gender Black people.  They say that hetrosexual whites sympathize with the protests because they have an underlying sense of guilt and privilege.  Finally, they came out with the fact that there have been no spikes in COVID 19 virus spreading due to all of the major protests that have happened.  Tulsa in 1921 saw the greatest attack against a Black community by whites in the history of America and Black businesses and homes were wiped out.  I was going to talk about the campaign rally in Tulsa this Saturday.  You know about that.  The chief concern now is not that it violates a Black holiday but it’s in an indoor arena with a masks optional situation.  Thom Hartman today was saying that the whole concept of a police force as we know it today was from the old slave catching posse groups of two hundred years ago.

I keep trying to skip days when I take Ativan.  It seems my night time sleeping medication doesn't wear off in the morning sometime and when it's time to take my meds I'm still tired so skip the Ativan.   First I'm tired.  Then I get a spacey feeling in the head.  Finally I get the shakes.  Something is going on with my medications and I need a major readjustment.   Right now the rumor is that July Fourth is when they take us out of lockdown and we can leave.  Some say it is when Disneyland opens on July 17th.  That's still a month away.  Our administrator has been promising us other days when the quarantine ends that hasn't materialized.  Then I won't have to worry about running out of cigarettes and I'll be able to buy coffee for the first time in three months.  

The Economy Wins out over the Virus

The economy has now won over the virus.  The unemployment rate today fell from 14.7% to 13.3%  This is quite a feat.  Trump will score political points off of this. It sure surprised me but one imagines that it didn’t surprise Trump one bit.  He’s been expecting it.  He’s been expecting the economy to come roaring back.  June should look even better.  Of course with all these mass protests going on people have forgotten almost all about the virus and thrown caution to the wind.  Now we’re back to having massive funerals for the fallen.   We still get these never ending public addresses from government officials on top of one another.  Mayor Garsetti still delivers almost a major address every day and so does California's governor.  Yesterday Governor Newson made some executive proclamations.  He banned the caradid artery choke hold statewide yesterday.  This one was banned in LA nearly thirty years ago because "Black people don't have normal veins like the rest of us" and too many of them were dying.  Now the governor has stated that officers nowhere in the state should be trained in the caradid artery hold that cuts off blood flow to the brain to get the victim to pass out.  In terms of around here we are still in lockdown.  Now they are saying it will be the end of June that at last we can go out shopping and be free from the gates.  Continually they are relaxing restrictions for everything else given "safe social distancing".   But if all businesses are opperating at only half or a third capacity this will continue to put a dent in the economy for a long time.  They say it could be years before airline travel gets back to the levels it was at last year.

It dawned on me that what we need is "Peace" of the sort of inner peace they talk about in the Bible, or at least I do.  But it's not like some hippy saying "Peace, brother".   No.  When it's God that's saying it the words have a lot more authority then if they came from a human being.  God is the person who runs things after all and holds the future and if he promises you peace, at least hypothetically you need not fear the future.  Of course I was thinking this morning of what the worst sin might be.  Presumption is kind of an ugly sin to many human beings.  I certainly would now what to "presume" when it comes to God.  That is having the right to expect that just because God did something for me once he would do it every time.  In this way I would get an inflated view of myself and my own worth and my own status before God.  That's how I feel anyhow.   I know other Christians out there act as if God is their own errand boy or something and lack humility.

These entries aren't very long I know these days.  Maybe I'll stick some vintage material in sometime. 

Checking In

Today is Sunday May 24th, which is psychic awareness day in the Federation.   They have been talking these past few days about it being the closing period of Romadon.   I hope the celebrations went well.  This is the week they opened up the beaches in LA County finally.  You know about all the bars and restaurants and casinos that have been opened in California.  Things are loosening up little by little around here and in the rest of the country and the rest of the world.  You know about President Trump's threatening to override the orders of state governors when it comes to opening up churches.  Rachael Maddow cited numerous faces and figures to show that churches are really "dangerous places" as far as the spread of disease is concerned.  And when they are open it will be at a quarter capacity or something and no singing allowed.   We're up to about 97,000 deaths in this country so we are right on target.  Trump wants to hold some state visit in two weeks even though Washington DC has a high infecting rate.  Trump played golf for the first time since early March as a signal to the nation that all is well and things have gotten back to normal.

Around here it's been harder and harder to get cigarettes.  I got some Thursday and it was two packs.  But I ran out of them late Saturday morning and the nights are tough.  I'm used to getting up in the middle of the night to have one or two cigarettes these days.   In other news maybe we didn't cover,  one person suspected of Corona virus apparently doesn't have it.  She was taken off quarantine.  There has been a spike in deaths in Orange County lately and I don't know why.  I have gotten rid of two furniture items.  I had to give up my CD cabinet I had for over thirty years and I had it in my apartment.  I gave over the use of another bookcase to my roommate Joe so he could put his books in there since I got rid of so many books I took them out of all kinds of places.  But I have had no official inspection yet.  I've been taking Ativan for my nerves.  But I skipped the last two days just to see if I could get by.  It turns out I do much better with the drug.  I hope I"m not becoming addicted to it.  I've hardly been taking it any length of time at all.  That's all I really had to say now.

Terbulant Times

This is Tuesday May 19th and it's Malcolm X's birthday.   These past few weeks have been a real soap opera around here.  In the national news more of the country and also countries of the world have opened up to business.  The pace is proceding far too slow, though. It's going to  take forever for things to ever get back to normal.  They promised us NBA basketball by Mother's Day.  That didn't happen.  It seems now the whole summer is shot and the NFL itself is in jeopardy.

Let's discuss what's been going on in my world around here.  They steam cleaned the rooms and our room was done Thursday April 30th.  It was one of the early ones.  You had to pack up ALL of your stuff into either bags or boxes and they would take it out into the hall.  For me that took me over two hours and I still wasn't done yet.  They finished the job.  I was first told our stuff would be gone fora week.  That wasn't the case.  They didn't take our electronic stuff.  They were after bed bugs again.  That's the other ongoing crisis here.  Most of the stuff not clothing related was returned around dinner time.  But one plastic bag had a hole in it so things were missing, like a padlock I'd owned since thespring of 1993.  We were told by Sarah we would have to get rid of a lot of our stuff.   The next Monday I had a conversation with Glen who repeated the demands.  I thought they were doing the inspection on Thursday next.  It still hasn't happened.   At the same time my E mail account was hacked and I was locked out of my own account.  I had to pay fifteen dollars on a toll number for them to fix the problem.  It would have been fifteen a months but relatives talked me out of that idea.  The next big event was Wednesday and the great books transfer.  I had books piled on top of one another on two big shelves plus the bottom drawer of my night stand.  I got help from Tim for transportation of them to his place and also Natale and another guy for lugging all of the books tothe car.  Of course Tim could not come in here himself due to the Corona virus.  We're still in lock down.  That will go on "two to four more weeks" according to Glen.  Others have said it would be July and they aren't even sure about that.  The next big event was the return of the laundry on a Saturday night a week and two days later.  Just about everything was returned.  However some connecting cords that I wasn't using anyhow were missing from the dresser drawer.  Then I discovered my camera was missing just before bed.  There was an NBA game on between the Warriors and the Cavileers.  The next day the camera reappeared.  I was sure glad.  But it was in a different place in the middle of a bunch of clothes and not on the bottom of a drawer as you might expect.  I had taken all of the batteries out of the camera and recharged them but didn't put them back in.  Now the camera worked because some wholly different batters were put in the camera.  We skip to Thursday.  This is two weeks after April 30th and now we all have to wear face masks whenever we're out of our room.  This is a pain to remember.   There is one more thing.  Due to all the stress this  has caused me I got a PRN prescription for Ativan.  This is an anti anxiety medication.  The danger is becoming addicted to it.  I was going to past over all of these individual items in their original form, but that would have taken too much space.  This thing istyping off screen now and I wonder why. I hope to get back to doing political blogs one day.  Thom Hartman has started to get political once more.  The convention isn't until August moved back from July.   Now I learn Dr Saran is here right now.