Tag Archives: writing

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, August 20, 2025. I’m posting this late tonight because I forgot to mention that I was going to attend a meeting of my TCM group this evening at 5. There were eight of us sitting at a long table at the diner called Tick Tock on 8th Avenue and 34th Street. Our host, if you will, was “Derrick.” I thought I had a working knowledge of cinema, but Derrick’s grasp of world cinema really extended beyond my mere lowly grasp. He held court for the entire evening, which amounted to about four hours when we finally took our leave from each other. Derrick narrated story after story about some unknown morsel of film knowledge to everyone’s delight. The most intriguing story was his attending a film screening and coming across the acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola sitting in the audience. Derrick mentioned that Coppola was asked to give a talk to the audience on the cuff, and he humbly agreed to do so. Derrick indicated that Coppola talked about 10 minutes, mostly about the issues he encountered on filming Apocalypse Now which forms the basis of a 1991 documentary on the problems plaguing the cast and crew during the making of Coppola’s Vietnam saga. I just finished watching this documentary last night; I recommend it to anyone interested in the film process.

The most unpopular president in American history is seeing his polling ratings dive precipitously day after day as he pursues stupid issues as caring about the depiction of slavery at the Smithsonian Institute. An online opinion piece addresses this dichotomy between Demented Don’s declining popularity and the pursuit of subjects that Americans mostly don’t care about like tackling museums and other fucking nonsense. The piece is titled “Trump is widely unpopular and losing ground fast. Why is anyone afraid of him? Opinion.” This musing is written by Rex Huppke.

According to Huppke, the burning issues for most Americans are high prices, inflation, and health care. But our increasingly unpopular president is laser-focused on “things nobody cares about him,” except him. One issue is downplaying exhibitions on the history of slavery at the Smithsonian.

“On the same day a new poll by The Economist/YouGov showed Donald Trump’s disapproval rating hitting a new high, the president took time to post this on social media: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL [there’s his ridiculous capping style], where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

Why the fuck would Americans in 2025 worry about the depiction of slavery when it was abolished in 1865 when American voters are watching the costs of beef and vegetables skyrocket?

This idiot then instructed his attorneys to go after museums and to get rid of “woke” ideology. Huh? This is such a diversion from releasing the Epstein tapes that no one would be distracted into thinking that the federal government should be interfering with museum policy on such a high level.

Finally, the writer of this piece questions why anyone is still afraid of this bumpkin, especially when his favorable ratings are so fucking low. He actually calls Demented Don a “toxic president.”

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the country, under the “leadership” of the pedophile in chief, is “out of control.”

Huppke wonders why no public figures are coming out to denounce the toddler in chief. Of course, repugnicans will not do it because they’re cowed by him for some strange reason. According to Huppke, “They’ve spent decades ignoring the needs of their voters, focusing instead on tossing them red meat from the culture wars and assuming that bashing liberals is all that matters.”

The writer here criticizes Democrats for going after Chump with kid gloves, except for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and California Governor Gavin Newsom. There aren’t that many Dems out there who have taken off the kid gloves, which is irrational, given Dump’s unpopularity at the moment.

Even corporate types have been silent or outright supportive of a president liked by fewer and fewer Americans.

This is unwise, according to Huppke, especially when dealing with such a fucking bully as this ghastly man who will stop at nothing to use the power of the federal government against his enemies.

Huppke feels that there “is zero political risk to standing up to this president. There is only upside, and how more haven’t realized it yet is beyond me.”

In the meantime, the horrible Texas House did pass that ghastly GOP-drawn redistricting effort, despite full Democratic opposition to it. It is now time, according to Governor Newsom, “to fight fire with fire.”

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, August 19, 2025. Did you hear this one about the current president showing further signs of dementia as he dismantles democracy, bit by bit, where he attacked mail-in voting for no apparent reason other than his strongman pal, Vladimir Putin, put the thought into him very recently. He conducted a particular rant on national television in which he told a narrative about one of his own trips to the ballot box in which a poll worker asked him for a license plate to prove who he was. He informed this supposed poll worker, “I don’t know if I have it. They said, ‘Sir, you have to have it.’ He ended this absurd story by saying, “I was very impressed, actually.”

Who has ever heard of being asked to produce a license plate when voting? No one asks for a fucking license plate before being allowed to vote! A photo ID, which would be on someone’s driver’s license, not plate, is usually required as proof of identity. So has the president just made another gaffe here or is he truly delusional?

In the meantime, Texas Rep. Nicole Collier has slept in her chair in the Texas chamber since she has publicly refused to sign some sort of “permission slip” allowing the state police to shadow them until they return to the legislature to vote on this monumental unfair redistricting of the Texas map. Collier should be lionized for her refusal to bend a knee to corrupt repugnicans in the Texas legislature who will do anything in obeisance to their Supreme Leader – like throw away their own principles and dedication to the Constitution.

In an online Daily Kos article entitled “‘Go home’: Voters boo wannabe GOP governor off stage,” by The AP, the brutal reality came home to roost for Representative Elise Stefanik (who, I believe is a total boob) who was unmercifully booed by her constituents when she appeared at an event in her district on Monday. The people in the audience voiced their great displeasure of Stefanik’s total embrace of pedophile in chief Donald Chump and her vote to pass the “one, big beautiful bill,” which is anything but, as it rips Medicaid and food stamps from millions of Dump supporters in order to cut taxes for the richest few.

Aside from booing, protesters shouted that Stefanik “sold us out!” and told her to “go home,” and also shouted that Stefanik should “unseal the Epstein files,” according to a report from HuffPost.

In her case, the boos became so disruptive that the scaredy cat Stefanik eventually left the stage without finishing her prepared remarks. She was allegedly talking about a local government building that was being named after John Zurlo in Clinton County who died in her district at the age of 86. She did not anticipate the enmity that was going to greet her as she took the lectern.

News Nation Capitol Hill correspondent Joe Khalil reported, “Rep. Elise Stefanik booed off stage at an event in Plattsburgh, NY.” “After a few uncomfortable seconds of screams and boos, she left the lectern rather than deliver her prepared remarks.”

Protesters said they chose to show up to the event to voice their frustrations with Stefanik because the New York repugnican doesn’t make herself available to her constituents.

Here is a representative who has not shown up in her district for months and months, according to Mavis Agnew, a protester who attended the event as she told a local television news station. “She won’t hold a town hall, she won’t take questions. She’s never in her office. People show up at her office constantly, door’s closed. Her representatives, her employees won’t talk to her . . . So this was her first appearance, the first opportunity we had to let her know we’re unhappy.”

And, boy, did they! As you might recall, Stefanik has remained in her district after the dementia in chief pulled her nomination to be United Nations ambassador out of fear the GOP could lose her House seat in a special election. If this event were any indicator, it would seem that many repugnicans should fear losing their seats in the midterms if the bastard doesn’t rig the election in his favor.

This news out of Plattsburgh should be a warning sign to this cunt who thinks she was going to run for governor in blue state New York against Kathy Hochul. Thus a Siena College poll from last month found Hochul leads Stefanik in a hypothetical match-up by a massive 47 percent to 24 percent margin.

I would think she would easily lose her seat based on this evidence when she is up for reelection. Democratic State Senator James Skoufis had this to say about the backlash at Stefanik for appearing at this event: “Elise Stefanik won’t even hold a town hall in her bright red district – I just held four in one week – but she thinks she’s gonna roll up into NYC and run for Governor without a problem. Congresswoman, meet rude awakening.”

I’m hearing the boos and catcalls right now on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show tonight. Another repugnican congresswoman was booed also in a town hall. I’m happy to hear that people are now standing up to repugnicans who had the audacity to pass this horrible bill without realizing how ruinous it will be for many Americans. They are all getting a rude awakening if they risk showing up at town halls in front of their constituents.

Today’s highlight was my driving to Nomad Cafe in Ridgewood, Queens, in the new car on the Jackie Robinson Parkway and having a different sort of breakfast as compared to my Austin Street Diner fare. I had their “eggscape from NY” that consisted of over-easy eggs, rosemary parmesan hash browns, Black Forest ham, and wheat toast, with fresh berries. I also had the coffee which was very good. Looking around, I noted I was the oldest patron in the cafe.

From there, I walked to the Topos Bookstore, located around the corner, on Woodward Avenue. There I browsed the used bookstore for at least a half hour. I won’t say if I bought any books; you’d be upset with me if I confessed that I did.

Later in the day, Elliot and I drove finally to the Ice King of Corona. I have nudged Elliot to go there since the beginning of the summer, and we’ve always had an excuse not to go, but this time I held Elliot to the fire and we left a half hour or so after I returned from Ridgewood. We both indulged in a medium peanut butter ice.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, August 3, 2025. Today Elliot and I spent a day walking through nature’s bounty at the Bronx Botanical Garden, located at 2900 Southern Boulevard. We took the subway instead of driving there and having to worry about parking the car. We went there at the invitation of our Amherst friends “Laura” and “Richard” who were coming in to spend some time with Laura’s cousin, “Albert,” who hails from New Jersey. Albert is disabled and he had his attendant “Kelly” and his wife “Bette” drive him to the Garden. The exhibit we were all interested in seeing was Van Gogh’s Flowers that captures the many multifaceted flowers that constituted some of the artist’s most indelible paintings.

We were all supposed to have met by 12, so we set the alarm for 8:45 a.m. and naturally got up before the alarm. Today marked the second day that the tenants in the building had issues with water pressure due to some mechanical malfunction in the pumps or whatever is responsible for delivering the right measure of pressure through the pipes. Luckily, we still had some water and I was able to take an attenuated shower. We decided to have breakfast outside, so that we could use the bathroom instead of relying on the toilet in the apartment to not do its intended job. And here I just watched Netflix’s special on the doomed 2013 Carnival cruise where toilets failed to flush altogether and passengers had to resort to defecating in biohazard bags. Yuck! I know, too much information, too much information!

Anyway, we walked to Pink Forest on Austin Street and had something (I had a ham and cheese omelet while Elliot had a vegetable sandwich) to tide us over until lunch at the Garden.

We then walked over to the subway to wait for the E to take us to 7th Avenue, where we then transferred to the uptown D train and got off at Bedford Park Boulevard. The train ride took all of an hour before we came to our stop. As we exited the station, I looked for signs pointing to the Garden and found a small sign saying to exit the station to the left. When we got outside, I thought we were walking in the correct direction until I stopped a young girl lost in listening to music on headphones who couldn’t answer where the Garden. It was then that a woman overhearing my question stuck her head out of a second-floor window and pointed us in the right direction. That is who we need to guide us in the right direction: a woman in an apartment building listening to us from a second-story window. I find it very New York-ish. Only in New York then!

We made a left and here were clearly posted signs telling us we were walking in the right direction and that our destination was just eight blocks ahead. We must have arrived close to 12 and I looked for Laura and Richard at the front of the Garden, but they weren’t there. So I called her and she said she was at the other entrance to the Garden and that we needed to walk there after buying our tickets. We were at the Mosholu Parkway entrance, not at the Southern Boulevard entrance, so we made our way through the park, past the reflecting pool, and to the other entrance, where we now saw Laura and Richard.

We hugged and embraced and then waited for Laura’s cousin to arrive. We didn’t have to wait long, as Laura soon recognized her cousin’s car. Kelly was waving out of the car so we all walked to it and introduced ourselves to Albert and the others.

In all, I think we stayed at the site for about 3-and-a-half hours, if you include lunch at the Pine Tree Cafe. We were a little disappointed to discover our admission ticket did not give us access to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory in which everything was inside. There were so many acres and acres of plants and flowers that we could only see that much, given how warm it was in the sun. Of course, I would forget to use sunscreen on my skin today.

There was a tram running through the Garden, but we discovered that it wasn’t wheelchair accessible, so we had to eschew taking it. Therefore, we just used our feet to get around and I feel we barely scratched the surface of seeing mostly everything in the Garden. Maybe this means that we can return to the site in the fall or early spring when it’s not so hot.

One highlight of our visit today was the opportunity to take watercolors and a palette and to draw a picture of nature on a small piece of paper. This was provided in some pavilion near a lake with turtles swimming in it. Laura took the plunge, so to speak, while Elliot and I were picture shy. Sadly, I have no talent in that area and have always known it.

When it was time to call it a day, we walked Kelly, Bette, and Albert to their car in the lot, saying goodbye. We then walked to Laura and Richard’s car at another locus point in the vast parking lot, whereupon Laura gave us a little bag sporting maple syrup and Laura’s own special brand of chocolate cookies. I can’t wait to sample them later or tomorrow. They also drove us to the nearest subway stop, so we didn’t have to walk those eight blocks back to the D. We were very grateful for that.

Now we just took the subway back to 7th Avenue and then transferred to the E once more. In that time (the trip back just consumed a little over 65 minutes or so), I was able to finish Edmund White’s Hotel de Dream, just one of White’s many novels he wrote over five decades.

I enjoyed this reimagining of American literary phenomenon Stephen Crane’s last days wasting away at the young age of twenty-eight from tuberculosis. The novel deals with his relationship with his wife Cora and presents a novel within a novel, as Crane feverishly dictates the story of a married banker named Theodore Koch who falls in love with a young male prostitute named Elliott. Crane called this story The Painted Boy after the mascara the 16-year-old wears to attract male customers. Even though Crane was patently heterosexual, it is pointed out that his early days as a journalist sensitized him to the plight of the poor, and it was quite possible that he did meet such a lad in his days wandering the lower bowels of Manhattan. And it is possible that Crane originally planned the book as a companion piece to Maggie, Girl of the Streets which is obviously about a female prostitute.

Anyway, it’s getting late here, so now I can move on to another book, this time one of nonfiction. This one is called Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of Modern Empire. I saw this book at this new Kim’s Video store in Brooklyn, and I just ordered it on Amazon two days ago, and it just arrived today.

Oh, good news: our water pressure issue was resolved by the time we got back from our visit to the Garden. Even though we met a neighbor by CVS on Queens Boulevard as we got out of the station who informed us that things were still the same, so maybe it got repaired just about the time we returned to the apartment after seeing her. Who knows? All I know is that I won’t have to use the bathroom at the Austin House Diner tomorrow. Boy, is that a relief!

Have a good week, everyone.

And so it went!

Here is the sign announcing the exhibit that we saw today.

Here is a floral palette. Anyone care to draw?

Here is a field of yellow.

You read the sign stating what these flowers are.

This I can read as Japanese maple.

This is that reflecting pool I mentioned earlier.

This is a cool Bedford Park Presbyterian Church that we passed on the way to the Garden.

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, July 20, 2025. Elliot and I have returned from our second minitrip, this time driving upstate, to Sullivan Country, specifically the hamlet of Phillipsport, located in the town of Mamakating, which is part of the Shawangunk Mountains Scenic Byway. We were visiting Elliot’s old girlfriend from the Lower East Side who now resides over 20 years in rural upstate. We spent about 24 hours visiting “Sue” at the former bungalow county where Elliot spent idyllic summers there over 60 years ago.

We had breakfast on the way, on Route 17, in New Jersey, at the Suburban Diner. Then we took the New England Thruway to Sullivan County and to Sue’s country abode. There she spends her days with her aging companion, Baxter, who barked his welcome at us as we walked down the grassy path to her front door.

After having bagels and cream cheese, Elliot and I took a short drive to Ellenville, the neighboring town, where we visited a local bookstore called The Common Good. Sue decided to stay home with Baxter. This time I resisted the temptation to buy another book that would just sit on the shelf. Even though I was attracted to a nonfiction book on the Christian far right and how it’s destroyed America. I forgot the name of the book and didn’t snap a picture of it, so I will now have to locate it in other bookstores under “new books.” I think this will not be such a tragedy if I can’t track it down.

Close to 7, we went out again to Wurtsboro to an Italian restaurant called Pasta D’Oro that had a very ecletic menu – everything from fish to steak au poivre. Their portions were astounding. Sue’s salad could have been easily shared among three people, let alone just one famished patron. I ordered the polpettini and the veal sorentino which was not only delicious but also bountiful. Elliot ordered nonna’s lasagna which he termed the “best he’s ever eaten.” Sue ordered the veal sorentino like me and was also very impressed with it. All of us had doggie bags brought to us. We eschewed dessert this time to have just coffee and cappuccino.

We left the restaurant after 9 and I was a little apprehensive about Elliot driving home on these dark country roads, fearing an encounter with deer or other animals along the way. Luckily, we had no such encounter last night.

When we got home, we turned on the television to watch a 1949 film based on a William Faulkner novel, Intruder in the Dust. By this time, Sue left us to retire upstairs. I stayed to watch the entire film, as Elliot left after an hour or so. The film was set in Faulkner’s own town of Oxford, Mississippi. The plot concerns the jailing of a strong, proud African-American by the name of Lucas Beauchamp who is accused of murdering a white man in small-town Mississippi in the 1940s. As the town’s white, bigoted residents prepare to lynch this innocent man, a teenage boy named Chick (Claude Jarman, Jr.) joins forces with an elderly morally leaning woman by the name of Mrs. Haversham (Elizabeth Patterson) and another Black youth whom Chick hangs out with to clear Lucas’s name and find the real killer. Of course, the true murderer turns out to be a white business partner of the murdered man.

An aside to the casting of Patterson as the elderly woman convinced of Lucas’s innocence. I thought she looked quite familiar and it turned out that Patterson portrayed Mrs. Trumble on the I Love Lucy series in the 50s. When the film ended, Eddie Mueller, the host of Noir Alley on TCM, provided this interesting tidbit on Patterson: during the latter years of her life, she maintained a residence at the famed Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, the site of all of the TCM festivals. Pretty interesting, eh?

Surprisingly, I stayed up past 1 when I trundled upstairs to sleep in the spare bedroom next to Sue’s. I managed to read and finish The Day of the Locust and was quite happy.

The next morning, we slept until past 10 and had breakfast with Sue in the dining room. We had more of the bagels that Sue bought. Then I let Sue and Elliot reminisce over 60 years of fond memories. We left around 12:30 or so.

We drove to Ellenville where we had coffee and rugelach (I had it, not Elliot!) at Cohen’s Bakery, the local bakery that attracts visitors far and wide. It was quite crowded before 1 and we had to wait on line to get our food. Elliot bought their famous pumpernickel bread.

Now we prepared ourselves to drive back to Queens, which took a long time (almost 3 hours) to do so. Elliot took the scenic route where we had a wonderful vista of the valley below. This added more time to our drive.

We finally got home about 6 since we stopped at Uncle Bill’s diner, in Flushing, to have a lite bite before getting to Forest Hills.

It’s late here owing to Elliot and my watching an intriguing horror film from 2019 called Saint Maud on Hulu. The story is set in a seaside town in the U.K. and concerns the travails of a private nurse called Maud (Morfydd Clark) who is sent to look after a dying patient, Amanda Kohl (Jennifer Ehle), an imperious “dancer, choreographer and minor celebrity,” as Maude intones in a voice-over when she arrives at her house.

Soon an instant power battle ensues between nurse and patient. You see, Maud is on a self-appointed mission to save Amanda’s soul before she loses her mortal coil. But Amanda has no religious beliefs like Maud. At one point, Amanda scoffs at her and says, “You know it’s all not true. He doesn’t exist.” This sets off Maud, naturally.

This debut feature by Rose Glass brilliantly captures Maud’s descent into religious mania amid elements of self-mutilation, rumbling noises heard on the soundtrack, insects scuttling on the wall, and even a little levitation in Maud’s dingy one-room apartment.

This film is not everyone’s cup of tea since it moves at a glacial pace, and you wonder where this movie will lead the audience. You do get your reward, but this only arrives at the last few moments of the film.

Another week is almost upon us.

Have a good week.

And so it goes!

Here is faithful Baxter lying on the floor in the living room. I think the sneakers there belong to Sue.

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, July 10, 2025. As I alerted you yesterday, I was going to be absent from this page because I intended to see my Central Islip friend “Jake” and expected to stay out the entire day, and I certainly did. After awakening at 8:15, I got ready to have breakfast out at my usual place of morning culinary delight, the Austin House Diner, and then I was going to take the subway to the LIRR station at Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue since I thought there was no train running from the Forest Hills platform. I later found out I was laboring under a misapprehension since on my return back from Central Islip, I was able to change trains at Jamaica Station to board a train going to Kew Gardens and Forest Hills. I just had to wait around 15 minutes.

I got to the LIRR station earlier than expected: a little after 10. I was to board the 11:24 train to Ronkokoma, but I wrestled with getting on an earlier train, like the 10:50 train, which would have put me at the stop close to 12. So I decided to call Jake and inform him that I would arrive slightly earlier, and he consented to my arriving earlier.

Thus I boarded the earlier train and continued to read The Friday Afternoon Club, by Griffin Dunne. I’ve read about 300 pages already; it’s that readable. I’ve reached the part where Dunne eloquently writes about his sister’s strangling at the hands of a deranged suitor named John Sweeney in 1982. I remember the case and the subsequent trial in which this serial abuser got quite a light sentence for snuffing the life out of this promising young actress who played JoBeth Williams’ and Craig T. Nelson’s older daughter in 1982’s Poltergeist, a popular film in its day with a story by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper.

I was met by Jake a few minutes past 12 after I disembarked from my train. Jake was in his 2002 red Cadillac DeVille. It was as long as a boat, I felt. Our first stop was a Dunkin’ Donuts nearby where I had my third cup of coffee plus a blueberry glazed donut. We sat down at a round table and talked for over an hour.

Soon it was time to get up from our comfortable seats to drive to the Central Islip Central Library where we went up to the second floor to see a free film in a meeting room, Sabrina. For those who know about the film, this version was the most recent starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, and Greg Kinnear. This latter film, released in 1995, is a remake of the 1954 effort starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden. The only thing we agreed on afterward is that the original had more charm than this lackluster incarnation.

After the film, we made our way to the Quiet Room where we talked some more about our last trip and where I showed Jake a few choice pictures from it. Jake was quite impressed by the beautiful scenery captured on my phone.

It was then time to drive to our last destination, Shandon Court, an Irish-American restaurant with a busy bar and comfort Irish food like shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie. This is where Jake engages in Trivia Night every Wednesday and where I was recruited to play with Jake and his team. But first, we had to have dinner, so we ordered a full bowl of French onion soup to share and then I ordered the chicken francese. Jake ordered the shepherd’s pie for his entree.

Game night promptly began a little after 8, with at least four teams playing. We were the smallest team, with only three members playing. Two or three members were unable to show up last night. These were family members of the third member: “Philip.” So we played with all the gusto we could muster, even though we had fewer members than any other team.

The quiz that we played contained four sections, three sections having 12 questions each, and one section composed of pictures that we had to identify screen duos from films released through the years. This proved to be my greatest strength. I was able to identify 9 out of 12 pictures. Some of the duos included Sid and Nancy, Robin and Marian, Benny & Joon, and so on.

The game lasted close to 2 hours. Sadly, we came in fourth.

Then I became a little worried that I wouldn’t make the 10:57 train from Central Islip. I impressed upon Jake to leave the restaurant as soon as the game finished. After saying goodbye to Philip and other team members, we hurried out of Shandon Court.

We got to the station within minutes and in a blink of an eye, the eastbound train hurtled my way. I hugged Jake and said good night and boarded the Penn Station train. As I mentioned earlier, I got off at Jamaica and waited for the next train to Forest Hills. It arrived around 12:10 a.m. and it wasn’t long before I was back in Forest Hills.

As I got off the train, it began to rain. Luckily, I had my blue umbrella and opened it immediately. Before exiting the platform, I spied a rat at the bottom of the staircase. It scurried underneath some debris. Ugh, what a sight!

It’s getting late and there’s no time to write about what we did today. Maybe I’ll get that in tomorrow.

And so it went!

Here’s a sheet from Trivia Night in which I could answer 9 questions. I couldn’t produce a blank sheet where you could test your memory of famous screen duos through the years – sorry. I couldn’t answer No. 2, No. 9, and No. 11.

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, July 7, 2025. While the death toll from those central Texas flash flooding disaster has risen to at least 82 (since this writing), we have a pic of our disgusting president enjoying an ice cream cone in today’s online article from Irish Star by Debadrita Sur and Kai McDonald entitled “‘Heartless’ Trump captured enjoying ice cream while rescue workers desperately search for Texas flood victims.”

Deservedly so, the faux president, as I call him, received brutal backlash after a video of him engaging in leisure activities over the weekend emerged on social media as the search for more victims of the devastating Texas floods continues. There are 41 more missing victims after the Guadalupe River rose to the height of a two-story building early Friday morning.

An online right-wing watch X account, Patriot Takes, posted a video of their stupid Supreme Leader, donning a ghastly red Make America Great Again, golfing and enjoying ice cream. He’s fat already; he doesn’t need to add any more weight to his stocky bulk.

The account posted this statement about the horrible optics of the fat president eating ice cream: “Trump was golfing and enjoying ice cream this weekend while search and rescue teams were in Texas looking for child flood victims.”

Another X user posted this: “While Texas was drowning and children were missing in catastrophic floods, Trump was out golfing and indulging in ice cream like it was just another weekend. At a time when leadership meant showing up, coordinating rescue efforts, and putting politics aside, he chose distraction and leisure.” The user went on, saying what so many millions of us have been saying all of these fucking years about this monster, “Too little, too late. This isn’t leadership. It’s callous neglect. While families grieve and communities are shattered, Trump’s priorities are clear: himself, not the American people. Shameful.”

Dump’s own “busy” schedule showed that he had no public events scheduled. Of course, this clown’s very supporters still backed him, despite the evidence to the contrary that truly showed his lack of empathy for the scores of flood victims in his own country. Some nitwit [read: Trump supporter] posted this in defense of the useful idiot: “He does have a Cabinet and Administration, you know. After Biden’s 4 years of zero responsibility for anything, it’s best that you cease commenting on Trump’s Performance, isn’t it?” Does this jerk know what he’s writing about and why bring in the previous president who definitely would have flown to Texas as soon as it was possible; he would not be shown having an ice cream cone and golfing like this asshole.

Thus the “president” has yet to visit Texas in the wake of the floods, but claims he will “probably” travel to the Lone Star State later this week. I won’t hold my breath.

In defense of this golfer in chief, he did sign a major disaster declaration for Kerr County on Saturday morning “due to damage resulting from severe storms, straight-line winds, and flooding beginning on July 2.” Oh, it was Texas Governor Gregg Abbott who requested him to do it. So maybe he might have gone golfing instead if he didn’t get that missive from Abbott.

An update on the flooding in Texas: now more than 100 people have died in the wake of this horrible natural disaster. And our president licks an ice cream cone.

As for me, I will be out having dinner tomorrow with my Manhattan cousins “Rivka” and “Dillon.” We have reservations at Bottega Restaurant on 2nd Avenue at 7. So I’m not sure I’ll be home in time to post my blog.

As for Wednesday, I plan to spend the entire day with my Long Island friend, “Jake.” He usually has me join his trivia night group at 8 or so, so I won’t be home until after midnight.

My next blog should be posted on Thursday then. Let’s cross our fingers then.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, July 6, 2025. I wrote that I might not have written my blog today, but here I am! We were indeed very busy, having left Forest Hills at 12 today to get into Manhattan a little before 1 in order to have bagels and coffee at the newly renamed Murray’s Bagels on 8th Avenue and 18th Street. It is now called Zucker’s Bagels, and the interior looks the same as the old Murray’s Bagels, so when we got up to the cashier to pay for our food items, I asked about the change in name. The young woman behind the counter said the establishment is owned by the same people who ran Murray’s Bagels, but just changed the name.

Today we had tickets to see Pilobolus at the Joyce Theater at 2, so we walked in about 1:30. This is not our first time at the rodeo, as they say. We’ve discovered this incredibly athletic and lithe group of modern dancers quite a number of years ago at this venue. We even saw the late actor Paul Newman and his stalwart wife, Joanne Woodward, in the audience of a Pilobolus performance in 2006, I think. Soon after, Newman, sadly, was diagnosed with a virulent form of cancer and he died in 2008. So we’ve been attending dance performances of this one particular troupe for many years now.

Today’s program consisted of four performances: “Particle Zoo,” “Bloodlines,” “Flight,” and “Rushes.” Each of them were singularly amazing. The troupe consists of four hunky men and two women. The first segment of the show featured just the men shirtless and all wearing white pants and belts cavorting with each other and on the stage. I believe it was in this segment where one of the men fell out of the sky and was scooped up by his fellow dancers. The audience positively shrieked with delight when the dancer landed safely in the arms of his compatriots. The second segment, “Bloodlines,” featured just the two women in a pas de deux of simple elegance and sisterhood. The third segment, “Flight,” was appropriately named since it did somehow revolve around the majesty of flight, as the dancers revolved around the stage with what looked like paper airplanes. This piece was performed by only four of the principal dancers, while the last segment, “Rushes,” featured the entire cast. At the end of the one hour- and forty-minute performance, the troupe deservedly received a standing ovation.

From the Joyce Theater, Elliot and I walked in the sultry air to Hudson Street to have dinner at the Bus Stop Cafe. As we walked to the restaurant, we commented to one another how the landscape has changed in the West Village. So many businesses we recalled that once thrived there have now been replaced by gaudier, pricier establishments. New York, as you must know, is constantly changing; it’s definitely not static. If you mourn the loss of earlier well-known landmarks that have been razed to make way for sparkling new venues, you should read Vanishing New York by Jeremiah Moss. It was written some years ago, but now screams for a kind of update.

Anyway, dinner was quite good: Elliot ordered the chicken soup and the meat loaf entree, while I ordered the cream of mushroom soup and had the turkey dinner, replete with mashed potatoes, steamed spinach, and stuffing. Everything was quite tasty.

It is here Elliot and I parted: Elliot went home and I headed east, intending to visit a gay bar and to have coffee somewhere. I found myself on Bleecker Street having a cup of coffee at Rocco’s and having two vanilla sugar cookies.

Eventually I made my way to the Stonewall Inn, where I spent a whole ten minutes surveying the scene. It was about 7 or so and there weren’t many people inside the historic bar. I walked to the wall by the pool table which had a display involving the various kinds of LGBTQ+ flags that have been designed over the years. Did you know that there is a bisexual flag and an asexual flag? I didn’t know. I was just aware of the iconic Pride flag, designed in 1978, I believe.

I had no inclination to stay in Manhattan, so now I made my way back home. I think I got home close to 8 or so. I took the E on West 4th Street.

Now back to grim reality: One silver lining in that passage of Diaper Don’s “big, ugly bill” is this online article in RawStory by David McAfee entitled ‘Bad, bad, bad day’: GOP lawmakers panicky as Trump ‘threatens House majority.'” This article paints these cowardly repugnicans as now being fearful of what their blind obeisance to the Orange Cheeto can do to them in the midterms of 2026, as a piece in Politico today ponders the fate of the repugnicans in Congress who voted to cut health care programs by more than $1 trillion over the next two years. The outlet further quotes Senator Jim Justice (R-WVA) as saying, “You would be foolish not to worry about it . . . If you don’t keep the voters right with you, you’re going to awaken to a bad, bad, bad day.”

According to the report, “adding to the GOP angst,” is that “Democrats are preparing to weaponize the bill as they did Republicans’ failed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.”

“That 2018 midterm election led to a GOP wipeout in the House, with the party losing 40 seats, including some districts in Trump-leaning territory,” according to the outlet. Thus “Democrats are planning to again hitch vulnerable Republicans to the cuts to social safety-net programs.” And well as they should!

One senator, Thom Tillis, already retired over his disagreements with parts of the repugnican spending bill.

In an ongoing story, at least 82 people have died in connection with the flash floods that have struck central Texas, according to officials. The terrible toll includes at least 28 children in Kerr County, where 10 girls and one counselor from Camp Mystic are still unaccounted for, authorities said.

Now I don’t know about you, but couldn’t this unnecessary death and destruction be possibly laid at the foot of this disgusting president who has taken a sledgehammer to agencies such as the National Weather Service (NWS) that oversee such disasters? Even though the NWS did issue a slew of alerts before the storm, questions still surround the agency’s staffing [Dump’s meddling!] and ability to reach residents at the time of the calamity. As I recall, one Democratic lawmaker has tied Dump to this Texas event and its tragic aftermath, but I can’t find the article in which his allegations are contained. I do know that comedian Rosie O’Donnell made the connection between Dump and the deaths experienced in central Texas, but she was slammed by despicable red hats on the internet. All they can do is scream at others who tell the truth but will never acknowledge the real truth about their Dear Leader! So far, so many families have been affected by this tragedy that it’s totally incomprehensible.

Anyway, try to have a good week.

And so it went!

Here is today’s playbill from the Piloblous show.

I think this is an article depicting the actual Stonewall Riots in 1969. The paper is the Daily News and the date is July 6, 1969.

Here is a proclamation from the New York City Council on the 85th birthday of Tree Sequoia, legendary bartender at the Stonewall Inn. It was hanging on the wall of the saloon. It’s quite a testimonial to this well-loved and tireless AIDS activist, who has been featured in many outlets like Time magazine, Bloomberg, Reuters, and other outlets.

This is just a lovely street on the way to 6th Avenue and the subway. I should have noted the actual street name, but I didn’t. Sorry!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Yesterday, as I expressed here the day earlier, I was probably going to be absent from this venue since Elliot and I were out having drinks with our newest friend “Barry” at the oldest gay bar, Julius’s. We were expected to meet Barry around 5:45, so we left Queens around 4 in order to spend a little time in the West Village before going to our appointed destination. We first had coffee at a place on 6th Avenue near the IFC Center and then we walked to Three Lives & Company, a West 10th Street bookstore. No, I did not purchase another book this time. But I did take a photo of a new hardcover nonfiction book called Eminent Jews by David Denby that I found quite interesting. The book examines the lives and works of such eminent Jews like Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. There’s no telling, even, if I would ever buy this book since I’m knee-deep in this month’s gay men’s reading club selection, Evenings & Weekends, by Oisin McKenna. I’m already halfway through the book and I just began it on Father’s Day, June 15. I’m almost at 200 pages in.

We got to the bar close to 5:30 and we sat outside a short while before I decided to enter the establishment. When I did, I saw Barry sitting at a small round table by the window nursing a drink. I then called Elliot to come into the bar and he did. We all hugged and greeted each other with kisses and wide smiles and then sat down, immediately ordering a side of French fries for the table and nonalcoholic drinks for Elliot and myself. Then we filled each other in on what was happening in all of our lives. We hadn’t seen Barry for a very long time, I think since last year, but most of it had to do with Barry going back home to Pittsburgh (where he was born and raised) to help with the care of his father who suffered a fall in his house, breaking a hip. He had also done some traveling, as well as we did. I asked Barry how old his father is, and I gulped when he said, “68,” where I blurted that this is about my age. Barry just smiled at me when I confessed this.

We must have chatted for close to 90 minutes since we ordered another round of drinks and French fries. Unfortunately, Barry had to leave early since he still had to work tomorrow, though he said he was off on Thursday, which is Juneteenth. So we couldn’t have dinner at the bar (their food is not generally great, anyway), so Elliot and I decided to have supper at the Bus Stop Cafe, on Hudson Street. We knew of this place from many years ago, even before the pandemic, so we bid adieu to Barry and walked further West.

The walk took about 10 minutes or so. I had to put on my phone GPS, which still didn’t prevent us from asking a passerby for directions anyway. The Bus Stop Cafe is a glorified diner and the prices are, for the most part, reasonable. So I ordered the eggplant parmigiana and a cup of chicken soup. I couldn’t finish my entree’, so I brought half of it home. I did order coffee which wasn’t that good, unfortunately.

The time wasn’t too late, sometime close to 8:30, so I decided to do something different: go to a gay bar – the Monster – which I haven’t done in quite a long time. Elliot was content to go home, and I said goodbye to him by the bar. I peered into the window to see if the bar was crowded or not, and I did see people enjoying each other’s company, so I decided to enter the Monster without missing a step. The security person at the door had to look at my ID, and I had to laugh over this.

Since I really don’t drink, I went to the rear of the bar to listen to the pianist. I thus stood around looking awkward and just listened to the volunteers who took the mic to sing their hearts out. I talked to no one and no one talked to me. I gave myself a half CBS News

I’m not sure what time I got home. I lucked out with getting an E train to Forest Hills at the West 4th Street station. But I was too pooped to write my blog last night. Excuse me!

Boy, in just one day, the mental deficient president is now almost approving attack plans on Iran, which must horrify everyone here in this country. He told reporters today that he had not made a final decision on whether to strike the country. This is what the dementia-addled president said about declaring war on another country that has nuclear weapons. “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due, because things change, especially with war. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Is he contemplating whether to have spaghetti or not in this telling moment? You wouldn’t think he was actually weighing a crucial decision to put American troops at risk in a very dangerous endeavor. It sounds like he has no idea what he intends to do. Iran has said that it would “respond to any threat with a counter-threat.” This is madness that can hurdle us into World War III. Where are the rational lawmakers out there who can stop this crazed man? These quotes are selected from an online article in CBS News by James LaPorta entitled “Trump approved attack plans for Iran – but hasn’t made final decision to strike.”

So, hey, folks, all I can say is try to enjoy yourselves before we declare ourselves fighting in a Middle Eastern conflict that we shouldn’t ever be contemplating in the first place. You can thank this wishy-washy president who is accurately nicknamed “TACO”(Trump Always Chickens Out) Dump. Now he can’t even decide about thrusting the U.S. into a Middle Eastern war which is undoubtably not the right thing to do. The right thing to do in this situation is impeach the dumb bastard, in my humble opinion, before World War III does break out.

And just this from Lawrence O’Donnell, who on tonight’s show, The Last Word, just said about the so-called president: today he thought that the Declaration of Independence was written during the Civil War! Can you believe the stupidity here? Any third grader knows when both events occurred, or I should hope. But this president originally thought that the Continental Army had airports? Huh? Is he mentally all there? There is a YouTube clip of him actually saying this at one of his Nuremberg rallies. Go check it out.

And so it went!

Here is the book I was interested in at Three Lives & Company, on West 10th Street. Oops, you can see a glimpse of my red sneakers here too.

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, June 16, 2025. Yes, I was missing here yesterday because of it being Father’s Day and I wanted to spend some time with Elliot last night, even though it was just watching an old film together on Amazon Prime, 1997’s Wilde, a British biographical drama about the inimitable Oscar Wilde, the toast of the town in late 19th-century London until his shattering downfall after falling in love with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (a stunningly handsome Jude Law) and battling it out with Douglas’s homophobic father, the Marquess of Queensberry (Tom Wilkinson), in court and losing a libel suit against him when the truth comes out about Wilde’s penchant for young male lovers, even though he was married and had children. The actor tapped to portray the icon of Victorian glamor was Stephen Fry.

The day began nicely enough with Elliot preparing me French toast out of croissants. I also received an obligatory call from my son “Joshua” in the morning to wish me happy Father’s Day. We had an earnest man-to-man conversation about his present situation, of which I will not divulge here because of privacy concerns. He definitely would not approve of my disclosing what we talked about here, so I won’t.

In the afternoon, I decided to drive to Huntington, New York, to go to a favored bookstore, The Next Chapter, located on New York Avenue. Elliot was content staying home, so I walked to the garage to pick up the car. I had directions to the store printed out. And tried to follow them as best as I could without getting into an accident. I had the foolish tendency to look down at the paper, and I realized it could have been fatal to do so. However, there was so much traffic on the Grand Central Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway that I even considered returning without spending so much time on the highway stuck in traffic. I felt I didn’t have to do this; this was a Sunday and I didn’t have to be stuck in traffic.

However, I stayed the course and persevered and drove all the way to Huntington anyway. It must have taken me close to 85 minutes, instead of a little over 60 minutes. I finally parked on New York Avenue and stepped into a cafe to get a cup of coffee and a slice of nut cake. From there, I drove to The Next Chapter, but it was close to 4. I called Elliot and said I would probably come home around 7. I expected the return drive would be another hour or so. And I wouldn’t have had much time in the bookstore.

Actually, it was a good thing that I had less time to browse the shelves in The Next Chapter, so I couldn’t purchase more books. Pleasantly, I found out that a sale was going on that day and it consisted of putting as many books from the back room and records in your own shopping bag for a mere $20. Yesterday marked the last day, unfortunately, of the sale. I was able to resist the temptation to pack my new Strand bag with a countless number of books. From the back room, I just picked one, Quentin Crisp’s The Naked Civil Servant and Anderson Cooper’s Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune, written with Katherine Howe. This I found on the regular shelves. This was $7.98, while Crisp’s autobiography was only $2. Now it was time to leave the premises and drive home. Again, I encountered traffic on both the Long Island Expressway and the Northern State Parkway, and this time, I turned on my car GPS instead of using paper directions. It was a much wiser decision, I felt, than referring to printed directions.

To top off Father’s Day, Elliot prepared a dinner of home cooked roast beef and mashed potatoes for the both of us. The meal was very, very delicious, and that’s when we decided to watch the film. But first, I watched a little more of George Clooney in CNN’s live telecast of Good Night, and Good Luck from last week. This newest adaptation of the 2005 film couldn’t be more topical, with its themes of truth, journalistic integrity, and the fight against fear and discrimination during the incendiary McCarthy era. It tells the story of iconic journalist, Edward R. Murrow, clashing with the Wisconsin senator over baseless claims of communism. I watched the part where Clooney slams the senator on the CBS network for conducting a campaign of terror and intimidation in his incessant agenda of rooting out so-called communists in the federal government. The audience whooped and cheered after Clooney’s fearless speech, as the specter of what’s happening here in the United States was invoked in his address.

Now back to reality: in the wake of the despicable shootings in Minnesota, a U.S. senator, Utah Republican Mike Lee, is receiving a torrent of criticism after he sent a disturbing tweet about the Minnesota gunman who killed Democratic state former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shot Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. An online article about this abominable senator appears in Daily Koss by Emily Singer entitled “GOP senator slammed for disgusting tweets about Minnesota shooting.”

This disgusting individual could not wait until the suspect’s motives were disclosed, so he tweeted out an image of the alleged murderer in the rubber mask he wore when he opened fire on the lawmakers. In text alongside the disturbing image, Lee wrote in the style of his fucking Dear Leader who can’t bother to check the correct spelling of someone’s name, “Nightmare on Waltz [sic] Street.” This fucking “senator” couldn’t even spell correctly Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz in his appalling tweet, especially when Walz’s name was also on the killer’s intended target list.

Another disgusting message this so-called lawmaker posted was another image of the killer in the rubber mask with the text, “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.” This message was posted to further the false GOP message that this 57-year-old lunatic was a Democrat; instead, the truth is that the murderer was a Dump-supporting, antiabortion zealot, a true detritus of MAGA. As more politicians are calling for lawmakers to ratchet down their rhetoric in the wake of this latest explosion of political violence, we have this stupid Mike Lee ratcheting up the rhetoric instead.

The article says it all, “Ultimately, it’s sick the lengths Republicans are going – including a U.S. senator – to gin up a false narrative absolving the Republican Party of responsibility in radicalizing Americans who commit violence in the name of their furthering their right-wing agenda.” It goes on to say that these cowardly republicans “are too irresponsible to accept that they are at fault for causing the climate that leads to political violence.” It concludes, “At the end of the day, however, this is what happens when someone like Trump is the leader of a political party.”

Of course, as true to form, sadly, the sitting insulter in chief has yet to call Walz to send his condolences over what just happened in his state. But this putrid, little man had the audacity, even, to attack Walz for “being a terrible governor.” How can anyone think this man is rational after this is beyond me.

Tomorrow Elliot and I plan a day out. We intend to meet our newest acquaintance, “Barry,” for either dinner and drinks. Also, we might go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for some special exhibits that Elliot is interested in seeing. Something on “Black Dandyism” and the other on chinoiserie. So I might not be here also tomorrow night, depending on how long we stay out with Barry.

So have a great Tuesday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, May 25, 2025, the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that sparked a worldwide protest movement. It’s hard to believe that five years have elapsed since Floyd’s gruesome murder.

An online article for BBC News – of all places – reflects on this grim anniversary by Madeline Halpert entitled “Americans remember George Floyd on fifth anniversary of death.” The article points out that there have been special gatherings in the city where he grew up and in the one where he died.

Today in Floyd’s hometown of Houston near his gravesite, his family gathered for an event led by the Reverend Al Sharpton, while Minneapolis held several commemorations.

The mood five years ago, in my opinion, was much more optimistic than the mood today, given a second Dump administration and how it’s started to roll back police reforms in Minneapolis and other cities.

In Minneapolis, community members planned a morning church service, a candlelight vigil, and an evening gospel concert today to remember Floyd.

The events were a part of the annual Rise and Remember Festival taking place in George Floyd Square, the intersection where Floyd was murdered and which has since been named to honor him.

“Now is the time for the people to rise up and continue the good work we started,” Angela Harrelson, Floyd’s aunt and cochair of the Rise and Remember nonprofit, said in a statement about the festival.

In Houston, where Floyd grew up and where he is buried, local organizations planned poetry sessions, musical performances, and speeches by local pastors.

The police officer accused of murdering the unarmed Black man has been serving a 22-year prison sentence after he was convicted of murdering the 46-year-old. Other officers were convicted for failing to intervene in the killing.

In a post on X, Rev. Sharpton said Floyd’s death had “forced a long overdue reckoning with systemic racism and galvanized millions to take to the streets in protest.”

In the wake of Floyd’s death, under former President Joe Biden, the justice department opened civil investigations into several local law enforcement agencies, including Minneapolis, Louisville, Phoenix and Lexington, Mississippi, where investigators found evidence of systemic police misconduct.

The department reached agreements with both the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments that included oversight measures like enhanced training, accountability, and improved data collection of police activity.

But just last Wednesday, the Dump administration said those findings relied on “flawed methodologies [where’s the proof?] and incomplete data.”

Administration officials said the agreements were “handcuffing” local police departments.

In opposition to this announcement by a lawless administration, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stated that his city would still “comply with every sentence of every paragraph, of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year.”

Since returning to office, Dump has taken aim at Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) measures intended to reduce racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. Early in his tenure, Dump signed an executive order to eliminate DEI policies in the federal government, some of which were the result of protests during what is often called “Black Lives Matter Summer,” held after the deaths of Floyd and others.

As a capitulation to Dump’s twisted view of America, the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, removed Black Lives Matter Plaza, a strip of road that was emblazoned with the phrase near the White House. God forbid that racist president Dump should be offended by the sight of that phrase staring up at him in the White House. This week, a famous mural of Floyd was destroyed as part of a building demolition, according to Houston Public Media.

Recent surveys suggest Americans believe there have been few improvements for the lives of Black people in the United States five years after Floyd’s demise, including a May survey from Pew Research Center in which 72 percent of participants said there had been no meaningful changes.

The number of Americans expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement has also fallen by 15 percent since June 2020, the same survey suggests. It appears then that the hope that arose from the movement five years ago in the wake of Floyd’s death has indeed paled as a result of the regressive mood in the country since Dump’s reelection. Too bad and too sad! The country certainly has stalled its progress in the civil rights arena as a result of reelecting this Neanderthal to the White House.

In the meantime, the buffoon who is president drew sharp criticism from critics everywhere for his West Point speech to the graduating cadets there yesterday. An online Mirror article by Anna Carlson entitled “Trump sparks backlash by wearing giant MAGA hat and pink tie to formal West Point graduation” details the volley of criticism engendered by Dump’s bizarre speech in front of graduating cadets at this country’s elite military school. Right away the clueless president received backlash for wearing a bold red MAGA hat to the ceremony, as if he were addressing his ignorant supporters at a campaign rally. He also got flak for wearing a pink tie.

One critic denounced Dump for his lack of respect of the graduating class for his ridiculous fashion choices. One user on social media stated, “Wearing a campaign hat at West Point disgraces that hallowed path. This isn’t a rally, it’s a solemn military ceremony. The uniform demands respect. The moment demands dignity. Trump brought neither. Shameful.” Another asked pointedly, “Why is the orangutan disrespecting our military with a red hat?”

Firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) who has gotten raves for her intelligent assaults against bimbo Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA idiots in Washington mocked the president’s West Point address in language only she can use. During this speech now being called a rant, the buffoon in chief complained that he had been “through more investigations than Alphonse Capone” and noted that “a lot of trophy wives [don’t] work out.” Huh! What the fuck has this nonsense to do with the cadets’ mission in the near term? Supposedly, Dump also complained about “drag shows” in the U.S. armed forces.

In response to Dump’s incoherent speech, which is just another in a long line of rambling rants, Crockett fumed, “I am tired of it.” She laughingly indicates, “I mean, he literally sounds like someone who is broken out of the insane asylum. Like, he just be all over the place.”

Crockett continues her rant against the president, saying, “Like get him some ADHD medicine, if nothing else, because I don’t know where he’s ever going to go.” She continued, “And I don’t think that those that have gone through West Point expected to have their commander-in-chief address them and start talking about trophy wives or start talking about how he had so many investigations.” But this is what a malignant narcissistic personality – like Dump – does: veer the discussion back to him- or herself, no matter what the subject of the speech is. It will always be about the narcissist.

Crockett spared no sympathy for Dump, as she continued, “What a great reminder that you are not qualified to be the person that potentially will command us as troops to go into war. Like, that is not instilling confidence whatsoever. And honestly, our troops deserve better. Our graduates deserve better. We as a country deserve better.”

Crockett argued that the speech was a sign that Republicans should seriously question Dump’s mental capacity. She turns the knife in further, by concluding, “We know when it comes down to his criminality, he is not qualified to serve. But this is absolutely deplorable.” (These comments from Rep. Crockett come from an online RawStory article by David Edwards entitled ‘Get him some ADHD medicine’: Jasmine Crockett trashes Trump’s West Point speech.”) I’m afraid the mainstream media will overlook this event and not concentrate on the buffoon’s declining mental capacity, which would have certainly been the case if former President Joe Biden ever offered the same speech to these West Point cadets. That is deplorable!

Oh, have a good Memorial Day, by the way!

And so it went!