Ailantha - Blog

Whatever Happened To Rudy Giuliani?

10/19/2019

      Ah, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. What happened to you?
     Was there really a time, long ago and far away, when you were admired, even loved, not only by New Yorkers, but by the whole country?
      Do you remember those bad old days when New York City was a mess of graffitied walls and subways, trashy sidewalks, streets rife with crime petty and grievous and all sorts of other civic infractions and urban blights, and who could forget what a den of iniquity and ugliness Times Square was back then?

And then remember how you came along, you, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the new sheriff in town, and you lowered the boom bigtime, rounded up and locked the heels of urban offenders great and small, cleaned up the city, and set a new, higher standard of street and civic behavior? And how, by your tough love, a fresh, new quality was breathed into the environment and life of New York, not to mention the vast improvement in the tourist experience?
Times Square today.

And then came the horror of 9/11, the day on which two 1800-foot towers fell onto Manhattan, tons and tons of debris rained down, people ran for their lives, city blocks were demolished, and three thousand people died.

New York was traumatized, the country left in shock.

But remember how you were there, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, strong at the helm of leadership during that dark, terrifying time, perhaps your finest hour, so that you earned the title from a grateful nation as America’s Mayor?

Oh, Rudy, what happened? When in the world did you cross over to the dark side? When did greedy ambition for excessive wealth and excessive power begin to seep into your soul and poison whatever well of positive strength and heroism used to exist there? When did you turn from hero to absolute villain?
Because that’s what you are now, Rudy. You are an absolute villain. You are in league with Donald Trump, who is also an absolute villain, and now the two of you slither about intertwined, generating a slime trail of corruption that is damaging not only our American democracy but now, and perhaps even worse, the far more fragile fledgling democracy of Ukraine.
This Ukraine thing is bad. Really bad. Donald Trump is now on the road to impeachment for his proposition of a self-serving quid pro quo in a telephone call,

...to the young, newly elected neophyte President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

(That Trump held up military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure that country to find some 2016 election dirt on the Democrats was inadvertently confirmed,

...in an off-the-cuff remark by Trump’s dim-witted acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who is now desperately trying to take back what he publicly said about Trump holding back aid to Ukraine. But what’s said is said).

     But the thing is, Mr. Mayor, it’s looking more and more as if you, and not Donald Trump, are the cerebral engine behind the whole Ukraine thing. It was you, after all, who latched onto the idea that there was a computer server owned by the Democratic Party and hidden somewhere deep in Ukraine that would prove that the interference in our 2016 elections came from Ukraine and not Russia, and was – for some not-easily-understood reason – generated and fed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Even though it was Donald Trump who benefitted from said interference. Go figure.
      It was also apparently your idea to have Trump pressure President Zelensky to produce scandal on Joe Biden’s son, who was at one time on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.
      And then, Rudy, there are your two criminal business associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who have been charged with fraud in an arcane scheme that involved funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars through a bogus company to a former Texan Congressman, Pete Sessions, in exchange for Sessions pressuring the Trump administration to fire the American Ambassador to Ukraine,

...Marie Yovanovich,

…for speaking out against corrupt former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko.

      Wheels within wheels, webs within webs, lies within lies.
      It’s most recently come to light that with the full patronage of the President of the United States, you, Rudy Giuliani, have been running a shadow State Department, playing your own game of underground chess with our America ambassadors and emissaries to profit not your country, but yourself and your benefactor Donald Trump.
       But imagine, Rudy, if instead of slinking down the sleazy garden path to shame and ignominy, which is surely your ultimate destination, you’d chosen a different path after your honorable tour of service as Mayor of New York.
         What if, instead of falling prey to greedy ambition, setting your sights on the highest possible pinnacle of power, you’d instead pursued a more noble ambition commensurate with the good work you did as Mayor of New York City?
        How many cities across this country could have benefitted – could still benefit - from your talent and toughness in cleaning up cities and solving urban problems?
       What if, instead of setting your sights on becoming President or - as you’ve become – surrogate President of the United States, you had established a non-profit to assist mayors of cities in crisis with their urban problems?
      Quite frankly, some of your tough-love techniques could be the salvation of a city like Portland, Oregon, where law, order and civility have eroded under good intentions and administrative cluelessness.

Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, California, New Orleans, Louisiana…there are probably dozens of cities across America that could have gained from what you could have offered.
Or if not as an advisor to beleaguered cities, there are any other number of honorable pursuits in which you could have found your stride.

Consider the good Jimmy Carter has done since his term in public office.

   The name Rudy Giuliani could have garnered the same respect, admiration, and love as the name Jimmy Carter now does.
      But instead you’ll probably end up in prison in your ripe old age and your name will go down in history as synonymous with muck.
        Sigh. Ah, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. What happened to you?

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani

https://www.businessinsider.com/mick-mulvaney-confirms-trump-held-ukraine-aid-for-investigation-2019-10

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/11/768662050/how-former-ambassador-marie-yovanovitch-became-a-target-in-ukrainehttps://www.npr.org/2019/10/11/768662050/how-former-ambassador-marie-yovanovitch-became-a-target-in-ukraine

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"You Are Leaving Us To Be Slaughtered"

10/13/2019

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Up until a week ago the people in the towns in Northeastern Syria along the Turkish border were living their day-to-day lives. Going to work. Going to school.

Going shopping. Going out to eat. Playing or watching sports events. Meeting friends for coffee or tea. Visiting relatives. Raising families. Working around the house or garden. Planning their plans for the day or for the upcoming week, month, or year.
But by the end of that day one week ago everything had changed for the people of Northeastern Syria. Because it was one week ago today that Donald Trump, who has many millions of dollars worth of financial interests in Turkey,

...hung up on a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,

...and immediately, impulsively, called for the withdraw of the American troops that had been overseeing the "Peace Corridor" that was being set up between Turkey and Kurdish Syria.
Three days later Turkish rockets, tanks, and artillery began attacking the Northeastern Syrian cities and towns along the Turkish border.

     That was four days ago. And in those four days since Turkey invaded Kurdish Syria:
      - 100,000 Syrian civilians have been displaced as they flee south, away from the border.
       - 179 men, women, and children have been killed or injured.

- Turkish artillery fired on an outpost of American troops stationed outside the conflict zone to the west of Kurdish Syria. Deliberately, U.S. military officials are convinced.
- The Kurdish Syrian Defense Forces who brought down ISIS in Syria and now administer the detention camps for captured ISIS fighters have had to cut back on personnel to guard the camps, as all troops are now needed for defense against the invading Turks. Subsequently almost 1,000 captured ISIS members have escaped the camps in the past four days. There has since been two car bomb explosions in Syria, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.
- Some of the detention camps where captured ISIS members are held are now at risk of falling under ISIS control.

Yesterday General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, leader of the Syrian Defense Forces, implored the U.S. to send help to protect the Syrian Kurds.

      "You are leaving us to be slaughtered," General Mazloum told a senior U.S. diplomat.
      This is at heart an an issue of war and peace. Donald Trump pulled back the American troops along the Turkish-Northeastern Syrian border because, he said, he wanted to get our country out of "endless wars." And yet while the United States had 100 troops patrolling the Turkish- Northeastern Syrian border there was peace. Had he left that patrol there would still be peace. But he pulled those troops and now there's war.
        And Trump will not return any troops or support to defend the Kurds who fought for five years along side Americans and lost 11,000 men and women to defeat ISIS.
        But yesterday Donald Trump ordered 3,000 American troops, two Air Force fighter squadrons, Patriot antimissile batteries and other air and missile defenses to deploy to Saudi Arabia to protect the Saudi oil fields.

References:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/12/politics/syrian-kurds-us-turkey-military-operation/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/donald-trump-s-longtime-business-connections-turkey-back-spotlight-n1064011

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/turkish-led-troops-invade-strategic-syrian-town/ar-AAIGsGs

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/13/isis-prisoners-escape-syria-detention-camp-after-t/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/militant-women-poised-to-take-control-of-isis-camp-syrian-kurdish-general-says/2019/10/04/72985c18-e5ff-11e9-b0a6-3d03721b85ef_story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/world/middleeast/trump-saudi-arabia-iran-troops.html

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And What About That Other Phone Call?

10/10/2019

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Donald Trump is currently under an impeachment investigation for a phone call he made subtly extorting the President of Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political rival in exchange for military aid,

...a protection racket, as it were.

But what about Trump's phone call last Sunday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

...immediately following which Trump ordered American troops to be pulled back from the Northeastern Kurdish Syrian border? This sudden departure of American troops left the Kurds, whose Syrian Defense Forces fought ISIS for five years alongside American troops, at the mercy of Turkey, which had in recent months been pacing its border with Kurdish Syria like a cat preparing to pounce a mouse.
Worse, the American military had convinced the Syrian Defense Forces, despite the recent build-up of Turkish tanks and guns along the Syrian border, to dismantle their defense fortifications along the border starting in September, with the assurance that the United States and Turkey had agreed on a five mile demilitarized safe zone or "Peace Corridor" inside northeastern Syria to maintain security along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Then came Donald Trump's October 6 phone call with Erdogan, a call that will surely go down in infamy. Hours after that phone call Trump called back American troops from Northeastern Syria and three days later Turkish missiles were devastating Kurdish towns,

...while Turkish tanks rolled across the Syrian border,

...and our Kurdish allies realized they'd been betrayed.

Erdogan has subsequently made no secret of his intention to cleanse Northeastern Syria of Kurds and to use the conquered land as a place to relocate the Syrian refugees who have poured into Turkey since the Syrian civil war.

And so, considering the hundreds of thousands of already fleeing Kurdish men, women, and children who will be killed, maimed, orphaned, widowed, or displaced as a result of Trump's phone call with the President of Turkey,

...it would seem to me that Congress should likewise investigate what transpired in that phone call that propelled Donald Trump to commit such treachery against a loyal ally.

After rolling over for Erdogan and giving Turkey carte blanche to invade Kurdish Syria, Trump tweeted the following:

But even if Donald Trump had the power to destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey he wouldn't do anything of the kind because he owns two luxury hotels in Istanbul of which he refused to divest himself of when he became President,

...which in and of itself should be grounds for impeachment.

References
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/09/03/us-backed-syrian-kurds-to-remove-fortifications-from-turkish-border-as-part-of-safe-zone-deal/

https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2019/10/08/trump-syria-withdrawal-decision-immoral-and-short-sighted/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Syria_Buffer_Zone

https://www.csis.org/analysis/implications-turkish-intervention-northeastern-syria

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/09/politics/turkey-syria-us-anger-ramifications
/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-abandoning-kurds-sends-dangerous-message-us-allies-2019-10

https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-official-who-heard-call-says-trump-got-rolled-turkey-has-no-spine-1463623

ttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/chaos-syria-washington-after-trump-call-erdogan-unleashed-turkish-military-n1063516

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/middleeast/turkey-attacks-syria.html

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/syria-turkey-military-offensive-dle-intl/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-launches-operation-syria-3-days-after-trump-announces-u-n1063576

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"I Never Met Anyone So Happy To See Americans As The Kurds"

10/9/2019

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This morning I received a phone call from my daughter Claire.
Claire, an Intensive Care Unit nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago who also travels around the world with disaster medical response teams, spent several weeks in Iraqi Kurdistan earlier this year giving daily training seminars to the nurses from the Intensive Care and Coronary Care Units at the Azadi Teaching Hospital in the city of Dohuk.

See posts from 4/4/2019, 4/11/2019, 4/13/2019, and 4/20/2019)

Claire with Saadia Alturki, head of nursing education with the Kurdistan Ministry of Health.

    But today Claire was heart-broken and worried sick over the invasion this morning of Northeastern Syria by Turkish forces for the purpose of displacing - or perhaps wiping out - the Kurdish population of that region.
      "Dohuk isn't that far from Syria," Claire said. "People cross back and forth across the border from Kurdistan to Kurdish Syria all the time. A lot of people in Dohuk have family in Syria. I can't imagine what they're going through. Everybody must be so frightened."
      We talked, as many Americans doubtless talked today, about how shamefully and tragically our country has betrayed the Kurds after the U.S.-backed Kurdish militias known as the Syrian Democratic Forces fought for years as strong, loyal, American allies in the war against ISIS and were instrumental in bringing down ISIS in Syria, capturing over 5,000 Islamic fighters and guarding the camps where the captured ISIS fighters are currently imprisoned. Over 11,000 Kurdish soldiers lost their lives fighting - with weapons supplied by the U.S. - against ISIS.
         And after the Syrian Democratic Forces fought beside their American allies and gave their lives to defeat ISIS, our country promised, rightfully so, to protect the Kurdish people of northern Syria from Turkish aggression.
       To this end the United States brokered a deal with the Kurds to placate Turkey: if the Syrian Democratic Forces dismantled their defensive fortifications along the Turkish border and pulled back their troops from that area then the U.S. military would guarantee their safety.
     The Kurds kept their part of the bargain. And no sooner had they dismantled their defenses along the Syrian-Turkish border than Donald Trump repaid their trust with a double-cross by immediately pulling American troops back from the Syrian-Turkish border, saying of the Kurds,

“They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy,”

The Turkish attack against Kurdish Syria began today. Turkey's objective is to obliterate the Syrian Democratic Forces and drive the Kurds out of Northeastern Syria.

And so, thanks to the unhinged capriciousness of this vile worm that enough Americans voted into the White House,

...and the greed for power of this heartless monster, Turkish President Recep Erdogan,

...another war has begun,

...the destruction already underway,

...civilians already fleeing their homes,

...another terrible humanitarian crisis already in the making.

It's been predicted that in this war half a million men, women and children will die.

"You know, Mom," said Claire, her voice choking up, "of all the countries I've been to, I never met anyone so happy to see Americans as the Kurds."

Not anymore.

References
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/09/politics/turkey-syria-us-anger-ramifications/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/middleeast/six-questions-syria-us-intl/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/opinions/syria-kurds-republicans-filipovic/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/military-leaders-warn-trump-abandoning-ally-grave-mistake-2019-10?fbclid=IwAR3qr6QgYli6hFXEMFjy0mSCrd_kR8thnRoIxSZ0U5JPZ7XjZRRTOLsRkfI

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Lost Amidst The Garbage

10/8/2019

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So far Donald Trump has:

Refused to divest himself of his business interests in foreign countries;

...dangled in front of the president of Ukraine military aid and a visit to the White House in exchange for Ukraine digging up dirt,

...on political rival Joe Biden;

...directed China to investigate Joe Biden, warning that country that the United States had "tremendous power" and "lots of options;"

...threatened the safety of and attempted to intimidate an anonymous Federal whistle blower by calling them a spy and intimating that they should be put to death;

...called for Adam Schiff, the United States Representative heading Trump's impeachment investigation, to be arrested for treason;

...withheld State Department documents requested by Congress;

...and blocked Gordon Sondland, American Ambassador to the United Kingdom and a key witness in the investigation, from testifying before Congress.

   And those are just some the impeachable offenses committed so far by Donald Trump. Tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that more offenses are likely to be added to the list, as Trump seems unable to stop himself from adding more manure day by day to the dung heap of wrong-doing that will eventually bury him and his presidency.
        But amidst the ever-expanding cyclone of Trump impeachment-related stories that sucks all the oxygen from the news cycles these days, appeared a news story last week that surfaced only briefly at the edge of the garbage swirl before it spiraled away.
        Does anybody still remember the October 1 New York Times article by Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis in which anonymous White House officials leaked that Donald Trump wanted a moat filled with poisonous snakes or alligators around his southern border wall, which he wanted electrified and topped with sharp, flesh-tearing spikes? These officials also shared that Trump wanted U.S. soldiers stationed at the border to shoot migrants in the legs. He had to be convinced by aides that none of those approaches were options.
      Which brings me to my point: While Donald Trump attempting to use the power of President of the United States to extort other countries for his political gain certainly merits impeachment, should his directing soldiers to shoot migrants in the legs not also be grounds?

Is giving such a directive to shoot defenseless, desperate men, women and children in the legs,

...not even worse than trying to shake down the president of Ukraine?
     Should anyone possessed of such boundless cruelty even be allowed to rule our country?
   After the New York Times story broke Trump, while he did not deny that he had wanted immigrants shot in the legs, did deny that he had asked for the alligators, snakes, and spike-topped electric fence. Which, of course, means nothing, because if there's one thing this country has learned, it's that Donald Trump's word means nothing.
         And, as a matter of fact, shouldn't being a profligate liar be in and of itself grounds enough for impeachment?

References:
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/impeachment-inquiry-10-05-2019/index.html (Insulted Romney)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/politics/romney-trump-china-ukraine-rebuke/index.html

https://nypost.com/2019/10/08/china-rejects-trumps-call-to-investigate-joe-biden-son-hunter/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/30/donald-trump-has-put-whistleblower-in-danger-lawyers-say-ukraine-impeachment

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-calls-rep-adam-schiff-arrested-for-treason-2019-9

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-adam-schiff-treason-impeachment_n_5d91f4f8e4b0e9e760500be1

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/schiff-hints-hell-push-house-to-impeach-trump-for-blocking-witnesses

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html

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No News Is Bad News

10/5/2019

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This morning I came downstairs and headed to the kitchen where I found the kitchen table clean and cleared.

I looked around the kitchen, on the counters and the kitchen chairs.
"They're not here," said my hubby Tom. "They didn't arrive."
"Oh, you're kidding me," said I. I hurried to the front door and looked out onto the front porch.

Nothing there except the pumpkin, the (broken) swing and the white mailbox where local folks leave messages for Tom,

...who is involved in various and sundry community volunteer services and activities.

     Tom put a consoling hand on my shoulder. "We'll around look outside," he said, "maybe they're in the grass somewhere."
     But they weren't. It was all too clear that our newspapers hadn't been delivered this morning, and there would be no New York Times with my tea, no Columbus Dispatch with my toast.
     Before fixing breakfast I paced around the kitchen a little, feeling at loose ends. Usually on such a rare occasion I can find something else to read with my breakfast, some left-over news that I hadn't gotten to from the day before's paper.
       But these days every morning I find myself gobbling up every last savory printed word of interest in both papers,

...so this morning there were no left-overs to chew on.
     Besides, with the Trump Whistleblower Scandal/Impeachment Investigation exploding with fresh developments and revelations hourly, the previous day's news is already stale.
     So I had nothing to read with breakfast. That is to say, I had no newspapers to devour with breakfast.
      I had to do what everybody else who reads the news does - minus the 16% of Americans who, like, me, still read a printed newspaper - I pulled out my electronic device.
     I clicked on CNN, which I generally scan throughout the day for a brief but up-to-the minute patchwork of reports on subsequent news developments,

...after I've gotten my broad morning foundation of satisfying in-depth coverage of national and world events from the Times and local events from the Dispatch.
I read a couple of brief news updates and short opinion pieces, but then I got distracted by an ad for a cute sweater, which I clicked out of CNN to buy,

...after which I sighed, shut my laptop, and that was that.
Until, thankfully, the papers finally arrived, and just in time for Elevensies.

Reference:
https://futurism.com/social-media-newspapers

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/10/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source/

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The Deceptive Prunes

9/30/2019

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...Continued from yesterday:
My mom still lives in her own house, which she manages to do with the help of two wonderful caregivers, and she still manages to be herself the caregiver of her six cats:

Lucy,

...Mabel,

...Funny Face,

...Hidey,

...Blondie,

...and Blackie.

Nobody knows the secret of my mother's longevity and good health.

As long as I've been around she's never been one to exercise - except for doing housework like a non-stop dynamo and never sitting still - or diet or watch what she ate.
In fact my mom has always loved sweets, and still does. In her house there are sweets on the shelves,

...on the counters,

...and in the freezer.

       Who's to say eating lots of sugar might not be my mom's secret for a long life?
       In any case, it obviously hasn't hurt her.
       Anyway, my sister and I were visiting my mom last weekend (see yesterday's post), and at one point while she and I were standing around the kitchen my sister pointed to a cellophane bag sitting on one of the counters.

"What's this?" she asked.

"That?" I asked. I hadn't particularly noticed the bag among all the other packages of candy and cookies sitting on the kitchen counter. "I don't know," I said, "chocolates?"

"They're prunes," said my sister, "individually wrapped. Like candy."

"Prunes?" I turned a prune over in my hand, "Who wraps up prunes like candy?" I pondered.

My sister shrugged. "Maybe it's so you can hand them out for Halloween."
We laughed and laughed.

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My Happy Not-Birthday

9/29/2019

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Yesterday was not my birthday – my birthday is next week – but as both my sister and I were in Seaford, Delaware (I arrived in Seaford this past Thursday, September 26 and returned home to Columbus today),

…visiting our 99-year-old mother,

…my sister decided that the three of us should celebrate my birthday - or not-birthday - while we were all together.

My mother still lives in her home with the assistance of two wonderful caregivers.

Here’s Laura, one of my mom’s “angels.”

My not-birthday began with breakfast at Pizza King, or “PK’s” as it’s known locally, which, besides serving a great breakfast and a variety of other dishes,

....also makes a fantastic New York-style pizza, as I learned when once during a previous Pizza King visit I, out of curiosity, ordered the cheese pizza .

I’ve learned that the fact that Pizza King actually serves great pizza is not well-known among the locals, who mostly go there for the various other yummy offerings,

...including the irresistible desserts.

PK's happens to be my mom's favorite breakfast eatery and she goes there for breakfast most weekdays and Sundays with friends and/or one of her caregivers after attending daily Mass.
My mom and Laura at PK's on Friday, the day before my not-birthday.

My mom and me at Pk's.

Anyway, my not-birthday yesterday began with a delish breakfast at PK's.

...followed by a trip to Walmart to shop for my not-birthday party supplies.

Then my sister and mom prepared my not-birthday not-surprises (as I hate surprises),

...by which I was quite not-surprised, which is how I like to be.
However I was quite touched and, truth, delighted by my cards, gifts, and cake,

...and the thoughtfulness and love that went into them.

After I opened my cards and gifts I cut my cake,

...and we all had cake and ice cream in the middle of the morning.

Later in the afternoon I fixed us a nice dinner of chicken, buttered herbed rice, mushrooms, hot rolls,

...and, of course, more not-birthday cake.

After dinner, try as my sister and I might, there was no stopping our 99-year-old mother from doing the dishes.

It was a very

not-birthday.

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The Rootin' Tootin' Tesla

9/25/2019

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You may not believe the following - I did not believe it myself at first, and, in truth, still can't quite wrap my head around it - but what I'm about to tell you is the truth.

(And when I say "truth," I'm not talking about Donald Trump Truth. I'm talking about real truth).

Anyway, my daughter and son-in-law bought an electric car,

...a self-driving Tesla.

Now, this car is technologically state-of-the art. It doesn't even use a key. It uses - well, I don't exactly remember what my daughter said it uses, a phone app, or something. And there are no buttons, knobs, or any other gadgets on the dash board, other than a large screen.

"It's kind of like being in your living room," said my daughter.

     Apparently you communicate with the screen and the screen communicates with you.
     This latest model of self-driving Tesla, the most scientifically advanced automotive vehicle in history, designed by the most brilliant engineers from around the planet, includes a number of ultra-high-tech features. Among these ultra-high-tech features is something called Emissions Testing Mode.
      What Emissions Testing Mode actually is, is an option to transform the seats into whoopie cushions.
      You can also program the turn signal sound like a big toot. Or a small one.
       And you can choose from a variety of gassy sound options.
       I swear I'm not making this up; look, here it is on the screen of my daughter and son-in-law's car:

You can even choose which seat you want to cause to shoot a bunny by moving the whoopie cushion icon around, enabling one to randomly embarrass one's passengers.

And, granting the request of one Tesla owner, the inventor Elon Musk even made the Emissions Testing Mode available on the mobile app so one can prank one's significant other remotely.

      So that's my true story. Perhaps you like, myself, are asking how, and why, on earth would the group of international geniuses who designed the Tesla think of including on most scientifically cutting-edge vehicle ever invented a Fart on Demand feature?
       Well, I don't know. Like I said, I can't wrap my head around it.
       But my two little grand daughters sure do love it.

Reference:
https://mashable.com/article/tesla-fart-mode/

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Recital Time Again

9/23/2019

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Last Thursday, September 19, my four remaining piano students, a couple of former students, several guest performers, and and audience of parents, grandparents, siblings, and other assorted friends and family members met once again at Graves Recital Hall,

...for our Fall recital.
For my students and myself the recitals are a goal, a reason to keep on practicing, practicing, practicing,

...and polishing, polishing, polishing our pieces,

...until our pieces are performance-ready,

...to play on Graves' nine-foot Steinway concert grand.

Recitals are always a mix of excitement and nerves, for me as well as for my students - in fact, I'd venture to say, probably even more so for me than for my students, especially in the nerves department.
That is to say, I'm always nervous on recital nights,

...at least until the playing begins.

Then it becomes wonderful for me to watch my students play,

...or to play with them,

...and to observe with satisfaction, or sometimes even marvel at, the progress they've made.

And it does my heart good to see former students who've grown into accomplished pianists now playing for love and willing to come back and perform at our recitals,

...and sometimes even tell us a little about their piece, in this performer's case the beautiful Chopin Prelude in D Flat Major, also called the "Raindrop Prelude,"

...because the plinking of the keys evokes falling rain.