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A Prayer For John McCain

7/31/2017

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      In the wee hours of last Friday morning United States Senator John McCain gave the "No"' heard 'round the world, and the thumbs-down that went viral,
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...when he cast the third Republican "No" vote that sunk the partial repeal of Obamacare nicknamed "Skinny Repeal," a name as silly as the notion, rendered the more absurd when many Republican senators admitted that the the bill was terrible and that they were only voting for it on a promise from Speaker Paul Ryan that the House wouldn't pass the bill after they, the Senate, had passed it.
      Seriously, who votes  a terrible bill into law while crossing their fingers that it won't actually become law?  

   Obviously not Maine  Senator Susan Collins,
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​...or Alaska  Senator Lisa Murkowski,
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...both of whom had already made it clear that they would not support such convoluted nonsense as  a "Skinny Repeal."
​      
  But it was 80-year-old John McCain,  scarred but looking strong and defiant in the face of a recent diagnosis of brain cancer,
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...who cut short his recovery from recent brain surgery and showed up on the Senate floor to cast the surprise vote that that drew stunned gasps from colleagues on his side of the aisle,  stunned applause from those on the other side, and saved the health insurance of the 15 million Americans who would have lost theirs by next year if "Skinny Repeal" had passed.
      
Upon leaving the Senate chamber John McCain was swamped by excited reporters eager for his statement as to why he voted as he did. 
      His answer: "Because I thought it was the right thing to do."
      Simple, eloquent, humble, and straight from the heart.
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     Those were the words of a man who is facing his own mortality, who knows that his days in this world may well be numbered, that he may soon be called to meet his Creator and give account of his life.
      John McCain has no more time, no more need to score political points or advance his career or  ambitions.
      He's a man who must know that all that's left for him now is his legacy and history's record of how well he served his fellow Americans.    
      No doubt John McCain has taken his share of missteps during his career,
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...but in his long career in service to his country he's had his  moments of heroism as well,
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...amidst the battles he's fought, losses he's suffered and victories he's won.    
     Immediately after the defeat of the Skinny Repeal John McCain left Washington and returned home to Arizona to fight another battle, 
      Today he'll begin undergoing an aggressive treatment against brain cancer. 
      Prayers that he'll win this battle, too.   

References:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-mccains-no-vote-gop-health-bill-elicits-gasps-senate-chamber-132236698.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-mccain-defends-health-care-070606535.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/28/16058488/mccain-skinny-repeal-vote-no-explain-statement?yptr=yahoo

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How About A Ban On Trump's Tweets?

7/27/2017

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     Of course, it's grandly ironic that Donald Trump chose the anniversary of the desegregation of the United States' Military to announce his re-segregation of the Military by banning transgenders from serving.
     In the typical fashion of a Donald Trump pronouncement, this one arrived in several out-of-the-blue tweets yesterday morning that caught his staff and the Pentagon as much off-guard as the rest of the planet and has, as usual,  left Trump's flunkies scrambling about trying to explain what it was their boss really  meant, even thought they had no more idea than the rest of us, 
as appeared to be the case with poor Sarah Huckabee Sanders yesterday as she stuttered her way through a press briefing during which she didn't have any answers as to when, why,  how, or even if  Trump's transgender military ban would be enacted.
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     But here's what I was wondering yesterday: For all the fierce and immediate turbulence caused  Trump's  triple-tweet bombshell:
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...does it actually mean anything in and of itself?
    Does the President's tweeting something make the thing official policy?  Doesn't the President have to sign an  something, send down an official order to the the Pentagon, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the Secretary of Defense, or somebody?
     Is there even such a thing as legislation by tweet?
    And it was a tweet full of nonsense, at that, such as the line about transgenders causing disruption within the military:   Among the 1.5 million members of our armed forces, there are only about 1,300 openly transgenders; and according to  a Rand Study last year on transgenders in the military, there's no evidence  that transgenders cause any more disruption among the troops than do cisgenders (people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth).
    As for the "tremendous medical costs," the same Rand study concluded that transgender transition medical costs could increase the military budget by 2.4 to 8.4 million dollars a year.
     The military budget is 50 billion dollars.  Of that 41 million is spent annually on Viagra.
     Well, as it turns out, I found the answer to my wondering this morning when I read that General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced in an official memo that:
     "There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines."
     What do you want to bet that's the last we hear of the ban on transgenders in the military?  What do you want to bet the whole transgender ban thing was just a Trump whim, something he thought  he'd fly up the flagpole to see who'd salute?
      Looks like nobody did.
      But I'll bet you anything Donald Trump is sure getting a kick out of all the drama he's once again stirred up.

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References:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.html

http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2017/07/26/trump-says-transgender-people-will-be-barred-from-serving-in-armed-forces/?nb=1

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/07/27/donald-trump-transgender-people-military-ban-kth-ac.cnn

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/26/trump-said-transgender-troops-cause-disruption-these-18-militaries-

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"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions
amazon.com
barnesandnoble.com
Kindle      Nook
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio

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Chicago Dog Sauce

7/20/2017

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      Everybody knows you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, spit into the wind or pull the mask on the ol’ Long Ranger, but if you’re from Chicago add to the list that you don’t mess around with a Chicago-style hot dog.
     It’s not just that a genuine bonafide Chicago Dog is the apex of hot dog deliciousness,  consumed copiously by Chicagoans, privileged and proletariat alike; it’s that this dog is revered as a symbol of its city, part of Chicago’s pride and joy.
    However, recently a national corporate condiments conglomerate attempted to mess around with the Chicago Dog, by trickery no less,  much to the wrath of Chicagoans.
     A real Chicago Dog has nine immutable components: A hot dog, of course, resting in a poppy seed bun and topped by onions, tomato wedges, small mild yellow pickled banana peppers known as “sport peppers,” a pickle spear, yellow mustard, a bright Kelly-green relish found nowhere else outside the Chicago Hot Dog kingdom, and a sprinkling of celery seed.
      Were one to go a bit rogue and a slip a smidge of chili or a few slices of sautéed zucchini or jalapeño onto one’s dog, one could probably do so with a minimum of scorn;  but there is one additive that may never ever touch the delectable casing of a Chicago Dog:  Ketchup.
    Chicagoans do not put ketchup on their hot dogs and they don’t suffer those unenlightened culinary troglodytes who do.
    Tout court, ketchup on a Chicago Dog is incontestably anathema.
   Now, this ketchup-on-hot-dog taboo, which has been in place since time immemorial and seemed destined to continue on per omnia secula seculorum, was apparently giving the Heinz Company – whose number-one stock in trade is – what else? – ketchup - a goodly case of heartburn.
       But then someone within the recesses of the Heinz body electric – likely some wisenheimer whiz-kid in Marketing – came up with what the company powers-that-be apparently thought a brilliant idea:  trick Chicagoans into eating ketchup on their dogs, get them hooked on the stuff, then corner the ketchup market in the hot dog capital of the world.
     In other words, the Heinz Company decided to try the time-tested marketing method used by successful drug-pushers the world over.
      Their scheme played out thus:
    Heinz introduced a new product they called Chicago Dog Sauce, which they claimed – truthfully – was a tasty blend of fresh tomatoes, herbs, and spices.  This new sauce, supposedly – not truthfully - developed especially for Chicago-style hot dogs, comes in a Chicago-blue-and-white bottle with a label that reads “Chicago Dog Sauce”  and sports an image of the city’s flag.

     It sells for a whopping $5.00 a bottle.
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  Chicagoans were initially intrigued.
My son-in-law Miguel, who lives in Chicago with my daughter Claire,
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…sent me the following video of this Heinz Dog Sauce commercial which shows Chicagoans willing to give this new addition to their beloved Dog a try,
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicag o/20170718/downtown/heinz-unve ils-new-chicago-dog-sauce-get- around-our-no-ketchup-rule
​ …their innocent palets unaware that what they were actually eating was…ketchup.
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     Unused to the taste of ketchup on a hotdog and doubtless psychologically influenced by having been told that what they were eating was some new blend of tomatoes, herbs, and spices,  the pranked Chicagoans received the new Chicago Dog Sauce pretty positively.
    Until they learned that they’d been pranked and tricked into eating ketchup on their dog.
   The prankees' responses varied, one not wanting  to finish his dog, another shrugging off the prank and humbly admitting he liked the sauce, even if it was…ketchup.
   As for how Chicagoans in general are taking to the ketchup deception perpetrated upon some of their own:  Not well.
      Says Claire:

      "Actually this is made more interesting by the offended Chicagoans on social media. Some of the guys on facebook are personally offended at Heinz.To quote one, a nurse I used to work with: "This. Is. Wrong". Or another, that put up as his facebook status: "Heinz is about to piss off a HUGE market (Chicago) with a product that isn't wanted and hasn't been asked for at all". And if you want to see some really angry Chicagoans, check out the Jeppson's Malort facebook page. Malort is a Chicago brand of liquor that is notoriously bad, but its Chicago-made and some young people like to make their friends try it when they visit. Just search for "Jeppsons Malort" in the friend finding box and it'll pop up. A few posts down and you will find their take on the Heinz commercial. The comments are amazing. My favorite? "Paid actors from Skokie".
     Chicago Hot Dog Patriots: 1;  Corporate  Ketchup Dealers:  0.

References:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-heinz-ketchup-on-chicago-hot-dogs-story.html

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/heinz-s-special-hot-dog-day-sauce-annoy-chicagoans/309762/

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​"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
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The "Just Visiting" Game

7/18/2017

1 Comment

 
     The other day while cruising the aisles of my neighborhood Kroger's I found myself playing the "Just Visiting" game.
      "Just Visiting" is a little imagination game I made up, 
inspired by and named after a 2001 movie of the same name.
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     The story line of "Just Visiting" involves a 12th Century knight and his lowly indentured servant who are put under a spell by an evil sorcerer then accidentally sent far into the future by he machinations of a bumbling wizard.  However the the knight comes to discover his quest in this new world - rescuing a modern-day damsel who doesn't realize the distress she's in - while his manservant discovers a wonderful world of doughnuts and equal rights. The movie's comic scenes mostly involve the two Medieval characters' fearful, befuddled and amazed reactions to life in 21st Century Chicago.
   
Now, I know that the leitmotif of a person being transported to a bewildering future is a fairly common one in fantasy fiction and film;
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...still,  this film caught my fancy and, after laughing through the travails and wonderment of the knight and his servant,
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...I soon after started from time to time playing my little game with myself, imagining what a person from hundreds of years in the past might actually think if they were suddenly dropped into my time, place, and head, and were suddenly experiencing the world through my eyes, "Being John Malkovich" - style. 
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     Anyway, the other day in Krogers,  a typical, ordinary, crowded afternoon, while I strolled around the store doing my shopping, people-watching along the way as I always do everywhere I go, observing all the people peacefully doing their shopping,
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...or doing their jobs,
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...I began playing my "Just Visiting" game.
      And for my visitor from the past I chose to drop behind my eyes a white man of wealth, privilege and property from the American South two hundred years ago.
      "What do you think of the future?" I asked the bewildered visitor in my head.  "It's called holding these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal.  True, we don't have it down pat in this country, not nearly, not yet.  But we're working on it.  Because what you see, this is the way we Americans like it. Most of us. 
      "Oh, and by the way, you and your fellow plantation-owning slavers are now among the ugliest villains of history and we still blame you for a number of social and economic problems our country suffers two hundred years later.
       "So if you want to free yourself and your descendants of the stigma and stench you will bear for all time, go home, free your slaves and then darn it, PAY someone to do the work from which you reap your wealth!"
        Then I sent my visitor back home and wondered if he would have heeded my warning.  

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​"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

blackrosewriting.com
amazon.com
barnesandnoble.com
Kindle Edition,  Nook, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
1 Comment

Senator McCain's Excellent, Affordable Health Care

7/16/2017

0 Comments

 
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    When Senator John McCain was diagnosed with a blood clot near his brain a few day ago he was, thankfully, able to immediately receive the health care he needed. According to his office he received excellent treatment at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix.  His doctors say that after a few   weeks of recovery he should be able to return to job as a senator.
     And fortunately for Senator McCain, he and his family won't find themselves drowning in a sea of debt over many tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that they have not the means to pay.      The McCains will not lose every penny of their life's savings or have to mortgage their house to pay for the Senator's medical bills.  Their credit won't be ruined and they won't have collection agencies hounding them and calling them and their relatives late at night.  Their lives  won't be crippled by stress and fear, they won't be agonizing over what will they do, how will they get by?   They won't have to set up a GoFundMe. 
     Senator McCain will recover, God willing, and his life will go on as before.  Should he need follow-up or subsequent medical treatment, he won't have to do without it, he won't have to jeopardize his health or his life because he can't afford the health care he needs.

    One wonders if during his convalescence Senator McCain will ponder how fortunate he is to be among the Americans who receive excellent health care because they have good, substantial health insurance.  Will he wonder how it would be for him and his family if they were among the 23 million who'll lose their insurance should the health care plan awaiting his vote pass in the Senate?  Will he wonder what would have happened to him if all he could afford were one of the cheap junk bare-bones insurance policies that insurance companies will be allowed to foist on the poor or the unsuspecting if his vote facilitates the passage of his party's health care bill?
     Will he thank God for the gift of his life and health and promise in return for his recovery to use his position to advocate for making the excellent health care that he was blessed to received available and affordable to all Americans?   Will he refuse to vote for a bill that would put millions of Americans in a situation that neither he nor his fellow Senators would ever want to be in themselves?
     We'll see.  

References:  
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/us/mccains-surgery-will-delay-senate-votes-on-health-care-bill.html?action=click&contentCollection=Health&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=ar

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-will-vote-health-care-bill-after-mccain-recovers-surgery-n783476

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​"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
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Sing Us A Song, Bald Piano Guy

7/15/2017

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   In these turbulent, Trumpulent, troubled times,  it's easy enough to find oneself down in the dumps and singing the blues.
    Seems we all need a bit of cheering up, a good laugh to get us through the dismal news being pumped out daily - make that hourly - regarding the shenanigans of those we've elected to lead our country, not to mention the family members and shady associates who've more recently gotten into this bad act.
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    But take heart, I've got just the antidote for your blues, guaranteed to cheer you up and give your brain a good tickle.
​     
 If you haven't already met him, meet the Bald Piano Guy. 
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   The Bald Piano guy is the alter ego of Alan Schwartz, a veteran middle school music teacher and virtuosic pianist from Long Island who sings, dances, and composes hilarious parodies satirizing the follies of our politicians.
     Mr. Schwartz began his career as the Bald Piano Guy  in 2015 when, taking on the persona of his fellow New Yorker Billy Joel,  he composed a protest to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo against the state-required school testing, 
a parody of Joel's "Moving Out" called "Opting Out" that you can - and should - watch at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D066lb9fbQA
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   A year later Schwartz produced another protest against the newly revised, supposedly improved -  though just as bad - state  tests.  This delightful video, still paying homage to Billy Joel, is called "It's Still Opting Out For Me,"
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waqo8u_OtsM

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    This video is all the more fun thanks to the Piano Guy's wife and children who he recruited to star in the video.
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     With the dawn of the Trump era the windfall of material provided by the new President and his  administration has been a gift to comics everywhere, including The Bald Piano Guy, who now writes and composes so prolifically that one can find a treasure trove of his brilliantly clever musical comedy jewels on Youtube, among which are,
"The American Health Care Act, A Musical Parody" of "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man":
           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpqzb_9bV80
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     There's a really great "Hamilton" take-off called "The Ten Tweet commandments":
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RklNnAq81kQ
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...and his most recent opus, just published today, a George Gershwin salute called "Let's Say That Conway's Off":
                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_eP4ZA0ns
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    And then there's my favorite so far, a Cole Porter knock-off called "It's Devossy":
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNVtJFK5xdc
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    The above are just a few of the Bald Piano Guy's dozens of awesome videos.  You can see them all at
     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC-RVWfof_Q7s7YGDWT-xXg/feed
     and also on his Bald Piano Guy Facebook page.
      Check out the Bald Piano Guy.  He's good for what's ailing us.

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References:
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/239472/bald-piano-guy-opts-out-draws-thousands-of-fans/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-responds-to-betsy-devos-hearing-with-scathing-song_us_5880e3ace4b070d8cad0e8de

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"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
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How Do You Solve A Problem Like Junior?

7/12/2017

2 Comments

 
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     Oh, these kids!  The mischief they get into! The grief they bring down on their parents!
     That Donald Junior, what a little scoundrel!
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       Oh, whoops!  That's Draco Malfoy.
     
Here's the one I meant. (I always get those two mixed up).
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     Anyway, that boy does not does not know how to behave himself, and he's so mean.
     He kills beautiful, rare animals for no reason, 
other than to get his picture taken next to their bodies.
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  In fact, both the Trump boys like to kill animals.
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     As if their father's money weren't sufficient to buy them any other thrill their hearts could desire, this is their heart's desire.
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     Then, as boys like Junior eventually do, Junior got in with a bad crowd, .Russian rock star Emin and  British tabloid writer Rob Goldstone,
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...who enticed him to get into his dad's stuff, and meet with powerful Russian government lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who's like, "I didn't do anything!"
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     Except that the grown-ups found out, and now young Junior is in big trouble!
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     Of course, Daddy Trump will probably get Junior off the hook.  Just yesterday Donald Sr. said that his son was "a high quality person."  That's apparently Rich-Speak for "He's a good kid."
     (Sigh).  Still, if that was my kid I'd be praying, too. and making sure the picture got posted all over the internet.
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​"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
2 Comments

Trump To The Left Of Me, Jong Un To The Right, Here I Am, Stuck In The Midwest And Scared.

7/9/2017

0 Comments

 
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     I wish I weren't such an anxious person.  In exchange for being calm I'd gladly take on the extra 25 pounds I'd probably be carrying around if not for all the fidgeting, flailing, pacing, sweating, emoting, and physical and mental bouncing off the walls that are a by-product of my  anxiety stylings.
     And yet these days even the most cool, calm and collected among us should be an anxiety case.    
     Anyone who's not an anxiety case right now is either not readying the news, doesn't believe the news, doesn't care about the news, or isn't taking the news seriously.
     I met up with some not-serious-taking Ohioans back in the good old days before the 2016 elections while I was canvassing for Hillary.  When one old-timer asked me why I thought he should vote for Hilary I replied that if Donald Trump won he'd get us into a nuclear World War Three with North Korea.
     "Maybe World War Three is what we need," the old guy chuckled, "blow everything up and start over from scratch!"
      "We should be building up our nuclear stockpile," quipped another Trump supporter whose door I inadvertently knocked on and who was not throwing away his shot at shocking an old liberal lady, "everybody's doing it!"
       However the problem today is not so much that everybody's doing it as that North Korea's doing it and Donald Trump's main response so far has been to casually toss out that the United State could "end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea."
        Kim Jong Un's come back was to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile last week that with a bit of tweaking could theoretically hit Alaska, not to mention take out South Korea or Japan.
         "I guess (the Americans) are not to happy with the gift package we sent them for the occasion of their Independence Day," snickered Kim Jong Un after watching his missile launch.
          Donald Trump got back at Kim by sending two fighter jets to buzz the Korean Peninsula and bomb the waters off its cost, adding that he was considering some more "very severe things" in response to North Korea's missile test.
      Kim Jong Un shot back yesterday that Donald Trump is pushing North Korea and the U.S. to the brink of nuclear war.  "Don't play with fire on a powder keg," warned the North Korean newspaper that is Kim Jong Un's mouthpiece.
      Meanwhile Donald Trump has been popping off alternately critical, fawning, and whining texts in an effort to get China to toughen up against  North Korea. But, while China is not crazy about living next door to a nuclear North Korea, China and North Korea are - if only out of necessity - allies and trading partners and China has no burning desire to see Kim Jong Un toppled.  Or to have Crazy Kim's missiles pointed in his direction.
      "You and Kim work it out between yourselves," says Chinese President Xi Jinping to Donald Trump, "talk, negotiate.  And try backing off North Korea a little.  No more bombs in the water."
      In the meantime China has begun paling around with the European Union, grabbing the opening  left since Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord, alienated our Western allies who in turn froze him out last week at the G20 summit, and turned over the position of world leadership from the President of the United States to Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany.    
​         
Angela Merkel with  Xi Jinping, who recently donated two pandas to the Berlin Zoo.
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    And so Donald Trump has brought us to this point  where the United States is left without a single real ally - Vladimir Putin doesn't count, he's playing Trump like a chess pawn -
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...to go it alone against  North Korea in a war of threats, missile tests, and bombs in the water.
        So far.
     
   This is making America great again?
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References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/asia/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un.html?mcubz=0

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/04/world/asia/north-korea-missile-test-icbm.html?mcubz=0


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/world/europe/xi-merkel-trump-china-germany.html?mcubz=0

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/world/asia/north-korea-south-us-nuclear-war.html?mcubz=0


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/06/us-could-use-military-force-against-north-korea-says-nikki-haley

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4678998/Kim-Jong-threatens-Donald-Trump.html

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"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
   by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
0 Comments

The Enchanting Berlin Resort

7/4/2017

0 Comments

 
      I do enjoy visiting Ohio Amish Country, even though there's not a whole lot to do there unless you like shopping for Amish crafts, which I don't particularly (I'm more of an Ikea fan, so shoot me). 
      But my mate and I do like a stay at the Berlin Resort,
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​...the heart of Ohio Amish Country.
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     The Berlin Resort offers spotlessly clean rooms,
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...with  balcony views,
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...equally spotless and attractive lobby, hallways and lounges,
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​...a work-out room,
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...a pool,
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...a movie theater,
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...a koi pond,
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...where one can feed the fish,
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...a wooded walking path,
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...a playground and miniature village for the children,
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...and vast rolling grounds, 
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...with so many enchanting touches.
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​  "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
0 Comments

Band Aid

7/1/2017

0 Comments

 
     The Gateway Film Center near Ohio State University is in such a beautiful, lively  location,
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​...that on a balmy summer evening it's worth the trip to the University District just to walk around the Gateway area,
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...as Tom and I did last night,
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​...before going to the Gateway to see a wonderful,  thought-provoking  comedy called "Band Aid."
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...written by, directed by, and starring musician Zoe Lister- Jones.
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     "Band Aid" is the story of a young, beautiful-looking couple, Anna and Ben, .who can't stop fighting.
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    Soon into the film one realizes that fighting has become their means of communication and that Ben regularly exhibits behaviors guaranteed to bother Anna, who can never resist the fight-bait.
    And yet the overarching dynamic between Anna and Ben seems to be more subconsciously than deliberately motivated; he is an artist, she is a writer, but both are creatively and emotionally paralyzed and grieving, each needing a loving word or act, but neither able to give the other what each wants from the other.
     But while at a birthday part for the child of some friends, where Anna and Ben have to mingle with other couples who appear to be happily married, successful and basking in the joys of parenthood, 
.in a moment of playfulness they pick up a toy guitar and microphone and improvise a little song.
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     So refreshingly fun do they find this brief moment of togetherness that they come up with the idea of singing their fights, and forming a band in their garage with the purpose of singing whatever is going on between them.
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      Scene-stealing Fred Armisen plays their weird neighbor Dave, who hears Anna and Ben practicing and, having played drums in high school himself, asks if he can join their band.
       
The band's  jam sessions become an outlet for communication and  creativity for all three, and Anna and Ben  find working and composing together so satisfying and enjoyable that they're not fighting anymore and their relationship blooms ― amidst the still ever-present rocks ― with each other and with Dave, who, they come to realize, has been coping with emotional pain of  his own. 
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       With funny wonderful dialogue, "Band Aid" is a comedy in the way that life can be a comedy and the movie mines the things people  - whether in couples or alone - struggle with behind closed doors and closed hearts.
       But when the characters reach the moments when they are finally able to open their hearts to each other and let the pain they've been turning inward pour out, they express themselves so clearly and well that one leaves the theater concluding that what every relationship really needs is a good script writer.

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​      "Equal And Opposite Reactions" is now available in Kindle Edition, and also at http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions, amazon.com,  barnesandnoble.com, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
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    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
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    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
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    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

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