tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78444349458684948352024-03-19T00:28:15.922-04:00Douglas WhaleyDouglas Whaley. Law professor, gay rights advocate, atheist, heart transplant recipient, actor, director, novelist, playwright, bridge player, husband, father, cat owner, storyteller. Much humor and, since the writer is a teacher, advice on many topics.dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-54448957364806760712021-10-30T13:16:00.001-04:002021-10-30T13:17:44.299-04:00<p> </p><p> <b>MY NOVEL "IMAGINARY FRIEND" IS NOW AN AUDIO BOOK!</b></p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPxIk1Ua6edFC9LRacE13FaW4hXXiie7AYs4M8U-HZwCMGx2oCa3I0fiM9CBjv_3JKesXGbEFCeyq3HhZUaZtqyMS-YuxscQ04kH0c8AI9xnSBuSj7d3eIWy1CgfeEcTcuJWatoZKB4AY/s1129/Screenshot+10-30-2021+12.52.09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1129" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPxIk1Ua6edFC9LRacE13FaW4hXXiie7AYs4M8U-HZwCMGx2oCa3I0fiM9CBjv_3JKesXGbEFCeyq3HhZUaZtqyMS-YuxscQ04kH0c8AI9xnSBuSj7d3eIWy1CgfeEcTcuJWatoZKB4AY/w536-h364/Screenshot+10-30-2021+12.52.09.png" width="536" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> In 2008 I published my first novel, “Imaginary Friend,” a
thriller, and it sold well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reviews
on Amazon are splendid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went around
the country (and, via the internet, even to Nottingham, England!) giving
readings from the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much happens in my
thriller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It begins at halftime during
an Ohio State football game when a terrorist bomb explodes, killing
thousands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Franklin Whitestone, a
lawyer, is trapped in the debris overnight, but becomes an instant celebrity
the next morning as excavation opens a hole in the wall and 53 people escape
while Franklin heroically keeps the gap from closing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That very night on a national TV call-in show
he is asked by one caller if God aided him during this rescue, and he (having
had a bit to drink before the show) replies that he didn’t need an “imaginary
friend” in a situation where the terrorists used their version of God to justify
setting off the bomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This stupid
response causes a different kind of explosion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Franklin risks being fired from his law firm, losing the woman he loves,
his family is attacked, and a religious extremist vows to make him choose
between conversion or a truly ugly death.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wrote “Imaginary Friend” because I was astounded at how
casually atheists are discriminated against at a time when other minorities are
championed by those who care about the rights of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Atheists are unpopular and, in many
situations, hated or persecuted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Franklin Whitestone is a nice guy, funny and loving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What happens to him should bother anyone who
cares about how we treat each other in a fair society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the novel is much more than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is quite a bit of humor in it, a wide
variety of characters, as well as a number of action sequences (and some
violent—very violent—encounters).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
a thriller and moves along at a fast pace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Recently I have made minor changes to the book to adapt the
action to the world of 2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
importantly there is now a terrific audiobook available via Amazon and Audible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David Allen Vargo, a professional actor (and, as readers of this blog may know, my husband), has created over forty voices for the characters
and brings my thriller to life in an amazing way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the eighth audiobook that David has
voiced, and the reviews on all his Audible books are outstanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go to his very interesting website at <a href="http://www.vargo-narrates.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.vargo-narrates.com</span></a>
to hear five short excerpts from various parts of his recording of “Imaginary
Friend” entitled:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1. Mother Knows Best</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2. Kidnappers Gun Show</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3. End Game</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4. Lawsuits</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5. A Neighbor Comforts</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also there you can hear clips from his other eight books as
well as read his reviews.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you want to purchase the audiobook I can get you a free
download of the book (assuming you are a member of Audible).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have 25 of them to give away, so let me
know if you want one. The written version of the book can be ordered on
Amazon either as a paperback or downloaded in a Kindle version. If interested, send me an email at dglswhaley@aol.com with the heading "Audio Book Promo." After the first 25 are given away I won't have any more to distribute free and you would have to purchase the audiobook on Amazon and then download it.<br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you aren’t a member of Audible (<i>audible.com</i>) you
can join with a free 30-day trial period during which you can order audiobooks
(via Amazon) and redeem the free download (you don’t have to listen to it during
the 30 day period).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, if you do read the book or listen to audiobook, please
take the time to write a review on Amazon or Audible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those reviews are important in making a
success of this book, which both David and I are so very proud of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, if you get a chance, look carefully at
David’s website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I promise you will find
it fascinating.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #26282a;">---------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #26282a;">Related
Posts:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #f9cb9c; color: black; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">“Imaginary Friend,” June 22, 2010; </span><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/06/imaginary-friend.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: rgb(249, 203, 156); color: #b30c32; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 17.25px;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/06/imaginary-friend.html</span></a> <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“My
Play ‘The Turkey Men’ Is a Hit, October 22, 2019; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html</a>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“My
Husband, the Actor,” May 31, 2014; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-husband-actor_31.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-husband-actor_31.html</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-11302881435235629082020-11-24T15:17:00.005-05:002020-11-24T15:37:43.510-05:00MY LAST ACTING ROLE IN "DR. SMARTY AND THE NEW NORMAL"<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcNOD6FCTa8qqGXpq7-Zv8lX3gbMPv__O48C7g6yj-8fVUfdOgnZWayu2n5qrGB61-mj3kuW7W0Mt-xExhSpspWk-TmshbfcGpn2Zw89PX6-pf5qDI2RujLrdu8BmXuqdpI4pYnc8YPE/s960/Dr+Smarty+Poster.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="742" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcNOD6FCTa8qqGXpq7-Zv8lX3gbMPv__O48C7g6yj-8fVUfdOgnZWayu2n5qrGB61-mj3kuW7W0Mt-xExhSpspWk-TmshbfcGpn2Zw89PX6-pf5qDI2RujLrdu8BmXuqdpI4pYnc8YPE/w494-h640/Dr+Smarty+Poster.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="d2edcug0"><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">I’ve been acting on stage throughout my
life, most particularly doing live theater steadily since I retired from full
time law teaching in 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The parts have
ranged from huge (Lear in “King Lear”) to small (Mysterious Man in “Into the
Woods”), plus I’ve directed a number of shows at five different theater
companies here in Columbus. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> <br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMm88VolClN8YYR5vkV7jsE4AaHHqod94DTGD6-_NnL9cijzB2wfVFBzKCgwEN2ZDlQ3vJ-irQzP_I_WV8iah_MOdacRn-cuoL8Wqety7AdpTKgV4nrwxQi5XJiNjxWTSKo2g01JKrX-E/s320/Lear.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="213" data-original-width="320" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMm88VolClN8YYR5vkV7jsE4AaHHqod94DTGD6-_NnL9cijzB2wfVFBzKCgwEN2ZDlQ3vJ-irQzP_I_WV8iah_MOdacRn-cuoL8Wqety7AdpTKgV4nrwxQi5XJiNjxWTSKo2g01JKrX-E/w400-h266/Lear.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As Lear, after the show, with family<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="d2edcug0"> </span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">However, with the exception that is the
chief subject of this blog post, I believe my acting days are now over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I settle into my late 70s it’s become
clear that good parts for a man my age are scarce, and now is the right time to
rest on my slender laurels, relax, and watch others display their terrific
talents.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">But I’m going out having played one of
the two wonderful parts in a terrific new Zoom play being produced by Evolution
Theatre Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is entitled “Dr.
Smarty and the New Normal,” written by Andy Reynolds and directed by my
husband, David Allen Vargo—to be made available to the world soon on the
internet (see below).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">“Dr. Smarty” is an actual play created especially
for a Zoom format, not merely a reading of a script intended for a live stage. My
co-star Lane Schlicher and I memorized the lines and rehearsed for weeks before
the show was finally taped over a two day period. The story is a quite funny
and moving tale of an 82 year old man, trapped alone during the pandemic, who
slowly becomes a friend of the young nutritionist who is counseling him about
his battle with diabetes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">I’ve been in a couple of plays on stage
with my husband David, I directed him in “The Temperamentals” in 2015, and then
he directed my play “The Turkey Men” last year and made it a success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is the first time David’s directed
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone who’s worked with him told
me that David is a fantastic director, and, having seen a number of his shows,
I believed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But once he started
directing Lane and me in “Dr. Smarty” my admiration for his talents skyrocketed
to a new level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David has a way of
asking questions that makes an actor rethink completely what the lines mean,
and he certainly knows how to spark enthusiasm in his actors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point in the rehearsals process Lane
and I were too sluggish rehearsing the very first scene of the play, and David
stopped us to say this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span class="d2edcug0">If you don’t
catch the attention of your audience in the first thirty seconds they’re going
to switch to watch something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>So
that’s what you’ve got: thirty seconds to make them want to see more.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s try it again with that in mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">Lane and I looked at each other, suddenly
terrified, and then performed the first scene as if a fire were raging under
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As rehearsals went on David massaged
our characters so that they seamlessly metamorphosized from strangers at the
start to being good friends by the terrific ending of Mr. Reynold’s wonderful
play.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0">Evolution Theatre Company sent out this
information about viewing the play and then an extra discussion with the
playwright, director and actors:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="d2edcug0"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A BLACK FRIDAY VIRTUAL THEATRE SPECIAL...but purchase today!
Launching Friday November 27, only $10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if you pay $15 you will be invited to a ZOOM talk-back session with
the Playwright, the Director and the Actors, 6:30 - 7:30 on Tuesday December
1st.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Evolution will honor these
deals for the foreseeable future even after the original air dates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Purchase at <a href="http://www.evolutiontheatre.org/?fbclid=IwAR0duQZ36GbUtKsXcwfhF4Bbe4dY4XWj3EB8x0My-RJymwVCq65p9nzrHts" target="_blank">www.evolutiontheatre.org</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBUC5PH4bif18jLQECDCChdCo0ehuqjCkfA3IhjRnwyISsqCsKhpfmP_XUdDxD9A8SJVccB_8CAjs5oWZkwnMkZP0jMFgAJ37nmDafwcs_3rOi7JEgbgjFMf2DBOgZR3LOCX3GCDCikY/s2910/DrSmartyScreenShot.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="2910" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBBUC5PH4bif18jLQECDCChdCo0ehuqjCkfA3IhjRnwyISsqCsKhpfmP_XUdDxD9A8SJVccB_8CAjs5oWZkwnMkZP0jMFgAJ37nmDafwcs_3rOi7JEgbgjFMf2DBOgZR3LOCX3GCDCikY/w640-h180/DrSmartyScreenShot.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lane as Peter; Me as Henry<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /> <br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, blog readers, I invite you to enjoy this fascinating play,
and also witness the conclusion of my acting career.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">---------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related Posts:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“My Play ‘The Turkey Men’ Is a Hit, October 22, 2019; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html</a>
<span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“My Husband, the Actor,” May 31, 2014; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-husband-actor_31.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-husband-actor_31.html</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">“Singing and Dancing in Sondheim’s Roman Farce with My
Husband (Again),” April 13, 2016; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/04/singing-and-dancing-in-sondheims-roman.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/04/singing-and-dancing-in-sondheims-roman.html</a><span face=""Helvetica",sans-serif" style="color: #26282a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">In my life I’ve usually been properly labeled as an optimist
but during 2020 I’ve flipped into a pessimism so dark that it’s been hard to
find any light in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coming
presidential election was going to pit Donald John Trump against whoever the Democrats
chose, and when my favorite candidates dropped out, one by one, only Joe Biden
was left standing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That didn’t look good
for defeating Trump, and my pessimism turned darker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then in mid-March I flew to Las Vegas to
visit my sister and while I was there the pandemic suddenly changed all our
lives dramatically and for the worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
flight to Vegas was routine, but the flight home was filled with paranoid people
eyeing each other suspiciously and hoping no one would cough or sneeze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happened that fast. </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So we all cancelled our plans and hunkered down. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We, the good citizens, bought masks and
learned to observe social distances from each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both my husband David and I are in high risk
categories, but he is younger so he’s had the most contact with the outside
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love him dearly for this
bravery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our marriage hasn’t been much
affected by the virus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stay home and
entertain ourselves, and both have multiple projects to keep us busy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read somewhere that couples stranded
together like this either break up or get closer, and, happily, we are in the
latter category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have had what one
wag called the occasional “snarly disagreement” but mostly we’re in a good
place and there is a lot of laughter in our home.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm-KWgD8sYn6xa9rf9u3OLmDfFJkn3MdGciJ7dSyIHW1aZLpko63wE1PIEX6-x5SmN5Xf_0gKW6QOSTtImAhTzdrsZ7okgpEdBz5ta14kUIu0ADxBS72yKdNMS3ueipLAi2pVnKLMO85Q/s960/118930311_10217472143291796_2337353917593141511_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm-KWgD8sYn6xa9rf9u3OLmDfFJkn3MdGciJ7dSyIHW1aZLpko63wE1PIEX6-x5SmN5Xf_0gKW6QOSTtImAhTzdrsZ7okgpEdBz5ta14kUIu0ADxBS72yKdNMS3ueipLAi2pVnKLMO85Q/w400-h400/118930311_10217472143291796_2337353917593141511_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">But the world is not in a good place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve emphasized in this blog before (see
Related Posts below) we have a crisis few people are even aware of that will certainly
bring down civilization: too many people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Estimates are that the earth can only sustain two billion humans, but we
are at seven billion and pushing for eight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">No one is doing anything about the terror this will cause, but as
refugees from one part of the world try to flee elsewhere, chaos, already
started in the Mediterranean and at the U.S. southern border (among other venues),
will grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Certainly the Trump administration has
ignored the problem as it steadily made things worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the rest of the world makes
half-hearted efforts, but without a big push from some source our earth will
become uninhabitable for most humans by 2100.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the meantime this miserable year 2020 started piling on new problems:
racial protests, QAnon conspiracies, fires, hurricanes, tornados, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ruth Bader Ginsberg suddenly died and the Supreme
Court gained a new very conservative Justice in her place in a breathtakingly
short period of time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Pj92wvGx_6W8M1LmRXfFWguzJVPeqzmtzzsN5i3SRNVsEq8mW296sKHVw8cUoVV4amoB51smNLeZ7uTjE8aiD-4C6caH24Kr_HPOw9O5JNj-7nBKF3NB-VDcnwHYrT8X4u447enuDtM/s2048/Democratic-Election-Map-by-Christopher-Weyant-The-Boston-Globe-MA.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1450" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Pj92wvGx_6W8M1LmRXfFWguzJVPeqzmtzzsN5i3SRNVsEq8mW296sKHVw8cUoVV4amoB51smNLeZ7uTjE8aiD-4C6caH24Kr_HPOw9O5JNj-7nBKF3NB-VDcnwHYrT8X4u447enuDtM/s320/Democratic-Election-Map-by-Christopher-Weyant-The-Boston-Globe-MA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One small hope would be for Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump
and then help organize the world to address these (and other issues)
seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But . . . Joe Biden?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a nice guy, but he’s old (my age—77).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He still has his wits about him but can sometimes
be slow to summon them into service and tends to misspeak. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never been a big fan of his, but Joe is
all we’ve got now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Things looked pretty bad and my pessimism continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read many books about Trump written by
those who know him well (his niece, his lawyer, Bob Woodward, Anonymous).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They made it clear that the private Donald
Trump is an even bigger catastrophe than the public sees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything he does is self-centered, ego-based,
without consideration of anyone else or any consequences except his own good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His lawyer says that he has no sense of humor
and any supposed joke he makes is merely a trial balloon for something he is
seriously considering doing (“President for Life”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His former Secretary of Defense said that
carefully planned meetings with Trump were impossible to pull off since he
wouldn’t read anything, had a short attention span, and usually derailed the
conversation by bringing up something he’d just heard on Fox News that sends him
into a wonderland of his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man
has no respect for decency, tradition, fair play, and certainly not for the
truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump lies as often as most
people breathe, and he loves making outrageous statements just for the hell of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />But then something wonderful started to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump made big mistakes and huge numbers of
people started backing away from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaks
from former associates made it clear that Trump thinks those who join the
military are "suckers" and "losers." He thought the same thing about those who stormed the beaches at Normandy, and he refused to participate in a ceremony for them even though he was only miles away.<br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KCRouNjbyB50ZvdQdN3oPl9Pb6O-rI9uz-DV1VgrDGRB7NUY9LgqLnR-ayikzGE56PyGvZ54n8lWCvcFqvE9XvF4iBlJ9kbGa5Mxbqc9TROCbPjgXgXgypRFlhwWit4ohyphenhyphenQ1vQIZOMs/s720/original.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="720" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KCRouNjbyB50ZvdQdN3oPl9Pb6O-rI9uz-DV1VgrDGRB7NUY9LgqLnR-ayikzGE56PyGvZ54n8lWCvcFqvE9XvF4iBlJ9kbGa5Mxbqc9TROCbPjgXgXgypRFlhwWit4ohyphenhyphenQ1vQIZOMs/w400-h226/original.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">That
offended huge numbers of people who were his base supporters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a service in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor Trump had to ask “What exactly happened here that we’re
commemorating?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He actually didn’t know
about the Japanese attack that destroyed much of the U.S, fleet at the start of
World War II!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a demonstration of
his lack of knowledge of basic things we all learned in school and it's
embarrassing for a president to be so ignorant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Trump told India it was a good thing they didn’t have a border with
China!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has commented that “Belgium is
a lovely city.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The list goes on and on.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBErjetyLzLxaL65Pcaie6yqbXtix2EUEchT6u_ejJFMyJ92F6Q5a_vc9Y9cYSVI9iKpMBkzHmMhbzVOHQq4RWlFhD2icdN6yOVxoezEqXx3I9urbWLLfjJSAXxSnfygmkNPPwq7H8Xk/s1080/119123949_2881456665457365_6066799899017410687_o.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBErjetyLzLxaL65Pcaie6yqbXtix2EUEchT6u_ejJFMyJ92F6Q5a_vc9Y9cYSVI9iKpMBkzHmMhbzVOHQq4RWlFhD2icdN6yOVxoezEqXx3I9urbWLLfjJSAXxSnfygmkNPPwq7H8Xk/w400-h400/119123949_2881456665457365_6066799899017410687_o.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>More or less every day Trump will say something that offends
some of the people who voted for him: farmers, workers, government officials,
etc.. And these stupid statements, of course, lose him votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As David and I watched the news and these
snafus occur I would mumble “Chip, chip, chip” to my husband, meaning that
these gaffes were slowly chipping away at his base of support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Night after night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip, chip, chip.<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQpsgm023NdCQKCnxpZ8nOfPULt9r5xh6eKWDfQr6ij8ua_rv-G57Dxa4FGw1LZMEWq91zQiETHSnjqODfLGNp8Zc7KRsF7VE4lzpo25siBsW8qWmySPtewTyTRLzyRV1WaopudIurHDY/s840/3712816433.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQpsgm023NdCQKCnxpZ8nOfPULt9r5xh6eKWDfQr6ij8ua_rv-G57Dxa4FGw1LZMEWq91zQiETHSnjqODfLGNp8Zc7KRsF7VE4lzpo25siBsW8qWmySPtewTyTRLzyRV1WaopudIurHDY/s320/3712816433.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>The biggest event was his colossal mishandling of the corona
virus pandemic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woodward’s book makes it
clear Trump knew how bad it would be last January, but said nothing about the
problem and did little<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other countries
made huge efforts to combat the virus and some, like China, South Korea, and
New Zealand have done so well that they are living something close to
pre-pandemic lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent documentary
about what scientists and doctors in the US argued had to be done but couldn’t
get from the Trump administration, which actively interfered with their attempts
to suppress the virus, is called “Totally Under Control” and available on
Hulu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David and I watched it with
dropped jaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We knew that Trump’s
administration had failed to do the right things, but we were astounded at how routinely,
how casually, they did the wrong ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
still are making the same mistakes.<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The pandemic has now exploded in Trump’s face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People come to his rallies and then die
of the virus because no masks were worn [for example Herman Cain, the former
Presidential candidate, who went to the Tulsa rally and died nine days
later].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Now, at the last minute the president is holding lots of rallies where he tells the crowd that the virus problem is almost over (!), and as they cheer him they spread the virus rapidly among themselves. Forgive my schadenfreude in pointing out that lots of those doing this are going to develop symptoms of corona infection right about the time they should be voting and will, alas, be unable to do so. Trump's political advisors warned him against holding these rallies, noting that they cost too much money and don't lead to many new votes. Even worse Trump paid for a buses to take followers to a rally in Omaha but then<i> </i>failed to provide sufficient buses to get them out<i> </i>, leaving them stranded and angry, with some of the elderly being hospitalized; see </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a class="yiv9679470090enhancr_card_4410268222" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/28/trump-omaha-supporters-stuck-cold/" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Hundreds of Trump supporters stuck in the cold for hours when buses can’t reach Omaha rally</a>. Chip, chip, chip.</span><br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqbfSV_Xu-mk-djvYDJLnXsnHSHWRVqDO20OUEsI3kXJJTEKqktX9BqGDs14qlyEGVnaiu-wmHNdurS4aJjL0m70932o8l7YGAC6RDarteL2ZzuBGE50sl6Y9WSGlhzgR2Ph5WDiye_8/s552/122044672_3982887095074698_9198225330145365951_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="552" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqbfSV_Xu-mk-djvYDJLnXsnHSHWRVqDO20OUEsI3kXJJTEKqktX9BqGDs14qlyEGVnaiu-wmHNdurS4aJjL0m70932o8l7YGAC6RDarteL2ZzuBGE50sl6Y9WSGlhzgR2Ph5WDiye_8/w400-h374/122044672_3982887095074698_9198225330145365951_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">Some governors took big steps
and had great results (like New York) but those who followed Trump’s advice to open
up the economy are now watching their people die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every time someone trusted Trump and then had major trouble with the
virus leading to death or serious injury then that person and his friends and
family abandoned Donald Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip,
chip, chip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the <i>entire Trump family</i>
came down with the virus!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip, chip,
chip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then five of the people who work
for the Vice President (the man in charge of the administration’s control of
the virus) caught it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip, chip,
chip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the president’s Press
Secretary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip, chip, chip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump doesn’t pay taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chip, chip, chip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump says he’s not responsible for responding
to the problems caused by the virus—the governors of the states are!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A <i>national</i> problem, but fifty <i>local
</i>officials are fighting each other for scare resources!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not how a good president handles
trouble.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hVowvv2-B3595-thr80WBpS2niqZTDR_PcMei9uVHAtqzEukaAz0hqlzCkWXcV1Pj22deB7jHSZl-yWHW0oIEWAqEWErg652QHEOC2gUsGz8SMg3EFTzSdqfBnB8P4ENeSuJYk_IQso/s2048/121480064_3966176573412417_8553256172901427540_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1379" data-original-width="2048" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0hVowvv2-B3595-thr80WBpS2niqZTDR_PcMei9uVHAtqzEukaAz0hqlzCkWXcV1Pj22deB7jHSZl-yWHW0oIEWAqEWErg652QHEOC2gUsGz8SMg3EFTzSdqfBnB8P4ENeSuJYk_IQso/w400-h269/121480064_3966176573412417_8553256172901427540_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Every day Trump does something or says something (or bombshell
from the past explodes) that causes people who once admired him to turn away
in disgust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once they stop believing
they also stop pretending and suddenly see him for the incompetent clown that
he is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their resentment grows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They start muttering that the Republican
party should not be tying itself to this buffoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DJT loses voters daily who either switch to
Biden or decide to stay home on election day and knock back a drink or two.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Better yet, Joe Biden has stood his ground and presented a viable
case for being able to guide the country back to something like normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He looks very much like a responsible leader
aiming to protect the interests of the United States of America and not just
pad his own ego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joe’s debate
performances have been respectable, while Trump has either looked like a madman
(first debate) or a grumpy bulldog (second debate).</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The one thing that terrified me most about the coming
election was the possibility that on election day Trump would be ahead in the actually
counted votes and would then stop the tallying of the mail-in votes that could
easily swing the election to Biden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were predictions from experts that Trump might seize these
uncounted ballots and destroy them, and then insist he was the winner, or at
least throw the election into the electoral college, where Republicans have a huge
advantage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would smack of a Hitler-like
takeover, and Trump as much as announced that it was his plan!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States would be plunged into a
nightmare, with riots everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrote
about this in depth in my last blog post (see Related Posts below).</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ah, but since I wrote that post I’ve changed my mind!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful things are happening every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crisis I described isn’t going to happen,
and old Douglas has recently become an optimist once again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump has handled things so poorly that he has
lost the support he needed for reelection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are going to have an election where Trump does so bad on November
3rd that he won’t have any credible argument he has won.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Biden will stomp him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's my prediction for the election of
2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I also think its likely that the
Democrats are going to end up with both the House and the Senate.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The polls show that the Biden landslide is coming first on November 3rd and then growing in the days that follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expert
analysis says this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Early voting says
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And even Trump himself is
starting to talk about the possibility of losing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Poor baby, Donald</span> has speculated that he might have to leave the
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He damn well better hop on the
first international flight out as fast as he can!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Criminal indictments certainly await him in
many a United States courtroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he
stays his chances of going to jail are splendid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes me smile broadly just to think about
it.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">David and I have a bottle of champagne in the
refrigerator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now all we need is confetti.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll have to see if Amazon stocks it and
order some in.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz3erVyANrrS1ZjcFnDvrlWFD5l1Vbo09TJZp8egDhLkrgDlgwOdlcQUkFGY_4kCpyMa-1mOIWDpMP__TIVFY9F5HOtZkkM3YDcg5daFAFbGd6oHzV9JId244grpVAzzinyRHlkTdM_t4/s828/IMG_0799.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="828" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz3erVyANrrS1ZjcFnDvrlWFD5l1Vbo09TJZp8egDhLkrgDlgwOdlcQUkFGY_4kCpyMa-1mOIWDpMP__TIVFY9F5HOtZkkM3YDcg5daFAFbGd6oHzV9JId244grpVAzzinyRHlkTdM_t4/w400-h368/IMG_0799.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">--------------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related Posts:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: blue; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Constitutional Crisis: Trump Loses the Election but Refuses to
Leave Office and . . . Then What?” August 24, 2020; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-constitutional-crisis-trump-loses.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-constitutional-crisis-trump-loses.html</a>
</span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Everyone Should Read Anonymous’s “A Warning”—An Insider’s
Look at Trump’s White House,” December 16, 2019; <a href="https://www.blogger.com/">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/12/everyone-should-read-anonymouss.html</a>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Bad News: Civilization Will Collapse By 2100,” June 24,
2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/06/bad-news-civilization-will-collapse-by.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/06/bad-news-civilization-will-collapse-by.html</a>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“The Collapse of 2050: Earth as a Ponzi Scheme,” August 17,
2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-collapse-of-2050-earth-as-ponzi.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-collapse-of-2050-earth-as-ponzi.html</a> <span color="windowtext" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Comparing Donald Trump to a Badly Infected Big Toe,” August 3,
2016, </span><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/08/comparing-donald-trump-to-badly_3.html</a></span><span style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Trump University: A Fraudster for President”?
March 10, 2016; </span><u><span style="color: #956839; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/03/trump-university-fraudster-for-president.html</a></span></u><span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">“Joe Biden, Plagiarism, and Why He Shouldn’t Run For
President,” August 25, 2015; <span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/joe-biden-plagiarism-and-why-he.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/joe-biden-plagiarism-and-why-he.html</a>
</span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-34425935897803536142020-08-24T19:51:00.067-04:002020-08-25T13:41:37.437-04:00A Constitutional Crisis: Trump Loses the Election but Refuses to Leave Office and . . . Then What?<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSy9fYpWaeWbOmch86wlyMWQAAQ27SPEH5XwM6N7RRciY7JFLVA_CEr7hx8pQ1g6dbYIR9gbC2bXgPIUuFl1MQzjR26vRpnCeGNy2e3IzNL2JXjGAO7Jer1TBbb1zY4NScCKCq9dgAIaY/s1000/AP_20202578198324-edit-1000x666.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span> </span><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1000" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSy9fYpWaeWbOmch86wlyMWQAAQ27SPEH5XwM6N7RRciY7JFLVA_CEr7hx8pQ1g6dbYIR9gbC2bXgPIUuFl1MQzjR26vRpnCeGNy2e3IzNL2JXjGAO7Jer1TBbb1zY4NScCKCq9dgAIaY/w512-h341/AP_20202578198324-edit-1000x666.jpg" width="512" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have always been an optimist, and sometimes had to deal
with ribbing about this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But 2020 has stripped
away that sunny view of the world, and Donald Trump (sigh), more than the
virus, is the reason why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </p><p class="MsoNormal">I’ve known for some time, of course, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that the man is a charlatan, cheating his way
to the top, being so bad at running businesses that they always ended up in
bankruptcy, succeeding only because his father’s death dumped a fortune into
his hands just as he became a TV sensation for a weekly show demonstrating his
cruelty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Trump made business deals
he subsequently told the other side that he would only pay a portion of what he
had contracted to pay—take it or leave it—and that trying to sue him would only
cost more than accepting his current offer and writing off the rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great way to do business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Trump had a best seller with “The Art of
the Deal” it subsequently turned out that he hadn’t actually written <i>any</i>
of it; his “co-author” wrote it all, and that man is not even sure if Donald
has even read the entire book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same with
Trump’s other books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He thinks it
perfectly all right if you’re a “star” to attack women and “grab them by the
pussy,” and is currently being sued by a number of these sexual assault
victims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right before he became
president The Donald created Trump University where he took the savings of the
people who trusted him most and then gave them <i>nothing</i> in return. While he
was president he was forced to pay $25 million dollars to these hapless people
to settle the three class action fraud suits that were brought against him (I
teach these cases in my Consumer Law book as basic examples of common law fraud).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have posted before in this blog (see
Related Posts below) about these incidents and the even crappier things he has
done.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stupidly, I assumed that when he became president Donald John
Trump would “clean up his act,” give up spouting stupidity on Twitter, and work
at being a respectable leader of the free world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know how that came out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas, Trump is not playing by the same rules
as any other president we’ve ever had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
doesn’t care about the country, he doesn’t care about history (nor does he know
much about it: at a ceremony at Pearl Harbor he had to be told what had
happened there that made it special; he told the Prime Minister Narenda Modi of
India that “at least you don’t have to worry about having a border with China”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he faces reelection not a single living president
has endorsed him—a first in American history.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOuufvNrHRrBhe-rSC1iiGO3RczUSCKXgm7Br27g1LfTgcrS9lkMeD8y3HiyFejNQZZIF-jpUyJU-tbscVN1YRtbq7kwjsGt5sHj-9pDzL6Vpb3Z-kq8v62MpOUcXVqCPgE3ef9GOpPI/s512/unnamed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="512" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOuufvNrHRrBhe-rSC1iiGO3RczUSCKXgm7Br27g1LfTgcrS9lkMeD8y3HiyFejNQZZIF-jpUyJU-tbscVN1YRtbq7kwjsGt5sHj-9pDzL6Vpb3Z-kq8v62MpOUcXVqCPgE3ef9GOpPI/w328-h262/unnamed.jpg" width="328" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Trump is interested in only one thing: his own
adulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Not</i> the country, <i>not</i>
the MAGA people who love him, <i>not</i> what is being said about him on a
minute by minute basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it’s good, he
will spread it like confetti all around him; if it’s bad he will declare it “fake
news” and therefore not worth further discussion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has been clocked at over 10,000 provable
lies since he took office. Psychiatrists (and his niece, a psychologist) will tell
you that he is mentally ill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does
outrageous things daily but we have become so inured to it that we just shrug: “Trump
being Trump” (sigh).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never mind that he
is making us look like idiots in the eyes of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never mind that he is a fawning admirer of
evil dictators all over the planet (he wrote fan letters to Putin long before
he was elected president).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing he
does is done for the American people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is done to further inflate his Saturn-size ego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If something goes wrong other people caused that; if something goes
right it proves he’s the best President the United States has ever had—everyone
says so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The White House recently actually
inquired as to what steps would have to be taken to add Trump’s face to the
current four presidents on Mt. Rushmore.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQN2_Jhy_5yMPjdLp2q3uAzPeD_D9p_yMLWEtqEsKRqwd07Iy89X1E7kHdZ9XKBj2Yq3KGA_DIJZzvjs-QDxS6FxcZgBoJO_iqkxKKVDKB7F9XLSWoSQh6uZ5D-ouUA9PDulMAmNWeA4E/s960/MolestorsRushmore.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="960" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQN2_Jhy_5yMPjdLp2q3uAzPeD_D9p_yMLWEtqEsKRqwd07Iy89X1E7kHdZ9XKBj2Yq3KGA_DIJZzvjs-QDxS6FxcZgBoJO_iqkxKKVDKB7F9XLSWoSQh6uZ5D-ouUA9PDulMAmNWeA4E/w512-h412/MolestorsRushmore.jpg" width="512" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what does Donald Trump do if the corona virus pandemic,
and his mishandling of same, has his ratings dropping dramatically and polls showing him losing
to Joe Biden come November 3<sup>rd</sup>?</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The answer, to Donald, is that that is <b><i>unacceptable</i></b>! It
will not happen!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever will stop
Biden and give that election to Trump will be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the usual methods of changing people’s
minds won’t work, then that election must <i>not</i> choose Biden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It <i>will</i> choose Trump, or at least seem
close enough to choosing Trump that he can claim the presidency for another
four years and use the power of the presidency (particularly one with no
restraints at all) to silence those who might cry foul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell, he might even get a third or fourth
term if he can make a minor change to the Constitution.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So Donald John Trump will make sure that the results of this
election November 3<sup>rd</sup> are not clear cut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, among other things, he’s going to use
the post office to do exactly that.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First he recently appointed a new head of the post office (aptly
named “De-Joy”) who cares nothing about the mission of that agency but will do
all he can to slow down its efficiency and create a major roadblock for a
trouble-free election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead on
election day there will be thousands (millions?) of uncounted ballots, and that
counting will stop at the best moment to declare that Trump appears to be the
winner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Subsequently the unexamined
ballots will be immediately discarded as “too late,” or <i>phony</i>, or <u>scams</u>,
or ___________ (fill in the blank—be creative).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ballots are counted state by state and
the electors (the electoral college) send the result of each state’s tabulation
to Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if the states get
hung up in battles (and they will—you and I both know it), lawsuits will be
filed, state by state by state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
will take some time to resolve before we get to the next step.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY8T8bD-TPsp-NIAcF_FtpogBBCgCfaX_TbwJT5kB75YAQLaGd1oKBqKFflLzgaptZwc6u3hnqHOXWoH_V8OxGQp4SCis4b47fZNs_DEepI-gCuiOSgxZDSGzzFhUXCccneTx6hDejvo/s691/ballots.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="691" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIY8T8bD-TPsp-NIAcF_FtpogBBCgCfaX_TbwJT5kB75YAQLaGd1oKBqKFflLzgaptZwc6u3hnqHOXWoH_V8OxGQp4SCis4b47fZNs_DEepI-gCuiOSgxZDSGzzFhUXCccneTx6hDejvo/w410-h274/ballots.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who gets to resolve this mess?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Astoundingly, it’s <i>Mike Pence </i>(as Vice
President he is also “President of the Senate”) who eventually gets to announce
the result!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Twelfth Amendment to the
Constitution provides:<span color="" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span color="" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote
by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be
an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots
the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for
as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for
as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number
of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed
to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President
of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate
and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall
then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President,
shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of
Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons
having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for
as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot,
the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by
states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and
a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House
of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of
the death or other constitutional disability of the President . . . .</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span color="" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span color="" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbmo0b9Yae4Nj_nnlVJCDMi3J4DcQIOOcJryp7aHSg69QdsIkBfuDqVqRlTsRaWiCvIax33BMWPBRERUfWAUcLderstbttrAgsZeKBPAn6fvZ39bnjZ-OvJgxD42dHmprP20j9lEpO_w/s986/0a7b2936-2e88-4247-9b7d-939e08b47717-large16x9_TrumpEducationSecre_Summ.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="986" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYbmo0b9Yae4Nj_nnlVJCDMi3J4DcQIOOcJryp7aHSg69QdsIkBfuDqVqRlTsRaWiCvIax33BMWPBRERUfWAUcLderstbttrAgsZeKBPAn6fvZ39bnjZ-OvJgxD42dHmprP20j9lEpO_w/w512-h288/0a7b2936-2e88-4247-9b7d-939e08b47717-large16x9_TrumpEducationSecre_Summ.jpg" width="512" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">If Pence announces that in his estimation Donald Trump has
won, chaos will explode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about it,
blog readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You thought 2020 was
already a nightmare and then comes a constitutional crisis like this country
have never before seen.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBotZ8LTqpEMNwdiTze-mmyXyDOQ_-JvzltS2YPv9iRWDB18aC-y9C7cqFXabk3NWN-HF6h1naKGIWdr292cWdEep_WpXa09yQ139IVkYMeb9egaTYpQLXztLPPUxXv9Suu3qIkMIimmQ/s1800/merlin_172962321_fefd5204-91d1-43f4-b950-ce60bda95e75-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1800" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBotZ8LTqpEMNwdiTze-mmyXyDOQ_-JvzltS2YPv9iRWDB18aC-y9C7cqFXabk3NWN-HF6h1naKGIWdr292cWdEep_WpXa09yQ139IVkYMeb9egaTYpQLXztLPPUxXv9Suu3qIkMIimmQ/w512-h342/merlin_172962321_fefd5204-91d1-43f4-b950-ce60bda95e75-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg" width="512" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Democrats will howl and the public and media will join in on
all sides, but Trump is the sitting president and he’ll have the final say
about running the country until all is resolved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be lawsuits and requests for injunctions
filed in multiple courts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump has
already predicted these filings, adding “It could last for months . . . or
years.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s actually looking forward to
the firestorm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Donald has always embraced
long drawn-out lawsuits, particularly if it means that he continues as
president until the last judge has spoken.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHZjlh5Yvpb9BLAPm202g49ngRcTlUrEKXWz1dnCAQZOJegwJOGBbL6Gl1Qn8_SAewUv7nfqJbeEeKq6SFtp9Zig9x8MWYG9Im_41PYUY1k-4pc9jPsbbFaLr2t3vNiU2qH7T7qWKbj8/s2048/10bruniWeb-superJumbo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2046" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHZjlh5Yvpb9BLAPm202g49ngRcTlUrEKXWz1dnCAQZOJegwJOGBbL6Gl1Qn8_SAewUv7nfqJbeEeKq6SFtp9Zig9x8MWYG9Im_41PYUY1k-4pc9jPsbbFaLr2t3vNiU2qH7T7qWKbj8/w409-h410/10bruniWeb-superJumbo.jpg" width="409" /></a></div><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Trump wouldn't be happy at all were he to lose the election. He (and a number of his children) would likely go to jail. In New York major criminal investigations are underway to look at Trump taxes and financial dealings where false reporting or inflation of the value of assets, plus out and out lies to investors, are all under the legal microscope. Trump may be protected from indictment for crimes while in office, but come January 20, 2021, if he is not the man being sworn in as president he might seriously think about fleeing the country. Thus Donald J. Trump will do anything---and I mean <i>anything</i>---in the coming months to make sure that the election goes his way so he can continue the delighted dance pictured above.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<div style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">I began this blog post by saying
I’m an optimist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yup, I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when it comes to what the end of 2020 and
the start of 2021 look like, I think I’ll pour myself a tumbler of vodka and
let a cat sit in my lap while I watch some mindless movie on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfl6zGxjRKCMhSmnLUTcRDb6d_yC2mpnkKwkOU7zTaeIbIvHXSzxyudCvShibKrKb8yRSi7JvzDQPzeLHsXQ3hj-GIWLPaSBvmbNaLIR9jeUiE29jxscZD42ksZ6IYT5AHCTt5wN-FEw/s900/new-US_NEWS_PENCE-HEALTH_3_OS-900x687.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="900" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghfl6zGxjRKCMhSmnLUTcRDb6d_yC2mpnkKwkOU7zTaeIbIvHXSzxyudCvShibKrKb8yRSi7JvzDQPzeLHsXQ3hj-GIWLPaSBvmbNaLIR9jeUiE29jxscZD42ksZ6IYT5AHCTt5wN-FEw/w410-h313/new-US_NEWS_PENCE-HEALTH_3_OS-900x687.jpg" width="410" /> </a></td><td style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 46th President of the United States!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Related Posts:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My
Blog”; </span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Everyone Should Read Anonymous’s “A Warning”—An Insider’s
Look at Trump’s White House,” December 16, 2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/12/everyone-should-read-anonymouss.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/12/everyone-should-read-anonymouss.html</a>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="" style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Comparing Donald Trump to a Badly Infected
Big Toe,” August 3, 2016, </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span face="">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/08/comparing-donald-trump-to-badly_3.html</span></a></span><span face="" style="color: #29303b; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span color="" style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span color="" style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(255, 243, 219) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="" style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Trump University: A Fraudster for President”?
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>March 10, 2016; </span><u><span face="" style="color: #956839; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/03/trump-university-fraudster-for-president.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/03/trump-university-fraudster-for-president.html</a></span></u><span face="" style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">]</span><span color="" style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
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dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-84454563289688079712020-05-27T22:17:00.025-04:002020-05-28T12:18:44.267-04:00My Covid-19 Haircut
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><font size="4"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span><br /><br /><br /></span></span></font></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="height: 132px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 266px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font size="4"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3odU5Gyy_WRm8uGkjxLlmffJL6z1WCNFSGbDFaziBaOxvW72uBH9DGxx-adbQoQiEZohyL91FAU970cqP53P3cyB_mBTLnlNSfoMuDO_XDQVYj34EQKUjYV26uxy2Hy6LvmHUCfc45o/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3odU5Gyy_WRm8uGkjxLlmffJL6z1WCNFSGbDFaziBaOxvW72uBH9DGxx-adbQoQiEZohyL91FAU970cqP53P3cyB_mBTLnlNSfoMuDO_XDQVYj34EQKUjYV26uxy2Hy6LvmHUCfc45o/w400-h225/maxresdefault.jpeg" width="400" /></a></font></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">My sister lives in Las Vegas so I
decided to visit her for spring break between the two courses I was teaching this year
at the Ohio State Moritz College of Law.<span>
</span>My husband David could not go with me, as he did two years previously,
because he was in a play about to open at CATCO [“Moonlight and Magnolias”—the plot
has to do with the creation of the screenplay for the movie “Gone With the Wind”]
and it would have its first performance just as I was returning from Vegas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Covid-19 was a problem, but a small
problem on March 5th when I left for Las Vegas, but once there all of a sudden it exploded
into the pandemic that all of us are still dealing with (sometimes known as the “collapse
of civilization”).<span> </span>I was staying at The
Mirage Hotel and Casino, and sitting at the gambling tables, routinely handling
chips hundreds of others had touched seemed like a bad idea, so I abandoned casino
gambling (which I’ve loved since the 1970s).<span>
</span>The visit with my sister and her husband went very well.<span> </span>But I was glad to get on a plane to return to
Columbus and go into isolation with David, who picked me up at the airport;
this was the evening of Tuesday, March 10th.<span>
</span>David had his first performance of the play the next day (full house,
standing ovation), and that was it.<span> </span>The
play was postponed indefinitely as the theater closed.<span> </span>The set is still waiting there in the dark
for the cast and audience to return.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I was scheduled to get a haircut
from Craig Price, my barber for the last 14 years, at noon on Thursday at the
Dublin Barber Shop, but Craig called me that morning and told me that the State of Ohio was
shutting down all the barber shops until further notice.<span> </span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yikes!<span> </span>My hair was already too long.<span> </span>What was going to happen?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI4_X3Lxl2SrZvtqDosppg5IrCiztWTPyjzGaRLgJCFwsnwGWbNmXgySMmKcHPOWFLju1HJO0df8CYCaJq87rkrCCPcE2HqrLDnzHASbvLHJWjy1JhM87r_Ebdk34E2neZY1dBA0ERdI/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="271" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI4_X3Lxl2SrZvtqDosppg5IrCiztWTPyjzGaRLgJCFwsnwGWbNmXgySMmKcHPOWFLju1HJO0df8CYCaJq87rkrCCPcE2HqrLDnzHASbvLHJWjy1JhM87r_Ebdk34E2neZY1dBA0ERdI/w147-h200/doug.high.school.61.gif" width="147" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I was born with very curly
black/brown hair (both of my parents had curly hair), and it doesn’t allow for
much in the way of styling.<span> </span>I use an
Afro pick every day to comb out the tangles (Professor Vincene Verdun of the
law school faculty took me to black hair establishment in the early 1980s to
pick out the appropriate tool, which had a black power fist as the handle---I still use it).<span> </span>In those 70s I grew
a big 'fro and the law students routinely called me “Disco Doug”<span> (see embarrassing photo below). </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vK3ha-fzW4znfXisAJdnjIwoMoGRzoSZmyPxARD88oSYKKltcPOmGyRQPCaw_VJL2VstbRbVVM-nZq4R8JzzbQa_lG1SaBlDjDxxGNTMIYMGqRILE5PzdAGWvnulFgCC88VP3fT4X7Y/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vK3ha-fzW4znfXisAJdnjIwoMoGRzoSZmyPxARD88oSYKKltcPOmGyRQPCaw_VJL2VstbRbVVM-nZq4R8JzzbQa_lG1SaBlDjDxxGNTMIYMGqRILE5PzdAGWvnulFgCC88VP3fT4X7Y/s320/OSU+Law+Record+Afro.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
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<![endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">These days my hair, now mostly
white, is still curly (though nowhere near the tight curls of my youth), and I
try to keep it short, as in this picture with David of two years ago:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyt7qJVt4qXob5VvaEz_0YHjLDsUR1veInLt0vg-ihOZ56z05ZgAFNgttRlimRtT7uYna4fBahbIgZb9da9wRfedk_snM47rXYpcnsbtuFQdmt6v_XS65lo8DeE14ALCqgCHnfQFaaEUU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyt7qJVt4qXob5VvaEz_0YHjLDsUR1veInLt0vg-ihOZ56z05ZgAFNgttRlimRtT7uYna4fBahbIgZb9da9wRfedk_snM47rXYpcnsbtuFQdmt6v_XS65lo8DeE14ALCqgCHnfQFaaEUU/w320-h320/USatDavids60th.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">But when Craig cancelled my
haircut appointment my hair was long and getting harder to run that pic through on rising each morning, a problem about to get a lot worst.<span> </span>As weeks of isolation passed it grew into a
scary look: like Albert Einstein with his finger in a light socket.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Finally I more or less insisted David
would have to cut it, and, because he loves me, he agreed (with much in the way of
disclaimers about liability for the resulting coiffure).<span> </span>He even permitted the haircut to be
filmed on my iPhone, so it is saved in the link below.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It starts with him making the first
of a number of references to the barbers' duet number from the musical “Sweeney
Todd.”<span> </span>If you don’t know it, perhaps you’d
find it amusing to watch that epic battle between Sweeney Todd and Adolfo Pirelli.<span> </span>Here it is from a concert performance of the
show:<span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8JQzTG-ONc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8JQzTG-ONc</a><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">You can compare that performance
with the video of my Covid-19 Haircut, staring David Vargo as the musical
barber and myself as his demanding customer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a class="style-scope ytcp-video-info" href="https://youtu.be/HqHTVK-yyXk" style="background-color: #f4f4f4; font-family: Roboto, Noto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: nowrap; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/HqHTVK-yyXk </a><span class="video-url-fadeable style-scope ytcp-video-info"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">I will forever love David for doing
this.<span> </span>The haircut was . . . fine.<span> </span>Not pretty, not one to make David apply for a
spot cutting hair at Craig Price’s barber shop, but ending with hair that is no longer
a pain to comb, wash, or care for.<span> </span>And,
since Craig's shop is now open, not to be repeated. <span> </span>Craig is a perfectionist at work; so is David (
but we’re talking about on the stage and not our kitchen with clippers in
his hand). Though I'm not sure what the techniques for cutting hair will be in Craig's shop in this new world. It's a little scary to think about.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><font size="4"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span></span></span></font></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font size="4"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZRflFyhOhnBMs9wO1Yi2ikNdiv12zaoQF-eiGiCRqrQOM4Dx7bJVqct4Faf-KHI5_obcNQLH3bi2SwYEZV6ZEbaVpLlQTh627_rC24TcREAgBQTyQ1UVs3kSZHZayZn_-P0KD1SOlxg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZRflFyhOhnBMs9wO1Yi2ikNdiv12zaoQF-eiGiCRqrQOM4Dx7bJVqct4Faf-KHI5_obcNQLH3bi2SwYEZV6ZEbaVpLlQTh627_rC24TcREAgBQTyQ1UVs3kSZHZayZn_-P0KD1SOlxg/w400-h266/umbrella-hair-30.jpeg" width="400" /></a></font></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you liked the video of the
barber scene from “Sweeney Todd” perhaps you’ll also enjoy the famous “Barber’s
Song” from “Man of La Mancha” so here that is:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ayenUjvb4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ayenUjvb4 </a>
</span></p>
<div style="border: medium none; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In any event, please do not laugh at my haircut when we next meet. That would be bad form. Just pretend that things are normal, and I'll do the same with whatever bizarre things are obviously wrong with you.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">----------------------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Related Posts:</span></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> "Far Too High in Las
Vegas," September 1, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/far-too-high-in-las-vegas.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/far-too-high-in-las-vegas.html</a> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Playing
Blackjack With an Old Chinese Woman<b>,”</b> April 3, 2011<b>; </b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/playing-blackjack-with-old-chinese.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/playing-blackjack-with-old-chinese.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">How
To Play Craps Vegas Style<b>,”</b> April 15, 2011<b>; </b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-play-craps-vegas-style.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-play-craps-vegas-style.html</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://exposedtease.tumblr.com/post/611043178356834304/" target="_blank"><b><span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: "Helvetica", sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none;"></span></b></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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<![endif]-->dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-81501090429200510482020-05-11T15:37:00.000-04:002020-05-12T14:00:12.652-04:00My New One Act Play Debuts on YouTube<br />
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I didn’t know I was a playwright until last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my surprise my play “The Turkey Men”
received a professional Equity production at Evolution Theatre Company (see “Related
Posts below for details about it) and was very well received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There had been talks about the play being
produced elsewhere but of course those discussions were sucked into the
covid-19 mist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I thought “The Turkey Men” would be a one-off event in my life,
but Evolution then sponsored a play writing competition, asking for submission
of one act gay plays with a political or governmental theme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That set me to thinking, so I wrote a short play
about the possibility of the United States Supreme Court considering a case
that might overrule </span><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obergefell
v. Hodges, </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">the 2015 gay marriage case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sent in
my play (anonymously as required by the rules) and was very pleased when it was
chosen (from among twenty + entries) to be one of four such plays presented at
the Evolution Local Playwrights Festival 2020 RAINBOW WAVE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The festival was to run for two weeks this
spring, but (sigh) that didn’t happen.</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, the artistic director of Evolution, </span>Mark Phillip Schwamberger,
a determined man, has managed to salvage some of the festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>T<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he cast has been
assembled for a Zoom sort of presentation, and that will be available online at
the link below starting at 6 pm on Monday, May 11<sup>th</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and ending at 6 pm Thursday the 14th. I
have not seen it, but since the short play (about 15 minutes) has no real action at all, it should translate well to this medium. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Evolution Theatre Company put out this announcement:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Douglas Whaley</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Frank Barnhart</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bobby Jones</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">featuring<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sonda Rose Staley</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom Holliday</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Leslie Robinson</span></b><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>The last in our series. Premiering Monday, available for viewing
until Thursday May 14 at 6 PM. YouTube link</b>: <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FA4HpfDz5J2Q%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2zikrGoaIHhF880-vMnbpNa3As56VonW2F7hqGNt3205yWiMgQy1Yf2pE&h=AT2oLx7-AtRprYDq1-rhuxg1tpt0-2xnKq3EdEf4dcub3LztTfJZvi-uwNOM7BH0FsjK3w5C9fD94Q_0Eq4ptWZYv6gtYbu96mQm9EyTQCGVCLxgD5reLLBExohsynUi7lqC&__tn__=-UK-y-R&c%5b0%5d=AT1KfUDIv3wHOCGvo0zPdPElgFqrWE7V5SPHP4678IBCLe6yEZHerlOi_tTHnZcADWZTJRsyr4NKs5qCwmQwSjFQeY8os3uxNW5GuvCTZmFc0KR3Xgs3pkDJdlh51t5F7m_7T99J_FEXAF85V63nPdy6x2laKg_NCe1V-Mau3kRC0CTIZl9Ktw" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/A4HpfDz5J2Q</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If interested tune in and then let me know your thoughts [dglswhaley@aol.com]. I'm anxious to see what it sounds like with professional actors performing it under the direction of my good friend Frank Barnhart (a theatrical name to conjure with in Columbus, Ohio).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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But here's the thing: when I wrote the play in December it consisted of words on my computer screen. Now "Wrong When Decided" (whether good or bad) is available as a video all over the world. Isn't that just amazing?<br />
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“My
Play ‘The Turkey Men’ Is a Hit!” October 22, 2019; <a href="https://www.blogger.com/">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html</a>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7844434945868494835/1363497753928174927"><span class="uhwcef">Another New Play of Mine Will Be Professionally Produced in April</span></a>,”
<span class="byline">January 31, 2020; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2020/01/another-new-play-of-mine-will-be.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2020/01/another-new-play-of-mine-will-be.html</a>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-39962638043444583382020-04-15T19:59:00.003-04:002020-04-16T12:46:24.062-04:00Ten Years Ago I Acquired My First Cat and She Saved My Life the Following Year<br />
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<span style="color: #29303b;">I grew up with dogs and loved
them all, but most of my life I’ve had parakeets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sit-in-the-cage birds, but parakeets with
real personalities—smart birds that loved me and became my best friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See </span>"Parakeets and Me,"
February 5, 2010; <b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/02/parakeets-and-me.html"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/02/parakeets-and-me.html</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In late 2009 I had a heart transplant and that was the end
of the parakeets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last I saw of Petey
and Alice (my then two birds) was the day the doctors took out my old heart and
put in a new one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Birds, I was told,
convey far too many diseases to human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That broke my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Petey and
Alice were given away (I never saw them again after the transplant) and the
recipient told me they immediately hatched an egg and started a family!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I lived alone in the days after the transplant in a
condominium that frankly is too large for one person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every afternoon I’d pull into my garage and come
through the garage door saying, “Birds!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m hom . . .” trailing off as I realized there were no birds about to
fly to my shoulder, chattering and pecking fondly at my neck.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was very, very lonely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So in early 2010 I called the infectious disease doctor who had counselled
me during the transplant period about various issues and told him I needed a
pet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Okay,” he said, “you can have a mammal
as long as you don’t deal with the feces.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well that cut out dogs (walking, baggie in hand, to pick up dog leavings),
but my cleaning people are cat lovers and told me that they would clean out cat
litter boxes in the basement once a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’d never have to touch them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pamela Maggied</td></tr>
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I have a member of my chosen family, Pamela Maggied, who is
a cat fanatic (currently down from a high of 13 cats to, I believe, six).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She informed me that her vet had an office
cat that he was looking to give away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never kept the same office cat for long, but this rescued cat, which he named Mama because she’d come to him with two kittens (now
weaned), was the smartest cat he’d ever met (!) and he wanted to find her a good
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I agreed to take Mama, sight
unseen, and Pam and I went to the vet’s to pick her up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we walked into the office, cat carrier in
hand, Mama met us, brushed up against us both, and all but actually said, “Welcome
to our happy office!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little did she
know she was herself about to leave it, with everyone of the staff, the doctor
included, teary-eyed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I took Mama home and let her loose in the living room, sitting
myself in my nearby chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She looked
around, startled, at the large space she was in, sized up the strange
situation, and promptly jumped into my lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“We’re going to be very good friends, aren’t we?” was her clear message.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
were.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Both Mama and Pam taught me a lot about cats and made me into a major cat
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> When I married David Vargo in 2013 he too became a cat person for the first time in his life.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama About to Doze Off</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">The next year the heart
transplant doctor changed my medication, a major mistake, and I went from being a poster child
for the transplant movement to a man who was close to dying from rejection of
my new heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My weight dropped from
around 185 to 152!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I looked in the
mirror I was all bones with some skin hung loosely on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with the help of the doctors and some
medically savy friends I started to gain back the weight by the early part of
the summer of 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">That was good because I was planning
mightily on attending a writers' conference in New York City entitled
"ThrillerFest," held July 6-10 of the year—and at which I hoped to
pitch my self-published novel "Imaginary Friend" (it's an atheist
thriller, currently available on Amazon and Kindle) to the country's leading
agents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had arranged (1) a plane
flight leaving that Tuesday at 2 p.m., (2) a five day reservation at the Grand
Hyatt, (3) a paid $800 ThrillerFest registration, (4) scheduled dinners with old
friends, and (5) tickets for four Broadway plays ("Book of Mormon,"
"Anything Goes," "Sister Act," and "War
Horse").<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in truth I was suddenly
growing weaker instead of stronger, primarily because I wasn't eating enough
(and that because of being over-medicated).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Did this stop me from going to NYC, weak though I was?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Absolutely not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I'll travel by cabs, walk little, spend
most of my day just sitting in ThrillerFest seminars—I'll take it easy, but I'm
going."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stupidly, it never even
occurred to me to cancel until death was whispering in my ear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">I spent that Sunday and Monday
slowly, painfully, getting ready for the trip, and by the time I went to bed on
that Monday night, though exhausted, I was completely packed and ready to
go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had taken me an entire day to
pack one small rolling suitcase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
hell, all I had to do on Tuesday morning was get out of bed, shower, dress and
drive myself to the airport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's all
I had to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">It was almost impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">I was even weaker when I awoke
on Tuesday, and I struggled from the bed to the bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my shower I have a little plastic stool
that I use to put my foot up on when I'm washing, but this morning it had a
more important role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too weak to stand
for the whole shower, I sat down on the stool<i> three times </i>just to
rest, letting the water hit me as I panted and panted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finished, I was too weak to stand and
dry myself, so I laid down on the bed to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally it was time to dress, but that too
was a nightmare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'd put on an article
of clothing and then lie down on the bed and pant for awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pathetic, but I was still hadn't considered
cancelling the trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was going.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">Mama Cat was watching all of this very carefully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this blog I've written numerous posts
about her (and my other cat, Barney), but let me quickly recap her story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At age one she escaped from the home in which
she'd originally lived (declawed but not spayed), had an adventure with a tom
cat, and produced a litter of kittens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
number of kittens in her litter is unknown, but cats typically give birth to
three to eight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mama somehow managed to
keep two of them alive until all three cats were rescued, taken to a vet's
office (where she acquired her name), the two kittens weaned and given away,
and Mama became the office cat for a few months until she was taken home with
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">That Tuesday morning, as I lay
panting on the bed, she suddenly jumped up beside me and stuck her nose in my
ear (which she had never done before) while making an urgent "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mew, Mew, Mew</i>!" sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It clearly meant "<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GET UP!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DON'T DIE ON ME!</b>"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mama had seen some of her kittens die and she
knew what death was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mama thinks I'm dying!</i>" I muttered, amazed at the
thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I remembered my family's
history of ignoring symptoms, decided she might be right, made a phone call to
my doctors, and shortly was in the emergency room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out my kidneys were failing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent three days being fed through an IV
drip, with more than one doctor assuring me that "Mr. Whaley, you'd have
died on the airplane from system failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The air pressure change would have killed you."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-w-wLA7tKrmnd2RbsfmpqMRloT4RADDFY-ti2QJCnghyphenhyphenDnMV5VqiJ9N7XdnxogoWgy3WALmytwRGm-v3_jfrFPQZ0iCIxoWM4CXmV0lCBp21y21F-Ec1cg2I-vdi0DtAG8Jl7Br3POEg/s1600/Bottom-of-Plane-in-Clear-Sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-w-wLA7tKrmnd2RbsfmpqMRloT4RADDFY-ti2QJCnghyphenhyphenDnMV5VqiJ9N7XdnxogoWgy3WALmytwRGm-v3_jfrFPQZ0iCIxoWM4CXmV0lCBp21y21F-Ec1cg2I-vdi0DtAG8Jl7Br3POEg/s320/Bottom-of-Plane-in-Clear-Sky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">So, but for Mama, I would have
died that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">These days anytime she’s done something
that has me fuming and I’m contemplating strangling her (trust me, this can
happen), I remember all of this and, well, give her yet another pass, forgiving her latest </span><span style="color: #29303b;">transgression.</span><span style="color: #29303b;"> </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJ8q22ETKVLvz9MPc3vFApF5CHmRd00zzT66sHQ8AO3jChxFKAwiLTvWdWqUYwBM-3Fl-mw8pQ5CtcMW6WgZe_BqMKcgOuY0Ffmdc57AYou1noJOegmSRrSmPE4uNY58pbnfN__3wpCA/s1600/Hamburger+Cat+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJ8q22ETKVLvz9MPc3vFApF5CHmRd00zzT66sHQ8AO3jChxFKAwiLTvWdWqUYwBM-3Fl-mw8pQ5CtcMW6WgZe_BqMKcgOuY0Ffmdc57AYou1noJOegmSRrSmPE4uNY58pbnfN__3wpCA/s400/Hamburger+Cat+2018.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mama Sleeping in Her Hamburger</td></tr>
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Today, this morning, ten years from that first day with
Mama, when I was not quite awake, I felt a familiar cat presence crawl between
my knees and settle down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Mama, a
heat-whore like all cats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remembering
what an anniversary this was, I sat up in bed, smiling stupidly, and told her
she was the best cat on the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
allowed as how she already knew this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She’s not the slim young cat I brought home that first day, and she’s a
genius at talking David, my husband, into feeding her more food than she
needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s grown into a state that falsely
suggests more kittens could be coming soon, judging by her belly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But when I started petting her, thinking about all we’ve been
through together (see Related Posts below), she purred happily at me, as if she
too knew what anniversary this was. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I held my face down near hers and said “Nose,” and she
promptly touched her nose to mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
a game we play.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I teared up immediately.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA7qoKmBlyQgKvuL4jAT-75oQ79x5Tof-cl1QvKG970N2mKf64lDwW3yNIScyGPzWJuzkviZyVcQYeuzYmiZzsv8RzA92UvUjngrnGfySyLIDFV402sKd9xV-6mXWcxP3DqxZiVnDI3NY/s1600/DouglasMamaBarney2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA7qoKmBlyQgKvuL4jAT-75oQ79x5Tof-cl1QvKG970N2mKf64lDwW3yNIScyGPzWJuzkviZyVcQYeuzYmiZzsv8RzA92UvUjngrnGfySyLIDFV402sKd9xV-6mXWcxP3DqxZiVnDI3NY/s400/DouglasMamaBarney2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with Mama (top) and Barney</td></tr>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Mama, Biopsies, and My iPad," May 19, 2010;<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/05/mama-biopsies-and-my-ipad.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/05/mama-biopsies-and-my-ipad.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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"Teaching English to Cats," August 6, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/08/teaching-english-to-cats.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/08/teaching-english-to-cats.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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"Two Cat Stories: Mama and Barney in the Wild,"
July 9, 2011;<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/07/two-cat-stories-mama-and-barney-in-wild.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/07/two-cat-stories-mama-and-barney-in-wild.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Mama Cat Saves My Life,”
October 23, 2011; </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/mama-cat-saves-my-life.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/mama-cat-saves-my-life.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">"Stepping on Cats,"
February 8, 2012; </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/02/stepping-on-cats.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/02/stepping-on-cats.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Barney and the Big Mammal
Nightmare,” January 7, 2013; </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/01/barney-cat-and-big-mammal-nightmare.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/01/barney-cat-and-big-mammal-nightmare.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“My Cats Get Involved in My Knee
Surgery and Selling My Condo,” June 7, 2013; </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-cats-get-involved-in-my-knee-surgery.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-cats-get-involved-in-my-knee-surgery.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">"Teaching Cats the Rules of
the House," July 16, 2013; </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/07/teaching-cats-rules-of-house.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/07/teaching-cats-rules-of-house.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“Some Lottery Winners Score $400
Million”—An April Fool’s Day Joke," April 11, 2014;</span><br />
<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/04/some-lottery-winners-score-400.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/04/some-lottery-winners-score-400.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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“The Grand Duchess Abigail Abramova: Royalty in the
Personage of a New Cat Deigns To Appear in Our Humble Home,” January 31, 2016;<b> </b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-grand-duchess-abigail-abramova.html"><b>http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-grand-duchess-abigail-abramova.html</b></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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“A Guide to the Best of My Blog,” April 29, 2013, <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-91118341056890956382020-03-23T17:47:00.000-04:002020-03-24T10:36:43.796-04:00The Sad History of the 2020 Election and Swearing in of the New President in 2021 (A Maybe-Not-So-Far-Fetched Fable of the Future)<br />
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In the first three months of 2020 the presidential race
narrowed down to President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden,
and polls seemed pretty close as March began.
But then, of course, the coronavirus erupted overseas and quickly spread
across the globe and that changed everything, including the race.</div>
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As the world locked down and people were confined to their
homes while civilization collapsed around them, things began to look pretty
bleak on many levels: health, economics, access to services, basic survival,
and so much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Death tolls rose dramatically
and the victims were often the elderly and/or those with pre-existing health
problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I myself was particularly worried
since I turned 77 in 2020 and, having had a heart transplant eleven years ago, took
daily medication to lower my immune system so it wouldn’t reject that heart.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Predictably Trump, handling the virus crisis in his usual bumbling
fashion (going from “it’s a hoax” to “I always said it was a pandemic” in the
blink of an eye) began accessing the situation to see how he could profit from
the catastrophe all around him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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As early
predictions proved wrong and it became clear that the infection would not run
its course until well into 2021, Trump announced that the November election should
be postponed indefinitely until normality returned, probably in a year or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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This caused a major uproar—greater than anything Trump had
faced before (including his impeachment earlier in the year)!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Democrats were furious!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no authority in the Constitution to
alter the time of the election or to postpone it because of some problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s implied in the powers of the
presidency,” Trump and his experts replied, as Trump issued an executive order
declaring that the election would not proceed until further notice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of people, including some Republicans,
compared this to a coup—the destruction of the democracy itself in favor of a
dictatorship!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Donald pooh-poohed
these accusations, saying he was just a place maker for the winner of the
eventual election which would be held when possible at some unknown date in the
future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In spite of the virus riots
broke out, and the virus spread more rapidly, but Trump ramped up his own crowds
to a frenzy in favor of the plan, and, of course, as Commander in Chief he put
the military to work controlling the uproar and stifling dissent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It looked like he would have his way too, but then strange
things began to happen.</div>
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Donald Trump, once he was forced to believe in the virus, had
appointed Mike Pence, his VP, to run the administration’s response team, and
they both held many meetings and press conferences to determine and explain the
various measures being taken to combat the plague.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But unlike other countries doing the same
thing, who spaced their leaders out six feet apart in governmental gatherings,
Trump, Pence, and cohorts all clumped together around the podium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inevitably this meant that the virus, getting
hold of first one and then another, spread rapidly throughout the Trump
administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Donald Trump and
Mike Pence came down with it, and, sadly, both succumbed to the disease, Trump
dying first in early October, and Pence two days later (thus having the
shortest presidency in the history of the United States).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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By the terms of succession House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi was then sworn in as the 47<sup>th</sup> President of the United
States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She immediately declared that
the election would be held as usual, with provisions made for voting electronically.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Pelosi</td></tr>
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Things looked good for Joseph Biden at this point, but,
alas, he too contracted the virus and died just a week before the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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You may all remember how both parties scrambled to select candidates
at this late stage, and in the resulting mess the Democrats had to decide
between Biden’s VP choice, Elizabeth Warren, and Nancy Pelosi herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warren prevailed and, with only two days to
go, became the Democratic nominee for president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Republicans hastily named Ohio Governor
Mike DeWine (because DeWine had handled Ohio’s response to
the virus so admirably), and there was no time for accurate polling before the
actual election on Tuesday, November 3<sup>rd</sup>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, you all know how the election turned out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no one would have predicted that result
in March of 2020, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
swearing ceremony for the new president on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, when the
virus was still a major health threat to the nation, was conducted inside the White
House, televised, in front of a very small gathering of officials and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all stood six feet apart of course, and
Chief Justice Roberts swore the president in via Skype.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfpSZKXBoLrzqU1kLf-POGghIvfPkEW71pFKABKppHzg6NwksCLJIWKsYfoPp6SxzuLMAgo5GU-wt473NRbWkOva73Lq5sQ10jwH5BiFmOaWVt4HElEmfxxAs49Lt_yBAykTGcuiZPQk/s1600/5e207398b6d52d74a6529207.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfpSZKXBoLrzqU1kLf-POGghIvfPkEW71pFKABKppHzg6NwksCLJIWKsYfoPp6SxzuLMAgo5GU-wt473NRbWkOva73Lq5sQ10jwH5BiFmOaWVt4HElEmfxxAs49Lt_yBAykTGcuiZPQk/s320/5e207398b6d52d74a6529207.webp" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now I’m sure that we all, whatever our political party, wish
the president a successful term of office and hope that this virus subsides and
allows us to get back to normalcy once more. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At the very least the Trump era is over! [And also there is a popular proposed amendment to the United States Constitution currently working its way through Congress: from now on no one will be allowed to be sworn in as president who will be above age 70 as his/her term of office begins.]</div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</span></a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ten Years Ago I Had a Heart Transplant,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>November 25, 2019; </span><span style="color: #956839; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/11/10-years-ago-i-had-heart-transplant.html"><span style="color: blue;">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/11/10-years-ago-i-had-heart-transplant.html</span></a></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-836968958791296242020-02-27T19:38:00.000-05:002020-03-01T09:25:17.062-05:00What My Knees Have in Connection with Bernie Sanders' Candidacy<br />
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I retired from fulltime teaching in 2004 right before I
turned 60, and since then I’ve taught, typically, one law school course a
year. I have seven textbooks that I need
to keep up to date (and co-authors now on all of them, which was not true in
the beginning), and it helps to teach from these books and see what changes
time commands. </div>
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But last year and this I’ve taught two courses in the spring
semester, which is a full load for a faculty member, and I am now 76 years
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was easy 50 years ago (when,
of course, I was 26 and first started teaching law) is now problematic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last spring the two courses were spread over
four days, but this year they are both on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, one
at 10:30 in the morning for 50 minutes and the other (by coincidence in the
same classroom) at 1:30 in the afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My office is on the third floor, the classroom on the second, and the
elevator is on the opposite end of the large law school building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I enter the school on the side of
nearest my office, this means I climb up and down a lots of steps carrying a
heavy briefcase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I counted the
steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a typical day I ascend or
descend over 200 of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 76.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until you reach this age you can’t imagine
what that means, but, reader, your day will come.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last Wednesday (the third day of this weekly torture) just
as I returned to my office after the first class my knees informed me that they
were done for the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No you’re not!” I reprimanded them in a stern and
determined voice. “Oh, yes,” they
replied, very certain about this. “Just
sit for a couple of hours and we’ll be back with you.” “<i>Not an option, you sissies!</i>” Offended at this label they wisely shut up,
and when I called on them to get me up and down the stairs once again their
protest was expressed in mute pain. Not <i>call-the-hospita</i>l
pain, just <i>bitch-complain-swear</i> pain.
Leaving the afternoon classroom I took the long route via the elevator,
and the bitching didn’t lesson, nor did it increase. When I got home an alcoholic drink and then a warm bath after
helped a lot.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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What has this got to do with Bernie Sanders and his run for
the presidency, you might ask?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nah—of
course you can see it coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s two
years older than I am and he just had a heart attack last October.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things will be worse for him and get even
more alarming faster.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If it were just knees that wouldn’t be a big deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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It’s not just knees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the middle of the night recently the index toe on my right foot woke me up with a burning pain that had me hopping around the bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my entire life I had never had a single
thought that made me aware of the fact that I even have an index toe on my
right foot (as we all do) until it painfully demanded attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few minutes of hopping around the bedroom
(emitting words I learned in my early years in the Navy) and the toe relaxed back
into its usual quietude, though sometimes at night it will throb like a
plucked bass fiddle note, just to remind me of its fragility.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And then there are the strange pauses when I can’t remember
obvious things that are pushing to come out of my mouth—words and phrases I
have said all my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cover
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People (I think) don’t
notice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this isn’t going to get
better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the most part I can still do
the same exercise routine I’ve had all my life, eat well, say I’m fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things are good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really, really good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But they’re failing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All on a small level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this will
increase and increase and get harder and harder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have a heart that is only 37 years old
(see below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGY4r8f-EfcP_Fg-Foo6PlybQLHzIZzYlgISCRtbPZyO9XnQy6-L_7_y5gX5qMe_R0ptFI9AuPz_qzLoCIu7RZP1c4pq5ozgmrrNszxQfHQsxSfGR64Tu3kru32g3VDO4AUlHXCQoK9g/s1600/Bernie-Sanders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="645" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGY4r8f-EfcP_Fg-Foo6PlybQLHzIZzYlgISCRtbPZyO9XnQy6-L_7_y5gX5qMe_R0ptFI9AuPz_qzLoCIu7RZP1c4pq5ozgmrrNszxQfHQsxSfGR64Tu3kru32g3VDO4AUlHXCQoK9g/s320/Bernie-Sanders.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bernie has a 78 year old heart that had just needed repair,
and a 78 year old body that’s two years older than mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If elected president he will be 79 on the day
in 2021 when he’s sworn in, and turn 80 in September of that year, making him
by far the oldest man ever elected (Trump was 70 when sworn in). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2008 when Sen. John McCain ran for the
office he was 71, and he released more than 1,000 pages of medical records to
show he was cancer-free and fit to serve as president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bernie has refused to release more than a few
paragraphs from his doctors saying he’s fine—exactly the same non-information
that Trump provides from his lips-sewn-tight physician.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Bernie made it through all of the four
years of office he would be 83 as it ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCtlg85yPzhxVy7xuV2w8ss-wRvXhwDk2j5lKzWbH8cu62eVIkVfGSZjcGOUzEG1iFSb14LS-TuL7xeT3OddMd7qP2GnXa4TfnXfz1IPrA-mi6k3ZxrXDaRUI_HiucLQVEuOtQSAoMUs/s1600/image-placeholder-title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1200" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCtlg85yPzhxVy7xuV2w8ss-wRvXhwDk2j5lKzWbH8cu62eVIkVfGSZjcGOUzEG1iFSb14LS-TuL7xeT3OddMd7qP2GnXa4TfnXfz1IPrA-mi6k3ZxrXDaRUI_HiucLQVEuOtQSAoMUs/s200/image-placeholder-title.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woodrow Wilson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The presidency is a daily relentless grind on the individual who sits in the
Oval Office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is hard on the youngest
of presidents, and it is a nightmare for the oldest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke in October
of 1919 and his wife covered that up and did all the work until he <span class="e24kjd">retired from public office in 1921 (dying in 1924 at 67).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Franklin Roosevelt was stricken in his fourth
term and died early after it began; he was 63.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ronald Reagan, the oldest man ever elected prior to The Donald, was in
the early stages of dementia when he left office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actress Barbara Cook in her memoirs tells of
a dinner at the White House in his last year when he stood up and told a story
to the small intimate upstairs dinner crowd in which he commented, “If Nancy
were here she would tell you . . .” when she was sitting right at his side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="e24kjd">I think, and have always thought, that
Bernie Sanders is a very, very smart person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is dedicated, talented, and wants the best for the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the man has faults that give me
pause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he ran in 2016 I detailed
them and what follows is a recap of that post (cited below).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="e24kjd"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why
won’t I support Bernie Sanders in spite of my admiration for his
positions? Let me give you a list. Any one of these things alone
would not be enough to keep him from being a strong candidate, but cumulatively
they make his nomination a very, very risky proposition. Here’s the list:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He’s
an announced Socialist.</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Yes, I know that he’s a
“democratic socialist,” a far cry from the basics of Marxism and communism, and
that all the term really means is that he favors solving problems through the government,
with his announced model being the Scandinavian countries. But the term
“socialist” has been mingled with “communist” for so long that to many voters
subtle distinctions are lost and what they hear leads to images in their heads
like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gXeZKPmD_jUkE17XGXIAKHXnfIntpz9tar-dTGckvtLYKtJDtMJG2opaKXz8IplBXvouj9tb8R7_0jT0HBZMcFQ0XaX2UK89rQ9OklKL6QY4ihyphenhyphenJ9l37Y_WmPJHAdeHRTZoEeCSaboA/s1600/bernie-sanders-socialism-and-communism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gXeZKPmD_jUkE17XGXIAKHXnfIntpz9tar-dTGckvtLYKtJDtMJG2opaKXz8IplBXvouj9tb8R7_0jT0HBZMcFQ0XaX2UK89rQ9OklKL6QY4ihyphenhyphenJ9l37Y_WmPJHAdeHRTZoEeCSaboA/s320/bernie-sanders-socialism-and-communism.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Republicans and others are going to run political ads that will be brutal in
linking Bernie to communism and the public will be scared by them. It's not going to help that as a youth he once actually joined the Communist Party, and that he and his wife honeymooned in Moscow when it was the capital of the Soviet Union.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even
if the voters learn, in large numbers, what socialism is, they then will be
told by the opposition that funding socialized programs will cost them a great
deal more in taxes. While the USA when he first ran had a top marginal tax rate of
41%, Denmark was at 60.2%, Sweden 56.6%, the Netherlands 52%, Finland 49%
(although, surprisingly Norway was lower than the USA at 40%!). Bernie
will tell voters that this rise in taxes can be paid for by taxing the wealthy
and (at last!) making them pay their fair share, but, alas, that depends on the
cooperation of Congress (at which point we all laugh loudly). Actually I’m
in favor of universal health care, but I can’t imagine that anyone can get it
passed in today’s political climate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Electing a socialist
President of the United States is no small step. It is a major
change—Bernie himself is calling for a “revolution”—and lots of voters will
stick to the devil they know rather than the devil they don’t. Bernie doesn't help himself with politically stupid remarks. Recently he praised Cuba's Castro for bringing literacy to his people. That's right, but that's not all that Castro brought and that praise of Castro was politically damning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.
He’s too old. </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If elected, President Bernard
Sanders will be take the oath of office in January of 2021, the year that he
turns 80 (he’ll be 79 the day he’s sworn in), making him the oldest person ever
to enter that high position (Trump was 70, turning 71 in June after being sworn
in to his first term). He’s just recently had a heart attack, and two
stents were inserted into his heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
was shortly back on the campaign trail, swearing he feels fine and has no
further health issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He promised to
release all of his health records but has recently changed his mind and refused
to do so. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m 76 and I know that my
health records will show all sorts of things reflecting the usual problems of
my age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had major heart troubles of my
own, solving them only by having a 27 year old heart inserted into my body in
place of the original failing one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bernie
has a heart about to turn 79 in September.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will get worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Vice
President stands an excellent change of finishing his term, so he’d better
choose wisely as to who it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.
Bernie doesn’t play well with others. </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In an article entitled “The
Trouble With Bernie,” <a href="http://lansingcitypulse.com/article-12189-the-trouble-with-bernie.html">http://lansingcitypulse.com/article-12189-the-trouble-with-bernie.html</a>,
author Mickey Hirten, who agrees with almost all of Bernie’s positions on the
issues, says that he would make an awful president based on what those
Vermonters who’ve had to work with him in the past experienced. Hirten
was the editor of the <i>Burlington Free Press</i> when Bernie lived in
Burlington and was the state’s only congressman. He dealt with him on a
regular basis. Hirten comments:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Considering
that the Free Press' editorial positions were very liberal, reflecting the
nature of a very liberal Vermont community, one might think that meetings with
Sanders were cordial, even celebratory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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They weren't. Sanders was always full of himself: pious, self-righteous and
utterly humorless. Burdened by the cross of his socialist crusade, he was a
scold whose counter-culture moralizing appealed to the state's liberal
sensibilities as well as its conservatives, who embraced his gun ownership
stance, his defense of individual rights, an antipathy toward big corporations
and, generally speaking, his stick-it-to-them approach to politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hirten
quotes others who know Bernie. Chris Graf, long-time Associated Press
bureau chief in Vermont: “Bernie has no social skills, no sense of humor, and
he's quick to boil over. He's the most unpolitical person in politics I've ever
come across.” A Vermont weekly spoke with Bernie’s former staff members
and reported that “They characterize the senator as rude, short-tempered and,
occasionally, downright hostile. Though Sanders has spent much of his life
fighting for working Vermonters, they say he mistreats the people working for
him.” Steve Rosenfeld, Sanders' press secretary during his 1990 House
campaign, is quoted as adding: “At his worst, he falls prey to his own
emotions, is unable to practice what he preaches (though he would believe
otherwise) and exudes a contempt for those he derides, including his staff.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
a <i>Time Magazine</i> column political writer Joe Klein had this to say
concerning Bernie’s comment about Hillary’s “damn emails” during the first 2016
Democratic debate: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If
you kept the Brooklyn accent and replaced “emails” with “bunions” or
“heartburn” or “kishkes” (Yiddish for intestines), you could have been
eavesdropping at any given Thanksgiving dinner of my youth. All Jews have
an Uncle Bernie . . . . [H]e was a humorless Old Testament Jeremiah, not the sort
of person you’d want holding forth in your living room for State of the Union
addresses or declarations of war. He barely smiled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.
He has no sense of humor. </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Klein just noted and
others quoted above agreed, Bernie has no sense of humor. His attempts at
showing otherwise, appearing on Ellen DeGeneres’s TV show and trying hard to
joke, are painful to watch. Imagine a President of the United States who
grumps his way through his job and you see how such an attitude can be a major
flaw. Frankly, this is a deal breaker for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5.
He’s Jewish. </span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think the American People are
ready, or at least almost ready, for a Jewish president, but he/she had better
be personable and charming or it’s a no go. Bernie is not that attractive
candidate (which is a shame given that Jews typically have a terrific sense of
humor). Sadly, there is still much anti-Semitism in this country,
probably more than even polls can reveal. In a close race the percentage
of the population who would refuse to pull the lever simply because a qualified
candidate is Jewish might be enough to swing the election the other way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll Lose the House and the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Currently the House is
Democratic and the Senate Republican.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
Bernie has no “coattails” and the enthusiasm for him does not translate as
enthusiasm for all the moderate Democrats trying to retain (or gain) house
seat, and the major number Democrats will need to get a majority in the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if Bernie squeaks by and is elected
president he will likely face a hostile Republican Congress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing he proposes will get enacted during
his presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mitch McConnell will
continue to block movement in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi will no longer be the
Speaker in the House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four years of
stagnation awaits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Summing
up, my knees (three years younger than Bernie’s knees) tell me that Bernie is a
bad choice as the Democratic nominee for president this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you like his policies Liz Warren is much
younger (six years younger than I am—she’s just 70), has a terrific sense of
humor (she’s an old friend of mine), and she would certainly have coattails
(women would flock to the poles to vote for her).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mayor Pete is an excellent choice too, though
he’s so young and does have the political problem of trying to convince the
American people to elect a gay man (see post link below).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
Bernie?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorry, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smart guy, but that would be a mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take it from my knees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Ten Years Ago I Have a Heart Transplant,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>November 25, 2019; </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/11/10-years-ago-i-had-heart-transplant.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/11/10-years-ago-i-had-heart-transplant.html</a>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Gay President in 2021?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>April 29, 2019, </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-gay-president-in-2021.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-gay-president-in-2021.html</a>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-13634977539281749272020-01-31T15:27:00.000-05:002020-02-01T12:33:42.947-05:00Another New Play of Mine Will Be Professionally Produced in April<br />
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My play “The Turkey Men” (see Related Posts below) was a
surprising success in the professional production it was given at Evolution
Theatre here in Columbus this past October, selling more tickets than any play
had ever done at Evolution (though four musicals had outsold it). Recently “The Turkey Men” was nominated for a
Theatre Roundtable Award as Best Play of the Year here in Columbus, and it is
now being considered for performance in other cities. Since it was the first play I’ve ever written
I assumed it was once-off event in my life, but that has proven wrong.</div>
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Evolution, which is the Columbus LGBTQ+ theater, announced
that its 2020 season would begin with a Local Playwrights Festival of short
plays, and submissions for a gay plays with governmental or political content
were invited by January 1, 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
plays were to be one act in length, with four of them then to be chosen for
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark Phillips Schwamberger,
the Artistic Director of Evolution (and the power that keeps it going) told me
that there were 20+ plays submitted for the four slots.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hadn’t meant to submit a play, but I got to thinking about
a recent post I had placed on my blog about gay rights in the Trump era; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/08/gay-rights-in-trump-era-bad-and-good.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/08/gay-rights-in-trump-era-bad-and-good.html</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it I had this to say about the issue of
whether the Supreme Court would likely change its mind and get rid of gay
marriage:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
about gay marriage in the Trump era?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
it likely to be dumped?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are safe on this one, and I’ll bet big
money on this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See me if you want to
make such a bet and we’ll negotiate the terms.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why
am I so confident?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the United
States (and much of the world) has now had years of gay marriage and it’s all
gone very well, producing almost no downsides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Millions of gay weddings have taken place and millions more are
happening every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been
remarkably good for the economy (look up the figures on the internet—they are
staggering—billions of dollars made each year from such unions).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having gay couples legally married creates
stability: gays who can get married show those around them that they're no
different than straight couples---they are not just two queers pretending to be
something they're not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poll numbers show
that gay marriage is overwhelmingly popular with the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost everyone in this country knows gay
people who are married, and most straight people have been invited to gay
weddings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This includes members of the United
States Supreme Court, all of whom are likely to have gay family members and
other family members supporting those gays closely watching the Justices with
steady eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover
<i>Obergefell v</i>. <i>Hodges</i>, the case stating gay marriage was mandated
by the Fourteenth Amendment, was decided in 2015 and four years later it has
produced what is uniformly considered a happy result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, as lawyers say, a “settled
precedent.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States Supreme
Court is loath to overturn its precedents and rarely does so on big cases like
this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chief Justice Roberts is
steadfast on convincing the country that the Court is not a political animal
and changes in the personnel do not lead to overturning decided matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the Justices will have no appetite
for revisiting <i>Obergefell v</i>. <i>Hodges.</i></span><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
occurred to me that there might be a play about the Supreme Court and the
possibility of the Court dumping gay marriage if the right case were to come up
in the near future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a play would
meet the criteria for the Local Playwrights Festival: gays and the
government/political issues of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
began to think about what the debate between the Justices might sound like and
how it might be resolved and to my surprise I soon had a fifteen minute play to
submit to Evolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is called “Wrong
When Decided.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my play a new Justice on the
Court has recently sat through the oral arguments in a new case about
overturning <i>Obergefell v</i>. <i>Hodges</i>, and today the Court will
convene in private conference to vote and decide the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The play takes place in the office of that
Justice who is visited by an older member of the Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wants recent appointee not only to vote to
overturn <i>Obergefell </i>but also to write the opinion of the Court and in it
make the extraordinary statement that <i>Obergefell</i> was “wrong when
decided.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Court only renders that
harsh judgment about prior cases when it is ashamed of the original ruling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Examples?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Brown v. Board of Education</i> overruled <i>Plessey v. Ferguson</i>,
which had allowed “separate but equal” racial segregation of children in
schools, holding that <i>Plessey</i> was wrong when decided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Chief Justice Roberts stated in <i>Trump
v. Hawaii</i> that <i>Korematsu v. United States </i>was<i> </i>wrong when it
decided that it was constitutional during World War II to throw American
citizens into concentration camps just because they were Japanese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should the Court now say the same thing about
<i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Obergefell</span></i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The discussion these two Justices
have about all this is the meat of my play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As to how it comes out you will, of course, have to buy a ticket and
come see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Local Playwrights Festival
at Evolution Theatre Company will run April 15 through April 25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The website is <a href="https://www.evolutiontheatre.org/">https://www.evolutiontheatre.org/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of course I was delighted when “Wrong
When Decided” was selected as one of the four plays to be performed as part of
the Festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I am a playwright
after all, which is quite a surprise this late in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have now read the other three plays that
will also be performed in the Festival and they are all splendid!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two of them are very funny and the other,
like mine, is fairly serious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
the audiences will be impressed with them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I can only hope my 15 minute effort will meet the same standard as the
three other terrific plays.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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“My Play ‘The Turkey Men’ Is a Hit!” October 22, 2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-play-turkey-men-is-hit.html</a>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-60252810656897074562019-12-16T17:01:00.001-05:002019-12-17T16:03:11.927-05:00Everyone Should Read Anonymous’s “A Warning”—An Insider’s Look at Trump’s White House<br />
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“A Warning,” is a best-selling book is written by an anonymous
member of Trump’s inner circle, and all Americans should read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author particularly aims the book at fellow
Republicans and asks them to look at it carefully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to second that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymous, who recently promised on Reddit to reveal his/her
identity soon, has been one of the members of the Trump White house since the
2016 election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He/she wrote an anonymous
op-ed article for The New York Times editorial page in September of last
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was entitled "I Am Part of
the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” and said that while Trump
himself is out of control there are members of his administration working hard
to restrain his worst impulses and keep the country from disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It finished by comforting readers with the thought that “adults
are in the room.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The article made Trump
furious, demanding the name of the author from The New York Times, which
refused to cooperate.<br />
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In this new book Anonymous retracts that closing statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He/she says that no one is able to control
Trump any longer and those who were doing so are now mostly gone. Indeed, he/she
chronicles the short political lives of anyone who comes to work for Donald
Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the office of Chief of Staff or
National Security Advisor the president has a rapidly revolving door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point Anonymous states that the Chief
of Staff position is “usually the most coveted and powerful staff job in Washington”
but not under Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one who is really
qualified wants it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Trump’s children
are his chiefs of staff.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New appointees
for any White House position are often advised by those in the know to write
their resignation letter <i>ahead</i> of time because “you may need it at a
moment’s notice.”<o:p></o:p><br />
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The book gives numerous examples of Trump bragging about his
intelligence and knowledge, immediately followed by terrifying examples of his
constant failure to understand what is going on, combined with confusion about basic
facts most people know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas Trump, in
his own mind, cannot be wrong, so chaos reigns in situation after
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The president doesn’t read <i>anything</i>
(certainly not books—“The Art of the Deal” was ghost written completely by its
coauthor who is not certain that Trump has ever done more than skim it).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Briefings, therefore, on important matters
cannot be on paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Position papers will
be thrown back across the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead
the president wants simple pictorials in the form of charts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore he cannot be presented with <i>multiple</i>
new ideas—only one at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor more
than one choice at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
must be kept very simple or he loses interest and ends the meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump is constantly revealing surprise about
things world leaders are expected to know long before they take office. And Anonymous
has many examples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[I just read that when
the military recently showed Trump a map of Korea he was astounded that Seoul,
the capital of South Korea, is only 30 miles south of the DMZ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They’ll have to move it!” he told his
generals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first they though he was
kidding, but he repeated it even louder.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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Many of Trump’s directives are simply ignored by his staff
because of their impracticability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
book gives multiple examples such as Trump directing a foreign leader be told
that “we’re done dealing” with that nation because of something that was said,
or that a television commentator be scolded for daring to demonize our glorious
leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump forgets things overnight
and that is often for the best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymous has chapters devoted to staff trying to stop or
correct or hide Trump’s mistakes or misdeeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All of this, both terrifying and depressing, is detailed for the
reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am no fan of Trump, and little
of this surprises me, but I’d never seen how it looks from backstage, so to
speak, and how blatant and scary it is when seen up close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then why would I keep reading?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, it’s like a car wreck, or a badly infected big toe: it’s
impossible to look away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Trump has major trouble getting along with anyone who is not
a sycophant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus he started with a fine
opinion of the military, appointing a large number of generals to posts, but
cooled on that when they opposed many of the things he wanted to do (like pull
all our troops out of South Korea).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Late
in his first term he has solved the problem of disagreements with the military
by just ignoring them. Leaving them out of decisions entirely: suddenly pulling
troops out of Syria, cozying up to dictators no one else in the free world
trusts, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Congress and the
courts are no longer thought important by the president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congress won’t do what he wants so he spurns
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The courts overturn his decisions
and so he fumes “Why do we need courts anyway?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Trump seems to think that he can do anything by simply issuing an <i>executive
order</i>, even if doing so would violate a statute or (in more than one case)
the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dictators can rule by fiat—he should be able to do so as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his own mind Trump thinks like a king and is
annoyed that others don’t see him in that same light.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The president does not like to deal with federal employees
(the “deep state”) so he doesn’t want to hear their opinions, or ask them for
advice, or even have them at important meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only his appointed politicos are welcome to
attend, and note-taking is discouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thus vital matters are conducted without sufficient information or
current intelligence, and chaos results from the resulting presidential announcements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said above, Anonymous now retreats from his/her assurance
in the 2018 op-ed piece that there are “adults in the room.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those original advisors are mostly gone (Anonymous
is one of the few left) and only Trump appointees who know how to nod their
heads up and down on cue are left.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In foreign matters Trump is drawn to dictators, who Anonymous
says Trump longs to imitate. At the same time Trump is contemptuous of the democratic
leaders of the free world, whom he has alienated steadily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no small matter: it’s dumping our
friends and climbing into bed with the bullies of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scary to predict the results here, but Anonymous
explores the possibilities in great detail.<br />
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Anonymous, a Republican, then takes on the Republican party
for accepting all of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He/she particularly
goes after Republicans who were once sworn enemies of Trump the candidate (Ted Cruz,
Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan, etc.) but now lick his boots with the
best of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The party should have more
pride, Anonymous argues, more backbone, following that up with a history of the
Republican party and reasons why it should restore itself as the “Grand Old Party”
of yesteryear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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In the end Anonymous makes a plea to us all: to the
Republicans not to reelect Trump, to the Democrats not to nominate someone who
is so far Left that the public will not support him/her, and to the American
people to come to their senses and wrest back control of the nation from a man who
thinks he’s the greatest leader in history but behaves like a spoiled child somehow
in charge of the family.</div>
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Since Anonymous’s book was published (and immediately
climbed to the top of the New York Times non-fiction best seller list) the author
has been relentlessly attacked as a coward who lobs bombs from a hiding place
and avoids cross examination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is certainly
something to that, and Anonymous will have to deal with it all when he/she
finally drops the mask (and leaves the administration).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s surely in the immediate future, but
doesn’t lessen the current important message.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the meantime, read the book. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Oh</i>,” you reply, “I <i>know</i> all of
this and don’t need to hear it again.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is more than merely a
rehash of Trump’s misdeeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a well-written,
detailed, insider’s look at Trump in the closed meetings, and the assessment of
a true historian (Anonymous fills the book with references from Marcus Aurelius
to the founding fathers, and more) written with great intelligence and
wonderful phraseology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned a great
deal from reading it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It still keeps me
up at night if I let myself think about the specifics.<o:p></o:p></div>
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You should read “A Warning” too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter who you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do it soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s important.<o:p></o:p></div>
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----------------------- <o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“Comparing Donald Trump to a Badly Infected Big Toe,” August
3, 2016; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/08/comparing-donald-trump-to-badly_3.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/08/comparing-donald-trump-to-badly_3.html</a>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-60528155829259996402019-11-25T15:02:00.001-05:002019-11-26T12:46:56.428-05:0010 Years Ago I Had a Heart Transplant!<br />
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Last Saturday, November 23<sup>rd</sup>, was the tenth
anniversary of my heart transplant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
told this story before on this blog, so this will be a recap of those posts
with some added details and updates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
whole experience has been like science fiction. I keep thinking the more
time that passes since this miracle occurred will make it seem common
place to me, but no. It still fills me with a wonder that is growing instead of
decreasing. What an amazing world we inhabit in the 21st century.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Off and on I'd had an irregular heartbeat all my life, as
had my mother. I'd assumed this was fairly common, but I was wrong. A
cardiologist later told me that only about one percent of humans have such a
problem. It never seemed to bother me much. When working out with weights, for
example, if my heart became too erratic, I'd simply pause for a minute or so
until it kicked back into a more normal rhythm. Whaleys are famous for ignoring
important symptoms by rationalizing them away, a trait that’s killed more than
one of us.<br />
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I had had a failing heart since 1999 when I developed atrial fibrillation and
an enlarged heart. For the next ten years I was treated by a cardiologist at
Ohio State University’s Ross Heart Hospital, and it was clear that I was on my way out. In January of 2009 I qualified for the heart transplant list, but
because I was still able to get out and about, I was not high on the list. As
recently as October I was told that the transplant would likely take place in
2010 (if it happened at all----people die on this list), perhaps in the spring.</div>
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It is one thing intellectually to think you are getting a heart transplant in
2010, and quite another in 2009 to have this 10:30 a.m. phone call (I was working at the
computer) on Nov. 23rd: “Mr. Whaley, we have a heart for you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, readers, <i>that was the most startling sentence I’ve ever heard in my life</i>, and
my old heart started thumping in my chest as if it weren’t going to wait for
the transplant but instead escape immediately, say through the throat. It was one thing to think “next year” and another
to realize that <b>TODAY</b>—<i>stay with me here</i>—<b>they were going to <i>cut
open my chest</i>!!! They were going to cut out my <i>heart</i>!!! AND they were going to insert the <i>heart of a stranger</i>!!!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
midnight I had a new heart and eight days later I was home. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Modern
medicine works miracles so casually sometimes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The surgeon who performed the operation that evening was Dr.
Sun, called by the staff “our rock star,” who last September had done a
transplant in two hours! (The normal one takes five or more hours). The heart
they put in had come from Riverside Hospital, which is just around the corner
from Ohio State's Ross Heart Hospital (which was good since hearts can come from as far away
as New York). Dr. Sun was amazed that when the new heart was inserted and connected
up it started beating as the blood flow was introduced without any outside stimulation,
which is rare. But this 27 year old heart recognized what was happening right
away <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“Oh, <i>blood</i>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just what I need!”), and it has continued to
beat steadily for over ten years now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
surgeon who fetched it from Riverside came by days later and told me that when
he first saw it, he thought "that is a beautiful heart." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since a heart is just a muscle (and thus gets
bigger if forced to work harder) I was floored, but not surprised, to learn from a nurse who
watched the operation that my old heart was three times larger than the one that
replaced it!<o:p></o:p></div>
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When, after midnight, I awoke from the operation I was
surrounded by nurses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mouth was
filled with tubes and other medical items so I couldn’t talk, and I could feel the
new heart beating steadily inside me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The nurses were telling me to calm down and I wanted to do that, but I
realized that the catheter that had been inserted into my penis was about to
fall out and I would pee all over everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I tried to convey this information, only to be told again (and louder)
to calm down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried charades as a
gambit but the nurses were not concentrating (and I missed Lorri Latek, my
chosen sister, who is the queen of charades—she would have picked up on the
issue immediately).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An eruption of urine
solved the problem (though it created a minor new one) and things were quickly under
control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nurses were terrific at getting me back to normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day
I was eating, walking around, and behaving much as usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exercises started, stairs were introduced
into the regimen, friends came to visit, and, as I said, I went home on the eighth day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I later told the medical miracle-workers who had done all of
this that surely what they routinely do is the <i>best kind of medical practice</i>:
their patients come to them dying and leave perfectly healthy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professionally it can’t get any better than
that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Much happened to me following the transplant of course, and
my blog is filled with those stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They tell of me missing my own New Year’s Eve party that year because I was
back in the hospital with an infection, learning who my donor was (see below),
nearly dying in 2011 from a change in medication that caused my kidneys to fail
and my weight to drop to 152, and then of regaining my health completely so that
now, at age 76, I am in wonderful condition, working out regularly, married to
a terrific man who takes good care of me, and, oh, so much more, like writing my first play that was given a professional production just last month!<o:p></o:p><br />
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Many thanks to the wonderful medical team (doctors, nurses,
staff) who have cared for me so very well through all of this, and to my terrific
family and friends who have had my back for so very long, and especially to David
Vargo, my husband of seven years, who is ever my rock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Now, readers, look at this haunting picture:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also reflect today on the life of
Andrew Partsch, the 27 year-old doctoral student in Philosophy at Ohio State,
whose tragic death on November 22, 2009, permitted me to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the photo he is shown cleaning up after
cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for his family and friends in 2008; he did not
live to see Thanksgiving of the next year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a
day goes by but I think of him with gratitude for his heart and with sadness at
his death (four people received five of his organs, and multiple others were
given tissue transplants!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've become
friends with his wonderful mother and stepfather, and my heart goes out to them
and all his family on this, for them, sad day of remembrance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>Now let's see if I can make it to the twentieth anniversary of this transplant in 2029. That's my new goal.</o:p></span></div>
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------------------------------ <o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“A
Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-6929892196347249472019-10-22T15:58:00.001-04:002019-10-23T13:42:11.776-04:00My Play “The Turkey Men” Is a Hit!<br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well,
it’s happened!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Turkey Men” has opened
and the reviews are in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The biggest one
is from the Columbus Dispatch, and it is reprinted below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other online reviews are similar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On Facebook playwright Jonathan Hole said:</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 115%;">Last night, the first
preview of The Turkey Men by </span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?douglas.whaley.3&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">Douglas Whaley</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> at Evolution Theatre Company- it is fantastic in every
sense of the word- when I first heard the premise I thought "how is that
going to work?" and last night learned the answer- beautifully. I love
stories that connect the past and present and Douglas has written a unique one
that made the audience last night cheer. Director David </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?david.vargo1&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">David Allen
Vargo</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> and a
terrific cast,</span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?loretta.b.cannon&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">Loretta Beth
Cannon</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, Fia Friend, </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?james.j.harper&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">James Harper</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?jonathan.putnam.31&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">Jonathan Putnam</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, and </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/n/?ross.shirley.5&aref=1571313590220827&medium=email&mid=59519aaca3549G5af33471756aG59519f460381bG52&bcode=2.1571342394.Abwuej38G3YaGIy23Ss&n_m=dglswhaley%40aol.com" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #3b5998;">Ross Shirley</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #141823;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> are a playwright's dream. Leaving last night I said
hello to someone and without missing a beat they responded "what a great
show!" and I wholeheartedly agree. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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On
October 17<sup>th</sup> Sheldon Gleisser posted this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Saw Evolution Theatre's production
of "The Turkey Men" last night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"The Turkey Men" is an
original work by local playwright Douglas Whaley. It's about a young woman,
Logan Hendricks (Fia Friend) taken against her will (with her parent's
consent!) to an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. There, a couple of
Christian "de-programmers," Micah and Bethany (Jonathan Putnam and
Lori Cannon) attempt to turn her same-sex attraction to sanctified
heterosexuality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But the farmhouse is not entirely
uninhabited. Alex and Webster (Ross Shirley and James Harper), two gay men in a
very committed relationship, have been there for quite some time. I mean like,
since the Civil War? They aren't ghosts, at least not exactly, but they do
haunt the place very much, and not in a nice way, at least not for Micah and
Bethany.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As Alex and Webster, Ross Shirley
and James Harper are as easy and comfortable with each other as a pair of old
shoes. They have our sympathies right from the get-go with their wry senses of
humor and obvious ease with one another, both amazed at those new-fangled
electric lights.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As Logan, Fia Friend is at once
sympathetic, as befits someone who spends most of the story tied, chained, and
shock-collared. She grows more endearing as the story goes on, showing both
spunk and vulnerability, the lesbian daughter you wish you had.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It's possible that the most
difficult roles go to Jonathan Putnam and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/loretta.b.cannon?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARCFtPvsSubKKkH15dli3UOohHNwQHLUvabVT7t3-AStdlWGOxSpNSWJgLrEROsqdj5CjQSArORkydCP&fref=mentions" title="Loretta Beth Cannon"><span style="color: blue;">Loretta Beth Cannon</span></a>
as the Christan de-programmers. They should be just about completely
unsympathetic, but both Putnam and Cannon are able to mine the characters for
their rather frightening humanity. What kind of person does what they're doing?
Abused children grown up, is playwright Whaley's answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Director <a href="https://www.facebook.com/david.vargo1?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARAR22fNQYz_V2odHkKNLcw6V2QHYgx_qafIKIqd0w4cZGXwlDSCHAL7iI2tSVXSQl-HFkRcTxrkNqw_&fref=mentions" title="David Allen Vargo"><span style="color: blue;">David Allen Vargo</span></a>
keeps things moving at a brisk pace but gives all of his actors lots of room to
breathe. I had a film teacher who once told me "If you want to act, you
don't necessarily need to direct, but if you want to direct, you HAVE to do
some acting, it doesn't matter if you play the third spear carrier from the
left, get out there and get some parts." <o:p></o:p></div>
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I don't know if this is the first
play Mr. Vargo has directed, but he has proven my film teacher correct, even
while playing much more than the third spear carrier from the left. Vargo's
many onstage roles include those in "Chappati," "Sordid
Lives," and a memorable turn as Charles Dickens at Red Herring Theater.
All that acting has given him a very sure hand as a director. I hope to see
more directing work from him in the future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kat Wexler's set design is
beautifully and suitably shabby and Michael Bynes' set construction is
excellent. Caroline Dittamo's lighting design, and Sue Rapier's sound, both of
which include a certain amount of special effects, greatly contributes to the
play's cheerful other-worldliness.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It occurred to me while driving home
that "The Turkey Men" may be about a child caught in a tug of war
between two competing sets of parents, one accepting and the other not. The
first and best set harkens back to some truly bad old days for minority rights.
Despite this, Alex and Webster have managed, in their way, to both survive and
thrive. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The other set of parents is more
troubling, because they were born at an arguably better time. Given the right
set of circumstances--and a little more toleration both internal and
external--Micah and Bethany might have found at least enough happiness to keep
from exporting their misery to others.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"The Turkey Men" lies
somewhere between "Topper" and the work of the late Larry Shue
("The Foreignor," "The Nerd"). It is playing from October
17-26 at the Columbus Peforming Arts Center's Van Fleet Theater. I say saw off
that shock collar and check it out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="background-color: white;">Here is what the Columbus Dispatch put online:</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Theater
review | ‘The Turkey Men:’ Supernatural drama offers enough intrigue and nifty
effects to become a hit</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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By Michael Grossberg For The Columbus Dispatch</div>
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<span class="article-meta-date"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Posted
Oct 18, 2019 at 10:32 PM</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Two blithe spirits come to endearing life in “The
Turkey Men,” a clever new haunted-house tale informed and inspired by gay
history and American progress.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Evolution Theatre Company is ending its 2019 season
on a felicitous and ingenious note with the well-cast, well-paced world
premiere, which opened Friday at the Columbus Performing Arts Center.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Columbus playwright Douglas Whaley blends
supernatural drama, romance, tragedy and even bits of comedy, music and science
fiction in his entertaining play.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A lot of exposition is required to set up the
scenario, but Whaley and director David Allen Vargo weave it in pretty well
amid engaging characterizations that help make the explanations more plausible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One can’t easily summarize the somewhat contrived
premise of the plot, nor should later twists be revealed without undermining the
nominal amount of suspense in what’s ultimately a predictable morality play
within a more-satisfying romantic drama.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Suffice to say that the story, set in 2016 in the
dilapidated farmhouse of an abandoned turkey farm, revolves around two
ex-soldiers from the Civil War era, now largely ghosts who face a difficult
decision when three unexpected visitors arrive: a frightened lesbian teenager
and an older man and woman who seemingly have kidnapped her but actually have
taken her at the request of her concerned parents.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The turkey men, still reveling in what must be the
longest sustained gay relationship imaginable, want to help the girl after
witnessing her treatment by the religious fundamentalists, who seem hell-bent
to “pray away the gay.“</div>
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Vargo’s strong direction bolstered fine performances by the five-member cast at
Wednesday’s preview.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet, two performances are pivotal in defining the
emotional core of the story: the admirable relationship between Webster
Randolph Carter III, a Tennessee country boy whipped to near-death as an
adolescent by his father when discovered with another guy; and Alexander Small,
Northerner who met Web when he became a military prisoner during the Civil War.<o:p></o:p></div>
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James Harper brings an old-fashioned masculinity
alloyed with tenderness and a stoic code of reserve to Web, while Ross Shirley
adds courtly charm, good humor and intuition to empathetic Alexander.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Together, Harper and Shirley forge a rich chemistry
and intimacy that beautifully evoke their characters’ storied history.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The actors ground their roles further in a bygone
era by speaking in rich regional accents with faintly anachronistic rhythms
that implicitly unite their shared sensibilities as 19th-century gentlemen of
honor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fia Friend is convincingly contemporary as
questioning teenager Logan Hendricks, betrayed by her parents but confident of
her newfound sexuality. As the poor abused Cinderella to the gay couple’s
veritable fairy godfathers, Friend projects the requisite distress and
hesitancy without veering into melodrama.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The two trickiest roles are underwritten, but
veteran central Ohio actors Lori Cannon and Jonathan Putnam deepen what might
in lesser hands come across as one-dimensional villainy.<br />
As devout but misguided Christians Bethany and Micah, Cannon and Putnam
gradually expose psyches damaged by a painful history of repression and abuse.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ironically, and part of Whaley’s editorial theme,
the 170-year-old couple turn out to be far more modern and enlightened than the
2016 couple, who might have been more plausible if placed within the 1950s.</div>
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Regarding the more ghostly manifestations and revelations of this nifty
production, perhaps it’s better to adopt a policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yet, with its supernatural aspects brought out
effectively by Caroline Dittamo’s shifting lighting and Vargo’s sound design on
Kat Wexler’s antique haunted-house set, this deft production seems ripe with
potential to become a Halloween-season hit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Bobby
Jones created a nifty video about the show which he posted on YouTube at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SusL5Inl4w&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3hhNxD4G63HJt4epnjh65Arz3lg8snFbn2VbwRRxwXgkPT_CNAAvih9UE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SusL5Inl4w&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3hhNxD4G63HJt4epnjh65Arz3lg8snFbn2VbwRRxwXgkPT_CNAAvih9UE</a>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
husband, David Allen Vargo, who directed the show, and I were interviewed on WOSU
NPR broadcast about the play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That interview
can be found at </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mmupfuU2-Ec2BWRlBf0cpNv8wbKAggVT">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mmupfuU2-Ec2BWRlBf0cpNv8wbKAggVT</a>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Happily,
Facebook has spread the word about the show and already there have been
preliminary nibbles about possible productions in Florida and Indiana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone who has connections in their city with
a theater that might be interested can contact me at <a href="mailto:dglswhaley@aol.com">dglswhaley@aol.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is all very overwhelming to David and myself We can be counted as among the
happiest people on the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
thanks to Evolution Theatre (and particularly Mark Phillip Schwamberger, the
Artistic Director), the talented cast and crew, and the wonderful audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are three more performance this coming Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday; <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>information at <a href="http://www.evolutiontheatre.org/">http://www.evolutiontheatre.org/</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaj2z3uLlJvbmjO1iNmV3yOwn61iy04WaDXmW8p5sNUKAIyYGUPUlVcj0xLRKg3ZrAWkJpKv4R_cAL_eM3fWe_mA2FKL0BjIuz7gqx4z9u0q7DUO__0x9GPMaYAn8EFDzi3oMSjeSpTs/s1600/cast+and+crew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaj2z3uLlJvbmjO1iNmV3yOwn61iy04WaDXmW8p5sNUKAIyYGUPUlVcj0xLRKg3ZrAWkJpKv4R_cAL_eM3fWe_mA2FKL0BjIuz7gqx4z9u0q7DUO__0x9GPMaYAn8EFDzi3oMSjeSpTs/s400/cast+and+crew.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cast and Crew</td></tr>
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dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-66774704148493490822019-10-16T14:11:00.001-04:002019-10-16T14:33:27.276-04:00One Million Pageviews for My Blog Has Been Reached This Week! <br />
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In
November of 2009 I had a heart transplant and (as is required by law whenever
anyone has a major event of this magnitude) I started writing a blog
the following month. Now, ten years
later, my blog has reached the milestone of having attracted over one million pageviews
in that period. I am very
pleased with that.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My blog
posts are all little essays on varied topics from personal stories to advice/lectures/warnings
on a multitude of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The blog has attracted fans all over the globe, totaling to over 170 different countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The emails I get and/or the comments appended
to the various posts are fascinating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They run from praise to condemnation, corrections, suggestions on new
things to address, and occasional stories that tell me how the posts affected
lives.<b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Of course<b> </b>I’ve
written posts about the history of this blog in the past:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>“</b>The
Second Anniversary of This Blog: Greetings to the Planet Earth<b>,”</b>
December 17, 2011<b>; <span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/12/second-anniversary-of-this-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/12/second-anniversary-of-this-blog.html</a></span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Today My Blog Had Its 300,000th Hit, For Which I Am
So Grateful,” October 31, 2014; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/10/today-my-blog-had-its-300000th-hit-for.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/10/today-my-blog-had-its-300000th-hit-for.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“My Blog Hits 500,000 Views!” May 2, 2016; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/05/my-blog-hits-500000-views.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2016/05/my-blog-hits-500000-views.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
will have much more to say about my heart transplant next month when the tenth
anniversary rolls around on Saturday, November 23<sup>rd</sup>; for now the
curious might look at "About That Heart Transplant," January 24,
2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-that-heart-transplant.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-that-heart-transplant.html</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve
compiled a “Guide to the Best of My Blog” [</span><span style="color: #956839; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a>],</span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and, out of the 359 blog posts I've published, immediately below I list the ones that have proven most popular through the years:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Homosexuality: The Iceberg Theory,” April 25, 2010;</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/04/homosexuality-iceberg-theory.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/04/homosexuality-iceberg-theory.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">“</span></b><span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">The Magic and Power of a Wink<b>,”</b>
August 24, 2011<b>; <span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/08/magic-and-power-of-wink.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/08/magic-and-power-of-wink.html</a></span></b></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Questions To Ask a Homophobe,” January 4,
2017; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/01/questions-to-ask-homophobe.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/01/questions-to-ask-homophobe.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Urban Meyer and the Christian Buckeye
Football Team,” February 19, 2012, <span style="color: #29303b;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/02/urban-meyer-and-christian-buckeye.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/02/urban-meyer-and-christian-buckeye.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“If Humans
Are Descended From Apes Why Are There Still Apes?” January 27, 2014;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/01/if-humans-are-descended-from-apes-why.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/01/if-humans-are-descended-from-apes-why.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Stepping on Cats,” February 8, 2012; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mama Cat Saves My Life,”
October 23, 2011; </span><span style="color: #956839; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/mama-cat-saves-my-life.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/mama-cat-saves-my-life.html</a></span><span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #29303b; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Seducing
Straight Men,” March 3, 2011; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/seducing-straight-men.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/seducing-straight-men.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“How To Take a Law School Exam,” November 30,
2012; <b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-take-law-school-exam.html"><span style="font-weight: normal;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-take-law-school-exam.html</span></a></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mortgage Foreclosures, Missing Promissory
Notes, and the Uniform Commercial Code: A New Article,” February 11, 2013; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/02/mortgage-foreclosures-missing.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/02/mortgage-foreclosures-missing.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“How To Write an Effective Legal Threat
Letter,” October 19, 2011; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-write-effective-legal-threat.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-write-effective-legal-threat.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“How To Respond to a Legal Threat.” March 29,
2014; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-respond-to-legal-threat.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-respond-to-legal-threat.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“The Payment-In-Full
Check: A Powerful Legal Maneuver,” April 11, 2011; <br />
<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/payment-in-full-check-powerful-legal.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/04/payment-in-full-check-powerful-legal.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The Left-Brain/Right-Brain Life," January 17, 2011; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<span style="color: #29303b;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/left-brainright-brain-life.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/left-brainright-brain-life.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLslSEyI54QhNJgFPaLtBnSRSoWUmK2dFn73JOx2Ti_Fj642FvIKd491ZxgC6RabBMu_wmJriUrna2UwaGA2EAgEQ_yxyOywwgrOGSbMm8KixOwC-iWjHX-D9CEdcD2e5v_zcTyGcrFk/s1600/index.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHLslSEyI54QhNJgFPaLtBnSRSoWUmK2dFn73JOx2Ti_Fj642FvIKd491ZxgC6RabBMu_wmJriUrna2UwaGA2EAgEQ_yxyOywwgrOGSbMm8KixOwC-iWjHX-D9CEdcD2e5v_zcTyGcrFk/s320/index.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I
am so very grateful to those who read my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Many thanks to you all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Douglas
Whaley<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-758166913060809542019-09-16T18:23:00.001-04:002019-09-17T00:26:33.830-04:00The Thrill of My Life: My First Play Will Have Its World Premier Next Month in Columbus<br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Starting
with preview performances before audiences on Wednesday and Thursday, October
16<sup>th</sup> and 17, and with an official opening night on Friday, October
18<sup>th</sup> , my play “The Turkey Men” will have a
professional production as Evolution Theatre Company’s
final show of its season here in Columbus, Ohio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Information about the play, including cast
and crew, can be found at <a href="https://www.theturkeymen.com/">https://www.theturkeymen.com/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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In
a prior blog I reported the circumstances that led to the creation of the play
[see “<i>My First Play Will Be Produced Next Year</i>,” May 29, 2018; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html</a>].
That post describes the play in some detail, but, briefly, it is a
comedy/romance that deals with a serious subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had learned of two Civil War soldiers who
met at Camp Chase, a prison in Columbus for Confederate captives, with one
guarding the other, both quite young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Suddenly the war ended in 1865 and the one from Tennessee said he had no
place to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other replied that he
had a turkey farm south of Columbus and invited him to work there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They raised turkeys for 57 years (!), living
together, never marrying, being known locally as “The Turkey Men,” and now
buried next to each other (a little off from the other graves), dying in 1921
and 1922, their tombstones marked to show one had been a Confederate soldier and
the other a Yank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one knows anything about
the nature of their relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Speculating that this was a wonderful gay romance, I fictionalized that
story, changing their names and turning them into ghosts still haunting their
old turkey farm 150 years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
have lived through much of gay history but they are now certain that if they
materialize they will pop out of existence completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The door to the abandoned old house opens and
in comes an older couple dragging a 16 year old lesbian entrusted to their care
by her parents in a “Pray Away the Gay” scheme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Much happens thereafter.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[Click to enlarge]</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Sschwamberger</td></tr>
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I
shopped the play to theater companies and in the spring of last year Mark
Schwamberger, the Artistic Director of Evolution Theatre Company, sent me an
email telling me that the company wished to produce my play. Frankly, that was the <i>best email I have
ever received in my life! </i> Mark
invited me to lunch and even suggested I bring along my actor/director husband,
David Vargo (with whom Mark has worked a lot).
At that lunch Mark asked me if I was planning to direct the show myself
(I had once directed a show for Evolution with both Mark and David in it) and I replied
no. I told him that I knew of this
director from Florida who now lives in Ohio and, or course, I meant David, who
has been handling the creation of the show ever since.</div>
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This
year Evolution, Columbus’ only <i>L G B T Q Q I A</i> theater company, has
become fully professional, with Equity actors and a paid crew. The season is entitled “History and Mystery”
with the shows alternating in themes between those two genres. Mark told me “The Turkey Men,” dealing with a
gay romance from the Civil War, would be the final production of the
season. He was delighted David would direct.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Allen Vargo</td></tr>
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I
promised David I would stay out of the production and let him handle it without
interference, though willing to do whatever I could to help if asked. Since then there have been minor changes to
the script and a new song added (there was already an existing love song). I wrote the additional song in one day and we
tacked it onto the final scene.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
play has one teenage actor and four older ones, and the latter all are
established professionals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were
chosen by David at open auditions (and he is very pleased with his cast).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them had earlier participated in a
reading of the play at our house in 2018.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>David and I had also invited to that reading Robin and Peter Hersha, local
theatrical benefactors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have much enjoyed watching David (and
sometimes me) on the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the reading
they said they liked “The Turkey Men” a lot, and Peter suggested two minor changes
that I promptly put into the script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
long after that the Hershas had supper with Mark, David, and me and announced
they wanted to become presenting sponsors of the show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were very grateful for
their generous additional financial help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To
put the cast and crew into the spirit of the play David gathered them together
with the Hershas for an outing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met
at Camp Chase cemetery here in Columbus where over 2000 Confederate soldiers
are buried, then had lunch and went to Pleasant Cemetery in Mount Sterling,
Ohio, where the real soldiers whose story sparked our play are buried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David had James Harper and Ross Shirley, the
actors playing the soldiers, dress in period costumes and stand next to the
graves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was both moving and
inspiring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Harper and Ross Shirley</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast and crew (the Hershas in the upper left)</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Last
Thursday there was a historical discussion of the play and Columbus’ involvement
in the Civil War at the Kelton House here in Columbus, sponsored by Evolution
Theatre Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was seating for
60 people and the room was packed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David
was the MC and a panel (me and two local historians) explored the play and its
historical background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scene from the
play was also performed, and seeing it was a thrill for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophia Friend, James Harper, and Ross Shirley performing</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
readers of this blog know I judge every important event or decision in my life by
what I call the “Deathbed Test.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
test goes like this: imagine that you are in your late nineties, lying on your
deathbed and reviewing the incidents of your long life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will make you slap your head in
annoyance and exclaim “How could I have been so stupid?” and what will make you
smile from ear to ear and think “Now that was wonderful!”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anytime something of moment happens in my
life I try to think of how it will look from the point of view of that future
contemplative bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Other
than the brief scene from my show just performed at the Kelton House I have not
seen anything from my show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am staying away from rehearsals, which formally start at the end of
this week, and want everything to be a surprise to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">On the opening night of “The Turkey Men” when
actor James Harper as Webster Carter walks out on the stage as the show begins,
turns on a light, and, per the script, says “I’ll be damned,” I will experience
a thrill that will certainly be a joy for any future deathbed retrospective to
revisit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typing the script on my computer
was one thing, but it’s quite another for a live production of my words
to unfold itself right before my astonished eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">-----------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Related
Posts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My
Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“My
First Play Will Be Produced Next Year,” May 29, 2018; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html</a>].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">"The Deathbed Test," July 27, 2010; </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=deathbed+test">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=deathbed+test</a></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">“The Ugliness of Gay
Conversion Therapy,” April 3, 2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-ugliness-of-gay-conversion-therapy.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-ugliness-of-gay-conversion-therapy.html</a>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-87255515661023955132019-08-27T13:10:00.002-04:002019-08-28T10:36:26.239-04:00Gay Rights in the Trump Era: The Bad and the Good<div>
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While (inexplicably) there really are gay Trump supporters,
their backing cannot come from what his administration has done for gay people;
it must come from believing that his actions on the economy and particularly things
elevating the upper class make up for his disdain for the LGBTQ agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose if they’re wealthy enough it doesn’t
matter to some gays that Trump will destroy lots of other values they should
treasure. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, Trump actually has some gay friends. Years ago he attended Elton John’s wedding and
commented that all people in love should be allowed to get married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it's not an issue on which he has strong
feelings, and, of course, he does need to keep his base happy if he’s going to
be reelected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus whenever anything gay
arises that his administration must deal with, the gays are dumped without a
thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Transgendered people in the
military?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re out—too expensive to
pay for all those operations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal
regulations supporting gay rights?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repeal
them or stop enforcing same.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">If an issue concerning gays
comes before the Supreme Court the Trump Administration will file an </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">amicus</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">
brief in favor of the standard homophobic position.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">When a Colorado baker claimed a religious
right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay wedding and the case reached
the Court, Trump’s position favored the baker.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">In that case the Court ducked the big issue and sent the case back to
the lower courts for a closer examination of the religious arguments.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">[See my blog post on this “The Supreme Court
Did Not Rule That a Baker May Discriminate Against Gays,” June 6, 2018; </span><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-supreme-court-did-not-rule-that.html" style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-supreme-court-did-not-rule-that.html</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">].</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">However that issue won’t go away and the
Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the matter once again next term with the
big question being whether religious bigotry trumps (pun intended) equal
protection of the law.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">If it were a Muslim
baker refusing to sell to a Jew the Court would likely forbid such discrimination.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">But as soon as homosexuality is part of the
picture centuries of prejudice queer the issue and all bets are off.</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">The Court has another
thorny gay issue to deal with this coming year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment
discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question is whether “sex” simply means
male or female or whether it also includes sexual orientation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly when the statute was drafted it
never occurred to Congress that gays were being protected, and the few cases in
the early days that raised the issue said this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in recent years some of the lower federal courts of appeals have bravely
ruled that gays are protected by the <i>clear language</i> of the Act: “sex”
includes sexual orientation—how could it not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Other federal courts of appeals disagree and the Court will now settle
the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">How will it come
out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well my guess is that the gays will
lose this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly the Trump
Administration hopes so; just this month it filed an <i>amicus</i> brief saying
gays aren’t meant to be covered by the statute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Court itself has five conservatives and four liberals and the split
is likely to be along those lines against the gay inclusion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a strong
voice for gay rights, is now gone from the Court, replaced by Brent Kavanaugh,
chosen by Trump because he is a trusted conservative jurist.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Souter</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But, you never know.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Strange things can happen to a person who
becomes a lifelong member of the United States Supreme Court.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He/she is appointed for life and cannot be
removed unless impeached for criminal behavior.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Moreover this new Justice will now become a historical figure with
his/her opinions studied, cataloged, criticized.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">More than one appointee to the Court has
switched from conservative to liberal in such a situation.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Justice David Souter, appointed by the first
Bush, was very conservative when appointed and very liberal when he retired (he
is still alive).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I mention this because
Brent Kavanaugh (yes, HIM) has surprised Court-watchers since he has come on
the bench by taking some surprisingly liberal stances, sometimes voting with
the four liberal Justices and helping them win the day.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Much vilified for debasing women Kavanaugh
has chosen females for all four of his law clerks (a record—no Justice has ever
done that before).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hmm.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Could Kavanaugh </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">turn out to be another Souter?</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And Chief Justice John Roberts hates for the
Court to be seen as political and predictable, so on the odd occasion he too has,
in the past, suddenly bolted from the conservative ranks and voted with the liberals
(he did so two years ago to save Obama Care from being declared unconstitutional,
which astounded Court watchers).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">What about gay marriage
in the Trump era?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it likely to be
dumped?<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are safe on this one, and I’ll bet big
money on this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See me if you want to
make such a bet and we’ll negotiate the terms.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Why am I so confident?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the United States (and much of the
world) has now had years of gay marriage and it’s all gone very well, producing
almost no downsides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Millions of gay
weddings have taken place and millions more are happening every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been remarkably good for the
economy (look up the figures on the internet—they are staggering—billions of
dollars made each year from such unions).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having gay couples legally married creates stability: gays who can
get married show those around them that they're no different than straight couples---they are not just two queers pretending to be something they're not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poll numbers show that gay marriage is overwhelmingly
popular with the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost everyone
in this country knows gay people who are married, and most straight people have
been invited to gay weddings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
includes members of the United States Supreme Court, all of whom are likely to
have gay family members and other family members supporting those gays closely
watching the Justices with steady eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Moreover <i>Obergefell v</i><span class="st">. </span><i>Hodges</i>, the case stating gay marriage was mandated
by the Fourteenth Amendment, was decided in 2015 and four years later it has
produced what is uniformly considered a happy result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, as lawyers say, a “settled precedent.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States Supreme Court is loath to
overturn its precedents and rarely does so on big cases like this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chief Justice Roberts is steadfast on
convincing the country that the Court is not a political animal and changes in
the personnel do not lead to overturning decided matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the Justices will have no appetite
for revisiting <i>Obergefell v</i><span class="st">. </span><i>Hodges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">[</span>Roe
v. Wade</i><i><span style="font-style: normal;"> is another matter, and I
wouldn’t place any bets on its continued existence.]</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">Homophobia won’t kill gay
marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There won’t even be a
significant challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">So, readers, my summary
is this: Trump has been bad for gay rights, but he can’t win them all and for
the most part he doesn’t really care about LGBTQ matters.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">And there is a very good
chance that by January of 2021 we won’t have to worry about what he thinks at
all.<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;">---------------------------------------------</span></h3>
<span style="color: #29303b;">Related Posts:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #29303b;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best
of My Blog”; </span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“</span></b><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">Obamacare, John Roberts and the
Supreme Court<b>.”</b> July 3, 2012<b>;</b></span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/07/obamacare-john-roberts-and-supreme.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/07/obamacare-john-roberts-and-supreme.html</a></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">"Five Judges Have
Stopped All Further Progress on Gay Civil Rights Legislation," August 18,
2014; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/08/five-judges-have-stopped-all-further.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2014/08/five-judges-have-stopped-all-further.html</a></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“Must a Baker Create a Cake
for a Gay Wedding?</span> What Will the Supreme Court Likely Say?”
September 28, 2017; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/09/must-baker-create-cake-for-gay-wedding.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839;">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/09/must-baker-create-cake-for-gay-wedding.html</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
“A Gay President in 2021?” April 21, 2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-gay-president-in-2021.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-gay-president-in-2021.html</a>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-35889782500462880792019-07-31T13:15:00.000-04:002019-08-25T12:18:55.057-04:00It’s Time for Baseball’s Robot Umpire To Call All the Balls and Strikes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yes, robots are taking over more and more jobs these days,
and we—the luddites—mightily protest in vain.
But there are some tasks, important to us, where robots will do things
much better than humans ever can, and for such tasks we should welcome the
efficiency these mechanical helpers bring.</div>
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Using AI to replace the job of baseball’s home plate umpire
to call pitches as balls or strikes is an obvious example.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I am a major baseball fan, watching close to a hundred games
a year (almost all of them being my beloved Cubbies—see Related Posts below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In recent years most televised games show us
a graphic of the strike zone and whether, according to the computer, the pitched
ball actually touched it or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real
life umpire cannot see this graphic and continues to call balls and strikes in
the old fashioned way: giving his best estimate of whether the ball was
actually in the strike zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Professional umpires are trained well and they are pretty good at
getting it right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the AI umpire is always
perfect at getting it right and its embarrassing how often the umpire is simply
wrong (sometimes dramatically so).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
estimate the live umpire gets the call wrong about 12% of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In baseball that’s a lot of mistaken calls.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When an umpire is wrong you can bet that he hears about it
<i>after</i> the game from many sources: the offended baseball player (whether batter
or pitcher), disgusted fans, his employer, friends, family, or, worst of all,
watching a video of the game and actually seeing how bad his call was.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There has been a movement underway, which I’m joining now,
to have AI umpires call <i>all </i>balls and strikes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just recently one of the minor leagues has been experimenting with doing
this and the results are positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See <a href="http://www.wfmj.com/story/40774097/robot-umpires-debut-in-independent-atlantic-league">http://www.wfmj.com/story/40774097/robot-umpires-debut-in-independent-atlantic-league</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This experiment determined that the artificial
umpire called more strikes in the upper part of the strike zone than human
umpires are comfortable doing, and that the strike zone seems bigger to
everyone playing because if even a sliver of the ball touches it a strike call
results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this experiment the human
umpire was wearing an ear piece and instantly heard the robotic decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was his duty to then announce the result
aloud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The human umpire can only
overrule the AI umpire if something strange happened like the ball was pitched
badly, bounced in front of the plate, and then crossed the strike zone (being
called a strike by the robot umpire when the rule books would not do that).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The strike zone varies with each batter based on his
height.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As to height the zone goes from
the middle of his knees up to most of his belly (“nipples to knees” is the joking
way of explaining this).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The professional
players are all measured for this to ensure accuracy, or, if no measurement has yet been
taken of a new player, the standard strike zone for a man of his height is substituted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The size of home plate is the horizontal
measurement of the strike zone (see below).<o:p></o:p></div>
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The AI umpire makes a 3D measurement of the plate and the
height of the player to create the artificial strike zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the ball touches any portion of the strike
zone so created a strike is called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
television most broadcasts only show a rectangle of the strike zone viewed from
the front and an image of a circle where the ball went as it was pitched into
or out of the rectangle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Normally this
rectangle is added to the screen off to the side of the actual players at home
plate, but on some (bad) broadcasts the rectangle is put right over home plate
where it is harder to see because the image is obscured by the three players in
the picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best use of the AI
umpire in on ESPN where the entire 3D image is often shown.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I began asking very experienced baseball viewers
whether they favored taking the human umpire out of the strike zone decision in
favor of the AI calling the game, I received diverse answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who chose to stay with the current
system had explanations like “it’s always been part of the game, and players
have to get used to the vagaries of the different umpires.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Wouldn’t that favor older players who
happened to be good at this over newer ones or those who are bad at remembering
whether particular umpires have large or small strike zones?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes, but that’s always the case: some
players are just better at understanding the game than others.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the experiment
with the AI umpire in a minor league game mentioned in the link above most of
the players, both pitchers and batters, liked the use of the AI umpire over a
real one and said they wished it was done all the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I’m
watching a game and I see bad calls being made that critically affect the
outcome of the game I’m annoyed that the obvious fix isn’t implemented <i>now</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baseball games should be decided by what
actually happened and not by merely guessing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKvZzmOiUQ_bJbf7WieNFXSs9nEGI-vTrbfgi5djjg1YXbbpn5EXCGZKfVdx_KRYpQAN6i6EeLwtw5Ft9ZHefRMiAmEoOGEMmN9ikk8_Apn21Y_0EmSjFFggCWeX9VYIThZroqehRrmM/s1600/Hitter-Strike-Zone1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="315" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKvZzmOiUQ_bJbf7WieNFXSs9nEGI-vTrbfgi5djjg1YXbbpn5EXCGZKfVdx_KRYpQAN6i6EeLwtw5Ft9ZHefRMiAmEoOGEMmN9ikk8_Apn21Y_0EmSjFFggCWeX9VYIThZroqehRrmM/s400/Hitter-Strike-Zone1.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
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-------------------------<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A Guide to the Best of My Blog,” April 29, 2013;</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> <span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839;"></span><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Basketball and Its Announcers,” March 6, 2011; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/basketball-and-its-announcers.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/basketball-and-its-announcers.html</a><span style="color: #29303b;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/basketball-and-its-announcers.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/03/basketball-and-its-announcers.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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"My Sad Tale of Being a Chicago Cubs Fan," May 27,
2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/05/my-sad-tale-of-being-chicago-cubs-fan.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/05/my-sad-tale-of-being-chicago-cubs-fan.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Two Gay Men Watch the Superbowl,” March 5, 2019; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/03/two-gay-men-watch-superbowl.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2019/03/two-gay-men-watch-superbowl.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“On Being a Gay Sports Fan,”
March 9, 2012, <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-being-gay-sports-fan.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-being-gay-sports-fan.html</a><u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Put-Out at Home Plate,”
February 14, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=home+plate">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=home+plate</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-86720258224097690912019-06-24T13:00:00.000-04:002019-07-10T09:54:53.986-04:00Bad News: Civilization Will Collapse By 2100<br />
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Climate
change, of course, will deal the fatal blow, and no one who has looked into the
data doubts it. Globally 110 million tons
of man-made pollution are produced daily (something our planet hasn’t
experienced since three million years ago when the earth was boiling). In
the recent bestseller “The Uninhabitable Earth---Life After Warming” author
David Wallace-Wells walks the reader through all the horrors that are already building
and leads us to the obvious and terrifying conclusion:
civilization will collapse by 2100 and the humans that are left will be warring
tribes. All of this can be prevented
only if the entire population of the earth, as a unity, takes major preventative
steps <i>in the next twenty years</i>. After twenty years it will be too late to stop
the coming nightmare. The book is
terrifying to read but it’s not dull: a real page turner listing how we got
here and the horrors that are just over the hill. Be warned that once you read this book sleeping at
night will become a challenge as your mind tries to wrap itself around this new
startling reality. The United Nations
has been banging the drum loudly, with its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change [IPCC] issuing increasingly dire reports on the severity of the problem,
and Secretary General <span class="e24kjd">António Guterres turning up last week
on the cover of <i>Time Magazine</i> standing in a suit up to his knees in the
rising waters of Fiji where habitation is becoming dicey unless you happen to
be a fish. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
industrial revolution, starting around 1750, triggered our current problem as
we began pouring carbon into our air, and by the mid-nineteenth century
scientists were beginning to worry about the effect of all that carbon making
its home in our atmosphere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
twentieth century the alarm bell was louder and nowadays it’s a cacophony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace-Wells comments:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[N]ever in the earth’s entire recorded history has
there been warming at anything like this speed—by one estimate, around ten
times faster than at any point in the last 66 million years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every year, the average American emits enough
carbon to melt 10,000 tons of ice in the Antarctic ice sheets—enough to add
10,000 cubic meters of water to the ocean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every minute, each of us adds five gallons.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Netflix series “Our Planet” (wonderfully narrated by David Attenborough)
documents how man’s ruination of the planet both through climate change and
misuse of the land (burning down rain forests, polluting the oceans and lakes,
over-cultivation) is currently destroying a million species of animals, birds,
insects, plants in a major global tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Episode Two the series focuses on walruses who gather annually on an
ice-covered mountain to meet and mate only to find this year the ice is gone
and the mountain too small for the huge numbers of walruses piling up there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They climb clumsily on top of one another,
smothering those below, until finally the pile grows so high they begin to tumble—horribly—to
their deaths, as the living mound beneath them collapses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Melting
the Greenland ice sheet alone, which is well underway, would raise sea levels
six meters, eventually wiping out 90% of Florida, Manhattan, London, Shanghai,
Bangkok, and Mumbai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rising temperatures
cause all sorts of “natural” disasters to get worse: more forest fires,
hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new “normal” will be hotter and
hotter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are <i>never</i> going back
to the predictable weather we all grew up with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This past year was the hottest on record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last ten years the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huge parts of the globe will become
uninhabitable because of heat and drought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By 2100 no one will be able to go to Mecca for the annual
pilgrimage—they would immediately fry in the incinerating heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since
the last century a growing chorus of scientists and others have been trying to turn public attention to the dramatic problem of climate change,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Al Gore made a movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,”
which won an Academy Award (and led to his Nobel Peace Prize).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently new voices are being heard
everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A notable one is a Swedish
teenager named Greta Thunberg who has led a worldwide protest, including school
demonstrations and strikes everywhere, trumpeting the need for immediate
actions on climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has
addressed a U.N. Climate Change Conference, berated billionaires at the World
Economics Forum in Davos, Switzerland, met with the Pope, and lectured the U.K.
Houses of Parliament about the need for immediate action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And every day when you look at the news startling
evidence of climate change horrors are awaiting us all from many sources: the biggest hurricane on record; the 500 year
flood occurring two years in a row, California fires consuming the state county
by county, and on and on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We must
change our world so that we don’t increase the carbon in the atmosphere so as to
raise the temperature more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
by the end of this century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Paris
Accord, by which most countries of the earth agreed to cut carbon emissions so
as to hold heating to that amount (or, worst case, 2 degrees Celsius) has already been
breached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>No country </i>has met its goal
so far, and President Trump, who doesn’t believe in climate change (though when
he applied for a permit to build a sea wall for his new golf club in Ireland gave climate change as a reason), has dumped the agreement and increased carbon
emissions in our country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In May the
United States vetoed any mention of climate change by the Arctic Council in a new report. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless dramatic steps (to be described below)
are taken within the next twenty years the temperature will rise by <i>4 degrees
Celsius</i> (or even as much as <i>8 degrees</i> in some studies!), frying the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People in the hottest parts of the planet will of course flee
to cooler parts with huge migrations of starving and desperate
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Countries will simply collapse from
heat: India and Bangladesh will be early victims (as will island nations all
over the world), with China and southeast Asian countries suffering
horribly, Australia is already baking with killing heat (but nonetheless
elected an anti-climate change government in early June), and the United
States, wracked by wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding coastlines,
baking farmlands, will be overrun from the south by billions of people fleeing
unbearable heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russia (where the
northwestern city of Arkhangelsk reached 84 degrees this May, a record), Canada
and some northern countries will be the last to collapse, but the refugees will
get them too in the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Want to know
what it will all look like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch a Mad
Max movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine its real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
experts say we have about twenty years to stop making the atmosphere worse and
avoiding the horrors just mentioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But—and here’s the rub—<i>we won’t take these steps even though we know
we need to do so</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why not?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, consider what they are:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Within
twenty years we would have to <i>completely stop using fossil fuels</i>
(petroleum, coal, natural gas).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more
vehicles (except electric ones), airplanes, trains, ships, or industries that
use these fuels to run our lives (so there goes air conditioning, for example)
and stop most of our power sources except nuclear, wind, solar, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll have to kill all the cows in the world
since their burping and farting produces methane and contributes to an estimated
14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions—thus no hamburgers, no milk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will need <i>zero emissions</i> from all
other sources: deforestation, agriculture, landfills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what government would actually do all this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the next twenty years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace-Wells concludes it would take a new system
of global government united to achieve what must be done, an effort greater than the
mobilization that won World War II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Want to take bets on what will <i>actually</i> happen over the next twenty
years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps its best <i>not to think about it</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead have a drink, put your feet up, get
on with life as usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point in “The
Uninhabitable Earth” the author compares what we’re currently doing to someone
sitting in a running car in a closed garage knowing things aren’t going to work
out well but stupidly unable to shut off the engine and escape the inevitable
end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are new things coming that would help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>HBO has a documentary called “Ice on Fire” explaining possible
scientific solutions that could be very useful if promptly adopted on a
worldwide scale (cows, for example, could be fed seaweed and thus produce no
methane at all).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A populace that understands
the coming Armageddon might be persuaded to make huge sacrifices to escape from
our gas-filled garage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span>Do you have or plan to have grandchildren?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
their heritage: the day when the internet goes dark, the day when electricity
is no more, the day when vandals replace local government officials, the day
when everyone damn well better be armed and only move about in well trained groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was born lucky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve commented before on this blog, I was
fortunate to be a child born during WWII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There weren’t a lot of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus I
was accepted by every school I applied to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I needed a job there were lots of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The baby-boomers followed me and fought like
dogs, but I was ahead of that mass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
most people on the planet I accepted our likely future as one that would get
better and better for me, for my children, for future generations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Startlingly that isn’t going to be true, but I’m 75, still time lucky, and I'll die before it gets really
bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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But
for most people—younger people—this nightmarish chaos just described is their future.</div>
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<b><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unless we all demand change now</span></i></b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huge changes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And make it clear we will make major
sacrifices in return for a livable planet for all those who will come after us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we don’t do that . . . well, imagine their
contempt for us as they hide in the caves and look around at the ruins of a
once proud civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Related
Posts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">“</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A Guide to the Best of My Blog,” April 29, 2013;</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="mhrhead"><span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">“On Being Lucky: The Second Anniversary of My
Heart Transplant,” November 23, 2011; </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-being-lucky-second-anniversary-of-my.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-being-lucky-second-anniversary-of-my.html</a></span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“The
Collapse of 2050: Earth as a Ponzi Scheme,” August 17, 2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-collapse-of-2050-earth-as-ponzi.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-collapse-of-2050-earth-as-ponzi.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-86796619397176252142019-04-29T13:37:00.002-04:002019-04-30T10:15:38.399-04:00A Gay President in 2021?<div>
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When I heard that one of the many candidates running for
president on the Democratic side was an openly gay man who was the mayor of a
small Indiana city I dismissed him as a dreamer with no attachment to reality. This dismissal was shored up on learning he’s
only 37 and has an unpronounceable last name [Buttigieg]. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But then I was startled to learn that polls have this man as number
three in the huge pack of possible candidates (behind two elders: Biden and
Sanders), and that he is climbing in the estimation of more or less everyone. Hmm.</div>
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Peter Paul
Montgomery Buttigieg (yes, all of that), most commonly known as “Mayor Pete,”
turns out to be a formidable candidate in spite of the supposed problems noted
above. He is reputed nationally as a “mayor’s
mayor,” widely regarded as one of the finest municipal executives in the
country, and much beloved by the people of South Bend, Indiana, who reelected
him with 80% of the vote even after he came out as gay. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What makes Pete so popular? Well, of
course, there’s more, much more to the man.
His background is stellar: After graduating from Harvard he was
a Rhodes Scholar, getting a Master of Arts at Oxford, his writings have won
awards, he joined the United States Naval Reserve and did a tour of duty that
included combat in Afghanistan, was named Mayor of the Year in 2013, and has
done amazing things for the City of South Bend.
Oh yes, he’s also a devout Christian, speaks seven languages, and plays
both the piano and the guitar. He is
married to Chasten Glezman (who also took Buttigieg’s last name).<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is all
impressive, of course, but what’s even more impressive is to watch Mayor Pete in
action on TV or the internet. He's not
overbearing as many candidates are, but instead is calm, intelligent, full of
common sense, fast on his feet, wise, and quite personable. He has a great smile and comes across as
truly concerned about this country, exhibiting a strong desire to put it back on a
path very different from the one Donald Trump has beaten through a swamp of his
own making. To watch Buttigieg in action
is to be stimulated. I find myself muttering,
“Just what we need: a smart man who cares and has lots of common sense.” <o:p></o:p><br />
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But what about the
gay thing? Well, with Barack Obama the
question was “What about the black thing?”
When the candidate is right for the job—someone who fits the mood of the times,
someone America feels it can trust to get things accomplished—these sorts of barriers no
longer seem so high. With Obama voters quickly learned to stop thinking about him as black and just think of him as effective. Mayor Pete is like that. He knows
how to talk to Trump’s base and address their problems, while Trump has failed to
do more than make empty promises to them. Many of the people of South Bend are very much Trump's kind of voters, but they
really like Pete.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What about the mass
of other candidates? There are a
thundering lot of them and who knows who might turn out to be a better
choice. A number of them are quite
impressive. Elizabeth Warren is a
personal friend of mine (I’ve known her since she started teaching in the early
80s), and she would make a terrific president.
Her followers, of which I am one, adore her, and she’s smart and caring,
a fierce debater, and has a wonderful sense of humor. But she has detractors and enemies and her
candidacy (which I support wholeheartedly and even financially) has so far
not moved her to the top of the pack as an obvious choice. Go, Liz!
I’ll do what I can to help you get elected.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joe Biden and Bernie
Sanders have major baggage. They are
both far too old to become president in 2021, but even were that not a damning
characteristic (as it is in my opinion, and I speak as a 75 year old myself),
they have major flaws. </div>
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Joe Biden has a
history of outrageous plagiarism. He was
tossed out of law school when caught using other writers' words as his own in a
major piece of scholarship (and then, crying, threw himself on the faculty’s
mercy and was readmitted), but he went on to outrageously plagiarize the
speeches of others in his 1988 presidential run, was caught at it, and ignominiously
dropped out for that very reason. Joe’s a nice guy, but he is
widely known known as "Mr. Gaffe" since he speaks before he thinks and constantly gets
himself into trouble. This will only get
worse as he ages. While I’d like having Joe
over to the house for drinks (I'm sure he'd be lots of fun), I don’t want him as my president. I’ve written about this before (see Related
Posts below).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bernie Sanders is a
wonderful thinker and a great speaker.
He is dedicated to causes and an impressive person. But he's known as a man who does not tolerate dissent from his views; “my way or the
highway” has always been his approach, and those who know Bernie say he is a
difficult, almost impossible, person to work for, the sort of boss who
mistreats his staff. His early history contains episodes in which he explored communism, and the far right can’t wait to
highlight that (say on billboards, skywriting, and flooding the internet) were he nominated as the Democratic candidate. Alas, Bernie has no sense of humor, and that
factor is one that always makes me recoil.
As with Biden I’ve written about his defects before (see Related Posts
below). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Take out the two top
candidates so far (Biden and Sanders) and Peter Buttigieg moves to the top. I don’t know if he can stay there, but I am
now a fan of this man. So is my husband, who
is walking around the house wearing a “Mayor Pete” t-shirt, and who has
purchased a coffee mug which explains how to pronounce his name.<o:p></o:p></div>
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About that
name. Here is how to say it right: First say the word “edge” twice, very quickly. Then put the word “boot” in front of the
repeated “edges,” emphasizing the “<b>boot</b>” and saying the two “edges”
quickly. Practice a couple of times and
you’ll be able to say “Buttigieg” correctly with the best of them.<br />
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Just one last
thing. Think how proud we can be of our country—<i>how adult we are, how far we’ve come</i>—if on January 20, 2021, Chief
Justice Roberts holds out a bible and swears in Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg
as the 46<sup>th</sup> President of the United States. <o:p></o:p></div>
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--------------------------<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“<span style="color: #29303b;">A Guide to the Best of My
Blog,” April 29, 2013;</span><span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“Joe Biden, Plagiarism, and Why He Shouldn’t Run For
President,” August 25, 2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/joe-biden-plagiarism-and-why-he.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/08/joe-biden-plagiarism-and-why-he.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
“Why I Love Bernie Sanders’ Ideas, But Hope He Won’t Be the Nominee,” October
20, 2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/10/why-i-love-bernie-sanders-ideas-but.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/10/why-i-love-bernie-sanders-ideas-but.html</a></span>dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-43938057581135484552019-04-03T22:02:00.003-04:002019-04-04T12:53:14.530-04:00The Ugliness of Gay Conversion Therapy<br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is estimated that over 700,000 people currently living in the United
States have undergone some form of gay conversion therapy (about half were
teenagers at the time) designed to change them from homosexual to
heterosexual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the groups offering
this miraculous transformation are religious in origin, the premier one in this
country being “Love In Action,” now renamed “Restoration Path” and still going
strong in 2019.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A leading organization
having offshoots all over the world was “Exodus International,” which handled
many thousands of such cases before folding in 2013 [see Related Posts below].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These
gay conversion groups have many methods to turn homosexuals into
heterosexuals. In the recent movies “Boy
Erased” and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” (both available for viewing on
the internet) the young people—a male in the first and a female in the second—are
placed in an environment very like a summer camp and rigorously trained on how
to behave in a heterosexual fashion (movements, clothes, etc.). There is a great deal of cruelty such as making
boys have supposed conversations with their father about why he failed to teach
them how to become true males, or, in a real life case making boys beat a
pillow representing their mother to punish her for turning them into sissies—see
<span style="background: white; letter-spacing: .15pt;"><a href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/12/nj_gay-to-straight_conversion_therapy_practice_agr.html">http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/12/nj_gay-to-straight_conversion_therapy_practice_agr.html</a></span>). Girls are taught how a real woman walks,
talks, looks and behaves. Much emphasis is placed on religious doctrine as they "pray away the gay."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How
often does such treatment (or the similar efforts of professional counselors
like psychologists) of produce happy heterosexuals where once
there were only sinful homosexuals with twisted desires?<o:p></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
never?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best that can be
hoped for is that graduates will learn how to repress their homosexual urges
and live chaste and celibate lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Imagine how much fun that would be if it were offered to you as a life
style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">During my gay rights activist days and right up until the
current moment, I’ve had a standing offer about ex-gay conversion. I will
contribute $5000 to the charity of choice of an individual or organization that
can produce five men who were once gay and are now straight. There are various
conditions: (1) the men must have had significant gay experiences in their
lives, (2) become straight through whatever process, and (3) for at least five
years thereafter remained completely straight. Finally, they must not have ever
been leaders or volunteer workers for ex-gay organizations (just, therefore,
normal members) and pass rigorous tests to determine their current sexual
orientation (see me for details—I am serious about this—this offer is still open).
Since ex-gay organizations have been around for over thirty years, you’d think
they’d have thousands of former participants who’d easily meet my criteria, but
so far no one has taken me up on this. Note that I’m not proposing a <i>bet</i>.
If the person/organization can’t find five men who pass the tests, they lose
nothing other than a credibility that is often widely touted (though in
tatters whenever considered objectively). I would require that if five
converted straight men are not produced, the expenses of testing be paid for by
the entity accepting my challenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">Frequently the founders of these anti-gay organizations sincerely repent
their actions later in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two of
Exodus International's co-founders (Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper) fell in
love while running the group and left it to get married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Exodus International closed in 2013 the
then leader of the organization apologized for the pain, despair, and suicides
it had caused during its 37 year run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prior to that in 2007 three former leaders of EI came out as gay or
lesbian and issued a public apology for their roles in Exodus. In April 2010, one
of them confessed he'd never seen Exodus actually change <i>any</i> participant into a
heterosexual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s another repentance
by a Mormon leader of a similar group: </span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Documentaries/comments/b5xqv3/mormon_gay_conversion_therapist_comes_out_2019/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/Documentaries/comments/b5xqv3/mormon_gay_conversion_therapist_comes_out_2019/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app</a>.<span style="color: #29303b;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; line-height: 115%;">Why doesn’t gay conversion work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The answer is simple: sexual orientation is a not a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">choice</i>, it is a biological imperative (all the science shows this,
see Related Posts below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me close
with a wonderful rant about this on Reddit from a male heterosexual; </span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://np.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/b4l8tc/this_is_very_good_shout_out/ej8vntx/">https://np.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/b4l8tc/this_is_very_good_shout_out/ej8vntx/</a>:<span style="color: #29303b;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I'm Christian, and the way we, as a whole, treat
gays <em>is</em> a sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #FFFFCC; line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.3pt;">
<span style="color: #222222;">We
lack EMPATHY. We don't think CLEARLY.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I'm a
straight male.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #FFFFCC; line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.3pt;">
<span style="color: #222222;">I
cannot IMAGINE being told that my NATURAL SEXUAL DESIRE for the opposite sex
is, according to "God's word", a sin. I would be DEVASTATED. If I
felt in my heart I love Jesus, and that 'most' of the bible is true, but the
very thing that makes me human (my sexuality) was a sin in itself, I would be
depressed and suicidal. I would be confused that God would make me born to feel
feelings for a woman that I'm now being told I'm "not supposed to
feel".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #FFFFCC; line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.3pt;">
<span style="color: #222222;">My
sexuality LITERALLY is WHO I AM, and no amount of "pray the straight
away" could EVER make me change my natural desires for the opposite sex. I
could PRETEND to be homosexual for the sake of fitting in and pleasing God, but
I would always bear the burden of knowing that God created me to mask and
pretend that I don't desire the opposite sex. I would resent God on some level
that his own book condemns me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">We
straight people take it for granted. We Christians like to say, "I'm not
saying homosexuality is the ONLY sin, because I sin, TOOOOOO!" Here's the
difference:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I can
STOP fornicating, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. But I cannot, under any
circumstance, under ANY THREAT OF HELL, make myself stop having feelings for the
opposite sex any more than a gay person can. It's IMPOSSIBLE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I
could castrate myself, I suppose, as most gay Christians who claim to be
"straight" do who get married and have kids, but are secretly gay and
live with that secret for the rest of their life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I
can't imagine being forced to have a same-sex marriage partner and lying to
myself all my life that "I'm gay now because Jesus/God loves me"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I
would carry so much resentment towards the church, God and Jesus, even if I
pretend that I'm a "changed man".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: #FFFFCC; line-height: 17.15pt; margin-bottom: 4.3pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.3pt;">
<span style="color: #222222;">I put
myself in other people’s shoes. I use this thing God gave us called EMPATHY,
and it hurts my hurt when Christians don't think critically about what's in the
bible, because not everything written is true. Most of it is, but not ALL!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Scripture
was INSPIRED by God, written by men. Men, who had biases, and men who were not
gay (or may have been gay themselves who convinced themselves it was sin)
included it with all the other actual sins, making homosexuality look like a
sin, when God's Spirit corrected me on that. It's an error in the bible and if
Christians took the time to study the word homosexual in the bible and dig on
their history about it, they will find it was ADDED TO THE BIBLE and was never
part of the original Greek/Hebrew text. Someone who gave us our version of the
bible today hated gays and wanted everyone else to hate them, too. And it
worked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Now,
some people would say I'm not a true Christian if I don't believe the word is a
PERFECT interpretation of what God want us to know. And that's fine. I grew up
with a gay friend who saw more persecution in a single WEEK than any living
Christian today has seen their entire lives. These people do not choose to be
gay any more than I chose to be straight. I can't see the sexual appeal of
another man even if I tried, and if seen enough naked male bodies to feel
nothing. In fact, when I watched porn, I didn't care for the male performer -
give me the lesbian stuff any day of the week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">But, I
digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Christians
don't understand that when you call someone’s sexual orientation a sin, it's
literally like calling THEM a sin, and there is no way for them to escape this
internal torture except pretend it doesn't exist (get married, have kids, and
say to yourself and others "I'm delivered!") or exit the church and
abandon God altogether because you were defect. At least, I know that's how I'd
feel if being heterosexual was a sin in the bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">I had
to seek the Holy Spirit on this issue because something wasn't adding up, and
when God confirmed to me in multiple ways that homosexuality is NOT a sin, but
that it was INCLUDED in scripture by men who THOUGHT it was a sin based on
their own prejudices and biases, it made me sad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">EDIT:
Found an excellent article backing up my "claims" that homosexuality
is not and never was a sin. This article is to help my gay brothers and sisters
that you are perfectly fine the way God CREATED you and that your feelings ARE
natural.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">You
are NOT to be FORCED to change who God made you to be to "appease" no
damn church even after salvation. You are NOT going to turn straight after you
get saved, so don't let no Christian put in your head that he will "help
you in that area". Your soul is literally attracted to the same sex. Your
soul mate IS the same sex, whoever he or she is. It's NOT a curse! It's NOT a
sin!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">And
for you judgmental Christians out there who think I'm "less Christian then
you" because you believe blindly in text over the Holy Spirit, I strongly
suggest you set aside your assumptions and do a "heart check" before
God "checks you".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">A lot
of these people want to live happy lives with their lovers in marriage, that's
why they pushed for it. Not to "encroach" upon your right to marry
the opposite sex. For centuries you've forced these people to have multiple sex
partners and never be allowed to commit under the union of God because of you
prejudices and biases due to your undying faith in the Bible over the heart of
God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">LISTEN
TO ME CLEARLY NOOOOOW! YOU HAVE MADE YOUR BIBLE AN IDOL! YOU HAVE MADE YOUR
BIBLE AN IDOL! AND YOU HAVE PLACED YOUR BIBLE ABOVE GOD AND HIS PEOPLE!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">HIS
TWO GREATEST COMMANDMENTS IS LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE! BUT YOU LOVE
"BIBLE" MORE THAN PEOPLE! THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY FOR YOUR SIN, WHILE
YOUR QUICK TO JUDGE A SIN THAT DOESN'T EXIST EXCEPT IN MODERN TRANSLATIONS OF
THE BIBLE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Sorry
for the rant. I felt it needed to be said as a warning to you Christians who
think you got it all "figured out". You are in for a rude awakening
when God reveals how much sin you have in your heart to these people, and you
won't be able to use the "But, the bible told me so" as an excuse.
Okay. I'm done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Currently
fifteen states and the District of Columbia, plus various cities, make gay conversion therapy
illegal; <a href="http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy</a>
.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More should join them and stop this unconscionable
cruelty that targets America’s children as their misguided parents send them </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">trudging </span>down a very ugly path.</div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Related
Posts:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“</span><span style="color: #29303b;">A Guide to the Best of My Blog,” April 29, 2013;<span style="color: #956839;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“How
To Change Gay People Into Straight People,” September 20, 2010; </span><br />
<a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-change-gay-people-into-straight.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-change-gay-people-into-straight.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Choose To Be Gay, Choose To Be
Straight,” January 25, 2011;</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/choose-to-be-gay-choose-to-be-straight.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/choose-to-be-gay-choose-to-be-straight.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“A Homophobic Organization
Throws in the Towel: Goodbye to Exodus International,” June 21, 2013; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: #956839; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-homophobic-organization-throws-in.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-homophobic-organization-throws-in.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“How To Cure Homophobia,” July
30, 2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/07/how-to-cure-homophobia.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/07/how-to-cure-homophobia.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-61944033027994951612019-03-18T21:41:00.002-04:002019-03-21T19:49:31.753-04:00I’m in Favor of Prostitution<br />
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Recently New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged
with a misdemeanor for two counts of soliciting prostitutes when he visited the
“Orchids of Asia” massage parlor in Florida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a big scandal!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How dare
this man seek out sex with prostitutes, actually paying money for sex!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hmm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, Kraft’s
wife died eight years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s 77.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has sexual urges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the man to do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Masturbate for the rest of his life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try sleeping around with friends in Palm
Beach?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a major hassle, and at
his age is an iffy proposition taking much time and effort, as any bachelor
knows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the poor guy wants is a
sexual encounter without complications and for a remuneration he can well
afford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this Robert Kraft faces
public humiliation, a criminal record, and possible jail time.<br />
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Ah, but you say, these were poor Asian girls, likely victims
of forced sex work, not willing participants in a commercial transaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that’s true it does make them victims of a
crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the criminals are the evil people
who brought them to this country and forced them into a life they would never
have chosen on their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such scumbags should
be in jail and the girls freed from their terrible circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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If Kraft knew or should have suspected that these women were
caught in such a trap then he too is involved in criminal activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note carefully, however, that there is no
evidence of this that I know of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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What he’s charged with is paying money for sex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s guilty of that, of course, but the point
of this blog post is that it shouldn’t be a crime at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drag people into court and threaten them with
jail because they have a sex drive and figure out ways to satisfy it that hurt
no one?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that might upset moralists
who think that people should only have sex when married, one man to one woman (and
then only when trying to conceive), but I can’t imagine we’d happily let these modern-day
puritans dictate our penal laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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There was an experiment with capuchin monkeys some years ago
where the scientists wanted to know if they could teach monkeys the concept of
money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They slowly introduced tokens as
rewards when the monkeys did something that pleased the scientists, and when
the monkeys—puzzled—handed the tokens back gave them even greater rewards that the capuchins valued
highly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This system worked as planned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon the little community was abuzz with tokens
being swapped for all sorts of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At one point a researcher was astounded when he observed a male capuchin
hand one to a female in return for a “Slam-bam-thank you, Ma’am” copulation,
and, jaw opened wide, reported, “I’m pretty sure I just witnessed the first act
ever of simian prostitution.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Don’t misconstrue what I say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not in favor of the sex trade in innocent
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not in favor of taking
advantage of young people, forced on to the street and using their bodies as
their only means to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not in
favor of girls, boys, or adults of any age being tricked or forced by
circumstances into selling themselves unwillingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of that is criminal and should be
punished as such.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But when people of any age willingly decide that it would be
a good idea to make money for a trade of sexual favors they should be able to
do that without fear of criminal prosecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Years ago in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Advocate</i>
(long the leading magazine of the gay community) there was a letter to the editor
from a man explaining that when he was seventeen in NYC he’d wander around the
city in search of sex with older men, which is what he fantasized about having.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d find some man he was attracted to who
was attracted to him as well, and after the two of them had sex the older gentleman
would give him money (which he didn’t ask for).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They would insist he take it even when he protested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This happened over and over and he didn’t
know what to do with these “earnings.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He couldn’t spend it because he was living with his parents and they
would notice any undue increase in his wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So every month he would bundle the bills up and drop the package off as
an anonymous gift to the Museum of Modern Art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freakonomics</i>
writers have a segment in their canon about how some women are like Santa
Claus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are ordinary citizens much
of the year but as the holidays approach they go online and earn needed yuletide
money by selling their sexual services to men in search of same.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At various points, between partners and when on vacation, I
myself have hired the services of male “escorts” with whom I had a very good
time, providing me with memories I cherish with a smile as I write this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These gentlemen were independent contractors,
not part of a brothel or any sort of coerced labor force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They enjoyed what they did and were good at
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, over dinner afterwards and
when we were just becoming new friends and swapping stories, I would hear from
them how rewarding it was to service men who couldn’t otherwise have sex at
all: too fat, in a wheelchair, very old, ugly as sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were fulfilling a need: not just sex but
sex with a dream man!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPQ79h6uIjIqMt4Z9VI4XleJgvdthyphenhyphen-BS-eB5XNCUl837vZYWt6s30MkSMZltpw6oWwuDQDJlMmEu0fjmyzm0WATaxliHYZdh4Ew3hPZpMKFXWDetGbD-VeMBAexkxqbAxg6qoCdeX7c/s1600/4405152926_b794420996.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="359" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPQ79h6uIjIqMt4Z9VI4XleJgvdthyphenhyphen-BS-eB5XNCUl837vZYWt6s30MkSMZltpw6oWwuDQDJlMmEu0fjmyzm0WATaxliHYZdh4Ew3hPZpMKFXWDetGbD-VeMBAexkxqbAxg6qoCdeX7c/s320/4405152926_b794420996.jpeg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Yes, there are problems with all of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The devil, as always, is in the details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There should be regulations, laws, or perhaps
(hmm) licenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will involve
rethinking what is going on and making as sure as we can that everyone is
playing fair and no one is being subjugated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mistakes will be made and we’ll have to work out the kinks in the
system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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But that is much better than
putting people in jail because they have a sex drive and others are willing to
help them fulfill it. That should not be a crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be a commercial enterprise no more
controversial than restaurants, yoga classes, or hair salons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<br />
<br />
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"<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;"> A
Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><br />
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"Rape, Biology, and Tricks of the Mind," January
8, 2015, <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/01/rape-biology-and-tricks-of-mind.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/01/rape-biology-and-tricks-of-mind.html</a><br />
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<b><span style="color: #29303b;">“</span></b><span style="color: #29303b;">The Magic and Power of a Wink<b>,”</b> August 24, 2011<b>;
</b><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/08/magic-and-power-of-wink.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/08/magic-and-power-of-wink.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Good Sex, Bad Sex: Advice on
Making Love,” November 9, 2011; </span><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/11/good-sex-bad-sex-advice-on-making-love.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/11/good-sex-bad-sex-advice-on-making-love.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: #29303b;">“The Thrill of a Touch,” August 14, 2012; </span><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/08/blog-post.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/08/blog-post.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-15650209512675931342019-03-05T18:27:00.001-05:002019-03-06T17:59:03.103-05:00Two Gay Men Watch the Superbowl<br />
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I was reared in a sports family, played some sports myself,
and follow the Chicago Cubs, and the basketball and football teams from Ohio
State, Maryland, and Texas (all schools where I either work or which gave me a
degree). My husband, David Vargo, is the
opposite. When we first got together over
six years ago he knew nothing about sports and wasn’t keen to learn. But he joined the chosen family I have here
in Columbus, Ohio, and they are all sports fans (a little nuts for the
Buckeyes) so David gamely learned something about baseball, basketball, and,
most importantly in Columbus, Ohio, football.
We have the chosen family over for lots of the games.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Chosen Family Celebrates a Buckeye Victory</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David and I at the Blackout Game</td></tr>
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The first year he was here we went to the famous “Black Out”
game at the Horseshoe in Columbus when the Buckeyes had the crowd dress all in
black to defeat Penn State in a freezing night game. So, now in our seventh year, David knows quite a bit about
football, understanding the rules and not infrequently sitting through the
Buckeye games with me or the entire family.
It’s not his favorite thing to do, but he’s adapted.</div>
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I’m on top of college football annually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it comes to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">professional</i> football I quit paying attention many years ago, but I
do watch the Superbowl each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember the first one and I am pretty sure I’ve seen them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I can’t work up any enthusiasm for
watching any sport unless I care who wins so I artificially pick one of the
Superbowl teams and root for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ever since Deflategate in 2014 I’ve had a sour taste in my
mouth when it comes to Tom Brady, the very talented quarterback for the New England
Patriots with a fondness for pliable footballs, so this year I once again cheered
for the Patriot’s opponent in the Superbowl, the Los Angeles Rams (even though
there was a serious argument that a botched referee non-call was a major reason
they made it into the big game).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David
decided to watch at least the beginning of the game with me and, to my
annoyance, announced he was rooting for the Patriots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Because my family came from New England and I think Tom Brady is sexy,” he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The game itself was the lowest scoring Superbowl ever and
neither team did much in the first half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But right away I started noticing the terrific performance of Julian
Edelman, wide receiver, of the Patriots whose pass catches and broken field
running were superb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only that, he
appeared to be something of a hunk himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I said as much to David, and, ever the internet researcher, David promptly
made some clicks on his phone to produce a picture of Edelman. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Good looking,” I commented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a joke I threw in “Can you find any photos of him nude,” which
immediately resulted in this:<o:p></o:p></div>
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It turns out that Edelman (who was named the MVP for this
Superbowl, probably a blow to Tom Brady) has a record of being very LGBT friendly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has never married but he does have
daughter (born in 2016) from a relationship with an ex-girlfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has had a long-standing bromance with Brady and with former Patriot star Danny Amendola, with whom he had a filmed
vacation in Mexico [You Tube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRlJyOrnSY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRlJyOrnSY</a>].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hmm, again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edelman, Brady, and Amendola</td></tr>
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David actually watched the whole game with me, which pleased
me a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There wasn’t a touchdown until
late in the game when the Patriots finally made one, but the most exciting
moment came on the very next drive by the Rams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It looked like they were about to complete a long pass down near the
goal line when Stephon Gilmore of the Patriots made a leaping interception of
the ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slumped in my chair.</div>
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But that’s the same moment when something amazing happened
in our living room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David, like Patriots
fans all over the country, jumped to his feet, throwing his arms in the air,
and yelling in delight! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was thunderstruck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David had fully appreciated what was going
on, become invested in the Patriot’s success, and just like that joined the
ranks of a real football fandom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What an
amazing change from the sports challenged Floridian I married years ago!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now if he could only give up rooting for Tom Brady and those damn Patriots life would be ideal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Surely the Patriots won’t be in the 2020 Superbowl and this same debacle
happen all over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Surely.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“A Guide to
the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“On Being a Gay Sports Fan,”
March 9, 2012, <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-being-gay-sports-fan.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-being-gay-sports-fan.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“Put-Out at Home Plate,”
February 14, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=home+plate">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=home+plate</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“The Duckball Team Goes to London,” January 29, 2011; <b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/duckball-team-goes-to-london.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2011/01/duckball-team-goes-to-london.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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“My Sad Tale of Being a Chicago Cubs Fan,” May 27,
2015; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=cubs">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=cubs</a>“<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-28799437755146626042019-01-22T18:02:00.000-05:002019-01-23T17:13:43.758-05:00Atheist Magazine Publishes a Third Comic Article of Mine<br />
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The leading atheist magazine in this country is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free Inquiry</i>, put out by the Center for
Inquiry in association with the Council for Secular Humanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been a subscriber for many years and
when I published my atheist thriller “Imaginary Friend” I became friends with
the editor, Thomas W. Flynn (a great character, fun to know).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> When I first sent him the column below he asked that I expand it and when I sent him the newer version he liked it a lot. He told me one of my changes made him laugh so hard a coworker stuck his head in Tom's office to ask if he was all right. What author wouldn't want to hear that?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Flynn</td></tr>
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I have written three short comic pieces (all of which had
their first appearance in this blog and then were rewritten for the magazine),
and the most recent of these just hit the stands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is what “What Did the Lions Eat on Noah’s
Ark?” looks like in the February/March 2019 issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free Inquiry, </i>Vol. 39 #2 (click to enlarge):<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“A Guide to the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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“What Did the Lions Eat on Noah’s Ark?” October 20, 2017; <a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/10/what-did-lions-eat-on-noahs-ark.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/10/what-did-lions-eat-on-noahs-ark.html</a>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I've
Published Another Article: "An Atheist Interviews God," November 17,
2017; </span><a href="https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/11/ive-published-another-article-atheist.html">https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/11/ive-published-another-article-atheist.html</a>
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<span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Creating the Bible: Water Into Wine,” <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/01/ive-published-article.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/01/ive-published-article.html</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Imaginary
Friend,” June 22, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/06/imaginary-friend.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/06/imaginary-friend.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-20097999192602802462019-01-02T22:08:00.002-05:002019-01-13T22:43:05.140-05:00Why There Can’t Be an Impeachment of Trump in His First Administration<br />
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Actually most people don’t understand the meaning of the
word “impeachment” as used in the United States Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They think it means throwing the president
out of office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An impeachment is the same thing as an indictment in normal
criminal proceedings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under the Constitution
a majority of the House of Representatives can impeach the president for “high
crimes or misdemeanors” (an ambiguous phrase), but the process can include any civil
officer of the United States, including the president, vice president, judges,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There have been two successful impeachments
of our presidents: Andrew Johnson (Lincoln’s successor) in 1867 and Bill Clinton
in 1999.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both were acquitted in their
subsequent trials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, technically,
the title of this post is wrong: there might be an “impeachment” of Trump, but
I was using the word there the way most people use it: removal from
office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was too awkward to phrase it accurately
in a title of a blog post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back to the
matter at hand:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Following impeachment the trial of the person impeached is
held in the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The House of Representatives presents the
case against the person who has been impeached and that person is then removed
from office only if two-thirds of the Senators vote for removal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Johnson survived this trial by one vote and
then served the rest of his term as president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It would have taken 67 votes to convict Clinton, and the most the
Republicans could garner were 50 (no Democratic senators voted against
him).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>History records that both
impeached presidents were acquitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Richard
Nixon resigned immediately before the House of Representatives would have voted
to impeach him.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a strange system
that has members of the house as prosecutors, senators as a jury, and the Chief
Justice of the United States Supreme Court as a trial court judge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few of these august people typically have any
experience in these roles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve written once before about impeaching our current
president, and in that post I elaborated about both prior impeachments in some
detail [see “Related Posts” below].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
time around I want to explore the current climate for the reality of a possible
conviction of Donald Trump in any impeachment brought against him by the 2019
or 2020 House of Representatives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, with a Democratic House it’s possible (in spite of the
title of this post) for a majority of the members to vote to impeach Trump for
some crime or another (pick your favorite Trump “high crime or misdemeanor”—alas,
there are a large number of choices).
But using “impeachment” to throw Trump out of office by a vote by
two-thirds of the Senators, well . . . it’s impossible. You can surely see why. The 116th Congress, convening in 2019, will bring
some good news for the Democrats since they have gained a majority in the House
of Representatives after November 2018 election. If they act quickly and have sufficient
evidence of Trump’s ghastly misdeeds they might vote to impeach him and send
the case to the Senate for trial. Robert
Mueller could help mightily here should his investigation accuse Trump of
indictable offenses.</div>
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The Senate, however, is where this would all collapse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2019 it is composed of 53 Republicans, 45
Democrats, and two independents (who vote with the Democrats on most issues). Even
if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> the Democrats (and those two
independents) vote to convict Trump that adds up to only 47 of the needed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">67</span> votes</b> to back a moving van up to the White House's rear door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s nonsense to think 20 of the current Republican
Senators (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TWENTY!</i>) will turn against
Trump and vote to convict him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You only
have to look at the Kavanaugh mess to see how much solidarity the Republicans
have in the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One or two (hell, on
a fair day even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">three</i>) might vote to
convict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Trump would laugh, engage
in a twitter fit of self-congratulation, and things would go back to the usual
chaos of his administration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since this is obviously the result it would be a waste of everyone’s
time to impeach Trump in the House and face the futility of an acquittal in the
Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Of course that was also true of
the Clinton impeachment so Democrats might do something futile just to
embarrass Trump, which, admittedly, might be tempting.]<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Wait!” you might say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“What if the Democrats elect a huge number of new Senators in the 2020
election—wouldn’t that change things?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes it would, but that new Senate wouldn’t convene until January of 2021
and by that time a trial in the Senate it would be relevant only if Trump had
just won reelection to a new four year term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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And <i>surely</i> that won’t happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And surely <i>that</i> won’t happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And surely that <i>won’t</i> happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“A Guide to
the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Impeaching Donald Trump: A Lawyer Looks
at the Legal Issues,” August 16, 2017; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/08/impeaching-donald-trump-lawyer-looks-at.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2017/08/impeaching-donald-trump-lawyer-looks-at.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7844434945868494835.post-43349883817324641982018-12-12T11:52:00.001-05:002018-12-13T12:43:51.385-05:00I’m Not Kidding: What You Need Is a Placebo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the late spring of this year <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was directing a play called “Bad Seed” and
my leading actress was having major private problems, among them was that her
middle-aged father had had a major heart attach and she was the primary member
of her family having to cope with this shocking event while at the same time
holding a fulltime job as an administrator at a law firm and, of course,
starring in my play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is a terrific
actor, one who memorized her huge part almost immediately and performed it well,
but she told me she wasn’t sleeping at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“One or two hours at most,” was her sheepish confession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was very worried and I quizzed her about
various possibilities: warm milk, over the counter sleep aids, doctor
prescriptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Tried them all; didn’t
work.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This went on for over a week and
my concern deepened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat down and told
her all about my own reactions to my father’s sudden death (see Related Posts
below), so she understood I’d been through something similar to her current
nightmare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However all I could come up
with was sympathy and empathy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Then a seasoned veteran actor in our cast, named Rosemary,
took our leading lady aside and told her, “I’ve got just what you need: my <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">magic
blanket</i></b>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, a “magic blanket” and Rosemary assured
our actress lead it would envelope her in sleep as soon as she wrapped it
around herself and settled down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Smiling, our grateful actress took the blanket, somehow knowing it was
just what she needed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And here’s what will amaze no one reading this: it worked!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sleep came and things got much better
physically for the sleeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A week later
I asked her if she still was using it and she smiled and confessed that if she
didn’t wrap up in it she still couldn’t nod off, but if she embraced
herself in Rosemary’s magic blanket she conked right out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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What was going on here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The answer is that this blanket, a placebo, was exactly what was called
for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My actress didn’t believe in magic,
knew it shouldn’t work, but also knew it would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How could that be?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Readers of this blog will know that I don’t believe in
magic either, nor cult phenomena, or anything other than what we know scientifically
or can guess from established facts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
science knows that placebos have always been powerful medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recent studies have proven this, and that’s
what this post is about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By coincidence
I’ve just read two articles within weeks of each other, one in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New Yorker</i> [see <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.magzter.com/articles/12427/298297/5b80801f3749b">https://www.magzter.com/articles/12427/298297/5b80801f3749b</a></span>]
and the other in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reader’s Digest</i> [see
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.magzter.com/article/Entertainment/Readers-Digest-US/The-Power-Of-Fake-Pills">https://www.magzter.com/article/Entertainment/Readers-Digest-US/The-Power-Of-Fake-Pills</a></span>],
reporting on the amazing results that testers are having with trials involving
the announced administration of placebos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By “announced” I mean that the patients were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">told they were being given placebos</i>, but even so had major success
from taking them, just as my actress did with her “magic” blanket.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What they are proving is the power of the human brain to work
wonders in self-healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From our
earliest cave days remedies were urged on sufferers by wise old women or men or
self-proclaimed experts of all kinds, and some of these remedies (many of them)
worked even if these “experts” were deficient in expertise. And (we all know
this) some things today’s doctors prescribe are almost identical to cave
healers’ remedies. Doctors, sometimes after a drink or two, will tell you that more
than once they’ve written prescriptions for vaguely disguised sugar pills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even more important, placebos can help with
depression, chronic pain, and many other maladies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the relief people feel from
acupuncture is thought to come from the placebo effect (patients, blindfolded
and treated with toothpicks but thinking they were feeling traditional acupuncture,
had the same success).<o:p></o:p></div>
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That said, a placebo can’t mend a broken leg of course, nor
other truly physical injuries, but it can (in the case of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reader’s Digest</i> post) help with writer’s
block, or with calming yourself down enough to make crucial free throws in a
basketball game, or, as with my lead actress, going to sleep in difficult
times.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Even if you really know it’s a placebo?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
the articles cited above attest that turns out to be unimportant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is important is that you feel the need
for a talisman, something to help push you over the top of your problem—even
if it’s improbable—so that you have done something to clear this stumbling
block and now can resume normal life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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There is even a movement to sell placebos in drug stores
labelled frankly as such: “Placebo.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, my readers, if you get into one of those strange
situations where you feel you need something quirky to get you back to normal, what
the hell?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a placebo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or create your own out of your grandmother’s
favorite remedy for the blahs (chicken soup can work wonders).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These things are all cheaper than paying a doctor
to give you a sugar pill and direct you to take it once a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A warm blanket can help with many problems.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Good health to you all!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Related Posts:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: #fff3db; color: #29303b;">“A Guide to
the Best of My Blog”; </span><span style="background: #fff3db; color: black;"><a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #29303b;">“The Death of Robert Whaley,”
September 7, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/death-of-robert-whaley.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/09/death-of-robert-whaley.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Rape, Biology, and Tricks of the Mind,” January 8, 2015, <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/01/rape-biology-and-tricks-of-mind.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2015/01/rape-biology-and-tricks-of-mind.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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“How to Take a (or Many) Pills Easily,” May 26, 2010; <a href="http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-take-or-many-pills-easily.html">http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-take-or-many-pills-easily.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />dglswhaley@aol.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06014306127062171178noreply@blogger.com0