Trump’s Outrageous Florida Press Conference

Donald Trump held a press conference today at the Doral Resort in Florida. I rarely watch these types of press conferences but I happened to be flipping through channels and landed on MSNBC just as it began to air. While watching, I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or be very afraid. In the conference,  Trump urges Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails; he doesn’t seem to know the difference between the Geneva Conventions and NATO; and he tells a female reporter to “be quiet.” And this is only the tip of the iceberg. I watched the entire conference as Trump went on a stream of consciousness rant which seemed very angry, peppered with name-calling. I found myself wondering if he could even hold up under the pressures of a debate with Hillary Clinton? I continue to be concerned that someone with his apparent lack of verbal control has come so far in a presidential election. What kind of people are seriously thinking of voting for Trump? Is this reflective of what some think is the dumbing down of America or the world? Is Trump speaking to the lowest common denominator in human beings?

Clearly I won’t be voting for him in November. If you missed the press conference, it is embedded below. It’s long but once you start watching, it’s hard to stop as Trump seems to go off the rails many times with rants. There is nothing presidential about his behavior in this press conference.

Note: skip forward about 33 minutes to the actual start of the conference






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We Must Find A Solution to the Gun Problem

Last August, I posted my opinion on gun control ( The Frequent Critic: “Guns Plus Mental Illness – A Recipe For Disaster” ) I had no answers but said we must find a solution.

The recent mass shooting in Orlando Florida where 49 people were shot and killed by a lone gunman – who also ended up dead at the hands of police – has brought the whole issue of gun control to a head. The Boston Globe published a powerful front page with an AR-15 assault rifle like the one used by the killer, with the headline “Make It Stop.”

It is a succinct but powerful message.

I do believe in a person’s right to bear arms, but I am sure that the framers of The Constitution never had assault rifles in mind.

We must make these senseless killings stop, and the best way to do it is to control access to these weapons. I still don’t have all the answers here but there must be enough great minds in this country to come up with something.

We need to MAKE IT STOP.



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Deflect & Evade: Donald Trump’s Idiotic Strategy

I’ve been trying to keep out of the political fray until the Democratic and Republican candidates for the president have been selected. But the wackiness of Donald’s Trump’s candidacy is making that impossible.

How this person, who does nothing but deflect and evade issues or questions, can get this far in the race is beyond me. How this person, who has made headlines by making demeaning comments about women, can be supported by any woman is a mystery. How this person, who preaches nothing but intolerance toward people of other faiths or nations, can even be considered for the highest elected office in the United States is frightening.

Yet here we are. While Donald Trump hasn’t as yet been crowned as the Republican nominee, it is shocking that someone can even make it into the lead this late in the game. It make me wonder about the intelligence of the people who are voting for him.

It appears that the media, which gave Trump so much coverage early on and handled him with kid gloves in order not to alienate him, has realized that possibly they helped create this monster by not calling Trump out earlier on his outrageous statements. But today, and on The Today Show, it’s clear that the gloves are off and the media is now challenging Trump for his statements. In an interview this morning on the Today Show, embedded below, it clearly shows that Trump’s strategy of deflect and evade won’t work anymore. Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie challenged Trump’s statements and it was obvious that Trump was flustered, angry, and painted into a corner. I can only hope this is a turning point for his candidacy, and that voters in primaries and participants in caucuses will cast their vote for someone other than Donald Trump, driving the choice of the Republican candidate to the convention in Cleveland Ohio in July 2016.

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Supreme Court Vacancy: The Republicans Go Off The Deep End

I’ve been absent here for several months. I got tired of the political rhetoric coming out of the Republican Party. So much craziness was coming out of the mouths of Donald Trump and the other candidates that if I started writing about it, it would never end.

But the death yesterday of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was the tipping point for me. Not his death per se, but the Republican response that says President Barack Obama should defer making his recommendation for replacement and leave that for the next president. Some Republicans stated openly that they would not vote on, or they would block, any appointment that President Obama recommended.

This is garbage, pure and simple.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the Supreme Court." This means President Obama is well within his rights to put forth his nomination for Scalia's replacement. Members of Congress swear to uphold the Constitution. If the President makes his recommendation, Congress should vote on it. Of course, they do not need to approve The President’s selection, but in my opinion, NOT to vote on it should not be an option.

Those Republicans who want to block or delay the appointment of a replacement Supreme Court Justice in order to allow the next president to do so should remember that there are no guarantees a Republican will win the next presidential election.

I grow tired of Republicans, who are behaving like petulant children who throw tantrums when they don’t get their way. Those already in Congress should be aware that they represent the people - ALL the people, not just their own party or their own self interests. And those candidates running for president who are not currently members of Congress better get used to the fact that, if elected, they also have to represent ALL people AND uphold the Constitution.


The Republican presidential candidates continue to make themselves look more foolish by the day. It’s embarrassing.



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The Frequent Critic, here.

Guns Plus Mental Illness – A Recipe For Disaster

There have been too many killings lately at the hands of people with guns who are mentally ill. I have no issue with people having their guns, but there needs to be some way to prevent people who do not have the capacity to use them properly to get them and keep them. 

We are a country of many freedoms, but we also need to be able to protect people from those who are abusing those freedoms. The problem is: a person may be mentally stable when they buy the gun, then a mental “break” occurs and that gun is used in the wrong way. Other than mandating some sort of annual mental illness test in order to keep a handgun – which would likely not be legal,  much less practical – I don’t know how it could be policed.

There are so many new treatments for mental illness, but identifying the mentally ill and getting them access to and mandating treatment can be difficult.

I don’t have the answer. I’m not sure anyone does. But what I do know is that I am tired of innocent people being killed by someone who is mentally unstable.

We must find a solution!



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The Rational Fear of Flying

For me, the simple thought of flying on an airplane fills me with dread. Even driving to the airport makes my stomach feel tied in knots. I get horrible motion sickness when flying (medication doesn’t help) but that’s not the only reason why I hate flying. I haven’t flown on an airplane since being on a horrible flight in January 1993. The plane on which I was flying passed through a massive line of unusual January thunderstorms and I think everyone on that plane thought we were not going to land in one piece. We were heading to a business meeting on the east coast and colleagues from Chicago were also flying there, on another flight about a half hour behind us. They flew through the same storm. Their flight was even worse than mine and some people on that flight had to be hospitalized for injuries. I swore on the flight home that I would never set foot on a plane again.

Since my last flight in 1993, air travel has become even more unsettling for many people. The planes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11 tightened security and that made the process of just getting on the plane to be a hassle. Stories of plane crashes in general are unsettling. But over the last year where planes have crashed or gone missing - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014 being the most notable – flying is becoming uncomfortable for even those who aren’t afraid to fly. The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 this week, which currently is presumed to be a deliberate act, is a horrifying thought which brings the fear of flying to a whole new level.

The fear of flying can no longer be considered an irrational fear.

I’m not sure if there will be anything so critical that will force me to get on a plane. I do realize that no method of travel is 100% safe. But when I put my life in the hands of someone else – an airline, a plane, or a pilot – I want to have complete confidence that they will deliver me to my destination in one piece. I simply do not have that confidence any longer, not even a shred of it. I don’t think the earth will stop spinning if I never board a plane again. But each air tragedy breeds more people like me: not phobic, just those who have a reasonable and rational fear of flying.





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Often: The “T” Is Silent

After going through the last several months with no issue causing me enough grief to complain about it here, I’ve finally hit a high level of annoyance with one thing. It’s a little thing really, but with each day it annoys me more. It’s the pronunciation of the word “often.” Despite some who believe that pronouncing the “T” is acceptable, I am here to state that, in my opinion, it is not. The most common pronunciation has the “T” silent (“off-fen”).

Here’s why I think pronouncing the “T” (“off-ten”) is incorrect: people don’t pronounce the “T” in similar words, such as listen, hasten, soften, etc. I know that the English language doesn’t always follow its own rules of pronunciation, but in this case, I think it should.

I’ve noticed that the pronunciation of the “T” seems to be spreading with news reporters, news anchors, and TV pundits.  I almost never hear it in TV shows (dramas/comedies) where actors are delivering scripted dialog, and who are likely being told HOW to say what they are saying. But news people are pronouncing the “T” more and more often (read "off-fen!").  Do they think it makes them sound smarter? In my opinion, it doesn’t. It sounds “off,” especially coming from people who make their living by talking in front of a camera.

So my suggestion is this: please hasten to read this, and listen to what I say. I don’t want to soften my message: The “T” in “often” is silent!





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