"Fear" - Bob Woodward's New Book

Author and reporter Robert (Bob) Woodward, journalist for The Washington Post, has won two Pulitzer Prizes, including one for his coverage (along with Carl Bernstein) of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.  His reporting comes with the credibility of a long and storied history that separates his new book, Fear, from previous and more recent books written about the 45th President.  Fear will be available to the public on Tuesday, 11 September, which is Patriot Day in the United States - a fact that I find delightful.   I believe it is 446 pages long, and includes a lot of detail.
  Woodward's book relies on hundreds of hours of taped interviews and dozens of sources in the President's inner circle, as well as documents, files, diaries, and memos, including a note handwritten by the President himself.  Woodward explains that he talked with sources on "deep background," meaning he could use all the information given, but not say who provided it.
  Fear offers a devastating portrait of a dysfunctional White House, detailing how senior aides - both current and former administration officials - grew exasperated with the President and increasingly worried about his erratic behavior, ignorance, and penchant for gross lies. Chief of Staff John Kelly describes the 45th President as an "idiot" and "unhinged," Woodward reports.  Defense Secretary James Mattis decribes the President as having the understanding of "a fifth or sixth grader."  And the President's former personal lawyer, John Dowd, describes the President as "a fucking liar," telling him he would end up in "an orange jumpsuit" if he testified before Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
   The President's closest advisers described him erupting in rage and profanity,and noted that he seemed to enjoy humiliating others.  Regarding Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General, that he appointed he said, "This guy is mentally retarded." Then, feigning a southern accent, he said, "He's this dumb southerner."  The President said of Reince Priebus: "He's like a little rat. He just scurries around."  Priebus, who was blindsided when the President announced his firing on Twitter, referred to the Presidential bedroom as "the devil's workshop" and called the early morning hours and Sunday night - a time of many of the President's news-breaking Tweets - "the witching hour."
   The President, however, sees himself as a Twitter wordsmith.  When Twitter expanded it's character count to 280 (doubling from the original 140) characters, the President said, "It's a good thing, but it's a bit of a shame because I was the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters."
   Yesterday, White House press secretary Sarah Suckabee Sanders said, "This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad. While it is not always pretty, and rare that the press actually covers it, the President has broken through the bureaucratic process to deliver unprecedented successes for the American people. Sometimes it is unconventional, but he always gets results."
   Bob Woodward, however, said he stood by his reporting.  He sums up the state of the 45th President's White House by writing that the President is an "emotionally overwrought, mercurial, and unpredictable leader."  Referring to several instances noted in the book, where staffers removed papers and notes from the Presidential desk, Woodward writes that the staff's decision to circumvent the President was "a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world."

Off For a While & The Preakness

The Preakness Stakes will be run Saturday at Old Hilltop, Pimilico Racecourse, outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  Always Dreaming will be facing horses from the Kentucky Derby, as well as several new, and fresher, horses.  I wish him well this Saturday.

  I am just so completely amazed and disturbed by the actions of the current President of the United States that I feel the need for a break from my blog - otherwise, it would be full of angst.  The way the elected leader of our country is acting is completely idiotic; he speaks without thinking of consequences and he lies out of both sides of his mouth.  He makes me ill.  I get up every day and wonder what the stupid bigoted child has done this time.  I'm headed back to my psychiatrist and therapist, thanks to him and his administration.

  I'll be back in a few days.....

Bits and Pieces

I was in a pretty glum mood yesterday after finding Maggie's remains.  I had to go back to the neighborhood and walk the dogs who live next door in the afternoon, and managed to get a word with Maggie's owner.  She was cremated by the Humane Society last night.  The folks who own the dogs were flying back in from California last night, and I was half-way to the airport when I realized that I didn't have my cell phone with me.  The flight was due to land at 7:15, so at 7:35 I started making drives through the arrival gates - and I saw them on the third trip around.
   I slept in this morning, and when I arose and checked my e-mail I found that a full grown deer had been killed and almost entirely eaten in the yard next to where I found Maggie's remains.  The owners had called the Wildlife Department, who removed what was left, but told the owners that it looked as if a pack of coyotes had attacked and consumed the deer, since there was so little left.  So I immediately sent out a notification to all the neighbors in the area to be alert - especially if they have smaller pets, small children, or grandchildren visiting.  Especially since Maggie was grabbed in the middle of the afternoon...
   It's cloudy out and rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  We've had temperatures in the 70s, and I've been wearing shorts instead of jeans.  I need to wrestle the honeysuckle and it's huge pot back inside, and off the balcony.  Saturday is Earth Day and the March for Science in Denver - and the high is forecast as 53 degrees.  That will be quite a change!
   Sad news from Chincoteague Island, Virginia.  Yesterday morning, Delbert "Cigar" Daisey, passed away at the age of 89 years.  Cigar was a renowned decoy carver, and one of his ducks was highlighted by the National Geographic magazine in 1980.  Cigar was one of the few old-time Teaguers left on the island - as a young man he made his living as a fisherman, hunter, and guide.  He known widely for his sense of humor, and he was mentioned in Marguerite Henry's book Misty of Chincoteague which made the island famous.  He will be greatly missed by all.
   I'm amazed that the circus peanut is still in the Oval Office.  The men in Congress need to put on their big-boy trousers and act against the Cheeto-colored cretin.  He breaks US laws daily, he lies constantly,  and he is causing the United States to lose credibility around the world.  The tiny-handed tyrant needs to go!  I have to admit that I really laughed outright, when it was announced earlier this week, that when 45 was posturing and saying that that there was a huge Navy armada steaming on it's way to Korea - the armada (which doesn't run on steam) was headed in the opposite direction toward Australia...  That person is the biggest joke and blowhard to ever appear in Washington.  Sheeesh!!!