The Monday Night Massacre

He hasn't been in office for two weeks, and already he's topping Nixon in outrageous behavior.

Tonight President Trump fired the acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who defied to enforce the presidential order to ban all Muslims from entering our nation legally; except of course, from those nations that Trump does business with, including the one that spawned 15 of the 19 September 11th hijackers that killed over 3,000 Americans.

He wouldn't want to offend his business partners, after all.

Sally Yates (American hero) is a patriotic citizen and a thoughtful attorney. She looked at the facts and made a studied decision (unlike Trump's usual tactic of seeing what his Greek chorus of fascists want to do) and she said the order wasn't legal and therefore not subject to DOJ enforcement.

She was immediately fired, and Trump's people skipped the regular order of progression in this case and found a Trumpette lawyer to fill in as acting AG.

If there was ANY doubt that Donald Trump is the most anti-American president we've seen in several generations, this will likely erase it.

We need to, as Americans regardless of party, block ANY Trump appointees from the cabinet and any posts that he may fill.

This isn't about politics. It's about preserving our nation as a free democracy and keeping it from the hands of hateful greed-mongers who only seek to enrich themselves while at the same time crushing the middle class and stripping them of their wealth.

This is a call to arms (figuratively). We need to act out, speak out, and show the world that we don't agree with a dictator who once he was made the leader, used his power for evil.

We've already seen that act about 80 years ago. It sucked then, and it will suck now.

Trump is a short-crowded vulgarian

Sean Spicer's (Trump's press secretary) first White House briefing today consisted mostly of an angry rant about how media reported the size of the inauguration crowd. On his very worst day, Nixon's press secretary Ron Ziegler never sounded that crazy! And this was just about the number of people who showed up.

Spicer could have said the rain kept many people home, or that too many people couldn't get out of work, or that the parking situation in DC was especially dismal, but he railed like a lunatic about how the press was outright lying about the crowd! It's almost as if Trump was beside himself with fury, so he made his hired mouthpiece go out and put those renegade reporters back in their place!

Trump, like many bullies, is hyper-sensitive to anything remotely sounding like an insult. Nothing I can think of has bothered Donald Trump more than being referred to as a "short-fingered vulgarian" many years ago in the long defunct Spy Magazine.

You HAVE to read this hilarious Vanity Fair article.

I guess Donald Trump is acutely sensitive to ANYTHING related to him being referred to as "small".

Today millions showed up around the world to march for woman's rights. Trump may actually help bring us together in ways we'd never anticipated.

I only hope there's a workable nation left when he's removed from office!

Buyer's remorse

Welp...here it is a few minutes before midnight on the night before January Twentieth.

In just over twelve hours we'll have a new president.

Right now, I feel safe and enjoy knowing my rights are being protected.

In just over twelve hours, I'm going to feel a lot differently.

Does anyone with cognitive reasoning abilities have any doubt that Donald Trump will be something of a problem for our nation?

We're likely fucked. In the most unwanted ways possible. But hey, ain't it great how democracy works?

Most Americans who voted for Trump are likely to be victimized by his policies in the coming years. Then we'll see some buyer's remorse!

However, I won't bother with schadenfreude...I'll be equally as fucked as them!

But hey, before he leaves office, I want to thank President Barack Obama for his thoughtful and compassionate leadership of our country in the face of unprecedented obstruction and incivility.

I am thankful that we've had President Obama, and Michelle, and their great kids living in the our nation's most notable mansion for the last eight years. Joyce and I visited their house, and it was wonderful.

Anyway there will be an inauguration tomorrow with a parade. Here's my video of President Obama's parade back in 2009. It was about 30 degrees colder than the weather predicted for Trump's big day.

Requim for my cousin

Well, this is gonna be a tough one...

I needed to wipe my eyes a few times doing this.

As bad as 2016 was in that so many beloved figures in popular culture have passed, there was nothing that prepared me for the news that 2017 brought.

On the second day of the New Year, I was informed that my cousin Thomas Miller had suddenly passed.

Until late in 2016, he was absolutely in the prime of his life. He was healthy and thriving and at the top of his game. He was an accomplished commercial pilot, an attorney, he basically ran a charter airline, he flew the Eagle One Rescue helicopter, even volunteering to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Tom had a passion for flight that was inspiring. He worked overtime as a young adult to be able to afford flight lessons, and later his own Piper Cherokee. He became a flight instructor, and actually took me on training flights a number of times. He also went back to school to become an attorney, although his love of flight pretty much precluded him from hanging a shingle in front of an office to practice law on a daily basis.

Tom even trained to become a jump pilot for my parachute organization, and he flew me and Joyce many times to make our jumps back in the 80s. He never got over how crazy it looked for him piloting a plane full of jumpers to open the door at 12,000 feet and watch us all simply leap out! For all his flying experience it was kind of fun to freak him out a little!

He went on to become a multi-engine commercial pilot, and he graduated to private jets, where he flew celebrities and ex-presidents around the world. He has a photo of himself with President George H.W. Bush. He flew many famous people to amazing places. All while making his way into the corporate world as a director at a charter airline.

He also had a world of other interests, such as boating, where we'd often see him speeding around our sailboat on Long Island Sound. Of course he named his boat "Miller Time"!

And he loved old trains, to the point when I created a documentary about a Rails-to-Trails hiking path and I included a snippet of an old NY-New Haven-Hartford engine rolling out of a station, he wanted me to give him the link to the archived video to see it! And we'll never forget his love for classic cars and motorcycles.

Tom loved family and was always there to help, often even without anyone asking. He was quick and sincere in his offer to assist his friends. He leaves a loving wife and close-knit family who loves him dearly, and an extended family and friendship circle that will always remember him.

Even though we're nearly the same age, my cousin Tommy will always be a role model for me and many others who knew him. I will continue to look up to him for as long as I live, and he will always serve as an example of someone who knew how to do life "right".

And perhaps his most important example will be to live life to it's fullest! There is nobody I know who was better at it.

A famous Irish actor once said this to me, and I believe it true.

"Live each day as if it were your last, because one day you will be right!"

I will miss you always, Tom. We will keep you in our hearts forever.