- The Yankees made the postseason. This one turned out all right, since they were quickly dispatched.
- The estimable New York Times published a detailed expose of how our President made his fortune. Hints: there is a discrepancy (over $400 million of them) between what he said he inherited and what public records indicate.
- Pro Publica published a story alleging that apples have not fallen far from the Trump family tree, as Junior and Ivanka apparently inflated the value of various real estate ventures they were involved in, thus enhancing their own wealth.
- Son-in-law Jared is worth over $300 million, yet seems to have escaped paying those pesky income taxes for nearly a decade.
- An astonishing number of women I know have come forward describing times that they were sexually harassed. Result: the woman who courageously opened these floodgates still cannot return to her home, due to death threats. Conclusion: nothing has changed since Anita Hill.
- We have a new Supreme Court Justice, confirmed without revealing documents he wrote during his time as a White House aide under Bush II. He was confirmed by Senators who represent 42% of the population, opposed by Senators representing 58%.
- Republican incumbents, who have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act at least 50 times, are on the campaign trail, stating that they favor legislation requiring insurance plans to cover pre-existing conditions. I guess those 50 or 60 votes really didn’t mean anything. Their statements qualify as pants-on-fire lies.
- The president is whipping up a frenzy of fear about a caravan of a number of refugees which is currently more than 1000 miles from our border. Worse, the press is covering this just like they did the Ebola scare of 2014. I will bet we will hear no more about this on Faux News after November 7.
- The Republican in Georgia who is both a candidate for governor and the referee to ensure a safe election has tilted the rules so that hundreds of thousands of eligible voters may not have the ability to cast a ballot. Voter suppression is nothing new for the anti-Democratic party; they’re just a lot more brazen about it this year.
- The Sooners lost to Texas in the Red River Shootout, an ignominious fate in any year. I fear the worst in the annual confab between Florida and Georgia this weekend. Prediction: UGH-HA by about 20.
- The president announced a 10% tax cut for the middle class, displaying insight into the process of how a bill becomes law that was woefully less than I learned in my 7th grade Civics class.
- Explosive devices were intercepted before delivery to two former Presidents, a news network, a Congresswoman’s office and who knows where else. In a speech last night, the president smiled at the chants of Lock Her Up, while bemoaning the lack of civility in our discourse.
- Finally, we learned that the President uses a personal phone that is routinely hacked by Chinese and Russian spies. I guess that's still not as bad as Hillary's emails.
Yet none of these came close to the scariest experience I had all month. I was on a flight on October 3. When it landed in Atlanta, I heard alarms sounding on phones throughout the plane. I don't know that I had seen such panic on the faces of so many people since the dark days of September, 2001. Soon, my screen, like everyone else’s, indicated that we had just received an emergency text from the President. I confess I was aware this test was coming. I don’t think any of us would have been surprised to learn that we were at war somewhere or some other monstrosity had occurred. Such is life in Trump's America.
The great news is that I had a moment of reassurance not long after the dread that engulfed me on that plane. While walking through the airport, I saw Congressman John Lewis walking in my direction. Mr. Lewis, a man who has risked his life countless times to make life better for all of us, who has gladly gotten himself into "good trouble" in order to do just that. All I could think of to say was "Thank you, Congressman", which was horribly inadequate for what he has done. Still, I felt better immediately.
The great news is that I had a moment of reassurance not long after the dread that engulfed me on that plane. While walking through the airport, I saw Congressman John Lewis walking in my direction. Mr. Lewis, a man who has risked his life countless times to make life better for all of us, who has gladly gotten himself into "good trouble" in order to do just that. All I could think of to say was "Thank you, Congressman", which was horribly inadequate for what he has done. Still, I felt better immediately.
