According to the latest poll, only about one-quarter of voters have a favorable opinion of Vance, while the rest are undecided. By contrast, Walz enjoys a stronger position, with around 40% of voters viewing him positively–a 15-point lead.
I’m guessing this Vice Presidential Debate will be another circus with Vance making stories up and Walz being folksy. Are you going to watch the Vice Presidential Debate? You know Trump will be watching!
“Within Republican circles at least, the message of McCarthy’s pilgrimage (to Mar-a-Lago) was loud and clear. Donald Trump’s status as the party’s leader was restored. His time in the political wilderness lasted eight days.” (p. 48)
Jonathan Karl tracks the GOP and Trump from January 6th to the present. Karl includes all the craziness of the Trump circle of “advisors.” Steve Bannon said that Ivanka Trump was “Dumb as a brick” and referred to Donald Trump, Jr. as “a dimwit.” (p. 54) Then Bannon was fired. But he’s back in the fringes of Trumpworld.
But the scary part of Tired of Winning (2023) is Karl laying out the fashioning of the next Trump Administration: firing most of the Justice Department and replacing them with political stooges. Rounding up immigrants and sending them to interment camps. Prosecuting political enemies. Utilizing the Military to “Restore Order.” The list is extensive…and frightening. Already, Trump minions are recruiting staff for the next Trump administration where loyalty is the prime attribute for inclusion.
Make no mistake: Karl records Trump ranting about the Retribution he is going to bring to the country when he regains power. Tired of Winning shows the entire Trump playbook for plans to Make America Great Again. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction1
Chapter 1 “Come Retribution” — 13
Chapter 2 Dark Days at Mar-a-Lago — 37
The Grim Reaper — 51
Chapter 3 The Choker — 57
Chapter 4 The Crazy Factor — 81
Chapter 5 Team of Sycophants — 97
“Only One” — 111
Chapter 6 Trump’s Essential Man — 115
Martial Law — 131
Chapter 7 “Fix It Now!” — 135
Lying to the Vatican — 153
Chapter 8 Razing Arizona — 157
The Club Champ — 175
Chapter 9 The Biggest Loser — 181
Chapter 10 Speaker Trump — 203
“Now It’s the Tallest” — 221
Chapter 11 The Beginning of the End — 225
Chapter 12 Defendant #1,090 — 251
Conclusion — 271
Acknowledgments — 289
Notes — 295
Index — 311
For some inexplicable reason, Vegas has the 3-0 Buffalo Bills 3-point underdogs to the 1-2 Baltimore Ravens. Yes, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are potent runners. Yes, the game is being played in rainy Baltimore. Yes, the “experts” didn’t expect the Bills to be undefeated three games into the 2024 season.
I expect the Bills vs. Ravens game to be a close game. Weather conditions may affect the game with slipping and sliding and fumbling a wet football. How will your favorite NFL do today?
I was hoping for some cool alchemy and magic in the Infinity Alchemist. Instead, Kacen Callender delivers more of a romp into the angst of young people, difficulties with parents, gender-switching, romantic entanglements, and a lust for Power.
Ashen Woods is a poor young man working as a Groundkeeper’s assistant at the Lancaster College of Alchemic Science. Secretly, Ash has been teaching himself alchemy with varying results. When Ash is confronted by one of Lancaster College’s faculty members, Ramsay Thorne, he becomes part of a search for the legendary Book of Source. An alchemist possessing the Book of Source would commend infinite Power.
Of course, Ramsay Thorne isn’t the only alchemist searching for the Book of Source. Ash’s father, Gresham Hair, is willing to murder anyone standing in his way of finding Book of Source. While Ramsay and Ash pursue their own leads on the location of Book of Source, complications ensue. Ramsay changes gender every day. Sometimes male, sometimes female. While Ramsay knows more about alchemy than Ash does, Ash has untapped Power.
I found the romantic shenanigans tiresome and the search drawn out. Skip this one. GRADE: C
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Balloon — 1
Bucket — 3
Richard — 15
Neighbor kid — 36
Poop mystery — 55
The Kangaroo Pig gets drunk — 81
Daydreams — 106
Dandelions — 132
Bananas — 149
Losing — 166
The Pile Dog 1 — 220
The Pile Dog 2 — 240
The world’s greatest cup — 261
Fairness — 285
Plans — 310
The ultimate plan — 315
Loving-kindness exercise — 364
Cat — 390
Fish video — 406
The Ugly Duckling 2 — 416
Throw-and-find — 446
Sister — 449
A nonspecific story about an animal — 468
Friendship spell — 478
Friend — 481
Acknowledgments — 517
I’ve read a lot of Jack McDevitt’s books (check out the links below). I’ve enjoyed them all…until this new one. Doorway to the Stars is loosely connected to McDevitt’s SF novel, Thunderbird (2015). An alien building known as the Roundhouse, estimated at 12,000 years old, provides instantaneous travel across the Galaxy. The Roundhouse is located on Sioux land so the Federal Government can’t immediately seize the Stargate.
So far, so good. But then Doorway to the Stars gets bogged down in various trips to distant planets. Who built the Stargate? What is its purpose? Why are only Earth-type planets (and a space station) accessible? Who are the intelligent species living on the planets the Stargate’s grid links to Earth?
One of the problems with Doorway to the Stars is that it’s only 107 pages long. Not a novel, more of a novella. Many plot points are suggested, but not filled out. Jack McDevitt’s Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Doorway to the Stars is a long way from that quality. GRADE: C
Fans of Sherlock Holmes pastiches might enjoy this gender-bending series which begins with John Watson and his doctor son investigating a suspicious death. During their investigation, they meet Joanna Blalock (aka, The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes), a widow with uncanny deductive abilities only rivaled by her brilliant son who amazingly resembles the young Sherlock Holmes. Together, the Watsons and Joanna peel away the clues hiding a monstrous crime.
In A Study in Treason launches the Watsons and Joanna into a frantic search for a missing Government document. This case is set in 1914 and World War I is starting. If the Government document falls into the Wrong Hands, it could be a disaster. Joanna solves a locked room puzzle and leads the Watsons and Inspector Lestrade (son of the original) of Scotland Yard on a thrilling hunt.
The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth features a German spy group who has kidnapped one of England’s key cryptographers–Alistair Ainsworth. Joanna and the Watsons chase the spies who have the man who could change the outcome of World War I if he reveals the military codes to the Germans. I enjoyed all three books. Quick, fun reads! GRADE: B (for all three novels)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PREFACE — xi
INTRODUCTION — 1
Infirmity — 13
Loneliness — 41
Grief — 65
Failure — 91
Injustice — 119
Absurdity — 147
Hope — 171
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 183
NOTES — 185
INDEX — 215