The Writer's Life 7/20 - Just Short

Jordan Spieth made a great run at capturing the British Open, which would have made him only the second man in PGA history to capture the first three majors of a season. Fellow Texan Ben Hogan was the first. He was doomed by a double bogie at the par three eighth. He rallied and missed a birdie putt at the 18th, or the last, as Brits call it, that would have put him into the four-hole playoff with Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen and Mark Leishman. Johnson, 39, was one stroke better than Oosthuizen, winning his second major (2007 Masters). He now has a great chance at the Hall of Fame. Kudos, guys.

Donald Trump has to stop picking fights and start citing specifics about what he would do as President. True, John McCain attacked first, but so what? McCain is irrelevant to the run for the White House. The rest of the Republican field has seen that Trump has rabbit ears. Expect bombs to be thrown at him regularly to provoke reaction that may be embarrassing to him. The only danger is if he decides to be vindictive and run as a third party candidate, which would all but guarantee the presidency for Democrats.

Because of the heat, I intended to run the floating book shop for only two hours today. Things changed when Occupy Jack showed up at about one. He went on for nearly an hour, bless his heart. He may not be playing with a full deck but he is always a fun listen. I was seated in the shade on the ledge that surrounds the garden of the apartment where I set up most days. He stood before me in the shade, as energetic as always. He says Greece was bailed out not by other members of the European Union but by the war-mongering Pentagon, which feared Greece would align with Russia had it not received the funds. He believes a new U.N. should be created with eleven to 13 permanent members. He wants its first act to be the surrender of all nuclear bomb making material, and also wants countries to pledge compliance. Failure to comply will result in the violating country being bombed out of existence. When I asked how this made him better than any of the world's bad actors, he said: "It would prevent even more deaths." I told him he sounded as certain as a radical Muslim who believes anyone who does not convert should be killed. He described how he goes after Europeans who take pictures of his set-up at Union Square and refuse to make donations to the cause. If a Spaniard, Italian or German makes the excuse of having only Euros, he raises a hand above his head and says: "Heil Hitler," lampooning them for having surrendered their sovereignty. He believes that removing oil and natural gas from the earth diminishes the natural shield they provide that protects the planet from the nuclear fireball at its core. He is an original.

As for the operator of the floating book shop, who also must be a few cards short of a full deck to work on such a day, my thanks to the young man to whom I gave a student discount for a collection of vampire stories and to the gentleman who purchased The Longest Day: June 6th, 1944 by Cornelius Ryan.

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/