The Writer's Life 8/22 - The Swamp's Happy Day

So is this finally the beginning of the end for President Trump, the wet dream leftists crave? I'd thought so several times previously only to be happily surprised. Talk radio hosts Mark Simone, a personal friend of Trump's, and Sean Hannity are convinced the problems of Manafort and Cohen will affect the President only in the court of public opinion, not legally. If the swamp gets Trump, I still believe it will be because of financial matters, and the swamp almost always gets what it wants. As far as it looks now, collusion remains a hoax.

Photo by Phil Lanoue.

Here's a paragraph from Betsy McCaughey's op-ed piece in today's NY Post: "Of the overdose victims who land in an emergency room, 89% aren’t pain patients, according to JAMA – Internal Medicine. They’re younger than typical pain patients, and they’re overdosing on stolen pills and street opiates. Blame pushers, not doctors and drug companies." She says politicians have instituted hundreds of lawsuits against drug companies on this issue, and accuses the slimes of using the firms as cash cows. No surprise - that's what the swamp does. Painkillers have dramatically improved the quality of life of millions.

The Washington Nationals appear to have thrown in the towel on the 2018 season, letting two good players go yesterday. Too bad the entire the 500+ players in Congress won't be put on waivers and sent packing. Expected to win the eastern division easily, the Nats have shown no sign of breaking out of their mediocrity. Daniel Murphy, who bats lefty, should help the Cubs' so-so lineup, although his defense at second has become even more suspect since the knee surgery that sidelined him for the first two months of the season. I'm not at all familiar with OF Matt Adams, who the Cards picked up on waivers, but he does have 18 homers... Also in baseball: Here's a shout-out to Tampa Bay
left-handed pitcher Blake Snell, 25, who is having a breakout season. After last night's win he is 15-5 with a Pedro Martinez-like ERA of 2.07, phenomenal in a DH league. In 13 starts at home he has allowed one earned run or less, the longest such streak since 1913.

Here's a quote that seems uncannily precise: "I divide all readers into two classes: those who read to remember and those who read to forget." - William Lyon Phelps. I believe most of the reading public falls into the latter category, although many certainly cross lines. The quote is cool because it's not denigrating. Today's customers at the floating book shop were almost evenly divided. My thanks to the gentleman who got the ball rolling, buying a pictorial in French and a bio of E.E. Cummings. An elderly woman opted for two Catherine Coulter potboilers, and Maria selected Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, as well as two Debbie Macomber romances and a Sarah McLachlan CD. An Atlantic Towers resident purchased my favorite Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations, and an Asian gentleman chose Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader. Special thanks to the woman who, as she has done so often, donated books in Russian. Only minutes earlier I'd allowed her to take a book as a token of thanks, and she returned bearing gifts.
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