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Prologue “This is CNN breaking news. . . .” I was sitting on a plane just minutes after takeoff when the news alert flashed across the cabin’s TV screens. It was the morning of October 25, 2018, and I was en route from Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport to San Francisco, where I would be delivering a speech at San Jose State University on the state of the news business under President Donald J. Trump and accepting an award from the school’s journalism program. I’d been planning on using the flight to work on my speech, but suddenly I was glued to the screen in front of me. The New York City Police Department had units surrounding the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, across from Central Park. CNN’s headquarters was being evacuated after a suspicious package had been discovered in the building’s mailroom. A pipe bomb had been sent to CNN in New York, but its intended target was former CIA director John Brennan, a frequent Trump critic. The device was similar to bombs that had been mailed to Trump’s leading Democratic Party adversaries, including former president Barack Obama and Trump’s rival in the 2016 election, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. It has all been building up to some kind of act of violence, I thought. I had feared the day would come when the president’s rhetoric would lead one of his supporters to harm or even murder a journalist. And when it happened, the United States would undergo something of a sea change, joining the list of countries around the world where journalists were no longer safe reporting the truth. Perhaps we have already entered that era, a dangerous time to tell the truth in America. Of course, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it from where I was, strapped to my seat at the beginning of a five-hour flight to Northern California. All I could do was watch as the images of domestic terrorism played out on my tiny in-flight TV. Yes, for a reporter, there are few things worse than missing a big story like this one. But “fear of missing out” was not the emotion I was feeling at that moment. I was pissed off. Really, really pissed off. This was a terrorist attack on my news organization and, without a doubt, on the American free press. Since the days before the Iowa caucuses in 2016, I had covered both Trump’s unimaginable rise to power and his tumultuous presidency. My photographers, producers, and I had covered the rallies where Trump demonized the press, where he called us “disgusting” and “dishonest,” before moving on, at a news conference he held before being sworn into office, to dub my network and me “fake news.” We had listened to the chants of “CNN sucks” from his crowds of supporters, seen them give us the middle finger, and heard them call us “traitors” and “scum.” And of course, who could forget when the president of the United States said we were “the enemy of the people”? On the way to California, I ripped up my original speech for the folks at San Jose State and started from scratch. The students, I had decided, would get the unvarnished truth about what I had been witnessing during my time covering Trump. I was afraid the president, I later told the crowd, was putting our lives in danger. But this was no time to back down. The truth, I argued, was bigger than a president who is acting like a bully. We were in a fight for the truth, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Throughout Trump’s race for the White House and during his first two years in office, I have been jotting down anecdotes, collecting quotes from sources, listening to stories from Trump aides and associates past and present, and stockpiling reflections on what is clearly the most important political story of my life. In many ways it is one I have been preparing to tell ever since I knew I wanted to be a journalist. Growing up in the DC area, I have politics in my blood. The Washington Post was delivered to our house every morning. My parents were blue collar, but Mom read the Post from cover to cover each day. Dad worked at local grocery stores and came home with stories of meeting the likes of Dick Gephardt, the former Missouri congressman and Democratic presidential candidate. As for me, I went to high school with the daughter of U.S. senator Trent Lott. My best friend Robert’s father, Eugene Dwyer, worked at the State Department. Unlike a lot of young journalists these days, I took the traditional local news route to my jobs in network and cable news. Over the years, I worked everywhere, from DC to Knoxville to Dallas to Chicago, learning from some great journalists and covering everything under the sun. In local news, I was constantly on the go, running between city hall, the courthouse, and police headquarters. That’s how I began to cultivate sources, generate scoops, and, above all, report things to the best of my ability in a fair and accurate fashion. Eventually, CBS News gave me the opportunity of a lifetime: working under the likes of Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer. I covered the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the presidential campaign of John Kerry. It was an amazing transition for me, one that opened up a huge world of possibilities, but it was CNN that gave me the job I had always wanted, as a political reporter. In 2008, I covered Barack Obama’s epic battle with Hillary Clinton. In 2010, I carved out a niche for myself covering the rise of the Tea Party (an assignment that would prepare me well for surviving Trump’s rallies many years down the line). And two years later, the network had me covering Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid. After Romney’s defeat, CNN moved me over to the White House to cover Obama’s second term. “No drama Obama,” as he was known, experienced plenty of drama during his final four years in office. The Benghazi attack, the ill-fated rollout of the Obamacare website, the rise of ISIS, and the scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs were all serious challenges that plagued Obama, damaging his legacy as the president who stopped a second Great Depression and ordered the mission to take out Osama bin Laden. As it turns out, many of the stories that kept us busy during Obama’s second term, such as ISIS and the president’s inability to pass immigration reform, teed up some of the themes Trump would ride into the Oval Office. Long before he became a presidential candidate, Trump was a political fixture on cable news partly because of his devotion to the “birther” movement, which was fueled by the false conspiracy theory that Obama had not been born in the United States. Trump was one of the biggest proponents of this bogus claim about the nation’s first African American president. With his successful reality TV show, The Apprentice, Trump was already a star, but the “birther” conspiracy made him something of a household name in conservative circles, as he began popping up on “the shows” to talk about his strong suspicion that Obama wasn’t really an American. It was shameful. The Washington establishment, truth be told, did not consider Trump a credible figure. And President Obama brushed off the attacks coming from him as the rants of a “carnival barker.” Still, I remember that we in the press gave that outlandish birther lie a ridiculous amount of coverage. After Trump declared his run for president in June 2015, few folks inside Obama’s West Wing gave him good odds on winning the White House. For them, he was considered more of a punch line than presidential material. Hillary Clinton, they were convinced, would be the next president. It didn’t take long for that view to change. By the fall of 2015, as Trump was beginning to draw large crowds at his rallies, I remember attending an off-record reception at the office of National Security Advisor Susan Rice. (Think drinks with the staff.) A top official asked me if I thought Trump could actually win the Republican nomination. Sure, I said. Just look at the massive audiences showing up at his events. The Obama people were beginning to pay attention, but they were still fully confident that Clinton would become the forty-fifth president. So was just about everybody else. After Obama’s State of the Union address in 2016, I exited the gates of the White House with a new assignment on the horizon. For the next ten months, I would cover the Trump campaign, from the Iowa caucuses to Election Night in Midtown Manhattan. I would then settle into my hotel across from Central Park for the transition period, until, mercifully, I was finally able to get back home to Washington. I’ll never forget what I saw on the campaign trail and what I have witnessed covering the Trump presidency. Even now, more than two years into his presidency, it’s still shocking to remember Trump, as a presidential candidate, saying he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and get away with it. It’s still shocking to remember him mocking the captivity of a war hero the way he mocked John McCain, poking fun at a disabled reporter, and describing Mexican undocumented immigrants as “rapists”—and still escaping the kind of accountability that would have knocked anyone else out of the race. Beyond the slash-and-burn tactics employed by his campaign against his rivals, Trump has often twisted the truth, lied, and attacked those who would call out his falsehoods—most notably the national press corps. The Washington Post fact-checkers have catalogued nearly ten thousand false or misleading statements in the first two years of his presidency. He has thrived in this upside-down, through-the-looking-glass landscape because facts don’t carry the same currency they once did. The late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” But that’s hardly the case anymore. These days, everybody has his or her own set of facts. The result: facts are under attack, every minute of every day, in our fractured news spectrum—think Breitbart and Fox News—and of course on social media. Just try to ask a question the president doesn’t want to answer, and you’re sometimes labeled “fake news” or “the enemy of the people.” Or worse than that: one administration official nicknamed me, I think affectionately, “public enemy number one.” The hardest part to understand is how too many of my fellow Americans have accepted and, in some cases, even adopted this degradation of our political culture. In short, America has changed right before my eyes. I see this phenomenon in the death threats and violent messages streaming into my social media accounts. Self-described Trump supporters have left countless messages saying I should be murdered in all sorts of medieval ways. The comments posted on my Instagram and Facebook pages recommend that I be castrated, decapitated, and set on fire. Out of curiosity, I will click on the accounts responsible for these horrific messages. Theirs was the same kind of hatred that had now driven someone to send pipe bombs to CNN. Knowing that I still had hours until the plane touched down in San Francisco, I sat back in my seat and stared blankly at the TV screen, thinking about everything that had led up to this moment. In spite of the fear I felt for my colleagues and myself—the threat of physical violence now felt suddenly, horribly real—I knew this was no time to be intimidated. This was the time to ask the hard questions. I remember sitting down for drinks one afternoon with a senior White House official who blurted out, “The president’s insane.” The official went on to confide that when he came into office, Trump did not understand the Constitution. What were the rules for appointing Cabinet officials? Trump wanted to know. How long can an acting secretary stay on? The official was frustrated with Trump’s ignorance, his behavior. A lot of us are. But is Trump really to blame for what we see every day? Or should we look in the mirror for a change? Do we want this to be the state of our politics? Over the last couple of years, there has been plenty of conversation about whether we have allowed our political discourse to descend to a level that is beneath all of us. There is a growing chorus, not just among Democrats and liberals, but of Republicans and conservatives as well, who are exhausted with the disintegration of decency in our elections. In the decades to come, what in the world will we put in our history books to explain what has happened to America? The answer: That depends on what we do right now. Because it’s all riding on us. I have seen my life turned upside down covering Trump. His attacks on me and my colleagues, dedicated and talented journalists, have real-life consequences. My family and friends worry about my safety. I hope at the end of the day the sacrifice will be worth it. No. I know it will be...
~~~~~~
Just how much are we going to accept that the Supreme Court has pre-approved immunity for a president who cares nothing for the average American, but rather what he can get in money as more important to his ego than doing the job that he was elected to do!
It was 2015 when I first heard of Trump... Yes, that is correct. I had no awareness of this man, nor much of politics... I believe I was perhaps, Less than the average citizen... Tied to a political party and routinely voting along party lines, and then moving on to daily living... My daily living at that time was recuperating from Job Burnout during which a "strong-man" type of leader was hired over our office and between the vice-presidents with whom I had worked directly... Like mentioned above, these men came in without any awareness of what my office was all about--and didn't care as long as I did what they said to do...
I didn't...
I did my job as I was taught to do. To work directly with the appropriate vice-president in respect to their responsibilities... Indeed, there was really no other way to do that job because of the different parts of the campus that dealt with entirely different programs...Neither of these men ever sat down with me to find out what I was doing... Never...
In any event, by 2015, having heard a man who I learned had a reality show also was speaking on a video laughing and telling another that he could grab me by an intimate body part and get away with it because he was a star... NOT! I had just settled into my new cabin home and discovered CNN...Many hours were spent watching that channel, the first total news station I had ever seen on a hour-by-hour basis, since I had taken early retirement... I liked Acosta in particular when I first heard him reporting... I remember that he was once told to leave the News Briefs and was out until Trump lost that battle... But that was during his first term... And then people decided to reelect him for a second term, during which devastation like no other time in this nation's history began and continues to occur daily... This time is much worse--and that's saying something... But True...
Somebody commented to me that I was watching too much CNN...so I added a few local news channels and then found MSNOW (new name). Actually I came to prefer this channel. I found it more diversified than CNN... And also, from my earlier knowledge gained at CNN, I found them just as truthful, but more open in speaking Truth. CNN was left behind for the most part at that time...
But then I watched as things began to change. Joy Reid, one of my favorite news hosts suddenly left. I had read her book based upon Black historical real people and wondered whether that was part of the reason. I never found out. But then a break of the total channel was made and became more independent under a new name... I stuck with them. It was important to me to have an ongoing group of people who spoke truth that was easily confirmed to actually be TRUE... And if lies were discussed, they were confirmed as lies, even if from the president...
Notice in the Prologue that somebody said to Acosta in the first term that the president was insane... I wasn't sure until I read three books by his niece (2) and nephew (1). By one month into this term, I was positive. And the republican party has continued to support such a man, instead of handling the situation as provided for medical issues, he has been permitted and, indeed, supported in doing unspeakable things that no other president would be permitted. Why? Because he supports the big-money backers of all things rich white men want... 'Nuf Said...
This new announcement is so new that we don't know what it will mean. Will these individuals still be able to access true information? Will they stay on television, even if this ban is just from the Government?
Or, will the loss of so much coverage actually result in even lower ratings for this president? After all, even Fox news who was a staunch supporter of the first term, has even begun to conduct polls and report just how bad the president is considered by a sampling of citizens...
But, protestors all over the country are already showing how they feel about this administration...The question is whether citizens will get out and vote what needs to happen, or will the big money support to republicans be "creatively" manipulated to win through lies and more lies? It seems like that cannot possibly happen... And yet, when criminal actions are approved and implemented by a conman, can it slip away from us as was tried in the 2020 election? Simply because there is more republican power and money sources to help scheme their way into what they want, which is, of course, opposite of what the majority of citizens are seeking? Your vote will tell...
As a final thought... Our neighbors to the North have seen this president in action and has already worked with and announced that they are joining with Europe to ensure they are able to have, with Europe, what they once had with the United States... Will Mexico and other countries with whom we have successfully traded for the benefit of both sides, also see that this administration has no desire to interact unless money is involved to the benefit of this president... Please think about it. If you don't trust anybody who opposes the republican party/Trump, then consider the fact that many countries around the world has also been penalized by this one man for purposes of greed and power, rather than as good neighbors helping each other... Wake Up!
This song now begins my mornings... It's a way to remind myself that I am now experiencing what is called AFib. I'll be having a procedure next Thursday which may resolve the issue--or may not... I've been told I'll be taking medication for this for the rest of my life... The procedure is outpatient, though, so that's good, at least. Even better, I'll be asleep through it all... YES! I'm someone who has no desire, or need, to know what happens once I've placed myself in my doctor's care... After I've had a full explanation of what will be happening, that is...
What is atrial fibrillation (AFib)?
AFib is a type of irregular heartbeat that may cause the heart to beat faster than usual. It is projected that by 2030, approximately 12 million people in the U.S. will have AFib. It is important to know that AFib increases the risk of stroke by about 5 times. Talk to a doctor today.
I've mentioned this before but things have been, not frantic, but more confusing for me since around February, when I fell here at home... Since then, I've been in the emergency room. Had a 14 day monitor on my chest which has told my doctor everything she needs to know... And I've become much more actively involved when I take Each Step these days than before. I don't really know whether, since I had no sign of heart problems before my fall, whether that was the cause (most people--or doctors--don't know why or when it begins) but when they discovered in the hospital that I had cracked ribs which were never identified - Yes, it's true that many women don't immediately think of heading for medical care for everything - I have to wonder whether it was also at that time that my heart was jolted into what is called AFib... Oh well, no matter the how...it's now here to stay in one way or another. This time I'm paying attention.
So each morning, after doing a few bedside stretching exercises, I feed may cats... And, in doing so, I have to go outside and I sing Each Step I Take as my form of prayer to have Him help me...
Especially when that 'coon comes around... but that's another story...
~~~
Today I want to highlight a just-out new book I learned about on the news...
We are in a rough place right now, fighting to save our fragile democracy. As a man of faith, I often say that I believe democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. It is the notion that each of us has within us a spark of the divine. Therefore, we ought to have a vote and a voice in the direction of our country and our destiny within it. One person, one vote. This revolutionary idea of self-governance is rare, precious, more the exception than the rule throughout world history.
...despite our differences, we would be all right, communing with one another and with God for a short while in this grand cathedral. In fact, this diverse gathering of humanity affirming our faith and imagining a future big enough to embrace all of us was a small glimpse of God’s dream for the world! That work is and always will be a group project.
Most of you are aware that the bridge between Politics and Religion has been destroyed at this point in the United States. If you disagree with that statement, I urge you to begin doing some serious research. It can easily be done through TV news groups such as MSNOW, or on YouTube. The latter, however, posts videos that have questionable origin, so be careful and use multiple sources. All of the videos above are different in content, but contain important truths that must be studied and supported. There are so many books available that I've had to pick and choose from the nonfiction book proliferation. There was no doubt in my mind, however, when I chose to immediately purchase Reverend Warnock's latest...
Why was it so important to me? Of course, many of you already know that I am convinced that, in addition to seeking power and riches, there is a major effort to change/destroy the Constitution upon which the United States was formed. More concern, however, is the attacks that have reached extreme actions which are affecting every non-white race, as well as, white women. Male white supremacists are using every type of criminal action that they can dream of, and immediately acting, no matter what it does in harm to all those who now live in our country.
And lying to do so by using religion as a manipulation tool...
So, when a pastor who is also a politician speaks of his Truth and it matches my thoughts and opinions, then it confirms to me that I am speaking Truth. Hopefully, for the majority of time, meaning God's Truth... And most importantly, Senator Warnock is Black. He knows the history of our Black neighbors and easily sees what politicians are doing to stop Freedom for ALL of God's children... Personally, I believe that the Black people, have a significant lead of we white people who were working merely to deal with our own lives... It was those who had been enslaved who began to and continue to fight back... That knowledge and experience helps me and others to learn and confirm what "really" happened in our country's history...
The book is based on scripture: Isiah 40:4
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Folks, I'm not ashamed that I have little ability to understand what is in the Bible Old Testament especially. By the time I had read the Introduction to Warnock's non-fiction book, I knew exactly what was being said by Isiah ... Sooo, hopefully as planned (now, at least) I want to dedicate my time reading this entire book. The publisher strictly controls copyright to use excerpts without permission. I've used a few sentences to write this first post, but what I plan on doing is taking each part of the book, read and digest, and write about the major points in my own words. Of course, after reading just the Introduction and listening to the news interviews with the author, I feel confident in saying that I recommend this book as a must-read and highly recommend that if you have to choose carefully what books to buy, I recommend you proceed to buy this one. Dealing with politics and religion and race, three of the major issues in our headlines makes this book perfect for those who are dealing with the religious manipulation issue, like I have been, a worthy study guide and, as the author claims, a sermon to be heard!
I did not purposely start to read this book last night. In fact, I was about a fourth of my way through The Violinist's Revenge and felt I needed to stop for awhile. I knew it was set during WWII, but was looking forward to adding violin music to a book with such a title... Reading this book, right now, is difficult for me. It deals with the Holocaust and all the hatred and violence of that time... because, of course, reading sections also reminded me of exactly how people are being abused, threatened, and facing violence, even leading to death on our streets, right now with no way, it seems, to stop it... Without going to court...!!!
Then too, I've been disheartened by the fact that right now religion is part of a war that should never have started, based upon violent leaders being willing to maintain or increase control through discrimination and violence. I will continue to read this book concurrently with Senator Warnock's nonfiction. We'll see how it goes as these goals are fitted around health and personal issues such as needing to repair my car because it won't pass inspection...Sigh...
And maybe I'll take a break and share my 'coon adventures...
Or need to share about another stupid and distressful issue that this administration is forcing on the world... such of these:
Of course, Trump had to put his hand into the major bridge now open. Built by Canada, but we cannot use... Why? Because a billionaire gave Trump $1M to ensure that there will be delays on opening a bridge that would help our citizens interacting or working with Canadians... Yes, power of the rich guys stops another good event for US, and instead money crosses hands...
AND ICE CONTINUES TO ACT VIOLENTLY TOWARD LEGAL PROTESTORS...
Isn't it about time to realize that NONE of us are safe from those who speak lies... No matter what party you choose, it's irrelevant, isn't it... because with the Supreme Court's republican-placed members who have protected him from almost the very beginning, even after the January 6th insurrection incited by this president and his big-money supporters... there is a constant battle to keep on top of all the illegal acts taking place...
India Hayes is a lot of things . . . starving artist who pays the rent as a college librarian, daughter of liberal activists, sister of an emotional mathematician, tenant of a landlady who has kissed the Blarney Stone one too many times, and a bridesmaid six times over. But she’s about to step into the most challenging role of her life: amateur sleuth.
When Olivia turns up dead in the Martin College fountain and the evidence points to Mark, India must unmask the real culprit while juggling a furious and grieving Mother of the Bride, an annoyingly beautiful Maid of Honor, a set of hippie-generation parents, the police detective who once dated her sister and is showing a marked liking for her, and a provost itching to fire someone, anyone—maybe even a smart-mouthed librarian.
India’s investigation leads her on a journey through childhood memories that she’d much rather have left in the schoolyard, but to avoid becoming the next victim, it is a path she must follow.
Maid of Murder is a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud mystery set in an amusing world of academia. Readers will fall in love with India Hayes’s fierce loyalty and wit.
~~~
Ohio Author’s First Mystery a Novel Treat
Akron, OH – March 1, 2010 – Humor and wit abound in a new cozy mystery called Maid of Murder from first-time author Amanda Flower. The book, set to be released June 16, 2010, by Five Star Mystery/Gale Cengage Publishing, follows the misadventures of India Hayes, a librarian at a small college in Northeast Ohio. When India’s best childhood friend is murdered a week before her wedding, India’s mathematician brother is arrested for the crime.
As she sets about to prove her brother’s innocence, India also finds herself dealing with her protest-happy hippie parents, an Irish-centric neighbor who fears India is dating an Englishman, and a checking account emptied to purchase the most hideous gold bridesmaid gown India’s ever seen. These are just some of the trials India Hayes faces in Maid of Murder, her debut as an amateur sleuth.
Anthony award-winning author of the Amanda Pepper mystery series, Gillian Roberts, calls Maid of Murder, “a most welcome debut.”
Author Amanda Flower works as an academic librarian for a small college in Ohio’s Western Reserve. When she is not at the library or writing her next mystery, she is an avid traveler, aspiring to visit as much of the globe as she can. Recent trips have taken her to Slovakia, Ireland, and Israel. She lives and writes near Akron, OH.
Five Star Mystery is an imprint of Gale/Cengage and is a publisher of Library-Edition and Standard Print Original Fiction. Five Star books are regularly reviewed by Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist. Libraries can purchase through Five Star either individually or by standing order. Five Star titles are also sold on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders websites or can be order from any independent or chain bookstore.
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