That Voice

Posted on July 10, 2025 by mfna

This is not about the TV spectacle that features singers competing for money and prizes. Or maybe just money. I don’t know; I’ve never watched it. To its credit, it’s been on the air for 27 seasons (number 28 is due this Fall). That’s a pretty good career for anyone associated with it, so kudos to them.

No, this is about something much more mundane. It’s also pretty shallow, if I say so myself. But this is my site, so I can be as pedantic, snarky or narcissistic as I wish. You don’t pay for my opinions, and as the site’s subhead states, everyone is entitled to it. That doesn’t mean you have to agree, or even read further.

Now, three paragraphs in (have you noticed how many articles on the web don’t get to the point right away? What’s with that?) I’ll lay the groundwork.

In my college years, and even some years before, radio was the “source medium” of the day. It was how we got our news, weather and sports reports. Then television began shoving radio aside, and today both are ancient technologies due to the Internet. But they persist.

Several times during those years I was told, “You should be in radio.” Maybe it was because people thought I had a face for radio (rimshot!) or they honestly thought I had a voice that was suited for it.

A Face For Radio

It was fairly common knowledge at the time that there were schools for people wishing to enter the field. The Columbia School of Broadcasting {link unavailable} was perhaps the best known. I should note that the Columbian School of Broadcasting is not affiliated with Columbia University, which has its own school of journalism and broadcasting. In addition, there is a Connecticut organization with the same name. I’m not going down that rabbit hole.

Broadcasting schools were there to train and educate those interested in a career in broadcasting (duh). Among the courses offered were voice lessons, which covered topics such as diction, pacing, tone and presentation. Successful completion of a course might lead one to a position in the broadcast industry, and the cream of the crop would find themselves in front of a microphone.

My father was an avid listener to the Harden & Weaver program, broadcast weekday mornings on WMAL Radio, which at the time was on the AM band at 630 (it is still Washington, D. C.’s most popular talk radio station, now broadcasting on the FM band at 105.9). Full of humor, topical news and personalities that wouldn’t quit, Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver both had voices made for radio (there is a book about them here).

A “radio voice” is not necessarily stentorian, but the schools would train them to be resonant, well modulated, clear and articulate, warm and inviting. Harden & Weaver epitomized these characteristics. Don Ameche (1908–1993) was not only a golden voice, but an Oscar-winning actor. As was James Earl Jones, without whose voice Darth Vader might have been little more than a cartoon character rather than the menacing evil who made the Star Wars franchise famous.

The original Star Wars movie poster (no credit to Jones, although the Vader image prevails)

Rush Limbaugh is another voice that typifies the attributes listed above. Whether you agreed with his politics or not, his voice was a commanding presence on the airwaves for more than 30 years.

There are an awful lot of radio personalities now that fail my personal “broadcaster test.” Not to detract from some very successful on-air personalities like Wolfman Jack and Mark Levin, both of whom have pedigrees longer than my arm (the Wolfman actually graduated from the National Academy of Broadcasting in Washington, D.C.) but I have a tolerance level for voices that growl, scratch, croak, squeak or scream. Sorry to say, Mark Levin’s voice alone is the main reason I don’t listen to him. That he’s intelligent, well-read and loves dogs is a given. But his voice is the broadcast equivalent of scraped chalk on a blackboard (or, if that’s too old of a reference, how about a fork scraping a plate?), especially when he gets excited. I’d wager Levin is not a broadcast school graduate! I am a fan, although not a rabid one, of local sports teams, but the radio outlet here hosts a number of on-air types who may know every stat, number, play and player, but whose voices are so unlistenable that I refuse to tune to their station. Thirty seconds of mumble, screech and what-have-you are all I can take before switching stations.

I really do enjoy listening to radio voices that entertain me, don’t speak down to me, don’t pander, and most of all, don’t offend my ears. If I can’t find a radio program I like, I turn on some music. Problem solved!

A View From The Bottom

Posted on June 23, 2025 by mfna

…of the barrel, that is.

The sports world is agog at the re-emergence of perhaps the greatest baseball player to ever play the game, Shohei Ohtani. Taking the mound for only the second time after his Tommy John surgery, Ohtani threw 18 pitches and recorded two strike outs against the Washington Nationals on June 22, 2025.

Photo of Shohei Ohtani throwing one of 18 pitches, June 22, 2025

Shohei Ohtani throws one of 18 pitches, June 22, 2025 (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

What has gone largely unnoticed by all but the Washington Nationals fans is that Ohtani’s performance was less impressive than was the pitching of Nats’ starting pitcher, Michael Soroka. During his five-plus innings on the mound, Soroka registered a career-high ten strikeouts and held the Dodgers to two hits.

Michael Soroka pitching against the Dodgers (Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images)

While Soroka was on the mound, the Nationals managed to bring home three runs, and led the Dodgers (last year’s World Champions, and contenders again in 2025) to none. Before leaving the game, Soroka struck out Ohtani twice.

Then, as happens all too frequently with the Nats, the starter was replaced by the bullpen, and the whole thing unraveled. Soroka’s stuff disappeared in the sixth inning, and in came a parade of relievers, who, when the dust had cleared, had given up 11 runs.

When the score reached 13-3 (including Ohtani’s 5 RBI), Dave Roberts, manager of the Dodgers used an existing rule that states any team that is ahead ten runs or more, can use a utility player in place of a pitcher. This is effectively a “mercy rule.” So, on came Enrique “Kiké” Hernández, a utility player who immediately surrendered four runs to the Nationals in the top of the ninth before he was replaced by an actual pitcher, who ended the game. Final score: Dodgers 13, Nationals 7. It wan’t that close.

This “Tale of Two Ballgames” underscores the most glaring problem the Washington team has faced all year: The worst bullpen in baseball! Let’s face it, the Nats have only one big bat on the team, and that is swung by rookie James Wood (although the Nats sit at number 14 on the home runs list). Called up in July, 2024, Wood is in only his first full season, and has already shown himself to be a long-ball threat. When the bats are swinging, the Nats can put up big numbers. Sadly, that happens infrequently.

Fielding is also problematic. The Nationals have been bringing up young talent in a frenzy, hoping new, young blood will solidify the defense. Injuries and unfilled expectations have reduced the defense to being 26th out of 32 teams in the league. The offense is hardly better, ranking 22nd.

There’s a long climb out of the bottom.

How NOT To Gain Customer Confidence

Posted on May 30, 2025 by mfna

I have become interested in writing software again. I guess that’s what retirement does for you.

Having spent 40+ years in the computer field, and having worked in a variety of disciplines, I started to research computer-related programs, projects and technologies. I’m old enough to admit that I wrote COBOL code for a living, back in the 1980s-1990s. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and those who deride it don’t deserve the consideration of a reply from me.

So, imagine my surprise and pleasure to learn that COBOL isn’t a dead language, and in fact has been updated and improved over the years.

Traditional COBOL Program portion

Even better, there is a popular open-source COBOL compiler that not only supports the latest and greatest variants of the language, but is documented nine ways to Sunday, GnuCOBOL. I quickly downloaded it, both on a Mac and on my Linux server (because both platforms are supported). The Linux version required a little wrangling to get it operational, but the Mac version was a piece of cake. Mind you, this is only the compiler. Programmers write code in text editors or integrated development environments (IDE) and then compile them into executable code. I have editors, but I also found several IDEs because they can make the task of writing and compiling code a little easier. VScodium is one such, and OpenCobolIDE 4 is another. Unfortunately, the OpenCobol product is no longer being developed or supported.

For the technology-inclined, and something I found quite impressive, is that GnuCOBOL actually create C code that is then compiled into machine code. I like this, because the resulting executable code is not “bloated,” which has always been the complaint about COBOL since its inception.

I’ve now spent a couple of weeks re-learning COBOL, and finding out how it has evolved over the past 40 years. Many of the features have been enriched, such as using END- declaratives (e.g., END-IF, END-PERFORM, etc.). The format of the source code has been loosened, and a “free format’ structure is supported, meaning column restrictions have been removed, and commenting code now include inline comments. Nice!

But it doesn’t stop there. During a conversation with a former co-worker, I mentioned that I’d created a program for in-house use at my employer about 30 years ago using a quirky English product called Omnis 7 from a company called Blyth Software. Curious, I went looking for it and found that the program is still actively developed and sold, now as Omnis Studio, and the company is now Omnis Software. I referred to it as “quirky” because internally, some of the language used in the product was distinctly “British,” and took some adjusting to.

Happily, I found that Omnis offers a free “Community Edition” for developers and limited deployments There is also an embarrassing wealth of resources available to the developer. Naturally, I downloaded the product, and in an unusual (for the Mac) move, found I needed to add some tutorial files to the “hidden” Application Support folder on the Mac (this is less uncommon under Windows, and this is a cross-platform product). This is where my limited mindset sabotaged me: Where to start?

To its credit, Omnis offers pretty much everything except their source code. The documentation is all online. There are YouTube videos. Webinars are offered. There is “Omnis Academy” that offers other self-structured lessons. As I said, where do I start?

The answer came, in a manner of speaking, from Omnis itself. In order to use the community edition, one still needs a license to activate the software, so my email was required, and naturally, I received an email from an account manager following up.

Here’s where it gets weird. Or, maybe I should say, “quirky.” One of the resources offered is a developers online forum. I’ve joined a number of such communities, and found them to be invaluable in helping get answers to questions that may not be covered in the documentation or the training. So I went to sign up. That’s when I was surprised that after submitting my online application for membership, I was greeted with a screen informing me that I’d been blacklisted. Excuse me? What? Trying multiple computers, multiple browsers and multiple email accounts made no difference.

But I do have to tip my hat to Omnis, because I registered for a webinar and found I was the only attendee. Thus, I was able to spend 90 minutes with a system engineer/support tech going over the fundamentals of the program. But neither he nor the account manager were able to resolve the issue of my inability to register for the forum. I’m probably being a bit too harsh on Omnis, as the people there I’ve worked with have been eager to help, just not able to fix that one issue. And they know that I’m not a paid developer working to complete a project. I am simply a tech-curious retiree trying to keep increasing my knowledge. In fact, until I started down this path, first with COBOL and now with Omnis, I had no real purpose in mind. But now I do.

Going back to near the beginning, as I was writing COBOL under contract for the federal government, I was tapped to be on a special project using a then-popular program, dBASE III+, published by the Ashton-Tate company (an interesting side note is that in the early 1980s, the ‘Big Three’ in the nascent software industry were Lotus, WordPerfect and Ashton-Tate; names that are all but forgotten today).

dBASE was among the first database management systems (DBMS) for the PC. It ran under DOS and had many cool features. I note that dBASE still exists today, but as a mere shadow of itself. And is not cross-platform, so as a Mac user, it’s not even under consideration. After I became expert in dBASE, I took my knowledge and built an entire office football pool system with it. It even included a “splash” screen! I briefly toyed with the idea of turning it into a shareware program, but even compiled dBASE code could be reverse-engineered, and I wasn’t sure if it would have any acceptance worth my time to support.

The source code for my “shareware” program is long gone. Those were the days of 5-1/4″ floppy disks, so even if I have a copy stored around someplace, I have no way of restoring it. So, to keep me occupied, I’m thinking of rebuilding it from scratch. Using Omnis. I think the program is great (it’s lasted longer than the “big three,” after all). But it seems there are some loose ends internally within the company. Which isn’t the best way to inspire confidence.

Still, it’s only if I get the program developed and choose to market it, will they make money from me. So, it’s understandable if they don’t bend over backward for me. They have a right to not have confidence in me!

A Frustrated Nats Fan Speaks

Posted on April 17, 2025 by mfna

As a boy growing up the son of a government official in the D. C. area, I became a fan of the hapless Washington Senators baseball team. To this day I still remember the saying: “Washington – first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.” When my dad took me to games at the old Griffith Stadium, I was in Cracker Jack heaven! We used to spend warm night out on the porch listening to games on AM radio.

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack…”

Not once, but twice, the Senators left town for greener pastures. Today’s Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers are the result of this transplantation. For 33 years, the nation’s capitol had no professional baseball (the Baltimore Orioles lured some Washingtonians to their cause, but that wasn’t for me). Then in 2005, Major League Baseball, which had taken over the Montreal Expos, relocated the team to Washington, where the team became the Nationals. Baseball in D. C. was back!

The first few years were typical of an expansion team. A bright spot was the club’s first draft choice, Ryan Zimmerman, who spent his entire playing career with Washington, wearing #11. The team’s fortunes turned in 2012, and for the next seven years the club finished the season in either first or second place in their division, culminating in a World Series Win in 2019 – the first World Series victory in Washington since 1924!

Those who say one can’t buy a World Series are wrong. The Nationals had spent a lot for talent taking them to the Series. After the victory, the unloading began, with the high-priced players being traded or released. 2020 was the year of COVID, and an abbreviated season was played. The Nationals went 26-34, finishing last in the National League East. Not an aberration, apparently, as they finished last the next three years. Having embarked on a “youth movement,” much was made of players they acquired through trades, the draft, and the farm system. Finishing 2024 with the same record (71-91) as they did in 2023, they miraculously finished in fourth place by dint of the Miami Marlins having an even worse record.

As I write this, the 2025 season is still young. With only 19 games in the books, the Nationals are 7-12 (a .368 rating – worse than the three years before).

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to come back to this page in September and read it with chagrin. At present though, it doesn’t appear the Nationals are any better than the 71-91 teams of the past couple of years. That’s frustrating!

Why I Will Never Buy a Product From André Assous

Posted on March 23, 2025 by mfna

Not long ago, I received an email advertisement from someone or something named André Assous. I had never heard of this brand, so I thought nothing of it and deleted the email.

But I continue to get advertisements, now quite obviously spam messages from this André Assous. The little bit of research I did on this name reveals that there actually is such a person, and there is such a company. Apparently they are a shoe company.

I have never bought shoes from André Assous, and at this point I won’t be buying shoes from them. This is why, short and sweet.

Since I had never heard of André Assous, André Assous obviously heard of me by buying my email address. Okay, I know that’s done all the time; it’s part of how the Internet functions. On a whim, I clicked on the “unsubscribe button in the email. Now, I know well enough not to do this, but I was curious to see what would happen. Believe it or not, sometimes this actually does work! But not in this case. The unsubscribe button in the André Assous is a dead end. André Assous isn’t even polite enough to throw a “404” (page does not exist) error, it’s just a blank, dead page. Thanks, André. (The U. S. Federal Trade Commission has a mostly unhelpful web page about Unwanted Emails,, Texts and Mail, in case you’re interested). More than likely, André Assous is making more money by selling email addresses than by selling shoes.

So, quite obviously, I am somehow now forever cursed to receive spam from André Assous. And while I can’t stop them from sending them, the wonderful SpamSieve software from C-Command makes it so I never have to see them. In the end, the good guys win out.

(I have purposely used André Assous’s name many times in this post. If he or his company scrape the web looking for references, I hope they read this. And know that I curse you and will never hesitate to give you and your company a bad opinion).

Hail To The… Commanders?!!

Posted on January 5, 2025 by mfna

Not since 1991, when the team was still known as the Washington Redskins*, has the professional football team now called the Commanders had a 12-win season. That team went on to win Super Bowl XXVI.

Washington’s Football Team Logos, past-to-present

Not since Jack Kent Cooke (under who the team won three Super Bowls) sold the team to Daniel Snyder has the energy in Washington, D. C. toward its team been this high. Snyder’s legacy will likely have him listed among the worst owners in NFL franchise history due to his management mistakes and choices. Forced by other team owners to sell the team, Snyder eventually sold the team to a group headed by Josh Harris in 2023. Members of that group include Basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

The Harris era has begun. The last season under the Snyder-led organization yielded a pitiful 4-13 record allowing the most points and having the worst point differential in the league. The upside is that such a dismal record allowed the team to pick second in the 2024 NFL Draft. With that pick, they chose 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, LSU’s quarterback, Jayden Daniels (the first pick, going to the Chicago Bears was the 2022 Heisman winner, Caleb Williams).

The Redskins/Commanders are now headed into the playoffs. Their 12-5 record equals that of AFC North leaders the Baltimore Ravens, and surpasses those of the Houston Texans (10-7, AFC South division leaders), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7, NFC South leaders) and the Los Angeles Rams (10-7, NFC West leaders). Yet, they are only a wildcard team because division leading Philadelphia Eagles own a better record (14-3).

But no one in Washington could have dreamed the first year under the Harris regime would produce the results it has. It’s unrealistic to think that the team — whatever you want to call them — could reach, much less win the Super Bowl (only two teams have done so under first-year coaches). And ultimately, it doesn’t matter. From having dreadful teams for three decades, just having a twelve-win season is satisfying enough for this fan!

∗ The team name change and the commensurate whitewashing of history came about due to Dan Synder’s bowing to the “woke” trend that permeated the times around the COVID pandemic, despite his statement he would never do so. The name Redskins has been an issue for a number of years, even before then. It’s been said Josh Harris considered bringing back the name, but then he publicly closed the door on the possibility. Sigh.

Still, I can’t for the life of me see using “Hail to the Redskins” as the team fight song, even with lyric changes.

Donald Trump’s Youth Movement

Posted on November 14, 2024 by mfna

It’s just a little more than a week removed from the victory that saw Donald Trump become only the second person to win the presidency, in non-consecutive terms, and the accompanying “red wave” that resulted in a trifecta for Republicans, winning the presidency and both houses of Congress. Not content to savor these victories, Trump immediately began naming the people he hopes to surround himself in “Trump 2.0.”

The left and the media (but I repeat myself) have become apoplectic with the announcements. Their incapacity for self-reflection have yielded hair-on-fire denouements and “Scream 2.0” exhibitions that would embarrass a pre-teen TikToker.

It’s reasonable to think (for those of us who are both reasonable and thinkers) that a president would want as his closest advisors and confidants people who agree with his platform and agenda. That Donald Trump has named several well-known people to key appointments is causing tremors among the Establishment. The nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense was immediately greeted with cries from the antis that he was “too inexperienced” and the unspoken opinion that he wasn’t part of the Elite.

Exactly.

Other names are raising eyebrows for much the same reason. Kristi Noem, Tulsi Gabbard, Matt Gaetz, Lee Zeldin, John Ratcliffe, and a growing list. The announcements come at a pace that has raised anxiety levels among Trump’s foes, which makes it difficult for them to formulate a cogent argument against them.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned widely in the snooze media that I think far outweighs the obvious conservative mindset of these appointments is the age factor.

Legally, discrimination based on age is illegal. Politically, however, the past few decades have been a period of gerontocracy (a Greek word meaning “rule by the eldest”). The senior leaders in the highest ranks of government have all been in their upper 70s or 80s. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is 90! The president is 81. The president-elect is 78. The general rule has been that one must “grow into the job.” Often, seniority outweighs capability.

Despite his vigor, Trump knows he is not a young man. But he’s carefully crafting the future of the Republican Party by naming people mostly in the 40-45 year-old range. The list is not complete, so the number might change, but it appears that the oldest person named to serve in his administration is Trump’s choice for Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who is 69. His Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles is 65.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., left, Stephen Miller, middle, and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Tom Homan, right. (AP Photos)

From left: Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem and John Ratcliffe. (AP Photos)

Trump’s re-emergence in the halls of power is having a similar effect beyond his immediate ability to control. The Senate has just elected 63 year-old John Thune (R-SD) as Senate Majority Leader, replacing 82 year-old Mitch McConnell, who led the Republicans in the Senate for 18 years. Thune may not be Trump’s choice (he favored Rick Scott) but the message is clear: Old is out, young is in.

Trump’s choices from this point on suggest his legacy will be the youth movement he’s bringing to government. A much-needed refresh, based on recent history.

The Value of Opinion

Posted on August 20, 2024 by mfna

The subtitle of this blog is “Everyone is entitled to my opinion.” It’s been that way since I first started web publishing in 1996. It’s axiomatic that free advice is seldom welcomed, and worth what one pays for it. This is why I have never opted for a “paid subscription” model. I doubt many would want to pay for my opinion.

I feel the same way about the current trend these days to monetize opinion. Medium and Substack are both subscription-based web sites that provide a platform for anyone with a keyboard and an opinion the means to express themself. They offer a free level, of course, because to not do so would hinder new subscribers, but often writers will put the majority of their content behind the site paywall, blocking free readers.

Far be it from me to attempt to prevent someone from earning money from legitimate means. But the freedom to charge for a good or service also implies the freedom to refuse to avail oneself of that good or service. Opinions are not like food and housing. I choose to not subscribe.

Podcasts are another form of this capitalization of opinion. Most podcasts I come across have a pay-for-play component to them, but offer the meat in the sandwich for free. Ain’t capitalism great?

Don’t get me wrong. I read a lot. I’m on the web daily. I have numerous news and specialty sites I use to inform me of news and information. I even pay for instructional content (I’m looking at you, Active Melody). But I find it difficult to pay for someone’s opinion.

There are some terrific thinkers out there. I’m amazed by the likes of Victor Davis Hanson. I’m delighted that I can read many of his pieces free, thanks to sites that publish him as a guest contributor. Hanson posts many articles for free, and as many do, offers a “premium” subscription service. Great. But no, thanks.

Please note: I began this article mentioning Medium and Substack. Not as a slur, because I have accounts on both of them. I simply do not choose to put my writing behind a pay wall. I also have a Patreon account simply because I support one of the content providers I enjoy listening to. It’s music, not opinion, so even though I’m not a fan or Patreon, it’s the best way I find I can support the efforts of the producer.

Newspapers (remember them?) often had a section for editorial opinions. Cleverly referred to as the “op-ed” section, the authors, typically ranking figures of the publication, had a place to speak their minds. These op-ed pieces came with the subscription to the newspaper as a whole, so in there was a value add if you only wanted opinions.

Who would pay to read or hear someone else’s opinion? Would you pay for mine?

But it’s big business these days. The famous quote attributed to Andy Warhol, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” appears to have been finally realized.

Remarkable

Posted on July 20, 2024 by mfna

These are remarkable times we live in.

It’s unknown how many assassination attempts against a sitting or former president have been foiled, but we have just witnessed the first known attempt in over forty years. In 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. shot president Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, D. C. Reagan survived, but the attempt was a close call. A police officer was killed and Press Secretary James Brady was also severely wounded.

On Saturday, July 13, 2024, just moments into a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, former president Donald Trump and candidate for the office again, was providentially spared as a rifle shot took a chunk out of his right ear. Two others were not so fortunate; one was killed and two others were wounded. A moment earlier, the shot would have struck him right in the head, but he uncharacteristically moved to point to a chart, and the bullet narrowly avoided killing him. Trump appeared two days later at the Republican National Convention sporting a bandage on his ear, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Remarkable.

At the same time, despite remarkable efforts to conceal the fact, the incumbent president is revealed to be suffering from some form of mental incapacitation. Observers of the political arena such as myself have noticed this ever since his 2020 election campaign was one of invisibility; under the cover of the COVID pandemic, Joe Biden huddled in his basement, rarely coming up and out for public appearances. When he did, he exhibited many signs of encroaching senility. One of those signs I’ve witnessed is a relaxing of inhibitions relating to self-restraint when it comes to expressing opinions. From my witness stand, I’ve seen Joe Biden as a lifelong racist and inveterate liar, but most of the public doesn’t see that. They only see what the image-makers have concocted, and so have believed Joe was a typical “everyman.” Remarkable.

In my youth, the Democrat Party portrayed itself as the party of the working class. It catered to unions, minorities and the “workers.” The Republicans on the other hand, were depicted as being the party of the rich, of Wall Street, and international elites. Today, the Democrats are seen as “limousine liberals” and “Gulfstream Guevaras.” The Republicans are led by a successful businessman who entered politics late in life. The businessman, Donald Trump, mingles with construction workers, professional wrestlers, country music artists, and flag-waving Americans who show up en masse at rallies to show that the American Dream isn’t dead. Yet. Remarkable.

At this writing, the Democrat Party is maneuvering to remove Biden from the ticket. Despite a series of non-democratic moves to ensure his place as the nominee, the Democrats are now using undemocratic means to remove the man they pledge will “preserve democracy” in the country. Remarkable.

By the same token, the Democrats have used a number of non-democratic means to remove any challenges to their party’s candidate; they worked tirelessly to keep Democrat-turned-Independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. off the ballot wherever possible. And the extent to which they leveraged the power of the government using “lawfare” (a term coined to describe persecuting the opposition through the courts) to remove and imprison Donald Trump is nothing short of remarkable.

The legal procedures that Donald Trump is undergoing have all been designed to keep him off the campaign trail. A law that was enacted but never used was the basis for convicting him of 34 charges. For paperwork errors. At the same time, a special counsel investigating Joe Biden’s possession of classified documents found him effectively guilty of a felony, but excused him from prosecution due to his status as aged with a poor memory. The wags would say that this election pits a convicted felon against an un-convicted felon.

The inflammatory rhetoric from the Democrats accusing the Republicans of being like Nazis, and a “threat to democracy,” among other aspersions likely resulted in motivating a young, 20 year-old to attempt to take the life of the threat. Twenty years after the last assassination attempt on a president’s life. Remarkable.

Every election year, the media and observers anticipate an “October surprise.” This whole 2024 election process has been nothing short of remarkable surprises.

I only wish everyone would take notice of the current state of affairs. They are remarkable.

Why Is It “Draining The Swamp?”

Posted on July 9, 2024 by mfna

“Draining the swamp” has become a popular phrase these days signifying clearing out the deadwood and corruption that is the U. S. government. But I repeat myself. But why that particular phrase?

I submit that this phrase originates with the fact that Washington, D. C., the capital of the nation, is actually built on a swamp.

Map of Washington, D. C. by neighborhood

Current Map of Washington, D.C.

This is probably not news to folks who paid attention to history lessons in school, but it could be that this bit of trivia has escaped the notice of many, or it’s just been forgotten as being insignificant.

A complete history of the city can be found here at the excellent Encyclopedia Brittanica. For the sake of this article, we’ll focus only on the “swampy” nature of the city.

For starters, the city was designated by Congress on land that was ceded by both the state of Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia (the Virginia land was ceded back later). This land was a peninsula at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. This low-lying land coupled with the high humidity climate have rendered the perception that D. C. lies on a swamp.

I should note here that in the days preceding air-conditioning, foreign diplomats both before and after the revolution, considered a posting to D. C. as a tropical assignment!

To add to the image, the area surrounding the building(s) comprising the Department of State is known as Foggy Bottom. Again, Brittanica states,

Its name derives from its origin as a neighbourhood of wharves, warehouses, brickyards, breweries, gas works, and an early 19th-century glassblowing factory: a combination of industrial smoke and humidity occasionally produced a blanket of fog.

This combination of real or imagined images and metaphors have given rise to the concept of a swamp. Fitting, if you will, as the home of creepy, slimy dwellers who make up nearly the entirety of the government! And perhaps needing of some drainage!

Running FROM Office

everyone is entitled to my opinion