The Unfettered Curmudgeon

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward: A Review      I just finished reading Fear, Trump in the White House , by Bob Woodward over a period of four days. It is very well written, cited with source notes, and indexed. Mr. Woodward writes his book not so much as an expository essay or dissertation, but rather he tells a story of the Trump campaign and the Trump White House through spring of this year, with abundant quotations and descriptions of what has transpired, with remarkable clarity and honesty. He rarely offers analyses or opinions because quite honestly, his report doesn’t need such: the reader is able to clearly see things for themselves. All too familiar names and incidents from the news appear constantly, which are bound to allow the reader to become the proverbial “fly on the wall.” Beyond that, I think that anyone reading this book will be able to vividly imagine what is currently going on within the Oval Office and the White Hou...

BLUE ON BLUE or “THE SOUTH OF MARKET BLUES”      I had a strange experience the other day. I happened to spend a little time south of Market, in the areas of Mission and Main, Howard and Beale, then further down to St. Pat’s, as well as Rincon Hill. Now, I pretty much grew up in the city and later did a lot of work “south of the slot” but I have to tell you, I felt so much like an alien…or perhaps as  a San Franciscan in alien territory. I didn’t recognize the places I visited. Many of the old “landmarks” (perhaps most) are gone, buildings from decades ago, shops, eateries, replaced by towers of glass, most of them blue or green it would seem, that have climbed into the sky over just the past few years. I remember enjoying the feel of the sun as I used to walk down Howard Street, where now there is no sun but for brief moments. And I didn’t recognize the people…they didn’t appear to be San Franciscans but some weird conglomeration of people in strange clot...

MORNING THOUGHTS OVER COFFEE      It’s been a hell of a month here at “The Hermitage on ‘Walden,’” as well as for America and the world in general…all thanks to Donald Trump, who cannot seem to follow protocol or control himself either verbally or in his “tweets.” First of all, who in their right mind, what President and supposed “leader of the free world” conducts foreign and domestic policy on “Twitter?” I would suppose it is the “Twit-in-Chief” and as he referred to himself a few days ago in a tweet, “your favorite President.” Not mine!      At the beginning of the month EPA Administer Scott Pruitt resigned as directed by Trump amid some fifteen federal investigations for various ethics violations and scandals. The next day Trump appointed Andrew Wheeler, Pruitt’s right-hand henchman to Pruitt’s vacant post. Then there were the various attacks on NATO and numerous of its members, followed by denials, followed by various “asides” by Trump of t...

july 4, Independence Day 1863 Retreat and blame at gettysburg "This has been all my fault," Lee admitted about his failed July 3 assault at Gettysburg, adding that "it is a sad, sad day for us." General James Longstreet and General George Pickett were in silent agreement. A torrential rain fell over Gettysburg on the 4 th of July, as it seems often happens after a great battle, washing away much of the blood at Devil’s Den, The Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill, and the vast field of battle stretching from Cemetery Ridge westward to Seminary Ridge, leaching into the soil to forever hallow that ground, while the bloating bodies of the thousands of dead waited to be moved from where they lay to some slightly better resting place. The stench was horrendous, compounded by the bodies of some 1,800 horses and mules that had been killed. Not much happened that day. It was time for both sides to take stock of the situation, to lick ...

July 3, 1863 ...GETTYSBURG, THE LAST DAY The night of July 2 nd settled over Gettysburg but the smoke of battle hung in the air as though it were a shroud for the thousands of dead and wounded who lie on the field of battle. Some suffered in silence, others called out for their wives or their mothers, while others moaned plaintively for someone to come and end their misery. On the eastern slope of Cemetery Ridge, Commanding General George Meade held a “council of war” in his headquarters building, a tiny two-room farmhouse belonging to the Widow Leister. By the light of a single oil lantern, the Union generals analyzed the battles of the last two days and then discussed what was to be done the next day, July 3 rd , if Robert E. Lee decided to attack again. Meade anticipated another attack. He knew Lee had committed himself despite the lack of any decisive victory. Given the heavy casualties his side had suffered, the decision was made to stay on the defensive; furthermore...

JULY 2, 1863…GETTYSBURG DAY TWO General Longstreet Robert E. Lee’s most trusted soldier and his second in command, his “old war horse,” Lieutenant General James Longstreet, known affectionately to his troops as “Old Pete,” and to his friends simply as “Pete,” arrived at Gettysburg ahead of his 1 st Corps, still on the march, just in time to witness the end of the first day’s fighting. Unlike the jubilant Confederate troops at the scene of the action, he was not pleased at all. As he looked through his field glasses he could see the Yanks digging in on the high hills south of the town, in the better positon of the high ground, supported by a wall of artillery arrayed all along the hilltops along Cemetery Ridge. Unlike “Stonewall” Jackson, killed just that past May at Chancellorsville, Longstreet was a somber man, having lost three of his children, all under the age of six, during one week of a scarlet fever outbreak in January of 1862. With his knowledge of modern warfa...