Thoughts for the Day, December 21, 2020: Bummer

I was really bummed out when I was not able to see the “Christmas Star” due to the cloud cover over SE Michigan. I missed it last time and I will probably miss it next time too. Bummer.

I am going to watch with great interest the dynamics in the relationship between President Trump and Attorney General William Barr. The attorney general is a seasoned politician going back to his early days at the CIA and then as assistant attorney general during President George H.W. Bush’s term. Barr was intsrutmental in convincing Bush to pardon members of the Iran Contra Affair. Recently he has fallen out of favor with President Trump as Barr refused to create a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and he contradicted President Trump by insisting there was no wide spread fraud in the November 3 election. Today Barr again undercut President Trump by indicating that Barr agreed with Secretary of State Pompeo’s assessment that it certainly appears that the Russians were behind the major cyber security hack that was recently discovered. Barr is resigning from office on Wednesday December 23. It will be interesting to see if he will abandon Trump or if Trump will throw Barr under the bus.

While most of the senior White House officials are indicating Russia is responsible for the major cyber secutity attack, President Trump has recently denied that Russian and Putin had anyhing to do with the attack. In all my years, I do not recall another administration in which so many contradictory statements come from the White House on any given day, regardless of the subject matter.

The MSU mens basketball team found out quickly that in this years B1G season you must bring your “A” game or you are probably going to lose. Last night the number 4 ranked Spartans lost to Northwestern 79-65 at Evanston. It was the B1G opener for each team.

Somedays I forget how old I am. Today I was at the gym at 6:30 AM and did my usual 30 minutes of weight lifting and 30 minutes on the stationary bike. At noon I decided to replace the rotten wood in the bottom plate of one the walls in by garage. I removed over 12 feet of rotten 2 x 4 and replaced it with a new 4 x 4. It took me nearly 5 hours of cutting, hammering and fastening before I was done. I spent much of the time on my knees on the very cold garage floor. By the time I was finished standing up straight and walking were a major chore. At least I didn’t have to spend time on a ladder like my last major project.

Stay safe, social distance, wear your mask and wash your hands regularly.

Quote of the day: “How much damage can Donald Trump do between now and the next election?” Congressman Adam Schiff following the vote to impeach President Trump in January 2020.