I was just on my way to bed the evening before last when the news broke on the liberal American media podcasts that Trump had finally lost patience and sacked his outspoken chief of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. You would have thought that she might have been sacked for labelling the woman shot dead by ICE agents in Minneapolis a ‘domestic terrorist’ a few minutes after the shooting and before any proper investigations had taken place. But it was disastrous appearance before a Congressional Committee which finally proved too much for Trump. Noem has spent $220 million (nearly a quarter of a billion dollars!) on a video supposedly encouraging illegal migrants to leave the US but actually largely devoted to her own self-glorification. Pressed by Republican senators whether Trump had approved of this level of expenditure, Noem at first said that the President was ‘aware’ of the funding but finally lied to the effect that Trump had approved the campaign whereas Trump himself denied all knowledge of it. But even worse revelations were to come as the contract for the claim was awarded with no competition by an entity run by her lover (the husband of one of her associates) created only 11 days beforehand and with no track record of any dealings with the US government, which is about as evidently corrupt as it is possible to be. Other stories about her incompetence abounded, one of which was she sacked the pilot of a private jet who had forgotten to bring along her favourite blanket but then had to re-hire him again as there was no one else to fly the plane for the next leg of the journey. She did not deny having a sexual relationship with her associate (even though her own husband was sitting behind her to give her support during the Congressional hearings).She allowed her lover to sit at her desk and approve various contracts and fulfil many of the duties that were part of her job description. All of this proved to much for usually loyal Republican senators who tore her apart during the Congressional hearings after which Donald Trump moved her to a sinecure elsewhere within government which was, in effect, a sacking as Trump himself must have known that the ICE excesses, which Noem supervised, was actually badly damaging to his own standing in the opinion polls. But there are other spokespeople for the administration such as Pam Bondi and the White House press secretary who lie just as much in public but they do this with complete impunity knowing that a cowed press will not call them out and Trump, a liar himself, is not unhappy when others lie on his behalf. British observers such as myself watch this open-mouthed as this level of venality would not be tolerated within our own committee hearings in the UK parliament where, in theory, evident mistruths can be rewarded by a spell in the Tower of London prison (but this has never actually happened) Many might think that this level of lying would eventually be exposed and sanctioned if the Democrats were to return to power but the members of the Trump administration are well aware that Trump can, and will, grant pardons to all of them even as an outgoing president when the time comes.
Later in the morning, I popped down into town by car and was amazed how much colder the weather had become since only yesterday. Having picked up my newspaper, I made my way to my favourite Friday morning watering hole where I chat with the one regular member of staff and one other regular customer. I needed to get home in time to have a quick chat with my son who was calling in to see me just before departing for a trip down to the in-laws which he happened to be combining with a rail tour with one of his oldest friends. I lunched on mackerel, mashed potato and sugar snap peas and then settled down for some leisurely afternoon activities. Quite by chance when I tuned into YouTube, I was offered the opportunity to view a video by a British doctor who was explaining the 15 steps to be taken to avoid a high HbA1c (high blood sugar levels) which is an indicator of the presence or likelihood of developing diabetes. This was very interesting and confirmed quite a lot of what I already knew but I learnt some interesting facts such as the importance of keeping protein levels high. So decided to take notes of the video which I did and I will type these up to have an electronic record handy. At the same time, I decided to do a quick trawl of the high glycaemic index foods to avoid or to eat in moderation and will adjust my diet a little in the future. I think I am hovering just below the borderline level of 48 but will make an appointment to have this checked out to make sure I have not crept over the limit in the last few months. Whilst I was having a ‘domestic’ afternoon, I decided to commission a spare strip calendar that I have with U3A (University of the 3rd Age) activities. I have recently joined a Classical Music Appreciation group (meeting in a member’s house) as well as a Conversational Spanish course. I did ask to join a Curry Club and a ‘Historic Local Churches’ group but have not heard back from these latter so perhaps the groups are full. In the past, and decades ago, Meg and I enjoyed several continental coach tour holidays run by a Leeds-based firm called ‘Wallace Arnold’ but I gather this firm merged some time ago with another company called Shearings. The Wallace Arnold holidays were real value and of high quality so I thought I would investigate what was currently on offer. I am a little tempted by a visit to Versaille/Monet’s Garden/Rouen in late September so have some feelers out with the firm to work out whether this would be a short but stress-free late summer holiday. I am irritated by a heavy single person supplement but am not in a position to avoid this and the rest of the holiday seems good value. I imagine that if I were to avail myself of this holiday, the rest of the coach party would prove to be quite an interesting crowd given the whole title and description of the holiday.