Month: September 2019

The inquiry into the impeachment of Donald Trump has started. I called that it was going to happen. As the information continues to come to light I can’t help but to feel more disgusted as the days pass. I read the transcript of the conversation and I found no impeachable offense. Mr. Schiff head of the House Intelligence Committee read what he called a parody of the phone call from President Trump to the newly elected President of the Ukraine, implying what President Trump meant.

Mr. Schiff you are the head of the Intelligence Committee, how could you read a parody? I see it as a lie. You hold a post, a prominent post in this Government and covering your tracks by calling it a parody just sent you and your committee to, as I see it, disastrous levels of incompetence. How can you ever ask a legitimate question and want the truth?

As I learned today you sent someone from your staff to the Ukraine two weeks before the “whistle-blower” came to light, to meet with the former President of the Ukraine. He lost in a landslide by the way and you were looking for dirt on President Trump.

The other thing I learned today was in 1998 President Clinton signed an agreement with the Ukraine for bi-lateral information exchange of criminal activity. Bottom line is even if the Democrats want the quid pro quo for impeachment, that treaty basically null and voids the basis of that argument. President Trump asked questions and made statements that fit within the confines of that treaty.

Here is my take. Mr. Schiff since you are part of the problem, you will continue to be part of the problem. There is really no recourse to remove you from your post unless you resign. You won’t do that, it would be the right thing to do. Hopefully you loose in the next election, that is the only recourse. In ending this post, you have now created a new defense for anything you say that is a lie. I will call it the parody defense. Anyone could come before your committee and lie to your face and call the parody defense. You did it so why not the rest of us, thanks Mr. Schiff!!

The talk of the Democrat party since Donald Trump was elected, is impeachment. Hashtag resist. Just wait we will find something. He will do something illegal, it is only a matter of time. Russian interference in the 2016 election. Fail!! The Mueller report, fail!!

For those that remember, Bill Clinton was impeached, The House of Representatives adopted Articles of Impeachment in December of 1998. He was found not guilty by the Senate. The historical reference here is, the House was controlled by the Republicans and the Senate by the Democrats. You need both houses of Congress to agree on the impeachment to remove a President.

The Democrats at this point are looking for a “quid pro quo” statement from President Trump to impeach him in regards to his phone conversation with the President of the Ukraine. The statement quid pro quo, means if you do something for me, I will do something for you. Apparently there is a whistle-blower that has information damning to President Trump. Under pressure from the Democrats, the President released the phone call, saying there is nothing here to look at.

I read the transcript. I read three different articles in reference to the transcript. I listened to so called experts on the matter. Will the Democrats go for impeachment, I say yes. Should they go for impeachment, I say no. Impeachment will obviously pass the House, no doubt. Just like Bill Clinton, the Senate will not come back with a guilty charge.

Here is my take. Impeachment will not only waste time, energy and resources of this country. It will give the Democrats another opportunity to try to smear President Trump before the 2020 elections. In 1998 Nancy Pelosi even said the Republicans hate Bill Clinton so much they will do anything to impeach him. Wow, some things never change. In the end Donald Trump will still be President and the end all be all of this charade will be Joe Biden and his son Hunter will be investigated for Russian collusion. Hmmmm! As some people have said, “stable genius.”

Today is the 18th anniversary of the attacks in New York. Anniversary doesn’t seem to be the right term to attach to this day of remembrance. I do believe we still need to talk about that day because so many people were affected that day. I have three stories that were close to me on September 11th 2001.

I was working for Outback Steakhouse at the time near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic City sits about 130 miles away from New York City. I had a court appearance that morning and was due in at 9:30 am. I was up and showered by 9:00 am, turned on the T. V. Flight 11 had already hit the North Tower and it was burning. Watching live I witnessed flight 175 hit the South Tower. Thinking, is this real, you start flipping channels. Coverage on every channel, including MTV, VH1, Food Network just to name a few. I have my day in court, it lasts roughly 10 minutes. A few other cases come before the judge and then he dismisses court for the rest of the day based on what is happening in New York. I fill out some paperwork and go home. In the end someone in the court office must have been deeply affected by what was going on. My paperwork was never filed, no fines or associated things with my case ever came to fruition. My life went on as if my day in court never happened

My second story still involves Outback Steakhouse. My friend John was at Outback headquarters in Tampa Bay with other managers from around the country for a rah, rah go Outback meeting. He was supposed to fly home that day and all domestic flights were grounded at that point. Planes were directed to land at the nearest airport and everything was shut down. Chris Sullivan, Bob Basham and Tim Gannon, the founders of Outback Steakhouse, must have had some high level connections. They own two private jets, the Bloomin Onion one and two. There are two jets because of insurance reasons they all can’t be on the same plane at the same time. Somehow some way they managed, in all of the chaos, to get John on one of the private jets with supplies from the local area to go to ground zero. I suppose John landed somewhere in North Jersey, a 1000 mile trip, and had two F-16’s as an escort the whole trip.

In keeping with the theme my third story has Outback Steakhouse in it as well. Outback has a catering arm of the company in basically every region. I became the first one to head that arm in our region of eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. The day after 9/11 all of the roughly 25 stores in our region were contacted by the district manager. We are cooking at ground zero across the river in Jersey City for the first responders. Any and all product you can spare for this operation, please do. The two catering trucks were already on their way to us. Steaks, burgers, buns, bread, onions, potatoes, etc all went up to New York. We were up there for three or four weeks helping out as best we could.

Here is my take, my stories by no means even relate to 2,977 people that lost their lives that day. Today as I write this all of those names are being read aloud at the site of the Freedom Tower. The further we get away from 2001, it is possible that the feelings and loss of that day will diminish. Millions of us were affected personally that day. If we share those stories to our family and friends maybe as time continues to pass, it will hopefully lead those closest to us to search out the real heroes and remember the victims. In doing so maybe we can keep September 11, 2001 from becoming just another day in history.