Trump Log #51: Road Trip Reflections

I had an opportunity to drive out to the Midwest last week on vacation. We left Vermont on a Saturday, drove through Quebec and Ontario, Canada to arrived in Michigan. I spent a couple of nights on Diamond Lake enjoying the company of my wife's cousins, a boat ride, fireworks and some barbecue chicken. We went to Chicago to visit her immediate family and spent some quality time with my nieces and nephew. We went to a Cubs game, went on a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's house, lots of food and of course, more fireworks. Friday morning we took off for Kansas City and stopped at Abraham Lincoln's tomb and toured the Illinois State House in Springfield. We stayed at an AirBnB in KC, saw the Red Sox play at Royals' Kauffman Stadium, had some incredible Southern chow and watched more fireworks. You see any patterns? I don't even like fireworks, but they were everywhere we went.

I read and listen to a lot of news. You could say I'm a news junkie. As a result, I get a little down about the state of our country. A trip like this is good for me. The natural beauty, the incredible history, culture and art our country has produced and the creativity, ingenuity and eccentricity of our citizens ... these are the things I get patriotic about. Not about wars and the military, but pretty much everything else. Overall, we live in an incredible place that is more free and safe than most places on this planet. It is important we don't take it for granted.

It is also important that we don't forget that it is something that we have to work at perfecting. Perfection may never be reached but we continue to work on it. On my trip I am also reminded of a lot that is wrong with our country. Here are some:

• The trash I see on the side of the roads in KC is like nothing I've seen in any city in America. This is really disgusting. How much time does it take just to pick up your trash. Hey, pick up someone else's trash while you're at it. You will love the results. 
• Rural Missouri is all gun shops, strip joints, XXX shops, fireworks stores and churches. This always amazes me when I got South. I'm not sure what the connection is with these things, but this the South in a nutshell. 
• About 30% of you are awful drivers. You tailgate, you weave back and forth through traffic and you are shitty multi-taskers. I actually saw a school bus driver talking on a cell phone while she was driving.  
• What's the deal with fireworks anyway. Does every town have to spend a fortune to pollute our lakes and scare the hell out of our dogs? They goes boom and makes pretty colors. Why aren't you over this by now! Don't tell me it is for the kids because half of them are afraid of it and want to go home. 

The 30% bad drivers stat reminds me of that is about the same percentage of you that voted for Trump. They may just be the same people. Lets see, what do they have in common? They are clueless about their surroundings, don't give a shit how their actions affect anyone else and have fucked up priorities. Sounds about right.  

Trump Log:
Monday 7/2/18 - Trump's Treasury Secretary, Tim Geirthner, is the president of a firm that is lending predatory loans to the poor. (Source Washington Post)

Tuesday 7/3/18 - The Trump administration is revoking guidelines created by the Obama administration for colleges in regards to race in admissions. This won't change anything, but symbolically, it should show you where this administration stands on race. (Source: Washington Post)

Wednesday 7/4/18 - Trump's tariffs on foreign cars will badly affect workers who work for foreign car producers here in the US. Many of them voted for Trump. (Source: New York Times)

Thursday 7/5/18 - Trump claims President Obama gave citizenship to 2,500 Iranians in the Iran Deal ... which is a complete lie. He and Fox "News" get their misinformation from Iranian propaganda. (Source: Washington Post)

Friday 7/6/18 - It is great news that Scott Pruitt is gone as head of the EPA, but his temporary replacement may be just as bad. Andrew Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist. (Source: New York Times)

Saturday 7/7/18 - Our new Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen visited an immigrant detention center on Friday. This is great, but the 60 mothers of separated children that are staying there were moved by ICE to a recreation field, far away, so they couldn't talk to her. (Source: TheIntercept)

Sunday 7/8/18 - Naturalization via military service has always been an option for immigrants who want to speed up their path to citizenship. But Trump has found a new way to persecute these immigrants. (Source: New York Times)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018
Issue #35 - posted March 19, 2018
Issue #36 - posted March 26, 2018
Issue #37 - posted April 1, 2018
Issue #38 - posted April 8, 2018
Issue #39 - posted April 15, 2018
Issue #40 - posted April 22, 2018
Issue #41 - posted April 29, 2018
Issue #42 - posted May 6, 2018
Issue #43 - posted May 13, 2018
Issue #44 - posted May 20, 2018
Issue #45 - posted May 27, 2018
Issue #46 - posted June 3, 2018
Issue #47 - posted June 10, 2018
Issue #48 - posted June 17, 2018
Issue #49 - posted June 24, 2018
Issue #50 - posted July 1, 2018