Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:12:42 -0500WeeblyTue, 03 Jun 2025 03:24:22 GMThttp://www.fgwaiss.com/freds-blog/no-june-swoon​Hello. Been a while. Three and a half months, actually.
If you voted for Donald Trump, but now realize that was a poor choice, good for you. If you did not vote at all, that, too, was a poor choice, since it gave the votes for Trump more power. And if you voted for Harris, good for you. I realize that millions of people were not sure if she could be a good President, but it’s  clear by now that she couldn’t be worse.  
That’s it for politics. I’ll try to stay away from that subject in this blog. No promises, but I’ll try.
My writing is still close to non-existent. However! After spending almost every day thinking about the novel and what to do next, I have a good idea.  Now that I have a direction, I can start writing again. I still need to type more slowly than I prefer, because if I don’t the typos will flood the screen and I will use language unkind.
That’s a phrase I remember from my very young days. We had a little 78 rpm record featuring the singing of four current  (then) baseball players—Tommy Henrich, Phil Rizzuto, Ralph Branca, and Roy Campenella. Campanella teamed with Mitch Miller to write the song. One phrase is “To that our opponents use language unkind.”
Funny thing, my brother and I can still remember the song and sing it…if you charitably call what we do “singing.”
It was called to my attention that there were a few books by Isaac Asimov from his Foundation and Robots series that I had not read. So now I am. Since I last wrote here, I’ve read Foundation’s Edge, Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation and Earth, and now Robots and Empire.
After reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz—many of both—reading Asimov is almost in another century. Well, yeah, his writing was in the other century. But King and Koontz make great use of colorful similes and metaphors and spend many many words on those devices.
Asimov uses about none. He tells great stories, interesting, with clear characters, clear settings, and solid plot, but, in Asimov’s own words, he has an informal style, also called an unornamented style. I like that term, because the opposite, an ornamented style, is a good description of Koontz’s and King’s style. Asimov also published dozens (hundreds?) of science fact books and other books not technically related to science—studies of the Bible, for example. And he writes them all with the same lack of colorful style.  He’s published about 500 books.
He said once (or maybe more than once?) that his inspiration for that kind of writing came from Clifford Simak.
Recommendation: If you want to read some really good science fiction and science fantasy, read Simak’s work: City, Way Station, and The Goblin Reservation are all great. City is an iconic story covering many generations, many unexpected sources of intelligence, and even robots.
The Goblin Reservation is serious, but a fun read at the same time. I may have read City once in the last twenty-five years, but it’s been a long time. I think I’ll see if the library can lend me a copy of each.
I also should get some of Asimov’s non-fiction. Asimov’s Guide to the Bible would be a good one.
Hopefully, now that my writer’s block, for want of a better term, has eased a little, I’ll get back to this at least once a month.
One more mention of Prophecy of Honor, and I’ll sign off for now with my usual  message: Please read!
 
]]>Tue, 11 Feb 2025 01:17:18 GMThttp://www.fgwaiss.com/freds-blog/sour-grapes-and-sweet-leavesIt’s been over three months since I wrote in this blog. There are at least two reasons. One, I simply haven’t been writing anything. The urge to write has been missing. I’ve gone through a phase where I fat-finger everything, even worse than the problem I illustrated here back in July. But now it seems that the problem has been mitigated, somehow, and I can do a little writing again. I’ve been adding to the fantasy novel lately.
The other reason is just depression. I spent time and effort listing reasons why people should not vote for Donald Trump, and many did. I know of at least one person who reads this blog voted for Trump. Very depressing. Very discouraging. Over ninety million people voted for  a man who was successfully sued for sexual assault, convicted of 34 felony counts, and indicted on violations of the Espionage Act. A man who was called an idiot by many of the people that worked for him. Many others vowed they would never vote for him again, yet too many did. And now he’s given power to an ex-illegal alien who became a citizen in 2002 and is now tearing apart agencies and services millions of American citizens and others world-wide depend for health and food and financial protection. Many of these moves are blatantly illegal because Trump does  not have the Constitutional authority to do what he's doing. Law suits are being filed by many separate entities.
Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of over 1500 people convicted or indicted for their activities at the Capitol on January 6. Men guilty of violent crimes are now running around free. He had originally said it would be only the non-violent offenders, but then he changed his mind (such as there is) and released them all. My opinion: He’s too friggin’ lazy to go through the process of making decisions on each individual. It’s going to get worse.
My  prediction over the term of Trump’s Presidency is that many more Americans will be harmed by the decisions of Trump and his henchmen than will benefit.
On a cheerier note, the new publication of my fantasy novel Prophecy of Honor, will be launched Feb. 12. Two days from now!! The link for preorders, plus where and how it will be available (hardback, paperback, digital) is here:
(https://waterdragonpublishing.com/prophecy-of-honor).
Is the book worth reading? Well, it’s been judged by two different publishers as worth the expense of publication, so, yeah, it is.
Prophecy of Honor is an excellent choice for any reader that is curious about fantasy but not sure if they want to tackle the project. Or, someone who doesn’t want to read fantasy because they don’t want to read about dragons, elves, witches, or potions, this is the one for them. This book has none of those things, plus, it’s much shorter than your regular fantasy book.  
And for dedicated fantasy readers, despite those exceptions, it’s still a really good story.
Trust me.
Please go to my home page to see the new cover, and thanks for reading.

 

]]>Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:07:27 GMThttp://www.fgwaiss.com/freds-blog/last-on-politics-2024Here’s another observation on the big lie told by Trump and other rabid far-right Republicans that insist that “The Democrats” stole the election. Does anyone in their right mind really believe that the Democratic Party could organize so efficiently, across so many states, to actually steal votes from the Republican Presidential candidate without leaving any evidence?
Plus!: A conspiracy so obviously effective that not one conspirator, either before or up to four years after, has ever bragged or confessed their knowledge of the deed? Really?
I saw a funny yard sign today. It proclaimed: Trump—Safe; Harris---Crime.
Pretty hilarious considering that Harris was a prosecutor and Trump is a convicted felon on 34 counts of fraudulent business practices and record keeping, and has been indicted on three more felony counts concerning his theft of official documents.
Yes, Donald Trump, convicted felon, took official documents from the White House and stored them without security in his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. That was not a crime, it was just malfeasance, or carelessness. Many recent Presidents, and Vice Presidents have taken documents off the property. But the others, when discovered, wasted no time in returning them to the National Archives.
The crime is that Donald Trump first denied having the documents, then refusing to hand them over, and then, after warrants were issued and the Dept. of Justice came to claim them, Trump or his people hid them, but claimed they were all taken. After a year and a half, when the DOJ realized there were still more documents, they found another 36 boxes of classified documents. Further searches later found still more, in a storage room in a bathroom and in desk drawers. Some of these documents were so sensitive, the FBI agents retrieving them had to get additional clearance just to open them to confirm their contents.
So, Donald Trump has hundreds of classified documents, some marked Top Secret, just lying around his residence, available to be read by anyone, including cleaning people, kitchen help, visiting officials from another country. Why would anyone want an irresponsible man like that to be President?  Here’s a link to the info on the documents case: https://apnews.com/article/biden-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-subpoenas-b8082283fc599738c92d1f1ec8680924
Speaking of responsibility, let’s not forget Trump’s quote, “I take no responsibility at all.”
Lately, Trump has taken to calling himself a victim. He has said, quote, "No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly," than he has. He has stated that even Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated, wasn’t treated as bad as he, Trump, has been treated. He is constantly claiming to be a victim. Why would anyone want to vote for a man who constantly whines about being a victim?
Here's a few more considerations to…well, consider.
Liz Cheney is a staunch conservative. She disagrees with Kamala Harris on most if not all policy views. So does her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, yet, they are both supporting Kamala Harris in this election because they are convinced that Donald Trump is an absolute threat to American democracy and the Security of the Unite States. So even if you’re a died-in-the-wool right-wing conservative life-long member of the Republican Party, You can still vote for Kamal Harris without guilt.  
Eight people that worked in the Trump White House now support Kamala Harris. I’m not going to include them all here. Plus, Trump’s Vice President, Mike Pence, will not support Trump.
Five people that served at Cabinet level positions oppose Trump’s candidacy for President. Eleven other people that worked in the Executive Branch of Trump’s administration endorse Kamala Harris.
And get this: According to Wikipedia, Andrew McCabe, Acting Director of the FBI thinks Donald Trump may be a Russian Asset.
Please click on this link to check on the information in the previous three paragraphs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Republicans_who_oppose_the_Donald_Trump_2024_presidential_campaign
When he was still campaigning against Joe Biden, Trump implied that 80-year-olds couldn’t be trusted to sign important documents. If elected, Donald Trump would be 80 years old two years into his Presidency. He’s making a case that he can't be trusted to sign anything important. The nonsense coming out of his mouth lately also make the case that he can’t be trusted to say anything important.
Here's an obvious opinion: this Presidential election will be decided by two types of people: the ones that value and respect American democracy and the Constitution, or the ones that vote for Trump. Let’s hope the first far outnumber the second.
Thanks for reading. And if you care to forward or link these blog entries before the election, thank you for that, too.
 
]]>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:51:37 GMThttp://www.fgwaiss.com/freds-blog/end-of-summerAlmost immediately after the election in 2020, before all the votes were totaled, at least 100 people—the Supervisor of Elections and the Governor of each of the fifty states—all declared that the election was the most secure and accurate of any election in U.S. history. Again, at least one hundred people, Republicans, Democrats, maybe even some Independents, all declared that the election was the most secure and accurate ever.
Then, after the counts were announced, one man—ONE man—the Loser declared that there was election fraud based solely on the fact that he lost. He insisted that if there had been no election fraud, he would have won; that he could not have lost unless there was election fraud.
Even before the election he declared that , “…the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” Trump told the group of supporters …” He was setting up his challenge even before the election.
He had no other evidence…no evidence at all, since his childish conclusion that he could not have lost an honest election is not evidence of election tampering.
At no time, ever, has Donald Trump or his lawyers presented any evidence of election “rigging.”
He was challenged on that at the debate. He declared, as he has many times before, that he had lots of evidence, but no judge ever looked at the evidence. Sixty different court hearings, many of them in front of judges appointed by Trump, yet none of them looked at any evidence. There’s a good reason for that. Judges can’t look at something that does not exist!
In over sixty court hearings no one has ever produced any evidence that there was the kind of election fraud that could have influenced the vote to the degree Trump insisted. Even his own Attorney General, William Barr, told Trump there was no indication of the massive fraud it would have taken to skew the vote. During the many total recounts of state’s ballots, most or all of them conducted by Republicans very little voter fraud was discovered, and most of those favored Trump.
His continued insistence of election rigging is a lie.
Here’s another piece of evidence that there was no election interference:
If you’ve voted, you know that all the votes are on the same ballot. If you vote for President, you’ll also vote for Senator, Congressman, and various state and local offices. All on the same ballot.
This means that if, as Trump and his henchmen insist, ballots were thrown out, votes for all those offices must have also been thrown out. Some of the more rabid Republicans have said that the Democrats have stolen the election and plan on stealing the one coming up.
If the Democrats stole the election, why did the Democrats lose ten seats in Congress in that election, and the Republicans gain sixteen seats? Five seats were vacant plus one was held by a Libertarian. All six went to the Republicans.
It is absolutely impossible that those seats were won by the Republicans if the Democrats stole the election.
The obvious fact is that thousands or millions of Republicans voted the party ticket, except for the Presidency, where they voted for Biden.
Kamala Harris was right when she told Trump that he was fired by 81 million people.
That pretty much wraps up the message I’ve wanted to convey. I have a few more points to bring up, but that will be next time.
For this time, please remember that in these last three postings I’ve presented facts, not opinions.
 
]]>Tue, 03 Sep 2024 03:04:13 GMThttp://www.fgwaiss.com/freds-blog/labor-day-labors5195458First, I want to point out the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. Quote: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officers from accepting foreign emoluments without congressional consent.
It’s important to understand that vocabulary in the 1770s was different that it is now. However, the italicized portion is pretty clear, and the last two words are key. No person holding any office may accept any emolument of any kind from a foreign state.
Emoluments are defined as payment for product, labor or service. Service is the key in this case, because that includes staying at a hotel. When you stay at a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, or even paying for a portion of land for camping, you’re paying for a service. So, every time that an ambassador, consul, attorney, secretary, or other employee of a foreign power paid Trump Enterprises for staying at a room in his hotels or playing at his golf club, some of that money went to Donald Trump and Trump, thereby, was in violation of the Constitution. And he knew that very well. How do we know that the fee for that stay wasn’t enhanced by, say half a million dollars in exchange for political favors, or maybe military information?
We don’t.
In September, 2016, I’d predicted that Trump would drop out of the election because the Emoluments clause of the Constitution would require him to divest himself of his income properties—hotels, golf courses, etc. At the time I had not accounted for the fact that Trump did not care about what the Constitution demanded.  He turned the administration of those properties over to his children or family, but he did not remove himself from the profit-taking of all income from those properties.
There is also a Domestic Emoluments Clause, also known as the Presidential Emoluments Clause,  which states that the President will get paid for his service, but will not receive any other Emolument from the United States, or any individual state. But the Trump properties charged the Secret Service (The U.S.) for staying at the properties. That was a willful violation of this Emoluments Clause.
Another violation of the Constitution was on June 1, 2020, when Trump ordered the dispersal of a crowd of peaceful protestors outside the White House so he could walk over to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op, thus violating the First Amendment’s provision for freedom of Assembly.
Donald Trump, like every  President before him, or since, took an oath to defend the Constitution. A person can’t defend it if he’s violating it.
Yet, millions of people in this country are willing to forgive or ignore those violations, or refuse to believe them because their favored news sources don’t mention them.
Lastly, for now, in December of 2022, Donald Trump, still insisting on the Big Lie Of his election loss, declared that, quote, “… Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” 
I have said in the past, vocally and in writing, that if you support Donald Trump, you cannot support the Constitution, and if you support the Constitution, you cannot support Donald Trump. This quote, plus his violations of the Constitution as listed above, are the reasons I insist this is the case.
Next time, I’ll point out a few things about his Big Lie concerning his election loss. In the meantime, please read.
 
]]>