Betty MacDonald Forum - Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society -
Fans and Friends of Betty MacDonald, author of The Egg and I and The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series
Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's fascinating Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews with Betty MacDonald's family and friends.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Betty MacDonald, Monica Sone and money, money, money
Should I remain in bed, leave my country or fight against the dragon?
( see also the story by Wolfgang Hampel, ' Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say ' )
Betty MacDonald's sister Alison Bard Burnett
Betty MacDonald's mother Sydney with grandchild Alison Beck
I'm very interested in all these International book covers.
You can see both ladies on several covers.
I have my favourite one.
Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter November includes many more info on Betty MacDonald and Monica Sone.
It'll be available on Saturday.
Anita and Eartha Kitt II share their newest Betty MacDonald fan club research treasures.
I hope you might be able to find Betty MacDonald's troll whose favourite colour was red.
I guess you know who I'm talking about.
You can win several new Betty MacDonald fan club items including the new updated Betty MacDonald biography by Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team. We are going to publish several interviews by Wolfgang Hampel never published before. If you have troubles to find Betty MacDonald's troll listen to the interviews with Betty MacDonald's wonderful sister Alison Bard Burnett and Wolfgang Hampel. Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say is really very well written by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
And very witty too!
Thanks a million dear Wolfgang Hampel for sharing it.
Dear
Betty MacDonald, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Barbara Streisand, Cher and all
the other great ladies explain this guy, please what a lady is.
Don't leave the U.S.A., please otherwise this man will do whatever he wants.
On Sunday night, Ivanka Trump appeared on 60 Minutes. She was invited on to 60 Minutes
because her father is now the president-elect, and she a member of his
transition team. Shortly after the program aired, her jewelry company
sent the following missive to an email list of fashion journalists.
Betty MacDonald was sitting on her egg-shaped cloud and listened to a rather strange guy.
He said to his friends: So sorry to keep you waiting. Very complicated business! Very complicated!
Betty said: Obviously much too complicated for you old toupee!
Besides him ( by the way the First Lady's place ) his 10 year old son was bored to death and listened to this 'exciting' victory speech.
The old man could be his great-grandfather.
The
boy was very tired and thought: I don't know what this old guy is
talking about. Come on and finish it, please. I'd like to go to bed. Dear 'great-grandfather' continued and praised the Democratic candidate.
He always called her the most corrupt person ever and repeated it over and over again in the fashion of a Tibetan prayer wheel.
She is so corrupt. She is so corrupt. Do you know how corrupt she is?
Betty MacDonald couldn't believe it when he said: She
has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we
owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
Afterwards old toupee praised his parents, wife, children, siblings and friends.
He asked the same question like a parrot all the time: Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? I know you are here!
Betty MacDonald answered: No Pussy they are not! They left the country.
They immigrated to Canada
because they are very much afraid of the future in the U.S.A. with you
as their leader like the majority of all so-called more or less normal
citizens.
This
is incredible! I'll You get what you pay/vote for and Trump is the
epitome of this ideology. America I won't feel bad for you because you
don't need my sympathy for what's coming but I am genuinely scared for
you. 'Forgive them lord for they know not who they do' or maybe they do
but just don't care about their future generations who will suffer for
this long after the culprits have passed away.
Wise guy, North Pole, Svalbard And Jan Mayen, 9 minutes ago
Is the USA like North Korea where you can't trust other politicians?
That's it.
Put Ivanka in! Put Ivanka in! Put my whole family and friends in! ' What about Putin?
Or the leaders from China and North Korea?
Wouldn't it be a great idea to put them in too?
What about very intelligent and qualified Sarah Palin?
In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[88] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwait–Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[89] On her return journey she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[90] That's the reason why very intelligent and brilliant Sarah Palin knows the World very well. Sarah and ' Pussygate ' will rule America and the World - what a couple.
Our next Betty MacDonald fan club project is a collection of these unique dedications.
If you
share your dedication from your Betty MacDonald - and Mary Bard Jensen
collection you might be the winner of our new Betty MacDonald fan club
items.
Thank you so much in advance for your support.
Thank you so much for sending us your favourite Betty MacDonald quote.
More info are coming soon.
Wolfgang
Hampel's Betty MacDonald and Ma and Pa Kettle biography and Betty
MacDonald interviews have fans in 40 countries. I'm one of their many devoted fans.
Many Betty MacDonald - and Wolfgang Hampel fans are very interested in a Wolfgang Hampel CD and DVD with his
very funny poems and stories.
You made her day! We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State. Tell us the names of this mysterious couple please and you can win a very new Betty MacDonald documentary.
The series premiered on September 3,
1951, the same day as "Search for Tomorrow," and ended on August 1,
1952.
Although it did well in the ratings, it had difficulty
attracting a steady sponsor. This episode features Betty Lynn (later
known for her work on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Betty MacDonald, John
Craven as Bob MacDonald, Doris Rich as Ma Kettle, and Frank Twedell as
Pa Kettle.
Betty MacDonald fan club exhibition will be fascinating with the international book editions and letters by Betty MacDonald. I can't wait to see the new Betty MacDonald documentary.
I’m
about to piss y’all off. I might even lose some friends because of
this. If you’re too much of a (grab ’em by the) pussy to handle it or
tired of angry rants, maybe you should stop reading now because I’m
going in on all of us. It’s been a week since the election and I’ve had
some time to weep, rage, drink a bottle of wine, gather my thoughts, eat
lots of carbs, weep again and drink two more bottles of wine, but still
I have not yet been able to come to peace with the worst thing that has
happened to this country since they made a standalone movie for
Catwoman. But maybe bitching to you, my friends, my fellow progressives,
may help bring some solace and help us understand where we went wrong
so we can come together and kumbaya or whatever.
I’ve got one major thing to say to you. HILLARY CLINTON DID NOT FAIL US, WE FAILED HILLARY CLINTON.
Now I know, I know, she won the popular vote by almost two million
votes, and I know that a lot of you were a part of that so yay go ahead
and pat yourselves on the back. You done? Okay. You say she was flawed?
Y’all motherfuckers didn’t DESERVE the candidate you got, and every day I
watched as progressives posted on Facebook about how much they hated
corrupt Clinton, talked about how imperfect she was as a candidate,
posted articles that were flat out lies, or wrote things like
#ImWithHerIGuess. Your enthusiasm for the former First Lady, Senator of
New York, Secretary of State and first ever possible female President
was shameful when you compare it to the enthusiasm the other side had
for their “flawed” (racist homophobic tax evading possible rapist who
has to make his undocumented Mexican maids wash the orange out of his
bedsheets every fucking morning) candidate. If you would have just
swallowed your pride and given Hillary half of the love you gave Obama,
then we might not have woken up on November 9th worrying about families
being torn apart, marriage licenses being taken way, guns getting into
the wrong hands and women having to stay pregnant after getting raped.
Does that sound too harsh? Too bad! This reality show is now our reality
and we need to accept it and own our shit. We stepped in it and now its
going to take at least four years to clean it off.
And
to you people out there saying “Don’t blame me, I voted for Bernie”-
suck a dick. Oh noooo- I’m so sorry you didn’t “like” Hillary. That’s so
saaaad! I guess that’s worth this result. Your “I told you so” is so
worth the millions of people who will suffer because of selfishness and
pride. We all act like our nominee has to be the perfect representation
of us regardless of how many years they’ve spent working tirelessly for
the people. I didn’t give a shit about John Kerry, but I voted for the
rest of my country. Every candidate has an email/Swift boat Veteran/Born
in Kenya/Benghazi/Reverend Wright/Gennifer Flowers bullshit scandal
that gets played over and over again, and for some reason we thought
Hillary’s private email server (WTF is even a server?) was more damaging
than Trump ADMITTING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT AND CALLING MEXICANS RAPISTS.
Who’s talking about those damn emails now? NO ONE. Think about how the
world must perceive us.
Who
the fuck said you had to LIKE your nominee anyway? Guess what? There
has always been and will always be at least half the people in the
country who hate a Presidential nominee! This kind of thinking started
with the whole “who would you want to get a beer with” bullshit from the
Bush/Gore era and now it’s just gotten out of control. We didn’t always
have primaries. Our parties used to pick our nominees for us. We had to
deal with our choices. Now we get angry and picky if someone doesn’t
meet every single criterion that we have created or if we don’t trust
them because their positions evolved in a more progressive way over the
years. If I had to talk to one more gay person about how Hillary wasn’t
always for same sex marriage I was going to start having sex with women.
Oh really? She wasn’t for gay marriage? WHY WERE YOU SO SUPPORTIVE OF
OBAMA IF THAT WAS YOUR MAIN REASON FOR NOT LIKING HER??? AHHHHHH! Is it
because she’s a woman and it reminded you of your own mother when she
didn’t fully accept you as gay? We found a way to forgive our mothers
who raised us, but we couldn’t find it in our hearts to forgive someone
of no relation who evolved in their beliefs and ended up speaking on
behalf of the LGBT and providing AIDS medication to people all over the
world? I swear I saw more gay people posting about Hillary hating LGBT
than articles about Mike Pence believing in electro shock gay conversion
therapy for children, or the fact that in Indiana you can get put in
jail and fined 10,000 just for applying for a marriage license if you
weren’t a man and a woman. So what did we do? We’ve given a billionaire
who hasn’t paid taxes the most power of ANY PRESIDENT SINCE THE 40’s.
It’s like we’ve given a plumber permission to do open heart surgery on
our kids. It’s because of us that one of the best Presidents this
country has ever seen actually had to shake the hand of a man who was
blatantly racist towards him and tried to get him out of office. Shame
on us.
To
the protest voters (whether you voted or not) I hope you are proud of
yourself for being “right” while others continue to struggle and lose
their rights and healthcare. We are in such a place of privilege to pick
and choose what we like in a candidate when people died just to have
the right to vote. I’m so over all the self righteousness. Bernie
himself begged his followers to do the right thing, but we were too
selfish to come out and support our nominee. Did you know that 11,000
people wrote in “Harambe” for President? Does that make you angry? It
should. It should also make you angry that progressives voted for
candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson WHO DID NOT HAVE THE
PROGRESSIVE POSITIONS THAT BERNIE HAD. These people weren’t able to put
themselves in the shoes of a mother who lost her Black child to a bad
cop, or the shoes of someone who lost their best friend in Orlando. How
quickly we forget.
And
to those of you that say Bernie would have won? Suck two dicks. We look
back and say that the Democrats should have focused their campaign on
the white middle class and criticize Hillary for focusing on racial and
gender equality. FUCK YOU!!! I am sick and tired of people making the
white middle class the biggest victims in this election. Oh the
Caucacity of it all! The real victims are the Black and Latino kids out
there living in a trailer park eating canned food for the 4th day in a
week. That was me. I know how it feels. I’m sorry, Becky, for hurting
your white feelings and for being upset by your privilege, but your pain
and guilt are a small price to pay for the millions out there who are
struggling in this country. And we are thankful to you for trying to
help- that goes without saying. White people lost limbs and lives
fighting against slavery, but they knew it was caused by them and
probably didn’t complain when they received criticism. If they can
accept that, I’m sure you can handle when people point out inequality
and racism amongst white people in general.
Bernie
wasn’t perfect either. Let’s stop spreading the rumors that the
primaries were rigged for Clinton. That’s what radicals say to fight
against the establishment (Trump, can you hear me?) but if that were
true, why didn’t she win the first time she ran for President? We are
all out here talking about how we hate the establishment? Well, the
establishment got you healthcare and many other good things. I’m not
saying we shouldn’t change the establishment and get money out of
politics, but it’s dangerous to point fingers at people and call them
something to make them a villain without even knowing what the
definition is. There are plenty of reasons why Bernie lost the primary.
There are tons of articles from reliable news sources that you can look
up to prove she won fairly. Did Debbie Wasserman Shultz say bad things
in emails? Yes. Did they actually act on anything? No. Should she have
taken responsibility for this? Yes. Was this all just over exaggerated
because people were mad? Yes. Of course the establishment Democrats are
going to favor one candidate over an independent who turned into a
Democrat just so he could have a better chance. And he did a great job;
he really pushed Hillary left and in turn helped us fight for more
progressive things. But to say that a candidate who lost by both the
popular vote and the delegate count would have beaten Trump is just not
fair or accurate. We have no idea what Russia or the FBI would have done
and Republicans would have painted him as a socialist with no business
experience who would have bankrupted us with free college for brown
people. You can say whatever you want about the polls suggesting Bernie
would have beat Trump by a larger margin, but as we’ve all learned,
POLLS DONT MEAN SHIT. People voted based on their hate, NOT THE ECONOMY.
But
you know what? IF Bernie would have been the nominee, I would have
marched on the streets and made videos and voted the shit out of him if
it was to keep Trump from being President- because that’s what we do, we
come together to support whatever is closest to being right. That’s
what I did for Obama when my first choice didn’t win the primary.
Because this isn’t about how I FEEL about a candidate. This is about the
overall well being of people less fortunate than myself. If Bernie were
the nominee and would have lost, I would never ever ever post something
about Hillary being a better candidate just to make myself feel better.
I would show sympathy for the man who worked his ass off to defeat
hatred no matter how imperfect he was. So please cut that shit out. You
know a lot of this defeat had to do with Russia committing espionage,
the FBI favoring Trump, and tons of other totally illegal things that no
one seemed to be outraged about.
This
isn’t a dating show. Hillary didn’t have to be perfect for us, she just
had to work for us. It breaks my heart seeing what she went through.
She was always getting knocked down from everyone around her, even her
damn husband. But what did she do? She rolled up her sleeves and fought
for children, for healthcare and for women’s rights. There are so many
stories out there of people who have personally been helped by her and
they still to this day have Hillary checking up on them. In her
campaign, Hillary worked tirelessly on policies that the news paid zero
percent of time talking about. She had a plan for almost everything. She
updated her website constantly with plans to help homeless gay youth,
to provide AIDS medication to those in need, to work with police and
urban communities, to help women get equal pay, to help small
businesses, to promote more love and kindness and most importantly she
fought against racism. She was the candidate that was able to stand with
the mothers of innocent children killed and say “Black Lives Matter”
but all we focused on was whether she would say the words “Radical
Jihadists”. She fought an honorable fight against racism because in the
end, that’s what people voted in favor of. “Take back America” and “make
America great again” weren’t about the economy; they were code for
“don’t let the brown man be equal to us”. Hillary believed that this
country and its different colors were what made America great already
and I’m not sorry that she lost fighting for that belief. No one puts
themselves through this much work and this much abuse for so many years
just for a title- they do it because they care. I will always support
the person who fights with their heart over their ego.
She
did all of this and we still called her unlikable and untrustworthy. We
called her out for saying that people in gangs were “super predators”
twenty years ago, and then when she apologized and went into Black
communities we said that she was pandering. Beyoncé sings about carrying
hot sauce in her bag and we attack Hillary for saying she does the same
thing even though there was proof that she had done it for years! We
beat her up every single time and she fought back till she became an
ugly callus that we didn’t like looking at. We poked at every flaw of
hers and refused to see any of the good she did over her 30+ years of
public service. We wouldn’t let her get away with a single mistake. And
yet we chose Trump. A monster who was also created by the ugliest in us.
We and the media made excuses for his hatred because it was
entertaining. We didn’t take him seriously. And now, I cringe as I watch
CNN and they praise Trump for acting mature and respectful in the home
of the motherfuckin President of the United States.
WOO!
Okay! That felt good. As you can see, I’m a little angry at all of us.
I’m sorry if you felt personally attacked but I knew you could handle
it. It’s important that we be loud and angry and in each others faces.
It’s also important for us to be able to take criticism and take
responsibility for this. I’m not perfect either, I wish I did more, I
wish I didn’t fall for the sexist traps, I wish I didn’t coddle peoples
feelings or let them believe conspiracies. I wish I didn’t keep
apologizing for Hillary. We progressives have a lot of work to do. We
have to fight for what is right and know that change takes time. This
country operates on incrementalism and Hillary was doing her best to be
the bad ass progressive bitch she has always been while still listening
to the concerns of the other half. If the protesters out on the streets
right now (which I just read that in Oregon half the protesters didn’t
vote- WTF???) showed half as much passion for our candidate before all
this happened, if we wrote and called and told news stations to stop
focusing on bullshit stories, if we didn’t share skewed articles before
looking up the facts- things could be very different right now and the
whole world (except for Russia) wouldn’t be so scared right now. Damn
yo, we let Hillary down and this fucking sucks. I like to think she’s at
home with her dogs drinking Rosé and finishing Stranger Things, but we
all know she is probably thinking about how she can still help people
now that she will never be President. Thats who I wanted to lead our
country- the fierce woman who kicked ass in every debate, who comforted a
crying girl sitting on her lap by telling her to leave the worrying to
her, the woman who even Republicans said was pleasant to work with, the
person who gave two of the most inspirational concession speeches and
then immediately went down to comfort her staff. I hope she goes down in
history as one of the most respected people in the world, as a gay
icon, as a mother for America, and as a reminder of one of the biggest
mistakes we ever made.
On Sunday night, Ivanka Trump appeared on 60 Minutes. She was invited on to 60 Minutes
because her father is now the president-elect, and she a member of his
transition team. Shortly after the program aired, her jewelry company
sent the following missive to an email list of fashion journalists.
As
far as attempts to cash in on proximity to power go, this is pretty
mundane stuff. But it served as a potent reminder that the Trump family
is both willing and able to monetize the presidency in ways both
unpredictable and unprecedented.
Donald Trump owns a business that has elaborate ties to government agencies, both foreign and domestic. In one of the many heavy-handed symbols the past year of American politics has produced, the president-elect just opened
a new hotel blocks from the White House — which operates out of the
historic Old Post Office building, which the federal government still
owns.
Trump will now get to appoint the head of the bureau that manages that building, a bureau that has tens of millions of dollars in contracts with his company.
This presents a formidable challenge to a man who won the presidency while campaigning against corruption and the “politics of personal profit.”
It’s impossible for Trump to insulate himself against all accusations
of self-dealing. After all, as a billionaire business owner, he stands
to directly benefit from an array of garden-variety Republican policies —
tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, abolition of the estate tax,
and a Labor Department more concerned with appeasing management than
unions, to name just a few.
But
Trump has shown no concern whatsoever for maintaining any appearance of
propriety. He has decided to shield himself from conflicts of interest
by putting his assets into what he refers to as a “blind trust,” but is
actually an entity that would allow him perfect knowledge of the assets
he holds — and that would be managed by his children, who are also
informal advisers to his government, and who may be on the cusp of
receiving top-secret security clearances at his request.
Which is to say: an entity that is the opposite of a blind trust.
“You
have to have some confidence in the integrity of the president,”
Giuliani told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “The man is an enormously wealthy man. I
don’t think there’s any real fear or suspicion that he’s seeking to
enrich himself by being president. If he wanted to enrich himself, he
wouldn’t have run for president.”
Tapper
then suggested that when the president-elect explains he will be
insulated from conflicts by a blind trust — and then sets up an entity
that is the opposite of a blind trust — that might raise real fears and
suspicions.
“You
realize that those laws don’t apply to the president, right?” Giuliani
replied. “The president doesn’t have to have a blind trust. For some
reason when the law was written, the president was exempt. I think he’s
in a very unusual situation.”
So, per Giuliani, we shouldn’t worry about Trump using the presidency to enrich himself because:
2.
Even if he did try to enrich himself, it would be totally legal,
because, “for some reason,” the president is exempt from
conflict-of-interest laws.
One of these reassurances is false. The other is true, but, also, the opposite of reassuring.
As
already mentioned, Trump will have abundant opportunity to enrich
himself through policy: Last July, the National Labor Relations Board
ruled against the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which was
challenging its employees’ effort to form a union. In November, the NLRB
ruled against Trump’s hotel again, for refusing to begin negotiations
with that union. Trump will now have the opportunity to appoint all five
members of the NLRB.
He will also get to appoint the head of the Internal Revenue Service, which is currently auditing Trump’s taxes.
Trump
can also profit off the presidency more directly — throughout his
campaign, the GOP nominee collected money from the Secret Service every
time its agents took a ride on one of his jets. While he will ride on
Air Force One as president, his children, who will be provided Secret
Service detail, will likely, often, travel aboard private planes,
thereby directing more taxpayer money into TAG Air Inc., Trump’s aviation company. TAG Air collected $6 million during the campaign.
The limits to Trump’s kleptocratic behavior are primarily political. However, the New York Timesnotes there is one legal restriction that Trump may have to wrestle with:
Perhaps
most troubling for Mr. Trump, several ethics lawyers said, is a
relatively obscure provision of the Constitution, called the Emoluments
Clause, which prohibits any government official
from taking payments or gifts from a foreign government, or even from
sharing in profits in a company that has financial ties to a foreign
government.
Mr. Trump has had business deals with foreign
governments or individuals with apparent ties to foreign governments,
including multimillion-dollar real estate arrangements in Azerbaijan and
Uruguay. His children have frequently traveled abroad to promote the
Trump brand, making trips to Canada, the United Arab Emirates and
Scotland. Closer to home, the Bank of China is a tenant in Trump Tower
and is a lender for another building in Midtown Manhattan where Mr.
Trump has a significant partnership interest.
“Doing business
with a foreign corporation, be it in Azerbaijan, Turkey or Russia, if is
it owned in part or controlled by a foreign government — any benefit
that would accrue to Mr. Trump could well be a violation of the
Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution,” said Kenneth A. Gross, a political ethics and compliance lawyer in Washington.
Regardless, it will be up to the Democratic Party to make Trump pay a political price for his self-dealing.
The
possibility that Hillary Clinton had leveraged her family’s political
power to extract charitable donations from foreign governments — and
speaking fees from Wall Street banks — was viewed as so contemptible,
the Democratic nominee routinely trailed her opponent on the question of who was more likely to combat corruption in D.C.
Trump
and his family are all but certain to pursue schemes far more blatantly
kleptocratic than the Clintons ever dreamed of. Democrats must see this
fact as a (politically) lucrative opportunity — and milk it for all
it’s worth.
The
irrationality of the mob said anything Hillary did was corrupt because
she's a corrupt person. The same mob irrationality says that Trump is
not. As others have said, trying to damage President Trump by attacking
his character will be as much of a fool's errand as was attacking
candidate Trump's character. There are some Republicans
with integrity. Leave them to do the job. Democrats should concentrate
on attacking Trump's contradictory goals, incoherent principles and
non-existent concrete plans. Do it relentlessly, engaging in as much
mockery and ridicule as possible. Keep changing the angle of attack. Do
that for the next 12 months and then pause for a review of how things
are going. But forget about trying to impugn his character. Nobody
important is listening.
Trump Transition Team Descends Into Chaos As Nobody Wants To Join Administration
Trump is so desperate to have people join his team that he's seeking the Obama administration's help in filling roles.
Donald Trump’s transition team continued its descent into chaos on
Tuesday after behind-the-scenes drama and a recent staff shakeup has
reportedly stalled the entire process. According to a report
by The Huffington Post, Republicans and Democrats in Washington are now
worried that the incoming administration will be “woefully
ill-prepared” once Trump takes office in January. These concerns are
bolstered by the fact that Trump transition officials were missing in
action from a series of important meetings this week. The report:
The disarray has left agencies virtually frozen, unable
to communicate with the people tasked with replacing them and their
staff. Trump transition team officials were a no-show at the Pentagon,
the Washington Examiner reported. Same goes for the Department of
Energy, responsible for keeping the nation’s nuclear weapons safe, where
officials had expected members of the Trump transition team on Monday.
Ditto for the Department of Transportation. Over at the Justice
Department, officials also are still waiting to hear from the Trump
team.
The transition turmoil comes after unpopular New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie was demoted from his role leading the process and replaced by
Vice President-Elect Mike Pence. As of late afternoon on Tuesday, the
transition remained on hold because Pence still hadn’t signed off on a
memorandum that would allow Trump’s team to communicate with the Obama
administration on how to hand over key functions of the government. According to HuffPo, though, it goes well beyond the failure to sign a
piece of paper. It also doesn’t help that many Republicans aren’t
willing to assume critical roles on Trump’s team. More from the report:
The transition dysfunction extends beyond failure to
promptly execute a memorandum of understanding. According to several
sources close to the Trump transition team and inside the Obama
administration, the president elect and his staff have had difficulty
finding able-minded Republicans willing to take on critical posts. One
Democratic source, who like others would only discuss sensitive talks on
condition of anonymity, said transition officials had been informally
asking Obama political appointees to recommend Republicans to take over
their jobs.
That’s right – Trump is so desperate to have people join his team
that he’s seeking the Obama administration’s help in filling roles. While it’s true that presidential transitions aren’t always
flawlessly managed, Trump seems to be bungling his in a way that may be
unprecedented. Those who voted for Trump last week may have wanted to
“shake things up” in Washington, but it’s likely this wasn’t what they
had in mind. If the new president-elect can’t competently run a transition team
and staff his government, why should any of us believe he’ll be able to
lead the free world?
Journalists should 'scrutinize, not normalize' Trump
For the second time in a week, president-elect Donald Trump has
abandoned precedent and traveled without the "press pool," a small group
of journalists assigned to cover his movements.
His surprise trip on Tuesday evening was met by sharp criticism from some journalists.
Trump's press secretary Hope Hicks told journalists around 6:15 p.m.
that there was a "lid" for the night -- a term of art meaning that no
more news or travel was expected until Wednesday. Trump has been at
Trump Tower for several days and has not been seen in public.
Later in the evening, however, Trump took his family to a nearby
restaurant, the 21 Club, for dinner. The "pool" would have been ready to
travel with him, but they were not notified. A Bloomberg staffer dining
at the restaurant spotted Trump and tweeted a picture, sending journalists scrambling to catch up.
While Trump and his aides may delight in irritating journalists, the
behavior breaks with well-established norms governing a president's
relationship with the press corps. Those same norms are also applicable
to the president-elect. While presidents often agitate for more privacy and freedom, and occasionally slip the press, the "pool" of journalists is a fixture of Secret Service motorcades.
The reporters and camera crews view themselves as a "conduit to the
American people, so that everybody in the nation knows where he is,"
NBC's Hallie Jackson said on MSNBC. Jackson quickly made a
reservation at the 21 Club so that she could verify Trump was there. She
said he was seated in the main dining room with his family. To
be clear, journalists aren't seeking a seat at the dinner table with
Trump. Normally the "pool" waits in a separate room or in a vehicle. Former Bush administration press secretary Ari Fleischer wrote on Twitter that Trump's aides should have told the press corps where the president-elect was going, following normal protocol. "A press van would normally be included in the motorcade," he wrote. So what went wrong? Hicks told journalists that she did not know about Trump's travel plans. She reiterated what she said last week after Trump traveled to Washington, D.C. without a "pool" -- that the normal set-up will be put in place soon. Related: Trump team promises press pool, but concerns remain
In an emergency, the "pool" quickly relays information, helping the
president and his aides inform and reassure Americans. On a day-to-day
basis, the "pool" keeps track of the president's whereabouts and how he
spends his time -- useful information for the voters who elected him and
the Americans who did not. CNN's Sara Murray told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night
that this "appears to be yet another misunderstanding of exactly how
much gravity his new title as president-elect holds. If something, God
forbid, were to happen to him, that's a matter not only of public record
but also a matter of national security, given that he is next in line
to take the White House." Last week the White House Correspondents Association called the president-elect's travel without journalists "unacceptable."
CNNMoney (New York) First published November 16, 2016: 12:21 AM ET
Video
Full Speech: Trump Addresses Supporters
After winning the presidency, Donald J. Trump addressed supporters in New York City.
By THE NEW YORK TIMES on Publish Date November 9, 2016.
Photo by Eric Thayer for The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
Following is a transcript of Donald J. Trump’s victory speech, as compiled by Federal News Services.
TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much, everyone.
(APPLAUSE)
Sorry to keep you waiting; complicated business; complicated.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton.
(APPLAUSE)
She
congratulated us — it’s about us — on our victory, and I congratulated
her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she —
she fought very hard.
(APPLAUSE)
Hillary
has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we
owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean that very sincerely.
(APPLAUSE)
Now
it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get
together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this
nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
(APPLAUSE)
It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me.
(APPLAUSE)
For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people. . .
(LAUGHTER)
. . . I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.
(APPLAUSE)
As
I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign, but rather an
incredible and great movement made up of millions of hard-working men
and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for
themselves and for their families.
(APPLAUSE)
It’s
a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions,
backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the
people, and serve the people it will.
(APPLAUSE)
Working
together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and
renewing the American dream. I’ve spent my entire life and business
looking at the untapped potential in projects and in people all over the
world. That is now what I want to do for our country.
(APPLAUSE)
Tremendous
potential. I’ve gotten to know our country so well — tremendous
potential. It’s going to be a beautiful thing. Every single American
will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential. The
forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
(APPLAUSE)
We
are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges,
tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We’re going to rebuild our
infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we
will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.
We will also finally take care of our great veterans.
(APPLAUSE)
They’ve
been so loyal, and I’ve gotten to know so many over this 18-month
journey. The time I’ve spent with them during this campaign has been
among my greatest honors. Our veterans are incredible people. We will
embark upon a project of national growth and renewal. I will harness the
creative talents of our people and we will call upon the best and
brightest to leverage their tremendous talent for the benefit of all.
It’s going to happen.
(APPLAUSE)
We
have a great economic plan. We will double our growth and have the
strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get
along with all other nations willing to get along with us. We will be.
(APPLAUSE)
We’ll have great relationships. We expect to have great, great relationships. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great.
TRUMP: Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.
America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.
(APPLAUSE)
We
must reclaim our country’s destiny and dream big and bold and daring.
We have to do that. We’re going to dream of things for our country and
beautiful things and successful things once again.
I
want to tell the world community that while we will always put
America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with
everyone — all people and all other nations. We will seek common ground,
not hostility; partnership, not conflict.
And
now I’d like to take this moment to thank some of the people who really
helped me with this, what they are calling tonight, very, very historic
victory.
First, I want to thank my parents, who I know are looking down on me right now.
(APPLAUSE)
Great people. I’ve learned so much from them. They were wonderful in every regard. I had truly great parents.
I
also want to thank my sisters, Maryanne and Elizabeth, who are here
with us tonight. And, where are they? They’re here someplace. They’re
very shy, actually. And my brother Robert — my great friend. Where is
Robert? Where is Robert?
(APPLAUSE)
My
brother Robert. And they should all be on this stage, but that’s OK.
They’re great. And also my late brother, Fred. Great guy. Fantastic guy.
(APPLAUSE)
Fantastic family. I was very lucky. Great brothers, sisters; great, unbelievable parents.
To Melania and Don. . .
(APPLAUSE) . . . and Ivanka. . .
(APPLAUSE)
.
. . and Eric and Tiffany and Baron, I love you and I thank you, and
especially for putting up with all of those hours. This was tough.
(APPLAUSE)
This
was tough. This political stuff is nasty and it’s tough. So I want to
thank my family very much. Really fantastic. Thank you all. Thank you
all.
And Lara, unbelievable job, unbelievable.
Vanessa, thank you. Thank you very much.
What
a great group. You’ve all given me such incredible support, and I will
tell you that we have a large group of people. You know, they kept
saying we have a small staff. Not so small. Look at all the people that
we have. Look at all of these people.
And
Kellyanne and Chris and Rudy and Steve and David. We have got — we have
got tremendously talented people up here. And I want to tell you, it’s
been — it’s been very, very special. I want to give a very special
thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
(APPLAUSE)
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable. He traveled with us and he went through meetings. That
Rudy never changes. Where’s Rudy? Where is he? Rudy.
Governor Chris Christie, folks, was unbelievable.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, Chris.
The
first man, first senator, first major, major politician, and let me
tell you, he is highly respected in Washington because he’s as smart as
you get: Senator Jeff Sessions. Where is Jeff?
(APPLAUSE)
Great man.
Another great man, very tough competitor. He was not easy. He was not easy. Who is that? Is that the mayor that showed up?
(LAUGHTER)
Is that Rudy? Oh, Rudy got up here.
Another
great man who has been really a friend to me. But I’ll tell you, I got
to know him as a competitor because he was one of the folks that was
negotiating to go against those Democrats: Dr. Ben Carson. Where is Ben?
(APPLAUSE)
Where is Ben?
TRUMP: And by the way, Mike Huckabee is here someplace, and he is fantastic. Mike and his family, Sarah — thank you very much.
General Mike Flynn. Where is Mike?
(APPLAUSE)
And
General Kellogg. We have over 200 generals and admirals that have
endorsed our campaign. And they’re special people and it’s really an
honor. We have 22 congressional Medal of Honor recipients. We have just
tremendous people.
A
very special person who believed me and, you know, I’d read reports
that I wasn’t getting along with him. I never had a bad second with him.
He’s an unbelievable star. He is. . .
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP:
That’s right. How did you possibly guess? So let me tell you about
Reince, and I’ve said this. I said, Reince — and I know it, I know. Look
at all those people over there. I know it. Reince is a superstar. But I
said, “They can’t call you a superstar, Reince, unless we win,” because
you can’t be called a superstar — like Secretariat — if Secretariat
came in second, Secretariat would not have that big, beautiful bronze
bust at the track at Belmont.
But
I’ll tell you, Reince is really a star. And he is the hardest-working
guy. And in a certain way, I did this — Reince, come up here. Where is
Reince? Get over here, Reince.
(APPLAUSE)
Boy oh boy oh boy. It’s about time you did this, Reince. My God.
(APPLAUSE)
Say a few words. No, come on, say something.
RNC CHAIRMAN REINCE PRIEBUS: Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. It’s been an honor. God bless. Thank God.
TRUMP: Amazing guy.
Our partnership with the RNC was so important to the success and what we’ve done.
So I also have to say I’ve gotten to know some incredible people — the Secret Service people.
(APPLAUSE)
They’re
tough and they’re smart and they’re sharp, and I don’t want to mess
around with them, I can tell you. And when I want to go and wave to a
big group of people and they rip me down and put me back down on the
seat. But they are fantastic people, so I want to thank the Secret
Service.
(APPLAUSE)
And law enforcement in New York City. They’re here tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
These are spectacular people, sometimes underappreciated unfortunately, but we appreciate them. We know what they go through.
So,
it’s been what they call a historic event, but to be really historic,
we have to do a great job. And I promise you that I will not let you
down. We will do a great job. We will do a great job.
(APPLAUSE)
I
look very much forward to being your president, and hopefully at the
end of two years or three years or four years, or maybe even eight
years. . .
(APPLAUSE)
.
. . you will say, so many of you worked so hard for us, but you will
say that — you will say that that was something that you really were
very proud to do and I can. . .
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
And I can only say that while the campaign is over, our work on this movement is now really just beginning.
(APPLAUSE)
We’re
going to get to work immediately for the American people. And we’re
going to be doing a job that hopefully you will be so proud of your
president. You’ll be so proud. Again, it’s my honor. It was an amazing
evening. It’s been an amazing two-year period. And I love this country.
(APPLAUSE) Thank you. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you to Mike Pence. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr.
Tigerli in China Copyright 2016 by Letizia Mancino translation by Mary Holmes All rights reserved
Yes Betty, either or it seems he wanted to fly only with
Singapore Airways.
Boeing or Airbus, it’s just the same
isn’t it? Aren’t they both just fat birds with 500 passengers?
Yes, but Singapore Airlines has the
most beautiful airhostesses: delicate, fine, graceful…Mr. Tigerli had looked forward to the flight
so much!
So the little man was disappointed?
You just can’t imagine how disappointed
he was.
But thank God one of the hostesses was a
pretty Chinese girl. Mr. Tigerli purred loudly but she didn’t hear him because
the purring of the Airbus 380 was even louder.
The poor cat!
You’ve said it Betty. Mr. Tigerli was
in a very bad mood and asked me for a loud speaker.
I’m sure you can get one in 1st
Class.
“”Russian Girl” had even heard you over
the roar of the Niagara Falls” I said to Mr. Tigerli. “You are a very
unfaithful cat. You wanted to get to know Asiatic girls. That’s how it is when
one leaves one’s first love”.
And what did he say to that?
“Men are hunters” was his answer.
Yes, my dear cat, a mouse hunter. And
what else did he say?
Not another word. He behaved as if he
hadn’t heard me.
The Airbus is very loud.
I told him shortly “Don’t trouble
yourself about “Chinese Girl”. There will be enough even prettier girls in
China. Wait till we land in Guilin”.
Did he understand you?
Naturally Mr. Tigerli understood me
immediately. Yes, sweetheart, don’t worry. They will find you something sweet
to eat.
And he?
He was so happy.
No problem going through the immigration
control?
Naturally!Lots of problems. How could I explain to
customs that the cat had come as a tourist to China to buy shoes?
Fur in exchange for shoes…
Don’t be so cynical Betty!
Cat meat in exchange for shoes?
I said to the officials. He isn’t a cat, he is Casanova.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.
November 16, 2016: 12:21 AM ET 
