William 'Bill' Cumming,
celebrity in the local art scene and longest-standing member of 'The
Northwest School' died Nov. 22, 2010 at age 93.
 | |
  | |
Hello 'Pussy' it's Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking:
When Republicans imagined having a president of their own and control of Congress, they thought it would be a nonstop string of legislative achievements and improvements to government, bringing an inspiring new era of efficiency and effectiveness that showed Americans what the GOP was really capable of.
That is not quite how things are working out.
Do you have any idea why we feel so ashamed? I do!
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 and Don MacDonald in Hollywood
Betty MacDonald's mother Sydney with grandchild Alison Beck
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
William Cumming, famous artist in the Pacific Northwest School, was born in Montana on March 24, 1917.
In 1940, Betty MacDonald headed the National Youth Administration Division of Information in Seattle.
William Cumming became Betty's assistant.
His regular salary was $25 per month.
William Cumming described Betty MacDonald's personality:
Betty MacDonald's humor wasn't kindly, nor homey, nor friendly. It had the malicious edge of a scalpel, and it could cut. Betty MacDonald saw the flaws of the race as vicious. The fact that these flaws generally ended in hilarious pratfalls didn't make them any less lethal in her eyes" (Sketchbook: A Memoir of the 1930s and the Northwest School)
In 1942 William Cumming entered Firland Sanatorium with tuberculosis. Betty MacDonald, who had served her own time in Firland (The Plague and I), drove him there.
William Cumming was a very good friend of Wolfgang Hampel, Betty MacDonald Memorial Award Winner and author of Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel wrote a very touching story of William Cumming.
William Cumming is part of Wolfgang Hampel's new project 'Vita Magica'.
Wolfgang Hampel's stories and satirical poems will be published in several languages for his many fans from all over the world.
You'll be able to find all these very interesting info in Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter August.
William Cumming's outstanding artwork, letters and documents are included in the Betty MacDonald Fan Club Memorial Collection in Switzerland and Scandinavia.
William Cumming died of congestive heart failure on the morning of November 22, 2010. He was 93 years old.
Don't miss Betty MacDonald fan club birthday contests, please.
There are only a few hours left.
Hurry up, please.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State.
You shouldn't miss our International Betty MacDonald fan club events because you can make the most wonderful friends there.
I think London would be the best place for next International Betty MacDonald fan club event.
I'd like to return to this wonderful city to celebrate a very special birthday.
The Betty MacDonald fan club event DVDs are excellent and I already own a whole collection.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica guest was a very famous TV lady, author and singer who is a new very popular Betty MacDonald fan club honor member.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is beloved all over the World.
I'd like to visit Betty MacDonald's paradise on Vashon Island.
March is a very exciting month for Betty MacDonald fan club fans around the world.
There are several Betty MacDonald fan club contests during this month and you can win the most interesting Betty MacDonald fan club items.
Do you know Betty MacDonald's favourite writers?
Send us a mail please.
Good luck!
Pick Betty MacDonald's favourite flower, please and send a mail to our email-address.
It's not too difficult to answer this question.
Betty MacDonald mentioned her favourite flower in several letters and in one of her books.
Tell us Betty MacDonald's favourite flower, please.
Deadline: March 25, 2016
Great Betty MacDonald fan club news!
You can join
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald Society
Vita Magica
on Facebook.
Thank you so much in advance for your support and interest.
If you join Betty MacDonald fan club blog as a follower during March you'll receive a very special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift.
Send your email-address to our contact address, please.
Great news!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back and his fans are delighted.
Betty MacDonald fan club birthday contest is really great.
Thank you so much for your interest and support.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica March, please.
You'll enjoy it very much.
Join us in voting for your favourite city, please.
I'd like to vote for Seattle.
You can see brilliant Brad Craft.
"This is Me," by Bad Kid Billy. [Official Music Video]
Seems I'm in this for a hot second. I remember being asked to participate one day on the street in front of the bookstore where I work. I didn't think to ask what it was for, or even so much as the name of the song or the band. Didn't want to be late coming back from lunch. Silly bugger. The very nice young woman with the green hair also featured herein happens to work at Magus Books. She mentioned she'd seen me. Told me the name of the band, and here we are.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Monica Sone and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's new project 'Vita Magica'.
March is a very exciting month for Betty MacDonald fan club fans with several contests for example Betty MacDonald fan club birthday contest.
Don't miss Betty MacDonald fan club birthday contest, please.
Betty MacDonald fan club birthday card contest is really a great idea.
The winner who sent the best and most original birthday card will be Honor guest of the next International Betty MacDonald fan club event.
Deadline: March 24, 2017
A Betty MacDonald fan club birthday exhibit with many very special birthday cards by Betty MacDonald's family and friends.
You'll be able to see wonderful cards for Betty MacDonald with very touching messages for example by her daughter Joan MacDonald Keil or her good friend Monica Sone.
There will be a Betty MacDonald fan club birthday event DVD available.
We'll have several International Betty MacDonald fan club events in 2017.
We got very interesting new info for updated Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to include all these new details and info in updated Betty MacDonald biography.
More info in Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter March.
If you'd like to join Betty MacDonald fan club you only have to press the join button on Betty MacDonald fan club blog.
New Betty MacDonald fan club fans will receive a special Betty MacDonald fan club Welcome gift during March.
Send us your email address to our contact address, please.
Wolfgang Hampel's Vita Magica February was outstanding and so was Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Wolfgang Hampel and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are working on an updated Betty MacDonald biography.
This very new Betty MacDonald biography includes all the results we got during a very successful Betty MacDonald fan club research which started in 1983.
You'll be able to find unique Betty MacDonald treasures in our Betty MacDonald biography.
Betty MacDonald biography includes for example interviews with Betty MacDonald, her family and friends.
We got many letters by Betty MacDonald and other family members even very important original ones.
Our goal is to publish a Betty MacDonald biography that shows all the details of Betty MacDonald's life and work but also to present her fascinating siblings.
Dear Betty MacDonald fan club fans let us know please what you are interested most in a future Betty MacDonald biography.
Do you prefer an e-book or a so called real book?
Wolfgang Hampel and Friends of Vita Magica visited Minister of Science of Baden-Württemberg, Theresia Bauer in Stuttgart.
They visited Landtag and had a great time there.
Do you have any books by Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard Jensen with funny or interesting dedications?
If so would you be so kind to share them?
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.
We are so glad that our beloved Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is back.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many new interviews.
Alison Bard Burnett and other Betty MacDonald fan club honor members will be included in Wolfgang Hampel's fascinating project Vita Magica.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel interviewed Betty MacDonald's daughter Joan MacDonald Keil and her husband Jerry Keil.
This interview will be published for the first time ever.
New Betty MacDonald documentary will be very interesting with many interviews never published before.
We adore Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli
Thank you so much for sharing this witty memories with us.
Wolfgang Hampel's literary event Vita Magica is very fascinating because he is going to include Betty MacDonald, other members of the Bard family and Betty MacDonald fan club honor members.
It's simply great to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others.
Linde Lund and many fans from all over the world adore this funny sketch by Wolfgang Hampel very much although our German isn't the best.
I won't ever forget the way Wolfgang Hampel is shouting ' Brexit '.
Don't miss it, please.
It's simply great!
You can hear that Wolfgang Hampel got an outstandig voice.
He presented one of Linde Lund's favourite songs ' Try to remember ' like a professional singer.
Thanks a million!
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli and our 'Italian Betty MacDonald' - Betty MacDonald fan club honor member author and artist Letizia Mancino belong to the most popular Betty MacDonald fan club teams in our history.
Their many devoted fans are waiting for a new Mr. Tigerli adventure.
Letizia Mancino's magical Betty MacDonald Gallery is a special gift for Betty MacDonald fan club fans from all over the world.
Don't miss Brad Craft's 'More friends', please.
Betty MacDonald's very beautiful Vashon Island is one of my favourites.
I agree with Betty in this very witty Betty MacDonald story Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say by Wolfgang Hampel.
I can't imagine to live in a country with him as so-called elected President although there are very good reasons to remain there to fight against these brainless politics.
Politics
Gorsuch Says He’d Rule Against Trump if Law Required It
WASHINGTON — Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court
nominee, sought to assure the Senate and the nation on Tuesday that he
would be a fair-minded and independent justice. He said he would not
hesitate to rule against Mr. Trump if the law required it, and he
repeated his earlier private criticism of Mr. Trump’s attacks on judges who had ruled against the administration.
“When
anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity or motives of a federal
judge,” Judge Gorsuch said at his confirmation hearing, “I find that
disheartening and demoralizing.”
Asked if that general statement applied to Mr. Trump, Judge Gorsuch said, “Anyone is anyone.”
Lately,
it appears Trump has gone back into the field to drag in a whole new
bunch of State contenders.
My favorite is Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, a person you have probably never heard of even though he’s been in Congress since the 1980s and is currently head of the prestigious Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.
Rohrabacher
is also a surfer and former folk singer who once claimed global warming
might be connected to “dinosaur flatulence.” My favorite is Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, a person you have probably never heard of even though he’s been in Congress since the 1980s and is currently head of the prestigious Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.
I think the future dinosaur flatulence will be the behaviour of 'Pussy' and his very strange government.
Poor World! Poor America!
Don't miss these very interesting articles below, please.
The most difficult case in Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle's career
Hello 'Pussy', this is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
You took calls from foreign leaders on unsecured phone lines, without consultung the State Department. We have to change your silly behaviour with a new Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cure. I know you are the most difficult case in my career - but we have to try everything.......................
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel sent his brilliant thoughts. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang!
Hi Libi, nice to meet you. Can you feel it?
I'm the most powerful leader in the world.
Betty MacDonald: Nothing more to say
Copyright 2016 by Wolfgang Hampel
All rights reserved
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 congratulated her and her family for a very strong campaign although he wanted to put her in jail.
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.
By the way keep your finger far away from the pussies and the Red Button, please.
I'm going to fly with my egg-shaped cloud to Canada within a minute too.
Away - away - there is nothing more to say!
Daniel Mount wrote a great article about Betty MacDonald and her garden.
We hope you'll enjoy it very much.
I adore Mount Rainier and Betty MacDonald's outstanding descriptions
Can you remember in which book you can find it?
If so let us know, please and you might be the next Betty MacDonald fan club contest winner.
I hope we'll be able to read Wolfgang Hampel's new very well researched stories about Betty MacDonald, Robert Eugene Heskett, Donald Chauncey MacDonald, Darsie Bard, Sydney Bard, Gammy, Alison Bard Burnett, Darsie Beck, Mary Bard Jensen, Clyde Reynolds Jensen, Sydney Cleveland Bard, Mary Alice Bard, Dorothea DeDe Goldsmith, Madge Baldwin, Don Woodfin, Mike Gordon, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and others - very soon.
It' s such a pleasure to read them.
Let's go to magical Betty MacDonald's Vashon Island.
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund and Betty MacDonald fan club research team share their recent Betty MacDonald fan club research results.
Congratulations! They found the most interesting and important info for Wolfgang Hampel's oustanding Betty MacDonald biography.
I enjoy Bradley Craft's story very much.
Don't miss our Betty MacDonald fan club contests, please.
You can win a never published before Alison Bard Burnett interview by Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel.
Good luck!
This CD is a golden treasure because Betty MacDonald's very witty sister Alison Bard Burnett shares unique stories about Betty MacDonald, Mary Bard Jensen, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Nancy and Plum.
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.
We are going to publish new Betty MacDonald essays on Betty MacDonald's gardens and nature in Washington State.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mr. Tigerli is beloved all over the World.
We are so happy that our 'Casanova' is back.
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
and Betty MacDonald fan club research team are going to share very
interesting info on ' Betty MacDonald and the movie The Egg and I '.
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
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.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Weekend is near!
Have a very nice Friday
Mats
Another rare episode (from March 21 1952) of the short-lived comedy soap opera, "The Egg and I," based on best selling book by Betty MacDonald which also became a popular film.
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.
Enjoy a great breakfast at the bookstore with Brad and Nick, please.
Weekend is near!
Have a very nice Friday
Mats
you can join
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald Society
Vita Magica
on Facebook
Vita Magica Betty MacDonald event with Wolfgang Hampel, Thomas Bödigheimer and Friedrich von Hoheneichen
Vita Magica
Betty MacDonald
Betty MacDonald fan club
Betty MacDonald fan club on Facebook
Betty MacDonald forum
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) - The Egg and I
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( Polski)
Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - LinkFang ( German ) Wolfgang Hampel - Academic ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - cyclopaedia.net ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - DBpedia ( English / German )
Wolfgang Hampel - people check ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Memim ( English )
Vashon Island - Wikipedia ( German )
Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English )
Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( French )
Wolfgang Hampel - Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle - Wikipedia ( English)
Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University
Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel
Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
Betty MacDonald fan club items
Betty MacDonald fan club items - comments
Betty MacDonald fan club - The Stove and I
Betty MacDonald fan club groups
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund
Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Greta Larson
Betty MacDonald fan club fan Heiderose Teynor
Rita Knobel Ulrich - Islam in Germany - a very interesting ZDF ( 2nd German Television ) documentary with English subtitles
The Plum Line
Opinion
Why is the Trump presidency such a rolling disaster?
President Trump. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
That is not quite how things are working out. Let’s take a brief tour around the news from just today, to see what is befalling the Trump administration:
- The travel ban: Federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland halted the second version of the administration’s travel ban, ruling that its discriminatory intent likely makes it unconstitutional and putting it on indefinite hold.
- The Affordable Care Act repeal: After a brutal Congressional Budget Office assessment showed that the Republican bill would cause 24 million Americans to lose their health coverage, House Speaker Paul Ryan now admits that the bill can’t pass the House in its current form.
- The budget: “President Trump on Thursday will unveil a budget plan that calls for a sharp increase in military spending and stark cuts across much of the rest of the government including the elimination of dozens of long-standing federal programs that assist the poor, fund scientific research and aid America’s allies abroad.”
Where Trump's budget proposal goes next
President Trump has introduced his budget
plan, but that's just the beginning of the appropriations process. The
Washington Post's White House economic policy reporter Damian Paletta
explains what happens next.
(Photo: Jabin Botsford/Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Abysmal management. Trump was only the latest in a long line of political figures who argued that if someone from outside politics took over the government, he’d whip it into shape with his business savvy and management expertise. The result has been the most chaotic and incompetent White House anyone can remember. As Politico reported Wednesday, “A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies — inside their own government,” creating “an environment of fear that has hamstrung the routine functioning of the executive branch.”
Almost no one at the top levels of the Trump administration has experience in government, which not surprisingly has made everything more difficult as they bumble around trying to figure out how things work. Whether because of their own indifference to governing or the inability to find anyone willing to work for Trump, the administration hasn’t even nominated people to fill more than 500 of the 553 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, leaving agencies across the government barely able to function. If this is what Trump considers a “fine-tuned machine,” imagine what it would look like if it weren’t running so smoothly.
A disastrous first legislative priority. Republicans may have had no choice but to pursue the repeal of the ACA right off the bat, but they could hardly have gone about it in a less competent way. After seven years of attacking the law, they still hadn’t settled on their alternative, leading to a hastily written plan that not only would create a health-care catastrophe if implemented but also managed to win the displeasure of their members in both the Senate (for being too harsh) and the House (for not being harsh enough). Now the White House is saying it’s Paul Ryan’s fault, Ryan is trying to make Trump share the blame, and the whole thing is spiraling downward. Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative National Review, writes that the repeal bill “has had the worst rollout of any major piece of legislation in memory,” and has left the GOP “staring into the abyss.”
An impulsive, distracted president. People keep wondering if the latest Trump outburst is a clever ploy to distract the country from whatever piece of bad news is currently vexing the administration. But the one who’s easily distractible is the president himself, and then he in turn distracts his staff and congressional allies. Just look at what’s happening with his accusation that President Barack Obama tapped his phones. On impulse, after reading an article on a white nationalist website, Trump levels a ludicrous and baseless charge, then everyone in the White House has to pretend that it’s serious and legitimate, and they’re forced to answer questions about it for weeks. All that time could be spent advancing an affirmative agenda.
Because he can never admit that he was wrong, Trump drags the issue out endlessly, just as he did with earlier iterations of this pattern, about the size of his inaugural crowd or the millions of phantom illegal votes that led to his popular vote loss (I’d encourage you to read the transcript of his Wednesday interview with Tucker Carlson and marvel at the fact that this man is actually president of the United States). That then makes life difficult for Republicans in Congress, who are put in the awkward position of either defending the latest bit of stupidity issuing from the Oval Office or being honest about how ridiculous it is, which they know would win them the president’s ire.
Much as you can blame Republicans in Congress, including Ryan, for being Trump’s enablers, there’s no doubt that they’re not happy about how things are going. And as time goes on and their minds turn to the 2018 elections, they’re going to start thinking more and more about their own survival. Given that even in the best of times the president’s party usually loses seats in the midterms, they may begin looking for ways to separate themselves from an unpopular president, which is only going to make future legislating more complicated.
Now, the caveat. Liberals shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that if the Trump administration’s political standing or basic competence don’t improve, then lots of very conservative things with profound effects on people’s lives won’t still happen. They will, and in some cases already have. And there’s plenty of time for the administration to get its act together and start operating with some minimal level of competence. But if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t be too pleased with what we’ve seen so far.
Politics
Gorsuch Says He’d Rule Against Trump if Law Required It
WASHINGTON — Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court
nominee, sought to assure the Senate and the nation on Tuesday that he
would be a fair-minded and independent justice. He said he would not
hesitate to rule against Mr. Trump if the law required it, and he
repeated his earlier private criticism of Mr. Trump’s attacks on judges who had ruled against the administration.
“When
anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity or motives of a federal
judge,” Judge Gorsuch said at his confirmation hearing, “I find that
disheartening and demoralizing.”
Asked if that general statement applied to Mr. Trump, Judge Gorsuch said, “Anyone is anyone.”
By
turns expansive and evasive, Judge Gorsuch discussed legal doctrines at
length, but refused to take positions on specific issues. He asserted,
as have previous Supreme Court nominees, that it would be unfair to
future litigants for him to announce his views on issues that could come
before the court.
Judge
Gorsuch’s style was folksy, earnest, learned and emphatic, and he
easily dodged questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee
that he was not inclined to answer. But he spoke forcefully about his
devotion to the rule of law.
His
exchanges with Democratic senators were sometimes tense and testy. Yet
through every planned line of attack — from his record on workers’
rights to his skepticism of the power of regulatory agencies — Judge
Gorsuch emerged with few scratches.
Graham Is Comfortable With Judge Gorsuch
Senator Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina said he was at ease with President Trump's nomination of Judge
Gorsuch. “Quite frankly, I was quite worried about who he’d pick," Mr.
Graham said. "Maybe somebody on TV.”
In
response to questions from Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of
Vermont, Judge Gorsuch expressed admiration for Judge Merrick B.
Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the same Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
He is “an outstanding judge,” Judge Gorsuch said.
“Whenever I see his name attached to an opinion, it’s one I read with special care,” Judge Gorsuch said.
But
he refused to say whether Senate Republicans had mistreated Judge
Garland by refusing to consider his nomination for the better part of a
year.
“I
can’t get involved in politics,” Judge Gorsuch said. “There’s judicial
canons that prevent me from doing that. And I think it would be very
imprudent of judges to start commenting on political disputes.”
Mr.
Leahy had no such qualms. “I think it was shameful,” he said of the
Republicans’ gambit. “I think it has severely damaged the reputation of
the committee. I think it has severely damaged the reputation of the
senators who concurred with that.”
On
other questions, Judge Gorsuch was less reserved. He did not hesitate,
for instance, when asked to declare his independence from Mr. Trump.
“Specifically
tell us whether you’d have any trouble ruling against the president who
appointed you,” Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who
leads the Judiciary Committee, instructed him.
“That’s
a softball, Mr. Chairman,” Judge Gorsuch said. “I have no difficulty
ruling against or for any party, other than based on what the law and
the facts and the particular case require.”
During
the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump said he would seek to appoint
justices ready to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision
establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
But
Judge Gorsuch said that no one from the White House asked him to make
any commitments on legal issues that could come before the Supreme
Court.
“I
have offered no promises on how I’d rule in any case to anyone,” he
said, “and I don’t think it’s appropriate for a judge to do so, no
matter who’s doing the asking.”
Senator
Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, asked Judge Gorsuch how
he would have responded had Mr. Trump asked him to vote to overrule Roe
during his interview at Trump Tower.
“Senator, I would have walked out the door,” Judge Gorsuch said.
Asked
about Roe and countless other Supreme Court decisions, Judge Gorsuch
responded with variations on a theme. The rulings were entitled to
respect as precedents of the Supreme Court, he said, and should not be
overturned lightly.
“If
I were to start telling you which are my favorite precedents or which
are my least favorite precedents or if I view a precedent in that
fashion,” Judge Gorsuch said, “I would be tipping my hand and suggesting
to litigants that I’ve already made up my mind about their cases.”
Republicans
largely used their questioning to help insulate Judge Gorsuch from
expected criticism, offering 30-minute safe harbors. Senator Ted Cruz of
Texas was perhaps the most creative, coaxing Judge Gorsuch to hold
forth on “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” judicial basketball
games and the rodeo practice of “mutton busting.”
And
for Democrats still straining to determine how aggressively to counter
Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, the proceedings on Tuesday offered little
help. At times, after fits of effective sidestepping from the nominee,
they paused for several seconds to regroup, looking through their notes
anew.
Efforts to make the hearings a referendum, in part, on Mr. Trump himself also faltered.
Mr.
Leahy pressed Judge Gorsuch on Mr. Trump’s order banning travel from
several predominantly Muslim countries. “Senator, that’s an issue that’s
currently being litigated actively, as you know,” Judge Gorsuch said,
declining to weigh in.
Mr.
Leahy said that some Republicans had argued that a rapid confirmation
for Judge Gorsuch could represent the administration’s best chance of
winning a case on this issue before the Supreme Court.
“Senator,
a lot of people say a lot of silly things,” Judge Gorsuch said, adding
that anyone making that argument “has no idea how I’d rule in that
case.” He said he would not tip his hand on Tuesday.
Democratic
senators pressed Judge Gorsuch about his involvement as a Justice
Department lawyer in 2005 and 2006 defending Bush administration
policies on harsh interrogation and surveillance. Judge Gorsuch
responded that he had been a lawyer defending a client.
Mr. Leahy also asked if the president’s national security determinations were reviewable by the court.
“Senator, no man is above the law,” the judge said.
Judge
Gorsuch, who had criticized liberals for preferring litigation to the
political process in an essay written before he became a judge,
distanced himself from his earlier statements.
On Tuesday, he said “the problem lies on both sides of the aisle.”
Senator
Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee’s top Democrat, asked,
“How do we have confidence in you that you won’t just be for the big
corporations, that you will be for the little men?”
Judge
Gorsuch said his record demonstrated that he had ruled for both
business interests and workers. He said he had not always been happy to
vote as the law required. One example, he said, came in a case Democrats
have cited often: the tale of the trucker fired for abandoning his
cargo for his own safety in subzero temperatures.
“This
is one of those that you take home at night,” said Judge Gorsuch, who
wrote in a dissent that the company was permitted to fire the man.
But
the law, he argued, was clear: “The law said the man is protected and
can’t be fired if he refuses to operate an unsafe vehicle.”
In
fact, Judge Gorsuch said, the driver had unhitched his vehicle from the
trailing cargo to get to safety. “He chose to operate,” Judge Gorsuch
said, adding, “I think by any plain understanding, he operated the
vehicle.”
The
nominee expressed no fondness for this particular law — “I’ve been
stuck on a highway in Wyoming in a snowstorm,” he said — but said it was
his duty to observe it.
Later,
Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, perhaps the most aggressive
questioner of the day, asked Judge Gorsuch what he would have done if
faced with the same conditions as the trucker. Judge Gorsuch would not
say.
“That’s absurd,” Mr. Franken, a veteran of “Saturday Night Live” in a previous life, said of Judge Gorsuch’s dissent in the case.
“Now, I had a career in identifying absurdity,” he added. “And I know it when I see it.”
Politics
Trump Warns House Republicans: Repeal Health Law or Lose Your Seats
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday turned up the pressure on recalcitrant Republicans to support a sweeping bill to overhaul the health care system,
threatening wavering lawmakers in his party with political payback if
they failed to get behind a measure that has become an early test of his
negotiating power.
In
a series of meetings and phone calls at the White House and on Capitol
Hill, Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Republican congressional
leaders haggled with holdouts over details as they struggled to assemble
a majority to support a bill that would repeal and replace the
Affordable Care Act. The legislation is scheduled for a floor vote on
Thursday in the House.
But
at a private meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol, the
president also delivered a blunt warning that many of those present
would lose their seats in next year’s midterm congressional elections if
the effort failed.
“I’m
going to come after you,” Mr. Trump told Representative Mark Meadows,
Republican of North Carolina, a prime holdout and the chairman of the
conservative Freedom Caucus, a hotbed of concern about the legislation,
according to several people in the room who described his comments on
condition of anonymity because the session was private. “I believe Mark
and his group will come along, because honestly, a loss is not
acceptable, folks.”
Graphic
How House Republicans Are Planning to Vote on the Obamacare Replacement
A new amendment seeks to please members in two ideologically different factions in the House.
Mr. Trump told Republicans at the meeting that after voting repeatedly to repeal the health care law
and campaigning in 2016 on doing so, they had an obligation to back the
bill and would lose their majority if they “blow it,” attendees said.
Despite
the day’s feverish efforts — a combination of cajoling, browbeating and
horse-trading that recalled Democrats’ efforts to pass the law in 2010 —
White House and congressional officials conceded Tuesday that they
still lacked the votes to pass the bill. As many as three dozen
Republicans remain opposed or unpersuaded, according to one aide with
knowledge of the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity to
describe internal discussions.
It
is not clear whether Mr. Trump would be able to exact a political price
from Republicans who opposed the measure; conservative groups including
the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America were lining up
against the legislation and pressuring lawmakers to oppose it, raising
questions about whether it would be possible to mount a successful
primary challenge to defectors. And some Republicans said the political
peril would be greater if they supported the health care bill, which
they said failed to achieve their goals or those of their constituents.
“I
think if we do do this, we lose the majority,” said Representative Mo
Brooks, an Alabama Republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus, who
said he remained opposed.
Representative
Leonard Lance of New Jersey, one of the nearly two dozen Republicans
from districts that Mr. Trump lost in 2016, said he was leaning strongly
toward a “no” vote. “I campaigned in support of a repeal-and-replace
bill that would make health care more affordable and accessible and
provide a smooth transition to those who were forced into Obamacare
through no fault of their own,” Mr. Lance said. “The bill, as currently
drafted, does none of these things.”
It
is also not clear whether Mr. Trump, whose popularity has fallen from
what was already a historically low point since he took office, is
capable of rallying the public behind a plan that is also viewed
negatively. Mr. Trump’s approval rating sank to 37 percent in Gallup’s
daily tracking poll on Monday. That is only slightly higher than the 34
percent who favor the health measure, according to a Fox News poll last
week, compared with 54 percent who were opposed.
The
use of a political threat was a classic tactic for Mr. Trump, who keeps
a running mental tally of his backers and detractors, and frequently
boasts of his efforts to exact revenge from those who have crossed him.
“We’re
going to make sure to remember those who stood by us, and who stood by
the word that they gave to their voters,” said Sean Spicer, the White
House press secretary.
Mr.
Trump has not focused on the specifics of the health care bill, arguing
in recent days that he is more concerned with pushing it through
Congress so he can move on to issues he cares more about, including a
large tax cut.
At
a fund-raiser for House Republicans on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said he
was eager to cut taxes, but had “no choice” but “to go with the health
care first.”
But he has been putting the full power of the White House behind the effort to sell the health bill.
Besides
his meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, he met at the White House with
about a dozen members of the centrist Tuesday Group. On Wednesday
morning, he is scheduled to meet with members of the Freedom Caucus.
Over the weekend, he summoned three prominent conservative critics — Mr.
Meadows, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah — to
his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for meetings with Stephen K. Bannon,
his chief strategist, to discuss their concerns about the bill.
“He
made it very clear he’s all in on this legislation,” said
Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee. “This is a historic moment and a historic
promise for Republicans to deliver on this Thursday.”
Speaker
Paul D. Ryan was upbeat after the Capitol meeting. “The president just
came here and knocked the ball out of the park,” he said. “He knocked
the cover off the ball.”
But
Mr. Meadows said he was neither bothered nor persuaded by Mr. Trump’s
warning that he would lose his constituents’ support if he did not fall
in line.
“I
believe that I’m representing them in opposing this bill, because it
won’t lower premiums,” he said. “Until it does, I’m going to be a ‘no,’
even if it sends me home.”
Graphic
How Republicans Have Revised Their Plan to Repeal and Replace Obamacare
Parts of Obamacare that House Republicans want to keep, change or discard, with revisions.
A prime concern for holdouts was the measure’s lack of provisions to relax federal health insurance
regulations that require insurers to provide certain minimum benefits
and to spend certain percentages of premium revenues on medical care.
White
House officials argued privately that if they included such language in
the bill, they would run into procedural problems in the Senate, where
the measure is to be considered under special rules that apply to
“budget reconciliation” bills. Those rules allow such legislation to be
approved with a simple majority — meaning Republicans could push the
bill through without any Democratic backing — but to qualify, the
provisions must affect spending or revenues.
For
other House members, the health bill has been an opportunity to deal.
As part of the discussions, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican
of Florida, made it clear to White House officials that he wanted
assurances that the president would hold to his pledge to consider
reversing President Barack Obama’s opening with Cuba, the White House
official said. Mr. Diaz-Balart backed the measure in the Budget
Committee last week, although the official said there had been no
explicit discussion of trading his vote for a promise on Cuba.
Representative
Claudia Tenney, Republican of New York, said she was likely to support
the bill after House leaders added a section that would shift Medicaid costs from New York’s counties to the state government.
House leaders also included provisions to allow states to impose a work requirement for certain able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries, and to allow states to choose a lump-sum block grant to fund Medicaid.
Both of those provisions
were meant to win over conservatives, and Mr. Ryan presented the health
bill on Tuesday as an improved product that had been refined as much as
possible to reflect lawmakers’ concerns — and that now needed to be
approved so lawmakers could fulfill their promise to repeal the health
law.
“In
this day and age, and in this business, in politics, if you get 85
percent of what you want, that’s pretty darn good,” he told reporters.
Correction: March 22, 2017
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that a
White House official said President Trump had promised Representative
Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, to hold to his pledge to
consider reversing President Barack Obama’s opening with Cuba if Mr.
Diaz-Balart backed the health care measure. The official said that Mr.
Diaz-Balart had made it clear to the White House that he wanted
assurances that Mr. Trump would keep that promise, but he never spoke to
the president and there was no explicit discussion of trading his vote
on the health measure for it.
Trump’s Weary Defenders Face Fresh Worries
WASHINGTON
— President Trump began Monday as he has started so many other
presidential mornings — by unleashing a blistering Twitter attack on
critics who suggested his 2016 campaign colluded with the Russians.
By the afternoon the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, had systematically demolished his arguments in a remarkable public takedown of a sitting president.
Even a close ally of Mr. Trump, Representative Devin Nunes, Republican
of California and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, conceded
that “a gray cloud” of suspicion now hung over the White House by the
end of the day’s hearings.
The
testimony of Mr. Comey and that of Adm. Michael S. Rogers, his National
Security Agency counterpart, will most likely enervate and distract Mr.
Trump’s administration for weeks, if not longer, overshadowing good
news, like the impressive debut of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, his Supreme
Court nominee, on the first day of his confirmation hearings Monday.
But
it’s the obsessiveness and ferocity of Mr. Trump’s pushback against the
Russian allegations, often untethered from fact or tact, that is making
an uncertain situation worse.
Mr.
Trump’s allies have begun to wonder if his need for self-expression,
often on social media, will exceed his instinct for self-preservation,
with disastrous results both for the president and for a party whose
fate is now tightly tied to his.
“The
tweets make it much more difficult for us as we try to build a case
against these leakers,” said Representative Peter T. King, a New York
Republican who sits on the Intelligence Committee. “We always have to be
answering questions about the tweets — it puts us on defense all the
time when we could be building a case for the president.”
And
Mr. Trump’s fixation on fighting is undermining his credibility at a
time when he needs to toggle from go-it-alone executive action to
collaborative congressional action on ambitious health care, budget and
infrastructure legislation.
“I
don’t always like what the president is saying,” the Senate majority
leader, Mitch McConnell, told The Washington Examiner last month. “I do
think he frequently, by wading into other matters, takes attention away”
from “the very substantial things we’re already accomplishing.”
A
Gallup poll released Monday found Mr. Trump with an abysmal 37 percent
approval rating; other recent polls place his popularity in the mid-40s,
but even that level is among the lowest ever recorded for a president
this early in his first term.
Over the past several weeks, Republicans in Congress and members of their staffs have privately complained that Mr. Trump’s Twitter comment
on March 4 — the one where he called Barack Obama “sick” and suggested
that the former president had ordered a “tapp” on his phone — had done
more to undermine anything he’s done as president because it called into
question his seriousness about governing.
The
problem, from the perspective of Mr. Trump’s beleaguered political fire
brigade, is that the president insists on dealing with crises by
creating new ones — so surrogates, repeating talking points the
president himself ignores, say they often feel like human shields.
Within
the White House, a number of Mr. Trump’s advisers — including the press
secretary, Sean Spicer, who has himself repeated unsubstantiated claims
of British spying on Mr. Trump — have told allies that Mr. Trump’s
Twitter habits are making their jobs harder, said administration
officials interviewed over the past week. Mr. Spicer said he has no
problem with his boss’s tweeting. “It’s just not true. I have not
commented on the tweets to anyone including my wife,” he said in an
email.
Most
politicians, perhaps any other politician, would have backed away from
the Russia story, and left the defense to surrogates or unexpected
validators like Mike Morrell, the former acting director of the C.I.A.,
who said last week that “there is smoke, but there is no fire at all” in
the allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
But
this president, a proponent of do-it-yourself crisis communications
with boundless self-confidence in his capacity to shape the story, seems
determined to hug his Russian hand grenade.
Monday
morning began not with praise of Judge Gorsuch — or an exhortation of
House Republicans to quickly pass a revamped Obamacare repeal — but with
six protective-crouch tweets about the Russia investigation.
“The
Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running
a terrible campaign. Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!”
Mr. Trump wrote shortly after dawn, using his private Twitter account.
Then,
a few minutes later: “The real story that Congress, the FBI and all
others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information.
Must find leaker now!”
Trump and the Russians: Links? No Links? Depends On Whom You Ask
James B. Comey, the director of the
F.B.I., said the agency was investigating whether members of the Trump
campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016
presidential election. Republicans and Democrats put their own spin on
his statements.
By SHANE O’NEILL and SUSAN JOAN ARCHER.
People
close to the president say Mr. Trump’s Twitter torrent had less to do
with fact, strategy or tactic than a sense of persecution bordering on
faith: He simply believes that he was bugged in some way, by someone,
and that evidence will soon appear to back him up.
Plus
he just likes to mix it up. He fired off his ill-fated Saturday tweet
complaining of “tapps” of his phones after railing to aides about how
poorly Attorney General Jeff Sessions had responded to reports that he
had surreptitiously communicated with the Russians, the way Mr. Trump’s
former National Security Council adviser, Michael T. Flynn, did.
The
president, people close to him have said over the last several weeks,
has become increasingly frustrated at his inability to control the
narrative of his action-packed presidency, after being able to dominate
the political discourse or divert criticism by launching one of his
signature Twitter attacks.
“I
think that maybe I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Twitter,” Mr.
Trump told a sympathetic interviewer, Tucker Carlson of Fox News, last
week.
Still,
there’s some evidence that the president’s magic medium is losing its
effectiveness, in part because Mr. Trump’s Twitter persona seems to have
shifted from puckish to paranoid.
Focus
groups and polls conducted by two Democratic strategists this month
have shown that many voters, even some who support Mr. Trump, have grown
weary of his tweets as president. That was also borne out by a Fox News
poll last week, showing that a mere 35 percent of Trump voters approve
of his Twitter habits, and that only 16 percent of all voters approve of
them. Some 32 percent said they “wish he’d be more careful” with his
feed.
“His
tweeting defines him, and not in a good way,” said Geoff Garin, a
veteran Democratic pollster. “Voters not only think Trump’s use of
Twitter is unpresidential, they also see the tone and content of his
tweets as an indication that he is lacking in self-control.”
Mr. Comey seemed to tacitly agree.
In
midafternoon came a tweet from Mr. Trump’s official @potus account:
“FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls
made by Michael Flynn to Russia.”
A
dour and disapproving Mr. Comey instantly fact-checked the tweet when
it was read out loud to him. “No,” he said. “It was not our intention to
say that today.”
Correction: March 20, 2017
An earlier version of this article misstated the date on
which President Trump suggested on Twitter that former President Barack
Obama ordered a “tapp” on his phone. It was March 4, not March 5.
Live Briefing
Comey Confirms F.B.I. Investigation of Russian Election Interference, Links to Trump Campaign
■
The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, publicly confirmed an
investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election and
whether associates of the president were in contact with Moscow.
■ Mr. Comey also said the F.B.I. had “no information” to support President Trump’s allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped him.
■ The hearing’s featured witnesses: Mr. Comey and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency.
Comey confirms F.B.I. investigation into Russian election interference
The
F.B.I. is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and
possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government —
and whether there was any coordination, Mr. Comey said.
Mr.
Comey said that it was unusual for the F.B.I. to confirm or deny the
existence of any investigations, but that in unusual circumstances when
it is in the public interest, the bureau will sometimes discuss such
matters.
“This is one of those circumstances,” he said.
“The
F.B.I., as part of our counterintelligence effort, is investigating the
Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 president
election,” he continued, adding that the investigation included looking
at whether associates of Mr. Trump were in contact with Russian
officials, and whether they colluded with them.
Senator
Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, responded: “The
possibility of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian
officials is a serious, serious matter. The investigation must be fair,
independent, and impartial in every way, and the F.B.I. must be allowed
to follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
Much
of the questioning focused on the Trump confidante Roger J. Stone Jr.
and his public bragging that he was in contact with the hacker Guccifer
2.0, believed to be a front for Russian intelligence officials. Mr.
Comey would not confirm or deny the subject of the F.B.I.’s
investigation, but Mr. Stone, never a shrinking violet, did speak up on
Twitter.
It’s only fair that I have a chance to respond 2 any smears or half truths about alleged “Collusion with Russians” from 2day’s Intel Hearing— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) March 20, 2017
Mr. Nunes did seek to bring Hillary Clinton’s campaign into the discussion about Russian election meddling.
“If
this committee comes to you with information about Clinton campaign,
will you add that to your investigation?,” Mr. Nunes asked Mr. Comey.
Mr.
Comey said he was not prepared to comment on the particulars of
contacts between Russians and any campaigns. But “if people bring us
info,” he said, “we will evaluate it.”
ADVERTISEMENT
F.B.I. director says there’s ‘no information’ to support Trump wiretapping charge
Mr.
Comey told the House Intelligence Committee, “We have no information to
support” President Trump’s assertion on Twitter that President Barack
Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
“We
have no information to support those tweets,” Mr. Comey said, repeating
moments later, “All I can tell you is that we have no information that
supports them.”
The
N.S.A. chief, Admiral Rogers, weighed in as well, saying that he had no
knowledge of anyone asking the British or any other ally to wiretap Mr.
Trump. That seemed to refute another claim made by the White House.
“I’ve
seen nothing on the N.S.A. side that we engaged in such activity, nor
that anyone engaged in such activity,” Admiral Rogers said.
He
then explicitly denied having any indication that Mr. Trump was
wiretapped by British intelligence at the request of Mr. Obama.
The FBI director has now confirmed: Pres Obama wiretapping Trump Tower did not happen.— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 20, 2017
Pres Trump needs to retract his claim immediately.
Comey revelation raises questions about Clinton email inquiry
Mr.
Comey’s statement that the F.B.I. is investigating the Trump campaign
is certain to raise comparisons to his disclosure in October that the
bureau had discovered a new trove of Mrs. Clinton’s emails.
“Some
folks made one of a comparisons to past instances where the Justice
Department and the F.B.I. has spoken about the details of some
investigations,” Mr. Comey said. “Please keep in mind that those
involved with the details of completed investigations. Our ability to
share details with Congress and the American people is limited when
those investigations are still open, which I hope makes sense. We need
to protect people’s privacy. We needed to make sure we don’t get other
people clues as to where we are going.”
Mr.
Comey said that he had consulted the Justice Department about whether
to disclose the existence of the investigation — something he had not
done before he held a news conference in July to announce that there was
not enough evidence to charge Mrs. Clinton with a crime.
Mr.
Comey’s statements on Monday brought immediate criticism from Mrs.
Clinton’s allies and former campaign officials. “In refusing to discuss
an ongoing investigation, Director Comey is appropriately adhering to
the Justice Department’s standards,” said Brian Fallon, the spokesman
for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. “The question he has never satisfactorily
answered is why he deviated from those standards so egregiously in
Hillary Clinton’s case.”
Daniel
C. Richman, a longtime confidant of Mr. Comey’s and a professor at
Columbia University, defended Mr. Comey. “There is no fair comparison
between announcing a material status change in an investigation that you
publicly declared to be closed — in an announcement the public can be
expected to rely on — and speaking about investigative moves, or non
moves, in a covert national security investigation,” Mr. Richman said.
McCarthyism? Um, no.
Mr.
Comey provided a rare moment of levity when asked if he believed the
inquiry into Russian meddling and possible connections to the Trump
campaign was a form of “McCarthyism.”
The
question came during a stretch of questioning in which both he and
Admiral Rogers unequivocally rejected claims by Mr. Trump that he was
wiretapped during the campaign.
As
for McCarthyism, Mr. Comey’s reply was similarly definitive: “I try
very hard not to engage in any ‘isms’ of any kind, including
McCarthyism,” he said.
But unsubstantiated charges were leveled.
Representative
Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, who led the inquiry into Mrs.
Clinton after the 2012 Benghazi attacks, seems to have turned into the
Inspector Javert of intelligence leaks. And who is he blaming? Much of
the Obama administration — including former President Barack Obama
himself.
Mr.
Gowdy, in a question to Mr. Comey, asked: “Unauthorized dissemination
is punishable by felony up to 10 years in federal prison?”
“Yes, as it should be,” Mr. Comey said.
Mr.
Gowdy, who led the House Select Committee on Benghazi and helped expose
Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server, asked if a series of
people from the Obama administration had access to the intelligence
information leaked: John O. Brennan, the former director of the C.I.A.;
James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence;
Loretta E. Lynch, the former attorney general; Susan E. Rice, the former
national security adviser; Ben Rhodes, a former National Security
Council official; and … Mr. Obama.
He
also listed a series of news reports from The New York Times and The
Washington Post that detailed information gleaned from classified
intercepts of calls between the Trump adviser Michael T. Flynn and
Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador.
Mr. Gowdy concluded by asking: “I thought it was against the law to disseminate classified information. Is it?”
“Yes, for sure,” Mr. Comey said. “It is a serious crime.”
The president himself chimed in on the issue via Twitter, again hinting that the leaks came straight from his predecessor:
FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia. pic.twitter.com/cUZ5KgBSYP— President Trump (@POTUS) March 20, 2017
Nunes: ‘There was not a physical wiretap of Trump Tower’
The
first hearing of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into
Russia’s meddling in the election opened with Representative Devin Nunes
of California, the committee’s chairman and a Trump ally, trying to
split the difference between his hawkish view of Russia and his desire
to deflect accusations that Mr. Trump’s campaign benefited from Russian
interference in the election — or, worse, possibly colluded with Moscow.
Shortly
after the witnesses — Mr. Comey and Admiral Rogers — took their seats,
Mr. Nunes opened by stating that Russia had a long track record of
aggressive actions against its neighbors, and that “its hostile acts
take many forms aside from direct military assaults.”
Russia
“has a long history of meddling in other countries’ election systems
and launching cyber-attacks on a wide range of countries,” he said. “The
fact that Russia hacked U.S. election-related databases comes as no
shock to this committee.”
But
in a nod to a claim pushed by Mr. Trump that he was wiretapped, Mr.
Nunes said he wanted to know if there was improper surveillance of
campaign officials. And he said it was important to find out “who has
leaked classified information.”
“Numerous
current and former officials have leaked purportedly classified
information in connection to these questions,” Mr. Nunes said. “We aim
to determine who has leaked or facilitated leaks of classified
information so that these individuals can be brought to justice.”
House Intel Chair Nunes: "We know there was not a physical wiretap of Trump Tower" but it's possible other surveillance methods were used. pic.twitter.com/cSUBNxZqQB— ABC News (@ABC) March 20, 2017
Schiff: Collusion with Russia would be ‘most shocking betrayals of our democracy’
Representative
Adam B. Schiff of California, the committee’s ranking Democrat, laid
out the case that the Trump campaign was, at best, far too close to
Russia — and far too eager to appease Moscow on Ukraine and other
issues.
“If
the Trump campaign, or anybody associated with it, aided or abetted the
Russians, it would not only be a serious crime, it would also represent
one of the most shocking betrayals of our democracy in history,” he
said.
Mr.
Schiff said the committee also planned to examine whether the raw
intelligence substantiated intelligence officials’ assessment and
whether the government had reacted quickly and appropriately to
revelations of Russia’s efforts to influence the election.
It
is “unknowable” whether Russian meddling altered the outcome of the
election, Mr. Schiff said, emphasizing that it mattered more that Moscow
succeeded in intervening and will do it again.
“If
we do not do our very best to understand how the Russians accomplished
this unprecedented attack on our democracy and what we need to do to
protect ourselves in the future,” he said, “we will have only ourselves
to blame.”
It's what Trump didn't say with Merkel that worries Europe: Former US ambassador to NATO
Michelle Fox | @MFoxCNBC
CNBC.com
President Donald Trump's press conference
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following the pair's meeting was
largely positive, but there was one thing Trump didn't address that
could be a problem, according to Nick Burns, former U.S. ambassador to
NATO.
"If you were listening for U.S. support for the EU, you didn't hear it from President Trump. Europeans are worried about that," Burns said in an interview with "Power Lunch" on Friday.
"He's the first American president since Truman to be so negative about the project of building European unity. That's a problem."
During the meeting between the two world leaders on Friday, Trump pressed Merkel hard on North Atlantic Treaty commitments, a senior administration official told NBC News.
"I reiterated to Chancellor Merkel our strong support for NATO, as well as the need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense," Trump said at a joint White House press conference following the meeting.
Merkel said she was "gratified to know" how "important" Trump feels NATO is.
"If you were listening for U.S. support for the EU, you didn't hear it from President Trump. Europeans are worried about that," Burns said in an interview with "Power Lunch" on Friday.
"He's the first American president since Truman to be so negative about the project of building European unity. That's a problem."
During the meeting between the two world leaders on Friday, Trump pressed Merkel hard on North Atlantic Treaty commitments, a senior administration official told NBC News.
"I reiterated to Chancellor Merkel our strong support for NATO, as well as the need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense," Trump said at a joint White House press conference following the meeting.
Merkel said she was "gratified to know" how "important" Trump feels NATO is.
Wendy Sherman, former undersecretary of
state for political affairs at the U.S. State Department, said it's
important that the United States works with the alliance to keep Europe
"whole and free."
"It is the most successful security alliance that the world has ever seen. It has kept Europe at peace. It has helped outside of that theater as well," she told "Power Lunch."
And the U.S. can't discount the fact that Europe is critical to trade and the development of jobs in the U.S., she added.
"We cannot neglect the reality that Germany has created a lot of jobs in America and that's what President Trump says he's all about," said Sherman, now a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Burns, now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, thinks the most important thing to come from the meeting is the fact that the two leaders establish some measure of familiarity and trust.
"Angela Merkel is going to be his most important partner on a variety of economic, political and strategic issues, most notably the effort to contain Vladimir Putin," he said.
— CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
"It is the most successful security alliance that the world has ever seen. It has kept Europe at peace. It has helped outside of that theater as well," she told "Power Lunch."
And the U.S. can't discount the fact that Europe is critical to trade and the development of jobs in the U.S., she added.
"We cannot neglect the reality that Germany has created a lot of jobs in America and that's what President Trump says he's all about," said Sherman, now a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Burns, now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, thinks the most important thing to come from the meeting is the fact that the two leaders establish some measure of familiarity and trust.
"Angela Merkel is going to be his most important partner on a variety of economic, political and strategic issues, most notably the effort to contain Vladimir Putin," he said.
— CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
The world's most powerful man is about to meet one of its most influential women.
A
snowstorm forced the cancellation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's
planned visit to Washington on Tuesday. The forecast for Friday's
meeting is much brighter - meteorologically, at least. But with the exception of their ability to effect profound change upon the western world, President Donald Trump and Angela Merkel have little in common.
He is flamboyant, impetuous and prone to rhetoric which sets alarm bells ringing in Berlin. She is reserved, pragmatic and lingers over decisions.
He lambasted her open door refugee policy. She opposed his travel ban.
Down to business
Mrs Merkel, who is said to have been studying Mr Trump's speeches and even an old interview with Playboy magazine, appears to have concluded that the way to the president's heart is through business.She is taking the chief executives of BMW and Siemens and the manufacturer Schaeffer along with her.
What they said about each other:
- "I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals. Nobody even knows where they come from. So I think she made a catastrophic mistake, very bad mistake," Donald Trump, 16 January 2017, The Times
- "I told you @Time Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favourite. They picked person who is ruining Germany," Donald Trump tweet, 9 December 2015
- "Germany and America are bound by their values: democracy, freedom, the respect for the law and the dignity of human beings, independent of their origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political position. On the basis of these values I offer the future president of the United States, Donald Trump, close co-operation," Angela Merkel, 9 November 2016
More on Trump and Merkel:
- Merkel rejects Trump adviser euro claim
- Merkel's 'catastrophic mistake' on immigrants
- Germany shivers in icy blast from US
For talks that will last all of two hours there is a lot on the agenda.
Nato, the Middle East and international terror, for a start. Germany's defence spending is currently 1.23% of GDP, but Mrs Merkel is expected to reassure President Trump of its existing commitment to increase that gradually to Nato's 2% target.
And there's a lot to disagree on.
On climate change, German will insist on the importance of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, while Mr Trump's support for the Paris climate deal is unclear.
Germany is also seeking a unified response to Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine and a commitment to sanctions if the terms of the Minsk ceasefire agreement are not met.
Merkel's 'instruction mode'
Donald Trump is deeply unpopular among Germans. A recent poll for the national broadcaster found that trust in the US under his administration had fallen to a new low and was on a par with Vladimir Putin's Russia.Angela Merkel needs to walk a diplomatic tightrope. She has to build a working relationship with Mr Trump without appearing to sacrifice her own values or disappoint those keen to cast her as the West's last defender of those democratic ideals.
She has already reminded Mr Trump of his obligation to common values and explained the Geneva Conventions to him.
Mrs Merkel has made it clear that she is still in instruction mode, stating her intention to explain to Mr Trump "that for us nationality and membership of the EU are two sides of the same coin".
Theresa May aside, Mrs Merkel is the first EU leader to meet with America's new president, who supports the UK's decision to leave the union. She will be keen to emphasise the importance she attaches to holding the fragile European project together.
This may be billed as a getting-to-know-you visit, and as Angela Merkel put it: "It's better to talk with than about someone."
But governments around the world will be watching closely for clues as to how America's relationship with Germany and with Europe is likely to evolve. And what that means for the wider world.
In the Garden: A Welcome Sign of Spring
By Charles Kidder
Perhaps
the first plant I could recognize and name as a child was the daffodil,
a welcome sight and fragrance after a long New York winter. And
although native to the Mediterranean, daffodils (Narcissus species) have
been in Virginia since at least the middle of the seventeenth century.
Beginning in the 1890s, Gloucester County became a
center of daffodil production for much of the eastern United States.
Much of this revolved around “wild” or naturalized daffodils that were
cut and shipped north. By the middle of the twentieth century, this
industry was rapidly dying off for a variety of reasons. But Gloucester
County still has one daffodil breeder of note and continues to celebrate
its floral heritage with the Daffodil Festival on the last weekend of
March. More on that later.
The various Narcissus species, hybrids and
cultivars are commonly referred to as either daffodils, jonquils or even
simply narcissus, the latter especially when referring to the paper
whites commonly forced indoors. The term jonquil is commonly used in
certain regions for any daffodil, but technically refers only to one
group that has narrow reed-like foliage. The various daffodils are
divided into 13 divisions—or 12, if you believe some sources—that are
based on flower shape and heritage. For example, Division 1 daffodils
are called Trumpets, since the central portion or trumpet is quite long.
Regardless of division, colors range from yellow to white, perhaps with
some pink or orange in the trumpets. If you seek out specialty
nurseries, hundreds of cultivars are available.
All daffodils have similar cultural requirements.
As for the amount of sun they want, the more the better. Part sun, or
about six hours per day, is sufficient, but less sun than that will lead
to reduced blooming, even though the plants may soldier on for a long
time. And sunlight in a deciduous woodland does not really count as full
sunlight. As for soil, good drainage is important to avoid bulb rot. If
your soil is unusually sodden, either amend it with gravel or put
daffodils in a raised bed.
Daffodil bulbs should be planted at a depth equal
to about three times their diameter, so a two-inch bulb should be six
inches deep. Six inches is also a good distance between bulbs. Farther
apart and they lose visual impact; closer, and they will require
division sooner. Bulbs will look funny planted like soldiers in a
straight line, so if you have ten bulbs, better to either plant them in
two groups of five, or in a staggered double row. If you are planting a
very large number, you can avoid an overly orderly appearance by picking
up a handful and tossing them to the general area in which you wish to
plant.
There are any number of “new, improved,
back-saving!!” bulb planters out there. Use whatever works best for you,
which might just be an ordinary trowel or even a garden shovel. And
remember: nothing says you have to plant one bulb at a time. You can
take a spade and dig up a good-sized hole with one or two punches, and
then throw in three to five bulbs. For even larger areas, a rototiller
might be the quickest option. And do the bulbs have to be pointy-side
up? That’s the ideal, but the shoot will always get turned around and
pointed toward the sky anyway. If you’re in a hurry, ensuring that the
bulbs are at least on their side would be a good compromise.
Amending your soil with compost will definitely
give your daffodils a boost, but there’s no need to fertilize when
planting—which of course is not now, but in mid-to-late fall. In very
early spring, a balanced fertilizer—about 5-5-5 or 10-10-10 is
best—should be sprinkled around the plants just as their foliage
emerges. (You can also do this in the fall, but that assumes you’ll
remember where your daffodils are!) And speaking of feeding your
daffodils, we all know what to do with their foliage, which is there to
provide nutrients for the bulb, right? Doing nothing is perfectly okay.
Or when the foliage turns yellow and lies on the ground, you can throw
some mulch on it if the sight offends you. Do not cut the foliage off
while it’s still green or tie it up in cutesy knots! That prevents
movement of nutrients down to the bulb; plus, it takes a lot of valuable
gardening time.
But back to Gloucester County. The annual Daffodil
Festival takes place on the last weekend of March and includes the usual
attractions: a parade, a queen, entertainers, a race, a car show, and
of course, daffodils. (A full schedule is available on the county’s
website. There’s also a link to the history of daffodil farming in this
corner of Virginia.) On Saturday they will be running frequent buses
over to Brent and Becky’s Bulbs for tours and shopping. Brent and Becky
Heath own a business that has been in the family for several
generations, at one time operating as the Daffodil Mart. Although they
now sell many other types of bulbs, daffodils are still a specialty,
with over 200 varieties available.
Once planted, daffodils tend to naturalize, meaning
they spread slowly, but never seem to become invasive. Part of their
secret to longevity might be their poisonous nature: deer and other
critters don’t bother them, so you can enjoy your host of daffodils for
many years.
Betty MacDonald fan club fans,
we share a very special gift by beloved and very popular Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honor member Letizia Mancino.
We know you'll enjoy it as much as we do.
Thanks a Million, dear Letizia Mancino.
You are an outstanding writer and artist.
We are so proud and happy to have you with us.
Letizia writes: One should not underestimate Wolfgang Hampel’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty MacDonald’s friends.
We agree. Thank you so much dear Wolfgang Hampel for doing this. You founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club with four members.
Now we have members in 40 countries around the world. A dream came true.
Mary Holmes did an excellent job in translating this great story.
Thank you so much dear Mary Holmes.
We are really very grateful.
All the best to Letizia, Wolfgang and Mary and to all Betty MacDonald Fan Club fans from all over the world!
Lenard
Following in Betty’s footsteps in Seattle:
or some small talk with Betty
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino
All rights reserved
translated by Mary Holmes
We were going to Canada in the summer. “When we are in Edmonton”, I said to Christoph Cremer, “let’s make a quick trip to Seattle”. And that’s how it happened. At Edmonton Airport we climbed into a plane and two hours later we landed in the city where Betty had lived. I was so happy to be in Seattle at last and to be able to trace Betty’s tracks!
Wolfgang Hampel had told Betty’s friends about our arrival.
They were happy to plan a small marathon through the town and it’s surroundings with us. We only had a few days free. One should not underestimate Wolfgang’s talent in speedily mobilizing Betty’s friends, even though it was holiday time. E-mails flew backwards and forwards between Heidelberg and Seattle, and soon a well prepared itinerary was ready for us. Shortly before my departure Wolfgang handed me several parcels, presents for Betty MacDonald's friends. I rushed to pack the heavy gifts in my luggage but because of the extra weight had to throw out a pair of pajamas!
After we had landed we took a taxi to the Hotel in downtown Seattle. I was so curious to see everything. I turned my head in all directions like one of the hungry hens from Betty’s farm searching for food! Fortunately it was quite a short journey otherwise I would have lost my head like a loose screw!
Our hotel room was on the 22nd floor and looked directly out onto the 16-lane highway. There might have been even more than 16 but it made me too giddy to count! It was like a glimpse of hell! “And is this Seattle?” I asked myself. I was horrified! The cars racing by were enough to drive one mad. The traffic roared by day and night.
We immediately contacted Betty MacDonald's friends and let them know we had arrived and they confirmed the times when we should see them.
On the next morning I planned my first excursion tracing Betty’s tracks. I spread out the map of Seattle. “Oh dear” I realized “the Olympic Peninsula is much too far away for me to get there.”
Betty nodded to me! “Very difficult, Letizia, without a car.”
“But I so much wanted to see your chicken farm”
“My chickens are no longer there and you can admire the mountains from a distance”
But I wanted to go there. I left the hotel and walked to the waterfront where the State Ferry terminal is. Mamma mia, the streets in Seattle are so steep! I couldn’t prevent my feet from running down the hill. Why hadn’t I asked for brakes to be fixed on my shoes? I looked at the drivers. How incredibly good they must be to accelerate away from the red traffic lights. The people were walking uphill towards me as briskly as agile salmon. Good heavens, these Americans! I tried to keep my balance. The force of gravity is relentless. I grasped hold of objects where I could and staggered down.
In Canada a friend had warned me that in Seattle I would see a lot of people with crutches.
Betty laughed. “ It’s not surprising, Letizia, walking salmon don’t fall directly into the soft mouth of a bear!”
“ Betty, stop making these gruesome remarks. We are not in Firlands!”
I went further. Like a small deranged ant at the foot of a palace monster I came to a tunnel. The noise was unbearable. On the motorway, “The Alaskan Way Viaduct”, cars, busses and trucks were driving at the speed of light right over my head. They puffed out their poisonous gas into the open balconies and cultivated terraces of the luxurious sky- scrapers without a thought in the world. America! You are crazy!
“Betty, are all people in Seattle deaf? Or is it perhaps a privilege for wealthy people to be able to enjoy having cars so near to their eyes and noses to save them from boredom?”
“When the fog democratically allows everything to disappear into nothing, it makes a bit of a change, Letizia”
“ Your irony is incorrigible, Betty, but tell me, Seattle is meant to be a beautiful city, But where?”
I had at last reached the State Ferry terminal.
“No Madam, the ferry for Vashon Island doesn’t start from here,” one of the men in the ticket office tells me. ”Take a buss and go to the ferry terminal in West Seattle.”
Betty explained to me “The island lies in Puget Sound and not in Elliott Bay! It is opposite the airport. You must have seen it when you were landing!”
“Betty, when I am landing I shut my eyes and pray!”
It’s time for lunch. The weather is beautiful and warm. Who said to me that it always rains here?
“Sure to be some envious man who wanted to frighten you away from coming to Seattle. The city is really beautiful, you’ll see. Stay by the waterfront, choose the best restaurant with a view of Elliott Bay and enjoy it.”
“Thank you Betty!”
I find a table on the terrace of “Elliott’s Oyster House”. The view of the island is wonderful. It lies quietly in the sun like a green fleecy cushion on the blue water.
Betty plays with my words:
“Vashon Island is a big cushion, even bigger than Bainbridge which you see in front of your eyes, Letizia. The islands look similar. They have well kept houses and beautiful gardens”.
I relax during this introduction, “Bainbridge” you are Vashon Island, and order a mineral water.
“At one time the hotel belonging to the parents of Monica Sone stood on the waterfront.”
“Oh, of your friend Kimi!” Unfortunately I forget to ask Betty exactly where it was.
My mind wanders and I think of my mountain hike back to the hotel! “Why is there no donkey for tourists?” Betty laughs:
“I’m sure you can walk back to the hotel. “Letizia can do everything.””
“Yes, Betty, I am my own donkey!”
But I don’t remember that San Francisco is so steep. It doesn’t matter, I sit and wait. The waiter comes and brings me the menu. I almost fall off my chair!
“ What, you have geoduck on the menu! I have to try it” (I confess I hate the look of geoduck meat. Betty’s recipe with the pieces made me feel quite sick – I must try Betty’s favourite dish!)
“Proof that you love me!” said Betty enthusiastically “ Isn’t the way to the heart through the stomach?”
I order the geoduck. The waiter looks at me. He would have liked to recommend oysters.
“Geoduck no good for you!”
Had he perhaps read my deepest thoughts? Fate! Then no geoduck. “No good for me.”
“Neither geoduck nor tuberculosis in Seattle” whispered Betty in my ear!
“Oh Betty, my best friend, you take such good care of me!”
I order salmon with salad.
“Which salmon? Those that swim in water or those that run through Seattle?”
“Betty, I believe you want me to have a taste of your black humour.”
“Enjoy it then, Letizia.”
During lunch we talked about tuberculosis, and that quite spoilt our appetite.
“Have you read my book “The Plague and I”?”
“Oh Betty, I’ve started to read it twice but both times I felt so sad I had to stop again!”
“But why?” asked Betty “Nearly everybody has tuberculosis! I recovered very quickly and put on 20 pounds! There was no talk of me wasting away! What did you think of my jokes in the book?”
“Those would have been a good reason for choosing another sanitorium. I would have been afraid of becoming a victim of your humour! You would have certainly given me a nickname! You always thought up such amusing names!” Betty laughed.
“You’re right. I would have called you “Roman nose”. I would have said to Urbi and Orbi “ Early this morning “Roman nose” was brought here. She speaks broken English, doesn’t eat geoduck but she does love cats.”
“Oh Betty, I would have felt so ashamed to cough. To cough in your presence, how embarrassing! You would have talked about how I coughed, how many coughs!”
“It depends on that “how”, Letizia!”
“Please, leave Goethe quotations out of it. You have certainly learnt from the Indians how to differentiate between noises. It’s incredible how you can distinguish between so many sorts of cough! At least 10!”
“So few?”
”And also your descriptions of the patients and the nurses were pitiless. An artistic revenge! The smallest pimple on their face didn’t escape your notice! Amazing.”
“ I was also pitiless to myself. Don’t forget my irony against myself!”
Betty was silent. She was thinking about Kimi, the “Princess” from Japan! No, she had only written good things about her best friend, Monica Sone, in her book “The Plague and I”. A deep friendship had started in the hospital. The pearl that developed from the illness.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Betty, that an unknown seed can make its way into a mollusk in the sea and develop into a beautiful jewel?” Betty is paying attention.
“Betty, the friendship between you and Monica reminds me of Goethe’s poem “Gingo-Biloba”. You must know it?” Betty nods and I begin to recite it:
The leaf of this Eastern tree
Which has been entrusted to my garden
Offers a feast of secret significance,
For the edification of the initiate.
Is it one living thing.
That has become divided within itself?
Are these two who have chosen each other,
So that we know them as one?
The friendship with Monica is like the wonderful gingo-biloba leaf, the tree from the east. Betty was touched. There was a deep feeling of trust between us.
“Our friendship never broke up, partly because she was in distress, endangered by the deadly illness. We understood and supplemented each other. We were like one lung with two lobes, one from the east and one from the west!”
“A beautiful picture, Betty. You were like two red gingo-biloba leaves!”
Betty was sad and said ” Monica, although Japanese, before she really knew me felt she was also an American. But she was interned in America, Letizia, during the second world war. Isn’t that terrible?”
“Betty, I never knew her personally. I have only seen her on a video, but what dignity in her face, and she speaks and moves so gracefully!”
“Fate could not change her”
“Yes, Betty, like the gingo-biloba tree in Hiroshima. It was the only tree that blossomed again after the atom bomb!”
The bill came and I paid at once. In America one is urged away from the table when one has finished eating. If one wants to go on chatting one has to order something else.
“That’s why all those people gossiping at the tables are so fat!” Betty remarks. “Haven’t you seen how many massively obese people walk around in the streets of America. Like dustbins that have never been emptied!” With this typically unsentimental remark Betty ended our conversation.
Ciao! I so enjoyed the talk; the humour, the irony and the empathy. I waved to her and now I too felt like moving! I take a lovely walk along the waterfront.
Now I am back in Heidelberg and when I think about how Betty’s “Princessin” left this world on September 5th and that in August I was speaking about her with Betty in Seattle I feel very sad. The readers who knew her well (we feel that every author and hero of a book is nearer to us than our fleeting neighbours next door) yes we, who thought of her as immortal, cannot believe that even she would die after 92 years. How unforeseen and unexpected that her death should come four days after her birthday on September 1th. On September 5th I was on my way to Turkey, once again in seventh heaven, looking back on the unforgettable days in Seattle. I was flying from west to east towards the rising sun.
Is this Mr. Tigerli?
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