Here's a book you don't have to bother with

The unvarnished and unbiased inside story of President Donald Trump and his White House by New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler

Based on exclusive interviews with the president and his staff, The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game tells the real story of what Donald Trump is like, who influences him, how he makes decisions, what he says about the people around him, and how he operates when the television lights go off, while portraying the inside story of the successes that have already brought solid results as well as the stumbles that have turned off even longtime supporters and undercut his agenda.

The Trump White House reveals:

• Trump aides Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have been responsible for Trump’s most disastrous decisions. Trump is aware that his daughter and son-in-law are problems and has hinted to them that they should go back to New York. Seeing Jared on TV, Trump said, “Look at Jared, he looks like a little boy, like a child.”

• First Lady Melania Trump has a tremendous impact on policy and strategy. She sits in on meetings and is widely admired by aides for her judgment.

• Kellyanne Conway is the No. 1 White House leaker.

• Trump’s Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles proposed withdrawing protection from some Trump family members and aides to save money. Horrified White House staffers shot down the idea.

• Trump has told friends that billionaires are constantly asking him to fix them up with longtime Communications Director Hope Hicks, a former model, but he says he refuses.

• Trump calls certain reporters directly, feeding them stories attributed to “a senior White House official,” creating the impression that the White House leaks even more than it already does.

Never before has an American president had so much impact on the country and the world in so short a time as Donald Trump. Yet no president has stirred so much controversy, dominating media coverage and conversation both pro and con.

Months after Trump took office, consumer confidence hit a seventeen-year high, unemployment plummeted to the lowest level in seventeen years, and the stock market zoomed to repeated record highs.

At the same time, ISIS was nearly defeated, Arab countries banded together to stop financing terrorists and promoting radical Islamic ideology, and Trump’s decision to send missiles into Syria because of its use of chemical weapons and his strident warnings to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made it clear to adversaries that they take on the United States at their peril.

Yet for all the media coverage, Trump remains a cipher. Ronald Kessler has known Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for two decades and understands him better than any other journalist. The book includes an exclusive interview with Trump, the only interview he says he has given or will give for a book as president. Crammed with media-grabbing revelations. The Trump White House is the unvarnished and unbiased inside story that answers the question: Who is Donald Trump?

Happy Earth Day 4-22-18

PA Turnpike commission gets tough on toll debt, woman allegedly owes $92,000

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 12, 2018
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2018/04/12/PA-Turnpike-toll-debts-targets-woman-who-owes-92-000/stories/201804120186

Pennsylvania’s Turnpike commission is chasing down toll welshers. A woman from the Mount Joy Township area, just outside of Harrisburg, accrued nearly $92,000 in debts related to unpaid Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls, according to Lancaster Online.

According to a criminal complaint, Lori Yearick is accused of not paying 1,600 tolls between January 2012 and March 2017. Those routes were mostly between Mechanicsburg and Harrisburg East, an 11-mile trip that currently costs E-ZPass users $1.74. And she was able to avoid paying the tolls by using an E-ZPass only lane even though she didn’t have a valid transponder.

While Ms. Yearick actually owes $26,000 in tolls, the turnpike commission tacked on $66,000 for violation fees relating to the unpaid tolls. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Yearick’s charges are part of the turnpike’s new effort to get more people to pay outstanding fees. So while Ms. Yearick might be the biggest target for the turnpike, there are plenty of others who have avoided paying tolls. In 2016 the state auditor general revealed that as much as $20 million was being lost to unpaid tolls.

... -snip- ...

The toll recently went up 6 percent, raising the toll for passenger vehicles that go from Ohio to New Jersey from $51.85 to $55 for cash customers and from $37 to $39.25 for motorists who use the E-ZPass system. In previous years, the agency approved lower hikes for motorists who use E-ZPass to encourage more to use the cashless system.

Witnessing the ignominious death of critical thinking

I'm working out my travel plans for 2018

I have gone to many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with another person. (Join me?)

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there. I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work. I've been told I have been in Ept, but who cares?

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often. I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older. There have been times that I was in Sufferable, but so what! One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense. It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart. At my age I need all the stimuli I can get.

I may have been in Continent, but I don't remember what country I was in. It's an age thing. They tell me it's very wet and damp there. I'd never want to go there after being in Digestion. Maybe I should consider staying home this year.

When you're a good dog, they let you do anything :-)

All I need to know about life, I learned from the Easter Bunny :-)