I’ve had to make some quick travel changes this week, and things sure have changed. Prices, particularly near term / short term prices, are way up. Also, it’s hard to find a seat on a Southwest flight leaving within a day or two. Southwest is doing a much, much tighter job in managing supply and demand. Their flights are full, and for the few remaining seats a day or two before departure, they’re charging a lot. That’s bad news for my increasingly dynamic travel schedule. I’m gonna have to try harder to make a plan 3-4 months out and stick to it.

My unplanned early exit west will be different. First time leaving the car here at the house in a few years. First time scheduling an Uber for the airport ride. Not enough time to clan and prep everything. So…different.

Over to politics. I’m tired of all the sanewashing and weasel words used by the media in descriptions of Trump and MAGA. We need to speak plainly about the person tearing America and democracy apart, corruptly enriching himself in the process. Here are some phrases used in The NY Times when discussing Trump – they are experts at rounding the sharp edges off the language describing the folks who lie, steal, commit crimes and defile American institutions.

• They’re not “falsehoods”, they’re lies.
• Trump isn’t “…moving ethical lines, expanding norms”, he’s committing crimes. He is a corrupt criminal, a convicted felon.
• Don’t say “…inverting the truth” or “…untethered to truth”, say he is a liar.
• Don’t say “…expansive interpretation of Presidential power”, say he’s installing an authoritarian government to replace democracy. He has no respect for any authority other tan himself.
• Journalism and stories today aren’t about partisanship, about R vs D, they’re about law vs corruption/criminality. Decency vs indecency.
• Don’t say that Trump is “deluded” or “confused”, admit that he is in deep dementia and by most definitions insane.

And so on. The press needs to step up, tell the truth in plain English and stop the both-sides BS. There’s only one side destroying democracy, and only one demented corrupt Preznit.