Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Indelibly Stamped (1971).

Despite the fact that the repeal of Obamacare and all versions of Trumpcare presented were widely unpopular, President Donald Trump continues to boast that he will get repeal and replace done, now early next year. Unless the GOP can come up with a plan that is in sync with the plan Trump promised while campaigning, millions of Americans will be left in far worse situations.

Now Trump is boasting about his incredible tax reform plan, and most of what I see shows huge tax breaks for the wealthy and possibly modest breaks for middle- and lower-income people. Some people would be worse off. Trump has stated that he will not benefit from any of this, but I don't see how that could not be the case with elimination of the estate tax and alternative minimum tax, rate reductions for the biggest earners and rate breaks for corporations.

I'm beginning to wonder if the main reason Trump wanted to be president was to save himself, his family and his wealthy friends millions in taxes at the expense of the average American. Before anything is voted on, Americans should be informed as to just how much Trump and each member of Congress stand to benefit from tax reform.

— Kathy Krumsee, Chicago

I had another great month on the bike. I rode 16 times (in 30 days) for a total of 566.8 miles. That gives me 4,128.6 miles for 2017. I'm shooting for 5,631.6, which is 156 rides of 36.1 miles (my standard course). Three rides per week for 52 weeks is 156 rides.

Fake News CNN and NBC are going out of their way to disparage our great First Responders as a way to "get Trump." Not fair to FR or effort!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

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banal (= pedestrian and uninteresting for lack of new ideas) is pronounced /bə-nahl/, /bə-nal/, or /bay-nəl/. It's "a word of many pronunciations, each of which has its outspoken and often intractable proponents." [Quoting Charles Harrington Elster, The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations, 2d ed. (2005).]

(Bryan A. Garner, Garner's Modern English Usage, 4th ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 2016], 94)

Note from KBJ: The three pronunciations are not equally defensible. The word "banality" is pronounced /bə-nal-ity/, not /bə-nahl-ity/ or /bay-nəl-ity/. Why would there be different pronunciations of "banal" and "banality"? To remember the pronunciation, think of the man's name "Al."

Cosmic Thing (1989). Pure pop perfection.

Here.

Here.

As of today, Donald Trump's approval percentage is 45. At the same point in Barack Obama's presidency (viz., 29 September 2009), Obama's approval percentage was 49.