Dear Friends,
Good morning. “Its a good guess that Donald Trump’s really bad year will be 2019,” Jon Weiner of the Los Angeles Times wrote recently. “Will he survive like former President Clinton or be forced out of office, like Nixon?”
That was the primary question we discussed at our “Grumbles” meeting last week. We concluded that Donald Trump might not last through 2019, if U.S. Senate Republicans fear for their own political lives in 2020 instead of doing the President’s bidding.
Grumbles is a loose organization that meets monthly and complains about everything … mostly political. It keeps our brains racing.
I’m a firm believer that Trump will resign and not risk an impeachment conviction. It’s just a matter of time until Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally uncovers Trump’s tax returns and reveals his links to Russian influence.
A few months ago, I didn’t think that the Democrats would try to impeach President Trump. But the government shutdown landed at the president’s feet. If his approval ratings continue to fall, Republicans will begin to abandon him.
“The storm clouds gathering around Trump involve both the personal and the political,” the story continued. “More than a dozen federal and state investigations are under way, focused on Trump and those who worked on his election effort. He will also be facing aggressive congressional investigations by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The infamous Trump Tower meeting, where Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and campaign chief Paul Manafort met with a Russian operative offering help in the 2016 election, could turn out to be far worse than anything that happened in former President Nixon’s Watergate disaster.
And Trump’s sexual troubles would be worse than Clinton’s if Trump is found to have violated campaign funding laws while buying the silence of women he slept with.
“Obstruction of justice is also a focus of the investigations facing the president. For Trump, the possible obstruction involves his efforts to stop the Russia investigation and his firing of FBI Director James Comey. The biggest question is whether the Russia affair was a quid-pro-quo in which Russia offered to help Trump win the presidential election in exchange for Trump easing Russia sanctions?
We’ll see if the Grumbles prediction about Trump resigning holds water or not.
In the meantime, congratulation to Warrington Township for acquiring a 67-acre parcel of land along Mill Creek. The property was purchased from the Eureka stone quarry for $2 million, thanks to grants from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plus the Bucks County Open Space program. Bravo Warrington, Bucks and the state!
Last, did you see the two stories about seniors living happier and longer lives if they sing in community choirs and play in bands? A recent study in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychology Sciences found that older adults who sang in a community choir for six months were less lonely and had increased interest in life.
More than 32.5 million U.S. adults regularly sing in community choirs. The study revealed that those who remained in choirs for six months experienced significant improvements in loneliness and interest in life.
The article spoke about choirs that do breathing exercises at every rehearsal. Those exercises and the act of singing give core muscles a workout. Members are also asked to learn new songs in Japanese, Arabic, French, and Italian which challenges their brains.
“The study results were not a huge surprise to Mary Muth, 65, of Doylestown who sings with the Bucks County Choral Society, an audition-based 45-year-old choir for all ages in Doylestown,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported (Dec. 24.)
The second story was about the Brittany Boys and Girl, a band of older players who live in Upper Gwynedd at the Brittany Pointe Estates. Dave Alburger (bass), Jack Hitchens (trumpet), Bud Pilecki (clarinet), Tony Casselli (drums) and Ann Lewis (piano) range in age from 67 (the youngest) to 92. The five-some are hugely popular. Those attending the concerts believe that the band serves as a fountain of youth for the players as well as the audience.
I have no doubt that those two articles are correct. Mighty Betsy and I have sung and played instruments throughout our lives. (We’re in our 80’s).
The moral of the story is keep active … and always tell the truth. As Mark Twain once wrote: “Always tell the truth. Your fiends expect it of you and your enemies will be astounded.”
Sincerely, Charles Meredith
