KIM CHI

 

Nope - not talking about this type of kimchi

I'm talking about this Kim Chi!!

Rhonda was recently watching a Netflix series called Glow Up.  I caught some bits and pieces, and in one of the episodes, one of the guest judges was drag queen Kim Chi.  I thought Sang-Young/Kim was a fascinating, impressive and interesting man/woman.  Below are a few examples of Kim Chi's work:

TOO MUCH LIZZO

Disclaimer - I have seen Lizzo only a couple of times on the morning news programs.  She is apparently a popular musician, but I know nothing of her music [of course I know next to nothing about any 21st century pop stars].  She appears to be the physical antithesis of lily white anorexic-looking Taylor Swift, another star whose music is not in my repertoire. But, the point here is not about music, it is about obesity.

 

I mean seriously, does anyone really want to see this? Now I expect to be accused of "fat-shaming" to which I respond, if that's what one chooses to call obesity as a health problem, so be it.  I won't make a long list here, but just Google obese celebrities and obese musicians to get a glimpse of what I am talking about.  Lizzo, her ilk and those who enable, accept and "celebrate" obesity are doing a serious disservice to the public.  Obesity is a harmful health pandemic, and diminishes almost every aspect of health.

Here is the 2018 map of obesity in the US:

All states and territories had obesity rates of greater than 20%, with only Colorado, Hawaii and DC being less than 25%. 

Note the progression of obesity in the map below:

Even more telling is this map, beginning in 1985.  Colorado's obesity rate of today, around 23%, would have made Colorado the most obese state in 1985!!

Although causes of the obesity epidemic are complex and multifactoral, the bottom line is that fat folks consume more calories than they expend - I know this from personal experience!  And sadly, the older one gets, the more difficult it seems to expend calories!! 

There has been a fair amount of buzz lately about "Blue Zones", those areas in the world with long lived healthy people.  Blue Zones has even been commercialized.  My encouragement to anyone who gets around to reading this post is to assess one's weight in relationship to being obese or overweight, set a target weight if you would like to lose some pounds, and then plot a strategy to get to that target.  I am not suggesting that one needs to be skinny, but am suggesting that there are target weights that maximize health.  For those who might say "Well Uncle X was obese, and he lived to be 80", I say, "Well Uncle X might have lived to be 100 if he wasn't obese." 😋

GOOD ON FAIRPLAY!

When we lived in Colorado Springs we owned some land between Fairplay and Alma, and we spent a fair amount of time in that neck of the woods - good mountain folks!

This past week, there was a pretty big storm that closed some highways and caused quite a few folks to get stranded.  Although Fairplay is a pretty small place, the locals came together to shelter over 700 stranded travelers - this from the Denver Post:


"When the emergency shelter in Fairplay ran out of blankets Saturday night, volunteers went door-to-door collecting extras from locals.

When the hotels ran out of rooms, managers let stranded travelers sleep in the lobbies. When the shelter’s cots were full, volunteers spread out the high school’s wrestling mats to try to keep as many people as possible off the floor.

“Words don’t even describe what this small group of volunteers pulled off here,” said Dave Kintz, chairman of the South Park Salvation Army.

More than 700 people were stranded in Fairplay on Friday and Saturday after high winds, blowing snow and low visibility made travel impossible at the height of the post-Thanksgiving rush and closed a long stretch of U.S. 285, which remained closed along the Kenosha Pass on Sunday.

A group of volunteers stepped in to help manage the crowd as the sheer quantity of those stranded strained local resources.

The town of 762 people sheltered 300 people overnight Friday and 446 people on Saturday, said Gene Stanley, director of emergency management for Park County. Authorities also rescued motorists from at least 30 cars that were stranded along U.S. 285 on Saturday, reaching the drivers by using tracked vehicles.

“They absolutely could not move,” Stanley said. “I think the last rescue vehicle came into my office just before midnight.”

The county’s primary shelter, a community center, was designed to hold 50 people — but 112 people stayed there Friday, until the power went out and the shelter lost heat, forcing everyone to relocate to South Park High School.

“It grew into a larger event than we had expected,” Stanley said.

Fairplay’s few hotels filled up on Friday, said Dee Patel, a manager at A Riverside Inn. After all 50 of her rooms were booked, she let travelers sleep in the hallways and the lobby, passing out hot chocolate, tea and extra blankets and pillows.

“I cannot say no,” she said. “A lot of people had little babies and kids with them.”

Kintz, who is also the Park County coroner, said a core group of about 30 volunteers from the Salvation Army, the coroner’s CARE team, and two local churches were crucial to keeping the shelter running smoothly and ensuring everyone was fed.

“We brought in food from South Park Community Church, we raided the food supply of the school, we brought in food from volunteers who provided food from their places, we got some from local stores,” Kintz said.

He said the number of stranded travelers was unprecedented in his 17-year tenure in emergency services.

“Everyone was routed this way due to I-70 problems and other road issues,” he said, adding that he does not think drivers were adequately warned of the “despicable” road conditions in the area.

“I’m just so proud of my little community,” he said. “For the horrible situation we found ourselves in, to be able to help all those people is amazing to me.”

Authorities brought vehicles that had been abandoned on the highways to the shelter Sunday and reconnected drivers to their cars, Stanley said. Most people were able to leave the shelter on Sunday, he said, and the high school shelter was expected to close Sunday evening as the weather cleared.

“Now,” Stanley said, “we are cleaning up the mess.”"

WHAT'S UP - 4 NON BLONDES

Time for some more music - turn up the volume!!

Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying in bed just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?
And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?

Oh, oh oh
Oh, oh oh

And I try, oh my god do I try
I try all the time, in this institution

And I pray, oh my god do I pray
I pray every single day
For a revolution

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying bed
Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

Oh, oh oh oh

Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

ONE OF JERRY COYNE'S READERS

As one of the 61,000+ readers of Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True website, I decided to accept his invitation to participate in his Photos of Readers series.  Here is the post, and original found here:
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Do send in a photo or two of yourself doing something interesting or characteristic of your life. We have, after all, more than 61,000 readers!

Today’s Featured Reader is Douglas Swartzendruber (on the left in the picture), who sent a food-related photo and the caption below:


When thinking about favorite activities, many things came to mind from trail running [Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods] to basketball playing [still get in two nights a week] to acoustic jams with friends [a plug here for Colorado Roots Music Camp] to traveling, but the picture shows an activity that our family has enjoyed for over 70 years – barbecuing chicken.

On our northern Indiana farm, we raised corn, wheat and chicken – a lot of Leghorns, tens of thousands per year. The early bbqs were made out of oil drums cut in half, but the square-bottom ones shown are much more efficient with an even charcoal fire. The grills are stainless steel and make for easy turning of 20-25 halves per grill. For big events we would have up to 10 grills going. The sauce is a fairly simple mix of water, vinegar, butter, Worcestershire and seasonings, with the bbq technique being turning every minute or two with ample application of sauce after each turn. Another technique that is important – note that Slugger and I have our arms crossed in such a manner that we are turning the chicken in the same direction!

MY MUSICAL JOURNEY

 

My earliest memory of participating in music is New Paris grade school percussion, using many of the "instruments" shown above.  Obviously our first "music" was all about percussion and keeping time.  In the second or third grade, we added song flute.  I must have shown some abilities because soon I was placed with the cornets in grade school band.  Our band teacher throughout grade school and high school was Mr. Alan Harness, and he must have impressed upon my mother that I had some skills because the next thing I knew, I was off to Elkhart for private lessons! 

The Conn Constellation Cornet [not trumpet]

As eighth graders in our Class of 1964, Steve Eldridge, Dennis Caprarotta and I were in the High School Band.  Mr. Harness moved Dennis to French Horn, and Steve and I became first and second chair cornet in our junior and senior years.  Of course my mother thought that I was number one, and Steve's mother thought that he was number one - and Mr. Harness decided that I was number one.  I was also selected first chair in the All-Elkhart County band for two years and got to play a brief solo in one of the numbers.  I and my band partners won a fair amount of first and second place medals, and one of my favorites was Bugler's Holiday, with me, Steve and third chair Dick Kerlin.  As I mentioned in one of my basketball posts, I also played in the pep band while I was on the JV team, and would run up into the stands at half time to play, mainly because our school song, Frat, had a nice cornet solo.  Thankfully I did not have to do that once I was on the varsity team!  Another interesting tidbit is that New Paris had a marching band - usually played in the summer time in full-dress uniform including white buck shoes.  Mr. Harness finally agreed to Bermuda shorts after a few band members fainted in the heat.  A distinct memory is marching in the New Paris Memorial Day Parade that always ended up in the town cemetery.  I played Taps there several times, which was a bit ironic - a fellow from the Mennonite peace church tradition playing to honor the locals who had died in WW1, WW2 and Korea.  Also growing up in the Mennonite Church, I became very familiar with a capella four-part harmony singing.  I do not consider myself much of a singer, but I can do bass harmonies quite well.  My parents and sister have all of the family's singing talent - Ed sang with the original Menno Singers, Mary with the Middie Singers and Saint John's Singers, and Kay is a professional vocalist [and an amazing piano player].  Our high school choir was never quite as good as the band when it came to state competitions, but in our senior year, the choir got a first place.  Here's one of the songs we sang, although we probably did not sound quite this good! Our long-time choir director was Mrs. Helen Hollar, and of course the standing joke for decades was "If you want to learn how to sing, go to Helen Hollar."

My cornet playing days came to an abrupt end during my junior year at Goshen College.  I was driving my old Chevy south on Fifth Street in Goshen, heading back to college.  There was a large tree branch mostly obscuring the stop sign, and I cruised right through it, hitting the back end of a car going east on US 33.  My friend saw it coming out of the corner of his eye, and braced for the crash - his knees left dent marks in the dash board.  Since this was pre-seat belt days, I bit the steering wheel, leaving some lip flesh and pieces of seven teeth in the steering wheel.  So, there went the embouchure.  I had scar tissue nodules in my lips for years and could not play cornet.  I also spent many hours at the dentist for root canals and caps, which solidified my despising visits to the dentist.

It was the 1960's, and since the cornet was out, guitar was the obvious choice - a lot of fellows were taking it up, but more as a babe-magnet than a musical ambition.  My good friend, and future brother-in-law, Ken Willems was playing guitar, so I started as well.  One of our classmates was a fellow named Henry Gleason who's father worked for the Kaman Corporation.  The company did a lot of things, but one specialty was helicopter design and construction using fine woods and composite materials.  Founder Charles Kaman was an amateur guitarist, and he designed and built guitars that became the Ovation Guitar Company.  So Henry brought his guitar to Goshen and convinced me to buy one - I got the 449th Balladeer ever made.  Folk tunes, protest songs and roots music were the focus at the time, and Ken got me started with finger picking in the style of Elizabeth Cotton, i.e. Cotton Picking, and a similar style that is taught as Travis picking.  Although the Balladeer was an acoustic guitar, one could use a pick-up to electrify it.  I only did this a few times during college as the rhythm guitar player for the Backdoor Men.  Ken decided to drop out of the band, so I filled in for a few gigs. 

For decades after college, my guitar playing consisted mainly of strumming and picking by myself, with occasional get-togethers with Ken to play old tunes and some of the songs that Ken has written.  My mother bought a guitar so that I could play whenever we visited Indiana.  Also, my 104-year-old uncle, John Aschliman, has some nice guitars courtesy of his son Donn, and I sometimes borrow one of John's guitars.  Amazingly although John is very hard of hearing, he still plays and sings, and is a hit with the Greencroft crowd!

Since Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp began hosting the Colorado Roots Music Camp, I have become more committed to learning new styles and songs.  I have been a volunteer at the camp for several years working in the kitchen, but in my free time I have been welcomed by both campers and instructors to join in the daily jam sessions.  I have learned to know some of the campers who live in the Denver area, and have joined in for a jam now and then.  Music Camp friend Glenn has even helped me to get a bevy of songs on my iPad.  Probably the most amazing jam that I sat in on at Roots Camp was with instructor Doug Smith and a local fellow named Phil Volan.  I knew that Doug was a Grammy winner and champion of the Winfield International Fingerstyle guitar competition, but I did not know that Phil was a second place winner!  They both were very gracious in allowing a few of us rank amateurs to play along, but they also played a few tunes together that were amazing, as you might imagine.  Phil's voice sounds a lot like James Taylor's, and he plays guitar just as well, so it was a real treat just to listen to Phil and Doug play and sing. Be sure to check out their links to get a bit of an appreciation for their talent.

The final tunes at Ed and Mary's place.

200,000

 

Page views at this humble blog have passed 200,000, so thanks to all who have visited and special thanks to those who have commented.  A recent visitor stated that I "must be a musician" and since I have dabbled for decades, My Musical Journey will be the subject of my next post.  Muchas gracias, amigos.

END OF THE LINE - THE TRAVELING WILBURYS

Here is an oldie-but-goodie from The Traveling Wilburys 

Note the Songwriters Credit 

Note the Empty Rocking Chair at about 1:40 of Video

Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, doing the best you can
Well it's all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring (end of the line)
Waiting for someone to tell you everything (end of the line)
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring (end of the line)
Maybe a diamond ring

Well it's all right, even if they say you're wrong
Well it's all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well it's all right, as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well it's all right, everyday is judgment day

Maybe somewhere down the road aways (end of the line)
You'll think of me, wonder where I am these days (end of the line)
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays (end of the line)
Purple haze

Well it's all right, even when push comes to shove
Well it's all right, if you got someone to love
Well it's all right, everything'll work out fine
Well it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

Don't have to be ashamed of the car I drive (end of the line)
I'm just glad to be here, happy to be alive (end of the line)
It don't matter if you're by my side (end of the line)
I'm satisfied

Well it's all right, even if you're old and grey
Well it's all right, you still got something to say
Well it's all right, remember to live and let live
Well it's all right, the best you can do is forgive

Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, even if the sun don't shine
Well it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

Songwriters: Robert Dylan / George Harrison / Jeffrey Lynne / Roy Kelton Orbison / Thomas Earl Petty

H/T Ken Kukec

FAIRY RINGS

There is a lovely small grass pasture adjacent to the Peak to Peak Highway between Nederland and Ward, Colorado.  Each summer I have noted multiple rings in the pasture, with the ring being a much darker, more robust-looking green.

I did a bit of research and found quite a bit of information about "Fairy Rings"of which there are three general types - green ones as shown above, brown rings and ones consisting of rings of mushrooms.  Each are basically an every-expanding ring of fungi that expand from a few inches to several feet per year.  The elevation of the pasture is around 9000 feet [2745 meters]. A detailed description of fairy rings can be found here and a research article can be found here.  Fairy rings seem to be a turf problem, especially for golf courses.  Below are a couple of pictures of the mushroom type of fairy rings.

Not related to the rings, but along the Peak to Peak I have seen a variety of wildlife, including an especially beautiful black fox, coyotes, deer, bears, and moose. 

CHARLES MORTON DILLION, JUNIOR - "CHARLIE"

A few years back, I was invited to join a regular Saturday morning breakfast gathering in Nederland.  We met regularly at the Sundance Cafe just south of Ned until it shut down.  We moved to Neds in town.  The 8:00 am group regulars were Charlie, Terry Bergin and Herm Weaver.  Other folks would join in now and then including Herm's brothers, Terry's sons, Charlie's son, and other locals. As one might expect, there never was a shortage of conversation admixed with many laughs.  Things took a somber turn when Charlie was diagnosed with cancer, and amazingly he proceeded fairly normally through all of his treatments and during the final weeks of his life.  He always looked like he had just stepped off of the pages of GQ.  His memorial service was filled with loving tributes to a man of many talents, not the least of which was his ability to listen to others. Vaya con dios, amigo.

"Charlie Dillon, December 26, 1949 to July 16, 2019. Charlie Dillon, of Pinecliffe, was a sharp and well-respected businessman. His ability to relate to people made him a great salesman.

Charlie was born in Denver to Mother, Susan Jane Dillon, and Father, Charles Morton Dillon, now deceased. Charlie died on in Longmont, after a battle with cancer. He graduated from East High School in 1967, and while in high school, he was part of a band.

He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1971 with a degree in anthropology.

Charlie and his wife, Deborah Dillon, were married for 28 years. Charlie and Deb lived in South Denver for 22 years and owned a home in Pinecliffe for 20 years. They have lived in Pinecliffe full-time for the last six years.

Charlie spent many years working with his father as a manufacturer’s representative, at the Dillon Company in Denver, and then followed an entrepreneurial path, opening his surf and tackle shop, Charlie’s Sinker Swim, on the central coast of California, at Avila Beach. Charlie then served as upper level management for Turf Irrigation Supply, in Denver.

Charlie was involved in several executive mentoring programs and always enjoyed coaching young entrepreneurs and setting people up for success. He was on the Board of Directors of an organization called Young Audiences, which provides art education and integration programs to youth. He was passionate about making the arts available to children and young adults.

For 14 years, Charlie was on the board of the Pinecliffe Association. Charlie then became the president of the Board of the Association for eight years, which included an ongoing Forest Stewardship program, in collaboration with Boulder County.

Charlie was passionate about preserving nature and always influenced others to “make a light footprint.” For the last part of his life, Charlie volunteered his time at the Nederland Community Center, taking a real interest in community development in the town of Nederland.

Every Saturday, Charlie would meet his friends, Terry Bergin, Herm Weaver and Doug Swartzendruber, and sometimes others, for their breakfast club at a Nederland restaurant. When the group met this past Saturday without Charlie, lots of tears were shed. Terry and Charlie also did lots of fishing together.

Regarding his religious beliefs, Charlie said: “I have deep beliefs, yet I don’t want to try and tell others what to think.” He grew up in the Presbyterian Church.

Charlie loved music, especially the Beatles, and his favorite song was “Fool on the Hill.”

He is survived by his wife, Deborah; children, Anna Dillon Wall, Todd Dillon, Brian Dillon and Laura McCalley; two sisters, Thama Judy and Leslie Dillon; five grandchildren, Adelyn Wall, 13; Willow Wall, 11; Pax Wall, 8: Ava Dillon, 11, and Hazel McCalley, 2."

TRUMP PERSONALLY EXECUTED EPSTEIN

 

Since it is a well-known fact that Trump is a serial adulterer and has a self-proclaimed attraction to beautiful women [including his own daughter], it is not surprising that he and Jeffery Epstein were buddies.  Stories abound about the escapades of the two with young women including one who brought a lawsuit alleging rape when she was thirteen.   Mysteriously the lawsuit was dropped, and the 15 women who have accused Trump of sexual assault have been silenced.  Thus, given that there is no doubt that Epstein was extorting Trump [along with many other well-placed politicians] it is reasonable to conclude that Epstein had to be silenced before the pee-pee tapes [currently held by Putin] and other incriminating evidence could be revealed.  Here are some facts:

Early in his Presidency, Trump secretly ordered the construction of a Marine-One doppelganger without any official markings and equipped with radar evasion technology.  Code Name Playboy.

Trump uses Playboy for sub rosa operations including escaping the White House for illicit affairs, gambling sprees and drug-addled parties with Fox News personnel.  The crew of the helicopter are Trump employees who are paid well but also understand that if they desert, they will be killed, likely by the professional snipers that are a part of the crew.

Although Playboy is radar evasive, it is not 100 percent invisible to detection and monitoring.  A clandestine group tracks the helicopter and monitored its flight from the White House to the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center.  On the day of Epstein's "suicide", it landed on the helipad of the Center, and the President and his team was surreptitiously taken to Epstein's cell.  Only four Correctional Center employees were involved, and like the crew of the Playboy, they were paid handsomely with the understanding of loyalty and silence.

Epstein had been deprived of food and water for several days such that he was very weak and disoriented.  The small marks on his neck are indicative of strangulation by small hands, and we know who has small hands.

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Hopefully this reporting will make me as believable as Alex Jones

HAWAII 5-0

No, not the 1968 and 2010 TV series Hawaii 5-0 but rather our family trip to Hawaii that coincided with our 50th wedding anniversary.  We actually were traveling to Hawaii on our anniversary date, but as we told the kids and grand-kids, the trip was for anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day and everybody's birthday for the whole year!!  We lined up a Home Away place in Laie toward Oahu's north shore, away from the crowds of Honolulu.  If you visit the Laie link, you will see a picture of Lāʻie Point which was a short walk from our place.

So, here we are 50 years ago - and - there will be no "Fifty Years Later" photo!!

 However, I will share a picture of the whole gang - this was at Lei Lei's where the kids treated mom and dad with a very nice dinner.  Some couldn't resist hamming it up for the camera.

This greeted us upon check in:

The Lanai at the White Hibiscus



The view of the Pacific from the Lanai

Grand kids exploring Lāʻie Point

 

Sunrise



Enjoying Some Pool Time



The Youngest Also Enjoying the Day at the Pool



Snorkeling at Shark's Cove

A Day in the Surf

 

We Had Many Fine Meals Together

Buzz's Original Steakhouse

Pounders 

Haleiwa Joe's 

 Papa Ole's Kitchen

The Food Trucks at Kahuku

We Also Food Shopped at Foodland and Tamura's Market

 

A Tour of Pearl Harbor

 

 

 A Few Miscellaneous Pictures

Many Fond Memories

AMISH LATTER DAY SAINTS

Much to Ponder

COMMANDER IN CHEAT

 

For a very long time, sportswriter Rick Reilly has made me laugh with his insightful story telling. Reilly has a new book, Commander in Cheat:  How Golf Explains Trump, and the Denver Post ran a column about the book, Trump and his cheating at golf - humorous but also disturbing.  Here is the story:

Rick Reilly to Trump: Let’s golf
Colorado native’s book, “Commander in Cheat,” just released
The Denver Post
7 Apr 2019
By Matt Bonesteel

  Elsa, Getty Images

Sportswriter Rick Reilly has challenged President Trump to a golf match.

We haven’t heard much from sportswriter Rick Reilly since he wrote his last ESPN.COM column in 2014 and last appeared on the network itself in 2016, but he’s been keeping busy, most notably with writing “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump,” which was released last week.

Based on the advance notice and a Golf.com excerpt, the book is about exactly what its title suggests: that Trump’s extremely casual attitude toward the rules of the game are a reflection on his presidency as a whole.

Reilly — a Boulder native who attended the University of Colorado, a onetime Denver Post sportswriter — is making the promotional rounds as the book goes on sale, making a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC. And if there’s one surefire way to sell a book, it’s to challenge the sitting president of the United States to a $100,000 golf match.

“I want to play him,” Reilly said. “I think I’m a 4.5 (handicap). He’s a 2.8. If he plays the 2.8, I’ll play him for 100 grand, (with the money going to) either of our charities. But the rule is, we can’t play his course, we can’t use his cheating caddies and there’s gotta be a rule guy with each of us, and I’ll play him all day.”

“He cheats like a Mafia accountant,” Reilly said. “He cheats crazy, he cheats whether you’re watching or not, he cheats whether you like it or not. He tried to cheat Tiger Woods in a match, Tiger hits it like this, he hits two balls in the water, doesn’t count either and pretends that he almost tied Tiger Woods. So it doesn’t matter whohe is, he has to be the winner.

“What really bothers me is that he told people on the campaign trail ... he said: ‘I’m a winner, you gotta vote for me because I’ve won 18 club championships’ — he says this three or four times — ‘and that’s against the best players in the club.’ But I knew he was lying because he told me how he does it. Whenever he opens a new course that he buys, he plays the first round by himself and calls that the club championship, puts his name on the wall.”

Reilly also said Trump tells his courses to award him the club championship because of a score he shot at an entirely different course, and that he claims club championships when they’re really the senior club championships.

Trump won his latest claimed club championship — his 20th — last year at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., but Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger discovered that it only came about after Trump challenged that year’s actual club champion — Ted Virtue, the CEO of a New York investment firm — to a nine-hole match-play contest, which Trump won and thus declared himself co-champion (though a plaque on his locker lists him as the sole winner).

The president’s oncourse cheating has been well-documented, even before Reilly’s book came out, a notion that has not been dispelled by a number of his famous playing partners:

• Suzann Pettersen, LPGA pro: “He cheats like hell. So I don’t know how he is in business. They say if you cheat at golf, you cheat at business. I’m pretty sure he pays his caddie well, since no matter how far into the woods he hits the ball, it’s in the middle of the fairway when we get there.”

• Actor Samuel L. Jackson, when asked who was the better golfer: “Oh, I am, for sure. I don’t cheat.” Jackson also alleged in 2015 that one of Trump’s golf clubs tries to bill him for membership fees even though he was not a member.

• Alice Cooper, 1970s shock-rocker and noted golf enthusiast: “The worst celebrity golf cheat? I wish I could tell you that. It would be a shocker. I played golf with Donald Trump one time. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Trump, who many admit actually does have some skill as a golfer, has denied just about all of that.

In his 2004 book “Who’s Your Caddy?” Reilly told tales of caddying for the “great, near great, and reprobates of golf.” One of those people (the latter category, one has to assume) was a pre-presidency Donald Trump, a round Reilly was asked about in 2015 by The Post’s Ben Terris.

“Reilly told The Washington Post about an afternoon when Trump wrote down scores he didn’t actually achieve on his scorecard, conceded putts to himself by raking the ball into the hole with his putter rather than striking it properly (‘He rakes like my gardener!’), and even called a gimme — something a player might claim for a two-foot putt — on what should have been a chip shot,” Terris wrote.

“‘He took the world’s first gimme chip-in,’ Reilly said. At one point, Trump, after taking a number of second shots, told Reilly to ‘make sure you write that I play my first ball. You don’t get a second ball in life.’ In life, it may or may not be true that a person gets a second chance; and yet, as Reilly wrote, on holes 1, 13 and 17, Trump did indeed get a second ball.”

Responded Trump, then running for president: “I always thought he was a terrible writer. I absolutely killed him, and he wrote very inaccurately. I would say that he’s a very dishonest writer . ... I never took a gimme chip shot ... I don’t do gimme chip shots. If I asked his approval, that’s not cheating, number one. Number two, I never took one.”

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

I tend to agree with those who say "If you cheat at golf, you will cheat at anything." I don't need to recount all of the ways that Trump is a cheater, but below is the ultimate reason why any discerning voter should not support Trump!!!!