January 18, 2021 I BEG YOUR PARDON

 Pardon Me?? In my world that is synonymous with excuse me BUT not in TRUMPVILLE.  Yup--Trump

and his cronies are putting a  WHOLE new spin on the Catholic practice--- of selling INDULGENCES. SERIOUSLY--Back in the Middle Ages-- the Catholic Church actually sold  INDULGENCES OR PARDONS to absolve people of their sins and keep them out of purgatory after they died. Hey--it was a good way to make money that ended up getting THE CHURCH IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE. Well--The good times never end.  It's 500 years later and Trump and his pals are selling INDULGENCES again. AND--At a time when Trump's PARDON POWER should be limited BECAUSE HE'S IS BEING IMPEACHED--AGAIN. Shaking my head---GONNA GIVE MYSELF BRAIN DAMAGE IF I'M NOT CAREFUL.  Next thing you know--Trump will find a way to PARDON HIMSELF. I'm not even kidding. Even though I know that a president CAN NOT legally pardon himself--Trump doesn't care about laws. He still thinks he's ABOVE THE LAW. Time for the tyrant to go. 48 more hours...........Speaking of the law--I stumbled on this book the other day that I could not put down. It was  the 20th anniversary edition of William Kent Krueger's Iron Lake. This is the first of the Cork O'Connor mystery series that includes 18 books. Iron Lake is set in a small town in Aurora, Minnesota, and  borders a Native American Reservation and Casino. Cork O'Connor is part Anishinaabe Indian and Irish. Although he has many friend in the tribe, he is considered an outsider. He was the sheriff for many years until an unfortunate run-in between whites and Native Americans ended in two deaths. After losing his job and family, Cork struggles to find meaning in his life until he finds himself at the scene of a crime --a judge has been brutally murdered and a young boy is missing.  Even though he is no longer the sheriff, Cork takes it upon himself to navigate the slippery slope between two very different cultures to bridge the gap and solve the crime. Krueger is a great writer whose characters are well-developed. In addition, the setting is almost another character as Krueger brings the Minnesota winter to life. I really enjoyed learning about Minnesota and the Native American culture while reading this book too and  will definitely read the whole series. This suspenseful, interesting page turner is about 320 pages or a 3.5 mile run that I literally could not put down.