When Does it end? For now, it doesn't...

An incident that happened some time back when a high school basketball player sucker punched a player from the opposing team causing serious injury came to mind. The incident involved two women athletes and I see in the news that another very similar occurrence took place recently involving two male high school athletes. The incident was caught on video so, of course the whole world wanted to watch. People seem to have a fascination with watching raw violence. The other player in both cases was injured, seriously... Over what? It wasn't stated in the article but it had to be, obviously something like, we lost, a blocked shot, trash talk on the court, a perceived dirty foul, something really big and life-changing, you know. But to seriously injure someone... One was charged with a felony the other may be facing the same. Though I doubt that initially caused much in the way of remorse or reflection. This is but two examples, they are countless. 

So, what is going here? Cultural breakdown, an erosion in decency and decorum, kids that haven't learned respect for others, solving your issues through violence, a lack of maturity? All of that and a lot more. We have a lot of problems when it comes to civility. Serious problems. In order to have any sort of peaceful order in any civilization there must be consequences for wrongdoing. Otherwise, well no further explanation is really needed. That's not sustainable, and there certainly would never be peace. The bad actors would rule. 

Let's go back to your childhood. If you misbehaved, your parents would punish you. At least for the infractions they knew about. If you hit your sibling you were spanked, sent to your room, grounded from privileges... And such things were painful as a child. They meant something, they hurt. And they often worked, they were effective at changing your bad behavior. As an adult there also must be consequences for bad behavior. You know, to keep the order. Bad behavior tends to cause misery for others. This is exactly what our forefathers were thinking when they were setting up our democracy. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There is no way to put it any simpler than that. No one has the right to screw with someone else's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness. If you do, there will be consequences. There must be...

As a child, the monumental authority of your parents beating your ass usually did the trick. Or putting you in time out, depending on the type of household you grew up in (rolling my eyes...). For adults locking your ass up in a jail cell and a hefty fine works for most people. But not everyone. Bad actors tend to be persistent bastards. Recidivism is rampant. In fact, when it comes to punishing adults we rarely get it right. Time and again you see cases where offenders of serious crimes, assault, battery, rape, felony theft, robbery, even murder are charged and incarcerated only to be back on the streets within days. Sometimes merely a matter of hours. And more often than not committing the same crimes again... 

It begs the question, who is responsible for this lunacy? Who is doing this? As a democracy, a civilization, a country we're not stupid. Well, let me rephrase, most of us aren't stupid. The one who carry the load of culpability are not the people. In fact, this isn't really complicated at all. The ones who make the laws (and change them...) and the ones presumably are tasked with doling out 'justice'. In short, politicians and judges. Eliminating or not even requiring bail, ridiculously low bonds for serious, violent crimes, releases for overcrowding, a broken immigration control system (but let's not go there...). There have been countless innocent lives lost because because a sworn-to-uphold the law judge released a violent criminal who fell back into their old habits and killed again. Or raped again, or assaulted again. 

So what's going on with these Neanderthals who identify as judges? Why do they do this? They believe they are interpreting the law and the problem is the law. It couldn't possibly be their own short-sighted ignorance. Of course not. But let's be honest, and blunt. Speaking directly to the group of idiot mongrels who identify as judges, it's on you. Yes you. Our laws and legal system however fallible it may be was intended to protect us and our lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And it's your job to make that happen. If laws can be twisted and "interpreted" to allow violent criminals back on the streets then they can certainly be twisted enough to keep them locked up. Feel feel to use a little common sense whenever the urge strikes you. While the populace is out keeping the economy moving, providing healthcare, producing goods and services, keeping the lights on in your home and gas in your car do something productive yourself. Lock up violent offenders and keep them locked up. We all have rights, of course we do. Even if you have been accused of a crime. Even if you have been convicted of a crime. But listen closely, victims of violent crime have rights too. And one of those rights is to not have the same criminal inflict the same violence on the public again. And yet again. Snowflake ideology has no place in our legal system. In fact it has proven to be lethal time and time again...

Police Problem?

 In recent years you can't help but to have noticed the occurrences of police interactions that have resulted in citizen deaths. These occurrences have resulted in a lot of exposure in the press. And obviously most of this exposure has not been positive for the police. So it would be rather easy and expected that a majority of the citizenry would come to the conclusion that we have a police problem. That the use of deadly force has gotten out of hand. And that many of these encounters are racially charged and motivated. There have been countless protests and demonstrations and destruction of property. Any behavior by the police that results in the death of someone, other than someone who poses and immediate deadly threat ( I guess we need to qualify that...) can at face value be deemed unacceptable. All of the premises that we expect, and take for granted such as due process, innocent until proven guilty, to serve and protect are removed from the equation. In these cases it appears that the police took the role of judge, jury and executioner. The cartels, the mafia and the banana republics may be accustomed to and accept such behavior but we're not and we don't. Even the wild west back in the day had judges. They weren't consulted on all matters. but, hey, we had them. 

So, just exactly how big is this problem? If it happens even once then it's a problem. If there is any loss of life then it's a problem. But is it a pandemic problem? According to numerous studies and accounts only .003% of all interactions between a resident and a cop result in the use of deadly force. Of the over ten million interactions with police officers every year only a thousand of them involve deadly shootings. Are all of those deadly shooting's unjustified? Hardly. First you'll have to identify and exclude all the cases where the officer was defending himself. The perp pulled a knife or gun or some other weapon and threatened the officer or someone else. Fully justified. Or anyone else for that matter to defend themselves or anyone else. But the documented statistics say it's not prevalent, rampant or pandemic as the press would have you believe. Not all police officers are good lawmen who routinely exercise good judgment. There are bad apples with badges and guns. And sometimes they kill people that shouldn't be killed. This is a serious crime and should be punished accordingly. When it's a police involved shooting, they should be punished the same as anyone else. No exceptions. There are plenty of bad apples among us all. They're in every group, organization, cabal, profession, community, religion, literally everywhere. The difference is when most of us make a bad decision no one else is affected and certainly no one is killed. But when a police officer makes a bad decision with a gun in his hand it never ends well. Police officers are in a very unique position when it comes to the use of deadly force. The benefit of the doubt immediately goes to the police. If a citizen used deadly force and it is not obvious they were acting in self defense, they are detained while the matter is investigated. And they certainly are not given the benefit of the doubt. Not to say that police officers should not be given the benefit of the doubt, in most cases they should be. But every instance should be investigated thoroughly and objectively. 

Invariably in every case whether the incident is white on black, white on white, black on white or black on black the issue of racism is injected. No matter the color combination race is rarely if ever the issue.  Just as in rape, sex is not the issue or the motive. Use of deadly force is a complicated occurrence that is not motivated by race. Much of modern policing is driven by crime data and community demand. In most cases there was a direct threat to the police officer's life with a deadly weapon. Deadly weapon attacks on police officers happen on average 27 times a day in just 2\3 of the nation's police departments. If you threaten a police officer with a deadly weapon your chances of surviving the encounter are not good. As well they shouldn't be. It's an issue of cultures clashing. It's an issue of selecting the right people to do the job of policing and properly training them. And properly supervising them. The police are an armed force. Why do you think the armed forces; Army, Navy, Marines... train and live by strict discipline and code of honor and chain of command? When you have a large group whose mission and task involves the need to be armed, how else could it be done?... Strict discipline, code of honor and chain of command, and lots of accountability. Police need to and should do the same. Police misbehavior should never reach a court of law. It shouldn't happen in the first place. With competent supervision and training there would be a lot less misconduct. And a lot less incidents of the use of deadly force. Throw in a little common sense on the part of everyone involved and you'll have a much more desirable outcome...

Time to take out the rest of the trash...

 You have Hunter Biden over here on the one hand who is consistently displaying antics and behavior very unbecoming of a presidents' son. Not to mention that he's also a grown-ass man. He fathered a daughter from a past romance, or in his case probably more of a mindless dalliance. He has from the beginning refused to accept any responsibility for her and has fought vigorously to keep her from being able to legally claim the Biden name. Only through DNA testing was he forced to admit that it was his child. He desperately doesn't want her to be able to claim the Biden family name. There would obviously be many advantages for this child to bear the name of a President. Even a bad one... Joe and Jill on the other hand, have never even met this child. Ever. The have never so much as acknowledged her existence. There were stockings for all the Biden's children and grandchildren on the mantle at the White House except hers. Even the dog and cat had stockings, but not her.  This isn't something you'll easily find in the media, simply because it isn't there. They don't like to talk about such things. This is the President of the United States granddaughter. I'm trying to see some compassion, some integrity, some solid morals here... I don't see any. Not even a trace.

Then of course, there's the infamous laptop debacle. Hunt' drops his laptop off for a repair, never comes back to claim it. The shop owner takes a look at the hard drive and finds things that causes his eyes to pop out of their sockets. He however, does have some integrity and decides to call the authorities. He turned the laptop over to the FBI. He also kept a copy of the contents of the hard drive, which somehow found their way to Rudy Giuliani, which then found their way to the pages of the NY Times. The FBI then begins to publicly discredit the NY Times publication with the good old standby, the Russian interference crap. I personally think they have about worn that excuse out but that seems to be their story and they're sticking with it... But, now here's the kicker, the vehicle, the medium for their discrediting efforts came through a clandestine and obscure relationship they 'cultivated' with Twitter executives. And, of course the Twitter execs willingly cooperated by closing and censoring accounts, etc. Violation of first amendment rights to free speech? Probably. And the fact that Twitter was paid several million dollars for staffers time by the FBI didn't hurt either. 

Along comes Elon Musk who buys Twitter and finds this morass in his newly purchased company. Before you know it, the Twitter Files are made public. It was really just a matter of Elon showing up at Twitter and taking out the trash. Now the truth is out there for all to see. 

So where's the outrage? Where's the collective sense of  "what in the sam hell is going on?" The news of Hunter Biden's business dealings are nothing new. The most casual of observers know that Hunter is and has been involved in myriad crooked shenanigans to garner as much money as he can get his paws on. It's also beginning to look as though Pop is in on it to some extent. And a large proportion of all this hanky-panky involves Chinese officials at various levels of power. Most of the facts are out in the public domain, so why isn't there a prolific outrage? There are a few reasons. One, the FBI with all their considerable resources are still at work to deny, discredit and just outright cover up as much as possible, and succeeding on most fronts. Oh, and by the way, those considerable resources, guess who's paying for those?... Yep, you. The taxpayer. And who does the director of the FBI report to? The Attorney General who in turn reports to the President. Hunter's daddy. Another reason for the subdued outrage? Twitter, who verifiably has been colluding with the FBI and getting paid for it, has been silencing the negative talk about Bidens. All of the Bidens. Deleting accounts. Including Trumps... Censoring posts. And if you have read any of the Twitter files, there is proof of all this happening, the Twitter Files. Trying and succeeding in confusing as many people as possible. And believe me, there are a lot of voters out there that it takes very little to confuse them. Then along comes Elon and rains on their happy ass little parade. 

But, there's always a big butt that  shows up when dirty business is going on. As long as the Democrats had control of the House there was no reason to investigate Hunter's business dealings (according to them...) or anything else related to the Bidens or the FBI. But, the dems aren't in control anymore. The investigative wheels have already started turning looking into Hunter's shady business dealings. The DOJ has assigned a special counsel to investigate the classified docs found in Pop Biden's office and garage. Interesting... The FBI can bully the old Twitter (not the new one...) but the special counsel is hands off. He's a Trump appointee which means he's not a dem. Director Wray, have a seat. 

So, back to the original question, who or what is the biggest problem? The Bidens, nah. They'll be investigated, might face some charges, probably get their filthy little hands slapped and in a couple of years they'll be history. The FBI is a huge problem. But that all comes back to leadership. Who in the hell was in charge letting those little shits get away with that crap? Barry Obama and Joe Biden. With a little luck and if the creek doesn't rise, maybe the rest of the trash will get taken out...

Is it a Pack Mentality...

 Reading the news, I used to enjoy getting a newspaper and keeping up with what's going on in the world. It was once relaxing and there was enjoyment in it. But that was then. Such is no longer the case. It's no secret why, there's just too much bad stuff going on. Way too much. Locally, major cities have become decadent. I live near one and from personal observation I can tell you it's bad. Crime has skyrocketed. Everything from murder, rape, burglary, arson, human trafficking, theft (including everything from bicycles to airplanes) is off the charts. Places, neighborhoods that were long thought to be safe aren't anymore. Living in the suburbs used to be the solution. Not anymore. And just why, exactly is this happening?... Perhaps we should carry that question a little further, why does this keep happening and getting worse?..

Have our values changed? Our morals? Even our sense of right and wrong? Of course they have. All of that. But the problem lying at the root of all this, at the very core is way too many of us are simply accepting it, going along with it. I don't meant to sound like I'm throwing everyone under the bus, I'm not. There are plenty of solid people out there who are standing up, who are calling out those who are creating and promoting this pandemic of decay. There are still even sources in the mainstream media and press that are calling it like it is. Though you do have to seek them out. They aren't the ones on TV in your face very night. First off, it's a problem of leadership. If any one group deserves the bulk of the blame it's them. The leaders. Let me name some of them; corporate leaders, mayors, city council members, district attorneys, chiefs of police, governors, congress men and women, supreme court justices, presidential cabinet members, and of course the chief himself and his useless sidekick. We look to our leaders to do the work of building and maintaining the structure that society needs to function in a productive and civil way. With few exceptions, we elected them to their positions. We should expect this of them, it's their job and responsibility. We should hold them accountable. And when they fail, we should get rid of them. 

But that's not often the case. It happens, all too often, that there is a miserable, horrible fail and not only are they not dispensed, they are re-elected. And re-elected again. All of the fallout from their failures are overlooked, denied, even defended. Let me offer a stellar example, Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago. She was elected in 2019 and hailed and heralded as the first black, female lesbian mayor in Chicago's history. Since she was elected crime has spiked over 40%. Last year, homicides rose to their highest levels in 25 years. She operates under the thumb of the cartels. Chicago has long been known, very long, as a Democratic bastion. So why don't the dems get rid of her? Elect someone else? Because she's protected by her diversity shield. Not all democrats agree with this. They're not all stupid. But they all accept it. They go along with it. Maybe they're telling themselves 'damn, this is bad but it's not really that bad.' Will she be re-elected? Probably. Is she the worst mayor in the country? Probably. 

Political party ideology is a pretty complex subject. But it does have some very obvious, consistent symptoms. One of them that the dems seem to struggle with is they'll grab hold of something that makes absolutely no sense and benefits but a few (or maybe even no one...) and they'll run with it. And keep running with it. And they'll all get behind the dog with the bone and cheer them on. Seemingly, forever. Dogs have a pack mentality, they follow the one with the bone. Relentlessly. Are democrats dogs? I don't know, look into what's going on in Chicago then you tell me... I really feel bad about disparaging dogs, though.

Let's get caught up...

 I've been neglecting this space for awhile and a lot has happened. That's an understatement of grand proportions actually. A lot has happened, it's more like the world has undergone a step change right in front of our eyes. And some of that change has not been of the good kind. 

Back in early '21 we were blessed (or cursed, depending on your perspective) with a new president. Trump thought he won, but he didn't and he acted like an ass about it instead of gracefully and respectfully stepping aside. Democrats gloated about it and went to work passing copious legislation of all sorts of dubious types. The tab for all the socialist acts of wonder just happens to come to a few trillion dollars. Now, keep in mind, there is no such thing as free money. During the past couple of weeks Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act. most of the money was tagged for environmental purposes, and most experts and economists agreed that the Act would have little to no effect on actually ameliorating the effects of inflation. Just yesterday, Biden signed an act that would forgive up to $20,000 for federal student loans. The tab for that will amount to over $300billion over the next ten years. 

So, in the end, who pays for all these trillions and billions that the Biden administration is spending now? Who pays for anything and everything in this country? The taxpayer. The government doesn't actually earn anything. They don't produce anything. (Stupid legislation doesn't count...) Forgiving student loans was a pure and simple act of buying votes. To remain in power. Economically, it's a disaster. Politically, not so much. Biden is not an altruistic leader. What comes out of his mouth is not necessarily what he thinks and feels. I'm not so sure he knows what he thinks and feels. Or what comes out of his mouth for that matter... 

The political parties have become very divided, since Obama was in office. Ideologically, the gap only keeps widening. We can only hope that Abe Lincoln's quote "You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all of the time" actually comes true here, and soon. 

CoVid-19

CoVid-19. We've been hearing that a lot lately. It has dominated the news and our minds. And for good reason. It's a pandemic, an epidemic of global reach. It's affecting every country and every human being on earth. Perhaps a once in a lifetime occurrence. Or at least let's hope it is. Health experts the world over are doing their best to not only learn more about the virus, but to develop an antidote for it. But it is proving to be a formidable foe. Just read an article this morning, from a reputable, reliable source, those of which are not all that common these days, that the virus isn't even a living thing. It doesn't have any of the traditional trappings of life: metabolism, motion, the ability to reproduce. Outside a host, the virus is dormant. And it can last that way for a long time. It can remain viable - potentially infectious - on cardboard for up to 24 hours. In 2014, a virus frozen in permafrost for 30,000 years was retrieved by scientists and was able to infect an amoeba after being revived in the lab. Thirty thousand years. This is indeed a formidable foe...
World leaders are doing their best to take measures to contain and hopefully soon, stop the spread of infection. Well, most world leaders. China, it appears from the facts coming to light, could have avoided for the most part what is happening today by taking action sooner to contain the virus when it first appeared. Instead, they chose to silence the doctors and health officials who first became aware of the virus' existence. Hence, it began to spread uncontrolled in China, then to the rest of the world. They have since attempted to shift blame to others, particularly the United States, with lies and propaganda. Typical communist SOP. This week, they have proclaimed that there has not been one single reported case of the virus. Not one. If you believe that I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona for you.
Here in the US, officials have been issuing directives and orders to work from home, avoid crowds and specifying crowd size, close various business and organizations. These are necessary measures, no doubt and the effects of such are devastating. Many are losing their jobs, means of supporting their families, lives are being altered in horrible ways. And we haven't even peaked, the worst is yet to come, if that's possible. This is akin to a plot from a science fiction novel. The virus may be novel but this isn't fiction.
Government officials form the President on down are issuing proclamations, recommendations, directives, orders and ordinances concerning what the public should and should not do, what we can and cannot do and what penalties and fines we are subject to for not adhering to the new rules. Threats of jail time, prison time are being thrown about. Desperate measures for desperate times.Most of us understand the gravity of the situation understand and that some inconvenient restrictions have to be made to deal with it.
We, nor has the world faced anything like this before in modern times. Like nothing before it will require working together, putting aside differences. Failing to do so will cost lives. From this tragedy, literally anything could happen. No one knows what the future holds. This is one time that humans need to come together and put aside politics, ideologies, conflicts, and even nationalism. And looking back at the history of the world, that isn't likely to happen...

Could this really happen in America?...

It's 2019. Two hundred and forty-three years after the writing of the U.S. Constitution, undoubtedly the most profound and effective document ever written in the history of the world. If it were going to fail, if it were to be found unworkable I believe that would have happened by now. Our founding fathers knew it wasn't perfect, so they provided a means for change, amendments. So far, during the past 243 years twenty-seven have been ratified by the 50 states and become part of the Constitution. Almost 12,000 amendments have been proposed. During each term of Congress since 1789 about 200 amendments are proposed. And only 27 of those have actually been ratified and become law. Every single ounce and drop of power that the federal government has, and it has a lot, is granted to it by the constitution. It has no power to do anything that was not granted by the constitution.  It starts with the words "In order to form a more perfect union...". Well, we're certainly not a perfect union, but just think what we would be as a country today if not for the constitution. I don't even want to go there.
The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. Guaranteed, unalienable rights afforded to every American citizen. As I said earlier, almost 12000 attempts have been made to change it and only 27 passed muster. One of the Bill of Rights is the right to keep and bear arms. Touchy subject of late, right? There's a lot of clamoring to change that of late but considering the history of attempts to change the constitution, good luck with that. I think you'd have far better chances of baptizing a cat that changing the constitution. And that is as it should be.
Anyway, back to the point of all this rambling. Since the election of 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president there has been a lot of nefarious activity going on which mostly boils down to friction between those who like Trump and those who don't. I'll not go into reciting a bunch of details, every concerned American has kept up and knows most of them by now. And if you understand what has been happening, then I am sure that like me, you're concerned. Very concerned. This is the closest we have come to having a coup in this country since it began, 243 years ago. Of the 195 sovereign countries in the world, 128 have a coup or attempted coup in their history. That's 81 percent. That is what any reasonable person would call "vast majority". Those are things that happen when you don't have a solid framework for governance. A constitution. Someone or some party doesn't like the one who is in power so they plan and execute an attempt to overthrow them and assume power and control themselves. There are always lots of complicated circumstances but the root of it all is really that simple. The string of events since the 2016 election has almost put us in that majority of countries who include a political coup in their history. Make no mistake, many, if not all of these countries are not pleasant place to live, or even visit for that matter. Many are still to this day marked by violence and unrest, instability. Cameroon, Afghanistan, Ghana, Venezuela, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos, Libya, Russia, Turkey, Yemen... There are some that have experienced coups and have gone on to recover and form, well, better unions. Denmark, UK, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Germany... But most unfortunately continue to languish. And their people suffer. If this doesn't concern you, then you haven't been paying attention.

Some really important things to talk about...

I've been writing this blog now, off and on, for several years now. In spite of being a novelist, I write action thriller stories, when I sit down to write this blog my interests turn to the political scene in the U.S. I write about my observations, opinions, and just my general take on things going on in the world of politics. After all, this is pretty important stuff.
Now and then I'll indulge in Facebook. I think it's pretty cool to catch up with friends from the past that I haven't heard from for a long time and to keep touch with good friends that I don't get to see much anymore. But Facebook is, just well, Facebook. It's the small talk of life that just happens to take place on the internet.
Until recently that is.  I have a good friend that I know from high school that a couple of months ago started some posts on Facebook. He has been posting about his father's wartime experiences during World War II in the Pacific. These are not ordinary posts about ordinary experiences. He was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese and was held with thousands of other servicemen for years under the most cruel and horrible conditions imaginable. What he endured and experienced was so far from our ordinary lives it's difficult to comprehend the depth of the atrocities. Yet at the same time it is so well written and the story is told so well that you cant help but feel involved. You cannot help but feel indebted to this man and his comrades, all of whom suffered terribly and many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice. This is one of the best examples of a beautiful story about a horrible chapter in history of what some great men, American men have done so that we can live free. We must not and cannot ever take this for granted and this story clearly shows us why.
The true irony comes in that this is not some unknown writer recounting historical events. This is a friend, that I know well, writing about his dad. I've known this friend for a pretty long time but I never knew he was a writer. Not just a writer but a pretty darn good one at that. Up till now his story has come in posts on Facebook. Due to the impact of his story and the quality with which it is written I've encouraged him to start his own blog. He could reach a lot more people who, like me I'm sure would be grateful to share this fascinating story.
If ever in my life I've read a story about heroes, real, true heroes, it's your story Jimmie of your Dad and his fellow soldiers.
Until his blog is published, please go to Facebook and search for Jimmie Brock. Read this story about American Heroes, his father, and leave a message and let him know what you think. For those of you from Alvin, you may know him as well. Thanks for sharing your story, Jimmie. And for your friendship.

Skipping the Inauguration?

I wouldn't recommend it if you're a member of Congress. If you're an entertainer, knock yourself out. Bottom line is no one cares or will remember that you skipped it anyway. All you little pretty faces whose mugs have been on the news lately regarding your decision to not attend the inauguration, we.dont.care. Stay home, smoke crack or whatever you do, don't go. All you people who get on Facebook or attend rallies and carry placards saying "Not my President", yeah, it's a free country and you have a right to say whatever you want. But, you also have a responsibility as an American to respect the rule of law. I know this is going to hurt some of your ears but Trump won the election. And according to the law he will become the next President. So you don't like his politics, you don't like his personality, you think he's weird, whatever it is you don't like, get the f*** over it.
You know, eight years ago when Obama was elected most conservatives had the same 'oh crap' feelings you're having. But we lived with it for eight years. And I have news for you, you're going to live with it too.
These issues go a little deeper than this though. As I said, this is a free country and we all have the right to express our opinion. But not one single person has the right to disrespect the rule of law or to refuse to follow it. The recent report of Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem was a show of his opinion that the treatment of blacks was oppressive and discriminatory. But expressing that opinion by being disrespectful of a tradition that honors our country was petulant and dishonorable. If you have an opinion and you feel strongly about it do you want to express it by being petulant and dishonorable? I don't and I doubt most people do.
If you are a congressperson and you don't accept Trump's presidency as 'legitimate' then you have no business being a congressperson. You have a responsibility to this nation and the people you represent. And that does not include promoting separatism. Obama spent eight years creating and promoting divisiveness and racial discord. We all thought a black man could and indeed would improve race relations like no one before him could. We were wrong. He not only didn't improve them he created the biggest chasm in race relations that we've had in this country since the civil war.
And for you, Mr. Obama, to refuse to support and stand behind your successor is nothing short of un-American yet it is consistent with your behavior of leaving dissent in your wake. Since the day you came to office whenever a situation arose that was not to your liking and you did not possess the intelligence or power to change it you simply created dissent between the parties involved. Period.
The one thing, most important thing that you were short of, devoid of, Mr. President, was humility. Which in that position with the power and responsibility to influence so many lives, was unforgiveable...

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas to everyone. From my family to yours, we wish you a truly  happy holiday season. May it be filled with good times spent with your family and friends. And may your new year bring you happiness, good health and prosperity.
Christmas is a wonderful time. We get to spend time with our families and enjoy some down time. Our lives become so busy we often get in the habit of not thinking about ourselves and taking care of ourselves. And unfortunately, Christmas usually is no exception. We immerse ourselves in shopping, buying gifts, keeping track of budgets (which often get overextended...) planning parties and meals, if anything Christmas piles on more stress to what we were already dealing with. For most, it doesn't bring down time. It brings more stress time. Just what we didn't need.
It's a shame, it really is. Around this time of year people and companies who sell 'stuff' step up their game. Advertisements come at us from all directions and literally fill our days. And do not kid yourself, marketers are very smart people. The have perfected the art of convincing us that we need what they are making. Think about this for a moment, how much stuff have you bought that you really could do without? Ask yourself this question for everything you have that cost more than fifty dollars, did I need that or did I merely want it? Now there's nothing wrong with having something for no other reason than you wanted it. By golly if you work hard and want something just for the fun of it then by all means you should have it. The problem is, it adds up. We accumulate. And we saturate ourselves with stuff. The fact is most of it we didn't need and could easily have lived without it.

So take some time to reflect after Christmas. Look back on the year and think about what you can do to make next year better. What can you do to make life better? What can you do to make YOU better? Maybe some of that 'stuff' you got that you really don't need (or want), give it away. Donate it to charity so someone less fortunate can enjoy it. I promise you'll feel good about it. And do some other things that make you feel good. Exercise. Lay in the sun. Take deep breaths with your eyes closed. Take up yoga. Tell your spouse you love them, every day. Meditate.
The cost of all those things and others like them? Nothing. The benefit? They all have the potential to make you a better, happier person. What better gift could you possibly give yourself?

You know, I was thinking the other day. And yes, I was thinking about something in particular. My life. Don't switch channels yet, I'm not going to get spacy and philosophical and poetic on you. In fact depending on your age, what I say just might be relevant in some way to your life. I didn't just sit down and tell myself, I am going to think about life here for awhile. Something made me do it. I was compelled, even coerced into thinking about it. And once I was into it, it was a serious session. Very serious.
I have thought about life as being analogous to baseball in a lot of ways. In the past when I put life situations in terms of baseball, it just seemed to make sense. A lot of sense. While it may be true that to be able to make this analogy you must be a die-hard baseball fan. Actually, maybe fan isn't even good enough. You have to really understand baseball. You have to have some real connection to it. Like maybe you played baseball at some time in your life. Maybe you coached little league. Lots of people think baseball is a boring game. That it doesn't move fast enough, like football. They just don't understand what they're looking at. There is so much going on in a baseball game that if you don't know what you're looking for you wont see it.
See what I mean? I've just described baseball and if you replaced the word baseball in the paragraph above with life, it would have made sense. Here's another example. In life there's going to be successes and there will be failures. Just as in baseball, you aren't going to win every game. You're not going to hit it out of the park every time you get up to the plate. We all know that, even if you don't know baseball. That's kind of a no-shit-Sherlock fact. Life's the same way only sometimes it doesn't seem so obvious as it does in baseball. Here's a really good one, to be good in baseball you can't just say I'm going to play baseball and be a great baseball player. For starters, if you're not athletic, fuggidaboutit. It ain't happening. You need to choose something else to excel at. If you are athletic, then you're going to have to work hard to be good. You have to want it. You have to want it bad. You have to have grit in your gut wanting it bad. That means your level of desire to play baseball well has to break the desire needle. The same could be said of people who excel at something else in life. Only it may not be as obvious as it is in baseball.
Are you getting my drift? Baseball mirrors life situations and simplifies them. Makes them easier to understand. Read those last two sentences again. Makes life situations easier to understand. If life consisted of one human being, our self, it would be pretty simple. It wouldn't take long before we knew what we liked, didn't like, how we reacted to certain things, and so on. But life isn't just 'me'. There are family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, bosses, coworkers, teammates... Life is a series of interactions with other people. Sometimes, maybe even often, things go well. Sometimes they don't. People are very complicated. What you see is rarely what you get when it comes to people. Life with other people is not black and white. It's a million shades of gray and some of them are really freaking ugly. I've lost my analogy with baseball, but stay with me.
So where am I going with this? This is where I'm going, life is hard. It's damn hard. Oh, I know there are silver spooners out there who have a good, easy life but what kind of life is that? What are they contributing? Nothing. You have to get off your ass and do something and contribute to the world for your life to have any meaning. That's my second no-shit-Sherlock fact. Life can and does have many gratifying times for most of us. But we have to work for it and often make sacrifices. Very difficult choices. And who amongst us has not lost a loved one? Not one single living being can say they have never lost a loved one. Is that not hard? And who amongst us has not loved and lost, as Mr. Shakespeare put it? Well if you haven't, you're part of a very small group. If you have you know well how hard that is.
It's hard alright. And for most of my life I had this misguided notion that when I got older life would get easier. I could retire, not have to get up early and go to work and put up with a bunch of pricks that annoyed me, it would be great. And you know what, not having to get up early and go to work and deal with a bunch of pricks is great. But getting older is not. And the worst part about it, life stares you in the face, grabs you by the throat, sits you down, humbles the shit out of you, and makes you think. And the first thing it makes you think about, your mortality. It looks right into your big wide eyes and says you're not going to live forever. And you want to ask, so how much time do I have left? And life replies, with a shrug of the shoulders, don't know. Meekly, hoping not to offend this badass monster called Your Life, you ask, so what's left? What do I need to do? What can I do?
Notice that one of the questions wasn't what's life all about? That's a question for amateurs, young amateurs. Since most of your life is behind you, you already know what life is all about. You've been there and done it already. If you didn't get it right, too  late. Next question?
There's just a very sobering, jolting, face-slapping reality to knowing that due to the nature of life on earth your time on earth is limited. Very limited. So your natural inclination is to think, what's important? Aha! That's what you should have been thinking about all along. Not what's its all about. You cant know what it's all about until you know what's important. That's what you focus on.
And what's really sobering is the answers to that will probably be obvious. Just like baseball. Who's on first?...