REPRINT: A Mother’s Advice…

Below is the very first post I wrote for my blog…June 8, 2015.  I have been asked for parenting advice lately, and I thought of this post. It pretty much says it all. As an update, since I referred to the Golden Rule back then, I have researched 50 legitimate Religions, and EVERY one has a Golden Rule. I wrote about it in my post titled “Spiritual Cruise Control”. I hope you enjoy my first post.

6/8/15

When deciding the topic for my first leap into the world of blogs the answer became obvious to me. I may only blog once, so I’ll dedicate it to the person that got me here..

I recently met a young man while purchasing technology. We connected on not only a professional level but also the human level.  Cool your jets! There were no shades of gray or any other color.

He told a sadly touching story of his youth. I won’t go into details because that’s his story to tell.

The one thing that moved me the most was his lack of Motherly advice throughout his life. Well, I’ve got plenty of advice. Here are some things that I want this young man, and anyone who wants to listen, to hear from the perspective of a Mom with love that is unconditional.

I am the mother of Adult Children (now there’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one). The first 11 items are things I’ve told my children since I knew they could understand. Some of them may sound childish and they are. But many adults still haven’t learned them.

1. If there isn’t blood or danger there will be NO screaming
2. If you’re not using them in what you’re doing, 90% of the time it shouldn’t matter what your genitals are.
3. If someone is putting a gift in your hand, “Thank you” should be coming out of your mouth.
4. There are times and places where you must behave and be quiet.
5. Being polite is not an exception in your behavior.
6. The second time I ask you will be the last before I get mad.
7. Everyone has an equal spirit. (Essentially The Golden Rule).
8. There are consequences to everything you do AND don’t do.
9. Never be somewhere without making a difference you’d been there.
10. Be aware of your surroundings and appreciate when it’s nature.
11. You are not now where you always will be. In good times relish the moment. In hard times do what you can to move forward.

The advice that I offer now comes from recent reflections of my own life and I direct this to the adult in you. To be honest, I believe the younger you are when you accept these things, the better.

CONTROL has become one of the most important words to me. It is defined as “the power to direct or regulate.” You and you alone have the power to direct and regulate your own life. When someone tells you “I can’t control how you feel” they are right. They can be poopy and set the scene for you to feel bad or attacked. They control the “poopy” but you control how you accept it and how you react to it.  You control the decisions made for love or money. You control what you believe and how you live your faith. You control your reaction to emotional situations.

Strive for peace. One of my favorite sayings is: “PEACE. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” I have discovered that peace and control work very well together.

The other side of the coin is recognizing what you do not have control of. I can’t tell you how many nights I lay in bed awake at 3:00 am with thoughts swirling in my head. I would feel a fist grab my gut and hold on. I just wanted the escape of sleep. I’ve now come to realize that I didn’t have any control of most of the things that I was worrying about. I didn’t have control of the paperwork in the system, but I worried about it. I didn’t have control over other people’s choices, but I worried about them. I didn’t have control over the car breaking down, but I worried about it. You get the idea?

I now recognize what I DO have control of and I try my best to be smart and compassionate while owning it and the resulting consequences. Just as important, I recognize what I DON’T have control of and I release them to the responsible parties. It frees me to have more clarity dealing with my own goals and I am happier.

Connect with your own spirituality. I’m not talking about religion. To me religions are just vehicles and right now there are some crazy things going on in some of them. I wonder what they told the 72 Virgins. Yikes!  Too many evils and odd things are passed under the guise of religions.

I was raised Catholic and gained a strong base to start my spiritual search . I now call myself a recovering Catholic and I no longer think Desert Storm was my fault. As far as I’m concerned the goal of every religion should be to promote the Golden Rule. That way we’d all have the same goal, just different ways to get there.

What I’m talking about is that spark that is you. There are two parts to each of us. One is our body, upon which way too much emphasis has been put. Then there’s your spirit or as many people call it…your soul. When my children were conceived, I never once felt so arrogant as to think I created their spirits. I knew they came from a greater place. I was only responsible for creating a vessel with DNA for a spirit to land in and then guiding that vessel in the “ways of the world”. As someone said to me right after I had my first child, “He’s not a blank sheet of paper, there’s someone in there”. Find your spirit. Better yet, look for it in other people too…everybody has one. You’ll be surprised how people react when they know you’re really seeing them…

Listen to the experiences of others. The older the person, the more experiences they’ve had. Learn from their mistakes. Last summer my son Nick (25) and I were going to sit and chat in the backyard. I went out first and went to sit on the lawn chairs that we received for free. (We discovered that they were probably given away for free because they held water after a rain storm.) I patted the seat to see if it was wet. It was dry. I then pushed down a bit firmer. Still dry. I sat down and within seconds I could feel the moisture seeping through my pants. (I was just glad it was cold not warm.) I moved to a folding chair. When Nick joined me he headed right toward the chair that had the deceptive seat. I said “Don’t sit there, your pants will get wet.” He leaned down and patted the cushion. I said “I tried that. Don’t sit there, your pants will get wet.”   He looked at me with a hint of doubt and pushed a bit firmer on the cushion. I said “Tried that too. Don’t sit there, your pants will get wet.” With a shrug of his shoulders he turned and sat in the hydrodynamic chair. I must say I did find pleasure watching his face get redder as his shorts got darker from bottom up. Now instead of saying “Don’t do that, I made that mistake” I simply say “Your pants will get wet.” He smiles and nods. More importantly he understands. The value of experience took on a new meaning between us. Essentially, I can explain it to him but I can’t understand it for him.

Finally, hold on to true friends. Choose friends that make you laugh and feel good about yourself but are honest with you.  Through life you will make decisions that may take you to dark places. Always have at least two people that will always give you advice that they truly believe is best for you. It may be to reroute you on a path you’re going because they see it from the outside and they care. Their perspective should always be heard.  Become a true friend in return. To paraphrase an old saying, “Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but you always know they’re there.”

I am now a star in your world.

I Loved Calmity Jane!

In the light of the recent mass shootings, I am reprinting my post from August 5, 2019 which was a repost from 2017. Sadly, two (now 4) years later…and nothing has changed! They have actually gotten worse DDWS

Gun control is an issue that truly challenges my sense of logic. I do not understand how so many people have legal access to weapons and go on to commit murder

I am not opposed to gun ownership for hunting that is legalized. The “hunter and gatherer” instinct is one that I really appreciate in those individuals that still feel the call. My favorite uncle was a Game Warden in the Black Hills of SD. He had a gun for every season.

He never used a semi-automatic rifle when hunting Bambi’s dad, and he never quieted Thumper with a gun that had a silencer. He entered the “hunt” with an appropriate weapon for hunting the “in season” prey. His favorite part was hunting on “their turf” and absorbing the nature around him. It was as fair a fight as he could create.

As a true hunter, his goal was to bring home the venison and he did, which we all enjoyed…in many forms…for a very long time.

I would never want to take this experience from anyone. Think about it. If we didn’t kill the deer, we’d be watching “Planet of the Elk”.

His job was that of an “Animal & Nature Cop”.  His responsibility was protecting endangered plants, sites and animals. I’m thinkin’ we should add Human Beings to that “Endangered Species List”.

As for self-defense, I again just believe we must re-evaluate not eliminate this “right” and reason to own a gun. When the authors of the Second Amendment in The Bill of Rights wrote it, they were in a different time and a different world. Face it, if you need a semi-automatic weapon to protect your home, you should probably move.

In my world people would be required to take the CLEE test before they are issued any type of gun. CLEE is an anagram for Compassion, Logic, Education and Experience.

The Education and Experience segments are questions specific to whatever it is that you are getting a license for. (ex: Do you know how to use a gun? and, What have you done with guns before?). The Compassion and Logic are general human nature questions (ex: Do you value human life? and, Why is it bad to hurt other people?).

This makes sense to me more than whatever the system is now. I don’t want to take people’s gun rights away, I just want the right people to get them.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass…(reprint of 10/6/18 post)

I know that I’ve been reposted old posts recently, but only based on relevance to current times. With the release of Mary Trump’s book about her Uncle Donny, it has been touted as exposing that we are living a soap opera. I wrote the following post when the GOP appointed Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

 

I just realized how my TV viewing has changed since the Circus moved to Washington. Gone are the talk shows and the game shows. Gone are the soap operas that I “followed”. Don’t know if Dr. Phil has gotten to the “You’re my baby’s daddy!” stage yet. They’ve all been replaced.

The primary channels that are now on the screen in my house are CNN & MSNBC. I do watch some of my favorites on other stations, but these two are my “go to” channels.

Today, after the Kavanaugh pre-vote, I decided that maybe it is time to return to my old friends. The beauty of watching a soap opera is that you can always catch up after the first 10 minutes. Then I had Eureka moment…we ARE watching the same type of shows, only there’s no scripts!! The director may be spinning his magic from his home at Cape Idokopas. The actors are all reality stars, some of them we selected.

If I can believe that Victor Newman has been married seven times and then calls his wife a slut, when he has slept with every other female character on the show that’s over the age of 19 and under the age of 75, then I can believe what I hear about the man in the White House. And, better than any game show winnings, a girl can make $130,000 by not sleeping with Trump.

Watching the efforts of the NRA and far Right donors have replaced The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal. And Jock Ewing couldn’t have been prouder of his boys than Donny is of his.

I could go on with analogies, but you get the idea.

Just to humor myself, and possibly you, I’m going to close with a story of my impression of the state of affairs in America using soap opera and game show titles.

As the World Turns we are watching it destroyed by people that must believe there is Another World. The people in control act like they’re The Bold and the Beautiful, but it’s Truth or Consequences as we learn about taxes and schemes that are hidden in Dark Shadows.

It was good to see that Ryan’s Hope for repeal and replace was dashed, although the health care people believe that in General (,) Hospital staffs have not been compensated enough. And in the People’s Court, while Big Brother was watching, the FBI  did a very weak Match Game with facts and fiction in their attempts to get Kavanaugh to Tell the Truth. They wouldn’t even interview individuals that told them “I’ve Got a Secret“.  This has caused a real Family Feud in the Halls of Congress, and Brett appears to be a Survivor in his effort to Beat the Clock.

I understand that we all have One Life to Live, and I am watching geriatric politicians creating a Secret Storm in most of The Days of Our Lives. Some evenings, after a day of watching insanity, I pray that the other Edge of Night, the morning, will bring a renewed Love of Life.

We must hold on to our Passions and, as I Search for Tomorrow I believe that this corrupt Dynasty will be brought down. Someone will step forward and be the Guiding Light for All my Children, and generations to come.

…so are the days of our lives.

Leave the Statues Out of It (reprint of 8/16/17 post)

Today it was announced by the Governor of Virginia that the statue of Robert E Lee in Richmond will come down. In the midst of all the History changing events, many wounds that have been exposed will now, I believe, get social “medical” attention. More about that in future posts.

Regarding General Lee and his statue my feelings have not changed since I wrote a post when demands were made for his removal in 2017. Below is that post.

 

I agree with the Alt-Right in their argument that the statue of Robert E. Lee should not be torn down and destroyed.

It should be left as a reminder of why we remember him. There are those that embrace his role in History, but there are many more that need to be reminded that he was defeated. His defeat will always be “the rest of the story”.

We demonized ISIS for destroying the Syrian site of Palmyra in 2015. This destruction was the result of a difference in beliefs, and the attempt to eliminate the memory of anyone else’s. Isn’t that pretty much the same reasoning for removing Gen. Lee?

If we start deciding whose ideologies and histories are worthy of keeping, then, (sit down…windchill warning in Hades) I agree with DJT. Assuming every monument will have its detractors, the following battles may be fought.

The Gun Rights activists will demand the removal of the Knotted Gun sculpture in NY. Wall Street executives would get the Fearless Girl hauled away while Feminists extract the Charging Bull she was staring at. The Rhinoplasty Surgeons will petition for the blasting of the Great Sphinx and the faces on Easter Island. Weight Watchers will push to have the Budda statues removed from every ethnic food restaurant in America. OCD Perfectionists will riot around the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Liberty Bell until they’re corrected. I can only imagine how members of Judaism would “improve” the Statue of David.

We could appease everybody by just moving all offensive monuments to the Mexican border. Once all the statues, pillars, Nativity scenes, big fish, sports figures and college & restaurant mascots are collected, we’ll line them up and build “the wall”. I imagine that would create second thoughts in the minds of anyone considering entering whatever is behind that wall. And, it would befuddle archaeologists from 2217 trying to figure out “Who were these people?!”   Minnesota will not be sending Paul and Babe. They’ve got no haters here…although, they would add height.

Let’s keep these structures in perspective. The ideology and meaning of these innate objects are “in the eye (and mind) of the beholder”.

As the saying goes, “Those who do not learn from History, are doomed to repeat it”. If it is offensive to you, do not try to remove it, because it is a reminder of what is possible. It should make you more diligent.

Millions, Billions, Trillions…YIKES!(reprint 0f 6/9/15 post)

I am reprinting a post that I wrote on June 9, 2015. In these pandemic times, the financial solutions that our Government is considering and offering, make this post a tad bit timely.

I am a self-proclaimed political geek. I enjoy the political machine and personalities that make it run.  I work at home and I have the MN Legislature cable channel on in the background during session.

I’ve come to realize they speak in dollar amounts I can’t truly comprehend.  I just needed to look up what’s after billions. That’s the denomination that came into a debate. There are 9 zeros in a billion and then it jumps to 12 zeros in a Trillion. Yikes.

I remember when a Million dollars seemed incomprehensible.  That was only 6 zeros but it looked like a lot on the checks that Michael Anthony delivered on The Millionaire in the 1950’s TV series. I thought that the next denomination after a Million was Heaven.

It would change people’s lives in both good and bad ways on the series. In an hour we were shown the proper behavior for when we accepted our check and the pitfalls of bad judgement. Building an orphanage or convent was good.  Spending a day at the track…not so much. The only stipulation for accepting the money was that the recipient could not tell anyone where they got it. Oh yeah, that would go over great today! “I found coins buried under a tree” will only work so often.

Those 6 zeros would still change my life and the lives of almost everyone I know. We could wipe our debt slate clean with money to spare. Unfortunately, Michael Anthony isn’t making house calls any more, but there is still the Publisher’s Clearing House.

Back to the numbers that government throws about. To be honest, I cannot take these numbers seriously. They sound like play money. Heck there was only $15,140 in the total bank of Monopoly. That wouldn’t pay for infrastructure repairs to Reading Railroad by today’s standards. You’d need to add 6 zeros and you will need to make 72 million trips pass GO.

Is there a billion dollar bill or do you just pay with 10 million bills? There probably aren’t that many billion bills needed since they won’t get passed around a lot. Fewer yet will go through the laundry. And whose picture is on it?  My candidate is Robin Williams. Every time someone looked at the bill they would imagine his thoughts about that denomination.

I suppose I would get a lot of answers if I researched the US Treasury Department. I can now only imagine how large the facilities must be to store the billions worth of gold that are pouring in to cover the new debt. I have never understood why we give gold the value we do. I understand oil and our dependency on it. But gold? I think it’s pretty but I’d rather have soup bullion if I was stranded on a desert island. The survival values outweigh something shiny.

I have come to accept that although the numbers are probably imaginary, the needs are real. Somehow, somewhere something will be done. It just takes more imagination.

By the way, look for the term Quadrillion in next year’s Legislative session. (That’s 15 zeros).

Is Anybody Listening?

I am watching the House debate on impeachment, and the mute is on. I have become deaf to the arguments on both the Left and the Right due to the sheer redundancy.

I knew before the 2016 election that Trump would make a horrible and dangerous President, and he has. Many of the Republicans that 3 years ago called him a kook, a bully, not fit to be President and destructive to our country and the GOP, are now his strongest supporters. I missed the “transformation of character” that Trump went through in order to get them to drink the Kool-Aid.  My fear is that they also have connections to the dark side. If not, their standards for President are way below the bar.

To become the King of America, Trump must prove his loyalty to the man who wants to become King of the World, better known as Vlad.  When you consider that Russia is our #1 enemy, you might question some of Trump’s actions as President.  Under his leadership he has degraded and undermined our relationships with NATO and the EU, pushed for all out trade wars with Europe, stated that Crimea is part of Russia, pushed to relieve US sanctions against Russia and he has divided and destabilized the US by attacking or ignoring US institutions and eroding democratic norms. Hmmm. Who benefits from all of this?

Now, add to that the Ukrainian fiasco. Trump essentially was kicking the Ukraine in the head while Russia had them on the ground trying to pound the crap out of them. Which brings me back to the hearings.

As I stated, the arguments are the same. If I was in the chamber, my responses to 5 of the GOP’s arguments would be as follows.

1. Procedure issues?? You didn’t seem to have a problem with the reconfiguration that Grassley performed on the Kavanaugh hearings.  Nor did McConnell’s refusal to follow “procedure” when ignoring Obama’s right to select a Supreme Court judge seem to bother you. And what can we expect if this impeachment goes to Mitch’s court? I’m thinkin’ there’s gonna be some new “rules” that come out of that!
2. The President said “Do US” a favor… Of course, he did. Trump believes he speaks for everyone, He usually says “Everyone knows blah blah blah”. If it’s good for Don, nothing else matters. If you don’t agree, you’re scum.
3. We can’t get witnesses or transcript’s…Tell ya what, once every witness and piece of information that the White House has been subpoenaed for is received, we’ll call the whistleblower and Hunter Biden.
4. People have wanted to impeach Trump since his election…you’re correct, but it was up to Trump to give them a reason…and he did.
5. Ukraine got what they were asking for, and the Biden investigation was never announced so there’s no quid pro quo…First, there is still #35 million being held back so they haven’t received everything they’ve asked for. And if only successful crimes are acknowledged, why are attempted murder and attempted bribery crimes prosecuted?

 But I’m not there, and the obvious isn’t enough. I believe that this is truly a time for prayer.

1969

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Moon Landing, Woodstock and my High School celebration. In 1969, the most important event of the three to me was my graduation. The 50^th Class Reunion will be held this coming weekend in my hometown of Worthington.

Although I am not attending, I can honestly say that there is nobody that I wouldn’t be glad to see. We were lucky to have a class of good people. We all played the roles that our peers determined for us, and it seemed to work pretty well. Even though we all left the nest and were able to redefine ourselves, I’ll miss seeing people fall into their old roles. Everyone will be trying to recognize each other through Mother Nature’s make-up job.

More than being lucky to be part of this class, I am extremely grateful to be part of this time in History. I couldn’t have asked for a better time to be alive. David and I both agree, that, though it sucks getting old, we’re at least getting old at a good time.

Our parents were coming off surviving the greatest war in history and just wanted a normal life. Home with a yard, two kids (unless if you were Catholic) a car and a good job. Ward and June Cleaver were poster children for what everyone wanted to be. Most women didn’t wear dresses with full skirts and high heels at home, or white gloves and hats to go grocery shopping, but there were some that did.

As unimaginable as it seems now, we didn’t lock our doors when we left the house. We would leave the front door and all the windows open at night for “air conditioning”. The only security that we had was the hook lock on the screen door. What seemed the norm back then would be considered “asking to be robbed and murdered” today.

In the late 50’s we were there when Rock and Roll was rockin’ and rollin’ across the radio airways and in jukeboxes. We learned the current fashion trends and dance moves by watching American Bandstand every Saturday. If we went out that night, we left the folks at home watching Perry Mason and Gunsmoke.

We spent a lot of time on the phones with our friends, but unlike today, we would have to hang up to go to the bathroom…nobody had a cord that long. And a baked potato was a luxury because it took so long to bake.

And then there were the 60’s and 70’s. That was a remarkable time to be able to say, “I was there”. You didn’t have to be in the movement to know it was happening. Seeing music and hearing colors was available as well as smoke filled rooms with tie dyed sheets hanging on the wall. There are many of us that can dispel the “fake news” that taking LSD would result in babies with one eye and a tail, a fact my oldest child is also grateful for.

The music, the psychedelics and the hippie movement were much more than just entertainment…it was a cultural change. The fights were for peace, and racial integration. The songs were filled with love, hope and battle cries for peace. Songs like “What’s That Sound”, “Eve of Destruction” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion” are as relevant today as they were back then. If we had not stopped off at Woodstock on the way to Washington DC…we could have made even more of an impact on the culture of government. It’s now up to our spawn to fight to regain the inroads we did achieve that are being destroyed by the present administration.

The 80’s and 90’s gave us adulthood, responsibilities and accepting the fact that in order to survive successfully, we would all have to embrace the establishment we fought  so hard against. It’s difficult to “never trust anyone over 30” when you’re nearing your 40^th birthday!

In the 21^st century we have moved into a world we could never have imagined. We now have in our lives items that we only thought were available to the Jetsons. Everything is instant and not everyone has embraced technology and the “cloud”. The members of our generation will be the last that can live the life they’ve created without all the new-fangled devices… but we all know it can be done…because it was “in our day”.

So, when my classmates get together this weekend, I hope they look at the other old people there and smile, knowing we all shared some remarkable times. We are growing old together at an extraordinary period in history.  Behind those smiles, you should see a glimmer of appreciation that we were on this ride together…and what a ride!

To the class of ’69, I’m glad we all had tickets!!

I Loved Calamity Jane

In the light of the recent mass shootings, I am reprinting my post from June 19, 2017. Sadly, two years later…and nothing has changed! DDWS

Gun control is an issue that truly challenges my sense of logic. I do not understand how so many people have legal access to weapons and go on to commit murder. The vetting system must be very similar to the one used to select Trump’s administration and cabinet.

I am not opposed to gun ownership for hunting that is legalized. The “hunter and gatherer” instinct is one that I really appreciate in those individuals that still feel the call. My favorite uncle was a Game Warden in the Black Hills of SD. He had a gun for every season.

He never used a semi-automatic rifle when hunting Bambi’s dad, and he never quieted Thumper with a gun that had a silencer. He entered the “hunt” with an appropriate weapon for hunting the “in season” prey. His favorite part was hunting on “their turf” and absorbing the nature around him. It was as fair a fight as he could create.

As a true hunter, his goal was to bring home the venison and he did, which we all enjoyed…in many forms…for a very long time.

I would never want to take this experience from anyone. Think about it. If we didn’t kill the deer, we’d be watching “Planet of the Elk”.

His job was that of an “Animal & Nature Cop”.  His responsibility was protecting endangered plants, sites and animals. I’m thinkin’ we should add Human Beings to that “Endangered Species List”.

As for self-defense, I again just believe we must re-evaluate not eliminate this “right” and reason to own a gun. When the authors of the Second Amendment in The Bill of Rights wrote it, they were in a different time and a different world. Face it, if you need a semi-automatic weapon to protect your home, you should probably move. In today’s world, they may have qualified which “arms” you could own and required you to take the CLEE test before issuing you a license.

CLEE is an anagram for Compassion, Logic, Education and Experience. It’s a test that is conceptually mine, and still needs creation and legislation.  I believe if someone scores 80% or above in at least 3 of these categories, they’ll probably be approved.

The Education and Experience segments are questions specific to whatever it is that you are getting a license for. (ex: Do you know how to use a gun? and, What have you done with guns before?). The Compassion and Logic are general human nature questions (ex: Do you value human life? and, Why is is bad to hurt other people?).

The way the world is going, we may need this test for drivers licenses too.

This makes sense to me more than whatever the system is now. I don’t want to take people’s gun rights away, I just want the right people to get them.

I know my concept has an ice cube’s chance in Hell to ever  materialize under Trump. Face it, if there’d been a CLEE test for “presidential candidates” he would’ve scored low, if at all, in all categories.  Regardless, , he still would have gone on to get elected…while we waited for him to release his test results.

OUR BAD

We are on the verge of war, and I believe this time, we started it. Iran is accused of shooting down a drone of ours, supposedly over neutral water. Now, we wait with bated breath, to see how our leader Vladimir Putin wants this to play out.

You heard me right, I believe Vlad is calling all the shots, and pulling all the strings on his puppet(s) in the White House. He wants to be King of the World, and the leaders of the US are helping him achieve it.

His fingerprints are in many countries around the globe. Venezuela and Britain are two recent examples, but Russia has actually been accused of meddling in the affairs of at least 27 countries since 2004. (Note: Vlad was a former intelligence officer who came into power on August 9, 1999. hmm).

I’m not going to discuss in detail all the changes made regarding US affairs that have been manipulated by Russia, but there are many and they are alarming.  They range from alienating and insulting allies, to embracing dictators and cut throats. Lines are being redrawn regarding religion, race, sexuality and financial status that generations before us fought and died to erase. Under his leadership, regulations that were put into place to save our planet and our lives have been eliminated. Vlad gave Don a magic marker to use and told him where and how to use it. Unfortunately, he didn’t tell Trump how to connect the dot of imposed tariffs to the dot showing  the effect on us common folk.

One more point of interest. Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate accord in 2017, although 197 other countries signed it. Earlier this month he told Prince Charles that the US had a “clean climate”, and it wasn’t our problem. As one of the 13 countries that did not sign it, Russia is one of the largest polluters.  Putin’s view of the issue…” climate change is not man-made, and we should adapt to it”. Great minds….!

Back to Iran. I believe that in order to keep the world whirling and off balance, Vlad decided that a good war would shake things up…but he only wants to watch from the sidelines in his tower in the Kremlin.  These are the moves that he may have directed Trump to take.

“First, create lack of trust in your own intelligence community. Do not have any competent people in positions of authority in your cabinet, and make sure you have someone that loves a good war as your National Security Advisor.

Now, let’s get a distraction going. Go after Iran…and goad them. I love how you do that.”

Iran was a likely target for Putin to put into the sights of Trump’s’ gun. They are viewed as an underdog that is untrustworthy by most of the world. Now they appear to be antagonizing us and aggressively going after us by bombing ships (actually Japanese ships) and now shooting our drone down.

I have doubts that Iran is responsible. I think there is a good chance that these attacks are being conducted by someone who would like to see us at war with Iran. It would unite the Americans behind a new enemy (taking the attention away from how destructive, corrupt and inept Trump is), while helping the Russian economy since they supply the majority of weapons to Iran.

I hope sanity is somewhere in Washington, and they slow down the escalation with Iran and look at the bigger picture.

I guess you could say that the American White Hat has been thrown onto the ground, stomped on and kicked to the side. We have been dethroned as the Good Guy and now look like a bully looking for a fight.

Money, Money, Money

I can’t tell you how many times the theme song from Trump’s Apprentice TV show has played in my head the past 2 years. It is a song from 1973 by the O’Jays called “For the Love of Money.” That in a nutshell tells us what drives Trump… money, money, money.

I have been saying since the beginning, it’s all a business to him. Every time he has been put into a position to defend some illogical, idiotic and unethical decision he’s made, he puts a dollar sign on the issue. It’s either costing us too much, or we’re making a fortune…depending on the topic.

As the web of financial intrigue that Donny’s caught in begins to unravel, it will astound us how many directions the labyrinth goes.

To better understand what I think Donny has been involved with, I am using an example of what can happen in a legal arena. A friend of mine has an adult son who owns a few legal marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas. He is doing great business and making tons of cash. The problem for him is that he has nowhere to put his profits since selling marijuana is still a Federal crime, and no banks will take his money. As one solution, he has purchased real estate in the form of homes for himself and his relatives.

Now move to the illegal world of Trump. Buyers connected to Russian or former Soviet republics have made 86 “all-cash” purchases (totaling nearly $109 million) at 10 Trump branded properties in Florida and New York City. Many of these purchases were made using shell companies designed to obscure their identities.  Hmmm.

In October of 2016, Donny sold a $40 million estate in Florida to a Russian Oligarch for $100 million…in cash. We’ve either got to believe that Aleksander Burman wanted Trump to reap and keep a $60 million profit…OR…Don laundered the money so that Alek could get to it. Now, multiply this by 86, and you can see how deeply Trump is caught in the web. And this is only Russia and Trump

Add to that Jared Kushner’s involvement with Saudi Arabia in forcing Qatar to loan him $184 million for his property at 666 Fifth Avenue ( The address seems appropriate). Not only were they bullied into the loan, but they also took out a 99-year lease on the property.  There are many more questionable relationships involving the Trump clan, this just scratches the surface.

It has become apparent that Trump and his cohorts are more afraid of the loan sharks than they are concerned for the integrity and future of our country. Hey, the Prince MSB made it clear of what happens when you tick him off. And don’t forget about the Russian poisoning episodes.

The next few weeks will expose how corrupt the people involved are. We will see the infamous tax forms and see how the money was moved. I hope we discover where the money has been invested. My fear is that it either went to buy America from under us, or is somehow used to play with and distort the stock market. This saga is just beginning.

In spite of the many attempts to discredit our entire legal system, I believe our system will prevail. Mueller has become the knight in shining armor, and I am ready to witness his hero act.

Ironically, the title of the theme song that Trump chose for his signature song is based on a Bible verse…1 Timothy 6:10 – which states that money is the root of all evil.  Another case of, ’cause the Bible told me so.