THAR HE BLOWS

I have had enough of the blowhard Trump. He has no grasp on reality. He sees himself as the savior, the best of everything rolled up behind one big mouth that when he talks he sounds like what comes out a behind. He speaks in bullet points without any thing to back up what he says.

“They are gonna love me.” Who? Has any world leader come forth to say they like Trump? None yet. None ever! Any member of Congress said they love Trump? None yet! Putin says “Nyet.” The president of Mexico is setting aside millions to pay for Trump’s wall – NOT!

What the Donald doesn’t understand is that the United States in not a business. It is a country. Ask Mousolini – oh, he was thrown out. I want a diplomat to run this country. The diplomat that gets to run the U.S. can surround themselves with the best and the brightest business people. You cannot lose sight that this is a country not a corporation. I refer to 2008. Look what the “business geniuses” did. Granted we did not see or we failed to grasp the impact that NAFTA and other trade agreements would have, but the business geniuses did and pushed hard for them.

They shout that China took our jobs, Mexico took our jobs, India took our jobs. No one took anything, they were sent over by the business geniuses that say we have to bring back our jobs. All talk – no action except to keep exporting the jobs.

Trump says he has millions of dollar overseas that he would like to bring back to the U.S.  A few years ago the U.S. created an amnesty so that overseas money could come back and the money would be used for investment and jobs. BUT, the rich got richer as the money was used, not for jobs, not for investment but for dividends. So, ask the Donald how he would channel all that money. Probably back to the three stooges – oh, those are his kids.

He says that he will have the biggest and strongest military in the world. Don’t tell him that it already exists. Our defense spending is more than the next nine super powers combined. Yes, there is waste – and a lot of it. Reign that in. Every time we cut the defense budget or reduce the number of bodies in uniform the our leaders are branded as weakening our security. How many nuclear powered subs do we need? Or aircraft carriers? Or fighters, even ones we don’t need (F22) or want?

The Donald, to use his description, is a disaster waiting to happen. He will get rid of the ACA and replace it with what? No, not a single payer system, but the “best the world has ever seen.” according to him.

Thank you Mr. President for not killing any more of our kids in battles we don’t need to be in. He says we don’t have good leadership. I might agree with that but who is he speaking about. The President, the cabinet, the members of Congress, the Supreme Court, our Joint Chiefs of Staff our military commanders, who?

After hearing his announcement speech I envisioned  the Mexican government at the airports in Mexico asking all drug dealers to step forward and gave them first class tickets to the U.S. Rapists and murders next in line to be sent here with special visas requiring them to only perform the tasks that they were set here for – rape and murder. The Donald is a schmuck.

The best and brightest immigrants are already here. But he wants to round them up and send them back just like they did in Europe in the 30s and 40s. He says he visited the border and saw drugs pouring in. There is an entry lane, ask him, he saw it,  just for drug smugglers. Wow, I have been to the border and never seen that. That doesn’t mean that drugs do not cross the border, it means that he has no idea of what he is talking about. That is also true of all of his positions.

He wants to tear up the Iran agreement. The U.S., China, Russia, Germany and France negotiated this. Ask him. He is a better negotiator than all of them. (The Donald is a schmuck). He wants to have a war because if you don’t there is no market for bombs, bullets, grenades and other tools for killing. No war would be a disaster – for his friends.

I have Muslims, Mexican and other ethnicities working for me. Sounds like the statement, “Me prejudiced, some of my best friends are ________!” Fill in the blank.

The Donald has the best brightest people ready and willing to work for him when he becomes the president. Name one. When I was a child and didn’t eat my dinner my other said that there are kids in Europe that are starving, and one day I asked, “name one.”

The Declaration Of independence claims that we are nation of the people for the people and by the people. We are not a nation for profit, dividends and to enrich the few from the sweat of the many. I want a statesman as a president.

To be a great leader you have to have some humility. Look at Lincoln, look at Kennedy, Eisenhower, Clinton and others that when they made a mistake they owned up to it. The Donald, though he does not have a big papal hat, (big head, maybe) is infallible. Pope Donald. Just ask him.

I repeat, the Donald is a schmuck! But he is just one of them in a narrowing field as they drop off the Bozo Bus.

That is my take – you decide.

I WONDER WHAT . . .

Did you ever wonder what had happened to people from your past.  Some you hope they had good lives, prosperous and healthy lives. Of course, everyone has some bad stuff happen but the bad stuff for those people you hope would have been not too bad.


I got a message through Facebook some months ago that kind of floored me – someone out of my past asked if I was the guy she was trying to contact ( right out of the Lily Tomlin act – is this the person to whom I am speaking?) I was and I was also delighted to get that communication.

There were guys I grew up with that I would love to meet them, even today, in dark alley with a bat in my hand. But every time I meet someone like that it turns out that I hope they had a rubber ball for stick ball and the bat was for play. How long can you hold a grudge even if the last memory of them was them kicking the crap out of you? Getting even is always the goal. When given the opportunity, getting even is not what it is cracked up to be.

For example, I had a business partner that stole from me. He was also planning to leave me high and dry with a lot of debt. He didn’t but he did steal and that left the venture in jeopardy that we partnered in. I was pissed and hurt. Fast forward about 15 years I had occasion to track him down. He moved from a nice town back east to a lesser town.  He was divorced and remarried. When I got to him I had a thriving business had a very good reputation in my industry. Still do! I was travelling

I got a message through Facebook some months ago that kind of floored me – someone out of my past asked if I was the guy she was trying to contact ( right out of the Lily Tomlin act – is this the person to whom I am speaking?) I was and I was also delighted to get that communication.

Someone once said that living well is the best revenge. I didn’t have to say a word, I got even.

Over the years I often wondered what happened to ______________ (insert a name). Girls I met in Maine or in college. Guys that I met in school and were in the same club and later the same fraternity.  A few guys that I did basic training with or did my combat training with in Missouri. Not all but a few, I wonder where they are and how they are. And for the most part, if they are still on this planet I hope that life is treating them well (there are some exceptions, but it pays not to dwell on the negative).

Recently I had an opportunity to visit someone out my past – way past, 59 years past.  She found me on Facebook. I got a communication from her and over the next month or two we e-mailed, texted and talked on the phone. Trying to get caught up on six decades is not easy, it is nearly impossible. She invited me to come to her city on the eastern part of Canada. While, for many reasons it did not seem like a good idea at the time, the idea grew on me. I needed a change of scenery, a positive experience (see my article on the “Not (so very) Merry Month of May.)

What could it hurt? We can catch up on each other’s life. Compare notes, eat some good food, drink some good wine – for five days. I called her then sent my flight information and it was nearly midnight she was at the airport to pick me up. I knew immediately who she was as I have a recent photo that she sent. Sixty years can change a person, her as well as me.  The smile and the hair was almost the same as it was in 1956.

That beautiful young teenager is now a beautiful older woman with sixty years of life lived since the day at the beach.

For the next five days we talked and we talked and we talked as we toured her beautiful city that she knew so well. I told her about my wins and losses in life. My children, grandchildren, daughters in law and the sons in law. Where I live and how I live, were subjects that we explored thoroughly and she did the same. I learned about her section of the city and the beautiful ethnicity of the neighborhood that is reminiscent of eastern cities. I almost felt at home.

I learned about her children and their accomplishments. Her son that decided that he wanted to save children’s lives and became a successful pediatric oncologist. He  even practiced in Southern California before going to Atlanta. The pride in her eyes was so evident  and the pride in her voice was electric. The sadness came through as she described the one di ease that he battled in children he could not win – he died of cancer in the prime of his life.

I learned about her daughter and the granddaughter that brought major smiles to her face. There are so many personal details that I cannot or would not share here. Suffice to say, that six decades comes with so many emotional events, so many highs and so many lows and we are the result of that process of living with that reflects in our eyes. It makes us who we are today not who we were then.

What happened to ________________ and where is _______________ now?  Great questions that when you get the answers you realize one thing. You were born to live your life, not other’s lives.

 That is my take - you decide!