tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57939826957090724072023-10-22T02:23:09.297-07:00It's a G ThingJust a girl.
Her name is Gretchen.
A day in the life of an American girl.Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.comBlogger1035125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-12501847569156849652022-07-16T15:49:00.000-07:002022-07-16T15:49:31.125-07:00It's about if, when, whatever Thing and Just a Girl Starting Something, Anything, as long as it's good<h2 style="text-align: left;">Dear <span style="font-family: inherit;">America</span>,</h2><div style="text-align: left;">when are you going to write again? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>when?</i> she said, with a wee bit of disdain.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">SO it's official. Having a midlife crisis. Which is really great news considering that sets the intention of living to be 120. What? It's been done before.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, here's the caveat -- I shudder to think I have another sixty coming my way. How did the world get so complicated? How did the world get so upside down? Our founders had such a good ole time setting the standards, now look at us. Look At Us.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course the biggest news of late has been the recent decision reversing a travesty -- Roe v Wade.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As if.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The left is acting as if the sky is falling, having no idea that the decision in the seventies was really so out of place, out of character, out of what the founders envisioned altogether. But that's beside the point. Oh my god, how dare we allow states to decide by virtue of the people living in that state.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Why does it have to be all or nothing? Why can't we live among grey area and be totally content?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So we have "women's rights" when it comes to abortion -- but take swimming, for example, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/trans-woman-thomas-nominated-ncaa-woman-year-award-2022-07-16/">forghettaboutit</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When is it totally okay to designate a person of male biology a woman's award? <i>When?</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So in other words,</div><div style="text-align: left;">I have no idea where I'm going.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I have no idea where America is heading.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I'm okay with that.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh my goodness, it's been so long since I tapped on the keyboard under the scope of my sweet little G thing. All I really was aiming for was a return to the keys...a return to my head... a return to a part of me that nobody really pays attention to. It's kinda out of body, out of mind, out of this world.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">so here's my little niblet of advice from the Great White Spirit:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #ff00fe;">Live Tranquilly in God</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #ff00fe; text-align: center;"><span> </span>Patience really means confidence in God, knowing that God has you in His care. God, the Great White Spirit, is all around you and in you and is working out a wise and beautiful purpose in your soul. Do not live with the feeling that you must get over the ground as quickly as possible to reach a certain point. Just live every moment, every hour, every day, tranquilly in the protective love of God, taking the hours as they come and doing one thing at a time, quietly.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And I guess that's it; gonna call it a day.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Nothing fancy, there is that. </div><div style="text-align: left;">And I'm okay with that. My life has never been about fancy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's always been about getting things done; whether getting through things, getting over things, it's about getting it done, figuring it all out. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">oh my gosh...have totally forgotten how I sign things off it's been so long.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Heavy sigh.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Make it a good day,</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>G</i></div></div>Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-23578000352223584942021-03-08T11:36:00.001-08:002021-03-08T11:36:26.104-08:00It's a Half Year Later and on the Verge of a Brand New Year Thing<h1 style="text-align: left;">Dear America,</h1><div>So it's been awhile, hasn't it. </div><div>No question about that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last blog was published August 12, 2020; and isn't it just too bad so sad that not much has happened since then.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>yeah</i>...exactly. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hardly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Half a year later and America has witnessed some of the most tumultuous months in modern history.</div><div><br /></div><div>Between the pandemic and the presidential election -- consequences of which America has been profoundly changed -- this is a time of reckoning, rebound and/or total bust, depending upon one's point of view. The politics of everything has infringed upon our natural cultural graces, having now escalated to an elevation that, for the most part, common man can no longer see common ground. Our <a href="https://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/unum.html">e pluribus unum</a> is becoming less and less about our oneness and more and more about our separateness with the arrival of each new day, a travesty of the unimaginable kind.</div><div><br /></div><div>So much so, we have even modernized the terms to more easily describe what's going on -- from <i>snowflakes</i> (via Google: "a 2010s derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of uniqueness, an unwarranted sense of entitlement, or are overly-emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions.")<span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span>to <i>cancel culture -- </i>(from wiki:<i> </i>"a pejorative expression describing the use of boycotts and public shaming to hold people accountable for offensive words or actions, including attempts to have them removed from their jobs or from public platforms like social media.") </div><div><br /></div><div>Everything has a hashtag, too! From <i><b> #metoo</b></i> to #justice to #blacklivesmatter to #justiceinpolicing to # #caresact, <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/12/10207922/social-justice-movements-2020-covid-black-lives-matter" target="_blank">every movement and every meme</a> has had its day of rising to the surface, bubbling over with instagram postings, tiktok twerking, and sparking social media offensives worthy of outsmarting any defense. One person can take another person out in a nanosecond; nothing is safe from being branded -- from insensitive cultural appropriation to just plain stupid. And sometimes, its just <a href="https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-interview-oprah-prince-harry-biggest-bombshells/" target="_blank">one person's word</a> against another. The truth? God only knows. </div><div><br /></div><div>As if #politicalcorrectness is ever #correct.</div><div><br /></div><div>Poor poor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/books/dr-seuss-books.html" target="_blank">Theodor Geisel</a>, am I right?</div><div><br /></div><div>The old G Thing here just so happens to have a book autographed by the late, great, Dr. Seuss -- it's called, <u>Happy Birthday to You!</u></div><div><i></i></div><div><br /></div><div>And having said that, I'm reminded of the reason why I'm jumping back into<span style="color: #ff00fe;"> <i>this Thing called G</i></span> in the first place. I have a birthday coming up. And it's a big one.</div><div><br /></div><div>A big one not in the usual sense...it's not a nice round number, capping off a decade. Nope.</div><div>It's the <i>final</i> <i>year</i> before capping off such decade, and it seems to be allowing me a certain vantage point that has prompted me into making it a big deal with each new day that comes my way. And given we are talking about sixty years in the making, I have written a list of sixty things I wish to accomplish over the next year -- covering everything from the mundane to the sublime, I've included things like professionally steam cleaning my floors and carpets to eating more scallops,</div><div><br /></div><div>It's simply a list to remind me of the things I love and/or love to do, and remind me to do more of it. In other words, this present decade and all that it encompasses is not going down without a fight, nor is the next one not ringing it without fireworks and mouthwatering Buona Forchetta pizza!</div><div><br /></div><div>I will talk to trees more, but more important, listen to what they have to say right back. </div><div>I will eat more scallops, but more important, give thanks for the little devils simply being on my plate.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will write again, recognizing how much I have missed it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will make more Sunday dinners.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will set course for the making of fifty-nine and something turn into fifty-nine and something something beautiful in every stretch of the imagination. It's just a number anyways.</div><div><br /></div><div>In some ways, I feel like I have only just begun.</div><div><br /></div><div>IF this next year is anything like this past year....oh Lordy, are we in for a treat.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps, I'm still taking into account the effects of <a href="https://konmari.com/" target="_blank">marie kondo</a>...granted, she was without a doubt, the biggest influencer of my 2017. What a year, what a year it was. Nothing wrong with a whole lot of tidy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, not to be outdone -- 2014 and 2018 were equally remarkable, forever etched in my mind bookending my girl's four years of college. And now, as if wonders never cease, that girl is fully established in both career and in love.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, it wasn't all gravy, baby, but now I find myself just rambling. And there is no point to rambling with a point, right Joe (that being directed to Joe, the newly elected president of these fine United States of America). Save more on him for another day for sure.</div><div><br /></div><div>Besides, this is all about setting the compass for home. This place, this blog, is my home away from home. And what I wish for most is for more days like this...tapping my fingers to the keyboard, contemplating this thing called life, and documenting this very day...day after day. </div><div><br /></div><div>For nothing, nothing, ever stays the same. And thank God, right?</div><div>The thing is, if the climate can so easily change, then there is hope for us yet.</div><div><br /></div><div>I look forward to reveling in the changes this new year brings me -- with you or without you -- it doesn't really matter. teehee </div><div><br /></div><div>Today is simply about being a half year later and on the verge of a brand new year and THAT is something to celebrate. (yup, it's the small things)</div><div><br /></div><div>Until next time,</div><div><b><i><span style="color: #ff00fe;">Make it a Good Day,</span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span style="color: #ff00fe;">G</span></i></b></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-63071129997429274002020-08-12T13:35:00.004-07:002020-08-12T13:35:55.387-07:00It's About the Smile Under My Mask Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
"We either make ourselves happy or miserable. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The amount of work is all the same."
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Carlos Castaneda</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
indeed<br />
<br />
speaking of work...this girl has been in throes of adjusting to major life changes, having taken a union job at a local grocery store! Yes, you heard me correctly -- this girl a officially a card carrying member of a union, something I never saw coming, no question.<br />
<br />
Whatever.<br />
Having lost my nanny gig at the onset of the pandemic, I had to immediate find employment. And while most companies were forced to work remotely, and even other companies had to entirely close its doors, grocery stores were of the few opportunities available. So yes, I jumped on that like white on rice (available on aisle two, section 12, rows 1 - 4, on the right).<br />
<br />
I'm play a minion part within a large corporate chain; I punch in on a time clock upon arrival, going to lunch, returning from lunch, and at the end of the day; I get paid weekly; and after four months of hard labor, must still await the six month mark to be eligible for any benefits. Oh, and I start my day at 3 a.m...pretty much six days a week.<br />
<br />
And I strangely love it.<br />
<br />
I get up about two a.m. with my french press already filled with the daily grind and only awaiting for the tea kettle to fulfill its duties to get into some hot water. My lunch, breakfast, depending upon how you look at it, is fetched from its overnight chill and placed in a small cooler, while I've popped a bagel in the toaster. It's up and atom and out the door, aiming for about 2:22 each morn (not that I fret if I'm off a wee bit, it just seems to be about the time I make my exit into the night). All in all, this allows me to arrive in the store parking lot in time to enjoy about 15 minutes of sipoing coffee and soaking up the moonshine amidst the abundance of peace and quiet before the hustle bustle of the day shines through and then some.<br />
<br />
Truth be told, I think this crazy hour has become my favorite time of day. Just me and God, having a moment all too ourselves. And it is good.<br />
<br />
But no rest for the weary, a paycheck doesn't come about once a week for nothing (wait, unless you're on unemployment... bada bump ba). (But we ain't got time to talk about that right now...save for another time and place).<br />
<br />
Anywho,<br />
Each day, I hit the ground running, concrete floor and all, from the moment I step foot inside the automatic doors, meeting up with a welcoming committee of a rather brisk temperature, universally recognized as super cold, along with a spattering of night crew, each up to their eyeballs with product lining the aisles, cardboard and sheets of plastic strewn about, with the accompaniment of cheesy canned music bouncing off the walls from produce to the freezers to the deli and back again...nothing escapes this gawd awful collection of tunes that is repeated over and over again, day after day. nothing.<br />
<br />
And strangely, I love it.<br />
<br />
While at the end of the day, I am often carefully recorded as having clocked five to six miles, walking the store, handpicking grocery orders, with only a half hour lunch in the middle of it. This store takes everything I got out of me, every single day; and proud to say, that after only a few months, my arms and abs and legs are the most toned in years. Can you carry two twelve packs of Coca-Cola under each arm, place them in the cart, only to have to unload, once to a holding bin awaiting pick up, and in the second, to do it all over again to take them to someone's trunk... like multiple times in a day, and still keep standing? Yeah, that's what I thought. It might be said that I should be paying them for the personal training coming free of charge, but I'll never tell. wait, maybe I just did. ah, who are we kidding, it's not like the ole G Thing ever goes viral like the covid, right.<br />
<br />
People thank me daily for my service, and I'm like, really? seriously? say what?<br />
um. awkward. <br />
According to me, G, that phrase should only be used for true heroes -- like our service men and women all across the globe, or, perhaps even more timely, our police departments nationwide. ah, yes, indeed, (That would also be a good conversation to have right about now. But, not today. I'll save that for another time, too.)<br />
<br />
And even though my department is dealing with some gnarly growing pains these days, I can strangely admit that I still love it. I love it all. The smile under my mask tells it all, I'm sure.<br />
<br />
Today's day, here on the old G thing, is simply about making an observation about humanity.<br />
<br />
And a scroll to the top of the page will sum it up quite nicely. Castaneda is so right.<br />
<br />
We are always at choice, no matter the set of circumstances, to set our attitude straight.<br />
<br />
It is the same amount of work to be happy or miserable, indeed, indeed.<br />
<br />
How powerful a statement is that?!<br />
<br />
I see it play out, at work, every day; those who arrive miserable, stay miserable, and work their misery to the bone day in and day out. I see it play out at work all the time. It's rather exhausting, really, That part of my day I could surely do without.<br />
<br />
I can't be bothered with that nonsense. All I want to do is work my ass off, give the people what they want, and go home at the end of the day fully satisfied with a good hard day's work. And besides, I'm just so grateful to have the job in the first place!<br />
<br />
In this time of Covid -- amidst the nightly protests for Black Lives Matter -- amidst absurd calls to de-fund the police -- amidst schools moving entire classrooms to online learning -- amidst the turmoil in the headlines -- I feel so blessed to begin my day in the peace and quiet of a parking lot, communing with nature and God and the elements, while all the rest of my community is still resting under the covers in sweet slumber. <br />
<br />
For most people, it's a rare occurrence to entertain the night while the rest of the world sleeps.<br />
<br />
But for me, I'm lapping it up every twenty four, and strangely, I love it. I'm smiling under my mask right now. wait. not wearing a mask at the moment...now in the sanctity of my home, and sitting here, communing with my blog for the first time in months. Oh, what a joy it is.<br />
<br />
Life is strange. It has so many turns, a winding road that leads us this way and that way all the days of our lives. You are just as surprised as I am that this girl has taken a Union job...go figure.<br />
<br />
But what is it that I've been saying...oh, right...<br />
<i>strangely, I love it. Indeed, I do.</i><br />
<br />
Not sure when I'll have a chance to come back, but when I do, trust me -- it will be on the heels of eight hours, six miles, four hundred items picked, all beginning at two o'clock in the morning.<br />
<br />
two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?<br />
<br />
A hard day's work.<br />
<br />
LOVE it.<br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: magenta;">Make it a Good Day, </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="color: magenta;">G </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-82711732575072979862020-04-01T11:18:00.002-07:002020-04-01T11:18:38.897-07:00It's of Infectious Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: magenta;">Infectious Thoughts for Good, Unite</span></i></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i>originally composed and published for PARADE readers, and distributed throughout the nation in local newspapers,</i> sharing with you this morning <b>A Prayer For The World</b>, by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Let the rain come and wash away </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>held and nurtured over generations. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Let the rain wash away the memory </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>of the hurt, the neglect. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Then let the sun come out and </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>fill the sky with rainbows. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Let the warmth of the sun heal us </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>wherever we are broken. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Let it burn away the fog so that </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>we can see each other clearly. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>So that we can see beyond labels, </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>beyond accents, gender or skin color. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Let the warmth and brightness </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>of the sun melt our selfishness. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>So that we can share the joys and </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>feel the sorrows of our neighbors. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>And let the light of the sun </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>be so strong that we will see all </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>people as our neighbors. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Let the earth, nourished by rain, </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>bring forth flowers </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>to surround us with beauty. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>And let the mountains teach our hearts </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>to reach upward to heaven. </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>Amen.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: center;">and for more inspiration, sharing<i> <a href="http://createsend.com/t/t-14D31C2A772126EB2540EF23F30FEDED">Maria Shriver's recent post</a> --</i></span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Lato, "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif !important; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5 !important; padding: 0px !important;">
We are all in uncharted territory. I knew this to be true as I sat Thursday evening watching the Governor of California issue a historic “stay at home order” for the entire state for at least one month. As I watched the press conference, I felt the seriousness of the moment. The projected statistics were sobering, and as I listened, I could feel the anxiety and the fear rising up in me. I sat for a moment on my couch unsure of what to do or what to think. Then I closed my eyes to remember the dawn of that very morning.<br /><br />When I opened my eyes after my meditation, the sun was breaking through the trees. It was actually beautiful. It appeared like a crystal shooting rays through branches. As I looked, a thought popped into my mind: We are all—each and every one of us—a diamond, a crystal, a ray of sunshine in another person’s life. We are each desperately needed at this moment. Our light is needed. Our ray of hope is needed. Our joy will make someone’s day. We’ve got to know that.</blockquote>
<br />
<i>sharing</i><br />
<br />
<i>sharing</i><br />
<br />
let's just think about that word for a moment -- from sharing the burden of a worldwide, community virus to sharing the words of hope to get us through it, we are sharing everything. Some might say, we are sharing at a deeper level than ever, perhaps in ways similar to that of September 12, 2001. (And what a <i>Day After</i> that was for the nation.)<br />
<br />
The connections we truly share with one another, every single day, whether through avenues of a bustling economy connecting main streets from sea to shining sea -- or through the avenues of mindfulness...the essential responsibility of passing on a good education in each new generation, to the depth and breadth of celebrating our religious independence while congregating with one another within our spiritual communities -- sharing a certain connected-ness with one another is as vital as our daily bread.<br />
<br />
<i>Oh we get it now (again.)</i><br />
<br />
Sharing this sea change with all the world is becoming a tumultuous affair -- it's overwhelming, really. <br />
<br />
We truly need each other more today than we did yesterday.<br />
<br />
Imagining how free spirited we once were, whether it be in our words, our bodies, or our presence of mind...popping off on twitter just doesn't seem all that essential right now, does it?<br />
<br />
The sun is struggling to come out from behind the clouds and make things aright once more.<br />
<br />
We will get there.<br />
<br />
Just not exactly the way we thought...perhaps taking a little longer than we thought...perhaps looking a little darker before it becomes a little brighter, than we thought.<br />
<br />
We will get there.<br />
<br />
With a little help from <i>the Rabbi and Maria</i>, we are reminded of both the power of prayer and the transformative power of using our words in the express purpose to encourage, enlighten, and illuminate the spirit inside each and every one of us to move forward together, harmoniously, e pluribus unum, while sharing the one common denominator shared by all -- that here, and now, that there by the grace of God go I. <br />
<br />
What happens to one of us effects, affects, infects, and connects us all.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-88267502674085925642020-03-23T11:33:00.000-07:002020-03-23T12:23:35.961-07:00It's to the simple Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"Though it may feel otherwise, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">enjoying life is no more dangerous </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">than apprehending it </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">with continuous anxiety </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">and gloom." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> #286, Alain De Botton, writer, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">from a little book of inspiration,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> <u>"Nothing is worth more than this day"</u> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">by Kathryn and Ross Petras</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
so just to be clear, there are a lot of winners in today's pandemic climate...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Number one on that list might just be the dogs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In our neck of the woods, it was common, in the middle of the day especially, to see dog walkers taking the household fur-man out for their midday stroll. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It was just okay. </div>
<div>
It was just the best a dog could get some days. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For the very lucky dogs, the mama of the household carried out the task, crossing that off her list in short order before moving on to the next thing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>NOW</i> -- not only is the dog walker taking a leave of absence, the mama is joined by her other half, and kids, if they have any. And the dogs, oh they are looking so deliriously happy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Prediction, when the worst of this season has passed, the dogs of this world will need a round of pet therapy to cope with the return to the way we were...</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Take Out is a winner, too.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you have that In N Out urge, there is a drive thru open to satisfy it -- and in So Cal, it's available until about 1 am! IKR</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After the last couple of weeks staying close to home, that spin through the drive thru made me feel human again. Not to mention, there is just nothing like In N Out; and I will gladly debate that topic until the cows come home.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That cheeseburger with grilled onions -- what a gastronomical sensation. Yes, many swear by the Double Double, but the simplicity of a single layer of the perfect cheese to meat ratio, wrapped up with that greasy smear of onions, lathered in thousand island, and nestled between two toasted buns and accompanied with a healthy helping of cold, crispy lettuce and tomato is where its at, baby. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ah, I ate it so fast. Too fast. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I just might have to circle round again today. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>What else?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Guessing Nestle's Toll House Morsels are up there on the winners list. Everybody is home and who doesn't love a freshly baked batch of chocolate chip cookies? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Might just add that it's not just baking that's up -- but that grilling, roasting, broiling, boiling, frying, sauteing, flambeing, and chillin' are all at an all time high. Bon Appetit must be so proud of all of us right about now, and the nation of foodies they we have become. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With many a cheap meat in my fridge, honing in on the foods to feed an army for at least a month -- I have already done my share of recipe searches for the proper way to cook a London Broil, as well as, hundreds of ways to cook the tried and true pork butt. The boys in the house favor to call it a pig's butt, but I think of that as being rather crude; with that kind of talk, might as well go all the way and call him Wilbur while you're at it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, in just the first few days of panic, our local Vons was cleaned out of every meat known to man, from the little piggy's to the wagyu beef. Talk about shock. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The butcher is restocking, but slowly. The store is asking patrons to only shop for a week's time, to allow for the whole community to find something to eat. I think people are abiding, unlike that order from our governor to Shelter in Place.........</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
seems Californians all had the same idea in mind over this past weekend -- to<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/23/us/california-stay-at-home-beach-goers/index.html"> hit the beach.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, it was glorious outside. there is that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And yes, I'll admit I spent two days in a row either laying still on a beach towel soaking up the sun or walking along the water's edge. It was the first couple of days of sunshine and warmth in quite some time. And besides, it's not like we all lined up next to each other and passed around the sunscreen..lots of space separated everybody. Matter of fact, if you encroached on the recommended six feet of social distancing between, that friendly smile across from you faded into a piercing stink eye in a heartbeat, even if you're kids went to the same school.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So dogs are winners.</div>
<div>
Nestle's Chocolate Morsels, winners.</div>
<div>
In N Out, along with all the other fabulous take out in the world...</div>
<div>
and the beaches of California....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Winning.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh and there is one more thing -- and really, this is where I should have started.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
God.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
God is winning. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Prayer is probably at an all-time high for this day and age.</div>
<div>
God working through human nature is winning -- building upon the principles and values that unite, console, heal and help, in order to bring us through to the other side of this pandemic is connecting the world of communities and families in demonstrative and amazing ways.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just maybe, we might be finding ways to change for the better when all of this is said and done.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Can we get by with less?</div>
<div>
Can we find happiness in the simple pleasures?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And although this may sound extreme, but just maybe we home school every child until the age of eighteen? It couldn't hurt.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Life, itself, is creative. And nothing is impossible with God.<br />
<br />
A go to a phrase that has nearly become cliche these days, <i>'we're all in this together'</i> -- delivers a nugget of absolute truth. We are all in this together. And what has become also crystal clear, is just how connected we are, altogether. Our lives, our lifestyles, have been built in and upon a highly social structure; from restaurants and bars, to fitness clubs and sports, to congregating at church. our arena of choice in most every culture, and especially here in America, is one of being together, through thick and thin,<br />
<br />
How delicate and elaborate an economic ecosystem we have among our diverse and unique collective of people, of enterprise, from the small business (99% of all business) to corporations; it's like a Jenga tower of Babel in backgrounds, biography, and breed. and each relying upon the other to continue to participate. The laws of circulation, the laws of attraction, the laws of abundance, are continuously, and magnificently, and intimately connected all the live long day. We feel it, even when a fraction of us falls down. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And even though I may be rambling here at the end of this day, it's a good ramble. The thoughts in my head are overflowing with possibilities, choices now endless, as every day carries with it the opportunity to improve upon the day before, large or small, for each day is precious.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the last two days, squeezed in the hours leftover after sunbathing and beach walks, I have shredded every unnecessary piece of documentation that I have hoarded in my office for the last two years; and I have disposed of the lemon tree -- clearly showing signs of being on its last limb -- after thirteen years of faithful production. Of course, it leaves this planet along with a grateful heart of every tart, roasted chicken, and batch of lemonade that came with it, and then some. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
It's roots were so root bound, it made me sad. I had no idea that this poor dwarf of a lemon tree was basically surviving through a respirator, by the looks of it. Timely ironic.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And what a relief it was to take it out of its misery. It was time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
New beginnings are welcome here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Out with the old, in with the new. Dust out the cobwebs, including the lovely Charlotte, and free the energies for something greater, if only for a healthier, more sanitized, sparkling new attitude.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To everything, there truly is a season.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even as I sit here gazing out the window to the deck, assessing the lemon tree void, it feels okay.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And sometimes just okay, is okay. </div>
<div>
<br />
really.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-83955477387569317692020-03-12T09:29:00.001-07:002020-03-12T09:29:35.611-07:00It's a Pandemonium Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"There are some days </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">when I think I'm going to die </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">from an overdose of satisfaction." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.thedaliuniverse.com/en/salvador-dali/quotes"><span style="color: magenta;">Salvador Dali</span></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>and yet others</i>, it's the coronavirus.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
yeah, not even sure why I'm jumping into this blog today, of all days, and especially after a couple months of utter silence. But it is, after all, the<i> Day After</i> an <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/trump-in-oval-office-address-announces-travel-ban-from-europe-amid-coronavirus-fears-put-politics-aside">Oval Office address </a>to the nation. There is that. (Go ahead and fact check it.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The critics are harsh this morning, alive with fresh fodder, and picking apart Trump's every word, limb by limb. I'm surprised they haven't added sound affects. It seems <i>the Left</i>, from journalists to congress, would rather have this president and leader of the free world fail than applaud his efforts, even if that were to mean giving the upper hand to a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/11/814474930/coronavirus-covid-19-is-now-officially-a-pandemic-who-says">global pandemic</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cue up pandemonium.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ah! but they forget how Trump gets things done. He's like, <i>oh, it's on.</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>Russian collusion? Nope</i></div>
<div>
<i>Election interference? Nope</i></div>
<div>
<i>Quid pro quo with Ukraine? Nope</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>Ah, we got him now -- covid-19 -- this should put a nail in his coffin.</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
Of course! the media wants you to believe that all the president did last night was add confusion among the prevailing winds of woe and anxiety. <i>W.H.O.'s on first, what's on second, let's just end the day on the fact that complete and utter disaster is looming and even our president is stoking the fire for alarm. </i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>eeghads</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
Yes. <a href="https://bangordailynews.com/2020/03/09/business/what-past-pandemics-can-teach-us-about-stock-market-swings/">Market volatility is to be expected.</a> Basically, after the initial shock and awe, it's like a big, big whoop within six months time. And besides, most people who play in the stock market are in it for the long haul.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes. A little inconvenience and extra cautionary measures is self-explanatory and just plain proper, the right thing to do when<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/dr-mehmet-oz-5-coronavirus-survival-action-steps-you-can-take-right-now"> living in community with one another</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And one day, this, too, shall pass.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Does it really rise to the level of rushing out to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/health/toilet-paper-shortages-novel-coronavirus-trnd/index.html">stock pile toilet paper</a>?<i> seriously?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
what a trip to be in the head of one Salvador Dali...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Did you know there is such a thing as <a href="https://www.thedaliuniverse.com/">The Dali Universe</a>? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's another Dali-svengali-esque guote -- </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Wars have never hurt anybody except the people who die."</i> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
yeah, it's a little dark for such a cheerful morning. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is, in the wake of all this woke global pandemic, from academia to sporting events to any gathering where two or more are gathered for whatever reason, one thing's for sure and for real -- the contagion of fear is highly mobile, crosses oceans, and spreads news, whether true or false, faster than you can say boo.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What is the narrative our media -- let alone the entire universe of the W.H.O. -- wants you to hear?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What -- or who -- is the force that we should be most afraid of?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What's so wrong with having a fighting spirit, to not only meet this pandemic face to face, but crush it, even if that means total suspension of entry into the United States from places where the epidemic has run amuck?</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Is it still okay to be happy in our day to day, even after hearing the news of both Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson coming down with the illness?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When it's this hard to make heads or tails out of any of this, all I want to do is crawl under a rock and stay there.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
oh it's just another day, a day in the life of an American girl. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Make it a Good Day, </b></div>
<div>
<b><i>for it might be your last</i>, </b></div>
<div>
<b>G</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-8739059587909342642020-01-28T13:15:00.003-08:002020-01-28T13:15:51.822-08:00It's About Thoughts and Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Thought Crimes, the saga continues</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
From <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/480206-dershowitz-bolton-allegations-would-not-constitute-impeachable">The Hill</a>, both of them:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Let me repeat: Nothing in the Bolton revelations, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
even if true, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
would rise to the level </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That is clear from the history. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
That is clear from the language of the Constitution...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You cannot turn conduct </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that is not impeachable </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into impeachable conduct </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
simply by using words like </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
'quid pro quo' and 'personal benefit,'"</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
indeed</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is -- this is about giving Congress the license to bury an administration simply on grounds that they do not like the policy, foreign/or domestic, or based upon personal likes or dislikes...and that simply should never happen. In this country, all grievances of an administration are settled by the people, at the voting box, not by the feelings or agenda of the House of Representatives. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The phone call, itself, is crystal clear. There was no deal made, no quid pro quo for dirt on Joe. Did the president wonder what in fact happened between Joe, the private investigator, Burisma, and the Ukraine officials? Yes. Indeed he did, as any president should, given the optics of nefarious deal making with a foreign entity, seemingly only benefiting the Vice President's family.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bottom line: Ukraine got the aid. Who really cares if it was even put on hold? It's American aid to a foreign country. And besides, it's not even the governments money -- it's the people's money. Perhaps we should consider putting holds on all kinds of foreign aid across the globe, like, stat? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hate to break it to y'all, but we really can't afford it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Speaking of which, how does Bernie -- now the democratic front runner -- plan to pay for all the benefits he is promising? Free college, college debt paid off, free Medicare for all, yadi yadi yada...with what seems to be a price tag of 60 TRILLION dollars over ten years? Something like that. And this isn't even taking into account all the boomers hitting the Social Security rolls over the next generation, or the number of people who will surely be added to food stamps when they lose their job under a Sanders Administration.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is insane.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And Bernie doesn't even want to discuss it. He's like, I don't need to tell you how it all pencils right now. Because he knows, it doesn't. It will never pencil. There is not enough money in all the world to pay for it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Reality check: America is already over 23 Trillion dollars in debt, and climbing. <a href="https://www.usdebtclock.org/">See the clock.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just love looking at this clock...</div>
<div>
Please note some of the other numbers -- like, the total <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/01/10/unfunded_govt_liabilities_--_our_ticking_time_bomb.html">UNFUNDED LIABILITIES</a>. This is referring to things the American government has promised to pay in the future....things like Social Security, government employee and veteran pensions, benefits negotiated for Medicare, Medicaid.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To cover just the unfunded liabilities from here on out -- with nothing new added -- we are currently at over $127 TRILLION dollars. This equates to roughly $387 THOUSAND dollars per person. PER PERSON! DO you have that kind of money? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let me answer that for you, according to the US Debt Clock, personal debt in this country totals over 20 Trillion dollars, equating to just shy of $62,000/citizen. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we put this indebtedness together -- the unfunded liabilities, per person, along with the personal debt, per person, we arrive at a total of nearly $450,000 for every American citizen! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And Bernie wants to add to our indebtedness with a whole lot more of "free" stuff????</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This stuff doesn't come free; it is anything but!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This indebtedness, <i>these promises</i>, only burden every man, woman, and child into perpetuity, and whatever comes after that!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's called ball and chain vs free rein.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's called lack vs abundance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's called unimaginable weight upon every shoulder vs peace of mind, body, and soul.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And more than that, history proves, socialism does not work ....literally. Physically, it does not work. Figuratively, it only works in our imaginations. Economically, it does not work, let alone add up. And more than that, it does the opposite of what anyone, including Bernie, says it will do, individually and collectively.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Socialism has never worked.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Other than that, it's a great system for 330 million people of all walks of life, to dream and imagine that it will solve all our problems.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And can you just imagine if all of this nonsense actually goes down? Take, for example, this dad hitting up Elizabeth Warren with some <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-warren-meets-an-irate-dad-11579910428">unintended consequences</a> of her plan to pay off college debt...after he has worked two jobs to put his daughter through school the right way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
enough said.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We can return to the story of the first grader coming home with a pillow case full of candy after his first Halloween, and he's asked to distribute equal portions of all of it to each of his siblings who didn't trick or treat the night away. <i>say what, </i>he says, grumbling with every loss, from the pack of Skittles to each and every break of that KitKat bar.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In other ramblings on this day, this girl used to like John Bolton. I used to think he was solid, mindful of war and policy and negotiation with both friendly neighbors and ruthless enemies. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Boy, does that boy have an ax to grind; how juvenile not to wait until after the election to market his new book. As if. As if he could change the facts of the matter.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let's refresh.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's the<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf"> phone call</a> that supposedly started it all <i>(again)</i>.</div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>It's a lot of thanks, equal admiration between countries, equal perceptions of other countries (like Germany, and France), a lot of can you find out more, let's talk again, let's find out about what really happened for the benefit of both our countries, we will talk, it's all good, thank you so much...</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
There was absolutely no muscle, no threat to withhold aid, no cost of doing business between the two countries, in any way, shape, or form.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And second, Adam Schiff is a compulsive liar. He lied to the media/public right from the start. First about Russia and the dossier, and now about this. He not only created the narrative, he managed to invent all kinds of things in this phone call that did not even happen, and the media just accepted it as truth.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This House Impeachment is on TWO counts: Abuse of Power and Obstructing Congress, culminating months of hearsay from the whistle-blower after the so-called whistle-blower blew the whistle to Adam Schiff's office. (Same Schiff who has repeatedly lied that they have no idea who the whistle-blower is.) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If any president, or person, for that matter, can be found guilty of high (thought) crimes and misdemeanors -- and in this case, making him guilty of impeachable offenses, simply for <i><b>thinking about</b></i> committing a crime, or <i><b>contemplating</b></i> actions that <i><b>some may deem</b> </i>an abuse of power, or <i><b>entertain a fleeting thought</b></i> to secretly undermine our nation's security through ways of bribery or extortion, corrupting the integrity and honor of this fine nation -- then where are we really as a society? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Left continues to wage war upon President Trump's intentions, what he was really thinking, what he really wanted to do, how he really wanted to get the dirt on the Biden's at any cost, or else. The truth is, reality didn't really play out like that, did it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Is it really time to bring out the thought police? Is this where we are at, really? <i>really?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is, Congress is obstructing its own body by acting in ways unbecoming of a congress, and i turn, not getting a single, meaningful thing accomplished for the American people.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the second thing, the true Abuse of Power is <b>this gigantic waste of time</b> called an impeachment trial, given that it is based upon nothing more than hate, and lies. Lots and lots of lies. The House simply hates who is living <i>next door </i>in the White House, and they won't stop the abuse until he is totally, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nancy-pelosi-used-dozens-of-customized-pens-for-impeachment-articles-2020-1">ceremoniously</a>, vacated.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That, my friends, is called interference with an election.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bolton, guilty. Schiff, guilty, Pelosi, guilty. Schumer, guilty. And the beat goes on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All of them should be impeached so we can move on and get back to the business of making America great, again and again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But then again, </div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You cannot turn conduct </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that is not impeachable </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
into impeachable conduct </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
simply by using words like </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
'quid pro quo' and 'personal benefit,'"</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
so that's this day in the life, over and out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-69951215695495487032020-01-22T10:06:00.001-08:002020-01-22T10:06:09.007-08:00It's to the Optimists of the World Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The difference between </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">a flower and a weed </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">is a judgement. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">-- unknown</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
whoa nelly, </div>
<div>
what happened to the last thirty days?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
well, wrapped around the holidays, the nation's capital has been fixated upon the Articles of Impeachment generated from the House, and now, the trial itself, only just beginning in the Senate. All the while, President Trump continues to do his job.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
From the economic forum in Davos, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-world-economic-forum-davos-switzerland/">Trump</a>:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote>
This is not a time for pessimism; this is a time for optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good thought process because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune-tellers — and I have them and you have them, and we all have them, and they want to see us do badly, but we don’t let that happen. They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the ’70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s. These alarmists always demand the same thing: absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty. America will always be the proud, strong, and unyielding bastion of freedom. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
In America, we understand what the pessimists refuse to see: that a growing and vibrant market economy focused on the future lifts the human spirit and excites creativity strong enough to overcome any challenge — any challenge by far</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
The speech was good. Worth reading.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The ability for any one of us to bear witness, to actually see the good in our economy, seems to rest in a personal judgement. Translation: for better or worse, America's future will be a direct result of which thought pattern wins. Our collective mindset must resist any form of pessimism, and see the flower; for this power of belief creates our world into the world in which we live, word by word, thought by thought, without fail. It's falls under the rule of the natural law of attraction -- and it happens with, or without, consent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's good to be back today.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2020 is well on its way and it's not only going to be a great year, it's the beginning of a fresh decade! For myself, <i>this American girl</i> is hosting her own economic summit! Hearings have only just begun,..but the thing is, I feel good! SO excited about what this year holds for me, for only good will come of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And my wish for you is just the same, for every thing under heaven begins with a thought, so make it good. And may the optimists win.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-70328720330720747462019-12-20T09:10:00.000-08:002019-12-20T09:10:25.600-08:00It's about an Imperfect Impeachment Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
so hi</div>
<div>
it's been awhile.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
some people have been all but consumed by the impeachment process over the last couple of months; while others have ignored it altogether. Depending upon where your mind was already made up, most Americans have not shifted one bit on where they stand...related to this travesty afoot.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
for myself, I've been all but consumed by the callings of my life, and haven't given much time or thought towards the House hearings, let alone the recent decision to impeach this president from nothing but made up hearsay and partisan gobbledygook.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
but given this is a diary of America, and given I haven't uttered a single word for weeks now, perhaps it is best to say something to mark this day in the life of America, for better or worse.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and lo and behold, when, what should my wandering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh... delivering a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-marine-one-departure-76/">PERFECT</a> letter<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/letter-president-donald-j-trump-speaker-house-representatives/"> to the speaker...</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">The Honorable Nancy Pelosi</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Speaker of the House of Representatives</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Washington, D.C. 20515</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Dear Madam Speaker:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">I write to express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachment crusade being pursued by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation, or jurisprudence. They include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, you are violating your oaths of office, you are breaking your allegiance to the Constitution, and you are declaring open war on American Democracy. You dare to invoke the Founding Fathers in pursuit of this election-nullification scheme—yet your spiteful actions display unfettered contempt for America’s founding and your egregious conduct threatens to destroy that which our Founders pledged their very lives to build. Even worse than offending the Founding Fathers, you are offending Americans of faith by continually saying “I pray for the President,” when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense. It is a terrible thing you are doing, but you will have to live with it, not I!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Your first claim, “Abuse of Power,” is a completely disingenuous, meritless, and baseless invention of your imagination. You know that I had a totally innocent conversation with the President of Ukraine. I then had a second conversation that has been misquoted, mischaracterized, and fraudulently misrepresented. Fortunately, there was a transcript of the conversation taken, and you know from the transcript (which was immediately made available) that the paragraph in question was perfect. I said to President Zelensky: “I would like you to do us a favor, though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.” I said do us a favor, not me, and our country, not a campaign. I then mentioned the Attorney General of the United States. Every time I talk with a foreign leader, I put America’s interests first, just as I did with President Zelensky.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">You are turning a policy disagreement between two branches of government into an impeachable offense—it is no more legitimate than the Executive Branch charging members of Congress with crimes for the lawful exercise of legislative power.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">You know full well that Vice President Biden used his office and $1 billion dollars of U.S. aid money to coerce Ukraine into firing the prosecutor who was digging into the company paying his son millions of dollars. You know this because Biden bragged about it on video. Biden openly stated: “I said, ‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars’…I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.” Even Joe Biden admitted just days ago in an interview with NPR that it “looked bad.” Now you are trying to impeach me by falsely accusing me of doing what Joe Biden has admitted he actually did.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">President Zelensky has repeatedly declared that I did nothing wrong, and that there was No Pressure. He further emphasized that it was a “good phone call,” that “I don’t feel pressure,” and explicitly stressed that “nobody pushed me.” The Ukrainian Foreign Minister stated very clearly: “I have never seen a direct link between investigations and security assistance.” He also said there was “No Pressure.” Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a supporter of Ukraine who met privately with President Zelensky, has said: “At no time during this meeting…was there any mention by Zelensky or any Ukrainian that they were feeling pressure to do anything in return for the military aid.” Many meetings have been held between representatives of Ukraine and our country. Never once did Ukraine complain about pressure being applied—not once! Ambassador Sondland testified that I told him: “No quid pro quo. I want nothing. I want nothing. I want President Zelensky to do the right thing, do what he ran on.”</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">The second claim, so-called “Obstruction of Congress,” is preposterous and dangerous. House Democrats are trying to impeach the duly elected President of the United States for asserting Constitutionally based privileges that have been asserted on a bipartisan basis by administrations of both political parties throughout our Nation’s history. Under that standard, every American president would have been impeached many times over. As liberal law professor Jonathan Turley warned when addressing Congressional Democrats: “I can’t emphasize this enough…if you impeach a president, if you make a high crime and misdemeanor out of going to the courts, it is an abuse of power. It’s your abuse of power. You’re doing precisely what you’re criticizing the President for doing.”</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Everyone, you included, knows what is really happening. Your chosen candidate lost the election in 2016, in an Electoral College landslide (306-227), and you and your party have never recovered from this defeat. You have developed a full-fledged case of what many in the media call Trump Derangement Syndrome and sadly, you will never get over it! You are unwilling and unable to accept the verdict issued at the ballot box during the great Election of 2016. So you have spent three straight years attempting to overturn the will of the American people and nullify their votes. You view democracy as your enemy!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Speaker Pelosi, you admitted just last week at a public forum that your party’s impeachment effort has been going on for “two and a half years,” long before you ever heard about a phone call with Ukraine. Nineteen minutes after I took the oath of office, the Washington Post published a story headlined, “The Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun.” Less than three months after my inauguration, Representative Maxine Waters stated, “I’m going to fight every day until he’s impeached.” House Democrats introduced the first impeachment resolution against me within months of my inauguration, for what will be regarded as one of our country’s best decisions, the firing of James Comey (see Inspector General Reports)—who the world now knows is one of the dirtiest cops our Nation has ever seen. A ranting and raving Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, declared just hours after she was sworn into office, “We’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherf****r.” Representative Al Green said in May, “I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected.” Again, you and your allies said, and did, all of these things long before you ever heard of President Zelensky or anything related to Ukraine. As you know very well, this impeachment drive has nothing to do with Ukraine, or the totally appropriate conversation I had with its new president. It only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Congressman Adam Schiff cheated and lied all the way up to the present day, even going so far as to fraudulently make up, out of thin air, my conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine and read this fantasy language to Congress as though it were said by me. His shameless lies and deceptions, dating all the way back to the Russia Hoax, is one of the main reasons we are here today.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">You and your party are desperate to distract from America’s extraordinary economy, incredible jobs boom, record stock market, soaring confidence, and flourishing citizens. Your party simply cannot compete with our record: 7 million new jobs; the lowest-ever unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans; a rebuilt military; a completely reformed VA with Choice and Accountability for our great veterans; more than 170 new federal judges and two Supreme Court Justices; historic tax and regulation cuts; the elimination of the individual mandate; the first decline in prescription drug prices in half a century; the first new branch of the United States Military since 1947, the Space Force; strong protection of the Second Amendment; criminal justice reform; a defeated ISIS caliphate and the killing of the world’s number one terrorist leader, al-Baghdadi; the replacement of the disastrous NAFTA trade deal with the wonderful USMCA (Mexico and Canada); a breakthrough Phase One trade deal with China; massive new trade deals with Japan and South Korea; withdrawal from the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal; cancellation of the unfair and costly Paris Climate Accord; becoming the world’s top energy producer; recognition of Israel’s capital, opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; a colossal reduction in illegal border crossings, the ending of Catch-and-Release, and the building of the Southern Border Wall—and that is just the beginning, there is so much more. You cannot defend your extreme policies—open borders, mass migration, high crime, crippling taxes, socialized healthcare, destruction of American energy, late-term taxpayer-funded abortion, elimination of the Second Amendment, radical far-left theories of law and justice, and constant partisan obstruction of both common sense and common good.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">There is nothing I would rather do than stop referring to your party as the Do-Nothing Democrats. Unfortunately, I don’t know that you will ever give me a chance to do so.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">After three years of unfair and unwarranted investigations, 45 million dollars spent, 18 angry Democrat prosecutors, the entire force of the FBI, headed by leadership now proven to be totally incompetent and corrupt, you have found NOTHING! Few people in high position could have endured or passed this test. You do not know, nor do you care, the great damage and hurt you have inflicted upon wonderful and loving members of my family. You conducted a fake investigation upon the democratically elected President of the United States, and you are doing it yet again.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">There are not many people who could have taken the punishment inflicted during this period of time, and yet done so much for the success of America and its citizens. But instead of putting our country first, you have decided to disgrace our country still further. You completely failed with the Mueller report because there was nothing to find, so you decided to take the next hoax that came along, the phone call with Ukraine—even though it was a perfect call. And by the way, when I speak to foreign countries, there are many people, with permission, listening to the call on both sides of the conversation.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">You are the ones interfering in America’s elections. You are the ones subverting America’s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Before the Impeachment Hoax, it was the Russian Witch Hunt. Against all evidence, and regardless of the truth, you and your deputies claimed that my campaign colluded with the Russians—a grave, malicious, and slanderous lie, a falsehood like no other. You forced our Nation through turmoil and torment over a wholly fabricated story, illegally purchased from a foreign spy by Hillary Clinton and the DNC in order to assault our democracy. Yet, when the monstrous lie was debunked and this Democrat conspiracy dissolved into dust, you did not apologize. You did not recant. You did not ask to be forgiven. You showed no remorse, no capacity for self-reflection. Instead, you pursued your next libelous and vicious crusade—you engineered an attempt to frame and defame an innocent person. All of this was motivated by personal political calculation. Your Speakership and your party are held hostage by your most deranged and radical representatives of the far left. Each one of your members lives in fear of a socialist primary challenger—this is what is driving impeachment. Look at Congressman Nadler’s challenger. Look at yourself and others. Do not take our country down with your party.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">If you truly cared about freedom and liberty for our Nation, then you would be devoting your vast investigative resources to exposing the full truth concerning the FBI’s horrifying abuses of power before, during, and after the 2016 election—including the use of spies against my campaign, the submission of false evidence to a FISA court, and the concealment of exculpatory evidence in order to frame the innocent. The FBI has great and honorable people, but the leadership was inept and corrupt. I would think that you would personally be appalled by these revelations, because in your press conference the day you announced impeachment, you tied the impeachment effort directly to the completely discredited Russia Hoax, declaring twice that “all roads lead to Putin,” when you know that is an abject lie. I have been far tougher on Russia than President Obama ever even thought to be.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Any member of Congress who votes in support of impeachment—against every shred of truth, fact, evidence, and legal principle—is showing how deeply they revile the voters and how truly they detest America’s Constitutional order. Our Founders feared the tribalization of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Worse still, I have been deprived of basic Constitutional Due Process from the beginning of this impeachment scam right up until the present. I have been denied the most fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution, including the right to present evidence, to have my own counsel present, to confront accusers, and to call and cross-examine witnesses, like the so-called whistleblower who started this entire hoax with a false report of the phone call that bears no relationship to the actual phone call that was made. Once I presented the transcribed call, which surprised and shocked the fraudsters (they never thought that such evidence would be presented), the so-called whistleblower, and the second whistleblower, disappeared because they got caught, their report was a fraud, and they were no longer going to be made available to us. In other words, once the phone call was made public, your whole plot blew up, but that didn’t stop you from continuing.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">You and others on your committees have long said impeachment must be bipartisan—it is not. You said it was very divisive—it certainly is, even far more than you ever thought possible—and it will only get worse!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">This is nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup that will, based on recent sentiment, badly fail at the voting booth. You are not just after me, as President, you are after the entire Republican Party. But because of this colossal injustice, our party is more united than it has ever been before. History will judge you harshly as you proceed with this impeachment charade. Your legacy will be that of turning the House of Representatives from a revered legislative body into a Star Chamber of partisan persecution.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Perhaps most insulting of all is your false display of solemnity. You apparently have so little respect for the American People that you expect them to believe that you are approaching this impeachment somberly, reservedly, and reluctantly. No intelligent person believes what you are saying. Since the moment I won the election, the Democrat Party has been possessed by Impeachment Fever. There is no reticence. This is not a somber affair. You are making a mockery of impeachment and you are scarcely concealing your hatred of me, of the Republican Party, and tens of millions of patriotic Americans. The voters are wise, and they are seeing straight through this empty, hollow, and dangerous game you are playing.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">I have no doubt the American people will hold you and the Democrats fully responsible in the upcoming 2020 election. They will not soon forgive your perversion of justice and abuse of power.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">There is far too much that needs to be done to improve the lives of our citizens. It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American People. While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">Sincerely yours,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">DONALD J. TRUMP</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">President of the United States of America</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">cc: United States Senate</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;">United States House of Representatives</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
yup. <br />
that should do it. Talk about an imperfect impeachment. wow.<br />
<br />
so i guess that's it.<br />
have a nice day America.<br />
matter of fact, make it a perfect day.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a perfectly Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-- oops, wait a minute --</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Nancy -- what's with the lame </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/us/politics/impeachment-trump-senate-trial.html">procedural stalling </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/us/politics/impeachment-trump-senate-trial.html">of bringing the Articles of Impeachment</a> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
directly to the Senate? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
After all this, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
you aren't even going to </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
follow through with it? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosis-problem-dems-own-witness-says-trump-not-truly-impeached-unless-articles-go-to-senate">You've got to be kidding.</a></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-79471094158771161442019-10-30T12:38:00.000-07:002019-10-30T12:38:26.829-07:00It's in Honor of Philip Mathews and to the people who can relate Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"Observe the wonders </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">as they occur around you. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Don't claim them. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Feel the artistry </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">moving through, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">and be silent." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Rumi</span></div>
<br />
so not the blog <i>Just a Girl</i> intended to write...<br />
meets up with not the column <i>he</i> wanted to write....<br />
<br />
but often, when living in a reality where worlds collide or run parallel, in living color or specks of detail, this day is dedicated to that which we all share, as living humans, at the very core: the heart.<br />
<br />
Hearts breaking; hearts loving; hearts grieving; hearts celebrating; hearts memorializing...<br />
<br />
Just read <a href="https://patriotpost.us/alexander/66454-not-the-column-i-wanted-to-write-dot-dot-dot-a-young-patriot-departed-2019-10-30">Alexander's column</a>, as this girl calls it a day.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-47038540125812285762019-10-25T11:23:00.000-07:002019-10-25T12:34:43.418-07:00It's Raising the Barr Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"We have staked our future </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves..." </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics">Attorney General William Barr</a>, quoting Founding Father James Madison...in one of the best speeches to have ever been told. Location: South Bend, IN, at the University of Notre Dame.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And yet, this quote -- included in Barr's remarks just like so -- was actually taken from Madison's speech to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, in the year 1778, and went something more like this:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments of God."</span></blockquote>
<i>Alrighty then</i>.<br />
<br />
Now, in some respects, Barr was preaching to the choir; he is Catholic, and he was making his address before a room full of Catholics, and the like, so, there is that.<br />
<br />
And given Barr is living as an individual in this country -- he carries the same liberties as everyone else in this country -- he has the right to say what he wants to say, to believe in what he wants to believe, and to walk his talk in his daily life. And these liberties hold true no matter the audience, no matter if at work or play, for these liberties are all encompassing and walk with each of us, as individuals.<br />
<br />
And yet, as Barr emphasizes throughout his remarks, he notes how the nation is losing its religion across the board, across state lines, across the continent, and delves into making further observations as to what this truly means for America. And it isn't good.<br />
<br />
Barr says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On the one hand, we have seen the steady erosion of our traditional Judeo-Christian moral system and a comprehensive effort to drive it from the public square. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On the other hand, we see the growing ascendancy of secularism and the doctrine of moral relativism. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
By any honest assessment, the consequences of this moral upheaval have been grim.</blockquote>
and in about the next breath, details said consequences like so:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In 1965, the illegitimacy rate was eight percent. In 1992, when I was last Attorney General, it was 25 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. In many of our large urban areas, it is around 70 percent. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Along with the wreckage of the family, we are seeing record levels of depression and mental illness, dispirited young people, soaring suicide rates, increasing numbers of angry and alienated young males, an increase in senseless violence, and a deadly drug epidemic. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As you all know, over 70,000 people die a year from drug overdoses. That is more casualties in a year than we experienced during the entire Vietnam War.</blockquote>
And as the story of America unfolds, just how do we respond to our growing issues of a fallen, desperate, sick, morally corrupt, addicted society? We call in "the State to mitigate," as he says.<br />
<br />
Are you ready for it? Here it goes -- Barr, speaking to the mitigation process:<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
So the reaction to growing illegitimacy is not sexual responsibility, but abortion.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The reaction to drug addiction is safe injection sites.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The solution to the breakdown of the family is for the State to set itself up as the ersatz husband for single mothers and the ersatz father to their children.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The call comes for more and more social programs to deal with the wreckage. While we think we are solving problems, we are underwriting them.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
We start with an untrammeled freedom and we end up as dependents of a coercive state on which we depend.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Interestingly, this idea of the State as the alleviator of bad consequences has given rise to a new moral system that goes hand-in-hand with the secularization of society. It can be called the system of “macro-morality.” It is in some ways an inversion of Christian morality.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
Christianity teaches a micro-morality. We transform the world by focusing on our own personal morality and transformation. </div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
The new secular religion teaches macro-morality. One’s morality is not gauged by their private conduct, but rather on their commitment to political causes and collective action to address social problems.</div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9f4; box-sizing: border-box; color: #171e24; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em;">
<br /></div>
there it is:<br />
That thing called self-government, to govern ourselves accordingly, for the benefit of the whole.<br />
<br />
The truth is, this is a story as old as time itself. The Rise and Fall of Civilizations is nothing new, right? It's just new for America. <i> And just who could ever have imagined it would come to this?</i><br />
<br />
Well, for starters, heeding to another quotation [by Barr] of one of our Founding Fathers, John Adams -- our founders saw this day coming and made their own fair warning, right up front: “We have no government armed with the power which is capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”<br />
<br />
Which explains why things have become so unglued in less than twenty five years. The secular missionaries of the Left -- the radicals, progressives, socialists, community organizers -- have not only made secular advances in replacing, if not totally dismissing, the essential elements of religion in daily life, but have also made nearly routine, the unethical, amoral advancement of undermining the Constitution, itself.<br />
<br />
Without a smidgen of doubt, the use of judicial power from state to state, has grown into a leftist machine -- making radical changes to society without so much as a second opinion. As Barr notes, even Catholic institutions are being called out on being too Catholic, abiding by their faith too much!<br />
<br />
<i>AGAIN, just who could ever have imagined it would come to this?</i><br />
<br />
Let's head back to the year 1947, when a sociologist from Harvard wrote a book about just this topic, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Family-Civilization-Carle-C-Zimmerman/dp/1933859377"><u>Family and Civilization</u>, by Carle C. Zimmerman</a>. In simple, easy to understand words -- Zimmerman predicted this day would come, too...seventy-two years ago. Cataloged between the binding, Zimmerman frames the fall of civilization by the following characteristics:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>increased and rapid "causeless" divorce</li>
<li>decreased number of children, population decay, and increased public disrespect of parenthood</li>
<li>elimination of the real meaning of marriage, marital ceremony</li>
<li>popularity of pessimistic doctrines about the early heroes</li>
<li>rise of theories that "companionate" marriage, couples living together, and allowing for a permissible looser family form would solve the problem</li>
<li>the refusal to maintain family traditions</li>
<li>breaking down of most inhibitions against adultery</li>
<li>revolts of youth against parents, making parenthood more difficult</li>
<li>juvenile delinquency</li>
<li>common acceptance of all forms of sexual perversions</li>
</ul>
<div>
Our issues, in America, stem from this kind of breakdown of the family unit, in concert with losing our religion, which can only lead to fundamental and detrimental changes to society as a whole.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And, as you can well imagine, Zimmerman quickly lost all respect after this book was published; ostracized by his community of peers who believed to know better and, ironically, chocking up his warnings to that of near heresy. </div>
<br />
<br />
Ah, but Zimmerman was right. Along with all the other historians over all time, who not only recognized, but truly understood, just what the Fall of Man -- the fall of Civilization -- looks like, acts like, talks like, and walks like, no matter in the light of day or dark of night. And for some of us, this realization is historically made significant the day Jesus was nailed on the cross, and ultimately glorified by His resurrection <i>on the third day</i>.<br />
<br />
Barr continues speaking of faith, hope and love, much like that of a famous letter to the Corinthians...taking this address to great heights, while making clear of his intentions moving forward, being a man in his position -- the top attorney in all the land.<br />
<br />
There is some glimmer of light:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Because this Administration firmly supports accommodation of religion, the battleground has shifted to the states. Some state governments are now attempting to compel religious individuals and entities to subscribe to practices, or to espouse viewpoints, that are incompatible with their religion. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ground zero for these attacks on religion are the schools. To me, this is the most serious challenge to religious liberty. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For anyone who has a religious faith, by far the most important part of exercising that faith is the teaching of that religion to our children. The passing on of the faith. There is no greater gift we can give our children and no greater expression of love. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For the government to interfere in that process is a monstrous invasion of religious liberty.</blockquote>
<i>and continuing,</i><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We understand that only by transforming ourselves can we transform the world beyond ourselves. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This is tough work. It is hard to resist the constant seductions of our contemporary society. This is where we need grace, prayer, and the help of our church. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Beyond this, we must place greater emphasis on the moral education of our children.<br />
Education is not vocational training. It is leading our children to the recognition that there is truth and helping them develop the faculties to discern and love the truth and the discipline to live by it. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We cannot have a moral renaissance unless we succeed in passing to the next generation our faith and values in full vigor.</blockquote>
still<br />
it is all about transforming ourselves, one by one, from the inside out.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The fact is that no secular creed has emerged capable of performing the role of religion. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Scholarship suggests that religion has been integral to the development and thriving of Homo sapiens since we emerged roughly 50,000 years ago. It is just for the past few hundred years we have experimented in living without religion. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We hear much today about our humane values. But, in the final analysis, what undergirds these values? What commands our adherence to them? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What we call "values" today are really nothing more than mere sentimentality, still drawing on the vapor trails of Christianity.</blockquote>
<br />
indeed<br />
<br />
It's called raising the Barr, raising the bar, raising the Barr bar and it's all good.<br />
<br />
<br />
"THE FACT IS THAT NO SECULAR CREED HAS EMERGED CAPABLE OF PERFORMING THE ROLE OF RELIGION." Period.<br />
<br />
"What we call 'values' today are really nothing more than mere sentimentality, still drawing on the vapor trails of Christianity."<br />
<i><br /></i>
Which begs the question, <i>wonder how much longer it will last...this wee little vapor trail of Christianity, with the potential of vanishing into thin air almost any day now.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
At least we still got our Free Speech, right.<i> <a href="https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/08/the-assault-on-free-speech-continued.php">right?</a> <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/24/the-lefts-dangerous-assault-on-free-speech/">right?</a> <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2019/10/24/cape-elizabeth-student-wont-be-suspended-while-court-considers-free-speech-case/"> right?</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-13887632775937867032019-10-16T09:25:00.001-07:002019-10-16T09:25:36.693-07:00It's to the Power of John D. Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">“What gets measured gets managed.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
indeed.</div>
<div>
and while this day will turn out to be a different kind of day for the <i>ole G Thang, it will surely be a simple day to measure and manage.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
what started out as just a random visit, intending to be just in and out while checking in with an old muse of mine @The Art of Manliness -- a couple clicks later, I became fully engrossed in the reading of a short biography on <a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/john-rockefellers-keys-to-success/">John D. Rockefeller</a>. (Written by Brett and Kate McKay -- and first published in 2016; it was updated in October of last year).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing that caught my attention was the hook --<i> Be Your Own Tyrant</i>...and from there, this girl was thoroughly engaged to the very end. <i> And to muse upon the muse just briefly,</i> the post by the McKay's reflected their captivation with a book on Rockefeller, written by Ron Chernow. Thus, here we are -- thrice removed, <u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303">Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller</a></u>; the Art of Manliness: Be Your Own Tyrant; to little me, G. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And if I may be so bold -- it's real men like John D. who have made America what it is today.<br />
(teehee, there's a personal bit of wit in there, but you'll never know :)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="background-color: #f8f7f0; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f0e0d; font-family: vollkorn, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“I would rather be </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="background-color: #f8f7f0; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f0e0d; font-family: vollkorn, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">my own tyrant </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="background-color: #f8f7f0; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f0e0d; font-family: vollkorn, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">than have some one else </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong style="background-color: #f8f7f0; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f0e0d; font-family: vollkorn, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">tyrannize me.”</strong></div>
</div>
<br />
that makes a whole lot of sense. thank you, John D.<br />
<br />
<i>Be your own tyrant</i>...brilliant.<br />
<br />
From Practicing Persistence to Paying Attention to Details to Living Frugally (even after amassing great wealth), if you read nothing else today, let it be this.<br />
<br />
No, silly; not me. <br />
Stop reading me full stop and read the full post by the McKay's; but wait, there's more...click on the link directing you to Amazon and order the book, <i>Titan</i>...!<br />
<br />
These are the very things, the ideals, the motivations -- through the mind of John D. -- that truly are the key to success, that work equally and without prejudice, if applied daily.<br />
<br />
America's leaders need to be reminded about these things, especially that little thing at the top of the morning, "what gets measured gets managed." Our leaders hesitate to measure anything in real numbers, over real time, and that is a problem. More on that to come; the thing is, it may take days to finish my thoughts on John D....days. maybe even a lifetime.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-75593890297491295922019-10-15T12:02:00.000-07:002019-10-15T12:02:13.191-07:00It's True -- there is no governmental solution -- Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"...to decide the important question, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">whether societies of men </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">are really capable or not </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">of establishing good government </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">from reflection and choice..." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Alexander Hamilton, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The Federalist Papers, No.1</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To the <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed01.asp">first paragraph,</a> in its entirety:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">To the People of the State of New York:</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. <b>It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.</b> If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind. This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div>
I have started this morning's musings based upon the<a href="https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/clarence-thomas-lost-constitution/"> September issue of Imprimis,</a> the readers monthly from Hillsdale College. This month, featuring an adaptation of a speech made by Myron Magnet, the author of the book,<u> Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution</u>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Being just a few pages, it's surprisingly a difficult read; expect to become engulfed in a rather tight weave of the finer points of a few hand-picked Supreme Court cases -- dabbling in precedence, findings. and usurpation of the law, if any, and tying the knot with a brief biography of Clarence Thomas (advancing the belief, his grandfather saved him from a life of victim-hood and despair). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At the end, Myron confirms what Clarence Thomas grew to know firsthand, and what very well could serve as the saving grace in the days ahead: "there is no governmental solution."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Exactly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">..to decide the important question, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">whether societies of men </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">are really capable or not </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">of establishing good government </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">from reflection and choice..."</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
...in conjunction with the understanding that there truly is no governmental solution to most things.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As Magnet magnifies in his final words: "Regardless of race, everybody faces adversity and must choose whether to buckle down and surmount it, shaping his own fate, or to blame the outcome on powerful forces that make him ineluctably a victim -- forces that only a mighty government can master. The Framers' Constitution presupposes citizens of the first kind. Without them, and a culture that nurtures them, no free nation can long endure."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The establishment of good government requires that it's most precious content IS not only it's citizens, but good citizens -- good, honest, hard working, conscientious, kind, citizens, with the integrity and wherewithal to behave appropriately in all places in society, especially within the powers of government.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To that end, we have lost touch with this kind of service to God and to country. We have totally lost touch with establishing good government from reflection and choice. We have totally lost our sense of responsibility to be self-reliant, dependent upon the virtues and outcomes of what may come simply by being a nation elevated in good, decent <i>self-government</i>, fastening the security of a nation from one generation to the next.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This nation was intended to be built upon GOOD people. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
No law can take the place of just being good decent people; and every solution to our problems lies within our own, purely independent, power to change behavior. Like George said just <i>yesterday:</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”</div>
<div>
― George Washington</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm alarmed by what is happening in D.C. these days.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The more light shed upon the swamp, the uglier it gets. Our Framer's would be so ashamed of us.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just imagine how the history books will tell it in the years to come....speaking of which, while bouncing around La Jolla on Sunday, hitting an art show and the local farmers market, my baby and me walked into a used book store -- always a good move. Talk about falling down a rabbit hole and losing an afternoon amid musty bindings, and all the while sensing it would be a marvelous way to go, being buried in books with one wrong move (picture a game of Pick-up Sticks, only with volumes of good reads stacked to the ceiling and three rows deep).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lucky me, though, I came away with what is titled, the <u>Concise Dictionary of American History</u>. printed in 1962, by the Editors of Charles Scribner's Sons, New York (first printing in 1940). It amounts to about 1050 pages from A to Z and begins with what was called "A.B.C. Conference, which met at Niagara Falls May-July 1914, after Argentina, Brazil and Chile tendered mediation to prevent a conflict between the United States and the Huerta regime in Mexico" and ends with ZOUAVES -- "The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa, as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves, along with the indigenous Tirailleurs Algeriens, were among most decorated units of the French Army".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Put in another light -- this girl is proudly in possession of this <i>Concise Dictionary, </i>weighing in at all of 4.8 lbs,<i> </i>for only a dollar! And I haven't even got to the best part; its previous owner signed the inside cover -- <i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Leslie & Sam Hinton"</span></b></i> -- written in fancy script. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And, of course -- I had to Google it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lo and behold, discovered a sweet biography through<a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-16-me-sam-hinton16-story.html"> Sam's obituary</a> at the LA Times. He died ten years ago -- at the age of 92! -- after making La Jolla his home (apparently Leslie passed away five years earlier). In matters of context and life intersecting life, Sam died about the same time this thing called <i><b>It's a G Thing</b></i> came to be; Obama was president and we were knee deep in the creation of a brand new entitlement program, better known as Obamacare. And I just couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer, that summer of 2009, I just couldn't.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I can appreciate how Sam's life seemed a wee bit all over the place -- what a kindred spirit of mine, right. I loved this part about him, too: "In 1942, he became a director of the Desert Museum in Palm Springs. In 1943 he took a post doing war-related research at the University of California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. The research involved helping the U.S. Navy find better ways to carry the fight to the enemy or, as Hinton later put it, 'how to sink and not get sunk'.” The personal overlap of family ties to Palm Desert and the Navy solidifies that feeling of interconnected lives we all weave, all our lives. Indeed, <b style="font-style: italic;">how to sink and not get sunk...</b>familiar with that kind of old-school humor.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is -- <b>establishing a good government from reflection and choice </b>requires us to respect this kind of societal interconnection; every move we make bears an outcome, be it by one or by all.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Proving my ongoing theory meeting up with the amusing, age-old Monty Python skit-- <i>it's my theory, and mine alone, and my theory is that we connect in the beginning, disconnect in the middle, and reconnect in the end. </i>(say it with a slightly high-pitched British woman's voice)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Forward in my new <u>Concise Dictionary of American History</u> notes the following:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
"Twenty years and more have passed since the <i>Dictionary's</i> first publication, years full of event and shock, glory and anxiety, the widening of our horizons and the deepening of national responsibilities. Amid the complexities of our present course, a clear, accurate, unprejudiced knowledge of what we have been and what we stand for is demanded of every intelligent American. Realms of knowledge which were once comfortably regarded as of value only to the teacher and scholar are now of immediate importance to us all. Those for whom the <i>Dictionary of American History</i> was originally planned -- thinking, concerned men and women who wanted to know the facts of our national being so that they might make their present judgments with wisdom and without prejudice -- are counted no longer by the thousands but by the tens of thousands..."</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The more history changes, the more history stays the same.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
yet, again, there is emphasis on the thinking, concerned men and women -- this thing called reflection and choice continues to come up, no matter what happens. And event and shock, glory and anxiety continue to play together, politely like taking turns. The widening of horizons and the deepening of national responsibilities ever clear, ever present, and ever more important.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yes, There it is again, that called anxiety. It's like I'm back to the good old days,<a href="http://www.its-a-gthing.com/2019/10/its-to-real-crisis-concealed-thing.html"> running on a theme</a>.</div>
<div>
<br />
Deep, deep breaths.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Everything will be okay, eventually. <br />
For a good start -- just aim for being good, in general.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-90937463762366660042019-10-10T10:45:00.000-07:002019-10-15T08:36:08.034-07:00It's to the Real Crisis Concealed Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"Do not be anxious in anything, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">but in everything, by prayer and petition, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">with thanksgiving, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">present your requests to God. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">And the peace of God, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">which transcends all understanding, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">will guard your hearts </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">and your minds in Christ Jesus."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">the Apostle Paul, near the end of his address </span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;">to the Philippians (Ch. 4:6-7)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
can I get an amen?</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
― George Washington</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you, George. Love that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along to being more to the point, probably my favorite verse in the whole Bible, comes in the advice immediately following. So to the Apostle Paul speaking to the Philippians one more time:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praise worthy-- think about such things, Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you," (Philippians Ch. 4:8-9)</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are anxious days in America. Newsflash: again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While my <u>Jesus Calling</u> of daily devotions noted this just today: "Don't divide your life into things you can do by yourself and things that require My help. Instead, rely on Me in every situation."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To which my reply is, <i>yes, please. </i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
Summer is over. </div>
<div>
And given this stark reality -- my responsibilities to family, job, service organization, my own welfare, have collided into a whirlwind of activity from dawn until dusk. But strangely enough, I'm finding that the more I slow down, the more I can accomplish; to be sure, this girl is venturing to capture the very essence of less is more in all things no matter where life takes me. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And to that end, the sheer demand of being present with one thing at a time has allowed me to meet this intersection -- this continuously running four-way stop, juggling day to day things, pulling me this way, and that way -- without collision, and without so much as a ding (aside from the rather off-putting run-on sentence) (cuz it's what I do!) (what ever) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's not me; it's letting God do God's thing with me. What's the point in fighting it anymore; truth is, there is nothing that I do all by myself that I do very well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along some more...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And this is just my observation (duh) -- but America, as a whole, seems to be in this place. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
No, Not the position of letting God to God's thing...<span style="font-size: x-small;">as we slip further and further away from<b><i> that day</i></b> in the life of America, losing our religion and all...</span>; but the place called <i>collision</i>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And never you mind the logic, or the dictionary, but this place <a href="https://patriotpost.us/alexander/66005-the-demo-double-standard-when-digging-for-dirt-on-trump-2019-10-09">called collision</a> happens to appear<a href="https://patriotpost.us/alexander/60005-the-mueller-slash-comey-slash-clinton-collusion-to-take-down-trump"> just after collusion</a>. I know. weird, right?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Those links, plucked from my one of my favorite things -- The Patriot Post -- just gives a nice snapshot of the scene of the accident. And to have it make sense, you need to read the second link before the first. k? And if you have already read the first before the second, it will be okay; no need to look back. The further you get away from it in the rear view mirror, the better. (Just say a little prayer and keep going, that's what I always do.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along. Be mindful of who you are listening to and the ulterior motives in the mix...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
SYRIA.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What a mess. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I kinda like where this president is going with it. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is, people -- Trump said he was not in favor of this thing called Endless Wars. And it's a pretty big deal in America.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Honestly, I'm confused by all the grief Trump is getting on this one. The reality never changing on these Endless Wars, year in and year out, has been a horrific scene on the side of the road that nobody seems brave enough to walk away from, and I mean, nobody. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
America is<span style="color: red;"> not</span> <span style="color: cyan;">responsible</span> <span style="color: red;">for being the leader</span> <span style="color: blue;">along the avenue of </span><span style="color: purple;">providing</span><span style="color: magenta;"> security forces</span> for the <span style="color: lime;">entire world! </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's like, how did we get here? Why did I highlight that sentence as if rainbows and unicorns are dancing in my head? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along,,,,</div>
<div>
as a matter of fact, I think the president should do more of this. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Pull out! Bring our troops home. Let all the world provide their own security...if only for a nano-second in the great scheme of things. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Better yet, start sending an invoice for services provided. If you want American troops, with heavy artillery and a spirit of leave no man behind, we will comply and properly send all the world a bill. How would that be? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And yet, where would that invoice to the Syrian Kurds go? Seriously? Where would you send it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-says-little-as-his-gop-allies-condemn-turkeys-incursion-into-syria/2019/10/09/c46210f6-eaab-11e9-9306-47cb0324fd44_story.html">this headline </a>from The Washington ComPost: <b>"Trump downplays U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds, saying ‘they didn’t help us in the Second World War’"</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What amuses me, in this age of most Americans having war fatigue for quite some time now, is that we have finally come to a point of decision under Trump, to loosen the grip we have in the Middle East just an itty bitty bit, and suddenly people respond with <i>oh my word, no, we can't do that...Seriously?</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
Now -- I have always believed that you go into war to win. I have have always believed in peace through strength. I have always believed in defending human rights, whether next door, or around the world. I have always believed in keeping a strong military, national sovereignty, and secure American borders. I have always believed that our national security, and the intrepid keeping of a well-regulated militia, is the MOST important, and quite possibly the MAIN, responsibility of our Federal Government...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And with that being said, I believe the world has taken advantage of America and her security resources.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The thing is, it's Americans, everyday Americans, who have paid dearly for this good fortune all over the world -- in body, in limb, in mind, in soul, in assets and tax payer dollars!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I believe this aspect of policing the world's peace and security has got to come to a better understanding; it's just a consideration, don't hate. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
See more background at Nate Jackson's piece on <a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/65966-trumps-turkish-test-on-syria-2019-10-08">Trump's Turkish Test</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In any event, between Trump's lack of eloquence, in general, and his natural ability to look like a bull in a china shop on any day, this whole Syrian scene is hard to ignore; the damage has been done and we can't seem to look away, let alone<b> un-see</b> it. What else can we expect with the election of a mover and a shaker, and quintessential New Yorker, to the highest office in all the land? This is Trump doing Trump things, as only Trump can do. (Just hoping Trump prays on all things, too.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along. The whole world is a basket case.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ah boy, the more I think about it, it's not so much the little things happening in my own little world that make me anxious, so much as the other things going on around me -- in the macro. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And then again, this too, must be let go.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
God is still in charge.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
God has a plan.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
God is not dead, no matter how many people around us act like it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And this TRUTH gives me pause at every turn. <i>Awe, G, look both ways before you cross the street and then look up.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Look up. Indeed. Look up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And, look in; close your eyes and look inside and know that God is doing God's thing. Rely on God in every situation, large and small, and all things will be well. No matter what happens.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The drive-by media makes matters so much closer than they appear in the rear-view mirror; and not only that, the drive-by loves to accentuate the negative when it comes to any story, any decision, any thing and every thing this president does. That is just a drive-by fact courtesy of yours truly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Moving right along. Collision, collusion, tomayto, tomahto. It's all the same. We survive by the Grace of God, large and small. And to that end, it would be wise to be disciplined in the reliance of God in everything.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is through this reliance that we are assured true peace, every day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The real crises are often concealed </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
in occurrences so trivial in appearance </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
that they pass unobserved.”</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
― George Washington</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
yes, a cryptic message at the end of this day just seemed like the right way to go.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-49683127693667528142019-09-26T08:22:00.001-07:002019-09-26T10:29:26.260-07:00It's Gossip Gone Awry Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
there is no there there</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
here's<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/25/trump-ukraine-phone-call-transcript-text-pdf-1510770"> the phone call.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
here's the whistle-blower's <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/politics/read-whistleblower-complaint-trump-ukraine/index.html">complaint</a>, blown way out of proportion, if you ask me.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
the call between the US and Ukraine was like old friends chatting it up, and yet we are talking about a conversation between two international political powers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There is definitely is no makings of a quid pro quo; there isn't even a threat to take military aid away...hello? <i> Who started that rumor, lame-stream media?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And the primary subject of clarification gathering was specific, and in reference to things that happened during the previous administration, namely the Vice President of the United States and his son -- willing to bet President Obama had a few of those conversations while on the phone with world leaders, discussing aspects of the Bush Administration's response to 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and including defense secretaries, national security advisers, ambassadors, presidents of foreign countries, kings of foreign countries, Benghazi, the Arab Spring, the removal of powers in Egypt, Libya... and all kinds of key players in the US and abroad. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I wonder, just how many things the Obama Administration investigated from behind closed doors?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A current presidential candidate wants America's blessing to have a go at the helm, and we are to believe that his proprietary involvement of financial dealings that benefited his son, along with having direct involvement with having a Ukrainian prosecutor released from his post (after getting too close to a clear and present international corruption) is not of interest?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This isn't about meddling with the 2020 election, but a full disclosure of the tarnishing of Joe Biden's integrity.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And that's what the Left is up in arms about.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I can't believe <i>this phone call</i> and the so-called whistle-blower Intel does anything more than make a mockery of the lengths the Left will go to create a reason to impeach this president.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The whistle-blower complaint is a riot to read. And yet, if this complaint is solely based on what this "whistle-blower" heard, hearsay, having not even been party to the room that keeps the records -- the room where intelligence officers/White House personnel record every presidential phone call in the first place -- then how in tarnation does a complaint like this go anywhere? It's a serious question.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The ridiculousness of this is off the freaking charts! I mean, really, after all this time, and so much emphasis on collusion and campaign interference -- just who's colluding with who? DNC anyone? Hillary campaign anyone? Adam Schiff anyone? Comey, McCabe...the list can go on and on and on.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
READ the phone call, and you be the judge. And while you're at it -- just imagine living in a world where every conversation you have is being recorded, and at any moment, could be disclosed for all the world to hear? This is all gossip gone awry, and it's horrible. horrible.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-16765346884433840672019-09-24T10:36:00.003-07:002019-09-24T10:36:58.282-07:00It's about Climate Change Kings, Queens and Pawns Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">it's getting pretty ridiculous</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<h1 class="headline" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 60px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: -1.2px; line-height: 66px; margin: 0px auto 24px; max-width: 992px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/carol-roth-stop-scaring-our-kids-the-world-is-not-about-to-end-and-we-are-not-all-about-to-die">Carol Roth</a>: Stop scaring our kids – the world is NOT about to end and we are NOT all about to die</h1>
</div>
<div>
all my life,</div>
<div>
there has been one provocative statement after another.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
See<a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/50-years-of-failed-doomsday-eco-pocalyptic-predictions-the-so-called-experts-are-0-41/"> HERE </a>for some fine examples, all well documented and linked...</div>
<div>
<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #161818; font-family: "Gibson W01"; font-size: 2.57143em; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em;">
50 years of failed doomsday, eco-pocalyptic predictions; the so-called ‘experts’ are 0-50</h1>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
but noooo, this time it's all for real.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
right.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We know what is really going on here, don't we. It's a statement, not a question. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's about globalism, a global economy, a smack down against national sovereignty of every nation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cue the<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/future-does-not-belong-globalists-trump-pushes-nationalism-u-n-n1058171"> president</a> of the UNITED STATES, the UN-king of the bunch convening at the UN this week: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/future-does-not-belong-globalists-trump-pushes-nationalism-u-n-n1058171"> 'The future does not belong to globalists': Trump pushes nationalism in U.N. speech</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/future-does-not-belong-globalists-trump-pushes-nationalism-u-n-n1058171">Trump told world leaders that globalism had “exerted a religious pull over past leaders causing them to ignore their own national interests.”</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
indeed. indeed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Back to the political climate on climate change, from Carol Roth --- "Now, the adults who are supposed to be shielding kids from unlikely doomsday scenarios are forcing those beliefs upon them and using the kids as political pawns."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
exactly. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
cue <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/weather/greta-thunberg-unga-climate-speech-intl/index.html">Greta.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
not even her own parents are shielding her from this circus....matter of fact, they wrote a family memoir, being<a href="https://www.dw.com/en/family-memoir-explores-childhood-of-climate-activist-greta-thunberg/a-48592700"> packaged and marketed</a> just after Greta's 3am nightmares began (October 2018) -- and yet, the truth is, her mother wrote the memoir before Greta became so afflicted by this thing called climate change. <i>hmmmmmmm isn't that interesting.</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So is Greta a potential victim of climate change --- <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/52151/walsh-greta-thunberg-child-abuse-victim-matt-walsh">or ?</a> Thank you, Matt Walsh at Daily Wire.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And yet, here we are, experiencing en masse, a global meltdown, with children like Greta who will never forgive world leaders for their reckless, irresponsible, shameful response to climate change worldwide...because children like Greta have been led to believe they have less than 12 years to live now. <i>Right, AOC?</i> </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
She's the little miss from Queens who famously <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/52659-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-climate-change">declared</a>: “Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us, are looking up, and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change, and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?”</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
it's getting pretty ridiculous.<br />
<br />
it's making my head spin. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and yet, it's real. this is really happening. Our kids, the pawns, are falling victim to the most vicious kind of fraud.<br />
<br />
there are not words.<br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="color: magenta;">Make it a Good Day, G </span></b></i></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-62716043120354447892019-09-18T11:41:00.000-07:002019-09-18T11:41:30.537-07:00It's a Thoreau Down Day Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"When I was 5 years old, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">my mother always told me </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">that happiness was the key to life. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">When I went to school, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">they asked me what I wanted</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> to be when I grew up. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">I wrote down "happy." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">They told me I didn't</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> understand the assignment,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> and I told them, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">they didn't understand life." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">John Lennon</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">#262, from <u>"Nothing is worth more than this day."</u> book</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
indeed</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
now, it's not like we can run around being happy all the time, but the general sensation of happiness, satisfaction, contentment...in life... is definitely a fine aspiration, and one to hold close to our hearts and minds.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Granted, this thing called happiness seemed so essential in the early days of our founding, that it was mentioned within our Declaration of Independence...<i>"we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In proper context -- as it's declared, HAPPINESS, in and of itself, is NOT one of our "unalienable Rights;" it's the PURSUIT of this thing called happiness, that is distinguished -- and even more than that, a prerequisite of action is in place, to chase this somewhat elusive quality of happiness and its full, individual, embodiment.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And really, what an enigma, right? One person's idea of happiness can be quite different from another's...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
[imagine a long pause between]</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
oh, pardon me...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I was just in the midst of getting lost on the <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/henry-david-thoreau-quotes">BrainyQuote</a> website, trying to hunt down the famous Henry David Thoreau quote about happiness...you know the one, "happiness is like a butterfly...yadi yadi yada...if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Turns out, Thoreau<a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/17/butterfly/"> may not be its author</a> after all -- not that google portends to make that truth known. Gotta love the fact checking.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It's a perfect example of how something takes hold, and becomes something real, even when its not even close. Just plug in "happiness is like a butterfly" and see what happens.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The Quote Investigator website made a thorough search for proof, it would seem, aiming to get to the bottom of it. Kudos to QI. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The closest reference to something close to this butterfly/happiness relationship seems to have come in around 1848....and it was in a column defining a few precious things, things like love and wealth and happiness. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
AND wouldn't you know it -- the definition of wealth jumped out at me as if it came with fireworks and a sky of splendor; and I'm quoting now: <span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(34, 49, 63, 0.7); font-family: "Noto Serif", serif; font-size: 22px;">WEALTH.—The sum which gives content, whether one dollar or a million.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
i just love that.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>any thoughts, Thoreau, like really, any of your thoughts on this?</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">There is no value in life </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">except what you choose to place upon it </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">and no happiness in any place </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">except what you bring to it yourself.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
mind blown again and again and again.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
These are the kinds of things that should be ingrained upon every American, to its fullest extent, in mind and body. These are the kinds of things, ideas, that can change lives, for real.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Instead, Americans are being fed all kinds of untruths and false promises and wayward appeals in the latest wave of contenders meeting up with the 2020 presidential election.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Whether it is upon the woes of climate change, medicare-for-all, or illegal immigration --<i> the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it</i>, whether we are talking one to 300 million.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
all I want to do today is sit and listen to HDT hit me with his best stuff.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
but alas, that isn't going to happen. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 26.6667px;">Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
...thank you, HDT, and it would seem that I have a busy one going at the moment.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
so now, given that I spent way too much time tootling around brainy quotes. I need to make my way into the rest of my day of responsibilities...you know, because.... "not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something." (also Thoreau)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></span></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-39553060720029483752019-09-04T11:44:00.003-07:002019-09-04T11:44:48.309-07:00It's of Things RESOLVED and FURTHER RESOLVED Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
and so it begins...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">The San Francisco Board of Supervisors</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;"> unanimously passed a resolution </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">Tuesday </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">declaring the National Rifle Association </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">a domestic terrorist organization</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;"> and </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;">urging other municipalities to do the same.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://sfgov.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7568748&GUID=DF64490F-D8BC-4BF7-A43D-287F02BECCCA">FULL TRANSCRIPT OF RESOLUTION</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and it's written so well...they didn't leave anything out nor skimp on the stats.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
wait</div>
<div>
scratch that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even though they spent a fair portion of Resolution #190841 outlining the specifics of their grievances with the NRA -- including phrases pulled from our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution -- they conveniently left out the stipulations within the Second Amendment, which clearly states:<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"A well regulated militia,</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">being necessary to the security of a free state, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">the right of the people to keep and bear arms, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">shall not be infringed."</span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: magenta;">
<div>
<br />
It's a basic, fundamental right to keep and bear arms in America.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And given that the National Rifle Association is an organization that primarily focuses upon the great responsibility, as free citizens, to act responsibly with regards to keeping and bearing such arms, this resolution is ridiculous and a stunt. <br />
<br />
The membership of the NRA are a force of actively participating hunters, gun owners, and average citizens, who believe that the right to keep and bear arms is a duty and privilege, of which Americans cannot take for granted, nor ignore the opportunity to teach and model appropriate gun use.<br />
<br />
Guns are not the problem.<br />
The NRA is not the problem.<br />
<br />
The person pulling the trigger is the problem. <br />
<br />
And that is the result of many variables, including but not limited to, mental illness, drug usage/abuse, gang violence, domestic violence, general accidents, and of course, acts of terror by an individual, or group. All mass shootings are acts of terror. All shootings are acts of terror...whether it's on the streets of Baltimore, Chicago, or at the Gilroy festival last July.<br />
<br />
None of which is the fault of the NRA.<br />
<br />
and yet...ready for the big finish:<br />
<br />
RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco intends to declare the National
Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization; and, be it<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every
reasonable step to assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and
contractors have with this domestic terrorist organization; and, be it<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should take every
reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San
Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organization; and be it<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City and County of San Francisco should encourage
all other jurisdictions, including other cities, states, and the federal government, to adopt
similar positions.<br />
<br />
seriously?<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>That the City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to assess the financial and contractual relationships our vendors and contractors have with this domestic terrorist organization; </i></blockquote>
<i><br /></i>
So the blacklist method moves from<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/whoopi-goldberg-goes-off-on-debra-messing-on-the-view-you-dont-have-the-right"> Hollywood against Trump voters</a>, to San Francisco against NRA members and its associations; wow, who ever would have thought this would happen... in America?<br />
<br />
<i>Like, what happened to coexisting?</i><br />
<br />
Why so much hate against the one organization that preaches responsible behavior comes hand in hand with gun ownership?<br />
<br />
<i>Like, what,</i> did the Gilroy shooter call up the NRA and seek its blessing before committing such a heinous crime? Does the NRA promote mass shootings on its website somewhere? Just how does this board connect the dots and bullets with any sense of logic? <br />
<br />
Based upon their logic, documented in this resolution, just maybe the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is guilty of domestic terrorism -- simply knowing that they have looked the other way to actual acts of violence against its own citizens, at the hands and handgun of UNsupervised illegals. LIKE the STEINLE case, for example....<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/kate-steinle-jose-inez-garcia-zarate-california-appeals-court">HERE</a>.... News gaining this kind of response from Ken Cucinelli:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Kate Steinle was tragically killed because San Francisco proudly proclaims itself a sanctuary city," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli tweeted Friday night. "How many more innocents will die b4 [before] sanctuary cities stop harboring violent criminals? This defies common sense, public safety, & human decency. #NoJustice."</blockquote>
<br />
Clearly, this Board of Supervisor's stunt appears to be more about fulfilling its radical agenda; initiating further action, as controversial as it is, should not surprise any of us. This day was bound to come. It's part of the natural progression in the evolution of leftists, in the staging and execution of a modern day coup from the inside, to overturn America's foundations; it's just what happens after San Francisco has already declared itself a sanctuary to illegals, and has become the poster child (Los Angeles being its twin) of a total non-nonsensical, reckless, open door policy to Americas homeless. <br />
Come one, come all.<br />
<br />
I would carry a license to carry -- and carry everyday -- AND be a card-carrying-member of the NRA -- if I lived in San Francisco right now. just sayin'<br />
<br />
This move by this board is ludicrous.<br />
<br />
Dangerous.<br />
<br />
And more than anything else, the sad truth is, these efforts will have no positive effect upon the actual issue of gun violence, whether it comes one person at a time, or via a mass shooting. <br />
----------------------------<br />
RESOLVED, that it is the individual who needs the healing and the help.<br />
<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, it is at the level of family where this all begins.<br />
<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, by the extension of the proper education, we strengthen the making of our fellow citizens to be of good character, with an emphasis upon the safe keeping of not only guns, but also sound thoughts and right action -- given our natural and essential duty to God, to country, to one another as responsible citizens and members of one community.<br />
<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, by virtue of the order of all things, a simple life heeding the authority of a Higher Power, as in One Nation under God, recognizes our duty as individuals to be in relationship with the ideals of a virtuous society built upon trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship...and maybe a little brotherly love, too. A sound adherence to natural law breeds a sound nature, sound body, sound whole.<br />
<br />
FURTHER RESOLVED, this day in the life of an American girl is finished.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</span></div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-72631996565841365122019-08-30T10:43:00.002-07:002019-08-30T10:43:24.993-07:00It's the Prick Pit Pray Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
to the<a href="https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/340515/"> Instapundit...Glenn Reynolds:</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"His smarmy act has failed to conceal </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">that he’s a sanctimonious prick. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Make that a sanctimonious, dishonest, basically corrupt prick, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">who subordinated his duty to his country </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">to selfish and shallow political and personal motives. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">He is a disgrace, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">and it’s a disgrace </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">that he’s so far escaped </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">prosecution."</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
teehee</div>
<div>
Reynolds was responding to a piece at the New York Sun, <i>It Seems Trump Was Right to Fire James </i>Comey<i>, </i>posted just yesterday.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just for the record, this girl didn't feel comfortable repeating his choice of words there...but just had to do it, you know, <i>for the love of country, right Comey?</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
would love to read this piece, at the WSJ...</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/jim-comeys-higher-virtue-11567121926">Jim Comey’s Higher Virtue</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/jim-comeys-higher-virtue-11567121926">The righteous former FBI director thinks the rules don’t apply to him</a></div>
<div>
but alas, I can't. As this girl doesn't have a subscription. Guessing it's pretty good.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And yet, that boy comes out and says this stunner:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #323232; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice.”</span></blockquote>
<div>
Thank you, Nate Jackson @The Patriot Post. And you, too, can receive a wide variety of post, and it all comes to you free! if you just sign up on <a href="https://patriotpost.us/subscription/new">THE PATRIOT POST mailing list</a>....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Okay, so Comey is asking for a non-apology apology... after leading a total defamation investigation of his own, against a sitting president, lasting two years and wasting 35 million taxpayer dollars? <i> Seriously?</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He cannot be for real.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My hope is that this IG report is holding back on the real treasure trove of illegal and obscene abuses of power yet to be revealed, and allowing this pompous fool to step in it for a wee bit. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
yes, this girl can dream.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Where is Comey's apology to Trump? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After all is said and undone -- after purposely, and mindfully, setting up the president for a fall following the infamous Trump Tower meeting, after collecting data on the president, after telling the president to his face that he is not under investigation WHEN IN FACT THE INVESTIGATION WAS WELL UNDER WAY -- AND after finding that there is NO evidence of collusion, or obstruction of justice, and after Comey's entire case was based upon a false dossier, paid for by democrat operatives....Comey expects the apology? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just gotta love this from The New York Sun:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Mr. Comey shouldn’t wait up for The New York Sun. We’re completely comfortable with our own concerns about Mr. Comey, which are sketched in a number of editorials about him in various jobs going back 15 years or more. They include, among others, <a href="https://www.nysun.com/editorials/james-comeys-chutzpah/90294/">“James Comey’s Chutzpah,”</a> “<a href="https://www.nysun.com/editorials/comeys-original-sin/89778/">Comey’s Original Sin,</a>” and <a href="https://www.nysun.com/editorials/comeys-original-sin/89778/">“Comey’s Overreach.”</a> All our concerns echo in the latest report.</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Chutzpah</i> meets <i>original sin</i> meets supreme <i>overreach</i> meets <i>Trump IS RIGHT to FIRE Comey</i> meets <i>prick</i>. it's a good day in America, no? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Exactly, no. No it is not. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Can we all shake hands now and admit that America and the Office of the President have been taken down a rabbit hole surpassing all other rabbit holes, to date? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Talk about insanity.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Talk about defamation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Talk about the loss of unbiased journalism.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Talk about the elaborate framing of a sitting president that almost worked!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Talk about a lot of pricks in the ole pork-opine.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
ugh.</div>
<div>
it's all dirty....</div>
<div>
a lousy, stinky, dirty corruption of power in the worst way. </div>
<div>
prick prick prick prick prick. so many pricks and so little time.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Seems I've somehow fallen into a pit of pricks...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I can totally see why Glenn chose this word. </div>
<div>
It kinda feels good to say it. </div>
<div>
It almost carries the power to relieve the knot in the<a href="http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/04/27/gut_check/"> pit of my stomach</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
now. let's talk about meeting up with the end of <i>this day, shall we</i>...</div>
<div>
this day in the life of an American girl.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
all that's left to do is pray.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's the prick pit pray day, hope you enjoyed it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-52672182762468695432019-08-28T11:27:00.002-07:002019-08-28T13:24:05.842-07:00It's Reading is Fundamental Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2>
Dear America,</h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"how cool is it that the same God </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">that created oceans and mountains and galaxies</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> looked at you and thought</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> the world needs one of you too"</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
words found on a table decoration, in a catalog called <i><a href="https://www.naturallife.com/most-loved-gifts/most-loved-chirps/god-created-you.html">natural life...give, love, laugh</a></i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>i will shop here, one day, not just because it sells pretty things, it puts GOD is the cool category! can I get an amen?</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
you know what's not cool, is how things have changed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Read this, from <a href="https://patriotpost.us/opinion/65091-a-disturbing-poll">Gary Bauer @The Patriot Post...."A Disturbing Poll"</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Need another view, read Star Parker,<a href="https://patriotpost.us/opinion/65097-our-changing-values-should-worry-us"> here</a>. (it's also featured at The Patriot Post)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's a good part -- </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The founders of the country saw the nation’s existence, its faith and its posterity as a package deal. It all went together. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now we have a young generation, our future, that dismisses the importance of all the elements of that package. What might this tell us about where we’re headed? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The operative questions are: Does the country have a future, a posterity, without children? And will there be children if there is no marriage and family? And will there be marriage and family if there is no religion and God?</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
good questions, Star.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And from Gary Bauer's piece --</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The left’s war on faith has been going on since the 1960s, and it shows no signs of letting up. (The left has adopted radical environmentalism as its religion, and Big Government is its god.) Those on the left are only interested in the Bible as long as they can distort it to promote socialism and more government...</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Founders did not rebel against King George III because they wanted big government telling them what to do. They rebelled because they wanted limited government and individual freedom. If the Founders intended us to be a socialist nation, we would have been a socialist nation since 1789.</blockquote>
<br />
and talk about context as to what kind of government our FOUNDERS intended...another MUST READ -- also found @The Patriot Post -- comes from one of my all time favorite people, <a href="https://patriotpost.us/opinion/65087-beginning-of-us-slavery">Walter E. Williams</a>. In this post, he is responding like a total gentleman to an absurdity happening under the direction of the New York Times, and a thing called "1619 Project."<br />
<br />
Here's Williams --<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There are several challenges one can make about Hannah-Jones’ article, but I’m going to focus on the article’s most serious error, namely that the nation’s founders intended for us to be a democracy. That error is shared by too many Americans. The word democracy appears nowhere in the two most fundamental founding documents of our nation — the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution...</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The founders had utter contempt for democracy. James Madison, the acknowledged father of the Constitution, wrote in Federalist Paper No. 10, that in a pure democracy “there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual.” At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, delegate Edmund Randolph said, “that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy.” John Adams said: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall observed, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos...”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In addition to not understanding our Constitution, Hannah-Jones’ article, like in most discussions of black history, fails to acknowledge that black Americans have made the greatest gains, over some of the highest hurdles in the shortest span of time than any other racial group in mankind’s history.</blockquote>
<br />
so much of America's fundamentals, and what, precisely, America has accomplished over its last nearly 250 years, is so misunderstood or misaligned today.<br />
<br />
Case in point, returning to the AOC for<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/aoc-millennials-first-generation-to-protest-forgets-60s"> some chuckles.</a>..ya right, "young people are more informed and dynamic than their predecessors...they actually take time to read and understand our [world] history." And then also say, "I think this new generation is very profound, and very strong, and very brave, because they're actually willing to go to the streets..." as if that's never happened before.<br />
<br />
And<a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/65107-sanders-praises-red-chinese-but-credits-capitalism"> Bernie is no help at all.</a> Talk about village idiots... <a href="https://www.heritage.org/asia/commentary/the-legacy-mao-zedong-mass-murder">65 million Chinese later</a>. Yes, Bernie, leadership, like, under Chinese leaders, like Mao, is quite the legacy to follow.<br />
<br />
so clearly,<i> this girl</i> has fed you many things to read today.<br />
<br />
it's all good, matter of fact, <span style="color: magenta; text-align: center;">how cool is it that the same God </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">that created oceans and mountains and galaxies</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> looked at you and thought</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> the world needs one of you too</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and you can read!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
so read up, buttercup, and see you again real soon. And thank you very much to the coolest place on the web for good reads every single day, <a href="https://patriotpost.us/about">@The Patriot Post</a>! </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-25381524721950106392019-08-23T12:37:00.000-07:002019-08-23T13:10:04.513-07:00It's in Review of a few Views Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"After centuries of extensive research, biologists admit that they still don't have any good explanation for how brains produce consciousness. Physicists admit that they don't know what caused the Big Bang, or how to reconcile quantum mechanics with the theory of general relativity," (just part of page 252, of the book this girl is struggling to read, </span><span style="color: red;">Sapiens...</span><span style="color: magenta;"> by Yuval Noah Harari)</span></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
as it turns out, as the pages have turned, I have lost count on the number of times the words '<i>we don't know,' or some variation thereof, </i>have surfaced.<br />
<br />
AND, as it may turn out, there is a God, Yuval; God, that very THING who thought about making a universe and then some. But whatever, let's agree to disagree and move on dot org.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Thing is, Yuval is just a guy; and the absolute truth is, he is limited just as all the rest of us are limited, as people, <i>you know -- </i>to know everything. Newsflash: We will never have all the answers to all the questions of all the curiosities and imaginations and wondering our human consciousness produces, nor to all the problems we <span style="color: red;">Sapiens</span> face on planet earth. That's what makes life so fun, right?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But what has become quite striking in the last few weeks -- in correlation to just <i>yesterday's</i> blog -- is the number of times climate change of thousands of years ago is referenced; it's as if the current climate and conversation on climate change has totally forgotten, if not blatantly dismissed and erased from memory, all of the periods of climate change (warm and cold) that has come before us. And why? To satisfy an agenda, pure and simple. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Among this and other man-made myths, Yuval's book is rooted in bias, growing stronger and stronger as the pages turn.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And the irony is hard to ignore, given his in-depth study, the plethora of imagined absolutes in which mankind have fallen to, substantiating<i> his</i> history of humankind and all the while declaring just how much our <i>Homo Sapien</i> ignorance is based upon myth, imagined by the very limitations of our own small minds (and much smaller than our predecessors, mind you). But I will keep reading your propaganda anyway, only another hundred pages or so to go.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is interesting, from the chapter suitably titled <i>The Flood</i> -- "[A]t first, glaciers blocked the way from Alaska to the rest of America...around 12,000 BC global warming melted the ice and opened an easier passage."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And yet, according to mainstream media and leftists and elitists today, climate change is a direct result from the horrors of mankind TODAY, and from just yesterday, and the day before that, and forewarn that we have only twelve years to live before we meet our demise. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
While just before the chapter comes to a close, Yuval adds this observation: "Don't believe tree-huggers who claim that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. Long before the Industrial Revolution, <i>Homo Sapiens</i> held the record among all organisms for driving the most plant and animal species to their extinctions. We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The contradictions that all of us current day<span style="color: red;"> Sapiens</span> are surrounded with, leveled by<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/google-summit-attended-by-hollywood-stars-slammed-as-hypocritical"> hypocrites</a>, are weighing on me. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I do applaud Yuval's efforts to effect change, I do. He sees areas where humans can be better humans, indeed. So true, so true. I choose to buy cage free eggs; I love free range chicken and prefer to purchase Open Nature brand beef from my local Vons, alongside a bushel of organic kale that my family eats like it is candy.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yuval, personally, tells us that he avoids association with the meat and dairy and egg industries, and as a matter of record, and what, quite possibly, precipitated his life's mission, he's hellbent on not getting "bogged down with mundane things," you know, things centered around money, career or mortgages (like most of us little people); he wants to tackle things falling under the uber-caption of<i> </i>what is commonly called <i>the big picture -- </i>because clearly, Yuval feels well equipped to educate us on such. All of this precious incite, by the way, to the man, Yuval, is found openly and purposely, in <span style="color: red;">Sapien's</span> final pages, as if he, himself, is an open book. (yes, I jumped ahead to the Q&A at the back. shoot me)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yuval is anti-capitalist, anti-American, and anti-carnivore, to name a few. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What Yuval is missing, among probably a few things, is a true understanding of what made America truly different (yet not perfect) from the start. America was the exception, separated and standing alone from all other forms of government found round the world to date (you need to refresh your context page, Yuval). <i>We the People </i>had more say, more control, more independence, more freedom to create a life of hard work and happiness than at any other time in the history of humankind.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hence, the creation of a middle class heard round the world, and growing; hence, the creation of more millionaire millennials than ever before; hence, the movement of more women in business for themselves than at any other time in history. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hey, and just this week, my latest issue of Shape includes a spread titled, "WOMEN RUN THE WORLD." Yes; it is nice to be recognized. Finally. teehee</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And yet, as expected, the list highlights 15 women (of which three work together, being founders of Her Campus Media, a leading college marketing and media firm) seems a wee bit one sided, to say the least. Four out of the fifteen happen to be actors turned advocates of one thing or another; while the remaining eight are found on the cutting edge of a mission of their own, from fighting hunger to fighting for equality in fields of sport, investment, medicine and wellness. Not sure if any of these fifteen movers and shakers happen to vote conservative, it doesn't appear so (but that could be a totally invalid assumption, right); be that as it may, the article prompted me to do a quick search on the stats of women in business today -- since everything evolves, and all.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And the latest stats are quite encouraging. Four out of ten businesses are owned by someone who calls herself a female; this reveals a growth of 58% since 2007, generating 3.1 Trillion in revenue. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And even more interesting to me is the happiness factor. On a scale of 1 to 10, those women considered to be in the Boomer category (+50) are found to be 69% at an 8 or higher; millenials are found to be 68% happy, being of an 8 or higher; and generation x (those 40-49), are at a whopping 73% happy, measuring on the scale at an 8 or higher. Stats courtesy of <a href="https://www.guidantfinancial.com/small-business-trends/women-in-business/">Guidant Financial</a>. xx </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now is this information reflected and discussed anywhere other than on this website? Where is the media and the headlines? Is there a reason that this solid majority of happy women are being overlooked, only to be outnumbered by the mass hashtags of the moment, like #metoo? Or the popular narrative of the day... that the white man sucks, bigly.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And this just in -- <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/miley-cyrus-split-liam-hemsworth-isn-t-just-celebrity-fodder-ncna1042931"> </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "publicotext" , "georgia" , "timesnewroman" , "times new roman" , "times" , "baskerville" , serif; font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/miley-cyrus-split-liam-hemsworth-isn-t-just-celebrity-fodder-ncna1042931">heterosexuality is just not working</a>.</span><br />
thank you, Marcie Bianco; are you and Yuval in cahoots with one another?<br />
<br />
brilliant.<br />
um. Without the heterosexual <i>homo sapiens</i> doing their thing, there are no sapiens. Um "compulsory heterosexuality?" Being a girl attracted to men all my life, how can you dismiss the majority of women in this country, and reduce our life, our natural inclinations and choices in lifestyle, to something equal to oppression, smacked with unhappiness, and a host of other woes? How intolerant and ignorant of you.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
Patriarchy is at its most potent when oppression doesn’t feel like oppression, or when it is packaged in terms of biology, religion or basic social needs like security comfort, acceptance and success. Heterosexuality offers women all these things as selling points to their consensual subjection.</blockquote>
wow.<br />
<br />
I'm all in for women -- of all walks of life; but I sure am sick and tired of feminists speaking for me.<br />
<br />
anywho, what a view, what a view.<br />
<br />
as the world turns into a mosh pit echoing the wrongs, the inequalities, the inequities, the injustices, of the whole of mankind against the plants and animals, of male over female, maybe the lesson falls back to the essential liberties of the individual.<br />
<br />
America is rooted in individual rights and duties; our prosperity and societal order requires each of us to find our way, be self-reliant, and be responsible for our own sound, principled and decent self-government. This is the very foundation that gives empowerment to people, all people, to speak, advocate, promote, and write whatever they wish.<br />
<br />
From Benjamin Franklin, in a snippet from <b>The Way to Wealth</b>: "But without industry we must likewise be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too much to others...Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin for many; for<i> In the affairs of this world men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it;...</i><br />
<br />
<br />
oooh this girl loves a real, learned man...<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-91561643809641499862019-08-18T11:21:00.000-07:002019-08-19T07:20:12.462-07:00It's to the Provocateur in Question Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
happy August.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
it's been a</div>
<div>
busy</div>
<div>
adventurous</div>
<div>
squirrelly</div>
<div>
and, mostly happy, couple of weeks, close to a month, since my last post.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
alas, here I am...having returned from Big Pine, the <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5129900">Bristlecone Pine Forest</a>, Yosemite, and breathing in a giant sequoia named <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/nature/sequoia-research.htm">Grizzly</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
here's an interesting bit of knowledge and perspective -- you know, given the latest climate on climate change at the hand of mankind....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"California's western Sierra Nevada had more frequent fires between 800 and 1300 than at any time in the past 3,000 years, according to a 2009 study based upon tree-ring research. Scientists reconstructed the history of fire during this droughty period by dating the years in which fire scars were found in ancient giant sequoia trees in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. The result: These 500 years, known as the Medieval Warm Period, had the most frequent fires in the 3,000 years studied. During this period extensive fires burned through parts of the Giant Forest at intervals of about 3 to 10 years. Any individual tree was probably in a fire about every 10 to 15 years."</blockquote>
<br />
what?<br />
you mean all that happened, fires burning "more frequently" and at intervals of "3 to 10 years" coming at the same time of what has been named the "Medieval Warm Period"....a droughty period, with a long list of fire scars to prove it? Fires happening MORE frequently than at any other time in the past 3000 years?<br />
<br />
<i>like, seriously?</i><br />
<br />
How thought provoking.<br />
<br />
and not to leave the Bristlecone Pine out of the<a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/cs/detail/!ut/p/z1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zijQwgwNHCwN_DI8zPyBcqYKAfjlVBmA9cQRQx-g1wAEci9eNREIXf-HD9KH0CHtDHb4KfR35uqn5BbmhohEGWCQCHVD_f/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?position=Not%20Yet%20Determined.Html&pname=Inyo%20National%20Forest-%20Nature&ss=110504&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&pnavid=150000000000000&navid=150130000000000&ttype=detail&cid=stelprdb5138621"> conversation</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"This bristlecone pine chronology, developed here in the White Mountains by University of Arizona researchers and Dr. Henry Michael of the University of Pennsylvania is the longest in the world and provides an unequaled look into past climatic and environmental conditions.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">For many years now, scientists, archeologists, and historians have relied on a dating system known as radiocarbon dating. It was discovered back in the 1960s that this process was flawed and needed to be calibrated. The wood from bristlecone pines helped correct this process by providing samples that could be precisely dated. Scientists dated these samples by counting their growth rings; they then measured the amount of carbon-14 (C-14) in those same samples. They discovered that the radiocarbon dating process was providing dates that were "too young" and established a calibration factor to correct the dating process.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Faulty C-14 data obtained before the bristlecone pine calibration was then re-examined and corrected. Archeologists found that some artifacts discovered in Europe were actually 1000 years or older than previously thought. This revision of archeological site dates led historians to a reinterpretation of cultural diffusion throughout the Mediterranean and European areas. Because the bristlecone pines of this grove provided the wood to recalibrate the radiocarbon dating method, they have become known as the trees that rewrote history."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>And yet, more thought provoking things.<br />
<br />
And before I go on, just as a matter of record, my thanks to the National Park Service and to the United States Department of Agriculture/Forest Service....for the quick links to this history and information. If you are keeping track, the U.S. Department of Agriculture manages the US Forest Service which manages the National Park Service...can't help but notice that there are almost as many layers of management as there are rings in the trees in them parts; what else is new, right?<br />
<br />
But check that out -- that bit about the Bristlecone getting the credit for re-calibrating the dating methods and being recognized as THE tree that "rewrote history." I just love that; we humans don't know everything, even when we think we do.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to a crazy, provocative new book I just started reading: <u> <span style="color: red;">Sapiens</span> -- <span style="color: #783f04;">A Brief</span> History of <span style="color: #660000;">Humankind</span> </u>by <span style="color: #783f04;">Yuval Noah Harari</span>.<br />
<br />
Here's something interesting, from only the second chapter --<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, Sapiens have thus been living in a dual reality. On the one hand, the objective reality of rivers, trees and lions; and on the other hand, the imagined reality of gods, nations and corporations. As time went by, the imagined reality became ever more powerful, so that today the very survival of rivers, trees and lions depends on the grace of imagined entities such as the United States and Google."</blockquote>
<i>try and tell that to the Bristlecone Pine, Yuval.</i><br />
<br />
Wow, Yuval. Thought provoking and hilarious. Can hardly wait til chapters nineteen and twenty. <br />
<br />
We get so full of ourselves sometimes (myself included).<br />
<br />
No wonder Bill Gates is quoted on the front, while Barack Obama is quoted on the back.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Wait, <a href="https://www.redstate.com/alexparker/2019/08/13/reaching-pinnacle-stupid-students-petition-change-white-pedestrian-crossing-lights-shade-closer-people-color/">don't walk</a>, isn't that racist? </i><br />
<br />
And never you mind that in the first chapter, Yuval says this: "Like it or not, we are members of a large and particularly noisy family called the great apes...Just six million years ago, a single female ape had two daughters. One became the ancestor of all chimpanzees, the other is our own grandmother." Moving forward with some modicum of caution, i<i>t might make sense to you that I had to take a break before venturing into the third chapter, when Yuval begins to examine the fictitious nature of Adam and Eve. oh joy to the world that will be...</i><br />
<br />
The thing is, in this very moment, this girl is more captivated by the cover of the book -- all of a sudden, all I can do is gaze upon a single smudge of a thumb print, dotting the letter i of <span style="color: red;">Sapiens</span>...and given how this day all began, all I see is tree rings.<br />
<br />
Yuval and the rings are making me dizzy. so so dizzy in thought.<br />
<br />
Yuval -- page 28 -- "Yet none of these things exist outside the stories that people invent and tell one another. There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no human rights, no laws, and no justice outside the common imagination of human beings."<br />
<br />
Wow. How so very absolute of him, <i>there are no gods in the universe, the little man said.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>As if, Yuval.</i><br />
How in tarnation do YOU really know that?<br />
<br />
<i>Like for real</i>; how can this guy speak as if God is absolutely, without a doubt, totally fiction, simply myth created by man to control man. Sure, on one level I understand where he is coming from -- he's this somewhat cynical, learned man questioning culture, questioning the little sheep following the Shepherd, questioning the very foundation of everything we believe, lambasting our ignorance and in proper turn, the unprecedented destruction upon the earth, of both resources and our fellow man. We get it.<br />
<br />
<i>and on another level</i>, something tells me that all of this is just part of the plan, and prophesied thousands of years ago, too.<br />
<br />
Thing is, I question anyone who speaks in terms of proclaiming there is NO GOD unless imagined in our own small minds.<br />
<br />
Oh, and yes, I will tell you what Obama said, quoting the quote from the back cover verbatim:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Interesting and provocative...It gives you a sense of perspective on how briefly we've been on this earth, how short things like agriculture and science have been around, and why it makes sense for us to not take them for granted."</blockquote>
<br />
very nice Barack. I love the use of the dot dot dot; it gives us the sense that quite possibly more was said, and yet, I believe there wasn't. It's an endearing flashback to that long pause, and that occasional stutter, as you reached out into the air to pluck each and every word off the tree like an apple. It's stylistic, smart -- allowing the reader to get a sense of just how <i><b>deeply</b></i> you <i><b>think</b></i> about<i style="font-weight: bold;"> things, </i>because you do; because you care so much; because we've been brainwashed to believe you are really really super intelligent, the smartest president we've ever had. <br />
<br />
Just one more way this book reminds me just how much this world is run by narcissistic, haughty, intellectuals who just want to control the entire universe already; because<i> </i>they, <i>truly</i>, know what's best for all of us lame humanoids.<br />
<br />
but my question is -- what is Barack talking about? Who takes our science and agriculture for granted these days? when all we really do is analyze how <i>we <span style="color: red;">Sapiens</span></i> can be better caretakers of this world? <br />
<br />
Isn't it better, Yuval, that we <span style="color: red;">Sapiens</span> are not still running around being hunters and gatherers, or even all farmers and herders? Looking at it logically, especially from a logistical standpoint, there just isn't enough real estate on God's great earth for all of us to farm and herd and hunt and gather our days away.<br />
<br />
And what is with the inability to embrace human advancement, in areas of science and industry? Since when did the evolution of humankind become such a dirty topic? I sure as heck don't want to be living back in the dark ages, or even two hundred years ago! I might go as far back as the early 1900's, just to take part in the suffragette movement -- and of course wear those clothes -- there is that. But really, I kinda like where I am, I am.<br />
<br />
I guess in some ways, this girl is looking forward to reading more about the history of Sapiens through the looking glass of a guy with a PhD from the University of Oxford -- even if it kills me. Which it won't; just being a wee bit dramatic. (Yuval started it.)<br />
<br />
Ahhh looking back, I talked to a few trees in my journey of the last few weeks; and it was good.<br />
<br />
TO smell them<br />
TO touch them<br />
To gaze all the way up and down their magnificent stature, and to hear the rustling of the leaves and needles, all under the backdrop of a glorious, big blue sky...God Is. Indeed God Is.<br />
<br />
Everything begins in thought.<br />
<br />
We create and we destroy with first a thought to create or to destroy. (Which also supports the argument that it's not about more <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/18/politics/arizona-gun-debate-inside-politics-cnntv/index.html">gun control</a>; <span style="color: red;">SAPIENS</span>, very bad <span style="color: red;">sapiens</span>, are to blame, but I digress.)<br />
<br />
Humankind is made in God's image because God made it so.<br />
<br />
Even the Universe was created with a thought, a thought to create a universe.<br />
And all the while, the Big Bang Theory is NOT settled science. Why? Because NOBODY on this planet knows everything.<br />
<br />
And the funny thing is, no PhD is needed to question the day's provocateur, Yuval.<br />
And isn't that a good thing.<br />
<br />
and on that note, this is the end.<br />
Not THE end, but just the end.<br />
<br />
thank you for listening...<br />
and with a nod to the great outdoors, to the high Sierra, to the air, the stars, the energy, the quiet, a road trip come and gone, this girl is happy to be back in the saddle again.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-56120411838970580252019-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:002019-07-29T19:00:31.639-07:00It's Up to Baltimore to Fix Baltimore Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"We either make ourselves</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> happy or miserable. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The amount of work </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">is the same." </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Carlos Castaneda </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">A page from my little book titled, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"><u>"Nothing is worth more than this day."</u> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">by Kathryn and Ross Petras</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And because sometimes, it is just easier to have you begin somewhere else -- please go to where this girl religiously hails and finds fresh news and critical thought.... @ The Patriot Post, and read <a href="https://patriotpost.us/articles/64590-the-demos-baltimore-race-card-diversion">THIS</a> before you read anything else. And thank you, Thomas Gallatin, for laying out the intersection of context and truth to a capital T....perhaps standing for Thank you, or Thomas, or Trump, or Truth, just Take your pick.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And thank you, Washington Examiner, for<a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bernie-sanders-in-2015-baltimore-looks-like-a-third-world-country"> THIS </a>itty bitty walk back....to circa 2015.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
SO Bernie can get away with it, because he veers left, like, really left; while Trump, not so much.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This story is getting rather old, timeworn.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What exactly did Trump say, in the tweet that started another firestorm:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA......</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
....As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Don't we all wish for good schools and strong, vibrant communities, living in a safe, litter free, rat-free, drug-free neighborhood to raise a family? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The president is not only raising good questions and strong concerns, he is elevating the conversation with a fair dose of absolute truth on the matter. Baltimore IS a freaking mess and newsflash, Trump had nothing to do with it; Baltimore's leaders AND Baltimore's residents are responsible for Baltimore's "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
From a August 2017, Sam Faddis writes in the <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0810-democrats-failed-baltimore-20170808-story.html">BALTIMORE SUN</a>:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Those days are long gone. Baltimore is on any given day the homicide capital of the United States in terms of murders per capita. Life expectancy in much of West Baltimore is on a par with that of North Korea. The unemployment rate among young black men is close to 40 percent... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Baltimore's schools are an abject failure. Thirty percent of Baltimore's students never graduate high school. Twenty-one percent of Baltimore's students test as proficient in English, less than 20 percent as proficient in math.</blockquote>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
All of this despite 50 years of the so-called war on poverty and Democratic rule in the city. All of this despite the fact that Maryland spends more per student on education in Baltimore City than in any other jurisdiction in the state. All of this despite the fact that the Democratic Party has held a virtual monopoly on elected office in Maryland for decades. The General Assembly is overwhelmingly Democratic. Seven of the eight Congressmen from Maryland are Democrats. Both sitting U.S. Senators are Democrats.</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
Yes, it would be lovely to rest all the fault at Trump's feet, his critical eye, his harsh words that flow unrelenting and severe out from his twitter feed; yes, it would be lovely to blame Trump for all of what's going wrong, miserable, and racist in every way, whether it be at the border or the mess in Baltimore.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But folks, no matter how many ways we pick it apart, no matter how many times the left labels the president a "racist," the facts show that its the democrats who have failed the big cities and liberal states. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's a bit more from the Uncle Sam Faddis:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Democratic Party's obsession with high taxes, burdensome regulation and massive, wasteful government programs does none of that. These are the policies that created the problem in the first place and now perpetuate the death spiral in which the city is trapped. That will remain true until such time as the people of Baltimore, and by extension Maryland as a whole, stop blindly supporting a party that has failed them consistently for decades.</blockquote>
<div>
<br />
And let's see, who else agrees? The MAYOR of Baltimore herself, <a href="https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/flashback-whoa-you-can-smell-rats-baltimore-mayor-told-tv-news-2018">Catherine Pugh</a>!<br />
<br />
California, my beautiful home state, is steadfastly going in this direction as we speak...from San Francisco to Los Angeles, homelessness, drugs, gangs, welfare, illegal immigrants being offered sanctuary state security with all the perks, high taxes (especially that gas tax!), combined with corporations leaving daily, is creating the very same death spiral conditions on the ground, every single day, and all at the dictates of liberal leadership.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I will commend Representative Elijah Cummings, representing Maryland's 7th District, in his work as Ranking Member for the Committee on Oversight and Reform. Having said that, is<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/top-democrats-write-to-president-expressing-profound-disappointment-with-his"> lowering the price on prescription drugs</a> really <i><b>your district's </b></i>top concern? <i> Is it?</i> Just wondering.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Perhaps, instead of getting defensive about the harsh reality of Baltimore -- or just calling Trump a racist in a knee-jerk reaction -- the leaders, along with the people of Baltimore, should consider accepting taking personal responsibility, each in their own way, to the level and capacity their energies and resources allow. Baltimore's problems are not overpriced prescription drugs.<br />
<br />
The community needs to go back to the basics:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, expecting your children to not only go to school, but after school come directly home to do their homework; and why stop there... let's aim for good grades and to graduate High School with the expectation to continue with college!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, making healthy connections with friends and neighbors and co-workers and fellow church members, to support each other to do one's best, no matter what conditions our reality may be.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, making healthy lifestyle choices -- saying no to drugs, using birth control and protection, eating a balanced diet, getting a fair amount of exercise...<i>just move</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, keeping our neighborhoods tidy, maybe even growing a community vegetable garden.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, reading more books.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This means, if it's all the same amount of work, really -- choose the pursuit of happiness. Find happy, make happy, be happy more often the making yourself, let alone those around you, miserable; proper attitude is probably one of the most important things we can ever choose to do with our time here on earth.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And of course, it also means, pray a little. That never hurt. All day long if that's what it takes. Because there are days that require at least that much no matter how much money you make.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But the thing is, this double standard of calling Trump the crazy racist...when he is just saying the very same things, ideas, that other people have said....and when I say other people, I mean, democrats...this hypocrisy is the real issue.<br />
<br />
Your know what I'm grateful for today -- a president that just doesn't back down. He stays in the conversation, throwing whatever he's got into the mix, and stands all 6'3 unafraid.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Baltimore is the face of a sad, sad commentary of where America is heading. This story has no happy ending, unless all of Baltimore suddenly becomes woke, but in a good way!<br />
<br />
Just recently, I was introduced to a lady -- not from Baltimore, but from Pennsylvania -- dating back almost a century. Her name is<a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/alexander-sadie-tanner-mossell-1898-1989/"> Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander.</a> She is African-American, born in Philadelphia in 1898. And her life and story, her expertise and education, defines this divide we bear witness to today, and perhaps explains how today's generation of African-Americans are so messed up in some areas, in some ways... and of course, given that I AM a WHITE girl, I already understand, I have no right to discuss this subject per my inability to relate fully. I get that. <br />
<br />
She couldn't get the respect she deserved being a black women aiming to have a career in economics, her first love; but she ended up getting a law degree and working on behalf of civil rights. Maybe that was where she was supposed to be, who knows. But, in her economic-minded heart, she knew that the variable of working, full time, was the method of changing lives for the better within her black community. Work, and work full time. Make a life. Strive and thrive. <br />
<br />
And all I can imagine is this Sadie having an attitude to move mountains. Because she did! <br />
<br />
How sad it is, when I look upon Baltimore, in this day and age...and wonder, just how much a lady like Sadie would change lives today. <br />
<br />
My great grandfather on my father's side, immigrated to Baltimore, and lived in a lovely home and worked as a tailor. He raised his son, my grandfather, to be something more. And he was. He graduated Johns Hopkins and when into aviation engineering...and he's someone I've mentioned many times before. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">"We either make ourselves</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;"> happy or miserable. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">The amount of work </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">is the same."</span></div>
<br />
this country -- AMERICA -- tells a zillion stories... of family, of life, of successes, of failures. It's a story as old as time itself.<br />
<br />
It's time to focus on the ways we come together and learn from our past.<br />
<br />
America may not be perfect, but our mission has never changed. This country is a celebration of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in every way. But none of this comes easy, or free. <br />
<br />
It takes work; it takes hard work. <br />
<br />
It takes vision. <br />
<br />
It takes personal effort. <br />
<br />
Baltimore is a mess... a rat and rodent infested mess. Let's dare Baltimore to look in the mirror and make their own happy like every other community that cares about what happens within their own community. There is nothing wrong with that... It's all up to Baltimore to fix Baltimore.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-52480978195869626602019-07-26T10:50:00.002-07:002019-07-26T10:50:48.665-07:00It's Nothing from Nothing leaves Nothing Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Dear America,</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">Nothing from Nothing leaves Nothing, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: magenta;">even if it's capitalized.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
exactly</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
which explains why this collusion hoax, and all that came with, has turned into a 34 MILLION dollar nothing burger on a platter, a patter splattered with nothing more than a vendetta against the incoming president of the United States. Making more than 300 MILLION Americans served up a complete, and utter, embarrassment. It should go down as one of the worst crimes against sanity ever.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's also organized harassment, and more generally recognized as bullying.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's also, a dereliction of duties, with regards to the<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/454766-senate-intel-releases-long-awaited-report-on-2016-election-security"><i> lack of follow-through </i>on the actual evidence</a> of election interference by a foreign government from the opposition party, and previous administration, under President Obama. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's also<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/03/30/report-comey-tried-to-reveal-russian-meddling-before-election"> conspiracy between the Deep State, the FBI, many high echelon Obama officials</a> (if not Obama, himself) with regard to setting up the entire hoax in the first place. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They just couldn't believe he had won.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nothing from Nothing leaves Nothing, even if it's capitalized by deplorable action, on multiple fronts, in concert with only one idea -- impeachment, in every possible form, of a sitting president. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's a complete nuclearized, super sized, gastronomic mess; and surprisingly, rather disgracefully, it's still warm -- there's still signs of life left in this nonsense! <i> Can you even believe that?</i> (Speaking of astonishing things and burgers, just<a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pajjwk/i-found-nycs-in-n-out-burger-and-solved-the-mystery-of-how-it-got-there"> love this story</a> ....almost as much as I love In-N-Out.)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But let's be clear, alright, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In-N-Out is nothing like </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a nothing burger. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's. like, the best burger on the planet. k.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
ugh, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nadler-says-hes-going-to-court-today-next-week-to-enforce-mueller-related-subpoenas/2019/07/26/6b5733c2-afa2-11e9-8e77-03b30bc29f64_story.html?utm_term=.7573e2102b9f"> Nadler </a> just makes me sick to my stomach.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Bear in mind, the Senate Intelligence report, linked above in The Hill post, notes:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
"The Senate report says the investigation found no evidence any vote tallies were changed, vote-tallying systems manipulated or voter registration data changed or deleted..."</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
which, of course, is not new news -- we have known this all along.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
SO if in fact no votes have been changed, which we have known all along, Trump was elected president without collusion, interference, of any kind.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Even Mueller -- appearing <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/now-they-tell-us-story-says-mueller-was-hands-off-short-on-stamina">like death warmed over</a> -- couldn't say there was collusion. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
For what it's worth,<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/24/20708503/robert-mueller-testimony-winners-losers"> this post @ Vox </a> [narrowing things down to 5 Losers and No winners] isn't a bad read on the matter....BUT, not surprisingly, the review of where things stand -- sans Mueller's day in the hot seat -- decidedly neglected to show a nice flow chart on the opposition party involvement, the faces of those responsible for creating and circulating the false dossier, which led to the FISA judgement, arriving on a silver platter through actions of collusion with the Russians by the Hillary Clinton campaign! There is that. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Nothing from Nothing leaves Nothing -- especially if it's capitalized by partisan manipulation of what amounts to nothing more than a false narrative right from the start.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
again, 34 MILLION dollars.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/crazy-ways-the-government-wastes-money.html/">government wastes</a> more money on crap...OR read this,<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/how-the-gov-wastes-money"> from Dave Ramsey</a> -- just takes three minutes. OR read<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-most-outrageous-ways-the-american-government-is-spending-its-money/ss-BBQ6WjX#image=6"> this one</a>, it's got pictures, from MSN.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
we can add this 34 million to the menu</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and still -- over <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/20-trillion-of-u-s-debt-visualized-using-stacks-of-100-bills/">twenty TRILLION dollars in debt</a>. Where's the heated discussion about that reality, CONGRESS? </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Visualizing this hot mess is where it's at.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is what should stop our hearts and ring the alarm.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Our debt is something so outrageous, no one gives it the time of day. It's too <i>abstract</i>, too <i>out there</i>, too <i>it's not my problem...</i>let's kick this can down the road to the next generation.</div>
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Sure, paying down debt is not fun for anyone; there is that. </div>
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But continuously doing nothing about it ultimately creates bankruptcy, because nothing from Twenty Trillion dollars leaves Twenty Trillion dollars collecting interest, and on and on and on. While all the while, continuing to spend more money than we make -- whether upon frivolous things like 'the secrets of college drinking' or 'studying glaciers from a feminist perspective' <b><i> to</i></b> funding our military to secure and protect the American people and the sovereignty of this beautiful nation, which, in other words, is the ONE thing the Federal Government is mandated to do per the Constitution....eventually, something, as in many things, has gotta give. And give bigly. very very bigly.</div>
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This is why all this new chatter about the latest, greatest version of socialism on a social platter, serving billions of dollars to millions of Americans, is the real issue for this upcoming presidential election. </div>
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If socialism wins next time around, nothing good will come of it. Nothing.</div>
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but again, who am I...</div>
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but just a girl,</div>
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an American girl</div>
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and this is just one day in the life on the old G Thing...<i> </i></div>
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<i>nothin' but a G thang baby</i></div>
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come back again real soon</div>
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and if you must know, this girl is now on her way for a something something burger mmmmmmmmmmmm</div>
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<i><b>Make it a Good Day, G</b></i></div>
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Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5793982695709072407.post-31178202712292342452019-07-22T10:00:00.000-07:002019-07-22T10:00:22.502-07:00It's a Downright Foregone Conclusion Thing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear America,</h2>
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<span style="color: magenta;">Feel the Burn</span></div>
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gotta love the instant<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-announces-it-will-cut-hours-to-pay-staffers-15-minimum-wage-prompting-mockery"> reality check</a>, no?</div>
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it didn't take long...</div>
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Last Thursday, when the staffers were complaining of not getting the $15.00/hour plus health benefits package -- the same kind of entitlement package Bernie is touting on the campaign trail -- as in the same kind of government co-dependency programs that all of the left winged presidential hopefuls keep insisting upon through agendas featuring fundamental transformation to the 2020th power -- Bernie found a solution........wait for it.....</div>
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The solution is to "limit the number of hours staffers work to 42 or 43 each week to ensure they’re making the equivalent of $15 an hour," he told the Register's Brianne Pfannenstiel</blockquote>
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hahhahahhahahhahhah</div>
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and he then added: </div>
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"It does bother me that people are going outside of the process and going to the media," Sanders added. "That is really not acceptable. It is really not what labor negotiations are about, and it's improper."</blockquote>
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yes indeed, airing the campaigns dirty laundry in public is quite improper. What, are you british now?</div>
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just love that, <i>"going to the media...really not acceptable..."</i> can't you just hear it coming out of his mouth? but honestly, since when have you believed that, Bern? Union negotiations have long been bosom buddies with the media -- from both sides! How else is the public swayed; how else do the negotiations feel the burn and come to an end over merely the stress factor, the amount of human suffering alone is enough, right? <i>omg</i></div>
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the irony of the situation came whipping back like a boomerang; although, I still don't think the Bern even gets it. His answer is always the same thing -- tax more, he says. Talk like a Brit, sound like a Brit, he must be a Brit, that Bern. You know we colonists had a knock down, drag out, hellacious war over taxation, right? You know just finished celebrating the independence from those oppressors of the olden-days, like only a couple weeks ago, right?</div>
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And just love how Representative Dan Crenshaw responds: "So does this fall under the category of hypocrisy, irony, or poetic justice?" Crenshaw asked. "All three? Can’t make this stuff up."</div>
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The thing is, if this insane $15.00 minimum wage can't work within the confines of a small political campaign, how in the world does Bernie expect it to work in the real world? </div>
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As the Fox News post continues to point out --</div>
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"This situation is an instructive example of the downside of more than doubling the minimum wage," wrote The Blaze's Aaron Colen. "Companies don't just suddenly get more money to pay employees. They have to make tough decisions; usually either cutting hours, or worse, cutting staff."</blockquote>
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exactly</div>
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And since when does it make sense to basically double the current federal minimum wage, like, overnight? (like, this girl is so sounding like the AOC today, like for sure) </div>
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Sure -- like, businesses won't feel the burn at all going from $7.25/hour <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/mwig_fact_sheet/">(set in 2009</a>) to $15.00 with a quick vote from <strike>parliament</strike>. oops, I mean congress. boom! bust! ha!</div>
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And besides -- many states, almost half of them actually, are not affected by the federally mandated minimum wage at all, as they already land somewhere above it! For example, most of the state of California is at a minimum wage of at least $12.00, going up to $15.00, <a href="https://www.laboremploymentlawblog.com/2019/06/articles/minimum-wage/increases-california/">depending upon municipality</a>. </div>
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But the thing is -- this game of minimum wage hikes and government mandates is getting America in a situation much like that of the British Open (ironically played in Northern Ireland, at Royal Portrush’s Dunluce...am I the only one to find that funny). </div>
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And forgive me (not really) if I carry you off the day's course for a wee bit....</div>
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That was a totally awesome day, yesterday, as the Irishman, Shane Lowry, took the most sizable portion of the purse! He won! And he deserved it! He played better than all of the other players! By a long shot! Even in inhospitable conditions of rain coming down sideways, winds, and lots and lots of scary things all around the course, from bunkers to weeds to cliffs to hilly greens. It was an amazing four day spectacle of true grit and talent -- and <a href="https://golfweek.com/2019/07/21/how-much-money-each-golfer-earned-in-the-british-open/">Shane conquered it all and won!</a> And he was paid handsomely for it, too, nearly 2 million dollars! But runner up, Tommy Fleetwood -- although a wee bit higher on the handsome side, got only 1.2 million....and so on and so on. </div>
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Even though they all played the same number of days, the same course, with the same weather, with the same challenges...one got paid more than everybody else. imagine that.</div>
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You see -- if you demanded that everyone get the same fair living wage in the tournament, there would be no tournament. k? can you dig me another bunker for your shock and awe? </div>
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<i>awww but G</i>, that's not the same thing, you're comparing golf balls to basketballs....<i>oh really?</i></div>
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No matter the industry -- whether for sport or for commerce or for service -- there is <b>always </b>the existence of supply and demand, of risk and investment, of capital in and capital out, of gains and losses, of development over time and patience, of market leanings, market evolution, to markets totally disappearing... and all coinciding with the natural separation of personal experience and expertise and talent and dedicated amount of time! And when you add it all up, that makes way for proper distribution of winners and losers and everyone in between. Even if it's for charity. </div>
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It remains a mystical, magical, economical equation -- much of which is no mystery whatsoever. It is all fair play according to the <b>open</b> <b>marketplace; </b>an open marketplace like the one a money guy like<a href="https://www.adamsmith.org/the-wealth-of-nations"> Adam Smith</a> imagined...class, no matter your class -- middle and otherwise -- please engage and read up on the ideas of Mr. Smith and make your own foregone conclusions.</div>
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The more America drives away from being the land of the home and the free within the security (<i>and spontaneity, shall we say</i>) of the enterprising, free market, full capitalist, dimension, the less security and wealth we will attain, let alone keep.</div>
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yes. Let's Keep America Great again.</div>
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In order to do this, the free and open marketplace must win; and socialism -- of every ugly, miserable, envious dimension -- must lose! bigly. very very bigly.</div>
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end of story.</div>
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or it will be the end of U.S.</div>
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Bernie's campaign has illuminated everything we need to know and understand about the fundamental transformation he is pitching to all Americans. 1) Most importantly, it doesn't work 2) why do something that has been proven time and time again NOT to work? </div>
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Wouldn't that be taking us backwards, not forwards, Bernie? <a href="http://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/origin-of-golf-terms/fore/"> Fore</a>! (yes indeed, with that link, this girl covered the Brits, the Irish and the Scots all in one blog; bringing new meaning to <i>teehee, but I digress</i>)</div>
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Dare I say again,<b> fore! </b>look out below......</div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Socialism</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">is a philosophy of failure </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">with the creed of ignorance, </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">and the gospel of envy. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"> It's inherent virtue</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">is the equal sharing of misery."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Winston Churchill</span></div>
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have a nice day.</div>
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<b><i>Make it a Good Day, G</i></b></div>
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Just a Girl,http://www.blogger.com/profile/10443871621921432598noreply@blogger.com0