It's Up to Baltimore to Fix Baltimore Thing

Dear America,

"We either make ourselves

 happy or miserable.  

The amount of work 

is the same." 

Carlos Castaneda  

A page from my little book titled, 

"Nothing is worth more than this day." 

by Kathryn and Ross Petras

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 THIS 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.

And thank you, Washington Examiner, for THIS itty bitty walk back....to circa 2015.

SO Bernie can get away with it, because he veers left, like, really left; while Trump, not so much.

This story is getting rather old, timeworn.

What exactly did Trump say, in the tweet that started another firestorm:

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......

....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

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!

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? 

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."

From a August 2017, Sam Faddis writes in the BALTIMORE SUN:

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... 

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.

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.

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.

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.   

Here's a bit more from the Uncle Sam Faddis:

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.

And let's see, who else agrees?  The MAYOR of Baltimore herself, Catherine Pugh!

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.

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 lowering the price on prescription drugs really your district's top concern?  Is it?  Just wondering.

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.

The community needs to go back to the basics:

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!

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.

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...just move.

This means, keeping our neighborhoods tidy, maybe even growing a community vegetable garden.

This means, reading more books.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Just recently, I was introduced to a lady -- not from Baltimore, but from Pennsylvania -- dating back almost a century.  Her name is Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander.   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. 

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. 

And all I can imagine is this Sadie having an attitude to move mountains.  Because she did! 

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.   

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. 

"We either make ourselves

 happy or miserable.  

The amount of work 

is the same."

this country -- AMERICA -- tells a zillion stories... of family, of life, of successes, of failures.  It's a story as old as time itself.

It's time to focus on the ways we come together and learn from our past.

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. 

It takes work; it takes hard work. 

It takes vision. 

It takes personal effort. 

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.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Stars in Their Courses Thing

Dear America,

"Intention plus hard work equals magic."

just a little sage advice that came via my Yahoo horoscope from this morning... and ironically, and as often the case no matter the sign -- it works for everyone.

the thing is... 

sometimes it takes what seems to be a lifetime to figure this out.

while other times, a whole life is lived without even so much as an inkling.

and then of course, for some "lucky" people -- the stars seem aligned right out of the gate, as if by fate, as if no effort was ever required.

But for most of the time -- this realization that the magic happens at the intersection of intention and the unimaginable number of days manufacturing boatloads of blood, sweat and tears -- IT MUST BE TAUGHT!

You know how that works -- one person tells another person, and then they tell another person,  and so on and so on.

Here's another way to look at it.   

Think of it in terms of how America was made -- that being completely upon the principles of self-reliance, independence, and the freedom to do the very thing that makes each of us happy alongside what was fully intended to be a limited government.

Simple simon, right?

Apparently not so much.

Someone who I love, respect, support, and pretty much think highly of in every way, is Star Parker. 

Just today -- upon the heels of the Baltimore riots -- she has come out with a quick post making clear where her intentions lay in the everyday.  And having come from welfare, the ghetto, herself, she personifies the conception of "intentions with hard work equals magic" almost seamlessly.  Knowing what she is made of -- the ghetto and the grit to change her circumstances -- makes Star all the more magnificent.    She IS a Star.

So here is what the constellation Parker had to say, just today:

Break the ghettos! Change policies in Washington, DC and change Baltimore, Ferguson, and our nation!

And no -- I have no intention on giving you so much as a word other than the heading.  Go read what Star has to say -- and then -- make a donation to CURE...just follow the links, easy peezy, light and breezy, lemon squeezy.

Which reminds me -- if "the magic" doesn't seem to be happening quickly enough, here's another one for you:  "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Yeah, I hear you.

Save it.

Sure --  it's cliche.

Kinda stupid,

Possibly even sophomoric, pollyanna-ish, and ridiculously naive.

WHATEVER!!!!!!

As a LIFE PRINCIPLE, IT WORKS every time!

And besides, if all of the citizens of Baltimore (who are we kidding, let's throw in the entire country, shall we...)  simply had a grasp on just how this all works, we would all be in a better place; for it's so true -- our intentions coupled with hard work equals magic! 

 Indeed.  And it is our duty and responsibility to not only know this, but to pass it on with each new generation we make.  

It works from a natural law (much like the intentions back behind what is written into law in our Constitution, and within our Declaration of Independence.)  that instantly, and consistently, responds to our every thought and action and intention, whether positive or negative, like magic.  When it works in our favor, nobody ever really notices all the hard work, considering by that time it is totally out-shined by the sparkling results of whatever we made (with effort! and determination! and tears!).

The reality is, the streets of Baltimore are seeing the results of the intentions plus efforts of the whole, and most certainly, of the great power of the collective.   Unfortunately, it isn't shiny or brand new; it's neither industrious or productive.   It is purely organized destruction, after decades of ill-conceived intentions, undermining every act of self-reliance and independence with liberal lies, abuse, misguidance, and fraud.

INTENTIONS with HARD WORK equals MAGIC.  

Kinda like, um, karma,   

What goes around comes around.

  

Or, like, um, we reap what we sow.  

Ooooh,  like no, like maybe in the "stars in their courses" kinda way...[The Book of Judges encapsulates the cycle of sin and salvation, following a part of history in Israel, covering a period of time of 330 years in the land of Canaan and likely written around 1000 B.C.]

oh wow. 

oh G,.. 

sometimes, you even amaze yourself.  he he  

[Even though I am nothing, and only by the grace of God do I come up with anything to say upon any waking day... thank you, God.    Can I get an amen?]

 

Anywho, this morning when I awoke I thought to myself,

should I write a blog, or no?

And wondering, do I really have something to say, today?

Unknowingly, and yet setting my sights upon the answer of yes, my intentions began to align with tripping around the keyboard, starting with my daily ritual of reading a silly horoscope and promptly bouncing around the web like nobody's business.

And the stars came out to greet me.

Baddabing Badda Big Bang Boom.

  

Bye Bye

Make it a Good Day, G

It's Good Beginnings Make Good Endings Thing

Dear America,

precepts, quotes, t-shirts, greeting cards...and bumper stickers, oh my!  these are the things that make me go hum...

and today is no exception.

cue the silver bumper of a Prius, just plastered with opinion, yesterday: 

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

 yes, indeed, we would like to hope so, anyway.

WHO for Pete's sake really wants WAR, for jiminy crickets?  (Besides Iran, North Korea, Boko Haram, ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Queda, Russia, Environmentalists, Atheists, Illegal Immigrants, Gay Marriage Enthusiasts, and the latest, the poor, black "children" of Baltimore....)

But I just sat there -- at the red light and with nowhere to run -- and looked at this liberal's rear end and sighed....heavily, and almost to the point of hyperventilation.  There was not an inch uncovered, but that's beside the point; this "war is not the answer" hit me upside the head a little differently than usual -- and left me broadsided and motionless upon the idea for hours.  

And as for this morning --  I still find myself hardly in the position to just shake it off.

Context is always fun; and how things change from generation to generation seems to be at the crux, as if the "olden days" are always set up against the latest modern conveniences of what is essential, or true.  Beliefs systems get tossed around, laws get upended, what is practiced and preached go into direct conflict with one another in each new day, escalating and overreaching with hidden agendas and propaganda, and all the while using the cultural divide to evolve and transform nearly everything under pressure, under duress.

I would have loved to have stopped this gal and ask, just how important was that Revolutionary War? Because , you know, lady -- the option of airing that vast, beautiful, ideological, opinion of yours everywhere you go came on the heels of granting you a certain independence dating back over two hundred years ago FROM THE OUTCOME OF A FRICKEN WAR!

Even better -- how about that CIVIL WAR?  You know -- the one that ended slavery in America!!!!!!!!!!!  [ Thank you, Lincoln -- a REPUBLICAN!]   

Of course, the sex slave industry -- here in the US, over there in Syria, and pretty much everywhere, especially during big sporting events like the Super Bowl -- is an industry doing a bang up job year over year, there is that; and what about the use of children to provide cheap labor all over the world? Slavery wars of inhumane terms and treatment, in tandem, and with no light in sight -- but then again, that's not the kind of war you are commenting on, am I right?

And given the context of the last 48 hours --  how about you take that soapbox piggybacking hope upon hope of yours directly to the streets of Baltimore -- perhaps popping it down right in front of that CVS Store that got burned, almost to the ground, and tell those "kids" to stop -- think about what you are doing -- in a 'war is not the answer' kind of way -- and see what kind of response you get.  Something tells me, from what you tell me about yourself all over that sassy little hybrid of yours, the war happening on the streets of Baltimore is something different; the violence being totally justified under the protections of a higher purpose under heaven, or something (no -- wait -- what did the bumper say; did you have anything about WWJD or no?)

Funny though --

considering how quickly emotions and reactions flared in real time --  who knew?

War...being at war and the senseless, violent acts of all kinds and measures to quell or control or change the world or protect, never works right?  Never a good reason, huh?   UNLESS YOU'RE A MOM!

Now famous -- the slap upside the head and heard 'round the world!   

And notice how her son did NOT slap her back.  He may not have shown respect to the police, or to his very own hometown of Baltimore, but he cowered, and ducked his little hoodie-head, weaving himself across the blacktop as fast as his feet could travel.  There were two sides:  his and her's.  And her's won; and nobody died in the process.

So perhaps -- in a lesson gleaned is a lesson learned kind of way -- next time we see trouble coming in our inner cities or otherwise, never mind the PoPo.  Just send in the moms.  Send in an army of moms and we'll have all the kids home with their hands washed and the table set in no time.

Now -- do we dare go down that road of having babies out of wedlock or families without dads?

As much as I applaud this  "get the fxxx over here" kind of mom -- taking care of her own business and making sure that all of her business ...all SIX of them...aren't all about town and misbehaving -- I must add my two cents:  kids need fathers, too!  Sure, it appears she's got things very much handled (get it?), but my second thought is that she needs reinforcement.

I know -- how old-fashioned, right?

The thing is -- and we have gone round and round with this more days than I can remember -- for a civil society to live long and prosper, nearly everything gets back to one major component being the priority.  The priority!  Not the "maybe it's highly recommended, but not mandatory" category; it's a priority!    And that component is the family unit.

That's it.

FAMILY -- with a mom and dad watching over our every move we make, teaching us values, making us go to school, supplying the unconditional love and support and balanced meals, restricting TV and video babysitting, taking us to church, promoting good grades and going to college, guarding us against gangs and drugs, teaching us manners and respect for authority, reading us bedtime stories and kissing us on the forehead goodnight -- these are the things a family is made of.

AND --  if we all did just this one thing, and did it well, throughout all America, what happened in Baltimore never would have happened.  Never.

And make no mistake --  it works whether rich or poor, liberal or conservative or libertarian, and no matter the color of thy skin.  It's a system indiscriminate and far-reaching and good for all.

Sure, it can be done, even in the inner-city -- raising a child well as a single mom.   Look at the shining example coming from Dr. Ben Carson!    And just look at his response to Baltimore, here.

But let's be clear.  This single mom thing is not the ideal (ask me how I know).

It's not ideal at all.
As a mom, it takes at least twice as much of everything; twice as much work, energy, courage, food, patience, grace,..including bubble baths and prayers.

What happened in Baltimore marks a sad, sad day that turned into two and is hardly over.

But the good news is we can fix it!

There are times when war is not the answer...like on the streets of Baltimore.

While sometimes, the answer is not creating the conditions on the ground in the first place.  

And that begins with going back to the BEGINNING -- before the animosity, before the crime is committed, before the child is lost, before the game begins.  It begins in the comfort of our homes and  within the confines and protections of family surroundings and upbringings.  While the left will never have you believe it could ever be that simple.

It begins with a mother and father bringing into the world a child -- coupled with their undying commitment and integrity to do their very best and TEACH their children WELL.

[And go ahead and laugh] but I have no problem with saying it is just that simple. 

So here's your G bumper sticker for today:

Good BEGINNINGS make good ENDINGS.

Make it a Good Day, G

let's pray for Nepal and pray for Baltimore and pray for America.