Monthly Archives: September 2018

My Senses are Degrading….Just Like Our Society!

Gosh Darn It!  There are times when getting older really does suck.  And as I get older, my senses are degrading in acuity.  You remember those five senses from grammar school…sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.  It appears to me that as my senses are degrading, so are the senses of our society.  (My mind is faltering, too.  But, dammit, I did not have to use Google to remember the five senses!)  Let me provide examples of how I think society’s senses are faltering, much as mine.

Hearing

Have you ever watched an episode of ‘The View?’  That is a daytime show with four very left- leaning women, trying to convince other women to be left-leaning.  Well…admittedly, I have never watched more than 5 minutes of that show, mostly because I am not left-leaning or a woman.  Surprise.  The four primary women on this show are Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Abby Huntsman, and Sunny Hostin.  This past week, they were mocking the message that Melania Trump produced about defending her husband from a New York op-ed piece.  Sunny Hostin began reading this message in an improvised, not funny-at-all, Melania accent.  Admittedly, one of the other women had the good graces and common sense to tell her to stop.

I am sure than anyone that hears Melania speak, can also hear her accent.  (Did you catch that segue?)  I wonder if they would have mocked her accent if they would have heard her speak the other five languages that she speaks?  Yes, Melania speaks six languages: Slovenian, French, Serbian, German and Italian, and of course, English.  I am willing to bet that she speaks more languages than the other four ladies on The View combined.

Touch

Have there ever been instances in your life that you ‘would not touch with a 10 foot flagpole?’  I know I have, but whenever I have gotten close to a real ’10 foot flag pole’, I was either saluting it or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  During all twelve years of my el-hi education, the day was begun with the Pledge of Allegiance.  If Colin Kaepernick gets close to a ’10 foot flagpole….he takes a knee.

Amazingly, just to show how disrespectful this act is, the Nike corporation has decided to use Colin as the face of their newest ad campaign.  Their reasoning?  They believe that Kaepernick showed ‘bravery and sacrifice’ by taking the knee.  Now I realize that my mind isn’t as sharp as it once was, but I am having one hell of a time equating disrespect for our flag, our national anthem and our country as being ‘brave and sacrificing!’  

I will give Nike the benefit of the doubt about market research in making this decision.  They realized that their target group is younger people, and that virtually anyone over the age of 55 is off their radar.  But you screwed up in your assumptions.  Us ‘over 55’ crowd are parents and grandparents, which means that those grandkids get presents for birthdays and Christmas.  Do you think us older folks, us that recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day,  are going to rush to buy Nike gear for their grandkids?  Not likely.  You may be spot on by targeting the generation that has never had to live through a costly war.  Their perception of ‘sacrifice and bravery’ would be diluted from us who lost friends and relatives in Viet Nam or Korea or World War II or from 9/11.

Nike, you missed the boat.  If you wanted to push the envelope of society, and touch the hearts of a patriotic America, you could have been a trendsetter by choosing someone else.  How about a fire figher who rushed into the World Trade Center, knowing they may die while trying to rescue others?  How about a paraplegic, athletic soldier or Marine that has lost both legs while defending this country rather than denigrating it.  Those military people who have lost their limbs would only take two knees to pray, but never one knee to disrespect this country.   Need a famous athlete, as you have selected in the past?  How about J.J. Watt?  He raised over $47 million for Hurricane Harvey relief.  But I would guess that J.J. Watts, excellent role model like he is, is not ‘edgy’ enough for your campaign.  Peyton Manning would be left out because he has only built a children’s hospital with his own money.

But there is an upside to this whole affair.  In today’s Trump improving economy, even Colin Kaepernick got a job!

Smell

This past week, the New York Times came out with a scathing op-ed piece about the White House and Donald Trump.  The entire article was based upon a ‘high level anonymous source.’  Within the last two weeks, Bob Woodward has published a new book, also very negative about the White House and Donald Trump.  His book is largely based on ‘anonymous sources and hearsay.’  In his book, he has said that, “his anonymous source overheard” a conversation in the White House.

Does anyone ‘smell a rat’ when it comes to ‘anonymous sources and hearsay?’  I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to equate the word ‘anonymous’ with the word, ‘fictitious’  and the word  ‘hearsay‘ with the word, ‘rumor.’  The reason why I ‘smell a rat’  concerning this type of reporting and journalism is that I am wildly skeptical because of the timing.  It has become common in the last few decades, to release negative garbage just prior to an upcoming election, by both parties.  (Okay.  I am biased.  I feel like the liberal media has the edge in the garbage department.)  This year’s midterm election is going to be huge on how the outcome affects the direction of America and the smelly  journalistic garbage campaign is already beginning.  You can certainly be assured that there will be more to follow.

My opinion about ‘anonymous sources’ is that if they feel so strongly about what information they are providing, then they should be courageous enough to identify themselves.  If they are not willing to identify themselves, then they should not disclose their information.  That is the way it would be in the Grandpa T fantasy world.

Sight

One of my fondest memories of growing up was being in, and watching parades.  I would love to see the floats, the bands with their beautiful majorettes, the beauty queens, the classic cars and catching the handfuls of candy that accompanied every parade.

But I have one regret.  I have only seen one circus.  I was probably 5 or 6, and somehow our family got tickets to see the Ringling Brothers circus.  For a young kid, it was magical!

There are advantages to getting old.  For one advantage, I get to watch a whole lot of television.  For one disadvantage, I get to watch a whole lot of television.  With that in mind, I would like to share with you that while watching television this past week, I got to see another circus.  That makes two circuses in my lifetime!   This particular circus was hosted by the Senate Judiciary Committee during its confirmation hearings involving Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  It was obvious from the questioning and from the proceedings that there were more clowns in this circus than Ringling Brothers could ever afford.  Total lack of respect.  Total lack of decorum.  Total dedication to disrupting the proceedings.

I can see that this is what we receive when we load a room with over-inflated egos, posturing to become a presidential candidate.  Eventually, we did get a smattering of what the Supreme Court Justice nominee had to say, but it was secondary to the circus being in town.  After watching this event, I began wishing for two things:  1.  Take the cameras out of the room, because most of these clowns never met a TV camera they didn’t like, and, 2.  Is it too late to change our government to a benevolent dictator so we would not have to watch how crappy our government really operates?  (How did those 70 demonstrators get into that meeting room?  Did they need a pass from one of the senatorial participants?  Just wondering out loud.)

Taste

In late June,  Sarah Sanders and her family were asked to leave before getting a taste of the cuisine at at the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia.  Bummer.  She was asked to leave by the owner, stating that she was asked to leave because she works for Donald Trump.  The owner then took this personal display of stupidity and disrespect by following Sarah and her family to the next restaurant.

But just like the TV commercials, ‘but wait…there’s more!’  Maxine Waters, U.S. Representative from the California 43rd congressional district took this one step further by stating that, “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up.  And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd.  And you push back on them.  And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”  Wow!  Aren’t our elected officials suppose to do what is best for America?  Aren’t they suppose to set an example for Americans?  Heal racial wounds?  Promote a united America?  Well, in this instance, Maxine went out of her way to demonstrate her intolerance and stupidity.

One can only hope that sometime in the near future, Maxine Waters gets a taste of her own medicine and gets thrown out of some facility.  Hopefully that would be the House of Representatives.  Just thinking out loud about the Grandpa T fantasy world.

I still have enough intellectual wits about me to know that my senses are slightly duller as I get older.  My big concern is, ‘Does our society have enough intellectual wits to realize that its senses are dulling, also?’  (And, probably faster than mine!)   America needs to become more cognizant of its ‘senses.’  And in that vein, let’s continue to “Make America Great Again!”

It’s Open Season on Non-Career Politicians in Washington, D.C.!

I will make no bones about it….I supported and voted for Donald Trump.  Why?  Well, after living through the terms of more Presidents than I care to count, I decided that maybe career politicians did not make the best Presidents.  (Okay.  I confess.  Trump makes number 13 during my lifetime!)

In the good old days, many of our Presidents were elected because of having military experience.  During my lifetime, that would have been Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.  Ten of the thirteen Presidents during my lifetime had some form of military experience.  The three that have not served in the military are: Clinton, Obama and Trump.

So, for the last three that did not have military experience, which were the professional career politicians?  That would be Clinton and Obama.  That leaves just one person left and he was a career businessman as opposed to a career politician, Donald Trump.  And Washington, D.C., the political muck-hole and swamp of the political world cannot tolerate a non-career politician in the Oval Office.  Thus he, and anyone associated with him, have become targets in a political assassination game that the majority of this country finds detestable.

So what were the significant contributions and accomplishments of William Jefferson Clinton, the first non-military experienced president during my lifetime?  He was the Attorney General for the State of Arkansas, before becoming the Governor of Arkansas.  He then became the third youngest POTUS in 1993 and was POTUS until 2001.  In today’s political arena, he would have been considered a moderate. With some of his legislation, by today’s Democratic socialist yardstick, he may have even been considered slightly moderate to conservative!  But Bill also had the distinction of being only the second POTUS to ever be impeached.  (The first POTUS to be impeached was Andrew Johnson.)  Yup.  Bill had an affair with a White House intern and lied about it before congressional committees.  He lied about the affair before the 1996 election, which he won, and was impeached in 1998 after scathing evidence was presented concerning the affair.  Because the Republicans did not want to give Al Gore, the Vice President, presidential exposure and experience before the next election, Bill was allowed to finish out his term.  Bill was a lawyer.  As scandalous as his affair was, it pales in comparison as to what he and his wife have done since his presidency.

Barack Obama had a different career path.  Initially, he was a community organizer.  I am not sure for what organization, but that is what he did.  He served 7 years in the Illinois senate.  He then won election as a U.S. Senator.  Within 150 days after becoming a U.S. Senator, Obama began his campaign to become POTUS.  Amazingly, he won the Democratic nomination for POTUS, defeating the well-entrenched, well-funded Hillary Clinton.  He served as POTUS from 2009 to 2017. He was also a lawyer.  (And, from the day he was inaugurated until the day he left the presidency, his net worth increased 30 times!  Wow! )

Now along comes the billionaire and successful businessman, Donald Trump.  The one big advantage for Trump was that because he was not a career politician, he did not owe his political success to any particular lobby group or voting bloc.  Thus, unlike Clinton and Obama, he could not be controlled by campaign contributors or lobbyists.  He spent half of what Hillary Clinton spent on her campaign.  Hillary was the first politician in the United States to spend over a BILLION dollars on a campaign. The Washington smut machine does not like independent players on its field.  They are considered uncontrollable, and….they can be dangerous because you just never know what they can do.  When I was a teenager, I asked my dad why he voted for John F. Kennedy.  My dad’s reply?  I voted for JFK because “its tough to bribe a millionaire.”  Big Daddy G was ahead of his time without knowing it.  Now Trump is in the same position, except he is a billionaire.

Then, Trump had the audacity to place the best and brightest in his cabinet positions and his advisory positions.  As he was making these selections, I said to Grandma P, “This country could not afford to hire the people that Trump is appointing.”  They were the best and the brightest people that could be gotten.  They were paragons of industry, high level military leaders; and the best at everything.  He made these appointments without having to settle political debts, with one exception.  He even appointed Ben Carson, a former political opponent, to be Director of Housing and Urban Development.  How many people would do that?

But the media and the denizens of the deepest part of the ‘swamp’ reared their ugly heads and wasted no time in doing it.  The new word of the day became the ‘I’ word….impeachment.  And they began using this word before he was inaugurated!   But wait…for impeachment to take place, one would have to commit some impeachable offense.  So, in the truest tradition of fake it or make it up news,  we ended up with the Mueller investigation.  It is difficult to remember that this investigation began to determine the Russian influence and tampering in our last election.  It now has become an extended ‘witch hunt’ into Donald Trump and anyone associated with, or close to Donald Trump.

I am not sure what Paul Manafort is guilty of, but I am sure it was not something that required a 4:00AM arrest at his home, and incarceration without bail.  His arrest, when he answered the door in his underwear, was well recorded and publicized.  How convenient.  Manafort was the former campaign chairman for the Trump campaign.  In the good old days, those being any days before the Obama presidency, Manafort would have been subject to an IRS audit, not a publicized arrest by the FBI.

Some of Trump’s former friends and associates have come under scrutiny because of the Mueller investigation and are pleading guilty and plea bargaining to circumstances that are not really criminal.  Why would they do that?  Well…it is really quite simple.  Once the Justice Department, the IRS or the FBI wants to get into your knickers, they can do it with a battalion of attorneys that are all on the government payroll and at tax payer expense.  The accused, on the other hand, has to pay for a defense out of their own pockets.  With the Mueller investigation now rapidly approaching two years of existence, it is evident to any accused to what lengths our misguided legal system will go to harass.  A lengthy court battle would put most people into financial ruination.  Or, you could get a get out of jail card if you turn on Trump?  You would have to be some kind of person not to take a plea deal and turn on Trump with the alternative being financial ruination.  Our misguided legal/judicial system is using this sentiment to their advantage.  Rather than handling the accused persons with ‘kid gloves,’ they come at them with a sledge hammer.

But now as the skins of the onion are being peeled away, we are learning that this ‘witch hunt’ has been coordinated between three departments within the US Government; Justice, FBI and the CIA.  All of this dependent on a fictitious Fusion GPS dossier that was funded by the Clinton campaign.  If I am reading the tea leaves correctly, John Brennan, former head of the CIA, submitted the Fusion GPS report to the FBI while knowing it was all baloney.  The well entrenched FBI Obamaites/Clintonites could not pass up the opportunity to take this to the mat and received all kinds of judicial support, all the while knowing it was baloney, also.  Remember in an earlier paragraph where I said Trump appointed people without political debt except for one?  That one person would be Jeff Sessions, the current Attorney General .  Sessions was an early Trump supporter, and was rewarded with the appointment.  When the issue of the Mueller investigation gained steam, Sessions recused himself.  Big mistake for him and for Trump.  The now steam-rolling Mueller investigation has proceeded unencumbered because the Attorney General has taken a ‘hands off’ approach to the whole affair and the investigation is in the hands of entrenched ‘Anti-Trumpers.”

The arrogance of some of the key people concerning this investigation is breath taking.  John Brennan, the head CIA ‘spook’, has not found a TV camera he doesn’t like in his jihad to belittle Donald Trump and his presidency.  (Aren’t ‘spooks’ suppose to keep their mouths shut?)  Peter Strzok, the most arrogant piece of beetle dung that is collecting a government paycheck, said in a congressional hearing that, he “knew what was best for Americans.”  This was suppose to justify his nefarious actions and his office affair?  Peter, I know what is best for America today…not having our governmental agencies politically weaponized to influence this nation, favor a political party, or chastise and harass a candidate/elected official.  Brennan was CIA, Strzok was FBI, and Bruce Ohr was at the DOJ.  It was Ohr’s wife that worked at Fusion GPS and submitted the fictitious report that worked its way through all three agencies.  

Why are some of the leaders of these three organizations (and the all-to-willing media) attacking Trump and his associates with such ‘heavy  handedness?’  In football parlance, ‘the best defense is a good offense’ and there is not anyone more offensive than the above mentioned individuals.  They are up to their crooked necks in a highly illegal and treasonous  cabal at the highest levels of our government.

If I had a genie in a lamp and could rub it three times for three wishes (did I mention my genie would look like Sandra Bullock?) I would wish for the following.   Wish one:  Jeff Sessions is replaced by Trey Gowdy as Attorney General. Wish two:  Brennan, Strzok and Ohr all lose their jobs, lose their retirements and have their security clearances stripped.  Wish three:  The legal process will finally investigate that the Clinton money machine and Barack Obama are behind all the ‘Anti-Trump’ machinations taking place in ‘Swampington, D.C.’  One can only hope for justice…finally.  Obama may have only been a community organizer, but he certainly is excellent at organizing resistance.

Who is watching the top policemen (FBI), when its top hierarchy is loaded with crooked cops?

Hopefully, God and the midterm election will save this great nation.