Tag Archives: term limits

‘Obstruction and Negativity’—-The Liberal Party Plank!

How long can you tolerate watching national and world news?  In the good old days of my youth with vigor and vitality, I could tolerate up to 30 minutes.  Now that I am older and wiser, I can tolerate watching national and world news for 20 minutes.  If I am having a really, really good day, I’ll watch it for 10 minutes!

Why the decrease in time, you ask?  It is quite easy to understand.  The vast majority of the news being reported (or made up!) has a negative connotation for either our country or for the POTUS.  Between the liberal media and the Democratic party, they will go to ungodly and disrespectful lengths to assure that anything this POTUS has accomplished be minimized.  The negatives get accentuated and the positives fade into obscurity.

The greatest example of obstruction took place about 4 months ago.  Do you remember when the Democratic party was vehement about the fact that something had to be done to address the problem of the ‘dreamers.’  The ‘dreamers’ are those people that were brought into this country by their parents who were illegal immigrants.  The Liberal ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling regarding this issue was that as children, these ‘dreamers’ did not have any choice.  Consequently, they should be granted US citizenship.  The extension to this was that their parents should also be given US citizenship, because, gosh darn it, look at how long they have been here.  The liberals stated that there were 900,000 dreamers in the US, and gosh darn it, every one of them was a smart and productive American citizen candidate.  (My first thought about hearing this liberal approach was that if these ‘dreamers’ were so smart, why didn’t they go through the naturalization procedure long before.  I digress.)  Do you remember Trump’s response?  Trump said that a 10 year procedure would be put in place for 1.8 million dreamers.  This would allow twice the number of dreamers to become naturalized American citizens as being vetted by the Liberals.  The one big caveat that required 10 years to become a citizen?  A clean criminal record history.  In other words, if you have a criminal record, you could not become an American citizen, and could be deported.  The Liberal response?  Have you heard one word about the ‘dreamer’ issue in the last 4 months? The ‘dreamer’ issue was an issue thrown up against the Washington crap wall to see if it would stick in making Trump look like he was a racist and opposed to any path for the ‘dreamers’ to become US citizens.  It backfired on the Liberals and the liberal media instantaneously obliged by eliminating any more coverage of the ‘dreamer’ issue.  In the meantime, a very good and fair proposal got tossed onto the Washington crap pile.

What is the continued purpose of the Mueller investigation?  When I was young and living on the farm, one of our dogs strayed.  After a couple of weeks, we were pretty gosh darn sure that Chuck, my samoyed was not coming home.  After almost a year and a half of investigating, Mueller and his team of seventeen lawyers, a  prosecutorial dream team have not come up with anything.  Remember, this investigation was put together for two purposes, even though they are more inclined to focus on one of the purposes.  The first purpose was to investigate the possibility of Russian influence in our last election.  The second purpose was to investigate possible collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.  So Robert, let me help you and your very expensive staff of attorneys.  Russian influence in our last election?  Yup. No doubt about it.  Collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians?  Probably not.  But…what if that answer was just ‘probably.’  Then what?  I would think you and your staff of legal geniuses would know that even if the collusion existed, it is not illegal!  So, Robert, what is the real purpose of your investigation?  Is this another attempt at throwing more defecation at the Washington crap wall?  Another arrow in the quiver of impeaching Trump because Hillary lost the election?

Remember, Robert, your whole investigation was triggered by a fictitious piece of propaganda by Fusion GPS that was funded by the Democratic National Committee; and yet you treat it with more relevance than Moses receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai.  At least Moses received the commandments on stone tablets.  Your Fusion GPS propaganda was written on used toilet paper. Yet you have kept this expensive charade up for well over a year.  My suggestion?  End this politically motivated (yup, I do believe there is a definite liberal agenda) witch hunt now, and send your bill to the Democratic National Committee instead of the taxpayers of America.  And Robert, if you really need something to investigate concerning the Russians?  Please start with the Uranium One deal between the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Russians where we sold them our uranium reserves.  Remarkably, the Clinton Foundation received a $147 million donation after the sale.  That whole incident smacks of treason.  Where did that uranium go?  To Iran?  To North Korea? To Syria?  What if that uranium is used against us or our allies in the future.  Could you possibly find it in your black heart to investigate that?  Or, rather than worrying about the Russians stuffing the ballot boxes, why not investigate voting requirements in each state.  I am sure that there were many more votes cast by non-US citizens than the Russians could dream of.

I know exactly why Donald Trump has become a moving target to the Liberals and their media.  Firstly, the Liberals are deathly afraid that Trump may actually accomplish something that may benefit America and make them look bad.  Thus their ‘obstructionism’ policy.  Don’t vote for any of his programs.  Don’t vote for his cabinet/department/supreme court nominees.  Besmirch the reputation of any nominee and get the media to sensationalize it.  Attack the mental state of the POTUS. Does any of this sound familiar?  Secondly, it has shaken the Washington cesspool to the core that a none-politician could be elected, and succeed as POTUS.  Every other President during my lifetime has had a political background.  What these liberal geniuses have not figured out is that Trump got elected because he did not have the political background.   Hillary Clinton was swimming in the Washington cesspool up to her neck.  Trump was not.  Thirdly, Trump fights back!  When some liberal politician of liberal media outlet makes an outlandish claim (and there are many of them!) about Trump, he responds.  Like most people, I wish he would tweet less, but I understand why he does.  Trump is being Trump.  Fourthly, Donald Trump did not have to rely on selling his soul to any lobbyist for political funding to get elected.  He spent half the money on his campaign as Hillary Clinton.  And, lets face it, anyone that can’t be bought or controlled scares the hell out of all those career politicians in Washington.

So, to demonstrate the negativism that exists in the media, let me recap some of the Donald Trump accomplishments in his 16 months as POTUS: 1.  Reduced corporate and individual income taxes.  2.  Stimulated the economy and stock market.  3.  Lowered the unemployment rate to the lowest point in decades.  4. Smacked the crap out of ISIS, something the previous POTUS said was impossible.  5.  Faced down a North Korean deviate which may lead to the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 6.  Forced a better trade deal with China.  According to Newsweek Magazine on the one year anniversary of the Trump presidency, he has achieved 82 significant accomplishments.  Holy Cow!  How many of those accomplishments have you seen denoted in the media?  I read the list in that Newsweek and if you would read it, you would be amazed at what he has done!  (OK.  Name three Obama accomplishments.  When you get them, text me.)

During Ronald Reagan’s administration, he was referred to as “The Teflon President.”  That is because regardless of what Reagan did, nothing seemed to stick to him.  Politicians and the media treated Reagan respectfully.  During George ‘Dubya’ Bush’s years, he was referred to as “The Velcro President”.  This was because everything he did, but mostly the perceived bad decisions, stuck to him like Velcro.  He was the POTUS during the second Iraqi War and received much flack about it.  Now we get to Trump.  What should we call him?  Many may want to call him the ‘hamburger’ President, because everyone wants to take a bite out of him.  I would rather call him the ‘Oreo’ President, because when it comes to being between the Liberals and the liberal press, Trump is definitely the white filling of an Oreo cookie.

PS.  This is blog 101.  I was going to stop at 100.  Two of my faithful readers have convinced me not to quit blogging.  Grandma P also wants me out of her hair.  I’m back.  Enjoy.

An Open Letter to President-Elect Trump

Dear Mr. Trump,

Congratulations on your recent victory as the President-Elect of the United States of America.  I was one of your supporters from the minute you announced your candidacy.  Admittedly, I thought the winning ticket would be a Donald Trump/ Marco Rubio ticket.  I can see why, as a result of a very tumultuous and nasty debating season, you did not take Senator Rubio as your running mate.  I was not familiar with Mike Pence, but he is indeed the perfect person for the Vice President. Grounded, experienced, loyal and intelligent, he is everything a person could want as the Vice President.

I was your supporter from the beginning because I believe a businessman who could establish a successful financial empire is more qualified (and needed in this country!) than a slew of career politicians who seem hell-bent on destroying a perfectly good country and government.

You have had an excellent start on making America Great Again.  I agree with many of the efforts you have initiated and would like to add my two cents in hopes of making these positive changes for the good of our country.

Voter ID.  Could we please pass a law making it a requirement to present a valid photo ID to vote in a federal election?  In Canada, to be able to vote you must have: (1) A driver’s license, or, (2) A provincial or territorial ID card, or, (3)  Any other government card with your photo, name and current address.  But like the those shopping channels on television…..wait, there’s more!   To be able to vote in a federal election in Mexico, you must have:  (1) A government issued photo ID card with a thumbprint and an embossed hologram, and, (2)   All citizens are required to personally enroll and show proof of birth or citizenship, and, (3)  Applicants are required to personally return to collect their voting credentials.

Why do our neighbors have more practical, stringent and sensible federal voting requirements than our country, and yet at the suggestion of such requirements it is considered racist?  To not have ID requirements simply wholesales the value of our citizenship in comparison.  All those wars fought, all those battles won, and all those lives lost….all to protect our country, and yet, we allow people who do not share our values, who will never contribute to the well-being of this country, who are here to be takers and never contributors….to vote and sway our national elections.  A travesty by any measure.  Shame on us and our political leaders for allowing our democratic principles to be compromised and abused and degraded by the use of voter fraud.

Job Creation.  Keeping businesses in America, bringing new foreign businesses to America, and bringing off-shore American businesses back to America would create jobs for Americans.  Two things could be done to make this happen and to stimulate the economy.

First, cut the existing federal corporate tax rate in half.  The U.S. already has the highest corporate tax rate of the industrialized nations, and corporate taxes account for only 11% of all federal government tax receipts.  Individual income taxes are responsible for 47% of all federal government tax receipts, while payroll taxes contributed by employers and employees account for another 34%. Corporations are in the business of making money.  By allowing them to keep a larger share of their profits, they will purchase more raw materials, expand facilities and hire more employees….thereby increasing the amount of federal tax revenues from individual income tax payers because there will be more people working.  

I am sure you know that there are 112 million people working in the United States and 106 million receiving some form of government assistance?  Admittedly, some of the 106 million are social security recipients that have paid into, and are now collecting their benefits.  But, there are 90 million people capable of working that are not working, or at least they are not paying taxes.  That needs to change. Jobs need to be created, and the welfare system needs to be revamped.  You have made strides in that direction and I fully support those efforts.

Secondly, abolish the (Un)affordable Health Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.  Before the true expense of this program was known, employers were estimating that the cost would be 20%-25% of their total payroll expenses.  What did the employers do?  They quit hiring, began firing, or reduced working hours for their employees to 32 hours or less to avoid the burden of the program. This was necessary for businesses to remain competitive in the international marketplace, or go out of business.  This program, more than any other, has inhibited job and wage growth for Americans.

This program needs to be replaced with something that is affordable and practical for both the insureds and the insuring.  The federal government needs to get out of the health care business and let the bulk of this program rest on the shoulders of a competitive, free-market economy of insurance companies and health care providers.

Welfare Reform.  The largest single item in the U.S. budget is welfare.  The federal budget provides 75% of the funding for welfare programs.  The states provide 25% of the funding but are tasked to supervise the welfare programs in their respective states.  Unfortunately, even though there were laws passed during the Clinton administration limiting welfare to a five year term, most states conveniently ignore this law.  Why?  Because with the federal government footing the bulk of the cost, the states view this as another form of income for their state.  I would propose that the federal government reduce the amount of welfare payments to the states to an equal amount, cutting their 75% contribution by 2/3.  This would assist our federal budget and cause the states to be more prudent in their dispersal of welfare. (See Welfare Cost – The Big Gorilla in the National Budget, published 2/21/2013)

It is appalling that so many people included in the 106 million receiving federal government assistance have lowered their lifestyles to live solely on government assistance.

Term Limits.  The life expectancy during the times of our founding fathers in the 18th century was 35 years old!  To be 50 years old was considered to be a very old man.  Many of the original members of Congress served out of duty and patriotism, while at the same time making huge personal sacrifices.  Many of these people lost their businesses and homes because they were away tending to the needs of a new nation.  Needless to say, they did not ever foresee the eventuality of career politicians.

We all are aware of the disadvantages of having long-term career politicians.  Too much influence, too much money, too much campaigning, and too many lobbyists and personal interests.   Their primary concern is to get reelected and not necessarily what is ‘right for America.’  (Thus, one reason for your stunning victory, Mr. Trump.)

May I suggest that in the future, say 2028, all members of Congress are limited to 12 years of service.  Senators get two, 6 year terms and representatives get six, 2 year terms.  I would also like to propose that the Supreme Court justices be retired at age 70 or 72.  Here again, our founding fathers could not have known that we would let people ‘fossilize’ in place while serving on the Supreme Court.

Mr. Trump, if you can get legislation passed imposing future term limits, I would believe you could walk across Lake Okeechobee without getting your feet wet or without getting eaten by an alligator. Good luck with that.

The Wall.  I would like to point out that in 2014, over 47,000 Americans died of drug overdoses and over 35,000 were killed in traffic accidents.  Who would have thought that there would be more drug overdose deaths than those of autos?  Some of these drug deaths were because of the improper and illegal use of prescription drugs (opiates) and some from illegal drugs.  Whatever the reason, the bulk of the flow of illegal drugs in this country is coming from our southern border.  If it takes a wall to stop that flow, then that wall should be built.

Of course, we need to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country.  If they are here with the best of intentions, then an application procedure needs to be established.  Because Mexicans require a photo ID with a thumbprint to vote, doing a background check should not be impossible.  It would not be surprising to learn that other Central/South American countries have similar ID’s. Unfortunately, many of the ‘border crossers,’ are here for nefarious reasons, or are unaccompanied minors.  Illegal immigrants involved with crime need to be sent back to their respective countries. If caught again, they need to be imprisoned.

Safety and Security.   Mr. Trump, the three classes of people that I hate the most are terrorists, murderers, and pedophiles.  I am personally not interested in ‘reforming or rehabilitating’ anyone accused of terrorism or murder.  I believe that capital punishment should come into play for these two crimes and the sentences should be carried out within a two year period.

I believe that anyone charged with killing a policeman, fireman, or medical rescuer should be given the death sentence.  I believe that any terrorist that kills an American should be given the death sentence.  I cannot think of a punishment cruel enough for a pedophile, but I suppose we would have to settle for incarceration.  After all, what kind of society have we become if we cannot protect our children.

The military needs to be expanded and updated to meet the challenges of our potential enemies. Whether we want to recognize the threat or not, both Russia and China have greatly expanded their military presence and have used them for expansionist purposes.  The goal of Russia is to put together the old USSR as much as possible beginning with the invasion of the Ukraine.  The Chinese are saber rattling and expanding by making strategic artificial islands in the South China sea.

Does anyone know for sure the real ambitions of Iran or North Korea?  Both have threatened with the use of missiles and nukes.

These are just a few of the problems to be faced with your upcoming administration.   There are many more.  So far, you have done an amazing job of cabinet selection.  Surrounding yourself with the best and the brightest should make your job easier and make for a better America.  I apologize for not writing sooner, but it took me a month to sober up from your victory party!

God Bless America.

Respectfully,

Grandpa T

 

 

 

How the Heck Did We Get Here: Blame it on the Baby Boomers??

I am sitting in my office scratching my head about the upcoming election.  How did we get to this place where neither candidate is trusted or believed, and a large number of citizens are considering a third party candidate just to avoid voting for the two primary party candidates.  Our country has become a country of entitlements, political correctness, and media manipulation.  I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I think my generation contributed to this mess.

I am a baby boomer.  Most of the time, I am proud of being a ‘seasoned senior citizen.’  We baby boomers were born between the years of 1946 and 1964.  That would make the oldest of us 70 years old, and the youngest would be 52 years old.  In some respects, the younger generations would consider us ‘overly seasoned’ or perhaps, ‘fossilized.’

Our generation was the first that had a name.  We were those people born immediately after WWII. Take a bunch of war veterans and mix them with a bunch of women that haven’t had a real date in years, and BOOM, the world experienced an explosion of births.  Our parents were a tough bunch. They all lived through the Great Depression.  Then, as teenagers and 20 somethings, they fought and won WWII.   Tom Brokaw later referred to them as the ‘Greatest Generation.’  They knew of, and sometimes experienced the atrocities of WWII.  Immediately after WWII, we were back in Asia fighting a war in Korea.  It became apparent that not all countries wanted world-wide peace.  At the same time, numerous countries were conducting nuclear bomb tests.  That warm relationship between the US and Russia during WWII was not all that warm.  The possibility of a nuclear war hung over us for most of our childhood years.

This made our parents a rather tough bunch.  We were taught the difference between winning and losing.  We did not receive any ‘participation’ trophies.  We were instructed in ‘bomb drills,’ in the event of a nuclear attack.  Our teachers were always right and were always respected.  Any deviation from good behavior resulted in punishment.  In my case, I got spankings by my mom and five ‘beltings’ by big Daddy G.  I deserved every one of them.  This was not considered child abuse, it was considered parenting.  There was no pretense that our parents were going to be your ‘best friends.’  They were going to be disciplinarians, and they filled that role marvelously.  (My dad was not my friend until I was in my 30s.)  We were taught to be independent and to work hard.  Being blue collar was not a stigma.  It was instilled in us that if we wanted something bad enough, we could obtain it through hard work and diligence.  Anything was possible!

Every school day was started with the Pledge of Allegiance.  We sang our national anthem with fervor. Then, as we got older, we were called upon to represent our country in another war….the Viet Nam conflict.  Many volunteered or were drafted and performed their duty to fight in a war without a genuine purpose.  To this day, the best explanation for fighting this war was the ‘domino theory.’  That theory was the belief that if one country fell to Communism, then others will fall to Communism.  But Lyndon Johnson took this to the extreme by committing over 500K troops to Viet Nam.  He made Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) the 23rd largest American populated city in the world.  Over 57,000 Americans were killed in this war, with hundreds of thousands more suffering psychologically from what they had experienced and from the way they were treated once they returned home.  Americans believing they had served their country were now being spit upon and called ‘baby killers.’  Many lives were lost, and many more minds were destroyed because of this war.

So there you have it.  A very brief description of what formed and what affected the lives of the baby boomer generation.  What was my purpose for relating this information?  Well, because of the way we were reared, we, as a generation, decided not to be as strict and structured as our parents on our children and our grandchildren.  We became adherents of the ‘live and let live’ theory.  We became more concerned about ourselves and our families to the point of missing the gradual changes to our society.  And now, as I look back at the way our country has evolved since my childhood, I want to publicly apologize to Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials), and Generation Z as to how the Baby Boomers have failed you.

We Boomers need to apologize for the level of entertainment on our televisions and our movies. In our youth, all movies and TV programs were appropriate for all ages.  We did not need a rating system designating P, PG, R or anything else.  I am not a wilting flower, but it is difficult for me to believe the amount of profanity, sexual innuendo, sex, violence and gore that has permeated our entertainment.  Parents of today need to realize that your children are seeing this garbage and they are being affected by it.  How could they not see it?  It is on at prime time on numerous channels. Instead of having three good TV channels like when I was young, we now have hundreds of bad channels.  Look at how few good comedies we have today.  We had many while growing up.  Reality shows and cop shows seem to be the general format of TV today.   Garbage entertainment really began in the late 60s and early 70s.  TV was still somewhat regulated, but the movie industry had taken a definite turn for the worse.

Our Boomer generation invented the computer.  This led to the popularity of PC’s and laptops in every home. Technology is marvelous for all it can do.  But as one pundant has surmised, home computers have become a ‘pipeline for pornography.’  Do you think people are being affected by that?  Coupled up with violent video games, do you think our children are being affected by it?  I am not quite sure how we could have stopped this garbage, but I will apologize anyway.

I apologize that we appointed a Supreme Court that overturned term limits on federally elected officials.  Yes.  Legislation was actually passed during the Clinton administration limiting term limits, only to be overturned by the only organization without them…the Supreme Court.   Now we have career politicians and all the graft, corruption and personal enrichment that are a result of it. Decisions are being made every day by our elected officials for personal gain without regard for what is best for the country.

Our newspapers, magazines and TV news at least attempted to appear impartial during elections held in the past.  This year?  The gloves have come off with such notable organizations like the New York Times and the Washington Post not even attempting to hide their support of Hillary Clinton.  In previous elections, news organizations would show their support for a particular candidate in an editorial.  Not now.  They show their support by smearing their candidate’s opponent.  The latest is the release by the New York Times of Donald Trump’s 1995 tax returns which show a loss of over $900 million being carried into following years to reduce any future tax burden.  The crime here is not Trump’s taxes and carry-over as that is perfectly legal and by IRS statute allowed.  The real crime is the publishing of his taxes by the New York Times.  They claim that they received them in the mail. Yeah. Right.  Any CPA doing such a thing would lose their license to operate.  I believe the IRS themselves did it.  This is the same group that targeted conservative groups prior to the 2010 mid term election.  In particular, the Tea Party movement.  Who would investigate this matter?  Well, the FBI.  That same group that let Hillary off the hook for emails even though the FBI director’s brother provides legal services to the Clinton Foundation.  Sound fishy?

Isn’t it a shame that most of our printed media has reduced itself to the level of the National Enquirer?  In some instances, the National Enquirer is more believable.

Do you trust the government?  During the 60s, when the unemployment rate was reported, it actually meant the number of people who were without jobs that wanted them.  Today’s unemployment rate has been reported at less than 5%.  I assure you, this is for purely political purposes in an attempt to show how wonderful our economy is faring before this election.   In fact, the real unemployment rate is just under 10%.  Why?  Because so many people have quit attempting to find work.  But wait….there’s more.  Do you know how many households in America do not have anyone working?  Over 22%!  Yes.  Over 22% of the households do not have a breadwinner.  How are they surviving?  Working for cash?  Welfare?  How wonderful does our economic picture appear now?

Do you like our current policy of allowing anyone to use any bathroom depending on what sex they feel like on that particular day?

So, as I look back on my life, the goal I have always had is that I leave the world a better place than when I entered it.  My generation of Boomers has failed.  We have made mistakes.  We allowed the country to become so liberal, so politically correct, so dependent on the government and so militarily weak that it is not the same country of our youth.  We have taken free speech to such an extreme that we now have public disrespect for our flag and our national anthem being considered heroic. Yet, only 1% of our citizenry has served in the military to protect our country and our freedoms.  We now have groups of people attacking and killing our police because they think they are ‘entitled’ to do so. We have had deadly Islamic terrorist attacks on our people.  We allow people of unknown origin to enter this country every day without having any idea of their true purpose in coming here.  Many times, it is not to assimilate like previous immigrants.

I want to make a plea.  I know many people who are not enamored by either candidate.  For their personal beliefs, they are going to vote for a third party candidate.  That has been tried before with disastrous results.  Rather than giving George H.W. Bush a second term, Ross Perot siphoned off  enough conservative votes to give Bill Clinton the presidency without having received a plurality.  Do you want to vote for the Libertarian candidate who did not know what an ‘Aleppo’ is, or could not name his favorite foreign leader?  If you like the policies instituted by the present administration, by all means you should vote for Hillary Clinton.  If you truly believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction, then do not waste your vote on a third party candidate, hold your nose and vote for Donald Trump.

I am considerably older than those members of Gen X, Y, and Z and here I am apologizing for the direction our country has taken in the last 60 years.  My fervent hope is that in 30 or 40 years, you will not be writing a blog apologizing for the bad decisions your generation has made and suffering from the consequences of bad decisions.

The Late Republican Party. Suicide By Stupidity!

There has been much political speculating that the Republican party will not survive if Donald J. Trump is the Republican nominee for POTUS.  I have been mulling this over and I have come to the conclusion that maybe the Republican party should not survive, and here are my reasons.

Two years ago, during the last mid-term election, the voters of America once again gave control of the House and the Senate to the Republicans.  That election should have been taken as the ‘warning shot across the bow,’ indicating that voters were no longer satisfied with the status quo or the Obama administration.  My initial thoughts were that at least, with both houses controlled by the Republican party, a set of brakes would be applied to stop the Obama insanity.  What have they done?  They were elected to overturn Obama Care, and they have not done that.  (Yes, I understand that Obama would veto anything concerning his health care program,   More on that later.)

We got rid of the gatekeeper from hell, Harry Reed,  as senate majority leader, and actually submitted and voted on budgets for the first time of the Obama administration.  Are those budgets being followed?  Are they cutting costs, eliminating waste, and reversing the spiraling national debt?  No. No. And No.

What has this Congress done?  From my viewpoint, Obama has forged ahead with all of his crazy ideas.  We elected that Congress to protect its citizens.   We elected that Congress to straighten out the financial mess that this country faces.  Why do we have this Congress, and all of the expenses of supporting it….if they don’t do anything?

With the Republicans in control of both houses, I blame them.  It has become obvious since the beginning of all those Republican presidential debates that the Republican party has lost contact with the average, conservative American.  Rather than listening to what the average American is concerned about which caused the Republicans to gain control of Congress, apparently they are too stupid to have read the tea leaves, or, they are so self-serving they just don’t care.  The perfect paragon of this was Jeb Bush.  Two years ago, he was the ‘golden boy’ of the Republican party.  He was known, and he was a dynamic fund raiser.  But how well did he do in the debates?  It was obvious that Jeb, much like the Republican party, had underestimated the concerns and anger of mainstream America.  Gun control.  Border security.  Immigration control.  Job creation.  When Jeb was talking, if you would have shut your eyes, it would have been difficult to tell which party he represented.

And there is one more very big thing that both parties have underestimated.  People are tired of the status quo, and they are really becoming tired of career politicians.  It was refreshing to see three non-political career people in the debates:  Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.

Now here we are with less than two weeks before the Republican national convention.

Dump Trump!  Anyone but Trump!  Trump Sucks!  There is no shortage of this, and unfortunately, much of it is coming from career Republican politicians.

Here are three possible scenarios for the convention.

1.  Attempt to undermine the delegate process and replace Trump with another candidate.  

Now you would think that if your apparent front runner brought out more voters to vote in the primaries for one candidate than ever before in the history of the United States, your party would be ecstatic.  Obviously that is not the case.  There has been much talk about attempting to sabotage the delegate procedure and put someone else in, rather than Trump.  Who would they get?  That smooth talking Mitt Romney, who has gone out of his way to back stab and denigrate Trump at every possible opportunity?  His little tirades are so despicable that I am sorry I voted for him in 2012.  I would not vote for him in 2016.  Many Americans who voted for Trump during the primaries would not vote for someone else if they feel their wishes have been cast aside.  If this were done, for sure Hillary Clinton would be voted in as POTUS.

I have to admit that Trump has kind of been my guy from the beginning.  I don’t have his hats or bumper stickers or have my lawn covered with his signs.  When asked if I support Trump, my answer has always been the same, “Donald Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

This is similar to the Rush Limbaugh approach.  During the debates, one Cruz supporter called his show and wanted to know why Limbaugh had yet to attack Donald Trump.  Rush’s response was priceless.  “I will not attack anyone who has a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.”  That attitude should have been adopted by the Republican party.

2.  Run someone as a third party candidate.

This option gives me nightmares!  It brings to mind the 1992 election when Ross Perot ran against George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Bush was seeking his second term.  Perot, an egocentric conservative decided to enter the race.  The end result?  Bill Clinton won the election with only 42% of the popular vote.  58% of the country voted conservative, but the liberal won!

Just think.  If it weren’t for Ross Perot, we may never had heard about Bill or Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, this is the worst possible scenario for the country.  If some established Republicans decide this is feasible, they obviously don’t care what happens to this country.  Hillary Clinton would win handily if the conservative vote is again divided.

3.  Support Trump.

It would be about time for the Republican party to step up and support Trump financially and morally.  He did not win so many delegates by mistake.  There is no mistake about what he is thinking.  He may not be as eloquent as Reagan, Kennedy or FDR, but everyone understands what he is saying.

Paul Ryan has played patty cake politics with his lukewarm, milk-toast attitude.  So hear is a word of advice to Paul and all of the other backroom schemers concerning this convention:  Support the people’s candidate….or be prepared to suffer the people’s wrath at the polls!  

Mr. Ryan, you are the speaker of the House of Representatives because the people entrusted the Republican party to right this floundering ship of state.  If you or the party decide to pull any underhanded shenanigans in this convention, you will not be speaker after the election, and you may not be a representative.

You gained control of Congress to repeal Obama Care.  Will you accomplish that with Hillary Clinton as President?  You gained control of Congress to provide security to the people.  Will that occur if Clinton continues with Obama’s policies?  Closing borders, and vetting immigrants are a top concern of the average American.  Have you kept track of the number of murders being done by Islamic terrorists in our country and in other Western countries?  Will anything be done about this if Hillary is President?  The Liberals look at an open border as providing more potential voters for the Democratic party.  How about the national debt?  If people think it is a difficult economic environment now, what would happen if the US basically goes bankrupt like Greece.  Like Spain.  Like Italy.  All Western countries whose socialistic policies have created a unmanageable burden because the governments were too weak and unwilling to address the overspending.  Do you think this would improve with Hillary as president?

I am definitely tired of living under an administration where the cops and the military are the bad guys and the black thugs are the heroes.  Is this what Obama meant when he said he was going to ‘bring the country together?’  This country has never been so divided!

So, Mr. Ryan and all you career politicians that appear to be quaking because a non-career politician may see just how deep the cesspool is in Washington, D.C; I suggest that it is time to quit worrying about how you are going to be reelected, and begin doing what is right for this country.  If the Republican party does not unite to defeat Hillary Clinton, then the United States will suffer and the Republican party may very well disappear because of stupidity, timidity and internal bickering by self-centered, power hungry bureaucrats.  Is this what the Republican party wants as its legacy?

Like I said earlier, “Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

Make American Great Again.  Amen.

PS.  This blog was written the afternoon before the shooting of eleven police officers in Dallas, five of them fatally.  My heartfelt condolences to the families of these policemen that were murdered by snipers in a coordinated attack during a protest.  Some of these officers were standing in support with the protesters.

Fast Information = Fast Forgetting

The one thing that amazes me about our ‘instantaneous-quick as a flash’ culture is our ability to forget situations, items and events as quickly as we learn about them.  There appears to be a direct correlation between these two events.  So I, Grandpa T am offering the following formula for our ‘instantaneous- quick as a flash’ culture.

The faster we receive news and information is in direct proportion to the speed with which we forget that news and information.  Or, f {fast} I {information} = f {fast} f {forgetting}.  Now that I have advanced that formula, am I eligible for some kind of Nobel prize?  After all, if the POTUS can get the Nobel Peace Prize after being president for about 10 minutes, I should be able to get some kind of a prize, too!  (Or…….did you forget he received it?)

There is no question that we receive information much, much faster than we did during my formative years.  Look at all the available sources.  We have the obvious mass media sources of TV, radio and newspapers.  But what really makes this instantaneous is the internet, personal computers, personal handheld devices, cell phones and personal devices that can take either pictures or movies and the ability to create a flash mob in a moments notice with these devices, all with the use of social media.  Look at what can be instantaneously flashed around the world because of dash cams in police cars, from cell phones and from other hand held devices.  It is truly amazing!

Grandma P has a cell phone that has an app that reports traffic accidents, road closures or bridge closures in our area.  Amazing!  Rather than go into a bad traffic area, the app directs you to an alternate route.  Need another example?  Recently, my best friend’s daughter got married.  Because of time and distance, Grandma P and I were not unable to attend.  I was on my computer at the same time the wedding was occurring at the opposite end of the country.  Golly and gadzooks, pictures of my friend escorting his daughter down the aisle were appearing on a social media website within seconds of it taking place!  Pictures of the ceremony and reception were being posted within minutes of the actual occurrence!  My friend was amazed when I called to tell him how beautiful the bride looked and how good he looked in his tailored suit.  It was as if I were in attendance.

November 7, marks the 3rd anniversary of writing this blog.  Yes, if you are sharp, you will realize that I began writing this within minutes of the last presidential election in 2012.  I was bummed and I needed a way to vent my anger, angst and disbelief.  Our country (as you may have forgotten) was experiencing high unemployment, a colossal increase in the national debt, did not have a budget for four years, a large percentage of people receiving welfare and food stamps…..and the country decided we liked that situation so much that we reelected the person that got us there.  That would be Barack Hussein Obama. I digress.

I began visiting some of my previous written posts on the blog site.  Then I realized that what was the ‘hot topic’ at the time of my writing the blog is all but forgotten.  Thus my formula for the Nobel prize of fast information = fast forgetting.  I have given examples of the quickness of obtaining information, let me give you some examples of how quickly we forget.

The financial crisis in Greece.  Do you remember that?  The country of Greece represents less than 2% of the world GDP.  Because of its socialistic society, it could no longer afford all the socialistic programs.  Over 40% of the population was on the government payroll.  People were retiring in their 50s with full salary and benefits.  Coupled with the high unemployment rate, it was a disaster in the making.  They raised taxes on the wealthy to afford their bloated programs.  The result?  The wealthy, which pretty much encompassed all of their educated professionals such as doctors, dentists and engineers, began migrating to other countries to escape the high taxes.  The Greek financial crisis whipsawed the world financial markets and stock exchanges for months. There  was a movement to kick them out of the European Economic Community, thus taking them off the euro and forcing them to go back to the drachma as their currency.  Here is the point of this blog…have you heard about the Greek financial crisis lately and do you think it has gone away?

Benghazi and lost emails.  Benghazi is all but forgotten.  The only reason the name is ever brought up is because of Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy.  If she were not a candidate, I very much doubt it would ever be heard of again.  As for the emails?  Well, it is amazing to me that she has abused her position as former Secretary of State to do something infinity larger than Richard Nixon’s Watergate break-in, and he resigned the presidency.  His crime involved reelection.  Hers involved national security.

IRS and the Tea Party Scandal.  This whole event has been swept under the carpet to the point of creating a mountain of dirt under the fibers.  You would think that much dirt would eventually cause a problem, but rest assured, Lois Lerner is still retired, walking the streets and collecting a full pension for being the director of the IRS.  She is thus liberated even after using her position to throttle the Tea Party movement prior to the elections by not granting tax exempt status to their cause.  The IRS throttled many conservative groups other than the Tea Party.  In front of numerous congressional fact-finding committees, our Lois, our government employee, pleaded the 5th amendment to many of the direct questions.  A classic case of the government forgetting that they work for the people.  Why has this whole affair gone MIA from the media?  Well, it was my opinion that Lois Lerner was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree and that she was directed in her actions by her boss.  At that time it would have been the Attorney General, Eric Holder, and  he worked for the POTUS.  How convenient during an election year.

Fiscal Cliff and National Debt.  How can anyone forget the overused usage of the words ‘fiscal cliff?’  Yet, when was the last time you heard the term?  Two years ago, it was the term de jour coupled with the continuing controversy about our national debt.  At the time, the national debt was $18 trillion and rising.  The prognosis was it would be over $20 trillion before Obama left office in 2016.  If you can believe Donald Trump, it is already over $19 trillion with over a year to go in the Obama presidency.  Wow!  If you can believe financial pundits, they are predicting a fiscal collapse of mega-proportions on a world scale once the US debt reaches $24 trillion.  I have never heard the reason why, but I have heard that figure and predicted result more than once.  Perhaps the dollar will be replaced as the world reserve currency by some other currency.  The dollar being the world reserve currency is the only reason why we have been able to accumulate so much debt.   If the government was a corporation, it would have had to declare bankruptcy long ago!  Look at what the Greek government has had to do, and then magnify that by about 15.  It is surprising that this pending fiscal crisis was not thoroughly addressed in the first two Republican presidential debates.  But then, it would have made the present administration look bad for quadrupling our national debt in 8 years! 

After reading the previous paragraph about our predicted financial doom, isn’t it interesting that the three of the leading Republican presidential contenders; Trump, Fiorina and Carson are not career politicians.  Unlike the present administration, where less than 10% of the cabinet or staff have had experience in the private sectors of our economy, you can surmise that if any of these three become president, 40% or more of the cabinet or staff will have experience in the private sector of our economy.  That is what we needed in 2012, but opted for the status quo by reelecting Obama.  These three leading Republican contenders have sent shock waves through all career politicians because of their non-political experiences and their rapidly growing popularity among the populous by not being career politicians.  Regardless who the next president will be, they will have to face some very burgeoning fiscal issues.  They will also have to retool our country from socialism back to its capitalistic roots.  But again, I digress.  (Its my blog, and I can digress if I want!)

There were many other terms that have come and gone over the last three years.  Disappearing with nary a whimper.  Government gridlock.  Voter ID.  Washington Redskins name change.  The situation in the Ukraine.   These are just some of the terms and events that were in the forefront and have somehow evaporated from sight like mist in a wind.  Too bad that can’t be said about the Kardashians.

I am writing and practicing  my acceptance speech for the first Nobel prize for Common Sense.  I can just see it now, sitting in Stockholm waiting for that grand announcement….”And the winner of the first ever Nobel prize for Common Sense goes to”……….(Oh crap!  Sitting in Stockholm with no place to go.)