tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82422462024-03-13T12:26:04.892-07:00Roughstock JournalA Yolo County Blog. The writing of an ex-cowboy, writer, lay pastor, husband, father and talent free musician. Life in Esparto, Woodland, Davis, and the Capay Valley. Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.comBlogger1330125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-72130186592579149832023-12-09T10:32:00.000-08:002023-12-09T10:32:46.708-08:00Wednesdays With Walt<p>So, one of the things I used to do, back before the Book of Faces and IG took over the world of us oldsters, was write a few short pieces each week here on my blog. </p><p>I think I started this thing in 06'? Somewhere around there. </p><p>I had a little bit of everything on here. Humorous stories, (well, to me anyway) thoughts on family, politics, religion, or just life in general. </p><p>I have gotten away from it for years now, as it's just so much easier to post an article, or a meme.....</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, I'm going to get back to posting more personal pieces, in the form of video content. </p><p>I'll try to get these up at least once a week, on Wednesdays. </p><p><br /></p><p>Look out for them.</p><p>It may be a trainwreck.</p><p>It may be something you like. </p><p>It may be something you disagree with and can't watch. </p><p>Whichever way it goes, they will be my thoughts, and as always, I will try to keep the conversation moving forward. Towards understanding, towards growth, and becoming a better version of ourselves. </p><p>Stay tuned. </p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-22623031138033873042022-07-24T21:12:00.002-07:002022-07-24T21:15:38.739-07:00The Biden Recession is here.<p>The Biden Recession is here. <br /><br />I told a friend of mine this back in April.<br />I said it would just take a few months for the numbers to <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/07/22/next-weeks-category-5-economic-storm-00047545" target="_blank">come in and catch up</a>.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggmc2JssRsSa6AbHveYjsJWNFv-uO4jYyjiYn6541iklUqCsHR2f1UT3n3n_SeL-xag3HGKTGUHY9Ji3MecJmwgxOQS_whTj1py2V1zBwv70aiE53Jlcb8J5KXCWLZo5MzYkRT7e2s4INXRjEq2euv-5e7dTTyjnxj6h-LwidkPX9-hriZxWM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1253" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggmc2JssRsSa6AbHveYjsJWNFv-uO4jYyjiYn6541iklUqCsHR2f1UT3n3n_SeL-xag3HGKTGUHY9Ji3MecJmwgxOQS_whTj1py2V1zBwv70aiE53Jlcb8J5KXCWLZo5MzYkRT7e2s4INXRjEq2euv-5e7dTTyjnxj6h-LwidkPX9-hriZxWM=w400-h220" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Recessions are reactions, and reflections of financial reality, along with people's emotions. The annual inflation rate is sitting right under double digits, as gas, food, energy, and everything else keeps going up. Inflation is about double the rate of wage growth. That's not good.<br /><br />This one is kind of a one-off recession. The unemployment rate is low, which is not standard in recessionary times, however, we are still about a full percentage rate under the pre covid Labor Partition Rate. That's over a million fewer Americans working compared to the booming economy of 2019. <br /><br />When you add trillions and trillions of dollars the federal government borrowed from your children and grandchildren thrown all over place to 'boost' the economy, you get what we have now; Inflation. Too much money chasing too few goods. <br /><br />The Federal government, first under Trump, dumped 900 billion in 'Covid Relief' cash into the economy. That was enough. We should have stopped. <br /><br />Once Biden was elected, he and his newly elected democratic controlled congress, dumped another 1.9 Trillion in 'Covid Relief' cash into the economy. <br /><br />Thank the lord for democratic senator Joe Manchin, who would not approve another 2 Trillion in wish-list borrowing/spending, or we would be in worse shape right now. <br /><br />The GOP is licking its chops about the upcoming election, but they are just waiting for November. They are not telling America what they will do if they get control of the House and maybe the Senate. This is a mistake. <br /><br />I know when your opponent is drowning, you just let him sink, but right now the GOP should be acting. They should have a plan. They should be telling people what that plan is. I have real doubts the republicans in leadership are up for the battle ahead. <br /><br />Even the Super Trumpers are all waiting for Trump to announce his candidacy for 2024. I think he is part of this problem with the GOP. He is still solely focused on how the election was stolen from him. Even if you believe this, he's not out there stating what he will do, he just keeps saying he was screwed over in 2020. People who are having trouble paying for the higher prices on everything don't care about Trump. They want someone to say, this is how I will fix it. </p><p>A real leader would be saying, if I were running the show, I would do this, that, and enacting these others policies. What are the exact things the republicans would do to turn things around? Some of those plans will not be popular, but necessary. Will they be willing to take these risks and make some unpopular opinions to get the economy back on track? <br /><br />Future House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is a mild mannered, go along-get along politician. He is not a leader, he's a fund raiser. Not that those folks aren't important, but that's not the guy you need to battle the democrats and the media (I repeat myself) for the last two years of the Biden/Harris administration. <br /><br />The next few months are going to be interesting to be sure.</p><p> <br />Will the democrats dump Biden after November, with some Long-Covid diagnosis? Will they let VP Harris run the lame duck session two years, then come up with a new nominee? She is a known quantity in her own party. A quantity they know they absolutely cannot win with. <br /><br />It will be interesting. <br /><br /></p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-65259588728689391342022-06-19T11:49:00.001-07:002023-12-09T21:12:01.449-08:0023&OMG<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I sat there looking at my phone in disbelief.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No way. Wow... No way.....<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This cannot be happening.......<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I guess I should start with a little background. I have had three fathers in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's two more than the standard, so let me start with the one with whom I share a name; Walter Joseph Lucas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNlPdr-Tt0tWiOwfyVZvUrjj3aLJ8kWRpTxoJcN9WE3blBq0pmodlh9n38p0E2cFifrWyrJekUcXbO7dlb0r30WEo3s5aKa_Y3w4T1Y71NTJul7NBhmGf6HFcXt2ju7utczv0szA8QyyROZ2XIJxw56_O8qLcIdH_TNtBOS8rOmBhoFObkc4/s4000/PICT0943.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="4000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYNlPdr-Tt0tWiOwfyVZvUrjj3aLJ8kWRpTxoJcN9WE3blBq0pmodlh9n38p0E2cFifrWyrJekUcXbO7dlb0r30WEo3s5aKa_Y3w4T1Y71NTJul7NBhmGf6HFcXt2ju7utczv0szA8QyyROZ2XIJxw56_O8qLcIdH_TNtBOS8rOmBhoFObkc4/s320/PICT0943.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father was 50 when I was born, so you could say he was late to the game when it came to having children. My sister Lisa is two years older that I am. I knew my father had been married twice before, but the few times he did talk about it were very brief. He would just say his previous wife did not want to have children and he did. It seemed reasonable enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even into adulthood, I never pushed him to tell me more. He had a very complicated relationship with his own family. He was born in 1915 on a ranch near Lockeford Ca. His father died when he was 18 or 19 and he had to take over the responsibilities of running the family ranch. I'm sure he did all he could for his mom, but there was definitely some bad blood between he and his siblings. I only know the little he told me about his family, and I don't know their side of the story, so I cannot judge what really happened.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father was two generations older than me. He rode a horse to school, and milked thirty cows by hand before and after school. His life was work, money and family, but mostly work. He could not get into the Army during WWII because he was deaf in one ear. He worked in the shipyards at Mare Island, building PT boats during the war years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the time I came into the world my father was a successful rancher, real estate broker and owned a land leveling business. He had an extraordinary work ethic and drive. I can best describe him as a combination between John Wayne and Donald Trump. Just imagine that for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Starting off on our ranch in Clements, our family seemed to be on the move most of my early years. We moved to a ranch on the John Day River near Mitchell Oregon when I was a toddler.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He tied me onto my first horse when I was two years old, and sent me plodding off down the dirt road to the bunkhouse where the cowboys lived. My mom said the snowfall that winter was the biggest in decades. You could ride a snowmobile over the corrals without touching a post. That was enough for her. Somehow, we ended up back in California, in Orland. That's the first house I can remember, but we were soon on the move again to the tiny town of Oak Run, north east of Redding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved Oak Run. My father had wheeled and dealed his way into a big ranch there. It was several thousand acres of red dirt, lava rock and oak trees, but it also had a hundred acres of good bottomland where we could raise hay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ranch at Oak Run was a giant playground for me. There was a lot of work, but my father never seemed to drive me the way I'm sure his father drove him in his youth. Those were different times. That drive came out of sheer necessity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I learned to operate the ranch trucks and tractors when I was old enough to reach the pedals. I fed cows, cut hay, and helped irrigate the fields. But only when I was asked or I wanted to. It was not forced labor to be sure, but there wasn't a lot of laying around the house either.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was turned loose much of the time. In the summers, I would leave the house after breakfast and sometimes not come back until evening. We always had dogs on the ranch, lots of them. They were my constant companions since I didn't have any bothers. Lisa didn't see the enjoyment in damming up streams, throwing rocks, or chasing frogs down at the creek all day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I grew older, I was given more responsibility, and expected to do more. By twelve I was gathering cattle in the summer heat, driving Caterpillars, clearing brush or skidding logs. Most of these things were semi-dangerous for a twelve-year-old kid, but I survived.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father had a way of teaching that could be summed up by the old Nike slogan: Just do it. He never took the time to patiently teach me how to do anything; he just put me in the seat and told me to do it. Drive this D-8 Caterpillar, clear this brush off these hills, I'll be back when you're finished. For a kid, it was equal parts excitement and terror, but that's just the way he was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He would also let me skip school to go to the Shasta Livestock Auction in Cottonwood on Fridays. I would spend the day running around the sorting pens, while he was in Ellington Peek's office doing business. He would also let me go on business trips with him. I would sit quietly at a table full of businessmen and listen to million dollar deals be made. It was a unique experience for a young man. However, some of favorite times were in his old blue Jeep Cherokee where he and I would go 'check the cows'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved my father, as most sons do. I loved him despite the fact that mine was very flawed, like all fathers are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father was an alcoholic. Ever since I can remember, my father drank, a lot. He was a maintenance drinker. He was never falling-down drunk, and he was never hung-over. He would always get up at 6:00 the next day ready to work. Back before computers and cell phones, business was done by telephone. After dinner, my father would start making his business calls. Every night, he sat at the kitchen table, talking on the phone and having several large 'hi-balls'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We went through stretches where things would be fine for a time. Then, if the cattle prices or real estate market would go down, the stresses and pressures he put on himself would start to boil over. It was very volatile around our house, but then again, my father seemed to live in a constant state of chaos.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the late 70's my father's ranching business started to take off. I remember the bankers from Bank of California sitting at our dinner table asking my father how large of a credit line he wanted. They were just giving money away, and they were taking my father's word he had the cattle to cover that amount of credit. All with a wink and nod. (Think of the housing bubble in 2008)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He bought a new ranch in Lakeview Oregon. He bought new pickups, horse trailers, semi-trucks, hired more cowboys and a mechanic. We even built a pool and a new addition to the house. It was a good time for our family. Well, until it all came crashing down a few years later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He was always in conflict with the neighboring ranches, including one actual range war complete with sheriff's deputies, a helicopter and me standing in front of a gate with a lever action rifle to make sure the neighbors didn't push their cattle out of that gate onto the road.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father made and lost several fortunes in his life. He never seemed to find a balance he could reach. He always wanted more; he always wanted to move forward, never content with where he was. My father was a complicated man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He loved us kids, but he couldn't stop drinking. He had my life planned out and expected me to take over his 'empire' when the time came. But he spent almost no time teaching me how to do it. He was hard working, but had a soft heart. He could also bend a rule, or outright break it if stood between him and his business success. He never talked about his own feelings, and rarely how he felt about you, unless he has been drinking. Even then it was 50-50 propositions. You were either the best kid in world, or a huge disappointment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Much like I described him as a combination of John Wayne and Donald Trump, many people loved my father and thought he was a great guy. Others thought he was a son of bitch. I think, in the end, they were both right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After another lost fortune, our family ended up here in Yolo County. He bought a house with 20 acres after the bank took back the ranch in Oak Run, and he went to work leasing ranches and running steers and heifers for other ranchers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He stayed in the real estate business, and never letting well enough alone, he took my mom and my sister's interest in cutting hair and turned that into a business. He opened a beauty salon in Vacaville for my mom and sister to run while he had his real estate office next door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was in college and discovering the world outside of ranching, hay bales, and cattle. In other words, I was have a great time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It wasn't until I met my future wife that my interest turned back to the ranch. She loved it out there. Being a city girl, she couldn't understand why I didn't want to ride horses if I had the opportunity. To me horses meant work, and 14-hour days gathering cattle in the brush from sunup till sundown. Why would you want to ride them for fun?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We both were going to school at American River College, but I was still a year from getting my associates degree, so when my wife transferred to UC Davis, I went to work for my father running cattle. We lived on a ranch my father leased in Dunningan. I think I made $600 a month plus the nine hundred square foot house we lived in. Those were good times.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">However, like all things cyclical, the good times are always followed by tough times, and that came in 1991. My father was again overextending, and planning as if the good times would always be good. He hated paying taxes, so for every dollar he made in the cattle business or real estate business, he leased a new ranch, or built new corrals or helped my wife and I buy a place of our own. Our house was just about complete, and with my father's help, we had just made our first annual balloon payment on the new place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One day he was in Sacramento at a deposition, not surprisingly, he was being sued by one of our neighbors for some semi-shady way he sold their ranch, when he felt sick. He came home and stayed there for a while before my mother convinced him he had to go to the hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was irrigating the alfalfa at my place when I got the word he was headed to the hospital. He sat in the ER at Woodland Hospital for three or four hours while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him. By the time a new doctor came on and decided he was bleeding internally, it was too late. He had an aneurysm of his aorta. They air lifted him to UC Davis Med Center. They performed surgery to repair the tear in the aorta, but he had lost too much blood and died the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Not that there is ever a good time to lose a parent, but it could not have come at a worse time for our family. The cattle market was heading into a decline along with the real estate market. Loosing not only my father, but also my employer and the person who had engineered my life, was a huge hit. Even though I had my real estate salesman's license and was working on my father's ranch, I had let him make almost all my decisions for me. He was running the show, and now he was gone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was very immature for someone in my position. At twenty-five, I should have been ready for this day, but I wasn't. Not by a long shot. I went through the motions of gathering the cattle, and trying to help my mom figure out if we should keep the leases on the ranches. In the end, with all my father's bills and past due taxes, we had to sell everything, my house included, and start over.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the time, all you see are the problems, all you feel is the pain, all you want is to have things put back the way they were. That isn't going to happen. You have to move, you have to go forward, you have to grow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">15 years later, I was working in the technology field, something I really liked, we had two children, and I was making a good living. My mom and sister were living in North Idaho and my mom had a met a man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is where I met my second father, Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Paul is a so much different from Walt Sr.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He is soft spoken and kind. He's a patient, caring man, and he is very happy with the life he has. He is content, or at least at peace with his place in the world. Paul is a contractor, although he's retired now. He's a hard worker, but doesn't chase the almighty dollar at all costs. He likes to read, and loves working on his classic cars. He is interested in the world around him. He is self-aware in a way my father never was.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I could not have picked a better person for my mother to marry. He loves her dearly, and she has found someone to love without having to deal with the whirlwind of chaos and volatility.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEXD_gaTOnfaFFVDLrdHZJWS4bT6eM5BYctg8DpT8TLE37mIFYBPzOwKYBXCJmrURsR0UVqfZYwp2d0JxCz6xExdmq2AA6SgZZq12YcNeWR-WNK2m_fNOtAWPfxz73ySYTrp0y6HakweEazZJ8dF3BXymmanSSvpxQWu0Qcnf_ZJsVdgDahLc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="504" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEXD_gaTOnfaFFVDLrdHZJWS4bT6eM5BYctg8DpT8TLE37mIFYBPzOwKYBXCJmrURsR0UVqfZYwp2d0JxCz6xExdmq2AA6SgZZq12YcNeWR-WNK2m_fNOtAWPfxz73ySYTrp0y6HakweEazZJ8dF3BXymmanSSvpxQWu0Qcnf_ZJsVdgDahLc" width="236" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Living sixteen hours away, I don't get to see them as often as I would like, but I have never worried a moment about my mother since Paul entered her life. He is wonderful, and I owe him more than I can say. He is the perfect second father.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So wait, I thought you said this was a story about three fathers? Yes, I'm getting to that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Shortly after my father passed away, my mother told Lisa and I that dad had two sons with his first wife, long ago. He had told her not to tell us kids, but now that he was gone, she thought the time was right. She didn't have any names, just the little my father had told her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was fascinating to me and it started me on a long journey to find my lost relatives. Ancestry was a new service, and I signed up looking to see if I could find my lost half brothers. I had no luck. I tried to find his first wife, but without her maiden name, you cannot find birth records and such with the counties involved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think I solved the mystery a few years back when I found a census record of my father living in Stockton with his first wife Zelda, her mother, and two small children with different last names. So, I think those kids were my father's stepsons, and would be no relation to me. A bit anticlimactic, but the mystery was solved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Enter the new DNA registry 23andMe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I had always heard from my father that he was mostly Irish with some French from my grandmother. My mom is full Portuguese, half from the Azores and the other half from Portugal by way of Brazil.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wanted to see how true that was and signed up. A week or so later a package arrived. I followed the instructions and spit into the little tube, sealed it up and mailed it back. They said it would take about 6 weeks to get the results.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I didn't think I would find too many surprises, but being a huge history buff, I thought it would be cool to be able trace my heritage. I received an email saying my results were in and I logged on and looked at my DNA make up. Nothing too startling. I was 28% British/Irish, 25% Broadly Northwest European, and 35% Iberian, (Spain/Portugal) with the rest a mash up of mostly European make up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This tracked almost exactly the way I thought it would. Oh well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I had traced my father's family back to Prince Charles County Maryland in 1731 through Ancestry, and I thought there may have been an American melting pot, genetic wildcard thrown in there somewhere. But it turned out I'm just a plain old American white guy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I had told my mom about the 23andMe findings and she wanted to know why I was so interested in it? I said I found it fascinating to know for sure where you come from. Knowing what part of the world you came from, tracing your history and such.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought that was the end of the story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few days later I received an email from 23andMe asking if I wanted to search for my DNA relatives. Sure, why not. I clicked the link.....Oh boy....<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I looked at the page for a minute and reread it a few times just to make sure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have two half-sisters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No way. No. Way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I clicked on their names and looked at their profiles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How could this be? They must belong to dad, but when were they born? I found a link to send them a message. What do you say? Hi, I'm your long lost half brother, where did you come from?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I sent each one a message. I had so many questions. I asked if they knew my father, and did they know about my sister and I?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pam was the first to respond:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> ”.... Tracy and I now know how we are half sisters through information told to us by our mothers when we were young adults. I'd be happy to connect if you want to solve this mystery for yourself. It is just because our parents really wanted us to be born, and all they did to arrange for our arrivals. I was born in 1961. Tracy in 1967. It will benefit us all to know the health and genetic data. So glad to find you. :)"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wait? What?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was a little slow on the uptake here just because it seemed so strange. With Pam being born in 61, that was before my mom and dad were married, so no foul there, but Tracy was born in 67, two years after me. Why would our all our parents really want us to be born? I could see my dad having a bit of fun, but I'm pretty sure my mom would not have been okay with my father out populating the planet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Like I said, it was staring me in the face, but I hadn't put it all together.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I sent both a message saying it looked like my father was a bit of a scoundrel. I think Pam and Tracy had a correspondence between each other and decided to have Pam spill the beans:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Well, not a scoundrel actually. I don't want to shock you, but since you are over 50, I think you can handle it. When I was 14, I found out that my father (my legal father) was not my biological father. Before my parents married, he had a vasectomy. It couldn't be reversed. My parents really wanted me, so they went to a specialist in San Francisco who arranged for a sperm donor. All they knew was he was a medical student who was healthy and had a great health history and already had a family and children. I was never to have known. Back then, the secrecy was thought best for the child being conceived. At 14 when I chose to sever my ties to my father, my mother told me the truth of my paternal creation. I didn't know about any of you, but always thought that this medical student may have made several donations. Lol. I met Tracy last year through her daughter making a connection to me. We were both stunned. Tracy found out from her mom about the medical student on her 22nd birthday. She is still very close to her legal father, so she is cautious about making it known because she doesn't want him to feel bad. So was your legal father a medical student? Tracy and I don't know if you were from donation like us or if our parent’s donor was both your legal and genetic dad. Sorry for the shock if you didn't know." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow..... No way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I <i>was</i> shocked.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So the only man I ever knew as my father was not my biological father.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No flippin' way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I sat there staring at my phone, I felt a rush of different feelings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This changes everything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then again, it changes nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My father will always be my father. He raised me, for better or worse. It was surreal to me that a man from my father's generation would use a donor to have children. He was nothing if not a man's man. With all his success, all that money, there must have been something missing. There must have been a huge hole in his life he needed to fill with children. It made me wonder about those two stepsons he had with his first wife, and how it must have hurt to lose them when they were divorced.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My head was swimming, but it was late and I went to bed with lots of different thoughts rattling around. What was I going to say to my mom? Should I even bring this up? I had to. It was just too much to let go. Besides, my mom did nothing wrong. She did something extraordinary to bring me into this world. The doctors had instructed her not to tell me about my biological father. She kept the secret for over 50 years. She did it out of love, and that is a great reason.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The next day I called my mom in the morning. We spoke for a while and then I told her the story that Pam told me. The story of Children's Hospital in San Francisco, and the donor, and the instruction not to tell us kids. When I finished, I asked, "So, do you have anything you want to tell me?" There was a bit of a pause, "Well, I would say that my story is the same story you just told me."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We talked about dad and her not being able to have children, and the special clinic at Children's hospital was the cutting edge for the 1960s. It was very expensive, but it was their only hope of having children. My sister was conceived the same way. Mom said she never really thought about it about it after a few years, and didn’t think it was important to tell us after dad died. We were going through enough turmoil at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fact that I signed up for the DNA tests out of pure curiosity was something they couldn't have even imagined back in the 1960s. If I had not spit in that little tube, I would have never known about my biological father.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, the real question is: Now what?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What does it change? Like I said before; it changes everything and it changes nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Walt Sr. will always be my father. He raised me, he showed what it was to be a man, to work hard, and he showed me you can do more than you think is possible. I will always love that man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So what about my biological father? Do I want to know more about him? Yeah, I guess so. I would like to see a picture of him, and see if I look anything like him. I would like to know something about his personality, his temperament. Those kinds of things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm sure he never imagined DNA testing, and that three strangers would someday find each other through an ounce of saliva. I wonder if he would want to know how we turned out?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So many questions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the end, I am glad I know. I am also glad my mother and father went to that specialist in San Francisco. I am here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a wonderful family, a wonderful life, and memories to last me a few lifetimes. I am hoping to get together one day with my half sisters; that would be cool. Hey, 23andMe is a new company, not many people have signed up, there may be more of us half siblings out there. I always wanted a brother. (Sorry Lisa, love ya)</span></span></div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-72645039653711283012022-05-08T09:10:00.009-07:002022-05-08T09:18:13.526-07:00Mothers<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the things that has come with age, is understanding the limits of my own understanding. The age old adage that, 'you don't know what you don't know', is quite true. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ah,,,, to be as sure, and as certain of my beliefs as I was when I was 17, or 27, or 37. For those who have never seen a picture of the Dunning Kruger Effect, it really is a great illustration of my life. Whenever I think I truly understand something these days, I look at where I could be wrong, or try to find another way to understand the issue. I've been wrong about many things, and I hate being wrong. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SVmXyKZtq6kdVM9FftzcgbftFI5F4fHVUjqIkie4EHgzzz9blC3LwrS8vLiHzDBVbdiG_MBxz_qsbTz4CZTZkJO4elT81GyiyFYKwxabEsGkqoP32g35mg9zW_PiKXtlrCbR3ITb8K_HeGuVomubJ13TI2ZzsvJsErdsczaTYLUISq3dK9s/s670/dk.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="670" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SVmXyKZtq6kdVM9FftzcgbftFI5F4fHVUjqIkie4EHgzzz9blC3LwrS8vLiHzDBVbdiG_MBxz_qsbTz4CZTZkJO4elT81GyiyFYKwxabEsGkqoP32g35mg9zW_PiKXtlrCbR3ITb8K_HeGuVomubJ13TI2ZzsvJsErdsczaTYLUISq3dK9s/w400-h246/dk.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />As sure as I have been about certain things, parenting was never something I though I had a good grasp on. I'm not sure how anyone could. Maybe if you had 9 or 10 children, you could make a decent determination that, by that 10th child, you've seen just about everything. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">You would be wrong, but you might have that thought rolling around upstairs. Parenting is extremely difficult, extremely frustrating, extremely exhausting, and also the best damn thing you might ever experience in 100 lifetimes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">One of the things that helped me raise my children was the parenting I received as a child from my mother. My mom is a special person. All moms are special, as I'm sure you imagine yours to be. My mom is special in some particular ways. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you know my story, you know I've written about my father a few times. He was special too. I always say he, was a cross between John Wayne and Donald Trump. That is pretty accurate. My mom is harder to define. She is quite complex. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">If I had to describe my mom to someone (of my age) who has never met her, I would say she is a combination of Carol Brady from the Brady Bunch, and Kitty Forman from That 70's Show. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My mom is full of life. If I pulled into her driveway today in North Idaho and said, "Let's go down to the bar and have a beer." She would grab her keys and go. If I pulled in and told her I was going through a really rough time in my life, and asked if she any advice, she would sit me down and talk for hours about the best way she thought I could get back on track. Her advice is something I still value. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My mom always thought of life as an adventure. Boy, did we have one growing up. How she raised my sister and I to be fairly good kids, all the while living through the 18 chapter Greek tragedy that was life with my father, is a remarkable feat. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hats off to my sister Lisa for being the well behaved, great student, and the one child mom never really had to wonder what trouble they were getting into. If she had two of me, on top of dealing with our father, I'm not sure anyone could take that excitement and adventure.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mom was soothing, she still is. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Her way of quieting her voice down, and showing us her love and understanding, was something I tried to do with my own kids. I remember always feeling better after I was done talking with my mom, no matter what had just happened. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm almost certain I failed in this with my kids, because I am a man. I have that 'fixer' mentality. I don't engage very well with the 'just be there and tell them you love them' part of parenting. I want to give them a three piece plan to 'fix' their problem. Look back up at that drawing and see if that makes more sense now. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">My mom was rarely angry at me, and believe me when I say I did a mountain of things to make any parent angry. However, when she was angry it was spectacular. I remember her breaking a wooden spoon on my butt one day and me laughing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> The only thing that really scared me was when she brought the handmade, braided leather riding quirt down off the fridge. That thing meant business, and it would never break. I don't think I ever got a hard smack with the quirt. She just got it down and started chasing me, and the bad behavior was at an end. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">It still makes me laugh to this day, in my mind, seeing mom chasing after me with her braided quirt. Ah, good times. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">So this Mother's Day, I would like to send some love to my mom Alice up in the hinterlands of North Idaho. I wish I was coming up there to see you soon. We are heading out East to visit Abbie in South Carolina, and I know, being a mom, you will understand. We will get back up there to see you guys sometime this year. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I just wanted to say thank you for everything you taught me. Everything it may have taken me decades, and many, many mistakes to see and correct. Thank you for every kind work, every warm embrace, and every prayer sent out with me and my family in mind, even when we had no idea. Thank you for being who you are. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I love you dearly,,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Your son,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Walt</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-79777464115375745672021-07-19T20:53:00.004-07:002021-07-19T20:53:43.997-07:00How 'Clicks' are killing the truth<p>So, if you would, I'd like you to take a little trip with me. I want to show you something. I want to show you that what you see, and what you understand to be true, many times is just not true. I'd also like to show you how the world got this way. </p><p>Now for the fun part: </p><p>I have a few friends who hate President Donald Trump. </p><p>I mean they hate everything about him. His look, his personality, his tone, his manner of speaking, his family, his red ties, his orange hair, and especially his politics. To be more precise, I should say the politics they think he believes and follows. </p><p>They will tell you, without a doubt in their mind, that he is a racist, a homophobe, a Russian operative, a denier of science, a conspiracy theorist, a white supremacist, and every other bad thing you could name. </p><p>They have heard Trump say all these terrible things, they've seen the videos! They've watched all the news anchors and pundits list all these bad things he has done. Outrageous things, that prove he's all those terrible, awful stories, rolled into a tangerine colored piñata to beat on. </p><p>I usually chuckle at my friends. Why? Do I think Donald J Trump is a great man, and a true patriot bent on saving America from its enemies? No, not really. </p><p>I didn't vote for the guy in 16', and I have been aware of his shortcomings long before he became president. </p><p>I can give you chapter and verse on where I disagree with President Trump. Spending is the main one for me. He spoke a big game, but delivered higher spending each and every year. </p><p>His style? Let's just say that populism is not what I'm looking for in a president, I want leadership. </p><p>Now, I do like his leadership on some issues. His leadership on breaking our crippling dependance on communist China for instance. Making peace deals between Arab nations and Israel has been great. I could go on, but let's just say that he has done some things very well, and failed at many others.</p><p>So, why is it I can see the good he's done, and also see where his populist, speaking off-the-teleprompter, outrageous Queens personality makes him seem like a giant A-hole? I think I know. </p><p>Maybe it's because I've been a democrat, and a republican. I'm now just a quasi libertarian, who wishes everyone would just calm down, let other people have their own opinions, and even be wrong, without becoming A-holes themselves. </p><p>Some of this has come with age, and learning I was wrong about a lot of things when I was a younger man. Most folks don't want to investigate if, let alone why, they are wrong. I do. </p><p>I want to know where I'm wrong. I want to fix my understanding of that issue, so I don't get it quite so wrong next time. </p><p>Now, you may say, but I'm not wrong! I watch CNN and they say the same things I believe. Or, I watch Fox News, and they say the same things I believe. How can this be?</p><p>I would say I understand the world around me today better, because I understand the news media better than most. </p><p>The news, or at least what calls itself the news these days, is not what I grew up with in the 70's, 80's and into the 90's. </p><p>The 'news' was driven by two forces back then; Newspapers, and the 5:00 nightly network newscasts. If it wasn't on those two media outlets, it did not exist as news. </p><p>Newspapers, for you younger folks, were giant sheets of printed paper, folded up neatly and delivered to your door every morning. You could also buy them for a quarter in metal boxes on the street. </p><p>Newspapers had the big world news stories, (a Volcano blew up someplace you never heard of) National news, (what law was passed out of the House and is now headed for the Senate) State and Local news, (what your local Mayor and City Council were fighting over) followed by Sports, Arts, Editorials, and the big Cash Cow: Classified Ads. </p><p>That's right, before the interwebs, Craigslist, and smart phones, if you wanted to sell your car, your guitar, your poodle puppies, or your house, you took out an ad in the newspaper. Or if you had a job you needed filled, you posted a Help Wanted ad. Business specials and coupons were huge money makers as well. </p><p>All those ads were spendy too. The Sacramento Bee Sunday Edition was almost and two inches thick, folded. Half that bulk were all the Classified ads and business flyers. It would take you an hour to read through them. </p><p>Classified Ads are where the newspapers made their money. Sure, some folks subscribed just for the news, but most people wanted both; news and ads.</p><p>If you don't understand why most newspapers are bankrupt, online only, or extremely thinned out, you're not paying attention. Competition, plain and simple. </p><p>What about the Network Evening News? The internet and smartphones strike again.</p><p>The same thing happened to those guys too, but something else changed the networks. </p><p>The news departments at CBS, ABC, and NBC didn't make money for the networks.</p><p>They had a huge number of reporters, staff, crews, remote gear, satellite uplink costs, studios, and they paid their news anchors big money to read the news to you. </p><p>Back before CNN, FOX, MSNBC and all the digital news, the Big 3 networks had 43% of American viewers watching the evening news every single night. By 2005, it was down under 20%. It's much lower today. </p><p>What kept these news division afloat? It was the TV network shows. When NBC had the Bill Cosby show going, 16 million households watched it every week. They were making tens of millions, back when tens of millions was a lot of money. </p><p>Now, the big 3 TV networks, along with cable channels are being drowned by digital aps, and streaming media. Again, competition changes everything. </p><p>This is what I want you to understand. The 'News Media' does not operate under the same financial model it once did. Advertising dollars are much harder to come by. In today's digital age, you need 'Clicks' to make money. Subscriptions too, but even that is going away. People are hacking paywalls, or they just grab what they can off the headlines and don't read the full story. </p><p>It's all about the clicks baby. The 'news' sites need them badly. Clicks are what drives their revenue. </p><p>So, how do you get these clicks? Well, back before Google's and Facebook's algorithms sent stories to your newsfeed, perfectly tailored to what you already think is true, you used to have to click on three or four different stories to see who was saying what. You had these things called ' Bookmarks' that were links to the pages you clicked to get to the websites you wanted. It was kind of fun. </p><p>Over the years, you could see whose side the reporters, or news sites, were on politically, as you looked at their stories, and how they covered them. Also, by what they didn't cover. </p><p>They would leave out certain information that made their side look bad, and slam the other side with anything they could. If they didn't have anything solid, they would throw wild speculation at the other side. </p><p>As David Burge once wrote oh so well: </p><p></p><blockquote><i>Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving. </i></blockquote><p></p><p>One thing that made me really change my idea of the media, was understanding how 'journalists' reported their stories. </p><p>A college media teacher once asked me to think of something I knew a lot about. Some industry or story where I knew the facts about it. Then he would have me find, and read, a news story about that industry. </p><p>He wanted me to compare my knowledge to what was written in the story. The news story was always wrong on several big points. He asked this question; "Why do you you think they are any smarter about any other story they write?" </p><p>He closed with, "They just write crap well, and as long as it follows the AP Stylebook, they will always have a job."</p><p>There's a lot of truth in that. </p><p>So, let's get back to you Trump Lovers, and Trump Haters. </p><p>Let's roll back the clock to last year. To 2020, when according to the news media, Donald J Trump did nothing correctly. As they reported, Trump was an unmitigated disaster. </p><p>So, now that we have a lot more actual information, real information, who was wrong on the big stories, Trump or the media? </p><p>Let's start off with the biggest one, shall we?</p><p>Where the COVID-19 virus came from? Was it natural, did it evolve into humans from bats? Or was the single biggest killer of humans we have seen in my lifetime caused by people? People in a certain country, and did they try to cover up that fact? </p><p>The first reports out of China, told by the Chinese communist government, was this virus came out of a 'wet market' in Wuhan China. They even let a few minutes of video come out showing how nasty that market is with dead animals, and animals in cages slaughtered right on the spot with no refrigeration, no hygiene, it was pretty gross. </p><p>Okay, I thought, viruses do hop species, very rarely, and not very effectively, but maybe that's what happened. </p><p>The World Health Organization, an organization with about as much credibility as the International Olympic Committee who picks which city will host the next olympic games based on how many bribes they receive, said that the virus came from the wet market. </p><p>It could not have come from the only Level 4 Bio-Safety Lab in China. The one right down the road from that 'wet market' in Wuhan...</p><p>The media went with that story. China didn't let this virus loose. China is our friend. They make all our cool iPhones and TV and laptops. Besides, Trump is always fighting with them, and we hate Trump, so...</p><p>Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark), to his credit, was first to see the danger of this virus hitting the US. </p><p>No one else was interested, or at least they were preoccupied. He could only get 14 senators to show up to a hearing about it in January 2020. Most senators were busy with impeaching President Trump. </p><p>Remember that whole made-up Russiagate nothingburger nonsense? </p><p>Cotton spent three hours talking with President Trump about this virus threat while the impeachment hearings were going on. Trump decided to close air travel from China shortly after that. Holy Cow, what a racist thing to do, according the democrats and the media. </p><p>President Trump said pretty early on, in April of 2020 that he had seen information that stated that the virus may have come out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Oh boy, the press went wild again. </p><p></p><blockquote><i>The White House has shown no credible proof to back up claims that the coronavirus was either manufactured at or accidentally leaked from the lab, and neither have any other sources. But Trump continues to fuel the blame, often through racist rhetoric, by regularly referring to the pathogen as the "China virus," the "Wuhan virus" or "kung flu." NBC News said. </i></blockquote><p></p><p>The media attacks went on and on, for over a year. </p><p>Anyone, from an actual scientist like Bret Weinstein, an Evolutionary Biologist who studied virus in bats, to ordinary politicians, to a tug boat captain, who dared say that the virus may have escaped from the Wuhan lab was passing on 'conspiracy theory' rhetoric. The media was 100% sure. </p><p>If you posted a Facebook story about the lab-leak theory, Facebook banned it. Flat out banned it and you as well. </p><p>So, was the Lab-Leak theory a conspiracy theory? No. It's almost certainly how the virus got out into the world. We will never be able to absolutely prove it. The Chinese have destroyed the evidence, and even 'disappeared' some of the early doctors who reported the virus. </p><p>Now, even the 'media' outlets are having to change their stories and say that Lab-Leak most likely happened. Whoops. </p><p>So one of the biggest stories of my lifetime, certainly the biggest story in 50 years, one that was front page news for months and months last year, was false. </p><p>If you said the media was wrong about it, you were ridiculed. That is saying something. Not only did they get their story wrong, but they were so busy being 'right' that they crushed and mocked any information to the contrary.</p><p>That should not only give you pause, that should scare the hell out of you. It should also make you angry. </p><p>Today, the media, almost silently, changed their minds abut the lab-leak theory. Seemingly overnight. They just could not find anyone to refute the evidence that the virus had been engineered through gain-of-function research. </p><p>Did we get an apology from CNN or the New York Times, or the Washington Post? It's the least they could have done.</p><p>"Sorry, we really screwed up a very important story about the origin of this virus. We also called many of our fellow Americans, and the President of the United States, conspiracy theorists. Our bad." That would have been something...</p><p>Now, take that volume of mistakes, that amount misreporting, that level of vitriol and hatred for the president, and half of the country, and then take a look at most other large news stories from the past year. </p><p>Remember my old college teacher's example of a story you know a lot about. Are you starting to see something? </p><p>The not so funny part of this is when the media decided to do this. During an actual pandemic. </p><p>So remember when CNN, MSNBC, and all the network newscasts had New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on in the early part of the pandemic? Remember how they were praising him for his 'leadership' in this crisis? Especially compared to the Tangerine Tornado, with all his stupid theories, cooky remedies, and drinking bleach, right? </p><p>Yeah, how's that looking now? </p><p>Governor Cuomo's decision to move Covid-19 positive patients from the hospitals, into nursing homes, where the most vulnerable population of people lived, was monumentally stupid. It costs thousands of lives. </p><p>Literally, that decision killed thousands of American citizens. Yet, he was celebrated by our media, and even wrote a book on his 'leadership' in the pandemic. </p><p>That story, about that decision, and the fact that his administration tried to hide the numbers of deaths in nursing homes, is something that did not get a lot of attention. Well, aside from Fox news and some honest journalists. </p><p>I don't want to let the Fox crowd off the hook either. That same, my side/their side, hatred works both ways. If Trump said something, for some of you out there, it was one hundred percent true. </p><p>Even if someone showed you actual evidence that he was wrong, you would never admit he was wrong. If he was wrong, you are wrong, and you can't be wrong, you listen to Sean Hannity! </p><p>What is going to be crazy is in the next year, we are going to start seeing some honest journalism come out. It will be swept under the rug to the Trump haters. </p><p>Yeah, well, at least Trump lost, and that's all that matters! Okay....</p><p>For some of us, we're just trying to find what is true, what is spin, and what is just plain stupidity. We will have lots to talk about. </p><p>Wait for the evidence to come out about how we could have saved tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of American lives by using a few preventative treatments before, and in the beginning, of the vaccination process. Once President Biden's team got in office, it was all vaccinations, and only vaccinations, that would be talked about in the media. That was the only way to stop Covid-19, according to President Biden and the media. </p><p>Was that true? Was there a much easier, and much, much cheaper way, to hold off Covid, for those waiting for the vaccine, or for those who had reservations about the vaccine? Something that has been used for decades all over the world. A medicine that is safe, generic and cheap?</p><p>You are going to hear about medicines like Ivermectin, that can keep you from getting Covid-19, and if you become positive, have a pretty good treatment record if taken early. </p><p>You are going to hear how lockdowns, mask mandates, and stay at home orders, did much more harm than good. You will hear the closing of in-person schooling, and the economic impact that had on single parents, along with the kids will be with us for a generation. </p><p>You will hear about the jump in teen suicide and other huge mental health epidemics. Along with the huge jump in drug overdose deaths during the pandemic.</p><p>Folk, I'm just talking about the pandemic. Don't get me started on race, crime and climate. (hint, the very same thing is happening there too...)</p><p>This media-politics cluster at the heart of our news and social media is not interested in facts, or truth, or honestly. They need clicks, and they need to report that sensationalism, fear, and panic, to drive people to those clicks. </p><p><br /></p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-81699967519008421952021-03-30T21:06:00.000-07:002021-03-30T21:06:18.848-07:00Cheryl Lyn Whitfield; A life well lived.<p><i> I had the honor of being asked to officiate the memorial service for the mother of some very close friends. </i></p><p><i>It was an absolutely beautiful day, as the song she picked to be played at the end of her memorial said, and 'uncloudy day' to be sure. </i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>Good morning, will you join me in prayer. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Heavenly father we come to you here today, to celebrate a great life. We thank you for this beautiful day, for all those could make it here to remember Cheryl today. Lord be with her family, as they remember her, her spirit, and her love. Be with us today Lord, let us come closer to you, and let us lean into you. In your mighty name, Amen.
</blockquote><p><br /></p><blockquote>
Well, not going to lie, this is going to be a tough one. Not just for me, but for this family too. Be patient with us, if we need a minute to compose ourselves, or if our words don’t come out right, or they come out with a tremble in our voices. Days like today are difficult. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Depending on how you look at it, it’s an honor to be up here, but damn, I sure wish I wasn’t. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Over the years, I’ve been asked to do a few funerals for this family. Thinking back to last year, Cheryl told me at her mother’s funeral, I think, that I wouldn’t have to do her funeral.
She didn’t want me to feel burdened. Cheryl was worried about me. Bless her heart.
That is who she was. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>I told her a few weeks ago, it would be my honor to be here today, and for her not to worry. I was doing this no matter what.
I’m going to get through this day today. Because no matter how emotional these are, there is something very right, very truthful, and almost easy, almost, about saying some kind words about a very kind human being. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Cheryl Lyn Whitfield was born November 8, 1946 to Barney and Hester Whitfield on Coronado Island. In a few years her brother Shayne was born, and finally her sister Mary Ann.
The family moved up to Yolo County, where she graduated from Esparto High. She married her high school sweetheart Joe Gallardo, and together they had three children: Phillip, Daniel and Jody.
She worked for the Winters Police department, and for those of you who remember, the Barber Rolland company.
As time passed, she moved on, and moved up to the Tahoe and Truckee areas for a while. After a few years back and forth, she married David Buchignani, and she came back down here. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
As a side note, for those of you who remember David, man, was that guy great or what? So much fun, such a kind soul. His time, was way too short.</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
So, in the past, almost twenty years, since I moved back here to Esparto, I’ve been around Cheryl’s wonderful family.
Her parents, her siblings, her children, her grandchildren, and the entire tribe of her extended family, friends, and assorted craziness that made up her life, here in the valley. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
I remember all the good times at Barney’s and Hester’s, after work down at The Capay Junction, and the annual Cattlemen’s dinners in the fall, and the Almond Festivals, and Larry’s parties after Easter, and sitting around the wood stove, playing music in Tommy’s shop. Even the Wednesday afternoon Covid beverage get togethers last year, in the shade, under Tommy’s tree. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Cheryl was always there, always close to where her family and friends were. If she wasn’t around, it was because she was on a road trip with some of them, going somewhere cool. She wasn’t the kind to sit still. She was an adventurer.
I didn’t know, but her whole family told me about the little bag of extra clothes she always kept in her car, just in case she decided at the last minute to go on a road trip. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
I was up with everyone sharing stories this week, and I can’t tell them all, but here are a few favorites. Mostly all involving road trips.
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Barney was working out of town, down by Tracy, with his friend Ben. After work they would go down the Banta Inn. So he’s sitting there, doing what you do in Tracy when work is over, and his phone rings. He answers, says a few words, says goodbye. He looks over at Ben and says, ‘My mother-in-law is coming by to have a drink.”
Ben was kind of shocked. Your mother-in-law?
“Yep, she’s coming over to have a drink.”
She was down visiting Shayne, sort-of nearby, and so she drove over to say hello and visit for a while.
That is so Cheryl. But then again, as Barney likes to say, he is her favorite son-in-law.
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Listening to the stories, I wasn’t aware of her misguided sense of direction.
There a few stories, like when her and Sam were heading up to Idaho. Now early in the mornings, Sam admits she’s kind of cranky, and so when they left Elko, instead of turning north at Wells, Cheryl kept going east on 80.
In the end she decided that she would have to wake up Sam, cranky or not, to get directions because they were now entering Utah. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
The other directional mishap was with Danny heading to the Cow Palace. Coming off the main highway, Danny said they needed to go east, and Cheryl was sure it was to the west. Dan tried to insist but was met with a “shut up”. They drove on for a few minutes and came over a hill where Dan said, Well mom, we can’t go any further west, that’s the Pacific Ocean. I think she told him to shut up once again, but they did make it to the Cow Palace.
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
When Danny met Steph, not too long into their relationship, Danny said you need to go talk to Cheryl so she can better explain what she was getting into. Steph thought that was a bit odd, but they went to Bodega, and had a great weekend together. Cheryl said, If it doesn't work out between you and Dan, you and I are going to be good friends anyway. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Jay talked about secrets. All the times Nanna caught her doing something that she should have been busted for, and Cheryl would keep quiet. From boys showing up at the house in Jr High, to the Austin Texas tattoo parlor, Jay says Chery always kept their secrets. But would always talk to her about anything if she needed. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Andrew told me about all his favorite trips with his grandma. Down to Winters, to the Coffee place, the Guitar shop, and to Putah Creek Café for fries, and a sandwich. Or the trips to Swabbies on the river for live music, and the Road Trip too. He loved it if when he would stay the night at her house. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Mary Ann had many stories about their trips to San Francisco. Early one morning they went for an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista, which was a standard for Cheryl. Since they just opened, Cheryl was the only car on the street, she parked facing the wrong way in front of the Buena Vista. Having her Irish Coffee, the bartender kept looking out the window. He kept seeing all the cars doing a u-turn in front of the restaurant. It seems the cars coming down the street, saw Cheryl’s car facing the wrong way on the street, and thought they must be going the wrong way and started turning around. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
You will have to get Mary Ann to tell you about the Christmas shopping trip with Linsey and Andie on BART, and the kitten adoption at Union Square. It’s a good one. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
San Francisco was a favorite place for Cheryl. She had her spots. Places where she knew the people, and the people knew her. Buena Vista, Gino and Carlo’s just to name a few. Around Christmas, she would always take the girls down to the city and hand out scarves and peppermints to the homeless. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
As much Cheryl loved to travel, loved to experience things, she also enjoyed just talking. We talked a lot.
Cheryl was a thinker, and I like thinkers. We would talk about everything. What made people tick, what life was all about, and what we wanted to try to get out of it. What made a good life, a successful life? Why do so many people, define success so differently? We talked about life, and death and what might come after. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Sometimes, we talked about politics, and sometimes, or many times, we had differing opinions. But we would respect the other’s right to have them, even if they seemed in error to the other one. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
I knew Cheryl pretty well, but from a bit of a distance. We shared a lot of great times with her family, but sometimes, I felt a bit fortunate to have that distance.
Because sometimes families are, a bit messy. Just as a pro tip, one of the keys to life is knowing when things are heading south, and it’s time to G. O.
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Cheryl had a bit of a tough, stubborn streak in her. She would hold her tongue for a bit, but after a while, she let her feelings be known. If you hang around her children, and even her grandchildren, rest assured, they are carrying that gene forward. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Like I said, I only saw bits and pieces of her amazing life, but some of her family have asked to share some of their thoughts, and their times together with her. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>(Family time)
Sam.
Jay.
Mary Ann
(Read Andrew’s note)
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
So, here we are again. Standing around a cemetery, and wishing things were not as they are. It’s tough. But one thing is for certain. This is one event, where every single one of us, one day, will be the guest of honor.</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Maybe one of these days, some of you might be nice enough to come stand around, and say some nice things about me, when it is my time. Please give my family a hug. I would like it even more if you said those things to me while I’m still walking around. I probably have some nice thing I should say to you. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
The abruptness of Cheryl’s passing has really made me look at the last few decades of my own life. To look at some of the opportunities I didn’t take. But more importantly, to really contemplate the next chapters coming down the road for me. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Cheryl was not a ‘wait till then’ kind of person. She enjoyed her life, especially her family, and her friends.
She made time for people. But she also took things as they came. She loved working up at Full Belly Farm for years, and wasn’t punching some clock somewhere, waiting for that last day to retire, so she could then start doing what she wanted.
She was living her life as well, and as full, as she knew how to do. That is a very rare trait in people these days. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
That is the first thing I’d like us to take away from today.
Say yes to opportunities.
Many of us like to plan, to do the safe thing, not to take chances, to build up that bank balance, to accumulating things, and wealth. Don’t get me wrong, those things have their place. Just don’t let them keep you from saying yes to things. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Think about that person you haven’t seen in years, the one who told you to come out and visit. They would put you for a few days and show you cool places around there, and just visit for a while. Why haven’t you done that? It’s a few days, and maybe a couple hundred-dollar airline ticket away.
Maybe it’s that trip with your family, or maybe just a few more rodeos, or concerts, or museum visits, or sailing trips, or whatever is your thing. Go do that.
Again, you could come up with reasons not to go, but then I want you to think about today. Think about what really matters. That vacation time or small amount of money won’t matter in the end. Those memories will. Those experiences will. They are what make up your life. That’s what is important. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Here’s the other thing I’d like us to take away today; Your time here on earth is not infinite. It is fixed, and you don’t know your expiration date. So be good.
Not like, ‘stop having fun’ type of good, but be a better person.</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
That means forgiving a wrong done against you. That means going up to someone and having a difficult conversation, asking them for forgiveness. That means letting a lot the small stuff go. That also means, if someone you love keeps doing things that really bother you, have a difficult conversation about that situation and see if you can work through it. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
In closing, I’d like to say that I was up at Barney and Jody’s a lot for the past month or so. As Cheryl came home to finish her time here, I saw the love she had shown on others come back to her in so many ways.
Her family wanted to let everyone know how much their showing up, helping out, dropping off food, being with Cheryl, or just stopping by to be a shoulder to cry on, helped them through this time. They love you all, and they mean that. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
I was also touched by two things said the other night. One by Andrew, who said she kept praying for his grandma. He said he wanted her to go to a place where she would hurt no more, where she would be happy, where she would be waiting for us. He wanted to be sure she got to heaven.
No worries Andrew, she’s there. And you make sure you remember what Steve Farnham told you. Now she’s up there watching you at all times, making sure doing the right thing. (Good one Steve)
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
The other were the words said by my friend Danny. Looking back, it was the my entire 15 minute speech given in less than one.
He gathered everyone up, at Grandpa Barney’s bar. He had the beautiful urn made my Todd Treat sitting there, and I wish I could have recorded that simple message, cause it was as powerful and anything I could have said here today. It was close to this.
He was pointing towards his mon’s earn and saying, all the things you think are important really aren’t. Everything you own, all your stuff won’t matter in the end. You will end up here. Then he said something that I could agree more with.
Danny lightly tapped on the urn and said, This is not the end either. There is some else after this life. There is something more. Amen my brother.
</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
We only get one shot down here walking around, do your best. Live to the fullest degree you can.
I know Cheryl sure did. That is a hell of life you’ve had here my friend. You will be missed, but never forgotten. We love you.</blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Will you join me in the Lord’s Prayer as we close. </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.</blockquote></span></div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-45796429840102846422021-01-10T06:30:00.001-08:002021-01-13T12:17:32.450-08:00Well, this is what I feared.....<p> So, anyone who knows me well, knows about my father. Well, at least they know the man who raised me, not my biological father, because that is a different story entirely. </p><p>Those who knew Walt Sr. fall into two camps. Those who thought he was a great guy, and those who thought he was a son of a bitch. They were both right, depending on when you met him, and the context of your encounter. </p><p>I have said that my father was combination of John Wayne and Donald Trump, and that rings more truly than ever today. </p><p>My father was a cowboy, a real estate broker, and a person who never sat still. He was always working. </p><p>He could be a very sweet man when things were going his way, and a mean, me-first/screw-the-rest-of-you man when things were going bad. He was never into self-reflection or understanding what made him tick. He never tried to grasp, or get a handle on, how he could change. </p><p>He was the way he was, for both good and bad. His weakness were his blind spots, and they were extraordinarily large. Those blind spots caught up to him in his final few years, and he paid the price for them. Our family kept paying that price, long after he was gone.</p><p>The same is true about President Trump. </p><p>He has that same great guy/son of bitch, personality. People love him, or hate him. There are a few in the middle, or see him from both sides. </p><p>For everyone who thinks I hate Trump, look, I will go out of my way to point out his faults and mistakes. That goes without question. However, I also love some of the things he has done. I really do. </p><p>Thought experiment: </p><p>Imagine if someone came up to you, the day before the 2016 election and said, "The next president was going to do the following things"; </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Grow the economy at an astonishing rate.</li><li>Reduce black and hispanic unemployment to record lows.</li><li>Have a real increase in working class income for the first time in decades.</li><li>Stop North Korea from shooting missiles all over the region.</li><li>Slap China with tariffs, and make them stop taking our technology.</li><li>Renegotiate the NAFTA treaty to give us better trade policies with our neighbors.</li><li>Negotiate peace deals between Israel, and now three other nations.</li><li>Drone strike an Iranian Quds Force leader responsible for killing American soldiers. </li><li>Roll back the control ISIS from huge sections of Iraq and Syria.</li><li>Perhaps the best thing; not get us into any new foreign wars. </li></ul><p></p><p>What would you have said about that next president? </p><p>Probably that Hillary Clinton was going to go down as the best president in our memories. </p><p>Whoops. </p><p>So, as much as I like those parts of his presidency, and that's a lot, there were parts that I did not like, and some that I hated. I mean really hated. </p><p>Spending went up, or I should say, it just continued on its path towards our national bankruptcy in a few decades. All that talk about not signing another huge Omnibus spending bill was hot air. His fight-first, punch back ten times as hard tactic from his Twitter feed was juvenile to say the least. I did get laugh now and again when he went after certain stupid things, but he is the president. There are times you should let things go. He would not, it is not in his nature. </p><p>Those who supported him, he loved. Those who opposed him, he hated. He would condemn Neo Nazis and white supremacist when called out on it, but the number one target for his animosity were those who hated him. Those folks were the real bad guys and the people he was trying to take down. </p><p>One of the worst blind spots Donald Trump has is that he wants what it wants, no matter what. </p><p>If he wanted something to happen, something that was against the constitution, his staff, or his White House Council would have to say, no Mr. President, you cannot do that. That is not what the constitution says. </p><p>Like I say, sometimes he was at his best going against his advisors. He got so many of his accomplishments done by going against what the media, his critics, and even his own staff said he could not do. </p><p>He would just say, "Move the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem" and he made that happen. The problem is with that kind of mind, that personality, he doesn't know the law, read the rules, or care about those things. He wants what he wants. </p><p>In his private life and business, he had to hire lawyers to either get him out of a trap he made for himself, or tell him the one thing he hates to hear the most; "Sir, you just cannot do that." </p><p>I'm sure he went through a bunch of lawyers and accountants over the years, firing the ones who told him he couldn't do things he wanted. He would find ones who would say, well, let me handle this. I'll keep you in the clear, just don't ask questions. </p><p>That is exactly what bit him, me, and this nation, in the ass on January 6th. </p><p>President Trump kept listening to the people who said he could do something about losing the election. He kept listening to 'experts' who said, you can do this, or the Vice President can do that, there is still a way for you to stay in office as president. </p><p>He knows the democrats are coming for him the day he leaves office. He will be charged, arrested, sued, and every other legal means to do him in by February. The media will be driving the "Lock him up" bandwagon, with a cooler full of sparkling seltzer and a kale salad. </p><p>He knows he had to stay in office or go to jail. If you support President Trump, and wonder why he wants to remain president for four more years, it's probably not the reason you think. It's not to save the country, or to keep making America great. He wants to head out to Mar A Lago and play golf, knowing he won't be go to jail. </p><p>I always thought he would make a deal with Pence, and the Republicans to resign after he lost, and let Pence pardon him. Maybe that could still happen, but time is running out. </p><p>So let's go back to this past week and look at the "Stop the steal" rally, march, and ultimately the riot it became. </p><p>The thing about Trump, is the folks who love the guy, really love the guy. Why? In their eyes, they see all the damage going on in our nation, and see a guy will fight to stop it. That is what they see, and that is what President Trump plays into. </p><p>The Super Trumpers are very much like the man they love. They want what they want, but are not concerned with the small stuff. Things like laws, the constitution, or facts. They want to believe what they believe. </p><p>They believe they are right, and when they are shown they are wrong, some other Super Trumper will post something on Facebook that proves how right they are. A picture, or a five second video, taken out of context, or edited, to make a point is all they need to prove that they alone are the ones who understand what is really happening. </p><p>Look, I have some of these friends. It is very frustrating for me as a friend, and it must be for them as well. I point out things, provable facts, and they go on to the next conspiracy theory, or point me to some kook website where the have the 'real answers'. </p><p>These people who showed up to the 'Stop the steal' rally were encouraged by two entities; the far right media, and (there is no denying this) by the President himself. </p><p>I'm not sure who was behind Trump telling him that there was someway to change the Electoral College state votes, but someone must have been telling him that. Perhaps it came back to the whole, staying out of jail thing that made him grasp on to this fantasy. Maybe he just wanted one last crowd. </p><p>Whatever the motive, Trump not only said that this elections was stolen, the craziest thing was he said he won in a landslide, and was cheated out that. I'm not sure if he truly believes this or it makes for a good applause line, but he said this rally was his, was your, was our last chance to keep him in the Oval Office. </p><p>This was their last chance, and he was going to go with them on the march. He was going to go down to congress and make sure Pence would do the 'right thing'. </p><p>No matter how many advisors, legal counsels, or friends told him that the Vice President has zero authority to change or throw out the Electoral College votes, once they are approved and get passed the appeal period. The president wanted people to believe there was a chance he would remain in office. </p><p>Pence was not going to do anything, and Trump knew this. </p><p>In congress, there were a few dozen right wing folks making speeches contesting the election, but they had zero chance of overturning anything. They were either Super Trumpers, or wanted to get a few bonus points for the upcoming 2024 GOP race. </p><p>No matter what happened at the capitol that day, Joe Biden was going to become the President Elect. </p><p>So the question keeps coming back, why would President Trump do this? </p><p>In the end, for me it comes down to this: Trump was either extremely stupid, not knowing how presidential elections work, or he was just desperate. </p><p>Ultimately, I think spending his last few years, and all his money, defending himself trying to stay out of prison was the main factor. </p><p>I know, I know, this is where you Super Trumpers will send me a dozen pictures of Antifa guys in the crowd, saying they were doing all the damage. I'm not saying anarchist and Antifa folks were not there, I'm sure they were. If I were an Antifa leader, I would be there to make sure Trump supporters looked like a bunch of lunatics. I'm actually surprised one of them didn't try to burn the place down. </p><p>However, if you spend any time looking at the thousands of pictures and videos, you can be assured the vast majority were in fact the Super Trump crowd. They were caught up in moment. </p><p>Being caught up in a crowd, led by a few radicals is not a good thing. That goes both ways. </p><p>I would tell that to my friends who were at the Black Lives Matter marches in Sacramento this summer. When the Antifa and BLM radicals start breaking things, smashing windows, looting, and beating people up, it's time to stop them. If you can't stop them, just leave and go find a news crew as quickly as you can. Tell everyone that those people rioting are criminals, and should be arrested. </p><p>I would also tell that to my Trump supporting friends. Marching, gathering in large numbers is fine. Even a bit of nonviolent, non confrontational opposition to the police has its place in protest. You want to sit down and block a sidewalk after the police tell you to leave. That is your choice. You might get arrested, but that might be what's needed on your view.</p><p>Protests are one thing, violence is another. </p><p>So where do we go from here? What is coming? Where are we heading? For each side, and as a nation? </p><p>Some very bad things are coming. There is going to have to be a reset of how we exist as Americans in the twenty first century. </p><p>There will be lots of mistakes made, lot of civil rights crushed, and lots of conflict. I must say, some of this will be armed conflict, driven by those on each side of the extremes. There will be open hatred, and sides choosing to separate themselves from each other. It is going to be ugly. </p><p>So, if I have any hope, any words of advice for both sides, for my fellow Americans, it is this; You are not as far apart and you think, and not as far apart as the media on both sides are telling you. </p><p>Democrats, hear me out on this please. Your 65 year old neighbor with the MAGA hat and his wife, the ones flying American flag in their yard, are not your enemy. They are your neighbors. </p><p>They would come over to your house in the middle of the night if they saw your house was on fire, and try like hell to save you and your family. Maybe even your cat. They would stop on the side of the road and offer you a ride home if your car broke down at night. He and his wife are good people, but they are afraid of the America they are seeing, on TV, and on their streets. </p><p>They want to have things stay the way they are if at all possible, because things are changing so fast. They would keep living in a world where they know how things work. They want to know all those years of showing up to work everyday, paying their taxes, obeying the police, and going to church a few Sundays a month, are still the way to be a successful American. </p><p>They get their news from Sean Hannity, Facebook, and Rush Limbaugh, and only hear that one side. They see democrats as the lunatic fringe, burning their streets down and assaulting police without consequence. </p><p>To them, Donald Trump was a throwback to a time and an America they understood. </p><p>Now, there are some of the Super Trumpers out there who will go to the extreme. However, if you look at the past four years, you can't compare the damage and destruction caused by Trump supporters to the leftist and anarchist in the Antifa or militant BLM groups. It not really close. </p><p>These Super Trumpers get one hell of a black eye for the storming of the capitol building. That was absolutely horrific, and should be seen as shameful by everyone. Many will be arrested, and should be. This should make the vast majority disconnect from those fringe Trump groups, and come back towards the center. </p><p>Republicans, hear me out on this please. The 32 year old guy who drives an electric car, and wears a Che Guevara t-shirt while playing video games, along with his wife who wears the pink uterus hat to protest, they are not your enemy. They're your neighbors. </p><p>They have been taught, since middle school, that America is an evil nation, filled to the brim with racists, homophobes, and every other phobe that their humanities classes taught them. They themselves? They are actually pretty nice people. </p><p>They like good food, good coffee, and actually live a lot like conservatives. They get married, send their kids to college, as much as they say they are for the poor and working class minorities, they choose to live in very nice homes, in very safe neighborhoods. The ones with a lot of retired MAGA people, police, firefighters, and rich people, but a neighborhood that is growing blue. </p><p>They think American needs to change, and everything they read, watch, and listen to goes along with that mindset. Every streaming service, movie studio, podcasting service, and every television network is ran by people who think like them. They live in a world that thinks just as they do. </p><p>It is hard for them to see where they are wrong, because everyone from their teachers in elementary school on through college, Hollywood, and popular culture, gives them this same message. America is bad, white people are bad, even if they don't know they are bad, and the world is going to burn up, or freeze over, if we don't vote Socialist. </p><p>How do we bridge these two worlds? How do we see past the stereotypes and come together? I'm not sure we can until we have a another huge shakeup, and it is coming. </p><p>Joe Biden's administration will govern like the hippie leftists from the 60s. His party is being taken over by radicals. These people in his administration, and in congress, are going use the capitol protest as leverage to come up with a new "Super Patriot Act". It will be some other cool sounding law that will strip people who disagree with them of their rights. This is not hyperbole. This is coming. </p><p>If you every supported Donald Trump, you are going to be moved into a second class of citizen. </p><p>How much longer will conservatives be allowed to use social media? How much longer will voting for Donald Trump be a red flag on gun ownership? How much longer will conservative businesses be allowed to host their websites, or use certain banks? Maybe you had given campaign donations to Trump. Now your business is being selectively audited, red flagged by OSHA, the EDD, Franchise Tax board and business license department.</p><p>This overreach is coming, and the only thing that might change this is if the couple with the electric car, or other democratic mainstream voters who hated Trump, but don't like government punishing people based on their politics, hear that their MAGA neighbor just got their plumbing company shut down for no apparent reason. </p><p>They think this is unfair and unAmerican. They will have to speak up, and if things don't change, they will have vote to change who is in charge. </p><p>Look, this is going to get bad. </p><p>Trump folks, a word of advice; spending the next four years wearing your MAGA gear is not going to help. Learning how to be civil, how to engage with people who think differently than you do is going to be critical. Being nice to people who may hate you based on your voting record can be tough, but it is a must. </p><p>When your lefty neighbor Judy thinks about you, I hope they think, oh Mark? He's a great guy, he came over and helped me with my fence last winter. Then when Judy finds out you voted for Trump, and they ask you why one earth you did, you can start the conversation. </p><p>If you flip off Judy in her Subaru because it has a Biden/Harris sticker on it, you are not going to like where America is headed for you. </p><p>Basically: Everyone calm the hell down, and start talking, not yelling, not name calling. Talking. Try to understand why people who don't think the way you do, think the way they do. </p><p>We will be better off in the long run. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-44358450060685629472020-12-25T14:29:00.001-08:002020-12-25T14:41:45.374-08:00Christmas Presence <p>Having older children is a strange thing. Our son is married, and his wife has a pretty big family who all live pretty close. They will be celebrating Christmas morning together, so the two of them came out last night to celebrate with us. </p><p>My wife and daughter had to work, so I was home alone, cooking and cleaning. I actually got out our china, the china we received as a wedding present some 32 years ago. I think we have used it, maybe five times in all those years. It is very pretty stuff, I am going to make a new tradition using it. </p><p>Everyone arrived just as the sun went down. We all caught up chatting, and getting all the presents under the tree. Well, close to the tree is a better description. We don't trust the hound dog with anything pretty she can get through the doggie door. </p><p>We had dinner first. The prime rib roast was very nice, and we were all quite full when done. We decided to open presents next, for a bit of room to become available before dessert. </p><p>We all had a great time opening our gifts, and seeing the faces of our loved ones as they opened ours. All the while, the six dogs there were playing, and causing commotion. It was a typical Lucas Christmas. </p><p>So this morning, we woke up with not much to do. I made cinnamon rolls and worked cleaning up and started putting things away. As things were winding down, I thought about how excited I used to get about Christmas as a kid. To be honest, I was mostly excited about the presents. Ten percent about the fantastic dinner my mom would be making, but maybe ninety percent about the presents. </p><p>Fast forward half a century and how things change. I still love Christmas presents, but my feelings trend more toward those I love, and not as much for what is inside the wrapping paper. </p><p>The strange thing about Christmas to me, even today, is how slow it comes, and how fast it goes once here. </p><p>It seems I have a month or three weeks to get all my shopping done, then two weeks, then a few days, then I really have to get serious. On Christmas day or Christmas Eve, depending on when we open gifts, that day, that two hour period flies by.</p><p>This year, after we opened presents, I found myself out on the front porch with my son, enjoying a cigar and my new ashtray. It kind of a thing we do, and I enjoy these times with all my heart. </p><p>When I have a whisky and cigar with my son or my friends, we talk to each other. Really talk. It usually puts in a 'present' place. It's why I enjoy it so much. </p><p>These times are usually saved for special places. </p><p>Places like deer camp, or a backyard party, once the party has died down. Places like front porches, or the top of the Continental Divide. These times are very special. </p><p>Which kind of makes me think, what do we put importance upon these days? Especially in this Christmas season?</p><p>Being in America, and being part of this multimedia, social media world, we are told by these billion dollar corporations what should be important; your family and your happiness. Aw, how nice right? </p><p>Then they specifically use their trillions of lines of computer code and algorithms to put an add in front of your computer or phone screen, that you will see and hopefully make some snap judgement upon. Something, that in the back of your brain, goes little like this:</p><p>Family is special, and if you don't get your family our product for Christmas, you are a failure. </p><p>Laugh if you want, but this is what they do with all that code, and those trillions of dollars. </p><p>This is how all those ads, and commercials, with those beautiful people, and perfect families, show you how to be a good person in today's America: </p><p>Buy the right stuff for your family, our stuff, and get a little something special for yourself too. It's Christmas for crying out loud. </p><p>I think about these gifts we give and get, and wonder, just wonder, if there is another way. A little better way to connect with each other. </p><p>What if our focus was on being present for Christmas? What about giving small, meaningful gifts that can bring that sense of presence to those we love? </p><p>I ran across this interview with Bill Murray a while back, and it is so good. He talks about what he really wants out of life. It's a good questions because he has more money and fame that most people could ever achieve. But what does he want? He wants to be present in his life. </p><p>Such great advice. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o9TvFkiLLMo" width="320" youtube-src-id="o9TvFkiLLMo"></iframe></div><br /><p>I am going to try to do this for all those folks I get birthday presents for this year. Yes they will be gifts, but they may be two or four tickets to something they would never go to. Something cool, that would be an event they could remember. It doesn't need to be expensive, just something they would enjoy doing with someone else, and to have a memory of it for years to come. </p><p>Tell them you want them to have a moment, to make a moment with this gift. To be present, even if just for a few minutes, or a few hours that day. To drink it in, even if the event isn't that spectacular. Make the best day of it, make it a memory, that is the goal of the gift. Be present. </p><p>We will see how it goes, for them and for me. I want to be more present in my life. That is my goal. Wish me luck. </p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-89593666675724865212020-12-09T08:35:00.000-08:002020-12-09T08:35:22.519-08:00<div><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">One day, when this is over, especially after the media tells everyone it was Joe Biden's 100 days mask wearing mandade that ended the Covid Pandemic, someone will start looking into the numbers. At least I hope they do.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">Why were the schools closed? Why are parks closed? Is it to keep the kids safe? Not when you look at the data.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">How many children commited suicide while cut off from their friends and the normal social contact of their lives? How many thousands, or hundreds of thousands of children developed serious mental conditions that may last their entire lives?</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">These numbers are from the CDC page.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">Look at the number of total deaths per age group, then look at the number of deaths involving Covid that did not involve Influenza. The regular flu kills way more children than Covid -19 does.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">If you look at the first three groups of children 0-14 years old. There have been 13 children die of Covid, that did not also have Influenza. Out of almost 60 million children. That is incredible.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">When the news media puts up headlines about any young person dying of Covid, they do not say this is an extremely rare occurrence, about a one in a million chance of death, they post it to drive fear and clicks.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">People who are scared, want to check in tomorrow with that media site, to make sure there isn't another scary thing heading their way.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">That folks, is what is wrong with media. They are driven by clicks, viewers, and ad revenue. With all the free media out there, they drive towards sensationalism and more precisely, fear. Fear gets your attention.</span></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px;">Remember, when they are not charging you for their product, YOU and your attention is the product they are selling to big business.</span> </div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrS1TeyVVU7HMUTGRY8W3CQrDeJpIqw9lPeXcnsaxYHMol8zVFZ49VsH069-zQcBPtrUxgR2TA3dJQD_KsVQ6x2rOVcEcUJtKi4vAl6jVOR7s6xivm2C0FrzG-ND6JMqN_ghgvlQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1003" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrS1TeyVVU7HMUTGRY8W3CQrDeJpIqw9lPeXcnsaxYHMol8zVFZ49VsH069-zQcBPtrUxgR2TA3dJQD_KsVQ6x2rOVcEcUJtKi4vAl6jVOR7s6xivm2C0FrzG-ND6JMqN_ghgvlQ/s16000/image.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-76285370470392134352020-07-29T15:35:00.001-07:002020-07-29T15:37:58.086-07:00Post Trump America<span style="font-family: georgia;">So, are you a Trump supporter? Maybe you are a Super-Trumper?<br />
<br />
Maybe you absolutely hate Trump, and think he's the new Hitler?<br />
<br />
Well, in under 100 days we will have an election, and the nation will see how all this shakes out, or maybe not.<br />
<br />
The Mail-in-Ballot nonsense that the states are implementing are going to cause a huge disruption in getting the results in. I am thinking it might be New Years before we actually get a declared winner, and whoever loses will be throwing a fit.<br />
<br />
No matter who wins, half the country will be pissed. Good times, right?<br />
<br />
Before all that chaos hits the streets, and the nation starts to rip itself apart, I'd like to talk to some of you Trump supporters out there. Take a seat, and just listen for a minute. <br />
<br />
Your guy has failed to do what he said he would do.<br />
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I know, I know, you guys will point to the record stock market, to the low unemployment numbers and say, if it weren't for the whole Covid-19 thing, Trump would have had the best economy in a generation.<br />
<br />
Yeah, but that's really not true. Trump had a chance to do the right thing, the tough thing, and he chose to do the popular thing. That's what populist do, they look for a parade, and jump out in front to lead it. Doing the popular thing might get you elected, but it doesn't solve the problems we face. <br />
<br />
I know Hillary would have been a full scale disaster on the economy, but hear me out.<br />
<br />
Trump was the outsider. He was going to 'drain the swamp' and Make America Great Again. He did not. In fact, he added a few more acres of Swamp in DC, even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. <br />
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You drain the swamp by cutting spending. Slashing spending if you want to know the truth. Donald J. trump didn't slow down the Gravy Train, he threw another couple of boxcars full of borrowed cash onto the train.<br />
<br />
Don't believe me? Okay.<br />
<br />
In 2016, the last Obama fiscal year, the Federal Deficit was 585 Billion Dollars. That's a lot, but it was better that the ones from his first few years that were a Trillion Dollars each.<br />
<br />
The first Trump budget raised the deficit to 665 Billion in 2017. The next year, he added another 110 billion to take it to 779 Billion Dollars in 2018. Mind you, the republicans had control of congress these first two years. The deficit for 2019 was 984 Billion Dollars, and the 2020 one was scheduled for 1.083 Trillion, but that was before Covid-19. With all the Covid-19 bailouts and giveaways, who knows what the real 2020 deficit will be?<br />
<br />
<br />
So, he didn't 'Drain the swamp' he grew it. Because if you haven't heard, Donald Trump doesn't mind spending other people's money to make himself look good. In fact, that is his whole business plan. This time, he isn't using investor's money to go big, he's using borrowed taxpayer money. So, basically, he's just like every other politician.<br />
<br />
<br />
What about our Trade Deficits? I know he talks a big game on trade, and he actually did tweak some of the NAFTA deals and such, but was it a game changer?<br />
<br />
<img alt="United States Balance of Trade" height="297" id="ImageChart" src="https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/charts/united-states-balance-of-trade.png?s=ustbtot&v=202007292100V20200716&d1=20100801" style="color: white;" width="640" /><br />
<br />
Well, right up until the Covid-19 crash of the market, the trade deficit was heading back to record territory. So, not so much.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now, you can yell at me and say that the media is against him, and the democrats are working overtime to ruin everything he does, and you're right. However, he is supposed to be the guy who can fix it all, and make it better. He didn't, he was just playing around the edges, and taking the small victories that didn't cost him.<br />
<br />
About ten years ago, I wrote a piece about how the only person who could actually fix this situation, could never get elected, and I stand by that piece. The guy, or lady, would have to call for Means-testing Social Security, Medicare, the elimination of the dozens of overlapping federal welfare systems, and a freeze in hiring and expansion of the Federal government for his/her first term in office.<br />
<br />
There is no way that person could be elected today, or ever. Americans say they want small government, when that means cutting things they don't like.<br />
<br />
If you're a republican, you want to cut welfare and foreign aid. Well, except Social Security and Medicare, because I worked for that money, and it's mine!<br />
<br />
If you're a democrat, you want to cut the military, and "No more illegal wars" but that's about it. Maybe cutting the foreign aid to Israel. The good news is Trump has been getting us out wars as fast as he can, but you weren't paying attention<br />
<br />
The problem is we owe so damn much money right now, and just the interest we pay on our Federal Debt, standing at 26 Trillion Dollars and counting, is almost as much as spend on our entire military.<br />
<br />
Let me say that again. Just the interest payments on our national debt is the same as we spend on our military! That federal debt will be 30+ Trillion by next year if Joe Biden is elected and the Senate goes to the democrats.<br />
<br />
That amount of debt is crushing our economy, and as it climbs, the interest climbs as well. Pretty soon you will be taxing your people's productivity, not to pay for the things we need today, but we'll be taxing people today to pay for the last 20 years of overspending.<br />
<br />
It's just like the credit card companies. Once you get your debt so high that you can only make the minimum payment on your debt, you're going bankrupt. It's just a matter of time.<br />
<br />
Cheery, right?<br />
<br />
Could Trump have bailed us out of this? I'm not sure that anyone could have, but he could have tried. He could have said, I don't care what you call me, or if you ever vote for me again, I am going to put this country back on a foundation that will fix this situation, and save America for our children and grandchildren.<br />
<br />
He would have gotten creamed in the election of 2018, but he lost the House anyway. He would have lost the Senate, and so we wouldn't have gotten as many conservative judges through. That being said, if you have a bunch of conservative judges ruling over another real Great Depression, I'm not sure that's a win. <br />
<br />
So what is coming? A Sh*t Storm like nothing we have seen in close to a century. It's not that Covid-19 brought this on, Covid-19 will have just sped up the countdown.<br />
<br />
It may start before the election. The democrats want the worst economy possible so Trump doesn't get reelected, and that could start the ball rolling even faster.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking in a year or two, no matter who wins, one day the stock market will drop a thousand points and the dollar will plunge. Gold and precious metals go through the roof. I say Gold is + $3,000 an ounce by 2022. The world will look for other places to store its money, and our money will be worth half of what is today. Hyperinflation will be how we pay off all that debt. It will be a terrible half decade for the US, and the world. Maybe longer. <br />
<br />
So, this also comes down on you and me. How much money do you have in your saving right now? Enough for 6 months, of your regular bills? No? Well, you should.<br />
<br />
How much debt do you have? How many times do you eat out a month? Did you really need to buy those new clothes, shoes, drinks, or the dozens or even hundreds of items of cheap crap you ordered from China through Amazon? How about that new car, or new house you bought when you could barely qualify for the loan? <br />
<br />
That's on you, not the politicians.<br />
<br />
Maybe on your parents too. I have been telling my kids that all this will someday come to an end. But it's hard to live one way, while the rest of the world keeps spending and buying their way into enormous amounts of debt.<br />
<br />
You Trump haters will say, "See I told you! Trump was a disaster!" Well, that's one way to look at it.<br />
You Trump supporters will say, "Trump would have saved us if it weren't for the Fake News and Covid!"<br />
<br />
No matter who wins in January, (see what I did there?) the next president will be holding the reins of a runaway. <br />
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<br />
<br />
</span><br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-86787322029863934532020-06-20T14:30:00.000-07:002020-06-20T14:30:32.061-07:00Statues, and our blind spots. <div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="ejokr-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ejokr-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ejokr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">I</span><span data-offset-key="ejokr-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">t's going to be funny when the mob comes after Barack Obama's statues, public office building, and school buildings to tear them down. Democrats are going freak out. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="flk4d-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="flk4d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="flk4d-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="fji59-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fji59-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fji59-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Remember, Barack Obama opposed Gay Marriage in his first term, and throughout his reelection into his second term. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="8l1r3-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8l1r3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8l1r3-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">That is a fact. And just remember, Vice President Dick Cheney, the new Hitler to these same Democrats, supported Gay Marriage. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dqjju-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Not to mention, FDR's forceful internment of American citizens from Japanese families into camps during WWII. I guess he gets a pass because he's a democrat? </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="an2ie-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="an2ie-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="an2ie-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1btgv-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1btgv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1btgv-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Look, you want to take down a Confederate soldier's statue, fine. Have a city council vote, or whatever. Cities are going to take them down pretty soon, and they should. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="ff1i3-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ff1i3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ff1i3-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="2gjg-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2gjg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2gjg-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">I think Confederate statues on public land are stupid. If you want to have them on actual National Battlefields, I think there is a case to be made there. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="59jn2-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="59jn2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="59jn2-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="d48d-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d48d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="d48d-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">However, no matter how well they commanded their armies, their cause was unjust at its core. The continuation of slavery in the United States. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="7eps6-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7eps6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7eps6-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="8g2nh-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8g2nh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8g2nh-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">You can talk to me about about State's Rights, and sovereignty all you like, but that's not the real reason, and you probably know that, deep down. There may have been a few folks here and there who hated slavery, but fought for their southern states. There were those people, I've read their writings. Ultimately, what their side fought for was keeping slavery legal in the south. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="d28i4-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d28i4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="d28i4-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">So why did these activists topple a statue of US Grant? You know the general who lead the Union to victory and effectively ended slavery in America? </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4tivv-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"> They say he was a slave owner as a young man, and they are right, but is that what Grant's life was about? </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1ltk4-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ltk4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1ltk4-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="f9ns2-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="f9ns2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="f9ns2-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Grant was raised by abolitionists, in Ohio, but was not a real abolitionists in his early life. While he was a young man in the Army, he married his best friend's sister from Missouri, her family owned slaves. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1r1t7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1r1t7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1r1t7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="d8rme-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d8rme-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="d8rme-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Grant was given a slave as a wedding gift by his father in law along with a small farm. Grant was not a good farmer, the farm was kind of on poor land, and he went broke. He could have sold the man back into slavery, and surely he could have used the money, but he didn't. He freed the man. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1horf-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1horf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1horf-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="aac0d-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aac0d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="aac0d-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">As the Civil War started, and then as he became more involved with the subject, he became very anti-slavery. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1g5e1-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1g5e1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1g5e1-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="7ctfn-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ctfn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ctfn-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">He understood the other side, he knew their men, knew their thinking, and knew they were wrong. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="co902-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="co902-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="co902-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="edfre-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edfre-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="edfre-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">When he wrote about his meeting Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House for Lee's surrender, Grant wrote; </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="earhe-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="earhe-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="earhe-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="d4dsj-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d4dsj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="d4dsj-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><blockquote>"What General Lee's feelings were I do not know.... Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to us."</blockquote></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="9in0e-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9in0e-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9in0e-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="epb6a-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="epb6a-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="epb6a-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">One of the worst parts of all this craziness right now is the failure to understand the thinking of the times. Past and present. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="1mvoc-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1mvoc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1mvoc-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="background-color: white;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><font color="#1d2129"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We look upon slavery with our 21st century eyes. Evil, and horrible. Absolutely. </span></font></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><font color="#1d2129"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></font></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><font color="#1d2129"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">No one is pro-slavery in the US. Well, there are 330 million people, so you could probably find a few dozen or so complete idiots, maybe. </span></font></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><font color="#1d2129"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></font></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="77ffu-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><font color="#1d2129"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1859, when Grant freed his slave, there were plenty of people who thought slaveholding was fine. It was just the way we have always done things they thought. </span></font></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="2o6mg-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2o6mg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2o6mg-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="bbh7l-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bbh7l-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bbh7l-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Thankfully, there were two thirds of Americans who saw slavery as evil and would fight to end it. Even though there were plenty of non abolitionists who didn't really care about the plight of blacks, they wanted America to remain under one central government. They did not want to see the south secede. They fought too. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="84kh2-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="84kh2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="84kh2-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="dds7d-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dds7d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dds7d-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">As with most things, it's complicated. Tearing down statues you hate is not. It's just anarchy. You do it to make you feel good. </font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="88guj-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="88guj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="88guj-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br data-text="true" /></font></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="89cj2" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Now, you may look upon Barack Obama's anti Gay Marriage views, and think of them as I do. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Obama needed the mostly Christian, Democratic suburban housewife vote to win election. They were not in favor of Gay Marriage at the time, or not a majority to be sure, so he was anti Gay Marriage. As soon as he was reelected, he 'changed his thinking' and told the nation what I think he believed his whole adult life. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">So, here's the lesson you are going to have learn, and quick. Things are complicated. History is complicated. People are complicated. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Just wait a few more years until the FBI files and recording of MLK Jr. come out. The left will say they are unimportant, and the work he did is what we need to recognise, not his personal failings. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">I'm completely cool with that, let's just try to make that a universal thing. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet">Also, let's stop building statues to people. </font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><br /></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="btke7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="btke7-0-0"><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></span></div></div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-46724256370163679332020-06-20T13:54:00.003-07:002020-06-20T14:10:50.540-07:00Making it better. Not perfect, but better. For any of you who made it through my last post without wanting me shamed out of polite society; welcome back. Thanks for reading and trying to understand some ideas you may have never thought about. ( I started this piece two weeks ago)<div><br /></div><div>We talked about how crazy and vindictive the social media world is right now. Just saw a sign in my local town saying "Silence is Violence". Well, that's very productive. </div><div><br /></div><div>The streets have been a very mixed bag. Depending on what news channel you watch, the entire nation is coming together to stand up for justice and reform, or the entire nation is being burned to the ground by violent protesters. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which one is right? Well, both. </div><div><br /></div><div>In my last post, I spoke about the 7,000 or so back homicides in America each year, and asked, who is killing them?</div><div><br /></div><div>About 90% of blacks being murdered are being murdered by other blacks, according to the FBI Unified Crime Report. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also touched on the fact that of all these 7,000 or so black homicides last year, 235 were killed by police. Mostly in shootouts of justifiable situations. Of that 7,000, only 9 unarmed black people were killed by the police. Of those 9, it is unclear how many of those were unarmed but attacking an officer. I also said, I'm sure there are some tragedies in these numbers.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also said that there are plenty of bad cops out, usually protected by their police unions. While we have close to 700,000 uniformed police in America, most of them are outstanding folks. However, even if 1% are racist or just bad cops, that's 7,000 problem officers who could be the spark to set off the next tragedy. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, how do we actually make things better in our communities? Especially, how do we make our minority communities a better place to live? </div><div><br /></div><div>I can assure you of one thing; it's not by defunding the police departments in those communities, as some of the more radical groups want to do. </div><div><br /></div><div>While my last post was written towards mostly white, mostly liberal, mostly middle-upper class folks, especially some of my Christian friends, this one is for everyone. </div><div><br /></div><div>No matter who you are, and where you live, you can do some things that will actually help. You can be the change you are demanding. </div><div><br /></div><div>You can volunteer. Your time, not your money. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sure there are good causes out there that could use some cash. However, many of them spend that money on staff, office rent, cars, meals, and meetings with politicians to get even more money. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some of them do good very good work, but I'm talking about <i><b>you</b></i> making a difference in someone's life. That's a lot harder than just sending $20 here or $100 there. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now many of you will say, I already am part of a woman's group, men's group, or youth group at my church, and we reach out to everyone. Great, now do more. </div><div><br /></div><div>Make a real difference in one, or two, or ten people's lives who you would not interact with in your daily life. People who live in the part of your town you don't go into, unless you absolutely have to. </div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe you live in a city that doesn't have a bad part of town. Go to the nearest high crime city or town, and find a place where they are in need of volunteers. I guarantee you, those places are out there, and they need your help. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now you might say, well this is about structural racism, and police brutality, can't I just march with my friends and post the right kind of things to my social media? Maybe send $20 to Black Lives Matter, and buy a cool shirt? </div><div><br /></div><div>You can, but you are not helping solve the real, structural, systemic problem. </div><div><br /></div><div>The breakdown of the black family, black fatherlessness, high poverty, and very high crime rates inside these communities are why these places are at boiling point. </div><div><br /></div><div>Don't believe me, some random white guy? Okay, fair enough, how about <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2008/06/text-of-obamas-fatherhood-speech-011094" target="_blank">Barack Obama?</a> Here is some of the Father's Day speech by then Sen. Barack Obama to Apostolic Church of God in Chicago.</div><div> </div><div> </div><i><blockquote>But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it. </blockquote></i><blockquote><i> You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled — doubled — since we were children. We know the statistics — that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it. </i></blockquote><blockquote><i>How many times in the last year has this city lost a child at the hands of another child? How many times have our hearts stopped in the middle of the night with the sound of a gunshot or a siren? How many teenagers have we seen hanging around on street corners when they should be sitting in a classroom? How many are sitting in prison when they should be working, or at least looking for a job? How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many?<br /><br />Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more after-school programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities.<br /><br />But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child — it’s the courage to raise one</i>.<div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I did not vote President Obama, and was a huge opponent of most of his political agenda, but he is absolutely, 100% correct here. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also wonder how his call for more police would go over today in the black community? </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I don't want you to think that the problems in the black community are solely caused by the black community itself. They are not. We will get to police reform in a second. However, most of the real change in an individual person's life will come through that person's individual choices. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's called Agency. Everyone has it, and everyone should embrace it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's how agency works. Making good choices leads to good outcomes. Making bad choices leads to bad outcomes. Sometimes, bad things can just happen to you. How you respond to those situations will make or break you. That is universally true in every person's life. </div><div><br /></div><div>How do you help someone make better choices? It is really hard, but you can spend your time, and your give of your talent, trying to help them get that method of thinking hard wired into them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Volunteer, mentor a young person, help tutor at a minority school when you can. Be the change you want to see. You want to see the any community do better? This is how it works; help individuals make better decisions in their lives. </div><div><br /></div><div>You may not have all the answers, but you can help. Even if it's just mentoring one young person an hour a week, or helping a high school student trying to sign up for job training, or college, or helping a person trying to fill out a job application correctly. You can help. </div><div><br /></div><div>If the hundreds of thousands of successful, white, young people I saw marching in the streets for change did this, you would see change. If you had successful young people of all colors and views volunteering and mentoring, you would actually see a remarkable difference in the black community in a few years. </div><div><br /></div><div>You may say; A few years? I want change right now, we demand change right now! </div><div><br /></div><div>That is not how real change works. Change takes time, it is generational. Individuals can change overnight, society takes much longer. </div><div><br /></div><div>I know this isn't what you want to hear. I know you want to keep marching with your friends in the nice weather, and posting on social media to make yourself feel like you're doing something, but you're really not doing much at all. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's a lot like dieting. You want real, lasting results? You must make better choices to get those results. </div><div><br /></div><div>You hear the commercials for some fad diet pills, where people lost a lot of weight while still eating Double Whoppers, and you buy a bottles of those pills. </div><div><br /></div><div>They work for a bit, then you gain that weight back, plus a few pounds. In two years the diet company is being sued because the stimulant in the pills gave people heart attacks. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want real, lasting, change, you must eat better, and exercise even when you don't want to. You must make better choices. It's hard to do, but it works every time. </div><div><br /></div><div>What about the police? These police killings of black men are usually what sets off the outrage. Can we, as citizens, make the police force better? I think we can, and we must. </div><div><br /></div><div>Like I said in my other piece, I have a few friends who are police, and they are great people. I could never do it. I don't have the temperment for it. I'm too soft, too willing to see the good in people. I'd be killed on a traffic stop, thinking everything was fine, and the guy was just reaching for his wallet. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being a police officer is a dangerous job. Last year, 48 police officers were killed by felonious acts in the line of duty. 41 were killed in accidents. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, what about the bad cops, how do we get rid of them? </div><div><br /></div><div>That is not easy. Mainly because of their unions. </div><div><br /></div><div>Much like bad teachers, and bad public employees, their unions fight for the bad ones along with the good ones. It really takes something like a video of an officer doing something clearly criminal, or against department policy, to have their union not defend them against the police department. </div><div><br /></div><div>Can that change? Yes, but it's not likely to. Why? </div><div><br /></div><div>I hate to keep bringing this up, but mainly because most big cities are run by democrats. </div><div><br /></div><div>Public employee unions are one of the largest political contributors to those democrat's campaigns. These unions have huge political power in democratic cities.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you look at the news from a few weeks ago you will get an idea of why this is going to be difficult to change. </div><div><br /></div><div>Look at this video. It's from Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd was killed by the police officer. </div><div><br /></div><div>The mayor of Minneapolis is Jacob Frey. He is just the kind of mayor most of the protesters would vote for. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/efWDLfMyBRo" width="320" youtube-src-id="efWDLfMyBRo"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>He's young, an attorney, very liberal, and when not at an official event, or dancing the Cupid Shuffle with Black Lives Matter folks, dresses like he's going to play frisbee golf with his buddies. </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, poor Jacob is dealing with huge problems right now. Floyd's death has lead to peaceful protestors, along with rioters looting and burning businesses, and people calling for him to defund the police department. Funny how Blogger won't let me find this Youtube clip from it's links, but check it out. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFKk76M3jY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFKk76M3jY</a></div><div><br /></div><div>There is a longer one where Frey is telling this black lives activist that he wants to really change the way the city works with the police union, and their contracts, to make real changes. </div><div><br /></div><div>That is actually a very courageous stand by a liberal politician. The protestors are not having any of it. They want to defund the police department, and get rid of all police in their communities. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is one of the most absurd demands in the history of demands. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the things that black activist like to call out is 'racial redlining' and other things where minorities have to pay more for the things that white people pay less for. Take insurance. </div><div><br /></div><div>How do insurance companies price their rates to different people? </div><div><br /></div><div>Where do you live? </div><div><br /></div><div>How many burglaries happen there? Where you park your car, how many cars are stolen, or broken into there? What is the rate of insurance claims filed there? That's how those rates are determined. </div><div><br /></div><div>What do activists think will happen to the crime rates if you abolished the police in your neighborhood? Will it go up or down? </div><div><br /></div><div>If you think the crime rate goes down, I'm not sure I can help you. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'd also like to point out that when the criminals and ANTIFA come into your neighborhood and smash windows, loot stores, burn buildings, destroy and overturn cars while 'protesting', this drives up the cost of everything. </div><div><br /></div><div>Regular folks living there will have to pay more for home insurance, car insurance, renters insurance, along with higher prices for goods and services to cover the costs. </div><div><br /></div><div>This also makes businesses looking to open stores in those areas reconsider, or move out, taking those jobs with them. Why would they open a new business, or remodel an existing one in an area where they have riots? </div><div><br /></div><div>If low wages and low job opportunities in your neighborhood lead to worse outcomes for the people who live there, do you think those opportunities will get better when you destroy the businesses there? </div><div><br /></div><div>What about the schools? Why do they fail to give poor kids a better education? </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, one part is the public schools are run by teachers unions, and teachers unions have a great deal of power in these cities. </div><div><br /></div><div>The other is Agency. </div><div><br /></div><div>If your parents don't give a damn about you doing your homework, and let you play video games and hang with your friends all day, you are not going to succeed in school. There are parents in these communities that do care, they really care, and the teachers that teach at these public schools just don't. They are doing the absolute minimum to get their nice paychecks and wait for retirement. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want change, demand your city or county is pro school choice when it come to schools. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to watch a really good documentary about this watch <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/" target="_blank">Waiting for Superman. </a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So, here are the points in a nutshell. Here is what needs to change: </div><div><br /></div><div>Black inner city communities have very high crime rates. </div><div><br /></div><div>High crime rates means a much higher police/citizen interaction rate. </div><div><br /></div><div>This means higher incidents of bad things happening, on both sides. </div><div><br /></div><div>Black communities have a very high fatherlessness rate. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fatherless homes have children who drop out of school, get arrested, get involved in drugs, get involved with gangs, and to go to prison at a much higher rate than homes with fathers. </div><div><br /></div><div>Big cities are run by democrat politicians. They give big money contracts to public employee unions, including police unions, and teachers unions, and those unions are one of the largest campaign donors back to those same democrat politicians. </div><div><br /></div><div>Changing these contract terms, with public methods of reviewing police activities, easier ability to fire officers who violate these terms, and having substantial community based interaction training will be very difficult. Same with schools. Being able to fire a bad teacher is almost impossible. </div><div><br /></div><div>Look, like I said before, I used to be one of you. </div><div><br /></div><div>I used to let emotion carry the day. What I felt about an issue was the most important thing. If I felt I was helping, or doing the right thing, that was all I cared about. I didn't really know how to measure results. </div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted something done, was that something going to actually help? I didn't know, I just felt right wanting it done. </div><div><br /></div><div>That was fine was I was a teenager or in my early twenties. </div><div><br /></div><div>What I learned later was to stop listening to what people and politicians were saying, and started looking at what they were doing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once you start asking politicians, why won't you change the systems that obviously don't work, who will not like the answers? If you are voting for the people the police unions and the public teachers unions back, you are voting for the wrong people. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you are marching to make some kind of change happen, you should be volunteering in the communities you want to see the most change. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you volunteer there, you will learn the politics of the people in charge, and you will start to understand that most of them just want the title, and the career track to a higher office. They will choose the union money, the big democratic party money, over fighting for the people they are supposed to represent. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not saying vote for Republicans either, I used to be one of them too. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm saying vote, back, and walk a few precincts with someone who wants real change over the job. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-21836003958427931642020-06-06T10:25:00.007-07:002020-06-07T11:01:48.509-07:00What happens next time? Because there will be a next time. <div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, first off, you are probably not going to like this piece I'm writing. That's okay. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I am going to point some things out, some facts, that you probably don't know. You will probably dismiss these facts, because they get in the way of how you feel about certain important things. I am also going to ask some very uncomfortable questions. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Most of the people I am writing this for are really nice, mostly white, mostly liberal people. The one thing I know about you, because I used to be one of you, is the way you feel about something is the most important thing about that topic. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Facts, stats, laws, and real logic don't stand a chance against how you <i><b>feel</b></i> about something. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">At this point, I'm going to layout what I am seeing. What happened, what is happening, and what will happen in the future. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">These are my views, as honestly as I know how to explain them. Please let me know where I have missed the facts I am stating. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">If you disagree with my opinion part of this, let me know yours. I am often wrong, and if you can honestly point out where I'm wrong, I can, and do, change my mind. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">We are a week plus from white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin killing an unarmed and handcuffed black suspect, George Floyd. Mr. Floyd was killed by Chauvin kneeling on his neck for about 8 minutes after his arrest. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and originally charged with Third Degree murder and manslaughter last Thursday. This has now been upgraded to Second Degree murder by former Democratic Congressman, now Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, if you have seen the video of George Floyd pleading with Chauvin that he can't breathe, while having his neck pinned down by Chauvin's knee, it is very upsetting. Really upsetting. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Bystanders asking him to get off Mr. Floyd's neck as they feared he was dying..... </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">My first impression when I saw it was damn, that is cold blooded murder.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Of the three other officers who were at the scene and involved in the arrest, two were rookie police officers. Thomas k. Lang, and J Alexander Kueng, along with veteran officer Tou Thao. They have all been fired, and have now been criminally charged with aiding and abetting murder. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Before they were charged, trying to look up these other officers was quite difficult, and I'm not sure why. Not sure why those three other faces have been kept so low in the coverage of this case. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">It looks as though Chauvin was the senior officer on the scene and would have probably been in charge. So who were these officers? Do they have a history of abuse? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">The two rookie cops have had no disciplinary charges filed against them in their careers, which sounds about right for rookie officers. Thao has had six complaints filed against him for his conduct, five being dismissed, and one where he was disciplined. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/us/derek-chauvin-what-we-know-trnd/index.html"> Chauvin has has 18 complaints filed against him</a>, all but two were dismissed. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, as damning as that video is, I want to ask a difficult question; </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Was Derek Chauvin using a City of Minneapolis Police Department approved neck restraint? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">If so, it doesn't seem to be making the news very much. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Please hear me, I'm not saying Chauvin didn't perform the neck restraint too long, or incorrectly, or with too much force, I'm asking was he following his department's restraint procedure? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">If he was, even if he did it 100% wrong, or with criminal intent, is this a common restraint technique in the city of Minneapolis? <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/mn-minneapolis-police-neck-restraints-george-floyd-invs/index.html">It appears so</a>. This restraint has been used hundreds of times, many of those to the point of unconsciousness, and mostly on black suspects. (updated today, the City of Minneapolis just banned it)<br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">This is going to be the only question that really matters when the criminal trial comes. Chauvin is going to say he was following department procedure. His attorney will say he thought George Floyd was just unconscious, not dying. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Murder means you must 'intend' for the victim to die. Second degree murder in Minnesota means <span style="color: #333333; font-size: 20px;">“causes the death of a human being with intent to effect the death of that person or another, but without premeditation."</span> If Chauvin had used this restraint procedure before, or had seen it done before, and the suspects survived, then it would be up to the District Attorney to prove Chauvin purposely intended for Floyd to die. That's going to be a hard sell for any jury. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Unless the trial takes place in a part of the city where the jury wants him found guilty no matter what the law says, I think Chauvin will not be found guilty on the Second Degree Murder charge. That's just my opinion, and I'm
afraid the nation is going to go into a full tilt riot when this happens. It will be a
tragedy. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">One of the reasons this will probably happen is something civil rights activists seem to hate; prosecutorial overcharging. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">As much as you want to see Chauvin convicted, as much as you want to see justice done for George Floyd, you prosecute people with the charge you can convict them with. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Manslaughter, or maybe even the third degree murder charge is going to be much more viable charge from what I have seen. If proven guilty of manslaughter, Chauvin will go to jail for years, and more than likely be killed while in jail. Yet, that will not be enough for some folks. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">We will see how this plays out, but I don't like what I'm seeing with the prosecution from Attorney General Ellison.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">The medical examination and toxicology report, along with what looks like Floyd's heart condition, seems to have been a factor. Again people, not excusing the cop here, just putting out the facts the defense will use. His attorney will say that Floyd had a medical condition, and Chauvin did not expect Floyd to die when he was being restrained. Like I said, we will see. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">There's another really uncomfortable question I would like to ask; </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">What do you want me to do about George Floyd's death?<br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Protest? Make my Instagram profile a black square? Wear a Black Lives Matter t-shirt? Make sure my friends who don't do these things feel like absolute racists for not doing that?</font></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"> </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Even if you don't want anything from me, what do you want other people to do? What do you want the nation to do? <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I'm serious, because I hear people in the protests, and all over social media saying that we have to "do something" to stop this. We must reach out, we must make sure this never happens again. </font><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">I hear, we need to rally and understand what is happening, to support our black citizens, to help stamp out racism, to make justice work for all people. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">Okay, but </span><i style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><b>how</b></i><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">? Specifically, what do you want to have happen?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I get it, I feel your emotion on this, and I feel the same emotion too, but <b><i>what exactly</i></b> is that something?</font></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I've looked all over the Black Lives Matter websites, and all their affiliated groups, and I don't see a lot of legislation, or striking down the police union's power. It's seems to be full of slogans and hashtags like defunding the police, close down the prisons, and open the borders. They certainly do want your email, your money, and to sell you some 'dope official gear'. </font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">Let's get back to how change happens. If we are anything, we are a nation of laws, and some of them in our past have been racist as hell. </span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Our laws were written an a way to ensure blacks were enslaved in large portions of our nation at our founding. An absolute atrocity in our history. A Civil War and 600,000 Americans dead was the price our nation paid to free African Americans from that chattel slavery. We also passed new laws and new Constitutional Amendments during and after the Civil War to make sure slavery stopped. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">New laws were how African Americans were granted the same rights as every other citizen through the Civil Rights laws in the 1960s. It took another three decades to make sure these laws were being followed by states, cities, counties, and businesses, through criminal and civil cases. The rule of law is who we are as a nation. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, if we are a nation of laws, who writes these laws? Maybe more importantly, who enforces these laws? <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Most people want to look to Washington DC and the feds, but what happens in your city or town comes from your local government. The people you elect to represent the place where you live, and those they hire to manage the law's enforcement. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Almost every case that has been thrust upon the scene by our news media in the past decade has dealt with city police officers, or county sheriff's deputies. So let's look at Mr. Floyd's city, since it's in the news right now: Minneapolis Minnesota. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, who runs this Minneapolis? Is it the Klan, or a bunch of crazy Neo Nazis? Some of Donald Trump's family members? It doesn't appear to be the case. The City of Minneapolis is run <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis#Government" target="_blank">entirely by Democrats. <br /></a></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Their two US Senators for Minnesota are Democrats, the city is represented in the US House by<span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilhan_Omar" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0b0080;" title="">Ilhan Omar</a>, one of the most leftist members of Congress.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">That is not a big surprise. Most big cities, and every huge metropolis, is run by Democrats, and have been for decades. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So a valid question might be, if racism is the problem, why do these large democrat strongholds have such a problem with it? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Maybe it's not the politicians you say, maybe its the head of the police? So, who is in charge of this racist Minneapolis Police Department? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">The Police Chief, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/01/george-floyd-death-minneapolis-police-chief-medaria-arradondo-officers-complicit" target="_blank">Medaria Arradondo</a>. Now, Arradondo seems like a nice guy, and he was appointed by the previous Democrat Mayor, Betsy Hodges. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Hodges has a master's degree in sociology, and says all the right things when it comes to race, climate change, affordable housing, immigration, the Me Too movement. She's a solid Democrat.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So how did the four city police officers, who showed up to arrest George Floyd in Minneapolis, all happen to be vile racists? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Why would a solidly Democratic Mayor, and an all-democrat City Council be cool with hiring four racist cops? Another questions is why would all these democrats allow a neck restraint of this type be used on an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/mn-minneapolis-police-neck-restraints-george-floyd-invs/index.html" target="_blank">overwhelming majority of black citizens</a> for decades? Why wouldn't they fight the police unions to change the way their city, and its black citizens, are being treated? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Yeah, I know. Structural racism....... in the Democratic Party right? I guess progressive democrats are just filled to the top with racists or something, right? <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">That may seem a bit harsh, but if I went down to the protests in my area, and asked the protesters what kind of people they want leading our cities towards real, meaningful change, the people in charge of Minneapolis are exactly the kind of people most of them would vote for. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Think about it, you are actually </font><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">demanding change</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"> from the people you put in charge.....</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Look, if you haven't figured out this truth yet, let me give you a key thought to always have running in the back of your mind: When Democrats use terms like 'structural racism', 'gun violence' and 'racial inequality' it's because they need to have something to blame for their own failures. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Hey, Republicans, don't get too smug over there, you should read some of my posts talking about how the GOP establishment blames illegal immigration, and societal failures to hide the fact that they want cheap, illegal labor, and cheap free-trade items from China that have killed so many US manufacturing jobs over the years. They do that so they can make more money for themselves and their shareholders. Okay, back to the problems at hand. </font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">If you want to try to find out how big a problem black people dying at the hands of police officers is, you need the data. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I'm going to show you some facts, but you are probably not going to like it. Like most everything I've laid out here, it's complicated. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">First, let's look at the numbers. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">How many black people were killed in America in by the police in 2019? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">According to the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/police-shootings-2019/" target="_blank">Fatal Force</a> data, that number was 235. That sounds like a lot, but many of those may have been criminals in shootouts with police, or people with guns and knives charging at a police officer. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, how many unarmed black people were killed by police in 2019? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Nine. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Now, we don't know the stories behind these nine deaths, and I'm sure there are some tragedies in there. Then again, there are about 330,000,000 people in the US, and about 43,000,000 black people. There were also about 7,000 black homicide victims last year, and again, 90% of them are killed by blacks. </font><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">When you look inside the 7,000 black homicides, nine is a very small number.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Unless one of those nine happens to be someone you know and love. Like I said, I'm sure there are some absolute tragedies in that number. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">But if you remember the Michael Brown shooting a few years back, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/03/16/lesson-learned-from-the-shooting-of-michael-brown/" target="_blank">'Hands up, don't shoot'</a> person, he was also considered 'unarmed'. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">He was also attacking a police officer inside the officer's car, and struggling to get the officer's pistol. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Many of today's protesters still think Brown was killed by a white cop, while he had his hands up, and was begging not be shot. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">President Obama's FBI report concluded that was not how it happened, and in fact, the officer was justified in the shooting of Brown. I would guess most people still believe the '<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/10/us/ferguson-evidence-hands-up/index.html" target="_blank">Hands up, don't shoot'</a> story. Remember, we had riots for a week all across America following that shooting. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Well, 'Hands up, don't shoot' makes a better headline than 'Man assaults police and is killed'. It gets people more stirred up and clicking on your story. Understand, that is what what the media sells. Riots be damned, we have advertisements for coffee and shoes to sell, and money to be made......<br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Here is maybe the most important question; What are we, as a nation, going to do when this happens again? Because it is going to happen again.....</font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You might say, hey now, we are protesting to stop this from ever happening again! Okay,,,,,</font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You are out in the streets, demanding change from the people you put in charge! All the while criminals, and 20 year old Antifa members who live at home with their parents, are smashing windows, setting fires to building, and violently beating members of your community who are trying to protect their life's investment in a small business. </font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You peaceful protesters are marching and chanting, 'this is what democracy looks like' and then 'no justice, no peace'. Look, you may not have realized this, but you can't be peacefully protesting for 'no peace'.....</font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You have convinced yourself, that you and your friends, are 'not going to let this happen again'. Well, it's going to happen again, as sure as the earth turns. Then you can sit back and watch an even more violent mob of people burn your city, and murder more innocent people for your cause. </font></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">If you are concerned with black people being murdered, a logical question to ask might be, just who is murdering them, and how can we stop it? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Well, like all races, you are most likely to be killed by someone of your same race. The numbers from an <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2015/may/21/updated-look-statistics-black-black-murders/" target="_blank">FBI study in the mid 2000s</a> hovers between 89% to 91% of blacks are killed by other blacks. <span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Not by cops, or the Klan, or rednecks, it's probably some guy who lives a few blocks over.</span></font></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">This last weekend, like many others in Chicago, <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/6/1/21275944/chicago-weekend-shootings-most-violent-weekend-2020-may-29-june-1" target="_blank">85 people were shot, 24 of them killed</a>. 17 people killed on Sunday alone. Most of them were black, and if their murders are solved, the people who killed them will be black if the statistics hold true. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQW6GjKHNuM" target="_blank">It's a damn tragedy, and it happens with repetitive certainty, month after month in America's inner cities. </a>No one knows their names, no one, or at least no one outside their neighborhoods marches for them. Chicago did have a march to end the violence in their inner city awhile back, but that doesn't make the news, and certainly not your Facebook or Instagram feed. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Do their lives matter to anyone besides their friends and families?</font></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, where am I going with this? </font></span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I want people to know what is actually going on. I want you to know that 'doing something' has consequences, and some of those 'somethings' do exactly the opposite of what you intend. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Voting for people who say the things you want to hear doesn't usually work, it just makes you feel better. You feel better because you are voting for the 'right side' in this struggle. If things don't get better, you can vote for someone even more outrageous who wants to 'tear it all down' or 'eat the rich' or some other feel good socialist slogan that won't work either. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">As far as you mostly young, very compassionate, progressive people, let me just say this again; I get it. I was once like you. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I once thought, if I could just change the minds of those damn dinosaur old people, we would have peace, prosperity, and justice for all. Then I grew a bit older, experienced some things, and began to understand that what I thought was happening, really wasn't happening for the reasons I thought. I started to get passed the emotion, and look at the reality. That is where real change come from. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">When I hear from progressives that we need to work together to defeat racism, and to allow for civil discourse, and to start admitting your white privilege, to begin to heal our nation, and other such bumper sticker type of sloganeering, I actually get a little angry. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Why? Because of who this is actually helping. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You may not understand this unless you step back a bit and take a hard look, but what you are really trying to do is make yourself feel better about being you. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">You want to post things on social media, maybe you want to go to a peaceful protest with all of your friends, then meet up to talk about how bad things are in the black community, and how righteous you feel because you are 'doing something'. When the riots and looting start, you will feel you understand why this is happening, but you will be wrong. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: small;">You will look at the violence and rioting and think, this is all the police's fault, America's fault, and maybe even my fault. Well, not my fault, but other white people's fault. Probably republicans. </span></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Back to the cops and the killing of George Floyd. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I do not know, or have even heard of a single person who thinks the Minneapolis cop was justified in his actions. Not one. No one is on his side! Maybe the Police Union he belongs to, but no one is marching to defend Chauvin. <br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So, like I said before, this is going to happen again. There are 680,000 full time police officers in America. If just 1% are closet racists, just waiting to harm minorities while hiding behind a badge, that's about 6,800 bad cops. They should be kicked off the police force, or not hired in the first place, but how can you tell? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I want to go back to the 9 unarmed black men who were killed by police last year, I want to honestly ask you, how do we get that number to zero? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I don't think it's possible, no matter how many protests you hold, how many new laws are passed, how many millions are raised, and how many t-shirts are sold. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">We can can try to make it better by focusing on police training, tactics, methods and hiring practices, and I'm all for that. Police training is woefully inadequate in most cities. Mainly because so much of the police budget goes towards police pensions. Most city managers will tell you they are paying for two police forces, the one on duty, and the one who is retired. Again, that's a whole other story. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Maybe this is all new to you. You, who doesn't live a black community, or a high crime community, and has no idea what it's like to be pulled over because you 'match the description of a subject'. Maybe you haven't been pulled over for some other made up reason, just to check to see if you have anything suspicious going on. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">These kinds of police overreach are real. They happen all the time. Mainly in high-crime inner city areas, but also in nice neighborhoods. Ask black Republican <a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article89533592.html" target="_blank">US Senator Tim Scott </a>of South Carolina. He was pulled over by the police 7 times in one year. Twice for speeding, the rest probably because he was black man driving a really nice car. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I would also say that these kind of random, no-reason stops happen all the time in high-crime white areas too. If you haven't lived in one of those areas, like I have, just watch Live PD some times. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I understand that I am not black, and could not possibly know how it feels to be black. I get it. I'm also not Hispanic, well unless you count half Portuguese, not a woman, not Asian, not a member of the LGBT community, or about thousand other identity groups that people tend identify with these days. But I want the laws to be for everyone; no matter the identity, creed, color, or wealth group you belong to. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I have all kinds of friends, and know all kinds of people. From a few pastors of churches, former felons, farmers, teachers, loggers, construction workers, more than a few cops, some actual biker gang members, and some of the sweetest community volunteer members. Some are very wealthy, some just scraping by. Some Republicans, some Democrats, some have never been pulled over in their lives, some have had some pretty intense interactions with police.</font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I have a friend who is covered in tattoos, and looks like the kind of guy who is up to no good. Seriously, I would give him a wide berth if I passed him on a dimly lit street. He was felony stopped by our local Sheriff's Deputies for rolling through a stop sign. At gunpoint, in the middle of the day, with three other car racing in for backup, all with guns aimed at him, with his wife in the passenger seat. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">Scary as hell for both of them. Thankfully, they remained calm, and followed the deputy's instructions. Even when they thought they might get shot. This could have gone horribly wrong in an instant. That one deputy completely overreacted. Why? I'm not certain, but I would bet my house it was because of how my friend looked. He's Italian. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">What I'm saying is there are good cops, bad cops, good reactions, bad reactions and everything in between. There are also good people, bad people, good reactions, bad reactions and everything in between. When all these things come together, millions of times a year, there will be mistakes made. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">There will be police shot and killed, there will be citizens shot and killed. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">So what can you do? What could actually stop this kind of thing from happening more frequently? </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2">I will answer that question in my next piece. </font></div><div><font face="trebuchet" size="2"><br /></font></div><div><br /></div><div><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></div><div><font face="trebuchet"><br /></font></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 18px;"><font face="georgia"> </font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 18px;"><font face="georgia"><br /></font></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> <br /></div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-67948935123838095162020-04-01T09:14:00.001-07:002020-04-01T11:45:01.768-07:00How many people are dying? <div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="5sdhh" data-offset-key="av5or-0-0">
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<span data-offset-key="av5or-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, one thing I want you all to think about today, a question really. How big is America, and how many people dying is a huge number?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ampap-0-0"><span data-text="true">Maybe you are freaking out by the idea of 100,000 and 200,000 Covid19 deaths here in the US. I'm thinking its because this is the first pandemic in the 24/7 cable news, and social media era. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="71kbi-0-0"><span data-text="true">We've had these types of pandemics before. The last big one was the H3N2 virus that killed 100,000 here in the US in 1968. Never heard of that one? I hadn't until I started looking into this. The 1918 Spanish Flu killed over 600,000 in the US. That's more deaths than the Civil War. Pandemics happen, and we should be prepared, both as a nation and as individuals. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3lt95-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, let's look at the most recent prediction of 100 to 200,000 people dying. Is this a lot of people? Yep, it sure is. If one of those deaths happens to someone you know, and especially someone you love, it will be even more tragic to you personally. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="933ca-0-0"><span data-text="true">One hundred thousand, or two hundred thousand people is a big number, but how many people is that as far as a percentage of all Americans? Let's do the math.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="480le-0-0"><span data-text="true">America has about three hundred, twenty seven million people. 327,000,000 people is a very large number. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2oso7-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, lets say people don't do social distancing, shelter in place, and stay at home like they should, and we have more than the 1-200,000 people die. Let's say 327,000 Americans die, that's almost double the amount they are predicting now. What percentage of the population is that? </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dsu7c-0-0"><span data-text="true">Is that 10%, or one in ten, Americans dying? Nope. If 10% of Americans died, that would be 32.7 million dead. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5o0si-0-0"><span data-text="true">How about 1% of Americans dying, what would that look like? That would be 3.27 million people dying. So, were still quite a ways off that. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4hrqc-0-0"><span data-text="true">How about 1/10th of 1%? That would be the three hundred twenty seven thousand people dead. That's the 327,000 number I used. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dtnc5-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, I'm not giving you this number to make you think you should blow off the social distancing orders, and go back to your regular life. Not at all. This 1-200,000 number the administration is using relies on people limiting contact for the next few weeks. This social distancing works, it really does. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bdgj0-0-0"><span data-text="true">Maybe the fear of these numbers is actually working to make people follow the social distancing orders. So, maybe I should just be quiet. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="68tkv-0-0"><span data-text="true">What I am trying to point out is we are going to get through this. No doubt, this is going to be rough. People are dying now, and many more will be dying before this is over. This is serious, so do your part. Understand your risks and minimize them.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="68tkv-0-0"><span data-text="true">When this is over, I want us to look at how we deal with actual crisis in the age of cable news and social media. We need to start looking at how this new social media world is really amplifying fear, and making things worse. Our news media and social media companies will get terrible reviews when this is over. They will deserve it.</span></span></div>
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Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-20873182222457192052020-01-16T08:25:00.001-08:002020-01-16T08:27:15.386-08:00The currency of Cool. At 54 years old, and I am painfully uncool.<br />
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That's okay, I gave up trying to be cool somewhere in my twenties when my life turned upside down, and cool was a luxury I could no longer afford. In fact, there were a few necessities I couldn't afford at that point in time. Poverty and reality have the effect of smashing everything that is not true or essential. Being cool is not important when you have a newborn and $80 in your savings account. <br />
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But wait, don't you wear skate shoes, play music, and have an Instagram account? You must a little cool, right?<br />
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Not really. Any coolness I enjoy is accidental at best. Any of the semi-cool things I wear; skate shoes, concert t-shirts, or 501s are just out of habit. I wear these because that's what I wore in high school, and they are still what I find comfortable.<br />
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I'm not sure when we first discovered cool. For me, maybe seventh or eighth grade, but certainly not in early elementary school. Back in my day, especially out in the tiny rural town I lived in, fashion and brand names didn't exist. Or at least they were not at the center of popularity and 'coolness'.<br />
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My family, depending on what economic cycle we were in, was well pretty well off as those things go. Not that you would know it by what I wore to school. My mom shopped at Sears like everyone else, and I wore t-shirts and Toughskin jeans, just like most of the kids in our K-8 school.<br />
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Today, it seems like kids, even little kids, are very aware of fashion, brand names, and the latest trends. From Nike, Hollister, H&M, Hilfiger, to iPhones, Galaxy, Airpods, and Beats headphones, most of the kids in school understand exactly what they have, or don't have, and what the cool kids have.<br />
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It's crazy to think a seven year old should be concerned she will be ridiculed for not having the 'right' kind of (fill in the blank). If you wonder why child anxiety and depression rates are climbing to alarming rates, I would say you need to factor this consumerism and comparative mindset into the equation.<br />
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I'm sure another one of the factors is our all-encompassing digital age.<br />
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Out on the ranch, I didn't know what cool people wore, or what cool people did. That was up until a family from southern California moved up to our tiny town. I remember the first time I saw Skateboarder Magazine at my friend Tim's house. I went home and begged for a skateboard. Keep in mind we only had twenty feet of concrete sidewalk at our house on our cattle ranch, and the only place I could ride it was at school. Well, that was until they outlawed them. Skateboarding is not a crime Mr. Boris!<br />
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The plain fact was, aside from television, I knew very little of what was happening outside my zip code. Which is probably for the best.<br />
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Today, the kids in Pine River Wisconsin can see what the Kardashians wear, how they talk, and keep up with the latest pop music star's life and romances. They can check out the celebrity and sports icons shaping the culture, and compare their lives to the 'cool people'. This is a recipe for disaster.<br />
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This trend will continue, and probably get worse as the comparative/coolness mindset gets driven downward to younger and younger kids.<br />
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I'm not sure when we grow out of this pursuit of coolness. Maybe we never do. It's like a currency we all want. Although, some are happy without it, others will go to almost any length to get it.<br />
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One thing is for sure, your parents might be able to buy you the uniform of cool, but if you're not a genuinely good person, kids will only hang out with you to get what they can from you. Paying for friendship is pretty sad. <br />
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I find the more years I mark off the calendar, the less coolness concerns me. If you've ever seen me walking to the mailbox on Saturday in basketball shorts, slippers with wool socks, and a Carhartt hat, you can see how obvious this is.<br />
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I don't know what we can do as individuals, or as parents. We can explain the difference between our 'wants' and our 'needs' for sure. However, what we really need to do if reinforce our definition of worth and value to our children. That comes through what you do, the way you think, and how you treat others, not through what you wear, drive, or the kind of lifestyle you can finance.<br />
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<br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-61760834740760542072020-01-02T22:20:00.000-08:002020-01-02T22:20:09.698-08:002019: President Hillary Clinton's finest yet. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Good evening, and welcome to our 2019 presidential year in review. Three years into Hillary Clinton's first term, you could say, she is just hitting her stride. Quite frankly, by any measure, economic, foreign policy, or just sheer change in the way Washington DC works, the president has been on an unprecedented roll. </div>
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Absolutely Jake, let's start with the economy. President Clinton has overseen a booming economy. An economy with the lowest unemployment rate in a half century. We all thought that five percent unemployment used to be 'Full Employment' but the Clinton Boom, as it's called, has seen rates down in the three percent range. Just astounding. Truly great news for all Americans. </div>
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So true, so true. And not just overall unemployment Chris, but if you drill down into those numbers, you will see two things that stand out. One is the unemployment rate among African Americans is at the lowest rate ever recorded. Let me say that again. The lowest unemployment rate among African Americans, a key voting block who will be key to re-election, is at an all time low. That is really good news for President Clinton. </div>
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Second, if you look at wage growth, it is rising, and growing fastest among low and middle income earners, another key group, especially in swing states. </div>
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One hundred percent agree Chris, but let's not forget one thing that fired up much of her base in the last election; Judges. In three short years, Hillary Clinton has pushed through so many judges to federal bench, that right now, she has named a full quarter of federal appellate court judges, and over twenty percent of all federal judges. Plus the two justices to the Supreme Court and maybe even one more, all before her first term is over. Truly remarkable. The Clinton court and federal bench will be deciding cases, and shaping the rule of law for decades. What a great legacy for this president. </div>
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Absolutely, and with all this great news the president has seen this year, we haven't even talked about the stock market. Record high, after record high. The Dow Jones, the S&P, all finishing strong. The S&P 500 is up an astounding thirty three percent since her election night victory. The Dow has gained ten thousand points since election night. </div>
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Seriously, I've been in this town for three decades and have never seen a president with such and impressive record on the economy, foreign policy, trade deals, the list goes on and on, truly incredi.....</div>
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(Wake up Wolf)</div>
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(Wolf, wake up, we're live in thirty seconds)</div>
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Hold on. Oh man, I just had the most incredible dream. It was wonderful, Hillary was president, and everything was so great. Oh, it was incredible. </div>
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(Aaaand we're live in three, two.......)</div>
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Good evening, I'm Wolf Blitzer, and this is a presidential recap of 2019. The worst year of what will surely be Trump's first and only term. Let's start with the Muller Report and the President's ties to Russian collusion......</div>
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Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-33916024656523719252019-11-28T10:55:00.000-08:002019-11-28T10:57:11.245-08:00Thanks, whoever you are....So, every year we read essays written about how thankful someone is about such and such, and so and so. How they are taking time out of their busy holiday to extend feelings of gratitude to those around them.<br />
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Okay, fine.
What about a person who you might owe big time, you just don't who they are?
What am I talking about?<br />
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Well, here's a person I would like to thank. A person who made a difference in my life. There are many more like this, and I will try to remember to post one every Thanksgiving. Here goes:<br />
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To the person who was driving down Oak Run Road, (near Redding California) next to our driveway, the day I checked the mail on my Honda Trail 70, thank you for not killing me.<br />
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I was about 10 years old, and I would ride up our half-mile driveway to the mailbox. Oak Run Road is two lane country road, and almost always empty. I pulled up to the big metal mailbox and grabbed a handful of mail out of the box. I stuffed inside my blue Dallas Cowboys jacket for the trip home, and I pulled into the street to do a U-turn for the trip back to the house. I never looked over my shoulder to check for cars....<br />
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The driver must have swerved to avoid hitting me, as I was four or five feet in the roadway by that point. They just clipped the brake handle on my motor bike with their passenger side mirror as they went by at 50 MPH. They stopped a couple hundred yards down the road and when they saw I was okay, they kept driving.
My motorbike was on the ground in the middle of the right lane, and it took me a minute or so to quit shaking and kick start the little Honda back to life.<br />
<br />
I didn't tell my mom or dad, because I was almost killed, and it would have been completely my fault.<br />
<br />
Thanks, dude/mam. I should have been smashed flat that day.<br />
#Thanksgiving2019Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-55851208356032255532019-06-15T23:18:00.005-07:002021-06-20T09:12:07.601-07:0023 and OMG - Happy Fathers Day<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(some of you know the story I wrote three years ago, I've cut my original piece by almost a thousand words, with less bio and other info to make it a shorter read) </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> I sat there staring at my phone in disbelief.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No way. Wow... No way..... I have two half-sisters? This cannot be happening.......</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I guess I should start with a little background. I’ve only had one father in my life, or so I thought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Let me start with the one whose name I share; Walter Joseph Lucas.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My father was fifty years old when I was born, so you could say he was late to the game when it came to having children. My sister Lisa is two years older than I am. I knew my father had been married twice before, but the few times he did talk about his other marriages were very brief. He would only say his previous wives did not want to have children and he did. It seemed reasonable enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even into adulthood, I never pushed him to tell me more. My father had a very complicated relationship with his own family. He was born in 1915 on a ranch near Lockeford Ca. His father died when he was 18 or 19 and he had to take over the responsibilities of running the family ranch. I'm sure he did all he could for his mom, but there was definitely some bad blood between he and his siblings. I only know the little he told me about his family, and I don't know their side of the story, so I cannot judge what really happened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My father was two generations older than me. He rode a horse to school, and milked thirty cows by hand before and after school. His life was work, money, and family, but mostly work. He couldn’t get into the Army during WWII because he was deaf in one ear. He worked in the shipyards at Mare Island, building PT boats during the war years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>By the time I came into the world, my father was a successful rancher, real estate broker, and owned a land leveling business. He had an extraordinary work ethic and drive. I can best describe him as a combination between John Wayne and Donald Trump. Just imagine that for a moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> I loved my father, as most sons do. I loved him despite the fact he was very flawed, like all fathers are.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My father was an alcoholic. Ever since I can remember, my father drank,,,, a lot. He was a maintenance drinker. He was never falling-down drunk, and he was never hungover. He would always get up at 6AM the next day ready to work, but damn, there were some frightening nights at my house growing up. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> My father was a complicated man. He loved his family, but he had to be in charge of everything. He had my life planned out, and expected me to take over his 'empire' when the time came. However, he spent almost no time teaching me how to do that. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> He was also a little sketchy in his business dealings. He could also bend a rule, or outright break it, if stood between him and his business success. He was hard working, but had a soft heart. He never talked about his own feelings, and rarely how he felt about you. Unless he had been drinking, and even then, it was 50-50 propositions. You were either the best kid in the world, or a huge disappointment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Many people loved my father and thought he was a great guy. Others thought he was a son of bitch. I think, in the end, they were both right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One day in May of 1991, when he experienced intense pain in his abdomen. He went home and stayed there for a few hours before my mother convinced him he had to go to the hospital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He sat in the ER at Woodland Hospital for three or four hours while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him. By the time a new doctor came on and decided he was bleeding internally, it was too late. He’d had an aneurysm in his aorta that morning. He was airlifted him to UC Davis Med Center that evening. The doctors performed surgery to repair the tear in the aorta, but he had lost too much blood and he died two days later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Not that there is ever a good time to lose a parent, but it could not have come at a worse time for our family. The cattle market was heading into a decline, along with the real estate market. Losing not only my father, but also my employer, and the person who had engineered my life, was a huge hit. Even though I had my real estate salesman's license, and was working on my father's ranch, I had let him make almost all my decisions for me. He had been running the show, and now he was gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I was very immature for someone in my position. At twenty-five, I should have been ready for this day, but I wasn't. Not by a long shot. I went through the motions of gathering the cattle, and trying to help my mom figure out if we should keep the leases on the ranches. In the end, with all my father's bills and past due taxes, we had to sell everything, my house included, and start over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>At the time, all you see are the problems, all you feel is the pain, all you want is to have things put back the way they were. That wasn’t going to happen. You have to move, you have to go forward, you have to grow, and so I did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Shortly after my father passed away, my mother told Lisa and I that dad had two sons with his first wife, long ago. He had told her not to tell us kids, but now that he was gone, she thought it wouldn’t hurt anything. She didn't have any names, just the little my father had told her about them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This was fascinating to me. I’d always wanted a brother, and it started me on a long journey to find my lost relatives. Ancestry.com was a new service, and I signed up looking to find my half brothers. I had no luck. I tried to find his first wife, but without her maiden name, you cannot find birth records at the county courthouses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Eventually, I found a census record of my father living in Stockton with his first wife Zelda, her mother, and two small children with different last names. So, I think those kids were my father's stepsons, and would be no relation to me. A bit anticlimactic, but the mystery was solved. It was pretty interesting stuff, but I always wondered if could go back further or dig a little deeper.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Enter the new DNA registry 23andMe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I had always heard from my father that he was mostly Irish, with some French from my grandmother. My mom is full Portuguese, half from the Azores and from Portugal by way of Brazil.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I wanted to see how true that was, so I signed up. A week or so later a package arrived. I followed the instructions and spit into the little tube, sealed it up and mailed it back. They said it would take about 6 weeks to get the results.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I didn't think I would find too many surprises, but being a huge history buff, I thought it would be cool to be able trace my heritage even further. I received an email saying my results were in and I logged on and looked at my DNA results. Nothing too startling. I was 28% British/Irish, 25% Broadly Northwest European, and 35% Iberian, (Spain/Portugal) with the rest a mash up of mostly European lines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This tracked almost exactly the way I thought it would. Oh well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I traced my father's Lucas lineage back to Prince Charles County Maryland in 1731, before the founding of the nation. I thought there may have been a little genetic, American-melting-pot, wildcard thrown in there somewhere, but it turned out I'm just a plain old American.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I had told my mom about the 23andMe findings and she wanted to know why I was so interested in it? I said I found it fascinating to know for sure where you come from. Knowing what part of the world you were from, tracing your family's history and such. I thought that would be the end of the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A few days later I received an email from 23andMe asking if I wanted to search for my DNA relatives. Sure, why not. I clicked the link.......</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I looked at the page for a minute, and reread it a few times just to make sure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No way. Wow... No way..... I have two half-sisters? </span><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> This cannot be happening.......</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I clicked on their names and looked at their profiles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How could this be? They must belong to dad, but when were they born? I found a link to send them a message. What do I say? Hi, I'm your long lost half brother, where did you come from?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I sent each one a message and waited, checking my email constantly. I had so many questions. I asked if they knew my father, and did they know about my sister and I?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pam was the first to respond:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> ”.... Tracy and I now know how we are half sisters through information told to us by our mothers when we were young adults. I'd be happy to connect if you want to solve this mystery for yourself. It is just because our parents really wanted us to be born, and all they did to arrange for our arrivals. I was born in 1961. Tracy in 1967. It will benefit us all to know the health and genetic data. So glad to find you. :) "</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wait? What?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I was a little slow on the uptake here just because it seemed so strange. With Pam being born in 61, that was before my mom and dad were married, so no foul there, but Tracy was born in 67, two years after me. Why would our all our parents really want us to be born? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> I could see my dad having a bit of fun, but I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn’t have been happy with my father out populating the planet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Like I said, it was staring me in the face, but I hadn't put it all together.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I sent both a message saying it looked like my father was a bit of a scoundrel if we were all related. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> I think Pam and Tracy had a correspondence between each other, and decided to have Pam spill the beans:</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Well, not a scoundrel actually. I don't want to shock you, but since you are over 50, I think you can handle it. When I was 14, I found out that my father (my legal father) was not my biological father. Before my parents married, he had a vasectomy. It couldn't be reversed. My parents really wanted me, so they went to a specialist in San Francisco who arranged for a sperm donor. All they knew was he was a medical student who was healthy and had a great health history and already had a family and children. I was never to have known. Back then, the secrecy was thought best for the child being conceived. At 14 when I chose to sever my ties to my father, my mother told me the truth of my paternal creation. I didn't know about any of you, but always thought that this medical student may have made several donations. Lol. I met Tracy last year through her daughter making a connection to me. We were both stunned. Tracy found out from her mom about the medical student on her 22nd birthday. She is still very close to her legal father, so she is cautious about making it known because she doesn't want him to feel bad. So was your legal father a medical student? Tracy and I don't know if you were from donation like us or if our parent’s donor was both your legal and genetic dad. Sorry for the shock if you didn't know." </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wow..... No way.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I was shocked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So the only man I ever knew as my father was not my biological father.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No flippin' way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As I sat there staring at my phone, I felt a rush of different feelings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> My head was swimming, but it was late and I went to bed with lots of different thoughts rattling around. What am I going to say to my mom? Should I even bring this up? I had to. It was just too much to let go. Besides, my mom did nothing wrong. She did something extraordinary to bring me into this world. The doctors had instructed her not to tell me about my biological father, and she kept the secret for over 50 years. She did it out of love, and that is always a great reason.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> This changes everything…..Then again, it changes nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> My father will always be my father. He raised me, for better or worse. It was surreal to me that a man from my father's generation would use a donor to have children. He was nothing if not a man's man. With all his success, all that money, there must have been something missing. There must have been a huge hole in his life he needed to fill with children. It made me wonder about those two stepsons he had with his first wife, and how it must have hurt to lose them when they were divorced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The next day I called my mom in the morning. We spoke for a while, and then I said I was going to tell her a story. I told her what Pam had told me. The story of Children's Hospital in San Francisco, and the donor, and the instruction not to tell us kids. When I finished, I asked, "So mom, do you have anything you want to tell me?" </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> There was a bit of a pause, "Well, I would say that my story is the same as the story you just told me." She said with a nervousness in her voice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We talked about dad and her not being able to have children, and how the special clinic at Children's hospital was cutting edge for the 1960s. How it was very expensive, but it was their only hope of having children. She said my sister was conceived the same way. The doctors said it was best not to tell the children. Mom said she never really thought about it about it as the years past, and didn’t think it was important to tell us when dad died. We were going through enough turmoil at the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The fact that I signed up for the DNA tests out of pure curiosity was something no one could have even imagined back in the 1960s. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> If I had not spit in that little tube, I would have never known about my biological father. Surreal. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, the real question is: Now what?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What does it change? Like I said before; it changes everything, and it changes nothing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Walt Sr. will always be my father. He raised me, he showed what it was to be a man, to work hard, and he showed me you can always do more than you think is possible. He also showed me some of the darkness in life, darkness that we are all capable of. Taken all together, the good and the bad, I will always love that man.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So what about my biological father? Do I want to know more about him? Yeah, I guess so. I would like to see a picture of him, and see if we look anything alike. I would like to know something about his personality, his temperament. Those kinds of things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I'm sure he never imagined DNA testing back as a medical student, and that three strangers would someday find each other through an ounce of saliva. I wonder if he ever thought about how we all turned out?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So many questions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the end, I am glad I know. I am also glad my mother and father went to that specialist in San Francisco. I am here, on this planet, for whatever that’s worth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I have a wonderful family, a wonderful life, and memories to last me a few lifetimes. Here is the really strange part, 23andMe is a new company, not many people have signed up. I may have more half siblings out there. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> I always wanted a brother. (Sorry Lisa, love ya)</span><br />
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</div>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-49623071776832703492019-06-12T13:02:00.000-07:002019-06-12T13:32:54.870-07:00To be truly good, you have to know how truly evil you are capable of being. <div style="text-align: left;">
Those of you who know me, understand my fascination with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. He makes you think. He doesn't tell you what to think, he helps you figure it out <i>how</i> to think. That way, you can become better at figuring out all kinds of things. Figuring out the world around you, and more importantly, the world between your ears, is a necessary and critical skill.</div>
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I've been listening to Peterson's podcast the last few days on my commute to work. In the latest one, he interviews Joe Rogan. Rogan is the host of a one of the most popular podcast on the planet, and has been a pioneer in long-form podcasting.</div>
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The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is downloaded millions of times a month. I listen to Rogan's podcast all the time. He interviews fascinating people, from MMA athletes, stand up comedians, psychologists, doctors, physicists, evolutionary biologists, mathematicians and sometimes, just people he finds interesting. </div>
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His long-form podcasts are great because people don't really get past their canned answers until the first hour is over. By then, they know Rogan isn't trying to "get them" or to make them say something dumb that gets a headline. Rogan is genuinely trying to understand them as a person. People let the guard down and start really communicating in this format. </div>
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Peterson's podcast was great because it turned the tables on Rogan. Peterson spent a few hours asking Rogan about his childhood, his martial arts career, his transition to being a stand up comedian, and how he started his podcast.</div>
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As they spoke about comedy, they brought up Bill Cosby. They both thought the worst part of Cosby's destructive fall, other than the damage to his victims, were the two completely contradictory sides of his behavior. His public persona was that of a wholesome, funny, father figure, spokes person, actor. However, deep within the heart of the man, he had a very dark side.</div>
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Peterson spoke about a book by <span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Erich Neumann, </span></span>Depth Psychology. The part he touched on was the idea: Don't be better that you are.</div>
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Meaning, beware of adopting a persona of someone far better that you actually are. The danger is, that dark part of you, that part you are not willing to admit to, or deal with, is going to go off and have some fun of its own.</div>
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When I see a public fall from grace, I used to think those people just snapped and went off the deep end. As I've grown older, I have started to see how these things don't "just happen", there's usually a long lead up of behaviors, and patterns of thinking, that start long before the fall.</div>
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I remember <a href="https://thecovertletter.com/2007/07/jim-and-tammy-a/" target="_blank">reading a story</a> about a group of small town promoters, who in the late 60s, had booked Paul Harvey to speak at a local venue. Harvey was a popular national radio personality back then. As the date drew nearer, tickets sales were not going well and the promoters needed something else to sell tickets or they faced disaster. They needed another act, but had no money to pay for one. A local reporter thought of a young couple who had a puppet show, of all things, on a Christian broadcasting channel in their town. He asked the couple if they could do a live performance to open the night, and they agreed. They would do it for free.</div>
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Jim and Tammy Bakker put on a great show, and the event at least didn't lose money. Jim and Tammy were so strapped for cash, they asked for bridge toll and gas money to get home.</div>
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The point is, Jim and Tammy Bakker were once very, very nice people. However, they had a dark side they never dealt with. Looking back, as their popularity grew, and the money and fame came rolling in, they probably started to believe their own press. Those dark, secret, thoughts and urges were probably welling up and gaining strength, all the while their pristine image kept growing.</div>
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I'm not sure what that first, solid step, down the road to destruction was. Maybe something as simple as a kiss, or a late night dinner that ended up in a hotel room, but when that ball started rolling, Jim Bakker could not stop it. As those two sides battled inside for control, it must have been torture. The persona of a wholesome man of God, pitted against a sexual libertine looking for more and greater pleasure.</div>
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I would imagine Bakker was actually relived, in some small way, when it all came crashing down. At least he didn't have to pretend any longer. He finally had to confront his dark side. It was laid wide open for the world to see.</div>
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So what is the antidote to catastrophe? How do you keep that dark side from grabbing the keys and taking your life for a joy ride of destruction? I wish I knew for certain.</div>
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One thing I am sure of: The ability to stave off destruction, of your own making, is in direct proportion to the effort you put into understanding, and dealing with, your dark side. It isn't very pleasant, seeing yourself at your worst. That's why you haven't dealt with it. Like Carl Jung said, "That which you most need, will be found where you least want to look".</div>
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An example of this is the lens we view our lives through. Peterson says that most people read history from the perspective of the victim. You imagine you are the Jew being rounded up in the Warsaw ghetto. You are the Gypsy being stuffed into a train car, on your way to the death camps. No one wants to read that story from the perspective of the oppressor. However, throughout history, that is the most likely scenario.</div>
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If you were a man born in Germany at the turn of the twentieth century, you were almost certainly going to be fighting for Adolph Hitler. No way, you say. I would never do that! Sorry to break it to you, but you probably would. There was an extremely small, active resistance to the Nazis within the German population, especially during the late 1930 and early 1940s. The odds of you being in it are one in a thousand.</div>
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In the beginning of the war, they needed factory workers and farmers, so maybe half of the men would be able to stay out of the army. By 1944 and 45, if you were a 16-50 year old German man, and were able to hold a rifle, you were going to be fighting in the Wehrmacht. You would have been the one poking the Jews with bayonets to get them in the rail cars. And the crappy part is, so would I.</div>
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We want to think we would be have the moral courage to stand up to this kind of evil, but that's not how most people are wired. More than likely, we would do what everyone else is doing. We would follow orders. How many of us are ready to see our family taken out and hung in the town square for our treason? Not many.</div>
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When we start to imagine ourselves as capable of doing something horrific like this, we can start to understand that anyone, and everyone are capable of doing these things. You, me, your spouse, your parents, your children, the Pastor at your church, the famous actor who has given millions to charity, your musical heroes, every single human being has this capability within them.</div>
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Some people understand this all too well. They have seen it in flashes or short bursts. The worst parts of them come out, sometimes by surprise. Be it cruelty, fury, sexual depravity, lying, deviousness, name your dark side, they see it, and they recognize it for what it is. Even if they never act on these dark feelings, they know they are in there, somewhere inside, just under the facade we show the world. </div>
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We as a society, we don't want to talk about this dark side inside us. Especially, to our children. When our kids have these thoughts, as they all
will, they think they are somehow broken. They think they are the only
ones. This is a very bad thing. Talk to your kids about this, please. <br />
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As adults, we love to point to "those people" as the folks with dark sides. Criminals, and deviants of all sorts, it's those kinds of people, not us. Yeah, not so much. We do a great disservice when we pretend we ourselves don't have these thoughts and urges. . </div>
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Look, some of you are better at tamping down these thoughts that others. So much so, that they only pop up once in a great while. When they do, you grab the RoundUp and spray those bad weeds as soon as you see them. Others, myself included, we will let them grow in the back yard of our mind until they take over. After some time, you have to hack your way through them just walk around. This is not good. Once they take over that back yard, it's not too long before they make their way around house to the front yard. </div>
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One of my buddies, who worked with me on campus, had a great analogy. We were working in the summer, and some of the young ladies on campus wear very revealing outfits. We would be on some job site, and some woman would walk by with just enough clothes on not to be arrested. Look, I'm a married man, but it's hard not to notice. We would catch each other looking.<br />
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He would always say. "I'm a man, I'm going to notice those kinds of things. But those thoughts are like a bird. If it flies over your head, and keeps going, you're good. If it stops, and stays there, and builds a nest, brother, you're in trouble."<br />
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That's good advice. <br />
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So, maybe you are a pillar of the community. Let's suppose you are in a leadership position in your company, your government, your church, or just within a group of friends. Maybe you always do the right thing. Maybe you have a spotless reputation. Okay, that's great, or is it? Is it a lie?<br />
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Are you hiding an affair? Embezzling funds? Abusing your spouse at home? Or maybe you're struggling with a terrible thought life, or an addiction to porn, or booze, or pills?<br />
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You can do something about it. You should do something about it.<br />
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The farther the divide between those two sides, between your public and private life, the worse the disaster is going to be.<br />
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If you need to resign from some position, or organization, so you can get some help, do it. If you need to come clean to your spouse, or your boss, or your coworker, do it.<br />
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If you just keep ignoring that dark side, one day you will be sitting in a court room discussing bail, or signing divorce papers, or in the ER on a ventilator. Maybe one day you will wake up with your picture on the front page of your local newspaper, and wonder how it ever got this far? Hopefully, your fall won't make nation news. </div>
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This first step is an honest, 360 degree assessment of the distance between your public persona, and your inner self. Look in the darkest corner, and root it out. It won't be easy. Even if no one ever knows how hard it was for you to change, it will be well worth it. </div>
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</span> Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-38550869841215184452019-05-21T13:37:00.002-07:002019-05-21T13:37:41.351-07:00How we see the rest of the world. A while back I read <a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/" target="_blank">a piece</a> by David Wong that hit the nail on the head; at least for me. This is not a rehash of the 2016 election, it's a piece on how each side in this divided nation sees the other. The truths the author communicates are so apparent to me, and yet are unrecognizable to many on the other side of the divide.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Nothing that happens outside the city matters!" they say at their cocktail parties, blissfully unaware of where their food is grown. Hey, remember when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans? Kind of weird that a big hurricane hundreds of miles across managed to snipe one specific city and avoid everything else. To watch the news (or the multiple movies and TV shows about it), you'd barely hear about how the storm utterly steamrolled rural Mississippi, killing 238 people and doing an astounding $125 billion in damage. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But who cares about those people, right? What's newsworthy about a bunch of toothless hillbillies crying over a flattened trailer? New Orleans is culturally important. It matters.
To those ignored, suffering people, Donald Trump is a brick chucked through the window of the elites. "Are you assholes listening now?" </blockquote>
<br />
I empathize with the author in many ways.<br />
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I was raised in the vast ocean of red America; on a cattle ranch in rural, Northern California. You know, the other California. The one without the sandy beaches and Facebook millionaires. In fact, the three room school I attended from first to eighth grade had just over 50 students K-8th. My graduating class was 8.<br />
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I have drawn a paycheck as a working cowboy. I can still rope, ride, and work cattle. I can weld, operated heavy equipment of all kinds, and in a pinch, I could build you a very basic house. <br />
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These days however, I work on a university campus in the tech field.
Davis is a dark blue island in that red ocean of inland California. Along with all the skills, and experiences I gained on the ranch, I can also fusion-splice fiber optic cable smaller than the size of a human hair. <br />
<br />
I am at home in the smallest cafe or backwoods bar in the middle of nowhere, talking to a diesel mechanic, school teacher, or oil field worker. I am also perfectly comfortable in a 26th floor office in San Francisco talking to a CEO about a million dollar project management proposal. I'm also cool with hanging out in the LBGT center on campus talking to someone with half their hair shaved off and the other side colored blue and pink. <br />
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If you are cool to me, I'll be cool to you. And even if you're not cool to me, I'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt, you might just be having a really crappy day. <br />
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Other than my views on the Second Amendment, I was quite liberal when I was a young man. <br />
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I'm not sure how, given my background and rural upbringing, I developed my outlook on those around me. Maybe I was just excited to meet anyone new. After all, my nearest friend lived from grade school lived miles away.<br />
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To me, people are just people. I take each individual as they come along. Well, at least I try to have that outlook. Sometimes, I fall into the trap of grouping people into "them" categories, but I try hard not to. <br />
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My point is, I know both sides in this divided nation. They are all just people. Some I agree with politically, some I do not. Some are racists, some are prejudiced, some are hopelessly ignorant of the way the world works, and some are so stuck in their "us" vs "them" mentality, it's hard to have an honest conversation with them.<br />
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Now, I know those of you on the left will read that last part and be thinking, "Ahah! I knew it. You just admitted those rural hillbillies are bunch of bigoted homophobes." While you folks on the right will read that and think, "Ahah, I knew it. You just admitted those hipster, social justice morons are close minded and prejudiced."<br />
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Guess what? You are both right, and both wrong.<br />
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Here is what is happening, at least the way I see it.<br />
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We use the most extreme examples of behavior to make the case, both for our side, and against the other side. We get stuck in our own cocoons of media and friends, where we become isolated from hearing what is happening in the rest of the world. Just look at your Facebook feed.<br />
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Before the election, the Super Trumpers would post click-bait articles labeled "Hillary get destroyed by a veteran" or Hillary fans would post "Trump supporter gets owned by The Daily Show". It was, and still is, the primary focus of the media. Give them what they want. <br />
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We tend to avoid news that is contrary to our views. We 'Hide' people who post stories on Facebook we disagree with, or we just 'Unfriend' them. We dismiss articles or essays if we disagree with the headline without ever reading the piece.<br />
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The simple fact is, we don't want our opinions challenged, let alone changed. We don't want to admit that we might be wrong. Again, let's not be thinking, yeah, you guys over on the other side just don't get it, I'm talking to you too. I must include myself in this as well.<br />
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If I read a piece written by a person on the far left, I immediately start picking apart their premise, their facts, and their points. I am not reading the piece to understand their point of view, I am reading it with the idea of defending my own point of view. That is a mistake.<br />
<br />
I should be trying to understand where they are coming from. Do they have a point I never considered? It doesn't mean they are right, maybe they're full of beans. I just want to know how they came to their opinion. Look, if we don't start to understand the other side, even when they are wrong, maybe especially when they are wrong, we are not going to talk about important things. Again, this is a huge mistake. <br />
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The easiest way for people to engage with those they disagree with is in a binary, I'm right - You're wrong attitude. It protects us from what we fear the most: Being wrong. That is our blind spot. It is where our reactive brain jumps in, and slams the door on any well thought-out opposition to our way of thinking. <br />
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When we look at every major news story from 'our side' without trying to find out what the truth is, that's when we stop thinking and just go into that Good/Bad, Right/Wrong mode. This is the mode most of the noisy people on your Facebook feed are stuck in. <br />
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We will keep reading our side's slant on the coverage and look for stories that point to how 'right' we are. This is called confirmation bias. It is an easy trap to fall into, but it is dangerous if you are unaware it is happening to you.<br />
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As a nation, if we keep using the most extreme examples to define the other side, we will not see the flaws in our side, and that is even worse. At least we hold a little influence over 'our side'. They should, in theory, listen to the people who vote for them, give them money, and support their political goals. Well, this is how it should work. <br />
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Why do we point to the extremes? Extremes are sexy. Extremes are attention getting. They are what leads every newscast, every newspaper headline, and what drives most of our political discourse. Very seldom do I ever get into discussions about what is going to happen when our historically low interest rates go back up. No one seems to know, or care, the amount of interest we pay each year on the 21 trillion dollars of debt will soon be more than we spend on the entire defense budget.<br />
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No, what I get when I talk politics is, Trump is a racist. or everyone who supported Hillary is a communist. Trump Good, or Orange Man Bad. That is our world today. <br />
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This why conservatives look at a young, socialist like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and think, "How stupid are the people who voted for her?" They can't understand the reason she was elected. They don't understand the district she represents. The NY 14th Congressional District is the Bronx and Queens. It has a 29% Democrat advantage in party registration. It is deep blue. Think of it as rural Wyoming in reverse.<br />
<br />
The people in that district are city people. They use government transportation everyday. Chances are someone in their house or a family member works for the City, State or Federal government. Someone in their family is probably signed up for some sort of subsidy or assistance program. They look at the government as a part of their lives. They want it do more for them, and make things better for them individually.<br />
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You are not going to win the democratic primary in that district by talking about balancing the budget or working with Donald Trump to get legislation passed that might help your constituents. You are going to win by going as far to the left as you can without calling for outright communism. AOC is giving the people what they want, or at least what they think they want.<br />
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The same thing happens on the other side. When progressives look at Trump all they see is an angry, racist, bigot who lies all the time, and wants to turn back the clock to the 1950s. They see all his supporters as outright racists, or at least closet racists. They cannot fathom any reason at all why anyone with a brain could ever vote that man.<br />
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Rural and suburban America sees Donald Trump a little differently. They are not government-centric voters. Their only interaction with the government is when they pay taxes, go to the DMV or have to wade through the mountains of paperwork to get a building permit for that new redwood deck in the backyard. These people look at government as a necessary evil. Something to be avoided.<br />
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This is 180 degrees from a working, single mom whose child gets a free taxpayer provided lunch at school, lives in a subsidized apartment, gets Home Energy Assistance Program; Utility Bill Assistance through a government subsidy, and is enrolled in a few different types of public assistance like SNAP. Now, I do not mean that most people in that district live that way, but chances are, you know someone or have a family member in a similar situation. <br />
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It all comes down to the lens you see government through.<br />
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When Trump does something, anything, both groups look at the event through their respective lenses.<br />
As Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoons likes to say, they are watching the same movie on two different screens.<br />
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Lets say Trump signs an executive order rolling back an Obama era order about the Clean Water Act definitions. The progressives go nuts. To them, this just proves that Trump doesn't care about people, and doesn't mind if the water is poisoned, as long as his big-business friends can make more profit. Also, Putin must have ordered him to this anyway.<br />
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To the Trump supporters, big government is bad, and any Obama regulation is probably terrible anyway. If you live in the country or work around farmers, you know how far the EPA was stepping over the line. To them, Trump is just making it easier to grow the economy and make more jobs for America. Same movie, two different screens.<br />
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Look, I don't have any answers to this predicament. Well, maybe just one. As much as you will hate it, you need to start calling fouls on your team.<br />
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When the president does, or tweets, something that is stupid, or it's an outright lie, call him on it. Mr. President, that kind of tweet, or that decision is not helping your cause, which is my cause. I wish you would stop it. You will find that when you call balls and strikes on both sides, you will earn a bit of respect from your progressive friends. Just a tiny bit, but it's a start. <br />
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What is even better is you can now go up to your progressive friend when Nancy Pelosi does or says something stupid, and ask them if they think what she said is okay. "Do you really want stand behind her statement, or do you wish she had not said it?" You can ease into it, "I know you still like her, but that is really a dumb thing say right?" Don't beat them over the head with it, but just get them thinking that 'their side' is not 100% right all the time. <br />
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Then go back to holding your side accountable.<br />
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We all want to 'win' the argument. Sometimes we want to win all all costs.<br />
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We start calling people terrible names, personally berating friends, and if you're mad enough, just being a straight up asshole. That isn't winning anyone to your side. In fact, that just confirms to them what kind of person makes up the other side.<br />
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It's easy to play the 'Whatabout' game with people. What about when Obama did this? What about when Bush did that? It rarely changes anyone's opinion.<br />
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Let's start a dialogue with people. Let's try to imagine how they think. Why do they believe what they believe? Then let's ask them.<br />
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There is a catch. You will have to do a lot more reading and watch a lot less cable news. <br />
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Hey, it's a start. <br />
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<br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-61238367399981882452019-03-25T08:06:00.003-07:002019-03-25T08:06:49.708-07:00You'll live through it. I did. <div data-contents="true">
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjUvfZj-Fm0" target="_blank">The walls are closing in. </a> </div>
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<span data-offset-key="43orv-0-0"><span data-text="true">Look, to be fair, I remember in 98' driving back home from a job down in Livingston and listening to the Starr Report come out on KFBK. All the juicy details of the Lewinski affair, the cigars, the lying under oath, White Water, The Rose Law Firm records, etc, and thought, there is no way Bill Clinton is going to remain president. It can't happen. Well, I was wrong. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="f2sd3-0-0"><span data-text="true">The big difference between now and then, the media was on Clinton's side. He's a democrat, and so are they. All the stories were, Oh, c'mon, it's just lying about sex, and some super shady real estate deals in Arkansas, and super shady Cattle Futures trading with Hillary, no big deal, let's move on. That's where Moveon.org came from, in case you forgot. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9cef7-0-0"><span data-text="true">This time, it was different. The media, including half of the conservative media, hate Donald Trump. They don't just dislike him, they hate him with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bt4uv-0-0"><span data-text="true">Hillary was supposed to win. Hands down, slam dunk. There was no way, just no way, Trump was going to be President. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cbahg-0-0"><span data-text="true">On election night, millions of people were stunned. None worse than media. The Russian collusion theory was floated out there by the democrats almost immediately. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="63fke-0-0"><span data-text="true">Hey, it was a close election. 70,000 votes in three states swung the election to Trump. It must have been the Russians they thought. I mean, nobody could have voted for Trump on purpose right? </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e7d2h-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, the media/democrats went on this crusade to gets the goods on Trump, and his puppet master Vladimir Putin. They were going to get Hillary in that Oval Office at all costs. This would not stand. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8gtu1-0-0"><span data-text="true">I'm sure Donald Trump has broken some campaign finance laws. It's just the way things are done they days, Even President Obama was fined $400K for his violations. And you don't get to be a billionaire real estate tycoon without some creative interpretations of tax laws, zoning laws, and greasing some palms along the way. The man is also a reprobate when it comes to his personal life. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dg3d4-0-0"><span data-text="true">All that said, with the lowest unemployment on record, 3.1 GDP growth, trade deals being renegotiated in our favor, and ISIS crushed, the world and the nation are humming along right now. Much to the chagrin of the media/democrats. The Mueller Report was the key to impeaching Trump and getting a democrat in the White House in 2020. Heck, the House still might impeach Trump. There's a huge power struggle going on inside the democratic party right now. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="nslp-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, if you're a democrat and you just can't believe Trump is still going to be your president, take a deep breath. It's going to be okay. I lived through it, so will you. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7s8uk-0-0"><span data-text="true">I understand why you're so upset. You listened to the media/democrats for two years talk about Russian Collusion and now, Mueller found zero. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5g9v9-0-0"><span data-text="true">On the bright side, never underestimate the destructive power of Trump's ego. With this exoneration, he might think he's really above the law now, and start doing some over the top illegal stuff and get caught. I'm think there's a 1/5 chance of that. However, if you guys double down on this, and impeach Trump, say hello to four more years of your worst nightmare. </span></span></div>
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Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-56845089352408214552019-03-09T19:14:00.002-08:002019-03-09T19:33:43.309-08:0010 rules for twentysomethings. I just came back from a college graduation party for a young lady I've known since she hit the ground. Jaelyn earned her Bachelors Degree from Chico State and we are all very proud of her. Her party was held at the Western Yolo VFW Post in Esparto. 100 plus people from the Capay Valley and her friends from school.<br />
<br />
It was raining outside, so inside the hall was crowded, noisy, babies crying, kids running around, Bill's dog Precious scooping up anything that hit the floor, it was kind of crazy. But for us, basically it was perfect.<br />
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Her mom asked if I would say a little something before we ate, and she wanted it to be focused mainly on all the young people gathered there. I wasn't sure what to say. Heck my own kids barely listen to me, but I thought I would give it a try.<br />
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A few of these I borrowed from my favorite book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021" target="_blank">12 Rules for Life</a> by Jordan B. Peterson, but most are my own. Everyone actually quieted down, and so I gave them about two and half minutes worth. I hope they found at least one that resonated with them.<br />
<br />
10 rules for twenty somethings:<br />
<ol><br /></ol>
1. You’re young, which means your body works great right now, but you don’t know that much. You are going to wrong. A lot. That’s okay. It will teach you to rethink what you ‘know to be true’ and ask, “How could I be wrong?” This question will save you a lot of time, toil, money and looking foolish.<br />
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2. Your parents are not stupid. They may not know how to Snapchat, but they’ve been through some really tough times and made plenty of bad decisions. You should listen to what they have to say. It may save you some heartache down the road.<br />
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3. You don’t have to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life right now. But you have to move forward, towards a goal. Sitting idle for a week, can easily turn into a month, then a year, then a decade. Right now, you may not have money, but you do have an even more valuable asset: Time. Spend it wisely.<br />
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4. Try something you really think you will like. Go after it 100% for two years. If you fall face first, you will have learned a valuable lesson. Failure isn’t permanent, in fact it’s necessary to learn and grow. If you fail at something, you’re still young. Reassess and go after something else at 100% for two years. If you fail. You’re still young.<br />
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5. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. A penguin cannot be a giraffe, so be the best penguin you can possibly be.<br />
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6. Make friends with people who want the best for you. Toxic people will keep you in one spot like an anchor.<br />
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7. Don’t chase happiness. Happiness is a fine thing. So is love, success, pleasure, money and even fame. But they will not sustain you when the crisis of your life hit. And believe me, crisis are just waiting in line to smack you when you least expect it.<br />
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8. People are a bag of snakes. All people, including you. Know this, and try to understand the darker side within yourself so you can control it, or it will control you.<br />
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9. Reality smashes everything that isn’t true. Tell the truth – or, at least, don't lie.<br />
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10. Take God seriously. Even if you don’t believe a word in the Bible. Those beliefs that built the last 6,000 years of western civilization should not be dismissed out of hand. The ideals of individual human rights, taking care of the orphan, the widow, and the poor, being held accountable to someone outside of yourself, that the rules apply to both peasants and kings alike, that you should tell the truth even if it cost you everything. All these ideas spring from belief that there is something larger than ourselves out there. Live like you believe in God, even if you’re not sure.<br />
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<br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-49154445021794124422019-01-10T05:00:00.000-08:002019-01-16T14:11:09.140-08:00A sea change in helping people. Including yourself. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you are on Facebook, and who isn't these days, you will see many inspirational quotes. Some are funny, some are insightful, some are crass, and some are quite frankly, just dumb. Many of these quotes are typical of the "you're perfect just as you are" type of self-help that has become popular over the past few decades. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the problem with that type of help. It's a lie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It makes you feel good to tell someone they are perfect just as they are, but only for a short time. It makes the recipient feel good, but only for a short time. Even as you say it, and even as they hear it, both your brains know it isn't true. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Trying to live your life based on something you know isn't true will eventually, and perhaps quickly, put you on a collision course with reality. Reality is a cruel master. It does care about your feelings, your good intentions, your wretched past, or your wonderful plans for the future. Reality smashes all things that are not true. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I understand the motivation behind the "you're fine just as you are" type of help. It's based on compassion, and compassion is a good thing, up to a certain point. After that, compassion can turn into enabling. Enabling bad or destructive behavior, is never a good thing. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, what is the best advice you can give someone struggling with life in general, or with a specific issue? Tell them the truth. At least the truth the way you see it from your perspective. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This advice is harder on both parties in the short term, but it leads to clarity. Seeing the situation clearly, free of distortion, is much better that camouflaging the problem with kind words. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is going to be messy, know that going in. You will hurt their feelings, but maybe their feeling need to be hurt. They will become defensive, and start listing the top-ten reasons why this situation is not their fault. Maybe you just unearthed the true problem. Maybe their view of the world is the real problem. Maybe it's a lie. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We should be able to look at ourselves and give this same critique. What are we doing emotionally? How are our relationships? How is our health? What is our plan for the future? What truth are your denying?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If we have no real answers for these questions, we are not living a life based in truth. We might skate by for a while, a month, a year, even a decade, with serious, complex problems in our lives. Given a choice, we will choose not to see, let alone deal with these problems in a realistic manner. Again; </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reality smashes all things that are not true. It's just a matter of time. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">When that friend comes to you, with their latest breakup story, and how they will never find true love, and there are no good men/women left in the world, you will have a choice. I would start the conversation just like that. "Do you want me to tell you again there is nothing wrong with you, and that guy/girl is stupid for not seeing how wonderful you are, or do want me to tell you the truth or as close to the truth as I can see it?" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">This may take them aback. They may be counting on you to prop them up, to tell them everything will be alright if they just continue to believe in themselves. They may just be searching for that dopamine release that comes from hearing comforting words, even if those words are lies. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">The truth is, they are not perfect, and they never will be. Neither are you. No amount of success, money, love, safety, or fitness will make us perfect. We are all flawed. Some of us are more screwed up than others, but baring a severe mental health diagnosis, we are all capable of becoming better versions of ourselves. Even if just a tiny bit better, if we try to see the truth. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">To borrow from my favorite book at the moment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021" target="_blank">Dr. Jordan B Peterson's 12 Rules for Life; and antidote to chaos. </a> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rule #4 Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out more of his work. He has thousands of hours of his University of Toronto lectures on YouTube, along with<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otsOXNidluo" target="_blank"> many interviews.</a> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"> One of the themes he comes back to time and again, is answering this question: How do you make you life better? By not making it worse! And brother, we are experts at doing just that. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">"Start by stop doing something, anything, that you know to be wrong." </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">Okay back to people with problems, which is all of us by the way. I I used to tell people going through terrible situations, some of their own making, some not, that everything would be okay.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"> I'm sure they felt better right then and there, but eventually they must go back to the real world and the problem is waiting for them. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">Many times, things would not be okay, or at least not okay in the way they wanted. In the end, there is only reality, only truth.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">In the last few years, I try to tell them the truth, no matter how it makes them feel at the time. If they need to break down and cry, I will give them a shoulder and let them know I'm there for them without judgement. If they ask my opinion, if they want the truth, it is my duty to tell them the truth. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">I have told people going through a bad break up, "This is going to hurt. You will get through this in time, and the pain will subside in a while, but it is okay to feel heartbroken right now." If they are in the middle of a job loss, or the loss of a loved one, they need to know that they are at a turning point. Things will never be the same. Things will be different from here on, and it's up to them to respond in the best way that works with their new reality. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">If they really screwed up their lives, or the life of someone they love, they need to know that. The reason you're in this spot is you created this world, this hell you now live inside. You need to figure out how you got here so you don't repeat the same actions, or make the same decisions that created this hell. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">This advice may seem cold-hearted. It may seem like your just throwing more weight onto the shoulders of someone drowning. Just remember what I said about reality. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">Kind words and self esteem will not cure the disease you were just diagnosed with. Kind words won't keep your home from being foreclosed on if you just pretend the bank notices are just going to go away. Getting your soul crushed, and then choosing the same type of boyfriend/girlfriend who is assured to repeat this process is pure poison. In short, you need to recognize the truth and act on it. Sometimes you need help. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">Someone in your life needs to have the courage to tell you the truth. You also need that same courage to look upon your own through that lens. Can your life stand up to reality? What problems are you sweeping under the rug? What are things you know to be wrong that you continue to do? </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">Are you getting closer to the truth, closer to dealing with the world the way it truly is, or are you just getting better at hiding from it? If you are seeking the truth, if you are trying to become just a little bit better version of you each and every day, that is enough. Press on. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="st">To close I will leave you with this. At the beginning of the day ask yourself this question. What am I going to do to make myself a better version of me? Then do it. That way at the end of the day, you can answer this question without regret. Am I one day closer to becoming a better person, or am I just one day older?</span></span></span><br />
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<br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-50454522603334878102018-11-07T15:10:00.001-08:002018-12-18T10:46:00.757-08:00How to win going forward. Which side will learn first?(I originally wrote this as a draft shortly after the 2016 election. I kept coming back to it, but never really finished it. I have updated the piece after the midterms.)<br />
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<br />
There's something people, especially pundits, are not talking about in the deconstruction of the 2016 presidential and now the 2018 midterm elections;<br />
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Abortion and guns.<br />
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Both have been hot button issues for a long time and will continue to be effective wedges for both sides in the foreseeable future. <br />
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When you ask people on the left what they stand for, what is most important to them, you will get a pretty predictable laundry list of issues; Free healthcare for everyone, free college, free housing, a fifteen dollar minimum wage, gender neutral bathrooms etc. Talking with some of my more liberal friends, especially women, of all the feel-good, hopey-changey things that makes the progressive left more appealing to them, it comes down to one issue. For many of them, that issue is Abortion. <br />
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Abortion is a core issue for women; on both sides. Yes, there are women on both sides of this divisive issue. Not that you would ever know that by listening to the news.<br />
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For those who see abortion as purely the matter of a woman's personal choice, there are others who look on abortion as the killing of a human life. Both sides are entrenched in their beliefs. The pro-choice side can point to Roe v Wade and say it's the law of the land, but that doesn't change the fact that abortion, especially after the seventh or eighth week, stops a beating heart. <br />
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For many women who identify as feminist, the idea of abortion is very close to a religion for them. Those who are ardently pro-choice see any threat, any restriction on abortion, as heresy. Abortion on demand, at any time, up to and including the moment before the birth of the baby, is a woman's right, and she has the only say.<br />
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Now, some women I talk to say they are open to at least some restrictions on late term abortions. Unless there is a documented, medical reason that threatens the physical health of the woman, they think third-trimester, or late-term abortion, is wrong. However, they are leery of the slippery slope of restrictions that will put more and more limits on that choice, until abortion is only legal under a very limited set of circumstances.<br />
<br />
I think this 'legal until the second or third trimester' stance is actually the general view of most women, and men for that matter. They know in their hearts that late term abortion, especially partial-birth abortion, is wrong. It's wrong when it's done for sheer convenience, or because the woman changes her mind in the last weeks or days of her pregnancy.<br />
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Bottom line; they think abortion should be safe, legal and available, but they are open to some restrictions on late term or partial-birth abortions as long as the restrictions stop there.<br />
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Anyway, that is my take on what I have heard. It's a very complicated issue. <br />
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If I had to guess, I would say abortion is probably the one issue that can influence the 15-20% of women who are usually non-political. They don't follow politics, in fact they probably hate politics, but they know they want to keep abortion legal. If they can be made to feel that right is under attack, they will show up at the polls. This is where Planned Parenthood, and the multi-million dollar abortion interest groups, come into the equation.<br />
<br />
We saw this play out in the Kavanaugh hearings. Things got nasty because
the left saw Kavanaugh as a direct threat to abortion-on-demand laws.
Everything else, including the Christine Blasey Ford testimony was just
theater. I hate to put it that way, but it's the truth. That confirmation vote was
about abortion. <br />
<br />
Now 15-20% of women make up a sizable group of voters. A group that size would swing an election from a toss-up to a landslide if you could motivate them to your side. If you could persuade them into voting for your candidate, or just get them to sit out the election, you have changed the race.<br />
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Could Republicans learn to soften their message on abortion? Could they start talking to those who would be willing to listen? It's a possibility. <br />
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For Democrats, this is a weakness. For Republicans, it is an opportunity. <br />
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Here is basically the flip side of that coin: Guns.<br />
<br />
As a life Member of the NRA, a certified firearms instructor, and someone who follows every court case involving the second amendment, I am out of the mainstream. I understand that.<br />
<br />
So to say that second amendment issues are important to me is an understatement. However, I know I am an outlier. Most gun owners just want to keep their guns, be able to keep this right for their children, and make sure criminals can't easily get their hands on them.<br />
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As in the abortion debate, there are people who live and breathe this issue, and others who are just interested only when they think it will affect them personally.<br />
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They really don't understand anything about assault rifles, other than they are scary looking and seem to shoot a billion bullets a minute, thanks to Hollywood and the media. Many of these soft second amendment supporters are on the peripheral of the fight. They can be moved into action by the NRA telling them 'the other side' is coming for your guns. They are convinced that when Democrats say "common sense gun laws" they think it's double speak for gun banning and outright confiscation in the future. I would also say that this group is about 15-20% of the electorate.<br />
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Could the Democrats start talking about guns in way that eases the fears of this 15-20% Could they start talking to those who would be willing to listen? It's a possibility. <br />
<br />
To Republicans this is threat, to Democrats this is an opportunity.<br />
<br />
<br />
So here are a few possibilities as I see it; whoever learns to assuage the concerns of either of these two groups will win at the ballot box for the next generation. Going further to right if you're a Republican, and further to the left if you're a Democrat is going to leave the middle wide open. <br />
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This is both exciting and frightening, on both sides.<br />
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What if republicans went out to speak with single women, with whom abortion resonates so deeply, and said this;<br />
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"We need your help. Can we speak to you about the best way to bring down the number of abortions in this nation? Can we talk to you about your fears, your concerns about keeping abortion legal, and work out a plan where we try to make abortion a rare, but legally protected choice in America?<br />
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I know we are not going persuade all of you. I want to speak with those of you who want to make sure your daughters will continue to have this right going forward, but who also see partial-birth abortion as a terrible thing. Something that must be stopped unless there is a very real threat to life of the mother.<br />
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Can we stop the fear mongering around this issue? Can we have an honest debate about partial-birth and third trimester abortions?"<br />
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Sincerely, (Republican turning a blue state red) <br />
<br />
I think this is an argument that would swing many of those in that 15-20% of the electorate who vote around the abortion issue. Even if the republicans could get 5% to switch sides, that would be a game changer. If they could learn to speak to those women who like the idea of school choice, pro-economic, pro-growth policies, but let them know the Republicans are not the town council from Footloose looking to establish their own moral code on America, they would win big. They could even win bigly. <br />
<br />
Conversely, what if Democrats said to gun owners, especially the fastest growing segment, women gun owners, and said this:<br />
<br />
"We are not going to take your handguns away. We don't want to keep you from lawfully owning a firearm. If you pass the background check, and get the proper training, carrying a handgun for self defense is something we can support. We don't want the Wild West, but we acknowledge your right to self defense. We understand that the world is a dangerous place. We just want to make sure criminals don't use firearm to hurt others.<br />
<br />
We want a nationwide, instant background check before you can pickup your firearm. We want to make sure the thousands of firearms laws on the books right now are enforced. We want to try to find a way to ensure people bent on the slaughter of innocent lives can't get their hand on the means to do so. We want to ban Assault Rifles and outlaw Hi-Capacity magazines. No civilian needs an AR-15. <br />
<br />
I know we are not going persuade everyone. I also want to reaffirm, that we as Democrats, acknowledge your right to keep and bear arms. If you safely keep a gun in your house for protection, we want you to know we respect that. In the end, we need your help to try to make harder for criminals to hurt people with guns."<br />
<br />
Sincerely, (Democrat turning a red state blue.)<br />
<br />
<br />
Now, I can give you chapter and verse on why instant background checks won't bring down the homicide rate in America, but that is a discussion for another day. It's the criminals doing criminal things, not inanimate objects that are the problem here. Where I live in California, we have an Assault Weapons Ban, Standard Capacity (Hi-Cap) magazine bans, Universal background checks, 10 day waiting periods, purchasing licenses, ammunition restrictions and every other feel-good gun control legislation known to man. We still have mass shootings and gun crime because (Surprise!) criminals don't follow laws. It's why they are criminals. <br />
<br />
The Democrats will surely demand an "Assault Rifle ban" even if this would only be symbolic. There are around one and a half million AR-15 style rifles in America. The Democrats are not going to knock on a million doors and confiscate them, that is how you start a second civil war. This is where they should tread lightly.<br />
<br />
Just by acknowledging the right of legal US citizens to own a semi-automatic handgun, you diffuse the anxiety of a large portion of gun owners who are not 'gun nuts' but who want to protect their families with a 9mm Glock. Especially single mothers. Change those minds, and you change elections. <br />
<br />
Do you think these two messages would resonate with voters, especially swing voters? I certainly do.<br />
<br />
Here is the rub. The entrenched sides on these issues will point to a long history of republicans trying to outlaw all abortions, and democrats trying to outlaw all types of firearms.<br />
<br />
The reality is neither of these cases will be made a central focus in the next election cycle.<br />
<br />
Both sides are still largely funded at local, state, and federal levels by special interest groups. Your local congress member is subject to a big primary fight if they don't toe the line when it comes to these issues.<br />
<br />
If you live in a dark red state, or congressional district, you will need that A rating from the NRA or National Shooting Sports Association to keep your seat. <br />
<br />
If you live a dark blue state, or district, you will need that A rating from Planned Parenthood or NARAL to keep your seat.<br />
<br />
I don't think the balance of power is going to shift anytime soon because of the deep polarization in the American electorate. How many pro-choice republicans, other than our current president, can you name? How many pro-second amendment democrats can you name? With the House in Democrats hands, and with the Republicans pickup a solid majority in the Senate, it is going to be even harder for either side to reach across.<br />
<br />
Whoever figures this out first will dominate for a generation. <br />
<br />Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8242246.post-84249247330018066912018-08-31T11:50:00.000-07:002018-08-31T12:46:45.744-07:00Masking our Dark Side<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How many versions of "You" are there?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It may sound like a strange questions, but no matter how hard we try to think ourselves as "One" as "I", or "Me", we hold within us many different versions of ourselves.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most of the time we do this for expediency, or to go with the flow at work, or to manage our way within whatever environment we find ourselves.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here are a few of mine;</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is the "Work Me" who is very polite, who doesn't curse (much, or only in front of the right people) and is known to be one the reliable people who gets things done. This me is always early, and helps diffuse conflicts between various factions in our workplace. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is the "Church Me" who is basically the same guy as the "Work Me", but with less cussing.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is the "Home me" who gets into his recliner after pretending to be "Work Me" all day and watches sports or movies or some terribly boring show about the perils of Keynesian Economic Theory in the post Cold War world. He may have a Bourbon with dinner, tries to help out around the house, and does most of the cooking and shopping. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is the "Up the Valley Me" who officiates all the weddings and funerals for my friends and neighbors. He's the guy who plays bass and sings classic country songs in Tommy Covington's shop gathered around the wood-burning stove in the winter. He's the guy who loves shooting and teaching people how to shoot. He's also the guy who can ride horses, rope calves, and brand cattle, although I don't get much chance these days.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is the "Drinking Me" who only escapes from his inner bondage once every few years. (I think it's been over a decade since his last sighting, so that guy may be gone for good, but you never can be sure) He's responsible for all my good stories. Stories about challenging everyone in The Palomino Room in Red Bluff to a fight at the Bull Sale, and "borrowing" a police car out behind The Stag in Woodland. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There must be a few more versions of me that exist, but I can't think any that I put on for public consumption.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, which one is the "Real Me"?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I can't be certain. Maybe none of them. Maybe all of them.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is one part of me that no one knows, and I don't talk about. The dark part of me.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If we are honest, we would all admit to having a dark side. It is inside every single one of us. How do I know? We are all human beings.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We all have the capacity for true evil inside us. Yes, I said evil.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, I don't care if you are atheist, agnostic, or a rattlesnake-handling Pentecostal Preacher, you know deep down its true. You might call it by a different name, but there is a darkness in the human heart capable of doing horrible things to other human beings.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You might scoff, but evil is never far away. In fact, we are surrounded by it. We catch a glimpse of it in the mirror each morning. Yes, it's you. I am talking about you.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You might say, "Whoa, whoa, pump the brakes. I'm one of the good guys!" No. No you're not. Neither am I.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To quote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fact that we are capable of evil is a universal truth. It's so true, it frightens us to even acknowledge it even exists.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We like to think we are all "Good" people. Yeah, we have a few rough
edges, but deep down we would never do anything really bad. Well, maybe
and maybe not.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We all think we would have been the German citizens who stood up to the Nazis and fought in the resistance. The overwhelming odds are you would have been standing right next to your neighbors in the Wehrmacht goose-stepping into Poland, or working at the Henschel and Sohn factory turning out Tiger tanks.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Again, Solzhenitsyn knew this all too well.</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person."</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you don't, or won't, acknowledge that dark side of yourself, that evil within, you can't recognize it when it starts creeping into your thoughts, and then into your actions, and then into your daily being.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">T</span>his is one of the things that<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'</span>s really harming our kids today. They have these terrible thoughts, they have these dark desires, especially in their teen years, and they think they are the only ones.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They think they are broken. They think everyone else is "normal" and they are screwed up. It would be better if we all had a new kind of talk with ou<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">r</span> kids when they hit puberty. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We need to change the Birds and the Bees talk to include this darkness.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Son/ Daughter now that have these hormones running around in your body, you are going to start thinking some things, and if you're not careful, doing some things, you never imagined a year ago. You are going to be dealing with some crazy stuff. You might think there's something wrong with you, but it's probably just your body and your brain trying to regulate all this new stimulus.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We need to hav<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e</span> some very weird conversations with our kids<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. If we don't,</span> we risk letting them deal with th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ese intense emotions </span>using a brain that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">will</span> not be fully formed until they reach their mid twenties. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">H<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">owever, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n</span></span>o matter i</span>f you<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'</span>re fourteen or forty<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, </span>the same fist step is realization and recognition. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">B</span>eing self<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-</span>aware is crucial<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. U</span>nderstanding what makes you who you are is a skill you must develop. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">C</span>an you look at yourself as an outside observer? <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">C</span>an you step back and see your<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">self</span> for who you truly are?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's a hard thing to do, looking <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">honestly within ourselves</span>. So, we hide that dark side from the outside world. We hide it behind polished, and varnished versions of ourselves; Our masks. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One look at our online profiles shows how we create these masks.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We only post the very best pictures ourselves. We touch up, filter, and crop to present the best version of us. Heck I know I do it. I've deleted a few pictures where my gut was hanging out, or my bald spot was showing.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I mostly post picture of me doing fun things, or eating delicious looking food. My online life looks pretty damn good. In fact, it looks a little too good. It's not that my online life is not real, it is. It's just not true. It's not the "Real Me". Who would want to look at that? </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pretending to be someone else all the time is exhausting work, and over time, it creates tension.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That tension between who we pretend to be and who we really are, especially if that dark side has control of us, is a ticking time bomb. That struggle between who we want to be, and the dark side we are fighting against can be a life or death struggle.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We know we want to act a certain way, or get control over a destructive habit or vice, but when we fail, we usually fail in private or inside our own homes. This creates shame, self loathing and usually misplaced blame on others or just the world in general.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This cycle will grow worse until one of two things happens; the situation blows up in a public setting where you can't hide it any longer, or you get professional help to deal seriously with that evil that has taken over more and more of your life.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you have that dark side tamped down in your life; good for you. Keep it there.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you see it growing, or showing up in places and relationships where it had not surfaced before, take action. Today.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Y</span>ou must be brutally honest with yourself. Honest about your past, how you see the world, and how you see yourself in it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A great tool I found for this was a website<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><a href="http://selfauthoring.com/">selfauthoring.com</a></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's only $30 and it gives you a structured setting to write about your past, present and future. It was set up by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson who is one of my favorite
authors and has thousands of hours of his Psychology lectures on
Youtube.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you don't have the cash, take out a 99 cent notebook and start writing about your past. The things you did right, the things you did wrong. Then, how are doing today? Again, the things you do right, the things you do wrong. Finally, take a look into the future.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">T</span>hose things you can control, those dozens of daily choices you make, if you <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">make</span> the right <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">choice</span>, where would you be in 2 years, or 5, or 10? Conversely, if you fall back to those bad habits, into letting that dark side of you take control, where will you be in 2 years, 5, or 10?</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This gives you two very different scenarios. Two alternative paths to go down. Each one of them is within your control. One is a heaven, a better place to be in the future. The other is a hell. A terrible place you know you could easily be if you don't start making the right decisions. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It all starts by admitting you have a dark side. The bad news is that dark side real, and it is dangerous. The good news is, once you can recognize it, you can start defeating it. You can gain control. You can keep in it's place.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It may pop up once in a while with an inappropriate thought, or some crazy desire or fantasy, or even a dark, brooding scheme of revenge. However, this time you will be in control.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you've done your homework, you will know where this thought came from, and what made it pop up. You will recognize it for what it is. You will see it as a choice. A step closer to the heaven you are trying to reach, or a step closer to the hell you know you must <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">avoid</span>. You <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">must </span>make the right choice.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you've read this far and you are in a very dark place, reach out for help. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If it's three in the morning and there's no one to talk to, call a local suicide hotline. Yolo County has one. <a href="http://www.suicidepreventionyolocounty.org/services/" target="_blank">www.suicidepreventionyolocounty.org/ </a>or call 530-666-7778 you can even send a text.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had the opportunity to meet with them at a fundraiser. They are great people. Reach out. Get help. Start your journey towards <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">your</span> heaven and away from <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">your hell. </span></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span>Walt Lucashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13774875751096822152noreply@blogger.com0