Author: ness23456

Repair and Recovery

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The removal of natural bone and replacing it with titanium made a vast improvement in my quality of life. The surgery inspired a reassessment of a past, the re-measure of the present, and realignment of goals for the future. Doesn’t that sound nifty?

Before anyone asks me to write a self-help book, it should be noted the biggest driver of the self-examination has been the “down time” associated with recovery. The operation removing years of pain came with a requirement to sit and not move, not do anything, really, for “several” weeks as the incision heals, bruised tissues return to their original color, and the therapeutic drugs work their magic preventing clots and excessive bleeding.

There’s nothing to do but reflect, and it’s been fun to sit in The Chair and watch and read and think.

But the world didn’t stop and wait for me to get better. The world didn’t know I was recovering. It went on without me, all the while shoving its onward motion in my face with news and stories I couldn’t help but read. Some scientists want to “inject” diamond dust into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and lower the Earth’s temperature. Trump wants to take The Panama Canal Back and annex Greenland. An 81 year old politician not named Biden stopped legislating and entered a nursing home, or “memory center”, without telling anyone. Soto signed with the Mets for a salary higher than some countries GDP. Musk…well, Musk is busy being Musk, an easily distracted, bored, multi-billionaire who knows how to fix America. BTW, if he gave $3 Billion to each state to do with what they want, it might make a difference.

All in all, the month of December has been an example of how important we think we are, followed by the sharp, direct, reminder of how important we aren’t. Sprinkled in this life lesson is some exceptions. For example, how important is toilet paper? Don’t answer, but I now know the man who invented one of the most important things in EVERYONE’S life was Joseph Gayetty, in 1857. His “invention” was “sold in flat sheets watermarked with his name.” It was also medicated to prevent hemorrhoids. His contribution to life is celebrated every minute of every day all over the world, and I’ll bet no one knows his name. For some really good reading about how the cleaning of our butts has changed through the ages, google it. If you have time…like I do.

So is this essay a lament or what? A celebration? A reveal of anything most of us don’t know already?

It is nothing. It is simply a grown man, sitting in a recliner, with nothing to do but ponder.

James Thurber would be proud. (Google him, too.)

Hello, miss me?

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I’ve tried not to talk too much about The Calamities which have visited me these last 20 months, but what happened recently deserves noting.

Cancer, AMD, arthritis, and now anemia, caused by cancer treatments make up The Calamities. Of the four, The Big A, arthritis was the biggest pain in my arse(sic), and just about every joint, but especially in my left hip. It was the companion who went with me everywhere, to the tests, and treatments and recovery for all the other Calamities. Arthritis was with me every minute of every day for the last 20-some months. It even slept with me. When I rang the bell at the end of radiation, I had to limp up to the ringer.

Slowly we knocked the others off. We beat cancer, so far. We stopped AMD, so far, and anemia is being tracked, ready for elimination. But The Big A treatment required surgery, something we couldn’t do until the body could take it. Curing The Big C came first.

December 6th, 2024 the body was ready. At the sparkling Apex facility on Route 233 near Westmoreland, NY, I entered the Star Wars of medical care at 6:30am. Every single person from Doctor to receptionist was not only friendly, but treated me as if I were King Charles, or whoever is the big deal in England these day. Questions were answered, treatments were explained, hands were held, and flirting with nurses was allowed (so my daughter says).

Somewhere there is a record of the exact moment I came out from under anesthesia, but all I know, all I care about, all I celebrate, is the moment of the final, complete extermination of my painful companion. A “thing” that had dogged me, disabled me, and caused life to be severely limited…was gone. There was a picture in my mind of Dr. Wickline throwing my old hip bones into a red, medical waste bin, gone forever, to the cheers of his staff.

It’s safe to assume surgical drugs helped my post-op euphoria, but I knew the difference. And even when those drugs wore off and “NORMAL” surgical pain presented itself in the following days, it still felt painless, liberating, and rejuvenating. There was a new life to live…with out The Big A.

It helped that Dr. Wickline not only prepared me for all that was to happen, but he put it in a book so I could read and follow along, knowing all the time exactly what MIGHT happen, all the while hoping very little of it did. Dr. Wickline’s books, and his employees, and the Apex people, made the experience of gaining a new lease on life a real adventure, an enjoyable surgery, and thanks to all of them for getting me through it.

The days of recovery are saturated with noticing and analyzing pains and swellings, and bruising and possible nerve issues. All of which were in the book, and were already being treated by the “Recovery Drug” protocols outlined. Now, on my 12th recovery day, my only real problem is keeping my self from jumping with joy (Watch those sutures!) at the freedom and promise of new life, with both, now, my every day companions.

One last thing, if you are man my age, and you remember when coaches told you to “throw some dirt on it”, take notice of those pains, and modulate them or fix them before its too late. Don’t be so manly. I should have replaced the hip years ago.

Oh, and for fun: if I hadn’t gone to the doctor for The Big A in February 2023, I may not have caught the other Calamities in time to cure them. Think about it old men, and women. Get to the doctors. Now.

Bits and bobs, as the English say

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MIT, an American university for those who don’t know it, has reported a significant breakthrough in water desalinization. As countries around the world struggle for water access, including the US and Mexico, we may be able, soon, to get as much as we want from the sea. More to come, I’m sure.

Two companies in the mid-west of these United States have reported breakthroughs in internal combustion engine development. One engine is a “refined” gas engine producing “42 percent power return from fuel.” the best engines, now, get 25 percent. The other company, Aston Aerospace has designed an engine to run on hydrogen and burn clean enough so the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is water. Keep an eye on these two.

In an earlier column, I waxed poetic about the mystery of Quantum Entanglement (QE) and suggested it had astronomical potential. Now, a firm in China reports it has “used” the power of QE to make a motor. Boom. That was my mind exploding, especially if its true. Other companies are reporting advances in “faster than light speed communications”. Instantaneous communications no matter the distance. Boom. And hopefully soon.

American drivers are no better now, than when I complained about them in one of my first posts on October 30, 2016. What has changed is my ability to come across them, at random, on the road. Simple population growth or The Universe punishing me for criticizing? The major issue is still simple selfishness, combined with a dash of ignorance. Most drivers think of themselves as the only ones on the road. How else to explain the marketing and sales of headlights which shoot a beam of laser-like light a quarter of a mile, often right through the skulls of both the drivers in front of them and the unfortunate souls in oncoming traffic. I looked into a car one time and so nothing but a bare-bones skull after a truck with a set of 8 High Intensity lights passed. At least it’s helped me think of new curse words. I’m trying not to take the Lord’s name in vain, anymore. Remember when you drive: you are not the only one who matters. Other drivers matter, too. ODMT.

The billionaires and Game of Money (GOM) players are at it again, “suggesting” parts of government they will gut. The latest is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). CFPB was a direct response to the legendary financial crisis of 2008-2009 where most of us lost money and most GOMmers did not. CFPB’s name speaks for itself, but google it to know for sure. It was a Democratic project from when Dems had control of the government and set up the CFPB and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Both have been the subject of Republican Grievance and scorn since. But both have survived. GOMmers, now, see their chance to overturn both the CFPB and ACA, and return to unfettered, unregulated, and wide open GOM without oversight. Of note, several of the billionaires are “victims” of the CFPB, and feel offended their “get rich quick schemes” were denied by CFPB. Let the GOM begin!

It’s Thanksgiving. For the first time in my life I have had to struggle to find something to be thankful for, but I did. I should be thankful for that, too. Boom.

Last T@#$% Column, promise

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I can’t resist talking about how happy billionaires are over the Trump presidency. They are all giddy with excitement. Jubilant.

Why? To the rest of us, the “game” of making money is nice and distracting, but most of us “work” to get money. We make things. We fix things. We help others make things and fix things. We might even talk about how others make and fix things.

Not so in the Game of Money (GOM). In GOM the idea is to make as much money FROM other people as possible, and it’s even better if you don’t have to do any work. The Stock market, for example. Even those of us who work for our money, know you can make big bucks by betting correctly in the Stock Market. But we are careful to bet because we know we can lose, and when a worker loses money, it hurts.

But in GOM, a billionaire can bet one of his millions on a stock and if the stock comes in, the billionaire makes more millions. If the stock loses, the billionaire lost .001% of his worth. No pain. Imagine how it warps GOM for un-rich players.

Trump intends to skew GOM so billionaires can make more money, more millions, more billions. Lower taxes for me mean about $100 extra a month in income. Lower taxes in the GOM world, mean millions of dollars in new income for the billionaires.

Wonder what they’ll do with all that money? I’ll tell you. Most re-invest in GOM and make more.

Anyone of us can enter the GOM but how many of us see value in work? In helping others? In getting things done? In getting things fixed and running? I’ll bet most of the Trump voters are hard-working people who want that extra $100 a month. Sadly, the cost of that bonus is going to be steep.

Will Rogers labeled it “Trickle Down Economics” in response to then-president Hoover’s policies. Ronald Reagan picked it up in the 1980’s. “Trickle Down Economics” pretty much means that when the billionaires have taken as much as they want, some of the rest might trickle down…

What’s different this time is we have a new class of billionaires who don’t even care about “The Trickle”. Trump and Musk and their ilk just want more. And now it’s not just money but power, too. They talk of buying up entire companies and industries so they can shut them down. Entire existing Departments of Government, too, Shut them down.

It’s important to remember history. In the history of Capitalist America, the only thing standing between billionaire wanna-be-kings, (Carnegie, Mellon, et. al.) are laws, regulations, and enforcement by a centralized, powerful government.

Can you see why the billionaires now want to control the government, too? I can.

God help us non-billionaires, even the Trump voters.

Again, with the Trump stuff?

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The Daily Show on Comedy Central has given us the clearest example of the absurdity surrounding the Modern Republican Party (MRP). In the last election the MRP won the the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. MRP already had control of the Supreme Court. So what’s on the MRP’s mind? The one House seat in Delaware MRP lost. Why? It was won by an openly transgender candidate, Democrat Sarah McBride.

This has fired up the MRP’s Grievance Machine (MRPGM). Speaker Mike Johnson originally said “It’s a command that we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and I’m not going to engage in silly debates about this.” Read his subsequent comments, yourself, as he joined others on the MRPGM committee’s dedication to monitoring Rep. Mcbride’s toilet activities. He even passed a new House Rule about it. So much for the old Republican Party ideas of individual freedom and less government intrusion in our private lives. Other House Reps MTG and Nancy Mace joined in with strident proclamations of their own freedoms to watch Rep McBride’s toilet trips. The absurdity of these statements was accentuated by Johnson’s own words: “It is important to note that each (House) Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex bathrooms are available throughout the Capital.” Huh. So why the whining and new rule?

Rep. Grace, who survived an employee revolt when she was accused of a toxic work environment, took MRPGM absurdity to new heights pronouncing “We are standing up for women, protecting their spaces, and restoring a bit of sanity to Capitol Hill.” Nice thoughts. Take a moment before you read the next quote.

“I’m allowed to go in because I own the pageant…and they’re standing there with no clothes. And I sort of get away with things like that.” This was Donald Trump’s quote after countless accusations of him invading beauty pageant dressing rooms…and just before the 2016 Access Hollywood tape where he admitted “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything…grab em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Both Mike Johnson and Nancy Grace, advocates for woman’s bathroom integrity, charter members of the MRPGM, support Trump.

For all you Trump voters, this is why the rest of us don’t understand.

At least Trump voters kept one woman out of office.

She’ll be safer at home.

The Ship of State

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There is much discussion about central government these days. As usual, Republicans want to end as much of the Federal Government as possible, assuming all central government is bad, and return power to the states.

Here are some interesting side effects of a lack of Centralized authority, regulation, advice, and even employment.

If each state has its own education system, what will be taught? It’s is easy to imagine many different education systems in many different states, but if you understand human nature, one state will provide next to nothing for education and one state will go all out for a fulsome education. So people born in one state are uneducated and in one and over educated in another? That’s a simplification, but a true one if you’ve ever traveled the United States. Any student should make the most of whatever system they are in, like the present, but system inequities will grow exponentially if states are allowed their own schedules and syllabuses. Not only would it lead to informational deserts and oases but imagine if the Christian state of New Christendom, (yes, imaginary) only taught their students the Bible and that God would provide for all? Would those students be at a disadvantage to students in other states that taught reading and writing? Or would an uninformed belief in what God supplies be an advantage?

Laws? What if it’s legal to have sex with a 15 year old in one state and not others? With the large contingent of perverts in the American population can you anticipate the nefarious, interstate activity?

Who pays what for National defense? And if one state pays more, does it get more?

Who pays for interstate infrastructure? Imagine a major toll road with every state section being in different levels of repair depending on how much the state has to effect repairs? I’m thinking 95 from Maine to Florida, with possible tolls at every state line to collect revenue. Ugh.

There are more than enough issues with states running their own parts of the country, but it has to be obvious to all a central authority is needed. And to have a central authority, we need taxes to support it. That’s life. Almost every European country collects more taxes than the US, and Europeans are not flocking to our income tax haven. Why not?

Then there is The Ship of State. A majestic floating vessel. We, the populace are on the decks and in the cabins, bemoaning our fates or reveling our hearts out.

But below decks is the engine and support structure. Regulatory agencies TRY to make sure drugs are safe and effective for everyone. (Cartels are a perfect example of an un-regulated drug trade.) The Ship’s health institutes track what is killing us so lawmakers and manufacturers can keep us on track to healthier, safer, and happier lives. Other departments monitor food, air, and water quality, all looking to HELP a burgeoning, profitable corporate world make more profits without losing lives or limbs. Wouldn’t it be better if corporations factored in more regulation instead of paying settlements from lawsuits? Hm. Let’s ask the lawyers on the upper decks. Note: The new administration is pledging to remove regulations and taxes currently “strangling” American Businesses. Take a look at not just balance sheets, but CEO pay and tell me how much more profit do companies need to make? And how much more do they need to pay CEOs? Then, imagine no regulation…

The Ship of State also employees over 2.1 million people in these “below deck” activities. There are Federal Employees in every state with the top ten being work forces in: District Of Columbia, Virginia, California, Maryland, Texas, Florida. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.

The Original American Experiment in Democracy has already outlasted almost all other empires in the world’s dynastic histories. The steady, unwavering cruise of The Ship of State has been a large reason for our success. Support it. Or get yourself some weapons, grow your own food, and make your own Ozempic and Viagra.

When will it end? Please…

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It’s been weeks since the election and I’ve repeatedly tried to think of something else.

But Trump’s Republican’s won’t let me. There is no doubt Trump is his own man and reshaped not just the republican Party but the entire democratic process, as well.

Republican are above the law. It doesn’t make any difference what Trump is charged with, it’s all political and doesn’t count. All that matters is winning elections. So what laws do count? And don’t forget a wise man once said “I could stand in the middle of 7th avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” He speaks the truth. Unless, of course he shot a Republican, and even then…

Trump’s new press secretary wants Saturday Night Live (SNL) and NBC charged with “something” for the cameo SNL gave Harris. The free publicity was against the law, the spokesman said. Wonder what The Fox/Trump News Channel thinks about a trial…

Hegseth, Fox/Trump’s latest nomination to a cabinet level post, is looking to “purge” generals from the Army. He isn’t looking for anyone who made a mistake, Hegseth is looking for generals who won’t do whatever Trump/Fox want.

Trump wants to declare a National Emergency and use the Armed Forces to deport illegal immigrants. He wants us to go to war against residents, illegal, only. Get your papers in order. Of course, white illegals may not have to worry so much…

RFK for Health and Human Services? Can even Republicans not see how bad this is for the country? The Senate Republicans are going to have do some real soul-searching.

Gaetz for the department of Justice? Actually, this one makes sense. Trump wants other criminals in his government to take the heat off Trump. Gaetz has already resigned his House of Representative post to effectively end the (Republican!) House investigation of him. It is what we legally call moot. Look it up. Definition, 2 by the way. Wonder how the 17 year old girl’s parents feel? Or voted.

In a world of intelligent Americans, Red or White, who care about this country, the law, the constitution and the lessons their kids can learn from public service, Trump should have lost the election to Commander, Biden’s Dog. Or in the primaries to Desantis. Or Haley. Or even Rama-something.

But no one cares, anymore, for anything. When you hear people talk about the loss of Democracy, this is what they mean. And it will go on for at least another 4 years. The WWE/Billionaire years.

Will we self-correct in the future? Can’t see it. Not until men become men, again. If someone shoots someone else in the middle of 7th Avenue, the shooter should go to jail. At least to trial, presumed innocent and all. And women? I wish you all the best in your future dealings with a Patriarchy built to last.

Pandoras out of the Box.

The Decline and Fall of America

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In 2024, 75 million Americans voted into office a man who admires and wants to be Putin. The remaining 270 million Americans had better decide, now, if they are going to let that happen.

Trump already told us he wants to be a dictator, if only for a day. But with MAGA Republicans running the Legislative and Judiciary Branches of our country who is going to prevent him from becoming the American Putin? The Founding Fathers set up three branches of government with checks and balances, to prevent a dictatorship. Our 2025 Executive Branch will decimate those checks and balances and consolidate all power in the Executive Branch.

Trump is free, now, to be who he really wants to be and his lawyers and other co-conspirators have already warned everyone in all branches of government there will be a purge of all who don’t adhere to the MAGA playbook. The Orange Billionaire who cares about the working people has enlisted Musk and other billionaires to be in charge of The Purge. Fox News was already the Propaganda Machine leading the shaping of American sentiment, urging Americans to believe in the cult of Trump, and in 2028, if not sooner, Trump will use the new Executive power to suspend all elections and remain in power for as long as he wants. Just like Putin. Trump does admire Hitler, but sees the Putin Strategy as the best way to end the American experiment in Democracy. And most of America’s billionaires feel the same way. With Trump in permanent control, American billionaires can become oligarchs, Lords of the Manor, and be free from laws and regulations, and taxes.

You 75 million Americans who voted for Trump, is this what you wanted? Remember how you voted because of the economy? Or the Border? Or against women? All distractions from what Trump really intends to do.

Dissent, non-conformity, disobedience to MAGA rules, all will be verboten and punished until America is no longer the home of the free. Or the brave. We will have Gulags, but by another name.

Most senior politicians, especially Republicans are well aware of the potential for the Putin Takeover to happen, but do they want to do anything about it? This threat to America is successful, so far, because of appeasement by Republican leadership, though their lack of a desire to stop Trump has resulted in great financial benefit for themselves. Buying off obstacles is a key part of the billionaires strategy. Continuing to reward them for their support is the second step. Who wouldn’t want to be an oligarch?

It is a billionaire’s world, now, unless some politicians get a backbone and stand up for the average American. The Supreme Court will not. The Senate will not. The House of Representatives will not.

And thus, the American Experiment ends. After 250 years. We had a good run. As the billionaire said after Trump won, “Buckle up, America.”

For me, my age means I’ll get to see the transformation from democracy to dictatorship but not live long enough to care. But you younger people…be aware and be careful. Russia is coming. Enjoy the remaining days of American Freedom.

Note the Constitution is not mentioned. It has become irrelevant.

Random Stuff

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The numbers have changed but not the result. Trump is now a million or so 2024 votes over his 2020 totals, and Harris is still over 10 million short of Biden’s record haul in 2020. With still, about 30 million registered who did not vote.

A billion is 1,000 millions. Can you imagine having one million dollars? It’s a lot of dollars. Now imagine having 1,000 times 1,000,000 dollars. From Forbes “Real time Billionaires List”, I learned there were 13 billionaires in the United States in 1980. In 1990, we had 66. In 2000, Forbes counted 298. In 2010, 404. In 2020 614, and in 2024, as of September 30, 2024 there were an astounding 801 billionaires in the United States of America. (I did not get into details of how they were measured or recorded, just assumed they were measured and recorded the same way each year, and adjusted for inflation over the last 44 years.) You can digest this fact anyway you want. But I know very few millionaires.

The Daily Show is doing its best to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the Trump victory. It is a comedy show, after all, so Jon Stewart put up the electoral map of Reagan’s 1984 victory. The entire United States was red with Republican victories, except for Minnesota. With population increases, it’s inefficient to compare POPULAR vote totals, but Reagan won the Electoral College in 1984, 525 to 13. The biggest win in recent history. Walter Mondale was the Democratic nominee who lost but he had Geraldine Ferraro, a woman, as his running mate. Reagan won and was a good president but I am personally going to suggest his huge margin of victory had a little to do with misogyny.

Will a woman ever become president? No. An Artificially Intelligent (AI) candidate will probably win before a woman does. The modern American Male is not secure enough in his masculinity to let a woman lead this country.

I try to watch a little of Fox news to keep abreast of their latest grievance campaign. Fox is the snarkiest, least inhibited of all the Fake Lame Stream Legacy Media sites and watching them work so hard at being offended is often comical. It’s going to be fun to see how they navigate a Trump presidency…again. Fox wasn’t ready for the first four years, but they’ll be all wound up, this time. It will make for good viewing.

Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist who supported Trump, says the tech sector will “do more in four years than we’ve done in the last 40 years” and American should “buckle up. It’s going to pretty exciting to see.” Note my prediction of an AI candidate in a preceding paragraph. I do know a well-educated, intelligent, adaptive citizenry should be able to handle all that change, right?

Politics…The Last Word…from me, anyway

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Since I distrust politicians, I distrust politics and view it from afar. This cycle I switched channels at every political commercial, boycotted punditry on every fake or real media site, and received accidental doses of politics by sitting to close too people in public places and articles in my peripheral vision. In short, I try not to waste too much time on crap at my age.

But time has taught me a lot about politics,…and people. Trumpism, for example, appears to be Reaganism on steroids. When you view the political arena from afar and over time, you realize life goes on at both the national level and the personal level. Trumpism will be gone in a maximum of 8 years, if not sooner, and what will take its place? A point to remember is even with control of most of the government, presidents still never get all the things they promise.

But if Trump is the new Reagan, it means America has swung back towards a new (old?) era of white insecurity. And especially white, male insecurity. Reagan won in 1980 with his “are you better off four years ago” approach appealing to a country being led out of The Great Depression of 1973 by the last, honest politician: Jimmy Carter. Reagan made Carter look like an incompetent fool. Parse that sentence and understand every word. Carter was not an incompetent fool and the recession he inherited was caused by the mostly Republican Administrations that preceded Carter: Nixon and Ford.

As America recovered in the late 70’s, Reagan criticized and whined, and touched the nerve of an electorate unaware of the reality, and they voted out Carter.

We’re at the same point, now. Biden inherited a mess from a Republican President who contemplated ingesting bleach to end The Covid Pandemic. Four years later the country is getting back on its feet and Trump (not Reagan) criticizes and whines and makes Biden look like a fool. Trump doused himself with more idiocy in a televised debate with The Biden Replacement, Harris: “They’re eating the dogs and cats.”

The American electorate has never been very logical about an election, or even voted for its own self-interest, so 2024’s results are not a surprise: men voted against a woman, woman voted for a misogynist, and lots of white males probably sat it out, unable to convince themselves a woman could lead this country.

The pundits will dissect all the activities, but the salient theme of the election was white insecurity. Embarrassed Trump supporters told me “Don’t listen to him” when Trump said something stupid. But listen to him, they did. Trump’s most powerful message was this, to the white insecurity: “I’ll fix it.” And people believed. Go figure.

Now, the feces will begin to impact the air circulator. Remember “I’ll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.”? That incomplete wall added billions to the national debt. Reality is not just a hard pill to take for some, but for Republican voters, it is also something they easily forget. Or choose to ignore?

Time will tell, but Reagan did a decent job with his opportunity. Will Trump?

Peace, out, for politics. Back to my serene, graceful, blessed, normal trip to The End.

Wait. A word to the Evangelicals: good luck with The Second Coming and The Anointed One.