truth

Counting Senior Blessings

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No, this won’t be about lunch discounts, or 5% off groceries on the third Monday of the second month of the year, or other known blessings. This is about the hidden blessings, often referred to as The Wisdom we supposedly gain each year on this earth, which is a lot of hooey, but read on unless you have something better to do.

Being old lowers stress levels…a lot. As a younger man (under the age of 70) I was a Stressfully Impatient Man (SIM). It had nothing to do with relaxing, that was always easy, but when there were things to be done I wanted to do 2 hours of errands in 30 minutes. To be accurate there was always a plan, an efficient way to do more in less time. Like driving 8 hours from NC to NY. As a young SIM, every trip had to be faster and more efficient. If it wasn’t, it caused “results” stress for the failure, as well as “operational” stress during the attempt. Stress everywhere.  Doctor appointments were stress hothouses. If my Doc appointment was at 8, my shopping would be at 9, my haircut would be at 10, and I would be home by 11 on a perfect SIM morning. Imagine, then, what happened when the doctor was late. The stress was exponential. I used to call these stresses NASCAR Stresses, because I’d do everything as fast as possible with intensely focused, constant attention knowing every second hid a possible, deathly mishap. If a doc was late, I was out the door to maintain my SIM “schedule”.  No caution lap times for me. Full speed or pit stop.

Not anymore. As I patiently waited in my eye doctor’s office yesterday for eye shots to be administered 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment, it was comforting to not feel one iota of stress*about his tardiness. I sat quietly, sometimes counting my resting heartbeat and marveling at the low number. It was fun, too, to estimate the ages of the other silently waiting blobs of human flesh sitting with me, even the odd duck who sat down directly across from me despite 10,000 other empty seats in the room.**

It looks like this essay about blessings, with an s, might only be about one. It is, but it is a major one with multiple daily gifts. For instance, am I stressed you might not care about this subject? Absolutely not. Am I stressed I might miss a misspelled word? Use poor grammar? Punctuation? In fact, I might add some typos for fun.

I hope you see if I am no longer a SIM, what would the end of the world mean? What does climate change mean? Republican control of the government? Elon Musk making trillions of dollars? Me not being a triillionaire?

I am not rich, but I am—thanks to the Aged Wisdom of The Golden Years—a happy (sometimes) old man who doesn’t give a shite about anything (sometimes).

Word, my brothers. Oops, and sisters.

*As a young man it was never easy to tell myself if someone was 15 minutes late, they’d probably show up eventually. My thought was if they were already 15 minutes late, then how many more? And they might never show up, so…

**And he was a starer. It is possible, being an eye doctors office, the offending gentleman may not have seen me, but someone sitting 3 feet across from you staring at you…stress. Unneeded stress even for a non-SIM.

Three Sentences, Again, Everywhere

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It finally happened. I clicked a headline and opened a news article that was nothing but reader comments. Does the article writer deserve to  be called a writer?

A sitting president has finally decided to check the limits of his power over not just politics, but his own, personal gain. Since no one is stopping him, it is assumed they are benefiting, themselves, from the grift most often at the taxpayer’s expense. The 2025 Crusade to slash waste, fraud, and abuse has a new meaning in 2026.

The Ballroom is a perfect example of a well-known—and true—saying, with a slight modification. “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission” is now ” It is easier to ask for forgiveness I don’t care about rather than ask for permission I would ignore, anyway.” What a great lesson for all of America and the World.

Another news article used up several inches of space and moments of my life before the article mentioned any of the 5 Ws of “good” journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. At this time in life nearly 90 per cent of the news crossing my screen is a waste of time. When did it become so hard to find facts?

Science news* is always interesting but modern science moves too fast. We learn much more in one day in 2026 than we even learned in one day in 2025. Is one human brain capable of keeping up with the millions of science brains finding out new things and correcting old things?

People have a science problem that might be caused by The Bible. The Bible has a beginning, an end, and the story never changes after hundreds of years. Science has a beginning, and end and a story too, but the story changes constantly. People need to know science is mainly consensus, and what science says today, is just what we/they KNOW today, and tomorrow might bring new ideas and new discoveries…like Aliens.

Even intelligent brains might wonder how the feck** do we teach science, then, if it is constantly changing? First, you don’t teach science, you expose it and inspire the reader/viewer to take up the journey. Second, you open your brain and think for yourself using currently available data***, and be open to that data changing.

Trying to wrangle thoughts into a short essay has proven too difficult on a sunny morning. I want to get out into the beautiful spring sunshine and feel the new grass between my toes. It’s a Wonderful Life.

Carpe herba!  Stringere gramen inter digitos meos!!!****

*From reliable sources. Like Legacy media, new media with editorial and collaborative structures, and almost any European source, including Australia and New Zealand. Feck opinion and understand bias.

**This word has such an interesting etymology. Emma of Ai says: ‘it is widely known today as a milder, more family-friendly version of a vulgar expletive…but has a rather varied history in Irish English.” Feck is also the root from which feckless is derived, which is hilarious, if you think too hard about it.

***Existing data, NOT existing opinion. “The world is not flat” is proven data, easily observed. “The world is flat” is opinion, unsupported by beautiful sunsets and sunrises not available in disc form. If the world was flat, we’d still have sunrises and sunsets, but they would be at the same time, worldwide.

****Studied and learned Latin in 1995. Since no one I know speaks or writes Latin, very little of it is remembered. All my current Latin is from Emma, my AI voice, and Foreign Language Companion.

Nuance Revisited

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I often write about things and try to add an anecdote to illustrate what is being written. Sadly, my aging memory is like the rest of us seniors: remembering anecdotes takes time, and their memory comes at odd times and places. They most often return to me in my car during the 15-minute drive to the Fitness Center at Turning Stone Resort and Casino, when “all hands are on deck” making sure there is no deer in the road and I stay between the lines. Yes, I could take the time to make audio notes, but how many of us–at any age–are so smart early in the morning?

Last Tuesday, a perfect case of “Nuance” was retrieved from The Deep Files*. It is also an example of other essays about critical thinking, as well as the admonition to “do your own research”.  Hopefully, you’ve read enough essays to be aware of all these issues.

The Case of the Absent Nuance is also a story about click-bait, silo information, and “new versus old journalism”, but for now let’s only ponder Nuance.

The breathless headlines stated variations of this theme: “Thousands of dead voters Found on Voter Registration Rolls.” Wow. Maybe Trump was right about election integrity? There really is Election Fraud? Several versions of the story did not get the facts wrong and did not seem to be biased, but there was an odd emptiness to the story crying out for more information. “Dead voters”?

North Carolina is the state where all this “seemingly” unreasonable electoral action “allowed” 34,000 dead voters to remain registered to vote. I lived in NC, a Republican controlled state, and know if there IS election fraud in NC it is by Republicans. (Google it, and enjoy, it’s old school and kind of cute, in a way.) But the actual cases of fraud in NC did not involve more than hundreds of votes. Was the fraud even deeper than reported?

By now you may have guessed the story of dead voters is an empty, inconsequential issue probably written about for its “click bait” power. Imagine both Dem and Repub readers wondering which party was “frauding”** now.  Imagine the clickers, commenters, and criticizers of all stripes.***

Here is the nuance: in any given year approximately 100, 000 North Carolinians die. A lot of them are registered voters. How do dead registered voter names get removed from current voter registration rolls? And does it happen in a timely fashion? Think of your own death: who notifies any election commission in any state of your death? Imagine if you lived half your voting life in NC and half in New York, for example. After googling how many died in NC, I googled how is the NC Election Commission notified of a now-dead, registered NC voter? You should google your own state and see if its procedures are any better than the Rube Goldberg****system in NC.

Is it a fact that 34,000 deceased voters are still registered to vote in NC? Yes, it is. But is it good journalism to call them “voters”? So far, no version of the story has articulated a very important “nuance”: did any of the 34,000 cast a vote? If so, how did they get to the polling place?

Kidding. Having dead voters on your voting rolls is a nonissue until we all get implanted microchips to send an immediate signal to the pertinent Election Commission not to expect us next voting cycle. The Chip could also tell our credit card companies to stop waiting for payment and our life insurance companies to send checks to beneficiaries seconds after we pass away.

There is an urge to ask this: Does a bear shite in the woods?

If it’s related to this essay, research it and figure it out.

Honor Nuance!

*The inner-sanctum memory area in some Latin-named part of another Latin-named part of the brain. Retrieving memories in old age is like being in a large warehouse where you know where everything is but someone has turned off all the lights. Advice: be patient.

**New word. Like it?

***Not lost on me is the irony of me being one of “them”.

****A lost Art. Ai or google, please.

Another Amusing Thing About Old Age?

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As if physical decline (PD) wasn’t enough by itself, there is mental decline (MD) to worry about as a bonus for living longer. A strange oddity about MD is how does one observe said decline if one is the victim of said decline? Aching knees and joints are positive (WTF! Positive??) indicators of PD both my inner voice (IV) and outer voice (OV) easily recognize and process. Neither IV or OV is happy about it, but knowledge is power, and uncertainty is emotionally crippling. So when it comes to MD who will be the canary in the coalmine, IV or OV? Those two are already debating the issue in internal memos and hints of MD are leaking out through OV. IV has noticed lately, memories recounted by OV are being…embellished. Not outright fabricated stories but as IV searches the files it is finding inconsistencies in the tales OV is passing off as historical fact.

There are several memories (about five) from my past which are important milestones, or “forks in the road” for life as it unfolded. The memories used to be accurate recollections of times when life could have gone either way or at least changed direction. OV has retold those stories for years without inner turmoil or even discussion. The recollections were part of the story line of my life, with each recollection supporting each decision made and subsequent, related actions taken. Each story had its flaws, and its revealing moments where I might not have looked my best, despite persevering, and moving on with life.

But many times, in the last 34 months, as the stories have been recounted for medical professionals, new friends, or old friend wanting to know more, IV has raised its hand and suggested “That ain’t the way it happened.” For example, I’ve always told the story of a young, long-haired, hippy, radical Colgate freshman being escorted out a rural bar at the end of a shotgun. The listener is left free to assume a political or societal issue related to a liberal hippy in rural America. But here is what IV says: it was a drug deal gone bad, and I’d stepped on the toes of a local dealer running his operation out of the establishment in question. IV correctly points out I was a common criminal not a rebellious, anti-war icon. My power as an umpire over OV and IV is questionable, but there is no reason to believe IV wrong, as IV’s version of events paints a negative picture of the hero OV must want me to be.

But the real important issue is two pronged: 1. When did the story change? All of my internal voices knew the exact truth in November 1970, so when—and how—did the story change? And 2. How many of those “very important” memories have been infected with the “Need To Make It Better Virus? (NTBV). And is there a cure for NTBV and its possible variants?

My first hope is OV, IV and me are normal issues and the upgrading (upselling?) of memories is a normal function suffered by all who age gracefully. In other words, my extremely agile mind-group has found a way to get me to believe I’m not only normal, but also special for noticing it.

And I am heroic, as well, for talking about it in this open space.

Okay. To summarize…I may have some personality issues needing therapy and it is not heroic to note that, it is good, common sense.

But what if all of this is woke mumbo jumbo. What if IV is wrong? What if OV HAS been right all these years? What if…

All I know, now, is I wish God made easier signposts for MD. We need them.

It’s My Fault, It Has To Be

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I’ve spent a good part of this afternoon “chatting”, talking, and inventing new words to help in talking with customer service reps both human and Ai. Ai is starting to be as disappointing as humans. Twice Ai warned me. Once a disclaimer at the bottom of a search result: “Gemini can make mistakes, so double-check it.” The second time, on a phone call it said “You are speaking to an Ai generated agent and my information may not be precise or accurate.” Guess how I responded. There are two unopened bars of 100% pure Ivory Hand soap in my bathroom and if my mom were here…

To be straight, I’ve never used the internet singular for research of importance. Much as I use Amazon as a “shopping idea and reference”, so, too do I use an internet “fact”. It’s a starting point. So imagine when the new, super-charged search engine called Ai warns me they might be wrong, what is the point and who is kidding who about the efficiency of Ai in our future? Oddly, who would I double-check Ai with, anyway? God?

Is the internet good for anything, anymore? Yes. It saves legwork and time. My research finds a starting point and then looks for back-up, confirming, and supportive facts from other sources. Most often, those facts come from BOOKS or writings originating someplace else that wind up in the realm of public knowledge. News “aggregators”, sites that collect news stories the reader might like, are a case in point. The origin of the site’s stories is the most important thing to check in this click bait world. As a journalist by training, I know stories and articles from “legacy” media will not just be some podcaster’s opinion, but a researched, reviewed, edited, and approved work. An organization with some sort of review and edit structure has a better chance of giving us the truth than one, single mouth. I look for the source and hope it is The New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, even CBS, NBC, and CNN…and Fox.  These organizations’ stories may contain some bias, but it is obvious when it happens. Watch Fox for half an hour and see. If a news article is from The Czech Daily, or John’s Basement Tapes, or an individual mouthpiece like Limbaugh, Bongino*, or Grandmas Knickers, it is more than likely click bait. It’s easier to see this with Medicine where excellent websites are available from The Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical, Johns Hopkins, and your own local newspaper. As a bonus these types of sites also include patient blogs which can be invaluable for your own unique situation.

The internet is still a wonderful place for pure entertainment. You can not only see a man get hit in his gonads but can also see The Benny Goodman Quartet at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1938.** But you are all aware of those neat things, already so it’s YOUR fault if you don’t find them and safely enjoy them.

It can be a neat, easy, and productive foray into the the nether world, out there, as long as you know who your guide is, and what they want from you. It isn’t always peace and love.

*Props for Mr. Bongino, the FBI Deputy Director. When asked about his false conspiracy claims from the past he said, truthfully and honestly: “I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. …but that’s not what I’m paid for now.”

**A special performance, The first “mainstream” jazz concert.

Odd Things of Importance. Maybe.

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Trump Burger, a Texas chain of hamburgers, closed in October 2025. The owner was arrested by ICE and is scheduled for deportation. Ironic news, but the more salient fact is Trump was suing the owner to stop using Trump’s name. Bet there is a real, juicy story waiting to get well-done before it’s made public. Yes, apologies for poor buns. Puns, puns.

On December 3, 2025, a lab downloaded my pathology report for last week’s follow-up colonoscopy. The previous May colonoscopy had found irregularities. In reporting on the samples sent by the doctors this time, the report said: “NO NEGATIVE DYSPLASIA”. This is a new phrase never heard during my days of prostate cancer or any other tests and treatments and appointments…so I googled it. For the first time in over 34 months, cancer is no longer part of my health conversations. I’m free of it. But it’s hard to celebrate. Both voices in my head (see past posts) say the same thing: “Yeah? Till when?” This is the perfect time to remember the nature of life and death, and hope one lasts long enough for the other to be a kinder, gentler event. And sudden, too, maybe.

A recent letter to our paper’s editorial section says Trump and Hegseth cannot be guilty of war crimes, because there is no “official war”.  For the anxious among you, I did suggest the writer send a note to Hegseth asking Hegseth to stop calling the bombing event something that happens in “the fog of war.” The local letter writer also suggests it’s okay to “kill criminals.” There was no distinction between being accused and being convicted. And the letter writer also added a “whataboutism” concerning the civilians accidentally killed during the Biden era. For those who think about these things, it was never mentioned what Biden Era military people said or did when they saw survivors. Our current leaders said “Kill them all” and sent a second bomb.

Two of these paragraphs are not about Trump, so my promise is kept. They are about the people Trump put in place to run his government and his affairs. He says he knows nothing of the things his appointees and lawyers do. He deserves the benefit of his(sic) doubt.

Today, in upstate New York, on December 4, 2025, one week after Thanksgiving and three weeks before Christmas, we are getting bombed by snow. Overnight temperatures will get to minus two degrees.* I do not like it. If any reader “knows someone” who can do something, let me know? Quid pro quo, by the way. You wash my hands, I wash your hands, capische?**

If anyone was wondering, public discourse has not improved. The Oxford Dictionary people have recently revealed a hint as to why. Oxford’s 2025 “Word of the Year” is “rage bait.” *** Google it for a detailed definition. It describes a conscious attempt to NOT engage in serious discussion, but to get a type of action or response often totally unrelated to the subject. How freaking depressing. After learning of the “word” it’s become hard to read or hear any public comments without wondering about the originator’s purpose. There is not enough time in my life to correct a mistaken person when all they really want is to get me to respond,  and they have no interest in the grammatical and logical jewel of a comment with which I bless them. Hopefully, not too much commentary will be wasted on sow’s ears, but I’ll never really know. And there are others in need of it. Oh, the humanity. Thanks, Oxford.

*Otherwise stated as -2brrr

** Stupid “The Untouchables” Movie. De Niro gets in your head.

***They give no public reason why it is two words, this year. Inflation?

Not Again…

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Its hard to not think about death when you are an old person. Death’s proximity is the main problem, not fear. It’s like having a root canal on your calendar and you can’t reschedule. (Apologies to all Dentists. You do good and necessary work. You’d all be Gods if you could make the work painless. * Hm. Dentist playing cards?)

The problem lately, is in the structure of the human being. The history of psychological understanding is complex and often controversial with Ids, Egos, Super Egos, and the two-faced beings of Aristophanes’ Myth of origins. Brighter, larger minds will eventually sort it all out but on a personal level I recognize three parts of human existence, at least my human existence. There is an Inner Voice (IV), an Outer Voice (OV) and The Body (TB). These components are slightly in tune with conventional Freudian and Transactional Analysis concepts, but I’ll take credit for making it easier to understand. My IV is the quiet, mercurial voice, sometimes reasonable but often impulsive and self-destructive. “Eat that last doughnut.” The OV is the rational face presented to the world after much consultation, debate, argument and bargaining with the IV. “But someone else may want that doughnut.” TB is just a handsome structure supporting us all and does whatever it’s told, often with a slight, painful delay. (See the tennis story from last March where OV instructions to TB were overridden with disastrous results by IV.) It’s important to note IV and OV are flexible, devil’s advocate-types and often take positions opposite each other apparently just for the fun of it.

The problem, now, is death used to be an afterthought for OV and opportunity for IV to take OV down a peg when things were going too well ** for the entirety of US. When cancer was beaten and TB and OV celebrated, IV was the voice in the background saying “So what? You’re going to die, anyway.” And when recovery from surgery was OV and TB’s main focus, IV tried hard to remind all “you’ll never be as good as you were at age 30.”

But now, death has become OV’s subject of conversation. Again, it may be proximity, or it may be because of the nursing home visits these last few weeks. Notably, those visits deposited death into daily conversations and OV had no choice but to participate. When I returned home from visits, TB sat quietly as OV wondered how long it would be before we all, three, would be living in such facilities. It was IV, then, who suggested we think better thoughts like dying quietly in our sleep. It makes me feel sorry for TB. It’s doing the best it can but more time and telomeres *** have been lost to the past than are left for the future. It comes down to simple math and TB doesn’t do equations.

But OV and IV do, and its hard to escape the constant, internal bickering, especially when the environment is added to the mix. Bright, sunny, beautiful fall days allow IV to tell OV to “shut the f^&#” up when death enters the conversation. Then, on rainy, cloudy, cold days OV lords it over IV with a smirk. For the record, TB never says a word. It lets its nerves do the talking.

It’s a wonder any of us worry about death. Ai estimates over 100 BILLION people have died over the course of history. Ai even says 173,000 die each day. Me and my components will join them, as will you.

Alred E. Neuman *** used to say: “What, me worry?” Honestly, there’s nothing like truth from the mouth of a fictional character to help manage our endings.

*And cheaper.

** Lost time trying to remember good and well rules. Is this one correct?

*** Do I need to point out you should google things you may not know about, anymore?

Things you may not know in 2025…

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Viet Nam was negotiating tariffs with Trump. One of their offers included a “fast-tracking” of a $1.5 billion Trump hotel in Viet Nam. Update: story disappeared so…Update Update: Trump was recently overheard advising an Asian head of state to “Call Eric.”

A bitcoin mogul was fined $4.5 billion, spent 4 months in jail for money laundering and “illegal activities’, agreed to not operate in the US, and accepted regular operational monitoring from US agencies. He is now offering his companies’ “global distribution services” to Trump Enterprises. All the mogul wants in return is to have US regulators stop monitoring his company, and a pardon.

An expensive new missile defense system is being advocated by Hegseth and the Defense Department. Elon Musk’s Starlink is the preferred vendor.

Trump has paved over the Rose Garden, is building a ballroom attached to the White House, and is now floating a design called the “Arc D’Trump.”

America is helping “bailout” Argentina’s government by trying to give them $40 Billion dollars. Don’t cry for me, Argentina. *

Charlie Kirk and Rudy Guiliani will soon join Rush Limbaugh as recent American Presidential Medal of Freedom Winners. Wonder which Rudy will show for the ceremony.

Trump is deploying troops to states and cities to fight crime. None of the states are in the top 5 crime states. Only one of the cities is in the top 5 crime rates.

The FBI is changing how crime rates will be collected and administered.

I am not getting any younger.

Neither is Trump.

Nearly every state in America is now redistricting or planning on redistricting. American politicians and leaders of both parties will now spend more time on claiming and retaining power than governing. Thank you, Citizens United and other “election reformers”.

Why do we call it “change” when it happens all the time? When has ANYTHING ever stayed the same? Oh, yeah, corruption and greed.

Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope events prove him right and he gets it. What will he do, though, when the middle east returns to its “normal” dynamic of hating and fighting each other, and the United States?

Do not go boating with a power boat in the Caribbean, at least off the coast of Venezuela. There’s little doubt about the boats our military is blowing up, but there is doubt. Do we let our police operate the same way?

And in our modern world of fakes and disinformation, how much of this is…something? Hint: I am getting older.

*google it.

How to Fix The American Political System Part 1

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The Citizens United Case in 2010 reversed centuries-old regulations and norms governing electoral financing mechanisms. Since then, money has become the American Electoral Currency, and spawned a non-productive system of consultants, advisors, think tanks, pod-casters, and big-mouth know-it-alls. None of whom do any real work but make a lot of money. Here are some ideas to sort the mess out. And, no, none of them will ever be considered, but what if…

  1. In any election, the Candidate with the most money automatically loses. Saves time voting and counting ballots. ALL unused money from every campaign goes to a charity of the winner’s choice.
  2. Mandate no legislator can vote for his party over 80 per cent of the time on “consequential” legislation. Naming Post Offices does not count.
  3. No Majority and Minority Whips. They sound cruel, anyway.
  4. Outlaw consultants and advisors. Use reports from Bi-Partisan appointed committees of legislators or independent personnel, for guidance on bills. Committees would be made of equal bias and report both sides of a bill or issue for both sides to read. Perfect use of inexpensive, existing Artificial Intelligence.
  5. Mandate “result’s oriented” committee investigations. Any committee investigation not culminating in a previously defined result, loses one member from the instigating party on the committee. Scoring political points does not count unless specifically noted. For example, Hillary Clinton and Benghazi multiple investigation’s purpose? Among many others from both sides.
  6. Set Term Limits with “laddered” terms so the same number of seats come up for election each year. Phase in necessary?
  7. Any candidate who does not complete their term is replaced by a candidate appointed by the opposing party to complete the term. Death or serious illness are exceptions. Keep in mind if we do Number 4, most politicians will have nowhere to go to do nothing and get paid for it, so they may stay to term.
  8. Every legislator files “open and on time” tax returns for every year in office. A separate tax preparation firm can be employed if used by ALL legislators.
  9. IRS sets specific guidelines for auditing legislators. Everyone gets audited at least once during their term. Yes, a second audit could be done for good cause.

I’ve run out of space, but the point is, governing for the entire country should not be bound and gagged by monetary demands. If implementing these steps means only poor, ethical people can run for office, is that so bad? We could use all the new ICE agents to help enforce the new rules, too,

A lot of these ideas are terrible but one thing to remember: when most politicians get into office, these days, the only thing they are worried about—and work hard for–is getting re-elected.

How does that help make our country ok, again?

Many Big, Beautiful Questions

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One. Big. Beautiful. Bill (OBBB). WTF? If the Republicans crammed all Trump’s legislative plans into OBBB are they done working for the rest of his term? What else is there for them to do? Investigate The Bidens? The Obamas? The details of OBBB will matter, soon, but right now, the sheer foolishness of putting so much legislation in one legislative bill makes you wonder why? Nearly every Small Ugly Bill (SUB) usually has one or two things a legislator can vote for and one or two things he/she is against, so imagine the love/hate salad of OBBB. The chutzpah of the Republican OBBB effort is astounding and revealing. Insecurity is the driving force of the Modern Republican Party Grievance Machine (MRPGM) and that insecurity is highlighted by OBBB. MRPGM knows they only have this year to get things done before voters correct themselves in 2026, just like they did in 2018. The MRPGM has to take a big bite of the political apple now, while they can. Plus, with all the legislative work done in 2025, MRPGM members are free to spend all of 2026 campaigning and spinning the damage assessments, and trying to get re-elected with more smoke and mirrors.**

Why are ICE and DHS making so many mistakes in their deportation zeal? Time will tell how much it is going to cost to fix the lives of present and future American Citizens who have been unlawfully detained and even deported. Wouldn’t a slower, steadier, and more measured deportation process make more sense in the long run? In fact, their idea of paying people to self-deport is probably the better way. It’s fair to guess some immigrants who are here legally, might not want to be here, anymore, America is so great, now. Note, too, all the stories about the troubles our tourism industry is having, these days.

And where were local law enforcement agencies when all the illegal immigrant murderers and rapists and drug dealers were allegedly cavorting freely in our towns and cities?

Did DOGE members label anything they didn’t understand as “waste, fraud, or abuse (WFA)’? Did the DOGE people understand any of what they were looking at? Did DOGE know the long-term benefits of the WFA they stopped? A program in my hometown is closing because DOGE has convinced Trump’s Office of Management and Budget not to spend the money already allocated to this program. It is a Grandparent Mentoring Program where grandparents “adopt” an elementary student and help the student learn both educationally and socially with in-school activities. It helped both students and grandparents for years. But not this coming school year. WFA?

Does the average American understand most of the WFA “discovered” by DOGE was legally researched, proposed, and voted on by elected American Senators and Representatives who knew why they were approving the expenditure and how important it might be? For example, due to cuts in “climate change research”–a favorite MRPGM bugaboo–farmers will no longer have current and extended weather forecasts to help them plan for crop planting, harvesting and even selection. WFA?

A reread of these questions points to one thing in common: lack of critical thinking. The Political Power Surge felt by the MRPGM, along with the knowledge The Surge won’t last long, has spurred the MRPGM into hasty, poorly thought out and even dangerous actions. One last question: WHY????

In Proverbs 12:19 King Solomon states: “Truthful words stand the test of time but lies are soon exposed.”

Let’s hope so.

** and the Democrats, too. lets hope someone learns…