And so another day has begun. Ahh, but this day is so different. My love of more than 70 years has passed on, May 26^th to be precise. She suffered for a while from one or more conditions, and her body finally gave up its battle. And Carol Schmidt has now left me, and, more to the point, she has left you. She was loved and respected in so many spheres and by so many people that it is difficult to assure that all who knew her now realize she is no longer with us.

Carol’s life was so embedded with mine that her passing is too difficult for me to describe.  But, however close she was to me, and that was very close, she affected so many people in so many ways.  Her three children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren all knew her well and respected her love and caring.  Carol was surrounded by love and passed on her love every minute of every day.

But Carol also gave back to our world.  She spent so many hours of each day creating quilts for sick kids at our local Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital, creating over time hundreds of quilts, each one to make a sick child a little happier.

She also worked with our local library, teaching folks who could not read or write English well, to do it all a little better. She was loved for her work.

She was an amazing chef, mainly for me, but also for kids, grand kids, Greats, and good friends. So many people were so happy because of her cooking skills, and the love included.

But I felt our 70+ years together as a precious gift we gave to each other. We traveled the country and the world together. We lived in New York, and California, and India, and Massachusetts and Maryland, before arriving at our final homestead in North Carolina. WE loved our life here and it was reciprocated by all those around us. There are too many tales to tell, but mainly there is the LOVE. We loved each other so much and Carol was so much a part of me. When people now ask, “How are you?” I do not know how to answer. Because my brain is so filled with my now departed loving wife.

My LOVE, I Love you. You are still a large part of my brain. You are loved. I still think of July 2, 1955 as the day my real life began. You may be gone, My Love, But you will never be forgotten.

 

Life

 This message note is to acknowledge that I have now lost the most important piece of my life and my heart. My wife of nearly 71 years (7/2/1955) has now passed on from LIFE. She died peacefully, but she carried away with heart my love. She has been a truly amazing woman -- smart, energetic, fully loving, caring for others and for our world. She has been my love and my heart is broken.

Failing in America

 With all the talk about assassination attempts, I remain drawn to a different reality—Trump’s seeming passion for failure. I am thinking of his six bankruptcies.  And how, as I watch him and, more importantly, watch his supporters spewing Hate at all things Democratic, I now find myself imagining Trump actually killing America. How could he do that? Well, my memory goes back to those days of FDR, and WW II, when Americans were drawn together in the battles against Germany and Japan. Then the picture shifts as those wars end and we move into our standoff with Russia.  Yes, we had other wars, Korea, Vietnam, Middle East, and yes there were conflicting views among Americans about all those conflicts. But, in the final analysis, we just disagreed. We did not HATE one another or wish to kill one another.

Enter Donald Trump. Perhaps his main thought train is HATE towards anyone who disagrees with him. And as those disagreements grow in number and ferocity, his hatred grows, and that hatred spreads to his supporters. MAGA is not merely a political movement. It is the beginning of an army of hate-filled, heavily armed supporters. The folks who voted for him and now support him seem oblivious to his faults, many though they are. The fact of an illegal WAR, Iran, and even Venezuela, seems not to matter. It seems no longer possible to hold civil conversations with MAGA.

Having lived through many presidents and even working for two – Carter and Reagan—Trump seems anomalous.  I now would place him at the very bottom of our list of Presidents, with no one else even being close.   He would even, in my opinion, be near the bottom of any list of foreign leaders. Now does he equate with Hitler? Well, no, not yet. He has a ways to go on that killing of Americans thing.  But he seems moving in that direction.

AND, one of the forces pushing him in that direction is his MAGA supporters. They seem to be growing more hate-filled by the day. AND, they now seem to hate other Americans –Democrats, and really anyone not supporting Trump.

Now, are we headed to a new Civil War? Maybe, although I am not sure what that would look like. There are MAGA strongholds, to be sure, but there do not seem clean lines of division. A war of MAGA-Hatred would be a messy war indeed.  And its resolution seems uncertain, although, to be fair, I see our Military largely on the side of reason, not supporting Trump. Still, great risks remain with Trump in charge, and MAGA running free. I find myself hoping for some medical miracle—a fatal heart attack maybe.  See, Trump has moved my head into uncharted waters. Never before, even under some of our less wonderful presidents, has my brain gone to such a spot.

But it is important to note that I am now profoundly depressed about my/our America, and I have lived through presidents from FDR on. As I approach my own ending – I am, after all, 91 and counting—I am daily saddened by how Americans seem to grow in their hatred to one another.  That truly is sad.  Remember folks, there likely is NO HEAVEN and NO HELL. This is it. When you die, you simply cease to exist. Now think on that, hard. Whatever happens here is all there is. So, try to make what happens here as pleasant as possible, not merely for you, but for everyone. It’s all there is, folks.

Trump Ends

 We keep half joking About how Trump has embarked on a campaign that will lead eventually to the total destruction of America.  And then I keep reading FB postings about how one or another of our Congresspeople think maybe we should invoke that 25^th Amendment thingie so we can transfer Trump to some deserted island with his family and his cabinet.  And they can then rule over a handful of birds or fishies.

I have yet to read about we are going to try, convict and then punish Trump and his gang for war crimes—the kind of thing we accused the Nazi’s of in past decades.  To be fair, Trump has not yet killed millions, but he keeps trying.

It isn’t that Trump’s war crimes have gone unnoticed. Everyone paying even remote attention knows that is what he is doing, and knows equally that he needs to be in prison at least. And yet we do nothing. By now, all of our NATO allies have been completely disconnected as friends and allies. Think of that. All of our NATO allies now are no longer friends. Now they are not yet at the “enemy” stage, but Trump keeps moving us in that direction.

And now he has decided on some sort of peace deal with Iran. What/how is currently unknown, but it is a good thing. We did not need this war. It was completely unnecessary, and illegal. Maybe if the dumbass/evil Arabs would stop killing Israeli Jews, Bibi would not have emerged as a Nazi over there, and we might have avoided this illegal war.  But they do seem to love killing Jews, and, as long as they continue, Bibi will continue in his Nazi way to retaliate.

And I keep wondering about what if anything Congress is going to do, to pull Trump out of power. There really seems no power grid active to accomplish that.  And until that happens, Trump will remain an eminent threat to America and the world. Now, maybe he will continue his descent into the Netherland of Dementia.  Maybe if he awakens some morning and really does not know who he is, someone will get the message – Hey Gang, maybe it’s time we moved on without him. Of course, then we get Vance and the gang of idiot-malenfants he appointed.  Not sure if that solves the problem.

Ah well America, you lived a good long life. Maybe it’s time Canada annexed us.

Dump Trump

 TRUMP AND AMERICA

What to do, what to do? I keep getting FB pieces that tell me how some group wants to get rid of Trumpo and his Gang of Ignorant Nazi’s. And they always ask me if I approve. Well, as it turns out, it really doesn’t matter whether I approve. I have no vote in Congress. So, stop asking for my opinion.

How about, instead, if the people in charge actually do something. This all depends on how many support Trump and how many oppose him. In terms of the population at large, I assume there are really two main groups of people. Those who are now unalterably opposed to Trump and want to see him and his gang of idiot-malenfants gone. Think of it – a major illegal war in Iran, Trump punishing Cuba for no reason. Screwing up Hormuz entirely, wrecking our entire NATO alliance. And then, every time he speaks publicly, he sounds like a drunken, demented idiot.

Then, I assume there is some group of citizens who still support him—really folks??? You support this evil idiot?

But how big is that group? And Congress has to finally face facts. Trump is destroying America. He is way beyond some minor threat. He is heading us into bankruptcy, He is killing people around the world, as well as here in America. He could, if he continues, destroy all of America if someone does not stop him. AND, we are running out of time.

So, Congress, it is time you decide – stand by Trump, or stand by/rescue America. You need to get rid of him and his entire group—all of them, before they destroy us. DO IT NOW!!!

The Ending of America

 Well, I think he may have done it. Done what you ask? Well, destroy America. America, as we used to know it, was a country governed by three separate branches -- the Presidency, Congress, with its two branches, and a Supreme court overseeing the other two. Now apparently, we are down to that Presidency thing. It is apparently the sole functional branch of our government. And it is being run by an international War Criminal. We apparently no longer have any allies worthy of the name--let's see, does Putin count as an ally? Maybe, and then maybe Bibi, and that seems to be it.

That other branch called Congress, seems completely non-functional, if not dysfunctional. And the Supreme Court has apparently decided it will no longer rule on anything of consequence regarding our President. They are pretty much going to let him do whatever he wants.

And so now we are down to watching how the rest of the world responds, if indeed they do anything. I suppose if Trump decides to drop some nuclear bombs on someone -- Iran maybe??--our former allies, now bystanders, might have some commentary. But, and this is a big BUT, those former allies seem unlikely to take any action to stop the Orange Dude in the White House. And so we are left with a Nation led by an evil, Malenfant idiot. Will he turn to bombing the rest of the world, just cuz he can?? We will see.

Good Luck World. And America . . . you used to be such a grand nation. Such a shame. Bye bye