Life

Hmmm, is it just me, or is life without Trump chaos getting boring?  I mean, yeah, whenever he opens his mouth something terminally stupid comes out, but I’m now beginning to wonder whether he is afflicted with dementia.  It is hard to conjure another explanation for someone seemingly as stupid. And that might seem sad rather than hysterically stupid. Makes me wonder whether there was ever such a let-down period in Italy under Mussolini. Likely not in Germany under Hitler. I mean, he was so busy rounding up Jews for his killing machines.

And speaking of Jews and killing machines, what are we to make of Bibi and his killing machines?  I really do understand how the Stupids at HAMAS must trigger his killer instinct, but it really does seem as though Bibi keeps going over the mark of any reasonable human instinct. He seems to be beyond even his Israeli public. And now he could even mess up domestic politics here in the USA. I mean Biden does not need to give folks here any reasons to walk away from his election. We need all reasonable folks to show up at the polls and vote for Biden come this November.  Because we really, really do not need another Trump Presidency. Course, the Supremes could still act rationally and keep him (Trump) away from such a course.  But they seem a pretty unreliable course director for America.

But as I approach my 90^th this December, I am finding life in this here America more and more difficult to understand, no less tolerate. I mean, I worked in the US government under Ronald Reagan for heaven’s sake. And even that was at least tolerable. To be fair, I joined government when Carter was still president, but then St. Ronald intervened and somehow swayed the American public. Imagine that, Jimmy Carter, the sole of reason and morality kicked out of his presidency by the American people in favor of Ronald Reagan.  Still, to be fair, working under Reagan, as difficult as it was, must have been the definition of reason when compared with what life must have been like for workers under Donald Trump.  Now, to be fair, I finally quit after four more years because I was in fear of becoming braindead.  He brought in as my political boss, the stupidest man I had ever worked with or for.  Still, Reagan now seems the definition of reason when compared with Trump. I still cannot understand how any thinking human can even consider casting their vote for Donald Trump.  Well, maybe his ongoing run-ins with our Justice system coping with his dozens of criminal offenses will actually, eventually cause Americans to return to sanity.  You think folks?

Oh well, maybe I can stop thinking about Donald Trump for a while and think about . . . what, Global Climate Change? I refer to events such as that recent sortie of tornados that did much damage and killed some folks in our Midwest recently. That really scares me, almost as much as a Trump presidency. And we seem to have about as little control over either of them.  I keep thinking, “God, I am almost 90. What an awful way to have to live out my limited remaining life period,” But then, I think, “hell, Richard, think about your grands and your Great Grands. They have their whole lives ahead of them. What are they thinking?”

Maybe America, and perhaps even the world at large will finally come to its senses and begin to deal with Climate Change before it becomes irreversible. And then, maybe they will throw out the Trumps of this world (and there are many), and engage sane behaviors instead of killing everything in front of them. Yeah, a sane world, maybe even a peaceful world, where Love could re-enter and Hate would beat a hasty retreat. We (my generation) failed at that, but maybe the generations of youngsters will finally enter and begin acting rationally. Now that would be nice, even if I am not here to see it happen. So, c’mon kids, it’s your turn at the wheel of Life.

Dreaming

Wondering what it’s like after our world becomes uninhabitable. Or maybe after all the habitants of Earth, well maybe just the Americans, are shot to death by the few remaining Americans who still own guns? Or, how about this? What will life be like after Trump becomes President again, and declares that the day of the Presidential election is now over and he will simply stay in power for as long as he wants.

Yeah, won’t those be fun?

See, the world’s Climate scientists are now telling us that it may already be too late to correct the worst of Climate Change, and that we now need to prepare ourselves for a permanent shift in weather. See, days in America will now be routinely 130 degrees.  And when we get rain, it will mainly be furious thunderstorms that drop 6-10 inches in a few hours.  Oh, and blowing over trees, or maybe even a few shaky houses. See, the wind accompanying the storms will likely be 75 miles per hour, so we need to nail everything down.

And then in between the storms, the NRA plans to arm everyone in America with a combination of 9 MM automatic handguns and automatic machine guns.  See, instead of public debates about contentious issues, the NRA and their republican supporters will just show up at debates and simply shoot everyone on “the other side”.  Republicans have already approved this approach.

Oh and then all the trials of Donald Trump have been declared invalid attempts to illegally gain power. He has declared himself immune from all criminal prosecutions, and has asked the NRA to remove all of the illegal judges and prosecuting attorneys who were selected by that other side—you know, those Democrats. So, he has decided that all Democrats are criminals by definition, and they are to be placed in camps on the edges of our Nation.

And then there were NONE.  Yeah, all Americans who opposed Trump are to be declared illegal aliens, placed in the camps, and then eliminated.  Only then will America be safe.

OMG, and then I awakened, after a nightmarish sleep. I turned on NPR and America still seemed to be here in one piece. And although the weather forecast some rain and a high of 84, nothing more disastrous was expected. 

Oh, and those trials of Donald Trump? Well, they seemed to be taking too long, but at least they are continuing.  Goodness, that was an awful dream state I was in. I wonder where that all came from? Oh, yeah, I know. I really should stop reading the news too late at night. I need to return to watching “Are You Being Served”, or “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” on TV just before heading for bed.  I’m getting way too old to listen to anything Donald Trump is saying, especially very late at night. Yeah, return to BBC comedies Richard. Leave the real world of late night News Horrors to the permanently Young at Heart,

Return to America

 I just finished reading the Sunday New York Times.  I love reading that paper, but this morning there seemed more about Donald Trump than I wanted. I know, I know. He is the republican candidate for president in the 2024 election.  But how is that actually possible?  See, I’m pushing on to my 90^th year this December. I came on board in December 1934, you know, the height of the Great Depression.  I don’t know what life was like then. My brain wasn’t functioning yet. But I begin remembering back in, say 1939-40.  We listened to that thing called a radio? Somebody called FDR, Roosevelt I think they called him, used to tell us about how life sucked in that depression. And then, just when you thought it couldn’t get much worse, FDR told us about some place in Hawaii called Pearl Harbor that had just been bombed by the Japanese warmongers. And then, I’m not sure whether it got worse or better all of a sudden. I mean, that depression didn’t just go away, but then it did, cuz we were all busily activated by our war machines. My mum got a job with a company designing naval vessels. My sis decided that school was now in the past, even though she was only 16 and a kid in Julia Richman high school. But she left her schooling and went to work with my mom as a typist at Gibbs and Cox.

And you know what??? The daily newspapers didn’t even mention Donald Trump, or his Nazi father. Generally speaking, Americans in the 1940s did not much like Nazi’s, of either the German or American variety. But see Junior, you know, OUR Donald had not yet been born. There remained lots of time for him to grow up and claim his bone spur excuse for not serving.  Now his Daddy, Fred, was alive and kick’n.  He was busily making money and teaching his kid, Donald how to make money. His wealth has always been a bit of a mystery to most of us. A quick check with Wiki shows the following:

“Trump has often said he began his career with "a small loan of one million dollars" from his father and that he had to pay it back with interest. He was a millionaire by age eight, borrowed at least $60 million from his father, largely failed to repay those loans, and received another $413 million (2018 dollars adjusted for inflation) from his father's company. In 2018, he and his family were reported to have committed tax fraud, and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance started an investigation. His investments underperformed the stock and New York property markets. Forbes estimated in October 2018 that his net worth declined from $4.5 billion in 2015 to $3.1 billion in 2017 and his product-licensing income from $23 million to $3 million.

Contrary to his claims of financial health and business acumen, Trump's tax returns from 1985 to 1994 show net losses totaling $1.17 billion. The losses were higher than those of almost every other American taxpayer. The losses in 1990 and 1991, more than $250 million each year, were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers. In 1995, his reported losses were $915.7 million (equivalent to $1.83 billion in 2023).

In 2020, The New York Times obtained Trump's tax information extending over two decades. Its reporters found that Trump reported losses of hundreds of millions of dollars and had, since 2010, deferred declaring $287 million in forgiven debt as taxable income. His income mainly came from his share in The Apprentice and businesses in which he was a minority partner, and his losses mainly from majority-owned businesses. Much income was in tax credits for his losses, which let him avoid annual income tax payments or lower them to $750. During the 2010s, Trump balanced his businesses' losses by selling and borrowing against assets, including a $100 million mortgage on Trump Tower (due in 2022) and the liquidation of over $200 million in stocks and bonds. He personally guaranteed $421 million in debt, most of which is due by 2024.

As of October 2021, Trump had over $1.3 billion in debts, much of which is secured by his assets. In 2020, he owed $640 million to banks and trust organizations, including Bank of China, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, and approximately $450 million to unknown creditors. The value of his assets exceeds his debt.”

So, Trump has always had both a lot of money and a lot of debt, but his debts, often associated with his many business failures have been a bit of a cloud hanging over him and his many wives.

According to a Wiki summary:

“Although Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy, hotels and casino businesses of his have declared bankruptcy six times between 1991 and 2009 due to its inability to meet required payments and to re-negotiate debt with banks, owners of stock and bonds and various small businesses (unsecured creditors). Because the businesses used Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were allowed to operate while negotiations proceeded. Trump was quoted by Newsweek in 2011 saying, "I do play with the bankruptcy laws—they're very good for me."

The six bankruptcies were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York: Trump Taj Mahal (1991), Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992), Plaza Hotel (1992), Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009). Trump said "I've used the laws of this country to pare debt. ... We'll have the company. We'll throw it into a chapter. We'll negotiate with the banks. We'll make a fantastic deal. You know, it's like on The Apprentice. It's not personal. It's just business."

So, Trump was given a great deal of money from daddy, and has made a bit of a mess over the years. But, given his lack of intellect, perhaps his many business failures should not be a surprise.

But it really is not his lack of business acumen that is at issue in the upcoming election. The election is really all about America—shall it/can it actually survive another election blow by Trump?  There are many talks about what Trump has done to America, including a few that suggest the possibility of a new Civil War, should he lose this next election.  He himself has suggested a “Bloodbath” may follow the election, should it go in the wrong direction.

But what does that all say about America, 2024?  Trump is really like some horrible joke being played on America by some outside (Vlad the Impaler??) force.  I mean, we have had divisive presidents in our past—think Nixon, Reagan . . . But none of our past presidents even came close to the psychological mess that is playing out today throughout our country.  I mean, I do not understand how Americans can be taking this idiot-doofus this seriously. I certainly understand that many right wing republicans do not like Joe Biden.  But, I’m sorry, Donald Trump? You actually, seriously will cast your vote for this Idiot-Malenfant?  So, you really do not care if America then dissolves into a chaotic mess worse than anything seen before in the civilized world? Really??? And you are willing to leave that broken pseudo-nation state to your kids and grandkids? Really?

If that is really the case America, then I guess we do not deserve to survive as a nation. Maybe we should all just return to whichever nation from which our forefathers originated. Give America back to our original Native Americans.  

And how sad is that? How, after almost 90 years could I possibly reach this state? Republicans. Please repent of your wayward ways.  We need you. The world actually needs you to be responsible. Kindly walk away from this mess you have created. Leave Donald Trump to the Dumpster. Surely you deserve more than this big piece of trash. Come back to that America we all loved and respected.  Return to CIVILIZATION.

God(dess)

I am looking around and find that if God actually produced humankind, she really screwed up. So maybe that means that God did not/could not have weighed in on humankind’s future.  What do I see here? Well, let’s take Arizona. The republican state legislature just allowed (insisted?) that the state should once again be guided by an abortion law passed in the 1860s. Think of that. The Civil War was still raging. There were no women in that Arizona voting body; in fact I think women could not yet even vote. So, men decided that women should never have an abortion, regardless of the consequences. Even if a woman had been raped and then became pregnant, she still had to continue the pregnancy.

So a God invented those men who decided that??? Really?

Oh, and then we have the Ukraine, where a man, Vlad the Impaler, has decided that he wants/needs to retain control over the territory we know as the Ukraine.  And he will kill as many Ukrainians (and Russians) as that takes to achieve. See, Vlad doesn’t really care about human life, so long as he gets what he wants. Some estimates assert that a half million people have either died or been seriously injured in Vlad’s War. So, God is in charge??? Hmmm, I think not.

Oh and then we have that other war, the Israeli-Hamas war, begun last October.  Estimates suggest that over 33,000 Palestinians, including over 10,000 children have been killed and over 1,100 Israeli’s have died. All this to???? Convince Israeli’s to move out of Palestine??? God??? Hmmm, I think not. It is likely that post-WW II Europeans caused this current mess, you know the one that has been going on there since about 1948. Yeah. Maybe if the Europeans, instead of allowing German Jews to take over a part of Palestine, had decided to separate, say 25% of Germany and given that to German Jews as the New State of Israel, this current mess would not be happening.  God, what have you done here??? Hmmm, God??? I think not.

Instead, it’s the result of humankind acting stupidly, as humankind almost always does.  Why such stupidity? Well, I have been alive since 1934. Since then we have had wars in Europe, called WW I, Europe again in 1939 called WW II, then Korea in 1950 something, then Vietnam in the 1960s, then remember all that fun in Afghanistan, India, the whole of the Middle East throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Even little places –remember that Irish thing, The Troubles they called it?  And then all those white people expanding their grip on territories owned by people of color in India, America, Australia, and Africa.  In fact, I am hard pressed to recall any substantial period of time since I came into existence where we have not had wars going on somewhere. Humans simply like killing people as their first approach to taking charge of some territory.  And God did that?? Hmmm, nope.

So, if God does not do these terminally stupid acts of killing, is it just the case that God was wildly reckless and invented a seriously flawed creature we know as Humans? Is that your theory about God? That she could be that careless in inventing such an awful creature as humans?  And, in believing that, you still choose to worship that God?  Really?

Oh, I know, God invented butterflies, and bees, and Birds and stuff, just not humans.  And so you pray so as to thank her for being kind enough to give us bees, et al.  But then, why do you always look upwards when someone dies, and then pray to God to allow that Dude into that place we invented called Heaven (or in say Trump’s case, Hell)?  Well, even though she did not actually invent humans, God still looks after them after they cease to be human and pass on into their actual godly life in Heaven.  Yeah, that’s nice, huh?

So, I am almost 90, well past my sell-by date, and now look forward to . . . what again?  Well, if I think there is no God(dess) and no actual place called Heaven, then whenever my time comes, what? I just cease to exist? And what does that mean? Nothing you say? Hmm, so my brain stops working at some point and then, I no longer know anything, including the fact that I no longer exist? Hmm, that sounds like fun, huh? Well, at least, I am unlikely to be sent directly to Hell, without passing Go. 

That’s nice.

And in the meantime, Humans, could you just try not killing so many other humans for a while? Now that would be nice, even if completely counter to Human psychology.

So, be nice for a change Humans. Stop killing.

Oh, and on that abortion thingie,  the God says to let a woman decide about her own health and her own body. Men, step aside please. It ain’t your decision.

The Day the Store Died

 I was trying to make our usual morning cappuccino this morning. I had completed making the two espressos, and now I was ready to foam some milk for the cappuccino foam.  I flipped the switch on our Cappresso machine to ready it to foam the milk. Then I placed the foaming nozzle into the milk and turned on the nozzle. And I looked, as nothing happened. Some minor steam came out of the nozzle, but not enough to matter.  The steaming section was apparently not working. I fooled with the machine for a bit, but to no avail.

So, we drank two nice espresso’s instead.  Then, after, I played with the machine, but, again, to no avail. The steam part apparently was done. This machine had given us great results several times a day, for well over six years. I guess we were done.

So, we began looking at a similar replacement.  We looked online, and found a similar machine at both Best Buy, Target and, of course, Amazon. So, I checked and it seemed to be available at Target. I did not wish to buy online if we could run over to the local store and come home with a new machine. So, we drove over to our local Super Target.  And we went over to the kitchen equipment and found a nice array of coffee machines. Except . . . yeah, Except, the store did not have the machine we wanted. Nope—several other brands, but not the one for which we had come shopping. For that, we would have to go online. And then, of course, we could buy it from any of several sources, including, of course, Amazon.

So, we ordered the machine online. Huh!. I had been hoping to buy locally and bring one home in our car. But no, the world of online shopping was compelling us—BUY ONLINE.  DO NOT SHOP LOCALLY> BUY ONLINE.

As I drove home, we passed by the now closed Sears store. Yeah, it had dominated a local shopping mart for maybe 25 years, then it closed.  Sears is a funny example here. Because, it was the Sears Catalog that dominated for decades. When we lived in India, we used the Sears catalog with some frequency if we wanted, say, some American clothing.  The catalog was as American as apple pie.  But when we returned home, while we still might shop Sears, we went to an actual store.  See, we liked shopping at stores, feeling the merchandise so to speak.

And now, some 50 years later, shopping at stores is becoming an infrequent event, with “shopping” reduced to online “catalogs” (well technically they are not catalogs). Instead, we type something into a search engine, and it pops up in a dozen versions, telling us where we can buy it and at what price. Then we go to that online “place”, buy the item, pay for it, and schedule it for delivery. That’s called “shopping” in the 21^st century.  No “feeling the merchandise” any longer.

 And all this makes me wonder, when will actual stores no longer be available?  The big stores like Target, Sears, Walmart and Best Buy will likely close up soon, and convert into online solely. Then of course, the online stores will also begin closing as we head into a future with THE STORE—yeah, one online “store” where we buy all of our non-food items.  I suppose food will still require “stores”, for a while at least. I guess, at some stage, Amazon will figure out a way to deliver asparagus and carrots to us through online shopping. Oh, Farmers Markets, we will miss you.

This all makes me very sad. But then, pretty soon, I will be gone too. I am heading into my 90^th this December, having outlasted all my family. So, maybe “the Store” will outlast me a little, but not long I am guessing. And our Great Grandkids may simply not understand what is meant by that term, “The Store”.

Sigh . . .