Old problems, new solutions?

This idea has bounced around in my head all day like a hot pinball machine, racking up points the ball going everywhere, yet at the end of the day I am back where I started. I think?

Seriously though, something caused my brain to run around in hundreds of tangents and I cannot remember where I started, yet at the time it was important.

I hope to narrow it down for you.

Here are the problems: Wall Street, trash and pollution, jobs, education, and so how does all this tie together?

I vaguely remember thinking earlier it would be like taking all the trash out of the ocean. Which to me is a goal we should reach. I do not remember what made me think about the trash in the ocean, but I got started thinking about why is it so hard to get people to make cleaning up our environment a priority, then the obvious hit me. There is no money in it. Duh

People talk about recycling, yet even that never gets real traction. And the recycling companies struggle to make money. I do not know the logistics of it, but let’s work on that.

Or do we need to make money from it? And this is where the Wall Street problem comes in. Instead of trying to have a for profit company that has to answer to stockholders that expect ever increasing sales, why not accept that not all companies are growth companies, some can survive without constantly trying to please Wall Street’s insatiable greed.

The key is structuring the expectations carefully and structuring what the goal of the company can be.

So instead of always trying to “grow”, instead create a dividend generating company so it has public investment and allows for income only. If you know securities you have probably have heard of preferred stock. Imagine a company with something similar, no common stock. There are no earnings structured by the stock price. Everything is based on annual earnings.

Now this would not work for most corporations especially those that sell products. The difference is you aren’t selling a product and you are doing the public a favor. And this is not specifically for recycling companies, that is just one example.

Sticking to that example though, recycling companies receive contracts from both companies and governments to clean areas, or a combination of general recycling and clean ups.  The company earns x amount of dollars and the profit is sent to the investors in dividend income. Outside of capital expenditures to meet new demands or invest in better technology, the majority of the net profit is paid out.

You do have the problem of possible fluctuating income based on the contracts, yet this is a bit of a public private partnership. And to carry this further, here is an extreme example.

Coal is a dying industry, no matter how hard people try to revive it. And has it dies people are losing jobs. And coal is dirty, not just in air pollution, but what it has done to the environment where it is mined.  And who has benefited the most from this, the corporations who ran the mines. And this is extreme and the coal industry won’t like it, but the government can exchange the cost of cleaning up the environment, retraining some of the workers to how it needs to be cleaned up and letting investors come in and create a company that not only cleans up the environment, but also restores either farmland or forests or brand new planned developments to invigorate the local economy and environment. The cost to the coal companies can be either they hand the land back to the government or they pay a direct fee. The government collects the fees and pays the new company or the government pays the new company through bonds and taxes then once the clean up is completed they sell the land to the newly created economy, ie forestry, farms, or new development.

And here is the kicker, the company that does this has planned end. Once the project is completed the company can be broken up or shut down and all the assets sold to finalize the payoff to the investors so they can go invest elsewhere.

The government isn’t in the business of cleaning up and finds the resources outside of raising taxes or it invests in the land and recoups their investment to offset future taxes. Once the environment is cleaned up then there is less taxes needed going forward.

And there are other companies along the same lines. And these are supply chain companies, manufacturing companies, and others. We need to go back to the business of products that can be recycled, like glass bottles, we have aluminum cans, but they are forced to perform under Wall Street pressure, and other items like real cloth instead of “synthetic” fabrics which are really plastic. The exact same companies that make plastic can switch gears and go back to products that either decompose like paper or can be recycled. THe difference is the producers are also the recyclers and this part of the business helps to offset costs, but they are not bound by Wall Street growth factors. Some may and some probably could, but overall a secondary industry that maintains a status quo of that gives you a predictable business model.

Recessions might have some effect on income, but recessions would only have muted effect. Jobs would not be as drastically affected if you knew you could adjust the dividend temporarily, or always have the dividend underpaid a small amount and the company actually has a savings account to adjust for moderate fluctuations in income so investors can rely on their plans.

We receive a secondary gain because the same jobs that rely on plastic production get switched over to the recycle industry and we have less reliance on oil. Will the oil industries be upset, yeah but who cares. They can invest in the new production just as much as the rest of us. People are always pro free market when it benefits them, take away something and they whine just like everyone else.

The trend will eventually be away from oil as it was with coal over time. They can stay relevant by investing their current profits into new ventures. Don’t believe me, research what T. Boone Pickens is doing.

And we can use the same principle to clean the ocean or wherever. Industries that benefit from the use of the ocean pay a fee to the companies responsible for cleaning and recycling what they collect. Governments can create treaties to facilitate their fee schedule.

Basically it is a temporary tax to do business that has a built in reduction as time goes on. The more the clean up is successful the less there will be in the future. There may be a smaller version of the company as time goes on, but that is good. The fees become smaller for the companies etc...and jobs can transfer to the very industries that paid the fees as they now have more potential growth as habitats and environments come back. And this “tax” or fee is applied to the companies that receive the most benefit instead of being part of larger taxes whole citizenry face that if run by governments never goes away.

Businesses can be structured where success in completing the project is where managers and employees receive bonuses, not stock price. Many of these projects will go on for decades and some of the businesses will become part of our lives. The investments won’t pay the like the growth in Apple or Amazon stock, but the investors will know that. And these will be great investments for pension plans, trusts, retirees, as similar to bonds they generate income.

So how are the original issues resolved, plus some other benefits.

Wall Street’s influenced is reduced so the certain businesses can operate solely on their core plan.

Clean up helps the environment, and as people look for new ways to address different scenarios new technology develops so businesses develop to fill this need.

Taxes can be reduced as we can switch the responsibility of EPA super clean ups to these companies. The fees are paid by the corporations who created the problem, hence some government interaction will be needed to enforce, but the overall burden doesn’t fall on the general populace.

Stable industries help communities develop so local tax bases can spend money on what is important to the community such as better schools. Retraining to help people in dying industries make the switch can encompass  more than just job specific training. The need for new technologies offer new opportunities for research and development which requires more people attending higher education.

Consumers are not affected over the long term as the switch from plastics to products that either decompose on their own or more recyclable products come back into everyday use.

So you go back to paper, glass, continue use of aluminum, cotton and wool clothing, (agriculture) etc.. these businesses still exist today, you just expand them to replace all the plastic currently being used. It may not bring a net job gain, but you should not lose jobs either. Over time you might get the gain as some of these industries will become more localized by their nature, especially the clothing changes. And since these products will either be used for other products or products direct to the consumer they have the opportunity to be more traditional corporations closer to what we had in the 50’s and 60’s with just more automation and technology.

To some people this is pie in the sky thinking, when actually it is basic common sense. This won’t happen overnight, but we could begin right away. The big key is changing the mindset and millennials today already have some of this mindset.

And this has looped through my brain in many shapes forms and fashions today, so it is hard to come back and write it down. I hope you get the jist of it and gives you some food for thought. The examples aren’t as succinct as I would like, but if I try to rehash it all, it becomes even more jumbled.  

Cheers

A headline moment

Couple of quick thoughts in some current headlines; okay one story has been in the news for it seems years now.

All I can say is the Democrats still cannot force the issue with impeachment. If they bring impeachment charges in the House and let McConnell destroy the whole thing in the Senate they are only giving Trump an extraordinary amount of ammunition for 2020. McConnell will do everything in his power to keep the Senate from convicting Trump. So until you hear 67 Senators or maybe even a bit more say they will vote for conviction so McConnell doesn’t have a choice, I would stay away from impeachment. I know some will say we have to do it and hold the Senate accountable, but losing hurts the Democrats in more ways than one.

They will need some real hard ugly undeniable evidence to bring it to the Senate. I have said before and I will say again, stick to the issues and force Trump into an area he can’t survive by making him come up with real policy not slogans.  The more Trump has to actually speak on coherent issues, the more his followers have a chance to see he is a fraud. There is still enough on the fence that are rational people. He falters and they realize he isn’t what they thought. There will still be many followers no matter what, but if he falls into the 30+% approval rating going into 2020 he will get crazier and crazier with what he says and scare off enough people that some Republicans will begin to back away. I still think there is a bunch of Republicans on a power trip trying to wrestle complete power away from the people, whether Trump is leading or is their visible engine the best thing to do is to expose him for the fraud he is to his followers. The best way to do that is get Trump keep speaking on the issues he knows nothing.

Letting him use slogans on hot button issues is not the game the Democrats want to play. Then again, they are clueless.

And speaking of fraud, what is going on with this wall being built in Sunland Park, New Mexico. I am of the humble opinion that they are building this wall section to get more donations. They must know in the long run this is going to fail. Way too many local regulations, state laws, politicians, environmental groups, and flat out desert for them to even begin to put any reasonable semblance of a wall up.

This whole venture will produce nothing more than a deteriorating eyesore in a couple of years. A bunch of random manmade pollution thrown out into the desert that has absolutely no purpose.  

Who is going to maintain what does get built? How many landowners are really going to want this on their land? How well is this being constructed since they are throwing this up so fast? What kind of legal battles will go on for years in the courts? And how many illegal immigrants will walk around what is built or wait and bust through it as it begins to crumble? Are the builders guaranteeing anything?  This is an absurd waste of time and resources, yet I feel they will spend years convincing people to send them more money as they “fight” their legal battles, put up a wall here and there to look like they are accomplishing something, and spouting some nonsense about being productive Americans that care about our country. And they will get lots of noise press from the alt right internet sites and the infamous cadre of Fox News nighttime talking heads. Yeah, everyone that is against the wall is against America will be one of the drumbeats of insanity we will have to endure for a while. Sometimes I feel there is a deep state of these individuals trying their best to flush the Constitution down the drain because of their complete lack of morals and human decency.

Don’t get me wrong I believe we need stronger immigration policy. This wall in whatever shape form or fashion being developed is not the answer. We need our Congress to come up with real policy that has teeth and fixes some of the real problems we have with our ports of entry. Manpower is one answer, technology is another, and more streamline immigration categories may be another, a random wall in the desert shouldn’t be on the drawing board, much less left in the hands of private citizens with whatever crazy  agenda they have going.

The NBA Finals began tonight and the anticipated destruction of the Raptors hasn’t happened yet. The Raptors hold a ten point lead with just over 8 minutes in the fourth, but Lowry just committed his fifth foul. Can Toronto find enough to survive the next few minutes with him on the bench and still keep Golden State at arm’s length? Let’s hope the Raptors can make this a good Finals. I do not care who wins as long as the games are good.

Then there is the possibility that getting beat in Game one will be one giant wake up call for GS. We will see.

Cheers

Years from now there will be studies done

And they still won’t have an answer as to why the United States of America went mad.

They will talk about changing demographics; stagnation in people’s living standards; political apathy that turns to political distrust then to political anger; excessive influence by something called one percenters or the donor class; youth that became disconnected with humanity vis a vie technology; misguided expectations; excessive debt; idolization of celebrities; and more. Yet, they will not be right. These topics may be part of the problem, but the collective madness that permeated the entire country will defy any logical explanation.

As all good psychologists do, they will want to label this madness. Even this will fail, the madness is so unique.

The same country that created the world’s greatest economy; brought forth social changes never before seen in human history in rapid fashion; reached the cusp of improving the lot of humanity; created and invented at an outstanding rate; almost destroyed itself in a Civil War that to prove that all men have inalienable rights; and more. It accomplished so much in 200 years and was ready to go even further when for some still  unexplained reason fell upon itself in just a few decades. At first the decline was slow, but accelerated near the end at light speed.

Institution after institution was dismantled by a complete loss of decorum, belief in what was true disappeared; education was an afterthought; social interaction was dictated by the devices people used to interact, no more did they talk, only swarm together in technological hives and feedback loops that validated their existence and beliefs; human touch disappeared as these devices claimed every waking moment; civil discourse was replaced by public hatred; moral high ground became a valley as people shunned any semblance of a value driven society; greed and fame became symptoms of this loss of values; everyone blamed others and no one took responsibility either at the individual level or at the societal level and all this even though the greatest document mankind had ever written was the foundation of the country’s very existence. A document that outlined a pragmatic way to live what some called the Golden Rule, to treat others with the respect they would expect to be treated by others.

There will be papers, thesis, books, and more, yet there will not be an answer. The madness was so complete the country collapsed upon itself in an ugly societal explosion that caused a massive crater in human existence. The aftershocks spread throughout the planet almost causing a complete acquiescence to the same madness. It would take decades for the rest of humanity to be able to stand up once again and move forward. And it would take decades for people to look back at this madness and come up with the courage to study it. The fear always being it would reappear, yet mankind wanted to know. They won’t and their best defense was to run completely from this madness and live a much simpler life.

I hope I am wrong and we survive our current dehumanization of the human spirit and move forward again. I truly want us to do better.

Cheers

 

Are they really changing their spots?

I read an article about the Koch foundation and some of the changes in philosophy(?) they are making. I read this more than a few days ago so details are faint.

They are making changes to how they approach their goals and even some of the goals. Pretty interesting article, I think it was from the Washington Post. If you can find it, I recommend reading. I cannot tell how sincere some of these changes are, yet the article brought up points that are impressive and if they follow through actually could be beneficial to society overall. They talked about how they were approaching these changes, one statement said they were not rebranding, but looking for something different, cannot remember exactly.

As I read through the article it did discuss some of their more tried and true thinking and that they would still continue working to lower taxes on corporations and for them and their group.  I still struggle with lowering taxes on the wealthy. There is too much at stake to lower taxes especially on the wealthy without some balance to the whole economy. So I wasn’t too excited to hear this part of the program.

Some of where they are headed seems to be in the right direction and I hate saying that, so read on your own so you can make your determination. Still have a hard time accepting people who can donate hundred thousand dollars to affect policy can be overly altruistic without something in it for them. A few maybe, but rich people do not give money away without seeing a purpose. And for an established group to make significant changes in how they approach use of their money take some leaps of faith. We will see though.

Of course the tax discussion is something I have approached differently. Especially with corporate and taxes on the wealthy businesses I believe more in the carrot on the stick approach, versus hoping they will change their behavior because you give them something. I have discussed that before so will leave it be for now, but I did think about taxes and have some discussion points.

This is a new idea from me and I am still batting it around in my head. I am not a big fan of a flat tax rate for many reasons. There is just too many other taxes that exist for people on low incomes to see the same benefit of people with larger incomes, but having an easier tax system is beneficial. And I believe there should be some adjustment for people who give to charities and even the benefit of not paying taxes on retirement savings. Putting money aside for these two items benefits individuals and society. I am going to separate Social Security. I have discussed that before and will again.

So just as a proposal and a rough draft of one at that, I am thinking maybe a graduated flat tax on earned income only. And yes this means everyone from the janitor to the CEO’s actual wages would fall under this system. Stock bonuses, dividend income etc is different, but actual wage earnings could be a graduated rate.

The numbers are for example only and I include how to adjust for retirement savings and charity. There is a break to contributing that I use to encourage certain behaviors.

So lets say everything under $40,000 is 5%

From $40,000.01 to $100,000 is 10%

$100,000.01 to $250,000 is 17.5%

$250,000.01 to $1,000,000 is 25%

Over $1,000,000 is 33%

Now we keep the actual retirement savings from the individual as a straight tax offset up to 10% and does not count for or against if the company matches.

The change is the charity giving. Anyone can contribute up to 10% and receive the offset against their income. So if someone makes $50,000 and gives 10% to retirement and or even zero but gives the full 10% to recognized charities (and proof will be part of the tax filing) the income is reduced by lets say 12.5%  This leaves a person that makes $50,000 if contributes both maximums a taxable income of $38,750 and he would be taxed at 5%

And this charity adjustment can be adjusted upwards as the tax brackets go up. Not as much as the actual tax rate percentage, yet some adjustment can be given.

Let’s look at an example for the top bracket. Someone earns 2 million a year and gives the max for retirement for that income level, I still propose the max limits that exist now stay in effect. Seems a bit unfair for someone to get up to $200,000 reduced from their taxes so that number has to be capped. The charity giving though is different. So lets say they give the max 10% or the full $200,000 then maybe we give them a 15% credit so their taxable income based on the charity giving, plus what the current max drops their taxable income to less than 1.85 million at 33% not 2 million basically giving them a pass on $50,000 for being fully generous.

Again these numbers are for illustration purposes only. You would have to play around with this to come up with something viable to the current tax rates. And yes I know this raises the income tax rate back up for people with higher earnings. I feel this needs to be done, yet giving credit for helping others should be recognized.

So going back to the Koch foundation article where they are (and not their word )empowering people to be creative with helping others, I look to  expand this ability to help others throughout society. Not as ambitious as their ideas and many of the article examples talked about helping people become entrepreneurs, business people etc, not specifically charity, yet for the average person who wants to do something more, this gives them an opportunity to invest in their community and a bit of a carrot to find a way to contribute.

Thoughts?

Just some strange thoughts on a warm evening here in North Texas. Summer doesn’t technically start for over three weeks, but temperature wise we are well into summer heat.

Was I inspired by the article, I do not know, yet I feel comfortable playing around with ideas to make taxes easier and less burdensome on all of us fairly. Then again everyone defines fair differently.

Cheers

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

I hope everyone enjoys this day.

I do want to say something but I have to be careful since I will be throwing large stones through very thin walls of a glass house.

We do not appreciate this day enough. What am I doing, nothing except planning on piddling around or going somewhere for entertainment.

And I just saw the morning news where here in Dallas about 30,000 people are doing something special in honor of our fallen veterans.

And I always speak of my family’s history in the military and I am no better than most. I should do more, hopefully one day I will. And my point to all this is maybe our political rancor of late would be tempered down if we did appreciate this day more. If we all understood the sacrifices people have made so we can “exercise” our right to free speech and act like turds on social media etc, then remembering will help us do better. Hopefully one day we will remember.

Happy Memorial Day, please take at least one moment to remember the people in your family who have served.

Cheers

A thought and some advice

Actually I think this is more of a concern than a thought, but it seems to me there is something going on with television advertising. When I was younger I wasn’t nearly as affected by TV ads as I am now it seems. They must have subliminal messages embedded.

I will watch an ad for a new car, new furniture etc… and I actually want to go out and buy it. And it doesn’t matter from ad to ad. They can advertise a luxury car then boom the next ad is for a simple sedan and I find myself at the end of each ad wanting to go and buy that product.

And even trucks. I like trucks. I do not want one. I have no use for one. If I was to obtain a significant amount of land then I might want a truck, however, they advertise for a truck and I want to buy one. Why? This is baffling me.

This goes for furniture, mattresses, appliances all sorts of ads and especially for these big ticket items. Funny though the drug commercials turn me off. I am very critical of advertising for diseases. They try and make you feel you need to get these drugs, yet the side effects are scary. I hope I never get sick, but sheesh, I may stay sick. And now that I am remembering most of the drugs are to relieve the symptoms, not cure the disease. Another reason we need real healthcare reform in this country.

This is not about healthcare reform. This is about my apparent weakness when it comes to watching TV. It can’t be too bad. Thirty seconds into the show and I have forgotten all about the product. During the commercial and right after I do have a momentary strong feeling to purchase the product. I think they are up to something no one is telling us. Or heck, getting old just makes you weak.

And the advice is for married guys. Once there was a movie called Fatal Attraction. They either need to remake this film or bring it back. You may think, so what, this isn’t going to happen to me. Maybe not at that extreme, but there are some scary crazy women out there. And I am talking bat shit scary crazy. And these women will take their time with trying to screw your life. So, don’t expect you are going to see this coming. I do not know what it is, but they have no qualms about the fact you are married. Not a one.

I have been blessed in my decades of marriage. The better half is more aware than I. She recognized immediately one woman at my work getting out of line. And this woman wasn’t concerned at all I was married. I thought since she knew I was married she was just talking to me. Nope, over time it became apparent, I am clueless and she was dangerous. Thank goodness the better half has her intuition and steered me away from that disaster.

Another time was scarier. Over time the better half kept noticing a woman sitting near us in certain situations and was mentioning there is something wrong. After a few incidents I finally paid attention to who she was referring and realized the woman was from my work, but had a wig and a scarf on. At the time I lived over fifty miles from work so to have someone near me seemed unusual. I researched it and discovered she was coming miles to be in our neighborhood. I put in a complaint at work because this was way off. We never saw her again and shortly thereafter she quit.

I bring this up for no particular reason except I was remembering these incidents for some reason and sometime recently some guys at work were having a similar conversation. Don’t be fooled. I do not consider myself “hot” or whatever it is just when a woman goes crazy they go off the deep end.

Yes, I know there are creepy guys who stalk woman also, but for married guys we tend to be unaware so a word of caution. Be aware of any woman who pays too much attention to you even if she knows you are married. Don’t think twice she is just wanting to hang out at work, or is someone to talk about the boss or has good ideas on your project. They are out to ruin your life because they have nothing better to do, or they are bat shit crazy.

A sanctimonious comment, a comment and the finish of the latest story

Since I always say I do not vote for Democrats and Republicans, I am in the enviable position of always being right.  No matter what one party does; the other party will screw up and on most days in my overly humble opinion both parties screw up and leave the country hanging which allows me to say I told you so.  The entire 2020 election season is being set up for me to monologue how right I am daily. If wasn’t for the fact that this adversely affects the country I love, I would be enjoying it all.

On a more serious note and I am sure there are books on this topic, I see Americans as joiners overall rather than individualists. I have talked about this before, especially when talking about Republicans, however, overall, I think much of this country needs to feel wanted and accepted. For all the talk, the Tumblr, the Instagram, all the trappings on the surface of people acting like they are unique I am not seeing it. We, as a nation, even in the 1960’s are conformists. People will argue, yet you can make a strong case that conformity is our national pastime. Okay maybe not that strong.  I hope to delve into this topic more as time goes by and especially as we head into the 2020 election season. There will be great opportunities to make my case. There are great individualists in our country and many people will identify with a certain person thinking this makes them an individualist, however, not the case. I hope to follow through on this discussion multiple times. It will explain much. And I know I will not be making a unique case. Without even hitting the internet search key, I feel strongly this is something that everyone from political pundits to pop psychologists to true intellectuals will have written profusely.

Not saying I am a particular individualist, just sayin’

Today though I am looking to complete my story and it will be a simple ending, okay two simple endings. From the beginning I talked about having this image in my head and I would start the story to see where it headed. The ending(s) came pretty quickly so I just had to create some type of image to lead you to where I am now.

And one ending is somewhat disappointing in nature to the story, yet it makes absolute sense. The other is more philosophical or at least can create a discussion point on how we came to be. It will not make you happy or maybe even excited because even this ending is somewhat quick and ends the story. Just a different take on some ideas people have had before.

So here goes.

The noise and the tribulation were wonderous. People and creatures of all types were rushing at him or he could perceive they were rushing at him. He still was enveloped in a fog. He was regaining his senses, but slowly very slowly. He sensed great joy around him. The fog was disappearing and light, way too much light was engulfing him. He heard voices, many of them. He recognized a name; they were calling him a name. He wanted to answer. Soon he felt touch, someone was touching him, the voices died down a bit, yet there was a steady murmur, while the sense of touch grew stronger.

Quiet. It became extremely quiet for a moment, then again loud joyous noises. He felt like he was blinking at the light. Faces started crowding out the light, just faces, he sensed then slowly saw a hand reaching for his….face? Yes, he had a face, he wanted to acknowledge the existence of these others, a voice came towards him, saying no need to rush, catch your breath, he heard machines, the same sound as the large towers he had walked amongst, slow beeping, a light, but there were no towers, just the occasional similar noise, but more pronounced. He could see lights flickering beside him, he was laying down and he tried to turn his head and again the voice saying no rush, just lay still. Another voice came, in however, there was crying, why was there crying when all else were joyous, then he realized the crying was for joy. He felt joy and did not know why.  People were coming in and rushing out. Coming and in and rushing out? Of what? He still wasn’t sure.

The Doctor turned to the nurse, gave orders and confirmed to the family that after all this time, their Father had come out of his coma. He would be alright. He still needed time, but slowly he would recover.

About a few days ago the hospital had called his wife and let them know there had been changes, now after all this time of waiting and praying there was hope. The family had spent the last few days by the bedside, rotating shifts talking to him softly until his vital signs picked up and the Doctor was called. His wife had spent most of her days by his side, but over time the family had convinced her she could come once a week and she did. Sitting by his side, silently talking to him then going home that night to her life that once included him. Now he was back.

Or…

The noise and the tribulation were wonderous. People and creatures of all types were rushing at him or he could perceive they were rushing at him. He still was enveloped in a fog. He was regaining his senses, but slowly very slowly. He sensed great joy around him. The fog was disappearing and light, way too much light was engulfing him. He heard voices, many of them. He recognized a name; they were calling him a name.

They were demanding answers of him. Why, he thought? They had expectations and he had no desire to answer them. He heard singing, very joyous and melodic singing. Overtime it faded away has he moved further, and the crowd recognized he was staying. He could feel their joy. Or was it his joy? He didn’t bother to identify. He decided to move forward and hope his senses came back. Slowly people separated and a small group of creatures and individuals helped him focus.

They knew that being within the towers consumed your being. They went occasionally too. Sometimes it was to make a correction or add something that wasn’t there before. There was no choice once you entered the towers, you would lose your sense of self. The towers ran everything, but if something needed work you had to go with a purpose and a will to overcome the overpowering nature of the towers. You would lose, but with the right instructions on your being you could arrive at the trouble spot and begin work. Other times you went to lose yourself, to completely lose track of time and self. The problem was coming back was difficult. Sometimes you had to have help, calls that eventually permeated the inner workings of your brain and directed you without you knowing you were being directed. Eventually if you choose one path and kept on it, you would find the periphery and be able to walk through the fog back to Heaven.

Heaven was glorious and wonderful and joyous as always described in the books that filtered throughout the universe the towers maintained. Sometimes some creations did not do as well as others. Everyone had asked God about fixing what was called Earth. God was upset. He had not gone into the towers to fix Earth. When asked after this last trip, he let them know. Man was given all the information he needed. Everything was simple. Why so many planets had thrived with the same information and man had faltered he did not know. Now it was up to mankind. Hopefully one day they would realize it was much simpler than they made it out to be. One time it had been broken down into ten statements, but even that was too much. It was very simple, love your fellow man as I love you. Do this first and everything else will fall into place. Man just didn’t seem to understand this one thought.

Something totally different from me, ladies this one is strange advice from me

I try to write anonymously so in giving this advice or information it will be very generic. How I came about thinking of this post has very specific reasons. Not from anyone in my family, but from another environment that if I gave the details would give away too much information. And I already am, yet here goes.

If you want to catch that special lottery winner of a husband, make sure you leave nothing to chance. Do not postpone weddings, do get property agreements on paper, promises are only promises, make sure everyone HE KNOWS is aware of any “plans”, do not rely on your friends and not because they are untrustworthy, but because it is easier to say that was all her talking, “I never said anything. “

Or worse, he dies with you in the house holding nothing, no paper, no jointly filed income taxes, nothing on his social media that says anything except you were dating. Nothing, and low and behold there is a will and you ain’t in it. Yep, rich people have family and families watch out for their own, and no one is going to let that money out of the family. There are trusts, wills, etc, and your name is nowhere in sight.

If a man isn’t on the same page as you and you are counting on him being your wonderful Prince Charming. Get to work on everything else. I guarantee if they have something, they already know what they want to do with it. And if they want you to be part of it, they will tell you. If they aren’t saying anything, you may need to keep your options open.

Cheers

Only a few people will understand this

Thank you,

Muriel, Tony, Pascuala, Virginia, Anita, Ray

Marlow,

Eric, Bob, Jimmy even with your black eye, Richie,

Sandra, Rebekkah, Cindy,

The girls,

And hundreds of others who know who they are

and the others who should be

And of course, I hope all Moms have a great weekend, life, century, not just day including my better half, who as always continues to post our lives on Facebook much to my chagrin.

Cheers

My stomach is turning over because Nancy Pelosi has said TWO things that I agree with; a fun hot topic that reeks of political theatre and circus; and more story(third installment)

One of the things she said was awhile back and I was already hot and heavy on that topic and that is the Democrats need to focus on policy not impeachment. They haven’t done anything with it yet, but at least she put it out there. Others have said it to, but after me she was the first person from the Democrats who tried to initiate the Democrats doing what they need to do.

The second was the other night and when I first heard it, that is when my stomach turned. She was on air talking about Trump is trying to goad them into impeaching him. Others have said this also, but to hear it from her turned my innards a bit. It cannot be that she is right about anything and for her to be on target TWICE probably means the world is going to end. So, say your prayers.

All kidding aside I do want to touch on these points a bit. The second one is the easier one, Trump would love the House to impeach him because he knows he gets “exonerated” in the Senate. No way no how is McConnell going to let the Senate impeach him. He will twist that process around till it falls with a giant thud. Then all the wonderful Trumps and Trumpites go to the public screaming how wrong the Democrats are, win in 2020 and we all kiss the Constitution goodbye. Pretty obvious, yet I give Ms. Pelosi credit for realizing the danger impeachment might be without giant amounts of undeniable evidence that Trump is the criminal that is Trump.

The first point is more fun to play around with in thinking. I agree whole heartedly that the Democrats need to attack Trump on the public policy front. And I mean hot and heavy, in the press, in his face to the public. They need to hammer out some very specific moderate proposals that large segments of the middle class can get behind including some members of his base. There are some members that can be drawn away with some hard-hitting proposals that they see benefit them. Most of these were on the fence with Trump in the first place, they either didn’t like H Clinton or were on board with Trump’s drain the swamp verbiage hoping beyond hope he might do it. People still hate DC for not getting anything done so the Democrats pushing through some legislation that either the Senate doesn’t act on or Trump is forced to sign, or veto could get real interesting in the public relations war.

It does have to be very serious policy and cannot and I must emphasize even though some Dems will disagree that is moderate in tone. Yet, here is the kicker.

Two approaches must be contemplated with same end game to be successful.

First: Does the current Democratic Congress basically set the tone for the 2020 Democratic primary by creating policy that is moderate in tone, but just liberal enough that the Senate balks at or Trump vetoes setting the stage for Biden to swoop in the primaries with just enough changes in his platform to pull the moderates fully into the picture thereby pulling enough of Trump’s base that he cannot win. Trump’s strategy then becomes having the Senate compromise enough on one or two of the issues to look good and sign a rational public policy bill that he touts to the public and he wins the public relations war and keeps his base intact also pulling independent conservatives to him with the misguided thought he can do something. There is the potential for some real political intrigue here. The endgame for the Democrats though is to pass some real legislation in 2020 that is moderate and productive thereby not losing the House in 2022 and things fall apart again. Again, Trump’s endgame is to play one or two policies the Democrats pass and sign it with major media coverage right after the conventions are over. Just pull the carpet right out from under the Dems. Either way in this scenario, we just get basic political wars and some of the hate rhetoric can calm down.

Second is trickier yet needs to have the same endgame. If the Democrats are successful in winning in 2020, they need to produce moderate legislation that benefits the middle class in very obvious ways. In this scenario the Democrats must show a very united front in the primaries, which by nature are supposed to be contentious. Basically, they must write the Democratic platform before it starts instead of creating a legislative platform and have the candidates fight it out about which one can implement it successfully. So, instead of the Dems picking the candidate like they did with HC in 2016 then have her lose half the voters in the Midwest with her pretentious attitude, find the platform that works and be boring in the primary and let the battle be about who can win in 2020. This can be less divisive which produces a counter to Trump’s rhetoric because he will be attacking the Dems at every character he can muster out of his thumbs on Twitter. They need to stick to a very strong policy front and call out Trump in unison on the policy at every chance they get. Basically, make him open his mouth and try to put two coherent sentences together. Most of his base won’t pay attention, yet again enough will that it throws the Midwest back to the Dems.

Now I am not advocating that the Dems win, I am just giving them good advice they will never listen to and Trump wins again and I throw up all  over this computer since I can sit around and I say I told you so like I did with HC. Remember I said as far back as 2014 or 2015, if the Dems nominate HC they would lose. And the only reason it was close was because the Reps picked Trump. The hatred by so many mid westerners of HC and the pretentious left is so strong that it is going to take some serious platform issues and results for the Dems to retake the Midwest with enough momentum to shut Trump down.

My hope is still for new parties, which I never do anything about, but whine. The true measure of success.

Now on a completely different note (still like Monty Python) one Dem in Congress is really doing his research, well I guess he already did since he was a Constitution in Law professor before running for office. Anyway, the Atlantic online has an interview article where he, the Representative, is asked some questions about something called “power of inherent contempt”. It is a set up article so he can bring up the topic, yet it could produce some seriously good political theatre. And I mean theatre. The endgame would be the Sargent of Arms for the House goes and arrests William Barr for contempt of Congress for thumbing his nose at their subpoena. According to Representative Raskin of Maryland this was something that was done in the 1800’s and is still on the books so to speak.

He admits most Representatives did not know this process exists but is talking about it on his committee which just happens to be the House Judiciary Committee. It would be his committee that is one of the committees that can bring this to the floor for a vote to attempt.

Can you imagine the scene on TV of William Barr being dragged out of his office by the House Sargent of Arms, possibly even in handcuffs? I am barely containing myself to type. This would be hilarious. Would someone from the Attorney General’s office attempt to intervene. The FBI? Do they have the authority to intervene? Can you imagine Sean Hannity on TV that night? Does Trump think he can send the Secret Service to intervene? And what if they did? Or didn’t? We are talking some serious theatre here folks.

Unfortunately we do not have HST and with Ralph Steadman to truly illustrate this madness for us if this was to go down. Can you imagine how crazy the thoughts streaming forth from his keypad? Just the prose of HST and illustrations of William Barr alone would be priceless. I would love to try, but alas I will save you dear reader from an amateurish hack job.

Very dangerous for the country and only ugly end games would play out. Trump has already let us know he doesn’t give a damn about our Constitution or us. It is self-preservation and self-enrichment only for this man. There would be no respect for the process. It would just depend on how many of the people around him react with him. Very scary and absolutely hilarious simultaneously.

The Democrats probably will hold Barr in contempt, just what happens next is going to be too fun.

And on another (Steve Martin) wild and crazy thought, the Dems should nominate Colbert to run. He is too left leaning for me, yet he is hilarious and at least the State of the Union message would be worth watching. And maybe a few of his press conferences. Trump isn’t getting any real legislation done, so maybe if we handcuff Colbert policy wise and just enjoy the Presidency for four years it might just be worthwhile. Didn’t he make some noise around running for Senate in South Carolina once?

More story (third installment)

So he kept walking with no interruptions for what we would call a very long time. Yet, since time doesn’t register for him, he had no notice of the amount of distance he covered.  Every time he would come to a cross path, he would still look left and then go forward. Eventually and very slowly he started to notice something different about the view to the left on these cross paths. Every time he came across one, he, lets say, felt something there. Then over time he also felt something above him. He didn’t know the word flying, but we would say something may have flown over him because of a flittering sound from above. The sound always headed towards the left side of the path. Had he always felt something was there or heard the flittering sound? The towers still hummed, the occasional lights still flickered, was it in the towers, so maybe the flittering had always been there. What made him notice anything?

Finally at one path he turned left and attempted to head towards the area that was different. This time he moved much further into and he stopped. What was different? Obviously the towers were behind him now. He could turn around and go back onto the paths. He looked down. Was he on the same type of path now? He walked backwards to compare. After walking back some he did notice a change. There was no feeling different as it relates to being smooth. The path stayed smooth, but maybe what we call feet sunk in a bit more on the path away from the towers. He walked away from tower paying attention to his feet. They were there, but they did seem to sink into the surface as he walked.

He ventured further. The path stayed the same and his feet did not sink further as he walked. He was conscious though of the difference. And this is an important point, as he walked further away from the towers into this area that still did not have definitive surroundings, he became more conscious. He became conscious of self, of his past journey, of the idea he was headed into something new. All his senses became more aware and he heard more, there was nothing to see everything was like for us walking in fog, but he felt he was seeing this fog, he felt his feet on the ground, could make discernable understanding of his feet sinking a bit on the path. All this was very new, yet very very familiar.

He looked back and could no longer see the towers. And he understood he was not seeing them. He distinctly remembered them, so he know the fog had enveloped them. One feeling he did not have was fear. In fact, he felt a quiet serenity as he pushed forward. And as he walked further, he felt like he was going uphill. He felt his legs moving differently each time he stepped and he felt the journey more labored. The path greeted him with each step a little closer to him as he stepped. This wasn’t like walking up a set of stairs, but as you walk up a hill you feel your feet hit the ground sooner than the previous step as the ground moves up in front of you. He felt that. There was no line of sight to confirm upward movement, he just felt it in the stepping process.

Time still wasn’t a factor so he did not know how long he was walking in this new environment.  The further he walked though the more awareness of himself and the possibility of other existences emerged in his thinking. He grasped he was not alone. He did not have concrete evidence of another entity, but he found himself aware that he could not be the only being or creature or presence in this fog or while walking down the tower paths.

He heard it. He didn’t know what it was, or to use a term like a melodic sound, but that is what it would be to us. A melody emerging to his hearing coming from in front of him. He didn’t realize it immediately, but he had picked up his pace to head towards the sound.

And then there was a blinding light and a host of creatures or presences, or persons headed towards him, some walking, some running, some flying, all shouting with great joy, singing, and talking over each other in different languages all he understood. Initially this was overwhelming, then he remembered something.

It’s late, the Stars lost, and unfortunately no story update tonight

The Democrats need a better plan, the Stars needed to play more aggressively on offense, the Blues just had better skaters, and we now have a new witch hunt. Going to call it the #Barrwitchhunt. Basically he is saying the FBI committed crimes and is launching an investigation.

No proof needed, just some guy who for his whole professional life believes whatever Republican is President has carte blanch power. Nothing to do with the Constitution he is suppose to protect, just blind loyalty to the Republican President. Add the fact Trump has hired some seriously shady characters to help him run this country into the ground and well the Democrats need a better plan.

Would like to add to the story, but it is late and I actually watched most of that Stars game, switched off a few times to check on basketball, but saw most of it and it was pretty tense, wore me out a bit. Bishop deserves better from his teammates.

Cheers

Clueless, crazy, clueless, and more story

It is about time I posted something. Hundreds of thoughts have passed me by, and my story has languished as I meander about life. I will get to that in a moment and it will take some work for that journey to become a story, but I do have an idea in my head for the path it needs to take. I will need to play with it a bit to get it started.

Yet, before we get there, we need to figure out what madness the world has dumped on us of late.

The Dems are clueless, the Reps are clueless, the press is clueless, the Trump continues to be in oblivion, and you, poor soul, are left trying to decide if you want to check yourself into an insane asylum. Which considering that the medicine they gave the mentally ill thirty years ago hasn’t changed much may not be the best idea to try and recover your sanity.

On a positive note for Dallas, the Stars have somehow found a clue and are now leading the St. Louis Blues 3 games to 2. Game five just ended and at least we have something to talk about in Dallas Sports for the next couple of days. Sunday is game 6 and if the Stars win it will be the closest a team has come to a championship here in Dallas for quite a while. Oops, the FC Dallas plays well every now and then, but for major TV sports there is an air of excitement building in Dallas. They still need to win to get there, but we can certainly start to talk here in Dallas.

For some strange reason, the Press is dragging Hillary Clinton back into the news of late with some of her comments. Why? Seriously, why? There are umpteen number of candidates declared for the Democratic primary, so we do not need her strained smiling face mucking up that murky race. And add to it the Reps now want to start new investigations into the Democrats and the 2016 race. We are already struggling with Trump, please do not bring up the other half of the worst election choice ever, okay there are some in our past that come close, but 2016 is still the winner. No reason on Earth for the Reps to be dragging us through another investigation that will produce no real result.

And Venezuela has somehow become a quagmire of epic proportions, not because of Venezuela, but because Trump is about to dump a whole old/new set of questionable characters into the middle of that fray. When will the Republicans learn that foreign policy is not their strong suit? Or even their weak suit.  Ever since Nixon was vanquished Republicans in their greed just cannot get anything right. Heck, they can screw things up so bad, they are beyond wrong. Throw Trump into the mix and yeah, our foreign policy vision is basically blind right now.

So, let’s get back to the story and cleanse our minds of the madness of the world and enjoy the madness of what may befall our new found friend. It is a slow madness.

He approached what he thought might be the end of the row he was walking down, yet it didn’t feel like an end. The towering structures that lined both sides of his path stopped. He was left with a choice to go either right or left onto paths that were exactly like the one he was on, long stretch of road with the towering structures on either side or somehow feel his way forward into some type of new environment. Did the road continue? Standing where he was looking right and left and trying to peer forward left him what we would call confused. There was something in front of him, the road seemed to go forward, dare he move forward.

The hum of the towers continued and had not changed the whole time he was walking. He stared forward wanting to know what he would encounter. Yet, there was some apprehension. He didn’t have defined emotions, nor understood what an emotion was in his existence, but for us it would be apprehension if not a touch of fear. Not the horror movie fear, but the fear of the unknown and the fear of being unable to decide and where that may leave you. Apprehension is the better description, but it had tinges of this fear mentioned. This left him motionless. He stood still. And like the lack of emotions, there is no measurable time. So, he, nor us knew how long he stood there.

After whatever length of time existed, he stepped forward. Nothing happened so he took another step forward. What he saw in front of him did not change. There was nothing in front of him, so he kept approaching this nothingness. He didn’t see it as nothingness, just nothing to see that registered in what could be described as a developing sense of self.  What we call memory did not exist for him at this point in existence. For all he knew he had always walked along the path of the towering structures. Yet something tugged at him that there was something about him he should know.

He took more steps forward, then stopped. He went back to where he could decide to go right or left. He chose right and walked that way. He walked along the exact path as before but going it a different direction. He turned around and reviewed his path. The same towering structures existed emitting a slight hum occasionally with a slight change in the rhythm and flickers of light that appeared randomly. He noticed all this, and he registered it, but he was not sure what it meant. It was just like before. He walked some time and finally came to another left right choice. He looked left and the same nothingness on the previous path or road was there. He looked right and another road down the towering structures existed. And in front of him was the same path. He decided to go left. He went a distance and still did not feel anything, but the road moved forward into an environment that left him with the same apprehension we would have felt earlier. There was something strange about it and something called to continue. It was different so he only tread a bit further, then turned back. Even though he didn’t feel danger, there was a calmness or a feeling of safe within the structures. Or that is how we would feel. And somewhere in his existence he picked up on this feeling.

He continued down the path he had turned on from the first decision to go right. The towering structures continued. Again, time did not affect the journey. Occasionally he would encounter another left right choice. He would peer left and then move forward, somewhere that feeling of safe existed within him. After what we would call a long period of time, he began to sense, or feel, or perceive another presence. Since he only knew of himself or perceived of himself, the idea or concept of another presence did not come to mind directly. You or I might say we felt like we were being watched. And for us it might feel a bit unsettling, not for him. It was something that affected his pace or his continuity, not just on the path but in the thought patterns that existed within him that he hadn’t recognized he had.

He had decided at one time to go forward, go back, go right, go forward from there, try left, go forward again. He did not understand he had made decisions, only he had changed his path and still did not understand his purpose in walking these paths or the need to choose a different path or not. The new feeling of another presence, yet still not defined in his mind was tugging on it to make another decision.

To be continued…