A bit of demolition---youtube video

Okay no big deal, yet I managed to post a video on youtube under the dallasareaopinion name of the implosion of an old building in downtown Dallas.  If you look closely at the building on the left of the implosion there are people on the rooftop. Glad nothing went wrong. People must enjoy old dust in the lungs to get them going. The dust cloud eventually reaches the top of the other surrounding buildings.

When you type in dallasareaopinion you have to choose the alternative search the name, otherwise it gives you dallas area opinion. 

Need to work on this since I am trying to add to what I post online/social media. 

Cheers

Why do we struggle with the challenge of human turmoil?

Okay so not:

What is truth? Or What is the meaning of life? Or Who is God? Or Is there a higher purpose?

Or the many questions dealing with why are we here?

But open your blue books and you have fifty minutes to answer the question. Leave them on the desk as you leave the classroom.

I am not going to try and answer the question. I did the hard part and wrote it. Yet, we seem to create our own problems. We, as humans, are quite the mess sometimes, maybe most of the time. There are solutions to the problems we create. Most of them are probably best answered by a third grader. They still see things practically and without prejudices or preconceived notions. By the time you become an adult, you are pretty much screwed.  

And speaking of preconceived notions, I didn’t watch the Democrat debates, yet I know exactly what happened. The Democrats are clueless.

I do ask those of you that watched it, do you have faith in anyone of them to be the standard bearer of the party in 2020? Do you know which one will be able to take the Democrats up a notch? We know Trump took the Republican party down a couple of notches, but some seemed to want to head in that direction. Yet, the Democrats are going to have a hard time finding someone to trounce him significantly. 

If they go too far left, they lose well over half the country. If they try to be moderate, they aren’t strong enough to beat Trump. Trump may not receive half the country’s votes, but he will receive half the votes of people who vote if the Democrats head down the path they are now. 

Bill Clinton was a politician with a personality that knew how to game the system. Obama was an anomaly politically who was very charismatic and a very good speaker.  Does any of the 20 or so candidates give you any inclination they can command a room? Does any of them make you want to stop what you are doing to listen to them? If you answered yes to either question, you already have a stake in that person. The general population will not be able to answer that question. Don’t believe me, get away from the Democrat stalwarts and ask people those questions. You are going to be shocked. Luckily for the Democrats there is still a year to become someone before the convention because even if you win the primaries, if you do not have “it” by May of 2020 Trump is going to trounce you. 

“And bye bye Miss American Pie, I drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry. Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye singing this will be the day that I die, this will be the day that I die.”  which is fast becoming the theme song for our Constitution..    (special thanks to Don McLean, always loved that song except for the first time I heard it, weird but true)

We need new parties. Think about the ole phrase the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We have been electing Dems and Reps for decades and yet the middle class has been slowly whittled away, the wealth divide grows, wages compared to inflation are falling, healthcare and higher education costs are destroying families budgets or what is left of a budget, values have flown the coup in Washington DC, and values are under attack all throughout the country, public education is deteriorating, compare us to many other first world nations and we are failing in most categories, yet we work the most and spend the most money, campaign finance reform is a myth yet we need to make major changes in money in politics and we continue to believe the hyperbole of both parties telling us they are the good guys and it is the other guys not helping us. And this happens election after election after election. We are one insane country.

Change is not a four letter word. It takes commitment and work, but it is needed. We need new parties and new leadership. No one wants to hear it, but if you love our country, better believe this is what is needed.

The current version of politics in America is a human turmoil that should be conquered for the benefit of all. 

Cheers

On a side note, the original question had nothing to do with the political discussion. I just added the half baked tie in at the end because I did.

Chicken Tacos and random comments

The better half is in a meeting so eating leftovers tonight. We have some baked chicken leftover, some leftover chile con queso, a bit of sour cream and avocado and well, dinner. Put it all on some tortillas and good to go.

I am trying to be responsible here and not eat too many, but I love my chili con queso so any excuse to indulge is always good for me.

We are still a few days from NBA free agency so all we have are rumors.

We are still a few weeks to a month from the start of pro football training camp so all we are hearing are rumors about who is going to sign and who isn’t. As a Cowboy fan none too happy with Zeke’s mishap in Las Vegas.

And speaking of Vegas don’t be shy about buying me an airplane ticket for next weekend to partake in some fun and a bit of the NBA summer league. Just sayin’

Not much new in politics, the Dems debate this week and will be as clueless as always. Oh we may get a few policy ideas. I am not going to watch but am curious if they stay smart and stick with policy discussions or dive deep into insanity and make it all about Trump. 

Trump’s swamp keeps getting deeper and deeper. Sec. Chao and Sen McConnell somehow found the headlines for corruption. It seems to be the same old story over and over again with the Republicans. They just feel everything is theirs for the taking without any regard to ethics anymore. And then there is the Representative from San Diego, talk about screwing your wife. And the NRA or Russian pass through account for Republican treason is just about as convoluted as you can get.

I still want a new conservative party that is actually conservative and has some values attached. At least people call racists right wing and not conservatives most of the time. I hope people understand being a true conservative means you are not a racist. Trump seems to be throwing the difference away though.

Who knows where this country is headed?

The better half says eat for a bit then stop, wait a few minutes to see if you are still hungry, well I am still hungry so warming another tortilla. And am curious, the avocado I bought today was the highest price I have seen in awhile. Is this because of tariffs or is my local grocery store taking advantage of their location since they are the only one downtown? Hmmmm

Cheers

I guess we are close enough to June 30 that I can start my cater walling about how bad the Mavs are going to screw this up again.

Year after year they keep talking big fish and they keep sinking the boat.

So let's take a brief stroll down wonderful memory lane to start the talk about what the Mavs should do to build a championship team. And of course we start with their last one. And yes that sounds trite, but give me a moment here.

The Mavs had just spent the last couple of years picking up pieces, really good pieces leading up to 2011. They had two players in Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd who were all stars, but some considered on the back side of their careers. They picked up Tyson Chandler that summer.

Did we have two supermax players? No. Did we have a strong collection of All Stars and players on the edge of being All Stars, in fact we had a few in Dirk, Jett, Kidd, Marion, and Chandler. None of these players adding to Dirk were big fish free agency catches. We had a great bench.

We blew it the next year and thereafter chasing big fish. And yet Cuban and Nelson are fishing again. Folks it is time they put up the over priced fishing boat and concentrate on collecting prized fishes that feed the MFFL masses.

Will this happen overnight, probably not, but Luka and KP are young so we have a couple of years to build the right way.

So with all the Plan-K dreams and the Kemba Walker dreams being bantered about, let’s talk about the slow transition in the right direction.

Imagine this team and this is just a framework or roadmap to the next championship. We cannot get there without changing course from our recent past.

For the 4&5 position, how about KP, Julius Randle, Powell, Kleber, and ?  Gives us solid rotation and a mix of talent to match up different teams. And lets play KP at the 4 mainly and not get him so beat up.

And some development of Kostas. Dream big and much development of Kostas.

For the 3&4 position how about Dorian, Jackson, some Maxi, and Luka at times. Again some rotational ability with the above group, but if DFS or Jackson take a step further this year, then we are developing our own border line all star players or at least players that productively compliment all star players.

For the 2&3.. Currently you have Hardaway Jr, Luka, Ryan Broekhoff and ?, Jackson? Not sure here, this rotation will need some work. Luka is assured of course since no matter what position or number you call him, he is the primary ball handler, it is the defensive assignment that matters most at what position you play him. And even though Hardaway’s contract is a bit heavy it can be tolerated if he ends up being consistent on both ends of the court and averages in the 16-5-5 range. I know 5 assists seems high, but if he is a starter and playing the two and the team is moving the ball like they should then averaging 5 assists should be expected.

Realistically with good ball movement we should have five players overall who put up 5+ assists a game. We will need strong ball movement and team defense to do well with this group which leads to the last grouping.

For the 1&2  Patrick Beverly, Luka, Jalen Brunson, Trey Burke and JJ? or ?

15 players on the team:

Luka

KP

Dwight Powell

Dorian Finney Smith

Maxi Kleber

Justin Jackson

Jalen Brunson

Ryan Broekhoff

Tim Hardaway Jr.

Trey Burke

Add

Julius Randle

Patrick Beverly

Make a hard decision on JJ Barrera  Can he come back?

And make a decision on Salah Mejri or finding a younger athletic wing

And decide what is your next most important need and maybe get a third free agent.

Or make a couple of trades to either get draft picks back for the next couple of years or keep some money open for those all star to almost all star players to consistently play with Luka until you find the right combination and sign a few for a few years.

Will we win a championship with this group? Of course we will, but at least we are headed in the right direction.

We all doubt the Mavs will get Durant, Leonard, Kyrie, Walker(maybe?), Klay, Butler (not a fit) Khris Middleton (?) so why waste time.

Do we lose Mejri and try for a Lopez brother in addition to Randle to give us a solid 5 player rotation for the 4 and 5?

Do we just get Randle and try for Patrick and another up and coming 3 and D player to bolster Jackson and DFS’s rotation?

In my humble opinion these are the questions the Mavs front office should be thinking about.

There are a couple of other options that could develop and all of them much more realistic than Plan K. And in the long run I think we win. All your Plan K guys are 30 + or close or a head case. There are many border line great players who do not get the attention and occasionally one or two at the end of their prime who will be worth much more as players and at less $ cost going forward over the next few years to worry about the “big fish” now.

Time to cast the net out wide, not throw the pole in the water.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Some thoughts for other teams. I am not sure why Boston doesn’t cut bait with Kyrie and go for Kemba Walker. Same for Philly, lose Butler and go for Walker. Thoughts?

The Bucks should find a way to stay intact.

The Raptors are the favorites or scrambling depending on Leonard’s decision. They are still happy for the moment though.

The Warriors will be middling till Klay comes back. If they wait long enough for him to be 100%, they might do some damage in the playoffs. Durant isn’t playing next year at all if he is smart so even if he stays with the Warriors you can count him out.

The Wild card is the Lakers with AD now. Can they get a Plan-K player or will injuries decimate this two superstar team potential? I am not sold yet. Someone may come, but what depth will they have? It will matter against Denver and Portland in 6 & 7 game series.

Clippers?

Nets?

OKC?

And Houston??????, yes many questions. Before the AD trade I joked that if LA didn’t get a Plan-K player (and is that phrase only a Mavs phrase, I read too much local news), they might look at CP3 on July 2nd. Maybe the Lakers don’t have to now and wow, where does a Rocket go from here? Paul’s contract is an albatross on him and the Rockets. I did say if he really wants a championship he is going to have to give up a bunch of money and become a player on a team with other superstars. He will never be the top dog on a championship team at this point in his career.

Spurs?  The West is changing, what are they going to do?

Cheers

Since we are in the business of saving the world

And this isn’t a pleasant topic, but one that needs discussing. I thought I would take the opportunity presented to me today because of the active shooter situation in downtown Dallas to talk about this topic. And right now we do not know much, so speculation is dangerous, but there are people talking he may have struggled with some sort of mental illness.

So not saying anything about whether he may have suffered with some type of illness just thought I would touch on the topic.

And everyone ignores this like they do the dust bunny underneath the couch. No one wants to pick up and move the couch to remove it.

No no no, don’t let the neighbors know about Johnny cause you know how they talk.

Oh yes, Mary is the quiet type isn’t she, we really do not mind she stays indoors allllll the time.

Billy is just imaginative, he really doesn’t mean what he says.

We hide behind cliches and ignorance hoping that awful truth isn’t in our family. It is better to lie to ourselves than admit our children ain’t right. Why?

Stigma is a well known reason, we, as a society, cannot accept mental illness.

We can spend billions on medicines that only cure thousands of symptoms, but never find cures for anything. Think about how many times you watch a commercial for a drug that is to help you with some illness you never even heard before. And that is what we do with mental illness. We do not want to confront the reality so we developed antipsychotics or mood stabilizers or anti- depressants or a host of other medicines to treat the symptoms. Yet we never spend the resources to do the research. Why?

We are scared. It goes back to stigma. Politicians aren’t going to talk about spending money on mental illness. It is a specialty field in medicine that many doctors cannot understand, nor get help.

We threw the mentally ill on the streets in the 80’s and left them there because no one wants to make the effort to find them much less help them.

And then we developed a pop psychology where every little quirk known to man is now given a name. We label everything and act like we have accomplished something. This makes it even harder for people to separate quirks and idiosyncrasies from real mental health problems. People see the broad definition of mental illness “professionals” like Dr. Phil and think this is the extent of the problem. And they never receive the information on the real problems some people face. Sure we hear the terms schizophrenia or a biochemical imbalance and oohhh we hear scary stories. Stay away is the message.

When in fact we are overdue in going towards the problems. We cannot hide behind closed doors anymore or lock someone away and let the County pay for it until they get back on their “meds” and we can let them out with the rest of us. Again we are a symptom driven society. We spend fortunes on blocking the symptoms in every aspect of our health so mental health is not going to be different.

We need to be different for our regular health and for our mental health. Some mental illnesses are recognizable such as depression, but we avoid people who are depressed. So we develop an assortment of TV medicines so everyone feels better including the people who are depressed and the people who do not want to put up with them. Yet we are not different. We eat pain-killers to feel better. We eat psycho-trobic drugs to feel better. We eat candy to feel better. Our health care in general is based on us feeling better, not being better.

So to actually put forth ideas instead of complaining, we need to address mental illness head on.

The AMA should be charged with a great amount of resources to develop grants throughout the various medical fields to study root causes of mental illness. This work is already being done to a degree in certain communities. We need to move it to the forefront of medical science like Cancer and Alzheimers. People do not die from mental illness like they do from cancer. They do die inside or just as bad someone else is hurt because we are not attentive enough to the problem.

There are heart disease foundations. There are cancer foundations. There are kidney foundations. There are alzheimer's foundations. They advertise on TV all the time.

There is no mental illness foundation that receives the support it needs to reach out to the public for help. Why?

Stigma. We need our political leaders to stand up and say, this is bad we need to do something about it, instead of this is bad God forbid am I going to say anything about it. We need the medical community to stand up and demand the help they need to study mental health and make it the same priority as other debilitating diseases.

What is funny I am wanting to type we cannot be afraid of our fears. Which is true. Our fears of the stigma make the whole problem worse because we are afraid someone will think less of us if we even mention the slightest inclination of a mental health problem. In a way we need a pop psychologist to come up with a term for being paranoid of being paranoid. I am not researching it right now, but I feel confident someone did.

So where does all this leave us? Right now nowhere, but somewhere tonight a family is suffering, a family is searching for a lost loved one, a family is lost in a lack of communication about what to do, a person roams the streets, a person is contemplating suicide, a person doesn’t speak to anyone, a child misses a parent that is sitting right in front of them, a person is scared, a person is chasing windmills in their mind, a person’s mind is eating away at their very soul, some sit in institutions because we cannot do more, some have demons driving them to actions no one can understand, and the rest of us are sitting here avoiding the whole discussion, hoping upon hope that one of those demons doesn’t drive that person into our life.

Unfortunately today that might have happened. One young man is dead, one family struggles and mourns, and by the grace of God, no other person was injured. It may have been different or we should hope it may have been different because his family would have understood better years ago and have him this evening. Right now we do not know because we do not want to know. Better to feel better than be better. Less damn effort.

Doing what is right is never easy, but will make the world easier once it is accomplished.

Take care all. 

Now that the day is over

And we didn’t get what we wanted..just kidding, I had a wonderful Father’s Day, lets’ get back to doing what we do best….solving the world’s problems.

And you know what? In one way, it is easy.

Are you tired of the all the geo-political made up oil wars? Well, so am I.

Time to get off oil. So many advantages, new industries, new manufacturing for new industries , no risking lives in crazy parts of the world trying to drill for it and no more manufactured wars so a few people can make billions and a few more make millions all the while propping up despot rulers and the rest of the world manipulated like a puppet show. These wars are old, unnecessary, waste of resources and most importantly waste of human life. For what?

Nothing.

Change the word oil to energy and boom everything oil does we can find a substitute in other forms of energy. Sure it will take a generation, but just moving forward creates more benefits than you can shake a stick at. And we, the United States, will maintain our greatness if we lead the change. If not, we fall behind. Yes, you hear me say this over and over, but aren’t you tired of these manufactured oil wars yet?  If not, why? Why fear change? The history books are littered with civilizations that didn’t make the necessary changes in their time.

Cheers

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

In this crazy mixed up world we live in, don’t forget that sometimes we just need to remember what is important. Too little emphasis is put on the importance of family, so please take a moment and enjoy yours.

Cheers

Quick hits and random comments June 2019

I am not confident the Mavericks will get the players they need in Free Agency. First I do not see the type of player they need available so that makes it more difficult. And historically they just blow it. Also I am not sold on Porzingis weathering many years of high end NBA play. I agree he is a player worth having, I just do not feel strong about his health reliability. We need a few players to be long term contenders.  Maybe Patrick Beverly is one, but a strong double double center for points and rebounds that can play real defense down low and stretch out a bit is a must. And does Dorian Finney Smith or Justin Jackson or our Greek little brother Kostas have the potential in them to become major contributors? We need to explore their development further, give them a dose of the Dwight Powell work ethic and make it work.

And it is too early to talk about free agency. The Warriors made the Finals interesting by sheer will. Toronto had done everything right by staying close then making a run in the fourth quarter. I think the time out at the three minute mark has been well discussed so will leave it alone, except  to say a better play should have been called then. They needed to run a misdirection through Leonard at that moment so if they needed to run a play which they did in the last moments of the game, it would have made the Warriors think a half second more about double teaming Leonard so he either could split a double team or have a designed outlet instead of forcing his last pass.  Oh well, I cannot wait for Thursday. And of course my prayers go out to Durant for a speedy recovery. I hate to see injuries to anyone. Part of the game, but a part I do not like.

And speaking of botched plays, the Democrats really need to force Trump’s hand on issues. Hold him accountable to all his promises. And it is easy, put on the table, new infrastructure plans, new healthcare plans, new immigration policy, etc...make him commit either by supporting or encouraging the Senate not to pass anything, but make him come out and tweet his little heart out on major issues. This puts the onus on Trump or McConnell to respond and by doing so they publicly commit. As you know I don’t support Republicans, Democrats or Trump, yet I feel comfortable whatever either side presents it will not get passed. This is just a way to force the issue on real policy of some kind that a few people manage to find a compromise and get something done. O r the electorate sees another example of the failed leadership of the Republicans, Democrats and Trump. So guess what??? Lol, we need new parties. And some of you are saying same song different verse, but you know the infamous saying: say a lie enough times and people will believe it. Well, I am just trying to say the truth enough times so people will believe it.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues.

Cheers all

Seriously Mr. President we need people, not walls

Can a wall observe?

Can a wall think?

Can a wall show empathy?

Can a wall adjust to circumstances?

Can a wall make a determination of a problem?

Can a wall decide friend or foe?

Can a wall find the parent of a crying child?

Can a wall maintain itself?

Can a wall a react to a threat?

Can a wall make critical decisions?

Even if you have been just barely paying attention to the real border and customs problems you know we do not have enough manpower. We need to hire people. We need to hire more people. And then we need to hire much more people.

The wall is an inanimate object that serves no purpose, but to create a barrier. The problem with barriers is people will find a way to circumvent them. People are smarter than walls, yes even those people you do not like are much more capable of maneuvering around a wall than a wall is of preventing people from coming here.

The real problem of protecting our borders cannot be solved by a barrier. It takes 24 hour surveillance. It takes people addressing people. Helping them sometimes, getting to know them sometimes, processing them sometimes, sending them back sometimes, getting them medical attention sometimes, arresting them sometimes, basically interacting with people as they come to the United States and determining why they are entering.

Protecting our borders is a highly dangerous and rarely rewarding career. And the problems are exacerbated by the lack of personnel needed to manage all our ports of entry. The current status of the Customs Department is bleak. Why? There is not enough people to do the job.

A wall cannot replace a person. A wall cannot do more than one job. A wall has no initiative. A wall has no incentive to do more. A wall does not care.  

Our customs people do more than the average American knows. We, in general, see them either in pictures at the border, on the news, or if we come home from a trip abroad. We do not see them trying to process hundreds of people a day not sure if any of them are ill, carrying disease, carrying a weapon, or have the potential to be a world saver looking for a better opportunity.  

We do not see the endless hours of doing the same thing over and over again, yet having to be hyper vigilant to what may happen at any moment.  We do not see the 16 hour days. We do not see the frustration in the eyes of the workers who want to do more, yet can’t due to lack of resources and lack of personnel to stand with them day after day.

We expect much for our customs officers. We give them nothing. Day in and day out, just like our military, just like our police, just like our firefighters and our first responders they put their lives and health at risk to do their job. Sometimes it is monotonous, sometimes the days drag, sometimes all hell breaks loose and they have to shoot someone on a border bridge like they did south of San Diego not knowing if this is a one off situation or is the whole place going to explode.

We need better facilities. We need people who are trained to handle multiple scenarios and can adjust to the situation as it changes

And what is it they need most? People

And our support.

They do not need to be politicized. They do not need characterization of supporting certain policies over others. They are Democrats, Independents and Republicans, maybe even a few are Libertarians or Green Party or are apolitical. They love their favorite team. They love their music. They love to read. They want their vacations and their favorite coffee. They want time to be with their family and friends. They want time to pray.

They do not need gofundme pages for a wall. They do not need hatred. They do not need ignorance. They do not need Congress or the President displaying them in a backdrop to further their political agenda. They need help, much help. They need better resources, they need more technology, they need cooperation from other government agencies and they need people. They need you.

Better immigration policy is something we need. Walls do not create better policy. Walls create division. Congress and you Mr. President need to quit grandstanding and sit down and work on real policy. We need real improvements to protecting our border. We need better foreign policy that understands what is going on around the world. We need to give our customs agents the tools to be prepared for events abroad that will come back to us. We need our government to understand we have a responsibility to be the best country we can be.

We cannot just open the door and not expect to have problems, yet we can work with people as they want to come here to make the best determination as to should they come here. We cannot be everything to everyone, yet we can be the best neighbor or be the most empathetic to the plights of others. We can work with other countries to create help for refugees when needed. We can work with other countries to identify problems and find solutions. We can create partnerships around the globe where we are relied on, yet not the solution.

We need you, Mr. President, to understand that a wall only gets in the way of progress. If you use it to separate people, eventually someone will tear it down.

If you want real border security Mr. President, get off your back end, walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and talk to some people about how we help our people in the Customs Department.

And if by chance you listen to your own department, the very first item on the to do list will be: we need people.