My View of #MAGA

We have a great country. That was proved on November 8 when millions of us - more than twelve million - went to the polls and, by a goodly majority of electoral votes, we effected a bloodless revolution. Now we have to deal with the future.

What can we do to truly Make America Great Again for all of us? From where I sit, there are a few things that would go a long way to not only making America stronger than it was, but keep it stronger for our future generations.

One YUGE thing popped into my awareness yesterday - our Constitution. It's been assaulted, again, by our own government, by someone who took an oath of office that declares, in part: "to uphold and defend the Constitution".

Secretary Kerry and President Obama signed a treaty with the United Nations that could, realistically, undermine our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. This treaty is intended to prevent the trade of arms "across state lines". The UN, at least publicly, says those lines belong to nation states. However, it is not at all difficult to extrapolate that "state line" component into individual American state lines.

This angers me. It angers me a lot because I happen to understand the brilliance of our Constitution.

It's a guideline, not a rule book, and it can be - if decided upon by the majority of American citizens and American states - be modified. However, and it's a big HOWEVER, it is not supposed to be something that can be undermined or weakened by a simple swipe of the pen by one person or a small group. Changes to the Constitution, such as gutting the Second Amendment, require ratification by thirty-eight of our fifty states.

Therefore, from where I sit, one challenge is how to guarantee that our Constitution and our sovereignty are protected from any such treaty in future? Simple, but not so easy:

Amendment Thirty-Four: No Administration, Department or Agency shall enter into any treaty that weakens or directly affects, negates or offsets any of the Amendments to this Constitution without achieving a two-thirds majority vote of the legal American electorate.

That wording is not as elegant as the preceding thirty-three amendments, but it covers the bases. It makes it harder for any Secretary of State or President, to sign away our sovereign rights to another entity - like the UN.

We've already had our First Amendment threatened. Earlier this year, the US gave up its control of the internet DNS - Domain Naming System - to the UN via the ICANN treaty. We haven't seen the change, yet. However, if the UN decides that internet "things" are getting out of control, what prevents them from shutting it down, or modifying the DNS access we currently enjoy to something unusable?

As it is now, if you type in a domain name, the DNS recognizes the link between the name and the IP address and directs you there, without you having to remember the TCP/IP string of ###.##.##.## which is convenient. However, let's say the UN's group that oversees the internet decides it doesn't like me and others like me who say what we think. Not all members of the UN like free speech. If they're in power, or heading up the internet group, what's to prevent them from meddling? This is something that should not have been turned over to another entity.

Going farther, because of the changes in society over the past two-hundred fifty years, we need to think hard about our approach to things. We need to look back and take measure of the best parts of the character and ethics of the men who wrote this document. We need to weigh their morals and values against ours (which, in my view are weak, at best). When it was written, they approached governance of America from the standpoints of:

The greater good - what is good for ALL of the citizens, not just for them and their cronies? There weren't lobbyists and the buying of access and power then as there is now.

Justice for all had meaning. It meant that the laws that affected the people would apply equally to them. There would be no different strokes for different folks as there is now - think of Hillary Clinton and her cabal. Do you really believe that if any one of us did one-one-millionth of what they've done we would get a pass? Hell no! We'd be tried and convicted in half-a-heartbeat and the key would be thrown away for good.

The Founders asked themselves under what guidelines and laws will ALL of us live? They expected to live by the same rules and regulations imposed on everyone else. They never envisioned a state of affairs with one set of rules for We the People and an entirely different set for the rich, the powerful and the politically connected. Congress, for instance, doesn't fall under the sway of Obamacare. Some unions and states were given a pass on it - they didn't have to buy into the exchanges and weren't subjected to the rules.

Service to America - not dictatorship. When the Constitution was written, the people who would serve in Washington expected, and were expected, to serve for short periods. They would be elected, go to Washington, do the work, get the job done, and go home again. They never expected to be career politicians as we have now. These career politicians are the people (vermin) who have done so much damage to our country. Donald Trump's term limits proposal is exactly what's needed.

I also think that it's crucial that we re-institute American History courses in our schools. Not just one year, or two, but year after year. Teaching needs to go back into the decades that preceded our withdrawal from British rule, without revision or parsing. It must be true to what happened.

What made us want to leave? How did the Constitution and Bill of Rights come into being? (It wasn't just a bunch of guys sitting around the dinner table one night.) What were the effects of those documents on the men who formulated and signed them? How high a price did they pay for demanding to be free? How did the Revolutionary War start, and how was it fought?

None of our kids - none of the #Snowflakes running around, screaming their heads off - know these things. They do not know the brilliance and the beauty of our Constitutional form of government. THAT, among all the rest of it, is the biggest crime of all.

So, those are a few of my visions of what will Make America Great Again. There's a lot more, but if these things get started, I'd sleep better at night.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Mirror, Mirror

Someone a lot smarter than me once said, "Words have meaning." Yes, they do, so down toward the end of this, I have provided the definitions of the terms being used here. I pulled them off the internet, so they're not my definitions. They are the generally accepted definitions. Check them out. Read them carefully and then think about them and how they fit with what I'll say here.

In the past months, the drumbeat of hatred has ramped up. Words are being thrown around with abandon, and the vast majority of the pejorative nouns coming from the Left side of the political spectrum are being grossly misapplied. Most often by those who consider themselves to be "tolerant."

Yesterday, GrubHub's CEO issued a broadcast email to all of his employees:

Based on what's here, if you happen to think Donald Trump might be a good president, you're supposed to tender your resignation - there is no room for you at GrubHub. He explicitly states: "We do not tolerate hateful attitudes on our team." But isn't the jist of his message hateful toward those who happen to have a view that's different than his?

There are hundreds of examples of this kind of bigotry and intolerance throughout the media, across the internet and through anecdotal reporting of individual victims.

People are being threatened or beaten until they're bloody because they don't agree with those who support Hillary Clinton.

Yesterday, in Woodside, California, a high school student was viciously beaten and ended up in the local hospital emergency room because, as shown in the video below, she tried to explain why she supports Trump to another student. The other student wouldn't listen or just walk away. Instead, she tore into this young girl who just happened to have a different point of view.

On the radio this morning, I heard a caller from Williams, California tell about his experience with the "loving" "tolerant" Left.

He picked his step-daughter up from school the other day. He noted that she was upset but, when he asked what the problem was, she wouldn't tell him. Half-an-hour after getting home, the man's wife, who's Hispanic, took him aside and told him that because he's white, their daughter is being bullied by her classmates.

There are thousands of other, similar stories. They're popping up in our news feeds time after time after time.

Given the hatred streaming from the Left - the shrieking intolerance, bigotry, fascism and, at times, blatant racism - I think these "inclusive" "loving" and "tolerant" people would do well to stop for five minutes. They should be encouraged to find a mirror, to look deep into the glass and think: Just who is it who best fits all of  the pejorative terms being thrown around?

And, for clarity, here are those definitions I promised:

Hater - a person who greatly dislikes a specified person or thing.

Bigot -  a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.

Fascist (fascism) - an advocate or follower of fascism (facism - an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization. [In general use - extreme authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.])

Based on what's unfolding across America these days, the protests, riots, destruction of private property and the rest of it, I can tell you who are none of these things: Donald Trump and his supporters.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

"White Guilt" - What Is That?

On Tuesday, Americans went to the polls. We cast our votes. One side won, the other didn't. Now there are protests. People waving signs a nine-year old might write, screaming unimaginative slurs and swearing because the vocabulary just isn't big enough to encompass emotion.

Virtually all of it is organized and promoted by Moveon or other Soros fronts. This is a job for most of these people. They get word there's something on. They get dressed. They go out and make a bunch of noise and create problems for law enforcement and fellow citizens. At the end of it, they get a check. It's not a true movement. It's pretend.

That's the overarching theme. Underlying that, mixed in with the overt "we hate the guy who got elected" childishness, are "Black Lives Matter" and other outright racist signs.

Oops. I'm not supposed to say that. I'm white, and a woman, and over a certain age (39) so I can't call anyone "racist" - even if it fits.

On the other side, they can say I'm racist, a bigot, and all the rest, even though they don't know me. They don't know what I think, what I believe or what's in my heart. Just because I don't hold exactly the same view about things they do, I'm a... something.

What these people don't realize is: This country, because of generations of discriminatory laws, attitudes and behaviors, has deep wounds. The problem with deep wounds is that if you dig at a them, pick at the edges and rip at the scab, the wound can't heal. And that's what these people are doing.

By putting black lives above other lives, saying they're more important than brown lives or red lives or white lives, they're diminishing - discriminating against - those other lives.

By demanding that I, and other Caucasian people feel guilty because of a chance of birth, is plain stupid. I didn't choose to be white. It just happened.

In the place where I grew up, I'll admit it wasn't diverse, but is that my fault? Should I feel guilt because my parents bought their house in a town that was predominately white?

As it happened, my family wasn't much different than the families of my peers - except for the family of my Chinese friend who lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods in town, and Wilt Chamberlain who lived in a house that looked down on the small, three bedroom, one bathroom house my family lived in. We were middle class / borderline poor - one car, lots of casseroles and cheap meat, tent camping trips were the vacation of our dreams and, among that, I was raised to believe that I have to make and take opportunities that present themselves.

When I was fifteen, I tried to talk to my dad about planning for college. He looked me in the eye and said, "We can't afford it. If you want to go to college, you have to work through it." The door was closed because I was fifteen. I wasn't driven, so I looked for other options. I took typing classes. Then I went to junior college and took bookkeeping classes. I didn't get a leg up or special treatment. I wasn't admitted to the typing class because I was white. In fact, two of my classmates were black. I certainly didn't look around and pin the blame on someone else, not even of a different race. It was my situation, my problem, and it was up to me to figure it out, so I did. Should I feel guilty for that?

This is what I don't understand. Why are these people out there, marching, blocking traffic and sidewalks, interrupting the lives of other people just trying to go about their own business?

Why do they demand that I and other people who don't happen to be black, feel guilty for a chance of genetics?

If these people really want equality, as they say they do, why do they keep picking at the wound of differences? Why don't they stop pointing out that not everyone is the same? At the end of the day, what difference does it make? Who cares what color skin someone happens to have?

Martin Luther King said it best:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"

Why can't these people strive for that ideal and just go home?

Can someone enlighten me, please?

Best~
Philippa
 
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

The Sun Came Up After All

How about that? The election is over and we're still upright and breathing. The sun rose and things are moving along just as they did yesterday.

From where I sit, and where I think a lot of my fellow countrymen sit, there is a profound sense of relief. Relief and a looking-forward feeling that we're not about to fall off the edge into a downward spiral of more regulation, higher taxes and greater government control over our lives. It IS hopeful in America because, after months and months of struggle, door knocking, phone calls, hard work and hoping, we have a man with a positive, hopeful, uplifting message for America.

Donald Trump has said repeatedly, in front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses, that he will be OUR president. That he will work for US. That he loves America. That he will do all he can to protect our country and our best interests on the world stage.

I look forward to that. I look forward to looking up instead of down. I look forward to having a chance for a better quality of life, a thriving economy with higher employment. This is, truly, a new day and it is full of hope and the prospect of change we were promised more than eight years ago.

No matter what the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) says, there are tens of millions of people who are and who have been sitting on the sidelines, sometimes for years, who haven't been able to find work. They are the truly disenfranchised, the hopeless. Now, because of the programs and ideas Donald Trump has publicized, they can hope again. They, too, can look forward to getting back to work, to digging in and feeling that sense of well-being that comes from contributing to the greater good through the effort of their own labor.

It won't happen immediately, but you can already see the sense of relief, of looking-forward in the stock market.

Companies that engage in construction and infrastructure, the equipment manufacturers, the material suppliers, are seeing a bounce in their stock prices. There is anticipation that those will be needed - and those companies will again be offering employment opportunities. In a matter of months, I think a lot of the un-employed, the given-up, the under employed will begin to see the budding of a new economic boom.

The coal industry, the broader energy industry, the lifeblood of our country will start to resurge. Jobs will open - the high paying jobs that have been promised for years and years - will start to open up and that will benefit the workers, their families and their communities. People will have money in their pocket, not because of government largesse or theft from others in the form of taxes, but because of their own labor. For the honest, the willing, there is no greater sense of satisfaction than going to work, working hard and, when the day is done looking back and saying, "I did a lot today" or "I had a good day."

It has been a long time, too long, since America has had an opportunity like this. I am glad we finally do. I am glad the sun rose over America this morning and there is change in the air.

And, in the spirit of the day, the hope and the expectation, I'll leave it there.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

The Pinky & The Brain Society for World Domination, Part II - Updated

Following is the repost of a blog I put up last December.

It lays out my concern that the United Nations is nothing more than the nascent government for the New World Order / Globalist Society being forced upon us by our politicians.

America must do as the UK did from the EU - one of the five region/states promoted by the Globalists. We must "Brexit" from the UN and from NAFTA if we want to keep our sovereignty. By doing that, by shedding the shackles imposed upon us over the past thirty-five years, we will become truly free again, and will be positioned to provide a guiding light for the rest of the industrialized world.

If Hillary Clinton becomes President, our nation will cease to be. Obama has already handed over internet freedom to the United Nations. Clinton will have the Supreme Court and will strip our Constitution from us. The Second Amendment will be the first to fall - our insurance policy against governmental tyranny. Next will be the First Amendment, then the others, one-by-one, until we are laid bare.

There is no reason to doubt that the UN will begin exercising internet censorship if Hillary is elected. It fits with the UN 2030 Agenda - which lays out, in kindly terms, their plan for subverting free peoples and free nations to a One World Government.

The other day I posted and ranted about the UN's Agenda 2030 - a document that smacks of a manifesto about how they're going to take over the world. Reading that and thinking about it, it seems clear to me that the United Nations is intent on becoming the One World Government, Constitutions and national sovereignty be damned.

According to their Agenda, immigration is necessary and nations should cooperate and even encourage it.

Nation states should not do anything independently. If they want to enter into a trade agreement or do something that will benefit the citizens of their country financially or economically, that nation state is required, under the terms of this agreement, to get it approved by the Pinky & The Brain Society for World Domination (hereinafter called "the UN").

Along with the manifesto there were a smattering of references to other documents. Reading them it's not as overtly concerning as I expected. Most deal with the lofty goals of bringing undeveloped countries forward. African nations, land-locked nations (like Lichtenstein, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, no doubt), and other "deserving" countries. It sounds as if it's all about helping them to become self-sustaining and peaceful. And as I said the other day, those are lofty, admirable and worthy goals. They're not realistic goals given what's going on around the world these days, but they are worthy.

Can we say Boko Haram and mass murder? How about Daesh or ISIS or ISIL or IS or whatever the hell the name du jour is for those vermin who are killing and raping with abandon. Al Qaeda or Taliban or any of the many offshoots are in there, too. Given the violence running rampant through much of the world, the worldwide peace called for in Agenda 2030 looks to be very pie in the sky right now.

Despite the worthiness of its ideals, I do hope, for the the benefit of citizens everywhere, that the UN doesn't set itself up as The One World Government. Having people govern themselves locally is much better for the individual than people living under one-size fits all totalitarianism or tyranny, which is what I fear the UN's vision for the world would quickly become.

However, I do hope they manage to bring peace and prosperity to all. I'm still not sure how they're going to do it given the (I stand corrected because I said six the other day) more than seven billion people wandering around this planet and the limited resources of clean water and food. Good on them if they can, though.

Well, I said I would go back and read through some of those documents. Truth is, I skimmed. I skimmed several carefully, an in-depth skim rather than a skim-skim, and I gleaned some interesting information. Nothing about widespread eugenics or life productivity charts that show where medical resources should be applied (which was a cause of some widespread conspiracy theories back in 2008-2009).

One of the documents I looked at is called the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Googling it brought me a selection of sites. I chose this UN page which is basically lots and lots of happy-talk about what the plan is:

http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd3/press-release/countries-reach-historic-agreement.html

Cutting through the wilderness of verbiage (you think they use so many convoluted words and phrases so people will give up and go do something else?), I found not much else but one significant point that comes up again and again.

Hold onto your wallet. The tax collector is coming to get you, and it’s going to hurt:

Domestic resource mobilization is central to the agenda. In the outcome document, countries agreed to an array of measures aimed at widening the revenue base, improving tax collection, and combatting tax evasion and illicit financial flows. Countries also reaffirmed their commitment to official development assistance, particularly for the least developed countries…

Doncha love the convoluted phrasing? It makes sound so benign. “Domestic resource mobilization…”  * Sighs and bats eyelids at the melodious sound of it *

Oh, and that typo is theirs, not mine (mine is a direct quote, including the wart of 'combatting').

Now, back to the program here:

Excuse me? Just what the hell is that supposed to mean? "Domestic resource mobilization..."

This is deliberate, you know. Make it hard to read, harder to comprehend and people will give up. You can bet when these guys and gals were sitting around that table they weren’t saying (in portentous tones), “You know, domestic resource mobilization has got to be central to this agenda.”

No, it was probably more along the lines of, "You know, we are going to have to tax the hell out of people to pay for all of this. That has got to be central to this agenda."

Bottom line is that they have deliberately made it harder to read than it needs to be, and if you’ve reached this far it’s possible your brain is on the verge of exploding. But I’m persistent and dogged so I made it this far. Then read farther. Basically, they are going to create new taxes, fees, liens, assessments and levies, reduce loopholes, and do everything possible to separate you from as much of your hard earned money as possible so it can be given away to other countries.

The next paragraph takes it a step farther:

The outcome document also underscores the importance of aligning private investment with sustainable development,  

In other words, under this grand scheme it seems that your “private” investments wouldn't be private anymore. You invest your money in the stock market or some other savings vehicle and it’s not necessarily yours. Maybe it'll be like some of the programs instituted in Greece and Cypress in the past couple of years. You know, those policies where if you have anything more than "x" amount of money in the bank, the government can just swoop down and take it. They were called 'bail-ins'.

In case you don't believe this actually happened (it did), here's an except is from the Huffington Post (there are many other links but out of sensitivity for those who might get hives from any of the other more right-wing publications like Forbes or Investor's Business Daily or the Wall Street Journal, I chose this one):

On the weekend of November 16th, the G20 leaders whisked into Brisbane, posed for their photo ops, approved some proposals, made a show of roundly disapproving of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and whisked out again. It was all so fast, they may not have known what they were endorsing when they rubber-stamped the Financial Stability Board's "Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution," which completely changes the rules of banking.

Russell Napier, writing in ZeroHedge, called it "the day money died." In any case, it may have been the day deposits died as money. Unlike coins and paper bills, which cannot be written down or given a "haircut," says Napier, deposits are now "just part of commercial banks' capital structure." That means they can be "bailed in" or confiscated to save the megabanks from derivative bets gone wrong. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/new-g20-bailin-rules-now-_b_6244394.html

And, that G20 document they signed affected all banks, everywhere. Including here in the US where we supposedly have our own national banking regulations and restrictions. Yeah, well there went those with nary a ripple.

So, back to the UN Agenda 2030 and Addis Ababa Action Thingie. It goes farther. It pretty much says that on top of your local tax collector and the national tax collector, we might end up with a UN tax collector, too. Although they won’t call it that. They’ll figure out new ways and means and impose taxes, fees, levies, assessments or anything else they can think of, take the money locally or domestically, and then funnel it into the UN for redistribution. Don’t believe me? Well, they say it right here:

Taxation—The Agenda calls for strengthening support for the work of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters to improve its effectiveness and operational capacity,

Wunnerful. So, on top of the twenty-some percent I pay in income tax, and the ten percent sales tax I regularly shell out on things other than foodstuffs, and the forty percent I pay per gallon on the gas I need to get to my job to earn the money to pay my taxes, I get to look forward to another hand being thrust in my direction. Well, they gotta pay for this somehow.

I kept reading but didn’t find anything else that’s new. Just the high-falutin’ goals to which they aspire and expect us to pay for.

I’m still scratching my head over how they’re going to bring everyone on this planet up to the same plane of existence. Don't misunderstand me, please. It’s a worthy goal and I hope they can accomplish it. I just fear that by taking and taking and taking from those who have and giving and giving and giving to those who don't, they'll end up dragging the rest of us down to the level of these undeveloped countries.

Since we have no one with a spine in Washington, and Obie-One is routinely circumventing the protections afforded by the Constitution by issuing decree after decree from the Oval Office, I suspect we're going to be stuck with this whether we like it or not. So much for a Representative Democracy.

Well. It's another case of something about which I, as an individual can do nothing so I'm not going to worry about it. I'll live my life, put one foot in front of the other for as long as I can, and keep on keepin' on. I hope you'll do the same but I do hope, if you figure out a solution to The Pinky & The Brain Society for World Domination you'll clue the rest of us in so we can join you.

If you want to read the lead-in to this, see my other post about this, here:

http://philippastories.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-pinky-brain-society-are-winding-up.html



Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

What is Wrong with America?

I am so angry, so frustrated and so disgusted by the descent of this country into a nation where there are two sets of rules - one for the rich and powerful, and a completely different set for the people who work hard, pay their taxes and play by the rules. WE, what little is left of the middle class, by our labor and effort, carry the rich and powerful on our backs.

For all those Elitists in Hollywood who look down their noses at people like me, or people who kind of think like me, we support you by going to see your movies. We support you by buying your music and watching your shows. Where do you get off looking down at us and sneering? Without us, without our money, you'd be broke and living on the streets. You would be homeless like so many of the men and women who have fought for those freedoms that allow you to spew hatred and crap like pus from a suppurating wound.

The same for the media and the Masters of the Internet - Google and Microsoft. If we could break our addiction to the drug you provide - the internet - you'd go broke in a week. But we can't. You own us and you know it and you sneer and smear and laugh.

Fine. Sometimes a dance with the devil is unavoidable, so we dance.

But! This corruption, the lies that are told and the evil that pervades our electoral process is so far removed from, so diametrically opposed to the intent of our Bill of Rights and Constitution - that I could almost (not quite, but almost) commit murder.

Saying it "infuriates" me doesn't even come close to how I really feel.

All across the news there are stories, Ed Snowden, Kristian Saucier, David Petraeus, John Deutch, Sandy Berger, Peter Van Buren and the list goes on and on and on, of people who have done nothing compared to what Hilliary has done. These people have been hammered, their lives ruined, imprisoned or not, their reputations have been trashed - and Hilliary gets a pass.

The latest I saw last night is that one of her attorneys "gave" our national secrets to China by using a compromised laptop. Files that were on her server have been found on that laptop, which has been proved to have been hacked by China. Files have been found on a server in Romania - and she gets a pass.

For months we kept hearing that James Comey "is a stand-up guy". Bull crap. He's as corrupt, as morally and ethically bankrupt, as soulless as Loretta Lynch and all the rest of the Washington insiders.

This leads me to ask: What the HELL is wrong with the people in this country?

Is there no one with a shred of honor, a speck of decency or moral fiber left? Why is this woman walking the street? Because she said, "I don't recall"? That's bull crap and we all know it.

There's a video that's been found, from 2010, where she's on tape telling her staff about cyber security. Now we all know that was a case of "do as I say, not as I do". But she doesn't recall.

If anyone else did any thing even remotely like what she's done, they'd be rotting in jail - and she's not.

Why are we, the citizens of this country, giving this woman a pass? Why are WE allowing her to get away with this? This is WRONG.

I am confident that if Donald Trump gets elected next month Hilliary will be toast next year - and about damned time as far as I'm concerned.

But what does all of this say about our country? What does it say about our morality and sense of right and wrong? More importantly, what message are we sending our kids? "Become powerful and you can do anything?" That's what it looks like from where I sit.

There is credible evidence that the Clintons have been involved in hurting people, perhaps even killing some. Just the Project Veritas videos prove that they will stop at nothing - even if it means children get pepper sprayed and people get beaten up and pelted with eggs. All that matters to Hilliary is getting elected - and the hell with everyone who gets in her way.

Why? On God's green Earth, why would anyone with a shred of decency or speck of a soul vote for someone like this?

Even if you think Donald Trump is a foul mouthed boor, mean and crass or anything else, that is NOTHING compared to what we know about Hilliary and her entourage. When has Donald Trump ever caused property damage, physical harm or threatened anyone? I've never heard that from the media - and we all know they would have used it, plastered the airwaves with it, but there's nothing.

This election IS the future of our country. I'm convinced of that because of the Supreme Court. We can handle a couple of more years of bad leadership and a limp Congress - but the Court is our future. It will guide us as we move forward, and our freedom is under direct threat because of how Hillary Clinton views our country.

That is why I pray that Donald Trump prevails. Even if his feet are made of clay, even if he cannot do everything he's promising to do, it will put a huge dent in the globalist plan to subvert what was, in the twentieth century, the greatest republic on the planet.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Time and Place... Why Not?

All of the media is gawping in shock this morning over the remarks Donald Trump made at last night's Alfred E. Smith dinner. Even my hubby was shocked, but I get it. I know exactly why The Donald did what he did, said what he said.

My mother taught me well that there are right times and right places. Swearing in church is a wrong time / wrong place. Kneeling for prayer in a pig sty, same. Last night might not have been the right time or place, but it was an opportunity too good to pass by.

Before going farther, my position on the people who call themselves journalists is that they are, almost all of them, blatant bald-faced liars. Any credibility they might have had is gone - 100% - because of their collusion with the most corrupt, evil political campaign I have ever seen. Granted, that's only about 50 years' worth, but I remember reading about the Kennedy / Nixon mix-up in my teens, and the questions that still swirl around Johnson's implication in the Kennedy assassination. Carter / Reagan, Reagan / Mondale, Bush / Dukakis, etc. NOTHING stinks compared to this one.

For the past year, and we have proof positive through Wikileaks, Hilliary's slavering, slobbering lackeys at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Times, etc., have engaged in unrelenting character assassination.

They won't touch Hilliary. Oh, no. She owns them, they know it, and they fear her.

In fact, just the other day, CNN asked a pol a question about Donald Trump. When the man just mentioned Wikileaks, the satellite feed "mysteriously" cut out. If it wasn't so flagrant, so obvious, it might have been funny. But it's not.

For eighteen months these television outlets (they do not have any right to call themselves "news media" and they certainly have NO RIGHT to call themselves "journalists" since they are far less than intellectually honest) have gone after Trump in concerted, deliberate way.

They have not pointed out in good natured humor the little things, the human failings and foibles we all have, as they have with Clinton (few and far between though they be). No, they have made things up entirely.

The "bimbo eruptions" (if I may borrow a derogatory phrase from the women's advocate Mrs. Clinton) for instance. Why, if those charges against Mr. Trump are legitimate, didn't those women come forward long ago, at the time it happened? Not even one or two surfaced over the years - why suddenly, a few weeks before the election?

After all, Trump didn't have the power, as Bill Clinton did, to affect the futures of those women in meaningful way. I can say with certainty, after watching him and listening to him for the past year, that Trump would not stoop to the kind of intimidation and the threats of physical harm many of Bill's accusers say came their way from Hilliary. He's just not like that. He'd talk about it. He'd call them names, say mean or nasty things, or sued the paper or outlet that released the stories, but that would be it.

No, without those false accusations, the heads of the television stations didn't have anything to make people hate Trump. They have performed character assassination against Trump and against Melania. Written lies and spoken have flooded the airwaves - proof nowhere to be found - and he's had no venue in which to strike back.

Until last night when he was handed a golden opportunity, and he took it.

Hilliary and her ankle licking, butt sniffing lapdogs of the press were all in the same room. None were in position to do anything about it, so what better time or place to lay it all out? To tell them that he knows, as does the rest of America, how corrupt, morally and ethically bankrupt these people have become. In a matter of a few words, he unburdened himself. He called out those hate-filled people and lanced the boil of resentment that has simmered in many Americans who have watched this circus, disgusted and offended.

And I, despite the inappropriateness of the time and place, applaud him - standing O, Mr. (future) President.

As for the "news" outlets? They have done their profession irreparable harm. Never again will I believe a single word they say - even if they say it's raining while outside my windows water is falling from the sky. Once a liar, always a liar and you can never be sure that a liar isn't lying when their lips are moving.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Fellow #Deplorables, if we want to #MAGA - here's what else we have to do

If you are a "Deplorable" by Hillary Clinton's standards, our work is only half done.

Unless Donald Trump has all the help he needs to keep the promises he's made to us, he won't get there from here. He will not be able to affect the change we all are so desperate to see. So we have to do our part to help him get America back for us, for our families and for our children.

Look at the Congressional Approval polls. As of this morning, nearly 80% of Americans questioned about the job Congress is doing said "it's crap", or words to that effect.

Why?

Because WE the American People, keep putting back into office the same people to do the same thing - feather their nests at the expense of ours. We, the American people, have got to wake up and take responsibility for our nation back. Which means we have got to stop doing what we've been doing and expecting a different result.

I can't speak to other states, but the two Senators from California, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were both first elected in 1992 and 1993, respectively. Given that they've been drinking the water and sucking the wind in Washington for nearly a quarter of a century, how in touch do you think they are with the people in their state?

I can answer that: they're not.

They are owned, lock, stock and barrel by the donors and special interests. They do NOT have the people's interests at heart or put them first. No. They owe those donors and special interests and do their bidding, not ours.

The same can be said of our State Representatives - most of them of been in office for multiple terms. Look at Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House when Obama Care was causing such a ruckus. She deliberately ignored the will of the People, famously said, "You have to read the bill to find out what's in it", and got that bill passed - even though the majority of Americans said "NO!"

These people, and others like them around the country, have lost touch with the very people who put them into office the first time. These people have got to go if we hope to have one single little chance of putting things right again.

Yes - there are exceptions - a handful. Like Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, Darryl Issa from California (of all places!), and Trey Gowdy.

We HAVE to fix this. WE, you and me and the rest of us Deplorables, have got to put into the House and the Senate people like Donald Trump, people who will support Trump in the policies he wants to put into place and the Justices he will nominate to the Supreme Court.

If we don't do this, if we do not throw out the vast majority of current incumbents in both the House and the Senate and elect people who are as desperate to get America back to the Constitution and back to what it should be, Trump will enter the Oval Office with both of his hands tied behind his back. He will not be able to get even half of what we want him to do, done.

So - don't just vote for Donald Trump. Do that, but also do your homework. Identify those people who are on the ballot in your state and district who hold the same ideals as the rest of us Deplorables. Vote for them, and encourage all of your friends and family to do the same.

Let us, the American People, take this country back from the Elites and the Donor Class - but lets do it 100%.

Open Letter to Jonah Goldberg & #NeverTrump Groupies

Dear Jonah,

I just took a look at your page on Twitter. That is one adorable dog! But you know the expression on your pup's face in that pic? That guilty look that says, "Oops! I really messed up - Dad's gonna be pissed."

That's what I want to talk to you about today: forgiveness.

It's the case of knowing we've screwed up, and knowing that someone important to us will get mad, but we hope they will make the effort to separate the act from the individual. Which is something that takes character - accepting that when someone does or says something foolish, separating the act from the person. Colleagues, friends, parents and lovers do it all the time. It's part of living.

When someone we know, care about, like or love does something "stupid" or unthinking we don't, as a general rule, throw them out like trash.

Instead, we try to help them learn not to do the same thing again because no one of us, not you, not me, not anyone else on this planet is perfect. When we screw up it's incumbent on one decent human being to another, to help us get better.

I get that you don't like Trump. I do, and I respect that. What I have trouble respecting though, is your "baby out with the bathwater" approach to this situation. We do not have another viable choice. One of these two people will be our next president for the next four years, and unless we're planning on leaving the planet, there's just no getting around the fact that we will live with whatever they put in place.

Now, you have principles you can't bring yourself to violate. Got it. Respect it. But! Given the realistic choices come November - crap sandwich on wheat v. crap sandwich on white - there ain't a lot of wiggle room.

Yes, you, yourself, have only one vote. But you influence, through your articles and television appearances, a lot of people who might be on the fence. If you remain standing in your corner, face to the wall and fingers in your ears, stamping your feet because you just don't want to see reality, Hillary Clinton could well become our next president.

Have you never heard of the fine art of compromise? Do you never compromise with your wife, your siblings or people with whom you work? Of course you do, and those are times when you put your self off to the side and accept something you might not necessarily like 100%.

Putting yourself, your self, your ego and principles aside, and looking at what that would mean for the United States of America, what do you suppose the future of this country will be if she wins?

Is that the kind of place you want your kids and your grandkids to live in?

No free speech because the Supreme Court will decide what speech is allowed and what falls in the purely subjective bucket of "hate-speech". We're already seeing this mindset spreading itself across college campuses. What do you suppose the speech-police will say to you and to Rush and to anyone else who doesn't fall into their narrow line of expression?

No Second Amendment because the left doesn't understand it and are frightened by it - yet it is the one true guarantee our country's Founders put in place to ensure we would not be subjected to tyranny.

No States Rights, or Protection from Illegal Search & Seizure? Do you really want the kind of America Hillary Clinton will create through her appointments to the Supreme Court?

Thinking Congress will stop her from doing that is delusional at best. When has Congress last been effective at doing anything that has benefited America and her citizens? 1998?

No, Jonah. I am afraid that your selfish adherence to self and stance on your principles could well doom this country.

Sometimes we have to weigh the alternatives and sometimes we have to put our self aside. We have to think bigger picture and swallow our pride.

I am confident that were many in the GOP who threw up their hands in horror at the idea of having Ronald Reagan as Governor of California. Yes, he cut his teeth on a smaller stage, but he was, arguably, the BEST president of the past 75-years. I proudly voted for him in 1980 and again in 1984 - and I am damned glad that I did.

In Trump, believe it or not, I see similar characteristics. I see that Trump, while full of bluff and bluster does get that he's not the smartest guy in the room. Just as Reagan did. I'm also pretty confident that he knows pretty well what he doesn't know, and he has surrounded himself with advisers who do. Just how much real foreign policy experience did Reagan have before taking on the Soviet Union?

Step back for a minute. Look over the past year and look at just how far Trump has come in his policies and positions since announcing his intent to run. Look at who he's surrounded himself with as advisors and surrogates.

These people aren't slouches, and the people he's listening to and learning from do, I believe, love this country just as you and I do, and, as I believe Donald Trump does. I am confident they will continue to put her interests ahead of their own - as you and the other #NeverTrump groupies should do.

Just get over yourselves. Look out at America. Look at what she has become in the past twenty-five years and ask yourself, can we really afford another generation of degeneration through the courts and Executive Orders?

Think about it - hard, long and generously, putting the American people ahead of your principles for five minutes, and then decide.

The Basket of Deplorables will welcome you and your friends with open arms.

Best,

DeplorablePhil

Could it possibly be...?

America is divided again on July 5th. Half of us are horrified by what the FBI did, and half of us are breathing a sigh of relief.

What if, though. What if this was a calculus by Comey and the FBI to...

1) Avoid an indictment and prevent Obama from pardoning her, leaving open the door for a future indictment.

2) Continues the speculation about what was in those emails and how damaging they might have been to our national security.

3) Make Trump look at least a bit more honorable when compared to a woman who has already proved to be unable to keep a secret. One of the digs against Trump is that he has a big mouth that runs away from him.

People don't like either of them with good reason. The primary difference is that Trump is a relative newcomer when compared to Hillary who's been an unpleasant wart in public view for more than thirty years.

After all, this is a woman who aided and abetted her husband's repeated abuse of women, calling the victims "bimbo eruptions". Yeah, that's presidential.

Back to Comey because she's disgusting and now she's been given a pass by someone widely thought to be a "stand-up" guy. That reputation is now under a gigantic question mark, but what if.

One thing that Comey didn't touch today is the Clinton Foundation. Could this be the tax evasion equivalent that brought Al Capone down?

Back then, in the twenties and thirties, the Feds had a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that Capone was involved in bootlegging and murder and extortion. Still, it wasn't until an accountant discovered a lapse in Capone's tax return that they were able to nail him and throw his sorry ass in jail for a good long time.

Maybe that's the design here. Pass on the Big One and focus on the apparent lesser evil that will be easier to prove.

I hope so. I really, truly hope so, because as a former government contractor, knowing the serious consequences of saying the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time and place, today's lack of action is shocking. Hell - as a government contractor I wasn't supposed to be on Facebook or any other social media outlet in case I might be compromised. That was SOP at my employer and was a terminable offense.

No matter what else, this strips any pretense away from "justice". There is none. If you're Joe or Jo Sixpack, you're toast if you jaywalk. If you're a political hotshot, you can do anything you want and you'll be given a pass. That is the worst of it. Today has proved there is no "justice for all".

Oh well. This is another case where time will tell.

If Trump becomes President, I pray he will reach back and prosecute this woman to the fullest extent of the law. If she becomes President, this country is well and truly screwed. Law will have no meaning, national security classifications become a total joke, and non-disclosure agreements have no weight. Edward Snowden can come home and not face a single charge because of the precedent laid down today.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

BREXIT - Freedom or Serfdom

BREXIT is no more my direct business than the American election is the direct business of anyone in the EU. However, as someone once said, "opinions are like a**holes. Everybody has one." True, they do.

I have a number of acquaintance in Britain and other places within the EU and they opine about our politics, politicians and upcoming election. They don't much like Donald Trump and most seem to think Bernie The Socialist is the best choice of a bad lot. This oar dipping leads me to think I can do the same - offer an opinion on something that really won't affect me.

It started yesterday when hubby said, "Do you want to watch this? We'll only watch ten minutes."

"This" was Brexit - The Movie and it was fascinating. Ten minutes came and went and I didn't even notice. We ended up watching the whole thing - over an hour - because it raised a number of really great points.

First - if you live in the EU, do you know the name of the person in Brussels who is your representative? The person who controls what you do, how you live your life? Could you recognize a picture of him or her? Are they a public figure who you see in your local newspaper?

Second - if you have a complaint or want something significant changed, do you have the ability to get their attention? Can you call their individual office and speak to someone?

Third - if your political representative in Brussels does something you don't like, can you vote that person out office?

Fourth - if you pay taxes, do you know or do you have any say about where and how they're used?

Not, according to what we watched.

If you live in the EU under the current regime you probably don't know who is in charge - and it's not Angela Merkel. She's just the public face of the most powerful of the countries within the Union, the country wholly bought in and with the most skin in the game.

In Britain, and most other places within the EU, if you and your neighbors want to change the laws that affect your everyday life, good luck with that. Brussels controls all of it and you, as an individual or even a group of voters and taxpayers have zero say. While you might be able to vote out your local representative or MP or PM, you cannot change the real regulators of your life. You have no say, no control over your "representative" in the EU governing body.

Last, you have no way of knowing where your tax dollars go. Like that £1.25M spent on paper mache terns funded by the EU.

The mating model terns causing a stir with Brexit campaigners

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/04/the-mating-model-terns-causing-a-stir-with-brexit-campaigners/ 

Some people think that money could have been better spent on funding the NHS or other things. But, nah. The rulers within the EU know better. Tern breeding is more important.

On the other hand, there is a lot of scary stuff being blared through the news. According to the Remain voices, if Britain leaves the EU everything will implode and the world will come crashing in. Even though it wouldn't, really.

All of it, all of the cries of "wolf, wolf" are from the power brokers in this world. If Britain leaves it will be a blow, perhaps a devastating blow, to the Central Banking system - the one that manipulates all of the world's currencies.

Who is crying "wolf"? Well, most of the most powerful politicians who have a vested interest - lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests - if Britain stays.

The 'little people' - you and me and others like us who live in this world and do the majority of working hard and trying to make ends meet and struggle to better ourselves - don't count for them. We are faceless replaceable cogs with zero importance to them except what we represent in taxes.

One of the big empty threats is trade deals. "If you don't have a trade deal with the rest of the EU you'll be isolated, you won't be able to buy stuff."

That's a truckload of codswallop. If you live in England, do you have a trade deal with your local Tescos? No. If you live in England and buy things online, from Amazon or another site, do you have a trade deal? No.

Trade deals are simply agreements between countries. They set tariffs and import requirements but don't really affect the price of the finished product much.

What you and Britain have is money - and even if the EU tries to punish Britain by increasing tariffs on trade, that will be temporary - no more than a year or two because, if the tariffs are too steep and the cost of goods is too great, no one will buy. Besides, in the long run, those high tariffs are going to hurt far more within the EU than they will across the water in Britain.

If businesses aren't selling, they're not making money, and they won't pay as much in taxes. If businesses aren't selling, they're not going to need as many people making them. They'll lay people off which means less tax revenue. Britons won't be able to afford the things they like, so they'll find alternatives - perhaps new British-made alternatives.

Right now, according to Brexit, Britain doesn't have trade deals with the US, with China and with many other economies with which it does business. So the impact on trade will be zero. Products will still be on shelves because governments still want the taxes generated by the manufacture of those products and the taxes on the wages of the workers. Even if they cost a bit more it won't be significant - and you'll save in other places because, over time, your taxes will likely go down. You won't be funding the behemoth that is the EU.

Even Obama's threat on trade is empty. He has no power over anything. He's going to be out of office in less than eight months and, as soon as the party conventions are over this summer, he's going to be a lamer duck than he already is. Trump, on the other hand, is a businessman - he will want to trade with everyone, so long as the rules make it fair for both parties.

What about the banks, though, Goldman-Sachs and J.P. Morgan that are threatening jobs?

This raises the level of codswallop to mid-thigh. London, within the EU or outside it, is till Europe's largest and most important financial center. It has been for centuries. Just because Britons choose to leave the EU is not going to change that. Being the largest and most important financial center means that the banks aren't going to leave. They have invested there and can't afford to throw that and their presence to the wind just because their knickers get knotted over this.

The primary reasons for these scare tactics are money and power, pure and simple. It is all about greed.

The site Fullfact.org shows that in 2015 Britain took £13 billion in the taxes it collected from its citizens and shipped it off to the EU. That is £13,000,000,000 pounds.

What did Britain get in return? Just one-third of what it sent to Brussels is what it got back: £4.5 billion. What happened to the other £8.5 billion? More importantly, what good could that £13 billion have done at home? How about investing in the NHS? How about going to pay for the social services Britain offers its citizens?

What did you get for part of that £13 billion? Paper mache terns.

The UK's EU Membership Fee - Fullfact.org

This is not to say that there would not be disruptions. Of course there would be, but they would be nothing like the world-ending cataclysm being threatened by those who benefit most from Britain remaining.

The fishing industry would come back, as would a lot of other industries that have been hurt or destroyed by the regulations and restrictions imposed by the EU and its Central Bank.

But think about it. Despite an initial period of unrest and difficulty while things settle out and Britain takes back control of itself, the end result would be a Free Britain. A Britain capable of and able to chart its own course, without restraint or directive from Brussels. Taxes paid would stay at home, not be handed out to all and sundry as Brussels decrees. Government would, once again, be truly accountable to the people it is there to represent, rather than a mindless, faceless bureaucracy.

At the end of it, the program ended with the perfect question: "What price freedom?"

What price, indeed.

To me, loving my freedom as I do, BREXIT would be well worth a period of disruption, of economic disturbance. Why? Because once through it, after the dust settles, having control, having the right of self-determination, is worth it.

After all, isn't freedom, the concept of free men and women being free of governmental tyranny, the fundamental concept of the Magna Carta? Isn't the Magna Carta perhaps the greatest document ever conceived and written? That document effectively established Britain. It, established the rights of a free people and became the template for every democratic constitution written since.

Yet, that is all threatened by this one vote. Will the people of Britain willingly subject themselves to tyranny and serfdom, or will they fight to be free?

It's going to be interesting to watch. Almost more interesting than this, which should be required viewing for everyone even thinking about voting on 23 June:

https://www.brexitthemovie.com/

Best~

Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Why not?

I'm going back to my roots, here. How I started this blog and how I should have kept going - except I have interests and passions that led me away from simplicity.

Today, in this post, there are no politics, no unpleasantness, no controversy, unless you have a different opinion about how and when and where to use cleaning products.

This morning I'm cleaning. I happened to be in the kitchen, wiping down my countertops, when the inspiration for this little blurb hit.

Hubby and I have granite tile countertops. We couldn't go the full monty when we remodeled the kitchen, so settled for 12x12 tile instead of getting slabs - we have a lot of counter space. They need cleaning, so I clean them.

Once in a while I use a spot of dishsoap and water and they end up looking great - but it's a lot of work and water because I want to be sure to get up all the soap residue. That's the once-in-a-while cleaning. Everyday, though, I use Windex - a spray cleaner with ammonia and coloring.

I was once told by an acquaintance who had just gotten brand new countertops of granite, "I was told by my contractor to never use Windex."

Being curious - because we are, after all, going on about polished rock - I asked, "Why not?"

She wasn't as curious as I. She hadn't asked so didn't know. She told me so. She said, "I don't know, I didn't ask."

Okay. Dead-end. So I went where we all go these days - to the inter-web. All over the place there are sites that say "DON'T". Not a single one answers "WHY NOT??" (Hey -they shout, so I'm shouting.)

They don't say why not. They just say do not. Some, a few, say it's okay but most don't. Some of those say to use another product, another acid - vinegar.

Well that leaves me with a theory, which I'll get to.

Some say "never put anything acidic on your granite". Okay - so don't spill your wine, splash your salad dressing, or squirt lemon or lime juice on a work surface in your kitchen. Got it. Well, newsflash folks - the only way I will not spill, splash or squirt in my kitchen is if I never go into my kitchen. Which isn't an option.

Others say a mixture of vinegar (an acid) and water works wonders, if applied by a soft cloth. The soft cloth I get.

Paper towels are, after all, made of wood fiber and tend to be coarse so they can scratch. If you don't trust me, get a magnifying glass and look at the fibers - they're coarse. Do the same with that well used, well loved dish towel you've had forever - not coarse. Even Kleenex will scratch glass which is why you're not supposed to use paper towels or Kleenex to wipe your eyeglasses.

But we're not talking about glass. We're talking about glorified rock which masons call "stone". Which is still, when you get down to it, a variant of rock.

So trying to figure out 'why this and not that' is like asking a parent or grandparent who did things the same way every time, "Why do you do it like that?"


Answer: "because it's the way my mother / father did it" or the variant, "That's the way I always do it."

"Why?"

"Well... because." Annoyed glance because you've asked an answer to the immutable. In my experience, the glance was almost invariably accompanied by "why don't you go out and play?" Freeway being the obvious location for said playing in that moment.

This morning I asked the Oracle of the InterWeb - "Why not?" and I got no answer. Just the same old sites with the same old conflicting information.

To me, this is not like taking a parent's advice about not jumping off roofs or bridges or diving head-first into murky water. There's sense in those things - as you'll know if you've ever done something stupid like that and gotten hurt doing it.

This is like A Mystery of the Universe which leads to my theory: They want to sell product.

The sites that say "don't" are trying hard to keep people from using an inexpensive method for cleaning because they want to sell you a more expensive product - like 100x more expensive - that includes the same basic ingredient: ammonia. Or maybe it's vinegar, which would be even less expensive.

Where does this leave me? Why, with my trusty bottle of blue colored ammonia and water, of course. And that raises another wonder-point: why is it blue? Why not clear - as in clean, or...?

Hmm. Another Question for the Ages. But I'll think about that while I go back to my countertops.

Have a lovely day.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Living in ... molasses?

I'm not sure what to call it, this period after and between.It's  quieter, more still, than the inside of a Category 7 hurricane.

Yes, yes, I know. Hurricanes are only ranked to Cat-5, but this is even quieter than an eye inside of that. According to Wikipedia, the eye of a hurricane is relatively quiet - and that's how this feels, this time after her passing and... whatever will come next.

For the two weeks immediately following Charlotte's demise, between work and home, I was too busy to really think or feel. In the past week, though, things at home have quieted a bit. Work is still crazed and perhaps that's the issue, but then again... I'm not sure.

For a while, a period of a couple of days in the past seven, I felt empty, like I had nothing inside - no feeling, no nothing.

Charlotte had depression - constant unhappiness or at least dissatisfaction with Life. Her expression gave it away - hand to forehead when she sat in her chair. Even while she ate her drooping eyelids and lips gave a picture of her unhappiness. I can visualize her now, looking miserable. She was agoraphobic, hated leaving the house and disliked having people she didn't know around her.

I haven't felt like that, but the empty feeling, the non-feeling, made me wonder for a time if her spirit had somehow taken control of mine. It was... quiet. Too quiet for me because calm is normal, quiet and disinterested is not. I'm a doer - always wanting to have hands and mind busy even while my eyes are watching something else (hockey and baseball right now) - so the lack of interest in anything had me worried.

For three weeks I haven't wanted to write. I haven't wanted to do anything on the computer, at all, and that is not like me. In the end, I made myself, using force and pressure, to write the post about her passing. Then I wanted to write nothing again. None of my stories, none of the posts here, nothing, and it was worrying.

Today, though, for the first time in several weeks, I feel compelled to write - to say something and give voice to thoughts. Is this the beginning? A re-genesis or re-birth of my writing and interest in creating scenes and characters and developing stories in which I can live for a time? I don't know.

I do know that tomorrow is going to be a reversion to the past few weeks. We still have the garage to go through and clear out, and then the house will be done. I'm pretending the laundry room isn't there but that's a simple matter of Windex, vacuum and a thirty minute window of time.

We'll see. For now, for this moment, this is enough.

I hope to be back. We'll see.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

There's Equality & Then There's...

I've got my ear plugs ready and waiting. I suspect that in a couple of weeks or less, the screeches from a large part of the female population, mostly leftists, are going to become painfully loud.

Already, a number of go-along-to-get-along voices on the right are warning Trump to 'tone it down' or 'dial it back'. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for those of us who don't get upset when he says 'boo', it ain't gonna happen. Trump is going to be Trump and that's why I'll vote for him. Twice if I could.

The deal is, I don't want what the women who constantly rant about 'equality' want in our next president. I want a man with a set leading this country, not a spineless wuss who is likeable.

I have no doubt that these same women do not expect or want Hilliary to be polite and sincere and nice to Trump. You can wager that Hilliary is going to come out and play that woman card for all it's worth, until it's all worn out, and Trump is going to meet her right there, in the middle. She is going to be nasty and unpleasant, she is going to pull out all the stops and do what she's always done when confronted by an adversary. As my hubby would say, and as I agree with him having paid attention to her and her antics for the past twenty-five years or so, she is going to 'bitch out' and it is not going to be pleasant to see.

Based on her approach, Trump is not going to sit back, hold the door and be a 'gentleman'. Trump is going to treat Hilliary exactly as he would treat a male opponent in this upcoming race. It doesn't get more equal than that so all I can and will say to the women who take umbrage at his manner of expression, brace yourselves. It's going to get a whole lot worse than it's been. If you want equality, you are going to get it. In spades and, when it comes, don't you dare complain about it. It's what you've said you want so suck it up and get over it.

You see, my attitude toward him and his rhetoric is simple: I am not dating him. My daughter is not dating him. Neither of us are living with him. He is not someone I cook for, clean for, do laundry for. I don't go home to him at the end of the day, and it's a good thing I don't because I don't like a lot of what he says or the manner in which he says it. Therefore, because I have that arm's length relationship, I do not have to like him.

In my view, that's the difference between 'women' and 'girls'.

Women recognize that we don't have to love or admire the male, that we can take his verbal bullying and coarse actions. We can let it pass over us because we're bigger than the words.

Girls don't get that. They get knickerknotted at the first 'mean' or unpleasant thing someone says - as if it's a personal assault. As if they're that important.

Now, with that said, the flip side is what I do like about him. He has the courage of his convictions. When he thinks he's right, he's ready, willing and able to drive a stake into the ground and say, "here". If he thinks he's right, he's not going to back down and bow to the popular sway of the masses - he will do what he thinks is right. He will also, however (and this is BIG), listen to his advisers. He's done it in his business, which is why his primary business is as successful as it is, and I have every confidence he will when it comes to the presidency. It's already showing in how he's pivoting in this election.

He's no longer using the same inflammatory rhetoric he was a couple of months ago. He's begun making reasoned speeches, using the ever-popular teleprompters so he's sure to stay on message. He's already stated that he wants someone with political cred to be his VP - and that is a very smart move.

When people say that Trump "isn't nice" it annoys me to no end because we are not voting for Prom King in this election. This is not supposed to be a popularity contest. We are not voting for Nicest Dude or Cleanest Mouth or Most Polite in Company. We are voting for a leader - someone who is going to take his place on the world stage, nominally at the head of the table. We do not need a "nice guy" who's going to wring his hands and waffle at every bad turn. We need someone decisive, someone who is going to put our interests first, for a change. We need someone with the stones to go toe-to-toe with the bad actors on this planet and out-bully them - not back down and cower in a corner someplace. Although I'm not entirely sure the Oval Office has corners...

All I hope is that the first wave of cacophony from the scorched females in this country won't deafen me at the outset, that I'll have time to get the earplugs in place before the second caterwaul.

Now - have a lovely and quiet day.

Best~
Philippa

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The Loneliest Journey

It's one we all face, and one we will all accomplish by ourselves - no company even if they're holding our hand. It's intensely personal, unique, and must be done by ourselves, inside our deepest places.

MIL passed last Thursday morning - alone as we all are at that time, even when surrounded by loved ones, friends, family or caregivers. She went peacefully after being ill for a long time. We had a chance to say "I'm sorry" and "I love you", the closing things we all wish to say but sometimes don't get the chance to express. There were "I'm sorry" statements, too, which is as it should be since none of us are perfect and all of us trip over another's feelings from time-to-time.

Three times I've been through this immediately, and each has been different, unique.

First with my Dad, whose hand I held until he made it clear he wanted to be left to finish by himself. He was surrounded by family: my mom, his wife of just three weeks shy of fifty years, two daughters, grandchildren and a future son-in-law and a then daughter-in-law. He fought until he couldn't any more, but he was comfortable and assured by each of us, 'it's okay, you can let go'.

The second time was with my father-in-law, who died in the arms of my MIL of a massive heart attack - dead almost before he hit the floor. No one was there but the two of them. By the time I got there the EMTs had left, the Sheriff's deputies were still there, milling around while forensics made sure nothing unusual had happened. MIL was deeply shocked - pale-faced and watching in numb horror while they did what they had to.

When it was all over, I got her to bed and set to working out my frustration with the situation by scrubbing their house.

The third time was last Thursday.

For months, she couldn't get up on her own, walk on her own. Hubby waited on her, literally, hand and foot. Always at her beck and call, up at all hours of the night to check on her, help her, change her, wash her, feed her. Over time she lost interest. First the radio, then the television. Her appetite changed until she was barely eating and had to be hand fed. Finally, she stopped eating and resisted drinking.

In the end she slipped away peacefully, alone while I was on my way back from work where I had gone to pick up some things to do if the wait was longer than a few hours, and while hubby was outside, hanging laundry on the line. He came in and found her, then called me.

The requirements, the small necessary ceremonies of removal, the quiet moments while we absorbed the sudden change in our lives. Phone calls and e-mails to family and friends, closing those doors on a life. That led into the frenetic, almost manic release of anger and fear and grief.

For the past four days, from almost as soon as the funeral home took her body away until yesterday afternoon we cleaned. First, the living room that had been her bedroom for the past four years, then spreading out from there. The downstairs of our house hasn't been this clean since before we moved in, and there's still the upstairs to do. But that's for next weekend.

A chance to work out the anger and fear, a chance to purge ourselves of things she had brought that we never wanted. Along the way we discovered things we didn't even know we had - glassware and some appliances. Things were donated, others were tossed, none will be missed because they were never "ours". They belonged to Charlotte.

There, her name: Charlotte. Not MIL anymore since she has achieved the anonymity of death.

There is no true grieving for me. We weren't close. We lived together, ate meals together, spoke together for the better part of ten years, more than thirty-five as part of an in-law family, but we never bonded, even though we shared a house.

She was too private, too closed-in to let me get to know her inner-self. Conversation was question and answer - she asking and taking while I answered and gave. There was no back-and-forth, no meeting of the minds or expressions of self. After a time, I gave up, settling for doing for her as much as I could, as much as she would allow.

Hubby has mixed feelings. Sadness that released in wild bouts of grief before the fact, when he saw and knew what was coming. More grief and shock after she was gone. Then came a relief, a knowing she wasn't needing his help any more, that she is more comfortable now than she was just a few days ago. No more pain, no more blindness, no more waiting for what we all knew was coming.

Friday we visited the funeral home, another ceremony of signing off on her last wishes - a private ripple that won't include anyone not required. I don't even know what she wanted, except for cremation and not being on the shelf next to her hubby's box. Which we still need to figure out what to do with.

There were periods of quiet, peaceful moments, too. Times for hubby and me to sit and speak, to look around and sigh.

The medical equipment was picked up. Her bed and other furniture are in the garage until we decide what to do with them. More doors closing on what was.

We have our house back. It no longer contains all the things - big and small - that she "had" to have around her when she moved in. For ten years it looked like a Victorian parlour - overcrowded and cluttered. Now, for a change, we can decide for ourselves how we want things to be.

One of the first things we did was to restart the clocks - the grandfather clocks (two of them - one was hers and her husbands, one is ours), the pendulum clocks that give our house its heartbeat but that had been stilled because it was too loud at night for her to sleep. It's back, ticking and tocking, giving life to rooms that had been too still since Thursday morning.

For myself, I feel quiet, accepting. I think of Charlotte as a young woman, dancing, light and free of all that weighed her down on Earth. I wish that for her because it's her due.

Best~
Philippa

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End of Life is a Cast-Iron Bitch

The past few weeks have been horrible, and they're about to get worse.

My MIL, as I've mentioned before, is eighty-seven - a bad eighty-seven because she didn't take care of herself when she was younger. Her body has been holding on even though her mind has been pretty much gone for years. Now her body is failing and we're facing the hard decisions children have to make for people for whom we care. It sucks, big time.

I was lucky because I grew up in a household where no one pretended that death didn't happen. We didn't discuss it, but it wasn't hushed up or glossed over either.

There were the family pets buried in the backyard with due ceremony.

Early memories that I have are of my grandmother sitting in a chair in what became my brother's room and, sometime later, standing at my bedroom window (where, I'm sure, my mom had told me to stay) watching an ambulance pull away from the house with her on a stretcher. I never saw her again but I remember the morning of the funeral - I was playing on the floor of my parent's bedroom with blocks and they were talking about whether I was old enough to go to the service. I didn't go to the service, so I was young enough not to be reasonable.

When I was in grade school, the older brother of a classmate died of an aneurysm.

It was there, around us, and recognized so while I feared it when I was younger, I understood that it happens to everyone. I've come to terms with it and, while it's not fun or pleasant, it also doesn't have to be dramatic.

I was there when my dad passed. He was surrounded by loving family - my mom, three of his four children and grandchildren.

My mom passed surrounded by most of the family when I was trying out for a new job - I couldn't be there but knowing my mom I knew precisely what she would say: "You do what you need to do. I'll be fine." Which is why I can write that, four years after her death, and not feel anything but the smallest pang of remorse. The remorse being because I feel as if I let her down, even though I know in my heart that she understood.

Hubby, however, is an only child. He never had to deal directly with the end-of-life stuff. One grandmother died in Oklahoma when he was here, in California. The other died in Los Angeles while he was in the northern part of the state. His father died, unexpectedly, when he was out of town.

Now he is facing the reality directly because MIL is dying right in front of his eyes.

Since she was released from the hospital in early April we've had nurses coming every-other-day to check on her, make sure she's improving. For three weeks I've seen what's happening - the lack of any improvement, a decline in function and ability to speak, but kept my mouth shut.

Today, the nurse said what I've recognized - we're in the end-game. Of course hubby is having a hard time coping. It's his mom and he's never had to deal with anything like this before. I also know that it's going to get harder once the initial shock passes him by. For now, though, he's going through the motions.

We had a conference call - hubby, the nurse (who is a marvel - someone who I met just the other day and instantly knew I would like to get to know as a friend) and me. The nurse recommended Hospice and I seconded it because they do such stellar work. I saw it with my Dad and recommend it to everyone and anyone dealing with a family member's End of Days. Hubby acceded to the idea - for the moment.

By the time I get home tonight I know what's going to have happened. He'll have passed through shock and probably through anger (although that's not a guarantee). Then I'll have to cope with denial. But, as I said to him on the phone, she is far enough gone that she is not going to improve, let alone get wholly better. There has been a steady decline in her physical and mental functions for weeks - and now it's time to make her comfortable, to give her the care that will ease her into that next stage.

Not fun, not pleasant, but the only thing we can all expect in this life and it sucks.

Philippa

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Dear Mark - An Open Letter to Mark Levin

Last night, on my way home from work here in California, I tried - and I mean tried hard - to listen to your radio show for more than a couple of minutes, but you made my stomach churn in disgust.

You're a smart guy - I've read two of your books ('Men in Black' and 'Liberty & Tyranny') and found your writing engaging and smart without being condescending.

What I do not get is that you, as a self-declared Conservative and Constitutionalist, are backing a flagrant liar who has zero true love for the Constitution. Lip service doesn't count and actions speak louder than words in this world.

Ted Cruz lied when he said he would go to Washington and work to repeal Obamacare - all the alleged Republicans we voted into office in 2012 said the same thing and where are we now? Obamacare is still in place. The Republicans even had the majority in the House and the Senate for the last two years - so what's the problem? Why is Obamacare still in full force and effect?

I don't get how anyone can call healthcare a "right" within the Constitutional context. Where in the Founding documents was Congress given the power to force American citizens to buy a service or commodity they don't want? Yet he and the others elected in 2012 did nothing to even take a snippet out of that law that was shoved down our collective throats by Congress and SCOTUS.

Ted Cruz lies when he says he wants a sovereign United States with secure borders. He didn't pick up that banner until he saw that it was winning support among millions of American voters. Then he started giving it half-hearted lip service and I do not believe for one nanosecond that he means it.

Ted Cruz is married to a woman who worked for more than five years for the Council on Foreign Relations - the group that wants, as stated on their own website - "globalization".

Now please do not try to play ignorant on this one. Globalization means one-world order - a Tolkien-esque world (One Ring to Rule Them All). The UN wants the same thing - as stated in flowery terms in their 2030 Agenda.

Couples do not share bathrooms, beds, pillows and raising children without exchanging ideas and interests. We know where Heidi Cruz stands on this one-world order idea - she is straight on-board with it. Her name is all over a report for the CFR that calls for a unification of North America into a single entity - similar to the EU. And look at how well that's working out.

So are you telling me, Mr. Levin, that you agree with the globalist agenda? That you want our Constitution to take a back seat (all the way in the back) to some doctrine handed down by the UN and its globalist masters? Is that what you really want?

Because sure as I'm sitting here writing this, that is where you and others like you who support and promote Ted Cruz will drive us if Cruz is elected President.

Aside from that, he is a one-term Senator. What happened with the last one-term Senator who was elected President? Do we really want a replay of the past eight years?

Or is it because you can rest assured in his malleability in the hands of the money makers and power brokers that own his soul? After all, no candidate who has received as many tens of millions of dollars in contributions from Super PACs can walk away without obligation - we all know that.

Whatever it is, all respect I had for you before last night and hearing your constant refrain of "Wonderful Ted" is gone. I cannot fathom how anyone intelligent can get behind someone as bought and paid for as he is, who can swallow his lies whole and still praise him to the skies.

Best~
Philippa

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I am LIVID

Okay - a week ago I wrote about my MIL's broken ankle. She caught her foot inside the leg of her night table as she was getting out of bed.

She's eight-seven years old, seems to have every medical condition known to science, and has never taken care of herself. More than twenty years ago she was diagnosed with high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, diabetes and half-a-dozen other things. She takes enough prescription medications to stock a decent pharmacy. I know about that because I do her medications for the week every Sunday - three pill boxes with meds for each condition along with supplements to help keep her healthy.

After she hurt her ankle, she didn't complain about it so we didn't realize how bad the situation was for a couple of days. We thought, based on what she told us, that it was simply twisted or sprained. We did what anyone else would do in a situation like that. We applied heat and ice to try to cope with what little swelling there was, and gave her Tylenol for the pain. Still she didn't say anything that led us to believe that it was worse than a sprain, but when it didn't get better after a couple of days we agreed it was time to take her into the hospital to get her checked out.

Instead of trying to get her into the car, which might have twisted it again, we called the paramedics. They came and transported her.

X-rays showed a broken ankle. The surgeon, after he opened her leg to repair it, told us he had a hard time distinguishing bone from soft tissue because her osteoporosis is so advanced. In the end, he used five screws to put it back together.

Now - two weeks after her hospitalization and surgery, ten days after she came home, two social workers showed up on our front doorstep this afternoon. They accused my husband of abusing his mother.

This after two weeks of listening to her moan and cry all hours of the day and night - "help me, I have to get out of here" - when she can't stand or put any weight at all on her ankle.

This after she's tried, several times, to get out of bed in the middle of the night. After the second time, hubby resorted to using a two-inch wide canvas strap, stretched between the metal bed rails we bought to keep her from falling out of bed. When it's tied in place, a good five inches above her belly and not in contact with her at all when she's lying down, it's enough to make her believe she can't get up. She's not aware enough or nimble enough to crawl out from under it - which anyone with a sliver of awareness would figure out in a nanosecond.

She is so lost to everything that, the other night, with no blankets or anything on and the ceiling fan directly above her bed running on full but with that strap in place several inches above her, she swore it was making her hot.

For the past ten days she has repeatedly demanded that she be allowed to go home. When we tell her "you are home" she doesn't let up - she doesn't understand. Other times she'll cry that she wants to go to bed. When we tell her she's in bed, at home, she'll say "oh" and start right in again.

Hubby has been getting up three and four times a night, every night, turning her to prevent bed sores, transferring her to the commode we have sitting smack dab in the middle of our living room, changing her, bathing her, feeding her. He has done everything possible for her and the nurses that have been coming to visit every-other-day for the past week haven't complained or commented.

Then, today, these two officious idiots show up on our front door step and accuse us of abusing her.

Yes - I am livid because this is not right, this is not even close to being right. It's so unjust, so wrong that hubby lost his temper and now, because hubby is over-tired, stressed and less than his normal self, they have threatened to come back with law enforcement.

If we were abusive of her, why would we take her to the hospital where our abuse would be found out? Why wouldn't we just strap her ankle - about which she was not even complaining - and tell her "shut up"? If we really wanted to beat her, starve her, hurt or harm her why would we take her to someplace where she will get care?

All this does is make me less inclined to look outside our house for help for her, not more.

Yes, I am livid.

My MIL is not unaware of her surroundings and she is easily frightened just by having the nurses coming into the house. After each of their visits it takes hours for her to settle down and even begin to relax and act at least a little calm and as rational as her current baseline.

I am so fed up with this nanny state looking over my back fence, telling me what I am doing wrong or at least not doing right, that I want to scream.

What are they going to do next? Now, along with all of the other stress we're dealing with - sleeplessness and strain of doing our best to be patient and caring, to do for her everything she needs to have done, we have this giant sword of Damocles hanging over us.

Are they going to haul our butts to jail for doing our level best within our income level and ability to pay?

Will they drag us into court and force us to defend ourselves?

Perhaps they'll forcibly ship her off to some "home" where other families send their elderly cast-offs to die.

That would be abuse of the worst kind. She's agoraphobic. She never settled into the hospital - didn't sleep for nearly ten days except when she was under anesthesia. She has some sense of where she is, so they're going to disrupt that and say it's best for her?

We've already been down that road once, and after that "home" did their dead level best to kill her by overdosing her on insulin (nine hours after being admitting she was back at the ER that had released her to their "care" with diabetic shock), we pulled her out. The State of California agreed with us and we had legal standing to file a lawsuit against that "home" but chose not to because of the strain it would put on MIL.

I don't know - I have no idea what's going to come next but having gotten this off my chest, for the moment, I feel a little better. But take this as a warning: if you live in the United States of America and if you take care of any family member at all - child or parent - you had damned well better wrap them up in bubble wrap and make sure they don't show a single solitary bruise or you might be up on charges next.

Philippa

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