Amazon is supposed to be a public use site for purchasing and reviewing products. However, only if you are of a particular political bent. Straight Left. Like a one-way sign.
So, since I don't qualify as a bent left liberal, and since I do have opinions, here is my review of Mrs. Clinton's tome (aka door stop / table support) "What Happened".
Aside from the obvious answer - You Lost - the only thing this particular Whine needs is a lot more cheese. It's like a fortified Port. An overwhelming tsunami of self-pity and blame for everyone but herself.
One thing my parents taught me, a very good lesson that's served me well in my sixty years upon planet Earth is: don't blame others for your own screw-ups.
If you fail, if you screw up, it's on YOU. It's no one else's fault. It's yours, so own it. Then you'll (hopefully) learn from it.
Yet, in all those pages of black overlaid on white, that is what Hillary does not do.
She does not step up, lift her chin in defiant acknowledgement that would result in at least some modicum of respect from others and say, "yes, I messed up. I'm sorry, but I did, and here's what I would do differently."
Oh, no! No, no no no no!!! Instead, she blames EVERYONE, and I do mean EVERYONE, but herself.
She blames me - a white suburban housewife.
She blames my husband.
She blames millions like me, and like my husband.
She blames the press, the churches, the... well, everyone, everything, and anything she can think of. Everything and everyone but herself.
The one person she doesn't blame in this entire thing is herself. Even the Macedonians - and who in modern history (sorry, guys, but you're not exactly frontline news in every day America) even THINKS about Macedonians these days? I don't. Except for the Bible and Biblical reference, I don't think about Macedonians - and yet Hillary blames them for a part of her losing an election. Really?
She doesn't even blink at the idea that maybe her messaging was non-existent. What was her message, anyway? It's less than a year out from the election that she claims should have been hers, and can anyone say what that message was? Come on - I dare you! Tell me what her message was - aside from "It's my turn."
Where was she in all those states that she lost? Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida and the rest - where was she?
California was a foregone conclusion. She spent weeks in Hollywood, sucking up to the most liberal of liberals, but only because they could give her money. That's the only reason she showed up here.
Hell! California lets illegal immigrants vote through motor-voter registrations, and no doubt they did in droves because they were certain-damned-guaranteed that if Hillary won they'd get amnesty. Take that vote away and Trump would've won the popular vote along with the electoral college.
The painful truth for Hillary is: She is an ugly, small, unimaginative and crass human being married to a serial rapist named Bill.
Her biggest problem, aside from being an ugly human being who blames everyone but herself for her failings, a small human being who blames everyone but herself for everything bad in her life, and her crassness in expecting hard-working people to pay for everything for everyone who doesn't want to lift a finger to contribute are things that normal, hard-working, get up at five to get to work by eight to work until five, decent Americans don't like that.
So, what happened in November? America woke up. America heard a new message. America heard something different, a hope that maybe things didn't have to be as they were. Miracles don't happen every day. Sometimes people intervene - like Hillary being small and ugly and crass and lazy.
As an American. As a voter. As someone who loves the prospect of what this country can be, all I can say is Thank God For That. Thank God for sense and wisdom and exhaustion of the people for same old, same old. Thank God for Donald J. Trump and for his vision for what American can be. I just hope he succeeds.
Best ~
Philippa
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Why I Will NEVER Fly United Airlines
We've all seen the video of Dr. Dao being dragged off the United Airlines flight last week. In its magnificent wisdom, United's policy has been that a passenger sitting in the seat he'd paid for has no rights.
A concussion, broken nose and two missing teeth later, United offers a bonehead "apology" - complementing the manner in which the staff handled the situation.
But this is SOP (standard operating procedure) for United - being bonehead.
Twenty years ago I swore I would never, ever fly United, and after seeing Dr. Dao's ordeal, my resolve is solidified. There are plenty of other options out there. It just takes planning and patience.
As a free citizen, I refuse to be herded like a cow heading for slaughter. I will not pay for the opportunity of being groped or strip searched, treated like a prisoner in a jail or a hunk of meat.
Aside from these things, my refusal to fly United is deeper.
Twenty-four years ago my daughter and I were flying from San Francisco to Seattle. The plane was delayed an hour-and-a-half because of a mechanical problem. Right there, that raised a big red flag, but what was I going to do? I was there with my daughter and our carry-on bags, sitting in the waiting area, ticket paid for. Options? None.
We boarded. Got settled. The plane stank as all planes stink - sweat, dust, under-cleaned toilets - a Greyhound bus for the air.
Take off was fine but, over southern Oregon, there was a loud BOOM and the plane jolted. You don't think that's a bit worrying?
Sudden silence. Everyone looking at everyone else, all thinking "oh SHIT!" or variants thereon. The attendants scurrying around, peering out the windows - not normal.
My four-year-old hasn't a clue, and I'm trying not to make what might be her last minutes on Earth worse than they might be, anyway.
Long story short, we landed safely in Portland. A series of firetrucks lined the runway like a bizarre honor guard, each of them following us to the gate. United's offer for both scaring the crap out of everyone, and inconveniencing us because WE had to scramble through the airport to try to find another flight? A $25 certificate off our next flight.
Yeah, right.
A concussion, broken nose and two missing teeth later, United offers a bonehead "apology" - complementing the manner in which the staff handled the situation.
But this is SOP (standard operating procedure) for United - being bonehead.
Twenty years ago I swore I would never, ever fly United, and after seeing Dr. Dao's ordeal, my resolve is solidified. There are plenty of other options out there. It just takes planning and patience.
As a free citizen, I refuse to be herded like a cow heading for slaughter. I will not pay for the opportunity of being groped or strip searched, treated like a prisoner in a jail or a hunk of meat.
Aside from these things, my refusal to fly United is deeper.
Twenty-four years ago my daughter and I were flying from San Francisco to Seattle. The plane was delayed an hour-and-a-half because of a mechanical problem. Right there, that raised a big red flag, but what was I going to do? I was there with my daughter and our carry-on bags, sitting in the waiting area, ticket paid for. Options? None.
We boarded. Got settled. The plane stank as all planes stink - sweat, dust, under-cleaned toilets - a Greyhound bus for the air.
Take off was fine but, over southern Oregon, there was a loud BOOM and the plane jolted. You don't think that's a bit worrying?
Sudden silence. Everyone looking at everyone else, all thinking "oh SHIT!" or variants thereon. The attendants scurrying around, peering out the windows - not normal.
My four-year-old hasn't a clue, and I'm trying not to make what might be her last minutes on Earth worse than they might be, anyway.
Long story short, we landed safely in Portland. A series of firetrucks lined the runway like a bizarre honor guard, each of them following us to the gate. United's offer for both scaring the crap out of everyone, and inconveniencing us because WE had to scramble through the airport to try to find another flight? A $25 certificate off our next flight.
Yeah, right.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
The Victim (#PizzaGate)
“I hate you!” Fists slammed against the polished steel hard enough to shatter bone but the subject didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Jesus.” Dr. Sara Shelby breathed the name into the dark
room, shocked by the vehemence shown by the pinpoint camera installed in the
cell. “How long has this been going on?”
The body flung itself from one wall to the other and back
again, as if determined to self-destruct.
“Since induction early this morning, brought over from the
ER.” Her assistant was equally rapt, watching the monitor with the date in the
corner. December 26, 2004.
“Any records, local or state?”
“Nope, we’re still double-checking, but no joy yet.”
“What happened?”
“Dunno, but they did a rape kit and it came up positive.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
August, 2008
Outside the familiar window, sunlight fell in a stream past
the trees, lighting the grass so brilliantly that green showed white. Inside,
the clock ticked in the corner, marking time. The subject lay on the tufted
leather lounge in the same position as every other week for the past
three-and-a-half years.
“Where were you?”
“Grandma’s house.” The sodium pentothal made speech slow and
slurred.
“Who else was there?”
A list of names was given and, for the first time, a
hesitation and a frown.
Dr. Shelby sat up. It’s
almost there. She waited, holding her breath for more. But nothing was
said. “Who else?” She prompted.
The dark head jerked in denial. “No one. No one else.”
She paused, considering, and then she took a chance. She had
the record, the list provided by the family. “What about your Uncle Kyle,
wasn’t he there?”
The body on the lounge jerked. The head whipped around, dark
eyes filled with terrible fear and a scream that escaped spittled lips. “No! Not him, not Uncle Kyle! He wasn’t,
he wasn’t. It was me.” The mask kept in place for years slipped away as the
tousled head fell forward with a sob. “It was me.”
February, 2011
The cinderblock cell was painted a chill green, suited to
the place. A polished steel plate for a mirror, stainless basin and commode
were attached to one wall, a formed concrete platform for sleeping protruded
from the other. Nothing fabric, nothing that could be made into a weapon or
noose was allowed. Clothing was not optional, it was forbidden so the cells were
kept at a constant seventy-eight degrees and the concrete benches contained
induction pipes through which warm water was pumped.
The subject lay on their side, not moving, just staring off
into the emptiness of memory. The
doctors had given up watching. There was nothing to see here and other patients
showed more promise. They missed the moment, the change.
It was shown in a start, an intensifying inward stare. The
subject tensed, moved and sat up. A frown appeared on the pallid face. The
first expression the features had worn in years.
“Kyle. It was Kyle who did that.”
Two floors up a technician glanced across the monitors, did
a double-take, shifted their chair and then hit the panic button. Thumbing the
mike, fighting to keep his voice calm, he announced, “Cell twenty-eight,
attendant to cell twenty-eight.”
Three attendants answered the call, clustering in the
hallway outside the heavy steel door and peering through the thick, deeply
scarred plexiglas viewport.
“What the…”
“Open it up!”
October, 2011
Adam, seventeen years old and rail skinny, sat on the
leather chair in the psychiatrist’s office. The bright blue jumpsuit was still
uncomfortable against his skin. After years of being naked, clothing felt
unnatural.
“Are you ready, Adam?” Dr. Shelby tried to hide her
excitement at seeing this moment, a moment she had waited for since Adam had
first arrived.
He looked up, his blue eyes blazing with feeling. “I am.”
She passed the eight-by-ten glossy photograph across. It
left her fingers, accepted by his.
There was a long pause, breathless in its power, and then
the face that had once been so wild and then so blank, crumpled. Tears fell onto the image. The head fell and
fingers tightened with the whisper of despair. “I hate you!”
====
Saturday, January 28, 2017
How To Repeal & Replace Obamacare In 3 Easy Steps
For all you geniuses inside the Beltway, here's how it looks from Real America where we're not drinking Koolaid and trying to breathe in a vacuum:
Stop wringing your hands.
Get off your butts and start working.
Repeal the damned thing and replace it.
It is easier than you're making it look. If you just stop fussing around the outside trying to pick and choose how to approach it, and do what the people who sent you to Washington have said they want to do, you could have this done by July 1st - the start of the next fiscal year. After all, this list comes from me sitting on my butt in my living room for about forty-five minutes, and it makes sense:
1) Set the goals - What Do the American People Want You To Do?
a) Repeal the Obamanation 100%. Rip it out, branch, trunk, root and tendril and send it through the shredder. Leave nothing behind to sprout up somewhere else.
b) Institute protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
c) Make sure that families who choose to can keep their kids on their plans until said kids turn 26.
2) Get started:
a) Again, stop with the hand wringing. We didn't elect you so you can stand in a circle and whine about how hard it is. We voted you into office so you could do this. Now you need to put your faith in us to support you and you need to get the job done. You have about twelve short months to make progress - if we see what you're doing and like it, you've got it made. Keep mucking about and waffling, you'll probably be unemployed come 2018.
b) Get medical professionals and insurance brokers involved - what do they say? What's going to make things better and easier for them to provide the best service and care to the American people?
c) Get rid of the lines, which means amending the Commerce Clause (probably the single hardest thing to do, but you're sharp legal minds - I'm sure you can figure out how to do an end run), so we can buy the insurance we want and need at reasonable cost from whatever state or exchange or whatever we choose to do.
d) Get rid of bureaucratic decision makers who tell us individuals what we have to include in our plans - let us decide what coverage we need. As a sixty-year old woman, I do not need pregnancy coverage or birth control. I do not need pediatric care. I do not need prostate screenings. Make sure that plans offer me a shopping list so that I can pick the coverage that best suits my needs.
e) TORT REFORM!!!! Get rid of the friggin' ambulance chasers who sue over a torn hangnail. If someone suffers a case of medical malpractice, okay - let them sue. People need to make choices for themselves and be responsible for understanding the risks they are taking when they sign up for surgery or medication. It should not be my responsibility to pay for someone else's uninformed decision. And prevent ridiculous awards at settlement time.
Make the settlements reasonable, based on the individual situation. If someone loses wages for 60-years, fine. Take their annual salary (gross), calculate the cost of medical care for the individual based on reasonable life expectancy + 10% and that's the maximum award. Period, end of story.
3) Replacement:
a) Let me pick and choose from any insurer I want from any state in the union. If I can't get an affordable plan here in California, then how about one from Louisiana or Minnesota or Utah?
b) Let me pick and choose from a menu of options. As I said, I don't need pregnancy or pediatric care, so why should a health plan I buy include that?
c) For the people with preexisting conditions, they pay a higher premium than someone who's healthy. Why should people who take care of themselves, who manage their weight, don't smoke or drink, who exercise regularly, get their routine physicals and eat properly pay for the excesses of others? Make people who make unhealthy choices pay for their own damned care.
If they can't afford free-market healthcare, make the individual states set up high risk pools, like those for uninsurable drivers who can't get car insurance from most auto insurance providers. They pay a higher premium but get the coverage they need.
d) If families choose to keep their kids on their plans, fine - make them pay for it on their own. Once the kids get insurance of their own, through an employer or on their own hook, mom and dad's premiums go down - but make them pay for it themselves.
e) Make it possible for me to negotiate my own healthcare costs with my providers or medical group if I choose to, and then my insurer comes into the picture. Why should an insurance company get to pick and choose what doctor or group of doctors I can see? If I want to see Dr. X who participates in Plan 1 because s/he's someone I like and trust, but also want to see Dr. Y who doesn't participate in that Plan but does participate in Plan 2 because they're a specialist in the field for which I need treatment, why should I pay extra?
See? If you just stop dithering and get to work, you can get this done and all Americans will thank you. This took me all of about thirty minutes to write up. I'm sure that you guys, with your brain trust and consultants and PR people can do something just as sweeping.
Did I hit all the points? No. Obviously not. But if you wipe the slate clean, 100% clean and wash it with acid so that even God can't find it, you can start new and fresh and it'll be a lot easier in the long run.
Now do what we sent you there to do - get to work and get it done. The clock is ticking.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Stop wringing your hands.
Get off your butts and start working.
Repeal the damned thing and replace it.
It is easier than you're making it look. If you just stop fussing around the outside trying to pick and choose how to approach it, and do what the people who sent you to Washington have said they want to do, you could have this done by July 1st - the start of the next fiscal year. After all, this list comes from me sitting on my butt in my living room for about forty-five minutes, and it makes sense:
1) Set the goals - What Do the American People Want You To Do?
a) Repeal the Obamanation 100%. Rip it out, branch, trunk, root and tendril and send it through the shredder. Leave nothing behind to sprout up somewhere else.
b) Institute protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
c) Make sure that families who choose to can keep their kids on their plans until said kids turn 26.
2) Get started:
a) Again, stop with the hand wringing. We didn't elect you so you can stand in a circle and whine about how hard it is. We voted you into office so you could do this. Now you need to put your faith in us to support you and you need to get the job done. You have about twelve short months to make progress - if we see what you're doing and like it, you've got it made. Keep mucking about and waffling, you'll probably be unemployed come 2018.
b) Get medical professionals and insurance brokers involved - what do they say? What's going to make things better and easier for them to provide the best service and care to the American people?
c) Get rid of the lines, which means amending the Commerce Clause (probably the single hardest thing to do, but you're sharp legal minds - I'm sure you can figure out how to do an end run), so we can buy the insurance we want and need at reasonable cost from whatever state or exchange or whatever we choose to do.
d) Get rid of bureaucratic decision makers who tell us individuals what we have to include in our plans - let us decide what coverage we need. As a sixty-year old woman, I do not need pregnancy coverage or birth control. I do not need pediatric care. I do not need prostate screenings. Make sure that plans offer me a shopping list so that I can pick the coverage that best suits my needs.
e) TORT REFORM!!!! Get rid of the friggin' ambulance chasers who sue over a torn hangnail. If someone suffers a case of medical malpractice, okay - let them sue. People need to make choices for themselves and be responsible for understanding the risks they are taking when they sign up for surgery or medication. It should not be my responsibility to pay for someone else's uninformed decision. And prevent ridiculous awards at settlement time.
Make the settlements reasonable, based on the individual situation. If someone loses wages for 60-years, fine. Take their annual salary (gross), calculate the cost of medical care for the individual based on reasonable life expectancy + 10% and that's the maximum award. Period, end of story.
3) Replacement:
a) Let me pick and choose from any insurer I want from any state in the union. If I can't get an affordable plan here in California, then how about one from Louisiana or Minnesota or Utah?
b) Let me pick and choose from a menu of options. As I said, I don't need pregnancy or pediatric care, so why should a health plan I buy include that?
c) For the people with preexisting conditions, they pay a higher premium than someone who's healthy. Why should people who take care of themselves, who manage their weight, don't smoke or drink, who exercise regularly, get their routine physicals and eat properly pay for the excesses of others? Make people who make unhealthy choices pay for their own damned care.
If they can't afford free-market healthcare, make the individual states set up high risk pools, like those for uninsurable drivers who can't get car insurance from most auto insurance providers. They pay a higher premium but get the coverage they need.
d) If families choose to keep their kids on their plans, fine - make them pay for it on their own. Once the kids get insurance of their own, through an employer or on their own hook, mom and dad's premiums go down - but make them pay for it themselves.
e) Make it possible for me to negotiate my own healthcare costs with my providers or medical group if I choose to, and then my insurer comes into the picture. Why should an insurance company get to pick and choose what doctor or group of doctors I can see? If I want to see Dr. X who participates in Plan 1 because s/he's someone I like and trust, but also want to see Dr. Y who doesn't participate in that Plan but does participate in Plan 2 because they're a specialist in the field for which I need treatment, why should I pay extra?
See? If you just stop dithering and get to work, you can get this done and all Americans will thank you. This took me all of about thirty minutes to write up. I'm sure that you guys, with your brain trust and consultants and PR people can do something just as sweeping.
Did I hit all the points? No. Obviously not. But if you wipe the slate clean, 100% clean and wash it with acid so that even God can't find it, you can start new and fresh and it'll be a lot easier in the long run.
Now do what we sent you there to do - get to work and get it done. The clock is ticking.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Sunday, November 13, 2016
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
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
Friday, November 11, 2016
Mirror, Mirror
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
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
"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
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
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
Sunday, October 23, 2016
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:
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
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:
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').
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."
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
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
Saturday, October 22, 2016
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
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
Friday, October 21, 2016
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
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
Saturday, September 17, 2016
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%.
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%.
Monday, September 12, 2016
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
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
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
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
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
Sunday, June 5, 2016
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 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.
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:
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Saturday, June 4, 2016
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
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
Friday, May 20, 2016
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
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
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
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
Follow me on Twitter:
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
Follow me on Twitter:
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