Who among you have not had for one split second had a toddler slip away for one’s presence? I know all too well it happened to me. While shopping with my mother and son then about four, I let go of his hand picked up a garment to show my mother and to compare with the one she was holding, turned to my son to get his opinion on which one he preferred, he had disappeared among the long lines of clothing racks. Looking back, he might just as well have fallen into a gorilla pen or worse. I have seen children in public tethered to a harness and leash even one women walking a dog and a child both attached to just such a contraption, there could have been a store sign before entering ‘all children under six must be on a leash’.

 

America first in my twenty-first century mind is an 19^th century notion of a time long past never to return, imagine the leader of any nation sitting down to negotiate any issue knowing going in that the stated aim is America first, kind of places’ any negotiations on a very narrow path of no give and take in which negotiations are supposed to be about. This young twenty-first century is already one of instant international development, communications, and understanding, no longer does government representatives have to confer with the home office when an issue has been placed on a conference table, negotiations begins there and now. If the only bargaining chip begins with America first, any negotiation is seriously limited. A nation has got to be an internationalist in this international age. Most world leaders have some knowledge of other languages, America is cursed somewhat being isolated on the continent of the Americans, blessed by it at the same time, being able to see the world from afar and not close up like other nations and so can see and understand with an international point of view that has always served her well…so onward into the twenty-second century and beyond…

 

When you sit down tonight to watch your favorite television news cast do so with paper and pencil, I want you to do some counting. As the program proceeds count the number of ‘I knew that’ vs. ‘I didn’t know that’. The ‘I didn’t know that’, should greatly outnumber the ‘I knew that’, after all its supposed to be news. If the ‘I knew that’ is greater, then you are watching the wrong newscast, in short you are learning nothing, everything you saw, perhaps every night has merely been a confirmation. In conclusion, if you lie on the conservative side of the political spectrum you should be seeking out the liberal media and if you are of the liberal persuasion the conservative side, to not do so, is to have views that that will soon become stagnant and will not be of any use to you in the future…

If you publicly go on record in support of a presidential candidate, lay claim to all their positions on all issues must also be prepared to offer excuses for their deficiencies too.

There is a large segment of the population that will start their day with two stimulants, coffee and a sugary pastry because of these large numbers does not make it a wise choice instead of a healthy breakfast of wheat or oat cereal, I liken this bad choice to the political policies of a faulty candidate.

 

George Stevens Hamilton (76), Treat Williams (64), are currently making the marketing rounds plugging their new movie, The Congressmen (2016), what is remarkable about their effort is their true to life appearance, as far as this writer can tell, without the aid of hair dye. So many stars of yesterday and today would not even consider appearing in public or on screen in their true to age hair. Even the always youthful appearing Michael Anthony Thomas Charles Hall, (48) is not above appearing in a kind of ‘has been’ role in a television commercial (AT&T) poking fun at his once youthful appearance in so many films. Which brings us to, for no other reason than her age, Julianna Margulies (49), I could have chosen a much older actor to make the same upcoming point, however, she has been in a recurring role in serial television for over seven years without her character displaying even a hint of gray hair while others in their roles have. This cultural ‘shame’ of gray hair; how did this noumenon manifest, from the bottom up or top down? This may be one for the ages. Think of this question next time you enter a doctors examining room and the physician appears younger than any of your children or grandchildren, you may hope for and be looking for a just a little gray hair that shouts years of experience…

 

‘Conservatives outraged over Obama transgender directive to public schools’, proclaimed a you know who cable news outlet to its viewers, it seems to me that those viewers first had to be told what to be outraged about, it’s an issue that has been lying dormant for years.

I envision a nation where everyone would have to carry around some form of gender identification document in order to have free access to whatever, in case so challenged, a picture ID will not do since the transgender almost never look like their birth identity. ‘You can’t come in here because you look just like woman’, I can hear it shouted from the roof tops.

At issue:

‘The Obama Administration has issued a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity’. What started out as a sectional issue has now snow balled into a national one, the cat has come flying out of the bag, much like the lunch counter demonstrations of the 1960’s. On a personal note, traveling throughout Europe in the 1970’s and in Germany at a few guest houses, though small, only one bathroom was provided for its customers without any known problems, that in my mind points to the maturated of the European mind set.

Are you transgender? I don’t know, let me look…

 

In Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables, is the story of the peasant, Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing bread for his starving sister’s family, stealing is wrong and a crime no matter by who and for whatever the reason. The reader almost from the start is sympathetic to Valjean’s plight, asking themselves, what would they do? Stealing by an elected public official is one the highest crimes of less respect, the portrayal of the public trust. Is especially voracious when living a comfortable life than the average person without stealing, a kind of icing on a cake by the theft. Then adding insult to the case in sentencing, begging the judge for leniency, why because just had to steal in order to survive, no but to live a more luxuriated life style. I don’t know of anyone who would not like to live above their current station in life, but do not steal to achieve that goal, but rather live an honorable life in boundaries of the law never seeking leniency…