Really, Ranking Member? REALLY?

Can I no longer believe my eyes and ears? Can I no longer trust anything people say? Am I the only one seeing and listening? Please help me, I am drowning in a sea of uncertainty and disbelief? GLUG, GLug, Glug, glug, glu, gl, g. bloop.

1.) The Ranking Member said she received “The Letter” from Dr. Ford “in July”. For accuracies sake lets say July 15.
2.) “The Letter” is leaked six weeks later (say September 1)
3.) Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh go through a three week “living hell”, death threats, slander and libel, name calling, pure character assassination and utter distruction of their personal personal reputaions.
4.) On September 27 and 28, Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh testify before the “Senate Judiciary Committee”. (The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 21 U.S. Senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice, consider executive nominations, and review pending legislation.) Their task on the 27th and 28th was to report to the Senate that they did or didn’t recommend Judge Kavanaugh to become a Supreme Court Judge.

The world watched the entire fiasco play out on televisions “gavel to gavel coverage”, and when all was said and done, the Committee in all their indecisive wisdom chose to delay everything for one more week. Democrats smiled and hugged eachother, Republicans shook their heads and Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh just shook at the thought of another 7days of death threats and character assassination.

What really should have happened?
1.) The Ranking Member should have received the letter on July 15th, read the letter immediately contacted Dr. Ford.
2.) The Ranking Member should have asked Dr. Ford if she had any corroborating evidence.
3.) When the answer was no, the Ranking Member should have thanked Dr. Ford for her doing her civic duty, that she, the Ranking Member, could not drag Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh through the mud with unsubstantiated accusations.
4.) If Dr. Ford insisted she wanted to go ahead, the Ranking Member should have informed the Chair of what she had immediately (July 16th) and asked for an Investigation into the matter, BEHIND CLOSD DOORS. The American people and especially the Creepy Porn Lawyer should never have known about this.

None of the following 9 weeks should have happened, unless of course it was the Ranking Members intention to smear Judge Kavanaugh and derail the Committee process. Even if Judge Kavanaugh is guilty of a High School indescretion that occured 36 years ago, he does not deserve to have his entire life nullified. I am appalled Ranking Member. You have made a mockery of the “Rule of Law”. You have lied, leaked and cheated the American People out of a highly qualified Supreme Court Justice Candidate. The Ranking Member needs to be severed from the body. The Ranking Member has just become the Rankest Member.  Mr. Flake certainly is.

Isolationism/Nationalism – What Does That Mean?

Before WWII the United States was steeped in Natioalism and Isolationism. At that time the terms meant that we wanted nothing to do with Europes wars and we had no interest in anything beyond our borders and our protectorates. Charles Lindberg was the Voice of American thinking of the time (Late 30’s) making it very difficult for FDR to generate backing and aid for Europe and England. We were willing to let Hitler and the Nazi’s take Europe and England, as long as they didn’t tread on American Soil. We fealt safe, being oceans away from the conflict. “They started it, let them finish it.”

When we finally did get into WWII it was because of a Nazi ally Japan and their sneak attack on Oahu, Hawaii. The Pearl Harbor attack was a mixed blessing to FDR. He certainly did not want to see thousands of American sailors die in the wanton slaughter, but he did want to get America onto the global scene and immediately declared war on Japan, which caused Hitler to declare war on the United States, which incurred the war declaration on the United States from Hitler.  American went from Isolationism (a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries) and Nationalism (patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts) to Globalism (the operation or planning of economic and foreign policy on a global basis). We occupied both Germany and Japan for 10 years after WWII, and we still, in effect, occupy South Korea some 59 Years after the Korean War. This is certainly not Nationalistic/Isolationistic activity on the part of the United States. In fact if you include support of NATO, SEATO, Iron Curtain Nations, Israel, Palestinians, The Middle East, Preyed upon African Nations, and many other foreign interests you can in no way infer that the Unites States is and Nationalist/Isolationist country.

We have, however, become a more impoverished nation due to our foreign benevolence. We entered trade agreements that have caused the collapse of American industry, we allowed American unemployment to reach unprecedented heights and we have allowed the American middle class to all but disappear. At the same time we have spent trillions upon trillions of dollars rebuilding the German, Japanese and Korean economies and standards of living to level higher than our own. We have spent many trillions in the Middle East and Asia, to the tune of 21 trillion indebtedness.

Finally, after 71 years of give-away programs, along comes a blustering Donald J. Trump to say “Enough, Let’s Make America Great Again”.  As a businessman, President Trump is going to remove all the roadblocks to American Economic growth. What does he mean by that?
1.) Let’s make all participating countries in NATO pay their perscribed share or the cost. (Seems fair and reasonable to me. An agreement is an Agreement.)
2.) Let’s make every country pay the cost of their own defense and military. (What a novel idea.)
3.) Let’s pull out of Climate Agreements that only the United States is adhering to and paying for. (Make the agreement a two way street. When everyone else pays, we pay.)
4.) Let’s do away with punative EPA regulations that only the United States supports and pays the price for. (Sounds fair to me.)
5.) Let’s pull out of Trade Agreements that benefit other nations that stifle American business. (Again, sounds fair to me.)
6.) Let’s pull out of the Iran Deal. (Even though the horse is out of the barn on this one, this makes perfect sense to me, considering Iran is the largest supporter of terrorism, which we and allies are spending trillions to eradicate. Iran also wants to eradicate Israel, which is an absolute no-no for most Americans.)
7.) Let’s Frack.
8.) Let’s tighten up our borders and control immigration into the United States.
a.) Limiting immigration from extreme Muslim Nations until we can develop a system of vetting. (Sounds like a safe and sane policy to me.)
b.) Tight borders make let us know who is coming to join our society. (Social System) (Sounds like a smart thing to do.) I am the son of Danish                     Immigrants who followed the rules of Immigration and Naturalization and contributed to the greatness of this country. Our immigration system is fair to those who do it properly.

President Trump isn’t promoting Isolationism and Nationalism, he is promoting America. We have squandered enough of our wealth, strength and goodness on a world that could care less as long as we keep hemoraging dollars. President Trump wants to hemorage dollars on law abiding, patriotic American citizens. Sounds like a good idea to me.

The End of an Era

As all my friends know by now, I am 80 years on this planet, and I have seen my fair share. Eisenhowers’ and McArthurs’ deaths touched me very deeply and signaled the end of the Field Marshall War Era. Television marked the end of the Radio Era. Beta and VHS Tapes marked the end of the (331/3, 45 and 78RPM) Vinyl Record Era. CD’s ushered in the Digital Era as Beta and VHS Tapes were relegated to attic storage. Kodachrome, Argus C-3’s and the SLR Camera Era was kicked to the curb by iphones. These, and thousands more, I have experienced and I am sure that thousands more will come without my experiencing them.

In 1948, as I turned 10 years old, one of my buddies offered me his paper route. He was moving and could no longer handle the job. Side by side, for two weeks, we rode our Schwinn Newsbikes (Similar to the one above) through his 100 paper route throwing box folded San Mateo Times papers as close to the front doors as possible. We made three folds in the paper forming a pocket and folded the remaining end into the pocket forming a box and the neatly stacked them into the saddlebags and hung them over the rack over the rear fender. It became second nature to reach back with my left hand, grab a paper and sail it like a frisbee onto the front porch welcome mat. Half-way through the route when one saddle bag emptied, I had to stop and turn the saddle bags, to sustain my left-handed delivery. I had to collect the monthly payments (and tips) from my patrons and turn it in to my employer. I think I earned $30 per month, which was a kingly sum in those days.

My earliest recollection of reading the News Paper was during WWII when Dad would open it after dinner and show us the latest battle line maps that appeared daily to keep us abreast of how our brave boys were doing over there. I subscribed to a Daily Newspaper my entire working life but had limited time to read it. When I worked overseas, I made do with the International Herald Tribune and some local English Newspapers. When I retired, fourteen years back, I subscribed to my new local newspaper for $120 per annum ($10 dollars/mo.). Some five years ago, the newspaper changed owners (USA Today bought out Scripps). Shortly thereafter I was told that the news was going up to cost $180 per annum, and for the first time seriously thought about stopping the paper.

Today I received a letter from the Record Searchlight saying my subscription price was going up to $600 per Annum, a 333% increase. In a phone call the senior editor told me that the change-over to digital is driving the cost increase as fewer and fewer people are wanting printed news. That’s All Folks, the Passing of an Era.

Dear Naomi Osaka – You’re A Winner

Dear Naomi,

I’m not a tennis fan, but I am particularly disenchanted with your US Open Finals opponent and the crowd that watched you triumphantly defeat her. (That should clear the air). I do want you to know that you are a winner, and I applaud you for your stunning win over your opponent. What happened after the final set point was outrageous and reprehensible.
Having to deal with a cheating opponent, breaking rackets, calling out judges, playing the race card and playing the #metoo card, all in one heated irrational tantrum is more than your should have had to withstand to seal your win.
What happened, Dear Naomi, was that a petulant, elitist, brute and her adoring mob of followers and her hand-signaling coach were hell bent on a come-back win to show the world that she could have a child and still return to the number one slot. I’m not saying that she couldn’t, but I am saying that she didn’t, and because she didn’t she had to blame others for her lack of performance, and try to steal your thunder at the awards ceremony. This is what petulant elitists do with impunity; you are probably too young to remember John McEnroe.
My purpose in writing this is make sure you understand that you beat her fair and square, you bested her that day and you are going to go on doing that for many years to come. You are a star in every sense and the fact that you endured that cheesy public display and went on to win makes your star shine even brighter. Excellent, excellent job.

Sincerely
Dick Jacobsen

Dear Nancy Armour – Letters I’d Like To Write

Dear Nancy,
I think I am as bewildered as you look. Either I missed the boat, or your bewilderment stands in testament to your lack of understanding of one genuflecting Colin Kaepernick. Nobody was ever interested in silencing #7. Nobody cared about his Afro (although I have to admit it did tweak me a little, cuz it sort of harmonized with the fist pumping a former black-activist embraced). Nobody really cared that he took a knee.

As far as I know, the only thing that the majority of people protested to was the fact that he chose to do his constitutionally guaranteed activities during the National Anthym and the parading of our National Flag in the time honored pre-game slot. In other words defame, disparage and denigrate the symbols that all true American’s  hold dear. The toxicity released by those jestures is untenable to the majority of patriotic Americans.

I agree with you the NFL and the owners have handled the situation miserably, but they certainly haven’t done that in a racist spirit as you suggest. By the same token I wholeheartedly disagree with you that Nike is performing some humanitarian act to put the NFL and owners on notice to solve the problem.

The truth is Kaepernick doesn’t have a job because he is personally so toxic that no team wants to take him on on any capacity; and Nike, the NFL, and the NFL Owners a acting for one reason and one reason only, making the almighty buck. That’s Capitalism baby.

Sincerely, Dick