In attempting to defend his indefensible lewd and sexually aggressive comments caught on videotape ten years ago, Donald Trump explained it was simply “locker room talk.” In Trump’s twisted and tortured mind, that made it justifiable. This is definitely not the case in that instance. Nor, are the acerbic personal attacks and the venom that has spewed from Trump’s mouth throughout the entirety of this presidential election season justifiable. Here’s the truth. Many of the outrageous things … [Read more...]

Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the fairest of all? You, Donald of course Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the smartest of all? You, Donald of course Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the richest all? You, Donald of course Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the nicest of all? You, Donald of course Mirror, mirror on the wall Who is the kindest of all? You, Donald of course Truth be told, of course Donald is none of the above In fact, he is far from any But, in his mind Of … [Read more...]

On September 13, the Census Bureau released a report that the U.S. economy had performed well for many Americans in 2015. The report indicated that the poverty rate had fallen by 1.2 percentage points last year - which was the biggest decline in one year since 1968. That is good news, in fact very good news, for the state of poverty in the United States. But, even with this shining light, shadows remain across the country. States of poverty still exist and much more needs to be done to … [Read more...]

Labor Day 2016 is past. And, the days of labor have passed as well. That’s not just for organized labor. It’s for all of those in the working and lower middle class who toil in blue collar and white collar jobs and make so little in wages that they qualify for food stamps and public aid. It didn’t used to be that way. Looking back, the period after WWII from the early ‘50’s to just before the mid-70’s could be called the Camelot days for American laborers. Fairly compensated … [Read more...]

Over the past several months, considerable attention has been devoted to the mind and mindfulness — or lack thereof — of Donald Trump. There has been less of a focus on the mind of the Trump supporter. Specifically, who are they? What are they thinking about? Why are they supporting the Donald? How do they compare to other citizens who will be voting in this presidential election cycle? It is well documented that in general the Trump support base tends to skew male, older, … [Read more...]

Hillary Clinton made the line “It takes a village” famous. The Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro brought that line to life. It is appropriate that the Olympics began with a stunning opening ceremony in nearly perfect weather that signified the specialness of this event and ended with a closing ceremony conducted in a steady rain that signified the sadness to see the event depart the world stage for the next four years. In between the opening and closing, the Olympic athletes … [Read more...]

Preamble We closed our last blog titled “Mourning in America: A Nation United. A Nation Divided” by observing that our citizens are being presented with a stark option in this presidential election. The choice is between becoming the United States of Hope or the United States of Fear. We wrote a blog in late 2014 titled the “United States of Fear: From Ebullient to Eboliant.” In that blog, we commented on the state of the nation. Ebola was the health scare at that time. The Zika … [Read more...]

In her acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention this past week, Hillary Clinton speaking about Donald Trump said, “He’s taken the Republican Party a long way...from “Morning in America” to “Midnight in America.” We agree with Secretary Clinton’s assessment that nominee Trump has pushed the Republican Party into the darkness and the shadows. The question is what will happen there “After Midnight?” The more important question for our nation, however, is what will happen because … [Read more...]

The first words that Donald Trump uttered after he walked up to the podium to accept the nomination for President were, “Friends, delegates and fellow Americans, I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.” From that point forward, for the next one hour and fifteen minutes, Trump threw humility to the wind as he painted a dark portrait of national and international gloom and doom in which he and he “alone” was the solution to all of the … [Read more...]

In 1973, the rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive had a big hit with their song Takin’ Care of Business which celebrated the joys of being a rock musician as opposed to being trapped in a “slaving job to get your pay.” The chorus of that song goes as follows: Taking care of business (every day) Taking care of business (every way) I’ve been taking care of business (it’s all mine) Taking care of business and working overtime More than four decades later, while … [Read more...]