My View Of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

My niece posted on Facebook about her concern that people are voting for Donald Trump for president because they are concerned about the Supreme Court appointments Hillary Clinton would make. Several people made comments in favor of voting for Donald Trump.

My response:

My problem with the comments to your question, Lesley, is that I see Trump in a very different light. I look at his business history, his personal history, with multiple marriages, and his now political history, and what he says and what he does are so inconsistent with each other.  He is a shrewd, and reportedly unfair businessman; he takes maximum (legal) advantage of the tax laws, his charitable giving has been questioned, and not proven to my satisfaction. He has a short fuse, and while he can hold it together for 90 minutes, can he hold it together for day after day, under constant pressure. We can learn from history, and not so long ago history. Study Watergate, and the kind of man President Nixon was. He was a good politician, but the decisions he made that brought him down were based on hubris and that because he was the President, he was above the law. Trump already touts the fact that he thinks he is above the law.

The problem with my comment is that Hillary has acted in the past as if she were above the law, or maybe ignorant of the law (hard to believe.) When Ronald Reagan made mistakes, and he did, he would say, basically "oops, sorry, my bad" and go on. If Hillary would just do that, her errors would not be so bad. It's not that (she) cannot be trusted. It is that when she is caught, she dilly dallies around, and hems and haws before she admits she did something she shouldn't have. The problem with Trump is when he gets caught doing something bad, he just does something more outrageously bad that takes the spot light off of the last bad thing he did.

I am now adding that Trump has said "It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to." https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/785842546878578688 So that tells me that Donald Trump has been "faking it" to fit in, to get the votes, to get elected.  What a fake. What a phony. What a liar.  Do we want someone like that running this country?  I think not.  It is obvious that we cannot trust Donald Trump.  It is frightening to think people do. 

My Cats in the Morning

I am not sure where my cats sleep over night.  I know that sometimes, they are on my bed, but sometimes, they are not.  But about an hour before the alarm goes off on my alarm clock, they congregate on my bed.  Their behaviors vary.  Sometimes, Haiku slaps at my nose, which I assume is to get my attention. Other days, she snuggles next to me and seems to want to just be warm.  Taki likes to get on me and knead my body.  But some days, she scratches me to wake me up or at least get me going or get my attention.

Lately, on the weekends, the cats have allowed me to sleep in. While this delays their preferred breakfast, they have plenty of other food set out for them to eat.

Haiku Chews

Haiku likes to chew on things:  Corners of papers and envelopes. She also likes to lick the glue on an envelop flap.  That I get.  It has a bit of a flavor in it.  Pen and pencils, especially when I am writing, which I get, because the object is moving.  The corner of my cell phone. Maybe this makes sense, because salt from my hands my be on the case. Today, the end of the antenna for my wireless mouse.  Which I don't get at all.  The corner of the laptop.  Again, maybe salt from my hands on the laptop? 

She does not do this a lot, but when she wants my attention, it seems.  Hmmmm.  Thoughts?

Taki and the Baby Blanket

A few of years ago, I knitted a baby blanket that did not meet my standards, so I kept it.  Recently, Taki has taken possession of it.  In the past, I have seen her grab an afghan in her mouth, and knead on it.

Well, I am seeing her do this with this baby blanket regularly and frequently. Not only does she knead on the baby blanket, but as she does so, she and the blanket move as she kneads. 

Sometimes, I happen upon her when she is doing this.  At first, she would totally stop, and move away from the blanket, as if she thought or knew she was doing something wrong. I have never stopped her from this behavior, or corrected her in any way.  So, now, she does not always stop her behavior if I happen upon her, although sometimes, she does. But,the baby blanket moves around the house, when I am not home,  which tells me that Taki spends some time kneading and moving the blanket. Good for her. 

My hope is that she will be comfortable doing this behavior, and continue to do it, even if I see her doing it!

Peace is a Choice

We can choose peace you know.  It is up to each and everyone of us how we choose, and what we choose.  We can choose the angry retort or rebuke, the mild disagreement, or the gentle deflection.  We can choose to turn the other cheek, or to take up arms. We can choose the angry fist or the proffered handshake.  We can choose civil disobedience that is non-violent, or we can choose a riotous destructive display of civil disobedience.

We make these choices every day of our lives, in our daily interactions with family, friends, co-workers, business associates and strangers.  Most of us do not think about the fact we are making a choice, but we are.  Every single interaction is a choice. 

And the reality is, the choices that reflect peace make our day and our lives much easier. There is less fallout for choosing peace than there is for choosing anger and contention.  That is part of the problem with peace: the ripples that radiate from our peaceful choices are small and do not attract attention.  The ripples that radiate from our angry and violent reactions are so large that they do attract attention, and usually require a response.  A peaceful choice can easily go unnoticed.  An angry one usually cannot.

So as 2014 comes to a close, and 2015 begins, what is your choice?

Taki and the Keyboard

A little while ago, Taki started getting on the computer desk next to the keyboard, and hunkering down.  Every once in a while, she will put one or two paws on the keyboard, and just sit there. Of course the pressure from her paw is just enough to interfere with the functioning of the computer. It is easy to move her paw, but she puts it right back.  I am not sure what that is about.  It is not like she is trying to follow or touch something moving on the screen, and she does not try to grab my fingers as I am typing.  So, who knows.  It is kind of cute, if only it did not interfere with the functioning of the computer.

Another Cat Mystery

Tonight, I noticed, for the first time, that as Haiku was sitting on the new toilet seat on the new toilet, she was biting on the flush handle.  I don't get it.  I am not sure why that was, but she has made multiple tooth marks on the handle. 

Another cat mystery!

Is it the Nature of the Sport?

Why are there so many domestic violence crimes surfacing among the players of the National Football League.  I have an hypothesis.  American football is a violent sport.  How do you separate the violence in your profession from the violence in your personal life.  I am not sure you do.

Years ago, when I started working in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice http://tdcj.state.tx.us/ system, the then many Vietnam War veterans generally said the same thing:  We were taught to kill for our country, and then sent home from the war and not given any other skills, so we continued doing what we knew:  violence.  It makes sense.

Learning from the patients I dealt with in TDCJ, I realized that many of them were raised in environments in which the only answer to conflict was violence. They thought a violent response to an affront was acceptable.  With that mind set, of course violence will wage in people's lives.

And, we are becoming more immersed in violence:  Many of our games and play are violent, especially video and computer games.  Violence in the news media, and in the  entertainment media desensitizes us to violence.  Young people do not see violence as horrible acts against humanity. They see it as temporary entertainment, possibly even something that is not permanent as the players revived in the next episode of play.  I think many young people have the mind set events in real life can be "do overs" as they can be in games, and in the entertainment world.  Like little children, even young adults do not understand that violence is life and death, and there are no second chances.

So, a person whose profession is violent, who past times are violent, whose upbringing may have taught him or her that violence is the acceptable answer to conflict, can be expected to live a personal life of violence, right or wrong. So, is it any wonder that NFL players have violence in their personal lives? 

Sports and Social Responsibility

Most recently, there has been a rash of events of domestic violence in the lives of NFL http://www.nfl.com/ players. I am not going to rehash the stories here.  I am going to write about the role of the professional athlete and their place in public as a role model.

Professional athletes are not perfect, and never have been.  Babe Ruth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth was reportedly a womanizer who drank to much alcohol. Lance Armstrong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong. tried to beat the drug testing authorities.  Mickey Mantle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle drank too much, for years. Ted Williams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Williams was criticized for not being present at the birth of a child. In times past, the press allowed them their transgressions. More or less.

NASCAR has their bad boys.  They have played down the "rum runner" history of Junior Johnson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Johnson.  Currently, Tony Stewart http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/16/us/tony-stewart-grand-jury/index.html, who has a history of anger problems, is under scrutiny for his part in the on track death of Kevin Ward Jr, at Canandaigua Race Track earlier this year.

Michael Vick was castigated, and expelled from the NFL, for his part in dog fighting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick.  Michael Vick was "rehabilitated" and welcomed back into the NFL, such was his talent.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps has had his share of legal and social problems.

Charles Barkley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Barkley famously said that he is not a role model. Maybe he did not get into professional sports to be a role model, but guess what, when someone becomes a superstar, they are cast as a role model, whether or not they like it.

Pennsylvania State was embroiled in a child abuse scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_State_child_sex_abuse_scandal from which they could not extricate themselves, and which took down the (formerly) beloved Coach Joe Paterno.

Don Sterling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sterling former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers was banished from the NBA for his racist comments.  Atlanta Hawks Bruce Levenson http://www.nba.com/2014/news/09/07/hawks-owner-statement-on-team-sale/index.html voluntarily resigned based on years old emails that had racist comments.

So now, the NFL has several players who are being investigated for domestic abuse incidents: http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/us/nfl-fallout/index.html Ray Rice, Ray McDonald, Adrian Peterson, and Greg Hardy, if not others.

The NFL authorities keep talking about "getting it right." But what is "getting it right."  I fully support the "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy of our country.  So, I am not sure what the NF response should be.  I think the "deactivate status" works:  a player cannot play, but is still on the payroll.  It is equivalent to some local situations in which school officials have been charged with child abuse, and "suspended with pay."  This keeps them (ostensibly) away from the students, but allows them a livelihood until a verdict is achieved.

But first and foremost, their response should be that they have zero tolerance for domestic violence of any kind.  I am comfortable with the response that they do not know if someone is guilty of domestic violence, but they need to contain the situation and the involvement of the player in their sport until the situation has been resolved.

But really, what is our expectation of professional athletes?  Realistically or not, we expect them to present a positive role model that presents their team and their sport in a positive light.

Is that fair? Is that realistic? Babe Ruth's transgressions were generally downplayed  As were Junior Johnsons, and Michael Phelps. Why do we forgive some athletes, and crucify others?

Years ago, the press was more forgiving of our sports heroes.   But they sure got into the lives of our entertainment stars.  Should the public scrutiny be the same, for sports heroes, entertainment stars and political bigwigs.   I think it should.

People do not accidently find themselves in the role of sports hero, entertainment star or political bigwig.  It is a career path down which they purposefully, and dutifully roll. 

Entertainment stars have long been known for their scandalous behavior. And, many survive the publicity, usually because a newer, juicier story comes along.

Sadly, in this day and age, people do not always get into politics for the common good.  Often, politicians are drawn by greed for wealth and power.  And, our politicians may not start out with wealth and power, but they usually end up with both, at least while in office. Our leaders just are not noble anymore. (If they ever were.)

So, why do we hold our sports stars to such higher standards and ideals?  I am not sure.  But I think it is in part because we pay large sums of money to these athletes so they can continue to play the games we love.  And, because they are playing, it is as if we think they continue to be young innocents. 

I think it is also in part because these athlete perform wonderful feats of strength and daring do, and garner our admiration.  And because they do have our admiration, we endow them with special powers and character traits that make them special.  We want them to be special, good, innocent and right.  We want them to be superheroes, and lift them upon a pedestal of goodness and right.

Is that realistic?  Probably not. 

I think it is amazing that we hold our athletes to codes of conduct that some of their fans violate on a regular basis.  Because we violate those codes, does that mean they should or can without recrimination?  I believe the sports heroes should be subject to the same laws as the rest of us, and should not be given a "bye" because of their fame and fortune.  Granted, there wealth gives them access to better legal representation than most of us could even think to hire.

And, there are always those who will hang on to stars for the secondary gains that association with the wealthy, powerful and famous provides us. 

O J Simpson escaped conviction when accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Simpson, and waiter Ron Goldman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_State_of_California_vs._Orenthal_James_Simpson. 
It was like the jury bought into Simpson's fame and gave him a pass for his involvement or behavior. Not so, years later, when he was arrested for robbery in Nevada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Nevada_v._Orenthal_James_Simpson,_et_al. The American public could not be bought off by his fame twice.

And, since then, sports figures have been held to that higher standard.  Should they be?  I think the law should be applied equally to all, and if domestic violence is not tolerated by sports figures, it should not be tolerated any where in our society.  Child abuse, and sexual exploitation should not be tolerated anywhere in our society, no matter the perpetrator. 

I know that is not going to be the case.  I believe there is currency for prosecutors to go after sports figures when they commit crimes, especially domestic violence crimes. The prosecutors benefit from the publicity.  I wonder how vigorously these same prosecutors are pursuing the others in their jurisdictions accused of the same crimes.

So, should their sports sanction these accused?  Well, as I said, innocent until proven guilty.  But, being accused brings  shame on the sport, and the sport does have the right to sanction players for bringing bad publicity to the sport. (To avoid sin, avoid the near occasion of sin.) We cannot keep our sports pure, but we can insist that the mess their athletes create be cleaned up quickly and thoroughly, but judiciously.

If the accused are found not guilty, they can be given second chances, as would any common citizen. (Do we give people found not guilty of heinous crimes a second chance?  Sometimes.)  Of course, it is not that easy.  But these accused must go on, as we all must, when we make mistakes.  Accept the responsibility, accept the consequences, including punishment or re-integration as the verdict requires or allows.   The Michael Vick case is an example of that, good or bad.

Don't Make Me Stop This Plane!

If you are of a certain age, (a child of the 1950s or 1960s) you may have heard your father, most likely, say: "Don't make me stop this car!"  When you and your family were on a drive, maybe with a fried for one or more of the children of the family, and some sort of squabble or down right fight broke out, your father would have said: "Don't make me stop this car!"  (to administer discipline/punishment.) Although your mother would have been along, she probably did not drive, and she probably was not the family disciplinarian.  In my family, "Don't make me stop this car!" was seldom heard, but if it was, it was all that had to be heard.

Well, the 21st century version of this happened on a commercial airline flight: United Airlines Flight 1462 from Newark, NJ, to Denver, Co. http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/08/26/knee-defender-fight-united-flight-diverted/14609109/. Two passengers got into a squabble, and the captain of the plane diverted the plane to Chicago, divested the plane of the trouble makers, and continued on to Denver. 

In my opinion, the captain made the right move.  The Transportation Security Administration treated it, not as a criminal problem, but as a customer service problem.  I agree with that. The other passengers were inconvenienced, the plane was late, and there was probably a monetary loss to the airline.

I will admit that there have been moments in my life when I have behaved childishly, even with a stranger.  I regret those moments, and try to learn from them.  I try very hard to remember to be polite, and doing the right thing is never wrong.

The two passengers highlighted in this story behaved as children, and were treated as children.  They should be ashamed of themselves, and they should apologize to their fellow passengers, United Airlines, and the American public.  We are better than that!

Blogging revisited

Well, I had been blogging quite regularly in the month of June, and found myself able to do several blogs a day sometimes.  But after the 4th of July holiday, I hit a wall.  I know why:  I was dealing with trying to set up the new laptop computer I purchased, attend to several social activities, keep up with work while continuing to keep up with social activities, attend a continuing education workshop, but get all of my work done at work, get help downloading Microsoft Office onto my computer, setting up the Outlook email accounts, go to a couple of Westwind Brass Band concerts, including the combined Westwind Brass Band, and Texas Tech Band and Orchestra Camp Wind and Brass Ensemble concert, go to PT, read, knit,  keep up with work, and go to the Mystery Book Club.   Whew!

Reading all of this just tires me out.  Tonight, I thought I had set up the Outlook email program I needed, but hit yet another wall.  So, I called Suddenlink, but, as I expected, they said it was a Microsoft problem.  So, I went looking for help on line, but could not find a help topic explicit to what I needed.  So, I gave up. I decided I would contact the TTUHSC IT people to help me by phone tomorrow, and make a plan to go in next week for help. Or, at least find out if they could help me, or if I needed to contact Microsoft. So, after I did what I wanted to do on the computer tonight, I shut it off. 

I was reading, but got restless, and realized that I had a blog in me tonight, so turned the computer back on.  I have not blogged since July 8, 2014, and before then, since July 5, 2014. 

And, when I checked the Microsoft Outlook program, it appeared to be working. I will check more tomorrow: sending emails from work, and the emails I have saved on my old laptop that I want to send to my new laptop. 

Because, my next adventure is setting up the new printer.  And printing several things.  I will not totally disassemble the old printer, just in case, because what I need to print can come off of the old laptop.  But, we shall see how all of this works.

What I am most impressed with during this process is my patience.  The last time I did this kind of computer shift was in 2006.  Then, I thought I had to have every thing done "right away."  Now, while I feel a sense of urgency to get things done (the biggest thing was to get connected online), I am okay with taking care of the various other things in bits and pieces, as we go.

Patience is a virtue. It bestows upon the waiter the peace of mind that it is okay to wait and to take time.  It allows unexpected things to happen around us, while we are waiting, that makes our wait worth while.

It allows us to learn to take our time as we fumble through life, so that we can appreciate and enjoy the good things, and build memory files of them, to help us to get through the bad times with a minimum of distress.

As with setting up Microsoft Office, it is there, it is done. I just had to be patient enough to know how to finish the process.

Patience truly is a virtue

All of this to say, that when I have so many things bouncing around in my mind, I cannot reliably be present to attend to one thing. That makes blogging so much harder for me.  But, I can get it done, and I did tonight.

Maybe Time Out Really Does Work with Taki

Taki sometimes gets too out of control in her play, biting and scratching. I think, because she did not have sibling kittens to play with as a baby and young cat, she never learned how hurtful that play is, so she continues with it.  That is probably my fault, but from an early age, I tried to dissuade those behaviors. I usually try to redirect her. 

When I was doing physical therapy exercises before, and when I resumed this time, she was fascinated with my feet when I did certain exercises. I prefer to be in my stocking feet in the house, but often wore shoes when I did the PT exercises before.  When I wore shoes, her attentions to my feet did not bother me.  But, in my stocking feet, her attentions are almost painful.  More ticklish, but almost painful, and very distracting.

The first time I did PT, I did my best to discourage Taki from her attentions as much as possible, but put her in "time out" only once or twice. "Time out" is the bottom cage of the cat stroller, which has a prominent place in the living room.  All three cats like to sit or lay in the top cage of this double decker stroller from Kittywalk https://www.kittywalk.com/double_decker.asp. I leave the doors to both levels open, but the door to the top level blocks the lower level.  So, sometimes a cat will go in the lower level, but they usually choose the top level.

Well, this time, doing PT, Taki again could not resist my feet, and attacked them consistently, at the same exercise each night.  After a couple of nights of loud "nos", I did put her in time out when she started misbehaving.  I put her in "time out" two nights in a row. She was not in for long, and I did not finish the PT sessions before I took her out, I just finished the parts of the sessions that set her to grabbing and attacking my feet.

Now, I have noticed that when I do PT, Taki stays away from me, until I get to the offending set of exercises.  Then, she come into the living room, watches, but does not grab for my feet.  Maybe "time out" does work.  Recently, I had told a friend I did not think "time out" worked for Taki.   I think Taki has a learning disability.  She is slow to try things, and doing something once does not mean she knows how to do it again. (Unlike Sake and Haiku.  Doing something once makes it a tradition for them.)

So, maybe time out does work for Taki, after all!

Haiku and the Off Limits Surfaces

Of all of my cats, Haiku likes boxes the most.  She likes to tear them up, she likes to hide in them, she likes to chew on them, she likes to lay on them.  So, Wednesday night was a tough night for her.  I brought home a new computer in a box.  I had the box open on the TV tray next to the computer desk.  Haiku jumped on it twice.  I removed her both times.  After the second time, she got her feelings hurt, and went away.

But when she came back, she jumped on the old laptop keyboard.  All three cats do that, although Sake, and to a lesser extent, Haiku work around the keyboard to a slight extent, some of the time.  Taki totally does not get it, she even likes to just sit on the keyboard. So, Haiku again had to be moved.  That really hurt her feelings. 

She got over it. But, I hated that she had such a tough night.  She is such a sweet cat, that I hate to deny her any requests, or discipline her. But sometimes, she needs to be redirected, even if it hurts her feelings.

Taki on the Counter

I have said this before, but Taki is slow.  I am not sure if her brain was damaged befoe I found her in the yard and started tending to her, or if it was because of the way I tried to manage her, or the lack of social cat stimulation. 

She has learned to open doors, but is still very hesitant. She climbs on furniture, and has learned to jump on furniture. She has learned to ask to be let into the house from the garage. 

Tonight, I found her on the kitchen counter, eating cat greens. This is the very first time I have found her on the kitchen counter. While this may seem to be a bad thing, I hugged her and praised her. I grow the cat greens on the kitchen counter because that is the best place for them to get sunlight. I had taken to placing the mature cat greens on the floor so Taki could access them as well as Haiku and Sake. That was the right thing to do, because, of course, Taki did want to access them.

Tonight, for the first time, though, I found Taki on the kitchen counter. This is a break through!

The Waste Paper Basket

Literally, I have a waste paper basket in the computer room. I line it with a plastic bag, and put the trash in the plastic bag inside the basket.  I do not know why but Taki likes to pull the plastic bag out of the basket.  It does not matter if there is no trash in the basket, or if it is full. She likes to pull the plastic bag out of the basket.

The regular reader will know that there are so many things about the cats that I do not understand. This is one.  Hmmm.