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. 

I Am Exhausted

Today was the day of the South Plains Branch of NASW annual ethics workshop.  We used, once again, the beautiful venue of the International Cultural Center at Texas Tech http://www.depts.ttu.edu/international/.  Our topics this year were about the LGBTQ community, and ethical and practice implications working with LGBTQ youth.  Both speakers, Ann Aiken, MEd, MDiv-eq, LPC and Adam McCormick, MSW, PhD, were excellent.

I have been on the workshop committee off and on for more than 20 years. I enjoy helping to put the workshop together:  my job is sending out announcements, developing sign in sheets, and helping with sign in.

For the most part, the workshop went off well.  Our refreshments in the morning did not include coffee, but Bonnie Anne Rudd, the chairperson, resolved that issue.  We started a little late in the morning, but all was well.

Our numbers were small.  We used to have 40-70 attend our annual meeting. Several things have happened to diminish that number:  We had a year of not very good presentations in a location that was noisy and not conducive to hearing the presenters.  The economy has effected employer's willingness to pay for attending workshops, and although our workshop was not very expensive, there are much less expensive online CEU opportunities. But our numbers were respectable.

And, today, our topic was a little risqué for this part of the world.  Last August, we had the morning speaker, Ms. Aiken, address our monthly CEU meeting about the topic, and she was well received, with many social workers saying they wanted to learn more.  But, we also had people who were so repelled by the topic, that they disengaged themselves from the group! That is really sad. Social workers are supposed to be open to working with any client, at least to do no harm, and send them to a more appropriate professional, if need be.  My thought is that the social workers present today were the ones who did not need to be there, and, as the speakers acknowledged, they were "speaking to the choir."  Although our social work ethics require us to be culturally competent, there are many professionals in this part of this world who are not culturally competent, based on a conservative "Christian" orientation. 

Usually, these workshops exhilarate me, recharge me.  Not so today. I was just glad the day was over with.  While I really appreciated both presentations, I was just tired at the end of the day.

I did stop at the Lifestyle Center before going home to do a PT routine.  My hip was hurting, although I spent most of my day sitting, which generally helps my pain, and although I did not have to walk far or spend a lot of time on my feet today.

So, I came home, and fed the cats, and used the workshop paperwork to update the email information we have for the communication network.

But, I am tired.  Not recharged. 

The one good thing I can say is that I worked on the baby blanket for my youngest grandniece. She is some 13 months old, and I hate that I did not finish the blanket before she was born, but it is what it is. 

But, I am not sure why I am so exhausted.  Maybe I am just getting old.

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.

Indian Heritage

I have been watching major league baseball tonight http://mlb.mlb.com/home, becausee it is the post season, and I am interested in who will progress on to the World Series.  The New York Yankees http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy are out of it, but I am interested in how the Boston Red Sox http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bos do.  The Boston Red Sox won against the Tampa Bay Rays http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tb. Then, the Los Angelese Dodgers http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=la played against the Atlanta Braves http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=atl, and the Braves won.

Some years ago, there was some sort of public outcry about the Atlanta Braves using the American Indian or Native American name as part of there identity. Along with that outcry, there was public objection to the tomahawk chop and chant http://www.talkingchop.com/2012/4/30/2990244/how-the-atlanta-braves-adopted-the-tomahawk-chop-from-the-florida-state-seminoles.  Well for whatever reason, this was not determined disrespectful and therefore was able to be continued in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of the fan support cheer of the Atlanta Braves.

I grew up in the township of Montague, Massachusetts http://montaguema.com/.  In this township were 5 villages: Millers Falls, Lake Pleasant, Montague Center, Montague City, and Turners Falls.  Turners Falls was the biggest village, and the site of a Native American massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Turner's_Falls. 

When we grew up, the Turners Falls High School sports teams were knows as the Indians.  This was not meant as a derision of the Native Americans who lived and died in the area, but as an honorific. The yearbook annual was the Peske-Tuk, but I can no longer recall what that means, but apparently refers to the falls in the Connecticut River http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=5729&img=2&level=advanced&transcription=1

I think the Turners Falls team is now still called the Indians, although there was some time when this was considered derisive instead of honorific.  I am glad the cooler heads have prevailed and the Indians prevail.

All of this to say that I think the Atlanta Braves honorific of Native Americans, including the tomahawk chop is just that, an honorific, and a tribute to Native American Indian Heritage.

Context is So Important

I know I have mentioned before how much I enjoy the movie "Desk Set" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050307/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm.  This is the story of a research department for a network facing computerization in 1957, and being concerned about computers taking over jobs. It is also a romance, and a story about not discussing take overs to prevent changes in stock values.  Do these issues sound familiar?

There is a line in the movie that did not make a whole lot of sense to me.  Peg Costello, the Joan Blondell character, is describing Richard Sumner, the Spencer Tracy character, who is the computerization fiend. She makes the comment that she thinks he is one of those men who had recently started drinking vodka. 

Today, I was listening to a story on NPR about soju, an alcoholic beverage from Korea http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/09/22/224522548/move-over-vodka-korean-sojus-taking-a-shot-at-america. The story reflects Korea's efforts to increase the market for soju in the United States. The story comments on the fact that until the 1950's, vodka was not very popular or common in the United States. I grew up thinking vodka was a common alcoholic beverage. What do I know.  But it explains the comment in the movie.

I think about this.  I wonder how much more rich a literary or cinematic  experience would be if the consumer has a thorough knowledge of the customs, habits, and culture of the times. If historical information and events are known by the audience. We miss a lot otherwise, but sometimes, it cannot be helped.

Never Forget to Lie

I do not watch a lot of serious TV.  I deal with serious all day and I do not want to deal with it at night.  I was watching PBS, and actually turned away from this show, but felt compelled to turn back to it.  The show was Frontline: Never Forget to Lie http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/.  It is a show about survivors of the Holocaust from Poland, who are Jewish.  

There was a time in my life, in my early 20s, when I was fascinated by the story of the Polish Jews, and read everything the tiny little library in Millers Falls had about this topic.  I read novels and history books. I expanded my reading to include the story of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. It was a story that made me heart sick but amazed me at the horror of man's inhumanity to man.  When, in college, I was exposed to Viktor Frankl's Man Search for Meaning http://logotherapy.univie.ac.at/e/lifeandwork.html, his story of his life in German concentration camps Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Dachau, it was a story that spoke to me.

I think that in part, the resonance that I feel for Fiddler on the Roof http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067093/and The Sound of Music  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/ is because both movies deal with the issues of discrimination and displacement, Jews, and Eastern Europe.

The show tonight was heart wrenching.  To see people who went through that horror and misery, and survived to be good, productive members of society gives me faith in humanity. But makes my heart hurt for them.

I do not always step up and speak out when I see discrimination or injustice. I am a coward. I need to be stronger about that. Because when good people do not speak out against injustices, other good people get hurt.