THIS and THAT

All Creatures Great and Small

It's Obvious... isn't it?

Approaching the End of 2020

For What Will This Year Be Remembered

1. COVID-19 Pandemic
2. China Blamed for Virus
3. Stimulus Monies Magnitude
4. Economy Lock Down
5. DNC/RNC Conventions
6. Presidential Election
7. Black Lives Matter Movement
8. ANTIFA Movement
9. Defunding Police Movement
10. Protests Turning Into Riots
11. Political Rhetoric
12. Gulf Coast Hurricanes
13. Shut Down on Sports
14. Democratic Governors Blaming Trump
15. Mainstream Media Bias Against Trump

And...   as far as I am concerned, I was hospitalized for 6 days with what was later discovered to be an undetermined source that cause a staph infection in my bloodstream and the need for me to take infused antibiotics through a PICC line every 8 hours for another 28 days after being released...

The CONTRAST is apparent in my concern and the nation's concern(s)...  I would rather be concerned over myself than over the nation...

WHY IS THAT???

For my 72 years of life and my 50 years of really paying attention to politics, I have come to the conclusion that POLITICIANS DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AMERICANS BY THEIR ACTIONS...  but, Americans keep believing in the dreams of their words...

For instance, let's take the BLM Movement:

• Some police departments will be restructured to remove racist employees
• Some police departments will be defunded because of racist employees
• The Congress will try and pass more gun restriction legislation
• Some companies will hire more blacks

But, by the end of the next Presidential Term or 4 years...  most everything will be forgotten...  the BLM movement will be relegated to the back pages of the news...  and,, RACISM in America will continue...  because RACISM cannot be eliminated by government decrees, laws, and enforcement.

RACISM will always exist in countries where there are different races or statuses of people...  and in America, blacks only represent 13% of the population...  so, they will always be a minority and will always be treated like a minority, not matter how much they bitch, complain, protest, or use violence to get their points across.

AS INTELLECTUALS, WE MAY BELIEVE OR WANT TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE, BUT HISTORY ALWAYS SEEMS TO REPEAT ITSELF AND WILL SLAVERY WILL NOT BE REPEATED THE RACISM OF SLAVERY WILL BE... IN HEARTS AND SOULS OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT BLACK.

No Light Without Darkness

Years ago, a painter shared this concept with me:  YOU CAN HAVE NO LIGHT WITHOUT DARKNESS AND NO DARKNESS WITHOUT LIGHT.

I did not fully comprehend what he was trying to tell me, but as I thought about it more and more, I realized that light highlight the dark and the dark highlights white...  in this case I am talking about the white and black colors.

Such is the nature of LIFE...

Darkness can only prevail with Light and vice verse...  there must be a comparison before the true nature of either situation can be understood.

Similarly, just as white has black as its opposite, so too does male have its opposite as female and good has as its oppose evil and right has as its opposite wrong or night and day, left and right, up and down, dead and alive.

These differences exist to give us contrast.

Peaceful Protests Turn Into Riots

States in which protests turned into riots:

• Oregon
• Washington
• California
• Virginia
• Illinois
• New York

Innocent bystanders hurt

Stores burned and looted

Protesters arrested 

Police killed and injured

Police vehicles burned

Public buildings vandalized

Residents terrified

Unsafe for children and families

Businesses closed and relocating

Families selling homes and relocating

Cities will loose tax revenues

Millions will be spent to rebuild

Protests and Riots become POLITICIZED:

Democrats say there are no riots caused by protesters but they are caused by police

Republicans say that peaceful protests have turned into riots and police are there to contain

Which are You?

Bill of Rights

The First Amendment provides several rights protections: to express ideas through speech and the press, to assemble or gather with a group to protest or for other reasons, and to ask the government to fix problems. It also protects the right to religious beliefs and practices. It prevents the government from creating or favoring a religion.

The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms.

The Third Amendment prevents government from forcing homeowners to allow soldiers to use their homes.

The Fourth Amendment bars the government from unreasonable search and seizure of an individual or their private property.

The Fifth Amendment provides several protections for people accused of crimes. It states that serious criminal charges must be started by a grand jury. A person cannot be tried twice for the same offense (double jeopardy) or have property taken away without just compensation. People have the right against self-incrimination and cannot be imprisoned without due process of law (fair procedures and trials.)

The Sixth Amendment provides additional protections to people accused of crimes, such as the right to a speedy and public trial, trial by an impartial jury in criminal cases, and to be informed of criminal charges. Witnesses must face the accused, and the accused is allowed his or her own witnesses and to be represented by a lawyer.

The Seventh Amendment extends the right to a jury trial in Federal civil cases.

The Eighth Amendment bars excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishment.

The Ninth Amendment states that listing specific rights in the Constitution does not mean that people do not have other rights that have not been spelled out.

The Tenth Amendment says that the Federal Government only has those powers delegated in the Constitution. If it isn’t listed, it belongs to the states or to the people.

In the writing of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, African Americans (blacks) were not counted as being a person...   so, in 1776, these two documents did not apply to them and therefore none of the Bill of Rights were THEIR RIGHTS.

In 1863, slavery was abolished in the US of A...

In June 9, 1868, our US CONGRESS passed the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution redefined citizenship as birthright citizenship.

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”

The first slaves were brought to the American Continent now known as the US of A in 1619 at Port Comfort, Virginia near Jamestown.

244 years of slavery in the US of A...

The US of A this year (2020) is 244 years old...

INTERMISSION XI

How You Made Them Feel

Taking For Granted

The meaning of FREEDOM

the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

and,

absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.

and,

the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

Hot Tub Aggravations

I purchased a Hot Springs (6 persons) Prodigy Hot Tub about 13 years ago and over the years have spent about $5,000 in repairs...  mainly pump(s) and motor (s) which is about $385 each year and $32 each month which relates to about a dollar a day...  plus, chemicals...   and, from the very beginning, I talked with other experienced hot tub owners who educated me in the fact that household bleach is all you need to use and the amount they recommended was 1 cup each week.

A container of bleach (121 ounces) is $4.23 and will last for 15 weeks, so 4 containers will last a year which is another $17/year in maintenance costs for a hot tub...  relatively inexpensive...

I use the hot tub for the most part 2-3 times a week, given the right set of conditions, throughout the entire year regardless of how hot or cold it might be.  However, I was sick for 6 weeks, so it was two months before I was able to us it again.  That has only happened once or twice during my 13 years of ownership.

HOWEVER,  if your hot tub water starts to turn green, then there are only 2 culprits.
Algae
Copper in the water

In either case, the only solution is LABOR INTENSIVE which is:

• drain all the water out
• scrub and scrub the insides with bleach
• scrub and scrub the underside of the cover with bleach
• clean the filters with a water/bleach solution
• refill

Tonight, when I went down to the hot tub, I discovered my water was light green...

PISSER...

Looking

COLLEGE SPORTS 2020/2021

TRADITIONALLY, Professional Sports Teams draw on College Sports Players who are seniors as the pool of potential applicants for their new recruits.  These Professional Sports Teams to which I refer are in the following areas:  Football, Basketball, and Baseball.

2020/2021 Season Average Salary:

• NBA --  $6.2 million
• MLB --  $4.4 million
• NFL --   $2.1 million

Unless you are mentally challenged, you can easily see that becoming a Professional Athlete is financially rewarding...

UNFORTUNATELY,

the corona virus pandemic released on the rest of the world by CHINA is putting a dent, if not ruining the potential future fortunes of college seniors this year because many colleges and universities are either CANCELLING or postponing athletics for the 2020/2021 season.

However, there is a ray of sunshine, many of our Southern Colleges and Universities ARE NOT CANCELLING their seasons because the number of COVID-19 cases is lower in the South than it is in the North.

A week ago,
Midway through August, six of the 10 FBS conferences plan to move forward with having a 2020 

fall season: SEC, Big 12, ACC, AAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA. While four of their brethren 

sideline themselves, the six leagues aren't out of the woods yet.

IS THIS FAIR TO

THOSE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY SENIORS WHO ARE NOT PLAYING?

KOMIC KORNER KARTOONS

If You Don't Have Anything Better To DO...

Weekend Analysis

I have heard that HINDSIGHT is always the best but unfortunately is the hardest to predict and the inability to predict astounds the economists who believe and perceive our world revolves around a supply and demand curve...

How silly...

and then...  China release the Corona Virus Pandemic and the world, our limited universe, GRINDS to a halt.

GO FIGURE

Who will win the 2020 Election?
TRUMP?
BIDEN?

And, in actuality, who cares?

Wall Street cares
Families care
Entrepreneurs care


PEOPLE...   it really does not matter at all...  because all the outcomes will relatively be the same except for our perceived quality of life that has been destroyed by COVID-19.

If taxes are raised...  people in general will survive and a few will benefit

If Medicare for all happens...  people will still get sick and people will still get cured

If the Green New Deal happens...  by the time it really kicks into gear most of us who voted for it will be dead and buried

Neither Democrats nor Republicans can slow down growth!

Being an American nowadays is a function solely of GREED...

Free Education is a by product of GREED
Medicare for all is a by product of GREED
Socialism is a by product of GREED
Capitalism fuels the fires of GREED
Political re-elections are spawned by GREED
Increasing the minimum wage anticipates GREED

The USA is a society of...      GREED     GREED     GREED

and, this is precisely why it does not matter who wins the 2020 Presidential Election because GREED will always prevail in the US of A...