View From Here

  Blog draft feb 4 26 Epstein Keep repeating, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Until hens come home to roost. Until trump is finally prosecuted for all of his crimes. Pedophile? Whatever it is? Whatever his friendship with Epstein involved? The whole story, not just an abbreviated one. When this is done, we will have halted the nonsense decisions and other distractions manufactured by trump and his cronies to take our attention off what really matters to him – Epstein and the stain that produced. On him. All on him. The fight for proper immigration management remains an issue. It needs to be solved. Sadly, that authority does not belong to the President. It belongs to Congress which has steadfastly refused to address the issues for more than 50 years. They have allowed the problems to fester all this time because there is no simple answer that will produce a solution without pain and stain on those who will ultimately solve it. But solving it is a must. We are a nation of immig...

Seismic Activity : Lots of activity. Worldwide activity. What does it mean? It must mean something. Well, it does. Seismic activity comes and goes in batches at times. Large areas affected. The earth continues to grow and change as it always has, always will. The critical issue is location and a centering focus of activity that may give warning of a major quake in one specific site. Anywhere in California would be critical because it means other plate shifts are working toward pressure relief. Where will it appear? Will it be especially disruptive and damaging? Or will it be just another temblor that raises our consciousness and fear? Time will tell. All seismic activity needs to be monitored and pondered. It reminds us to be realistic about the earth’s surface stability. What we build upon it will last only as long as the early allows it. President’s Health : Up one day, down another. He’s aging and will slip and slide along the health scale according to his own health condition and...

Yes, another month ending, but this is the first month of the new year. That must count as something special. For me it means we have well begun the first new year. A whole month has gone by. But what does it mean? Indeed, what has this month accomplished? Let us count the ways. 1.       Income tax filing will be done by month end. The forms are well started, only waiting for a couple of 1099’s 2.       No debt. Well, I have an apartment lease and an auto lease. Those are both contracts that promise to pay, so they are debt instruments 3.       Holidays done and paid for 4.       American president starts a war with Venezuela 5.       President assumes authority to declare a foreign nation as belonging to the USA, a NATO ally at that 6.       President assumes authority to levy tariffs on any nation not agreeing with him 7....

Everyone has a story. A life story. A biography if you will. A beginning, an ending, and a whole lot in between. It is the between that holds value and drama, the story’s core. At birth we knew nothing. Growing up we know what others tell us. Then experiences tell us something different. The combination of both changes us and teaches us a great deal more. Those are the details of the story. We need to pay attention to them. Living day by day, experience provides the staging platform. What we do with that is what helps us grow into something else throughout all of life. We continually form into our larger personhood, one day at a time, one experience at a time. Lessons learned from all of this push us toward the next challenge. This is our growth. That growth is often accidental. It is not planned. It is not automatic. It is happenstance at its core. Who we are is the result of what we do. Simple as that. Why it goes very well or terribly bad is a thing of that specific moment. ...

I went to work as usual. I was deeply unsettled by MLK’s assassination the night before. As morning wore on, my brain ceased to focus on work. I told my boss I needed to go home and gather my wits. He said OK. Once home I visited my church pastor and asked him about his decision to enter seminary. His was a family tradition he long felt to continue. Mine was not so. I had some family traditions of this calling, but my father skipped the call and answered the call of aeronautic engineering. But me? I worried about our society failing to understand race relations and the coherence of history, immigration and integrating freed slaves. Discrimination then was horrible, and violence was frequent. This was an illness needing a solution. I wondered if seminary and churches were powerful enough to do such work. I decided yes. Both my grandfather and great grandfather had been Congregational ministers after attending Chicago Theological Seminary. Then it was located at Washington and Halste...

Stock Markets : I know soaring stock prices seem fun and exhilarating. However, having lived a long life watching the numbers go up and down, sometimes with alarming leaps and bounds, makes investment choices difficult. My present circumstances save me from this suffering, but people I know are bewildered, especially those in their elder years. I think I’ll enjoy my new income and post savings as needed for trips, medical happenings, and last expenses. That’s something good about aging! Clothes & Sizing : Went shopping for clothes Saturday. Learned these things that appears to be age related: ·          Camel hair sport jackets are hard to get. I used to have one camel, one navy blue and one black sport jacket. They went with every slack known to man. Loved them. Wonder what happened to camel colored ones. Black and blue are still available. ·          Shirts are plentiful and easy to fit. Thank Go...

  Blog draft jan 16 26 Becoming the New Morning comes. Sometimes it is early and very dark. Lately, I’ve been sleeping in to around 6 am. I know, that is very early for some of you, but for me, I’ve had a lifetime of waking up anywhere from 3:30 to 5 on a regular basis. Anyway, the later hour produces some light through the blinds. Grey day or clear, the day begins. Coffee is made, phone is charged, drapes are opened, and the computer comes alive. Blogs are posted and written, emails are answered or dumped, and the internet is scoured for news, stock market gains or losses, and weather. Then the real day begins with thinking through the options, making breakfast, watching a bit of TV, then shave, shower and dress. But what will become of the rest of the day? Huh! When retired, options exist. If the weather is fair, errands are considered, listed and then down to the car and off to do those very errands. Afterward, what is to become of the day? Well, if the errands list is...

  Blog draft jan 14 26 Continuing Grief As one ages, death of others increases in frequency. This is normal. Oftentimes difficult to process, but normal just the same. Losing a life partner is one of the heaviest sources of grief. Loss of a child must be the heaviest of all, one, thankfully, I have not experienced. Loss of siblings is an eye opener to ones own lease on life. Two and half years ago I lost my life partner, Rocky, to two cancers and a long list of medical conditions. Accordingly, his death was long expected and prepared for. Just the same, his loss is a major issue in my life. Then, two years later, my ex-wife’s husband died, followed by my ex-wife herself. And now, my sister has died on January 7 th . Just days from her 84 th birthday, Carol died of emphysema. She had been in a nursing home for several months and we were prepared for her demise. The reality of it, however, contains the shock. We remember the decades of interactions and shared life experien...

Shop Closings : Yesterday we mentioned store closings and why they are happening. It is not because sales have shrunk; no, they have increased but this is due mainly to internet transactions increasing. Now headlines are screaming about bank closures . That is not technically true. Closing branch bank sites is what they are referring to, and the reason why branches may dwindle in number for a while is because customers are doing their banking over the internet more and more. Thus, fewer branch locations are needed. In the old days, banks increased their reach for new customers by building branches in more locations, mainly in commuter hubs and suburbs. This tactic worked quite well. The opposite is true when customer banking habits change to lessen the traffic at branches. Online banking is one of those habits. Cancelling Elections ? Trump gas casually mentioned cancelling the mid-term elections. Then he retracted the statement. Even if he had the power to do so, he wouldn’t cancel...

Headlines are the primary tool used by online media to pull in readers. Unfortunately, this practice paints the picture of doom and gloom. Taken in bits and pieces of daily news, these items are a small part of what is going on in the world. They are not what is happening on the whole. Major shifts need reporting; those are indicators of trends and history being made. Individual stories may be part of that, but alone they are not. For example, Amazon’s e-commerce invention and growth is having major impact on retail sales throughout America. People are not shopping stores as much as they once did. Instead, they are using the internet to find products and then learn about their competitive features before making a purchase. They may go to a store to feel the goods and find out more about the goods and services. Then they will buy unless they find better pricing on the internet. Many people simply shop online and buy there. Customer traffic to stores and malls has dropped significantly...

That is the word of the day – division. Most con-men drive people apart, best if it is two parts. Argue one side over the other and keep at it until enough people gather around it. Do it long enough and a core group believes the argument. Keep at it and elections are won with the argument. Sound familiar? It should. The Trump White House is the prime example of this manipulation of public opinion. It doesn’t take long since many people are too lazy to keep up with public events and news. Their ignorance creates the best backdrop for division and manipulation to occur. One side is so ignorant of facts that they believe in personality and support that over the logic of the facts. To keep the division alive, con men find more topics to support the manipulation. Job loss, for example, is blamed on immigrants when in fact it is technology change or other major shifts in markets. International trade is an example of one of the latter. The COVID shutdown is another. Better yet, pretend th...

  Blog draft jan 5 26 One Big Job      Besides surviving, there is truly one big job we all must do in 2026. Simply put, that is remove all power from Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. Period. This is happening in many ways at this very moment. The Supreme Court seems to have found their courage and standing up to Trump at nearly every turn. Republican congressmen and women are pledging to not run for another term. Others are considering resignation. Either or both of these steps will reduce congressional numbers enough to toss Speaker Johnson out of a job. The democrats will resume House leadership. The threat of the midterm elections will continue to finish this job spectacularly. Whether this happens remains to be seen, but all the omens are aligning correctly at this moment in history. Independent agencies are also resisting Trump leadership. The rest of us need to donate money, be present at public protests to demonstrate opposition...