Blog Archives

October Topics

10/4/2017

I hope everyone had an awesome September. College football is back so I’m loving life; plus Fall is my favorite time of year.

There’s so much going on that has political components to it that I wrote more material about it than other topics. My articles on political issues includes: 1) Gun control 2) NFL protests. 3) Illegal immigrants being allowed to vote. 4) Michelle Obama’s attack on women who voted for Trump. 5) Gender pay gaps and Kristen Bell. 6) Republican Healthcare Plan 7) White trash. 8) Liberal professors. 9) Media coverage of Trump. 10) The Emmy’s. 11) The deficit. 12) The discrepancies in Obama’s book: “Dreams from My Father.”

On the lighter side of things I have articles on: 1) One of the greatest cons in history. 2) The invention of the rubber band. 3) Happiness and success. 4) The Eagles. 5) The end of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 6) Invention of the compact disc. 7) Grammar check: Ensure vs. Insure.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read my posts. Take care and make it a great month!

Gun Control (Five Minutes to Read)

10/1/2017

I apologize for this article being so long but I had to do it because of the shooting in Las Vegas where so far 58 people were killed and 489 injured. By the way, I won’t be mentioning the shooter’s name in this post as I don’t want to give him any recognition even if it’s negative.

It’s certainly not unusual for liberals to politicize events such as this before there are any answers regarding the investigation. I've heard from them time and time again that all we need is "common sense" gun control to prevent these mass murders and this isn't true. I can't tell you how many times political pundits have been stumped while they attempted to explain what "common sense" gun regulations look like. It's all about politics and not actual solutions.

Democrats are attacking Republicans with some even saying they’re responsible for the murders but they stay away from so many of the facts which includes that Chicago has the highest gun related murder rates in the country and they also have the toughest gun laws in the country. Gun laws aren’t our problem it’s the people who are twisted enough to commit murder. Not that I'm unwilling to add some new laws that are being talked about but there's no way they can prove that they'll work based on previous findings in other mass murders.

Is it the guns or the people using them where most of the problem lies? Case in point, when someone is stabbed and murdered, do Democrats blame the knife? There have been mass murders through people being run over by trucks and vans this year. Are the vehicles to blame or the people driving them?

I can’t remember a single election over the last several where gun control wasn’t brought up but the fact is they won’t remove the 2nd Amendment and there’s no way physically to remove all the guns in our country. Good luck taking the gun out of someone’s hand that lives in Texas. Even if we could, if someone wanted to commit mass murder he’d be able to get the weapons he wanted. When has outlawing something ever stopped it from happening?

Democrats don’t like to talk about it but when all the investigating had been said and done regarding previous mass shootings there were no realistic changes in gun control laws that would’ve saved the victims. There has been several times where psychiatric medication might have prevented it. Our prison system is filled with inmates with mental illness. This reality doesn’t help the Democrat Party so they don’t talk about it and instead demonize Republicans for protecting the 2nd Amendment in order to fire up their base.

If you look beyond what Democrats are saying to what they’ve been doing you’ll notice that even when they were completely in power for 18 months when Obama took office, they didn’t pass gun control legislation. Why is this? If they really believed that changes could make a difference why didn’t they pass legislation when it would’ve been easy to accomplish?

If the Obama Administration and Democrats were really focused on saving lives through gun control legislation, why did prosecutions by the DOJ regarding people who broke gun control laws, go down dramatically during his Administration? Keep in mind the Obama Administration was in charge during the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary, Binghamton, and San Bernardino so what did Democrats do about it? All talk no action.

More gun control laws won't matter if we're not prosecuting the ones which already exist. It's not unlike immigration laws as there are so many that aren't followed. The fact is even if they add new gun control laws there's absolutely no proof the Department of Justice will follow through on implementation.

Of course Hillary Clinton tweeted about the tragedy and one of the things she mentioned was the use of silencers. She wrote that more people would’ve been killed if he used a silencer because they wouldn’t have known where he was shooting but investigators have already negated her comments.

The fact is he wouldn’t have wanted to you use a silencer because of its propensity to heat up the weapon including the firing mechanism. A silencer on a handgun isn’t as much of an issue because it doesn’t fire the massive volume of bullets like an automatic rifle and it doesn’t need the fire power (which means more heat), because it doesn’t need to send a bullet hundreds of yards like a rifle does. The shooter’s goal was to quickly go through as many clips of ammunition as possible so he wouldn’t have wanted to risk having his rifles lock up due to overheating from using a silencer. The bottom line is limiting access to silencers isn’t the solution to mass murders; I wish it was.

Hillary was also on The Tonight Show last night and made comments about the Republican Party being in bed with the NRA and that they are partly responsible for the murders. I find these comments deplorable. I just don't understand with all her experience in politics and having political consultants that she time and time again alienates at least half the country when she speaks. When she makes derogatory comments about Republicans she's also making the comments about their constituents. If their constituents want various gun control measures then they'll attempt to deliver and if not, they won't be voted back into office. Democrats tend to believe that government is the answer to everything bad which would be great but it's just not true.

I support the 2nd Amendment as it would be crazy not to but understand it doesn’t guarantee access to any weapon we want just like we have freedom of speech but there are limitations for societal reasons. With this in mind when hard-core 2nd Amendment advocates scream about Democrats wanting to ban automatic weapons, I don’t think they have a case from a Constitutional perspective. I’m not a fan of automatic weapons and I’m not too fond of semi-automatics either but the fact is only around 2% of the people murdered in the U.S. are killed by automatic and semi-automatic rifles so they’re clearly not where the major problems lie.

The issue of bump stocks has also come up because the gunman used them to turn his semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons that could fire as fast as a machine gun. I hadn't heard of them before and from what I've learned, even Congress and the Senate weren't that familiar with the device. What you certainly won't hear from Democrats is that they were authorized under Obama's Administration in 2010 as the ATF and DOJ didn't think they needed to regulate bump stocks because they were a gun part not a weapon. My guess is the issue of bump stocks never made it to Obama's desk but if we are to be fair and balanced, he's ultimately responsible for everything under his watch just like Democrats blame Republican presidents.

My opinion is that since automatic weapons are outlawed then selling a tool that could turn a semi-automatic weapon into one makes no sense; even the NRA agrees. I definitely don't mind outlawing them which I believe they will, but sadly enough, it won't stop these types of killings.

There's all kinds of information (including videos), on the internet on how to create a bump stock versus purchasing one from a gun dealer. There are also ways to illegally modify the firing mechanism on some semi-automatics to perform like automatics. In other words this can't be stopped with the exception of when someone is determined to be a suspect and police get a search warrant. They can take the weapons away and put the individual in jail but thwarting mass shootings like this isn't the norm.

Even if bump stocks and silencers were made illegal there are plenty already out there so if someone had the desire to use them to commit mass murder, he could still get his hands on them. Keep in mind this is how most murderers are already doing it instead of buying from a gun store in order to not play their hand on their intentions and also to not have a paper trail tying them to the guns should they get away. Lastly, getting their hands on weapons in the black market can sometimes be much cheaper.

Apparently this guy had over 20 guns in his hotel room and many more at home which definitely gives us something to discuss when it comes to the number of guns we should allow someone to buy but when I investigated the matter it appears not many people purchase more than two guns from a gun dealer. Most people only buy one handgun for protection so the number of weapons this guy had was highly unusual.

Then there’s the issue of costs. Guns aren’t cheap so if you get more than a few from an authorized gun dealer it often runs into a thousand dollars or more. There are some automatic and semi-automatic rifles that cost more than $10,000 each. With this in mind you need a good amount of money to own a lot of guns and demographically speaking, wealthy people don’t typically commit mass murder; this last guy was a statistical anomaly.

Gun sales have been increasing double-digits over the last ten years but murder rates haven’t so it would be difficult to prove more guns means more murders. The fact is, no matter how many guns someone owns, they can only shoot one at a time.

I’m okay with limiting the number of guns someone can purchase because I don’t believe our Constitution supports an unlimited amount of weapons a person can own but I don’t believe it’s the answer to the number of gun related murders in our country. Once again there are a lot of changes that could be made to our gun laws that would make a lot of people feel better but it wouldn’t do anything to stop disturbed people from committing murder.

CNN has lost their minds over the event and is putting out blatant lies which shows their extreme political bias. First of all, one of their reporters who reports on Trump’s schedule told the news anchor that President Trump was going to fly to Las Vegas then he couldn’t help but add his liberal spin about the trip and said that it only makes since that Trump would go there because he has a hotel in Vegas and that it was a country music concert which meant the crowd was mostly Republican.

Let what he said sink in. It was a deplorable comment. It wouldn’t have mattered if it were a Katy Perry concert filled with liberals it was the worst massacre in U.S. history so of course he was going to be there. To insinuate Trump was concerned about the victims only because they were Republicans should bury any credibility left at CNN. Keep in mind it would be one thing if a political pundit made these comments but CNN is supposed to be a news agency and the reporter worked for them.

Next, they wrote an article titled: "How America Has Silently Accepted the Rage of White Men." When I heard about the article I thought it couldn't be true but it was. Their premise is that white men get a pass when they commit mass murder but people from Middle-Eastern countries don't. In other words, if a Muslim commits mass murder people automatically come to the conclusion that it was a terrorist attack but they don't when the person is white.

What they're saying is absurd. By the way some of the data they shared (which they often do), was from Mother Jones. I guess they hope that people don't know that it is a progressive magazine run by a hardline Democrat by the name of Clara Jeffrey's. It's a ridiculous, biased, place to get any reports.

CNN and MSNBC both have stated that the U.S. has some of the highest number of murders in the world but once again they mislead their readers and viewers. We have such a high number of murders because we have one of the largest populations in the world.

The only fair way to accurately evaluate where we stand is to compare the number of murders per capita here to other countries. If you compare the number of murders per 100,000 people we have 5.22 while the rest of the world averages 9.63. Statistically speaking, we are one of the safest places to live even though we have more guns than any other country in the world.

This isn't what you hear from liberals but it's the truth. You can go to: www.chartsbin.com/view/1454 to see how all countries fare. There's no other way to put it since they know the truth, but Democrats and the mainstream media are blatantly lying to push a narrative. Why aren't more people outraged about this?

I guess the point is that unfortunately you have to be very careful about believing anything you hear from the Left. A report recently came out that showed the media spends 92% of their time talking negatively about Trump. They're not talking about the lowest unemployment rate in years, our growing GDP, great increases in job growth, highest levels in the stock market, ISUS losing ground, etc. Why aren't they covering at least some of the good things happening? They can't stand being called biased but the evidence is available on a daily basis.

The truth is profiles are based on historical evidence and the fact is when Muslims have committed mass murders it has been about their religious ideology; killing infidels is their common denominator. There isn't a common denominator to the mass murders that have been committed by white men. The motives haven't been clear up front so it's difficult to jump to conclusions. Law enforcement is completely perplexed at the motives behind this latest shooting. The bottom line is race has nothing to do with this tragedy but CNN and MSNBC constantly push this devise rhetoric. If anyone believes they're credible news sources anymore they're naïve.

What I find especially disgusting is that the Muslim shooter at the Orlando nightclub was mentioned as an example of jumping to conclusions because of his race. Nobody had to jump to conclusions, he called 911 and told the operator he was going to kill a bunch of people in the name of Allah. This is the kind of fake news that the Trump Administration has been talking about.
There are so many critical issues in D.C. which need to be addressed like our budget, deficit, and national security. Pushing for the immediate revision of gun control legislation that won’t actually save lives is all about politics. Case in point, you can add up the number of people killed in mass shootings in our history and it wouldn't come close to the number of murders in Chicago in just one year. If they really cared about saving lives why don't they start there? Because they know there aren't any new regulations that would make a difference or they would've already made it happen.

There's not a single proposal that has been made thus far such as limiting the number of weapons someone can purchase, making the sale of bump stocks and silencers illegal, or even making background checks more consistent throughout the country, that would prevent the massive amount of murders taking place in Chicago. I promise you this reality won't be brought up by a single Democrat because it doesn't fit their political agendas. I will add that I don't have a problem with doing any of the above if it makes people feel better but it won't make a difference.

I think that mental illness is a greater contributor to the problem than anything else and that organizations like NAMI (National Organization for Mental Illness), are making a much more positive difference on reducing violence in our country than anything our legislators are doing.

The issue of gun control is a very complicated topic that Democrats want people to think they can solve if they can get Republicans to start caring about human life. This is a lie of course that I guess liberals are accepting but they forget that 2nd Amendment supporters including some in their own party, aren't drinking their Kool Aid so all their bombastic remarks only serve to divide our country further and does nothing to save lives.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this sick individual. I know my life will move on as the media coverage fades but it will forever be a part of the victims' lives and for some they’ll be dealing with PTSD (now known as PTSS) for years. Hopefully they'll be able to focus on the countless number of stories that provide the good and true nature of human beings as they risked their lives to protect one another and tended to each other. One evil man in this story but hundreds of angels; I think this should tell us something.

NFL Protests

10/1/2017

I’m so sick and tired of everything becoming political. I watch (or did watch as I’m boycotting now out of principle), NFL football for entertainment purposes; it’s my way of getting away from negative politics especially on Sundays. From what I’ve seen in various surveys, more than 60% of Americans agree with me.

For these privileged multi-millionaires to bring up oppression is very upsetting. Based on our culture, these players’ grandparents might have been oppressed but they certainly aren’t. They’re blessed and in the upper 1% of income earners. What specific laws are in place that holds African Americans back? What specific laws are in place that helps only white people? They don’t exist so exactly how are they being oppressed?

There’s absolutely no proof that police brutality is systemic which is what I heard was one of their issues. Statistically speaking, the number of African Americans killed by police officers is a very small percentage of deaths in the African American community; most murders in the black community are committed by other blacks.

There’s no data that shows white police officers have more of a propensity to kill African Americans than African American police officers. How could they legitimately claim racism when this is the case? How do they explain that blacks are being killed by black police officers at a comparable rate to white police officers? Why don’t these athletes protest the real problem and that is black on black crime? This is where the murder rates are.

My liberal friends have stated the players have every right to demonstrate but this isn’t true. When they have their jerseys on they’re working for their employers so if an owner is okay with them protesting that’s up to him or her but they should also accept the consequences like what’s being experienced in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing in Chicago and only one of their players by the name of Alejandro Villanueva walked out of the tunnel to put his hand on his heart for the anthem (the rest of the team didn’t come out on the field). It just so happens he was a designated war hero and had lost fellow soldiers on the field of battle so the U.S. flag and anthem mean a lot to him.

Guess who received a reprimand? That’s right, Alejandro because he didn’t stick with the team. It was apparent that the Steeler’s African American coach (Mike Tomlin), was really angry at Alejandro. But reprimanding him was a huge mistake as some fans are burning Steeler paraphernalia for the team’s disrespect of the American flag and for what the flag represents which includes fallen soldiers.

Alejandro’s jersey is experiencing skyrocketing sales which should send a pointed message to the Steeler’s organization. By the way, Steeler’s quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has already made a statement that the team will be on the field next week for the National Anthem and he said he felt terrible about not being out there with Alejandro. It seems like the team might be feeling the heat which I love.

The NFL ratings have been going down over the last few years and this year it’s already down around 12%. There are many reasons why they’re losing ground but I promise you that backlash from what the players are doing will bring it down even further. The NFL and its owners need to take control and not let the tail wag the dog. The players work for them and their job is to entertain; that’s all.

The Left has gone crazy saying Trump’s a racist for saying the owners should fire the players who don’t stand during the National Anthem. Let this sink in. He didn’t say to punish only African Americans who took a knee. He was upset with all players who protested during the National Anthem which included white athletes. Their premise about Trump’s racism is an absolute lie. What does this tell you about the character of those making these false claims? Talk about people who are deplorable.

What was especially disgusting to me being a veteran is that the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars played their game in London yesterday and although they stood for Britain’s anthem they didn’t stand for ours. This is disgusting. What message does this send the world? If these players hate our country so much why don’t they leave? Of course they won’t because they wouldn’t make millions of dollars anyplace else; I guess they don’t appreciate this fact.

Keep in mind that the Armed Forces Network showed this game so our military personnel serving overseas were disrespected by what these players did. The players probably don’t look at it this way but it is what it is. I fought for what our flag represents. Every time it was raised on base and lowered, everyone would stop what they were doing to stand and salute. Our National Anthem helps us to remember the sacrifices of those who fought for a nation we’re blessed to live in; certainly not for African Americans decades ago, but certainly now. Would they prefer living in one of the African Nations?

Many players are back-peddling a bit because they’re getting heat and attempting to soften what they’re saying but I’ve heard enough interviews to know that many of these players don’t respect our country or our flag or the fact that others died for their freedom. Even an Abraham Lincoln statue in Chicago was defaced. Do they realize they owe this white man a debt of gratitude?

Did any of these players learn world history? Britain was an empire builder. They would find an area they liked and they’d take it making many inhabitants slaves. They were heavily involved in the slave trade for hundreds of years. Why do the players respect Britain and not the United States? Although throughout their life they’ve been told their special, America would be okay if they left to become a citizen of another country because they are replaceable. We all are.

I guess the bottom line is that the players are so focused on injustices (whatever they are), that they’ve forgotten that along with their freedom to protest that fans also have freedom to quit buying tickets, merchandise, and/or watch the games. By the way, I believe the fact that so many people don’t even know what they’re protesting about is an indication that it is terribly ineffective.

At the end of the day, what are these players hoping to accomplish? Exactly what changes do they want to take place? I’ve heard several interviews of the players but they couldn’t answer these questions. Just today one of them said he wanted to be treated as an equal but he didn’t explain what that meant. What specifically could we do to help him feel this way?

I’ve heard that some of the players don’t feel the American flag represents them but instead privileged white people. Once again I say if you’re not proud of living here, move. Of course I don’t see this happening since so many athletes and entertainers said they’d leave our country if Hillary lost but much to my dismay they’ve not gone anywhere.

Many political pundits say the players aren’t against our anthem or flag (I think they’re saying this because of the fan backlash), it’s just that they want to use the platform to protest. Just my opinion, but I strongly believe that it is about our anthem and flag. I think that many of the players have hatred in their hearts towards our country which actually means the people; more specifically, white people. If you don’t believe this there are many interviews from various media on YouTube which backs up my statement.

I certainly don’t think it’s justified but I’m not African American so I haven’t walked in their shoes. I can look in the past and be sickened by the treatment of blacks but it hasn’t been the world I’ve lived in. One of my best friends (Billy Taylor), was African American. Billy was an awesome person and died way too young. His heart was completely open to everyone regardless of race and everybody loved him back. Unfortunately this isn’t the case with many of the protestors instead they hold the last few generations responsible for what their ancestors went through. If they don’t open up their hearts like Billy did, they won’t experience the amount of love that is out there and race relations will never improve.

There’s no doubt that our country was holding African Americans back; the operative word being “was.” An African American has the same chances now as a white person for a good life as far as how the system is built. It’s their culture which is holding many of them back and this is sad. There are lower, middle, and upper classes in both the black and white communities so there’s certainly plenty of evidence that both races can climb the economic ladder.

These athletes can do what they want with their protests but there’s no doubt in my mind that they’re going to wish they hadn’t. The backlash is going to be vicious. There are already videos on line with fans across the country burning their team’s merchandise and game tickets. The fact is the NFL has become lucrative primarily due to white people buying tickets and merchandise so although African Americans might love these players’ protests, a large fan base who believes they should stand during our National Anthem will be leaving in droves. This is their right.

It’s interesting that when Tim Tebow took a knee to pray before games the mainstream media attacked him relentlessly. They didn’t think he should express his personal beliefs on the field yet they have no problem with these NFL players expressing their beliefs. I say it all the time but here it goes again…the double-standards by the Left are atrocious.

By the way, they showed some players today standing on the sidelines with their fists in the air demonstrating Black Power like the Black Panthers do. Since they're not White Nationalists I'm sure their racist actions won't get any coverage from the mainstream media nor will liberal political pundits have anything negative to say about this atrocious display of racism.

Integrity

10/1/2017

When I was in the Navy serving on nuclear submarines the issue of making sure our vessel had watertight integrity was critical. The hull of our sub was made of titanium steel and carefully designed to withstand an enormous amount of water pressure. I’m sure you can relate to water pressure when you swam underneath the water; just going down ten feet can make your ears experience excruciating pain; now imagine the pressure at one hundred or even one thousand feet!

Unlike other Navy vessels, which only need to worry about water penetrating the hull (bottom of the ship), our entire submarine was submerged and exposed to water pressure so we had to be on constant alert all around us.

I learned this the first time I went out to sea and was told that we were taking the sub down to test depth. Each submarine has limitations on how deep it can go based on various factors, one being age. Before we began each patrol we’d have to take the submarine down as far as we could go to see when the submarine would begin experiencing leaks. We did this so we’d know our range of operation before we set out on our missions.

Crew members would wear headphones throughout the sub while we took it down to test depth so they could immediately report when our watertight integrity was compromised (leaks), then we’d immediately take the submarine back up with the knowledge of how deep we could go before we ran into trouble. We played cat and mouse many times with Russian submarines so this knowledge was critical. The bottom line is that the greater our watertight integrity the more effective we were on our missions and of course we were much safer.

The topic of watertight integrity has applications in our lives as well. I feel like personal integrity in our country has taken a huge hit over the last several decades. I know not everyone is this way but I’m finding it more and more difficult to find people who will do what they say they’re going to do. I was taught that my word was my bond and following through with this is part of my parent’s legacy that I want to honor. I don’t think anyone would doubt that a defining characteristic of “The Greatest Generation” was their strong personal integrity.

Just as our submarine’s hull experienced incredible water pressure, people often experience incredible societal pressures that can damage their integrity. The problem with watertight integrity is that you either have it or you don’t. Even a small hole in our sub could have taken us to the bottom of the ocean. Our integrity isn’t watertight if we compromise our value system, even if it’s just a little bit here and there we can still sink.

I like to use the following litmus test to gauge my actions: If all the things that I say and do outside of my home were printed in the newspaper, would I be okay with it? And when my family read the paper would they be proud of me or ashamed? This test sums it up pretty well.

People don’t typically rupture a major leak in their personal integrity instead over time they tend to pop minor ones here and there. Sometimes we’re able to get away with little transgressions but it often ends up setting us up for a big fall. If you think about it, there are many people in prison who might not be there if their petty crimes were caught early. Like many criminals, when they get away with breaking the law they’ll generally escalate until they’re caught, it’s just the nature of the system.

Although not discussed a lot when it comes to being successful both personally and professionally, but trust is a major factor. Thousands of people get fired every year not because they can’t do their jobs but for some reason their employer lost trust in them usually from breaking company policies. I promise you that one of the greatest chances you have for keeping a job is to demonstrate your integrity and build trust with your employer.

When we compromise our personal or professional integrity, it rarely turns out well. The Bible says it best: “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out” (Proverbs 12:22).

Four of my friends and I decided to form our own sales and marketing company called SellEthics Marketing Group, Inc. The word “Ethics” is in our name not just to tell the world how we do business, but to remind ourselves each day that we must live up to our name. Believe me, there have been times that we’ve been tempted to bend the truth to get ahead or to get out of a tight spot but in the end, we always remembered our commitment to ethics and to doing the right thing no matter what the consequences. Over the years, we have never regretted telling the truth.

Even if we never get caught in a lie, there’s a major problem because whenever we compromise our integrity, a piece of us is lost. The resulting guilt even if it is in our subconscious, reduces our joy. This is a fact. It’s also difficult to have effective relationships when we don’t feel good about ourselves.

Having integrity is critical to experiencing a life of happiness and success. Just like on a submarine, there will always be pressures that put our water tightness to the test but there’s no room for compromise when it comes to our value systems. The key is to maintain our integrity which will keep our lives afloat.

How Do We Define Success?

10/1/2017

No matter what someone’s station is in life, in most cases he or she wants to climb the economic ladder; not only for the money and the things it can buy, but also to raise one’s importance/value in life. The desire to feel like we matter and have influence is common and it’s available at all economic levels; basically even in a poor town in Appalachia there’s the perceived have’s and have-nots.

Even those who would be considered poor by most standards across our country could still end up being a big fish in a small pond in certain communities. The economic spectrum exists even if it’s a small one so success (a.k.a. influence, power, prestige, etc.), at the end of the day is relative.

It’s extremely important that people understand this aspect of success so there are realistic expectations. It’s also important that people (especially your children), understand that achieving success doesn’t guarantee happiness and that you can achieve happiness without success.

The important questions people should ask themselves are what does success look like and do they want peace and happiness more than they want to achieve success? I have a feeling that if you ask most young people what it means to be successful they’d probably have a difficult time describing it besides saying when you’re rich and famous. You might hear a variety of answers if you asked them how much money someone needs to make to qualify as being rich; once again it’s relative.

For example, as I climbed the corporate ladder I moved a few times to neighborhoods that were nicer than the one I came from. In the neighborhoods I’d leave I was considered successful but generally when I moved to a nicer neighborhood there were a lot of people who made a lot more money and had better job titles. I wanted success and I achieved it but I came to realize it was relative and could come and go based on my environment. The truth is when it comes to being successful people bestow it upon you because you don’t achieve it until they say you have it.

I think a lot of young people and even some adults don’t truly understand that you can be successful at something and enjoy the pleasure it brings but not be successful in the eyes of society. There are way more people experiencing happiness by being successful at things they enjoy (i.e. nursing, personal training, policing, teaching, etc.), than those with a lot of money and things (i.e. big home, fancy car, etc.), who society typically considers successful.

There’s a reason why Hollywood has more plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, and rehab facilities per capita than anyplace else in the world. Successful marriages like Tom Hanks’ and Rita Wilson’s are few and far between in Hollywood. There are millionaires galore in Hollywood but not a lot of contentment, happiness, and/or peace. This should tell us something.

More than likely based on the demographics of this site, you understand the difference between happiness and success but is it something that you teach your children in order for them to have some clarity entering the real world? Sure jobs like being an EMT aren’t lucrative but if it's something that your child would love doing and it can pay the bills, then enjoying her career would bring her way more happiness than a big house, fancy car, and impressive looking business cards.

It took around 20 years after leaving high school for me to figure out that success wasn’t something that mattered to me that instead peace and happiness are what I really wanted. Not everyone is this way and that’s fine. Some people are happy when they have prestige and a lot of nice things. The important thing is to be clear in mind what we want, and then go after it with discipline and resilience.

Illegals Can Vote

10/1/2017

College Park, Maryland is now on the list of cities who no longer require residents to be U.S. citizens in order to vote for local representatives and of course it was a strong Democrat movement that pushed for this opportunity for illegals because they know they’d capture 100% of these votes.

Why even bother becoming a U.S. citizen at this point? If you can remain illegal and under the radar and not have to worry about paying taxes then what does becoming a citizen matter especially if given the opportunity to vote for things they don’t even have to worry about paying for?

Our country is in huge trouble unless conservatives step up and become aggressive over issues such as this. Some of the things going on around our country in liberal states are beyond mind-blowing; it’s like a bunch of kids have been let loose to run our country who have no knowledge of the Constitution or fiscal responsibility.

You may not think illegals would be able to vote in your area but let’s face it anything seems to be up for grabs these days so please let your legislators know your feelings towards this. It’s very simple, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote unless you’re a citizen. If illegals don’t like this, they can return to their country of origin and vote there which is where they should be in the first place.

It has gotten so bad that at a recent event where Representative Nancy Pelosi was speaking, she was shouted down and had to leave because of illegals in the audience screaming at her. They were mad because she was working on DACA with Republicans but wasn’t addressing the 11 million illegals (according to the Hispanic Pew Research Center), which are in our country who want complete amnesty. For them to shout down Pelosi who has certainly been in their corner is very telling about the path these illegals are going to take in order to influence what we do in the U.S. There’s no doubt they’re getting more aggressive and outrageous in their protests.

What I just can’t wrap my head around is why in the world do illegals think they have the right to vote or demand anything from our country? They’re not U.S. citizens so they have no right to make demands. This isn’t just the way the U.S. handles it, other countries are the same as it would be ludicrous to allow non-citizens to influence a country’s policies.

The U.S. will be doomed if we don’t get involved in shutting down the direction things are going with illegal immigrants. Of course anyone who tries to protect our country will be called racists but who cares? The future of our country is too important to allow liberals to shame us for our beliefs. If we sit back and allow things to evolve without getting engaged, then we deserve the country we end up with; unfortunately, our children wouldn’t.

Media Coverage Over Trump and NFL

10/1/2017

Keep in mind while I share this with you that I’m not a President Trump fan and he was way down my list during the Republican primaries but I defend him at times when I think he’s being railroaded and treated with double-standards compared to President Obama.

A perfect example is over Trump attacking NFL players for how they were protesting. Let me stress the word “how.” President Trump has no problem with these players protesting just not during the National Anthem. He hasn’t said they don’t have legitimate concerns. The bottom line is that he’s not against them he’s for patriotism and a majority of our country agrees with him which for some strange reason the media doesn’t get. It’s been a firestorm in the media and they’re relentless in attacking Trump by saying he’s against the protestors. This has been their entire focus and it’s a lie.

Many people don’t agree or believe what the mainstream media is reporting these days. I don’t know if you noticed, but even with the crazy things Trump has done and said he generally ends up on the right side of an issue and all the media hype goes away and they move on to the next topic to try and stir things up.

In my opinion Trump won the election for three primary reasons. First of all he won because so many people hated Hillary. He also won because he was anti-establishment. He attacked both parties and people loved it. People also loved what he was saying about draining the swamp. Lastly he won because of his patriotism which was lost during the Obama Administration.

Trump told everyone that we shouldn’t be ashamed of exceptionalism. Part of putting America first was his push for building a wall and following through on current immigration laws to protect wages. Patriotism kind of ebbs and flows (it was extremely high during Reagan’s Administration), but it was definitely at high tide during this last election and in no way did most people see Hillary as a proud American. Most voters wanted exceptionalism back as they were tired of apologizing for our country. Trump was in tune with this patriotism movement and he jumped in the race. Quite frankly, I didn’t know how strong this movement was.

The media tries to distract everyone but the fact is Trump is living up to the image he sold voters. He was and is not presidential but the media doesn’t get that most voters don’t care. Obama was smooth and polished and he let the country get away from him with all kinds of problems including record breaking debt. Trump attacks both parties instead of playing the party line like Obama did and he’s been pushing hard for America first and calling out other countries for not doing their fair share in addressing problems around the globe.

Most Americans thought that under the Obama Administration we’d become a patsy to the rest of the world, so Trump getting on the nerves of other countries like France and Germany makes sense, it’s what he promised. The media constantly makes this sound like a bad thing when he does it but they aren’t on the same side as most Americans.

I’ve been a hard-core researcher in economics and politics for years and I’ve never seen so many people disrespect and flat out get mad, at the mainstream media. And with what’s happened with Trump and the NFL we have yet another great example of them being on the wrong side of an issue so they’ll end up alienating even more viewers.

Their spin has been atrocious in making it sound like Trump doesn’t believe in the 1st Amendment when people don’t agree with him or that he’s racist (he’s always had African American friends and business associates), because of not supporting the players, when the real story has nothing to do with what he’s against but instead what he’s clearly for which is patriotism and that’s exactly the person he presented to voters during the election.

There are many things that Trump does and says that I hate but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve fair and balanced coverage regarding his Administration so we know legitimately what is going on. Of course I don’t see this happening so I’m sure that many people like me will stop watching the major news networks and instead pursue the many media options including the BBC, to get insight into what’s happening around the world. Eventually their ratings will fall along with advertising revenues.

Money talks and maybe someday they’ll get back to the Edward R. Murrow news model of leaving out bias and just covering the who, what, when, where, and why. I can only dream.

Gregor MacGregor

10/1/2017

Of course his name clearly shows that he was Scottish but he was also a soldier of fortune where he fought for and against the armies of Portugal and Spain in Central America and Florida. When he travelled to London in 1820, he began telling people that while in Central America he came across an amazing new country by the name of Poyais and that he was put in charge of the country to help them get started because of his amazing contacts around the world. He showed everyone hand-drawn maps of the beautiful country along with their Constitution which granted numerous freedoms that Britain wasn’t offering at the time.

MacGregor was very charismatic and became the toast of London. He was attending lavish parties where he was able to network with people who had a lot of money. He talked everyone up about Poyais and how it had plenty of room for growth so the financial opportunities were outstanding.

People were fascinated by what he was saying and he began selling lots and getting investments for start-up business. He sold people Poyaisian Bonds. He even awarded some people high-level positions in Poyais’ government.

Hundreds of excited people ended up leaving London on two ships to move to Poyais. Not long after this, MacGregor disappeared. He had stolen everyone’s money and was on the run. The excited settlers arrived at the location they were told to go and all they found was jungle; the country of Poyais didn’t exist.

Even though social media wasn’t around back then, many of the people he swindled were very influential and they made sure word got out about what MacGregor did and they paid bounty hunters to track him down. Instead of being able to enjoy the riches he stole, he had to keep moving.

Eventually Venezuela allowed him to become a citizen and provide him protection as long as he would be an officer in their military which he did and eventually he became a general. He became a national hero and when he died he received full military honors by the leader of Venezuela.

MacGregor pulled one of the greatest scams in history which will end up being his legacy; this is sad considering he was a brilliant military strategist. Not the first person to have a brilliant career overshadowed by a misdeed.

The Eagles

10/1/2017

There are plenty of books, movies, and television shows that cover this amazing singing group so my article won’t due them justice but I will cover some highlights that I think you’ll find interesting.

First of all, they are still the highest selling band in U.S. history. Their greatest hits album from 1971 – 1975, became the number one selling album in the 20th century. They constantly put out hit songs like: Desperado, Evil Woman, Heartache Tonight, Hotel California, I Can’t Tell You Why, Lying Eyes, New Kid in Town, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Witchy Woman, Tequila Sunrise, etc. They performed many tours where they had large venues with sold-out crowds.

The Eagles were blessed with some of the greatest musicians, singers, and songwriters of all time including Don Henley, Glenn Frye, and Joe Walsh, all of which have made it into various Halls of Fame. Henley and Frye were members of Linda Ronstadt’s band before leaving on their own to start a group. Instead of her being bitter, she respected them enough to where she helped them get started.

What I find so interesting about the success of the group is that when they were trying to break into the business they had a major challenge with record producers because although they loved the band’s sound they didn’t have a clue whether there was an audience for their new style of music which was soft rock. At the time classic rock groups were hot like Aerosmith, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, etc.

Asylum Records was a new company at the same time the Eagles came together (1971), and they took a chance and signed them which ended up being a phenomenal move on their part. Bob Dylan and Linda Ronstadt also joined Asylum Records around the same time and their record sales went through the roof with all of these great artists. It was the best record label launch in the history of the business.

There are several stories about where the band’s name came from but the most common is that some of the band members (they didn’t have a name yet), went to the desert and got high on Peyote. A large Eagle swept down towards them and one of the guys yelled: Eagle! The name stuck.

Don Henley is the only original member of the Eagles who is still alive all the other men died at early ages from various illnesses. They were such an awesome band with a sound like no other. I think it’s fantastic that after 40 years of them producing their music that I still listen to the group all the time on my IPod. I guess their legacy speaks for itself.

The Emmy's

10/1/2017

I didn’t watch the entire show because I’ve gotten to the point where I have less and less tolerance towards entertainers who use the various award show platforms to push their political agendas. This year’s Emmy’s was the most politically toxic ever with Steven Colbert (host), making fun of President Trump all night and many award recipients saying terrible things about him as well.

One thing to keep in mind while reading this article is that award shows which have a more conservative audience (i.e. American Country Music Awards, Dove Awards, etc.), don’t spend their time attacking liberals; they certainly didn’t say anything negative about Obama when he was in office even though there were plenty of things they could’ve brought up to embarrass him. If President Obama received the same type of treatment by these shows as President Trump is getting, liberals would’ve been livid and calling for advertisers to be boycotted.

I truly don’t understand why people in the entertainment industry think what they have to say about economics or politics is of value. The reason they are where they are has to do with their skills in the entertainment business certainly not their knowledge about political topics. Their value to the marketplace and thus their livelihood is through their art, nothing else. They don’t seem to get this.

One of the major problems with what these stars are doing in getting involved in politics is that they drastically reduce their potential fan base. And what are they really accomplishing? They are up there on the pulpit preaching to people who already think like they do; basically preaching to the choir. They’ve run everyone else off by condemning them for being less moral than they are as if they were the only people who care about helping people or the environment.

There’s absolutely no proof that an average Republican voter is Fascist, homophobic, racist, sexist, etc., but that doesn’t stop Democrats from trying to sell voters on the Republican Party being all of these things and that they don’t care about those less fortunate. They like to ignore facts like the amount of research that is easily accessed on the internet which shows that registered Republicans give much more of their time and money to charities than Democrats. This is a great character check.

Even the New York Times had an Op-Ed calling out liberals for not walking the talk about helping people in need. In their research they showed an average Republican household gives 30% more to charities than Democrat households. Google conducted research that showed Republicans give twice as much as Democrats. The bottom line is that bleeding heart liberals basically go around crying about all the injustices in the world caused by Republicans and pushing for government solutions but don’t step up and do what they can on a personal level to make a positive difference.

For example, since Kanye West thinks the rich aren’t paying their fair share he doesn’t need to just talk about it, he can write a check to the IRS giving them 80% of his earnings and not have to wait for the tax code to change. The IRS gives us the minimum amount we are required to pay, they have no problem accepting more money from a U.S. citizen if he or she would like to donate it to the government.

The Emmy’s is supposed to be entertaining yet A.C. Nielsen reported that their ratings have been dropping dramatically over the years and I heard it reached its lowest audience participation during this last show hosted by Colbert. Having their ratings continue to go down, negatively impacts the network’s profitability because advertisers aren’t willing to pay premium rates to help sponsor the show. Then there’s the fact that because of their anticipated aggressive political attacks, some advertisers don’t want to risk being part of the show in the first place. This isn’t a formula for success because it doesn’t grow their market potential and instead it reduces it.

Instead of respecting the above truths, the producers and all the people who made it up to the platform to speak, think they were making a positive difference when they were actually hurting themselves and our country through creating undeserved division.

Keep in mind I’m not saying to refrain from making a few jokes (not angry trash talk), about the President as long as they’re funny because Trump certainly provides enough material, but to dishonor the sitting President of the United States negatively affects our country’s ability to do what needs to be done around the world.

I hope the producers of The Emmy’s get the message. What else are they blaming their ratings decline on? If they use the Hillary Clinton playbook of blaming everyone else then The Emmy’s will never improve and will end up like many award shows, on a smaller network making way less money; I have no problem with that.

<<Previous

Author: John Mann

Archives