Claims And Issues

THINK: ASK & REMEMBER BEFORE YOU SAY IT OR WRITE IT.

(Photo via NASA)

It was not given to you to be the only teller of truth in the world.  Sometimes it may feel like you are, but that feeling is never true.

          Before you speak or write, about somebody else's words or your own, think.  Ask if this thing you are about to speak or write will do any good, or will it cause more harm than good?  And when you ask, remember that everyone makes mistakes. 

          When you remember these things, you will likely end up never regretting that you did not say or write the thing you were going to say or write.

GO FORWARD.

IT'S A DIFFERENT KIND OF ADVOCACY: SHARING POSITIVE EVERY DAY.

It's a task, and a good one, to write something positive every day.  You end up feeling positive writing it and reading it as well.

          It's a different kind of advocacy.

GO FORWARD.

"WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE IS ...."

"What I know to be true is that one hopeful person will accomplish more than a hundred cynics.  Why?  Because the hopeful person will try."

--Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith's book, KEEP MOVING / NOTES ON LOSS, CREATIVITY, AND CHANGE, is a life-changer for the good.  It was published in May, 2020 by One Signal Publishers / Atria Books®, trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

"OH, MY GOD, I AM HEARTILY GRATEFUL ...."

Earthrise on Christmas Eve.  (Photo via NASA)

Oh, my God, I am heartily grateful that I have received your blessings.

           I changed the beginning of a good old prayer that has been around for centuries:  "Oh, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you."

          You can probably change the beginning as well by rendering it more grammatical, such as:  "Oh, my God, I am heartily grateful for your blessings."

          I wanted to match the beginning of the ancient prayer as closely as I could when I started reworking it to convey gratitude and also hope.  I keep saying "beginning."  That is as far as I have gotten.

          It may be as far as I need to get:  Oh, my God, I am heartily grateful that I have received your blessings.

GO FORWARD.

COLLABORATORS vs. COMPETITORS.

Other people doing the same thing as you are doing, are not necessarily your competitors.  They may become your collaborators.  If that happens, you may get to your goal even faster.

GO FORWARD.

THE OCEANGATE SCANDAL.

Have you heard about the OceanGate scandal yet?

           No, not the story of the tourist submersible that the company owned, or the story of OceanGate's CEO who tragically died piloting $1 Million worth of tourist seats to ogle the graveyard of the Titanic, its crew, and its passengers who went down with it.

           And no, not the story of the wrongful death lawsuits that from all the news reports it seems are likely to be filed right away, if they haven't been filed already.

          I mean the scandal of the loan to the OceanGate company of some reportedly $450,000 of COVID relief money in the guise of a PPP loan,  and the additional scandal that the OceanGate loan of COVID funds intended to relieve the pandemic, was reportedly forgiven so that the company does not have to repay a cent of the COVID money.

          I think that this is ironic, given the reluctance of some to forgive student loan debts even as OceanGate's "loan" was being forgiven.

          It truly is a scandal.  Do you think differently?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

IT'S OKAY TO BE TIRED. GRANT YOURSELF PERMISSION.

(Photo via NASA)

It's okay to be tired.  You've gone through a lot, done a lot, lived a lot in your lifetime/your day/week/year.  It's okay to be tired, okay to rest, okay to slow down for the moment.

          Grant yourself permission to be tired.  Your energy will return, have no doubt about it.  That's why they call it taking a break.

GO FORWARD.

IT'S GONE, LET IT GO. LIVE WITHOUT THE NEGATIVITY NOW.

The older I get, the more I find that many negative feelings lose their hold on memories.  In particular, memories that are not so good.

    I often find today that when I think of certain people, I may have a negative feeling from the past but I no longer know why.

    When that happens, I am not required to forget that I had a negative experience with them in the past, whatever that experience may have been.  But it does mean to me that there is no longer any reason to have a negative feeling today.

    This may be what it means to "bury the hatchet."  In my case, the long-ago event is already buried for my present self.  All I have to do is bury the negative feeling with it.

    Although, as I say, it is not wise to also bury the realization that I had a negative experience or experiences with a particular person.  I am trying to be a forgiving person and to make my life and theirs a little easier; I am not trying to be stupid.

GO FORWARD.

BITE YOUR TONGUE.

When you want to make a quick comment, bite your tongue.

When you feel a cutting remark making its way from your mouth into your conversation, bite your tongue.

And when you want to add something to what everyone is saying, but it is not positive, bite your tongue.

Pause, take a moment, breathe.  That will give you time to think about the way to say the thing that wasn't said yet, and maybe decide not to say it at all.

GO FORWARD.

EAT! YOU'RE TOO THIN ANYWAY.

When they gather around a meal, most people are comfortable if everyone eats something.  You don't have to eat the main course if you don't like it.  Order something like a salad that's easy to eat and easy to linger over if you like.

    But order something and if you don't eat much of it, act like you're just taking your time.  Enjoy the company.

GO FORWARD.

$250,000 MACK TRUCK PEOPLE, UNDER THE SEA.

(Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)

Mack truck people in my lexicon are people who run out in front of a Mack truck, get run over, and if they survive yell, "Look at me!  I just got run over by a Mack truck."

          The four tourists in the tourist submersible to look at the wreck of the Titanic and the graveyards of all the people who were still on the ship when it sank, are each $250,000 Mack truck people.  They paid $250,000 apiece to take a ride and now they are in trouble and we are supposed to come to help them out of the trouble they paid their way into.  Again, don't get me wrong because I continue even now to pray, days after the news first broke, that they may return safely from their self-induced troubles under the sea off Newfoundland near the wreck and the graveyard that is left of the Titanic, which these tourists so richly wanted to see.

          But again also, we don't have to pay for their rescue.  Rescue them we will, or at least we will try.  Coast Guards and airplanes and ships of all kinds are rushing to the rescue, which is great.  So long as it is not at taxpayer expense.  The tourists caused their peril, the tourists should pay the bill for their rescue.  I continue to hope and to pray for their rescue.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

BANGING ON THE TITANIC?

The Titanic (AP photo)

There are reports of banging from the tourist submersible that was chartered to visit the grave of the Titanic and its crew two miles down into the sea near Newfoundland.

          Let's hope this is a good sign.  I for one am continuing to pray for the safe return of the four Quarter Million Dollar tourists and of the one pilot who was apparently the only one who did not pay for the privilege.  If he had had his hands on $250,000, I doubt that he would have spent it on a trip to the Titanic.

          For all concerned, as I suggested the other day, surely the $250,000 apiece (for a total of $1 Million in round numbers, apparently) could have been much better spent on the hungry, the poor, and the sick.  But then, none of them are two miles down below the surface of the sea off Newfoundland, so far as that goes.

          BTW:  I thought that the final resting place of the Titanic, the members of its crew who went down with the ship, and its passengers who were still on board when the ship sank, was off limits to sight-seers?  Isn't this a protected site?  After this experience, if not, why not?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

LISTEN. DO YOU HEAR IT?

Listen.  It's hard to do sometimes.  If we make it a habit, it's a lot easier.  Being in a listening mode means we do not miss what others are saying or others are doing, or what tunes birds are singing, or what rain sounds like when the wind takes it to our windows.

    Listen.  Do you hear?

GO FORWARD.

$250,000 TO OGLE THE TITANIC? FEED, HOUSE, CURE? PAY RESCUE?

Don't get me wrong.  I don't want anybody to drown or die.  I am praying for the safe return of the four tourists and one pilot in the lost submersible ogling the wreck of the Titanic.

          I do mean to say clearly that when I learned that the four tourists paid a Quarter of a Million Dollars apiece for the ride, I lost all sympathy for them.  I am still praying for them, and for their families.  But I personally think that $250,000 would be better spent feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and curing the sick, than spending it on myself for a ride to ogle the wreck of the Titanic.

          What's more, I read that various Coast Guards and maybe even Navies are rushing to the rescue of these unfortunate five.  The airwaves are dominated at this time by stories about their plight.  You and I should not pay the bills, whatever happens (and again, let's hope that what happens is a good ending to all this).  The four tourists can afford it if they can pay $250,000 apiece to visit the remains of a shipwreck two or more miles down under the waves.

          So, that's what I'm saying and I'm saying it clearly, so don't misunderstand and think that I want anything but the safe return of these self-centered tourists.  I just want them to make a better use of their own money.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HOBBIES ARE LEISURE. NOT SECOND-RATE.

Hobbies are not hobbies if they become our new obsessions.  Most people are successful in giving themselves a good diversion, a bright distraction of opportunity, with their hobbies.  Some people are not; they give themselves a new obsession to more or less temporarily take the place of what they were obsessing about in the first place (for most people, that means their jobs).

    When you pursue a hobby, remember always that it is leisure.  It is meant to be leisurely.  "Leisurely" does not mean second-rate.  It means something I wrote about here recently:  "Whoa. Whoa."

GO FORWARD.

WHOA. WHOA.

One of my favorite TV programs has a character in it who says, "Whoa, Whoa" to another character when she is going so fast that she runs a real risk of losing her balance.  I like the idea of saying "Whoa. Whoa." 

          When you're not getting as much done as you set out to do in a day, you have choices on how to react, you know.  One good selection to put in your toolkit, ready to be pulled out at such moments, is to say "Whoa. Whoa."  Step back, relax, and enjoy a rest as well as you can.

          Then start again tomorrow.

GO FORWARD.

BE THE DOOR HOLDER.

In some situations the most you can do is hold the door open.  Be a door holder.

    Someone needs to get in.  There's worse things than holding a door open for someone else to access what's inside.  Be the door holder.

GO FORWARD

CHANGE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT.

Adjusting your view of yourself to meet what other people see in you will not result in anything good.  If you change with each person you meet during the day, then you will change constantly but not necessarily in ways you want for yourself.

          Change is meant to be more permanent than what any other person sees in you today, but who did not look at you yesterday.  Change has to do with growth.  It may be slow, and it may be erratic, but change is only worth the price of the trip when it's steady.

Go Forward.

LIFE DOES NOT GIVE YOU EXTRA POINTS FOR PAIN.

Starting the day is getting ready for the real thing.  It's not like getting ready for a dress rehearsal.

          If your back aches when you get up from your bed, do something about it.  If your head aches, do something about that.  Then go forward into the day.

          Or do something about them along the way.   Then continue to go forward.

          In either case, life will not give you extra points for pain.  There is no coach or parent to encourage you to push through it or to "reward" you for it.

          And there is no reason to push through pain without trying to do something about it.  Take care of it as best you can.  Then you can go or continue to go forward.

Go Forward.

ONE STEP.

One step.  That may all you can manage sometimes.

    Take the one step.  Tomorrow or the day after that, you'll manage more.  Maybe much more.  But that is then, and now is now.

    Take the step you can take now.  Then you will have something to build on.

GO FORWARD.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP.

Things are looking up.  

Join them.

Go Forward.

GO FORWARD. THE FIRST ONE.

Anticipate.  Your plan, other people.  Think where they are likely to go and greet them when they arrive.

Go Forward.

CUT TO THE CHASE:  IF SHE STAYS ON THE CASE ....

It is very clear:

"The simplest way to put it is that if Cannon remains assigned to this case, Trump will not be convicted, no matter how damning the evidence."

Mark Joseph Stern,  JURISPRUDENCE / Judge Aileen Cannon Can Absolutely Sink the Federal Prosecution of Trump, SLATE Magazine (online June 9, 2023).

This blog article ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  Please read the disclaimer.

WHO ARE YOU KIDDING? RANDOM? I DON'T THINK SO.

The Honorable Aileen Cannon is one of 15 active judges in the Southern District of Florida.  (She is number 15 on the list of 15, in terms of seniority.)  In addition, there are 11 judges on Senior Status in the Southern District of Florida.  That makes 26 judges available for duty in the Southern District of Florida.

          There are those who want you to believe that judges are assigned to cases randomly in the Southern District of Florida.

          What are the odds that 1/26 of the judges available should be assigned to the case of The Grievance Guy?  Yet there she is.

          And there he is.

          And here we are.

          Random?  I don't think so.  Do you think differently?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

TAKING THE "EXTRA" BASE.

I rounded third base in our Adult Softball League game and ran smack into a tank.  At least, that is what it felt like.  The "tank" was an opposing player standing in the baseline between me and home.  He was built like a tank.

          I bounced off him and fell to the ground.  When I got up, I saw the umpire standing at home plate.  He had his arm extended straight out and his fingers balled into a fist at the end of his arm.

          That was the signal for a free base, meaning that the runner (in this case, me) could advance without penalty to the next base (in this case, home plate)  due to the opposing player's obstruction.  I guess I was dazed from the collision on the base path, because I went back to third base.  Even though I was dazed, I knew I would be safe there.

          That happened almost 15 years ago.  I still think about that night occasionally.  It took me awhile afterward to realize that the umpire was signaling obstruction and that I could proceed.  In this case, that meant I could go home

          I scored on the next batter's hit but my run is not the point of this story.  Yes, you could say that my return to third base at the time ended up not meaning a thing because I scored anyway.  I think of that.  But putting that to one side, when I think of the game that night, regardless of anything else I almost always wonder why I returned to third base instead of going home.  Like I said, I was dazed.

          But ....

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

LEAVE THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO OTHERS, BIDENISTAS.

 

President Biden.  (AP / Susan Walsh)

Now that he made his deal for the debt, President Joe Biden is still talking from time to time about looking in the future at the Fourteenth Amendment option to the debt.

          Leave the Fourteenth Amendment alone, Joe.  You didn't use it when you could have (and should have), so don't mess it up now.  You and your aides do not have the skills to deal with the Fourteenth Amendment. 

          Anything the Bidenistas say now about the Fourteenth Amendment and the debt will be negative.  They have to pooh-pooh the Fourteenth Amendment option now, because that is what they did so that they could make their deal instead.  Don't expect an unbiased, calm assessment now.

          So leave the Fourteenth Amendment to them that can understand it, Bidenistas; you have shown us either that you can't understand it, or, which pretty much amounts to the same thing, that you have to ignore it to make deals instead.  That's fine, what's done is done and all that, but go away now.  Thanks.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

JOE WANTS RE-ELECTION SO BAD, HE CAN TASTE IT.

President Joe Biden is not good at talking.  I am not talking about stuttering; his life-long struggle to overcome stuttering is admirable.

 

          No, I am talking about the fact that he is no good at talking.  He is not an eloquent politician by anyone's reckoning, including his own.

His skills are in making deals.  In his own mind, Joe Biden is a negotiator.  Even though he gives away all his chips before he comes to the poker table, as he did when he gave away the Fourteenth Amendment instruction that the full faith and credit of the United States shall not be questioned, and chose instead to negotiate about it.

          He chose to negotiate because, to say again, that's what he thinks he can do.  That's why he took a negotiation and not a stand.  Now he thinks he will be remembered as The Great Negotiator, because how he will be remembered a year from now is more important to him than the debt.

          Joe Biden wants to be re-elected so bad, he can taste it.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.