While I actively try to stay away from online political discussions as it only serves to further divide our country along political and theological lines.  For the most part, I live by the philosophy of Linus Van Pelt.  “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”

However, now that I have had a week to digest the results of last week’s election, I find myself in kind of a malaise as I come to terms with what is happening in the world. I find myself thinking of what could have been done to prevent the re-rise of a wannabe dictator and convicted felon and how do we ensure that at the end of the next 4 years, we are still able to recognize this once great country.

I liken it to processing through the 5 stages of grief but in this case, more the stages of despair.  The difference is that it is not starting with denial.  While I had truly hoped that we would not end up in this situation, I knew that this was a very real possibility.  Thus, I feel it starts with disappointment.  Disappointment in the outcome, disappointment in the country and disappointment in a huge portion of the population. Then move on to Anger and eventually through a stage of Depression.  I expect that the next stage will be to revisit Anger and finally to Resolve rather than acceptance. We must get to a point where we come together to be part of the resistance to help drive change and bring America back to basic human values.

The first thing that comes to mind is “How did we get here?”  How did racism and hatred become the norm for a huge portion of the population?  How did a country founded on religious freedom become a nation where a limited scope of Christian beliefs drives the political agenda of the entire Republican Party.  However, the hypocrisy of the GOP’s arguments is based on limited portions of “Christian” beliefs.  How did the Republican Party belief system of family values, law and order and Christianity turn into a party that supports (even worships) a man who has been married to and cheated on three wives, who has been convicted of more than 30 felonies and who openly brags of being a sexual predator.  I have, at times, asked Trump supporters how they can support a man who so openly lives his life in direct opposition to the beliefs they hold so dear.  However, I have never received a response that is anything more than gross rationalization,  excuses or “What about . . .”  

It has become obvious to me that The United States is no longer the greatest country in the world and to a very large degree, has become the laughing stock of the free world.  I often think of the opening scene of the first episode of “The Newsroom” where Jeff Daniels’ character is asked what makes America the greatest country in the world and his response is an epic monologue that outlines why this is no longer the case. ( If you have never seen the opening 5 minutes of the first episode of “The Newsroom”, I encourage you to watch the show or at least search for this scene online as I believe is even more relevant today than when it first aired.)

Through all of this, I still don’t understand how and why people consistently vote against their own interests. How anyone (with the exception of wealthy white males) can truly support Trump and the MAGA movement.  How can any woman support a man who boasts of being a sexual predator and whose plans include taking away a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health, to the point that it will become illegal to terminate a pregnancy even if it is not viable and poses an imminent risk to the life of the mother.  How can any person of color support a man who is backed by white nationalists and white nationalist organizations?  How can any person of Mexican, Puerto Rican or any other latinx heritage support people who generalize all people in these racial categories as rapists and criminals and even call US territories from where they come, “Floating islands of garbage.” How can members of the LGBTQ+ community support a man who has pledged to take away basic rights from all but heterosexual people and relationships.  How can anyone who may rely on the ACA, Medicare/Medicaid or Social Security support a man whose party plans to decimate these important programs?

Given the logical aspects of these arguments, how were these not addressed in the last 4 years.  First of all, the problem lies with the word “Logical”.  As democrats and moderates who view Trump as a clear and present danger to the country and democracy, logical arguments cannot counter illogical belief systems.  Thus we need to have another strategy.  

In the end, I truly believe that Trump’s victory is primarily the fault of the leadership of the Democratic party.  While I and many of the people I know, especially on the west coast, believe a female and/or person of color can be an effective President, it is clear that much of the country is not ready, especially when opposed by a white male candidate.  This was evident in the 2016 election when it was not those that supported Trump that drove him to win the presidency, it was those that would not vote for a woman, who ultimately decided the election.  I believe that this fact also played a very significant role in Trump’s current victory.  

Today many believe that Kamala Harris was to blame as she aligned too closely with President Biden’s policies.  That she was not effective enough to show that she would lead the country with her own plan and strategy and not just as a puppet to Biden and the DNC.  While this may be true, she was put in a “No-Win” situation by being thrust into the presidential race with just 3 months to campaign after support for Biden imploded within the Democratic party.

The DNC did not look forward to proactively plan for this election.  After Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump, it was clear that the country was not ready to have a woman at the top of the ticket.  Again, the DNC did not spend the next two years promoting and grooming a white male to combat the argument of the nation not being ready for a female president.  In the end, they turned to Joe Biden, as he was the only white male, leader in the party with enough of a name and reputation to compete and eventually win the election against Trump in 2020.  

This lack of forethought and planning directly led to Trump winning and ultimately to the GOP gaining majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, not to mention the Supreme Court.  It should have been obvious to them that Joe Biden may not be the best candidate to go up against Trump again in 2024 based on his favorability numbers and age.  Instead they sat back and hoped that Biden could hold on through this election and then relied on Kamala Harris to step up at the last minute to try and salvage the election. In the end Kamala Harris was dropped into a literal “sh_t-show” of a race from which she could not recover. Overall, while I am not a fan of Kamala Harris, I do feel that she did about as well as she could, given the limited time and resources, to mount a successful opposition to the MAGA extremists.

Now the DNC must learn from this travesty and quickly identify 1-2 candidates who can pick up the torch and lead the way back to the light.  I also believe that these candidates must be heterosexual, white, males who can appeal to those that either voted for Trump or just didn’t vote because they would not vote for a woman.  While I, and many of the people I know, would truly support a candidate who is female, non-binary, and/or a person of color, the DNC needs to look at what is the best way to beat the current MAGA-centric GOP candidates. While this may not be the best plan for progressive change, change can only happen when you have the support of the majority.

As the citizens of Georgia head to the polls today to vote in a very important run-off election between Democratic, Senator Warnock and Republican challenger, Hershel Walker, I find I’m conflicted. 

On the one hand, I feel a small sense of hope, that Senator Warnock will retain his seat in the Senate but on the other, I’m weeping for our country that we have gotten to this point. 

This is not about Democrat vs Republican.  This is a about someone who is completely unqualified to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate.  How can anyone who has listened to Hershel Walker speak or has seen/heard the accusations against him that have been corroborated by his own family, think that this is a person that they would approve of to represent them in the Senate, is beyond my comprehension.  However, here we are in a run-off election because nearly 50% of voters in Georgia voted for this reprehensible excuse for a man.

Has the need to vote along party lines become so strong that people are willing to vote for anyone, no matter how disgusting of a human being, just so long as they adhere to the same political party as themselves.  I truly wonder if David Berkowitz (aka, The Son of Sam serial killer) were to run for Senate, as a Republican, if he would gain a significant number of votes, strictly due to party affiliation. 

I honestly don’t know a lot about Senator Warnock, but if he had done any of the things for which Walker is accused, I’m sure the Republican party would make sure that I had heard all about it in vivid detail.

Now many Republicans would say that I’m only writing this because I’m a Democrat.  To that, I say, if Hershel Walker were running as a Democrat, there is no way in hell that I would vote for him.  Not to say, I would definitely vote for his opponent but there is no way I would vote for him.

I guess that I should not be surprised by this as the country has been heading down this road for years.  It is how Trump ended up as President and how MTG and Lauren Boebert ended up in Congress.  Our once, great nation has devolved into a war of Republican vs Democrat and personal ethics, morals and any standards of reason and intelligence no longer matter.

So, even if Senator Warnock retains his seat, I still weep for America that we have devolved to this level of incompetence being acceptable for any level of elected office, yet alone some of the highest posts in our national government.

I wrote this on the day that SCOTUS overturned Roe V. Wade. I neglected to add this to my blog so I’m catching up.

I have been thinking about this all day as today’s SCOTUS ruling to overturn Roe V Wade saddens me, disappoints me, scares me and angers me to name just a few of the emotions I have felt throughout the day. The one feeling it didn’t trigger was surprise. However, I needed to put it all into perspective before I could post my personal response.

Back in 2016 I remember saying that the SCOTUS confirmations were likely going to be just as important, if not more important, than the Presidential Election. Sadly, I seem to have been proven right on that prediction. Given that McConnell and the Republicans refused to put Garland to a confirmation vote, it was clear they were going to stonewall until they could put in their chosen (and extremely unqualified) jurists on the bench. Unfortunately, these are lifetime appointments. This is exactly where I feared the court would head with the appointed jurists under Trump.

Having a daughter, myself, I worry about what happens to her if she were ever to need these types of services. While I personally, don’t feel that abortion should be used as a primary contraception, I also don’t feel that I should push my beliefs and values onto others and when it comes to situations where the life of the mother is in danger and it is medically necessary, this option needs to be available to all. Basically, if you believe abortion to be a mortal sin or murder, then, by all means, Don’t Have One!

My only hope (being the eternal optimist) is that this is the final blow that will unite the Democrats, Moderates and even the middle leaning Republicans to come out in force in the mid-term and next general elections to unseat many of these radical right wing congress members and senators and take back control and ideally, bring back some sanity to our national government.

I know that many did not vote in the 2016 election for several reasons, one of the most prevalent was they would not vote for “That Woman” and while I was not a fan of Hillary, I chose to vote for her as the lesser of two evils. Unfortunately, this is what our government and elections have become. So, to all of you out there who are outraged by today’s SCOTUS decision, get out and vote so we can start moving toward a better world for our children and grandchildren.

I wrote the following as a response to a friend who decided to spend this 4th of July in another country as she was not happy with the direction of America in light of the recent SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe V. Wade and various other things going on in this country that are being driven by the far right, GOP. Her Facebook post really hit me as I know she proudly served this country in the US Marine Corp and has a very deep love of this country and for her faith in America to be shaken to this level, really made me stop and think.

“On behalf of millions of Americans, I want to thank you for your service to this once great country.  You, and millions like you, put your lives on the line for freedom and justice and the principles under which this country was founded.  As things stand today, America does not deserve the sacrifices that you and so many others have made.  It feels to me as though our government and SCOTUS have spit on the blood, sweat and tears you have shed for the freedoms that we once took for granted.

I too, did not feel that there was much to celebrate on the 4^th of July this year. I have not always been proud of this country.  We have done many things in our history that are shameful.  Looking back, I have always felt that there were lessons learned from these events to ensure that they never happen again.  However, I have never felt the disgust for this country that I feel today.

My hope is that this is our generation’s “phoenix” moment.  America has been burned to the ground before and each time we have come back stronger and with more resolve than we previously had.  I still have a glimmer of hope for this country and that we can rebuild the country based on the foundational concepts under which it was born, and we can once more be the “Land of the Free!”

So, to all my friends that have proudly served this country and worked for a better tomorrow, I thank you.  And to everyone else, I implore you to get out and vote, to protest and to lift your voices to rebuild this country into something that is deserving of their sacrifice.”

I wouldn’t say that I was a huge Superman fan growing up, however I did like the Justice League and those superheroes who made up the DC Universe.  Superman’s motto of “Truth, Justice and The American Way” really meant something back in those days.

Now I look at what our country has become, and it seems that this motto is no longer accurate.  With the rise of the ultra-conservative, “alt-right”, Trump supporting, GOP, it’s clear to me that, for a large portion of Americans, Truth and Justice no longer seem to matter.

I wrote a response to a friend on Facebook to a post she made that she and her family were celebrating Independence Day in France, where they were “truly free.”  This post hit me especially hard because this is someone who served with honor in the Marines, and I know she has a deep love for this country and what it has stood for.  To see her faith in America shaken to this level really made me think.  (If you are interested in seeing this response, I will follow up with a separate post with that response.)

After SCOTUS overturned Roe V. Wade, it became clear to me that this country is headed down a dangerous path and one that has led to some of the biggest atrocities in American, as well as World history.

One of the most interesting things that I found out when starting to write this post (and honestly did not know before I started this) is that DC announced in October of 2021, that Superman’s motto would change and drop “The American Way” from the motto and it would now be “Truth, justice, and a better tomorrow”.

Over the years, Superman’s motto has evolved, however, Truth and Justice have always been the main pillars upon which his legacy has been built.  “The American Way” was added in the 1940’s during the WWII era where America was fighting the rise of Hitler and the Nazi’s.  It seems only fitting with the rise of Trump and the Authoritarian leaning GOP, that DC would choose this time to remove and replace that portion of the motto.

In the afore mentioned response I wrote that I hoped this would be our generation’s “Phoenix” moment.  That America has “burned to the ground before” and each time has come back stronger and with more resolve.  At the end of my response, I thanked all my friends who proudly served and worked for “a better tomorrow”.  Strange that I used the same verbiage but maybe if we can all come together, we can rebuild this country so that we can once again be proud of “The American Way.”

It has been awhile since I have posted to this blog. I have dealt with a lot in the past year and societal issues have left me unmotivated in many ways. However, recent events have sparked my interest and in many cases outrage which I find is motivating me to get more involved.

If you have followed me on Facebook or other areas, you know that I have had multiple heart attacks and open-heart surgery in the past year. Dealing with the physical recovery has been one thing, but I also didn’t realize how much the emotional and mental recovery would require. However, I’m doing well now and looking to get back to a more normal life.

I will be adapting a couple of things I wrote in other forums to add to my page as well and have many important issues that I want to address.

So, stay tuned for more coming soon. 🙂

Early in my career, I heard the statement “Your employees are your biggest asset.”  I spent many years of my work life trying to live by this mantra and instill this as a main point in helping to drive positive company culture.  However, several years ago, it became clear to me that if you think of and treat your employees as assets, you are doing them and your business a huge disservice.  The flaw in that thinking is, that from an economic standpoint, assets in most cases, depreciate over time. This thinking has led to an unconscious (at least I hope) trend of treating employees as commodities to be used up and then replaced. So, how should we think of our employees?  Employees should be your biggest investments.  If you make the correct investments, that value should increase over time.  As the value of your employees increases, your business should benefit from that knowledge and experience as well as their own sense of worth and value to the company.  This, in turn, will help drive a positive culture and employee retention.  Most employees don’t leave companies because of money or the product, they leave because they feel under-valued and under-appreciated.

What has been lost in our bottom-line business thinking is that employees who feel appreciated will be more motivated and more productive and will be less likely to return the message from the recruiters who call them.  Can you imagine the benefits of a happy, motivated employee base?

This does not mean that you continue to invest in all employees.  As any financial investor will tell you, sometimes you make the wrong choice.  If you purchase stock (invest) in a company and it is costing you money and you don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future, you cut your losses and move on.  You don’t wait until that investment has zero value, you get back what you can and write it off.  The same can be said for employees. Not every person you hire will add value to the company and in some cases a toxic employee will negatively impact the business and bring down the value of other employees.  Smart investors identify that early and cut their losses in order to invest in other entities which will, hopefully, have a more positive impact.

So, as I move onto the next chapter in my career, I will move forward with this in mind and try to help those that I work with to do the same.

Well, here we are, Monday after the Superbowl and all the Armchair Coaches and Referees come out with their analysis.  I don’t blame anyone for doing this.  It’s in our nature to talk about the game and outcome and how it could have been changed if just this or that happened.

However, what I see mostly is people blaming the referees for the outcome.  I have been involved in sports pretty much my whole life as a player, coach and referee and what I can say is that it is a very rare occasion when the referees are the cause of one team winning or losing and last night was not one of them. 

Until you have been on a field or court deciding whether or not to make a call because you are trying to decide if it reached the level of a penalty or if you saw the play clearly enough to make a definitive call or if the play in question is being called differently due to rule changes or did I/we make the same call on the other team in order to be consistent.  There are many different things that go through a referee’s mind before he/she decides to throw a flag or blow the whistle.  It’s an extremely difficult job and decisions are made in the moment and although there are some cases where there are replay reviews, the referee cannot rely on that to confirm or overturn a call.

Last night’s game was not decided by the officials.  In my opinion, there were some poor coaching decisions and failed execution of plays on both offense and defense and by both teams.  In the end, if you did not put yourself in a position where a call here or there could really affect the outcome, then you didn’t do enough to win the game.

Sure, would the offensive pass interference call on Kittle put the 49ers in a place to put more points on the board before the end of the half, perhaps, but if the 49ers had called a timeout before the punt,  they would have had more time to make the plays necessary to score before the half despite the call.  Was there holding on the long pass in the 4^th quarter that put KC in a place to score, sure, but how did the defense, who should have known they were going to try to go long, allow a receiver to be that wide open to make that play in the first place.

While I would have liked to see the 49ers win the Superbowl, I give a lot of credit to the Chiefs for hanging in there and fighting back to win the game in the 4^th quarter.  They proved themselves to be the better team when it mattered most.

I have been known for being vocal at games where I feel the refs are missing calls or just truly aren’t doing a good job and that was at the youth, high school and college levels but even in those cases it was very rare for the referees to have truly altered the outcome of the game.  As for the refs last night, they are human and make mistakes but for the most part they did their jobs pretty well and if anyone feels they can do better, then they should go out and get their credentials to ref at this level.

As the impeachment “trial” winds down in the Senate, it has become increasingly clear that our country has lost its moral compass.  We have become a nation divided and for many, a nation that values political party over national interests. I’m not sure what we are anymore but we are no longer a Constitutional Republic.

To be clear, I think that Donald Trump is a danger to this country and desperately needs to be removed from office.  My feelings about Trump are not based on the fact that he is a Republican (which I believe he isn’t) or that he is Christian (which I also believe he isn’t) but that he is a horrible person in general who does not have the mental or emotional maturity to lead a kazoo band, to say nothing of what is supposed to be the greatest country in the world.

However, I also believe that Trump is not the problem with this country.  There have always been people like him and there always will be.  For the most part, they have remained in the shadows and over the past several years only let their presence be known via the anonymity of the internet.  Now that Trump and his kind have ascended to power in this country, it has legitimized the views of these people and they have come out of the shadows as they now have their “leader” to follow.  So, as I said, the problem is not Trump, it is the millions of people who support and defend him that give him power and legitimacy. In particular, it is the GOP which has moved so extremely to the right that they no longer understand that there are issues other than abortion, LGBT rights/marriage, immigration and “Beat the Democrats.” 

Truth, scientific facts, racism, sexual misconduct, the Constitution of the United States, none of these things seem to matter to these people.  Some the Senators and Congress Members have made statements that even if Trump’s conduct reaches the level of impeachable offenses, it does not warrant removing him from office and Trump can do whatever he wants if he feels it is in the national interest.  (Does this mean that any murderer can use the argument that they killed the person because they believed it was in the nation’s best interest and they should be acquitted?) When our elected leaders will use this type of “logic” to make their case, it is clear that there are no arguments that sane people can give that will change their minds.

I understand that many people did not like Hillary Clinton and voted for Trump because they absolutely would not vote for her.  The reasons are many, but I truly believe that most of the objections to her were thinly veiled attempts to hide the fact that many refused to vote for a woman for President.  Trump gave a voice to those that were underground and looking for a “leader”.  Someone who played to the lowest forms of the arguments for which these people could find a small morsel of their own truth in all of the garbage that Trump was spewing.

To be honest, I was not a fan of Hillary Clinton either.  However, I saw her as the lesser of two evils when it came to casting my vote for President.  It’s not that she is a woman or many of the other reasons that people gave for not voting for her.  It was that I don’t think that she is very trustworthy.  So why did I support her over Trump?  Because I was 100% sure that he was not trustworthy and was only in the race for his own self interests.

So, what do we do now that it is clear that the Senate will acquit Trump?  We rally around candidates that can beat him and his legion of GOP supporters.  In some ways, I would rather see Trump voted out of office rather than convicted in this impeachment trial and removed from office.  Once he is out of office, hopefully there will be criminal charges that can be brought and there will be a President who would not blindly pardon him.

My concern as we move closer to the next elections is with the Democratic party.  The Democrats seem to have also lost their direction.  This is evident to me by seeing the number of candidates who have jumped in the race and feel that they can beat Trump in the election.  I know it may not be how it was designed, but I believe the Democratic National Committee (DNC) needs to step in and stop this madness.  They need to get every Democrat to embrace one candidate and put everything they have behind one candidate who will rise-up and take down Trump.  I know that is what the Primaries and National Convention are for, but this is too important to wait that long.  Also, while I personally don’t have an issue with a woman or a person of color being President, I honestly believe that the candidate that is needed to beat Trump will need to be a white male because I also believe that there are many who will struggle with a woman or person of color as our President and would vote against them or refuse to vote all together, which is partly the reason that Trump won the electoral vote three years ago.

There will be a time and place for a woman and/or person of color or a LGBT candidate to be President of this once great country, but this election is too important and I think we need to take these objections off the table at this time.

I see signs and messages on social media that state “Anyone but Trump 2020.”  We have to be careful about this.  While we absolutely need to get Trump out of the White House, if we are not careful, we could be left with someone just as bad. So let’s be mindful of who we choose to lead our country back to greatness and who will be able to clean up the mess that will be left as well as how we will get McConnell and others out of their positions of power to restore sanity to this country and the world.