Investment

 

What do you invest in? Stocks? Bonds? Real Estate? Cyber? Family?

Of course, you invest in family. That is the responsibility associated with procreation.

What about yourself?

Do you invest in the time and effort to stay healthy? Do you invest in all the bling and toys you want but don’t need? How is your circadian rhythm?

What is your Return on Investment?

How long are your relationships? Do you invest the time and effort and possibly money to keep a relationship going before losing interest?

If you have disposable income to invest outside the necessities of life, are you making a profit? It is all a gamble. You can buy a house and do all the tinkering with it only to have it burn down. You can invest in an expensive driving machine only to have it depreciate after leaving the lot. You can invest in a fine fashionable coat only to find out it was constructed in a foreign land with little quality control standards and the pockets fall out. You can invest in a distant vacation only to find you are staying in a room full of bed bugs and eating some kind of foreign food that does not agree with your normal digestion functionality. You can invest in your children only to find they have desires of their own and may follow the temptations of pleasure. You may invest in a fine dining experience only to find it was nothing more than a heat up meal from Casco. You may invest in fine works of art only to find it was an AI duplication with not value.

Do you invest in dreams? Do you tithe to the denomination of your choice? Do you adopt orphans? Do you send donations to scientific research hoping to find the answers of the unknown or cure to death? Do you invest in someone’s else’s faithful disasters or woes hoping to aid without expectations of repayment?

The return of investment is the dopamine rush of being a good person. It won’t make you wealthy or the envy of your neighbors, but it is worth it.

The Gift

 

A gift is usually given from one to another to show a sign of affection. It may be a small trinket or a holiday surprise. It may be valuable or just in a memory.

Look around your house. All those items sitting on tables, stuffed away in closets or cubits are gifts. They may be gifts from someone else or a gift to yourself.

At a certain age, as the end of time approaches, one may divide these gifts to another in a will or last testimony. Others may wind up in an estate or yard sale. Most gifts are not returned to the sender as it shows a lack of appreciation for the effort.

The most cherished and emotionally invaluable gift will become ‘stuff’ that must be hidden, passed on, sold or disposed of. The original intent to be given are long lost history.

When the giver, rewarded in smiles and appreciation to be enjoyed for years, sees someone else pick it up and use it causes pause. When this ‘gift’ was created, it did not know who would purchase it or who it was intended for.

Now it would become someone else’s treasure.

The sons of Jack and Marion

 

A couple of fellas I’d sort of known during high school and some what college. They were friends before I met them and they were friends in the spaces of unknown. They speak the same language. They remember the same history and have interweaved with each other through the years.

The son of Jack was introduced to me by an congregational member of the First Baptist Church. They were school mates who were joining the high school ROTC together. I knew no background or had any previous judgement of this person other than he seemed happy. I did not know he was living in a duplex with a single mom and three siblings. Our true connection was music. He played guitar and I was learning to play the guitar. We tended toward different genres of tunes, but enjoyed singing together through the years.

The son of Marion was in my high school homeroom. He was a friend of the son of Jack through middle school so a group of friends were starting to form. He lived within walking distance in a house, similar to mine, with a father, mother and younger sister. He was fashionably dressed and well mannered. We bonded over music. He was a poet and wrote good lyrics to my attempt to write songs. His family took me camping and to their family’s homes in the county, so I felt adopted.

The son of Marion left to go to an elite college while the son of Jack and I went to an inner-city institute. The three of us kept in contact with close proximity and illicit substances. Our families never met.

The sons of Jack and Marion participated in my first wedding. The son of Jack and I participated in the son of Marion’s wedding. The son of Marion and I attended the son of Jack’s wedding but did not participate.

Employment, houses, children and relocating made our encounters less frequent. Occasional get-to-gatherings were usual noisy chaos clouded in smoke and drink. Whatever meaningful conversations shared earlier in life were not gone. We grew apart.

I’ve tried to keep in contact with the sons of Jack and Marion through letters but the addresses kept changing. Digital media made connections but only a few face-to-face conversations.

The other day the three went to lunch. For an hour and a half, we sat at a familiar site and attempted to catch up. Unfortunately, at this age, our conversations are about family and illnesses. I bring some gifts and donate a 40-year-old t-shirt to the dining establishment, but have little to add to the topics discussed. We have a few laughs over 60-year-old subjects but only depressing news of today. We share no secrets or present surprises but are comfortable with each other.

There were no memorable take aways from the luncheon. As we part ways I ponder if this will be the last time?

Standard Operating Procedure

 

When you open a package from the delivery on your porch, there is a booklet in a plastic wrapper. These are the instructions on proper method to open the enclosed purchase(s) and approved use (with warnings) in several languages with diagrams.

Companies should have similar instructions on how to handle machinery, what to touch and what not to touch, who has security to go to certain areas and what they can see and other details of how the company runs.

These are the Standard Operating Procedures rules for your employment to be followed.

The five essential SOPs to consider are procedural instructions, safety protocols, quality control measures, equipment handling guidelines, and emergency response procedures. Procedural instructions outline the specific tasks and sequences required to complete a job.

The four P’s of an SOP are purpose, process, personnel, and performance. These sections outline the reason for the SOP, the steps to carry out the procedure, the roles and responsibilities of personnel, and metrics to measure success.

Depending on the size of the company (organization) and the patience of the Human Resources, the details of procedures can get very intense and complicated. Every day something will change and need to be updated in the SOP. Today, the bulletin board postings next to the lunchroom can be accessed from any computer. This helps with virtual working at home, until receiving a termination email.

Some jobs have detail step-by-step instructions that must be followed in order or cause a potential disaster. Flying a plane. Operating a submarine. Setting off a nuclear missile. Do it right the first time, for there are no second chances.

Surprisingly, most of these SOPs do NOT have instructions for the possibility for things going wrong. What is the plan B? If someone is injured, who takes command of the situation? What if the elevator is jammed? If a gunman comes in, where do you hide? If the copier is jammed, who is in charge of getting it functional? What do you do when the pencil sharpener is full? There were fire drills in school, but not in the office.

The task we do everyday have routines but no Standard Operating Procedure. Hop in the car, start it up and check your phone. Do you check the wheels? Do you check the engine? When do you buckle up?

Perhaps a Standard Operating Procedure should be formatted before a relationship starts? Go into a place where you can network with strangers and use your ‘best lines’ to get attention. Carry enough money or credit for a possible dinner or drinks. Wear comfortable shoes for a possible long walk. Have a clean apartment or house (including the bathroom) in case the meeting becomes romantic? Did you change your underwear? Plan an exit for the chance of things going bad.

Some long term relationships can become routine with the experience of standard operating procedures followed everyday…. Until you shake things up.

Should I pack my bags?

 

My family arrived at this mass of land in a wooden sailboat from England in the late 1600’s. They came over given a plot of land grant from the King of England in the new colonies of an extension of the empire. Don’t know if they were adventurous or getting away from the routine of selling salt, but they came to the new land and somehow survived. They moved several times as more and more settlers (immigrants? invaders? colonist? pioneers?) came ashore and moved the current population to expand the reign of a monarch.

Seems even the indigenous people who lived here when we arrived were also migrants. The only species that seem to have lived on this land longer where the squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, robins, spiders and moles (we brought the rats over). The buffalo roamed and the deer and the antelope played until we arrived. The air was pure and the water clear and trees grew wherever the seeds landed.

Executive Order

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift.  The Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  That provision rightly repudiated the Supreme Court of the United States’ shameful decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), which misinterpreted the Constitution as permanently excluding people of African descent from eligibility for United States citizenship solely based on their race. 

But the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.  The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”  Consistent with this understanding, the Congress has further specified through legislation that “a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a national and citizen of the United States at birth, 8 U.S.C. 1401, generally mirroring the Fourteenth Amendment’s text.  

Among the categories of individuals born in the United States and not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States:  (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  (a)  It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons:  (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

(b)  Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.

(c)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to affect the entitlement of other individuals, including children of lawful permanent residents, to obtain documentation of their United States citizenship. 

Sec. 3.  Enforcement.  (a)  The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regulations and policies of their respective departments and agencies are consistent with this order, and that no officers, employees, or agents of their respective departments and agencies act, or forbear from acting, in any manner inconsistent with this order.

(b)  The heads of all executive departments and agencies shall issue public guidance within 30 days of the date of this order regarding this order’s implementation with respect to their operations and activities.

Sec. 4.  Definitions.  As used in this order:

(a) “Mother” means the immediate female biological progenitor.

(b) “Father” means the immediate male biological progenitor.

Sec. 5.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE

 January 20, 2025.

I do have a certificate of birth that records I arrived in Norfolk, Virginia at the Leigh Hospital delivered by Doc Strange on a certain date and time. My conceptual parents were both born in States of America, but from a different state than the commonwealth of Virginia. Looking back through the ancestry, there were insurgents who fought for the confederacy. Some even bought people.

Does that give me a ‘right’ to citizenship to the land where I was born? A citizen is a person who is legally recognized as a member of a country or state. Citizens have rights and responsibilities, such as voting and obeying the law.

Fourteenth Amendment

Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

If we want to restrict our natural heritage due to ancestry coming from other lands, then only the indigenous people are allowed to live here. One can ponder where these ‘native’ persons came from? Were they not adventurers who wandered onto foreign lands exploring a possible comfort to house and raise a family (that is a natural acquaintance of male/female interaction).  

Suddenly, my birthright is being questioned? I’ve obeyed most of the laws, paid my taxes and vote at the same precent but do not participate in community activities, purchased a plot of land with a house previously built on it and have been a steward to the land, ignored my neighbors, don’t cause too much noise or pronounce my personal views and opinions to others.

If I’m to be repatriated to former lands or deported at the cost to this country, will I go back to Cheshire, England? The hall has been replaced with a church, but the road with the family name is still there. Can I exchange all my dollars to English pounds? Will I have to get all new battery chargers to adapt to European power?

Tomorrow the news will present the latest ‘slash and burn’ and we will sit and watch in unbelievable awe. Welcome to the new world order. You asked for it. You got it.

Aptitude Test

 

Could you complete (successfully) an aptitude test?

You may remember the SAT to get approved to the college of your choice?

Scholastic Aptitude Test and had two components, Verbal and Mathematical, each of which was scored on a range from 200 to 800. Schools of higher learning to evaluate the applicant for acceptance or rejection used these.

Parents were responsible to teach you how to walk, talk, eat, and poop outside your pants before you attended schooling. Whether public or private or home schooling from K-12 most children were assigned to a school building, classroom and a teacher. Reading, writing, arithmetic, science, history were the basic training disciplines. Books were assigned to read and occasional test were assigned to evaluate the progress of the class. Other subjects in art, music, sports expanded social and cultural assimilation. Breakfast was consumed before the first bell rang and parents provided their child with money to go to a cafeteria for a prepared lunch or a lunchbox with enough nutriment to get them through the afternoon lessons. A break time was also scheduled to get some exercise and team building. If school was beyond walking or bicycle distance, a yellow bus would come to pick up and deliver to guarantee every desk was filled. Attendance was monitored and if too many days were missed, the student could have to repeat a grade before graduation.

It seems, today, there are aptitude test to be hired for employment. It makes sense because so many jobs now are technical.

Aptitude is a natural or acquired capacity or ability. Aptitude is a tendency, capacity, or inclination to learn or understand.

I’ve also read there are two types of jobs: Decision makers vs. Mechanical workers. Innovative thinkers opposed to repetitive manual labor. College grads vs. Trade School or military trained recruits are all sorted and evaluated by the human resource department.

Every job has a ‘job description’ giving the requirements to perform the task. How much do you have to lift? Can you drive a forklift or a 16-wheeler? How many breaks? Shift hours worked? Lunch breaks? Vacations? Holidays? Medical benefits? Sick leave? Inclement weather? Dress code? Pay? Bonuses? Promotions?

Every day you use what aptitude available from training and life experience. You drive a 2,000 lb. machine at a high rate of speed among many others and hopefully get to the distention and survive. You can choose your shelter, clothing and food and can communicate with the seller and math skills to pay the correct price. You hopefully have the aptitude to come in out of the rain and dress warmly in winter.

 Many jobs have a training period after an employment contract has been signed. Some are internships, apprenticeships or probation period to see how you fit in with the rest of the team. Since most jobs have more than a title, there are particularities that must be shown and approved by a mentor that you can perform the task. Along the career path, the requirements may change and the associate must adapt or become unsuitable for future employment.

Some of our species are naturally curious and enjoy finding new skills and techniques, if not in the employment, tinkering in a hobby like working on the car, some artistic expression, writing or dancing or searching the world for adventure. Others may be satisfied to work the 9-5 without any expectations of opinions or complaints stated to others over a beer at the local drinking establishment but never confident in your expressions to change.

The school system of the time gave me two pieces of paper to declare I was educated. I probably picked up a few tidbits along the way but could (and would) stammered at an aptitude test. Just being a body to fill a chair until I realized there was a lack of aptitude in the building starting my career. Not only were the common skills of etiquette missing, but the foresight and direction of a staple in the community were restricted to making monetary goals over innovation.

Recently I read that educational scores are dropping. With tele-teaching, schools closed due to fires, snow or bus driver strikes and the results are a generation not prepared for the technical knowledge to start an automobile without a degree from MIT or the skill to charge a phone without the background in quantum physics. From the looks of our political standing in the world, aptitude must be declining as well. When our entertainment has turned from mystery and adventure to sex and violence, doesn’t support much aptitude expansion.

I intend (hope) to explore new bounties while maintaining a sense of decorum and ethics. I try to avoid distractions while multi-tasking and clear my mind of useless information.

Now, onto my aptitude test: the 1040 form.

Ultra-Processed Food

 

This weekend is the BIG GAME. That means lots of snacks and drinks and elastic pants.

I eat prepared foods.

That means someone else processes my meals and wraps them so I can buy their expertise and consume to maintain existences.

I avoid (as best as possible) the ultra-processed food.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrial formulations that undergo extensive processing, often involving multiple ingredients and additives. They are typically highly palatable, convenient, and have a long shelf life.

Fast food – These little boxes popped up on the side of the road to be tempting for walkers or drivers to stop by their dining establishment for refreshment at an affordable price. Point to the limited menu on the wall for the cashier in a colorful uniform with a paper hat may not speak your language. After an exchange of funds, you were instructed to move to another area where you received your plastic tray with sandwiches wrapped in paper and greasy spud strips just momently before were put to heat and presented as a meal. If you dared to eat in sitting in a booth only moments before held another family had occupied, was there time to clean or did you take your chances? No one attempted to use the restrooms.

Fried food – Growing up in the south, frying in lard or fat iron pan was a preferred preparation for all types of food. The smoked filled the house and increased the hunger of the diners. Poultry, fish, steak, potatoes all became a standard on the menu. Pan fried vegetables in a wok came later.

Convenient food – Those corner bodegas where you pop in to get a lottery ticket and some sugary drink, there is what is described food. Easy to go bag of chips and beef jerky, there are those wieners rolling on for how long that can be put in a soft stale bun and covered in cheese whiz. Nothing more appetizing than that.

Whole food- As opposed to ½ food, these labels are supposed to indicate healthy. If the bread is brown and has seed in it, it is whole bread. Have to read the label on noodles or vegetables or what separates it from the brand names promoted on television.

Omnivore – Eat meat or not eat meat? That is the question. Carnivore or herbivore? Go to the backyard garden and pull some beans, then shuck them in a paper bag, boil and serve only to be ignored on the plate. Go out to the hen house and ring the neck of a chicken and after it spurts blood and runs around, pluck it, gut it, remove the toes, cover the carcass in flour and slap it in a pan until golden brown and serve with a biscuit and honey. There is an industry of herding animals to graze on open lands until put to slaughter, drained, sliced and diced and ground up for the protein pleasure.

There are some foods I’ve sampled or prepared to fulfill my palate. 

Ambrosia, beef bouillon, tomato aspic, calamari, chitins, jambalaya, fritters, gumbo, hoppin’ john, burgoo, po’ boy, red-eyed gravy, collards, fried green tomatoes, field peas, succotash, salsa, spoon bread, perloo, Bouillabaisse, quiche Lorraine, croquette monsieur, boeuf bourguignon, dacquoise, frites, confit, papillote, cassoulet, soufflé, Paris-Brest, jamon ibeerico, paella, gazpacho, Espanola, contomate, bocadillos, chorizo, salmorejo, churros, dim sum, sushi, sweet and sour pork, kung pao chicken, ma po tofu, wontons, dumplings, chow mien, Peking roasted duck, spring rolls, moo shu pork, and hot pot, etc. Not as fond of caviar, calamary or haggis.

Everyone has preferences in taste, like music.

Barber’s Adagio, Stalin’s manifesto, Ode an die Freude, Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor or Richard Berry’s ‘Louie Louie’ in the key of E.

Everyone has a preference for movies, books, artwork, cars, interior designs, fashion, but cooking and consuming what is placed before you is a life necessity. Whether you like the taste or not, this is the fuel that keeps your carcass moving.

Having a kitchen with all the appliances and utensils is a room that cannot be denied in most abodes. Without one, it is delivery from some far distant chef or traveling to someone else’s kitchen to eat what they prepare and serve. Please leave a tip.

Some of the best $65 omelets are prepared at the local greasy spoon due to repetition and knowing the amount of ingredients needed (like your grandmother eyed from taste and not a recipe). Other dining experiences are about presentation and abundance of pampering service in starched jackets and expansive wine list.

So, for the BIG GAME DAY, looks like the weather will be suitable for a venture to the Tummy Temple and watch the masses scrabble for the bags of salty treats and the last of the guacamole fruit. The beer racks should be barren as will be the paper wipes. Still if there is a bit of sunshine and fresh air and I can survive getting in and out of the parking lot without being smushed, I’ll enjoy the show with the purpose of coming home with peanuts, popcorn and cracker jacks for the yard Monkees. Once safe back home, I’ll open a cardboard box and check the instructions for heating a frozen pizza that was prepared in some foreign place at some distant time and after the prescribed wait will roll a sharp knife over it to divide into triangle slices, cover in farmer john cheese powder and red pepper flakes as my daily meal.

The day after, I’ll watch the highlights on YouTube and hope the full gut will empty for another adventure into delicious delicacy delights.

Armchair Quarterback

 

It is amazing how, after the game is over, we all have an opinion of what went wrong. Some may have an idea of how a team will play and some will cheer and root during the game, but many more will come out of the woodwork to analyze the specifics of the players, coaches, weather, uniforms, cheerleaders, vendors, parking lot, shoes worn, ball inflation and commercials to meticulously diagnosis (with pre-bias) and declare their take on play-by-play review.

Like written history and verbal recollections, events are filtered by who views it. Like a crime scene, you need to know what you are looking for. Many have not participated in the events but are only by-standers. Some may have no background knowledge of the event or the participants, but are more than willing to add to the confusion based on personal preferences. Without our definition of what we saw, there would be no conversation around the water cooler.

The comments on movie reviews, ballgames, dances, television shows, fashion, music, hair styles, automobiles, government positions and actions are free to post and reply in this country (so far) and it seems we all relish being armchair quarterbacks. If it isn’t our original thought, we can copy a meme or photo or video that relates our opinion.

With the adage of “social media” everyone who can type with their opposing thumbs can post comments for all to see (fact checking not required). Some of the comments, taken as God’s given word, can become ‘viral’ (which means it is read by more than a dozen and perhaps spread with additional variations to a theme?). The (supposed) established and trusted journalistic news organizations will post stories of cultural celebrity’s views of the weather, foreign affairs, what to wear, how to eat or just getting old and the readers gobble it up. There is no basis that the subject at hand or the reporter have any knowledge of the subject, other than rambling on with whatever fills their head at the moment. Unfortunately, some of these ‘celebrities’ are political officials who can affect our daily lives with their opinions. Elected to become our tribe’s leaders, through charisma, charm, wealth, physical appearance or vocabulary prowess, we (the people) voted for them to make decisions on where to put our roads, how tall the buildings can be, how to filter the water we drink, toils, taxes, speed limits, school locations, air quality, security, what our kids can read in schools and where to go to the bathroom and now whether you can pray in school (or work?). You don’t remember their names but just check off a box on the ballot and hope for the best. You might remember the names of the quarterback and the head coach, but have no idea who the center or the left guard or the punter. Who is your state’s house of representative?

Doesn’t matter, for we want to declare what ‘WE’ would have done instead of someone else, after the fact. If the event wasn’t predicted and analyzed before it happened, the survivors get to pick up the pieces.

Our current trend in society is to make on-line comments on various sites that support your opinions to give a dose of dopamine and validate your view of life. Like reading a book, you can get lost in sci-fi, romance, history, mystery, fantasy, erotica, philosophy, psychology, mythology, theology, medical science, ancestry, musicality, etc.…

You wear it on your t-shirt and hat. You put bumper stickers on your cars. You put signs in your yard (along with seasonal decorations). At the local union meeting or the formal dining occasion, you will be known by your internet ramblings.

When questioned, few (from what I’ve experienced) have a plan to follow up their accusations or slurs with something that will get them off the couch and take action. Send a note to your city council (if you know their names) to vent your frustration. If so, engulfed by intensity, like group of individuals may organize and form a parade, with signs and bullhorns and chants, to protest whatever action they oppose. There are certain restrictions on such activities but with the proper permits the local authorities will tape off an approved area for your noise.

Armchair Quarterbacks just want to spout for the moment and then move onto what the next annoyance is. Rave on.

Security contingent

 

Last Monday in the nation’s capital was the passing of the flame from two men who sit behind the desk in the oval office. Every moment was well scripted and rehearsed and other than the cold weather forcing the parade to be inside, this was the best of this countries pomp and circumstance.

The city was full of soldiers and sailors, all bundled up in the dress whites holding rifles with fixed bayonets.  Maybe they were left over from a former president’s funeral, but the city was full of our armies finest. They lined every hallway and marched back and forth in tiled rooms displaying their jewelry and precision to the NEW commander and chief. Even with all the celebrities and government officials in the Sunday attire, boys and girls in uniform stand out from the crowd. Not all carried weapons. Many played songs and themes of the day to fill in between speeches and time to move the masses from room to room.

Along with the military occupation of the city, the law enforcement officers were out in force. After the security mishap from four years earlier, gates and check points and fences had been installed on every route and rest of the city shutdown. Whether it was the cold or a curfew, not as many on lookers were looking on.

The transition procedures seemed secure.

Now the current president has a contingent of secret service for protection. These are the guys and gals who wear the dark glasses, open the doors and stand close to the president without interfering in his actions but close enough to take a bullet. The first family members also get secret service protection as do the newly elected president. Don’t know if there is an A Team and a B Team and they make a switch after taking the oath of the office, but there are lots of guys in dark suits standing around talking into their hands.

Before inaugurations, as I’ve noticed, haven’t had the mass security of this Monday’s events. I could be wrong?

One thing I did notice about THIS event was the guest of the newly elected president. When you think you are important or lead an organization or have a large amount of money, you have a security contingent. Probably on a smaller scale than a head of state, but some folks walking beside you with weapons in their pockets scooping the surroundings so you won’t be harassed. These are the folks who drive your cars, open your doors and stand by the walls when you eat, prepare an agenda approved by investigations of potential danger and guard the gate while you are asleep.

What I was wondering was on Monday’s gatherings, how many security contingents were there? Did their earpieces get static from crossover Wi-Fi? Who leads the way when two (or more) important people walk down the hall together? Is there a priority for protection? If there is a problem, do these big burley guys stumble over each other trying to cover their particular mark? What is the police role or do they add to the confusion? With all those guns drawn, could there be a shoot-out?

Most of the people I know do not have a security contingency (that I know of). Some are scared enough of the world to buy (and sometimes wear) a sidearm. If they feel more secure carrying a gat is fine, if they know how to use this. I don’t want to live in the Wild West partner.

After a week in isolation and running out of food and drink, I’m awaiting the temperatures to get out of the freezing range. I’ll ride my usual route without ear buds so observe my route and listen for approaching vehicles. I scan my surroundings before and after entering a building and feel comfortable when I arrive home without conflict.

What do you do with all of them?

 

I understand war. Side A gets a bunch of people together, dresses them in similar costumes, gives them weapons of mass destruction. Side B does a similar process and the two sides face off against one another. The goal of this game, for whatever good reason they have concluded, is to kill as many of the other side as possible. Simple.

During this game, many are injured and must be dragged back to hospitals of the homeland. Others are killed and, if their fellow soldiers have the time, are sent back home to be buried.

Our species, in one land or another, have followed this ritual long before I got here and continue until today. I understand people get upset with other people. Sometimes, what causes conflict is a simple excuse to let out your anger. The anger may be a verbal harassment to road rage to one procuring a weapon and doing physical to another. There are laws and even religious commandments against doing this, but it doesn’t stop.

Some of the ‘leaders’ who order people into battle are overthrown. Some of the participants of this game realize the futility and surrender. Sometimes one side has more bullets than the other side as bodies and declare a win.

My question is what happens to those who surrender?

Maybe they were overwhelmed or maybe they ran out of bullets or maybe some general someplace decided they wanted to run for politics at a later date and ordered everyone to raise the white flag.

Now, the other side have all these folks standing around with their hands up. You take away their weapons and search them for secret contraband like maps or letters from home, then you line them upon a road.

You can’t shoot them (though it happens) for they are unarmed, so you march them down the road to get away from the front line fighting that might still be going in another area. These are people who just moments before were trying to kill you but are now your responsibility. You can’t send them back, for they will just pick up more weapons and come back to kill you again.

These folks are now in your care. You are responsible to house them, cloth them, feed them and treat them with dignity even though they may appear different and speak a different tongue.

Some area must be found to store these folks. To maintain control, a wire or wooden fence needs to be built to show a perimeter where they folks are allow to venture without being shot. Rather than having all these folks standing out in the weather, it seems humane to pitch tents or shacks and provide blankets and cots for sleeping. Someone has to provide meals or starve the masses to alleviate a rebellion. A minimum number of soldiers who would be sent to the front line to keep killing the enemy are held back to show the consequences for the prisoners to obey their new orders.

You can keep these detainees busy by questioning them or forcing them to do maintenance work like digging latrines or patching leaky roofs. Though this situation may become tedious repetition (which is the army way) and tools used must be accounted for at the end of the day so as not be used as weapons against those who restrict their assimilation into the population or dig tunnels to escape. If more prisoners are accumulated bathing (due to smell and disease prevention) will be necessary. Medical facilities will have to be established to treat everything from battle wounds to rotting teeth. If children, women and other civilians have been mixed up in this crowd, they will probably need to be dissimilated from the warriors.  

As long as the turmoil continues, these dis-combatants will need to be sheltered, clothed, fed and bed until they can be returned from parts where they came from. All of this takes money. Did the victors fund for the homeless along with the bombs and planes and bullets?

Recently, wild fires are not only burning down forest, but leveling neighborhoods. Homeowners are now homeless. Insurance companies are adapting to the pressure of fulfilling their claims and construction companies seek workers who are being deported.

There are wonderful organizations who provide assistance and food from caring donations, but how long will that last? Would you allow a bunch of folks to pitch a tent in your backyard? Would you feel comfortable having strangers use your bathroom and eat your food? Sending in a PayPal to a GoFundMe ensure the money will go to the needy or pay for a night on the town?

So, everyone turns to the politicians for a solution.