Tag: Leadership

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

As expected, the year 2020 keeps on rolling unabated with yet another not altogether unexpected surprise but a shock nevertheless. I walked into my living room yesterday evening and my wife informed of the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG). Needless to say, the first words out of my mouth were, “Whoa! This is big”.

First though I would offer my condolences to her family. I am sure they, a person who never met her personally, have been watching her decline and speaking from firsthand experience of similar experiences have begun their mourning and will be doing so for some time to come.

To be quite honest I personally have paid little attention to the life of Justice Ginsburg other than that I pretty much disagreed with her positions on the bench in just about every imaginable way possible up to and included her use of her position for judicial activism. Just look at the name of my blog and this should come as no surprise. However, after watching some of the hastily assembled tributes and recounts of her life last night it is hard not to respect all that she accomplished in her life. A lifetime that began in 1933 and spanned across a period of time in which included so many changes in the world and our country. A period of time that encompassed wars, great social changes, a man land on the moon, the advent of the computer, and many other things to say the least. I must respect that she was able to have a family, go to law school, practice law and ultimately rise to one of the highest judicial positions in our country. To Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “I say Shalom and though I am not Jewish it certainly is not lost on me that you have passed on the Shabbat at the beginning of Rosh Hoshana. May you rest in peace Justice Ginsburg”.

Random Musings 9.18.20

Once again it is time for some Twitter (for those with a litigious bent there is a trademark symbol just after the “r” in the previous word) like random musings from the mind of a quiet, unassuming, at least in my own opinion, person observing the ramblings, rumblings and revelations in the media. Additionally, it appears that Twitter would most likely censor what I have to say any way and Facebook certainly would censor what I have to say.

I cannot believe so much time has passed since my last post already. This especially considering all the events that have happened and so much that could be commented on. Then again perhaps it is because all the events going on that have prevented me from typing.

In my part of the world we have been sucking California’s smoke for literally the last month except for three days. Today is one of the relatively smoke free days and maybe that is a reason for me doing some typing.

Hmm, it seems that Senator John Thune is partners with Senator Lee in supporting and protecting big tech. Senator Thune why don’t you just confirm President Trump’s FCC nomination? I wonder how much they have paid you, your campaign, and or one or some of your constituents. Are you a RINO or just a greedy bastard?

And the cheat by mail fraud scandal continues on with Pennsylvania and Michigan being the latest characters to join in the plot.

I hear that the State of Nevada Governor (Steve Sisolak) is now withholding coronavirus relief funds from the county that hosted President Trump last weekend. What a petty little man.

Talk about another petty man and petty dictator the mayor of Nashville is another one. I just cannot help but wonder how many more of the petty men and women in positions of power are doing the same?

I finally got around to taking my NFL, MLB, and NBA teams off of my DVR list. The next things for me to do are to cancel my Netflix subscription and shutdown my Google accounts.

I wonder if Prince Harry knew what Meghan Markle was really about when he married her? I would think that Marxism flies in the face of all that his family stands for but then again, he did step back from his official duties.

Random Musings 8.21.20

Once again it is time for some Twitter (for those with a litigious bent there is a trademark symbol just after the “r” in the previous word) like random musings from the mind of a quiet, unassuming, at least in my own opinion, person observing the ramblings, rumblings and revelations in the media. Additionally, it appears that Twitter would most likely censor what I have to say any way and Facebook certainly would censor what I have to say.

Fifty three years ago the Summer of Love happened in San Francisco in which, apparently, the media fawned over the hippies and their “counterculture” movement. Now, fifty three years later with some of those same hippies and their acolytes fully ensconced in power it appears the counterculture movement has morphed. Now they organize and support the Summer of Hate counterculture movement.

I read a great sign the other day and it said, “Do not question authority, they do not know the answer either.”

I wonder how much money from international donors goes to finance domestic political campaigns.

To the General and Flag officers of the US military. Please do not allow the COVID vaccine to be tested on the members of the military. Remember the junior members of the military are in your charge.

I watched a shingles vaccine commercial the other day and all of the actors were elderly. Then it suddenly dawned upon me that the COVID response is a Baby Boom Generation response. I say this because the Baby Boom generation essentially is the generation in charge of government at the present time. Judging by history this is one of the most selfish generations ever in the United States and now, when faced with their own mortality, what do they do and support? It appears to me that a lot of the fear that is currently being peddled is being directed at the elderly and for good reason considering the elderly are most likely to be killed or experience long term effects from the virus. But shut down the whole nation and its economy? Like everything else the Baby Boomers will leave a wide wake behind them as they depart. Their mantra seems to be if I cannot have fun then you cannot have fun!

What is up with Justice Roberts siding with allowing the State of Nevada to keep churches closed? What happened to the separation of church and state and First Amendment Rights? I say church and state because the secular progressive dogma has infiltrated the state, evidently.

I heard a couple of weeks ago that Mayor DeBlasio of New York City is putting up COVID check points going into the city. It really does not bother be because why would I want to visit that s&*t hole?

I read something else somewhere that the Silicon Valley FANGS are scrubbing data from their websites. In particular, any data supporting conservative principals or counter to the progressive Marxist agenda. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four’s dystopia is knocking on our door!

I wonder what would happen if I showed up in Portland with a wheelbarrow full of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and started burning them? I wonder if the response would be the same as if I showed up with a wheelbarrow full of Holy Bibles?

The Vietnam Veteran: The Forgotten Generation of American Patriots (Originally Posted on Veteran’s Day 2018)

When I was young, I started out in the work force and considering I was born when the Vietnam War was in its heyday, I could not help but find myself working along many Vietnam War veterans. In the eighties at a time that the end of the Vietnam War was slightly over a decade in the past. I can remember a gentleman who hid a beer can inside a hallowed out seven up can and could not get through the day without a couple of beers. I learned later that he had gone out on a patrol and was the only survivor of his squad. Another gentleman picked up a stick and within two days carved out a k bar knife in excruciating detail. He had been a US Navy SEALS and did not talk too much about what he did, but he did share a couple of telling items. The first was a story was about being dropped off in Seattle after his enlistment. In the story he was in a bar and someone called him a baby killer. He said within seconds he had the person on the ground and was about to tear the guys throat out when someone pulled him off. In retrospect how grateful he did not kill that man. The other about how one of his teammates had gone completely off the grid somewhere in the Northern California woods and would only talk with his Vietnam team mates. Yet another gentleman that I worked with woke up at 4:00 every morning to take care of farm animals before coming into work for a long day of sometimes manual labor. His eyes would at times go far away and mist up. He had been in the US Army Special Forces and he did not talk about what he had done or saw.

Moving forward slightly over a half a decade later I worked with a gentleman who had served in Cambodia and Laos in the US Marine Corp. He too almost killed someone when he returned home because he had been spat on. This, of course, was in California. He credited the Marine Corp with getting him some psychological help that calmed him down. He made the comment that if he had not been on active duty at the time and had not received the treatment, he probably would have killed someone and ended up in prison.  Later in life, when I was preparing to go to Afghanistan, a gentleman that I had met as a professional insisted that he meet with me before my deployment. A person who I had known for more than ten years and had worked on several projects with confided in me that he had served as a young enlisted man in the US Marine Corp doing a tour in Vietnam. During the conversation he asked me to keep confidential that fact because the people in the industry that we were professionals in would have, in his opinion, not favored his service favorably. He too mentioned the shame that our country showed toward these returning veterans upon their return from Vietnam.

I have spoken with many Vietnam Veterans and they all seem to have had some variation of the same story.  This was the shame that was heaped upon them when they returned home. Fortunately for me many lessons were learned and upon my return from war it has been so much easier to talk about PTSD and the lingering effects of being in a war zone and etc. I thank heaven this is the case because it is not easy and it is real, speaking from personal experience, and I now have a small glimpse about what they went through upon their return and what they probably still experience. I say this because being a uniformed member of the armed services in a war zone has changed me in ways that I would have never expected.

Yesterday I went to my first Veteran’s Day parade and I must admit I was nervous about attending. For many reasons I was fearful about what my emotional response would be. I experienced a spectrum of emotions including, as previously mentioned, fear, stoic tension, anger, laughter, and relief. I will not go into details, but I am glad that I went. Next year I may even try to cajole my family along since after all they are a veteran family.

What struck me is the overwhelming majority of Vietnam Veterans in the parade. I am pumped up that some many of them are stepping up to keep the tradition alive considering what they went through upon their return and in the years afterwards. What I believe is somewhat of a lost generation of men in this country is and has found its way back into society. It saddens me that essentially some of the best years of their lives were wasted thanks to Hollywood figures such as Jane Fonda and the leftist antiwar movement demonizing the everyday soldier. However, thanks to their sacrifice I and others of my generation did not experience that. I was heartened to see one banner that essentially said though the Vietnam Veterans are the lost generation we will never leave behind another generations. They truly are living up to that and I thank them for that. Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans and their families and thanks to all for their service.