Happy, Happy Ho Ho!

 Christmas/New Years is not always top o my mind as either enjoyable or fulfilling....Then "Ho Ho" happens.I quite excitedly don a red suit and work my way thru, this year, 150 children at my Elks Lodge. The magic is the small faces when they approach the old fellow. The faces have more brightness than a 100 watt bulb! Funny is the fact I never get tired of the faces....They launch me into Christmas spirit full bore.  I hope one and all have a Merry Christmas followed by the finest of New Years!

"Rollin Down The River"....

 Rollin Down The River.....

Surprisingly, life continues. I now find myself just two calendar pages from 82 years of age. I find myself in decent physical condition....if you ignore the several close calls I have had, and the fact my ticker and circulatory system is paying me back for abuses heaped upon them over the decades. I am afraid to check in on my liver and digestive tract.

I, along with most of the US of A, managed to survive the quadrennial assault on our entire way of life and laws we jokingly call a Presidential election. The shear size of this event, both in dollars and total commitment by at least two political parties, is astounding.

We are told every time this event occurs that this time is the LAST time we HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT or the country will blow up and cease to exist. I believe the major problem is the two major political parties!

It is my considered opinion that they, if allowed to continue unchecked, will indeed bankrupt this country in both dollars and of all standing in the community of countries on this so called big blue marble.

One party this time around spent well above ONE BILLION dollars to perpetuate their way of governing....AND LOST. Not a squeeze by finish but a complete washout. 

The biggest mystery for me is how the folks on the short end of this fiasco now find millions of reasons why their side failed....and not one of the scapegoat causes has to do with them doing or saying anything unpopular. It has to be at least the fault of a small group of folks called THE MAJORITY! Aided of course by many on their own team who did not live up to expectations.

My most pleasant memory will be the short time between the end of the rehash of this election and the quite close beginning of speculation of the who the candidates will be for the next one.

It was so much simpler and enjoyable when the entire process, at least publicly, was only a few months every four years and involved miserly amounts by today's standards. Guess I need a trip to the Blue Ridge and a cabin for a week where my phone has no signal and there are no TVs or Radios. 

How do I get to that bed and breakfast listing? 

But I AM 80!

I like to think I am somewhat the realist. While many seem absolutely fixated on not revealing their age, I have always felt age is a sort of barometer of achievement. Perhaps in my look at life I feel much more positive about living this long as I never expected it. The last couple generations in my family have been relatively shortened lives. My Father had a heart attack at age 47 that could have easily killed him. He never recovered completely and finally passed at age 58 with his 3rd major heart attack. My brother died in his early 60s of heart and other ailments.

James Mangold, director of the new 5th film in the Indiana Jones series commented on an expanded aspect of the view from atop several generations....

"We can’t hide from where we are in our lives — none of us can — and neither can Indiana Jones," Mangold told The Hollywood Reporter. "I wanted to follow Harrison’s own lead and simply deal with it straight on."

I happen to be the same age as Harrison Ford, having my 80th birthday just 2 months ago. I now look forward to driving this somewhat banged up body as far as I am allowed...I am hopeful my outlook, while realistic, is as positive as can be....having gotten this far seems to me to be an incentive to go on.

Something missing!

 I am left with the feeling that all the "news writers" (they are not reporters nor journalists) are blind and meandering all about the topic of CCP's balloon and its purpose/equipment. 1st-We knew before the balloon entered the USA, apparently via Alaska and Canada, of its existence. We could have ended this right there, off the shores of Alaska...or, perhaps, on land in the sparsely-populated state. 

How about this idea?  Where is the map of the complete track of the balloon? You know our radar has this baby all the way. I have seen some random spots where the thing hung there in the sky...no one has yet apparently gotten a hold of the idea. That would tell you in a heartbeat whether or not the thing was directed or controlled.

You don't suppose the truly open administration could be hiding the track to protect someone?  Hmmmm

Long Time No Post.....Here we go again!

 I shall endeavor to bring this blog back to life. Health issues, a near-death post surgery internal bleed and a series of three stents in my heart's circulatory system have wrought a lot of absence from blogging. Let's go back and post as the field of topics on which to post grows ever more Bidenesque.....rich and full of really dumb stuff!  Onward!

Reverse Space Elevator? Sounds reasonable!

My fellow earth-bounders interested in space in all its possibilities are most likely aware of the long-studied potential for a space elevator. Basically the idea has been to tie a super-long nano-tube (they are not yet capable of producing this, but advances come every day) to a well-fortified base on Earth and then extend the tube into space where a station would be built at the top in geosynchronous orbit. Then a car of some fashion would leave Earth and travel to the top. From there space jumps could be launched with materials brought from Earth. This station would be thousands of miles in space.
One problem not near a solution is the 17,000 estimated pieces of satellite and space junk in orbit.

Now a new proposal......hang the elevator from the moon toward the Earth. End it in orbit above the space junk and transport to and from there. Thus two-way shipping could be achieved.....supplies and parts for space ventures go up, and materials mined on the moon come down.

It is being studied....

I find it amazingly possible! No cable from Earth to be exposed to everything from airplanes to space junk. There remains development of the nano-tubes able to be strung in lengths. And, one would still have to carry the materials going and coming by a ship/airplane to and from the Earth and Moon.

Exciting!

A Trip Down Ancestry Lane.....

My family tree, long a bit understood due a book published in the year of my birth, 1943, is much expanded because of Ancestry, the program. The truths therein contained, and about which I shall write a lot more in a different post, reveal some interesting facts about DeLand males....

We are, as a rule, long-lived critters.

Going back seven generations from me they average 82.5 years of age...and this includes my Dad who was only 58 when he passed. His life was shortened, almost assuredly, by participation in WWII.
My great-grand George lived to 102, and my name sake Paul, from the 1600-1700 crossover, lived to 97.

Guess I better buckle up for a much-longer ride than anticipated.....

I'll post more on this soon as I find myself fascinated by the facts in Ancestry!

Duke (Paul K., II)

Spending Billions under Liberal Plans or Making It Simple!

 The multi-million(or billion)aires fly extravagantly, and frequently, to meet and chastise us as to our use of the atmosphere, lands, and everything else they so loudly proclaim as destructive and perhaps world-ending!
 
Trees are gold...  the answering cry. Why not cease flying your multi-million dollar jets to far-flung places and instead donate the cost of your fuel to help plant trees. No fanfare, no thousands gathered to celebrate one-another. Just buy small trees for everyone to plant. You might just "save the world!"

It ain't rocket science folks!

Duke

The Dwindling List

My first and powerful impact of the dwindling list was 1993, some quarter of a century ago.....Wow!, has it been that long? My Mother passed away. She had been in ill health and had numerous problems which plagued her for many years.

We proceeded to the formal ritual of visitation, held in our hometown, followed by the service and the trip to the cemetery where she was interred beside my Father who had passed more than a decade before.

Then to the house for the post-funeral burial ritual of food and drink with family and friends. Some of the friends were those of my parents, from their generation.

I went through the motions and then months later it suddenly hit me, during a time I was reflecting on her loss, that I AM THE OLDEST member of my immediate family.

No longer available to me are any folks who KNOW! Know my family, know its history, its ties, its members.....where we lived.....HOW we lived.....none of that exists.

If my sister, my brother or I don't remember it....it is no longer there. Unless some distant relative knows, or has recorded and MADE PROVISION to pass it on, It is no longer there.

Now, those 25 years later, my Brother, 10 years younger, is gone, and just this past weekend we held the life celebration for his former wife....always a family member....

The dwindling list!

Now....a new tool. For Christmas I received both the DNA test from Ancestry and membership in Ancestry. Suddenly, there I find a treasure trove of family.....History, generations of history. Pictures. Notations about lives, professions, military service, etc.

WOW! I can pass a lot of family along. Not all the details, but more than I ever imagined.

I spent a lot of January just getting into the system......I have located close family missing from my life for 70 YEARS!

I am enjoying this and intend to pass it along to my children/close relatives.

Keep family close because there is a "Dwindling List!"

Society to Blame; Sooo, Let's Go After Guns!!!!

The fact is, the headline says it all, succinctly!

To judge the absurdity of the above headline let us put it in another context: Drunken drivers are killing people, so let's go for more car controls/restrictions!

We live in a world being changed so drastically I sometimes just throw my hands up in frustration. What in the heck (insert much stronger word if you choose) happened? How can a 24 year old become so demented, out of touch with reality and mentality unstable as to shot and kill two, deliberately, wound others and then commit suicide OVER A GAME?

Where were this young man's parents/family? Were they too busy at the country club to notice his mental state? Were they even in touch? Had this young man demonstrated problem behavior, or lashed out before?

The gun didn't do it!

The apparently unstable individual did it!

Did no one notice a problem. Was he just fine in his family and home life (he apparently did live at home), and suddenly went round the bend?

Questions to be answered, and i am sure much information to be unveiled in the coming weeks, but one thing is certain.......

The gun didn't do it!

Duke

Someone Please Help Me Understand......???

I simply cannot understand the current uproar over guns...types of guns....age of gun owners and Government interference/regulation of gun ownership.

WHY?....Do folks feel that gun control of any sort will change such things as the infrequent school shootings? YES, they are infrequent....& getting to be less frequent.

The comparisons to cars/knives/type-of-gun, etc. are mostly truthful....as is the statement oft echoed by the gun rights supporters (I am one, and an NRA member for years) "Guns don't kill people; people kill people!"

While there are massive differences in these types of death and/or violence, all can be traced to intent and to such things as societal norms today. It matters not whether a crazed gunman invading a school  or a distracted driver texting while driving cause the death. They remain the same. Someone dies. There are, of course, MANY more deaths caused by distracted driving than by guns.

As for the oft-used derogatory comments and shaming of the NRA and its members....remember one thing.....The 2nd Amendment is their basic premise for the "leave-my-guns-alone group (again, in fairness, I am one!)  The NRA espouses nothing more than keeping Govt. OUT OF our given constitutional rights!

Government interference almost without exception results in our giving up rights. Using misstated information promulgated by liberals who LOVE big government provide this to a public quick to demand a cure for societal problems....almost always by issuing MORE LAWS!

Most of the mass-shootings (hate that term) result from signs missed by a government, national or state, which could have predicted the event or something similar.

It is time for people to insist that we first ENFORCE the laws and follow the supposed guidelines for operation of our multitude of policing, and societal support. That would have been way more effective in the Parkland shooting than any of the proposed laws being forwarded by a little-informed, and misled public.

As an addendum, I hate literally the anti-gun crowd playing our youth with partial-facts and instant-solution rhetoric....all of which translates into more govt. control.

Sorry, But NRA, and AR15s are not to blame.....The Failed System Is!

The fact is there were SWORN DEPUTIES on site, and in addition to the Resource Officer, who shirked their duty, remaining forever enshrined as "COWARDS".....Kids DIED because of their cowardice!

What a sad commentary to the Broward Sheriff....

He attacks the NRA, and meanwhile MANY lives could have been saved if the Broward Cowards had acted upon their sworn duty!

I, as a licensed Concealed Carry person, could not imagine I would not have charged the stairs of the building and faced the gunman....MY GOD! He was shooting innocent kids! The sworn deputies were hiding from the fight. What amazing cowards!  There is NO ARGUMENT justifying this. NONE!

Someone needs to make Sheriff Isreal eat his words about NRA, and then explain his completely ridiculous deputies behavior and ask him why he should not resign!

He is the penultimate picture of incompetence leading to the deaths of a number of students and teachers.

Mr. Sheriff, you need to just get the hell out of your job and let someone capable handle it!

We Are Blessed With a Youth Full of Ignorance!

When we were young, we worshiped the fact of God, Country and Brotherhood. That is those of us from the era of 1940s, 1950s, 1960s....

Then came the era of free love, lots of drugs, and the bliss of we can survive.

Followed by the years of development of a society driven by the 60s free-drugs/love folks who moved to education. They educated our youth to the ideals of socialism, free everything and good times for all with NO obligations.

We are still heavily mired in this morass of everything should be free....because...freedom!

Those of us old enough to remember the fact of God, Country, Brotherhood are completely discounted by the folks bent upon being open and free, and socialist...even if they don't call ti that.

They are the younger generation who feel the country "Owes them" just because. The cou ntry is BAD...because they are not nurtured enough at the teat of society.

They are our demise as a nation.....Unless, we make things change, and use the Trump ideals to force change and responsibility by EACH and EVERY one of us for what we are, do, and achieve!

Nuff said!

Of Course they did! Misplaced support for a regime that is playing them for fools!

This makes me SAD!!!

I am truly a fan of the NORK being totally cut off, but many libs seem to think they can "make nice" and gain a true response from the NK controllers!

Not so!

There is A Crack; Lets Tear Down The Wall!

It is called OVERKILL!

Take a few words of particularly sensitive type, buried in the THIRD verse of our National Anthem (when was the last time you heard anyone anywhere sing anything beyond the 1st verse?) and utilize that to kill off any use of the entire anthem.

This form of logic can and will kill off anything of substance about the formation and operation of this mighty nation.....(think: Offensive statues of great men who might have owned a slave at a time when that was the law of the land).

Sure feels as if the liberal side of things is much more concerned about negatives than it is about any form of positive. This United States of America was built on OPTIMISM!

IRS, Your Speed Merchant for Fixing Problems They Created!

1730 Days later....They issue a final apology.

However, despite a rather bland apology there is still ZERO accountability, and not a soul was fired in the entire process which took those 1730 days. The Swamp lives, and seems owned by the DEM party, with minor support from entrenched GOPs.

Sad situation which i hope gets addressed before Trump leaves office.

We Are Still in The Swamp Toto!

The multiple and almost violent attempts by the FBI and DEM Rep. Schiff to avoid release of the FISA memo are signs WE ARE STILL deeply mired in the swamp!

 While I am eagerly awaiting the release, and anticipating much upset from DEMs, FBI and DOJ...all of whom have stonewalled in one form or another, I realize this is not the end, but the beginning of finding out the real problems in DC....

Keep in mind the Nunes committee has had the FISA info for A YEAR! They did not let it out until A DAY AFTER the FISA operation had been renewed by Congress. Had they let it out a year ago we might have seen a much bigger fight against FISA operating at all.

Meanwhile the stonewalling of information tells the tale about FBI & DOJ. They know they did things not acceptable, and most likely completely illegal. That has yet to play out and could well impact the Mueller investigation making it so much junk.

Get your popcorn bowl filled, grab a drink and pull up your fave recliner folks. The shxx is yet to hit the proverbial fan!

"Americans Are Dreamers Too!"

The President, in last night's SOTU, made efforts to provide ample room for DEMs and GOPs to have a platform where they can work out a great compromise on Illegal Immigration/Dreamers, et al. The DEMs, however, took the opportunity to show the people of America just how deep in their rut of obstructionism they are.

That was but one indicator of the DEMs complete lack of any form of cooperation. There were many more. Not standing to acknowledge our Veterans; Pelosi looking like she was about to chew up and swallow her own tongue as she stewed over the fact the President even had the chance to speak. Pelosi looking like a Gestapo Major as she rose to berate one of her party for standing and applauding at one point. Among Pelosi, Hoyer and Schumer there was indeed a cloud over Washington....THEIR CLOUD of opposition.

If the DEMs continue such public displays of complete opposition to any and all forms of cooperation/discussion, they are paving their way to obscurity and becoming the party of NO IMPACT! The 2018 elections look brighter and brighter for the GOP.

The singular DEM message is: NOPE!

That, my readers, is not a message leading to voter support....particularly from independents upon whom elections are won or lost. If indeed the DEMs wish to have any gains in 2018 they better find a different hymnal from which to sing. Just my opinion....

May Day, May Day.....We Are Going Down!

DEM Rep Adam Schiff sounds off like a ship klaxon at sea on a ship in distress!

The reverberating DEM drumbeat of terror indicates the depth of the problems they and the complicit leadership of DOJ and FBI face.

I am, as I oft have noted, sitting here, popcorn at my side, watching the slow-motion train wreck as it occurs. Joy on my face that finally the story created by deep state treachery among more than one department of the government is about to be unveiled to the beat of a perp march or ten!

Sit back, and watch. Please do not enjoy as this problem being dealt with is going to move us back to Russian-KGB levels of activity...NOT the much  hoped-for collusion by Trump made up by the players involved.

Sadness, but gladness it will finally become apparent and perhaps we can begin the slow process of using our many talented, dedicated and LOYAL DOJ and FBI personnel to regain trust from the citizenry, amid the censure and imprisonment of those who would be kings!

Well ain't that a SUR-PRIZE!!!!

Who'd-a-thunk-it!

Top DOJ folks have their panties in a wad!

What possible reason could they have for jnot wanting this FISA information out? OH YEAH! It apparently involves some top DOJ/FBI folks in tactics which smack heavily of outright subversion of our entire intelligence apparatus by the Obama Admin and/or Clinton folks.

The REAL mistake here would be NOT releasing the memo.

The louder the pig squeals, the closer he is to the chopping block. With the DOJ/FBI already besieged by reports of all forms of out-of-bounds actions by top officials it is critical to beginning to restore confidence and root out "deep state" operatives that we DO release the memo, and the sooner, the better.

Get back to open government with our ability to believe these departments....at least to a higher degree than we currently believe the so-called main stream media! That should not be hard to achieve given the media's bargain-basement ratings as to believability!