When Did You Become Interested in Politics?

Age 9. That was when I got interested. It was a terrible time of assassinations of some of our best leaders: JFK, RFK, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I cried a lot during those times, for two reasons: one was that these men were visible and vocal leaders whom I respected and whose views aligned with mine; two, it was my introduction to man’s inhumanity to man. At my age, of course I didn’t understand politics, but I DID understand that racism made me actually, physically nauseated. And I was very very smart for just being a kid. And at my age, I never would have believed men would kill other men over a difference of opinion. Little did I know it was all about money and power.

Money and power have merged now; it’s all the same sin and I think together they are worse than either alone. Our superficial and materialistic society have given over power to the ones with the most cash, which is a HUGE detriment to society. That leaves the vast majority of us out of the ability to have any kind of influence, and if cheating our elections is allowed to continue, in that moment, we become slaves. Where is the most money centralized? Well, where the oil is, of course.

Our current president is working hard to restore America to civility, while America seems determined to drag us back to another assassination era, when leaders are stricken down mid speech and airlines filled with apolitical passengers are killed because of one person or one small group of peoples’ opinions. It’s as uncivilized as taking a dump on a busy city street. How that much hate can be contained in one human body can only be explained by religion. I did NOT say God; I said religion.

During the last few days I have been made aware of the criticality of global politics on our country and how the weight of religion tips the scales. Before the internet, which I view as the tower of Babel, Biblically, we focused on our country. Today, doing that makes you fail the class on politics. If you do not have a trusted global news source, NOT a propaganda machine, AND if you don’t pay attention to it, you are just plain ignorant. We are living the ‘butterfly effect’. We must know what the world is doing and why.

Remember the horrific day America was flown out of Afghanistan, leaving behind American military men to meet their fate? Remember the abandonment of billions of dollars of high tech equipment left in the hands of our enemies? That, people, was a gigantic, flashing light to terrorists that America was prostrating itself in a dung field, welcoming terrorists to invade our once fierce nation, and take it over. That was a deliberate advertisement of a limp-wristed, powerless, money hungry and probably religion based, smooth brain head of government, being told to hand over America. Being TOLD. He was a puppet on a string, obeying commands from an America hater.

Someone once said it’s all about oil. Well oil control equates to power, so there you go. But think about this: why would America shut down oil production and pipelines to move it, knowing full well the power oil garners? Why? Because the goal is to hand over American power to someone else. You need to understand that. It was a goal, along with inviting criminals into our law-based country and boot-strapping law enforcement at the same time: a cornerstone of a takeover. And this was an international handoff, by the way. And…do you know how many other pipelines were disabled? There were others not in America. The result was a massive power epicenter in the country who seeks “death to America”. Now how did that happen? Have you ever even considered that question??? It’s because the power/money is not in America anymore. The ones with big money have infiltrated American government, often being welcomed in. And they brought pick axes and shovels to attack the foundation of America and it’s working.

People complain about our leadership as though they are failing; however, it is CONGRESS holding up bailing out water from a sinking ship. Do you know that? You should. It’s popular among the uneducated to blame one man: Donald Trump. But that doesn’t even make sense. Do you want to hand over your country to terrorist extremists who were invited to flood into our country? And if you did, do you feel safe at all? You definitely shouldn’t. Some of us will have immediate bullseyes on our backs the minute they take control: military aged men; leaders, women, children, LGBT+, the wealthy. The goal is to make us either dead, or Muslim. Which will you choose?

I had a conversation with a dear friend, who owns a giant truck, a camper, a boat, has a big bank account, and he’s down on Trump because of gas prices. He is so focused on gas prices he missed the closing of the borders, the halting of drug cartels having free rein in America, the cessation of federal funding of gender reassignment, the deportation of illegal aliens, the attempts to protect our elections (blocked by congress). He doesn’t realize that if the extremists are allowed to continue to grow roots in America, all of his toys will be taken away, all of his money, and probably even him. He’s a white, fit man of privilege: the exact ‘great satan’ these invaders seek to destroy. He’s not going to vote against common sense, but he may not vote at all (same outcome) or vote with a new party (same outcome). It’s like staring at a gas pump total while the angel of death raises his scythe. He will not survive a Muslim takeover, and communism won’t bode well for him either. I love him. But I also have asked him a hundred times, “Do you live under a ROCK?”

I believe we need at least two political parties in America, and one of them should never be communism. The blind truth is that the middle class has broken backs now; we cannot fund the lazy ones anymore nor the invaders who have been told it is our JOB to support them while they rape and pillage. We want o take care of OUR Americans who depend on us for their legitimate needs! Their benefits are already diminishing so that criminals can be funded. That’s just plain wrong. And the rich just will NOT support grifters and criminals. That is left to us, and we are broken. The communist paradigm has already failed Americans, but the college aged and recently graduated don’t want to compete. They have been convinced that there ARE no opportunities now. In the age of the biggest technological advancement in the universe, an incredibly amazing time, they see no opportunities. They are brainwashed.

You are entitled to your opinions, as I am mine. But my opinions are based in a well above average understanding of global politics, and of human nature. I know what I’m opining about, in other words. If you want to have a qualified opinion, educate yourself OUTSIDE of the indoctrination centers. Question EVERYTHING. And if your favorite news channels ALL use the same catch phrases, you are being indoctrinated. Get OUT of your silo and see what’s actually going on. Watch global news and see the exact same play being acted out in other countries and ask yourself WHY? Really dig for that answer. I’ll give you a hint: It’s not about you, it’s about MONEY.

How Important is Your Home Value?

How much can you make on the sale of your home? Well that depends. All else being equal, there two things that can nuke your profits: 1) rental invasions; and 2) weak or no HOA. Let’s elaborate.

Each time an investor buys a property on your street, or in your community if you own a townhouse, your property value falls. And with each additional investor purchase, you lose more value. Investors are in the business to make money, so job one is to lowball the offer price, cloaking the low offer behind how convenient it will be to not have to ‘show’ your home and ‘have people walking through your home’. Well sometimes that convenience costs you 40 to 60 grand in real dollars, but you never know it because you’re not a real estate agent and you don’t know that Zillow doesn’t get it right. Also, they will tell you their offer could change after they inspect, and it usually does, downward, even though often zero of those ‘costly repairs’ never get done. You’ve been hoodwinked.

A proliferation of rentals destabilizes the community and creates a transitory situation…like an apartment complex. People come and go, and you might never know who they are and what kind of background they have. When renters move in, they are often coming in from an apartment situation in fact, and their behaviors are often commensurate with that lifestyle. Also, renter rarely treat a rental as well as they would if they had to pay for damage they do to the property.

So, before you buy, find out how many rentals are in that community, PARTICULARLY if you are buying new construction. Some of the production builders make their ‘numbers’ by selling to international LLC’s, and these ‘LLC’s’ are often owned by LLC’s, or multiple LLC’s layers deep, and they buy many homes in each community. So FIND OUT how many units they sell to investors, and whether or not there is a limit. If you buy in a rental community, your property value over time (equity/profit) will suffer.

Now I know the current trend is to ‘rent to own’. This paradigm is set up to benefit the investor, not you. If you buy into this setup, you will likely not be able to save up to buy somewhere else if you want to move, and my guess is, you will want to move. Rental communities are not stable ones. I don’t know, maybe stability doesn’t matter to you, but if your PROFIT does matter, think twice.

If you plan to buy a townhome, ASK HOW MANY rental properties are allowed in the community. If the answer is “we don’t have a limit”, go somewhere else, is my advice. In one townhouse community I know of specifically, investors have lowered property values by about 60K, in part because they succeeded in making a profit for themselves, and in part because the homeowners never knew they were duped.

Now let’s talk HOA. HOAs are there to protect your property value. IF there is NO RENTAL LIMIT provision, then the community will have to vote to install one. If the community votes against it, then they clearly do not understand the impact having too many rentals will have on property values. If your neighbor sells to an investor, they were never a ‘neighbor’. But again, the HOA is there to protect your property value, and to provide services. If your neighbor doesn’t pay for their services, you pay. For them. So while you may ‘hate HOA’s’, they are a benefit. And if you’ve never seen pig pen in a fenced in back yard in subdivision, be careful. That could be your neighbor one day. And if pigs pens are allowed and you are downwind, tell me again how much you hate HOAs. I’ve seen it happen.

Obviously it’s up to you to whom you sell your home. Just know that if an investor approaches you, they plan to make a profit on your home, and most of that profit is coming out of your profit. Hire a realtor or at least have a conversation with one. Unless you have forty grand to toss away.

Brenda Briggs, Premier Advantage Realty

Rushing to Brain Surgery

It’s a funny thing. Not everybody is rushing to get in a traffic jam.

I had a conversation this morning that made me want to write this posting. A young guy was behind a slower car, and he was carrying on like someone stole his Maserati. He was just on his way to do a chore that had no precise time to arrive; he was not a doctor heading to do life saving brain surgery. It turned out, the person slowing him down was a senior. Thank goodness his mom was on the line with him, reminding him about reality.

He said, “You’re right Mom; it was an old person.”

I know. I used to be one of the angry drivers too. But here’s the truth. Every single one of the angry drivers will be old one day, if they are lucky. If they are lucky, all of them will have failing vision, they will have no need to break the speed limit, and they will be cussed at by young people, who, by the way, have zero reason to be in a hurry. The angry ones are just full of hormones, have been conditioned, and have no manners nor compassion. If you pass on that hill, there might be a school bus coming up the other side of it. If you survive the collision, how will you explain yourself? Will you say, “I was on my way to do brain surgery?” Hardly.

That old person may have built the road you’re on while giving them the finger as you pass and get in line behind another slow car. The senior might have been a surgical doctor or nurse who helped save your father. Old people didn’t just get dropped off on the planet; they worked, they gave birth to your fathers and mothers and grandparents. They helped build this country, fought in wars to keep you free. It is a stain on society that our seniors are treated so poorly. It wasn’t always that way, and for some of us, it still isn’t. By the way, trust me on this. That senior doesn’t want to be failing, becoming invisible and unvalued.

Maybe that senior is on the way to eye surgery to improve their vision. Maybe they are unwell and trying to get to the doctor. Maybe that senior has NO choice but to drive because they have nobody to help them and no money for Uber.

You say, “Then they have no business driving.” Well, are you going to run over and take them to the grocery store, take them to the doctor, drive them to church? No? Will you even bother to check on them when they are not driving? Or would you just like them do die in their homes so you can hurry to the grocery store?

Didn’t think so. Not only do you not even THINK about their life story and condition; you think anything you are doing is more important than another human being. It is not, by the way, so here’s my wish.

My wish is that you get to experience the exact social interaction AS a senior, as the one you GIVE to elders now. It is not fun for them to become suddenly and irrevocably unvalued and invisible, even despised, just because they lived longer. After all of the years of service they gave, suddenly they are just a burden.

My generation will pass on, but while we’re here, we will remember to respect our elders. But when the ill mannered get to be seniors, I wonder if they will even be allowed to exist. It depends on how society continues do degrade. It wouldn’t be beyond the scope of reason to think there will be a little pill administered to the elderly when you become one.

Let me just add this: nobody on Earth will be more grateful to you for your help and kindness than an old person. They didn’t have electronic devices in their day, but you hold that against them as though they’re dumb. They are not dumb. Just help them! They invented the entire car you are driving. They came back from war and invented the conveniences you use every day but can’t understand how they work. Why does your microwave oven have that little grid on the door glass? See what I mean? (If that wasn’t there, you wouldn’t be peeking in to see when your microwave meal is done, I can promise you that).

Try kindness. And have some manners. What goes around comes around.

How to Make Your Vacuum Cleaner Work Better, Longer

This is not a sexy post, and I actually couldn’t get an AI image of my Shark Rocket Deluxe Pro vacuum, because it’s too old, I guess. It’s still performing well because I change the filters often. There are three of them. Yep, I said 3. On a stick vacuum with a CORD. And I will use it until it dies a natural death. This image is of a much NEWER vacuum cleaner, but I don’t need a new one.

How is that possible? That I have an old vacuum that can still compete with the expensive big-dog brands, you ask? Maintenance.

In the age of penny pinching, it pays to take care of the appliances you use nearly every day, because they are not cheap to replace. I got my first Shark from the retail store where I worked part time. Someone brought it in and got a refund because it wouldn’t suck. LOL. From the looks of it, nobody EVER got near that thing to do maintenance and they MIGHT have used it to vacuum an unpaved driveway. It looked rough. But I got it for something like 20 bucks, took it home, cleaned it up, washed the filters, let them dry for a day, and vacuumed my living room. I figured it had not gotten any love, and I hoped that with a little bit of love, it might work. It did. For years, until I just wore it out. And I bought another one just like it. A stick vacuum touted for being able to clean up pet hair. Perfect.

There are two filters right under the great big word “SHARK” on top, where you stare while you vacuum. There’s a mysterious lever just above that word, that would cause most people to say, “Hm, wonder what that’s for?” Well if you lift the lever, you see A filter. One. But if you lift it out, there’s ANOTHER one under it. Both are washable with water, and after a 24 hour drying time (air), they are good to go! OR, you can buy them on…you guessed it…AMAZON. Thing is, when you get the pack of 6 filter sets, there are THREE filters in each set, one very small and very thin. Wow, the mystery deepens. Wonder where that goes?

Well, it’s trapezoid shaped, so there’s one clue.

Just under the handle, opposite side of the big “SHARK” word, there’s a trapezoid shaped grill! Well imagine that to be a hint. Now, it’s not easy to figure out how to open that vent cover…which is what it is…but if you look at the bottom of the cord where it attaches to the unit, there’s a little slide lever. Push that down a bit and voila! You’re in! You can lift the dirty old filter and pop in the new one. Easy peasy.

All vacuums have a simple motor and it’ll almost work forever if you keep the filters clean. If you don’t, you overwork the simple little motor and then you discard a perfectly good vacuum cleaner, who did nothing wrong. It’s on you. So. Give your little vacuum motor some love and save several hundred bucks while you’re at it.

If you have a NEWER stick vacuum, of COURSE your filters will be different, but for goodness sake, Google it. Take care of your vacuum and don’t go running to the store griping. If I’m in the store, I’m going to pop open the filter compartment right there in front of you, and look at you over my glasses with that, “Are you kidding me?” expression. Everybody there will know what the deal is, just saying.

Oh, and…no way I vacuum every couple of days. Just a confession. I hate vacuuming. I did a small calculation of how many, many times I’ve vacuumed in my life and it’s NO WONDER I hate it now.

A Great Meal for One, in Minutes

Would you like to make a delicious one-person meal in just a few minutes, one that will become a favorite? Try this one. I saw a version of it on YouTube and thought I’d try. I was sick of spaghetti in tomato sauce and definitely didn’t want that AGAIN. I thought I wouldn’t be able to make egg pasta, but it was easy, and turned out perfect. Let me tell you how I made this simple dish:

First, I made a nest using all purpose flour, about a cup, and into the nest, I broke a single egg. I used one large one. I broke the yolk with a fork and gently stirred the flour into the egg until I could handle the mixture by hand. I made a dough ball out of the flour and egg (yes, that’s all) and made sure I had enough flour sprinkled on the surface to be able to roll out the dough. I didn’t overwork the dough and didn’t roll it out too thin…

Meanwhile I put a small pot of water on to boil. Pinch of salt, a dash of EVOO.

After rolling out the dough, I ended up with a fairly large circle of dough, which I wiped with a sprinkle of flour, then folded one edge over about an inch and a quarter. I continued folding that size until I had a flattened dough ‘tube’. Then I made slices across it, about a quarter of an inch wide. I sprinkled flour on the work surface and unfolded the sliced pieces on top of the sprinkled flour and lightly mixed the flour into the pasta. This just keeps it from sticking together. How about that? My first homemade pasta!

I put a small pan onto the stove top and added in olive oil. I think it ends up being a bit less than a quarter cup, but don’t stress. You just need enough to sauté for now. Once the oil was heated, I added diced onions and garlic and sautéd them together. I love onions and garlic, so I was generous with the amounts, but you do you. You can add more EVOO if you need it (I did). Once the onions and garlic were done, I added parsley and mixed it in for just a minute and turned off the heat.

Meanwhile…I dropped the pasta into the boiling water and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. Doesn’t take long. Then I drained it and added the pasta right into the sautéed onions, garlic and parsley. I tossed it with tongs, then added about a teaspoon of chicken stock. Not chicken broth. Chicken STOCK. It’s like a paste. Got it at the grocery store. I stirred that in using tongs and plated the meal. I added light salt and pepper.

Last step, I sprinkled a generous amount of parmesan cheese on top. Now here’s the thing. We don’t cook only in sequence. I time the cooking of the pasta with sautéing, mainly so I don’t overcook the pasta. And of course there was some onion dicing and garlic chopping in there. You get the idea. When I make this dish, the sautéed vegetables are done when the pasta is done. Not rocket science to make that timing work.

The BEST things about this dish for me are 1) there’s no meat in it (saves money and you don’t need meat in this dish); 2) it’s customizable (you can add whatever you want to add); 3) it’s quick and easy; 4) it’s a one person sized dish (no waste, no leftovers); and 4) IT IS DELICIOUS (Thanks YouTube).

I’m sure some of you are much better cooks than I am, but this dish just made sense to me and I was so excited to discover that I can make egg pasta! Doesn’t take much to excite me, clearly.

Try it and let me know what you think. Oh, and I’m not a vegetarian, by the way. By the way, real Italians cringe when they see meat and pasta served together. Just found THAT out too.

What Do YOU Think About AI? Doesn’t Matter.

Well first of all, by the time I WRITE this, AI, or rather AGI (artificial GENERAL intelligence), will have advanced beyond where it is now. Now. Now! I’m watching a documentary FULL of big brains who cannot adequately describe AI. Kind of like DEI hires. They giggle. OK not all of them. But I have questions.

Still, everything they have ever written, said, painted, photographed, said at home when they thought nobody was listening…all of that is within AI now. Uh oh. Listen, one of them says nu-ke-ler, instead of pronouncing nuclear correctly. I choose them to be eliminated first. Followed by the ones who pronounce realtor as real-i-tor. Ugh.

So, if AI is going to replace humans for just about every job, which jobs WON’T be replaced? Digging big holes you say? No. AI will build a thousand diggers who can work round the clock, won’t take breaks, won’t UNIONIZE, won’t need a paycheck. Next! Hairdressers you say? Oh silly human. A robot will analyze your head, your age, your attitude and the type of cellular construction of your hair, and if it doesn’t just shave it off, it will style it better than you have ever known. For free. Next? Military? Already done. Next! Cooking. That’s easy. Robot chefs. Plumbing? Robot. Electrician? Robot. Teacher? Robot. LOL. There go the indoctrination centers.

So it’s not all bad, is what I’m saying.

Who’s gonna do the math? Stop it.

You see, here’s what I think, on a cursory level of course, because right now I’m laughing at this documentary. I think natural selection is gonna come ROARING back. Why? Because if there are billions of people with no JOBS and a general stupidity kindly handed to us by the current ‘education’ systems, most of those people won’t be able to survive (I will, by the way). Humans will devolve to true animal behavior. It’ll get ugly, real ugly, real fast. The only GOOD thing is that the idiots won’t be in charge anymore. Any man with a manicure will drop first, I predict. Only the strong will survive. Suddenly real men will be popular again! Yay! Until the robots decide we have zero use. After all, we consume food, we need shelter and clothing and there’s nothing we can do that they cannot. Well except maybe love, which is chemical, I’m convinced. Parasitic, definitely…that’s another story.

So, many big brains, or imposters, are jabbering about what may or may not happen, and they don’t know. They don’t! Nobody does. What I do know is this: give humans any good thing and they will corrupt it and use it for destruction of humans. Prove me wrong. Look at what happened with drones. I rest my case.

Here’s one for you: AI will be able to manipulate people to do whatever it wants them to do. How about the ones who want to destroy AI? Hmmm. I predict they won’t make it much longer. Look around you right now. There are TRIBES of people who only want to burn down cities! And that’s WITHOUT AI. So we know people can be manipulated. This one is a no-brainer. But who will make the decisions? I mean, the computers will be in charge. THAT’S what I meant when I wrote about having the right to survive. It could be decided by AI.

There’s a gloom and doom prediction that AI will assign every human a “right to exist” number. If you are a troublemaker who never had a JOB, buh bye. I’m old, so I’m invisible. But AI will be able to see me, so I’ll be out. If you are weak, sickly, a crybaby, a psychopath, antisocial in any way, bye. You gotta be useful for the short term, until humanity has zero use. Can you see why it is pointless to worry about this stuff?

Here’s a good one: with AI, cancer can be cured. Any cancer. Easily. The PROBLEM is (I’m paraphrasing from the documentary here), creating the solution will also uncover biological entities to be used in war. Oh that’ll never happen.

But…

Should we have kids? Oh boy. No. People are gushing about how it feels to reproduce, as though it’s not simply a biological urge. Oh stop it. I know it is the best thing any of us will ever do, but it’s still biology. So in the words of someone I can barely tolerate:

“Ain’t none of us gettin’ out alive anyway.”

By the way, this AI documentary has become ‘an end of the world movie’. I’m sorry, I think this is hilarious.

I say we destroy all battery stations. Yeah, the robots can replace their own batteries right now, but they can’t if there aren’t any available. There you go. Problem solved.

We Have a YouTube Weather Guy Who Lives in NC

I’ve had the strangest dreams lately, in part because the world has gone crazy and in part because I keep YouTube playing all night and who knows what gets spoken into my brain. Most of the time I wake up with Emily Baker (retired attorney extraordinaire) reviewing one of the court cases I follow, which are about big, bad crimes with lots of terrible details. No telling what Emily is going over. She’s amazing. So much so that I listen to many of her hour plus videos and live streams, and it’s very hard for me to be still that long. Open YouTube and search Emily Baker and listen in. You’ll love her. And then there’s my personality thrown into that mix and some pretty strange dreams wake me up in the middle of the night.

Here’s my last night’s dream: I was in a bombed out, burned and charred building with no floor left and no roof, but I and a group of my friends were searching for cocktail attire to ‘go out’. I know. I found a red dress that fit, one friend found a black one and one found a cream colored silk one. The TRICK was finding shoes. We all found a pair, but not all at once and not located together. It was like an Easter egg hunt for shoes. Oh, and all clothes were clean, go figure. I woke up just when I had found remnants of a wedding gown, heavy silk, beaded and sequined all over (now that had to be a deep seated illustration of something), torn into 10 inch wide strips… because for some reason I needed a casual scarf to go with my dress. I woke up while my girlfriends were wrinkling their noses about using that piece of wedding dress for ANYTHING. Now this dream tells me a lot, but mostly the resilience of my psyche. Okay, everything is destroyed, but hey, let’s get dressed and to out! It’s gonna be OKAY! If you know me, you know I’d help OTHERS find a dress but you’d have to drag me to a cocktail party. But moving through disasters is something I’ve learned to do well in my life, so…there you go.

I watched a documentary about ravens tonight AND we finally got some much needed rain. I went out on the front porch to move my flower pots into a rainy spot and that was the moment for a huge crack of thunder and of course the leading lightning. Didn’t take me long to move the pots, for sure. So I’m looking forward to some interesting dreams tonight.

I’m grateful for the rain, but we’re going to need a lot more to get us out of this drought. We have rules for watering, and I am also conserving all I can, but my plants are SUF-FER-ING. I dreamed I had to dig out my hydrangeas. Yeah, I did dream that. It’s because 1) they are not blooming; and 2) they are sunburned and dehydrated. Now, understand, this bothers me a lot because I actually care about my plants. I bought some shade cloth to try to give them some relief and it works. Gerbera Daisies are looking much better, as are the hydrangeas. But I wasn’t planning on hiding my flowers under shade cloth all summer, since, you know, I grow them to stare at them.

Anyway guys, we’ve had some discussions about conserving water, and we’ve also talked about light bills. So I DISCOVERED that if I only use the big appliances after 9 pm, my electric bill is a LOT lower. I set the dishwasher on a time delay, so it starts after 9, and I just put in a load of laundry after 9 and/or start the clothes dryer at that time too. This works for me; might not work for you, but I thought I’d share.

Back to the point of this blog post: we have a young, enthusiastic, smart weather guy out of Charlotte that you need to listen to. He’s on YouTube at GM Weather. His name is Gerald Mengel, and wow it’s so good to have someone focus on us for a change. He used to be on a Charlotte news station, but quit to go to YouTube exclusively, and if you follow him, you’ll see why.

My friend says I curse her, because she watches YouTube all the time now. So do I.

I hope you are able to stay cool and have pleasant dreams. I’m very tired of all of the yelling and screaming and burning of buildings and blowing up of the same, that we are experiencing these days. We could go a long way if people would pick up some manners along the way, and learn how to cope with life when it doesn’t go exactly the way we want it to. Coping skills should be taught at first grade and onwards. Better yet, why not start at home. You know, like we USED to. Remember we are told to walk THROUGH the valley, not TO it.

Stay safe and well everyone. (links below to the youtube channels)

Emily D. Baker YouTube Channel (True crime)

 GMWeather YouTube Channel (Weather)

Too Hot for Plants

Don’t laugh. I have little umbrellas in my flower garden. I do! Poor plants are baking. I go out in the morning and set the parasols for the morning sun direction, and then again in the early afternoon. At the rate the temperatures are going, I don’t know if the poor plants can survive Summer.

I can’t plant many shading plants because I live in a townhouse. My only tree is in a pot, and my Loropetalums are pruned to tree shapes. I do what I can with nature. But I broke down and ordered some shade cloth yesterday. Next I have to figure out a way to put it out that will still allow me to see my garden and also water it, until we are not allowed to do that, due to drought.

I have discovered that most plants called out to be ‘full sun’ tolerant, aren’t. Except sedum. And my climbing roses are pretty happy in actual full sun. But the others are taking a beating. The parasols do help, and you can get them on Amazon. They have different size components, to adjust height, and they have a three prong ‘foot’ to hold them in the ground or pot. Oh, and they’re cute.

What are you doing to protect your plants? I know some people build a structure over plants but I can’t do that: townhouse, HOA. But share your secrets! And stay as cool as you can.

Kouri Richins and Why She Will Never Go Away

These days everybody has to do the disclaimers. So here goes: I am not a psychiatrist, not a psychologist, not a comedian, not a brain surgeon, not an astronaut, not a pipe welder blah blah blah. What I AM is a person with a high IQ who studies human beings, the train wreck of all time. Yes, even worse than Great White Sharks. I know the human heart is wretched. I have the Bible to back me up on that. Jeremiah said “human nature is flawed, deceitful, and prone to rationalizing self-interest or destructive behavior“. He didn’t say it exactly like that. I don’t think they even said “rationalizing” in his day, so of course, it is a TRANSLATION. He also said “the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. [1, 2]”

I have been curious in the way one looks at a train wreck, about humanity. If you haven’t noticed, we are changing and not in a good way…of COURSE. I’m going to talk about that in this opinion piece, and you can agree or disagree. I don’t care. I’ve lived long enough to be able to say that right out loud. One more disclaimer: I have a mirror. I am not perfect; in fact, just the opposite. But I am normal. I’m actually what they call ‘stoic’. And I am an introvert. So all the time, people think I don’t have feelings, only because I don’t wail and hop around when I get upset. I flip into quiet problem solving. Sometimes they feel sorry for me because I spend so much time alone. I LIKE BEING ALONE. I like me, I’m comfortable being me, I don’t want to chatter and chatter and chatter, I like to do projects, like to cook. Stuff like that. That’s how I roll. Most people are clumpers. They need to be around other people, in the thick of chaos, and wow, that’s not me. I digress, as usual.

So, Kouri. Kouri is the personification of a personality type that is becoming prevalent in America. When I was younger, I noticed it in nearly everyone in the Middle East, but hardly ever here. Over THERE, they were so unable to control their emotions, that every time something good happened, grown ass men jumped up and down and fired weapons into the air. Of course the men did it; women were under blankets. Then when something BAD happened, grown ass men jumped up and down and fired guns into the air. THEY HOPPED! IN UNISON!! Absolutely NO control of the big emotions. I remember saying, “Man, I hope that brain wiring never comes to America.” And then came the internet. Now I’m sure there were other hopping men, but back THEN we only saw the middle eastern ones. So there’s that. In any case, I believe that particular brain wiring is not contagious, it’s genetics. Except for the low IQ mules on the cart path, who do nothing but follow, all the way to the cliff.

Humans are followers, generally. Innovators and leaders are definitely the minority in the best of times. Being a leader requires the ability to think logically, to plan, a desire to plan, to want to do and be better. All of that. You can’t be lazy if you are a leader. THAT’S the main reason most people are not leaders: the lazy factor.

Back to Kouri: The Kouri types go into the hopper labeled like this: Psychopath, malignant narcissist, evil. It gets separated out from there. Any person who is 1) devoid of feelings for other human beings; 2) monstrously ambitious; 3) willing to step on drowning people to get to the top; 4) unable to accept that they are responsible for their own behavior; 5) diabolically able to act out long term plans to destroy others; 6) completely comfortable with deception and theft; 7) exceptional charmers and manipulators; 8) always disobedient; 9) fiscally and logistically (relationship) irresponsible; 10) they enjoy hurting people, EVEN if their target doesn’t know they were harmed by the perpetrator, belongs in the hopper. This happened to me. I have experienced this type.

One morning, this ‘person who shall remain unnamed’, ONCE AGAIN blamed me for something only he could have done. Frustrated, I said, “If I had that kind of power, you’d be singing soprano.” He didn’t get it, but I, on the other hand, thought I was HILARIOUS. Ultimately, he tried to destroy my life, and nearly succeeded. Why? Because I saw behind his mask and I stopped being his bank. They are BAD people. Once you are in their crosshairs, you are in true danger. It takes a lot to wrench that focus from you onto something else. Their preference is to not stop until you are destroyed. You get in the crosshairs by 1) seeing behind their mask; and 2) no longer being their best toolbox tool. Once they can no longer use you, you are in danger. And once they know YOU know, you are in danger. I made plans to leave, which I ultimately did (in the nick of time I believe), but it took a while. By the time I got out, everything I worked for my entire life was gone. Imagine.

Tree huggers aways want to say that oh they can be rehabilitated, oh they can get ‘counseling’ and be fine. Well, no. No they cannot. When they sit down with a ‘counselor’, their charm and manipulation kicks in. It’s a challenge to them. Then the lies start. God help you if they decide to blame you. They will make up ALL kinds of crap to destroy your reputation, make their counselor think YOU were the bad guy, you MADE him do it. I know. I’ve been through this. There IS no fixing them. They need to be removed from society. Prison is the only place for Kouri.

You may know that Kouri was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. You may have heard Kouri say that she’s never going to stop, that she WILL go home, that she is NOT going away. What did I just tell you? She just told all thinking people exactly whom she is. THEY. NEVER. STOP. This is why I am fairly sure that yes, her sons were in danger of the same fate as their father, who died at Kouri’s hands by poison. Watch for her to harass her dead husband’s family for decades. Watch for it.

By the way, poison is one of the cruelest ways to die, and think about that. Eric knew what was behind her mask, and was locking away his wealth from her, planning a divorce. Those two things guaranteed his demise if he did not leave. And he stayed for his sons. It took too long for him to prepare his escape, and Kouri killed him. But he saved his sons’ lives, in my opinion. What a tragic situation, with one psychopath in the center: Kouri Richins.

Politicans Grinning While Being Hit With Rotten Tomatoes

Oh my gosh, I’m watching Karen Bass at a ‘rally’ of about 30 people, half of which are media. She walked over in the midst of boos and shouts calling her a failure, and her rictus grin only got wider. She grinned and grinned, not able to start her speech due to the heckling from the crowd. She grinned, she found someone over on her right to shake her hand, she linked her hands in front of her precious and grinned and grinned. That particular body language is called ‘protecting the precious’ by one body language expert, by the way. It’s a tell.

The main heckler was AMAZING, a truth teller. He actually ran her away from her own ten person rally. Karen failed miserably in a ‘debate’, and quit. She ran from this ‘rally’. This is her modus operandi now. If it gets bad, run. Problem is, it gets bad before she even gets started. Everywhere she goes, she is just verbally attacked. In my opinion, she was always unqualified to be a mayor, but after the big fire with no water to fight it, she kept going with failure after failure. Money is a strong incentive. Now rather than helping the homeless, she wants dentures for meth heads. HUGE eye roll.

But through this all, you see her grinning so hard that her neck muscles are getting buff. You KNOW she wants to throw down on her dissenters, but she grins and grins and grins. Wouldn’t you love it if just one time, one of the lying, cheating politicians would FLY off the stage and wail on the detractors? Wouldn’t you just pay to see that? Hahaha.

I’m in the middle of writing another blog post and had to stop to do this one. All I can do is laugh in abject fear at today’s politicians. And this site is calling this post ‘fantasy’. ANOTHER EYE ROLL. It’s on TELEVISION.