Advice from another old man

1. Have a firm handshake.

Because nothing beats a good first impression.

2. Look people in the eye.

Build your self-confidence, and build others' confidence in you.

3. Sing in the shower.

Change your mood and inspire positivity.

4. Own a great stereo system.

Because music is one of the biggest influences on our emotions.

5. Keep secrets.

Otherwise, you'll quickly lose others' trust.

6. Never give up on anybody.

Miracles happen every day.

7. Always accept an outstretched hand.

No man is an island.

8. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be.

Because no one can tell the difference.

9. Whistle.

Same reason as No. 3.

10. Avoid sarcastic remarks.

Snark may get you laughs, but it will also lose you friends.

11. Choose your life's mate carefully.

From this one decision will come 90 per cent of all your happiness or misery.

12. Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.

It's the giving that makes you happy. Not the credit.

13. Lend only those books you never care to see again.

Save yourself the frustration.

14. Never deprive someone of hope.

It might be all that they have.

15. When playing games with children, let them win.

Maybe not always...but enough to help them feel the joy of triumph.

16. Be romantic.

Because love makes the world go 'round.

17. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

It'll pay rich dividends.

18. Loosen up. Relax.

Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.

19. Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments.

It's there for our convenience, not the caller's.

20. Be a good loser.

Or everyone will hate you.

21. Be a good winner.

Or everyone will hate you.

22. Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.

Especially if you want it to remain a secret.

23. When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.

Unless the hug is unwanted.

24. Be humble.

A lot was accomplished before you were born.

25. Keep it simple.

'Nuff said.

26. Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.

And always help if you can.

27. Don't burn bridges.

You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.

28. Live your life so that your epitaph could read, "No Regrets."

Easier said than done...but try your best.

29. Be bold and courageous.

When you look back on life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.

30. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

Same reason as No. 16.

31. Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.

Same reason as No. 7.

32. Take charge of your attitude.

Don't let someone else choose it for you.

33. Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital, even if you can only stay for a few minutes.

You won't regret it.

34. Begin each day with some of your favorite music.

Same reason as No. 4.

35. Once in a while, take the scenic route.

You'll often find more joy in the journey than the destination.

36. Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.

Same reason as No. 17.

37. Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table.

Because the best ideas can strike at 3 a.m.

38. Show respect for every job, regardless of how trivial.

Because the job does not make the person.

39. Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.

Same reason as No. 16.

40. Make someone's day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.

You'll make your own day, too.

41. Become someone's hero.

Because everybody needs one.

42. Marry only for love.

It's the only way to survive the challenges to come.

43. Count your blessings.

It will make you happier.

44. Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.

This makes you happier, too.

45. Wave at the children on a school bus.

It will remind you that children are the future. And help them see that you know that, too.

46. Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.

So if you haven't learned how, start now.

47. Don't expect life to be fair.

But no matter what, never lose hope.

Found at website https://www.eqapplied.com/bariso/sage-advice-from-an-80-year-old-man who says it’s been around the internet for some time.

Advice from A Wise Old Man

-Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
-Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
-Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
-A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
-Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled.
-Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
-Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
-Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
-It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
-You cannot unsay a cruel word.
-Every path has a few puddles.
-When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
-The best sermons are lived, not preached.
-Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
-Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
-Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
-Don‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
-Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.
-If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
-Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
-The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
-Always drink upstream from the herd.
-Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
-Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
-If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around..
-Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
-Most times, it comes down to common sense.

More on Reparations by Booker

Booker on Reparations: “Since slavery in this country, we have had overt policies fueled by white supremacy and racism that have oppressed African-Americans economically for generations,” Booker said in a statement on Monday, according to Fox News. “Many of our bedrock domestic policies that have ushered millions of Americans into the middle class have systematically excluded blacks through practices like GI Bill discrimination and redlining.”

Someone needs to remind Booker that these policies were put in place by his party, Democrats, who for decades attempted to block Republicans' civil rights legislation. Democrats were behind Jim Crow, the KKK, terrorism by lynching, separate but equal (which some blacks are now bringing back), overt discrimination based on color, quota system in college enrollment, open borders to allow competition for jobs, voter fraud with illegals crossing out their voting rights, and now systematic killing of generations of black babies beginning in the 1970s. Even the minimum wage was put in place to keep blacks from under cutting whites in a tight labor market. Clever guys, those Dems. They don't teach these things during Black History Month. Or that free blacks owned slaves at a higher rate than whites in the south.

Military dog stamps

I’m looking forward to seeing the military dog stamps (scroll down). I send about 500 cards a year and am always looking for handsome stamps.  During one of our Veterinary Medicine Librarian meetings in San Antonio we took a bus to an Air Force base and watched the dogs being trained. https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/0129-updates-to-2019-stamp-program.htm

“Military Working Dogs

The Postal Service honors the nation’s brave and loyal military working dogs with this new booklet of 20 stamps. Each block of four stamps features one stamp of each of the following breeds — German shepherd, Labrador retriever, Belgian Malinois and Dutch shepherd — that commonly serve in America's armed forces. The background of each stamp features a detail of a white star. A star appears in the center of each block. The stylized digital illustrations are in red, white, blue and gold to represent the American flag and patriotism. The art was created by DKNG Studios. Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps.”

Do we really need the federal government for common sense?

"The U.S. Senate’s Judicial Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), will host a hearing, titled “Stifling Free Speech: Technology Censorship and the Public Discourse,” which will address whether social media giant Twitter and other tech companies are censoring conservative speech, including the hit pro-life movie UNPLANNED." (Carmel Communications)

Do we want the government directly involved in managing a private business like cable stations and social media companies? Are they now public utilities? Cities and states stifle religious expression and thought through local regulations and laws (bakeries, restaurants, flower shops)--does the federal government need to pile on another layer? Are there tax adjustments the government can make to companies who violate our freedom of expression and religion?

Poor are getting rich

"The poor in the world are getting rich at a rate that is absolutely unparalleled in all of human history. I think a large part of that is happening in Africa. By the way, here’s another lovely piece of news, the child mortality rate in Africa is now the same as it was in Europe in 1952. That’s an absolute miracle. It’s insane that that’s not front-page news, right? That within a lifetime. And the fastest-growing economies in the world are also there." Jordan Peterson, Heritage Foundation,

https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/04/08/jordan-peterson-explains-what-draws-people-to-socialism/

Cory Booker and reparations

I wonder if Cory Booker's reparations bill carries heavier tax penalties for Hispanic Americans since it is their ancestors who introduced slavery to the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. He appears to be about 95% European, so I suppose he'll get less as he tries to vote himself a raise? And since there are millions of African Americans whose families immigrated during the 20th century, will Booker propose a test--or will they have to pay more since their ancestors sold other Africans to the Europeans? Barack Obama has no ties at all to pre-Civil Rights era America.

Free blacks in the U.S. southern states owned slaves at a higher rate than whites, most of whom were too poor to own any property. Free blacks in the U.S. voted in the 1700s--they voted for the Constitution! But Democrats have traditionally put in place laws and regulations to hold blacks down or decrease their numbers, especially the Jim Crow laws and abortion clinics. About 40% of black pregnancies end with abortion. How about reparations from the DNC for that, Senator Booker?

Today, there is more world wide slavery than during the 18th century transatlantic slave trade--much of it still African. Children are forced to work in mines in Africa so Mr. Booker can have a cell phone. Perhaps the Senator should come up with a plan to free them instead of trying to undo the results of the Civil War which freed the slaves.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/09/cory-booker-introduce-slavery-reparations-bill-senate/3409097002/

Are you Red Pilled?

Red Pill refers to the 1999 “The Matrix” when the main character chooses to take a pill that will wake him to reality no matter how painful. Former Democrats often refer to themselves as “red pilled”.

If you are  not red pilled you are getting your news almost exclusively from CNN, MSNBC, Twitter celebs, leftist memes on FB, and you read uncritically Vox, Daily Breast, WaPo, NYT or some form of academic drivel. You’ve accepted without question lies about Trump created from edited video and audio about Charlottesville and MS-13; you accept his jokes and humor as factual; you believe biology is fluid and gender a social construct; you fall for the SJW virtue signaling and AOC’s version of climate change which requires Socialism; you may even accept Open Borders and quote the Bible (except for that part about the Cross).

Come on—take the red pill—you’ll feel better when you heal. It only hurts your pride, and you may lose a few friends.

That other Vlad evaluates the Candidates for 2020

A note on April 1 from Lenin about the Democrat candidates: "Skinny boychik with fake Spanish name, the one from Texas with rich wife who stares at him like Renaissance painting– is he old enough to vote? Looks like kids in Red Army ended up as horsemeat during Siege of Leningrad. Yes, I was gone by then, but I watch. Would be good scoutmaster or director of afterschool program at local YMCA. But president? Maybe chess club if he knows rules."

And more.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lenin-evaluates-democratic-candidates-for-2020/?

The Democrat platform for 2020

The 2020 campaign and platform for the Democrats, based on recent behavior of those in Congress and those who have declared:

1. Open borders.
2. Pack the polls with ex-felons, 16 year olds, and illegals.
3. Destroy the electoral college so Democrats can legally win all future presidential elections with 4 states they packed with #1 and #2.
4. Implement the Green New Deal so the public sector control and influence is greater than the private sector--aka socialism.
5. Infanticide and late term abortion for any reason.
6. Abortion's progressive outcome, euthanasia for the inconvenient, ill, disabled and elderly.
7. Ratchet up the hate, fear and distrust with more identity politics and intersectionalism.
8. Reparations for slavery.
9. Destruction of first and second amendments, with more regulations, more laws, especially on religion, speech, and assembly on college campuses which then infects the whole society as academe has been doing for 50 years.
10. Find more charges to bring against the President and his family.

During the campaign, because it pleases the gullible and fattens the purse, the emphasis will be #1 (worded in compassionate and Biblical terms), #7 and #10. The others are really distasteful for most Americans and will need to be more incremental with more changes in the language with talk of core values, ethics, etc., the best double speak they can find.

Why have Democrats abandoned Israel?

"[Hypocrisy and arrogance] can be found throughout the relationship between Democratic leadership and Israel/Jews since the 2018 election. Since its inception in 1948, America, and especially the Democratic party has been allied with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. But with the new media popularity of Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar, the leadership of the Democratic party has surrendered their values in favor of making these three freshmen representatives happy. Although all three have clearly and repeatedly demonstrated anti-Semitic behavior, especially Omar, the Democratic leadership has turned over the persona of the party to them in hopes of acquiring a younger base of voters.

These three women have defined Israel as “evil” and an “apartheid regime”, compared Gaza terrorists to civil rights activists, and idolized Louis Farrakhan, one of the most vocal and horrific anti-Semites of the last forty years. And yet, instead of apologizing for their behavior and making it clear that their words and actions are not representative of the traditional values of the Democratic party, the leadership has done the exact opposite. Instead of making amends, they have embraced these freshmen, even putting the most vocally anti-Semitic Omar on the House Committee on Foreign Relations. Speaker Pelosi poses proudly with them on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and Senator Schumer pulled back support of an anti-BDS bill in January that would have supported Israel as a result of their pressure. When a bill was proposed to condemn anti-Semitism and the hatred espoused by especially Omar, the bill was watered down to include all hatred without taking Omar to task personally." (Rabbi Michael Barclay of Temple Ner Simcha in Westlake Village, Calif) https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=bf141dbbd818f4f933816b13a=&idbd6e379

What is the role of non-profits?

The Special Olympics is in the news right now.  Betsy DeVos suggested budget cuts, and since it isn’t a government agency, she recommended cutting the $15 million it gets from the federal government.  I didn’t know they got any—but I should have.  It’s a worthy organization, doing a lot of good, and we contribute. For the last 50 years, the federal government has been “bullying” the non-profits, while also providing a large part of their funding.

"Until recently, our understanding of the development of the welfare state in advanced industrial coun­tries assumed that the hallmark of a progressive welfare state was a large public sector that regulated the private sector to a small residual role. In this view, the United States with its smaller public sector and larger private nonprofit sector com­pared unfavorably. The government contracting with nonprofit agen­cies calls the prevailing view into question. In the recent period, government has used nonprofit agencies to expand the boundaries of the welfare state in the United States in a host of service categories - from child abuse to domestic violence to homelessness. The result is a welfare state that is more expansive than would be the case if policy makers relied solely on the public sector." Political Science Quarterly, vol 104, no.4 1989-90.

This article is 30 years old, but the points still hold true--except for that part that non-profits don't have the bloated salaries of government workers. It wouldn't surprise me if the non-profit heads aren't making more than comparable level of government employees.

There is a revolving door in DC for one party's pooh-bahs to move to a non-profit when out of power, then be called back when they regain power. This really ballooned under GHW Bush--"Thousand points of Light."

Ukraine is getting as much press as Russia these days

“While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC). The focus on AntAC was part of a larger probe by Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office into whether 4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted. The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, where the Obama administration took the rare step of trying to press the Ukrainian government to back off its investigation of both the U.S. aid and the group...It turns out the group that Ukrainian law enforcement was probing was co-funded by the Obama administration and liberal mega-donor George Soros. And it was collaborating with the FBI agents investigating then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s business activities with pro-Russian figures in Ukraine. ”

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/435906-us-embassy-pressed-ukraine-to-drop-probe-of-george-soros-group-during-2016

The War on Black Marriage

"Black demographics" (web site) is very pro-Obama, but has some good information. "In 2012 The U.S Census Bureau released a report that studied the history of marriage in the United States. They discovered some startling statistics when calculating marriage by race. They found that African Americans age 35 and older were more likely to be married than White Americans from 1890 until sometime around the 1960s. Not only did they swap places during the 60s but in 1980 the number of NEVER married African Americans began a staggering climb from about 10% to more than 25% by 2010 while the percentage for White women remained under 10% and just over 10% for White men."

So, what happened in the early 1960s? It seems the instability in the black family doesn't trace to slavery days, but to the so-called "War on Poverty" when Uncle Sam became a step-father to thousands. Now if you look the comparative wealth of whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians, you see that Asian Americans have the greatest household wealth, highest rate of education, and the lowest child poverty. And--the highest marriage rates. Who knew? Apparently we did--until the government stepped in to help.

I have not been able to locate the Census report of 2012 cited in the article. https://blackdemographics.com/households/marriage-in-black-america/  But I’ve heard Jason Riley site the same statistics in False Black Power. https://www.hoover.org/research/jason-riley-false-black-power

Juss-tice

I was listening to a Chicago talk show host in the car during the church mail run (didn't catch his name), and he'd done some research on hate crime hoaxes. It turns out, he said, it's not that unusual to be let off with a slap on the wrist. Don't know the source of his information.

But because our culture is fascinated by victimhood we reward the hoaxers. Because intersectionality outranks all the rest, the Chicago guy thinks the light sentences encourage this. (Intersectionality means a lesbian Hispanic with one leg who is also low income and working as a maid ranks higher in victimhood than an Appalachian straight woman who works in a coal mine and is abused.)

Even with a video of the 2 Nigerian guys buying red hats and ropes and their check from Jussie Smollett, the media want us to just say, "we'll never know" what happened.  This may be the first time I've ever agreed with Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago who says it's a complete whitewash. Kamala Harris "is confused," and although when the hoax first came out she said it was "a modern day lynching," now she says we don't have the evidence.

Jon Miller, talk show host, says its privilege.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgLNz4Y7jF4 

The middle class isn't going to disappear

"America’s middle class is disappearing but it’s because they are moving into higher income groups not moving into lower income groups. Between 1969 and 2017, the share of US households making $100,000 or more (in constant 2017 dollars) has more than tripled from 9% to 29.2%, while the share of households making $35,000 to $100,000 decreased from 53.8% to 41.3%. And the share of households making $35,000 or less decreased from 37.2% to 29.5%." Carpe Diem

 https://www.aei.org/publication/monday-morning-links-29/?

The Smollett crime

Project 21, a conservative black think-tank opined: "Washington, DC - After prosecutors dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett in the case of an alleged Chicago hate crime hoax, members of the Project 21 black leadership network are condemning the situation as a crass display of "celebrity privilege" harmful to both race relations and the reputation of the law enforcement community. Project 21 continues to maintain that the NAACP should drop its nomination of Smollett for an honor at its upcoming Image Awards ceremony.

"This case stands for one clear proposition - regardless of color. In America today, people of wealth and privilege can escape accountability for the same acts that mainstream Americans cannot," said Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper. "This deal stinks, and it makes a mockery of the idea that all Americans are equal before the law." "

Count the citizens!

Identity theft

The crime of identity theft happens more often to wealthier, white, females.

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vit16_sum.pdf

“Based on the 2016 survey, more females (13.5 million) experienced identity theft than males (12.5 million). However, males and females had similar identity-theft prevalence rates (10% each). Whites (12%) had a higher prevalence of identity theft than blacks (7%), Hispanics (6%), and persons of other races (8%). Whites and persons of two or more races (12% each) had a similar prevalence of identity theft. Persons ages 35 to 49 and ages 50 to 64 (12% each) had a higher prevalence of identity theft than all other age groups.

Also, persons in the highest income category (those in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more, which includes 35% of all persons age 16 or older) had the highest prevalence of identity theft  (14% experienced it).”

The gender gap is a mommy gap

It's not a pay gap, it's a mommy gap. A choice gap. "43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers or off-ramping for a period of time." ("Lean in" by Sheryl Sandburg) And I know this is difficult to understand, but a baby is a whole lot more fun than attending meetings, rushing to catch a plane, or listening to office gossip. So many women cut their hours, at least for a period of time, to enjoy their children rather than put them in day care or send them off to grandma's. That of course, means their salaries don't keep up.

I see my doctor tomorrow--she's only working 2 days a week since she had a baby last year. And it's her choice--it's an all female practice, and I think they are all doing that. Now if you want to study gaps, check out the difference the all female clerical staff who work full time, make compared to the doctors who are working 2/5 time.