Our Children Are Our Future

Mourners attend a candlelit memorial service, Thursday night for the 17 victims of the shooting at 

Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo: Greg Lovett / "The Palm Beach Post"

Tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, really hits close to home for me and my family.  Leaves me wondering not so much about the guns, but rather wondering about the way our schools choose to conduct their daily business.  Our children are our future and yet we do so little to ensure their well-being in their daily school environments. Security protocols were much more stringent for my children at the elementary and even junior high levels, but when you get into the high school level security seems to become virtually non-existent.  This is absolutely crazy, because in the high school environment threats can now not only come from without, but also from within --witness the tragic school shooting in, Parkland Florida on Valentine's Day.

I don't see why we cannot secure our children the way you do a medium to large business, with proprietary concerns.  That is to say, each student and teacher should wear a digitally programmed access ID card, to be worn on their person and visible at all times.  If you don't have a card, then you don't have access period.  That way, the office has a digital footprint of who is on campus at all times. Furthermore, each school should have security checkpoints at all major entrances, where visitors can sign in and receive a temporary badge and where security personnel can check bags as needed.  A security camera system would be nice in all schools as well, but this may not be possible in all cases due to prohibitive costs. Perhaps some Federal money, ear-marked for education, needs to be diverted into a fund for setting up security protocols in our high schools?

I'm not saying we should turn our schools into prisons, however, I sincerely believe we should put some much needed accountability into the system where protecting our schools is concerned, particularly at the high school level.  Even if you took all the guns away, I strongly suspect a hurting child intent on inflicting violence upon others would find another method for unleashing their intended violence.  In light of this fact, establishing a secure environment, with real-time eyes and ears on the ground is the only way we can keep our children safe.  Isn't it high time we had this serious action-oriented discussion???

2/16/2018 I was initially hesitant to comment on the shooter in this case until I had some more information.  I can see now why my sixth sense hesitated.  As much as I grieve for the loss of young, innocent lives in this tragic school shooting,  I cannot help but think our system failed this young man.  He was clearly alone in the world and hurting and his 'salvation' was nowhere to found?  We need to do more as a society, as educators, parents and mentors to look out for these children who have been dealt unfair blows.  We need to do more to extend a hand out and up, to offer hope in hours of darkness, to provide safe spaces with answers and a path forward in times of need.  We need to teach our children not to be so judgmental, to call out others who treat their peers with cruelty and disdain.  We cannot live in a world where such little value is placed upon any human life?

I am also thinking that those who would so readily surrender their right to bear arms --as guaranteed by the 2nd amendment of our U.S. Constitution-- naively put way too much faith in those who seek power.  Benjamin Franklin's famous quote is echoing loudly within my mind as I type here in the early a.m. hours "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."  Our founding fathers got this.  They realized that absolute power has a tendency to corrupt in the long run and  that's why they gave us the 2nd amendment. These brilliant men --and the women behind them-- foresaw that in the absence of a right to bear arms, there can be no true consent of the governed. History has demonstrated, time and time again, that quick response emotion-driven fixes often fail to address vital long term consequences. At times like these I have to wonder if the latter is a fundamental difference between modern-day Republicans and Democrats?  The former possess the ability to identify and anticipate long-term ramifications of policy issues, while the latter cannot???

3/6/2018 Watching the Boston Bruins play the Detroit Red Wings in hockey this evening.  Quite an amazing game.  Was pulling for Detroit to win.  Red Wings really gave Boston a run for their money, especially in light of the fact that Red Wings had their starting goal tender playing his debut NHL game.  Sadly, Detroit doesn't have a great record in over-time where they lost.  But still was a great game.  During the first intermission I heard that Stoneman Douglas High School --site of tragic Valentine's Day school shooting-- went on to win the Florida State Championship in hockey just 10 days after the shooting incident.  The Panthers made a surprise visit to the team and brought the Stanley Cup for a visit. Triumph in the face of adversity.  How awesome is that!

Veritas ...

"Veritas" ... The word which has been echoing loudly throughout my thoughts and dreams over the course of this weekend.  It occurs to me that media is being presented ONE FINAL opportunity to redeem themselves, with respect to speaking absolute truth to real power.  We've had enough smoke, mirrors and perceptive spin, where convenient truth is concerned.  History is knocking loudly at the doors of the mainstream media and if they fail to answer honestly this time, then they are as good as dead where credibility is concerned.  Moreover, History will not remember them kindly and their misdeeds will be eternally etched within the volume of Time.

Image Source

U.S. Congress Poised to Finally Pass a Long-term Budget

I wholeheartedly applaud the Congress for finally getting about the business of doing their constitutional duty, that is to provide the framework for a long-term federal budget.  It gives me hope to see the end of this era of short-term budget resolutions --where each side holds the budget process hostage in a partisan effort to advance their pet projects-- might actually be coming to a much needed end.  These short term CRs have been preventing the Congress from doing their job properly since 1996.  The current budget agreement would span almost a full  two-year period, from I understand.  This is truly remarkable and long overdue!

I am glad the leaders in each chamber are succeeding in keeping immigration out of the current negotiations, because the reality is that immigration IS NOT a budget issue.  I agree with Speaker Ryan that the Congress needs to pass a long-term budget so that they are then free to pursue a separate comprehensive immigration reform bill, which would include DACCA considerations.

The above being said, I am a bit confused by the language of some of the dissent I am hearing from members of congress on both sides of the aisle.  Some members are speaking as if this budget is actually an appropriation, that is to say dollars being 'physically' distributed into various department accounts.  My understanding, however, is that the current budget provides only allocations (i.e., ceilings on spending), thereby providing the framework for future appropriations discussions on actual spending.  Such that to my way of thinking, you ought to take the good favor of Democrats and Republicans actually coming together to accomplish something very powerful and you move it across the finish line --preferably before midnight tonight, because there are real people on the other side of these negotiations who stand to lose a lot from further delay. There is plenty of time for grand-standing on deficit spending during the later appropriations process.  Fund the shredded military budget, provide for disaster relief and worry about entitlement reforms later.  Am I completely off-base here???

2/12/2018  Some update terminology FYI:  This most recent 2-year Congressional Bill was an "allocation spending bill", meaning it set the framework (most notably ceilings in key budget areas) for a two-year spending plan.  Future Congressional negotiations will dole out the actual currency to each department, states and municipalities.  This is where the real wheeling and dealing will ensue.  For in order to truly address deficit spending some hardcore, long-term entitlement reform will need to take place. Furthermore, just because a ceiling was set in a given area, does not mean that the Congress needs to appropriate funds that will reach a given ceiling --although, historically Congress does tend to spend what they allocate.  But the good news is that the U.S. Congress finally did it! Congress men and women, Democrat and Republican alike, somehow managed to put aside bi-partisan feuding long enough to reach an agreement on a long-term spending bill.  Rather miraculous, in and of itself, if you ask me --since this has not happened since 1996.  No more government shutdowns every few months.  The U.S. Congress can finally set about seeing to the business they were elected for.  Nicely done!

When the TRUTH Hunts You Down .....

It's all coming out now ... "Graham-Grassley Memo", preceded by the House Oversight Committee "FISA Memo."  Both memos detailing what happens when no-one is watching the guardians?  We wind up with a fourth, heretofore unaccounted for and unaccountable branch of the federal government.  That should scare the heck out of every law-abiding citizen in America, but it probably won't because most people don't seek truth.  There are far too many other bright, shiny distractions to chase after? Then of course, there is is also the fact that you have to be willing to look beyond the smoke and mirrors spin of the left-biased mainstream media.  Smashing the mirrors and looking beyond the smoke, that's where you'll find the true rebels in America these days.

A word of caution to the Trump Administration: You can almost guarantee that pressure for President Trump to testify before Special Counsel Robert Mueller will now intensify, from both the Democrats and left-biased mainstream media, in light of damaging information coming out that points to top-level abuses of power --if not outright criminal misconduct-- on the part of holdover (appointments during Obama Administration) senior FBI and DOJ officials.  The left will be wanting  to find anything and everything to use as fuel for a timely distraction FIRE from the emerging truth.  Where this emerging truth seems to be pointing to the fact that the only real "collusion to influence the recent 2016 Presidential Election" came from the left, including the aforementioned senior FBI and DOJ holdovers (most notably James Comey, former FBI Director), with the trail leading all the way back to the Hillary Clinton, the DNC and even several Obama State Department Officials.

If President Trump is smart, he will state unequivocally that "in light of everything that is coming out now, w.r.t. to the FISC and related information, I have decided to postpone my interview with Mueller's team until we get to the bottom of real evidence of collusion during the 2016 Election." Then to this end, Jeff Sessions needs to immediately appoint a Special Counsel to open a new, all encompassing investigation to follow-up on this new paper trail of abuse and misconduct at the highest levels of the FBI and DOJ. Congress can investigate and call for resignations, but it cannot prosecute.  The DOJ, under the guidance of the Attorney General, has to step up to the plate when it comes to prosecuting individuals for any criminal misconduct.

later p.m. ... The narrative of absolutes is rearing its ugly head already.  Former VP Joe Biden is claiming, in his most recent interview, that any investigation of the FBI is "full-throated" and disparaging to the entire FBI.  When the truth is that the factual evidence (i.e, legal documents and testimony to Congressional committees) suggests we have a real problem at the senior-most levels of the FBI, dating back to the Obama Administration during the course of the 2016 Presidential Election.  The problem is with the "suits" at the FBI, not the boots and most honest media coverage has gone out of its way to make this clear distinction.  The evidence presented to date --and there is likely more to come-- represents a serious danger to our constitutional democracy, because the abuses outlined by the evidence clearly demonstrate that our FBI was allowed to operate unchecked, in a weaponized fashion toward the end of influencing a presidential election and likely undermining the subsequent legitimacy of President Donald Trump.  At the very least, we need to clean some serious house and then close gaping process loop-holes, starting with the defacto rubber-stamping of FISC warrants.  Someone in this "secret court" needs to be looking out for the accused (i.e., ensuring evidence presented for the warrant has been thoroughly verified), the American citizen who is about to unknowingly lose all his/her rights to privacy and due process.  At the end of all this, any reasonable person --with half a brain-- is left wondering who else has this weaponized FBI spied on??? And if there is perhaps any correlation between this conjecture and the fact that 9 Republican chairs have announced plans to step down at the end of their term, while 34++ Republican Congressmen plan not to seek re-election.  Does not "Democracy die in darkness"? And of course the million dollar question, I suppose is "what did the President [Obama] know, and when did he know it?"

Super Blue-Blood Moon on the Eve of the SOTU

Thought it was a noteworthy coincidence that President Trump presented his first official "State of the Union" address on the eve of a spectacular triple-featured Lunar event, an event that has not occurred in the last 150 years.  You see, last night happened to be triple-featured Moon: 1) A rare Blue Moon (2nd Full Moon in a given month); 2) Super Moon (Moon at point closet to Earth in its slightly elliptical orbit, which makes the Moon appear to be significantly closer and brighter); 3) Total Lunar Eclipse.  The last feature is what gives the moon its red colored appearance, as the shadow of the Earth cast onto the moon makes the moon appear reddish in color; hence the term "Blood Moon."

Image from Phys.org

I'll share my thoughts on the President's speech a bit later, save to say that I found it highly ironic that the Left, along with a complicit mainstream media, were carrying on about a supposed evidential "divisiveness in the President's speech" --which ironically is a claim that post polling by CNN poll did not even support.  I just found the post-speech discussion by Democratic officials and left-leaning media outlets to be highly inaccurate, given the fact that almost everything in the actions of the Democrat Officials present for the State of the Union exuded divisiveness.  I mean, if you can't stand in support of two African-American families who lost their precious sixteen year-old daughters to immigrant gang violence, if you cannot stand for the lowest African-American unemployment (6.8%) in our nation's history or jobs coming back to America by the hundreds of thousands, along with rising wages, then what exactly can you stand for???  The Democrats did not even stand in support of a shout-out to one of their own, Congressman Steve Scalise, who is still in the process of recovering from a gunshot wound suffered this past summer.  The optics just looked incredibly bad for the Democratic party and it leaves me wondering, what exactly do Democrats stand for these days?

I'll leave you with NASA's Super Blood Moon Photo Contest Winner.  And if you happened to miss the incredible "Super Blood Moon" or if it was not visible in your area: Here is a link to a replay of last night's live-stream event hosted by Gian Masi.  A special expression of gratitude to Gian Masi and collaborating team of astronomers for making the effort to bring this amazing stellar experience to stargazers across the globe by way of live-streaming video.  Truly breathtaking real-time images! Thank you for sharing!


2/7/2018 It's all coming out now ... "Graham-Grassley Memo."