Day 10- Quarantine-Dredging the Pond

Posted on 26/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

This morning was perfect for a day in the garden. The temperature was mild and the wind was calm. After of winter of catching wind blown leaves it was time to clean the pond. Where in the world these leaves come from is a mystery. Each fall I hire Mexicans to clear my garden of leaves, but I pulled oak, maple, ginkgo, pear, apple, and poplar from around the yard this spring. Pond cleaning is a job I dread for a couple of reasons: one, it tires me out too fast, and two, because it is a super-dirty, and smelly task. All the while I raked through the water with my fifty-year old leaf rake I kept wondering if I would awaken a new COVID-19. There are so many pathogens released from decaying matter it is entirely possible. One year, I had a pond filled with Ichthyophthirius multifiliis protozoan more commonly referred to as “ich”. The cure was not easy, but effective.

Two years ago in June, my Son-in-law gifted me with some fish, two Koi, and a dozen comet goldfish; one Koi was white the other gold, they were two inches long, the comets were one inch, and their color varied from solid gold, and some had variations of white and black. By the end of that first summer they had tripled in size and I took special care to maintain them over the winter, and happily they survived. This is the first batch of fish to have done so in over five years. The trick I used was to keep my pump running through the winter which kept the water moving and aerated. The pump failed this January, and the fish were dead by February. It was sad because last summer these fish experienced explosive growth. The two Koi grew to over twelve inches long and the comets were easily six inches. It helped that I fed them all season. Oh well, so much for my attempt to sustain life in the pond.

 

Needless to say, I didn’t see, or come near any living people to catch or to spread the COVID-19 virus. I listened to the Mayor of Chicago chastising the population for not heeding her warning to stay in place. Too many people are out running, walking, skating, skate boarding along the lake front bike path. She fired a shot over our heads and threatened to fine people who don’t heed the advice.

On the Federal level, the scare is wearing down. I can tell by the amount political finger-pointing going on between the parties. Political badminton disappeared for the last couple of weeks and now it is returning. If President Trump  could cure everyone that is sick, raise those who died, restored the economy to its pre-virus status, and eradicate the virus the Never-Trumpers and Democrats would accuse him of some wrong doing. In my history of listening to politics through the terms of thirteen presidents I have never witnessed anything as bad as the hate and resentment against Trump. The country is clearly divided and has been for twenty years. There is no more partisanship where the parties debate and vote for what is right. In today’s world they don’t debate but rather denigrate each other, and vote along party lines. It has become a “them versus us” system whichever party has the most representatives in office are the winners. Thank God the framers were genius in setting up the system with checks and balances. We all cringe when nothing gets done because of the constant blocking of legislation by one party or another, but the system is working as designed.

I was not a fan of President Obama. In my eyes he was a communist whose goal was to destroy America. When he asked for stimulus packages of a trillion dollars I was his biggest critic and voiced my opinion on this blog daily with sarcastic essays and cartoons to make my point. It didn’t matter. Today, when I see them arguing over how to spend two trillion dollars to save the economy I cringe again. How in the hell will we pay that bill? We don’t need Bernie Sanders to steal the Treasury to attempt to pay for his communist policies we are stealing his thunder by doing it in the name of “saving the economy.”

I don’t know how I would handle things if I were in Trump’s shoes, but I believe in the man and his performance so far. Therefore, I will play the game and be a good soldier to save my fellow citizens.

Filed under: Biography, Conservative, family, Fish, Garden, Government, politics, Pond | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Day 4 of Self Exile

Posted on 19/03/2020 by Grumpa Joe

Today, I slept until 9:00 a.m. That is highly unusual for me, but I’ll take it. My body must need the rest. I chopped scallions, three kinds of pepper, red, yellow, and green to sauté. Then added garlic to some beaten eggs for a scramble. I needed a little bit more so I added a dollop of cottage cheese to the plate. While eating I watched the horrible news about corona virus. That blended into the “Stump Trump Hour.” All the while I wondered if there were less than ten reporters in the room. Certainly they were not six feet apart, and certainly they do not have brains. The questions were repetitious, and boring. Don’t these people listen to the answers? Some of them impressed me as attempts to stump Trump into changing his first response. When experts tell you that a vaccine is twelve to eighteen months away why is it necessary to ask if the system is fast tracking the process? When the Vice President reports that 3M is making 30 million face masks a month why is it necessary to push the answer toward why St. John Doe Hospital in Podunk is out of face masks?

Industrial grade face mask

 

 

Respirators that the press believes we should have millions on hand at each hospital

The whole thing could have been over in fifteen minutes, instead the President patiently answered the questions. The strangest I thought was why are you calling this the Chinese virus , isn’t that being racist? Duhh, lady where is your brain? It came from China and who care is the virus is racist? It will still kill you the first chance it gets even if you call it the honey coated-critter from space. The brains really stopped functioning when Dr. Deborah Birx reported that there has been a large increase in cases reported since last week, but that it is due to the fact that the backlog of tests has been corrected, and now reported. Then, the brains really began smoking when she reported that there are more positives now that all the test kits everyone complained about not having two days ago are now available. The dumbest question goes to the reporter who asked what the President is going to do for those in prisons? Isn’t a prison the ultimate form of quarantine? All the wardens have to do is to shut off visitors and check prison workers for the virus, end of calamity.

President Trump threw a fast one at them by reporting that several cruise lines offered to let the government use some of their empty cruise liners as hospital ships or quarantine centers. I gave one reporter credit for changing the subject by asking what the President was doing to rescue some 300 Americans stranded in Peru. If it were me answering that one, I would have told her “nothing, they got there on their own they can get home on their own.” President Trump, however, was again very calm and politely explained that he most likely would have to use military to bring them out. The reporter heard military and must have envisioned a war with Peru, because Trump had to correct his statement by adding “military aircraft” to the statement.

Throughout the conference I kept asking myself why are these people expecting the Federal Government to perform miracles and to take care of their every need, face masks, respirators, drugs, etc? Everyone of us lives in a State within the Union called the United States of America. Each of our States is an independent government with departments identical to those of the feds. State responsibility is first and foremost before the federal government should step in. If your state is not getting things done, you should be harassing the governor not the president. The problem is that the states are all broke because they have too many retirees to send pension checks to and not enough money to spend on disasters.

The President’s daily Task Force report via press conference to the American people was very informative and calming. He does not convey any sense of panic on any of the subjects and did not have to defer any questions to later or to someone else, he knew the answers. Twice, he told a reporter he would not answer the question.

After the conference I donned my rain gear and went for a 45 minute walk in the rain. It is the first day of Spring, and it was refreshing but cold. It is also the feast of Saint Joseph, my namesake, so it is special to me.  I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Filed under: Aging, family, Government, health care | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Lest We Forget

Posted on 04/06/2019 by Grumpa Joe

All I hear these days is how we must impeach President Trump for the very act of defending himself against attempts to bring him down. They call it obstruction of justice. I call it defending yourself from the savages. If anybody deserved impeachment it was President Obama. In order to make my case I submit the following list of Obama’s accomplishments. I remind you that these accomplishments are the basis of many Left Wing Americans citing “that’s not who we are” as a nation when arguing about President Trump’s actions.  If we want to be known as a lying, cheating, Constitutional trashing Nation, then we hold Obama’s accomplishments dear.

Here’s a list of President Obama’s accomplishments:

1. First President to be photographed smoking a joint

2. First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner. (Impeachable)

3. First President to have a social security number from a state he hasnever lived in. (Impeachable)

4. First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.

5. First President to violate the War Powers Act. (Impeachable)

6. First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

7. First President to require all Americans to purchase a product (health insurance) from a third party. (impeachable)

 8. First President to spend nearly a trillion dollars on “shovel-ready”jobs (and then he literally joked “well I guess they weren’t so shovel-ready” about it (18 months later)

9. First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters. (Impeachable)

10. First President to bypass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat. (Impeachable)

11. First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S., including those

with criminal convictions.

12. First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.

13. First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Rick Wagoner of GM) to resign.

14. First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.

15. First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.

16. First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.

17. First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law (Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it. (Impeachable)

18. First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.

19. First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state t is allowed to locate a factory.

20. First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).

21. First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had beenproperly issued years ago.

22. First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).

23. First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-Corps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case. (Impeachable)

24. First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.

25. First President to surround himself with radical left-wing anarchists.

26. First President to hide his birth, medical, educational and travel records.

27. First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing to earnit (he was President for only 7.5 months).

28. First President to go on multiple “global apology tours” and concurrent “insult our friends” tours

29. First President to have twenty personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.

30. First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.

31. First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago weekly at taxpayer expense.

32. First President to repeat the Quran and tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.

33. First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American50 states (Mexico vs Arizona). (Impeachable)

34. First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they “volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences.”

35. Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that they were unpatriotic for balking at the last suggestion.

36. First President to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels in the hopes of abolishing our Second Amendment gun ownership rights. (Impeachable)

37. First President to abandon a US Ambassador to fight off a terrorist attack by himself. (Impeachable)

38. First President to approve the sale of US Uranium reserves to our Russian enemy. (Impeachable)

39. First President to knowingly abet a coup against a sitting US President because his party’s candidate lost the election. (Treason)

40. First President to pardon a traitorous US military man who defected to the enemy.

 

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So Much To Write About

Posted on 22/05/2019 by Grumpa Joe

 

The news is filled with so many interesting topics to write about. I have opinions on all of it, but lack the drive to report on any of it. Writing a blog post is high on my list of things to do today so I have to get it done regardless of my energy level.

The first topic is the democrat attempt to get the president’s tax returns, business files, and general records from the time he was born. (I know that is wrong, but I have to get this out of my system). My solution is to offer to give the dems everything they ask for in return for President Obama’s locked and sealed records. His education records, his student finances, his birth certificate (the real one not a phony one) etc. The danger of exposing him as a fraudulent and illegal president would put the matter to rest.

Perhaps you can tell by my tone that I am not an Obama fan, never was, and never will be one. I feel for the president because the democrats are giving him the same crap I extended towards Obama. Obama lovers, however, outnumber Trump lovers and Obama the communist that he is, will prevail in a socialist leaning populace.

Next, I watched a Fox News Town Hall broadcast of Mayor Pete Buttagieg. I was impressed with his fluidity in responses. Either he is a genius fast thinking brain, or he has been rehearsing his answers since he was born. I liken him to a white Obama; Mr Smooth, likable, but unbelievable. Actually he outshines Obama. Obama talked smooth, but never made sense or committed himself to specifics. Mayor Pete is not afraid of specifics. His policies are one hundred percent socialist. He is thirty seven years old which would make him among the youngest of presidents. Youth often lacks wisdom and Mayor Pete would fail miserably against the likes of the Ayatollah, Vladimir Putin, and other more wiser leaders. If Nancy Pelosi were a republican she would have him for breakfast. Instead she coddles him like a baby grandson. He is openly homosexual, and tauts his husband at his side. Surely, that will earn him a bullet in that fast thinking brain by one of the homo-haters amongst us.

Impeach, impeach, impeach is all I ever kept yelling at the TV during the Obama years. Yet nothing ever came of it. That is because the republicans knew the democrat senate would never pass it. I can’t say the same for the democrats, they own both houses and would pass anything that said impeachment on it regardless if it held water or not. I can’t see the value of impeaching a president for political purposes. In Obamas’ case he was in my mind a totally illegitimate president not technically qualified for the position but elected none the less. The Trump situation is all about the dem’s not winning an election by vote so they must try any other means possible to remove him from office.

Lastly, fire the entire upper echelon of the FBI, and the old Justice Department employees. We need a fresh start with the new Attorney General hand picking his team. Jail everyone of the traitors who actively engaged in an attempt to overthrow the government. Actually, jail would be too big a drain on the system. I would personally pay for the bullets needed to exterminate the vermin.

I made it, and now I can go grind wood.

 

 

 

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Dear Senator Durbin

Posted on 10/04/2019 by Grumpa Joe

At the end of March, 2019 I sent an E-mail to my Senators Dick Durbin, and Tammy Duckworth asking that they fund President Trump’s request to build a wall at our southern border. I knew I’d get an answer from Durbin because his term expires in 2020, and he needs votes. He didn’t disappoint me he wrote the following:

Dear Grumpa Joe:

          Thank you for contacting me regarding funding for a new border wall.  I appreciate hearing from you.

          At midnight, on December 22, 2018, President Trump shut down the government because funding for a new border wall was not included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriation bills.  On January 25, 2019, President Trump signed a temporary spending bill passed by Congress, which funded government agencies through February 15, and brought the longest government shutdown in history, and the third government shutdown of President Trump’s term, to an end.

          On January 30, 2019, the first public meeting of the FY 2019 Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Committee, of which I was a part, took place.  I called on Democratic and Republican conferees to focus on smart and effective border security measures instead of the President’s threats to shut down the government again without border wall funding.

          On February 16, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-6), which provides funding for the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of FY 2019.  This bipartisan package rejected President Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for a border wall and makes responsible investments in border security.

          I support strong and effective border security.  The type of border security that Democrats have long-supported, including increased funding for technology, is what experts have said is needed and actually works.  What doesn’t work is an ineffective, expensive medieval wall.  While the President claims he wants to build this wall to stop the flow of drugs, his own Administration has stated that the vast majority of lethal narcotics that cross our southern border come through legal ports of entry.  That is why our bipartisan agreement to fund the government provides additional funding for technology and Customs personnel—real solutions that will help stop the narcotics that are killing our children. This is real border security to address a real threat to America—the opioid epidemic.

          Second, we insisted on humanitarian assistance such as medical care to ensure those who come to our border are treated in a humane way.  Sadly, two small children came to our border and died before they could receive the medical assistance they needed. I do not ever want to see that happen again.

          Finally, we rejected the Administration’s demand for changes in our asylum laws that would undermine our legal and moral obligations to provide safe haven to families and children fleeing persecution.

          We must turn away from President Trump’s fear-mongering approach to those who come to our border, many of whom are just seeking a better life as many of our ancestors did.  The President’s approach is not representative of the best of America.  It represents the kind of division that does not recognize the heritage, that makes us who we are as a nation.

Thank you again for contacting me.  I will keep your concerns in mind as the Senate continues to discuss effective border security.  Please feel free to keep in touch.<span “=””>

 

Sincerely,
 
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
RJD/mt

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Here is my response to his response.

Dear Senator Durbin:

Thank you for answering my e-mail in which I directed you to vote in favor of funding the wall along the southern border with Mexico.

I understand the trauma you suffered at the hands of President Trump as he took the desperate move to spur Congress into action by shutting down the government. By the way, I totally agree with President Trump’s actions and policies. I totally disagree with the ineffective moves you have made.

President Trump has done more in the past two years to secure the border by action than 100 senators and some four hundred plus congressmen have in the last thirty years. Trump is a true patriot, and you my dear Senator are merely a minion in the world of Progressive Socialism.

Your attitude toward directing billions of dollars into Star Wars like technology to secure the border over simple solid common sense solutions like a “medieval” border wall only proves to me that you are incapable of successfully accomplishing the job the people of Illinois sent you to Washington to do.

As Medieval and unprogressive as walls may seem to you they do work. The Great Wall of China separating Mongolia from China, Hadrian’s wall separating England from Scotland, or more recently the Iron Curtain Separating East from West Germany, or the Berlin Wall splitting a  great city in half are all examples of walls that work. More recently look at the wall Hungary erected in the last two years to keep illegal Mid-Easterners from invading. Walls work! and they are more durable than any modern technology system you will spend billions on, and which will be obsolete by the time of implementation like all things electronic.

You claim experts say technology is a more effective means to secure the border, just who are these experts? Our own department of Homeland Security experts working on the border claim the opposite. I challenge you to set up a debate between your experts and the lowly people from HS. This would make great entertainment and would be educational for you and me both.

You proudly write that you insist on humanitarian assistance to care for sick children coming across. Then you blame Trump for the death of two kids who were moments from death when they arrived. I don’t blame Trump for not performing a miracle nor do I believe any democrat can perform miracles. I do believe the parents of these children should take full responsibility for dragging a deathly sick child hundreds of miles across dangerous territory.

Another point is your statement that you “. . .rejected the Administration’s demand for changes in our asylum laws that would undermine our legal and moral obligations to provide safe haven to families and children fleeing persecution.” First I want you to tell me what persecution these people endured? Second, I want you to tell me how changing our asylum law would do so poorly?

Two weeks ago I watched a video interview with reporters in Honduras who flat-out claimed that the people were not leaving because of persecution, but to find work. The same interviewer uncovered facts that the caravans are highly organized by Left wing Progressive groups tied to the United States. In my view this makes the caravans armies recruited by treasonous enemies from within the US.

If we keep on doing the same thing over and over hoping to change the outcome, but we keep on getting the same outcome we are not being rational; Insanity is defined that way.  It is better to change laws that are not working than it is to leave them be. In other words do something. In my professional life I always mentored my engineers that “I would rather be criticized for doing something than for doing nothing.”

On the subject of controlling drugs coming into the country I recall an effort by the United States referred to as the War on Drugs which has spent well over a trillion dollars since inception. What have we gotten out of that? I think that war is old enough that you are probably one of those who voted for it.

Your attitude about President Trump’s fear mongering approach to those who come to our border is hilarious. Trump is merely trying to follow the rule of law and the system is clearly unable to handle the load. He is not trying to be inhumane, nor is he trying to exclude immigrants. He is trying to include them within the frame-work of the laws you have written to allow them in. Your belligerence toward changing the laws shows me that you don’t give a rat’s ass about these people. The best of America took place in the early twentieth century when the people of the United States welcomed millions of immigrants, but even then there was a limit and the government had to stop immigration to give them time to ASSIMILATE. Then there was a matter of welcoming millions of soldiers back from WWII to give them opportunity to work after fighting for five years for world freedom.

Understand that we the people of America are not as stupid as you believe we are. We understand situations and truly want to do the right thing, but sadly we have chosen the wrong people to carry out actions needed. You and all of your democrat senators as well as too many republicans should be ashamed of your performance about making America the greatest country in the Universe.

Senator Durbin you have served for over thirty years, you should know by now that a divided government does not stand. We have the most divided government we have had since the civil war. We are currently experiencing a second civil war. One half of the country refuses to recognize the President as our leader, and take only action to block his every move. The actions taken by the two political parties are in opposition to each other, and not united for the good of the country.

Listen to me SHOUT at you once again! FUND THE BORDER WALL, and SUPPORT  PRESIDENT TRUMP 100 PERCENT, it is the right thing to do.

As respectfully as an angry man can be.

Grumpa Joe

Filed under: Conservative, Election, family, Government, Immigration | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

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