Rear View Mirror

 When I began driving in 1972, I learned from my Father. He explained the rules-of-the-road from obeying the speed limit to not camping-out in the left lane without passing. He taught me how to parallel park and to safely merge onto highways, as well. He also would regularly remind me to check the rear view mirror.

That last one involving the rear view mirror was the one that boggled my mind. Why would I care what was behind me; it was the stuff in front of me that seemed to be important. My Dad felt otherwise.

All these decades later I’ve come to realize he was right once again. Aside from checking the mirrors to ensure you’re not obstructing a police or fire vehicle, or that an airplane was desperately attempting an emergency landing, I still felt it was silly to analyze what was history on the road.

Yet here we are with another epiphany applying lessons in life’s fluidity.

It seems as though checking the rear view mirror in life is just as valuable - perhaps more so – than only looking ahead. Allow me to explain.

The year was 2016. A businessman named Donald Trump ran for the office of the President of the United States. He ran against a seasoned professional freeloader named Hillary Clinton who desperately wanted to put another meaningless notch in her belt.

She proudly worked on the Richard Nixon impeachment committee in 1973. That very public stepping stone led her to a lucrative law position in Arkansas where she met and married an equally sleazy politician, William Jefferson Clinton – at which point she changed her name from Rodham to Clinton.

With little in the way of political experience in her rear view mirror, Ms. Clinton checked the pulse of Leftist America for issues and direction. She realized that women were anxious to kill babies, which helped Clinton gravitate toward legalizing abortion. And she found a winner in that message.

Making a name for herself, Clinton rode the wave of popularity being elected a Senator from New York, First Lady, Secretary of State, and eventually a candidate for president. And she accomplished all this on an awfully thin rèsumé – one lacking genuine political experience other than marriage to a sleazy philanderer.

Very few people looking strictly through the windshield were able to see Trump become the 45^th President of the United States. But looking back at that election we now realize the shenanigans going on in the political world.

Fake dossiers, lies, doctored photographs, misinformation of social media, slanted news from the mainstream media (MSM), disingenuous politicians, corrupt government employees, along with unwarranted federal investigations, all helped generate a question of impropriety in weak minded Americans.

Suddenly there were more fabricated stories about illegal immigrants being held in cages and drinking toilet water, tax breaks for the wealthy, a failing environment, and possibilities of wars with Russia, China, plus North Korea.

Those Lefties didn’t rest for a minute. Looking back, their attacks on Trump and his administration were only bolstering support from “Average Joe” Americans. His slogan, Make America Great Again – MAGA – gained in popularity, exponentially.

In an earnest effort to stop this meteoric rise, the MSM who detested President Trump’s name-calling resorted to, well, name-calling.

Resurrecting the distasteful, emotion-evoking moniker, “Nazi,” virtually everyone without a conscience or sense of history quickly glommed onto the word, largely without knowledge of the word and what it represents.

An acronym for National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the word Nazi has become associated with heinous acts of murder and oppression as those generated by World War II Germany. By the way, an estimated 6,000,000 Jews were rounded up and murdered by Nazis; not a word casually inserted into a daily conversation.

However, in 2017 – immediately following Mr. Trump’s inauguration – that word was tossed about more than practically any other.

Americans regularly heard that Trump was a Nazi, he was turning America into Nazi Germany, and so on, perpetuated throughout his four-year term, and abruptly ended upon the election of Joe Biden. Simply amazing.

Using new tactics centering around class warfare, Biden has been employing his Department of Justice, Department of Interior, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy, among others, to exact punishment upon American MAGA voters and Trump supporters.

Applying laws written specifically for the Civil War to silence and penalize Rebel Civil War participants, a public display of corruption mixed with revenge has been regularly applied to anyone and anything Right of center.

In a concerted effort to become the Anti-Trump, Biden, on his first day in office, ran out of ink signing Executive Orders undoing everything President Trump had enacted.

Literally opening the gates to the United States for illegal immigration on Day One, Biden and his simpleton henchman Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, have insisted “the border is closed.”

Of course it wasn’t, and still isn’t closed, but for Mayorkas, lying with a straight face to Congress as well as the American public seems to come naturally. Keep in mind that an estimated 11,000,000 illegal aliens crossed our Southern border I three years.

Now, that same administration is busy wringing. We are quickly approaching another presidential election, and Biden sycophants are scurrying to do damage control. Again evoking names such as bigot, refugee, Nazi, and asylum, Donald Trump and his supporters are once again wearing targets on their backs.

Hastily ending our 20-year military occupation in Afghanistan for political points, Biden screwed both Afghanistan and our armed forces to argue he was smarter and more attuned than Trump.

Bragging how he pulled our troops from a Middle East country, Biden proudly bragged that “that other guy,” to whom he alluded was President Trump, should’ve made this sloppy international SNAFU himself. This bone-headed move lost America billions of dollars in arms, as well as countless Afghanis who willingly helped American troops as translators and guides.

But then a corrupt country named Ukraine, whose country abuts Russia, was invaded by Vladimir Putin in February 2022. Ukraine President Volodymyr “Show Me the Money” Zelenskyy begged Plugs Biden for money and arms to fight the Russian Army’s efforts to annex Ukraine back into Russia’s fold.

Volodymyr "Show Me the Money" Zelenskyy
showing how big the stacks of money he 
expects from his buddy Joe Biden should be

Eager to appear strong, Biden quickly gave billions of dollars to Zelenskyy, a mistake opening the spigot of endless cash to a country that became critical to an attempted impeachment of Donald Trump. Oddly enough, Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, mysteriously worked for Ukraine’s Burisma, a corrupt energy company. Hunter and his buddies were allegedly paid $1,000,000 per year, according to The Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Let’s not forget other influence peddling schemes between the Biden’s and Romania, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Not insignificant amounts of money that totaled well into the tens-of-millions of dollars are now in question. President Biden commented these were “all lies.” Of course they were. Wink, wink.

President Zelenskyy just left the White House begging for more money – money America doesn’t have because of the 11,000,000 illegal aliens who are gobbling-up their “free” benefits, the new 30,000 IRS employees, the hunt for more American military ammunition, college loan pay-offs, electric vehicle recharging stations, “investments (read: giveaways)” in green technologies, ad campaigns to make Americans vegetarians, and the $16,000,000,000 to railroads.

It appears as though Zelenskyy will have to go home with only $200,000,000, per CBS News. Alas.

With the 2024 Presidential Election quickly arriving it’s clear we rely on facts from yesteryear rather than suppositions of the future.

President Trump has a proud legacy on which he will likely run, damn the smarmy Attorney General, State Attorneys, District Attorneys, and other prosecutors with axes to grind.

As you can see, there’s a lot in the rear view mirror that can be used to hopefully prevent one from making the same mistakes time-after-time to the detriment of society and your personal well-being.

Check that rear view mirror often.

Christmas Time

 “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree…” is the way an old, upbeat Christmas song of that same name, begins. Sung with glee by Brenda Lee, this song has graced holiday radio airwaves for decades. Creating a toe-tapping rhythm, its electric guitar lead usually evokes a smile along with an invitation to join the singing.

Of course, this is not what many people consider “traditional” Christmas music. They often defer to more religious compositions such as Silent Night, Oh, Holy Night, and It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. But that’s a personal thing in the grand scheme of things, in my opinion.

In any case, this time of year is supposed to be special in that it is in preparation of the birth of Jesus, the Savior and Lord of the Christian faith. As a Christian I do not feel this is one bit controversial, but for others – perhaps those who dislike Brenda Lee’s Christmas tune – such a divisive tune demands attention.

In the vein of ‘fairness,’ the world has gone crazy. Of course there are other religions that celebrate their own holidays at this time of the year; unfortunately, Christianity seems to be the main target of countless, mindless rebellions by non-believers.

Insignificant groups of malcontents in both Iowa and Wisconsin, under the guise of a religious sects, felt compelled to add their version of the Christmas holiday in the form of a Satanic display. Although disgusting, spineless state pubic officials rued there was nothing they could legally do to prevent such as display of visceral hate in an attempt to ruin Christmas for everyone else.

The Satanists’ argument was they simply wanted inclusion and felt the law needed to be challenged. Yea! Not one Iowa or Wisconsin lawyer was able to find a law or loophole to prevent such an atrocity. Perhaps there should be a hiring campaign for good guvment lawyers in those states. Just sayin’.

On the other hand, one good citizen named Michael Cassidy, was able to find a solution to Iowa’s sordid holiday train wreck. A former Navy pilot and Mississippi state candidate was arrested following his destruction of this horrible mockery of Jesus and His followers. Problem solved, I say. And “Thank you, Mike!”

In the meantime, in Boston, the Asian mayor, Michelle Wu, decided to treat her staff to some holiday revelry. To ensure a great turnout, Wu’s staffer sent an email to everyone in the Mayor’s Office to not forget this important event. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Mayor Wu, with the intent only a Harvard lawyer could muster, had the invitation rescinded. It appears as though the original email was copied to “all” employees in the mayor’s office, a faux pas that would have left a non-racist with egg on their face.

Thank goodness for Wu, she apparently needed a reason to prove to civilized America she was a world-class bigot by announcing her soiree was an event for “Electeds of Color.”

You see, The Mayor’s intention was to have ‘an all-inclusive’ holiday party except for Whities. By the way, there are seven Whities on the Boston City Counsel. Oops!

A photo of the non-inclusive all inclusive
un-White holiday party in Boston

With a smirk during a subsequent press conference, Wu explained this misunderstanding away – just as the powers-that-be likely told her to do while getting her law degree in Harvard. The misunderstanding was that White people needed to find other activities, plain and simple. Pretty inclusive indeed, Merry Holiday!

Yet, the story doesn’t end here. Some investigating revealed Mayor Wu’s husband is, himself, White. EasternShoreFishAndGame.blogspot.com is still wondering if the invitation applied to that White guy, too. No one seems to be saying much, though. So much for emasculation of White folk via inclusion.

And let us not forget about our environmentalist friends who can find woe and anger in anything and everything.

Christmas trees are an integral part of the Christmas celebration. Beginning in Germany in the early 720’s. Involving a convoluted story about pagans and Saint Boniface, tradition was born using an evergreen tree as a “holy tree,” per a Britannica reference, beginning a custom extending for generations.

The eco-kooks have been coming out of cracks in the walls to offer their anointed perspective on Christmas trees, leaving no room for discussion. These are the same people that promised civilization would freeze to death shortly after their prognostication in 1974; our days were numbered, they said.

In 1976, those same nut-jobs began an earnest effort to warn the world’s inhabitants their life expectancy was no longer than 1984, as the planet was certain to spontaneously combust. And yet here we are 39-years later awaiting that terrible fate.

In an attempt to predict the future again, various groups of unemployed and unemployable people who need to be self-important resurrected the long-standing debate over Christmas trees. It seems as though these do-gooders feel cutting down a perfectly good pine tree for no apparent reason (other than religious tradition,) should be a crime.

Demanding legal action against anyone destroying a healthy part of nature has been bandied about lately. Giving “rights” to nature is only one more step to long-term mental health care for them. However, they feel this effort will have a year to garner enough support to enact meaningful legislation for Christmas 2024 to save countless blue spruce trees. Sure.

A solid alternative to this bizarre behavior, they feel, is to buy and use artificial trees. Perhaps those shallow thinkers failed to realize Christmas celebrants have been cutting down holiday trees for 1,300 years, to the tune of thousands to millions per year. There doesn’t appear to be a tree shortage after all that willy-nilly harvesting, though.

Too bad these same eco-kooks won’t accept any advice from me about changing their idiotic lifestyles that they feel they can and should impose on me and others like me. Where’s Michael Cassidy when you need him again?

And to that end EasternShoreFishAndGame.blogspot.com wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! God bless. 

Job Openings

Who says there’s no such thing as good news?

Since early October 2023, the deranged Palestinian political and military organization, Hamas, has been front and center in the news. Hamas is an acronym of its official name, the Islamic Resistance Movement, an organization governing the Gaza Strip of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, according to a variety of on-line sources.

Since history is no longer being taught in schools, by way of background, World War II was a conflict begun in Germany in 1939, continuing through 1945. After the armistice, the League of Nations – precursor to the feckless United Nations (UN) – decided the war-displaced European Jews needed a place to live.

The League of Nations, in 1948, decided that Palestine land was an appropriate place for the Jews to reside in peace. Regular minor incursions into Israel by Hamas, over the years, has kept tensions high. Missiles, ‘hit and run’ attacks with guns and explosives, and suicide assassins, directed at the Jewish state, has been dealt with – tolerated – until the last October 7^th.

That was the infamous day Hamas summarily sent hundreds of missiles into Israel killing 1,200 mostly civilians. Innocent civilians, that is. Children, elderly men and women, young people at an outdoor concert and festival, all indiscriminately killed by Hamas.

Not being satisfied, Hamas soldiers physically entered Israel to further murder and capturing remaining Israelis, to include young women and babies, many of whom were raped. Please re-read the last sentence.

Those who weren’t killed were captured, being taken back into Palestine to be tortured and held as bargaining chits.

This mayhem was met with a strong response from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the form of rockets, missiles, tanks, ground troops, as well as air strikes. This show of force has been relentless, and justifiably so.

As if on cue, “news” organizations largely controlled by The Left have been using propaganda since the first IDF bullet was fired, claiming defenseless Palestinian civilians were being slaughtered for no good reason. And so it went.

Repeated lies about Israel randomly dispatching Arab children, cutting off food and water supplies, and preventing the repair of electrical lines, were quickly, regularly spread worldwide with glee.

Talk shows, podcasts, newspapers, and social media have been touting the pain and suffering of Palestinians at the hands of the IDF, with no end in sight, and always the same: Hamas did nothing to deserve the relentless counterattacks especially on such a fun-loving people.

But just as cockroaches run willy-nilly until the lights are turned-on, sickening diseases and awful things occur because of an inherent inability to destroy those guilty vermin.

Suddenly, organized protests, marches, even television appearances of otherwise “normal” celebrities have sprouted from virtually nowhere. Chanting racist slogans and hurtful messages, protesters of all races, sexes, and ages took the streets of major cities to express their hate of Israel and Jews, demanding they all be exterminated without mercy.

College pukes, Congressfolks, college professors, athletes, foreign nation heads, teachers, even the aforementioned inept UN have clearly laid their proverbial hand of cards on the table. Most of those anti-Semitic demonstrators were demanding not only a “pause” infighting by the IDF, but also intifada.

Intifada is an Arabic word meaning to “tremor” or “shake off” dirt from one’s sandals. Not exactly the love and peace we’ve been told the Arab and Muslim cultures expound. Remember September 11, 2001?

Proudly standing tall, usually while wearing smug grins, these Hamas supporters have been showing their bigoted, egotistic attitudes without concern or care of castigation from the people who pay their salaries, openly appearing before federal committees to answer some easy questions posed by Congress.

Appearing before Congress to share their thoughts about these current events were MIT President Sally Kornbluth, UPenn President Liz Magill, and Harvard President Claudine Gay – all of whom appear to be affirmative action hirees.

After several long hours of questioning about their professional positions regarding the clear antisemitism being demonstrated on their respective campus’, not one of the bunch could articulate – in a manner other than as a lawyer – that they condemned open disgust for and disdain at Jews.

Dancing around the questions from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik much like the late Fred Astaire famously performed, all three exercised their chicane skills in an attempt to appear to answer without answering – a move usually reserved for government employees appearing before House and Senate Committees.

All three scored poorly on their oral exams on December 5^th, as not one of these over-educated lawyers were able to respond “yes” or “no” to questions concerning the condemnation of antisemitism on their respective campus’.

President Magill’s response to the anti-Jew rhetoric was a clever, “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.” I’ll bet it is.

Just as an aside, Magill’s annual salary was reported to be $1,200,000, plus benefits and perks, according to timesnownews.com.

But Magill had an epiphany several days later to voluntarily step down from her president’s position. That’s one job opening. Arrogant Claudine Gay and Sally Kornbluth appear as though they, too, may be on the platform awaiting their train for departure from academia. Our fingers are crossed.

That would create another two jobs that need filling. Perhaps this time they will be properly filled with qualified personnel other than those who are merely able to check the appropriate boxes. Compassion and humanity are two of the important checklist items.