Are we laughing or crying?
Last year there were 244 potential terrorists who were residents in the United States and were on American policing and military watch lists. They all applied for permits to purchase guns and 91 per cent of the purchase applications were approved.
And yet the U.S. president believes the threat to his nation is coming from the outside, you know, from the people who are fleeing from terrorists.
Oh well. Just make sure you buy Ivanka’s shoes, so Donnie can get back to his real work, whatever that may be at this stage of this theatrical production.
It’s getting to the point where I figure the only person who can block Donnie is Kanye West, who might choose to shoot spitballs at him from the front-row.
Everybody else is scared of Donnie the bully and doubly afraid they might lose their precious senate or congressional seats.
Next topic.
I recall an era when media releases were fairly important documents that were usually coupled with major events and announcements.
Now, we in the press parade field at least 50 to 100 of these co-called media releases in various forms and sundry channels, every day. I can confirm, 98 per cent of them are time wasters. It appears as if anyone who believes they can almost compose a complete sentence wants to feed the world their wisdom and any tidbit of information they have, or think they have. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, just send it out and see if it sticks. No consequences at their end.
I found myself in a reflective mood the other day, contemplating such things as carbon taxes and how in the devil’s name do Ottawa officials think that applying a carbon tax will solve environmental problems. Does anybody do any extrapolating these days?
At the same time, we must lament the disappearance of so many species of birds and animals at an alarming rate. Yet, that sort of thing has been going on for thousands and millions of years, as has global warming and cooling. Some species like humans and all kinds of insects and animal mutations have found ways to survive, while others, like dinosaurs didn’t. We will squish ants, swat mosquitoes and flies but steer away from inflicting great damage to bats, birds, dragonflies and ladybugs. That’s because we may have actually learned certain things along the way.
Get rid of oil? OK, say goodbye to plastic then. There are consequences to all perceived good deeds.
Call water a commodity and start to sell it? Hello drought or tainted H2O. Your choice.
These topics noted above were sometimes the centrepiece for friendly banter and debate I really enjoyed between my neighbour Linda Godfrey and ownself as we would take breaks from lawn mowing, raking or digging, just to have a chatty across the fence interlude so we could solve all the world’s problems before lunch. She was some smart woman with a glorious sense of humour and analytical mind who passed away too suddenly. We will miss her neighbourly contributions.
Here comes another hard part for me dear diary, but it’s relief for you.
For some time now, actually a few decades, I have been observing, listening, recording and reporting.
Now I must take my leave.
I do so with no regrets (alright, there may be a few) and no real parting shot of wisdom or philosophical renderings to impart other than to perhaps remind you that kindness is always a viable option.
I will truly miss you.
Good-bye.
