New Yorker article does not prove allegations about Trump

Apparently Tony Schwartz the writer, detailed in the New Yorker article, was contracted to write Donald Trump's autobiography.  Mr. Trump allowed Schwartz to shadow him for 18 months (which is impressive because obviously, Trump was not trying to hide anything).  But lately, Schwartz, a lifetime liberal, has turned against Trump publicly in the an article in the New Yorker entitled "Trump's ghost writer tells all". 

Trouble is,  IMO, Schwartz failed to prove his allegations that Trump is a "sociopath" etc.  On the contrary, in the lengthy article, Trump comes out as a rather nice individual.  While reading the article, I got to thinking that Schwartz's biggest beef against the GOP presidential candidate was possibly rooted in a bit of envy, that Trump has continued to be so successful in business.  (It should be noted that one of the criticisms often leveled against Trump is that he had several bankruptcies however, this seems to have been true of most who have made a success in business - including greats like Wanamaker and Macy, and is where the term "fourth time" comes from, i.e. after three bankruptcies, the fourth time might be the success.

Most writers, if being honest, will describe the many rejections they received, before they finally got their first chance at being published.  Hemingway described wall papering one of the walls in his home with rejection slips!

In the following analysis, I give details on why, I feel that Schwartz did not prove his allegations about Trump.

First, in his attempt to "prove" that Trump is a "sociopath", Schwartz alleged that:

"Trump  prefers TV as news source"... well, newsflash, all the presidents and busy people do that, in addition to a great percentage of the American public.  If this makes Trump a "sociopath" then, most of us other Americans are also guilty as charged.

"Trump has a short attention span" states Schwartz...My answer to this is that Trump is probably doing a lot of multi level processing in handling his businesses, and has what Dr Ted Hallowell, PhD, calls a "race car brain" which appears as a short attention span but is capable of thinking through many things simultaneously, a talent only observed in a small number of intelligent individuals (including Dr Hallowell, himself). Dr Hallowell says another name for this, is "a dose of American life"

"Trump hasn't read a book straight through his adult life" is the next allegation... Schwartz bases this on seeing no books on Trump's desk however, many highly intelligent, but busy people, read audio books or read on the computer (including our son who has a PhD and is very busy)... No basis for this allegation either...

As for Donald Trump being incorrect in citing a book title, that is a common error, especially for a very busy person.  I keep a database of books I read - if I didn't, I would find it difficult to remember titles and authors and I read A LOT.

It seemed to me that despite Donald Trump allowing Schwartz to shadow him for 18 months, Schwartz understood neither Donald Trump nor what it takes to run big businesses as Trump does and that Trump allowed Schwartz to shadow him, suggests Trump had nothing to hide which impressed me.

Schwartz admitted not being honest in his book about Trump ... which leads me to wonder how I would know if he's being honest now. 

Schwartz describes Trump as having an "insatiable hunger for money, praise and celebrity"  but this again, describes most Americans and probably is true of Schwartz himself.

When Schwartz  quoted Trump as saying that it was "Possible that the president [Obama] was born in Africa" as a "proof" of his allegation that Mr Trump is ignorant, this again falls greatly short of proving the allegation and suggests it is Mr Schwartz who is lacking in facts.  In fact, it is likely true, that Mr Obama was born in Africa - at least, this was what the President claimed in his book, DREAMS of MY FATHER written a few years before he became president... however, the common conservative allegation that this makes Mr Obama not a native born American is false - those of us who studied "government" know that if born to an American mother even if the birth takes place in another country, the baby is considered a natural American.

The New Yorker article stated that Mr Trump was angry because Schwartz spoke out negatively about him   - well who wouldn't be - Schwartz a life long liberal, has an agenda - Trump allowed him to shadow him for 18 months, and now, with the election in the horizon, Mr Schwartz basically turned on Trump, a move which is a bit, ethically challenged to say the least.

If the article was trying to prove what a "sociopath" (Schwartz's allegation) Trump is, it failed miserably.  Schwartz did NOT, in any shape or form, prove his allegations and actually, Trump comes out looking like a kind of a nice guy and a rather impressive person in the article. 

Just saying...

Source article......
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

Gender specific restrooms - are they really protective?

So I have been following the latest news and outrage, so to speak. I am referring to the "interpretation" of the law which suggests the changing of gender specific public restrooms to be - what we used to call - "unise/x" i.e. 1 washroom for men, women, transgender and whatever.

Why this ruling now?  I wonder if it isn't just to annoy conservatives in order to divert their attention from more important issues.  If so, that ruling certainly has accomplished this end.  Many conservatives are extremely upset about this and social media like Facebook is filled with cries of outrage.

What are we forgetting?  That transgender folks probably, at present, use the restroom of the gender they feel they are, rather than the restroom for the gender in which they were born (and in which many still remain, since gender change surgery is risky, and expensive and obviously not covered by insurance).

What I am wondering is, why has this whole thing morphed into some folks feeling that - well, I'm not sure what they feel - do they think that folks who are transgender are all perverts?  That certainly is not true!  I've known many transgender folks and I feel although that they might be confused, to call them perverts is more than a bit "over the top".

 Confused? - yes - because our gender is in our genes and no matter how we change our bodies or what clothing and/or makeup we wear, we will always remain the gender of our birth - that's hard coded, into every cell of our bodies.  But to assume that because folks are gender confused, they must be perverts, is a leap I simply cannot, in any way, make.

They are, just like the rest of us humans, just trying to make sense of their lives and doing their best to be whom they are.  To dress in the clothing of the opposite gender or even take hormones, is to me, possibly, foolish because it really doesn't change anything hard coded in every cell of our bodies and poses some health risks to the individuals involved but, perverted?  Certainly not!

In thinking about this phenomena, I think it might be a holdover from earlier times where dress codes and behavior were extremely rigidly prescribed, for each gender - for instance, when I was a young 'un, a lady DID NOT wear pants and of course, males did not wear dresses ... although I thought back then, was a bit strange since, for example, the Scottish "kilt", worn exclusively by men, is, essentially a skirt!  I remember times when I, in rejecting makeup (I didn't like how it felt on my face), was horribly, going against the tide, this action considered more than, a bit strange by some around me.  Although this "rule" of makeup was NOT applied to guys! :)  (Now the tables have turned and lots of ladies don't wear makeup and  some guys DO wear makeup.) :)

Conservatism, is to me, the holding up of a Christian moral code, including important things like abstinence outside of marriage etc. and not, diverting our attention to possibly, non-issues like defining (or re-defining) public bathrooms, which seems a waste of time, and weakening our stance on more important moral issues for which we stand.  Just saying.

Did George Washington convert to Catholicism on his death bed?

George Washington - deathbed conversion?

I researched the claim that our first president, George Washington, converted to the Catholic church on his death bed.  Although most sources mentioned that he was friendly to Catholics and even discontinued the celebration of "Guy Fawkes Day" which apparently was anti Catholic, the first link, I found, claimed there was no evidence of Washington turning Catholic. This article (below) was written by a secular historian .... It seems several sources don't WANT this to be true that Washington died a Catholic.  It also is assumed that since Washington was a Mason, this might have been a stumbling block for his conversion to the Faith - but of course, his membership in the Masons would not have been a problem on his death bed! 

http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/B_007_WashingtonCatholic.html

However, on the site, Catholic.org, they had some more info...this site is run by Catholic Answers which is a reliable source...

Apparently, the evidence of Washington's conversion is in Jesuit historical documents which are pretty reliable...

Here's the quote and link:

"Our first President, George Washington, died a Catholic. While he lay on his deathbed he sent his slaves across the Potomac to bring back his close friend, Father Leonard Neal, S.J. Neal spent some time alone in the President's sick room. When he returned to the Jesuit house, his fellow religious asked him the outcome of his visit and he simply answered, "Everything has been taken care of." The entire story is related in the Jesuit annals. The Negro slaves, who had been imbued with Baptist anti-Catholic bigotry, passed on the story that "Master George had been seduced by the scarlet woman of Rome". Our first President had always kept a beautiful picture of Our Lady in His living room; he adopted the Catholic practice of blessing himself before meals; he was largest contributor, giving more than even Bishop Carroll, to the building of St. Augustine's church in Philadelphia; he very often attended Mass; and he often told his troops that if they did not refrain from abusing the Holy Name of Jesus they would surely lose the war."

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=217658

Source URL:

http://catholicism.org/george-washington-died-a-catholic.html

More Technology?

Gerry taking photo of me - new car is behind him!

So, our car that we got in 2006 was beginning to show wear.  Then, one day, the front end started coming off (it has a large plastic front end fastened with a couple of plastic clips).  A local shop did a sort of chewing gum fix on it a year ago, which lasted a year but it was starting to come loose again so I decided to visit the local car dealer and have them fix it.  I drove in the driveway.  But unbeknownst to me, the same group owns the dealership on the corner which apparently shares the driveway.  A nice looking middle aged man walked up and motioned for me to open the window.

Little did I know that would begin a huge lifechange.  Instead of going to the dealership which supported our car, we ended up going to the other dealership.  At first I thought "no way" but he showed us a very nice new car - a sort of small SUV and then, we spent the day haggling over payments etc.  The fatal flaw (for me) was when he invited me to take the car for a test drive.

Wow.  The ride was smooth, bumps in the road disappeared and it handled wonderfully. Never thought I could get hooked on a car but....

Bottom line, we drove it home that day.

So it has all kinds of new stuff on it.  Things I'd never heard of like "climate control" (really? in a car?) and more.  Since we had a lot of church this week (Holy Week), and Friday we visit shut in folks, I was just getting used to it. (OK I'm an old dog and this is a very new trick).

Then today, this really nice gentleman came out from the dealer to run through some of the technical things like the radio (it has every which type of radio and also there is a way you can play all the music in your phone and more.)  When he asked about the phone, I told him I didn't have music in my new iPhone - it was in my iPod.  

"Oh", he said, the music is on the "cloud" (when I was a kid,  clouds were fluffy white cotten-y things in the sky that rained on you sometimes) and it naturally downloaded to my new iPhone when I switched.  I looked and sure enough, there it was.

I'm amazed at all the things just the radio stereo does - I mean we had a 2006 car - but the technology difference between that car and this car is like the difference between a horse n' buggy and a speed racer.

Even the drive has several modes... a regular mode, a "economy" mode - that puts a bit of resistance on the gas pedal so you tend to go slower, and a "sports" mode - that turns your gas pedal into a mode where you can play like you have a race car. (huh?)

That's just what I remember.  I've already forgotten all the stuff you can do with the stereo. Even the windshield wipers are complex. 

So right now, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  My hubby said I'll get used to it.  I guess. And I'm sure if I forget how to do something, I can ask my 6 year old great granddaughter to show me how.  ** sigh **  Generation gap?  Try generation chasm!!!

Technology is biting me!

Remember back in the old days (like the 1960's and 1970's) when you drove into a gas station, and a nice attendant asked "fill er' up" and you said "please" and then he handled the pump, washed the windows, checked the oil, and took your card to complete the sale?  Then in the 1980's the do-it-yourself pumps appeared and if you used them, you got a discount on gas, but still large stations had attendants. Now, it's all self-service (and gasoline costs several times as much as the days when a gas station was a service station!) Since hubby's third stroke which put me in the driver's seat of our car, I've been trying to learn how to pump gas. And despite trying to do it several times, I'm STILL having a rough time.  The directions are not clear - nothing is clear.  Finally in utter frustration, I went into the store part and was going to pay that way but now, you have to "prepay" (estimate how much gas you will use) and the excess is SUPPOSED to go back to your debit card. 

So I had the lady come out and stand next to me.... but it not only asks you for your PIN but also for your zip code - we have a PO box but I guessed the bank which sends me everything electronically had our house zip and it kept rejecting the card when finally I got the idea to put in our PO box zip... Took me a half hour of utter frustration to complete the transaction... ** sigh **

After my frustrating adventure at the pump, I decided to type the multi-step process into my tablet computer, (which I dropped 3 times... thank heavens I have a strong protective cover on it) and then email it to myself so it's in my phone also (iPhone).

Then there is the food store - the so called Super Market wasn't that big when I first got married and it was relatively easy to go shopping, easy to find things etc - now they have EVERYTHING including a fully stocked drug store and probably all the merchandise which you used to go to Woolworth's to get (remember Woolworth's?) and several isles of frozen dinners etc.  We older arthritic folks (I'm 70) have to use the scooters because it seems one walks MILES in the food store.  Luckily we can do most of our shopping on the web and have it delivered but today, after the gas station "adventure", we had to go to a large market to get some stuff not available on the web.  And that was another "adventure".





And after all of this, the "fraud protection" at our bank called and sent emails to insist we confirm transactions on our debit card (luckily can do this in email).  ** sigh **


I guess young folks don't mind all of this but wow, for those of us elderly - it's rough... can anyone relate?

Suicide watch in Junior High school?

My mother, Mary Schweitzer Baker who ended her life at the age of 68, by swallowing the business end of her gun. She was intelligent and articulate and talented but also was bipolar

In sorting through some old papers (of which we have a lot of since we've lived in this house for almost 40 years), I came across a poster I saw in a Junior High School - the school our son attended in the 1980's.  Even then, apparently suicide in young folks was a rising cause of death in our youth - today in 2014, more young folks die in suicide than in auto accidents (auto crashes were the most prevalent cause of death of youth in the 1960's when I graduated High School).  I will share the bullets on the poster as follows:

Suicide - think...

• Your mother loves you
• Your friends will miss you
• People DO care
• Counselors can help
• Teachers will listen
• You're not alone
• Suicide is a cop out
• Think of those who need you...

Before you act...

As I typed this out, I began to see problems with it...  the young person who is contemplating suicide, thinks his/her parents don't love him/her and that people don't care and that they won't be missed. They don't care if they are contemplating a "cop-out" (although actually that reason may be a stronger deterrent than some of the others as young folks are very sensitive about what others think of them).

With many families having both parents very involved in their jobs, kids are often lonely and depressed. And in fact, it's quite easy to become lonely in our busy society of today especially if one is a kid or at the other end of the spectrum, aging.  Having experienced some clinical depression myself, I know that when a person is depressed, they almost think they are doing the world a favor in exiting it.

We have had more than a few suicides in our family (much too many - my mother - my grandmother - etc).

Bottom line, is the greatest deterrent to suicide for me, is my Catholic faith - I know that if God feels I should be living, my committing suicide is a direct affront to God and I don't want to go there.

But life gets hard at times... especially when one is aging...

"Still, there were those moments so seemingly hopeless that I would cry out to God in anguish. Having journaled many of those desperate cries, I realize in retrospect how hope had sustained me through my knowing there was purpose in suffering..."

from EMBRACING DEMENTIA- A CALL TO LOVE by Ellen Marie Edmonds

Free Thought Lady thinks she can break the law

Very often people seem to assume the police are "against us" without provocation (that often is the message given on TV).  The following case is typical.  The video at the website was shared several times on Facebook - I cast the video to the TV so I could hear what the Police Officers were saying which I couldn't hear when listening on my computer.... a couple of facts totally change the picture which you can hear when you watch this on TV.  (1)  The citizens running the Lemonade stand were breaking the law by "vending commodities on the grounds of the Capital building without a permit" which the police officers patiently and politely, told them about.  (2) the citizens were given the option of giving away the lemonade about which the police also informed them.  When they ignored the warnings and defied the police, rudely shouting about their lack of freedom (and there is a difference between "freedom" and "license") after being politely warned several times, the police officers arrested them as was proper.  Breaking the law is breaking the law regardless of who does it.  BTW, an ad on this website which carried this story, asks people to report if they have been a victim of "police brutality".  People from other countries laugh at us - we Americans don't know what REAL "police brutality" is!