What a week! Let see; last Friday night we went to Frankenmuth. If you like in Michigan, Frankenmuth is a special place for a German family style chicken dinner. The little town was originally settled by German settlers who eventually opened two restaurants; Zhenders and Bavarian Inn. Growing up, my family went to Bavarian on special occasions. My husband’s family went to Zhenders. Since we’ve been married, it was Zhenders, actually, it was our second date. Anyway, we had a nice dinner in the pub at the front of the building. We occasionally get a hankering for that-very large-delicious dinner. Saturday, I got together with one of my Martha Cook Building friends from U of M to catch up. We had a nice long lunch in Troy and it was like a big hug to see her. I left feeling energized from her upbeat disposition and outlook. Your Chief/Close friends will do that for you. Later, for dinner, we met up with more close friends in Brighton for a dinner. That too was so nice-except for the Sweet Sixteen Birthday party going on at the large table next to us. They eventually left and we could hear our conversation much better. Again, there is nothing better than catching up with your “people,” especially after a long cold winter…
When we got home, I turned on the tv to see that the President had been shot. Again!! Hats off the the secret service agents who acted quickly to contain the shooter/would be assassin. Another story of a person easily convinced that this behavior is a good idea-I wrote about him in this week’s Teaching Tuesday. How sad to see a smart young man, from what appears to be a good family, throw his life away. Words do matter and those who say things that either aren’t true or rally people up into a frenzy are partially responsible. Yes, there is the freedom of speech, but there is also responsibility with every freedom. In the letter/ manifesto, he wrote to his family that the shooter wrote, he spoke of what inspired his actions to ‘get’ his targets of the President and his high ranking officials. He was inspired to take action and wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with is crimes” referring to President Trump. These allegations are not true, the young man could have been inspired by media fueling hate. Interesting…
Jimmy Kimmel’s offensive joke about the First Lady was a topic during Marc Beckman’s appearance on Fox and Friends this week.
Shortly after the shooting, video circulated of comedian, Jimmy Kimmel joking about Melania Trump, the First Lady looking like a widow. Of course, there is no indication that Kimmel was involved in or knew of the assassination attempt, but it was poor in taste to joke of such an event. Melania took to social media to encourage ABC to fire Kimmel for such dialogue. As of now, ABC has not taken action against the comedian, however, his summer gig in Las Vegas is cancelled. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas has cancelled Kimmel’s summer residence following the President and First Lady calling for a full boycott of the comedian. Interesting…
King Charles and Queen consort, Camilla were shown all the pomp and circumstance in Washington DC this week.
The King of England and Queen Consort, Camilla arrived in the U.S. this week and the White House rolled out the red carpet. It was a nice display of pageantry, pomp and circumstance. If you get a chance to look back and hear speeches from the King and President, both did a fine job. Both made jokes at our countries’ historical past. It was all in fun and there were no insults hurled. I enjoyed seeing all of the events, especially the dinner at the White House. In fact, seeing a clip on social media, I made a comment that it was nice to see the U.S. Military Band performing at the event. In the clip I saw, music from “The Phantom of the Opera“ was performed. I usually don’t comment on Instagram events unless it’s a friend or someone I know. Well, the negative comments came, actually followed by some favorable comments in response to the negative comments. The day before, I had done it-I guess this week’s news inspired me to ‘say something.” Marc Beckman, professor at NYU, CEO of DMA United Advertising and best selling author was on one of the morning shows and commented on the irresponsibility of Kimmel’s jokes about Melania looking like a widow (mentioned above). Seeing the Instagram post of the appearance on the morning show, I commented again, about his segment and the negative comments to me came. At first, these comments bothered me. But after thinking about it, I had no desire to comment back on either one. People are free to have their own opinions, nothing said by me would change their opinion and there is no use wasting time. My comments were truly just typing what came to mind when I saw these clips, “Nice to see the Military Band performing,” because it was NICE! And it was good to see Mark comment on Kimmel’s poor taste in humor and how irresponsible, yes I agree with that…
-Secretary of War Pete Hegseth outlined in his book, The War on Warriors how he would run the military. He is doing exactly what he outlined. Hegseth and Treasury Secretary, Scott Besset are both applying pressure to the Iranian regime, in different ways.
The War. The people of Iran deserve to live in peace as does the rest of the world free from terrorism sponsored by the Iranian regime. The leadership in Iran has been responsible for funding terror around the world, they nearly had/have the capability to have a nuclear weapon. To see the hearing on Capitol Hill as they grilled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth was fascinating. They have a right to question the Secretary and he is responsible for answers. Many of those questioning him asked question and then spoke over him. If you can pull up and listen to any of the questioning, I encourage you to do so. To see how some of those questioning conducted themselves and their behavior was interesting. many appeared to almost be rooting for the US to fail, that has been visible for these last few weeks since to war started. It seems like a very strategically planned operation. Economic sanctions to squeeze the regime, Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent has outlined the economic portion of the plan. To cut off Iran from income from the oil they produce, crypto currency being seized, retirement accounts of high ranking officials is economic warfare in the 21st century. Seems like a good plan to back the evil regime into a corner. Time is running out for them. It sounds to me like the U.S. Holds all the cards at this point. Interesting…
The late Charles Krauthammer, what a voice of reason. Pictured as a young man and throughout his career. Also pictured with his son.
Someone posted an older column by Dr. Charles Krauthammer on Donald Trump. If you don’t know Charles, he’s worth looking up. Charles was a Psychiatrist, who graduated from Harvard Medical School. While in medical school, he dove into a shallow pool and became paralyzed from the waist down. Following that accident, he finished medical school, became an author, columnist and political commentator. Charles was what I would consider a fair and balanced person in his commentary. He called a spade a spade. In this article I read of his that was reposted, he referred to Trump as not republican or conservative but rather “ a pragmatic“, defining a pragmatic as someone who is practical and focused on reaching a goal. A pragmatist usually has a straightforward matter-of-fact approach and doesn’t let emotions distract him/her.“ he explained problems with both sides of the political spectrum. Both parties have kicked the can down the road and have left many problems unsolved. It was a very good article and I thought, especially that Charles passed in June of 2018 and yet had the insight to size up Trump, three months prior to Krauthammer’s death, in June of the same year. He really has been true to his word. Trump spoke of the issues he has taken on for the past forty years are so. Look back on clips from the Oprah interview or 60 Minutes or in his books. Even back then he spoke of the Iran problem the problem how we deal with imports and exports. Interesting…
The Supreme Court and the decision on Gerrymandering. If each party puts up good quality candidates and had policies that benefit the average Americans and can offer up solutions that solve the problems of the day, then they don’t have to import illegals to strategically distribute bodies where they need to jack up numbers for a census or gerrymander a map to get them candidates they want to remain in power. Just a thought…Interesting…
I am thinking that every elected official in this country should know basic American history. A video from January 2025 resurfaced this week of Ilhan Omar incorrectly referring to the abbreviation for World War Two (WWII) as World War eleven. Could it be that she gained a seat in the U.S. Congress because Somalis were strategically distributed to Minnesota? IDK…Interesting…
Oh, and the uncovering and arresting of individuals involved with government fraud continues. Them American people deserve transparency at to where there hard earned tax dollars are being spent. Every citizen, governmental employee or elected official should be in support of this, unless they are in on it, would be my thought. Interesting…
I heard a very interesting interview on Sean Hannity’s Podcast this week with Dan Bongino, it was recorded last week. Dan talks about his stint as Deputy Director of the FBI under Kash Patel. He tells about his tenure as second in command at the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He talks about his “To Do” list when he arrived, telling his boss and the President that this was a 1 year commitment for him as he has a young daughter still at home and a business he needed to get back to. Dan told about what they were met with at the Bureau in-terms of some staff still loyal to the swamp, how he found out leakers, evidence “accidentally” left, how they were able to find in the first year into this administration, 8 of the top 10 most wanted criminals and cut the crime rate to the lowest rate in over 100 years. There was so much more and in this interview and it is a good view as to how things are run in a new administration as well as how big government department runs. Sean’s Hannity’s podcast is “Hanging Out with Sean Hannity.” A few weeks ago I listened to Sean’s interview with John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer. That was outstanding. John is about age sixty, Greek and an incredible story teller. Hanging Out with Sean Hannity is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These two were very fascinating…
So today is May Day. It’s hard to believe that some school are giving students the day off for May Day protests. These protests focus on workers’ rights, the history of labor rights and unions and the division of the workers vs the billionaires. Yet another issue to divide the country. To take a day to take kids out of the classroom when test scores, especially in these states that are promoting this behavior, like North Carolina and Illinois, when kids should be engaged in reading writing and arithmetic is not a good idea. As a former teacher, I realized that 180 days of instruction gave me barely enough time to teach the basics, I strongly disliked the disruptions in my school calendar. I read an article this week that in Chicago, minimum standards in the basic skills, have been lowered in order for students to reach mastery. Interesting…
Also in this thought provoking week of topics were two days of babysitting and a visit with two dear cousins, my Aunt & my Mom. To drive around with twins, listening to my favorite music, didn’t get the same reception from the two and one half year olds. They found the music of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “James Bond’s original instrumental 007 theme” and John William’s “Scotland the Brave“, Spooky (they pronounced it “Spewkie.” It was fun to get together with my cousins, Aunt and Mom. We talked for hours and it seemed like no time at all.
My conclusions as this week wraps up, take the time to see those who are dear to you; the dear/chief friend, your family, THESE are the people who matter. To help out family whether on the younger end of the line with babysitting or an older family member, your efforts are appreciated and valued…The issues of the day or the week, just like the twins who heard the same music as I did, yet to them it seemed “Spewkie,” where is was entertaining to me. People may criticize you-as I was in those two comments, on, what I considered harmless and common sense, but responding back or being negative in return is just not worth the time. They are untitled to their thoughts and opinions. Wishing for more commentators like the late Charles Krauthammer who would call a spade a spade. A man who could have looked at his circumstance as “Why Me?” But instead, rather chose to live his life to the fullest, going to his favorite baseball team’s games, raising a fine son with his wife, writing and doing the things he enjoyed. Life is short, spend your time wisely, engaged in the things that matter and spend less time on the things that don’t. Thinking this philosophy may result in many…Great Days ❤️
