(Source Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/wormhole-time-travel-portal-vortex-2514312/)
December 3, 2023
It’s All in Your Perspective
(Source Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/wormhole-time-travel-portal-vortex-2514312/)
October 2, 2022
Worried About the Nukes?
Worried About the Nukes?
April 6, 2022
Putin Is A Mega Thief
Great explanation in the Wall Street Journal today for why Putin is focused in grabbing the east and south of Ukraine.
That's where Ukraine's energy reserves are!
To the tune of:
- $1 trillion of natural gas
- $400 billion of oil and condensate
- The worlds 6th-largest reserve of coal
And don't forget the strategic ports of both the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
Russia will control the energy supply chain for decades to come!
The West's nonsense sanctions against Putin don't even make a dent compared to what Putin is getting out of this deal!
Lesson from Putin is you can get away with massive theft and murder, and no one in this lawless world will stop you.
What do you think China is going to do with Taiwan next?
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Putin Is A Mega Thief
March 21, 2022
Boy in Tree
Parents looking on.
"Come down please before you get hurt!"
Every parent worries. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Michelle Blumenthal)
Boy in Tree
February 14, 2022
Russia Wins This Hands Down
They have so intimidated Ukraine that Russia will be able to install a new government in Kyiv or just pull the strings on the puppets in place without ever firing a shot.
Moreover, Ukraine won't be considered by NATO for membership ever again knowing that Russia will go to the mat over it.
Scare tactics can work if you carry a big enough gun and have the gumption to hold it to your opponent's head! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Russia Wins This Hands Down
September 19, 2021
Unstoppable Fear Meets Immovable Humiliation
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is really about fear vs. humiliation. The Jews are fearful of the Palestinians and the Palestinians feel humiliated by the Jews. The Jewish people collectively suffer post-traumatic stress and anxiety disorders after millennia of persecution culminating in the Holocaust and multiple Wars in Israel against far greater Arab forces. Further, this has been perpetuated by decades of terrorism and Intifadas that have left the Jews feeling vulnerable in their own land of Israel. The net effect of this Jewish history and of being surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs, many resentful and angry, is that Jews are naturally afraid. At the same time, the Palestinians, as part of the greater Arabs, feel humiliated after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the carving up of their lands by the West and the colonialism and occupation that followed by Britain and France. More recently, the Palestinians feel humiliated by the founding of the State of Israel amidst the multitude of Arab lands of the Middle of East, as well as by the barrier wall and regular checkpoints that protects Israel from terrorist intruders, by the West Bank settlements (and actually by Jews anywhere in Israel), and by general Israeli military control over the territories.There is hope that in time and with G-d's help, the opposing forces of fear and humiliation will weaken and thereby become less oppositional. At that miraculous time, please G-d in the near future, the factors that prior resulted in a cosmic explosion of war, terror, Jihad, and Intifada will dissipate. Then instead of suicide bombers and terror tunnels and walls and checkpoints, we can have hope for the arrival of a beautiful white dove with an olive branch of peace that knows no bitter boundaries of Jew or Palestinian anymore.
Unstoppable Fear Meets Immovable Humiliation
June 15, 2021
Paranoid or Not
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get me.
Think about that one a little. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Paranoid or Not
January 10, 2021
What's With This Crazy World?
I don't recognize this world.
This world has gone to sleep.
It's not the world of life I used to know.
Now fear and isolation pervade about.
Things aren't even what they seem or they seem to be what they aren't.
Everything is glossed over and black and white are easily substituted.
There used to be a moral ground and a forward path.
Now you have to have a stronger faith and inner conviction than ever before.
To see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it's the light we all yearn for. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
What's With This Crazy World?
January 1, 2021
Horrors in U.S. Healthcare
But I am hearing that Covid is spiraling around just about every family that I know now.
The new most contagious Covid variant is in at least 3 states, but I would suspect it's in all of them by now. We'll find that out way after the fact.
G-d only knows whether the Covid vaccines will work on the mutated Coronavirus and how this will impact the runaway pandemic. Will it be back to the Vaccine drawing board?
While many healthcare workers have been extraordinary during these difficult times, I've been appalled at some recent cases of horrible care.
Example 1:
Went to CVS Minute Clinic, they gave me some antibiotics, but said go this afternoon for a Covid test, which I had already booked prior at another CVS location that does the tests.
I drive 10 miles sick to go there, and when I arrive they tell me, they don't have my appointment anymore even though I show them "black and white" my confirmation! "The system must've kicked you out because you were at another CVS earlier in the day." I said, I need to be tested, and they were adamant that there was nothing they could do. Their completely incompetent store manager told me to call and make another appointment for another day. I said, I waited two days for this appointment, drove ten miles, and waited a long time on line. He said, that's too bad and I should call the 800 number if I wasn't happy. I said, it's your mistake, so you call the 800 number. I told him I wasn't leaving the line until they resolved this. The manager was a rude SOB, but finally one of the pharmacists said the nurse can put me back in the system and they would in fact see me.
Well, lo and behold, a day passes, and I get a call the test didn't work. Make another appointment. Ok, now I really have no choice. I go to another CVS, this one was actually much better and gave comprehensive instructions on how to take the Covid test. So much for good CVS and bad CVS!
Example 2:
Someone else in my family was sick and also goes to the CVS Minute Clinic. They give her not much more than Tylenol. But tell her to make another appointment to take care of her ear. She makes an appointment, and I take her to yet another CVS location the next day. Well guess what, the Physician's Assistant refuses to treat her ear. He sits us down and tells us that he has a wife and kids at home and doesn't want to possibly get Covid since she was at the Minute Clinic the day before. I explain that all they gave her was Tylenol. He says, "Anything can be Covid! And I'm not going to go in the room to clean out the ear for maybe 20 to 30 minutes." Well then why in the hell did this guy go into the medical profession?
Example 3:
I contact another pharmaceutical outlook (not CVS) for a prescription. They quote me $2,500 dollars. I say "That's 10 tens what they usually charge me so there must be a typo." Oh no, that's the price for the branded drug. Maybe you meant the generic which is only $250! Same drug but ten times the price!
I'm sorry folks our healthcare system in the U.S. is very broken indeed. By calling attention to these things, I hope to bring positive change for all our sakes. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Horrors in U.S. Healthcare
November 24, 2020
Who You Calling Bull?
You know what I mean with this picture.
Zombies + Taxidermy = Some scary grafted dudes!
No one can call bull on this show. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Who You Calling Bull?
November 19, 2020
Vaccine Fears
They tell me that the news is reporting 95% effectiveness and then they pull out their smartphone and show me a cartoon of someone taking the vaccine and their face is all deformed (I won't go into the details).
So I ask him:
Are you going to talk the vaccine?
He says:
"No!"
I ask:
Do you take the flu vaccine?
Again he says :
No, it's poison!
He thinks some more and says (jokingly, I believe):
And if some big burly guys try to hold me down and make me take it, I'll tell them I'm gonna go out and get a gun and come back tomorrow and shoot them.
Bottom line: there is some real fear and apprehension out there about these vaccines.
And surely, some people do have negative effects--whatever that percentage is.
Personally, I will take the vaccine. I would rather try and fail (hopefully not), than never try at all!
How long the vaccine is effective for--that's another matter all together. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Vaccine Fears
November 4, 2020
If The Other Side Wins The Election
I think this is how a lot of people feel...
if the other side wins the election (look where he's picking from)!
A picture is worth a thousand words.
One thing we know for sure is that the polls and the "Fake News" media got it all wrong again! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
If The Other Side Wins The Election
October 28, 2020
Overwhelming Public Fatigue
China Fatigue
Covid Fatigue
Election Fatigue
Exaggerations Fatigue
Extremism Fatigue
Fear Fatigue
Facebook Waste of Time Fatigue
Lies and Corruption Fatigue
Media Manipulation Fatigue
Power Politics Fatigue
Racism and Hate Fatigue
Riots and Looting Fatigue
Fatigue Fatigue ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Overwhelming Public Fatigue
October 26, 2020
Chucky Rules The Road
This was a scary mother of a truck.
It had Chucky perched spread-eagle over the front crash bumper.
Imagine looking in your rearview mirror and seeing this barreling down on you.
Chucky rules the road and he's coming for you.
It's too late to run and hide.
He's gonna get you!
Consider yourself dead meat and it's not even Friday the 13th. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Chucky Rules The Road
September 22, 2020
Much To Be Afraid Of
When this clown dude pops out, you'll sh*t your pants.
And who really wants to be more scared in this world anyway?
With Covid, Cancer, Corruption, Cyber Attacks, Identity Theft, Radicalism, Terrorism, War, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Loss and Death, Environmental issues, and the Economy don't we have enough to be afraid of already? ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Much To Be Afraid Of
August 22, 2020
No, It's Not Fort Knox
I don't think I've ever seen this many surveillance cameras in one relatively small room that's not related to national security!
And there were even more cameras around me--they were freakin everywhere.
I get that people are afraid and want security, but seriously over a dozen cameras in the entry/waiting room to see a doctor!
Did someone go a little overboard here?
Maybe they had a bad experience, who knows.
Still, this is beyond dystopian and never a private moment shall one have! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
No, It's Not Fort Knox
August 21, 2020
You Get Your Own Special Table
Reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Social Distance. Thank You.
Wow, for people that are rightfully worried about Coronavirus or maybe they're just hypochondriacs, there is a secluded table for you in the restaurant, so you can still go out and eat and enjoy yourselves.
Mr. and Mrs. Social Distance, you are sitting far away but still part of the living, Halleluja! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
You Get Your Own Special Table
May 22, 2020
Shopping Up A Pole
Shopping cart up a pole.
No one else up there.
Safe from Coronavirus, hopefully.
Maybe some illusive toilet paper to be found in the sky mall?
Desperate times calling for desperate measures or an anxious society is losing its mind. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Shopping Up A Pole
May 3, 2020
We Impact Each Other's Souls
And I rarely write twice on a book or movie, but this was so impactful.
First on our souls, Sharansky writes:
The law of attraction, interconnection, and interdependence of human souls...there is a universal gravitational pull of souls, of the bond between them and influence of one soul on the other.
Wow, Sharansky understood the deeper meaning of the soul and how they all emanate and are pieces from G-d and they are all connected to their source and each other, and what one person says or does impacts all the others (and thereby G-d himself).
Literally, I experienced this the other day...when I personally made amends on something I felt that I had done wrong, and I could literally feel somehow righting a wrong in the universe and G-d, Himself, smiling down on me.
It was the best feeling I think I have ever had in my life.
Second on fear, Sharansky writes:
My inner freedom [is] more powerful than the external bondage...[and] fear of the L-rd...is a necessary prerequisite for man's achieving inner freedom, and is also the prerequisite for spiritual resolve, the fear of the L-rd is the only thing that can conquer human fear.
Wow again. Sharansky through his nine years of suffering and hardships in Soviet prisons and labor camps found his deep inner strength to resist the tyranny of the KGB worldly masters and overcame them with his finding his fear and faith in G-d and was able to overcome.
These are two amazing heavenly lessons that Sharansky shares with us from enduring and overcoming his incredible worldly hardships.
I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this and am with G-d's help continuing to quench my thirst for this type of wisdom and true enlightenment. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
We Impact Each Other's Souls
April 26, 2020
Count Your Blessings
I just wanted to share a short reflection with everything going on in the world these days with coronavirus and the economic shutdown: I see people are scared and confused, under lockdown and feeling financial strain, and many are getting sick and dying. But I remember the words of my dear father who used to say: "Count Your Blessings!" And he was so right. There are so many things, literally every moment of every day, for us to be grateful for:
Certainly, we all face extreme difficulties or challenges at times in our lives, but things can always be so much worse, and there is still so much for us to be grateful for. Therefore, truly thank you G-d with a hundred blessings—and more—for every moment of every precious day. And we affirm that surely the L-rd who created us will continue to sustain us, and that ultimately all will be for the good.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Count Your Blessings