Strangeness in a Strange World

Seems to be a strange wave of anti-voting going on. I keep running into posts by people who claim they are not voting for Hillary, and by not voting at all, they claim that will be a vote for Trump. It's nonsense, of course. Doesn't work that way. But that is their story and they are sticking to it, along with the claims Hillary will never be convicted of anything. Like they thought she was royalty.
I have to believe this is all coming from the Democrat's traditional bag of dirty tricks. Otherwise, why the sudden surge of "not voting is a vote for Trump"?
One poster brushed aside all logical arguments ending with a graphic which declared: "The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question their's." This was my response:
"...owe loyalty...? That would include all those wonderful young men who paid with their lives and futures for your freedom and mine. I know many of their names firsthand, some who died on the four battlefields on which I served, while I survived. And I owe them and their surviving families a better America, which is why I will not roll over and go along to get along. Trump has been helping and assisting military veterans long before he began running for President. Hillary has consistently disrespected and demeaned military members, not to mention the now available email evidence of her deadly involvement in the death of the Benghazi four. If you are free, if you are in this nation speaking English, having access to all the hopes and dreams of any other American, then you owe posterity the same diligence of purpose in protecting freedom that those who came before you sacrificed to provide to you and your family. "Opting out", like the bended knee before royalty, is not the American way.

Life is a Contest

               Life is a contest; sink or swim, succeed or fail, be rewarded or lose out.

               If you are not aborted, you have a chance.  If you are born in America, you have a chance.  If you are born to loving, supportive parents, you have a chance.  Not everyone is.

               At least in our day and age we no longer have to be on the lookout for saber-toothed tigers, deadly raptors and other dinosaurs.   Today most of our dangers come instead from mankind and its machinations.  So yes, sometimes staying alive is a contest that requires focus and concentration.

               The world has been watching the 31^st Olympics this past week, and rarely has focus and concentration been more on display.  31-year-old Michael Phelps winning 22 Olympic medals; Simone Manuel celebrated as the first black person to win an Olympic swimming gold medal, followed by a host of exciting stories of Olympic medal wins.

Unlike the other competition that has dominated the world-wide news media this past year – no, not the American political campaigns – the war against terrorism, we have witnessed many poignant moments where battling teams switched in an instant from intense competitors to hugging, hand-shaking congratulatory fans of the winners.

               Maybe it’s just the sports environment that encourages such clean, healthy competition without the base, go-for-the-jugular attacks.  No revenge, no vengeance.  As veteran volleyball champ Kerry Walsh Jennings and her partner battled the Italians for the gold medal, the TV cameras zoomed in on Walsh Jennings left hand, where she had written the word “JOY” to remind her why she played so hard to win.  Competition, yes, but not for blood.  And winners were congratulated and celebrated, not plotted against sniped at.

               Sports does seem to bring out the best in human beings.

               A Little League baseball game comes to mind, where the boys from Warner Robbins, Ga., defeated a team of young boys from Japan.  Even as the winners jumped about with back-slapping congratulations, they noticed that the Japanese boys had broken down in tears.  Without a word the victory celebration stopped and the winning team moved to console the losers.

               Said pitcher Kendall Scott, “I just hated to see them cry, and I just wanted to let them know that I care.  Youthful sportsmanship at its best.

               Some may remember a similar moment that was caught on video at a Special Olympics race a few years ago.  As the mentally and physically challenged children raced down their lanes, one boy stumbled and went down.  One girl stopped, turned around and went back to help him.  The others, as they approached the finish line, stopped, turned and went back to boy being helped to his feet.  All together, they crossed the finished line, winners all.

               Heartwarming moments all, but pointing out that sports – even at its best – is an imperfect metaphor for Christianity.  For in sports, someone always loses.  But when someone is won to Christ, the only loser is Satan.

               The difference is that for Christians, true teamwork is not about defeating someone, it’s about making them part of the team, God’s own team.

Who Is This Crazy Old Lady ..... And Does She Really Know?

Hillary Clinton recently called for raising taxes on the “middle class” while campaigning in Omaha, Nebraska.  She was joined on stage by left-wing Democrat billionaire Warren Buffett, and they both received applause from those in attendance.

“Because while Warren is standing up for a fairer tax code, Trump wants to cut taxes for the super-rich,” said Clinton. “Well, we’re not going there, my friends. I’m telling you, right now — we’re going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!”  And unaccountably, the audience cheered and applauded!

I don’t know which is stranger, Hillary’s words or her audience’s approval!

You can watch for yourself at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=7ua13_gYQn0

In another speaking engagement, it was reported that as Hillary was speaking someone in the audience held up a banner about not killing animals.  Hillary stopped speaking.  Apparently it was as if she was stunned; or confused.  One of her Secret Service agents was observed coming alongside of her saying, “Keep talking.”  And she did.  She began to talk about how former President George Bush and his friends like to kill animals.  What?

Now, much earlier I had read one of those tell-all stories from someone who had apparently been on Hillary’s staff, was let go, and was “telling all” as one who had been close to her.  What she was telling was about Hillary’s inability to focus and stay on target.  How she had to be constantly reminded what to do, where to be, what to say.  The implication was a lack of short-term memory.  At the time I filed that away as election-year fluff.  Now I wonder.

If you go to Google and search “Hillary Clinton Seizures”, you find 583,000 results.  Many of those are YouTube videos of her apparently suffering on-camera seizures, and yet beyond what you see, no credible evidence has been addressed or released.  InfoWars.com and others discuss Hillary Clinton as a sociopath who may have brain damage, but again, no real evidence one way or the other.

Here’s the thing.  At this point in the election year, no one is going to state with any competency that the lady is ill or in any state that would remove her from running for President.  Just not going to happen, even were it true.

We all are probably familiar with stories about the old boxing champion or other aging sports figure who has lost their edge, maybe even suffered brain damage, but who won’t quit.  And they are surrounded by a coterie of close supporters who continue to urge that person on.  After all, this is their golden goose.  Without this person they have no money, no job, no future.  Doesn’t matter that the longer this person goes without competent treatment the less grow their chances for a good quality of life, or even survival.

If this were true of Hillary Clinton, could those who have closed ranks around her ensure this nation the leadership it deserves, that it needs?  They would surely answer in the affirmative, behind closed doors.  Others would coach, coax, act for, and keep up appearances for as long as possible; unless the money and rewards ran out.  But no chance of that, by all accounts. 

Still, brain damage or not, disaster looms and the question presents itself, will Hillary be able to cope?  While Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea will do everything in their power to “protect” their cash cow, their golden goose, it doesn’t take even a good detective to see that the Clinton Empire is beginning to fray, crack, and rot around the edges. 

Now new evidence is being investigated about the claimed suicide of close Democratic supporter Vince Foster.  Two others who authorities say were about to testify against the Clintons have also died this year.  News commentators are abandoning their practice of “protecting” the Clintons as “American royalty” and ugly facts about the Clinton Foundation are finding their way into print and TV news, such as how the Foundation benefits the Clintons alone as a “slush fund” but no one else, for example.

The descriptive phrase “house of cards” comes to mind, and again the question, can Hillary cope?

And at the center of it is a now-delightful, now-furiously angry, now-silly grinning elderly lady who has had a good run in politics and now wants her brass ring on the merry-go-round.  And it is to the benefit of many that she gets it, so they are hiding and sliding and helping her.  Possibly.  How will we know?  Camouflage and misdirection are the hallmarks of an election year.  And the bottom line comes down to the question of how that helps the nation.  Should a pity-support vote put her into the White House and we simply hope for the best?  Can we trust those around her to carry on if it all turns out badly?

Still and all, we who have grown up as Americans still retain enough of the remaining true American character to ask the question that is even more bottom line to that.  And that question is how does any of it really help this human being we know as Hillary Rodham Clinton?  What about what is best for this possibly “crazy old lady”?  What about what is best for her?