Sunday, November 17, 2019

ruminations on how to address Alabama's super star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being knocked out for the season by Mississippi State defenders


Around dawn today, I dreamed of my Uncle Leo Bashinsky's wife, Betty. In the dream, I had written something that I tossed toward her, and it fell onto a red hot fire pit between us. It could have landed elsewhere, but it landed on the fire pit. Betty said something wasn't spelled correctly, and I said he had changed the spelling himself, and if she did not accept what I had tossed to her, then she would never see or hear from me again. She said she preferred Gandhi's way.

I meant my Uncle Leo's Polish grandfather, Leopold, who had changed the spelling of his last name somewhat after he came to America at age 15, to strike out on his own. He changed the spelling to make it easier for Americans to spell and pronounce. It was said of Leopold that the people in the south Alabama town where he had lived brought their disputes to him, instead of to the town lawyers, because they believed he would be fair to all sides. He did it pro bono.


I woke up, thinking Gandhi's way was to become the light you wish to see in the world, and non-violence, which pretty well summed up Leopold, who reminded me of St. Francis of Assisi, whose prayer was:


Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy

O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life

Amen

I had memorialized Leopold in  A FEW REMARKABLE PEOPLE I HAVE KNOWN: "He Was a Noble Creation." On his gravestone his widow, my great grandmother Bashinsky, had engraved: "God's noblest creation is an honest Man."


I also memorialized Leopold's grandson, my Uncle Leo, my Aunt Betty's husband 


Here's a link to that  book at this blog:


https://afoolsworkneverends.blogspot.com/p/1-few-remarkable-people-i-have-known-by.html 


I named the title of Leo's chapter, "He Called a Spade a Spade". There was far more to that pediatrician and healer than speaking straight, but that was his way. He ruffled plenty of feathers, and was loved by many.


I gathered from the dream that my Aunt Betty didn't care for, or was trying to steer me away from, writing like Leo might speak or write.


I gathered Aunt Betty wanted me to go the way of Francis, Gandhi and Leopold. 


Yet, Francis was put into the fire pit, from which he eventually emerged an entirely new person. And, Gandhi was fire-tested, and then he was assassinated.


Leopold was fire-tested when he left Poland at age 15, and by being the only Jew in the south Alabama town where he eventually settled and met his future Southern Baptist wife and daughter of a Confederate officer.  


I hoped yesterday that I had completed writing a new book about what can happen to people who step onto the spiritual path, having no clue what might lie in store for them. The book is filled with baptism in spirit and fire stories. My question when I turned in last night, was whether to cut out some of the fire stories, or leave the book as is? 


Was Betty telling me to take out a lot of the fire stories? 


Was Betty trying to tell me to view differently what happened in the Alabama-Mississippi State football game yesterday?


All the juice I have left today is for that game.


Led by its super star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa , Alabama took command, 35-7, with about 2 minutes left in the first half. Alabama's back up quarterback, Mac Jones, was warming up on the sideline. I thought that was very good idea. 


Mac had played the entire game against Arkansas the week before, and had done very well. I had hoped Coach Nick Saban would let Mac play the entire Alabama-LSU game the week before that, because Tua was still recovering from surgery to repair an a high-sprain right ankle injury he had received in the Alabama-Tennessee game. 


Tua played the entire LSU game, which LSU won 46-41. In that game. Tua did not seem fully recovered from his injury. Nor did he seem fully recovered in the Mississippi State game.


The TV sports commentaors said Tua would sit out the rest of the Mississippi State game, even as I watched Tua and Coach Nick Saban talking and smiling on the sidelines. Tua went back into the game. 


On the first play, Tua, in the shotgun position, received the snap from center and started looking for an open receiver, as several Mississippi State defenders broke through Alabama's pass defense and Tua turned and retreated left and back. Two State defenders caught and tackled Tua from behind. He went down hard on his right knee and his face mask hit the dirt and his helmet was knocked off. Tua looked hurt. It looked serious. 


I was furious Coach Saban had put Tua back into the game. I think my Uncle Leo would have been furious, too, if he were still in this life.

The link below is to an article containing a video of that disastrous play, which went viral on the Internet.


https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/2019/11/16/tua-tagovailoa-hurt-mississippi-state-leaves-football-game-injured-ankle-nose/4213531002/


When the Alabama trainers reached Tua, he was in great distress. He was a while standing with the help of two trainers. He could not put weight on his right leg with his arms resting around the neck and shoulders of the two trainers. Tua was gently put onto a motorized stretcher and driven to the locker room, and then was helicoptered to a Birmingham hospital, which diagnosed a dislocated right hip and posterior wall fracture. 


Tua was announced out for the season. His career might be over. 


I thought the same. 


In later news reports, the Alabama team's orthopedic surgeon said Tua would make a full recovery. 


I hoped so.

The surgeon was an across-the-street childhood friend of my older daughter, whose husband is Mississippi State's Athletic Director.

Tua tweeted, God has a plan. 

I hoped so. Maybe part of the plan was to send a very loud message via a much more serious injury to Tua's right leg than the sprained ankle? And, as a friend said this morning, maybe now Tua will have time to fully recover from the right ankle injury and the right hip dislocation fracture.


Saban said during a game time media interview after Tua was carted off the field, that Tua wanted to keep playing, and they wanted him to practice a two-minute drill. 


Practice? 


As if the game was a scrimmage at the Alabama practice field in Tuscaloosa, where quarterbacks wear black jerseys and are not fair game for hard tackles? 


Practice? 


As if Mississippi State was Alabama's practice squad? 


A two-minute drill is used at the end of the first half to try to make a quick score before time runs out. Or, or with time running out at the end of the second half, when a team is behind and a quick score will win the game, or tie the game and put it into overtime. 


A two-minute drill involves running quick pass plays to the sidelines, to reduce the risk of interception and stop the clock if the pass is incomplete, or is completed and the runner goes out of bounds. 


The play in which Tua was knocked out for the season did not look to me like a quick pass play to a sideline.


Here again is a link to the article, which contains a video of that play:


https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/2019/11/16/tua-tagovailoa-hurt-mississippi-state-leaves-football-game-injured-ankle-nose/4213531002/


God does have a plan, but what is it? Time will tell.


I had thought Tua would go into the NFL draft next year, instead of playing his senior year at Alabama. Mac Jones, or Tua's younger brother, or someone one else, would be Alabama's quarterback. If Tua heals and comes back, how does that affect the other quarterbacks? Will Mac put his name in the college football transfer portal, like Jalen Hurts did last year? This year, Jalen is a super star quarterback on the Oklahoma football team.

Meanwhile, a piercing "fake news" New York Times article takes no prisoners.


Tua Tagovailoa Was Injured Again. Should He Have Been Playing?


The Alabama quarterback and top N.F.L. prospect was carted off the field with a hip injury against Mississippi State. His team was up big at the time.


Alabama Coach Nick Saban said he did not think quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s injury was related to his right ankle injury earlier this season.Credit...Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press


By Billy Witz               

The lasting image of Tua Tagovailoa in an Alabama uniform may be this: his face bleeding, his body curled up on the cart that carried him off the field after an injury left him in excruciating pain.

That was the scene on Saturday in Starkville, Miss., after Tagovailoa, the star Alabama quarterback, crumpled to the turf after two Mississippi State players chased him down late in the first half of a 38-7 Crimson Tide victory.

A towel over his head muffled his screams from a dislocated hip, which will end his season, likely providing one bookend moment to a sterling college career. The other came two years ago when he came off the bench as a freshman at halftime of the national championship game and carried Alabama to a thrilling comeback win over Georgia with an audacious walk-off touchdown pass.

The Alabama team doctor, Lyle Cain, said in a statement Saturday night that further tests would guide the treatment, but that Tagovailoa should make a full recovery. But the injury was serious enough that Tagovailoa was transported to a Birmingham hospital by helicopter. Afterward, Coach Nick Saban told reporters: “Godspeed to him and his entire family, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and hope this isn’t so serious that it has any long-term effect on his future as a player.”

And there is the crux of the conversation: What of Tagovailoa’s future?

He might have been the top pick in the N.F.L. draft, an athletic left-hander with impeccable accuracy, a strong arm and consistently astute decisions. Tying those qualities together was a magnetic presence — part toughness, part charm — that could make him a franchise quarterback.

But as the severity of Tagovailoa’s injury becomes clear, the questions will turn to why Tagovailoa was playing at all.

"He was screaming in pain as medical training staff had to pick him up and carry him off the cart." @MollyAMcGrath said the first report is that Tua Tagovailoa suffered an injury to his right hip vs. Mississippi State.

It is a calculus that is increasingly necessary these days in college, where money rains on everyone but the players. Tagovailoa underwent ankle surgery last month and seemed primed to sign a pro contract in April with at least $25 million guaranteed.

If Tagovailoa, a junior who could choose to return next year, had been playing in the N.F.L., he would at least have been compensated for the games he was playing. And he also would have an agent, who might have ensured that Tagovailoa received an independent opinion from doctors about his ankle injury, and an evaluation of his recovery from the related surgery from trainers who weren’t on a team’s payroll.

But who was advising Tagovailoa on whether to play?

The cutting-edge ankle surgery he received was designed in part to speed up his recovery from a sprained right ankle. Tagovailoa had the same surgery last year on his other ankle and returned three weeks later with an outstanding playoff semifinal performance over Oklahoma.

Even before his recent surgery, Tagovailoa told teammates that he would be back against Louisiana State, a battle between unbeaten teams, the winner all but assuring itself one of the four College Football Playoff spots.

Indeed he returned, though Tagovailoa shied away from running with the ball and played with a slight limp as the game wore on. And the limited practiced seemed to show: He lost a fumble, threw an interception and couldn’t bring Alabama all the way back in a 46-41 loss.

Afterward, Saban called him a warrior.

A similar scenario played out this week. Backup Mac Jones got most of the work in practice, and leading up to game time there was uncertainty over whether Tagovailoa would start. But there he was in the lineup, and by the time he was injured, just before halftime, he had Alabama well ahead.

Saban, who said he largely left the decision to play against L.S.U. up to Tagovailoa, called Saturday’s injury a freak occurrence and said Tagovailoa moved well in a pregame workout, perhaps better than he had the week before.

“We can second-guess ourselves all we want,” Saban said.

There will be plenty of that. Saban can earn $800,000 in bonuses if Alabama wins the national championship. There is no such incentive for Tagovailoa. Or any of college football’s stars. Ohio State defensive lineman Nick Bosa had abdominal surgery in September 2018 and prepared for the draft rather than try to return to the Buckeyes. Other players who are top N.F.L. prospects now routinely skip bowl games that are not part of the playoff.
sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Key West the Newspaper strikes fear into the bubba justice system again, perhaps the blue paper should open a branch office in Washington D.C.?

There are newspapers in Key West and the Florida Keys, and there is Key West the Blue Paper (thebluepaper.com), published by Arnaud and Naja Girard, above, without whom a lot bad shit in paradise pretend would stay buried under Mt. Trashmore, Key West's "dormant" landfill.
Inside Edition crew films Lauren Jenai and her four children immediately after Judge orders Ty Tucker’s release on bond.

Treehouse Murder Gets National Attention

Judge Releases Accused on $2 Million Bond and Disqualifies Prosecutor

by Arnaud Girard…
It was a stormy hearing last Tuesday in Judge Jones’ courtroom. Raising his hands in the air, Jerry Ballarotto, the attorney for Tyrone Tucker, the accused “treehouse murderer,” told the Judge, “You have the right to be outraged!”
For the past two years Tyrone (“Ty”) Tucker has been held without bail in a Monroe County jail. He had allegedly confessed to another inmate, Naeem Jackson, that it was he who had stabbed Matthew Bonnet to death on the night of November 17, 2017 in Bonnet’s Stock Island “treehouse.”
Based on Jackson’s statement the Judge had denied bail. But last Tuesday defense attorneys came forward, with proof in hand, that the state prosecutor and sheriff’s office investigators had lied to the Judge.
This is what happened:
At Ty’s bond hearing, sheriff’s office detectives had testified under oath that Naeem Jackson had no incentive to lie for the prosecution. Mr. Jackson, the prosecutor claimed, was a totally independent witness who simply was shocked by the remorseless confession of a coldblooded killer: Tyrone Tucker. (Mr. Jackson was the only witness against Tucker presented by prosecutors.)
But recently the prosecutors were compelled to (finally) release what they had on Naeem Jackson: a full confidential informant file.
Jackson had admitted to one of Tucker’s defense attorneys, Cara Higgins, during a deposition, that he’d worked at least 30 cases as a professional confidential informant, some of them for MCSO. According to Higgins, he offered his testimony against Tucker in order to obtain an early release. His release was in fact secured, by Tucker’s prosecutor, the now embattled assistant state attorney, Colleen Dunne.
The Judge ruled that Ms. Dunne had 90 days to pass on any information she had gathered while working on the case and was to be thereafter “Chinese-walled” from any involvement with the treehouse murder case.
The main issue at the Tuesday hearing was the prosecution’s failure to produce files on two other witnesses that the defense believed were also confidential informants. Lieutenant Spencer Bryan, who oversees all confidential informant files for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, testified that those CI files do not exist.
However, the record-keeping system he described included so much discretion on the part of detectives about whether or not to document their interactions with “sources of information” that it was unclear in the end whether the two persons in question were clearly not informants or whether there was simply no record of them being informants.
For two years Ty Tucker has claimed he was being framed by MCSO Captain Penny Phelps. Captain Phelps has also been removed from the case. The interrogations she conducted in the treehouse murder case are now the subject of an internal affairs investigation about missing and edited videos.
The nagging question rumbling in the guts of the case has been whether the Sheriff’s narcotics unit might have somehow been involved with the Stock Island treehouse when a completely innocent Mathew Bonnet was murdered. Defense attorneys told the Judge they want to know why prosecutors and sheriff’s detectives are protecting suspects and hiding witnesses.
Judge Jones agreed with the defense that “things have changed” since the original bond hearing. He was referring to the misrepresentations regarding the credibility of the testimony of Naeem Jackson, the professional witness. Judge Jones indicated that he was open to reconsidering whether to allow Ty Tucker to get out on bond. He agreed to hear arguments the next morning.
That was Wednesday at 8:45 am.
A camera crew from Inside Edition was already set up with video equipment and microphones. The not-so-secret weapon in Ty Tucker’s case, CrossFit co-founder Lauren Jenai, was sitting in the spectator area with her four children. Jenai is bankrolling the team of high-powered lawyers who are to save her childhood sweetheart. She believes Ty is innocent. She planned to marry him before the end of the week at the County jail. The attorneys were ready for battle: We learned that their public records requests had brought up damaging phone texts between Captain Phelps and Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne.
But the state’s newly assigned prosecutor, Patrick Flanigan, immediately cut to the chase and agreed that Ty Tucker should be allowed to post bond. The bail was set at $2 million. Ty would be allowed to move to Lauren Jenai’s home in Oregon pending trial but would be required to wear an electronic monitoring device. Lauren was hugging her kids. The TV cameras were eating it up.
In the courthouse corridor a lawyer who’s been following the case but wants to remain anonymous told The Blue Paper the issue with the confidential informants is just the tip of the iceberg and that the Judge doesn’t like it because it may put into question a lot of past convictions. “There have been numerous cases where the prosecutors did not disclose that the source of their information (witness testimony) used to secure convictions came from paid informants. To wit, cases would be close to falling apart for the prosecution and then, miraculously, a “good Samaritan” would show up and say that they heard the defendant “admit to the crime.” The prosecutors would never disclose to the court that the good Samaritan was in fact a CI. It’s been a part of the “win at all costs” approach prosecutors have taken over the years. This case could bring those other cases back to the forefront.”
Ty Tucker was released on bond that afternoon. Jenai and Tucker were set to leave Key West for Oregon this weekend.
Reader Comments
Sean Hynes
'Bout time some light was shed on the corruption.
Way to go🥊
Jan Isherwood
The Truth shall make us free. Too bad there is so little of it. What an amazing story, and to find truth and justice in our local court is equally amazing. Congratulations, Everyone!
Jennifer Brasfield
It makes me wonder why none of the other local newspapers published anything on this story?
Jonatan Zahav
LOL Seriously? You are wondering?
James Blagg
This is ridiculous. She needs to be fired! Lying to a judge as a lawyer gets what a slap on the wrist. I hope judge Jones makes an example out of her as he has been giving this attorney way to much flexablity in the court room and she just ran right over him.
Sloan Bashinsky
Thank you Lauren Jenai and blue paper. Based on Jenai's https://freefranklintucker.com/crime, and the blue paper articles, this former Alabama attorney thinks Ty's case should be dismissed by the Monroe County State Attorney; Ty has a mega-civil rights damage lawsuit in federal court against Monroe County Sheriff and State Attorney Offices; the Florida Governor should appoint a mainland State Attorney to criminally prosecute Phelps and Dunne; and the Florida Bar should disbar Dunne And, if what the local lawyer, who wished to remain unknown, said is true about how the State State Attorney Office uses confidential informants to prosecute cases, another special prosecutor should be appointed by the Governor to prosecute the State Attorney and his Assistant State Attorneys who used confidential informants in that way. And/or, the US Department of Justice should prosecute the State Attorney and those Assistant State Attorneys.
Sloan Bashinsky
When I republished my comment under same article at the bluepaper's Facebook page, a notice came up that the comment "goes against our community standards and only you can see it." Facebook's community standards? The blue paper's?

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

Monday, November 11, 2019

So, did President Trump really jinx the Alabama Crimson Tide in its game against LSU in Tuscaloosa last Saturday? Or did University of Alabama officials jinx the team by allowing President Trump into Bryant-Denny Stadium?



Re yesterday's  President Trump jinxed Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa post at this blog


BJ Disregards Tua’s injury. Happy for the #22s on both teams.

    Sloan Bashinsky Certainly Tua's injury was a factor, and if I had been Coach Saban, I would not have let Tua play and would have gone with Mac Jones, whose white team beat Tua's red team pretty darn good in the spring A-Day game. Tua played poorly in that game, about like he had played against Clemson for the national championship. Mac looked great against Arkansas. The Alabama defense was suspect all year. LSU's potent offense got 46 points. Can't blame that on Tua's injury. Nor can you blame his dropping the football in the red zone on his injury. Nor can you blame the Alabama punter dropping a perfect snap from center on Tua's injury. Alabama's lone interception was nullified by a hands to the defensive penalty elsewhere on the field. The refs made a strange call at the Alabama six-inch line. The LSU receiver went out of bounds and came back in bounds and caught a pass and touched his toes in bounds and was given a completion. Correct call if the Alabama defender pushed the receiver out of bounds, but that would have been pass interference, which was not called by the ref.

In fact, Tua was spectacular in the second half, given his injury.

I have the fate, whether I like it or not, to see things in play that are not recognized by mainstream, but are recognized by religions and spiritual traditions. In that vein, I kept thinking yesterday during the game that Alabama was going to lose because Coach Saban played Tua, whose future could have been wrecked by severe right ankle damage in that game. Go ahead and play Mac Jones. There is no downside. If Alabama loses, it's because Tua was not ready to play. If Alabama wins, it's spectacular. Either way, Alabama is viewed still as a national contender when Tua is back in action later this year.

But, there is a thing that happens, which is my dreams, and also revelations and so-called coincidences, which reveal things I have not thought of. My dreams last night shifted my focus away from the Tua should not have played theory, toward what I posted above. I woke up and found my niece, named after me, had posted on her FB timeline that it looked like Trump being in Tuscaloosa was the cause of Alabama losing. I went to Ginger Buck's Facebook page and saw she had posted the same thing. Ginger lives in Tuscaloosa. I saw a number of articles online saying the same thing. Former Alabama Heishman Trophy winner Mark Ingram said it.

In this case, I think the operating factor was this was a really important college football game, and Trump used the attention the game would get, to be at the game and promote his reelection bid, which was totally out of line. The University of Alabama should have openly objected to him being there, because the University knew why Trump would be there. Republican Alabama fans should have openly opposed Trump being there, because they knew his motive had nothing to do with either school, or the game. And, there you have it.
          
    Sloan Bashinsky A friend of mine in in another state reported being told by angels in a dream about 1:00 a.m. today, Monday after the game, that the President of the University of Alabama really messed up by not trying to stop President Trump being at the game.

This fellow ongoing reports being told stuff in dreams by angels about a lot of things, personal to him and his relations, personal to me and my relations, about different American political figures, including President Trump, about Russia, and about other things. Most of what he reports being told is informational, a different perspective, helpful in navigating life. Some of it is apocalyptic. He is not a religious person. He does not attend church. He is having direct experiences with several different angels known in human lore, and with demons. The physical, emotional, mental and soul toll on him is huge and grievous.

I have had friends like him before, who would have nodded yes to Trump being at the game jinxing the Alabama team, and I was right to publish it. I have had friends who would tell me, yes, but I should not go public with it. I have had friends who would tell me. what in the hell had gotten into me? Was I crazy? And, I have had people who wanted me locked up and the key thrown away over what I said or wrote about something.
          
·   Sloan Bashinsky I agree with you about the 22s on both teams, the Alabama and LSU running backs, who played their hearts out and did very well in the game. They are African-American. A large percentage of the Alabama and LSU players are African-American. I can't imagine what it's like for them being watched by a U.S. President, who was endorsed by the head of the KKK, and whose MAGA base includes white supremacists groups. In my spirit code, 2 is the number for Jesus. I doubt he is a big fan of the KKK and other white supremacist groups.


For what it's worth, or not, the college coaches poll after this past weekend's games (LSU, Ohio State and Clemson are undefeated; Alabama and Georgia have one loss):

1. LSU (55)
2. Ohio State (5)
3. Clemson (4)
4. Alabama
5. Georgia

Three SEC teams in top five, for now. 

Clemson's head coach, Dabo Swinney, from Pelham, Alabama, played on Alabama's 1992 National Championship team, and then was an assistant coach at Alabama before Nick Saban arrived there. Georgia's head coach, Kirby Smart, from Montgomery, Alabama, played at Georgia and later was an assistant coach under Nick Saban at LSU, when it won the national championship in 2004. Smart later became an assistant coach at Alabama, under Nick Saban. Then, he was hired as Georgia's head coach.

The last time LSU won a national title, Nick Saban was its head coach. After #1-ranked LSU beat #2-ranked Alabama, 9-6, in overtime, in 2011, billed as the game of the century, Alabama beat LSU, 21-0, in the National Championship game.

sloanbashinsky@outlook.com




Sunday, November 10, 2019

President Trump jinxed Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa

Let's see. Trump gets booed during World Series game 5 in Washington, D.C., which the Washington Nationals lost, and the Nationals go on to win the next 2 games in Houston and the World Series.

After much media hoopla, Trump attends Alabama-LSU game yesterday solely for personal political reasons. Upstages most important college football game this year, so far, and in years for Alabama and LSU. Baby Trump Balloon slashed with knife in public park by Trump is God fanatic. Trump cheered well in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Crimson Tide miscues like a bad high school team most of 1st half, and Bengal Tigers seem to put game away in 2nd quarter. Trump-jinxed Elephant wakes in 2nd half, but can't quite overtake God-blessed Bengal Tigers.

                 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q F
Alabama     7    6    7 21 41
LSU          10  23    0 13 46

Way to go President Trump, Crimson Tide, War Eagle and other Alabama Republicans!


Not to take away from LSU. Very good football team. Especially their quarterback and running back. 

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com

Saturday, November 9, 2019

U.S. president politics in the land of mangled souls and small roots trees (on the day President Trump and the baby Trump balloon are in Tuscaloosa for the LSU-Alabama game)


Sancho  Panza commented on the U.S. president politics part of the Kari Dangler told me the other day that she is seeing someone in Key West, and that set me to ruminating post at this blog:

I don't think many will get what revealing admission is hidden in your two paragraphs below... but I do... and agree, except for Hillary, she's a shrewd chameleon and was, therefore, quite the darling of the status quo... You, Kari and Trump, are people with the middle finger always ready to respond to the jousting of the status quo!  

"I bet if I spent time with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and they opened up to me about themselves, and they did not jump up and leave the conversation, or order me to leave, pretty soon it would be clear they really are about the same deep down in side as Kari Dangler and Sloan Bashinsky, who were not highly thought of by the mainstream Key West status quo.

The status quo is an interesting thing. It's actually a living organism. It spends a great deal of energy trying to stay the same. It views any effort to change it as life-threatening, and it will use any and all methods, including lethal force as a last resort, to stay the same. The only thing I know that has a decent chance of changing the status quo is God, and even God seems developmentally-challenged in that endeavor."

A true lover of wisdom has hands too busy to hold on to anything! He learns by doing and every pebble in the path becomes her teacher!  Oink

I ruminated a while, and replied:

There is a great, and a grave, difference between what's on the surface and what's deep down below. On the surface, Trump is a piece of shit you voted for and are proud of it and of voting for him again. Kari Dangler and I are nothing like that piece of shit. Deep down below, Trump is a wrecked soul, like, Kari, me, you, and everybody else I have known.

Sancho replied:


First of all, Sloan, when did I ever say or even imply to you that I was proud of ANYTHING? Never! Whatever choices I make in life, voting for Obama instead of McCain or Trump instead of Hillary it's just an exercise in futility, since I live in a Blue State that always goes for the Dems! The older I get the more I find that whatever I do or don't do; whatever I say or don't say, means little or nothing of consequence in the long scheme of things... do you really think you are impacting grace or wisdom or even hope to the World or even to those closer to you, like Kari? If you do, you're indeed a fool! Also, that whole statement below makes no sense, if you and Trump and all of us are fucked, damaged goods, then what's your beef with Trump? One AH in charge is no different than another AH in charge... answer me honestly, do you really think that in 2016, with the choice being Trump or Hillary(we live in a 2 party system), that War Mongering Hillary would have been a better choice than Trump? I mean, this is assuming that your/mine vote had consequences... which is what you assume when you keep reminding me that I am responsible for Trump being elected. I think Hillary would have made a much worse President than Trump... Hillary is closer to the Devil than Trump would ever... if you believe in the devil as the great deceiver!

Anyway, Sloan, I am no going to mess with you for a while since you seem to be in a bad mood and like we both know, life goes on... enjoy thanksgiving with your family!
Ciao! 

P.S, That was "imparting" grace, not "impacting"... although both apply! Emoji

I ruminated a shorter while, and replied:


Aw, take a breath, Sancho.

You know you boasted about voting for Trump and voting for him again in 2020. You no more got him elected in 2016, than I got him elected by voting for Jill Stein. What tags along with our votes is karma for those votes. 

Hillary may well have been worse, and gotten America into another war, but Trump is plenty bad, and you said you voted for him because you hoped he would destroy the status quo. 

What I wrote about sitting down with Hillary and Trump and getting deep down inside of them and them not bolting or running me off, that can be done with anyone who is game to try it. Humanity is a species of shattered souls deep down inside. In that sense, it doesn't matter who is in the White House, or the out house. It's all an exercise in futility, trying to change humanity. Seems even God is challenged there. 

Agree, I would be a fool indeed, if I thought what I say or write, or even think, will impart, impact, make one iota of difference in humanity's condition. I learned that in Key West and the Florida Keys, and elsewhere. Alas, something pushes me to keep shooting off my mouth. It seems to be my job. But, not a job by human measure.

Sancho wrote:

Hey, I am cool as a cucumber, just calling it as I see 'em! No, that's not true, I didn't boast that I voted for Trump, or would vote for him again, because I like him or think he's anything that I would look up to... if that was the case I would have much rather seen Dr. Ben Carson win the Primary... but you might say that I did boast about the salutary effect on the Country of Trump becoming POTUS and revealing how our government really works and how corrupt it is... including the Main Stream Media... honestly, I am surprised he hasn't been shot... yet!  Trump will always be an "outsider" to the Washington crowd; the Dems loath his calling them out at every turn and the Reps, can't keep a Muzzle on him like they did with Reagan, poor souls they don't know what to do with him....... it's kind of amazing to me that you don't see the similarities between the two of you? The only better "disruptor" that I could support for POTUS in 2020 would be you! Emoji

I replied:

Well, Trump's a disruptor, that's for sure! And the grand old Republicans can't muzzle him, that's for sure, too. I figure there are left-wing radical types capable of killing Trump. But if I had to wager, I'd say it would come from within the U.S. Military, CIA, Homeland Security, FBI, or even the Secret Service. To insure against that, Trump could spend a billion to pay scientists, perhaps you can aid in that search, to take cells from Dr. Mengele's remains and clone them to produce a new Dr. Mengele to clone a million Donald Trumps, a la "The Boys From Brazil"! I'm sure there are heaps of people in Alabama and the Florida Keys who'd rather see that, than a million cloned Sloan Bashinskys! Carson didn't do ding squat for me. Trump's a heap more entertaining in the upstaging Stephen King sense. I don't recall King dragooning angels of God to make his horror creepers best sellers, though.

Sancho wrote:

I agree, mostly..... Trump will not want to be out-staged, even by a clone of himself... as for Dr. Carson being boring, yes, but after Trump, who wouldn't be! 

I ruminated a while, looked some stuff up online, and replied:

Besides thinking Carson was boring, I thought he was not in touch with reality, had a really high opinion of himself, and didn't have much sense of what it's like being a woman in a world run by men like him, and women's rights Hillary Clinton would have him for a snack and become president.

Tea Party challenger in Republican primary

Need Civil Discussion Between Pro Life and Pro Choice


Q: Regarding the shooting at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado Springs. Some abortion rights supporters have said that the rhetoric has led to that kind of violence. What's your view?
CARSON: There is no question that hateful rhetoric, no matter which side it comes from, is something that is detrimental to our society. Our strength in this country has traditionally been in our unity and we are allowing all kinds of circumstances to divide us and make us hateful toward each other. When you have outside forces, global Islamic radical jihadists who want to destroy us, why would we be doing that to ourselves? We at some point have got to become more mature. No question the hateful rhetoric exacerbates the situation, and we should be doing all we can to engage an intelligence, civil discussion about our differences.

Q: Should those who oppose abortion rights tone down their rhetoric?
CARSON: I think both sides should tone down their rhetoric and engage in civil discussion.

Q: Whose rights should be superseded? The mother or the unborn child?
CARSON: In the ideal situation, the mother should not believe that the baby is her enemy and should not be looking to terminate the baby.
Q: What if somebody has an unwanted pregnancy? Should they have the right to terminate?
CARSON: No. Think about this. During slavery, a lot of the slave owners thought that they had the right to do whatever they wanted to that slave. And what if the abolitionist had said, you know, "I don't believe in slavery. I think it's wrong. But you guys do whatever you want to do"--Where would we be?
Q: Definitively, do you want to see Roe v. Wade overturned?
CARSON: I would love to see it overturned.

Meanwhile, can't read the Carson article you provided without turning off my ad blocker, so went to Wikipedia, see summary below. I bet if famous neurosurgeon Ben Carson let me civilly help him meet himself deep down inside his brain, he might be overwhelmed with uncivil desire to surgically remove me from my brain, or remove parts of his own brain.

The separation of Siamese twin boys surgery that made him famous was a total disaster, destroyed the boys and their parents' lives. I don't recall that coming out during the 2016 Republican president candidate debates. Maybe I dozed off. Maybe God didn't want a first-do-harm physician in the White house.

       From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patrick and Benjamin Binder (born February 2, 1987) were conjoined twins, joined at the head, born in Germany in early 1987, and separated at Johns Hopkins Hospital on September 7, 1987.[1] They were the first twins to be successfully separated by neurosurgeon Ben Carson, of Baltimore, Maryland. For this operation Carson was able to prepare by studying a three-dimensional physical model of the twins' anatomy. Carson described this separation as the first of its kind, with 23 similar attempted separations ending in the death of one or both twins.
Although Carson was able to separate the boys, they were both left profoundly disabled. The Associated Press reported, in 1989, two years after the separation, that Patrick remained in a "vegetative state", following the surgery.[2] He never came out of his coma. According to a 2015 Washington Post article, he "died sometime in the last decade".[3]
Benjamin recovered to a certain extent.[2] The Washington Post reported that Peter Parlagi, the twins' uncle, said their father was emotionally unable to ever handle them, or share in their care.[3] He said the twin's father became an alcoholic, spent all the couple's funds, and left their mother destitute and alone. She was forced to institutionalize them.[3]
In a 1993 interview, their mother, Theresia Binder, described guilt for agreeing to the operation that ruined the boys' prospect of ever having any quality of life.[3] According to the Washington Post's 2015 interview with Parlagi, Benjamin never learned to speak or feed himself, but he does enjoy visitors, and being taken for walks.[3]

Maybe Trump knew of that, and instead of appointing Carson to be Surgeon General, he appointed him head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, hoping he would do better making America great there, than he had as a neurosurgeon? Carson quit that job.

Sancho wrote:

Hillary was and is a fraud perpetrated by the DNC on its members.... she's not even that quick on he feet and has the charisma of a smoked cigar butt... other than being married to Bill and having a vagina(maybe), she's the most overrated Dem out there.... now if you had said a Tulsi Gabbard type, she would give anybody a run for their money!  Who knows, maybe Hillary would run again(third time's the charmer)... I wonder if the "Progressive" Herd would gather their wagons around her in support, like Bernie and Warren did last time around? Emoji

I replied:

I would love to see Tulsi nominated by the Dems. Even if she lost to Trump, she would shake his small roots tree to the core. Ditto the Republican and MAGA small roots trees. Ditto the Democrat small roots tree. Ditto several forests of other small roots trees.

I share your view of Hillary. A shapeshifter, how can she know who she actually is. Have long thought she is a man in female garb. I liked Bernie and Warren in 2016, until they went back on their proclamations that Hillary was not fit to be president, then later on they were, at different times, lovey-dovey with Hillary on national TV. 

I think Trump would mangle Warren over her ridiculous claims she was Native American. As if her father was Sitting Bull and her mother, Pocahontas. However, Wall Street, the mega banks and mega corporations are terrified of Warren. And, well, maybe Bernie reminds the religious right all too much of the socialist Jesus, and that terrifies them.

Oink!

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com