Donald Trump has said, publicly, that he pays as little in taxes as possible. Claim every legitimate deduction. As a business owner, myself, I must agree. It seems abhorrent to me to throw money into a national sieve just to watch it leak out in the forms of pork-barrel project expenditures and wanton waste.

Businesses are required to follow the laws and rulings of government agencies. This comes at a price and those costs are deductible business expenses. For example, my business requires an eye-wash station in case someone has some chemical or other splash them in the face. This is an OSHA requirement. The installation of the eye-wash station was a legitimate business expense and therefore deductible when claimed in filings required by the IRS.

I believe all my purchases of antiperspirant and Beano should be legitimate business deductions in keeping with EPA regulations regarding air quality. I’ll let you know how that plays out.

I don’t think I’ll be going too far out on a limb in predicting the highest incidence ever of voters choosing “write-in” candidates for President this year.

No matter who wins the Presidential election, I think we will see immediate efforts (not unlike the “Brexit” vote),  to change the outcome. Perhaps recounts, if the election is close. Maybe allegations of voting illegalities. There is likely to be immediate talk of impeachment. The old saying, “you can please some of the people, some of the time”, will be thoroughly inapplicable and should go hide in a corner somewhere.

I believe all of this discontent tilts and swirls in the wake of Obama’s inane and biased efforts to unify the nation under his own, personal bent. A truly predictable, gargantuan failure, if ever, oh ever, there was one.

It will take an unusual Presidential library in Chicago, (a city historically known for its curious level of politicians’ honor, ethics and honesty), to house his legacy. He chose an appropriate location since Oz was unavailable.

To quote the Wizard’s final words,”…I don’t know how it works!.”

Four more years of the same with Hillary. God knows what with Trump.

I don’t know yet, but I’ll probably write in Ben Carson’s name if only because of his undeniable history of trying to help folks for THEIR sakes.

Everywhere I turn, I hear people complaining about the two choices we currently have running for the nation’s top office. There are the “NEVER TRUMP” people and the “ANYTHING BUT HILLARY” folks.

There is no doubt we are in a bit of a pickle. But, how did we get there? Obviously a majority of Democrats voted for Hillary in the primary. Trump beat out a large field of solid Republicans to become the nominee the party doesn’t seem to want. So, how did this happen?

I don’t blame Trump for being a political moron. I don’t blame Hillary for being allergic to honesty and ethics. Maybe it’s genetic.

Still, the fault must lie somewhere. But, where?

I would ask the primary voters, but I fear they wouldn’t have a clue. Besides, they are probably too busy balancing Jerry Springer between MSNBC and FOX NEWS.

I would readily vote for any candidate whose platform was ” I will do all I can to abolish pointless and silly laws.”

Why should anyone be forced to pay a traffic fine when they are guilty of proceeding through a red light when no other cars are present? POINTLESS !

Why can’t you import alligator products into California? Are we afraid handbags will become an invasive species? SILLY ! Etc. , etc. and so on.

There are just too many laws disallowing us to do harmless things.

The removal of thousands of stupid, reactionary and outdated pieces of legislation would allow the citizenry to relax a bit and not feel as though we are walking on eggshells.

Let’s get back to the basics. If it doesn’t endanger someone else’s physical or financial wellbeing and is done without malice, there should be no law against it. This is called “Freedom.”

This would confuse the hell out of legislators.

After his chiding Akizr Khan, father of a fallen American Muslim soldier in Iraq, Donald Trump has seen Hillary’s poll numbers rise sharply. My guess is he is currently experiencing the unpleasant flavor of athlete’s mouth.

One simple question arises: How miserable a human being must you be, to be outshone by Hillary? Hey, that rhymes!

A Walmart recently opened near my home. I don’t mind shopping there because I often can save a few bucks. There is, however, one caveat. Their selection isn’t great.

For some reason, they don’t seem to stock some of my favorite items and I don’t know why. To be fair, they actually may stock them, but I can’t seem to locate them and neither can the employees. I suppose this isn’t surprising because the folks are new and haven’t had time to be fully trained.

They do have many types of Progresso soups, but not my favorite…escarole. Nor do they seem to stock Pepsodent “diet” toothpaste or Kellogg’s “bacon flavored” eye-drops.

My wife won’t shop there at all anymore. She bought the store brand equivalent of a Playtex Living Bra and ended up chasing it around the parking lot. Animal Control subdued the thing with a tranquilizer dart which, of course,  meant the item could not be returned for a full refund. So, it plays with our dog, Murphy, in the back yard.

I’ve mentioned these issues to the manager, but have yet to see any meaningful results.

So, kindly, old Uncle Barack has made history today by commuting the sentences of 214 federal inmates, most of whom were incarcerated for low level drug offenses. This is the largest number ever commuted in one day. In total, so far, he has commuted the sentences of more inmates than any other President since Calvin Coolidge.

Never mind that these folks were locked up according to the law. Obama feels the concept of minimum sentences is wrong and he’s more than willing to throw the legal system into the dumpster when he feels like it. And he has the legal power to do that. The money and time spent convicting and sentencing these felons are of little or no concern to him because he knows better how justice should be served.

It seems to me that if justice is to be served, Uncle Barack should be held personally and financially responsible for the behavior of these soon-to-be ex-cons in the same fashion as anyone else who would have an offender released into their custody. But only for the balance of time between their early release and when they would have served out their sentences. That’s only fair and just. However, should any one of them commit a serious or costly crime during that time, Mr. Obama should be held accountable for anything they could not have done while in prison. This should be the law!

One important point should not be overlooked. Obama is doing this solely to win votes for Aunt Hillary who, as we all know, intends to continue down the same misguided and illogical path should she be elected.

My third grade teacher’s name is Miss Marinello. I liked her.

Third graders are youngsters who do well with the types of encouragements appropriate to their age. They appreciate occasional rewards of recognition for doing good work because they are generally motivated to do otherwise. They are third graders after all, often prone to name calling, teasing, distraction and myriad forms of tomfoolery.

Miss Marinello knew how to appease us. When I did some good work, she would stick a little silver star on my paper or next to my name on her list of students hanging on the wall. If I did something she thought was even better, I was awarded the coveted “Gold Star”.

Looking back, I now know that the “stars”  were given not primarily for the quality of the work. That was secondary to the effect they were supposed to achieve. The best students got the fewest stars. They didn’t need them. Continue reading GOLD STAR FAMILY →

Presidential races are an awful lot like automobile races. Sometimes we’re watching high performance machines, the likes of nitro-fueled funny cars and dragsters. Sometimes  we’re treated to the Indianapolis 500 or Daytona 500. This is where the top cars and most talented drivers compete while trying to avoid crashes.

There are those races which aren’t quite so technologically advanced such as stock car races. This is where beat up old cars are given powerful engines in order to speed along an oval track, often bumping into each other, with the best car and driver usually winning.

We go to and watch the races we prefer to see.

This year, it seems most of us have chosen the demolition derby. This is where complete garbage which is barely able to move slams into other rolling (s)crap with no apparent purpose other than doing as much damage as possible..

Aren’t we special?!