Like for most people, the bricks that build my life are mostly made of routine, yet over time, I have picked them so they’re unique, attractive and always are something I look forward to.
My day is never boring and each seemingly repetitive step doubles up as a challenge on its own right. Having build my daily life that way, each day is like a maze I’m looking forward to resolve and go through smoothly, swiftly and with flying colors.
This is something that slowly developed since I’ve been retired. Bit by bit, without realizing it too much in the messed up world we’re living in, I’ve been attracted by nurturing a form of life philosophy. I realize that such a process based on my values, lifestyle, and beliefs is a deeply personal and ongoing journey.
It must begin with self-reflection, like identifying my core values or what’s important or essential to me, like honesty, compassion, freedom, knowledge or creativity. Same thing with my core beliefs or lack thereof as well as with my personal lifestyle and what truly matters to me in the way my environment aligns with my values.
Equally as important, is to review what gives my life its meaning? What do I want to achieve and what kind of impact, if any, do I want to make on the world? Goal setting is also part of the process and applies to both long-term and short-term objectives that must be in harmony with our values and purpose.
After this foundational work, I will need to make conscious choices that reflect my values and beliefs, regularly reflect on my life experiences to make sure they align with my philosophy and of course be open to change as it evolves over time, as I grow and learn.
Finally, the frosting on the cake is to connect with folks that share my views, and also to share my philosophy, values and beliefs with friends and family.
Even since our Democratic leaders lost the election to Trump, the top leadership of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has remained silent, showing their sheer incompetence or total impotence.
As soon as Biden took office in 2021, Trump’s big mouth has been constantly criticizing the old man, but that symmetry is not there today because the Democrats do not seem to have a strong spokesperson, and are all behaving like “sissies”.
Where is this person hiding and where can we find him? I am not counting on Kamala Harris or Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and the rest of the DNC members to do this job, because they were absent the whole time and are still today.
As soon as Trump returned to the White House, we needed a strong voice that unfortunately has been terribly absent. Some list Harris, Newsom or Shapiro. I would say Liz Cheney, if she could be persuaded to change her label or if it were possible to dissolve the DNC and create a true Progressive Party...
In this comparison, it’s easy to see that Biden’s margin of victory in 2020 was stronger than that of Trump in 2024 (4.40% vs. 1.50%) Also, in spite of an increase in population and eligible electorate, Biden received 81 million votes for 77 in the case of Trump.
So the difference is substantial and where did it go? This would suggest that if Trump did a better job increasing his number of supporters, Harris suffered a lack of support from her Democrat electorate that from the get-go wasn’t motivated by an excessively old candidate (Biden) and its weak replacement (Harris).
It’s a fact that, during the 2020 Primaries, Harris performance was also lackluster as she was one of the first ones to drop from the race and sure enough, Biden chose it because of her weakness.
In 2020 Trump lost to Biden because of his antics that were still fresh in everyone’s mind and of his Covid’s mismanagement. In retrospect, it’s helpful to remember that, during the 2008 Democratic Primaries that lined up Obama against Clinton and Biden, It’s Joe Biden who was the first to drop out of the Primary..
Still, in looking at an increased 36.1% abstention, the difference in that rate between 2020 and 2024 is a whopping 2.7% which shows that the Democratic electorate turned its back on Bidden/Harris by not voting because of the lackluster choice offered to them.
Finally, while Trump claims “having a mandate”, he only gets the support of 31.82% of the eligible voters!
Following an “epidemic” of unjustifiable and dubious pardons for too many acts and offset in time, I think that both Biden and Trump have made a mockery of the device, and that it now falls to Congress and States to work on a constitutional amendment to fix a power that has gone astray.
This wouldn’t be easy, but given Biden and Trump’s bipartisan excesses, this might be possible. It would work like this, first by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, then once proposed, the amendment has to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in three-fourths of the states.
As stated in the US Constitution, the presidential pardon power says that the president has the power to "grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of impeachment". This would mean that this power is broad and Congress can do little against it. The president can pardon someone at any time after the crime was committed, including before legal proceedings, during proceedings, or after conviction.
The president can also commute sentences, remit fines and forfeitures, and grant amnesties. The president's pardon power is intended to be a tool of mercy and justice, and to serve the public interest. When we look at these weak and far too general “guardrails”, we can see that there’s plenty of room for abuse, as the pardon power, as we’ve just witnessed it, can be used to pardon political allies or friends, raising concerns about favoritism and corruption.
Further, there is no requirement for the president to justify or explain pardons, leading to a lack of transparency. The worst in my view is that a President can issue pardons before charges are filed, which some argue undermines the justice system. Finally, some pardons have sparked public outrage, such as those granted to individuals involved in significant scandals or crimes.
This is why I believe what we’ve just seen regarding the Biden family or the January 6 criminals warrant a full Constitutional Amendment, as hard and difficult it may seem.
This early January has been marked by a lack of precipitation, resulting in hard snow, sometimes tricky in places where the cover is dry-rotten underneath a seemingly packed top surface.
All this requires a certain amount of prudence and a light touch at all times, especially when the cloud cover plays tricks with visibility. In other words, I need to be more careful than usual and refrain from letting speed get the best out of me.
I also can ill afford to get hurt, as my spouse needs my healthy presence more than ever, as we’re now both old enough to take too many risks. Yet, even with more controlled and civilized speeds, skiing remains fun and rewarding which is, after all, all what I’m looking for.
I still ski the same hard terrain, albeit a tad more slowly and find plenty of fun and satisfaction in doing it.
Last year, I promised to prioritize quality over quantity and it only took me a full year to get started with it!
"Frontline" is a PBS news show that usually offers a daring and compelling look at complex, vital and often-controversial subjects. Each broadcast consists of a long-form news documentary.
Most are good, but the most recent one examining Donald Trump’s life and career, after his 2020 election loss, felony convictions and historic comeback misses on a critical point, nobody seemingly wants to talk about.
It’s the horribly weak candidacy of Biden for a second turn, that delivered Trump’s 2024 on a silver platter and that the DNC should have prevented but didn’t have the balls to stop.
Biden pulled another RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsburg)’s trick to satisfy his own ego in running again against the best interest of the Nation, and his party’s most influential members let him do that.
Instead, the documentary comes out as a glorification of Trump’s bad behavior all his life long, in other words, an immoral tale that says being a bully, a liar always pays off.
Had the Democrats lined up someone alive, who didn’t have a foot in the grave, against a convicted felon, we wouldn’t have Trump again today!
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