Random Thoughts for December, 2018.

Random Thoughts for December, 2018.

By Robert A. Hall

Feel free to post or forward.

I voted for Governor Scott Walker, but I’m not surprised he lost. Wisconsin has the lowest tax rate and lowest unemployment in decades. How long did he think voters would put up with that?

Now that Nancy Pelosi is going to be Speaker again, I think in her honor we should all start using clean natural gas instead of fossil fuels as she suggested several times. (Until some spoilsport explained to her that natural gas is a fossil fuel.)

Nancy Pelosi as Speaker may actually help Trump in 2020. She will be unable to restrain the actions and pronouncements of the far left elements of her caucus, especially as she is one of them.

Culture is destiny.

The VA says I have Asperugillis, a fungus which my learned friend George told me is mildew. So I’m a moldy oldie. The tests are inconclusive, so they have decided to wait and see. Another CT scan in two months. And on we go...

I read that Nike stock has soared since they picked Kaepernick as their mascot. Too bad Benedict Arnold wasn’t available.

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, “Those who would trade freedom for promises of a future utopia will get, and will deserve, neither.”

That terrible shooting at Mercy Hospital in Chicago couldn’t happen at the VA Hospital where I work. The VA is a “gun-free zone.”

I read that in 2017, 200 people died every day due to drug overdoses. This seems to me to be a self-inflicted epidemic. I know the accepted wisdom is that drug addiction is a disease. But every addict at some point made the decision to try drugs. Unless they were somehow slipped to them unknowingly, which I’d guess is rare. I have met a couple of former addicts who made the decision to get clean and have lived fairly productive lives since then. I know a guy who says drug addiction improves the gene pool by removing idiots. I don’t think I’d go that far, but I see the appeal of the viewpoint.

The problem with this world is that few people have the strength to do what is needed. And fewer still have the will.

Saw a bumper sticker: “I feel much better now that I gave up hope.”

The Bible stories tell us that Jesus was very humble. Which makes it ironic that so many of his most fervent devotees are so arrogant and self-righteous. And so often jerks.

People get fired for doing the right thing as often as for doing the wrong thing.

It’s always the party out of power that rails against gerrymandering.

Your life will be much happier if you are slow to take offense.

People who see themselves as victims may get many short term benefits from that status. But they seldom have happy lives or successful careers. Convincing minorities to always see themselves as victims for political gain is one of the great crimes of the Democrat party.

At one of the associations I managed, my Membership Director said I must feel like the guy with the shovel who walks behind the elephant in the parade. Association management can be like that, probably especially that job, but all jobs have it from time to time. Just do a good job with your shovel and carry on.

More than a third of Americans surveyed by the Annenberg Center for Public Policy in 2017 couldn't name a single freedom enumerated in the First Amendment. Only 26 percent could name all three branches of government, and 33 percent couldn't name a single branch. --Jonah Goldberg

And about a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form. This may include our president, who administration insiders report doesn’t—or can’t—read his daily security briefings. As has been said, people who don’t read have no advantage over the illiterate who can’t read.,

I’m 72, and seem to have three modes: Tired, Really Tired, and Asleep. Don’t know if it’s the age or the meds for my lung transplant. Probably a combination. But I continue to march.

In many places in this sick world, you can now be charged with hate speech, racism or Islamophobia for telling the truth.

Our cupboard (and fridge and freezers) are never bare. Okay if you get picky and take out everything past its sell-by date….

In today’s elections, the people have not spoken until the lawyers have exhausted every technicality.

You can run away from almost everything except yourself. For that problem, there is no geographical solution.

When politicians say they want to work with the opposition, what they usually mean is they want the opposition to abandon their principles and support their agenda.

\When someone means you well, even if they are clumsy or you are offended, don’t be a jerk and return good with ill.

The fanatic Trumpers who had been baying to get rid of the “RINO” John McCain got their wish when God removed him from the playing field. And they cheered that. And they cheered when Jeff Flake quit. In Flake’s place, they got a loyal Democrat who will vote to block Trump’s judicial and other nominations, and given a chance, will vote to impeach Trump and to make Chuck Schumer Majority Leader, putting the committees and flow of senate business in the hands of liberals. I assume they are delighted at the result.

To presidents who never wore the uniform, the military are tools, not flesh and blood people with families and dreams. And tools break or wear out. It’s part of the cost of doing business.

My grandmother always said, “Never tell people your business.” She’d be appalled by Facebook and other social media.

I recent read that people who drink their coffee black are more likely to be sociopaths. I’ve been drinking it black since the Marines and haven’t detected any tendencies. But it might be best not to trigger me.

If you are a lousy human being, it doesn’t matter if you’re a successful businessman, a popular elected official, or great with a football, basketball or baseball player. You’re still a lousy human being.

I just read that it’s now considered racist to say, “Long time, no see.” Apparently in might, might, come from Mandarin or one of the thousands of Native American languages. So I propose, “Long time, no offend” as a substitute. Just trying to help.

Habit can save your life, or cost it. Depends on the habit.

It would be hard for the average person in Georgia, not besotted by partisan zeal, to look at the actions of Stacy Abrams since the election and not think, “We dodged a bullet.”

Choose your friends with care and your enemies with greater care. It is truly said that there is no such thing as a small enemy.

“Men only care for science so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when it affords them a subsistence.” — Goethe

Here’s a psychology experiment you can do. Ask people how they are doing and when they say, “Fine,” you say, “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Ironically, many people misuse the word ironic.

Stealing is a risky way to make a living. Unless you can get a group of people together and get the government to do it for you. Of course, you can’t call it “stealing.” You need a catchy name, like “”Social Justice.”

People used to pray to get a job. Or maybe a better job. Now too many pray to be able to live without working.

Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2008 through July, 2013 are collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty, and Leadership by Robert A. Hall

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Jarheads-Journal-Thoughts-Leadership/dp/1490500162/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1373907206andsr=1-1andkeywords=Old+Jarhead%27s+Journal

The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to favorite liberals and watch their heads explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1304815980andsr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s twelve books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com. He currently works part-time as a writer-editor in the My Life, My Story program as the Madison VA hospital, interviewing vets and writing up their life histories.