“The Way I See It” is an attempt by the columnist to enlighten readers on a subject as he views it, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.

Working Class Voters in This Election

The most contentious Primary Election in memory continues to bring new drama from the Drama Queens, while facts and the Voters are being ignored and lied about and to. Based on my observation, I offer this report.

On the Dem side, the early Coronation of Queen Hillary as “Presumptive Candidate and Winner”, because it is “Her Turn”, is struggling with the fact that “Old Commie Bernie” Sanders is more popular with the Dem/Socialist voters, and is considered more “honest” by just about everyone. The evidence of her criminal Email set-up and its threats to National Security continue, and if there was any real “Rule of Law” left in the Obama Administration, she would already be indited. She stays in a whirling cloud of corruption accusations, like ‘Pigpen’ and his dirt cloud in the ‘Peanuts’ comics. At least Pigpen’s ‘dirt’ was just physical and would wash off. Hillary’s is of mind-numbingly different types from the “normal” Dem/Socialist political lies, to anti-Feminist attacks on Bill’s sexual assault victims, lying to Congress about Benghazi, selling influence as SecState, flagrant bribe-taking by over-priced “speeches”, violations of Govt Security, to possible bribes to sell American Uranium mines to Russian oligarchs fronting for Putin. Crazy Old Commie Bernie seems a “choir-boy” in comparison, even if he is a life-long Communist and could not hold a job until he went into Liberal Politics. Bernie is Commie, but an “honest Commie” that lives modestly, unlike the Clintons and The Imperial Lifesyle of the Obamas, (at Taxpayers’ expense, of course). The Dem Talking Heads are still pretending she is the slam-dunk nominee even though Bernie is drawing crowds of supporters and votes, but Hillary has the DNC and all the Super-Delegates, plus her trusty lap-dog Media, at least for now. Pre-Indictment, and a with a new movie, CLINTON CASH, Everything is for Sale, coming out, it can’t hold.

The Media and the Pundits of both “Parties” (actually the Uni-Party of the do-nothing Washington Cartel) all agree that Trump has no chance against “Darling Hillary”, so the polls and the voters must all be wrong. The Repubs have talked about growing the Party for years, and now Trump is getting Independents, Hispanics, Blacks, Union workers, and Dems of other types to vote in the Repub Primary and the GOPers and RINOs hate him for it! Figure that out? The RINOs don’t want to lose control of the Party and the Money Bags of contributions. Also Trump might actually make them take a stand and deliver on many years of campaign promises. Quit being scared spitless of the Media calling them “Racist!” if they disagree and criticize Obama and his failed policies. Do the job they were elected for and save the Constitution, the economy, and America. The Establishment hate him because he does the unthinkable – TELLS THE TRUTH, at least as he sees it and looks for workable solutions, not what fits the Party’s Agenda.

“Trump is not a Conservative, Constitutionalist, or Christian”, say his detractors, partly true – he is not an Ideologue of any type, but a Practical Pragmatist! He doesn’t even seem to be a Classical Pragmatist as a philosophy, but only as a tool to recognize problems, find the root causes – not excuses, and then create practical solutions that will benefit the American People and our Economy, not an Agenda, or a clique of political cronies. He may be an “egotist”, but he worked hard to earn it. He is not near as “arrogant” as his critics, but if you attack him, or his family, or his policies unfairly, brace yourself Bucko, ‘cause he is coming at ya. Actually, if you read his books and look at his change and development over the last 25 years, you will find that he is more Conservative, Constitutionalist, and Christian than he claims, or even understands about himself. He simply doesn’t seem to understand “Ideology” as opposed to practical solutions. He is a richer, smarter, better educated example of the “Git ‘er done” Redneck. With lots more connections, and a much bigger “tool box”. Trump talks to people at an understandable level, he talks about real problems and real solutions, and it resonates with the voters. All parties, all economic levels, all races can see he really wants to fix the problems, not adhere to some political agenda, rip off the Taxpayers for his cronies, but get things moving forward again. Put people back to work creating real wealth, affordable energy not idiotic “War on Coal”, We need schools that teach young people English, science, math, and useful skills, not socialism, globalism, and bitterness. In economics it is as true as in the salt – a rising tide lifts all boats. Maybe not always equally, but will get them up from stuck in the mud.

In the Working Class state of West Virginia last Tuesday (5/10/16), Hillary took a beating from Commie Bernie, 36 – 51.4% or 84,176 to 120,231 votes. This is a historically Democrat State, but Trump won the Repub primary with 77% and 151,307, and this is a Closed Primary state, Dems can’t vote in a Repub Primary. What is worse for Hillary is she shellacked Obama in the 2008 Primary, 66.9 to 25.7% with a vote of 240,890. Compared to this time she lost 65% of her support. Exit polls show 33% of Dem voters will vote for Trump and only 44% for Hillary in November. Working people don’t trust Hillary. Some of the Media now moan that she is doomed. Little do they know, Trump and his supporters are just getting started on her, and the evidence against her is there. It goes all the way back to her college thesis on her hero, Saul Alinsky, and after law school she was kicked off the Democrat Judicial Committee investigating Nixon for impeachment for “being a dishonest lawyer”. And that was by Liberal Democrats! I don’t care who you are, THAT IS BAD! And she only got worse. Elitist Criminal Kleptocrat hypocrite running as a “Socialist”? Nah, that won’t work, even for Dem/Socialists. Certainly not for American Working People that were Traditional Democrats..

Longknife 21 may sometimes forget the details from long ago, but his wife will remind him.

April 1: Seadrift Volunteer Fire Department and Port Lavaca FD responded to a one-vehicle accident off of Hwy 185 East of Seadrift.

April 2: Seadrift VFD and Port Lavaca FD responded to a one-vehicle accident on Hwy 185 North of Ineos Nitriles.

April 7: Seadrift VFD dispatched to Hwy 87 to assist with a grass fire, cancelled while en-route.

April 12: Seadrift VFD and Port Lavaca FD responded to a structure fire off of Gates Road involving an abandoned structure.

April 14: Seadrift VFD responded to Grass Fire off of Hwy 35 near Garza Road.

April 16: Seadrift VFD responded to West Monroe in Port O’Connor to assist Port O’Connor VFD with a vehicle fire; cancelled while en-route.

April 16: Seadrift VFD responded to Hwy 185 South near the river bottom for a vehicle accident; cancelled while en-route.

April 22: Seadrift VFD responded to the Seadrift School off of West Broadway for a electrical transformer fire.

April 22: Seadrift VFD and Port Lavaca FD responded to a grass fire off of Hwy 185 near Seadrift Coke.

April 23: Seadrift VFD responded to a grass fire off of Oakland Ave West of Hwy 185 in Seadrift.

April 27: Seadrift VFD and Port Lavaca FD responded to a two-vehicle accident off of Hwy 185 near Dow Chemical; Dow Chemical Emergency Response Team also responded.

I hope you had the chance to celebrate Mother’s Day this month. I, for one, have a great mother. She loves me unconditionally, encourages me without censure, gave me roots that made me feel secure and protected, and gave me wings that made me feel fearless and supported. She used to say if she did her job right, we would not need her. We would want her and love her, but would not need her. She was wrong. I need her every day. She still has to water my roots on a regular basis to keep me grounded and often has to clean and fluff my wings when I fly into trouble I did not expect. Her mother used to say children should be better than their mothers because they are standing on their mothers’ shoulders. Boy, did my Momma have to have some big strong shoulders! I hope I can live to be just partly the mother she has been.

Mothers are so important! Whether yours is living or not, she is the life force behind your being here. Some of us have mothers who labored to bring us into the world while others were chosen, adopted, married or appointed to mother us. Many were blessed to be loved and nurtured by caring moms who were there for us and some were confronted with the sad task of growing up motherless or under-mothered. No parent has a child and says ‘I intend to be the worst parent I can be…’. Most moms are excited to welcome that pure joy and incomparable love to their lives, but for some moms, life is what happens while you are busy doing something else. Maybe poverty or substance abuse, illness or death, personal choices or unwelcome blows completely beyond personal control were the ‘something else’ that interrupted mothering.

Maybe a ‘dad’ person was your mother. Maybe a grandmother, a foster, adopted or substitute was your mother. Find a moment to celebrate that someone and their contribution to your life. Perhaps their mistakes made you stronger? Maybe you learned what not to do from their failures? Or maybe they gave you safe, unconditional love and encouragement for whatever time they had with you. Whatever the story it is your story of your Mother. Embrace it!

Whether you had a proper Mum, a strict Mother, a hipster Mom, a gentle Mommy, a southern Momma, a country Ma or some other perfectly flawed person who cared about your stinky socks, be grateful. None of us hatched or were dropped off by the stork. Someone had that shining moment of wonder when we as babies took our first breath and with our first cry began our story in this unpredictably wonderful thing we call life. That person, and maybe several with, her deserve credit, kudos, gratitude and love for mothering.

It can be a thankless miraculously wonderful job to mother. And anyone who has tried to be one will tell you it teaches the one who mothers as much as they ever teach the one they seek to teach as they mother. Nothing changes you like loving someone else like a mother. Like the baby bird in the book Are You My Mother, all of us are beautiful treasures to someone… So, Happy Mother’s Day to all those out there who have mothered another.

What History do you know? Now, that is an interesting question. Napoleon had probably the best short definition when he said “History is the version of past events that people have agreed upon.” We all have experienced the situation where folks don’t agree. Sometimes that disagreement leads to a war.

Then the folks say that the winners write the history. I prefer one historian’s caveat that it is not the winners but the survivors who do the writing. That leads to at least two historical versions. For instance, an English version of our revolutionary war reads more like a civil war.

Then, of course there is even more specific history called genealogy. Almost by accident I know about my father’s line to 1735 in Austria. I don’t know when or where my maternal grandfather was born. However, that is basically a matter of searching records for birth, marriage and deaths rather than interpretations of the whys and hows of events.

Aside from the tedium of remembering dates of battles and other tedium they seem to teach in school, history can be fascinating. There was a biography of William Shakespeare I read recently. What I learned was how little we actually know about Shakespeare, the man, who was probably a celebrity in his day.

For sure we know a lot about the plays most, but not all, agree that he wrote. There is even one, Cardinio, that was played before Queen Elizabeth I, but no copy has ever been found. We have records of his baptism on April 26, 1564 that translates to April 23 for his birth date) and 54 years later he died on the same date.

We know very little about the intervening years. In some of those years he was completely lost to history. We know he was in a players group and acted and wrote in London. We have an idea of what he looked like from three likenesses. However, one is not certain it is of him and the other two were made long after his death. There are less than ten copies of his handwriting. There are many other unknowns.

On the contrary, there are untold many examinations of his plays. Minutia like the number of words, commas and other details are abundant. His poetry is also fully examined and questioned. Some of the historical accuracy of his plays could be questioned, notably his Richard the Third.

This is but a brief example of how history can be confusing if one asks what really happened back then. Some say Paul Revere didn’t really ride; he was put in jail before he could get away. Oh, for sure he was involved and some other guys did ride but it was not Paul. The other guy’s name did not rhyme with that first line “listen my children and you shall hear…” the name that rhymed was Revere. This is to say most history has some subjectivity as well as fact.

Spurs Lose

Did you heed my warning last Fall; did you hear me telling you that this year may have been the last dance for one of the best franchises ever in Texas team sports?
At the time I am writing this, the San Antonio Spurs were eliminated in game six of the NBA  Western Conference Semi-finals by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Despite the addition of Lamarcus Aldrige, last Summer’s most coveted free agent, and the continuing growth of forward Kawhi Leonard, the aging backcourt, especially the decline of guard Manu Ginobili, led the Spurs to an early vacation rather than another NBA championship.

As of this time, both future hall of fame forward Tim Duncan and the aforementioned Ginobili have not yet made any decisions about whether they will play next season but as they (as well as point guard Tony Parker) are on the wrong side of thirty years old, no matter what, this team can only stay together so long, regardless of their individual choices.

Change won’t be easy however.

Despite the rising salary cap in the NBA over the next couple years, the Spurs would most likely have to find a taker for Parker in trade for financial savings to make any real significant moves. However finding a taker for Parker’s contract, which has two years and more than twenty million dollars left on it before it expires could be harder than most think for a player who was once a MVP of the NBA Finals.

Parker’s decline to a player who is just good enough to be a major factor on a team but can no longer play the minutes required of a player commanding that kind of money, even with the salary cap rising.

Tim Duncan and Ginobili can always come back on short one year deals to return next season for another shot at NBA glory and maybe that is wise considering some basketball pundits might say the Spurs were robbed in their Western Conference Semi-Final series against the Thunder due to some questionable officiating.

Newly crowned executive of the year RC Buford is no fool, there are many ways a crafty general manager like him can carve out a few deals to reinvigorate the Spurs bench and perhaps even pull off some sort of coup to infuse more youth and potential into the club for the future as well as today.

Although both Duncan and Ginobili were both understandably vague about whether they would be back in black and silver next year, as this season had just ended, Ginobili’s comments are just as mysterious as they could be the words of a man looking to the future or fondly recalling the past:

“Of course, it’s been an amazing run…We all enjoy playing with each other. I’m so proud of having played with those guys for so many years and winning so many games, and even playing with the new guys. If there’s a reason why you always want to come back and keep being part of this, [it’s] because of the amazing chemistry, the good times and the good people that you play with and spend time with. It’s not always about winning a game or winning a championship. But you learn from losses, and it’s important to enjoy every day. Being a part of this team, I’m very proud of it, even if sometimes it doesn’t go our way.”

So I am not quite sure if this was the last dance I warned you about last year, but I know the music has to stop soon and the band has to go home because they are tired…but if they can pull an encore I might be back here this Autumn telling you to yet again pay attention, we are watching the demise and possible rebirth of a legendary sports franchise and a great chapter in Texas sport history.

Blink and you might miss it.