Observations

The sovereign country of Ukraine has been under military attack from Russia for five months with minimal achievements on the battlefield. This country had to suffer during the second world war pain and suffering from the German occupation under the Nazi flag. When I look at old films from that period in black and white and compare them to what we see in high definition color of a country being destroyed and the population who chose to remain including the millions who are now refugees in other countries who will forever have the mental scars of losing everything that made life on earth worth living and most importantly defending.

Nato has supplied weapons and technology to the Ukrainian military, but we all know what is needed, as with all previous wars, are “boots on the ground.” I cannot see the west only sending equipment and not soldiers to deal with what we call Russian aggression. Once again, if we don’t remember the past, we will repeat it with consequences that we as a society will not survive. As Winston Churchill said during the second world war. “We are at the end of the beginning.” I believe it is time for Nato to step up to the plate regarding the Russian situation in Europe.

America will for the foreseeable future be a work in progress because democracy is something other cultures around the world cannot even imagine due to the fact the citizens of some countries are denied the basic rights of life due mostly to their economic situations and lack of concern by the governments who control their lives.

Today is about celebrating the freedom of the American people to enjoy a standard of living than most countries could not even imagine. We are blessed because when you think about it America is a country where everybody wants to come to, and nobody wants to leave. We as a society have a long road to travel until we understand what the Declaration of Independence really means to those who are and want to be citizens of this great nation.

Have a happy.

While searching the news today I saw pictures of American gun owners that made me as an Army veteran worry about the direction of this country when it comes to the 2nd Amendment right to legally own a device designed to kill other human beings. One couple proudly displayed over a hundred guns and rifles they owned. The smallest amount I counted was fifteen weapons. American crime shows usually show minorities in trouble for shooting each other on the streets of our cities on a daily basis. There are over four hundred million guns registered in America. This cache is owned by ninety million citizens who for the most part would be described as being law-abiding.

Most of the baby boomers grew up watching movies and television shows where the men wore a gun on their hips because it was up to the individual to protect property and most importantly family. We as a nation have progressed from killing a president to killing our children at school. A solution to this threat is needed asap. We cannot become a police state like Nazi Germany. America needs to remain the leader of the free world because there are other countries that would love to see a democratic government collapse in flames.

The world is once again on a collision course where nations are taking sides or in trouble of being taken over. There are two nations on opposite sides of the world in need of American support both financially and most important militarily. Most Americans are concerned about the high cost of living related to higher gas prices at the pump, and rightly so. We as a society are getting used to paying more for less. For the rich and famous it’s just the cost of doing business. For the majority of us who rarely put our signatures on the front of a check, this is something that will affect us all.

The war in Ukraine started back in 2014 when the Russians first invaded the eastern part of the country. The Russian people are by now used to war and its consequences. There is also the reality that the majority of the worlds grain and sunflower oil comes from Ukraine. President Biden’s popularity is now around 30% which is not good for his administration moving forward. One way he could survive is to send American troops into combat because it would be difficult to remove a wartime president from office. The stage is set for what has to happen on the world stage we want have long to wait.

This is the first time I will blog about a negative issue on the world stage concerning America. This is one of the few countries in the world where people will risk their lives to live here illegally. Europe with Ukraine and the invasion of Russian troops and all the devastation to the civilian population, and cities that we see in color. I have complete faith that when the time comes we will do it militarily on the world stage what we have done in the past leaves me with no doubt about how the world sees us will be positive and negative but the positive factor is in our court. Let’s keep it there.

The images come from Ukraine where Russian soldiers are shown shooting two men in the back killing them after talking to them briefly demonstrating how this war will be fought when nato finally takes action militarily. Someone stated that American troop strength in Europe needs to be boosted to levels that existed during the cold war period. All of the equipment currently being shipped cannot be just for the Ukrainian military use only as they need to be trained on how to use it properly.

The two countries now at war with each other provide food supplies that usually feed over four hundred million people around the world not to mention all of the oil and gas that Russia supplies to Europe. Millions of people are now displaced across the continent. America’s southern border has now added Ukrainian refugees seeking asylum along with people who have been waiting for months to apply.

If they can prove they have a sponsor in the United States they can go to the head of the line so to speak, and they are not called illegals. The times we now live in must be like they were prior to our involvement in the second world war. Russia now sees a threat as Finland is poised to join Nato. Things are falling into place as we watch in acceptance of the inevitable events soon to happen.

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during a live broadcast of the Oscars and then used profanities regarding his wife on a worldwide stage. I saw all black men who suffered indignities including myself in different life situations in the past. There was one racial incident that happened thirty years ago that changed my attitude about race in America.

A black man refused to stop for a traffic violation his name was Rodney King. This was a time when video cameras were available to the public for the first time. A young man purchased one and was testing it out when he saw the LAPD catch up with Mr. King he started filming the officers taking turns beating and kicking this man of color, and then they lied about what happened until the video came out. The officers involved went to trial in Simi Valley a well-to-do area, to say the least.

The officers were found to be not guilty by an all-white jury, and when one of the former defendants was asked what he would do next he said he was going to Disneyland. Within hours the LA riots started and the rest is history

Things haven’t changed much in the past three decades when it comes to race relations in America but with all the events we see on a global level we are all in the same basket again. The question is what will we do about it before it’s too late to save ourselves.

There is one constant about life as we know it. We are all living in the best of times because of computers, smart devices what we want is a device that will respond to our every command without delay, in return, they monitor every part of our lives on a daily basis. Fortunately, most of humanity has

a lot to contemplate on a personal level when it comes to watching the worst behavior of so-called human beings. The coming events that we all have to endure are a reality that will be painful, to say the least. In a time of war, we always need to believe that what we sacrifice in blood and treasure will satisfy our collective guilt as Americans from across the globe to at least try to form a not-so-perfect form of government but America first. Enough said by this Veteran.

The hardest thing we will ever have to do in life is to forgive the individual sins that we will commit because we are human beings born with the power to create or destroy everything we have created over thousands of years of history for what? I remember as a child the Cuban missile crisis where president Kennedy had to make the Russians in Cuba leave and take your missiles with you. They reluctantly complied.

We will deal with the Bear in due time because America has that obligation as a major world power. As for the subject of sin, a normal person could not exist without breaking several of the ten commandments almost on a daily basis. I remember a story from the Bible about a prostitute who was to be stoned to death because of her profession which exists even today. Some of the sinners who had been regular customers wanted her to be stoned to death to cover up their individual sins with this woman. Jesus said basically “He who is without sin cast the first stone”. We all know how that story ended.

Because of the fact that we are born into a world of imperfect individuals who through no fault of their own navigate life on earth as we now know it, and that is not an easy task, we all make mistakes, to say the least.

California is a magical place of immense wealth and natural beauty weather to die for year-round. When I moved here as a twelve-year-old in the ’60s we lived in Santa Barbara a place where I fell in love with once we hit the city limits. There is always something good happening in S B even today.

Today people are living in motor homes parked mostly along the beach in front of luxury hotels that were built on land we used to call the “hobo jungle” to be homeless here you at least have to have a vehicle to sleep in at night. The city has set up designated areas in public parking lots so people with cars can stay the night in relative safety. There is a waiting list for people to get a spot that only gets longer. Traffic is bad no matter where you live in Southern California, and it gets worse every day. Gas in Oxnard has reached seven dollars a gallon but traffic only gets more congested.

Los Angeles is a city that cannot come up with a solution to deal with the thousands of people living on the streets of downtowns skid row and now on the beaches in front of million-dollar homes a sight that probably brings down property values of the rich and famous. The golden state no longer lives up to that title and that is the reality that the citizens of this state live with every beautiful day.