Category Archives: Reading

Heal and Recover

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“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.” 
Christopher Reeve

  • Bust of U.S. President Zachary Taylor covered with plastic. Blood was smeared on it
    when a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol building January 6, 2021

On Monday morning I watched the ESPN news from our Capital. Washington DC Mayor, Muriel Elizabeth Bowser answered questions regarding the attempted take-over of the capital. She sadly reported how many of the capital police officers that had served our nation in the war in Iraq had stated they were more fearful of their lives on January 6th then when serving in Iraq. These veterans also told of their experiences of protests in other countries and never believed they would see similar violence in our country by its own people.

Men carrying weapons and zip ties into our Capital are not there to take friendly selfies of the Capital with our representatives.

Our previous Republican and Democratic President’s condone Trump and his incitement to cause violence. I can’t comprehend how anyone believes what these people did when storming, killing and violently attempting to take-over our capital was okay.

Later this morning, to add more salt to the wound, I read that some House Republicans sent essentially an extortion letter to Joe Biden asking him to get Nancy Pelosi to back off. “A presidential impeachment should not occur in the heat of the moment, but rather after great deliberation,” they said. Adding that “impeachment would undermine Biden’s priority of unifying Americans, and would be a further distraction to our nation at a time when millions of our fellow citizens are hurting because of the pandemic and the economic fallout.”

Vice President Pence late Tuesday evening, stated in a letter to Pelosi that he would not invoke the 25th Amendment. He does not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution.

Pence continued to say he “did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election” last week, referring to when he oversaw the congressional tally of Electoral College ballots. Mr. Trump had falsely claimed that Pence had the power to reject Electoral College results from certain states.

“I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation,” Pence said.

He also wrote, “the country needed to focus on the orderly transition of power and healing as a nation in the wake of last week’s attacks. I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment.”

My point of view is, Vice President Pence’s decision is no surprise. House Representatives and especially Trump, don’t give a rat’s ass about the people. All they care about is legal consequences from their actions and possible jail time.

As more and more large business pull their PAC money from Republicans and Trump affiliates, this will highly influence the Republicans decision to vote to remove the President from office. These two issues of jail time and money tells a great deal about our Representatives.

Our government leaders should be less concerned about the timing and more about their commitment to convicting a president who has lied about voter fraud, attempted to intimate and coerce government officials to flip the vote and incited violence which caused deaths. I want to believe that these Republicans have more to offer the republic than disloyalty, sabotage and treason.

My hope is that we can have open discussions without violence and hate. This country has a great deal of healing to take place. However, I believe without accountability for the actions from the perpetrators and our leaders who fed the fire of January 6th, there will be no healing. Healing not only from the Coronavirus but from the inflammation caused by lies, mistrusts and conspiracy theories.

We have been a dysfunctional family of people for a very long time. But, just like any dysfunctional person, we must be honest and we must admit we are dysfunctional before we can heal and recover.

Shine On

Get Away With Treason

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“Treason seldom dwells with courage.”
Sir Walter Scott

Videos, cell phone footage and security images have been surfacing of the capital building attempted take-over. These images of MAGA Mania/Mobocracy are as shocking and horrific as the images of airplanes flown into buildings on 9/11.

The violence to police by these Trump gangsters, made me sick to my stomach. One news cast in particular of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, made me angrier than I thought possible. In Hogan’s press conference January 7th, visibly shaken, he reported how his request for Maryland’s National Guard to come to the rescue of our capital was delayed by 1.5 hours. Why?  Because he couldn’t get approval from President Trump to send help.

As the country grapples with the severity of what happened January 6, 2021, just less than one week into our New Year, our representatives are working to get Trump either removed from office via impeachment or by using Amendment 25.

If President Trump is impeached or removed from office, he will continue to receive his Presidential salary, health benefits, paid office space expenses, reimbursement for moving and most importantly a lifetime of Secret Service protection. There is no cap on any of these reimbursement amounts.

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, the 25th Amendment and impeachment has come up again and again as a possible means of removing Trump. His behavior his entire life as well as his business dealings have always been in question. He treated the American people and our constitution no different than he conducts his businesses, with bankruptcies, conflicts of interest, lies, fraud, misleading product information, mistreating employees, manipulating accounts and bribery just to name a few.

In the more than 50 years since the Constitution was amended to create a way to remove a president unable to do his job, the process has never been triggered. The only time in history Amendment 25 was used, is 2002 when President George W. Bush temporarily transferred power to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush was anesthetized for a colonoscopy. Other than that instance, Section 4 of the amendment, which allow the cabinet to declare the president unfit, has never been invoked.

On the other hand, if Trump is found guilty of treason he could be sentenced to death.

The story of treason and attempts to overthrow the government or to aid our enemies, is nothing less than the story of America itself. Treason is a capital offense and routinely described as the highest crime in American law, worse even than murder. 

January 6th insurgence was an absolute first for this country in over two centuries. We cannot deny that it was a legitimate attempt to overthrow our democratic voting system as well as our government. All the participants, especially Trump, should be convicted and stripped of their USA citizenship especially their voting privileges.

Yet, why is no one talking about treason? The Federal Judicial Center states:

“In the Crimes Act of 1790, Congress created the first comprehensive list of federal offenses, naming 23 separate crimes. Although seven of the listed offenses, including treason, murder, and piracy, were punishable by death, the Act represented a move away from the colonial-era tendency to make the death penalty mandatory for all serious crimes.”

This weekend, one of my fellow Blogoholic’s posted an excellent post, Treason With a Capital Trump. I highly suggest reading Austin’s post.

No president has ever been convicted of treason, so there is no precedent. I couldn’t find any information about what benefits would be stripped from the president if convicted of treason. There have been few actual treason prosecutions under the U.S. Constitution, and only one person, Hipolito Salazar, from the Mexican-American War was executed for treason under federal authority.

We all know, we are living in times that have never been experienced in this country. With that in mind, my point of view is we must think about how we react to a government and president who blatantly treats its people and values with disrespect and dishonor.

Trump’s conduct has been far beyond the bounds of normal presidential behavior and he may have betrayed the country. But, nothing Trump has done, or is alleged to have done has risen to the level of treason as a matter of criminal law until now. 

Our allies look up to America. January 6th broke the image of how other countries perceive us. Russia, China and North Korea commented on the capital coup immediately.  These countries made it clear to their people how democracy can’t and doesn’t work.

If America wants to be respected leaders of democracy throughout the world, we must show that we will not allow anyone, whether he’s an elected official, a citizen and especially a president, get away with treason.

Shine On

Musketeer Mania

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“One for all and all for one.”
Musketeer Motto


  • BBC TV series, Musketeers – from left Aramis, Porthos, Athos, and D’Artagnan

As a child I was captivated by the French writer Alexandre Dumas 1844 novel, The Three Musketeers. Dumas was the Stan Lee of his time, creating the first youthful super heroes, Aramis, Porthos, Athos, and their protege D’Artagnan. The only difference is, Musketeers actually did exist and Dumas based his characters on some of the most famous of Musketeers.

Anything I could find to read or watch about the Musketeers was on my radar. Mostly because they were excellent equestrians and fencers, two of my favorite combinations, and all Musketeer entertainment had plenty of those two activities. 

My late great uncle was an Olympic fencer. I never had the honor of meeting him, but I like to imagine his passion and talent for fencing was passed on to me. I was fortunate to attend a high school that offered beginning fencing, and this was my first hands-on introduction to this 14th century sport. It’s amazing how much fencing requires a great deal of  mental and physical stamina, balance and fast reflexes. I took to this sport quickly, learning all the common moves and French words for them such as, Advance Lunge, Assault, Extension, Flick, Touché and the most famous En-garde.

Most are introduced to fencing through Hollywood movies. There have been numerous movies about the Musketeers dating as far back as the 1921 silent film adaptation starring Douglas Fairbanks. The first movie I remember watching about the Musketeers was on TV in the 1960s, and was the 1948 movie with Gene Kelly. It’s still one of my favorites because it not only had fencing and horses, but as an extra bonus it had Gene Kelly performing ballet type moves while fencing.

In the 1970s the studios came out with a Raquel Welch and Michael York Musketeer version, which wasn’t one of my favorites. As a little trivia note, this movie was originally proposed in the 1960s as a vehicle for The Beatles. 

Disney released their Musketeer movie adaptation in 1993 starring Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt and Chris O’Donnell. This became my favorite version of all time, until now.

A few weeks back, I discovered on Amazon Prime a 2014 BBC Musketeer series. This exceptional rendition of the swashbuckling Musketeers is now one of my top go to TV series. The acting, costumes, romantic locations, storylines and cinematography is awe inspiring. If you’re looking for some great entertainment to fill your evenings, I highly recommend this series. It certainly is fulfilling my Musketeer mania.

Shine On 

Backstory of Beef Wellington

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“The only thing I am afraid of is fear.”
Arthur Wellesley




  • Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington – circa 1815

You’ve got to take your hat off to the 1st Duke of Wellington. Not only did the feisty Irishman vanquish Napoleon, he twice became prime minister and lend his name to the infamous Wellington boot as well as giving us the delicious Beef Wellington to remember him by.

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley was born in Dublin, May 1, 1769 into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. At age 12, he was sent to school at Eton in England. His father’s death that same year threw the family into financial turmoil. Arthur’s mother withdrew him from Eton to be schooled in Belgium and France. She saw such little promise in her son that she felt the military was the best career choice for him. In 1787 at age 18, he was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army.

An outstanding British soldier and statesman, he was one of the most important military and political leaders of 19th-century Britain. Rising to prominence as a general during the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the allied forces to victory against the French Empire at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813.

Following Napoleon’s exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a dukedom. During the 1815 Hundred Days War, he commanded the allied army, which together with a Prussian Army under Blücher, defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. His battle record is exemplary; he ultimately participated in some 60 battles during the course of his military career.

Wellesley died from a stroke on 14 September 1852. On his death, he was once again hailed as the hero of Waterloo. Queen Victoria even described him as ‘the greatest man this country ever produced’. He was given a state funeral in London and was laid to rest in St Paul’s Cathedral, next to Britain’s other military heroes.

So, how does all this history relate to Beef Wellington? Well, it seems the Duke of Wellington was quite indifferent to food. However, he did love a dish of beef, mushrooms, truffles, Madeira wine, and pâté cooked in pastry. The Duke loved this dish so much, it had to be served at every dinner. Therefore, his chefs named the dish in his honor.  Some also speculate the dish was named after him because the fillet of beef, wrapped in puff pastry finished product looks like a highly polished Wellington riding boot.

Beef Wellington, like many other dishes, has a debatable story of origin. Many different experts cite England, France, Ireland, and even Africa as the possible birthplace for the dish. Although, several contend that France is the most likely origin for the dish since wrapping meat in pastry is a technique that has been practiced in France for a long time, even before the dish became popular.

This tenderloin of beef in puffed pastry was first made famous in the USA by the TV chef, Julia Child. Her cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking was immensely popular in the USA. She presented a version of the well-known French fillet of beef in crust, which she entitled, Filet of Beef Wellington on TV in her New Year’s Day 1965 show.

Thanks to the success of Childs’ Beef Wellington show, the dish became hugely popular in North American social circles and was repeated in a large number of magazines and cookbooks, including the very influential, White House Cookbook.

To Americans, unaccustomed to the English idea of meat in pastry, Beef Wellington must have seemed like quite an exotic dish. It can be an intimidating and complicated dish to put together. But, thanks to cooking shows and YouTube, anyone with a desire to cook this fancy feast can put together a beautiful and tasty Beef Wellington.

  • 1785 – 12 Year Old Arthur Wellesley at Eton Military School in Angiers
  • 1803 – The Duke of Wellington fighting at The Battle of Assaye
  • 1813 – The Duke of Wellington riding to the Battle of Sorauren
  • 1815 – The Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo
  • Portrait of the Duke of Wellington wearing his Famous Wellington Boots
  • Equestrian Portrait of the 1st Duke of Wellington
  • 1852 – Funeral for the Duke of Wellington

Shine On

Looks Can Be Deceiving

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“It’s not what you look at, it’s what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau


On my daily walks along the Esplanade there’s a house that has a fairy garden with tiny figurines. One of the figurines has one of Henry David Thoreau’s famous quotes, “It’s not what you look at, it’s what you see.” This quote points out the difference between the senses and perception.

Our senses give us information and facts but does not always allow us to perceive or experience the item our eyes see. For example, I might see a tree as a plant with stem, and branches and leaves. But, what I might perceive is a natural beauty that represents thousands of years of evolution or the hand of a higher power at work. I might look at a painting and view a canvas with brightly painted colors and brush strokes. But, what I see is a mastery of beauty, passion or a story that touches my mind and my heart.

I think what Thoreau was telling us was to not only view the world around us from a sensory input means, but more importantly to see beyond the shapes, colors, and lighting to the inner meaning and beauty contained in the world around us. Thoreau wants us to understand that it is often the unseen or the perceived that is far more important than the seen or input from our eyes. We should take in the world around us with our mind’s eye rather than just our physical eye.

Our awareness of the objects around us is informed and fine-tuned by any number of factors—our strength and energy levels, our sense of confidence, our fears and desires. Being human means seeing the world through your own constantly shifting lens because as we all know, looks can be deceiving. 

Shine On