Author Archives: lee

INTRODUCTION: On January 22nd of every year, I write about my mom. This year, instead of something new, I may just take two or three from the past, in memories, and repost. Unless I edit, any references to age would be wrong. She was 62 when she died, I was 44. She’d be 90. My guess is that the only other reference would be the years gone, which would be 28 years today. Over the years, I’ve tended to use the same photos. This one was taken in 1956. It was taken a few days after her 22nd birthday. My 4-year-old self was in it, but I bit myself out a couple years ago it seems. This was written January 22, 2021.
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Every year on this date, I write about my mom. It morphs into something to include my dad. There’s always some variation in what is written, but only a little. It’s always long, using a stream of consciousness, my natural method of writing. I like it because it starts with a sentence and ends when it ends. The long versions are better because they tend to be therapeutic. Another time, I can do a more extended version. My mom’s history is fascinating.

This year, I’d like to keep it short. I’m trying to blank my mind so I can focus and not meander. The picture I used in the past was of my parents and me standing outside the University of Akron Law School taken in 1983. I have my cap and gown on. My dad is wearing what looks like a suit, but it would be out of character for him to wear one. No doubt he had on a clip-on tie. My mom is wearing a dark skirt and a white blouse.

The one shown here is from 1956. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon to have a family photo in black and white painted. And it is a family photo, in a sense. There’s a separate one of the two of us, with this being taken on the same date. She probably wanted the equivalent of a 1956 selfie. It was right after our birthdays, both in September. My mom had just turned 22, and I was four.

Enough of that. I’m getting off on a tangent. This is where I started talking about my mom and giving readers a history of her. I also mentioned how it was my dad who suggested I go to law school before I wasted too much more of my life. It’s an interesting story to me, and I’m sure I’ll give a history lesson on his life and times, too, but I’m digressing again.

January 22 is important because it is the date my mom died. That was 27 years ago, over a quarter century. My dad died six years later, and heck, that’s two decades ago. In Abe’s speech, “One score ago, my dad died.” So that’s a significant portion of my life I’ve been orphaned.

My mom died pretty young at the time, and I did two things. First, over the next year, on every conceivable holiday, I got a card for my mom and wrote to her about what was going on with the family. The cards were then sealed and remain so today. I found the cards in a large envelope not long ago and was tempted to open and read each. I didn’t. That wasn’t one of my promises. I just went off track again.

I made the promises in writing to her for the funeral, which I penned early that morning. Mom loved dancing and hiking. So, I promised I’d dance one more dance for her and take a hike for her. I kept both. My inspiration for what I wrote came from a tee shirt with a couple of words and a Bible passage: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters.”

So, it seems this is a good place to end. To say she and they remain loved and missed is an understatement
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INTRODUCTION: On January 22nd of every year, I write about my mom. This year, instead of something new, I may just take two or three from the past, in memories, and repost. This is the second one. I think I’m only going to do one more. I should have started earlier.
As I skimmed this one, I noticed I briefly mentioned Kamala Harris. It pertained. I should have read closer. This may be one where I mentioned my sister.

Unless I edit, any references to age would be wrong. She was 62 when she died, and I was 44. She’d be 90. My guess is that the only other reference would be the years gone, which would be 28 years today. Over the years, I’ve tended to use the same photos. This one was taken in 1983 when graduating from the University of Akron School of Law.
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That’s Mrs. Edward Thompson to my right. I called her Mom. Here’s the thing, my mom died 24 years ago today, and I always put something on. I wasn’t going to today. My grandfather died 50 years ago, January 5, and while that’s a milestone year, I didn’t put anything about him either. My dad is in this picture. He’ll be gone 18 tears in April. It seems like no time has passed, but I remember it took forever to turn 18.

Yesterday, on a page for my hometown, where I’m an admin, I had to delete a comment because we don’t allow political comments. The person commenting does come to this page. I agree with her on nothing, but that’s okay. It just makes me right and her wrong. I could tag her, but I can’t find her here. I can only tag a person making a comment.

I’ll try to keep this short if I can. A newspaper article from the 1950s, I believe, was posted. The women were referred to the way I referred to my mom in the opening. It was pretty common back then. In fact, my mom would sign my report cards not as Dolores Thompson, but as Mrs. Edward Thompson.

A couple commented about women my age who had no personal identity back then. How could they when their real names weren’t used? That was the gist of it. But the bright one says that everything has changed now that Kamala Harris is vice president. So, I remember just that one comment. It would be fine on this page, although I find it stupid. It also made me angry, and that got worse the more I thought about it.

MLK wanted people not to judge on skin color but the content character. Even though in today’s world, that makes me a racist to some, I believe it. So, what, all of a sudden, a woman of nearly seven decades just became a woman because Kamala Harris is VP? The same would be true with gender.

First, I wouldn’t consider Harris a person who exemplifies character as far as getting ahead. If it takes her to make you feel like a woman, you have some real problems. She reminds me of a former First Lady who wasn’t proud of America until, of course, her husband became president. I find it all sad and pathetic, really.

But this about my mom. She was a woman. Just because she signed her name as Mrs. Edward Thompson didn’t take away from it. The problem with the person I went to school with, in addition to being a bozo, is she’s playing the identity game. It was my mom’s character that mattered. I can’t help that I have someone I went to high school with that really doesn’t care about women being women and all I mean by this is they’ve (people on the left) have elevated men identifying as women above women. You see it mostly in sports, but not completely.

So, what did my mom do? Well, she quit high school during her junior years. Now, if you know me, you know my mom turned 18 tears old, and I was born 12 days later. Your first thought would be she quit school because she got pregnant. You’d be wrong. She had a reason why she wanted to quit, although I’m not sure it was a good one in my opinion, which is worth nothing on this.

My mom was born in 1934, during the depression. I’m not sure she realized about being poor. I know her parents stood in soup lines in Cleveland. But then I’m thinking; everyone was doing it, so maybe it just seemed to be the way it was. Looking back, I know we were poor, but it didn’t seem like it. However, things seemed normal.
So, my mom becomes a beautician, which explains the wave in my hair in the pic, and she works at Ohio Bell. She decides on her extra dime a day to either get a Coke for lunch or take the bus home. She doesn’t complain about it.

Then we move to a small town, the one where I grew up. All women did not stay at home, contrary to what some seem to think. I had a friend, and both of his parents were schoolteachers. My mom’s parents owned a small bar, and she went to workdays for them. I spent a lot of time at that bar growing up and spent a lot of time on my own in my early years.

So, we end up living my sixth-grade year at the bar, upstairs. Lots of people packed into a small place. My dad was a fairly decent carpenter, and during that time, he and friends built our new home. So, when he wasn’t working his regular job, he and my mom worked on the new home, and on weekends, we were all there working. Yep, my mom was there shoveling and doing what needed to be done.

We moved into the new home just as I was starting seventh grade. There was still a lot of outside work to take care of, and we all pitched in. Keep in mind; my contribution wasn’t by choice. There are other things I’d have preferred. No one really gave me a choice, and what the heck, I lived there too.

When we get moved in, my mom starts an ICS course to finish high school and gets a realtor’s license. She ends up selling my in-laws their home, which had used the same plans. They had moved here from New York, so I end up with a wife in a way-much later.

My mom is now working at the bar, selling real estate, and my dad is helping with her correspondence course. She finally gets her high school diploma, and I find out later that we both graduated in the Class of ’71. What next? Well, not immediately, but my mom goes to college and gets an associate degree. I’m not even sure what it was in, but it doesn’t matter. I go to the graduation and there’s probably a pic like my law school graduation one, even though I look like I’m into the priesthood in the robe.

Now I’m not stupid, not wholly (a pun on the priesthood comment). Like all people, even me, I must say, had flaws. Those are character flaws, but we take those. I sed these things online asking if you had one hour to spend with someone, who would you choose? A lot of people put their mom. Not me. She should be here right now at age 86. When she died, it was kind of odd how it happened, and I’ve said to some it was she died twice. To have her back for an hour to be gone again is not a choice I’d make. I mean, maybe if it was upped to a month or something, then perhaps.

To the person caterwauling about not being a woman because my mom may have been known as Mrs. Edward Thompson at times, I have to say you’re probably right. You have not achieved womanhood but guess what, my mom did. And, she did not have to define herself as such because of Kamla Harris. She can be defined as such because she was better than her, and frankly, better than you.

Even though I haven’t read it, now I feel better.

The inauguration of President Trump is a significant milestone for those who value traditional common sense. It marks the beginning of the end for what many perceived as an ideology masquerading as progressivism.

As we move forward, we must prioritize faith, patriotism, and the encouragement of family values. Most importantly, we must instill America’s foundational principles at the core of our educational system for the youth, inspiring hope for the future.

How fiiting that the inaugeration coinsides with Martin Luther King Jr, Day. As a believer in God, Amos 5:24 in the Bible, and with knowlege of an old spirtiual, King proclaimed, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Blessings to all Americans who contributed to making this day possible.

I went to a presential inauguration once.

I’d love to have attended to see Trump sworn in. It’s historic. Watching it televised may work out better, though. I went to Super Bowl X in 1976, and one of the best catches by Swann looked like nothing special from the stands. There were no big screens in stadiums back then.

I didn’t realize how good it was until I saw it on TV later. It was in Miami, but the weather was cold and rainy. I remember buying a Pete Rozelle windbreaker to try to keep warm. Television is a better option. Streaming is better because you can go back and listen to something again.

I went to see Carter’s inauguration in 1977. I worked in the local Democrat party then and had a close relationship with our county Democrat chairman. He was the Ohio Democrat chairman in 1968 and cast the votes of Ohio for Hubert Humphrey. This upset people in the county, and local politics became nasty.

Getting an official invite was easy enough. My then girlfriend’s sister was one of Sen. Mansfield’s top staffers. Mansfield has an incredible life story. When the upgrade was made, Senator Mansfield was the Senate Majority Leader, so she talked to him and got us moved into the peanut gallery—no pun intended. Four years later, I voted against Carter.

Here’s something to bore people to tears. It’s a message to a guy I grew up with—a response, really. I referenced a note from my wife, Dawn, but it’s cut off here as being too personal and not necessary. We started life similarly but went our separate ways.

Before starting this, Dawn asked me to include a message for you. It’s at the end, in her words. Second, let me apologize for what I’m sure will seem discombobulated. I still often write in a stream-of-consciousness manner without going back to edit.

You asked me to share some of my thoughts; I did, then suggested you do the same. Mine was a friendly gesture made in that spirit. You were the first friend I had in life; we shared Peck Road, Mantua, and Crestwood. I thought you were reaching out to be friendly. I asked your opinions on the same matters and got a pompous response.

Not that I should be surprised. As a leftist, there is a hovel of hate where once there was a heart. It’s like a burning hole that has to be continually fueled with even more hate lest the embers go out. While I should feel grace for you, the opposite is the case. You deserve to be miserable, but it’s because you choose to be.

I share your concern about the billionaire class taking over the government, but we’ve managed to avert it, at least temporarily. I think you are referring to Musk, Trump, and perhaps Ramaswamy. I’m not.

We had to face down Soros, father and son, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Cuban, Taylor Swift, Bill and Melinda Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Tom Steyer, and some other names not as well known but just as dangerous. We could add DEI Harris since she blew through over a billion bucks in 100 days and owes money for her failed campaign. That amount doesn’t even count the PAC money used for her in the attempt to buy America to continue its destruction.

By my recollection, several million of the world record 80+ million votes “counted” for Biden in 2020 disappeared in 2024 into thin air. Trump won close to 3000 counties vs. approximately 300 for Harris. O.B.A.M.A. once said, “We were shellacked.” The Democrats thought that it didn’t matter who they ran. The cheat was so baked in that they never lost. That is the only explanation for a Harris-Walz ticket because it certainly was not the quality of the candidates you backed. A lying hater at the top, a bumbling self-described knucklehead wagging the serpent’s tail.

Democratic leaders – Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer – were aware that Joe Biden was mentally unfit to be president. Still, COVID policies allowed them to stage a cover-up that began even before he was elected.

Unfortunately, Joe Biden threw them a curve ball when he decided to run for reelection after saying he would not and that there was no COVID pandemic to keep him in the basement, limit public appearances to scripted events, and hide a mental and physical decline of millions of voters personally witnessed. He threw a second curve when he decided not to run, and then immediately endorsed Harris to the chagrin of Obama and the cabal.

My question is, how could you not see the mental deterioration of Biden? Was it because the legacy media told you to ignore it until the same media told you not to ignore it any longer after the first debate? How could you not see the cabal orchestrated the coup? It was easy enough to know. We’ve never had a presidential debate in June. It was clearly designed to expose and dump him with the hope that a replacement would have enough time to take over and win.

It could have worked with the media providing cover but for Harris. The more she spoke, the more people became aware just how empty she was. Actually, it reaffirmed what people knew. Her communist slogans, of which there were many, the most popular being “unburdened by what has been.”

Man, I don’t know about you, but I just love the diverse thought and tolerance from the lefties. It must always be Christmas in the Utopia where these happy people live. And in case your reality is questionable, that was sarcasm.

Donald Trump’s reelection is a liberation for many Americans who know they’ve been living under oppressive conditions due to runaway inflation, rising crime, illegal immigration, and what they term DEI-racism. Many saw it as the spread of antisemitism and Marxist indoctrination in educational settings, media, and entertainment, which includes sports. It was easy to see, but not easy to find in print or video. You had to search it out, which meant leaving your echo chamber. But the Left doesn’t. It cancels, plugs its ears, and closes its eyes to what can be plainly seen.

Me? I’m dedicating myself to following the news of the Left more closely. As Sun Tzu said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” He was right. The Left will never be able to do this. Instead, they ran as cowards to the Bluesky social network, which former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, with parrots parroting and magie mimicry.

Call it what it was: a betrayal of trust as those sectors were taken over by movements perceived as anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, and anti-liberty, leading to a cultural shift that many see as undermining traditional American values.

Donald Trump’s reelection is easy to understand when taken in toto, a Latin phrase that means to take as a whole rather than focusing on individual parts or details. It’s the same as the idiom, “can’t see the forest for the trees.” It just means stepping back to consider the whole picture, the forest, rather than emphasizing the minor element, the trees.

The Left was laser-focused on an objective. Typically, it is thought of as good to have such unwavering concentration. But think of the poor cat chasing a light from place to place, intent on the capture that eludes it. The Left’s chase defied reality. It chased the elusive that didn’t exist while failing to see the larger picture. This lack of perspective or an inability to understand the broader implications is due to overemphasizing minor elements or just missing what terrified real people could see.

You said, “It’s Hard for me to believe that average working people are in favor of this. I honestly think that they have been hoodwinked.” Really? You and those of your mindset are the ones hoodwinked, I believe. Obviously, more people in the country agree with me than you. And look at those coming to the side of Donald Trump since he was elected, including some of your billionaires and major politicians.

I can speculate as to why. You had a successful career working with a class of people ordinary folks don’t mingle with. Do you even remember your roots? Or are you trying to forget? People worked hard. Some did well, some didn’t, but one thing they had in common was a desire to provide for their families. They believed people got ahead based on merit and hard work, not DEI. There was some nepotism, but it had little impact on Mantua. There was prejudice, and still is. All are, including you. But we didn’t see overt racism.

Guess what? Starting in 1976, almost without exception, every boss I’ve had has been a woman. Is that true for you? Women will dominate my field. Mine is a diverse field because it happened, not because of mandates. By the way, on the subject of diversity, the Left is anti-diversity, which explains the constant need to virtue signal. The Left is such a hypocritical group when you think about it. The pro-democracy crowd is so undemocratic.

How else does a man suffering the ravaging effects of age get the nomination? By keeping a legitimate challenge by RFK Jr. off the ballot and even using the courts to do it and/or changing the primary rules. Think about the not-so-poor self-described communist Bernie Sanders and what democrats did to him. Or the placement of a candidate on the ballot who had never received a primary vote in her life and was disliked by those in her party. And then use the media to prop her up and make her credible. Fortunately, people saw through it, yet you don’t understand why.

If you were living paycheck to paycheck, you knew the economy was terrible. You saw it whenever you went to a gas station or grocery store. The Left thought biological males competing against biological females to be okay, an immigration invasion that resulted in rape, murder. and takeover of apartment complexes and cities. The general public didn’t.

The Left tried to destroy Trump, and that’s not over. The Left election denial system is still trying to overturn the election in the name of “democracy.” With their hateful rhetoric, the Left almost were successful in having him assassinated. It had the opposite effect. Even the CEO of Meta, seeing Trump rise after being shot to pump his fist shouting, “Fight!” three times, called it, correctly, “Badass.” From that date on, the Left frazzled, fizzled.

You blocked me, as other classmates have, although you unblocked me, claiming it was an accident. Now you have Dawn blocked, all because we disagreed. Guess how many I’ve blocked because of politics? Zero. I find it a cowardly act. Well, I did block one, but not because of politics. She challenged me to do it based on a joking comment. I obliged her. I have this illusion that we can still discuss issues civilly. My illusion is fast becoming a delusion, though. That’s why I’m not expecting a response from you. You don’t want peace. Living this way has to be miserable; it is a choice, but it is not my choice.

Yet, here’s a harsh reality for you. We have a friend from high school, a place that is a gathering place for who knows how many people. Perhaps 20, though never all at once. We talk about different things, including politics. Guess what? Many were Trump supporters, but there were Harris voters there, too. We’d rag on each other, but guess what? We all remained friends. Since your message to me, I’ve wondered if you would be able to do it or if the hate flowing through your veins would make it impossible. I’ll know soon enough.

To this day, the Left has panel discussions and writes reams on what went wrong, yet the answer is so plain. Idiom time again: “Cut off your nose to spite your face.” You harm yourself in an attempt to hurt someone else, often resulting in a situation where the person causing the harm ends up worse off than before. The Left’s irrationality and self-destructive actions, taken in spite, did it in.

Your side spent nine years of your life begging for Donald Trump to be prosecuted, spent well more than $100 million in taxpayer money, and after nine years, you finally got your trial & conviction & then, at the sentencing, they gave no punishment at all & ended the case. How wrecked is your world? It’s like finally opening your Cracker Jack box and finding no prize.

You said two other things. I can’t address the first because I don’t understand it: “And anyone of working age knows that you can’t reduce income and increase spending and make it work out.” I know of no one suggesting it.

You also said, “I will oppose almost anything that you support.” I don’t doubt it because isn’t that the way of the Left? Conservatives are too compromising. It might be a good idea to send me a list of what you support so I’ll know what to oppose. Incidentally, I support America. Don’t tell me you oppose it.

Dawn wanted to add some words to you since you blocked her. She’s not here to read this, but I have her notes and will quote them verbatim. I suspect it’s a response to something earlier said between the two of you. You could unfriend people instead of blocking them.

As for me, I’m finishing here. My guess is you won’t read this all the way through. It wouldn’t be in your nature. As far as rational discussion, I won’t hold my breath. If there’s another reunion, we’re both still living, and you show up, I’ll talk to you then.

Until then, take care.