Without mentioning any names... This blog was first posted two weeks before the Presidential Election in September of 2016. Perhaps the proverb is true "...the more tings change, the more they stay the same".

I have recently been enjoying a self-imposed news blackout -- again. It works well for me.  My day-to-day life seems nicer somehow. I can always check in once in a while to get caught up if I want to, but I don't have to let the heavy stuff drop in clumps on/around me before I have a chance to self-protect... or even have a morning cup of coffee.

Without mentioning any names... here are some of the ideas and questions that I have been thinking about while enjoying a break from the dark side of the news -- and that includes the political front:

• How interdependent are we on the rest of the world?
• How can we focus more on similarities among people rather than on differences?
• What values do we have in common with all of humanity?

Look -- we all know that the old order is changing -- again.  No matter how scary things may seem, I think it is important to remember that this is not the first time.  It happens.  Here's hoping that the new ways of living in the world will take the best of what still works and will use those things with success to fight the new dangers of the times. 

Again --without mentioning any names...

• Who offers a sense of a breakthrough into a new way of living?
• Who offers a sense of strength in a complex world? 
• Who is not afraid to say "No", this is it.  We are done giving it all away. What is "it"?  It is, in no special order, -- American jobs, American dignity, American strength, American pride -- American hopes and dreams.
• Who knows the people who can get the jobs done that need to be done?
• Who dares to say what needs to be said?

Is there such a person out there? If we can find that person or one who even comes close to that, I may see you at the polls. Just sayin'.  In the meantime, I don't need the "news" to try to tell me what to think.  What happened to the "news" anyway?  Did objective reporting ever exist or is that also a pipe dream?