I have thought since day one that Donald Trump had no desire to actually win the Presidency or God forbid, serve as President of the United States of America.  I think that like all of his activities, this run for office was intended to enhance his brand and more than anything else, make money.  There is nothing in his past or his life to indicate a desire to serve or to do any basic good for anyone or anything.  So he went out to make some extra dough, when perhaps he needs it to make up for other business failures.  Then something unexpected happened as he knocked off the Jeb!, Marco, Ted, John, Ben and our dear Carly and won the damn nomination.  Kind of like the dog chasing and catching the bus and wondering what do I do with it now!  

My Grandfather, Butler Pitcock was the elected Superintendent of Schools in Mingo Co., WVa back in the 1950’s, which was my introduction to politics.  That was WVa, Democratic “Machine” politics in the most basic form and the Superintendent position was very powerful because it came with jobs.  Jobs were very important in coal fields of WVa in the 1950’s.  My Grandfather had a couple of basic rules to cover if you wanted to get into politics.  He said you needed a close group of friends and “you need to raise a little money.”  Trump has no friends that I’ve seen, so he turned to his family and paid employees, who he owns and could buy their silence/loyalty.  Thus far, his campaign has paid around $8,000,000 in expenditures to Trump Companies and family members.  I haven’t done any research on this, but my gut tells me no other campaign for President, or any campaign except maybe soon to be former congresswoman Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, FL has ever done anything similar.   (sorry, I just can’t wait to see her out of office) And he had enough money to get started and claim to be independent of the influence of lobbyists or campaign contributors.  That changed after securing the nomination, which he never expected and he started using other people’s money.  

Then his campaign starts to falter, sometimes it seems almost on purpose as he goes against his original campaign chairman and staff that at least appear to be competent and the replacements begin.  Which leads us to Roger Ailes, Richard Bannon and Kellyanne Conway. A joke compared to any other national campaign staff ever.  So what is the goal?  Immediately after compiling this latest “leadership” team, rumors surface that internally the Trump Campaign knows they are going to lose the election. So the directive goes out from Trump that all efforts will be to “monetize” the campaign.  Just see how much money they can make through the general election, but more importantly, afterwards. So what does this dream team mean?  My guess that they want to destroy the Republican Party, check, destroy Fox News, check, and replace Fox as the new voice of the extreme far right with a combination of Fox principals and Brietbart practices.  The media of the future is set and secure.  Is there money in it?  Yep, as Fox is #51 on the Forbes list of most valuable brands at 11.2 billion dollars.  Yikes!  So if they off Fox, or even partially off Fox and other conservative media outlets the money in a very short time could be “Tremendous.”  So with the newly enhanced Trump brand, which sadly will be the case win or lose, they are just waiting to get this messy election out of the way and begin their real work.  That work, based on what I’ve seen since the second debate and the latest video revelations, will include bashing the media relentlessly and the incoming President and God know who and what else along the way.  I’m suspecting Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, Women, Liberals, Asians, Immigrants, Politicians, Microphones and oh, Republicans, will be the usual suspects or targets.  It’s a start!

As a disclaimer, I’m a Democrat, except for four years in the early 80’s when I worked for a Republican I admired greatly and wanted to be able to vote for him in the Sarasota County, FL primary elections.  Then I returned to my Mingo County, WVa roots and registration working for Democrats here in Tallahassee.  As soon as early voting starts in Leon County, FL I will vote for Hillary and not watch one single second of any type of coverage until  four weeks from today, November 8, 2016 a day that will go down in infamy!  I am not writing this as political, it is simply to put down my thoughts and impressions regarding this election.  I don’t kid myself that I will ever influence one person how to vote and I’m pretty sure that minds have been made up by now and the election is essentially over, no matter what the outcome.  And with all my heart, God Bless us all and God Bless America! May we try to heal and become better as a nation when this is over.  It will take all of us to keep America great!

I have thought since day one that Donald Trump had no desire to actually win the Presidency or God forbid, serve as President of the United States of America.  I think that like all of his activities, this run for office was intended to enhance his brand and more than anything else, make money.  There is nothing in his past or his life to indicate a desire to serve or to do any basic good for anyone or anything.  So he went out to make some extra dough, when perhaps he needs it to make up for other business failures.  Then something unexpected happened as he knocked off the Jeb!, Marco, Ted, John, Ben and our dear Carly and won the damn nomination.  Kind of like the dog chasing and catching the bus and wondering what do I do with it now!  

My Grandfather, Butler Pitcock was the elected Superintendent of Schools in Mingo Co., WVa back in the 1950’s, which was my introduction to politics.  That was WVa, Democratic “Machine” politics in the most basic form and the Superintendent position was very powerful because it came with jobs.  Jobs were very important in coal fields of WVa in the 1950’s.  My Grandfather had a couple of basic rules to cover if you wanted to get into politics.  He said you needed a close group of friends and “you need to raise a little money.”  Trump has no friends that I’ve seen, so he turned to his family and paid employees, who he owns and could buy their silence/loyalty.  Thus far, his campaign has paid around $8,000,000 in expenditures to Trump Companies and family members.  I haven’t done any research on this, but my gut tells me no other campaign for President, or any campaign except maybe soon to be former congresswoman Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, FL has ever done anything similar.   (sorry, I just can’t wait to see her out of office) And he had enough money to get started and claim to be independent of the influence of lobbyists or campaign contributors.  That changed after securing the nomination, which he never expected and he started using other people’s money.  

Then his campaign starts to falter, sometimes it seems almost on purpose as he goes against his original campaign chairman and staff that at least appear to be competent and the replacements begin.  Which leads us to Roger Ailes, Richard Bannon and Kellyanne Conway. A joke compared to any other national campaign staff ever.  So what is the goal?  Immediately after compiling this latest “leadership” team, rumors surface that internally the Trump Campaign knows they are going to lose the election. So the directive goes out from Trump that all efforts will be to “monetize” the campaign.  Just see how much money they can make through the general election, but more importantly, afterwards. So what does this dream team mean?  My guess that they want to destroy the Republican Party, check, destroy Fox News, check, and replace Fox as the new voice of the extreme far right with a combination of Fox principals and Brietbart practices.  The media of the future is set and secure.  Is there money in it?  Yep, as Fox is #51 on the Forbes list of most valuable brands at 11.2 billion dollars.  Yikes!  So if they off Fox, or even partially off Fox and other conservative media outlets the money in a very short time could be “Tremendous.”  So with the newly enhanced Trump brand, which sadly will be the case win or lose, they are just waiting to get this messy election out of the way and begin their real work.  That work, based on what I’ve seen since the second debate and the latest video revelations, will include bashing the media relentlessly and the incoming President and God know who and what else along the way.  I’m suspecting Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, Women, Liberals, Asians, Immigrants, Politicians, Microphones and oh, Republicans, will be the usual suspects or targets.  It’s a start!

As a disclaimer, I’m a Democrat, except for four years in the early 80’s when I worked for a Republican I admired greatly and wanted to be able to vote for him in the Sarasota County, FL primary elections.  Then I returned to my Mingo County, WVa roots and registration working for Democrats here in Tallahassee.  As soon as early voting starts in Leon County, FL I will vote for Hillary and not watch one single second of any type of coverage until  four weeks from today, November 8, 2016 a day that will go down in infamy!  I am not writing this as political, it is simply to put down my thoughts and impressions regarding this election.  I don’t kid myself that I will ever influence one person how to vote and I’m pretty sure that minds have been made up by now and the election is essentially over, no matter what the outcome.  And with all my heart, God Bless us all and God Bless America! May we try to heal and become better as a nation when this is over.  It will take all of us to keep America great!

Source: Erin made me do it!

Source: FSU Baseball…..the insanity continues.

I’m sorry…..anyone with half a brain knows if and when you have paid for something at a store, especially a store where the “check out” is so uniform and pronounced….Publix. So without a doubt, you know if you have paid for your deli order of crab legs and crayfish. We are beyond the youthful mistakes period Mr. Winston. Your pattern of behavior is appalling and you are an embarrassment to your family, your team, your coaches, your fellow students and the FSU community that has supported you through your ups and downs. Seriously, you have to grow up and show some character NOW or you may have many ugly tomorrows. Yes, you’ll probably have a career in MLB or the NFL regardless of how much you sully your name and make fools of the rest us, but I’m betting you are destined to fail and fail big on the path you are on. Where are your parents? Where is Jimbo? We know where Mike Martin is….he would suspend Beelzebub for three meaningless games if it meant getting back someone who just might help him win a regional. They should all take you out to the woodshed and thrash your stupid butt, but I’m betting that was put in your contract (unwritten) when you signed that you could be as stupid as you want and coaches and boosters would bail you out and pay your attorneys fees as long as you were a registered student playing on one or more teams. How do you look at the man in the mirror? When you do, is there a chance you see the lying fool you have become? We deserve better and it’s apparently up to you to be better, as no one else seems to dare tell you what you really are. Great Athlete….. no doubt. Repeat sexual offender, perhaps and now thief….. the truth’s in the tape! Go answer to the Man, if you are one, in the mirror…..there’s no lying to him! Suspend yourself and take a break, give us a break and become someone we can be proud of! Seminoles everywhere deserve better.

FSU Baseball…..the insanity continues..

FSU baseball is a perfect example of playing a game instead of engaging in a sport. We, and I say we because I’ve been a fan and season ticket holder for 44 years, we play as if there is no point in winning, as if no one were keeping score. The reason you keep score is that there is a winner and a loser. Make no doubt, winning is the goal and winning beats losing every time. Yes, there are moral victories all the time, but there is no M for moral in the win/loss column, there is only a W and a L. FSU will never finish with a W in the important games of the year or the final game of the year as long as we have a coach who has no consequence in winning vs. losing. It doesn’t matter to “Eleven” if we win or lose. He still makes loads of money with no one at the university daring to question him on any phase of our baseball operation. We fans pack Howser and live and die with our team, but only the fans go home sad after a loss like this past Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Eleven goes home to take a nap, eat a steak and read a book, probably about fishing or something. I wish he would read memoirs and thoughts from previous college coaches who have won it all by letting his boys play the game, swing the bat, go for the darn gaps and fences and not take pitches, play small ball and bunt and run the bases ineffectively. It’s just another game….like Eleven said Friday night…”It was a great game to watch for the fans.” Only the Virginia fans Eleven, only the Virginia fans! My new wish is that Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium has a new shrine…..”Mike Martin Box” up in the back where Eleven could get his wish, to be a fan and perhaps for once share the pain and disappointment of losing all the games that matter. Yes, he’s won 1800 games, but that means little compared to losing so many, including all final games we have ever played at the College World Series. We have been to the CWS more than any other team in history……to have never won. And if you study the talent Eleven has squandered in those years and trips it is mind boggling. It’s time for a change in approach. Get us a new coach, one who thinks winning is as important as looking good in a uniform. One who lets the boys swing when it counts. One who does not get so tight it is palpable to all who play for him and watch his teams play, by calling every pitch and every swing. Let FSU PLAY the game to win! It is a disservice to perhaps the finest fans in Tallahassee and beyond, but also to the young men who put on those uniforms to play and to win…..win it all. Just one time let’s have FSU One Time, not Eleven Time!

Because I did a couple of more thoughtful Facebook posts this past week while tending to my Mom in Venice, FL….my daughter Erin suggested I start a blog to capture some of my thoughts.  OK…I’m game, but note to self…I am usually right and think know what is best for others.  It’s a gift and burden that I live with.  I want  my thoughts to be meaningful, seriously…as I have a pretty active mind and I have lots of opinions and I do care more than I wish about our world and what we are doing to mess it up.  My normal language is naturally earthy.  My Dad could cuss up a pretty decent storm and caught constant and sometime intense hell from my Mom for it.  My Mom uses the word shit better than anyone I’ve ever known.  When I was in maybe fourth grade I got in a shit load of trouble for calling my brother Johnny a GDSOB.  My parents made me stand in front of the tv in our garage apartment  in Athens, WV, where we lived when they returned in their mid-thirty’s to get their teaching degrees . My punishment was to  say it in front of the three of them, ten times.  I made it through eight or so and started to cry like a little girl and swore I’d never cuss again.  Within minutes of making it outside and away from the family embarrassment and terror I called Johnny many bad things again and told him to never rat me out like that.  He didn’t!  It’s all been downhill foul language wise since.  Ann busts my chops pretty regularly.  Drinking makes it worse, but thank god I don’t drink all that often around others.  So I will try to tell my little vignettes minus too much colorful language.  My girls laugh as I’ve told stories a thousand times beginning with “I was born in a little coal mining town in West Virginia” …..so it begins with Matewan52…..I was born a preemie in an old folks home that had an incubator in a coal mining town in WVa, in June of 1952.  My Mom, an angel who will be covered in depth later, had gone through several very difficult pregnancies and I was just one in a series.  Through extraordinary efforts by she and Dr. Roy I arrived very early and only a few pounds.  The only thing my parents were told in the hospital was “don’t get attached.”  The did!  My grandfather Thompson said I looked like a “skinned squirrel.”  Dr. Roy instructed the nurses to only give me O2 when I turned blue.  That wise advice likely kept me from being blind as I had significant retinal and eye issues associated with premature birth, that could have been much, much worse.  For those first weeks and months of life I lived in the incubator and was fed through an eye dropper.  When you see a lady breastfeeding her infant and get that warm and fuzzy Awww moment, I get that from eyedroppers.  You make the best of it!  But eventually I got to cross the street to our house in Matewan, tucked between Aunt Fonnie (Whitt) and my real Aunt Lou and Uncle Ken, who lived next to Dr. Roy.  I began life loved by a large family and whole town who prayed and fed me continuously so poor little Tommy could survive to be Johnny’s brother and Betty and Bill’s little boy.  I milked it for all it was worth and 60 plus years later I am still the luckiest guy ever.