This is a story about how wildly disparate personalities came together to accomplish the impossible. The number of sheer coincidences in this story are too many to ignore, mathematically impossible. Nah, I definitely had a higher power on my side for the few days of this story.
Little bit of background first.
On Saturday, our staff pulled off the biggest wedding we had done to date, 400 guests, three locations, massive amounts of equipment and custom made floral items, and MONTHS of planning. The mother of the bride was exacting and precise. EVERYONE told me not to work with her because she was a “$itch”, but we needed the job. Frankly, I found her a JOY to work with……. because she knew exactly what she wanted. Family weddings are notorious stressors, but she was cool as a cucumber. Twenty years later, we’re still good friends.
Wedding reception location was over two large backyards, several acres. Father of the bride installed over a mile of brick walkways and a gazebo. Over 300K white Christmas lights were hung in the trees, with a separate transformer to carry the electric load. The neighbor’s backyard, confiscated for the week, was slightly higher elevation and the location for large tents, food buffets, and dance floors. It was a logistical challenge, but the location was spectacular. By mid-afternoon, Saturday, we were firing on all cylinders, looking good, on schedule, and humming along.
We were suffering through a drought, no rain in 93 days…….., sprinkler systems installed by father-of-bride activated before the tents went up to wash down the dust. Yes, we even planned the sprinkler systems. We moved items all afternoon from our B&B to the location……. until about 4:00pm that afternoon……… when the heavens opened up and the rain began. Oh, dear.
I recall the moment of decision. Mother-of-bride, the bride, and me, standing under a tent with a downpour all around us. We were discussing what to do. We had a fully formulated rain plan (12 copies posted to various doors on what to bring with) in my main folder. We were in the midst of making the decision, when I noticed my husband and his odd stance.
My first husband owned a construction company, and never got involved in our business. This wedding was so big, we needed his trucks, so he was along for the ride. He was standing at a corner of the tent, dressed in full yellow weather rain gear (cuz he’s always prepared), holding a corner tent flap, with his arm in the air, frozen in time. He had a really strange look on his face….. which all wives know. I looked away from the mom and bride and asked him, “What are you doing?” His reply…..”There’s about 400 gallons of water pooling on the top of this tent. I’m holding on for dear life and waiting for you ladies to make a decision…….. but you might want to hurry up and decide.”
Rain plan activated. Everyone back to the B&B…..
…… Which meant an unexpected reception for 400 people at our house. We pulled it off without a hitch….. which was nothing short of a miracle.
The following day, Sunday, we had a large breakfast for the wedding party, people staying with us plus extras, about 30 people. That afternoon, the maid of honor for the wedding had a bridesmaid’s party at our house. She was the next to be married. About 175 people attended, gorgeous women in their Sunday best, went off without a hitch. We were exhausted, but we did it. I was proud of my girlfriends/staff. We had nothing scheduled for a few days, we needed to rest.
Monday morning, husband left early and I was languishing in bed. To NOT get up early to make breakfast for guests was a treat. Sure, I knew I had a whole house to turn and a mountain of laundry from the weekend events, but I had three days clear to put the house back together. I was awake but my feet were still throbbing. The phone rang at 6:58am.
Nell was calling, the secretary to a local factory President. She said, “You need to get down here right away.” I sat up in bed like I had been shot, “What’s wrong?” She replied, “John needs you right away, you need to get down here.” She was being cryptic, but I trusted Nell with my life. I asked her if I had time to shower, at least. “No, get down here…..now”, was her reply.
I threw on shorts, no makeup, brushed my teeth, ran a comb through my hair, and arrived in the parking lot at 7:07am. There were crews in the parking lot…… repainting the stripes. Other crews were clipping bushes…. at 7:00am. “Gee whiz”, I thought it was a little odd. I hit the front door and the receptionist said, “You need to get in there now, they’re waiting on you.” She buzzed me into the executive suite. I was thinking… “I haven’t killed anyone” and “I didn’t cheat anyone on an invoice”, and “What the heck is going on?”
John’s sprawling office looked like it came out of MADMEN. Nell looked at me. “Am I dead?”, I said to Nell…… and she nodded. I made a faint excuse about my appearance. John explained why I was there. The company, headquartered in Chicago, was publicly traded, one of the Fortune 100. The plant, our little factory, was selected to host the bond traders….. who owned about 60% of the commercial paper/corporate bonds for the company…….. on Wednesday! John casually mentioned these high-end guests were flying in from all over the world but staying at the Peabody downtown (five stars). They were coming down for a scheduled tour of our facility and other tertiary presentations. He thought they might expect a doughnut and coffee from a vending machine………. but it would be nice if I made up something special….. then he mentioned …… a similar consortium of stock analysts, which owned about 40% the outstanding stock, would be here on Tuesday, which was TOMORROW!!!!!
I was speechless. The shock, like I stuck my finger in a socket, rose from my toes and went out through my fingertips. I was shaking. And I was having aftershocks, in rapid fire, like an earthquake aftershocks. OMG! I know, at that moment, the blood drained from my face.
John was my best client, and a dear friend. He was at my wedding. His wife was a girlfriend. Yet, John was a solid and faithful country boy who rose through the ranks. He had no idea of the importance of this event and was completely out of his element. I was a former partner in a brokerage firm (What are the chances, a local caterer, in rural Mississippi, who has your best interest at heart, who happened to be a former brokerage firm partner?). These people were coming to inspect property, plant, and equipment. This was my old wheelhouse. It’s what I used to do. They would nitpick and look for problems and inconsistencies. And they would be furious at having to leave their own respective mountain…… to travel to …. Mississippi. The effect of their visit would impact the stock price……. for years.
I was terrified.
No time for pleasantries, I told John the brutal truth. I explained, from an analyst’s perspective, what we looked for, and the impact of a plant visit….. and how stock analysts talk to each other AFTER the visit. He popped up and started pacing the room. Nell, in the corner, nodding. John was wrapping his head around the idea…. panic creeping in. I had a clipboard and blank legal pad in my hand to take notes. We needed a plan, ASAP. John was sharp, quick on his feet, and understood the implications. Standing over me, he said, “Okay, what do you suggest?”
I put my hands up to surrender, “I know you well, inside and out, and I know the our people well……. but I don’t know ‘the company’ as you do, and I sure as hell don’t know the financials.” Without giving him time to respond, I asked him, “Who is doing the presentation on the financials?”, because it was the MOST important part of the trip. John said, “I’m not sure, but I have a copy of the presentation…” and then, dropping another bomb, “all 12 VP’s and the CEO are also flying in……..” OMG!!!!!!!!!!! More earthquakes.
I waved my hand as if to wipe away the panic. I knew the execs had probably been working on this for months – meaning, their part was well planned, which I said to John and Nell. We have to work on OUR PART of this trip. “The first thing we need is a schedule, and a shot clock.”, I said. Nell was ready, she handed me the schedule…. We had about 24 hours.
John called in about 6-8 of the plant’s execs for me to re-explain the severity of the visit. I knew them all well. Everything needed to appear “pretty”, “new”, and “well maintained”. I told the execs to think like your wife, “Orderly, with everything put away.”, but the guys looked at me like I lost my mind. One female exec suggested I walk through, and create a master list. Because I don’t work there, I would see what they do not, AND see it from an outsider analyst perspective. Me, with no makeup, parading through the plant, giving orders…… to my client. Last thing in the world I wanted to do. John looked at me, “We’re in this together, you have to do this.”
For the next two hours, we moved through the plant, nitpicking. The analysts would be with us for almost four hours. Main presentation (45 minutes) made in the employee cafeteria with smaller groups breaking into separate presentations and plant tours….. which meant to me……. several locations and they would get hungry and thirsty. It was hot too, that’s Mississippi in the summertime.
I walked into the cafeteria and damn near had a heart attack. The floor had to be cleaned and waxed. It wasn’t bad for a normal day, mind you, it’s just that people spill things. All the vending machines had to be removed. The adhoc plywood stage built at the front was okay for a country BBQ, but not for bond traders from Singapore to NYC. We had to dress it up or hide it. All the tables and chairs had to be wiped down and CLEAN!!!! I looked up at the ceiling and stifled a shriek. Ceiling tiles stained from an old leak in the roof had to be replaced and the pest strips…… hanging from the acoustical tiles….. yeah……… they had to go.
One guy, head of plant maintenance, frowned, “You want me to replace ceiling tiles?”  I nodded and explained, “What’s the first thing you do in the middle of a boring presentation?” I stretched out my arms wide, leaned backwards, and looked up at the ceiling……. “Last thing an analyst wants to see is a roof leak.” Your stains tell me there is… or was…. a roof leak. He was on board with the flip of a switch.
Somewhere along the way, I called our house, and told one staff person to call ALL the girls to assemble at our house at 10:00am, “Big $hit going down – All Hands On Deck.”
At the plant, we moved piles of old paper, swapped out the company trophy case, put up shifting blocks, moved dumpsters, replaced burned out lights, cleaned exec and employee bathrooms (and brought in pretty little towels from the B&B). At the plant, they power-washed ……… the world. Everyone was in full gear and had their “to-do” lists. I told Nell and John I had to leave to get back to the house and get started. John asked me, “What are you going to do and how much will it cost?” I responded… “I’m not sure yet, but it’s going to be expensive.”
Back at the house, I explained the situation to the girls. Instantly, they protested “Why no warning?”, as we normally plan things far in advance. I countered, “No time to complain, our best client was in trouble and we needed to put on a show….. The reputation of our town, and our best client, was at stake – along with stock price.” They understood. We set a menu, our tried and true favorites. We also had to transform the employee cafeteria into our formal dining room… with satellite locations in other meeting areas.
We had to build the event from the ground up. There was no linen at the plant for the tables. John “thought they could use rolls of paper”. “Paper????”, I recoiled. My mother-in-law and grandmother scoured every high-end department store in Memphis, found 16 -144″ long formal white damask table cloths, drove to get them, brought them home, laundered them all, and starch/pressed them, in less than 12 hours. They were exquisite and appropriate….. and I got to keep them all. Oh, and those $700 tablecloths, happened to be on sale, $90/each. What are the chances?
I called Trish, my girlfriend at the floral wholesale house, and told her what was going on. When she got over the shock, we worked out an order. She took off the afternoon to assemble the floral for the occasion and worked until 4:30am, on our side porch, making 42 arrangements (and she went to work the next day). I laughed when she was searching through the house for vases and containers, finally scrounging a Christmas ceramic elf shoe……. for the last table piece.
My husband and the Mayor moved our formal dining table and sideboards down to the plant cafeteria. Maintenance guys from the city were activated as well, moving large floral planters into place…….. even the town was spruced up. The Mayor ordered a large banner to stretch across Main Street to welcome the delegation. The high school boys who worked for me in the afternoon took off from school – fully excused. Everyone in town knew someone who worked at the plant, our town’s second largest employer. It was a community wide effort. Extra hands turned out from everywhere and it warmed my heart.
Everyone was busy.
At one point, I stopped at my mother-in-law’s to check on linen. She had a full blown hen party going on. Four women, ironing linen, drinking martinis. At Grandmother’s house, same thing, She and Sarah were doing all the napkins….. and having a blast.
We also moved formal service for 60 people, crystal, china, fine silver….. I even had to dig into the gold vermeil flatware to make it to 60. Servers, formal coffee urns, expensive porcelain, …. items flew out of our house…… along with furniture from the parlor…. to be placed at the reception area. The bathrooms were transformed into our guest bathroom. Perfumes, hairsprays, and makeup items for the ladies. Mouthwash, mints, even disposable combs for the gents….. and superfine linen…. with our staff as attendants (cuz people talk in the bathroom and I wanted to know what they were saying). Truckloads of ferns and palms were delivered from another friend to camouflage the stage.
I knew well, their preconceived notion of Mississippi, and I had a chip on my shoulder. Be damned if we would look like a hick town in the middle of nowhere. Oh no, not on my watch. We were going to SHINE!
Throughout the evening, we went back and forth to take items to the plant. I realized NO ONE tested the audio visual equipment and the guys hooked it up to test. My husband was drawn in and fixed it for them. The rented screen was bad and ripped…….. no good. It was late, after 8:00pm. I just happened to have another screen in my attic, left from the previous owners…… What are the chances? Someone was looking out for me…. yeah….. someone from upstairs.
We shopped and started cooking. All our produce supply and butcher supply people knew what was happening, and THEY helped us. At 2:30am, my girlfriend, Terry and I, were sitting on the floor in the kitchen, working off a large wooden board, making homemade bite-size quiches. We couldn’t stand anymore cuz our feet were dead. She looked at me, while stuffing pastry crust into a small muffin tin and said, “I sure hope you’re charging them a lot for this.”
Most of the girls slept at our house, at least for a few hours. There was no oven for hot items at the plant, only microwaves….. which we had removed. By 6:00am, we were flying. Terry made 300 scratch biscuits, others working on chicken and hams. The stock analysts were due to arrive at 8:30am. Our kitchen was abuzz. Items also in the kitchens of mother-in-law and grandmother + one neighbor. John called me at 7:00am, worried about us. I was the picture of calm.
When we arrived at the plant, Nell pulled me aside, “You need to talk to John.” I was torn, my staff desperately needed me…… but I have wonderfully competent girlfriends/staff. They nodded, and off I went to find John. He was nervous about his presentation. I learned he had been there, until late into the night, practicing. His wife and I talked the night before about the suit he was wearing today/tie, etc., and he did look particularly handsome. I hugged him big, and sat down. “You’re good at this stuff, John. It’s why they decided to highlight YOUR plant, out of the other 60+.” “You’re the best they have.”, I said, and it was true. I knew enough about the company to know it was true. “Just tell them about this plant, like you’re talking to me.” “Just tell them how good we really are.”, I said. From John, “But you know I get nervous speaking in public and this is big!” He was worried about his accent. I thought about it. “Let’s run through your speech”, I said. And we made an agreement, when it was his turn to speak, I would be at the back, in the center…… and he would give his speech, just like he was talking to me…..at my house….. in my kitchen.
As he went through his speech, obviously prepared by someone else, I twigged to the footnotes. A few things were curious to me and I didn’t understand them. Stock analysts are trained to look at footnotes….. because that’s where the hidden dirt can be found. I asked him about the footnotes and he explained, REALLY well….easy peasy… and in a common sense way. My concern, alleviated immediately, John was good!!! I told him to ADD the explanations to his presentation, begged him to do it…. “because he knew stock analysts were trained to look at footnotes”, which he did. It made him look like a pro, and he winked at me. He was chiding the stock analysts, the country boy with a southern accent. And they were befuddled. It was a great moment. John had swagger.
By 8:00am, the plant was at full tilt furry. The little cafeteria looked beautiful. It glistened. The oak dining table and sideboards from our house, the tables, everything looked like it came out of a magazine spread. I left to give it one last pass. I was the ONLY ONE out front, fussing over flowers (new lillies opening and didn’t want someone to brush against the pollen) at 8:08am….. when they arrived……. early.
With glass doors, I could not move. They could see me. I was busted. And I couldn’t warn anyone. It was the first band of limousines, CEO, President of various divisions, an entourage of VP’s and CEO staff. It was the first time the CEO had been to this plant. He breezed in, leading the contingent, and I still had my hands in the flowers. He said, “What are you doing?” I responded, “I’m fixing the flowers.”, grinned broadly, and said, “Someone told me we had company coming today……” He smiled back. I introduced myself. He was married to a Wrigley (Chicago Cubs) and my dad knew the family well (What are the chances your caterer knows the CEO’s in-laws?) Most of the other VP’s I knew from prior plant trips. Hell, I had seen them in their pajamas. We all exchanged greetings and hugs in the reception area. One VP saddled up to me and whispered, “Isn’t that YOUR couch?” “Ssshhhhhh”, I said. The CEO bellowed, “Let’s get this show on the road.”
I walked with him, slightly ahead, to the back cafeteria. Along the way, people were freaking out because they were early, me nodding to calm down. The Sec of the CEO, Jan, the one in charge of all the planning, was astonished. The President, picked up one of my girlfriends, off the floor, to greet her…… he still has a key to my house. Most of the VP’s knew most of our staff. The CEO, taking control of the situation, asked me what we were eating today and wanted me to show him around the table. Okay fine, ’round we went.
The CEO snagged a strawberry off a large fruit tower as a snack. I brushed it off. On the other side, he picked up a piece of chicken, took a bite out of a piece, and moved to place it back on the platter. Instinctively, I slapped his hand. VP’s, lined up against the wall, got quiet. But I talked to the CEO like I was his mother, whispering, “Don’t take a bite out of something and put it back on a platter.”, I was frowning. He responded like he was 8yrs old, “I’m sorry…” Who does that? I handed the platter off to a staff member to rearrange it. I grabbed a napkin and told him to hand me the piece of half-eaten chicken, “Into my napkin, please.” He was busted.
The analysts arrived, all was well. Presentations began, smooth delivery from John and others. Presentation went long with many questions from analysts. About an hour in, one person got up, came back to the table, and snagged 4 chocolate chip cookies. Back at his seat, the guy next to him asked for one. The guy next to him asked where they got the cookie. I sent the whole platter around. Sustenance.
With the presentation in full swing, the staff and I took a break to go outside. Some of the girls smoked and we were standing in the “smoking area”. A few of the employees approached us to ask about the meeting. I apologized profusely for kicking them all out of the cafeteria. One guy asked me, “Are they really eating off of gold forks in there?” I laughed, it was my gold vermeil flatware from the B&B – not REAL gold.
As they packed up to leave, mission accomplished, Jan, the Sec of CEO approached me and the staff. She said she had no idea we were capable of delivering “this” (gesturing outwards), and if we could “bump it up a notch tomorrow”, she would prefer to cancel breakfast at the Peabody and have the bond traders mix and mingle over breakfast at the plant…… She was concerned about the bond traders, and mentioned they were the ones we need to impress the most. I nodded, “No problem…… we can do it”.
The girls were working out of an office supply closet to service the tables. Back in the “closet”, the girls looked at me, panicking, “Kick it up a notch? How the hell are we going to do that, Daughn?” I was unaffected. “We’ll figure something out”, I replied. The entourage left slightly after noon. Staff started to clear and get ready for the next day.
I sat down in John’s office. John could not have been happier. He was a star. “What are you going to do tomorrow?”, he said. I was perplexed. The following day were bond traders. I needed salmon, bagels out of NYC, lemon, onion, capers, whole spread. I needed exotic food, beautiful food. With a day’s warning, I had ordered a few surprises…. but I still was mulling over the salmon. John divulged he had just returned home from Alaska fishing trip and had a whole salmon, professionally smoked, about 25lbs, he just put into the freezer. I couldn’t believe our luck. What are the chances?
His wife dropped off the salmon and stayed to help for hours. I called a deli in NYC I used to haunt, and ordered a massive amount of bagels. Delivered FEDEX, but not guaranteed to arrive in time. Wellllllll…….. we are in Memphis…… and several of their VP’s and exec’s live here. We diverted the package, from FEDEX, and were at drop off at 5:30am…. to pick up bagels. Most of the bond traders were short, little, balding guys from all over the world. Many were Asian. The New Yorkers were astonished we could get good bagels in Mississippi. I laughed and told them the name of the deli where I ordered them. Preconceived notions of Mississippi = blown to smithereens. The Asians presented a different problem.
One of my staff members, Lisa, won the swimsuit competition for Miss Mississippi. Although she was in her 30’s, she was still quite a looker. Leecia, a darker skin-toned Italian, oozed sexuality. That woman could flirt with a doorknob and make any man uncomfortable…. just for fun. Terry, my biscuit maker and dear girlfriend, was 6’1″ tall, blond and blue-eyed, and a 38DD. From her waist to her ankles is 44″, and she had the longest and prettiest legs I’ve ever seen. I was the tall redhead. Sonya was 5’2″and overweight, hilarious, and the glue which made everything work.
At one point, I saw a blond NYC bond daddy asking Leecia about a particular item. I saw her slowly drag her fingernail under his chin, “Come here and let me show you…”, she said. Oh gosh, please no, I thought. That man was rendered useless as soon as she batted her eyelashes. A group of 6 men, all Asians, stood around Terry as she was telling a story. She’s a country girl but her natural beauty could stop a train. Diminutive Asian men looked at her like she was a goddess, an Amazon woman, and were trying to figure out how to climb her. Another moment, a group of men around Lisa, they just wanted to hear her talk….. she had a delightful southern accent. And then there was Sonya…..
Sonya was refilling a tray when a 6’4″ tall Irish guy from NYC approached her. He was popping sausage balls into his mouth as fast as he could. “What’s in these things?” and “These are delicious”. Sonya explained, sausage, cheese, and bisquick. Abruptly, he stopped eating and frowned at her. So you have the visual, huge big tall NYC Irish guy and short little Sonya from Mississippi, talking to each other. He said to her, “That’s horrible for your cholesterol. Didn’t you see the big spread the other day in The Wall Street Journal?” From Sonya, “No sir, I don’t read the Wall Street Journal.”
The second day, even though more important, was far more casual. Traders eating and mixing with each other created a weird bond. Jan made the right call. And dear heaven, they did eat. We brought in blueberry pancakes, hot and fresh from the B&B, mounds of bacon and home made sausages, juices, and exotic coffee with a hint of cinnamon. They had never had Terry’s sausage gravy before and foundered themselves. Italian pastries from Leecia’s mother were superfine. Hashbrowns in little egg cones disappeared. Sonya’s Chicken and blackened ham in Terry’s biscuits, with a slight horseradish mayo. The salmon and spread were a big hit. Mounds of cheeses, fresh fruit and berries, with real whipped cream. They had died and gone to heaven.
As the traders left, one of them asked me if I had a little ziplock bag, they wanted to take some cookies home and the snack would be terrific for a long layover. I obliged. Another asked, and another staff person obliged. One guy wanted a leftover blueberry pancake….. ‘It’s okay, I’ll eat it cold.” I don’t think their wives ever fed them.
Finally, we brought out the whole box of Ziplock bags, as traders stripped our table for homemade morsels. Stainless steel/fine leather briefcases and Ziplock bags of goodies. Most of them “hugged” us goodbye….. an era long before #MeToo. All the VP’s were much more comfortable, too. Great results.
Mississippi hospitality – best in the world. We are proud of our little town.
John called me for a bill….. I was waiting to see the results of our efforts.
In less than 7 days, Stock price up 17% and a “strong buy” issued. Bonds were cruising along nicely. Yeah, we pulled off a miracle, with many hands and a little bit of help from upstairs.
Decades later, I think about what would happen today. Would people work together as we did? Back then, I knew there was talk of selling the successful plant. I knew what it would do to our community. We ALL knew. We all knew we had to put our best foot forward.
All the small businesses in town, the guys who painted the lines, crews to trim the bushes, our little company, the printer who dropped everything and made the sign, the FEDEX guys, who understood we needed bagels, the guys who made the bagel in NYC, the floral warehouse, the produce and butcher, …… and the Mayor, who carried my table himself, and the city crews who moved big pots of flowers, the limousine company, and my husband’s construction company + plus the high school kids, and women who worked for me.
Yes, when a town loses a plant or factory, the ripples extend far. Everyone in the town is hurt. It’s why we fight to keep our factories.

Links will populate as we receive them: RSBN link is already up: Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hAVMZwKkM4&feature=youtu.be
FOX 10 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IOXhBKoSFg
Golden State: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbdMahNtm2Q
The rally will be broadcast on CSPAN 2, we have confirmed.
It was SUPPOSED to be Mueller testimony day. Oh well. Any RALLY day is a good day. So, plan your schedule and fire up the grill! We’re cooking! Welcome to Greenville, NC!

Are you ready for Greenville? It’s just a short hop from DC for President Trump.

Need tickets?   https://donaldjtrump.com/rallies/july-gville-nc-2019/
It’s a beautiful town, the 10th largest in NC, a major swing state for 2020.

Local papers are covering the story, from the Daily Reflector in Elizabeth City, NC: Link

GREENVILLE —  President Donald Trump plans to hold a campaign rally at East Carolina University in Greenville later this month.
The website for the president’s re-election campaign states the rally will be held at ECU’s Minges Coliseum July 17.
Word of the rally began spreading on social media on Tuesday. There was no official announcement from ECU or the Trump campaign. However, the Trump-Pence website states the event will be a 7 p.m. at Williams Arena. Supporters who hope to attend can register for two tickets apiece.
The visit is set for the same day that former special counsel Robert Meuller is scheduled to testify before Congress about his investigation of the president.
National political websites, including Polictico and The Hill, reported late Tuesday that the president is visiting Greenville because he sees North Carolina as a key battleground state.
“President Trump looks forward to returning to North Carolina and sharing the successes of the Trump presidency,” Michael Glassner, the Trump campaign’s chief operating officer, said in a press release reported by The Hill. “North Carolina has one of the hottest economies in the nation, and that is directly attributable to the pro-growth, deregulatory policies of this administration. With one of the largest military populations in the nation, President Trump is eager to talk directly to the military men and women who have made this country the greatest on earth.”

The President is looking forward to tomorrow night!!

Out favorite college students from Auburn, RSBN Network, is on the way to Greenville.
https://twitter.com/DavidHaft/status/1151306200866336768
Oh, lookie here, even CNN is going to Greenville.

Here is the “what to know and where to go” information.

Of course, Trump Supporters are always ready for a good rally. These folks traveled from Florida to attend. There goes President Trump again, boosting the local economy….. everywhere he goes.

Folks are excited!!!!!!!!!!!! Rock concert-like atmosphere.
https://twitter.com/DJBubbles45/status/1151296142551977986
Ohhhh, lookie here!! The tents are going up.

Sidenote:  Yesterday in Pennsylvania, over 1,000 women launched Women for Trump, led by Lara Trump. Expect women to be a subject of President Trump’s speech in Greenville. Lara looks terrific, her baby is due in a about a month.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/16/republicans-launch-women-trump-pennsylvania/
Links will be shared as soon as they are available. We KNOW there will be live broadcast coverage on CSPAN 2 at 7:00pm Eastern Time and of course, RSBN.

In the middle of the night, waiting for dogs to go out and in, I read an article but couldn’t find it this morning. Smiley2 piped up and said, “You mean this one? Here it is.”, like Smiley2 was sitting on my shoulder. It started me thinking about personal connections, over miles, and people who just seem to fit together, and how is that possible among so many people? Destiny? Fate? As if there is a plan when we know there cannot be? Matrix? Hand of God? What are the chances of such freak events?
And yet, it does happen to all of us.
Whenever I fly through Atlanta (cuz if you die and go to heaven or hell — you HAVE to go through Atlanta, first), I run into someone I know. What are the chances? When I left the south and moved to Manhattan for a brief stint, I ran into an old high school teacher (from New Orleans), the couple who lived across from us when I was a kid (Chicago burbs), and the guy who used to babysit me (from Mississippi). Not planned, not called and arranged, sheer chance.
We went through a few months, while we were renovating the B&B, where I was constantly in some kind of peril. It happened 3-4 times, wasps after me, an overloaded truck which “burst”, a flat tire on an interstate. Every time, it was the same elder fellow who rescued me. I haven’t been “in peril” since, and rarely was, but what are the chances of the same man, being in the same place…… to rescue me….. over and over again? He became my human angel. For years, when we would run into each other, he would touch me gently on the elbow, “You, okay? Just checkin’ on you.” He had crystal blue eyes which could see straight through me. I loved that man.
And then there are the weird things which happen, which turn out surprisingly well. When Big T and I were still dating, we took off to the Ozarks after Christmas for a few days. We went up and down mountains and hills, all over Missouri and Arkansas. On the way home, Friday night before New Year’s Eve, the car began shaking like San Francisco earthquake. I was barely able to control it and the acceleration died……. I barely coasted into a parking lot on the side of the road — an AutoZone parking lot. What are the chances?
At Autozone, an incredibly helpful young man looked at the car, and said, “transmission fluid”. We bought some, poured it in, an it came straight out the bottom of the car. Dead Minivan. I looked across the top of the car at Big T, to begin to decide what we should do……… but over his shoulder…… across an empty lot…… was a Ford Dealership. We spent the night in Searcy, Arkansas, and bought a car the next day…….. for which we got a great deal…. since it was New Year’s Eve. Made it home in time for fireworks.
Then, there are the really strange, kizmit occurrences, where one thing leads to another. The following story is pretty odd.
About 15yrs ago, I did business with a Chinese salesman in Xiamen. We became friends over several years of regular orders. One day, I received a frantic phone call from him and a plea for help. He wanted “me” to help “him” save a large order which had nothing to do with me. “Why would I help him with another order?”, I thought, “Not my place, and I’m halfway around the world.” Yet, he sounded so desperate and urgent, I stopped to listen to his plight.
The order was worth several million dollars to his company, about 1.5 million sq.ft. of pavers for a large city square in Cyprus. The son of the Mayor had been sent to the Stone Show to finalize the deal. For a few days, everything was fine as my guy escorted the Mayor’s son all over town, spending a lot of money on restaurants and bar bills. Yet, the son had been seduced by a young female/attractive hooker/stone salesman who was willing to do anything to steal the order. My guy, learned they planned to leave the stone show for the competition’s factory in Hebei the following morning……. he could see his order slipping away…. and he worked on it for almost two years. I could hear the tears in his voice. Hard thing for any man to do… to cry to a woman.
Changing tone, he railed against the stone color in Hebei, which I already knew was wrong for the order. In his fury, he sent me a photo of the Mayor’s son, and the hooker/stone saleswomen, wound around each other at an expensive restaurant. I told him to let me think, and I would call him back, which I did in about 20 minutes. He was convinced the order was lost, and anything I could do to save it was fine with him.
The Mayor’s son and hooker had recently left the restaurant, late evening in China. I picked up the phone and called the Mayor in Cyprus to rat out his son. Yet, the Mayor already left for the day(4-5hrs time difference). If I waited until morning to talk to the Mayor, the son would be gone. Undeterred, I called the Fire Chief of the Town in Cyprus…… cuz the Fire Chief can always get a hold of a Mayor, right? That’s kind of a universal law between Mayors and Fire Chiefs, right? Through broken English, I found the Mayor at home. We spoke briefly, then he called me on Skype.
I spoke to the Mayor as a mother of “another fine family” who cared for their sons. His son was shaming their family name and all of Cyprus. People were laughing at his son. He was drinking too much and “easily fooled by loose women of bad reputation”. I laid it on thick. I had sons as well and this kind of behavior was unacceptable when representing the family AND his country. Of course, I also included the info about the Hebei stone, which I knew well, and that the stone he would receive in Cyprus would be all wrong, and bad for the town…. which would embarrass him. I did it in the kindest possible terms, and attached the photo of his son, compromised. Because I was talking to the Mayor from home, his wife was in the background. She was upset. I understood why.
Well, all hell broke loose at the stone show. The contract went through for my guy, asap. My little Chinese stone salesman was convinced I could do ANYTHING (not hardly). The factory owners called to thank me, profusely. The Mayor in Cyprus and his wife called me back, thanked me. The SON called me to apologize. Over the next year of the contract, I sent OUR team in to supervise the quality of the stone delivered to Cyprus. It was perfect… cuz OUR name was on it, the Americans, and I did it at our expense. The brownie points accumulated lasted me for years.
Over the course of the contract, the Mayor and I became friendly. We did business together for other smaller things through the years. Flash forward several years …… my own son was turning 17, between Junior and Senior year of high school. He worked hard, was fairly well set for college, and desperately wanted to spend a month on a beach….. somewhere….. like he did when he was little and we had the beach cottage. Yet, I couldn’t leave for a month, and he was at the age where a vacation with parents was not what he had in mind. A month away, for a 17yr old, was incredible expensive and I couldn’t justify it… unless there was some kind of miraculous added value.
We thought about it. He was almost done with his pilot’s license. I would consider sending him to a beach in Pensacola for 7-10 days if he finished. Yet, he was already involved in a program through his school and scheduled to finish anyway. Florida changed their laws and he couldn’t check into a hotel unless age 25. He asked about a diving school. Maybe if he spent a month, somewhere, he could pick up several certifications and make it almost to master diver. Okay, I was listening, but not committed yet.
Gunner came back to me with a proposal for a PADI school in Mexico, where he could work at the scuba shop and also dive. Maybe getting 4 certifications in a month. Not enough for me and not fond of the location within Mexico. Where would he live? He found another one at the northern tip of Sardinia, Italy, which guaranteed him to get all the way through Master Diver Cert – in 6 weeks – for about $20K. Well, that was out. Too rich for my blood. Other locations in the Caribbean were expensive and we might fight hurricane season. Gunner was frustrated and still looking. On a lark, I picked up the phone and called the Mayor in Cyprus, at home. I helped him with his son, and now I needed a favor for my own son.
The Mayor knew exactly what to do.
The Mayor hooked me up with a guy named Pericles on the island of Kos who was an old friend of his. We went back and forth several times to make arrangements. Pericles was former Greek Special Forces, about 65yrs old back then, built his own extraordinary 85′ diving ship…… and worked with Jacques Cousteau to map the floor of the Mediterranean. Could I possibly find anyone better to influence my son? Um, yeah, that would work. What are the chances?
Pericles, his wife and daughter ran a PADI cert school on the southwestern side of Kos. Gunner could work with Pericles and other crew, on the boat, every day except Sunday, live with the family, and Pericles would make sure Gunner went all the way through Master Diver in 6 weeks. BUT….. Gunner might have to help all those pretty little northern European tourist girls on vacation with their scuba tanks along the way. Oh, my……. poor Gunner.
Total cost, the airplane ticket and a little bit of spending money, about $2500-$3000 in total, and he had half of it already saved to kick into the kitty. How could I refuse such an opportunity? For months, Gunner dreamt of freedom in the Greek isles (with a guy who reminded me of Ernest Hemingway only shorter) at the height of tourist season, sea spray in his face, ready to explore the oceans. As the day for departure grew closer, he packed, he bought “stuff”, extra clothes, bathing suits, dive knives, equipment, etc. The suitcases were open in his room for two weeks. He was excited.
But it didn’t happen.
Gunner was scheduled to leave about July 6th, and the “migration” began a few days before. Greece was in crisis and the local banks/ATM’s were shuttered. It looked REALLY bad. No way I could send my 17yr old into what looked like a revolution. He stayed home and was SICK about it. Still angry.
Flash forward. I just received an email from the Mayor in Cyprus. Haven’t spoken to him in 5 years. His youngest grandson has decided to attend Ole Miss University. He’s sending his grandson to me. He’ll be here for fall semester. And of course, his home is open to us anytime we happen to be in Cyprus.
Might be a while……
Bottom line, we never really know who we will meet on any given day. We have no way to forecast times of “peril”, a dead minivan, running into an old friend in a distant city, simple thing like a flat tire, or a connection that might lead to working with an incredible man in the Mediterranean.
Life can be most exciting, if we let it happen.
So, be kind and take a moment to listen. If you are able to, help. Embrace the idea of chance meetings. You never really know where it will lead, but it will make life colorful, rich, and worthwhile.

This morning, Grandma in Texas linked a tweet which had a video linked: The Brains Behind AOC, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez  which has been viewed over 2.5 million times. In sharing the link across other venues, I found another SECOND part to the video, also excellent…. makes correction to the first video, and is jaw dropping in it’s revelations.
Link is here: The Brains Behind AOC Part II
As is common in the age of Trump, we learn there is a great deal of subversion behind the scenes and most Americans are oblivious. Hence, the deep dive today. Can’t wait until the forum here, Q Treepers, begin to add information and plug in other data points. Please add data as you find it, and we will update. Thank you.
First, we need to know the players, the people and their organizations to track. While new spotlight has landed on Saikat Chakrabarti, the real top of the operative pyramid is Zack Exley.

Back in 2013, Zach had an idea he pitched called “Brand New Congress”/”Justice Democrats, which are really both the same thing. In a nutshell, it called for throwing out the establishment leaders and running “500 Elizabeth Warrens – as a slate” to accomplish their radical mission. Zack Exley explains it in his own words, starting at 4:45 in the video linked here: Link Important to note, Politico describes Saikit Chakrabarti as being the founder of “Brand New Congress” two years AFTER the Bernie campaign in a glowing puff piece found here Link to Politico , but we have Zack, on audio, talking about it in 2013.
Shocking, right? Oh, but that’s just the beginning. In fact, Zach has always talked about the same radical ideas. Take a look at his Wiki page: Link
Summary from Zack Exley’s background. Know this man and know him well.

1. Zack Exley started as a Union Organizer and Computer Programmer, according to Neal, Terry. Nov 29, 1999, The Washington Post, p, A2
2. In 2000, to protest BushV.Gore Exley used a website to allow citizens to self-organize more than 100 protests around the United States . Link  
3. Exley was Organizing Director at MoveOn.org during the group’s campaign to prevent the Iraq War, and during its controversial involvement with the Dean campaign.
4. Exley moved on to the Kerry Campaign, Director of Online Communications and Organizing
5. He also worked overseas, in the UK, to help the Labour Party in 2005. The Independent (UK), “No 10 in new dirty tricks row over role of US ‘garbage man’,” February 27, 2005.
6. We lose track of Exley during the ’08 campaign cycle (which is very odd), but he shows up again in 2010 as Chief Revenue Officer for Wikimedia from 2010-2013, and worked in contracted fundraising consultation until 2017 (which means he has direct relationship with donors).
7. Exley worked for Thoughtworks, IT consulting, based out of Chicago, 6000 employees and locations all over the world. Link
8. Exley co-founded, with Judith Freeman, the “New Organizing Institute” which trained Dem activists in social media and tech platforms – dissolved in 2015 Link Donors were Open Society, Bauman Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies (worthy of another deep dive). Lot of activist names here worthy of tracking and the org was shuttered in a major controversy.
9. In August of 2015, he joined the Bernie Sanders campaign, Politico reported, as a senior advisor responsible for digital communications.
10. Exley is now associated with the Justice Democrats.

Interesting that Zack’s public persona never includes info about his family (wife/kids/parents/siblings = nothing). Well, our Coyote genealogy researcher, Aubergine, spent some time on Zack Exley. This is what she found.

Zack’s mom Alma is deceased. She was an educator; there is a scholarship for “persons of color” in her name in Connecticut.

https://almaexleyscholarship.org/

His dad is Elwood “Woody.” I found a FB page for him. He just looks like an average liberal old guy. His father, also Elwood, was an architect in PA from what I can find.

Elwood owns a company called Exley Communications, LLC in Connecticut, est. in 2015. I can’t find out anything about the company. He is 79 now; that’s pretty old to establish a company four years ago, but who knows?

His sister Alexandra got married in 2007. She was at the time the director of information resources at the Young Survival Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to helping young adults affected by breast cancer. This was probably because her mother died of breast cancer in 1995 at age 52.

Zach also has a FB page. First thing on it was about Alex Rojas on CNN. Lots of lefties in his friends list, people working for Cory Booker, ACORN, Bernie Sanders, etc. I could spend a week looking at people from that list. I find it odd that his FB stuff is so accessible.

It looks like Zack grew up in the standard liberal family to me. Activism, scholarships for people of “color,” etc.

While Exley and others work on the “idea” of overthrowing Congress, Exley and Becky Bond wrote a book together called “Rules for Revolutionaries” in 2016. Becky heads an org called Realjusticepac.org which is all about installing radical District Attorneys all over the country. The organization’s mission ( Link )  is to “Elect Prosecutors who will fix our broken criminal justice system.” Sound familiar? Becky is the FIRST person listed as part of the team for this PAC and here’s what they have to say about Becky Bond:

BECKY BOND

Becky served as senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign and is the co-author of “Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything.” She was formerly the president of CREDO SuperPAC and political director of CREDO Mobile. (The whole thing needs another deep dive) As BAM points out, the success of Becky Bond and the radical DA program can be found in San Antonio, where, according to the candidate, “It was just impossible to overcome a million dollars in NY money.” Link
Here’s Becky and Zack together.
 

Guess who else is on the team list for Becky Bond’s PAC. Wait for it……… Shaun King. Yeah, THAT Shaun King. The white guy who pretends to be bi-racial and went to Morehouse College, President of their SGA, and won the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship. We all thought he was half-black. But no….. He’s still very involved in “Civil Rights” activism. Harry Lime, our contributor found Shaun King yesterday…..

Praises Antifa Terrorist Willem Van Spronsen as Hero – Compares Him to Abolitionist John Brown Link

We haven’t introduced you to Corin Trent, better known as Zack Exley’s right hand man: Here’s Corbin Trent, the 31yr old from Tennessee.

We learn lots and lots about Corbin here  Link , such as his shoe size, he’s single, 5′ 9″ and 165 lbs, etc., and………. (warm and fuzzy narrative). He’s also the Communications Director for AOC.  Within this link, we also learn Ira Allison is the Exec Director for “Justice Democrats” And there’s Corbin, following AOC.

Corbin Trent is listed as the Co-Founder of “Brand New Congress” and Co-Director of Justice Democrats, here Link  The website is VERY visitor friendly and includes a “Blog” with radically slanted articles where all the reader has to do is push a button for sharing on Facebook. It’s all so easy………
In this video, Link    , beginning at about 10:10 minutes, we have Corbin on video discussing running Republicans, who are really Progressives (Neo-Marxists), and targeting districts which have historically low turnout. It wasn’t really Corbin’s idea, it was Zack Exley’s idea. Hear Zack talking about it here at about 12:30 in the video Link 
But we found another pic of Corbin, when he did his stylized photo shoot, in the same shirt, with these people. Oh my, who are these people? Let’s find out!!

The one in the middle is Alexandra Rojas. She’s the head of Justice Democrats and we have her on video at 4:05 minutes,  Link  talking about social, racial, and economic justice. Yes, it’s full blown Soviet Bloc Communism, with “justice” thrown in, favoring certain skin colors. They really don’t like white people, men, and especially Christians. Here, at 1:00 minute Link    Alexandra Rojas talks about how they recruited the bartender, AOC, to run for Congress, and BOTH AOC and Alexandra Rojas are on tape, admitting it. AOC is merely a figurehead.
To get into the deep weeds of policy, Alexandra Rojas does the 28 minute interview Link    here, rather than risking AOC talking for herself……… cuz Rojas knows the words far better than AOC…… because the words and policies belong to Rojas. Here, Rojas is polite, almost timid, young, fresh-faced…… carefully scripted. It’s the policies which scare the hell out of most Americans. She started as an intern in the Bernie campaign and worked her way up to national staff. She is now the Exec Director of Justice Dems. Alexandra is only 24yrs old and did a couple of years at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA.
Then we have Saikat Chakrabarti:

The guy on the right is Saikat Chakrabarti, Chief of Staff for AOC. He’s received a great deal of attention lately, which is fine with Zack Exley (who prefers the background). Saikat is often seen in the same green t-shirt with a meme of Subhas Chandra Bose….. who is a whole nother issue. Bose was the alternative to Gandhi in the quest for India independence from Britain. Gandhi advocated for peaceful return of rule to Indians and expelling the British. Bose argued for an armed overthrow and was STRONGLY influenced by Hitler’s Germany, actually MET Adolf Hitler, living in Germany during portions of WW2. Here is the Wiki page for Bose, one scary guy. Link
Even in India today, “anti-colonialism” sentiment runs strong among political parties. A push back against the USA in 2019, is often couched in language harkening back to that used by Subhas Chandra Bose. This political wing obviously does not like the British……. but they also identify America as an “Empire” …… which is pretty strange……. because we threw out the British before they did. So, why aren’t we kissing cousins with Saikit and his buddies? Because it’s not about resentment from India Independence in the 1940’s……. it’s about CONTROL of America in 2019. Bose is Chakrabarti’s idol.
Chakrabarti’s wiki page is found here:  Link   We learn more about him when we expand into the sources USED for his profile. For instance, Saikat is described as born and raised in Ft. Worth from a “Bengali” family. Were his parent His parents Indian Nationals, Bay of Bengal, this is the old Calcutta region and among the wealthiest regions in India. OR, were they from Bangladesh? Which is it? Why can’t he just say it? Bengali????? What the heck is a Bengali? I have 15 employees in India and no one uses this terminology. I’ve done biz in Bangladesh, no such thing as a Bengali. It’s odd and makes me wonder…… why?
ALSO, Bangladesh is one of the MOST polluted regions of the world. The mouth of the Ganges River, which drains into the Bay of Bengal is one of the 9 rivers responsible for 80% of ocean pollution. If Saikat wants to change the world and push Green New Deals, the best place in the world for him to start would be Bangladesh. Note: Biggest problem for Bangladesh today is China moving industry there for LOWER wages and CHINA acting as an overlord over the natives. Bangladesh GDP is about 275 Billion Link  but has almost doubled in the last decade. Saikat isn’t in Bangladesh or India though, he’s in the USA, blaming the USA for all the problems in the world.

Saikit graduated from Harvard with a degree in Computer Science, took off to Wall Street, then Silicon Valley, where he was involved in a number of startups. There’s a note in Saikit’s Wiki page which does not have a source. LOOK at this one: “founding a web design tool called Mockingbird”………. nah, it couldn’t be……. could it?
Saikit sounds like an American success story and VERY privileged. Yet, he joined Bernie Sanders campaign in the very beginning. Saikit became the Sanders Campaign Director of Organizing Technology and was part of the effort that created technology for grassroots supporters to collaborate on organizing events. Saikit also met Corbin Trent and Alexandra Rojas while working in the Sander’s campaign.
Saikit has received a number of puff pieces in the media, thank you to Michael H., contributor to this article. Here we see a full spread in ELLE magazine, by author R. Eric Thomas, who nicknamed him “Snack Saikat”, and openly discusses Saikat’s beard in a sexually appealing way, and how lucious his white button down is……. Who wrote this crap? The photos are staged and designed to be a “picture of America”……….. which would be a Communist picture……. but Elle doesn’t talk about that part. Link    Note: Elle Magazine is selling a new picture of the ideal sexy male — and it looks like Saikat, to young American women. It’s not the 6’3″ blond Harvard fraternity guy on the crew team  anymore. What’s even MORE shocking? The article is described as “Everything you need to know about Saikat” — except that he’s a radical Communist who wants to overthrow the American economic system.
Again, from Michael H, via Peter Hanson, Senior Reporter for Daily Caller Link

“The interesting thing about the Green New Deal, is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all,” Chakrabarti said to Inslee’s climate director, Sam Ricketts.
“Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing,” Chakrabarti added.

Today, publicly, the founders of Justice Dems are listed as Corbin Trent, Rojas, and Chakrabarti. The others, like Exley prefer the shadows. These young activists push a message of “getting big money OUT of campaigns” and “anti-establishment” but it looks like they still rely heavily on traditional funding sources and only want to replace the current system with another system…….. which they control. What confuses me is….. why aren’t they all still working on Bernie’s campaign? No love for Bernie? Hey, I’m a Trump supporter, but Bernie’s supporters were completely screwed in 2016. Not fair to them at all.
One final word about Cenk Uygur, head of The Young Turks, which is probably the most popular youtube channel among young progressives/Neo-Marxists. Many people THINK it was Cenk’s idea to run these candidates. That’s wrong. Cenk was merely a media outlet who was used. Cenk is now disassociated with the Justice Democrats completely….. which would be strange if it was his brainchild…. given their success. Cenk was used.

Yet, Cenk and the Young Turks are still the favorite propaganda arm for this political wing of leftists. And YES, Cenk still loves them… good for business. Maga Mom turned in this link: Watch closely, 7 minutes of pure propaganda: Link
We now more clearly understand their goal, which is to take over government of the United States, at every level of power. From your local District Attorney and Dog Catcher all the way up to Congress. This is no longer classical liberals who value individuals, rule of law, and free speech. Not your Daddy’s Dem Party anymore. Their idea works, but is dependent on those who don’t ask too many questions = naive voters. They are scaling up, will learn from their mistakes, and try again. Listen again to Zack Exley talking about how to USE Democracy to their advantage at 17:10 minutes, here. Link  They have no problem picking puppets as front men/women, people “of color”, which is odd because they’re almost exclusively white, for their ultimate goal. It’s even okay if they run Neo-Marxists as Republicans in historically low voter turnout districts. They’re organized and on the move.
Want to see what happens when they get together? Here’s Cenk Uygur interviewing Becky Bond and Zack Exley:

Are we ready to counter the effort?
Takeaway: I’ve been listening to their speeches for the better part of the day, in the background of the office. These people are slick, expert, trained in propaganda, highly proficient in creating a fluffy narrative. All their pics in the media, take a look, they are smiling broadly, no suit, no formal attire, they appear….. approachable and non-threatening. Yet, these are some of the worst bigots I’ve ever heard. They hate our side and most Americans. They recoil at the sight of us and think we are worthy of an untimely death….. and if only we would die……. everything in the world would be better, for their world/view/friends. It’s incredibly divisive and harmful….. the kind of thing any parent would shield their child from hearing……. and yet we send our kids to college and straight into the belly of this beast.
End

I wanted to take a moment to compliment the Q Tree and members here. Thank you for your activity, sharing info, and everything you bring to the group. As an accountant, I really am one of those strange people who can make 2+2=5. Yet here, with the talent available, the 2+2= 10,000,250. It’s amazing and makes me humble.
When I was a kid, Dad (like all parents) focused on education, which led me to going back to college, over and over again, throughout my life (I still want to be an architect). Today, husband teases me I could play poker with my degrees. Fortunately, I also learned not all intelligence comes from books, and with a little bit of saving grace…….. I learned a LOT from our elders, neighbors, friends. Truth is, we can learn something from every person we meet. No one is an expert on every subject – we need friends. Dad gave me “curiosity”, and love of learning. More than anything else, he taught me:
Information = Power (more on that part later)

As the kids grew up, when they hit the back door – home from school, my first question was, “What did you learn today?” The question came from my subconscious, probably because of Dad, but it forced the kids to stop and think about ONE item and placed a value on learning. I didn’t realize it would help them in public speaking, to summarize what they were taught/redefine it in their own mind/processing the info/and explain it to a stranger……. but it did help. It helped them to become well spoken and think on their feet – skills which are often not taught in school.
Today, it feels like I am the one back in school ….. again……. this time we’re all in a treehouse which is beautiful, warm, and inviting…….. with great snacks. Every day, I learn something new from the members here, and I am grateful. They way you guys dug into Epstein yesterday was mind-boggling and one of the best illustrations of how crowdsourcing and the hive mind works. It was a joy to watch. I hesitate to start naming people because I will forget someone, but here’s what I learned.
Small Tribute to Our Members: 
From Wolfie: Brought me back to center, made me realize I’m too naive when addressing evil, and to hide my lunch money. Seering sense of perception. I’m sticking to him like glue.

From FLEP: We all love the News RoundUp and it just so happens, FLEP’s news roundup helped my kid get an “A” for a summer Macro class he was taking. The good news is valuable and I encourage you all to share it across forums as a counter to the MSM. It’s true, we are the news, and others will not know unless we tell them.

From Aubergine: If we needed to find someone, ask Aubergine. Give her a mission, feed her, give her water, and let her work. Amazing.

Gail: I have a vision of Gail in a room surrounded with terabytes of hard drives. IKR?

OlderWiser: Points me in the right direction, gently, cuz I can get off track sometimes. Thank you. Were you a teacher?

 
Ozzy: Needed for humor and as a reality check. Great skills.

Cthulhu: The two of us could sit down for dinner, swap war stories, and you could pick us up…….. next spring.

STEVEinCo and Scott467: Rational thinking. Objective. Analytical. We need more of these guys. We’ve only just scratched their surface. You two can’t leave. We won’t let you. We need you. They think way outside the box.

 
GrandmaInTexas, SadieSays, KSwiss: Wish they lived in my neighborhood, definitely POWERFUL women and girlfriends. Deep respect for their brainpower and perspective.

Deplorable Patriot: The one I want to be when I grow up….. yep, it’s true!

Kea (and her MOM!!), Sue McDonald, Teagan, Linda: Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! MOAR!!!!!!!!!! Most impressive!!

Covadonga: I could be completely wrong about this, BUT………. If I were assigned a reconnaissance mission, I would pick Covadonga = get low, be quiet, get the job done. There’s a LOT going on behind those eyes. Sincere compliment.

A Fortiori and Rodney: Rodney is like the missile. A Fort is more subtle but equal detonation load. Catch things, small points which turn into bigger issues, which we sometimes miss. Better pay attention to what these two have to say.

Lady Penguin, SingingSoul, Plain Jane, Nebraska Filly, and GA/FL: Feels like I’ve known them all my life. We grew up together. If were a “left hand”, then they are the right hands. Can finish my sentences. I could trust them with my kids or my money….. and I would end up with better kids and MOAR money.

Rayzorbak and RedLeg and HARRY LIME!: Where did these guys come from? I sat down one night, watched them go back and forth, and I couldn’t keep up. They’re hilarious. All I wanted to do was lob straight lines into the mix. Wicked smart, crazy wit, sharp as razors. Honorable and great men.

Driller and Mrs. Driller: The very soul of America.

Smiley2: Drops bombshells. If we ever form research groups, I want to be on Smiley’s team. Watch him/her. Follow the links. Good stuff. NOTED! Smiley’s over-performance yesterday and today is the reason for this thread…….. the reason I am extra grateful this morning. Hey, I’m just honored to be here. Smiley sneaks up on you.

Tom F: I see you there, lurking. You don’t miss anything, do you?

Barb Meier and Mary Morse: There’s two I would like to hear more from. Worthy!

Kalbokalbs: HUGE add to the tree. Glad you are here. Makes me hungry for shish kabobs.

Churchmouse: Not enough room, not enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe how much I love Churchmouse. Great perspective and needed in this forum. I just want to hug him.

Miss Gil, Alison, Marica, Sylvia, BFlyJesusGirl, KInTheNorthwest, MollyPitcher, Holly100 : When women come together and have not seen each other in a long time, they squeal and jump up and down. I think I would squeal if I saw them. Yeah, I would squeal.

ThinkThinkThink: Misses nothing, juggles everything. Well done.

Wheatie: Would we have a Q Tree without Wheatie? Indispensable. Wheatie is the 13-13-13 fertilizer of our tree and the guardian of the gate.

BakoCarl: What a delightful add to our tree. Carl makes our tree……. Bloom.

BBSSSaint: Sharp as a razor. Funny. Concise. Perceptive.

MichaelH: Did you guys see the live thread we were working on where Michael posted a photo for every comment? Who works that fast? Answer = Michael H does. Oh, and Michael brings great snacks.

WSB and Big Momma Tea: Come in every now and then and drop BIG bombshells of valuable info. Always good to see old and dear friends. We have missed you guys.

BAM and ColdDeadhands: Bring the meat to the table, not Aunt Helen’s jello salad, REAL meat. Thank you!

 
LM: Big picture person, far more than others. Great skill. Sees the consequences of actions and can see down the road.

Evereleutheros: Great drops of obscure source info (thank you for the info on Epstein yesterday). Great research we would not normally see. It’s like getting presents.

Of course, we all miss Patrick Henry Censored………
And we miss others like Phoenix and FG&C, and I really miss SheByTheSea.

Small sidenote: Surely, I’ve forgotten to mention some people. Please know it’s not a slight. Rather walk 100 miles in flip-flops than offend anyone here. And to those of you who lurk, please speak up, we need your input as well. We need to be stronger…… and your voice will help us all. It’s time to come out of the closet.
Hear/read this: Wherever you go, whether you lurk or post, whether you are a daily force or drop in now and then, please know, you are welcome here. We appreciate your thoughts and you make us all a little bit smarter. In this way, we learn something new every single day. Yeah, Dad would be proud.
Information really does = Power, but far more than the Pareto Principle from which the rule stems. If I may be allowed to bend the rule a little — Those who seek to censor us, silence us, will never be able to stop us from communicating with each other. We will find a way. When we HAVE the information = We HAVE the power, which is what terrifies our opposition more than anything else.
We all remember a time, during the Obama years, when we knew something terrible was wrong with America. We thought we were the only ones who felt it….. and then, President Trump showed up…… and we figured out we were not alone.

Now, since the election of 2016, we’ve learned far more than we ever bargained for. Not sure what we expected post election. Yet today, it’s fair to say – we’re drinking information through a firehose. We never could have imagined what we were up against, the depth of the problems, Deep State, corruption and resistance to change, problem with media, we’ve seen today.
One thing is certain. Those who seek to maintain the status quo are being defeated, slowly but surely. And the Genie, which is all of us, will never again retreat to the bottle. We’re out. We’ve been freed. We have questions about our government, and we demand answers.
Lately, against President Trump, the Deep State be like………

Well done, Q Treepers. Honored to be among you.

RE: Epstein’s money
By chance, did any of you see James Patterson’s interview with Dana Perino? Link      Patterson wrote a book about Epstein, “Filthy Rich”, which is nonfiction (true/fact based and heavily researched). James Patterson lives next door to Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach. Patterson normally writes spellbinding spy novels but in this case, the truth was just as good. If what we suspect about Epstein is half true, then we know where Patterson gets the inspiration for his books. Patterson simply needs to look around his neighborhood, and talk about his neighbors, as I talk about my girlfriends drinking bloody marys and ironing together. No wonder Patterson makes the big bucks. Already, the Epstein story reads like a B-rated movie script…….. but add a little blackmail….. and the movie would make zillions.

It made no sense. How did Epstein get his money? I couldn’t figure it out. I was a licensed NASD Broker Dealer, fingerprinted, FBI file, constant updating for more licenses, a trail of paperwork as wide and long as the Mississippi River. When I moved millions of dollars, I was bonded, questioned, background checked (they even called my parents and neighbors), and every single penny was accounted for, audited annually, ……. AND I was a little peon in the business.
How in the heck did Epstein accumulate vast wealth when no one knew what he did? No one traded with him. We always had to call other trading desks, other firms, for various info/updates, or to allocate client funds. It’s impossible to earn what Epstein allegedly has earned without other people telling stories. Traders know each other (across states and oceans, too). There would have been a tale about how Epstein returned a HUGE sum to a client, or LOST a huge sum….. and yet, nothing. Scuttlebut, you know, cocktail party talk, and yes, brokers talk worse than fishwives. But complete silence? It’s couldn’t happen….. and certainly not for decades.
The BEST thing about money, is that it’s finite. Money is not gaseous and does not evaporate into thin air.  Money is pure, like a solid mass, “X” amount comes in and “X” amount goes out. Money NEVER disappears….. ever…… even if a Spanish galleon laden with gold sank to the bottom of the sea……. it can be recovered. There’s no opinion about money. There’s no casting of shade, no estimating client’s funds on a report, no subjective politically correct statement about money. Nonononooooo. Money is PURE raw data and easy to track. So, where the heck did Epstein get his money and how come other hedge fund managers don’t know this guy?
Understand, I meant no harm and I’m still a peon. I was minding my own business, making blueberry muffins in my little rural kitchen in Mississippi…….. but with my securities experience, it made no sense to me. The curiosity kept rolling around in my head, like when you keep poking at a chipped tooth with your tongue. Imagine my surprise when other hedge fund managers began to voice their own suspicion. Yeah, the warning lights hit the red line. Time to break the glass.
The following is a brilliant theory from an anonymous guy on Twitter by the name of @quantian1 …. and entirely plausible.    Link   What if the hedge fund was a cover for blackmail? The idea was so good, soooooo plausible, it was picked up by Michelle Celarier who writes for Intelligencer Link  in NY Magazine. She talked to Douglas Kass, who happens to be a Hedge Fund Manager, President of SeaBreeze Partners Management, who just HAPPENS to have a house in Palm Beach and is plugged into the local social swirl. Doug Kass was quite intrigued by the idea of Epstein using a “hedge fund” to hide blackmail.
First, let’s read the short unroll thread from @quantian1 (all attribution to her/him/ze)

So, apologies in advance, but I want to do a quick little THREAD to explain my theory of what the Epstein story really is. I promise this isn’t some crazy Pizzagate conspiracy about space lizards, just a neat little explanation that IMO perfectly fits the known facts (0/13):

(1/13) Let’s take as our starting points two givens.
(A.) You are a committed, unrepentant pedophile
(B.) Because of your old job in private banking, you are very connected to lots of very, very wealthy people
We’ll also assume a goal:
(Z.) You want to become very rich

(2/13) The obvious route is, well, obvious: you could just be a pimp, offering underage prostitute services to very rich people. This has two problems: you’re very disposable (see: DC madam), and it’s also not super lucrative. You can’t charge millions of dollars up front.

(3/13) The second level though follows instantly: You don’t need to charge up front, just get them to have underage sex, and then blackmail them afterwards for hush money. Better ROI, but you’re still a liability, and producing and receiving big bribe money raises big questions.

(4/13) So, what to do? Well, the second idea has some merits. First, you need to recruit people in. Have lots of massive parties at your spacious home (check), invite top academics, artists, politicians to encourage people to come (check), and supply lots of young women (check)

(5/13) You don’t even have to do anything, and most people invited might even be totally unaware of the real purpose of the parties! But, sooner or later, some billionaire will get handsy, she’ll escort him to a room with a hidden camera, things happen. Morning after, you strike.

(6/13) You inform him she was really 15, but you offer him a nice, neat way to buy your silence: a large allocation to your hedge fund, which charges 2/20 (check). To ensure nobody else asks questions, you also take the extraordinary step of demanding power of attorney (check)

(7/13) The fund is offshore in a tax haven (check) and nobody will see the client list (check). Of course, you don’t really know anything about investing, instead making up some nonsense about currency trading (check), and nobody on Wall Street has ever traded with you (check)

(8/13) The fund itself doesn’t need investment personnel (check), only some back office people to process the wires (check). You don’t want to money from non-pedophiles, or they’ll notice you’ve just put it in a S&P 500 fund, so you reject all incoming inquiries (check)

(9/13) A $20 million wire from Billionaire X to you with no obvious reason will raise many questions, and the IRS will certainly want to know what you did to warrant it. A $5 million quarterly fee for managing $1 billion in assets? Nobody bats an eye.

(10/13) Because of this structure, you’re extraordinarily secretive about client lists (check) because they aren’t clients, they’re pedophiles paying you bribes, and they also are very secretive, which is why no letters or return streams ever leak (check)

(11/13) Occasionally you may also try this trick on other people: important political figures, mayors, prosecutors, etc. They don’t invest in the fund, but it’s nice to have them in your pocket. Others (academics, artists, etc.) can just be bought with money as a PR smokescreen.

(12/13) And, of course, the scam can be kept going as long as people are willing to pay, which is forever. If you’re ever caught, just lean on some of your other friends in government to lean on the prosecutor to get you a sweetheart deal. There’s almost zero risk.

(13/13) And the last piece of the puzzle is the evidence. You’d want it somewhere remote, but accessible: a place the US can’t touch but you have an excuse to visit all the time to update. Remember that offshore fund?
I bet there’s a *very* interesting safe deposit box there.

Two small points of clarification:
1. This scheme works just as well if the billionaires are in on it from the getgo as a way to buy sex; I assumed that was obvious but I guess not.
2. There’s no need to invoke the Mafia/Russia/Mossad/CIA/etc, that’s just needlessly overfitting.

It’s like an epiphany, isn’t it? Deep breath. Move your neck around in a circle a few times. You guys okay? I’ll give you a moment to let you wrap your head around the premise.
Yes, the USVI is far away, and if Epstein had a reputation with the SEC as only dealing with billionaires…. then a 20 million dollar wire transfer as a service fee would not have raised an eyebrow….. unless someone at the SEC looked too closely……. or Epstein was protected from anyone looking too closely.
Back to Michelle, the writer for Intelligencer/NY Magazine, her article is linked above and here Link
Recall, Michelle was talking to “several prominent hedge fund managers”, including Doug Cass, a hedge fund President who lived in Palm Beach. Cass was super curious about Epstein, …….. for years. In fact, over the years, Doug Cass asked others in the business about Epstein. No one heard of him. Cass even called another hedge fund manager, Whitney Tilson, and they both emailed around to ask if anyone knew of Epstein’s business. Nope……… nothing.
AND they couldn’t find anyone, minus Wexner, who admitted to investing with Epstein. Where were his clients? From another Hedge Fund manager:

A fund manager who knows well how that kind of fortune is acquired notes, “It’s hard to make a billion dollars quietly.” Epstein never made a peep in the financial world.

Then, there’s this part. Epstein did all the investing himself, he claimed. I call “BS”. No one in our industry (or any industry) knows everything about everything. Ya’ gotta have specialists…… unless, maybe, Epstein was dumping everything into a SPDR fund, but there were not that many SPDRs in the late 1990’s……. and dumping hundreds of millions into a SPDR would have triggered an allocation of funds….. so the other hedge fund boys would have known who Epstein was…… they would have seen the order sheets.
The NYTimes has discovered a professor, Thomas Volscho, who is trying to track down an accurate estimate of Epstein’s worth. Link   Note, there are FOUR people ( James B. Stewart, Matthew Goldstein, Kate Kelly and David Enrich ) who wrote this story for the NYTimes. Does it strike anyone as odd that the NYTimes would devote FOUR reporters to a single story? Yeah, me either. They’re digging. Here’s an excerpt from the story:

  Thomas Volscho, a sociology professor at the College of Staten Island who has been researching for a book on Mr. Epstein, recently obtained [a 2002 disclosure] form, which shows [Epstein’s] Financial Trust had $88 million in contributions from shareholders. In a court filing that year, Mr. Epstein said his firm had about 20 employees, far fewer than the 150 reported at the time by New York magazine.

Sidenote: Why does the NYTimes source a story like this from a Sociology professor from an obscure college? Can’t we talk to the Dean of Accounting from Wharton?
As the NYTimes and others point out, Epstein cut his teeth in the finance biz, after he left Bear Stearns, with Steven J. Hoffenberg, who was convicted of a 460 million dollar Ponzi Scheme. Here’s the link to the 1995 article on Hoffenberg in the NYTimes Link

Is blackmail that far of a stretch from a Ponzi Scheme? Does the apple fall far from the tree? And why, oh please tell us why, were Jeffrey Epstein’s finances “sealed” for his bail hearing by his attorneys……… and why did Epstein’s younger brother MARK offer to chip in funds if needed? Do you know any billionaires who need to borrow money to try to make bail?
Suspicious cat can’t take it anymore!
 

Now that Epstein is in the spotlight again, we’re all curious about him….. his money……. and his associates. Maybe this time we’ll learn something.  
Nonetheless, it’s incredibly odd that four reporters from the NYTimes, multiple hedge fund managers, an anonymous guy on twitter, and a little peon muffin maker in Mississippi are all thinking the same thing………..
If your bored, there are a few more theories found here. Link

End

It really was a Tour de Force.
Presser begins at 23:45 in the video, here. Please watch this presser.

President Trump moves through subject after subject with ease. If I were a Dem Presidential Candidate, I would throw in the towel.
President Trump stood side by side with Sec Acosta.
Highlights: President’s opinion on Paul Ryan. “Nancy Pelosi is not a racist.”, President Trump. “I didn’t back down on the census, I backed UP”, President Trump. On and on it went.
And now, President Trump is off to Wisconsin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Begin Transcript: 
** 9:34 A.M. EDT
Q How do you think your Labor Secretary did?
THE PRESIDENT: I think he was a great Labor Secretary, not a good Labor Secretary. He’s done a fantastic job. He’s a friend of everybody in the administration. And I got a call this morning, early, from Alex. And I think he did a very good job yesterday. Under a lot of pressure, he did a fantastic job and he explained it. He made a deal that people were happy with, and then, 12 years later, they’re not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out.

But the fact is, he has been a fantastic Secretary of Labor. And Alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. And I actually said, “Well, we have the press right out here, so perhaps you just want to say it to the press.”
But I just want to let you know, this was him, not me, because I’m with him. He was a — he’s a tremendous talent. He’s a Hispanic man. He went to Harvard. A great student. And, in so many ways, I just hate what he’s saying now because we’re going to miss him.
But, please, Alex.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: Thank you, Mr. President. Over the last week, I’ve seen a lot of coverage of the Department of Labor, and what I have not seen is the incredible job creation that we’ve seen in this economy — more than 5 million jobs. I haven’t seen that workplace injuries are down, bucking a three-year trend; workplace fatalities are down, bucking a three-year trend; that we had the safest year ever in mining, the lowest number of fatalities ever in mining.
I have seen coverage of this case that is over 12 years old, that had input and vetting at multiple levels of the Department of Justice. And as I look forward, I do not think it is right and fair for this administration’s Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus, rather than the incredible economy that we have today.
And so I called the President this morning. I told him that I thought the right thing was to step aside. You know, Cabinet positions are temporary trusts. It would selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case that’s 12 years old, rather than about the amazing economy we have right now.
And so I submitted my resignation to the President –effective seven days from today, effective one week from today — earlier this morning.
Q If the Secretary explained himself, as you say he did two days ago, why the need for him to resign?
THE PRESIDENT: There’s no need at all, as far as I’m concerned. I would have — I watched Alex yesterday. I thought Alex did a great job. And, you know, you could always second guess people, and you could say it should have been tougher. They do it with me all the time. I make a great deal with anybody, and then they say — like, the Democrats — “Oh, it could have been better.”
I got $1.2 billion settlement fined from a company, from ZTE. And the next day — and everybody couldn’t believe it. The next day, the Democrats said, “Oh, he should have gotten more.” So you can always be second guessed. That’s what people do.
I just want to tell you: This is a person that I’ve gotten to know. There hasn’t been an ounce of controversy at the Department of Labor until this came up. And he’s doing this not for himself; he’s doing this for the administration.
And, Alex, I think you’ll agree. I said, “You don’t have to do this.” He doesn’t have to do this.
Q Why would you — why would you accept his resignation?
Q But you accepted the resignation. You accepted the — why did you accept the resignation if he hasn’t done anything wrong?
THE PRESIDENT: I do, and we have — we have — as everybody knows, we have Pat Pizzella, who right now is a deputy, and he’ll be Acting for a period of time. I think you know Pat. He’s a good man, highly recommended by Alex. But Pat is going to be Acting, and we’ve already informed him.
Q Why did you have a falling out with Jeffrey Epstein? Why did you have a falling out with Jeffrey Epstein? And did you ban him from Mar-a-Lago?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. And I did have a falling out a long time ago. The reason doesn’t make any difference, frankly. But I haven’t spoken to him in probably 15 years or more. I wasn’t a big fan of Jeffrey Epstein, that I can tell you. And now, if you look, the remnants hurt this man. And I hate to see it happen.
I will say this, and I say it again and I say it loud and clear: Alex Acosta was a great Secretary of Labor. What he’s done with plans and — you see the plans coming one after another. You’re just about done with the 401(k) and —
SECRETARY ACOSTA: That’s correct.
THE PRESIDENT: — and that happened. Things that nobody would even think of. So it’s very sad. But at the same time, he wants the focus to be on accomplishments, not on what you’re talking about.
Q But do you believe — do you believe, Mr. President, that Epstein has become and Mr. Acosta has become a distraction to the Labor Department?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Alex believed that. I’m willing to live with anything, John. I think you know me. I’ve lived through things that you wouldn’t believe.
Alex felt that way. And he also felt — we’re so good; we’re doing so well. The economy — the stock market just hit the highest point yesterday in the history of our country. Our unemployment numbers are the best they’ve ever been. If you look at specifically certain groups — African American, Asian, Hispanic — the best unemployment numbers in the history of our country.
You know, there are so many good things, and he didn’t want to distract from that. And I understand that, 100 percent.
Q Did Paul Ryan prevent you from making any bad decisions?
THE PRESIDENT: For what?
Q Did Paul Ryan prevent you from making any bad decisions?
THE PRESIDENT: So Paul Ryan was not a talent. He wasn’t a leader. When the people in Freedom and great congressmen wanted to go after the Dems for things that they did very badly, he wouldn’t give subpoenas, whereas Nancy Pelosi hands them out like they’re cookies.
Paul Ryan was a lame duck for a long time as Speaker. He was unable to raise money. He lost control of the House. The only success Paul Ryan had was the time that he was with me because we got taxes cut. I got regulation cuts. I did that mostly without him.
But for Paul Ryan to be complaining is pretty amazing. I remember a day in Wisconsin — a state that I won — where I stood up and made a speech, and then I introduced him and they booed him off the stage — 10,000 people.
So for him to be going out and opening his mouth is pretty incredible. But maybe he gets paid for that. Who knows? Maybe he gets paid for that.
Q Mr. President, the raids — can you — Mr. President, are you putting law enforcement at risk by having these raids? Is the public at risk now that everyone knows that the raids are coming?
THE PRESIDENT: So people come into our country illegally. We’re taking them out legally. It’s very simple. It’s not something I like doing, but people have come into our country illegally.
We’re focused on criminals. We’re focused on — if you look at MS-13 — but when people come into our country, we take those people out and we take them out very legally. They all have papers. And it’s a process. And I have an obligation to do it. They came in illegally; they go out legally.
What the Democrats should be doing now is they should be changing the loopholes. They should be changing asylum. I’ve been talking to that — to you about this for a long time. They should be changing asylum. There’s so many things.
Now, let me — let me give you the good news: Mexico has done an outstanding job so far. If you look at the border, it’s down now 30 percent, and that’s only one week inclusive where they’ve gotten it together.
The June numbers just came out. It’s down. It looks like it’s going to end up being a little bit above 30 percent down. It’s going to be down more and more. They have 21,000 — and I say “21,000” — Mexican soldiers on the borders — both their southern border and our southern border.
And we really have it in control. The problem is — we have a big problem. The laws are so bad. The Democrats have to help us fix the immigration laws. But even with that, because of the job that Mexico is doing — and, yes, they maybe did it because of tariffs, but they’re doing a great job and I appreciate it.
Q Democrats are portraying your action yesterday on the census citizenship question as backing down. Do you believe that you backed down?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Who said — who said that?
Q Democrats are saying you backed down. Do you believe you backed down?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, anything you do, the Democrats will say it’s not good. In the meantime, they had a disaster. They had these laws that are so bad — catch-and-release, and you look at the different laws — visa lottery, that was a Chuck Schumer law. It’s a disaster. A lottery. You pick them out. A lottery.
The Democrats have caused tremendous problems. What they’ve let China get away with — for years and years, China has been ripping us off. They’re not ripping us off anymore. Right now, companies are fleeing China because of the tariffs. And right now, we’re taking in billions of dollars. And, by the way, our people are not paying for it. They’re paying for it — they’re paying for it by depressing their currency and they’re putting a lot of money.
Look, nobody’s ever done what I’ve done with China. And that’s fine. And we’ll get along with China. But you know, when I see a guy like Biden, who is weak and ineffective — and everybody that knows him knows it. He’s a weak man. He’s an ineffective man. President Xi laughs at guys like that.
Now, with that being said, I would say this: President Xi, Putin, all of these guys go to bed at night and they pray that Joe Biden or somebody like him becomes President so they can continue to rip off our country.
Q Two questions, please. With regard to Jeffrey Epstein, did you have any suspicions that he was molesting young women, underaged women?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven’t spoken to him in many, many years. But I had — I didn’t have no idea.
Q Secretary Acosta, now that you’re resigning, do you regret that plea deal that you struck with Epstein (inaudible)?
SECRETARY ACOSTA: I’ve already — I’ve already talked about the Epstein matter. I gave a press conference that, according to the media, was longer than any other Cabinet official in this administration.
You know, I will reiterate what I said previously. My point here today is we have an amazing economy. We have unemployment lower than we have seen, literally, in my lifetime. And the focus needs to be on this economy and on job creation, on the decreased fatalities in the workplace and in mining. And going forward, that’s where this administration needs to focus, not on this matter.
Q Mr. President, following up on your Social — following up on the Social Media Summit, you’re instructing agencies to look into this. How long do you think this review is going to take —
THE PRESIDENT: We are looking into it. The platforms are absolutely, in my opinion, 100 percent crooked. They discriminate against Republicans and conservatives. They’re 100 percent dishonest. That’s my opinion. And something is going to be done.
But I can tell you, from personal experience, I see it. I had something happen this morning — I won’t tell you about it yet — but these platforms are 100 percent — they’re 100 percent dishonest.
Please.
Q Mr. President, the reason for your falling out with Mr. Epstein matters. Was it related to business or the abuse of underaged girls? People want to know.
THE PRESIDENT: I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein. And you watched people yesterday saying that I threw him out of a club. I didn’t want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. It shows you one thing: that I have good taste. Okay?
Now, other people, they went all over with him. They went to his island. They went all over the place. He was very well known in Palm Beach. His island — whatever his island was, wherever it is — I was never there. Find out the people that went to the island.
But Jeffrey Epstein was not somebody that I respected. I threw him out. In fact, I think the great James Patterson, who is a member of Mar-a-Lago, made a statement yesterday that, many years ago, I threw him out.
I’m not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein.
Q Mr. President, are you planning to move ahead with deportations intensities this weekend? Are you planning to —
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.
Q You are.
Q But what about the families, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: You know what? You know what? They came in illegally. They have to go out.
We have millions of people standing on line waiting to become citizens of this country. They’ve taken tests. They’ve studied. They’ve learned English. They’ve done so much. It’s — they’ve been waiting seven, eight, nine years. We have some waiting 10 years to come in. It’s not fair that somebody walks across the line and now they’ve become citizens of the United States.
Q (Inaudible) British ambassador resign?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I wish the British ambassador well. Some people just told me — too bad — but they said he actually said very good things about me. He was sort of referring to other people. And I guess I quoted Lindsey Graham today; he said some things that were pretty nice from the British ambassador.
But look, I wish the British ambassador well. But they’ve got to stop their leaking problems there just like they have to stop them in our country.
Q Why have you pre-announced these ICE raids? Why have you given warning, essentially —
THE PRESIDENT: We’re not giving warning.
Q — to all of these illegals?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we’re not giving warning.
Q They know about the ICE raids, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing to be secret about.
Q They know about the ICE raids.
THE PRESIDENT: Can I tell you what?
Q Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing to be secret about. ICE is law enforcement. They’re great patriots. They have a tough job. Nothing to be secret about. If the word gets out, it gets out. Because hundreds of people know about it. It’s a major operation.
So if the word gets out, it gets out. It starts on Sunday, and they’re going to take people out and they’re going to bring them back to their countries. Or they’re going to take criminals out, put them in prison, or put in them in prison in the countries they came from. We’re focused on criminals as much as we can, before we do anything else.
Q [Crosstalk.]
THE PRESIDENT: For instance, MS-13 — very important — we’re taking them out by the thousands. We’ve already been taking — you know, we didn’t stop this. We’ve been taking criminals out for the last year. These people have been here for many years — MS-13. We’re taking them out by the thousands. We’re getting them out.
Q Mr. President, do you believe that using data to fill in the citizenship data on the census will be as effective as a question?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we’ll have it in the end where it’ll be actually more accurate than a census. Because we have information, gotten through other means, whether you look at Social Security or other places. We have — including loan applications — we have information that’s probably more accurate than the information we could get by going in and asking somebody, “Are you a citizen?” Because a lot of people aren’t going to tell the truth.
Q Did you back down on that (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: No. No. Not only didn’t I back down, I backed up. Becau- — anybody else would’ve given this up a long time ago. The problem is we had three very unfriendly courts. They were judges that weren’t exactly in love with this whole thing. And they were wrong. But it would’ve taken a long time to get through those courts. You understand that better than anybody, John. It would’ve taken a long time back up to the Supreme Court.
So I asked, “Is there another way?” And somebody said there’s a way that might be better. It might be more accurate. They explained it. I said, “Then what are we wasting time — we’re going to be in court for the next two years. What are we wasting time for?”
In the meantime, we have to, by law, have the printing done. So the printing has starting and we’re already finding out who the citizens are and who they’re not — and, I think, more accurately.
So, when I heard this, I said, “I think that’s actually better. I think what we’re doing is actually better.” And only the fake news, which there’s plenty, would say differently.
Q Did Wilbur Ross let you down, Mr. President? Did Wilbur Ross let you down?
THE PRESIDENT: No, he didn’t let me down. No.
Q How many people are you targeting? How many people are you targeting during the raids? And, again, are you worried at all about law enforcement — putting them at risk because everybody knows about the raids? Two questions.
THE PRESIDENT: These are great professionals. These are people that have done this for a long time. We’re really looking for criminals as much as we can. We’re trying to find the criminal population, which has been coming into this country over the last 10 years. We know who they are, too. We’ve been taking them out by the thousands — specifically, gang members from MS-13 and other gangs. We’ve been taking them out by the thousands.
Q How many?
THE PRESIDENT: But we are really specifically looking for bad players, but we’re also looking for people that came into our country not through a process — they just walked over a line. They have to leave.
Q The mayors don’t want ICE raid. The mayors don’t want the ICE raids, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Some do. No. No. No. The mayors in sanctuary cities, like — a mayor like de Blasio, who is probably the worst mayor in the country — from New York. I don’t even know what his attitude is. Nobody does because he doesn’t work very hard. Nobody knows what the hell he does. But a guy like de Blasio probably wouldn’t want the raid. But many mayors do — most mayors do. You know why? They don’t want to have crimes in their cities or states.
Q What do you think about Christine Lagarde? What do you think about Christine Lagarde running?
Q On military families — what about military families? Will you’re- — is your administration going to reconsider ending the parole in — policy — place on military families and provide assurance —
THE PRESIDENT: So nobody has treated the military better than President Trump. Nobody. Nobody has even come close. And you see that with budgets, you see that with the pay increases, and you see that with medical. But you know where you see it more than any place is with the vets. Because the vets now have Choice. They never had Choice before. For forty- —
Q But can you guarantee that their loved ones won’t be deported?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. Wait. For 44 years —
Q Can you guarantee that their loved ones won’t be deported?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. For 44 years — we are looking at that. For 44 years, they’ve tried to get Veterans Choice. I got it. Nobody else could’ve gotten it.
Q What did you mean — what did you mean, Mr. President, when you said —
Q Turkey — Turkey is planning to take delivery of —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Go ahead.
Q What you would like Robert Mueller to tell Congress next week?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it.
Q What would you like Robert Mueller to tell Congress next week?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think, how many bites at the apple do you get?
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve gone through 500 witnesses, 2,500 subpoenas. I’ve let them interview my lawyers. I’ve let them inter- — because I had nothing to do with Russia. Now that’s come out. There was no collusion.
Q You didn’t do an interview, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: But how many — how many people and how many times — and this has been going on for two and a half years. Rush Limbaugh said there’s nobody else in the world that he knows that could’ve taken it. And on top of taking it, I’ve been a great President. I’ve done more —
Q But, sir, you did not sit down with the Special Counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Listen. Listen. I’ve done more in two and a half years than any other President — nobody’s even close — including, we just said, Veterans Choice and all of the other things I’ve gotten.
But for two and a half years — so now they have Mueller go make a speech. That goes. Now they wanted to have him again. They want to go it again and again and again because they want to hurt the President for the election. Because I see what I’m running against. You got Sleepy Joe Biden. He doesn’t have the energy to be President. And the people that nipping on his heels — they don’t have what it takes.
And I can tell you that China and Russia — and I’ve been rougher on Russia than any President in the last 50 years. China and Russia and try North Korea — where I have a relationship. You don’t have a man testing nuclear anymore. You have a man —
Q Is there something you want Mueller to say in this hearing?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. You have a man that was so happy to see me. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. You have a man that doesn’t smile a lot. But when he saw me, he smiled. He was happy. You have a man that, when I came into to office, all he was doing before under Obama was testing nuclear weapons and blowing up mountains. And now he’s not doing it.
Q But on Robert Mueller, is there anything you’d like Robert Mueller to say about you?
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing he can say. He’s written a report. The report said, “No collusion.” And it said, effectively, “No obstruction,” because there’s no obstruction. And the other thing, it’s very interesting —
Q But he couldn’t clear you on obstruction, sir.
Q Do you think he should (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: So they find out there’s no collusion. The whole thing is about collusion. So they find out it’s no collusion. Now, actually, it was different; it was bad crimes committed by the other side. We’ll find out about that. I’m sure that’s being looked at right now.
Q Do you regret not talking to Mueller?
Q Do you think he should show up? Should he show up show, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: So — so there’s no collusion and there’s no obstruction.
Now, we have a great Attorney General now — he’s strong and he’s smart — and he read it and he studied it — along with Rod Rosenstein, who worked it from the beginning. And Rod Rosenstein and Bill Barr said, “There’s no obstruction.”
It’s also interesting — number one, there’s no crime. And how do you obstruct when there’s no crime?
Also, take a look at one other thing. It’s a thing called Article II. Nobody ever mentions Article II. It gives me all of these rights at a level that nobody has ever seen before. We don’t even talk about Article II.
So they ruled: no collusion, no objection. Very simple.
Q [Crosstalk.]
THE PRESIDENT: And you can only — by the way, you can only get so many bites at the apple. We got to get on to running a country. You got immigration, infrastructure, drug prices. The Democrats aren’t working. All they’re doing is trying to hurt people like Alex Acosta, a man who has done —
Q Do you think Democrats hurt Mr. Acosta?
THE PRESIDENT: — a man who has done — I have no idea. Are you a Democrat?
SECRETARY ACOSTA: I am not, no.
THE PRESIDENT: I have no idea. You know what I know? You know what I know about Alex? He was a great student at Harvard. He’s Hispanic, which I — which I so admire, because maybe it was a little tougher for him, and maybe not. But he did an unbelievable job as the Secretary of Labor. That’s what I know about him. I know one thing: He did a great job.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: And — and —
THE PRESIDENT: And until this came up, there was never an ounce of problem with this very good man.
Go ahead.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: And let me — let me just add — let me — let me just add, you know, I hear a lot about how individuals got jobs and whatnot. Before our interview, we had never met, we had never talked. The President selected me as it should be done. It wasn’t that we knew each other. It’s not that we had a longstanding relationship. And I think that’s a testament to his selection process.
Q Mr. President, what do you make of the infighting going on among Democrats in Congress between Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think Cortez — who kept Amazon out of New York, and they don’t like her for that; thousands and thousands of jobs — I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody that’s been there a long time.
I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot, and we go back and forth and it’s fine. But I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful for her — to her. And you know what? I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on.
A group of people that came from — I don’t know where they came from. I’m looking at this Omar from Minnesota, and if one half of the things they’re saying about her are true, she shouldn’t even be in office.
But Cortez should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect. She should not be doing what she’s doing.
And I’ll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi that you know better than I do: She is not a racist. Okay? She is not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace.
Q Mr. President, are you visiting an immigration detention center like the Vice President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah — and very importantly, today, in a few hours, Vice President Pence and the head of Homeland Security are taking the press and congresspeople into detention centers. And we’re the ones that said they were crowded. They’re crowded because we have a lot of people. But they’re in good shape.
And the reason is because the fake-news New York Times wrote a phony story. What Border Patrol is doing — they’ve become nurses and janitors and doctors. And they’re not trained for that. What they’ve done is so incredible.
So they’re touring detention centers. And that was my idea because I read a phony story in the New York Times today — or the other day — about the detention centers, about the conditions. And I had people calling me up at the highest levels from Border Patrol and ICE, almost crying, about that phony story.
And they never saw anything. They have phony sources. They don’t even have sources. They write whatever they want. The New York Times is a very dishonest newspaper. They write what they want. And what they do is a tremendous disservice to this country. They are truly the enemy of the people, I’ll tell you that. They are the enemy of the people. And what they wrote about detention centers is unfair.
Now, I believe it’s going to be the center they wrote about, but we’re taking a tour. They are — I’d love to be there, but I’m going to Ohio, Wisconsin.
Q Are you going to — are you going any time?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ll be going. I’ll be going.
But I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. And these centers are — I mean, to have Ocasio say, “They’re drinking out of toilets.” She made that up, okay? That’s a phony story. She made it up. And these people, they — I’ll tell you what, I’ve been with ICE and I’ve been with Border Patrol a lot. They love those people coming across the border. They love them. And I’ve seen it. They love them.
Q Does your administration have an estimate of how many illegals are living in the United States? Have they given you a number?
THE PRESIDENT: So one of the reasons the Democrats don’t want to have a census is because the number of people in the United States, for many years — you know, for years, you’ve heard 11 million; it’s far greater than that. But we’ll find out because I’m going to do something much more accurate than the way we — the way we did it in the census would never have been very accurate. What we’re doing will be much more accurate.
Q Anything on Iran, Mr. President? Anything on Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: The wall is being built. The wall is being built. We had a couple of very good decisions. We had one bad decision. It’s very tough.
Again, Paul Ryan let us down. Paul Ryan was a terrible Speaker. Frankly, he was a baby. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. The wall let us down.
Now, in all fairness, the problem with — during — when we had both houses — in the Senate, you need 60 votes. Well, we don’t have 60 votes. We had 51 last time. Now we have 53 because we won during the ’18 election, which nobody wants to say, just so you understand.
So the wall is being built. We had one setback. We had one tremendous victory.
And I had a tremendous victory that was very rarely covered by the press. Two days ago, I won the emoluments case. That was the biggest case of them all. I won the emoluments case. People don’t know that, by being President, I lose billions of dollars. By my being President — and especially in money I can’t make because I don’t do deals. But I lose billions of dollars.
But, another thing, I get a salary of $400- or $450,000 a year. I don’t think any other President has ever given up — it’s a lot of money, almost a half a million dollars. I give it up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody say, “I give up my salary.” I’m not looking for credit, but I give up my salary. I get zero. I get zero.
But you know what makes me happy? That we’re doing a great job. And I want to thank Alex Acosta. He was a great, great Secretary.
Q Anything on Iran, sir? Sir, I asked about Iran. I asked about Iran — I asked about Iran, not the wall. Could you give us an update on your thoughts on Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: Iran better be careful. They’re treading on very dangerous territory. Iran, if you’re listening, you better be careful.
Q Mr. President, on Turkey: Will you sanction Turkey?
Q Should Epstein stay behind bars?
Q Yesterday you got a win in the Ninth Circuit court over Title X funding. What’s your reaction? And are you trying to completely defund Planned Parenthood?
THE PRESIDENT: They had a big win yesterday. We have some very big cases having to do with that. We’ll see where it (inaudible).
END 10:04 A.M. EDT
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Public Pool is an automated feed of White House press pool reports. For live updates, follow @WHPublicPool on Twitter.

In light of recent blog discourse, I thought a short story might be good for some perspective. Settle in and take a short ride with me. Grab a beverage.
It’s hard to read people’s emotions. We often jump to conclusions, become offended, when no harm was intended. Sometimes we are right, and a lot of the time we’re wrong. It’s even more difficult to read people’s intentions in the written word, over the internet. We can’t see their faces, gauge sarcasm, or see into THEIR room — maybe someone called or rang the doorbell, and that’s why they gave a short snippy response. With age comes wisdom, and we learn 99% of out-of-left-field offensive comments have NOTHING to do with our actions. It’s almost always………, something else.
Add to this problem, our own personal baggage. Our personal history creates a prism, through which we view the world. For instance, as a teenager, I was astonished Mexican gas stations did not have toilet paper……… just as the Mexican gas station attendant presumed I was a spoiled little American. Ahhhh, yes, it’s all about perspective.
When I first met Big T, he was itchy and jumpy, nervous as a cat. It was obvious, but he only did it around me. In a business meeting, he was cool as a cucumber. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made men nervous before, but this was not normal “guy stuff”. He constantly tried to read my emotions to see if I was “about to be” angry. It was weird, and it takes a LOT to make me angry. He was fishing for my emotions and I wondered why.
I quickly learned his ex-wife was an artist, high strung, overly emotional. On top of that, he had 4 daughters and WAY too much estrogen in his house. I realized he was an incredibly successful man, at the pinnacle of his career…… and had been walking on eggshells for about 2 decades (we all know what that feels like). He had been conditioned to react to her, to try to get ahead of the blow-up, and control it as much as possible. He needed deprogramming. He needed to calm down.
On my side of the “personal baggage” fence, I came from a highly male-dominated business world. Most women my age expected their husbands to read their minds when they were angry. They would sulk, slam cabinets, say the word “fine”, and expect their husband’s to know what was wrong, apologize for hurt feelings, and all would be right with the world. I was exactly the opposite. If I was angry, I told the person, asap. In less than five minutes, I would explain my position, extract an apology or identify the miscommunication, we would agree to re-order our world…….. and move on. An hour later, I couldn’t tell you the subject of the scuffle. Thus, my personality, when dealing with controversy and confrontation, was about 180 degrees opposite of Big T’s ex-wife, ….. and it took him some time to get used to it.
The first time he came to my house, Big T tried to open the back door with a whole platter of my grandmother’s crystal. It’s a big back door and rather tricky. He dropped the platter and broke a few stems. He overreacted, and it looked like he was convinced I would break up with him. “Are you kidding me?”, I said, “There’s no glass in this house which is more important than the people living in the house.” He looked at me like I had three heads. He was confused. And there it is again…. perspective.
On our first trip together, we went to Aunt Helen’s for Thanksgiving. When he arrived, he assumed Aunt Helen lived across town, at most, an hour away. No, Aunt Helen lived in Illinois, nine hours away. Big T worked himself into a frenzy. Putting him into the car was like stuffing a cat in a bag, as though he thought he would not survive the trip. He was practically convinced we would divorce before we would be married. NINE hours in the car???!!!!! Of course, no one in the northeast drives anywhere longer than about 6 hours — because nothing exists outside of the northeast. Road trips, in his personal history, with his ex + her emotions + four daughters + baggage, were an exhausting nightmare. He had reason to be apprehensive.
On my side, road trips were a blast, half the fun was getting there. 14 hours to Universal, sure. 9 hours to Chicago, piece of cake. 5 hours to New Orleans, bop down for a weekend. Want to go to Canada, say the word and we’re gone. Mexico, pack some shorts are we’re ready for Cerveza and chicken tacos. Pack a cooler, make some ham sandwiches and off we go. Seriously, going to the grocery store is often an adventure for me.
Our viewpoints, our baggage, our prisms from which we viewed the world, were completely different and the two of us had to get on the same page. He kept waiting for me to get mad, and I wasn’t mad about anything. He was befuddled, but still convinced, since I was a redhead, whenever I did “blow”, it would be epic. Our differences culminated over a laundry incident. The laundry PI$$ED me off, and I blew. Perfect timing.
By the time Big T bought the beach cottage, we were an item. The cottage had laundry in the basement. Since I own a B&B, I was used to doing 80 loads of laundry a week. As such, it’s not a stretch to say, I am certified “expert witness”, put me on a stand in a jury trial, when it comes to laundry. I am a mad scientist of laundry, often inventing my own chemical solutions to remove various stains, etc. Yes, Laundry is my wheelhouse, and his daughters often brought contractor bags of laundry for me to mend, wash, iron, and “fix”. Poor babies, they needed help, and a re-education on how to run a household. Because of my prism, my baggage, I am completely unreasonable and overly demanding, when it comes to laundry for a household.
The stage was set.
So, I was in the basement one day, and the washing machine pi$$ed me off. I can’t tell you what happened, or what the washing machine did to personally offend me. Yet, I came out of the basement with a full head of steam. I was a veritable dust cloud of rage. It was epic, alright. I was cursing, four-letter words streaming – odd for me too, because of southern lady protocol and composure. I was grumbling and growling between the cursing, frowning an scowling at the same time.

Big T must have heard my foul mouth, and it triggered him. The moment had arrived, he thought, she’s mad. This is it. By the time I reached the basement door, he flung the door open and scared the heck out of me. I was embarrassed, but the look on his face was sheer fright. He was wide-eyed and backing up. He began to apologize and assured me we could buy a new washing machine this afternoon (purchased new and cheap but it came with the house)….. a dryer too, if that would make me happy. He was talking fast.
Huh?, I thought. And I looked at him like he had three heads……. Again, there’s that perspective thing……
We settled into the kitchen peninsula to talk. His body language was fixed, he was ready for a fight. He was still anxious and I was still mad at the washing machine. I explained, I didn’t want a new washing machine. My anger had nothing whatsoever to do with him, I was mad at a piece of equipment. If he loved me, I wanted him to be MAD, just as mad, if not MORE mad, at the washing machine which pi$$ed me off. I wanted him to be on my side, and that meant more to me than anything. I wanted him to yell at the washing machine, kick the washing machine, defend me from the washing machine. I fu$king hated that washing machine at that particular moment in time. I was ranting…… at a machine. Not at him.

Then, as I am prone to do, I flipped a switch. I dropped several octaves/decibels and explained it would be fiscally irresponsible to buy a new washing machine. Nah, I dismissed it. And just like that, I wasn’t mad anymore. Big T was amazed…… like he had just seen the Grand Canyon for the first time.
The realization creeped over his face. He was thinking. She’s not mad at me. It’s not my fault. She really is just mad at the washing machine. It had nothing to do with him. As long as we kept that house, we referred to the washing machine as “the fucking washing machine”……. and we laughed about it. Months later, me calling Big T, “Hi honey, whatcha doin’?” From Big T, “Oh, I’m down in the basement talking to the fucking washing machine.” Haaaaa – ha.

The laundry incident was groundbreaking in our relationship. Over the afternoon and into the next day, Big T wouldn’t let it go. It kept worming around in his head. He slowly began to realize, a LOT of what happened over the last two decades, with his ex, with his children, had nothing to do with him. He was desperately trying to maintain order within the chaos. Rationally, he knew it all along, but the reality had not hit him…. until we BOTH got mad at the washing machine. From then on, we were on the same side, the same “team” heretofore unknown to him. It was us against the world.
Perspective…… it is a glorious thing.
Within this blog, we are all united in a common cause. We’re on the same side, the same team. It’s us against our political and sometimes moral opposition. Our loyalty is the same – to our country and each other. We may fight, bicker, and differ on occasion. There’s no couple on the planet who agrees 100% of the time. After all, when Big T and I go out to eat, we don’t order the same entre….. but he will give me a bite…. he’s so sweet.
But know this, for certain, if an outside force looks to harm us, offends you/me/anyone here, we will defend each other. It’s natural instinct. If it gets serious, in fact, I WILL DRAW MY SWORD to slay, spindle, mutilate, the fucking washing machine if necessary….. cuz we’re on the same side. But harking back to our perspective……, sometimes, it’s really just a washing machine.
Just remember……… we’re on the same side.
End.

 
 
 

My 21yr old son, Gunner, was talkative last night. For over three hours, moving through topics with the greatest of ease, he drifted from gun ownership, to Antifa, to cheating in college, dating in the age of feminism, the hiring process, Russian submarine disaster, big tech, Microsoft versus Linux systems, H1B visas, and Fed Monetary Policy…. along with a LOT of anecdotal engineering (his discipline) stories thrown into the mix. He was animated and persuasive. Mostly, Big T and I listened.
Understand, my husband, when in law school, placed 2nd nationally for mock trial and was a Boston trial lawyer for 23yrs = highly verbal. I was a statewide debate and extemporaneous speaking champ = highly verbal. You have to FIGHT to get a word in edgewise in our house, AND with four stepsisters, Gunner had plenty of competition. Last night, however, he took the floor. When he went to bed, I was left…….. impressed. Kind of like that moment when you see your kids as an adult – it’s spooky.
He’s going to be fine. As far as his readiness to enter the real world, he’s like a casserole with only 5 minutes left on the oven timer….. almost done…. bubbling with possibilities……. and the delicious aroma of his potential makes my mouth water with anticipation.
During the conversation last night, my son expressed concern about various particular students and their struggles with money…. not the pizza and beer money…. but the money for an apartment/dorm, tuition and books. He wondered why they did not have scholarships or plan their future …. more prudently. Objectively, he acknowledged his viewpoint may be unfair, because our family was extremely focused on paying for college, both in saving money and applying for scholarships. Many families are not so keen to the idea. He didn’t however, think it was an excuse for the students, who are ultimately responsible. In his opinion, “Who the hell signs onto a $200K debt or committment with no plan to pay it back?” He couldn’t understand why more students did not hunt and apply for scholarships to ease their financial burden.
We’re not talking about average students either. These are kids over a 30 Composite on the ACT and in the 700’s on SAT’s. These are the kids who should have many scholarships and be in honor societies, no reason not to have them. He reasoned, if they worked so hard to excel in their studies, they should have thought more about the expense of college. To be reasonable however, some of them came from less fortunate families, or are first in their family to attend a university.
One of Gunner’s best friends, Kenny (not his real name) is a black male with super-high test scores. Kenny is an academic unicorn – a rare treasure, and my son loves him like he’s his own brother. Kenny had to drop out of college, flunked out, because he could not handle the social pressures, a Chem major, and the physical requirements of ROTC. In my son’s opinion, “The world needs guys like Kenny and we’re ALL worse off because Kenny didn’t make it.” My son emphatically stated, “If Kenny had been in our family, his real brother, with support, little bit of discipline, and consequences, Kenny would have finished successfully.” Unfortunately, Kenny had no one to count on, and no one to whom an answer was required. My son was correct, however, we all are worse off because of the failure.
The real reason Kenny failed = Kenny just wanted to be popular, for once, and not the egghead. Kenny partied too much….. flunked out…… and now works light construction…. when he can find work. Once full of hope, a provost scholar, and a rising star, Kenny is now desolate, no longer welcome in his mother’s home. It’s his own fault and he knows it. Tough lesson to learn…..lots of time and opportunity…… lost.
Again, our feeble attempt at solutions came back to finances, scholarships, and stability/security knowing the bills would be paid, even while on academic probation,….. and not overly burdensome upon graduation. To avoid the social pressures, Gunner suggested a stronger honor society, more work programs at school, friendships and mentoring, adopt-a-parent who will listen, within that group, to encourage good practices….., and a home cooked meal every now and then, instead of $1 shots on a Tuesday night. I know – I know, they’re supposed to be adults by age 18….. right?
And then, Gunner referred back to the FRC Scholarship problem, and how few applications were submitted, and what a mess the scholarship process has become. I nodded and remembered the fights and time spent on the process. It’s true, and I was dumbstruck by the low response for scholarship applications on a national level.
Here’s my story:
Gunner was in 9th grade. Our school had a little robotics team, first year, small robot, and a mini-grant for it, with a Robotics Advisor who actually stood up in church and said, “Technology is the Great Satan” Nahhhhh, it didn’t go over well with the kids. He also had a bad habit of looking down the girl’s blouses… for decades. In their first regional competition, they came in dead last— and landed at our house to graze food and organize a parent pickup. The boys, all of whom I had known since they were two years old, were furious and humiliated. I had never seen them so angry, and all angry at the same time. I asked them if they hated robotics and/or the competition, or if they were only angry because they didn’t know what they were doing. Unanimous vote, they wanted to stay, and win, AND be competent. Well then….. we had work to do.
Big T and I got involved in a major way. Team won state championship and placed #11/389 nationally in Orlando, and won the leadership award = big trophy we brought home. From 9th grade, with their success, the kids wanted to continue to another bigger team in 10th grade – but no advisor, no team, no nothing. Can’t take it away now, they were on a roll. We looked for options.
FRC was the granddaddy of robotics. They have thousands of teams all over the world. Their national championships are held in places like the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis or something like the Superdome in New Orleans, with teams from over 50 countries. It’s a big deal. The Black Eyed Peas played for halftime about 7yrs ago. Okay, sounds good, right? Gunner thought that was what we needed and I agreed. Why not? Yet, it’s expensive to buy in, $7-10K for first robot “kit” and a lot of manpower, facility to meet, tools to assemble, etc. I was convinced I could talk ex-husband into being the mentor, we just had to find the money.
Gunner learned NASA provides about 10 grants a year for FRC. Alrighty then, we had to win a grant……. a NASA grant….. among thousands who would compete. Big T wrote the first grant but it sounded like “Cause for War Declaration in the Middle East” – highly technical and boring. Gunner re-wrote (I helped) the grant and we won! We won a NASA grant, made the front page of the local paper. We also won another grant for a smaller robot for the Jr High, to mentor younger students and develop a “bench”. One thing led to another, Gunner became an Ambassador for NASA, manager of several pit crews (they have robotic pit crews like NASCAR), we traveled like crazy, and the advisor to NASA tucked us under his wing. Good guy to know. He changed my son’s life…..
Along the way, the USA Southeast Regional Chairwoman presumed I was somehow her competitor, …..smelled me breathing heavy at her heels. Huh??? She decided to throw me a bone and made me the Regional “Scholarship Chairman” for about 7 states and about 4500-6000 kids. I was honored, but clueless to her animosity…. never saw it coming. The kids were great, though! These students were science/tech focused, high performers, supported by their parents enough for travel and an expensive extra-curricular. She threw me a ‘Scholarship manual’ and a “Good luck with that”, and walked away. She dissed me out of the blue. I was blind-sided but miffed. Note taken. Payback is a bitch.
The guys and students worked on robots for months. Big T, the lawyer, who never touched so much as a weedeater before he met me, learned ALL ABOUT electrical wiring and socket wrenches with my ex-husband, the general contractor, who was at home in his wheelhouse. Oh my,   …… what a travel team they were. I gave them both credit to rise to the occasion for the kids. It was dicey at times. Me to Big T, “Honey, does it feel a little awkward checking into a hotel with my ex-husband?” His response, “Yeah, ya’ think?” That man is a blessing. At least they had different rooms.
Meanwhile, I dug into my new FRC volunteer position while working on the stone company and B&B. For good or bad, my personality is the very embodiment of a self-starter. With a little bit of authority, I can be dangerous….. but I am a benevolent dictator. Now, I was a Scholarship Chairman….. and I ran with it.
The kids on OUR team, we had about 50 by then, knew FRC offered 26 million dollars in scholarships at 168 top notch universities. Our kids were desperately looking for scholarships. Since we’re next door to the school, kids landed in my office (or kitchen) after school all the time, to talk about their future dreams, hopes, college, etc. My job was to connect student and university. Of course, Gunner was interested in obtaining a possible scholarship, BUT the program was a mess.
All that money, 26 million dollars, for kids who desperately needed it, and no easy way to connect them. After a few phone calls, I figured out the list was outdated, old contacts, bad phone numbers, etc. First thing to do was update the list — so I called 168 universities — and boy-oh-boy were they surprised to hear from me. Vast majority had not received a contact from our org in years. MOST were disappointed at the number of applications for scholarships their university was offering. Texas A&M reported 4 applications last year. Ga Tech, 7 applications and most unqualified. Brandeis, Cornell, NYU, UPenn, MIT, Lehigh, to Cal Poly, and Caltech, on and on it went.
The college admissions execs were keen for good applicants. They WANTED our kids. They wanted to figure out an easier way to get to the pool of our kids. Yet, if the scholarship is for electrical engineering, they didn’t want a humanities major to apply. The admissions officers were a little frustrated as well. We needed better matching of kid to scholarship and a higher profile for the program. “Okay sure”, I thought. I can do that!
Sooooooooo, I invited all 168 schools to our big regional in New Orleans for 3 days, and set up space for a college recruitment “row”. I printed elaborate invitations and followed up personally with phone calls. I didn’t ask for permission beforehand, but waited until I had 28 universities, with hotel and plane reservations confirmed, to casually “mention” the idea to my Chair, the witch. I wrecked her nerves. To be fair, she had enough to do with main organization of the event. I had “My portion under control, no worries.”, I said, but that just made her spit and stomp.
Big T and I also booked a suite at the hotel convention facility and offered to wine and dine the college recruiters the night before kick-off. Of course, I made Gumbo, lots of hors d’oeuvres, and the liquor flowed. It went VERY well……..
On day two, I was told, a college row “like this one” had never been done before….. “normally just a couple of locals”….. but I didn’t know that. Whoopsie Daisy! We had stacks and stacks of brochures and info from all 168 universities – and a few college mascots as well. It was great!
But then, there’s the important part……..
In prior months, I noticed a problem with the kids and their expectations about college – just at the local level, our kids, for our own school. They had so many questions, and no idea where to begin. Parents were confused as well. The misperceptions led to students ‘settling’ for less than their ideal choice, which is a shame. No reaching for a brass ring. Something had to be done.
To focus the kids, debunk the myths, and figure out what they really needed, I developed a “statistical study” as a starting point. I asked about 30 questions, single sheet of paper, open-ended, and printed up 4000 copies, distributing them to all entrants at our main event. I thought I might get lucky…… was hoping for 100 responses from the kids for a bigger sample …….. I received over 1200 returned surveys. Wow.
Like lightning striking, with a big clap of thunder, we were onto something bigger than I realized.
Kids and their parents swamped my table with questions……, even following me when I went to the bathroom, like I was the new Obi Wan Kenobi and carried the keys to college money. I wasn’t and I knew it. It was time for me to up my game. I was no college counselor – but I knew a 168 people who could point us in the right direction. Over three days, we practically rubber-stamped over 800K in scholarships and saved one scholarship worth $25K a year. Not bad ….. not bad at all…..
After I got home, I collated the results of the 1200 responses. I spent a weekend and manually entered 30 answers – and their notes, for all 1234 responses, to tabulate percentages and reach conclusions. I was stunned by the results. I produced what I thought was a fairly professional report on the raw results and conclusions I drew. Then, I sent the summary/report/raw results spreadsheet to several who were interested at the home office of FRC, all regional board members, and my bitch of a Chairwoman. Got a LOT of phone calls from the home office and a strong hint of job offer with a transfer BACK to Boston. Funny that!?!
Well, I was fired from my ‘volunteer’ job the following year by the Chairwoman. Wonder why?!?
BUT……. momma’s no fool. I kept my lists and contacts with college admission officers. We walked our kids through the process and dozens of them received scholarships. Gunner landed a few as well. He’s flush with cash and sitting pretty.
Almost a decade later, I still talk to some of those college recruiters. My list has worn edges but I still keep it handy. Team mentors who became friends still call me. Every now and then, a kid knocks on my door for help. I’m still no pro, but reading the scholarship directions carefully and making a phone call to an admissions officer is worth thousands of dollars to those kids. We…. someone…..  simply needs to take the time to listen to our kids, and match the students with the scholarships….. and many of them would no longer slip through the cracks. We need to find a way to hang onto the Kenny’s, for the benefit of us all.
It would help us build a better country.
PS – I wanted to add a pic to this post but didn’t want to include photos of student minors and other people who might object. So, here is a picture of the shrimp po boy I had for lunch in New Orleans. Q Tree loves good food. Nothing better than a “dressed” po boy.