Life Lesson #1: Bullies Are Cowards at Heart

In the last seven decades I've watched bullies get away with their actions and I've also seen victims turn the tables on their tormentors.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include: 

An imbalance of power: kids who bully use their power - such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity - to control others.

In today's world there are four kinds of bullying: physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying. 

A bully's behavior runs the range from obvious and highly visible (punching or hitting) to subtle and virtually invisible to everyone except its victim and participants.

I remember when I was in 5th Grade, we had a schoolyard bully named Lyle who roamed about during recess picking on kids (that were usually smaller) and who made lunch time a trial for everyone. He was universally feared.

One day I was playing basketball with some buddies when Lyle walked up and suddenly snatched the ball out of my hands! 

I was so startled I just stood there speechless while anger slowly bubbled to the surface. Before he could react, I grabbed the ball back and started to walk away knowing he'd come after me. At the last moment I turned and said, "You want the ball?" and hurled it at his head. It made contact with his nose and blood gushed forth like a mini fountain from both nostrils.

At this point I should explain that he was a head taller than me and heavier. When Lyle burst into tears and grabbed his injured nose the spell was broken - he ran away bawling like a baby as my buddies and I watched with amusement. I never had a problem with Lyle again after that. I had exposed him as a coward.

Over the years I've seen bullies from all walks of life making it hell for those who are under them.

I've also watched many cases where the bully got what he deserved in the end.

Bullies in power pose a grave threat to societies all over the world. America is currently an example of that with Trump running roughshod over the Constitution, the judiciary, and every other agency in Washington DC. 

Like all bullies Trump is a coward. He avoided the draft by paying a physician to say he had bone spurs when of course he didn't have them. He directs his minions to do HIS dirty work of destroying our democracy.

Bullies have always been around as past civilizations have shown us. It's a character flaw that either comes naturally or by practicing. In Trump's case it's probably both. 

As it Stands, I think there's a time in a person's life when they have to stand up to a bully, regardless of how big he is. Right now, it's time for all Americans to stand up to Trumps assault on our freedoms.

The Brain Drain Has Begun

Trump and his inner cronies hate immigrants and foreigners. Period.

Even the most casual observer can see that Trump's war on immigrants' goes much further than just protecting our borders.

Like Trump and Musk's idol Adolf Hitler, they are going after academia by threatening colleges who have the "wrong ideology" and students who don't conform to the party line.

In particular international students are bad for "American kids who want to go to a nice university but can't because their spot was taken by a foreign student" according to Trump's comedic sidekick J.D. Vance who has regally announced they are "bad for the American Dream."

The flimsy "Antisemitic" excuse for expelling these students is a way to please MAGA morons. 

This sick line of attack is cheap and transparent, though there are no doubt plenty of Trump minions with bad SAT scores who want to believe the only reason they didn't get into Harvard was that a foreign student took their "spot."

What the Trump regime fails to understand (or care about) is foreign students are actually improving the educational experience for all students. 

It's also true when it comes to schools recruiting foreign students. Colleges are looking for the brightest minds in the world. It's a major reason American universities are held in such high regard and why the United States is a world leader in scientific research.

I wonder what Republican voters would say if they realized the purge-them-all attitude meant expelling all of that talent hurts the larger economy. They might be especially perturbed when reminded that the high quality of American health care depends largely on the influx of medical doctors and researchers from around the world.

This targeting of "the small and the weak" - people who don't have as many resources to defend themselves, is part of a larger anti-immigration agenda designed by Trump and his chief Nazi wannabe Stephen Miller.

It's no big surprise that the White House refuses to talk about the real reasons behind most of the visa revocations. Their only evidence is being a foreigner. That's all the MAGA base needs. For example, one student was deported for drunk driving. Others had speeding tickets.

It's gone so far that a Brigham Young University candidate (Suguru Onda) from Japan had his internation student visa revoked because of a fishing violation. Reportedly he caught more fish than his fishing license allowed during a 2019 outing with his Latter-day Saint church group. The charge was later dismissed. 

Ondu is counted among the two-dozen or more international students attending Utah colleges and universities who had their visas revoked in recent weeks. 

They were directed to leave the country immediately. The message was clear to other countries as well, "Don't send your students here."

As it Stands, this brain drain will also have the effect of sending these bright students to our competitors in Europe and Asia. It's just another way that Trump is making America less influential and poorer.

Buckle Up - The Ride to Save America

The ghost of Paul Revere is riding through the American landscape warning Americans that Trump is out to destroy democracy. The process has been accelerated since we got Trump 2.0. He's just picking up where he left off - but this time there are no guardrails to curtail his corrupt goals.

Buckle up. We're all in for the ride of our lives...literally. Trump has declared war against judges that don't further his agenda while turning the stock market into a financial asylum where only inside Trump traders can make millions while the rest of America loses money and braces for the result of a global tariff war. Stock market instability is going to be around for a long time as Trump manipulates it while Republicans turn their heads and pretend the outrageous rip-off is the result of a financial genius, who by the way they all fear more than the devil.

Trump enablers have chosen to ignore reality to stay in his majesty's good graces. It's sickening to watch. The whole Signal Gate scandal is just one example of ignoring facts and the truth and telling the public that there's nothing to see there...when there's proof there was a whole lot to see and hear about the threat to our national security.

The rest of the world thinks America has gone mad and is turning into an autocracy every passing day. It sure looks that way. I don't blame then. Look what Trump has done to every one of our allies. The United States is suddenly imposing across the board tariffs on the free world. Oddly, no tariffs were imposed on Russia, but they were in Ukraine. The systematic dismantling by Trump of America's place in global affairs has been ruthless and relatively quick. Countries are still stunned by Trump's blitzkrieg of financial attacks on their economies.

Back home Trump has replaced experienced leaders in the military because they didn't bow to the new king's draconian orders. In their stead his spineless minions have been appointed to every position of power in the government. Their only qualification being how long they've been kissing Trump's massive ass! It was a successful brain drain in the first 90 days of the new regime.

Fox News hosts have taken over top security spots in our government with clowns like Pete Hegseth who was appointed the US Secretary of Defense.

So far Trump has selected 19 former Fox News hosts, journalists and commentators for senior positions in his second term. If anyone ever doubted that Fox news was a breeding ground for radicals who loved Trump this confirms their incestuous relationship.

The next three and a half years are going to be a marathon for defending justice. The people must rise in even bigger numbers than the recent Hands-Off national rally that saw over five million protestors from coast to coast. The protests must continue to spread in order to pressure gutless Republicans to break away from Trump and to take the side of the people who elected them. Winning the midterms is crucial if the Democrats want to fight Trump on a more level playing field during his last two years.

If you haven't already started stocking up on non-perishable foods, it's probably a good idea to start doing so ASAP. Our economy is going on a wild ride in the days ahead and we must be prepared.

As it Stands, the fate of a nation was riding that night according to Paul Revere. Once again Americans must resist tyranny. We don't do kings.

Solving the Mystery of the Missing Bird Penises

It's a mystery Sherlock Holmes would have refused to take on with his Victorian principals, but modern scientific sleuths have no bones about solving the mystery of the missing bird penises.

Before I turn you lose on the following article, which by the way will probably weird you out, I think it's safe to say most people will be surprised at how well-endowed some birds are.

Like ducks for example. Wow! Who would have guessed? I have a whole new respect for Donald Duck and Daffy Duck now.

"In the animal kingdom, ducks and geese are famous for their extra-long penises. 

In fact, when extended, the Argentine Lake Duck (photo above) is longer than the bird itself.

Most birds don't have such bragging rights, however. 

Males in 97 percent of the bird species have tiny penises or lack them entirely!

 Instead, they shoot sperm into a female body through an exit called a cloaca.

The absent bird penis is a head-scratcher for scientists who study animal reproduction. For animals in which eggs are fertilized inside the female body, sperm have a better chance of getting through if they're pipe-delivered with easy reach.

Why lose an organ that seems so important to achieve this task?" asked Patricia Brennan, a researcher at the University of Maryland who studies the coiled duck penis in an email to NBC News in 2013.

Why indeed?

I'll be honest with you... studying bird boners is a strange way to make a living. I don't care what anyone says. I can think of other species that would be more appropriate to research but that would be a future post.

I posted this story in April of 2013 and thought it would be fun to revisit it again in April of 2025. After all, what other species on this planet has a month dedicated to their genitals?

As it Stands, this is a strange world we live in but it's all we've got! Time for me to walk on down the road.

Are You Living in a Bubble Home?

Bubble homes have sprung up like mushrooms from the cities to the hinterlands of America as residents reject reality and distort facts to fit a radical agenda. Up is down. Down is up. Not just in America however, it's a phenomenon worldwide.

Like weeds in a garden bubble homes are springing up as people choose to live in silos of stupidity. Why? It's hard to pinpoint just one reason, but in general people seem more inclined to insulate themselves from the real world which they find unacceptable.

All of the chaos surrounding us today in our societies come from the far right who hate democracy and love dictators. Not all bubble homes are alike. It gets complicated.

Some people hole up in their homes - not because their far-right radicals - but because they simply want to escape from what they see as a coming Armageddon. I don't blame them. Still others want an authoritarian government, so they don't have to think for themselves.

Are you living in a bubble?

1. Do you believe Trump is a financial genius?

 a. Yes

 b. No

2. Do you believe America has always been a melting pot for immigrants from around the world?

a. Yes

b. No

3. Are all people created equally?

a. Yes

b. No

4. Do you think it's okay to ban books?

a. Yes

b. No

5. Do you think diversity is a bad thing?

a. Yes

b. No

6. Do you think the media should be under state control?

a. Yes

b. No

If you answered with the following, you're officially living in a bubble:

1. Yes 

2. No  

3. No

4. Yes

5. Yes

6. Yes

I'm not claiming this is a scientific sampling. It's more a reflection of what I see in the real world based upon the events we're all experiencing.

As it Stands, the real scary thing is that some people don't even realize they're living in a self-imposed bubble.