POTUS

Namaste and welcome to my blog. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my thoughts about the POTUS or President of the United States.

I was born in 1979 at the end of the Jimmy Carter administration. I've lived through Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now into the term of Donald Trump.
Our current POTUS has been in office just over a year. During that time, there has been a lot of controversy, a lot of butt hurt feelings on both sides, and a general state of tension within these Unites States. In addition, with all the school shootings and calls for restriction of the second amendment, it's not a good time to be the president.

*It's easy to complain. It's a lot more difficult to do something about it and actually fix problems, especially with politics and big government.

*It's easy to SAY that you're going to do something, it's harder to put that desire into actions that yield positive results.

*It's easy to lose track of the individual when your focus is on society at large.

I mention these points I've starred above because, as citizens, we don't see, know, or understand all the pressures that go into the job of being POTUS. All we are able to see is how things affect US.  This is selfish because we are not 300 million plus individual nations, but the UNITED States of America... or at least we are SUPPOSED TO BE.
How far we've come from the days of JFK asking "... not what your country can do for you, but what YOU can do for your country." How far we've come from the days of Doctor MLK Jr. who had a dream to see all the people of these 50 states work together as one.
The divide and conquer game thrives when we are separated and segregated by fear, anger, and hatred of one another.

Being the President must be exhausting and supremely challenging. The truth he must face and know every day is that you cannot make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it is extremely difficult to keep anyone in this nation content. On one side we have the Grand Old Party of Republicans, hell bent on their agendas, rarely conceding to agree on what's best for the MAJORITY of the citizens. On the other side of this divisive political squabble is the blue blood of the Democrats who are often ridiculed, hell bent on their agendas and rarely conceding to agree on what's best for the MAJORITY of the citizens.

You can see in the last paragraph why jack shit gets done in our Congress of baboons. There's always bipartisan support when there is money for the special interests, the war machine, and government pay increases, but never for decreasing taxes and government spending...

President Donald Trump is a product of a fearful, insecure, and prejudice citizens. I think most of us would agree to that. Another puppet politician giving tax breaks to the already wealthy, increasing the disparity of income between the rich and the poor, cutting health care and social services to those in need, and spending tax dollars on golf vacations and private security between New York and Washington D.C. for his family. The average American is outwardly fed up with the government, but then like sheeple vote for their favorite wolf, thinking the wolf is going to do ANYTHING but bleed the sheep and feed itself. What's sad is the lies that our POTUS not only believes, but then regurgitates on the Mic and across the tv and internet. Every single thing that Dr. Ron Paul said over the last 10 years has come true, when making predictions about the direction of this nation and its government. How far we have fallen from the dreams of our founding fathers who would roll over in their graves at the thought of us electing a reality tv star who makes fun of the handicapped and uses his status to grab women "...by the pussy." It's shameful.
What's worse is that Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would be right in the same boat as Trump. This is so, because in REALITY, no matter who is president, the wars never stop, the bombings never stop, and the social unrest will never stop... not until we change the way things are going and start caring about Americans. I don't mean these un-patriotic pieces of shit that sit atop their piles of money and corporate interests while our nation falls apart and our citizens are fighting one another with misplaced anger that should be focused on fixing a broken system that favors the few while taxing and depressing the masses.
Our president should be ashamed of himself for not taking climate change seriously. We look like the biggest assholes to the rest of the world, Mr. President, when you ignore scientific evidence and give money into the pockets of the fossil fuel industry that is adding to the suffering of all life by destroying rivers and oceans with oil spills and toxic plastic waste.
This smug bastard is up on tv smiling like everything is fine and dandy telling everyone how "great" he is or how "great" Wall street and the economy is doing. It's a big fat lie. Corporations making money but not returning that money to the employees or  the economy, but stashing it away in offshore accounts to avoid taxes HURTS every American. And our POTUS has allowed this to continue. That missing tax money comes directly from the citizens, the over-burdened middle-class, you and I. Trickle-down economics has never and will never work. It's just a trick to steal more money from the poor and middle classes. Wake up America, you've been duped. It's time for a change, nay, the change is OVERDUE!!!

This has been there one and only Quiet Mouse. Thank you for your time and have a blessed day.

Roman FREAKING Reigns

Dear Vince McMahon,
               As a long time fan (been watching since the mid 80's), dedicated to your brand of sports entertainment, WWE, I, along with many other fans, are disappointed with your pick of Roman Reigns to headline Wrestlemania again.

Mr. McMahon, as owner and president of WWE, you have amassed some of the best wrestling talent in the world. However, you should have signed Kenny Omega when you had the chance. The current iteration of The Club could indeed have been better. Maybe now you'll be interested in the talents of Cody Rhodes instead of wasting him on a lame gimmick like Stardust and ultimately letting him go. Others like Bad News Barrett, Alberto del Rio, and Rey Mysterio, among others, should never have been let go in the first place.

Mr. McMahon, I don't know if you can hear the fan reactions when certain superstars entrance music pops. When Seth Rollins or Finn Balor come out the crowd goes nuts. When Roman Reigns music hits, the crowd boos incessantly, much the same way they do with John Cena. This doesn't necessarily take anything away from those wrestlers, but it does show a lack of respect for the fans to push someone so hard who is so disliked by the WWE Universe. I say this because once in a while, the suspension of disbelief has to be backed up with fan support. For far too long the brand has been ran the same, relying on oversized muscular men to build a larger-than-life spectacle which is now the WWE. Mind you, however that it isn't the 1980's, 90's, or early 2000's any longer. The Taker is retired, for all intents and purposes. Same with the Rock, HHH, Sean Michaels, Edge and Christian, and a whole slew of other talent that can and never will be recreated or replaced... but now in a new era, there are new talented and hungry superstars that would love to get a shot. The big push, however, seems to always go to Roman Reigns, recently.
It was leaked out last year, right after Wrestlemania that the plan for Wrestlemania the following year in 2018 had already been decided as Roman Reigns vs the beast Brock Lesnar meaning Reigns will headline the flagship show for the 4th time. I realize with all the hype that has been given to Lesnar that a hero figure must rise up to contend for the title. I get that. The problem I, along with many others, have is the person you continuously pick in Roman Reigns, who is NOT the most talented person on the roster. Reigns uses about 8-9 moves in total and often flubs his lines on the Mic. His moves are as follows:
1) Superman punch

2) Straight right slap or punch

3) Torso kick

4) Deadlift or other type of powerbomb

5) Clothesline, either standing or jumping

6) Drive-by kick

7) Spear

8) Occasional suplex or rarer superplex
... and don't forget the infamous headlock

Monday night RAW is abound with talent like Titus O'Neil, Apollo Crews, Matt Hardy, Cesaro, Sheamus, Miz, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor and the Good Brothers/Club, Elias, among others like Jason Jordan, Jeff Hardy, Dean Ambrose, and Samoa Joe, that are currently injured. The point is that it's not always necessary to go to the well with part-timers like Cena, Goldberg, Taker, Kane, and Lesnar, to name a few.
The way to improve the brand and ultimately the long term future of the WWE brand is to utilize your talent better. Not every star has to be a "monster" body builder. In fact, the middleweight guys like Rollins and Balor are better than most of the larger heavyweights. Although, I do think the fans would rather see Strowman get a push over someone like Reigns.

I appreciate the way you have improved the brand by bringing back the Cruiserweight division/205 Live and giving high profile matches like the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber to the women's division.
Please stop the endless push to Roman Reigns, though.

A sincere fan,
Quiet Mouse

New Resolutions

Namaste and welcome my friends, family, and fellow knowledge seekers. Thank you for reading my posting today.

For a new year there are many resolutions that could be made, for a whole plethora of reasons. I've never, personally, been one to make new years resolutions, for my own reasons... mostly excuses.
This year is different, however. I have had illness a lot in my life. Cancer couldn't keep me down, not once nor twice. I'm a survivor through and through. I've faced death. I've faced demons. I've sacrificed for myself, my family and friends, and for my country when I served in the U.S. Navy. I've been fearful. I've shed blood, sweat, and tears. I've been cursed and I've been blessed. For all of this I've come out and grown to be a stronger man, ALWAYS working to be better, ONLY in competition with my SELF to be better than yesterday.  All this is true.

Recently I have been in the grips of sickness. I was shook. For years Western medicine has failed me, as it fails millions more every day; every year... recently I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and a dysfunctional gallbladder. The doctors are recommending surgery to remove my gallbladder. Even with advances in modern medicine surgery is still surgery. It's still traumatic to your body which can never function at 100% with a missing organ.
For this reason I have chosen to take my life and health back into my own hands, but with the help and support of others.

Veganuary got off to a great start as my family and I started our alternative, plant-based diet. I didn't want to call myself or my family vegan. Somehow the title has been associated with Nazi-like Gestapo behavior by those who still chose to imbibe meat and dairy products. This is what I was lead to believe. What I discovered is far worse. YES, there are the vegans that choose to be assholes to meat eaters, but...
I've personally found that meat eaters are WAY BIGGER ASSHOLES toward vegans than vegans are towered them. Since the diet change, HATERS have come out of the woodwork to be jerks and to cast shame and doubt onto my family's decision. I've even had to deal with my 2 youngsters being hateful of three idea. Mind you how I wrote that. They're hateful of the IDEA. Because I'm a trained chef I have the skills and knowledge to not only make this diet work, but I believe we can have lasting and successful results. That doesn't stop the haters, though.
We keep getting asked where we are getting enough protein from? Veggies.
We keep getting asked where we are getting our nutrients from? Veggies.
Not enough people are asking the important question... where are you getting your fiber from?

I have gone from DAILY morning sickness with vomiting and nausea, to almost completely free of that burden, only feeling nausea 2 times in the last 3 weeks. I realize that we are new to this and results vary from person to person, but I'm grateful for this positive feeling (except for having to deal with haters and skeptics). On that note, my wife and I have begun an unofficial video and photo diary documenting our health, our fitness, and our new way of cooking. Even though I went to culinary school, I really do believe that this diet is not only affordable, but easy to do. The industries that stand to fail are busy pumping out hatre and misinformation against veg heads to keep the gravy train coming from their carnivore consumers. The big pharma industry wants to keep making billions per year selling you medicine for your blood pressure, GERD, diabetes, heart disease, etc., etc.
The cure is in your diet.

This isn't a huge soap box to try to convert ANY ONE to my new diet or lifestyle choices. In fact this really isn't about any one else but ME and MY family. We love it. We're eating MORE good food than before, LESS fast food and soda, and having MORE positive feelings both physically and emotionally. I've even felt more of a spiritual connection with the universe and planet recently.
If it's not the diet for you... I understand. If you want to eat meat and animal products, then by all means risk your health. That's YOUR business, NOT mine. As I wrote, I am NOT trying to convert the masses, only share my story. Over the next month's and year I will be posting more about this subject and our successes. I've already lost 10lbs and am gonna keep it off. Today I'm making veggie tamales in my instant pot. Some of my meals this past month have included pad Thai, pho, corn and potato chowder, fried rice with crisp pot stickers, curried tofu and veggies, Mexican rice bowls, fajitas, tempeh, etc.

The point is that it IS possible to be vegan and eat healthier on a budget. It usually requires a bit of prep, cutting fresh fruits and vegetables, and organization in the kitchen. You CAN eat healthy on a budget. I encourage EVERYONE to grow your own veggies in your own garden. Or join a co-op and share the bounty of your harvest with friends and family. Visit and support your local farmers markets as well as good veggie friendly stores like Chucks Produce and New Seasons markets. Point is that you CAN live a happy, healthy lifestyle that is free from animal cruelty and harmful to your body. You just have to get past the psychology of it, as it is mostly mental. Protein is created by plants. The only supplement needed is B12 and that's easy to find.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, Namaste. Mind, body, and soul are all connected. They are the real trinity. Treat yourself well. Eat healthy and change the world.