On Being Presidential
A Leader is one who shows the way.
Listening to the wireless yesterday, I happened to hear part of a speech / response to a question by President Trump on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Allegedly some 100 men, women, and children were killed by Sarin Gas / and or Chlorine Gas, on Tuesday of this week. This ‘massacre’ took place in Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, allegedly the ‘massacre’ was carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Russia says this atrocity was caused by gas leaking from a terrorist / Syrian rebel chemical weapons depot.
Sarin Gas is particularly nasty stuff, invented by Hitler’s boffins, odourless and deadly in 10 seconds, it’s a perfect terrorist weapon. The use of Sarin was banned in 1997 under the UN chemical weapons convention. Chlorine Gas will also kill you pretty quickly, and obviously chlorine isn’t banned, but chlorine stinks. The 1925 Geneva Protocol specifically prohibits the use of Gas in Warfare, but apparently allows the use of chemical weapons within a state’s own borders in a civil conflict. So it wouldn’t actually be completely illegal for Syrian forces to use Chlorine Gas on rebels in Idlib Province.
However, the rights, wrongs, culprits, retaliations, and possible solutions for this terrible incident wasn’t what struck me about President Trump’s words during his Rose Garden Press Conference. My first thought was that Mr. Trump didn’t sound ‘Presidential’. His presentation skills were, quite frankly, terrible.
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a ‘presentation’ by President Trump, but anytime a President of The United States of America speaks, shouldn’t he radiate authority, clarity, confidence, gravitas, and complete command of his brief? For me, Mr Trump just sounded like an amateur speaker at a golf club tournament.
The President committed the cardinal sins of deviation, hesitation, and repetition. I have a strong feeling that Mr. Trump speaks totally ‘off the cuff’, and ‘shoots from the hip’. At the same time I believe that Mr. Trump has spent far too long using facile social media such as Twitter, and not long enough reading modern history written by statesmen such as Winston Churchill.
Listen to one of Mr Churchill’s great speeches, such as the ‘Finest Hour’, and then listen to Mr Trump on Syria, and note the differences. If you like, you can also listen to someone like the actor Morgan Freeman, who sounds far more ‘Presidential’ than President Donald Trump.
The question is; does sounding and acting like a great president, make you a great president? Well, partly it does. Some say that John F. Kennedy was a great president, and that his greatest speech was his 100 days speech. All I know is that Kennedy ‘sounds’ like a great President, and sadly Trump doesn’t, not quite, not yet. Although Mr Trump does have a pretty cool sense of humour, and maybe that’s why a woman like Hillary Clinton couldn’t get herself elected.
Some say that a man should ‘fake it to make it’, and that looking and sounding like a leader is nine-tenths of the battle. All I know is that presentation skills are part of urban survival skills and something every man should learn.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
prisoner of insanity writes
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captive in a locked mind
camera behind locked doors
the empty vodka bottle is unkind
imagination’s running distant shores
inhabited in gloom and blackness defined
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
travel broadens the mind
To travel is to take a journey into yourself.
Doing a little research on something else, I was bored enough to read a narrow-minded American’s opinion of visit to England, which pissed me off somewhat. Here are some real facts about Americans;
64% of Americans do not own a passport.
In states such as; Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina only about 25% of US citizens own a valid passport.
When most Americans visit another country it’s to either Mexico or Canada.
Annually, less than 5% of Americans travel overseas.
More than half of all Americans have never been outside of America.
Most Americans have not been to more than 5 US states.
Many Americans have never been more than 100 miles from where they were born.
The commonest complaints of Americans visiting England are;
- ‘the bacon is terrible…’
- ‘few ethnicities are represented in London cuisine…’
- ‘there is no Mexican or Latin American food in Britain…’
- ‘British people are cold and hard to befriend…’
- ‘the London subway is unreliable…’
- ‘the British are obsessed with the Queen and Royal Family…’
- ‘it always rains in England…’
- ‘the English drive on the wrong side of the road…’
- ‘British cars are undrivable…’
- ‘free healthcare is such a stupid idea…’
- ‘British TV sucks…’
- ‘refrigerators and washing machines are very small…’
- ‘there’s no dress code…’
- ‘black people are just people…’
- ‘they eat with their forks upside down…’
I’ve travelled all over the world, I’ve worked, lived, and had many vacations in the United States, I have some close friends in America, and none of the above surprises me one little bit. American culture is so in-your-face and all-pervasive, (you only had to watch the recent Oscars ceremony to realise that), that all Americans think the rest of the world is just like America ~ trust me, it isn’t.
In addition, working Americans are allowed and take so few vacation days, (average 10 days a year), that the idea of visiting some of the great cultural sites in Europe just never crosses their minds.
The whole world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a single page. ~ Saint Augustine
Which is why it does not surprise me that;
- Middle America elected Donald Trump as their President.
- Americans are obsessed with social media like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.
- More than 80% of Americans believe in conspiracy theories, and that the Government has kept secrets about UFOs.
- More than 85% of Americans believe in one or more of; aliens, flying saucers, angels, astrology, extra-sensory-perception, Big Foot, ghosts, reincarnation, the healing power of crystals, witchcraft, that they can win money in Las Vegas casinos, and that winning the lottery is a viable financial plan.
- Over 75% of Californians believe that more than 25% of Americans are Gay or Lesbian, (the true figure is 3.5% of Americans are LGBT).
- 25% of Americans believe in creation theory and that the Earth is the centre of the universe.
- 25% of Americans believe they won their Independence from a country other than Great Britain.
- All Americans feel they need a planned and fixed itinerary before setting off on their travels.
A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~ Lao Tzu
To a well-travelled, well-read, and well-educated Englishman like me, it’s very sad that most Americans are like a Monday morning quarterback ~ they think they can talk a good game, but mostly they talk bullshit. Actually, it’s worse than that, most Americans think their opinions matter to others. They need to get out into the world a bit more.
And in England, ‘Trump’ is still another word for ‘Fart’.
Have a nice day.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Bad Day at Black Rock
coping with only one hand
in the film noir bad day at black rock Spencer Tracy plays a one-armed man coping with deception, difficulty, and danger. a few days ago i sprained my right wrist, and from my limited recent experience, coping with anything while you can only use one hand is damn difficult.
typing this blog post with my left hand is much harder than you’d think ~ maybe there are keyboards specially adapted for only one hand.
basic daily tasks ~ washing, shaving, and dressing are taking me a long time and much thought. going out, for example to do some shopping, is just not going to happen. how vulnerable is having only one good hand making me feel?
household chores are unbelievably time consuming ~ cooking and washing up the dirty dishes takes so much effort it will have to be take-out food and ready-meals until i can use both hands again. i did some laundry yesterday, and found i can’t neatly fold clean stuff. if i lost the use of my right hand on a long-term basis, either i’d have to send out my laundry, or get a home-help. (there’s a snag with a home-help for me; nobody is allowed to come into my garret.)
other ordinary tasks such as bed making are problematic with only one good hand ~ and i have no idea how i’m going to tie my shoelaces.
all this makes me realise that if one doesn’t have the usual complement of fully functioning bits, then one’s day-to-day life becomes difficult, slow-paced, frustrating, expensive, and maybe reliant on others.
a really good society would give extra help to those less fortunate, to those with physical, or mental, or other problems. however, i don’t see too many signs that we’re living in a good society right now. at least, my sprained wrist should get better soon, and in England treatment for my sprained wrist is ‘free’. i’m kind of glad that i don’t live in the USA today.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
on the beach
If I could, I would spend all of my time on the beach. My local beach, or in Australia, California, Miami, Texas, or the Windies… just so long as there is the sea and the sky. Lighthouses, a cool villa, and a gorgeous woman would be good too. I would settle for a hut to sleep in. To be honest, I can do without the guy playing the guitar.
Chris Rea ~ On The Beach
please listen responsibly
On The Beach is also the title of a novel by Nevil Shute, which was turned into a chilling movie starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. (I think Ava Gardner has such a look of a dirty vamp about her.)
please watch responsibly
If your girl talks about the 2000 Armand Assante movie, it’s cool if you not only know about the earlier film, but also the book.
As for my beach. It’s lonely, cold, and grey down by the sea today.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
later thoughts of high noon
I like road trips. Once I went on a road trip with a woman who was leaving herself behind. Seems I am always doomed to play Shane to her Mrs. Starrett. It could have been worse, she could have left me when I needed her most.
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The only man I have ever been afraid of is myself
sometimes real men stand up to be counted.
please listen responsibly to the lyrics
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Money Advice
Money ~ we all have the same problems. How to get money, how to get more money, and what do we do with it when we’ve got some money? Trust me on this one ~ MONEY IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT.
My best guess is that most of the people who read my blog don’t have 30 years in the money trade, or have a Masters in Finance, and another in Banking, along with a shed-load of other qualifications, so we’ll start working on 1.01 Money. (If you are a money expert, please feel free to comment, and disagree with whatever I say, but you better be damn right or I will make you look stupid.)
Money by itself is worthless. Money only has value by the nature of the things you can do with it. And mostly you can do 3 things with money.
- Money as a medium of exchange. Money is an intermediate in the exchange of goods or services. You go to work for money, and then you swap the money for the stuff you actually want and need. You don’t want the money, you want what the money can get for you.
- Money as a measure of value. The amount of money you have determines what you can get for your money. If you have a lot of $ or £ or whatever, you can get a lot of stuff. We know how much stuff we can get because everything is conveniently priced in money. The value of your time is also measured in money. (there is a price for everthing, up to and including sex)
- Money as a store of value. Instead of buying more and more stuff you don’t need right now, you just keep money in expectation that you can buy the stuff you need at sometime in the in future.
Money is a piss poor very bad store of value, especially right now. Just how bad depends on how you warehouse your money. The worst store of value is lending money to a friend, at 0% interest, on the expectation that you will get it back. Next worst is actual cash, then various types of bank accounts, and then managed funds and so forth…
ALL Money Loses Value Over Time. Thinking that your money will be worth just as much, or more, in the future is the biggest confidence trick that Governments and the Finance Industry have ever pulled. However you keep your money, from cash to in your pension fund / 401(k), the amount of stuff you could have bought with the money you have put in, over time, will be a hell of a lot more than the stuff you can actually buy when you eventually come to take it out.
Why Store Value In Money? So, why bother with a pension / 401(k) / managed fund? Why not just buy stuff right now, and keep it for when you need it? There are a couple of reasons:
- Security. Unless your money is in a very dodgy bank, the chances are it will still be there when you need it to exchange for stuff. You can’t really say the same for anything much else, including the value of your home. (Insurance is another topic, for a future date.)
- Liquidity. You need some money that’s easily got at. So, what if everything you own, every last penny save for the few dollars in your purse, is invested in your home? The snag is, what if you need money next Monday? Money is very liquid, while all other assets have lower degrees of liquidity. In general terms, the less liquid your assets, the more likely they are to increase in value over time.
So what does that mean to the poor working stiff?
- Don’t have a lot of cash on hand, or a lot of money in the bank.
- Have some cash, some assets you can confidently sell in a few days ~ without having to have a fire sale. Also have some long-term secure assets, and here, property has traditionally been the best long-term way to hold your wealth.
- Do not ever pay for financial advice. (up to and including from me.)
Please also read my post Money. Feel free to comment or ask questions.
Next Monday’s post will be about some ways the average working stiff can make their money really work for them ~ instead of the other way around.
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jack collier
email; jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Real Men Don’t Dig Chick-Flicks
A female friend of mine had a hunch that I would not like a movie she had recently enjoyed. So, just to prove a point to herself, she spent 40 minutes telling me every damn detail of the film’s scenario, characters, and plot. There’s 40 minutes out of my life I can never get back. Judging by what she told me in that long, long, 40 minutes, the only reason any man would sit through that movie, (or anything like it), is in the hope he would deserve sympathy sex afterwards.
In case my friend is in any doubt that I really, really, don’t want to watch a movie like the one she just described to me in such excruciating detail, here are some of the movies I like best.
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Come to think of it, my friend did once make me sit all the way through an even worse film, (including the out~takes), than the distressingly stultifying chick flick she’s recently told me all about, (and I mean all about).
Some of my favourite movies that didn’t make the cut; Bambi, Bullit, A Bridge Too Far, Casablanca, The Cruel Sea, Die Hard, Ben Hur, Groundhog Day, High Society, North by Northwest, The Searchers, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty, Vanishing Point, Young Frankenstein, and many, many more. Some of which are rom-com, but none is a damn annoying depressing chick-flick…
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for those who don’t really get irony
this is a ‘tongue in cheek’ post
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Magic Often Works
It doesn’t matter if you believe in magic, or not.
What matters is that the magic believes in magic.
There is a magic of the tides, and power in the moon, the stars, and the sea. If you want to rid yourself of something, write its name in the sand on a falling tide, say your prayer and invocation, and the sea will carry whatever you have named away from you.
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I no longer suffer from insane jealousies.
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Today I had a rising tide in my favour. The rising tide will bring your wish, your prayer, your invocation to you.
Given one prayer, one wish to the Goddess, what should I ask to be brought to me? What would you write in the sand?
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I know how this magic works, at least I think I do. What I am certain of is that this magic works for me. And, now I wait.
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jackcollier7@talktalk.net
my teenage crush
Stars I’ve ever had a crush on?
A girl I know raised that topic, and I had to think about it. To begin with, men of my generation don’t really use English like ‘have a crush on.’ Secondly, have I ever felt hopelessly attracted to a female from stage, screen, or the music industry?
Well, turns out I was. And, turns out she is well before your time, (really she’s well before my time too).
Jane Russell. The eccentric billionaire, aircraft designer, and film mogul Howard Hughes once built a special bra better to display her magnificent cleavage in a western movie. This scene almost finished up on the cutting-room floor becuase the censors thought it was too erotic for American audiences. How sad would that have been?
Powerful body, fabulous legs, magnificent décolletage, sexy face, luscious lips…
And, she could even do comedy. The question is; are there any ‘up to date stars’ I find almost as sexy? (or even sexier?)
Shania Twain has pretty good legs and shoulders too.
All very reprehensible and adolescent stuff I should have grown out of long ago. But, am I sorry I still find these quite sexy clips a turn-on? Hell no!
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jackcollier7@talktalk.net
