Parents

Continuing my study of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice”, the second character that stands out for me is a character not spoken of much. The dead father of Portia. We know very little of him, or do we? 

We can assume that Portia’s mother died some time before the story takes place because Shakespeare left her out of the story and had no effect in the story. So Portia’s father was most likely a ‘single dad’. 

We know that he also must have been a very rich man and probably royalty because when Portia learns of Antonio’s debt of 3000 ducats (half a million dollars) she said to pay 6000 ducats or even more if needed, like a million dollars was a small pitance. We also can deduce that Portia was privately tutored because she was smart and learned. Look how fast she learned to act like a lawyer enough to fool the (leader and decision maker)

We can also assume that he was not only loved by Portia, but well respected by her as well since she honored her fathers wishes when she could have simply ignored the instructions left in his will. But what else can we deduce from the story as told by Bill Shakespeare? 

The test alone was also to make sure Portia had a long and successful marriage. The cost of the privelage to partake was that if you chose and chose pooly, you could not ever persue marriage so a life of lonelyness was in your future so just to try to win Portias hand in marrige meant you had to risk everything. That meant only a brave man could be married to Portia. 

And now for the manner of the test. 3 chests which one is made of gold, one of silver and one of lead. The man who chooses the gold chest is only after wealth and the power that comes from having it. The man who chooses the silver chest is also interested in wealth but tries to ‘play it safe’ with his decisions. This will be someone who may compromise his morals or ‘go along to get along’. But the man who chooses the lead box avoids the traps of wealth and chooses wisely and wins the right to marry Portia. 

Portia’s father wanted for his daughter a brave man that would be willing to sacrifice everything for Portia. So even in death, a fathers love influences his childs life. Even though he is not refered to by name, we still learn plenty of Portia’s father and of Portia herself. 

The power of the finger

Yes, you instinctively know the power of what one finger can weild. It can cause emotions to run amok. It can stop an argument, or start one. You see the power of but one finger everywhere around the world. The single digit can express your satisfaction with someone or show unity. A librarian pushes a single digit against his or her lips to indicate you are too loud. The single digit can depress the shutter of a camera that captures a moment of time. A single digit can squeeze the trigger of a gun to save or take a life. But the most powerful expression of what a single digit can weild is to turn off the television or radio. To log off of websites that are engaged in censorship or forcing a differing opinion. Do you allow technology to control you or do you control technology? 

When asked, no one agrees with censorship. It is opposite of freedom. Images of book burnings in WWII Germany are brought to mind when the subject of mass censorship is discussed. If you are free, you have choices but censorship eliminates free expression and choice. So, some might say we don’t have book burnings in modern day America to which I say you are not paying attention. Where do you get your information? Internet, a Google search, a Twitter account, the television via NBC CBS ABC or CNN? 

It has been exposed that all of these sources of information has been comprimised as of late where they have been involved with mass censorship of differing opinions of how Covid-19 should have been handled, any conservative opinions and in the 2020 national elections. 

True investigative journalism is dead only to be replaced with extreme biased and sponsored propaganda. It reminds me of a dysetopian nightmare where the news sources have been replaced with the ministry of truth from George Orwells ‘1984’. 

To take away their power, we must take away their influence in our lives

They loose their power in society when they loose the ability to influence the public, and you. We must publicly laugh and scaugh at them. Shame them, turn your back on them and anyone with those ideals. The ‘power’ button has power in your life, use it. Change the chanel or turn it off. Boycotts work but only if you are dedicated to the the reason why and everyone joins in. 

You heard in history ‘power to the people’, the power resides in your finger as it points the way you will go. Where does your finger point?

👆

OK. I admit that occationally, I have a rodent problem. Living where I do, when the weather starts to cool, rodents search for warmer accomodations and food. Once encamped in your house, they live in the walls and behind cabinets. They search out food from trash and cabinets and pantries. Their ever growing teeth allow them to knaw and chew through plastic, wood, drywall and thin metal. I know because it was a mouse that chewed through steel mesh of my dishwashers drain hose. 

So there are several options to erradicate them. I chose 4 seperate methods;

1: a substance called fresh cab which is a mixture of cedar chips soaked in fir needle oil and peppermint oil. Suppsed to emit a smell that disrupts the rodents ability to smell food.

2: electronic noise emiters that plug into the electrical outlet to create a noise that only the rodents can hear to help create an unacceptible environment.

3: poison traps that smells like food but forces them to bleed out internally. A chemical very similar to blood thinners on steroids

4: old fashioned spring traps that when tripped, snap the backs of the mouse so fast that it can’t react. Quick and painless. 

These are the ways to eliminate, from my house, unwanted rodents. Each method  works differantly and I have found to be effective in my case to reduce the effect of rodent infestation. 

But I started to think that we, Americans, are in the same four mousetraps of communism. Think about it, each of those four methods are being utilized on American citizens each day. 

1: disrupt our ability to aquire food. You first noticed it when trying to buy toilet paper at the begining of the so called covid-19 pandemic. Shortages of meat, grocery staples and other items like firearms and ammo. Stores and other small and mid-sized establishments have gone out of business because of government interferance thereby forcing more and more people to be dependant to government for there meager existance. 

2: noises made to drive us from where we are comfortable. ANTIFA and BLM movement create riots that are not being investigated or prosecuted and in many instances, excussed by and fines paid for by people like Kamala Harris (current VP of the USA) and the likes of George Soros, an evil multi-billionaire who is dedicated in destroying the very fabric of the constitutional USA. These ‘noises’, riots and other destructive ‘noises’ are meant to disturb or disrupt our lives.

3: Chemical addatives meant to hurt us from the inside. Flouride added to the water (a poison added to our toothpaste but not meant to be injested yet added to our water supply. BPA added to plastics that store our food that increases estrogen levels in everyone. Increase in instances of ED (erectile disfunction) and cancer, dimentia, additional health problems that have yet to be explained. Health problems that were never expirienced before.

4: Government regulations, laws, edicts meant to break the back of the working man.  The final ‘snap’ of the trap will be the regulation/confiscation of what can be used to defend yourself with… gun confiscation. That will be the final trap with no escape. 

Communism, liberalism or any form of an ‘ism’ has never worked in the history of mankind. Yet proponants of it think it can and will work if just the right people impliment it. But no one wants it, so they must be tricked into it and conditions made to force it upon others so there is no choice but to accept if not embrace it. 

So this is the current mousetrap facing America right now. Your job is to identify it and stop it before the final ‘snap’ of the trap. Do you now identify the differing traps around you? What are you going to do to avoid these traps? 

My father taught me how to play chess at an early age. I took an interest in it because it was a time for bonding with my dad and it was a game we could play almost anywhere. I used to get frustrated to the point of anger when my dad would win. I did not know yet that the game is easy to learn the basic moves but takes a lifetime to master. After several years of playing, at an age of about 10, I saw that my dad was not giving the game his FULL attention (kind of like a baseball player going up to bat and the pitcher saying to step forward because the batter cant hit far) and I took full advantage of his distraction and was able to win. Those wonderful words “checkmate” caused my dad to stare at the chessboard in utter disbelief. He knew that I had advanced a level that made him pay more attention for future games. Our family had an understanding in that you always played a game at your best so that when someone wins, it was a legitemate win and no one ‘let’ you win, so that day that I won was real. 

Nepoleon Bonapart played chess with many officers in his army because it taught how to plan a battle and avoid traps set by your opponent. The romantic era of chess was around 1700 thru the late 1800’s. Prior to WWII, some stores would employ people to play chess in front of their stores to attract crowds to watch in hopes that some people would shop in the store. One such man, I am told, was Humphrey Bogart. Before his time in Hollywood, he would be paid to play chess in front of a small store so as to attract crowds.

Chess is a game of mental strategy. You have to plan your battle and avoid the traps of your opponent. Because of the unique structure of the game, no game will have the same moves. The chance of two people making the same moves as another two people are astronomical improbableand is statistically impossible. Learning chess expands your mind by forcing you to think ahead, “what will my opponent do if I move here”? is something that you might think as you progress in your experience. That kind of thinking is good in life as well. Critical thinking skills.

Chess can be seen in literature and cinema. Midieval paintings, poems, Star Trek and Ian Flemmings ‘From Russia with Love’ where the villian used chess tactics in espionage. Even in science fantasy movies like ‘X-Men the last stand’ when Magneto says to some of his closer alies ‘You sacrifice your pawns first before you send in your power players’.

I also remember my 1st year college psychology where advertisers use psychology to shape public opinions and public action. I remember an article that I read where alcohol distributors had a skull and crossbones subliminally shadowed in the ice of an adult beverage to indicate danger. Look at the fast food restaurant ‘Wendys’ mascott whos necklace subliminally spells ‘mom’ to indicate the food was like moms. 

So, with Covid-19 going on for over a year now, and with most people getting tired of the new unnatural norm, there are radio and television commercials trying to make you feel guilty if you dont run out and get a covid-19 vaccine. The radio ‘ad’ I listened to this morning was from a supposed church pastor trying to encourage everyone to get vaccinated so we can restart enjoying our God given constitutionally guaranteed rights to go to church. The radio ‘pastor’ claimed it to be unpatriotic not to get the vaccine. 

Now, I am not an ‘anti-vaccer’, but I prefer to wait to see if there are any side effects. This vaccine is a medical miricle and was developed at a record pace, but because the process was ‘rushed’, we just don’t know if there will be any side effects. We also don’t know how long the vaccine will be good for or how it will be effected by the new variants. Also, if John gets the vaccine but Jack doesn’t, John is theoretically protected, right? So why the major push for everyone to get vaccinated? So, I consider myself something betterthan a pawn, so I will wait and take the road less traveled, and see if there are any long lasting side effects before making the decision. And the harder you try to force me to take it, the harder I will fight to keep my freedom to choose. I would rather die of Covid-19 than live under government control. Check-mate