I AM AN ADDICT

ad·dic·tion

/əˈdikSH(ə)n/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.

I admit it - I am an addict. They say the first thing an addict must do to deal with their problem is to acknowledge they have it. So here it goes.

I am addicted to reading and writing online.  They call it social media addiction, but that doesn't seem to cover it in my opinion.

I am addicted to reading about trends, religion, business, philosophy and all sorts of things. I have subscribed to dozens of websites and YouTube channels. Nearly all I do on line is free, but I do have paid subscriptions to two Torah study sites and the Daily Wire.

Most of what I read and watch is serious and intelligent. I'd even put satire into that category. Others are just hillarious.  For example I find Key & Peele skits to be brilliantly funny.

My reading material sources also include audio books. I do lots of those!  I prefer non-fiction. In addition I spend about six hours a week studying Torah and just reading the Bible.

What I do NOT do is watch much TV! Whatever Mary has on is fine in the background as long as it isn't political.  Preferably it's sports! Golf, hockey, tennis, football, baseball even the Hallmark Channel - anything but politics!  When I do watch TV it is an awesome show on Netflix that I binge on my phone or tablet with headphones.

Here is how I explain the reasons for my reading and writing addiction.

I love thinking about the world and trying to understand the big picture and what is underlying events and behavior.

I enjoy getting below the surface and developing theories and explanations for what is happening in the world.

My intense joy from religious faith is fed heavily through reading and writing.

I take pleasure in trying to offer out insights. It delights me to help others see a positive perspective which may be different than their own.

When I am on Facebook, to me it feels like I am at a giant party with almost everyone I know. I have the sence that I am socializing with my friends.  Listening to some, striking up conversations with a few, avoiding certain folks and basically enjoying one another's company.

Facebook feeds my curiosity and interests.  It also gives me a medium to test out thoughts and opinions. I am very open and trusting, but if I don't feel safe with someone I simply block them or just stop following them.

I will tolerate differences of opinion. Many of my friends are very Liberal and progressive, whereas I am a Libertarian Conservative. But I have received considerable encouragement from friends with polar opposite political views. I find that as long as people's hearts & intentions are kind, the capacity for tolerance is very high. For me personally the key is that I have no expectations that anyone will change who they are because of me.  I am responsible for me, period.

Things can get tricky, and I do draw the line at being disrespectful or hurtful.  I have had a couple of run-ins, but very few considering the time I invest and how expressive I am.  I'm not intimidated or fearful. It's just that I prefer not to waste my time.

Back to why I am addicted . . .

It feels good when I get a positive reaction. It is especially satisfying to me when I get the sense that I have helped someone else in any constructive way.

I am addicted to the endorphins that are produced for me through reading and writing.

I read and write on social media, but that isn't the only place. I write three other blogs besides Ritter's Rants & Rumblings. The other three blogs are for my business.  It is essential to my business that I build content which generates organic traffic to my websites.

1. GoldMine Success
2. Get a Better CRM
3. Better Business CRM

I also write email messages that I broadcast out to thousands of businesses every month.

Occasionally I write an article for the Jewish Federation's monthly newspaper The VOICE.

Looking back in my life, writing isn't new. I wrote personal journals when I was in my teens and early twenties.

Back in the early 1990's, I enjoyed writing and delivering speeches for the Poughkeepsie Area Toastmasters Club. Evidently those weren't too bad because they chose me to be the area's Toastmaster of the Year in 1993. I am particularly proud of that even though it feels like a lifetime ago.

For 10+ years while I was an Adjunct Professor teaching Direct Response Advertising at Marist College I enjoyed writing on marketing subjects.

I tried writing a book on marketing psychology based on a theory I had worked on developing.  I did a couple of lectures on it at the time which were well received. But regrettably I never finished the book.

Back nearly 30 years ago when I was President of the Dutchess County Realtors Association, I somewhat enjoyed writing the President's speech for the annual dinner.

For two years, while I was President of Vassar Temple, I would write a column for the monthly Temple bulletin.  I wrote about 20 articles.  That was very enjoyable for me!  I also especially liked writing my Temple President speeches during the High Holy Days those two years!

I like writing for my friends on social media. Which is where my addiction has caused me the most trouble.

My friends on Facebook are people who mean a lot to me personally.  Some of them are friends I grew up with.  These are 45+:year relationships in some cases!:

I enjoy trying to stimulate my friends. I enjoy sharing with them - both ways.  I take the greatest pleasure in pleasing them. And you bring out the best in me!  Which brings me to the main reason I write.

Fortunately I don't have to write that explanation here because this article is already long enough. And because I already wrote that explanation once before. In fact, it was the subject of MY FIRST blog post nine years ago.

For all these reasons and others I am addicted.  And like anyone with an addiction, I have hurt the ones I love most of all. Therefore my addiction is hurting me.

So I'm going to seek help with my addiction.  I'm sure I can improve.

Lest you think this post is intended to be snarky, I want to be clear. I do have an addiction.  And the points in this post are sincere explanations  Regardless of whether it is justifiable or understandable, it is causing pain and anguish. So I am seriously trying to figure out how to deal with it.  It'll take some time on the couch.

Fortunately I do like gardening very much. Perhaps it is time to spend more time doing that.

COULD THIS FIX AMERICA?

The other day I heard that "having an argument can be healthy."

Which raised a question in my mind. How does one have a healthy argument? So I googled it.  What I found was interesting.

As you'd expect, there are many articles/tips on how to have a "healthy argument."  Here is a link to one such article with super tips for arguments in a relationship.

Naturally my search on the subject  brought me to a lot of material on "how to win an argument." That vein had nothing to do with my inquiry but it is understandable why it came up in my search. I will only say this on that.

Of course, it is one thing to win a "debate" or a court case, and another to win an argument in a relationship with a loved one.  That reminds me of two old adages: "Pick your battles" and "win the battle but lose the war."  (Dam the ego!)

There is another perspective concerning "healthy arguments" that you might not have anticipated. That got me thinking on another level.

Arguments can make us smarter. In other words, arguments can raise our intelligence.  This article explains.

Arguments help the way we see and understand a problem.
Arguments provide meaningful alternative perspectives.
Arguments reveal flaws.

Arguments can lead to new approaches and trigger fresh ideas for solving problems. 

By the same token, stifling or silencing other views diminishes the potential that an argument offers. If this happens, people on all sides of the problem lose!

As I read that article the thought occurred to me. There is a potential flip-side to the terrible disagreements in our society today.  I began to wonder. That led me to the following question which is also the basis for the title of this blog post.

CAN WE FIX AMERICA BY FIXING HOW WE ARGUE?

Then I formed that question into the premise of a possible argument:

IF we improve the way we are arguing we have a chance of fixing the things we are arguing about!  Let me repeat what I just said.

IF WE FIX HOW WE ARGUE WE CAN FIX AMERICA'S PROBLEMS.

To illustrate the potential value of fixing the way we argue I will state it more specifically:

• If we fix the way we argue about the problems associated with climate change we can fix some of the problems associated with climate change. 
• If we fix the way we argue about the problems associated with gun violence we can fix some of the problems associated with gun violence. 
• If we fix the way we argue about the problems associated with homelessness we can fix some of the problems associated with homelessness. 

I realize that what I am saying is not entirely realistic. I also recognize that I am oversimplifying the solution to many of society's most complex problems.

By the same token, you must agree that there is too much "stinken thinken" in the world.  (That phrase is a quote of one of my favorite humans named Zig Ziglar. He used to love to say that when he was alive. I miss old Zig.)

In conclusion, if it is true, and if arguing can help us to more intelligently solve problems, then it is reasonable to believe that we increase the potential for solutions by being more open to healthy disagreements.

On a very personal note I want to add this.

As a Libertarian Conservative; as a person with strong views on faith; as a "thinker" who cares about the world that people I love are growing up in - I often share thoughts that people don't agree with. It can lead to arguments. Sadly, that isn't turning out so well. Some wish I'd keep my thoughts to myself.

I know I can NOT change the world by myself!  I'm not a fool. But I have two children and grandchildren that I love with all my heart and I am trying desperately to do my best in the simple ways that I have. By writing.

🙏God give me the wisdom to know.❤

THIS YEAR WILL BE FILLED WITH STARK CONTRAST

THE CONTRASTS COULDN'T BE GREATER THAN THEY ARE GOING TO BE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

The inevitability of Biden's demise is palatable.  And Elizabeth Warren is too annoying to be President.

As it should, running for President reveals nearly everything about a person. IT EXPOSES THEM. The process is designed to let the American voter know as much as possible about the candidates.

The lengthy primary selection whittles down the choices and ensures the strongest and hardest working individuals survive to serve our country as President.  Sadly, the special interests, money, biased media, powerful political parties and the Deep State all corrupt and rig the process.

With Biden's fate virtually sealed, it is looking more and more like the final Presidential race will be between Socialist Sanders and Capitalist Trump.  That would be perfect!

Two old white men from the northeast punching it out. And yet, the contrasts couldn't be greater. 

Here are a few of the contrasts. You'll be able to tell who is who even without names:

• A Godless self-hating Jew against a man with orthodox Jewish children and advisers. One who starts his day with a prayer breakfast and evokes God and blessings in practically every speech.
• A person who shows contempt for Israel against one who is loved by the nation of Israel and is literally their hero. 
• A fan of Communist dictators that honeymooned in the Soviet Union and doesn't seem to like anything about America against a man whose entire Presidency is based on a platform of Patriotism and the greatness of America. 
• A man who has lived off the taxpayers and hasn't had private job in his lifetime against a man who created thousands of jobs and built a massive business creating millions in tax revenues.
• A man that believes in taxation to take away the wealth that belongs to them and redistribute it to others who didn't earn it and a philanthropist who gives away his own wealth to the peopleand causes he believes in and chooses.
• A person in politics all his life against a relative newcomer.  
• A Washington insider against the ultimate Washington outsider. 
• One whose Party can't stand him and will do underhanded tricks to sabotage him against the man who has united his Party and has extremely high approval ratings. 
• The most unsuccessful and unproductive legislator in Congress against a man whose name and life story are synonymous with success and entrepreneurship. 
• One who has accomplished nothing over 40 years in Congress against the one who has accomplished more tremendous and difficult things in three years than anyone in history.
• A politician who accumulated wealth by being a politician against a man who lost billions of his own money pursuing his passion to make America great.
• A person who believes in the power of free markets to create opportunities and jobs and a better way of life for the poor against a man who doesn't.
• A person who is bitter and angry at the world and who is constantly scolding Americans against a man who is joyful, funny and people love to be around and is constantly praising others.
• A man who we never see with their family against a man who is almost always surrounded by family, is often holding his wife's hand and has children who have been loyal supporters his entire life. 

THIS IS A YEAR FILLED WITH CONTRASTS. 

THE CONTRASTS WILL EXPOSE THE TRUTH.

TRUTH DESTROYS EVIL.

The truth is that President Trump is MAKING AMERICA GREATER and Bernie Sanders would destroy it!

DESTRUCTION and REBIRTH
🙏STAY CALM🙏

TRUTH IS ON THE MARCH

TRUTH is on the march in the Senate since the House Managers wrapped up their opening arguments for the articles of Impeachment.

0101■2020 is going to be a year of contrasts. There is no better example than the contrast between the House Managers' prosecution and the response by the President's defense team.

All day Monday the Senate heard the truth from the Right side.

The President's defense team is presenting the Senate and the American people enough to know:

1. The Biden family is corrupt
2. There is justification for the President's actions
3. This impeachment is a hoax

Once the President's response to the House Managers is concluded the Senate will have sufficient knowledge and understanding to reach a decision on:

• The need to call witnesses
• Whether the House Managers have made their case
• To remove or acquit the President of the United States

So what happens next???
There is a lot of talk about the Senate calling witnesses.  I don't believe that will happen. In fact, I don't believe the Senate will even be given the opportunity to debate the question and option on the need for witnesses. Here is why . . .

Under the Impeachment Rules established by the FULL Senate, the President's defense team has the RIGHT TO CALL THE VOTE!!

Under Senate rules the President's defense team WILL EXECUTE IT'S RIGHT TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRESIDENCY.  They will ACCELERATE the impeachment process. They will STOP wasting the Senate's time on the hoax. They will SAVE we the taxpayers money.  They will SPARE THE NATION!

THE SENATE WILL VOTE TO ACQUIT. 

Then what?
The House Democrats and the mainstream will be incensed. Their hopes and egos will be smashed!  How will they respond? In a fit of rage!

The Democrats will try to stir up rage in the public - the voters!  The Democrats will try to carry that rage all the way into the 2020 election.

THE DEMOCRATS PLAN WILL BACKFIRE. 

The conspirators to overthrow the election will be destroyed by their own egos and the hate that is in their hearts. The truth will expose them and destroy their Party's chances in the Presidential election.

The hoax is over, thank heavens. But we haven't heard the last of it.  Because the tables have turned on the sick corrupt liars in Washington that will do anything for the power and money.

Since 0101■2020 TRUTH has been on the march! The Truth is going to transform our Country - it is going to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

The baseless impeachment hoax is over, but the DESTRUCTION has only just begun! THE TRUTH IS GOING TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD.

The TRUTH will set you free.
John 8:31

This whole week it is as though Moses is speaking in Congress.  After the vote we will hear the GREAT SCREAMING.

DESTRUCTION and REBIRTH
🙏STAY CALM🙏

TRYING TO IMAGINE THE UNIMAGINABLE

GENESIS 4.10 -- And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.

Trying to remember the Holocaust is like trying to count the stars in the sky.

One cannot count the stars in the darkest night sky. Only the Creator can count the stars. And only God can imagine the Holocaust.

The Holocaust is truly unimaginable for any of us. It is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE for the human mind to imagine the Holocaust. Try it and you'll see.  You'll give up within 5 minutes!!

Try to imagine the collection, transportation, documentation, stripping, shaving, humiliation, torture, murder and disposal of 1 person. Try to imagine an entire family you love being torn apart. Children ripped from parents. Parents ripped from children. Now try to imagine it for 10 people you know. Then try it for 100 people. Now for 1000, then for 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 human beings. 

There is NO WAY for any of us to imagine what happened to 1,000,0000 + 1,000,0000 +1,000,0000 + 1,000,0000 +1,000,0000 +1,000,0000 human BEINGS.

There is NO conceivable way to imagine the incalculabe horrors of SIX MILLION INDIVIDUAL people. There is no way to imagine the futures each them were robbed of and all the lives that would have been.

Six million is the number that is used. Even if the actual number was 6,000,001, that ONE person mattered! What if that ONE PERSON was YOU. Would you want to be rounded off for all of history, never to even be counted?

We are incapable of imagining the 16,438 individual birthdays EVERY day of evey year that took place in concentration camps. We are incapable of imagining each persons cries. 

We are incapable of imagining six million personalities. Men, woman and children, each special in their own way, with their own story, hopes and private thoughts --- one by one, being killed.  YOU CAN'T DO IT. IT'S UNIMAGINABLE!

The night lasts about 12 hours.  Even if we had a hundred dark nights we couldn't count the all the stars.

The Holocaust lasted 2251 of the darkest nights in world history. 321 weeks filled with fear and children being torn from their mother and father's arms.

Incalculable last moments of loved ones looking desperately into each other's eyes until their connection was broken. Horrified faces seared into a mind's eye.  An image taken with them into the fire.

Or worse, for the survivor who spent a thousand more nights seeing in their nightmares again and again their dear one being taken from them. Reliving the horror. But needing to bury the memories because they are too painful to recall.

Survivors who are fewer every year. Survivors who soon won't be with us to help us remember so we never forget.

It is UNIMAGINABLE.  But I can imagine this . . .

I can picture myself as a young man with a 28 year old beautiful wife. She has long flaming red hair. We have two little children. A 5 year old boy and tiny 3 year old girl with long blond hair.

I can imagine the Nazi soldiers breaking down the doors of our home. Powerful scary men with guns swooping up our little ones as they screamed for help. They yelled mommy, mommy, daddy help. My wife was smacked to the floor. And me, shamed and powerless to stop the soldiers.  I didn't even have words to say that could help my children. Their daddy couldn't save them and their mother couldn't kiss and hold them. Then, all of us were dragged from our home and taken away.

That is as far as I can imagine.  I cannot bear to imagine a moment more. It is UNIMAGINABLE.

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

WHERE WAS GOD? NO, THE QUESTION IS WHERE WERE YOU??

GENESIS 3.9 -- And the Lord God called to man, and He said to him, ל֖וֹ אַיֶּֽכָּה --"Where are you?"  

REMEMBERING SACRED GROUND AND A SACRED CAUSE

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT TO CONSIDER . . .

The other day I made another visit to sacred ground.  To a field on FREEMAN'S Farm near Saratoga New York.

To remember a time when America's fate could a have gone another way. However, Providence favored the rebels.

It was the Winter of 1777. BEFORE the French supported the Continental Army in our Revolution against the British. The Revolution was not going well. And the battle of Saratoga was pivotal.

The Continental Army General Gates chose the high ground for his stand against British General Burgoyne. Burgoyne was leading the British on a campaign that planned to take every Continental Fort as he led his troops southward from Canada along the Hudson River. They had just taken Fort Ticonderoga to the north.

General Gates and his rag-tag ill-equipped, starving and freezing men had built fortifications to hold the high ground. They were as ready as they could be to face the fire of the most powerful army in the world that had never been defeated.

Many of Gates's soldiers were militia who walked long distances from other colonies to join the fight. They left behind family and friends. Many left their blood, limbs and lives on the field of battle. There was no treatment for PTSD for those whose body survived.

Their valor and sacrifice turned the direction of the Revolutionary War.

Today, with so much confusion about America's identity it is worth remembering.  They fought for self-determination and they died for LIBERTY! NOT SOCIALISM!!

They fought to Make America!

MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN

The tables have turned.  0101■2020 will be a year of contrasts.

For 40+ years we have watched Iranians burn American and Israeli flags.  Thanks to President Trump's foreign policy we see this FIRST. (Watch the video.) They aren't chanting "death to America" now!!

The totalitarian theocratic leaders in Iran are struggling to hold on. Protests are breaking out across the country.

OUR PRESIDENT IS MASTERFUL!!!
The Ayatollah is in check and the Ayatollah knows that his next move may put him in checkmate. Consider how President Trump has him boxed with the following steps:

1. WARNINGS - Trump has issued public warnings.
a)  If the Ayatollah sheds American blood the USA will make the leadership pay an enormous price.
b) Stop killing the protesters.
c) Stating that the USA has already identified over 50 targets and is ready to strike them underscores the stakes and puts impossible pressure and stress on the regime to figure out how to defend these sites. Now the USA intelligence can observe the Iranian defense movements to calculate which targets Iran is most concerned about. Very revealing!

2. ACTIONS - Trump's actions, such as killing Soleimani, make his warnings and threats highly credible.

They also make it clear that Trump is targeting Iran's leadership and it's ability to wage war and commit terrorism, NOT the Iranian people!  Iran's people now know they have more to fear from their leadership than from Trump.

Trump's actions are in sharp contrast to Obama's appeasement actions such as turning his back on the "green movement" Iranian protesters and sending piles of cash. Trump immediately walked away from the insane Iran Nuclear deal which Obama made despite the stern objections of both Israel and most in the USA Congress, including Democrats. Trump issued crushing sanctions that have drained the Iranian regime's capacity to terrorize the region.

3. READINESS = DETERRENCE - Notice how Trump keeps repeating that he has rebuilt the USA'S military.  Readiness and tremendous military superiority coupled with his "warnings" and "credible actions" are a powerful deterrent.

4. SOLIDARITY - From the beginning of his Administration with his historical Middle East Summit to his recent now famous Farsi tweet, Trump has made his high praise and support for the Iranian PEOPLE (Persians) clear.

The Iranian people have come to view their own government as the enemy and the USA President as their ally in their struggle for Liberty.  We share solidarity in our desire for freedom and Democracy. This is profound!!

5. SOVEREIGNTY - Since President Trump's tremendous U.N. General Assembly speech almost two years ago, the President has consistently stressed SOVEREIGNTY! By emphasizing "Sovereignty" Trump has countered the "imperialist" reputation that our enemies in the Middle East, particularly the Ayatollah, have accused the USA of for nearly a half century.

6. A CLEAR NON-NEGOTIABLE DEMAND - In sharp contrast to the Iranian nuclear deal by Obama which put Iran on the road to nuclear weapons 3 years from now, Trump immediately declared clear demands. Iran must never have nuclear weapons. Iran must stop promoting terrorism and threatening the region.


MAKE AMERICA GREAT = MAKE IRAN GREAT.
Trump wants every national leader to focus on making their country and it's people prosperous. Trump has sent the message to the people of Iran and others around the world that he believes -

All human beings deserve the same inalienable right to Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Trump's recurring message is that every country should be great and celebrate it's unique history.

With respect to Iran, Trump wants what's best for the Iranian people more than their leaders do. And now the Iranian people know that. Nothing represents that contrast better than the short video clip of Iranian students refusing to walk on the flags of the USA and Israel.

A WORLDWIDE MESSAGE - The effects of Trump's policies, communications and message have been heard around the world. From Hong Kong to Taiwan to Iran to Europe.

Everywhere where people long for Liberty, prosperity and the right to pursue happiness, Trump and the USA have become the beacon of hope America once was. This may be in one sense the most important way Trump has made America Great again.

DESTRUCTION and REBIRTH
🙏STAY CALM🙏