Do you want to know why Donald Trump doesn’t want to release his tax returns? I’m not a psychic, but I’m pretty sure I know. Trump has made his career peddling the illusion that he was a brilliant and fabulously successful businessman. The truth is far different. He’s a charlatan who routinely swindled smaller vendors and he lost lots of money making bad deals. He’s a liar and a cheat. His entire persona has always been built on the ability to bamboozle gullible people who accepted his bombastic lies. The New York Times has now obtained 10 years of his income tax information — from 1985 to 1994 — and it paints a pictures of a money-losing operation which is completely at odds with his lies about success. Trump has spent his entire adult life pretending to be something he’s not. Tax records would prove he’s been scamming the public — and his ego can’t take that.
Briefly: For those of you who subscribe, thanks so much for reading
Briefly: Colleges being forced to teach high school grads how to read
Briefly: University study about jobless people fails to understand human natureIf you’re waiting to be rescued, what are you still waiting for?
Few of us like to admit that we sometimes need to be rescued.
We like to believe we’re self-sufficient. We like to believe that nothing can stop us. We like to believe that we don’t need outside help. But when we’re honest with ourselves, we all know better.
Have you ever been in trouble and pleaded with God to help you? Those of us who are Christians know what it’s like to pray about our troubles and to ask God for help. But even non-religious people are prone to begging God for help when things get bad enough in their lives.
Have you ever been in the depths of despair — begging to God or the Universe or fate for help — and wondered why the solution you desperately wanted never showed up?
Maybe the answer to your prayer was already right in front of you. Maybe you were ignoring it because it wasn’t what you wanted or expected. Maybe it wasn’t convenient.
I lost my way that night — and it seems I never found my way back
Material things can be replaced, but loved ones worth far more
I don’t claim to know the solution, but the modern church has failedBriefly: Death of teens is reminder how quickly life can be snuffed out
I had another reminder this afternoon how fleeting life can be. When I got to my office Tuesday afternoon after lunch, police had blocked the street off for about a block. It turns out that two teen-agers — a male and a female — drove past our office at about 12:30 and then failed to make the turn at the top of Shades Mountain about a block from us where the road dead-ends into Shades Crest Road. Their SUV went over the top of the mountain and ended up about 150 yards below. Both were dead before rescue workers got to them (and the vehicle was recovered later in the afternoon). It’s just another routine accident, but since it happened right at my office, there’s something powerful to me about knowing these two teens were alive and probably happy just six hours ago. We’re in denial when we put off the lives we need to be living.
Briefly: Being back at this table reminds me of my date with a married woman
Briefly: There’s nothing racist about wanting film casting to match a character
Brief: Trump’s tariffs cost Americans $19 billion in 2018