Month: February 2022

It is so hard to stand on the sidelines and see the path to destruction being paved with absolutely no power to stop it. In my life and in business it was like witnessing a slow motion car accident from the street trying to yell and scream and stop all from the collision to come when the pandemic began and the insanity following ensued.

There were so many that did not or would not understand this simple fact — you don’t ever remove something from a space without something else moving in to occupy it. Remember that. Remember it as I will remember vividly those of you that refused to listen. We were ringing the alarm bells for you … you would not wake. Repeat it. You do not EVER remove something from a space without something else moving in to occupy it.

When we shut down small businesses for longer than the promised two weeks, we made it difficult for them to survive. But, that wasn’t enough to crush their spirit. We deemed the large corporations “essential” and drove all the business to them. The spirit of the small business chugged on and they fought and scrapped to stay afloat. Our government decided to pay people more to stay home. That scrapping small business was allowed to open, but with the heavy weight of no returning staff strapped around their necks. Our government than rallied those masses to fight for more pay, but the only ones able to pay it were … you guessed it … the “essential” large corporations. Doors started to shutter and small businesses began to crumble under the weight. But, some continued to fight on with bagged eyes and bloody knuckles. So, our government again allowed the excessive shutdowns to cause a “supply chain crisis” that was completely manufactured to drag on.

Let me quickly explain what creates a “supply chain crisis”. Our big businesses have been allowed to outsource products from China and abroad for cheaper, because they allow slave labor in China and South American countries. The government turned a blind eye as they assembled them in the US to be allowed to add a “Made In America” sticker on it, but it was a lie. When you force people and then pay them extra to stay home, you have no one to ship, drive, unload or assemble those products here. They come slower. When they come slower, small businesses take longer to distribute those products, that means it takes longer to bill for those products … that means the small business cannot maintain the cashflow to support payroll and people lose their jobs.

The “supply chain crisis” isn’t simply not getting products on time. It is the bullet to the head to a small business that is already on the ground, gasping for air, catering to the wounds created by the forced shutdowns. It’s the death blow. A slow painful death of a 1000 cuts and if they still refuse to fall, the government made sure to cover their mouth and hold their hand there as they cut energy production and drove the costs of everything that requires fuel up to the point where they can’t afford to breathe.

And, when they fall … the larger corporations have been waiting in the wings to sweep up the remnants of their businesses like ashes — their employees, their customers — all theirs now.

As some of you went on like sleepwalking zombies over masks, mandates, “staying safe” the small businesses, the backbones of our country were dying. As some of you yammered on about proper pronouns and which bathroom to use the corporations were collecting the bodies of the destruction you were creating. While some of you were tearing down statues and creating autonomous zones, burned and looted OUR country … our ENEMIES were watching.

And, like any sharks in the water they smelled blood and pounced.

I woke up this morning to Russia attacking the Ukraine. Ukraine is not a democracy, we need to get that completely straight. It shouldn’t become our issue to send our men and women to die to protect them. Sanctions will do nothing, especially if China chooses to back them. (And, they probably will) But, what this morning triggered was the death to our Superpower status. China will watch how this goes and invade Taiwan. With their combined resources and how much our career politicians in Washington have spent decades selling our country off to them, the United States as we knew it is over.

So, those of you that still run around in masks whining about a broken fingernail being an “existential crisis” and scurrying to your useless college class run by a Marxist professor that will continue to tell you how awful our country is and was … you won’t have to fret … you destroyed it. As you lock up truckers without bail in Canada and turn a blind eye to the civil liberties of protestors in America, spit on cops until the good retire, expel anyone with opposing views from the military, healthcare, the INTERNET … you crush the only people left that would have the strength to fight back!

As you slept, a superpower died. You handed it over to large corporations and our foreign enemies to puppeteer us as their serfs.

Are you proud of yourselves? Because as you drive down the street of your town, rolling passed small businesses and family-owned restaurants that you destroyed to fill up your car with $6/gallon gas … I hope … if even for a fleeting second you think of those words … you never remove anything from a space without something moving in to occupy it. America was “systematically” everything wrong to you … I hope our replacements treat you better. But … I’ll ruin the surprise … they won’t.

I talk. A lot. I mean a WHOLE lot. I firmly blame my mother for it. She would encourage me to tell her stories as a small, small child when my dad and sister were busy at school or work and respond, “Oh Laura, that’s so interesting. Tell me more.” I’d then babble on about God knows what … Barbies, the latest episode of Sesame Street, why the sky is blue … I’m honestly not sure what a 4-year-old has to say of interest. But, I was CONVINCED I must be because my mom said so!

So, as you can imagine as time passed how shocked I was that talking a lot was probably not always the best way to go. Teachers would comment on it on my report cards, I would annoy other people who CLEARLY did not find me as interesting as good old mum, and often I would reveal far too much because once my yap trap started going it became difficult to stop the flow.

Growing up is hard. Quite hard. But, necessary.

Communication is an interesting thing. We all often view it as a one way street. I talk, you listen. But, one of the most important lessons I learned over time is often it is best to sit back and listen. Really listen. Every cell in your body will want to interject (especially if you are as loquacious as I am), but it’s often a fool’s game to interject. People never lead with who they really are. Not in friendships, not in relationships and not in conversations. They come at you with their elevator speech, the best version of themselves, the story they tell others and even themselves.

The truth always lies somewhere downstream.

I loathe cancel culture, whatever that God-forsaken term even means now. But, I also despise censorship and hypocrisy. It may shock many to know that I don’t think Whoopi Goldberg should have been suspended for her self-centered, profoundly idiotic, egocentric comment about the Holocaust and race. Let the lunatic talk.

Another amazing piece advice my mother gave me was to, “let them be them”. I have had many haters over my life. Whether it be going through a divorce and an ex not exactly being a fan of mine or petty women spreading gossip; I’ve been a target like I assume many have of loose talk or actions. And, again, every cell in your body screams to run to correct a lie or protect yourself from untrue or unkind words.

During those times, my mother would say, “let them be them. The truth always comes out.” I hated that advice. It went against all the fighter in me. Until you learn, it takes more strength to be silent.

Let Whoopi, BE Whoopi.

Let her run her mouth and expose just how ridiculous her “VIEW” is. Respond by turning the show off and never even letting your television accidentally play it. They live off of controversy that drives ratings, that drives commercial sales, that pays for their bloated salaries to spew garbage. We have all the control. We are just tricked into believing we don’t.

Just as I defended Joe Rogan’s right to speak, I defend Whoopi’s. Freedom of Speech needs to become equally applied across the board. Once censorship begins and is allowed, it then comes down to whomever is in power controls the voice. They don’t deserve that power. WE DO. We also remove from people the ability to really see into the characters and thoughts of the people they think they admire. Let people like Whoopi keep yammering their absurdity on until they reveal their true character. Canceling them or censoring them just makes them learn the right things to say … but NOT the right way to think.

Growing up is hard. But, necessary.

And, growing up right now and forever should have entailed these lessons:

• Know when to talk and when to shut up.

• Let people talk enough to reveal who they are.

• If you don’t agree with someone, TURN THEM OFF.

• Let assholes like Whoopi, BE Whoopi and respond with a click of a remote.

It’s that simple.

Growing up is HARD. But, dear God … it’s so necessary right now.