Born in Brooklyn NY to an Irish/German Catholic Family.Went to Catholic school til 5th grade when we moved to Staten Island at the end of 1964. My mom had just given birth to my brother who was her 11th child, so it was time for a house, despite her having lived in that grand apt building since she was born. My grandmother and aunt , uncle & cousins still lived there and my aunt & uncle still live there today.
Adjusting from Brooklyn life to what we considered virtual country life on the south shore of Staten Island, where it was still wooded and had some farms and some people had horses, the trains had wicker seats and were above ground. Kids didnt like the Brooklynites moving across the VZ Bridge but we felt different as our Dad found our house before the Bridge was done, back when we rode the 69th St Ferry on weekends when my dad took us all house hunting.
Anyway, my first political encounter was in 1959. I went to the Catholic school next to our apt bldg, so like the other kids in the bldg, I was allowed to go out to play. I remember hearing adults talking about the Catholic running for President and they referred to the other as ‘the dirty protestant’, lol. What did I know? I was 5 yrs old so at best I mimicked what I heard.,
So there I was outside the school, asking people that entered who they were voting for the Catholic or the dirty Protestant? It wasnt long before a tall police office came and took me by the hand and asked where I belonged. I said it was my school and that I belonged there. He then asked where I lived and I pointed next door so he told me to bring him to my parents so I did. He told them I was not allowed to be electioneering and that they shouldn’t have sent me out to do so. They denied sending me and so did I. The cop asked where I heard the phrases I had been repeating and I told him thats what all the adults were saying. he told my parents to keep me in the rest of the day and he left.Well the Catholic won – his name was JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
My parents were a bit more careful when they talked around me and the other kids so such and encounter could be avoided in the future.
Fast forward 1963. I had learned to read and our teacher said to read news articles. My parents didnt like us reading news as most of it was about Viet Nam, She did however lket me see front page news including the day JFK died. I was just learned what those letters meant- Jiff-kka – but then he had to go get shot~! I was mad because I had seen JFK on lots of heading but always ignored them and when I finally understood those were letters meant.
I wrote a poem, but cant remember all of it but here is part:
It was JFK, all the way
or so the people used to say
But into the office in which he worked
No one knew what the future lurked.
Of happiness, which was the scene
Until the moments all cried and screamed
Then came all the saddened faces
As senate and congress stopped their paces,
My teacher thought it was good. It was longer but thats all I can remember after 53 yrs.
1969 My grandfather was 89 yrs old still worked part time but lived in the Projects in downtown Brooklyn with my grandmother. He always kept $5 on him for emergencies when 2 sixteen year old African American boys mugged him and stomped him. He crawled home, was bedridden, refused to go to the hospital, lasted a month and died.
We visited him during that time and my dad asked him to identify the boys who did it but he refused saying they were just kids~! He didnt want to punish them, even though they stomped him for only having $5 for them to steal. My grandfather knew if they were charged it would ruin their lives and he had hoped they would be sorry and stop mugging other people. Naiive or not my grandfather was friendly to all people and taught us to be as well. [After his death,my father moved my grandmother to my aunt’s,where she remained til she died in 1973.]
By the time my last brother was born in 1971, I was finishing high school and then began working on Wall St in NYC where I spend the next few years. I found it fascinating and worked my way up in the ranks and by the time I reached the top of where I could in one job , I would then re-register at the agency and find another job and kept doing that til within a couple of years, I had doubled my salary and made it into management by the time I was still 18. I was very ambitious but also curious about import export so when and opportunity arose I took a job in that field. It wasnt always easy, especially during my first year at Hornblower & Weeks at 120 Wall street. I was attacked coming home from work and it was devastating for a long time, but I kept busy,changed jobs and was more careful about my surroundings from then on.
1972 was my first election and so who was I to vote for? Well that guy everyone called ‘the dirty Protestant’ was running again. Maybe had everyone voted for him in 1959 Presidential elections, maybe JFK would have been not been assassinated, I thought. What did I know I was just in 3rd grade at the time and we were on a fire drill when the announcement came . We spent the afternoon in silence til the word was announced that JFK was dead and LBJ was the new President..
Anyway here I was 1972 at my first Presidential election, so I voted for Nixon. I didnt think along party lines. I remember my parents used to joke how they always canceled each other’s votes out, as one voted Democrat and the other voted Republican.
My dad even took me when I was 8-9 yrs old to some election meetings in the evenings during some elections, when we lived in Brooklyn, all before I was 10. I remember they were crowded store fronts with lots of cigar and cigarette smoke, streamers and pens and fliers and lots of cards with names of politicians on them with people standing close to one another and it was hard to find a chair.
By the time we moved to Staten Island in 1964, my parents had come to terms being conservatives and gradually began voting the same. They had 3 more kids after moving from Brooklyn, one actually born on Staten Island but the last 2 back in Brooklyn.
Later on they became leaders of the Right to Life movement on Staten Island.
In the Fall of 1972 while I worked in Brokerage, I met alot of top people, including the son of the President of Liberia, Adolphus Benedict Tolbert and we began a friendship.
He had asked me if I worked on Saturdays and I said not lately, so he asked if I could do some shopping for him and I agreed. It was fun. He gave me a list and an envelope filled with money and I was dropped off at Macy’s to buy lady things for his family members back home , that he didnt want to shop for himself. I recall they included lots of white cotton gloves and big girdles and other undergarments which made it understandable why he didnt want to go shopping himself.
After completing the task he asked me to a formal dinner party the following week, that he said was very important and that there was going to be a huge dinner on Park Ave and dancing afterwards at Studio 54. I thought about it and asked if that was all and he said certainly and that I could leave any time I wanted and he would have a car bring me wherever I wanted, which for me was back to the ferry.
At the dinner however beautiful the banquet room at the Drake was, we were all separated. All the women to one side of the huge set of joined tables that had been put together.At the head of the tables were the Saudi Arabian Princes in their costumes and then there were a couple of big shots from Hollywood and besides them was AB Tolbert and then other Diplomats which also were around the other side of the table. This was in November of 1972.
Food was placed around at the table for us to pick what we wanted. The girl next to me was a bit older and I asked her what the white looking olives were and she told me they were goats eyes, which grossed me out, so I didnt eat anything but lettuce. She asked me if it was my first time and I said yes, that I was a guest of Mr Tolbert, so she was a bit off putting after that and talked instead to the girl on her other side. I was going to leave at one point, as I felt uncomfortable and she stopped me and said no girls could leave the table til after their meeting and their toast, so I waited.
Then finally they gave out their little agreement speech and toast and the meeting wound up. They said that before they could accomplish their agenda in Africa it was important to first change the American mindset towards the black man. For some reason this was critical to their plans. They made a deal with the Hollywood guys and were all toasting and in agreement. They planned on making a series of TV shows and movies where the star would be a black man and any side kicks would be black or white but always supportive and subordinate to the primary actors. They talked too about making outreach programs in inner cities and expand African American solidarity clubs that would teach their culture to the American black men.
I thought it a little odd, as to my knowledge we had movies with black men in them and tv shows, but I thought it was just all business not realizing they were plotting to undermine the black fabric of America and bring about racial unrest at a time when Martin Luther King Jr’s dream was alive after his death. It seemed to me at least that there was equality , at least near where I lived. I had black friends but soon they would all be being referred to as African American instead of black or negro. I was young and this all seemed positive at the time. I liked the movie Shaft when it came out and later Blackula and tv shows including Fresh Prince of Belair and others they had underwritten with newly made American businesses and helped to sponsor the acting organizations that produced great black artists, providing breaks for some that might not have had the advantage otherwise.
By the time I was having my own children, Fresh Prince was very popular along with Benson and other sitcoms in the evenings. My kids grew up different than we did but it all seemed to be going in the right direction still for the most part. On the other hand those outreaches, some were like beating war drums as extremist groups sprouted up and occasionally the news would be filled with riots and police actions and fires and violence. a new struggle or perhaps an old struggle, becoming more publicized.
One day I got news about AB Tolbert’s death in Monrovia when the Presidential Palace was overrun by a military guy named Doe. My mother heard first and told me how lucky I was to have never accepted that job offer to work at the Presidential palace. I did feel lucky, but I never intended to accept that job offer as I was only a friend to AB when he came to town and would run errands or accompany him to a dinner occasionally.
As the years passed I voted both Democratic and Republican depending on the candidate. Thats every citizens perrogative including Donald Trumps~!
Although I was raised Catholic, at 19 I began going to different churches with my roommate to check them out and after a few weeks of visiting these churches I felt an urge to draw nearer to God, especially after hearing an African missionary talk about 1st Corinthians Chapter 6 verses 9-10 which literally scared the hell our of me.
It took another 3 weeks of soul searching and reading the Bible here and there before I went back to a pentacostal church and asked to get saved. From there I also began attending an Assembly of God on the other side of the island, so would go mornings to one church and evenings to the other and sometimes during the week I would go to another church when invited. It is because of this that I later voted for Jimmy Carter when he ran because he was a born again Christian.
Around 1979 the Iran crisis unfolded and the news was about the hostages every day all year long. There was talk that they would remain hostages unless Carter was replaced. Thats when Ronald Reagan ran and he was controversial but popular. For some reason people were always mocking him about a movie he had been in years earlier called Bedtime for Bonzo -but I wasnt so political except to see that he was smart, was already a Governor and passed president of some actors guild and seemed right for the job, so I voted for Ronald Reagan.
There was an assassination attempt on him and he was shot early in his presidency but he was a tough president and had warned Iran to send back the hostages which they did.
I took my 2 children and went to the Hostage Day Parade that was near Battery Park in NYC by the Ferry. It was packed~! There was alot of pride in their safe return. There were an estimated 3 million people at that parade and the crowds were crushing around my baby carriage and I couldnt get a close look as the crowd pressed in every direction but I stood there as cars with the hostages went by . I was walking up Broadway with my kids near Bowling Green to try and get a closer look and then as the crowd thinned I worked my way back to the Ferry and went home after visiting my last job which was at the 2WTC 96th floor where I worked til mid 1980 but then had to stay home with my kids and did other smaller jobs on Staten Island so I could be with my kids more and also went back to college for a while.
My husband was from Philadelphia and wanted to move back there so we did in 1984 but while there I again voted for Ronald Reagan. We didnt stay too long in Philadelphia, less than a year before going back to NYC and then upstate NY after my daughter finished first grade. We chose the country life and lived near Corning then moved to north central Pennsylvania, bought a house and raised our children in a small town.
By then I had 5 children, 2 girls and 3 boys. My oldest daughter and son enlisted in the Army after High School. My oldest son did 2 enlistments serving both in Korea and Iraq. My daughter served stateside and later married a US Marine and they settled in the midwest and then Arizona and had 8 kids.
My son was stationed in Ft Sill so by the time my last child left home, I went to Ft Sill and joined the Red Cross and helped at the Army eye clinic and later as a shelter manager during Katrina before heading back to Pennsylvania to be with my 2 middle sons and youngest daughter, getting another house and all moving back in together for a while.
During this time it was Bush2’s second term and 911 had already happened and the nation changed again. I was more leaning towards Republican all the time now although I didnt vote for Bush2 his first time. nor did I vote for Gore. I liked neither and wrote in my husband’s name for President in 2000. After 911 I gained respect for Bush2 and did vote for him the next time on a split ticket as some of the locals up for election were well known Democrats or Independents and some actually represented both parties at once.
My youngest daughter later married a US Marine and moved to California. I stayed with my sons and later one moved on and today, its just one at home and we bought a house in western Pennsylvania, a quiet town surrounded by small industrial towns of hard working people.
Although I am now a registered Republican and was against voting for Obama from the start, as there were too many questions concerning his ability to run the White House and where he was born and what his agenda was, no release of his birth cert or school records, his affiliation with extremists and more which made him seem more like a trojan horse or a Manchurian Candidate, so I didnt trust him and the only alternative was McCain and Palin- which seemed a better alternative than Obama, but the elections went to Obama first and second time.
I did vote for Romney last time, hoping he could get in but that 47-48% thing was so exploited and he was so bad mouthed online and twitter that he was conceding before the vote was even tallied. He wasnt strong enough to beat Obama.
With Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and the global damage that followed her such as Benghazi 911 I began delving into foreign news sources and blogs and chat rooms that had to be translated with google searching for more info on what was really going on in the Middle East and Europe and I became convinced by all the chatter that Hillary was indeed guilty of setting up Chris Stevens as Ambassador just so he could be kidnapped for a trade and payment for her gloat over Qadaffis death which many were convinced had CIA backing and ,many argued he should have been tried as a head of state and not dragged through the streets and so brutally murdered~ Chris Stevens was supposed to be kidnapped and traded for the blind shiek but that guy was sent back for trial in England or something like that so with that off the table, and the increased small attacks aimed at Stevens he asked for more security during his entire time in Libya as Ambassador and it was denied every time until he was brutally murdered in the same fashion as Qadaffi ~!
Then Hillary blamed Innocence of Muslims video instead of her Gloat video, that was enough to put the pieces together from the chatter online. Qadaffi had to go because he was on the brink of minting his own money and pulling Libya’s wealth out of the EU and that w0uld have caused an economic collapse.
In the USA I had only heard of what a monster he was but on foreign news sources and blogs, people said he was progressive and that everyone in Libya had electricity and running water in their homes and all kids went to school~! They claimed the ones he was killing were CIA backed rebels trying to take over Libya. This was so contrary to what we hear in the news here.
I began to realize that perhaps conspiracy theorists werent as crazy as they were labeled to be but sure, some are nuts, but I began to see how detrimental and diabolical our govt had become in undermining any stability in the Middle East.
My concern . long term, is for my children and grandchildren in our nation in our future.
That is why I spent 100s of hours a week online promoting Romney, wanting Obama and Hillary out. I was very disappointed with the last 2 elections.
Still I know ultimately God is in control and what is happening in our nation is a result of our national behavior and increased decadence and political correctness.
The Liberals can say and do anything and they get away with it. The conservatives when they copy the Liberals, only make fools of themselves. The system is tilted. Political Correctness has hamstrung many Americans, making them afraid to talk out loud beyond their friends and family.
In comes Donald Trump~! Like Thor with his hammer – Like David with his Rock and he begins smashing what some would have called in another day – the sacred cows or political Goliath~!
Trump looks over everything thats been happening in our nation including the do nothing congress we voted in in 2012 that were supposed to fix DC but didnt. He even made a declaratory public statement that he was a Christian and would champion the rights of Christians [without harming others rights] and that he would destroy ISIS>
A champion~! So what if he is Presbyterian? He could be Catholic or any religion, doesnt matter as ISIS kills anyone wearing the name or professing it and Donald Trump made his profession of faith in Christianity and the Bible, globally. Rock throwing judgmental fundamentalists may not like his ‘tone’ and lack of spiritual understanding of things the way they do, but as a Christian over 40 years I know that its about a personal relationship with Jesus and God is the author and finisher of our faith so with his what may seem to be clumsy proclamation, some mock and others doubt and others wanted an inquisition – asking what are your favorite verses, or mocking his usage of verses he has heard. I think, how dare they!
By doing so’they’ are breaking the very Christian rules they are supposed to abide by! Some have different gifts, not always the same or to others liking. His gifts are leadership and a keen business mind, proud leadership and a boldness that is necessary to handle the kind of world we live in today.
I trust in God enough to guide his steps, no matter how he phrases things being not politically correct, he is being honest and is evolving as he goes along and his heart is in the right place~to do for our nation what he has successfully done for himself and family.
I previously thought it was ‘over’ for America and that we were doomed to be taken over and become a 3rd world nation and that our children would be faced with the debts this administration incurred.
When Donald Trump announced his candidacy and the Wall – my heart leaped~! Finally someone who was NOT politically correct and was showing common sense approach to a problem we have had more than 30 years.
Trump is someone who would stand for Christians and all peoples other than the islamic extremists and apologists like Obama~!
That is what I see in Trump – Triumph for our nation to rise one more time and get back on track the way it was meant to be. Not a white supremacy but not a white apology but a people of all peoples but not being bullied by terrorism and as one who can unify our nation again to be able to protect it and make new economic deals that will benefit all of us.
Trump fills a model role to most, as one who achieved the American Dream and is trying to show the rest of us how we can too. He offers hope and he is trustworthy, far more than any other candidate. Even those who purport to be evangelical, seeing some of the deals they have been involved with and some of the previous actions they have endorsed, they were already elected officials while Trump was still a citizen yet the MSM tries and holds him accountable for his opinions over the years as though they were policy which is unfair!
Now as a Candidate, he is weighing in on what our nation needs and has ideas that can benefit us more than at any time in history since George Washington. After reading Washington’s biography I found some very similar character traits that match Trump.
Our nation has suffered alot these passed 30 years with many just ignoring Washington politics and accepting the concept of it all being corrupt and that we cant change it.
Young people I know, many never even registering to vote before, feeling there is no reason and that it wont count. They grew up feeling defeated about politics and concern themselves with their own troubles and lack of opportunities.
This needs to change and Trump is the one who can bring that change~!
So while you consider which Candidate to endorse for President , please consider my reasons are based on my own life experience in many different types of jobs [most not bothering to list here] but I saw how top executives worked on Wall Street, the WTC and in import export and Donald Trump is a class act for a boss.
Trumps apparent idiosynchrises or tough persona dont matter!!
They are actually attributes for a leader. We do not need a humble pie apologetic president again like Obama~
We need a president that is proud to be an American and project his strength into all of us to make us stand out once again to the world as the #1 global leader. We have to do it. We are only 330M population compared to China and India we a puny. They are competing and growing stronger. We need to renew our strength like Trump said, make our military the greatest so no one would challenge us like N.Korea is trying to do.
So Please VOTE for DONALD TRUMP to give our Nation a chance and secure the safety and future of our children and grandchildren.
Thankyou,
Ave
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Pitbull Politics- Trump for ALL Americans 