tRump March 3 2025

Facebook blog 3 March 2025

 

I write this today with a little sadness, I vowed months ago to not allow political nonsense to get me down and definitely not add to the growing daily BS coming from the world news and the internet. However, I don’t think I am the only one who is greatly concerned at the shear foolishness happening with our so-called political leaders of the so called democratic western free world. Yesterday’s debacle televised throughout the world showing President tRump and his trusted side kick Vance as they pounced on President Zelinski like a pair of bullying school kids, what was for want of a better word disgraceful.

My wife and I are finalizing a winter get away here in the USA, we arrived to feel the warming and very inviting sun in Tucson in November of 2024. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that tRump would be voted in for a second term after the complete lawlessness of his first term and the ensuing massacre. Surely American good sense, not to mention the many laws he had already broken would send him to prison where he rightly belonged. I explained to my wife that we shouldn’t get involved as this was an American, very tense issue, adding that, “you know hon they carry guns down here!”

Some might say, “Hey it’s none of your business chum get back to Canada (or even Britain hearing my obvious accent).”

“Well guess what ‘chum’ up to a point it is my business! Let me elaborate, ‘chum’; I consider myself a ‘person of the world’ even though my passports say I am Canadian or British I don’t feel the need to constantly wave a flag or ramble on about ‘God save the Queen / King / America (place whatever country you want here maybe excepting Russia right now).

“Hey, Mister Firth, that’s darn right disrespectful what about all those people who died in the wars to save your sorry ass?”

“Not at all ‘chum’ I will always have the ultimate respect for the many who fought and died in the wars to rid the world of dictators who murdered millions in the death camps. ‘BUT’, there were a few wars out there that will forever be tabulated in history caused by the supposedly, ‘good guys’. Dare I mention ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and sadly even Britain got shamefully yanked into that one. Vietnam dragged on longer than it should have and caused massive loss of young lives for the sake of a lying president. Having been to Vietnam recently and seen for my very own eyes the atrocities that are still re-occurring from agent orange and unexploded bombs still decimating innocent farmers. So happy we didn’t get dragged into that one, even though we very quietly accepted hospitalized American military and took them to safety. I have a medal somewhere for that.

And before you go harping on about, ‘it’s OK for you to sit on the side lines complaining’. I did serve eight LONG years in her majesties Royal Navy. Two horrible spells in the middle East. And I am very proud and eternally grateful to have not harmed a single soul. Well except for ‘Buster Brown, he pissed me off, so I put itching powder in his bunk which sent him to sick bay for an unaccountable mysterious rash.’  I do not need to boast or have slogans on my car / bus that I was special service or whatever. OK so I did admit in the U.S. a couple of times that I ‘served’ because it got me a few free beers. I will also admit that I was not a very good soldier/sailor mainly because I think life is very important. If someone was going to harm or kill my loved ones or even innocents, I know I would not have any alternative. But to kill because some fat cat needs to sell more arms to fill his coffers with gold/oil, no I don’t think so.

Having said all that, I will also admit that we have our idiots in Canada too; the riots trying to close our capital, Ottawa during the covid mask disputes had many of our numb sculls waving their Canadian flags attempting to hold up the country. Thankfully their leaders are now behind bars where they belong. You see we have these fuckin’ flag wavers everywhere, I’m literally drowning in them as I write this. Just like religion it attempts to differentiate us from one another. I have written about this in various books; we need to be reminded that we are coming very close to WW3. I for one do not wish my stories to become facts. It is very true that WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones. We have enough armaments stored to decimate this world we live in twice over. On our almost daily drive into West Tucson to go food shopping you can drive for a good twenty minutes or so to see on both sides of the road thousands of military planes as far as the eye can see; acres and acres of diverted tax dollars that could have gone to much better use. Meanwhile in various parts of this world at this very moment many people are dying from starvation and medical issues that are preventable with today’s technology. I expect that with the present administration the last sentence will eventually include many people in the U.S.

OK here’s an idea, lets put all these flags away in our attics, you know just to reminds us from time to time. U.S. you need to rid yourself of this nut case before he starts World War 3. Surely there can’t be a single ‘thinking’ person remaining that believes he is doing anything good for the country excepting making himself and the other dictators rich. No, he doesn’t have an amazing deal up his sleave that will miraculously appear like pure magic to make everyone rich and happy.

Let’s all slowly walk across the playground, shake hands and promise to play fair.

To all the lovely Americans we have met and befriended whom are mostly like minded we feel your sorrow and disdain. The above is not directed at you. As of today, it is looking like Canada is reluctantly fighting back with tariffs which they openly admit will only costs the working people on both sides of the border. We understand this serves no purpose only causing grief to the ones that can ill afford it. The longer this goes on the poorer we all become. The Czars of this world are the only ones getting richer and more powerful by the day. You have a long and serious fight on your hands while we as Canadians find new customers for our minerals and products. Once that occurs, I am sure that it would be difficult if not unwise to trust any politics south of our border excepting Mexico.

My wife and I will be reluctantly joining the many past snowbirds who will be standing behind Canada to not travel or buy U.S. products. My Motor home will be sold this year probably at a huge loss, thank you Mr. tRump. My wife and I would still love for you, our new friends to visit us in Canada, our door will always be open to you and our memories of good times will last through this.

Kevin and Joan Firth

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Goodbye Redmond

Eulogy

For my lifetime friend Redmond:

I have woken from a restless night and as I look through my bedroom window at a grey and damp morning, it brings me reminders of many such awakenings in Northern England seemingly a lifetime ago. Today, however there is a strange stillness, like the life has been sucked out of the once green trees and colorful flowers.

Yesterday, a bright shining light was extinguished; like a flickering lighthouse on a distant tumultuous shore -- we are all now at risk of floundering.

We will all have wonderful and funny stories to tell of our relationship with, ‘Red’ which needs to be shared to keep his memory alive. If I may, I would like to share some of mine, which by my recollection goes back over forty years. I had been flown out to South Africa to join the Royal Navy ship HMS Lincoln; also known throughout the fleet as the ‘drinkin stinkin Lincoln’. Having only been married a matter of days, I had gone ashore to drown my sorrows. I was pretty much oblivious to much of the evening thereafter. Little did I know that one of the most amazing coincidences of my life was about to occur: Redmond loves to tell this story, much to my embarrassment which has probably been embellished over the many years. He came out of the night club and while waving down a cab, he stepped on something soft and squishy within the curb which apparently grunted. It was indeed a matelot (sailor) of the English navy judging by the now badly stained uniform. There were only two British navy vessels in harbor and as he did not recognize me, concluded that I was from the, ‘other ship.’ Taking pity on this wretched burbling sailor he threw me in the cab alongside himself, of which we then had an animated but undecipherable argument when he tried to unceremoniously unload me at the gangway to the other ship. By some miracle, I eventually found my way to the correct ship. The following day I purchased about a gallon of orange juice from his store as he was the only civilian onboard, manning the NAFFI shop. We had a good laugh and immediately commenced our lifelong friendship. We both not only came from the same part of Lancashire, England but sang and played musical instruments. We had both been brought up by loving mothers and drunken dads which seems to be the norm in Northern England and had joined up mainly to escape our dysfunctional family life.

The Navy, at the time was like a prison sentence for me. Redmond not only made it bearable; we have both made many wonderful memories of performing together in various parts of the world. I don’t know how I could have gotten through the remaining time I had to serve, without his friendship and humanity. Even after the navy he would seemingly pop into my life at various times, much to my X wife’s chagrin and add his colour to my sometimes very grey days. I honestly believe that he has helped to shape the person I am today.

In civilian life, Red wanted us to take our act on the road and be travelling musicians, I often wonder where my life would have led had I taken a different turn in the road. I had responsibilities with a wife and two children to think about. When he eventually left the UK, back in those dark dismal days with his guitar and banjo and a few personal belongings in an old hold-all bag, it literally broke my heart. Through the many tears as I drove home that night, I never thought I could love another man, like I loved Red, it was almost like losing a brother. I remember for many months thereafter missing him and his many silly visits -- well, l mainly I had to visit him as he was banned from our household! Months later he called me from somebody’s bathroom in faraway San Francisco; he desperately needed some cash of which I secretly sent him. He duly returned the cash as promised. This was Redmond in his glory, he was never one to, ‘toe the line.’ He would live the life the way he wanted and give the finger to any establishment or government that tried to quell his ambition. It’s almost as if Red lived in a different dimension to the rest of us; most of us seem to be programmed to think about where our next meal was coming from or what our next car or home would be like. Even how others might see us. Red’s sheer delight and seemingly at times, ‘his reason for being’ was to make us laugh or even shock us. One only must remember his antic of dressing up as a tree and shocking the restaurant public with a startled outthrust hand - mid meal! To say he was a free spirit would be a vast understatement. He was indeed the extroverts, extrovert! -- He wrote the manual! I think we can console ourselves somewhat, in that I do not think of Red as being lonely or depressed; a kind of Robin Williams type figure. He liked to have a female partner/friend to live with or even have close by. I can imagine that partner having to be quite strong and put up with his free will and comings and goings. He was definitely not one for any kind of commitment. Sadly, I believe this was caused by being jilted by a female many years ago in Lancashire that he never seemed to get over.

When we performed together; I was mainly the fall guy and backing musician. He would be proudly out-front strutting his stuff and generally doing what he was born to do and that my friends, we all know, was making people laugh. This was his drug of choice. Yes, indeed when he was on form; He had not only brought me to my knees in belly aching laughter but whole audiences. For his many friends in San Francisco, you have probably been lucky enough to witness some of his antics and astounding pranks he was paid to perform from his company, ‘Hoopla productions.’ I think his kind of humor was gifted in early childhood from his dear mother. To quell boredom, she would place a dog turd in a fancy parceled gift box and place it in front of her house. They would then watch through partially closed curtains the many people including people in cars. When the unfortunate culprit stole the box, they would roll on the floor in laughter. Such was life in deepest, darkest Lancashire at the time.

Red, eluded to me on more than one occasion about his unpleasant Roman Catholic upbringing, dealing with cruel nuns. He had an Irish background. Neither one of us are religious in any way. I can only hope that if we are wrong in our assumptions and that he is at the pearly gates right now performing one of his wonderful monologues. The angels will be on their backs flapping their wings in painful laughter. “OK already – enough -- go on back your just too darned funny to be up here.” And all of this was just one of Redmond’s miraculous staged pranks. Because -- I for one cannot believe he is gone.

I heard late last night that his body was lying in a hospital bed and that his brain was clinically dead. They were keeping his body alive to be used for organ donor implants. Whoever is fortunate enough to take his big heart -- you are one lucky person. I can only hope that you will carry on his goal in life -- to make us all smile. To look outside of ourselves in times of doubt and sadness like today and remember that life is one big, ‘merry-go-around’ not to be taken too seriously. To the one that is unfortunate enough to receive his liver – well, you had better start living life to its fullest because you ain’t got long mate!

I will not finish with RIP, Red because that would simply not be fitting. RIM, Rest In Mirth might be more fitting my old friend because whenever I think of you it will always be the good times, the many laughs we have shared. I will miss your calls and the wonderful Camaraderie we have had over our lifetime.

Your loving buddy, until we meet again

Kevin 

Today's deep thoughts

Today's deep thoughts

I am petting my dogs with a strange but eager fervor today, I want to hug and feel their love seep into my seemingly tainted consciousness.

I fell into a restless slumber last night after reading and seeing ghastly short videos of young men being systematically slaughtered. In one clip their executioner was indifferently one by one shooting them in the head then pushing them over a blood stained step into a river. In another clip thirty or so young men were herded off the back of a truck like cattle into a field then unceremoniously machine gunned to the ground. Even after this mass murder other executioners rushed into the event proudly wanting to be seen machine gunning the already dead.

It brought back awful memories as a child what I saw on a TV documentary; wheel barrows full of dead emaciated people being tipped into huge open graves during the atrocities at the extermination camps in Germany. I remember crying like a baby afterwards followed by many nightmares. My mother ensured I never got to see late night TV again after that episode.

What is going on? Has the world gone completely insane?

I try to comfort myself, I have been mostly insulated from this kind of carnage. I constantly tell myself how fortunate it is that I have been brought up in the West, as it were. I can simply turn off the TV, close the paper even switch off my IPAD. Ah! Those people are all nuts anyway, what do I care. Let them murder each other until there is none remaining. Then I can at least turn on my TV in peace!

I don’t think I am alone with these callous thoughts if we were all to be brutally honest with ourselves.

Yesterday I spent trudging around Marineland Exhibition Park while Joan’s niece and kids enjoyed the many rides. It was a beautiful day everyone having fun and enjoying life. Smiling laughing kids without a care in the world only to get to the next ride and the ensuing thrill. I couldn't help noticing that I was definitely a minority; English speaking white male of the Caucasian race. Now you might already be thinking this is a blog about: what are these people doing in ‘OUR’ country. And that Kevin has gone to the other side! Nope not at all in fact probably the opposite. I feel quite proud that Canada; my home for many years is so cosmopolitan. We go so far trying to make foreigners (like myself) feel welcome and at home. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we are ALL of the same race; ‘human’. I lost count of the amount of turbans and brightly coloured sarongs. Somehow I do take offence to the women that have to wear a yashmak or niqab covering their faces and even to the guy who actually wore a curly sword on his hip.

I also noticed how few smiles were returned. It almost felt like, Oh oh he is a white male – the enemy! Most of the kids however that were out of their national dress seemed carefree just like any other kid. I wonder when it is that the dogma that is probably hammered in to them take effect and they have to become like their parents. And I am not only talking about turbans, I am talking about Amish and Jewish that are so obvious by their different dress or uniform but also the Catholics and whatever religion that is among us. Not one of these religions is without guilt of some atrocity or other against the other team or even their own.

Religion separates and divides, anyone that has studied history just a little knows that to defeat your enemy that is exactly what the leader’s first need to attain.

I certainly do not profess to be a conspiracy theorist there is a lot of silly stuff out there already. But while half of the world is committing genocide on a grand scale and terrorism has become a common by- word spread by presidents. The rich are becoming staggeringly richer, the multi billionaires of the famous one percent are now the multi, multi billionaires of the now point five percent. Basically there are a few people so extremely rich that it is beyond our imagination who are probably calling the shots. It is no doubt in any thinking mind that these people support both sides of any war. This happened in the Second World War in England by a few English gents while many brave men lost their lives. The facts are available to any one that can read. Vietnam was one president’s greed for power while many thousands of other brave men lost their lives.

I dearly love my freedom, I love the people that I have been in the good fortune to acquaint, you all know who you are. I love the fact that I can travel and see and feel others point of view, the world is such a wonderful and very different place. I have been gifted with many rewards not least my Daughter and Son and my wonderful grandchildren. I don’t want them killed by some idiot’s missile while flying. I don’t even want them to have to witness the atrocious videos I saw last night.

 I am absolutely no different than any other father/grandfather. If I had to kill to save them, it goes without thinking, of course I would. I would probably have an enemy for life to someone who had harmed me and or my family. I would be a Jihadist call it what you like. A Catholic or Protestant on the streets of Belfast. And the wars would go on and on for eternity until the dried out and burnt crust of humanity was nothing but blowing dust.

I did two long military tours in the Middle East for Her Majesty’s Service on Naval ships. Thankfully it was in peacetime, I did however board suspected vessels of transporting arms. I was armed and saw the terror in the faces of the men on board. I have had guns pointed in my direction and I know the feeling very well. I don’t ever want to repeat either. 

I witnessed the extremely rich Sheikhs driving by in their luxury limousines with the tinted glass windows, guarded by truck loads of soldiers. They were completely above ANY law and could pick any female at will, alcohol and drugs was for them the norm. Meanwhile the rest of the population almost starved and any minimal breach of law or religion was dealt with -- extremely.

I Fear that what I witnessed in Bahrain many years ago was a microcosm of what could become of our society should we allow it to happen.

Come on boy’s time for your walk, stay close now.

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Deep thoughts while walking the dogs

I know I should probably be doing something more useful with my time to day but I just feel the need to get this down on paper.

               So much futility in the world today huh? Unimaginable horror and tragic loss of life, everywhere!

How can one human being treat another human or animal for that matter with such senseless remoteness or hate? Where did that come from? I don’t profess to have the answers or more to the point the inclination to stand in the way of harm to stop such stupid behavior. I am not attempting to, ‘stand on the higher ground’ here either; I was, many years ago in, ‘the service of my country’ and thank God (I should change that phrase as you’ll see later) I didn't see any meaningful, ‘Action’. So I don’t need to boast about being in a ‘special service’ and having killed for my country. I am one of the fortunate few who will hopefully go to my grave having harmed NO ONE.

Surprise! I’m not going to ramble on about being anti war and maybe sing you a tune or two, no this is not about that either. I’ll get to the point: what is it ALL about? The big questions you ask yourself, usually in later life or maybe after a life threatening situation (not in my case, thank God….stop that God shit Kevin). Call it an epiphany while walking my dogs this morning or something that has been brewing for a while now. Maybe part of the reason for these thoughts, over the last few weeks I've been witness to the biggest side show on earth as two men embarrassingly battle for complete power over the most powerful country on this planet both of them citing GOD as being on their side. How we as mankind actually made it out of our caves baffles me to this day. We've traveled to the moon, designed amazing technologies that yesterday was only science fiction, drugs that have let us live longer and healthier lives and stopped pain and suffering everywhere. In the last century alone mankind has leaped forward tenfold, we are indeed very fortunate to be living in an exciting and wondrous time.

OK so here it is folks; Why Oh why are we still dealing with this GOD thing?

Alright so just after we left the cave the ones that succeeded where the ones that grouped together and fended of enemies and very big game, yep safety in numbers, makes sense so far. Until one of the star gazers decided upon him/herself (probably him as he owns the big club) that this whole thing is way beyond his thinking ability and he also conveniently sees a way to make a free meal ticket. Just by the mere fact of looking at the stars and thinking, dare I say it, a guy called Darwin comes along and gives him a few extra brain cell connections more than the rest of the tribe. Wallah!  He then invents GOD. How else could all the daily calamities occur, someone / thing must be in charge, if we appease and worship this invisible GOD maybe he’ll keep that nasty tyrannosaurus from eating who the hell he feels like every tea time. OK so far I buy it, It all makes sense and much later because of this so called GOD the successful tribes design shrines which in turn makes humans stay put and sow seeds. Yup it all makes sense…I buy it. My subscription to National Geographic has finally paid off!

Fast forward a few millennia and a few billion lives later that have been murdered and mutilated in the name of GOD. We read in history how many of the various civilizations successfully used religion to control the masses, how else could you control an uneducated usually hungry and contempt people from lynching you in your ivory castles and usually for very good reason.

Sadly most of you have probably stopped reading this by now as this is blasphemous and the writer will probably go to a fiery hell for eternity for even thinking such wickedness. Most of us have been programmed from early childhood to, ‘BELIEVE’.  

Mum for a little while forced us to go to Sunday school, my happiest memories were singing the songs but the Jesus thing was a kind of leap of faith for me. Fortunately for us the other choice was catholic I am so glad as a child I did not have to withstand the heavy hand and forced programming that many of my friends had to endure.

During times of extreme sadness and loss in my life I have even prayed to this unseen GOD of ours. For many years when asked, I always replied….agnostic! I believed that if Jesus Christ were to appear before my very eyes and say, ‘hey you got it wrong mate and get on your knees…NOW! Over the years I have battled with these thoughts; am I a hypocrite? Should I bottle under and just have faith and be happy knowing there is a heavenly father who will always steer me in the right direction. One day I will go to heaven and meet up with all those loved ones; such endearing love can never be lost forever…could it?

I think of myself as being a spiritual person and I feel a glimmer of hope in our future. It makes sense that there should be some rules; we can’t all just go around murdering each other. We are all a family (there’s a song) and if we don’t look out for one another then we are just unintelligent savages. Life as we know it is meaningless. We owe it to ourselves from everything we as a race have learned from our irrational history. Protecting ones borders may seem to make sense in the short term but from a point of view of a civilization it makes absolutely no sense. While there is a, ‘them and us’ mentality there will always be conflict. Security just equates to mean bigger and more evil weapons of destruction. Although I have an attachment, I don’t think of myself as a Canadian or a Brit I have traveled enough and proud to feel that I am a man of this beautiful world. Beating ones chest around the world does not make for making friends.

Getting back to the god thing and what this blurb seems to be about. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling very positive about a, ‘new world order’ sounds pretty deep huh! I’m not completely sold on it…yet! But getting there. As the scientist are getting closer every day to the very meaning of life; every other week now it seems they look further and further into the cosmos almost to the beginning of time itself. They even think there are other universes out there in fact one theory shows that there could even be mirror universes! yeah you got it, other mirror Kevin Firth’s writing as I write, pretty confusing stuff. Don’t laugh who was it said that men would never fly? 

Is there a creator to all of this? …..Hmm let me think about that for an eon or two. This might bring us right back to what we started except it isn't a GOD not as we know it anyway, most definitely not singular.

How is it that when I feel positive and strong, things just seem to come my way, when I really put my mind to something I am usually pleasantly rewarded. Those days when I’m the opposite, well we won’t talk about those days. I just saw a video only yesterday showing a French Buddhist monk who’s head was completely wired during an experiment showing that his brain during meditation showed an unusually high reading of that part of his brain that shows happiness. Scientifically I believe we are at the cusp of great new advances in exactly what that gray mass in our heads is actually capable of.

This, 'new order' might sound silly to some but I am beginning to believe we all have an inner consciousness that we are learning to control if that is the correct term to use. When we can each leave our ego behind and concentrate on the bigger picture only then will we find our inner happiness and with that a global awareness will eventually take place….Peace! and humankind's next big step. 

Just a thought ya know! come on Tig and Pantera.

Playa Panama 06:00 9th Oct 2012