Author Archives: lifelessons

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

Trump raises millions of Dollars at his Doral Estate as Taxpayers Pay Millions to Send Him There. PLEASE READ THIS NY TIMES ARTICLE!!!

Trump Family’s Cash Registers Ring as Financial Meltdown Plays Out

The party was on at a Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament at the president’s Doral resort in Florida and a fund-raiser at Mar-a-Lago, even as markets tumbled.

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A golfer takes a swing in front of a crowd at a golf tournament.
LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league, has sponsored a tournament at the Trump family’s Miami golf resort four times.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

The financial market meltdown was underway when President Trump boarded Air Force One on his way to Florida on Thursday for a doubleheader of sorts: a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his family’s Miami resort and a weekend of fund-raisers attracting hundreds of donors to his Palm Beach club.

It was a fresh reminder that in his second term, Mr. Trump has continued to find ways to drive business to his family-owned real-estate ventures, a practice he has sustained even when his work in Washington has caused worldwide financial turmoil.

The Trump family monetization weekend started Thursday night, as crowds began to form at both the Trump National Doral resort near Miami International Airport, and separately at his Mar-a-Lago resort 70 miles up the coast.

Mr. Trump landed on the edge of one of the golf courses in a military helicopter — just in time for a dinner at Doral. The next day, LIV Golf, the breakaway professional league backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was scheduled to hold a tournament at the course for the fourth time.

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On Thursday at Mar-a-Lago, hundreds of guests gathered for the American Patriots Gala, a conservative fund-raiser that featured Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Javier Milei of Argentina, who told his supporters back home that he was hoping to catch up with Mr. Trump while there, seemingly unaware that Mr. Trump was double-booked at two of his family properties that night.

And that was just the weekend’s lead-up.

Mr. Trump ordered a new set of global tariffs on Wednesday from the White House using his trademark Sharpie pen, a version of which is on sale at Mar-a-Lago for $3.

The announcement set off one of the largest market crashes in American history, erasing $5 trillion in market value from companies in the S&P 500 in just two days. Mr. Trump has said his policy would reverse what he calls unfair trade practices, and that eventually the “markets are going to boom.”

On Friday, as markets continued to tumble, thousands of golf fans visited Doral, as did Eric Trump, Mr. Trump’s son, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund. Mr. Al-Rumayyan is also the chairman of LIV Golf, and was there to see its stars compete.

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“It is a nice club,” Mr. Al-Rumayyan said as he walked around the golf course watching the players tee off.

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A group of men walk along a golf course during a tournament.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, left, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund and chairman of LIV Golf, called President Trump’s golf club “nice.”Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

LIV Golf — a venture intended to lift the Saudi profile worldwide even as it has burned through hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds — is styled as a daylong party, with club music pumping out of speakers lining tournament courses and machines dispensing wine and large beers. On Friday, fans watched a bit of golf and danced on the edges of the course. Others in MAGA hats walked around smoking cigars.

In short, the economic turbulence seemed far away.

“You are all looking a little too stiff!” said Matt Rogers, a LIV Golf announcer, as he yelled into a microphone, blasting his message across the greens as the first group of golfers on Friday prepared to play with dance music blaring in the background. “You need to turn this up! This is LIV Golf.”

Every room at the 643-room Trump Doral, including the $13,000-a-night presidential suite, was sold out through the weekend. Not a seat could be found at the BLT Prime steakhouse bar, where a porterhouse steak cost $130.

“This is the perfect venue,” Eric Trump said as he strolled the golf course Friday.

He had driven his father in a golf cart from the military helicopter to the resort dinner the day before, as the festivities over the big moneymaking weekend were getting underway.

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The president spent much of Friday at yet another Trump family venue, Trump International Golf Club, not far from Mar-a-Lago, sending out social media messages during the day, including, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE.”

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Eric Trump greeted a guest on the first day of LIV Golf’s tournament at Trump National Doral.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

By Friday night, the center of attention had shifted back to Mar-a-Lago, as Mr. Trump held another in a series of $1 million-a-head dinners at his private club in Palm Beach.

Since he was elected in November, Mr. Trump has hosted at least four of the fund-raisers, including one in December, two in March and the one Friday night, with a fifth planned for April 24.

The fund-raisers unfold in similar ways, according to people who have attended them.

Roughly 20 people gather around a candlelit table with big white flowers in the club’s “White and Gold Room” after a photo session. Mr. Trump speaks, then listens to the guests discuss their businesses, one by one. In just an hour or two, he can raise as much as $20 million — a great return on his time investment, associates say.

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Attendees at some of the post-election dinners at Mar-a-Lago hosted by MAGA Inc., one of Mr. Trump’s fund-raising political action committees, have included the casino owner Miriam Adelson, the sugar magnate Pepe Fanjul and James Taiclet, the chief executive of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest military contractor, along with representatives from the cryptocurrency and energy industries.

On Friday, Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics heir, and Steve Wynn, the former casino executive, both billionaires, were among the guests at the Mar-a-Lago fund-raiser, according to two people briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the event.

The dinners have been just the start. Mar-a-Lago remains a popular site for Republican candidates to host their own fund-raisers, Federal Election Commission records show. It is not clear to some Republicans why Mr. Trump has been raising money so aggressively, according to eight people involved in conservative fund-raising who have kept track of his Mr. Trump’s efforts. Never before has a president ineligible for re-election vacuumed up so much money for a super PAC.

Some of Mr. Trump’s associates believe it is prudent to fund-raise when the money is available, as corporate interests and others seek to get access to the president or make amends for perceived slights, people close to him acknowledge.

The packed agendas at the two Trump venues recalled the constant buzz and spending by lobbyists, members of Congress and foreign leaders at Trump International Hotel in Washington before the Trump family sold its lease after Mr. Trump’s first term.

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In addition to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, top sponsors of the Doral golf tournament included Aramco, the Saudi oil company; Riyadh Air, the airline owned by the sovereign wealth fund; and TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media company whose fate Mr. Trump is helping to decide, according to a large billboard outside one of the event’s party tents.

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Golf club covers featuring President Trump were sold at his Miami golf club’s pro shop.Credit…Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s merchandise shops — there are at least three of them at Doral — were also doing swift business, selling everything from a $550 Trump-branded crystal-studded purse to $18 Doral-branded paperweights made in China. The store clerk said that he did not know if new tariffs on imported products would mean price increases.

Fans in the crowd said that they had traveled from as far as South Africa to attend the event. Some purchased special tickets that cost as much as $1,400 to enter exclusive party areas with free drinks and food — tickets that were sold out as of Saturday.

In interviews, tournament attendees and others said that they did not mind the disconnect between the Wall Street meltdown and the events at the Trump properties.

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“The sky is falling every day,” said Mike Atwell, a Key Largo, Fla., restaurant owner who was attending the LIV event with his wife enjoying lunch and drinks. “When you are happy, you drink. When you are sad, you drink. It all works out.”

Tyrell Davis, a 39-year-old entrepreneur spending Saturday afternoon in Palm Beach, said that he admired Mr. Trump for focusing on his own businesses while also implementing tariffs that he believed would benefit Americans.

Mr. Davis said that the United States had given away money to other countries for years while not investing in American cities, and that it only made sense Mr. Trump would continue to bolster his own businesses while in office.

“It’s all about business and money,” Mr. Davis said. “That’s what it’s all about. America is a business. It’s a corporation.”

On Saturday, as the tournament continued at Doral, Mr. Trump showed up at yet another family golf course, in Jupiter, Fla., which is holding its own, more modest tournament.

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Good news was announced by the White House staff: “The president won his second round matchup of the senior club championship today in Jupiter, Fla., and advances to the championship round on Sunday.” Reporters and photographers were prohibited from watching him play, and were held down the street at a coffee shop.

As Mr. Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago, one of his political committees sent out an offer to his followers: They could buy a signed replica of his executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The minimum contribution was $50. “I want you to have a PIECE OF HISTORY in your home,” Mr. Trump said in the solicitation.

The White House then announced that there would be no more public events on Saturday.

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting from New York.

Eric Lipton is a Times investigative reporter, who digs into a broad range of topics from Pentagon spending to toxic chemicals. More about Eric Lipton

Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world. More about Theodore Schleifer

Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration. More about Zolan Kanno-Youngs

A version of this article appears in print on April 7, 2025, Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: At Trump’s Florida Clubs, the Fund-Raising Goes On as the Markets Melt. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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The Numbers Game #67, Apr 7, 2025. Come Play Along!!

The Numbers Game #67, Apr 7. Come Play Along!!

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #67”  Today’s number is 188. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and  post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Here are my contributions to the album.

Click on photos to enlarge and view in gallery..

 

Click on photos to enlarge.

Guess Where: For CFFC Signs and Navigation, Apr 6, 2025

Click on photos to enlarge and see as a gallery.

For CFFC, Signs and Navigation

On a Candlemas Afternoon for the W3 prompt, Apr 6, 2025

On a Candlemas Afternoon

Palm shadows of a lazy afternoon
brush over, but do not disturb
the sleeping dog who fills the pavement
in front of “Abarrotes Gloria.”
Under its dusty awning, on a bench
meant for  customers notably absent,
a sleep-nodding senora
with small crocheted animals  for sale
watches for anyone to stir the calm of this mid-afternoon.

Through one imperceptibly cracked-open eye,
she watches the long-skirted bead vendor
make her hourly crossing from the beach,
her tray still heavy
after five hours of trudging
under the sweating sun,
that eye only opening wider
as two young men on loud motorcycles
circle the plaza in Izod shirts
from the used clothing booth of the mercado,
leaving a tree-shaking breeze
that filters through shadows
to stir the fine hairs on her arm.

for: The W3 Poetry prompt

To see other poems to this prompt go HERE

Trump is part of God’s plan to quell overpopulation of the Earth. They’ll start with liberals, first!

Trump is part of God’s plan to quell overpopulation of the Earth. They’ll start with liberals, first!

Is RFK Sr. Spinning in His Grave?

Had to repost this cartoon sent to me by an old college friend. Thanks, Gunars!

Faces in a Crowd for Cellpic Sunday, Apr 6, 2025

Click on photos to enlarge.

For  Cellpic Sunday

“Salve for a Damaged World” for The Sunday Whirl Wordle 701 and Lens Artists Challenge, Apr 6, 2025

Salve for a Damaged World

Our bruised world’s in need of magic
to soften all its edges.
Sage words to dispense shadows
and draw jumpers off of ledges.
To bring moisture to our deserts
and return our skies to blue.
To rewrite horror stories
with endings that are new.
Our distressed minds need stretching
and action is the key
to snap us out of sorrow
and set our country free.

These pictures were taken at today’s rally to protest actions by the current U.S. administration. It was held in Ajijic, Mexico and was well-attended and peaceful. Most of the attendees were U.S. expats living in Mexico.

 

My outing is a bit different from everyone else’s but I hope it qualifies for the Lens Artists Challenge to share our last outing.

Words for The Sunday Whirl Wordle 701 are: magic shadows key stretch sage snaps bruise edges writing blue world desert

 

Rhymed Rants of an Expat in Mexico (for SOCS) Apr 5, 2025

Rhymed Rants of an Expat in Mexico
(Why you should never drink tequila when you haven’t finished your SOCS poem yet.)

Toss in the tequila
ice cubes and a lime.
Put it in a blender
and mix it for a time.

Put salt on your glass rim.
Pour the liquid in.
Take a little sip now.
Drinking’s not a sin.

If I hadn’t had two
with my evening meal,
I’d be writing verse now
you could take for real.

But Margarita got me
and holds me prisoner now.
I couldn’t engineer a poem.
I can’t remember how.

If you’ve a mind to scold me,
please don’t do it now.
I need to write something
to stay true to my vow.

There are laws against drunk driving
and driving while you’re stoned,
but nothing that forbids you
from writing when you’re zoned.

So please forgive this sad and
paltry little rhyme.
They need to make drunk writing
A misdemeanor crime.

To save you from the souls like me
who dare to take up pen,
disregarding just what
condition they are in.

You should give us pillows
and send us to our beds.
Remove our clothes, take off our shoes
and pat us on our heads.

Tell us that tomorrow
will be another day.
But now, for sure, the writing
we should put away.

Lock up our computers,
hide our ball point pens.
Throw away our pencils
in the garbage bins.

Please try to divert us
and help us to forget
so there will be no errant
verses to regret.

When we wake tomorrow,
we’ll hold our heads up high
with no embarrassing poetry,
no need to wonder why.

We posted here such drivel
that it could make one weep.
We just kept on writing.
We should have been asleep.

We did it for our SOCS prompt
against out better sense.
The late hour made us silly.
Tequila made us dense.

Tomorrow we’ll make up for it––
put bees within our bonnet
and write an ode, a ballad,
a haiku or a sonnet

Once more you’ll dare to call us friend
and read our royal rhyme.
I don’t know why I’m calling me
“we” all of this time.

I really don’t feel royal.
My identity’s not split.
I simply started writing
and “we” just seemed to fit.

I can’t seem to finish
this awful little rhyme.
So I’m just going to have to
stop and holler TIME!!!

The SOCS prompt is pat.

Silly Answers for Fibbing Friday, Apr 4, 2025

 

For Fibbing Friday  this week’s questions are:

1. Who made the first manned hot air balloon? Mary Anne MacLeod Trump (Donald’s mother)

2.  Which is the more widely used around the world, cow’s milk or goat’s milk?  It depends on what you are using it for.

3.  What does the word “Canada” mean? It means “can be done.” They chose it over the statement of the first French explorer who, when asked to cross a river, said, “No cana do.”  

4.  True or False, an adult male baboon can kill an adult leopard? It can, but just because it can doesn’t mean it will.

5.  Which U.S. State has the nickname “Hawkeye”? Maine, in honor of Hawkeye Pierce, whose birthplace was Crabapple Cove, Maine. (Check it out.)

6.  In which decade of the 19th Century did Christmas Day become a national U.S. holiday? the “Decade of the boughs of Holly”

7.  Which strong cheese, made from ewe’s milk and stored in caves, is named after a village in France?  Cheez-its

8.  Who painted “Whistler’s Mother”? A 4-year-old Whistler, when he got into her makeup while she was sleeping and tried to make up her face, somewhat excessively, I might add. It took her hours to scrub off the makeup.  She was not pleased and spanked him soundly.  Years later he tried to compensate by painting her portrait. She forgave him.

9.  In Denmark they are known as “laks” what are they known as in English? Something to put on bagels.

10.  Approximately what percentage of humans are left-handed? The remaining percentage that isn’t right-handed.