I’ve gotten 3 messages of thanks so far from the Ethics Board members to whom I wrote. They really seem to appreciate the support. I feel it was well worth the small effort it took me.
Because the rich can often avoid mundane and onerous tasks they see themselves as privileged. Often when one considers themselves privileged they come to believe laws and societal norms don’t pertain to them.
My husband has never cleaned a toilet or scrubbed a shower. I’ve never seen him wash a dish.
Now that he has Alzheimer’s, he always saying he wishes he could help me. lol
At first I was annoyed, but then I realized he was probably telling the truth. That he really would like to help.
A part of me wants to scream.. “you never ever did any of it, why would you want to help now?” However, that would be unproductive, and he probably really wishes he could help me.
So, it’s not surprising to me that Trump doesn’t scrub toilets.
But, the Japanese elite do. They have made toilet cleaning into a daily morning meditation ritual. And they do not mind doing it.
Ahhhh! You have discovered my theory of libertarianism. Why are most libertarians white (70-90%) and men (63-68%)? And why does it lean toward misogynistic values?
Answer: because they have never thought of cleaning a toilet nor cleaned up puke or wiped another person's butt clean as a kindness (baby, old person, ill person, doesn't matter). They can't think of paying a person to do these things they take for granted as unpaid labor, or that there is dignity in compassion. May be a bit broad-sweeping, but thanks for the reminder :-)
Will's columns send this home in the most incredible way. And it also harkens back to the guest column on doing the dishes. Love the synergy. Thank you for being thoughtful men.
Appropos the reference to"[t]he countries of Greenland and Denmark...", I think Denmark might take exception. Greenland is an self-governing territory of Denmark, not (as I understand it from my reading -- I claim no expertise here) a "country" unto itself. I realize that might feel like nitpicking, but if Greenland were its own country, Denmark's unhappiness over Trump's actions would be of an entirely different character, and Americans might feel freer to ignore that unhappiness. Trump is doing something analogous to Xi's threatening to take Puerto Rico.
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” - Buddha
Queensbury Ethics Board: Thank you for continuing the "good fight"! You are supported in your steadfast courage and loyalty to our community. Thank you!
I laughed out loud just from seeing the title of this column in my inbox. Thank you for that!
The rich are different for sure. It is a rare rich person who can truly empathize with the hoi polloi, especially if they were born into their wealth. But riches can be seductive too, if you don’t have a strong internal moral compass. Then you end up with someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, where the money is a proxy for status and more is always the goal. Contrast them and Trump with the CEO of Patagonia, an outdoor sportswear company, who was so incensed at joining the billionaires club he gave away his company and turned it into a trust with the goal of protecting the environment and combating climate change. He was NOT born wealthy.
Speaking of Trump, he can slap his name on anything, but he can’t make me call it that! Anymore than Andrew Cuomo could make me stop calling it the Tappan Zee Bridge!
I remember clearly when King Andrew (as opposed to Epstein BFF Prince Andrew) at the dedication of the new Tappan Zee bridge said the last thing his daddy would want is to name the bridge after him. Uhhhhh, duhhhhhh, then don't name it after Mario. Just another reason to despise New York's royal family. Even Sara Lee bid Andy a great big adios. And for the life of me, I don't understand how the pompous, egotistical Cuomo brothers justify popping their heads out of their home swamp. Or did I just answer that rhetorical question?
Trump’s brain is stuck on issues he was stupid about in the 1980’s including low flow toilets and shower heads. The rich don’t have to deal with consequences of their actions like the poor. If NYC runs low on water they can move to their vacation home while the poor suffer.
In 1900 NYC population was about 3.5 million. If each flushed a toilet averaging 4 gal/flush 4 times per day that was 56 million gallons of drinking water down the toilet. In a month that might experience drought that equaled 1.68 billion gallons of water. That doesn’t include showers, dish washing, industrial uses of water or drinking.
In 1907 NYC began building their reservoir system in the Catskills eventually totaling 550 billion gallon capacity.
By 1970 NYC was about 8 million people using at least 128 million gallons/day or 3.8 billion/mnth to flush toilets. NYC was in a financial crisis and there is a cost to holding, treating, and delivering every gallon of drinking water. But that is true for every community around the country so conservation standards were put in place to save water, money, and to provide strategic security of life-giving water.
Trump never cared about the actual facts of conservation, or making infrastructure more resilient for ordinary people, he just wanted to sell apartments and condos. It is hard to educate people and they don’t like being “lectured” to. Instead, Trump embraces stupidity because it is an easy sell, and he probably could buy and install 5 gallon flush toilets that were being phased out at a fraction of the cost of a new efficient 1.5 gallon flush.
That's probably his next tactic in his boogeyman fight against those "criminal illegals": have all his rich ass-kissers hire a succession of immigrants to clean their homes, then have ICE waiting outside to kidnap them.
Notice I placed quotes around "criminal illegals" because it was that population Diaper Donny and his criminal acolytes said would be found and deported -- not the innocent American citizens whose appearance fit the bigoted bill and immigrants who have all the proper documents necessary to stay in the U.S. You may also fail on purpose to remember that Diaper Donny himself is a convicted felon and his family predecessors were immigrants, so he should be deported, too, since that's standard practice -- to link entire families -- for this criminal administration. BTW, Bert, your comment is one that MAGAts have used all the time, straight out of the MAGA playbook. Just keep repeating it until it's true in your own mind.
I recall Trump's first ex wife Ivana Trump, is quoted in the NY Post "As long as you come here legally and get a proper job, we need immigrants. Who's going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don't like to do that,". Yeah, she's right, but most of us don't have a choice.
Henrik Dahl, a member of the European Parliament from Denmark, is my hero. Bravo to Dahl and anyone else who stands up to convicted felon Diaper Donny. Whatever happened to having good relations with other countries/territories and having "favored nation" status if there are possibilities/needs for commercial trading reasons? Greenland and Denmark officials should refuse to take Landry's calls AND deny him potential entry into their nations. BTW, an overlooked angle to the ridiculous story is how the MAGA base would feel about bringing more non-native (read White, Christian Nationalists) Americans onto the social services rolls, Social Security, healthcare, education, infrastructure costs, different religious faiths ........... Or once the U.S. military is patrolling Greenland's congested cities, would Greenlanders be considered "illegals" and deported? Thank goodness we've got such a stable genius running America's dictatorship.
I’d be happy to prepare and send a letter of support for the Ethics Board. Please provide name(s) and address(es) for the letters you suggest.
The Dec. 19 newsletter has that information.
https://kentingley.substack.com/p/stefanik-protests-link-with-young
Thanks for responding. I couldn’t find the info there, but have found it elsewhere. For those interested:
Ethics Board
Kurt Koskinen, Chair: woods518@adelphia.net
Paul Abess: luapabess@roadrunner.com
Patsy Murray: patsymurr@aol.com
Lisa Woititz: lisawoititz@yahoo.com
Dwayne Zuhlke: dzuhlke@adelphia.net
I’ve gotten 3 messages of thanks so far from the Ethics Board members to whom I wrote. They really seem to appreciate the support. I feel it was well worth the small effort it took me.
I'm sure they appreciate the feedback, especially since the Town Board has ignored them for 10 months.
Because the rich can often avoid mundane and onerous tasks they see themselves as privileged. Often when one considers themselves privileged they come to believe laws and societal norms don’t pertain to them.
My husband has never cleaned a toilet or scrubbed a shower. I’ve never seen him wash a dish.
Now that he has Alzheimer’s, he always saying he wishes he could help me. lol
At first I was annoyed, but then I realized he was probably telling the truth. That he really would like to help.
A part of me wants to scream.. “you never ever did any of it, why would you want to help now?” However, that would be unproductive, and he probably really wishes he could help me.
So, it’s not surprising to me that Trump doesn’t scrub toilets.
But, the Japanese elite do. They have made toilet cleaning into a daily morning meditation ritual. And they do not mind doing it.
https://medium.com/@thrivehomeschoolacademy2020/the-toilet-businessmen-japans-unusual-wealth-ritual-and-the-legend-of-the-toilet-spirit-d3c2bef00ca9
Ahhhh! You have discovered my theory of libertarianism. Why are most libertarians white (70-90%) and men (63-68%)? And why does it lean toward misogynistic values?
Answer: because they have never thought of cleaning a toilet nor cleaned up puke or wiped another person's butt clean as a kindness (baby, old person, ill person, doesn't matter). They can't think of paying a person to do these things they take for granted as unpaid labor, or that there is dignity in compassion. May be a bit broad-sweeping, but thanks for the reminder :-)
Will's columns send this home in the most incredible way. And it also harkens back to the guest column on doing the dishes. Love the synergy. Thank you for being thoughtful men.
Appropos the reference to"[t]he countries of Greenland and Denmark...", I think Denmark might take exception. Greenland is an self-governing territory of Denmark, not (as I understand it from my reading -- I claim no expertise here) a "country" unto itself. I realize that might feel like nitpicking, but if Greenland were its own country, Denmark's unhappiness over Trump's actions would be of an entirely different character, and Americans might feel freer to ignore that unhappiness. Trump is doing something analogous to Xi's threatening to take Puerto Rico.
I believe you are right. It is a "territory" of Denmark. I also am not an expert.
I saw a video this morning - David(?) Frum - he said that Canada has opened a consulate in Greenland! How about that?
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=David+Frum+re%3a+Canada+Greenland+diplomat&mid=D735710617C402E3057BD735710617C402E3057B&mcid=16F70DDA5CEC4A7B841422CC070928D4&FORM=VIRE
Gotta love Canada (including Mark Carney)
Yeah - we all should be envious of the Canadian population!
And Canadian beer!
Somehow never acquired a taste for beer - so I'll take your word for it.
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” - Buddha
Ditto for compassion and love.
Choose this path.
The toilet bowl test is terrific.
Happy New Year! Thanks for the good read. Let's be hopeful, support ethics, generosity, empathy, prayer, and hope in 2026!
I'll be right there, Honey, as my wife needs me to spruce up the bathroom!!
Queensbury Ethics Board: Thank you for continuing the "good fight"! You are supported in your steadfast courage and loyalty to our community. Thank you!
I laughed out loud just from seeing the title of this column in my inbox. Thank you for that!
The rich are different for sure. It is a rare rich person who can truly empathize with the hoi polloi, especially if they were born into their wealth. But riches can be seductive too, if you don’t have a strong internal moral compass. Then you end up with someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, where the money is a proxy for status and more is always the goal. Contrast them and Trump with the CEO of Patagonia, an outdoor sportswear company, who was so incensed at joining the billionaires club he gave away his company and turned it into a trust with the goal of protecting the environment and combating climate change. He was NOT born wealthy.
https://fortune.com/2025/09/22/patagonia-founder-yvon-chouinard-mad-at-billionaire-status-sold-his-three-billion-company-lived-on-one-dollar-dented-cat-food-rags-to-riches/
Speaking of Trump, he can slap his name on anything, but he can’t make me call it that! Anymore than Andrew Cuomo could make me stop calling it the Tappan Zee Bridge!
I remember clearly when King Andrew (as opposed to Epstein BFF Prince Andrew) at the dedication of the new Tappan Zee bridge said the last thing his daddy would want is to name the bridge after him. Uhhhhh, duhhhhhh, then don't name it after Mario. Just another reason to despise New York's royal family. Even Sara Lee bid Andy a great big adios. And for the life of me, I don't understand how the pompous, egotistical Cuomo brothers justify popping their heads out of their home swamp. Or did I just answer that rhetorical question?
And that he actually thought he could run for mayor of NYC and win! More people would rather spit on him than vote for him!
Trump’s brain is stuck on issues he was stupid about in the 1980’s including low flow toilets and shower heads. The rich don’t have to deal with consequences of their actions like the poor. If NYC runs low on water they can move to their vacation home while the poor suffer.
In 1900 NYC population was about 3.5 million. If each flushed a toilet averaging 4 gal/flush 4 times per day that was 56 million gallons of drinking water down the toilet. In a month that might experience drought that equaled 1.68 billion gallons of water. That doesn’t include showers, dish washing, industrial uses of water or drinking.
In 1907 NYC began building their reservoir system in the Catskills eventually totaling 550 billion gallon capacity.
By 1970 NYC was about 8 million people using at least 128 million gallons/day or 3.8 billion/mnth to flush toilets. NYC was in a financial crisis and there is a cost to holding, treating, and delivering every gallon of drinking water. But that is true for every community around the country so conservation standards were put in place to save water, money, and to provide strategic security of life-giving water.
Trump never cared about the actual facts of conservation, or making infrastructure more resilient for ordinary people, he just wanted to sell apartments and condos. It is hard to educate people and they don’t like being “lectured” to. Instead, Trump embraces stupidity because it is an easy sell, and he probably could buy and install 5 gallon flush toilets that were being phased out at a fraction of the cost of a new efficient 1.5 gallon flush.
"Trump embraces stupidity" Stupid is as stupid does. (source unknown)
Now those are some facts the average person just does not know.
For Trump there are immigrants to clean toilets.
That's probably his next tactic in his boogeyman fight against those "criminal illegals": have all his rich ass-kissers hire a succession of immigrants to clean their homes, then have ICE waiting outside to kidnap them.
You repeat yourself, Illegals broke the law therefore they are criminals
Notice I placed quotes around "criminal illegals" because it was that population Diaper Donny and his criminal acolytes said would be found and deported -- not the innocent American citizens whose appearance fit the bigoted bill and immigrants who have all the proper documents necessary to stay in the U.S. You may also fail on purpose to remember that Diaper Donny himself is a convicted felon and his family predecessors were immigrants, so he should be deported, too, since that's standard practice -- to link entire families -- for this criminal administration. BTW, Bert, your comment is one that MAGAts have used all the time, straight out of the MAGA playbook. Just keep repeating it until it's true in your own mind.
I thought Trump was deporting the immigrants.
Not the ones working at Trump properties.
BERT got blocked for Boxing Day.
I recall Trump's first ex wife Ivana Trump, is quoted in the NY Post "As long as you come here legally and get a proper job, we need immigrants. Who's going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don't like to do that,". Yeah, she's right, but most of us don't have a choice.
Henrik Dahl, a member of the European Parliament from Denmark, is my hero. Bravo to Dahl and anyone else who stands up to convicted felon Diaper Donny. Whatever happened to having good relations with other countries/territories and having "favored nation" status if there are possibilities/needs for commercial trading reasons? Greenland and Denmark officials should refuse to take Landry's calls AND deny him potential entry into their nations. BTW, an overlooked angle to the ridiculous story is how the MAGA base would feel about bringing more non-native (read White, Christian Nationalists) Americans onto the social services rolls, Social Security, healthcare, education, infrastructure costs, different religious faiths ........... Or once the U.S. military is patrolling Greenland's congested cities, would Greenlanders be considered "illegals" and deported? Thank goodness we've got such a stable genius running America's dictatorship.
There was a toilet bowl debate and Biden got flushed down the toilet
Having money also helps with the affordability issue. There is no issue,thus no understanding.
You just hit the nail on the head!