Take Time to Smile

By Darlene Mitchell August 12, 2025 August 12, 2025 D. S. Mitchell, Donald J. Trump, Happiness, Positive Vibes, Social Issues

Take Time to Smile

By D. S. Mitchell

Before I get any more irritated at Trump’s threat to take over D.C. I think I need to switch gears. I know, I’ll just take a few minutes to think of all the things that make me smile. Join me for a moment to reflect on the sweet and simple things in life.

Beach grass whipped by the wind
The feel of cotton against my skin
Electric BBQ’s
Donating blood
A dash of Irish Cream in my morning Cappuccino
Soldiers in their dress uniforms
Children’s handmade cards
Ed Sheeran’s “The Shape Of You”
Looking through freshly cleaned windows
Montana’s endless skies
Roller skating at Oaks Park, Portland, Oregon
Paddle wheel river boats
Finding that lost earring
Homemade Clam Chowder and Cheese Bread
Letters to the Editor
Antique car shows
A freshly cleaned bathroom
Cashmere and tweed
The thinnest, crispiest French fries
A new supply of business cards
Lunch with Mom
A February 29th birthday
Dancing cheek to cheek
Random acts of kindness
Circular driveways
Summer days at the lake
Winning $100 on the Scratch Off ticket

That’s it. I hope you took a minute from the insanity of the 24 hour news cycle, put up your feet and smiled at a few of the simple things in life.

Calamity Politics is a progressive news magazine dedicated to human rights, universal health care, elimination of the Electoral College and restoration of Democratic control of the Congress and the White House. Join the New Resistance. Dump Trump. Protest and demonstrate. We don’t have to take this crap. Our soldiers didn’t die on the battlefield to allow this to happen. Join the New Resistance

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The Spider Series Commercial
“I’ve finished my 3 book Spider Series. If you’re into hot sex and heart pounding adventure please check it out. Available on Amazon. Thank you for your interest and support. D. S. Mitchell aka “Calamity” at Calamity News and Politics.
“There is nothing more inspiring than taking action against injustice.” D.S. Mitchell 2025
“If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t it get us out of it.” Will Rogers
“If you can’t be a poet, be a poem.” David Carradine
“No god would want a child killed in his name.” D.S. Mitchell 2023
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.” ― George Burns
“A politician thinks of the next election – a statesman of the next generation.” – James Freeman Clarke
“I want to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” Arthur Ashe
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.” ― Albert Einstein
“So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.” ― Kurt Vonnegut
“Let’s just remember that social security is not the government’s money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of the checks involuntarily their entire working lives.” Mike Huckabee
“I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” ADELE
“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Christian Grey
“My favorite old car had no reverse gear. It taught me I could only go forward.” Flavia
“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela
“Those who think they can control the mob are fools and are often the victims of their own incitement.” D.S. Mitchell 2021
“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it.” Nikki Giovanni
“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions.” Your mother
“Studying American politics has taught me several disgusting lessons, the first being, money buys friends in Congress. That alone should terrify the American public.” D. S. Mitchell 2021
“My art is my heart.” D. S. Mitchell 2015
“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Arthur Rubenstein
“Every lie is like stepping in a quicksand pit. Every lie as dangerous, as telling the truth.” D. S. Mitchell 2020
“Sometimes when challenged we find out we are capable of the unthinkable.” D. S. Mitchell 2022
“Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.” Anonymous
“Dimming the lights will not hide the social injustice in America.” D. S. Mitchell 2017
“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.” – James Branch Cabell
Smile
"If puppies and kittens don't make you smile, you might consider therapy." D. S. Mitchell 2015.
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T. S. Eliot
“Voting is like a prayer.” Raphael Warnock 2021
“We are all valuable. The problem is not everyone is smart enough to realize it.” D. S. Mitchell 2021
“I wonder, if you were blind, lost and confused, would you care what color the offered hand?” D. S. Mitchell 2015
“Silence in front of savagery is savagery itself.” Abhijit Naskar
“To be happy and contented, count your blessings, not your cash.” Chinese Proverb
“We can never be too busy to be kind.” D. S. Mitchell 2017
RIP RBG
“The rain falls because the cloud can no longer handle the weight. The tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.” The Wise You
“Let my old days be my best days,” Cousin Lucille
“In no instance have… the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.” James Madison
“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” Charles Dickens
“Thoughtful people are slow to anger, not necessarily less efficient in their killing.” D. S. Mitchell 2019
“Endings are not always bad. Most times they’re just beginnings in disguise.” Kim Harrison
“The United States like so many countries around the world has chosen to give to the few and deny the many.” D.S. Mitchell 2020
“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This is true, its called life.” Terry Pratchett
“Trickle down economics is like having three dogs and giving one of them a hot dog, and thinking he’ll share.” Bill Maher
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith
“When people start acting as though the past is the same as the present and context doesn’t matter, things start to get dangerous.” Trevor K. McNeil 2020
“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.” – Benjamin Franklin
“I don’t need to attend every argument I’m invited to.” Unknown
“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret between the shadow and soul.” Pablo Neruda
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ― Bruce Lee
“I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.” Shirley Chisholm 5/21/1969
“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.” ― George Washington
“We only fail when we fail to try.” Rosa Parks
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Thomas Jefferson
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The 7 Social Sins are: Wealth without Work; Pleasure without Conscience; Knowledge without Character; Commerce without Morality; Science without Humanity; Worship without Sacrifice; Politics without Principle.” Frederick Lewis Donaldson
“All evils are equal when they are extreme.”-Pierre Corneille
“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov
“People without vaginas shouldn’t be able to regulate them.” Unknown
“What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.” Edward Langley, artist
“Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” Abraham Lincoln
“When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” Chinese proverb
“If people stopped searching for things that offended them and started looking for things that inspired them; what a wonderful world this would be.” Night Owl
A Poem For Don and Vlad
A Poem For Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington
“To argue with a person who has given up reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine
“Imagination is the bridge between the things we know for sure, and the things we need to believe, when our world becomes unbearable.” Staceyann Chin
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs
“Inspiration descends only in flashes to clothe circumstances; it is not stored up in a barrel, like salt herrings to be doled out.”Patrick White
“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness that surrounds me.” Sojourner Truth
“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” Doug Larson
“Law without humanity is injustice.” D. S. Mitchell 2020
“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear, is the beginning of wisdom.” Bertrand Russell
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato
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Take Time to Smile

Take Time to Smile

Take Time to Smile

By D. S. Mitchell

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Pages

The Spider Series Commercial

“I’ve finished my 3 book Spider Series. If you’re into hot sex and heart pounding adventure please check it out. Available on Amazon. Thank you for your interest and support. D. S. Mitchell aka “Calamity” at Calamity News and Politics.

“There is nothing more inspiring than taking action against injustice.” D.S. Mitchell 2025

“If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t it get us out of it.” Will Rogers

“If you can’t be a poet, be a poem.” David Carradine

“No god would want a child killed in his name.” D.S. Mitchell 2023

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.” ― George Burns

“A politician thinks of the next election – a statesman of the next generation.” – James Freeman Clarke

“I want to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” Arthur Ashe

“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.” ― Albert Einstein

“So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

“Let’s just remember that social security is not the government’s money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of the checks involuntarily their entire working lives.” Mike Huckabee

“I have insecurities of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.” ADELE

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” Christian Grey

“My favorite old car had no reverse gear. It taught me I could only go forward.” Flavia

“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela

“Those who think they can control the mob are fools and are often the victims of their own incitement.” D.S. Mitchell 2021

“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If now isn’t a good time for the truth I don’t see when we’ll get to it.” Nikki Giovanni

“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions.” Your mother

“Studying American politics has taught me several disgusting lessons, the first being, money buys friends in Congress. That alone should terrify the American public.” D. S. Mitchell 2021

“My art is my heart.” D. S. Mitchell 2015

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Arthur Rubenstein

“Every lie is like stepping in a quicksand pit. Every lie as dangerous, as telling the truth.” D. S. Mitchell 2020

“Sometimes when challenged we find out we are capable of the unthinkable.” D. S. Mitchell 2022

“Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.” Anonymous

“Dimming the lights will not hide the social injustice in America.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. So I elect for neither label.” – James Branch Cabell

Smile

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T. S. Eliot

“Voting is like a prayer.” Raphael Warnock 2021

“We are all valuable. The problem is not everyone is smart enough to realize it.” D. S. Mitchell 2021

“I wonder, if you were blind, lost and confused, would you care what color the offered hand?” D. S. Mitchell 2015

“Silence in front of savagery is savagery itself.” Abhijit Naskar

“To be happy and contented, count your blessings, not your cash.” Chinese Proverb

“We can never be too busy to be kind.” D. S. Mitchell 2017

RIP RBG

“The rain falls because the cloud can no longer handle the weight. The tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain.” The Wise You

“Let my old days be my best days,” Cousin Lucille

“In no instance have… the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.” James Madison

“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” Charles Dickens

“Thoughtful people are slow to anger, not necessarily less efficient in their killing.” D. S. Mitchell 2019

“Endings are not always bad. Most times they’re just beginnings in disguise.” Kim Harrison

“The United States like so many countries around the world has chosen to give to the few and deny the many.” D.S. Mitchell 2020

“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. This is true, its called life.” Terry Pratchett

“Trickle down economics is like having three dogs and giving one of them a hot dog, and thinking he’ll share.” Bill Maher

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” John Kenneth Galbraith

“When people start acting as though the past is the same as the present and context doesn’t matter, things start to get dangerous.” Trevor K. McNeil 2020

“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I don’t need to attend every argument I’m invited to.” Unknown

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret between the shadow and soul.” Pablo Neruda

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ― Bruce Lee

“I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.” Shirley Chisholm 5/21/1969

“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.” ― George Washington

“We only fail when we fail to try.” Rosa Parks

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Thomas Jefferson

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The 7 Social Sins are: Wealth without Work; Pleasure without Conscience; Knowledge without Character; Commerce without Morality; Science without Humanity; Worship without Sacrifice; Politics without Principle.” Frederick Lewis Donaldson

“All evils are equal when they are extreme.”-Pierre Corneille

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy

“People without vaginas shouldn’t be able to regulate them.” Unknown

“What this country needs is more unemployed politicians.” Edward Langley, artist

“Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” Abraham Lincoln

“When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” Chinese proverb

“If people stopped searching for things that offended them and started looking for things that inspired them; what a wonderful world this would be.” Night Owl

A Poem For Don and Vlad

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington

“To argue with a person who has given up reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine

“Imagination is the bridge between the things we know for sure, and the things we need to believe, when our world becomes unbearable.” Staceyann Chin

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs