The 2016 Wrap Up!

2016 was a fantastic year of family, travel and personal growth.

It started with a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, a place I'd long wanted to visit. My wife Kath and I had a fantastic time seeing sites like the Counry Music Hall of Fame, Grand Ol' Opry and we even got to go to the NHL All-Star Fanfest which happened to be in town.



Soon after, this little guy joined our pack and quickly stole our hearts. His name is Finley and he's a Morkie; which is a mix between a Maltese and a Yorkie. He's far more Yorkie in personality, being full of spirit and mischievous.

I also made another trip to Japan in May. Unfortunately, I had planned to go back to Okinawa to see old friends and train but due to a serious incident on the island that I thought might make it not a safe time to be there, I cancelled. Hopefully sometime in 2017.



While I was in Tokyo, I had the privilege of training with a group of senior Shotokan practitioners, thanks to my friend Kitano-san. I had a fantastic time, learned new things and making some new friends. After our training, they took me out and we had quite a bit of sake from various prefectures across Japan.



Summer brought trips to the UK, where I visited London and Bristol. I also traveled down to North Carolina for the 2016 Inter-national Seidokan Karate seminar. It was a great weekend meeting new friends and old including Jason Fitzpatrick, my new mate from the UK. I caught up with him again in October and we hit the pubs in London. 


In September, I finally made it to Paris, France and got to speak at a celebration for completing a major project for the French Air Force. I took a whirlwind trip around in a hop on/hop off bus and got to see some of the sights, but promised my wife I'd save most of it for a personal trip with her in the future. The next week, I was back on a plane for Germany and this time Kath joined me. We had an amazing time visiting Bavaria, Austria and Northern Italy. The Alps may have been the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Both Kath and I really can't wait to get back there! We also hit Oktoberfest in Munich as well, another must do again.

The Bavarian Alps

When I got back from Germany, my karate class and I participated in the Northeast Karate Championship. As you can see from the photo, we did okay. Three participants and four medals.

My wife and I then headed out to NYC for NY Comic Con. She shopped while I navigated the halls of the Javits Center. I made a few good contacts and as always had a good weekend. At night, Kath and I took in the city including seeing Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at BB King's in Times Square.


I also made one more trip to the UK and had the honor of having dinner at the Royal Air Force Club. It was something I'll always remember, especially for someone like me who loves history.
 
On the creative side, I finally managed to finish the first draft of my new Ronan Marino book, something that has vexed me for many years. I'm hoping to have it ready for release in summer.

I have big plans for 2017 so keep checking back here. Until next time! 

Random Thoughts of a Busy Mind (Part I)...

Today, I'm just going to push out some random thoughts that should hopefully spur on some thoughts of your own....

* The 2016 Presidential Election may very well be the worst in America's history. We have two main party candidates who can't be trusted, lie on demand and will do nothing but continue the slow decline of the world's last great superpower. I'd say we deserve better, but We the People have brought this on ourselves by continuing to reflexively vote for a corrupt two party system. 

* Maybe I'm crazy, but perhaps America doesn't need to take the lead in fighting ISIS. I know that the Guns, God and Murica' crowd will take offense to this, but we're not really accomplishing all that much over there. Yeah, I once believe we were, but this had become a generational struggle for us. In a few years, we'll have troops fighting who weren't even born when the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked in 2001. 

Maybe the Middle Eastern powers such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, whom are all buying billions of dollars in advanced weaponry, should be taking the lead. After all, they have far more to lose than America or Europe does in this struggle. ISIS is a much bigger threat to their sovereignty and security.

* Hollywood may be out of good ideas. with this summer of remakes and sequels. I've only been to theater once since April. Don't get me wrong, there are some films that lend themselves to remakes, but there are others that don't need to be rehashed. There are plenty of good books out there that would make excellent films (cough, cough...Ronan Marino), but the movers and shakers in Tinseltown aren't willing to take the risk.

Most of the good stuff is on Amazon Prime, Netflix and pay cable these days anyway.

* Speaking of Hollywood, does it bother anyone else that some celebs rant about gun control, yet work in an industry that glorifies violence and guns?

There's one huge reason (other than being far more educated and wordly than the vast majority of them) I can't take any celeb serious when they preach about the issues of the day. They do not practice what they preach. Take a look at climate change issue. Leonardo DeCaprio preaches on the topic, yet flies on carbon spewing private planes, sails on fuel hogging yachts and rides in gas guzzling limos, yet he's going to tell us we need to take action to save the planet?

Sorry, not buying it from you, Leo. Ditch the yacht, mansion, private plane, etc. and we'll talk. Same with all the celebs who want to talk about banning guns, yet make films with gun-toting heroes or have armed body guards. Apparently they've never once heard the term hypocrite.

*Sadly, in terms of music, we live in age of forgettable one hit wonders. I look at the charts and barely recognize any of the names in the Top 40. In a month, it'll be an entirely different set of "musicians" I've never heard of, most of whom will never be heard from again. 

I miss the days when artists would put out an album and have four or five hits that would last for generations. I'm not critiquing the music itself, but the business model brought on by the .99 download. If this trend continues, the days of artists like Elvis, Sinatra, Springsteen, etc. who spanned decades and remained beloved will be gone forever.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of my random thoughts.

My Presidential Platform..

Wow, been a busy few months and I haven't blogged much at all.

Since my last post I spent a week in Japan and got to do some incredible training with some fellow Karate-do practitioners, taken golf back up, my youngest graduated from high school and I got serious about writing that next Ronan Marino book.

Meanwhile, someone recently asked me what my platform would be if I was running for president and I thought it would be kind of fun to lay it out. Hmmm, President Corricelli...no chance of that ever happening, though I would like a shot at a House or Senate seat one day (probably only a slightly better chance of ever happening).

So if I was running for president, here's some some of my platform:

Personal Taxes - the entire tax code would be abolished and replaced with a graduated tax. You pay according to what your income is and the entire thing is done on a postcard. If you make X amount, you pay X amount; no deductions, no loopholes nothing.

I'd also consider a temporary valued added tax (VAT) on luxury items (boats, aircraft, cars over $50K, diamond jewelry...those type of things) that would be locked into paying down the national debt. The law would be written so this money could not be used for more than the debt and would sunset after five years. 

I would not allow Congress to increase spending because this VAT money was coming in.

Corporate Taxes - I'd lower them to a rate comparable to other western nations but all subsidies to energy, etc. would be taken away.

"Not for Profit" universities and churches would no longer be exempt from paying taxes either. 

The Economy - My first day in office I will call in all the Fortune 500 CEOs of American based companies and ask them what they need from me to bring manufacturing back to our country. If I found their responses reasonable, I would work with Congress to make it happen.  

I would work with Congress to ensure trade protections for American goods. I would look to enact higher tariffs on foreign goods that compete 

Foreign aid - most of it would end and instead be used to improve our roads, bridges, etc. Sorry, rest of the world, but we cannot send billions overseas and not take care of our own nation. It would be on a case by case basis.

The Military - I support a strong military. That said, we don't need to be in over two hundred countries. We are not an empire. I would withdraw troops from hot spots like the Middle East and demand that the rich nations over there that we sell billions in weapons to take care of ISIS.

I would continue to work with our close allies to keep China, Russia, Iran and North Korean contained. I would ensure that freedom of movement over the high seas is maintained worldwide. 

I'd also cut down on the number of generals and admirals. There are too many and we need to go back to a better balance of senior officers vs. rank and file troops. 

Immigration - It's unrealistic to think we can deport 20M people. I would allow them to stay (unless they were violent criminals) but they must pay a fine, pay taxes, and are not eligible for so-called federal entitlements of any kind for five years from the time they come out into the light. They must all submit to a health inspection to ensure they don't have diseases we once thought eradicated in America. If found to be infected, they can either leave the country or be treated.

They must also be encouraged to learn English and integrate themselves into our society.  By Executive Order, I would make all road signs, etc. mandated to be in English only. It is the language of success and we will not get immigrants to integrate if they don't learn it.

I would also deploy the military to the southern border to protect it from further illegal incursions. That is their primary job to defend our borders. Time to put them to the use they were intended for.

Guns - I would push for all existing laws to be enforced before we come up with new laws. I would also order that mental hospitals be reopened and violent and dangerous individuals be committed, much as we did for decades.

If there are so-called loopholes, then they will be closed. 

Drugs - Marijuana would be legalized, controlled and taxed. I did a paper a few years ago for my Masters Degree and found we spend about $8 Billion a year on enforcement. It's also estimated that the federal government can reap an additional $8 Billion a year in taxes from marijuana.That's a delta of $16B in our federal coffers.

Other drugs that are highly addictive would remain illegal.

Abortion- No change to existing laws. Roe vs. Wade would remain in effect at the federal level.

No federal funding would ever be used for an abortion except in the case of rape or incest. 

Gay Rights - all Americans have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Bible, the Koran, etc. are not the rule of law in this country and shall not impede the rights our Constitution has provided. Marriage, etc. would all be legalized at the federal level.

Prisons - I would release all non-violent drug offenders who were caught up in federal mandatory minimums; meaning that if you're in prison for selling small amounts of MJ, but were in a school zone, I'm letting you out. You can apply for a pardon based on the severity of the crime. Each case will be reviewed and a pardon recommended to me on a case by case basis.

We cannot continue to incarcerate the high percentage of Americans that we do. For many non-violent criminals, there are other ways to punish including community service and fines.

Healthcare - I would attack the causes of the high cost of healthcare. There would be tort reform limiting damages against doctors, which should in turn lower the cost of malpractice insurance. 

I would make big pharma explain why drugs cost so much in America and if they refuse to lower the cost to the rate they sell them overseas for, enact laws to tax to ensure it's better for them to lower the prices than pay high export fees. 

The Environment - I know many will skewer me over this, but I am not convinced that climate change is due to man. The evidence on both sides has been so politicized, it's hard for me to believe where we stand. I do however think the climate is changing, as it has many times long before man ever stood erect. I also believe we need to move away from fossil fuels in a smart way so I would kick start an effort to build more solar plants, use more water and wind power, etc. We have to take care of our air, earth and water and polluters would be punished. 

Sure, some of this is fairly simplistic, and the details would have to be worked out as I moved forward but it's certainly better in my mind that the two individuals being pushed by the major parties.

Did I mentioned I'm voting for Gary Johnson?