Author: Scott Patrick Smith

I had to say goodbye to Mookie (aka Cousin Donkey) when I left Puerto Rico in March of 2019. I adopted him out to a nice family in Puerto Rico.

When I landed in Miami and assessed my living situation, I realized there was no difference between me having three small dogs in the apartment or four dogs. Upon that realization, I went into a severe depression knowing I could’ve kept him and now will never see him again.

Two months later in May of 2019, the family who adopted Mookie asked me if I could take him back. I almost fell off my chair at work. It was one of the greatest days of my life. It was like a death had been reversed. Mookie and I had a lot of history by this point. He’s part of Wolfpack 8 that I always speak about. We were Wolfpack lost in Puerto Rico. Mookie was the 7th dog of the pack. Polar Bear was number 8.

During the last few months in Puerto Rico, we lived on the floor in a house with no power and no furniture. Despite the challenges I was faced with towards the end in Puerto Rico, I held the line for Wolfpack 8. – I made a covenant with myself: “Either I was keeping them off the streets, or we would be in the streets together.”

And that’s my history with Mookie. On the left is me and Mookie living on the floor before I left Puerto Rico in March of 2019. You can see Mookie on the right in Miami just last week in October of 2021.

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray aniamls in the street.

Rocky, Lucky and Polar Bear left Puerto Rico and landed in Miami two years ago this month. I had not seen them in 6 months. I was getting concerned about whether or not I would be able to bring them over to Miami. But in September of 2019, I pulled off mission impossibile and had the whole pack back together. All 7 of us, including Sammy. It was the biggest touchdown of my life.

Upon that touchdown, I put a video together called the “Pack is Back” with all 7 of my dogs. It was the last video that Sammy was in before he tragically passed on January 30th, 2020. In the coming months, I will put another video together with my surviving pack including newest member, Grasshopper.

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.

On September 1st, 2021, the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect banning abortions by the 6 week mark of pregnancy. That’s really extreme considering most women don’t know they’re pregnant until week four through seven. Sometimes several months pass before a woman realizes she’s pregnant. 

By Texas banning abortions at the 6 week mark and after, it is effectively banning all abortions. Now, 85% of women seeking abortions in Texas will be prohibiited. Even rape and incest are not exlusions. In other words, if a woman gets raped, and she doesn’t realize she’s pregnant until after the 6 week mark, the law is forcing her to see the pregnancy through. The only exception to the abortion ban is for medical emergencies only. Women have essecntially become properties of the state.

Scarily enough, the Texas Abortion Ban gets even more extreme. The Heartbeat Act will be exclusively enforced through civil action by the private citizens of Texas. Any person may bring civil action against anyone who performs an abortion or helps in the process of getting an abortition. If the civil action is won in court, the citizen will be awarded $10,000. 

This new Texas abortion ban basically eradicates Roe v. Wade without having to go through all the legal hurdles. Governor Gregg Abbott recently tweeted that Texas will always defend the right to life. But, Abbott left out the most important hypocrisy of pro-life legislators: Once the child is born, they don’t care what happens to that child. Just ask the 30,000 kids in Foster care in Texas. Life is hard enough even as a wanted child. As an unwanted child, it’s next to impossible. Where is Greg Abbott’s Concern for the lives below? 

1. The mass shooting epidemic
2. Sending troops into frivolous wars
3. The 7.5 million people on eviction row right now
4. Mass Incarceration
5. Kids in orphanages
6. The homeless
7. The poor

People should propose a bill to Congress forcing men to get vasectomies until they’re ready to have children. Vasectomies are reversible after all. Then, once a man has 3 kids, force them to get another vasectomy, only this time for life. That sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s how crazy the new Texas Abortion ban sounds to women. Men would never allow any laws to pass that control their bodies. Men have gone to war with other countries for far less of a violation than this one towards women with respect to abortions.

Texas took a giant step backward for mankind as a whole regarding their abortion ban. We can thank the Supreme Court for this when they refused to block a Texas law prohibiting most abortions on August 31st, 2021. We’ve all seen many of the humorous memes about handmaids like Amy Coney Barret. It’s not so humorous now, is it? She didn’t act alone either. Gorcesh, Kavanaugh and 2 others also voted to refuse blocking a Texas law prohibiting most abortions. This abortion ban is so extreme, Texas might as well strip women of their right to vote as well. Why not just send them back to the year 1919 and right back into the kitchen?

Sizing Up All the Noise and Getting Personal 

The best thing any of us can do for the world is to help the life that’s already here (both animals and people), versus creating new human life. Why feed a society like this? – Let the powers that be send their kids to the front lines of frivilous wars. Have their kids work for starvation wages. That’s what this is about. Yes, it’s guised under “Defending the right to life.” But, actions speak louder than words. The actions of pro-life legislators are Not in sync with their messages. Please refer to the list of 7 above. 

I’ve been through 2 abortions with 2 different women in my life. I’m not proud of it. But, thank goodness those decisions were made back then. We would’ve been terrible parents and the kids would’ve had miserable lives.  As mentioned above, life is hard enough even as a wanted child. As an unwanted child, it’s next to impossible. 

Everyone should practice safe sex. But, that’s not a perfect system. People are always going to get hot for each other and accidents will happen. Women need and deserve an option for those accidents and/or just a change of heart. 

Pro Choice is not about politics. It’s about humanity. 

Sammy understood the working man because he was a working man. Whether he was doing business like in the picture on the above left, or being one of Santa’s reindeer during Christmas time, seeing patients as Dr. Harp Seal or working with the Coast Gaurd, Sammy understood and respected hard work.

Labor Day is a national holiday honoring the working people in the United States and Canada. It was originally created in 1882 and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September.

To quote Morgan Freeman when he played God in Bruce Almighty: “People underestimate the benefits of good old fashioned manual labour. Just think a minute, some of the happiest people in the world go home stinking to high heaven at the end of the day”

Happy Labor Day Everyone.

This past Thursday the Supreme Court ended the eviction moratorium putting 7.5 million people at risk of homelessness. While the moritorium was extended several times, which was a good thing, the problem is that millions of them are still in the same position they were back in March of 2020.

The people at risk of being evicted need a bailout and the US can afford it. I’m going to show you what that could look like with simple arithmetic. But, first let’s get some perspective on numbers regarding the amount of money the US spent on wars in the last 20 years, and the Wall Street Bailout of 2008. Then, we’ll compare those numbers to the numbers it would take to bailout the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted. 

The United States spent $6 Trillion in the last 20 years on Friviolous Wars

Several goverment officials and Generals in 2019 admitted that we had no idea what we were doing in Afganastan, or who were even fighting anymore. The Washington Post broke that story in what was known as the Afganistan Papers. Now, anyone who was paying attention from the very beginning back in 2001, realized this was a baseless war.

Sadly, that wasn’t America’s biggest mistake. The US then invaded Iraq in 2003 for no particular reason. They had nothing to do with 9/1l, Bin Laden was not hiding in Iraq and they had NO Weapons of Mass Destructions. And this was known at the time. Weapons inspector’s Hans Blix and Scott Ridder, who were on the ground at the time in Iraq said they had No WMD’s. – Iraq was Not a threat and certainly was NOT an imminent threat. But, the US invaded them anyway. The defense companies made a fortune in the midst of all this blood and death.

The Wall Street Bailout of 2008

Congress approved a $700 Billion bank bailout to stabilize finanical markets in the face of the housing and mortgage crisis. The program was called the “Troubled Assets Relief Program.” Also knon as TARP. That doesn’t even include the quantitative easing program by the Federal Reserve from 2008 through 2014. The Fed deployed over $4 Trillion buying up treasuries to keep interest rates artfically low. Capitalism failed in 2008 if not for this bailout and assistance by the Federal Reserve. And Capitilism is failing most Americans now.

A proposed bailout for the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted

If the United States wrote a check for $20,000 to each of the people at risk of losing their homes, that would be a total of $150 billion. That’s a big number, right? – But, in 2008 the U.S. wrote a $750 billion check to bailout the banking sector. That’s 5 times greater than what I’m proposing here with the Eviction Bailout. It’s nothing for the US.

Let’s compare the $150 billion Eviction Bailout to the $6 trillion spent between both wars in Afganistan and Iraq. Two wars that should never existed in the first place, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people and depelting $6 trillion in resources. That’s 40 times more than the proposed $150 billion to bailout 7.5 million peope on Eviction Row.

Bernie Sanders is correct, poverty is a death setence. It’s also a crime to be poor in the United States. I’ll go a step further than Senator Senators, even if you don’t die from poverty, chances are you’ll live a miserable life.

When will the US make poor people in this country a priority? – When wil the US throw money at humanity the way it does with defense, guns, blood and death? America’s values are still inverted. It’s supposed to be “Lives before Profits.” Not the other way around.

I found this coffee mug at a Family Dollar store today. I was very struck by the message. It’s so true.

DriveWithCompassion is hoping for a better tomorrow starting tonight.

Happy Weekend.

When Lucky’s outside, he just owns it. He’s a combination of the the Wolverine and the Lion King. – Anyone that meets Lucky knows they are in the presense of greatness. He’s the only dog I’ve ever known that has presene of mind. Many dogs are smart, but presense of mind is whole other level. Meaning, he strategizes in his head about the things he wants to do.

Sometimes you just walk out of the house and your life changes forever. That’s what happened on May 10th, 2017 in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. The world wasn’t big enough for Lucky and myself to not find each other. This had to happen.

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.

Sammy and I used to read the newspaper every Sunday together. He really loved to stay abreast of current events. That’s my coffee over to the left. As we all know, dogs should Not drink coffee.

Sunday is not like any other day of the week. Monday through Friday, it’s work work work. On Saturdays we catch up on personal responsibilities. But on Sundays, we let imagination in the door and back into our lives. On Sundays, we get to be us again. The people we set out to be from the very beginning.

Feel free to listen to the audio version of this post. It’s fun and interesting: Why is Sunday called Sunday Funday.

Florida’s enconomy is probably the number one economy in the United States right now. If not one, it’s number two next to Texas.

My mother is 78 years old and in pretty bad shape. Meals on Wheels of South Florida funded by the Federal Older American Act doesn’t have the funding right now to let her, or others seniors participate in the program. This is a perfect example of how Trickle Down Economics doesn’t trickle down. It simply Stays Up.

It’s similar to what we saw last year with the Dow Jones over 30,000, while food bank lines, evictions and people living in tent cities were at all time highs. I am so turned off to Florida that when things are better, I can’t stay in state like this in good concious. It’s literally the Lord of the Flies over here. Even the commercials on the radio always talk of wearing maskes so we can keep the South Florida economy booming. It’s never about the people. It’s always about the money.

Nobody’s disputing the importance of money. What’s being disuted, is the distribution of it. South Florida lacks humanity.

Isn’t Polar Bear exquisite? – He’s the first rescue I’ve had that turned into another species. He was a dog when I orginally rescued him on December 28th, 2018 in Puerto Rico. But, since his arrival to the states in September of 2019, somewhere along the way he beceame a polar bear from the Arctic. Well, that what he tells me anyway.

When he arrived in the states, I think all the news about climate change and the plight of polar bears and other marine life in the Artic, changed his perspective about life. It really resonated with him. As his human dad, I just go along with it now and make up stories of when I rescued him from the Arctic. You wouldn’t believe the things I come up with. Hey, the things we do for love, right?

Please Drive With Compassion. There are stray animals in the street.