Many Notaries ask me how to find a Notary mentor. I used to know people who did teaching and mentoring. But, they are all getting so old. I don’t know who to recommend. There are several issues here.

ISSUES WITH MENTORS

1. If you get a mentor who is near where you live, you represent competition for them. Even if they are the best in the world and you are brand new, you will eventually get better and take some market share from them.

2. If you get a mentor who is far, then how will you ever be able to meet with them?

3. Ideally, you want a mentor who is about an hour away so you are not in direct competition with them.

4. When I call people who are being mentored, whenever I ask about their skill set, they immediately tell me all about what their mentor knows and how great their mentor is. That is all very wonderful if I am going to hire their mentor, but not if I am going to hire the new Notary. Answer questions about you based on you. If you know nothing, be up front about that otherwise you would be a very slippery person who knows nothing vs. an honest straight forward person who knows nothing. People who hire notaries can see through all of this type of BS and none of us have patience for it or like it. Real answers to real questions please.

HOW TO FIND A MENTOR

NNA used to publish a list of mentors. I don’t know if they still know people who do this.

You can call the most experienced notaries on 123notary and see if any of them will help you. You could call local ones, or people far away with high placed listings.

The NNA claims that social media is a good place to find a Notary mentor. Facebook groups, forums, etc. I tend to agree with that idea. However, people who are busy and successful don’t always show their face on social media because they are too busy working so that they can keep being successful. Meanwhile, people who are not at all successful often spend all of their time on social media, sometimes bashing other people who spend their lives being productive (especially in the notary world.) Carmen and I are very familiar with that type of social media user.

Carol Ray knows many people in the business and might be able to help. She runs Notary2Pro which is an agency that trains Notaries.

Asking leaders of notary organizations (other than myself) might be a great idea. I know people who teach or used to teach, but I don’t know if they are mentors. I just emailed a few to ask if they do it or know anyone who does it. But, the various leaders of Notary organizations might know all sorts of people doing all sorts of things and there are many organizations out there.

HOW TO SCRUTINIZE A MENTOR

Not all people are experts at all things and not all experts are available or helpful. So, how do you find a good mentor? You could find someone 1000 miles away who is good at answering questions. But, that doesn’t help when you want to shadow someone. On a brighter note, if someone doesn’t want you shadowing them, they have to tell you to your face as you can’t “shadow ban” someone who is with you in person. You should ideally either have a company who can micromanage you and walk you through your first several signings, or find a local mentor you can tag along with for three to ten signings.

The mentor should know:
1. Local notary laws
2. Signing agent procedure
3. How to handle situations
4. How to explain the documents, initialing, the right to rescind, document recording, and basics about title, escrow, and lending.

Since you presumably don’t know anything about signing work or situations, you can see if that person knows how to be a good notary at a minimum. But, you won’t know if they are a good signing agent since you don’t know what to ask them to verify that information. You can ask questions about various notary signing topics and see how thorough or intelligent the answers are. However if you are at the stage where you are ready for a mentor, YOU need to be an expert at your state notary law yourself. If you are going to use your stamp even once, you could end up in big trouble if you do something wrong — so know your stuff!

It would be a little like me hiring someone to be a rocket scientist — I wouldn’t know what to ask them since I know nothing about rocket science.

IF YOU ARE A MENTOR
If you actually are a mentor and are willing to deal with new people and their insecurities, you can respond to this blog post! Additionally, if you know where to find a mentor, shares your comments as well.

What is Notaritus?
It is a disease that is spread on social media. It is not a disease of the body (pause), but of the mind! Notaries who are poorly trained spread a lot of incorrect information and gossip on Facebook and other online forums. Forums are a great place to share information and experience. But, to share incorrect ideas of how to handle notary situations is just plain dangerous. The problem is that Notaries are addicted to mingling and taking advice from others, so the wrong information spreads from person to person much like a virus.

So, there needs to be a vaccine from this virus, and perhaps information about how to flatten the curve of spreading incorrect information.

1. Stay six feet away from other social media platforms.
2. Wear a mask on your brain when you read notary information published by someone other than your state’s secretary of state.
3. Stay in your basement as much as possible and avoid sunlight, being happy, or going out. Although being happy and getting vitamin D from sunlight strengthens your immune system, we need to keep you afraid so you’ll buy our vaccine, so stay in your basement and remain scared.
4. Wash your brain for at least twenty seconds after every contact with social media.

Then what is the vaccine? Simple. Your state notary division’s website will have correct information about what your state’s notary laws and practices are. Some have newsletters or blogs as well. California has a great handbook and then has a blog of some sort. Not all of the info is in the handbook, so you could lose your commission over vague information in the handbook as to correct journal entry procedure. Wouldn’t it be easier to keep all pertinent information in one place? No! That would be too easy and we can’t have that!

Don’t believe what anyone says about notary law unless they are the Secretary of State’s Notary Division, or someone who is officially designated to teach Notary law. Please keep in mind that 123notary’s notary information is NOT state specific and might not apply to your state and might be outdated. Sorry to downplay our credibility, but I don’t want to mislead the public. Our information is in your best interests, but laws are different in each state and it is hard to keep up with them all.

Come to think of it, I just found out that the Virgin Islands and American Samoa are in the United States. Personally, I think we should sell the Virgin Islands to Al-Qaida, they just love virgins.

So, get the vaccine for Notaritus today, but checking in with your notary division, reading your handbook and going straight to the source for correct information rather than relying on your incompetent friends. When Jesus made reference to the blind leading the blind, he was really talking about Notary Facebook groups, he just didn’t know it at the time.

Many of us with public offices such as Notary Public, Police, Judges, and others have sworn an Oath of Office to protect the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. The exact wording of your Oath varies by profession, state, and varies over time. But, the concept is similar. You do not sit and watch while our constitution is being violated — you stand up and do something. But, do what? Use your imagination. Protest, write letters, make phone calls to critical people – make some noise damn it!

The constitution and its amendments are the bedrock and foundation of our society. If people can violate it with reckless abandon for light and transient causes such as diseases that only kill people in nursing homes or due to temporary riots, then the governors can get away with anything — and in 2020 they did.

It is December, 2020 when I am writing this article. State officials are beginning to speak more frequently about the constitution. Rudy Giuliani made several lawsuits involving states concerning the legitimacy of votes which included some constitutional issues. The Texas Secretary of State sued a few states that violated constitutional procedure for making changes in voting rules. And more Sheriffs (in CA & NY for example) and regular people are beginning to stand up more and more and protest how their rights have been taken away from them.

What specific violations can be sourced?

1. Liberty & Masks
Liberty is described as an unalienable right by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the State of California. Liberty is also a right in the Constitution that can only be taken from you by due process. Is forcing a healthy person to wear a mask or socially distance liberty?

Liberty I would define as the ability to do what you like unless you create extreme danger or discomfort to others. A healthy person not wearing a mask poses no more danger to others than a safe driver on the road poses. Sure there might be an accident, but the risk is a small and reasonable risk. A driver who has a record of driving recklessly would pose a significant risk. And we need to differentiate between reasonable risk and unreasonable risk — but, due to our paranoia of Covid-19, our brains no longer function rationally.

2. The First Amendment: The Right to Assemble
The right to assemble on personal property, business property, and public property such as parks, beaches, hiking trails, etc., has been abridged in many states by the respective Governors. Many were denied their right to run their business or have as many clients as they wanted in their building. Restaurants couldn’t provide inside dining either for months on end which created financial devastation to many.

3. The First Amendment: Religious Rights
Our rights to practice our religions have been violated. In many states the Governors have made it illegal to congregate in a religious building such as a church, mosque, or synagogue. Additionally, there was hypocrisy in enforcement as violent rioters were allowed to congregate in mass and damage businesses. Executive orders must be even handed across the board, so if 100 rioters can assemble to riot, therefore 100 church goers should have the same right. On the other hand, the constitution doesn’t allow any abridgement of our rights. I consider it to be treason for a member of the government to willfully violate our constitutional rights.

4. The Second Amendment: Gun Rights
Several states wanted to abridge gun rights or take guns away from members of the public. The constitution doesn’t state that the government can do such a thing. Members of the public have the right to bear firearms — it doesn’t say which type they can have or can’t have or under what conditions. It just says we can have them.

5. Constitution Main Body: Changing voting rules
Several states decided to change their voting protocol to include mail in ballots which is a contested issue. During previous years the Democrats complained about fraud involving mail-in ballot, and now the Republicans are complaining more. It is hard to verify someone’s identity or whether or not they are living or a state resident with mail-in ballots. Most Republicans claim that was the whole point — to defraud an election and defeat Trump. But, the legislation of the respective states must be the party to decide what voting procedures are and not other parties of the executive or judicial branch who “take over,” at least temporarily.

6. Freedom of Press
Although the government did not abridge our rights to free expression in any way I am aware of, the government was sluggish to crack down on utility companies such as large internet and social media outfits who routinely censor and suppress the commentary particularly of more traditional or conservative voices. If we are to live in a country with freedom and where all voices are heard, you cannot let companies censor those who they allow free commentary unless they are publishers. I also believe that if Twitter and Facebook wish to be publishers, there should be a completely different rulebook for them to play by and they should not allow their members to post freely at all. Social media should be distinguished from publishing and Twitter and Facebook need to decide if they want free press or whether they want to have designated writers. Having both simultaneously on a rocking boat doesn’t seem to work beneficially to the public.

7. A dysfunctional system of checks and balances
Governors of states in 2020 could get away with anything with little if any consequences. The people did not stand up with any force against the government — not even in Michigan where there were mini uprisings and a kidnapping attempt which never amounted to anything. From my limited knowledge of how America works, it seems that the court systems in the various states have the power to shut down a governor’s powers if he or she abuses them. However, only Wisconsin was able to stop their governor from making arbitrary Covid-19 related orders. The other states either did nothing, made a feeble and failed attempt to curtail the governor’s actions, or in the case of California only limited Newsom’s ability to make executive orders that contradicted existing legislation, but did NOT prevent him from shutting indoor dining, or preventing free assembly or freedom of religion.

California’s freedom of religion was decided by a Federal circuit court many months ago who decided that going to church would be suicide, and therefore that the constitution no longer applies and that the constitution has a “pause” button that can be pressed at arbitrary times. When I read the constitution and the various amendments, I erroneously missed the part where the pause button is described. Perhaps I should read more carefully.

Notaries also swore to protect the constitution in their Oath of Office, so it behooves you to do something to defend it. Write a letter, make a phone call, write an article, demonstrate publically — do something.

SUMMARY
The Constitution is a document — a piece of paper. It is the foundation of our society. However, without enforcement, (and we the people are part of the mechanism that can enforce it or pressure others to enforce it) — it remains a meaningless, helpless and worthless piece of paper. If you value America, the country that gave your ancestors life, freedom, liberty, safety, opportunity, and the right to pursue happiness, then get off your rear end and defend this document with your life if necessary otherwise our republic is done — perhaps permanently! We would be done due to the economic catastrophe of unconstitutional shutdowns as well as the government corruption which undermines the character of our nation.

I am trying to share some thoughts on Twitter about Covid-19, but I am met with hostile and childish responses. Even the politicians are thinking unrealistically about this. My responses are misunderstood and attacked. How do you reason with people who aren’t logical? It seems futile, but the future of the American economy or life in this nation depends on it.

Here are my predictions.

(a) Covid-19 will infect 100,000,000 Ameriicans more or less
(b)10,000,000 will likely be “registered” officially as infected as most cases go undetected.
(c) 15% of detected or “registered” cases end up with some hospital time, but the duration is not well documented.
(d) Roughly half of hospitalized patients for covid-19 end up dead within perhaps a week to several weeks — in China many cases have dragged on for months.
(e) 6 million people will die in the usa from this disease this time and 15 million will need to be hospitalized over the course of six months.
(f) It is likely that up to 4 million people will need to be hospitalized at the same time. The military and FEMA are able to create this type of capacity, especially if they use ships and trains which are good because you can move sick people to places where there are more doctors and staff.
(g) Lock downs do not end the disease, and it doesn’t matter if you lock down early or late. The fact remains that lock downs cost the USA about 1 Trillion per month at least and that the minute you stop locking down, the disease will catch up to where it was in a month or two depending on how long you locked down.

ILLOGICAL THINKING
People scolded me on Twitter for suggesting that the economy was more important than the lives of humans. I merely said that sacrificing the economy permanently to temporarily delay people’s death did not seem like a good strategy. In the minds of childish people, their philosophy is often:

CHILDISH PHILOSPHY
Death is bad; Lock downs fight virus & prevent death; Therefore lock downs = good. Additionally, we should SCOLD those
who in our opinion value money more than life.

MY PHILOSOPHY
Death is bad; Having a broken economy could cause complete anarchy making the USA unlivable and unsafe to walk down the street without the fear of being beaten, robbed or raped. A broken economy leads to death.

COVID-19 also causes death. Delaying deaths from Covid-19 does NOT prevent death, but only delays death unless a vaccine comes fast. Lock downs don’t prevent death. They only delay disease caused death. But, extended lock downs could cause the death of the US economy which could cause problems that nobody can even imagine. If you don’t believe me, take a closer look at what is going on in Venezuela or bankrupt African nations where anarchy reigns, villages get massacred, and five year olds are given guns and forced to join militia death squads. That could be the future of America if we break our system. Freedom and constitutional rights can also be ended, and in my opinion already have been due to the shut down. The equation is a lot more complicated than the dummies who rudely criticize my points of view on social media.

REALITY OF VIRUSES
Viruses do not just go away on their own. If a critical mass of people gains immunity, or weather changes make transmission difficult, then the virus might just go away. Lock downs in china resulted in a dramatic reduction in active cases. However, now that China is opening up, people from other countries who are visiting them are reinfecting their communities which completely undermines the effort and self-inflicted economic damage the Chinese did. They could be reinfected to the level they were two months ago in just — two months. So, in order to combat this disease using lockdowns, you would have to lock down forever.

The other reality is that in my opinion 6 million will die in the USA. If we flatten the curve using shut downs, then those people instead of dying in six months, will die over a period of time. In theory, if we flatten the curve too much, we might have 10,000 people dying per month over a period of 600 months which would be 50 years. Some idiot on Twitter says that there is no evidence that the disease will last 12 years (I used 12 years in a mathematical hypothetical situation online) and I agree that there is no evidence how long the disease will last. But, with artificial means to limit the disease it could last for years — probably not 50 years. We could flatten the curve and have 100,000 people die per month and then the deaths will take place over 5 years to reach a death toll of 6,000,000 according to mathematics — once again a hypothetical analysis not based on reality.

The bottom line is that many people will die, and using shut downs, we can control how fast they die. At the rate society is willing to let people die –perhaps at a few dozen per month, we will be locked down forever, the disease will never be eliminated since we will have been prevented from gaining immunity, and our economy will grind to an irreparable hault.

Dummies and childish thinkers don’t think the American economy will grind to a halt and think that the economic problems are just temporary. Right now they are temporary, but could become permanent. The Great Depression took 16 years to fix, and if it weren’t for WW2, it would not ever have been fixed. I am speaking in terms of reality and historical precident here.

Shut downs do not prevent death — they just delay death and do long term damage to the economy and people’s life. We may not have a nation if this continues. Nations depend on taxes, money, and credit and if you ruin your credit you can’t perform functions as a nation. America cannot function without a payroll for the military, social services, infrastructure, school, medicare, etc. If you break the system to delay a disease the entire nation could dissolve and cease to be a nation. We would be left with 50 bankrupt states and a nation of paupers which is exactly what my guru prophecized twenty years ago. I am afraid that his prediction will be coming true faster than I thought.