Homan's gonna kick some illegal ass

 I have a better proposal.  First off absolutely secure the border.  Plug that thing with Flex Seal if you have to.  Maybe let a few of the top chefs through but THAT'S IT.  Next absolutely deport the criminal element and expeditiously at that.  Get The Rock to help if you have to.  Now here's where I get off the MAGA road.  Of the remaining millions who haven't committed any crimes and are hard-working have them maybe pay a fine and some back taxes like Hillary said once.  Then they have a choice.  Take the citizenship test and learn English or else you have to leave.  You can't stay here perpetually in this quasi state.  You have to become official.  Call it forced assimilation if you like but it's less medieval. 

So that's it.  Let's move on.

This term "anti-government"

 Been meaning to do this post for awhile.  When the SPLC and the ADL list someone or a group (usually conservatives) as "anti-government" or "anti-government extremists" you're supposed to go OMG No! but the phrase itself is not automatically good or bad.  In order to be pro-government you have to have a government worth supporting.  If you oppose the governments of say North Korea or Putin's Russia nobody says that's a bad thing.  A libertarian supports limited government.   Only an anarchist is opposed to all government.  Most of us just pay our taxes and follow the law.  To be 100% pro-the government you're probably a fan of statism which is really worship of the State.  Most of us criticize government from time to time.  Property taxes are too high too many regulations whatever.  I think this term "anti-government" is used most often by aggressive defenders of the status quo. It is designed to intimidate you into not criticizing the government or the State TOO MUCH.  If you or your group wind up on the SPLC and ADL lists your political philosophy is automatically assumed to be bad and people are supposed to avoid you.  They mix you in with the Nazis and the skinheads when maybe all you wanna do is eliminate the federal income tax.  I always say as usual do your own research and have a nice day.

Is being over-informed a good thing?

 A lot of old people watch the news all day.  Had an uncle watched the news at 5 a fire in Brooklyn.  Then he watched the news at 6 the same fire in Brooklyn.   OK so now you're extremely well-informed now go watch a movie.  Old people also big on the weather.  I don't have to look at my weather app anymore.  A customer tells me what it's gonna be.

Being overly or extremely well-informed also means absorbing through a kind of unconscious osmosis the biases of the mainstream press.  Watched the PBS Newshour last night.  Story about "Rising Hate."  They had on an "expert" from the Southern Poverty Law Center who tied it all into MAGA and Trump's cabinet picks.  RFK Jr. might be a little quirky but he's a hater?  The SPLC is a lot like the ADL.  They hate conservatives and conservative groups.  No counterpoint on the Newshour of course. 

Maybe I'll rename myself the Grouchy Blogger.

The Trump legal bundle is being dismissed

 As in have a nice day.  DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith says let's move on.  No community service in Yonkers when he leaves.  Nothing.  Meanwhile Trump has said he will impose massive tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on Day One.  A lot on his plate on Day One.  Securing the border, deporting the illegals, tariffs.  So who's coming in from the North anyway?  The illegal French?  Canadian drug cartels?  It's so much bloviating.  I think Day One will be more like settle in, move the furniture around and have a cold one.

A Room With A Liberal View

 Lots of people wondering how "The View" has been on the air for 30 years.  Basically a bunch of liberal chicks sitting around a table with one token conservative.   Sometimes they start yelling.  I thought "The View" was supposed to be a light and frothy show.  Instead you get Whoopi Goldberg's anti-Trump meltdowns.  The other one Sunny Hostin who I never heard of before says uneducated women voted for Trump meaning they never went to college.  So wait a minute your WHOLE education up to but not including college doesn't count?  Then she says racism and misogyny also were big factors that got Trump in.  The price of pet food had nothing to do with it?

Word on the street is "The View" might be on the chopping block along with Morning Joe.  Elon Musk might buy everything that's not nailed down.  Maybe buy Yonkers who knows?

Is Pfizer working on a pill for TDS yet?

 You can find people melting down over the Trump victory all over the Internet.  It's entertaining to watch tbh but truthfully if these people keep this up over the next four years their health is going to suffer.

Joe Scarborough and Al Sharpton talking racial smack over at MSNBC saying black men didn't want a woman for president.  Now there's two sober analysts.  Thought - Maybe black men don't like the price of food like the rest of us.

America's mental health crisis continues.

The POTUS - a crabby nasty man. Grouch. Worse than a curmudgeon.

 I watched the newsclip a few times and Biden does appear to call Trump supporters garbage.  This was in response of course to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's comments at the recent Trump MSG rally where he called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage."  If you do a bit of a deep dive into this you can make a fair case Hinchcliffe was making an environmental joke that was miscast as a racist joke.  PR has a serious problem with overflowing landfills.  Most people probably don't know this.  I didn't know this.  Some comedians make obscure allusions as if they're common knowledge.  It absolutely should not have been said however which leads us to Trump's press conference from a garbage truck.  There's still time for him to drive a Mister Softee and hand out cones to the kids.

Biden is bitter he was cast aside but it was best for the country.  He could pass away at a UN General Assembly meeting say.  He's a Weekend At Bernie's thing waiting to happen.  Quick get the body double!  Conspiracy theorists think they're around.  Uncle Joe.  Obama fancies himself some elder statesman, an elegant commentator who has to give his Cliffs Notes views on everything.  In his younger days he could have been an underwear model smiling back at you from a package of Hanes.  I hear Whoopie Goldberg had some kind of meltdown.  I have to look that one up.

I'm not bored;)

Ethnic humor doesn't fly anymore

 The NYT has studied Trump's campaign speeches and says they have grown harsher and darker.  Trump throws in a penis joke to lighten the mood and there's a bee in everyone's bonnet.  Ethnic humor -- You might be able to get away with a few Irish jokes but the better comedians have moved on.  Back in the day on his radio show Stern used to say A LOT of racial things.  Didn't stop Kamala from talking with him though.  Just watched the 12 minute clip of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's recent MSG rally and a small portion was devoted to what you would call racial humor.  Yes cringe - groan.  Times change.  Every once in a while you need to open up the window and look outside.  Jon Stewart defended him as a roast comedian who once roasted Tom Brady.  My take calling PR a floating island of garbage is rough even by ethnic humor standards.  Having said that it doesn't affect the race in the least imho.  On the other hand the Left's claim that Trump has it on his bucket list to be an aging Hitler now that's HILARIOUS.  A tyrant for life with dementia.  ROFL!!!

Trump is pretty fly for a white guy Part 2

 Apparently there's an issue with not enough black men who are automatically going to vote for the Harris/Walz ticket.  Heresies and blasphemies!  Obama has admonished them and now Kamala Harris has promised $20K in forgivable government loans for 1 million minorities to start businesses.  Harris also wants to legalize pot not an uncommon position but is also looking at it from a business potential angle.  I recently took out two loans through my union but nothing in the fine print about not having to pay them back.  On the pot front my neighbors are big potheads.  I'll be enjoying my fine Navy Flake MacBaren's pipe tobacco on my front porch and the smell of pot is always wafting over from the porch next door.  Modern-day Americana.  Norman Rockwell with a modern flair.  

So too many black folk have a nostalgia for the Trump first-term pre-pandemic economy.  Even the Trump loathing media admits the price of groceries was lower back then.  Black voters thinking out of the box.  A problem for the Dems.

Michael Moore is a freak

 Left-wing documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has urged Biden being a lame duck president to sign off on some far-left action items with the stroke of a pen.  Point 1 Joe Biden has always been a moderate-liberal Democrat his whole political career.  Point 2 Kamala is putting off progressives for now to appeal to the more centrist middle-class.  Point 3 Biden probably wouldn't know what he's signing anyway.  Moore should instead compete in a doughnut eating contest with Chris Christie.  Meanwhile Obama who fancies himself some sort of elder statesman is advising black men to not stray off the Democratic plantation and to vote for Harris/Walz.  I don't know about you but I've had enough of this election cycle.

The Democrats and their hurricane-making machines

 Latest conspiracy theory being peddled by Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I'm beginning to think she might be a left-wing plant to make conservatives look bad.  The Democrats can't even make health care affordable for most Americans how are they gonna control the weather?

On to Trump.  The New York Times is taking his latest campaign rambles and rants, lies and misinformation very seriously indeed but they're missing something big time here.  Let me illustrate with an anecdote.  Back in the day we lived close to an older couple.  The elderly husband eventually developed Alzheimer's.  The wife asked my sister for a favor if she could just take him out and walk him around the block.  Nice day and a group of black guys hangin' on the corner.  As my sister and her ward got closer he started using the N-word.  Why this even came out in an Alzheimer's state is itself an interesting question.  I mean why not "look at the pink elephant"?  Anyway he was like "look at the (N-words)" etc. etc. They were naturally getting a little upset, just a tad mind you until my sister explained to them he had Alzheimer's.  They completely understood and let it go.  Last time my sister took him out for a walk btw.  Now my point about the Ole Gray Lady and the mainstream media in general.  IMO Trump has some cognitive issues.  Something is off.  Don't think it's weed.  Might be pre-Alzheimer's, dementia or something else.  DO NOT treat Trump's pronouncements and latest utterances as you would a normal person.  You don't fact-check some old guy in a nursing home say who's rambling on about when are the elves gonna bring in his food.  You let it ride but that's the problem with the msm they're missing the bigger picture.

Having said that I don't know what the problem with MTG is.

Everybody is good people

 So the authorities in Springfield Ohio have determined that it was apparently impossible for any illegal homeless Haitian immigrant to have eaten a feral cat or two.  My newsfeed says Dems are pushing back against Trump's racist fear mongering of Haitian immigrants.  This can actually work in reverse.  By giving so much attention to Trump's mindspace they're completely ignoring the fact that they're here illegally in the first place.  Least those are the ones we're talking about.  This is a good time to discuss the difference between rights and privileges.  If you're here illegally you technically have no right to be here.  Now some government policies might try to accommodate you and your family anyway but that's a privilege that you're still allowed to remain and work here but still not a right.  Kamala is trying to tow a tougher line on illegals and the border because it's obviously a winning issue for Ttump but her own party seems to be working against her.  According to a recent PBS Newshour report on the situation some of the illegal Haitians are terrors behind the wheel of a car and the subject has been brought up at Springfield City Council hearings.  The Dems always present a fairy tale version of reality though so I think the issue still sways strongly in Trump's favor.  Whither Ohio?

Is TikTok no longer a threat?

 Haven't heard much lately.  Where do the candidates stand?

Figured out a way to fix ad-hominem.  During the Trump/Harris debate give each candidate ten minutes of pure ad-hominem against the other.

Trump:  "When did you become black?"

Harris:  "What's that dead animal on top of your head?"

Then onto the Issues.

Trump is pretty fly for a white guy

There's a growing list of black celebs and influencers who support Donald Trump.  TV personality Amber Rose.  Don King (I thought he died).  Rappers Kodak Black, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg (do a video together?), Sexxxy Red, Azealia Banks, YG, Waka Flocka Flame.  Also 50 Cent likes his tax policy but sometimes he's wavered.  That's the short list.  Essence magazine lists at least 17 others.

Maybe Trump can give a movie review of "Superfly."

Thank you for practicing unemployment

How are the people who have binge watched "The Munsters" gonna vote?  The media churning out as many anti-Trump articles as possible can work in reverse.  Will Dr. Fauci retire sometime next year and hit the links?  Meanwhile the New York Times somehow thinks they're mainstream.  Are they performing colonoscopies yet?

Race - How does defunding and dismantling police departments work in practice?  If you hear gunshots in your neighborhood do you call your local community activist?

I haven't been going to church lately.  I don't want to go and they say we're at 25 or 50% capacity and get turned away.  I haven't been tithing either.  Take it up with the Lord.

Today in black and white

A few years back I was in a Stew Leonard's food store and proceeded to pay for a few items.  Unbeknownst to me I handed the cashier a phony ten dollar bill and she went to another department and a man came back informing me the sawbuck was counterfeit AND THAT WAS IT.  The police weren't called and I was simply out of a ten.  FF to Minneapolis and another unarmed black man is dead at the hands of the police.  The starting point was when Mr. George Floyd walked into a deli and handed the clerk a counterfeit twenty dollar bill and the clerk then called the cops.  Things somehow escalated until a thuggish cop kept pressing his knee into the man's neck even after he pleaded "I can't breathe" and he later died at a hospital.  Ensuing protests, riots and looting.

What's wrong with this picture?

The Impeachment Inquiry etc.

Kind of tangentially following the political stuff because I don't care anymore. A lot of other stuff on my plate of late but re this impeachment inquiry for me it's kind of weird that there's some kind of connection between the Ukrainian president and digging up dirt on Joe Biden himself and his son. It'd be like saying there's some kind of Tanzanian connection for that matter but the bottom line is you can't impeach someone for simply being an asshole so you have to have something. Hell Trump might complete two terms with the constant background chatter of impeachment talk. Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings just died at 68 because of poor health. Sen. John McCain died while still in office and of course Alex Trebek with pancreatic cancer is still doing Jeopardy. Seems a trend now work 'til you drop. That ain't gonna be me and I don't see the nobility in it. Soon as I reach the required minimum I'm going online to file my SS. Just saw an interview with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns last night on PBS. He reminds me a lot of Neil deGrasse Tyson for some reason. Their smartness is annoying and do they ever question their own smartness? Burns just did a whole documentary on Country Music which I'm not really into and never could get into not for lack of trying ("...They shot my horse and my wife ran away...") but I did watch parts of it anyway because I like Johnny Cash. Now Burns said he's gonna do one on race which that's another one to slog through God help us. I think we've reached the point where most of us would like to move onto other subjects. Burns said in the interview that Thomas Jefferson had something like a hundred slaves on his estate and we know now that Columbus killed the Indians so you can't really honor anyone these days. I don't know man talk about what you want.

The liberal version of original sin

The House hearings on reparations for slavery.  You can go on down the line.  Should gays get reparations?  Women?  Other historically oppressed groups?  What about the Indians?  Or you can talk about what you want.

The surreal GOP convention

I found myself drifting over to Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff and their PBS coverage of the start of the convention.  With the exception of being pro-choice Rudy Giuliani offered real savory red-meat conservatism with Peter Lugar steak sauce.  It was a little thick, grilled and char-broiled and the wonderful aromas permeated the convention floor.  A black sheriff spoke and Blue Lives Matter was perhaps the main theme of the entire evening.  There's a little Melania controversy now as she may have borrowed elements of a previous Michele Obama convention speech.  The PBS panelists: neocon David Brooks noted they all had a feeling of starkness so I started to feel stark too even though I've had this starkness since I turned fifty.  There were some last minute delegates who wanted to throw the whole thing into chaos like being forced into a date you don't like.  Last observation - Chris Christie politely attended but he had your typical man's angry attitude towards rejection;)

I find myself in a sort of racial quandary

Nothing happened for a while now there's been a few more unarmed black men killed by police.  MN and LA and of course the cop ambush in Dallas.  The conservative position seems to be whenever an unarmed black man winds up dead at the hands of the police he must have done something to bring it upon himself.  The liberal position might be the cops are always 100% wrong in these tragic cases.  Meanwhile most police departments today have taken to social media platforms as a kind of warmer friendlier more community-orientated police/social service agency so the juxtaposition between the cultivated department image and these ongoing recent and tragic news events is rather jarring.  The Long Hot Summer;)