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 strange state of our union

President Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address --  I thought it in very poor taste and low rent for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make a show of tearing up Trump's speech at the end but also thought it unjustified that Trump bestowed the Congressional Medal of Freedom on conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.  I also find NBC's Chuck Todd to be the most openly biased political journalist/analyst on TV today and don't know why they have him.  Getting back to Nancy Pelosi she looked a little irregular during the entire speech with a pained and disconcerted expression throughout and stood up only a few times for the more obvious consensus points Trump made.  Mr. Limbaugh has cancer and the ribbon around his neck put Dems in an awkward position.  I mean how do you exactly stand and clap for a guy who called liberals evil and a dark force on literally every show of his down through the years?

While there was obviously a lot jam-packed into this approximately an hour and a half long speech, the usual optimistic items elaborated by the president on the state of the union these are the two things that interested me and gave the whole night an unusual quality.

On the pro-forma impeachment acquittal in the Senate your thoughts?  Some say it will become easier to impeach presidents now and that this may become more commonplace in the future.  Then there's the very lonely Republican Senator from Utah Mr. Mitt Romney.

Thoughts on self-driving cars

AAA envisions a self-driving car reality and sees this as pretty much inevitable in the near future. I get their news magazine and they seem completely on board with this. I'm not. The level we're talking about here is not fully autonomous so a driver has to be behind the wheel at all times but then he/she mostly lets the car do its thing at least on open highways although I've seen other videos on YouTube showing folks driving cars with adaptive cruise control with the self-driving feature in slower stop-and-go traffic. I'd rather have a fallible self-aware human being in control of the car at all times instead of relaxing and letting advanced tech take over which can and will go wrong. I can probably come up with a list of other reasons why I'm against. What with ai robots and self-driving cars trucks and buses just around the bend and now flying cars on sale for the bored rich and some people on jetpacks (you can easily search all of these on YouTube) what can go wrong???

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 award for Best New Political Artist goes to AOC

I get the feeling Trump wins reelection in 2020 because the Democratic field is so diluted from which a real powerhouse is unlikely to emerge.  What are there twenty candidates now?  Cardi B may as well run.  Impeachment seems not much worth it to quoth Nancy Pelosi.  My mind is tired.  I've moved onto other things.  It might be a good thing if Maroon 5 stopped churning out new songs.

Technology is getting weird

Can the Singularity be far behind? Give me the 80's. What's going on in the Cloud these days? Now they're talking 5G. What's next on the technological horizon?

The Brett Kavanaugh Accusers

Pres. Trump's SCOTUS nominee -- Usually in cases like this, the classic HE said/SHE said I'll either side with the man (e.g. Clarence Thomas) or not have an opinion for the time being (existentially neutral or only God knows the deal).  When the # of accusers increases then it becomes problematic.  If you're dealing with say four or five different female accusers you can sit there and say it's a travesty against God and Justice and Country but average folk like me begin to ponder.  Sure it can be some evil leftist conspiracy but......So can the FBI conduct a decent investigation in a week?  Was Judge Kavanaugh even properly vetted?  My own preliminary opinion: maybe go with somebody else?

The Church Sex Crisis

With the Pennsylvania grand jury report and some calls for the Pope to resign is the Catholic Church in eclipse?  What's bizarre imo is the seeming lack of "normal" sex scandals (e.g. a high-ranking bishop having an affair with a prioress say).  How did ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick rise so far for so long?  Is there no fear of Hell?  How many clerics are in actual prison these days?  Is this a case of trying to destroy the Church from within?  Thoughts:)

Thoughts on the gun control debate (yet again)

It's amazing how fast time is going. Looking over the posting date of my last post I hadn't realized so much time had elapsed before coming up with a new idea. Sorry to my handful of fans. Liberals act like if they were in charge tragedies like the recent newsroom shooting in Maryland wouldn't have happened. Then I'm reading some hyperventilating political/social commentators extrapolating from one weird individual living in his own self-contained weird mental universe that there's some kind of male rage/war against Women. Well as one conservative blogger here said some time ago back in the day re Newtown sometimes bizarre and tragic things happen and there's almost nothing we could have done about it, nothing that could have prevented it so the whole gun control debate becomes a kind of cosmetic discussion imo. Then there's this thing about some revenge porn law that seems to have gotten stuck in the New York State Legislature that won't pass and folks are blaming Google. I'm no attorney but isn't it already illegal to post say nude pictures of myself without my consent on the Web not that you'd want to see? In our zeal to pass new laws based on the latest tragic social circumstance we should first check what's already on the books that maybe need to be better enforced. If you're having sex maybe don't leave the smartphone out? Here's the problem: reality itself is weird and bizarre and tragic things happen, sometimes rarely and in the case of guns for some reason in cycles. There are bizarre and odd individuals walking amongst us right now. All I can say and offer is don't make eye contact:)

The News is a bit off-center of late

Bill Cosby may spend the rest of his life in prison and President Donald Trump may win the Nobel Peace Prize. Haven't googled Bill Cosby's exact age of late. Could be 89, 97 or 105 but Justice has been served. Public disgrace and opprobrium not enough and I'm no legal authority but I thought there was a statute of limitations or something. The Hollywood academies have rescinded his many awards and mere mention and it's as if I Spy never existed. They finally realized Roman Polanski is a perv too and did the same such is the feminist juggernaut a little late in coming though. President Trump is seriously being mentioned as a viable peace prize potential winner with the upcoming Kim Jong-Un summit in Singapore the Stormy Daniels saga being merely a springtime diversion to fuel the news cycle. As an aside I don't see any more tip cups in Dunkin' Donuts and I have a chunk of change to spare. Are the clerks making too much or something?

Trump is Trump - neither conservative or liberal

In the wake of the HS massacre in Parkland, FL President Trump is now taking on the NRA and wants to get both Dems and Republicans on board in a kind of omnibus gun reform bill. Things like expanded background checks, raising the age to buy a gun to 21 and other common proposals. No this is not an alternative reality Trump was simply never that conservative to begin with. It is said that Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein had a kind of stunned smile upon hearing this. Look Trump has a hemorrhoid of a personality but that has nothing to do with baseline politics. Wonder how Michelle Malkin is taking this.

Global warming

Waterfall at the Great Hunger Memorial Park, formerly Woodlands Lake at the V.E. Macy Park in Ardsley NY.

The perv tsunami

Matt Lauer the latest.  Most shocking for me was Charlie Rose.  Doesn't look the type but rather was more into big tomes he had to read prepping for interviews.  I'm losing track as I need some type of perv scorecard.  Is there an app for that?

At what point can we say there's a problem with some aspect of Islam?

The Halloween terror attack in Lower Manhattan. You know the details: a 29-year old radicalized man from Uzbekistan, Sayfullo Saipov rented a Home Depot pickup truck in NJ then drove to Lower Manhattan on the West Side and deliberately used the vehicle to kill eight people on a bike lane just north of and literally in the shadow of Ground Zero. Among the dead were some Argentinian tourists in town for a reunion. Saipov then yelled the customary "Allahu Akbar" meaning "God is great" when he left the truck brandishing a pellet gun and paint gun and then ran down the street before he was shot in the abdomen by a hero cop whose career trajectory would seem to be way up at this point. You know the rest: radicalized over the Web, lover of ISIS videos, requested an ISIS flag during his hospital stay etc. etc. So then model Gigi Hadid called some alt-right woman on Twitter a fucking moron for saying something about the lack of decency of two women walking around in hijabs in the area of the attack so there's that. Well anyway as the post-title says throw your coins in the fountain here.

Can Dennis Rodman save the world?

Seemingly overnight the whole North Korea/Kim Jong-Un discussion is now the easily unhingeable despot may possess an actual hydrogen bomb.  Think fusion not fission and over 10X the power of an A-bomb.  If Kim can customize it for the nose of one of his ICBMs he can conceivably detonate it at a very high altitude thus causing a superpowerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) completely destroying the US power grid.  This whole thing reminds me of a bad Austin Powers movie.

Trumpology

Transgendered people cannot now serve in the U.S. military.  The rationale being to go to the Pat Robertson bbq?

What's next on the technological front?

Should be sometime in the near future we'll have a quantum internet whatever the heck that means. Supposed to be virtually impervious to hackers and then there's something called the personal jetpack. It truly is a marvel but not for me. I prefer to be stuck in traffic thank you. Also I'm not a fan of autonomous vehicles at all. All it takes is one bad microchip to wreak havoc on the highways and imo AAA should take a stand against. Not a fan of AI robots either. I always think of Yul Brynner in Westworld. Wireless charging as it stands now is said to be slow with promises of fasting charging speeds in the future. Don't know, ya got anything?

The James Comey Testimony

This is the biggest thing to happen to bars since the O.J. Simpson trial. On balance it would seem the Comey testimony is at least partially damaging to the President. He has already gone on record as calling Trump a liar five times. The New York Times took a hit when it appears their reporting of the Russia investigation may have been off base to some extent. John McCain had some daffy moments and people are tweeting he should more or less retire at this point. None of this will sway the Trump partisans however and they'll only hunker down more. I never voted for Trump and I never voted for her so I don't have that anxiety in the back of my head over when I should actually jump the Trump ship or not. This is a great lesson imo of default voting against your hated candidate which political reasoning might work most of the time but this was a special case which should have caused most to jettison that logic. I've been hearing the RNC is calling Trump the Messiah and he's going to save Christianity in this country. Scary stuff. We'll see how it all plays out I'm just saying have a lifeboat ready is all.

The Manchester Attack - the new normal?

At last report there were 22 dead and at least 100 injured including 12 children in that suicide attack at the Manchester Arena Ariana Grande concert. ISIS is now claiming responsibility which was almost a foregone conclusion. The lone suicide bomber a 23-year old man by the name of Salman Abedi. So nobody's really talking about it at work today just the normal grind. I brought it up a little and there was a small discussion but it's like these things are now accepted as part of the day's news just a normal and inevitable element of the news cycle. President Trump in Saudi Arabia said to Muslim leaders you need to drive the extremist elements out and likened the War on Terror to a battle between Good and Evil. Not much to disagree with there. I felt maybe the security in Britain could be better but others see it as no matter how good your security these tragedies can and will still happen. NYC Police were on a heightened state of alert last night as to be expected which begs the question why does it take an incident for police departments across the nation to be on a heightened state of alert? It seems only a matter of tragic time before this gets imported here and becomes a part of the nightly news. One thing I see though Obama's intellectual decision to refuse to call radical Islamic terror radical Islamic terror has done absolutely nothing to defeat extremist ideology.

The bogging down effect of social conservatism

I've been reading a lot lately from various conservative writers what they consider bad social trends. It could be millenials delaying marriage and then further delaying having children. Some couples don't want children at all. Another conservative opiner will note the to him disturbing trend that Americans don't move as much as they used to (as if it's easy), go to other better jobs across the country. This leads to ossification and lower wages etc. etc. The list of social concerns for these writers/pundits run the gamut and is quite long but I always find myself asking what does it matter? Why are they bothered by these things? Modern conservatism should stick to the pillars of limited government, free speech, economic growth, a strong defense, lower taxes etc. etc. What matter how people choose to live their lives? Is that really of our concern? Naomi Schaeffer Riley and Kyle Smith are two of these social-type commenters. Another common complaint is people especially the young'uns are on their gadgets too much. My friend and I were walking around White Plains one day and practically everyone was walking but looking down at their smartphones. Yeah you wonder what the hell are they looking at to the point where they can fall down an open manhole but again this is what people do. IMO conservatism has strayed heavily off the straight path into these by-roads of cultural concern which can actually lead to other conservatives feeling alienated if they don't share their complaints. Laura Ingraham too has done this in books and whatnot heavy on the social commentary, trends that bug her, social quirks and patterns that don't meet her approval. I think this is where the word "reactionary" comes from as in reacting to everything. The conservative movement seems to be stagnating at the moment with everyone having their disparate concerns with no common thread except things like hatred of Obama, hatred of Hillary, hatred of whoever. Despite all this I think we won the last election by accident. You won, what are we complaining about?

President Trump, following through on Obama's Red Line

Some are no doubt already making the case that Obama's shifting red line encouraged Syria and President Bashar al-Assad to attack a small Syrian village with chemical weapons killing and injuring scores of children. One can use the word "allegedly" but for all intents...President Trump followed this within 24 hours with 59 air strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles of a Syrian airfield believed to harbor chemical weapons. Now things get complicated with Russia refusing to cooperate with the U.S. over avoiding air conflicts over Syrian airspace. Russian warships have already moved into the region closer to our fleet so you have the seeds of a major world crisis in the making. Trump is getting bipartisan support on this one from Marco Rubio to Charles Schumer usually a critic but the base is mighty unhappy with these developments. There's that Pat Buchanan strict non-interventionist/isolationist wing to deal with. Obama was too much the Hamlet intellectual with this aspect of our foreign policy. Trump of course is taking some flack for not consulting with the UN Security Council and Congress first but if first showings are any indication we may be dealing with a very militaristic and action-oriented president on the world stage. As long as he stays away from the nuclear codes.

The strange thing is the msm kinda liked the Trump Address

RE President Donald J. Trump's first address to a Joint Session of Congress last night the New York Times called it "a presidential speech" (read that again). I watched the bulk of it on ABC News and right after when you get to the post-game the commentators said the latter part was even lyrical. CBS and NBC noted a softer and different Trump, less combative who tapped into some unifying themes. Sure he massaged the nuts of the base at times ($54 billion in increased military spending, crime in Chicago) but it's like a big jug of cough syrup came over the msm in that they were positively and pleasantly subdued. Sure for much of the night the Democrats just sat there stone-faced and sullen, Trump could've offered up a true bona-fide cure for cancer and they still would've sat there with their diarrhetic expressions but I even caught Nancy Pelosi near the end furtively clapping over something. The most emotional and poignant moment of the night came of course when Trump had the widow of the slain Navy SEAL stand up, the wife of Petty Officer William Owens who was killed in that commando raid in Yemen that President Trump ordered in January. That cut across the boundaries and the Dems momentarily came out of their stupor and stood and clapped too. Sure the New York Times has to remind us they have to fact check everything (run it through Snopes?) but it's as if we were witnessing an alt-Trump.

Trump's Russian spiral

The solid mass is beginning to form, something substantive that may lead to a Congressional investigation and possible impeachment of President Trump down the road. The story is that members of his campaign and even inner circle regularly had communications with members of Russian intelligence. Was it to discuss cronut recipes or perhaps a future vodka market for a newly refurbished Trump Vodka brand? I've long said most of the GOP would be perfectly willing to throw Mr. Trump under the bus if the Democrats start making enough trouble. Only the Michelle Malkins and the Daystar crowd would go to the mat for him. Of course the press hates him and will only keep digging. IMO President Trump's days in office may be politically numbered.

The global protesters against Trump

We have dictators and tyrants in real-time spanning the world and yet nobody's globally protesting them. I hear the Bushmen in Africa were even protesting.

I Am So Shook

Reality has finally set in and it's the Zoloft/Abilify phase for liberals, the PTSD of Hillary losing. Now in a logical universe Trump becoming president of the United States would be like if the late Benny Hill had at one time become the PM of Great Britain. Wouldn't happen, not likely to happen and really can't happen all things considered. Trump has gone on the record as saying that the use of nuclear weapons would be a good strategy in the war against ISIS but on the plus side he and Pence have accepted the official report on the Russian hacking. I got the heebie-jeebies too that vague weird anxiety ever since the Election but liberals are so shaken to the very core of their being that even in dreams they're working out their tweets and blogs and anti-Trump posts for the next day now that Ole Man Winter has set in and it's cold as a witch's tit outside so all the placards and posters have been safely stashed away gathering dust and spiderwebs ready for the first hint of spring. We'll see what happens but I hope they make it. Hang in there!

Liberal fantastical thinking

There is a vague but growing movement afoot built around the equally vague idea that somehow Trump can be impeached or thrown out even before he takes office on Jan. the 20th.  I'm unclear as to the grounds of this liberal ice-cream castle built in the air and feathered canyons everywhere to borrow from an old Judy Collins song.  Does Destiny care that much that Hillary Clinton lost?

Our country's basic economic problem in a nutshell

The price of goods and services is a runaway train while your wages stay roughly the same over the course of a lifetime. Sure there are minor raises here and there ("you're doing a fantastic job") and you can always try for that promotion down the road but generally speaking you're stuck in a rut caused by forces beyond your control although libertarians will probably disagree with this. When I was a wee lad the price of a brand new car cost maybe $7,000-$8,000 and a new house in my folks' day was just to pluck a number out of hat maybe $35,000-$40,000. Now that new Honda will cost you 22 GRAND and that house you wanna make a home in will be around $200,000 say and we're not talking mansion, Diddy digs. Of course the average rent for an average apartment these days is $1,200 and counting and that ain't nothin' fancy. Now it's not like your boss is gonna do the logical thing in your view and pay you $50/hour so you can buy that new car and house so the system seems kind of hard-rigged against your advancement in life. This is not a liberal post just an objective look at a basic problem.

What the CIA couldn't do old age did

Socialists are in mourning today. Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro dead at the ripe old age of 90. In this fast-paced and ever-changing world we're definitely talking a retro channel in History here, pre-Internet dictator, blast from the past cigar-chomping revolutionary. I had to laugh at an Onion parody once where they had "Candid Camera" host Allen Funt calling up John F. Kennedy saying the Cuban Missile Crisis was all a hoax and the photo of JFK all relieved. Castro outlasted the power of what 10 U.S. presidents? Political tortoise crawling through the ages, a perennial figure in the pages of the past all yellowed and tattered. I know Michael Moore has said the Cuban healthcare system is the best in the world. I guess you don't get a bill in the mail for colonic polyp lab analysis, dunno. All those Hollywood celebs who hate Trump here's a great place to shuffle on over;)

So why is Hollywood so almost monolithically liberal?

The Hollywood mass trauma over Donald Trump's victory continues, the mass hemorrhaging.  I'm not mad about this but it is curious.  Of course they are entitled to their pov but why is it always the same?  Actress Jennifer Lawrence recently penned a major essay saying we should all feel enraged and other hyperventilations.  I disagree alot with many of Rush's theories and opinings, haven't listened to him in years but the only thing I can come up with is as he once said.  Modern-day actors and actresses are so incredibly wealthy that deep down they actually feel guilty about it:)

The World Series of politics

Waking up the morning after a critically important Election Night is like waking up after a colonoscopy. Your first reaction is was it good or bad so you gauge faces, expressions, vibes and in this case tepidly turn on the news early the next day since you didn't stay up all night 'cause of work the next day. I didn't vote on principle but Hil was my logical prediction. I never understood geo-voting, why folks in most of the northeastern states overwhelmingly vote Democrat while Dixie goes Republican and lots Midwestern states went Trump and CA goes for Hillary. You have a political herd mentality just based on your geographical location? Don't get it. I think Hillary felt entitled to the presidency, a kind of logical thread in the fabric of time, a foregone conclusion (first black president/now woman), a political inevitability so she didn't put her heart and soul into it which goes a long way explaining why she had a major fireworks display set to go off over the Hudson around 9:30 last night. I said I wasn't gonna watch but channel-surfed other stuff and up pops an electoral map on some Spanish station and Trump was doing not bad, good even so I switched around. I saw aging commentators like Charlie Gibson and Jeff Greenfield like they seemed fairly young and flush only a few years ago. WHERE IS THE TIME GOING??? The Ole Gray Lady recently likened FBI director James Comey to J. Edgar Hoover for going after Hillary over the remaining 650,000 emails but a more mundane explanation might be he's only doing his job. Relax Gray Lady editorial board, do a group yoga thing maybe. Brokaw said people are more agitated than they realized but the msm needs to get out more imo. Putin called President-elect Trump already and some people at work looked dismayed and downcast today.

The $15 minimum wage

Not being a doctrinaire hardcore conservative/libertarian the idea of some kind of minimum wage always made sense to me but with this liberal consensus of late that it should be raised to $15/hour across-the-board I'm tempted to chuck the whole thing out and leave employers the hell alone. This is what happens when you try to intellectually compromise with liberals ("yeah some kind of mandatory bottom makes sense") but you're thinking very low and go slow over time and eventually they want everyone to make what a bus driver makes. Entry-level burger flippers at McDonald's: $15/hour and so we'll see how many clerks your local McDonald's franchise hires. Fair to strong bet longer and slower lines, angrier customers and some places closing down altogether. It's not an idea whose time has come, it's an idea whose time should never come.

The implosion of Obamacare?

With major insurers opting out of the exchange and premiums going up is it still worth keeping or even tweaking?  Will it eventually be replaced by HillaryCare and how would this differ from DonaldCare?  How are our nation's part-timers holding up those kept under 30 hours/week because of the original mandate?  Finally whatever happened to if you like your colonoscopist you can keep your colonoscopist?

Sitting out this weird election

People yell at me when I say sometimes in exceptional circumstances it makes sense to sit out a presidential election.  For me to darken in the circle for a certain candidate I have to like him or her say at least 65%.  I don't feel that here.  It'll be what it's gonna be:)

& may the fittest candidate win

Trump went on the Dr. Oz show to wave his good health around.  Conservatives seem fixated on Hillary's health (is that an ingrown toenail I see?).  Let's face it Hil has some physical health issues but what about the Donald's mental and emotional health?  Which matters more pneumonia or psychological insecurities?  I just had a slight nap and so a blog was born.

The implosion of the GOP

Having gotten a taste of the right-wing blogs re Trump and his latest controversies the consensus seems to be we really can't stand the guy but Hillary is far worse for the country so let's all do the right thing. Now I wouldn't normally say this as I respect the process but I kinda lean towards those who say the rules should've been changed so as Trump doesn't represent our brand. You can make a strong case Trump should've gotten some psychiatric treatment somewhere along the line. There's his persecution complex, ego, vindictiveness and all the rest and he hasn't behaved in the least presidential or regal/dignified way after securing the nomination so you're basically dealing with a disaster if he even gets one term. I'm thinking the vaunted independents which are the key to any presidential election will easily make the decision for Hillary based on Trump's personality alone. This is one reason I'm not joining the right-wing blogosphere bandwagon on this, I see the future and it ain't good;)

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;)

free-floating anxiety or maybe it's the state of the union

Part of def.: "a generalized feeling that something is wrong, to fear something but you don't know what it is"  - - There's the bad choice of Trump vs. Clinton,  ISIS is always in the news.  You'll be in a modern hip mall checking out the wifi at Nordstrom Rack and you do have the random thought some guy is gonna come in, shoot that useless security guy and start yelling "Allahu Akbar."  My Scripps card ain't working, am I gonna have to go on an Obamacare exchange?  What if I'm frying chicken and my heart just stops working?  I mean how many beats can it take?  Colorectal stuff, always the polypic obsession after 50...I think maybe it's not so much a mental disorder, that the free-floaters are plugged into reality and the reality ain't good.  The normal go about their day-to-day totally anxiety free because they really don't know what's going on.  Indian Point......

The FBI predestined conclusion re those Hillary emails

Yes said FBI Director James Comey it was wrong and reckless of Hillary to discuss classified and sensitive info on her private servers but you know what?  We're not gonna bring charges.  I call this Charming Rogue Syndrome (not an exact fit because it is Hillary) to describe someone who skirts the law time and again and gets away with it meanwhile Joe Shmoe gets hammered.  Anthony Weiner sends penis pics over the Internet and doesn't have a career.

The SCOTUS TX Abortion Decision

I'll be honest I don't much follow the abortion debate  anymore main reason is it's agitating especially right before you go to bed.  A large
part of society practices abortion, always have and always will so that social fact is agitating so I prefer to think of other things.  I'm tangentially aware of the issue though as Justice Kennedy didn't much care for those abortion restrictions down in TX designed to close as many clinics as possible.  Must be my advancing age, my general social irritability as when presented with the need for abortion these days I'm most likely to go had to have sex didn't you?  (Church Lady id)  Those women activists down in TX they act like they won the World Series or the Super Bowl or something.   IMO the Ole Gray Lady's love for abortion and yes it is love is on another level, otherworldly even.  OK agita;)

The Megyn Kelly\Donald Trump thing

Last night towards the end of Megyn Kelly's exclusive interview with Donald Trump on FOX News Trump said "I like our relationship right now" and Megyn goes "I gave you my cell phone number."  Happy texting guys.

So Facebook doesn't like the Drudge Report

Now they're calling for a federal investigation.  I thought the main attraction of FB is to socially interact with other people on the web.  Where else can you have 1,000 friends?  Always going after Zuckerberg.

Where to pee in North Carolina

Personally I prefer a tree in the woods.  You don't have to bring a birth certificate either.

The 4 patron saints of lost causes, where do I rank?

They are Sts. Jude, Rita of Cascia, Philomena and a Gregory.  With so many millions the world over praying to these big four for impossible cases despaired of where do I rank?  Main problem: chronic tinnitus and let's throw in maybe a couple other problems while we have the divine connection.  On one website of prayer petitions is a woman who wants a problem employee removed from the workplace.  Where does tinnitus rank?  Is it higher on the list?  It's at least a medical/health issue and they're big on that although it can't rank as high as cancer of course.  How do these four saints go through literally millions of petitions and decide which ones deserve their attention first?  Do they have computers?  They must have large staffs helping them.  Excuse me I just got a text message......oh that's just another YPD Alert.

The mystery of depression

Whenever I've suffered from depression I can almost always trace it to some major life event that triggers it and it can run the gamut from romantic rejection or breakup, lost loves or betrayal, guilt/remorse/regret to an illness or problem in the family to prolonged joblessness and even job rejection itself can at times get it going. It could be the job itself is depressing, I've had those and they say a major side issue of cancer patients is depression caused by having the cancer. There are those however and there are millions out there who are depressed and don't know why, who can't get out of bed in the morning but can't trace it to any life-situational thing. This is the common everyday depression we hear about in the news and a whole pharmaceutical industry has burgeoned up around it. I don't deny this reality but I've never fully understood it either. It's not spiritual depression or angst or a midlife crisis or a state of mind caused by your overall life situation it's just, well depression. It's all about the chemistry of the brain, neurons and gray matter and stuff. In other words people who should be happy but are dragging all day. It'd be like being in the Garden of Eden before the original sin and not being happy and God scratching His head. It's over my head so feel free to elucidate and clarify.

The death of Prince, a break from the Trump cycle

According to the wiki meaning provided by Prince himself Purple Rain means "the end of the world, being with the one you love, letting your faith/god guide you."  Prince was a religious sex symbol and according to one Times writer his sexual orientation was he loves You.  Prince dead at 57.  Why do the world's dictators live such long lives?  Former SS guards live into their 90's, Manson still getting three squares a day?  Prince 1958-2016 RIP

Why didn't Yogi say that?

Hillary told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press "the unborn person doesn't have constitutional rights."  I pass a Planned Parenthood on my way to work every day and they have a big banner "Health Care Happens Here."  Makes it sound like I can walk in and maybe they can treat my catastrophic tinnitus and premature waking.  This is not really a pro-life thread, you can discuss what have you.

Shazam it & get pulled over

I absolutely love the Shazam app because so many times I'll hear a song on the radio and don't know the group or artist.  Only thing is it's an issue when you're driving.  Reverse phone lookup - I don't like it if I accidentally call another person's cell and they can find out everything about me.  Creepy.  Police tips apps by Citizen Observer - chances are your town or city has one.  I've used the YPD tips one and you get a fair response.  Google + I avoid like the plague.  It's all public and out there if you rate an app let's say so you might wanna delete that sex book from your library first.  I actually see men in the stall gabbing away on their phones and if there's ever a hepatitis outbreak you'll know why:)

Did the Eric Garner fed investigation become a cold case?

You know that police chokehold case.  What's taking so long?  Maybe it's complicated but it can't be that complicated.  How many times can you analyze the same video?  It's not Zapruder.  Let's know one way or the other.  Maybe before Obama leaves office?

Tim Cook traveling down Creepy Road

The latest news from the Tim Cook vs. Federal Gov't fight over Apple encryption is the FBI may have found a third party way to open up the dead San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone. I'm fairly libertarian myself and at first blush his position sounds good and brave and other swell things but I got to thinking. Our country is already rife with perverts, the mentally unbalanced, online predators and yes I'm sure there are some terrorists scattered about and he would seem to be saying these groups need to have their privacy and data protected as well. Cyberstalking is a big subject these days and feminists have been a driving force behind the ever-evolving legislation but strangely I don't hear them criticizing Tim Cook and Apple. Another huge terror attack today in Europe this time in Brussels but Mr. Cook continues to dig down deeper into his Snowdenian position which is somehow supposed to get us to buy more Apple products. I for one am sticking with Android with its myriad problems from incompatible apps to slow-charging Samsung tablets but at least it's a stand. I have long agreed with Hannity, as soon as the government or law enforcement wants to get inside your head and police your mind that's totalitarianism plain and simple but these other folks I'm talking about ain't just thinking things they're already breaking the law in some fashion. I'm not taking a pro-government position here, I'm at best sometimes ambivalent about law enforcement in this country but do you want to give the worst elements of society that high-tech advantage?

A SCOTUS twist

With Obama's pick of centrist jurist Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court I've been wondering.  History is rife with conservative presidents nominating judges who later were less than pro-life but how come it never works the other way, having a liberal appointee who later turned out to be anti-Roe?

In addition to the great polyp hunt...

I wish the nation's doctors would band together and declare the mandated time change is unhealthy.  With more and more people questioning it it's well past time to abandon it.

Our off-center political season

Every once in a while something happens in the fabric of time which defies Logic. It's bizarre even. If someone had made this prediction even ten years ago you would have been told that's an irrational phobia. A shrink would have counseled you to have the thought but don't work it up. I'm referring to what most conventional political wisdom is now telling us, that Donald Trump after his SC win is well on his way to wrapping up the GOP nomination. I think two things are driving this - first off pc has gotten so out of hand in this country folks are tired of it and Trump is going against this and secondly I think it's the political id of the American public finally coming out (e.g. construction workers with t-shirts saying I'm ready to start building that wall). Jeb Bush just blew through about 130 mil with nothing to show for it because his main political strategy seemed to be not about building a vision but bashing Trump. Now they're talking about a Trump/Rubio ticket. Again it's one of those things a Stephen Hawking would have trouble explaining but there it is:)

The post-50 years

It must be in keeping with the aging trend but I find myself sleeping less.  I fall asleep ok but I find myself prematurely waking and most of the time not really getting back to sleep.  An alternative Alex Jones theory of tinnitus: maybe we can simply hear things other folks can't hear.  While others may enjoy their joblessness it has a weird effect on me.  It brings to the fore any depressive issues that may exist and when you're past the half-century mark you think alot more about your own mortality.  Life really is short and tortoises live alot longer than man.  Also when you get older you start taking the issue of hell more seriously, at least I do but I was raised Catholic and it never really leaves you.  I've blogged about this before, I actually don't like work but I also don't like being out of work if that makes any sense.

It's hard to believe the American electorate is this dysfunctional

OK I probably wasn't in my right mind when I said I'd vote for Trump if it came down to that. What's the GOP to do? too bad Jack Kemp weren't in a cryogenic freeze and we could reanimate him. Trump's first tv ad is out calling for an outright ban on all Muslim entry into the US until we can figure out what is going on. On the other side there has to be some on the liberal divide who can't vote for Hillary for various reasons so these are the choices we're usually given every four years. The political menu usually sucks and that goes right back to our two-party system. I hate not to vote but it might be the only viable option this time around.

Random thoughts on random violence

Re yesterday's very tragic events in San Bernardino CA -- Premature liberal commentary as usual headed by the president himself and Nicholas Kristof and the editorial board of the NY Times. Apparently it's too much to ask to wait a day or two before opining but opine they must framing yesterday's massacre in the usual gun control terms when terrorism hasn't been ruled in or ruled out yet. Some of my preliminary thoughts: the act was carried out by a young couple in their late 20's and it involved a social services agency so my first thought was it's easy enough for any bureaucratic dept. of the gov't to piss people off but then we got some Egyptian/Middle Eastern names going and the husband recently made the obligatory trip to Mecca and the way they carried the whole thing out struck many initially as being something other than the usual gun violence in this country so there does seem to be some reluctance on the part of liberals to go down this road, they don't want to offend CAIR and the guy did work there or something so...such commentary is a form of leftist political masturbation, they can't help themselves and it serves no purpose but being a habit they need to get it out of their system and anything that may even tenuously smack of the need for more gun control becomes a kind of social/political trigger, a liberal frenulum. So basically it doesn't really matter what the investigation comes up with it's just another golden opportunity to discuss gun control and maybe Obama can even put the whole thing in the larger framework of climate change who knows?

What's app with that?

NYS State Governor Cuomo announced the launch of the See Something Send Something app for iPhone and Android.  I'm probably gonna install it but just the same is a Muslim man and his friend allowed to take pics of the GW Bridge at twilight or of the Croton Dam?  Meanwhile Charlie Sheen who's a public health menace could be having sex in both places and it'd be no biggie.  I'm gonna go to the Play Store right now and check it out.

The French 9/11 and limited intelligence

First off there should be an investigation of the French intelligence agency to rule out any radical Muslim sympathizers in some top spots. President Obama plans to forge ahead with the G20 Summit in Turkey anyway which will focus on climate change naturally. Yesterday's ISIS-coordinated multiple terrorist attacks in the heart of Paris - NBC News is going with the planners involved probably used social media codes to pull it off to escape the usual cell phone and other surveillance. I agree and thank you Mark Zuckerberg. I've always felt and made the point that a disturbingly high % of users on social media are a bad element and in particular a terorrist element. IMO ISIS terror is coming to the shores of America and that very soon. The Xmas shopping season is just around the bend, it's a definite Christian ritual and ISIS has said this is the first of a storm. Personally although I never did I would not go shopping on Black Friday. Don't participate in the madness. For the near future I am no longer going to the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack and the Danbury Fair Mall in CT. is a definite soft target. I'll also see Mockingjay not on a crowded weekend showing but on an off-day. The Russian jetliner and now the Paris attacks, these are highly trained professionals who know what they're doing and some of you have made the point you're not concerned with what's happening over there because we have other things to worry about over here like Pat Robertson. Mistake. On another related note it has always been my personal view that the famed vision of the Third Secret of Fatima publicly released on June 26, 2000 pertains to a future terrorist event of enormous magnitude perhaps even involving Pope Francis himself. ISIS itself has a peculiar theological fixation on the city of Rome if you've noticed. The Sodano Interpretation is so much bullshit and it's just as well Benedict XVI who should know better retired when he did (bad conscience?). I've always maintained ISIS deserves our top priority and attention and not things like processed red meat causes cancer and the latest doings of the Kardashians. ISIS has upped their game when our world's intelligence agencies are woefully lagging behind:)

Gimme that old-time religion

I was watching Bishop T.D. Jakes last night on Daystar.  He's a black evangelical minister and his audience is mostly black although I saw some whites.  Suffice to say he's extremely passionate in his preaching and his listeners really get into it as well.  All in all a very passionate evening.  Compare this with your typical white average Catholics who go to Mass every weekend and who barely know the readings in the OT & NT.  You might catch some rolling their eyes at a long homily and then somebody else has to crane their neck to see who just arrived in the back of the church.  Then some old guy's cane falls and everyone looks around for five minutes.  Some be leaving around Communion time, someplace to go I guess.  You never see anyone leaving during a Jake's sermon though.  Pull up a chair we're just getting warmed up.  The faith of African-Americans puts us Catholics to shame!

Here's a question

When we push the clocks back to gain that extra hour do insomniacs get an extra hour of non-sleep?

Is the Hillary e-mail scandal going anywhere?

At this snail's pace it could be years before the FBI finds and decides to do something. It's like with the PO Daniel Pantaleo/Eric Garner federal case it's in limbo somewhere and nobody much asks what's going on except Al Sharpton every once in a while. Are investigations this hard or is there something else at play in the Hillary case? Every Hillary scandal is by nature dry as a yak's head somewhere in the desert with the cacti, no sexual elements whatsoever so people quickly lose interest and move on to the other news of the day>>>>Lamar Odom/Khloe Kardashian. By contrast this is a ready-made for tv ongoing soap opera that's got everyone's attention. I'm kinda getting the hunch of a feeling that nothing's gonna happen to Hil but I could be wrong. It'd be kind of surreal if while she's giving her inauguration or installation speech they slap the 'cuffs on her.

What happens if Trump doesn't implode?

Since he has now pledged to not run as an independent it's Houston we have a problem for the GOP.  For me if it does wind up as Trump vs. Hillary my default setting is vote for Trump.  Trump giving the big speech at the RNC it's surreal but now not out of the realm.  Conventional politics on acid.

Papal thoughts

Re the wonderful papal mass at MSG it would have been such a nice touch if that great cantor got to sing the Prayer of St. Francis.  I have a somewhat more positive view of Francis after his trip to the States although he needs to get off the climate change.  What's up with Boehner?

Now why would you wanna rile old Huckabee up?

The case of Rowan County KY clerk Kim Davis and her biblically rooted refusal to license gay couples could be an episode of "Modern Family."  Federal Judge Bunning says she'll remain in jail until she complies.  What is this Cuba?  It reeks of an eerie and creepy totalitarianism.  Even the first gay couple to get their marriage license in that somewhat hostile county didn't want to see her go to jail.  Why not start with a fine and see how it goes?  Maybe Rosie O'Donnell can waterboard her:)

President Obama plans on some male bonding with Bear Grylls

President Obama plans to spend a few days in the Alaskan wilderness with reality-tv star and outdoor guy/survivalist Bear Grylls and he's doing this to throw a spotlight on the issue of climate change. You know this is why Trump is still surging in the polls - he doesn't talk about issues that most or many people don't care about but plugs into practical everyday bread-and-butter issues like immigration. Climate change imo is a kind of left-wing intellectual issue, a pet academic subject of theirs that tolerates no dissent and the average Joe or Mary ain't all that jazzed up about it to be honest. I myself can't get into it either though I'm told I should care and if the polar bears disappear tomorrow well the seals will be happy about the development. The question on everybody's mind though is will Bear Grylls drink Obama's urine?

Hillary Rodham Clinton compared some of the Republican presidential candidates to ISIS

From a free speech angle I got no problem if that's how she feels but where's the blowback, the media firestorm? just sayin'. Well she's at least updated the tired Nazi analogy. Trump says things that are half true and he's got the universe on edge. On the positive side at least she acknowledges that ISIS is bad for women.

Hippyfied health care

CVS won't sell tobacco products but medical marijuana dispensaries seem to be sprouting up everywhere these days.  Alcohol continues to be heavily demonized (e.g. nearly every insomnia website warns don't drink before bedtime) but hemp use is actually being medically encouraged within a limited for now framework of course.  Granny don't smoke, Granny don't drink, Granny light up a joint in the cancer ward.

Medical apps and insomnia, sometimes just technically wrong

The Web MD and Home Remedies apps both have a variation on the same official formula when it comes to insomnia. WebMD says if you don't fall asleep by 20 minutes get up and perform a quiet task (??) and Home Remedies advises if you don't fall asleep within 30 minutes go in another room and start reading but keep the tv off (maybe the book Stephen King's Insomnia?) Traditionally and down through the ages we've always defined "falling asleep" as that sharp and definitive moment when the curtain magically drops and you lose consciousness and awareness. For practical purposes that definition is fine and works most of the time but many times it doesn't work that way. The best starting point for managing your insomnia is to simply lie in bed the whole night with your eyes closed. It's a scientific fact which the apps somehow neglect to mention that if you do this you will have brief periods of sleep which you're unaware of hence the feeling of being awake all night. You'll make it through the next day adequately as opposed to following their advice and getting up every 20 minutes performing quiet tasks and going in the next room and picking up a copy of William Manchester's The Arms of Krupp. It helps if you have or cultivate good dream recall because during such torturous nights you can often remember brief dreams you've had and you can use this as a kind of yardstick. The other thing which I've never understood is the official medical line mandating that everyone needs 8 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT otherwise bad medical things are gonna happen like maybe five years from now they'll have to remove a couple of diabetic toes. At this point you're working on your sleep and doing the best you can and you don't need this added pressure. Chuck it and while we're on the subject I've been wondering what else the medical apps which are so popular these days are wrong about. TIPS - Next time you have trouble sleeping count all the names of the Republican presidential contenders over and over again in your head. Charlie Rose also works for me or maybe you can DVR a late Sunday afternoon golf game:)

Defunding Planned Parenthood

I have sincerely tried to understand this liberal apoplexy whenever the subject of defunding Planned Parenthood is broached but when I've posed the question throughout the years I never get a clear answer or quite often no answer at all.  WHY is Planned Parenthood entitled to or why are we morally obligated to subsidize this organization through millions of dollars in federal taxpayer funds every year???  Even if I were pro-choice I wouldn't automatically come down on the side of the federal subsidy.  There are quite a few organizations in this country who do yeoman's work on the side of good and yet they don't receive such a subsidy and yet it is mostly a Democratic Article of Faith that PP needs to be federally subsidized and if you don't quite morally calculate it this way you're on the side of darkness and devils.  I have to say though I have always found the pro-abortionism of the NY Times editorial board to be quite stunning even with the string of undercover sting videos by the pro-life although I'm supposed to say the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. So throw your coins in the fountain here or if you prefer just walk by and glance and give the old Sitemeter an uptick.

Thoughts on the Ashley Madison hacking issue

Ashley Madison has 37 million users? Why get married? play the field if that's your thing. I can't believe nobody but nobody saw this coming! OK so the hackers are threatening to release ALL the account information on all the millions of users of this online adultery website. That'd be real interesting when the List finally does come out. I wanna know if anyone I know is on the list. Don't tell me you're not curious. Reminds me of typing your VIN# on the government safer cars website to see if you have an open recall. How many open recalls on marriages are there gonna be in this new and massive adultery database? They can't be fixed either by ordering an airbag inflator or ignition part. Notice your spouse suddenly having more bouts of diarrhea? skid marks in the drawers? anxiety/stress, poor sleep? kinda quiet lately? goes for that extra tumbler of Scotch and made stronger than usual without the ice cubes and the ginger ale? Wanna see the doctor honey? Yup it should be interesting.

Auto recalls - the new normal

Car recalls are not unheard of but there's been too many of them in the news of late.  A good chunk of them have to do with airbag defects like the notice I got in the mail just yesterday for my 2005 Honda Civic.  Now let the year sink in for a minute, roll it around  as my notice also said the recall covers the years 2001-2005!!!  I've had my car for a decade now and I've driven it practically everywhere.  Danbury Mall, Poughkeepsie Galleria, Middletown New York among other daytripping destinations  and Honda Corporation tells me now?!?  Now picture the poor mechanics who work for Honda.  IN ADDITION to their normal regular daily work schedule they now have to do the recalls.  Parts may run out and then Honda offers to reimburse you for any alternative transportation you may have to take.  Total clusterf*×k.  Thanks guys.  May my next car not be a Honda.

Planned Parenthood, fetal harvesting and a roomful of beagles

Liberals have always acted like you're emotionally, morally and spiritually obligated to support Planned Parenthood. Actually that's not true, it's up to you. I'm not against birth control but I am personally against abortion so for me to support Planned Parenthood is a logical impossibility and the extended topic of fetal harvesting is definitely out of the question.  Doesn't make me a bad person. It's a larger issue for me than the latest undercover viral video made by the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress showing PP not in the best light. We can discuss that and folks are sure to bring up PP health clinics are big on breast cancer screenings, STD prevention and whatnot but now we got a little beagle problem on our hands. Let's say your local animal shelter does exemplary work for the most part, placing adoptions of pets, spaying and neutering and shots but in the room in the back they gas beagles maybe once a week. Some will support the shelter 100%, some will support part of the shelter and pretend the other room doesn't even exist and some may not go there at all because they're morally opposed to cat/dog euthanasia on principle. The grisly room in the back overrides everything else for some people. In my view that's perfectly valid and needs to be respected. Ditto those who withhold their moral support for PP because an integral part of their daily work is they do provide abortions. Again I'm not getting why I'm a bad person if I don't support the organization.

Greek Mythology

...that you can get endless freebies from the government and not have to pay the price in the end.  Now where can I get myself a gyro?

The Dukes of Hazzard problem

To start off I don't think this old show was particularly great but it anchored my Friday night tv schedule when I was growing up.  I remember it well, Dad and Mom would come home from food shopping and Dad would give us a box of Devil Dogs but Mom would say go eat an orange.  So TV Land is yanking the show because of the whole Confederate flag controversy which wouldn't be that much of a controversy had that young Aryan racist not shot up that black prayer meeting.  Wondering does Katy Perry now have to tweak her hit song "California Gurls" because it includes a line about Daisy Duke bikinis?

Take me to your 9 Leaders

Thoughts on the SCOTUS' latest rulings on ObamaCare and gay marriage...

More from the Opining Pope

Maybe after he's done with the environment and maybe the $15 minimum wage he can promulgate an encyclical on Donald Trump after he excommunicates Hannity.

Obama, man in search of a legacy

In a way you can't blame him, every president wants a legacy and not a Carter legacy.  In the twilight of his second term his motivation is obvious from his opening up relations with Cuba to his attempted but failed for now trans-Pacific trade agreement.  It's not that these things make the most sense necessarily but in terms of legacy he needs stuff.  Probably as his last term comes closer to winding down he'll come up with even more things from his grab bag of Ideas one of the latest being he's somehow trying to tie in climate change with national security.  Not sure how this works, should ISIS go green?  Can he do something on race and the police? doubt it.  Your ponderings......

Why throw rocks at a junkyard dog?

The Garland TX Mohammed cartoon shootings, our little version of Charlie Hebdo - ISIS is now claiming responsibility which even if true you'd think they'd be a bit hesitant as it hardly came off in their favor, not their best work you could say. Pamela Geller of her American Freedom Defense Initiative coordinated this event in TX and from what I understand it was some sort of cartoon contest for who could come up with the best sketch of the Prophet Mohammed I guess. I might be in the minority but her subway ads in NYC which the MTA had a huge problem with I don't find them the least bit offensive. I'm sure you've heard of them and they always have the angle of radical Islamists are anti-Semitic which they are so it's kind of hard for me to unravel just why the MTA has their collective knickers in a twist. However having said that what was the point of this little sketchathon in Garland TX? Are they suddenly interested in this particular faith system? Are they contributing to global culture? Was the whole affair designed to be provocative? (x) I'm thinking we have enough to worry about. Thanks guys and gals and all you Bob Ross wannabes.

What's up with the cops in this country?

If Eric Garner were a coyote roaming around one of the five boroughs of NYC he'd be alive today but professionally and humanely relocated - I wanted to work this thought into some kind of workable blogpost-title but it's somewhat unwieldy. Watching the coverage of the Baltimore protests/riots on the Today show this morning and a very conservative person said to me "you can understand their frustration" to which I nodded and said they (black folk/African-Americans) hardly ever get justice. These controversial cop cases involving unarmed black man who later die are mounting in this country and while I like to take them individually and analyze them at my own pace and I do have a fairly strong law-and-order bias cumulatively I find myself asking what's up with the cops in this country? Now practically everybody and their grandmother has a built-in video camera in their cell phones these days but the cops don't seem to care, they keep doing what they're doing whatever they're doing and it usually doesn't wind up good for the unarmed black man. WHY should 25-year old Freddie Gray have a broken spine while in police custody??? Now your typical conservative response will be but we don't know all the facts yet (tin ear on Race those conservatives) but ya wanna know something? What's up with the cops in this country?

Battle of the Dynasties

Now that Hillary has made it official let's just say it's Jeb Bush finally on the Republican side. Yeah the normal one in a field of Huckabees, Walkers and maybe Trumps Bush coming across by default like the blonde woman on The Munsters and so is dynastic politics ultimately good for the country? Already the GOPers who are officially in the ring are salivating to talk about Hill's character and baggage but the usual Samsonite way when dealing with the Clintons ain't gonna wash imo. Folks who vote straight Democrat always vote straight Democrat and so it'd be much better for Rand and Cruz and co. to put some Ideas on the table, visions, foreign policy conceptions. Yeah yeah I know Hillary is from leafy Chappaqua and not Getty Square in Yonkers and she's gonna make it a cornerstone of her campaign to talk about economic fairness and the average American. Hypocrisy thy name is Clinton but get over that and tell the country where YOU stand. Hillary bores me I can't tell you and she looks like she's doing it because she has to. BTW has Obama tried a Cuban cigar yet?

A guy flies a plane into the Alps and now this

The al-Shabab attack on Garissa University in northeastern Kenya - Should we start studying verses from the Koran at night before we go to bed just in case someone knocks on our door, points a gun in our face and starts doing a terrorist version of "Jeopardy"? Will a Koranic app on our smartphone suffice for the al-Shababster? How long will Obama go on pretending there's no religious dimension to this conflict?

Tragedy in the French Alps

The horrible news today, that Germanwings Airbus that crashed into a remote region of the French Alps was brought down deliberately by a kamikaze co-pilot killing all 150 passengers on board. He locked the other pilot out of the cockpit so that he couldn't even use the code to get back in and then pressed a button for a swift descent into the Alps. Of course the vast majority of suicides are just that, suicides and he could've simply downed some sleep aids with a bottle of Scotch so why this mad exit? Was he a lone wolf or part of a larger ISIS plot? Was he none of this but simply wanted to take others with him? The news gets stranger by the day.

It's not that I don't care about the Hillary e-mail scandal, it's that I don't care

Conservative commentators are sure riled up about this one and it doesn't even involve Sex. I have the barest skeleton knowledge of the scandal and that's because, well the title says it. For me it's like a scandal totally revolving around some technical violation like a worker not washing his hands after he comes out of the stall. Now there are still people who won't vote for Hillary Clinton because they feel the Clintons had Vince Foster murdered but at least this is more interesting subject matter. Look I watch quite a few of them true-crime shows like Snapped on the Escape channel and cops today are pretty sophisticated in these matters. A few of them are quite good at sniffing out the vaguest, the most subtle wisp of a major crime what with advanced forensics and all and believe me if there was really something there we'd hear about it. A couple conservative commentators are focused on Russell Brand's porn addiction and his new anti-porn stance (now there's an old subject I thought was kinda settled) but conservative commentary in general has been well-dispersed in its topics over the years. Instead of focusing on the things that really matter you'll get one that really goes off on a tangent, say Maggie Gallagher who starts ruminating about all things marriage and why this demographic group that never married is gonna be more unhappy and...it's just gets tiresome and all like this is gonna defeat ISIS. OK so about the scandal tell me why I should care.

Winnowing down the Republican field

The ones I would vote for: Scott Walker, Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney (not running as of now). The one I would NOT vote for: Jeb Bush as I simply don't like the notion of dynastic politics. Christie seems hopelessly tarnished by Bridgegate even though final reports have come out exonerating him of any knowledge of the scandal. Rand Paul? gosh I gotta think about that one. I suppose push comes to shove and on the other side why it is mandatory and in the stars that Hillary HAS TO be the Democratic nominee positively escapes me. She seems dull and tired even though she's trying to jazz up her image of late by being more peppy or something. Perhaps Bruce Jenner can be in charge of LGBT outreach in a Clinton Administration. Our old friend George Zimmerman has been totally cleared by the DOJ so he can continue going on messing up his life in private. Wondering how a President McCain would have dealt with the problem of ISIS. He'd probably just nuke the whole of Iraq and Syria and start over. "Jihadi John" has finally been positively identified according to all the newswires today, an educated man in his mid-20's from West London with a computer degree who went radical somewhere along the line. I fail to see the attraction of a 7th century-style caliphate and why some bored teen girls wanna join up so this is well over my head. Take it from there......

Radical Islam explained (sort of)

The best analysis I ever came across is from Pat Buchanan's book Where the Right Went Wrong (Thomas Dunne 2004) in the chapter "Is Islam the Enemy?" This short and very readable chapter (without footnotes thank God) gives a quick history of Islam from the Prophet Muhammed to the various caliphs which followed his death, the Crusades and the Ottoman Empire. Minority view on the Crusades here: they were originally the Catholic Church's response to the original aggressive and conquering behaviour of Islamic warriors (e.g. retaking Jerusalem from them). That's the history here's the theology. Islam along with Judaism and Christianity is a monotheistic and Abrahamanic faith system. Muhammed greatly revered Jesus as a great prophet and held in high regard His mother Mary but Islam fundamentally rejects Trinitarianism (big deal you say) so at first glance this presents a major puzzlement as to the radical Islamists' hostility to Christians in general as shown in that recent mass beheading of those 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. Buchanan sheds light on this. Early in their history both Islam and Christianity were gaining millions of followers and so it wasn't the minor religions that presented the greatest threat to Islam's hopefully worldwide influence and dominance but Christianity. This is like a theological business model if you will where one major brand hates the competition and attempts to drive it out and would certainly explain why they focus on the Pope and Rome so much. Lest this become too long a dissertation we'll save everything else for the Comments section.

The conservatives' wet dream - Brian Williams suspended for six months

God they go on and on about it! Then the other thing you hear about ALOT is what is Obama doing exactly about ISIS and terrorism in general? Obama is the DroneMaster (sounds like a good name for an app) and has more hits of top terror leaders under his belt than Bush ever had and is leading that international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and northern Syria so I don't understand the nature of the question, in fact it verges on stupid. Bruce Jenner - I honestly think the man/woman has too much time and money on his hands. Maybe Kanye West can make a song about it. I've been doing alot of walking in the snow lately and people don't hike in the snow as much as they used to seems to me. They leave half-hearted footpaths in the snow and don't maintain them by walking everyday or maybe it's the coyote snowtracks I've been seeing lately so they turn around and go home and play with their smartphones and pack on a few more pounds that they could've lost by following the coyote tracks. Let's see what's going on in Space? For you eggheads out there they found these twin stars in some nebula out there that are gonna merge soon and die or explode or something. God a six-month suspension and he didn't even use steroids!! maybe he was just trying to get women with his barroom tales:)

Return to the Dark Ages in the age of the Twitterverse

Here's my rough and very imperfect knowledge of the history of terror. Not that long ago, in recent memory in fact most terror was politically motivated (the Red Brigades, Carlos the Jackal, the IRA, Munich) and much, sometimes most of it had to do with the eternal and never-ending Israeli/Palestinian conflict. FF to the present with Al-Shabab, Boko Haram and Islamic State and it's pretty much do you read the Quran? no? you have to die infidel! With the latest outrage, the burning in a cage of that Jordanian pilot I don't see how you can't have boots on the ground at this point. Airstrikes alone brings to mind using a can of Raid and you're shooting at the cockroaches scurrying around in your kitchen. Sure you'll get a few, perhaps many but the rest go in the cracks and crevices of your floorboards so basically you have to find a way to get in there, get to the root of the problem. So basically and this is what I don't get unless it has to do with protecting hostages ISIS has this safe and fairly large staging area in some desert somewhere in which they continue to produce a series of highly polished but gruesome videos along the line of Faces of Death. Apparently they feel safe doing this, some kind of drone-free airspace I guess which is only another reason we really need an international coalition of boots on the ground and I don't care if King Abdullah II quotes Clint Eastwood. Lastly many conservatives are blaming Obama himself for the rise of ISIS by not continuing Bush's adventures in Iraq indefinitely when truth be told Bush's original actions led to the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi which later metamorphosed into ISIS and it bears repeating while Saddam Hussein was a very bad man he had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Meanwhile Americans are continuing to flock to see that sniper film while Boko Haram just took almost 100 civilian lives in northern Cameroon.

Why I won't be seeing "American Sniper"

It's not that I think it's an immoral movie or the late US sniper Chris Kyle didn't do what was necessary during time of war but philosophically I'm not really into violence so I don't feel the compulsion to go out and see it. What he did in Iraq, his job if you will I can't really quibble with but should it be celebrated? Personally speaking I never held up the pilot of the Enola Gay as a hero of mine, I prefer to think of MLK, Ghandi or the police officers who are killed yearly in the line of duty. I very rarely actually go out to the movies anymore, maybe once or twice a year at best. Last one I saw was the Mockingjay movie only because I read the Hunger Games trilogy and I want to be consistent. Drone strikes against terrorists, sniping and all that - BB's more of a fan but the problem is more Hydra-like. You drone one or two terrorists and ten or twenty more are ready to take their place. I'm reminded of cockroaches and the problem is it's never really solved. In fact it's easier to get rid of cockroaches. OK so I'm not on this movie bandwagon to go out and see it at least not right now:)

I Am Charlie

No you're not. Most people don't like free speech. BTW is it still not about religion?

Maybe now he can have that philosophical discussion with God about abortion

No judgementalism towards pro-choice politicians intended in the heading here, just thought it would be a good working title. Mario Cuomo, former three-term Democratic Governor of the Empire State - I never liked him politically. I will have to say though he was intelligent, articulate and thoughtful and learned too even if he did pepperize his continuing pro-choice argumentation with bits and pieces of sophistry just for flavor. This came out or evolved out of his thing with the then Archbishop then Cardinal John O'Connor of NY, also the late O'Connor so maybe he can join in the divine discussion too. Cuomo did however impose his personal morality re the death penalty on the state of NY which probably went a long way towards Republican George Pataki taking over the state-helm. At least Cuomo took pains to say he was personally opposed to abortion unlike the son who's like full-bore ahead oil up the abortion machinery. Am I talking about ABORTION too much? Well yeah but my sitemeter's been kinda frozen of late but when I discuss the A-subject every once in a while the commenters who come out of the woodwork who I never heard of before scold me for always talking about The Topic but when I do post on other matters which is most of the time they're nowhere to be found. BB sticks around though. He did do other things as governor besides issue dissertations/philosophical treatises on abortion so gladly discuss. Mario Cuomo 1932-2015 RIP.

'Tis the season of politicizing tragedy

I'm speaking of course of the assassination of two NYPD officers in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn last Saturday afternoon. Consensus analysis is the psycho did what he did in revenge for the death of Eric Garner at the hands of the police. Pat Lynch head of the NY PBA has said Mayor de Blasio has blood on his hands. What in hell is that supposed to mean??? Lately Pat Lynch is always angry about something and he's coming across as a tad irrational. Then there's the coverage of all things cop in the NY Post the only right-wing paper in town. They seem to be saying the tragedy was caused by the last few weeks' nationwide protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Garner. Um, protesting is a part of our very democracy, a democratic lynchpin or pillar and nobody has to agree with everybody but it's there your right to express yourself and be heard sans violence of course. It seems to me if more in the NYPD and the right-wing paper of record at least conceded that look excessive force was used in the Garner case it would go a LONG way towards easing national tensions across-the-board. There are those who are anti-cop and they're very anti-cop and those who are pro-police are pro-police no matter what the case or situation. Opposite hardcores imo never make for a better society, no room for compromise or even listening for cryin' out loud. Newtown happened in 2012 just about two weeks before Christmas and now this happened even closer to Xmas. Don't know what to make of that it's just an observation:)

It really shouldn't be pitch black at 5PM

This is anything you want to discuss. It really is time for the Congress to address whether these yearly time changes serve a purpose anymore. I can imagine someone who recently lost a loved one, is just managing their grief and the sun starts going down around 4:30 in the afternoon. It's weird and not good for your head, it's depressing and ominous and is likely to remind my example here of death itself. On the health front it's now practically a maxim by the medical community that everyone needs 8 hours of sleep per night for maximum health. I've actually read better, more insightful and certainly more realistic articles on the subject of sleep all written in the 1950's (e.g. Dr. Abraham Low). I liked The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part I better than some of the ornery critics who panned it. That's not to say it deserves five stars or even four but a respectable three at the least. As the penultimate part of the last book of the trilogy it's naturally not going to have the most action (DUH). The ruble is in trouble, there seems to be more lone wolf ISers out there looking to make some action like in the Land Down Under and I still can't get over the sheer weirdness of the Cosby Matter. Anti-cop protests, Joan Rivers, really anything you want:)

The mistake of conflating Ferguson and Eric Garner

Everybody seems to do this, it's become generic trademark commentary on race. Civil rights activists act like a white cop in Missouri decided one day to shoot an unarmed black teen with his hands up and some (but not all) right-wingers see Eric Garner the same way they see Michael Brown (my God the guy was a criminal selling those loosies). My view: the grand jurors in Ferguson did not come up with an unreasonable decision though I might disagree with it whereas in Staten Island the grand jurors did come up with a perfectly unreasonable decision. I take these cases one by one as they come up which is the best way. In the case of Eric Garner it would be far easier and more productive for conservatives to simply admit this cop did wrong, admit it, learn from it and move on instead of hunkering down as they always do in defense of the cops and smearing those who disagree as somehow being anti-cop. It seems grand juries these days are reluctant to indict the men and women in blue. Righties will point out that they hear reams of more evidence than we ever get to hear but I think it goes deeper than this. It's a cozy-and-toasty emotionalism on the part of those hand-picked from society to become jurors that ultimately gives the police officer the bennie of the doubt. So far the NYC protests are far more civilized than what went down in St. Louis, a social model for proper but passionate protest. The ME in NYC says Garner died from a police chokehold, Det. Daniel Pantaleo said to the jurors he was using a technique he learned at the police academy. All I can say is God help us!

The fog of race

I have to say it was dramatic and intense coverage over on the CW Channel 11 News here, while the prosecuting attorney over there in Ferguson Missoui was droning on and on about the finer points of the grand jury verdict on the bigger split screen they were showing live and growing reaction among the large crowd gathered to hear the no indictment verdict against Ferguson PO Darren Wilson in the tragic Michael Brown case. It didn't take long for the first police cruiser to be set on fire and for the tear gas canisters to be shot in the air. I've noticed more and more in these type racially-oriented protests the increasing number of white protesters joining the African-Americans so it might sound contradictory to say we've made some racial progress but sometimes you have to look for it. There's no way in hell PO Wilson can go back on the streets in Ferguson or any predominantly black community across the country. He'll just have to make some sort of drastic career change so that's a kind of social price against him despite the verdict that was rendered by the jury.

Hiking your troubles away

On the Purple (History) Trail at the Cranberry Lake Preserve in N. White Plains NY. I really think for a greater challenge they should make a hiking trail modeled on Kim Kardashian's rump.

Electile Dysfunction

The NY Times gives the Repubs a 70% chance of retaking the Senate by a slim margin, Wash. Post gives them 90% odds. Practically ALL the Democratic ads in my neck of the woods touted the candidate's strong pro-choicism but the Times recently had an article about the Dems highlighting birth control issues front and center while putting jobs and the economy on the backburner. Dunno, seems like they have some type of prurient interest. Cuomo will most likely get reelected Governor of the Empire State but Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino seems fairly popular just judging from all the lawn and road signs I've seen. I still kinda prefer the old-time voting booth with the curtain and the levers. You no longer have 100% privacy since if you're a little rusty you'll probably ask the election clerk for help with the ballot sheet going in the scanner. I'm actually surprised at this point you can't just vote from your smartphone. Sure there are issues to work out but everybody's confidently doing their banking on them. I was an election worker once in Dobbs Ferry. Had to be there like 5AM and stayed 'til 9PM. Never again. It'll be nice though when all the political ads are over and we can get back to those Cialis commercials where the husband gives his wife that goofy look in the kitchen.

In other Pope Francis news

Ebola and ISIS have kind of consumed the news of late but there's also the gay synod, I mean the synod that addresses gays and the Church. The draft of the draft is widely seen as being pro-gay, the only thing missing are the sex ads and Pope Francis always seems to be flirting with changing church teachings but then denies having led you on. He's a bit of a theological coquette but he still gives you that tingle. So the pre-draft/working paper talks about the gifts gays bring to the Church and society. Nobody's denying this (interior decorating, the arts, Chaz Dean's WEN Shampoo) but the more traditional wing of the Church wants to crack down harder on the sodomites and those couples in general who are living in sin. Now Francis always noted for saying Trendy Things has also said you can believe in evolution and God at the same time, there's no contradiction. I've no problem but do the evolutionists think that? Does Stephen Hawking agree with Francis? doubt it. OK so the church cafeteria is open and I'm gonna go grab me a bottle of abbey ale:)

Are you ready for Ebola?

It must have something to do with gay marriage. I'm not a medical authority but I do support a travel ban until it's contained. CDC Director Frieden is way over his head since the most serious thing he had to do as NYC Health Commissioner under Bloomberg was to try to ban big sugary drinks. The Drudge Report lately could be more accurately titled the Ebola Report and on the flipside the other school of thought that's been developing is that the media is talking about this way too much, a journalistic preoccupation or obsession or overkill. Then again I can understand it too since we have a decent chance at a real medieval plague here especially since nobody's on the same page. I myself get instinctively cranky whenever a subject is ground into a fine dust. As Saty once said everyone knows about the tits and I feel the same way about Ebola at least for now or I was but the CDC doesn't inspire me with confidence so I'm beginning to worry. FDNY now can't say "Ebola" over the dispatch for fear some nerd might be listening in on some scanner. OK so BB, Saty and maybe Dave can respond:)

Voluntarily signing over your privacy

Yesterday I got in the mail a questionnaire from my doctor's hospital group. I knew beforehand I wasn't gonna send it in, just a vibe you get but I read it anyway. First few questions the gist was how are your doctor's visits, did you call him up within the past 3 months with a medical concern, did he discuss your blood results in a prompt fashion and overall how is he doing on a scale of 1 to 10. I fairly like my doctor who's a young guy, a budding professional and I didn't want to get him in trouble. I WISH there was a section on colonoscopies though and I would editorialize when you wiki it there are at least 3 or 4 other major and valid screening tests for colorectal and yet when you go to the doctor they act like there's only one procedure (the worst one). Anyway towards the end another question asked how would you rate your overall physical health? That's hard to say, I engage in the proper John Tesh-recommended behaviors and habits during the first half of the day and in the latter half I tend to have a cigar and later on some brandy, half ascetic and half hedonist I guess you could say. The question after that how would you rate your mental and emotional health? Dunno, why don't you leave me alone? I've had alot of philosophical and spiritual suffering in my life but I never thought of it in terms of mental health just the human condition. I mean what a useless question anyway, most folks are gonna go with the correct answer of at least good and nobody's gonna admit they're nuts at least on paper. The whole thing smacked of bureaucratic Big Brotherism, overly prying like a mental colonoscopy. Then I pretty much tore it up and chucked it in the garbage. Nosy nosy nosy:)