Trump thinks he can swagger his way into the WH

 Last night's VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz was a fairly civil affair.  At the end my impression was I'd rather have Vance as president than Trump.  Vance acknowledged having an erroneous belief and making a mistake or two in the past.  Imagine Trump saying this!  Vance and Walz sometimes agreed with each other.  By the time they got to child tax credits I was fully under the influence of the Christian Brothers.  They covered a lot of ground and it was a long debate.  Everyone including wives shook hands at the end.  I rather enjoyed it gotta say.

I seriously can't vote for the man at this point

 I'll have to sit out the most important presidential election of our lifetime.  Don't they say that about every election though?  If Trump wins it'll be without my help.  Trump's reverse strategy of turning off voters - as I'm sure you've heard at a campaign stop in Wisconsin last Saturday he called Kamala Harris mentally disabled from birth because of the admittedly horrible Biden-Harris immigration and border policy.  Talk like this can only throw sympathy in Harris's corner.  I don't expect any presidential campaign to be totally softball but I don't remember any presidential candidate talking like this.  There is something seriously off about Trump.  While there was still time the GOP should have gone with somebody else.  Might be a good time to blog about other stuff.

Does Trump really want the job at this point?

 Or is he doing a reappraisal?  Two assassination attempts.  Will this remain some kind of aberration or is it probable there will be more attempts on his life?  Saw recent headlines is Trump suffering from PTSD from the first assassination attempt and has he lost that fighting spirit?  If he does regain the WH will things only get worse?  If he does get assassinated while in office he wouldn't be able to complete the work of MAGA.  Ego versus personal safety is he evaluating that calculus as well?  Maybe his selling $100K watches is really his yearning to go back to the regular business world from which he came and which he's good at and known for.  Under normal circumstances I would not be posting this but we are not living in normal times.  Two attempts on a man's life can seriously interfere with his psyche.  He has the delegates he has the nomination and he has a fighting chance in the polls but the msm seems to be boxing off the two assassination attempts and treating the rest of the campaign with their usual anti-Trump bias putting the two attempts on his life as more of a historical footnote.  This election season is not normal and nothing is normal.  It's not like we can just pause the whole thing but have to go through the wretched motions.

I'm just trying to say something a little off the beaten path.  Let me know in the chat.

My ongoing feral cat series - Alfie

 

That's Alfie a male tuxedo.  Look at the long whiskers.  We adopted him from Misty's last litter.  He was definitely past the kitten stage when we took him in.  He once caught three squirrels in three days.  The last one he was eating in the backyard.  His hunting skills passed down from Misty.  Putting him in the cat carrier the first time proved to be a challenge.  I have bigger than normal carriers suitable for a small dog and the carrier also opens up from the top to make it easier.  I also wear thick winter gloves so I don't accidentally get scratched then it's off to the vet's.  Prior to putting a cat into the carrier I close off as many access to escape points as possible as things get more difficult when they go under a bed say.  Everyone else at the vet's have smaller regular carriers of different styles suitable for their Cuddles or Fluffy so I kind of stand out in the waiting room.

FLEAS imo are the #1 affliction or problem for cats although some of my cats never seem to get fleas at all while others are hard hit.  Can even lead to severe forms of dermatitis although other things like stress or ingredients in their diet can lead to severe skin allergies in some cats as well.  Many times at that point the vet will give a cortisone shot combined with an antibiotic shot.  I once spoke with a medical director of a vet clinic since retired and she said fleas can actually develop an immunity to some flea medications.  Ever notice how some flea meds don't help the situation?  I don't know if hers is a minority view but it's food for thought.  Revolution is the strongest flea med on the market but has to be prescribed first.  Pricey stuff.  Horticulturally speaking and far less expensive some plants like marigolds and catnip repel the little bloodsuckers.  I'm not lucky in the green thumb department but marigolds are the easiest plant to grow.

Coming at you from the feral wilds of Yonkers.

The NYC Mayor - Diddy do it?

 NYC Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 5 charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting foreign campaign donations.  The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Damian Williams said Adams took over $100,000 in graft and used his office to try to help Turkey.  Before becoming Mayor of Gotham Adams was the Brooklyn Borough President and is also a retired captain in the NYPD.  He has an extensive police background.  The alleged scheme started in '021 and continued after he became Mayor.  Adams says Biden is getting back at him for his criticism of his handling of the migrant crisis in NYC.  NYS State Governor Kathy Hochul has the power to remove him from office.  Question is if everybody's corrupt who's gonna drain the swamp?

Meanwhile Donald Trump has started his own watch collection with watches going as high as $100K.  Do you have to take out a reverse mortgage to buy one?  Talk to Tom Selleck?  Snoop will probably get one.  YOU walk down the street with one and you will be robbed.  Why now though?  Why not wait 'til after the election?  Has Trump given up on the middle class and given that issue to Harris?  What is the watch supposed to do for you?  Maybe Elon will get one too.  I just wanna know what time it is.

The TV scene.  More channels than ever and some nights there's nothing on.

Kamala Harris' politically alienating campaign

 Yes I realize the automatic rebuttal here that Trump is alienating but she is supposed to be the anti-Trump and a uniter and a healer.  A key part of her campaign of course is abortion but that's a subject that's alienating by its very nature.  It's like if a standup comedian made a night's worth of fat jokes but half his audience was fat.  By emphasizing or over-emphasizing the abortion issue by default you're alienating people who may not even have strong political positions on this but who in their spiritual gut feel abortion is not a great thing.  If push came to shove and they were unemployed they wouldn"t feel comfortable working in an abortion clinic say.  Basically what she's doing is appealing to the default voters in her party's base but who else?  How big is the who else camp that would even be swayed by this?  It's kind of settled into a philosophical issue for many.  Discuss it over a pipe smoking session?  That's enough of a ramble.

Is this post alienating enough?

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?

Normally a candidate for president isn't the object of frequent assassination attempts

 Something tells me it's not the Deep State.  They're not that incompetent and have an unlimited budget.  Something I have noticed though.  In the wake of two assassination attempts against Trump instead of lowering the temperature of the anti-Trump rhetoric as might be expected people on the Left have actually increased it.  We still have the Hitlerian references.  There is still the deranged talk of Trump if he wins becoming a dictator for life and canceling all future elections.  So WHY do people on the Left continue to talk like this?  One conclusion they want somebody to finish the job.

Mass formation psychosis is now treated as a part of normal rational political discourse.  We're living in surreal times.

Neither candidate is talking about the price of Fancy Feast

 

Drove past a vacant lot today.  Used to be a gas station that they razed to the ground only they left part of the sign up.  Gas at 2.55 a gallon.  Had to be sometime before the Biden Administration era.  T. Swift can easily get a truckload of Fancy Feast delivered to her estate.  For the rest of us it's should I go debit or credit?  Cash on the barrelhead is usually out of the question for most folk.  It's jacking up my grocery bill and they're small cans too.  Talking about the cartons of course.  Seems to be a feline fave.  I always pay cash at the gas station btw.  If I'm gonna use the Visa I want it for something tangible like a garden power tool or clothes at Kohl's not for something as ephemeral as a few days worth of driving.  Don't understand the people who are always using credit for gas.  If I'm gonna go in debt I at least have a nice air fryer/toaster oven sitting on my kitchen counter.

As part of my ongoing aging blogger series my next field of inquiry is varicose veins.  That'd be Misty btw one of my former house ferals.

Maybe we need to watch the left-wing rhetoric Part 2

 Second attempt on Trump's life in two months.  On Sunday September the 15th the former president was playing golf at his Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach FL.  A Mr. Ryan Routh age 58 stuck the barrel of his rifle through the fence at the edge of the course.  The weapon was an AK-style assault rifle with a multi-round magazine and a long--range scope.   Trump was only 300-500 yards away.  The Secret Service saw this opened fire and Routh was later arrested in a black Nissan on I-95.  A fierce supporter of Ukraine with a history of business problems and being in court.  Most recently lived in Hawaii but was a long-time voter in NC as a registered Democrat.  A long social media trail and many media interviews.

We didn't lower the temperature the first time around it only went up.  Will we cool the fierce and sometimes deranged anti-Trump rhetoric in the wake of the second assassination attempt?  Probably not.  Left-wingers gotta hunker down and double down.  No pause for reflection.  It will be put on the back shelf the news cycle goes so fast these days.  Is this the new normal?

Curated newsfeeds

 Google News, Samsung News, NewsBreak and a few others.  You know the pre-installed crap apps that come on your devices.  They're anti-Trump day in and day out while Kamala gets a free ride.  No serious research they just regurgitate each other and spew out the same canned news items on a daily basis.  A common everyday theme is a quick debunking of every Trump utterance.  The so-called fact-checkers have become a cottage industry.  Joe Rogan speaking of them on his podcast said fact-checkers are full of shit.  I'm inclined to agree.  Do they go out in the field and do extensive research?  They sure come to their conclusions rather quickly.  Everything is binary to them there are no even partial truths.  All this and more is the reason why more and more people are gravitating to independent media.  Curated newsfeeds they don't just give you the news they cue you in on what to think.

I have no recommendations just do your own research.

Conservatives are in a blue funk mood after the debate

 As I said I rewatched some of the clips from the debate on YouTube and thought Trump did well despite the pets.  It has been officially declareth however that he lost the debate.  Mine must be some weird minority opinion.  Welcome to Stranded the place of weird minority opinions.  You might find a few.

A commenter at a conservative blog opined that God intervened in the assassination attempt for a reason and so not to despair.  If you're a religiously-minded person that is not an invalid view imo.  To date not much has come from the FBI's investigation as to motivation.  Kind of odd.  Usually by now you'd hear from some neighbor that Crooks looked up at the nighttime constellations for political messages at 3 in the morning or something.  That he was able to put a ladder up against the side of the building to scale the roof is really something.   The Home Depot - how doers get more done.

For me one debate sufficeth.  If there's another one my biased newsfeeds will declare by sunrise the next morning that he lost that one too.  Regarding the cats and dogs one of my first reactions was there needs to be some serious research on this instead of the usual superficial snoping.  There's feral cats all over the place.  It's not out of the realm.  On the other hand Trump pronounces things in a Shakespearian manner like there's some pet apocalypse going on.  Maybe fodder for the next Stephen King novel.

Conservatives need to pop a Prozac.

It was a feisty debate. I don't declare a winner.

Both got in their jabs.  Kamala Harris made a lot of funny faces during Donald Trump's remarks.  At one point Trump called her a Marxist and said something about people eating dogs but I was slightly under the influence of Caribbean rum at the time trying to put it all together.  A long debate don't really want to sit through another one.  During the recap the ABC News commentators seemed biased saying Trump came across as angry.  To me he wasn't over the top just regular Trump mode.  No clear winner imo but it was an entertaining night.

If Trump loses he'll have an existential meltdown

 I think it can go either way but I also think that maybe the SOLE reason he's running again is he felt he should have won the last time.  I too had trouble processing this.  Think about it Joe Biden got a historic number of record votes.  More than Ronald Reagan more than Barack Obama.  The charisma of wet cardboard.  Didn't see too many Biden lawn signs either.  Georgia going blue absolutely blew my mind.  Now Hillary lost 2016 and was bitter about it for a long time.  Lots of talk about Russian interference but it all played out and she decided against a rematch.  IMO Trump however looks at things in more poetic and even grandiose terms.  By running again he feels he's trying to right some cosmic injustice.  What's the karmic deal yo?  Might explain his disorganized utterances of late he's not philosophically grounded.  Just my thoughts but I think this goes beyond MAGA.

Kamala Chameleon

 Kamala Harris was once against fracking now she supports it.  She was once in favor of a looser immigration policy now she advocates for tighter border controls.  She now agrees with Trump's idea of no taxes on tips.  You have the right to adjust and tweak your views but this smacks of political opportunism.  Speaking of tweaking Trump is now playing around with the abortion issue instead of just sticking with his state by state approach thus potentially alienating that part of his base.  He wrote on Truth Social a second Trump term would be great for women's reproductive rights.  Maybe Trump nephew Fred is right he's showing early signs of dementia.  The Hulkster can't save him at this point.  His proposal to require insurance companies to pay for IVF treatments is hardly in line with smaller government.  I don't think Trump was ever a true conservative in the first place.

This election can best be summed up as Make America Confused Again.

Worse than Chappaquiddick?

 So apparently the entire Kennedy clan is disgusted by RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Donald Trump.  I don't understand families.  Bobby is a full grown adult he can endorse whoever he wants to endorse.  He's also old enough to watch porn.  What does the family estrangement though mean in actuality?  He's disinvited from Kennedy weddings?  He gets nothing in his Christmas stocking?  No BBQ on Martha's Vineyard?  No entry in the regatta?  No Kennedy relative or relative of a relative will give him a kidney?  He's written out of wills?  He can't be buried or interred in the family plot?  I Piss On Your Grave?

JD Vance recently said Kamala Harris can go to hell.  I don't even know the context of this.  Is Vance on angry pills or something?

Our election cycles are becoming stranger all the time.

What a fracking interview

 The CNN Interview of Kamala Harris/ Tim Walz with Dana Bash asking the questions:

Walz reminded me of a contestant on Jeopardy who just stands there and hardly rings the buzzer.  Moral support for Harris clearly although he did dodge the question about his military service and said something about his wife correcting his grammar and he was proud to be a public school teacher.  Harris basically answered Bash's questions vaguely but got poetic towards the end when she said the true strength of a leader is lifting people up.  We'll just leave everything else for the chat.  I do try to be fair here at Stranded but imo it was a weak interview, inadvertently funny in spots and probably says to most thinking people anyway she shouldn't be the leader of the free world.

What. The. Actual. Frack.

Thuganomics

What do you think about Mark Zuckerberg's revelations that the Biden WH relentlessly pressured Facebook teams on a daily basis to censor certain Covid content that went against the narrative?  Zuckerberg now says he regrets caving into government pressure which btw when the government gets involved in these areas it technically becomes censorship,  Also Zuckerberg now admits FB demoted the New York Post's coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story at the time which could have potentially influenced the election by suppressing information from the voters at least those who don't read the New York Post.  Do they read the NYP in Idaho?  Talk about possible election interference!

DOES KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP???

For a man who refused anesthesia for a colonoscopy

I don't understand his vacillation over the proposed debate with Kamala Harris slated for Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News.  According to the new book I'll Take Your Questions Now by Stephanie Grisham Trump's former WH press secretary then President Trump made a visit in 2019 to Walter Reed Medical Center for a routine colonoscopy but refused being put under so as not to give temporary power to VP Mike Pence.  WOW.  I mean a lot can happen in 20-30 minutes a war could start or something .  FF to now and I still don't know if there will be a debate.  It's on again off again on again off again.  He would still prefer Fox News to host the debate I guess with Sean Hannity as moderator.  He still wants to campaign against Joe Biden, he's stuck in a reverie about it and can't seem to adjust to new circumstances.  He had his nursing home jokes all lined up.  This whole thing makes him look weak and shows his campaign is still dangerously off course.  Meanwhile JD Vance continues to defend his cat lady comments like give it up already.

I wish I didn't have to write this stuff.

Is Chef Boyardee the biggest problem facing our country right now?

 RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Trump has seemed to reinvigorate his campaign at least to a degree and now has everyone talking about our food supply.  Browsing YouTube and same topic.  An alarming increase in chronic diseases, diabetes Type 2, stroke and so on down the list.  BB is like the smart guy on Barney Miller he can break it down for ya.  Why are they blaming our food supply all of a sudden for an increase in our collective medical ills?  I shouldn't say all of a sudden as this has been a topic for years but it's really taken off now with the Bobby Kennedy factor.  Why isn't everyday stress being talked about along with a myriad of other factors?  OK we're a nation of fat-asses.  That's simply a matter of putting too much food into your body the same way an alcoholic puts too much drink into his system.  Is Little Debbie the villain here?  Nobody told you to eat the whole box.  Now with Jr. by his side is Trump gonna have salad bars at all his campaign stops?  I wasn't fat shaming before btw just sayin'.  Best thing you can have in your bathroom is a large mirror for when you step out of the shower.  Stopped me dead in my tracks one day and I said this and no more.  What kind of regs does Bobby have in mind anyway?  I'm not getting a smaller government vibe here.

Ramble over:)

Will Elon Musk and RFK Jr. have roles in a new Trump Administration?

Assuming he wins.

Trump is open to the idea.  Musk has expressed interest in a kind of government efficiency expert and a commission kind of deal.  No idea where RFK Jr. would serve in a Trump Administration (the environment? Big Pharma czar?).  Both have wholeheartedly endorsed Trump Bobby having recently dropped out of the race.  Trump needs to get back on track however.  He's been out of sorts since Biden dropped out and can't seem to readjust to Kamala Harris replacing him.  Elon Musk and Bobby Kennedy in a Trump Administration?  Interesting.

(snide comments to follow)

Doctors

I asked my doctor once how often should you eat red meat.  He said twice a month.  If everyone followed that the beef industry would go out of business.  Then I asked him how much coffee should you drink in a day.  He said one cup.  Look I'm paying for the visit I may as well pick his brain.  Why do they say drink 8 glasses of water a day?  He says nobody knows how that started just drink water.  What causes tinnitus?  It's mostly related to hearing loss as you get older but he did bring up RF hearing once which is an actual noise so he can think out of the box a little.  Insurance didn't cover my Colovantage blood test for colon cancer.  Oh well.  Spanish chef at work said flip the questions back to him.  If he asks you how your bowel movements are ask him how his movements are.  Asked him once what's a good sleep aid.  He said melatonin.  Gotta agree with him there.  Another time he suggested brisk walking is better than regular walking.  Just be glad I'm walking.  Was in the waiting room once and glanced at the table with the reading material and next to Golf Digest was Heart Failure magazine like am I dead and don't know it yet?

Doctors are ego-driven.  They want you to respect their expertise.  Never be afraid to question them.  If you catch them googling leave.

So now they're called Abortion Access Advocates (CBS News) - not to be confused with AAA

 Disregarding practical advice not to appear too ghoulish feticide a big part of Night 1 at the DNC as expected.  I was mainly watching "Crime Stories With Nancy Grace" about the Matthew Perry death case so only caught snippets.  Some Team USA basketball coach was saying something as I was surfing around the channels.  Didn't catch the Biden speech.  Too late for me as I'm still a working man.  My takeaway from Night 1 - Hillary had plastic surgery. 

I'd rather watch an Omega XL commercial or a Steven Seagal movie

DNC kicks off tonight in Chicago.  Biden to deliver keynote address, Obama the orator on second night and Bill Clinton on third.  Kamala Harris big night on the fourth and final night of course.  Out of all the candidates for her VP pick Tim Walz is probably the most socially radical but doesn't look it.  He looks like the friendly uncle who gives you a 5 dollar bill in the alley after your parents yelled at you.  The economy and the working class will be a big theme Biden's attempted but failed vax mandate on companies with over 100 employees already having been memory-holed.  Immigration, crime and safety, health care.  Trump has the edge on some key issues but Dems are better on health care as you'll be paying less for colonoscopy.  I've heard Harris isn't too swift on foreign policy which is half the presidency.  Of course oiling up the abortion machinery will be peppered in whenever possible. 

I'm gonna check the movie listings.

We never went to a shelter to adopt cats

 

They always came to us.  It's fine whichever way you want to do it.  My sister goes to a pet store affiliated with a rescue group or lately the Yonkers Animal Shelter by Stew Leonard's to adopt.  This feral bunch was taught by the mother how to hunt and kill squirrels.  We adopted all but one.  The gray tabby male went his own way.  The mother since spayed as I mentioned in a previous post is probably living someplace else after having lived here awhile.  She's friendly enough to adapt.  Probably preferred peace and quiet rather than live with too many cats as we have a couple others unrelated.  Domestic or feral it's all good.  A Jackson Galaxy moment;)

What's the deal with the over-polling?

 Seriously though we have polls coming out of the ass.  We could have polls of polls.  What did you think of our last poll?  Harris and Trump haven't even had their first debate yet and I would submit these early polls mean nothing.  Every time I turn on my phone there's another Trump/Harris poll.  Harris has better hair than Trump.  Polls in the past have sometimes proven to be wildly inaccurate.  Remember when Hillary was supposed to win the election handily against Trump?  The polls might mean more if they take a break and don't poll for awhile.  Dunno.

I was never polled in my life.  Well maybe once I got a call on my cell and answered a series of questions.  Where are these people on the street stopping people to ask their opinions?  I'm still waiting to be taken seriously.

What do you think of me blog?  Take a survey.

Is society becoming angrier?

 

Is it the election?  The price of food, 5G, something in the air or water, solar storms, too many boosters, Judge Judy?  The cost-of-living. the Middle East, Google, the weather, medical bills, bad digestion?  Trump......

The Rise of the Kens and Karens

I'm seeing it in retail.  From my end food service.  They come in for an item you don't have that day.  Instead of talking about with the department they go to the manager.  Manager gets involved.  Rookie deli clerk makes their sandwich slightly off as per their instructions they go to the manager.  You're short-staffed that day everyone called out that's not my problem.  Angry shoppers.  I'm a quiet shopper.  I don't make issues.  I don't get the workers in trouble.  Mild Z.

The blogosphere.  Everyone just calm down and let's talk about barn owls.

Is the pro-abortion vote enough to swing the election?

Complex but in the final analysis I'm gonna say no.  The msm would probably say yes.  So far I've seen only one commercial from Kamala Harris, a short tv ad talking about workers and the economy and protecting reproductive rights.  The pro-abortion vote - I would have to say that demographic is fairly sexually active and as my brother likes to say it's like they plan on having abortions (ok not the best way of putting it but you get the gist).  However there are other people out there, quite a few who are not into abortion, who don't like abortion and you don't have to be an official card-carrying RTL member to feel this way.  Also a large portion of the population go to bed every night in cold sheets.  They'll even say they've had nothing going on for years maybe had a bad marriage.  Abortion may not be uppermost in their minds.  Just a ramble and I'll cap it here.

Is Kamala Harris over-emphasizing the issue?

Working-class abortions

 Seems to be an amalgam of Kamala Harris' early TV advertising and probably future advertising as well.  Look for the union label and btw you can have an abortion.  We got you we'll hook you up.

I think with her selection of MN Governor Tim Walz she overestimates the leftness of the American people.  Taking a gamble on PA without Gov. Shapiro's help and focusing on the Midwest.  Dunno.  Maybe she wants to help Trump.

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.

While you're watching the Olympics

 

Health food stores are a kind of niche market.  They give off a kind of eco-hippy vibe and  I don't think they can always sustain themselves businesswise as several have closed in my County of Westchester, NY alone.  They're great if you're looking for a non-fluoride toothpaste or aluminum-free solutions to your armpit funk but not so great for everyday basic grocery shopping imo.  Their tea tree oil mouthwash did help me with a bad case of gingivitis though but I still want my Little Debbies.

I never understood veganism.  I get vegetarianism but what do vegans have against eggs and milk exactly?  Eat a vegan cake or cookie and it's full of oil.  Never understood how it took off as a concept and reached the status of trendy to the point of vegan restaurants and cookbooks.  Pity the poor kid being thrown a birthday party by vegan parents.

Lastly I wouldn't trust the bathroom tissue in these organic markets.

The age of snark

 I recently took a 3+ year hiatus from blogging and came back.  The reason for the rest period was twofold.  First the toxic nature of our political environment being foremost.  Secondly you couldn't have a rational discussion of covid at the time so I chose to ride that one out.  So eventually I decided to return but nothing has really changed.  

The toxicity of politics has only gotten worse.  There are commenters in the blogosphere who are constantly argumentative, rancorous, have a contrarian spirit and who make no attempts to search for common ground.  They don't understand the point you are making (feigned ignorance?) and distort your words through their own political filter.  I think part of the reason for our current political environment is a kind of overreaction to Trump.  He may win he may lose but the hyperbole and rhetoric continues unabated even in the wake of the recent assassination attempt.  I don't want to be a party to that and find it horrible.

It might be pretentious to call blogging an art form but this is a time for creative decision-making for me anyway.  Maybe Lista had the right idea blog only for yourself.  Everyone has a different philosophy of blogging.  If you don't fit in here find another blog that resonates with you.  There are plenty out there.

That's it for now.  Stay free:)

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Is TDS an example of mass formation psychosis?  Do you believe Trump is an immoral person who tells lies?  So far so good.  People have probably applied this to almost all modern presidents at one time or another.  Do you disagree with the recent SCOTUS decision granting Trump limited immunity and feel he should be prosecuted for varied crimes?  I disagree but you're still within the pale.  Do you believe the former POTUS is an actual threat to democracy if he wins a second term?  Now you're crossing over.  If Trump gets another term in office do you really think he'll install himself dictator for life and cancel all future elections?  Now you need someone to talk to.  Studies show dictators had to have the full weight of the military behind them first and also weren't pushing 80 as a general rule.  Now there was Trump's recent speech to a Christian group saying they'll only have to vote this one time but most of the media clipped out the next few seconds when Trump explained because the problems will be fixed opening up a more prosaic interpretation.  Biden's failed covid vaccine mandate for companies with over 100 employees some might argue that was a threat to democracy or at least a government overreach.  Bush Jr.'s march into Iraq over nonexistent WMDs what was that?  History has the final verdict. We can all come up with examples.  Going back further Nixon had to resign.  Checks and balances.  Very hard for an American leader to become a dictator but somehow Trump is supposed to swoop into a second term with regal powers and act like Caligula.

TDS.  It's why I've turned on comment moderation.

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."

In and of itself the SCOTUS issuing decisions you disagree with isn't grounds for SCOTUS reform

 Don't get me wrong it might annoy the hell out of you.  It might even ruin your day but their job is to interpret the law free from social and political pressure.  Now Biden is calling for reform of the Supreme Court with some type of term limits and a code of ethics.  Didn't know Dems were fans of term limits.  Even in the wake of Roe I don't recall conservatives calling for wholesale SCOTUS reform.  Incidentally the Court in giving Trump limited immunity from prosecution benefits ALL presidents.  It could help Biden if need be or Kamala Harris someday if she were to become president.  This is the type of radicalism a Harris presidency has planned for America.  Safer to stick with the weird party for the time being.

How to lose voters and alienate people

Had to Google this one.  JD Vance Trump's running mate and Senator from Ohio said in some interview way back in 2021 "We are effectively run in this country, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too."  Now most people would probably chalk this up to too much Christian Brothers but Vance has recently reprised this calling Kamala Harris a cat lady.  A kind of hobby of mine I read conspiracy boards and never came across this one the cat ladies being in charge.  I thought it was the Freemasons.  You'd sooner find something about time-traveling mermaids and Zuckerberg really being an Android than a nefarious cabal of childless cat ladies being at the apex.  Jennifer Aniston has joined the fray saying "Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day."  Vance got his knickers in a twist because Aniston dragged his 2-year old daughter into this.  I'm not getting the Trump campaign and usually a running mate can act like a sensible check and balance on the main guy if need be.  Why do I feel like Shaw?  Like I'm doing her work for her?

Fwiw my sister told me the story of Oprah had prostitutes and porn stars on her show once.  The audience was predictably hostile and cold until a couple of them told Oprah they rescued cats and the audience's tone shifted.  It's not just childless cat ladies.  A trucker can adopt a cat or two.  Yeah alienate the cat people voting bloc.

Whassup with JD?

The feral mother that started it all

 

Or why we have so many cats.  She had a litter of four in the yard next door a few years back.  Time went by and we eventually decided to take in three, don't know where the last one went and took them all to the vet.  We finally with the help of my sister also took the mother cat to the vet to get spayed and get her shots and she lived with us for a while until she found greener pastures.  Named her Misty.  Just prior to that she got pregnant again, apparently a favorite of the toms in the neighborhood and we adopted one of her male tuxedos from that bunch and a cat rescue group took the other two.  She taught all her litters how to hunt and kill squirrels and to this day some of our cats will occasionally catch a stray squirrel or two.  Caught the tuxedo eating a fresh squirrel one day in the backyard and had to turn away.  Never went to a shelter to adopt any of our cats down through the years.  They still have a bit of the wild in them.  We prefer it that way.

The Dems never met an abortion they didn't like

 While people are still paying too much for food and gas pro-feticide is sure to be a prominent part of the DNC.  Not much into polls myself but early polling suggests a dead heat between Trump and Harris.  I would say her weak area as former border czar is illegal immigration and Trump is already pushing that issue.  This however can be easily offset by Trump just talking smack and not appealing to anybody beyond his base.  It's anybody's race at this point.

Will Taylor provide the entertainment at the DNC?

A kind of forced retirement

They did the same thing with my Dad but he drove a truck and didn't want to run the country.  Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race and endorses VP Harris.  The Democratic Party has yet to nominate her.  When asked by CBS News if he would debate Harris in September he said he couldn't decide because he's not sure if she will be the nominee but then went on social media and said Fox News should hold such a debate and lambasted the other networks.  This is why they make fun of us.  Social media is like oxygen to him.  Cringeworthy moment.  Even if you don't like the msm at least respond in a civil manner.  Especially with recent events if I were Trump I'd be going with the gravitas and not the cheap insult.  It's times like these that I might go back to blogging about frogs or something;)

The Speech

'Twould have been nice if Donald Trump's acceptance speech on the final night of the RNC had started around 10:00 as some folk like myself have to get up early the next day to get ready for work but Kid Rock had a new song to perform.  The whole night took on a Wrestlemania turn which is not my thing and I could have sworn Hulk Hogan used the term "scumbags" but I was already on my second glass of Skyy.  Trump said early on in his speech that he wants to be president of the whole country and not just half and that "we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement."  Turned out to be the longest acceptance speech in convention history and I held out as long as I could but finally hit the hay.  Critics are saying his speech was not very unifying but you still have to deliver the meat and potatoes.  Did you expect Trump to start singing Kumbaya? The long speech covered all the topics which we can get into in the comments section.

Thoughts?

Keeping the rodents at bay

 

Union job.

Interesting

 On Day One of the RNC last night Trump made his first public appearance since the attempt on his life.  The most stunning moment of the night for me was Sean O'Brien president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters practically skewering Big Business in the keynote speech.  He ripped Amazon a new one.  First time in the 121-year old history of the RNC a Teamsters boss spoke.  Trump is clearly going for the populist working-class vote and stealing the Democrat's thunder.  Might have been reading the BB commentaries on corporate greed.  A brilliant move in this author's opinion.

Maybe we need to watch the left-wing rhetoric

 Someone tried to assassinate Donald Trump today at a campaign rally in Butler, PA.  An audience member has died and the gunman has been killed.  As Trump was being swarmed by Secret Service agents to escort him off the stage with bloodied face he pumped his fist to the crowd.  Photo Of The Year.  Say what you will that was a gallant move on Trump's part.  Could swing the election.  Make him a martyr and he could win in a landslide are what some people are saying.

Will the Left watch their rhetoric now and tone it down?  Probably not but one can wish.

Can Taylor Swift run?

This is all rather unprecedented.  If Biden does drop out of the race can the Dems just nominate anyone?  What are the parameters?  What are the protocols?  Trump vs. Newsom?  Trump vs. Michelle Obama?  Trump vs. Morning Joe?  How 'bout if there's no election and the country is adrift?  Let's just ride the wave and see what political shores we wind up on like a Gilligan's Island.  Is there a conspiracy somewhere?  What if Biden doesn't drop out?  I just heard he introduced Zelensky as Putin at the NATO summit.  Why do we need SNL anymore?  It doesn't seem quite fair to Trump that they can throw anybody up at this point.  You're prepping for one opponent and now it's maybe a mystery face.  Of course if Biden resigns the POTUS altogether Kamala Harris becomes president but that's the rational response.  Surreal political times.

It's slow on the Uncle Joe front

 

So I thought I'd post a pic.  Piermont, New York in Rockland County just west over the Mario Cuomo Bridge.  Hardly a poetic name for a bridge but son Andrew then Guv of NY named it.  Replaced the old and historic Tappan Zee.  Quaint village like being in a time warp.  Crab festivals and farmers markets.  Old-fashioned stores and a bar called The Turning Point.  Amateur painters come here often in the park by the harbor to paint.  They have a quite long peninsula you can walk out on and you'll always see a few fishermen trying their luck.  Condos here with a couple of dental and doctor offices so a mix of the old and the new.  Haven't been here in awhile but used to go fairly often to clear my head.  A kind of pocket community definitely worth a visit.

The wilds of Yonkers

 

I woke up this morning and was getting ready for work and there was a deer in my backyard.  Pure suburbia with a bodega down the block.  Was munching on the weeds.  Don't know where he came from.  All I need is a coyote.  Reminds me maybe I have to make another trip to Lowe's and look at some garden power tools.

As usual talk about what you like.  This blog is delightfully off-topic.

The Amish have sold out

 

I bought this at an ACME supermarket.  Nice big bar.  I prefer to split it down the middle and put it on a plate.  There's also an Amish-style potato salad.  I haven't tried their pipe tobacco yet.  Is there an Amish app?

The elephant in the living room finally got noticed

I did not watch it the great Trump/Biden debate.  Just got caught up to speed, watched some clips and yes Biden was horrible.  The Dems are in full panic mode and some major Democratic donors are up in arms.  The New York Times is headlining the question can Biden be replaced?  Some are now saying the POTUS is even a national security risk.  Jill Biden encouraged her husband after the debacle as if he were a toddler.  This is destined to become a classic in cringe TV.  Turns out the Right was right.

The one thing I don't like about Google is you have no privacy

The other thing I don't like about Google is you have no privacy.  Say you want to post a video from YouTube on a blog or forum your whole video feed comes up but maybe you don't want people seeing you have a recommended video for natural home remedies for hemorrhoids.   I suppose you could go incognito but I don't trust that.  The other day I went to an Urgent Care center for a UTI.  Couple days later I get a link in my email to give a review but I'd be posting publicly under my real name instead of say something like Cyclops 78.  I chose not to post a review as it would then be a matter of the public record I had a UTI.  Google also won't let me create my own lexicon and make up my own words.  Also on more than one occasion it has ruined a text message to a friend with its spelling authoritarianism and now ai influence.  The list goes on.......

Other than that I think it's great;)

One thing has always annoyed me

When people feed stray cats they usually just open up a can of Friskies or 9 Lives and leave it on the sidewalk.  A hungry cat can cut his tongue.licking out the can then people forget about the can and any leftover food dries up in the sun.  Get a decent bowl they're not expensive.  Too much work?  The community cats deserve better.

The aging blogger

 I have a large backyard and every year it gets overrun with weeds.  Large weeds.  Couple weeks back was whacking with one of them manual whackers and later into the day and into the next my left arm became very sore.  Now I get this intense pain in my left elbow to the point I suffer if I even use a spray bottle with my left hand.  I'm partial ambidextrous no matter.  It's a jungle down there could have been a black widow who knows?  I'm older now and Nurse Nancy would probably have one of my feet in the grave.  Bought some Tylenol arthritis power but will wait until a sufficient time has elapsed after imbibing my last adult beverage for the night.  I have my priorities.

Ever have everything go wrong with you AT THE SAME TIME?  You want to go to the doctor's office and present him with a list of at least five ailments and say here fix them.  We can rebuild him we have the technology.  Funny thing is my friend can eat sushi and down it with chocolate milk no problem. 

My cumbersome labeling system.  Gonna file it under health.

This is what you came for

 I honestly think Taylor Swift only goes out with well-known men for the sheer publicity of it all.  Nothing ever comes of it.  Conspiracy theorists say she hooked up with Travis Kelce because he's pimping for Pfizer.  I don't take it to that level it's simply par for the course for her.  She's 34 now and her biological clock is ticking.  I can't check out groceries at the store without seeing her on most magazine covers.  Dua Lipa or any other artist doesn't get this press.  She's a whole sub-economy now.  What are your Swifty thoughts?

It's getting harder to shop these days

My backyard has come to resemble a vacant lot these days with overgrown weeds so went to the Home Depot.  Lots of stuff under look and key now.  Essential garden power tools behind a cage.  I mean is someone really gonna try to leave the store with a giant pole trimmer?  Then the public restrooms have  some sort of a control box on the door with nine numbers and a secret code.  Black guy yelled to the nearest clerk there's people waiting here and I threw in my 10 cent humor and said there's gonna be diarrhea all over the place.  Target too lots of stuff under lock and key now.  I understand the Gillette 5-bladers and items like that but everything you used to just grab and examine first?  Sometimes you just give up and go home.

Went to a Rivertown library today.  They have a new parking system.  Instead of meters (they have no lot) you have to go up to a pay station and get a slip to put on your dashboard.  Ok I can adjust but it took me about a minute to pay and get my stub and I go back to my car and there's a $50 parking ticket on my windshield.  I had to go to the nearby Village Hall to clear this up and the cop at the desk voided it out.  Progress.

Why is everybody so anal these days?

Would a Judge Judy mask help?

 Personally I've never had an encounter.

Fauci can do a gain-of-function but Trump can't do a hush money

Geeez that was kind of quick.  With a Gotham jury what other kind of outcome did you expect?  Trump convicted on all 34 counts in his sex hush money trial in Manhattan.  I view it as a political prosecution but others I'm sure are ecstatic.  A weird thing to be convicted of during an important election season but that's the point to throw Trump and the Republican party off their game.  Many are predicting no prison time even though he is now technically a felon.  Does he pick up trash along the highway with a pokey stick?  The depressing state of American politics.  Was hoping to avoid blogging about Trump for awhile but it's one of them intrusive subjects you can't avoid.

I got 99 problems but my eyebrows ain't one

 In the heart of the mall where I work is a very popular eyebrow threading kiosk.  Day in and day out people of all ages sitting in the chairs.  I don't get it.  You're pressed for time and money it's not on my to do list.  What are some social fads you don't get?  People with the mini phone things in their ears expecting that all important call walking around like they're contractors.  Why not use your cell?  Are they gonna climb a utility pole?  Smart watches.  The point?  Can you watch a movie on one?  Constantly monitoring your BP with arm or wrist band thingamajigs.  Tattoos are more than a fad of course and in some places you're in the minority if you haven't illustrated your body or at least a part.  "I've fallen down and I can't get up" I can see.  All I need is a meter to let me know I'm running low on the Christian Brothers.

I saw this idea posted on a forum once

 The Government already knows how much we owe in taxes or how much they owe back to us.  They have our numbers on file.  How much we paid in state and federal etc.  They pretty much know everything about us already.  Why not just send out letters or notices stating how much we owe or how much they owe us?  If you disagree then fill out a tax form and do the work yourself and send it in.  Why do we even need this behemoth of a tax preparation industry?  Let the government do the work.  They have the computers and the information and now we have ai.  Crunch the numbers and everybody else can get back their lost quality time.

We're living in surreal times

 The Trump Sex Trial.  I know of nobody who's interested in this trial and that includes even the hardcore Dems at work.  Truthfully nobody wants to think about Trump having sex.  The perceived martyring of Trump can only work in reverse.  Uncle Joe - Russell Brand showed clips of Biden on Howard Stern's satellite show.  It was strange.  Biden was sitting there rather silent looking mildly bewildered and nervously holding onto the mike stand like he was on a ship.  Stern who has made a career out of making fun of everyone and everything respectfully extolled the President and his accomplishments (?) thus far.  Now there is serious talk of a great debate between Trump and Biden.  Isn't this past Biden's bedtime?  I thought he goes to bed after Wheel Of Fortune.  I honestly thought he would put in one term to show what an oldster can do and that's all.  Cultivate a hobby.  Take hornworms off tomato plants or something.  Cartoon universe.

Don't book 'em Danno. It's legal now

One late afternoon sitting on my porch having my fine cigar and a funny aroma came wafting over.  Hi neighbor!  In my travels I'm noticing more cannabis shops opening up.  One changed its sign from Cannabis to Leafology.  A sign might say the Legal Cannabis Store and that's right next to the legal sneaker shop.  Many pot hobbyists are fiercely anti-smoking cigarettes.   Lived in my aunt's apartment for a time and my cousin had a meltdown 'cause I smoked a few.  At the same time he's a heavy pothead who keeps cholesterol graphs for his health.  I'm fine with the Christian Brothers/Tito's scene.  No need to take it to the next level.

Cat rescue groups - a review

This may not be a fair analysis as I have not heavily researched the subject but is based on personal experience. Few years back I had two stray female cats temporarily living in the house and one was obviously quite pregnant so I contacted a cat rescue group. The end result was good she took the cats and they went to a foster home. Yes they have them for cats too. The methodology however. She came by late afternoon with two big cages in the back of her SUV and clearly wanted to follow the protocols of official cat rescue techniques which involves putting a bowl of food in the cages and as they say on detective stakeout shows we wait. Order Chinese? I was like how long is this gonna take I wanna watch Wheel of Fortune give me the cages. Somewhat hesitant she gave in and within ten minutes or less I handed her the cages with the cats inside and thank you and have a good night. FF to now and I have another situation with a tomcat that I've been feeding and has battle wounds on his face from territorial cat fights and so I texted the cat lady again who responded to my first text but hasn't replied to my followup texts. I realize these people are incredibly busy and serve large geographic areas but how hard is it to hit an emoji? Then I'm sitting on the porch with my fine cigar and observed a neighbor trying to get what looked like a female cat off the road and then feeding it and trying to get the cat out of harm's way so clearly our neighborhood has a cat problem as do many other neighborhoods so where are the cat people? Calling Jackson Galaxy!

I honestly thought......

I had honestly thought that the plan all along was that once he assumed the office of POTUS Uncle Joe would eventually step down due to health reasons related to age and then Kamala Harris would assume the presidency. Biden would defeat Trump with the ultimate goal of putting her in office. This would make sense from a progressive standpoint. First woman president and hard-core liberal to boot. Liberal nirvana but no welcome to cartoon universe. Apparently we have to endure Biden vs. Trump again. I've often said here it can be perfectly valid not to vote. Do the right thing and sit one out is an option in my book. Thoughts?

Charity begins at home

Unless I find out I had a rich aunt that lived in Chicago and left me a million dollars I have to be careful with my money. I don't want ConEd to flicker my lights. St. Jude, ASPCA, the Vets, Mercy Ships, Catholic Charities, Fellowship of Christians and Jews etc. etc. There's no way I can give to all of these groups on a regular basis. Of course you also need Car Shield, Life Lock from Norton to protect you from the dark web and American Home Shield in case your washing machine explodes. Got a letter from our parish recently if we can increase our weekly donations. I'm sorry what?

Open thread

Talk about what you want.

I don't know if any of you have ever worked with a former nurse's aide but seems to me, it's my impression that they tend to look for health problems in other people.  Chef at work has a small lump, probably a cyst on the back of his shoulder.  He's not working shirtless of course so I probably would never have noticed until she told me about it.  Dishwasher somewhat overweight and she says she walks funny and told her she has the wrong shoes.  One day she said I have dry hands and bought me a small bottle of Jergen's which is fine but maybe you don't have enough to do we can put more on your plate.  My late aunt God rest her soul was a retired RN and once told an Amish woman her socks were too tight and was cutting off her circulation so there's a trend here.  Now nobody's coming to work with a tumor on the side of their face the size of a basketball like you see in those infomercials for Mercy Ships.  We all have something.  An imperfection, health ailment or problem that's not life hreatening that we live with or manage or even totally ignore.  Some may see a doctor some may not.  Most of us are not Rockefellers with endless funds.  I work alongside a young Spanish guy with a deformed ear.  I'm sure he's aware of it I could care less.  To be filed under mildly annoying.

Or we can discuss Kate Middleton:)

The proposed ban against TikTok seems rather strange

It's weirdly authoritarian.  Govern me harder Daddy.  I'm not getting this one.

Random Thoughts On Last Tango In Paris (1972)

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.  Widely seen as a landmark in the history of sexual explicitness in cinema.  So where was the explicit sex I must have missed it?  Even the uncut version is not overly graphic.  Many people if the movie is mentioned automatically think of butter.  That's a childish mind.  Some of the scenes that come to my mind is the character of Paul played of course by Marlon Brando talking to his dead wife alone in the room as she's being prepared for burial.  To my mind this is some of the best acting in the history of cinema.  Also the classic ending where Jeanne played by Maria Schneider shoots him.   The ending is so open-ended it called for a sequel but there never was one.  She's rehearsing her lines for when the police will interview her later (he was a lunatic, I never knew him, he tried to rape me) but so many people had already seen them together at the dance hall but the movie simply ends with the sultry music coming on.  My takeaway - she was okay with having a kind of strange even perverse relationship with him.  She kept going back to him in the apartment even though she was engaged to another man yet when Paul wanted a normal loving relationship with her she basically kept saying it's over and killed him.  A cinematic and much discussed enigma.  Although not by any stretch an exemplary character he's been through the mill after his wife's gruesome suicide and this is his fate.  A movie with many layers to it it's worth a watch or a few.  The actress appeared nude in many of the scenes while Brando kept his clothes on except for one brief scene early on where they didn't show much.  Much vulgar language throughout.  So that's my take the movie is worth diving into.

The geriatric presidency

If I were Kamala Harris I'd be boning up on foreign policy right now just on the off chance.  It's like when your father dies and he knew about the plumbing but you don't.  Natural causes is like a 50/50 right now.  Rudy Giuliani is pretty much a national joke.  It's like the old shrink tests - Giuliani/Running hair dye.   Even Rush Limbaugh is getting impatient.

The transition seems well underway now.  It is what it is.

There's no legal requirement you have to congratulate the other guy

Trump may give his concession speech a year from now or never.  As long as he leaves the building January 20th.

When are the second stimulus checks coming?

How do the dead vote?

If the dead leaned Republican Trump wouldn't be making an issue of this.

There's normal math and then there's weird math.  Most agreed about the normal math.  The President's lead would shrink in several states once the mail-ins started to be counted.  The strange math led to Trump eventually having razor thin leads in those same states with Biden eventually having the sliver in his favor.  What are the odds of so many of these slivers?  The normal math said a majority of the absentee ballots would favor Biden.  Again most including myself accepted this.  The strange math would have it though that a vast majority of absentee voters voted for Biden.  Odds?  Now you could make the case that Democratic voters took the pandemic more seriously and so went this route but there still has to be quite a few elderly Republican shut-ins out there too.  Lastly Georgia a historically red state seemed to flip overnight.  Were Georgian Republican voters so repulsed by the package of Trump's personality they threw political practicality overboard?  Not likely.

For me it's a case of the weird math and the strange algebra says to check it out.

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 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.