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.