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.