Remember when gas prices rose under Biden

 Some people put Biden "I Did That" stickers on the gas pumps.  Now we can put Trump stickers on the pumps.

Another Khamenei chosen as Iran's Supreme Leader.  The son.  That's some regime change.

7th US Serviceman killed.  Trump telling Americans to expect domestic terror.  Noem fired as Secretary of DHS.  I think Trump put her in charge of feral cats or something.  She went above and beyond for her man.  Thrown under the bus.  That's the Trump M.O.  Does the guy have any real friends?

Losing the midterms;)

Keeping the Epstein Files off the front page

 The War with Iran.  I think they make it up as they go along.  Apparently we bombed a girl's elementary school over there and the first American casualties are coming in.  Gone are the days I guess of the CIA trying to give a foreign dictator an exploding cigar and sparing everyone else.  The send our men and women into harm's way presidency.

The unexpurgated unredacted Epstein Files must be pretty bad.  Trump doing a Bibi.  Expect more wars.  Cuba?

A visceral take on the Iranian action

 No tears here for Khamenei.  Saw some of our American protesters on TV.  I never understood the soft spot for dictators on the part of the Left.  Never understood the soft spot for radical Islam on the part of the Left.  Having said that Trump didn't campaign on taking out the Ayatollah.  A key part of MAGA was not so much anti-war but no foreign wars or entanglements.   Joint US/Israeli action striking Iran.  Again whatever Bibi wants Bibi gets.  That too goes against another key part of MAGA America First.  So a kind of mixed reaction from me.  Ali Khamenei now officially deceased did have thousands of those Iranian protesters killed.  No grief here for the ex-Iran Supreme Leader.  However since this is all about regime change who will succeed him?  Does Bibi have him all picked out?  Unclear.  Will probably also affect the oil markets.

Chaos in the Middle East.  What else is new?

Foreign protesters good American protesters bad

 Pondering the dichotomy here.  The Iranian regime's crackdown on anti-government protesters at last count 2,500 dead.  Trump weighing his military options and knowing Trump he will probably do something and truthfully I would not shed a tear for the mullahs.  Over here state-sanctioned violence against anti-ICE protesters.  Not getting the dissonance.  A growing number of DOJ federal prosecutors are resigning over the direction of the probe into the killing of Renee Nicole Good.  Fringe righties though still defending it even as Rogan and some other podcasters who used to support Trump are condemning it.  Maybe Megyn Kelly will dance with Trump some day to some nice Nazi waltz music in the new WH ballroom.  Apparently if I understand correctly the new training period for new ICE recruits is no longer 5-6 months but 47 days in honor of Trump being the 47th president.   Iranian regime bad Trump regime good.

You can't make this shit up:)

For Anti-Semite of the Year I nominate my sister's parrot

 Some woman with a sketchy background runs some site called StopAnti-Semitism.com.  Every year they hand out awards for Jew-hater of the year.  Last year Candace Owens got the top honor.  This year Tucker Carlson is in the running of course along with Cenk and Ana from the Young Turks, Ms. Rachel, actresses Marcia Cross and Cynthia Nixon and a few others.  Basically it's all about calling out Bibi and the genocide in Gaza.  This is weak.  Criticizing a foreign government is not the same thing as hating that country's people.  If you have a problem say with the Argentinian government it doesn't mean you hate Argentinians.

My sister owns an African Grey Parrot.  In addition to saying my sister has a fat ass and generally talking smack he has said some things about Jews behind closed doors.  Nick Fuentes has asked why he's not on the list.  Can we nominate the bird?

Is the Trump Doctrine just to go to war against everybody?

 The little countries anyway.  Venezuela, Colombia, perhaps Nigeria.  Modeling himself after Bibi maybe.  Multi-front wars or wars in the making.  Seems to have forgotten about Greenland.  Lost track of all the Venezuelan fishing boats blown out of the water.  Hegseth talks about it like a video game.  Hegseth the gamer - 3 killed today.  Is Trump gonna take the coffee fields in Colombia too?  Retesting our nuclear arsenal in his spare time.  Funny way to angle for a peace prize down the road.

Trump 3.0 - The Shitshow Continues

 May this never happen.  The King will be a doddering old fool at that point.  Steve Bannon says there's ways around the 22nd Amendment and believes Trump is an instrument of Divine Providence.  To what end explode the deficit and start wars against little countries?  The Nutty Emperor.  Oh SNAP food aid is about to end for millions of Americans but the military will continue to get paid because one of Trump's donor friends is covering their salaries.  Government shutdown with no end in sight but Chef at work tells me the stock market is doing well.

Perhaps Megyn Kelly can explain all this.

If Hamas leaders are vacationing in Paris

Does Bibi then bomb Paris?  What are the Rules of War anymore?  Trump gave a muted response to the latest saying he wasn't thrilled by Tuesay's attack by Israel targeting senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha.  Trump wants to keep his jet but also Bibi as a BFF.  Reading Zionist reaction online to the strike saying Netanyahu has balls of steel and now has a real achievement under his belt.  Meanwhile there's been a little Polish action in the Russia/Ukraine War first time a NATO member got involved in the conflict.  Poland said it shot down Russian drones that invaded its airspace.  Mad players on the world scene.  Putin Bibi and Trump.  What could go wrong?

Does Trump have plans for a Greater Israel?

 Bibi has a dream, a vision for a Greater Israel.  Not a fan of the 2 State solution.  In it he gets all of Gaza of course, Lebanon, parts of Syria and Saudi Arabia, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, Iraq, part of Yonkers?  He sees this as a Biblical mandate, a spiritual mission.  Pure Zionism.  Bibi's Greater Israel Project.  What's in it for Trump?

Not sure Netanyahu knows what a ceasefire is

 Someone should crack open a dictionary for him.  The news it's hard to keep pace anymore.  Musk forming his own political party.  Fringe activist Laura Loomer now an unofficial national security advisor.  God help us!  Flooding in TX.  They're saying the Trump cuts didn't help they made things worse.  Dunno are we still working on cancer?  Homan is out of control but he goes to church every week.  Wreak social havoc and then take your soul to the cleaners every Sunday.  A president being mediocre is not the issue for me it's the sheer weirdness of this Administration.   All you can do is take up a hobby in the meantime and hope it passes quickly.  Not sure why he still has fans.

Is ICE going rogue or is Trump bipolar?

 It's all so confusing.  Just the other day President Trump directed all ICE offices to NOT conduct workplace raids at agricultural sites, hotels and restaurants.   Now CNN reports ICE will continue doing just that.  Is Trump's whole term going to revolve around chasing down the illegals?  That's not feasible or practical or cost effective.   Now I go on YouTube and Homan is holding yet  another press briefing urging the aliens to go on the app and self-deport.  Get your affairs in order the stern one warns.  Nothing constructive.  You can't make this shit up.  How many illegals are buried in cemeteries?  Does he want to dig them up too and send them home?  What would Jesus do?  No immigration reform, no path to citizenship just paleo-conservatism at its most rabid.  Why do I get the impression ICE enjoys their work a little too much?  Do they need a shaving of Prozac?

Don't hate.  Participate:)

Should be interesting

 The new American pope Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago now Pope Leo XIV was a heavy retweeter of Trump criticism on social media before his election to Pontiff in particular re Trump's immigration policies.  Trump said on his Truth Social the first American pope in history is a great honor.  I say it would be great if Leo and Homan shared an ale together.

Stay tuned......

A conclave and Nancy Grace will be in her glory

 Diddy trial to start any day now with jury selection still underway.  Don't know the questions the potential jurors get.  "Did you ever see the music video 'Hypnotize' with Biggie and Puffy?"  Got to thinking if I had even a fraction of Diddy's money uppermost for me would be major home improvement e.g. electric staircase going up into the attic with wifi and cupholders.  Telescope up there too.  Kitchen and bath remodel.  The backyard - Inground swimming pool, small Chinese garden/pond with exotic fish, some Greek statuary here and there.  It would never dawn on me to run a sex trafficking ring.  He ain't livin' right.

The Conclave - I don't follow the stuff.  Mainly older Italian guys with a few Africans thrown in the mix.  Keep getting videos in my YouTube feed about the last pope of the End Times but I don't get my theology from Mel Gibson.  You have your Catholics who are more into bingo and bake sales then you have your more eschatologically-minded Catholics who speculate about Antichrist stuff.  YouTube sends me things all the time I never searched for.  A gorilla fighting an alligator.  Clickbait.

So we got a couple of topics going.  A diversion from the usual Trump stuff.

Papa Trump

 I had to cogitate on this one.  By now we've all seen the ai-generated image of Pope Donald.  In and of itself this is not that offensive.  Put it in the mildly amusing folder but I think the timing is bad and he seems to have succeeded in angering the bishops.  In my view it's unbecoming of a serious Administration.  Imagine if Uncle Joe had done this.

Just my 2 cents.

Pope Francis passes away one day after meeting with JD Vance

 There could have been a heated exchange about migration.  Maybe Trump wants to annex the Vatican.  A Homan/Francis meeting would have been most interesting.  The Breaking News - Pope Francis passes away at 88 after a bout with a long illness.

Kind of controversial among popes.  Not popular among the more conservative Catholics who felt he was confusing in his mixed messaging and didn't exactly uphold Church teaching at all times.  Big on climate change.  More liked among progressives is a fair assessment. 

Catholicism an ongoing topic of interest to me.  Varied and diverse.  Catholic prophecy - Fatima and LaSalette.  Rome losing the Faith.  Antipopes.  3 Days of Darkness.  Mystical phenomenon.  The Saints.  Keep getting Padre Pio videos in my YouTube feed.  He said cats are special and God put them into your life for a reason.  I love Church music.  Acoustics in my house of worship are bad.  Can't hear what anybody is saying or else I need an amplifier.  How much money do ushers make?  One Sunday morning usher looks like he came out of Hawaii Five-O.

Vance said he was happy he got the opportunity to meet the Pope.  Francis might have been wondering where is the Christian Brothers?

Diddy was going to perform but he couldn't make it

 (Alternative title: Rough Day For Shaw)

Quite a pageant.  The swearing-in ceremony was quite long.  Had a strong religious, Christian flavor.  An all day affair.  Watched Trump's Inaugural Address.  A lot to go through comment accordingly.  Wants to put an American flag on Mars and Musk was ecstatic.  Said in his speech there are only two genders and that he would sign an executive order declaring such.  Who knew such a simple biological fact would be so controversial.  There was the parade and then an address by Steve Witkoff Trump's special envoy to the Middle East who was instrumental in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.  Earlier Trump had already signed his first few executive orders back at the office.  These were mostly technical in nature having to do with things like cabinet and sub-cabinet appointments the most notable being going forward all flags will be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day.  I had hoped to publish something earlier in the day but it was a long wait before he signed a few more executive orders at the Capitol Arena the most notable this time being sending a letter to the UN saying we are withdrawing from the Paris Climate Treaty then it was off to the Oval Office to sign a large number of other executive orders.

A LONG day.  TikTok also back online thanks to Trump at least for the time being.  Sounds like a deal is in the works.

Don't know if this is a false issue or not

 I wasn't actually going to say anything about Jimmy Carter.  Am I required to?  So the latest Trump controversy is the President-Elect is upset that the Dems want to fly the flag at half-staff on the day of his inauguration to honor the recent passing of Jimmy Carter.  So my thing is today is January the 4th.  The inauguration is still slightly more than two weeks away.  HOW LONG are the flags supposed to fly at half-staff anyway?  What's the rule on this?  Sure when a former head-of-state dies there'll be three funerals and the whole thing will go on for a month so I guess the funereal feelings can well wash up against Jan. 20 but again if anyone knows the rule on the flag thing let me know.

There's always been a kind of rough consensus that Jimmy Carter wasn't a great president but a decent human being.  There were the long gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis but he also negotiated the Panama Canal Treaties and of course is well known for the Middle East peace accords.  He did better work post-presidency.  Took up a hammer and nail for Habitat for Humanity and put his work pants on.  A devout Christian also taught Sunday school.  Made it to the 100 Club with Kirk Douglas.  Must've been all the peanuts.

Thoughts?

Happy Holidays to you and yours

 

Whatever you celebrate.

The Dummies Guide to the Middle East

 I'm not one of those knowledge off the top of my head type guys.  I'm more of a Captain Google tbh.  Wikipedia the Assad dynasty in Syria and you could easily go into the wee hours.  Get your brandy snifter.  Bashar al-Assad during his earlier life actually graduated medical school and then went to London to train to be an eye doctor but was recalled back to Syria after his older brother died in a car crash and he then became heir-apparent to the regime....military academy...Syrian occupation of Lebanon...Arab Spring...Syrian Civil War...war crimes...human rights violations...chemical weapons...the UN, Obama, Trump.  Turkey's Erdogan later became a kind of foe and worked behind the scenes...LOTS to go through.  Bashar al-Assad has now been ousted as we all know by rebel forces and the head of HTS an al-Qaida offshoot is practically running the new government.  Turkey is heavily involved and the new HTS-led Syrian government is trying to moderate its image.  Putin has granted al-Assad and his family political asylum in Moscow.  He may have brought a bag of gold coins with him.  He always wore nice suits and believed in climate change and even recognized the State of Israel in private.  Otherwise a brutal dictator.

There I've done my homework.  Trying to give this blog some heft.

I haven't read the Trump Bible

 

I've drifted away from reading.  Haven't read a book cover to cover in probably years.  I'm more into pipe smoking and pondering and a little yardwork from time to time.  Reading is mostly a sedentary activity.  You're not circulating the blood.  Helps your mind but maybe not your health.  If anything I'm a skimmer and a scanner.  I like the field guides and a few reference works.  Worked in a public library for a few years back in the day.  Books more important than food for some folk.  One guy checking out the latest spy novels said he doesn't care if Village Hall burns down but not the library.  Consider the tons of books in the library that just sit on the shelves gathering dust and never get read.  Do most authors need another source of income to get by?  Ever read a toothpaste tube?