Makes me want to find a pillow and some roofing supplies

The courts were designed to offer blind justice and when we see the rich or the political class get special treatment it reminds me of just why those groups got free haircuts from Madam Guillotine back during the Frog Revolution.

An Indianapolis City Councilman, Jeff Miller (R), was charged with child molestation. Somehow, he got a sweetheart deal to plead guilty to child battery. He got four years of probation. No registering on the sex offender list. The prosecutor and judge that agreed to this should be tarred and feathered.

The prisons and jails are filled with child molestors who would have leapt at this deal. they are normal trash and criminals.

Somehow, the guy who beat the scum to death that followed his teen daughter into the bathroom probably will end up with harsher sentence than Miller got.

Personally, because they enjoy public trust, I think politicos and cops should receive harsher sentencing.  We don't need hate crime legislation. We need "punish the politicians and cops who can't follow the law" legislation.

I can never come up with a title

I can never come up with a title. The post itself is hard enough these days. A creative, eye-catching title is almost impossible.

Once upon a time, writing the old blog was easy as apple pie. OK, making a quality apple pie is not easy. That analogy is lame, if common. How about as easy as making a Salisbury steak TV dinner? Still too much work? Perhaps as easy as your sister. Ba boomp. Look, a decade ago I could crank out a couple of hundred words in no time flat. Trust me.

Go ahead, read the long history over there on the right. See: lots of words. They may not all have been quality efforts, but there is significant quantity. Not all of the entries are garbage either.

Wait, I think I pulled somethin' patting myself on the back.

Where was I? Oh yeah, whining about writing a post.  Never mind.  The post is done. You read it just now.

Next up, staring at the blinking cursor for 13 minutes while I try in vain to come up with an attention-grabbing title.

Frankie says Relax

I woke up early again this morning...blah, blah...

While reading various news sites I ran across an article that claims Twitter is in a rage (surprise!) because singer Sam Smith had the temerity to say he doesn't like Michael Jackson music. Gasp! I'm sure he will be deemed a racist  before the "scandal" blows over for the next outrage.

What happened to diversity? Is one not allowed to have likes and dislikes anymore? Guess what Internet? I am not a big fan of Michael Jackson music either. And I'm just talking the music, I'm not even getting into the creep show that was Jackson's life in his last years.

There I said it.

Of course since I'm just a nobody with a little blog read by nine people and a cat, I will avoid the Internet of outrage. For his sake, I hope Mr. Smith doesn't accidentally let it be known that he likes his steak cooked medium well or that he does, indeed, prefer tightly whites to boxers. The outrage machine will melt servers spewing livid hate. Heaven help him if he ever muttered that on occasion Aretha Franklin was over the top or that her acting was subpar in The Blues Brothers.

Relax Internet, everything will be OK. we do not have to agree. Sure, if everyone accepted my guidance and that I represent truth and beauty and righteousness in all things we would be better off as humans. But the world would sure be a boring place.

I would just skip this one, were I you

I went to the doctor for my annual physical today. My blood pressure was a nice 114/60. My A1C was 6.8. I can stop taking one of my diabetes meds. I quit taking it a couple of weeks ago anyway. I think it was causing my craps. As long as I keep my daily numbers in check I don't have to take it anymore. My shingles are about dried up. Heart and lungs were great.  I am, surprisingly, in good shape. I am about 60 lbs down from where I was a decade ago. I weigh pretty much what I did when I graduated high school. Less than I did when I got married. I would like to drop another 5-6 pounds, but I am not worrying about it too much. if I keep walking and eating better, the weight will drop. I weigh consistently between 178 and 183. At 5'10" I am not at the "recommended weight" but the doctor is perfectly happy and I do not look fat. I look every bit of my age, but so it goes. I still looked 20 at 30, so things even out over time.

I've accomplished nothing

Chicago Cubs All-Star first baseman Anthony Rizzo collected his 1,000th career hit yesterday. The former Silver Slugger Award winner is, by most accounts, a very good ball player.

He only needs an additional  3,257 knocks to surpass Pete Rose as the all-time MLB hits leader. Chew on that.

Rose may be less-than-admirable as a human being, but there is little doubt he is in the conversation as not only the greatest living baseball player, but as one of the best ever. His exclusion from the Hall of Fame is wrong. When you consider some of the other unsavory characters that are enshrined (we are looking at you Ty Cobb), there is no reason the leader in hits, singles, at-bats, games played, and outs is not in Cooperstown.

One Rose stat that exemplifies his greatness is this: he played a record 3,562 games and garnered 4,256 hits.  Perhaps even more impressive is that he was selected as an All-Star at five different positions: 2nd, left field, right field, 3rd, and 1st base.

If you have read this collection of words for any length of time you know that I am not a Cincinnati Reds fanboy. I never liked Rose, but you cannot deny his greatness.

This whole thing is just an environmental straw man

Late to bed and early to rise does not make a man...happy. Yeah, no cute Poor Richard rhyme for you this morning. I woke from a most interesting dream to go pee and was unable to go back to sleep. I shouldn't have had watermelon as a late evening snack.

What?

It involved camels, a McDonalds, flintlock muskets, Penn and Teller, a battle in the desert, and the Lennon Sisters. You don't want the details. It made sense in the dream, not so much in the cold light of dawn.

We went to local chain for dinner last night. It was a lovely evening, so we sat outside. The food was great, the service good. The only flaw in the evening was a big sign on the door parroting the "world is plagued by discarded plastic straws" nonsense perpetuated by a nine year-old 's science fair project. I promptly asked for a straw out of spite. I'm not going into a multi-paragraph rant on how silly it is to single out straws as the environmental villain when our world is filled with one-time use plastics of far greater volume than a little extruded tube.* Do you know how much extra plastic is used in automobiles due to Obama's fuel milage standards? The wackos are probably coming after my Kuerig pods next. No, get that idea out of your head. Pretend I did not write it.

Hold on, I need to go down and trash another plastic K cup. I might just attempt to drink my coffee with a straw just for the satisfaction of making a liberal cry. Too bad I drink my coffee black or I would use a plastic spoon to stir it. I will then collect this waste in a plastic trash bag that I throw out in a plastic garbage bin beside the garage. I do not pay extra to recycle. But if I did, that too would go in a plastic bin. Do you liberal progressive digger Leveller environmental weenies not see the irony here?

You do know that most of the stuff you rinse out and separate into the recycling bin goes straight into the landfill anyway? Much of the rest is loaded into containers and shipped to China.** The fuel cost far outweighs the environmental savings of recycling. Oh, and very little can be actually recycled, so it is buried in China or just tossed into the Yangtze where it floats into the Pacific. Just pitching that bendy straw in the trash at home is far more likely to keep it out of a turtles' left nostril than trying to recycle it anyway.

Look it up. The truth is often an ugly thing.

If I had any talent I would adorn this blog with a "ribbon" fashioned from a plastic straw. It would be my own personal "resistance" movement symbol. Feel free to join.

There you go. I wanted to complain about getting up early and an unresolved dream. Instead you got me off on a tangent about feel good limousine liberalism. Thanks. [sarcasm].

Have a great Saturday.



* OK I guess I am. Oh, and did you see what I did there with the title? A real post title that actually fits the content? Sorta.

**especially if you live in California

Like a zombie

Ah yes, the feature that never dies. Friday music returns with a classic tune that just screams "summer". Too bad the kids are already heading back to school.  There are still a lot of great pool and beach days left before fall sets in. Of course I wouldn't know about summer days at the beach, unless a lake counts...and it doesn't...except one of the Great Ones...but I still wouldn't know, growing up in te middle of farm country, hours from Lake Michigan.

No,  Indiana Beach  doesn't count either. I couldn't afford to go there as a poor teen anyway, even if was not more than an hour from home.

I can see for miles

Two years ago this month I underwent cornea transplant surgeries for Fuchs Dystrophy.  I had my surgery done at Dr. Price's office.

Here is a documentary that describes what I had done. 

I can see well now. I had two transplants and three minor procedures on my left eye (the first did not take), and one on my right eye.  I suspect I will have to have some laser work to destroy scar tissue on the right eye sometime in the next year or so.

I thought you might find it interesting.

Dear President Trump

I sell stuff. Widgets. For months I have worked to gain business at a particular customer. They are an automotive supplier. I was finally given a chance to quote a single part number. The volume is over seven million pieces a year. This is big volume. This chunk of sales will move your humble author from the "underperforming" category to "you get to keep your job and here is a nice bonus" status.

Now, thanks to the latest round of tariffs, my sale is in serious jeopardy. My pricing is better than the incumbent, but certainly not 25% better. Oh, and it isn't like my Chinese crap was displacing American-made goods. The competitor is a European company with plants in the Czech Republic.

Anecdote is not data. Our trade imbalance with China is a problem. Chinese stealing of technology is a bigger problem. But it is naive to think those jobs are coming back to America. For many components, like my widgets, there is no capacity domestically. Opening a new factory will take a couple of years. Even longer time will be required to train new employees and ramp up production. You cannot make my widgets in a garage, it takes a lot of machinery and can only be competitive on a large scale. We are talking tolerances of microns here. If you don't know what a micron is look it up.

I have no doubt your efforts will help correct some of the trade imbalances. If past administrations had looked at America first we wouldn't be in this position. Fixing things is often painful. I also am aware my position is a NIMBY outlook. I just hope the trade war is done before the Jedi are called in, clones are deployed, and I lose my job.

Did anyone notice, Did anybody care?

It is after four in the afternoon, my time. Your clock very well may read differently. That's not my problem. Take it up with the Department of Transportation. I have better things to do than explain time zones.

I don't know --stuff. I have stuff to do. Work. Reading, maybe. Going to the grocery to get ingredients for supper. ..Just stuff. It is none of your business anyway.

I didn't post anything this morning. I shall claim I was too busy.

Again, I don't know -- stuff. Boy, you ask a lot of questions.

I do not need this kind of inquisition. Just forget it. I'm not going to post anything.

OK, I did.

But not because you were pressuring me.

After Midnight

Heavy storms rolled through just after 12 in the A-M. Constant thunder, strobe light-like lightning, wind, and heavy rain hammered the old homestead. Somehow rain lashed both the front door and back door simultaneously. The power went out intermittently at the height of the storm. There was my chance, the wife's CPAP was cutting in and out....I could have blamed it on the power company...

Oh, lighten up, Francis. It is a joke.

We have to regulate every aspect of people’s lives

Every Digger and Leveller Progressive-type believes they know better than you. Just ask them. No, don't. They will voluntarily tell you they know more and better than you in short order. They can't help themselves.

Recently, while debating criminalizing straws in Santa Barbara (after hearing expert testimony from a 9 year-old) a Guess-the-party City Councilman proclaimed

“Unfortunately, common sense is just not common. We have to regulate every aspect of people’s lives.”  source

Clearly, the people of Santa Barbara have no common sense or they would not have elected such a fascist jerk to office. Sadly, his attitude is prevalent in Democratic Party circles.

I long for the politician who says, "We have too many laws, nothing new needs to be regulated, outlawed,  controlled, managed, or governed". How about you encourage people to cut back on consuming one-time use plastics? Do we need a law for everything?

Monday Blues

Back to work. Not right at this moment, but Monday nonetheless. No more needs to be said about that.

No soapbox rants today. I avoided the news over the weekend, so the incessant politics that permeates everything was avoided. I watched a couple of old movies (Some Came Running, Risky Business) and read (The Ionian Mission by POB). Yesterday, I watched some baseball after I mowed the lawn. I dozed off during the later innings. I already reported on my Saturday

There, we are done with the boring. Oh wait, the weather was warm and sunny. Now we have detailed the mundane. That in no way means exciting content will follow.

Have a great day.

Blame the old white guy

I'm blogging with my feet propped on my desk, iPad on my belly this fine Saturday morning. The boy's dog has claimed the blog room/office recliner as his sleeping place. The boy had a long Friday shift and even longer one planned for today, so we are dog sitting. He doesn't want the pup to have to be shuttered in a small apartment for 12 hours at a time. At least here he can move about, finding sunny spots to doze. As a bonus the dog can run free in tne fenced backyard.

We are off to swim and hang poolside later, so the dog will be alone anyway, but he will have the whole house to roam instead of two small,rooms. I should reframe that thought. Some of us are going swimming. Some are going to just hang out --shingles. The medico says it is OK as long as everyone has had the chicken pox and my lesions remain covered. The Internet agrees. Everything is true on the Internet.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Odds for every NFL team

So here we are, early on a Friday morning. It looks like a gorgeous day is on tap.

Is there anything more boring and unwatchable than preseason football? Besides golf. Or bowling. Or the View. I admit I have never watched one millisecond of the View, but I can imagine.

We were inflicted with one of the worst waitresses I have had in a very long time last night. I don't know if she was new, having a bad night, or just incompetent. No, I did not completely stiff her on her tip. The 10% ($3) I left her was still probably too much. Her inability to turn tables, get orders right, or manage to get drink refills meant she worked for about $2 per hour last night. I know the table next to us was even more honked off than we were at her poor service.

We have entered a sad, sad world of stupidity when the CDC has to issue a warning that one should not wash out a condom and reuse it. I only hope these losers are recycling their own rubbers and not random old ones they found tossed out at the park down by the river.

Problem Solved

I stopped by WalMart yesterday evening. I grabbed the essentials - a case of Coke Zero, bread, a jar of popcorn, and a bag of plastic straws. The last in hopes I find a turtle. I'm gonna poke it in the nose with the straw.

Seriously, of all the plastic waste in the world, why straws? Little plastic tubes must be a fraction of nothing in the giant landfill we call Earth. How about getting rid of the plastic packaging that surrounds just about everything as an anti-theft measure these days? You can't cut it, tear it, pry it apart, or even bite it open. We bought a new toy for the granddaughter and by the time we got it open she was too old for it.

Why do the busybodies of the world feel compelled to force the rest of us to comply with their agenda? If you think straws are evil, don't use one. Hate plastic bags? Take your own germ and bacteria filled cloth ones to the store. Think your taxes are too low, pay more. Root for the Patriots and worship Tom Brady? Well, perhaps some notions should be outlawed.

Nope, fatties can't figure out a Big Mac is full of calories, so restaurants have to post it on the menu. Your kid complains about the tofu sandwich and baby carrots you sent to school in an environment-friendly hemp bag because little Billy has Cheetos and Twinkies in his PJ Masks lunch box? The nannies insist the school mandate that every kid MUST eat healthy and confiscate non-complying brown bags as necessary. Leave my kid alone. If you do not like the owners' Christian beliefs, don't eat at Chick-fil-A. There is no need to protest outside. Just do not eat there. That leaves more for me.

Mind your own dang business.

The sooner the world wakes up and makes me Executive Plenipotentiary, Supreme Mediator, Chief Justice of Common Sense, and Arbiter of Taste, the better off we will be.

On donuts and football

Suppose you started each work day with a short protest. You believe with all of your heart that everyone should get a free donut on Friday. What if, in the course of your protest, customers are visiting the plant where you are employed? Instead of workers diligently producing high-quality widgets, they see workers protesting? Would your employer have the right and obligation to tell you to knock it off, even if your quest for donuts is laudable? Even if a majority of Americans would agree that free donuts would be awesome and could we get bacon too?

I'm pretty sure your employer would have no issue with you protesting on your own time. It is doing it on company time that is the problem. You might counter that if you can carry out your campaign at home, no one besides the wife and kids, the dog, and a few neighbors will notice. At the factory you can proclaim your agenda to six hundred people who might then start their own protest.

Yes and don't do it on company time. Period EOD.

Scenario two: I show up at a cutomer's location to sell him widgets. Instead of business clothes I wear  a sweaty T-shirt, a faded cubs hat, and the grass-stained running shoes I last wore to mow the lawn. Would the boss have the right and obligation to tell me such behavior is unacceptable? Should he fire me?

Can the NFL tell players to protest on their own time? As owners of the business:  yes. It isn't about right or wrong. It certainly isn't about Constitutional Rights to speech. I don't have the right to tell my customers I am peddling semi-junk Chinese widgets, even if it might be true (it's not), and you have no "right" to argue for free delicious awesome donuts on company time.

Oh, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can complain to the owners of he NFL all he wants about not wanting protests on company time. It does make him a hypocrite when he has no issue with the fact that the NBA, you know, the employer who paid him millions, has had the same "You will respect the National Anthem" policy for decades. It just makes his editorializing reek of opportunism.

If the NFL owners are Ok with protest, fine. If not, equally fine. it is their business. The consumers will vote with their wallet and viewership if they agree or not.

I am all for justice. I long for a color-blind society. But sometimes, I just want to watch football. I do not think I'm an anomaly. That position does not make me a racist, nor does it mean I condone...well, anything. It means I want to watch football without interference from a political agenda. No more, no less.

Reason 236 you wish you were me

That explains my bad attitude, irritability, and the pain in my back and side. I broke down and went to the doctor today. I didn't need to go, since I did, after all, stay in a Holiday Inn Express last week. When the rash appeared Sunday I knew what I had. Shingles. Freaking shingles. Confirmed. While I can diagnose, I cannot prescribe. Thats why i went to tne doctor. I'm off for yet more meds to add to my daily pile.

Hooray for me.

It has finally happened

It has been opined that if you put a herd of monkeys in front of an equal number of typewriters eventually coherent words will emerge. Finally, the theory has been proven on a national stage.

USAToday has an editorial from some guy at The Cato Institute and Harvard arguing we should get rid of borders and offer unfettered immigration. I won't link to it because I'm lazy and I don't want to be the Typhoid Mary of crazy ideas.

Honestly, the author argues that we can eliminate illegal immigration by making ALL immigration legal. Well, duh. If we get rid of prohibitions on driving while intoxicated our drunk driving convictions will be zero. 

As near as I can tell, the basic argument is we would save billions by not having to enforce laws or building walls. Indeed, this guy posits that immigrants will be more likely to leave since they didn't have to work so hard to get here. 

No, this is not satire from The Onion.

In total ignorance of the immutable law of supply and demand the editorial writer says more immigrants will raise wages for everyone. He is convinced only the best and brightest will come. He cites the "success" of the mass influx of immigrants to Europe as proof. Seriously.

Don't worry, this turnip brain tells us, if too much largess from the government coffers goes to this influx of folks, we can just vote those benefits away. Yes, history shows that people often vote themselves less money taken from others.  That last sentence was intended to be written in sarcasm font. 

I'm not surprised this crazy thought is coming out of The Cato Institute. Those people gave us the basic outline of ObamaCare. If this is the quality of economic theory offered at Harvard, then I would send my kid to a different Ivy League institution. Better yet, I would look for a small college somewhere out in flyover country. Better still, I would place my kid in front of Milton Friedman videos on YouTube.  

OK, Here is proof of the stupidity. I honestly feel just a little dumber just by reading such tripe. 

Self inspection

I'm late getting to the old blog today. Did anyone notice? Does anyone care?

These inquiries would be more pertinent if I had anything worthwhile to write. Oh, I could navigate through the normal topics: weather, health, weekend activities. I could opine on he politics of the day. I could expound on any number of topics. I don't feel like it.

There you have it. Should things change, this space, or one very much like it, will be filled with letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs. Stay vigilant. Or not. This is a free choice blog.

Two Deaths and a Funeral

I have this little water feature out by the patio. It is an old-fashioned hand pump running water into a "barrel" that sits on top of yet another barrel. Water drains in a stream from the "pump" into the smaller top barrel which overflows into the larger bottom barrel. Water is then pumped up to the top. Loop and repeat. Over time water evaporates and I have to add water. Sometimes the little electric pump gets choked with debris so I have to reach in and clear it. 

Fast forward to Thursday evening. I get home around 8:30 or 9:00 pm after spending the week at corporate HQ. I go out to check the fountain. It is nearly dark. The water is low. Very low. I look again and notice something floating in the water. 

It is a dead bird. 

I almost gagged on the ham sammich I was chewing. I bagged the bird and trashed it. I am going to have to clean out the fountain this weekend.

Throwing on my imaginary Sherlock Holmes hat -- it is way too hot to slip on a Columbo overcoat -- I think I have arrived at the 3% solution. Over the hot summer the fountain gets mossy and green algae slimy. Last weekend I disassembled and cleaned it. I read on the Internet ( everything is true on the Internet) that adding hydrogen peroxide to the water will keep the system clean. Perhaps a whole bottle was too much? An alternative was the bird got in there to splash, got trapped under the smaller bucket and drowned. Theory number three is the bird just died and fell into the big bucket. 

Yesterday found the wife and I on the road to attend a funeral. There were a lot of people there. It is always hard to lose a friend, a lesson I learned way back in high school. It was reassuring to see the love and respect from his community, co-workers, friends, and family. I'm not sure where on the hierarchy I fit. I have known him for almost forty years, talk every few months, meet occasionally. I can't say I was an intimate daily golfing buddy friend. Still, he was important to me and I like to think I was to him. He was a fraternity brother, a pledge brother, roommate. We stood in each other's weddings. He's gone. The funeral was for me and others who loved him.

On the long drive down empty I-69 through the hills of southern Indiana I had flashbacks of the opening scenes of the over-rated Big Chill playing in my mind.

Ah, so it goes.

With that, I know he is in heaven grinning over a beer and telling me "damn straight, Joe".

2010 redux

Here is a link to an old post I do not remember writing.  Click here if you love me

A little polish and it wouldn't be half bad

Please, please me

Dear Democrats,

Go ahead, run on abolishing ICE, raising taxes, and gun control.  Please.

Anything you can do...

I am ready to win the day. I spent he night in a Holiday Inn Express and now I am going to kick butt. What should I do? A little surgery? Nothing too critical like slicing into a brain or heart. Perhaps I shall excise a few warts, cut out an ingrown tonail, repair a hernia, splint a fractured tibia.

I just might do the lawyer thing. I could Clarence Darrow up a modern Scopes Trial, cast doubt on the guilt of OJ, prosecute the Manson Gang, mark up a one-sided contract.

I could be a politician. That is an easy gig, if you don't mind grubbing for money and selling your soul. Or being a self-centered egotistical dickwad lying hypocrite puppet whore willing to felate the nearest lobbyist after the local chicken dinner.

No, not even the Holiday Inn will let me sink that low.

Changing lanes on the Tri-State

Ah, Monday. It looks like it will be a great week, weather-wise. In all other aspects not so much. I'm off to the corporate HQ this morning. I'm not sure why I'm going, but the boss says "You Shall" and I does. So I will pack up my working files and my laptop, and other stuff and sit at a desk in the corporate office and do exactly what I do in my home office. And the next time I get the lecture about watching my expenses I will sit and seethe and bite my tongue to keep from mentioning the cost for me to sit at the corporate office and do the same work I do remotely. When I said I wanted to get out on the road more this wasn't what I meant. I guess I will have to wear shoes at work this week.

But I complain too much and you don't care.

Posting may be light, or not, depending on if my crappy iPad can connect to the hotel interwebz. I don't blog from the company 'puter.

Have a great Monday. I made other plans.

Oh, I read two years of archived crap looking for a particular post I want to rerun. To quote U2: i still haven't found what I'm looking for. I will admit I do not write with the same élan as I did a decade ago. Perhaps the same verbosity, but not with the intensity or sense of purpose. It is clear my blogging is more a habit and less a platform than in previous times. I'm sorry.

I did run across a short piece of fiction about a snot-nosed kid  I thought was pretty good. I had no memory of writing it. I may put it up again. Of course I did not bookmark it, so who knows if I can find it.

Housekeeping

I did some editing of the blog roll. If I axed you by mistake let me know. If you want added tell me also.

It hurt to erase some old blog buddies. The bottom line is if you have not posted in a few years or if the blog is removed then I need to quit hoping you will be back.

Again, if I mistakenly cut you please tell me in the comments.

Life holes

I did not sleep well last night. There is nothing new in that. For once, I know why. I received a call last evening that one of my very good friends has passed away. He was my college roommate for four years. We didn't see each other or talk as often as we should have, life sometimes gets in the way. I used to see him several times a year back when I travelled to Evansville on a regular basis. We still talked every few months.

I have been searching in vain for an old post about the day we met at college. I have sure written a lot of stuff. If I find it I'll post it as a rerun.

As I grow older this stuff is gonna happen more frequently, but it still sucks.

That dude and I packed a shitload of fun into four years.

Damnit, my eyes are watering.

leaping for man

hint: 49

Here are some additional musical hints:

Baling hay at the ant farm

Friday is here. The weather quacks predicted rain over night and I am not surprised to wake to a perfectly dry lawn. Now they say the wet weather will be here this afternoon. We need the rain.

As to other news, I have nothing to report. My neighbor has their house for sale. I hate to see it, they are good people. Unfortunately he got a new gig in Illinois. They are asking a lot for their house. I hope they get it. That is good for all of us in the neighborhood. I have no intention of selling my house, but increased property value is a good thing. At least until the Digger wing of the Democrat party outlaws private property.

As far as I know, we have no plans for the weekend. It is supposed to be a rainout, so I guess I will get to some neglected household chores. I have no doubt the boss has a long list of stuff in mind.

There you have it, a big old Friday nothingburger post. Aren't you glad you stopped by?

This is a mountain. This is a molehill. See the difference?

I could fill this white space with a litany of complaints. I won't. Breathe easy. We are in the summer blogging doldrums. My meager readership is down. Blogging activity from others is more sporadic. Those items are reported as facts, not statements of grievance.

The weather is warm, but humidity levels have dropped. In fact, it was only in the upper 50s when I woke up this morning. Much needed rain is expected to move in tomorrow and hang around for the weekend.

The Levellers and Diggers in the press are continuing to offer completely over-the-top Trump hysteria. A joint press conference with Putin is compared to Pearl Harbor because Trump failed to be critical of Russia? That is so much pure hyperbole I can't even countenance the ignorance involved. I know the sneak attack that launched us into WWII was more than 75 years ago, but even a graduate of 6th grade US history should be able to make the mountain and molehill comparison.

Another pundit labeled the meeting as treason. Really? Did Trump give away state secrets a la media darling Chelsea Manning? Did he tell Putin he could be more flexible after the election? Did he offer state secrets to the commie bastards if they would help defeat Reagan? Did Trump give away nuclear secrets like the Rosenburgs? Did the Great Orange One toss the gate keys to our fortresses in the manner of Benedict Arnold? Did he let Americans die in Libya and then pawn off the failure by blaming a video no one had watched? Did he allow a big donor to sell secret missile technology to the ChiComs?  Must I go on?

One idiot, in complete Constitutional ignorance said Trump and Pence should be impeached and Hillary could then clean up the mess. That is not even remotely how this works you blithering fool.

I've said it before, I was never a huge Trump fan. The more the Levellers and Diggers go hysterical in their criticism the more I move into his corner. The election is over. You lost.

A crappy post

Nothing new to report. I was up most of the night--intestinal issues. I shall eschew the details. Was it bad Mexican? Alas, it was most likely my meds. I've been down this road before; they work well for a couple of years then the side effects outweigh their usefulness. My issues have gone from occasionally to once a month to weekly. Now I have to discover which of my daily pills (or weekly shot) is the culprit.

What was up with that Trump presser yesterday? His sucking up to that commie bastard was worse even than Obama bowing to the Saudis. I get there is no point in antagonizing Putin. Russia is going to feign innocence, whether they are guilty or not. Trump didn't have to say he believed him though.

On a side note, how can Mueller claim the DNC servers were hacked by Russia when there is no evidence? Law enforcement has not accessed the servers. The prosecutors are taking the word of an outside firm. Billy's house was robbed. Dave thinks Joe did it. Billy won't let the cops examine his house. Would Joe be indicted based on speculation? I only play a guy pretending he is a lawyer after staying at a Holiday Inn Express, but come on, man. Your average per-law student could rip that apart in moot court. Yet somehow the geniuses at The New York WaPo Times and the alphabet networks see the indictments and utter a Jan Brady-like Russia, Russia, Russia.

But resist.

I think there is enough crap for everybody to be tired of it.

Mundane Monday or good old number 6087

On occasion I go back and read some of my archives in a narcissistic binge. Sometimes it is to find something for a rerun, sometimes to indulge in a soporific. I have written a lot of words here.

One thing is clear, I often write with what can only be described as a Peter Strzok-type smirk. I'm sorry for that. My natural disposition is that of a sarcastic smarty pants. I guess regular readers don't mind my dry humor; you keep coming back despite my fat fingers typing "tne" instead of "the" on a regular basis and a plethora of punctuation and spelling errors.

It may very well be my incredibly insightful and accurate political analysis that brings you here. Perhaps it is my often riveting accounts of my daily life. You want to live vicariously through me. 

No?

I hope to do some long-overdue maintenance around here in the coming weeks. I need to weed out the old blog roll. If you haven't posted in three or four years you probably are not about to start blogging again, despite my wishes otherwise. I need to add some folks to the roll, especially Slugmomma who sends a boatload of readers over here. Please accept a belated thanks for your support. 

Gracias and merci to you all. 

More. Long-time reader and all around good guy Hey Teacher will be in downtown Chicago next week. Does anyone have some recommendations for grub?

Please Joe, tell me more

I started on the last book of the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell Friday evening. That is number 20, if you are counting. According to my blog archives, I started re-reading the series around May 29. That means I am knocking off a book about every 3 days or so. In my spare time. In my youth I probably could have read all 20 books easily in less than 25 days. I was a loser middle school kid then with nothing better to do than read and fondle myself. Things didn't get much better in high school.

It was easier to read in those days. I only needed 3-4 hours of sleep. There was nothing on tv. There were no video games. I could read two Louis L'Amour westerns in a day, if I worked at it. I can't sit and do marathon readings like that any more. You may read faster. Hah, those 20 books are without a doubt more books than my wife has read in 40 years, combined. By a factor of 20. That's just one more thing we do not have in common.

Anyway, to celebrate my almost done with the books moment, I watched Waterloo yesterday. If you can't find a copy come on over and watch it with me next week. You bring the beer and steaks. I will provide the popcorn. Just kidding. You could send me a box of Omaha steaks and I'll loan you my movie though. You will also have to give your first born and the title to your truck or car as collateral. That movie is rare and hard to find. Unless you go to Amazon. It is easy to find it there. But it is not a cheap DVD, you won't find it in the $5 bin at WalMart.

I think I'll start in on the Patrick O'Brien stuff again next. It has been a few years, so why not?

Edit. True confession this was a canned post. Freshly canned, mind you. I was in a chatty mood yesterday, but saw no need to throw up tree posts on a Saturday. OK, the picture was canned some three weeks ago, still I'm sure you get my point. Anyway, I did not watch Waterloo. I took down tne DVD to view it on the big TV. Instead I discovered a very good mini series on Napoleon * from about a decade ago that I had never seen. As near as I can tell, the costumes and facts are pretty accurate. The battle scenes are pretty meh.  The actor playing Bonaparte  is too old, though. Lest we forget, Napoleon was in his twenties when he conquered Italy as a general and was only in his thirties when he tamed all of Europe. He was just 46 at Waterloo. Take that Zuckerburg, you slacker.

*sorry, my crappy first generation iPad won't connect and link to imdb.

I know, let's let everyone out of prison

Today marks Bastille Day in France. For me it serves not as a reminder of independence, but as a warning of what happens when progressives get in charge. Getting rid of a king was a good thing, mind you, but the excesses and freedom-destroying ways of the leftists always ends in disaster. Things started with freeing criminals in France and moved on to outlawing churches right to chopping off the heads of people who failed to toe the line. Then they gave us a the metric system. Finally, the end result, as always, was a dictator.

Lest we think this progression an anomaly, see Russia, China, Cuba, Cambodia, and Venezuela.

From now on I will refer to lefty / progressive types as Levellers or Diggers* here at the old blog. At my semi-advanced age I still learn new stuff. Imagine my surprise when studying a bit on the English Civil Wars to run across a bunch of Marxists before Marx existed. At least the levellers admitted the goal was everyone would be leveled off, not a pipe dream that everyone would be raised to wealth.

The Leveller-types in Revolutionary France ended dressing like beggars so that they did not pretend to be better than the lowest of society. Imagine, the leaders of various Committees sitting around in filthy rags in the name of equality. Form over substance and hypocrisy are the hallmarks of Diggers. Even modern ones like millionaire Bernie Sanders.

*BTW the diggers were squatting on someone else's land. Note the Leveller-leanings in the article. Do a little research on your own to learn more. It doesn't cost nothin' to surf the interwebz. I can't do all the heavy lifting.

Saturday Snapshots

Hawaii 2014

Tripto...whatever

It is Friday the Thirteenth. I'm not superstitious about this day. In fact, I am tempted to prop up my ladder and jog a few circles around and under it. I won't because the neighbors would think me insane and, well, there is no point in tempting fate. But really, I'm not superstitious.

Weekly Recap

I spent a bit of time on the road this week. I cut a zigzag swath across the Buckeye state from the southwest corner to the northeast corner and back in a US 30 straight line to the safe and comforting arms of the Hoosier heartland. Alas, no beers with Cappy or the MIA EOB since I stayed as far from metro Cleveland as possible. I wooshed into Wooster.

I have no interesting tales from the road to offer. There was no egregious driving, no interesting wayside attractions; unless you countenance the Smuckers Farm Store in Orrville. I did a quick drive-by, never exiting the car. I did not have time for a football side trip to Canton.

I spent a good portion of the drives listening to the Revolutions Podcast.

And there you have it, a quick summary of my week so far.

Riveting, ain't it?

Historical Beauty

George Romney  Wikipedia

Lady Hamilton (1765 - 1815) was married to Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to Naples. She was the favorite model for artist George Romney. Mostly, she is remembered as the mistress of Lord Horatio Nelson, Hero of the Nile and Trafalgar.

She was known as a raving beauty in her day, and she is absolutely gorgeous by today's standards as well.

I joyfully drank from a plastic straw

I need some time off to recover from my weekend. Sheesh.

Friday we met some old friends for dinner. We went to our other friends' house to hang by the pool and play cards on Saturday. Yesterday we did yard work. The wife worked me like a slave driver to make up for the work we didn't do Saturday. I partially rebuilt a walkway through the fence. That involved moving pavers and hacking out roots that were lifting the stones.  I tore out six shrubs around the patio. We weeded the garden patch and trimmed trees and weeded flower beds. The wife would have kept working, but I waved a sweaty white flag and begged for mercy.

Other than that, we did nothing of interest all weekend.

Saturday Snapshot

Cozumel 2015

Not so passing thought

I am reminded, yet again, That I have nothing to complain about.

TMI, boring stuff, wrap up. No weather report

I was up a good portion of the night sick. Was it the fish I ate for supper? I think not, there was no attendant stomach cramping. More likely it was my semi-regular bout of metformin's revenge. That medicine, while effective, has caused repeated bouts of diarrhea for years. I don't know why it has to strike late at night. Switching to the slow release version has helped. When I took the regular stuff I was struck repeatedly -- at least once a week. Tales of unfortunate attacks were often related in these pages. I am probably banned for life from the Dairy Queen in Brillion, WI. I will not go into detail about my intestinal issues this morning. Suffice it to say I'm tired.

Between trips to the downstairs bathroom I watched a couple of cooking shows, some classic Rat Patrol, Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, and Flipper. I watched those half hour dramas as a kid. Rat Patrol and Flipper were in black and white at my house. Color TV was for the rich kids.

Here we are on Friday. Already. After thinking it through, I could get used to four day work weeks. Well, to be honest, I could get used to a different job. Then I wouldn't mind a five day week. Anyone hiring?

We have no big plans that I'm aware of for the weekend. One of the shelves in the wife's closet has pulled out from the wall, so a repair job is in order. I'm certain she will ignore my admonition that she has too many clothes.

Have a good Friday, I need to grab more coffee.

Easy strawberry dessert

It seems like Monday all over again. That is why mid-week holidays suck.

On the other hand, it is like two very short weeks with an extra Saturday thrown in.

On the other hand, I only have two hands so there is no third point of view.

That's all. I have nothing else today. Oh I am chock full of opinion, anecdotes, and nonsense. I'm just too lazy and tired to put in the effort.

Save those tears for something really important.

When in the Course of Human Events

...we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor

Tawdry Tuesday

Greetings Internet Warriors, friends, readers, and social media gadflies. I have little to report on this Tuesday morning.

It is hot. It is probably hot at your house too. It is summer after all. Six months from now I will likely report that it seasonably cold.

There is a threat of rain today, heat and humidity often bring on afternoon showers. I mowed the lawn yesterday evening in anticipation.

I'm trying to coast through the day to get to the holiday. We are going to a 4th of July party tomorrow: food, fun, and fireworks are on tap. I suppose I might force myself to drink a beer and smoke a nice stogie. I'll do it for America.

I'm warning you now tomorrow's effort will be a canned post. No fresh content on a mid-week holiday. I'm not sure if I will toss up a patriotic post, a musical interlude you will ignore, or a rerun. "Other" might fill the bill. What do you think? Do you care? Will you even stop by?

So many questions, so few answers.

That is on you, you know. The answers part.

Have a great day.

Apparently, hypocrisy is an actual political philosophy

Pundits, in a total panic, have argued in recent days that Trump should not appoint a conservative or orginalist judge to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Kennedy. HUH? These are supposedly intelligent people. They maintain "the balance of the court" must be maintained.

My belly hurts from laughing. First, would any of these hand-wringing journalists and politicians have argued at all that had Hillary won she should nominate a conservative to replace Scalia in order to maintain "the balance of the court"? None of these same people were lambasting Obama when he nominated Garland to replace Scalia. Why wasn't the same so-called precedent in place for the last President?

What a joke.

I will quote the President when I remind you that elections have consequences. Oh, and that president was Obama.

Second, let us imagine for a mere moment the confirmation hearings if we were to adhere to the imaginary "maintain the balance of the court" principle that never existed before leftists began to lose elections. Where do you find a so-called moderate candidate that is all over the place on his opinions?

"Yeah, Mr. Senator, I will opine according to whim. I promise to vote half the time with the leftist "The Constitution is a living document" faction and the other half of the time with "The Constitution says what it says" wing. My opinions will be crafted to placate whomever was most angry with me after the last decision".

Sheesh. Are people really that moronic to argue for that?

Finally, the appointment of right-leaning judges does not mean the nation will revert back to slavery, concentration camps, or 1984-type total government control. First, those programs are the constructs of the Democrats. What? who supported slavery and the KKK? Who appointed the Justices in the Dred Scott decision? Democrats. Who interned Japanese into concentration camps? Right, FDR and the Democrats. Which party is increasingly far left? Bingo again.  So a more conservative court is not likely to move us towards leftist political philosophies like fascism or Nazism.

Finally, righties and lefties alike need to be prepared. SCOTUS is not likely to get rid of abortions. There may be some limits imposed, but abortion is just like guns; a losing proposition for the party that bans them. The best way to lose elections for 20 years would be to get rid of the second amendment or to outright ban abortion. 

I would love to go on the Sunday news shows when one of these so-called political experts are offering the "maintain the balance of the court" argument. My rebuttal would be short and sweet:

"Are you on drugs or just stupid?".

Saturday Snapshot

Caribbean Sunset 2013

does anybody enjoy this weekly feature?

All is well

My mother has an abdominal aortic aneurism. She had a stent installed a few years ago in a life-saving emergency operation. It was discovered recently that the aneurism had grown and the old stent had slipped. A new operation was in order.

She spent 7-1/2 hours under the knife yesterday. Stents were added to her renal arteries as well. There were a couple of complications, none life threatening. The details are not important in this forum. She is doing fine and I appreciate your prayers.

In the meantime it is supposed to be hot this weekend. I slipped off and grabbed some donuts this morning. Tomorrow is. my anniversary.  There, I crammed as many random facts into one paragraph as I could this morning.

I hope you have a great Friday.

Diversionary tactics

I'm off doing other stuff today, like worrying about my Momma who is having serious surgery.

In the meantime, here is a musical interlude for those of you not familiar with the jaunty tune I referenced in yesterday's post:

Yes, not politically correct, but historically accurate. I am pretty sure the Librarians will purge this recording from their libraries like they have Laura Ingalls Wilder. You may file your complaints with the proper authorities.

I also like this version ( I have this CD):

Lemme save you time and energy

Merrick Garland, Merrick Garland

Screech screech

Repeat

There Lefties, I have you covered.

Edit  More to the point, this is why, if you are a conservative you don't vote for the liberal party. It is also why George Will became dead to me. True intellectuals don't fall prey to hissy fit emotional crying jags when they don't get their way.

This, (Supreme Court vacancies) is reason número uno that I cast my vote against Hillary and for the Trumpster. .

Mundane mid-week musings

I turned on the Cubs radio broadcast when I went to bed last night. I heard the start of the fifth inning, but fell asleep before the Northsiders started their big rally. I saw that the good guys won when I woke up.

That brings us to the next topic.

I woke a little after four this morning. It started with a need to pee. I returned to bed and after tossing and turning a while I gave up and rolled put of bed for the day. I peeled and ate a mandarin orange while the Kuerig did its magic. I suspect I will fight dozing off this afternoon.

The boy moved into his new apartment Sunday. I hate to see him go. He is an adult and needs his own place. Still, I don't mind him being here, even if he does drink all of my beer. He still has some stuff here. He is taking it in batches after his work. It's not like we won't see him, he works about a mile from the house and he can do laundry free here. He has to pay at the apartment laundry. 

It's been quiet around here. My daughter is off for a couple of weeks for summer break, so my granddaughter has not been coming over every day. When she was staying with us last week she cracked me up. It came time for the bedtime ritual of a couple of stories and a song. She always wants my wife to read and sing, but wanted me to do it one night. I read a couple of books and tucked her into bed. I sang a couple of refrains from one of my own kids' favorite bedtime songs: For What it is Worth. She did not like that one, so I started in with the opening refrain of Marching Through Georgia. She interrupted me again. "Those are not sleep songs, those are wake up songs. You can't sing anymore, get Grandma.". I got a Trumpian "Your Fired" from a three year old.

I need more coffee. You should check back often, I may have more to say that you won't want to miss. Probably not, but you never know...

Have a great day.

I see stupid people

A moron dropped a gun from his pocket at an Indy area IKEA yesterday. A couple of kids found the gat and launched a shot into the store. No one was hurt.

A few weeks ago a kid found a gun in the restroom of  a fast food restaurant. The owner of that gun was stupid too.

Both incidents were accidents.

There can be no firearms accidents.

Both should forfeit their right to bear arms. They have proven they are irresponsible and untrustworthy.

You will not find a bigger Second Amendment guy than me. When a person demonstrates his inability to handle those rights he or she should lose them for the public good. We don't allow felons to possess firearms because they have proven they are untrustworthy, and people who are careless with their guns should be punished too.

We take the keys from drunk drivers and we should start taking the Glock from idiot owners.

Yeah, I know slippery slope and all. I hate the term "common sense legislation". Common sense says stupid owners should lose the ability to endanger the public.

As always your rebuttal is welcome.

All you need to know

I was in the pissiest of moods yesterday and my foul humor is only marginally improved today.

I don't know why and I don't really give a flying fig.

Bernard, When I see what you have done, it makes me sick

My daughter bought me an old fashioned coffee percolator for Father's Day. It is great for the weekend when I want multiple cups of coffee. Three or four mugs from the Keurig gets expensive. I could drag out my drip coffee maker, but the percolator is nostalgic. It also makes a better cup of jamoke than the Mr. Coffee, I don't care what Joe DiMaggio claimed.

We went to downtown Indy to meet up with some friends last night. We at some good BBQ. It was busy in the city. Lots of people were walking and taking pictures on the circle. Everyone came back north to our humble house to play cards and eat snacks after. Ho hum.

I'm not sure I follow the logic. Lefties say you have to bake a cake or make flower arrangements because you can't discriminate on what people think, but a restaurant is cheered for refusing to serve Trump's press secretary. As the man says, lefties are not going to like the new rules. Remember when the filthy hippies were making movies and writing songs about how they couldn't get served and it was so wrong? I guess we are seeing the mean side of the leftist lifestyle. You can see how progressiveism always ends in the gulag.

Saturday Snapshot

Waikiki Sunset (2014)

I deign to disdain

Friday at last.  My Granddaughter's "week at the grandparents" will be over as soon as she wakes up. We had a great week.

Apparently they are playing a big soccer tournament. I don't care at all. No 'Merican Team is playing. I wouldn't watch even if there was. I am sure there is fresh paint somewhere calling for me to watch it dry. A guy once told me enthusiastically about a "football" game he saw. As near as I can tell the players chased each other for two hours. No points were scored. There was no overtime. Then he told me baseball was boring. I know this, the toy game that is closest to soccer is foosball, and it is far more action-packed.

On the news they said the Peanuts character Pig Pen was playing in the soccer game. I guess there was a translation error, they kept referring to "Messy". I wasn't really paying attention.  And I cannot emphasize this enough -- I don't care. And I started not one, but two sentences in a row with a conjunction. "But Joe, you say... Or is it four!  Score! That's more points than you will see in any three soccer games.

I bet the seventeen year-old next door has scored more in the past year than either team that played yesterday. Ba-boomp. I could do this all day.

There is a reason the Harry Potter characters play the made-up game of quiddich instead of soccer. The author didn't want everyone falling asleep in the middle of her books.

I suspect the yuppie metrosexuals walking around in their soccer jerseys couldn't name five players from their "favorite" team. At least the colors match their shoes. Question -- is there a Fake Madrid? 

Have a great, soccer free weekend. As always, should you disagree with my viewpoint, you may do so in the comments. You will still be wrong, but go ahead anyway. 

Missing you missing me

I'm back from a quick trip to the environs of the Motor City.  I had a good introductory visit with a prospective customer. I zoomed past the HQ of my former employer with a sense of nostalgia. I was sold along with the division I worked for. I worked with a great group of guys there. I last worked for that employer more than  20 years ago. Wow, that makes me feel old.

I have no entertaining travel stories for you. There was no egregious driving, the hotel was as expected, dinner was uneventful. I did forget to take my meds with me and I failed to pack an umbrella. The latter failure did not matter since it ceased raining as I pulled into the customer's parking lot. I hope I did not waste my limited share of good luck on a dry shirt.

blast from the past

Reruns are so blase. Click links instead. You asked. I deliver.

Click the links below.

I said do it.

Kittens and baby chipmunks will cry if you don't click the links. The unicorn disappeared because people like you refused to click links.

All the cool kids are clicking the links.

see here

and this one

From way back in the halcyon days of blogging -- 2008

OK, how about this; I had to go through almost four years of archives to find this crap, you can at least read it.

Getting Pithy

Monday. Woke up early yet again. I am watching sunrise through the hanging leaves of the big willow, leaning back in my chair, feet propped on my desk.  The coffee is good. The boy's dog snores gently in my recliner here in the office. The radio plays quietly on my Echo Dot.

It is going to be a hot one again today. It is summer. The weather does this every year. I'm on vacation today. We are taking my granddaughter to the zoo. I imagine we will see a lot of empty enclosures as the animals look out from their beds and wonder why the stupid humans are out walking around in the sun and heat.

Have a great day.

June 17

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there

Saturday Snapshot

Jinshan Jiangtian Temple
Zhenjiang, China (2017)

The Breeze in the Boxwoods

Red licorice and coffee is really the breakfast of champions; I don't care what that wheat flake cereal company claims. I also don't care what the doctor-types say. Those same folks used to think horse dung poultices were just the thing for cuts and bleeding cured...pretty much everything I have no doubt scientists in the next centuries will scratch their butt-shaped heads and wonder why no one could grasp the obvious benefits of Red Vines, Twizzlers, and a hot cuppa joe.

The heck with that Garp guy too. Pay attention to the World According to Joe and you will be happy, content, and most importantly, right. Lots of people think so. I see rubber bracelets with "WWJD" on them all of the time. I am pretty sure that stands for What Would Joe Do? I can only conclude that slogan is a reminder to the wearer to consider how I would think and behave accordingly.

What?

Oh. Never mind.

At least my T-shirt and undies line is still going strong. *

The rains earlier in the week have made everything lush and green. It also made the grass grow. With temperatures forecasted to hit the mid-nineties with high humidity over the weekend I think I will try to get the grass cut at lunch or this evening.

The granddaughter is coming to stay with us for a few days, so I took a vacation day for Monday. We will try to find something fun to do.

I've been tearing through my collection of the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. I have been knocking off a book about every other day. My reading time has reduced my Internet browsing and that is probably a good thing. Summer reruns are on the TV, so I read a little in the morning and a lot in the evening.

That is enough of my rambling. Have a great weekend.


* only the oldest of long-time readers know about my clothing line.

More. The title is always the last thing I throw up on a post because titles are hard. It is probably a good thing my application to caption pictures at National Geographic was rejected after college graduation. I would have really sucked at it. Anyway, it seems my first choice as title for this post "The Wind in the Willows" was taken. I don't know, I think it has something to do with frogs or toads and badgers and boats or something. I have a giant willow in my backyard and all I see near it is a random squirrel taunting the boy's dog. I've never seen a singing hedgehog crooning beneath the swaying branches.

Boring.

Not like my genius writing.

And the Prius you rode in on

I have been tepid in my support of President Trump. I will readily admit my vote was decidedly against Hilary Clinton rather than an affirmation of the Trumpster. Nearly halfway into his term I must admit I have been pleasantly surprised. Not only has he done the one thing I really hoped for in appointing an originalist to the Supreme Court, Trump has for the most part pursued a pretty conservative agenda. He has cut taxes, boosted the economy and attempted to enforce immigration laws.  In other words, check, check, and check. The Never Trumnpers were just as wrong as wrong can be. That tepid support is rapidly heating.

I wish the President would lose his twitter password, but in fairness, it does allow him to get his message out in a way that infuriates, confuses, and confounds his political enemies and the press (but I repeat myself).

Which leads me to the point of this post. The unrelenting assault of the left and the press has steadily shored up my faith in the President. I like him more every day. I see the unhinged hatred of the left and reflect that Fuzzy Curmudgeon was exactly right when he predicted that those reactions would just get us more Trump.

When you actively hope for an economic collapse (Bill Maher) or that the NOKs will start a war, then it has gone beyond politics into actual derangement.

Reasonable people can disagree. Hoping a particular agenda does not pass or succeed is one thing. Wishing misery and hardship on fellow Americans is quite another.

Shouting "F-Trump" may make you feel good. What many of us, roughly half of the country, hear is F-you to us. When Progressives describe half the country as ignorant racist mouth breathing hicks that are not deserving of their 1st Amendment Rights or 2nd Amendment Rights because we don't agree with you and thus should shut up and listen to our betters, it affirms we voted the right way after all.

I need a title that won't drive me crazy

It is a gorgeous day. It is slated to be in the eighties with mild humidity. The coffee is hot and delicious. I'm alive. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways.

Wherein I go all Chatty Cathy

Because everything Trump does is wrong and evil and probably raciiiist according to the media, we are told the "deal" with the NOKs was really no deal at all. Kim won't get rid of his nukes. We got nothing in return, the talking heads tell us. They may be right, but at least we didn't send a literal plane load of cash to pay for a bad deal. That was Obama-style negotiating. As a professional negotiator I can attest giving nothing to get little in return is a much better deal than giving billions for little in return.

With Kim, Trump demonstrated the art of he deal. With Iran, Obama gave us the fart of the deal-- it stunk.

But resistance.

I know, no criticism of The Obama shall be permitted. I suspect before I die an obelisk will be erected on the National Mall honoring the great and powerful Barack that dwarfs that puny spire dedicated to the evil slaver and racist bastard war-monger Washington.

Did you catch The Trumpster's bombshell at the G7 summit? He said he would drop all tariffs if the other members would agree to scrap theirs. Crickets. Apparently tariffs are only bad when the world's largest economy uses them. *

The boy is moving out next week. He has been here for just over a year. I hate to see him go, but I understand he needs his own place. He will take his dog with him. I will miss the dog too. I hate to see the mutt closed up in an apartment all day. The dog loves running around in our fenced-in back yard. The pup is also strangely devoted to my wife, who really does not like dogs at all. He has won her over though. She pets him and feeds him. If anyone gives him an extra treat it is sure to be my wife. I doubt I will convince her to get a puppy after the boy and his dog leave. I would even go for a cat, but that is even more of a non-starter with her than a dog.

Once the dog leaves I am going to have to worry about the rabbits eating the flowers again.

* I am more of a free trade sort. I also understand that US companies cannot compete against workers making pennies on the hour or government-subsidized industry. I've covered the cost of taxes and regulations to business in the past   If you missed it let me know in the comments and I'll provide the links.

How about a word game?

I know you do not read links.

You should really read this one.  Really. Go ahead.

Let us leave aside the obvious: how is this hate-filled hysterical person even allowed to teach college? Could a male even get a fair grade? What if a fellow sociology professor stated the same about his female colleagues and students? If this is indicative of the intellect, scholarship, and political philosophy of the faculty at Northeastern University I suggest you get your kid out of that institution forthwith.

What would you have if you substituted every instance where the author spits "male" and substituted the word "woman" or "black", or "Mexican", or "Jew", or any ethnicity or race you choose? What you would have is an example of some of the most egregious hate speech ever envisioned by your local KKK Grand Dragon, Nazi-wannabe, or militant race-baiter. This is evil stuff indeed.

Had the author spewed this kind of hate to a person of color, she would have been fired before the ink on her editorial was dry. WAPO would never have deigned to publish it. Since the diatribe was directed at men, with a subtle hint, hint, wink, wink towards white men, I suppose Walters gets a pass. This level of distaste, abhorrence, and execration is usually reserved for the most heinous of society. I guess now your average man is in this category.

Replacing the "P" in the patriarchy she believes exists with an "M" just shifts hate and bias in another direction.

I wonder if anyone bothered to explain to MS Walters that despite her fervent wishes otherwise, it took a man to create her.

Monday Monologue

A couple of baby bunnies are frolicking in the rain out by the big pine tree at the back corner of the yard. The boy's dog will go crazy if he sees them. It has rained on and off all weekend. We desperately needed the rain. Yards were late July brown. They have soaked up the rain like a sponge. I am sure more than one area farmer is offering prayers of thanks.

The kids, minus the one in Colorado, all went to dinner last night to celebrate my wife's birthday. She is never more content than when her kids and granddaughter are around.

That was the weekend. Rain kept us confined for the most part. I managed a walk Saturday morning. I read a lot. That is it.

Not the riveting prose and insightful commentary you were looking for, is it? You should be used to that disappointment by now.

Going to the dogs

Last night we went to a local burger joint. Since it was nice we sat outside. This place is in a suburban strip mall on one of the very busy east/west numbered streets that cuts across the north side. There are housing additions in the area, but none very close.

As has happened at this restaurant a couple of times recently a lady brought her dog to dinner. This was a big brute every bit of 100 pounds. She didn't walk it and decide to take a beer  break. I watched her drag the brute out of her SUV. The dog promptly plopped down next to a chair of a guy sitting at the next table. Why? There was no need to bring her dog to dinner. This was no service dog situation. This was a hey look at me bring my pet to a restaurant moment. It is not necessary.

Worse was the wait staff who fondled the dog then continued to wait tables. And no they did not wash after petting he mutt. I'm glad I had my food. As we left I noticed they had brought the dog a bowl of water In usual salad bowls. Somehow I don't think the Board of Health would like this humanitarian gesture.

If your dog is overheating because you brought him to a restaurant and it is hot out,  maybe you should have left him at home.

I have no doubt some of you will not like this post. You will tell me how good your dog is. You will tell me it is better behaved than most kids. How many kids eat cat turds and roll in their own shit out in the back yard?

A restaurant isn't a dog park. If you can't bear to leave Rover at home alone you should consider take out.

As always, your rebuttal is welcome in the comments.

Soporific Tedium

I contemplated having my coffee and Internet time out on the patio this morning. I even carried out my cup of java. The cushions were wet from a random squall over night. Instead I'm blogging from the office; chair tipped back and feet on my desk.

It looks like the President is digging in on tariffs. My neighbor sells machine tools and he said his company got billed for a steel shipment that arrived last week. He has no choice but to pass it on to his customers. The problem is not all steel is the same. There is limited steel capacity in this country, especially for specialty steel, and the tariff makes no distinction between grades of material.

If the next round of proposed tariffs goes into effect I will be out of a job. Our major selling tool is price and a double digit increase will make us beyond uncompetitive, it will put us out of business.

It is Friday. It is my fair spouse's birthday. I'm alive. I will worry about that other stuff another day.

Enjoy your weekend.

Juno, Gold, Utah, Omaha, Sword

"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Typical Tuesday Twaddle

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in the heart of flyover country. It looked like it from my office window anyway. Temperatures were in the upper seventies with a little breeze.

I made a nice salad topped with grilled chicken for supper. I baked some boxed blueberry muffins for accompaniment. It was a perfect summer meal.

Last week I detailed how I was reading real books. I'm on the third of the Sharpe books from Bernard Cornwell. (I read number four on my Kindle to start this re-reading of the series). I found the purchase receipt from the current paperback crammed deep between the pages. It was folded for use as a book mark. I bought the book at long-defunct Waldenbooks in 2005.  The current electronic versions on Amazon cost nearly double the price I paid for the paperback 13 years ago. That, my friends, is ridiculous. I understand that goods are priced at what the market will bear. Hah, there is a reason the publisher allowed one of the books go for a buck or so last week. It got me motivated to read the rest of the series. Just not the way they intended.

Whaaaah

Woke  up early. Have a toothache. Mowed, did yard work yesterday. Allergies are kicking my butt as a result. The boss is back from vacation today, so I am sure I will be hounded later today. It will be a major failure that I was unable to get prospects to call me back during a short holiday week.

I could go on. I think neither of us wants that.

It is real, not a video game

I was watching the Cubs vs. the Mets last night while the wife did whatever she does on her iPad. The announcers were droning away in that obnoxious way the national telecast guys do (this one was on Fox). John Smoltz mentioned recent discussions for rule changes in baseball and he was for most of them. I think those he mentioned would make the game unrecognizable and pointless. In fact, some of these proposals make the odious designated hitter rule look like a good idea. And yes, I know it is only a matter of time before the DH becomes standard in both leagues. Spit.

Smoltz is all for the girls softball rule where you put runners on base to start extra innings. He see no point in long extra inning games. Except maybe the fans enjoy them. Me, I think it is great when managers back themselves in a corner, using up pitchers. I like to see the backup catcher take the mound. Besides, baseball managers and front office types are always reminding fans that it is a long season and one or two games can be meaningless. Unless they lose one extra inning game because they used a pitcher to pitch to two batters back in the seventh. I ain't buying it. John Smoltz was a great pitcher but he has no idea what a fan thinks, clearly. His position is all from a player point of view. We don't like playing 12 or 14 innings, whah. 

Can you imagine Game 7 of the 2016 Cubs/Indians World Series with the "put free runners on base" notion? There would be no drama, no tension, no sport. Indians fans might joke at they would have liked to see a batter with a better average than .160 or so take the final at-bat, but that is how the game is played. It is sport, not a video game where you get to have your favorite player bat all of the time.

Worse was the idea of letting teams hit any batter if they are behind in the ninth or in extra inning games, regardless of the batting order. Jeez, why not just have a super DH that does all of the batting all of the time? Just think what Ruth or Hank or Mantle could have done had they batted 27 times each game. Ted Williams, Ty Cobb or Pete Rose would have each had millions of hits.

Disgusted, I finally went to bed and listened to the regular Cubs radio broadcasters describe a glorious 14 inning game, filling the downtime with stats, anecdotes, and nonsense as baseball should be presented. The game followed the rules pretty much as first encoded almost a century and a half ago. There was no rule change that would have made the game more enjoyable. It was perfect as played.

Either you enjoy baseball or you don't. Changing the rules will not make a non-fan suddenly start watching. It might drive away those who love the game though.

Help me Rhonda

Tomorrow is the March of Dimes event in Indy. We will be walking and raising money. My grandson passed away from birth defects in November.

Skip that store-bought coffee today and send a Lincoln to your local March of Dimes organization.

I don’t do the beg for money thing here. I don’t have a tip jar or an Amazon link. I do not have ads.*.

I am asking you to help on this one. Let me know if you want to direct your gift.

Five bucks for a good cause. If you wanted to do more, that is great. Even a dollar is a generous gift in my book.

Thanks in advance.



* that is certainly not a comment on those who do use their blogs to make money.