Trouble

     As in, “I’m in Trouble With Everybody.”

    The good news is that hardly anyone reads this.

    The bad news is that I’ll probably tick off those who do.

    As quite a few people know, I did not vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.  I fact, I haven't voted for him since 2016.  Even then, I would have voted Libertarian, but their candidate was batshit crazy.

"I still don't know where Aleppo is."

    Mind you, I didn’t vote for that cackling imbecile, either.  Rather, I wrote in Ron De Santis, knowing fully how much of a futile gesture that was.  I may as well have written in Al Penwasser.

    My reasoning was that no way was I going to throw my support towards a man who

Or is that 'whom'? 
Oh, eff it.  English, amirite?

I found fundamentally flawed.  Whether he won or lost, it wasn’t going to be because of me.  I just couldn’t do it.

    And, for those who sling accusations of, “Well, by not voting for Trump, you’re helping Harris”, I counter with “By not voting for Harris, aren’t I just helping Trump?”

    Enter MAGA brain freeze.

    Of course, since I am a Conservative, I’m overall happy with the result.  This nation would be in far worse shape had Harris and, God help us, Walz, won.

    NOTE:  Why the idiot from Minnesota had no business being vice-president would take up an entire blog post.  So, let’s just focus on Orange Jesus for now.

"Makes me yearn for the good old days of putting tampons in boys rooms."

    If nothing else, the border is closed.  There are certainly other good things to point out that Trump has done, but that is number one, by my way of thinking.

    On the other hand, Cheeto just can’t keep his fucking mouth closed.  The man's ego is next level crazy.  For instance, Trump class battleships!!??  What in the actual fuck is that all about?  In my opinion, no warship, let alone class of warships, has any business being named for an actual living person.  I’m talking about you, USS George H.W. Bush (commissioned nine years before Bush died).

    NOTE:  Of course, since construction on these things won’t start until the 30s and The Donald is 79...

    There's a bunch more, to be sure, but another thing which gives me pause

Not to be confused with 'paws.' 
See?  English can be fun!

are the checks for $1,776 sent to active duty military.  Don't get me wrong.  Not for one second do I begrudge these folks (most are heroes, some are dirtbags) getting a boost for Christmas.  Much better that they get taxpayer money than some Somali warlord.

    But, nerd student of history that I am, I remember reading how later Roman emperors bought off some in the military so that they could remain in power.

    Dear Lord, I hope I'm just being cynical and I'm dead wrong, but...    

    So, like I just wrote (please pay attention, the both of you), he is fundamentally flawed.  I can see why some people have a real problem with him.

    However however, the alternative was a candidate from a party that, among many other things, thinks mentally ill dudes playing Halloween dress up belong in women’s locker rooms and that illegal aliens have the same rights to governmental goodies as American citizens.

"Yeah, you're clearly a racist."

"Right?"

    Meaning, as bad as he is, the other lunatic was much, much worse.  I predict this still won’t help the Republican Party in the mid-terms.  Brain-dead Americans have typically voted against the party in power.  I’m sure they will do the same in November.

  Of course, the party in power in Congress hasn’t helped themselves, either. 

To say nothing of the Attorney General.

  A more useless cast of characters hasn’t been seen since the Biden family.

"Jill and Hunter suck.  No joke."

    I still don’t regret my vote in 2024 and I still don’t like Trump.  But, like it or not, he has done good things.

    I just wish he would stop reminding us that he has.  

 

To Retard Or Not To Retard

     Many people don't know that, after I retired from the Navy, I had a variety of jobs.  One of which was a Personal Care Assistant in a high school Life Skills class.  The boy whose education I supervised was classified as "mentally retarded."

    When I learned that was how he was designated, I thought it odd.  It wasn't all that long ago, but I thought the term "retarded" was no longer in wide use.  The second year I was assigned to him he was redesignated as one with an "intellectual disability."  He hadn't changed; he was still the nicest person I had ever met.  But, he was no longer labeled "mentally retarded."  Nothing was different except a word which was deemed an anachronism.

When he graduated high school, I found work elsewhere.

    Whatever.

    Fast forward to recently.  Looks like the state run by "Tampon Tim" is being investigated by the Feds for funneling a BILLION taxpayer dollars overseas.  My, my, my.  Walz, et.al., certainly have some 'splainin' to do about how their hands got caught in a Somalian cookie jar.

"That's GOVERNOR Tampon Tim."

    Donald Trump, being Donald Trump, can't resist the urge to attack the prancing Minnesota imbecile.  Due in large part that he IS a imbecile who couldn't lead ants to a picnic, Trump has labeled him "retarded."  Predictably, the Left is losing their shit over the fact that Trump is using the "r" word (I refuse to call it that; it's "retard," thank you very much.).

    Never mind the fact that the batshit crazy wing of the Democratic Party have no problem using terms like "Nazi," "fascist," and "Gestapo."

Or putting a bullet in the neck of someone with whom they disagree

    Now I'm not a big fan of our leaders resorting to infantile name-calling (and is one of the reasons I did not vote for Trump), but I laugh nonetheless at the discomfiture of these clowns.

    

Mind you, I'll continue to do so. 
But, I'm not an elected leader, you understand.

    Walz can dish it out, but he can't take it.

    Besides, no one uses "retarded" anymore to honestly describe someone with intellectual disabilities (my point at the beginning of this post).  Like "queer" and "gay," the meaning of the word has changed from its original meaning.

"We can still don our gay apparel, though."

  It now means someone with no functioning gray matter.  Someone who is a clown who has no business being anywhere near the reins of power.  Or Jasmine Crockett.

    Or someone who thinks tampon machines belong in boys bathrooms.

    Give me a fucking break, Governor Retard.

    If the shoe fits, smack yourself in the knucklehead with it. 

You're Not Gonna Like This

    I sure don't, but facts are facts.

    A group of six senators and congresspeople, called the "Seditious Six"

Not to be confused with...
Although The Vulture is bald. 

are catching deserved flak over a video they made exhorting the American military not to obey illegal orders.  They did not mention which specific orders were illegal, but they kept up a consistent drumbeat.

    I suspect they meant whacking drug boats in the Caribbean or deployment if the National Guard to crime-ridden cesspools cities.  But, they didn't give specifics.

    One of the six, retired Navy captain Mark Kelly, is in especially hot water.  There are threats to have him brought back to active duty where he would then be court-martialed on charges of sedition.  This may, in fact happen, as the Attorney General and Secretary of War want to make it so.

Frankly, as it should be.

    Now, Kelly knows (or should know) that, even though he is retired, he is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  When I retired wayyyyyy back in 2005, I knew that to be a fact.  For instance, were I to lead a rebellion against civil authority, I could very easily find myself being tried by the military.

    NOTE:  To be honest, at 67, the only thing I want to lead is myself to bed.

    Here's the problem, though.  Kelly stated something which is drummed into every servicemember in boot camp: that we are not to obey unlawful orders.  He did not say anything false and any lawyer worth his or her salt will get him off on the technicality.

    Another problem:  we all know what those seditious pieces of shit were doing.  They hoped to undermine the chain of command and cause dissension.

    But, what we think we know and what was said are completely different, legally speaking.

    It's like the 14th Amendment.  We all know they were talking about slaves, but that's not how it reads.

"Subject to the jurisdiction of" can be "lawyered," I suppose.

"Everyone will know we're talking about the slaves, right?"
"Duh, of course."
"Oh, I don't know.  This could be interpreted to mean others."
"Really?  Like who?"
"Well, Mexicans, for example."
"PFFFFTTTT!  Mexicans.  Are you retarded?"

    I'd love to see that piece of shit busted and thrown in jail.  But, I predict it won't happen.  He may go to a court-martial, but he'll be acquitted.

    It makes me sick, but it is so.  

    Bet me.

Jimmy Carr NAILS It

Enough is Enough

 

"It's your fault."
"No, it's your fault!"
"Hey, who let the media in here?"
"Don't worry.  He's with us."

      It is well past time to reopen the government.

    Before we get started, allow me to present a lesson in American government to the well-meaning ignorant (of course, there are more than a few stupid folks out there, too) whipped up into a frenzy by the likes of Senator Chuck Schumer.

AKA "Dead Man Walking."

  Ole Hawknose certainly knows better, but he hopes to prey on those who skipped Civics Class by laying the blame for the shutdown at the Republicans’ feet.

    Nothing could be further from the truth...

    Sixty votes are required to invoke cloture (i.e., stop a filibuster), thus allowing a vote on the clean Continuing Resolution (itself its own version of cowardly incompetence) sent to the Senate by the House of Representatives.

    The Republican Party does not have sixty Senators.

    Therefore, the deadlock continues.  A deadlock which is not caused by the Republican Party.  The power-hungry jackasses of the Democratic Party could end the shutdown today.

    What is a “filibuster,” you might ask?

    Taken from the Spanish “filibusteros” or “freebooter,” it is a procedure which allows unlimited debate on a bill before it can be voted on.

Which is another way of saying "pirate." 
Well, isn't this appropriate since we're talking Congress?

    Originally, there was no such procedure.  A vote to end debate on a bill was held and approved by a simple majority.  After that, the bill was voted on to determine whether it would pass.

    However, in 1806, Vice-President Aaron Burr thought that whole way of doing things was redundant (I have to admit, he had a point).  He believed that unlimited debate should be allowed before a vote could be held.

Yep.  That Aaron Burr.

    A Senator (or Senators) could yak on and on and on, potentially never allowing a vote on a bill.

    This continued until 1917, when Senate rules were changed to require 2/3 of the body to vote for cloture.

    So it stayed until 1975 when it was changed to 3/5.  So, since there are 100 Senators, that meant 60 would be required to stop the blather. 

Hey!  I did math!

    Interestingly, a fact I didn’t know until I researched this, Senators don’t even need to talk.  Using the concept of a “Silent Filibuster,” they could just threaten to drone on to keep the Senate stymied.

Which is probably a good thing. 
I mean, who really wants to hear this imbecile shoot his mouth off for hours?

    Even more interesting, the filibuster isn’t even a part of the Constitution.  Meaning, no one is holding a gun to the head of the Senator Majority Leader, John Thune.  That he has allowed this to go on for over a month is astonishing.  He could just say, “Fuck it.  You know what?  You butthurt bastards have had your fun.  We’re voting on this thing now.”

    Skeptics point out that, if he did that, what would stop the Democrats from doing the same thing if they became the majority (which they very well could be after the mid-terms)?  True.  However, if you don’t think those assholes won’t try to get rid of the filibuster anyway, then I have a bridge to sell you.

    Maybe set a limit on debate for a month?  A compromise, perhaps?

    At any rate, the government is shut down now.  Let’s worry about January, 2027 in...January, 2027.

    What was meant to be a way for the minority to protect itself from the majority has evolved into the minority using the filibuster as a weapon.

    Seriously, enough is enough.     

 

A Line Has Been Drawn

 Author's Note:  The following addresses a topic specific to Virginia.  Although, the contagion can spread.  If you doubt that, I have two words for you:  Zohran Mamdani.

Hee...hee...hee.  Booby.

    Good people of good conscience vote for Democrats.

    I get it.  More than a few are disgusted by the juvenile antics of Donald Trump and wouldn’t for a minute vote for him or anyone associated with him.  

Exhibit 'A'

    He can be an acquired taste which can never be acquired by some.

    I struggled with voting for him last November.  I weighed the pros and cons of him versus Kamala Harris.  After MUCH deliberation, I couldn’t vote for either.  To me, they were vastly unqualified.

    So, I probably wasted my vote and wrote in “Ron DeSantis.”

    Mind you, I like a lot of what Trump stands for and much of what he has done since January.  I thought that, if he did win, he was meant to win.  It’s just that he wouldn’t do it with my vote.
 

   Is he perfect?

"Oh, no.  Far from it." 
NOTE:  Bob Seger 'Night Moves' allusion.  Wonder how many people will get it.

    The litany of, in my mind, missteps he and his ego have made are numerous.  They will be fodder for another post.

    I hate that Republicans and Democrats are so deeply flawed as to give us train wrecks for presidential candidates.  Yet, the, to be frank, evil that has been done by Democrats have left me no choice but to support the GOP (I’m not a Republican).  I don’t want to, but the Left has given me no other choice.

    Even so, I can rationalize those who consider themselves Liberal.  They are, for the most part, good people who are following their conscience.  Although, calling your opponents “Nazis,” “fascists,” and the “Gestapo” has taken it too far.  If nothing else, that practice can water down the very real horror attached to those terms.

    Plus, calling Trump a “dictator” is ridiculous on its face.  If he really was a dictator, these same people would have disappeared months ago.  Also, a government shutdown would never have happened because a dictator would have forbidden it.

    Anyway, like I wrote, fodder for another day.

    HOWEVER, true evil has reared its ugly head in the Virginia Attorney General race.  Texts written by Jay Jones, candidate for the above mentioned position, have come to light concerning his wish to put two bullets in the head of a political opponent.  What’s more, he fantasizes about the death OF THIS MAN’S CHILDREN.

I can't.  I just can't.

    You would think that a chorus of Democrats would be calling for this animal to step down.  But, no.  Crickets.  What’s worse?  The Democrat candidate for Virginia governor has not condemned these outrageous statements.

I'm talking to you, Abby.

    Perhaps the Left is hoping this will blow over?  That people will forget the fetishistic (probably not a real word) desires of a man who wants to be the Old Dominion’s “Top Cop”?

    I pray that won’t be the case.

    Because, a line has been drawn.

    If you vote for a monster who wants to see children killed, you are evil.  If you vote for a woman who will not condemn his comments, you are evil.  Absolutely nothing you can say will convince me otherwise, so don’t bother.

    We have reached a point in our nation where blind partisanship trumps (no pun intended) humanity.

   

Yes.  Yes, you are.

Nothing Personal

NOTE 1:  Just before we went to press, Disney announced it was returning Jimmy Kimmel back to television.  Whether I think they caved to pressure or not is irrelevant (personally, I think they were cowards).  As I write below, Disney is a private corporation which can do what it wants.  Whatever.  I still won't watch.  And not just because it's way past my bedtime.  Which it is.

NOTE 2:  There is no press.  Just me typing with two fingers, painfully, on a computer keyboard.

********

      

    As some of you know, I'm a Monetary Exchange Specialist* at a nationally known hardware store.  Many people have come through my line looking to purchase this widget or that.  I try to be cheerful and strictly professional, no matter what type of mental disease they're suffering from.

    Trust me.  I usually keep any wise-guy remarks to myself when someone asks me where I keep my nuts, for example.

I almost gave myself a hernia holding my tongue on that one

    Due to construction, which relegated us father back from the main road, and an aging clientele which is, frankly, dying, business has been suffering.  What's more, there are some areas where we can improve as a store.  However, the owners feel there is little sense pouring money into a business which is slowly failing.  The less money they devote to improvements, the more sales taper off which leads to less of a desire to improve...you get the picture.

   Hang in there, I'm getting to the point of this.

   Now, imagine if I voiced these concerns to a customer at my register.  Concerns which are heard by the ten people behind him.  Toss in a few choice editorial comments about the owners' intelligence and well, at best, these folks may never choose to shop there again.  At worst, the word gets back to the owners that one of their employees is badmouthing them.

    They decide to fire me.  Or, if they're feeling especially magnanimous, offer me a chance to apologize in lieu of being canned.

    But, what about my freedom of speech, you ask (if anyone is actually reading this)?  Don't I have freedom of speech?  Well, yes I do.  I can peddle my freedom of speech on the street corner or among my friends at the nudie bar  church,

    You see, a business owner can choose to terminate someone who has alienated half his clientele.  He has that freedom of speech to do so.  How dare anyone demand he keep a rabble rouser on the payroll?

    What a lot of people fail to understand in the whole Jimmy Kimmel affair is that he maintained freedom of speech even though Disney suspended him for making an outrageous claim about the murder of Charlie Kirk.  Many were justifiably outraged.  As a result, Disney continued to lose millions due to the fact that the noted bigmouth was being a...bigmouth.  Conservatives

or people with early bedtimes

had no desire to hear their views trashed on national TV. 

NOTE 3:  Incidentally, I'm old enough to remember the bitch fight between Florida and Big Mouse over LGBTQ (or some other such nonsense).  Conservatives were outraged while Liberals championed Mickey then. 

"Frikkin' gay mice everywhere!"

    ABC, the network which broadcasts the show, made a business decision.  It had nothing to do with Trump (noted bigmouth himself).

Technically, the governor of, say, South Carolina can mandate that
everyone in his state be Southern Baptists.  Just not the federal government.

        For those who need a refresher on the Constitution, the First Amendment states that Congress (italics mine) shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.

  It says nothing about what a private business can or cannot do.  Nothing.

    Things like what happened to Kimmel happen all the time.  Roseanne Barr was cancelled for an errant tweet, Tucker Carlson was bounced from Fox and even Donald Trump lost his Twitter account.

    Now, I didn't like that these things happened.  But, I understood that business decisions were made.  It wasn't the federal government which directed that networks take any action. 

NOTE 4:  Yes, apparently there was no shortage of arm-twisting coming from the senile Delaware Muppet Administration on Facebook.  I'm not naive.  Just one crisis at a time, though.

"I had muppets working for me, Lord?  I love that Fozzy Bear."

    In any event, Disney was within their rights to do what they did.

    Which is why I'm going to keep my piehole shut when I ring up mulch and wood screws.

Hee...hee...hee...I said 'screws.'

*cashier