I'm Truly Embarrassed...

Living in Taxifornia requires one to put up with all manner of weird and not so wonderful things.  The highest taxes, the most dangerous streets, the strangest laws and the most privileged public servants.  Whose San Franpoopco brethern and sistern and othern are now debating, BTW, whether to give all those po' Black folks $223,000 or $5 Million to expunge the guilt of slavery.  A whole bunch of other peoples' money to a privileged under class.  But I've got a suggestion which might help them decide...

Since they seem to be motivated by money alone, I wonder how much money it would take to get Prince Harry and Mzzzz. Megan to get the "f" out of Taxifornia?  

They've already sold their souls to Netflix, assuming they have souls, that is.  $100,000,000 is the number I've read.  Dammm!   That's called the "greater fool theory."  Who was the greater fool in that deal, I wonder?  Was it Netflix for paying them to tell tall tales about the Monarchy (their CEO who cut the deal has been fired), or these self-absorbed narcissistic weenies taking the cash and engendering the unending ire of that same Monarchy?  

And everyone in Great Britain?

But then again, who cares?  All I know is that these greedy bozos are polluting the already polluted once-Golden State.  It has enough other stuff to cause it misery.  Crime running rampant, taxes out the kazoo, "woke" policies overtaking sanity, citizens leaving in hoards, free abortions + airfare and lodging to anyone, from anywhere (hopefully only females), and anti-gun measures that don't work, all sponsored by our very own "Boy Guv" Newsom.  San Fran Nan's nephew.  J. Paul Getty's Godson.  A guy who was born on third  base and thought he'd hit a triple.  A dithering, spoiled, self-absorbed, socialist fool.   

But Harry's got him beat.  Him and his psychopath wife.  I'm thinking the only way we might shed this pair of losers is to start a "GoFundMe" page and solicit donations.  And while that's cooking we might try and find out from the World's Greatest Gold Digger how much it might take.  I'm sure we could come to some equitable $number.  I'm guessing we're talking 7 figures for sure.

And Harry would most likely go along with whatever she wants.  We had a name for guys like him back home in Missouri:  "pus*y whipped."

All I ask is that they move.  I don't care where.  Anywhere else will do.  I'm suggesting San Franpoopco.  So many are leaving this once-lovely - but now a Hellhole-of-their-own making, we need to repopulate it.  I'm willing to kick in a couple of bucks myself to grease the skids, how about you?  Lemme know in the comments section...

Abort Away!

It's apparent there's a serious plurality of women out there who are "dead set" on killing their children.

Pun intended.

Not all women, to be sure, and only those children "pre-born." One would hope only those.  But I live in California, where anything is not only possible, but no doubt happening.  And then spreading like a scourge across the Fruited Plain.

God help us.

But they continue to express their opinion that abortion is a natural right, enjoyed by every woman, and that each and every one of them should be permitted - nay lauded - for using abortions as birth control.  They simply must abort their babies simply because they can!  And by damn, nobody's gonna' take that "right" away from them!

They march, they protest, they spray paint, they even use their sway with the "Corporate Media" to advocate for their extreme positions and demands.  Note that the anti-"Dobbs" march in D.C. was covered front to back by the Legacy Media, while the recent 50th annual "March for Life," pro-life centered, was barely mentioned.  

Some of these true believers even attack churches and burn adoption centers.  They've attacked more than 300 Catholic churches in just the past two years, in fact.  And more than 100 Christian adoption centers in that same period.  Did you know that?  

With no investigations undertaken by our FBI, BTW, and no arrests, and no convictions.  Which tells you a lot about the FBI's focus these days, me thinks.  Perhaps they should throw the pro-life majority a bone and launch an investigation or two.  Just one or two.  Instead of arresting parents for trying to get their kids an indoctrination-free education.

Pro-abortion demonstrators are this day marching up and down the street in front of Justice Kavanaugh's home.  One truly demonic drone tried to murder him and his whole family.  These folks are really, REALLY committed!

They demand to abort their children, 24/7, and DO NOT stand in their way!

It seems that the majority of our women, and every elected Democrat Congressweenie, save one, that's more than 300 of them, BTW, won't be happy until abortion is not only legal, but the norm.  Standard Operating Procedure.  They even voted in lockstep to deny lifesaving care to botched abortions that result in a born-alive baby.  That's a human baby, born alive.  But permitted to die.  Allowed to die.  Made to die.  That's sort of extreme, don't you think?  Just let them die?

And Rep's. Barbara Lee (D-TX) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MN) just put forth legislation in the House that would repeal the Hyde Amendment.  They wish The Taxpayer to be on the hook for abortions.  That would be all abortions paid for through Medicaid.  Paid for by you and me, the Taxpayers.  Democrats know that America is on the hook for nearly everything else, so why not abortions, they ask?  "Hyde" has been in effect for more than 4 decades, just so you know.  Originally negotiated to placate the religious, I guess they don't count as much now.  So they're trying their best to steamroll them in the interest of "women's rights."

And while this is going on Hollywood "starlets" talk over each other bragging about how many abortions they've had, and how their life is so much better off for having had them.  I don't know whether they're trying to convince us, or themselves.  

Face it; they're not going to stop.  And they'll use their demand for unfettered abortions, up to and including the third grade, as a political weapon until we "rights-deniers" fold our tents and go home.

You'll forgive me if I repeat a rather indelicate - and infamous - pronouncement by a Southern defense attorney while trying to get his client off.  He said, "When rape is inevitable, lay back and enjoy it."  Hmmmm...

Since we know how much trouble the commie pinko dumbass liberal weenies cause in our society, it sure would be nice to eliminate them.  With extreme prejudice.  So I've got this simple idea which will make Planned Parenthood, all the Democrat Congressweenies, save one, and every "Progressive" woman in America happy as proverbial clams.  

Let's just double the $500,000,000 a year we taxpayers give Planned Parenthood for murdering our future citizens.  For having murdered more than 17,000,000 Blacks since Margaret Sanger created this extermination "service," as an example.  Let's not only make abortions legal, let's extol its virtues through the "alphabet" Federal agencies.  Let's try and make it the norm those CPDLW's so fervently desire.  Let's give out vouchers to high schoolers for free abortions.  Let's have game shows with abortions as prizes.  Let's give free medical school educations for abortion doctors.  Oh, we know that Conservative women will never go for aborting their future children.  Only those who've been demanding it will embrace it.  And maybe it's time we grant them official approval to do so.  

The result?  The ranks of those who hate America and hate their own offspring will slowly subside.  Their numbers will dwindle through non-replacement over the years to the point where they are no longer an issue.  The abortion centers will all close due to lack of need.  And adoption centers will flourish, as they should.   

Like cigarette smokers, their numbers will slowly reduce to the point where there are only those left who believe, as I do, that $9.95 a month for birth control pills, and free to those who can't afford even that, is preferable to such a barbaric, wasteful act.  Sort of like Federally encouraging smoking, but with incalculable future societal benefits.  Future generations will thank us for having taken this momentarily morbid, but necessary step.

But that's just me... 

*  I've yet to subscribe to the new dictum that there are 57 different genders.  So far as I know, there are only two.  And even though some more "Progressive" precincts are putting tampons in boys' bathrooms, I'll just keep on believing there are only two, and that only women can conceive and bear children.  That some women wish to kill.  And others would love to adopt.  That's "radical" thinking now, I know, but as older gent with Technicolor opinions, I know you'll forgive me... 

"Special Forces"

Those who live in this Great Country and have chosen not to protect and defend it, owe a serious debt of gratitude to those who have.

I was just thinking that while watching an episode of "Special Forces," KTTV-11, 9:00 p.m., Tuesdays.  

It proposes to put 16 "celebrities," some of whom I'd never heard of, through a "boot camp" sort of like that undertaken by recruits in the special forces of our Country.  

Past Seals, Rangers, and even a Brit former SAS officer lead the staff.  They're the trainers in this made-for-TV program, intended for us mere mortals to have a look under the hood of what this sort of training might be all about.  In short, these professional soldiers who run this exercise know how to break men and women down to their protoplasm, and then build them back up one corpuscle and one sinew at a time.

As one who's gone through it, or suffered through it, I can tell you, you often expect to die.  You even HOPE to die!  It's so incredibly horrible, so terrible, so unbearable, that you wish you were never born.  There's no words even to describe it.  That's why many soldiers don't even try.  

Some of the training courses involve live ammunition, aimed at YOU!  You swim through mud.  You low-crawl through broken glass.  You jump off 61' tall parachute training towers whether you're afraid of heights or not (I wish I was shorter!).  Trust me, you're more afraid of your trainer than you are of any height.  

It's like the TV show but on steroids, with swearing, kicking and screaming thrown in.  As one of the trainers on this show said, "If you die, it's nature's way of telling you you've failed."  Half of those who attempt these sort of courses in the real world do not pass.  Some even die.  Those who come out the other end are hardened, focused and dedicated warriors.  To be feared, for sure.

Their are 1.1 million of your fellow citizens serving right now in the United States Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard and the Space Force.  That's less than 2% of our adult population.*  There are 1.7 million veterans of service in those branches of our military.  Some are not doing so well, and need our help.  31,000 are listed as homeless.  Seems to me we should help them before the millions who're being "welcomed," right now at our Southern Border.  From 165 countries.  7 million of them.  Plus 1.2 million "gotaways."  So far.  

But that's just me...  

*    We missed our recruitment goal for the 5 services by more than 15% last year.  So those who could and should step up to defend America, so far haven't.  Sun Tzu's The "Art of War" tells us that in time of peace we should prepare for war.  I hear the war drums beating in the distance.  Do we have an answer?

Gotta' Grab Them Guns!

So our Mumbler-in-Chief is once again trying to ban so-called "assault weapons." 

Those are the scary-looking semi-automatic, one-trigger-pull, one-shot-fired, uber-popular rifles that the liberals just love to hate.  And boy, does crusty old O'Biden reeely hate these ordinary, everyday rifles!

Trying to outlaw them has been his fallback position for decades.  He along with aged Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) sponsored the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban" that was in effect for 10 years.  When it didn't prove to reduce crime and deaths, no matter what they tell you, it expired.  And O'Biden has dreamed of reinstituting it as his signature "gift" to America.  

He just waits until some crazed weirdo shoots up someplace or other, rushes to the nearest microphone and starts mumbling incoherently.  Spittle a'flying.  Arms a'waving.  Gotta' grab them guns!  

Well, Joe, here's a few things you simply gotta' learn before this effort comes back to bite you in your aged butt: 

100,000,000 of your fellow gun-owning Americans didn't shoot anybody yesterday.

A few people may have, but One Hundred Million did not.

Actually many more than One Hundred Million gun owners, as reported by the FBI.  Some 35% of all households in the Country have a gun on board.  And that same FBI tells us that we now have 465,000,000 guns in circulation.  And we're selling 3 million more of them every month.  To folks who are justifiably scared of what O'Biden has permitted America to become.

More than 60% are being bought by women, BTW, and 55% are being bought by Black folks!  Surprised?  You shouldn't be.  They can read the tea leaves, and don't like what they see...

Oh yeah, there have been far too many "mass shootings" of late.  The natural extension of failing to punish people for criminal behavior is more criminal behavior.  And more serious criminal behavior.  Ever wonder if these killers might have altered their plans if they thought they'd meet armed resistance when they showed up, gun in hand?  Somebody with a firearm there who might thwart their nefarious plan?  Remember, mass killers want to go out in a blaze of glory.  They DO NOT want to be dropped like a bad habit on the sidewalk outside their target location.  Need proof?  When was the last time there was a mass shooting at a police station?  Or a gun show?  Or at a shooting range?  Or a rodeo?     

And folks are buying our Most Popular Firearm, the AR-15, like hotcakes.  More than 100 companies manufacture the AR- and AK- platform rifles, and dealers can't keep them in stock.  And the more the ignorant loudmouth politicians bleat about outlawing AR's and AK's, the faster they sell.  There are more than 19,000,000 of them now in the hands of our citizens, who use them every day for target shooting, hunting and self-defense.  Why?  Because they're light, simple, modular and cheap.

You may have always wondered why people love their AR-15's.  Now you know...

O'Biden and his sycophants try and convince the unknowing that these rifles are "weapons of war."  Apparently they do not know that the usual caliber this weapon comes in (5.56mm/.223) has been declared insufficiently powerful to ethically hunt deer in most states.  Lemme' say that again: they're not powerful enough.  Let that sink in.  As for the politicians?  They have sh*t for brains.    

And you might be surprised to learn that our same FBI tells us fewer than 3% of all firearm deaths result from long guns, i.e., rifles and shotguns.  So when our bloviating politicians trample each other to get to a microphone after another mass shooting to call for the "control" (confiscation) of AR-15's once again, whether one was used in the shooting or not, you might just go ahead an yawn; the owners of these weapons are now beyond caring.  It's been this incessant drip, drip, drip of one new anti-gun law after another for the past couple of decades in these Deep Blue states.  And they are "up to here" with this nonsense.  Remember, the 2nd Amendment says, "shall not be infringed."  And these dimbulbs are infringing on it.  

More proof?  Taxifornia is the second most "gun controlled" state in the Union.  In fact, Boy Guv Newsom has burdened us with 112 brand-new gun control executive orders since he was immaculated.  And still we've had 3 mass shootings in the last 8 days.  And none from AR-15's, BTW.  And Lori Lightbrain's Chicago had 34 shot and 11 killed over this past weekend.  And it's the most gun controlled place in America.  Go figure...

So why are the millions of AR owners so cavalier about prospective legislation?  For one simple reason:  Nobody's gonna' come for their legally acquired firearms.  And God help them if they try.  There's not enough soldiers, sailors and Marines to come to each of our houses, even were they so inclined (which they aren't!).  And even if the National Guard were called in, the Guard is made up of your pharmacist, your mechanic and your next door neighbor, fergodssake!  And they all shoot and hunt and own guns for self-protection.  And they are NOT coming to your house for your guns.  Nor allowing anyone to come to theirs.

And oh yeah, they've only been compiling registries of guns and their owners recently.  As in, they don't know where all the guns are.  And the gun owners aren't telling.  You know the primary difference between Cuba, and China, and Russia, and North Korea and the United States?  We still have our guns.  

They do not...

So it's a classic Mexican standoff.  We just have to figure out who's the Mexicans, and who's the ones which ain't...

(One of my better rants, doncha' think?)

The "Good Old Days."

Back in the "good old days," we used to receive our Sears Holiday catalog just before Thanksgiving.  One to every single address in America.  And boy, was it ever enormous!  It had to weigh 5 pounds, at least.  As in, don't drop it on your foot or you just might become lame.  

But it contained virtually everything.  Including firearms, BTW.  You simply ordered the rifle or shotgun or pistol of your choice and the mailman delivered it.  Simple.  This was a time when citizens were armed and guns could be found in every home.  Unlike now, when far too many of our neighbors have been trained by CPDLW's* to be terrified of firearms for no good reason.     

Anyway, the catalog came and then we had several weeks to feverishly decide what to order for our family and friends so as to get it in time for Christmas.  

Several weeks later.  

Not the same day, or even the next day, but two or three weeks later.  If we were lucky.  Brought to you by your friendly postal worker, who back then delivered 7 days a week, and twice on Saturday.  Not the occasional delivery we experience now, but Every. Single. Day.  Without fail.  

"Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night,..." etc., etc...

And then later, a couple of decades later, Sears would put up small stores in every town of any size across the fruited plain, stocked with an example of each of their most popular items.  A toaster here, a MixMaster there, and a Remington shotgun on display.  Which you could pick up, and handle, and then put back down.  Because these items weren't available to purchase.  You couldn't just buy them.  They were just there so you could take a look and then order.

And then, once you ordered, you could go back to that same store a week or two later and pick up your item.  Not even delivered by the postman.  Oh yeah, they weren't postal workers.  They were postmen.  Whether they were men or women.  Their feelings were not hurt by being misgendered, or mispronouned.  That was a time before feelings counted more than rules and regulations and laws...

That was before the pukes who rule our miserable lives were all "woke."  And got their feelings all hurt all the time.  And tried to force society to bend to their enlightened preferences.

Are we better off today, now that we can order something and get it...like now?  Perhaps.  Or maybe we're just ordering more because it's easier than getting in our cars and burning expensive gas, as well as our time, to drive somewhere and shop.  Which puts local stores out of business.  And your neighbors out of a job.  And leaves the local mall a ghost town.  And leaves Jeffey Bezos with a $588,000,000 yacht.  And a newspaper that works for the enemy and prints lies, 24/7.

I sort of liked it the way it was before, I think.  You tended to ruminate a bit more before splurging.  I think you tended to be a bit more careful with your money.  And I think it tended to help out your local businesses instead of some Silicon Valley $Billlionaire you've never met, will never meet, and don't agree with. 

Oh, and you had a convenient supply of paper for the outhouse, if necessary...

*   Commie Pinko Dumbass Liberal Weenies...

Love Me Some Air Fryer...

I'd like to end this little offering at the beginning; I love my new air fryer.

Yes, fellow Patriots, I value my new air fryer among the very most wonderful new additions to my life, ever.  Excluding my children, of course.  And a couple dozen of my cars, which are now termed "collector."  Besides them.

But besides them, it's my air fryer, hands down!  I should tell you that either my dearly departed wife, or one of the finest nearby restaurants, fed me for as long as I can remember, I never had to learn to cook.  So I didn't.  And I can't.  

So there.

So  now I just heat.  I don't cook anything, I buy stuff and heat it up.  Which is really kind of depressing.  So when I began hearing about air fryers a decade or so back (takes me awhile), my ears perked up.  I thought to myself, self:  Gotta' think about buying one of those new fangled thingies one day. 

Maybe.

Well, that day arrived over the Holidays.  The price came down to a place where I thought I could take a chance, so I pushed "buy."  In a flash it arrived.  I unboxed it and put in an exalted place right on my countertop.  I read the instructions and decided to put it to the test.  Expecting to be disappointed.  After all, the whole process of cooking has proven disappointing.  So I put a bunch of freedom fries on the tray, stuck it in, used the suggested temp and time, and pushed "go."  

Damn!  10 or 12 minutes later I had the best fries I've had lately!  This sucker works!  The fries came out crispy and tinged with a nice golden brown!  They would have made Emeril proud!  And they were free of any oily residue, also!  

Then I tried one;  it was delicious!  Holy crap!  I just replaced my unpredictable and slow and often screw up-prone and expensive to use oven!  And even much of the stuff I used to use requiring my gas range.  It was a magic box!  

Horee Clap!

Since making this $50 discovery, I've used my fryer to cook yummy salmon, crispy, tasty hot dogs, tater tots by the bushel, chicken pot pies, and even frozen hamburger patties!  Did I mention biscuits?  Just put a few frozen Pillsbury Grands on the tray and 18 minutes at 350 degrees later, you've got perfect, yummy mini-mountains of goodness!  And they all turn out better than with a stove or microwave.  And much faster, also!  Did I say it's a Magic Box? 

Yes, yes I did.  And so I end where I began.  Never has the expenditure of $50 made me happier.  Oh, except for that time in Amsterdam, of course...  

(P.S.  I suggest you run right and buy one of these puppies.  They're guaranteed to make you smile, and erase your hunger, and maybe even save your marriage.  On the cheap.)  

The Sky is NOT Falling!

(NOTE:  This blog posting is NOT for my fellow Patriots.  You know, the ones who read my stuff religiously.  It's for those they know who could use a little "tune up" in terms of their education.  As in, they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.  And I'm counting on you to get the word out to them.  So let's go ahead and start, shall we?)

A few factoids for those of you out there whose education into the Earth sciences could use a little remediation:    

Factoid #1:  The Earth rotates on its axis.  (Bear with me here; it gets easier);

Factoid #2:  The Earth rotates from right to left, or East to West for those who are directionally-literate; 

Factoid #3:  The "climate," or what we scientifically-literate call the "atmosphere," that stuff we breathe, up to about 98,000 feet, rotates as well.  But strangely, it rotates left to right!  Or, for us techies, that's West to East.

And if you're having trouble with the foregoing concept, the sun comes up in the East and goes down in the West.  That's why a 8:30 p.m. football game kickoff occurs at 5:30 in Lost Angeles.  Got it?

So it's not like we can "clean up" our "climate" and then have it stick with us while we protest having to work for a living.  Whether we clean it, or dirty it, it's headed East.  Predictably.

So the "climate" they're experiencing today in Beijing and Rangoon and beautiful downtown Ho Chi Minh City, where they're not having a "climate crisis," I should mention, will be here in a week.  Bad or good, what's there today will be here shortly.  

Thus, efforts by a single city, or a single state, or even the United States as a whole, will have little positive effect on the Earth's climate, no matter what it does, so long as China and India are producing 54% of the world's atmospheric pollutants.

Which they are.

In fact, China and India are opening several new coal-fired electricity plants monthly, all while we close our coal mines and cap our producing oil and gas wells in a doomed effort to control the weather.  And what's in it.

Oh, and attempting to force our citizens to buy electric cars while more than 54% of our current electricity production power comes from coal.  And less than 8% comes from wind and solar. 

I'm reminded here about the boy who tried to hold back the flood by poking his thumb into the dike.  Which, BTW, didn't work.

And our  proposed remedy won't work either.

So, to all of you who follow the teachings of Congressweenie Alexandria Occasional-Cortex, and therefore believe the world will end in 8 or 10 or 12 years unless we abandon our SUV's, fear not; it won't.  'Cause she's the only ex-bartender who's never brought anything to the table.  And I hate to break it to you, and take away one of your central issues, the sky is not really falling.  It's not even leaning!  And you can't do a damn thing about the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, which has NOT been proven to be a "Greenhouse Gas" BTW, so long as the Chinese and the Indians are not being held to the same standard as America.  And the rest of the industrialized (civilized?) world, as well.

Did you know that Paris Climate Accords does not even require the Chinese or the Indians to invest any money or take any steps in terms of pollution abatement until the year 2030?  All while the U. S. and the European Union had to carry all the freight?  And spend $Trillions, exhausting our finances, all while the Chinese and Indians laugh at us. 

So go ahead and protest, and march, and compost, and live with your little grossed-up golf cart if you must.  But you'd do better to stop listening to the race and climate and immigration and grievance hustlers and sell your electric car and get a job and start a family and focus on doing something positive with your life.  Something we're sorely lacking as a society.  

You are NOT a victim, unless you choose to be.  And far too many are choosing to be.  Let that sink in... 

Identifying One's Way to Riches...

You know I identify as Black, right?  And gay, too, right?  

But it's a lesser known fact that I also Identify as living in the rat- and poop- and druggie-infested, ex-beautiful town of San Franpoopco.  That Sh*tty By The Bay.  And I identify as having done so for more than fourteen years, as is the requirement posted by a dummass committee of Liberal Weenies on reparations.  One that advocates the giving of...ready for it?...$5,000,000 in cash to each of the Sh*ty's Black residents.  In cash!  Plus another $96,000 in other various goodies.  And free rent, and food, etc.  

It's been calculated that this boondoggle would cost some $56 Billion Dollars!  If it had that much money.  Which it doesn't.    

BTW, we all know that "identifying" is the only important thing, right?

RIGHT?

Yes, yes I do.  Even though I know that it's a dangerous place for an old feller' with a bad back like me, The Chuckmeister, but that's okay; I carry concealed.  I can take care of myself.   

But I should mention it's far safer to identify as l living in a hell-hole like San Franpoopco than actually living there...

But I've discovered that the Liberal Loons who infest SFO have outdone themselves!  They've decided that us po' ol' Black foks' need to be paid off for the evils done to our forebears, some 400 years ago.  Or maybe it's fivebears...

And so to expunge their Liberal guilt, and maybe buy a few votes in the process (wink, wink!), they want to spend a few bushels of their dwindling taxpayer base's money on this foolish enterprise.  So why not jump in and swim in their putrid pool of guilt expungement, I asked my Black self?  

And I answered, go for it, Chuckmeister!

And so I am.  I've sent a letter to San Franpoopco asking for my place in line.  I'm sure they'll get back to me with a check real soon.  Certified, please.  Not that I doubt the solvency of this failed city.  I'm certain at some point in the future it will be the subject of a Harvard Business Review article entitled, "How Not To Do It."  But it sure will have a lot of happy Black folks.  Like me.

So you can consider me the newest $5 Million Dollar Man in town!  And yes, I'll pick up the bar tab the next time I see you.  And no, don't try and tell me you're a distant relative.  I don't like my relatives.  Which now includes you...

Misplaced Priorities...

You may have missed a rather startling event that occurred a few months back.

NASA had a challenge; prove it could strike an incoming asteroid or comet and deflect it away from Earth.  On September 26th of last year it proved that it could.  

Several months ago NASA shot off a rocket with the intent of ramming it into a moving target.  Dimorphos, to be exact.  Didymos is a near-Earth asteroid with its own little bitty moon.  And that moon is named Dimorphos.  To say it's small would be an understatement.  Its only 170 meters in diameter.  And its 6.8 million miles away.  Dwell upon that for a minute... 

So we shot off a rocket several months back with some apparatus in its nose called DART.  And it hurtled toward Didymos and Dimorphos at more than 14,000 miles per hour, planning to hit it dead-on on September 26th.  And God help me, it did!  

I don't know why I happened to tune in that night, but I'm certainly glad I did.  It was on the Science channel and they broadcast the event as it unfolded.  There was a camera in the nose of the "bullet" we sent toward Dimorphos, so we all had a ring side seat.  It was thrilling!

The idea was to see if we could alter the path of an incoming Earth-killer, using the technology we currently possess.  The DART exercise was our first effort in "planetary defense," and it seems we hit the bulls eye!  Both literally and figuratively!

Our scientists aimed DART so skillfully that it would just barely miss Didymos, a far larger moon, by only 17 meters!  We're talking 50 feet here!  Exactly as planned!  And we got to watch it sling by, with Dimorphos in view all the while in the background!  The size of a pixel on your TV screen.  Growing ever larger at one frame-per-second.  With the clock ticking down to the time when our NASA engineers had predicted our "planetary defense" system would strike.  

And I can't tell you how impressed I was...and still am...that it did its job exactly as designed.  Like hitting a bullet, WITH a bullet, the camera winked out as it struck Dimorphos to uproarious applause from the Control Room.  I was applauding as well.  It was truly uplifting.  My faith in our ability to perform such a feat was thereby restored.  

And then I began to ask myself as the happy talk subsided, if we can send a rocket waaay out there to deflect an incoming asteroid,* and save the planet in the process, why can't we get our homeless veterans off the street?  Why can't we stop our folks from shooting each other?  And murdering and stealing and raping and pillaging and plundering?  And beating the crap out of each other?  And maybe stop our politicians from lying to us and stealing from us?  And maybe make people stop saying stupid crap on social media?   

Are our priorities misplaced?

*  BTW, that "bullet" named DART actually did deflect Dimorphos from its orbit.  I just hope it doesn't now crash into Earth as a result...

The News, Then and Now...

When I was young there was only one-half hour of news daily.

Usually the news began between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.  You could choose CBS, or NBC, or ABC.  And you might get some local news right afterward, if you lived in a big enough town.

Whether you relied on Walter Cronkite, or Brokaw, or Huntley and Brinkley, it didn't really matter.  They all just reported the happenings, straight down the line.

We didn't even know back then there was a "Left" and "Right."  

We always tended to watch Walter Cronkite around where I came from, because he grew up in St. Joseph, MO, right up the road a piece.  And only well after he retired did we come to find out he was such a raging Liberal.  But it didn't leak through to his broadcast.  Unlike now, where screaming harpies infest our airwaves, it was genteel back then.  And much more enjoyable.

He would end every broadcast with, "And that's the way it is."  And that's the way it was...

And it didn't really matter whether you caught the news or not.  If something was truly important, you knew you'd hear about it sooner or later. 

After all, what's a few days more or less?

And you didn't know whether your neighbor was a Democrat or a Republican.  It didn't really matter back then, 'cause they both loved America and could be counted on the defend it.  And you!  Night or day, every day.  

i think it was better then.  You would too if you'd lived through it.

We had three TV channels back then.  And they stopped broadcasting at Midnight.  Thereafter you had a black and white picture of an Indian chief to stare at all night.  It was called a test pattern.  It was accompanied by an infuriating tone.  Sort of a high "C."  Blaring at you.  Not pleasant.

It was like that until that CNN guy figured out how to attach his TV apparatus to a satellite.  That was August 1st, 1980.  We thereafter had 24/7 news, 365.  

And then everything turned to sh*t. 

And not just for us; he wound up marrying Hanoi Jane Fonda, our very own Mata Hari. 

Now we've got dozens of satellites flooding us with more news than we can inculcate, every minute of every hour of the day.  And everybody either knows your political persuasion, or they haven't yet checked out your social media posts.  And most are dumb enough to provide them.  In excruciating detail.

I'd like to say I've never, ever stooped to posting on Twitter.  It's not a part of my life.  Nor should it be a part of yours.  Nor Tik Tok.  Nor Instagram.  They're not important.  And they can negatively influence you.  Don't allow it.  I believe that when the final story is written, what we now call "social media" will prove to have been the death of us.  And of our Country.

It's already started with our children...

You've already heard that I've sworn off news 24/7.  Even the one or two channels that actually inform, without trying to make you a part of their cult.  I've just decided that the Visigoths are past the gate and running things in the Swamp.  And we all know that once you let a camel get his nose under the tent, pretty soon you're gonna' have a camel in your tent.

And the camel is inside the tent.

So I'll just focus on my family and making sure we stay safe.  Safe from the failure of our police to secure us (and of our citizens to support them), which we witness unfold on our streets every day now.  Those who are running things in The Swamp want to remanufacture America into a socialist Utopia.  I don't wish to participate. 

I used to watch the news for a half-hour a day way back when.  Seems like a pretty good plan for right now, don't you think?  Half the Country has no idea what's going on, why not join them?  What you don't know won't hurt you, right?  Ignorance is bliss, right?

RIGHT?     

Only Damar?

I know everyone is glad that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is okay and on the mend.

His was a shocking "death" on the field a few days back, and only the quick work by the Bills' crew helped bring him back to life.  He may well have suffered from an event called "commotio cordis," which is heart stoppage caused by a blow to the chest at exactly the right (wrong) moment, literally between beats.  

It's extremely rare.  I spent more than 40 years in the medical field and never witnessed, or even heard about, a single case occurring.  That rare.

But Damar suffered this event in front of millions on national TV.  So every football fan, and every other viewer, was heavily invested in his situation.  As well they should.  

But is it just me that thinks there might be a little bit of attention paid to the 30 people shot in Chicago last weekend?  And the 11 of them that died?  And they were all Black?  

Every. Single. One.?

And that's just an average, run-of-the-mill weekend in Chicago.  It's a war zone in the South and Westside.  Nobody goes there, except for the Black folks who can't afford to leave, and the druggies who are shooting at each other.

But nobody cares about those Black folks.  Even the Black mayor of Chicago doesn't care about those Black folks.  Just one adult who "dies" while playing a kids' game.

Strange... 

January 6, 2021.

Did you watch the January 6th, 2021 protest?

I did.  Start to finish.  I'm retired and have the time to do that sort of thing.  However distasteful it sometimes turns out to be.

And that day was truly distasteful.  Cringeworthy, in fact.  Representative Republics (ours is not a democracy) can be messy that way sometimes, and 1/6/2021 was one of those days.

What it wasn't was a "riot."  Or an "insurrection."  Or a "coup."  What a joke!  Funny to all but the room temperature I.Q. talking heads on MSPMS and CNN(LOL).  And PBS and NPR.  And all the alphabets, ABC/CBS/NBC.  They thought it was nearly the End of the World!  

But you already knew that.

Truth is, among the tens of thousands of protesters that day were a couple of dozen guys dressed all in black, with backpacks, and billy clubs, who stormed the Capitol.  And proceeded to wreck havoc.  They beat up a few cops and broke some windows and yelled and screamed.  And got arrested.  And that's just about it.

They didn't overthrow our Republic.  Nor did the guy with horns on his hat who wanted to sit in Nancy's chair.  And for that mushroom-fueled stunt he got 4 years in the Gray Bar Hotel.  Fair?  Considering that hundreds of BLM and Antifa-types burned down dozens of cities during most of 2020, causing more than $2 Billion Dollars in damages, and wounded more than 1,500 cops and killed 13 of them, with fewer than 50 ever being citied and only 11 being convicted, me thinks not.  

Did you know that Trump asked San Fran Nan to call in the National Guard to beef-up security at the Capitol in advance of January 6th?  No?  She refused.  Why?  She won't tell us.  Because she's the Queen, I guess.

And neither did the "January 6th Committee on Jailing Trump."  Somehow they were too busy to ask that question.

And why did the Capitol Police officers open the doors and welcome in the protesters that day?  Our Government, the one you and I pay for, has so far refused to tell us.  And the 1/6 Committee once again failed to explore that little avenue of inquiry.

And how many FBI provocateurs were in the crowd that day, genning them up, trying to cause trouble?  We know they were there, but they won't tell us.

And why have more than 1,000 of those protesters, some who only strolled peacefully through the building that day, been convicted of a felony for so doing?  And another 3,000 yet to go to trial?  Did you know that some 400 are still held in the D. C. jail for supposed 1/6 crimes?  Really!  Were they at the same protest I watched unfold on TV?  Doesn't seem like it.  Seems like an instant televised replay of the Salem Witch Trials, to me.

Remember, Trump admonished the tens of thousands of his followers gathered on the Mall that day to...

...I want you to walk on down to the Capitol.  I want you to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard!"

Somehow that request was intentionally deleted by the Hyper-Partisan Jan. 6 Committee when they showed Trump's quote during their hearings.  Just an oversight?

Oh yeah, our decrepit Prez and all of his Democrat sycophants continue to try and convince us 5 cops were killed that fateful day.  No they weren't.  In fact, ZERO cops died that day.  Five died in successive days, but none of those deaths could be directly attributed to 1/6.

The only person who died that day was a poor woman named Ashley Babbitt.  She was shot in the neck, at close range (4 feet!), by a Capitol cop named Byrd.  He murdered her.  He was let off without so much as a slap on the wrist.  

Oh yeah, he's the same Byrd who left his firearm in the bathroom two years before.  It was turned in by a Boy Scout who was on a tour.  Was he terminated?  No.  He's Black.

S**t show?  Oh yeah.

So no, re-remembering January 6th as if it was worse that 9/11, or Pearl Harbor, or the San Franpoopco earthquake?, is a convenient little dodge the Dems are using to hipppmotizze their undereducated followers.  

And who knows, many are so dense it may work! 

So I guess where you stand depends upon where you sit.  Or in some cases, lay.  And the Democrats wish to so politicize 1/6 that it just may become a National Holiday.  Replace Presidents Day, maybe.  Nothing would surprise me...

33,132 Homeless Veterans...

That's the official number from the Veterans Administration.

33,132.

And more than 17,000 of them are sleeping outdoors on any given night.  On the sidewalks.

And at least one-third of that number "live" in California.  At least 10,000.   

Now while I'm on the subject of our Veterans, why are we spending untold $Billions on "welcoming" millions and millions of illegal aliens, while we have more than 33,000 of those who have fought for us "living" on the sidewalks?

Why?

Maybe somebody who gets this rant will kindly pass it along to anyone with the horsepower it will take to finally force us to deliver on our promises.  As a Nation.  I know those currently in power don't usually do that sort of thing, unfortunately, but maybe, just MAYBE, this time we can force some change...

"Laws and Sausages..."

 In a quote oft attributed to one Otto Von Bismarck,

"If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either being made."

Otto was spot-on.  And we've gotten a Republican dose over the past few days of what that quote really means.

Democrats do it differently.  Since they're all inveterate thieves, they conjure up their nefarious plans behind closed doors.  Politburo style.  In a conspiracy.  They always have, they always will.  They think of Washington, D.C., as the World's Largest Piggy Bank.  

And instead of stealing it, they just print it!  

It's like Bernie Madoff and the current Star Bankman-Fried and the King Himself, Andrew Ponzi on steroids!  Except, unlike Bernie and BK and Ponzi, they'll never be caught.  Or brought to account.  Because they're making up all the laws!   

Face it, Mr. and Mrs. (and Mzzz.) America, I think they're better at it than our folks.  And we're watching that all play out, day, after day, after day...

So I've chosen to revert back to an earlier time when I didn't know what was going on.  I was mucho happier back then, and so I've returned.  Not quite cold turkey, mind you, but certainly minimalist info availability.  You too?    

Would somebody please let me know when the sausage has been made?  I'll be watching the History Channel and Discovery and Reeeeelz until then.  Gotta' stay up on my UFO's and Bigfeet and cops doing mag dumps...

Chuckmeister Out!

1,700,000 Veterans...

There are more than 1,700,000 veterans of military service here in America.  

Veterans of the U. S. Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard and our new Space Force.  Plus the  thousands and thousands of National Guard members.

And I'm guessing there are just about 1,700,000 veterans of military service in America, plus all our Guard folks, who are all shaking their heads in disbelief at the fustercluck unfolding all around us.  

As in a Major FUBAR!  If you're a vet, you know what that means.  If not, look it up.  And I'm one of them, BTW.  Proudly., 

They are seeing America devolve.  Deconstruct.  Come unglued.  Fly apart like a Woolworth watch.  Into its component pieces.  We are a Nation divided.  Black against White.  Young against old.  Rich against poor.  To our mutual peril.    

And I'd also guess that most of us believe that January  27th, 1973 will become a Black Letter Day when some future historian finally writes America's Story.  

From on top of its ashes.  

After we've consumed ourselves in a mountain of debt and a pittifest of self-loathing.

January 27th, 1973 was the day American ended conscription.  The Draft.  That arrangement we've conjured that enables the Gubmint to forcibly yank young men from the comfort of their homes and send them off to fight for us in some distant land.  And sometimes die.  

Over, and over, and over.  And over...

Was our military superior then to the one we have now?  Oh gracious noooo!  It was not nearly as capable.  Or mean.  Or nasty.  Or dedicated.  For our current military is made up of professionals.  All our soldiers and sailors and Marines are volunteers.  They're older, smarter, wiser, better educated and trained and equipped then we were way back when (how about 55 years back?).   

So why am I bitching?  Because "way back when" meant we were all forced to live and eat and drill and work and sleep and fight together, regardless of our age, or race, or religion, or political persuasion.  And as I've stated before, there are no atheists in a foxhole.  Nor are there any racists.  Or sexists.  Or homophobes.  Just fellow soldiers, scared sh*tless, trying to keep each other alive.  And God knows, that's sometimes not easy.

And what it created was a sense of fellowship. And comradery.  And patriotism.  And these returning service members take it back home when they get out.  And it infects their moms and dads, and brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and every single cousin.  And perhaps their neighbors, as well.  

In short, in created a sense of patriotism throughout our Great Country.

Unfortunately, no more.

You should know that 24 countries require their young people to enter into some form of conscription when they reach the age of 18.  And then require a minimum of two years' service (often more) to their respective countries.  Usually in their military, but often in other forms of community service.  The Netherlands, and Israel, and Switzerland, and Denmark, and South Korea, and Greece, and Malta, and Serbia, and on, and on, and on...

And in many cases, they require their soldiers to return home following their service with a fully-automatic weapon that can be brought to bear should a call-up of their national guard prove necessary.  So they have hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of trained warriors just waiting to be called upon to serve in a time of national strife.  

And it's a winning formula.  Switzerland has never been attacked, for instance.  Nor have a dozen other countries I could list.  

Because they believe an armed society is a polite society...

And if one takes a look at the legislation coming out of Washington, and how we're being governed, almost exclusively by those who have never served, you cannot fail to notice that we're screwed.  By those who in many cases hold our military in disdain.  And those paramilitary organizations which protect our cities and our borders from assault.  And they prove it every time they allocate funding.  Let's you know where their priorities are...  

One must now realize that ending our Draft may well have contributed to the end of America.  

I sure hope not.  But it doesn't look good...  

"It Is What It Is"

It just might surprise some of my less well read compatriots out there that the above phrase "It is what it is," was first penned by one William Shakespeare in a sonnet more than 500 years ago.

It was then dredged up back in the 1980's when a few sports "stars" sought reasons to escape blame for less than spectacular performances.  

And now, it appears that everyone with a limited vocabulary (and I.Q.?) utter it seemingly non-stop.  And to me it's like fingernails on a blackboard.  I simply abhor it, as well as other equally ignorant ways to butcher the English language.

Ya' want some more?  Okay, here goes.

I hate the term, "Whatever."  As in, "Meh..."  And "My bad," as opposed to saying, "I'm sorry, I apologize."

And also "No problem."  That's a lazy way to say, "It's okay, you're a dolt, but I forgive you."  Weak.    

And "Like."  That's a way some of us try to glue two sentences together without giving the other party a chance to speak.  The same with, "Ya' know."  

But my all time favorite is, "Nomsayin?'" Stop saying that!  And all the other lazy phrases that give us an insight into one's intellect.

And not a very good one.

So as we rush headlong into a problem-fraught 2023, which neither you nor I can do a damn thing about, I'd just like us all to clean up our language.  Speak as if you're as educated as I know you are.  Just stop being lip-lazy, and simulfriggintaneously, make others think you're smart.  

Whether you are or not.

And "Not for nothing," it would be totally "Awesome" if you did, but "No worries" if you don't...