The Law of Unintended Consequences.

This is what happens when you don't think things through...

O'Biden told us when he was on the campaign trail back on September 19th, 2019 that if we'd just send him to the White House, he'd (illegally) import 3 million new "migrants" a year.  Every year.  

Google it if you doubt me.

And as I've said repeatedly, it's one of the only campaign promises he's kept.  

But I'm thinking Good Ol' Joe and the folks who are pulling those strings coming out of his back (can you say B. Hussein O'Bama?), never even considered that the Guv of Texas would pass along some of his new "guests."  As in, stack buses full of them and send them off to New Yawk City.  And ChicaGO.  And Lost Angeles.

He called it, "Sharing the Wealth."

Never even considered that he wouldn't just stick them somewhere (hey, there's lots of room in Texas, right?), have them vote, turn Texas a bright "Blue," and be done with it.  

Governor Abbott had put the threat to do exactly what he's been doing into a letter which he tried to give O'Biden back when he landed on Dallas' tarmac one fine day a couple of years back.  But O'Biden refused to take it.  Being the addled, opinionated, money-grubbing, cantankerous old snot that he is.  So Abbott got into the travel business.  And into making Adam's life miserable.  And that commie socialist pr*ck in ChicaGO.  And the dummies in Lost Angeles...

Since Abbott started that steady stream of "vacationers" up to the Roosevelt Hotel, NYC has received 133,000 new Wards of the City.  Thus far.  And cost the City's taxpayers some $4.5 Billion Dollars, so far.  And because this NYC declared itself a "sanctuary city."  Now pay careful attention here: it made itself legally liable for any bum or derelict or assassin or "climate refugee" or mental defect from anywhere, for any reason, who might show up and ask for a handout.  Like lodging, meals, education, entertainment, everything.  Or now, maybe show up on a bus...

Are they nuts?

Even after having received more than 100,000 of these "gifts," Adams got his City Council to hold a vote to rescind its "sanctuary" policies.  He begged them to do so.

        AND IT VOTED TO CONTINUE THEM!

It's costing NYC's taxpayers more than $160.00 per illegal, per day, at the Roosevelt Hotel.  And the entire 500 room hotel is full of illegals.  Plus 23 other "migrant sanctuaries."  Do the math.

IS THIS CITY NUTS?

Apparently so.  Adam's just announced he's cutting services to NYC's taxpayers 10% in order to feed and clothe these criminal bums.*  10% less garbage pickup, 10% fewer cops, 10% less teachers.  No wonder so many New Yawkers are fleeing to Florida.  Can you blame them?  

And the self-declared socialist mayor of ChicaGO has tried to have bus drivers who deliver illegals to his city arrested, and their busses confiscated.  Can you say Kim Jong the Il?  He and Adams have even gone so far as to sue the bus companies for being...bus companies.  So Abbott is now FLYING illegals to the Windy City.  

Touche, you commie!

Pretty soon there will be nobody left in NYC except pickpockets and the talking heads at MSPMS.  And pretty soon there will be nobody left in ChicaGO...at all.

I wonder if the "Progressive" pukes who decided to open up the border and let in 12 Million new illegal immigrants ever imagined, in their wildest dreams, that Gov Abbott would pick up the gauntlet and "share the wealth."  This, fellow Patriots, is called...

    "The Law of Unintended Consequences."  

You try to screw Red States far, far away, never expecting to have to pay a price for your blatant hypocrisy and elitist, high-minded smuggery, and get it broke off in your a*s.  It's like chess.  You've got to play several moves ahead.  Ain't life grand? 

(This is me stifling a sly, muffled chuckle...)    

Maybe it's the Way I Was Raised...

I wonder why so many of our young men today appear so, ummm, well, soft and squishy and doughy and weak-looking.  And acting.  And immensely overprivileged.  And have lived so long in the Free America their forefathers fought and died for, they've come to expect it.

For themselves, but not necessarily for others.  

And they seem to wander around aimlessly.  Their baseball caps on backwards.  While they shield their eyes from the sun with their hands.  Looking like fools. 

Even our "poor" folks have two flat screen TV's!  And save for a few surfers, and body builders, and yoga practitioners (I have one in the family!), most of our youth of today seem to spend more time staring at video games then they do out in the woods.    

Camping and fishing and hunting and learning how to live off the land seems soooo passe these days!  Nobody does that anymore, I guess.  Or at least nobody around me here in "Soft-afornia."  I cannot recall seeing an ad for the Boy Scouts in years.  Decades!  Young folks today seem to get their exercise only from "the gym."   If they're one of the only 11% of them who actually have gym memberships.  

And that's one of the reasons the U. S. Army had to dumb down its physical entrance exams recently, or else far too many of our young men and women would simply fail to make the cut.  

And not just physically, mentally as well.

And that's assuming they're actually interested in joining our military services.  Which it appears they are not.  ALL of our military services are down on their recruiting, posing a substantial risk to our national defense.  My alma mater U. S. Army was down 12%!  It had to eliminate two full divisions because it could no longer staff them, fergodssake!  Do we attribute that to a decided lack of patriotism (quite possibly), or simply because they're a bunch of ignorant, lazy slugs (most likely)?  

So why am I, The Chuckmeister, bitching about the sad situation unfolding around me?  And the scary future it portends for my kids, and their kids?  I've thought about that quite a bit lately.  And I think I have an answer.  

         Maybe it's the way I was raised...          

For starters, I was given a .22 rifle for my 8th birthday.

A single-shot Stevens .22 rifle it was, with which I learned gun safety.  And how to handle and use a firearm.  Rules which have stayed with me all of my life.  And rules I've taught to thousands of fellow soldiers, and dozens of friends and neighbors, and everyone in my family. 

My Dad was a famed, award-winning target shooter, and a great hunter, so I came by my love of guns and hunting early on.  And his love of the outdoors and the shooting sports was not unique, BTW.  

It was shared by everyone I knew.  In fact, our local school district gave us the day off every year on November 11th.  That's the day deer season opens. 

And since my Dad was also friends with the owner of our local gun store, I was happily apprenticed to him as a gunsmith.  

At the age of 12.

And this wasn't a case of "indentured servitude."  I fell in love with guns and hunting early on, and leapt at the chance to become a gunsmith.

By the age of 14 I was building custom sporting and varmint rifles for my mentor's customers.  I doubt they knew a kid was doing the building of their $Multi-Hundred dollar rifles in my mentor's back room.  And that was big money back then.  

My mentor paid me mostly in gun parts and ammunition.  Lots and lots of ammunition.  Barrels, rifled actions, telescopic sights, triggers and scope mounts.  And my 1st cousin just happened to be Reinhardt Fajen, the foremost stock maker in all of America at the time.  He was located on the Lake of the Ozarks, just a short drive from my home.  So I'd visit him often and bring back stock blanks.  Those are the rough-cut pieces of rare wood from which gun stocks are formed.  Birdseye Maple, Kentucky Black Oak and Circassian Fiddleback Walnut were a few of my favorites.

I used these parts to build several custom rifles for myself along the line.  My personal favorite was a .270 Winchester (7mm) varmint and medium-sized game rifle.  It used a Timken Bearing Steel bull barrel, and a model 98 Mauser Magnum action.  

I used a Jaeger adjustable Trigger and an Ace Trigger Shoe.  Plus, a Lyman Wolverine 10x scope and Redfield Jr. quick-detachable, helium-filled mounts.   Oh, and a beautiful Circassian fiddleback walnut Stock, featuring a fiberglass-bedded action and a free-floating barrel channel to insure accuracy.  Plus quick-detachable sling mounts, of course. I produced a full-Beavertail fore end with full scoop cheekpiece to enhance accuracy.  And boy, did it shine!  Like a diamond in a goat's a*s, it did!  I spent more than 100 hours finishing that stock, and it looked like it!  

That rifle weighed in at 13 and 1/2 pounds and featured a 30" bull barrel.  The diameter of your thumb.  It was so accurate I placed five shots into a playing card at...600 yards.  Yeah.

And that was at the age of 14.

I should also add that I'd been a Cub Scout since the age of 8, and a Boy Scout ever since.  I was tapped into the Tribe Mic-o-Say, a Scouting fraternity honoring our Native American brothers and sisters.  It requires its new inductees to spend several nights in the forest, alone, with nothing more than 3 matches, a pocket knife and their Boy Scout training.    

At the age of 13.

I was also a member of two quick-draw clubs by the age of 15.  Cowboy-style Colt .45 revolvers at five paces, judged by how quickly and how accurately one responds when the light blinks on.  If you miss the target, the shot doesn't count.  My best effort was 0.279 seconds.  The standard reaction time is about 0.250 seconds, BTW.

I was additionally a member of an NRA club in which we shot WW1 issue, 1903-A3 Springfield .30-06 bolt action rifles at man-sized targets.  At 1,000 yards.  Open sights, no scopes.  One-fifth of a mile.  Think about that.       

And also I shot both trap and skeet, the most popular shotgun sports.  Loved them both.  Won many competitions, also.  

By the age of 16.

I then I became an Explorer Scout.  And then an Eagle Scout, with two Oak Leaf Clusters.  And the coveted God and Country Award.  I also earned 33 merit badges, indicating mastery over numerous specialties.  

All by the age of 17.

I amassed an armory of some 50 firearms by the time I was "invited" to attend our Viet Nam "Police Action."  (We don't have wars anymore, nor do we win them).  And then I set the all-time Rifle Range Course Record at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, during my Basic Training.  998 out of 1,000.  A record that still stands today, BTW.  

And while in the Army I was the Rifle Range Officer at two military posts.  And also CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiological) Officer at both bases.  

I was also my battalion drill sergeant, BTW.

Of interest, I also came in 4th at the "SchwartzWaldenFest" pistol competition in 1968.  It was the regional qualifier for the 1968 Olympics.  Had I placed 3rd or better, I would have qualified for the German Pistol Team...as an American soldier. Think about that.  I'm still thinking about it... 

I also completed the U. S. Army Ranger Short Course at Ft. Benning, GA.  It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life.      

Since then I've continued to "keep and bear" firearms in defense of my freedom and the freedom of those around me.  I try never to be more than 6 feet from something with "magnum" in its name.  And I stopped buying ammo when I couldn't see over or around it.  It's my assumption that everyone within 30 yards of me in any direction is safer having me around.  And I'd recommend everyone else do the same.

I recall the above and choose to retell it for you not to brag about any personal accomplishments.  Most of it came as a consequence of where I was born and where I was raised.  And nearly everyone I knew had a background similar to mine.  

So I offer it to provide a stark comparison between my Midwestern upbringing and the lifestyle afforded to our youth of today.  I remember my job one summer "bucking" 80 pound bales of hay in 100 degree heat.  At $ten cents a bale.  Yep, be born and raised in California and expect nothing more injurious or discomforting then the occasional hangnail.  No sweating, no straining, no risks, and no rewards.

               Just a "Plain Vanilla" life.

And also no receptor sites to possibly understand what it's like to be born and raised where they actually work for a living.  Where they ride tractors from dusk 'til dawn growing our food.  And sweat and strain making our cars, and building our homes, and drilling for our oil.  The same oil our Gen Z fools despise and so wish would simply disappear. 

Global Warming, doncha' know... 

Oh, and, hunting deer, and rabbits, and squirrels and wild hogs to put meat in the freezer.  Or else their families would go hungry.  Just like they did 400 years ago.  And 4,000 years ago.  And they're doing right now, as this is written.  I remind my readers that more than 600,000 hunters filed for deer tags in Missouri last year.  

I took a deer every year from the age of 12 until 18, BTW.  I stopped when I grew tired of dodging errant bullets from big city "hunters," all juiced up with "aiming fluid."  

The stories I could tell...

Remember the movie "Red Dawn?"  The one where a few dozen of our Redneck youth tried to fend off the invading Red Army?  I'm pretty sure our current crop of Gen-Z'ers might just bargain away America's freedom for a warm bed, some vitamin water and a nice cup of kale soup...

Those of us who've been to war can hear the war drums beating.  Those who haven't, can't.  And those who can't...are unfortunately the ones in charge.  God help us.

Through it all, these experiences have made me self-reliant.  I've learned to depend upon no one but myself.  For anything.  And I'm always prepared.  For anything.  As an example, of the thousands and thousands of appointments of all kinds I've made and kept throughout my career, I can honestly say I don't recall ever being late for a single one.

Like my Dad always said, "Ya' got to do what you need to do to get to where you want to be."  Good advice, Dad.  It's helped me excel and compete.  And win. 

Are you prepared?  Are you ready for what life throws at you?  If your family doesn't fit the above narrative, good.  But if it does, there still may be time to get right with reality.  Start realizing that YOU are in charge of the safety and security of your family.  The cops aren't.  The politicians aren't.  Never were, never will be.  

And the sooner "Soft-afornia" and the rest of America learns that, the better off we'll all be...

Interstate - 70.

I'd invite you to take a look at a map of America.

You see Interstate Highway "70?"  Did you know it's 2,153.13 miles long?

And that it transects 10 states?  Right down the middle of our Country?  About half our geography on the North, and the other half on the South?  

Did you know that I-70 begins in a parking lot in Woodlawn, Maryland, and ends in Cove Fort, Utah?  The tiniest town in Utah, I believe?  (Although most Utah towns are tiny.)

(NOTE:  Why it stops there instead of continuing on through the rest of the Utah desert and across the Nevada desert, is because there were no large population centers west of Cove Fort.  Remember, I-70 was built back in the '50's, when Cove Fort and everything West of it, was pretty much devoid of humankind. 

As in, there's a stretch of 110 miles West of Cove Fort without a single town or offramp or gas station or rest area.  Like the surface of the Moon.  I know, I've travelled it.  And it can really tighten your secondary orifice.   

And I-15 wanders on down to Lost Angeles, removing a major reason to extend I-70.  Then, as well as now...

Aren't you glad you read my unassuming little blog?  Don't you learn all sorts of interesting stuff?  

Anyway, I was just taking that "30,000 foot view," as I am wont to do, and thought that I-70 would make a nice, neat dividing line for the coming Civil War.  That would be Civil War 2.0.

And we know that because the residents of those Big Blue Cities "up there," centered in Washington, D.C., the "Home of the Swamp," pass all sorts of laws and rules and regulations without any consideration whatsoever for the negative effects they might have on the residents of the Rest of the Country.    

And the Rest of the Country is far beyond pissed.

We all know that most of our population "lives" in Big Blue Northern Cities.  It's about 58%, I believe.  But the Democrats' foolish socialist policies they've implemented over the past few years has caused many of their Party regulars to bolt.  To run like bandits from the Democrat Party.  

To cities located south of I-70, doncha' know.

And even though those Democrats are importing "New Democrats-to-be" at a furious rate, across our Wide Open Southern Border, from 158 countries, so far, I doubt it will be enough to stem that "outmigration."  From New Yawk, and ChicaGO, and Lost Angeles, and San Franpoopco.

So yes, there will still be pockets of resistance, when "the balloon goes up," like in Atlanta, and Austin, and Albuquerque, and Richmond, and Dallas, and Phoenix.  Places where people have moved to suck off the teat of us taxpayers.  They're not going to be happy to see their meal ticket go away.  So they'll probably join up with those "Nawtheners" when the lead starts to fly.  And trust me, it could fly...

But overall, I feel quite positive about the outcome.  Remember, 110 million Americans own 550,000,000 guns.  That's one-third of all people and households.  And most of those people, and most of those guns, and most of the households...are South of I-70.

Ya' get it?

So one of these days some dummmass ruling out of the O'Biden Administration, like mandating we buy those stupid electric cars, or cancelling everybody's student debt, or choosing to abandon Israel when they need us most, will "trigger" - literally - half of the population.  And then, as they used to say, "It's Katy bar the door!"  (I don't know what that meant back then, but I sure know what it means today.)

And it's not good for them there "Nawtheners."

P.S.  There's still time to get right with the Right.  But ya' better hurry...

MickeyD's...

In follow-up to a recent posting, one focused upon how ignorant and stupid and foolish Government policies can negatively impact prices, cause inflation and hurt the poor (what else is new?), I thought I'd take a trip back in time to give my readers a graphic example.  

I recall the first time we heard about one of those brand-new McDonalds restaurants opening near us.  Me and my buds.  Out there in the hinterlands as we were at the time, in very rural Missouri.  Very rural.

So I put together a group of us guys and we drove some 65 miles to the first one to open near us.  It was in St. Joseph, Missouri, and driving 65 miles for a burger advertised night and day on TV sounded like the right thing to do at the time.  Especially since gasoline cost $0.23 cents a gallon at the time.  Yeah.  

We arrived around dark, parked, and went up to the window (there was no drive-thru lanes back then).  I don't recall what my friends ordered, but I had two cheeseburgers, two fries and a vanilla shake.  And got change back out of a $One Dollar Bill!

If you doubt me, I checked their prices back in 1963:  

     -  Cheeseburgers:  $0.19.  

     -  Hamburgers:  $0.15.  

     -  Fries:  $0.10.  

     -  Shakes:  $0.20.  

My total?  $0.78!  Cha-ching!  $Twenty Two Cents back out of my dollar!  Because Missouri wasn't charging sales tax at the time.  I liked it better back then.

What brought all that up was my reading about the poor guy in one of our Blue States who stopped in his local McD's and ordered a Big Mac, large fries and a shake.  His total?

                         $18.19!

Why?  Because Liberals have successfully erased McD's position as our Country's 1st job.  It used to be that fully one out of eight of us got our start working in a McDonalds.  13% of our total population.

Now?  Nobody works at anything!  But here in Taxifornia, our BoyGuv Newsom just wet-dreamed up a new law making the MinWage $20.00 an hour for workers in any fast food operation with 60 stores or more.  Now, it should be known to all my Fellow Patriots out there that CA's MinWage is currently $15.00 (against a Fed MinWage of $7.25!).  Meaning, McDonalds is screwed, due to its own success.  Its smaller competitors skate.  And because our BoyGuv is a dick.

I remind everyone that the starting pay for our Soldiers and Sailors and Marines is just about $15.00 an hour.  For getting shot at! 

So McDonalds is now competing with white tablecloth, sit-down restaurants.  Which means it will slowly go broke.  And so will its fellow competitors.  Their franchisees will not be able to continue without enormous price increases.  And folks won't be able to pay those prices, making "fast food" a province of the rich.  

And the owners will be forced to reduce employee hours, lay off staff, employ expensive automation (robots), reduce store hours, and, if none of that works, go out of business.  Quite possibly taking the franchisors, the McD's and the Burger Kings and the Wendy's corporate operations with them.  Because a franchisee that can't earn a profit can't pay its franchise fees.  No franchise fees, no franchisors.      

Thank you, BoyGuv!  You've not only pummeled California into a $74,000,000,000 (with a "B") budget hole, which cannot be filled, our young and dumb voters who can no longer afford a Happy Meal, will probably reward you with a stint or two in the White House!  So you can screw America like you've screwed California!  

I'm glad I won't be around to see it... 

A Black Lesbian Dwarf...

As you may know, I, The Chuckmeister, Your Humble Servant, your Scribe Without Portfolio, in an effort to assimilate with the legions of idiots surrounding me on all sides, identify as a Black, Lesbian transvestite Gypsy.  And blind.  And a paraplegic.  A Black Gay Tranny Gypsy Dwarf who's Blind and can't walk.  

(I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to capitalize all those identifiers, but it don't cost nuthin,' so I'll go ahead and do it).  

And identifying also as one with mild to moderate Plaque Psoriasis.  Don't want to leave that out.    

And I continually wonder about other minimized and victimized groups I might also identify with to aid me in my quest.  A quest to raid the Public Coffers of taxpayers' wealth as the public servants they chose to elect mistreat me in the course of their duties.  Because misidentifying and/or misgendering poor put-upon folks like me can pay Big Bucks!  

It's like a full-time job just getting mistreated for $Cash!

BTW, do those identifying as a lesbian who also identifies as gay, mean that our lesbian (me!) likes women, again?  Which means nothing will have changed?  I'll still be a heteronormative (whatever that means) male in a transgender-preferring society.  Except I'll have plenty of money the courts will have awarded me because I'd been treated badly by public servants.  And I'll be able to join up with those folks who belong to that LBJTL123ABD+++ crowd.  

Because I hear they have the best parties.

Oh yeah, I'm hoping for an early resolution on those reparations.  'Cause a Gay Black Dwarf has expenses, doncha' know!  Especially one who's both Blind and can't walk!  So let's get this whole reparations thing figured out, shall we?  I have an appointment with my Porsche dealer and time, as they say, waits for no Dwarf...

I Wonder What Would Happen?

So you take a State filled with about 20,000,000 people, mostly from somewhere else (nice weather, doncha' know), all of them with cars, sometimes even two, and force them to commute on its aging highways and byways.  Which are of a finite size.  As in, they don't get any longer or wider with age.

And that was when I got here.  Back in the 1970's.  Along with millions of others.  All driving on those same antiquated highways.  A highway system built back in the 1950's.  When the population was 9,000,000.  When only half the people had cars.

California was already known Nationwide as having the very worst stop-and-go traffic.  The very longest commute.  Made famous by Johnnie Carson.  And I can attest to that fact.  I've spent countless unproductive hours roasting on them.  

I wonder what would happen if we doubled the population and raped their pocketbooks in gas taxes, and yet did absolutely squat about new highway construction?

So now, lemme' bring you up to date.  I've been here some 40 years.  In that period California's population has doubled.  To some 41,340,000 today.  According to the Census Bureau.  Not sure if that number includes the 3 or 8 or 23 million illegal aliens living here in the shadows.

And the last freeway built here was I-105, an 11.5 mile connector between the I-605 and the I-405.  Only.  A measly connector.  From one old freeway to our oldest old freeway.  And it opened in 1993.  Thirty Years Ago!  In short, the population has doubled, and No New Freeways.

Yet, California has the very highest gas taxes in the entire Country.  It's $0.63.5 cents a gallon now, and going up another $0.50 cents a gallon next January.  Perhaps that's why we have $5.00 gas.  $6.00 and $7.00 a gallon in some places.  While the National average is $3.54 today.  And let there be no doubt.  All of this is intended to force folks out of their ICE (internal combustion engines) cars and into those PIE (Plug-in-Electrics) that they do not wan.   

That means they're going to try and make you buy cars you can't afford, and plug them in to chargers you can't afford, and then try to maintain them, which you can't afford.

I wonder what would happen if a state were to try and force its socialist policies down the throats of its citizens?  To try and make them them do what all the good little socialists do?  I wonder what would happen if one of our states actually went that far?*

We don't have to wonder.  Just try and rent a U-Haul trailer.  To anywhere.  If you can find one its rental rate will lift you out of your loafers.  But you can easily rent a U-Haul to here from anywhere else.  Sometimes FOR FREE!  Hey, they have to get them back here from Colorado and Nevada and Arizona and Texas and Florida somehow, now don't they?    

But they're the elite, right?  They're supposed to know how to run stuff, right?  So we shouldn't worry a bit.  Just take it.  Just roll over, spread your cheeks and let them break it off in you.  

Well, maybe not. Maybe some of the folks here in the once-Golden State are damn tired of being ordered around.  Of being told what to do.  And told what to buy.  In what should be a "market economy."  And would be if this were not a pre-socialist, near dictatorship, brought on you by BoyGuv and his Democrat friends in High Places.  And maybe that's why more than One Million High-Earning, now ex-Taxifornians have bolted this State for greener pastures.  

          And any pasture is now greener!

I've Resolved the Abortion "Problem"

Let' me start at the end and work backwards:

Just take your Voter I.D. Card to Your Local Planned Parenthood!

Okay, got it?  That's the gist of it.  You can go back to whatever you were doing.  

Otherwise, yes, fellow Patriots, we have an abortion "problem." And I've come up with an abortion "solution."  

That "problem" having occurred since "Roe v. Wade" was overturned a couple of years back.  That "problem" having occurred since some Liberal/ Progressive women can't seem to understand that their state now controls their reproductive access, not nine old farts in robes at the Supreme Court.  

Because why?  Because "Roe" was unconstitutional.  It resulted from a few squishy Supremes bending themselves into knots trying to find some "privacy" issue in the Constitution.  It was wrong when they found it, and it's wrong today.  As today's Court so adjudged.  

And now that our womenfolk have literally been freed of any decision by those from afar purporting to control their reproductive access, those same womenfolk appear to want that same restrictive decision reinstated.  

Back to the future, so to speak.  

And no, for those of you who may be holding out hope, Roe v. Wade will never again become law.  Like it or not.  So get used to living with a thing called "States Rights."  Where the legislators in the state in which you reside will write the laws.  And you have to live within that set of laws.  And if you don't like them, then...

...you're free to vote with your feet.

For instance, (long sentence coming), if you live in Boston, or Portland, or Seattle, or San Franpoopco, or Lost Angeles, or St. Louis, or Baltimore, or Chicago, or Atlanta, or any of several dozen other Big Blue Cities where most all our citizens live, and you don't like that level of freedom, you can move to a Conservative State where you can't kill your future babies all willy nilly like.  There will be some limitations on abortion.  And if that's what you want, you're welcome to it...

Except, even with their current level of freedom to abort-on-demand, it seems most of the bitching and moaning is coming from women in our Biggest and Bluest States.  How about that?

The perplexing political problem is, Republicans believe abortion is medically necessary sometimes, but otherwise is the awful and sinful waste of a God-given life.  And that's to be avoided.  Wherever and whenever possible.  And at all costs.  

However, most reasonable Republicans are more than willing to agree there should be a number of weeks beyond which abortion may not be accessed.  Something like 16 weeks is what I hear.  Because they believe abortion is the taking of a nascent life, and they're against it.

And Democrats want no limits at all on abortion.  None.  No "number of weeks."  No nothing.  They want abortion available from the "morning after," using a pill, and up until the absolute moment of birth.  And in some cases, the uber-Liberal ones, even afterwards (ahem!).  

I've heard up until the third grade, if things aren't working out...    

So the battle is being fought in the center.  Between the two extremes; limited abortion, and no limits on abortion.  And our upcoming Election hangs in the balance. 

I suggest the following:  If you believe that babies in the womb are nothing but a mass of protoplasm, and that abortion should be used as birth control, then by all means vote Democrat.

And if you believe that babies in the womb are our future, the very reason we were put here, by God, most believe, and that abortion outside of medical necessity is unwanted and unwarranted, then by all means vote Republican.  

And that's how the laws ought to be written: Let Democrats abort way, and Republicans, save lives wherever you can.  Just simply show your voter I.D. card at the voting booth, and the maternity ward, and especially at Planned Parenthood, to get official dispensation.  To get either applauded or rewarded.  Let's finally make abortion the political question it's always been...  

Babies come out the Red Door,

receipts come out the Blue Door.

The way I figure it, it won't take more than a couple or three generations before this self-limiting problem will just "go away."  Along with the Democrat Party.  Think about it...

There.  I've figured it out.  Next difficult question?

I'm Now in The Minority!

We've been told for decades that being a minority here in America makes life unbearable!  That minorities are  being mistreated!  We force them to mow our lawns and pick our fruit and clean up after us.  So we need to give them lots of stuff, and $Cash, too, in order to make them feel nice and warm and fuzzy.     

And they've been bullied!  And pulled over and ticketed unnecessarily by the cops!  And you can't get the job you want, or get into the school you want, or get the loan you want, or get the pay you want!  And you're not rich and famous!

Dayummm, life is tough for minorities! 

I didn't believe them, of course, because our police represent the public in terms of racial dispersion.  In fact, Blacks are represented in our police ranks more than double their national percentage.  So mistreating one race or another seemed unlikely.  

And there are laws to keep all those other things from happening to our "lessers," right?  And that our Justice Department would swoop in an grab up any Bad Guy who was dumb enough to mistreat our little Brown and Black and Yellow and Red citizens, right?  Whether they're citizens or not, right?  

RIGHT?  

But they've kept on complaining to the point it was like a gnat buzzing around inside your helmet.  An irritant you just couldn't shake.  They just kept bitching and moaning about the way they're being treated.  And I said to myself, "Jeeez, Mr. Chuckmeister!  Things aren't all that good for me, either!"  And then I found out what they meant.  I did a little research and guess what I found out?

White people are now in the Minority here in Taxifornia!  

Seriously in the minority, I'm telling  you!  Not just a little bit!  One would have thought you'd have heard we were tippling into the minority way back when it was close, wouldn't you?  When it was like, oh, 51% - 49%?  Shouldn't the "State Media" have done their job and kept us informed? (Bwuuhh ha ha!)

But Nooooo!

According to our Federal Gubmint, 39.4% of us CA citizens are Hispanic or Latino.  Not sure what's the difference, but maybe you do.

And we Whites, who used to be in the Majority here, come in at a miniscule 34.7%.  Not even in the 40's!

Number Three is Asians at 16.1%.  With 5.6% Black, 1.5% "Multi-Nation," whatever that means, and 0.4%  Pacific Islanders. 

I'm half Irish and half English.  Doesn't that make me "Multi-Nation," too?

When I got here back in the '70's Whites represented more than 69% of CA's population.  And life was good.  Our reservoirs were topped off, cops were plentiful and happy, our treasurer's coffers were full, everybody carried guns, the crime rate was low, gas was cheap and Republicans were in control.  And then, like a cancer, the Leftists began to sneak in.  First they took over the school boards.  Then the mayor's offices.  And then the governor!  Like I love to say, "You let a camel get his nose under the tent, pretty soon you have a camel inside your tent."

      We have a camel in our tent.

We're in a world of hurt, Fellow Patriots!  CA's budget deficit is now $74 Jillion Dollars Upside Down!  And our BoyGuv is offering free sex change operations to Venezuelan MS-13 transvestite gang members!  And abortions on demand, for anyone in the entire world, including airfare and lodging on the Modified American Meal Plan.  With us poor taxpayers footing the bills!  

And BoyGuv has opened our borders and Millions and Millions of illegal aliens are flooding in!  Future wards of the State.  Welcomed in!  With no end in sight!  

So yes, all I can figure is the reason I'm being mistreated is because I'm...WHITE!  I'm being treated like the Blacks used to be before their votes were so coveted.  And the Hispanics/Latinos (what's that difference, again?) used to be.  Like the Indians (oops!  I mean "Indigenous First Nation Personages") used to be!  We are now...

I may have to sell my car 'cause it's too nice for a poor schlub like me to own and drive.

Is there some sort of Federal commission I can complain to?  Someone I can sue?  And get reparations, maybe?   

Because I'm a Minority, maybe?  

 

The "Missouri Missile."

For a couple of years while I was pretending to attend college I was a paid "stringer" for some car magazines.

A stringer is somebody who takes photos "on the come."  Not paid to take them, but if one or more is found print-worthy, then the magazines will buy it.  And what they were paying for were photos and copy from our smaller Midwestern drag strips.  As in, cars going really fast in a quarter mile.  

As it happened, I lived close to Kansas City International Dragway at the time, which was a pretty big deal back then.  It was a big strip in a big town that wasn't Los Angeles.  Where almost all the Midwestern action was centered.  But the magazines knew there was a vibrant drag scene across our fruited plain.  And they wanted some pictures.  And I was glad to help out.

i recall one race in particular.  It was the American Hot Rod Association's Summer Nationals.  A guy named Lou Cangelosi was attempting to break the then A/A Top Fuel Dragster record. It was 8:01 seconds at the time and 199.02 mph, in 1,320 feet.*  

Cangelosi's dragster, named the "Missouri Missile," was the most beautiful car I'd ever seen.  It was painted a flawless creme color over a rich purple, with a 24-karat gold pinstriping separating the two.  Everything that was metal on this car was chromed, and it shined like a diamond in a goat's a*s.  When not racing this "rail," as they're were called, since they're 20 feet long and skinny, it went on the show car circuit, so fans across the Land could ogle it.  Up close and personal.  And trust me, it was ogle-worthy. 

Well, I'd bought a really nice Nikon camera with a telephoto lens (shooting pool for money paid well).  And I was going to get some killer shots for Hot Rod Magazine, and Motor Trend.  And Auto Week.  And any other mag that would buy them.  So I decided to position myself in a lone tree about 10 yards past the finish line.  I climbed up about 12 feet in the air and got comfortable.  Strapped to a branch.  While I waited for the finals.  And good ol' Lou's record-blasting effort.  

It was to be memorable, as you'll soon learn.  

This was back in the days before super-lightweight disc brakes.  They were still using iron-lined drum brakes, which weighed about 20 lbs. per axle.  So Lou had his crew remove the brake drums to save weight.  So he could race himself into the record books.  

Lou was 65 years old at the time, and that was considered old back then.  He'd sold his dragster to an unnamed buyer and decided to retire from racing.  But not from his Day Job as the Mob Capo in Kansas City.  An actual Italian mobster drag racer.  Go figure!  So he decided to throw caution to the wind for this, his last race.  After all, he had a parachute, right?  He'd use the parachute to stop him from 200 miles per hour, right?  It had always worked before, right?

So I'm strapped to a branch in a tree.  Cangelosi and another racer pulled to the line.  They both did a burnout to heat their tires and pulled into the starting beams.  I'm snapping pictures like crazy.  The "Christmas tree" counted down and the green light blinked on.  The drivers left the starting line in a cloud of smoke and the roar of 3,000 combined horsepower, and headed toward me.  Furiously.  And loudly!  The sound of a Hell unleashed was on the way!  Within a veritable eye blink they whizzed past me and toward the strip's end.  With their chutes hopefully blossoming.  

Oh but wait!  Cangelosi's chute popped out, and then ripped off!  It had torn loose.  And without back brakes, stopping it was impossible.  Lou's car made an awful "whoo-oom, whoo-oom, whoo-om" sound as it whished by.  For just a couple of seconds.  And what was to happen next is still talked about in Kansas City.

It seems like this dragstrip decided to put one of those train railcar siding thingies at the end.  One of those wooden ones.  There was a quarter mile of dragstrip, an eighth mile of shutoff space, another 100 yards of sand to stop anything, and finally, this siding ramp.  The kind you use to get on up to the level of a boxcar so you can load and unload it.  Up at sort of a 45-degree angle, made out of wood and iron.  And the Strip's owner had decided to put one at the dragstrip's end in the unlikely event, he thought, a car might STILL need it to come to a stop.  If it was still rolling, that is.

Well, fellow Pilgrims, the Missouri Missile was still rolling.

Screaming by, as it turned out!  With nothing to slow him down, Cangelosi went by me at about 180 mph!  The sand slowed him down to maybe 130 mph.  And then he hit the boxcar siding ramp a good 100 mph.  And it launched him into the air like a Falcon rocket!  

I'd guess he vaulted at least 150 feet into the air from that siding ramp!  And then it pirouetted ever so slowly over to its left, and then morphed into a dart.  With the front end pointed straight down.  It made the most awful crunching sound as it crumpled into the Earth.  And then exploded into a cloud of unburned nitromethane.  It burned furiously.  And completely.  Into nothingness.

And of course I was so gob smacked by the whole thing I neglected to take any photos!  It was all I could do to keep from falling out of that damned tree, fergod'ssake!  

Needless to say, by the time the firetruck arrived Cangelosi was toast.  Literally and figuratively.  Burned along with his car into a crisp.  And the Missouri Missile was yesterday's news.  You could put what was left of it easily into the bed of a pickup truck.  Somebody told me they turned it into a coffee table.  

And Lou Cangelosi had retired.  Permanently.  

How's that for irony?

My photos of the wreck and the fire made Hot Rod Magazine and I got a check.  But it could have been a lot bigger if I'd taken photos of this "once-in-a-deathtime" event as it unfolded,  instead of watching it fly by with my mouth open.

Kinda' makes one wonder about karma.  Or is it "Carma?"

*   The current AA/F "Top Fuel" record stands at 3.66 seconds at 341.34 miles per hour.  To think:  Over twice as quick and nearly twice as fast as 50 years ago!  And more than 11,000 horsepower!  And we thought it was fast back then! 

Remember Jeri Ryan?

Jeri Ryan was Borg #9 on "Star Trek, Next Generation."  And she and her husband lived in Chicago, where that series was filmed.  

Everything went just peachy for several years.  Good ratings, the checks cashed, and our attractive babe Jeri was "B List" famous.  And then, the disease that infects half of our married population reared its ugly head; they get divorced.  

And due to her fame, and her hubby's position as an Illinois State Senator, and their desire to protect their children from unwanted publicity, they had their divorce settlement sealed.  By a judge.  In a court of law.  So that nobody would ever be able to take a peek inside and see why they got into their own personal Hell, and how they dissolved their property to get out of it.  Sealed forever.  

                          Riggghhhhttt!

Unless, of course, one B. Hussein Obama wanted to have that "peek."  He was a "Community Organizer" in Chicago at the time, if you'll recall, and had his sights set on elective office.  

Maybe the Very Highest Elective Office, even.

So Barry's "Friends in High Places" managed to use some legal trick to pry open that divorce settlement.  Probably either pics of a live boy or a dead girl were discovered.  Maybe pure evil poured out, who knows?  Seems Jeri and hubby were involved in all sorts of sexual adventures involving other, reportedly willing folks.  And that this reality having surfaced caused hubby State Senator to have to resign from office.  And open it up to...guess who?  

                 Mr. B. Hussein Obama.

He ran for the seat.  He won the seat (hey, it's ChicaGO, where they haven't elected a Republican in more than 61 years!).  And...

     ...153 days later he ran for President.  

And as we all know, he won.  And the next day I started rebuilding my own personal firearms arsenal.  With lots and lots and lots of ammunition.

I'd been watching this guy for some time before he actually "pulled the trigger," so to speak.  Before he came forth with his elective goals and objectives.  But not before he'd spewed his political beliefs all over Chicago.  All over their local airwaves.  And as we all have learned, videos like those you find on YouTube are...

                          ...forever!*

So I searched it.  And I found it.  And came across an interesting video in which our Barry stated openly that he'd

"confiscate every single American's firearms if he could."  

And if he ever achieved the Highest Office in the Land, he said, 

"he'd try to use confiscation to do so."  

That got my attention.  It should have gotten your attention, too.  I wrote about it in a newspaper column I had at the time.**  I wrote about it in this blog.  I alerted you we were all at risk of losing our 2nd Amendment Rights.  And it happened.

Barry executed more than a dozen Executive Orders against guns while in office.  And with the Joe O'Biden as his now-ventriloquist's dummy, a guy who brags all day and all night that he "...went after assault weapons before, and he'll do it again," I started buying guns at a fevered pace.  

    And so did about one-third of America.

And they have not stopped.  150,000,000 firearms were in the hands of Americans the day Barry Obama was immaculated.  Or so the FBI tells us.  And Americans have since been buying them at more than 3.5 million a month!  More than 500 Million Firearms are now owned by 110,000,000+ folks just like you and me!  

Not the folks in Philadelphia, or New York City, or Portland, or San Franpoopco, or Chicago, where their Left-wing politicians have disarmed them, but in the hands of those between the Sierra Nevada and the Appalachians.  Where 70% of our land and half of our American folk live.  

    And will not have their Constitutional Rights deprived.  

I owned more than 50 firearms, pistols, rifles and shotguns, on the day I was drafted into the U. S. Army.  Way back on October 31,1966.  All trick, no treat, BTW.  Since that "police action" in Viet Nam was heating up, I fully expected to die.  So I sold off or gave away my guns in preparation for that eventuality.  And then I raised my hand, took the oath, and prepared to defend my beloved Country.  In a far-off war 8,000 miles away.  

Well, I didn't die, as you've since learned.  And by the time I got home, and finished up school, and got married, and started a family, and a company, I never really saw the need to rebuild my arsenal.  Not with Nixon and not with Bush and not with Clinton, even.  He was a "good ol' boy" from Arkansas, so I knew he knew not to go there.  And certainly not with Trump, whose boys go on African safaris, fergodssake!  And living in the then-Red State of California, where we'd had Reagan for two terms, Wilson for two terms, and even Ahhnold for two terms, I had no concerns at all.  So it was a bit of a shock to see a guy elected to a Constitutional office who'd said he was coming for our guns, 

 In express violation of his Oath of Office.  

But did the "State Media" see it?  Report on it?  Naaahhhh!

So I started stocking up.  Guns, ammo, knives, food, everything.  Fortress Chuckmeister is fully prepared for the Conflagration upcoming.  Whether its with the Russkies or Commie Chinese, or even them Nawtheners in a "Blue v. Red" dustup.  With I-70 as the dividing line between "Us" and "Them."  Or perhaps with the Mumbler-in-Chief's DOJ.  Maybe good ol' Joe will send in the cavalry.  Or maybe the "Cackler-in-Chief" will be in charge by then.  I personally cannot wait to find out...  

And I know a bunch of others who are doing or have done the same.  A Good Bud of mine who lives in Minnesota just purchased his very own silo.  An honest-to-God repurposed missile silo from the Cold War!  For when the "Balloon Goes Up."  He and his Missus will be 231 feet below ground and living it up.  In North Dakota.

Face it:  We all know it simply cannot continue the way it's going.  We've had more than 10,000,000 unvetted illegal aliens from 156 countries invade America.  And another 1,000,000 so-called "gotaways."  Those whose intentions for America can only be bad.  At the invitation of our most Elder Statesman.  In direct violation of our Constitution.

I believe there will be a day when true Patriots are going to have to defend that Constitution - and themselves.  And I believe we'll be ready.  So d.m. me if you're interested in having your very own window to patrol here at the "Fortress" when the time comes.  Please note: I have a limited number of windows, and four sons-in-law, so get ahold of me pdq.  Even if you're a Reformed Democrat...

                       P.S.  I won't tell...  

*      Google it.  I don't think they've been able to scrub all of it.  Or because of their protection by State Media, they just don't care.

**     Yours Truly actually worked for a little daily paper owned by the infamous Lost Angeles Times.  They put up with me until I suggested the massacre at Sandy Hook  might not have occurred had a couple of their teachers and staff been armed.  You know, common sense.  They threw a fit, because Liberals don't believe in self-protection.  They believe the cops will come and save them when Bad Guys threaten.  They haven't learned that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away...

The "New" Economy...

If an entry-level job pays $20.00 an hour here in Taxifornia, but the price of the Happy Meal they're serving now costs $15.99.  Isn't everything pretty much back to normal?  

Aren't we going to be back to where we were before the Chinese tried to kill us with a manufactured bat virus?  And to where our Gubmint shut down the economy and sent us home?  Apparently yes.  So much so that our BoyGuv decided that people who ask, "Would you like fries with that?" deserve to be paid more.  More than entry-level Army soldiers?  More than any other Minimum Wage anywhere in America?  Much more!  So they'd owe him their vote when he runs for higher office, no doubt.

(Which could be as early as the Democrat National Convention, me thinks...)

So I propose that everything's pretty much back to normal, except for the 50,000,000 folks like me who retired on "yesterday's financial reality" and now find themselves in "today's financial reality."  Today's "new" economy.

As in, those retired folks like me have lost 20% of their retirement $Cash.  20% just up and gone in a puff of smoke while the bozos in Washington, D. C. played with themselves.  While our "Rome" burns.

So now the hourly workers are making mucho more per hour!  That's good!  So they can now afford to buy the stuff that's gone up in price due to the exorbitant spending of the O'Biden Administration, right?  RIGHT?  It took in $4.655 Trillion in 2022, and spent $6.134 Trillion in 2022.  The Government, YOUR Government, flooded our economy with  $1.5+ Trillion extra dollars.  To buy stuff that it wanted.  Lots of windmills and solar panels.  And Chevrolets and lumber and computers and casaba melons and bacon and clothing and rope and pencils and Every Other Damn Thing You Can Imagine.  Putting us in competition with those we put in office.  And that produces inflation.  And the definition of inflation remains the same:

"Inflation results when too many dollars are chasing too few goods and services."

You may not know it, but I, The Chuckmeister, am also a graduate economist.  Degree and everything.  Hanging on the wall right over there.  So I know a bit about this whole inflation thing and what causes it.  And I can tell you these periodic bouts of exuberance by Left-leaning governments only result in the ratcheting-up of prices.  Followed rapidly by upticks in the cost of labor, even if strikes prove necessary to accomplish that goal.  Everything just moves up a notch.  

And the public grudgingly gets used to $15.00 burgers.  Bacon extra.  Not counting fries and a drink.  

You used to work an hour for a burger, now you'll still work an hour for a burger.  Except now you'll be in a higher tax bracket.  And have to pay union dues to SEIU.  The folks who got you there.  And BoyGuv up in Sacrascrewyou and the Thieves in The Swamp will love you more.  

Not the "you" you.  Just the "your wallet," you.

And the pendulum will swing to the Right someday, just like it did after Wilson.  And Hoover.  And Roosevelt.  And Johnson.  And especially Carter, under whom I bought my first house.  At 11.5% interest.  And Clinton.  And Obama.  And the future will tell following the exit of our current White House occupant.  

The excesses will all be corrected, most likely by executive orders, causing the economy to settle down.  It will take a few years of restored freedom, and the claw-back of legislative-excesses, and a period of increased profits, and heightened tax collections, before everything will really settle down.  And we'll be back to normal.  

Normal-"ish."

But that will take the pendulum swinging back to the Right.  If it doesn't come swinging back in November, if "The People" choose not to redirect the Ship of State, back to a safer and more productive course, then I predict Alexis de Toqueville will prove prescient in his predictions.

And our Ship-of-State will hit the rocks.

de Toqueville was the 18th Century French philosopher and economist and historian, and big America supporter, who predicted that if we ever failed, if we, America, were ever to be defeated, then it would come as a result of our politicians learning how to buy our votes with our own money.  

Unfortunately, America, that's yesterday's news.

America has outlasted Rome in the length of its small "d" democracy.  We've now become the longest lasting democracy - our Representative Republic - in world history.  So I guess November will tell us how much longer we have to go.

In closing, I'd like to say:

I love my Country.  My Government, not so much...

Two Brothers, One Island, and a Money Machine.

 Do you follow the "Curse of Oak Island?"

You know, the History Channel's Number One show?  The #1 reality show on cable?  And has been for 10 straight years?

Well, I am.  A rabid follower, that is.  And I keep on hoping they don't find the Treasure so that this program can go on.

And on and on.

For those who don't know about this License to Print Money, here's a part of the show opening on the History Channel each Tuesday evening:

     "...To date six men have died trying to solve the mystery.  And according to legend, one more will have to die before the treasure can be found!"

Well okey dokey, then!  A little history lesson.  Don't worry fellow "Oakers," I won't bore you.  So it seems that 212 or so years ago, and it could have been several hundred years before that, somebody or something dug a 100+ foot deep hole on Oak Island.  One of the dozens of little outer islands in the Province of Nova Scotia.  Way up there in Canada.

And the "whoever" could conceivably be either the Spanish, or the Italians, or the French, or the Dutch, or the Vikings, or maybe even the Knights Templar.  Or maybe more than one of the above working in concert, over the centuries. 

And they dug this hole in which to sock away $Millions!  Or maybe $Billions!!!

Yes, I love exclamation points.

And this hole on a tiny island in the middle of a bunch of other tiny islands might even contain the official Menorah!  The Real One!  And the Arc of the Covenant!  And even the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper!

That deserves several !!!!'s, now don't it?

And $Jillions in gold and silver and jewels.  From gold stolen from the Aztecs.  Or silver taken from those on a mission to the Holy Land, way back in the 1100's and the 1200's.  Paid to the Knights Templar for protection.  An early protection racket, later employed by the Italian Mob.  They in fact became the world's first bank, collecting the wealth from travelers upon their departure on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and then paying it back when they returned.  

Minus the few percentage points of "vig," of course.  Just like Visa does today. 

They were reputed to be the Very Richest Corporation on Earth way back when.  Until France's Phillip the 6th asked them to loan him more money.  Increasing his already gargantuan debt.  A request which the Templars politely refused.  Not used to having his requests denied, Phil petitioned the Pope to have them arrested, tried, found guilty, excommunicated and burned at the stake.  Then tarred and feathered and drawn and quartered, with their pieces tossed all over France.

He was pissed. 

The Templars were attacked on the morning of Friday, the 13th of October, the infamous "Black Friday."  The day we all fear as being unlucky.  It certainly was for those Templars who hadn't gotten an early warning and ran for the hills.  And if you believe the legend, which almost everyone does, with their treasure in tow.  First to Spain, where they were welcomed.  And where they then changed their name to the "Poor Warriors for Christ."

It's not generally known, but I've studied the subject and can tell you the Knights had one of the largest navies in the world at that time.  And they either filled their fleet with treasure and sailed off to Scotland, or perhaps to...

...Oak Island.

And the Brothers Lagina, Marty and Rick, who've been digging for this treasure for 11 years, are dedicated to finding it.  And the "finding it" part is a lesson in how to make a staggering amount of money, whether you find treasure or not.

First of all, Marty Lagina is a very successful businessman.  He sold his wind energy business for $58 million before he embarked on this venture.  And he own "Mari Vineyards," in Michigan, which means he has money to throw away.  Which owning a vineyard generally means.  And he then launched this venture on Oak Island with his retired postal worker brother, Rick.  

Rick was a mailman.  Yep.  We should upgrade our perceptions of mailmen smarts in general, me thinks.

But they'd dedicated themselves since childhood to one day digging up that treasure.  Since they'd read about it in the "Readers Digest" decades ago.  And off they went.  Using Marty's money, they bought the Island.  Then brought in a bunch of partners and started digging.  And then the History Channel showed up with a reported $100,000 per episode.  Whether Marty or Rick show up or not.  Not too bad for a treasure hunt.

And that paycheck has been guaranteed for at least the last five years.  And the income from the all-day tours.  And the Museum entrance fees.  And the Interpretive Center visit fees.  And most especially, the wad of $cash they bring in from the NSFTVPIF (Nova Scotia Film and TV Production Incentive Fund).  They're receiving a reported $3.45 Million a Year from this Fund!

Rick's personal wealth has ballooned from a reported $1 Million to $10 million today!  And they haven't even found the Treasure!  

Luuuv those exclamo points!

And I'm betting the guys doing the drilling and scraping and dozing and digging aren't doing this for free, either.  I'm betting they're getting paid, and WELL, from the proceeds of this goldmine.  Key figures in reality shows like this one can expect $10,000 per episode, or even more.  You can bet on it  

Yowzer, Batman!

So like I said, I hope they don't find the treasure.  What would we do then?  There's never been a show like this and never will again.  But if they grow tired of wallowing in the cash.  In making tons of money for simply playing in a sandpile, like they did when they were kids.  But if they ever wish to dismount from this Gravy Train, here's how:

          Simply shoot somebody.  

That "...one more will have to die" thing can be defeated by simply killing somebody.  Maybe one of the cast.  Maybe a tourist who pisses them off.  Who knows?  But we know that the very next day after "offing" someone they'd find the Treasure, right?  Because that's the way the legend goes.  And legends are always true, right?  

RIGHT? 

Adderall.

We were all wondering who would show up to the State of The Union this past Thursday.

Would it be the "Mumbler-in-Chief?"  Stumbling to his lectern and then fumbling through a speech somebody else wrote?  While nodding off on national TV?   Or would it be "Dark Brandon?"  His Alter Ego?  The guy who screams at "MAGA" supporters and calls them evil?

                                 /////  +++++  \\\\\

I'm going to tell you a little story about Adderall.

If you're unfamiliar with this drug, it belongs to a family of psychostimulants, including Ritalin and Concerta.

As a class, these drugs, with Adderall in particular, are used by pediatricians, psychiatrists and gerontologists, in an effort to lower the incidence and degree of AD/HD in children and young people, and early- to mid-stage dementia in the elderly.  Adderall has been shown in certain cases to modify the trajectory of cognitive impairment, which has been suggested in previous published research.

Adderall is a stimulant.    It increases the body's production of dopamine, which is our "feel good" hormone.  The same hormone produced when we consume cocaine and methamphetamine.  It is most commonly used in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.  But it is often prescribed "off label" to combat conditions such as drowsiness, slurred speech, appetite loss, and depression.  

In other words, this drug helps improve attention and focus.  Especially in the elderly, where short-term memory loss and focus impairment are normal.  However, it may lead to impulsive, and possibly anti-social comments and behaviors, as well as angry outbursts at inopportune moments.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.  I was actually the "Special Psychotropic Representative" for the Pfizer Drug Company way back when.  I actually schooled rooms full of psychiatrists on the use of combination antipsychotic and psychotropic  medications in the treatment of schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses.  And also using selected psychotropic agents in combination in the treatment of early-stage dementia.   

So I have a little background in the subject.  And I've noticed an apparent alarming decline in the mental acuity of our President.  He evidences every sign of early-onset dementia.*  Except on a few rather indelible instances.  So indelible they demand our investigation.  When he gave last year's State of the Union Address, as an example.  And when he gave his blood-red "Dark Brandon" speech in front of Independence Hall a few months back.  

And when he gave yesterday's SOTU Address.  

In all three, he was animated, angry, outspoken, combative and loud.  It's as if somebody told him that "loud" and "angry" equated to "firm and commanding,"  It was also obvious that this halting old man, this doddering, shuffling aged gent, for whom just walking to his helicopter is a task, was taken over by "Dark Brandon."  His Alter Ego.  "Super Joe" was in the building!  To reassure his worried backers.  And he was going to let everyone know it!

Especially those in his Party who'd been sending up smoke signals that they were on the verge of revolt.  

Which made me think back on my extensive training in pharmacology and psychotropics.  I saw a correlation.  A palpable change.  From Wednesday to yesterday.  Did somebody help good ol' Joe get "up" for his SOTU Speech?  

Many of us watched his welcome stammering, almost unrecognizable remarks to the new Ambassador from Sweden on its entry into NATO on Wednesday.   And then sermonize and condemn anyone who differed with his version of reality, at the top of his lungs, on Thursday.

It was "Old Yeller" who showed up.  The mean old grandpa screaming "Get off my lawn!"

Was that difference stark enough for those of you who still doubt what your eyes and ears witnessed?   

Was it?     

*    I am not a doctor.  Thank God.  And I'm not playing one here.  I'm not providing my Fellow Patriots with a diagnosis.  I am simply stating the obvious.  An obviousness one has to be hippppmotizzzed not to notice...