The Lost Generation.

We're told that "Gen-Z" and many others in that age range are really upset with 'Murica.

Upset that, despite a degree in Medieval Lesbian Poetry from an expenive college, and a six-figure student loan, the only job they can get requires them to ask, "Would you like fries with that?"  Or earn enough to buy a house, every generation's goal?  A goal that up to recently was attainable.  Expected, even.

Yet members of this group are so pissed at Capitalism, which they blame for thier lot in life, that they're beginning to tinker with socialism.  Or Marxism.  Or communism.  Which promise everything and delivers nothing.  

The only forms of government you vote in, but have to shoot your way out.

I'd like to remind our yout ("What's a yout?") that they are owed nothing.  They'll have to claw their way up just like I did.  And their parents did.  And many generations before them.  This life they lead is a test.  You either pass or you fail.  And frankly, they shouldn't cry about it because nobody gives a sh*t.

I might remind them also that there are 17,987 Starbucks stores in America.  More than 9,000 of them are in Taxifornia.  They are always full and so is their drive thru.  Yet they charge $3.50 to $8.50 for a friggin't cup of coffee.  As compared to the $0.25 it would cost them to make it at home.  

And they order from Uber.  And Doordash.  And other delivery services.  And are williing to pay $36.00 for a cheeseburger and fries.  When you could buy that same meal in the restaurant that made it for $14.00.  Four levels of screw job they impose upon those dumb enough to order.  Too lazy to drive 2 miles and pick it up for themselves.  Or make it at home for less than $5.00.  What a concept!  

Uber used to fight for fares at the local airport until that Gubmint Pandemic Shutdown.  They went from scab cabs to a delivery service and are now a $2 Billion Dollar Company.  

Because Gen-Z is dumber than a stump.

And I might mention my particular bugaboo are those who wear their baseball caps.  Backwards.  They were designed to keep the sun out of one's eyes.  Now they just use their free hand to shade those same eyes.  

A cell phone's in the other hand.

Perhaps if they worked two jobs, like we did, and stop blowing their free cash on frivelous crap, like we did, and start saving every spare $Nickle, like we did, they'll save enough to make the down payment on a starter home.  Like we did.  And join the Millions and Millions of Americans who are part of our wonderful Capitalist System.  The single most successful economic System in the history of the world.  A System that, if they play their cards right, will make them rich.  

But they have to sacrifice.  Is this generation willing to sacrifice?  Work 2 or 3 jobs if the circumstance requires, like we did?  Scratch and claw and reach and risk?  Like we did?  As my brilliant Old Man used to counsel, "Boy, ya' got to do what you have to do to get to where you wanta' be."  

Only time will tell.  

Institutional Knowledge.

Approximately 3.19 Million Americans die each year.

Most of them are old.  As in, over 65.  The majority of these deaths happen to those over 75.  And being 80 or over means they drop like flies.  Like lemmings rushing to the sea, they travel headlong into the abyss.  And there's no way to avoid it.  

None.    

And they take with them all the knowledge and experience they gathered over the span of their lives.  All the pain and joy and happiness and sadness and learning they collected over an entire lifetime.  All the mistakes they made and all the solutions they learned to avoid a repetition of those mistakes.  All the book learning.  And all the experience gained from the school of hard knocks.  In short, all the smarts they gained from just living; and avoid dying.

With exception of the small minority afflicted by various disease states that rob them of their mental faculties, most are "compas mentis."  Meaning as smart or smarter than they were decades earlier.  In fact, they know the answers to nearly every question.  Except knowbody is asking.  They are just put out to pasture and of no further consequence.

Exceppppt, they take with them all the institutional knowledge they gained over that lifetime.  It's lost.  Gone.  And forgotten.  By everyone but them.

No, our society doesn't value age.  Unlike some societies which revere age, like our indigineous populations, we Americans value only youth.  Americans blow huge sums to look young.  Face lifts, and tummy tucks, and butt lifts.  Just look at the Kardashians and you'll know what I mean.  Veneers, and hair plugs, and hours in the gym to try and maintain youthful looks.  No, Fellow Patriots, with certain exceptions, we hire from the Yale faculty lounge far more than we do from those who've strained to keep on living.  And learning.

Although my memory isn't what it used to be, I'd say I'm far smarter than I was decades ago.  And so are most of those my age.  Yes, they know the answers to most any question, it's just that nobody's asking.

I'm not complaining, mind you.  I've worked hard to achieve my decades of knowledge and experience.  Much of which I try share in this unassuming little blog.  And I've worked hard to keep learning and knowing and sharing.  I think it helps keep us mentally sharp.  We shouldn't warehouse our elderly.  We should fete them for managing to avoid becoming a Darwin Award recipient.  And lament the fact that we're wasting the loss of their knowledge and experience.   

I've long believed that this plain of existence is our final exam.  It's just that we have to die to know if we passed.  But until we do, I ask that we love our elders.  And ask them their opinions.  

They have them.  Except nobody's asking...    

 

The Great Escape (Part Deux).

Unless you've been hiding out in a washing machine box behind the local Wal-Mart, you know yesterday was Election Day.

And unless you're fly fishing on Alaska's Denali River, you likely know that the ignorant citizens of New York City elected a certified, unrepentant Muslim.  Or Marxist.  Or communist, take your pick.

And the Mayor-Elect has promised to provide the residents with FREE bus fare, FREE child care, FROZEN rents and heavily-subsidised, City-owned grocery stores, all at ZERO cost!  

Oh yeah, and he'll defund the Police!  And replace them with social workers!  

Why?  Because a 33 year-old, Jew-hating, HAMAS-loving wealthy Muslim, who's never had a real job, is going to force, FORCE their "rich" citizens to pay for it.  By charging all those with an income over $1,000,000 a year an additional 1% (or maybe 2%?) surcharge on their taxes.  On top of the already 2nd highest tax burden in the entire Country.  Bringing their total tax liability to 62.5%  

Gulp!!!

NYC has been our most socialistic City for years.  And most expensive.  80% of its residents vote Democrat.  Why not make it 100%?  If all the taxpayers leave, the only ones left will be those who can't afford to move but demand the Gubmint take care of them.  They're now officially in a Doom Loop.  Spiraling downward into insolvency.  Think Oakland, on steroids.  

(Remember, they've already declared bankruptcy once!).*  

Did you know that only 15,000 NYC families pay more than 80% of all the taxes NYC collects?  And that they're free to load up their Patek Phillipe's and their Rembrants and their Rolls-Royces and move.  MOVE OUT!  To anywhere!  Fast!  Taking their money and moving to greener pastures.

And almost any pasture is greener.

NYC lost over 250,000 wealthy families since 2022 due to the Pandemic and the the City's near felonius extended school closures.  And another Exodus is now slated to occur.  The "rich"** will be leaving in droves.  Fleeing!  A report just in from the largest real estate brokerage in Florida's north claims more than $100,000,000 in newly-closed purchase contracts.  Helping to bring about another Land Rush that started in 2020, but had cooled considerably of late.  From New Yorkers finally fed up enough to leave.  Areas around Charlotte and Nashville and Richmond and Anywhere Texas are being inundated with new money flowing in.  Buying up their inventory at a furious pace.  Forcing up prices by more than 8% so far this year. 

So it is with areas around NYC.  Northern New Jersey and Eastern Connecticutt and all NYC's surburban areas in Staten Island and Brooklyn and Queens are reporting vigorous home sales.  With prices often bid up by hundreds of thousands over asking price, sight unseen.  After all, they're rich; they can afford it.  And they'd rather buy a new (or second) home now, before they discover there's nobody left to sell to later.  

And let's not forget the once-Great State of Taxifornia.  Which now enjoys the reputation of having the highest taxes in the Nation.  Up to 14.4% of a premium over the wealthy's U.S. tax rates.  Which can bring their overall burden to more than 64% of their income.  

CA has already suffered the loss of more than One Million high taxed families who chose to no longer put up with the high taxes, and the highest real estate prices, and the highest gas prices, and high crime rates, and high insurance premiums, and the very highest number of homeless in our Nation.

And did you know that 52% of CA's income taxes come from only 3 Silicon Valley zip codes?  Ever wonder what would happen if they hopped in their G-700's and flew out of town?  Taking their $Billions with them?

Using our tax money, BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom spent $300,000,000 to float a bond issue redrawing the lines on 5 separate Congressional Districts.  In reliably "Red" Districts.  Kicking out 3 long-serving Republican Congressmen in the process.  You should know that prior to this Special Election, the Democrats controlled all the Senate and Assembly seats in 45 out of 52 of our counties?  

Now, with redrawn districts, they'll control 50 out of 52 our counties.

Republicans won 39.5% of CA's vote in 2024.  Yet, we now have only 3 out of 55 of our Congressmen to fight for our Rights.  We're Taxifornia's Uyghurs.  Its serfs.  Like as happens in China, those are the disadvanted minority they milk like dairy cows but deny representation.  With an absolute Supermajority in both the Assembly and the Senate, they can, and do, pass any law, about anything, at any cost, without a single Republican vote needed, or wanted. 

I often thought the very best job would be a Republican seat in our Legislature.  You could stay home, collect your $148,000 a year, and never, ever be missed. 

Oh yeah, I might mention that Republicans got 31% of the popular vote in Massachusetts' election last year, but because MA has been so redistricted, so jerrymandered over the years, they have ZERO Republican Congressional representation.  Zero, zip, nada!  

Now, in our Gubmint's 36th day of a shutdown, brought about by the Democrats refusal to agree to a "clean" Continuing Resolution, it strikes me it might be a good time for those of us who "live" in the Big Blue States to run like bandits to any of America's 27 Freedom-Loving States.  

While we still can.  

*     That's anyone who makes more money than you do... 

**  "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax the man behind the tree."  Benjamin Franklin, 1789. 

Two Things You Didn't Know About the Smithsonian.

You've been to the Smithsonian, right?  You know, our very biggest National museum?  If not, you should.  It's worth the trip to Washington, D.C. all by its self.

If so, you no doubt love it.  As I do.  In fact, I've said if there's a purgatory, I want to serve out my sentence at the Smithsonian.  For it would take another lifetime to see it all.  

So I thought I share with you, my Fellow Patriots, a couple of little factoids you might enjoy learning.  So here goes...

     -  How did it get its name?  

There was this guy James Smithson, see?  He was a miner and minerologist in 18th Century England.  He was very successful.  And he loved America and our system of Gubmint.  So much so that he wanted to visit.  Unfortunatly, he died before he could do so.  But he left the sizable fortune of $500,000 to the United States of America to be used however our Congress chose.  

And BTW, $500 Grand was back then was equivalent to about $12,798,000 today!

Anyway, our Fearless Leaders decided to use those funds to create the very best museum in all the Land.  And they surely have.  In fact, it's the largest museum in the Entire World!  And they chose to name it after Smithson, and so we have...ta da!...The Smithsonian.

     -  Where'd all those animals come from?  

You know that gigondo elephant when you enter the "Natural History Museum?"  The one raring up on its hind legs?  It's just about the biggest elephant ever collected.  It's right there in the Rotunda, trunk in the air, tusks flashing, looking pretty damn fearsome.  Well, his name is "Henry."  And he's been there since 1911.  

That's because he was shot in Darkest Africa and dragged back to D.C. by one ex-President Teddy Roosevelt.  He'd just left the Presidency and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation decided to fund his trip to Africa in 1909 and 1910 to collect specimens for the Smithsonian.  And boy did he ever!

He, his son and his Team of more than 100, shot, ya' ready for it?  23,435 animals on this safari.  More than 500 elephants.  More than 2,000 lions and tigers.  More than 1,000 jaguars and leopards.  More than 400 Cape Buffalo.  And impala and kudu and gazelles and monkeys.  In all, Roosevelt collected some of every species known to man.  And found some 300 new ones while on this safari.  In fact, the Smithsonian has more than 590,000 mammals in their warehouses.  Only about 5% of their mammals are on display.  

You might be surprised to learn that it's comprised of 21 buildings, 14 research and education centers and a zoo.  It houses over 150 Million objects and specimens, although most are not displayed.   

So when you next visit the Museum, you can marvel at the fact most of the animals on display have been there for more than 100 years!  Like I said, I've been there 8 times and still haven't seen everything.  And I intend to go back.  

Living or dead...    

"No Kings" Rally

Unless you were hiding in a refrigerator box out behind the local Wal-Mart, you know the "No Kings" rally was held this past weekend.

Yep, Fellow Patriots, some 7 Million of our fellow citizens, we hope, assembled in some 2,700 locations this past Saturday.  And then proceeded to march down a succession of Main Streets.  Demanding "No Kings."  They could have also marched for "No Smallpox." Or "No Global Warming."  They would have been equally successful in achieving their goals.  

And I watched some of it.  And was hit with a combination of amusement, outrage and concern.  Here's my take...

The average rally-goer appeared to be either an unemployed twenty-something, still living in mommy's basement, or an ex-"Summer of Love" hippy.  Some were young, a bit crazy, and easily persuaded.  Others were paid to be there by one of those crowd delivery services.  But most of them were old, white haired, wealthy Liberals, laughing and smiling.  Some were even pushing their grankids in strollers.

And carrying pre-made signs.  Ones paid for by George Soros and his "Open Society" Foundation.  He's donated more than $375 Million of his $36 Billion dollar fortune to the Democrat Party over the past several years.  Making him the Dem's Top Donor.  And even more to dozens of Left-Wing causes, with the goal of transforming our Representative Republic into a Socialist Paradise.  

You may not know it but he's the guy who bankrolled all the prospective district attorneys in more then 80 "Big Blue" cities.  Laying the seeds for "No Cash" bail.  And flat refusals to prosecute felons.  And emptying our jails before the cops could file the arrest paperwork.

But wait, there's more!  Soros was arrested in the '80's for trying to take down the Bank of England.  His "shorting" of their shares using inside information almost drove them bankrupt.  He made $Billions.  He was tried and convicted and sent to prison.  When the truth got out the Brits were so humiliated they were willing to turn him loose if he'd leave Europe and promise never to return.  He set up camp just south of Exit 58 on the Long Island Expressway.  And has been meddling in our politics ever since.

BTW, even though he's Jewish, you knew he collaborated with the Nazis to give up other Jews, right?  He was just 7 years old.  Yes, he's that old.  And yes, he's that much of a self-hater.

BTW, the one group I failed to mention was all the folks dressed in "furry" animal costumes.  There were dinosaurs, and rabbits, and cats, of course.  I still haven't found out whether they were there for entertainment, or just travelling along with all the other mentally challenged.

Harris got 74 million votes, BTW.  Trump got 76 million.  We can assume that the 7 million who spent a glorious Saturday afternoon raging against a guy who won not only the popular vote (1st time in the past 50 years), but all 7 "Battleground States" and 311 Electoral College votes, really need a hobby.  He campaigned on doing the things he's now doing.  We hired him to do those things.  And 7 million hard-bitten Leftists who are pissed their Team lost, just spent a Saturday afternoon demanding "No Kings."  

Well, it seems they got their wish.  Were Trump a King, like Obama, he'd have shut down the Capitol Mall to prevent a protest march.  His mayors would have failed to approve permits for marches in their cities.  There would simply have been no march.  

In closing, I'd like the thank the 67 million Harris voters who got-a-life and moved on from the visceral pain of an Election loss.  They filed it under "Sh*t Happens."  They got over it.  But for those 7 million who rallied, I'd suggest some therapy.  Use the money George gave you to show up and spend it on a good shrink...

They'll get you over your "TDS" macht schnell!  

  

Paying Their "Fair Share."

 "Taxing ones self into prosperity is like a man standing in a barrel and trying to lift himself up by the handles."

                                            Benjamin Franklin, 1789

The Top 1% of our Taxpayers pays 40.4% of all Federal income taxes.*

To join this much despised group one would have to have an AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) of $663,510 annually.

The top AGI earners earned 22.1% of all income, but due to our highly progressive tax policies, paid $40.4% of all taxes.

For context, the bottom 50% of all income earners paid only 3% of all Federal taxes.  The top 50% paid more than 97% of all income taxes.

So now, as I recall the bleatings heard from the Socialist Wing of the Democrat Party demand the "rich" pay their "fair share."  What is their "fair share?"  Is it 50%?  80%?  100%?

The "Top 1%" are already paying nearly half of all taxes, how much more should they have to pay in order to be paying their "fair share?"  

Here's the Bottom Line, as they say.  We're in the midst of a "class warfare."  We're near another civil war because some of us are pissed because we don't have a helicopter.  Or a private plane.  Or can go out to dinner or on vacay anytime we wish.  Or that even though we have a degree in Medieval Lesbian Poetry, and a yuuuge student loan debt, we're working at MickyD's. 

But those 1% folks made life choices early on, and those choices paid off.  The folks asking, "Would you like fries with that?," obviously didn't.  Must those who are now able to carry our Federal Gubmint on their backs apologize for their wealth to those who didn't?

I wish I was among them.  I'm not.  I tried, but whiffed at the plate.  I had a shot at the "brass ring," but missed.  I did okay, just not rarified air.  But I harbor no jealousy.  I learned early on that such negative feelings don't feed the bulldog.  I offer up some advice to those who are being led by their emotions.  Stop.  Get an education any way you can.  Get a job and work your way up.  Whether Black or Brown or Red or Yellow or White, capitalism rewards those who perform.  It did for me.  It would for you, too...    

*   That's the cash the Feds use to pay for such things as National Defense, B-2 bombers, statewide construction projects, healthcare insurance subsidies, MediCaid and the Federal prison system.  One doesn't pay for these things unless one pays Federal income taxes.  97% of you...don't.

The "Khaki Mafia."

It was October of 1966.

I'd been drafted into the United States Army with a show-up date of October 31st.  After actively avoiding the draft for years, this date was full of irony.  Halloween.  All tricks, no treats.

One could avoid the draft back then if you were going to college.  It was called a 2-S Deferment.  I went to school, sort of, in order to keep my ass attached to my body.  But I didn't actually attend classes.  I was too busy shooting pool.  For money.  Sometimes Big Money.  I couldn't be bothered to actually GO to school.  So they kicked me out, one by one, until there was no more deferment available.  I cried all night.  

So I gave in and showed up.  I'd avoided participating in that misguided "police action" in Southeast Asia, but I could no longer do so.  It was time to submit.  So instead of being drafted, I enlisted.  To become a sniper.  

I was soon deep into Basic Training.  A couple of weeks into an 8-week Fort Leonard Wood version of Hell.  Where they beat the previous "YOU" out of you, and replaced it with the "ARMY" you.  They take away your name and give you back a number.  And make you like it.  Soon, everyone's a grunt first, and somebody from Detroit, or Los Angeles, or Des Moines second. 

I was preparing to go into the tear gas training, where they pull the pin on a cannister and toss it into your tent.  And then make you take your gas mask off, breathe deeply, and recite your name and serial number.  Just to make you suffer.  All this was looming when a sergeant tapped me on the shoulder.  He told me to report to the HQ building, and make it ASAP.  

I opened the office door and there were two big guys standing there in off-the-rack, blue serge J.C. Penney suits.  They had obvious bulges under their armpits, hiding G.I.-issued Colt .45's, no doubt.  I was soil-my-shorts scared about then, wondering what Army Regulation I'd violated.  And what prison they intended to bury me under.  I need not have worried. 

Apparently I'd performed well on my entrance exams.  Well enough that I was being offered my option of tranferring to either the White House Communications Team, or Army Intelligence.  Say, um, wha...?  And they'd come to manage that process.  

Yes, I'd apparently managed to piss away anonimity and attract big-time attention.  From do your time and get out, quietly, to "Chuck Saves the World," please make your choice as to how.

The White House Commo Team is an elite group that travels to wherever the President's going, only a week or two sooner.  They set up all the requisite communications arrangements necessary for his visit.  The wire and satellite and TV stuff.  Make sure the mic works when the Big Guy starts to speak.

And Army Intelligence is a bunch of spooks who live and die pretending to be James Bond.  Without the preferred License to Kill, I might add.

They had just offered me a way out of this awful, nasty, cold (DID I SAY COLD?) torture chamber called Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  Colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike, I remember saying to myself.  Like a witch's tit in a brass bra.  Daddy always told me, when faced with a choice between negatives, choose the choice least negative.  So it was Army Intelligence for me.

I know, I know.  

BTW, they let me know that sniper school was out.  Seems like your glasses tend to steam up when low-crawing through saw grass in 120 degree, and Viet Nam-style humidity.

So I wound up on an entirely different track.  No churn-'em-out fodder for that dumb fight in VietNam, I was to rather receive highly specialized training on stuff they wished to protect.  Like America's Freedom!  So they kept me away from gunfights, and on to fighting of a more, umm, "global," gentile sort.

(NOTE:  Even after all these years, I'm still under Secrecy Agreements about some specifics.  But I hope my generalities prove sufficient.

They first sent to me Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to learn all sorts of spook stuff.  Belvoir is just outside D.C., so you can imagine how much fun that was.  Then on to Europe.  Germany, at first, then France, back to Germany, then Holland, then Northern Italy, and back to Germany.  

I can tell you about one of my more interesting assignments.  Turns out the Army decided to appoint the very most "strack" enlisted man in all of the Service, a guy named William O. Woodridge, to the newly-created position of Sergeant Major of the Army.  Making him the highest ranking enlisted man in all of the Army.  He was serving in Hawaii when the announcement came out.  He then relocated to Washington, D.C.  But he left behind a mess.  A worldwide mess.  An illegal mess.

All the necessary background checks had not been done before Wooldridge's appointment was made.  The Army was anxious, believing such an appointment would be a crowd-pleaser.  And when the background checks finally came in, it seems he was under investigation on a purported slot macnine "rake-off" scandal.  One that just might derail not only his appointment, but his Freedom...

Every Army base has an NCO/EM (non-officer) club.  And every one of those non-U.S. clubs in the Army had slot machines at the time.  Usually 20 or more, electro-mechanical slots, in your choice of nickle, dime and quarter.  When you put in your coins to play, they dropped into a tube.  Which counted and then deposited coins in a tray in a locked receptacle below.  However, to make sure the machine could pay off a jackpot, the tube had to be full.  It took about 45 coins to fill to chutes, regardless of denomination.  And these coins were not yet counted!  Meaning some enterprising soul could steal everything in the chutes and not be caught.  And that's 20 tubes, x the denomination, x 3 machine dumps per week.  Multiplied by the number of clubs, times the number of Army bases.    

We're talking $Millions (the Army guessed they were stealing more than $150 million a year!).  

As the 1971 book, "The Khaki Mafia" memorialized, there were hundreds of co-conspirator NCO's around the world who were a part of this rip-off.  All reporting up the chain of command to Wooldridge.  And Army Intelligence wanted me, a lowly Sergeant E-5, to transfer in to one of those clubs, and gather enough information to try and put the Woodridge cabal in Fort Leavenworth.  

"But I get out in six months," I responded!  My favorite colonel, one Vance Owen Smith, convinced me to extend my enlistment for 6 months so I could put the cherry on top of my career.  You have to first know that everybody in the Army back then wanted only one thing; to get out.  So it took some convincing, but I finally gave in.  But only on one condition.  The only copies of my extention paperwork would be destroyed except for the ones that went to payroll.  So my paycheck would continue.  If things got ugly, I wanted to be able to say, "Hey guys, I think I ought to be out of the Army!"  Then make a dash for the airport to get out of Dodge.  Colonel Smith agreed. 

I got to the "NCO/EM Club International" on November 5th, 1969.  The Club was a converted B-29 bomber hanger.  It was huge.  Plus it had three quonset huts attached for the kitchen, the office and the 22 slot machines.  It featured seating for 450 soldiers, plus a revolving stage.  One band played off while another played on.  There were 40 in the kitchen staff, serving up the best ribeyes anywhere.  At $1.25.  And dime cocktails.  It was a big deal.  And I, a 25 year-old buck sergeant, the lowest ranking Club "Custodian" in the Army, was running it.

I signed on as responsible for more than $450,000 in Club cash.  I was told I reported to an Army Armor colonel in Mannheim, whom I never met.  I was issued the Club station wagon and allowed to live downtown in an apartment.  I came to work in a suit and tie, whenever I chose, which really angered my company first sergeant.  He was also pissed because I had a 1965 Porsche 911 and he only drove an MGB-GT.  Sh*t happens.

Within a couple of weeks my Club manager found all the proof we needed.  He was a retired Air Force E-8 club manager, so he knew his stuff.  

The previous custodian, Haskell C. Latham, Jr., had stolen tens of thousands from this Club.  Not knowing I was "the Man," he had showed me damning evidence before he left.  In the trunk of his Mercedes were two shoeboxes full of $20 solid gold Double Eagles.  Hundreds of them.  And three mink coats.  And bundles of cash wrapped up with red and yellow rubber bands.  All this from a Staff Sergeant E-6.  

And the supposedly trustworthy private company the Club had hired to pick up the keys from the Duty Officer and bring them to the Club, so the slots could be drained, was a co-conspirator.  His name was Ed Arceneaux, with whom he and Latham shared the spoils.  I brought the evidence with me to my superiors and laid it out.  Within three days the Army's Judge Advocate General had produced a warrant.  It was combined with warrants from other European and Asian clubs and Sergeant Major of the Army Wooldridge was arrested on January 20, 1970.  

I provided a sworn statement and packed my bags.  I wanted to get out of the Army before they could compel me to wait around and testify.  Most likely at the trial to be held in D.C. that summer.  Wooldridge was tried and convicted.  But because the Army was so embarrassed at having its top enlisted soldier a convicted felon, they gave him home confinement and 12 months' parole.  Swept it under the carpet, they did.  We had Woodridge cold, but he dodged the proverbial bullet.

I heard Latham was tried in NC for tax evasion, the same charge that derailed Alfonso Capone, but died from cancer before he could be jailed.  More than 230 other NCO's who were still on duty around the world also bit the legal bullet.  I understand 90 of them were imprisoned and the remainder were purged.

As the saying goes, they "F-cked around and found out." 

NOTE:  In you're interested in learning more about this conspiracy, Google the book "The Khaki Mafia" or "William O. Woodridge." 

Buh Bye Glock!

There are two kinds of people:  Those who own firearms, and know how to safely use them, and those who don't/can't/won't.

This missive is sent along to those who do.  They've proven themselves to be the security backbone of our Nation (it's hard to overrun a country with 525 million firearms!).  One-third of you out there are firearm owners, offering an "umbrella" of safety even to those who aren't swift enough to protect themselves.  

And that's one of the reasons I bang the 2nd Amendment drum so often.  Our own BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom has puked forth 141 anti-gun Executive Orders since his family bought him the Guvnership.  And he just did it again...  

The Glock family of semi-automatic firearms is the most popular in the world.

They are carried by fully 65% of all police and sheriffs' departments in America.  And 74% of civilians choosing pistols over revolvers.  

("Semi-automatic" means one bullet leaves the pointy end of the pistol every time the trigger is pulled.  One pull, one "boom.")

Yet, despite its popularity here in Taxifornia, Newsom just signed Assembly Bill 1127 into law.  That law prohibits the future sale of all Glocks.  Why?  Because somebody figured a way to convert them into full machine-pistols.  Meaning one trigger pull, all the bullets in the magazine fire one after another.  

I.e., "Brriiippp!"

I should mention at this point that the penny-sized plastic device that makes this change to the trigger sear, altering the normal function of the pistol, is fully legal!  But Newson cares not.  He just decided to make the GUN illegal, not the switch.

What's next?  Candy canes?  Hiking boots?  Chevrolets?

Newsom is a guy who was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple.  J. Paul Getty, the richest man in the world as his Godfather, and San Fran Nan Pelosi, the richest Congressweenie as his aunt, bought him his Guvner's seat.  And he's now quite obviously planning to run for POTUS in 2028.  So he's trying to win various constituencies using targeted Left-wing legislation.  

He just passed a law making it illegal to purchase replacement gun barrels without going through the Fm 4453 gun dealer background check process.  They do not come with a serial number!  God Help Taxifornia!

Can you imagine how many hundreds of millions of $dollars it will take for State agencies to replace all their Glocks?  Are you happy cops and deputies will be carrying 2nd or 3rd choice firearms?  Can you imagine how much the price of a used Glock will skyrocket here in Taxifornia?

This new law may not cause you any direct pain or torment.  If you wanted a Glock you've probably already bought one.  Or twelve.  But it's indicative of the loss or infringement of another of our Guaranteed Constitutional Liberties.  This law will be challenged in court, and it will be defeated.  But it will take both time and money.  Public money.  And Taxifornia citizens' money.  All unnecessary.  Wasted.  To defend a piece of bogus, liberty-stealing legal claptrap.  Shameful!  

BoyGuv hopes he won't have to answer for this outrage.  He plans to be living on Pennsylvania Avenue by that time...    

An Rx Ripoff!

As you may know, I spent more than 40 years in the healthcare industry.  

I started back when it was the Gold Standard the world over, and then watched it fold over the years like a house of cards.  So much so that I pass along my own experience at trying to obtain a much needed blood thinner at a fair price.  And how there's a systematic effort by Big Pharma to screw me, and by extension,  you, absolutely blind...

They told me that I had "V-fib."  Or, ventricular fibrilation.  It seems one of my heart's ventricles was beating to its own drum.  And I needed a blood thinner to prevent a heart attack.  That got my attention.  

The preferred medication, my cardiologist told me, was Eloquis.  You've no doubt seen the very expensive ads its manufacturer runs on TV.  And I was about to learn how they could afford them.  I asked my pharmacist how much this new Rx was going to deplete my ever-dwindling stash of $Cash.  So get this:  A month's supply of Eliquis retailed at $606.00 a month.  And even with a great PPO, the co-pay would set me back $180.00 a month.  

That's serious money for an old guy with a bad back who needs the money as much as the medication.

So the cardiologist closed the door and mentioned under his breath that he just might know a way around my problem.  He said he had patients who were ordering an Eloquis generic called Apixoban from a pharmacy in Canada.  And that they were getting it for a mere fraction of what Americans are now paying.

I thanked him for his suggestion, never figuring it might actually work for me, too.  A couple of days later my phone rang.  It was a lady at the "Canadian Pharmacy Store."  Catchy name, I thought.  She proceeded to inform me I could order a 3 month supply of Apixoban, Eloquis' generic, for a yuuuuge savings.  And here's how...

I would place the order with this "middleman," who would then pass it along to a pharmacy in beautiful downtown London, England.  This pharmacy would then fill the Rx and send it to me directly.  In short, I would order from a store 3,000 miles away, which would then pass the Rx off to another provider 3,000 miles further away, which would then mail it to me from 6,000 miles away.  And get this:  3 months of Apixoban for...ta da!...

$70.55.

So, $1,818 worth of Eloquis's equivolent for $Seventy Bucks.  Why?  How?

Even though Eloquis is off-patent, meaning it's older than 17 years, its manufacturer is fighting in court for additional years.  Their restraining order prevents any U.S. pharmacy from selling Apixoban, its generic equivolent.  In other words, Apixoban is not available in the United States!  Except if you buy it from England!

Are you shit*ing me?

Anyone who thinks this is the way things ought to be is spending too much time at the weed store.  A pharmaceutical developed in the United States cannot be purchased in the United States.  Think of this as an adverse tariff.  One which needs a flag thrown on the play.  

I can now afford not to have a heart attack.  And you can too.  Those of you out there in Internetland who need this drug but cannot afford it, now you can.  Go to your cardiologist and demand he/she/it do the same for you.  

I'm happy to help...     

 

"Non-Essential" Employees...

When our Gubmint was gavelled into existence on April 30th, 1789, it had only 3 employees:  President George Washington, Vice President John Adams, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

Today, some 250 years later, we have a whopping 2,998,400 employees.  Or more than 8% of our entire population.  And the vast majority live inside "The Beltway."  That's the highway that encircles Washington, D.C.  Where 8 out of 10 of those nearly 3 million employees live. 

And where 8 out of 10 vote Democrat.

Are all of these employees necessary?  Are they worth their average annual salary of $125,000?  With some exceeding 3x that?  Do we really need all those people pushing paper around on a desk?

Well, now we know.

We're smack dab in the middle of what's being called the "Schumer Shutdown."  The Republicans offered to keep things rolling "as is" past the end of our Fiscal Year, but the Democrats demanded a bunch of changes.  And a bunch of new spending.  More than $1.5 Billion Dollars in new spending.  The Republicans said "No."  As so Gubmint is shut down.  With no idea when it will reopen. 

With me so far?

When this happens, and it happens quite a lot, BTW, the Gubmint lays off all "Non-Essential Employees."  And more than 600,000 were sent packing last Tuesday.  BTW, that's the exact size of the City of Washington, D.C. (601,723).

Which brings up a very important question: if these people are "Non-Essential," why are they employed?  Do we need anyone working for us at a $Buck Twenty Five a Year that isn't "Essential?"  Who are these people who are sucking at "America's Teat" who aren't "Necessary?"  

I'd like to have one of those "Non-Essential" jobs.  A job where you're not needed, and probably not overseen or managed, but are highly paid.  Just probably wandering around, occasionally cleaning the lint out of their navel, waiting for 5 O'Clock to come around.  

In the meantime all the "Essential" folks are working their butts off without getting paid, while the "Non-Essentials" are sitting home, eating bon bons and sucking back Pabst Blue Ribbon, while watching Jerry Springer re-runs.  Waiting to get the call to come back to work.  And to collect their back pay.  For doing a "Non-Essential" job.  

BTW, can you call it "work" if it didn't need doing?  

  

"Observe and Report"

There are 1,272,400 security guards in America.

There were that same number last year, indicating it's anything but a growth industry.  Soon to be replaced by "A.I."  

These are the folks you see rambling around your local mall, looking bored, just praying for something to happen.  They are almost always unarmed, unless they work for specialized industries or for casinos on Indian Reservations.  

Oooopsie!  I meant "Indiginous Personages."

The average security guard in 'Murica makes a whopping $18.73 an hour.  Or about $36,000 a year, assuming they get full hours.  Just about the same exact amount we pay a brand new Army recruit.  They are everywhere.  The movie theater, the local Trader Joes, overnight at the car dealers, standing guard at the museums.  But here's what you may not know, and really need to know:

They are advised, INSTRUCTED, to "Observe and Report."  Only.   

Not pursue, assault, question, detain or arrest.  Just use their eyeballs to look for something out of the ordinary, and then notify the local fuzz.  That's it.    

As security guards are "unsworn" officers, you should know that anything more than "O & R" subjects their employers to full and complete liability.  Not just the security guard's agency, but the agency's employers.  $Millions in lawsuits have been filed, and won, when some 'roid-ranged guard goes full tilt and assaults a citizen.  Or even just violates their Constitutional Rights.  Like the 1st, the 4th, the 5th and the 6th.  

And another thing, I've dreamed throughout my storied life about one or another job or career.  Fireman, sniper, pharoah, pilot, bank robber, etc.  But I never, EVER dreamed of becoming a security guard.  And I'm guessing our current fleet of security guards didn't either.  I'm guessing most either still live in their parents' basements, or are retired mailmen/ women/other, and are looking for a little supplemenal income.  Meaning they're likely not qualified to do anything other than make a phone call and pass along the information. 

I might be a bit biased, but it seems guards I've seen are either pimply-faced kids trying to earn their way through junior college, or old, fat, and slovenly retirees, who are pissed at having to do this meaningless task, and show it.  

Oh yeah, one more thing.  I worked as a security guard while in college.  I had two jobs, signing on a radio station at 6:00 a.m. as a "rip and read" news and weather reporter, and tending bar at a local watering hole.  Plus going to college full time.  So I applied to guard the local Banquet Food Processing Plant in Marshall, MO.  I think it paid $3.00 an hour at the time, for just walking around in a uniform and turning a little key in their time clock.  Heavy, that sucker was.  About the size of a dinner plate and weighing in at about 20 pounds (this was in the '70's, before technological advances).  I was supposed to carry it from key to key, a hundred feet or so apart, to show the time I "clocked in."  So I did what life had prepared me to do: figure a way to do the job easier.  And quicker.  Even if a little less "kosher."

On my first pass through the plant after signing in at Midnight, I would gather up all the keys.  31 of them, if memory serves.  Located all throughout the block-square facility.  I'd then take the clock and the keys home and watch a horror movie or something.  I'd turn a key in the clock every so often to continue the ruse.  About an hour before my 12 hour shift ended, I'd return to the plant, replace the keys on a final tour, and turn in the clock to my replacement guard.  Worked like a charm, it did.  Oh, and I received "Employee of the Quarter," and a raise, plus all the frozen chicken meals I could appropriate.  Proving once again that rules are made to be circumvented.  At all costs.  

It's also called turning lemons into lemonade.  

Anyway, I write today to wish all security guards everywhere a really good day.  They need all the good wishes they can get... 

From the House of Rameses II.

This edition of the "Chuckmeister Chronicles" focuses upon one of my dearest interests.  Not politics, not guns, not cars, even:  Archeology.    

I suppose I didn't become an archeologist because it sorta' required one to dig in the dirt.  And knowing when you get up in the morning that you're going to go dig in the dirt all day is kind of offputing to me.  Given my 'druthers, I'd druther stay clean.  But finding neat old stuff and wandering around pyramids and ancient temples sounds just dandy to me.  Probably you too.

I suppose also my interest stems from the belief I was likely a pharoah in a past life.  Reincarnation, doncha' know.  Maybe even Rameses II.  He was the Big Guy.  Built more temples and such than any other pharoah.  Kicked major ass in Egypt's wars.  And he lived to be 90 in an era where peoples' life expectancy was about 30.

And if not a pharoah, a visier at the very least.

So you can understand that I've watched every TV show and podcast about this stuff.  And read all the stuff available on the Internet.  Probably more even than graduate archeologists.  So, being a Bishop in the Universal Life Church, and having the power to award (honorary) bachelors degrees, I hereby grant myself a degree in "Ancient Civilizations and the Stuff Those Folks Left Behind."

Now that my bona fides are thus laid bare for all to see, I have a couple of observations about ancient Egypt and the folks with whom they consorted.  First, we were always taught that the pyramids were tombs for pharoahs.  However, even though there are more than 100 pyramids in Egypt, and thousands of archeologists have been snooping around for 200 years, we've never found a pharoah entombed in one.  Not even a scrap of wood or cloth or leather, much less an arm or a leg.  

This brings us to the dominant theory at present:  they were power stations.  They were all built next to a river, so the ebbs and flows of the water could have been used to produce power.  Whether methane, or hydrogen, or even electricity, it's been proven they could have made their own power.   5,000 years ago.

Secondly, have you noticed there are no hieroglyphics on any of the walls of any of the pyramids?  The burial tombs in the Valley of the Kings are wall-to-wall heiros.  Not a square inch spared.  But in the pyramids?  Nothing.  Zip, nada.  I consider that additional evidence on the power plant side of theories.

Third, Have we noticed that there are no smudge marks on the walls and ceilings in any of those pyramids?  Or temples?  Once you take three steps inside of one it's as dark as the inside of a cat.  Can't see your hand in front of your face were it not for the occasional lamp.  Which gives us another check mark on the side of power plants.  They must have used something other than torches to light their way while building these enormous edifices.  And hieroglyphing the heck out of things.  

Electricity?

There are 2,300,000, 2 and 1/2 to 10 ton, custom-shaped limestone blocks in the Great Pyramid.  Imported from a quary 500 miles away.  Somehow.  Built to within .3 tenths of a degree to true Cardinal North.  Built on the exact geographic center of all the Earth's land masses.  To have built this enormous structure in 20 years, as we're told by archeologists they did, these ancient Egyptians would have had to place a stone block every two minutes, 24-hours-a-day, up to 481 feet in the air.  Quite obviously they knew something we don't.  Or have yet to learn.  Or re-learn.

And remember, the wheel wasn't invented yet, they had only copper tools, and no beasts of burden.

Although all of the hundreds of temples and burial tombs in Egypt feature floor-to-ceiling hieroglyphics, not a single one talks about how the pyramids were built.  Current thinking is because they inherited them from their forebears (see below).  And then put them to great use.  Perhaps even under the tutelage of friends from "High Places."  Ancient aliens theory, that.

Did you know Cleopatatra was closer in age to Steve Jobs and the I-Phone that she was the pyramids? 

Which brings me to my last observation.  For today.  It would seem from all I read and observed that we here on Earth went from a civilization that could build pyramids, and huge temples, and obelisks, and massive underground fortresses, straight to the Stone Age.  It took us thousands of years to begin to claw our way out of the Darkness and begin to rebuild from a natural disaster its thought occurred between 11,600 and 12,400 years ago.  A disaster so widespread that it virtually wiped out our species.  And most of the megafauna on Earth.  It's called the "Younger Dryas Theory" (look it up).  

In short, we were struck by several meteors that simultaneously melted all the glaciers, raised the level of the oceans by 400 feet, submerged thousands of villages on the Mediterranean Sea, and blocked out the sun from all the crap kicked up into the air.  It was dark for two years, they say.  And society quickly devolved. 

Oh yeah, and we learned from the writing of Plato that Atlantis was a real place.  It supposedly sank beneath the waves after an all-day, all-night thrashing.  Just about 11,600 years ago.  There's that date again. 

Perhaps these events even coincide with other Great Flood theories.  Every civilization across the Earth had one.  The travels of Gilgamesh foretold a civilization-ending Flood.  And 1,000 years later we can read about Noah and the Ark.  Or is it the same story?  

We were taught that society began in Assyria 6,000 years ago.  Before that?  We were all hunter-gatherers, they said.  Ooopsie!  The archeologists were all wrong.  Gobekli Tepi was just discovered in Southeast Turkey.  A huge grouping of enormous stone circles, surrounding 18 feet-tall "T-pillars" weighing in at 20 tons each.  And this sprawling city is only 5% uncovered, they say.  Did you know it's only a few miles from Mount Arrarat, the mountain upon which Noah and his Ark ran aground?  All this built by hunter-gatherers?  Not likely.  And ready for this?  It's carbon dated at 11,600 - 12,600 years.  That date ring a bell?  

We lost a civilization that had the ability to create these masterpieces.  We know that for sure 'cause we couldn't build 'em now.  With all our high-zoot technology, we couldn't build a pyramid.  Game, set, match.

The Egyptians have proof via their stone "King's List" that their society goes back 30,000 years.  The archeologists say its a myth.  There's a little clay tablet in the London Metropolitan Museum showing the names and terms of the kings of the 5 major Mesopotamian cities.  It goes back 30,000 years.

And while all this is going on, we've just been told that we humans go back 300,000 years.  They used to tell us 30,000 years.  Then 60,000.  Then 100,000.  Now 300,000!  Plenty of time for societies to form and evolve and advance and then blow themselves up.  And I do mean societies in the plural.  Look what we 'Muricans have accomplished in a short 200 years.  Imagine what we humans could do in 1,000?  And the society which follows ours?

Maybe the archeologists should dig a little deeper...

    

757,200.

 Didja' ever wonder why Joe (the "Mumbler-in-Chief") Biden chose to open wide our Borders and let the world pour in?

Everybody on the political "Right" wondered about that.  Seemlingly nobody on the political "Left" gave a sh*t.  

It's true.  Sadly.  about 12,000 illegals a day poured over our Southern Border.  They were met by our Border Patrol, who were ordered to welcome them with open arms.  And then hand them over to the "NGO's," or Non-Governmental Organizations.  

We, you and me, gave those NGO's more than $1.8 Billion Dollars over Biden's 4 year term.  To pay for all those hotel rooms, and meal tickets, and doctors appointments, and legal advice, and plane/train/bus tickets to anywhere.  

Virtually nobody was turned away.  Illegals from 156 countries knocked on our door, which swung wide open.  If you do the math on those 12 thousand a day, you'll come up with about 16,000,000 illegal aliens welcomed in.  Plus at least another 1,600,000 so-called "gotaways."  Those choosing not to accept all the largesse we were offering and run for the hills.  OUR hills.  One wonders if we won't hear from them again when the next building is blown up...

But why, one must ask!  Why would anyone permit that, knowing that we'll be paying for those illegals, and their families, forever!  All the educational expenses are on the horizon.  Expenses we'll not get reimbursed.  But why would anyone do that to America?  They can't claim ignorance, for all they had to do was watch Fox News, which covered it Every Single Day.  For 4 years.  

Well, Fellow Patriot, I have the answer.  I know why whoever was calling the shots for Biden chose to step aside and welcome millions from everywhere!  And here it is.

Our states elect a Member of the U. S. House of Representatives for every 757,200 residents.  That's why Wyoming gets one, even though it only has 523,300 citizens.  And Taxifornia gets 52, with the epectation they'll get many more once the millions of illegals come out of hiding.  

Because those "residents" need not be citizens, according to the folks who conduct our Census.  It's felt that whether they're legal or not, they need representation.  And they get it.  Just imagine upwards of 20,000,000 illegal aliens dispersed among those "Battleground States."  Which can be won during Presidential Elections by mere thousands of votes.*

Think about it:  20 Million Illegals equals 30 more Congressweenies.  Enough to sway future elections for decades.

Simply stated, the Democrats have so alienated their Base of late that they decided to import a new constituency.  Millions of illegals they hope to turn into voters.  In the belief those new voters will vote for them, in exchange for having graced them with that free ticket they were given to America and all its goodies.  And with the expectation of winning a new term in the White House last November 6th.  And every 4 years thereafter.

But reality bit.  Donald J. Trump won.  And immediately closed down the Border.  And is now hunting down all our felons and deporting them.  While all the Lefty judges keep on trying to frustrate that plan.  And all the Lefties in Congress try to paint these efforts as racism, sexism, ageism, and "fascism," of course.  Without even knowing what that word means, most likely.

New York and Taxifornia each lost a Representative as a result of population decline during the last Election.  They're terrified of losing more, else the Republicans would have a lock on D.C. legislative control for the foreseeable future.  And so they cheated.  And they're squealing like a stuck pig now that they got caught.  And that The Donald is trying to deport their illegals.  And the "Legacy" Media is trying to cover their tracks.  

Keep your powder dry, Fellow Patriots.  The Civil War clock is ticking down pretty close to 12:00 a.m.  

*   The 2020 General Election tilted toward the Democrats.  They won, even though 7 Battleground States went Dem with a total of less than 75,000 votes.

Some Interesting Statistics.

There were 16,029 murders,* by firearms, in America during 2024.  The last year statistics were available from the FBI.  

There are 341,000,000 Americans. we're told.  Plus another 30 or 40 or 50 Million illegals, give or take.  But we don't talk about them, doncha' know.

There were 30,000 deaths by firearms in Mexico during the same year.  They admit to that number, although it's accepted that there might well have been twice that many.  That's because Mexico's population is deathly afraid of those who might kill them for reporting murders to the police.  

Mexico reports 109,230,000 citizens.  Not counting those Millions and Millions living illegaly in America.

America has more than 78,000 gun stores.  More than all the McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger Kings, Arbys and D.Q's put together.

Mexico, on the other hand, only has one, ONE, gun store.  And it's located inside a heavily-armed military installation in beautiful downtown Mexico City.  And it's open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Tuesday - Thursday, only.  And one must fill out a bunch of paperwork to get the approval to enter.    

Oh yeah, only shotguns and semi-auto pistols and rifles in .22 caliber are available for purchase.  Nothing more powerful is offered.  That's as a result of a 1972 reform to their Constitution's Article 10, permitting them to confiscate all other firearms.  And they've done so.  Their army and police have confiscated a total of 343,000 firearms since that revision. 

We have the 2nd Amendment to guarantee us the right "...to keep and bear arms."  The Mexicans have the right to buy a .22 and hunt squirrels.  And they'll confiscate anything else.

The FBI tells us there are more than 525,000,000 legal firearms in America.  It is unknown how many guns are in circulation in Mexico.  They don't report that statistic.  But there are enough for the cartels there to have killed at least 30,000 of their citizens in just one year.  It's estimated more than 100,000 Mexicans have been murdered by gunfire since 2020.

And we know that the shortest measurable unit of time is no longer a "quark."  It's now that period of time between a shooting, and Chuck Schumer and his other Democrats scrambling for the nearest microphone to call for "gun control," and "gun confiscation."  Which they've been doing for decades.  Without success. 

So how is it, I ask, do firearms get the blame for mass shootings in America, and not the people who use them, as it should be?  And why do we have so few firearm murders by population as compared to Mexico?  

Once again, 16,XXX - 341 Million, vs. 30,XXX - 109 Million?  Are those fun-loving Mexicans six times more likely to gun you down than would the average American?  Or are they six times more prone to being murdered because they're unarmed?  Shouldn't we congratulate ourselves on being so careful with our firearms?  And then send Schumer and his ilk to the showers? 

In closing, the Mexicans say 80% of their guns are illegally imported from America.  And thus, they blame America for Mexico's gun violence.  Not themselves, mind you, us.  Seems to me our friends down south are engaging in a bit of transferrence here, doncha' think? 

*  The FBI reported some 18,433 suicides using firearms during 2024.  There were no suicides by firearm statistics reported from Mexico during 2024, or any other year.  

Gravity Sucks!!!

I'd like to confess to you, my Fellow Patriots, that I never concerned myself with gravity when I was 15.  Or 25.  Or 40, even.

But as I've succeeded in living longer than a White male is supposed to live, I've discovered that gravity has been taking a toll on my life.  Along with aches and pains.  

And by "gravity," I mean, that mysterious force which makes it almost impossible to now get up off my ass.  And keeps me from picking up anything off the floor smaller than a $20.  And to keep my balance whilst trying to walk.  And I do mean, trying!  

I had to use a cane after my 3rd spinal fusion.  That was in '10.  But I still ambled along at a pretty fair pace anyway.  But when the 4th and 5th back surgeries came along, I needed TWO canes to venture from "A" to "B."  And I do mean venture.

I would introduce my bright purple canes to people with a nice "Purple cane, purple cane" ditty.  I tried to foil Ol' Man Gravity by making fun of him.  A thinly-disguised effort, I must say.  Even telling others that walking with two canes is fine!  Normal, even.  And that I'm not ready to spring for a walker.  You know, those clunky-looking contraptions used exclusively by "old people."  "I'd have to turn in my man-card," I would say.  But that decades long wrestling match with the Ol' Man has resulted in the Ol' Man now winning.  I just sprung for a walker.  

Even though it will hopefully permit me to venture out more often, maybe even a restaurant on occasion, and likely serve as an insurance policy against falls, I still feel sort of funny taking it out in public.  That's because I'm a 25 year-old guy held hostage by an octegenarian.  But embracing reality now proves necessary.  And so I have.

Oh yeah, the walker's a bright purple...  

Time For Change...

It's finally time to change a few names.

Since Big Orange decided to puke forth an Executive Order changing the name of that body of wa wa down south to "The Gulf of America," I decided to look into a few others we might reasonably change.

You may not know it (what with the paucity of real readin,' writin,' and spelling teaching going on 'round here), but we won the Mexican-American War.  

We won it back in 1848.  And the results are memorialized in the "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" that same year.  And we stole, er, took as the spoils of war the western half of of these here United States from them as a result.  Most of California, all of Nevada, and Utah, all of Arizona and New Mexico, a piece of Colorado, and some of Oklahoma.  Plus all of Texas, formally spelled "Tejas."  

And that's the subject of this spleen venting.

We should have then changed all those Mexican (Spanish) names in the territory we claimed.  Failing to do so left the impression in those highly impressionable Mexicans that it was bizzness as usual.  That they had every right to continue emigrating into the U. S. of A.  And since the Border was the Rio (Not So Grande) River, they could get here easily if they could wade.  And we made it easy for them by maintaining all those Mexican street and village and city and town and state names.  For shame.

"El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles del Rio de Porcuncula."  

That's the official name of Lost Angeles.  Is there any doubt it would be a magnet for all those "unapproved" Mexicans?  And San Francisco?  And Santa Monica?  And Santa Barbara?  Wouldn't it be better if those names were changed?  And all those states above named which have retained their Spanish names?  

What started all this was a doctors appointment.  I asked the guy at the doc's office for his address.  He said "Avenida de Missiones."  I looked it up and it's a dead end street featuring exactly zero missions.  

So I decided to offer up some suggestions for change.  Along with a new motto for each.  Here they are:

     -  Utah:  "Mormon"  "We're all super nice!"

     -  California:  "Reagan"  "Where women are women and half the men are too"

     -  Arizona:  "Melt"  "Hotter than a four-peckered goat!"

     -  Nevada:  "Lose"  "The only way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket"

     -  New Mexico:  "Indigenousville"   "We like the 'old' better." 

     -  Texas:  "Rodeo"  "THE destination for all disaffected Californians!"

     -  Florida:  "Sweat"  "THE destination for all disaffected New Yorkers!"

     -  Colorado:  "LoveToSki"  "Where Lefties go to offload their wealth!" 

NOTE:  I do not recommend we change all the Mexican street names.  Waaay too expensive, doncha' know.

We need to start by changing L. A.'s name to "Washington West."  And SanFran's name to "Hamilton."  And Santa Monica's to "Franklin."  Simpler, classier, historical.  And maybe then the Mexicans will decide to locate in Chicago, or Baltimore, or New Yawk City instead.  And since they're turning socialist, they would probably welcome all those new mouths to feed... 

     

         

Something I Find Amazing.

You know what I find amazing?  So amazing that I often congitate upon it?    

I'm amazed that NFL football stadiums are able to routinely pack in the crowds come game day.  55,000, 60,000, even 75,000 like Cowboys stadium.  Are there that many people with disposable income sufficient to score a ticket to one of these games?  Because the average of all stadiums is $455.00 a ticket. 

The cheapest is an invitation to see the Cleveland Browns.  $151.00 a ticket.  Guuuuulppp!

And we all hear about the price to see a playoff game, right?  $1,000 a seat...up.  

The last Super Bowl charged their obviously overpaid fans a whopping $10,900!  For a ticket in nosebleed alley!

Are these folks all drug dealers?  Plastic surgeons?  OnlyFans models?  I continually hear those on the left bitching about how rotten the economy is, and how POTUS is ruining their lives.  But they have to have a pretty damn good life in order to pay an average man's weekly gross wages on a ticket to see overpaid, undereducated sweaty, room temperature I.Q. brutes play a stupid game.  Running in to each other at full tilt.  With too many rules.  And too many referees.  

An inside lineman on the Ravens just signed a multi-year deal for $105,000,000 a year.  That's about $300 Grand a year.  Wha.....?  Not a QB, not a wide receiver, not even a fullback!  A friggin' inside lineman!  

Do you realize that if we paid these otherwise unemployables say, $2,650.00 a game, plus health insurance, the beer wouldn't cost us $11.00 for a 12 oz. cup, Jerry Jones would be selling life insurance, and your ticket wouldn't cost $455.00.  

It's a stupid game.  I watch every game every weekend, BTW, but it's a still a stupid game.  Thank God for my trusty fast-forward.  I start watching the game 30 minutes late, and then FF through the stroke-inducing commercials... 

Go Chiefs!  

Salt Air and Mountain Ranges

After more than 30 years of exhaustive research, I'm here to tell you it's the salt air and mountain ranges.  

If you've noticed, most of the people and nearly all of the crime is located in those 3 states west of the Rockies, and those 15 states and a Federal Enclave located east of the Appalatians.

Which caused me, Fellow Patriots, to look for a common denominator.  And I think I've found it.  The easterly winds blow salt air all over the 47,000,000 people who live in Washington, Oregon and California.  And that salt air bumps up against the Rockies and stagnates.  Meaning the 16% of our population who live in those states are stewing in salt.  And we know that too much salt can cause severe health problems.  But what's little known is that it also causes LIBERALISM!* 

And the proof, Fellow Patriots, is our 13 original colonies, Virginia and Washington, D.C.  The wind being blown in from Africa swells up the Eastern Seaboard.  It turns a sharp right when it hits the coast, because the Appalatians keep it from continuing on.  So like those poor souls in the far west, they're doomed to LIBERALISM.  No choice.  Like the pod people in that black and white '50's movie, they're doomed.

So my suggestion to avoid another civil war is for us to do some creative swaps with our friends up north.  We know those provinces in the middle of Canada just hate that their dog is being wagged by Victoria's and Toronto's tail.  

Once again, salt air.   

And they might look favorably on taking CA, OR and WA, plus MN, and the Eastern Seaboard states, for Saskatchewan, Alberta and Calgary.  They'd wind up with like-wired citizens, and be rid of those constantly complaining Provinces.  

We'd suffer a yuuuuge population decrease, but with that decrease crime would virtually disappear.    Making the 10% or so of our entire Gross Domestic Product we spend on crime go down precipitously.  Sort of like having your in-laws finally move out after a protracted stay.

Trump has his wall-making crew operating overtime.  They might want to keep going when they hit San Diego.  Just turn right and build another 1,050 miles straight north to the Canadian border.  

Oh yeah.  We'd require a passport to visit the sane part of New America...

*   Personal opinion.  And we know that opinions are like assholes.  Everybody's got one...

Buh Bye!

1,800 companies left Taxifornia last year.  More than 300 of those companies found a new home in Texas.

And more than 13,000 corporations bailed since 2013.  Taking with them more than 275,000 well-paying jobs.*

Firms like Toyota, and Oxidental Petroleum.  And Kubota Tractor Corporation.  And Tesla.  And SpaceX.  Plus Charles Schwab.  And even Jamba Juice.  All left within the past 3 years.

They left because California is ranked last out of our 50 states in terms of its overall business climate.  Hostility to business, plus high utility and labor costs, coupled with punitive laws and regulations, and worrisome housing affordability, means living and working in CA is no longer doable.  California is plagued by the highest state taxes, and sales taxes, and gasoline and energy costs, making new business formation and operation nearly impossible.

That's why more than 500,000 citizens leave California every year, among the highest outmigration in the Nation.

Just recently Sprekles Sugar Cooperative in Brawley closed, taking with it more than 700 jobs.  There will be no more sugar beet processing in California for the first time in more than 78 years.  

Blue Diamond Growers of Sacramento is closing, taking 600 jobs with it.  Growing almonds is no longer profitable here.  The Foster Farms turkey processing plant in Turlock also closed, saying goodbye to 500 jobs.

Hearthside Foods of Anaheim is closing as well, meaning the end for 175 jobs.

The Gallo Wine processing facility in San Miguel is closing, taking 47 jobs along with it.  When you can't make money making wine, something is seriously wrong!

And I'm sure you've heard that In 'n Out is moving its HQ from Baldwin Park, the city of its birth, to Nashville.  Almost as far as it can get from Taxifornia.  It says CA is no longer compatible with profitable business operations.  

And if that wasn't enough, Marcus Lemonis, famed entrepreneur, just brought Bed, Bath and Beyond back to life.  California killed it once, and he's breathing new life into it.  He called a press conference to announce he will open no stores in California.  He excoriated our BoyGuv Newsom for making our largest State incompatible with profitable business operation.

Maybe having 47 of our 52 counties owned and controlled by Democrats, plus a supermajority in both houses of our Legislature also controlled by them, has everything to do with it.  

When your income tax rate is the highest in the Nation, and you sit on the board or in the CEO's office, you run like a bandit for one of the no-tax states.  Like Texas, or Florida, or Oklahoma, or Tennessee.  These states feature no corporate tax or sales tax.  Leaving them with the money it takes to grow.  And profit.   

What a concept!

Is there a solution for this problem?  Yes.  U-Haul.  

*   Dallas Business Journal, 2025.