Work mostly happens outdoors anymore, when I’m working with my son or in our yard. I have never had a desire to listen to music or anything else while engaged in these things, especially in the summer heat– I don’t need a set of headphones on, or anything in my ears while I work. The same goes for exercising at the Y– I just exercise, and have never found a need for any additional stimulation or distraction. I just tune into the rhythms of the day– birds, traffic, and so on.
Glorifying the Ugliness
What is the purpose of battle reenactments– beyond the pageantry and spectacle and chance for civilians to get their fix of playing soldier? Is it so we remember the costs and try not to do it again?
How’s that been working out for us, as a nation and a species?
Madness
Maybe Colbert will just start tearing people new ones. What has he got to lose? I didn’t think he’d be the first one to get the ax, though conditions were ripe for him to be made an example, all the ingredients were in place.
Trump might be elated at the moment, but he has to realize that Colbert and Kimmel and the rest aren’t likely to go away. They’re just gonna find more receptive landing spots, new perches, from which they will show no mercy. The media landscape is so diverse that Trump will find himself playing a constant game of whack-a-mole with the army of detractors arrayed against him. The only tool in his stupid arsenal, besides litigation, would be to threaten prison time in Alligator Alcatraz, or just pull the plug on the internet. I suppose that’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
How did we get here? How did we get to a place where previously normal governance—even with all its vaguaries and insufficiencies and share of shady, incompetent characters—has given way to nothing more than a daily, bad soap opera featuring an unhealthy, empty-souled, power-hungry megalomaniac who doesn’t give a shit about America, who lies like most of us breathe, who’s always trying to keep his head above water and fighting fires of his own setting?
To keep paying lip service to this 79-year-old child is a grave disservice to children everywhere. Even the MAGA faithful deserve better.
Yikes
Assuming comfort food is code for food that’s very palatable but not necessarily good for me, I have to go with a big plate and seconds of spaghetti and meatballs, or pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, or sausage gravy and biscuits with a couple of fried eggs, topped off with a decent sized piece of apple or pumpkin pie and a chunk of dark chocolate.
Fun ‘n’ Games
Probably Solitaire. I can just take out my phone and play a game. It’s on my iPad, too. Dominos are fun, and so are Cribbage and Pitch/Setback. The grandkids are getting old enough to enjoy some of the classic board games, like Trouble and Sorry, even Blokus. I don’t have the time for or interest in committing to Monopoly, or anything like that. I like games that involve some strategy, but are moreso just fun to play with a few other people.
The Last Bastions
I’m gonna go with the audience’s visceral groan when Stephen Colbert broke the news that The Late Show is finished in May of next year. No replacement host. The show will just not exist anymore.
If anyone is left who thinks this is just a business decision by a network trying to keep its head above water, then you’ve been sitting in the sun for too long.
And The Daily Show, too? Apparently, the new Dark Ages are upon us. I wonder if Colbert will even make it to May 2026. If he does, I hope he goes out with a bang. And Stewart, too.
Hopefully, there will be a network somewhere who will dare welcome them to the fold, if they still have the fire in ’em.
Mostly Basic Fare
I’d like to learn how to make bread. I’ve watched my wife do it many times, but have never tried it myself. It’s an art, of sorts, and a commitment.
Falafal would be on the To Do list. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a general familiarity with the Mediterranean diet and various spice palates, be able to whip up a tasty meal at a moment’s notice, but I’ve never felt inclined to invest the time.
I think I could live on stews and soups.
Easy Choice
Dogs, though cats are less labor intensive and lead a more autonomous existence. As I was once reminded, they’ve been domesticated for about half as long as dogs, and it shows sometimes. And, at least in this neck of the woods, we don’t have to worry about feral dogs.
Absorbed In A Moment
Writing, listening to music, watching a good TV show or movie, reading, sometimes working outside. Quite a while ago, I once sat at the piano for three hours and remember marveling over having been there playing away for all that time.
More Distractions Coming
It seems almost an inevitability that heads will roll. The hand-wringing and wrangling behind the scenes will reveal the latest in a long line of hires to part ways with Donald Trump. Pam Bondi may be safe, Kash says he’s not going anywhere, but Dan Bongino may be shown the door, or maybe he’ll let himself out.
All this because of the Epstein fallout. MAGA faithful are beside themselves because there was no client list reveal—a list that apparently sat on Bondi’s desk, and which the hardcore diehards apparently figured would be chockful of slimy Dems who, they’ve been told, were part of a network of child molesters and sex traffickers.
Intuition and drawn conclusions tell us something different now. Wagons may be circling to protect precious Donald, Teflon Man, who everyone knows often enough hung out with Epstein, who shows up in numerous pics and videos. It’s all causing major consternation among the far right talking heads who thought they had a smoking gun. They still might, but it may be pointing at their not-so-fearless leader.
What a useless bunch. Instead of governing and doing the peoples’ work, all we get is more drama and this sensational drivel that passes for news. Nothing will happen to Donald. Someone else will take the fall, as usual. This is why you have handpicked lackies in positions of power—so they can “disappear” the damning evidence, or at least try to.
Where’s Deep Throat when you need him?
3 Cents' 