Rear View Mirror

 When I began driving in 1972, I learned from my Father. He explained the rules-of-the-road from obeying the speed limit to not camping-out in the left lane without passing. He taught me how to parallel park and to safely merge onto highways, as well. He also would regularly remind me to check the rear view mirror.

That last one involving the rear view mirror was the one that boggled my mind. Why would I care what was behind me; it was the stuff in front of me that seemed to be important. My Dad felt otherwise.

All these decades later I’ve come to realize he was right once again. Aside from checking the mirrors to ensure you’re not obstructing a police or fire vehicle, or that an airplane was desperately attempting an emergency landing, I still felt it was silly to analyze what was history on the road.

Yet here we are with another epiphany applying lessons in life’s fluidity.

It seems as though checking the rear view mirror in life is just as valuable - perhaps more so – than only looking ahead. Allow me to explain.

The year was 2016. A businessman named Donald Trump ran for the office of the President of the United States. He ran against a seasoned professional freeloader named Hillary Clinton who desperately wanted to put another meaningless notch in her belt.

She proudly worked on the Richard Nixon impeachment committee in 1973. That very public stepping stone led her to a lucrative law position in Arkansas where she met and married an equally sleazy politician, William Jefferson Clinton – at which point she changed her name from Rodham to Clinton.

With little in the way of political experience in her rear view mirror, Ms. Clinton checked the pulse of Leftist America for issues and direction. She realized that women were anxious to kill babies, which helped Clinton gravitate toward legalizing abortion. And she found a winner in that message.

Making a name for herself, Clinton rode the wave of popularity being elected a Senator from New York, First Lady, Secretary of State, and eventually a candidate for president. And she accomplished all this on an awfully thin rèsumé – one lacking genuine political experience other than marriage to a sleazy philanderer.

Very few people looking strictly through the windshield were able to see Trump become the 45^th President of the United States. But looking back at that election we now realize the shenanigans going on in the political world.

Fake dossiers, lies, doctored photographs, misinformation of social media, slanted news from the mainstream media (MSM), disingenuous politicians, corrupt government employees, along with unwarranted federal investigations, all helped generate a question of impropriety in weak minded Americans.

Suddenly there were more fabricated stories about illegal immigrants being held in cages and drinking toilet water, tax breaks for the wealthy, a failing environment, and possibilities of wars with Russia, China, plus North Korea.

Those Lefties didn’t rest for a minute. Looking back, their attacks on Trump and his administration were only bolstering support from “Average Joe” Americans. His slogan, Make America Great Again – MAGA – gained in popularity, exponentially.

In an earnest effort to stop this meteoric rise, the MSM who detested President Trump’s name-calling resorted to, well, name-calling.

Resurrecting the distasteful, emotion-evoking moniker, “Nazi,” virtually everyone without a conscience or sense of history quickly glommed onto the word, largely without knowledge of the word and what it represents.

An acronym for National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the word Nazi has become associated with heinous acts of murder and oppression as those generated by World War II Germany. By the way, an estimated 6,000,000 Jews were rounded up and murdered by Nazis; not a word casually inserted into a daily conversation.

However, in 2017 – immediately following Mr. Trump’s inauguration – that word was tossed about more than practically any other.

Americans regularly heard that Trump was a Nazi, he was turning America into Nazi Germany, and so on, perpetuated throughout his four-year term, and abruptly ended upon the election of Joe Biden. Simply amazing.

Using new tactics centering around class warfare, Biden has been employing his Department of Justice, Department of Interior, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy, among others, to exact punishment upon American MAGA voters and Trump supporters.

Applying laws written specifically for the Civil War to silence and penalize Rebel Civil War participants, a public display of corruption mixed with revenge has been regularly applied to anyone and anything Right of center.

In a concerted effort to become the Anti-Trump, Biden, on his first day in office, ran out of ink signing Executive Orders undoing everything President Trump had enacted.

Literally opening the gates to the United States for illegal immigration on Day One, Biden and his simpleton henchman Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, have insisted “the border is closed.”

Of course it wasn’t, and still isn’t closed, but for Mayorkas, lying with a straight face to Congress as well as the American public seems to come naturally. Keep in mind that an estimated 11,000,000 illegal aliens crossed our Southern border I three years.

Now, that same administration is busy wringing. We are quickly approaching another presidential election, and Biden sycophants are scurrying to do damage control. Again evoking names such as bigot, refugee, Nazi, and asylum, Donald Trump and his supporters are once again wearing targets on their backs.

Hastily ending our 20-year military occupation in Afghanistan for political points, Biden screwed both Afghanistan and our armed forces to argue he was smarter and more attuned than Trump.

Bragging how he pulled our troops from a Middle East country, Biden proudly bragged that “that other guy,” to whom he alluded was President Trump, should’ve made this sloppy international SNAFU himself. This bone-headed move lost America billions of dollars in arms, as well as countless Afghanis who willingly helped American troops as translators and guides.

But then a corrupt country named Ukraine, whose country abuts Russia, was invaded by Vladimir Putin in February 2022. Ukraine President Volodymyr “Show Me the Money” Zelenskyy begged Plugs Biden for money and arms to fight the Russian Army’s efforts to annex Ukraine back into Russia’s fold.

Volodymyr "Show Me the Money" Zelenskyy
showing how big the stacks of money he 
expects from his buddy Joe Biden should be

Eager to appear strong, Biden quickly gave billions of dollars to Zelenskyy, a mistake opening the spigot of endless cash to a country that became critical to an attempted impeachment of Donald Trump. Oddly enough, Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, mysteriously worked for Ukraine’s Burisma, a corrupt energy company. Hunter and his buddies were allegedly paid $1,000,000 per year, according to The Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Let’s not forget other influence peddling schemes between the Biden’s and Romania, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Not insignificant amounts of money that totaled well into the tens-of-millions of dollars are now in question. President Biden commented these were “all lies.” Of course they were. Wink, wink.

President Zelenskyy just left the White House begging for more money – money America doesn’t have because of the 11,000,000 illegal aliens who are gobbling-up their “free” benefits, the new 30,000 IRS employees, the hunt for more American military ammunition, college loan pay-offs, electric vehicle recharging stations, “investments (read: giveaways)” in green technologies, ad campaigns to make Americans vegetarians, and the $16,000,000,000 to railroads.

It appears as though Zelenskyy will have to go home with only $200,000,000, per CBS News. Alas.

With the 2024 Presidential Election quickly arriving it’s clear we rely on facts from yesteryear rather than suppositions of the future.

President Trump has a proud legacy on which he will likely run, damn the smarmy Attorney General, State Attorneys, District Attorneys, and other prosecutors with axes to grind.

As you can see, there’s a lot in the rear view mirror that can be used to hopefully prevent one from making the same mistakes time-after-time to the detriment of society and your personal well-being.

Check that rear view mirror often.

Christmas Time

 “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree…” is the way an old, upbeat Christmas song of that same name, begins. Sung with glee by Brenda Lee, this song has graced holiday radio airwaves for decades. Creating a toe-tapping rhythm, its electric guitar lead usually evokes a smile along with an invitation to join the singing.

Of course, this is not what many people consider “traditional” Christmas music. They often defer to more religious compositions such as Silent Night, Oh, Holy Night, and It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. But that’s a personal thing in the grand scheme of things, in my opinion.

In any case, this time of year is supposed to be special in that it is in preparation of the birth of Jesus, the Savior and Lord of the Christian faith. As a Christian I do not feel this is one bit controversial, but for others – perhaps those who dislike Brenda Lee’s Christmas tune – such a divisive tune demands attention.

In the vein of ‘fairness,’ the world has gone crazy. Of course there are other religions that celebrate their own holidays at this time of the year; unfortunately, Christianity seems to be the main target of countless, mindless rebellions by non-believers.

Insignificant groups of malcontents in both Iowa and Wisconsin, under the guise of a religious sects, felt compelled to add their version of the Christmas holiday in the form of a Satanic display. Although disgusting, spineless state pubic officials rued there was nothing they could legally do to prevent such as display of visceral hate in an attempt to ruin Christmas for everyone else.

The Satanists’ argument was they simply wanted inclusion and felt the law needed to be challenged. Yea! Not one Iowa or Wisconsin lawyer was able to find a law or loophole to prevent such an atrocity. Perhaps there should be a hiring campaign for good guvment lawyers in those states. Just sayin’.

On the other hand, one good citizen named Michael Cassidy, was able to find a solution to Iowa’s sordid holiday train wreck. A former Navy pilot and Mississippi state candidate was arrested following his destruction of this horrible mockery of Jesus and His followers. Problem solved, I say. And “Thank you, Mike!”

In the meantime, in Boston, the Asian mayor, Michelle Wu, decided to treat her staff to some holiday revelry. To ensure a great turnout, Wu’s staffer sent an email to everyone in the Mayor’s Office to not forget this important event. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Mayor Wu, with the intent only a Harvard lawyer could muster, had the invitation rescinded. It appears as though the original email was copied to “all” employees in the mayor’s office, a faux pas that would have left a non-racist with egg on their face.

Thank goodness for Wu, she apparently needed a reason to prove to civilized America she was a world-class bigot by announcing her soiree was an event for “Electeds of Color.”

You see, The Mayor’s intention was to have ‘an all-inclusive’ holiday party except for Whities. By the way, there are seven Whities on the Boston City Counsel. Oops!

A photo of the non-inclusive all inclusive
un-White holiday party in Boston

With a smirk during a subsequent press conference, Wu explained this misunderstanding away – just as the powers-that-be likely told her to do while getting her law degree in Harvard. The misunderstanding was that White people needed to find other activities, plain and simple. Pretty inclusive indeed, Merry Holiday!

Yet, the story doesn’t end here. Some investigating revealed Mayor Wu’s husband is, himself, White. EasternShoreFishAndGame.blogspot.com is still wondering if the invitation applied to that White guy, too. No one seems to be saying much, though. So much for emasculation of White folk via inclusion.

And let us not forget about our environmentalist friends who can find woe and anger in anything and everything.

Christmas trees are an integral part of the Christmas celebration. Beginning in Germany in the early 720’s. Involving a convoluted story about pagans and Saint Boniface, tradition was born using an evergreen tree as a “holy tree,” per a Britannica reference, beginning a custom extending for generations.

The eco-kooks have been coming out of cracks in the walls to offer their anointed perspective on Christmas trees, leaving no room for discussion. These are the same people that promised civilization would freeze to death shortly after their prognostication in 1974; our days were numbered, they said.

In 1976, those same nut-jobs began an earnest effort to warn the world’s inhabitants their life expectancy was no longer than 1984, as the planet was certain to spontaneously combust. And yet here we are 39-years later awaiting that terrible fate.

In an attempt to predict the future again, various groups of unemployed and unemployable people who need to be self-important resurrected the long-standing debate over Christmas trees. It seems as though these do-gooders feel cutting down a perfectly good pine tree for no apparent reason (other than religious tradition,) should be a crime.

Demanding legal action against anyone destroying a healthy part of nature has been bandied about lately. Giving “rights” to nature is only one more step to long-term mental health care for them. However, they feel this effort will have a year to garner enough support to enact meaningful legislation for Christmas 2024 to save countless blue spruce trees. Sure.

A solid alternative to this bizarre behavior, they feel, is to buy and use artificial trees. Perhaps those shallow thinkers failed to realize Christmas celebrants have been cutting down holiday trees for 1,300 years, to the tune of thousands to millions per year. There doesn’t appear to be a tree shortage after all that willy-nilly harvesting, though.

Too bad these same eco-kooks won’t accept any advice from me about changing their idiotic lifestyles that they feel they can and should impose on me and others like me. Where’s Michael Cassidy when you need him again?

And to that end EasternShoreFishAndGame.blogspot.com wishes you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year! God bless. 

Job Openings

Who says there’s no such thing as good news?

Since early October 2023, the deranged Palestinian political and military organization, Hamas, has been front and center in the news. Hamas is an acronym of its official name, the Islamic Resistance Movement, an organization governing the Gaza Strip of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, according to a variety of on-line sources.

Since history is no longer being taught in schools, by way of background, World War II was a conflict begun in Germany in 1939, continuing through 1945. After the armistice, the League of Nations – precursor to the feckless United Nations (UN) – decided the war-displaced European Jews needed a place to live.

The League of Nations, in 1948, decided that Palestine land was an appropriate place for the Jews to reside in peace. Regular minor incursions into Israel by Hamas, over the years, has kept tensions high. Missiles, ‘hit and run’ attacks with guns and explosives, and suicide assassins, directed at the Jewish state, has been dealt with – tolerated – until the last October 7^th.

That was the infamous day Hamas summarily sent hundreds of missiles into Israel killing 1,200 mostly civilians. Innocent civilians, that is. Children, elderly men and women, young people at an outdoor concert and festival, all indiscriminately killed by Hamas.

Not being satisfied, Hamas soldiers physically entered Israel to further murder and capturing remaining Israelis, to include young women and babies, many of whom were raped. Please re-read the last sentence.

Those who weren’t killed were captured, being taken back into Palestine to be tortured and held as bargaining chits.

This mayhem was met with a strong response from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the form of rockets, missiles, tanks, ground troops, as well as air strikes. This show of force has been relentless, and justifiably so.

As if on cue, “news” organizations largely controlled by The Left have been using propaganda since the first IDF bullet was fired, claiming defenseless Palestinian civilians were being slaughtered for no good reason. And so it went.

Repeated lies about Israel randomly dispatching Arab children, cutting off food and water supplies, and preventing the repair of electrical lines, were quickly, regularly spread worldwide with glee.

Talk shows, podcasts, newspapers, and social media have been touting the pain and suffering of Palestinians at the hands of the IDF, with no end in sight, and always the same: Hamas did nothing to deserve the relentless counterattacks especially on such a fun-loving people.

But just as cockroaches run willy-nilly until the lights are turned-on, sickening diseases and awful things occur because of an inherent inability to destroy those guilty vermin.

Suddenly, organized protests, marches, even television appearances of otherwise “normal” celebrities have sprouted from virtually nowhere. Chanting racist slogans and hurtful messages, protesters of all races, sexes, and ages took the streets of major cities to express their hate of Israel and Jews, demanding they all be exterminated without mercy.

College pukes, Congressfolks, college professors, athletes, foreign nation heads, teachers, even the aforementioned inept UN have clearly laid their proverbial hand of cards on the table. Most of those anti-Semitic demonstrators were demanding not only a “pause” infighting by the IDF, but also intifada.

Intifada is an Arabic word meaning to “tremor” or “shake off” dirt from one’s sandals. Not exactly the love and peace we’ve been told the Arab and Muslim cultures expound. Remember September 11, 2001?

Proudly standing tall, usually while wearing smug grins, these Hamas supporters have been showing their bigoted, egotistic attitudes without concern or care of castigation from the people who pay their salaries, openly appearing before federal committees to answer some easy questions posed by Congress.

Appearing before Congress to share their thoughts about these current events were MIT President Sally Kornbluth, UPenn President Liz Magill, and Harvard President Claudine Gay – all of whom appear to be affirmative action hirees.

After several long hours of questioning about their professional positions regarding the clear antisemitism being demonstrated on their respective campus’, not one of the bunch could articulate – in a manner other than as a lawyer – that they condemned open disgust for and disdain at Jews.

Dancing around the questions from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik much like the late Fred Astaire famously performed, all three exercised their chicane skills in an attempt to appear to answer without answering – a move usually reserved for government employees appearing before House and Senate Committees.

All three scored poorly on their oral exams on December 5^th, as not one of these over-educated lawyers were able to respond “yes” or “no” to questions concerning the condemnation of antisemitism on their respective campus’.

President Magill’s response to the anti-Jew rhetoric was a clever, “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.” I’ll bet it is.

Just as an aside, Magill’s annual salary was reported to be $1,200,000, plus benefits and perks, according to timesnownews.com.

But Magill had an epiphany several days later to voluntarily step down from her president’s position. That’s one job opening. Arrogant Claudine Gay and Sally Kornbluth appear as though they, too, may be on the platform awaiting their train for departure from academia. Our fingers are crossed.

That would create another two jobs that need filling. Perhaps this time they will be properly filled with qualified personnel other than those who are merely able to check the appropriate boxes. Compassion and humanity are two of the important checklist items.

Bidenomics

 Here’s a fun fact: President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., proclaimed he is “taking on special interests and winning.” He smiled for the cameras as he made this statement while signing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

All along, Biden complained enough wasn’t being done to “help lower costs for families, combat the climate crisis, reduce the budget deficit, and finally ask the largest companies to pay their fair share.” This statement clearly appears on The White House website under the byline August 15, 2022.

And here we are, more than a year later, eagerly awaiting the effects of the IRA to assist those less affluent navigate our “transitory inflation” with much-touted legislation aimed at punishing corporations for making money.

This sentiment is not new. Lefties and Commies such as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and President Biden himself, have been forever beating the drum of squeezing blood from a stone by making profits a sin.

Taxing everything from driving, working, fishing, buying to help the economy, saving money, owning a car, smoking anything, rain, building a home, even dying, has become a true quest for greedy politicians ardently trying to break the backs of industry and its workers plus America’s citizenry all in the name of fairness.

That same tired line of needing equity in order to survive is nothing more than a phony claim to divide the masses for the sake of conquering via propaganda. And so far, so good.

Under auspices of helping the rank-and-file worker make more money, politicians regularly drag out lame examples of how corporate executives and other white collar-types make gads more money than their blue-collar counterparts.

But too often the blue collar-types are under educated, or merely engaged in entry-level jobs whose salaries are commensurate with their knowledge, skills, and abilities – mostly entry-level positions. In the event they are displeased with their wages or position they should find a new job.

Of course, right-to-work laws in varying states play a key role as to unionization of employees affecting attitudes of employees versus at-will employee situations. Playing the Devil’s advocate, unions enjoy dragging corporations into forced situations to settle perceived slights in salaries, benefits, and tenure.

Through walkouts, strikes, and slowdowns, demands by the rank-and-file workers can, and do, often end up victorious in disputes with management, however sometimes with less than desired results. Higher pay may translate to employee lay-offs or a cutback in hours, or both.

Suddenly, those meaningful demands result in lost product sales, higher costs to satisfy stock holder demands, and an occasional corporate restructuring or bankruptcy.

Certainly, none of these matters to guvment-types many of whom have never held a private sector job where salaries and bonuses and time benefits are calculated based upon profits. Union representatives usually omit those pesky parts out of their spiels to the picketers.

Demanding more in the way of fair pay is a virtual given in any job where skills are learned and should be considered for advancement rather than longevity, sex, or race.

In any case, Biden has been traipsing about the country claiming his IRA is a genuine success; in fact, it has been deemed so much of a success that the Biden Administration has named this stroke of brilliance “Bidenomics.”

Bidenomics' name sake

Let’s say it together: BIDENOMICS! YEA!

As luck has it, Biden claims greedy merchants have been working extra hard at socking it to the little guy. Since Biden has been in office, bread has increased by 29%, eggs by 87%, and electricity by 22%.

The IRA is heralded as a way for the average person to buy a new electric vehicle (EV) because part of that bill includes a tax credit for EVs. Costing in the neighborhood of $60,000, a new EV is eligible, under the IRA, for a $7500 tax credit. Wow!

Unfortunately, that tax credit comes out of the money you paid in federal taxes. And with the higher costs of food, homes, fuel, groceries, school supplies, and electricity, the average U.S. household finds itself more than $10,000 per year further in debt than when President Donald Trump was in office. Not the financial windfall for which you hoped.

Last, but not least, is the biggest threat to civilization; an existential threat, to be exact. That threat is: not Ukraine, not Hamas, not the Southern border, not a COVID redux, not out-of-control crime, not illiteracy in our schools, not systemic racism, not transgender hate crimes, not using an improper pronoun. The biggest threat to civilization is climate change.

Yes, climate change is the major burr under the saddle of prosperity that, according to experts such as Greta Thunberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Bill Gates, is the one issue which will determine if we, as a society, will continue. I’ll wait while you retrieve a tissue for your tears.

As usual, the guvment is trying to appear beneficial to American’s needs to stifle permanent environmental damage by throwing money at the problem. Giving money back to those from whence it came is supposed to somehow solve the problem at-hand. It doesn’t, though.

Giving money to solve a problem is tantamount to the redistribution of wealth – the middle class paying for the benefit of the wealthy to install solar panels, wind turbines, and purchase EVs exactly what is happening to our rapid descent into more debt.

Let’s examine where the rest of these precious tax dollars are going to through the IRA conduit.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s uncompromising rules on mining for necessary oil and minerals, along with keeping our environment the cleanest on the planet, prevents us from manufacturing our own solar panels and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Thank goodness for America that Communist China is willing and available to flout environmental laws to continue to make a buck off the back of Joe Biden and every other American in the process of saving Mother Earth.

Our money flows freely to China to give them the business our environmentalists find distasteful. Of course,
that money translates into advanced military weaponry which will likely be used to fight against us while we side with Taiwan during a clash over their sovereignty with China.

There you have it. Bidenomics is a true success in every...uh, no, it isn’t. Never mind.

We’re now deeper in debt than ever in history, are amid an invasion of unknown foreigners freely crossing our Southern border, dangling on the precipice of financial collapse, quickly approaching total civil destruction, intentionally creating illiterate grade schoolers to fudge teachers’ abilities, while edging closer to another World War.

How’s that for a fun fact?

Halloween Memories

Every once in a while, a spurt of brilliance pops out of my head; this story is one of them and deserves a rerun for your pleasure.

It is especially important as we have again arrived at Halloween. Please enjoy this recycled example of truth and brilliance.

We’ll return next week with a brand-new story for your enjoyment. Until then, Happy Halloween, and thanks for reading! 

  A recent shopping adventure made me smile because of all the Christmas trees, bins full of wrapping paper, and toys.  This prominent display of holiday retail revelry got me to think: Wow!  We’re just two weeks away from Halloween.

 

Indeed, Halloween is approaching and will likely arrive before Thanksgiving and Christmas, unless Congress, who changed the time, declares otherwise.  They have the power and ultimate last word in everything else so, why not?

 

Oddly enough, this evident calendar faux pas presented another great law of unintended consequences – lots more candy is suddenly available, and in spades!

 

While perusing the confectionary aisle I recalled days of yore when times were different, and I once again mustered a masked smile.

 

Years ago, one never knew how many trick-or-treaters would stop by to raid the candy bowl, or if they would even show up to beg or threaten for goodies.  After all, America is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding themselves in need of a respite.

 

Some years seemingly countless rug rats would envelop the street in a mob-like scenario dressed in a varying array of costumes ranging from the latest television characters and movie heroes to the old standby hobos and witches.

 

Of course, there were some disguises that appeared professional while others seemed to reflect a last-minute, poorly executed attempt at candy pillaging.

 

Not to be left out, a few late stragglers sporting 4-day beard growths and smoking Marlboros invariably would show up in a weak effort to snag some free stuff.  Unfortunately, those tired ploys rarely worked on me.  Get a job, I say.

 

It was during some social awareness campaigns that the number of trick-or-treaters dramatically dwindled, though.  Parents fearing for their children’s safety kept many of the masquerading kids home, on some occasions, while other years introduced community gatherings that were controlled and managed by neighborhood parents and housing organizations.

 

These feel-good efforts resulted in fewer kids marching from house-to-house-to-house to bang on doors demanding extorted goods by yelling, “Trick-or-treat.”  And it usually worked. Except for the stingy neighbors, that is.

 

Yes, you know who you are.  That is why your house is annually subjected to a good toilet papering or a thorough egging.  But you asked for it.

 

Unfortunately, those safety-concerned awareness campaigns not only kept the kids off the streets and away from front porches, but they also created a supply and demand imbalance, resulting in people buying less goodies for next year’s Halloween go-around.

 

Because of the season change and waning daylight, wee children and pre-K tots normally made their rounds early – just after Mom and Dad returned home from work, about five PM.

 

Some kids were carried, others were dragged around by their hands, and some arrived sleeping in their strollers.  But all were adorable and deserved a prize.

 

We’ve had bumble bees, elephants, princesses, clowns, science fiction characters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and soldiers darken our doorway.  Firemen, nurses, policemen, chefs, and politicians also stopped by to join the All Hallows Eve fun.

 

But it was the early comers that scored tens on the give-away scale.  After a few consecutive years of slacking visitors, we cut back on the candy and opted for something healthier and more appealing to my sainted wife and me.

 

Our modified giveaways consisted of pre-packaged pretzels and cheese crackers.  Once again, because we wanted fewer leftovers, we bought less.  And that was when the panic began.

 

Our pretzel and cracker bags were purchased in boxes of 48; we bought 2 boxes.  That was the year we received 122 ghoulish trick-or-treaters.

 

It was at this moment that I recalled my own trick-or-treat adventures back in the 1950's and 1960’s.  Then, the elderly neighborhood widows passed out homemade popcorn balls, caramel apples, and candied apples; labor intensive, but made with love.

 

It was when their supplies dwindled, they began passing out wooden pencils, loose change, and individual cough drops, all in the spirit of the moment.

 

Not to disappoint due to lack of preparedness, we contemplated passing out “thoughtful” treats along those lines and eventually resorted to turning off the lights in lieu of handing out sugar packets, cat treats, a handful of grapes, ice cubes, or Post-it Notes.  I think that was a wise choice.  And notation made for next Halloween.

 

On the other hand, a roll of toilet paper, paper towels, gas cards, or hand sanitizer might just appear overly generous and thoughtful in today’s climate.

 

In any case, Happy Halloween!

 

Living in the Past

 Let’s all climb aboard the WABAC Machine. If you’re unfamiliar with WABAC, it is an abbreviation for Wormhole Activating and Bridging Automatic Computer: a fictitious invention of cartoon inventor Dr. Peabody.

The WABAC was capable of transporting people to and fro historic periods in order to provide background to stories of yore that were pertinent to today, sort of a time machine.

Entering the WABAC and setting the date for 2017, we quickly approach a time when women and men both rallied around a concerted effort to chastise and harangue a very successful film producer, Harvey Weinstein, whose 38-year long career suddenly stopped due to allegations of sexual harassment.

It seems as though Weinstein was so successful with his movies, his approach to casting for them was deemed coercive, to the point of being criminal according to the legal system.

Long-time actresses who gleefully starred in his films during those four-decades suddenly felt the need to exit the proverbial ‘closet of shame,’ to share their stories about how Weinstein used them for his own desires, climbing onto the sexual abuse bandwagon to exact revenge as well as see justice served.

This concerted effort was all part of something called the “Me Too” movement, “a global, survivor-led movement against sexual violence, we are dedicated to creating pathways for healing, justice, action and leadership,” states metoomvmt.org.

Soon, airwaves of radio and television, as well as the internet, were flooded with complaints by women who refused to be left out of this groundswell directed toward a therapeutic conclusion of a longstanding, often ignored newly discovered problem: the mistreatment of women by powerful men.

Weinstein, as of this writing, is serving prison time in California, to be followed by his sentence in New York State for sexual abuse charges.

As is evident, the WABAC machine has thus far served us well. Now to the present.

In early October 2023, Hamas attacked – without warning – its neighbor, Israel.

By way of background, Hamas is a terrorist organization, officially the Islamic Resistance Movement, in the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories.

Climbing back into the WABAC, Hamas was formed in 1987 at the start of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israel. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist group that first formed in Egypt. It rejects any peace deal with Israel, which it refuses to recognize.

Throughout the following decades, Hamas has wreaked havoc upon innocent civilians by indiscriminately bombing, shooting, stabbing, and lobbing missiles into Israel largely due to their hate for anyone related to Judaism as well as those non-Islam believers: infidels.

Hamas exercise in peace

Exiting the WABAC, we hear constant air raid sirens in the background of the on-the-ground TV reporters currently broadcasting the mayhem Hamas is creating in the Middle East against Israel. Those reporters are wearing flak jackets and helmets to protect themselves from shrapnel – the result of Hamas’ rockets targeting Israel.

Part of those early news reports have been centered around the absolute horror inflicted upon the innocent Israeli populace. Reports of kidnappings to acquire hostages, a bombing of an outdoor concert, snatching babies to later behead them, and cutting infants from the wombs of pregnant women are examples of the unthinkable horror being exhibited on Israeli Jews.

There appears to be no end in sight to this clear exertion of terror.

But here’s the rub.

All those women who stood loudly and proudly against a movie mogul who traded sex for roles cheered while they safely pointed fingers of blame at Harvey Weinstein, and continue to do so until today, albeit safely, are nowhere to be found.

Yet, no one from that global Me Too group is rallying against Hamas and its ardent attempt at genocide of women.

Rather, college-aged women, television news readers, even the deranged Congressional Squad members: AOC, Tlaib, Omar, and Pressley, are actually siding with Hamas and its antics of sordid killings and hate. College and university personnel are publicly siding with greasy Hamas, too.

Clearly these phony “women’s rights” supporters are showing their true allegiances by standing with sub-humans who are inflicting atrocities on innocent people while picking the low-hanging fruit of notoriety.

It’s time to make note of whose side on which everyone is gathering. And all those standing with the guilty side of this incursion should be permanently marked for exclusion in any job, housing, or other societal inclusion because of their clearly demonstrated bigotry that isn’t tolerated elsewhere in civil order.

You cannot stand for peace and simultaneously back Hamas and Palestine. But I’m afraid this is not the end, rather it is only the beginning.

We Pay These Clowns

 Too often we forget public servants, also known as: politicians, cops, firefighters, teachers, DMV employees, street sweepers, building inspectors, game wardens, and snow plowers, are all either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Solution? Problem?

Indeed. Each one of these public servants have proven themselves to behaving in a pleasant or evil way over time. And there’s little in the way of recourse we – as a society – can do to rectify wrongs.

Being caught-up in seemingly endless traffic jams, arguing with the school board about sordid curricula, delayed building inspections, false accusations, denied services, and basic incompetency, create an elementary path to what amounts to theft through taxes.

We regularly hear about living in “the land of the free,” and “freedom,” but rarely experience those freedoms in these modern times. Since 1788 The United States of America has been living under The Constitution, written by a bunch of foreign transplants who had a vision – a vision that still exists, albeit on brittle, shaky ground.

Righting wrongs with civil servants has, as of late, proven to be arduous inasmuch as ‘where the buck typically stops’ is suddenly an ivory tower. Most complaints about making first graders read smut in school or dealing with surly DMV representatives go unheeded while some are even met with arrest.

Politicians who are usually the last resort when attempting to rectify a problem no longer remember why they were elected in the first place.

Congressfolk who feel civilians stepping foot inside The Capitol warrants a five-year prison sentence are not living up to their moniker ‘Representative.’ If they feel trespassing is a more heinous crime than arson, they need to tidy up their résumés.

Too often these Congressmen, Senators mayors, county board members, aldermen, governors, and so on, wind up growing deep roots – too deep to sometimes remove – not unlike annoying, pesky weeds.

In fact, Chicago former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, while in office, proudly made a public statement that she would no longer give interviews to White folk. Only POC need to inquire. Divisive? Sure, but she’s somehow the victim in her own puny mind. Thank goodness she’s now gone.

Not to be outdone in the Everyone-is-Deprived-Except-White-People department, DC shadow Senator Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), clearly has too much time on her hands, and too few brain cells.

Where could this deep thinker begin to rectify societal wrongs? Of course, crash test dummies. Of course.

Yep, those plastic mannequins used in measuring safety of vehicles and airplanes, has suddenly caught her attention similar to shiny beads and laser lights to a cat.

St. Norton talking while still saying nothing

Not unlike a squirrel crossing a busy road, Norton, out of the blue, realized crash test dummies have male features. I’ll repeat that so you won’t think my fingers stuttered while typing. Norton, out of the blue, realized crash test dummies have male features.

Of course, a sane person would ask the question just how sexually bigoted Norton is by attempting to identify and then summarily placing those individuals into arbitrary categories.

In an ardent effort of exercising equity and fairness, Norton introduced a bill to use crash test dummies that represent gender equality. No lie. Sure it’s a big deal. No it’s not.

But Norton somehow demonstrated how ignorant she really is, and why the District of Columbia is not a state, nor should be. Just wait until she realizes there are no dummies of color (DOC). I’ll wager that will be her next windmill to chase.

Speaking of chasing windmills, the Quixotic effort to fund America’s new war, President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., dragged us onto, we are quickly sinking into the cesspool of another never-ending war.

Remember Afghanistan? That is the place the United States fought a half-hearted war following the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on our country. Spending between 2 and 6 trillion dollars on that debacle, Biden felt it important to end that war immediately. Immediately!

He hastily withdrew American troops leaving many allies behind, and placing numerous aides’ lives in jeopardy all for a photo opportunity while bragging about his leadership abilities. He conveniently forgot about the troops killed by a terrorist bombing during our exit. He claimed we were fighting a senseless conflict with no end in sight. Thank him.

It didn’t take long for President Quixote to find another quagmire for us, though. Ukraine! Within the last year and a half, we’re in to Ukraine for $116,000,000,000, with no end in sight. Can you say “quagmire?”

We’re just beginning to make Ukraine our 51^st state and are desperately trying to totally immerse our nation into a war in the Middle East. By way of background, Palestine’s Hamas lobbed rockets into Israel during their ground attack.

That incursion included killing innocent women, babies in their wombs, beheading children, and capturing elderly Jews – all the while live streaming their horrific mayhem on the internet. This appears to be leading into another endless war. But this time it’s different.

Our military is understaffed, most of our arms and munitions are either in Ukraine or were left in Afghanistan, our bank has no money, and those $84,000,000,000 in arms we left in Afghanistan are now showing up in our newest conflict with Palestine.

Politicians, along with civil servants, are like baby diapers – they’re full of poop and need to be changed often. Fortunately, politicians are subject to regular elections, which are akin to performance appraisals in the private sector.

Quickly upcoming is the time for constituents to exercise their right to vote in order to express a satisfactory or ‘beat-it’ verdict for the job auditions during their tenure in office.

All you civil servants please remember: I’m going to miss you.

Biden Lies

 As a presidential candidate in 2020, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., promised “No one making under $400,000 per year would see their federal taxes go up a single penny.”

Following Biden’s election, Danny Werfel, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner, then announced he had hired 3,700 new employees to audit all those wealthy miscreant taxpayers not paying their “fair share.”

Say what?

According to American Insider, “‘These new employees will be focused on higher-income and complex tax areas like partnerships, not taxpayers making less than $400,000,’ Werfel said.”

You bet. Increasing guvment spending by $7,000,000,000 in two-years won’t need any additional funding. No rise in taxes, no additional audits – just pure magic will produce all those trillions of dollars for American coffers as well as our 51^st state, Ukraine.

Not unlike most politicians who feel it their civil duty to ignore campaign trail promises, Biden has taken this business-as-usual behavior to a whole new level.

It’s clear Biden was lying with verve when he made that tax promise promise three-years ago. Unfortunately, those lies began in 1973 when he discovered he possessed no real abilities outside of sucking on the guvment teat; his skill-less career has continued since, driving the U.S. further into bankruptcy.

The Fabricator-in-Chief telling another lie

All the while, the complicit mainstream media (MSM) along with other sycophants allowed and even encouraged the fabrications to continue, unchecked.

Among those fictional tales told by this career politician were centered around his brilliant résumé include his “plagiarism in his campaign speeches and in a law school paper, admitted yesterday that some of his boasts about his college academic achievements were untrue, including the claim that he had finished in the top half of his class in law school,” Mother Jones News continued.

Biden claimed that he had attended law school at Syracuse University on a full academic scholarship, that he had been named the outstanding student in the political science department as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, and that he had graduated from Delaware with three undergraduate degrees.

In a statement yesterday responding to a story in the current issue of Newsweek magazine, Biden admitted that these claims were "inaccurate," The Washington Post reported in September 1987.

Well, well, well. As luck has it, the newspaper whose slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” found it important to add, “As the complete record of my law school career indicates, which I released to the press last week, I did not graduate in the top half of my class at law school and my recollection on this was inaccurate," Biden said. "With regard to my being the outstanding student in the political science department, my name was put up for that award by Prof. David Ingersoll, who is still at the University of Delaware."

Biden's records indicate he attended law school on a half-time scholarship based on financial need and that he graduated 76th out of a law school class of 85. His undergraduate academic records show that he graduated from Delaware 506th in a class of 688 with a "C" average and that he got his undergraduate degree with a dual major in history and political science.

Those numbers don’t appear to support Biden’s contention of his stellar academic achievements.

“‘I did receive a scholarship based in part on academics from the Syracuse University College of Law and a grant from the Higher Education Scholarship Fund of the state of Delaware,’ Biden said. ‘In addition, the law school arranged for my first year's room and board, placing me as an assistant resident adviser in the undergraduate school.’ The records indicate that he had an $800 scholarship in law school against a tuition of $1,620 and that the residence adviser job paid $1,000,’” The Post continued.

Not being familiar with humility or honesty, Biden said that his reference to three degrees was intended to refer not to actual degrees but to his dual major. "I said three and I should have said two."

The Post article continued, “In response to some suggestions that the Delaware bar might not have admitted him to practice in 1968 had it known of the first-year law school disciplinary action, Biden said that when he applied for admission the dean of the Syracuse Law School wrote to Delaware authorities that his ‘records reflect nothing whatsoever of a derogatory nature’ that called into question his integrity or ability.”

How soon we forget. Just a few short years later, Biden exhumed these blatant fabrications about his skills and abilities. Unfortunately for him, video and print records still exist to remind society about attempts to rewrite history.

Continuing with those contrivances, here’s an abbreviated list of other words falling out of President Biden’s mouth:

• “Bidenomics,” Biden’s gaslighting grift is working with simpletons

• Inflation is down

• Food prices are low

• Gasoline prices are the lowest since he took office

• Housing prices are dropping

• Home energy costs have fallen

• Tuitions are down

• Vehicles are now more affordable

• Son, Hunter, never spoke to him about his business dealings

• He only had six grandchildren

• Never took classified documents out of the office

• More jobs created than than any other president – ever. EVER!

• Kept the Southern border closed

• “I’m one of the poorest members Congress”

• Didn’t err when ordering troops out of Afghanistan

• He broke the record riding the train to and from Delaware

• Refused to get COVID vaccination because of President Trump

• “I’ve already declared a climate emergency”

• “The average tax on billionaires is 3%”

• Claims he’s been to Afghanistan and Iraq twice as president

• Price of gas is “down from over $5 when I took office”

• Student loan forgiveness is passed

• The “average federal income tax” paid by the richest Americans is 8%

• Gun manufacturers are “the only industry in the country” that have immunity from lawsuits

• When he took office there was no vaccine available

• You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment passed

• “I’ve been in and out of Afghanistan over 40 times”

• As a youth “I got arrested protesting for civil rights”

• He was against the war in Afghanistan since the very beginning

• Trump’s administration ruined the Southern border by opening it up to everyone

• He used to drive a tractor trailer...only for part of a summer, though

• Was raised in a Puerto Rican community

• Was also raised in a Jewish community

• Had no intention of outlawing firearms

• Rich people aren’t paying their fair share

• Is a practicing Catholic

• He took credit for remote (stay-at-home) jobs during COVID situation

• Oil companies are intentionally not drilling wells in order to create a shortage

• He fixed the broken border

• Only mothers with children are allowed across the Southern border

• The Southern border is still closed

• “There will not be another foot of wall built under my administration”

• “We are a nation of laws!” (Except when Biden illegally panders for college kids’ votes with tuitions)

• “No Lie”

• “I’m not kidding”

It seems as though one of the few lies President Biden hasn’t told was, “I’ll still respect you in the morning.” Of course he will.