Thursday, October 9, 2025

Dummy Dems?

And of course there's Kamala .....

I have a few friends who are still Democrats that I consider to be very intelligent people. On the other hand, I have in the past had many friends who voted Democrat and were prepared to usher in Kamala Harris as their president, and they aren't so bright. I mention this now because earlier today I read a comment online that accused anyone who voted for Donald Trump of being "a fool and an idiot." Naturally I disagree since I did vote for him and believe strongly that I a neither a fool nor an idiot. In retaliation, a few true examples of my die-hard Democrat ex-friends follow.

N. T., a furniture sales rep and mother of a grown son, when asked what her source of news is since she seemed unable to carry on a simple conversation regarding current events, responded, "My husband reads the New York Times every day, and he tells me what to think."

J. R., a nurse in her late 60s and mother of two adult children, would leave wherever she was in time to get him and watch Rachel Maddow's nightly TV news show. She often said, "I get all my news from Rachel. She is the only one who knows what's going on and speaks the truth." (Coincidentally, J. R. was scammed out of $3,000 over the phone by someone claiming she owed outstanding parking tickets, which she proceeded to pay with a gift card per the scammer's instructions.)

M. M., part-time substitute school teacher and ski instructor with two grown daughters, complained bitterly during any burgeoning discussion of politics between us, "I can't talk with you, you are so much more informed than me. You read a lot of news and I am at a disadvantage."

C. B., former clinical social worker, mother of four and grandmother of three, whined mournfully during any discussion of  politics, "You always make me feel so stupid. I can't compete with you, you know more than I do about all this."

Conclusions can be drawn.

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

I'm No Marxist, But Capitalism Is A Bummer

One of my earliest jobs out of college was creating graphics in an advertising agency. I could tell within a few months that my soul was dying, so I quit. Undaunted, advertising still found me: there's no way to hide and nowhere to hide. The admen will hunt you down relentlessly, demanding you spend money for products you absolutely must have in order to have a fulfilling life.

This ploy doesn't work on me. The only things I need for the rest of my life are food and drink, gas in my car, cleaning supplies for my body and my home, those little inter-dental toothbrushes -- so much better than dental floss -- and possibly surgery when required. Oh, and gifts for friends and family when appropriate. That's it. Yet everywhere I look, someone is selling me something. 

These days TV is little more than a constant parade of commercials hawking new cars, car insurance, life insurance, medication for any disease you have or might get, dog food, cat food, laundry detergent, storm windows, a car windshield, new tires, sleeping aids, bed sheets, weight-loss drugs, hair restorers, dry eye drops, toothpaste or retractable sun umbrellas and garden hoses, all of it on sale just for today and if you order two somehow it costs less than just one.

The Internet is even worse. Whatever you clicked on out of simple curiosity will come back to haunt you 100-fold for days and days. Last night I made the foolish mistake of looking at a pair of black boots online. Since then I have received no less than 30 or 40 ads for boots, all of them black, and it's just past noon.

The phone rings. It's either Spam Risk, Scam Likely or Probably Fraud, selling something, stealing something or asking for a donation. Pardon me while I sob uncontrollably.



Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Kids Do the Darnedest Things

"By engaging youth at an early age, Hamas establishes a pipeline for future combatants. Reports indicate that teenagers, some as young as 12 or 13, are recruited for various roles, including active combat.  

"This practice strongly suggests that the average age of Hamas fighters could be skewed downward, potentially aligning with the under-18 bracket."

Monday, October 6, 2025

Climate Change Sucks


Finally, it's October! Pumpkins, mums and the occasional stuffed scarecrow are everywhere you look. Halloween candy displays dominate all the stores, especially the CVS where two long rows are dedicated to masks, costumes and lawn decorations featuring monsters, cottony spider webs and styrofoam headstones. The leaves are on schedule,  turning red, yellow and orange. So why is it that right now, at three in the afternoon, on the coast of Maine just half a mile from the Atlantic Ocean, it's 76 degrees outside? And even worse, 73 degrees inside?

It's been autumn for more than two weeks now -- is it wrong to expect that I could wear a sweater and maybe a scarf once in a while? The mosquitoes apparently do not check the calendar. They're out there like it's July, along with the bees and the moths and the wasps, all doing their hateful buggy things. And I swear I got a sunburn while sitting outside with a friend at lunchtime earlier today. 

I have been recycling religiously ever since it became a thing to do. I bring my own cloth bags to the market, never buy food packed in boxes or plastic and walk instead of drive when it's reasonable. Despite these earnest measures, it keeps getting hotter outside and I'm pissed about it. I live in Maine for a reason and it's certainly not the people, it's the climate. Or at least the old climate. This new climate sucks. 

I'm done with it. 

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Bullshit Friends

It's not too late to make changes in your life until you are no longer breathing. I am still breathing and so have decided to make some changes. For starters, I have eradicated the non-friends from my so-called "Friends" list on Facebook. The very use of the word on that app is an insult; it should be called Users.

I won't insult whoever is reading this with a textbook definition of friendship, but allow me a little reminder. If you haven't seen someone in the flesh in months, or ever, and they haven't posted recently on your Facebook page, or ever, and they haven't called you on the phone in weeks, or ever, they are not a friend. Chances are they became your Facebook friend just to increase the number of friends they have there, which is as sick and twisted as anything I have ever heard.

Right now one of my dearest friends for the last 38 years is dying of pancreatic cancer. This impending huge loss has put all of life in perspective for me and made me understand that the time I have left is not to be wasted. Not one second of it. Certainly not on listening to someone drone on about their life, their relationships, their disappointments and their health problems, without stopping to inquire about yours.

I'm done with it. And you should be too.


Friday, October 3, 2025

"Some People Did Something"

Muslim women waiting for a bus. (They can't drive.)
The world hates Jews, and I can't figure out why. The only thing I can think of is that Jews don't fight back, the Israeli army being the exception. But one-on-one, a Jew is not a fighter. 

Instead he's a thinker, a rational being, the type of person most hated by the dumb brutes of the world, i. e. Arab Muslims, who are essentially low-level primates who throw gays off rooftops, run over their own daughters for adultery and cut off the hands of petty thieves.

The latest antisemitic act to make headlines happened yesterday in Manchester, England. The attacker, named Jihad Al-Whatever, drove up to a synagogue and rammed his car into a group standing out front, then got out and stabbed someone. This occurred on Yom Kippur, a very big deal Jewish holy day, no doubt making his mother proud. The police were summoned and shot him dead, which is too bad since he deserved much worse -- perhaps a beheading after which his dripping head could be marched throughout the city streets on a spear. Now that would be something to celebrate.

Hey, I can't kill a fly -- really, one was bothering me last night and he's still here today in my kitchen -- but I might be able to kill a Muslim in order to save the world. Of course I'm sure lots of them are very nice. Like Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim who has infiltrated our government and said after the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in 2001, "Some people did something."  

What a coincidence, all 19 of the people who did something were also Muslims. 



Thursday, October 2, 2025

When Life Gets Boring

Many bored people climbing Mt. Everest.
Here's a tough question: What do you do when you're tired of living but you don't want to die? I find myself in this situation more and more lately. At the age of 79 I can honestly say "been there, done that" to so many things. And as far as the things I have not done, like changing my gender, piercing my labia or taking ayahuasca, they are not appealing. 

Something that is still appealing but is undoable is climbing Mt. Everest. It's very popular with bored people but out of the question for me, mostly because I hate to fly and the flight to Nepal from Maine is 32 hours and 23 minutes. No can do -- I still have jet lag from my seven-hour flight back from England a week ago.

One possible answer is to re-attempt some of the things I have failed at in the past, but this time succeed. So today I will once again open Virginia Woolf's 1927 novel, To The Lighthouse, and commit to finishing it this time. (I've never made it past page nine.) According to reviewers, the plot is secondary to its philosophical introspection, and I could use a little of that right now.



Dummy Dems?

And of course there's Kamala ..... I have a few friends who are still Democrats that I consider to be very intelligent people. On the ot...