Pity the Powerless Politicians

A huge hurricane hit the state of Florida yesterday and destroyed many of the homes, businesses, roads, bridges and lives in its path. Rather than accept the fact that God made the hurricane -- the same God that made you and me and the trees and the oceans and everything else -- and all we can do is hide from it, prepare for it and pray during it, the hungry media has leapt on it as fodder for scoring political points. According to all the left-wing pundits and news outlets, Florida's Governor DeSantis obviously did not do enough to stop the devastation. As if he could!

And really, they say, the very existence of such a strong hurricane can be attributed to those Republicans, called "climate-deniers," who don't buy into the belief that Man is making the Earth uninhabitable by driving gas-powered vehicles or not recycling plastic bottles and who-knows-what else. Minnesota's Sen. Amy Klobuchar went on TV to say as much, warning Americans to vote Democratic in the coming mid-term elections so we won't have any more destructive hurricanes. (Poor Amy, she had such promise.)

Americans always want someone to blame, and it usually comes down to the nearest politician they elected to take care of things. What things? Just about everything, it seems, even though every politician I've ever seen is nothing more than a regulation human being totally lacking any superpowers. Some, like our current president, lack even the basic ability to take care of themselves, forget taking care of all 332, 403, 650 million of us.

Biden's Cleaning Lady

The White House Press Secretary 

Today Joe Biden made it clear that he is often confused, calling out for a dead person while speaking at the the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health. Seeking out deceased Rep. Jackie Walorski, the Indiana congresswoman who was a killed in an auto accident last August, the president asked, “Where’s Jackie? Is she here?" That was bad, but not half as bad as the explanation later given by his cleaning lady, oops, I mean press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

In her typical who-cares-if-it's-true style, KJP never admitted that Biden had made a considerable boo-boo. She completely ignored it, instead saying a whole lot of nothing about how the congresswoman was "top of mind" for Biden, so of course he asked if she were present. Doesn't everyone look around and call out for dead people whenever they think of them? 

Just what the heck is "top of mind" anyway? Is that a new expression I missed somehow? If something is top of mind, does that mean it is on top of your head? Or is it in your head but in front of all the rest of your thoughts? Where is it exactly, and if it's there, does that mean whatever you say right then doesn't have to make any sense?

And who is this Jean-Pierre woman who looks like an understudy for the lead in Annie? Where did they get her from? How is she allowed to go out in front of the world to deliver and interpret messages from the leader of the free world with that silly mop on her head? And the makeup? Today she had on pink eye-shadow to match her pink blazer, which looked about two sizes too big. 

Anyway, the sad truth is she may be his cleaning lady but she doesn't do that good a job. 

The Little People Know Nothing

I am a little person. Not in stature, but in significance. I wield no power. I work neither in government nor big business, and lack influential friends in both sectors. So all I know is what "they" print in the papers or say on TV, which means whatever curated facts those in control of everything want me to hear.

Last night on Tucker Carlson Tonight, a TV show I watch because the host is very smart and also funny and often reveals things I won't hear anywhere else, the major story concerned the blowing up both of the Nord Stream pipelines which connect Russia's prolific gas fields to Germany's industrial heartland in the Baltic Sea. Even though neither pipeline was currently operational this was presented as a very big deal, on the scale of a nuclear bomb as far as the devastation it could cause to the environment both above and below sea level, and how much it would piss off Russia. 

Carlson showed film clips from not long ago in which President Biden clearly stated the US would put a stop to the pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine. This was echoed by State Department official Victoria Nuland, who last January said the US would make sure the pipeline "would not move forward" if Russia invaded Ukraine.

Carlson presented this news as a precursor to a declaration of war. Yet over on CNN there was no mention of the story; instead they were yammering about Trump and how he destroyed democracy on January 6, but today they wrote on Facebook that the Nord Stream leakage was likely caused by Russia. And in this morning's Wall Street Journal, a small story ran about how the pipeline had "suspicious leaks" that are triggering an investigation. Our local paper, the Portland Press Herald, reports in its Business Section that the Prime Minister of Denmark says the explosions were "deliberate actions with no information who could be behind it."

It makes you wonder: Is there really a Cat 4 hurricane approaching Florida today?

Every Day's A Holiday

To create a holiday and be part of the official National Today holiday registry costs $5,000. The human race knows no bounds. One things that brings home this point is the fact that almost very day of the year is a "National Day of" holiday. You can find mention of them online or in local news outlets with limited staff and no ideas. Since this blog is an example of both, following is a list of the myriad holidays that fall on this very day, and I only hope you read this in time to celebrate. September 27 is:

WORLD TOURISM DAY

ANCESTOR APPRECIATION DAY

MORNING SHOW HOSTS DAY

NATIONAL A.J. DAY

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE MILK DAY

NATIONAL NO EXCUSES DAY

NATIONAL CRUSH A CAN DAY

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE MILK DAY

NATIONAL SCARF DAY

NATIONAL CORNED BEEF HASH DAY

I was particularly glad to learn about national A.J. Day, which "Celebrates people with that short, spunky name." Since my middle initial is J, several people during my life have called me "A.J.," most notably and consistently my ex-husband. Sadly he is now deceased because if he were alive we could celebrate it together, I guess by him calling me by name several times.

Celebrating Crush a Can Day is easy, as are Scarf Day, Chocolate Milk Day and Corned Beef Hash Day. But Morning Show Hosts Day has me stumped as I don't personally know any. And all my Ancestors are dead, so that's not something I can do. As for World Tourism Day, I am heading for Italy next March but today I am stuck at home in Maine with a cold, so maybe I will just thumb through an old atlas.

The point is, in some twisted minds somewhere, every day is a holiday. So Happy Whatever.

Free to Sneeze in Public

After a fun weekend on Long Island in New York, I became ill on the trip home, which included five hours driving and an hour and a half on a ferry. By nightfall I was sicker than I can remember being in years. Sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing, sore throat, complete exhaustion, loss of appetite and a crummy taste in my mouth made me worry it might be Covid, which I have never had. So I took a test and it's not Covid. 

Now I'm free to go about my business in the world unmasked, no need to quarantine for five days or tell all the people who I was with about my illness, since it's "just a cold." That's just plain weird, since many people who get Covid have no symptoms whatsoever yet they have to do all those things. Humans are so silly sometimes.

Anyway, I'm too sick to leave my home, so I won't be infecting anyone with my ordinary, run-of-the-mill, much worse than Covid common cold.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump......

I am so sick of hearing the word Trump and seeing the word Trump, there are no words to describe it. It's been almost two years since he was the president, it's a mystery to me why the media is still so obsessed with the man. I guess he gets the ratings up, but really -- can't we move on? I mean, at least until he is president again in 2024, they should give it a rest.

Only in America

I am now completely petrified to be living in America. Today might be the day I get sued by someone. It's become a very popular pastime and you hardly need much of a reason, just a hungry lawyer with few scruples -- an accurate description of most lawyers -- and you're good to go. (Also, one of my favorite expressions is "Sue me," which I'd better stop saying.)

This morning I had barely turned on my computer before I read the following stories:

* The parents of a 14-year-old boy participating in a Utah Little League event who fell off the top bunk of a bunk bed while he was sleeping are suing BOTH the bed's manufacturer and the Utah Little League. 

* The parents of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman just won their million-dollar lawsuit against the school after their son willingly drank an entire bottle of whiskey and died of alcohol poisoning as part of a fraternity hazing. 

* Three of the 50 illegal-entry migrants, a.k.a. "asylum seekers," who were flown to Martha's Vineyard are suing Governor Ron DeSantis for false promises. Among other complaints, allegedly they were told they would receive a $10 gift certificate to McDonald's upon arrival which they did not get. 

Maybe I should sue AOL for printing these stories and adding to my almost-debilitating paranoia when all I wanted to do was look at my email. I am pretty sure I could find representation.

Maine's War of the Sexes

Today's Portland Press Herald reports about the state of education in Maine, mostly as an opportunity to trash Republican Governor Paul LePage who is running for a third, albeit interrupted, term in November. In the very first paragraph we learn that he has "a plan to topple Maine's woke education system with a Parents Bill of Rights." 

Parents Bill of Rights sounds good, right? But the article goes on to say that LePage's dastardly plan wants kids to get back to learning the basics of reading, science and math, and not anything sexually explicit, like classes on gender and sexual diversity. This is deemed very old-fashioned among the very wide awoke Democrats.

A local Maine mother of five says she was upset seeing a poster in her 11-year-old's classroom highlighting the broad array of sexual preferences available, but heterosexuality was not one of the choices. Maine's current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, who may or may not be female, is all for a "woke" agenda that teaches sexual diversity.

I guess I am too old to appreciate all this nonsense. In my day sexual diversity meant sometimes being on top.

Wake Me When It's Over

A letter to the editor printed in today's Portland Press Herald, that daily compendium of articles picked up from the Washington Post and AP, states the following: "Woke is being aware of your own thoughts, feelings and ego in order to better understand the internal dialog and interplay among the three.... The alternative is to be unaware." Huh?

I am definitely aware of my own thoughts, too much so in fact which is why I drink wine and smoke a little pot every so often. As for my feelings -- jeez, I wish I could forget them. And my ego died years ago, around age 55 when I realized I could show up at a dinner party topless and nobody would notice. As for the "internal dialog and interplay among the three," um, I think that writer needs therapy since he is obviously hearing voices in his head.

Then the letter writer goes on to give his examples of things that are NOT WOKE: Denying how bad Trump's presidency was, thinking COVID is a hoax, thinking racism is a thing of the past, and believing the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump. Oh yes, and that the Earth is flat.

Well, I know for sure the earth is round, having flown across it many times and actually seen the curve. I have no doubt that racism is worse than ever today, and I do believe COVID is a real thing, having seen my husband suffer from it. But I'm convinced the last election was rigged and also that Trump did good things for the country during his four years, so I suppose I am only half-awake.

Given how things are in America today, I wish I could stay totally asleep until things improve. (See photo.)

Introducing the Fabulous Ron DeSantis

"A native Floridian with blue-collar roots, Ron DeSantis worked his way through Yale University, where he graduated with honors and was the captain of the varsity baseball team. He also graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he earned a commission in the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer. 

During his active-duty service, he supported operations at the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and deployed to Iraq as an adviser to a U.S. Navy SEAL commander in support of the SEAL mission in Fallujah, Ramadi and the rest of Al Anbar province. His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service and the Iraq Campaign Medal.

After active-duty service, Ron DeSantis served as a federal prosecutor, where he targeted and convicted child predators. He still serves in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He was first elected to Congress in 2012, as the U.S. Representative for Florida’s Sixth District, where he fought for term limits, the No Budget/No Pay Act, and to cut taxes. 

While serving in Congress, he refused his Congressional pension and health insurance plan because he is against special deals for politicians. He also sponsored legislation to make it easier for the military to prosecute sexual assault and authored the bill to end the secret taxpayer-funded slush fund for members of Congress to make hush payoffs for sexual harassment."

Now watch the Democrats spend all their time and every penny they raise trying to make him sound bad!

 

Battling Depression is a Full-Time Job

Eating salad can ease depression.

I'm pretty sure the cause of most depression -- 8.32 million Americans currently take antidepressants -- is other people and how disappointing they are. Battling it takes everything you've got.

Unless you are a toddler, you have no role models. Our current crop of leaders are little more than grade-school kids: Nancy Pelosi fitfully tearing up her copy of Trump's State of the Union speech while he was delivering it, and in front of the whole world. Veep Kamala Harris cackling at nothing all the time, except maybe the voices in her head, and flat-out lying about anything important to the country, i.e. "Our southern border is secure." And of course bumbling Joe Biden, who clearly has dementia but is somehow flying around on Air Force One as the President of the United States! 

My personal depression comes from the widening chasm between the two warring political parties and how it has infected the masses, causing someone like my once-good-friend Mary deciding I suck because I am a Republican, no matter how generous I have been to her over the years, and telling me so in plain English, right to my face, even though my now-dead-best-friend Debra, a committed Democrat, never gave a damn about my politics.

It comes from the armies of woke assholes, most of them dummies, who have decided that my son, the absolutely fairest, least racist person I have ever known, is a racist because he teaches people how to make baskets from found flora, an art perfected by our Native American ancestors and thus not available to the white man.

It comes from people deciding that God made a mistake and they got the wrong genitals and so they cut them off or add them on or take hormones and change their names, and all they do is look like freaky women or girly men who don't fool anyone.

It comes from all those hundreds of thousands of morons still blaming Donald Trump for all the ills in our country, despite the fact that he left office in 2020 and things were so much better when he was president.

It comes from people like Jenna Bush Hager (daughter of former president George W. Bush), who grew up in the White House and regularly met heads of state and foreign dignitaries, gushing over her recent  interview on a morning TV talk show with Khloe Kardashian, a celebrity of no talent and clearly, if anything, a lesser Kardashian, if there could be such a thing. (That's just sad.)

It comes from the ridiculous idea that saying a certain word out loud means you are a racist, but saying "the N-word" instead means you are not, even if in your heart you hate all black people and hope they die.

It comes from how fat and unhealthy most Americans are, yet all the advertisements show thin people stuffing themselves with pizza and pasta and burgers and tacos and drinking Starbucks Extra Foamy Double Mocha Machiattos as if they are just having a cup of coffee.

It comes from knowing that teen deaths from overdosing, the leading cause of death for that demographic, are rapidly rising every year, in part due to the influx of fentanyl coming across our unprotected southern border.

So what the heck is seeing a shrink going to do for you in the face of all that? Not a thing. In fact, recent studies have shown that in the long run, taking antidepressants does not improve your quality of life. My suggestion is to watch a lot of old comedy shows like Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Ted Lasso, never read the news and eat plenty of salads.

Abortion vs. Adoption

Somehow abortion, or the killing of burgeoning humans inside their mothers, which as we all know is the only way new humans are created, has become the leading topic of discussion among politicians and angry political wannabes looking to pick an argument. One of these is my husband's nephew, a rabid champion of abortion without limits who is happily raising two adopted children with his wife.

I recently pointed out to him, in a typically bitter Facebook stream, that every adopted child comes from a woman who bravely carried and gave birth to her baby but either didn't want to or wasn't able to take on the responsibilities of parenting. It is the exact opposite of abortion. His angry response was along the lines of, "Don't even go there."

Really, what more is there to say?

Black Women Really Are Insufferable

 

Insufferable White Man

I did not watch the recent Emmy awards show due to a lack of interest, but I read all about it today online. Apparently comedian Jimmy Kimmel did some kind of sight gag during the acceptance speech of a black woman I never heard of. Afterwards, another black celebrity unknown to me tweeted about it, saying, "White men really are insufferable."

The powers that be at Twitter, a platform I do not use, did not find her statement racist and let it stand. Which is odd, since I do and I'm sure most people would. 

And so, emboldened by the fact that Candice Marie Benbow got away with it, I'm eager to say that black women really are insufferable. I mean really. Like Michelle Obama, who is the epitome of the word. And Whoopie Goldberg, who is barely a woman but still is quite insufferable. And of course Candice Marie Benbow herself, with all three of her names.

(Just for fun, imagine what would happen if someone wrote "Black men really are insufferable" on Twitter.)

How to Change Your Life Overnight!

Advertising executives are clearly out of their minds. The stuff they come up with to sell their goods and services is proof. Today I saw an ad on my Instagram stream that showed a woman, very excited, holding up a bra and saying, "This bra will literally change your life!" Not just change my life as an expression indicating I will like it a lot, but literally change it.

I looked up the word "literally" and it said "exactly." So the bra in question will actually change my life. I might have to buy it since it would mean that my friend Debra has not been dead for the past seven weeks so I can call her right after the bra arrives. And all of my paintings will start selling at high prices, and I will easily lose fifteen pounds in no time and be able to wear all those pants hanging in the back of my closet. My son will call me with only good news, and we can adopt a new kitty from the rescue place and our present cat Lurch will love it immediately and start grooming it and cuddling it instead of hiding in a corner growling and having diarrhea.

I cannot wait for that bra to arrive!

National Arachnophobia Month?

October is National LGBT History Month. I won't be celebrating since I am a committed heterosexual, although as far as I know there is no National Heterosexual Month which is pretty unfair if you ask me. There is also no National Arachnophobia Month, which also pisses me off since I am one and believe me, it is no picnic. In fact, given the choice I would rather be gay than have arachnophobia. (If I were, I'd tell everyone on October 11, which is National Coming Out Day.)

According to the most recent survey, just 3% of Americans claim to be LGBT, while arachnophobia afflicts 30% of the U.S. population. Given this huge disparity, it's quite arrogant for the gay (and all those other letters) community to be riled up over Florida's school board recently voting against official recognition of LGBT History Month in classrooms, with dedicated curriculum on the subject.

Geez, what the heck do they want? Even in our tiny town in Maine, as in many big cities across America, there is a crosswalk painted in "pride" colors to placate that community. There is yet to be one painted with spiders anywhere.

Another 9/11 Truism

Twenty-one years ago on this date, America was brutally attacked by foreigners who hated us. There are plenty of them still out there, some in plain sight in our own country and others hidden in distant lands all over the globe. The legacy of 9/11 resides in everyone old enough to remember that day, but still we go about our daily lives as if America is the greatest country and everyone loves us. This is so not true.

While I certainly don't know who hates us the most this minute, I do understand why. Our outsized arrogance is recognized immediately all over the world, as well as our lack of respect for other cultures and most of all, for God. This lack of respect is likely the cause of all of our strife, be it between individuals or nations.

I was fortunate not to be anywhere near the World Trade Center on 9/11, but having grown up in New York I still miss seeing those beautiful twin towers. As a college student in Greenwich Village I went there often, sometimes to dine at the fancy restaurant at the top or sometimes just for a thrilling elevator ride up to a killer view of Manhattan. 

Now it's many years later and a new man-made structure occupies the spot, built to honor the fallen and show our enemies that we are invincible. While it dulls the pain, it hasn't removed the scar for so many who lived through that horror, and likely nothing ever will. 

Tesla's Idiots

A Tesla in full Party Mode.

I don't want an electric car because I'm not an idiot.

Here in Maine the power goes out in our neighborhood if someone sneezes really hard. Also it snows a lot, as you may have heard. Even in a long, cold winter with interrupted electricity, my gas-powered Audi keeps going, which it wouldn't if it needed a charge and there was no place to charge it.

My husband, who while not an idiot himself is nevertheless endowed with some idiotic qualities, admits he wants a Tesla because of something called "Party Mode" which makes the headlights flash in time to blaring music on the car radio while the back doors open upward, DeLorean style, and flap like a bird. It also has "Drag Strip Mode" which lets it go from zero to 60 in no time flat. (In some circles this is called "Idiot Mode.")

Besides a gas tank which allows me to power my car even when there is no electricity source, my Audi has a "Stayin' Alive" mode which lets me avoid accidents and a "Grown-up Mode" which speaks for itself.

Secret Agent

Besides writing two novels that almost nobody read, and many short stories  with very few readers, and painting many pictures almost nobody sees, I write this blog that just a couple of people read. So, bolstered by all that encouragement, I have started making those Reels that you see all the time on the internet. I figured why not add to my portfolio and make short videos that nobody will watch.

It's fun living life undercover, sort of like being a CIA agent but without the danger.

Confessions of a MAGA Republican

Just what is a "MAGA Republican"? Lately that term has been used by Joe Biden, the empty shell of a man pretending to be the president while his handlers (Obama? Susan Rice?) make all the decisions and give him instructions, in speeches aimed at fomenting even more hatred for average Republicans among his feckless followers. 

The acronym M.A.G.A. stands for Make America Great Again. Sounds good to me. I would love it if America could be great again, instead of what it is, which is a hot mess. Borders overflowing with illegals, government-mandated vaccination programs, supply-chain problems causing a lack of food in some areas, a growing number of homeless living on the streets, sky-high prices for once affordable goods and services and serious crime rampant in cities that had been cleaned up years ago but are now seeing the effects of downgraded funding of and total lack of respect for the police. 

I voted for Trump in the last election he clearly seemed to be winning -- Dana Bash on CNN was already teary-eyed explaining "how this happened" to her co-host Anderson Cooper -- before they suddenly shut down the whole business at 10 PM, a first in my lifetime and I'm in my seventies, because the election workers were "tired" and there was a water main break somewhere (no there wasn't) and besides, Trump was winning! In other words, "Oy vey, we need some time to come up with a plan!"

So, despite being in favor of abortion and against people having guns-- I'm a friggin' pacifist -- and not clinging to any religion and never owning a truck or even liking country music, I am suddenly A Threat to Democracy because I actually do think the last election was stolen and I want America to be great again.

Sue me.

News You Can't Believe

It's hard to feel sorry for some people. Like the 34-year-old woman in Memphis of all places, a kindergarten teacher and mother of two young children, who went for her usual 4:30 AM run, on the same route every day, and was abducted by an ex-con and subsequently murdered. I mean, really -- do people understand the world we are living in or not?

And the Grief Goes On ....

The grief over my friend's death is releasing its grip on me, a little. Or at least it was. But now her adult children have finally started to come back to life themselves and are posting tons of photos of their mother on Facebook and Instagram, and those are breaking my heart all over again. I don't blame them of course, but it's like picking at a scab. Will it ever heal?

What to Do About the Wabanaki

I haven't seen anyone like these people in my neck of the woods.

Here in Maine, woke folks are getting more aggressive every day, warning people to keep their lousy white mitts off any and all Wabanaki stuff. My son -- who teaches ancient traditions, some of them originally Wabanaki crafts, to keep them from being lost forever, and is one of very few people who do so -- has been labelled a "white supremacist" by the loony group of wokesters -- all of them are white too by the way -- who spend their time looking for people to hate and lives to ruin. They are hot and heavy on his, and have caused deep financial and emotional wounds for no reason I can see.

I have yet to meet, or even see, a Wabanaki tribe member. I have lived here for 13 years and do get around the state, and still --nothing. Maybe they are all inside the casinos on the reservations, where I won't go because of the thick clouds of nicotine smoke hanging all over everything.

Yet when I go to the Portland Symphony I must always be reminded, before the first note is sounded, that the music is being played on the ancient, sacred land formerly owned by the Wabanaki. So? What am I supposed to do about it? How does that knowledge help me or anyone else in the audience? 

The question is: What do you do with a problem like the Wabanaki? Should we adopt one, or a few? If not that, then what? 

Best Friends

I guess when you lose your best friend, the next person in line gets promoted; is that the way it works? So far that has not been the case for me. It's been six weeks and a day since my friend Debra died in a car accident that was truly an accident -- I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to happen. God must have been distracted and looked away at just the wrong instant. 

That could happen! The 1978 movie Heaven Can Wait, starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christy and Jack Warden, was about that very thing, called "a heavenly mistake." (Great movie, and a good remake of the 1941 original, Here Comes Mr. Jordan.)

Anyway, for the past six weeks I've been going it alone, and it's tougher than I expected. Take it from me, you need that person. If you are lucky enough to have a best friend -- someone who accepts you as you are, warts and all, and cares about your life and shares theirs fully with you, someone who keeps nothing secret and makes you laugh even in your darkest moments -- send them flowers and tell them how much they mean to you. Do it today. It may be your last chance; you never know. 

Those Tiresome Race Wars

Sadly, they let anybody with the right equipment onto the Internet: the stupid, the insane, the just plain ornery. This is a shame since it spoils it for the rest of us who might want only to keep up with the news and our friends. Try as I might to avoid getting into those moronic spats with total strangers, but sometimes they are unavoidable.

The Fabulous Janis Joplin

For example, I recently entered a stream on my friend's Facebook page about historic rock singers, and innocently wrote that Janis Joplin was the best! That's only my opinion, of course, since there is no way to prove such a thing, especially since she's been dead for many years. But still, some guy whose last name is GROSS-MAN (the hyphen is mine), took umbrage at that and started nit-picking away at me, claiming that Janis was nothing but a "drunken slut" and that many black jazz singers who preceded her were much better, and that Janis was only copying them, and thus I must be "insanely ignorant" and nothing but a dumb "white hippie."

Well, excuse me but I was a white hippie, having been born at the right time in history. I attended the Woodstock Music Festival and went to the Fillmore East almost every weekend when I lived in NYC. Naturally I went to other venues as well. I saw many singers and groups perform, and most of them were great. But the one concert that still stands out for me all these years later was Janis Joplin at Madison Square Garden. The show was beyond the norm, as was Janis displaying her God-given talents for more than two hours straight. 

So the race wars continue, with people like the current White House press secretary, a dumb cluck if ever there was one, in a powerful position way over her head but she's black so who cares. I wonder -- if Janis had been black, would those tiresome, virtue-signaling Democrats stand up for her now?

Maine Lobster Goes West

Here in Maine a simple lobster roll can set you back; typically it'll cost anywhere from $14.95 to 25 bucks. I do not eat lobster, finding it rubbery and tasteless which is why it is always served with lots of melted butter so you won't notice. Also, it's very cruel to the lobsters as they are dropped alive into a giant pot of boiling water. (If you can live with yourself knowing that, bon appetit.)

Anyway, the first thing most visitors to Maine seek is a lobster roll, or if they are really big spenders, a whole lobster dinner which naturally costs even more. But finally there is a cheaper alternative, except for the air fare: go to Arizona.

An article in today's Portland Press Herald, the local paper they literally give away to get readers, discusses the Arizona-based seafood chain that is buying lobster-producers in Maine to feed their customers halfway across the country. The menu at Angie's Lobster in Phoenix offers a plain lobster roll for $7.99, or $9.99 with a drink and fries.

So come to Maine for the scenery, but go to Phoenix for the Maine lobster roll of your dreams, at a price you can afford.