Film Review: ANORA

Full Disclosure: I only lasted 30 minutes. And that was because we had paid $5.99 to rent it online and my husband was into it. And why not -- it was pure pornography for the first half hour. 

A 23-year-old stripper/prostitute from Brooklyn meets the 21-year-old son of a rich Russian oligarch and has sex with him in as many positions she can, and we get to watch. Naked, she sits on his lap. He enters her from the rear. She spreads her legs constantly. We see her butt cheeks more than anything else. And the butt cheeks and breasts of lots of other girls too. Is this what acting is now, in the year 2025?

I'm sorry, but the story didn't grab me. His parents come from Russia to end their marriage. (They got married.) I hated the lead actors. Remember, I only saw the first half hour. However, I can still fucking hear it as I write this since my fucking husband is watching it in the other room. There is an unbelievable amount of high-pitched screaming and crying and Russian accents and the word "fuck" and "fucking." Like maybe they say it every other fucking word.

Final thoughts: It is shocking that this won the fucking Oscar for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and a couple of other fucking things I don't know. Are they fucking kidding? The fucking young woman who won the Best Actress award is one fucking lucky little brat. Glenn Close must be fucking plotzing.

Virtue Signaling Comes To A Screeching Halt

In the beginning, electric cars were a must for any Democrat worth his, her, their or its salt. You simply had to have one to save the planet! If you still drove a gas-guzzling, old-fashioned car you were a pig who didn't care about killing all of us, and probably a racist too. There were no words vile enough to describe you.

The Tesla was the darling of the electric-car set. It was cool and despite being expensive it broadcast to everyone what you were: a caring, thoughtful, non-racist environmentalist. And its inventor, Elon Musk, was the idol of all of them: brilliant, handsome and fabulously wealthy, he would save us all by saving the planet! Everyone worshipped him.

Oh, but then. But then he got chummy with Donald Trump -- Putin's Bitch, The Tyrant Who Would End Democracy. Even worse, Elon joined forces with Trump in his quest to become King and make all black people slaves again. Suddenly the Tesla was a piece of shit! According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Tesla owner Garth Ancier says, "it's like driving a big red MAGA hat." He wants to sell his car now, adding, "If not for his [Elon's] behavior I'd probably stick with a Tesla."

The Democrats have gone crazy suffering from MDS (Musk Derangement Syndrome). Five of their senators have asked the Justice Department to investigate Musk's business practices regarding his website X. Boycotts against Teslas are spreading like the measles across the country. Electric-car charging stations have been vandalized and random Teslas parked on the street have been set on fire.

I guess they never really cared about saving the planet after all.

Your Opinion Matters

The great thing about opinions is that they are free, which means everyone can have one. Every last one of America's 340 million citizens -- except for infants and others whose brains are not fully formed -- be they rich or poor, old or young, black or white, sick or well, and anything else you can think of, is entitled to one. 

The definition of opinion is, "A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof. " So basically, you are either right or wrong about everything. Try to keep that in mind before pontificating about Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the liberals and the conservatives.

Miracle At The Symphony

"Stranger danger" is the idea or warning that all strangers can potentially be dangerous. Usually it applies to young children being exploited or abducted by someone unknown to them. But it can mean other things too. Like last night, when I was excited to hear my favorite piece of symphonic music (Thus Spake Zarathustra by Robert Strauss) played by the wonderful Portland Symphony Orchestra, only to have my excitement quashed by a total stranger who spilled her guts all over me before the concert began.

My husband and I had arrived early enough to read the concert notes and learn about Strauss and his impetus for writing the piece. But that was not to be. Instead, the lone woman in the seat next to mine started a conversation. She was nice enough, and I didn't want to be rude so I politely engaged with her. Next thing you know she was deep into a monologue wherein I learned the following: 

She hadn't attended the symphony for many years because she was stuck at home caring for her aging father. He could walk with a walker or a cane but was unsteady on his feet so could not be left alone. He could go to the bathroom by himself, until the last six months, but she had to make all his meals. He finally died in mid-January at age 100 and then she had to take care of the funeral arrangements, etc.

She lives with her son who just barely graduated high school saying,"It was hard but he did it. No college though." Now he is working as a cook at the Embassy Suites.

Her mother passed away three years ago and that was very hard for her. She teared up while saying that.

My mind was blown. I couldn't see any way out. The concert was about to begin and I worried she would talk to me for the next two-plus hours. All I could do was pray to God that she would magically disappear, when suddenly a man came down our row holding up his ticket and saying," I think you're in my seat." He was right: we were in Row Q and Chatty Kathy was supposed to be in row O. She got up and moved and the nice quiet man sat down next to me.

I was thrilled. A miracle had occurred! It wasn't until later that night that I got sort of annoyed: Sure, God answers my teeny little prayers but ignores all the big stuff. Oh well, I guess it's better than nothing.

Series Review: ZERO DAY

Wouldn't you know it -- POTUS is a black woman!

Suddenly everything stops: clocks, cell phones, TVs, computers, lights, train signals, airplane control towers, hospital ventilators, and definitely the coffee machines at every Starbucks. If it was plugged in, it stopped. Then, exactly a minute later everything starts up again but nothing is the same. Many people have died. 

This is the premise of a new series on Netflix called Zero Day, starring the obnoxious windbag formerly known as Robert DeNiro who doesn't understand that half the audience voted for Trump so he should STFU about how much Republicans suck and just read his damn lines. Anyway, despite hating DeNiro I'm interested so tell me more....

In the second episode they told me more -- so much more that I had to turn it off for being too stupid. Here are some of the story lines stuffed into this silly effort:

Former POTUS Mullen (DeNiro) is called in from retirement to calm the public.

His congresswoman daughter opposes him publicly.

His ex-mistress (and mother of his love child) meets privately with his wife. 

His right-hand man is secretly sleeping with his congresswoman daughter.

He has creeping dementia and gets all crazy in his head and nobody knows.

A Russian bad guy is sneaking around shooting people.

A group of terrorist hackers are found dead in their hideout.

The lead hacker works for the CIA.

Of course the new POTUS is a black woman.

Sorry, life is too short. Watch Paradise on Hulu instead, it's great!

Glenn Close and I Have Seen It All

I never thought I would see the day when we are instructed to "honor the sex worker community." Yet that's what we were told by the Hollywood elite and last night's Oscar winner for Best Actress, a 25-year old unknown, for her portrayal of a prostitute -- oops, I mean sex worker. 

I am so done here. I can only imagine how Glenn Close feels, who at age 77 has never won an Oscar for any of her always-incredible performances in any of the 72 great films she has made. (Google it.)

Antique Stereotypes

Here in Maine, wokeism is alive and well. So much so that it's made the national news. Yup, sleepy little Maine has hit the big time, with Governor Janet Mills hissing to POTUS on the TV news, "See you in court," over a transgender teen who invaded a local girl's pole-vaulting team and caused a ruckus. But that's a whole other story.

Today's story, told in pictures, is that despite the overwhelming and cacophonous influence of the liberal left, a shopping expedition to one of Maine's ubiquitous tourist magnets revealed that ethnic cleansing has not been accomplished on the shelves of our quaint antique shops. They better do it by summer when all the people come. 

Beware: Fat Rant

Happy fat ladies who binge on cookies and ice cream and chips and dip in private.

Okay -- so you're fat and you don't care, you love yourself anyway. Congrats! You are so lucky, since all the fat people I have ever known have been steeped in self-loathing. I say more power to you -- go out and get yourself a new bag of Oreos.

Here's my gripe: Fat women in bikinis, or worse, their underwear, posting their photos all over the Internet, and commenters writing things like,"You look fabulous!" and "You go girl!" and "You are beautiful!" for reasons I don't understand. Nobody fat looks fabulous, and everyone knows it.

"Fat acceptance" is a ridiculous concept. Fat people are addicts. Do we congratulate heroin addicts, or alcoholics, applauding their self-destructive behavior to spare their feelings? No, of course not. 

Too Smart To Be Rich

Despite not understanding why football is such a big deal, I have always been smart, even as a kid. I'm not boasting, it's just a fact. So I have always wondered why I seem unable to make much money, being so smart. But now I know: you have to be dumb and incompetent but have rich parents to make it big in America. 

Take Elon Musk, who according to Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez is really dumb. And all the Democrats online constantly call him an incompetent nutcase. Many others point to the fact that he was born into a prominent family so he had everything given to him, a circumstance that led to his success despite him being such an idiot. 

I guess Elon must be really dumb, to have been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (2018), listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World (2010, 2013, 2018 and 2021), and ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the "Most Innovative Leaders " (2019). 

If you can stand hearing more, in 2021, Time named that stupid idiot "Person of the Year." His clear incompetence led to him to become a business magnate and technologist recognized for his design and engineering work on Tesla vehicles and SpaceX rockets, and his efforts to combat global warming. 

The silly dummy has received several environmentalist awards, including the National Wildlife Federation's Connie Award and a Global Green award. All of that has made the crass bigmouth father of 14, who is on the spectrum, the richest person in the world worth $419.4 billion.

Meanwhile, I've got bupkis. Thankfully, I'm smart.

As He Lay Dying

I certainly hope if I manage to reach the age of 95 and fall inside my house and can't get up or reach a phone, that someone will miss me enough to call the police and ask them to check on me sooner than in ten days. Like any one of my three adult children, if had that many, for example. 

That abysmal situation apparently occurred in the recent death of one-time Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, who allegedly lay dead in his home for more than a week before being discovered. The grim truth is that despite his fame and fortune, he mattered to almost nobody in his dotage except perhaps his wife. Sadly she, a spring chicken at age 63, was dead too -- also for that long. 

The bottom line: Don't count on friends and family for much besides a ride to the airport. If you ask me, every one of us should wear one of those Life Alert things to summon a stranger paid to come to your aid. (Money talks.)

 

Right On, Elon!

Would you pay a gardener hired to seed your lawn who never showed up, and neither did the grass? Would you pay a nanny who didn't pick up your child from daycare and never told you why? Would you pay a doctor who missed your scheduled appointment and didn't respond to your follow-up calls asking what happened? Would you pay a restaurant bill if your server never brought the food and you left hungry? 

The preceding questions may seem silly since the answers are all obviously a resounding, "No!" So why should we pay thousands upon thousands of employees who are supposedly running our government yet can't explain what they do to earn their salaries? Since last week, government employees have been stunned and outraged at being asked to describe the fruits of their labors, for just one week! That's because there are few fruits and likely fewer labors. 

What else can explain the furor expressed by so many towards Elon Musk, the world's most successful businessman who values the concept of work, asking employees (whose salaries are paid by all of us) to explain what they do. 

Wake up and smell the coffee, people: Washington, DC is home to the country's biggest amusement park. If you score a ticket, i.e. a government job, it's a free ride for life. As a graphic designer awarded many government contracts over the 30 years I lived there, I witnessed firsthand the total ennui of so many workers sleep-walking in high-paying positions who did little but attend birthday parties for colleagues, linger over luncheons for retiring bosses and struggle to stay awake during tedious weekly staff meetings where nothing was accomplished but an exchange of gossip.

President Trump has announced that those who don't reply to Musk's request risk being terminated. I say that's a great plan: fire them all and start fresh. If you've ever interacted with any government office in Washington and tried to get something done, you know that things couldn't get any worse.

Not Exactly A Fair Fight

Yes, people have died on both sides of the war between Israel and Hamas -- or Gaza -- or the Palestinians -- or whatever you choose to call the people who want to see every Jew, regardless of age, dead. Autopsies show the two Bibas children returned to Israel in a box after being held hostage for more than 500 days had been strangled to death.

Below is a letter from today's Wall Street Journal that illuminates the stark difference between the two warring sides:

Don't Feel Sorry For The Lamp

Many years ago there was a great TV commercial for IKEA, the popular Scandinavian furniture purveyor. It showed a bleak, rainy day outside. Inside,  someone opened up a box and took out a shiny, new lamp. They placed it on their desk, replacing the old, crook-neck lamp that was bent way down and looking very sad. The person walked outside into the harsh weather and deposited the old lamp on top of a trash bin at the street. 

It was pretty heartbreaking honestly, seeing the old lamp instantly forgotten and getting rained on. The voiceover said, "You feel sorry for the lamp, don't you? Don't feel sorry for the lamp. It's a lamp!"

I am reminded of that when I read that people are so sad for the poor, innocent Palestinians. You know, the people who want nothing but to see all Jews dead. The people who teach their children in school, beginning in kindergarten, that Jews are vermin and must die. The people who killed a young mother, age 32, and her two children, ages 4 years old and 10 months old (shown above) in cold blood, after holding them hostage and torturing them -- the baby too. 

I say, "You feel sorry for the Palestinians? Don't feel sorry for them. They are Palestinians!"

High-Frequency Statesmanship

Science has proven that the human ear can hear sounds within the frequency range of 20Hz to 20,000Hz, whereas a dog's hearing ability extends to frequencies up to 65,000Hz or higher. That changes their perception of the world.

In a similar way, some people operate on a higher frequency than can be understood by the average person. President Trump and Elon Musk are two people whose intelligence is far above the norm, which means that many of the rest of us may often have a hard time understanding them. 

The lion's share  of people who simply cannot interpret the actions of Trump and Musk are Democrats, who mostly operate at a very low frequency. Why do I say that? Here are a few reasons:

1. They take their political marching orders from dodos such as Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow, Whoopie Goldberg, Joy Behar, the dolts of CNN, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer and Adam Schiff.  

2. They find Jimmy Fallon funny. 

3. They believe there are 72 genders. 

4. They supported Kamala Harris in her quest to become the most powerful person in the world, simply because of her skin color.

5. They will watch the Academy Awards show, including the Red Carpet foolishness. 

6. They want to normalize Drag Queens as a valid lifestyle. 

7. They said President Clinton's sex life was "his own business" when he had sex in the White House with a young intern, but mercilessly ravaged Brett Kavanaugh for drunken behavior at a beer party when he was 17 and a private citizen.

8. They elected Ilhan Omar, a Muslim who hates America and thus all Americans, as a member of our Congress.

I'd go on but you get the point: Trump and Musk, both former Democrats who came to their senses, are taking a sledgehammer to the mountain of waste that is our federal government. The lazy bureaucrats who live inside that mountain are angry, scared and delusional, appalled at having to describe what they do to earn their pay. So they lash out and call the dynamic duo names, scrawl signs to wave during protests, and imagine Nazi salutes everywhere. It would be funny were it not so sad. 

President Trump, a known brilliant negotiator and businessman, is on his way to ending the three-year war that has taken the lives of 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 198,000 Russian soldiers. He's only been in office for a little over one month and has already spoken with the leaders of both countries about a path to a peaceful resolution of their differences, one that will benefit all involved including the U.S.

The Dems should just shut up about Musk and Trump and go back to planning their next Disney vacation, knowing that the world's problems are in good hands. I wish they could understand that everything is fine, but they just can't hear it.

There Is A God After All

The best proof I have seen as to whether or not God exists is the fact that the prayers of millions of people, including myself, have finally been answered: Joy Reid, a heinous disciple of the Devil himself, has finally been axed from the TV lineup on MSNBC. Which also proves that even dummies can learn.

Time to Trash Elon Musk

If you have nothing to do today except binge the latest Netflix series, watch sports on TV, go shopping at the mall, or hang out at the neighborhood bar eating pizza and drinking beer until it's time to go home and fight with your spouse, then I'm talking to you! You're the one who hates Elon Musk and calls him stupid, and wants him deported, and thinks he is trying to ruin America.

So, if you have nothing to do today except the things mentioned above, just spend an hour or more, depending on how fast you read, on Elon Musk's Wikipedia page. Then tell me he's an idiot.

He has two pages on Wiki. Following is the opening paragraph of the page entitled List of Awards and Honors received by Elon Musk. 

"Business magnate and technologist Elon Musk is recognized for his design and engineering work on Tesla vehicles and SpaceX rockets and his efforts to combat global warming. For his renewable energy work and advocacy, he has received several environmentalist awards, including the National Wildlife Federation's Connie Award and a Global Green award. In part for his contributions to space travel, Musk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2018, was listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2021, and was ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the "Most Innovative Leaders of 2019". On December 13, 2021, Time named him Person of the Year."

And that's just the first paragraph. What have you earned -- a bowling trophy or maybe a blue ribbon for your apple pie? But go ahead and trash him on your Facebook page -- after all, you've got the time.

The Outrageous Arrogance of Janet Mills

Governor Mills

As someone living in Maine I feel I can say with complete confidence that our governor, Janet Mills, is a complete and total D-word.* I chose that word carefully, as she is obviously a transgender male who isn't fooling anyone. That's why she's so hot for men to compete in women's sports, enough to hurl the petulant response at the President of the United States, "See you in court!

I don't know about you, but I get confused when someone is a "transgender male" or "transgender female." I always have to stop and think, Is that a man becoming a woman or is that a woman becoming a man? So what are they now? A friend of mine came up with an easy way to know instantly: just replace the word "transgender" with the word "fake." And there you have it.

*FYI, you can't call anyone a "dick" anymore; the woke lefties now require you to say"D-word." So if you run into some retard who pisses you off, whatever you do, don't call him a dick!

Something Worse Than Elon

Those foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Muskers are apoplectic over Elon fine-tooth-combing the IRS for fraud, waste and abuse. Led by raging Senator Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren, they fear that their tax information and social security numbers will be seen by invading eyes.

Hey, here's a news flash: Your tax information and SSNs have already been seen by every Tom, D-word and Harry at the IRS who happens to flip open your file. Ditto every tax accountant you ever hired to do your return. Remember that sketchy guy at H&R Block? What if he "did something" with your information? And BTW, exactly what would someone "do" with that information?

People should stop worrying about Elon Musk and start worrying about the long-term damage those Ozempic injections are doing to their insides.

What's To Hate About A Jew?

The New York neighborhood of Borough Park is home to over half of the 600,000 Jewish people residing in Brooklyn. It has more than 300 synagogues. I was born there and spent the first year of my life in that community.

Now I live in the small town of Freeport (pop. 8,776), notable for being the home of the LLBean Mothership. (My name for it.) Freeport does not have any Jewish synagogues. The city of Portland, 20 minutes away, has 6. 

Actor Paul Newman

I have lived in Freeport for the last 15 years, and in all that time have had one Jewish friend -- actually two since his wife converted as an adult and although she was not born or raised in the religion she adheres to Judaism's practices and celebrates its holidays. So, I've met two Jews in 15 years here, not a great record. Oh wait, there's a guy up the street who is Jewish by birth but his wife and his kids are not. He doesn't count.

This morning I spoke with my son on the phone. He lives in Portland. He told me that his only Jewish friend here went outside this morning and found a swastika painted on his car's windshield.

Meanwhile, in New York last Tuesday night, anti-Israel protest groups staged a rally in Borough Park, shouting that the residents were “settlers” and “Zionists” and engaging in fist-fights with the pro-Israel counter-protesters. Police were called to break it up.

One of those interviewed at the protest said, "It makes me sad and mad that our country allows these anti-Jewish, anti-American protestors from Muslim countries into this country. Also, the idiotic young college-indoctrinated students are clueless."

Jew Spotlight: Actor Paul Newman was Jewish. Besides being possibly the handsomest man who ever lived, he was a great actor who earned many significant awards and accolades during his decades on stage and screen. His marriage to actress Joanne Woodward lasted 50 years, until his death in 2008. 

He was a philanthropist who started the company Newman's Own, which makes and sells a variety of foods. The Foundation in his name continues his commitment to use 100% of its profits from the sale of their products to support children, their families and their organizations, both in the US and abroad.

"Trans Women" Are Men, Right?

I am very confused, as many others might be as well. There are lots of news stories about transgender women lately, and how President Trump is changing the laws surrounding this odd phenomenon. One of these stories was in our local news. 

A high-school boy who did poorly in a particular sport started "identifying" as female and joined the girl's team. He just placed first in a state pole-vaulting competition. He still looks like a boy, but he's taller and his hair is longer. 

I wish we could come up with something else to call these transgender women to avoid all the confusion. How about "men?"

We Need A Vaccine for TDS

I am surprised that TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is even worse now than in the past, when President Trump is doing so much good for the average American, and in such a short time. Hopefully Bobby will approve a vaccine for it before every last Democrat turns into a babbling idiot.

Shown below is a screen shot from a Facebook post of one of its worst sufferers, illustrating the ridiculous heights of fantasy the TDS fever causes (i.e. Republicans don't care if planes crash, inferring that they have all been Trump's fault).  

The poor woman. As she says at the end, she is not sleeping well. Get some help, Kat!

TV Review: SNL 50th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

Back when SNL was funny....

Last night, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) threw itself a giant party in an overblown, more-than-three-hour festival of self-promotion to celebrate its comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Featuring cast members and musical performers from the past 50 years to the present day, it presented the dubious anniversary with outlandish fanfare, as if it were a combination of the Academy Awards and the V-Day Parade signaling the end of World War Two. 

From the opening shot of singer Paul Simon looking (and sounding) about 100 years old to the closing act of Beatle Paul McCartney's sad imitation of his former self, I found the whole thing shockingly off-key. As a baby boomer who made sure to be home by 11:30 pm EST every Saturday during the show's early years, when it was funny, I was hoping for a boisterous romp down memory lane. Instead it was a depressing look at just how old everyone, including me, has gotten. (Although none as old as former wild man Garrett Morris, now 88, who came on near the end and did literally nothing but sit in a chair and depress me further.)

In between those two geriatric performers there were lots of younger people running around being fit and not funny. No matter -- today the reviews are in and they are 100% positive, with actor Jack Nicholson, now 87, earning accolades simply for dressing himself and getting there. Conspicuously absent were some of the best cast members and guests from the early days, including Gilda Radner, Andy Kaufman, John Belushi, Chris Farley, Norm MacDonald and Phil Hartman, all dead now. 

Despite all of that, seeing Adam Sandler get teary during his tribute song made it worth staying up that late. And Bill Murray, if you could ignore him looking like Father Time, was hysterical, as usual.

The Coming Civil War

If, unlike half the country who finally feel that our government is working for us and not against us, you are on the fence about the direction of Trump and his cabinet, reading today's New York Times will push you right off and into the roiling Sea of Despair they seem to relish swimming in. Every story in their leaning tower of opinion tells of the dire doings by Trump and his minions, each of whom is a representative of the Devil himself. We must all fear them!

Bobby Kennedy will give all of us polio and AIDS and he won't even care! J.D. Vance will turn all of Europe against America and probably start a world war. Elon Musk, who according to the editors of the Times causes chaos, will likely pocket all the money he finds on his wicked hunt for waste and fraud, like he needs more. (The current richest man in the world obviously wants to be the richest man in the Milky Way.)

If you believe that Trump's recent executive order aimed at the military implies a "shameful campaign against transgenders," who by the way represent less than 1% of the population, you're likely to adore an article denigrating that decision. The order states that,"A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."  Hey, sounds good to me. Speaking of chaos, do we really need women with penises and men with vaginas duking it out in the barracks?

Adding to the raucous chorus is Randi Weingarten, the president of the teacher's union (AFT) who makes half a mil a year while most new teachers in Maine bring home about $40K. She writes that Trump and Musk, in their quest to raise the abysmal scores of America's students who occupy last place in everything among developed nations, are "swinging a wrecking ball at the Department of Education. This attack on our children is wrong."

I'll tell you what's wrong, Randi: The constant whining and nit-picking of the Democrats, sore losers to the max, who wake up every morning and set out to further divide our fractured nation until it truly erupts into another civil war. Now where the hell is my musket?

Equal Racism For All

"Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race or ethnicity over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different ethnic background." -- Wikipedia 

Racism exists. It's a real thing. People of different races really do possess different behavioral traits due to inherited attributes. Nobody could argue that one and win. So exactly what is "reverse racism?"

It's nothing. There's no such thing. You can hate whites, you can hate blacks, you can hate Jews, you can hate Latinos -- pick any ethnicity and hate them if that's your thing. If you do so you are guilty of racism. Yet black people think they own the term, and the sentiment, and thus if one discriminates against white people it is "reverse" racism, which is somehow a lesser form of the practice. 

That's so unfair. Hating whites is just as good (bad) as hating anyone else.

America's Favorite Pastime: The Blame Game

Using an expected inflation rate of 4% on average, it will cost $310,605 to raise a child in a middle-class home from birth to age 18. 

So say the experts who immerse themselves in such statistics. But nowhere can one find any dollar amount of what a child might owe his or her parent for doing so. I say, at the very least they might give a damn about that parent's welfare. Sadly, this is not always the case.

Take, for example, a story in today's Wall Street Journal about a man living in Portland, Oregon who has filed a wrongful-death suit against a California power company, claiming their downed power lines in a nearby canyon caused his father's death in the recent fires that devastated the city of Altadena.

The man, Xiaoyong Zhao, had tried and failed to reach his 84-year old father during the first day of the fires. The elder man, who did not speak or understand English and was unable to walk unassisted, lived alone in a house in Altadena. When the son couldn't reach his father he assumed he had gone to sleep. The next morning he flew to California and went to his father's house and found it totally burned to the ground. He also found his father's remains.

So many questions come to mind: Why didn't he fly to Altadena when he first heard of the fires that threatened his father's neighborhood? Why was his elderly father, language and mobility impaired, living alone in another state? What does one owe an aging parent, especially one living in a foreign land? And lastly, why sue anybody, especially the power company that asserts their power lines showed no sign of malfunction before the start of the fire? 

Obviously Mr. Zhao should sue himself. If he wins the case he can use the money to pay for the psychoanalysis he will need for the remainder of his life, trying to assuage his guilt and face his responsibility in his father's death.

Fake News On FOX News

If blue eggs are your thing, he's your guy.

Yesterday morning I switched on FOX News (the only legitimate news channel IMHO) in the middle of a report on the state of the economy. A woman who I assumed was an expert in the field was talking about the soaring price of eggs. Apparently they are now sky-high, with many if not most restaurants charging an extra fifty cents per egg for any dish that contains eggs. Then she held up a box of eggs, looked squarely into the camera and said, "A dozen eggs now costs ten dollars in the U.S."

I was stunned. Really? Since we buy our eggs from a friend who raises chickens and pay him six bucks a dozen, I was out of touch with store prices. So the ex-reporter lurking inside me decided to check it out locally. After reading the following on Wikipedia I figured Shaw's, just a mile from my house, would offer a perfect reflection of the national egg scene:

"Shaw's and Star Market are two American supermarket chains under united management based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, employing about 30,000 associates in 150 total stores; 129 stores are operated under the Shaw's banner in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, while Star Market operates 21 stores in Massachusetts, most of which are in or near Boston." 

I found rows and rows of eggs, at least 20 different brands and types. A very few, all white eggs with nothing special going on, were $4.99 per dozen. Most of the rest, all brown eggs, cost $5.99 per dozen while a few from free-range, all-happy chickens were $6.99. There was one brand for $7.99. The most expensive I could find was a dozen containing all-natural, free-range, organic eggs of different colors -- brown, pale blue and white -- for $9.00. (Who needs blue eggs? You don't eat the shells.)

That economist should have said eggs cost ten bucks except in New England. So yes, sometimes there is fake news on FOX.

Kudos to Trump, Obviously

It hasn't even been one month since Donald Trump took the oath of office,

and the Democrats are scrambling around like terrorized ants after a can of Raid has been sprayed nearby. They're so busy, busy, oh so busy, looking for ways to impeach Trump or denigrate every single one of his cabinet members, it's amazing they can get any work done. Oh right, that is their work: screaming that the sky is falling and further dividing our sorely divided country. (See photo)

Rep. Maxine Waters (D, Calif.)

Imagine if even one freakin' Democrat ever said, "Hey, Trump is delivering on all of his promises! He's talking to the press every day! His actions are transparent, so no hidden meetings and no trying to guess who is running the government!" Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Lest we forget: We never saw Joe Biden. Ever. He never spoke to the press. Ever. He didn't know what the hell was going on. Ever. We never knew anything about what the cabinet members were doing. For example, Pete Buttigieg was always just being gay and having babies with his partner Chastain, who he was also always kissing. (Good job, Pete!) And sorry, but whoever else was in the Biden cabinet and whatever they accomplished escapes me now.

Personally I find it refreshing to actually witness the President running our country, meeting with foreign leaders and bringing home hostages, especially the schoolteacher who was in a Russian prison for more than three years and Trump got him home 22 days after becoming President. If they can't applaud that accomplishment, then the Democrats are even more farblungit than I thought. (Look it up, it's Yiddish.)

Anatomy of A Protest

If, like the throngs of clueless students at Bowdoin College who attended an anti-Israel protest last weekend, you think Benjamin Netanyahu is a big, bad meanie for hurting Palestinians, consider this tidbit from today's Wall Street Journal:

"For 16 months, Alan Ohel's mother wasn't sure if her son, kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, was alive or dead. Last weekend, she found out that he has been kept shackled in an underground tunnel, shrapnel in his eye and shoulder, subsisting on one piece of pita bread a day."

Now, imagine being shackled in an underground tunnel, just for a day or two but you're a perfectly healthy 24-year-old. Next, imagine being held there for 493 days, but with adequate food and water.

Okay, now imagine you're in that tunnel but starving, and you have a piece of shrapnel in your eye, and you're shackled there, underground, for 493 days.

Then imagine you're starving, unable to stand, with that piece shrapnel in your eye but with another one in your shoulder, for 493 days.

Now imagine you are a spoiled rich kid who attends an expensive college and you're tired of getting high and watching movies and playing video games in your dorm and your roommate says hey let's go protest the Jews, they suck and are killing Palestinians, then we can go out for pizza afterwards. Here, hold up this sign.