Month: May 2024

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New polls are showing Trump still leading Biden in a close race. Democrats are saying not worry though because Biden leads with likely voters as opposed to registered voters. I guess I shouldn’t worry then, right? Because these experts are never wrong, right? Well, if you ignore President Al Gore and President Hillary Clinton. Somehow I don’t find this comforting because, and I am just speculating here, what if some of those registered voters turn into actual voters. It could happen. Registered voters could actually turn out and vote.

The lack of energy on the Democratic side is disheartening. It is like the election is all wrapped up. They are confident that Trump will do something that will ruin his chances and everything will be just fine. They mean, of course, something like a videotape of Trump talking about grabbing unwilling women by the pussy. Yes that should work, absolutely. Nobody could vote for him after saying something like that. Waiting for Trump to make a mistake or to get convicted of a felony is a terrible strategy. It puts Trump in the driver seat. He has been successfully milking his grievances to get his way for years. I don’t understand it and I don’t like it but it is nonetheless true.

Even more disheartening is Biden doesn’t seem up to the vigorous campaign required for someone is such a tight election. He has disappeared. I challenge you to go to any news web site and check the number of times the name Trump is mentioned with the name Biden. It isn’t even close. Trump is always in the public eye. Yes, a lot of it is bad press but it is press and a lot of people either don’t understand the arguments against Trump or don’t care. We are, after all, talking about low information voters. Either way, the name Trump is on everyone’s lips — friend or foe, Biden not so much.

Surprisingly for a man who needs to change people’s minds about his age, Biden is doing remarkably little to do it. Protecting Biden from public view is a terrible idea. Better that he is bumbling around in front of a camera than hidden away in the White House. Could he do any worse than falling asleep at a trial which hasn’t seemed to hurt Trump in the least. Trump is only a few years younger than Biden. They are both old men. Right now Trump appears to be the more energetic of the two. If there are people who care about this, and, by that, I mean low information voters, then Biden needs to meet the challenge. Isn’t it better to get him out there in order to test the old fellow to see how he does? If he is up to then I am fine with sticking with him. If he isn’t, I would rather discover this now than in August after the Democratic Convention when the die is cast.

But telling me not to worry and trust that the Democratic big wigs know what they are talking about and this is in the bag is madness. True bat shit craziness. Before I can trust you with your speculations, you need to show you can turn things around. Biden’s continuing stagnant poll numbers misses the mark by a mile.

I am worried.

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I am sure the cops will come up with an explanation that gets them off the hook but the death of Roger Fortson is a perfect case to show the problems of the police, Black men and the 2nd Amendment. Forston was an Air Force man in his home when the police came knocking but, according to witnesses, not identifying themselves as police. Forston, who did not know they were cops, greeted them with a gun which is his right. The cops shoot him dead.

First, cops should always identify themselves as cops — every single time. This may have stopped the tragedy from going any further. I don’t care what the situation is because the cops, as in this case, might be at the wrong house. Given the high percentage of gun owners in the USA, if the cops break down someone’s front door without identifying themselves, they really should expect to be greeted with a person holding a gun. Isn’t this what the whole 2nd Amendment argument is all about — home owners protecting their homes. Identifying themselves as cops is for the safety of the cops as well as any potential suspects.

Then there is the fact that the cops had the wrong address. Yes, the cops can make mistakes but how rotten is it for the cops to break down a person’s door, find a man with a gun waiting for them and, because he is pointing a gun at them, the cops then shoot the person dead. All taking place within seconds of the police breaking down the person’s door. How do you balance a person’s right to protect themselves with the cops justified fear that the person holding a gun might kill them? Right now, it seems that cops have a little trouble with the constitutional right for Black men to bear arms (see Tamir Rice, John Crawford and Philando Castile).

It is completely irrelevant to argue, like Heather MacDonald frequently does, that black criminals are much more dangerous to the black population than cops. I suspect that this is also true that white criminals are more dangerous to white people than the cops. This should go without saying, right? Criminals are criminals. There should be an expectation that they are more dangerous than cops. Cops, on the other hand, aren’t supposed to be killing innocent people. Criminals are under no such compunction.

The fact that the mortality of Blacks at the hands of cops is small compared to Black criminals is changing the argument about a real problem. MacDonald says the problem is crime and if only Blacks understood that the police, in order to deal with crime, will have to take on Black criminals. Up to a point, she is correct. Criminals need to be dealt with but if you are afraid that your call to the police might get you or a neighbor killed, you might think differently. She conveniently ignores the historical experience that Blacks have had with the cops. If she considered it, it might help her understand why Blacks focus on cops killing innocent Blacks. They shouldn’t have to worry about cops killing innocent people.

If Blacks are afraid to ask the cops for help, they may depend more upon their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms which conflicts with MacDonald’s assertion that innocent Black people will have to endure even more contact with the police in order to stop Black crime. The cops then will face even more Black men with guns which then will lead to even more innocent black men getting shot. MacDonald assumes a level of trust that Black people just don’t have with the cops. She can complain all she wants about Black criminals being more dangerous than cops but in order for her plan to work Blacks have to see cops as allies and not enemies. They don’t and it is up to the cops to change this perception.

Until then, Black men will have to exercise their 2nd Amendment right with extreme caution.

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Sen. Vance, Republican Ohio, made a speech about the difference between funding Israel’s wars and funding the Ukraine’s wars. The key take away here is he said ”  I do not think that it is in America’s interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine.” I think the never-ending war in Israel has been going on a bit longer than the never-ending war in the Ukraine. If you are going to talk about never-ending wars then it is best not to compare the shortest never-ending war to the longest never-ending war in the world.

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Mar-Jac Poultry has been caught again using child labor. Again. Last year, a 16 year old boy was killed at this company.

Clearly Mar-Jac Poultry is more afraid of losing money if they don’t have enough workers than they are of hiring child labor. The fines need to be a little more frightening in order to make Mar-Jac Poultry do the right thing. Criminals won’t behave until they are afraid of the punishment for their crime.

Law and Order, if you know what I mean.

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Harrison Butker recently kicked up a shit storm over the role of women in modern society. If he and his wife want to live that way, I am OK. I am also OK with him telling people that is what he believes. So I didn’t pay much attention to the whole falderal because it seemed like just another controversy de jour. People getting upset because someone wanted to upset people so he found a way to upset them.

But then I stumbled upon an article from conservative columnist Peachy Keenan where I discovered Butker liked the Latin (Traditional) Mass. Now that is interesting and amazing. I have given up on the Catholic Church long ago and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would prefer the old Latin Mass. I had a few years of Latin Mass in my pre-Vatican II childhood. I even had to train as an alter boy with the old Latin Mass. My opinion was it was a pain in the ass.

Apparently, I am wrong. It is a thing that has caught on with modern Catholics. I checked up on the mystery of the Latin Mass here and here. I could have gone on as Google directed to me to numerous links on the topic but, after reading the two above, I can say I still have no idea why anyone would like the old Latin Mass. It is a lot of gobbledygook about the mystery of the Eucharist, reverence and tradition.

Even after 12 years of Catholic education, Communion is a mystery to me. Why I have to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ is beyond me. It sounds cannibalistic and I avoided this sacrament as much as humanly possible. So, I missed the transcendent experience of Communion at a Latin Mass. So I will give the Latin Mass lovers this one because Communion stumps me in Latin or in English.

Then, how is the modern mass irreverent? Standing when receiving communion as opposed to kneeling when receiving communion is one explanation. God would rather us be on our knees than on our feet. People dress too casually for the modern mass which has nothing to do with the Latin Mass. The Latin Mass doesn’t have a dress code. It is their own personal prejudice of what reverence is because God has advised them about the importance of kneeling before him in a three-piece suit.

Finally, there is tradition which is the worst possible reason to use the Latin Mass. The lovers of the Latin Mass say that practicing the mass in this way connects them to the vast majority of saints who worshipped God in exactly the same way. So you can only connect to God by living the way the saints did? The Saints wouldn’t recognize the present mass. So I guess there should be no electricity or central heating in churches. People should skip baths, not brush their teeth, and wear the same clothes they worked the fields in in order to connect with saints of yesteryear. Why go half-assed in your connection with the saints when you can go in for the total traditional experience? Most of what we do is not traditional and for good reason, the past was horrible for most people. Tradition for tradition’s sake is bullshit.

Furthermore, modern people are not peasants. Almost everyone can read, write and a good portion can even think for themselves. The Church has to appeal to a much broader and more educated group of people than in the past. An appeal to tradition is all very nice but unlikely to capture the imagination of all the people searching for God. People usually abandon tradition when it no longer works, so Butker and his ilk can continue to go to the Latin Mass if they want. Vade in pace which is go in peace for you non-Latin speaking hell bound heathens.

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After hearing unpleasant information from one of his executives, Elon Musk makes a snap decision to fire her and all 500 members of her staff. He now is trying to rehire some of them back as they are necessary for his business. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it is because Musk made a similar decision when he acquired Twitter. Which leads to the question, how smart can the man be if he keeps making the same mistake over and over again. Has he learned nothing from his dubious acquisition of Twitter? Apparently not.

This notion that we owe the rich some kind of deference because they are better at making decisions is a myth. The big difference between regular people and Musk is that Musk can afford to make mistakes while the rest of us can not. In this case, how many millions of dollars were lost trying to retrieve people who shouldn’t have been fired in the first place? Well, continue on Elon, your brilliance continues to be disputable.

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About 25 years ago I began to receive a catalogue for Cheap Undies for men. It came out of nowhere one day and I thought why am I getting this? I would never wear any of this and after giving it more thought I realized somehow, someone out their in the wide world web had figured out that I was gay. I am betting that straight males are not receiving these kind of catalogues. It is much more likely that they are receiving Victoria’s Secret.

I only say this because I wouldn’t want people to think I actually would wear anything like this. I am much more of the on sale brand at Macy’s kind of guy. I won’t buy the cheapest underwear, because like with wine buying, I think it is important to buy the 2nd cheapest as opposed to the cheapest. It sets you apart from the really cheap people. I wouldn’t want the clerk to get the wrong idea about me. It’s a rule for me — the 2nd cheapest pair of underwear, the 2nd cheapest bottle of wine.

And certainly nothing sexy or stylish. In my youth, I tried to wear them as to increase my sexual appeal. I usually felt vaguely uncomfortable and like a bit of a poser. And if you really consider underwear, it is the one item of clothing not available for perusal prior to picking up, so it seems like investing in a nicer T shirt or tighter jeans was a better investment. This is to say, in case you are missing my point and calming your fears about how sexy I think I am, I will not be purchasing the above products any time soon.

So now that I got that awkward stuff out of the way. What is it with the get up on gentleman number 1. Numbers 2 and 3 I get but what is that strap around the neck doing on the first young man. It looks like the straps to a bra. Without the bra. For a man. The only thing I can come up with is it draws the eye to his chest? But after a few seconds of grateful admiration I always return to what is he wearing and why?

It looks, and I am really trying to think of a gentle way to put this but can’t so I will just come out and say it, stupid. Why not go with the naked chest alone? Or a tank top or t Shirt? But a strap around the upper chest? Huh?

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Johnny McEntee, ex-Trump assistant, likes to give fake money to the homeless so that they get arrested later when they try to use the counterfeit cash. My first thought was what an asshole which others apparently conveyed to him because he later added that it’s just a joke. Ha Ha Ha. How clever, right? Why is tricking poor people into distributing phony money so they wind up in prison for passing phony money so funny?

This is junior high school bully humor. Picking on the weird kid, give him a false sense of security and then pulling the rug out from under him. Maybe the homeless person has some root problem like drug addiction or mental illness that helped paved the way for them to end up on the streets. Maybe they had a run of bad luck (losing their job, couldn’t afford their house payments) that put them there. None of it is particularly funny though.

It reveals a lack of compassion that is disturbing. He even has the sense that he is crossed some line because he added just joking to the link. So he knows how it looks and yet instead of removing the offending link, he tells us he is joking, so he can let us in on the joke which means he still thinks it is funny. All he needs to do is point out that it is supposed to be funny and we will get it. Do you get it? I certainly hope so.

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Members of a Catholic church in England reported their priest gave a sermon suggesting that, given the way Jesus died, he probably died with an erection. So now it has become big news and a lot of people are talking about it. Which is irritating for the following reasons:

  1. What Jesus’ erection has to do with the crucification is beyond me. It sounds like the priest was giving graphic details of how a man dying on the cross would suffer. The priest was giving way to much data here. Yes, it is important to know Jesus suffered, but I think even a child can figure out that being nailed to a cross is no picnic. Why the priest had to throw in all the gory details which included that in Jesus dying minutes the blood rushed to his penis and caused him to pop a boner seems beyond the pale. It’s irrelevant to the Easter Story.
  2. Since there is no earthly reason for the priest to discuss Jesus’ erection, why did he drop this little bomb into his Easter sermon? He had to know that mentioning the word erection during a church service was going to cause a commotion. The mere mention of anything sexual perks up the ears of the more Puritanical members of any congregation. They heard erection and their knives were drawn and ready. This was professional suicide on a grand level. It says a lot that he decided to kick the chair out from under him during one of the most well attended church days of the year. I can only think that he was sick of his job and decided to go out in a blaze of glory. He succeeded.
  3. It doesn’t really matter because popping a boner while dying is not a sin. Even though the priest has been removed from his position and it looks like he did something wrong, there is absolutely no theological debate regarding men who have erections while dying. Men in their prime often find themselves erect for no apparent reason whatsoever. It just happens. I realize that Jesus’ erection is unimportant and the Pope has way more important things to deal with but he might mention this in a future speech or sermon sometime if he is running short of material — erections are not sinful.
  4. Jesus, up until his death, was a human being subject to the same human temptations as any other human being. Isn’t that an important part of the Jesus story? He struggled with his humanity like any other human while he was here. An erection just humanizes the man. Although, I think, in keeping with the Easter story, that Jesus’s death is a better illustration of his humanity and is very much in keeping with the Easter Story.
  5. Some of the church scolds were worried that children might have heard this story. Let me assure everyone, as a young person who once spent every Sunday in Mass, the children missed it entirely. All I recall about Mass was my eyes would glaze over upon entering church and for the next hour I daydreamed or looked at people or tried to talk to one of my siblings in the pew with me but I rarely, if ever, paid attention to the priest. The only thing I can remember is my parents rousting me out of my slumber in order to get to communion. Mass, as every kid forced to go knows, is a snoozefest.
  6. This is not a free speech issue. The Catholic Church is not a public entity and should be free to police their employees as they wish. They did.
  7. Why is this getting so much press? I can see that it may be an issue for the members of the church, but for the larger world it is nothing but the press stirring a pot to see what kind of controversy they can create with a nothing event. I don’t know why they wasted precious headline space on this when they could be talking about something really important like the Met Gala or Taylor Swift. It’s like the press has lost all sense of what is important.

Finally, on a brighter note, I would recommend the name Jesus’ Erection as a great name for any new band who are looking for a catchy name. It is sure to get noticed, all you have to be is good and the world is your oyster.