Falling In Love

 

 

 "Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line." - Bill Clinton.

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been writing about politics lately.

One: Politics is boring.  You are either a big Trumpster, or you are not. That's it. Nobody tries to find the middle ground because everyone says there is no middle ground.

Fun fact: there is always a middle ground.

Two: Most people on social media "discuss" politics by memes. The memes are usually posted with a comment like "Nuff' said" or "Amen". 

For example, I saw a meme about Rand Paul. Rand Paul is a senator from Kentucky who is trying to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci "accountable" for some of the things that happened during the recent unpleasantness. 

This meme made a big deal about Rand Paul not being a board-certified ophthalmologist.

It is right. Senator Doctor Paul is not a board-certified ophthalmologist. Now.  He was board-certified for ten years and then got into a dispute with the American Board of Ophthalmology over recertification and tried to create his own certification board. He then just let the matter drop. So if you are going to get cataract surgery from Senator Doctor Paul, just be aware that it will be in a back alley and he won't accept your insurance.

The point of this particular meme was: How dare Rand Paul question the great Anthony Fauci when he isn't even board-certified.

 

Well, as George Will used to say. Paul was questioning Fauci over "gain-of-function" tests and whether Fauci approved a grant to the Chinese lab, which led to a lab leak, which led to a pandemic, and led to everybody staying inside and washing their hands every forty seconds.  

 

The Chinese lab either did gain-of-function tests or they didn't and Dr. Fauci either approved a grant to the Chinese lab or he didn't. I don't think that is a medical question only an immunologist can answer. 

However, there's been a new blip on the political radar, and it has to do with the 2028 Presidential election. 

As everybody but President Orange knows, Trump cannot run for re-election. There's no wiggle room. The Constitution is very clear about it that Trump cannot be elected to another four year term. 

For the Republicans, it looks like Vice President Vance is going to run as the heir apparent (you pick up these terms in history class) to President Trump, or Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  That's it.

For Democrats, the question is not who will run but who will not run. Who will not run in 2028:  Harry Truman, Henry Jackson, Walter Mondale, or Michael Dukakis.  Just about everybody with a (D) by their name is at least thinking about running for President. 

One name that is gaining traction is Georgia's own Senator Jon Ossoff.

Jon Ossoff became a Senator when David Perdue could not pick up 50%  plus one in the 2020 Senatorial election. This caused a run-off. The trouble was that Gov. Brian Kemp decided to enforce Georgia law, and Trump pitched a snit fit and did more harm than good. You might remember it. It was in all the papers. 

Put it this way: Ossoff defeated  Perdue by 1.22 percentage points.  Not exactly a strong beginning. 

However, Ossoff gives the Democrats something they haven't had in a while-a Southern Democrat. 

Give Ossoff this: while you see him as just a young guy who got lucky and won a Senate seat, he looks in the mirror and sees a President of the United States.

Ossoff and his team have noticed that his last name starts with the same letter as Obama's.  Ossoff sees himself as the Obama nobody wanted or asked for. 

Since the Democrats don't have a leader, some want another one of THE GREAT DEMOCRATIC PARTY OUTSIDERS to come in and save the Democrats from a President Gavin Newsom making kissy faces at himself in the mirror. 

The Democrats have a history of someone from out of the blue coming in and sweeping them off their feet.  Think of JFK, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

So all of the people who think they know things think Ossoff can do this. 

He barely won his Senate seat. Nobody around here (Georgia) ever talks about him. The great "They" (people who write political columns) are saying he's a shoo-in for re-election.  Maybe.

But in his big deal speech about Trump, Ossoff brings up Natalie Harp for, I don't know, doing her job. Of course, Trump hit back with one of his zingers. He calls Ossoff "Pee-Wee Harman".   Not his best insult. 

Ossoff has other liabilities, some of which reflect poorly on Democrats.

While I consider him your average, garden-variety lefty Democrat, the modern Democratic Party considers him a moderate. That says something about the Democratic Party.

And then there is the problem.  Ossoff is Jewish.

Frankly, the Democrats are really dancing on the line of being anti-semitic, if not, in many cases, being outright bigots. It is hard to see how all of the wackos in the Democratic Party, which is where all the energy is now, will process this information.

But you never know. I just wouldn't buy any tickets to an Ossoff Inauguration now.  

 

 

 

 

"Reacher Season Four" Like It or Lump It.

 

 

Welcome to the Dog Days of Summer "Like It Or Lump It," where I review a show on one of the various streaming services and to see if they are worth your time. 

"Reacher Season 4 (Amazon Prime).  This show is about Darwin's Missing Link, Jack Reacher, who is a former MP that wanders the country trying to find someone to punch.  He usually finds someone to punch or, at the very least, headbutt. 

In Reacher's first season, Reacher visits Margrave, Georgia, to investigate the death of blues legend Blind Blake, only to be arrested for a murder he did not commit despite the fact there is no Margrave, Georgia or a blues legend named Blind Blake. In the midst of all of this investigation, Reacher learns of the murder of his brother, Joe Reacher because there is a corrupt family in Margrave and they are making counterfeit money.  Reachers busts a couple of thousand heads and headbutts a cocker spaniel.

In Reacher's second season, Reacher is pulled back into action when a member of his former US Army unit, the 110th Special Investigators, is brutally murdered by being dropped out of a helicopter, which has been known to kill people. The show climaxes with Reacher pulling helicopter down from the sky. The other improbable action scene shows Reacher buy clothes off the rack. 

(Note: Reacher buys all of his clothes at Goodwill. Nobody ever complains of the smell.)

In Reacher's season three, Reacher goes deep undercover to bring down an untouchable international drug kingpin by working for the international drug kingpin. The head of the drug kingpin's security is another gorilla named Paulie who Reacher thought he killed years ago. They have a massive fight in which Reacher somehow kills him,  

The major theme in Reacher is this:  Bad people need to be punched. Or headbutted. Maybe thrown out of a window when necessary. 

Season 4 was released last week. Reacher is just walking around Philadelphia, eating a cheesesteak at 2:30 in the morning. He decides to ride the subway because if nothing is more beautiful than the streets of Philadelphia, it is the subway.

While there, he encounters a woman he thinks wants to blow up the subway because Reacher is very perceptive. (Remember, he likes jazz.) 

It turns out she doesn't want to blow up the subway; she just wants to kill herself. Which she does. Of course, the police take Reacher in for questioning. They ask Reacher all of the relevant questions:  Why are you in Philadelphia? What's going on with the Phillies? Where do you buy your clothes? How come you don't stink? 

The FBI  is called in and Reacher is his usual charming self. He decides to call the three FBI agents "Snap, Crackle, and Pop". Another example of Reacher's charm.

In the next thirty minutes:

• Reacher beats up three guys who stopped to ask him question.
• He meets the dead woman's brother who just happens to be a "small town" New Jersey cop.
• He is introduced to a busty lady who says she has leukemia.

 

I've decided to give you a count of all of the action in "Reacher Season 4" 

Punches: Plenty.

Headbutts: Four.

Suicides: Two.

Congressman who must be hiding something: One. Congressman's wife that gives off a Hillary Clinton vibe: One.

Times Reacher says he "travels light": One

Creepy Freelance Journalist who sort of reminds you of the weirdo from "Stranger Things": One.

Trips to Philadelphia from Washington: Two.

Cats: One. 

Busty Lady who has leukemia but not really: One.

Bowling ball in the face: One.

Missing nephew that plays for Temple University on "a full ride": One.

Number of darts it takes to subdue Reacher: Two.

Language:  Rough but not as bad as you would think. Bad words fly around but it is not as bad as anything you would hear on the Dutton Ranch. 

Sex and nudity:  None

Times you see Reacher without a shirt:  One

Violence: Non-stop.

There have been only three episodes released of season four.  I say "Like It".  There's not much to it. The writing is meh, the acting is okay, but the action scenes are very good. And I'm not saying that just because I think Reacher would headbutt me. Which he probably would. 

67

 

 

 

Here I am again, celebrating another birthday. It is my 67th, or as the kids say, my 6/7.

 

What does 6/7 mean?

 

It is the latest slang term, derived from a rap song titled "Doot Doot (6 7)" by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Check that; it is by a rapper known as Skrilla, who I am sure you have many downloads of on Spotify. 

 

Of course, let Google help us out.

 

"Six seven (written as 6-7 or 67) is a viral internet meme and slang term used mostly by kids and teens. It has no fixed meaning or definition. The entire point of the phrase is to be complete nonsense that bonds younger groups while confusing adults.

 

If the phrase is meant to be "complete nonsense", I would say: mission accomplished. 

 

 

How is it used? As a filler or projection. Per Google: "Kids yell "six-seven!" randomly or in response to hearing the numbers 6 and 7 in everyday talk (like a teacher saying "turn to page 67")."

 

You can imagine how hilarious it is. 

 

Google goes on to say, "It is sometimes paired with an up-and-down hand motion (like weighing something) to vaguely mean "so-so" or "mediocre," though it is mostly just used to troll older generations."

 

Again, if it is simply meant to troll older generations: mission accomplished. 

Every generation does things that bewilder the older generations before them. At least it is better than the previous generation that held contests on TikTok eating Tide pods. That was truly stupid and helps to explain why so many young adults are "Democratic Socialists".

 

Even my generation, when we were not walking to school through the snow, uphill-both ways, did things that trolled the older generation. Here I'm thinking about the popularity of Chevy Chase.

There were other things as well.  Disco music, which was usually about love on the dance floor.  The "Farrah" hairstyle for girls, in which they grew really long hair and curled it up to look like actress Farrah Fawcett, who was incredibly popular when I was in high school. It usually took girls about four hours to get their hair ready for school.

 

Of course, it usually took me a minute to get my hair presentable for school. It usually involved a brush.

 

I'm not here to complain about the crazy kids nowadays. I'm not here to ask them to get off my lawn, although I wish they would.  I would like to point out some of the good things that have happened during my lifetime.

 

When I was coming along, nobody used a leash for their dog.  Nobody cleaned up after their dog when the dog did dog stuff in your yard. It was your responsibility to watch where you were going so you didn't step in the neighbor's dog stuff. 

Now, people clean up what their dogs leave behind. They didn't do that in '65, '73, or '85. 

 

People used to smoke everywhere.  Surgeons during surgery. The pastor in the pulpit. Your high school English teacher.

 

Now, as Cedric The Entertainer says, "You can't smoke on Earth no more".  Cigarettes are very expensive-I don't know how anyone can pick up the habit.

 

When I was in junior high school, there was a class trip to the local IBM to look at computers.  The computers took up several rooms.

Now, everybody has a PC and a laptop. On top of that, we carry around a computer that fits in the palm of our hands. It is also our camera. We no longer have to take a roll of film to the drug store or the Fotomat. That's pretty cool. 

This computer is also a phone. These are the days of miracles and wonder. 

 

We have Chick-fil-A. 

Waffle House takes debit cards.

Coke Zero.

You can watch a million and one TV shows, either through cable or streaming.

 
I've lived through the most interesting time in the best place to live. As Joe Walsh said, "Life's been good to me so far."