1.21.2025 – where is the outrage?

where is the outrage?
where are the cops, courts, judges
sold? bought the rope too!

Not sure where to start.

But the fact that the new president issued an Executive Order to re-interpret the Constitution of the United States is as good a place to start as any.

If I speed down a road, breaking the law, I can expect to be pulled over by a cop, issued a ticket, go to Court and fined or worse for breaking the law.

This feller not only is speeding but speeding down the busiest most public street, most patrolled street in the world and no one tells him he can’t.

I cannot put into words the frustration over his middle finger to the document that allowed him to be in power along with the lack of any reaction.

It is all so perfect as he has already arranged a Supreme Court that says anything he does as president is not illegal.

Won’t the Supreme Court be surprised when he Executive Orders them out of existence.

On the other hand, is he doing anything he didn’t saw he would?

I sipped that koolaid that said what he was saying during the election ‘was all rhetoric.”

All he was saying was ‘was he needed to say to get elected.’

So much for that thinking.

Took all of about 4 hours for that possibility to prove false and I hold all those who held up this premise of ‘electoral rhetoric’ to justify giving him their vote responsible.

We are in a world of hurt here folks and no kidding.

I really really want to avoid the political world and right about word play and unique use of the English language.

It all seems so innocent.

Too innocent to waste my time on.

This latest age of innocence is over and the dark age is starting.

Lenin is supposed to have said something along the lines of, When the time comes to hand the western world, a capitalist will sell me the rope.

In this case folks, not only did we sell the rope to hand ourselves, we bought and paid for it as well.

1.20.205 – anyone can fool

anyone can fool
too many of the people
too much of the time

The Owl Who Was God

Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl who sat on the branch of an oak tree. Two ground moles tried to slip quietly by, unnoticed. “You!” said the owl. “Who?” they quavered, in fear and astonishment, for they could not believe it was possible for anyone to see them in that thick darkness. “You two!” said the owl. The moles hurried away and told the other creatures of the field and forest that the owl was the greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “I’ll see about that,” said a secretary bird, and he called on the owl one night when it was again very dark. “How many claws am I holding up?” said the secretary bird, “Two,” said the owl, and that was right. “Can you give me another expression for ‘that is to say’ or ‘namely’?” asked the secretary bird. “To wit,” said the owl. “Why does a lover call on his love?” asked the secretary bird. “To woo,” said the owl.

The secretary bird hastened back to the other creatures and reported that the owl was indeed the greatest and wisest animal in the world because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any question. “Can he see in the daytime, too?” asked a red fox. “Yes,” echoed a dormouse and a French poodle. “Can he see in the daytime, too?” All the other creatures laughed loudly at this silly question, and they set upon the red fox and his friends and drove them out of the region. Then they sent a messenger to the owl and asked him to be their leader.

When the owl appeared among the animals it was high noon and the sun was shining brightly. He walked very slowly, which gave him an appearance of great dignity, and he peered about him with large, staring eyes, which gave him an air of tremendous importance. “He’s God!” screamed a Plymouth Rock hen. And the others took up the cry “He’s God!” So they followed him wherever he went and when he began to bump into things they began to bump into things, too. Finally he came to a concrete highway and he started up the middle of it and all the other creatures followed him. Presently a hawk, who was acting as outrider, observed a truck coming toward them at fifty miles an hour, and he reported to the secretary bird and the secretary bird reported to the owl. “There’s danger ahead,” said the secretary bird. “To wit?” said the owl. The secretary bird told him. “Aren’t you afraid?” he asked. “Who?” said the owl calmly, for he could not see the truck. “He’s God!” cried all the creatures again, and they were still crying “He’s God!” when the truck hit them and ran them down. Some of the animals were merely injured, but most of them, including the owl, were killed.

Moral: You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

From Fables for Our Time by James Thurber.

Seemed appropriate for today.

1.19.2025 – boy, hate to say it

boy, hate to say it
especially hard when its true
still same old lions

Was it fun to be a Detroit Lions this year?

Weren’t the Lions the best team, won more games, played harder, flew higher than any other Lions team?

Yes yes yes and yes.

But.

Can I still say, same old Lions?

Sadly yes.

Up by 17 last year and … lose.

The best team in the NFC and get a week off and … lose.

Hard to win with 5 turnovers.

Hard to win with 12 men on the field on 4th down.

And why?

There might just be a clue in the analysis of Tom Brady and his role as color commentor during the game.

In the article, How Tom Brady handled his ownership-analyst conflict on TV: Key takeaways By Dan Shanoff (Jan 19, 2025), Mr. Shanoff writes:

… Brady was unafraid to call out the Lions’ defensive struggles. Notably, on a crucial penalty when Detroit had 12 men on the field, Brady was imploring: “Time out! Time out!” Then, “Nope … nope.” Then, a lament: “Oh NO.”

What he said right after that was amazing: “I had a coach for 20 years, Bill Belichick, that said you can’t win till you can keep from losing. And plays like that … playoff football? That’s why you win and lose games in big moments.”

Brady spat out the word “losing.” He was audibly and viscerally disgusted. And it was a great moment.

I admit I had a bad feeling about this game going in.

I felt the Lions had pulled so many rabbits out of hats defensively with all the injuries that they were out of hats and rabbits.

But the inability to call time out with 12 men on the field on a 4th down play just brought the same old Lions out of my mouth.

As Mr. Brady was quoted quoting Bill Belichick: you can’t win till you can keep from losing.

Keep from losing.

Can’t win till you can keep from losing.

Seems simple.

And the Lions, after a great season, keep losing.

To be sure, love them until I die.

But it seems, until I die, the same old Lions.

1.18.2025 – the second-worst

the second-worst
delivered second term to
the worst president

Based on the last paragraph of the article, Joe Biden had one job. And he failed, by Mehdi Hasan in the Guardian.

Mr. Hasan writes: Joe Biden had one job. But because of his arrogance and intransigence, his caution and complacency, he failed.

Today, I consider Joe Biden to be not the most impressive but perhaps the second-worst president of my lifetime because he helped deliver a second term to the worst president of my lifetime.

Not so sure that History won’t disagree.

Not so sure that I don’t want history to disagree especially that this incoming feller is the worst President of anyone’s lifetime.

1.17.2025 – God’s toes are buried

God’s toes are buried
deep in the earth He’s ready
to run but … but where?

The cost of flight is landing.
On this warm winter day in the southwest,
down here on the edge of the border I want
to go to France where we all came from
where the Occident was born near the ancient
caves near Lascaux. At home I’m only
sitting on the lip of this black hole, a well
that descends to the center of the earth.
With a big telescope aimed straight down
I see a red dot of fire and hear the beast howling.
My back is suppurating with disease,
the heart lurches left and right,
the brain sings its ditties.
Everywhere blank white movies wait to be seen.
The skylark dove within inches of the rocks
before it stopped and rose again.
God’s toes are buried deep in the earth.
He’s ready to run. But where?

The Present by Jim Harrison