Things you may not know in 2025…

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Viet Nam was negotiating tariffs with Trump. One of their offers included a “fast-tracking” of a $1.5 billion Trump hotel in Viet Nam. Update: story disappeared so…Update Update: Trump was recently overheard advising an Asian head of state to “Call Eric.”

A bitcoin mogul was fined $4.5 billion, spent 4 months in jail for money laundering and “illegal activities’, agreed to not operate in the US, and accepted regular operational monitoring from US agencies. He is now offering his companies’ “global distribution services” to Trump Enterprises. All the mogul wants in return is to have US regulators stop monitoring his company, and a pardon.

An expensive new missile defense system is being advocated by Hegseth and the Defense Department. Elon Musk’s Starlink is the preferred vendor.

Trump has paved over the Rose Garden, is building a ballroom attached to the White House, and is now floating a design called the “Arc D’Trump.”

America is helping “bailout” Argentina’s government by trying to give them $40 Billion dollars. Don’t cry for me, Argentina. *

Charlie Kirk and Rudy Guiliani will soon join Rush Limbaugh as recent American Presidential Medal of Freedom Winners. Wonder which Rudy will show for the ceremony.

Trump is deploying troops to states and cities to fight crime. None of the states are in the top 5 crime states. Only one of the cities is in the top 5 crime rates.

The FBI is changing how crime rates will be collected and administered.

I am not getting any younger.

Neither is Trump.

Nearly every state in America is now redistricting or planning on redistricting. American politicians and leaders of both parties will now spend more time on claiming and retaining power than governing. Thank you, Citizens United and other “election reformers”.

Why do we call it “change” when it happens all the time? When has ANYTHING ever stayed the same? Oh, yeah, corruption and greed.

Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope events prove him right and he gets it. What will he do, though, when the middle east returns to its “normal” dynamic of hating and fighting each other, and the United States?

Do not go boating with a power boat in the Caribbean, at least off the coast of Venezuela. There’s little doubt about the boats our military is blowing up, but there is doubt. Do we let our police operate the same way?

And in our modern world of fakes and disinformation, how much of this is…something? Hint: I am getting older.

*google it.

Trifles

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After the post about Tariffs, the Trump Administration added “Port Fees” and plain, old taxes to an escalating trade war with China and other countries. China used Port Fees first  (I think) so our fees are retaliatory. According to Ai, the owners of the “shipping vessels” docking in the ports pay the Port Fees. There is no consensus on the new fees’ effects except to say nothing is going to get cheaper in the near future, if ever.

Donald Trump needs and–in the case of the Middle East—deserves praise. I won’t even add the phrase “if it all works out”. Well, I did, but in a good way because it will work out. We will have a new paradigm in the Middle East in the next few years, thanks to DJT. He may even get that Nobel Prize when he is eligible next year*. But he reminds me of my father. Dad was a gregarious, drink-buying, do anything for you, “loved by the public” person who was an entirely different person at home, behind four walls. No more about dad, but DJT is fostering peace out in the world while acting differently at home. Why?

A phrase heard a lot lately, in community discussions: “Some people always ruin it for the rest of us.” It was repeated in discussions about free performances and open spaces. The remarks were from civil authorities and disgruntled citizens who know the process where a community tries to make life better for all, and an “ungracious” few take advantage and scuttle the opportunity. Think bad graffiti on a newly painted park mural, or unruly attendees at an open-air movie event in the park. We all know it happens. Why? It appears there is a certain part of the population dead set on being selfish, ignorant, greedy, insensitive, stupid, thoughtless, self-destructive…ungracious. This segment of the population has always been part of life probably in the world, but more obviously in a free country like the United States of America where self-indulgent, self-centered, shameless, ungracious people are free to show just how ungracious they can be. It is important to remember this fact when we think about Government, and all it entails. For example, law enforcement where a few “bad apples” can ruin a police department’s reputation and harm its efficiency. Citizens stop supporting the department and all respect for law and order is lost. This type of selfish behavior is sometimes illegal, but more often just unpleasant, unproductive, and…ungracious. What do we do, just live with it? Factor it into our daily lives? Given our current social climate, citizens now have to be aware an ungracious person may also be exercising his or hers or their Second Amendment Right. Most non-ungracious(sic) citizens can then see the sense in sporting their own defense…and so it goes.

This is not an attack on that Second Amendment, but a grim statement of “Some people ruin it for the rest of us.”

Constitutional “Originalists” have a unique problem in their views on The American Constitution. The writers of the Constitution purposefully included Article V to allow for change, or Amendment. Google the first sentence for Article V and enjoy. It should be added that Originalists can rely on the words of Article V to offer support for their own interpretation, but the design and inclusion of the Article theoretically opposes an inability to be flexible in Constitutional Judgments. IMO. Plus, modern American Common Sense would admit what was written as a design for the new government in the musket-heavy days after the American Revolution might not be the best advice to follow in AR-15 America.  I own a gun so don’t think the worst of these last two paragraphs. Just think.

*Cut off time for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize nominations was January 31, 2025. Trump will be eligible in 2026 to win for his work in 2025.

Tariffs? We Don’t Need No Stinking Tariffs Do We?

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 The Trump Administration recently announced they have collected hundreds of billions of dollars in “tariff fees”. The specific number is close to $300 billion and climbing. Wow. Look at all that revenue. For America. We’ll pay down the $38 trillion National Debt in approximately 120 years. Yay. Imagine a lazy, waving, small American Flag. But wait, maybe the Trump Administration will send $2000 checks to every American. Yay? Why would he do that? And why hasn’t he?

Tariffs—and their effects—are hard to understand. Most people tell me tariffs are a “tax” on foreign countries and assume foreign countries are paying that tax. It is closer to the truth, however, to say no “countries” ever pay any Tariff Tax. For example, the United States of America, doesn’t pay other countries for their “unfair” tariffs, even as other countries are “ripping us off”, per Mr. Trump.

Wait. China is not paying massive tariffs for all the goods they import? No. They are not. How about Mexico and Canada? No. They are not. And America is not paying tariffs to other countries?* No. So what is going on? Who IS paying?

Again, it’s complicated but here is a simple example: A pair of Chinese sneakers retails at Walmart in the US for $10 in 2024 with the cost being $5 per pair under the 2024 Tariff Plan. China is then “punished” with a new Tariff Plan of 50% the fall of 2025. That Chinese sneaker pair will be charged an additional 50% tariff when it lands on American soil, making the cost of the sneakers in 2025 $7.50. Think a retailer like Walmart will sell the sneaker in 2025 at the same price as the 2024 sneaker? The tariff is really a “tax” meant to make the Chinese sneaker as expensive as an American made sneaker. Does it work? It will if some American Sneaker Manufacturer can sell his sneakers for under $15. The purpose is to support American Manufacturing and give them an economic reason to make sneakers by raising the Chinese Imports price. If you watch any sports events you probably think there are no sneaker-makers in the US, but there are. Why aren’t they being used by professional and amateur sports teams, now? See, complicated.

But the best or worst part of the whole process is who is actually paying, shelling out the dough, for the tariff “tax”? In our example, it ain’t China and it ain’t the US. In this example, it is Walmart. And probably you when you buy the sneaker at the new 2025 price. What will that price be?

Let’s circle back to the billions in tariff revenue touted by Trump. Where did the actual money come from? China? No, it is American money from American retailers, wholesalers, and importers. It’s a neat way to “tax” without calling it a tax. (Can you say One Big Beautiful Bill Tax Cuts?) And….drum roll…Walmart’s initial payments go to the Treasury and Trump can (almost) do whatever he wants with the dollars, without congressional approval. More ICE Agents? A Ballroom? Tax rebates to Americans? What great ideas.

But nothing has happened, yet, not even hyper-inflation. Why?  Read below from The Peterson Institute for International Economics, by Gary Clyde Hufbauer (PIIE) and Ye Zhang(China)September 16, 2025:  “If the Supreme Court affirms the lower courts’ decisions, the federal government could have to refund much of the tariff revenue collected this year. But if the Supreme Court reverses the lower courts and affirms IEEPA tariffs, US firms may start passing the added costs to households. While the tariffs have so far had a modest effect on inflation, eventually consumers could see higher prices.”

The Supreme Court will decide in November 2025 if the Tariffs are even legal. We might have to refund all money to the payers. So Walmart is waiting to see if it gets its money back. Even badder(sic),  imagine if Trump sent out “rebate” checks to Americans he then had to ask them to return. Walmart pricing may rise drastically after the November Supreme Court ruling. Or we all get $2000 checks for Christmas. In the meantime, uncertainty and chaos, the operational mode of our current government.

I am not an economist or politician and researched this post at my own expense (Yes, humor.) If anyone knows the Tariff situation is any different than described in this post, please comment and correct. All I really know for sure is most people think foreign governments are making tariff payments to us, America. Wonder why they think that?

*Subsidies, and other financial “arrangements” (Kickbacks?) can complicate the situation even further, and make it impossible to follow the money.

Yes, Everybody Has An Opinion…Why? Is It A Law?

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It is a struggle to get through the day without hearing not just opinions, but so many people defending having an opinion. Is there a course taught in how to form an opinion? How to plant the seed, nurture, it, and watch it grow to its rightful form? No, there isn’t. People acquire opinions like appetizers and a lot of opinions are dying on the vines due to lack of enriching truth. Most opinions are worthless, is my opinion. Follow these samples of real (paraphrased) conversations and  substitute “liberal” for conservative” and “Democrat” for Republican” in almost all these encounters. Worthless opinions are equal opportunity and DEI friendly. IMO.

“Legacy Media doesn’t tell the truth.” Question: “When was the last time you watched Lagacy Media?” The answer: “I don’t.”  See the reverse for Fox?

“There were no wars in Trump’s first term. He ended them all.”  Question: “Which ones?” Answer: “I don’t know.” You may not realize it but this question works for the Obama and Biden Years. Remember, Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Bonus question: Why?

“The Covid virus came from a Chinese lab and Fauci is to blame.” Question: Why? Answer: “Fauci’s NIH paid for the research.” This one is tricky and you need to do your own digging, but in a nutshell: The US and China (and others) have collaborated on virus research for many years and the NIH sent a grant to a Non-Profit US research group to participate/monitor work in the Wuhan, China lab. Trump cut that funding in April 2020, as well as The PREDICT Program funding in September 2019. Google the purpose of PREDICT and draw your own conclusions, and opinions.

“Democrats only want immigrants to win elections” and “ICE is only arresting and deporting the worst of the worst.” Why would anyone believe either? The immigration problem is over 100 years old and been lied about by both parties for all those years. So when you search for an opinion about immigration, don’t select either of these. Think of it a complex issue needing much research.

“The Russian Issue in 2016 to 2020 was a hoax” and it’s partner: “Russia helped elect Trump.” Both these get the Jeopardy buzzer. 2016 was NOT the first time Russia attempted to influence American Elections. The cumulative effect of their interference, and if it helped Trump, will never be truly known, but it was real. America does the same thing, when we can. For years. So it was a trusty but ineffective device for impeachment in 2016-2020, but it was not a hoax. And will never be a hoax. Russia, China, North Korea, Hungary would love to see Americans question and abandon our free elections. It would be a victory for those countries. It’s not an opinion, but a question: Why are we helping them with that effort? Opinion: Donald Trump started the Period of National Doubt (PND) with his 2015-2026 claims the election would be rigged. He did it as a smart politician who knew he was going to lose the election and needed a good reason to save his political prospects. Smart move, but selfish. He did lose the popular vote so he carried PND over to 2020 and 2024. A decided win for him was not enough to disprove a lie he’d told for years, so…

The last opinions about opinions took too long. Election denying is a strange sport we should all be leery of. Some election deniers have since been elected by the very systems they said were rigged. None of them refused to accept the win. In my opinion, that says it all about election deniers.

The befuddled and buried point is don’t accept other’s words when you form your opinions. It is OK not to have one until you’re ready. Really. One of the favorite questions we should ask our opinion disseminaters/influencers is “Why?’ and “What’s in it for you?”

And then take the time to listen.

This may seem to be a political posting, but it is more about common sense. Think about it. Please.

Why I am So Cranky…Maybe

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In 2023 The Calamities forced me to contemplate moving from beautiful North Carolina and The UNC Medical Hospital System, to rural, upstate New York. The move was to make it easier for my NY family to deal with possible death or aid in a hoped-for recovery. A factor in the move was a YMCA with a pool for rehabilitation when all went well. The Upstate City I moved to was going to build a new one (opening in 2025) less than 200 hundred yards from the apartment complex chosen for my residence. Serendipity, right? Nope. Project was ended two weeks after I arrived due to lack of funding so I drive 3 miles to the old YMCA. Very old YMCA. But at least it’s there: glass half-full.

My morning swim starts at 5:30 at the YMCA. Some people work out on machines and some swim. During those painful, disabled, pre-surgery days, one of my co-conspirators was a young man who is frequently there the same time as me. We arrive, strip naked (for all you female readers), and get into our relevant workout attire.  He then goes into the shower room and turns on the water in the ADA* shower. (Unmarked ADA shower, another story. Grrr.) Then, he goes to work out.

He does this every morning I see him.

Is he turning the shower on for himself, me, or someone else? I assume he does it all the time unless he is very considerate and is helping me.  I go into the pool area and swim for 45 minutes. When I come out to shower, the hot water is still running in the still unmarked and empty ADA shower stall. Grrr, again.

After showering I shut off the water to dry and dress. The stage is set, so here is the scene one morning when the young man re-enters the locker room after his workout:

Young man (YM): “How’s the water?”

Me: “Which one?” (Pool or shower? But I know..)

YM: “The shower. Nice and warm?”

Me: “So you turn it on and leave it on.”

YM: “Yeah.”

Me: “You know how much water that wastes?”  (The YMCA has no catchment system.)

YM: “Not much, it’s only on about 10 minutes.”

Me: Nothing. I am not ready for a fight, need to at least get pants on. Or offer him my watch.

YM: “Besides, they don’t care about money. What do they do with it all?” He is gesturing around the dirty, worn out locker room.

Me: Again, nothing. Grrr.

YM: “This place is just as corrupt as the city.”

Me. “Yep, everything is corrupt. YMCA. City. Biden. Might as well kill ourselves.” (Imagine an extremely pissy tone, to match his MRPGM** vibe.)

YM: “I don’t really care. As long as I have enough to enjoy myself and my two trucks.”

He said the last line as if dropping the mic and repeated it as he passed me on his way out. “My two trucks.”

And…scene, and yes, he did not even use the shower.

It’s easy to think he was smart enough to be making a point. But the scene revealed an attitude prevalent in America, a variation of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) labeled GMGA for Got Mine Go Away. It is the mantra of the MAGA movement.

And it’s okay. GMGA has been around since caveman days.

But that is the point: we are no longer cavemen…and cavewomen. Back then it was about survival, LIFE survival. Now, it’s about STATUS survival. In caveman days you had to eliminate threats to your actual life. Now, MAGA wants to eliminate threats to their lifestyle. Trans, Gays, Illegals, Non-Whites, and specifically those not in sync with the MAGA groupthink…not welcome.

All this because of an encounter at a YMCA?

Yeah, Sounds bad. Petty. I may be wrong about the young man and wonder if I was the same way at his age, with cars and motorcycles. Was I MAGAn 50 years before MAGA?

But even if I was, it makes the point clearer: we should grow out of it. NIMBY and GMGA, both.

As my personal guru, the estimable Steven Wright says: “Experience is something you don’t get until right after you need it.”

*Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law July 26, 1990 by Republican George H.W. Bush, a war hero and all around good, conservative man.

**Modern Republican Party Grievance Machine. See old posts.

Things Learned In Old Age, Accidentally

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The faster drivers in my area are females. Since I committed to a 1.4 Litre engine to prevent NASCARRING (sic)*, most of the cars passing my new, used car as we putter along 10 miles over the speed limit are being driven by females. Is it sexist to think they were always careful, law-abiding drivers? Or did I only know careful, law-abiding females in my youth? Back then, this phrase was a constant mantra when driving with a female passenger: “Why are you in such a hurry?” Hm. Maybe my ascension to the heights of safe driving simply made me more aware. Or maybe there is less tint on windows these days, and the driver can actually be seen and not assumed. Don’t know and it suddenly became unimportant. I’m a safe driver, now, and anyone of any sex, color, religion, altered state of existence, or sexual preference can pass me without comment or digital salute.

At the first stop light on the four-lane out of Turning Stone resort this morning, there was a Dodge Charger with a rumbling motor in the front right lane and a quiet, but deadly looking Tesla in the front left. The light changed and both took off. I caught them at the next red light, the Dodge still rumbling and the Tesla still had nothing to add. The light changed and off they went, again. Since there wasn’t another light—or a random speed trap—for the next 20 miles, they were soon out of sight and forgotten. My small-block 1.4 liter never saw them again. Are you wondering who won? Also, no idea who or what was driving either. Damn tint. Think either might have been driver-less? Ai is a street racer? Or maybe two girls/women? All that is certain is neither was over 70 years old. There is an inverse relationship between the ability to properly handle horsepower and age, as noted in the first paragraph.

It’s the perfect season for Sports Nuts (SNs). If you are an SN you know what the problem is, and if you aren’t an SN you aren’t going to care but it’s tough to get a good night’s sleep. At an advanced age, proper rest and strategic breaks are important just to get through the daily 12-14 hours of watching sports without doing permanent damage to retinas, corneas, sclera, and pupils, as well as gray matter. The accidental calisthenics are okay unless there is a lot to cheer about in a short time. Again, a break is needed. Add to the mix sodium-laden snacks and the perfect reclining chair, and you may never hear from me again. Note: This is my last year rooting for the Yankees. The Mets have no expectations. Please, Yankees, just win one championship in my Medicare Years? **

My fitness center group is, uh, dwindling. One is out with a broken hip, another is out for spousal reasons, others are absent and I was nearly alone during this morning’s workout. It is similar to every time I made a new best friend in the past who then either moved away or died. It’s taken years to “therapy out” it’s not my fault, but if it walks like a duck.

*NASCARRING is when a young or foolish man gets behind the wheel of his car, is in no particular hurry, but still accepts the challenge of getting to the front of traffic. Yes, it gets confusing on major interstates with so much traffic, but that is/was the fun of it. It is also uniquely challenging in urban settings, unless there a lot of school buses.

** Upstate NY and the Buffalo Bills Football Team have a unique, doomed relationship. If you aren’t aware of Upstate NYers fervent support of this professional tease of a team, google it. The saying up here—which is tattooed on several Western New York bodies—is “Win One In My Lifetime.” Sad note, the baseball Yankees won a championship in every decade of their existence until the last one, 2010 to 2020. Approximately my years in the senior insurance program mentioned.

Things Learned While Aging

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Young people walk fast. I’ve looked all over Amazon but can’t find any rear-view glasses or personal turn signals to help stay out of their way. If you are in a hurry and someone old is holding you back from getting to your gym workout, there’s no way the person in front knows about the person in back, at least not yet*. As a young person, old people were often in my way or holding me up, making a 5-minute errand take 10 minutes. If I could go back in time…

Most people don’t have a sense of walking traffic patterns. It was more obvious when I was disabled but fellow pedestrians still walk directly at me, cut in front of me, and frequently simply stop in front of me. It’s not clear how much of that is caused by the subject of the preceding paragraph, but this might help readers: stay to the right, pass on the left, and don’t assume you’re the only person walking. The rear-view glasses might help, too, but old people’s brakes aren’t what they used to be, even when the old person can see you**, so think before you suddenly stop walking to do whatever it is you do when you suddenly stop walking. And if you’re walking right at me… why???

Change isn’t just a fact of life, it is personal. Newspapers were a great start to the day for over 50 years. Spread them out, let the open pages catch the toast crumbs, and scan the headlines for interesting news. Turn the page and start over. Spill your tea or coffee? Let the paper automatically clean up the mess. Then use the remainder for bird-cage lining, or package-protecting, or fly-swatting. And what has changed? Try to clip an article from your online “news aggregator” and place it in a scrapbook of your grandchild’s accomplishments. Or swat a fly. No one else has complained about this so it is assumed the demise of The Paper was directed at me. And so many old movies, too, where the father snaps open the morning paper for his coffee and enlightenment…why are these movies in MY streaming services?

Confirmation Bias is a real thing. Oxford Dictionary: “the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs. Confirmation Bias sets in and we downgrade any suggestion our views are inaccurate.” As a lifetime contrarian and Devil’s Advocate***, old age has revealed the depths and efforts of existing beliefs to maintain their hold over the public. As a young man the point was to prick and irritate, especially established educational and political systems. Old age has made the process more focused, and getting others to see they may be wrong and others may be right has become an adventure. Gently chiding liberals, however, isn’t really productive. They are so polite they tend to absorb the message and you never know if they get the point or not. Conservatives have developed over time to be less inclined for spirited debate but super eager to label and name-call****. In the past they used to be great debaters and often friends, back in the day when they didn’t feel victimized and shunned.  Consequently, straddling the fence has become painful on the crotch area instead of invigorating to the head area. Important question: can Confirmation Bias become part of a belief system that doesn’t really believe in anything?

Modern product packaging is being designed by younger and younger people. Babies, even. My most recent trial is cooking instructions for pre-cooked breakfast sausage. First, they include every known method of preparation for eating except for an air fryer, which is my choice for cooking anything. The instructions for all those other devices are written in Spanish as well as English, which puts so much writing on the package it needs to be small. You know what that means. And they use red lettering on a black background. Modern packaging has forced me to carry not only reading glasses, but a magnifying glass, as well. And find a bright light source.

One last small one: because our metabolism slows as we age, tracking food intake is a good idea. So when I eat three small pork sausages, the nutrition label states: “70 calories per 28 grams.” If you understand the problem, you are at least halfway to being an old person.

The rest of you will find out later. If you’re lucky.

*Inventors? Please?

**We’re usually looking down, for obvious reasons.

***Ai it.

****Demoncrat. Libtard. Libs have almost caught up in the name calling, though.

Things Hard To Understand

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A 90,000 square-foot ball room next to the White House? In these uncertain and unnerving times when the government might be closed and DOGE is slashing budgets? After already paving over the Rose Garden and turning it into a social club for rich people? A reckoning might be coming along the lines of the French Revolution or the Domus Aurea. Ask Ai. Ask about “decadence”, too, while you’re at it.

Income inequality. Period. Aren’t rich people smart enough to know there is only so much “poor” the rest of us can take?

People who don’t want government or taxes. Really, who needs roads, police departments, fire companies, sewer systems. Maybe we can get our cities and towns professional sports teams and stars to fund everything? An outfield “star” for the New York Mets makes more money per year than the entire budget for the upstate NY city I live in. The national “tax” that keeps the NFL and others paying millions to players for a game,…think about it yourself. Don’t make me say it.

Why aren’t firemen, teachers, police men, and even garbage men more respected than Aaron Judge? Or Juan Soto? Should public servants start their own trading cards? Allow betting on how soon a police department might catch a criminal? How much lead is in the water? Vegas will handicap anything, set odds, and offer SGPs galore. Googe it but ignore the first three examples.

Why people don’t know more about history. Because of a long-standing national cognitive crisis, we are doomed to taking one step forward in one generation and then falling two steps backward when the next generation has no idea what the preceding generation did. That is a generic statement that, however, holds true for almost all our current problems. This innate genetic and systemic fragmentation is why we still fight and argue over broken legal systems, immigration, elections, and health care systems, to name a few, after hundreds of years.

Why people don’t realize they are being manipulated? It’s time we all said this about ANY and ALL information suppliers: some of it’s true, some of it isn’t. Letters to the editors and online comments reveal most people think they have the only true source of facts and information, and everyone else is an idiot. This first appeared years ago with the new Fox viewers, but now every political ideology and fringe group has its own information supplier with its own baked-in bias. How long will it take the entire country to realize this and read each different bias and sort out the truth? Hm. That is impossible, so let’s at least admit our favorite sources of news might not be right all the time? And maybe then we can see the ones who purposely try to fool us and lead us by the nose.

The world is an interesting place if you look at it and see it. It’s human nature to let the grind of life wear us down and make us think bad thoughts but remember this is your only shot. Don’t blow it by burying your head in the sand. Look up, look out, and be aware. As the good Doctor Wright once said: “Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm,”

And for good measure: What did the grape say when the elephant sat on it? Nothing. It just let out a little whine. If you get the joke, you’ll be okay.

Things Seen and Heard By Older Eyes and Ears

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I heard—and saw in black and white–The Lone Ranger say this during an original Lone Ranger episode, recorded sometime between 1949 and 1957: “Any public official who abuses the public trust for personal gain is worse than any common criminal.” It was Saturday morning and I had tuned to my free over-the-air channels to get away from constant cable news about current public officials reaping Billions of dollars of benefits in the first 8 months of our new Administration. Ironically, it was the episode where The Lone Ranger and Tonto thwart a bank robbery, save the bank’s money, and return it.  Let’s make America great, again.

Interesting side bar: the Lone Ranger was filmed in color in the years 1956 and 1957 but had to be broadcast in black and white because…wait…very few viewers had a color television. The OG days?

All of the early western heroes had a “Moral Code”. Jim Hardy, the handsome, quick-drawing Wells Fargo Special Agent of “Tales of Wells Fargo” was constantly offered a split of the money he recovered from robbers. He never took a cent. He also had to investigate gun smuggling on the Texas-Mexican border. In 1897. Hope he is still getting royalties from his acting.

It’s becoming clear the differences in our modern political parties. You may not know it but Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. The Democratic Party at the time was split by pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

History needs more attention. Think no one trusts government, now? Look into the history of the 18th Amendment, the one banning sales of alcohol. No level of governmental trust could ever be lower than what happened after the 18th was passed. Nearly everyone looked for ways to obtain booze, usually by breaking the laws related to the Amendment. The subsequent years of illegal adventures are credited with elevating Organized Crime to new national and international pandemics. Payoffs, bribery, corruption…we really needed a DOGE back then.

Stop wasting valuable time on social wars, first amendment issues, and trying to debate each other, these days. We should be watching the billions of dollars(cryptos and greenbacks) of activity surrounding our new administration, his family, Tech CEOs, and wannabe richies. It’s become obvious our political system is now the Democrats, and the Richies. Current Republicans are not just okay with The Richies but want to be just like them. The Democrats might be envious, but they are the only hope for the moment, of stemming the high tide of money flowing to the top of our society, and world. Soon, laws, facts, elections none of them will matter. Just money.

In watching the history of the United States and remembering my own exposure to it the turbulent 60’s ands 70’s, one can become complacent with how resilient American Democracy is, and think everything will work out. It still might but the mess the 18th amendment caused led to The Great Depression, and we may have not ever recovered from that if it hadn’t been for World War II. The German and Japanese Empires united Americans, and we all worked together…for about 10 years. Make America Great Again?

We may need an Alien Invasion to fix things.*

Full disclosure: I have A Wells Fargo Credit Card.

*Thanks to “Independence Day”, The Movie, showing us in 1996 the our 2026 future.

An Undeniably Senior Observation

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It isn’t fair, but as we age things get difficult. We know this intrinsically, but I have proof: A Google Watch connected to a Fitbit App on my Samsung Smartphone. Out of curiosity, I stopped the google watch one time after monitoring my calories lifting weights, running, or swimming. Then I restarted it for showering, drying, dressing, and walking to the car. The result? More calories were burned after workouts while getting dressed than when lifting thousands* of pounds or swimming scores* of laps. Odd. But when you consider the “Activities of Daily Living” (ADLs) and “The Instrumental Activities of Daily Living”(IADLs)** the reason getting dressed burns more aclories than the workout becomes obvious: difficult things like lifting weights are still difficult, but easy things—like putting on pants—have become very, very difficult. I’m working out hard, now, to get in good enough shape to put on my pants!

The first thought was The Calamities were responsible. Arthritis, for example, made putting on socks an adventure in stretching, tugging, and twisting leaving me breathless after just one foot, and needing a short break before attacking the other. (No, the “assistive devices” on the internet were not helpful, except for the addictive “Reacher”, as chronicled earlier.) And the drive home is usually with socks twisted and bunched inside my slip-on shoes because there was no longer a desire to see just how fast my heart could beat. Google “orthostatic imbalance”.

Pants. Let’s talk about pants and their*** sadistic cousin, the swimsuit. The Calamities made dressing standing up next to impossible. Think about it, healthy people: putting one leg at a time into pants or a swimsuit while upright. Even putting either on while sitting is an exercise in hope, combined with several side-shifts, strategic tugs, and covering the sitting surface with a towel that has a life of its own. Getting pants off is a breeze until you have to pick them up off the floor. Same with a wet swimsuit, and you always hope the floor is clean. Aren’t they all in fitness centers? To summarize: off go the pants, on goes the swimsuit. Stop for breath, Go swim. Return from workout and off goes the swimsuit and on go the pants. And unless it’s summer, The Socks, too. (Capitalized for effect.)

It doesn’t help to have odd-shaped feet and fast-growing toenails. My feet (and hands) are tapered and are beautiful in their form, slanting down to each side from a higher, central middle digit. Very pleasing to look at, but when trying to slip such a foot into a pant leg or the genital sling of a swimsuit, that taper guides fabric right to the small toe, where no amount of trimming can keep a nail from growing just enough to catch that fabric and require a formally athletic and aerobically fit male to have to bend and tug and hope the fabric will release in time to prevent a stroke. Again: orthostatic imbalance.

Wow. Look at this post. Whine, much? I’m not sure how so much time and typing got wasted on dressing but for some reason I feel better about life, as if letting the world know how hard it is to get pants on makes my life so much easier. Cathartic posting?

The need to whine is over. The Calamities have been pretty much tamed and their return or advancement is not anticipated. Most of the arthritis was surgically removed and replaced with titanium and something akin to Teflon. So…when will life return to normal, with easy on and easy off attire?

Is there any reader out there over 70 years old who knows the answer? There’s no surgery that can help old age. No drugs to stop it in its tracks.

It appears the last 3 years have been a blessing in disguise, then, as my settling into old age “normalcy” is way better than dealing with those dastardly afflictions. I’m ready for anything life can do, now.

Yes, my glass is half-full. What about yours?

And since this venting felt so good, get ready for the next post where you will learn about the effects Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) can have on your digestive system. IGRT is an Ai guided procedure performed by a linear particle accelerator and you will read a harrowing tale of focused sub-atomic star-wars beams, loose stool, tattoos, unexpected gas, and…cliffhanger!

*Really? Thousands and scores? The mind…

** If you’re wondering about getting older, or are old already old and wondering what’s happening to you, google these two, ADL and IADL

*** Apology for the needless anthropomorphism. It’s a fun word and concept.