By Mistake?

Like...the wedding was a mistake?  Or the dress was a mistake?  Or the day was a mistake? Or???

"Grub the Fuck Down"!

Dogs Are Cool

Boomer Humor

I kinda doubt the sentiment on the guy's shirt.  But not on the woman's shirt...

WTF

Every once in a while I come across a very weird photo on the net.  This is one.  And check out the skates.  Weird!

Clever

Creepy

Don't think these would be a big draw at the local donut shop!

Friday Funnies

Sh**holes

Frankly...I'm exhausted.  Our national dialog has become so polarized, so prejudicial, so intense that I'm exhausted.  If you've been reading at all you know I'm not a huge Trump fan.  But I'm aligned with his thinking much more than the other side.  I think he's been given a raw deal by the #resistance crowd.  They are so opposed to virtually everything that he does, that anything that is accomplished is only one sided.  But every time he takes a step forward, he takes two steps back.  He literally shoots himself in the foot at every turn.  But I really don't think he cares.  He's going to do what he does.  His comment today in the oval office should have never seen the light of day.  Plenty of Presidents have used salty language but have never had to worry about being outed by enemies.  But a few Dems are in the meeting and the next thing you know the world knows about his offensive remark about immigrants from "shithole" countries.  There are three things about the comment.  First, it's the kind of comment that in any previous administration would never have been reported.  Second, it's not Presidential.  He is the President of all of us.  This only alienates people.  Third, there is some truth to the sentiment.  A lot of these countries are shitholes in a way.  They have unbelievably corrupt leaders and governments that are exploiting and even killing their own people.  There's probably a better way to describe them, but at the end of the day...they are shitholes.  But here's a caveat to number three.  It's okay for me to use that kind of language in some anonymous little blog that very few people read.  Or maybe in a bar talking to your buds.  If you're reading, you either get it and agree or don't.  But it's not okay for the President of the United States to use that language in any setting in which there is ANY danger that he will be quoted by his enemies.  It is maddening though when on one day he puts on a great performance on live TV to lead a bipartisan meeting on immigration and largely debunks that stupid book recently written about his White House and then just a few days later this erupts.  Like I said, it's exhausting.  So I'm going to take it one step at a time, but I've got to refocus.  I've got to care less and pay attention less to all this craziness.  My first step was that today I got rid of Twitter on all my devices.  The vitriol on that platform was driving me crazy.  So, for the time being at least, no Twitter for me.  Not sure if Facebook is next but I'm considering it.  The thing about FB though is that I've largely gotten rid of the knuckleheads and only see things from friendly faces that are largely apolitical.  So for now it's all good.  I've turned off the cable news as much as possible.  The repetition is driving me crazy.  The talking heads, the overtly biased opinions, the back and forth...all of it is just so, so tiresome.  So a lot of that is going by the wayside.  As for this blog, I'm not sure.  For now I'll keep commenting.  I'm hoping that since I will be a little removed from the day to day craziness, that I can lighten up a bit.  Because I'm getting too strident, too pissed off, too sure of myself.  So standby for more Dogs Are Cool and Cool Pics.  And maybe a few other fun things.  But my level of "give a shit" about all this day to day political craziness has reached overload.

Update:  Jonah Goldberg's weekly newletter addresses this issue very well this week.  You can read it here.  I resonate very strongly with his thoughts!

Millenials

Got this from a friend.  Classic!

http://bit.ly/2epGV7D

Motivation Monday

Who's Really Crazy?

For anyone who thought that 2018 would bring a return to calm and stability on the political front, you've got to be severely disappointed.  In the first week we've seen the publication of a wildly salacious book by a sleazy gossip columnist who has disparaged the President, his allies, friends and family beyond anything imaginable.  I wrote a short blog post about this a few days ago to provide just a bit of context and my thoughts on this whole sordid mess.  You can read it here.  You don't have to go to far to see what this guy's real motivation is.  Check his comments at this article.  Now I get that this is a right-wing site, but a quote is a quote.  His motivations are definitely to damage Trump by whatever means he can.Bottom line quote is:

"boasted to host Nick Robinson that “the story” that he told, “will finally end...this presidency” once and for all."

As the days go by and the predictable hysteria erupts, it seems to me to be getting stranger and stranger.  Now we hear that a group of Democratic Congressmen asked for and were briefed by a prominent psychiatrist, Dr Bandy Lee, from Yale about Trump's mental state.  She is a very well respected psychiatrist with great credentials, but her diagnosis based on news reports and distant observations is pretty unprofessional.  Here's a summation of her analysis:

I'm glad that whatever group she heads has declined to force an evaluation as she fears it would look like a coup.  Ya think?  There are millions and millions of people who would see this as a direct challenge to the rule of law and the legitimate results of an election.  And I fear the reaction by some of the more strident Trump supporters.  But I have to say that I'd certainly do what I could to oppose such idiocy.

Of course, the media is reacting predictably.  The liberal site, VOX has run a piece about this effort that seems to agree and promote the idea.  You can read it here.    And the Washington Examiner has predictably called this effort out as not only nuts but very unprofessional.  You can read their thoughts here.  So as usual, where you stand depends on where you sit.  

Instead of focusing on some imaginary mental instability of President Trump, you'd think that the Democrats would be working hard to unseat the Republican majority at the elections in November.  You'd think they'd be trying to expand their tent and bringing in funding to support their ideology across the country.  You'd be wrong.  I saw this photo of Congressman Keith Ellison posing with a book promoting Antifa, the supposed anti-fascists that are really just a bunch of cowardly thugs who have been designated a domestic terror organization.  Ellison is the number two guy at the Democratic National Committee.  Put Ellison together with Tom Perez, their leader, and you have a couple of guys who are amazingly divisive, narrowly focused, and possess an unshakable hard left philosophy.  This doesn't seem to me to be the way to expand the party and bring more people in.  I've also seen a few articles comparing the amount of funding the DNC and the RNC have in the bank.  The disparity is pretty shocking.  Check out this article at CNNPolitics.com.  The stats are pretty damning.  For instance the article states that, "National Republicans have more than $40 million more in the bank than the Democratic National Committee, ballooning from only a $10 million advantage immediately after the presidential election. Democrats now have just $5 million in the bank with $3 million in loans".  And take a look at the charts in the article.  I'd say the Dems are in deep shit unless they can move more toward the mainstream.  I made a prediction in a blog post a few weeks ago that the 2018 mid-term elections weren't going to be as bad for the Republicans as most think.  I'm starting to become more confident in that prediction.

But all of this nonsense shows that we have let the zealots take over our political dialog.  We've got to figure out a way to get back to civility, back to reasonable disagreements, back to working together where there are ways to do that.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting all the blame on the Dems.  There's plenty of blame to go around.  Trump can be an abrasive blowhard, but it doesn't mean that he's mentally unstable.  And there are Dems who smugly declare that they are the only ones who can govern fairly, but that doesn't mean that there aren't many who couldn't see the wisdom of working together for common goals if they weren't blinded by hatred.  Maybe it can't turn around.  But if it doesn't we're headed toward even more gridlock and even more vitriol.  I guess there are some that think that's okay.  I don't.

Sleazy

By now everyone who pays attention to politics and what's happening on that stage has heard about the new sensational book by Michael Wolff called "Fire and Fury, Inside the Trump White House".  I'm not even sure why I'm writing a post on this subject because it is being addressed ad nauseum by tons of people.  But it's such a hit job, so arrogantly superior, and so obviously false that I've just got to say something.

First, I've not read the book nor will I.  I've read a pretty long excerpt and a few articles that purport to quote Wolff and provide a good overview.  To me it just has no credibility.  Almost every example and vignette he describes contains disdain for Trump that is over the top.  He state that 100% of the people in the White House think Trump is unqualified for the job.  100%.  Come on.  He state that Trump is incompetent.  A guy who has made billions and build an empire all over the world.  Incompetent.  Come on.  He states over and over radical examples of Trump derangement syndrome. So in the end I just wind up thinking this guy is full of shit.

Second, He is also incredibly mean in handling the President's family.  The descriptions of his relationships with his children and his wife are just downright mean.  No other description for it.  I guess the crazy leftists will love this and it will be raw meat for a certain segment of the population, but I don't like it at all.  And I don't see how he got the info without wild conjecture.  Once again, I just think he's full of shit.

Third, the area I do fault the administration is in even giving this asshole access.  Should have never happened.  I can cut them some slack because the first days of the administration were pretty chaotic. But someone should have suspected that this guy was up to no good and kicked him out.

So the book will sell millions of copies.  He and his publisher will become rich.  But at the end of the day my view is it's a thinly disguised partisan hit job that lacks any credibility.

Friday Funnies

I'll probably get in trouble for this but...it's a guy thing!

California

Every year at this time man of us in California can only sit and shake our heads at the crazy laws being enacted.  This year, among other things, we are now designated a Sanctuary State.  Nice, huh?  It' pretty embarrassing but doesn't really impact the average citizen very much.  But some enterprising person decided to erect his own sign to advertise our craziness.  You've got to admit...it's pretty funny.

Dog Toy Destruction

When you have a one-year-old Lab and she gets a new toy for Christmas, don't expect that it's going to last very long unless it's one of those all tough plastic things.  If it's got material and squeaks...20 minutes.

Well...it works!

But it's also a good way to wind up in the hospital.  This looks like a great candidate for the Darwin Award!

Dogs are Cool!

Climate Change

As the whole country freezes, the talk naturally turns to global warming, errrr...climate change.  Not sure if AlGore would appreciate this designation...but he deserves it.

Hillary

Even though it's a new year...I just can't resist!