Two Schmuck Sunday

Today was National Go Topless Day.

I thought about this as my wife, my younger son, and I were eating lunch at the Long John Silver in Danville. I looked around the room at all of the other customers and employees before offering thanks to God that no one was celebrating National Topless Day. Before you men get too cocky out there, almost all of us look better with a shirt on also. With that out of my system, on to the main events.

The world is awed by the stupidity of Colin Kaepernick, the backup quarterback for the San Francisco. He refuses to stand for the national anthem claiming that was protesting blacks and other people of color being oppressed. He also mentioned "bodies in the street"..

Mr. Kaepernick makes $19 million dollars a year to play a game. Right now he is playing that game poorly. Against Green Bay, after coming off the bench where he sat during the national anthem, he completed 4 out of 6 passes for a whopping 14 yards. San Francisco should have just left him on the bench.

Mr. Kaepernick is bi-racial. His black father deserted Colin's young white mother and the baby. The mother allowed a white couple to adopt the baby and raise him. This is oppression??

San Francisco should trade Kaepernick to the Chicago Bears where he can witness "dead bodies in the street". Every month 30 to 50 young black men are killed by other young black men in Chicago. This is oppression by blacks against their own people. Explain that to us, Mr. Kaepernick.

Chuck Todd on Meet the Press is the most biased human on the planet. I have met guys in the KKK who are more open to other points of view. He's obviously the head of some liberal Klan-like group for left wingers.

I watched ten minutes of Meet the Press about a year ago. Now, I just wait to read the leftist, socialist swill that Mr. Todd pukes on Sundays. I check the news on Sunday afternoon in the hopes that some guest has just beaten the shit out of Chuck Todd. That must be why the conservative guests are never in the same studio. Conservatives who are invited to appear should just ignore the invitations.

How long before Chuck Todd invites Colin Kaepernick to discuss his views with the world?? It will be a meeting of the witless. Maybe the government can place them in the "witless protection program". It can keep facts out of their heads!!

Another Fun Filled Friday

It's getting late on Friday and I thought that I should burn a few minutes at the keyboard.

My son William and I went to a presale at an Estate Tag Sale in Floyd, Virginia yesterday. When you buy junk by the van load, they are always willing to let you in to view and buy before the masses arrive. Didn't buy anything incredible, but the van was almost full. I did buy a Craftsman brand meat cleaver from the 1950's. Can't have too many cleavers. In Floyd County, Virginia, I saw several "Hillary for prison 2916" signs. It is those little things that make life worthwhile.

What did we do for entertainment before Facebook? I recall actual conversations with people. What I do like about Facebook is that when I get tired of reading swill from "friends", I can just block them or "unfriend" them. It's not that easy in the real world.

I am thinking about dropping "Dish Network". Two hundred stations and nothing fit to watch. I think the only reason I keep it is the DVR. I can back it up if I missed something or want to see it again. I wish they had that for car radios. I am always missing something and getting frustrated. Guess that I will just use the CD player.

Hillary Clinton is attacking Trump calling him a racist. She is either slandering him or doesn't actually understand what makes up a racist. I met a FEW guys in the Sons of Confederate Veterans who were blatant racists. Their idea of a "liberal" was someone who didn't believe in slavery. Kirk, I will give you a break and not mention any names. Okay, I won't mention any last names.

Speaking of the Sons, I wonder how my old buddy Ronnie Gene Wilson is doing. Ronnie is the guy who as Commander-in-Chief of the SCV, tried to have some of us removed for "conduct unbecoming a Southern gentleman. The last picture that I saw of Ronnie was him being led from a courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. Ronnie was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that took 50 or 60 million dollars from his family and friends. As a matter of personal pleasure, I hope that he ripped off some of his SCV buddies.

Back to Facebook. A little earlier today, I had a couple of "friend" suggestions. One was Ron Horgan, the current pastor at Buffalo Church. I just went ahead and blocked him for fear that he would contact me. I guess that Facebook suggested him because Satan doesn't have a Facebook page.

Bill Fortson, a longtime Tex & Shirley's customer passed away in early August. I last saw him about three months ago. He told me that he had pancreatic cancer and would not be around long. He and his late wife were in almost every day. He will be missed.

Sixteen months after hiring an interim pastor, the EPC is finally letting Buffalo Church hold a congregational meeting to form a Pastor Search Committee to find a permanent pastor. I guess they didn't want them to rush into anything. More on the Good Old Boy network at the EPC on another day.

I heard a rumor that Jimmy Hoffa had met with Bill and Hillary Clinton a few days before he went missing. Just saying?

Stunned by the news that the "Cajun Navy" had saved hundreds of people in the recent floods, the state legislature is considering regulating their activities. Stunned by the realization that private individuals can react faster and more effectively than the government, the government seeks to regulate this. How many people would have perished waiting for the government? When the President's priority is to play golf with the rich folks in Martha's Vineyard, what are the priorities of those he directs? Great leaders lead from the front. Obama leads from the front nine.

Why I will vote for Trump

On November 8, I will be casting my vote for Donald J. Trump for President. I have heard a lot of opinions expressed on this subject and just wanted to make mine clear.

I hear a lot of people saying that voting for Trump is picking the lesser of two evils.  I have heard people say that they will hold their nose and vote for Trump. I have heard from the "Christian" conservatives that they will either stay home or vote for a third party candidate. People tell me that they will vote for Trump because he isn't Hillary. He's not Obama either, but that's another story. I have heard lots of people who claim to be Republicans say that he is their last choice but they will vote for him.

All of this brings us to yours truly. I am voting for Trump because he is Trump. I started the campaign season supporting Fiorina, but Carly couldn't get any traction. When she couldn't keep up, I switched to Trump.  I like Trump. Yes, he's loud, rude, obnoxious and overbearing. Lots of family and friends have mentioned those qualities in conjunction with my name. I don't think that it is necessarily bad.

If you ask Trump a question, you get an answer. It may not be the answer you wanted, but you get an answer. Trump doesn't need to read a poll to answer a question. I think that it is refreshing in our country to have a politician just say what's on their mind. I keep hearing "That isn't presidential". So you are telling me that dodging the question or taking ten minutes to say nothing at all is presidential?? I have seen Obama ramble on for minutes and not put together a complete sentence. It's like some kind of game show. You want to scream at him, "Buy a verb!!"

The political establishment that runs our nation is opposed to Trump. It doesn't matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans. They are like the ruling class in the old Communist Soviet Union. They have all of the luxuries in life while the masses have just what they want them to have. Bernie Sanders is a great example. In the news this week, Bernie and his wife are buying a third home for $600,000. Bernie is a Socialist, right??

The political establishment is terrified. They are afraid that Trump will crash the club.  They don't want an outsider rocking the boat. I am here to tell you that if we don't rock the boat, the establishment is going to overload the boat until it sinks. Then what will the political establishment and their pals in the media do?? They are killing the goose that laid the Golden Egg!!

The critics are all attacking Trump's remarks about dealings with other nations. I am in complete agreement with Trump. Why are we defending other nations when we have these huge problems at home?  People are killing each other at record rates in Chicago, yet no one mentions it. The establishment is more worried about what is happening somewhere overseas than at home. To those of you who are worried more about international issues than domestic ones, write this down!! Love and charity both begin at home.

The government's attempts at social engineering through the welfare system is a complete and utter failure. Flooding the United States with illegal immigrants is overloading a system already at capacity. Shipping money overseas without considering our national debt is insane. If I could ask Obama one question, it would be, "Tell me why you shipped $400 million in cash to Iran in the dark of night while my brother-in-law can't get good treatment from the VA for his Agent-Orange caused cancer??" Love and Charity both start at home.

I will be voting for Donald Trump in November because I support him.
"I am Gilbert Jones and I approved this message."

Class of 1971 Reunion?

In a few weeks, the A.P. Leto High School Class of 1971 will gather in Tampa to celebrate the 45th anniversary of their  graduation. While a member of that class, I have decided not to participate this year. I am sure that there will be enough people there that they will be able to celebrate without my presence.

My wife and I had attended both  the ten year celebration and the thirty year celebrations. When the fortieth anniversary rolled around in 2011, my mom was dying and I chose not to attend so that I could spend that time with her. So why am I not attending this year's event? Excellent question, allow me to elaborate.

The Class of 1971 has a Facebook page. I am "Facebook friends with about twenty people from my class. I enjoy reading about what people are doing now and interacting with them online.

It's all pretty easy to understand, I hated high school. It may have been the worst three years of my life. Today, I am the poster boy for Adult ADHD. No one had a name for it then. I was in three or four advanced classes a day with the other smart kids in my junior and senior years. It was kind of like a herd of nerds program. I don't think ,that I received any benefits from that program.

I can look back now and realize that I didn't have any real friends in high school. My high school friends were kind of like most "Facebook friends" are today. They are your friends in one particular setting. Once I left school in the afternoon, I had almost no interaction with my school friends unless they were neighbors. I never went anywhere with school friends, we never even talked on the phone after school. I lived in Tampa for twelve years after graduation and can count the number of encounters that I had with classmates on my fingers.

I had pretty good grades in school. My diploma bears the "Honors" seal on it. So when the National Honor Society started inducting members from my class, I was sure that I would become a member. I didn't make it in the junior year inductions. They had two inductions in my senior year and I was not an inductee in either event. Why didn't I make it? In addition to the required grade point average, teachers voted to determine if the candidates met the characteristics required for membership. All it took to keep you out was a single vote from a teacher to "blackball" you. Imagine how bad my day was in the fall of 1970 during my senior year when three different teachers all told me the exact same thing, "I'm sorry but I had to vote against you being in the National Honor Society. I just don't think that you fit the requirements." Three teachers? It only would take one. Didn't they talk to each other?? I went home that day and cried. I realized that I would never be a member. When they had the next induction in early 1971, I told my mother that I didn't want to go to school that day and she let me stay home. In my senior year, I was in an advanced Physics class. The National Honor Society held their monthly meetings during that class period. When they called for the members to leave their classes, the room would empty. Sometimes, there would be one or two other students left in the room. They were members but had been suspended from the NHS for bad grades. Usually I was the only student left in the room. Mr. Dillard, the teacher, would just tell me to read and he would go take a break. It was days like that when I questioned the value of our educational system. Allow me to repeat myself, I hated high school!!

In addition to all of that, I will stay home this year because my social skills are not good. I am uncomfortable in social situations. I am not good with small talk. I have a tendency to talk over other people. I am a blurter. If it's in my mind, it's out my mouth. I will stay home because I hate to watch my wife cringe when I say something. I am okay with a crowd. I can talk to hundreds of people without an issue. I struggle in one on one situations.

More than twenty five years ago, in the throes of a near nervous breakdown, I went to see a psychiatrist for help. his name was Dr. Aldo Mell. He has passed away since then, but he was a great guy to talk to about things. He had some kind of accent. He sounded a little like you might imagine Freud sounded. After several months and thousands of dollars, he gave me a diagnosis. "You are an introvert operating as an extrovert. You have to find a way to resolve that issue." So I am resolving it this year by staying home. I will try for the fiftieth year celebration in 2021.

Media Bias? Really?

2016 is the Year of Media Bias. Naturally it is an election year. I don't think that there has ever been as much obvious bias as there has been so far this year and the election is three months away.

Donald Trump's campaign for President has been declared dead about thirty times since last summer. Every couple of weeks something happens and the networks and newspapers announce Trump's demise. So why is he still around? He is still here because the voters who support him don't care what the mainstream media says about him.

Today might have been one of the worst cases that I have ever witnessed. Bill Bratton was appearing on the CBS This Morning Show hosted by Charlie Rose and Gayle King. He had appeared an hour earlier on MSNBC and given virtually the same spiel.

Bratton had announced that he was retiring and going into consulting work. There were stories earlier that protesters were calling for his replacement. So he was making the morning show circuit today.

One would think that the first order of business would be to discuss why he was retiring. NO, the first order of business was to discuss the Trump candidacy. In what might be the most inane remark made this year, Bratton said “I always wonder about tough guys...they talk tough, but I wonder if Mr. Trump has ever taken a punch in his life.” The hosts positively swooned  over Mr. Bratton and his remarks.

Did they ask if Mrs. Clinton has "taken a punch"? Did they ask if Mr. Obama has ever "taken a punch"? Is this the new standard for measuring strong leadership? Reagan ever take a punch? Eisenhower take a punch?? I am not sure that Mr. Bratton's standard has any degree of rationality.

Did any of these "reporters" challenge Mr. Bratton's claim? Of course not, he was criticizing Donald Trump. Anything is okay in that case..

I am fascinated by Bratton's standard of qualifying strong leadership. According to Bratton, you must have taken a punch to be a leader. Robert E. Lee ever take a punch? Henry Ford take a punch? George Washington take a punch? Thomas Jefferson? No need to go on with this line of questioning.

Here's what is undeniably clear. There wasn't enough strong leadership or high moral values in that CBS studio (or MSNBC) to call Mr. Bratton on his baseless accusations and absurd standards for measuring real leadership!!