Twenty Years and Counting?

 Yesterday marked the twentieth anniversary of this blog. If you weren't at the big celebration with the all- you-can-eat BBQ and the endless dessert selections, I apologize. Your invitation must have been lost in the mail. Of course, there was no actual celebration. It was so damn hot here in Piedmont North Carolina that I postponed the celebration for another twenty years. In the last twenty years, I have cranked out 1421 pieces of my mind. Some were funny, some were not. Some were satire, some were just tired.

I started this blog to blow off a little steam. I am not sure that it has actually done that. It seems like the more that I sound off on things, the worse things have become. But I haven't had a stroke yet or some kind of mental breakdown, so maybe it has worked.

Back in the old days when I started this blog, if you wanted to know if people were reading your swill, you had to install a visit counter and monitor it yourself. In 2010 Google actually started tracking views for blog owners since they have owned Blogger since the beginning. What took so long guys?

My stats tell me that I have had more than 159,000 views since Google started counting them. It sounds like a lot, but it is spread over the last 15 years. So that is about 10,000 views a year or around 30 views a day. 

Sometime in the last few months, I have been "shadow-banned" by Google. This means that if you search for "Random Moments of Lunacy", you will come up empty-handed. Do they do this in every country? I don't know. 

If Google's purpose in doing that was to stop people from finding and reading this swill, they failed. The month that just ended was the biggest month for readers since Google started keeping stats. I had more than 18,000 page views of this swill in June. 

A lot of readers are from other countries. The Top Ten countries for page views currently are United States, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Russia, Israel and Canada. There have been views from more than 35 countries.

What has been the most viewed post on this blog? "Memo to Kathy Manning in Congress" is the winner. The arrogant leftist Ms. Manning was not only my Congressional representative, but she was also a fairly regular customer at Tex & Shirley's when I was the manager there. I was never sure of how to describe her, but one waitress suggested "cold to the touch". I am not sure that I can top that.

I have business cards for this blog. I pass them out to people who I meet at events where I am selling my assortment of fine collectibles or as my other business card describes it, "Stuff". I still find it a little odd when people start talking to me about something that I posted here. It is kind of like the WKRP episode where Johnny Fever found out that people were actually listening to the station.

What' the good news in all of this? Barring some miracle in the aging process, there won't be a column like this one in another twenty years. In the meantime, thanks for reading. Make it a good day!!

I'm So Old?

 I'm so old that I remember when in 2022 Hakeem Jeffries described the filibuster as “Dripping in racist history, in defense of slavery and Jim Crow.” After he prattled on for almost nine hours on Thursday in the House chamber, he has either changed his mind or he is a racist defending slavery. I am going with the latter.

I'm so old that I lived in a time before Federal district court judges would issue nationwide injunctions. I miss the old "Impeach Earl Warren" signs.

I am so old that I remember when everything wasn't Donald Trump's fault. 

I am so old that I have never considered buying an electric car to get some kind of government subsidy. As long as I am beating that bush, why is it that every snake oil salesman pushing solar panels starts by telling you about tax credits? Did your wife ever mention a family of tax-deduction worthy children before you got married? Who knew that love was so attached to government tax credits?

I am so old that I remember when Black Democrats renounced slavery. They are okay with it now as long as the slaves are Mexicans or Asians. Most of the people in the states that fought against slavery in 1861 think that slavery is a career field now for Hispanics and Asians.

I'm so old that I still remember why I hate liberals. The only thing that liberals know is that everything that happens on, around or near this planet is someone else's fault. 

There has been a tragedy in Texas over the last few days. More than 80 people have been lost in a flash flood that swept through the Guadalupe River valley early Friday morning. Several camps for children are in that area. Sunday afternoon, two girls were found thirty feet up and clinging to a tree. Democrats and other people who hate America are claiming that this is a result of Trump reducing staffing in the National Weather Service. Other brain-dead liberal bastards are blaming this flood on DOGE. 

Let's set aside everything Trump-related from the libs and look at some facts. This incident happened in the middle of the night. The river rose twenty to thirty feet in about an hour. This was a once in a hundred-year occurrence. Liberals claim that if the National Weather Service had been "properly" staffed, they would have known this was going to happen and we could have saved all of those lives. Let's take a moment and make a quick trip to the reality of that claim.

First, this happened in the middle of the night at around 2:00 AM. How many of those campers had their cellphones on and responded to an alert? Here's a news flash for you smartphone jockeys. Not all of us live with our cellphones poised to take directions from the cellular gods. 

Second, leftists and loons are claiming that job cuts that Trump made in the National Weather Service caused this disaster. Would it have not rained in Texas except for a reduction in force at the Weather Service? How much does the weather service actually know what is happening on the ground from their base? In my area, we get big weather bulletins from the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Virginia. That's 150 miles away. You can't get all of the information from a radar screen.

Do we all depend on the National Weather Service for our weather information? Most people turn on the television news for a weather report. Almost every television station has a staff of meteorologists. Look at all of the ads that television stations run telling us to watch them for the "most accurate" weather forecasts. How many television stations put out a forecast for those floods? Were there even any television meteorologists on the job at 2:00 AM?

Third and maybe most important is this question. Do we all react promptly to warnings from the National Weather Service? In 2005, the National Weather Service warned people that Hurricane Katrina was going to strike.the Gulf Coast area of Louisiana and Mississippi. Authorities urged people to evacuate to the inland areas. Some did evacuate, thousands did not. More than 1800 people died in Hurricane Katrina. We had a fully staffed National Weather Service. We had government officials urging people to evacuate. Yet we lost at least 1800 people in that storm. Given the homeless population in New Orleans, we probably lost hundreds more. So, in reality it doesn't matter what the Weather Service tells us, we are going to do what we want. There's a price for the freedom of choice.

Let's go to the Situation Simulator. It is 2:00 AM. You are awakened by an alarm from your cellphone. There is a weather bulletin warning you of high rain and possible flooding in your area. You are a female college student serving as a counselor for 15 or 20 eight- or nine-year-old girls. You are about one hundred yards away from the river and about ten feet above the river water level. Here are your choices. You can wake everyone up and have them get dressed. Then you decide whether to walk out into a driving rain in the dark to seek higher ground or remain inside your present shelter and wait to see what develops. Do you really believe that a bunch of nine-tear-old girls want to walk out into a storm at 2:30 AM? If you take them outside, how are you going to keep them all together? If you stay inside, do you know how fast the water is going to rise? Bear in mind, this turns out to be a once in a century event. If you decide to take them outside, where are you going to take them? Are you communicating with other people from the same camp? Has there been a history of catastrophic flooding in this camp? Does everyone have a flashlight? Can everyone swim? 

I am sorry, but bad things happen to good people. Not everything is someone else's fault. Remember that when the legal vultures start swarming all over this situation a few hours from now. No amount of money will bring your kids back.

Sunday Sundry Stuff

 Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced that he is not running for reelection in 2026. As I fight back the tears, I can only hope that this time we can elect an actual Republican to take his place.

There's a story that Roy Cooper will run for Thom's seat in the Senate. That will give us a chance to discuss Crapper's handling of the COVID crisis in North Carolina. I am getting ready to recycle some of my works about Governor Crapper for the campaign season.

Some "news" article online this morning is trying to blame Kristi Noem for the flash floods in Texas this week. I think that it is a horrible natural disaster and that only a world class shitbag reporter would try to blame the Department of Homeland Security for a flash flood where the water rose thirty feet in a matter of minutes.  But that's just what liberals do.

The re-election of Donald Trump has eliminated unemployment among the Communist lawyers as the American hating Democratic Party puts them all to work filing frivolous lawsuits against the Trump administration. Trump can't take a dump without a Democrat seeking an injunction because the Constitution does not specifically say that Trump can take that action. 

If I were Chief Justice John Roberts, I would be slapping some District Court Judges into line right now. With the "Big Beautiful Bill" passed, Congress has time to start calling in some District Judges for impeachment hearings. It's time to remove some judges and adjust some attitudes in the federal court system. Some of those folks aren't even putting up a facade of impartiality. It's time to flush the toilet over in the judicial branch.

Growing up, I was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. I gave up on watching baseball sometime in the 1970's for other pursuits. My wife is a Houston Astros fan. How did that happen? In October of 2017, we were visiting the Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area. One night, I turned on the television and the World Series between the Dodgers and the Astros was on. I hadn't seen the Dodgers play in years, so I left it on.  I fell asleep after a few minutes, but my wife stayed up and watched the whole game. By breakfast time, she was an Astros fan. I still don't watch much baseball, but she does. Where is this leading? On Friday night the Astros and the Dodgers played in Los Angeles. The Astros put the biggest ass-whipping in the more than 60-year history of Dodger Stadium on the Dodgers. They beat them 18-1. They scored ten runs in one inning. How bad was it? The first pitch of the game was hit out of the park for a home run by an Astro. It went downhill for the Dodgers from there. I have been to funerals that turned out better than this. Just another reason to make me glad that I have given up watching baseball.

In 1983 I was talking to a customer in the lounge at the Casa Gallardo Mexican Restaurant and Bar that I managed. There was a NASCAR race on the television in the bar, and he asked, "Who's your driver?" I said, "What are you talking about?" He replied, "This is NASCAR country, and you need to have a driver to follow." Forty-two years later, I still don't have a NASCAR car jockey that I follow. 

Why do they still call it "stock car racing"? None of the cars are stock. In fact, they are basically all identical. There's not a single part on any NASCAR racer that is on an actual production car. They don't even use real lug nuts anymore. 

NASCAR is staging a street race in Chicago, of all places, today. How do you tell if you are at a street race in Chicago or a riot in Chicago? Ticket prices at the riot are lower. NASCAR controls the in-car cameras to make sure that none of them show the door gunner positioned in every NASCAR racecar in Chicago. 

I want to see if NASCAR will fine drivers for saying unkind but truthful things about Chicago. After fining a driver for saying that Mexico City was a "shithole", what's in store after a race in Chicago? Is this just the "ghetto" segment of the season?  Are they just hauling illegals in with the racecars? Will drivers be compelled to complain in Spanish? What driver does Mayor Brandon Johnson follow? Will Illinois Governor Pritzker bring his enormous ass and his security detail to the post race ceremonies? 

The base of NASCAR's fan base is in the South. Why don't they work on building that up instead of taking races away from tracks in the South and giving them to septic tanks like the LA Coliseum, the streets of Chicago or the slums of Mexico City?  If they want to do a street race, how about a race on I-285 around Atlanta? Forget Chicago, they could have the Great Perimeter Road Race in Atlanta. They wouldn't even need to close off the road. There are people speeding on that road that a NASCAR driver would be hard pressed to pass. NASCAR wouldn't have to worry about diversity; there's two chicken places at every exit on I-285. How about it, NASCAR? Did I mention the Varsity?? The drivers can all get their oil changed with the onion rings.

Just Spit Balling on a Saturday

 Congressional Democrats are all screaming "People will die" on national television in response to the new budget being passed. Actually, most are screaming something like, " People are literally going to die as a result of this bill." 

Let's look at this objectively. Were people not dying before this bill was passed? Exactly, what is it that is in this bill that is going to make people die? Will they commit suicide after hearing hundreds of Democrats screaming on national television that they are going to die? Is this supposed to be some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy? If the bill had not passed, would they all live forever? If you are going to claim that "thousands of people" are going to die, tell me what it is that is going to kill them. Give me some details! 

Years ago, I was attending a seminar, and the speaker was talking about listening skills. The speaker told us that when you were listening to someone, ignore the volume, ignore the tone and just concentrate on the facts. The problem with all of these liberal whiners is that aren't putting out any facts. They are all volume and tone, but they aren't putting out data. Call when you have some facts that we can debate.

Memo to Morons: Every person who is born eventually dies. Maybe you just didn't know that?

Just a bonus whine, I think that we should forever ban the use of the word "literally". Can someone "illiterally" or "unliterally" or "anti-literally" die?  Those people are no more dead with the word "literally" attached than with just the word "die".

Is there anyone left at MSNBC or NBC who isn't a card-carrying Communist? Or are they all "literally" card-carrying Communists?

I had an employee at Popeyes about forty years ago who asked me, "When do we celebrate the Fourth of July?" I started reducing his hours on the schedule shortly after that.

I got a message from one of my sisters who is visiting Disney World in Florida this week. She sent a message the other day saying that it was "Africa hot in Orlando" this week. Apparently, she forgot that it was that hot when we were growing up in Tampa in the 1960's and 1970's. Everybody but me thinks their childhood was better than it actually was.

It's hot here in Piedmont North Carolina this week. I can't recall the last time that a cold wave swept through in July. I have seen more 100-degree days here than we ever saw in Tampa. When it gets that hot in peninsular Florida, thunderstorms pop up and then the humidity jumps. Pick your poison!!

Democrats scream that "Everyone needs to pay their fair share." No one seems to be able to define what "fair share" "literally" means. I just threw that "literally" in to see if you are paying attention. There are millions of people who pay nothing in income taxes yet receive thousands of dollars in benefits. Tell me how this is fair. I will wait. Literally.

Yesterday, I heard the Marine Band play "Hail to the Chief" at a White House ceremony. My wife has that song set as the ring tone when I call her. She says that she loves to watch people's reaction when that plays and she says, "That's my husband calling."

And how was your Fourth of July? That's assuming that you didn't work for me at Popeye's.

July 4 Fireworks??

 Hakeem Jeffries set a new record for a House speech by a party leader. That was on Wednesday. He spoke for more than eight hours to try to slow down the approval of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill". If you think that anyone was listening, ask anyone, including Hakeem, to name five things that he spoke about. Speech is measured by quality, not quantity. He didn't change a single Republican's mind. Dims may need to bring Silicon Nancy back to run things.

Jeffries was able to convert a lot of people who were on the fence about the bill to start backing it. To be honest about Hakeem's performance, he was no less coherent after eight hours than he was when he started the bore-athon. The tears in his eyes were because he was about to piss in his pants.

Joe Biden is claiming that world leaders are calling him and telling him that "he needs to get engaged". Joe responded to them by saying that he was already married to Jill. If you believe that world leaders are actually calling Biden, send for one of my sales brochures about oceanfront property in Iowa.

As long as I am writing about Joe, I will point out that he was doing a little time traveling when he told reporters that a publisher wanted him to finish a 500-page memoir by "March of this year". Yeah, he's sharp as a tack. If you believe that Biden is actually writing a 500-page "memoir", don't bother sending for a brochure on that Iowa oceanfront property. Call me immediately.

Before Jill could stop him, Joe Biden had called Hakeem Jeffries and told him that he had issued him a pardon for making that speech. 

Today, the Fourth of July, Trump will sign the "Big, Beautiful, Bill" in Washington. Early fireworks will be provided by reporters from the major networks having their heads explode at the signing. Trump will sign the bill at five on the fourth causing Dims to consume a fifth by six.

The controversy over the Biden Auto Pen usage continues as some "handwriting expert" claims that the Auto Pen signature isn't even Joe's. Inquiring minds want to know more, but the major networks are trying hard to ignore this story.

I was at a very unusual auction this week. I had to bid $50 to avoid being compelled to take home a Hunter Biden painting. I should have known when the ad read "Cat Shit Art Auction".

Did you read about the 18-year-old who called a McDonalds in Polk County, Florida and threatened to shoot the place up because they had left the McNuggets out of his order? This nutcase was the focus of Sheriff Grady Judd's daily presentation to the media. If you haven't watched a Grady Judd news conference, you haven't lived. Judd leaves reporters missing asking Trump questions.

After a lifetime in the restaurant business, I wasn't even surprised to hear that story about McNuggets. I would think that most people call in threats because you did put the McNuggets in the bag.  

I don't have to wait for the fireworks tonight because some idiot in my neighborhood celebrated the Third of July last night with fireworks. Must be a Democrat?

Was this the worst thing happening in New York??

 The renowned Southern District of New York United States Attorney's office took a knee to the nuts yesterday as Sean "Diddy" Combs was acquitted of the most serious charges against him by a jury. 

My knowledge of and my interest in Sean Combs would not fill a Post-it note. I can't tell you anything about Mr. Combs other than he apparently has a strong interest in maintaining a large stockpile of baby oil. I have heard that he is some kind of musician.

Apparently, the attorneys at the SDNY decided that a guy who committed domestic violence and enjoyed watching other people engage in sex with the aid of huge quantities of baby oil should be the object of a federal investigation. Estimates are that the SDNY has squandered about $10 million in this wild goose chase.

This is the same US Attorney's office who decided to charge Martha Stewart for insider trading after she actually lost money in that effort. This office has handled scores of high-profile prosecutions. Maybe it's time to get back to the basics. Is the SDNY simply starstruck? Do they read People magazine to help decide what to investigate?

Anyone who could watch a video could see that Mr. Combs was guilty of domestic violence. But that wasn't enough to get the glory seekers at SDNY involved. So, they spent our tax dollars to build that into a case alleging "racketeering" and RICO law violations. Did these clowns go to the same law school as Fani Willis?

Is this case worthy of the millions of dollars spent to make it? Does anyone really believe that people in New York live in fear of Sean Combs showing up at their doors with some babe and a bucket of baby oil? Has he somehow cornered the market on baby oil and is trying to create some kind of monopoly? Was Martha Stewart involved? Wait!! Wrong brother.

If Combs appeals and that is almost a certainty, how much more will taxpayers have to spend to put the babe beating baby oil bandit behind bars? I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't it have been easier for the state or local government to just charge him with assault and domestic violence??

In the 1960's, one of the favorite responses to a situation that someone was exaggerating was to say, "You don't have to make a federal case out of it!" Apparently, at the SDNY they do. 

In New York City, the leading candidate for Mayor of the city is an antisemitic Communist who seeks to destroy free enterprise in the city. There have been antisemitic demonstrations at the colleges and universities in the city. Is the SDNY working on any of this? 

I think that it is time for some serious changes at the SDNY. You need to change the culture in that organization. Trump needs to replace the US Attorney in charge and everyone in the building. I am talking lawyers, secretaries, file clerks, janitors and everyone else. Move to a new building, burn the old one to the ground. Start all over.

My final thought is this. Martha Stewart's career was waning when the SDNY charged her with insider trading and sent her to prison for a few months. Her career rebounded and she has done better than ever after leaving prison. Why? Because Americans favor the underdogs and an underdog is anyone being persecuted by the government. Look at Donald Trump. They made up crimes to charge him with and failed to sway public opinion. No one else has ever been charged for some of the things that Trump was. Ordinary Americans could see that Trump was being treated unfairly. So, they went to the polls in droves to support him. My prediction is that you are going to see that same reaction with the Sean Combs case.

Diddy for President, anyone??

Mixed Monday Messages

 I spent more than fifty years working in the restaurant business. This is just a personal observation, but fast food hasn't been fast in more than a few years. When I was a district manager with Taco Bell in the early 1980's, I would sit in the dining room and clock service times with a stopwatch. I think that they use a calendar now. It's not just Taco Bell; it's an industry wide epidemic. 

Most fast-food places are geared towards drive-through service now. They must think that the long wait is easier in the comfort of your car with the kids screaming in your ears. At least, the employees only have to look at one carload of people waiting for their food at a time. I am not a fan of drive-throughs. Of course, drive-throughs give them the opportunity to increase revenue by doing a ten-minute oil change while you wait for your customized order. 

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced Sunday that he would not be running for re-election in 2026. I would like to think that he was inspired by my post yesterday about what a loser he is as a Republican Senator. Maybe he should have just switched parties. Thank God he is only serving two terms. 

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City talks about how great it will be for people to live in rent-controlled housing. Muslim Mayor Mamdani knows absolutely nothing about economics. When the income is restricted, the quality of the product is reduced to deal with economic pressures from cost increases. When their toilets are out of order for years at a time, some renter will explain the downside of rent controls to the Moron Mamdani. The unhappy renter should express his feelings by taking a shit in front of the mayor's home.

If God made anything dumber than Jasmine Crockett, he sent it to some other galaxy.

What's the best thing about Jasmine Crockett? She makes Marjorie Taylor Green look like some kind of conservative intellectual.

Bert and Ernie, Amos and Andy, Lucy and Ricky, Rowan and Martin, Andy and Barney, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, none of the great duos can compare to the stupidity of Jasmine and AOC. Not only that, but you could laugh at all of the other pairs and not piss off all of the talking heads at MSBNC.

NASCAR has eliminated innovation from their racing teams and wonder why people compare the joy of watching a race to the thrill of setting your own ass on fire. I am sorry NASCAR, but when you started holding races in Los Angeles, Chicago and Mexico City, you abandoned your fan base. 

NASCAR has actually penalized two of their drivers for making negative comments about Mexico City after racing there. If the fines weren't bad enough, I think that they are having to take some kind of sensitivity training. I can't remember the driver's name who called Mexico City a "shithole", but I challenge NASCAR to prove that he's wrong. Sometimes, it just has to be said. 

Maybe they should have started by holding "rat races" in Mexico City and worked their way up to stock cars?

Is Jasmine Crockett just Barack Obama in drag? Or is it Michelle Obama in drag? I am confused.

Bernie Sanders is involved in some kind of campaign to make people start missing Diane Feinstein.

If Gordon Solie was still alive and doing "Championship Wrestling" on television, he could get John Thune and Chuck "The Schmuck" Schumer to compete for the Senate Championship. It would be the first wrestling match where the fans fought each other to be the first out of the arena before being bored to death. Evidently, Jolting Joe Scarpa taught both Senators the famous "sleeper hold". These two guys are "Political Sominex".  Mike Huckabee should be doing commercials for these two yawners instead of Relaxium.

We call them "Democrats" because in some places you aren't allowed to say "dumbasses".