"Aesthetic Injury" and other Fables

 The Supreme Court decided that construction can continue at the White House on the new West Wing. It was a 5-4 vote in which Chief Justice John Roberts demonstrated that he is an even bigger dumbass than many of us had previously believed.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States had filed suit against Trump claiming that the construction violates the law. The Court ruled that the Trust had no standing to file the suit. The Trust's entire case was based on one of their members, an Alison Hoagland, who claims that she would be traumatized by having to view the new building about once a month when she ventured to that neighborhood. 

According to the filing by the Trust, "She asserts that having to view the finished ballroom the government is constructing would cause her to suffer “injuries” to her “aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests” because she finds the “scale,” “height,” and “massing” of the government’s design distasteful."

Good grief!! I can't believe that the government is causing "aesthetic injuries" just to build a ballroom at the White House. What I really can't believe is that a team of lawyers put that phrase together and filed it with the United States Supreme Court. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation wants the construction stopped because one (obviously very special) woman will be offended. I am just curious, is the distinguished Ms. Hoagland offended when circus tents and porta-jons are put on the White House grounds for large dinner events? Do they have those in "historical" models? 

Here's a clip from the Supremes ruling. The complete ruling is available at 26A203 National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (08/31/2026)

For those who don't want to go there, here are the highlights of the claim.

"To establish its standing to bring this case, the Trust relies on a declaration from a single of its members, Alison K. Hoagland.  Hoagland says that she lives in Washington, D. C., and expects to visit the neighborhood around the White House “about once a month.” She asserts that having to view the finished ballroom the government is constructing would cause her to suffer “injuries” to her “aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests” because she finds the “scale,” “height,” and “massing” of the government’s design distasteful. On the strength of that declaration, the Trust contends, it has Article III standing to challenge the East Wing project."

"This Court has not found standing in circumstances like these before. To the contrary, we have repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury under Article III. As we have put it, “this Court has long made clear that distress at or disagreement with the activities of others is not a basis under Article III for a plaintiff to bring a federal lawsuit.” Instead, to secure standing a plaintiff must identify some concrete and particularized injury “other than the psychological consequence presumably produced by observation of conduct with which one disagrees.” 

In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice wrote this, "The White House is not just any building, and—when it comes to historic preservation—Hoagland is not just any person."

Sorry John, but she really is jurat another person. I don't give a rat's ass about what Alison Hoagland thinks of the White House! There are millions of people with an interest in historic preservation. What about all of the statues that have been torn down and all of the buildings renamed? Why were opinions of people not considered by the Federal courts in those cases?? 

Tuesday's Tantalizing Taunts and Topics

 All Canadians have free medical care. So why do so many Canadians come to the United States for medical procedures? If it's free, it has to be great, right??

Socialized medicine in Great Britain is the reason that so many people in Britain never go to a dentist or at least their "smiles" seem to reflect that choice.

One of Obama's old girlfriends claimed that Obama could never bring himself to admit that there is a problem with many black people and Jewish folks. The word that the Big O is unable to say is "anti-Semite". He can't say it, but he has no problem displaying it. How long before Michelle will allow him to admit it?

Texas Democrats went straight to the clown car to get James Talarico, their US Senate candidate this year. Do they not screen people who want to be a candidate? Is there any qualifications list for that job?

In Michigan, Democrats screamed "Hold my beer!" to Texas Democrats as they selected Abdul El-Sayed to be their US Senate candidate. I guess that he was their second choice after the late Yasser Arafat. I can almost hear Ray Stevens singing "Ahab the Arab" in the commercials.

Of course, I should not be picking on Texas or Michigan with North Carolina Democrats trying to push another six years of "public service" by Roy Cooper down the throats of Carolina voters. Just remember, "No Mo Ro Co".

Players who can't make the grade in the NFL are now going back to college for their fifth year of slopping at the NIL trough. I am sure that the fifth year is really all about getting their degree in General Studies.

Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts sent her husband out to run errands and killed their three children while he was out. How long can it take to decide that she is guilty but not insane? This woman is pure evil.

If New York City mayor "Zero Momfanny" is serious about subsidizing city owned grocery stores so that voters can get cheaper groceries by paying higher taxes, he should consider this quicker solution. He should just subsidize existing grocery stores so that they can lower their prices. What business has government ever run that worked as well as promised? I will wait. 

What job did Mayor Zero ever hold that gave him the job experience to be the mayor of New York City?

The obsession of Americans with sports may have reached a peak. On August 22, in Racine, Wisconsin a 41-year-old man ran on to the football where his son's team was playing and tripped a 9-year-old boy who was about to score a touchdown for the other team. He was caught by police later and issued a citation. To no one's surprise, he has been banned from future games.

Liberals have spent the last forty years renaming military bases, streets, schools, stadiums and sports teams. Now they are bitching because Trump renamed Lake Ontario. Gimme a break!!

The US Supreme Court ruled that Trump can keep building the new West Wing of the White House. I can find no evidence of any lawsuits when the West Wing or the East Wing was originally built. Didn't that construction change the look of the White House? Did anyone sue the British for trying to burn it down during the War of 1812? Democrats are acting like Trump is removing Obama's basketball court or Clinton's favorite restroom near the Oval Office.

I used to think that the Top Dog Law commercials were mindless and racist. That was before I saw a commercial for the Allied Legal Group. It's safe to assume that they are all Democrats.

Criminals 4 Cooper?

This came in the mail today and I felt obligated to share it.

"Student-Athletes" and other Fantasies

 In 1972, I started and completed my college career. I was 45 minutes into my first class when I realized that I was not remotely interested in being there. I stood up and walked out of the classroom. I haven't been back. 

Why am I writing this 52 years later? Because college football is starting up over the next couple of weeks. The North Carolina Tarholes football team will be headed to Dublin, Ireland to play a game. Have we run out of suckers in this country to watch semi-literate college athletes perform in this country?

It's time to end the charade. There is no such thing as a "student-athlete" in college. Wait!! Let me qualify that. Outside of the three service academies run by the federal government, there are no "student-athletes". At best, "student-athletes" are on the endangered species list. These people are all in college to play sports. What's the actual graduation rate for student-athletes? What kind of degrees are these people getting if they do graduate?

At what grade level do you think that the average "student-athlete" is capable of reading? How much time a week do they spend in actual academic classes?

For years, the concept of "student-athletes" has been on the critical care list. With the advent of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), it has crossed over to being on life support. College sports teams are simply paid performers who are paid to represent a college or university in a particular sport. They may attend a phys ed class or two. but they aren't real students like I am not a real sports fan.

Like free agents in major league sports, these people don't have any loyalty to a particular team or city or place of higher education. They are there for the money. Many "student-athletes" transfer almost every year to a different university. That's a lot of trouble just to end up with a degree in General Studies. 

There are guys who are getting paid tens of thousands of dollars a year who can't even spell the name of the university where they are playing attending hanging out this semester. What are the actual GPA and graduation rates for these "student-athletes"? 

Do colleges and universities spend more on sports arenas and athletes than they do on the history department? Do football coaches make more money than math teachers? Why can Freddy Football memorize his football playbook but doesn't know what multiplication tables are? Are autographs of athletes written in cursive or printed in block letters? 

The Romans built the Coliseum to keep the populace entertained and distracted. In the United States, we build stadiums to keep the peasants distracted. The peasants can't actually afford to attend the distractions or games as some call them, so they watch them on television at home or at a bar. Only the big money alumni and some lottery winners get game tickets.

I am so old that I remember when we used to talk about "amateur" sports. Today the average college "student-athlete" can't even spell "amateur" and "sports" might be a challenge. 

College sports teams function just like the minor league baseball teams do for Major League Baseball. At least, minor league baseball teams don't pretend to be teaching anything other than sports skills, unlike the NCAA. 

Let's just pack it in and admit that college sports are for professionals not amateurs. Quit wasting our time and money sending those folks to real classes.

Arguing with AI??

 I am still annoyed about being "shadow banned" by the Google search engine. So, this afternoon I asked AI on the Google search results if there was a blog called "Random Moments of Lunacy" on Blogger. In a flash, AI told me that was neither an active nor prominent blog on Blogger with that name.

I answered by asking, "Then why was I able to access this blog, randommomentsoflunacy.blogspot.com?"

To my amazement, I received a quick and accurate answer from AI. I actually loved the response from AI and shared the conversation with my wife. She did not appear surprised that I had been having an argument with AI. Here is the response from AI.

"I stand corrected! You are entirely right, and I apologize for missing it. The blog you visited is indeed live, hosted on Blogger, and it is actively updated. The author of the blog actually talks about this exact issue in a post on Saturday, August 22, 2026, noting that Google hides the blog from search results for "Random Moments of Lunacy" due to automated content flagging. That is precisely why my initial web index searches failed to surface it. Here is a breakdown of the specific site you are looking at:

👤 About the Author Name: Gilbert Jones Location: North Carolina, United States Background: He is an alumnus of A.P. Leto High School in Tampa, Florida (Class of 1971). He is a history enthusiast, collector, and former member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. 📝 

Blog Themes & Context The blog serves as a personal journal where Gilbert shares unfiltered "reflections on the perils of parenthood, politics, passing sixty, accumulating (collecting), tools, The South, The Civil War, old cars, and assorted ailments". His recent posts from August 2026 include: "He's Alive!! The Joe Hoffman Story" – Recounting an old high school classmate rumored to have passed away who recently reached out. "Making the Big Time, The Encore" – Discussing Blogger's content warnings and search filtering on his page. "No Mo Ro Co Fo No Ca" – A political critique of North Carolina politician Roy Cooper.⏳

 Longevity This is a highly deeply rooted personal archive. Gilbert Jones has been running this specific blog for over 21 years, with his earliest archived posts dating back to July 2005.Would you like me to help you analyze any specific topics he writes about, or find other historical or local blogs from the North Carolina or Tampa regions? AI can make mistakes, so double-check responses"

Gilbert- 1 

 AI-0

He's Alive!! The Joe Hoffman Story

No, there is not a religious message in this post. It's about my old high school classmate, Joe Hoffman. If I remember correctly, Joe may have abandoned high school sometime in our senior year to get married. Of course, it has been 55 years, so maybe I have him confused with someone else. But I don't think so.

Joe Hoffman is famous in the Leto High School Class of 1971 as being the only guy who they have to keep telling us is still alive. Why, you may ask? Apparently about twenty years ago, someone must have reported to our class website that Joe had passed away, became past tense, took a dirt nap, whatever expression you prefer for death. They have spent the last thirty years telling us that he is still alive. Old habits die hard?

Joe and I were both in the Leo Club at Leto High School. The Leo Club was the only group that I ever joined in school. We were both charter members of Leo when the club was started in our junior year. We did a lot of good stuff in our time in the Leo Club. The guy who was our club President was Dennis Barry. I think that Dennis lives in the Knoxville, Tennessee area. I have unsuccessfully tried to contact Dennis over the years. If you guessed that I have never had a response from Dennis, you are correct. There seems to be a pattern here?

Anyway, I received a message from Joe today on the Classmates website. I had sent him a message a little more than three years ago, so I was a little surprised that there was a response. 

I did let Joe know that there is a 55-year class reunion planned for October this year. My beloved and I are not attending as I had already bought tickets to a concert with the Bellamy Brothers taking place about 15 miles from home. That's 674 miles closer than the class reunion in Tampa.

What's the downside to not attending the reunion? I won't be able to tell them that I can confirm that Joe Hoffman is actually still alive. Myabe Joe will even attend? I don't think so. Beyond that, the fifty-year reunion provided me with enough material for about five or six blog posts. I doubt that I will get that kind of story mileage out of the Bellamy Brothers concert. But I would rather stay home and complain about something else.

I "Googled" the "Leto High School Class of 1971". This is the response generated by AI.            

"The Franklin D. Leto High School Class of 1971 in Tampa, Florida, is, is planning its 55th class reunion for October 3, 2026. Alumni connect through dedicated online platforms to share memories, post updates, and view memorial lists."

Unfortunately for AI, it is the "A.P. Leto High School Class of 1971". I have never heard of "Franklin D. Leto". 

Anyway, thanks for sending me a response, Joe!! It's good to hear from someone who you haven't heard from in 55 years.

Making the Big Time, The Encore

In my post yesterday, "Just Thinking", I have apparently angered the content gods on Blogger/Google. For just the second time in twenty-one years and 1571 posts, they placed a "content warning". on my post. This will cause the six people who read this to pay more attention to my words.

I think that Google has an issue with slang terms. Whether it was my writing about Clinton placing his manhood into some young intern's oral opening or Joe Biden losing control of his bowels on the carpet at the White House, they just don't tell you anything other than that their system was offended. If George Carlin had tried writing his seven words on Blogger, Google would not have known whether to defecate or go blind.

I am fascinated by the fact that Google will not list this blog, which they host on Blogger, in their search results for "Random Moments of Lunacy". These guys are working way too hard to "protect" their users. Basically, you can go to a porn site or a site celebrating the joys of homosexual behavior quicker than you can read the swill that I write. Basically, Google doesn't want you to find this blog. If you do end up here, they want to make it difficult for you to read. WOW!!

While the Internet gods and goddesses proclaim that the people must be free from government interference with freedom of speech, they are more than willing to tell the great unwashed what ideas that they are free to express or the terms that they may use to express those same ideas. This is the arrogance of the overeducated. Go figure!!

The construction people working on the new wing at the White House have workers on the job site more than sixteen hours a day. This doesn't mean that each worker is there sixteen hours a day, it means that there are workers are out there working most of the day. This concept is unknown in government circles as most government workers struggle to put in an eight-hour shift. 

The pantywaist whiners on the USS Lincoln are heading home. I believe that the actual whiners are a small percentage of the crew. They are probably the guys who joined so that the taxpayers could pay for their college later. They probably won't finish college either. They will become military analysts for CNN, Newsweek, MSNOW or Newsweek. Those who can't, teach. Or they create standards for Blogger?

Enough about the hypocrisy of Google, we will move on to other subjects tomorrow.