Tonight, I am angry. Surprised, aren’t you? I’m angry most nights, and in fact I wake up angry most mornings, if I’ve managed to sleep at all. It’s inevitable … when your country is run by bloody fools who appear intent on destroying not only the nation, but most of the people in it, you’re gonna be angry, unless you’re among the ‘chosen few’ who are a) white, b) wealthy or else not too bright, and c) a bigot. I’ve been trying to scale back a bit on my snarkiness, but … sorry, folks, I just can’t help myself ,,, it’s bubbling over.
How to cut the military budget
I’ve long decried our giant military budget as unnecessary and an unconscionable waste of money when people are homeless and children are going to bed hungry at night. Ours is by far the largest military budget in the world …
We spend nearly three times more than the next country on the chart, China, despite the fact that we have less than one-fourth as many people!
It is foolish, and it is done largely to boost the already wealthy arms industry. We do not need all the hardware, all the bombs, guns, tanks, and other crap we buy each year. We do not need to be continuing the nuclear arms race, but rather finding safe ways to dispose of what we already have! In fact, the biggest single threat to our nation is sleeping in the White House as I write this! So much money … wasted … an ego trip for a July 4th or Memorial Day parade … while children starve.
But wait … Defense Secretary Mark Esper thinks he has found a way to cut back on the military budget! Listen to this one … you’re gonna love it! Esper has a proposal to cut $2.2 billion from our bloated military budget by cutting … military healthcare! Senior defense officials say this move would imperil the health care of millions of military personnel and their families as the nation is in the midst of a pandemic that is spiralling out of control, largely due to Trump’s mismanagement and bungling.
What a brilliant idea … NOT! Nope not brilliant, but fairly typical of the Trump entourage … it’s what we’ve come to expect. Cut benefits and services that benefit the average Joe and expand profit margins for the already-wealthy. Great job of falling in line, Esper … pathetic job of serving our troops and their families.
A most improper use of the White House … OUR White House!
Donald Trump’s brother, Robert Trump, died on Saturday, and Trump is supposedly considering holding his funeral at our White House! NO, just effing NOOOOO! That is not Trump’s personal property to do with as he wishes! He cannot do this and if he does, he should be carted off to prison as soon as the funeral is done!
In addition to the fact that this cannot possibly be legal, is not kosher, and will cost We the People taxpayer dollars, there is the fact that Robert Trump was not a nice man, to put it mildly. But then, why would we have expected otherwise … his last name was, after all, Trump, and his sire was the same Fred Trump who created the monster who sits in the Oval Office. Robert may not have been quite as nasty as the one we know best, but make no mistake, he was a greedy, nasty man who would screw over his own family for a dollar.
And Donnie cared so much about his ‘baby brother’ that while Robert lay dying in the hospital, Trump phoned the hospital from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to see how he was doing. No, he couldn’t even be bothered to give up his Saturday morning golf game to visit his brother one last time!
Robert Trump was not even part of the Trump administration, had no official role in our government and was NOTHING to any of us. Let the Trumps have his funeral elsewhere … at a funeral home or Mar-a-Lago … I don’t really care, but the White House belongs to the people and We the People do not want it used to hold a funeral for yet another grade-A jerk!
A medical sycophant, Dr. Atlas shrugged …
Trump finally found himself a doctor who would toe the party line … er, the Trump line … one who would say just what Trump wants him to say, unlike Dr. Anthony Fauci, a highly reputable doctor who told us what we needed to hear, not what Trump wanted him to tell us.
Trump’s latest medical “expert” is Dr. Scott Atlas, and he warns against “coronavirus overreaction and hysteria”, says the nation should reopen all the schools, restart normal sporting events, and has downplayed the need for students to wear face coverings or practice social distancing if schools do reopen. “It is proven children have no significant risk,” says Atlas. NO, SIR, it is NOT proven and in fact … how would you explain the children who have died or spent time in hospitals??? And … “overreaction and hysteria”??? More than a thousand people are dying every day of the coronavirus and this jackass has the unmitigated gall to say we are overreacting??? He would play with the lives of our children in order to appease the Oaf in the Oval???
He argues against more testing and recently he told Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, that science does not definitively support government mandates on wearing masks. ‘Scuse me, Trump and Atlas, but I’ll take Dr. Fauci’s word for what we need to do, not yours!
A bit about Dr. Atlas …
- His specialty is neuroradiology, not infectious diseases
- He has never worked within the CDC nor in any official capacity as a medical advisor within the government, and has only served as medical advisor to the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney
- He has argued for the elimination of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka Obamacare.
- He is a frequent guest on Fox News
Do you see anything there that makes you inclined to believe Atlas over Dr. Fauci, or even Dr. Birx? I sure as hell don’t. First Trump promotes a drug that not only does not cure the coronavirus, but can cause life-threatening heart problems. Then he suggests we drink bleach. Then he says we should all go out and socialize more, send our children back to school, and not wear masks. And now, he’s given us a quack and tells us to believe the quack over the real experts. I think not. Would somebody please muzzle this fool???
The library is currently closed due to the pandemic, so employees were doing a bit of cleaning and renovating when they came across the stash. Library officials said their research determined Godzilla Heads gum dates from the 1980s and the Hamm’s beer cans don’t include health warnings that were required from 1988 on, leading staff to believe the snack stash is more than 30 years old.
Auction house Christie’s said the Nike Air Jordan 1 High sneakers, worn by the basketball legend during an exhibition game in Trieste, Italy, were autographed by Jordan and described by the auctioneer as “a one-of-a-kind Michael Jordan artifact.”
His neighbors have dubbed him “Bicycle Bob”, and on Tuesday they threw a little celebration for him. Bicycle Bob’s friend Meg Porter describes his bike riding routine …
And what does Bob think about all the attention?
Okay, folks, time to say ‘goodbye’ to the weekend and ‘hello’ to the new week. Sigh. Yeah, me too. But it’s all in the perception. If we expect it to be a downer of a week, then it will be, but if we greet it with a smile and say, “Give it your best shot!”, then we at least stand a chance of making it ‘til Tuesday before we don the gloves! So, welcome to a great Monday that’s gonna usher in a great week! (Was I convincing?)
Meet Palmerston, the British Foreign Office’s famous feline “Chief Mouser.” But not for long! You see, Palmerston has given notice of his pending retirement, saying he wishes to, “spend more time relaxing away from the limelight.” Understandably, for it’s a tough job, made even tougher by frequent disagreements with Larry, the cat charged with catching mice for the prime minister at 10 Downing Street. His letter …
On a particularly rainy night, the manager of the dealership, Emerson Mariano, felt so sorry for him that he decided to invite him inside, offering him food and water. Well, Mariano bonded with the dog that night, and he wasn’t about to turn him back out, so he convinced the Board of Directors to adopt the dog, and they named him Tucson Prime. In time, the dog proved to be such a useful asset in the way he greeted and interacted with customers, that they gave him a job!
Tucson is definitely a goodwill ambassador, for many customers have returned to the store even after purchasing a car, just to pay Tucson a visit and bring him little gifts and treats!
Now, if that one didn’t bring a smile to your face, I’m afraid we’ll just have to paint one on!
He calls his invention the Bockwurstklavier, or Bockwurst Piano, after the Bockwurst, a traditional German sausage made from ground veal and pork. The piano consists of 10 sausage keys, each of which is hooked up to a wire that leads to a circuit board and other sound processing equipment. Whenever Patrick touches a sausage whilst also touching the piece of equipment in the background, the “machine” produces piano sounds.
The keys work either by touching them individually or collectively, so it is possible to play full chords and, hence, a number of tunes. As long as there is contact with another bit of electrical equipment, touching the sausage keys produces sound.
Good Monday morn, friends! Yes, it’s Monday again already, but even worse … do you realize it’s already AUGUST??? The year is 58% over and Hallowe’en 🎃 is just around the corner! Where … just where did the first seven months of this year go??? The only upside to this is that autumn and cooler temperatures will soon be here. Normally, I’m sad to see summer go, but this one hasn’t been particularly pleasurable between the pandemic, the heat, and the political angst, so I’m happy enough to say ‘goodbye’ to it. But enough of that … it’s Monday, the start of a new week, so let’s try to find some humour, something to put a smile on our faces as we brave the new week, shall we? Grab a snack and a cuppa, and let’s see what awaits us …
On first glance, it appears one of the two black bears was being nice, bringing his trash container back up to the top of the drive, but then the bear tipped it over and … turns out it hadn’t been emptied by the binmen yet, ‘cause the bear spilled the trash all over the drive! Longo was forgiving, though …
Gerry Gimblett, who owns the Yaraka Hotel with her husband Chris, said they were left with no other option after the birds’ recent “bad behaviour”.
The emus had become a tourist attraction after several eggs were hatched at the end of 2018, and while at one point there were nine emus in town, most had wandered away, leaving only Kevin & Carol.
I see those gorgeous smiles on your faces … be sure to remember to share them today and throughout the week, for times are tough and we all need someone to just smile at us every now and then! Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa and Jolly (Joyful is taking an interior decorating class … she became inspired after re-decorating Roger’s dark tower!)
Jolly has gone AWOL yet again, not surprisingly, so I’m on my own here today. Be patient, for it’s Jolly who adds the zest to Jolly Monday and I only do the technical part as a rule, so I’m a bit rusty on the humour end of it. I do, however, remember how to make bacon! That is a big requisite here for a few of you! So, with that thought, let’s grab a bit of a snack and see if I can manage to rustle up just a bit of humour for us to start this week out on the right foot, okay?
Now THAT’S how it should be, folks! But what a coincidence, eh?
