Good Monday morning my friends! Wh-wha … first Monday in August??? Where has this year gone? Just a few days ago it was March! Sigh … the girls are already talking about Hallowe’en decorations and Christmas shopping … STOP the world! I wanna get off! I’m not ready to plunge back into the holidays yet!
I hope you all had a great, relaxing weekend and now you’re ready to put those noses back to the grindstones and … sigh … who am I kidding … it’s Monday, and none of us are likely eager to get back to the salt mines, but hey … who knows but that something wonderful might come your way this week! Tell you what … Jolly, Joyful and I will do our level best to try to help start your week off with a smile, a chuckle, or maybe even a laugh, and perhaps that will set the tone for the entire week! For starters, let’s go see what surprises Joyful has whipped up for us today. She didn’t confide in me, but when she went to the store on Saturday, she bought 2 or 3 bags of lemons, so be prepared …
When a big mouth isn’t a bad thing … maybe
Who knew that having a big mouth could get you into the Guinness Book of Records? Samantha Ramsdell, 31, went viral multiple times on TikTok when she showed off the size of her mouth, leading her to seek the Guinness record for the world’s largest mouth gape (female). So, a ‘Guinness adjudicator’ accompanied Ramsdell to her local dentist’s office in South Norwalk, Connecticut, where her gape was measured at 2.56 inches.
Ramsdell has 1.7 million followers, and has even done duet videos with Isaac Johnson, whose 4-inch gape earned him the male version of the record. Says Ramsdell …
“If I had advice for anyone who had a large body part, or something really unique, and they wanted to go for the Guinness World Records title, I would say do it!”
Okay then … moving right along …
Fun facts
Every now and then it’s fun to pop over to Mental Floss’ Fact Generator and learn something new, so that’s what I did while Joyful was cooking and Jolly was over at Phil’s Phun finding cartoons. I found a few interesting facts …
Trained pigeons can differentiate between the paintings of Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. (Whoa! Smart birds!)
Citizens of the Soviet Union began celebrating the defeat of Germany in World War II as soon as it was announced. Less than 24 hours later, the entire country was out of vodka. (Those Russians sure know how to celebrate!)
When Disneyland was opened in 1955, “Tomorrowland” was designed to look like a year in the distant future: 1986.
The ancestor of the modern chainsaw was invented to facilitate childbirth. (Um … I wish I could ‘un-see’ this one!)
Okay then … let’s see what kind of cartoons Jolly brought back from Phil’s …
Jolly forgot the Maxine toons. Luckily I had a few in reserve …
And we can’t let you leave without a cute animal video, now can we? Meet Dash, the tiny rescued baby tiger …
Well, folks, I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you find a few special moments this week. Be sure to share those smiles … they seem extra bright this week — must have been all the lemon treats!! Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa, Jolly & Joyful!
Snarky? Moi? Surely you jest! Okay, yeah, I admit that I am just a bit on the snarky side these days. Perhaps it is just a product of my old age, or lack of sleep. Or, perhaps it is … PEOPLE! Just when I think I’ve heard it all, somebody flits across my radar to show me I haven’t. And just when we think humans can go no lower, somebody comes along to prove to us that there are new lows being dug every day.
Say WHAT???
Charlie Gerow is a Republican running for governor of Pennsylvania in next year’s election. Sadly, the incumbent, Tom Wolfe, is term limited and cannot run again, for he has been, from everything I know, a good governor. But back to Charlie Gerow …
Gerow is under investigation in connection with an accident between a car and a motorcycle accident on July 21st on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The motorcyclist, Logan Carl Abbott, died. Now, Gerow claims he wasn’t involved in the accident and didn’t hit Abbott, but … a funny thing happened just a few miles down the highway from the scene of the accident. Construction workers were working on the highway when they saw Gerow’s car go by ‘at a high rate of speed’, making a horrible racket with sparks flying everywhere … because … there was a motorcycle stuck to the front grill of Gerow’s car!
A few miles further up the highway, State Police were watching for speeders and pulled Gerow over. Gerow claims he is innocent, and his lawyer has decided … with no evidence, mind you … that the disabled motorcycle must have been lying on the highway and Gerow hit it with his car, without realizing it. Now … I have a problem with this scenario, and I seriously hope the Pennsylvania State Police have the sense to see the problem. First … if you hit a motorcycle, especially at a high rate of speed, you know it. It will make a horrible noise. It will jerk your vehicle and throw you forward and rattle your brains a bit. And the construction workers said that it was making a horrible noise, dragging the ground and causing sparks to fly … and this was several miles from where the accident happened, so ol’ Charlie must have been deaf and blind, in which case he shouldn’t be driving anyway.
Charlie’s lawyer must have been grasping at straws … I’m surprised any honest lawyer would even take this case! Oh wait … ‘honest lawyer’ — what an oxymoron! The most logical answer is that Charlie was under the influence of something … alcohol or drugs. One person who attended the fundraiser from which Charlie had just come claims she never saw him drink a drop, and one of his associates claims he doesn’t drink alcohol. Sorry, folks, it isn’t adding up for me. And there is no way in hell … no matter what the circumstances … that this guy should become the governor of Pennsylvania. NO WAY!!!
Oops, Marco!
Republicans don’t miss too many opportunities to mock or denigrate members of the Biden administration, and Marco Rubio, Republican senator from Florida, grabbed for the golden ring … and missed … last Thursday.
Responding to a video of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arriving in the Philippines – masked and wearing a face shield – Rubio tweeted …
“Our @SecDef is vaccinated. But he arrives in the Philippines wearing a mask AND a face shield. Embarrassing COVID theatre.”
But guess what, Marco? As Politico editor Dave Brown posted in response:
From the embassy: “The Philippine government has mandated that everyone must wear full-coverage face shields together with face masks while in public places. Local governments continue to implement additional requirements to slow the virus’ spread”
Hmmmm … is that egg I see on Marco’s face?
Uh-oh … the rent is due
Congress failed to pass legislation that would have extended the moratorium on housing evictions yesterday … actually, it didn’t seem that they even tried all that hard. Even congressional Democrats didn’t go the extra mile to get this done, and now Congress is on summer break for the month of August. More than seven million households owe back rent and could face eviction this month.
One Democratic Senator, Cori Bush, tried on Friday night to convince her colleagues to get off their collective arses. She actually slept on the steps of the Capitol on Friday night, saying …
“How are we on vacation when we have millions of people who could start to be evicted tonight? I am dirty, sticky, sweaty. I still have on what I had on last night. This is how people will have to live if we don’t do something. Seven million, 6 million, 11 million, however many it is, they deserve human dignity and deserve for people that represent them to show up, do the work, to make sure basic needs are met today.”
A noble gesture, and I do applaud her efforts, but they were all for naught. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blames the president for not giving them more notice, but the truth is they were all aware of the Supreme Court ruling a month ago that said the moratorium would only be allowed to be extended by an act of Congress. It isn’t rocket science, folks!
The New York Times has published an interactive map that enables you to see how many people in a given county are likely to be subject to eviction. In my own neighborhood, it is only about 14%, but in some areas, especially South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi, it can be as high as nearly 30%! A few states and cities, like California, New York and New Jersey, have enacted their own temporary eviction bans that last a bit longer, but they are too few.
Today, with the surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus, experts are predicting that there will yet again be closings and layoffs, and many people still have not been able to return to work. One of my readers argued the other day that they are too lazy to return, but that is not the case at all. Some companies closed their doors for good last year, as the pandemic drove them into bankruptcy, and other companies have brought only a portion of their workers back at this point.
Remember, my friends, the pandemic is NOT over, nor is it likely to be anytime soon, given the resistance of far too many to being vaccinated. Some have been unable to return to work due to their health or their childcare providers being closed due to the pandemic. There are many reasons, but the sad fact is that the majority of those who are vulnerable to eviction are families with children. Landlords, for the most part, are only concerned with their profit, not humanity.
Bumbling Boris … or … Brollygate!
Last but not least, I thought you might enjoy a bit of humour from ‘cross the big pond! Boris is often a bumbling figure, and learning to use an umbrella, or a ‘brolly’, is worthy of at least a few chuckles.
Last night I read that a number of House Republicans are protesting the mandate that Congressional aides and visitors must wear masks, as per the U.S. Capitol Police. Of course they are … that is all they do, is object to anything and everything. They are much like the annoying, obnoxious lawyer who jumps up and dramatically yells “Objection, your Honour” every time the prosecution calls a witness or asks a question. I have referred to the GOP more than once as “The party of ‘No’” and this just proves my point.
The Republican members of Congress, with few exceptions, are parrots, repeating their chants over and over again, never speaking with intellect, never saying anything of substance. It’s just a continual chant of “Hell no, we won’t go”. Hell no, they won’t support the right of We the People, the taxpayers who pay their bloated salaries, to vote. Hell no, they won’t support taking care of the people of this nation who have suffered financially and otherwise during this ongoing pandemic. Hell no, they won’t tell their constituents to get the vaccine so that this nation might someday rise above the ashes of COVID. Hell no, they won’t encourage people to wear a mask in order to protect themselves and others, for they won’t even wear a mask themselves. Hell no, they won’t vote for an increase in the minimum wage such that every working person is at the very least above the poverty level. Hell no, they don’t want an investigation into the attempted coup on January 6th because they are ALL complicit to one extent or another. Hell no, the Republicans DO NOT CARE ONE WHIT for the people of this country.
I am sick and tired of listening to Kevin McCarthy telling lies that he knows are lies, as he tries to worm his way into the heart of only one person … the former guy. I am fed up to the gills with Jim Jordan and his rolled up blue sleeves and yellow necktie (does the ‘man’ not own any other clothing?) as he continues to push back, without cause, against every single thing that President Biden and his administration are trying to do for We the People! I literally feel nauseous every time I see the newbies like Margie Greene, Matt Gaetz, Josh Hawley, and Lauren Boebert pretend to be viable members of our legislative body, while at the same time toting guns into the Capitol, supporting conspiracy theories, and killing their own constituents by lying to them.
And what is being done to stop the madness? Nothing. Talk, talk, talk, and more talk on Capitol Hill, and nothing changes. But it isn’t only the politicians … what the hell are We the People doing? Nothing. The anti-vaxxers are in the streets screeching about their ‘god-given’ right to refuse the vaccine, to refuse to wear a mask, but where are the protests about our constitutionally mandated voting rights being taken away? The 2nd Amendment supporters are vocal enough, but where are the rest of us, those of us who believe that our right to safety is more important than their right to their killing machines? Understand that I include myself in this conversation, for I’m not out protesting loudly, either, but merely sitting in my kitchen office writing a blog, occasionally writing to members of Congress to express my displeasure, and lying awake nights cursing at the ceiling. We are, it seems, the silent majority. Meanwhile, the Republicans are being heard loud and clear, killing whatever is left of this nation. The Founding Fathers would not be proud of what we have become.
A few nights ago a friend left the following comment on one of my posts:
“And so America ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. A voice from beneath the rubble, ‘I really didn’t mean to kill America. I just wanted to hear myself talk.’”
Tonight I am in an introspective mood. Angst-ridden, vexed, and a bit despairing, I sought a song or two that could cheer me. I strayed from my usual Stevie Wonder/Lionel Richie cure, and went further back … back to a simpler time, but was it really? At any rate, back to the music of our parents or our early childhoods. If you ask my faves from back in that day, I would immediately answer: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Louis Armstrong. So tonight, let’s just go with the first one … a redux from May 2019 … two of my favourite Sinatra songs …
Ellen correctly noted that I have never played a Sinatra song here, and the reason is that I thought perhaps he wouldn’t have a mass appeal, though I grew up on Sinatra and like his voice and much of his music just fine. At any rate, the suggestion was to play his iconic song, My Way, as a tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes. I debated, for I was rather more inclined to play New York, New York. And finally, I threw up my hands and said “What the heck … I shall offer them both”. Since the lyrics are on-screen with the first video, I present only the lyrics to accompany the second.
The lyrics to My Way, released by Sinatra in 1969, were written by Paul Anka and set to the music of the French song Comme d’habitude co-composed and co-written (with Jacques Revaux), and performed in 1967 by Claude François. Anka’s English lyrics are unrelated to the original French song. The song was a success for a variety of performers including Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Sid Vicious. Sinatra’s version spent 75 weeks in the UK Top 40, a record which still stands.
Paul Anka heard the original 1967 French pop song, Comme d’habitude (translation: As Usual) performed by Claude François, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song. In a 2007 interview, he said, “I thought it was a shitty record, but there was something in it.” He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for the mere sum of one dollar, subject to the provision that the melody’s composers would retain their original share of royalty rights with respect to whatever versions Anka or his designates created or produced. Some time later, Anka had a dinner in Florida with Frank Sinatra and “a couple of Mob guys” during which Sinatra said “I’m quitting the business. I’m sick of it; I’m getting the hell out.”
Anka went back to New York and re-wrote the song for Sinatra …
“At one o’clock in the morning, I sat down at an old IBM electric typewriter and said, ‘If Frank were writing this, what would he say?’ And I started, metaphorically, ‘And now the end is near.’ I read a lot of periodicals, and I noticed everything was ‘my this’ and ‘my that’. We were in the ‘me generation’ and Frank became the guy for me to use to say that. I used words I would never use: ‘I ate it up and spit it out.’ But that’s the way he talked. I used to be around steam rooms with the Rat Pack guys – they liked to talk like Mob guys, even though they would have been scared of their own shadows.”
Anka finished the song at 5:00 in the morning, called Sinatra who was performing in Vegas, and the rest is history.
Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, at the age of 82, after a heart attack. The next night, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City were turned blue, the lights at the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor, and the casinos stopped spinning for one minute. Wow … now that’s a tribute!
New York, New York Frank Sinatra
Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leavin’ today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York
I wanna to wake up, in a city that doesn’t sleep
And find I’m king of the hill
Top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I’ll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere
It’s up to you, New York, New York
New York, New York
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m a number one, top of the list
King of the hill, a number one
These little town blues, are melting away
I’m gonna make a brand new start of it
In old New York
And
If I can make it there
I’m gonna make it anywhere
It’s up to you, New York
New York
New York
Given an over-abundance of angst and exhaustion, both mental and physical, I am taking the very lazy way out tonight and reduxing one of my first Saturday Surprise posts. Naturally, you won’t be surprised to learn it’s a critter post! This was first posted in 2017 at a time when I apparently felt much as I do tonight! Still, the cuteness factor never loses its charm. I hope you enjoy these …
Well, folks, it’s been a long week … what? You say it was actually a short week, since Monday was a holiday? Sigh. Then it’s been an even longer week — a long, short week, as it were. I don’t know about you guys, but I am t-i-r-e-d. So, I’ve decided to take a little break from doing much writing today and just show you some cute/funny animals. I like animals. They do not waste their days (and nights) arguing over politics, climate, sports, the opposite sex, or anything. If they have an issue with a fellow critter, they duke it out, maybe eat their nemesis, then get on with whatever business they were doing. A simple, straightforward approach to life. Humans, however, think they were endowed with a ‘superior’ brain, thus they spend all their time proving just how inane they really are. And on that note … let us view some furry dudes and have something cute to start the weekend with a smile.
Hugs ‘n kisses … now who wouldn’t love these?
These are ‘pygmy marmosets’, and they are actually the smallest species of monkey, found in the Amazon rain forests.. Don’t they just melt your heart?
SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING IT ON!!!
“Guys…guys….hey guys, i cant see you, are you home?? I’ve been trying to call all day but no one will answer.”
I posted the bear pic on my Facebook timeline yesterday, and people just started writing captions. So, I decided I would use the best caption on this post. Caption credit goes to my friend, James (Jimmy) Schrauder. Thanks, Jimmy! (Note … James (Jimmy) Schrauder died two years later in October 2019 at the age of only 30😢)
This, folks, is a Bengal cat. No, not a tiger, a domestic cat, developed to look like exotic jungle cats such as leopards, ocelots, margays and clouded leopards. They typically weigh between 8-15 pounds.
You know I couldn’t resist including a panda!
Or a couple of snuggly koalas …
Awwwwww …. say ‘hello’ to these adorable Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrels. They are native to Japan, where they are said to be relatively common. They grow only to about 8 inches.
Brrrrrrr …. this baby elephant looks rather cold, don’t you think?
And last, but not least, a sleeping baby deer. BAMBI!!!!!
And now, we’ve had our share of cuteness to start out the weekend. I hope you enjoyed the animals. Now it’s time for Filosofa to do the thing that I have been putting off for the entire summer, and clean out the storage closet out back. Sigh. Fortunately I have a helper … Miss Goose will be doing the heavy lifting and carting off to the trash, while I supervise and determine what stays and what goes.
I hope you all have a great weekend! Hugs ‘n love from Filosofa!
A few days ago, I re-blogged a post by new blogging friend Quentin over at WeTheCommoners. The post detailed the history of U.S.-Iranian relations and provided a timeline of how we got where we are today. At time, I asked Quentin if he might consider a follow-up giving his assessment of where we go from here, where he sees the relationship heading over the coming years/decades. This post is a result of that conversation, and I think you’ll find that Quentin has a good understanding of the relationship between the two countries and has provided a thought-provoking assessment. Thank you, Quentin, both for this post and your permission to share it!
The Dark Road Ahead: The Future of U.S.-Iranian Relations
One of my most popular posts “How We Got Here: An Illustrated Timeline of U.S.-Iranian Relations” went over the last couple of decades of U.S.-Iranian relations. The illustrated timeline showed the events that deteriorated relations to the poor point at which they now stand.
In this post, I’ll discuss what I believe the future will look like for U.S.-Iranian relations based off of current political and diplomatic trends.
Continued U.S. Escalation Through Rhetoric and Sanctions
The U.S. and Iran have engaged with one another in a tit-for-tat fashion over the last few decades, with the C.I.A. coup in 1953 and subsequent Iranian Revolution in 1979 serving as catalysts toward disaster. The kidnapping of American hostages in the Tehran embassy will always serve as a hot point between the two nations as well.
The return of American hostages from Iran.
Following attempts to restrict Iranian access to nuclear weapons through the Iran nuclear deal, the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 with then-president Donald Trump citing that the deal wouldn’t sufficiently ensure that Iran would not gain access to nuclear weapons.
The United States has placed sanctions on Iran for decades, and those sanctions continue on to the present day.
I’m not a big fan of Canadian band The Guess Who, but they did a few … well, actually one … that I liked. And tonight’s selection, These Eyes, is that one! The only other one I’m familiar with is American Woman, and I don’t care for it.
Although The Guess Who started in 1960 as Al and the Silvertones, it would be two name changes and nine years later before this, their breakthrough hit that brought them international acclaim. The group was started by Randy Bachman and Chad Allan, but Bachman left the band in May 1970, shortly after the release of American Woman, and went on to start Bachman-Turner Overdrive along with two of his brothers, Tim and Robbie, and another member, Fred Turner.
Bachman says that he started writing this song when he was waiting in the living room at the house of his date, Lorayne Stevenson. She was taking a long time getting ready so Bachman sat at the piano and wrote the beginning of this song. He and Lorayne later married and produced 6 children in the 10 years of their marriage.
The song was released in Canada in December 1968, and in the U.S. in March 1969 where it rose to #6. The song did not chart in the UK, though I’ve learned that often means little, for several of my UK friends know and like songs that didn’t chart in their own country. The song has been covered many times over the years, probably the most well-known by Junior Walker and the All Stars that went to #3 in the U.S. Michael Bolton also covered the song in 1976.
The original title of this song was to be These Arms, but Bachman changed it to These Eyes. At first, the band didn’t even want to release the song considering the gentle ballad too great a departure from their hard rock roots. The song features an orchestral arrangement by Ben McPeek.
These Eyes The Guess Who
These eyes cry every night for you
These arms long to hold you again
The hurtin’s on me, yeah
And I will never be free, no, my baby, no no
You gave a promise to me, yeah
An’ you broke it, an’ you broke it, oh no
These eyes watched you bring my world to an end
This heart could not accept and pretend
The hurtin’s on me, yeah
And I will never be free, no, no, no
You took the vow with me, yeah
An’ you spoke it, an’ you spoke it, babe
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But they’re never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But they’re never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But they’re never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes cry every night for you
These arms, these arms long to hold you, hold you again
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But their never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But their never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But their never gonna see another one like I had with you
These eyes are cryin’
These eyes have seen a lot of loves
But their never gonna see another one like I had with you
Baby, baby, baby, baby
Don’t ya know these eyes are cryin’ every night
I need you back in my heart…
Some days my head simply spins on its axis (my neck) trying to keep up with everything happening in the nation, the world today. There are days that I can pick a topic, focus, and write a relatively coherent post on a single topic. Other days, however, I simply cannot gain that level of focus that is requisite, so instead I toss out a few snippets, usually snarky ones. Today is such a day. The week is topsy-turvy and my mind is spinning at somewhere around 136 rpm (revolutions per minute). Thus, today I give you another episode of Snarky Snippets …
Will Congress find their conscience, or will millions be living on the streets soon?
The current eviction moratorium, that prohibits landlords from evicting tenants who have fallen behind on their rent, is set to expire tomorrow. This means, in a nutshell, that millions of people could be without a home soon … millions, not hundreds, not thousands, but millions, the majority of them children. It was hoped that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would extend the moratorium, given the new surge in cases due to the Delta variant (and the anti-vaxxers), but last month, when the Supreme Court upheld the current moratorium, they also made it clear that it could not be extended again except by an act of Congress.
President Biden called on Congress to act “without delay” to extend the eviction moratorium. Biden’s request prompted House and Senate Democrats to begin exploring whether they could rally enough votes to approve the new protections for renters. It remains unclear if Congress has the time and support to act ahead of the current July 31st deadline.
I have very little doubt that the members of the House of Representatives will rally and manage to vote ‘yea’ on a hastily prepared bill that will keep millions of people sheltered. However, once such a bill reaches the Senate, possibly even sometime today, it will almost certainly go into the “Dead Bills” bin along with the For the People Act and probably hundreds of other pieces of legislation that the senate Republicans, along with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are holding up in a game of roulette. Let’s hope I’m wrong, for with the current heat wave that is affecting some 20 states at the moment, this is no time to be living on the streets.
The Four Stooges … or the Four Gs
Yesterday, Representatives Matt Gaetz (the sex trafficker), Margie Greene (QAnon member in good standing), Paul Gosar (white supremacist extraordinaire), and Louie Gohmert (the idiot in too many ways to count), went to the D.C. Department of Corrections (where they should all be standing on the other side) in an attempt to visit some of the prisoners who have been arrested in connection with their role in attacking Congress and the Capitol on January 6th. They were turned away by jail officials. The Four Gs claimed they were there to inspect the treatment of suspects. Funny, isn’t it, that at least tens of thousands pass through the prison system each year, yet these three never came to check on those people.
Now, I may have a suspicious mind, but given that the four were accompanied by cameras from right-wing news organizations, I have a sneaking hunch that this was intended as a photo op, as an excuse to rile the masses yet again, as they surely knew they couldn’t just waltz in and visit with the prisoners of their choice.
When told that they were “obstructing entrance into this facility,” Gohmert responded …
“We’re the people that vote on whether or not to fund you, at what level, and we’re trespassing?”
WHOA … can we say ‘abuse of power’ or throwing one’s weight around? For the record, Congress has ZERO influence, for the D.C. Detention Center is not a federal facility and is fully funded by Washington, D.C. taxpayers.
The action at the jail was the group’s second this week, after they barged into the Justice Department on Tuesday trying to ask questions about the detention of January 6th suspects awaiting trial and whether any were being held in solitary confinement. Gosar called them “political prisoners” who are being “persecuted” and unjustly punished. Oh wait … pobrecitos … were they not the ones dressed like maniacal cavemen carrying clubs, bear spray, and other weapons on that fateful day? Were they not the ones that scaled the outer walls of the Capitol, beat police officers, broke windows to gain access, and caused millions of dollars in damage to OUR property? Excuse me, perhaps I’m thinking of a different bunch of bozos.
Gohmert seemed to be the spokesperson for the bunch and said …
“The supervisor came down and was standing right here and turned her back on me. The other one said she won’t talk anymore and that we’re trespassers. We’re in totalitarian, Marxist territory here. This is the way third-world people get treated.”
Get a life, Louie!!!
And of course, ol’ Margie also feigned indignance …
“We suspect there is a two-tier justice system in the United States, for Trump supporters that are charged for Jan. 6 and catch-and-release for BLM rioters.”
Yeah, that’s right, Margie … when a cop pulls a person over, the first question out of his mouth is to ask whether the person is a trumpeter or not … if he is, then he is carted off to the Gulag, never to be seen or heard from again. Sheesh, but how did we manage to get so many dumbasses in Congress this time ‘round??? And four of ‘em whose surname starts with ‘G’. One media outlet, The Hill, referred to them as the ‘seditious four’ … sounds about right to me.
A dangerous thing to say
One of the Four G’s, Margie Greene, made a very dangerous statement when speaking to the Alabama Federation of Republican Women last week. First, she told the group that President Biden “is going to be sending one of his police state friends to your door,” referring to the volunteers the president has mentioned sending to rural areas to help people better understand and have access to the vaccination. But the worst part was when she told them …
“We all love our Second Amendment rights, and we don’t like the federal government coming on our property to tell us what to do. You have HIPAA rights and you do not have to tell your medical information and you can tell them to get off your front porch and get off your front lawn.”
WHOA NELLIE! This is a lawmaker, a member of Congress, advising people to get their guns out … this is incitement to violence, plain and simple! In my book, that statement alone is grounds for her immediate expulsion from Congress. Mr. Kevin McCarthy damn well better take action … it is long past due.
Today, I am deeply disappointed in a large portion of this nation. Oh, there are many reasons, but my current angst is fueled by some responses I have read and heard to the testimony of the four police officers before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection on Tuesday.
First, I would like to ask that you watch this 8-minute interview Don Lemon did with Officer Michael Fanone yesterday. Lemon plays a clip of a voicemail that Officer Fanone received during the time he was testifying and … it is so vile, so disgusting, so cruel … but I think it’s important to understand how a certain segment of our society thinks. My apologies, but I cannot embed this video, however here is the link:
Tragic and disgusting. Officer Fanone and every other officer who defended the Capitol and protected our lawmakers on that day are heroes, and yet this is how we treat them???
And then there were a multitude of comments from a variety of sources. I won’t give the people who uttered these comments the attention they seek by mentioning their names, only their words …
Corrections officers around the country get the shit kicked out of them and their faces slashed many times yearly by violent inmates, yet you never see any of them crying like a little bitches at congressional hearings.
I am shocked at the cowardice. They should be fired – not fit for duty.
Cowards all.
Did they not even practice their fake crying before this hearing?
Let’s hear the testimonies of the cops from Philadelphia, New York, Denver, Portland and all the other cities who had to deal with BLM/ANTIFA riots last summer.
What a pussy. “You guys won, you held.” Um, people weren’t there to do anything, they got bored and left. That’s because it wasn’t an insurrection and more than half the people there walked in open doors with the permission of the police.
Some of the people uttering this filth are our elected officials, others are media ‘personalities’. But the comment that disturbed me the most, I think, came from one of my own readers, a man I consider a friend, Scott Lawlor …
“this was not an insurrection, it was mostly peaceful people going to make their voices heard on results they didn’t agree with. now, for the record, anyone who broke the law, which was a minority by the way, should absolutely be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
they took their grievances to the seat of power, which is a better thing to do than, oh, I don’t know, burn buildings, attack people and steal, like blm and antifa did last summer causing around 2 billion dollars in property damage. The democrats in this hearing are just a bunch of crybabies, you can tell the emotionalism is all fake and for show. We weren’t an hour away from marshal law, AOC wasn’t fearing for her life since she wasn’t even there, this is just all lies and propaganda by the democrat elites and the media to paint every single republican and conservative as a brainless white supremacist and I am sick and tired of the intollerence from these elitists who believe the narrative and continue to give voice to their obvious disdain for anyone who may thing differently from them.
It’s a free country and just as a progressive can say, write, and think anything they want, I have the freedom to disagree with those thoughts but it seems to me that it’s the democrats who are more intollerant than any conservatives I know.”
He then included a video put out by The Rubin Report titled “Shameful Theatrics” whereby Dave Rubin basically echoes what Scott said, only took far longer to say it. I must admit that it seems to me people in this country no longer care about truth, about facts, about fairness and I despair for the future of this country. People hear someone like Tucker Carlson or Dave Rubin giving their own distorted view of the facts, whether about the COVID vaccine or Black Lives Matter or voting rights or the January 6th insurrection (and yes, it WAS an insurrection!) and they become as parrots, chirping that opinion to others, mindless of the facts.
It is a pitiful reflection on a nation when facts are thrown in the trash and sensationalism becomes the norm, when heroes who save lives are denigrated, and when truth is mocked.
It’s been a few years since I played this one, and it was brought back to the forefront of my mind when Keith recalled singing it to his children when they were young. Ever since his mention of it, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head, so … let me see if I can plant it in your head instead!
Danny’s Song was written by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. Although Anne Murray made it famous in 1973, taking the song to #1 in Canada and #7 in the US, this is more associated with Kenny Loggins, and frankly I like the Loggins/Messina version best. However, since I realize that my opinion is not the only one that counts, I offer both, so you can take your pick.
Danny’s Song Kenny Loggins
People smile and tell me I’m the lucky one
And we’ve just begun
Think I’m gonna have a son
He will be like she and me, as free as a dove
Conceived in love
Sun is gonna shine above
And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you honey
And everything will bring a chain of love
And in the mornin’ when I rise
Bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be alright
Seems as though a month ago I was Beta Chi
Never got high
Oh, was a sorry guy
And now I smile and face the girl that shares my name, yeah
Now I’m through with the game
This boy’ll never be the same
And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you honey
And everything will bring a chain of love
And in the mornin’ when I rise
Bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be all right
Pisces Virgo rising is a very good sign
Strong and kind
And the little boy is mine
Now I see a family where there once was none
Now we’ve just begun
Yeah we’re gonna fly to the sun
And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you honey
And everything will bring a chain of love
And in the mornin’ when I rise
You bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be all right
Love the girl who holds the world in a paper cup
Drink it up
Love her and she’ll bring you luck
And if you find she helps your mind
Buddy, take her home
Yeah, don’t you live alone
Try to earn what lovers own
And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you honey
And everything will bring a chain of love
And in the mornin’ when I rise
You bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be alright
Ramsdell has 1.7 million followers, and has even done duet videos with Isaac Johnson, whose 4-inch gape earned him the male version of the record. Says Ramsdell …
