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Rest In Peace -United States of America

Rest In Peace
United States of America
July 4, 1776 – January 20, 2025
“Even God could not save her from the religious.”

There needs to be some serious soul searching amongst the denizens of this country.  There was no sane, moral or ethical reason for having voted for the chimera that is DJT, especially this time around, as his psychopathy had been on full display for years.

If you voted for him because your religion is preaching an Armageddon / Second Coming of Christ fantasy, and he is the the agent that God will use to fulfill those end days delusions, you need to apply critical thinking skills to what they are  spewing from the pulpits and to religion in general.  But then again, it seems to me, the only way for people to be religious is to forego thinking critically about it.  With the Evangelicals embracing DJT as they have, faith has become a four letter word in my book.

God save us from the religious.

For the first time in my life I am truly afraid, afraid of future, afraid of what this country is becoming, afraid of many of my fellow citizens, afraid of what DJT and his ilk are going to do to this world. The only bright spot I can see in this cluster f*** is that I will not be around much longer to witness it.

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20 Lessons on Tyranny: by Timothy Snyder / read by John Lithgow

20 lessons for our troubled times as read by one of my favorite actors, John Lithgow

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A Test for Our Elected Officials: Two Beers and a Puppy

Okay I am a Johnny-come-lately to the “Two beers and a Puppy” test.  I became aware of it when a friend of ours sent a text to Señora and I saying that we both were a Yes and a Yes. Undoubtedly, she was thinking of charismatic Señora more than Señora’s curmudgeonly Plus One.

In an article about the test Ross McCammon starts out by saying,“’Two Beers and a Puppy’ is a test that I developed while working at Esquire.” Another article whose author I could not ascertain went on to say the story being worked on was about the American “son of a bitch”. Whether it has any tie in to the “Two Beers and a Puppy” test I do not know, but a search on American“son of a bitch” and Esquire came up with an article from Roy Blount Jr. that was an interesting read: Let Us Now Praise The Son of a Bitch

The Test

In order to find out how you actually feel about Continue reading “A Test for Our Elected Officials: Two Beers and a Puppy”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,735

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

There is a deeply profound quote by the comedian Jerry Seinfeld that goes:

“Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don’t stare at it. It’s too risky. Ya get a sense of it and then you look away.”

I was thinking about this quote the other day as I was wondering what it would be like to actually understand women.  Would it be like looking into the sun without protective eye gear? Would it be like looking into the eye of Mordor?  Would you turn to stone as you would if you were to look a Medusa? Would it be your doom, like listening to the Siren’s song? Would it be like passing the light at the end of the tunnel, never to return?  Would the number 42 start flashing at you from the cosmos?

Asking for a friend.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #5,716

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

If Homo sapiens have a lingua franca, it is mathematics. Unfortunately, most of us only speak it at the most basic of levels, pidgin English, if you will.  At least sitting here in the United States.  I have the impression that math is emphasized more in other countries, much like second and third languages are more common outside our borders.

I could not stand it, so I looked up our ranking…

U.S. math scores decline dramatically on international test

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Cheap Vacation

Señora tends to collect the airplane size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion and even bars of soap that have not been opened from the various hotels and motels we stay at.  I will, by spells, also gratify the penny-pincher in me by doing the same.

I was in her bathroom the other day, and I noticed several of these bottles lined up on the window sill, including two bottles of body wash with honey in them from our last sojourn to a resort south of Cancun, Mexico.

Thinking I should at least put the body wash to good use, I liberated them from her space to the shower in my bathroom.   As I spilled a bit of the Mexican, honey-scented body wash on to my fluffy, gray washcloth I was instantly transported back to the beautiful beach on the Riviera Maya. You cannot go there any cheaper than that.

Da Curmudgeon before Señora kissed him! Indubitably when she kissed this mini dragon she was hoping and expecting Prince Charming to appear. Instead Señora was “blessed” with a grouchy old man.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,274

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

I tend to “meditate” in the downstairs bathroom as that is where we keep all our bathroom “literature”. The other two WCs are not arranged in a fashion that would not damage the books.  Frequently, afterwards, there is a malodorous miasma engulfing the whole of the first floor of our dwelling.  As I travel from there to other realms of our abode I will pass The Wee Dog, aka Prancess Lily, on one of her many perches.  I sometimes wonder if she is stewing, thinking why does he get to do it inside and he makes me go outside.

Or not… random thought INDEED!

I really just wanted to use the phrase malodorous miasma.  I will admit to having a weakness for puns (the worst the better), and, in this case, alliteration. While I am not aware of any, there should really be an AA style group for those of us suffering such a monstrous malady.

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Sheer Hubris

The following video was passed on to me by one of my Spanish tutors who is Mexican and lives a little north of Mexico City in Querétaro. Apparently the United States is running this ad on Mexican television.  Having become skeptical of most things on da ‘Net, I did a search (on the da ‘Net) to see if it was real.  It is.  Kristi Noem’s TV Ad Calling to ‘Hunt’ Down Migrants Faces Ban

Besides the sheer hubris of this country running this ad in another country, my other thought was that if they have millions of dollars to run such ads why are they not spending those millions of dollars on US citizens??? My other question is, why are we arguing with our good neighbors, Mexico and Canada? It makes absolutely no sense anyway I dice it.  It is simplistic on my part, I am sure, but if you want to fight illegal immigration, one good way would be to help provide economic opportunities in their countries.  Most of these folks are just looking for work, for opportunities that are not currently available in their country. That too would be a better use of those millions of dollars.

But then on the other hand we have a similar situation here.  It is called Fox News which was started and probably still owned by a foreign national, Rupert Murdoch. I have never figured out if Fox News was one of the causes or a symptom of our current national malaise. Probably both.

And so it should not go.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,192

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

As I stumbled back to bed after yet another early morning visit to the bathroom, I glanced at the clock radio. It read 4:44 . “Well,” thought I, “three of a kind with two of those in the hole. It is time to press your bets.”

I wondered how many other folks were playing pre-dawn poker at that instant.

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50-Word Stories

Our friend, Jeanne Felfe, introduced me to the series of books of 50 word stories, micro-fiction.  She has one that was published in the 2024 edition.

Below is one story by Edward Di Gangi that especially talked to me:

It was the last time I would see her. She became one of a collection of women I had, without intention, strung together like a necklace of semi-precious stones and who, years later, I realized had loved me and that I had too carelessly discarded.

Perhaps why this piece of micro-fiction talked to me so was that I have, on more than one occasion, described exes as ghosts haunting my soul. This is especially true, as at least with a two or three of my former relationships, I do not feel like we worked out whatever karma it was we were trying to work out.  Long sigh, deep breath.

Link to the edition with Jeanne’s story: The 50-Word Stories of 2024: Microfiction for Lovers of Quick Reads (50 Give or Take)

Here is a link to Jeanne’s personal author page: Jeanne Felfe

And to her page on Amazon: Jeanne’s Amazon page

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Vanity Plate for the Day – HEYALL

Vanity Plate of the Day… not actually daily, but whenever I encounter one in the wild that I think worth sharing and there are not too many in sequence.  When I was commuting from my home to downtown St. Louis and back, I was spending anywhere from an hour and half to two hours daily in rush hour traffic. I used the exercise of deciphering vanity plates to help pass the time… plus sometimes they are very clever and worth sharing.

This one was on the back of a big, black SUV.  I did not catch the make or model.  Obviously a jammed up Hey Y’all.  I wish I had thought of it.

To see more Vanity Plates of the Day use this link: Vanity Plates of the Day

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