Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt

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New Appellation for He-who-should-not-be-named

A word I have been encountering much of late is enshittification. Strangely enough it is being used by public figures that I do not generally associate with using colorful language.  Although Paul Krugman is a bit of an exception since he has left the New York Times. I always felt like he was holding back a wee bit when he was a columnist for that newspaper for 24 years.  Since he has gone to Substack and other platforms (and perhaps because he is in his 70s), he has become more colorful.

The meaning of enshittification is obvious, but for a deeper and more nuanced explanation of the word see Word of the Day – Enshittification that I put out a month or so ago.

Given all of that, I have come up with a new name of El puta pendejo naranjo: Enshittificator-in-chief

Enshittificator-in-chief

Someday this nightmare will end… someday.

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How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control | Robert Reich

This country has more problems than a monkey on a rock, but to my way of thinking, this is one of the biggest, the out of control, growing wealth gap.  The issue is explained very clearly by one of my favorite “pundits”, Robert Reich.  America has never been a very fair country, but it is certainly the goal we should be aiming for.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,594

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.

All I am saying is that is a good thing they do not put horns on golf carts.  I would be trouble at least some of the time.

What brought that up?  I was playing behind a twosome who had loaded up with beer before teeing off.  By about the 15th hole their golf had become very erratic, and their concern for we folks playing behind them nil. Unfortunately, there are more than a few souls who use golf as an excuse to drink. Oh well.

I don’t know if behavior has become worse on public golf courses, but it seems to have.  COVID brought out a lot of new golfers as it was seen as semi-safe activity to do with other folks.  Then you add in Bluetooth speakers that allow folks to play music on the golf course, usually much too loud.  I have had more than one “discussion” with other golfers about their music.  It amazes me at one level with ear buds, mini audio-phones so ubiquitous.

As my granddaddy was fond of saying, “there is a time place for everything.”

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Sometimes it is Binary

I do not see many things in life as being either black or white, but mostly I see them as gray. This is especially true when we are speaking of ethics, psychology, religion, etc. This is actually a bit of a curse, but that is a topic for another night of rambling thoughts.

Even in physics – or maybe especially so – things are not either/or, that is the point of quantum mechanics.  I have a vague understanding of this field, but the key word is vague (very vague).  The state of any particular particle is a matter of probabilities rather than certainties. The first time I read that light was both a particle and wave, I scratched my head until it bled.

However, in life, we are sometimes given a binary option.  We can hang on to a wrong, a slight, an injustice – perceived or real, stewing in it to the point of becoming bitter, or we can let it go. This is especially true as there is no way to go back and change the past. Life moves on whether we do or not.

Just saying.

*******

What started this particular piece of rambling was a group text chat that I was a part of.  It started as a rant against that horrible waste of protoplasm known as tRump.  I chimed in with a comment. What I got back was a bitter statement about a situation in this person’s life that only had a vague connection to the subject of the group chat.

And yes, I am self-aware enough to know that I am not nearly as self-aware as I give myself credit for being self-aware.  All by way of saying that the above applies to me as well.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,000

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 am beginning to understand something I have seen often, and, is in fact, a bit of a stereotype.  It may be due to the weight I have lost of late, or perhaps the way my body has changed as my hair has whitened. Whatever the cause, I find myself hitching my britches up way up past my hips in an attempt to keep them from sagging down around my knees. I show my ass often enough without actually showing my ass.

So, if you see  me walking with my trousers up around my armpits, I am not trying to imitate Steve Urkel, I am just old.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,467

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 was on a beer run.  As I was entering the package store late on this sunny afternoon, three sweet young things were exiting. They were dressed in their best summertime, revealing outfits.  Even if you only had a few milligrams of testosterone floating around in your system, it would have been hard to not have checked them out, which I was.  As I got near to the gaggle of girls I overheard one of them say to another, “I will turn 25 before you turn 23.”

All of sudden I felt like a dirty old man… oh well.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,374

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 was shopping for staples at Aldi, browsing through the produce section I encountered cucumbers in their original shipping cartons, labeled both in English and Spanish.  What caught my attention was the carton labeled “conventional cucumber”.  Made wonder what an unconventional cucumber was, and could I get one to try.

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Bragging on myself a little

Of course, if you knew how long this took me you might be saying why is he bragging.  I started the first of this year and just finished up the 1st of July. “What are you bragging about, for gawd’s sake?” you grumble.  Legitimate question, I suppose.

I just finished reading The Hobbit and all three volumes of the Lord of Rings… in Spanish.

Just to list a few

I have read a fair number of novels in Spanish.  For instance, I have read three of Gabriel Garcia Máquez’s shorter novels in his native language.  Isabel Allende’s novel, La casa de los espíritus. One very strange novel by Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo. The novel is supposedly very Mexican, whatever that means.  Two novels that I have been told every Filipino school child reads by José Rizal, Noli me tangere and El filibusterismo .  Not that they are books for children, Continue reading “Bragging on myself a little”

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Public Comment Period: Proposed Monumental Arch at Memorial Circle

Submit your comments at: https://savingplaces.org/monumental-arch

Yet another example of El puta pendejo‘s ego run amok.  No matter how you spin it, this is a monument, aka Arc de Trump, to the insatiable hole that is the tRump’s ego.  I had no idea that it would have such a drastic and negative effect on what the National Park Service is calling the viewscape. However, it right in line with his defacement of the White House and his attempt to plaster the obscenity that is his name all over Washington, D.C.   I see it as slap in the face to all veterans buried at Arlington and to Lincoln as the 250 foot tall Arc with dwarf the Lincoln Memorial and the entrance to the Arlington Cemetery.

And what a horrible waste of tax money when he the Republican party are doing their best to take away health care and social program from millions of Americans.  Does his hubris, his cruelty have no bounds?

If you have been to Washington, D.C. you will know that this space is perfect the way it is.

The Romans used to march defeated armies through their arc in Rome.  I suppose Cadet Bone Spur needs a place to march the defeated Iranian army through.

May Isis save us all.

From the National Park Service website:

National Park Service is accepting public comments on this project until June 15, 11:59PM MT. Learn more below and on nps.gov.

If you submitted comments to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) or Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), please submit again to NPS. This is a new comment period for a separate government entity.

Members of the public have the opportunity to provide input on a proposed Monumental Arch at Memorial Circle on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, near Arlington National Cemetery and along the Potomac River.

The location of the proposed Arch will interrupt the highly significant relationship between the Lincoln Memorial, across Arlington Memorial Bridge, to Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington House. One of the most symbolic landscapes in Washington, D.C., the vista was designed to represent the post-Civil War reconciliation of the north and south of the United States.

It is because this viewshed carries so much meaning to the country that the National Trust has raised concerns about the proposed Monumental Arch, whose scale, location, and design will disrupt this important visual and symbolic vista. In addition, the Arch will dwarf the Lincoln Memorial and disrupt the long, open, and uninterrupted viewsheds, overwhelming the entry to Arlington National Cemetery—the hallowed resting place of 400,000 veterans and their families and a powerful reminder of American military sacrifice, selfless service, and national unity, all within sight of the monumental core of the Nation’s Capital.

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Borowitz has a point…again

While written as satire, this absolutely nails the results of the disastrous policies of this malAdministration. I have no idea how these folks sleep at night.  I can only believe they no conscience, no shame, no regard for their fellow human beings. It is beyond my comprehension that after all this, there are people that still support this convicted criminal and obviously incompetent occupant of the White House.

What El puta pendejo has done to the White House is simply a microcosm of what he is doing to the United States.

May Kumugwe save us all.

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