As a man of words, I hear and use many terms that I’ve become accustomed to using without retaining the precise meaning. I’m not the only one who does this, of course, and when words are used like that often enough, their meaning changes. For example, when I hear the word omnibus used to describe legislation, there exists an almost ominous preconception. But that’s not entirely fair to the word.
The precise meaning of omnibus is a collection of previously published novels, tomes, catalogs, or other items originally published separately. Hmmm … doesn’t seem very ominous, does it? Well, perception is relative, and here’s another example.
The Turtle (Mitch McConnell) has struck again. He TURTLED in the face of pressure from the democratic left (Chuck-U-Schumer and Bitter Nancy Pelosi) and voted for the $1.7 trillion Omnibus Bill. Why? Because it’s patently bad for America, and it helps the Turtle stay in power. Remember, he’s the senate minority leader. He needs support from moderate democrats to have any influence at all. Good for Mitch, not so good for taxpayers like you and me, who have to fund this monstrosity.
They say Biden-flation is only 7.5%. But I’m old enough to remember back to the Carter years and Carter-flation of 14.0%. If we’re only at 7%, why does it feel like 14% (see this)? Adding another 1.7 trillion to the national debt, nearly half of which is discretionary spending (stuff we don’t need), is only going to make things worse.
Why Mitch, why? Maybe the Turtle doesn’t think Americans have suffered enough (see ….).
Which of the above is the worst President ever? Trick question: there is no wrong answer.
The 1.7 trillion Dollar Omnibus Bill of 2022-23 is a perfect example of why the word omnibus is so ominous when it refers to spending bills. This bill is over four thousand pages long, and not a single elected official has read every page. Do they know what they’re buying with our money? Do you? It’s all very ominous indeed.
As I’ve pointed out before, Israel must stand as the Promised Land. It must stand as the Jewish State. These are facts that the bible is unequivocal about.
Joe Biden, in his unwavering support of the State of Israel (ha-ha), and his steadfast belief in the … Oh, you know, the thing … has once again, screwed the pooch on the world stage.
With its latest election results, Israel, has started on an irrefutable journey to reverse her past woke mistakes. Riding a wave of conservative logic, Mr. Netanyahu, in a decisive victory, won a third term as Prime Minister. This event occurred on November 01, 2022.
Meanwhile, here in the US, the man democrats call Mr. President, has yet to pick up a phone and call Prime Minister Netanyahu to congratulate him. Everyone else has. But Joe, among other things, seems to have forgotten the Prime Minister’s number.
Do you know who has called from the United States? And do you know to whom the call was made?
Our esteemed Secretary of State, Blinken, made sure to call Palestinian Leader Mahmud Abbas. The reason for the call was to confirm United States’ support for a Palestinian State on Israeli land. This — at a time when Ned Price, spokesman for the Biden administration, has publicly acknowledged great concern over Iran’s threats to attack Saudi Arabia.
In a sea of political instability and turmoil, the Jewish State of Israel plays an extraordinary role in maintaining world peace. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of a strong, enduring, democracy in the Middle East.
I guess Joe (LGB) Biden, forgot about Moses, and the promise that the Thing made to those people … you know, those people in the desert.
Moses at the precipice, as are we.
Elections have consequences, and the journey for America to correct her Woke mistakes starts tomorrow.
When I read this one, the flashback to high school and the back seat of my 65 Plymouth was instantaneous … Thank you, Rachel.
FYI – In case you’re wondering how far back my memory goes, the car was an antique when I got it. Also, NO Rachel(s) were harmed in the making of this memory.
This is a true story that happened last night on the way home from work. I wanted desperately to tell you about it right then and there, but …
As you know, I’m a bus driver; I leave for work at 0900, I don’t return until 2200, and I do it all for $1 over the current starting salary at McDonald’s. By the way, for those in Rio Linda, 0900 means 9:00 am, and 2200 means 10:00 pm. Yes, it’s a long day and when I get home, I’m really tired. So now that I’m well rested, here’s the story.
Also, I wasn’t thinking at the time, or I would have tried to take a picture of the individual that inspired this post. Suffice it to say, he looked like this:
Hurricane Ian/Winter Grasshopper
Disclaimer: I don’t know how to determine the gender of a grasshopper, so I’ll just refer to him as “He.”
With all that out of the way, here’s what happened.
At about the mid-point of my commute home last night, I came to a stop at a traffic light. I drive an old pickup truck, and even if I didn’t have to drive it for economic reasons, I’d still drive it out of preference. It’s a fantastic truck, and they don’t make them anymore.
Anyway, just before the light turned green, I noticed a grasshopper walking across the top edge of my windshield. How he got there was beyond me; I was already on the road for almost half an hour. It was a miracle that he survived this long, but I knew the light would turn green at any moment, and this grasshopper really didn’t stand a chance. The speed limit for the next part of my commute was 50 mph (60 mph in real life) on a two-lane road with double yellow stripes. No passing is allowed, and everyone expects you to go 60. I think you get the picture.
Anyway, I really felt bad for this creature, but the light turned green and it was time to go. Just then, it occurred to me that if I accelerated slowly, maybe the grasshopper would have time to make his way to the back of the cab and jump into the bed of my truck. If he did, he’d have no problem surviving the rest of the journey. I executed my plan and accelerated slowly. Oddly enough, my fellow late-night commuters were very patient: no one honked. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t patience; my truck is old and looks old too. Tolerance might be more accurate.
In all honesty, I really didn’t think the grasshopper would make it, but in that brief moment, there was a connection, so I did what I could and hoped for the best. Eventually, I made it home, pulled into my driveway, parked the truck, and jumped out to check for my grasshopper buddy. Even though it was night, the bed of my truck has a black liner; he would look almost white against the black and be easy to see. Sadly, he wasn’t there. I felt terrible and it was exacerbated by my severe fatigue, or maybe the other way around. Who knows?
Extremely bummed out (disappointed for my gen-x fan(s)), I walked around to the passenger door and retrieved my clipboard, lunch box, and miscellaneous paperwork. In a paperless society like ours, ‘hehehe’, I still have to document events on the bus by writing them down.
As a side note: Ostensibly, it’s for the protection of my employer, and by extension, the drivers. In reality, it’s more of a gotcha type of thing designed to blame the driver for as much as possible when things go wrong. In the past, written reports have bitten the less literate of us in the ass. But in my case, because I’m your favorite writing bus driver, my reports have bitten my employer in the ass. It took more than one or two times, but they learned their lesson. My reports stand the test of time, and scrutiny, and my supervisor dreads having to tell me over the radio, “Be sure to write up your report before you leave tonight”.
Ok, back to the story.
So, I grabbed my stuff and closed the door. I started for the house, still feeling bad about my grasshopper buddy, but something told me to stop and turn back, because I forgot something important. I looked down at my hands to check. I had everything I could think of, and at first, I ignored the voice, but it repeated, and I relented.
I turned around to make my laborious trek back to the truck, and when I looked up, who did I see staring me straight in the eye? Proud, defiant, and ultimately victorious over his vanquished foe (60 mph winds) stood Kung Fu Grasshopper. He faced the onslaught of insurmountable odds and succeeded, even when I didn’t think he stood a chance.
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Sharing this (true) story is especially important to me because my Grasshopper Hero has given me renewed resolve. We all have our challenges; some are thrust upon us by fate, like hurricanes. Yes, I live in Florida, but I was lucky. With proper preparation I weathered the storm; Ian did his worst to others. By the way, Hurricane Ian – Volunteer Florida is a great place to help (I did).
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Ian: a personal assessment of challenge.
Some challenges we take on willingly, and when we do, they become goals. Most goals are sensible and with smart decision-making along with hard work, can be realized. Then, there are goals of a more fanciful nature. They fall into the category of lofty dreams or wishes. By their very nature, they have no real chance of coming to fruition. These are the most insidious because if we really want them, we waste our time in a never-ending cycle of failure, only to succeed as a Dreamer. Eventually, when it’s far too late to correct our mistakes, we capitulate to the truth and despair over what could have been.
In my case, that fanciful dream is to stop driving a bus for a living and live the life of a successful writer. Lately, it seems the harder I work, the less I actually achieve, and it gets me down. Giving up and doing what I could to reverse the effects of wasting time on a dream, seemed more appropriate than ever; especially, when a storm like Hurricane Ian was passing overhead.
Enter Kung Fu Grasshopper, who has taught me something crucial — giving up is a loss. Yes, time is running out because life is finite, but I still have mornings left to wake up, get out of bed, and fight on regardless of the odds.
I know my personal battle pales in comparison to those on Florida’s west coast, but the concept is the same. The battle is never over until you succeed — or quit.
Thank you, Kung Fu Grasshopper.
PS – Kung Fu Grasshopper wasn’t the first to teach me this lesson, but I needed a refresher course. Roma’s story will come when I’m ready to tell it.
I read this bumper sticker and it immediately took me back to the Good Ole Days. It was a simpler time. You know, when men had testosterone, and women had estrogen, and a man could whistle at a pretty girl, and she would smile instead of calling a lawyer.
The actual bumper sticker read: Make America John Wayne Again!
This was the closest thing I could find.
It’s a downloadable file that you can use to make your own.
I’m going to open this post with a statement that I think we can all agree upon. Nobody becomes a billionaire, and stays a billionaire, by being stupid.
Attorney General Merrick Garland
Did you see Garland’s face during his recent press release regarding the raid on Mar-a-Lago? He looked (and sounded) as though he was forcing his words while defending the actions of the DOJ and FBI. His feigned sincerity about holding firm to the concept of equal application of the law was on full display. I don’t think there’s a rational human being over the age of twenty-one that believed him (including Merrick). But for those who still don’t get it, here are two names not being treated equally under the law, Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden. The DOJ, along with the FBI, have more than enough evidence to pursue indictments yet nary a prosecution exists … There’s some stupid.
Uh-Oh. What did I do now? (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Back to the mannerisms of Garland during the Mar-a-Lago raid presser, he didn’t look like a man uncomfortable with lying to the American public. No. He’s perfectly comfortable with lying. He also didn’t look to me like a man upset about the failure of the DOJ or FBI. Political bureaucrats like Merrick make a career out of failure (see anything Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.).
To me, Merrick Garland has the unmistakable look of a man who considers himself one of the smartest men in the room, a sophisticated aristocrat, and a man who just got publically duped … I see some more stupid here.
President Trump lacks sophistication, an aristocratic pedigree, and a vocabulary that makes him sound smart. For average Americans, these are refreshing qualities that the Deep State finds repugnant. Trump isn’t the type to spend his evening sipping martinis on 5th Avenue while debating the value of Leninist/Marxism (modern communism), the new world order of ESG (Environmental Social Governance), and CRT (Critical Race Theory) in public schools. Oh, and let’s not forget your son’s right to compete in female sports.
President Trump promotes American values for America, American capitalism, American nationalism (a good thing), and that’s what he talks about. He speaks of making America safe again. He speaks of making America strong again. He speaks about Making America Great Again.
But DJT isn’t just about talk. Keep in mind, that before President Trump ever took office, his list of accomplishments far outweighed anything Merrick Garland ever did or ever attempted to do. Need proof? Trump was, and still is, a billionaire … Not much stupid here.
That brings us to the last name on this list.
No current pictures of Raymond Pollard are available.
Ray Pollard
Raymond Pollard is a billionaire that you never heard of and probably won’t hear about again. In his world, anonymity is crucial and completely by design. Like DJT, Ray (don’t call him Raymond), lacks an aristocratic lineage, he’s only as sophisticated as his last cigar, and if he counted his money, fingers and toes wouldn’t be adequate to tally the billions.
Ray never attended Wharton, but that wouldn’t serve him well because he never intended to be a billionaire. Education can originate anywhere. Take for example college, where you learn to THINK like everyone else. Then, there are trade schools where you learn to DO like everyone else. And then, there is life, where if you pay attention, you learn to do things your way.
If Ray ran for President and had four years of spectacular service, while at the same time withstanding the onslaught of attacks from the political establishment, he too would know that his reelection loss was due to cheating. The people he’d have to defeat in the future play by no rules, or they change the rules as they see fit.
But if life has taught Ray anything, it’s this. When people in power get away with abusing it for too long, their hubris feeds their ineptitude.
Ray in Trump’s shoes, the raid …
The National Archive Investigators (FBI) just left Ray’s Florida mansion after doing a preliminary investigation. They were looking for classified documents that may have inadvertently made their way to a secured storage area on the premises. Documents were found, and a request was made by investigators to increase the storage security with a simple padlock. The entire estate has more security than Fort Knox, but the investigators thought it necessary to add a padlock. There were NO classified or important documents immediately seized.
WWRD (what would Ray do)
Ray would comply and install the lock. But then, he’d ask himself a simplistic, streetwise question involving a juxtaposed point of view. Why would I do what just happened here and what would I really be looking for? Having correctly determined the answers to the two-part question, Ray would give the deep state swamp things precisely what they weren’t after. And he would give it to them at a time of his choosing.
An inappropriate leak from an anonymous source, and the DOJ signs a bogus warrant. The FBI armed with a broad, overreaching search warrant (warrants are supposed to be specific), raid a former President’s home. Ray isn’t even there when the raid happens, but that was by design too.
More than a week after the raid and nothing of substance is leaked. What does that tell you? What are the odds that just like Russia collusion, the democrats came up empty?
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Now you know why Merrick Garland looked and sounded the way he did during the press conference.
And why Joe Biden had his most productive week ever as president and all anyone talks about is Mar-a-Lago.
And by the way, where’s Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI? Not a word about any of this from the Director himself. Is he setting Merrick up to take the fall?
PS – If you think the FBI is out of control, just wait until an armed IRS agent knocks on your door.
Has Biden done anything right since he took office?
These are the facts as I, a lowly bus driver, understand them. Government spending is by nature, inflationary. That means the money supply increases, so there’s too much money chasing too few goods (prices go up). If that increase is matched by an increase in wages, the net effect is zero. But inflation is over 9% while wages have only gone up about 2.5%. That’s a 6.5% deficit that all of us absorb as a tax increase on disposable income. Simply put, you can buy 6.5% less stuff today than you could a year ago, even though you got a raise, and keep in mind, not everyone did.
For those too young to remember the Carter years, when inflation outpaces wages, demand falls, unemployment increases, and the economy shrinks. When it lasts more than two months, you go into recession. Jimmy Carter tried to spend his way out of recession; it didn’t work for him, and it won’t work for Joe Biden. When Biden calls his plan the Inflation Reduction Act, he’s putting lipstick on a pig.
By the way, don’t let your liberal friends tell you that this thing will reduce prescription drug costs by requiring price negotiation. If you read the bill, you’ll find that it requires offers and counteroffers based on established government price limits.
So a drug manufacturer submits a bid, the government counters, and this is supposed to be the negotiation process at work. The problem lies in the details. Under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, under no circumstances can the government accept a price above a predetermined limit.
Call me naïve, but I don’t think that’s how a negotiation works, it’s how extortion works. Ultimately, drug supplies will be limited, and if drug companies can’t earn a profit on what they sell to the government, they’ll just pass the cost on to their other customers, you and me.
PS – Contact your congressmen (women) by any means necessary, and let them know that you know, this is a bad deal.
Do you know what happened on June 6, 2022, at 2:00 a.m. in France? In accordance with his specific instruction, President Macron was intentionally woken up from a night of deep sleep to do something he thought was imperative.
Do you know what Joe Biden did at the very same time? Nothing. Like all crucial activities regarding world affairs, the man they call Potus, left the important work for others to do.
What am I talking about? I’m referring to the basic qualities of leadership, like having the desire (and presence of mind) to acknowledge the heroism of all who took part in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. It was an earthshaking event that altered the course of history for the betterment of all mankind; an event that cost so much … and means so little to our current president (not very presidential).
Uh…. Uh…. You know that thing, not the one people believe in. You know, the germ thing.
Joe Biden had no idea that this past June 6, was the 78th anniversary of D-Day until he was reminded by Republican Rep. Kat Cammack at 7:00 p.m. It took two more hours before he responded.
By now, we all know that Joe isn’t running things, but this is just embarrassing. How did his advisors, the people really in charge of this (cluster-fu—administration), let it slip by? I mean, the optic here is awful, and we know that O’Biden is all about the optics.
If there was any assumption of competency regarding this administration, this surely dispels the notion. But wait, it gets worse. This isn’t the first time it happened. Joe forgot last year too, and because nobody reminded him, he didn’t even get out a last-minute tweet.
US President Joe Biden makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on June 1, 2021. – President Biden is heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma on the centenary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)… notice the date… he remembers race but not heroes.
This man is no president; he’s a fraud, The Commander in Cheat!
I know this is last week’s news, but I wanted to add my two cents because I haven’t heard anyone else point out a blaring fact.
First, let’s discuss the obvious.
The parents are stupid. No Six-year-old should be running a marathon. Even if the kid wants to do it with all his ignorant heart and soul, this is where parenting comes in and both mom and dad say, NO. You can’t run a marathon. You’re too young. Wait until you grow up.
That didn’t happen. Colossal fail.
The organizers of the event are stupid. When parents fail their responsibilities, it’s the organizers who need to pick up the ball and run with it. See what I did there? By enforcing minimum standards for qualification and safety such as age, say eighteen years or older, Junior doesn’t run. But when the people in charge don’t set reasonable rules or make regulations and then don’t enforce them, the judge of culpability rears its ugly head. What if that kid had to be hospitalized or worse? Colossal fail for the Flying Pig coordinators.
Then there’s the psychological and physical abuse this child suffered while hundreds, if not thousands, were firsthand witnesses, and no one did anything to stop it. Colossal fail.
But Davyd these topics have already been talked about by the major media outlets. You mentioned something missed by most if not all of them.
Yes. Yes, I did and here it is. I’ve linked to a video of it on ABC (not a frequent source of information on this blog for obvious reasons). Click below:
OK! Enough games. Here’s the punch line. For every step mom and dad take, Junior takes two and a half. The six-year-old didn’t run one marathon; he ran two marathons plus half of another and he did it all at once.
Everyone involved should be ashamed.
P.S. – You need a license to drive a car or get married, but no license is required to be a parent. Regarding these two parents (watch the video again), COLOSSAL FAIL.
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