Thanksgiving Week
26/11/23 07:01
It's Thanksgiving week, boys and girls. It's time to start thinking about things we ought to be thankful for. That aside, it's also time to start putting a few dishes together ahead of the big day. I made an apple crisp yesterday while the missus was away, so that was good. I don't recall cooking things ahead of time in years past, so I'm not really sure as to why I'm doing it this year. I ran short of time yesterday, so never got around to making cranberry sauce from real cranberries. I'll get right on that today. I think the crisp came out good, but we won't know for sure until we dish it out and throw it in the microwave for a minute or two come Thanksgiving. Between now and then, and today is Monday, it will be a challenge not to have a forkful or more. Just a wee taste, as they say. The Ev man and I will pick up the turkey from Whole Foods tomorrow, along with some nice dinner rolls, turkey gravy, and some of the missus's favorite cranberry and brie pastry bites.
I cannot for the life of me figure out where the oil plug is on my lawn mower. Maybe more worrisome is the fact that I can't recall how I changed the oil in the past. Has it been that long, or is my memory playing tricks on me? I watched one video on YouTube yesterday where the oil plug was beneath the deck of the mower. You actually have to turn the mower over at a certain angle to get at it. I don't know what the folks at Briggs and Stratton were thinking when they designed these things. Of course, I turned over my mower and couldn't for the life of me see anything resembling an oil plug. It's not supposed to be this difficult. Right? One YouTube video showed a woman draining the oil from her mower by inserting a tube into the oil input hole and pumping it out using some type of vacuum pump. Buying a pump to remove the oil seems nuts to me. It just does. I had the mower out yesterday to mow the lawn for the last time this season, and a few leaves along with it, but I was not able to locate the oil plug, so I'll keep looking until I find it. It's starting to piss me off.
I've seen two videos in the last twenty-four hours where Biden is off the fucking rails. One piece of footage had Biden sitting at a table at a dinner somewhere when Xi Jinping was in town last week. The video showed Biden getting up from his seat in an impromptu fashion and going over to Xi's table, where he could be seen leaning over to Xi, maybe shaking his hand and maybe saying something that Xi couldn't understand because his interpreter was not there to interpret whatever it was that Bumbles was muttering. Aside from breaking with every conceivable protocol on the books, Biden was clearly having a stage-5 dementia moment. The only reason that Xi's security detail didn't take down Bumbles before he ever got to Xi's side is because they know full well the extent of Biden's senility. They've seen it before a hundred times in their own families. As Americans, we've seen it before as well in our own families, and it doesn't get any less embarrassing or even humiliating every time we see it. And we're definitely not accustomed to seeing it in our presidents. Not until Biden, that is.
The other cringe-worthy video was when Biden was addressing some roomful of I'm not sure who, when Biden saw a child sitting near the front of the stage. He approached the child and said something about the child's earrings or some such nonsense, and he went on to suggest that she was seventeen years old while leaning into her personal space. Another child sitting nearby chimed in that she was six years old. I swear to God that Bumbles was a stone's throw away from sniffing that child's hair. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to Biden and how he acts around children. No grown adult would get caught dead doing what he does when it comes to sniffing their hair and rubbing up on these children in what can only be described as "pervy." Keep in mind that his very own daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, wrote in her journal about taking showers with her father. I'm not making this shit up. Add to that the fact that Biden has approved and is literally overseeing the largest human trafficking event in the history of our country on our Southern border, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
We're learning more and more about the January 6th fiasco in our nation's capitol as time goes on. I hadn't heard that there were cops in the crowd who had opened fire on the crowd with rubber bullets outside the capitol building. I can't even imagine why anyone would do that sort of thing when the crowd was largely peaceful. Was it done to incite the crowd? We also now know that there were buses loaded with FBI agents dressed up as MAGA supporters in a back alley, as evidenced by photographs taken on that fateful day. Of course, none of this evidence was introduced at trial either in the J6 hearings or in the individual trials of the people charged with various and sundry crimes for their actions on that day. None of this would have come out were it not for Speaker Johnson releasing 40,000 hours of video taken on that day, so kudos to him. Now, we need him to put together a select committee to hold the people who conspired to create what they hoped would be an insurrection of all insurrections to stop Donald J. Trump from returning to the White House in 2024. This is not about vengeance. This is about accountability to make sure this sort of thing never happens again. I think it goes without saying that most, if not all, of the J6'ers now in jail should be released, and their records purged.
We're more than a month out from the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, and we here in the United States still don't have one name of any American or Americans who may have been taken hostage by Hamas. You and I know that Americans were taken hostage that day, yet their names are a complete mystery. The Biden Administration has put a lid on any and all information related to any American hostages so as not to suffer the fate of Jimmy Carter. As you may recall, Iran held American hostages for some 440 days when Carter was president, and they were only released once Ronald Reagan got elected. It didn't help Carter's reelection chances at the time that interest rates were hovering around 18%. I'm quite sure that families of these hostages have been told by the Biden Administration that if knowledge of their captivity becomes public, it would not bode well for their prospects. In other words, they were threatened and told to keep their mouths shut. Biden's praetorian guard, the mainstream media, is playing along for the same reason. I'm not sure why there isn't a greater hue and cry for the names of our citizens who are suffering day in and day out at the hands of their captors. Where are the posters of American citizens being held hostage? Where are they?
It isn't enough to try and tag Trump with a false insurrection. It isn't enough to bring indictments against the man and try to put him in jail so he can't win an election. It isn't enough to have a Republican Party continue with a primary process with loons like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis when Trump is a full fifty points or more ahead of them in early primary states like New Hampshire and Iowa. It isn't enough to try and take his name off ballots in key states so he can't gain the necessary electoral votes to win an election. We now have a Democrat Representative out of New York, Dan Goldman, calling for the elimination of Donald J. Trump. How is this not against the law? How is this not a hate crime? How is this not a clarion call to all of the rabid Trump haters out there to do God knows only what to answer Goldman's call to duty? I listen to leftist talk shows, so you don't have to, and I can tell you that Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a real thing. I can literally hear the hate in their voices. It wouldn't take much to motivate any one or more of these nutjobs to do the bidding of someone like Goldman. Trump has Secret Service protection. When are they planning to pay a visit to Goldman? This is unacceptable.
I hadn't thought through all the various machinations of having so many people running for president. I heard something yesterday about what happens when nobody has the required number of electoral votes to win the presidency. I think they said something about Congress having the final say, although I'm not sure what that process looks like. Is this yet another conspiracy to keep Trump out of the White House? That may explain why Joe Manchin is looking at jumping into the race on the no-name ticket or whatever they're calling themselves these days. I keep hearing this bullshit about most Americans not wanting either Trump or Biden to return as president. It makes sense when it comes to Biden, but Trump has some 70 million plus Americans who voted for him in 2020 and who rightly believe that the election was stolen from him and now want to set things right by returning him to the White House for his second term. The other side of that equation is just how many people with TDS are willing and wanting to go to the polls to vote against Trump who otherwise might stay home given their druthers. With state deadlines to get on ballots and such fast approaching, we'll soon know the lay of the land for better or worse.
I have to laugh. The Ev man and I went into a store here in Portsmouth yesterday to look at throw rugs for his apartment. The Ev man is not, as a rule, much interested in browsing in stores, but he was okay with going into Ocean Job Lots with me. One never knows from one day to the next whether or not he's going to be willing to do such things, so I take my opportunities where and when I find them. Ocean Job Lots is a step or two above your local Salvation Army store or, similarly, a second-hand store where you can find things that you never thought you needed. We were no sooner through the front door of the place when he stalled out in front of a rack of Champion sweatpants. I had headed to the rear of the store, where they had rugs on display, and I was stopping every two minutes to look back over my shoulder to make sure that he hadn't stopped to look at something else. He was like a kid in a candy store. He was disappointed that the store didn't carry slippers in his size since he needed a pair of slippers, but that was fine with me since a lower price point doesn't necessarily guarantee a quality slipper. He picked up a few other things after a bit more browsing, and that was that. It was a surprisingly fun side trip on a day we were otherwise scheduled to pick up our holiday turkey from Whole Foods. Something tells me that it won't be our last trip to Ocean Job Lots.
This whole 5-day cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas seems like it's going to happen. Is it me, or does this strike you as a wash-rinse-repeat deal? I think it wasn't that long ago when Israel traded some one thousand Palestinians held in Israeli jails for one Israeli soldier being held by Hamas. It bears repeating because it gives you a glimpse into the value that Israel puts on every one of its citizens. It's also akin to an Achilles heel of sorts because it gives Hamas leverage when it comes to negotiating for their side. This deal calls for the release of 50 or so hostages of the 200 or more hostages being held by Hamas. One report suggests that this respite in the bombing of Gaza back to the Stone Age will give Hamas an opportunity to have reporters come into the hollowed-out Gaza and report out to the world on the horrors laid at the feet of the Palestinians by the Israelis. Israel is already taking it on the chin across the globe for the disproportionality of their actions in response to the attack by Hamas on October 7th, so we'll see if any of this comes true. Netanyahu says that the war will commence after the five-day cease-fire until they've reached their goal of dismantling Hamas. That, too, remains to be seen.
What's this story about terrorists blowing things up on our northern border with Canada earlier today on Thanksgiving Eve? Was it a car packed with explosives or simply a car that exploded after hitting a bridge abutment? Not to worry. Our indefatigable FBI is on it. What are the chances that it was an electric vehicle whose battery exploded on contact? Do you think we'll ever hear that story, or will it be covered up by Biden's minions because it doesn't fit the narrative that they've been forcing down our throats about electric vehicles and climate change? Nothing to see here. Move along. You say the FBI is now looking for another car that may have been involved? Are they making this up as they go along? I tweeted something about the initial story of the explosion, and one person responded with a single word: Jews. I'm not sure where they were going with that, but I didn't bother responding. So, what about this other car? Did I mention that two people died in the explosion? Can we get countries of origin and the immigration status of the victims, por favor? Is this much ado about something, or nothing?
Is anyone even slightly annoyed that no sooner did the word come out about this explosion on our northern border than the terrorism task force descended on the area like white on rice? Hello!!! They realize that we likely have terrorists coming across our southern and northern borders in record numbers week in and week out under the "watchful" eye of the Biden Administration. Right? Is this the strategy going forward? The sleeper cells pop up here and there doing what sleeper cells do, and we have these twats from the terrorism task force show up after the fact to put the kibosh on the story before the ink even dries on the story above the fold in newspapers across our fruited plain? I get it. Biden has an election to win in 12 months, and the agencies that do his bidding in the government have their marching orders: Fix this, and fix this fast. That's not how it's supposed to work, but then again, nothing is as it was prior to Biden taking office. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Elections have consequences, and stolen elections have catastrophic consequences. In the interest of attribution, this is a direct quote from Steve Bannon of Warroom fame. He's not wrong.
Argentina voted in a conservative president a week ago and now it's the Netherlands turn. Kudos to Geert Wilders! That has to be unsettling news for the European Union. Both countries will now work to reduce or eliminate the mass migration of various underclasses from continents better known as shithole nations. Enough is enough. They will refer to men as men and women as women. They will put a stop to men competing in women's sports, and they will cease the practice of mutilating children who are confused about their sexuality. They will stop locking people up for misgendering their fellow man. They will restore peace to their streets by enforcing the laws and ensuring that there is no such thing as a two-tiered system of justice. In the Netherlands, farmers will no longer have to worry about losing their farms to the maniacal climate change policies of the left. In 2024, America will get back its groove when we throw one of the most corrupt and demented presidents in the history of our Republic out of office. The headlines today from the leftist press across Europe are hysterical in their descriptions of Wilders: Dutch Trump! Far-right! Populist! Anti-Islam! This is what they do. This is who they are. Just when you think that the Left has perfected the art of stealing elections, citizens rise up and take back their countries, and stolen elections be damned. This is where we are the year of the Lord, 2023.
The hypocrisy of the Leftists is just amazing. Here we have a bunch of loony Democrats in the US Senate who take issue with conservative Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, over a few fully paid fishing trips while a president in their own party flies off to the home of a billionaire on the island of Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts to celebrate Thanksgiving with his extended crime family. It just irks the hell out of the Democrats that we have a conservative Supreme Court that will follow the Constitution when it comes to settling law in our Republic. They fail to understand that the Supreme Court is an equal branch of government, and when called to appear before those very same loons in the Senate, the Court can tell the Senate Democrats to go fuck themselves.
Going to Nantucket is one thing. Taking tens of millions of dollars from foreign countries looking to buy influence while Joe Biden was a senator, then a Vice President, and now President, and then accounting for those "donations" as loans is the very definition of money laundering. Maybe the senators would like to discuss that issue with Biden. Maybe they'd like to establish a code of ethics for Biden and hold him to account for any transgressions during his first and only term in office. When Trump gets back into office, he should get to work on replacing Republican Justices who are likely to retire during his term, and any Democrat Justices that he possibly can. I'm not saying that he needs to Scalia (found with a pillow over his face) one or more of them, so let's just see if Mother Nature won't intervene for the betterment of mankind. I won't be satisfied until we have a 9-0 Supreme Court. As for the House of Representatives, can we get this damn impeachment thing off the ground? How much more evidence do you need? Our damn Constitution compels you to do your duty. I feel like a damn exorcist sitting here lashing you with Holy Water just to get you to do what we sent you to Washington to do. Do your job!
Dolly Parton performed in a football halftime show on Thanksgiving Day, and it was, well, unforgettable. Unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, I might add. I like Dolly, but Dolly is no longer 23 years old and she needs to stop acting like she's 23 years old. Showing up on stage wearing a skimpy Dallas cheerleader uniform at her age (77) is just not a good look. To make matters worse, they paraded out the real Dallas cheerleaders, and they were a sight to behold. As for Dolly, by comparison anyway, not so much. Did you notice how Dolly was unstable on her feet? She constantly reached for a ledge behind her to stabilize herself as she moved slowly, even gingerly, from spot to spot on the stage. I don't know why they didn't just give her a microphone stand to grasp if she has mobility problems. That would have given her an excuse to stay in one place while belting out her tunes. Well, "belting out" might be too strong a word. I swear to the Baby Jesus that she was lip-synching her songs. Who could blame her? She's not the same Dolly that we knew back in the day when she was in the movie "Nine to Five" with Jane Fonda. She just isn't. Even the game announcers engaged in Dolly's post-performance snark, and for good reason. I think it's time, Dolly.
We had a nice Thanksgiving. Thank you for asking. The 13.2-pound turkey was cooked perfectly, although I could have done a better job browning it. It just browned unevenly, what can I say? I did the foil thing where you put it on and take it off after it's browned, but it was not perfect. The turkey, was, nonetheless, delicious. We ate so little of it when all was said and done that we now have a stash of turkey which should last us a good few days. I had complained about paying $7 for three large white potatoes, which we planned to convert to mashed potatoes, but they were more than enough for the three of us when all was said and done. They whipped up beautifully, and the missus did a masterful job by adding a bit of butter and garlic after the fact. We had cranberry sauce out of a jar this year, and it was one less chore to have to manage so that was good. Nobody complained. We had some pre-packaged uncooked rolls (dough), which we peeled off and baked for 20 minutes or so, and we'll probably do that again next year if the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise. We had gravy out of a carton, and I simply don't know who bothers with creating their own gravy anymore when they can buy ready-to-go gravy just as easily. Last but not least, I made an apple crisp that was just terrific. Next time around, if there is a next time around, I'll be sure to have more crisp than apple.
It's now the day after Thanksgiving, and we're on to what remains of the holidays for the 2023 year. I would usually put on a little Christmas music, but I'm not ready for that quite yet for whatever reason. I am by no means in the doldrums, and I have no reason to be in the doldrums, truth be told. It feels a little like the actual kickoff of the Winter season now that Thanksgiving is behind us. I still have a few leaves to deal with on our property, and I should probably get my snowblowers up and running. I've already purchased one Christmas present for the missus, and I have it stashed away in a room off our garage where she is unlikely to find it since she never sticks her head in there. I gave the Ev man specific instructions that should I get hit by a bus between now and Christmas, he will know where to find the goodies I've set aside for the missus. We're not talking about tiaras or cashmere here. Today is also Black Friday, but I have nothing I need to buy, so there's that. As I think I've mentioned, Black Friday is no longer a one-day affair. It's at least a week long now. Maybe they should call it Black November or December, although that sounds very dark. Very dark indeed. Later today, we'll pay Mrs. G a visit. Can you think of a better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving?
Fast forward 24 hours and I'm here to tell you that we never did get to see Mrs. G yesterday. You need to be careful about making plans to do anything the day after Thanksgiving. I think I was in recovery mode for the better part of the day yesterday. You don't realize how much the whole Thanksgiving experience takes out of you, much less how much time it takes to recover. Most places of employment give their employees the day after Thanksgiving off, and for good reason. We advised Mrs. G of our updated plans, and she took the opportunity to add a couple of items to the list of items that she asked us to bring over when we planned to visit. She prefers Lays potato chips so we picked those up last night. She likes both the plain chips and the salt and vinegar variety. Not sure why, but we could only find the party size in the salt and vinegar chips. She also asked that we pick up a couple of loaves of Scali bread and a bit of suet for her bird feeder. Since when does she feed the birds? I didn't even know she had a bird feeder. Oh, and she asked that we also pick up a bag of spearmint mints. That should do the trick.
Hamas released their first tranche of Israeli hostages yesterday. I think there were thirteen in total. Mostly old ladies and young children, but you take what you can get. I thought I saw one woman's name on the list of released hostages who was reported to have been killed in the bombing by Israel this past week. What's that all about? Imagine her family's surprise at seeing her name on the list. Hamas also released a couple of dozen Thai hostages. I hadn't heard that they were even holding Thai hostages. And how the hell did the Thai officials negotiate for the release of all of their people when not one American was released from captivity? Curious fucking minds want to know. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Biden paid Iran some five billion dollars for five American hostages barely a month or two ago? You bet your sweet ass it did. Can we toss this feckless old fuck out of office fast enough? Biden and his minions are so desperate to kiss the asses of the Mullahs in Iran that they can't bother to do what it takes to free our people from the clutches of Hamas and their paymasters in Iran. It's just a matter of time now before Biden gives the Mullahs in Iran what they need to put together a nuclear bomb. Then, it's good night Irene for the State of Israel. As for Joe Biden, Mission Accomplished.
Of course, no one knows precisely how many Americans are being held hostage by Hamas. Well, almost no one. Hamas knows. Biden and his minions likely know. Biden's praetorian guard, the media knows, but they're not saying becasue they've been told not to say anything by the Biden Administration. The families of the American hostages know, but they've likely been threatened to keep their mouths shut by Biden and his minions. We'll see today what the second tranche of released captives looks like and whether or not we see the release of any Americans. Keep in mind that every last one of the Palestinians released from Israeli jails as part of the deal is and always has been committed to the destruction of Israel. They were greeted by their fellow Palestinians upon their release as heroes and heroines, and every last one of them immediately wrapped the Hamas headscarves around their heads to show their solidarity with their fellow Palestinians. The October 7th attack by Hamas had nothing to do with Hamas not wanting the peace initiatives between the Saudis and the Israelis to come to fruition, as Biden would have you believe. And, if you think our having a force of some 100,000 men and equipment off the coast of Israel is to protect Israel, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying.
Just a quick update after our visit to see Mrs. G: She was not happy that the IT guy in her place didn't update the operating system software on her computer as he said that he did. Maybe she misunderstood him. That's possible. The update from Monterey to Sonoma takes about 45 minutes, so it doesn't surprise me that he didn't hang around long enough to install the update. I took care of it during our visit, so that's one less thing for her to worry about. The three of us put together a suet feeder from a left-over onion bag that she had hanging around, and we hung it outside on some branches and in direct view of where she sits inside her apartment. We've discussed bird feeders with her plenty of times in the past, but she's never expressed any interest. Now, she wants a bird feeder. Go figure. I gave her one of my tried and true suet cakes which have worked out well for me over the past few years, so I'm guessing it will work out well for her. Mrs. G also complained that the mute button on her television remote was no longer working. I repositioned the clock on her television stand that was blocking the infrared reader, and she was once again good to go.
The football team that I love to hate, the New England Patriots, play today. I think they're playing the New York Jets. Or, maybe it's the Giants. If I understand this stuff right, if they lose, they get a more favorable pick in the draft. Would it surprise anyone if they lost? How can you tell if a team loses on purpose? The Patriots have been accused of cheating in games before, so nothing would surprise me. They might even think that they've endured enough humiliation and defeat during their pathetic 2-8 record this year that they are somehow entitled to throw a game or two just to enhance their standing when it comes to adding better players to their roster. Belichick won't even announce who he plans to put in as quarterback for today's game after benching that turd of a quarterback, Mac Jones, in the last game they played for his absolutely horrible performance. Don't get me wrong. I want to see them lose, but not if that means they get first dibs on top players in the draft. Besides, I enjoy watching them suck too much, and I want that to continue. So, go Pats! Give em hell! Win this one for the Gipper, or whomever. Make us proud again! How am I doing so far?
I cannot for the life of me figure out where the oil plug is on my lawn mower. Maybe more worrisome is the fact that I can't recall how I changed the oil in the past. Has it been that long, or is my memory playing tricks on me? I watched one video on YouTube yesterday where the oil plug was beneath the deck of the mower. You actually have to turn the mower over at a certain angle to get at it. I don't know what the folks at Briggs and Stratton were thinking when they designed these things. Of course, I turned over my mower and couldn't for the life of me see anything resembling an oil plug. It's not supposed to be this difficult. Right? One YouTube video showed a woman draining the oil from her mower by inserting a tube into the oil input hole and pumping it out using some type of vacuum pump. Buying a pump to remove the oil seems nuts to me. It just does. I had the mower out yesterday to mow the lawn for the last time this season, and a few leaves along with it, but I was not able to locate the oil plug, so I'll keep looking until I find it. It's starting to piss me off.
I've seen two videos in the last twenty-four hours where Biden is off the fucking rails. One piece of footage had Biden sitting at a table at a dinner somewhere when Xi Jinping was in town last week. The video showed Biden getting up from his seat in an impromptu fashion and going over to Xi's table, where he could be seen leaning over to Xi, maybe shaking his hand and maybe saying something that Xi couldn't understand because his interpreter was not there to interpret whatever it was that Bumbles was muttering. Aside from breaking with every conceivable protocol on the books, Biden was clearly having a stage-5 dementia moment. The only reason that Xi's security detail didn't take down Bumbles before he ever got to Xi's side is because they know full well the extent of Biden's senility. They've seen it before a hundred times in their own families. As Americans, we've seen it before as well in our own families, and it doesn't get any less embarrassing or even humiliating every time we see it. And we're definitely not accustomed to seeing it in our presidents. Not until Biden, that is.
The other cringe-worthy video was when Biden was addressing some roomful of I'm not sure who, when Biden saw a child sitting near the front of the stage. He approached the child and said something about the child's earrings or some such nonsense, and he went on to suggest that she was seventeen years old while leaning into her personal space. Another child sitting nearby chimed in that she was six years old. I swear to God that Bumbles was a stone's throw away from sniffing that child's hair. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to Biden and how he acts around children. No grown adult would get caught dead doing what he does when it comes to sniffing their hair and rubbing up on these children in what can only be described as "pervy." Keep in mind that his very own daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, wrote in her journal about taking showers with her father. I'm not making this shit up. Add to that the fact that Biden has approved and is literally overseeing the largest human trafficking event in the history of our country on our Southern border, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
We're learning more and more about the January 6th fiasco in our nation's capitol as time goes on. I hadn't heard that there were cops in the crowd who had opened fire on the crowd with rubber bullets outside the capitol building. I can't even imagine why anyone would do that sort of thing when the crowd was largely peaceful. Was it done to incite the crowd? We also now know that there were buses loaded with FBI agents dressed up as MAGA supporters in a back alley, as evidenced by photographs taken on that fateful day. Of course, none of this evidence was introduced at trial either in the J6 hearings or in the individual trials of the people charged with various and sundry crimes for their actions on that day. None of this would have come out were it not for Speaker Johnson releasing 40,000 hours of video taken on that day, so kudos to him. Now, we need him to put together a select committee to hold the people who conspired to create what they hoped would be an insurrection of all insurrections to stop Donald J. Trump from returning to the White House in 2024. This is not about vengeance. This is about accountability to make sure this sort of thing never happens again. I think it goes without saying that most, if not all, of the J6'ers now in jail should be released, and their records purged.
We're more than a month out from the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, and we here in the United States still don't have one name of any American or Americans who may have been taken hostage by Hamas. You and I know that Americans were taken hostage that day, yet their names are a complete mystery. The Biden Administration has put a lid on any and all information related to any American hostages so as not to suffer the fate of Jimmy Carter. As you may recall, Iran held American hostages for some 440 days when Carter was president, and they were only released once Ronald Reagan got elected. It didn't help Carter's reelection chances at the time that interest rates were hovering around 18%. I'm quite sure that families of these hostages have been told by the Biden Administration that if knowledge of their captivity becomes public, it would not bode well for their prospects. In other words, they were threatened and told to keep their mouths shut. Biden's praetorian guard, the mainstream media, is playing along for the same reason. I'm not sure why there isn't a greater hue and cry for the names of our citizens who are suffering day in and day out at the hands of their captors. Where are the posters of American citizens being held hostage? Where are they?
It isn't enough to try and tag Trump with a false insurrection. It isn't enough to bring indictments against the man and try to put him in jail so he can't win an election. It isn't enough to have a Republican Party continue with a primary process with loons like Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis when Trump is a full fifty points or more ahead of them in early primary states like New Hampshire and Iowa. It isn't enough to try and take his name off ballots in key states so he can't gain the necessary electoral votes to win an election. We now have a Democrat Representative out of New York, Dan Goldman, calling for the elimination of Donald J. Trump. How is this not against the law? How is this not a hate crime? How is this not a clarion call to all of the rabid Trump haters out there to do God knows only what to answer Goldman's call to duty? I listen to leftist talk shows, so you don't have to, and I can tell you that Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a real thing. I can literally hear the hate in their voices. It wouldn't take much to motivate any one or more of these nutjobs to do the bidding of someone like Goldman. Trump has Secret Service protection. When are they planning to pay a visit to Goldman? This is unacceptable.
I hadn't thought through all the various machinations of having so many people running for president. I heard something yesterday about what happens when nobody has the required number of electoral votes to win the presidency. I think they said something about Congress having the final say, although I'm not sure what that process looks like. Is this yet another conspiracy to keep Trump out of the White House? That may explain why Joe Manchin is looking at jumping into the race on the no-name ticket or whatever they're calling themselves these days. I keep hearing this bullshit about most Americans not wanting either Trump or Biden to return as president. It makes sense when it comes to Biden, but Trump has some 70 million plus Americans who voted for him in 2020 and who rightly believe that the election was stolen from him and now want to set things right by returning him to the White House for his second term. The other side of that equation is just how many people with TDS are willing and wanting to go to the polls to vote against Trump who otherwise might stay home given their druthers. With state deadlines to get on ballots and such fast approaching, we'll soon know the lay of the land for better or worse.
I have to laugh. The Ev man and I went into a store here in Portsmouth yesterday to look at throw rugs for his apartment. The Ev man is not, as a rule, much interested in browsing in stores, but he was okay with going into Ocean Job Lots with me. One never knows from one day to the next whether or not he's going to be willing to do such things, so I take my opportunities where and when I find them. Ocean Job Lots is a step or two above your local Salvation Army store or, similarly, a second-hand store where you can find things that you never thought you needed. We were no sooner through the front door of the place when he stalled out in front of a rack of Champion sweatpants. I had headed to the rear of the store, where they had rugs on display, and I was stopping every two minutes to look back over my shoulder to make sure that he hadn't stopped to look at something else. He was like a kid in a candy store. He was disappointed that the store didn't carry slippers in his size since he needed a pair of slippers, but that was fine with me since a lower price point doesn't necessarily guarantee a quality slipper. He picked up a few other things after a bit more browsing, and that was that. It was a surprisingly fun side trip on a day we were otherwise scheduled to pick up our holiday turkey from Whole Foods. Something tells me that it won't be our last trip to Ocean Job Lots.
This whole 5-day cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas seems like it's going to happen. Is it me, or does this strike you as a wash-rinse-repeat deal? I think it wasn't that long ago when Israel traded some one thousand Palestinians held in Israeli jails for one Israeli soldier being held by Hamas. It bears repeating because it gives you a glimpse into the value that Israel puts on every one of its citizens. It's also akin to an Achilles heel of sorts because it gives Hamas leverage when it comes to negotiating for their side. This deal calls for the release of 50 or so hostages of the 200 or more hostages being held by Hamas. One report suggests that this respite in the bombing of Gaza back to the Stone Age will give Hamas an opportunity to have reporters come into the hollowed-out Gaza and report out to the world on the horrors laid at the feet of the Palestinians by the Israelis. Israel is already taking it on the chin across the globe for the disproportionality of their actions in response to the attack by Hamas on October 7th, so we'll see if any of this comes true. Netanyahu says that the war will commence after the five-day cease-fire until they've reached their goal of dismantling Hamas. That, too, remains to be seen.
What's this story about terrorists blowing things up on our northern border with Canada earlier today on Thanksgiving Eve? Was it a car packed with explosives or simply a car that exploded after hitting a bridge abutment? Not to worry. Our indefatigable FBI is on it. What are the chances that it was an electric vehicle whose battery exploded on contact? Do you think we'll ever hear that story, or will it be covered up by Biden's minions because it doesn't fit the narrative that they've been forcing down our throats about electric vehicles and climate change? Nothing to see here. Move along. You say the FBI is now looking for another car that may have been involved? Are they making this up as they go along? I tweeted something about the initial story of the explosion, and one person responded with a single word: Jews. I'm not sure where they were going with that, but I didn't bother responding. So, what about this other car? Did I mention that two people died in the explosion? Can we get countries of origin and the immigration status of the victims, por favor? Is this much ado about something, or nothing?
Is anyone even slightly annoyed that no sooner did the word come out about this explosion on our northern border than the terrorism task force descended on the area like white on rice? Hello!!! They realize that we likely have terrorists coming across our southern and northern borders in record numbers week in and week out under the "watchful" eye of the Biden Administration. Right? Is this the strategy going forward? The sleeper cells pop up here and there doing what sleeper cells do, and we have these twats from the terrorism task force show up after the fact to put the kibosh on the story before the ink even dries on the story above the fold in newspapers across our fruited plain? I get it. Biden has an election to win in 12 months, and the agencies that do his bidding in the government have their marching orders: Fix this, and fix this fast. That's not how it's supposed to work, but then again, nothing is as it was prior to Biden taking office. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Elections have consequences, and stolen elections have catastrophic consequences. In the interest of attribution, this is a direct quote from Steve Bannon of Warroom fame. He's not wrong.
Argentina voted in a conservative president a week ago and now it's the Netherlands turn. Kudos to Geert Wilders! That has to be unsettling news for the European Union. Both countries will now work to reduce or eliminate the mass migration of various underclasses from continents better known as shithole nations. Enough is enough. They will refer to men as men and women as women. They will put a stop to men competing in women's sports, and they will cease the practice of mutilating children who are confused about their sexuality. They will stop locking people up for misgendering their fellow man. They will restore peace to their streets by enforcing the laws and ensuring that there is no such thing as a two-tiered system of justice. In the Netherlands, farmers will no longer have to worry about losing their farms to the maniacal climate change policies of the left. In 2024, America will get back its groove when we throw one of the most corrupt and demented presidents in the history of our Republic out of office. The headlines today from the leftist press across Europe are hysterical in their descriptions of Wilders: Dutch Trump! Far-right! Populist! Anti-Islam! This is what they do. This is who they are. Just when you think that the Left has perfected the art of stealing elections, citizens rise up and take back their countries, and stolen elections be damned. This is where we are the year of the Lord, 2023.
The hypocrisy of the Leftists is just amazing. Here we have a bunch of loony Democrats in the US Senate who take issue with conservative Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, over a few fully paid fishing trips while a president in their own party flies off to the home of a billionaire on the island of Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts to celebrate Thanksgiving with his extended crime family. It just irks the hell out of the Democrats that we have a conservative Supreme Court that will follow the Constitution when it comes to settling law in our Republic. They fail to understand that the Supreme Court is an equal branch of government, and when called to appear before those very same loons in the Senate, the Court can tell the Senate Democrats to go fuck themselves.
Going to Nantucket is one thing. Taking tens of millions of dollars from foreign countries looking to buy influence while Joe Biden was a senator, then a Vice President, and now President, and then accounting for those "donations" as loans is the very definition of money laundering. Maybe the senators would like to discuss that issue with Biden. Maybe they'd like to establish a code of ethics for Biden and hold him to account for any transgressions during his first and only term in office. When Trump gets back into office, he should get to work on replacing Republican Justices who are likely to retire during his term, and any Democrat Justices that he possibly can. I'm not saying that he needs to Scalia (found with a pillow over his face) one or more of them, so let's just see if Mother Nature won't intervene for the betterment of mankind. I won't be satisfied until we have a 9-0 Supreme Court. As for the House of Representatives, can we get this damn impeachment thing off the ground? How much more evidence do you need? Our damn Constitution compels you to do your duty. I feel like a damn exorcist sitting here lashing you with Holy Water just to get you to do what we sent you to Washington to do. Do your job!
Dolly Parton performed in a football halftime show on Thanksgiving Day, and it was, well, unforgettable. Unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, I might add. I like Dolly, but Dolly is no longer 23 years old and she needs to stop acting like she's 23 years old. Showing up on stage wearing a skimpy Dallas cheerleader uniform at her age (77) is just not a good look. To make matters worse, they paraded out the real Dallas cheerleaders, and they were a sight to behold. As for Dolly, by comparison anyway, not so much. Did you notice how Dolly was unstable on her feet? She constantly reached for a ledge behind her to stabilize herself as she moved slowly, even gingerly, from spot to spot on the stage. I don't know why they didn't just give her a microphone stand to grasp if she has mobility problems. That would have given her an excuse to stay in one place while belting out her tunes. Well, "belting out" might be too strong a word. I swear to the Baby Jesus that she was lip-synching her songs. Who could blame her? She's not the same Dolly that we knew back in the day when she was in the movie "Nine to Five" with Jane Fonda. She just isn't. Even the game announcers engaged in Dolly's post-performance snark, and for good reason. I think it's time, Dolly.
We had a nice Thanksgiving. Thank you for asking. The 13.2-pound turkey was cooked perfectly, although I could have done a better job browning it. It just browned unevenly, what can I say? I did the foil thing where you put it on and take it off after it's browned, but it was not perfect. The turkey, was, nonetheless, delicious. We ate so little of it when all was said and done that we now have a stash of turkey which should last us a good few days. I had complained about paying $7 for three large white potatoes, which we planned to convert to mashed potatoes, but they were more than enough for the three of us when all was said and done. They whipped up beautifully, and the missus did a masterful job by adding a bit of butter and garlic after the fact. We had cranberry sauce out of a jar this year, and it was one less chore to have to manage so that was good. Nobody complained. We had some pre-packaged uncooked rolls (dough), which we peeled off and baked for 20 minutes or so, and we'll probably do that again next year if the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise. We had gravy out of a carton, and I simply don't know who bothers with creating their own gravy anymore when they can buy ready-to-go gravy just as easily. Last but not least, I made an apple crisp that was just terrific. Next time around, if there is a next time around, I'll be sure to have more crisp than apple.
It's now the day after Thanksgiving, and we're on to what remains of the holidays for the 2023 year. I would usually put on a little Christmas music, but I'm not ready for that quite yet for whatever reason. I am by no means in the doldrums, and I have no reason to be in the doldrums, truth be told. It feels a little like the actual kickoff of the Winter season now that Thanksgiving is behind us. I still have a few leaves to deal with on our property, and I should probably get my snowblowers up and running. I've already purchased one Christmas present for the missus, and I have it stashed away in a room off our garage where she is unlikely to find it since she never sticks her head in there. I gave the Ev man specific instructions that should I get hit by a bus between now and Christmas, he will know where to find the goodies I've set aside for the missus. We're not talking about tiaras or cashmere here. Today is also Black Friday, but I have nothing I need to buy, so there's that. As I think I've mentioned, Black Friday is no longer a one-day affair. It's at least a week long now. Maybe they should call it Black November or December, although that sounds very dark. Very dark indeed. Later today, we'll pay Mrs. G a visit. Can you think of a better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving?
Fast forward 24 hours and I'm here to tell you that we never did get to see Mrs. G yesterday. You need to be careful about making plans to do anything the day after Thanksgiving. I think I was in recovery mode for the better part of the day yesterday. You don't realize how much the whole Thanksgiving experience takes out of you, much less how much time it takes to recover. Most places of employment give their employees the day after Thanksgiving off, and for good reason. We advised Mrs. G of our updated plans, and she took the opportunity to add a couple of items to the list of items that she asked us to bring over when we planned to visit. She prefers Lays potato chips so we picked those up last night. She likes both the plain chips and the salt and vinegar variety. Not sure why, but we could only find the party size in the salt and vinegar chips. She also asked that we pick up a couple of loaves of Scali bread and a bit of suet for her bird feeder. Since when does she feed the birds? I didn't even know she had a bird feeder. Oh, and she asked that we also pick up a bag of spearmint mints. That should do the trick.
Hamas released their first tranche of Israeli hostages yesterday. I think there were thirteen in total. Mostly old ladies and young children, but you take what you can get. I thought I saw one woman's name on the list of released hostages who was reported to have been killed in the bombing by Israel this past week. What's that all about? Imagine her family's surprise at seeing her name on the list. Hamas also released a couple of dozen Thai hostages. I hadn't heard that they were even holding Thai hostages. And how the hell did the Thai officials negotiate for the release of all of their people when not one American was released from captivity? Curious fucking minds want to know. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Biden paid Iran some five billion dollars for five American hostages barely a month or two ago? You bet your sweet ass it did. Can we toss this feckless old fuck out of office fast enough? Biden and his minions are so desperate to kiss the asses of the Mullahs in Iran that they can't bother to do what it takes to free our people from the clutches of Hamas and their paymasters in Iran. It's just a matter of time now before Biden gives the Mullahs in Iran what they need to put together a nuclear bomb. Then, it's good night Irene for the State of Israel. As for Joe Biden, Mission Accomplished.
Of course, no one knows precisely how many Americans are being held hostage by Hamas. Well, almost no one. Hamas knows. Biden and his minions likely know. Biden's praetorian guard, the media knows, but they're not saying becasue they've been told not to say anything by the Biden Administration. The families of the American hostages know, but they've likely been threatened to keep their mouths shut by Biden and his minions. We'll see today what the second tranche of released captives looks like and whether or not we see the release of any Americans. Keep in mind that every last one of the Palestinians released from Israeli jails as part of the deal is and always has been committed to the destruction of Israel. They were greeted by their fellow Palestinians upon their release as heroes and heroines, and every last one of them immediately wrapped the Hamas headscarves around their heads to show their solidarity with their fellow Palestinians. The October 7th attack by Hamas had nothing to do with Hamas not wanting the peace initiatives between the Saudis and the Israelis to come to fruition, as Biden would have you believe. And, if you think our having a force of some 100,000 men and equipment off the coast of Israel is to protect Israel, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying.
Just a quick update after our visit to see Mrs. G: She was not happy that the IT guy in her place didn't update the operating system software on her computer as he said that he did. Maybe she misunderstood him. That's possible. The update from Monterey to Sonoma takes about 45 minutes, so it doesn't surprise me that he didn't hang around long enough to install the update. I took care of it during our visit, so that's one less thing for her to worry about. The three of us put together a suet feeder from a left-over onion bag that she had hanging around, and we hung it outside on some branches and in direct view of where she sits inside her apartment. We've discussed bird feeders with her plenty of times in the past, but she's never expressed any interest. Now, she wants a bird feeder. Go figure. I gave her one of my tried and true suet cakes which have worked out well for me over the past few years, so I'm guessing it will work out well for her. Mrs. G also complained that the mute button on her television remote was no longer working. I repositioned the clock on her television stand that was blocking the infrared reader, and she was once again good to go.
The football team that I love to hate, the New England Patriots, play today. I think they're playing the New York Jets. Or, maybe it's the Giants. If I understand this stuff right, if they lose, they get a more favorable pick in the draft. Would it surprise anyone if they lost? How can you tell if a team loses on purpose? The Patriots have been accused of cheating in games before, so nothing would surprise me. They might even think that they've endured enough humiliation and defeat during their pathetic 2-8 record this year that they are somehow entitled to throw a game or two just to enhance their standing when it comes to adding better players to their roster. Belichick won't even announce who he plans to put in as quarterback for today's game after benching that turd of a quarterback, Mac Jones, in the last game they played for his absolutely horrible performance. Don't get me wrong. I want to see them lose, but not if that means they get first dibs on top players in the draft. Besides, I enjoy watching them suck too much, and I want that to continue. So, go Pats! Give em hell! Win this one for the Gipper, or whomever. Make us proud again! How am I doing so far?