Day of Reckoning
10/07/22 07:07
Let's get this party started, fellow grundoons! We've got another week ahead so let's see if we can't keep our feet on the ground and our heads up high. Today is the Fourth of July and a holiday hereabouts. We have no shrimp to throw on the barbie and no short ribs to put in the smoker. I've got some leftover potato salad in the fridge if that floats your boat. If that doesn't work then I'm afraid there's not much more I have to offer. If I had an American flag I'd be hanging it outside the house to show my allegiance to this great nation of ours on today, our nation's birthday. Happy Birthday, babycakes!
I'm feeling the need to get an even earlier start to the day on my bike today now that summer is officially underway here on the coast. The cars on Ocean Boulevard start to pile up early this time of year and before you can say "Jack Spratt" my bike path is gone. Poof! That means that I'm watching my flank not only for children jutting out from in between cars but for cars and their drivers that could care less about my welfare. I have a couple of alternate routes that I can take but I'll be damned if I'll have to take another route just because some out-of-towners show up with their surfboards, children, and beach paraphernalia in tow. This is my damn town!
The missus is still counting sheep but she'll be up and about soon throwing on water for her tea and making her way onto our back deck while she waits for the water to come to a boil. That in itself is not enough to take me off track here but the less she engages me the better. I don't have the heart to tell her not to talk to me while I'm doing this here journal thing but I think she does her best to occupy herself knowing as she does that I'm still busy doing what I do at this hour of the morning. She said something to me once about staying in bed when she wakes up so as not to disturb me in the morning. I told her in no uncertain terms that that was not necessary. I think I'm pretty much impervious to distractions at this point when it comes to getting in my journal time.
I started reading a book yesterday and after maybe 20 pages or so I decided that the story itself was so far-fetched that I couldn't in good conscience continue reading the book. The writing itself was quite good so I was surprised that the storyline went the way that it did. I'll have to find a review or two of this book to see if others don't agree with me. Maybe it's me. With so many books at my disposal, I can afford to pick them up and put them down at my leisure. If I never pick them up again, so be it. I've now moved on to a recently released book about the life and times of Clarence Thomas. The format is a little weird in that Clarence is being interviewed and he's responding to questions asked. So far, so good. As I said, there's no shortage of good books out there.
I asked the missus recently if she wouldn't mind joining me for a game of chess. Sadly, she declined. I think it irks her when I beat her at the games we play so, needless to say, we don't play many games. I don't always beat her, mind you, but I must win more often than not otherwise she wouldn't get this pissy when all I'm looking to do is have a little fun with my better half. I'm not even a chess player truth be told. I know how the pieces move on the board and that's about it. I'm not even sure where this hankering to play a game of chess comes from. Maybe the thought of getting better at something I'm not particularly good at has a certain amount of appeal to me. Who doesn't like getting better at things?
Where there's a will, there's a way. I signed on to a chess game online at Chess.com and I was off to the races. Call me a bully but I signed up to play a beginner so I could get a few wins under my belt before playing a real opponent. I think the computer that I'm playing makes intentional mistakes so as not to whip my ass too badly. The missus sees me playing now and I'm quite sure that she thinks I'm playing with some honey sitting in a smoke-filled gaming parlor somewhere in Lithuania. "I'm playing a computer, little darlings," I assure her. "There is nothing to worry about." I am getting better so that feels good. I think this is one of those games where you can read all the books on the planet but there's just no substitute for actually playing the game.
If the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll throw together a cold tortellini salad today. The number of things that you can add to a salad like that is, well, in a phrase, without bounds. I do think it's possible to fuck it up so there's that. Too much of the wrong something would do it. I'm thinking that broccoli is one of those somethings. We'll add some oil but we can't allow the salad to coagulate after sitting in the fridge for a bit so it will have to be a blend of olive oil and vegetable oil. This is a five-cheese tortellini so it will provide just the right balance of proteins and carbohydrates. I'm also going to take another run at that cold Swiss Chard salad I had a good mind to make the other day before I had to throw it all out because of the red ants that came from God only knows where. Who said that there are no such things as second chances?
It's almost Pavlovian. The minute that we see some kind of mass shooting here in the United States, the Democrats are out in force demanding more gun control. Take the shooting in Highland Park over this past holiday weekend for example. The bodies weren't even cold yet and the left and their propaganda arm, the media, were hitting the airwaves whipping up a frenzied and fearful public into believing that if every last gun were confiscated that there would be fewer to no murders on the streets in our towns and cities. What they're not telling you is that the deranged shooter was an Antifa acolyte who, had he not had access to a gun, would have used a motor vehicle or some other weapon of mass destruction to kill Americans on our nation's birthday, the Fourth of July.
That was the whole point. If you're convinced that our nation's founding was conceived out of racism or some other ridiculous corollary, then you want nothing more than to attack and tear down every last institution associated with said corollary. A random shooting isn't going to get the job done. You need to make a statement and what better way to make a statement than to bring a gun to a crowded theater or event and prove to your compatriots that you are in it to win it. This Highland Park shooting wasn't a hate crime if you're thinking in terms of skin color or sexual preference but it was a hate crime nonetheless. It was hatred for America and everything that America stands for.
I don't know what you can do to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Clearly, the usual deterrents aren't getting the job done. The threat of spending the rest of your days behind bars isn't enough anymore. These nutty adherents are willing to lose their lives if that's what it takes. If they survive, they will most likely find a constituency of like-minded fallen angels with whom to hobnob once they are behind bars. Incidentally, where were all the good guys with guns when this loon started shooting from the rooftop in Highland Park yesterday? Oh, that's right, this happened in Illinois where they have the strictest gun laws in the nation. Maybe we need more good guys with guns and fewer laws that nobody enforces.
We're still on track for the delivery of Mrs G's couch on Friday of this week. I don't know why but I've been a little preoccupied with the notion that the deliverymen are going to show up at the appointed hour and Mrs G's old couch will still be there in the space reserved for the new couch. We discussed removal of the old couch several times with Mrs G and she had a couple of ideas in mind that might, at a minimum, get the couch moved to the other side of her living room if not out the door. We got an email from her yesterday informing us that she had made arrangements with the management of her facility to take care of the couch. I don't know if that means they are coming to take it away or maybe, and this would be fine too, just move it out of the way.
Either way, that takes care of the potential problem with the delivery of her new couch. It's one less thing to worry about. Mrs G wanted to replace an old bedside table so we've been working on that as well. She said something to the missus about not wanting a table too large as it might have to fit into a smaller space should she move to a smaller unit. I don't even know what that means. Maybe the sudden passing of a good friend at her facility has her rethinking all of her plans as it relates to her most recent furniture purchases. Maybe this is no different than the urge that one gets when they get on in years to see to it that they don't burden their children or anyone else with having to remove or arrange for the disposal of excess personal belongings after their passing.
Is anyone else following this Brittany Griner story? She's the nappy-haired and heavily tattooed semi-professional basketball player who is being detained in Russia after officials found some marijuana-related paraphernalia in her suitcase at the airport. It's hard to say what's to become of Ms Griner exactly but it's clear thus far that the only thing she's getting from the Biden administration is lip service. Apparently, her phone calls to Joey and Jill are going unanswered at the White House. Her wife, yes, I said her wife, has pleaded with whoever will listen time and time again to assist with the efforts to have her wife released from custody and returned to her rightful place in the United States. She's even gone so far as to suggest that were it Michael Jordan who was being detained that the Biden Administration would be doing more than they are currently doing to negotiate her release.
I just don't know that there is a sufficient hue and cry from any particular political constituency that would otherwise benefit Biden so I'm guessing that is why he's letting her rot in her cell without making so much as an overture for her release. She is both a member of a marginalized community and the gay community so there's that. That has to count for something. No? Maybe Biden's standard fee of 10% for the Big Guy is something that maybe the Griner family or fan club at large is either unable or unwilling to pay. I certainly don't see her teammates, or for that matter, her team, stepping up to the plate with an offer of any kind. Getting busted for carrying spliffs in a foreign country is hardly the kind of headline that any sports club welcomes so Brittany, as dear as she may be to her club, is probably now persona non grata. Brittany who?
Trump has a rally coming up this weekend in Alaska to benefit the Primary opponent of Senator Lisa Murkowski. When is the last time that a president campaigned in Alaska? I'm guessing not in my lifetime. It should be one hell of a rally since I'm guessing that Trump is a rock star in good standing in the eyes of many an Alaskan resident. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that people traveled far and wide to see Trump and some maybe even by dogsled. I'm not sure where the rally is but I'll be tuned in here in the States to watch the rally. With bells on, as they say in the business. Nobody does a rally like Trump and it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for many Alaskans so it is definitely not to be missed. How much it helps Murkowski's opponent, I'm not sure. I guess I would say that it can't hurt. With any luck, Murkowski will defeat Murkowski. She's that bad.
We had such high hopes for dinner last night. The missus bought a nice piece of swordfish and a handful of fresh green beans which she planned to steam. I thought the piece of fish was a little small for the two of us but that's neither here nor there. I turned the oven /broiler on around 5:30 and no sooner had I turned the oven on than our electricity went off. Well, so much for that. I threw the fish back in the fridge as quickly as possible and the missus and I went to work trying to figure out why we had lost our electricity and when we might be getting it back. It turned out that there was an accident in town and we wouldn't be getting our electricity back for the better part of an hour and a half.
We have a generator but I had recently drained the oil out of the generator and I was expecting delivery of the replacement oil so the unit was sitting in our garage with no oil in it. That wasn't the biggest of deals since I had other oil I could use so I threw it all together and got the generator up and running in about 10 minutes. The generator is nice but it doesn't power everything in the house and it definitely doesn't power up the oven so fish was back off the menu for at least one more night. So much for buying a nice piece of fresh fish to have for dinner. Oh, and this generator is one of those generators that you have to wheel in and out of the garage every time you want to use it. One of these days, we'll arrange for a fixed unit. Not sure why we didn't do that the first time around.
One thing that I discovered when the power went out was that the missus didn't have a clue as to how to turn the computer back on. Say what? We never turn our computer off so I suppose she'd likely never have to know how to turn it on if it's never off. That said, we've had computers for decades so you'd think that she might have occasion here and there to turn it on or maybe off here and there. I was actually stunned when she told me that she didn't know how to turn it on. I suppose that she could have figured it out if I for some reason wasn't around to offer her instruction, but that isn't the point. This is one of those teach the person to fish type deals so he or she can feed themselves instead of being spoon-fed each and every day of their life. I suppose that's on me.
The latest lunacy coming out of the Biden Administration is that they have been selling oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to other countries in Europe and China. So, we Americans have been paying nearly $6 a gallon for gas, and rather than use that oil from the SPR to reduce prices at the pump here in America, Biden is selling it to our allies and our enemies. You can't make this shit up. Where are the articles of impeachment from our congressman? Biden is aiding and abetting the Communist Chinese and not a fucking word out of anyone in our Senate or House. How much is Joey is making off of these deals? Or, are these sales a payback for the billions that the Chinese have invested over the years in failed ventures of Joey and Hunter Biden? Where are the fucking special prosecutors? Is everyone asleep at the wheel?
I even got a text last night from my brother from another mother on this subject. I dare say that he's even more critical and intolerant of Biden than I am if that's possible. I think his vitriol stems from the fact that Biden and his minions have brought him to near ruin at a time when he was looking to retire sooner rather than later. I could be wrong about that and we've not discussed it at length so it's mere speculation on my part. I'm also guessing that he sees what every other God-fearing American sees when they see Joey on the stump reading from his prepared cue cards while drooling and looking, more often than not, bewildered and dazed. I mean, this is what passes for an American president these days? How far have we fallen as a nation? I guess what they say about elections having consequences and stolen elections having catastrophic consequences is right as rain.
I think we need to be very clear-eyed about this green energy bullshit that the liberals are trying to force down our throats. In a way, it ties into Biden's selling our petroleum reserve to our enemies. He's blocked or stopped every effort to kickstart our domestic oil production in order to further his dystopian green energy nightmare. As a nation, we have neither the infrastructure nor the technology to support these so-called green energy solutions. Our enemies know this all too well and they have been very successful in selling this so-called green revolution to the Marxists in our midst who are now in control of our government. It has made us weaker as a nation. One of these days the people who have lined their pockets with monies from our enemies in order to bring down our country will pay a price for their treasonous behavior. Let's hope we still have a country to call our own when the time comes.
One of the things that has become abundantly clear since Biden took office is that the so-called liberals and democrats have shown us who they really are. They are not the blue dog democrats from days of old. They are leftists at best and Marxists at worst. Not one of them wants what's best for our country. They condone each and everything Biden does no matter how foolish or wrong-headed. The ends always justify the means. Biden, as sad and demented as he is, is the torch bearer of the Marxist movement in our country and his minions sing his praises at every turn. His Justice Department thinks nothing of labeling parents as domestic terrorists while looking the other way while real terrorist groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter burn down our cities and trash our Constitution. Biden has his Brown Shirts and he has his Propoganda arm in the national media. Here is what we know to be true. Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The revolution is at our doorstep.
I tweeted something out the other day about the fact that I was willing to concede that Biden probably got at least some 40 million votes in the 2020 election when he ran against Trump. His final vote totals were somewhere in the 80 million vote range so where the fuck did the extra 40 million votes come from? As bad as Biden's approval numbers are now, it makes me wonder if they are not planning to steal yet another election in the upcoming mid-terms. I mean, if they can create 40 million ballots for Biden out of whole cloth then what will stop them from doing what they need to do come November? I don't want to be sitting here the day after the November election only to find out that the democrats did not lose the House and that they actually picked up seats in the Senate. I'll be calling foul from the rooftops. Then again, all of this talk about how far underwater Biden is may just be a ruse to fool Republicans into thinking that they don't have to go to the polls because they think they have it in the bag.
Just a quick update on this lesbian basketball player being held in Russia on drug charges. I may have been wrong about the White House not picking up the phone. Did I mention that she pleaded guilty to the charges? Anyway, the gay lobby is putting some serious pressure on Joey and Jill to do something to secure her release. What about all the other Americans being held in Russia, Mr President? Are they not queer enough? Do their cases not justify the intervention of you and your minions? Certainly, they have been held much longer than this basketball player and you've done nothing to help secure their release. And, more than likely, they've been held on charges less serious than this Rastafarian who likes to pack her own spliffs when she goes abroad. I say that she needs to do every day of her ten-year sentence if that is what she gets.
I'm trying to put this whole food security thing in perspective. Think globally here. There is apparently some famine-type thing going on in Africa that we're not hearing a whole lot about. You've got farmers in the Netherlands, the second-largest exporter of agricultural products behind the United States, taking to the streets in their tractors after an apparent land grab by their government, and then you have both the Chinese and Bill Gates from Microsoft buying up thousands of acres of farmland in the heartland of our country. Add to the mix the fact that the largest exporter of fertilizer, Ukraine, is currently under siege by the Russians who are blocking exports of wheat and fertilizer, and you can see how nations and other key players now presumably in control of the world's food supply, have maybe learned how to weaponize food supplies to gain political advantage. If you can control the food supply, you can control the people.
Maybe this is one of those George Soros deals. You know, the Hungarian billionaire who was, and probably still is, operating under the premise that the best way to conquer nations like the United States and other countries like the UK, is to flood the borders of these countries with millions of migrants who will, by their sheer number, overwhelm governments and support systems. When starting wars in these migrant-rich backwaters, or hellholes as Trump liked to call them, didn't force enough relocations to destabilize and destroy the abovementioned governments, Soros needed to employ yet more tactics from his quiver of Marxist arrows. He continues to fund the political campaigns of leftist district attorneys here in our country who, once elected, are changing our laws coast to coast to the detriment of the citizens in those communities. What hand, if any, is Soros playing in this latest volley of assaults on the planet's food supply? Is this just more Soros or is this something different? Food for thought.
If we didn't have some senile old fuck of a "president" like Joe Biden sitting in our White House and making decisions day after day that only make matters worse here in our country on any number of fronts, I might not give much thought to any of this. I don't think I'll be building a bunker or fallout shelter anytime soon but don't think for a moment that I'm not giving some serious thought to buying some backup foodstuffs. I think it's important to think longer-term here since, at least in the case of the fertilizer, we're several crop cycles away from seeing shortages on the shelves at our local stores. We all saw how, during the Covid crisis, people were in the stores buying up everything in sight and not giving a good godamn about the needs of the next guy and how he may or may not now be able to provide for his family because you bought more than you needed. Experience can be a cruel but necessary master. Oh, and if you think that I'm not still regretting having bent over for that Pfizer injection, you would be wrong. They put the fear of God in us and it worked.
I swear to God. Every time Bumbling Joe steps up to the microphone and the teleprompter you just never know what is going to come tumbling out of his mouth. He was making comments this morning about abortion or some such nonsense and he starts to read the actual words on the teleprompter which were never meant to be read aloud. He did it twice. Once he said, "End of quote." When he did it again, he read the words, "Repeat the line." I mean, who does this? How ungodly discomforting is this to we Americans who care about who has their fingers on the nuclear codes? Were he less senile, you could make the case that he just sucks at reading a teleprompter. At one point, his press secretary chimed in on Social Media to say that he said something that he didn't say. We've got the tape, you dumb shits. It's all over Twitter. Just stop.
I was sorry to hear about the assassination of Abe in Japan this morning. He and Trump were the best of buds and both were Nationalists to the bone. You rarely saw Abe without his red "Make America Great Again" when he was in the company of Trump here on American soil. Abe was not currently in power but his voice still resonates within the party he represented when he was in power. In fact, he was campaigning in support of his party on a street corner in Japan when he was killed with a homemade shotgun of sorts. This, of course, comes on the heels of Boris Johnson stepping down as leader of the Conservative party in the UK in the last few days and Macron losing his absolute majority in the parliament in France. Meanwhile, Biden becomes more bewildered by the day, Xi and Putin more powerful by the day, and Zelensky continues to fight a losing battle against a Russian bear who has still not declared what it is that he hopes to accomplish in Ukraine. Just a complete shit show.
Speaking about abortion, what is this crazy obession that the democrats have killing babies in the womb? This is the hill that they want to die on? This is their key to success in driving their voters to the polls in November? Right. I want to make sure that I can comtinue to be able to kill my child in utero if that is what I want to do. How narcissistic is that? You will carry that little mother fucker to term and you'll be happy about it, bitch! There are plenty of moms and dads who would be tickled to be able to adopt your child so that has to count for something. No? These bastards would rather disaptch their Antifa thugs to the healthcare centers where they can unleash their vitriol and violence on people wanting nothing more than to do the Lord's work saving unborn children and the desperate mothers who are in dire need of their services.
I'll end this week's screed with just a little more on what I've learned playing chess. I mentioned that I've been playing the "computer" and not a real person for a week or two now. It doesn't matter to me who I play but, truth be told, I'm not a very good loser so knowing that there isn't a "real" person out there in the ether gloating every time I lose a game online is somewhat comforting. The lengths I go to not to lose, even though I know that my opponent is a computer, are quite exraordinary. Reading between the lines, that means playing beginners for an extended period of time when playing beginners offers what I can only describe as diminishing returns when it comes to upping my game and geting myself ready for the next level of play.
I've played a couple of games with intermediate level "computer" opponents and, despite losing my arse and losing my arse badly, I now know what playing a better opponent looks like. I'd like to think of my style of play as aggresive but aggressive only gets you so far in the game of chess. It seems to me, at least in terms of my limited expereince playing the game, that defense is the name of the game. I liken it to the tale about the tortoise and the hare. I need to be less like the hare and more like the tortoise. To the extent that your opponent's moves tell you a lot about what it takes to win or lose, I'm beginning to think that my time is better spent playing the intermediate players even if I do lose a lot of those games. If nothing else, maybe I'll learn to be a better loser.
I'm feeling the need to get an even earlier start to the day on my bike today now that summer is officially underway here on the coast. The cars on Ocean Boulevard start to pile up early this time of year and before you can say "Jack Spratt" my bike path is gone. Poof! That means that I'm watching my flank not only for children jutting out from in between cars but for cars and their drivers that could care less about my welfare. I have a couple of alternate routes that I can take but I'll be damned if I'll have to take another route just because some out-of-towners show up with their surfboards, children, and beach paraphernalia in tow. This is my damn town!
The missus is still counting sheep but she'll be up and about soon throwing on water for her tea and making her way onto our back deck while she waits for the water to come to a boil. That in itself is not enough to take me off track here but the less she engages me the better. I don't have the heart to tell her not to talk to me while I'm doing this here journal thing but I think she does her best to occupy herself knowing as she does that I'm still busy doing what I do at this hour of the morning. She said something to me once about staying in bed when she wakes up so as not to disturb me in the morning. I told her in no uncertain terms that that was not necessary. I think I'm pretty much impervious to distractions at this point when it comes to getting in my journal time.
I started reading a book yesterday and after maybe 20 pages or so I decided that the story itself was so far-fetched that I couldn't in good conscience continue reading the book. The writing itself was quite good so I was surprised that the storyline went the way that it did. I'll have to find a review or two of this book to see if others don't agree with me. Maybe it's me. With so many books at my disposal, I can afford to pick them up and put them down at my leisure. If I never pick them up again, so be it. I've now moved on to a recently released book about the life and times of Clarence Thomas. The format is a little weird in that Clarence is being interviewed and he's responding to questions asked. So far, so good. As I said, there's no shortage of good books out there.
I asked the missus recently if she wouldn't mind joining me for a game of chess. Sadly, she declined. I think it irks her when I beat her at the games we play so, needless to say, we don't play many games. I don't always beat her, mind you, but I must win more often than not otherwise she wouldn't get this pissy when all I'm looking to do is have a little fun with my better half. I'm not even a chess player truth be told. I know how the pieces move on the board and that's about it. I'm not even sure where this hankering to play a game of chess comes from. Maybe the thought of getting better at something I'm not particularly good at has a certain amount of appeal to me. Who doesn't like getting better at things?
Where there's a will, there's a way. I signed on to a chess game online at Chess.com and I was off to the races. Call me a bully but I signed up to play a beginner so I could get a few wins under my belt before playing a real opponent. I think the computer that I'm playing makes intentional mistakes so as not to whip my ass too badly. The missus sees me playing now and I'm quite sure that she thinks I'm playing with some honey sitting in a smoke-filled gaming parlor somewhere in Lithuania. "I'm playing a computer, little darlings," I assure her. "There is nothing to worry about." I am getting better so that feels good. I think this is one of those games where you can read all the books on the planet but there's just no substitute for actually playing the game.
If the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll throw together a cold tortellini salad today. The number of things that you can add to a salad like that is, well, in a phrase, without bounds. I do think it's possible to fuck it up so there's that. Too much of the wrong something would do it. I'm thinking that broccoli is one of those somethings. We'll add some oil but we can't allow the salad to coagulate after sitting in the fridge for a bit so it will have to be a blend of olive oil and vegetable oil. This is a five-cheese tortellini so it will provide just the right balance of proteins and carbohydrates. I'm also going to take another run at that cold Swiss Chard salad I had a good mind to make the other day before I had to throw it all out because of the red ants that came from God only knows where. Who said that there are no such things as second chances?
It's almost Pavlovian. The minute that we see some kind of mass shooting here in the United States, the Democrats are out in force demanding more gun control. Take the shooting in Highland Park over this past holiday weekend for example. The bodies weren't even cold yet and the left and their propaganda arm, the media, were hitting the airwaves whipping up a frenzied and fearful public into believing that if every last gun were confiscated that there would be fewer to no murders on the streets in our towns and cities. What they're not telling you is that the deranged shooter was an Antifa acolyte who, had he not had access to a gun, would have used a motor vehicle or some other weapon of mass destruction to kill Americans on our nation's birthday, the Fourth of July.
That was the whole point. If you're convinced that our nation's founding was conceived out of racism or some other ridiculous corollary, then you want nothing more than to attack and tear down every last institution associated with said corollary. A random shooting isn't going to get the job done. You need to make a statement and what better way to make a statement than to bring a gun to a crowded theater or event and prove to your compatriots that you are in it to win it. This Highland Park shooting wasn't a hate crime if you're thinking in terms of skin color or sexual preference but it was a hate crime nonetheless. It was hatred for America and everything that America stands for.
I don't know what you can do to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Clearly, the usual deterrents aren't getting the job done. The threat of spending the rest of your days behind bars isn't enough anymore. These nutty adherents are willing to lose their lives if that's what it takes. If they survive, they will most likely find a constituency of like-minded fallen angels with whom to hobnob once they are behind bars. Incidentally, where were all the good guys with guns when this loon started shooting from the rooftop in Highland Park yesterday? Oh, that's right, this happened in Illinois where they have the strictest gun laws in the nation. Maybe we need more good guys with guns and fewer laws that nobody enforces.
We're still on track for the delivery of Mrs G's couch on Friday of this week. I don't know why but I've been a little preoccupied with the notion that the deliverymen are going to show up at the appointed hour and Mrs G's old couch will still be there in the space reserved for the new couch. We discussed removal of the old couch several times with Mrs G and she had a couple of ideas in mind that might, at a minimum, get the couch moved to the other side of her living room if not out the door. We got an email from her yesterday informing us that she had made arrangements with the management of her facility to take care of the couch. I don't know if that means they are coming to take it away or maybe, and this would be fine too, just move it out of the way.
Either way, that takes care of the potential problem with the delivery of her new couch. It's one less thing to worry about. Mrs G wanted to replace an old bedside table so we've been working on that as well. She said something to the missus about not wanting a table too large as it might have to fit into a smaller space should she move to a smaller unit. I don't even know what that means. Maybe the sudden passing of a good friend at her facility has her rethinking all of her plans as it relates to her most recent furniture purchases. Maybe this is no different than the urge that one gets when they get on in years to see to it that they don't burden their children or anyone else with having to remove or arrange for the disposal of excess personal belongings after their passing.
Is anyone else following this Brittany Griner story? She's the nappy-haired and heavily tattooed semi-professional basketball player who is being detained in Russia after officials found some marijuana-related paraphernalia in her suitcase at the airport. It's hard to say what's to become of Ms Griner exactly but it's clear thus far that the only thing she's getting from the Biden administration is lip service. Apparently, her phone calls to Joey and Jill are going unanswered at the White House. Her wife, yes, I said her wife, has pleaded with whoever will listen time and time again to assist with the efforts to have her wife released from custody and returned to her rightful place in the United States. She's even gone so far as to suggest that were it Michael Jordan who was being detained that the Biden Administration would be doing more than they are currently doing to negotiate her release.
I just don't know that there is a sufficient hue and cry from any particular political constituency that would otherwise benefit Biden so I'm guessing that is why he's letting her rot in her cell without making so much as an overture for her release. She is both a member of a marginalized community and the gay community so there's that. That has to count for something. No? Maybe Biden's standard fee of 10% for the Big Guy is something that maybe the Griner family or fan club at large is either unable or unwilling to pay. I certainly don't see her teammates, or for that matter, her team, stepping up to the plate with an offer of any kind. Getting busted for carrying spliffs in a foreign country is hardly the kind of headline that any sports club welcomes so Brittany, as dear as she may be to her club, is probably now persona non grata. Brittany who?
Trump has a rally coming up this weekend in Alaska to benefit the Primary opponent of Senator Lisa Murkowski. When is the last time that a president campaigned in Alaska? I'm guessing not in my lifetime. It should be one hell of a rally since I'm guessing that Trump is a rock star in good standing in the eyes of many an Alaskan resident. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that people traveled far and wide to see Trump and some maybe even by dogsled. I'm not sure where the rally is but I'll be tuned in here in the States to watch the rally. With bells on, as they say in the business. Nobody does a rally like Trump and it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for many Alaskans so it is definitely not to be missed. How much it helps Murkowski's opponent, I'm not sure. I guess I would say that it can't hurt. With any luck, Murkowski will defeat Murkowski. She's that bad.
We had such high hopes for dinner last night. The missus bought a nice piece of swordfish and a handful of fresh green beans which she planned to steam. I thought the piece of fish was a little small for the two of us but that's neither here nor there. I turned the oven /broiler on around 5:30 and no sooner had I turned the oven on than our electricity went off. Well, so much for that. I threw the fish back in the fridge as quickly as possible and the missus and I went to work trying to figure out why we had lost our electricity and when we might be getting it back. It turned out that there was an accident in town and we wouldn't be getting our electricity back for the better part of an hour and a half.
We have a generator but I had recently drained the oil out of the generator and I was expecting delivery of the replacement oil so the unit was sitting in our garage with no oil in it. That wasn't the biggest of deals since I had other oil I could use so I threw it all together and got the generator up and running in about 10 minutes. The generator is nice but it doesn't power everything in the house and it definitely doesn't power up the oven so fish was back off the menu for at least one more night. So much for buying a nice piece of fresh fish to have for dinner. Oh, and this generator is one of those generators that you have to wheel in and out of the garage every time you want to use it. One of these days, we'll arrange for a fixed unit. Not sure why we didn't do that the first time around.
One thing that I discovered when the power went out was that the missus didn't have a clue as to how to turn the computer back on. Say what? We never turn our computer off so I suppose she'd likely never have to know how to turn it on if it's never off. That said, we've had computers for decades so you'd think that she might have occasion here and there to turn it on or maybe off here and there. I was actually stunned when she told me that she didn't know how to turn it on. I suppose that she could have figured it out if I for some reason wasn't around to offer her instruction, but that isn't the point. This is one of those teach the person to fish type deals so he or she can feed themselves instead of being spoon-fed each and every day of their life. I suppose that's on me.
The latest lunacy coming out of the Biden Administration is that they have been selling oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to other countries in Europe and China. So, we Americans have been paying nearly $6 a gallon for gas, and rather than use that oil from the SPR to reduce prices at the pump here in America, Biden is selling it to our allies and our enemies. You can't make this shit up. Where are the articles of impeachment from our congressman? Biden is aiding and abetting the Communist Chinese and not a fucking word out of anyone in our Senate or House. How much is Joey is making off of these deals? Or, are these sales a payback for the billions that the Chinese have invested over the years in failed ventures of Joey and Hunter Biden? Where are the fucking special prosecutors? Is everyone asleep at the wheel?
I even got a text last night from my brother from another mother on this subject. I dare say that he's even more critical and intolerant of Biden than I am if that's possible. I think his vitriol stems from the fact that Biden and his minions have brought him to near ruin at a time when he was looking to retire sooner rather than later. I could be wrong about that and we've not discussed it at length so it's mere speculation on my part. I'm also guessing that he sees what every other God-fearing American sees when they see Joey on the stump reading from his prepared cue cards while drooling and looking, more often than not, bewildered and dazed. I mean, this is what passes for an American president these days? How far have we fallen as a nation? I guess what they say about elections having consequences and stolen elections having catastrophic consequences is right as rain.
I think we need to be very clear-eyed about this green energy bullshit that the liberals are trying to force down our throats. In a way, it ties into Biden's selling our petroleum reserve to our enemies. He's blocked or stopped every effort to kickstart our domestic oil production in order to further his dystopian green energy nightmare. As a nation, we have neither the infrastructure nor the technology to support these so-called green energy solutions. Our enemies know this all too well and they have been very successful in selling this so-called green revolution to the Marxists in our midst who are now in control of our government. It has made us weaker as a nation. One of these days the people who have lined their pockets with monies from our enemies in order to bring down our country will pay a price for their treasonous behavior. Let's hope we still have a country to call our own when the time comes.
One of the things that has become abundantly clear since Biden took office is that the so-called liberals and democrats have shown us who they really are. They are not the blue dog democrats from days of old. They are leftists at best and Marxists at worst. Not one of them wants what's best for our country. They condone each and everything Biden does no matter how foolish or wrong-headed. The ends always justify the means. Biden, as sad and demented as he is, is the torch bearer of the Marxist movement in our country and his minions sing his praises at every turn. His Justice Department thinks nothing of labeling parents as domestic terrorists while looking the other way while real terrorist groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter burn down our cities and trash our Constitution. Biden has his Brown Shirts and he has his Propoganda arm in the national media. Here is what we know to be true. Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The revolution is at our doorstep.
I tweeted something out the other day about the fact that I was willing to concede that Biden probably got at least some 40 million votes in the 2020 election when he ran against Trump. His final vote totals were somewhere in the 80 million vote range so where the fuck did the extra 40 million votes come from? As bad as Biden's approval numbers are now, it makes me wonder if they are not planning to steal yet another election in the upcoming mid-terms. I mean, if they can create 40 million ballots for Biden out of whole cloth then what will stop them from doing what they need to do come November? I don't want to be sitting here the day after the November election only to find out that the democrats did not lose the House and that they actually picked up seats in the Senate. I'll be calling foul from the rooftops. Then again, all of this talk about how far underwater Biden is may just be a ruse to fool Republicans into thinking that they don't have to go to the polls because they think they have it in the bag.
Just a quick update on this lesbian basketball player being held in Russia on drug charges. I may have been wrong about the White House not picking up the phone. Did I mention that she pleaded guilty to the charges? Anyway, the gay lobby is putting some serious pressure on Joey and Jill to do something to secure her release. What about all the other Americans being held in Russia, Mr President? Are they not queer enough? Do their cases not justify the intervention of you and your minions? Certainly, they have been held much longer than this basketball player and you've done nothing to help secure their release. And, more than likely, they've been held on charges less serious than this Rastafarian who likes to pack her own spliffs when she goes abroad. I say that she needs to do every day of her ten-year sentence if that is what she gets.
I'm trying to put this whole food security thing in perspective. Think globally here. There is apparently some famine-type thing going on in Africa that we're not hearing a whole lot about. You've got farmers in the Netherlands, the second-largest exporter of agricultural products behind the United States, taking to the streets in their tractors after an apparent land grab by their government, and then you have both the Chinese and Bill Gates from Microsoft buying up thousands of acres of farmland in the heartland of our country. Add to the mix the fact that the largest exporter of fertilizer, Ukraine, is currently under siege by the Russians who are blocking exports of wheat and fertilizer, and you can see how nations and other key players now presumably in control of the world's food supply, have maybe learned how to weaponize food supplies to gain political advantage. If you can control the food supply, you can control the people.
Maybe this is one of those George Soros deals. You know, the Hungarian billionaire who was, and probably still is, operating under the premise that the best way to conquer nations like the United States and other countries like the UK, is to flood the borders of these countries with millions of migrants who will, by their sheer number, overwhelm governments and support systems. When starting wars in these migrant-rich backwaters, or hellholes as Trump liked to call them, didn't force enough relocations to destabilize and destroy the abovementioned governments, Soros needed to employ yet more tactics from his quiver of Marxist arrows. He continues to fund the political campaigns of leftist district attorneys here in our country who, once elected, are changing our laws coast to coast to the detriment of the citizens in those communities. What hand, if any, is Soros playing in this latest volley of assaults on the planet's food supply? Is this just more Soros or is this something different? Food for thought.
If we didn't have some senile old fuck of a "president" like Joe Biden sitting in our White House and making decisions day after day that only make matters worse here in our country on any number of fronts, I might not give much thought to any of this. I don't think I'll be building a bunker or fallout shelter anytime soon but don't think for a moment that I'm not giving some serious thought to buying some backup foodstuffs. I think it's important to think longer-term here since, at least in the case of the fertilizer, we're several crop cycles away from seeing shortages on the shelves at our local stores. We all saw how, during the Covid crisis, people were in the stores buying up everything in sight and not giving a good godamn about the needs of the next guy and how he may or may not now be able to provide for his family because you bought more than you needed. Experience can be a cruel but necessary master. Oh, and if you think that I'm not still regretting having bent over for that Pfizer injection, you would be wrong. They put the fear of God in us and it worked.
I swear to God. Every time Bumbling Joe steps up to the microphone and the teleprompter you just never know what is going to come tumbling out of his mouth. He was making comments this morning about abortion or some such nonsense and he starts to read the actual words on the teleprompter which were never meant to be read aloud. He did it twice. Once he said, "End of quote." When he did it again, he read the words, "Repeat the line." I mean, who does this? How ungodly discomforting is this to we Americans who care about who has their fingers on the nuclear codes? Were he less senile, you could make the case that he just sucks at reading a teleprompter. At one point, his press secretary chimed in on Social Media to say that he said something that he didn't say. We've got the tape, you dumb shits. It's all over Twitter. Just stop.
I was sorry to hear about the assassination of Abe in Japan this morning. He and Trump were the best of buds and both were Nationalists to the bone. You rarely saw Abe without his red "Make America Great Again" when he was in the company of Trump here on American soil. Abe was not currently in power but his voice still resonates within the party he represented when he was in power. In fact, he was campaigning in support of his party on a street corner in Japan when he was killed with a homemade shotgun of sorts. This, of course, comes on the heels of Boris Johnson stepping down as leader of the Conservative party in the UK in the last few days and Macron losing his absolute majority in the parliament in France. Meanwhile, Biden becomes more bewildered by the day, Xi and Putin more powerful by the day, and Zelensky continues to fight a losing battle against a Russian bear who has still not declared what it is that he hopes to accomplish in Ukraine. Just a complete shit show.
Speaking about abortion, what is this crazy obession that the democrats have killing babies in the womb? This is the hill that they want to die on? This is their key to success in driving their voters to the polls in November? Right. I want to make sure that I can comtinue to be able to kill my child in utero if that is what I want to do. How narcissistic is that? You will carry that little mother fucker to term and you'll be happy about it, bitch! There are plenty of moms and dads who would be tickled to be able to adopt your child so that has to count for something. No? These bastards would rather disaptch their Antifa thugs to the healthcare centers where they can unleash their vitriol and violence on people wanting nothing more than to do the Lord's work saving unborn children and the desperate mothers who are in dire need of their services.
I'll end this week's screed with just a little more on what I've learned playing chess. I mentioned that I've been playing the "computer" and not a real person for a week or two now. It doesn't matter to me who I play but, truth be told, I'm not a very good loser so knowing that there isn't a "real" person out there in the ether gloating every time I lose a game online is somewhat comforting. The lengths I go to not to lose, even though I know that my opponent is a computer, are quite exraordinary. Reading between the lines, that means playing beginners for an extended period of time when playing beginners offers what I can only describe as diminishing returns when it comes to upping my game and geting myself ready for the next level of play.
I've played a couple of games with intermediate level "computer" opponents and, despite losing my arse and losing my arse badly, I now know what playing a better opponent looks like. I'd like to think of my style of play as aggresive but aggressive only gets you so far in the game of chess. It seems to me, at least in terms of my limited expereince playing the game, that defense is the name of the game. I liken it to the tale about the tortoise and the hare. I need to be less like the hare and more like the tortoise. To the extent that your opponent's moves tell you a lot about what it takes to win or lose, I'm beginning to think that my time is better spent playing the intermediate players even if I do lose a lot of those games. If nothing else, maybe I'll learn to be a better loser.