"...Shakespeare The Poltical Pundit: As In, What Fools These Mortals Be...."

so let it be written, so let it be done...as it was done on the Aug 7 show


on going "back to the future", more or less, kinda sorta...  

What do unicorns, conspiracy theories and presidential campaigns have in common....MORE OFTEN THAN not they are just a figment of the imagination.....

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN…..which can only mean go back to a better time, back to the way things used to be…so here’s the question……when exactly was that? If it was up to you ,what period in our past would you take America back to? THE WHOLE IDEA IS ROMANTIC AND CERTAINLY ENTICING.....But it’s really an illusion, isn’t it?

How bout the 60”s…peace, love, groovy, beads and free love..and civil rights killings and marches and Russia putting nuclear missiles in Cuba…Pick a decade, any decade, pick a year, any year….I’m thinking that the slogan MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN is one of those slogans designed to get your patriotic passions all stirred up, but doesn’t really mean a thing because we can’t go BACK in time and no ONE person can make it all better…it’s not a return to a certain time we crave, it’s a return to a certain set of values and principles and a mindset…find me the candidate who can get THAT done and I’ll join you in going door to door for them...



on the mistake that you simply DO NOT make, no matter how much "mistakes happen"...

A toddler in East Dallas, a four year old in Pennsylvania, twin girls in Georgia...all DEAD and dead FROM heat stroke.....

So far this year, at least 24 children in the United States have died as a result of hot cars, according to the national safety advocacy organization KidsAndCars. The deaths of the twins in Georgia, if they're confirmed to be heat-related, would put that number at 26, the group said.

That would exceed the number of children -- 24 -- that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said died nationwide from heatstroke in vehicles in all of 2015

Of the children who die this way, 87% are age 3 and younger, KidsAndCars founder Janette Fennell said.

Typically two set of circumstances that lead to this kind of tragedy, said Jeanette Fennell, KidsAndCars.org founder and president. Children either climb into a car on their own or an adult leaves them in the car because that person is overly distracted and preoccupied with other things.

TWO MORE CIRCUMSTANCES, ACTUALLY: the person is either a moron....or they are so self-absorbed that they simply don’t think about anything but themselves and what they are doing...until its TOO LATE....

The organization urges parents and caretakers to read its safety tips that include looking in the backseat each time you get out of the car and putting something you need in your backseat -- your cell phone, handbag, employee ID or briefcase -- to ensure that you will check. 

HOW ABOUT NEW AND SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY….AN ALARM THAT DINGS IF THE KIDS SEATBELT IS STILL FASTENED OR THEY’RE STILL BUCKLED UP IN THEIR CARSEAT…..
EVERY BODY IN THIS NATION IS CONSTANTLY STARING AT THEIR PHONES….WHERE’S THE APP THAT TELLS YOU YOUR KID IS IN THE BACK SEAT?



on Hillary's slip sliding away not getting her any nearer the destination...    

In the ongoing, never ending saga of Hillary and her emails and whether the FBI said she was truthful or didn’t say she was truthful, Hillary addressed the issue this week by saying that she may have “short circuited” her answers about it….we here at Nighttime polled a number of experts on language

and phrases and the one comment that they all seemed to agree on as it applies to what Secretary Clinton had to say was WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?...Hillary, bubula, I’m beggin ya…just fess up…tell it all, sistah…WHATEVER you have done it can’t be any worse than handing over the keys to the White House to a guy who would date his daughter if, you know, she wasn’t his daughter….Hillary…the truth….try it….it’s delicious and very refreshing………..




on the real problem confronting us in "decision" 2016  

Donald Trump isn’t the problem.
Never has been.
The problem is found in the Constitution.
Tell you where in a few minutes.

2016 has been an election year, the likes of which we have historically never seen.
Some things, believe it or not,though, actually still hold true to tradition.
Among them, the term “race”.
As in the race to the White House.

Or for the White House depending on how far into your cerebellum your English teachers were able to penetrate.
This time around, and especially in light of ongoing developments, the term still applies, but it doesn’t mean what it has traditionally meant.
The race to the White House is no mere marathon run between two candidates.
This contest is now a bona fide, no doubt about it, slap my butt and call me cheeky race against the clock.
And whether Donald can beat that clock.
Put simply…two things are certain.
November 8 is going to arrive right on schedule.
Donald Trump’s candidacy is going to continue to meltdown.
The race, this time around, is to see which occurs first.
Should he actually still have any credibility left at all by Election Day, those of us who have been alarmed, since day one, about his involvement in this election are still cynical and/or concerned enough to believe that there could still be enough people who simply don’t understand what’s at stake here that he could, in fact, win the election.
And if you’re not a Trump supporter and if what I just said sounds ridiculous to you at this moment, you have honestly not been paying attention to what’s happening in your nation.
One year ago, the notion that Donald Trump could even be considered a possibility for the nomination for President was….wait for it….ridiculous.
And it’s one year later.
And, wait a minute….hold the phone…stop the presses….who’s that GOP nominee walkin in these woods?
Well, kids, it ain’t Little Red Riding Hood.

For the last two weeks here on the show, I’ve been hittin’ it pretty hard and heavy about what I believe to be the shortcomings of the man, his complete and comprehensive inadequacies for the job of being President and the honest to God danger I believe we are in, should he win.

And I’m appreciative to all of you who listen to this show who have not only shared your opinions with me, but who respected, if not agreed with, my hittin it pretty hard and heavy.

But, like a lot of people, including this past week, the twice freely elected current President of the United States, have said…..I’m saying it now too….at some point,….enough is enough.

I’m done trying to talk you out of voting for Donald.
From here on, I don’t think a thing I say is going to make even a tiny dent in your resolve to see this through with him.

If everything that he has already said and done hasn’t convinced you to walk away, I don’t flatter myself for a second that anything I have to offer will persuade you.

As the old saying goes….you do what you gotta do.

That said, though, fair warning that I’m not going to stop talking about Donald or Hillary or Barack or Jim Bob or Mary Ellen or John Boy, either, for that matter.
First, because, whatever else it is or isn’t, it’s what people are talking about.

And that’s what talk shows talk about.
What people are talking about.

And second, because whatever else this candidacy is, or isnt, it’s also funny. Admittedly in that way that watching somebody get hit in the balls is funny funny.

But funny.

At least I plan to do my best each week from now until November and, God forbid, after that to find as much humor in all of this as my own cerebellum will allow me.
Because at some point, sometimes, laughter is all we got.

So, there’s that.

Now, back to that problem I mentioned at the outset.
Take all of the questions that are being asked by all of the people asking questions across the country and around the world about this guy and, for my money,
there’s only one question that’s really worth an answer anymore.
No, not why does he say the things he says. He’s Donald, always has been, always will be.

No, not why doesn’t he realize he doesn’t have to be an asshat to have a pretty good chance at winning. He’s Donald, always has been, always will be.

No, not when is he going to realize he’s burning down his own chances every time he opens his mouth lately? Never. He’s Donald, always has been, always will be.
The question that deserves an answer goes something like this.

How did he ever get this far in the process?

Even the most obtuse people in this country know that this guy is outrageously out of his league, out of place and somewhere he absolutely no place being.    

A duck out of water.
A bull in a china shop.
A cold sore at a kissing contest.

And that includes the lion’s share of people who are still wanting to vote for the guy. Just last week, a caller to this show graciously shared that a) he was still a Trump supporter and b) Donald needs to just knock it off with all of these moronic things he is saying and doing . Things that are only going to do him damage in the long run.

When those who support you have to start fighting the urge to look down at the ground when someone asks about you, you’re probably not doing yourself any favors.

But, again, nothing is going to change the fact that Donald is Donald.
Always has been.
Always will be.
So back to the remaining question.
How did he ever get this far?
Right time, right place?
Sort of.
But that’s not the real key to the puzzle box.

The real key to the puzzle box is that Donald came along at the right time to the right place….but he said all the right things.

Because THAT’S his only “talent”, for lack of an applicable word.
Manipulation.
Like any really good salesman.
Or anyone who needs you to buy what they’re selling whether it’s a product or a promise or an idea or an excuse….ANYTHING they want to SELL YOU
THEY TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR.

We are all wired to be attracted to that.

Quick check. Show of hands. How many of you have given at least some consideration to a product you saw advertised on TV in the last two or three days?

My hand is up

THEY WANT TO SELL ME…SO THEY MANIPULATE ME…by TELLING ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR……
and I just know that THAT golf doo hickey is going to be the one that will make me a world class player out there……

I believe it….because I WANT to believe it.
NOT because it’s true.

We are all wired to be attracted to those who tell us what we want to hear.
Some immediately resist.
Some are tempted, but give it some thought and wait and see.
And some go all in, buying it and convincing themselves they believe it because it feels good, it sounds right, it’s the fix they believe will cure their ills, save their bacon, make their lives better and safer and easier and….deal with those things that make daily life so difficult.
Things like the fact that….

People are struggling…..GUESS WHAT?.....people are ALWAYS struggling.
People are frustrated and angry…GUESS WHAT? people are ALWAYS frustrated and angry.
People are worried about how to pay their bills or send their kids to college or get good health care….GUESS WHAT….people are ALWAYS worried about how to pay their bills or send their kids to college or get good health care….
People are afraid of terrorists and what they will do next…GUESS WHAT? people are ALWAYS afraid of terrorists and what they will do next.
It’s called life.

And it’s full of joy and love and compassion and forgiveness and giving AS WELL AS heartbreak and struggle and challenge and unhappiness and tragedy and adversity.

These are universal and never ending facets of the lives that we live, the lives that we have been given.

And no man or woman, no mere mortal human being has it within their power to take away your struggles or your frustrations or worries or fears.

But America in the year 2016 is not the America of 1932 when the only thing we had to fear was fear itself.

It is not the America of 1961 when we answered with one voice when we were told not to ask what our country could do for US, but what WE could do for our country.

It is not the America of 1987 that cheered a President who sternly and bravely publicly told another leader to tear DOWN A WALL.

And it is not the America of 2001 when what petty bickering there was between us, the kind of petty bickering that happens every day in any every day American family, that bickering disappeared instantly as Americans, white, black, gay, straight, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, stood together in the rubble and the smoke and demonstrated, by that standing together, that we could not, would not, be intimidated. That evil could knock down our buildings, knock down our airliners, knock us right down to the ground we named Zero, but they could not and would not keep us down. Or turns us against each other.

This is the America of 2016.

It is an America that not only fears fear itself, but fears words, words that might ruffle someone’s feathers or offend their sensibilities or, God forbid, hurt someone’s feelings, so we’re told we have to watch our words and say only the right words whatever the hell the right words are at any given moment.

It is an America that not only asks what our country can do but expects, feels entitled, even demands to know what our country WILL do…. expects to be given a trophy just for showing up, given the lightest sentence no matter the crime, have expiration dates put on lifetime bans, to be provided with every creature comfort, easy path, obstacle free journey to anything and everything, any and every hour of every day and night…and freedom? well, hell, man, we wrote the book on freedom and the America of 2016 not only expects, it ASSUMES freedom….all of it…all of the time….as much as we want….the old, tried, true, traditional freedoms….all of them…all of the time…AND the new freedom….freedom  WITHOUT…freedom without accountability…freedom without responsibility….freedom without ability…freedom without sacrifice, contribution or cooperation….

The America of 2016 is an America that not only can’t see the forest for the trees, it can’t even see the trees because these days it doesn’t even look up from its phones…an America that can’t be bothered facing, or God forbid, dealing with challenges like learning to respect, appreciate, even get along with those who are a different color or gender or sexuality or religion. An America that knows every single name of every single reality TV “star” but doesn’t know the name of their own congressman…or senator…or vice president….

The America of 2016 is an America that expects unpleasant business to be taken care of instead of finding a way to take care of business…expects to be protected instead of standing up and stepping up and banding together…expects to have concern, worry and fear picked up by truckload in the middle of the night and deported out of our comfort zones….expects a wall to keep us safe from possible danger without even giving thought for a single second that walls serve, at least, two purposes….they can, in fact, sometimes keep things out….but they also provide a way for us to tremble and hide from what we should be facing up to…..oh…and make that three purposes…
…walls divide us.

In the America of 2016, Donald Trump has gotten as far as he’s gotten because he has been telling people what they want to hear. Enough people, obviously, to accumulate the vote totals necessary to “win” primaries and “win” a major party nomination.

But even many of his supporters now are beginning to see and hear the man speaking those words.

The America of 1932 would consider him a fear monger
The America of 1961 would consider him self-absorbed.
The America of 1987 would disregard a man who wanted to build a wall when there were already at least one too many walls.

And the America of 2001 would consider him a petty, vain and insecure excuse for the kind of American, white, black, gay, straight, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim who were standing together, arms locked, victorious in the aftermath, but not vindictive…determined in the aftermath but not demagogues…patriotic in the aftermath….but not pandering to, and manipulating with, the very fear those cowardly RADICAL EXTREMIST Islamic terrorists expected to result from hijacking those planes.

The very fear that, somehow, in the now almost 15 years since those planes flew into those buildings and that Pennsylvania field has somehow been allowed to fester and re-infect the American bloodstream….the kind of fear that makes people want to tremble and hide behind walls…make bad choices…succumb to anger, panic, even desperation…..

the kind of fear that makes it sadly, and dangerously, easy for those who know how to tell us what we want to hear to step up to a microphone and convince millions of people that he, alone, can make all those problems go away.

Donald Trump isn’t the problem.
Never has been.
The problem is found in the Constitution.
The first three words.
We, the people.
Of the America…of 2016.

\

join the conversation

Sunday nights at 7P Eastern

 

"...All We Seem To Hear Is Hate, Hate, Hate, Hate.....Don't You Just Hate That?..."

 assorted and sundry from the July 31st show....

on the one thing on which we should all agree....

 even a misguided, bleeding heart, Obama/Hillary loving Libtard like me totally get, accept and even endorse people who oppose Hillary or, at the very least, don’t support Hillary…she has a certain set of values, ideas, plans and intentions and it’s natural that not everyone goes along….we’re Americans, we don’t ever all agree on ANYTHING….you can’t get three people at your workplace to agree on where to go to lunch….

and, of course, there’s that honesty and trustworthiness thing, although, all night long tonight, I’m going to challenge you to offer me one politician you can hold up as a poster child for honesty and trust…..

I accept, even endorse, people who might even passionately disagree with the proposals, plans and intentions of Hillary Clinton…and, again, there’s that honesty and trustworthiness thing….but, again, I’ll be challenging you….

What I DON’T accept and what I DON’T endorse is the hatred…the angry, vicious, nasty, frankly embarrassing behavior of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of so called God fearing, patriotic Americans…the kind of behavior that goes miles and miles past any reasonable definition of appropriate and legitimate disagreement…..AND here’s something else I don’t accept or endorse….that same kind of hatred, anger, viciousness that’s been tar and feathering Barack and Michelle Obama for the past seven and half years….you don’t think he’s done a good job, that’s your call…you think he’s done a poor job, a bad job, a REALLY bad job, that’s your call…but the petty and mean and vicious and nasty?...that’s not a fair and reasonable assessment of job performance….it’s just petty and mean and vicious and nasty and, frankly,

embarrassing…embarrassing to those of us who still believe in being that shining beacon of role model to the rest of the world and are watching that rest of the world increasingly shake their heads, roll their eyes and start looking elsewhere for leadership and inspiration and class…..

the meme that has Dog SHT coming out of Hillary’s mouth every time it opens….the profane, obscene, offensive variations on the name Barack Obama…the pictures of Michelle Obama making her look like an ugly, repulsive ape……THIS is your idea of free speech and expression and your contribution to America? WOW….you are some kind of patriot, you are……

and if all you’ve got to counter is something inane like “well, Obama has ruined this nation….he’s got us on the road to destruction….and Hillary, well, that bitch is just more of the same” and all that other uninformed and uneducated mouthing off that haters do, let me clue you into something…I love the history of this country and I read A LOT about the history of this country and …..if you read that history you’ll find that, historically, those who history has proven possessed, or possess, genuine insight and vision tend to invoke one of two reactions in the masses:

either Admiration and appreciation from those who feel confident enough in themselves to recognize the benefit of listening to and considering the viewpoint of others....

or hatred and character assassination from those whose own insecurities and lack of education or sophistication or even self-esteem trigger the need to attack..

the most passionately admired leaders in history were among the most passionately hated and vilified, as well...trust me when I tell you that’s no coincidence…

leaders come and go....nothing changes until humanity matures enough to disagree without demonizing or denigrating.......nothing.......

 And here’s an odd, or interesting, observation….for all of the ragging that Donald Trump takes for his behavior, nobody really seems to HATE the guy…..ridicule him? mock him? even fear what he represents? but HATE? not so much….oh, the hate is out there and pops up here and there, but I haven’t seen a fraction of the memes or posts or comments and letters to the editor, etc talking HATRED about Donald that are flowing out there on Hillary and Barack…..

Occams Razor is a philosophical principle that, put simply, states that the simplest answer is usually the correct answer….and Sherlock Holmes said somewhere along the way that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth….

Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about all this hatred and applying those principles and here’s where I am right at this moment….I realize that out of all the people who might stir up powerful emotions in us who either are President, have BEEN president or want to BE president, that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have only ONE thing each in their resume that ALL of the others DON’T have….Hillary is a woman…and Barack is black……and given what Occam and Holmes have to say about it, I can’t find anything else to explain this level of HATRED or see it as being caused by anything other than….Sexism….and Racism…and keep in mind, I’m not talking about disagreement, opposition, unwillingness to support, endorse and/or vote for somebody…I’m talking about HATRED…stupid, ignorant, blind, embarrassing, dangerous HATRED….


on taking responsibility being like rubber and glue...sticks somewhere else as it bounces off you...

I've made no secret that one of the problems I have with Trump is that he is NEVER WRONG ABOUT or TO BLAME for ANYTHING….and that’s simply not a good quality in anybody, let alone somebody who wants to be the leader of a nation……..but this business of batting away the blame has become business as usual….

Scott Baio tweeted out an image of Hillary Clinton surrounded by the offensive word “cunt.” And then immediately after being tapped as a Trump speaker, he posted it again.
“This may be the best meme out there,” Scott Baio quipped while posting an image of Hillary Clinton giving a speech in which her head fully blocked out the letter “o” in the word “Count” on the banner behind her, leaving it to spell out the gender slur “cunt” behind her. 

the very first post in the comment thread accompanying this FB post read as follows:

(Name Withheld As A Courtesy) While Scott is wrong in calling her this foul name, Hillary has brought this on herself with all the lies she has told, and you all know she lied. I don't believe in using foul language to describe anyone as it is just downright disrespectful. Maybe if Hillary stopped blaming others for her wrongdoings, she would not be referred to such an ugly name. Trump/Pence 2016!

so...if Hillary would just stop lying, it wouldn't be necessary for brave Americans like Scott Baio to refer to her as a cunt......hmmm....and, you know, if only that nice girl down the street hadn't worn that skirt so short, she probably wouldn't have gotten herself raped....


on the only irrefutably fair question to be asked in this entire crap pile of a campaign...

hatred, pettiness, hostilities, even (especially) partisan politics aside...from the NATO matter to encouraging Russia to hack into American information to talking about changing or doing away with the Geneva Convention to the myriad various and sundry obvious inappropriate moves and remarks, does it honestly not occur to those who continue to support Donald Trump that, everything else OFF the table, the man simply doesn't know what he's doing and is already dramatically in over his head?.....

AND let’s add to that the character flaw that I started pointing out right here on this show A YEAR OR MORE AGO….he’s a bully with a thin skin who “TELLS IT LIKE IT IS”…TRANSLATION: he can dish it out ALL DAY LONG…but who gets pissed off and vindictive when ANYBODY tells HIM like it is about ANYTHING…he reminds me of that guy in Seinfeld, the bad breaker upper…"..yeah, well, you’ve got a big old melon head…"...


on campaign fatigue...why we catch it...and what we need to do to cure it...

 modern communications technology, social media and the onset of political campaigns as much as eighteen months out have made the traditional Presidential election process obsolete...with another three months yet to endure, it's a safe bet that almost everyone who has looked up from their phones long enough to give a s*** has already, even long ago, made up their minds and nothing said or done from here on out is going to change them....so, let's spare ourselves the grief and exhaustion of any more bluster, bitching, bantering and blathering and hold the election Tuesday.....

further "campaigning" is going to accomplish nothing more than further angering us, dividing us and making us look even more ridiculous in the global view than we already do......

let's just shelve being "stronger together" and "making America great again" and let's Put America Out Of Its Misery.......

crowning thy good / with brotherhood / from sea to shining sea is optional.....



on being all stocked up on that cheapest of human qualities...

Last week, right here on this show, our first show upon returning from an eight month hiatus, I said something, on the air, that a lot of people who have listened to me for a while were probably surprised to hear. I said that I believe, at least at this point in the process, that Donald Trump is going to be elected President of the United States. My reasons are numerous and there’s plenty of time between now and November for me to share them, so I won’t do all that now. And, with any kind of luck, I won’t have to because, hopefully, between now and November, I’ll feel confident enough that it’s not going to happen to change my mind.

I mention all of this by way of sharing that tonight with both the Republican and Democratic conventions completed and Trump and Clinton now officially the two major party nominees, I have a clear perspective or, at the very least, a troublesome gut feeling of what this election is really all about…more on that in a minute….

I started noticing presidential elections around 1960…I was just a little kid then, but there was something kind of exciting about the atmosphere of that election year. TV played a big part for the first time and both Kennedy and Nixon had a certain style that was interesting, even to an elementary school aged kid…do the quick math and that means that I’ve been around to witness, in one way or another, fourteen different presidential elections. Lots of up years, lots of down years, lots of national crisis years and lots of international crisis years No presidential election in this country is without its moments of rough and tumble, even knock down drag out between the candidates and, also, between all of us every day folks who talk and debate and argue at the dinner table or the water cooler and then line up to pull the lever on Election Day. But believe me, as Tim Kaine pointed out to us that
Donald likes to say alot, believe me when I tell you that I have never before, in any of the fourteen previous presidential campaigns I’ve witnessed,  seen the kind of vicious, hateful, bigoted, prejudiced, angry, nasty, hostile, mean spirited

behavior that I’ve seen from this election…

Wednesday night Barack Obama and Joe Biden talked of being optimistic about the future of this country…..

Hillary took the same approach Thursday night…our best days are ahead of us…America IS great…etcetera etcetera…

Underneath my pretty well known and documented satirical, sardonic, even sometimes sarcastic exterior, I really do love apple pie and the flag and Uncle Sam and I really do want to feel optimistic about this nation’s future…believe it or not, I’m hoping every day that what I think is in danger of happening in this country WONT, in the end, turn out to be what happens in this country.
But I’m not finding it easy to be optimistic. And that’s because, as I said earlier, after a lot of watching and listening and thinking and talking about the election so far and, after witnessing fourteen other presidential elections, I have a clear perspective or, at the very least, a troublesome gut feeling of what this election is really all about

It’s about the politics of fear.

Never, in my life time, have two opposing sides been so clearly obvious or clearly defined….and never has the outcome of an election mattered as much as does this one….
there are fifteen Sundays between tonight and the election….and for the next fifteen weeks, I’m going to be talking about the election…I look forward to you talking about it with me….we’re not going to talk about it all the time…even good and evil step outside and take a smoke break every now and then….AND for those of you who start to go cross eyed listening to talk radio that goes on and on and on and on and on about one subject, you’re in luck….my ADD will pretty much prevent THAT from happening…and, despite what CNN and FOX and MSNBC would have you believe, there actually ARE other things going on in the world, in our country and right here in Kent and Sussex Counties besides the battle for the future of mankind between Donald and Hillary…and we’ll talk about them….and because every middle and high school teacher I ever had will testify under oath that I could never resist being a wisenheimer in class, even, no, especially, at the most inappropriate moments, you’ll find that this show will have its share of goofy and funny and fun and, yes, wisenheimer….and I invite you to share your goofy and funny with all of us…laughter is the best medicine…and there’s not a prescription in the world big enough to completely cure all the aches and pains WE got goin on these days….

And because I believe the right thing to do for someone with a microphone is to be up front and respect the audience by not trying to be all things to all listeners, I’m being up front with you right now by telling you that I sincerely believe that electing Donald Trump President would be a mistake on a scale of mistakes that this nation has never, ever seen.

That said, here’s where we go from here…conversation, communication, debate, discussion, dissention, opposition, even argument….in the very best tradition of good people respecting each other enough to speak their minds but always, ALWAYS keeping in mind an old fisherman’s prayer:
O Lord, thy sea is so great…and my boat is so small…..

and always, ALWAYS keeping in mind one little revision I think essential…..

thy sea IS so great…but it’s not MY boat…it’s OUR boat…and we are ALL in it…..

so bring me your conversation, your discussion, your opposition, even your argument to maybe find some answers….and, to paraphrase the old joke, let’s use the Christopher Columbus method….and sail around until we find some…

but viciousness and hatred?

sell them somewhere else….I’m not buying.

join the conversation

Sunday nights at 7

We, The People..Edition 2016

"...The Problem With Those Who Light The Way For Us Is Sometimes Their Sneaky Way Of Blinding Us With That Light...."

thoughts and ponderances from the return of our weekly show

on explaining how "confirmation bias" has a major effect on the coming election....

THE MOTHER OF THE LIBYAN AMBASSADOR WHO DIED IN BENGHAZI WROTE THIS LETTER TO TODAY’S NEW YORK TIMES………..As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’s mother, I am writing to object to any mention of his name and death in Benghazi, Libya, by Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party,” Mary Commanday said in a letter-to-the-editor published in the New York Times on Saturday.
“I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection. I hope that there will be an immediate and permanent stop to this opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign.”
“I do not blame Hillary Clinton or [Former Secretary of Defense] Leon Panetta,” she said in an interview with the New Yorker last month. “They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had.”

AND THE VERY FIRST FB POST COMMENT I READ WAS THIS:

So sad. I understand to a point. I do however think this is another one taking one for the Clinton's... Who in their right mind would not fight to the bitter end if this was their son? I would ! I know people say, all these people sharing don't have a clue what really happened..... Read all about it people. It's all over the internet where it has been LONG before Trump ever mentions running for president... Hillary has blood on her hands and as we all know not just his mans.. Go ahead stick your head in the sand some more..


THE MAN’S OWN MOTHER SAYS SHE DOESN’T BLAME CLINTON OR PANETTA…YOU want to believe that Hillary caused him to die…and so she DID…THAT’s called confirmation bias.


 on Donald's inability to take the high road...ever....for any reason....

the Republican nominee for President of the United States returns, the day after he is nominated to be President of the United States, to being the weasely, pathetic little bully boy he has been since the day he first set foot on the campaign trail….
and those little quirks we’ve all come to recognize now as Donald’s dealios…..oh I DIDN’T say anything about Cruz’s dad being involved in the JFK killing…the NATIONAL ENQUIRER said that and ALL I SAID was that the NATIONAL ENQUIRER said that…..

THEN there’s the nonsense about Trump saying that Cruz STARTED it all because he made fun of Melania’s half naked pictures, so Donald had to make fun of pictures of Cruz’s wife…and that childish nonsense carried itself all the way to the convention and Donald expected Cruz to endorse him, but Cruz didn’t endorse him, so Donald shows up at the end of Cruz’s speech and sits in the family section with this look on his face like Michael Corleone right before he tells Fredo ...

"...don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again....ever...."


and…BY THE WAY, the WHOLE EVENT FRIDAY morning was supposed to be a thank you to staff and convention organizers and Donald spent the largest chunk of time in the event talking about how Cruz started it first and how he doesn’t want Cruz endorsement and he wouldn’t accept Cruz’s endorsement even if Cruz wanted to give it to him AND if Cruz ever runs for President Trump will form a super PAC to stop him AND here’s a question for YOU…..are you EMBARRASSED yet that THIS is how America is behaving in the eyes of the world? is THIS what you honestly think makes us look like, let alone be, the most powerful, most admired, most respected country in the world?


on answering a caller's question about why I simply can't get behind a guy like Trump

Friday night after watching Trump doing his wah wah wah at Cruz, I posted this on my Facebook page

Trump has his nomination and Ted Cruz shouldn't even be on his radar anymore....the fact that Donald is obsessing on Cruz and can't let it go says all that anyone with a brain needs to understand the vindictive, petty, self absorbed and childish personality of the man so many millions of people think is the salvation of the nation.....

A dozen or so folks indicated they liked the comment, I got an Amen from one friend of the station and then….the comment I’m always, comically or sadly, depending on the topic or mood of the day, waiting for….cause it always shows up…from somebody…or somebodies….

So, the morning after Cruz spake, the first address Trump made since Cruz spake, Trump gave rebuttal. The evening after, you and the media are the only ones obsessively talking about Cruz. Your jedi spin fools no one OB1Phelps 

Okay, first… I honestly usually don’t engage or acknowledge this kind of thing because experience has taught me that it very quickly becomes nothing more than Pee Wee and Francis.



But I’m sharing it with you tonight by way of proving the point I’m making about the psychological makeup of this guy so many people think is a hero or the answer to all America’s ills…..
I cant speak for other “media”, but I’m not obsessing on Cruz…Trump is…and not because I say he is….I saw him do it…and millions of others have seen and heard him do it in the last couple of days…..OH AND PS….I’m not trying to fool anybody…what you hear on this show and read on my blog sites and social media pages is my opinion, nothing more nothing less…you disagree? that’s your prerogative…you don’t want to hear it? here’s an idea….change the station…or move on to another blog or website….

here’s the larger issue, though….another Facebook friend got into the thread and said

So I'm guessing you're voting for Hillary? Not saying I'm for Trump.. just wondering..

Again, I don’t usually engage those kind of comments because they’re a hamster wheel, but, again, in this case, I wanted to make the point that seems to be getting lost in this election….and this FB friend’s tone seemed polite and cordial, so here’s what I replied

it's admittedly frustrating for many (present company included) that (except for the Libertarian) "that's all there is" to choose from..That said, I've said before in private and on air that a large part of the problem for all of us is this notion that being "against" one automatically means being "for" another....I honestly haven't decided whether to vote at all because I'm not enthused or encouraged about what Hillary has to offer, either. All I am sure of is that Trump's shortcomings are not only considerable, they are also dangerous. The finest people I have worked for/with in my life have been strong, firm, determined and confident about who they are and what they are doing. The WORST people I have worked for/with have been vain, petty, vindictive, insecure, and unsure, but try to hide all of that behind a "mask" of strong, firm, etc. That's what I see and hear when I hear and see Trump. (for example, the day after "rebuttal" referred to up there in the comment thread....a secure man with a presidential nomination in hand would, at most, wave away Cruz as if he were a fly...the fact that he has to restart cranking out the cheap shots about Cruz, the endorsement nonsense, the JFK thing (AGAIN?) would alert any first year psych student that we're dealing with a very, very insecure guy ) I get that he's making people feel like he has all the answers. But all that glitters...and all that...

Here’s the bottom line for everybody who wants to come at the case I’m making with the same old tired “well, you’re just a Hillary lover, then, aint ya?”….no, I’m not. But I am genuinely concerned about the kind of man Donald Trump is. A world class salesman who has convinced millions of people that he is strong, firm, determined and confident….when that’s nothing more than the mask he wears to cover up that he is vain, petty, vindictive, insecure and unsure …of himself…and what he would actually DO if he actually gets elected President…..


 on the concept that we all, inevitably, make our choices based on our own reality

If I’m trying to sell you a car, the car doesn’t HAVE TO BE a good buy… I just have to convince you that it is…and after you buy it, if it turns out to be a lemon? hey, you bought it, baby, its not my problem…warranty? uh, yeah, right…how often do you get satisfaction with crappy things AFTER the purchase?

MEANWHILE….you need to elect me president because the country is about to go up in flames or go completely bankrupt or be invaded by hordes of terrorists and your families are in immediate and grave danger….well, here’s a thing…NONE of that HAS TO BE TRUE….ALL I HAVE TO DO IS CONVINCE YOU THAT IT IS….

and for those people who don’t like Hillary and don’t think she’s good enough to be president, that’s something, believe it or not, we can agree on….I don’t think she’s good enough….at selling the country on things that just arent true….but I know someone who is a genius at selling the country on things that just arent true……and you know him, too….

don’t listen to me, though…..you keep right on supporting and celebrating and voting for the guy…and when it turns out to be a lemon….well, now, just count on that same satisfaction you always get when the merchandise turns out to be crappy.



 on being enamored of a guy solely because he "tells it like it is..."

 “TELLING IT LIKE IT IS” seems to be very much in fashion these days, in fact, it’s a quality we apparently hunger for in presidential candidates, so to those folks listening tonight who like to post whatever comes out of their brain without a single thought for others and then gets their panties or flag all bunched up when somebody calls them the asshats that their behavior leads us to believe that they are, let me do a little table turn in your direction:

saw your wife today at Wal Mart…wow, she’s really gotten fat, hasn’t she?

hey, we were at the game the other night, too…saw your kid didn’t get put in until the last three minutes…probably because he couldn’t sink a basket if he put a huge rock in one and dropped it off the Bay Bridge, right?

wow…geez….I mean, for God’s sake, man, do you think your daughter’s skin is EVER gonna clear up there?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE OFFENDED? HEY, MAN, I’M JUST TELLING IT LIKE IT IS….

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Sunday nights at 7

on Delaware 105.9FM News/Talk 

"...It's Not That Donald Is A Douche...It's That Douche Seems To Be The Gold Standard This Time Around..."

some succinct summaries from Sunday...and not just a little alliteration...



on "The Brady Bunch"s Susan Olsen posting loudly in favor of Trump

the comments generated by Susan's little burst of celebrity endorsement have been, as you might imagine, pretty passionate, petty, vicious, emotional, you name it….

and while it’s understandable that the kind of morons who knock others down to save fifty bucks on that flat screen on Black Friday would be in love with the king of morons, when basically educated, rational, seemingly intelligent everyday working moms like Susan Olsen see it the way SHE is seeing it, trust me when I tell you that this *** is getting real because this guy is dangerous…..BUT…..Paul Simon said it long ago…a man hears what he wants to hear….

that said,……..here’s the bottom line….this guy is doing NOTHING to inspire and EVERYTHING to incite….he is doing NOTHING to bring together the citizens of the United States as a once again powerful voice to lead the world and EVERYTHING to turn people against each other…..if you think for a single second that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or even George W Bush has been the cause of the horribly wide divisions in the country, YOU AINT EVEN BEGUN TO SEE NOTHIN YET like what you will see if this asshat gets anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Ave….at this point, I’d do everything I could to see that he’s not even allowed to join a White House tour…THAT’S HOW seriously we need to keep him from getting anywhere near the Oval Office-----



on "the class of 2016" (or classlessness, as the case may be)

I want you to try and imagine this:

John F Kennedy…..Harry S. Truman….Dwight D Eisehhower….Abraham Lincoln…..Ronald Reagan….hell, even George W Bush…….

standing at a podium in front of thousands of people and visually making fun of somebody with a physical disability while being filmed doing it…
..
NOW try and imagine any one or all of those presidents telling a female reporter that the reason she is asking the questions she is asking is because she must surely be having her period……
is this what you want as the leader of your country? If the answer is yes, nothing else I say or you think really matters because you genuinely ARE a part of the problem……

DONALD TRUMP-----has two primary methods of expressing himself…annoyance mixed with some form of “we’re just gonna do it”…..and passing the buck in well all I DID was re tweet the original tweet….even as guy as determined to see Hillary go down in flames as Bill O Reilly on Fox News told Donald he needs to do a better job of presenting himself as a quality candidate and not some redneck bigot psycho demagogue in a necktie….MY words NOT O Reilly’s…..

if, after everything you have seen and heard so far, of the way that Donald Trump currently conducts himself and will conduct himself in the future and BET THE FARM, the longer he is supported the more arrogant he will get….because praise and applause to a narcissist are like heroin to a junkie, the more they get, the more they want and the more powerful they imagine themselves to be…..if after all of that, you STILL don’t believe OR CARE about the obvious lack of brain cells this guy is operating with….LET ME TELL YOU WHY YOU DON’T WANT THIS GUY ANYWHERE NEAR A PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION……

classic line from a classic Christmas movie….



new line from an already classic election campaign….SEP says that from here on out, every time Donald Trump opens his mouth, somewhere at least one more person decides to vote for Hillary….

AND….should Trump NOT get the Republican nomination, bet EVERY DOLLAR YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON that he WILL break his supposed promise, he will run as an independent and, sad to say, he WILL get enough votes to siphon off any chance of whoever GETS the GOP nomination to win….so…..ANY support of Trump,,,NOW or LATER and you are absolutely guaranteeing that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the next President of the United States…..I feel confident that’s clear to the majority of Americans, even those who support Trump right now….but to the special group of people who support Trump and think pork rinds are a major food group, Ice Road Truckers should be on PBS and are happy to kick the crap out of any black guy who shows up at a Trump rally, let me make it easier for you to understand……if you go into ANY voting booth and push ANY button that says TRUMP on it….that button is connected to a machine that will vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton…..and if THAT is still confusing to you, email me and I’ll send you my colorful one page flyer with big block letters and pictures of Ronda Rousey mud wrestling with Danica Patrick to keep your attention…sorry..was I just rude? crude? arrogant? ignorant? tasteless, classless or just plain ol’ full of myself? well, I’m confused…because I’ve been operating under the assumption that those are the qualities you admire….I’ve got numbers to back me up on that….it’s called the poll asking who’s your favorite Republican candidate?…




on "none of the above" is being replaced with "the bottom of the barrel"
 
there’s a movie you probably haven’t seen because it was never a big hit….it’s called The Competition and it’s about a guy with a dream of becoming a concert pianist who has reached the age where he needs to make it or get a real job…his parents are delighted  when they find out he has decided to take a job as a high school music teacher….but just before he signs on the dotted line, he backs out to continue pursuing that dream….when a friend of his asks him why, he says “the problem with having something to fall back on….is that that’s what we do”…..

my career has been a little like that and, I’m sure, many of you have had similar experiences in your life….so I know you’ll understand when I share with you that, in an odd sort of way, this presidential election has a lot in common with that scenario…..

since the day I was old enough to comprehend such things, I’ve been aware of a dream….it’s poetically known as the American dream….life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness…a good education, a good paying and fulfilling career, a loving family, successful children and , like the gambler told us, the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

sounds a little Hallmark Channel-ish, right? yeah, but who amongst us doesn’t secretly, if not right out loudly, still believe that kind of life and that kind of America possible?

apparently, and sadly, even tragically, the number of people who believe in that dream is getting smaller…and how do I know that? because once again, we’re faced with the opportunity to choose those who will, supposedly, “lead us” for the next four or eight years and, once again, we are faced with the choice of the least of the worst, the lesser of the evils, a clear and concise choice between the half baked and the half assed, the nasty and the nastier, the obvious liar and the outrageous liar…..
at this point in the circus, here are the two clowns out in front of the pack…..

a woman whose mere presence in the race so dramatically divides people that one side would, if given the opp, probably make her queen as opposed to president….and the other side would sleep like babies if something horrific were to happen to her……

 and a guy who, just a couple of years ago, would have been the punchline to a bad joke about running for President, not a bad joke actually running…  a guy who is asking for the opportunity to be the leader of all Americans and, still a year away from the election, has already managed to offend, insult, alienate and/or downright ridicule: the disabled, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, prisoners of war, any one of a half dozen religions AND anyone who dares to suggest that he is not God’s gift to this election and, for that matter, this life….
.
and of the remaining clowns in the clown car….more of the same and more of the old and too damn much of the same old same old….

I’ve said it every week now for weeks…and you’ll probably hear me say it for months to come….but it’s a question that needs asking every day of every week of every month between now and November of next year….a question that you deserve an answer to….

who is asking for your vote that inspires you?

not incites…..not intercedes….not entertains….not interferes…not interjects…
not the best of the worst, the lesser of the evils, the least offensive of the offensive…..
who inspires you?

as we’ve mentioned a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, Susan Olsen once played the TV character Cindy Brady…a nice little girl from a nice family on a nice street in a nice town in the United States of America…..a fictional and romanticized, admittedly, version of the American dream…but a version nevertheless….

forty years later, that same Susan Olsen has inadvertently summed up where we are , what we’ve become and, in some measure, what we’ve sunk to…

“……..Do I think Trump is the best guy? Hell no! And he might be a douche, but he is our only chance!
And do we really love him?
Not really, he’s kind of a dick.
But is he the only forward thinker who is running for office?
YOU BET HE IS!
He speaks for US
TRUMP for all his assholiness is the best candidate we have.
As crazy goofy insane as it seems…
I wish we had a better choice…
But he is our ONLY choice!
There I said it

you sure did, Cindy Brady…you sure did…..



join the conversation---talk radio redefined---Sunday nights at 7 on Delaware 105.9FM

"...Feel Free To Stay As Long As WE Like..."

observations, opines and overt "where it's at"s from this past Sunday night's show


on what's it's about in ADDITION to what it's about...

Tuesday, I posted a cartoon…statue of liberty holding a stopsign and the caption read…sorry folks, country’s closed…those state governors out front shoulda told ya…a Facebook friend took exception and posted that this whole issue was NOT about compassion….I had this to offer him in reply...

it is, in fact, about compassion, it's just not ONLY about compassion...it's about a nation that wears it's history of righting the world's wrongs for two hundred plus years like and Olympic Gold Medal while giving instantly into fear, panic and hysteria generated by hundreds, if not thousands, of

sources of misinformation...it's about a nation that screams in outrage at the potential "outlawing" of their Christian values, while turning their backs on a group of people who represent a stunning opportunity to exhibit those very values for no other reason than the aforementioned fear, panic and hysteria...it's about state governors politically pandering to their constituents while trying to cloak that pandering in a red, white and blue cloth of courageousness (when, in fact, the real courage would be exhibited by standing up for the morality and risking pissing off the majority...if JFK were alive today to write Profiles In Courage, it would be a pamphlet, max)...it's about allowing the very fear that ISIS and its ilk are trying to grow in this country to actually take root via the aforementioned fear and panic...and it's about EVERY thing setting everyone off and/or at each other as irrefutable proof that we are not only hair trigger fearful and panicky but what soul saving sense of humor we once had is yet another casualty...even something as innocuous as a goofy cartoon that could, provided the stick came out of the ass long enough, be seen as a sardonic lament for all the craziness we're all having to deal with....



on lowering the river instead of raising the bridge...

I get that people are concerned about their safety and the safety of their loved ones…any person with any sensibility at all gets THAT….. and while I’ve still got enough of John, Paul, George and Ringo singing all we need is love in my head to feel regret about it and I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, that’s not the world we live in anymore…so the warm and welcome embrace of those who are trying to come to America to escape persecution in other nations has become,
inevitably, a stiff arm saying “easy now, there, tired, poor huddled mass yearning to be breathe free, park’s closed….statue of liberty out there should have told ya”.

and all week long, I’ve been hearing and reading people talking, shouting, yelling, in a ratio of about 50 to 1 near as I can figure, that Hell NO, we should slam the door, lock it, dead bolt it and make damn sure that the Syrian refugees are not allowed anywhere near the US or A…..

and like I said, I get it……here’s something else I get, too…

the nagging knowledge that a large part of the ISIS game plan is to instill fear, suspicion, panic and hysteria among the people in our neighborhoods, turning the people in our neighborhoods against one another, playing on our emotions, flipping our fear switches, turning us against not only refugees, but anyone that even begins to sound or look like they might be from the Middle East….filling us with terror….that’s why it’s called terrorism….and when they are able to do that, which they are currently able to do with great success, judging from the amount of fear and suspicion and panic and hysteria showing up in broadcasts and print and, most prolifically, social media, they are much much closer to achieving their ultimate goal….and I didn’t say they were winning because regardless of what old habits we are dealing with and the automatic almost instinctive way we tend to go there, there is nothing to win here…it’s not a game or a contest or a competition and we’re not going to get ANYWHERE until we get it into our thick noggins that this isn’t a damn Ravens game with guns and missiles instead of footballs…..and… “we wont come back till its over over there” might well up the red white and blue tears and make Charlie Daniels proud of you, but it’s as outdated as the pony express, the eight track tape and really, sincerely good customer service….

cause what ISIS is doing isn’t warfare…it’s nilhism…look it up and read about it….you need to know what it is….here’s the dictionary definition:  “ the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless…extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence”….why do you think ALLAHU AKBAR is the rallying cry for so many of these attacks?

…it translates, literally, as GOD IS GREATER…and that means, to them, greater than man…greater than woman….greater than Jesus or Buddah or even Kanye…greater than any earthly religion or earthly morality…and, yes, most assuredly, greater than you or anyone you love…….they’re not screaming Heil Hitler in tribute to one lone psychopathic wannabe king of the world or Banzai! which means long life! or long live the king, but the king, in this case, being the earthly king, or emperor, of Japan…they’re screaming out the name of their God and pretty much saying, open up the gates, God, I’m headed your way and, oh, I’m bringing a hundred or a thousand or a million with me….here’s this week’s offering: 159 infidels from Paris, France….

...they don’t want our land, they don’t want our freedoms, they don’t want our money, they don’t want our possessions, they don’t want anything from us… they WANT the apocalypse… they are, in living color and very real life, exactly like the aliens in the movie Independence Day who, when asked what they want, reply very simply…we want you to die…

okay…when your enemy wants you to die…and that’s ALL your enemy wants, then your choices of response are pretty much laid out for you…they consist of one….they have to be destroyed…them or us…..

at the same time, it’s critical to understand that this threat is NOT like the Nazis or the Japanese or the North Vietnamese…ISIS is a rip tide and the more we struggle against it in conventional ways, the wearier we will get and the more likely it is that we will be overcome….we have to play it smart…redneck bomb droppin’ is all very ass kickin but, here’s a thought….next time you’re got in a rip current, try ass kickin’ by itself and see what happens

can’t speak for you…wouldn’t want to do that…or I’d get myself a show on Fox News or MSNBC…..what I can do is offer you this….

I get it…..I know what we have to do…..

it’s not the what that’s going to make the difference as to how we come out on the other side, though….

It’s the how...





on turning your back...without turning off your mind...
 Selfish, scared, hysterical, entitled, spoiled, hypocritical bigotry contributes NOTHING ….not assistance, not comfort, not inspiration and MOST CERTAINLY, not victory…over ANYTHING….victory over this kind of evil will be found by thinking like the Americans that you think you are….the Americans that we used to be…the Americans we’re SUPPOSED TO BE---the Americans that when faced with seemingly impossible challenges, roll up sleeves, figure out how to rally able bodies and figure out HOW to get it done....like the GOOD guys….and not like leaders of the lynch mob who go around screaming we’re the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD while at the same time offering up NOTHING but the very un-American qualities of hatred and prejudice and panic and hysteria...and stupidity.

we’re NOT the greatest country in the world anymore….but we sure used to be…and we can be again….and NOT because somebody wears a ball cap that says so while what comes out of his mouth is how we should crate up all the people we don’t trust or maybe we just don’t like, ship them back to where they came from and then slam and lock the door….or that people of another religion should be registered like sex offenders and carry ID cards or that places of worship should be monitored….

If you're that dead-set on not allowing refugees, as I’ve said…I get it

 BUT  at the very least, if you’re not willing to try and THINK of ways to help and not, at least, TRY to get past being hateful and prejudiced and panicked and hysterical and STUPID by  dealing with this challenge ONLY by turning your backs and hiding you and yours behind a dead bolted door behind a red, white and blue flag…then, how about this? at least give how to be part of the solution some thought…because…. it’s almost Christmas …the time of year we celebrate the story of a carpenter and his wife and their unborn child….a family…of refugees….. who once needed shelter.




on mongering and monsters and real life madness...

there's a particular episode of the TV series " The Twilight Zone" that focuses on fear and suspicion and prejudice and how those things can turn friends, even family, against each other---it's entitled The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street...more on that in a moment...

one of the primary goals of nihilistic terrorists is to instill fear and turn people against each other…evil is a mindset that feeds on fear…and you can’t defeat mindsets with fighter jets and battleships…you have to OUTSMART mindsets…which means you have to be smart and think smart and play it smart…we should turn OUR backs on the kind of message that some of the candidates are spewing, for example,  Donald Trump with his Muslim citizen registry, Ben Carson with his rabid dogs, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush only Christian refugees should be allowed in…and forget about their obvious lack of humanity and pandering to the very worst in us,  it’s enough that NONE of those approaches is the smart move …they’re not smart…they’re not a savvy and strategic plan for some brilliant moves on a world chessboard…they’re  just fear mongering from the good guy side…. it actually makes it easier for those terrorists and not more difficult…I don’t think any of those people are bad guys and I’m not saying they’re on the side of the terrorists….but their approaches appeal ONLY because they make our challenges seem easy to fix…cage up the immigrants and send them home…blow the *** out of ISIS…make everyone say Merry Christmas...easy, right?  well actually, plain and simple is more like it…but plain and simple ain’t necessarily easy     what IS easy?.........it’s frighteningly easy to get too many people stirred up by playing to their insecurities and fears…vote

 for me because the terrorists are coming…vote for me or your new neighbors might be terrorists…vote for me or you’ll never be able to open your front door again…vote for me because the monsters are due on Maple street









on how to be of assistance while not being an asshat...

YOU WANNA HELP? stop the spread of misinformation--- Newsflash people, the attackers in Paris were not refugees, they were from Belgium. Do your homework. if you don’t KNOW for a unimpeachable fact that something is true and can provide rock solid evidence, then shut up

YOU WANNA HELP  stop the panic and fear that comes from hearing and believing information before you’ve proven it to be unimpeachably true…of the many “last things we really need right now” one of the main last things we really need right now is this fever pitch game of telegraph people get sucked into…if you don’t know for sure that something threatening is true, then calm down…stop yammering...listen more…seek correct information more…and, again, if you don’t KNOW for a fact that something is true ,then shut up

YOU WANNA HELP?  reject bigotry that’s disguised as patriotism…pretend that every time you open your mouth about refugees or terrorists or government or politicians, you’re being over heard by a five year old…and why, for any reason, would you want to send a five year old the conflicting messages of “in America, people are considered innocent until proven guilty” and and America is a wonderful land filled with amazing opportunities for people of all races, creeds and colors and religions and, then, in the same breath “we gotta round up all them dark skinned, bearded, kitchen towel wearin’ murderers, oh, along with all those olive skinned, Spanish yammering wet back mother f==== and send em back to where they belong….or, even better yet, let’s send em all to Hell…”  a flag pole or staff is meant to enable us to fly and display the Stars and Stripes…it’s not meant to be a club to beat people we don’t like or trust senseless….

 YOU WANNA HELP?...turn a deaf ear to those voices that have ONLY hatred for those we chose to lead us...
every generation has had plenty of voices hating the president………and you know what? this country has survived for over 250 years in SPITE of those haters not BECAUSE of them----and all social media does is provide a brighter and broader spotlight to shine on the kind of morons that have been with us since the first bunch of them that Adam and Eve came across after getting evicted---

YOU WANNA HELP?....reject and ignore Christians who use Jesus as an excuse, not an example
turning our backs on another when that other is in need is a personal choice…and its our prerogative in a world in which our God has given us free will…turning our backs on another when that other is in need, though, while standing under a huge banner that reads Christianity spoken here is one of the primary reasons that so many people, myself included, refuse to swallow the message when the message is so saturated with the taste of hypocrisy…..
protecting the lives of your loved ones is your first priority and that is as it should be…but, Christians, please direct me to the exact Scripture that tells us we should crunch bones and/or spirits as we trample over people in the panic to get ourselves and our loved ones inside so we can slam and lock the door…..which “Thou Shalt Not” is that one, exactly? I can’t recall…help me out




on Charlie and Caitlyn and courage...oh, my...

courage is NOT---coming forward to talk about contracting HIV after having , for years, lived a lifestyle of drugs and reckless sex and pure hedonism

courage IS---doing EVERYTHING possible to set an example for young people to avoid that lifestyle….

courage is NOT---trying to overcome the brain damage caused by a cheating on a Kardashian, getting tossed out, moving into a whorehouse and drinking, drugging and screwing yourself INTO brain damage for five straight days

courage IS---owning the infidelity and dealing with the consequences…in a healthy way

courage is NOT---dressing up like a woman, presenting oneself as a symbol of the fight against gender bias while actually trivializing that fight by cashing the six figure checks from a reality show and ridiculously babbling in public about the overwhelming challenge of wardrobe choice…

courage IS…BECOMING a woman if that’s where the struggle takes you and doing it in a way that inspires…not a way that exploits----

AND COURAGE IS NOT….laying out a huge portion of hatred and prejudice and fear and hysteria, wrapping it in an American flag and calling it “patriotism”

courage IS…finding some way to keep you and yours safe ALONG WITH lending a helping hand NOT INSTEAD of…




on putting the blame in ALL the places where blame belongs...

all this past week, the phone calls to Dan and Susan and Jared have been plentiful and the Facebook pages have been filled with folks all over Delmarva voicing their opposition to the idea of the possibility of Syrian refugees coming to Delaware…as with any situation where the public at large has a say, the comments have run the gamut from insightful to intolerant, reasonable to ridiculous and erudite…to embarrassing...the embarrassing contributions come from people who are clearly either uneducated or uninformed or bigoted or even just deep down frightened and letting that fear cause them the kind of panic and hysteria that makes people think and say stupid things….one of the reasonable points a lot of people have made is their resentment that suddenly, with little or no hesitation, our government has, literally, a billion plus dollars to spend on lodging and food and other resources for foreign refugees while here in our own country, people are homeless, children go to bed hungry every night and huge numbers of those who have served and sacrificed for America in the armed forces are homeless AND hungry AND in need of medical attention and there NEVER seems to be enough money to provide those basic human needs….it’s a really hard pill to swallow to be asked, or told, actually, that we are going to do all we can for non- Americans when we can’t even do the least we SHOULD do for Americans….

no one can say that’s not a fair point….and absolutely true….

and from Facebook to Twitter to news comment sections to over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, there is an insane amount of blame being doled out…let me run you a quick list of places and or people that have been getting whomped good with the blame stick….

governors who are willing to allow refugees to enter their state, pretty much assuring that entire neighborhoods will be blown up or beheaded or both…or so its thought…or suspected…or  well, yeah, that’s what’ll happen, for sure…maybe---

politicians who have plenty of money to spend on foreigners but none to spend on our veterans and our civilian homeless—

Muslims, because if you believe most of what you read, it’s clear a lot of America believes that Muslims are all evil and need to be eliminated


ISIS because, well, that’s one undebatable one, isnt it” because they ARE evil and need to be eliminated

oh...and Barack Obama…because to those who just cant function without hating, he’s a Muslim, he’s the Anti Christ, he was on the grassy knoll in Dallas that day in 1963, he kidnapped the Lindbergh baby and, of course, he’s not really an American, what with being a Muslim from Kenya and all of that….oh, and as long as we’re honing our hating skills, let’s just stop dancing around it and call him what he is…black…..

okay, well, here’s one more that in fairness needs to be added to the list of those who should shoulder some of the blame…..

that would be us….

all of us….

and lemme tell you why….

we deserve some of the blame because:     it’s a scary time….and it’s natural and more than acceptable that we should want to think first about protecting our loved ones from any possible dangers….but, you know what? it’s ALWAYS a scary time in this country, in this world, in this LIFE…in one way or another, it’s always BEEN a scary time in the country, in this world, in this LIFE and not so long ago when it came to scary times and the possible dangers lurking within them, those of us who enjoy proudly calling ourselves Americans, when faced with the dangers and fears of those scary times rallied to deal with those challenges….without hesitation, threats to our families, threats to our nation brought us together, brought us closer, brought out the BEST in us, as a nation, as a people, a s individual human beings….

we deserve some of the blame because…the hatred, the bigotry, the panic, the irrational, the hysterical, the selfish…the list, sadly and embarrassingly, goes on….and it’s not just because we’re letting fear wash over us and change us from a strong, united citizenry determined to protect our loved ones while still holding true to our traditional American values into an angry, and at the same time, scared lynch mob, slamming doors in the faces of those who might honestly need our help and bitterly fighting amongst ourselves like two panicky people squabbling over the last piece of bread in a war torn kitchen….our first instinct used to be tearing the bread in two and sharing it….and it’s not just that this latest threat to our nation’s security is not only NOT bringing out the best in us, but , prove me wrong, and I bet ten bucks you can’t,  it’s bringing out the WORST in us instead….

and we deserve some of the blame because here’s what WILL and WONT happen in the coming days and weeks---

What WILL Happen is that angry, scared people by the millions will slam and lock THEIR doors and demand that both their state AND their nation slam and lock THOSE Doors

What WONT Happen is any concerted effort by those angry scared people to contribute in any way, shape or form to helping those in need in another way, or any way for that matter

What WILL happen is the Facebook profile pictures will pretty rapidly turn back to smiling human faces and/or adorable pet faces and those tri color “we stand with Paris” tint things will go into their Facebook photo archive along with “we stand with Ferguson” “we stand with Charlie Hebdo”  “we stand with Kim Davis” and on a September morning not so long ago “we stand with New York”… and all the many and varied places that we have stood and stand from time to time

What WONT Happen is our taking time out of our busy lives to organize and attend rallies by thousands, literally standing together and letting it be known that terror and fear and hatred are not only not acceptable in this country, they’re NOT going to be tolerated anymore in this country…..

What WILL happen is that we’ll bitch and piss and moan about what a lousy, even criminal, job our elected officials are doing

What WONT happen is a change in the rate at which this country re-elects incumbents   96%

What WILL happen is we will gather together with family and friends on Thursday to eat ourselves into unconsciousness, snooze peacefully in front of the 60 inch flat screen for at least two of four quarters of the game and line up for the ready set go of mob rule as Black Friday sales prove to be yet one MORE thing that brings out the WORST in us…

What WONT happen is lining up in front of the local or national Veterans Administration office, the local or national Department of Housing and Urban Development, our local congressman’s office or house or even the White House itself by the hundreds of thousands and letting it be dynamically, but peacefully, known that WE AINT GOIN NOWHERE until our veterans are housed and fed, that our homeless are sheltered and fed, that our elderly have the medicines and care they need….

these kinds of challenges used to bring out the best in us….

but if the BEST of us was in sight here, wouldn’t that mean we would stop all this vicious, nasty, even violent arguing about whether we should protect our families OR help the homeless and our veterans and our seniors OR help those from other countries trying to escape evil and find a new life in America and, instead, be rolling up sleeves and rallying in large groups, NOT to protest or incite but to find the way to protect our families AND help our homeless and our veterans and our seniors AND help those from other countries trying to escape evil and find a new life in America?
can’t speak for you…won’t speak for you…I can only speak for me: I’ve read and heard way too many people on way too many TV news shows and radio talk shows and social media posts saying NOTHING that sounds like “we’re Americans, let’s get this done” and way too many that say nothing more than “that’s THEIR problem….we can’t even take care of ourselves and our own who are in need….we’ve got no room for THEM or THEIR kind”….

and, like I said at the very beginning of the show tonight, I get it….but this kind of “America first” isn’t anything to be proud of…cause it’s just fear and hatred and selfishness and laziness and arrogance…..

too bad we can’t talk about THAT…and how we’ll re-elect 96% of the people doing that terrible, terrible job of leading us….. as we gather together with family and friends on Thursday to eat ourselves into unconsciousness, snooze peacefully in front of the 60 inch flat screen for at least two of four quarters of the game and line up for the ready set go of mob rule as Black Friday sales prove to be yet one MORE thing that brings out the WORST in us…

so while we’re shoveling out and piling up the blame…..let’s not forget to be fair and include ourselves……

cause liberty and justice and fairness?....why, that’s what America is all about---isn't it?



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"...Larry, Ted and Ronda...Profound And, At The Same Time, Totally Not..."

 essay, hearsay and savvy say from this past weekend's show



 on country singer Larry Gatlin's short rant posted to Facebook---

 the knee jerk (or redneck depending on where you call home) reaction that Gatlin spouts here is understandable…only a fool wouldn’t be angry about what’s happened and what’s happening
that said, here’s my two cents right backatcha, there, Larry..and for that matter, the voices who whose guns are locked and loaded but whose brains still have the safety on---

of COURSE, the French president declared war on ISIS and, of course, ISIS’ attack is an act of war…a ten year old knows an act of war when they see one AND what ELSE can the president of the country just violently attacked say, but WE declare war

when it comes to the instant yammering in print and online of those who want to turn off watching either the Kardashians or Duck Dynasty long enough to start dropping bombs anywhere and everywhere?... talk is cheap and it’s easy to know exactly what to do when you’re not the person responsible for pushing the buttons or flipping the switches and the LAST thing ANY of us need is anybody else, OR ANYBODY, for that matter, using whatever public bullhorn they have available to them to rant and rave for no better purpose than to tell us what WE ALREADY KNOW….including yours truly…how about some SPECIFIC and PRACTICAL suggestions for taking ACTION? How about put your own obvious “right wing” bias on pause for a while and be a force to rally us ALL together to fight and destroy the real enemy?..... and ENOUGH already with the flag waving just to make yourself feel better? EVERYBODY with a reasonable bone in their body knows WHAT is happening and doesn’t need a once upon a time Nashville/Las Vegas lounge singer, among all the other spouters, to tell us all, AGAIN, what we already know….
.
and that goes for those who were screaming and yelling and posting about their hatred for Obama while the dead bodies in Paris were still warm…guess what? he’s NOT the enemy…Bush is NOT the enemy…Hillary is NOT the enemy…Trump is NOT the enemy…..Cruz is NOT the enemy….the enemy is ISIS….lemme spell it out for you  I S I S

while we’re at it, ENOUGH with the useless, petty and moronic name calling like “those idiots on the left”….there’s plenty of idiots to go round   comment posted on Gatlin’s video---“tell em bout it ---cant wait till isis and islam meets redneck and hillbilly resistance”

plenty of idiots on both sides and, guess what, Larry? there are plenty of people who might correctly be labeled as “left” who are as angry and determined as you are….but, here’s a little something for you consideration…….you want to declare war on ISIS?…knock yourself out…I’ll stand right beside you and I’ll sign your damn petition and I’ll go door to door to get others involved….oh…wait….just one thing, one little pesky detail….WHO exactly are we declaring war on? Where are they? What uniforms should we be looking for? Which easily recognized symbol should we look for on their uniforms and helmets and flags and tanks? A big red sun like the Japanese used in World War II?   a huge swastika that immediately alerts us that the Nazis are here?....oh…wait…..this ISIS bunch…they don’t play that way….they don’t play fair at all…they’re gutless and cowardly and pure evil…and they strike from the shadows and either run back into those shadows or blow themselves up because in their sick, black, evil brains allah akbar, baby….

bottom line...I’ve been saying for a while now that our arrogance was a danger….appreciate your checkin’ in and alerting us to the danger, there, Larry….now how about posting a video with something we can use?



on former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton's opinion that the war on ISIS has to be a "new" kind of war---

    all of those lips flapping about bombing ISIS out of existence, including the lips of that real estate mogul who’s got a frighteningly real shot at the GOP nomination for president who said, outloud, he would bomb the SHIT out of ISIS…all of those lips know from NOTHING about how this kind of enemy operates…they’re not gathered in a town like Hiroshima where we can conveniently drop some Made in the USA nukes on em…they're animals…predators…rodents…..who scurry and hide and lurk and scoot and….yes, there is a way to destroy them, we’re America, man…this country has always figured out how to win in the end…but this mindless, Ted Nugent fan club chant that opening up a can of good old fashioned US of A whup ass on em is gonna save the day is as useless as it is foolish…

    if the military had had its way in 1962, you very likely wouldn’t be listening to me right now because it’s very likely the world would have gotten blown up in a nuclear war…the GENERALS insisted that the only way to deal with the Russians and the missiles in Cuba was to “open up a good old fashioned can of US of A whup ass on em”….a cooler head, John Kennedy’s head, prevailed and strength and determination of a more sensible kind backed the Russians down….no small irony that that cooler head, by the way, got blown off just a year later, but let’s don’t do wing nut conspiracy theory tonight, we’ve got enough on our radar…

    the point is this: I agree that we need to go to war…but we need to go to war in a way that will win it…decisively, effectively and as quickly as humanly possible….and I agree with John Bolton….the next president will be facing that evil from moment one of day one of their term….we need a president who understands the difference between smart, cool, quick, effective and practical ways to destroy an evil….and just making a lot of useless noise flapping a flag and opening up a can…









on Ronda Rousey inadvertently teaching us why we need to change our way of thinking

Ronda Rousey---until last night she was the undefeated UFC bantamweight champion…her fights were almost the topic of comic monologues because they consisted of her coming out and with six or eight punches and couple of kicks, dropping her opponents, as the old saying goes, like a bag of wet cement

last night, in Melbourne, a fighter named Holly Holm took just one round and 59 seconds to drop Ronda Rousey like a bag of wet cement….

UFC fans, Ronda Rousey fans, are in shock today….how could that have HAPPENED? and maybe, at this moment, you’re thinking WOW SEP did you just totally whirl around and change subjects just now or what? we were talking about Paris and ISIS and terrorism…well, kids, here a thing…we still are….

If you’ve followed Ronda Rousey at all in the last few months, you’ve seen not only an American success story, but the perfect metaphor for America in the age of terrorism….ability, skill, spunk, moxy, talent, if you use talent as a word to describe somebody whose deal is literally kicking the crap out of somebody else…and a record of wins and losses that, up until last night, made her seem unbeatable….because she was unbeaten…but, almost inevitably, with a feeling of invincibility comes a confidence that, if not carefully controlled, becomes arrogance….the arrogance of believing that nobody can beat us…oops, sorry, beat her….the kind of arrogance that made her feel unbeatable, because she was unbeaten---until last night….last night Ronda Rousey got her ass kicked and was dropped like a bag of wet cement

in the year 2015, war, as it has been fought for centuries, doesn’t exist anymore….the kind of war necessary to triumph over evil requires a new way of thinking, a new way of strategizing…it’s not even CLOSE to good enough to just be the good guys anymore…because we’re not up against bad guys…we’re up against cold, calculating, methodical, certainly sociopathic and most definitely psychotic  forces of destruction---and while it’s all very patriotic to grab a flag to wave with one hand and a rifle with the other hand and tell those bastards “come on, ya’ll, bring it, we’re the US of A”, that approach, that attitude, that mindset is not only arrogant, it’s simply not all that bright…

we’re not facing the Japanese gun to gun, ship to ship, plane to plane…we’re not facing the Nazis, gun to gun ship to ship, plane to plane…we’re facing the Borg….who don’t care if they live or die…all that matters is the conquest…think for a second how the Second World War might have ended if EVERY SINGLE JAPANESE had been a kami kaze…the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been nothing more to them than another day on the march to conquest….
the black souls that make up ISIS don’t care if they live or die…all that matters is the conquest….and it’s not only arrogant for us to believe that we can end that conquest with that good old fashioned can of American whup ass that we talked about in the last segment…it’s foolish…

Ronda Rousey went into that cage last night with, at least, a little of that inevitable arrogance that comes from feeling unbeatable---and she got her ass kicked…

France got their ass kicked this week…we got OUR ass kicked in September 14 years ago…the definition of insanity, Einstein told us, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time…it’s insanity to think we can stop evil with nothing more than anger, pride, confidence and, yes, arrogance….

old saying…desperate times call for desperate measures

updated saying….new times call for new measures

Larry Gatlin said it best in his little video rant….he just didn’t know that he was saying it for a different reason…wake up, America---




on the myth that is the "war" on Christmas

John Lennon once got in the soup for saying that the Beatles were more popular than Christ….forget that, technically, he was correct in the complete context of what he was asked and what was happening in those days but there was something else Lennon said about Christ I’ve always appreciated and no more so than THESE days with all the hostility and bitching and preaching going on about, and from, some who insist on calling themselves Christians….John said “actually, Jesus was cool…it was the disciples who effed everything up”….now fast forward fifty years, here we are in 2015 , leave the word Jesus in that sentence and just substitute “petty, self- righteous, holier than thou bigots who think there’s religious persecution to be found on a paper coffee cup” for the word disciples and John Lennon’s words ring as true today as ever…..

my understanding of Christianity as a concept, if not a belief system is that it is about living a life in the spirit of Jesus’s teachings, setting an example for others of a life lived along the lines of caring and compassion and concern for others and each other and doing one’s best to  find the humanity, the loving, caring, compassionate humanity in, if not every situation in every day, than in as many situations as humanly possible.

I’ve never seen or read anything of Jesus’ teachings that would lead me, for a second, to believe that Christianity was EVER meant to be the spiritual equivalent of a posh country club filled with snobs and bigots and pompous self-righteousness…looking down, if even bothering to look at all, on those who weren’t using every minute of their lives to work as hard as they can to be a MEMBER of the club….never occurred to me, for a nano-second, that Jesus, were He here to guide and advise, would want the ANNITY named after Him to be a fraternity or sorority that had no use for anyone who doesn’t know the secret handshake and who seem, by their words, attitudes and actions, to pity the poor fools who don’t have a chance of happiness in this life, or the next, if they’re not part of the membership roster….

and worst of all, or at least, to my way of thinking, worst of all at THIS time of the year? the snobbery and the bigotry and the self-righteousness and the holier than thou-ness that should, if not disappear, take a break and call a cease fire during a few weeks of peace on Earth and good will towards men, actually gets WORSE….and the hair trigger of hostility gets pulled by something as simple…and silly….as the decision to print up paper coffee cups that DON’T have snowflakes, pine trees and reindeer on them….and, by the way, snowflakes, pine trees and reindeer are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND in the manual on how to be a good Christian----

wow…war on Christmas? I don’t buy it….what I DO think possible is that a lot of people are beginning to realize that the America we live in is the America that I learned about in school when I was a kid…a melting pot of cultures and races and ancestries and, yes, religious beliefs….Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, yes, Muslim and, yes, Christian…and, while we’re at it, agnostic, atheist and a category the numbers crunchers refer to as “nothing in particular”…..people sometimes argue that I shouldn’t add those folks into the count, but, I think that having no specific earthly religion can reasonably be defined as having a religion of a more spiritual nature---as for me

I love Christmas…I think Christmas and all the trappings of  Christmas that go along with it are cool and fun and, for me, spiritually refreshing….from the tree to the lights to the ornaments to the nativity scenes to the music, both secular and non, to the hustle and bustle, to the childlike joy of waiting for a fat guy in a red suit to come zipping into town with some serious loot to the deeper spiritual joy of observing the birth of a child who lived a life of caring and compassion and concern for others and,  if you believe it, sacrificed that life so that others could be freed from the hopelessness of our human weaknesses and failings….

all of that said, I’m delighted to see paper cups decorated with snowflakes and pine trees and reindeer…but even if the coffee cup is only solid red with some green on it, I’m good…because nobody’s going to take my Christmas away from me by changing the print on some cups…or not putting a tree up in a mall…or keeping the nativity scene in that box in the garage that may, or may not, have the words Christmas written in Sharpie on it…the silliness of all this pettiness is that “war on Christmas” conjures up images of…well…war….and in a war, there is traditionally, a winner and a loser….and in a war, traditionally, one side remains and one side is destroyed….boycott whoever you like if it makes you feel like something that silly makes any difference….me? I’m good…you see…I know something a lot of people apparently don’t know…or have forgotten since they were kids….you can’t destroy Christmas because it’s indestructible….it’s not a place or a thing…and it can’t be gotten to….because it’s inside you…if you want it…it’s inside ME….and sometimes, even in months other than November and December---

-- war on Christmas?.....war is over…if you want it—



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