ON Cancer, Late-NIght Political TV "Comedy, God in CONTROL, Mortality, Gratitude

 Today I made an earnest attempt to be more physically active with home-based exercise, combining walking, slow running and non-impact 'rock-running designed to increase my heart ratewithout putting strains on my soft leg and feet tisssue...total measured steps for today surpassed 14,000.  Now I'm being involuntarily exposed to TV news and so-called "comedic" late-night shows in which the hosts take potshots at our own depraved "leaders".  I am NOT a Jimmy Kimmel fan, and I've never been one.  And that Stephen Colbert..forget him!  I'd just like to live my life training for better fitness and endurance, and to train my reactions to others during my daily existence whenever processes test the limits to my patience. As a matter of fact, it's not the provocations I pass through that matter so much, but rather my own chosen reactions to them. I watch the local Gainesville-area news and am saddened by the stories about different folks who hurt others with  a kind of violence and abuse indicating that they've lost their minds.And there are the typically ugly mug shots I see                                                                                   slapped across the TV screen..no, they have taken leave of their senses, thoroughly impulsively reactive people that I deeply wish to avoid like the plague.  Well, now we have an ebola outbreak, a new variant of COVID, and the hantavirus scaring the general population.  And cancer is slipping in quite easily among the population, my own body struck with prostate and aggressive brain cancer varieties.  The medical care here provided in the Gainsville area by UF Health is state of the art, and the BOSS is my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, running the entire show: I follow my health and medical providers' instructions and am at peace accepting that my physical life is limited by time and that I am in God's loving and powerful hands.  I am deeply grateful for the many wonderful blessings in my life and in those of my loved ones.  So I"m about to head back to the bedroom and briefly agitate our dearly beloved Pewee Daisy...may you all sleep well and enjoy tomorrow to its fullest...

d

colbert

Happy Mother's Day, My Sweet Melissa

 Right now, about three hours before sunrise, it's five and I'm sipping on some freshly-brewed coffee, about 30 minutes after performing some running-in-place exercises on our living room floor. While watching the news on TV I found a dearth of attention about the serious international hantavirus problem to be remarkably disturbing.  They say this affliction, picked up from rodent droppings and difficult to become diagnosed with, carries a very scary 20-50% mortality rate.  And the cycle from initial infection through to slow recovery is very daunting.  i very much don't want for this pestilence to hit me or my family, considering the medical troubles I'm already facing.  As for the so-called news, CNN seems obsessed with the Iran War and cease-fire negotiations which seem a mixture of Trump's boasting, bluster and speculation about how closed are the Straits of Hormuz to oil transport.  Yesterday afternoon, when a substantial rainstorm broke out over Gainesville, Melissa left me in custody of big baby peewee Daisy while she test-drove new cars...our dog is one monumental crybaby! I managed to rise early, run--in-place for 12 minutes, and get started with this blog writing and coffee. Oh, and my YouTube account seems to be stuck with over-speedy, jumpy posts that interfere with my understanding and enjoyment.  i'd appreciate a little more steadiness there, thank you. May today go smoothly for you and your fqmily.  i'd just like for things outside to be dry enough for meto be able train with slow AF running..I want a better Depot Parkrun next Saturday.  As for this new car in our picture, it looks like i won't be driving it around for a while. And, my dear Melissa, Happy Mother's Day!!!...

Up and At it Early Again Today

 Over the past several weeks I accustomed myself to waking up (and staying up) two or three hours before sunrise.  I would take care of bathroom business, adjust the air conditioner/heater, and brew a pot of coffee. Then, as was just the case, I would exercise by running in place on the living room rug for ten minutes.  And then I would pull out the computer and write and post the new day's blog article.  And now, to today.  Melissa, always the expert, knowledgeable nurse and loving woman that she is, has brought up that I appear to be suffering from a deficiency of potassium in my diet, only particularly alleviated by an increased consumption of bananas. This evening I tried going to bed at an earlier, more consistent hour.  The intent tonight was to get up around two or three...and stay up.  Now it's nearly 6:15 and still nighttime, after my bathroom, exercise and brewed coffee. I probably could use a good brief shower and hair-washing and rinsing on this, Thursday March 26th. I watched a good rerun of the old The Prisoner episode Dance of the Dead on my Tubi channel, as well as the Star Trek movie The Voyage Home.  On the home news front, it looks like our president is frightening his own followers with the stock market plunge, a Congressional deadlock in place against paying TSA workers, spiralling gas prices and no end in sight to the missile war between the USA and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.  Personally, I would like, in a more humble way, to work some of my habits by reading Shadow Magic some more and go for longer walks.  Walking around the block at least once would be pretty cool, too.  And some of the personal development podcasts that YouTube presents seem pretty attractive as well.  This includes the late Jim Rohn, Andrew Huberman, that doctor who wants me to walk, and a half dozen others who usually have something significant to say..

Gators Out, MRI In, World May or May Not Change

 I was watching the TV-20 evening news yesterday and substitute anchor Robert Bradfield was in Tampa standing outside the sports arena building, where he boasted his expectation that the uf Gators men's team would beat Iowa by 23 points in their Round Two ncaa tourney game.  Turns out uf's season is now over after losing a 73-72 squeaker to the Hawkeyes. Today I have my MRI procedure scheduled at UF Health.  Nothing personally ambitious planned for today..just exercise some and rest. And tend to avoid the television news and commentary, that would be nice.  I stayed in bed until after six, got up and brewed coffee and ran in place on the rug.  Well, I'm not going to change the world substantially by my actions today, just a little bit here and there...

Early A.M. about Awards, War, ''allies", Exercise, Day Ahead

 One of the funniest commercials I've seen lately has a man standing behind a loud microphone on a lit-up stage, in front of a large audience, demonstrating his prowess at being able to access files online, only he seems completely unable to key in the proper password.  He awkwardly glances around, chuckles and grins as the AI-on-duty repeatedly notifies him of his failures, to the consternation of those standing around who will ultimately decide his public-relations career fate. Very funny...and a little sad. Yesterday evening Entertainment Tonight was obsessing on the previous evening's Academy Awards, and how Michael Jordan won best actor for the movie Sinners and ate an In-and-Out hamburger holding his trophy in the left hand. I am determined to stay away from celebrities and their overhyped shows that merit avoidance.  Yesterday I worked on reading a few more pages in Joshua Khan's tedious, depressing juvenile fantasy novel Shadow Magic.  I can't wait to be done with it, to say the least.  This afternoon I have an appointment for some chemotherapy infusion at the UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion, preceded by a blood lab draw, urine sample and IV line.  Looks like Trump is trying to get other countries to pitch in and help the USA with the Straits of Hormuz, and they're coldly snubbing him in response.  Today it will stay cool outside with nighttime temperatures to dip solidly into the thirties.  May all go well with my family, especially Melissa, Amy, Anita and Keith, regarding their health and feelings.  I'll be returning to bed soon, hopefully to get some good sleep.  I'm not sure what to make of this prolific bombing campaign instigated by the current commander-in-chief, but I think that those countries that are turning their backs on us will have something to answer for what I'm inclined to believe is a wartime betrayal of America and our soldiers.  I think that many of them are rooting for us to lose, so that they can later smugly claim they "told us so".  Well, I at least am confident that I did right in changing my party affiliation.   The late Jim Rohn, in one of his podcasts, made a big deal about urging listeners to spring up out of bed hours before sunrise with purposeful behavior.  I did so this morning, running in place for 8 minutes after I started brewing coffee.  Now I'm finishing this blog article.  Soon it'll be back to bed and loudly growling, snorting and barking Peewee Daisy, with whom I plan to be exceedingly sweet and gentle...

Showed Up at Depot Parkrun, Walked a Lap

 Last night my sleep quality was relatively poor, and I woke up early today...and tired.  After exercising in the living room a few minutes, I waited until after six when Melissa woke up.  She drove us down to Depot Park, a few blocks south of downtown Gainesville.  The temperature was comfortably cool in the upper fifties this morning when the 5k race started at 7:30.  I was prepared to walk it smoother than before, although my speed was slower and I resisted going into a light jog at any point.  The last time I tried this it was a difficult trudge, so I feel I did much better this week.  My goal for future Parkrun ventures should be to walk enough to get a completed effort and get it posted online.  Now it's mid-afternoon and we're waiting for our Publix home delivery...I still have some more exercise, reading and study to come.  Speaking of sleep, I'm looking forward to more rest and relaxation today.  I'm tired of the news, especially that of this war against Iran.  Our friend Ethel stopped by and prayed with us a little earlier...bless her!  In pro golf, The Players Championship Tournament is now in its 3rd round today, and I'm enjoying following it on TV.  Tonight will be the Oscars on TV, with Conan O'Brien doing the presiding. There will be no resetting the clock ahead tonight, since we're already into Daylight Savings Time. Well, it's the birthday for no one I personally know, just NBA star Stephen Curry (at 38).  God bless you all... 

Day Progresses into Decline

Today, after my early morning rising and activity, progressed more or less into a span of rest and inactivity, me spending much of it in bed or on the living room couch.  I still ran in place for a few more minutes before leveling off.  Tomorrow morning they're staging another Depot Parkrun 5K.  I want to show up there and do at least one lap, with Melissa doing the valuable driving.  We're sitting right now in the dining room while AI Alexa is playing the piano version of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear...very pretty. Equally NOT very pretty is this overbearing missile war happening right now between USA, Iran and Israel...enough of that on the news! I suspect that the president dictator others elected will turn against his own people once he impatiently declares victory and moves on to new perceived enemies that challenge his egomania...he'll use his own handpicked cronies as proxies. I still think that people...especially some of the more creepy ones from Utah...have lost their minds with their violent  rampages against each other. And I include Florida's Dixie and Marion counties in that indictment. Not a nice picture at all.  Now for me to digest my last food of the day.  Either I'll get up tomorrow morning at a good, early time or we'll just put off the next Parkrun until another time...

Up Early, Exercising, National News

 A day ago I stepped outside into the backyard to check the lunar eclipse's progress.  Turns out the entire sky was overcast, and the entire event was a washout.  I still wrote my blog article and listened to personal development influencer Jim Rohn on YouTube.  Later on Melissa took me down for my chemotherapy infusion.  I read through Chapter 5 in Shadow Magic. I studiously avoided TV updates about the US/Iran missle war.  I didn't start the conflict and have an instinctive aversion to so-called "faiths" that promote violence and whose adherents are only too easy to wear an "offended' pose if someone happens to disagree with their ideology and command structure.  John Cornyn won a close Republican Primary contest for the Texas US Senate seat being contested this year, and Roy Cooper easily won the Democratic nomination for the open North Carolina Senate seat after incumbent Thom Tillis' announced retirement.  I can't vote in either race this November, restricted to my Florida and assigned local districts as registered Republican. If registered Democratic voters actually display some initiative and vote in the general election, they have a chance of flipping those two seats their way, but i'm skeptical.  As for me today, nothing medical is scheduled.  But I'd like to see some progress, at least with little things.  I this were me in 1971 in the 9th grade I guess I'd be assembling my prepared homework for the grueling day ahead.May my eating today reflect an improved sense of judgment...

Early Morning, Looking at World

 Hi, here is another early morning for me.  This would be starting off another 9th grade school week, along with the accrued homework and test preparation.  Instead of sitting in my 1141 dining room with instant coffee,here comes day number three of US armed forces raining down missiles on areas the Blusterer-in-Chief deems to be enemy territory, that it, areas not under his personal control. I am tired of hitting up on channels that seem obsessed with this ongoing military adventure.  I'd like for things to start clearing up and people get back to their more normal existence, if the dramatists seeking absolute power can manage to cooperate.  We're now in March...it's Monday, the 2nd.  I can still study foreign languages and read my problematic fantasy book.  And maybe a trudge around the block is in order.  And maybe I'll try out some brief neighborhood driving of the white Camry.  Grateful for Anita and Jim's visit, and that they got back to Austin okay.  Speaking of the Texas capital city, I don't know what to think about how people in different places, near and far, who seem to have lost their minds and have yielded to their ownknee-jerk, violent tendencies. I am so, so tired of seeing ugly mug shots slapped across my TV-20 News screen. A little more pause for kindness, please...just quietly walking away can be an acceptable option, too.  I did some seven minutes of ipf so far today...

Dealing With Brain Cancer, ICE, Attitude Toward Trump

Many years ago I used to freely, and quite fluently, quickly type out blog articles using my offline word processing application program found on my desktop computer at home.  Lately, though, the whole process has deteriorated into  a frustrating grind, requiring lengthy revision. I look now at what’s going on with the current president and wonder how bad things will continue toget if i  don’t accord it a considerable amount of benign neglect. After all, he’s sure to step up immigration enforcement but now I'm concerned thar copters won’r soon be hovering over my street, ready to swoop meup into custody or murder me in th process, without proper due legal process or accountability.  Well, with this aggressive brain cancer diagnosis and super-duper oncologist doinglittle-to-no confirmed treatment so far and having no expressed plan, i might even bebetter off just going on about my business while keeping up with appointments and procedures.  And i include my daily exercise mileage in the blog, right?10 miles. Time to be relaxed,quiet and still...

Thinking Good Thoughts at End of Week

Today marked the third full week of cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatments, all prescribed by the good physicians at UF Health.  Besides going to them with my sweet Melissa driving, my days and nights are more or less unstructured...unless it's me doing the structuring.  Tomorrow morning they're "forecazzing" heavy fog for Gainesville, with a chance of some rain later on.  Sunday's supposed to be much heavier with the local precipitation, but since I'm planning to stay at home all day that'll be okay for me.  I'm tired of the TV news, be it local or national in scope.  America has become grim (not great) again, and I guess it's all a part of the "master" plan.  TV-20 today devoted much time and effort celebrating their chief meteorologist Mike Potter's retirement...he'll be missed.  I still exercise some, spending time in front of the TV moving to foreign language podcasts and virtual running race videos (I'm going through the 2022 Hartford Half Marathon on Runner's Digest channel.  Still plodding on ahead thinking good thoughts...

Tried to Make Something of This Sunday Despite Feelings

 After what amounted to a poor night of sleep, I managed to get on with today, Sunday, the last day in November 2025.  Our friend Lisa paid us a wonderful visit and, after some rest, I set out on my neighborhood walk.  While on the course, I decided to slightly extend the distance to 4.8 miles.  It wasn't a speed walk per se, but I gave it an honest effort as brisk exercise, listening to my phone collection of some favorite songs, arranged as if they were tracks on a double album.  The whole walk was an exercise in fatigue, although the outside temperature remained moderate around 79 degrees with a dry 42% humidity.  Melissa has everything set up now to where, as long as I'm carrying my phone with me, she can determine where I am I on a map...that's reassuring for me.  After the walk (and a deliberately light dinner) my heart rate is getting close to dipping below 90, which is the boundary of Zone One.  Now I've eaten enough for myself and would like to settle down for the evening with a cooler home environment.  Tomorrow I'm due to resume chemotherapy in the morning and radiation treatments in the afternoon. I'm skipping the news, which I think is pretty crappy: is our national motto Make America Grim Again? The wise words of Sting ring out: Our so-called leaders speak.  With words they try to jail you.  They subjugate the meek.  But it's the rhetoric of failure.  MY so-called leaders, that OTHERS elected.  I'm grateful that. at least for today, I didn't have to go out and meet any appointments.  But tomorrow presents a completely different picture.  Not fun, but it's life... 

First Day of Cancer Treatments, a More Positive Attitude

Today marked my first day of cancer treatments, as prescribed by UF Health.  I woke up around six and Melissa already had my anti-nausea pill ready for me to swallow.  An hour later it was TMZ, my first chemotherapy pills (three in all per day, seven days a week).  Since the side effects of chemotherapy treatments tend to be cumulative, I really didn't expect my appetite to drastically decline over the first couple of hours after taking the very first dose.  No fatigue yet, either...Melissa and I did a reasonable 1.7-mile walk through our home neighborhood as well.  In the afternoon I underwent my first radiation treatment, followed by a blood draw and then Publix.  Anticipating dinner, my appetite is still intact...let's see where it goes.  I just wish this gloomy brain cancer diagnosis hadn't just randomly dropped out of the sky on me without any traces of origin from elsewhere in my body...that's not so cool.  But I've learned in a very short time (nearly four weeks since October 21st) to take the time allotted for me in this life one day at a time and to adopt a more patient attitude toward others and my circumstances.  So after posting this, I think I'll brew some decaffeinated coffee and put on my daily serving of outrage news before digging tonight's Monday Night Football contest between the Oakland Los Angeles Oakland Las Vegas Raiders...or wherever else they happen to be playing for the moment... and the Dallas Cowboys...

Cancel Culture from the Fascist Side about Kirk

The freaks hidden among the multitudes in our increasingly fascist America are the real menace in our society when it comes to assassinations, whether you're talking about JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., RFK, the attempts against George Wallace, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, John Lennon, or the attempts against Trump in 2024...and the sniper shot against Charlie Kirk recently.  With all the guns floating around in clear view in our gun-crazy culture, an adept, murderous maniac can seize the opportunity and commit a horrendous act, pretty much from the vantage point of anonymity, if he or she has successfully been concealing from others any intentions of taking such action.  It does not require conspiracies from an extremist group, as some in the current fascist regime have angrily gone off about in public rage.  You or I might become famous, and if there is at least a little controversy accompanying that fame then chances are that somebody, somewhere will allow themselves to become offended and at least consider making us into a target.  It's interesting nowadays that the MAGA Trump boot-lickers are the ones practicing "politically correct" cancel culture on anyone they can get away with accusing of inappropriate comments about the murder or Kirk himself...reference recent outbursts by Stephen Miller, JD Vance and Pam Bondi.  This canceling of Jimmy Kimmel for suggesting (in my opinion, presumptuously and probably erroneously) that the shooter just might have been pro-Trump, is a spotlighted case in point.  Long ago I tired of watching these late-night "comedy" spectacles like Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers because of the political ugliness behind much (if not most of) their jokes, so not having Kimmel on doesn't change anything with me.  Besides, you can get your audience to laugh at the politicians you dislike, but try coaxing the same fans to actively and consistently participate in the voting process.  In EVERY available election, even those "boring" local and state contests.  Yeah, good luck with that...I think these smartass professional jokesters need to start ridiculing the electorate instead!  Then again, a lot of these half-ass, apathetic and emotion-driven voters seem to think that the meaning of democracy is going to protest rallies after their side has lost the election. Now THAT is a sick joke...   

About Charlie Kirk and His Tragic Assassination

Regarding the recent murder of conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk, I have to preface any comments with the disclaimer that, before this horrible event, I hadn't heard or read anything from this individual, only that his name tended to circulate around on the more politically-charged posts on Facebook. In the last couple of days I checked his You Tube channel and he seemed like a composed, reasonable and likable young man who boldly and passionately expressed his viewpoints on a number of issues, some controversial, that I have mixed opinions about.  He avidly and consistently supported and campaigned for Trump over the years while the latter was equally consistent with his nasty and hateful rhetoric...this is the only direct criticism I'll make about Charlie.  Yet I personally know several people who are squarely in the camp of our current demagogic, autocratic "leader", but they're also very caring and generous...Charlie Kirk struck me as someone with that type of personal charm.  The individual that is being portrayed as the shooting suspect seems to have come from a multi-generational family of staunch Trump supporters (who apparently turned him in to the police).  Perhaps his political allegiance is to violent extremist militia groups, but at this juncture I don't see any leftist leanings as our evil president has directly insinuated without providing any evidence, trying to stir up division and anger while making the Democratic Party opposition into a scapegoat.  The suspect seems to have been well-trained with a sniper-level of firearm accuracy, since the act was committed at some 200-yard distance, and how his deft scampering off a high roof implied some special military-level training.  I remember how, in the late 1990s, popular late-night radio host Art Bell, well-known for his conservative political views, still ran afoul of some extremist right-wing militia group that harassed and threatened him.  Sometimes one's supposed "allies" can turn out to be the real enemy. My inclination toward Mr. Kirk is to honor his courageous life and defuse the propaganda that evil players like Trump are perpetrating upon the shocked population, who could use a real leader at this trying and sad time instead of this presidential fraud...a 34-count convicted felon...inflicted upon us last November by my fellow Americans... 

Society Becoming Unhinged and Violent, Mirroring World Leaders

I'm looking around me and it doesn't look good.  People in society, and leaders around the world, are becoming mentally and morally unhinged, holding tight to their resentments and grudges and then exploding into acts of terror.  Putin keeps sending drones to bomb his neighbor Ukraine, knowing that the main result of his actions is murderous terror against ordinary civilians.  Yet in the interests of longevity he touts a vaccine that is supposed to ward off cancer, and in personal visits comes off seeming like a reasonable and congenial individual.  Those two children massacred in a Minnesota church by a sick monster, and the young Ukrainian immigrant woman who finished her work shift, boarded a Charlotte, North Carolina commuter train, and was promptly stabbed to death in random fashion by the young man who happened to be sitting behind her seat, are just the more recent examples of what I see as a complete breakdown in civil society. And this president of ours, I'm sure, would be an active part of this chain of violence and terror as he is governed by vengeance, fear and anger. I don't need to watch the national news to get more than my share of disheartening news.  The local news shows consistently come up with stories about people who shot up their own home or of others who got mad at someone at a party, workplace or bar and then went back to their car and returned, guns blazing with fury.  I go out of my way on my neighborhood walk/runs to keep my mouth shut and eyes trained on the road ahead of me, but this doesn't stop some motorists around me from slowing down and checking me out from safely behind their tinted windows as if my mere existence posed a kind of threat to them.  Life is fragile: that's a lesson I already learned but which was brutally reinforced in the last two years with the deaths of my son and sister-in-law.  Stephen King wrote a 2006 novel titled Cell, in which cellphone users would suddenly become violently deranged and go on killing sprees.  I don't think we're so far off from that scenario, I'm afraid. Lord, get me through this day...  

About Texas Redrawing Its Own Congressional Districts

I understand that there's a degree of brouhaha going on in the news about the Texas state legislature's redesigning of their district boundaries, and how it is supposedly all being done in a very devious, gerrymandered manner to deprive Texans of representation by the Democrats.  I viewed the "before" and "after" maps of the Texas districts and, quite frankly, am at a loss to detect any sign of gerrymandering in the new proposal.  The fact is that Texas has become a solidly red, pro-Republican state in the past thirty years.  It's also a known practice in national politics that a state's elected legislature has as one of its functions the periodic redrawing of district boundaries: Texas is no exception.  But now we're seeing Texas Democratic legislators fleeing the state to avoid there being a needed quorum in place to push into law the new map. I'm looking at the world today and ask myself, why should I care about this issue that is being headlined on the television news channels...must be a slow news day.  Although each state is authorized to draw its own district maps, the practice is traditionally done closely following the national census, done in years ending in zero.  This Texas action is different in that Jabba the Trump demanded they do it because he thinks he'll gain five congressional seats in the 2026 election...and, boy, does Trump ever want to stay in complete power!  In response, the New York and California state governors, both Democrats with strong Democratic-majority legislatures, just came out and announced that they would likewise redraw their own state congressional maps to give their own party advantages as well.  Are you indignant about any of this?  Not me, I have better things in my life to be concerned about, and the last thing I've come to trust any more is that the American voter will show any signs of integrity or wisdom in ANY election, no matter how the districts are drawn.  If the right candidate ends up winning one, regardless of where they are on the "map", it's more likely an accident or for the wrong reasons... 

About the US Raid on Iranian Nuclear Facilities

The news has just been announced yesterday evening that American forces bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities with deep-penetrating, powerful missiles, taking place early this morning Iran time. Trump used some misdirection, feigning that he would wait a few days...up to two weeks is what I think he said...before deciding whether to use the American military to aid Israel in their mutual bombing exchange with Iran.  According to Trump...who is unfortunately prone to extreme exaggeration with his rhetoric...the facilities were destroyed.  It also looks like all American planes and personnel safely returned from their "outing".  Now it remains to be seen how the Iranians will respond...and you know they will, most likely through terrorism directed at civilians or military personnel. I don't agree with a lot of the Democrats who say that as president, Trump had to consult with Congress in advance...Clinton invading Haiti and bombing Afghanistan, and Obama disposing of Osama bin Laden would render that argument to be selectively partisan.  The problems I have with Trump's decision are that (1) his own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had concluded that Iran was far from being able to develop nuclear weaponry, and (2) I think our president, in making the decision to attack, was doing the bidding of another foreign leader, that is, of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And I prefer that our national leaders act according to our own national interests over those of others, even our own allies. In this I find myself in an uncomfortable, rare agreement with far-right Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who quickly criticized Trump's raid on behalf of his Middle East ally and its leader...

News, Media Manipulation and Protests

It's all-too easy in recent days to get overly wrought about the news hitting the airwaves...the political extremism that's sadly becoming mainstream, and the intensifying international division that includes several areas of armed conflict across the world.  I wrote last Sunday about the nationwide protests being organized against Trump for his perceived overreach with executive orders and his lavish self-indulgence at taxpayers' expense, exemplified by his heavily-hyped birthday/military parade to take place tomorrow.  In Gainesville, as in many locations spread across the land, there will be a protest meeting called "No Kings" tomorrow morning from 9 to noon, taking place at Roberson Park on 600 SW 6th Street.  I've expressed interest in attending it, but we'll just have to see how I feel about it all after my Depot Parkrun 5K race that's just a few blocks down the road.  Melissa thoughtfully reminded me to not get so caught up in the news, and she's right: there's only just so much I can do about what's going down around me.  So I'm keeping my peace and serenity in the face of the confusion, chaos, anger and fear, some of which I suspect is deliberately being pushed in the media to manipulate us...

Trump and Musk: the High Drama Continues

I can't exactly avoid the news that seeps into my life, as much as I would often like to.  Ever since Trump slithered back into office four and a half months ago, he had as his bromance-dude super-wealthy Elon Musk accompanying him everywhere, it seemed.  Trump would threaten fellow Republican lawmakers with supplying Musk-funded primary opponents for their next elections should they ever stray from completely following his line, and ol' Elon would just stand there grinning like it was a big joke and shouldn't we all laugh with the two superheroes.  Well, Musk is actually someone who had a life apart from combining hedonism with the pursuit of raw political power...he started a number of innovative businesses and captured my imagination several years ago with his expressed desire to send people to Mars for exploration...and even settlement.  But somewhere along the line he decided to kiss Trump's ring and endorse his campaign in 2024.  That I didn't like, but his chainsaw-wielding antics with DOGE, or the "Department of Government Efficiency", publicized him squarely as an enemy of ordinary people, and the campaign to run down his business enterprises and wealth...mainly through Tesla...erupted across the country with on-site protests and calls for boycott.  He's backed off his public adulation for the repulsive occupant of the White House, even to the point that the two are now engaging in an online war of words against each other after Musk correctly expressed his opposition to the so-called "Big Beautiful" bill that the House passed by one vote.  Musk didn't like that it would greatly increase the national debt, while I, not liking that either, am much more concerned that it grants the president the ability to ignore judges that rule against him and to cancel election results he disagrees with...making our leader a virtual dictator.  Not that I have any say in the matter: my one vote nowadays means very little as opposed to the millions upon millions of voluntarily-brainwashed Americans that worship Trump like a cult personality idol...funny how so many self-identified Christians don't see this idolatry as sinful...