Confirmed in Opposition to Trump and his Acolytes

 In late 2020 a crazy pro-Trump molestation conspiracy theory group calling itself QAnon grabbed news headlines, and I was treated once or twice following the presidential election to a group of those die-hard kuckoos waving at me as I carefully and slowly drove past them on Gainesville' sNW 39th Avenue, past the gentrified bunch of stores there, including Starbucks, called Magnolia Parke.  During the past five electoral opportunities when Donald Trump's name was on the ballot against other candidates, I never voted for him...yet HillaryClinton(2016), Joe Biden (2020), Chris Christie [2024] an Kamala Harris in the2024 general election received my enthusiastic votes...I would have been happy with any of them as my president.  As for Trump's suck-up acolytes...beginning with JD Vance, who I believe wants to sell out Ukraine to imperial Russia,and continuing with Pete Hegseth..I can easily confirm to the reader that I'll never vote for them, not even for dogcatcher. I know that my single, one vote on election day has about the same effect on outcomes as a drop of water in the ocean. I think that right now, DJT should be incarcerated for his 34-count felony convictions, receiving excellent medical care and security at taxpayer expense with all of the power he now exerts permanently removed. I also believe that past reported assassination attempts on him were fake, contrived hoaxes and that he successfully milked their media coverage to create a false public image about himself as a kind of folk hero.  Well, that worked: at large, people are susceptible, gullible schmucks.  But I can still love them despite my frustration, can't I?  Yet they voted for him for president. May God in His mercy look out for my fellow Americans in spite of themsselves...

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...

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...

Another Pleasant, Hopeful Early Morning at the "Base"

 Well, it's 6:36 am and I got myself up and out of bed, making some coffee and doing a little living room rug exercising.  It's not too cold outside, but the temps will rise later on.  For me, this is my base time and location.  Last night I already resumed taking the enhanced TMZ to fight off that tenacious gbm, and I already am at peace with extending my nighttime/morning fast without requesting donut shop stops.  I read the first 8 pages in Khan's Shadow fantasy book.  It's easy reading although the setting is brutal  and something I have difficulty  wrapping my propensity for imagination around all the negativity.  My internet research on the author and this series revealed that he hadn't grown much...if any...in stature over the past nine years.  I'll read some more today and mark the pages read.  Let me just keep Peewee from licking me today...she's such a  sweetie and I don't want her hurt!  I'm tired of watching those right-wing tv channels with their scare tactics, even if I tend to agree with their general political/social worldviews. I think I'll try out some of the foreign language stuff on that radio/[podcast channel.  Tomorrow morning another Parkrun is scheduled, and maybe Melissa and I will be ready to go for it, rain or not: just show up!. Yesterday Anita, Jim and I walked around 2nd and Charles, which is a thoroughly inadequate, disorganized used book store with few sitting opportunities and even fewer reading choices.  Maybe today we'll try out Book-a-Million or Barnes & Noble.  I've done ipf six minutes so far, and plan to go back to the bedroom in a few minutes after I try out some more. I'm still looking forward to trying out sitting on the front porch holding my Shaum's math book...

Take Back That Data Center They're Trying to Build Outside My Door

 In 1987 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came out with a wonderful, rocking singles hit titled Jammin' Me.  It's still my favorite of his, and I dig the sometimes cutting and always funny lyrics.  That last line about country clubs I just changed to reflect the billings insult that these new AI centers, which consume way too much electricity while often added to customers' bills without their permission, are a blight upon our community.  AI has done very little for me, and I don't see substantial improvement in it for the next two or three years, assuming that God is willing and I'm surviving well.  This morning I got up early and have already performed 20 minutes of floor c-v exercise, including 15 of running-in-place.  I'm still imagining plopping my day's homework on the dining room table to do alongside my nice instant coffee.  I'm determined to enjoy a good day today, practicing avoidance of schteool along with its myriad hassles.  i'd like to check out local bookstores while the Dawg's at Scenthound for foreign language books and change my voter registration to Republican, giving me more real choices during the approaching primaries in this 2026 off-year election.  Looks like i'm going to follow in the footsteps of fellow conservative old geezer voters in faithfully going to the polls! Trump delivered his State of the Union address yesterday evening.  The opposition response was personal and largely condemnatory, with obscenities against Trump freely flying about.  Don't know how that's going to transfer to voting attendance in November.  But get ready for yet another tired old local protest rally in a few weeks..."democracy in action" my ass when folks simply won't vote and then they complain later!   We're looking forward again to today to see Anita and Jim, and some real dining room table foreign language study looks like it is reallygoing to happen...maybe I can use Wikipeida articles in different languages like Russian, German, Spanish and even Chinese. Still, Chatgpt looks good for the moment.  Now time to listen to my TV music, languages and self-improvement podcasts. Oh, it seems like I slept well last night. I am not showing my exercise minutes on the blog,, preferring to write the figures in pen on the inside of a puzzle book...I've done 20 total combined ipf and rock-running minutes so far with some more planned to come.  Y'all have a wonderful day, too...

Choosing One's Response

 A few days ago, near the start of he '26 Winter Olympics, I was dismayed to hear on the news about Trump going on a "you're a loser" angry rant against an athlete who simply answered a politically-oriented question.  This president always has an open line to contact me and discuss anything he wants, and if the highly improbable were to happen and someone shoved a mike and camera before me with a highly charged question, that's how i'd reply.  You see, I can't always control what happens to me, but more likely I have the option of being able to choose how to respond. And it's within my chosen responses that I have the opportunity for personal growth, and perhaps being able to take a positive step to help this sadly progressively degrading world we live in...

Scump's Planned Bullying of Americans for When He Turns 80

One of thmost visually unappealing US presidents i've seen is the current one, DonaldTrump,also very unpopular as a monster egomaniac, andwihout ny concience to speak of,is due in a couple of months to celebrate turning eighty, a spectacle that I imagine will go off with shameless overhype and overspending.In the meantime i'm predicting yet another tedious "No Kings"Saturday protest rally at a local city park which i plan to boycott. See you then, coppers, when  then you setyourselves up for your own police riot...                           coming over then to,roundus ofd geezers                                                                                                                                              off to jail9(if they don't shoot us irst). sountil then it's all ""HOOray for myself.''.this dude seems to rival convicted and executed serial killer Ted Bundywith his own death obsession, how many people he hates and how many he thinks he will get away with killing...beforea higher auhoriyintervnes in rescue. WithTrump, I truly seea villain of our times.hohewants to bring America to its knee and degrade our own lives.. I believe he has the heart of a murderer. BUT like Michael Corleone in the movie The Godfather PartII, OUR President feels he has to have his buffer between hi sown button-pushers and hi viictim. An it's always the victim's fault, right?                                                                                                            aa                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Atttention-Addicted President on the Warpath Again

  I am not at all looking forward to Donald Trump's next year in power as our 47th president.  The man seems to be doing everything he possibly can to degrade life for Americans like me and to lower my country's standing and status in the eyes of the world.  He s addicted to grabbing for headlines; there's always a deliberately outrageous announcement in the works from him. Early in 2025, just as I was about to get on my OPM website at the start of my postal retirement, h e had his henchman Elon Musk, cynically playing the DOGE role, suddenly show up in Washington with chainsaw and an insane maniacal expression as he invaded the OPM,sending out emailed threats to arbitrarily fire thousands of federal employees...I stayed away from there and Musk quickly became the most hated name in my country with widespread protests, Tesla boycotts and vandalism. Well, we'll see exactly what it will take before people begin to elect some polititionsfrom my own party this fall.My full expectation is that he will boastfully sell Ukraine down the river as it struggles to maintain its independent existence against invading Russia...

Continuing with Medical Treatments, Working on Attitude

 So on this Friday, November 21st, I find myself with noontime approaching and a slight headache, although my cold symptoms have lightened a bit.  I took my fourth straight early-morning doses of TMZ capsules for brain cancer chemotherapy and am scheduled for yet another zapping by UF Health's radiiation-therapy brain-zapping machines.  As anticipated, Buffalo did lose last night's game, which is fine with me. At 6:30, the network evening news shows conveyed more and more political outrage as our so-called "leaders" want to execute their critics and even call political allies "traitors" for occasionally disagreeing with them.  For myself, all I want is to just get through this day with a better overall attitude and good prospects for a meaningful Saturday morning Depot Parkrun.  

America (and Florida's) Fascism

Just before the 2024 presidential election took place a year ago, Donald Trump's first White House chief of staff, John Kelly, warned the nation that Trump is a fascist and that people who voted for him are assenting to fascism in the ensuing four years.  Since then I've noted, on the biased FoxNews channel, assorted hacks trying to discredit people who label the current administration as fascist, claiming that they were speaking from ignorance and didn't understand what the term meant.  I don't have a detailed scientific definition of fascism at my disposal, but I recognize when a party or movement emphasizes strongman control of their "territory" over adherence to democratic principles like respecting election results.  I think my current Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is a fascist for this reason as he seems determined to stonewall the overwhelming result of Gainesivlle's local referendum on returning its utility,GRU, to local administrative management.  They're set to file suit to prevent the utility from returning to city commission control...DeSantis only respects election results that go his way. Still, he has his apologists like current GRU CEO Ed Bielarski, who likes to play the fascist game of lecturing people about the dangers of majority rule.  Likewise, Trump wants to make as a priority the drastic restriction of general voter eligibility so that he can manipulate future elections in his favor...and if he loses, then it's all rigged and he has his pet Proud Boys militia group to go cry to. The dude is a right-wing extremist dictator wannabe, making him a fascist in my mind. Likewise, I'm not convinced that newly elected New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani won't cause trouble if he can't just speak desired law changes into effect with his charming, charismatic voice and smile.  I see these elected politicians as public servants, not MY leaders.  If they get the notion into their heads that I need to get into a kneeling position to be their sycophant, then they represent a disturbing turn in the way politics is practiced in this country.  Is America fascist yet?  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.  I just don't need some freakazoid with a swollen ego lecturing ME about the proper posture to take toward HIM...

Early Voting on GRU Control Today

Today represented the final day in Florida for early voting before this coming Tuesday's election day.  The only matter up for a vote on my part is the question of whether the locally elected Gainesville city government can regain operational and financial control of Gainesville Regional Utilities.  In his shameless plot to defame opposition Democratic Party officeholders as being irresponsible and corrupt, our dictator/governor Ron DeSantis removed GRU from local control and gave it to a purely Republican hand-picked committee.  When they tried putting this measure on the ballot, he sued to stop the vote (and lost)...DeSantis is a dyed-in-the-wool anti-democratic demogogue who should have been thrown out of office for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21...I believe many in Florida died of this pandemic because of his incompetence.  He doesn't want you or me voting, and I predict that this question, which I predict will easily pass, will garner his focus as he will do whatever he can to sabotage it.  This dude does not represent me or my interests in any way, shape or form.  Melissa drove us to our public library branch building for the early voting, which went off very smoothly with all the workers demonstrating competence and politeness toward us.  If the Republicans hadn't been so deadset against people getting to vote on something, this might have been a reasonable issue to discuss on its merits.  Well, I got up early this morning and exercised a bit.  Now I'm tired and still have a lap around the block to walk.  Still, I'm glad I voted, for what it was worth...

Speed-Walked 3/4 of Today's Depot Parkrun 5K

Early this morning just before sunrise, the temperature was a cool 55 degrees with a high 94% humidity.  Such were the conditions for today's Depot Parkrun 5K, held there just south of downtown Gainesville.  My focused intention for today's event was clear: walk briskly for the distance, no matter what my finishing time is.  I got down there, and for the first two laps I gave it an honest, good effort...but my "halfway" time was only 22:17 and I was starting to feel a little tired.  Still, I stuck it out walking the whole third lap. It was that final .7 mile for the last lap when I broke into a moderate run, picking up the pace as I approached the race's end.  I finished with a time of 43:09...you can view today's results by clicking HERE. Later on this morning, starting at ten, some local political malcontents are going to stage another anti-Trump protest rally, which I've heard erroneously equated with "democracy in action": the fools! I'm not going there, choosing instead to take a little break at my nearby Dunkin' store before heading back home to rest a little bit.  And then begins the rest of the day. As for today's Depot Parkrun, there were a lot of participants, and it all went pretty smooth.  The main thing is that I showed up and gave it a strong effort.  I wonder how many people attended today's West End Community Park Run: it's usually a lot fewer (and was, at 60)..

October Now...for Better or Worse

So it's October...let's see what I can make of this month, when I turn 69, the same age David Bowie reached when he died of liver cancer two days after his January 2016 birthday.  I don't know what all is in store for me, but I have already defined my enemy: those who deliberately set themselves as obstacles to my daily existence.  In other words, drama-queen prima-donnas. I'm already NOT looking forward to this contrived Grief Share "support" group that meets Wednesday evenings at a nearby church.  It's one of the sad life lessons I've learned that folks, when they get old, tend not to become wiser but rather entrench themselves even more in trying to set themselves apart and higher than others around them, acutely conscious of their "pecking order" status.  So I guess I'll go there and humor these deluded fools.  I think, though, that I'd rather just stay at home and spend the time preparing for our upcoming cruise.  I'm seriously considering writing separate daily articles through October 10th and then, after returning, "back-posting" them on this blog.  Or maybe not. I'm wondering, since I'll generally be avoiding the news shows on TV, whether I'll be spared some of this accursed fascist president's antics as he continually seeks to be the center of attention and controversy. And I suppose that there is another enemy out there: the completely effed-up, morally bankrupt weapons nut who feels justified at settling scores by going after random people in public. Has my country lost its collective mind?  Doesn't look so good, let's see how the high seas do for a few days...

Partisan Excesses during Memorial Events

While Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone was in the final stage of his close reelection campaign in late October 2002, the plane carrying him and his family crashed in northern Minnesota, killing them all.  It was a shocking event, and a public memorial service was soon scheduled to honor the fallen senator.  Unfortunately, a few of those in attendance...and especially some of the speakers...got a little out of hand with their partisanship.  Mississippi Republican senator Trent Lott, a gentleman who attended the event, even received some boo's after he was introduced: how tacky can they get.  Apparently a bit more, since some of the speakers implored the audience to join in Wellstone's progressive politics and vote Democrat for his replacement...who turned out to be former senator and vice-president Walter Mondale.  There was a lot of negative spin on this event, greatly amplified by the FoxNews channel and conservative talk radio, and Republican candidate Norm Coleman went on to defeat Mondale in the general election.  I remember this because we recently experienced the death of "one of their own": conservative activist Charlie Kirk, assassinated by a sniper while in the middle of a Utah college rally.  The memorial for him was held in a football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and it dwarfed the Wellstone tribute in terms of partisanship.  It was a "who's who" in politics regarding the right-wing notables attending and being recognized on TV.  Some of the speakers got carried away with their aggression and hostility against Democrats and liberals...it was "let's pick up Charlie's cause and run with it" on steroids.  A local Democratic school board member got in a little hot water recently for posting, on social media, her reaction, which was critical of how the event was conducted. There should always be plenty of room and toleration for opposing opinions, and hers had nothing within it that was inciteful...unlike the venomous words of assistant White House chief of staff Stephen Miller who sometimes sounds to me like a freaking Nazi Goebbels impersonator.  The MAGA regime in power has depicted their political opposition, the Democratic Party, as the Enemy and compared them to terrorists and extremists.  Trump has only been in office a little more than nine months and has thirty-nine more until he's done.  I do not look forward to what he and his supporters have in store for the rest of us during that remaining time.  I have restrained my criticisms of Charlie Kirk and feel grief for his death, although I had no contact with him and did not explore his opinions in any detail.  No one is perfect (including myself), although Kirk's partisan supporters seem to be trying to canonize him as Mr. Perfect "Saint Charlie", and we all have to agree or else...   

Living One Day at a Time in a World Tilting Toward Mass Cult Idol Worship

Each calendar day is an ocean of moments, one piled on top of the previous one.  When I write on the side of this blog that I take life one day at a time, I'm not engaging in shortsighted behavior at all. It's too easy...and ultimately ineffective...to make more farsighted plans further off into the future when I just might be brushing off what is immediately before me in my life.  While it's good to keep track of appointments and come up with some sense of vision extending forward in time, in the end it all comes down to living through it all in the present moment, making my own decisions and accepting responsibility for them. So it's important to show up for what I purpose to do whether or not my physical or emotional feelings line up at the time...once I'm there doing it, then there's always the opportunity for momentum and motivation to kick in and enhance the experience. I am in my late sixties, and on my birthday in a couple of weeks I'll still be there.  What I want is pretty simple and straightforward: to welcome each new day into my life with the confidence that I will meet its challenges while being actively engaged throughout, emphasizing in my communications with others a philosophy of positive encouragement, health and happiness. I have some areas in which I'd like to improve, and some of these involve deeper social interaction.  Well, so far in retirement I haven't become an abject hermit, turning my back on the world.  Not yet, at least, although when I see disturbing spectacles on television like the one going on for hours on end last Sunday I can see myself enjoying just ditching my TV to shut out all the BS thrown my way.  But at least with this I still have choices: pick a different channel or just turn off the TV... 

Retirement Fine, Encountering and Meeting Challenges

A friend today asked me what I thought about retirement so far, and my answer was quick and unequivocal: I've yet to wish I hadn't retired. Not one instant.  Now suppose circumstances had dictated me having continued on with my postal job, the specific assignment of which focused on receiving, processing and dispatching registered mail that came in from area offices in the afternoon and early evening.  I performed that assignment from January 2019 through November 2024...nearly six years.  In the middle of it all COVID happened, as well as my open heart surgery.  Melissa and I both came down with COVID in July 2023...it wiped out my summer vacation but we both recovered well from it. My son Will tragically passed away in July 2024, and Melissa experienced the trauma associated with breast cancer while receiving excellent medical care. The month following my retirement, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and events were set into motion leading to my March prostatectomy this year.  I have yet to physically feel the direct effects of illness, although my medical treatment...the surgeries in particular...hampered my activity and forced me through some brief seasons of pain.  I'm still getting cancer treatment, so it's a matter of me showing up for each day in a positive, constructive way to engage in exercise and keep my mind active.  Since my country collectively decided last November at the polls to go full-bore fascist and idolize a 34-count convicted felon, I had found myself exposed to the abuse associated with abusive national leadership...and that abuse is continuing.  I have decided, though, to avoid acknowledging its significance in my life and have been cleaning up my social media accounts from sites and posts that only aggravate the situation, instead stressing areas that are more conducive to my mental and physical well-being. I have already vowed to myself not to allow drama and manipulation to govern my daily existence, instead creating my own structure of personal discipline that keeps me strong with a positive outlook. I'm hoping that you're faring well in your own life, and that you don't see yourself as just a passive victim of circumstances but rather have a great deal of responsible control over how your own day goes.  And I mean each and every day...         

Subdued Hurricane Season So Far, But Keeping Eyes Open

This 2025 Atlantic hurricane season hasn't been meeting expectations...even with the more subdued predictions for storm numbers and intensity.  Here we are, now past the typical midpoint that signifies the peak days for tropical storm activity, and with only one tropical storm, Gabrielle, that is floundering out in the mid-Atlantic and only posing an indirect threat to Bermuda. Sometimes bad stuff happens later on, though, and I am keeping my eyes open during weather news segments for any new developments.  By October, the likelihood increases for tropical storms and hurricanes to originate in the western Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico.  These storms are far more likely to eventually threaten "my" north central Florida area...if they do materialize, that is.  This 2025 season, so far, has been a blessed bust...but there's still more time left.  Personally, I could do without the suspense of an approaching hurricane to my area, but since we're planning on cruising into the Caribbean during the first two weeks of next month, the notion of some potential storm "out there" doesn't exactly keep my mind at ease.  Nor does the provocative military buildup instigated in that area by our "stable genius" of a president, who thinks it's just hunky-dory to bomb to smithereens unarmed fishing vessels in international waters along with their passengers...

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...