I know this post is a little late, but here are the fall flowers I picked out and planted for the side patio. Pretty nice, huh?

Cost me ~$30 at the silk flower place down the street. 🙂

Just because it’s fall planting time doesn’t mean one necessarily has to get their hands dirty, does it?

So it’s the first weekend of the holiday season, but frankly the holidays are the furthest from my mind. I’m off to Vegas next weekend to meet my Goodboys friends and a Saturn with 160K miles on it that absolutely needs to be replaced. the weekend after that. In the meanwhile:

The post at National Review Online’s Corner blog ought to be required reading by all Americans. I know I never cease to be amazed when I walk into the local Fry’s at the absolute bounty of choices we have when it comes to grocery shopping, and I don’t take it for granted either. As a nation and people we are truly blessed.

Funny (well not really) how you get a shooting anywhere near a Planned Parenthood location and the Left and its suck-ups in the mainstream media freak out, yet you get a Muslim knife attacker at a California university and you get nothing but crickets chirping from same. It’s too bad that liberals care more about the sanctity of their beloved abortion clinics than they do about the work that goes on inside them and the innocent lives snuffed out on a daily basis.

…and speaking of violence, Red State’s Sara Gonzales is right about the facts of the Laquan McDonald case when she writes:

Chicagoans should be angry as hell. Americans should be angry as hell- not only that this kind of gross misconduct happens far too often with police officers around the country, but that it took over a year for any charges to be filed because the corruption in Chicago runs that deep. No other person in the city of Chicago who shot another person on video 16 times would get to wait a full year before being charged; this is a privilege that extends only to cops.

Just don’t expect that anger (and the mainstream media’s focus) to be on the fact that Chicago’s power structure from top to bottom is 100% liberal Democrat (and majority African-American), and has been for decades. Democrats and inner-city African-American corruption go together like Vegas and showgirls.

I’m so glad this country stakes airline travel safety so seriously.

So with my sister-in-law staying with us over Thanksgiving she brought her lovebird “Big Bird” to stay with us as well. Now while Big Bird spends most of her time outside in her cage on the Tiki bar to enjoy all the sounds of nature, today was a little chilly so she spent much of the day indoors. Inside we leave her cage door open so she can bop around on the living room table and hang around with the twins while they watch TV. But the bird is an attention hog, so while Tam was outside on the patio Big Bird decided to take a stroll down to the other side of the house to see if she could find suitable company. I soon heard a commotion behind me in my office, and there was Big Bird at the door, hanging off the fence that separates Peach the rabbit from the rest of the house. Peach noticed:

What Peach didn’t know is that Big Bird can be a royal pain in the ass (actually, nose or finger) if you get too close to it. Not sure what Peach thought this strange creature was, but the bird was only too happy to oblige, and proceeded to offer up a snout strike:

…leaving Peach to high-tail it back to his area just a little worse for wear (and, I’m guessing, a whole lot wiser). You could almost see the smug satisfaction on Bird Bird’s face, knowing she had nipped another of God’s creatures:

Peach, for his part, didn’t seem to suffer any lasting damage (physically or mentally) – ten minutes later he’s near sound asleep cuddled up to his stuffed animal friend:

It’s not exactly a turkey but it will do:

To quote Hot Air commenter Walter L. Newton, “I saw turkeys marching outside the sheriff’s office today with signs “Hands up, don’t cook”, and “Don’t baste me, bro.”

Happy Thanksgiving to all from all the Goodboys and Goodboys Nation weblog!

Let the holiday season officially begin. Not. Looking. Forward. To It.

So I’m going through all these old Pink Floyd tunes and come up with this psychedelic nugget from their first post-Syd Barrett release in 1968. As y’all know, I’ve always been intrigued by imaginative lyrics, and Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright’s “See Saw” certainly meets that!

Marigolds are very much in love, but he doesn’t mind
Picking up his sister, he makes his way into the seas or land
All the way she smiles
She goes up while he goes down, down

Sits on a stick in the river
Laughter in his sleep
Sister’s throwing stones, hoping for a hit
He doesn’t know so then
She goes up while he goes down, down

Another time, another day
A brother’s way to leave
Another time, another day

She’ll be selling plastic flowers on a Sunday afternoon
Picking up weeds, she hasn’t got the time to care
All can see he’s not there
She grows up for another man, and he’s down

Another time, another day
A brother’s way to leave
Another time, another day
Another time, another day
A brother’s way to leave

I went out on the internet to see how others might have interpreted the lyrics, but the furthest I’ve gotten is that it portrays a “strangely troubled brother sister relationship”. I know Wright considered it one of the worst songs he’d ever conceived, but count me as one who has always been intrigued by this haunting, dreamy period piece by Pink Floyd.

A feel-good story, for sure!

Bullshit. Can you say, Giancarlo Stanton?

Yep. When the history books are written Barack Obama’s incompetent, pathetic excuse for a presidency will make Jimmy Carter’s look like Abraham Lincoln’s.

The only people who still listen to NPR are ancient liberals from the Sixties and Seventies who can’t get over just how exciting Hillary Clinton would be as First. Woman. President! These pretentious snobs live in their own little isolated elitist, chardonnay-swilling echo chamber along with New York Times and Washington Post readers, thinking how awful and backward all those red state religion clingers and gun-toting conservatives are. I’ve been waiting for the federal government to pull the plug on these has-beens for years, but I’m guessing the GOP establishment also listens to the likes of Diane Rehm and Nina Totenberg.

Sometimes the headlines write themselves, don’t they? Maybe it’s just me but I don’t care if my pilot is straight, gay, lesbian, or transgender. My only question is, can they get me from Phoenix to Boston in one piece?

Comment from Bluto on this post at Last Refuge blog. Just something to think about

I’ll just drop this here, as it’s been on my mind for awhile now.

I keep asking people: “Can somebody tell me about all the big Rallies for Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson, Kasich, Christie??? Are they too having several a week? Does anybody have the listings of previous rallies and upcoming rallies? The location, the venue, the attendances?”

Crickets.

Trump is the only one working. It’s glaring. He’s not just working, he’s been chugging along lapping the field day-in and day-out for months now. Nobody is attracting the people like Trump. Nobody. But wait, that’s going to annoy the naysayers that attack his supporters as idiots & low information boobs. So let’s take the crowds out of it.

Let’s pretend that Trump isn’t getting the huge crowds. Ignore the movement. Ignore the people.

Is there anybody out there working as HARD as he is?
Is there anybody as driven & disciplined at getting his message out?
Is there anybody doing as many interviews, appearances and events, non-stop for months & months as he is?
Who is working for it the most? Who?

Now this leads one to think, Hmmm…..why aren’t the other candidates working? Seriously, there’s nobody else even trying to campaign other than Trump. The rest of he field is 100% weaksauce posturing & hoping Trump will flame out and/or depending on the media’s Propaganda. What are they actually doing? Anything? It’s glaringly obvious. Why aren’t they campaigning? Where’s the rallies? Where’s the energy? It’s not there. There is no there, there. They’re not EVEN TRYING. How telling is that? Why are they not even trying? What does this reveal about the field?

If Jeb, Rubio, Cruz or ANYBODY other than Trump was regularly having massive rallies that attracted thousands of people, do you think the media would be quiet about it?

How about just ONE rally? Wouldn’t they be shouting like banshees from every rooftop in the nation? Touting the surging candidate? “Jeb Rally is sold out!! 10,000 in attendance! He’s a serious contender! Jeb is surging!!!!!”

What do we have? Nothing. Zilch. Nada.A big Zero.

Trump is the only one actually working. There is no debate about this.

If one steps back from the nattering propaganda and looks at the reality of the situation, it’s quite clear. Nobody is even coming close to his energy, dedication, wit, work ethic, or expertise. Some may even claim his handling of the media is genius. But, Ya know what I respect more than his genius? His unrelenting and disciplined work ethic. It’s like nobody I’ve ever seen.

Methinks dude has a point there. All the more reason it’s going to take an epic melt-down to stop me from pulling the lever for The Donald when the time comes. Of course, knowing him that could come tomorrow!

I’m no big football fan, but what was it with the officiating at the Patriots-Bills game on Monday night?

I have to believe New Yorkers are pretty embarrassed that this clown was ever voted in as mayor.

We’re just days away from the start of the holiday season. Where did this year go? In the meanwhile, here are a few thoughts to kick off a very short work week (at least for me):

This is one time I absolutely believe everything Barack Obama is saying. And it’s not anything any rational person wouldn’t have deduced for themselves based on everything he’s said and done since becoming president.

Like for most folks, I’m guessing, Donald Trump’s campaign continues to fascinate and intrigue. There’s a saying with its origin in the Second World War that you know you’re closest to the target when you’re catching the most flak, and the fact Trump continues to get it in spades (hey, can I say that?) from the mainstream media and the GOP Beltway establishment (both working in tandem, no doubt) tells me everything I need to know. You’ve got the media going out of its way to misquote Trump whenever it can. You have a small handful of protesters attempt to disrupt his thousands (in some case tens of thousands) of attendee rallies, and all they want to talk about are the protesters. And now the Left has its collective panties in a knot over his recent comments on waterboarding.

Look, I may be proven wrong here but I just continue to think Trump has tapped into something that the mainstream media and the GOP establishment refuse to ignore out of their own elitist, obtuseness. If you get away from the relatively small but powerful liberal enclaves on the coasts there is a country that is worn out and beaten down from seven years of Barack Obama and the liberal establishment telling it how wrong, misguided, and evil it is. You have a country immersed in a cesspool of political correctness and division across cultural, political, racial and socioeconomic lines. You see the inmates in charge of the asylum at our nation’s colleges in the uproar over the most juvenile crap you could ever imagine. You have the insipid Black Lives Matter cockroaches and their pathetic attempts to have their equally-pathetic message heard. And, finally, you have conservatives who are tired of the milquetoast McCains, Romneys and Jeb Bushes afraid of saying or doing anything that would offend anyone as the see themselves increasingly as strangers in their own country.

So now comes along Donald Trump, and he’s not afraid to call it as he sees it. He doesn’t speak politically and in phrases and terms couched in political correctness. He exudes a genuine love of a capitalist America that seeks to protect and elevate its own first then worry about the rest later. He looks at radical Islam for what it is. He talks in language and in a way that “Joe 6-pack” understands, and the political elites wonder why he’s caught a spark?

You gotta look for signs, and the signs are everywhere. Look at this Washington Post story, then look at the comments beneath it. For the Post one would expect all kinds of liberal outrage, but I’m guessing the comments are 70-30 for Trump. You look at the national polls for certain trends, and Trump’s support only seems to have hardened and even strengthened after the Paris attacks. You look at Barbara Walters’ Trump family special on Friday, and you see a family of well adjusted, well mannered, articulate, (and yes, beautiful) people who are not transgendered or reality show freaks, and compare that against the Hillary Clintons of the world who can’t seem to call the ISIS killers radical Islamists.

The question is what happens when people start pulling levers in voting booths in just over two months’ time. As I’ve written before, the Iowa caucuses are only 67 days away, and I’m not discounting, even given Iowa’s unique history aside) Trump surprises everyone. Maybe then his candidacy will start getting respect from the national media. We know within the GOP establishment it’s already generating fear, and well it should.

A few weekend thoughts while wondering if it isn’t too early for four – count ’em, four – houses in our subdivision to already have their Christmas lights up. I mean, can’t we all be allowed to digest our turkey first?

Not for nothing, but I believe he deserves his title.

The next time you hear Hillary Clinton say she doesn’t believe in the term “radical Islam” but rather “radical jihadi” just go look up the definition to “jihadi”:

An Islamic fundamentalist who participates in or supports jihad, especially armed and violent confrontation.

Hillary Clinton is a vile, disgraceful witch who will say anything to get elected President. And she and her fellow stable mate Democrats are going to get us all killed.

And while I’m no fan of Bill Maher, he’s absolutely right when he says that Muslim values are not our values.

I see those Jeb Bush commercials every night on TV and can’t help but wondering how all those GOP establishment donors feel about getting their money’s worth.

And finally, if you want to read the fascinating account of the family who has lived next to Area 51 for more than half a century this is worth your time. Really interesting!

I’m in the middle of creating my latest music collection – the music of Pink Floyd, and am smiling as I hear their music and all the happy memories they bring back. My brother Mark and I discovered the Floyd in a PBS special broadcast back in 1971 or 72, and we quickly became huge fans. (This was well before Dark Side Of The Moon and the astronomical success the band achieved as a result, BTW.) One of our favorite tunes from the pre “Dark Side” years was from their album Meddle, the opening track called “One Of These Days”. As William Ruhlman of allmusic.com writes:

“One of These Days” is an instrumental composition. It begins with the sound of wind and two alternating bass guitars playing single-note parts through an echo chamber and expands to include a recurring organ figure, drums, and finally aggressive lead guitar playing. Three and a half minutes into the six-minute track, drummer Nick Mason is heard declaring, “One of these days, I’m going to chop you into little pieces” in a distorted voice as the music builds ominously, only to recede back to the sound of wind.

What Mr. Ruhlman fails to mention is that between that ominous build and before the recede into wind the song breaks loose into a wild joy-filled romp of searing, spacy slide guitar and soaring organ in front of crashing cymbals (recorded forwards and backwards) whooshing from one left to right across the stereo spectrum and back again. A must listen with quality headphones!

Whether you like it or not (and I hope you do) I’ve got three versions of this tune for y’all to hear. First, let’s start with the original track off of Meddle. Still pretty awesome after all these years, I’d have to say.

Our next version comes from a live performance from 1971. It’s almost indescribable in its psychedelic and ominous near-lunacy. I heard it for the first time today and was just shaking my head throughout. Nowadays you make a lot of those sounds with synthesizers and computers (hell, there’s probably an app you can download to your Internet-smart keyboard!), but this is just four guys on guitar, bass, keyboards and drums playing with the equipment and technology they had at the time. Amazing.

And finally, there’s a live performance of the song from the band’s “Division Bell” tour of 1994. The concert we attended in Washington, D.C. at RFK Stadium remains the absolute best concert I ever attended. Put the video at full-screen setting to truly appreciate the experience, although it still won’t do justice to the mind-blowing experience it was in both sight and sound. But at least you can see those threatening warthogs with the laser-like eyes.

Is there anyone out there who thinks this woman should be driving? And folks wonder why I moved to Arizona.

“Our Vegan Diet Almost Killed Us – No, Really” Actually, that quote has really little to do with the implications of their actual diet, but it does display the of anyone who is fanatic about anything. Me? I may not live to ninety-five, but I’m not giving up bacon or coffee or red wine or meat. Like a rancher was once famously quoted as saying, “If God didn’t end human beings to eat meat why did he create steak?”

That Patriots – Giants game on Sunday was really something. I was at the gym for the fourth quarter, and it was pretty funny to watch the guys normally working out stop what they were doing to see the final minutes unfold.

Pink Floyd’s final original release, The Endless River, is very good. Not great, but still well worth getting if you’re a Floyd fan. Listening to it for the first time made me sad to realize it was the last time I’d be listening to new material from a band whose music has been a part of my life since my brother Mark and I discovered them on a PBS special back in 1971. The release also highlights the playing of late keyboardist Rick Wright, making one appreciate what his sound brought to the band. Both melodic and dreamy, Wright’s playing always played a critical counterpart to Roger Waters lyrical and thematic intensity that ultimately led to Wright’s departure during the making of The Wall. album. A great send-off for a great band.

I dunno. Maybe figure-wise she’s still OK but my guess is out of the shower and without gobs of makeup she looks positively hideous.

Yes, Democrats this is your de facto candidate for the presidential nomination showing her supposedly superior political chops during a softball-tossing, Democratic-friendly debate. God help her when she gets to a debate with a real political adversary.

Once again The Donald has the guts to say what few, if anyone else do.