I’m just so glad the 2020 Democratic candidates are so down to earth. God help us.

Not sure I’d ever want to hotel at NYC’s JFK Airport, but if I did here is where I’d want to stay. Very, very cool.

As long as it’s not used to transport illegals to the southern border I’m more than OK with this. Although I have to admit, the older I get the more my tastes are switching from tequila to rum.

True. Once the party of the middle-class, blue-collar union worker, the liberal left and the Democratic Party are now the party of the east coast Beltway and west coast Hollywood elites:

What this shows is the extent to which Democrats have become the party of wealthy elites, including Hollywood celebrities, whereas Republicans represent the Middle American values of people in places like Covington. It’s easy for someone like Alyssa Milano to hurls insults at Catholic boys from Kentucky, because she’s never been to Covington and none of her friends in Hollywood wear MAGA hats. She hates everyone who voted for Trump, all 62.9 million of them, and this blind hatred of Republicans defines the current liberal worldview. Anyone who’s looked at the map of the 2016 election results can see how Democrats are isolated, living in like-minded enclaves. Of the 65.8 million votes Clinton won in 2016, more than a third of them, about 22.5 million, came from just six states (California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Virginia). The post-election boast that Clinton won the popular vote rests entirely on the lopsided majorities she got in California (a margin of about 4.3 million) and New York (by a margin of 1.7 million). It’s tautological to say that, in the places where most liberals live, most people are liberal, but the geographical concentration of Democrat voters is such that few of them actually know anything about the people who vote Republican. To liberals, therefore, those red hats with the “Make America Great Again” slogan symbolize a distant and alien tribe, and everything the liberal sees on his favorite cable-news outlets, CNN and MSNBC, tells him to hate the MAGA tribe.

If the 2020 election truly comes down to the elites and everyone else, the Democrats will get swamped.

Social-justice activists destroying a knitting blog? Yes really:

Karen Templer surrendered to her accusers and, although some of her critics remain adamant that she has not done enough for diversity, she seems to have been accepted back in the clique of “BIPOC knitter friendly” knitting activists. ”I think perhaps the original intent of this discussion has been hijacked in an effort to attack and accuse people who disagree with the methods of implementing change,” Tusken told me in an email. “This debate has caused a lot of division, but the divide isn’t between racists and non-racists. It is between those who agree and those who disagree with the bullying, harassment, and virtue-signalling tactics currently being used to solve the problem.” She says she has received support from many well-known names in the knitting industry. Of her accusers, Tusken said: “I have known for a long time that the knitting community wasn’t as supportive and loving as everyone claimed. In reality there are strong cliques and it can be difficult to fit in. There have been many times I’ve had to keep my mouth shut due to fear of something like this happening. I have been called a ‘hateful racist POS [piece of shit].’ But this didn’t hurt nearly as bad as being called a horrible person and publicly denounced by ‘friends’ who I have met in person and built relationships with.” She was even accused of being a neo-Nazi because she enjoys drinking Guinness. But as incongruous as cruelty and knitting might seem, this is no laughing matter. People’s livelihoods are being credibly threatened by this kind of behaviour. “You can be bullied and destroyed,” Tusken told me.

Read the whole thing if you want to be astonished at the “language patrol” that seems to permeate every aspect of social media life. (Hat tip: Instapundit)

When everything becomes political:

I once posted something about how men and women were different and had barely time to blink before someone labeled the post transphobic (no, seriously, explain this one to me: if there is no difference, how come there are trans people? How can you be a male trapped in a female body or vice-versa if, in fact, the sexes are exactly the same except for minor external stuff? What is the whole point, even?).

You know, there was a time when I enjoyed the give-and-take of talking politics with my friends, but then it started to get personal, to the point where I felt like I was having to defend myself personally. After that, it was, like, “OK, no more.” So now it’s over and out. There actually was a time when in social company one never discussed politics or religion. Given what things are like today, I think that was wise. Now, of course, the toothpaste is out of the tube and it’s never going back again. ‘Tis the pity.

Liberalism is a mental disorder, example# 1,210,317. I can almost hear Rodney Dangerfield offering up that classic line from Caddyshack: “…looks good on you, though!” What a moron.

Liberalism is a mental disorder, example# 1,210,318. What a sicko. Where do these people come from??

Liberalism is a mental disorder, example #1,210,319. I mean, has this loon been watching his own “news” outlet the past two years?? But I guess that’s what now counts for intelligent, objective opinion at CNN these days. Lemme tell you something: anyone who spends any length of time watching CNN ought to get their mental health checked. Believe me, you really don’t want to become example# 1,210,320.

Yes, I’m back to posting again – it’s just that, my trip back to Massachusetts and all, I’m still trying to get my act together.

Here’s a reassuring pic to start off the week:

But my trip back to Massachusetts was great. Dad is doing great, I still love-love-love the retirement community he’s living in (even if he says the food could be better), and I had a chance to meet with friends.

Had dinner with a couple of my Goodboys pals at La Hacienda del Rio in Nashua, New Hampshire. While it’s true you can get better Mexican food at a lot of places, their “Almost Ultimate” Margarita is damned tough to beat:

And, I was fortunate to miss any bad weather that could have complicated my travel plans. But there was no question it was February, as the below pic taken outside my dad’s digs shows:

Brrr. Even though the “Arizona winter” here in the Valley of the Sun has been nothing to right home about, with lots of clouds, cool weather and more rain than normal – still, I like the look of this picture better:

While I was gone the big news about New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft getting caught up in a prostitution sting was everywhere. On the flight back to Phoenix I’m sitting next to an elderly couple, and we got to talking. At some point the whole Robert Kraft thing came up. Hilarity ensued:

He: I think it’s a disgrace what Kraft has brought down on the Patriots organization. Sure he’s rich and he’s single, but the Patriots should be celebrating a Super Bowl, not having to deal with this.

Me: Just goes to show, not matter how old you are it’s all about the chicks. It’s ALL about the chicks.

His wife: Do you really believe that? Even at your age?

Me (deflecting the obvious slight): I’m married, I’m not dead.

No further words were spoken.

See, when people ask me why I’m so tough on the liberal left, this kind of bullshit is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. There is such a double standard in the country. A bunch of kids are hounded by a liberal loon, and the hammer comes down on them as if they were Ku Klux Klan members. But Democrat politicians in Virginia can wear blackface and KKK outfits and sexually abuse women, and all you hear from the mainstream media are crickets.

And it’s not as if this kind of thing hasn’t happened before. In some very small corner of my heart I feel sorry for these clowns – the self-hatred they must feel for themselves has to be off the charts (not to mention enabled by an insufferable Hollywood celebrity culture and their enablers in the mainstream media who have made it their mission to destroy President Trump by any means necessary). As Karen Townsend at Hot Air writes:

Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and it is prevalent among the Hollywood crowd. It seems to me that a better way to criticize President Trump would be to take him on over policy rather than to go after his supporters. Perhaps the actor should put down the scripts written for him and pick up a policy paper or two. In real life, a bogus story by a high profile actor will be a story that lingers.

And as Andy Ngo points out in this Twitter thread, liberals have been pulling this kind of shit on President Trump and his supporters for a long, long time.

But back to the Jussie Smollett case. Anyone with a shred of journalistic curiosity ought to have at least questioned his story after looking at his description of the event before going in whole-hog. Heck, even the Chicago PD characterized his attack as “alleged” right from the start. That in and of itself ought to have given today’s “journalists” cause for a pause from the political and media hysteria that they, in fact, ignited. Of course, all the Democratic 2020 candidates couldn’t wait to throw their chips in – instead of doing the adult thing and publicly encouraging the investigation to play itself out, they all had to hop on the race/Trump/Trump supporters bandwagon. Now they (once again) look like the fools they are. And Smollett will ultimately be revealed for the sick loser he is. Here’s hoping some wise judge will make an example of him and have him spend some time behind bars to show this kind of thing cannot be tolerated in this country.

Instead, you can bet there’s going to be a book and media tour filled with tears and self-flagellation at how much of a tortured soul he is and has always been, with Trump being the reason he went over the edge. You watch.

Look, just because you hate Donald Trump – in and of itself a clue that something isn’t right in your head – that’s no excuse to do this kind of thing. I mean, you really have to be mentally imbalanced to allow politics to consume every part of your being to the extent you’re moved to bring this kind of attention to yourself. After all – and I ask this question in complete sincerity – what has Trump actually done to deserve such behavior? Defeat Hillary Clinton? Please. She did that all by herself.

NolteNC has the last word, because it’s so true and ought to be a lesson to us all:

There’s so little hate in America, a famous, openly gay black man had to fund his own hate crime using two other black guys.

Man, I love the country.

Indeed.

…kicking a week off where I’ll be traveling back to Massachusetts for the equivalent “chew and screw” starting with a Tuesday night red-eye and a three-night stay. I’ll be back in the (hopefully) sunny confines of the Valley of the Sun (although it hasn’t been much of an “Arizona winter” this year!) Saturday night and then back to working on taxes next Sunday.

I read this and couldn’t believe my eyes. Chris Berman??? That blow-hard helping to call Red Sox games this year? Are you kidding me? Why, the ghosts of (Ned) Martin and (Jim) Woods must be rolling in their graves.

Along those same lines, if there’s a San Diego Padres game on the MLB Network being called by the San Diego announcers, I’ll watch just to hear former Sox announcer Don Orsillo call a game. Even with a new team and a different partner he’s still a joy to listen to. He’s just perfect for the laid-back pace of a ballgame.

I GUARANTEE you won’t read anything as concise and accurate in the mainstream media as this series of tweets by the usually spot-on Larry Schweikart. The Democrats don’t know it yet, but they got played by the White House over the recent deal and national emergency declaration signed by the President.

…how do I know that? When you’ve got like likes of “conservative” screed Ann Coulter and the Washington Post on the same side of Trump’s decision. Whoever put this plan together at the White House is likely a genius, but let’s just see how this all plays out, shall we?

BTW, I used to like Coulter a lot but nowadays she’s the political analyst equivalent of Madonna (or Chris Berman, for that matter) – the only thing she’s interested in is being heard and published. She’s always looking for ways she can get herself quoted by the usual Beltway media outlets, and that means being “controversial”, even it means being a patsy for the national mainstream media. Most conservatives I interact with stopped paying attention to her a long time ago; she’s become a parody of herself.

Speaking of the wall, I really don’t think – no matter what Trump does and how this national declaration plays out – their stand on this issue paints the Democrats in a positive light. Think about it: in just a few short weeks they’ve moved all the way from “San Fran Nan” Pelosi not willing to go higher than a single dollar for new wall construction to tearing down the wall either partially or completely. Are these people nuts? What voters (beyond, of course, their own rabid, frothing anti-America base) do they actually believe would support such an irrational political stand?

Grab the popcorn, this is gonna get interesting.

Just another reminder why the whole “Russia collusion” thing was a useful distraction to just how bad things are at the FBI. The whole organization needs to be disbanded and salted over as a stain on the American intelligence community. Efram Zimbalist, Jr. must be turning over in his grave.

Sorry, Chris Sale, after last year’s tightrope ride me and my heart are willing to give another Red Sox reliever a shot at being closer. Just as long as it’s not Heath Hembree. Hey, if at the end of spring training nothing is working and Craig Kimbrel hasn’t signed with anyone, bring him back on a one-year deal. Winner winner chicken dinner!

If this is what counted for news during the NBA’s All-Star weekend I guess I’m just too old to understand. Or care.

…ditto, I guess, when it comes to “orbiting”. Why, back in my day “orbiting” meant riding my bike an hour to and from the street where the girl I was infatuated with at that time lived. How times have changed, and not for the better.

R.I.P. Patrick Caddell, veteran pollster of the political wars. Always liked him, seemed a man of unusual sanity in an insane business.

Ditto Bruno Ganz, the actor who starred in “Downfall”. He may be gone but the hundreds of YouTube video Hitler rants will remain for posterity. Here’s one of my favorites. May he rest in peace.

If you don’t think there’s any connection with: (1) Andrew McCabe singing like a canary to 60 Minutes, (2) the soon-to-be-released Mueller Investigation report now suspected to reveal (3) zero collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and (4) William Barr’s appointment as new Attorney General you haven’t been paying attention. The irrefutable evidence is that folks within the Obama administration and high-level members inside the Clinton campaign worked with the FBI, the Department of Justice, and foreign intelligence to coordinate a hit on the Trump campaign (the now-famous Fusion GPS “dossier”) to derail his campaign and ensure Hillary Clinton’s election.

When Clinton lost (something none of these folks even dreamed possible) they then had to scramble and concoct a phony “Russia collusion” angle in order to cover their (at a minimum) unethical and (most likely) illegal tracks. It’s really as simple as that.

…people in the FBI (aided and abetted by elements in the CIA and the Obama administration) decided that they didn’t like the person who had been elected President of the United States. Their anger and frustration boiled over when the President had the temerity to fire their man, James Comey. So they plotted to get rid of him.

The FBI didn’t like the President. so they plotted to remove him from office. That is the irreducible minimum, class, that you should take away from this whole sordid lesson. Top figures in the Federal Bureau of Investigation did not approve of the President. Therefore, they took steps to destroy him. Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, several times offered to wear a wire to entrap the President.

When Trump fired FBI director James Comey, these same folks took advantage of Attorney General Jeff Session’s incompetency and ill-advised decision to recuse himself from any Russia investigation to appoint Robert Mueller as a Special Counsel. These folks all knew there was, and never would be, any finding of Russia “collusion”, but the hope was that by dragging a bunch of low-level staffers (i.e. Carter Page, George Papadopoulos), or folks associated with the Trump campaign folks having shady business pasts (Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen) into an investigation they might either (a) get lucky uncovering sordid relationships with the Russians resulting from Trump’s pre-election business dealings, and (b) drag the investigation along long enough to influence the 2018 midterms (perhaps even the 2020 general election), all the while (c) covering their tracks on their attempt to destroy the Trump campaign.

Unfortunately for them, the conspiracy couldn’t be 100% papered over; damaging internal communications got released and the folks involved couldn’t keep their stories straight. This kind of thing couldn’t have happened two decades ago when the mainstream media had lock control over what the public read or saw, but in this age of technology, social media, and citizen journalism nothing is truly secret (or sacred) anymore. So certain folks (i.e., McCabe) got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar and had to lie in order to cover their tracks.

Now it’s all falling apart, and I guarantee the prospect to even lower-level folks involved in the conspiracy of being indicted and perhaps convicted is going to cause certain other little birdies to start singing. And that’s why Andrew McCabe’s interview with 60 Minutes is so important. It has taken awhile, but the whole house of cards is starting to waver, and when it falls, while folks like Hillary Clinton will never see indictment or jail, the reputations of the FBI, DOJ, and the mainstream media (who happily and foolishly out of their own hatred for Trump went along for the ride) will have been irrecovably tarnished, if not destroyed.

I hope to these “Deep State” clowns it was all worth it.

This weekend will be spent inside working on taxes preparation. But that doesn’t mean I will remain silent.

Because I won’t.

As a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsay Buckingham, here’s hoping for a speedy and successful recovery. His music has meant so much to me over the years, so he’s obviously in my thoughts and prayers.

Gee, it’s hard to see all your musical heroes grow old.

I don’t think PGA Tour fave Matt Kuchar’s reputation is going to take much of a hit because of this, but on the surface it just seems all so unnecessary. I mean, you win a golf tournament, you know what the customary cut is for caddies, and you not only go cheap on him but you basically tell him, “a deal’s a deal”, no matter that you just bagged a 1.3 mil payout? I don’t think it was necessarily insensitive, but it sure seems to shine a light into the guy’s soul. It sure doesn’t paint “Kooooooooch!” in a very good light.

I’ve always thought the Rolling Stones make this list. But in my view the #1 most overrated musical artist of all time has to be Madonna. She was a fraud from day one, disguising her lack of singing ability with layers of synth, and employing her “edgy girl” persona into a brand simply by seeing how many people she could offend, since being offensive was a sure way to stay in the news. She was never even that attractive, let alone hot.

Today’s Democratic Party is a clown show. It truly is the inmates running the asylum. These people would be considered just a bunch of no-talent clowns if they hadn’t won back the House and weren’t backed by a mainstream media that will never touch them, no matter how outrageous their behavior is.

…but what can one expect from a party whose motto could be, “We’ll keep your baby comfortable while you and your doctor decide whether or not to just let it die.”

Yep, the Democrats have had themselves quite a couple of months. And this doesn’t even mention the fiasco happening in Virginia. Fact is, the Dems are a clusterf**k from top to bottom.

If socialist babe Alexandria Cortez-Ocasio is really going to do a 15-city “Green New Deal Tour” she better not be traveling by the same mode of transportation her plan ultimately wants to get rid of. If she does (which, of course, she will) she’s a hypocrite of the highest order.

…but I’m guessing folks are kind of starting to figure that out already.

…speaking of AOC, the 25,000 folks who would have gotten well-paying jobs and help fill all those local and state coffers with tax revenue thank you (not!) for being the job-killing socialist bi**h she’s turning out to be:

The main quality of the progressive agenda being pushed by Ocasio-Cortez is knee-jerk nihilism — the unthinking destruction of the status quo for destruction’s own sake. Even the win over Amazon is more evidence of progressivism’s nihilism than its sustainability. Ocasio-Cortez may be dancing on the grave of 25,000 jobs in Queens, but even her fellow Democrats in New York understand what actually happened. She didn’t save New Yorkers tax money — she likely cost them millions in tax revenue.

I’m actually starting to think there will be plans afoot for the Democrats to cleanse their party of AOC and her rabid, frothing anti-Semite pals Ilham Omar and Rashida Tlaib next election go-round.

…if you think “San Fran Nan” Pelosi is going to allow them to become the new face of the Democratic Party you don’t know Speaker Pelosi. Even she has to know these loons are going to make President Trump’s bid for re-election that much easier.

…because once you’ve lost a leftist like Cher, you know you’ve gone too far.

A final word on Ocasio-Cortez: now here’s a movement I could get behind.

Did I say she’s cute?

…do I know how to call ’em or what? Look at what I wrote last Saturday about Joe Biden – oh, y’all don’t remember? My boldings:

…As I mentioned in [a prior] post, the mainstream media has already decided on Kamala “Mattress” Harris as their fave, and they’re going to try and destroy anyone they think is going to get close to her. If they treat any of her challengers with kid gloves (like Elizabeth “Fauxcahantus” Warren, whose candidacy is imploding before our very eyes) it’s because they know they don’t have a chance. Just wait, Joe Biden – you don’t know what’s about to hit you.

…and looky here at what’s out there now. I swear, sometimes I think I’m a Nostradamus or a Jeremiah.

As I also mentioned in the Saturday post, “San Fran Nan” not only has her hands full with the radical left’s absurdly stupid embrace of socialism (thinking its popularity amongst their chardonnay-swilling east and west coast elitists is also shared by the rest of the country) – talk about a gift to President Trump and the GOP in 2020!, but she’s also got rabid, frothing anti-Semites to have to deal with as well.

I’ll tell you, this country is getting a cold, hard look at what today’s Democratic Party is, and it’s not pretty. Mark my words: a huge backlash is coming, from both outside and even within and outside Democratic circles. They’re going to realize these people are batshit-crazy.

…I’m just putting this little laundry list of Democratic Party issues they’re pushing ahead of 2020. Lemme see: climate change, abolish ICE, no southern border wall, unfettered immigration, unlimited third-trimester and post-birth abortion, anti-Semites in congress, and now – wait for it – support for African American reparations. Of course. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Let me ask you progressives out there; what is the friggin’ color of the atmosphere on the planet y’all live on???

…now, compare that with the solid economic platform the President will be running on. Hey, I’m aware a whole lot can change between now and 2020, but I look at the crowd of Democratic challengers being assembled and hear the ghosts of Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis whispering in my ear.

No wonder President Trump is looking more and more like the adult in the room!

Speaking of batshit-crazy, what’s going on with Virginia’s governor? “Indentured servants”? Are you kidding me? And then you have his lieutenant governor. Ditto. I mean, this is is just embarrassing. Can you imagine the outcry from the mainstream media and the Democrats if it were a Republican gov attempted this? Not only would he be laughed off the face of the planet, but the airwaves would be filled with demands for resignation candidate.

I’ll tell you this. I don’t wanna hear ONE. MORE. WORD. about any Republican candidate with so much a the slightest of a shady past. The Democrats have ceded the high ground on anyone and anything that runs for public office ever again. Their Virginia governor, lieutenant governor, and AG have all got questionable acts in their past, but no one wants to start the dominoes falling over because it would lead to a – gasp! – Republican – taking charge. This is nothing more than power and party politics. The Democrats are hoisting themselves on their own petard, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.

Wait a minute, I was under the impression from environmentalists that polar bears were disappearing from the face of the earth. Maybe they just decided they found a better place to congregate.

…actually, since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says we’ve only got twelve years left due to climate change, why bother worrying about anything anymore? What we need to do is figure out how to get the polars a bigger and better food supply, like lionfish, perhaps?

It’s been a chilly and gray January and February here in the Valley of the Sun, and I was looking for some music to play while working that would fill the background with the sounds of sunnier and warmer climes. Sure, I already had my incredible and legendary “Tropical Breezes” collection, but I wanted something a little looser and fancy free, and stumbled upon the idea of creating a subset of “Breezes” that would be something you’d hear if you were on a beach in sunny south Florida or the Caribbean and kickin’ back with a boat drink or a cooler of Red Stripes. Hence my new music collection, “Caribbean Beach Party”!

It was just like making a tropical drink – a few parts this, a few parts that, with a little of the unknown in between. I started with the basic essentials: all the Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, and steel drum music that was already part of “Tropical Breezes”. So far, so good (in fact, it was the mellow side of JB and steel drum music that formed the basis of the old Dish Network Tropical Breezes channel that gave me the idea of the music collection to begin with. So here is what I started with in terms of artists:

Jimmy Buffett
Kenny Chesney
Alfred St. John Trinidad & Tobago Steelband
Bob Lyons (steel drum artist)
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Doug Walker (steel drum artist)
Greg McDonald (steel drum artist)
Jamaican Steel Band
Jason Roseman (steel drum artist)
Kent Arnsberger (steel drum artist)
Larry Hall (steel drum artist)
Raggae Beat
Robert Symons (steel drum artist)
Steel Tropics
Steelasophical
Tropics Steel Drum Band

Which, BTW, would be sufficient in and of its own to warm the bones of the most rugged seafaring Gloucester fisherman running out a winter nor’easter on the Grand Banks. But I knew that after a time – given the fact these artists and their songs were already familiar – it would get a little stale. Enter the music of Danny Morgan and Eric Stone.

I was introduced to the music of both these musicians not from hearing them live, but, interestingly enough, through the Wayne Stinnett‘s Jesse McDermitt series of Caribbean action adventure books. It would be harsh (not to mention, insulting) to call them Jimmy Buffett wannabees; as artists they appear to be known pretty much to the South Florida crowd with their own vibe and muse that makes their sound more regional than national. This is no criticism in any way – in both cases they’re good at what they do, and they make music perfect for poolside, barside, and boat cruising anywhere you want to put it. It’s hard to characterize their music, but I call it “island time”, with Stone’s music having a bit more of a nautical flavor.

Here a couple of samples by Danny and Eric to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

So after adding The contents of Morgan’s Captiva Moon, Beach Life, and It’s Always Summer, and Stone’s Boatsongs #1, #2, and #3, I found a couple of other steel bands that warranted inclusion: the Pirates of the Caribbean Steel Band (great name, huh?) and the Island Caribbean Steel Drum Band. Sufficiently steel, but just a little different enough from the others to warrant their inclusion and enhance the collection.

I’m telling ya, folks, you can’t go wrong with this collection! Just six payments of $29.95… just kidding. I’m guessing all or most of this stuff is available on iTunes and Amazon Music, and I guarantee it won’t be a waste of your time. Sitting by the pool or blaring it on your boat, it will be purrrrrrfect for the summer months that – believe it or not – are just around the corner.

Now pass me one of those Red Stripes, will ya?

This weekend is going to be a working one, unfortunately, but I’m actually going to try and hit a small bucket of balls to see if the hand feels any different than it did a few weeks ago. In the meantime…

…just another reason to read my post from yesterday.

It’s one thing for some leftist Washington think-tank to produce a completely batshit crazy, out-of-their-friggin’-minds proposal for something as amorphous as climate change. But the fact that media darling and cute-as-a-button socialist like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez actually believes this kind of bullshit begs credulity. No wonder House Speaker “San Fran Nan” Pelosi has, without any shred of doubt or hesitation, put the kibosh on it. Tells you exactly what her opinion of the radical socialist loon faction in her party is.

You want to know the truth? In some ways I feel bad for Speaker Pelosi. She’s an old-timey, beyond corrupt pol of the highest order, but she’s no dummy – unlike the cast of freshman (can I say that?) congresswomen who are as dumb as a rock.

…that being said, Friday’s supposed “grilling” of Assistant AG Matt Whittaker by the Democrats shows them to be nothing but a bunch of angry, petty, and obnoxious morons. How these people even got elected is beyond me. They wouldn’t know how to fart and chew gum at the same time.

Count me as one wanting to put the brakes on the political lynching of Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. I know why the Democrats are doing it – this way they can claim the high road when politically lynching the next Republican who finds himself in the same situation – but to me this is no different than what the Dems tried to do to Justice Kavanaugh and equally as wrong. Mr. Fairfax deserves the right and dignity of due process as any man, and as far as I’m concerned he’s innocent until proven guilty. This whole tearing down of political figures simply on the word of someone, or as a result of someone’s nose getting out of joint out of political correctness, has to stop. Were I any of the Democratic leaders of Virginia involved in the current controversy I’d tell everyone to f**k off.

Didn’t I tell you this kind of thing and this kind of thing was going to happen? As I mentioned in this post, the mainstream media has already decided on Kamala “Mattress” Harris as their fave, and they’re going to try and destroy anyone they think is going to get close to her. If they treat any of her challengers with kid gloves (like Elizabeth “Fauxcahantus” Warren, whose candidacy is imploding before our very eyes) it’s because they know they don’t have a chance. Just wait, Joe Biden – you don’t know what’s about to hit you.

The only reason why Rick Santorum is even being quoted these days is because the mainstream media will pick up any comment any Republican might say that is critical of President Trump in any way. In Santorum’s case, I lost all respect for him after he repeatedly invoked his special-needs daughter in just about every question asked of him during his failed presidential run. Sebastian Gorka is right – the guy’s a phony.

Mark my words: if you don’t think this is going to be a major campaign issue come 2020, you’re dreaming. The Democrats are going to be painted as the supporters of infanticide that they are. And it’s about time: the technology is already there, and it shows third-trimester abortions are a disgusting, immoral, and disgraceful practice. But yep, it’s all about “women’s rights”, right?

…unless, of course, the baby is female.

It’s pretty obvious that in Meghan McCain’s case the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. She’s just like her old man – a vile, vindictive, and petty human being whose 15 minutes of fame were up a long time ago. Hey Meghan, if you can find a rock big enough to cover you, go crawl under it.

But enough of politics.

That was an incredibly spooky Dead Files episode the other night, involving the Santa Fe prison where the 1980 riot took place. It was one of their best. I’m thinking about asking Amy and Steve to do an episode on my missing golf game.

Here’s hoping this is true and Great White Shank fave Paula “The Pink Panther” Creamer can find her way back to playing good golf and the LPGA winner’s circle. A pretty girl with an equally-pretty golf swing.

I always knew Rocco Mediate to be Goodboys material.

This is not so funny. If this is the kind of thing you want to see in your city or town or neighborhood, go ahead and vote Democrats into your political structure. These homeless camps are a cancer spreading across this country. And the only reason why is because this kind of behavior is tolerated. I see the same beggars every week just off the 202 Red Mountain Freeway. By and large, they’re young enough to work and know better, and it doesn’t take a genius to see how one or two beggars all of a sudden become a tent community, and all of a sudden you have what’s going on in Seattle, San Francisco, and SoCal. They’re nothing but leeches, sucking off the community that tolerates their presence out of guilt. Believe me, there is nothing to feel guilty about: when I donate my money it goes to organizations that help the truly needy, not the bloodsuckers who are nothing but lazy bloodsuckers.

…don’t get me wrong here, and please don’t accuse me of being cold-hearted. There is no doubt there are folks out there in desperate straits and have mental-health issues. But even here in supposedly “red” Arizona there are associations, organizations, and publicly-funded outreach to help families and individuals truly in need. What I’m talking about is the industry that’s gone up around panhandling. Let me ask you a question (it’s rhetorical because I already know the answer): how many beggars out there do you see who are in their 20s and 30s, fully capable of holding down a job? The answer is the majority of them.

…I’ve seen it first-hand: there was a young couple working both sides of my local Fry’s parking lot. His sign said, “Out of work. Family To Support. God Bless You.” Her sign said, “Need Help. Three Children To Support.” Husband Left.” Tracey’s car needed gas one morning, so I headed to the Fry’s before I satarted work, and what do I see? Said couple being dropped off by someone driving a very nice car.

A big part of the cities’ woes is the professionalization of panhandling. The old type of panhandler—a mentally impaired or disabled homeless person trying to scrape together a few bucks for a meal—is giving way to the full-time spanger who supports himself through a combination of begging, working at odd jobs, and other sources, like government assistance from disability payments. Some full-time panhandlers are kids—“road warriors” who have largely dropped out of society and drift from town to town, often “couch surfing” at friends’ homes, or “street loiterers” who daily make their way downtown from the suburbs where they live. Some, like New Yorker Steve Baker, have turned begging into a full-time job. “If you’re inside a bank, you’re a doorman,” he says from his perch inside a bank lobby. “You’re not gonna rob from nobody or steal from nobody—you come in here and make a job for yourself.”

It’s a cheap way to make money, not just because they work off of people’s guilt, but because they can make a living doing it (italics mine):

People’s generosity encourages the begging. About four out of ten Denver residents gave to panhandlers, city officials determined several years ago, anteing up an estimated $4.6 million a year. Anecdotal surveys by journalists and police, and even testimony by panhandlers themselves, suggest that begging can yield anywhere from $20 to $100 a day—though police in Coos Bay, Oregon, found that local panhandlers were taking in as much as $300 a day in a Wal-Mart parking lot. “A panhandler could make thirty to forty thousand dollars a year, tax-free money,” Baker says. In Memphis, a local FOX News reporter, Jason Carter, donned old clothes and hit the streets earlier this year, earning about $10 an hour. “Just the quasi-appearance of being homeless filled my cup,” Carter observed. That all the money is beyond the tax man’s clutches adds to the allure of professional panhandling.

To be honest, I’m kind of a mixed mind about this. The libertarian side of me says it’s their choice if they want to sit out in 110-degree weather and wait for the generosity of others to make their time worthwhile. OTOH, I can’t help but wonder what this kind of thing does to society as a whole. We’ve come a long way from earlier generations like my folks who grew up during the Great Depression who saw living “on the dole” to be insulting and whose parents (my grandparents) took every odd job available to feed and take care of their families. Of course liberals will say something like, “We’re the richest country in the world! No one should have to go hungry! There’s plenty of money to go around!” But any society that encourages laziness and devalues hard work will soon find itself with too many people to support and not enough people to support them. As Margaret Thatcher once famously said, “”The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

So the next time some young person standing by the side of a road with a sign, and – increasingly – a dog, because, of course, people love dogs, y’know – do them, your country, and your culture a favor. Put the guilt aside and just say no.