Rants, musings, and other general purpose blog entries reflecting the thoughts du jour.
For the first time in over 30 years, I found myself in a college classroom this morning to take the NC Secretary of State’s required course to become an official North Cackalacky Notary Public. The course and the examination one has to sit afterward has a reputation for being one of if not the most stringent and toughest in the nation requiring 80% as a passing score prior to being able to make application. As…
For the last few days, a Chinese balloon the size of three buses with a instrument package with solar panels dangling below it has been drifting over the continental United States and has made it's way from Montana to Missouri and is now hovering over western North Carolina. There seems to be a lot of anxiety surrounding this balloon that Beijing initially denied existed at all and then finally has admitted was their balloon but…
I know it's going to seem somewhat shocking that as much time as I've spent behind the camera lens through the years, I have rarely had any desire to be in front of one. In fact, were it not for the trove of pictures and slides I unearthed from my father's garage, there really wouldn't be all that many pictures of me in my younger days compared to how many I've taken of the kids…
(This is a variation on a comment I'd made on a YouTube video by "The Hockey Guy" where he referenced the Ivan Provorov controversy. Mr Speaker, I'd like unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks... :) ) "Hockey is for Everyone is the umbrella initiative under which the League encourages clubs to celebrate the diversity that exists in their respective markets, and to work to achieve more welcoming and inclusive environments for all fans.…
The following letter to my father was written several months ago whilst I was visiting with him at Arlington National Cemetery on a gorgeous August morning. There's something about that spot about half way down Section 76 that is peaceful and inspiring as I was reflecting on the past few days spent on walkabout in Washington DC and about to head toward the Outer Banks to collect the kids, Mistletoe, and likely a fair heap…
Are you flipping kidding me? I'm still trying to wrap my head round more classified documents being found where they ought not to be and in the possession of people who clearly should have known better! Apparently these documents were found in an office used by President Biden prior to his election when he was a member of a Washington think tank (now that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one and having grown up…
That motto emblazoned proudly across the Brazilian national flag means "order and progress" but the scenes from Brasilia were anything but as supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro laid siege to the Congress building, the Presidential Palace, and the Supreme Court and wreaked havoc destroying everything they could get their hands on. Among other conspiracy theories, these vandals claimed that widespread election fraud was why Bolsonaro lost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in…
Just as I'm about to extricate myself from the recliner and do the washing up of the popcorn bowl (well, if the Republicans are going to accuse people of eating the popcorn as they watch the show... ;) ) before heading upstairs for an exceptionally early bedtime for me, I can hear a commotion coming from the TV that's still tuned to C-SPAN. The motion to adjourn has been proceeding quickly to an expected 218-216…
I wish I could tell you the 13th vote for Speaker was meaningful but....no. Not surprisingly, the motion to adjourn until 2200 was met with very little resistance and the members are off to the meetings to try to find the way forward to finally elect Representative Kevin McCarthy to the Speaker's chair or give him a nice length of rope that he can give himself the Phil Connors way out of his purgatory. It…
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends... We're so glad you could attend, come inside come inside! Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, Emerson Lake & Palmer If this keeps up, the next featured image will be from Groundhog Day...I promise! :) Welcome to the show that currently is never ending which is now into Day Four of crushing Representative Kevin McCarthy's soul if not will to continue oxygenating his blood. The…
Day Three of the ongoing evisceration of Representative Kevin McCarthy's candidacy to become Speaker of the House of Representative (and for my money the evisceration of his will to live!) is gavelled into session by the reigning Clerk of the House of Representatives, Cheryl Johnson. The Clerk is not a member of the House as a representative but oversees all the administrative tasks that allow the House to do it's day to day business. Reading…
Welcome to Day Two of Operation Chaos, otherwise known as the ongoing humiliation of Rep Kevin McCarthy who is trying desperately to become Speaker of the House of the Representatives in spite of concerted opposition to his nomination by 20 hardline Republican members-elect. Do keep in mind that until a Speaker is elected, the House is effectively barred from conducting any other meaningful business such as actually swearing in newly elected members and organising the…
For the first time in 100 years, the heir presumptive to the throne at the top of the dais on the floor of the House of Representatives gets to suffer the abject humiliation of not being elected Speaker of the House on the first vote. Nor was he selected on the second or third ballot where he actually lost another vote to Jim Jordan, Ohio's tribute to just how much they miss having the always…
It seems like it was just yesterday that I was penning the annual "Urbi et Orbi" post welcoming 2022 amongst us and here we are giving 2022 a solid kick in the kiester in favour of a hopefully happy 2023. Certainly this year had more than it's fair share of upheaval, mayhem, and just downright awfulness. We haven't forgotten the ongoing war in Ukraine where the Ukrainians have bravely resisted the Russian invasion and indeed…
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy. Mohandas K Gandhi Today has certainly been quite the tempest round here with 45 knot winds round daybreak and a steady 30 knots through the day before dying down toward the evening to make the chilly temperatures even more unpleasant. These were the…
This weekend brought another round of sorrow to the Raleigh area, this time during the 2022 Raleigh Christmas Parade. One of the trucks pulling a float apparently suffered brake failure whilst descending a slight incline and struck a young girl who was dancing with her studio in the street in front of the truck. She was taken to hospital but unfortunately did not survive her injuries. I can't even imagine how gutted her family and…
After many years of delays and technical setbacks and even being chased back into the Vehicle Assembly Building by a hurricane, NASA has finally launched the Artemis I mission using the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown to hurl an Orion capsule to a distant retrograde orbit round the moon on a 25 day mission to test and prove the system's ability to return humans to the surface of the moon for the first…
I'll confess that I made no secret of my opinion that Mr Trump was fundamentally and temperamentally unqualified to be President of the United States prior to him standing as a candidate for that office in 2016. Whilst I'd no doubts that his years in business and taking full advantage of the loopholes offered by the tax code would be strengths he could bring to the job, I felt at the time that he lacked…
Another election done, another reprieve from the near constant carpet bombing of the phone, mailbox, and TV with political attack ads that are misleading at best and often outright lies. The political lobbyists seemed to really be out in force in this year's mid-term elections so I figured I'd survey the massive pile of political BS in slick professionally produced mailers that would drive one stark staring mad if you took their "message" at face…
On Election Day, one of the joys of running the gauntlet of political operatives hawking their candidates before reaching the safety of the "no electioneering/lobbying beyond this point" sign is pointing out to them that they might want my vote to stay as far away from their candidate as possible because it's usually the kiss of death. This year actually turned out to be better statistically than is usual for me! The ballot that I…
I’ll confess that today’s entry is probably one of the harder ones I’ve had to write of late. The easy part is being thankful for the sacrifices and service of our citizens who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, so help them God…even without the constant reminder sitting on top of the entertainment centre! And make no mistake, I am very thankful for the privilege…
After all of the negative campaign advertisements bombarding the TV and carpet-bombing my phone and mailbox, it’s finally our turn to head off to the voting booth and put an end to this campaign, one way or another. Frankly, it can’t come quickly enough for me. I’m so over all of the negativity where the extremists on both ends of the political spectrum can’t be bothered to accept that people who do not agree completely…
Rishi Sunak has climbed to the top of the greasy pole of politics and has been crowned the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party in London after a rather tumultuous week which saw the various divisions amongst the Tories laid bare for all to see. He managed to see off his final challenger Penny Mordaunt prior to the 1400 BST deadline for candidates to have 100 nominations for appearing on the ballot without a…
"I'm a fighter, not a quitter!"Liz Truss quoting Peter Mandelson during PMQs in the House of Commons, 19 Oct 2022 The question from the Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer that prompted that defiant response which included her slamming her briefing book onto the despatch box for effect was asking her if she would last in Number 10 until Christmas. I can't imagine he'd have ever reckoned that she barely lasted 24 hours after…
All Life. Every Life. We are all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars. Molecules that do not understand politics or policies or differences. Over a billion years, we foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. In desperate acts of ego, we give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps, and pretend that our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of…
