Thoughts of a Common Man

Imagine landing the job as the press secretary for the biggest liar in the history of the world. I imagine you’d be excited. It’s a high profile gig, and Katie Zacharia took a couple of cross country trips to be able to open up the Tuesday press briefing. If you had the opportunity to see it, I feel badly for you. I caught some of it, and it was absolutely stunning. She couldn’t read. She was so nervous, and incoherent that I sorta’ felt embarrassed for her. And then the back story. She claimed to be a lawyer. Never passed the bar. She, like most people, is aware that you can’t claim to be a lawyer when you are in fact NOT a lawyer. She stumbled over an explanation by saying that she spoke to colleagues who said that she could pretend to be a lawyer, but she couldn’t claim to be an attorney. Make sense to you? Regardless, she was fired. Her dream job lasted 5 days. And her now former boss, the rotund orange guy… …blamed the media for being nasty to her. He claimed that she is a really ...

The Dodgers bought the last two World Series and their fans seemed thrilled with that, but on Wednesday night they were down in Game 3, at their home ballpark, and suddenly: The BOO’s rained down. To top that, I was at Yankee Stadium in April in 2001. Derek Freaking Jeter started his season in a horrific slump. I think he went about 30 ABs without getting a hit. BOO! BOO!! BOOOOOOO!!! They booed Jeter in April, after the Yankees won the titles in 98, 99 and 00. In November they had their third straight parade and five months later, the fans were booing their captain. Being in the stadium when it was happening was insane to me. I certainly didn’t join in! Rivera got booed. Judge too. Reggie once famously said, “They don’t boo nobody’s.” But I find the thought of booing professional athletes as kinda’ weird. People pay high prices for tickets, so I don’t think they should be silenced when they’re pissed off, but it seems  a lot of fans are simply angry and they spend a lot of time sc...

Decades back we made a pact with Ukraine. As an ally. We would help them protect themselves against attack, and they would give up their pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Of course, Ukraine was worried mostly about being attacked by Russia, and the United States understood that threat. We promised, on the world stage, to be a friend to the Ukrainian citizens. Of course, in recent years, Ukraine has been treated less Yeah like an ally, and more like a foe. That was made official by this administration and Mad Mogul Mr. Musk. Russia was able to attack directly when Starkink was shut down. It wasn’t shut down by mistake, and it didn’t take long to figure out who HELPED Russia. It’s been 11 years since I posted that Pedo Pig was owned by Russia. I’m just a safety guy wandering around construction site, but I had enough information to declare: “He’s a Russian asset.” Robert Mueller confirmed as much in his report, but that poor man was ignored, verbally abused, and then bashed on the day he died...

Stopped by a hardware store to get a couple of keys made. It was an old-time hardware store and three people came to help me when I walked in the door. I like those kinds of places. As the chatty, happy woman made my keys, I wandered around the cluttered store a little, and my eyes fixed on a propane lantern. My mind shifted immediately to the summer nights at the Barking Lions campsite. I didn’t own a lantern and would have had zero chance of ever lighting it (probably still can’t) but I had a guy for that! Jeff - who coincidentally is celebrating his 63rd birthday today - was the man for the job. He’d light the lantern and then he’d work the pot belly stove. I looked at that lantern for a long time. It looked like the same model that we had back there some 40 years ago, back when we believed those long summer days would never end. And now, here we are. Old bastards now. I’m sure Jeff has a lantern… …and that he knows how to light it. Happy birthday, buddy. Thanks for taking care of u...

We were huge fans of ‘Breaking Bad’. Kathy and I watched it twice. I believe that Sam and Jake may have had 3 go-arounds. A terrific show, and when we visited Albuquerque, we hit all the tourist spots. Hearing the news that the actor who played Junior or Flynn as he wanted to be called, died at the age of 34, at his own hand, was heartbreaking. It’s a show, but when it’s well done, it makes you believe you know the actor a little bit. I’ve learned a lot about the man - RJ Mitte - since the news broke. He broke through as a disabled actor. His early life was tragic. He was adopted and one of his adoptive parents died young. His financial manager robbed him of his ‘Breaking Bad’ money, and he spent his adult life as a powerful advocate for healthcare that works for the disabled and all Americans. He was set to be married. And there are really recent interviews of him where he was cheerful and accommodating. And yet, he decided to end his life. I have complicated questions about suicide....

The Bills have a night game tonight against the Rams. I noticed that Kathy was getting dressed to go…. …somewhere. “Where you going?” “Me and Sam are going to go to Matt’s to watch the game. You wanna’ go?” I just looked at her. She knew the answer. “You can. We’re going to get pizza and wings.” “That’s exciting.” “I know, I know, but are you all right staying home alone for the game?” A couple of things about that. I’m not alone. Miller the cat is right beside me. Ollie got a new toy today, and we had three throwing sessions. And best of all, I have no intention on watching a football game. I’m watching baseball even though the Yankees aren’t involved. Which is even better because I can go to bed. Tomorrow I’ll be rested and it won’t ruin my mood if they lose. And some may be wondering how many catches Ollie is up to for the year… …he just went over 53,000..