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Showing posts from March, 2021

How Do I Dress?

On Monday morning it was freezing. I had headed out to the car in a hoodie that I soon was wearing beneath my winter coat. “Bah!” I yelled as the wind creased my forehead. And speaking of wind I was called to visit a job where better than 60 mph winds took off the facade of a building that was being restored. Thank God no one was underneath. But by mid-day Monday I had removed the hoodie - wore just the jacket. By the time I got back home, I barely needed the hoodie. Decided to leave all three coats in the car... ...Tuesday morning I was in just a shirt. No jacket required. “Feels good,” I said to one of the guys. “A foot of snow in the southern tier on Thursday,” he said. “Come on!” “5 to 7 inches in the city,” the guy said. So, essentially 30 degrees to near 70 and back down to what? 25??? All in the matter of a couple of days? Man, March is weird. We played golf two weeks ago and I need a snow shovel before the end of the week? Yet it will stabilize here shortly... ...the Yankees op

Hockey Tickets!

 The Sabres announced that tickets are on-sale for their 4 remaining home dates. Of course, it’s just a percentage of the arena being used as social distancing is required, so, if you want to go, you better act fast! Tickets are running from $41 for the cheap seats up to $150 for a close-up look at your heroes. Last night, they blew a 3-0 lead to lose to the Flyers. It was their 18th straight loss. Tied a record! They will most definitely break that record next time out! I bring it all up because the Sabres were a team that brought a lot of excitement for me when I was a kid. Then they had a run when my boys were young. I paid a whole lot of money one year for two playoff tickets for our wedding anniversary and then I let Sam have my seat. Danny Briere scored in overtime and Sam talked about that moment for the next ten years. Now? “The Sabres are winning 3-0.” Gave way to: “3-1 now. No way they hold this lead.” “Sabres are still up one!” I heard a roar of laughter when the Flyers scor

What Could Go Wrong?

New York State is on the verge of making marijuana legal for adult and recreational use. The long prison sentences for possession of an ounce of pot will be left at the wayside. Medical marijuana will be utilized for pain. What could possibly go wrong? I’m not one on smoking anything. I’ve never had a full cigarette, but in full disclosure, I did smoke pot one night in college when we ran out of beer. I don’t think I ever laughed as hard as I did that night, but I was lethargic the next day and I hated that feeling.  Didn’t go back to it, until about 33 years later when a family member handed me a brownie at a graduation party. I ate it. She laughed. A half an hour later she was gone and I was on the couch, as paranoid as Richard Nixon.  Dizzy too.  I had to go to bed - worst feeling in the world as ten minutes passed like two weeks. So, I probably won’t get a lot of use out of the new law, and I’m not necessarily against it, but I recall a Colorado Sheriff speaking at a safety event.

Get Well!

Good buddy of mine had a health scare over the weekend and he is facing some rest and recovery after his successful surgery that is coming up in a few days. It’s all that’s been on my mind, and it shocked me when I heard that he was facing the battle because I’ve known him since we were kids, and it’s like it suddenly dawned on me that we are at that age where health scares can be the top story on the news of the day. “There’s a few things I should think about cleaning up,” I said.  “What do you mean?” Kathy asked. “I haven’t had the best diet,” I said. “My sleep patterns aren’t tremendous. Too much pressure every day.” Those are the things you think about when you hear news of someone else being sick. There’s a lot that goes into a person’s general health. Diet and bad habits are part of the equation for sure. A lot of what were bad habits are in the rear-view. I don’t drink more than a dozen drinks a year. I’ve never been a smoker, but use tobacco. I’m not stagnant because my job mak

97 Rock & Comedy

Back about a twenty years ago, 97 Rock had me on their show to talk about one of my books. I had a great time joking with Larry Norton and Rob Lederman. They were generous with their time and spoke kindly about my writing. I appeared again a few years later and then, after writing a book about my brother, we went to a benefit for Women & Children’s Hospital at Rob’s comedy club. It’s a great story but with the place packed and no one onstage yet again, I ran into Rob and said, “You want me to warm up the crowd?” He said, “It’s not easy.” I said, “It’s not brain surgery either.” Ten minutes later, Rob was on the stage and he told the packed house that he was changing things up because he found another guy to go onstage. Kathy just looked at me. I shrugged, but then thought about it. I had to prepare a little! So, I went outside and paced the parking lot, writing my act. Rob passed me and asked if I was nervous. I said, “No.” He said, “It’s going to be the worst ten minutes of your l

Free Throw Line

Ran into a couple of guys on our way into a job at a prison. Yeah.  It takes awhile to get through the front door. There are a few security gates to pass through and there’s a lot of waiting. We figured out that all three of us were in our 57th year, and while we started talking about the start of our construction careers, we somehow wound up talking about playing basketball. Which ended up being a conversation about how tight and short our shorts were in those days. Thinking about it now, we were basically in our underwear out there. We laughed about it, but I won the discussion by admitting that I never had hair under my arms. “So I would stand at the foul line like this,” I said, and I demonstrated by holding my arms up just high enough so my armpits weren’t exposed. I got the huge laugh I was looking for, but they were also flabbergasted. “You didn’t want the girls to see your bald armpits?” “It was embarrassing,” I said. “I figured that they would imagine that I hadn’t gone throug

Happy Birthday 🎉 Jim

 I opened the last package of sausage the other day. So, I have to make sure I wish my brother Jim a Happy Birthday today. It’s not the only thing, of course, I love my brother, but man, he’s fed me pretty well over the last decade or so. “I’m cooking for Easter,” he texted the other day. “Bring to-go containers.” And we are still in a bit of limbo with Covid, but I am hoping that a number of us can get together next weekend. About a month ago, Jim sent us photos of his latest completed job. Just amazing. He followed in my Dad’s footprints and has built some huge buildings all across the Northeast. As I looked through the photos I thought about Jim walking beside my Dad all through the house. Dad called him his ‘pet’ because he was always right there beside him. It paid off. My brother works hard, plays hard, cooks like a chef and makes me laugh hard every time I talk to him. No one tells a funny story like Jim. Happy Birthday, brother. We love you.

Not Worth It

America is back. Mass shootings in back-to-back weeks has officially signaled the end to Covid-19. If people are going to gather, someone is going to grab his gun and mow them down. Freedom! I read through the names of the victims - so much loss. Then I heard Ted Cruz get angry in an effort to defend the killer’s second amendment rights and the second amendment rights of the next former responsible gun owner. So sickening. Unsolvable problem in the eyes of so many. Learn to live with it seems to be the forever message. So, why not make it interesting? Sell tickets like the lottery. If you get the ticket with the city name of the next mass shooting you win a prize. Maybe a gun or something. What got me was the interview I heard on one of the news shows. A big-time law officer was asked if the Boulder massacre would have any impact in any effort to try and figure out a solution. “No.” That’s all he needed to say. Move on to the next story. These shootings are covered the same way every t

Elgin & The Lakers

I was such a huge Los Angeles Lakers fan as my early sport life began. All because of Wilt, but also because of Jerry West, Happy Hairston and Elgin Baylor. Elgin was on the 1969-1970 team that lost to the New York Knicks in 7 games. I distinctly recall, at 5 years of age, seeing that final score flashing on the screen: New York 113 Los Angeles 99 That was the Willis Reed game. He had a torn ACL but he took the court for the start of the game. He fired up the crowd and Clyde Frazier, who went off. I later learned to like that Knicks team, but that day I cried. Elgin had retired when the Lakers won the championship and ran off 33 straight games so he didn’t get the chance to see me at the Aud where I sat with John & Dad as the Lakers pummeled the Braves. That was the night I saw Wilt from less than 15’ away. I still think of it now and again. Dad had scrimped and saved to buy us the best tickets in the house. I recently found the ticket stub: Our seats were $2.50 apiece. Seriously!

Snow & Greens

There were golf balls gathered on top of the ice on the pond. Just sitting there.  The grass was brown and there was a snow bank on the tee box at five so the hole was moved up, but man, the place was packed! March 21 and we played golf in short pants and tee-shirts. The new driver was concerning because I’m a mental midget when it comes to change and I hit the first drive about 75 yards. On hole 2 I figured it out and overall, it went pretty well. I hit some very good drives and actually shot par on 3 of the first 6 holes. Wasn’t about the score though. We didn’t care. I didn’t even write them down. Just hit it and feel the air. It wasn’t all perfect though... ...we had an older couple ahead of us. Husband and wife? They were good and slow and we were all about getting some air, but how is golf fun when you’re taking 18 shots per hole? “That poor lady has to be exhausted,” I said as she swung her club for the 7th time on a long par five. There is no way she got less than a 20 on that

This March is Better

Spent a little time thinking about how lost we all were last March. The tourney had been cancelled. Baseball season was getting postponed and we were all kinda’ lost because we were facing long days of staying away from everyone. Yesterday was the exact opposite of that. The basketball games were on our televisions all day long. I made a turkey dinner to finish up Kathy’s birthday celebration and I also bit the bullet. Bought a new driver for the round of golf we are scheduled to play this afternoon. Was kind of funny. I brought my beloved driver in and showed it to the really young kid behind the counter. He gasped when I asked him if I could find a match to it. “They don’t make them like that anymore,” he said. It dawned on me that my driver might be older than the kid. “I think I got this in ‘02,” I said. “When were you born?” “‘01,” he said, with a laugh. “Just after 9/11.” He was born after 9/11!!! I laughed. He taped up a couple of drivers for me and I stepped into the simulator.

Busy Day

“Sam has taken over the living room.” That was the text I received as I finished up teaching a class.  That statement was good news for me... ...not so good for Kathy. I walked in and laughed. There were three televisions set up. A basketball game on each. There were 4 twenty-somethings on the couch, and beer cans were spread around. I saw a flash of fear in my boy’s eyes, but they knew better.  I dug in my wallet and threw money on the floor. “Order dinner. Have it delivered.” They all laughed. Half an hour later, I was seated beside them. They’re idiots. I certainly remember my 20’s. We didn’t move a whole lot and even though I went up just after the tip for the last game at 10:30 or so... ...I heard the cheers as Villanova won. Kathy showed up somewhere along the way, and brought a huge groan when she took one of the televisions with her to her room. “Down to 2 t.v.’s,” Sam moaned. “You poor bastard,” I said. Then I asked for the plan for Saturday. “I’m going to be running this back

Tee-Time!

Believe it or not! We golfed on November 15 and on Wednesday night an email came through. A course that we play every now and again was letting us know that they’d be open on Sunday. WHAT THE WHAT???? “Well, it is supposed to be near 60. We golfed in worse in the fall.” “I’m in!” I said. Our booking agent (and we appreciate it) let us know that we would be going in the late afternoon if we were serious. “I’m in!” So, we are going to do it. On March 21st! This week has been an absolute bear. The phone has been ringing non-stop. But when the alarm went off at 5:15 on Thursday morning my first thought was: “I’m golfing pretty soon!” I may even see if I am going to replace my trusted driver. I’ll take a ride on Saturday and see if there’s an update available. But I am scared. I love my driver! “If you buy a new one you don’t have to bury the old one,” Kathy said. “You can hit them both.” Silly woman. That would be like having two marriages. Less than 60 hours until I stand over a tee and h

A Really Bad Day

Eight Asian women were murdered at 3 Georgia massage parlors. I didn’t see the guy’s name.  I still don’t know it, actually, but I knew what he looked like before I clicked on his photo. A punk white guy. Amazing how he was brought in safely even though he led the cops on a high speed chase. I say it’s amazing because some potential criminals are killed when they are suspected of a crime. Then the cop who spoke to the press explained that the eight murders were the result of the guy having a “really bad day.” Are you kidding me? A bad day? Now, maybe the guy simply misspoke, but what a tone deaf, idiotic thing to say. I don’t have any patience for those who bash the Asian-Americans. I have work acquaintances who are Asian-American. Good guys. I have listened to men bash them. I have never once let it go. One of the gentlemen is a friend of mine and I find him to be funny and brilliant and caring. He’s heard the abuse and his philosophy on it is: “When someone says something about me I’

Happy Birthday to My Beautiful Wife

I do a lot of listening when I’m on the road, eavesdropping in on people, for some reason, calculating diversity, that sort of thing. I was at the gate in Washington for a short layover at Dulles. I counted 6 white people, 4 Asian people, 8 black people and a family from Indian descent. They were fairly close to me, and their young boy was playing with matchbox cars. The young couple was chatting about their upcoming month. A busy time for them. They were gonna’ look at houses and were discussing space and how their kids needed their own rooms. We were all heading to the New England area so I assume that’s where they were going to buy their home. As the wife described what she needed to survive, the guy looked in my direction and despite the mask I could tell he was smiling. “We could build a palace,” he said. His wife playfully slapped him. Made me think of being young, and all of those battles. Made me consider my beautiful wife and how today is her birthday. “It goes fast,” I said t

One Open Seat

 I’ve been on 6 flights in the last three weeks. There has been one open seat on all of those flights. The seat next to me was open on my first flight yesterday morning. And it’s funny because I usually don’t have that sort of luck. Just before I realized I had an empty seat, a behemoth of a man entered the plane. “Oh Dear Lord,” I muttered, but he sat in the second last empty seat a few rows ahead of me. Before he lowered his better than 300 pounds into his resting spot I caught the look on the face of the guy who got up to let him in. The guy wasn’t happy. And while everyone has a mask on and there haven’t been any incidents, there are usually some in the vicinity who don’t have the mask over their nose. The mask doesn’t bother me all that much, but 4 or 5 hours of it is a problem because my mouth gets dry because when I wear a mask: I’m a mouth-breather. I don’t know why and I wonder if others also forget to breathe through their nose when wearing a mask. By the time the plane lands

J-Lo & A-Rod

Say it isn’t so! News came down the line that their relatives was kaput and that A-Rod may have had an affair.  So sad. We’re all broken up about it here at Camp Clifford. I’m kidding. We don’t care. I had a hard time becoming an A-Rod fan. I liked him in ‘09 when he homered a few times in the playoffs. Hated him when he kept getting busted for steroids. Liked him a little more when he owned up to it, and I have enjoyed him as an announcer. So, it’s complicated, but I would never trust him to be real about anything. Just a phony. And J-Lo? How many relationships do I know about? She almost married Ben Affleck. Remember that? Marc Anthony dumped her, I think. I know way too much about her love life. She gets dumped or dumps people regularly. Like Jennifer Aniston, she can’t seem to catch a break. We have a running joke when we are watching a girl who looks like that starring in a movie about how lonely they are because they can’t find a man who is interested. “Poor J-Lo, she can’t find

Slow Week

I think that the weeks move slowly in the spring. We’re all kind of waiting for the weather to break, and this year it’s even worse. Because we’ve been locked up for a year. Yet, everything appears to be ready for a blast-off. Have you noticed all the cars on the road?  All the stores packed? “This is going to be torture,” Sam said. “Waiting for Friday.” There is no doubt about what are the most important days in Sam’s calendar year. No one loves the NCAA and March Madness more than Sam, and it has been that way all of my life because my brother Jeff was the exact same way. I hate the fact that Sam and Jeff didn’t get a chance to compare notes. Anyway: “Friday and Saturday mean more to me than my birthday or Christmas.” Then Sam proceeded to talk to me for a half an hour about who he thought was going to win it. He’s taking a personal day for Saturday. “Gotta do it!” As for me, I feel the slow movement of time as well. I want a new driver, but I’m waiting until I’m a little closer to b

Vaccinated?

 I’m not. Not even one of the two shots needed. They’re saying that anyone who wants a shot by May 1 will get one. That’s not too awful far away. I believe that I have a shot scheduled and Kathy definitely has an appointment and my Mom is halfway there. Funny thing is that if you’re obese, or have sleep apnea or breathing problems you’re more likely to get the shot. I was a lot heavier a couple of years ago. For some reason, I lost some weight without even trying. Also, for some reason, I eat a lot less these days. Believe me, it wasn’t a conscious decision and it cost me my shot at a shot, evidently. “I’m not fat enough?” I asked the doc at my physical. Which is okay. Hopefully the more vulnerable are getting vaccinated before me. We were only vaccinating about 100,000 people a day until the end of January. I heard that we are doing about 3 million a day now. I’m still concerned. “Hey! Where you been?” A man I hadn’t seen in a little while extended his hand to me. “Get away from me wi

Resign?

Here in New York it seems that our long-term governor is in a bit of a fire-storm. There are currently 4 or 5 women who have stepped forward to say that he made them feel uncomfortable in the workplace. Which is kind of ironic because we all have to take a class each year to make sure we aren’t harassing everyone. The class was made mandatory under his leadership. A whole lot of people are stepping up to say that the governor should resign. “What do you think?” I asked Kathy. “He asked someone if they were married,” she said. “He cupped a woman’s face with his hands at a wedding. I’m not sure if that rises to the level of abuse.” And therein lies the problem. Al Franken was a comedian who made a tasteless joke as a comedian, years before he entered politics. He was forced to resign. Other get away with abuse for years and years, and they just blow off their accusers, refuse to give DNA, and just go on saying wildly crazy things. I’ve worked in construction since I was 17 years old. I h

We Broke the Record

In 1878 it was 68 degrees on March 10th here in Buffalo, New York. Yesterday we hit 70 degrees. Exciting stuff. And in all reality, it was a great day to wander around construction sites. I was down to a tee-shirt by early afternoon and everyone was in a grand mood. Picked up my golf ball and dreamed about a tee time. Not yet! There is snow in the forecast for next week, but it got me thinking about how the weather kind of changes everyone’s mood. Of course, I lived in San Jose for eight months and the weather was the same every day and I missed the rain. So there’s something to be said for that first warm spring day, or the surprise 70 degree day that we had in November. Things are looking up, right? The Covid numbers are down.  The Dow set a record. $1400 is on the way for a lot of hurting Americans. Millions are being vaccinated every day. And there aren’t any hate tweets coming on a daily basis. Everything feels better when the sun is shining. Yet all is not rosy around here. I’m h

Mighty Bored

 I have a regular speaking gig for a company east of Syracuse - been talking to them since about 1997. Have known the owner for longer than that, but it’s a little weird to look out at the same faces every year and see all the wrinkles and the grey. Stopped by the table to chat up a guy who’s been with the company since the 80’s. “Last year for me,” he said. “I’m 64. All done after this season.” “Damn! Already? That went by quick for me.” He laughed. “I would’ve quit after least year, but the damn pandemic showed me that I’m gonna’ be mighty bored for the next stretch.” He told me his story. His wife is disabled and worries a lot. “If I leave the house to go to the grocery store I have to text her when I get there and when I’m leaving. Texted her when I arrived here.” “She just loves you,” I said. “I got her a dog. A little thing. She is learning to love him more than me. That’s good. I might get him a phone so she can text him.” I laughed. “I was 40 when you started coming around. You

Meghan & Harry

I didn’t watch the interview with Oprah. I think the whole King-Queen, Royal family stuff is kind of silly.   I’m not a guy who cares all that much for ceremony or getting dressed in costumes to look down my nose at other people because I believe my bloodlines are special. I definitely never liked Princess Di’s former husband. In fact, they all treated her like trash and she wound up paying with her life. Leaving her two boys. Now, you’d think that those boys would have the run of the castle, right? Well, they did have a nice run.  Kate Middleton was welcomed with open arms, but when Harry brought Meghan home... ...uh-oh! I wonder what the problem was with Meghan? She seems like a decent enough woman. Harry loves her. Shouldn’t a family be accommodating? The Royal family might be racist??? No freaking way! I mean, they strike me as such flexible people! My God... ...they wondered aloud about the shade of the baby’s skin? Sad, sad world. I listened to Obama and Springsteen talk about ra

It’s Carrie Day!

We have been watching ‘This Is Us’ since the start and as siblings a few of us have marveled over the way the Dad had made sure that all of the kids were important to the story of the family. My Dad did it with six kids. Back when we were all under one roof in the big house on the hill, birthdays were special days. There was always cake, and singing. Even the dog sang along. And I bring it up because today is Carrie’s birthday, and the date is ingrained. Happy Birthday, Carrie! And I must confess the sibling thread on text is often very funny, sometimes serious, but never boring. All the old jokes are repeated, and last week, Carrie announced that she was getting a new dog: Frankie! The dog who sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to all of us, even Carrie... ...although one year he famously refused to participate. It stinks that Carrie doesn’t live in Western New York, but there’s no doubting that she is missed and loved and I wish she were around that big table again... ...and that we were all arou

Ooh-Aah - Sabres on the Warpath

Twenty some years ago hockey was definitely my second favorite sport. My buddy, Kimball, gifted two season tickets to me and Jeffy and we watched Mogilny and LaFontaine light it up, The games were fast and the end to end action was addicting. I don’t know what the hell happened to the sport, first off, and the Sabres organization, secondly. The game isn’t entertaining to me anymore because it’s so hard to get a shot through because the defense just drops into a box in front of the goalie. Lots of clutching and grabbing too. My boys still keep an eye on it, but lately they have also checked out because the Sabres have been horrid for a long time. About ten years ago, Washington came to town and the boys wanted to see Ovechkin. The tickets were gold tickets - prices jacked way up to see a true superstar. Ovi scored as the cost of the evening went over $500 as I bought nachos for the boys. By the end of the first period it was 4-0 Washington and the Sabres looked like they were out for a

Jam-Packed

Every flight I was on had every single seat sold. I couldn’t even negotiate the aisles at O’Hare. It was an absolute mob scene. The really aggravating thing about it is that all the restaurants are closed still so now you have hundreds of people standing in line for the one or two places that are open. In Kansas City ALL of the restaurants are closed. I ended up getting a snickers bar and a Gatorade at a news stand. Cost me $8.00 There was a mask on every face, so that’s good, I guess, and they hand everyone a hand sanitizer packet when you get on the plane... ...but man, with everything open, they better be right that the vaccinations are getting the world back on its axis. Even in Kansas they’re wearing them. I heard one guy mention that his rights are being taken from him, but he had the mask on. Restaurants open. Airplanes full. Baseball coming to a stadium near you in the next 30 days. They vaccinated 2.5 million people in a single day. Here will be enough to vaccinate every Ameri

Well That Was Nice

I packed two coats for the trip to the Midwest. The last time I had looked at the weather app there were temps in the 40 for the Kansas City area. I got off the plane and headed for the car rental bus. “Whoa, it’s warm!” The sun was riding high and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. The big coat could’ve stayed home. I took off the hoodie at the first site. “How the hell warm is it?” The car had an outside temperature gauge: 70 degrees. It was warmer the next day. And as I drove, the sun was starting to aggravate me. I kept moving the visor to block it. Apple Car Play was feeding me one song after another. I opened the driver’s side window and gulped the air. Started thinking about golf. And then the music went off. I checked the phone which was on the passenger side seat. “The I-phone is too hot.” What? The sun had baked the phone a little bit. I put it on top of the air conditioner which was full blast. Heard from back home. “It’s so cold here.” We’re just a couple of weeks away from a

Twelve Years

Three years ago, we saw the Springsteen on Broadway Show. During Bruce’s unbelievable performance I was thinking a lot about my brother, Jeff.  We had purposely bought tickets for early March because we were tired of the depression that came along with the “anniversary” of a death day. “I’m not going to spend a month in abject sadness every year.” I had that thought during the show... ...and this is the 3rd year when I have not given into the sadness. The stages of grief are pretty much dead right. Eventually there is acceptance because for the most part, when your railing against the unfairness of it all, you realize that all you’re doing is driving yourself crazy. I was as close as I could be with Jeff. There’s so damn much that I miss.  Every day. Mostly it’s the laughter. I can’t even fathom how much laughter we all missed out on. And of course, I see him in his children. I hear his voice in my children. Sam and Jake have the same voice that Jeff had. When they laugh, I am blessed

Dr. Seuss?

I don’t know, man. Mr. Potato Head is going to just be called Potato Head now?  There’s no more Aunt Jemima? The Washington Football Team? What is the baseball team in Cleveland called now? And now they’re going to stop printing 6 Dr. Seuss books because there are questionable aspects to some of the words written down, or some of the photos? I saw one example where two kids are being pushed up a hill by a creature who had to do all the work. I guess that the people the creature represents are offended. I would never look at that photo and think that Dr. Seuss had intentionally written it to offend a race of people, but who knows, right? I have some experience with this. In one of my books one of the characters was a bit of a playboy, or thought he was. He made some racy comments about a young girl. I was not trying to put down or objectify women. Rather, I was trying to show the man as sort of classless. Ran into a reader...a young girl...she said: “I hated the part where the woman was

$7.25 An Hour

I don’t understand how anyone can argue, in good conscience, that $7.25 is what a man or woman should be paid for an hour of their time.  For any job! I’ve heard all the arguments against raising the minimum wage. The fact of the matter is that those are not starter jobs for high school kids. The people making that wage are - on average 39 years old. Most are women. The majority of the people being paid such a paltry wage are supplementing their income by drawing government assistance. Some are working two jobs to try and keep their heads above water. There are so many people who are against raising the minimum wage who are worried that the huge corporations will raise their prices. I stopped for a sausage McMuffin and a coffee the other day: $6.45  An hour of someone’s wages. So, you see, the corporations are raising their prices every day. More than an egg McMuffin... ...know what else has gone WAY up since 2009? EVERY FREAKING THING!!! Except... ...wages. Wal-Mart keeps workers hour

Cancel Culture

Since it’s CPAC I had to check out what the huge whine is all about this year.  Something called Cancel Culture. Evidently it’s the biggest problem we have. That’s what Gym Jordan said. Bigger than the pandemic?  Or not eating because you’re flat broke? Okay, I’ll play along. What the hell is it? Is it like the old, “They’re trying to cancel Christmas!” rage? Basically, yes. That’s exactly what it is. A hard to define set of complaints by a group that is always whining about something. Honest question. Have you ever heard a speech by the former guy or one of his children that isn’t an absolute bitch fest? It’s like the Festivus episode of Seinfeld where George’s Dad airs his grievances. Evidently people are losing their jobs because they are being videotaped at insurrections, or being blatantly racist, or flipping out because they don’t want to wear a mask. After they’re fired for it... ...they rail against the powers to be who are canceling them. Boo-hoo! One way around it is to not b