ROLEY

  • Monday, August 7th, 2023

    The most recent episode of the Podcast (week ending 8/6/2023) really got some traction on TikTok, of all places. I seem to getting more engagement and views there than anywhere else, even the Podcast feed. Moreover, the total engagement over the original post and the video replies I made to the comment section, was between 1200 and 1300 views. That’s amazing, and I’m super happy about it. I will be continuing this format for the foreseeable future. I found a winning formula.

    That only took decades…

  • Getting In Trump’s Ear

    In October of 1973, Spiro Agnew pleaded No Contest to tax evasion and escaped prosecution over many more counts as long as he agreed to probation, a fine, and that he resign from the Vice Presidency.  One might think he ‘got away with it’.

    On August 8th, 1974, my parents were racing across Arizona, heading towards my dad’s new duty station in San Diego, they pulled into a motel, ran into the lobby, and pleaded with the desk person to just give us a key, we’ll settle up in a few minutes, Nixon’s about to resign.  Nixon, of course, had to admit that he knew about the Watergate break-ins soon after they happened, and tried to cover it up.  I don’t think anyone knows if a deal got made for his resignation, but on September 8th, 1974, Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon.  He escaped prosecution and impeachment.  One might think he ‘got away with it’. 

    In both those cases, someone got in Agnew’s and Nixon’s ears and said something to the effect of, you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.   If you don’t want to go to prison, I suggest you exit stage right, fucking now.   Agnew and Nixon, to their ONLY credit, realized that it was time to go, and did so in order to not put the country into a crisis we hadn’t seen before.   Everyone involved was concerned about the effect these events would have had on our country, security, and safety, and everyone involved acted to put the country first when it counted.   I tell you all of this to ask a simple question.  

    Do you believe that someone hasn’t gotten in Trump’s ear and tried to tell him the same thing?  Someone has.  I feel very sure about this because there are still people that have the interest of the country, our security, and our safety at heart.  There are still people that care enough not to plunge the country into a crisis. Someone has surely told Trump if he doesn’t want to go to prison, there’s a way out of this, and herein lies the difference.   In Trump, there is no desire to put the country first and avoid a crisis.   If you read or listen to him, you might come to the conclusion that he doesn’t think much of this country at all.   Nation in Decline!  American Carnage!  I mean, it’s not exactly Shining City on the Hill, is it?  

    Here’s the thing:  If we’re going to talk dystopia, I can’t think of anything more dystopian than a person who is running for President getting convicted of Federal Crimes, and insisting “Nothing to see here folks, all completely normal.”   How does this work, exactly?   Where do you put a President convicted of Federal Crimes?  Not Leavenworth, that’s for damn sure.  Is he gonna be Charles Foster Kane isolated in Xanadu for the rest of his life?  Is Rosebud actually the name of his junk?  I thought we might have a picnic tomorrow, Melania.   And then, what if he actually wins AFTER he’s convicted?   I know, I know, OWN THE LIBS.  No, we need to stop and think about this.  The sitting President of the United States, a convicted felon, serving a sentence for Federal Crimes defines Constitutional Crisis any way you look at it.  

    Trump wants to be president to try to get out of the nightmare that awaits him.   His cult wants him to be President to own the libs.    Neither of these are workable situations for the country.   Surely you can see this.   

    The way out is through, I suppose—strap in, kids.  

  • Thursday, August 3rd, 2023

    If you do a search for any particular news event worth remembering in the past 60 years or so, chances are you can find it on YouTube. Specifically, live news coverage. As a fan of that kind of thing, I have found myself down quite a rabbit hole. A personal favorite is the 1968 Democratic Convention on CBS. Yes, all the bad news you can think of is there as well. I don’t want to bring any specific bad news, but you do you, boo boo.

    I mention this as a public service. You may want to search for some coverage in the coming days.

    Like this, for example.

    Or this.

    Who can say, really?

  • Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023

    So, let’s be clear on what most of us in the real world knew to be true.

    He knew he lost, he was told several times he lost.

    He knew what he was saying was a lie, and he continued to lie.

    He intended to cause chaos and violence, and he caused chaos and violence.

    He’s as guilty as sin. And yet…

    If sees the inside of a courtroom for a trial, much less the inside of a jail cell, I’ll be surprised.

    God help us if he gets re-elected.

    READ THE INDICTMENT

  • Photo: Chic’s Beach Storm

    Recent trip to Chic’s Beach as a front was coming through. Tried a lower angle on this shot to get your eyes to follow down the beach a bit. There are more than a few stories about this place that I could tell, and at least one them involve hoping the folks at 3556 On The Bay where ‘every place is a penthouse’ (If I remember the circa 1985 marketing of the place when it opened) couldn’t see me in the later hours of the night / wee hours of the morning.

    That’s all you get, use your imagination.

    iPhone 12, can’t remember if I used the Moment app on this or not.

  • Tuesday, August 1st, 2023

    There is no Culture War. It’s fiction.

    However, it’s a fiction that is going to define the next two years of our lives because of the loud minority that created the fiction, and the media that perpetuates it.

    There is no Culture War. It’s fiction.

    Real people in the real world know that no one gives a shit about your Holiday Starbucks Cup, or whether or not you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, no one cares what Sally and Joe next door are doing, or what Sally and Joe and Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice are doing. No one cares about whether Little Priscilla needs to get an abortion for whatever reason. No one cares if Jim is Jeannie on the weekends down at Don’t Tell Mama’s, or if Jim really wants to be Jeannie full-time. No one cares if Little Priscilla would like to be known as Dylan and uses some other pronouns than she/her. Do you know why no one cares?

    Because there’s no Culture War. It’s fiction.

    Remember that when you hear someone screaming about all this stuff that no one in the real world cares about.

  • Monday, July 31st, 2023

    Last night was the first night in a while I was able to sleep most of the night uninterrupted. For a start, the weather broke and it got down to the high 60’s overnight. I’m not sure what the other part was. It could be that I did a podcast episode yesterday and felt good about completing something. I took a cold shower before bed, which may have helped under the circumstances. Also, because I occupied myself for most of the evening I didn’t eat or drink anything caffeinated close to bedtime. Might be a combination of all three, I don’t know. But since I’d like to sleep more than 4 hours at a time, I’m going to troubleshoot it and see what what the item or combination that’s keeping me awake.

  • Saturday, July 29th, 2023

    I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the issue with ancient people in elected positions doesn’t start with those ancient people.

    It starts with the folks and the money that keep electing them.

  • Friday, July 28th, 2023

    Never underestimate the odds of two–or even three–separate appliances in your home going Tango Uniform simultaneously.

    The corollary to that is never to underestimate the ability to find someone who has had at least one occurrence of those appliance issues to have posted a fix for your problem on YouTube.

  • Thursday, July 27th, 2023

    If you have been looking for yet another reason why cable news needs to go the way of the dodo, you need look no further than today’s breathless hovering over the DC Courthouse. CNN and MSNBC (Sorry, there isn’t enough money in circulation to get me to watch the third one) spent hours breathlessly wondering if today was going to be the day we got a third indictment. Chris Jansing of MSNBC noted at the end of her hour on MSNBC that sources inside the Courthouse said an indictment was not likely today or tomorrow. You would think that would be the end of it, but they were right back at it in the next hour as if they hadn’t debunked any possibility of it 5 minutes earlier. Gotta keep those eyeballs any way you can, I suppose. Seriously, kill off cable news. It’s idiocy, making idiots.

    On the other hand, turn on CNN or MSNBC at 3am if you’re unlucky enough to be awake at that hour. There’s no talking head that wants to be opining at that hour of morning, so what you get is an anchor reporting the news, and the packages they’ve prepared. You know…news. Like the CNN of old, before Reagan got shot, or before the Gulf War or 9/11, when they realized continuous disaster coverage attracts eyeballs and gets people through the next ad break. Cynical? Of course it is, but then you must realize that cable news is not a public service, it’s an attempt at ratings and profits like everything else on TV is. Rachel Maddow isn’t competing with Hannity, she’s competing with WWE RAW and Monday Night Football. Read that sentence again and again until it sinks in.

    I don’t know when news became a profit center, and maybe I’m an idealist for thinking that profits should not be the prime motivator for journalism, but here we are.