Walkabout Thoughts #50

Wow. My 50th "Walkabout Thoughts" Blog today! Cheers! Slainte! I have about 1500 total blog articles on this since about 2010. I started having 2 daily blogs 7 days a week, got down to once a week, now it's kind of intermittent (thanks long covid!). But I've tried to do every other day (we all have to have something to shoot for) OK, let's get started... .

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts… July 9, 2023, Sunday

Weather for the day… sunny and 57° but 71° by time I got home.

Podcast Pod Save America

Regarding the student loan issue, how do you think, since we give K-12 "free" (nothing's free but we use our taxes for this since the 1700s: "In 1790, Pennsylvania became the first state to require some form of free education for everyone regardless of whether they could afford it."), we should appropriately fund that and end this charter school bullshit nonsense. We should extend that to K-14 so everyone can afford to get a basic education before becoming an adult at 18 and potentially moving out of their parent's house. Receiving then at least two years of vocational. or community college education toward a better job. Originally it was thought 12th grade would be good for a kid to get a job. Times have changed and our education hasn't caught up, and esp., Republicans have crippled our education system for divisive reasons. K-12 should service us better toward being ready for the job market. When I graduated high school in 1973, I knew full well I wasn’t prepared. I got a very basic job in an insurance company, in the mail room. I covered all the odd jobs beyond that they would come up, with such as moving things and delivering insurance forms to all the schools in the school district, in the fall,in Tacoma, Washington. But it seems to be a viable adjunct to school loans. Forgiveness could be not requiring payment until graduates get settled and have a job they can afford to live on and pay the loan back. I also don’t think we should be paying interest. Or interest should be so low it’s reasonable. wholesale. The amount of student loans we’ve heard some people have to pay back is ridiculous. Especially for those who can’t find a job that’s paying well enough to pay the loan back and not be such a burden it breaks people. A student loan should never lead to economic devastation of the individual.

I’ve said this before, but at least half of the people I see walking this road for exercise, don’t walk against traffic, as is legal... and kind of rational. I just walked by a small family with one child walking with their back to traffic. Strikes me as odd. Which, strangely enough reminds me of the TV show "CB Strike". The lead actor on that, who I just realized is on the show I'm watching about fighting the occasional apocalypse and world ending event, through a strange form of time travel ("The Lazarus Project" on TNT). Kind of entertaining Brit show. Yeah, no idea why I thought of that... but, there it is, this is a blog on my stream of consciousness.

Jon Lovett on the podcast asks, what do you think about “Barbie Oppenheimer“? I don’t know, but the Barbie movie oddly enough looks interesting in its bizarre comical fashion. I’ve also always been interested in Oppenheimer and the bombs that ended WWII on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On that, I’ll never get it out of my head. A documentary I saw years ago where one of the top Japanese generals said, and I saw him say it (translated from Japanese), that for those who say we shouldn’t have dropped the bomb, or that we didn’t have to do that, from where he was standing with others running the war, he said had we’re not dropped the first bomb, they would’ve never believed it, and it wasn't until we dropped the second one that they began to believe the reports. That, indeed was what made them want to end the war under threat of such overwhelming power they had trouble assimilating it.

Oh my God, the cocaine found in the White House was in an area where visitors are asked to leave their cell phones and things in a cubby. A public area and conservatives are making a big deal about this specifically having to do with the Biden White House? That’s just embarrassing... for them and humiliating for America, again.

Cocaine in the White House? Remember that moniker for old Senator Mitch McConnell “cocaine Mitch”? That’s all I’m saying…

As for cocaine in the White House… Again… Seriously, who looks more like he uses cocaine? Trump and his family, especially druggie Junior? Or Joe Biden who even Trump called "Sleepy Joe", so...not a cocaine moniker. I would argue Joe’s not sleepy, but laid-back. Anything we could use from the Trump dumb cluck once POTUS45, orange clownish fat and lazy golf whore, is well...you know I’m talking about.Nothing.

I have to say, Donald Trump reminds me of a cocaine freak, like his son, Junior, but acts like a meth head, even if he is just an Adderall freak.

Podcast is over, switching not to The Beat with Ari Melber. Apparently somebody was trying to set up a military coup when Trump was president?

Let’s be clear about something regarding drugs. People can use drugs as they use alcohol …sensibly. Yes, the issue is people who get carried away and addicted or cannot handle anything sensibly. No I don’t want drugs in the White House and I grew up in the drug culture years of the 60s and 70s, and 80s. But I would rather deal with a same person, reasonably on drugs, then someone like Donald Trump, who OD'd on autocracy and oligarchy and his Russian connections Or Richard Nixon as POTUS addicted to paranoia. Somebody a little high on drugs can still make sane and rational decisions. Sometimes the drugs actually help them with the stress to do so. No, I’m not advocating people in positions of power use drugs. But let’s face it. Plenty of people are on so-called legitimate, prescribed by a doctor drugs, or “medication" if you prefer, because of the amount of stress they’re under. This' s why it’s bad to throw somebody in as president like Donald Trump, as opposed to a career professional politician like Joe Biden who has learned through decades how to acclimate, maintain and manipulate, and maneuver within a political environment. Whereas Trump in being a criminal, simply did whatever he wanted with no due respect in trying to break every law he could in order to get whatever he wanted to make himself evermore wealthy. What kind of an ignoramus or worse, idiot, would vote for Donald Trump? It boggles the mind. Or maybe you just can't see it, until you can, and then you can't NOT ever not see it again.

Yes, a couple of things about the military. They do not, and should not follow illegal orders, such as Trump wanted to give. Because of things like Posse Comitatus, they cannot and should not be used within the interior of the United States or protectorates. That’s what the state's National Guard is for. And again, mostly and only for protecting the people. Donald Trump is not and was not, never will be there to protect the People. He’s there to protect his interests and his interests alone and when that matches up with the People, well then you’re just lucky (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and he will turn on a dime to benefit himself. Something a government should never do. Except in moments of disaster. Not as the Republican Party and conservatism anymore teaches every fucking moment of every fucking day. It is not as they keep lying...disaster time. Just because someone disagrees with you or has a different orientation in life or government, does not mean it’s a disaster, or a war is necessary. In their case their orientation and ideologies are simply out of step with the country, anachronistic and essentially utterly wrong.

I’ve seen today's faux conservative ideology, and them some real conservative ideology, historical concepts of conservative ideology within the Democratic Party and I've seen it in the Republican Party for decades and invoked when necessary, as human decency and the US Constitution requires and demands. But what is going on today with faux conservative ideology as having been subverted by Trump and his minority of the Republican Party, his MAGA elements, as they try to kill the GOP and America. So like seriously people...WTF?

Two hours after the failed military coup planning meeting in the oval office that ended at 1 o’clock in the morning, on December 19, 2020, Trump sent out a tweet that Peter Navarro had reported it was statistically impossible for Donald Trump to have lost the election. Uh huh. Right... There, is the Big Lie. Yes, evidence of all this is available to Jack Smith, Special Prosecutor who has indicted Donald Trump with more to come. If you’re a Trump supporter, I’ve been telling you since 2016, get off that clown wagon, and now  sure as hell. Though I know some of you will go to your death quietly, supporting a criminal and a stochastic and real terrorist and a treasonous criminal SOB and failed businessman... Donald Trump.

I need to be sure that the work I did on my blog at murdocknations.com, has the Google ads designator properly embedded to where I’m receiving appropriate accounting for viewership. [I checked, it is] I had that originally set up back around 2010, but they recently broke it in updating and upgrading it or something.

Donald Trump loves loudmouths just like him, especially when they are criminally, ethically and morally compliant to his wishes and have a sliding scale of those things that he has been given free and open reign to update at his whim. Just sayin'...

Donald Trump got elected in 2016, something wherein had everything been running correctly, as he complains about now in the 2020 election, he would not have been elected. But he was elected, as underhanded as it was, and with help by a foreign enemy. He then hired by his own word “the best people“ and the “smartest people”, many of whom took the job because of the White House, not Donald Trump...a few because of Donald Trump, but others because they feared for America with Donald Trump as POTUS. With them there they could at least they thought, curb him, indoctrinate him, help the oval office to do what it does, which is form new presidents on the "anvil" of the importance of that office (which I question if Trump ever truly felt even one). after seeing how useless it was trying to herd the Trump "cat mentality". So some quit, some resigned, others were fired. And that began the Lazy Susan clown carousel of Trump replacing the better with the worst until he got people who are nothing but “yes men “. And women. I get men being corruptible, but it’s sad to see how women are catching up to them.

I just want to mention that as I "voice to text" transcribe, that is dictate on my iPhone 11, the software does a pretty good job. I can see it correcting what it thinks I said by context. But I wish it did that more correctly. At the very bottom of my file I am writing "2". I keep a log there that just says "mile:". At the beginning there is always a "1". After I walk a half mile, I turn around and walk it back and I add "2" until I get up to "5". I finish that 5th mile and head home. If I didn’t do that, and I’ve done this before, which is why I started doing this, exercise is one of those things that, as in life in general, as I see it, is being smart, not hard. I’ve known plenty of people who worked very hard in life and got nowhere. Because they weren’t paying attention. They were actually working dumb. Yes, work hard at exercise. Getting a good work out is important. But working out hard in the wrong ways is working out dumb and you can end up working harder to your detriment. Better to work out smart, and do the exact amount of exercise you need to achieve the goal you’re seeking. I can quickly lose track within even 100 yards on this mileage issue, wondering what mile I'm on? But I would rather walk an extra mile, then less 1 mile. You don’t scam or scrimp on exercise. Because you’re only scamming yourself and your health. Esp., with long covid which adds some import to it all. Trust me.

I switched over to the "Strict Scrutiny" podcast episode, "What else can the Supreme Court get away with?" This podcast is from Crooked Media who brings us "Pod Save America" et al, with three women knowledgeable in their areas, who decided to take a moment and do what I do in these "Walkabout Thoughts" stream of consciousness blog articles. More stream of consciousness, more what my true feelings are and covering topics I find are relevant and important. In this case, this episode, they’re discussing, SCOTUS. Oh, fun...

I didn't know these ladies but I LIKE them after listening to this podcast! Here is who they are:

Strict Scrutiny is a podcast about the United States Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it.

Hosted by three badass constitutional law professors-- Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray-- Strict Scrutiny provides in-depth, accessible, and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities. Each week, Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down the latest headlines and biggest legal questions facing our country, emphasizing what it all means for our daily lives.

I weighed myself the other day in the high 220 pounds. That has to stop. So I’m cutting out the sweets again, completely this time. Thought I could do at least a little bit but not now until I get a downward trend going. Also diet, it’s going to become a little more spartan. Onward and downward!
Yay! I finished my 4th mile and I’m starting my 5th. It’s starting to warm up, it’s 10:10 AM on Sunday now. But it feels so good to be outside in nice weather getting some exercise. This last winter has really made me appreciate this even more. I do miss my younger decades where I could go out and be more physical in  duration and intensity. But I have to say, of all the times I missed getting to do that because of my job, my family, etc., lack of time and so on, just as I took time to spend with my kids, regardless of my busy schedule and career, I’m glad I took time for both. Where I’m sad is I wish I could’ve taken my kids more trips to the mountains and into places I had gone when I was younger. But we did get some interesting vacations. My wife back in the 90s was a professional horse trainer and riding instructor and horse show rider and we would take working vacations. She’d work and see us when she could and I'd take the kids and we'd do things. Reno, Nevada was like that. That was a great time. Except for one incident. I was helping her with a horse to give her female hormones because of the nearby studs, as they’re all grouped together too closely. I asked for gloves got cloth gloves. Stunned, as I tended to be with these horse show people, because they only seem to have half a brain half the time, but then a lot of the time they were exhausted. In hoping for surgical gloves of some sort, I got white cloth. Then I accidentally spilled the hormone all over my hand. For reference, which I suddenly realized in the moment, a cloth glove does nothing more than hold something spilled on them, longer against your skin. It took a moment because I had to do something with the open bottle of horse horror, I mean horse hormone so that I didn’t spill or waste any and had to do something with the hypodermic. I was pouring it a big one just to easily squirt into the horses mouth. It took a moment to get the damn glove off because it was wet and then there was nowhere to wash my hands off right away. And so over the next three days I experienced the worst of what a woman’s worst monthly menstrual cycle (Yes, yes, minus cramps) must be like, only literally on steroids. Or hormones anyway. For three days, I thought I was going insane. On the second night I lied in bed next to my wife, contemplating suicide. I could hear a train going by, half a block away and considered walking in front of a train. This was at The Sands hotel in Reno, Nevada. But instead, I went inside the casino at 2AM (so weird how 24 hours that town is) while my wife and two kids slept. I sat at a bar having drinks and playing some game at the counter until I could calm down enough to go back to bed, hopefully, to sleep. It wasn’t until days later I realized what had happened. Every toxically masculine guy should have to go through that. It’s a real fucking eye-opener. I’ve told this story before in more detail. But I think it enlightening to mention it every once in a while as I’ll never forget the experience. So when you get on the subject of trans people who say they feel like they’ve been insane all their lives until they got the healthcare they needed where at least some of their situation could be alleviated (like hormone blockers or hormones), when they start to feel sane for the first time in their lives? I can at least somewhat comprehend what they must go through, only from birth. For me... it was only three days. Three days of madness.

As far as weight loss goes and exercise, I know it takes two or three weeks to see results. It’s going on the third week maybe of doing 5 miles about every other day. As it's warmer than I’m used to, this is a hard 4th and 5th mile. But it’s not long Covid hard. It’s just old guy hard who’s trying to get into shape again. And that's... a joy.

SCOTUS Justice Sam Alito, or “scamAlito”? Or Sam "ALeak-o", about an alleged action of tipping off the "Right" about the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS ruling and how he has a too cozier relationship with the Wall Street Journal, who seems to know things at times that they just shouldn’t.Who told them? Huh, Sam?

Kudos to most prepared and educated Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Who has these women on the podcast indicating how she hit the ground running rather than join SCOTUS and then just sit back for a while to read the room and see how things are before incorporating her participation. The woman is a force to reckon with!

I’ve heard people in my life say that as you walk through life keep your head up. OK, well that’s a metaphor, or an allegory? Something like that. It’s not literal. All my life since I was a child, I’ve kept my head down while being fully aware of my surroundings in a martial arts, Zen kind of "Zenshen" (or “total awareness“), or at least attempting that. And my life has been all the richer for it. Back in the 70s you could things on the ground as you walk along a sidewalk or someplace, finding spare change, random joints (cannabis cigarettes) on the ground (do I really have to define that to anyone in 2023?). I found money and all kinds of things on the ground over the decades. Since moving here I found two ancient hand tools which I’ve detailed in a blog elsewhere. I have not detailed the latest one I found a couple of weeks ago. Within a city... I found rock tools... that could be from hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years ago. The first one I wrote an entire blog about. I actually had a archaeologist verify it as an ancient tool. You can tell because if it fits your hand. Rocks don’t usually just show up that way, they have to be formed. And you can often see, maybe using a magnifying glass if nothing else, chip marks that helped form it that way. Type of rock also has something to do with it. So keep your awareness of your environment, metaphorically and literally, but also keep your eyes on your next step. I wonder how many people who stepped into so-called quicksand wouldn’t have if they were just paying attention? There’s a lot of different kinds of "quicksand" in life. And there’s a lot of people out there trying to scam us and some of our trusted leaders. Some of whom should never be trusted. One in particular comes to mind...

A moment to respond to the situation of black culture in America. I believe that 13.6% of the American population is Black. I have long agree that should be reflected nearly everywhere which is what affirmative action was about. Rather than zero Black people in a university, or 5% where some colleges had 9%. It should’ve been 13%. However, for those who say they seem to see Black people everywhere nowadays, I would just like to mention that when you’re 13% of a population, but your culture has had such an impact that it in part spawned a Civil War which almost tore this country apart and did for a while, your relevant  impact on this culture and society, this nation, is actually greater than 13% and should so be reflected.

So my left ankle is acting up again as I’ve detailed in the past. I had surgery on that arch in 10th grade in 1970. I had an interesting history in the Air Force because of my flat feet. A doctor told me as a child, I had “loose joints“ that would cause me problems when I got older. I’ve had knee surgery on both knees, not replacements, I’m too young for that 67. Or so I’m told by the VA. But it feels like there’s not much in my ankle. The doctors claim without I think appropriate imagery, that it’s normal wear and tear. Uh huh. Right. That seems ludicrous. But there it is. America’s marvelous healthcare. Which for too many of us is priced right out of our using it. Then, let’s talk about how dangerous childbirth is in America for women and more so for minorities, and blacks…what the hell is THAT about?

See Judge Reeves on second amendment, putting that issue in its place.

I agree with one of the women on the podcast that Justice Clarence Thomas is someone who should not be anywhere near a life long term on SCOTUS, but should be in some serious therapy for the truly serious damage he received as a child, and the trauma that he is now serving up to America, because of his own pain from HIS childhood. I can't stand people who take their pain and share it to others and shove it into their lives. Deal with it, pal. Suck it up. Maybe hanging with all those wealth people compromising your career can help, have helped?


Cheers! Sláinte!