Why Isn't It An Official Holiday Yet?

Happy Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day!  May your observance be full of joy and reverence. 

Look what I Found at an Estate Sale

Friday I was scrolling through an estate sale post on Facebook when I came upon this picture: 

A - Great books.

B - the picture on the wall was one I recognized as being identical to one that hung in my paternal Grandmother's office. 

It was the latter that spurred me into action. I messaged, asking them the price and to hold it for me, then drove a half hour to pick it up. 

Now I did buy a heap of books too. Truthfully, it was like attending my own estate sale, so closely did his book collection resemble my own. But I was ecstatic to get the picture. 

It has Kosciuszko, George Washington, and Pulaski in the center, and the US and Polish flags. From what I remember the music is that of Chopin, the solar system represents Copernicus, and the chemical formula Madame Curie - all Polish greats. 

I intend to hang this Monday in my own office, and do so with pride!

A Dream

Last night I dreamt that Lisa and I toured my old house on Windlake Ave, one I last stepped foot in when I was four or five. I expected it to be in bad shape, given that the neighborhood has taken a lot of knocks over the decades, but I was wrong. A heavyset black woman lived there with her children, and it was in meticulous shape. She'd painted elaborate, gorgeous murals on each wall, and the layout was (what I remember as being) the same, minus some changes that were the subject of discussion with her. 

Then I was recruiting for a sports league, one that combined soccer and roller skating, and I was trying to think outside the box. I was at a Target and noticed the parents with small children were adapt at shuffling their feet to keep their kids in tow, and this mimicked the motion of the sport. I instructed my staff to scour department stores and watch for the movement, offering contracts to the best. 

Then I was at an elaborately long dinner table in a restaurant, part of a large dining group, and the server announced they would be serving pizzle. I said no thanks and suggested the group go to another place down the road. 

The 2024 Election - What Happpened?

By late evening, I knew Trump would win. 

I had gone into the day thinking it would be a narrow contest; that is, after all, what the media endlessly told us, between coy asides hinting it may be a landslide for Harris. Still, I thought if Trump retook Georgia, and claimed Pennsylvania, that he would get to 270. That . . . didn't seem that hard of a task, which was worrisome. To be clear, I foresaw NO scenario where Trump also earned Wisconsin and Michigan. 

But by the time the first slew of data came in, I thought the tide was clearly and irrevocably Red. It felt very 2016, but I kept my mouth shut, dreading the reaction of my family. 

Well, obviously Trump won, and he did it in a convincing fashion. Kinda disproves the whole "2020 was stolen thing," unless the Democrats quietly went to Confession and changed their ways, eh? 

Yaya and Alex, who had come over to celebrate a Harris win, retired early. Smiley left a similar party at a friends house and asked me for a ride home. 

We watched Trumps victory speech, and while it wasn't mean spirited it sure was rambling. 

For those counting, I've lost 6 of the 9 Presidential Elections I've voted in (including this one), winning only in 2000, 2004, and 2016. 

 .333 may be a great average in baseball, but it sucks in politics.

So - what happened? 

There's a lot of finger pointing out there, most of it driven by emotion. I do NOT think it was because Harris is a woman. I'm 50 and I've heard guys say the most gawd-awful things, but not once in that half century have I heard a man say/imply they wouldn't vote for a woman because of her gender. I've heard a woman say that, but never a man. I think writing the loss off to misogyny is convenient while having the added bonus of being dead wrong. 

Nancy Pelosi is out there peddling the notion that a lack of an open primary and the quick coronation of Harris robbed the field of viable candidates. Mind you, they've already pulled sound bytes of her contradicting those thoughts only a few months ago, but she's sort of right. As I wrote in my pre-election piece, the lack of a primary contest wasn't a good thing. 

People are also  blaming Biden for not withdrawing earlier. F* that. The ultra rich donors and Hollywood elites forced a sitting President to step aside,  and he did so - for nothing. They got the worst-case result (for them) anyway. They should be sending Biden flowers and apology notes. 

Lifelong Democrats I know have told me that the Harris campaign, while proficient in execution, never really gave the electorate a sense of her identity. She was just "kind of there" as an "anti-Trump." 

I'm not sure I completely agree with them about "identity," but after 8 years it's pretty clear  "anti-Trump" isn't the winning strategy they needed. 

What's my take? 

I think that most of America was unhappy with the inflation of Biden's term AND the constant attempts to wave it away as irrelevant. "Inflation has slowed to only 3%!" Well, yes, but that's 3% on top of the immense inflation that preceded it. That was killing the paycheck of your average Joe, and even Jimmy Carter had the political sense, in his term, to acknowledge it sucked.  A sincere mea culpa might have gone far with the electorate, and you know what? Harris was well posed to distance herself from the fallout by being the one to issue that statement of empathy. 

I also think, and you'll roll your eyes, that the celebrity endorsements hurt. Very few people actually care who an actor chooses to vote for, but even those darling few care less for a millionaire's opinion during tough economic times.  Also, as the Sean Combs scandal continues to widen,  I don't know, maybe don't collect endorsements from players in the same industry, much less some of the folks closest to the sex slaver? The DNC trotted out his ex, J-Lo, really??

Lastly, and I think most importantly, I just don't think America trusts the media anymore. When you've got a national media hammering home the same old anti-Trump rhetoric for year #8, maybe it doesn't carry the same weight it should; and by default, neither does their praise for Harris. So the media - even if/when correct - was just ignored. Now you carry forward the knowledge that for the second time in 3 elections the media and their pollsters got it, not just wrong, but WAY WAY wrong, and the trust level falls all the more. 

Not gonna lie - I'll probably never trust a poll in a Presidential election again.

Anyway, there's my thoughts. Oh, one last one: I'm an American, and like I said I've lost plenty of elections. Life goes on. America goes on. As Biden said after Tuesday, you can't just love your country when you win. I sincerely hope the next four years are successful ones for our country. 

An Honor(s) for the Crew

Best defense in the National League. A well deserved honor for an outstanding year in the field. 

And . . .

Officially the best defensive player in the National League. 

Congratulations Brice!

Election Day 2024

Twenty years ago this blog began, in large part, as a place for me to post my Republican beliefs. For those twenty years, as I did in the 12 years of adulthood prior,  I have consistently voted Red. 

This year, for the first - and hopefully last - time, I voted for a Democrat. 

When I went to vote early, back on October 22nd, I wasn't sure who was getting my vote. 

I think Trump was an effective President, whatever his personal faults. He easily earned my vote back in 2020. In the intevening four years however, the Jan 6th debacle, the politically motivated legal charges levied against him in NY and Georgia . . . they just broke him.

 Now that might have been the "goal" of his opponents, but not only did it start a dangerous precendent, it also kept Trump's name in the spotlight.  It reinforced the idea that he stood alone against the Media and the Left and all but ensured his name would be on the ballot again. A Pyrrhic victory at best.

But whatever the cause of the problem, I can't give my vote to a guy who no longer seems to be fully fuctioning. 

Believe me, I didn't WANT to vote for Kamala. There are a bevy of reasons.  I don't think prosecutors deserve my vote.  I remember her absymal intellectual performance against Biden in 2020. Her ads are a juvenille appeal to free money. She'll fix grocery prices and give 100 million people a tax break - just don't ask her how. 

Lastly, I'm not overlooking the fact that her campaign is feasting on the bones of a now forgotten Joe Biden, who - aside from his early gaffe in Afghanistan and his inabiltiy to check inflation - didn't do that bad of a job, all things considered. This was a planned end-around, intentionally delayed until after the primary season, and it still sits sour in my belly. It treads too closely to the phrase "legal coup" for my liking. 

Looking up and down the ballot here in Wisconsin, who else could get my vote? 

Not Jill Stein, perennial vote sucker of the Democratic ticket. 

Not RFK Jr, who reluctantly held my vote for much of the year, until he revealed himself to be a stooge for Trump. Naw, you lost me sir. 

The rest? Nobodies and never will be's. 

So Kamala it was. 

I felt ill submitting my ballot. 

But better to feel sick to my stomach, than sicken the country with a leader that is no longer in control of his anger and faculties 

Quincy Jones

 

Quincy Jones, the jazz great who became one of the world's premier producers, has died. He was 91. 

Although I have a familiarity with much of his work, I'll admit I know him best as Michael Jackson's producer and the father of Rashida Jones.  The older he got the more combative and insulting his recollections became, which makes getting to know his accomplishments a messy affair.  As a human the man was flawed, but his talent was undeniable. 

RIP 

20 Years of Slapinions!!

 

Twenty years ago today, basking in the glow of an election victory for the candidate of my choice, I started a blog on the now long defunct AOL Journals. 

11,000 plus entries and two full decades later, that blog continues, albeit now on Blogger. 

Slapinions has chronicled the birth of two of my children, the death of loved ones, emotional highs, crushing lows, and all points in-between. 

It has failed to bring me fame or fortune, but it has served as a go-to for the kids whenever they are researching something from their childhood, and inspired many of their school projects.

I love that. That one practical applicaton alone is enough to warm my heart and bring a smile to my face.  

Here's to another 20 years of Slapinons!

A Morning with Junie

Saturday morning Junie rolled out with me and Lisa to Central Library, where we stopped at the Book Cellar to stock up on books for the Little Library.  Then it was straight to her school, where the ladies filled the empty book box.

 Aftwerards we journeyed to Ross's on 70th and Greenfield, where they found several pieces for her senior picture outfits. From there, it was on to Maurice's at Southridge Mall, then a late breakfast at Honey Butter. 

That's Lisa's avacado toast and Junie's chocalate crepes in the pictures. I did not feel my biscuits and gravy was photogenic enough LOL