Ovair

Definition:        In that direction

In Use:            "Where's you Daddy son?"

                        "He's ovair, suh."

Where Was This

 The picture at the header of this blog has historical significance.

Can you tell me what that is?

Les Miserables

A sporadic effort over a year has ended with the completion of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

The novel was published in 1862, a story about an ex-convict's struggle for redemption in the depressed country of France, following Napoleon's defeat and exile.

Kind of already knew the story having been dragged to the Broadway production, by my wife, twice.

The book is  a hard read, but worth it.

The Master of the House, in the book, is not one bit humorous.

Otis Taylor

Since the season of Super Bowl IV, I’ve been a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. Those Vikings included Joe Kapp, Alan Page and Carl Eller, a great group that was the first of four teams that Bud Grant led to the championship game. 

I picked the Vikings as my favorite team because real Vikings had horns on their helmets.  Not a bad choice for a little boy, analytical, engineer-like.

Anyway, while doing some web browsing, ran across the name Otis Taylor.  Bad memories arose, Otis breaking free of Ed Sharockman, sealing the low scoring championship game. Damn.

Otis was a really good wide receiver, big, very big for the day, and fast..  He played for over a decade, only for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Otis Taylor at Wikipedia

Otis passed away last March, he was 80 years old

Because He Supports Me

The Wall Street Journal posted an opinion written by James Taranto, discussing the statements of former Senator of Nebraska and current President of the University of Florida at Gainesville, Ben Sasse.  

Sasse and the Unwoke

When asked if cries for the genocide of Jews would violate UF's policies bullying and harassment policy?  Something that the leaders of M-eye-T, Hah-vud and Pen-E trouble with. Mr. Sasse was direct to the point.

“Yes”

The discussion drifted to the presidential race and President Trump.  Sasse, as Nebraska's Senator and avowed Libertarian, was often critical of the Republican President. He did on most instances vote with the president but as an ideological foe, was therefore a darling of mainstream media.

I heard this on the radio, so I will have to paraphrase, I did search the internet and had trouble finding the text to which I am referring.  

I have not always supported the President, but he has always supported me.

Not my words but captures my feelings very well.  I voted for other candidates in the last two of state primaries, but did vote for Trump in both national elections.   In the first national, he got my vote with a held nose, in the second with eagerness  In the third he will get my vote in both the primary and the national. 

This article seems to include the original phrasing.

“I’m gonna flip it on you and say he supported my policies.” 

Now the paraphrase and the actual quotation are not exactly the same, but close enough. Close enough to explain why it was so difficult to locate with common search engines.

Right Smart

Right smart is defined as a goodly amount.

"She's put on a right smart of weight lately."

Question

Why is it that the government, in this case the FBI, characterizes expressions of racism as "right wing".  In this story a transgender person, a biological man, has expressed hatred for black people.  The hatred reportedly arose from black persons not respecting female representation. 

FBI Classifies Transexual as "ALT-Right"

To me, this is disturbed individual, assigning the classification an oversimplification. 

As people and governments are prone to do.

In my experience, transexuals are almost always left leaning.

Where is it factual that only right leaning persons are racist?

There are endless streams of cases of right and left based racism.  

In this case the FBI's public service announcements belie the bias of its political leadership.  

Let's hope that the rank-and-file agents are seriously investigating. 

Tire Imbalance

Canada now rivals California in leading the western hemisphere toward imbecilic treatment of the enemy.

Canada: Muslima who attacked people in tire store says if released, she'll 'commit a new terrorist attack'

The lady committed a terroristic act and promises to do it again if given the chance.  Please take her at her word and keep your citizens safe, don't look for an avenue to excuse her violent behavior. 

Cent

Cent is the plural of cent.

"You paid fifty dollars for that necktie? Ah wouldn't give 50 cent for it."

Customer Dis-service

 When I was in high school, I had a job working in a grocery store. In my few years there, learned to rotate dairy, fruit and vegetables, slice cold-cuts, stock shelves, bag groceries and run a cash register.

The cash registers were the old kind where you had to punch specific buttons for dollars and cents.  Counting change was the first thing to learn.

1. Politely tell the customer the total.
2. Accept the money from the customer and place on the shelf above the cash tray.
3. Open the cash drawer, and starting with the total of the bill, count up to the amount of money that the customer had supplied.
4. Place the money in the customer's hand.
5. Thank the customer.
6. Place the customer's money into the cash drawer.
7. Help the customer with his bags if necessary.

The main rule was to be nice, the second was the manner of counting out change.

Today, I was at a burger joint grabbing lunch. The bill was $12.29, so I handed the young lady $20.30, with the expectation that all she would have to do is hand me $8.00.  Over about a minute I watched the young lady counting out change, to the point that she had a hand full of coins. 

Trying to be helpful, I told her that:

All I need is $8.00 cash.

To which I received the angry retort:

I know how to count change.

Which obviously was not correct.

Possessing a short temper, I held back and in an equally angry tone said:

Excuse me?

 Another employee scooted over at that moment, presumably to support the angry dumb one, so I eased up, took my lunch and moved to a table, sitting facing the cashier. 

This is more and more common, I understand that cash registers are more advanced, in that there has been no need to teach employees how to count change. In most places these days cashiers enter the amount of cash received, count out the change and thrust it out there without a word or even a smile. 

So, a skill that required a pleasant exchange between the cashier and the customer has been forgotten.  We have no choice to accept that young people are too fucking lazy to count, but I draw the line at rudeness and absolutely let them know when they've crossed it. 

Funny thing is, I usually make to extra effort to be cheerful and helpful to cashiers and servers.

A Twist

From olden days, I remember a pejorative term for homosexuals to be the word "twist".  In this story the word has dual applications.

1. Aidan Maese-Czeropski and his partner were recorded having homosexual relations in the Capital building. In this case the twists are the gay guys.
2.  The linked article "Fired for his act of love in the senate" says enough in the title, twisting the issue into an attack on the LGBQT right of love.  To that, I call bullshit, anybody of any sexual orientation should be fired if they are a documented as having sex on Federal grounds, especially if they are on the clock being paid. ANYBODY.  Even Bill Clinton deserved the inquiry an impeachment he received for the escapade with Monica Lewinski. He was acquitted by the Senate, but the matter was adjudicated.

Here is the article copied and pasted, comments added in blue italic.

Fired for his act of love in the senate

Aidan Maese-Czeropski's act was symbolic and brave, because in a world full of hate, displays of love are rebellious. We shouldn't bend over (poor choice of words, possibly intentional) to a party that hates; we must do the opposite.  

BY AFRU STAFF

So, it’s official. Senator Ben Cardin’s office has told Politico that “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the US Senate.” Goaded by demagogic republicans (Cardin is a Democrat, if as suggested he must be weak minded to be so easily influenced. Nope it is far more likely that a man elected to the Senate has strength to make his own decisions. Stop trying to blame this on Republicans), the Capitol police has now also opened an investigation.  

As republicans pounce (term used by many in the media these days, it generally means that conservative has identified an obvious and embarrassing characteristic) on an opportunity to destroy young activist Aidan Maese-Czeropski, the discourse around the senate hearing room love display raises serious questions about the ongoing challenges faced by the LGBTQ community.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve already seen the viral video (nope, have no need, thank you) making the rounds on every social media feed there is. Republicans just can’t stop watching the 8 second clip featuring two men embracing each other in love while you can briefly see an empty room in the background.

It turns out one of the lovemaking men was Aidan Maese-Czeropski, and the room was recognized by some as the senate (lewd behavior in a Federal building) hearing room. 

We get it. It’s the most important room in America. It was in this very room that Sonia Sotomayor herself had her confirmation hearing, and won despite an entire oligarchy reorienting itself to wipe her out (is that unlike some of the unethical crap that Senators Leahy and Biden pulled during their tenures on the Judiciary panel?). This is also where James Comey exposed the Russian interference in the 2016 elections (proven to be a big fat lie, constructed by Hillary's apparatchiks), to the chagrin of the treason party.

But in a world built on hate, displays of love are inherently rebellious (unlikely that it was a rebellion, more likely that it was two uncontrolled adults breaking the law). Every second that Aidan and his partner made love in the halls of power was pregnant with poignant meaning (sex in Federal building is nowhere in the vicinity of poignant).

And in a time when the LGBTQ community is under existential threat by white fragility feeling threatened (I am neither fragile nor threatened, only irritated by this insipid article), open displays of LGBTQ culture are necessarily brave (and often unnecessarily obscene). In some ways, Aidan’s act mirrored that of Anne Frank, (Anne Frank, hid from the Nazis who sought to kill all like her they could find, so not anything like Anne Frank, at all) who dared to express her honest thoughts and feelings (her writing was not published until after the Nazis killed her) even as she hid from rabid insurrectionist-style (so protestors are the same as Nazi murder squads, I don't think so) death squads.

The dismissal has sparked a familiar conversation about the boundaries of personal expression and the repercussions faced by those who challenge the status quo. But because Aidan is from the LGBTQ community, he could stand to lose so much more than money, reputation, or career.

Let’s recognize the fallout from the incident for what it is: a stochastic far right attack on gay rights activists. As republicans fire up their hate machine in preparation for the 2024 elections, Aidan’s very life is now on the line. Let’s not fool ourselves. Right-wing attacks will scream with ever increasing pitch from darkweb radio stations and social media channels until some insurrectionist nutjob picks up a gun and the intended consequences have become fait accompli.  I am sensing a fair bit of irrational hate on the author's part for people of the right.

Now more than ever, we need to circle the wagons around (opportunity for a humorous pejorative) Aidan Maese-Czeropski, and say with a unison voice:

Aidan’s termination by Senator Ben Cardin (Democrat Maryland), is an affront to individual freedoms, as it sends a chilling message about the consequences of expressing love in a public, political space.

Aidan’s prosecution by the Capitol police is blatant political corruption and weaponization of justice against a marginalized person.  This author might very well believe that following the law, and social norms is a vehicle for corruption, but I am not sure by what measure.

Aidan’s persecution by right-wing nutbars writ large is a threat to his life and the life of every LGBTQ individual in this country. Perhaps next time, he'll wait till he gets home from work, and consider that a lesson well learned.

This cannot stand. The fight has just begun.  You might suggest that something like this could be reversed, but rest assured it will not. No politician I can think of, except may AOC, has the courage to take such a self-destructive position.