Mattie Lazarus

First, I was sad to see that Kenny Atkinson did not have a statistical breakdown of game four.  :)  OK, I don't think the Knicks needed bulletin board material -- it just seemed like they were the better team -- but that was... not exactly opportune of him to say that?  I don't know; not a huge Cavs fan, but it certainly seemed that Harden was... if not exactly old, not exactly a starter for a top-tier team.  And, the Cavs looked... defensively porous, to put it mildly.  I should pay attention more to see how they are going to fix it, if they are.

Second... I do hope the TX GOO knows what they are doing.  Talarico seems beatable, even in a blue wave, but, as I like to say, why take a chance?

In other news (I tried to post yesterday, but Blogger wouldn't let me log on)... let's go in reverse.  Today I went to KFC and got the 8 for $10 deal -- eight drumsticks and/or thighs for $10, and a side of cole slaw.  I have not had it since Mom died, and it was... quite good.  I forgot how nice the mix of spices was.  I would go again, albeit not right away.  It was a good switch from the salmon I made (a plank), and even after an extended session on the exercise bike... well, it was worth it.  A couple of days of fried chicken will not kill me, I think.  To be sure, I will be another year older in less than two weeks, and I am NOT feeling it, if you get my drift.  It will be beautiful this week, and I may take some lunch walks, just to get out and get some rays.

Anyways, it was a good long weekend.  Did some work but not too much.  Caught up on ALL of the back episodes of J! I had saved.  Hung out with some friends Sunday night.  Cleaned my house a bit -- I had the windows open quite a bit, simply because, after all these years, I can.  Read a couple of books (not too long) to get me to 20.  Even decided to conquer the pile of library DVDs and watched "The Loving Story," a documentary about the Lovings -- an interracial couple who fought the state of VA to legally marry.  This will surprise no one, but I preferred the second half -- which dealt with their legal case (went to the Supreme Court) -- than the first, which was a personal look at their lives.  But it was interesting, if a bit odd; hard to believe now that people fought about stuff like that.  And, as it was on the National Film Registry, this got me to 859.

Jon Husted Ohio Medicaid fraud: what his testimony revealed - cleveland.com

I get a kick out of these articles, because we all know if Husted -- or any non-RINO GOPer -- went after this, people like the PD and their readers would claim racism, sexism, hatred against poor people, etc., ad nauseum, simply out of reflex, and the result is that most nowadays feel it is just not worth it.  In some ways I would love to see a GOPer call them out for this.  I realize it would be largely useless, as they are too stupid and libtardy to realize it, or care, but...

Ohio’s food banks grappling with high demand that just keeps climbing with economy woes and aid cuts - cleveland.com

Similarly, I find this amusing.  Part of the GCFB's problem is that they created this mess - you really don't have to verify anything (like that you are poor) to get stuff, and I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of people are mooching and cheating the system.  Now, they could easily tighten the rules, but they don't, for reasons known but to them.  As far as I concerned, they caused this, and only a reduction of their resources -- donations, state aid, etc. -- will get them to change, and I think we all know how popular that will be.

Mattie posts

I should probably post!  Thursday and Friday I just worked, caught up on stuff, and crashed -- yesterday I tried to get through the backlog of emails and stuff (not quite done).  Today was my first off day, and I was busy -- woke up early, drove to the Acme in Montrose to buy pop and such, gym, errands, a spot of cleaning, some work, and I ended sort-of watching the Cavs and making a trip down memory lane.  I think I mentioned some Slate reporter asked me about my reminisces about the Teen Tournament.  I sent her a lengthy note (up in the ether, no reply, and we know how I feel about that, and reporters in general).  Anyways, I had told her that I had a scrapbook of everything that Mom had made, so I went through it (first time in a decade or more).  It is comprehensive, albeit in a box with my other high school and college stuff.  I organized it a bit -- it was all jumbled but I put it in chronological order.  If she calls or writes, it's ready for perusal.  Rah.

Is it me, or the Cavs are... overrated?  Too many turnovers.  Harden looks older than I am.  I suspect the Knicks are the better team, but we are doing our best to give them the series, and you would think that is an easy problem to solve (albeit next season).

Before You Invest in Crypto, Watch This Film – Mother Jones
Interesting -- I sort of want to see this, and I need more stuff to watch like a hole in my head.  Hell, I am still a couple of episodes behind on J!, and that doesn't even consider the stuff I got from the library a few weeks ago.  Yes, I should watch some this weekend, but the weekend is half over now, if you will.  I still need to do some more cleaning, but there is no reason -- with Monday off -- that I couldn't get at least one done.  Sigh.

Bemusement

Finished book 18 yesterday, Alienated America, which looks at the rise of Trump and why.  It is interesting, in some ways -- Trump's biggest support is where the bonds of community are most frayed, such as job loss, lack of church attendance, lack of births in marriage.  But... well, the last two are the sorts of things that are easy to fix -- join a church, marry your partner, get involved in your community.  People don't and then complain how bad things are, which makes no sense to me.  Yes, we are creatures of habit, but... then again, when you see these articles about young people flocking to churches and Mass, well...maybe people do get it.  Now, the economic stuff is a bit harder to solve, but if people get involved in the community...well, maybe you will see some new ideas?  Just maybe?  You really do have nothing to lose but your chains...

Spencer Pratt Was a Reality TV Villain. Now He Wants to Be L.A.’s Savior. - WSJ
'The Hills' villain makes a splash as candidate for LA mayor | AP News
Can he win?  Yes?  Will he?  Probably not; the numbers are not there.  On the other hand, the ads are pretty slick, and he has a point -- Karen Bass has been a wreck of a mayor, and while Pratt may not have any experience, he can see what has gone wrong, and in the jungle primary system CA has...well, anything can happen.

Texas Tech’s $5M QB caught betting on his own games 10,000 times
I have been sort of following this story, and it is fascinating to me.  On the one hand, the guy was betting on his own team for Christ's sake, and should get the book thrown at him.   Of course, in this day and age...well, he is in treatment, he has a mental issue, and of course the lawyers are involved.  In the real world he would be told to pound salt, but in this day and age, I think we all know what will actually happen.

Thoughts

Funny; I was listening to the weather this morning, and Jeff Tanchak pointed out that we might have some cooler weather today, and that would dampen the effect of the thunderstorms tonight.  And, I dare say that is exactly what happened... it did seem like we had a bit less heat today (my AC ran less) and the rain, when it came, was not quite so awful as expected.  I guess I can live with that; I took the stuff to the compost this AM, and if the cooler weather keeps the grass from growing as rapidly... well, I will survive.

Bad week for the anti-Trumpers in the GOP -- Cassidy, Massie, Raffensberger all went down.  Not that this was unexpected, but... I am not sure that Paxton is the stronger candidate in TX, and Cornyn has a chance there, I guess, but... considering the prospect of a blue wave, I would think all of the time and money be better spent being deployed against Democrats.  Just a thought -- call me crazy -- but I prefer an external firing squad to the circular one.

How Nicki Minaj Became Trump’s ‘No. 1 Fan’ - WSJ
When did this happen?  First, when did Nicki Minaj become 43?  And married?  But I digress.  No, how did Nicki Minaj become a Trumper?  The article is actually pretty fascinating, and even after reading it twice, I am still not quite sure what to make of it.  OK, I am glad she is on my side, I guess.

I looked at the Cavs score early in the evening, saw they were up 20 or so... and I see they lost.  I am beginning to think it is a good idea that I do not gamble on sports. 

Success

Today was quite a good day.  Certainly beautiful out -- just the right amount of sun, wind, and temperature.  Hard to believe that not even two weeks ago we had frost warnings, and next we will have record heat this week... odd.  Weather in Ohio.  Anyways, Mass was quite nice -- even introduced to a new and youngish couple; I mean, this is my home/family parish, and I will never feel unwelcome here, but we all know there are plenty of people who will give you the stinkeye (or worse) if you sit in their pew...so the least I can do is to be nice.  

Anyways, then it was off to the OC, where today I hosted our Third Annual Communion Mass and Breakfast for my District.  It was interesting -- I took the keys to the doors but when I went to set up the coffee station, I needed to get the keys for the cabinets, and hence another trip to the OC.  Anyways, I soon had everything set up, the caterers came, one of my parish leaders came early (we talked quite a bit), and... we had nice, slightly long, but successful meeting.  I had a few guest speakers -- social worker about getting people on to SNAP/HEAP/PIP, someone to talk about how well twinning was going (and why we want to do more), and someone from Downtown (who got some hard questions; I warned her about it, but it is not the same as getting it).  I cleaned up, packed up the leftovers for Herman House, took some stuff to my sister's, and came home.  I have a couple of days of breakfast for dinner leftovers, but not too much more, as my stomach is telling me I am not used to such fare.

Have to admit, I like going to Ohio City (sometimes) but I would not want to live there.  Nice houses, walkable, but who wants to live among all the winos and whatnot in the area.  I mean, it's one thing to deal with Hope and Changers, but all of the interesting characters.... I think I can do without.

Saturday was OC duty and it was fairly quiet; we still expect large crowds, but again, the numbers were off (low).  I joke it is all this Republican prosperity (and a lot of our clients have to get jobs with welfare reform and the lack of illegals), but I think that is not the full picture.  Not sure what it is but it is odd.  We are closed this upcoming weekend, so we made sure all of the produce and bread was given away.  I will be ordering more meat and frozen items but certainly not produce.

I had thought about going to the Asian Festival today, and I am glad I did not, as it was closed for being too crowded.  I was joking my less adventuresome (in the culinary sense) friends that they ran out of chicken feet, but...let's hope we have the same luck at the Polish Festival.

Down Memory Lane

Busy and dare I say a productive day?  I mean, after work and all, I cut the grass (somewhat overdue) and then weed-whacked (more than somewhat overdue), then came in, had dinner, caught up on stuff, washed dishes, and then cleaned the bathroom, including the shower, which, to continue using a phrase, was somewhat overdue.  Now, I didn't do a lot of the other stuff I wanted (I nodded off, sigh) but some of the big things are done, and that is... nice?  To be sure, I have a theoretically full day and weekend tomorrow, so that will be hard (especially when I am up now), but...

Penile implant specialist with history of far-right comments led hantavirus presser | CNN Politics
Dare I say that this seems oddly appropriate for this administration?

They admit it was BS all along - by Tom Knighton
There really needs to be more of an effort to call these people out for their lies/BS/obvious exaggerations.  I mean, no one is going to haul ManBearPig in and ask him if he was lying or just stupid, but they should!

Odd...this reporter from Slate sent me an email asking about my J! experience.  I think she is legit, and I am thinking about it.  I think we all know what I think about reporters, but this hardly seems the type of thing where they pull their usual antics.  On the other hand, I don't like reporters, and there is no guarantee that she wouldn't...  I guess I can sleep on it and craft a response -- one way or the other -- tomorrow.

The What-Ifs

I didn't blog last nite; rather, I was in bed right at 11, and must have fallen asleep soon thereafter.  Woke up at 6 to pee, thought about staying awake, but instead slept for another half hour, and it was glorious.  I mean, I haven't slept that long -- or well -- in a while, and I felt it today.  Now of course we are back to our usual ways -- I nodded off a bit after J!, and am up now catching on things.  I really should have forced myself to bed at 11, but things and life intervene.  Alas.

He’s back: Biden returns to the campaign conversation, backing two former advisers | Semafor
This is odd.  Very odd.  Ok, I can see how in a blue district this could be an asset, but anywhere else... most odd.

I have been listening to the full nine hours of the Civil War Battlefield Trust's history of the Battle of Chancellorsville, recorded in 2023 for the 160th anniversary.  Interesting, of course.  More to the point, the one point often made is that Joe Hooker should never have lost that battle, and that is 100% correct.  Indeed, at every day of the battle, he made ALL the wrong decisions to lose it.  Even on May 3, he could decided to stay and fight, force Lee to unite his divided (and outnumbered!!) army, and even accounting for the genius of Lee (without Stonewall Jackson)....well, it is a tough order.  We will never know, of course, what he was thinking, but it is quite odd that the man of all his confidence, if you get my drift, really funked out at such a critical time.  He really did build the army that won at Gettysburg, and did fairly well (for a while) in the Atlanta Campaign, but... 

Duke Blue Devils' $20 million roster: How top recruits and transfers will impact next season
Let's hope $20M can pay for someone who can get out of a double-team, right?