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?

Catching Up

Another long and shameful hiatus, so let's get to work and catch everyone up... Friday was the Four Eagles Dinner, our high-end parish fundraiser.  Lots of changes -- new caterer and new venue, the Bohemian National Home on Broadway and 49th.  I had been inside there only once, and not extensively; we were upstairs in the ballroom, and it is quite beautiful -- I can see having the event there every year.  The dinner was... good?  I mean, it wasn't as good as when our parish caterer did it, but I fully expected that, so... I mean, they had a full app table (borscht, kielbasa, stuffed mushrooms, cold meats), a Warsaw salad, decent entrees, kremovskie, and, for those interested, an open bar, including the parish hooch.  I ended up staying longer than expected and had a good time, so....

Saturday was OC duty.  We had just enough volunteers -- we could have used one more person in the back, to move carts, though I ended up helping to fill that role during quiet times at the front -- and the count was 148, a bit low, considering all that is going on with the economy and all.  But it was calm and fine -- the pain in the rear clients were few and far between, the freezers were mostly empty, and it was  mainly good.  Then errands and home to catch up on things; that took a good deal more than I expected -- catching up on emails, reading stuff, etc. But it was good, as we all know how I value those things.

Sunday was May Crowning, and while we did not release the rose petals -- not til the last Mass of the day, sigh -- it was still pretty enough.  Then it was gym, a few errands, Communion to my friend in West Par k, and then home to catch up on some work.  Mission accomplished, largely; I finished a few projects to get them off the plate for the week.  Things have been coming in hot and steady and it was good!

Yesterday I skipped the OC Board meeting (tomorrow I get a full recap) and instead went to a birthday dinner at Cleveland Chop House for my friend Mike, one of the sous chefs for our parish caterer.  It was quite good -- I had the steak au poivre, cheddar mash, and corn bread, and it was almost perfect (albeit a bit pricey).  Funny; I expected a big crowd and pricey parking by the place (off West 9th) due to the Cavs game, so I parked by CSU and hoofed it 30 blocks to the restaurant.  I paid $10 and change... but was slightly miffed to discover that parking was $20.  I could use the exercise, to be sure, but... 

And today was work and a trip to Lakewood for a haircut (also skipping a meeting).  I heard on the way there about the KFC bucket deal - 8 pieces for $10 -- and I was like "Gee, I should get that" as it has been a long time since I had the colonel.  I went to the one in Royalton and it was...closed, permanently, so next week it is.  My arteries, at least, rejoice. 

Wakefulness

Here I am, coughing up a storm, not exactly feeling better, but awake and blogging.  To be sure, I nodded off a bit before... one thing (two) I was able to do is go through the email pile and answer/handle a bunch.  I also sent out some things -- reports from Downtown, food pantry stuff, etc. - to both the East District parishes (for SVDP) and the OC Board.  I need to do a budget, I have other paperwork to handle, but... it looks cleaner both on my table and in my inbox.  Rah.

John Calipari offers up a very respectable take on NCAA Tournament expanding to 76 teams | OutKick
Dare I say I agree with the guy?  (The globe shudders.)  More seriously, he is 100% correct, and it would be nice if more coaches would speak out about this.  I realize they will not -- a mid-major getting in means that a 15th-place SEC team does not - but if he can do it...

USDA Tightens Rules on Which Stores Accept SNAP - NOTUS — News of the United States
Is this a bad thing?  Forcing stores to carry healthier food -- not that a lot of people will buy it -- and not covering junk food are hardly bad things.  I am fascinated that anyone thinks to the contrary.  I will also note that RFK was at the City Club today, and... I don't want to say that I am impressed, but the whole time I was thinking that much of what he was saying now is quite good and should be done.  It's the other stuff that is the issue, and I cannot help but think we could have found someone more MAHA without the baggage.

Why it’s still JD Vance | Semafor
Is this a bad thing?  I don't think it is, but...2028 is still a long way away, if you get my drift.