Rant #3,067: Bits and Pieces

Yes, it is time for another “Bits and Pieces” Blog post.

There are a few things that I want to talk about, but none of them deserve a full column’s view, so this format is better for me to voice my thoughts on a couple of issues.

So let’s begin the week with “Bits and Pieces.”

Here goes—

U.S. Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon: Does anyone really understand why this took so long to do, given the supposed facts that have been reported?

This spy balloon entered our environs last week, and had been buzzing around the midsection of our country for several days when finally, its mission was aborted when we shot the thing down.

I have several questions that have yet to be answered by anyone in our government:

How did this spy balloon enter our air space undetected?

Why was it allowed to continue on its course,, much of it over military installations, for as long as it did?

What data did it collect while it was flying around, and has whatever it collected been relayed back to China before it was finally obliterated?

Heck, the President of the United States doesn’t even have these answers and is bewildered as the rest of us are, as he had asked that the balloon be shot down days ago, and then was told that it couldn’t be shot down over land, as the debris could fall to the ground and put civilians in peril.

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you … or at least stock in a balloon company.

So we let this thing wander around our air space for a couple of days, gather whatever information it was sent here to gain, and then, after several days, we blow it out of the air?

Wouldn’t it have been a better plan if we got this thing out of the air before it was able to gather any information?

Again, I don’t think even the President understood all of this, and we are led to believe that he had had enough, and finally gave the word as our commander in chief that when the balloon was over water it would be removed, and that is exactly what happened.

We have people looking for the debris, but what damage has already been wrought by this thing which China called an “errant weather balloon” ,,, yes, one that was errant for thousands and thousands of miles and just happened to wander into our air space.

I think Americans need to not only question the Chinese for their tactics but question our own government about what the real reason is that it took so long to shoot this thing down from the sky.

Kyrie Irving Leaves Nets For Mavericks in a Trade He Demanded To Be Made: Late Friday afternoon, the basketball cancer known as Kyrie Irving demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets—who have coddled him through non-compliance with coronavirus shot indifference, anti-Semitic behavior and a whole lot of other bizarre instances—and they sent him to the Dallas Mavericks.

I wish the Mavs good luck, because they are going to really, really need it.

This basketball cancer—who has burned bridges in Cleveland, Boston and now Brooklyn—has more baggage than a busy train porter, and while he also has a world of talent, he is his own worst enemy, and he doesn’t really understand that what he says and does is so unprofessional and quite frankly, strange.

Kyrie Irving may now play for Dallas, but in actuality, he is an entity playing for himself.

He has no clue what being a team player is and leaves every organization he has been with in tatters because of his own crazy behavior.

The Nets might not be better on the court with this trade—which will certainly lead to Kevin Durant wondering what he got himself into in Brooklyn—but off the court, they have improved their situation 1 million percent by getting rid of this wart.

Another One of My Friends Enters “The Old Fogey Club”: I went to a 65th birthday party for a dear friend yesterday, and it was a really fun time for all, in particular this friend, who now joins me in this aforementioned “club.”

Baby boomers—once the young guns who were going to change the world and actually did do just that in many, many ways—are now the oldsters, and many of us are 65 years of age and beyond that number in 2023.

It is not easy being a member of this club, in particular when the news media looks at people over 50 years of age as being ancient.

But as Baby Boomers continue to mature, they will have to deal with us in one way or the other, but it remains a difficult task to realize that those of a certain age are now looked at as being old and decrepit.

My friend will be fine. He still has his job as a teacher, and he can pretty much write his own ticket as to how long he wants to continue to do this—he earned that right years ago.

But some of us “Old Fogeys” also earned that right, and also earned it years ago, but will not ever be able to exercise whatever benefits that right gives you, and those are the people that need the most help, because society isn’t going to bend over backwards to help such people.

And that is a real shame, because those people still have so much to offer the world … but go explain that to people who are in decision-making positions who are about half your age, if even that.

And that is the real “Old Fogey Club,” those of us who have been put into unnecessary and unwarranted shackles by people who claim to understand and to respect us, but prove that talk is cheap by stereotyping us as being on our death beds and won’t give us a break.

Shame on them all.

So that is the end of this installment of “Bits and Pieces.”

And this “Old Fogey” will speak to you again on Tuesday.