Rant #3,151: Bits and Pieces

It’s time for another “Bits and Pieces” entry, where I talk about topics that I don’t believe demand a full Rant’s worth of coverage.

So let’s dive right into it!

Trump Pleads “Not Guilty” To Indictment in Federal Court: I am going to start off this entry by stating that I voted for Donald Trump twice for President and I do believe that as our Commander-In-Chief, he was a good President, made some good decisions, and honestly, if I asked myself if I was personally in a better position when he was President versus Joe Biden as President, I would have to pick the former over the latter in a landslide—

But when Trump lost the election to Biden, Trump went ballistic, and his overall behavior—whether it was in taking pride in the Insurrection or just his overall, sore loser’s attitude—simply turned me off, and no matter what the circumstances, I will never vote for him again, whether he is running for President or for dog catcher.

That being said, this latest craziness he has gotten himself into is one for the books.

Taking all your highly volatile and Top Secret paperwork and storing them in your house and in rooms that are highly accessible to anyone is really kind of stupid, and yes, it is against the law.

But Trump continued to trump the law on this, pretty much stating that all of these materials—even the most volatile, Top Secret ones—were his, because they were all constituted while he was President, so he can do with them what he wants.

This is of course very untrue, and now, if convicted of this crime, he could see 20 years in prison.

And yes,, he is guilty as sin on these charges.

However, I do believe that Trump is being targeted by those who are very afraid of him in 2024, and they are doing everything in their power to make him look bad, even while he makes himself look very foolish on his own.

They know that at least right now, he is the only Republican candidate that can beat Joe Biden, and they are doing everything in their power to temper that, even though the more they throw at him, the more popular he seemingly becomes.

So the plan is not working, and while Trump himself makes himself into a dunce with his actions, others making him look like a fool have failed miserably on their quest.

Let’s remember that even if he is found guilty, he can still run for President from his jail cell … and remember, whatever his shortcomings—and there are so many—he did get the second highest vote total ever for President, with Biden getting the most votes ever … and with Biden not being a very popular President, we could have a jail bird as our leader come November 2024.

Former Marine Indicted Over Chokehold Death of Mentally Ill Subway Performer: Yes, we are talking about indi8ctments today, and here is another one, a huge story in at least the New York Metropolitan Area that we all should be aware of.

Several weeks ago, Daniel Penny, a former Marine who is now a college student, was one of the many New York City subway riders who was being verbally harassed by Jordan Neely, a man with serious mental problems who was well known underground as a Michel Jackson impersonator.

The confrontation was a fierce one, as Neely was threatening passengers, including Penny, and the confrontation became so fierce that Penny put a chokehold on this guy with severe mental problems—and a rap sheet a mile long—and, unwittingly, choked the guy to death.

This led to a series of protests in the subway—including blocking trains from coming through—and eventually the death was ruled a homicide and Penny was indicted.

Penny has said that he feared for this safety with this guy yelling and screaming at he and his fellow passengers, and others have come forward and said pretty much the same thing—some of the passengers even helped restrain Neely as the choke hold was applied.

This is almost a Bernard Goetz-type story, where a normal citizen takes the law into his own hands when he believes that he is in peril.

Penny did what he did, is remorseful, but like I said he did what he did … but the media here in New York has pretty much labeled him guilty—also fully buying into the untrue scenario that this was a racial crime, as Penny is white and the dead man was black--so who knows what his future holds.

They have painted Neely as this happy-go-lucky street performer, until it unwittingly came out in the wash that he had a bout 40 arrests for similar violent behavior towards others, had been given mental help by New York City, but walked out of whatever facility he was in each and every time, and was pretty much abandoned by his family because of his illness—

Until they saw dollar signs, and all of a sudden, they became very visible.

What is that all about anyway?

My Employment Situation: You might remember that about four years ago, when the company I worked for about a quarter century went out of business and I was thrown to the curb, whenever I did a “Bits and Pieces” column, I would comment—or not comment—on my employment situation which never raised about the “dire” level.

Although I do have a freelance job, it really hasn’t raised too much above that level to this day.

Anyway, since I was forced to take early retirement and Social Security way before I wanted to do so, I have applied for a handful of jobs here and there, primarily those advertised by the local Newsday newspaper, which recently started up a streaming news service.

For months, they have listed probably a dozen or more positions that I could easily fill--both full time and part time--everything from editorial assistant to writer to editor to even courier driver.

You might also remember that they covered my plight in their own publication, with stories about older workers looking for employment during the pandemic.

Well, I recently figured I had nothing to lose, so I applied again for a few part-time jobs, but I used a different cover letter this time—saving them the math and flat-out telling them that I was 66 years of age.

Again, I figured I had nothing to lose, as I heard nothing from them when I used a standard cover letter … I figured using an “un-standard” one might raise an eyebrow.

Well, after waiting several days for a reply, I haven’t heard a peep from them, and yes, I have to say that I believe in my heart that it has to do with my age—

But go prove it.

And the ads still run, the ads for those particular positions still run, and whether it was at age 62 or age 66, I can’t get hired because of my age, but I cannot without a shadow of a doubt prove it even though it is pretty obvious what is going on here.

What, me worry?

That part of my life is over, and has been over, for some time, and I have a lot of other worries that are much more important to me than this kind of utter nonsense.

My advice to all of you remains the same: DON’T RETIRE UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO.

The end.