Rant #3,859: STOP

I put up this message yesterday on Facebook, and I really, truly think it needs to be put up again right here at the Blog.

If you haven't yet seen it, read it. It is pretty short but says exactly what I want to say about this subject.

If you have already seen it, read it again, make others aware of it--

And especially for my Jewish brethren, I want you to read it, absorb it, and read it again if necessary.

It is pretty obvious why I say this, but I want my Jewish brothers and sisters to read this and to fully absorb this, because right now, we are constantly shooting ourselves in the foot with our divisiveness.

You can be as liberal, and as left, as you want, but common sense should prevail, and I don't think that it is right now, in particular with a lot of Jews both in New York City and New York State in general--

And throughout our country and worldwide.

Here is what I posted yesterday on Facebook, and I am going to leave it at that for today.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for us all, as Jews, as Americans, and as citizens of the world.

"I am personally sick to death at certain Americans and politicians trying to sell us the warped and delusional bill of goods that Muslims and the religion that they follow are peaceful.

And the liberals and the left continue to try to convince us that we can't blame an entire religion for the bizarre and destructive behavior of a "few" radicals.

Funny, all of these heinous incidents involving the "few" radicals are happening worldwide--from the U.S., to Europe, to Australia--so it has gotten to the point that if this religion is actually "peaceful," this is NOT the way to prove it.

I don't see followers of other religions, like Christians and Jews, shooting and attacking innocent people while crying out that they are doing it to support terrorists and their aims and goals.

Simple brown nosing for votes, that is what this is. And the young and the uneducated and the ignorant people of this country fall for this nonsense.

The evidence is that you have a Muslim mayor in New York City who is an avowed anti-Semite overseeing a state with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and you have a governor of New York State who proclaims that the exact site where Muslim radicals changed our lives forever must honor their existence by shining lights honoring "Muslim American Heritage Month."

It has to stop. And it has to stop now."

Rant #3,858: Good Thing

Funny, Venezuelans here in America are rejoicing about this situation — where we brought dictator Maduro to the United States to be prosecuted for narco-terrorism, among other crimes — while I see marchers protesting against it who are as Venezuelan as I am.

If the people most directly impacted by this move are happy about it, why are non-Venezuelans--liberals, anarchists, and the like, I assume--so dead set against it?

That is a rhetorical question, I already know the answer ... if President Trump does something that is actually good, no matter what it is, these lefties are blatantly against it.

And while I am not a Trump lover, it is so obvious what they are doing.

I even heard one anti-Trump imbecile state during a TV report on News 12 Long Island that since we put Venezuela's "president" in jail here, it is time for Venezuelans to come here and do the same thing to our president, throw him in jail in Venezuela.

They interviewed this idiot in Bethpage, which I will bet has a scant Venezuelan community, even if that.

Yes, this is the mindset of crazy people, but they have the nerve to say things like this in all seriousness and with a straight face.

Go figure.

Maybe I am stupid, or just plain ignorant, but I can't.

You do not have to love our President, but give him some kudos when he does something right.

I guess that is just so beyond some people.

Sure, he bypassed Congress--President Truman did not confer with Congress before dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, and President Obama did not get such approval to off Osama Bin Laden--and he did not follow the Monroe Doctrine to the letter--although it is my understanding that the Doctrine is directed more at Europe than anyplace else, and certainly not South America.

Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do at the right time and the right place, and this weekend was both the right time and the right place.

Truman did it, Obama did it, so why is Trump being raked over the coals by some fir what he did?

Honestly, whatever side you are on in this mess, you ultimately have to blame the people--the American people--for this mess to begin with.

If there was no market or need for cocaine and whatever else Venezuela was manufacturing and shipping here to poison Americans, then they wouldn't be shipping it here in the large droves that they are.

We live in a country where the scourge of drugs is downplayed, made into a political football, or totally made legal, such as the current state of marijuana in many states of this union.

People abuse illegal drugs just by them being illegal.

They are illegal for a reason.

Their use can be deadly--like fentanyl--or at the least very addicting, mind altering and sickening.

Some of our population do not care, and people use these drugs as sort of an antidote for what ails them.

This is a "hand to mouth" type of thing.

Don't compare it to cancer or any diseases that infect the body and the mind and the spirit.

The way you prevent drug abuse is simple: just don't use the drugs.

Funny, so many people that supposedly have no money wind up with these drugs, and so many people with money do too.

But you have to have common sense, no matter what financial strata you are in.

These are drugs meant to harm you, they are illegal, so why use them?

Yes, we as a society have been very lax on drug abuse, and we are currently using the legality of marijuana as a cash cow.

Studies show that marijuana can have lingering effects on the brain, so why use it?

Why use nicotine, for that matter.

But back to cocaine and whatever else Venezuela has been shipping over here ...

Don't use it, then there is no market for it.

Then the oil argument ...

Venezuela has oil. We all know that.

But getting rid of Maduro will make the country plentiful for everyone.

The oil leaders being brought into the country will make the country, and its citizens, prosperous--

Rather than have a select few have all the wealth there.

It is called capitalism, and since when is that bad?

So to all the imbeciles shouting against our President and what he did, I ask you this--

Do you support a dictator?

It comes down to that.

Do you support a dictator?

Answer the question.

Do you support a dictator?

Rant #3,857: There Are Roses Somewhere In This World

Not much to tell you about New Year's Eve.

I managed to stay up after watching AEW Wrestling and then a supposed Baby Boomers Rock Show on WPIX here--the latter of which was godawful, with audio and video problems, especially early on--and then at about 11:55 p.m., I joined my son in our living room and watched the ball drop.

Once it dropped, I dropped off to bed and sleep.

On New Year's Day, I woke up to find out that my sister is under the weather and we would not going to her house today.

I went down to get the newspaper, and it was on the snow covered sidewalk, so I had to go outside to get it. It is normally hung on the door to the building where our apartment is, so I just have to reach around the door and get it; this time, I had to go out and get it out of the snow.

Then after that, I tried to turn on my computer, and for some reason, it would not go on as quickly as it normally does. It did eventually boot up, by I also had a difficult time turning it off the prior night, so ... 2026 might be time for a new computer, as I think the computer itself is telling me that it is not long for this world.

Then I had to clean off my car that was filled with a thin layer of snow, nothing that terrible, but since I hate the snow to begin with, quite annoying.

This was followed by a drive to my sister's house to return a table and chairs we had borrowed. The main roads were good, except, of course, one of the main roads leading to her house, which was very icy and slippery, so I drove pretty slowly there and back.

And then after seeing if there was any work for me to do today beyond what I already done on that morning--there was just a little bit--I went into Facebook, and I saw more and more hate speech, as if the changeover to 2026 meant absolutely nothing to these jerks.

So 2026 has not been much different than 2025 was, even during its very first day.

At least I was paid from work and received my Social Security payment with the increase attached to it ...

That $35 or so will get me an extra tank of gas each month, so I won't look a gift horse in the mouth--

Even though Medicare went up, just about wiping out the pittance of an increase we all received.

Like I said, in spite of my own thoughts, absolutely nothing has changed in the new year, and I do mean NOTHING.

It is the usual "same old, same old" over in my neck of the woods, and I wonder if you felt the same way about the new year, even on its very first day.

In July, we will all be celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great country--

And I am hoping by then, I can say that things were different--and better--from the previous year ...

But based on these early returns, I wouldn't bet Betsy Ross nor the Stars and Stripes on it--

Would you?

Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.