Rant #3,905: Hunters and Collectors

I don't mind serious talk here at the Blog, but I think it is time to lighten up as we end the work week.

Yes, I await the outcome of my medical tests, and yes, I have plenty more to come next week, but I don't want to harp on that any more than I already have.

I need to relax, too.

So today, as the work week ends, I just want to talk about something pretty innocuous, something that is a bit lighter than what I have been talking about lately.

I was born to collect things.

When I was a very little kid, I started to collect comic books, as I was an early reader--probably at three years old--and I needed something to read.

Comic books gave me exactly what I wanted, and for years, that was my main collecting source,

I loved mainly the DC universe of super heroes, such as Superman, Batman, and all the others, but I also liked the Marvel group too, in particular Daredevil, a blind super hero that I found quite intriguing, even at a young age.

I continued to collect comic books as I got older, but another collecting passion I had was sports cards, and primarily baseball cards.

I started to get into sports when we moved to Rochdale Village in Queens, New York, and while I was never a good athlete, I just loved to collect, trade, and yes, flip baseball cards.

I collected all different types of sports cards--basketball, football, you name it--and I also collected non-sports cards--TV shows, Beatles, all of them--but my main focus was baseball cards.

In high school, needing money for one thing or another, I very stupidly sold my sports card collection. I regret to this day doing it, because some of those cards would be worth plenty of money today, including a Babe Ruth card that I had.

So going into college, I was still collecting comic books.

From my very young years through high school, my mother, my sister and I had a pretty sizable record collection.

We all listened to the records on our old HiFi, but I really didn't think it was MY collection and MY collection alone.

It really was the family's collection, with my mother buying my sister and my first records, going back to the Chipmunks and moving through the Beatles, the Monkees and Broadway cast albums, the latter of which my mother loved.

My sister kind of took over the collection in the late 1960s and early 1970s, what with David Cassidy and the Partridge Family being her focus, and while I still listened to our records, I kind of moved off record collecting for several years.

When I got to college, I was still collecting comic books, but the people I knew there were diehard music fans, and I kind of eased my way back into collecting records on my own.

I remember that sometime during freshmen year, I decided between the two collections, because I was spending so much money and time on both that it was stretching my time and my finances.

I went with record collecting, and I have never turned back.

When my sister got married, she pretty much left all her records to me, and couple that with my mother's collection, and what I already had, it was a pretty sizable stash, and I have built upon it for the past 50 years or so.

My comic books, although still near and dear to me, kind of collected dust in a closet, a reminder of my childhood, until I sold them off in three batches, the last batch when we moved out of our house to an apartment just three or so years ago.

The first two batches I sold to investors, to be honest with you, but I sold the last portion to a real collector, someone who I felt would enjoy the comic books for what they are, and not investments as the others had.

So that left me with my records as my main hobby.

I still have a few comic books and some non-sports cards here with me, but generally, record collecting is my one and only collecting direction now.

My mother used to say I was a hoarder, but an organized hoarder, and I had to disagree--the first time I ever talked back to my mother, I must have been about four or five years old.

I found my comics in the garbage pail, and I told my mother to never, ever, throw out my comic books again.

And I had those comics that were slated for the garbage to the day I sold the entire collection.

Collecting is not hoarding.

It is putting together things that you enjoy into a sustainable, growing collection of things, whether it is bubble gum cards or matchbooks or thimbles.

My interest is in 45s and LPs, and to a lesser extent, cassettes and CDs.

Streaming is not collecting, because it is nothing tangible; an electronic file is just that, not something that you can hold in your hand and have as a work of art, both audio and visually.

I love vinyl records, and especially those 45 RPM singles, which is a work of art in its own right apart from 33 1/3 RPM LPs.

I haven't dismissed the entire sound file generation we are in now; I digitize my records so I can listen to my collection in my car.

But the satisfaction I get from my collection is beyond belief, and even in times of turmoil, they are my go-to relaxation generator.

So as the weekdays for this week end today--on Friday the 13th--I just wanted to end it on a very light note.

If you are a collector of anything, I am sure you will fully get what I am saying, even if you aren't a collector of anything that I mentioned here.

It is a fun hobby, something that makes me happy even during my darkest periods, of which I have had many lately related to my health.

So whatever you collect, whatever is your hobby, keep going!

It doesn't hurt anyone, and it makes you happy even in times of gloom.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

Happy, doom, or gloom.

Rant #3,904: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

I had my dermatologist appointment yesterday morning, and yes, I did have one growth removed--right near the cancer I had previously removed--so it wasn't a pain-free visit, if you know what I mean.

It really scared me because it is right near the other area on my scalp, but the doctor said it is not necessarily linked with the cancer I had taken off the top of my head, so that made me feel a bit better.

He took this new growth off of me, and I have to put ointment on the spot for the next week or so, so it can heal.

Hopefully, that is the end of it, but I thought the same thing when they took the other growth off of me, and look what happened with that!

So where I stand health-wise is that I am awaiting the results of my catscan and this latest lesion removal, and waiting with baited breath.

I just want the peace of mind to know that I am healthy--

And the detached retina problem I have is at least manageable, at least for now.

Other health concerns have nothing to do with my health, per se, but about how my health is being handled by an outside provider.

The dental aspect of my health is being taken care of by an outside provider from my Medicare insurance, as is my son's dental care.

We chose an outside provider because I wanted to have the best dental care possible--my family has a bad history with our teeth, and it continues with my son--and the Medicare plan we had simply did not cut it, so to speak.

Anyway, we have been with this outside plan for several years, and it does provide exactly what I signed up for.

The problem is the monthly bill.

I know that most plans like this--and most entities that require a monthly bill--have moved over to paying electronically through the Internet, but I guess I am old fashioned, and I prefer to pay as many of my bills as I possibly can through the mail--

Yes, writing an old fashioned check and sending it through the old fashioned U.S. Mail.

Companies do not like this, as doing it electronically, they get their payments immediately.

Well, the dental company we use clearly doesn't like it either, and I told them when we signed up with them that we want to pay by check and through the U.S. Mail.

What has happened is that, pretty consistently, we get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

I call up the company, try to be nice about it, they say they will look into it, they look into it, fix it, and the same cycle begins again ...

We get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

This has been going on for years, and yes, it just happened again.

I called twice on Tuesday about this continuing situation--

The first time, the operator pretty much refused to do anything about it, the second time, the operator sent me over to the grievance department, and the same thing happened again, meaning they would look into it, eventually fix it, and then--

The next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

What this does is make my bill paying late on this site, which does impact your credit score.

I have told them this, and they say there is nothing they can do about it.

I tell them that the solution is an easy one; cancel our plans, and then set up new plans with new ID numbers and basically start from scratch, but they refuse to do this.

On Tuesday, the woman I spoke to told me--and remember, this is an employee of the company that I am having the problem with--that I should call the New York State Insurance Department and tell them that I am being "forced" to pay my bill electronically, and see what they have to say about it.

Her telling me this simply tells me that I am not the only one having this problem, and I am currently weighing my options about whether to do this or not.

Look, we all have the right to pay bills the way we want to pay them, and not have that dictated by the companies that serve us.

If you want to pay electronically ... if you want to pay by snail mail ... if you literally want to go to the office and pay in person right then and there each month ... that is your right to choose how you will do it, and the company you are paying doesn't have a say in that decision.

I pay my largest bill of the month--my car bill--by writing a check and sending it to the lender via U.S. Mail.

That is how I choose to pay them, and I have never had a problem paying for my car(s) this way.

Why should this dental company give me all of this grief?

Obviously, there is a quirk in this system which they refuse to address, since most people probably pay their bill to them electronically.

I don't, and I don't think others do, and you cannot force people to pay their bills electronically.

Period.

Let's see what happens this time, but I know exactly what is gong to happen--

We get two or three bills through the mail, I pay them immediately, and that is that--

But then the next bill never comes, and I get contacted through my email to pay online.

Sounds like a broken record, doesn't it?

Rant #3,903: The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

I had my latest catscan on Tuesday.

This one was a little different than what I had had previously.

Usually, you go in, they put you into the machine--

And 1, 2, 3, it is done and over with.

This time, I had to fast for a few hours, and later when I was there, I had to be injected with yellow dye to provide better contrast for what they are trying to see.

This procedure took a bit longer, maybe 10 or 15 minutes while I was in the machine for four separate readings.

Once the dye was injected into me, they said I might feel a slight sensation of heat, and even feel like I had to go to the bathroom, but I got through it, and got dressed and drove home.

About a minute or two from home, I felt that I needed a bathroom, not in an emergency, but I just needed one, and I parked the car, went upstairs, and yes, just let's say that I needed to go.

I just hope they were able to see what they were looking for--I needed this done for the urologist--and that I can move on from this--

Where today, as you are reading this, I am in the dermatologist's office, ready to be seen about that cancer that I had removed from my scalp.

The doctor will look at that--it appears to have healed, but is still quite sensitive, as I found out when I got a haircut the other day--and he will look at other areas that need to be removed too.

Not necessarily cancer, but other skin abnormalities that I might have.

Just about every one of them simply needs to be removed, and are not cancerous, but I really don't mind him tending to this, because the last time, he found something pretty bad--

And it was taken care of.

I have learned over time that even if you do everything healthy, you have absolutely no idea what is happening in your body to upset your system.

You need to get everything checked out to make sure you are running at full capacity.

I know that I am not at that level just yet, but I can get closer by being checked out and given a clean bill of health, and hopefully these things that I have had to do the past two days will show that loud and clear.

If not, then I have to make sure they are taken care of.

If you do not have your health, you have nothing.

It cuts across all of us.

What is the sense of having so much money that you can't enjoy it as a healthy person?

I want to be healthy, so let's see what these tests bring to the fore.

So let me cut this Rant a little short, because as you are reading this, in real time, I am sitting in the dermatologist's office, waiting to be looked at.

I am also waiting for the report about my catscan.

I am nervous about the two of them.

Wish me luck.

Rant #3,902: Jealousy (Envy)

I have many "friends" on Facebook.

Some are real friends, some are true "Facebook" friends.

I am also friendly with many Facebook users who I grew up with in Rochdale Village, Queens, New York.

My Rochdale friends and I are all joined at the hip, even though I haven't seen many of these people in decades.

That was an incredible place to grow up in, and I have made friends--and "friends"--for life from that community.

I just read about another one of us who has retired, and he is setting his future employment path as he retires from the second major job that he has had in his lifetime.

He still wants to work, which is great--

He obviously loves what he is doing, and hopes to continue to do it, or something else, to keep active, busy and vital.

I wished him the best, with the "caveat" that I add seemingly every time I find out that one of my old buddies is retiring--

"I hope that your retirement is better than mine . ... I envy those who can determine their own destiny, and not have it determined for them."

Yes, it is sour grapes on my part, but yes, I really do believe what I say as I wish these people "good luck."

Nothing--

And I mean absolutely nothing--

Has gone right for me since I was forced into retirement going on seven years ago.

A lot of it has been coincidence, such as losing both of my parents right in the middle of this mess.

They lived long, fulfilling lives, and they really lived life to the fullest.

But a lot of the things on my end that I have gone through during the past seven years have really been horrid, and more importantly, completely out of my control.

It all started with looking for work during perhaps the worst period to be unemployed in our world's history, during the pandemic.

I was also in my early 60s in what I learned was a dead field--old fashioned writing/editing, which has given way to the "new" journalism, what you read on the Internet--and it didn't help that I wrote about a field--military resale--that few knew anything about.

Yes, I was lucky to get the job that I eventually got--writing about that same field, military resale--but I never had a chance to retire on my own terms--

Which so many of the people that I know were able to do.

I experience jealousy--or is it envy--every time I hear about one of my peers retiring on his/her own terms, and it really throws me off kilter.

Envy or jealousy?

It has made me jealous, or envious, in a way, traits that I didn't know that I had, because I have never been jealous or envious of anybody or anything that I can recall in my life.

I am working because I have to, but my life was taken away from me when I lost my job right before the pandemic.

My health has definitely suffered--I went from about the healthiest person I know to just the opposite--we lost our house, my family fractured and let's be honest about it, things did not go the way I expected them to go.

I so just want to retire, but I know that I can't.

My family and I need whatever money I make to live in an environment where by being forced to take early Social Security, my monthly payments were fouled up, generating a monthly sum that is unlivable without some other revenue source.

I know I sound like I am constantly crabbing about this, but I wonder why my path to "retirement"--or "retirement purgatory" as I put it--became so messed up.

Reflecting back, I had many, many interviews in both my chosen field--teaching--and when I had to pivot--to editing/writing--when that didn't work out the way it should have.

When I became an editor/writer, I also had many interviews back in the day, with many large firms and companies--

But it just never worked out.

I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In education, I was looking to be either a middle school or high school English teacher, and I ran into a brick wall in trying to do that--

School districts were not hiring teachers during that period of time because of enrollment drop offs, and certainly not English teachers, because I later found out that English teachers stay with the profession longer than teachers in any other discipline.

In editing/writing, I ran into so many brick walls that it is truly amazing ...

Women were being more integrated into the workforce in elevated roles from secretaries, as were minorities in more elevated roles, and I know for a fact that I lost out on several jobs because of my gender and race.

And I had absolutely no "ins," nobody who could open the door for me and help me out.

So I ended up working for smaller concerns, not big companies, and while there are benefits to working for small companies, the negatives are that you basically work for today, not tomorrow, with many of these firms ...

In fact, my last employer only started a 401K plan during my middle period with that firm, so I had already worked at least 10 years there with nothing planned for the future--

And they stopped that plan right in its tracks when things started to go sour.

My family and I are far from destitute, but we are in a position where it is not my "choice" to work, I have to work, and it makes me very uncomfortable, because at this point, I want to hang it up and move on.

My father worked into his 80s, until his hearing became so bad that many passengers in his taxi cab were taking advantage of him ... like not paying for rides.

He loved his job, he really did, and he hated to give it up ...

But I can tell you until he became ill, he loved retirement after working for something like 70 years, since he worked at my father's butcher store as a pre-teen and teenager.

I don't look a gift horse in the mouth; thank God I have this little job that I have, as heaven knows what I would be doing now if I didn't have it.

But all I want to do is to retire, flat out retire, so I can choose my own destiny.

So again, when I read of an old pal who put in his time, is retiring for the second time, and looks to continue a career path not because he needs to but because he wants to, that is something that I really think is great.

But it makes me oh so envious -- or is it jealous--because I simply cannot do that.

Jealousy is a very, very bad trait to have, and being envious isn't any better, and I really wish I wasn't this way, but life has thrown me a lot of curves, and it appears that I am one of those guys who simply cannot hit a curve ball.

Strike one, strike two, strike three.

I'm out.

Rant #3,901: Shopping A-Z

As prices shoot up due to the war we are in in the Middle East, shopping has become a real pain in the butt.

For me, this is normally a happy time to do food shopping ...

Because the pre-Passover shopping period is upon us.

During Passover, observant Jews cannot eat regular bread, we have to eat matzoh, and we are prohibited from eating any products that are not Kosher for Passover.

No bacon, no pork, none of that stuff.

So right now, we are right in the middle of the Passover shopping period, leading up to the eight-day celebration that begins on, of all days ...

April 1, April Fools Day, at sunset.

The reason this year isn't as happy a shopping period as other years is because prices are sky high, and I mean, sky high for Passover products too.

Matzoh is ridiculous.

A box of matzoh, which used to cost about $3, is now $4, $5, $6 or even more--and that goes for the Kosher for Passover variations like egg matzoh, too.

All other products have gone sky high, too, so I am not finding it that much fun to do this shopping this year.

That does not mean that I won't keep Kosher for Passover.

In spite of the annual "Matzoh Stomach" malady--where eating matzoh makes you feel like you have a perpetual bowling ball in your stomach--I will eat matzoh like it is going out of style this holiday, as I always do.

Availability is another thing.

Gone are the days that you needed to go to one supermarket to get all of your Passover goods.

So far, I have had to go to two and three stores to find what I want--whether it be matzoh, UBet chocolate syrup or macaroons, and honestly, some stores have absolutely nothing--and I mean absolutely nothing--for Passover this year.

And some stores perpetually have nothing.

I went to one local store last year to look for gefilte fish.

I asked a worker in this particular store about it, and she replied, "What's gefilte fish?"

No, that store isn't on my Kosher for Passover list this year, although yes, I did go in there to see if things had changed.

Not a chance.

Also, I have found one, single, solitary store that has Passover Coca-Cola, the variety using real sugar and not corn syrup.

The price is about $1 more than the regular soda, so rather than buy two or three bottles like I normally do, I just settled for one bottle this time around.

I am not paying more than $10 for three bottles of soda, no matter how good it really is.

And then we have chocolate matzoh ...

My wife and I have been to a couple of stores looking for this delicacy, and we have yet to find a single box of this stuff, whether in dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

I love chocolate matzoh, even better than macaroons, which we found in great supply no matter where we shopped.

But chocolate matzoh ...

What's the deal with that?

I will still look around ...

It isn't Passover without chocolate matzoh sitting there waiting to meet up with your mouth and stomach.

I did see something new this year.

Not that I would buy it--I am happy with UBet chocolate syrup--but the classic Bosco brand now has a Kosher for Passover syrup--

But it is not chocolate, it is vanilla.

I had never seen this before this year, and while vanilla syrup isn't bad, it is not chocolate.

And while I am not a chocolate fiend, nothing goes better in milk than UBet ...

Of the chocolate variety.

I have not yet seen Kosher for Passover Temp-Tee cream cheese, so couple that with the absence of Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh, and I am not a happy camper right now.

And let me add, for the first time that I can remember, the Kosher for Passover matzoh boxes have a different design, more snappy, more modern, and more to catch the eye of the younger folk who might be purchasing this stuff, maybe for the first time.

I saw this the other day, and I really had to do a double take, because the box design hasn't changed one iota for generations until I saw what I saw.

Potato chips are plentiful, and there are the usual candies and other snacks that go with the holiday.

But where is Kosher for Passover chocolate matzoh?

It can't be impacted by what is happening overseas ...

Or can it?

Rant #3,900: The Big Three-Nine-Zero-Zero

I don't know how we did it, but the Ranting and Raving Blog has reached another important milestone today--

Our 3,900th post.

It is probably a little more than that, because the numbering system somehow got a bit fouled up a few years back, and I also made some posts without numbers, but all in all, we have reached the big Three-Nine-Zero-Zero!

Amazing.

This Blog started out as simply a place where I could write whatever I wanted to write, talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, without any restrictions.

Work had restrictions on my writing, but here, I could do what I wanted to do.

What comes around goes around, and work still has its restrictions, but here, I can pretty much do what I want to do.

As a creative person, it is good to be given a direction, but sometimes, you just want to do your own thing, and that is what this blog has given me the ability to do.

It is a fun place, but I do take on serious subjects--like yesterday's Rant about the war we find ourselves in--but even when I talk about serious subjects, I try to keep it as light--and as readable--as I possibly can.

That is how I am, so if you want more serious and involved discussions, go read a dictionary or an encyclopedia (if you can still find either one).

Me, I like to take it easy on the verbiage.

Several other places I can't take it too easy on.

My health is one of those places.

After never having been sick a day in my life--or thereabouts--the past nearly three years have been awful, to say the least.

It seems that when one part of me gets better, another part fails me--

And I am at that stage right now.

I have to go to a couple of doctors next week, one being the dermatologist, and hopefully, nobody finds anything too out of whack.

But I know that if they do, I will be in that "one step forward, two steps back" thing that I have been on for a couple of years now.

I hate it, but you cannot play with your health.

But other than missing some days here and there, no matter what shape I am in, if I can get to a computer or my phone, I can post a new Rant each weekday.

I missed a day this week pretty much our of utter exhaustion from all the health stuff I have been through, but hopefully I can go on without too much interruption.

And as usual, I thank you, my readers, for keeping me going.

Yes, I know some of my recent Rants have been pretty lengthy, but I have had a lot to say in recent times, so it difficult to compact it into a nice tidy couple of paragraphs.

So stick with me, because that is how it is going to be for the foreseeable future.

There aren't going to be any word counts here.

I say what I want to say, and if it takes several paragraphs, so be it.

But again, I have a lot to say ...

And I like to write.

Funny, way back when, in P.S. 165 and then, at P.S. 30 and I.S. 72, I always kind of knew that this would be my life's work.

I thought about other things here and there, but English was always my best subject, so I knew that I would do something with the language--

I taught for a while, could never get out of the caste system of being a substitute teacher--the worst job in America--and somehow, I gravitated over the writing and editing, and all of these years later, that is what I have done for the better part of well more than 40 years.

I want to retire, but I know that at least for me, that ain't happening anytime soon, so I just have to plug away.

You guys generally don't see the writing/editing that puts food on my table, but it is quite different than what I do here.

In the past, I have written/edited as a professional writer/editor about real estate, security, show business and military resale among other things, but it wasn't even worth a hill of beans when I was looking for a job during the pandemic, probably the worst period to be looking for a job in the modern era.

But the Blog kept me going, even during the lowest of lows during that horrible period, and it keeps me going now.

We are now at Rant number 3,900, so we are on the precipice of reaching our 4,000th post, probably sometime in September of this year ...

That is, if I can keep my health going up to snuff.

So really, that is all I have to say right now.

I am being self-congratulatory here, for sure, but heck, why not?

You can't name too many blogs that have gone on for this many posts and this many years, can you?

This Blog celebrates its 17th anniversary on May 4, and I see no reason to stop it.

We get people from around the world reading it, so why stop now?

I don't make any money from it--it is monetized, but I haven't received a payment in something like 11 years--but that is not why I do this Blog.

I do it because I like to write, and I like to share my opinions and experiences with you.

So continue to visit, continue to read what I have to say, and question me when you don't agree with me or don't like what I have to say.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday--

And please stay healthy.

Rant #3,899: The Right Thing To Do

I understand why we are so heavily involved in the Middle East right at this moment.

It is a matter of national security, and, as usual, the right applauds our efforts, the left is disgusted at what is happening.

And then you have those imbeciles that will continue to blame Israel--and all Jews--for what is happening around the world, and not just in the Middle East, and this latest war has simply made their anti-Semitism even greater.

Don't blame the oppressors, blame those that are trying to make things right.

I never believed that one person, in particular, could make people so absolutely crazy, but President Trump is the guy.

We even have something called "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which is a non-medical term which has been conjured up to describe people who have their heads explode every time our president does something that gets their gander.

And with our entrance into the Middle East skirmish with Israel as its partner, I am really starting to believe that whatever our President does, even if it is the right thing to do, certain people will get nuts over it, won't give him any credit, disparage him at every turn, and make him into the devil.

No one wants war, but our actions in the Middle East are necessary to root out terrorism, and these actions should be applauded, and not disparaged--

But you know that even if Trump does something right--he doesn't always do the right thing--certain people will even side with the terrorists over him, and that is exactly what is happening in the Middle East right now.

You have many Democrats, many Hamas groupies, and many others, who are saying that this war is not needed, it is illegal, Congress was not alerted to his intentions, etc., etc., etc.

So would you rather have Middle East terrorists, and the terrorist state of Iran, continue to treat the world as its own bizarre playground, with millions of people tortured, oppressed, and losing their lives?

We should be rallying around our country's actions, even if we don't like our President, but again, if Trump does it, even if it is good, it is no good, because Trump did it.

This is absolutely crazy, but that is what Trump does to people, to those who hear the name "Trump," and they get absolutely crazy.

This is not the first war that an American President has not received Congress' OK to participate in, and it won't be the last.

Ideally, everyone should have been briefed and on board with this, but the action had to be taken now, not after the Senate and the House debated it for days or even weeks, giving the terrorists more time to prepare.

Sometimes you have to hit people when, perhaps, they least expect it, and that is what we, and Israel, did.

The President gave absolutely no impression that this was going to happen.

He went about his everyday business as usual, and while he might have hinted at something happening, no one--not the terrorists, either--thought it would happen this quickly.

But it did.

War brings casualties, and we--and Israel--have lost people early on in this battle.

That is the unfortunate thing about war--there are victors, but those that give their lives--and often their limbs and psyches--during these battles never win.

But wars must be fought when the situation begs for it, and the continual rise of countries like Iran into the nuclear firmament threatens our country and our way of life.

Now, if the U.S. can get some of the more moderate Middle Eastern countries on its side to fight terror--like Saudi Arabia--it will make it even a better situation for all, and certainly for the Iranian people, who deserve freedom after nearly a half century of oppression.

Look, I am not a Trump MAGA 100-percent devotee -- i don't like the fact that prices will rise as a result of this war, and gas rose 22 cents in my neck of the woods in just one day--but you don't have to be a full-throttle devotee to understand what is happening, and to back our President in what he is doing.

A recent poll by CBS News demonstrated that 76 percent if those polled support our current actions in the Middle East--

As long as it doesn't go beyond a couple of weeks.

We don't want another Afghanistan.

But if you suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, everything related to the President is BAD, even if it is CORRECT.

I hope we can all get on the same page.

Hamas, Hezbollah and the other terrorist organizations are not to be defended, as they are the enemy.

President Trump and Israel are not the villains, as they are the heroes in all of this.

We need to get that through our thick skulls.

All of us.