All Hallows' Eve

As we come to Halloween, I rejoice in the end of the foul slurry of the entertainment industry, horror movies, shall slow for a few blessed months. But Friar, you say, is not slurry merely a mixture of water and particulate matter that accumulates when the unwanted material is cleaned away from the desired material? And I say it is, and you have spoken wisely. 

Collateral Damage

I've seen some posts about one of the many stories that explain why we shouldn't make fun of or annoy old people. As this is a status I shall attain sooner rather than later, I'm interested in the subject matter. But this story is basically ugly through and through.

As it goes, the elderly person is in the drive-through line at McDonald's. The person in the next vehicle behind starts laying on the horn when the older person isn't as quick through the line as she wishes (the story is almost always told with the rude youngster being female). The old person then pays for his order at the payment window and for the rude woman in the following car. The clerk tells her that the older person has paid for her order, which is said to motivate her with gratitude, which she attempts to show. And then the punchline is that the older person shows both receipts, takes both orders, and leaves the woman with nothing when she gets to the food window.  Now -- chuckle -- she'll be forced to go to the back of the line and start all over again! Kneeslap, kneeslap, what a witty response!

My gut says the story's not true, but it either event it sucks. If it is real, think about it. This is a woman who honked to get someone to move faster in the drive-thru line. Does that action suggests she would be the kind of person to accept the prank with a self-deprecating chuckle and a good natured, "Got me! Guess I'll go around again!" Of course not! She's going to berate the clerk and the manager she'll ask to see. She'll hold up the line for everyone else and not really care about people behind her. She'll wind up with her food and she'll probably bully them into giving it to her free even if only to get rid of her.

Paying for her food would have done exactly what needed to be done. Show kindness in the face of rudeness and maybe change some of her habits. Who knows why she's honking? Long day at the office? Dinner's late for the kids and this is all she can pick up? Going back into the office and this is her only chance to grab food? I don't know, and neither does the story. She's just a tool to help all of the snowtops and those of us not far away show how we're still clever! And we're sure smarter than all of those brash, rude young people who honk the horn!

So I guess there is a moral to the story. Some old folks will demonstrate their cleverness instead of the courtesy they say ran rampant back in their day. And they're sure they'll get one over on that rude whipper-snapper, no matter who else has to have a lousy day because of it. Just collateral damage , an unavoidable consequence of us getting what we want.

Why am I thinking of November 2024 all of a sudden?

Cool…if You’re Not the Owner

For the first time in the history of spacecraft, a satellite owner has gotten a fine for “failure to de-orbit.” as David Shepardson writes at the link, the Dish network had a satellite that was no longer useful. They’re supposed to put it into a certain disposal orbit by using the satellite’s onboard motors, Dish claimed that because of the limited fuel, they couldn’t reach the disposal orbit and their Echo-7 satellite is considerably lower than it should be.

In the lower orbit, the satellite could become an obstacle to satellites that still work or other space missions. So the FCC, which covers this matter because the satellites involved are communications tools, fined Dish $150,000.

When space travel has gotten to the point that we’re writing tickets, it has become a truly mature industry.

Biiiiig Show

There’s not much of Las Vegas’ usual entertainment that interests me, so I don’t know that I’ll ever visit. But I’ve been watching videos of U2’s show at The Sphere, a Vegas domed venue covered with video screens inside and out, and if I had the bucks…

Questions and Answers

Question: Would Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz be any different if he were a talentless clone of Jack Nicholson portraying a skeevy preacher who gets elected to the United States House of Representatives?

Answer: Pick a fictional Gaetz every time -- confine the damage to lousy movies.

Question: Would you shake hands with New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez?

Answer: Yes! Maybe some of the cash hidden in his suits would stick to your hand.

Question: Is there any reason in the world to vote for the nominee from either major party if they wind up being the senescent grifters currently leading the polls?

Answer: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been in touch with the Libertarian Party.

Question: Should the Writers Guild of America union have gone on strike in May of 2023?

Answer: No. Two men "wrote" Saw X during 2021. The strike should have happened before then to strangle this example of the ordure oeuvre in its fetid crib.

Question: Should Donald Trump become the Speaker of the House of Representatives?

Answer: Well, they deserve it.

Whaa?

Once upon a time, the Daily Caller was a slightly above-average culture-warrior web publication of the right. Since about, oh, 2016, they have been a sold-out Trump populism dumping ground, so it's not surprising that Daily Caller Chief National Correspondent Henry Rodgers would, on a flight to a speech in Detroit, ask Donald Trump his opinion on the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce situation.

The man who cheated on his first wife with the mother of his next child -- before his last child with his first wife was born -- and who dumped said second wife when her child with him was four and is credibly accused with an affair with a porn star while his third wife was still nursing his youngest child said, he wished them both happiness, together or not, then said, "probably not."

Now, stuff like this is what I (don't) go to the Daily Caller to (not) read. So normally, I'd never know about it. Except...

The Today Show sight featured the DC story. As did AOL's entertainment section, Sports Illustrated, The Daily Mail, Yahoo's "Lifestyle" section, The Hindustan Times (?!), MSN, and so on. Once again, the people who will say they want Donald Trump gone will follow the Les Moonves model, summed up in this quote from February 2016 when he was the CEO of CBS: "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."

Moonves referred to the way the Trump's shameless charlatanism always draws eyeballs, whether from haters or supporters.

We're past talking about the few ideas he brings to the table. For one, there's every reason to believe a Trump second term would focus on revenge for everyone he things wronged him and his modest adherence to actual conservative thought would wither away. For another, few if any Republican figures will work for him this time in key policy positions and the practice squad players he taps for the roles will struggle in meeting his mercurial demands.

I'm not a very good predictor. But I, along with quite a few others, think Donald Trump will probably win the Republican nomination. He will almost certainly not be president. He is a singularly unlikeable person of no character unfit for the office of President of the United States. Had he not faced another singularly unlikeable person of no character in 2016 he would have never been the President of the United States. He commands the loyalty of a large enough portion of GOP voters to surge past a crowded field. But nobody else likes him (maybe some of those followers don't either). 

And if we all -- including the outlets listed above -- stop paying attention to him, he might just disappear.

PS -- Both Kelce and Swift have been relatively apolitical but when their leanings have become visible they seem center-left. Perhaps Trump's prediction of relationship failure will spur them to try harder and, united, they can buy Mar-a-Largo and raze it.

Fun News?

Of course, the biggest news of the Kansas City Chiefs' dominating win over Chicago was a 33-year-old spectator sitting in the club level. Watching the game alongside Donna Kelce, whom we Chiefs fans refer to as Mama Kelce, was one Taylor Alison Swift, who may very well be the biggest music star on the planet.

If you live under a rock, you might not know that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce -- who is clearly one of the top players at the position and one of the key reasons the Chiefs play at the elite level they do -- has expressed a crush on Swift, and they have been what every news story I've read has called "hanging out."

Lots of 33-year-olds hang out. But when one of them is NFL royalty and the other is music and cultural royalty, then it becomes something people talk about. And do more than talk, for that matter -- sales of Kelce's jersey rose four hundred percent since Swift was spotted in her club box seat with Mama Kelce. For KC folks, Mama Kelce is perhaps even more beloved than her yardage-generating son. When she wanted to see son Jason play for the Philadelphia Eagles as well as Travis play in KC on the same day, the mayor of Kansas City offered a police escort from the airport so she could arrive in time. For Taylor to sit with Mama Kelce is a kind of seal of approval all of its own.

Writing for Poynter, Tom Jones also suggests that a big chunk of the interest stems from the meeting of the two biggest shows on Earth. He also asks this important question.

Whatever the case, doesn’t this beat some of the depressing news we hear on a daily basis?

And yes, it does. Two relatively nice people meet, get intrigued by each other and hang out a bit to see where it goes. Only difference is they're famous. On the other hand, all I have to do is list names: Trump, Biden, Harris, Menendez, Biden H, and so on.

I'll pick "Traylor," "Tayvis" or "Swelce" any day of the week.