Well see, the QAnon people are coming to Dallas because there’s gonna be a slamdinger of a show!

Some staunch believers of QAnon think that JFK Jr is in fact alive and well, and plans to make a return to public service and announce a tilt at the White House as vice president on the ticket of Mr Trump, who has not yet announced a 2024 run but is widely considered by many to be the favourite to win the Republican nomination if he does so.

And it’s not just JFK, Jr – it’s the entire Kennedy clan showing up. However, it’s not clear if it’s all of them or just the dead ones. Word is that they are meeting on the grassy knoll, except they spelled it grassy noel, which in Texas translates to Christmas in the wheat fields.

And if you’re wondering who comes back from the dead to be vice president, you need only look as far as Mike Pence. So there ya are.

Texas: where QAnon gets even Qyer.

UPDATE: Through the miracle of modern journalism, we are able to bring you shots of the crowd. If you look long enough, I’m sure you’ll find your Aunt Erlene.

You can open it up to see the giant one.  I looked pretty hard but I did not spot any Kennedy, living, dead, or zombie.

It's now past 12:29. At 12:29, the crowd recited the Pledge if Allegiance. No JFK Jr. yet. pic.twitter.com/CskJ5oAxNE

— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) November 2, 2021

There are moments when things seem to occur to me in bunches. They are relatively small moments. We were told as soon as we got this virus under control then things would return to a sense of normalcy. It’s been nearly two years now and things haven’t gone back to normal.

It’s when you add all these moments up and realize that the world might never go back to the way things were. It’s similar to the taking off of shoes at the airport. It’s just a small change that serves as a reminder that things will never fully be the way they used to be. That’s a relatively small thing that only comes up in isolated and focused events. COVID seems to be effecting more than that. Beyond the death, illness, and economic devastation, it is the little things that seem to be the not so gentle reminder that life will never be the same ever again.

When I was a kid, I loved to read choose your own adventure books. I used to read them about sports. There was one in particular where you got to coach a team in the Super Bowl. So, I pulled the quarterback to see what would happen and then went back and didn’t. I’m sure every kid that had that particular book did the same thing. Kids are fascinated with the idea of seeing where things will go if you make a different decision.

Life doesn’t work that way. We don’t get many second opportunities to make a different decision. It’s looking more and more that COVID is not a thing that happened to us, but something that is happening to us. The distinction might seem like a fine one, but it is simply a reflection that the decisions made in December, January, and February of 2019 and 2020 are still impacting us today. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say the decisions that were not made.

I had lied to myself and told myself there was no way of knowing how bad this would become, but it is a lie. As a nation, we saw how bad it got during the Spanish flu. Moreover, we saw how much grief and loss we avoided during H1N1 and Ebola. We’ve seen pandemics handled badly and we’ve seen them handled well. We know exactly what happens when you idly sit by and do nothing. We knew exactly what to do and our leaders did what they do best. They fumbled the ball and tried to tell you none of it really happened.

This wasn’t a bad hurricane the government failed to clean up afterwards. This wasn’t a tax cut gone awry. This wasn’t a war that seemingly went on forever for no reason. Those are bad enough and those impact entire generations or regions of the country. This impacted every region. This impacted every generation. This will continue to impact all of us. We aren’t going “back to normal” and the sooner we realize that the better.

In the backdrop of all of this, the man that did all of this won’t go away. Not only does he not have the sense of shame to hide in his isolated greenside bunker, he continues to say he won. He says he will win again. The architect of the single biggest health catastrophe in our nation’s history won’t go away. Like the societal changes due to COVID, I guess he can’t. Maybe nature will do us a favor on both counts.

You know, Republicans have been all out of sorts since we made them quit using the N word.  And they were to a lesser but important degree unhappy about not being able to use bitch, gal, little lady, or honey when referring to coworkers.

So, you know, they have gone into a frenzied delight over being able to say Let’s Go, Brandon! because everybody knows what they mean is F*** Joe Biden.  They get the F word without actually saying the F word.

I thought I had seen it all, but nobody had taken the cake yet and made Let’s Go, Brandon! a religious sacrament or an act of baptism.

Until Governor Greg Abbott.  I’m going to give you the link, but I want you to prepare yourself. Governor Abbott sent out an email to his supporters and unfortunate people who got signed up for his emails because some damn Republican thinks that’s hysterically funny.  The email claims he’s in need money real bad because he’s all that stands between an army of lefties overtaking Texas and killing the memory of Donald Trump, the greatest man who ever lived.

So, he’s selling Let’s Go, Brandon! wrapping paper for all your Christmas needs.  It even has Christmas stars and little wreaths on it. What a wonderful way to welcome the Christ child on Christmas morning! The F word always gives that warm feeling in your bowels, you know.

And since they have trademarked the word Christian, you gotta wonder if this is the new Christmas robe for the clergy.

And to make this very special, only if you look closely do you begin to realize you’re making a monthly pledge of at least $35 in order to get this charming Christmas wrapping paper.  So, not only is it snazzy, it’s swanky.

Some things are just too dumb to fail.

Newt Gingrich, who disappeared for 8 glorious years of the Obama administration, is back from his tour of duty as consort to the ambassador to the Vatican under Trump.

He’s written a so-called book entitled Beyond Biden and he’s selling it for $20. Probably all of 500 people would buy it, but here’s the deal.  The National Republican Congressional Committee buys a truck of these suckers at a heavily reduced price and then they make Newt autograph them. They then sell them online, autographed, for a donation of at least $50.

It all works great – Newt makes a little money and can claim his book is selling a bunch at the point of origin. The NRCC puts the book online at WinRed and they make money. It ain’t about literacy – it’s about money.

And I’m not the one being catty about this. After all, when a purrectly good deal comes along, you jump on it. They haven’t changed it in at least three days but I took a screen shot just in case they do.

What an oppurtunity!

Rage is an emotion I rarely ever feel. I’m thankful that it doesn’t happen very often. When rage hits I have to take a step back and collect my thoughts. That happened last night when El Jefe reported the ruling of the judge in the Jacob Rittenhouse case here.

I wanted to check myself and go to the source. However, I know Twitter is not the best source for news either. So, I decided to go to a reputable source like NPR and saw the same story again. I still couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was like we had gone down some sort of worm hole in time into a different universe. I certainly wasn’t capable of intelligent commentary.

Let’s start with the obvious. Does this judge have proof that those particular individuals were participating in looting, arson, and rioting? Moreover, did Rittenhouse absolutely know which of his victims (oops) were guilty of those things? Firing indiscriminately into a crowd would seem to show a lack of discerning on his part, but that’s probably my fault for using big words like discerning.

How is anyone (let alone a judge) allowed to refer to anyone in public as a looter, rioter, or arsonist unless we know for a fact that they were doing those things? In one flail swoop, the judge has managed to not only render a ruling that makes the case for an appeal a slam dunk, he’s opened himself up to class action lawsuit for defamation of character.

However, let’s forget all of that for the moment. Do we want to live in a society where that even matters? Do we want to live in a society where a teenage boy gets to decide what crosses the line between peaceful protests and rioting? Do we want an adolescent deciding when someone has crossed the line into looting? Do we want someone without a fully developed frontal lobe getting to decide the fate of someone even if they have been caught committing an act of arson? Hell, are any of those actions things that anyone should be killed over?

I’m not qualified to make that decision and I’m a grown ass man. Besides, I don’t want to live in a world where individuals on the street get to decide whether my actions somehow call for me to be the victim of state sanctioned murder. The whole concept is so morally repugnant that I can’t even entertain it. This didn’t come from a high school buddy or some stranger down the street. Apparently, this thinking came from a judge in a court of law.

So, one decision collectively demonstrates where we have gone wrong. This decision just told the families of those VICTIMS that it was their fault for protesting in the wrong place at the wrong time. This decision told the families of the VICTIMS that their loved ones will forever be branded as criminals or miscreants. This decision white washed a young kid’s decision to take the law into his own hands and become judge, jury, and executioner. This decision turned the American justice system (if even temporarily) into a lynch mob. May God have mercy on our soul if we allow this to happen.

Regulars around here know that every so often I bring you stories sent to me by my real life friends Vickie and Cecil from a pretty small town area. Pretty regular they have good front page stories in the Fayette County Record.

But today  they hit the Trifecta of Journalist Magic. I’m gonna put the front page here, but you’re gonna have to open it up in another page to read it. Go on. I’ll wait here for you.

Welcome back.

First off, I cannot believe that there is a place called the Lucky Leopard Lounge in Smithville and I have never been there.  I also am dubious about it taking a three month investigation to arrest three people for gambling.  Honey, this is Texas. Any damn food knows you wait until November 27th when Texas A&M plays LSU and you can arrest a standing room only crowd. You’ll probably get the snot beat out of you but that’s the price you pay for law and order.

Then ya got the Daredevil Mayor of LaGrange (where the actual Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was located) riding in the Lickskillet parade last Saturday.  Honey, it takes a daredevil just to be mayor of LaGrange. Vickie, who is far more cultured than I am, explained to me that Lickskillet festivities come from the saying that if you show up late for dinner all that will be left for you is to lick the skillet.

But the reason she sent the newspaper is about the books in schools.  A fourth grader’s mom was upset that her daughter brought home a book about LGBTQ because the child didn’t know who LGBTQ means. The mom was sad because the school usurped the opportunity for her to have a sensitive conversation with her child about … well, that. The mom said, “in a world where this is plastered everywhere, I felt like the school library would be a safe place for her.” Safe from what? Ignorance?

And the use  of “plastered” doesn’t lend itself to a sensitive conversation.

And then she dives head first into the shallow end of the art world. Last year her daughter came home with an art history book that had nakkid women in it.  Nakkid, I tell you. She pitched such a fit that they transferred the book to the high school, where in her words, “I am sure the high school boys are loving it.” And, Mom, maybe even some of the girls. And let’s not forget students who like art.

To his credit, Vickie says the superintendent seemed shocked by it all and the newspaper ran an editorial about the inadvisability of censorship.

By the way, if you’re ever in Fayette, don’t forget to stop at Hruska.