Well, we’re three days away from the already infamous upcoming demonstration called No Kings. I’ve learned from listening to the Speaker of the House of Representatives that it’s going to be nothing but a collection of Antifa traitors, paid demonstrators, and people who hate America.
Funny, I thought it was more a collection of people who were opposed to tyranny and to being governed by spitwads. But, I have been wrong before …
I guess we’ll just have to wait until the weekend comes and determine for ourselves what the truth is. For my part, I’ve got my signs made, my buttons in order, and an umbrella in the car just in case our present monsoon season carries through to Saturday. Looking forward to a brisk walk along a line of middle fingers being extended from pickup windows.
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There is no good news today for those who have clung to the belief that a little bit of poison was somehow still a good thing. A very large and well-done recent study came to the conclusion that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. Even sporadic usage increases the drinker’s risk of developing a host of disorders.
For myself, of course, I found out quite a while ago that alcohol dramatically increased my chances of making a fool of myself, bumping into walls and doorknobs, and finding that I’d parked my car in a stranger’s garage with me in it. Magically, all of those things improved when I switched beverages.
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Robin and I drove to Grand Junction to see a three-hour long movie about authoritarianism and an ongoing revolt against it. Kind of cinema verité, non? But the film was quite a ride, and the hours flew by. Near the end, there was a car chase unlike any I’d ever seen, the cameras turning the road into something akin to a roller coaster track.
Let’s see, what was the theme? Oligarchs versus the oppressed? Fascism versus freedom? Sobriety versus soddenness? Old powerful white men versus everybody else? Hard to pin it down.
But there are heroes, ferocity aplenty, and even small doses of humor.
We were glad we made the trip. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 95%. The only downer, and one that is still smarting hours to a cheapskate like myself long after we’d returned home, is that the Regal Theater charged us $6.99 for a small Diet Pepsi. Unbelievable. They should be flying the Jolly Roger at the concession stand, and the concession workers outfitted in buckle and swash.
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A very long time ago my friend Rich and I were attending an Academy of Pediatrics meeting in New York City. We shared a room, went to lectures and presentations together, walked about the area near our hotel together, and took most of our meals together.
One evening we decided to attend an off-Broadway production, and selected Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. It was a mildly outrageous production and truthfully all these years later I couldn’t tell you one song or line of dialogue.
What I do remember is that while we were joking to ourselves about how much time we were spending in each other’s company we looked around at the audience, which we now realized was composed entirely of same-sex couples. We did not stand out at all.
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Some “No Kings” items. More than 2500 demonstrations are now planned for October 18 across the 50 states. Here’s a map.
What is just as interesting to me is that demonstrations are being planned in at least 18 countries around the world in solidarity with U.S. citizens. They include Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Japan. Like the man said, we have friends everywhere.
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Little Home In The Valley 