Television Today

 

Jimmy Fallon had 11 million viewers when he took over the reins of Tonight from Jay Leno. He has now grown that to…1.3 million. Worth the $80 million five-year contract?

Probably not, he is bested by even Steven Colbert (and you have to have a particular view of the world and politics to listen to that guy) and by upstart Greg Gutfeld on Fox. Yes, there is a political and social view attached to Gutfeld, for sure.

Others have observed that late night TV is no longer funny, after all the days of humor in general has been tossed in the trash by the woke crowd, but still, couldn’t it be amusing at least? I admit I haven’t watched much of any of them for a while, but Fallon’s giggling and his campy schtick is definitely not funny and not entertaining to the public. Proof? Look at the numbers.

I guess we could yearn for the old days or simply accede to the new, woke reality. There is hope, of course, as the phrase “go woke, go broke” is proving more and more true. Take Victoria Secret. How about Disney stock down from $200 to $90. And the list goes on.

I hope for a swing back on the old pendulum when one fool shouting (and they always shout) “I’m offended” stops the bus, instantly.

To all of you out there, Happy New Year. I'll try to resume posting more.

NOT ADDING UP

 

There are currently 11.2 million job openings, about 2 for every unemployed person in the US.

There have been 2 million illegal immigrants so far this year, far surpassing any prior year. Are they employed? Are they collecting unemployment benefits? Not likely as they are “undocumented” as the liberals like to say.

The narrative of the legacy news media and the US government has so many holes it is making it very difficult to believe anything.

The focus is on unemployment claims, but it seems that we are looking in the wrong place.

Something is just not adding up.

I WONDER

 

I wonder… 

Why is there no proposed legislation that would encourage dads in the home? The Great Society did a great job eliminating two-parent black families, let’s restore them. Even Obama knew that children raised with men in the home fared better.

I wonder…

And this one is just preposterous, why there is no real investigation into the BIG MONEY that seems suspicious with Hunter Biden’s imprimatur.

I wonder…

Why nobody seems to be interested in the precipitous, unprecedented drop in the life expectancy in the US from 79 in 2019 to 76 now. Lots of unexplained deaths among working age, seemingly health folks.

I wonder…

Why the left’s insistence upon judging events based on race isn’t considered racist. Like finding a judge who is a black female. Every place else in our society, that kind of selection is prohibited.

I wonder…

Why don’t feminists concern themselves with the treatment of women in Iran, Syria and other Muslim countries?

I wonder…

Actions on his first day in office (like taking aim at coal, oil and natural gas industries) seemed to intentionally try to destroy not only our economy but our way of life. And it’s working. Why doesn’t anyone care?

Just some things that I wonder about.

TRAGEDY OF SCOTT FROST

 

Scott Frost’s trajectory from the heights to his firing reminds one of a Greek tragedy, replete with the chorus chanting his virtues.

He presents himself as a really nice guy who got sucked up by this machine we call Major College Football. Lots of money, lots or scrutiny and the inevitable requirement to win.

Let’s step back a bit. Scott Frost’s parents were athletes, his dad played at the University and I played softball against him “back in the day.” I have often told the story about how we had him trapped between second and third, we were performing the run-down play and all of a sudden, he was on third. He had that exceptional athletic skill, like his son. His mother was an Olympic athlete, discus as I recall. Then they returned to small-town Nebraska, coached football and raised their son.

Another big-time football coach has ties to Nebraska, specifically Genoa—Lane Kiffin. His mother was a year older than me and lived with her grandmother in Genoa for a while. When we were in the eighth grade or so, she threw a birthday party that remains in my memory, vividly. She was so pretty. Anyway, left Genoa, married Monte Kiffin and their son Lane has made quite a name for himself. Kevin ran into them in Florida and they were thrilled to meet someone from Genoa.

I compare the two, Scott and Lane. Both have been through the meatgrinder. I’m going to predict that Scott will do just fine, maybe return to the mayhem of football, maybe retire to small-town Nebraska and coach some football.

Think about how different the world looked this morning when he awoke and realized he didn’t have a job to go to.

DRACAENA (Mother-in-law’s Tongue) (Snake Plant)

According to NASA’s Clean Air Study, the Snake Plant is so effective in producing oxygen that if you were locked in a sealed room w2ith no airflow (Yikes!), you would be able to survive with just 6-8 plants in it. NASA recommends 15 to 18 medium-to-large size plants for a 1,800 square-foot home for optimum air quality.

 

Besides, they are wonderful and soothing to look at.

Alcibiades

 

 

Alcibiades was a citizen of Athens about 450 BC, known for crafty, dishonest political antics during the time when Athens and Sparta had agreed that constant conflict and wars was not good for either. He was a powerful politician, sort of the “speaker” of the governing body such that he determined what came before the body and when the votes would occur.

The peaceful time between the two superpowers was not durable, it was delicate and subject to disruption. Alcibiades decided to take a trip to Peloponnesia which, while not claimed by Sparta was still not open to an Athenian citizen to go meddling.

Sure enough, there was a conflict, it escalated and good ol’ Alcibiades who was known as a bad actor before decided to change his loyalty and became a Spartan. People died.

This tale was told recently as a metaphor for what is happening, uselessly, in Taiwan. The journalist who wrote it was much more skillful than I am, but the idea is the same. I cannot locate the original article, sorry.

Hopefully, our version of the distasteful, untrustworthy politician will not result in the loss of life like Alcibiades’ actions, but you never know. For sure, it is needless.

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” Aldous Huxley

TEMPERATURES

 I didn't know that only the US, Belize, Palau, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands are the only places that use Fahrenheit for their official temperatures.

So the record in the UK of 40.3 is pretty unimpressive to us...and about 12 other people in the world. Well, a few more than that, but it would do well for me to learn a bit about Celsius and the rest of the metric system. 

At least the Brits use one mysterious measure...do I actually weigh 15 stone?