In 2024

I asked ChatGPT to write predictions for 2024. After telling me it couldn't predict the future, it ended up showing me a dark tale of horror and destruction. Well, that's no fun, so here's my dumbed down comedy about what probably won't happen.

Predictions for 2024

1. Scientists discover that everyone now has their own personal variant of COVID-19. skeptics claim this is actually just human DNA.

2. Joe Biden polls lower than most vegetables. Democrats claim this is because Americans have embraced a vegan diet.

3. Laid off tech workers ban together to program banks to send fractional cents from transactions to a secret account.

4. The hacking plan falls apart when old and young programmers can't agree on calling it the "Office Space" plan or the "Superman 3" plan.

5. Elon Musk offers a home wind turbine that can fit on the roof and power a home for $1,000. Liberals refuse to buy it and spend $50,000 for solar panels instead.

6. A laid off former Twitter employee puts the turbine in "Elon mode" where it blows up his house and decapitates nearby wildlife.

7. Most of the states that didn't vote Trump in 2016 also kick him off the ballot.

8. The Supreme Court reverses the ballot bans and January 6 prosecutions. The GOP Congress pays the defendants $1 million each in settlements that they spend on Trump merchandise.

9. Trump holds rallies in the red states that draw millions and boost the local economy. Biden goes to blue states and sings "Buffalo gal won't you come out tonight" to packed high school cafeterias.

10. Donald Trump wins the 2024 election. He then spends the next 2 months calling for Biden's resignation. Biden orders air strikes on Donald Trump. After multiple bombings, the Secret Service takes Biden away as Kamala Harris becomes the first woman president for a month.

11. Disney spends another $10 billion on movies that make no money. The company restructures into a political organization to elect Democrats.

In 2023

Last year's predictions were another mixed bag. However, I brought up Elon Musk causing people to return Teslas and Vladimir Putin's reduced status in the world in a single prediction. I'm calling it a win and a reason to write about

Predictions for 2023

• Elon Musk releases more "Twitter Files" that make conservatives angry but unable to sue, since Twitter is now owned by Musk and he fired all the Fauci fanboys.
• With retired Pope Benedict's death, the Catholic Church considers appointing a backup pope for future contingencies.
• Former Prince Harry is outraged at the Vatican for trying to steal his title as Spare. Pope Francis asks to appoint Meghan Markle as spare Pope.
• Pope Francis is sent directly to Hell by the College of Cardinals, through a portal built over the Vatican.
• In a last ditch effort, the J6 Committee releases Trump's tax records, nude pictures of his wife and a horde of murder hornets. Elon Musk posts a picture of Miss Piggy with Liz Cheney's glasses and get more hits on Twitter.
• A new COVID vaccine kills every 10th person on the spot. The CDC suggests people take 23 boosters of the old vaccine instead.
• The Biden administration tries to prevent a recession by releasing what's left of the Petroleum reserve. He discovers it only contains an IOU from "The Big Guy."
• As fuel prices explode, rich liberals who got virtue signalling solar panels mock the American people on social media. Their panels are stolen at gunpoint.
• The death of Barbara Walters means that Satan is free from the pact she made with him to keep "The View" on the air.
• Whoopi Goldberg is consumed by hellfire live on-air. She blames the Jews.

Saving Daylight

 Is it time to make a blog post this year? I guess so, and it's about time. Normally, this would be the time of year where WKTV's Jill Reale would point out that the term is Daylight Saving Time instead of Daylight Savings time, which is the kind of thing that either people ignore anyway or starts them thinking the world changed and only they noticed, like the "Berestein" Bears.

Anyway, I'm a strong opponent of DST because the timing has gotten worse for people who work before 7am since the change in the 90's. Even before that, the change had health impacts and vehicle impacts associated with it. There is now a bill in Congress to skip the five months of "fall back" and just stay sprung forward forever.

So, what does this mean? There's an observatory in England marking the start of longitudinal lines, making it 0 degrees. It is also the home of GMT, where time starts. Every 15 degrees of longitude is approximately in new time zone, where clocks are shifted by an hour. Depending on how closely this is observed, the 15 degrees of time zone falls right in the middle of the 15 degree mark. This means that solar time can be off by about a half hour in either direction. At the -75 degree mark in Rome, we are smack dab in the middle.

So, what do I mean? Basically, time zones try to put the apogee of the sun's movement as close to noon as possible in a time zone. When we fall back, the sun will be straight up at noon. Sunrise will start 5 hours before noon and end 5 hours after noon (this month). A permanent "spring forward" will shift solar noon relative to the clocks. 1pm will be the brightest part of the day. On the first days of Spring and Fall, sunrise will be at 7am and sunset will be at 7pm. This already happens because DST is in effect on both those days.

In my case, I don't have much of a dog in the fight anymore. I live close enough to work, there will be sunlight both ways and 90% of the drive is well-lit. The DST change basically marks the fact that people want to sleep in, stay out later and have jobs that start at 8 or 9.

In 2022

Well, 2021 was a big year. I'm actually working in Rome, NY for the first time in 17 years. Also, Betty White has not made it to another year as of December 31 in the US. I also may have misjudged the end of COVID. Let's make some wild-ass guesses and call them

Predictions for 2022

1. Anthony Fauci realizes his dream of a daily briefing to address a worldwide audience. Most see it as a psychotic break now that he's been sued and put on trial for crimes against humanity, also known as making the Biden administration look bad.
   
   
2. Republicans collect 51 Senate seats after the 2022 elections. People who whined 6 months before about "one Senator" stopping progress are now whining about 51 Senators blocking everything.
   
   
3. The US creates a real-life Squid Game by calling it The Most Dangerous Lottery and justifying all the murders by saying it's for education.
   
   
4. Bravo buys the rights to a Most Dangerous Lottery reality show.
   
   
5. Crypto currencies take a sharp dive after a YouTube video shows a Boomer comparing them to the "pet rock," something that has no real value, but got put in a box and sold to people.
   
   
6. Elon Musk claims the YouTube boomer is really Vladimir Putin. Boomers, the largest portion of the Tesla customer base, start returning their vehicles.
   
   
7. Jeff Bezos takes advantage of Musk's weakened position to become Darth Vader. He arranges space flights for Amazon Warehouse Union organizers. They never return.
   
   
8. The Marvel Universe becomes the Spider-man universe when three movies are scheduled for 2023 release chronicling the repetitive adventures of an irradiated kid in NYC.
   
   
9. Omicron flavored COVID becomes the de-facto natural immunity for everyone. Seeing the end of their first biological warfare test, Chinese scientists are forced to go back to having sex with bats.
   
   
10. Joe Biden continues to write 1987 on his checks.

In 2021

 Last year's predictions were a mixed bag. Trump wasn't impeached, Brexit happened and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is died. However, a GLOBAL PANDEMIC slipped past my prognostication. This will not stand in 

Predictions for 2021 

1. After a split screen inauguration of two presidents, Donald Trump starts the Trump TV network in February.
   
   
2. First up on the Trump network is COVID: Chinese Oriental Viral Infestation Department, where an assortment of Asians use bioterrorism against Americans.
   
   
3. Viewership of the Trump network is 100 million, but media reports that only 125,000 are watching.
   
   
4. Joe Biden disbands the Space Force. What's left is tasked with forcing some space between Biden and whatever young woman in front of him.
   
   
5. While COVID-19 has a fatality rate of approximately 0.2%, one of the less well tested vaccines has a 0.1% chance of causing zombieism.
   
   
6. Simon Pegg produces a sequel for Shaun of the Dead. Somehow, he makes Donald Trump the villain.
   
   
7. Man Caves and She Sheds are replaced by Home Office Fortresses as the new hot home accessory, filled with workplace knick knacks and Matt Lauer style privacy doors.
   
   
8. Sales of soundproofing and barbed wire go through the roof. Also, sales of roofing material.
   
   
9. While new deaths from COVID end in the Fall, the "crisis" ends in the Summer when the last blogger is told "no one gives a crap" about their doom and gloom narrative.
   
   
10. China convinces Tik Tok stars to go to a Fyre Festival style event where they are all executed. Their plans are thwarted when American life is actually improved.
    
    
11. China halts plans to make a real-life Snickers Hole.

Bag Bad

 Not just the free market, but best practices put a long-term hold on the state bag ban. Grocery workers faced with handling someone's dirty used cloth bag during a pandemic made it too hard of a sell after March. The state has softly restarted the ban, but most stores who want to keep customers are taking advantage of the grace period.

One store that is not is Price Chopper. Luckily, the new Hannaford store in Rome is not charging for crappy paper bags and has the good plastic bags for free. So, my new call is to exploit the free market by avoiding the stores which are following the state rules to make the transition easier for themselves.

I suspect that when things "get back to normal" this bag garbage may be implemented. At least now, I have a stockpile of bags from months of stores giving up on paper. After that, maybe I should relocate.

When the Free Market Isn't Free

On the eve of New York's "bag ban," I thought I would write about what this means in the larger scheme of freedom and choice. In the 1990's, the question "paper or plastic?" denoted the struggle between the saving of trees by using thin film plastic bags and the ability to recycle paper bags. After the introduction of plastic bags, paper bags were still more popular and considered better by customers.

This changed over the years. Fewer local grocery stores and superstores further away meant that people had to cram more into a shopping cart and get it all into a car. While paper bags stood on their own, they could tear under stress and took up a lot of space. Plastic bags could form around each other. Plus, they had handles that allowed people to grab many bags at once, reducing trips.

The free market created almost universal adoption of the plastic grocery bag. The stores could buy them for less and store more per square foot. People could grab 4-5 bags with one hand. Holding a paper bag with one hand is almost impossible.

Last decade, there was a small move toward reusable bags. Stores sold these bags, but their shoddy construction and inconvenience kept the adoption level low. The entire "bring your own bag" campaign is driven by people who want to go against the choice of most people and the free market to impose a minority opinion. It is an element of fascism, suppressing freedom and creating a system that can only exist by the force of law and threat of punishment.

Nearly everyone takes home plastic bags from the store. However, years of environmental dogma will make most of them feel like they were supposed to do this all along, even when they never did. Many will decide you can't fight City Hall. I would say, vote Republican. They are slightly less bad than the Democrats and they never passed a bag ban when they had the majority.

In 2020

I guess I exaggerated about 82 Democratic candidates for president... a little. While I'm still woke this evening, I have some

Predictions for 2020

1. The Senate Impeachment Trial takes place for 15 hours before the President is acquitted on all articles. Donald Trump wants to package the trial as a series of TV episodes with a format like "The Apprentice." He even declares that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is fired.

2. Late night TV hosts mock Trump for weeks, explaining that he can't get the leader of the House to lose her job.

3. In a surprising upset, Nancy Pelosi loses her House seat to another Democrat due to her "failure to impeach Trump hard enough."

4. After the cosmos is set right by "Old Town Road" making Billy Ray Cyrus more famous than Miley Cyrus again, Miley attempts to borrow from the disco era with the mediocre "Cocaine-Fueled Drag Queen Trying To Stay Relevant."

5. Miley Cyrus is sued by both Madonna and Cher for intellectual property theft.

6. With the success of Disney's "The Mandalorian" and the general sucking of "The Rise of Skywalker," all future franchise movies will begin with "Mandalorian Wars."

7. The script for Mandalorian Wars 2 by J. J. Abrams is leaked. Essentially, it is the script for Star Trek: Into Darkness, only the name "Khan" is replaced by "Mandalorian."

8. Supreme Court watchers are shocked by the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been dead for 3 years and Kate McKinnon has been impersonating her.

9. Brexit finally goes through. Ireland decides to break away from the UK and become part of the EU on its own. The EU then declares Ireland unnecessary and its assets are distributed to wealthy Germans.

10. Joe Biden's top standing in the polls starts to deteriorate. He either can become Vice President, again, at age 77, or leave political life with dignity. He becomes Elizabeth Warren's running mate.

11. On the last day of the Republican Convention, a guest on Fox News explains how Trump could liven his campaign with another running mate. That evening, Donald Trump accepts the nomination, saying "Thanks. So I guess I can pick another VP. I didn't know that. I pick Ivanka. Year of the Woman, whatever. Night, everybody."

12. Trump debates Elizabeth Warren with almost the same talking points as Hillary Clinton, replacing "e-mail" with "Pocahontas." He wins the general election by 0.5% in five states.

13. Scientists are amazed when they literally see liberal heads explode.

Congress - Now with Brindisi!

I was listening to Anthony Brindisi on WIBX this week on his choice for Speaker of the House. He chose Joe Biden as a way to keep his pledge of not voting for Nancy Pelosi, but also making his protest vote effectively useless. The 15 Democrats who were allowed to vote otherwise either voted "present" or anyone else, because anyone in the US can be Speaker.

Another New York Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also pledged to vote against Pelosi, but she was told she had to. The difference between her and Brindisi is that AOC got 78% of the vote in her district and Brindisi got 50.39%. Nancy Pelosi is not evil incarnate to Republicans not just because of what she wants to do, but because she is effective at what she does. Running away from Pelosi from the right was vital to Brindisi, running away from her then voting for Pelosi on the left by Cortez is easily survivable.

Now, look at the campaign of Claudia Tenney. She ran in a marginally Republican district, (Cook Report gave it a R+6 last year) but lost a primary fight in 2014. In 2016, she ran largely unopposed in the primary, but only won with 44% of the vote in a three-way race. Tenney came into office on the "Trump Train" because his ideas matched her Tea Party agenda. However, she also failed to be responsive to her constituents. Those who listen to WIBX know that her frequent calls to the show ended when Tenney was able to win the election without them. Of course, Bill Keeler is a radio host with a pretty strong anti-Trump bias. However, Tenney also avoided voters who could challenge her on Obamacare repeal. Instead, she used pre-screened telephone town halls to listen to the people she wanted to hear.

Tenney was a star in pro-Trump circles and President Trump, along with both sons, went to different events in Oneida County to support her. Unfortunately, a completely non-centrist Republican did not have a great chance of winning. At the same time, Brindisi needs to be a clear centrist to hold his seat. In the next two years, one of the many "RINO" Republicans may see his chance. However, if Nancy Pelosi continues to allow a few members to criticize her while Trump allows no one to criticize him, Brindisi could keep that seat through 2022.

In 2019

After 14 years on the blog, it has been reduced to the repository for these

Predictions for 2019:

1. The newly Democrat controlled House writes a budget including $5 billion of "manufacturing evidence for impeachment trials."

2. Marvel Studios discover lower ticket sales and online viewership because 15% of their audience just watched to see Stan Lee cameos.

3. As negotiations over the Federal budget break down over the effectiveness of a border wall, President Trump suggests a moat along the wall patrolled by sharks with "frickin' lasers" attached to them.

4. ABC retools low rated "The Conners" by killing off regular cast members during sweeps periods. Then they try to bring back "Last Man Standing" only to discover it was rebooted by Fox.

5. While the "In My Feelings" dance craze of jumping in and out of cars was dangerous, the new "By My Selfie" trend of going out alone to remote locations and taking pictures from cliffs takes it to a higher level.

6. Marvel Studios faces another crisis as half the cast of "Avengers: Infinity War" accuses the other half of sexually harassing them. The sequel is quickly rewritten to keep half the characters dead. James Gunn is not asked to direct.

7. Go Fund Me tries to crack down on fake charities and political campaigns on their site. They go out of business as most legitimate funding campaigns are on Kickstarter anyway.

8. Skeptics of the border fence are proven wrong when a "By My Selfie" challenger is impaled while dancing on the sharp spikes of the fence. The body was discovered before the sharks were installed.

9. Eighty-two Democrats announce their candidacy for the 2020 presidential election. The DNC gives up on debates and uses a cage match to determine who moves on. Joe Biden does surprisingly well.

10. Democrats are embarrassed when a line in the 2019 FY budget contains funding for "Pelosi's coronation."

In 2018

Thank you, President Trump. Not for the meager legislation passed or rescinding Executive Orders. Anyone could do that. However, you helped make a prediction come true. One Senator resigned and others have announced they will not run for reelection. Plus, Democrats tried and failed to start Impeachment hearings.

With that minor victory in mind, I present

Predictions for 2018

1. A major compromise is reached on the border wall when record cold in the East and fires raging in the West prompts the creation of a "heat pipe" along a border wall to transfer dry, hot air from California and cold, wet air from New York to each other.
2. While the physics of the heat pipe are surprisingly sound, people still leave NY and CA because the government and many of the people there still suck.
3. Due to fears of more sexual harassment allegations, companies start to hire women as managers, especially over other women.
4. Sexual harassment claims drop dramatically, but there is a sharp rise in complaints of regular harassment and "making me cry."
5. At the one-year point in the Trump Administration, many staffers exit the White House, often by jumping out a second floor window.
6. Fox News experiences a hiring boom as President Trump hires many of the network's show hosts and experts to work for him.
7. MSNBC's Morning Joe completely loses touch with reality as Joe and Mika start reporting on the Impeachment of Donald Trump, an event that is not actually happening.
8. Police departments start deploying drones to observe bad neighborhoods. Gang leaders respond by buying drones and taping guns to them. Thus begins what will be known as the Drone Wars, which is actually more entertaining that Star Wars' "Clone Wars."
9. Democrats are emboldened by good polling and increased fundraising during the summer, then lose badly when they actually start campaigning on their issues.
10. Mild weather and a smaller number of storm events around the world prompt climate change supporters to claim that it's because Global Warming is so bad, the globe got tired and had to take a year off.

Taxes Don't Matter

Claudia Tenney is now trying to hold on to her House seat as a conservative Republican. Because of the health care debacle, she had to give up on the idea of town halls and generally doesn't talk to local outlets. She goes on Fox News instead, which is strange for a Representative from upstate.

But this week she broke from her colleagues in the House and voted against the budget that would end the deduction on federal taxes for state and local taxes. OF course, this is only for the people who itemize or have some real money. Shifting tax rates, however, has little impact.

Regardless of what the tax rates have been for decades, the federal government only takes in 18-19% of GDP. We spend over 20%. The federal budget needs to be cut, and the level of spending needs to be 18%. Even then, it will take some time to pay down the national debt.

Let's try Again

The danger of the Texas floods is that many people could be found dead as the waters recede from the neighborhoods around Houston. Unlike Katrina, there was some time to attempt rescues. Thousands were rescued, but multiple feet of water could be hiding a larger tragedy.

Even though damages are predicted to be in the hundreds of billions, things can be replaced. If only 39 people died due to the storm, it would be truly amazing. Unfortunately, it will be another month before we learn the true cost in dollars and human life.

Dormant

I may have to admit that this blog is not getting much attention. I don't seem to have new complaints about Rome so much as the old ones.

I was amused by the idea that President Trump suggested people upstate leave New York for Wisconsin, which has jobs which have been announced, but not actually filled. It reminds me of North Dakota, where jobs were plentiful until OPEC nations started increasing oil supplies.

For now, I'm still here.

I Saw a Volt

I finally saw a Chevy Volt in Rome yesterday. For those people who don't know about the vehicle, the owner was kind enough to use a personalized license plate that says NOMORGAS. Those who followed the progress of the project know that GM's Volt went from a projected cost of under $30K to over $40K and costs taxpayers $7,000 in subsidies for everyone with enough money to pay for 3/4 of the car.

Also, the Volt went from being a series hybrid (electric engine, gasoline generator) to a parallel hybrid (two engines, one gas and one electric). This makes the vehicle a heavier, more expensive Prius. If the owner truly never buys gas for the car, they'd better not try taking hills at high speeds.

At least I'm not jealous. I'll save that for a Tesla owner.

Is This Winter Finally Over?

This may be the worst winter for driving I have experienced in Oneida County. In one particular white-out, I had to park in a lot at a building on 233 for an hour until dumber people than I am cleared a path. Getting a snowblower helped my mental health, but I sure had to use it.

The groundhog notwithstanding, the unseasonably warm weather has broken the hold of this winter. Even as the warm fronts are knocked down, seasonal temperatures are going above 30 and heavy, persistent snowfalls are getting less likely all the time. Still, there is the legend of the Mother's Day snowstorm looming over us for the next couple of months.

For me, it's close enough. The next few inches of snow, I'll just stay in.

All Out

It's 10 days into the Trump Administration and we have new immigration policies, regulatory reform and a Supreme Court nominee. This would make this the manic phase. The depressive phase may involve losing a trillion dollars, but Obama did that in his first month in office anyway.

In 2017

It was well within my abilities to predict a Trump win and the deaths of multiple 80's pop stars. That would have been some prescient stuff right there. Instead, last year's predictions were a gutter ball. Hope springs eternal with

Predictions for 2017

1. Impeachment hearings for Donald Trump are held the afternoon of his Inauguration. Somehow, 5 Senators resign from office and Trump is promoted to Super President.
   
2. Donald Trump decides to Make Air Force One Great Again by building it out of gold. It costs 80 billion and has a 100 mile range.
   
3. Samsung sponsors the Galaxy challenge where people record themselves using their Galaxy 7 until it explodes. The campaign results in many deaths and few videos, since they were made on exploding phones.
   
4. Muslim terrorists get into hacking, but use axes instead of computers. Democrats blame the Russians.
   
5. After Brexit, countries, states and neighborhoods start drawing up exit declarations. The causes the first war initiated by a Homeowners' Association.
   
6. Barack Obama stays in DC and joins a big lobbying firm. Then he's fired because no one wants him to lobby for them.
   
7. Predictably, Obama ends up as a weekend MSNBC host. Ratings are unaffected.
   
8. Work on the "beautiful wall" with Mexico is stymied by lawsuits. President Trump instead builds a funnel where immigrants are forced to only go to New York or California.
   
9. The price of produce in California goes down 15%. Medicaid costs go up 2000%.
   
10. Google Maps and Amazon team up to deliver products using driverless cars and catapults. One billion dollars in broken merchandise is returned before the program ends.
    
11. CBS tries to compete with NBC's Apprentice with a show where Hillary Clinton goes under cover at various companies. Most people recognize her, but few of them care.
    
12. Parody site The Onion re-brands itself as the Most Trusted Name in Fake News.

And to all, a good night.

The Election

Well, Claudia Tenney is now a member of Congress. That should help the area in a Trump administration.

This has been a strange one. Donald Trump became famous enough that he could win a nomination based on saying outrageous things (put up a wall with Mexico, bring back torture) that he's already gone back on. Run him against Hillary Clinton and he wins. A ham sandwich could have beaten Hillary Clinton.

Who knows what happens next.

Better late than Never

Just checking in since I left another gaping hole in the posting schedule.

In another month is will be painfully close to election day, New York has already decided on Hillary Clinton without any actual compelling reason. I also missed party primaries, but I voted in the important one for Tenney anyway. I suppose the only concern is if Claudia will be a big booster of Donald Trump if he wins, making it difficult for me not to be disgusted by her.

I hope this election season goes by fast.

They Both Stink

In New York State, it is rarely close enough in a presidential election for one vote to seemingly make a difference. The closest race recently was Bill Clinton's 4 point victory (in a 3 person race) in 1992. This year, I have the chance to make my individual vote count, and not get washed away in a sea of downstate mooches and limousine liberals.

The Federal Elections Commission has certain thresholds for recognizing a political party as legitimate. Ross Perot essentially created the Reform Party from nothing into getting 18% of the popular vote (and 0 Electoral votes) in 1992. In the next two elections, it basically died. This year, another third party may reach that level of public support.

I knew early on that if Donald Trump became the Republican nominee, I was not going to vote for him. He was the subject of one of my earliest blog entries over a decade ago. I also won't vote for Hillary Clinton for a constellation of reasons. So, instead of making an irrational choice or an unreasonable choice, I'm going with neither.

I'm voting for Gary Johnson.

I'm supporting the Libertarian candidate (available on all 50 state ballots) for more reasons than just being the guy who's not the other two. Johnson is a former Republican, and supports the kind of limited government that Republicans who lose nominations believe in. Maybe the GOP has gotten too bloated now. Is it a perfect fit? Maybe not, but it's closer than the others.

Better yet, even if Johnson can't win, every vote counts toward that 15% that gets the libertarian candidate into debates and federal matching money (which a Libertarian might refuse on principle). My vote counts this year.

I, Claudia

Claudia Tenney has toiled in the trenches of the  New York Assembly for years, but has often framed politics in national terms. In 2014, she tried to win the Republican primary for NY-22 over incumbent (and possibly least conservative Republican in the House) Richard Hanna. If the voters were like me, many didn't even vote in the primary, thinking Tenney had no chance of winning. In fact, she may have, only losing by 6%.

This year was different. Tenney benefited by Hanna choosing to retire rather than facing an onslaught of anti-RINO sentiment. She also had name recognition compared to the other contenders. And, of course, she had two people run against her. Tenney won with 41% and that was enough.

I think strong ideological voices are important in the Congress and Tenney has a history of voicing her opinions. Still, she's no Donald Trump, which is why I can support her.

Fireworks

Now that New York State has allowed the use of mild sparklers, not even cool firecrackers, the fun police have decided to ban the sale of these items in Oneida County. I understand that the police and fire departments have an idea of how bad things can be when used improperly, but their interest is in making their job easier by reducing incidents.

The problem with police and fire officials is that they are authoritarians at heart. They'd be happy banning grills, fire pits and gas stoves. They'd like you to get an inspection sticker for your furnace every year as well as your car. The county already puts speed limits as low as possible, often at odds with state grands to expand roadways just so that speed limits can be raised.

It also makes a mockery of the legal authority. In a half hour drive, I can be in one of three other counties, and one of them sells sparklers. People in my family used to drive out of state for the little firecrackers you light on the ground. Those are the ones where stupid mannequins get arms blown off for holding them. My family retained their appendages. In fact, the only person I know with a missing finger got that way from getting drunk. Should we ban alcohol some more?

Home Base

That was weird.

Donald Trump was the GOP candidate who landed closest to Rome by filling a hanger at Griffis for a speech. He listed the ways in which the area has no manufacturing and is desperately poor. Then he went on for about half an hour, weaving a tale about a movement and every personal slight against him and his campaign since the day he announced. Of course, the crowd ate it up, along with offering offensive comments.

So, no, I am not a Trump fan. The most likely outcome is that Trump will lose the nomination, especially since he hasn't gotten 50% of the popular vote in a single state. If he does get the nomination, the effect will be the same. I think we're in for another President Clinton. Trump should have done this back when he was supporting Hillary. She might have won in 2008.

That's Too Bad

An unfortunate 3 months have passed with no posts. I missed March by a couple of hours this time.

Of course, not a lot is happening in Rome. Marcy Nano certainly hasn't actually done anything yet. The new mayor hasn't announced a new money-wasting measure, so that's progress. Plus, I have to pay taxes this month, possibly less because the state is blackmailing the communities over funding for lower property taxes.

Back in May(be).

In 2016

In a world of social media and high technology, isn't it nice to know something that started on a loose leaf notebook in high school can still be just as inane. I see pain in the future with

Predictions for 2016

1. Caitlyn Jenner has her genitals replaced with an HD camera.

2. E! channel's new show "Inside Cait" leads to the first program with negative ratings and the deaths of many E! executives.

3. Caitlyn Jenner goes to Bill Cosby's house for drinks. Cosby commits suicide 3 hours later.

4. At an "undercard" GOP debate, Jeb Bush tries to prove he's not low energy by lifting up a sword He-Man style and shouting "I have the power!" He is electrocuted when the sword breaks a light bar.

5. Mike Huckabee lays hands on Jeb and brings him back to life. Huckabee still doesn't break 10% in the polls.

6. Donald Trump announces his retirement from public life and moves to the Cayman Islands.

7. Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination after a secret deal with Barack Obama where he campaigns for Hillary Clinton.

8. Gen Xers and hipsters respond surprisingly well to Jeb's He-Man performance and he wins the Republican nomination. He reluctantly chooses Mike Huckabee as his running mate since he brought Jeb back from the dead.

9. Jeb Bush wins the presidential election of 2016, but gets overexcited and drops dead during his speech. Huckabee takes over and announces a "bible code" tax plan.

10. The Catholic Church and other Christian denominations sue the government for either restricting their freedom or stealing their tax plan. The country goes another $1 trillion into debt overnight.

11. Obama says "screw this" and goes on permanent vacation in Hawaii on November 13. Joe Biden becomes president, but he's forbidden to touch most of the buttons and is only allowed 30 minutes on the phone per day.

12. Donald Trump returns to the US with all the money secreted to the Cayman Island, declaring he will put America back in the black. The media calls him a racist.

The New Mayor

In a change from politics in the area, We've had 3 mayors in the last 4 elections in Rome. This time, it's Jackie Izzo. I suspect that Romans feel there is something wrong, but don't have much recourse other than replacing the leader of the city. My opinion is that less, not more government is a better solution. Unfortunately, it's difficult for a politician to promise nothing rather than something.

The Keeler Show?

When I first drive 30 minutes to school or work, I usually went from Imus in the Morning to Howard Stern. There was a while there where I played a mix tape on the drive in. That was before iPods, kids. Stern has been gone for many years now and I'm not paying for a satellite radio to get it back.

Imus is different. Station 92.7, after taking him back after the basketball incident, still dropped him after 15 years so they could play Keeler in the morning. They dropped Keeler, but Imus was still shut out. Whatever it is about AM 1420, I can't tune the station in for anything.

After replacing Bill Wightman, another favorite back in the 80's, I again have to listen to Bill Keeler soil the airwaves after he moved from an internet show in his basement back to radio, namely WIBX 950. What's worse is that he's created two national news events this year.

One wasn't as big of a deal. During an interview with Ted Nugent, he apparently said something about Megyn Kelly that got picked up by Comedy Central's At Midnight. The famous just kept on, however, in a recent interview with Richard Hanna over a statement by Kevin McCarthy that the Benghazi hearings had the effect of lowering Hillary Clinton's poll numbers.

Any idiot knew that McCarthy was speaking of the fact that the information revealed during the hearings hurt Clinton's popularity. The media instead interpreted that the hearings were created solely to damage Clinton. Hanna, the pro-abortion, anti-Republican Platform RINO, agrees with the media. He told Keeler that he thought the hearings existed only to damage Clinton and everyone knows it.

That was just fantastic. My least favorite radio host getting famous off the worst Republican in Congress. I swear I will vote for whomever runs against Hanna in the next election, and that includes Democrats.

The More Things Change

This month, Hess gas station on Black River Boulevard changed to Speedway, with some color and signage changes to match. This gives me an opportunity to get to a post I've been planning for some time, but never got to.

I was sitting in a car while the driver was getting gas at Hess when I looked at a view very similar to the one above that I took this spring. It is of the Sears Oil Company. There is a Sears Oil Station that was restored to it's former appearance (but is not operational). This office building, however, has not changed in some time, either, even though cars park there every day.

I started thinking about the main drag in North Rome, Black River Boulevard from the Credit Union (the darker building in the picture) to the corner at Chestnut Street. There are no houses and I can remember what all of the buildings used to look like over the last 30 years. Sears Oil, to the best of my knowledge, has not changed.

Time marches on.

Rome is Where You Pay More

I don't really have the will to cook for myself or the money to go to nice restaurants often. Instead, I go to "fast food" places for dinner a few times a week. On these front lines, I've been seeing a steady downturn in the quality of service, let alone the quality of food. It's a good example of why these places should raise wages. They might be able to get better employees. Or maybe, they would have a reason to automate some of the processes hampered by the human touch.

What's unique to Rome is the strange ways I'm being overcharged for items. McDonald's offers an egg and cheese biscuit now, sans meat. It's on the Rome menu for $2.19. In New Hartford, I didn't see it on the menu board, but I got one for only $1.99. I guess I can chalk that up to pricing schemes.

What's really interesting to me now is Wendy's offers value meals for a relatively low price. A meal with 2 juniors, fries and a drink is listed on the menu board for $3.99 and that's what I pay in New Hartford. Not so in Rome. I noticed they didn't ring up a combo, but have a note on the wall to apply a different discount. I haven't gotten up the courage to ask what the issue is, since it appears to be that store's policy. Luckily, they read a coupon wrong and I got a pretty substantial discount. Right now, it evens out.

I've found it somewhat empowering to use Twitter and online surveys to voice my concerns. Sometimes, I get a sandwich out of it. My sister made the point that if more of us made these complaints, the stores might have to look seriously at improvements. Sometimes I just want what I order, not find a way to get a discount on the next one.