FERRERMAN- AGAIN?

 We were at a party in Murph's basement one night. A nice gathering- until someone brought out the then-girlfriend's yearbook. I took it and said, I wanted to see what my baby looked like last year. Laura started crying. She threatened she would leave right then and there if I looked her up! She would never  speak to me again! Jeez, alright. I knew how pretty girls felt about bad pics of themselves. Yearbooks. Driver's license. Yeah, I got that. Her tears caught me by surprise, but women- whaddaya gone do. They do get emotional about silly things. I shrugged it off, but I have to say, it stayed in the back of my mind.  Years later, Laura and I had long since broken up a brief marriage, and I was tending bar and breaking in a new bartender named Leslie. In chatting her up, I learned that she had gone to school with Laura and in fact, had lived next door to her. "Yeah, I remember that fat pig", Leslie said.  "Fat pig"? I told her, I didn't think we wer...

Ever notice that there is a massive difference between what you see in your mirror at home, and when you see a photo of yourself? The home field advantage of a mirror really makes a difference, at least to me at this late stage of my life.  I look in the mirror and I do  see my 67-year-old self with the bald head, gray beard and the passage of time and I'm OK with that. I is what I is. So, why do pics of me suck so bad? Who is that  guy? That's not the same guy I saw in the mirror earlier. That guy's 6'2", 9", @190 pounds; this guy in the photo looks like a schlub! Why don't we see our same selves in photos at any age? Girls always get the rap of hating their own photos, but guys surely do as well. You get old, you put on some weight and maybe get a little camera shy. I get that. Maybe you can blame iPhones. They say you can make a movie with them now, but they haven't mastered the skill of taking a good picture of me. I look at my driver's license...

 Went to my first gun show in like twenty years. If you've never been, you might think they are flashy extravaganzas where bikini clad models come out on stage displaying the latest gun fashions from Glock, like the lovely Carol Merrill did on the old gameshows. You'd be wrong. These shows are basically flea markets. There is some good hardware for sale, and a lot of old-timey Civil War stuff as well as modern versions of the same.  I grew up on TV westerns and "Combat!" and always liked guns. I've owned a few and fired many more than that. Shooting is a lot of noisy fun. It really is. My brother-in-law came down with my sister and she and a cousin went to lunch as BIL and I went perusing the goods. I hadn't really known this about BIL but he's a bit of a collector. He has no interest in concealed carry and home defense is actually kind of an afterthought. He just likes guns and going to the range and shooting them. I respect that.  We did  discuss the lik...

 Saw a post today that the CEO of Airbnb has joined the Dogebags and it is expected that his business will suffer because of this nefarious association. (See: Elon Musk and Tesla).  How does a guy who made his first billion renting out other people's homes, expect to make more  money, in a dictatorship, where the market share for his *product* has got to be much smaller as people lose jobs, possibly their lives in purges, their freedom due to incarceration, and any sense of normalcy that we had here last year? What the fvck kinda business model is fascism anyway? You talk about a pyramid scheme! If you've ever seen a pyramid, there's not a lot of room at the top! These guys made their incredible fortunes under the brutal, democratic republic regimes of Biden, Obama and Clinton. They eked out a living to become billionaires despite horrific regulations put on them that are so graphic that I don't dare post them here because they're just too ugly! I don't want to ...

 I have heard that this current generation of young people- whatever it's called- is a lot less sexually anxious that some of the previous ones. They might be more inclined to be friends with the opposite sex without all the angst in their pants that us boomers might have had. Thus, the Friend Zone isn't such a bad place for them to be. It's not necessarily an exile. This is good, I think. Friends of any genitalia are good to have.  Now back in my day, if a girl wanted to "just be friends", that was code for, "I don't want to sleep with you". That was harsh. That was rejection. It could be painful. And it usually happened to us fellas. I've been put in the Friend Zone before. I have also put women in the Friend Zone. I have to say they don't take it any better than men. Sometimes they take it worse. I lived with a girl I'll call "Cornlips". It's similar to her real-life odd name. She was a fellow bartender where I worked. Sh...

I never liked "controversial" people. When someone described as controversial would be on a talk show, it would turn out that they were either obnoxious or an asshole. Often both. It seemed like a TV-sanitized way of saying such. Morton Downey Jr. was controversial in the 80's. He had bad takes on everything in life and would often switch sides in an argument on his shows if the controversial winds were blowing in a more favorable way towards his ratings. You could see it happening as he read the room, looking to change sides for better or worse.  I get all my CNN from Bluesky and Facebook, so I know a little about a guy named, Scott Jennings. He's "controversial". So, I already knew pretty much by looking at him that his path to fame was going to be looking like a smug dick and acting worse. Every clip I saw of him proved that. To me at least, he looked like Scottish comedian, Craig Ferguson, but without Craig's charm, sexual energy, and wonderful sense...

Is the United States a democracy or a republic? Right now, it's a shitshow , but the question still stands. The answer is: It depends on who you talk to.  There isn't a bigly  difference between the two systems and you'd be better off googling to learn what they are. On social media the differences are regularly defined by layperson constitutional experts who think the difference is rather Grand Canyonesque. Been seeing this for years. You could say something like, "In a democracy you cannot round up random citizens and execute them." You say that to a republican and they will grin, thrust their index finger at you and scream, "WE ARE A REPUBLIC!!!!!!" It's a gotcha for them, the implication being that, yes, you can  round up citizens and execute them in a republic.  Well, you can't. You just can't. Even before maga was invented, republicans were on the internet looking for loopholes in everything. I've seen thousands of idiot's surmi...

 Bullies. What do you do with them? Talk to them. Now wait a sec, this isn't Chuck Schumer talking negotiation tactics for 2nd place finishers. When I say talk to them, I mean like this: "You're talking to me like you already kicked my ass. When did that happen? Was I even there?" This throws the bully off his game. They are never expecting this. Back in Bully School, they never mentioned that someone might come back at you with this technique. All they taught was being menacing and delivering knuckle sandwiches. If you were menacing enough, you didn't even have to deliver the sandwich. That's what bullying is often about; someone just wants to get over on you. They don't necessarily want to work for it. In actuality, they don't want you to find out that they aren't as tough as they would like you to think they are. Mind you, this doesn't guarantee that you won't have to fight, so you have to be ready to throw down. But words to these effec...

 Aren't we all curious as to how life in the US might be in the near future? There's a lot of speculation! That's all I can do right now myself. But let's take the current fear of presidents Trump and Musk hijacking Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. What would it be like to have 77 million seniors out on the streets, penniless and fending for themselves? Pretty ugly thought.  Oh, sure, the news would have feel good stories about grandma moving in and what a generational boon that is for the family unit as a whole to have grandma or grandpa living with the extended family, but let's be real: most folks couldn't afford to take care of their parents/grands in the good times of the Biden days. It's expensive for one and it's beyond the capabilities of most people, mentally and emotionally to care for seniors.  But, in the interest of Making America Great Again, it must  be done. There's like three trillion dollars sitting in Social Security right n...

 Winston Churchill said that "Democracy is the worst system, except for all the others". Something close to that. There is a part of me that thinks that maybe, as we close in on 250 years of democracy as we know it, we should burn it to the ground and start all over. Maybe get it right this time.  It's clear that with a republican party existing in any  form, that the United States can never  be the democracy we deserve. The loyal opposition has never been loyal and has always been there to throw a wrench in the gears. They have never wanted to feed children, fighting every Head Start or school lunch program, whenever it came up. They love spending money on stuff, but not on people. There's no profit in it! "The business of America IS  business" they say. Why have a postal service when it loses money, they ask. We counter that the USPS is a non-profit, a service for the people that was never designed to make money. This really frosts them. How can you not ma...

 I don't know why I do the things I do sometimes. I watched 142 minutes of "Club Random", the Bill Maher podcast, and I did it on purpose because Michael Franzese was on. I find Maher and Franzese to be annoying, but like any car wreck, you have to look. Maybe I like to be annoyed.  You may not know that Franzese was a former captain in the Columbo Crime Family who left 'the life' when he became a born-again Christian. He got tired of being indicted and he went to prison. His dad had been the underboss so there was a bit of nepotism and there are plenty of gangsters who don't think he was really all that. He was famous for running a gasoline tax scam (with some Russian mobsters) but I have heard he fell into that as it was nothing new. He didn't invent it. He ran it well and made many, many millions. At 74, he's a quite handsome old guy. He has a podcast, makes wine, writes books and does well for himself, certainly in a legal way. No doubt. But he...

 Heard the term "Legacy Americans" this morning. I wasn't confused by it because it was Tucker Carlson talking about it on one of those "REELS"  that Facebook and YouTube do. You could hear "Legacy American" and think it's a too cute, passive aggressive, politically incorrect term for American Indians, but not if Tucker is using it. He means white people. That fvckin' guy was explaining to a podcast host that Joe Biden was a technofascist leading a cabal of advisors who were trying to destroy the United States because they hate white people, especially those whose ancestors were here in the time of The Civil War. Look at how they are against white supremacy, he said.  He was quite sober and serious about this, not even once giggling like a schoolgirl as he is wont to do.  How are they doing this? Well, drug overdoses, suicides and diabetes. I bet he's elaborated elsewhere, but not on this REEL.  Holy Moley. A plot by white people to elimina...

Oh FFS! I just watched one of those "Where Are They Now" YouTube's about the cast of "Pale Rider" with Clint Eastwood. Those are so awful, so bitter to the subjects, treating each actor as a failure for not  becoming the Hollywood icon they surely set out to be. All the world is a stage and we are all players. Right? I watched that film 40 years ago, with then girlfriend, Mimi. At no point in the film did I look at the guy who played "Miner #3" and turn to Mimi and say, "That stupid motherfather playing Miner #3 thinks he's the next Warren Beatty??!! GET OFF THIS FILM RIGHT NOW, IDIOT- you will NEVER be a leading man! Unalive yourself, loser!!" Of course, not! I don't talk during movies. It's rude.  But not as rude as thinking every actor who gets into TV or movies does it to become the next big star in Hollywood. I think most men and women who get into acting simply love acting and want to make a living at it. At some point they ...

 Let's talk about my porn career.  It began and ended at the foot of a set of stairs on Decatur St. in New Orleans where Extremely Blonde Susan (not her real name) and I were supposed to go up and meet with some people in the porn business.  It was an honor to be nominated. Passing on it was a result of my shyness, I guess, and honestly, a couple of mainstream movies of the time that dealt with snuff films. That wasn't a real concern, and I knew that, but still... For the record, the FBI has said snuff films absolutely do not  exist. Who would film a murder? Well, look around in this crazy world and ask yourself why some people wouldn't do it for the money. Life is cheap. Always has been, but now everything gets monetized. I read that Hugh Hefner used to have weekly snuff film nights at the Playboy Mansion back in the day (early 80's) when Susan and I were thinking of turning pro.  Again, I didn't really think that was going to happen to us. This was to be magaz...

 It's long been my opinion that Adolph Hitler was his own worst enemy. The guy, like Donald Jercough Trump, was an idiot. He started out strong, but made a lot of questionable moves when he didn't have to make them. Well, OK, he had  to because of that idiocy thing he had going on, so let's just say, had he not been an idiot, he could have been successful.  Hitler's biggest mistake was invading Russia, breaking the non-aggression pact he had with Stalin. He broke it in June when he invaded, and weather-wise, that's a bad time to be driving an army to Moscow. Winter comes early there and stays longer. This was before climate change, several billion gasoline-powered cars ago. In Hitler's defense, he thought he was so great that he'd conquer Russia in maybe two weeks or so. Winter uniforms?? Why?? It's summer! You got to have that positive mental attitude. He just had the mental attitude, as in, mentally ill. Had he left Russia alone and not had a war on tw...

  Heard a wizened old fella on Stephanie Ruhle last night suggest that many maga might not know the breadth of all that Trump & Musk are doing. Talk about living in a bubble, these people are NOT hearing what we are hearing these days. They haven't for years, really. All they know is that their two *wildly successful* presidents are 'draining the swamp and saving money'- for them, because that's what they heard on Fox, Newsmax, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan or all of the above. People always say, "republicans are so good at messaging" and I guess they are. They are also good at winning elections, but terrible at governing. Also, true. It's hard for some of us to fathom how clueless these maga are, how they can't see what is going on around them and will eventually happen to them. It's hard not to think they are stupid. They might be that, but maybe tragically misinformed is a better way of saying it? A lot of them might be nice people, they just don...

 You have to bear with me on this one as it was several years ago, and the actual suspected incident meant very little to me at the time. I only think  this was the reason I got a lifetime ban from YouTube.  At the time, I followed a real Chicago Outfit guy on YouTube, named Frank Cullotta. If you saw "Casino" he was portrayed by Frank Vincent. It was a fictionalized version of the Chicago mob's history in Las Vegas in the 60's and 70's. The characters were thus composites of the real people, and with different names. That's Hollywood. Cullotta was a advisor on the film, sitting at the right hand of Martin Scorsese, just as he had been the right-hand man of the real-life Tony Spilotro, portrayed by Joe Pesci.  On YT Frank would tell stories of outfit life as he experienced it. I saw him as being as genuine as anybody else on youtubes of any sort. People tend to embellish on-camera whether they are actors sitting down with Jimmy Fallon selling a movie or 'r...

 Of course they are. That's all they've got.  I made a statement on a Facebook story about a 100-mile, high speed chase that happened around Springfield, Illinois. I said, "There is never a good reason to risk the lives of innocent citizens in a police chase". I'll be damned, but four people gave me the laughing emoji. Perhaps there are  good reasons to risk the lives of innocent civilians then? I don't know, they didn't say. They just thought it was hilarious that I might show concern for innocent civilians. Fvckin' libtard that I am, I guess. This is the Trump era and we're all supposed to be like Dallas Winston in "The Outsiders": "You get tough- like me- and you don't get hurt!" Punctuate that with a switchblade stuck in a wooden table. As is my wont, I clicked on the first gigglers' profile to block him. It was then I noticed he was a police dispatcher. Goddamn. You'd think a guy in that line of work would under...

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 When it comes to TV and movies, I don't like to know how the sausage is made. But full disclosure, I find it hard to resist the inside info when it comes to "The Sopranos". As luck would have it, there are a bazillion YouTubes about all things Soprano.  It's kinda crazy to me that people that people spend so much time gossiping about a fictional show. "Why did this happen? Why that? How 'bout this theory?"  Shit like that. My first thought is always, ask the writer. It's their story. It's not ours to add anything to it. It's not "The Bible", after all.  Story arcs are different though. I've been seeing a lot of a particular arc in The Sopranos that always befuddled me. This is the storyline of Vito Spatafore being outed as gay. They spent a lot of episodes on that, too many in my opinion. The actor who played Vito, evidently heavily  pitched it to the writers and they ran with it. It was at once an unexpected turn and then an u...

A country that lets a president who attempted a coup to stay in power, even run for POTUS again, just isn't getting democracy right and maybe should  be burned to the ground.  What luck! We've got just the motherfucker to do that! The coup, stolen documents and just the fact that Trump- everybody knows about Epstein's Island- wasn't enough to at the very least keep this asshole out of the race, makes a mockery of this republic and democracy.  Goddamn. I've said it before, but it really seems like both sides of the aisle wanted this to happen. Not each and every one of them obviously as that's too many cooks in the coup kitchen, but both parties and the billionaires who own them felt it was time.  Time to end this grand democratic experiment that was the envy of the world and cash out. History, if we are to have history in the future, will probably come to the conclusion that the politicians got tired of playing good cop/bad cop  and the billionaires grew tired o...

 Though certainly no expert on dementia, I'm getting away from the ubiquitous assertion that Trump is going senile. I think a more accurate assessment of his mental faculties is that he's a belligerent asshole. And he's an idiot. He's 78 years old, and certainly well ensconced in a bracket where he's susceptible to Alzheimer/dementia, but I'm not seeing it.  Trump's performance in that Oval Office shitshow, last Friday with Zelensky, was exactly that- a performance. A dementia patient, though they can get vitriolic, doesn't go off on someone like that. They may suddenly make an outburst like, "YOU ATE MY TAPIOCA- DIDN'T YOU!? DIDN'T YOU!!?? ADMIT IT, CARL!!" Who is "Carl"?  Exactly.  Zelensky was setup to be attacked by Trump and Vance. Marjorie Green's jocker remarking about Zelensky's attire clearly portended that. So, fucking amateurish of these schoolyard bullies.  Trump rambles like many old people do, but he'...

I don't watch Stephanie Ruhle as much as I used to, which may or may not say a lot about the level of my commitment in our very one-sided, unrequited love affair. But when I do watch, I really enjoy her Friday night round table panels which tend to be more free flowing, than the usual cable news panels we're all saddled with in this century. I'm still crushing on her- no reason not to- but I just don't want to reward cable news with much of my time anymore. NOT  watching cable news is very good for one's mental health.  Part of the panel discussion last night was about 'bro culture'. We didn't have bro culture fifty years ago when I was a young man. Maybe we did, but we didn't know it at the time. We were just guys partying, hoping to get laid, scrapping a bit and just looking to have a good time before we had to grow up and go off into the world. Good times! Today's bros are different. Girls too. They aren't having as much sex as previous ge...