FERRERMAN- AGAIN?

 As a five-time viewer of the entire Sopranos series, I gotta tell ya (looks around) I notice things... I suspect that Donald J. Trump is a Sopranos fan. He seems to borrow from the series, from time to time. I don't mean just big things like the whole bust out  of Tony's old schoolmate, Dave's sporting goods store being basically what Trump is doing to the American economy. That's pretty obvious anyway and any criminal could come up with that. Dave owed like $80 large to Tony and Richie Aprile and so they went partners  with Dave so he could pay them back- and then some. They maxed out Dave's credit via the store, buying stuff on his credit that could be sold on the street for profit. Dave eventually figured it, realizing that Tony had planned it from the moment he allowed Dave- a degenerate gambler- to sit in at a high stakes' poker game with Frank Sinatra Jr. and other high-rollers. Tony knew Dave was a loser and would quickly get in way over his head and tha...

 The previous post was not to say that the whole Trump agenda dies when he does. No, these motherfuckers are in it to win it. Make no mistake about that. Trump is just the guy hired to transition us from a democratic republic to a dystopian nightmare. He's the congenial host. He ain't running a goddamned thing but his mouth.  Maga loves him. So does the media. Republicans have always wanted to destroy democracy but try and think of any republican in the last century and try to come up with one that could destroy democracy. No, not Reagan. He was evil in his own right and people mythologized him, probably more so after his presidency, but that was likely to mask his late term senility. They cowboyed him up based on his mediocre film and television career, but he didn't have the killer instinct that Trump has. Reagan really couldn't even fake it. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall" is really little more than telling kids to get off your lawn.  Now, Trump is a p...

 The silver lining in the cloud of Trump is that he's damn-near 79 years old, and in poor shape. It is comical that they discuss a constitution-busting third term here in the first hundred days of his second term, when he has the lowest approval rating of any president in the last 80 years. Let's not get too far ahead here Maga. Legalities aside, this is not a young man you are making plans for.  And that mightcould be the silver lining for all of us democracy-loving Americans, and the world.  There has never been an American president more singer not the song than Trump. Maga loves him , not necessarily what he does. When Trump pisses on their back and tells them it's raining, they believe it is raining. It's Trump! They love him! They love his liquid sunshine! Him. It doesn't matter what he does. They don't much fret the nuts and bolts of politics. That shit's above their paygrade and they've learned in the last decade they can defend anything  he says...

 Now that maga republicans are forced to play defense (which they hate) you hear a lot about how fucking horrible life was under Joe Biden. Well, you hear that, but you don't hear details, of course, but that's because it's all bullshit deflection. People didn't have to worry a lot as they lay their heads down at night when Joe was president. It was America and there might be a school shooting the next day or a weather event, but you didn't have to fret stock markets, firings or people being kidnapped and sent to foreign prisons. Life was pretty good, unless you were maga longing for those horrible things to happen.  You would think they'd be thrilled  right now and excited about getting even more thrilled under Trump. They are still living in the past though and complaining about how awful things were under Biden- still lacking details though. Defense is tough, especially for them. You try running Trump three times.  Even the dumbest maga might know how stupid ...

 Goddamn it. This Bill Maher v. Larry David shit just won't go away. Why are we getting these extra innings news cycles all of a sudden? It's so very unnecessary. Maher is a jerk, David is a comedic genius and Trump is a manipulative, malignant narcissist asshole. Maher fell for Trump's *charm* because he's a malignant narcissist too. Game doesn't always recognize game. Maher got played.  Pretty, pretty simple. It's not about Trump being Hitler, or Hitler adjacent like I saw on a CNN clip. Larry David wrote an allegorical NYT piece about him meeting Hitler in 1939 and falling for his charm. Obviously, it was a take on Maher's dinner with Trump. Maher got played by an older, more experienced man, as if he were a young intern, enamored of the man's power. And he swallowed. These things happen.  They shouldn't happen to a guy with Maher's decades of television punditry experience though. He should really be embarrassed. He knelt before the King. And...

 The red badge of courage. The scarlet letter. The pink triangle. The cross. You've got to wear something so that others in society know where you stand.  Of them all, the cross is the easiest to earn. You can buy one in the jewelry department of any JC Penny. I think JC Penny still exists.  Wearing the cross and telling people that you are a Christian is like an endorsement from the Better Business Bureau, but even better than that because you don't have to buy your way in or pay dues like the BBB expects. And as long as you can avoid too many complaints, you get to maintain your BBB status in your advertising and on business cards.  Trump is endorsed by leading evangelical Christians, but I'm not sure he ever wears a cross. His could be in the pawn shop, or quite frankly, he doesn't wear one because it could burn a hole in his chest. I'm not really sure of the rules because my Christianity pretty much ended around the age of 16 when I fumbled through confirmation ...

 We all feared the arrival of Little Jimmy. I had been at Ratmo Construction LLC for several months and heard things about him, none of them good. He was a little guy, thus the moniker, like maybe 5'2" in heels, which he surely wore, and had a tough reputation as a dickhead. Our American south is full of diminutive warriors who are ten feet tall, and bullet proof. They are fvcking annoying, but there they are, always compensating.  The paint crew was going to be divided into two groups. We had been commanded by 162 IQ Lou- who was just "Lou" at the time- and had been my boss since my Day 1. 162 wasn't a very good leader, but he was fair and not at all tough on people. Little Jimmy had been upset that he had been passed over- yet again- as Supreme Commander of the paint crew, never minding that Lou was in that position because his brother was in the position of Vice President of the company. Good luck outranking that! So, Little Jimmy pissed and moaned and became ...

 I have lawyers in my family. Please don't tell anyone.  Trump has managed to coerce $1 billion (with a "b") worth of legal representation out of bigly-time law firms. What an odd thing for a president to do. Maybe not an odd thing for a legitimate businessman  to do though.  It's a good move, I guess, if you intend to also destroy democracy in the courts. He first, of course, went the usual route of appointing judges, as presidents are wont to do. He expected total fealty from them and is upset that they all haven't always ruled his way. Even the USSC, which last year granted him total immunity as president, recently went against  him by voting 9-0 that he return Kilmar Garcia to America, from the Salvadoran prison the Trump regime recently hijacked him to. He, of course, is fighting that. Will he take it all the way to the Supreme Court? It's fvcking already been there! For a guy who complains about a two-tier justice system, he sure has benefited from a two...

I'm beginning to think Bill Maher was wrong about Trump.  I've seen several stories about Americans who fvcked up in other countries and went to their prisons and lived to tell about it. I've never lost my freedom here (day ain't over yet...) but I know that US prisons, horrors that they can be, are nice compared to third world institutions. There is more structure in US prisons than Mexico or other parts of Central America. It varies, but in many US prisons you can learn a trade, fight forest fires and even get a college degree. In prison here you can pledge a fraternity, although they call them gangs and they're segregated by race. So, yeah, just like college. Oh- and like college, you can experiment with gay sex if you'd like.  These south of the border prisons are different though. They don't seem interested in rehabilitation at all. The one Trump is using in El Salvador is best described as "Kristy Noem Goes to Auschwitz". Puppy Killer Barbie ...

 What if Trump is being set-up as a patsy, like Lee Harvey Oswald or the more recent, Thomas Matthew Crooks?  If you don't recognize the "Crooks" name, you are not alone, as he is the least famous assassin, you'll probably never hear much about in history. Whatever this 20-year-old kid did that day he died, he'll never be as famous for it as Lee Harvey Oswald. And it's not because he didn't succeed. He did his job. Trump himself talks more about low-flow showers than he does about his alleged assassin or any of the events of that day in Butler, Pa. at a Trump rally. Of all the things this ramblin' wreck of a disaster won't shut up about, day in/day out, the attempt  on his life is one he barely mentions. I'm guesstimating that a Trump news cycle is about 4 days at best. That's what the incident seemed to be in the news. The guy is always saying and doing ridiculous things and there is a lot of overlap in his chicanery, so stories come and g...

 We have a real and imagined history of rugged individualism in these United States. Perhaps your heroes have always been cowboys. Mine have been. Maybe gangsters. I love the genre of gangsters in film even though I recognize the psychotic realities of fictional and actual gangsters, and I know full well they are depraved sociopaths. Inside every man or woman is an avenger tempted to get out and have Hell follow with them. It's human nature. It's human nature when faced with the inhuman nature of life.  We are looking at that right now. The nation's wisest pundits and influencers are pointing out that the cavalry is not coming to save us. The hero is not coming to save us.  There is no hero, because the guy that 77 million people think is the hero, is the actual fvcking villain in this story. As you may have guessed, it's Trump! Trump can't save us from Trump. I guess he's just not that good.  He certainly isn't as good as his minions portray him in their ho...

 I like to hate-watch Bill Maher. That's probably half his audience. For me the positive attraction was always that he has interesting guests most of the time, and you just had to suffer through his bullshit to see what interesting takes a celebrity or Harvard economics professor has about current events. It's sometimes good TV. Except for last night. He opened the show with a retelling of his recent dinner with Trump. He chose to sell it, not as a summit meeting between two bitter adversaries, but rather as a couple of guys sitting at the dinner table just talking- without arguing or name-calling, as one would expect with two entertainment titans like Maher and Trump. And, evidently, the takeaway we were supposed to get was, if those two could do it, we could all do it. And then we'd be as awesome as Bill is. This fvcking guy! Oh shit- you mean that Trump can sit down for dinner without cameras rolling and we get the real  Trump who just so happens to be affable, and self-...

Marisa Tomei- I always thought I had a chance with her... That's a line from a "Seinfeld" episode where George Costanza said that about Marisa Tomei, and then as the script would have it, he met Marisa Tomei and they hit it off. Every mention of Marisa Tomei on the internet- if I see it- I will post it. Seinfeld fans get it.  So, I did that last week on a Facebook post and quickly got a like from Marisa Tomei. This caused me click on the profile, curious as to whether the actress was on FB or if it were a fan page.  I've gotten likes from actors before. Some I think were legit because they were just likes. Some of the cast of the "Sopranos" liked a post I made about the controversial ending of the series, where it suddenly went black- and that was it. Series over. I saw it as a "choose your own adventure" ending that, while very odd, really worked. If there is one thing I know about people, it's that you can't please all of them, any time. ...

 I like the randomness of YouTube and even Facebook rabbit holes. How else can you learn about vicious neighborhood feuds and how a guy came to acquire a 1953 corvette, all in one sitting? Sometimes the internet is your friend and helps you find things, and sometimes it is a hunter, tracking you down to kill your time.  Whenever I see videos of people freaking out, my first thought is, "Have I ever posted with them on Twitter or Facebook?" There are a lot of vitriolic, damn-near mentally ill people on the internet. They are out there on the streets too, and in their natural habitats of neighborhoods and stores. Karen's- ya know. Now, as a Ferrerman, I fancy myself to be a fair man. I ponder whether they are always  upset as they are in the video, or whether something or other happened before  the tape started rolling. Much of life is timing and you are not always getting the full story in a short video. There's a guy on the internet who calls himself, "Tizzy Ent...

 Last night's "Columbo" episode (old, of course as they aren't making any new ones) was about a case where identical twins (played by one Martin Landau) killed their uncle to get their inheritance. They also killed uncle's very young fiancé who stood to collect on his estate. Pretty nasty. Uncle was electrocuted in the tub, and she was thrown off a balcony to her death. Sorry for any spoilers, but the show was from 1973 and maybe you saw it before. But this is not about that, clever as the show was. One of the Martin Landau's asserted his innocence by declaring that he didn't need his uncle's money, as he had his own. Somehow that was plausible. Jesus F N Christ! Were rich people not greedy in 1973??!! They were content, I guess.  Over the last decade since Trump and America made the descent down that escalator in Trump Tower, we've heard Fox news heads, and rank and file maga, tell us that they believe that Trump sacrificed his time and future ear...

I recall an old Mike Royko column about a fine you man stopping in a snowstorm to help out a couple of guys whose car had become stuck.  Once freed, this nice young boy chatted up the two men and, probably out of a good business sense, offered up a little free advertising for his family's business a local chain of shoe stores. The two men were very interested in the shoe business, and probably very grateful to have become stuck, and then unstuck by this fine young man.  This was decades ago, and the details are long since lost on me. In fact, a couple years ago I was on a Facebook group that was tragically dedicated to the history of the Chicago Outfit  and I made a comment about the incident, in case any of the other posters remembered the column or the story. They remembered so much about which guy lived where and who killed who, and dis and dat about yada and yada, but they seemed to think I was pulling this story out of my ass. I had quickly assessed these people as ...

 I know I should count my blessings because I've never - EVER- been defeated on the political battlefield by any form of republican known to mankind, but man, these days it seems like all they have is laughing emojis. If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, the LAMO emoji is the first refuge of a fvcking idiot reichtard loser.  I tend to block those giggly bitches, even if they aren't directed at me. You got one shot at this Ferrerman if you want to take my crown, and if you waste it giggling, you are done! That's on you. Of course, I'm not A Certain Mr. Ferrerman anywhere but Bluesky now. I'm undercover as my real self on Facebook and that's pretty much the extent of my social and anti-social media. I don't do Instagram or Tick Tok or Redditt. I'm probably not even spelling them right. BIL was telling me the other day he was on Redditt, and I recalled that the one time I looked at it, I found it hard to follow. A lot of lives were saved the day...

 Laura's mom (the wifely one) often told me of her friendship with, Shirley Makita- Stan Makita's wife. I certainly knew who Stan Makita was! If you don't, he was one of the all-time great Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. She name-dropped Shirley and Stan a lot over the five years I was with Laura. I never met either Shirley or Stan in that time, or ever. I never doubted their association because, why should I? People know people. Duh.  I probably didn't even give it a thought that Stan and Shirley did not attend our wedding. Other plans that day, if I thought about it at all. Years later, the great Stan Makita succumbed to Lewy Body Dementia, a horrible way to go out. Very sad as he was loved by family, friends and fans. I read the obituary. There was no mention of Shirley. In fact, his one and only, long-time wife had a completely different name. This explained why they didn't come to our wedding! One of them didn't exist! What an odd lie to tell. What was the p...

 A slight addendum to my last picture story: Freshman year I had befriended another Laura with a large nose. Did I have a type back then, or what? This Laura was Italian and had a big nose freshman year. I'm sure we had a class together. Casual friendship. We didn't keep up over the summer. Over that break, she had gotten a nose job- the full, fitting, Roman nose treatment. Had always been pretty with that olive skin and dark eyes, but marone!  She looked fantastic with the new nose! I told her so. Marone  again naturally. She did not take my blunt assessment that she had had a nose job very well. What the hell was I talking about- a nose job??!! She insisted her nose had always been as it currently was. She was hurt, angry and wouldn't take an apology. I don't think we ever spoke again. That was her call.  Being 15/16 is tough on girls and boys at any age. 

 For at least 40 years the NRA has been telling us that the true meaning of the Second Amendment is the right- nay, the duty- of the people with guns is to oppose a tyrannical government.  Well, now that we have a tyrannical government, there is neither a word nor a pew pew  out of them. What the fvck were they training for? This government is disappearing people to foreign prisons without due process, or as deportations generally go, to the country of their origin. They may be suspected Venezuelan gang members, but they are being sent to El Salvador. Why? Well, because it's El Salvador that we have the contract with and it all comes out in the Spanish wash anyways, correcto?  Perhaps it's nothing personal, just business? It's not that I expect a bunch of militia types who love several parts of our US Constitution to get up in arms about some Spanish folks being deported, I don't. They are not deep thinkers. They can't see the bigly picture of, I could be next... ...