THE LIFE OF PUFF GOES POOF.

If it weren't for my favorite blog,"My Cats are Democrats" I never would have known about a bomb threat on Obama's life. It seems the crazy woman above, Julia Poff of Sealy, Texas, sent one of her homemade bombs to Obama and another to Governor Greg Abbott. Being a slob as well as a nut, her packages had the telltale evidence of cat hair and a local cigarette purchase. So now she's being held in jail awaiting trial, which should put her away for life. The article didn't say whether she was married or had children. Probably not: these bomb makers lead such loveless lives. Obviously she's worthless, but her cat (cats) are not. I hope some kind person in Sealy adopts her completely innocent pet. If you do, just think you can tell all your visitors,"My cats saved a president's life."

THE WORLD'S UGLIEST MAN.

In an article today, Billy Baldwin accused Trump of crashing his party and hitting on his wife Chynna Phillips. No surprise there.But what I did find amusing was the photo of Trump that went with the article. I think this shows Trump in all his repulsive ugliness. All too often the news media uses a rather flattering photo of our pretend president. I think they should use this instead since it so clearly shows Trump for who or what he is. This is not a man who should occupy our White House, but a creature who should live under a bridge.

POISON IVEY.

Now I don't think that everyone in Alabama is a stupid, narrow, bigoted, racist, bible-thumping redneck, but their governor sure is. Yesterday Republican (what else?) governor Kay Ivey proudly told the press that she plans to vote for pederast, mall stalker, teen seducer, homophobic, pseudo-Christian serial adulterer Roy Moore. Apparently Ms. Ivey, whose perpetual geriatric grin suggests she has no awareness of what sex actually is, can overlook Moore's history of "dating" teenager girls and trying to seduce one as young as 14. The fact that nine woman have accused Moore of sexually reprehensible acts holds no sway with the morally indifferent Ivey who has no interest in overturning Alabama's image as a completely backward state. As the dotty 73-year-old dumbed her way through
this event at the Governor's mansion-—looking like the brochure cover for a costly retirement community—she said she had no reason to believe the accusers and no reason not to,  apparently her idea of fair-minded logic. Also at this turkey-pardon event was a bevy of clueless middle-age tin magnolias standing up for Moore, including his wife Kayla who doesn't care who he molests as long as it isn't her.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO VELCO?

I have been to three stores today in search of Velcro. Office Max, Publix, and Walgreens. No one has it. Not a strip, not a roll, not a tab. Why? This is a product you could find just about anywhere. It's
like not being able to find Scotch Tape or Elmer's Glue, or thumb tacks. Oh,wait! You can't find thumb tacks anymore. Or old-fashioned picture hooks. (Today they only have those Command things, that they insist don't leave marks, which I don't believe.) DVDs are disappearing.  Cassettes are already gone, but, oddly enough, LPs are coming back. Maybe I had better hold off before tossing out those Sinatra albums and the cabinet I keep them in, which I could fix if I could only find some Velcro.

TEARS, IDLE TEARS.

One of the latest accusers of Roy Moore is a 62-year-old named Beverly Young Nelson. She tells of a harrowing scene in which she had to fight off Moore's assault in his car when she was 16, When Moore failed in his attack, he threatened that she wouldn't be believed if she told anyone because, as he said, "you are just a child".  Though I sympathize with her lifelong distress, I am disturbed to know that she voted for Trump. This means that while she is tearful about her own past, she couldn't care less about all the women abused or molested by Donald Trump. Did she know about his past? Of course she did! Everyone did. Voting for Trump by Beverly, by anyone, is to excuse his history of molesting women, of grabbing their genitals, of using his power to sexually intimidate. Sorry, Beverly, you were certainly a victim in Moore's car, but you helped make all of us victims in the voting booth.

"YOUR CHECK WILL BE IN THE MAIL."

Today I had technical problems with my two-month old Apple computer. Since I bought the service guarantee, I felt comfortable calling their service number. But it seems the guarantee isn't for technical problems. That requires one buying an additional contract for $149.00 a year, which I did since I had no choice. The odd thing was, once they repaired the problem, they were obsessed with getting their money. This, despite my request for a postal bill to which I would respond with an immediate check. No. They needed it now. They begged, pleaded, almost threatened me, even sent me a follow-up e-mail. Since I assumed both Appleites were toiling somewhere in Asia, I pictured they were working for a demanding taskmaster. Sad, of course, but I  think they should pay me considering how much time I spent on the phone answering all their hard-to-understand questions.

ALWAYS A SHAMEFUL STATE OF AFFAIRS.

I'm ashamed to say that I used to write for the Florida Lottery because I can see from their new commercials they have no standards at all. It used to be that you could not, with any lottery, show a person winning. Since your chances of winning are so infinitesimal it would be deceptive to suggest it was in any way easy or guaranteed. That doesn't stop The Florida Lottery. In a new commercial they  show all kinds of persons winning, including the construction worker who rejoices with his friends and the graduate who it is suggested paid her way through college with her fabulous windfall. This is very immoral and very sad when you consider the many persons with low wages who "invest" so much of their salary on lottery or scratch-off tickets, or even the well-to-do who waste their capital on the remote possibility of a profitable win. The lottery is a long shot, a very long shot. It only looks possible because the one-in-a-million-or-more winners are so publicized. Gambling in general is a dirty business, which to some is glamorous and fun in a casino when used wisely, and dangerously  habitual when employed by an uncaring government. And in both case millions have lost their money, their homes, their family, their self-respect, and in many cases their lives as gambling debts often result in suicide.  Do I gamble? Yes. I buy two dollar tickets a week for the Wednesday and Saturday drawings. I have used the same number of over 29 years, and have never won more than $5 about every three months. That shows you how bad your odds are and how stupid the average person, including me, is to expect to hit that incredibly seductive and elusive jackpot.

I think most car advertisers have an utter contempt for men. I say that because generally their commercials are always so fawning, obsequious, and written to suggest that every purchaser is a sophisticated handsome free-spirited hottie rather than the average working Joe, often a father, who needs transportation to work. But the most offensive of the kiss- commercials is Alfa Romeo, which says I'll get you to buy with a sexy woman's voice, a red car, and the message that it's the answer to all your dreams. How stupid do they think men are? Naturally their "I am what you have been looking for" nonsense also shows gorgeous open roads and lush scenery, never the traffic-jammed highways that most  guys sees on their way to work.

LIVE AND LEARN.

Despite knowing that mattress buying is the latest overpriced, bullshit, money-making industry, I decided I need a new mattress and went to Mattress Firm. Since I'm not about to spend $1,000 or more for a mattress that's 15 inches thick and weighs a ton,  I chose a 9-inch mattress that I was told was "Memory Foam". It felt comfortable enough in the store, so I bought it for $300 (still way overpriced). The excessive delivery charge was $80, but that included removing my old mattress, which once de-sheeted  looked incredibly new, and was probably sold as such. Well it turns out the mattress was not comfortable, certainly not quality, and nowhere near what it eventually cost. Fortunately there is a 30-day return policy, which I intend to use. Of course they'll charge another $80 to take it away. So basically I will have spent $160 plus tax for a cheap uncomfortable mattress, and I still don't have a bed to sleep on.

AN INTELLECTUAL LYNCHING.

People are dropping Kevin Space left and right, despite the fact the the evidence is not in. An article in today's Huffington Post by an actor accuses Spacey of putting his hand on the his thigh, no more. While he's not sure of the accuracy of his memory, he's happy to add to the destruction of Spacey's career and livelihood.  While I'm sure there must be some truth to all these allegations,  they are allegations. Pity because Spacey is one of the most versatile and multi-talented actors in the world today. But what can you do?America is terrified and fascinated by sex, and right now the country is on a witch hunt to punish sexual acts as serious as rape or as harmless as a message whispered in one's ear. Surprisingly, however, nothing has been done about Trump's life-long offenses against women: assaults, rapes, insults, pussy grabbing. I would seem that the Christian majority of Republicans in  Congress are not the least bit offended by our vulgar, misogynistic, former satyr of a president, nor do they have any interest in protecting the rights of woman and never have had, But they'll be damned if they'll watch another episode of House of Cards.

I hope anyone who reads my blog will take the time to sign on to needtoimpeach, a website set up by Tom Steyer to collect the million signatures needed to start the ball rolling to rid ourselves of our very dangerous, mentally incompetent president before he does more damage or starts a nuclear war.

WHERE THEY TAKE A BIG BITE.

I must be very naive. I would assume that a corporation that specializes in pet products and runs commercials stating how much they love pets would have lower prices on pet products than, say,
super markets or leading retailers. I was wrong. Today when I went to the local PetSmart I was amazed at how costly everything was. The Temptations I buy at Target for $1.57 were priced at $1.89. That's even more expensive than at Public Supermarkets, which are not cheap. The same was true of pet food, litter, toys, just about everything one buys for cats. I can't imagine how costly their products for dogs are. In today's greedy economy I am not surprised at the overpricing of this popular chain, but I am amazed that it's popular. Consumers must have more expendable income than I give them credit for or rely more on credit than they have income for.

TERRIFYNG, BUT NOT FOR LONG.

I don't see how the death penalty is a suitable punishment for crime. Once you're dead, you feel nothing, suffer nothing, regret nothing. You're dead. All right, so you suffer the fear and anxiety of being put to death. But that's the only punishment. The second you're gone all punishment ends. Whereas in prison you suffer every day. Confinement. Regret. Fear of other prisoners. Having no control of your life. Not having ice cream when you want it. Sleeping in a lousy bed. The deprivations are endless. But the dying is fast. In an hour or less it's over. You're out of it. Your punishment is complete, There's no more retribution. If you want to punish someone, don't kill them. Take away almost everything they loved about being alive.