2016 approaches its end, though we hasten to add that, in terms of the allegedly timeless universe, this measurement of time as we know it means nothing. But that's okay -- you can still go to the New Year's Eve party, drink and fall in love with your future worst nightmare. So much for optimism. . .
Do rational folks still pledge allegiance to new year's resolutions? Do they make them even if they can't spell resolutions or even know what the word means?
I've no particular resolutions for 2017, because I'm pretty sure my socks were changed early in 2016. Or maybe it was 2015. Dunno, but I'll do it again just to make certain, thereby fulfilling the resolution quagmire.
At least one needn't make a resolution to rid the White House of its current occupant, that's already been achieved and the days grow shorter. Will Donald Trump be a great President? We don't know, but he might be a wonderful Chief Executive. Sorry, my optimism sometimes precedes caution.
President Obama, slowly deflating like an air mattress perched upon forest thorns, actually exercised "the audacity of hope" by professing a wild claim that, if able to run for a third term, the people would choose him again. Wow, he sounds just like an arrogant, abusive ex-husband who sits at a bar, insisting to other patrons that his ex made a mistake in rejecting him, and that she really wants him back. Too bad Obama will continue living in the Washington, DC area -- too bad for us, because we'll have to listen to his fantasies for years to come.
Had I bad-mouthed a sitting President when growing up, I may have expected swift discipline, but I have to say, this son of a bitch, right down to the bitter end, is doing everything he can to chop U.S. influence and national pride into little pieces. Should the GOP develop a spine this time around, and if Trump stays true to the country's needs, it's going to take one heck of a band-aid to heal the mess left behind by the Obama bunch.
They can start by restoring the bust of Winston Churchill to the White House, removed when Obama the Angry assumed Office.
As revelations continue to surface about the Obama-Democrat-Hillary machines, we were especially gratified (and not surprised) to learn it's now public knowledge that the Obama bunch fired a Dept. of Energy scientist who expressed serious misgivings about the "climate change" agenda constructed upon computerized crystal balls and false data, and there arose questions about obstructing a congressional investigation -- and then a secretary caught up in this mess was also fired. Yes indeed, Obama's was the most open administration ever, wasn't it?
Trump, Putin and nukes: Unfortunately, even the mainstream media failed to realize the brilliance of Trump responding to Putin's assertion about enhancing Russia's nuclear weapons area. By consequently assuring "the world" that the USA will never be surpassed in nuclear capabilities, a clear message was sent to Putin and other players in the darkness, a message seemingly received and understood. Peace through strength, strange but true.
Israel and the United Nations: Will somebody please close this den of agenda-infested whores called the U.N. down? Israel was blind-sided with a vote which I cannot believe was not in some way orchestrated by the lovely operatives who populate the Obama bunch every day, despite protestations.
Not so tight: I worked in medicine long enough to wonder about the necktie's popularity. Every day you see them -- ties tightened to the point where one can barely speak without hoarseness. Ties fastened so tightly that faces above them turn red. These colorful accoutrements, to me, may look great, but they also tend to squeeze off the neck arteries and veins. Yes, for some, color and patterns are all the fashion. . .but so are strokes. Sorry, clothes horses of GQ and other advertisement avenues: The neck is a very important place, and still I await the day when a TV sponsor or magazine advertiser proclaims, "Our beautiful ties may be hazardous to your health."
George Michael makes his exit:
Let me tell you a secret
Put it in your heart and keep it
Something that I want you to know
Do something for me
Listen to my simple story
And maybe we'll have something to show
These lyrics step forth from a song George Michael wrote himself, a song he called Heal the Pain. He performed it in June, 1990, and it ended up in, perhaps, one of his lesser discussed albums, a CD collection entitled, Listen Without Prejudice. The release seems also notable for Michael coming out of the gay closet with no reservations, for on the CD are several obvious references to his own sexual identity and its ups and downs.
I know we're all supposed to divert our tears into the death today of actress Carrie Fisher, and she deserves the attention, but because I was never really a Star Wars fan, I prefer to divert to George Michael's legacy, and we now know that he contributed generously, more than generously, to numerous charities and medical research institutions (AIDS and cancer research, children's care, etc.). George Michael's ascension to pop stardom with a unique range of voice, his descent to the near-gutter and then back to a high place seemed almost miraculous. All in all, despite a very rocky road at times -- and we'll surely learn more in the days to come -- his life was worthwhile and he will, and should, be missed.
Readers: Despite the good, the bad and the mystery of it all, strive for a good 2017.
