Author Archives: ronqueens

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, November 12, 2025. The dam has broken on the continuing scandal of Jeffrey Epstein, infamous sexual predator who took his own life (?) in 2019. This is happening right now as the government shutdown has sadly ended, in my opinion, and that lone representative from Arizona has finally been sworn in by this disgusting MAGAt Speaker Johnson who withheld swearing her in for eight fucking weeks! We know why! It’s so obvious!

If you really think the sexual predator sitting in the White House isn’t guilty of crimes committed while being a guest at Epstein’s lavish digs, ponder this: Donald J. Trumpf sought to get Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to remove her name from the Epstein discharge petition. This bombshell revelation is covered in an online MSNBC article by Mychael Schnell and Jake Traylor entitled “Trump sought to get Boebert to drop her name from Epstein discharge petition.” This is just emblematic of this furiously corrupt administration and it will not end well for the criminal in chief.

It is obvious that Dump administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert at the White House today. They attempted to convince her to remove her name from the Jeffrey Epstein petition before it could be changed, according to a White House official and a source close to Boebert.

Boebert is only just one of four House Republicans who signed the Epstein discharge petition – a maneuver allowing legislation to reach the House floor without the blessing of its leadership. Now on Wednesday afternoon, the petition reached the magic number of 218 signatures after the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), the bar for triggering House action.

Now the despicable Johnson will be forced to hold a floor vote on an issue that has roiled this regime ever since the felon got back in. Under House rules, no more names can be added or removed from the petition since it hit the 218 mark!

House Democrats actually released new emails today from Epstein suggesting that Dump “knew about the girls,” which Drumpf has repeatedly denied. He could deny until he’s blue in the face, but here, facts still matter.

Thus we have undue pressure put on Boebert to drop her name from the petition. However, she was not persuaded to remove her name despite the White House effort, said one of the sources who requested anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting. So there are even whistleblowers in this ferocious craven regime who still know right from wrong.

Even though the magic number of 218 has been reached by today, floor action will not be immediate for those who believe a vote would be taken immediately. According to House rules, seven legislative days must pass before a member can call the legislation to the floor for a vote. After that, the speaker has to set a vote within two legislative days.

Now with Thanksgiving recess just around the corner, any action on the discharge petition would likely not take place until December.

On his show tonight, Chris Hayes thinks the vote will come next week on releasing the Epstein files. Let’s see. I and many other people do think the truth will eventually come out – to the detriment of Little Donnie.

Three other repugnicans signed the petition in addition to Boebert: Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY). But House repugnicans have been busy fending off multiple calls for legislative action from Democrats who are demanding transparency and also seeking to further drive a wedge among repugnicans who are divided on the issue.

If you recall, before Drumpf was elected, both he and several of his awful cronies now in this incompetent government called for the full release of the Epstein files and many supporters of that effort felt betrayed when Attorney General Pam “Bimbo” released a memo in July that essentially closed the case. Dump has loudly called for his followers to move on – since his name is on that list – but not all of them have.

The House Oversight Committee continues to investigate this sexual trafficker and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell, taking depositions and issuing subpoenas. Democrats on that committee released a tranche of documents today, including emails mentioning Drumpf.

Fucking press secretary Karoline Leavitt who is just a shill for her Supreme Leader criticized the Dems’ actions today, saying “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” Notice how the truth is smeared as “fake” here. It’s just disgusting! She has learned well from a master!

And just ruminate over this: this abnormal president is even considering giving Maxwell a pardon for her sick crimes! He’s already pardoned despicable characters like former disgraced Representative George Santos who was a true mentor of his since he relentlessly lied his way into Congress and committed real crimes while in it. He’s pardoned other cronies who helped with his 2020 bid to subvert the election, people like disgraced former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. This is so appalling that one cannot even grasp how venal this is. This is such an abuse of the presidential pardon that there hasn’t been anything like it since Dump and, hopefully, there won’t be after him!

And so it went!

Here are some more pics from Nashville.

This is Nashville’s own Parthenon. We never went in it; I just took this photo from the Nashville Trolley tour we took on Sunday, November 9.

This is one of the singers at the Opry: Charlie Worsham, who I didn’t know – until that night. Some of his songs are “Love Don’t Die Easy,” “I Hope I’m Stoned,” “Could It Be,” and “Hang On to That.”

This is another singer who we saw that night: Quinn XCII. He explained the reasoning behind his colorful moniker: “Quinn” is an acronym for “Quit Unless Instincts are Never Neglected,” and XCII are the Roman numerals for 92, representing the artist’s birth year, 1992.

More of Quinn XCII. Notice the ten-gallon hats in the audience?

The only photo of me and Elliot being shown here, Saturday, November 8.

These statues flanked the corner of the main drag in Nashville.

This custom-designed car, located in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, is Webb Pierce’s 1962 Pontiac Bonneville that features rifles, handguns, and silver dollars. Michael Webb Pierce was born in 1921 and was once one of the most popular hanky tonk vocalists and guitarists of the 1950s. His biggest hit was “In the Jailhouse Now.” With this 1962 car, Pierce had leather interior added fashioned after a cowboy saddle and ordained with guns and silver dollars. In fact, there are over 150 silver dollars on the interior of the car. He not only drove flamboyant cars, he dressed as flamboyantly.

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, November 11, 2025, Veterans Day 2025. I will post a comparison between this so-called president and what a former president did on this sacred holiday, but now, I’ll just state how much of a hoot Nashville was over the last four days. Elliot and I chose this destination for my upcoming birthday on Saturday, November 8, and we flew out to Nashville last Thursday, November 6. We had one friend with us, “Harvey,” who met us Thursday night at our hotel near Vanderbilt University.

The four days were marked by unseasonably warm weather for the first three days until an arctic blast moved in on Sunday and held its grip on the city until the day we left, which was Monday morning. Not surprisingly, when we got back to the Big Apple, a new moniker for our city could be the “Frigid Apple,” since the weather from Nashville accompanied us back to the Northeast. The temperature out there now is only 38 degrees, but it feels like 23 degrees, according to my weather app. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to be a balmy 48 degrees.

The time spent in Nashville went very quickly. The first day was spent basically flying to the Music Capital of the country. We got to the hotel, the Hyatt House at Vanderbilt, after 3 or so – I can’t recall exactly the time – but we still had to wait for my friend Harvey to arrive. He had a later flight out of Newark and wasn’t slated to arrive before 6. So I had the energy to check in and do some walking around the neighborhood. I learned that there was a Vanderbilt Bookstore, so I spent most of the afternoon looking for it. I made my way onto the campus, falsely believing it was on campus, and finally realized it was on West End Avenue instead. There I spent a while scouring the shelves and eventually decided to buy a remainder book called A Life of My Own, by Claire Tomalin. I really didn’t know her at all; she has written biographies of great authors like Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys, and Thomas Hardy. This was a memoir of her own life growing up in London throughout the mid-20th century. Hell, it was only $5.00, reduced from $17. I thought it was a great bargain. And I’m 100 pages into it already.

When Harvey arrived, it was late already – and dark. So we decided to go not that far from the hotel. We settled on a Tex-Mex place called Little Rey, which was just a block away from the hotel. It wasn’t a white-tablecloth dining experience, to say the least. But it would do since we wanted something fast and something quick. At least I didn’t have indigestion from what I ate.

The next day we met for breakfast in the hotel dining room around 8:30 or so. This was not a sleeping holiday, by no means. I would have to wait until getting home to do that. Every day I had to set my phone alarm. After breakfast, we set out to walk to downtown Nashville, which was about a mile or so away. The weather was gorgeous that day, as I previously wrote. So we walked then and discovered the vertical magnificence of the city. There were so many tall towers everywhere as we made our way to the main downtown hub that included many of those well-known music venues. Our goal was to go to the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, located on Rep. John Lewis Way South. We bought tickets there instead of buying them online. We spent, maybe, about an hour or so on just one floor before breaking up to go to lunch.

We had lunch at the very popular chicken joint called Hattie B’s in town, where we had to wait about a half hour on line to get in. The place is famous for its Nashville-style hot chicken and its wide range of heat levels like “mild,” “medium,” and “hot.” Other levels include “damn hot” and “shut the cluck up!” Little old nonspice me asked for the mildest temperature and no spice on the chicken. We chipped in for sharing their fired pickles, which I couldn’t ingest too much of. The two sides I ordered were the baked beans and the creamy coleslaw. Both were quite good.

After lunch, the two guys wandered off together, while I made my way back to the museum. You see, if you keep your ticket, you can use it anytime the day you purchase it. I wanted to see at least one more floor before calling it quits. My friend in Cherry Hill would be proud of me since I practically closed the museum by leaving around 5, closing time. At that time, it was raining outside, and I decided to take an Uber back to the hotel.

Elliot had planned a very nice prebirthday dinner for the three of us at this place called Husk, but the only time he could get for Friday night was 7:45 p.m. Unfortunately, Harvey decided to bow out since the time didn’t square with his usual schedule of having his bigger meal during the afternoon, not much later. Thus the restaurant saw only the two of us in their very cosy interior. Their social media page says it is “nestled in the charming quiet oasis of the Rutledge Hill neighborhood near downtown. Husk Nashville is housed in a refurbished 1880s historic home that was once the residence of a 19th-century Nashville mayor.” It certainly did look like it was a private residence when we walked in and were led to a round table near a fireplace.

When we saw the skimpy menu, we decided to order what we thought would be tantalizing: Alabama shrimp as an appetizer and share a 10-ounce strip steak. We also shared the buttermilk cheddar biscuits. For dessert, we ordered the noble spring chèvre mousse. Everything was quite delicious.

The next day, Saturday, we all met for breakfast once more. That day, we walked back into downtown where we accidentally saw a sign for the Pancake Pantry which is near the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It is also near the Johnny Cash Museum. Originally, we were going to this most popular eatery on Sunday, but since we saw the line for it on Saturday, I decided to wait with everyone else. This spontaneity on my part stirred Harvey to grouse slightly over my rash decision to get on line, but I persevered and stood my ground. Here Harvey left the line to get coffee up the block at The Diner. Harvey actually left us to wait on line to get to the Bridgestone Arena where he was going to attend a hockey game.

After waiting on line for about 20 minutes or so and speaking to some visitors to the city in front of us, Elliot and I were finally ushered to an outside table. I was so excited to order their signature fare: pancakes. And when I finally got my wish to ingest these fluffy pancakes, I was a little disappointed. Comparing these pancakes to those made at the Jax Inn Diner in Jackson Heights, I can quickly say the latter are much better. Sorry, Pancake Pantry, that’s how I feel.

Next I made my way up the block to the Johnny Cash Museum which I saw as much as I could in just two hours or more. I knew very little of the Man in Black, but this museum had so much memorabilia from his life which was just so informative as it provided so many details about his life and career. I strongly recommend going to this museum for anyone interested in Cash’s life.

The highlight of the trip occurred on my birthday when Elliot and I went to the Grand Ole Opry at 5:30 p.m. There were eight acts scheduled to perform that night, and we saw only seven since Elliot preferred to leave before the last act got on stage. None of the names scheduled to perform that night were known to me. There were square dancers on the bill and fiddle champions as well. The other six acts were typical country music performers like “Whispering” Bill Anderson who admitted that he began his career as early as 1964, and he looked it.

This new hall is located way out of town, which necessitated us taking an Uber for more than 20 minutes and going on the highway. The old venue was in Ryman Auditorium which was much closer downtown. But no more! This new glitzier arena has so much around it like other stores and restaurants. Sadly, we had no time to explore the area since we got to the music hall closer to 7. Also, we had no time to have dinner that evening, so I just nibbled on a bag of popcorn during the 20-minute intermission.

Our last full day, Sunday, was spent taking the Nashville Old Town Trolley tour which takes you to 13 stops along the way. We had some difficulty in finding the stop closer to our hotel, but we finally managed to find it after having breakfast somewhere else this time. We had breakfast at some hotel that featured a restaurant inside. I do recall that our waiter was a very nice-looking young man who engaged me in conversation about serial killers.

That night, Elliot and I separated from Harvey again to have spare ribs at a local eatery called Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, located on Elliston Place, which was not far from the hotel. But Elliot insisted we take an Uber again, so I called for one. The reason was that it was now late, dark, and cold. The place was very informal; it had the same setup as at Hattie B’s, where you walked up to a counter and put in your order. You were given a number on a stick and you left it at your table. I got a half rack of ribs and couldn’t finish the whole thing.

Well, that’s it for our Nashville trip. The next morning we woke up at 6:30, met Harvey for breakfast around 7:30, and said goodbye to him after the meal. We were leaving around 8:15, and he had to stay quite late for a much later flight. I later learned today that Harvey’s flight was delayed for hours because of the government shutdown and he didn’t get into his house until around 2 a.m. Sheesh!

Now back to the buffoon attending the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the fallen soldiers throughout the wars. An online Mirror article by Jack Hobbs entitled “Five topics Trump discussed in Veterans Day speech – from Joe Biden to B-2 bombers” discusses the true insanity behind Drumpf’s speech which is quite embarrassing as usual. Unable to even give a reasoned, typical speech about how this holiday is significant for all Americans, the idiot in chief veered away from the general topic and started discussing tangential topics that had no relevance to the event at hand. He discussed his predecessor Joe Biden, something about the B-2 bomber, and the renaming of the Department of Defense to War. In all, the madman’s speech lasted around 20 minutes, and I heard none of it on mainstream media.

It appeared that Drumpf veered off topic in the first three minutes of his speech. He spent much of his opening remarks bizarrely thanking members of his Cabinet, that one which is loaded with idiots like him. He also acknowledged pedophile Johnson who, according to him, “will go down as a great man someday.” Hmm, as a fascist maybe and Trump toady, but not a great man, in my opinion. The idiot in charge also called out Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, the real author of the controversial Project 2025 plan. He kept on heaping praise on this clown for “cutting, cutting, and cutting.”

The asshole even proposed changing the name of Veterans Day to “Victory” Day which will be not loved by veterans anywhere. Drumpf also touted America’a current military strength. He praised “Beautiful B-2 bombers. Aren’t they beautiful now?” Any of this gobbledegook if mentioned by a Democratic president like Joe Biden would be denounced by everyone in the media, but since this is Donald J. Chump, we hear practically nothing.

In the meantime, as this sitting president was giving a cringeworthy speech on the occasion, a real president like former President Barack Obama surprised an entire planeload of veterans who were flying to Washington, D.C., to participate in Veterans Day marches today by offering heartfelt thanks for their contribution to American freedom and shaking each and every veteran’s hand as they deplaned. Could you see fat Dump doing the same? Of course not! He couldn’t shake any person’s hand since he’s such a germaphobe!

Have a great Wednesday.

And so it went!

Here are some pics from our Nashville trip! Hope you enjoy them. I’ll include just some today; I’ll print more tomorrow.

Here is downtown Nashville as we walked to it from our hotel.

The front of the Johnny Cash Museum that I visited on Saturday.

Here is a discography of the Man in Black.

This whole wall contained all of Cash’s list of LPs which was huge!

This is Tootsie’s world-famous lounge. I have to admit that both Elliot and Harvey found the music blaring out of these places so deafening that they didn’t even set foot in one of these venues. And I didn’t either!

These are boots and a silk shirt that Cash wore on occasion.

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Flush over triumphant Democratic victories across the country yesterday on Election Day, today conservative news outlet The Wall Street Journal torches MAGA triumphalism in a hard-hitting editorial published today. An online article by Isaac Schorr entitled “A ‘Warning on ‘Trump’s Unpopularity’: The Wall Street Journal Torches ‘MAGA Triumphalism’ After Election Night” reports about the paper’s editorial which declares “The era of MAGA triumphalism should be over.”

Under the headline, “Democrats Start Their Comeback,” and sub-headline, “A warning for the GOP from New Jersey and Virginia on affordability and Trump’s unpopularity,” the Journal observed that “President Trump rolled to victory in 2024 promising to reduce inflation and make middle-class life more affordable. The warning to Republicans in Tuesday’s election results is that Democrats are turning the tables on affordability, especially when they steer clear of leftist cultural snares.”

After reviewing Democrats’ victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, the conservative newspaper suggested that the Orange Turd played a role in the GOP’s losses. Even though the GOP won both states in 2009 and Virginia in 2021, under Presidents Obama and Biden, “this time Democrats had the advantage of rallying voters upset at President Trump.” Exit polls showed the Orange Turd’s approval rating at 44 percent in New Jersey and 42 percent in Virginia.

The conservative Journal wasn’t the only media entity to acknowledge as much. On the fake news station, Fox News, Brit Hume chalked up Democrats’ triumphs simply to anti-Dump sentiment.

“Today Donald Trump went from a lame duck to a humiliated lame duck,” so states Lawrence O’Donnell on his show tonight, The Last Word. The election of New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be New York’s newly elected 111th mayor signals “Donald Trump’s days are numbered,” according to an online Mirror article by Christopher Bucktin entitled “‘New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win signals Donald Trump’s days are numbered.'” Here the piece boldly declares “the tide has turned” against the fascist in the White House.

I’ll quote some of this lovely piece here: “It is the first major, flashing-neon, impossible-to-spin sign that the American public has begun to reject the catastrophic second presidency of Donald Trump.”

Again, the language here is impossible to not overstate: “New York did not just choose a new mayor. It chose a new direction, a new generation, and a new political vocabulary.”

According to the article, Mamdani built a powerful coalition that Trumpism has never understood and cannot compete with: younger voters, working-class immigrants, and the Black and Latino communities who know too well what it means to be used (by Dump and his horrible party) as political props and then summarily abandoned.

Mamdani didn’t just win, according to the article, he redrew the map of who holds power in New York City. He did it while becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian to ever hold the office.

So, what did the idiot in the White House do in the wake of these disastrous results? He does what he always does: he shrugs, he deflects, he denies, he snarls, he bursts out in anger. Here he blamed Congress, his staff, the government shutdown, the “media elite,” but always forgetting to blame himself. He was the sole person on the ballot and people came out in droves to vote against him!

This was also on the ballot, according to this well-written article, “his policies, his cruelty, his chaos, his hollow nationalism, his disdain for every person who does not fit his reflection – those were the issues voters saw. And they rejected them.”

All of those states that racked up large Democratic victories were saying one thing very clearly: We are done with the policies of this cruel administration. The conclusion is quite telling: “And Trump, for the first time in this term, looks like a man who knows he is being outplayed.”

In the wake of this wonderful good news, today will be my last blog before next Monday, November 10, because Elliot and I are flying to Nashville, Tennessee, tomorrow morning for a four-day birthday celebration. It was this or a party, but I decided upon going somewhere where I haven’t been to before. One friend is joining us: “Harvey.” He overheard Elliot mentioning our going to Nashville a while ago, and he asked if he could come along. Elliot cheerily said “sure, you can.” He’ll be meeting us in Nashville since he’ll be leaving out of Newark Airport. He is also staying at the same hotel where we’ll be staying. But he will not be accompanying us to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday, November 8. He said he might be going to an ice hockey game. But we’ll join up for some nice meals, that’s for sure.

Have a good four days. Hope to see you on Monday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, November 4, 2025, Election Day 2025. I’ve just got home from my stimulating book club meeting in which we discussed for 90 minutes the pros and cons of The Power of the Dog, where about 60 literate and articulate gay men attended this meeting.

I’m not really writing about this meeting, no, my intention is to blast out the incredible results of today’s political races in which all Democrats swept into office as a major fuck-you to Donald Trumpf and his existing fascist party.

In New York, Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is now delivering his acceptance speech to a filled auditorium in Brooklyn. The most important election was in California, I believe, in which California voters voted “yes” to Proposition 50 to fight repugnican redistricting in Texas and other repugnican strongholds.

Democrats won in New Jersey and in Virginia.

It’s a great night to celebrate these victories, and I hope this is a significant omen for better things to come, most especially the 2026 midterms.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, November 3, 2025. It’s late here owing to Elliot and me hosting our neighbor/friend “Diane” tonight over the apple walnut cake I baked yesterday. She brought a bottle of prosecco with which to toast me in advance over my coming birthday this Saturday She just left close to 10. Atticus was quite present all during the time of Diane’s visit. He eventually got up on the kitchen table to sniff the remnants of the apple cake. He even came up to Diane’s knee for a little while.

Today the fucking entire repugnican party was excoriated in an address by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who slammed the GOP and the president as “running a Pedophile Protection Program (PPP)” as the government shutdown enters its 34th day! I’ll just lighten the evening by repeating a Dump joke: “How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? None. Trump just says he fixed it – and they all stand around cheering in the dark.” That’s the joke; I found it on Instagram.

Some good news: the sitting president or golfing president, whatever you want to call him, has received the worst approval ratings ever. An online CNN article covers this great news for the opposition party by Jennifer Agiesta entitled “Democrats are more enthusiastic about the midterms as Trump’s approval hits a second-term low, CNN poll finds.”

Thus one year out from the midterm elections, the Democratic Party holds a sizable enthusiasm advantage as views of President Poop dip further into negative territory, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

According to this poll, Dump’s approval rating stands at just 37 percent, the worst of his second term in CNN polling and roughly equivalent to his 36 percent approval rating at this point in his first disastrous term. His disapproval rating is 63 percent, just one point above the previous high of 62 percent as he was leaving office in January 2021.

According to the poll, even though Democratic-aligned voters remain far less fond of their own party (65 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic Party) than Republican-aligned voters (80 percent have a favorable view of the GOP), but even those Democratic-aligned voters with a negative view of the party are almost universally behind the Democratic candidate in their district (93 percent) and broadly motivated to vote (71 percent say they are extremely motivated).

All told, Democrats hold a 12-point advantage among those voters who say they are extremely or very motivated to turn out next year. This is probably not as true of those identifying as repugnican.

Americans as a whole are broadly dissatisfied with the state of the country (as they should be: 68 percent say things are going badly) and the economy (72 percent say it’s in bad shape, and 47 percent call the economy and cost of living the top issue facing the country). About 6 in 10 (61 percent) say Dump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the country.

Americans are increasingly likely to say Chump has gone too far in using the power of the presidency – 61 percent say so, up 9 points since February. On President Poop’s desecration of the East Wing, 54 percent of the public is screamingly dissatisfied or angry with this, with just 10 percent saying they’re satisfied with or happy about that decision. Another 36 percent (including nearly half of repugnicans) say it doesn’t matter to them. These are the people who don’t think much about this at all.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by phone from October 27 to 30 among a random national sample of 1,245 adults, including 954 registered voters.

Tomorrow is Election Day here and in many other states. It will be interesting to see if voters will turn against President Poop’s endorsement of former governor Andrew Cuomo as mayor and elect Zohan Mamdani as the first Muslim mayor of the Big Apple.

Tomorrow also marks my gay men’s reading club meeting where we will discuss The Power of the Dog which I finished reading more than two weeks ago. So I’ll be absent from this venue until Wednesday.

Have a great Election Day, everyone. Vote for the candidate you believe will be best for New York. The last one was surely a bad fit. I’m very concerned if Proposition 50 on California’s ballot will be approved, which will be a bulwark against fucking repugnican redistricting in other states.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, November 2, 2025, the end of Daylight Saving Time. I always rage against this worthless practice that we engage in year in and year out without any attempt to correct it. Which would mean that this do-nothing Congress would finally put an end to changing the clock and letting nature do its part in giving us natural daylight.

The literature on this phenomenon always points to its negative health impacts, such as increased risks of stroke and obesity from disrupted circadian rhythms. Proponents of permanent standard time argue it aligns better with human biology. Permanent standard time could reduce health risks associated with time changes. Permanent daylight saving time could result in more evening sunlight in the winter months and may provide a benefit in terms of public safety, as studies show there are fewer fatal car accidents with more daylight in the evening. It appears that many researchers agree that the current system of changing clocks twice a year is the worst option from a health perspective, regardless of whether permanent standard or daylight time is chosen. As for this ever happening, don’t expect it to take shape during this terrible administration that cannot even pay federal workers now during a month-long government shutdown, but an attempt to make daylight saving time permanent did pass the Senate in 2022, but did not advance in the House of Representatives. Public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans favor eliminating the time change, though support for permanent standard time versus permanent daylight saving time is more divided. That is why I begrudgingly move the clocks back now and ahead an hour in March.

Yesterday Elliot and I spent a lovely evening in Jersey City at Temple Beth-El attending a gala for the dedication of a new social hall, funded in part by Elliot’s late aunt’s legacy. We used mass transit, taking the F to 34th Street where we transferred to the PATH and took the train to Journal Square. From there, we took a taxi to the synagogue on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. We were directed to take the stairs downstairs and we descended the steps to the designated area. Outside there was a table set up with the names of the invited guests and a wall with plaques designating the donors who generously donated to the renovation of the social hall. Elliot’s aunt’s name was etched on a plaque honoring her foundation. Then we walked into the dark interior of the room that was set up for dinner and dancing. We looked around for a table and we found one in the back. We then took some hors d’oeuvres that were proffered to us by a number of servers. The rabbi of the synagogue met us and thanked Elliot for his backing.

It was at this event that I shook the hand of Jim McGreevey who is now running for mayor of Jersey Center. You remember who Jim McGreevey is? He was the former governor of New Jersey in 2001 and was forced to resign the position after it was revealed that he engaged in an extramarital relationship with a man. There was that infamous press conference where he appeared with his wife, Dina Matos, in which he stated he was a gay man and that he was resigning his office. A divorce was granted the couple in 2008.

So it was this Jim McGreevey whose hand I shook. He and another candidate for mayor were at this event, and the other one is someone I wouldn’t know if I fell over him. The other candidate’s name is William O’Dea. Anyway, the brief engagement I had with McGreevey was quite funny. He doesn’t know me from Adam, as they say, but when he took my hand, he uttered that he thought he knew me from somewhere. I said that I’ve never met him before; I’m not even a New Jersey resident, I told him. That’s when he turned to talking to someone else who was at least a New Jersey voter. That was the extent of my brief conversation with him.

Here we also met another gay couple who are members of the shul. In fact, as soon as we entered the room, it was “James” who took my hand and talked very amicably throughout the evening. I didn’t even know who he was at first. And I couldn’t understand why he seemed so touchy-feely with me. The longer the evening progressed, it became clear. He started talking of his husband, “Morris,” who was at the event and where they enjoy traveling to. It was practically inevitable that we would exchange telephone numbers and emails. With the end of the gala looming, I finally met “Morris.” I didn’t have time to speak to him, as Elliot yearned to leave; it was a little after 10.

Unfortunately, the commute home took forever. We got into an Uber outside the synagogue and then took the train back to 33rd Street, where we transferred to the F. However, the ride to 33rd Street on the PATH took forever. The only distraction we had on this interminable ride back to New York was seeing the hordes of young people boarding the train in Halloween costumes. Both girls and men were decked out in weird and colorful getups. Even though it was November 1, a day after Halloween. People were still going to parties, it seemed, as many got off at Christopher Street.

We got home, finally, a little after 12. Much later than I thought, but heck, it was fun looking at the Halloween revelers. I even took a respite from reading Surviving Autocracy, by Masha Gessen, who writes incisively about the first Dump term. She uses the term “kakistocracy” to describe the kind of government we had during Dump’s first term, and here we are all over again during his second, worse term. I’ve even went back to rereading It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, inspired by this Orange Turd’s second term. This novel is about fascism coming to America in 1935. Well, maybe it didn’t way back then, but it sure emerged in 2025.

Anyway, it’s getting late here.

It’s time to wish everyone a good week.

And so it went!

I forgot to mention that I baked today: an apple walnut cake. Here it is!

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, October 31, 2025. Happy Halloween, ghosties! As you know, I was going to brave the brutal weather yesterday in seeing Psycho in concert at the David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic playing the inimitable score of Bernard Herrmann on stage. For those not familiar with Hermann’s scores, I’ll provide you some background information on this man’s illustrious career later on.

Yesterday the weather was quite rainy and windy, and I had no intention of giving up my ticket to this groundbreaking film that gave birth to the modern horror film by staying home. So I took my trusty pink umbrella, put on my blue-zippered jacket, and left the borough around 3. I was scheduled to meet my friend “Harvey” at The Smith, located on 63rd Street and Broadway, around 4:15. However, I got to the West Side earlier than scheduled, so I darted into Breads Bakery for a cup of coffee and a croissant. Yes, I could still have dinner at 4:30 or 4:45 or even later after nibbling on a croissant just several minutes before.

As I was drinking my third cup of coffee, my phone rings, and it’s Harvey who says he’s already inside The Smith having a beer at the bar. I mentioned I was directly adjacent to the restaurant and that I would come by once I was finished with my repast.

After finishing my coffee and croissant, I walked directly across the street to the restaurant and spoke to a hostess inside. I mentioned that I had a 4:30 reservation and that someone could be here already. I saw Harvey right away; there weren’t that many customers having drinks at the bar at that time, and he started coming toward me.

We were ushered then to a table where we examined the menu and exchanged stories about traveling in this terrible weather. I mentioned I couldn’t believe how my umbrella didn’t self-destruct in these blustery winds.

Dinner was quite good; it consisted of us sharing crispy calamari and my having ricotta gnocchi, while Harvey had oysters initially. I eschewed dessert, but Harvey couldn’t resist the ice cream.

After dinner, we had some time to kill so we walked further uptown and, to our surprise, discovered another Strand Bookstore on 67th Street, I believe. Thus we browsed inside for a while before deciding it was time to head back to Lincoln Center. I almost bought an old Norman Mailer book on the Used Book shelves, but thought better of it.

Now to the concert that began a little after 7:30. The young conductor of the orchestra was Stephen Mulligan and there was a principal violinist by the name of Hae-Young Ham. They appeared on stage, while a large screen loomed behind them. That’s where we watched this 1960 thriller.

We were on the Second Tier, Door 22, Row DD, seats 2 and 3. We were in the last row in the back of the theater. That is the reason, I think, that we found the sound from the orchestra not as overpowering as we thought it would be. Also, the instruments used for the score were all strings here, and a note in the program explains why Herrmann decided to go this way instead of using a full-throttle orchestra for the menacing score heard throughout the shocker. The reason he did this, according to the program, is that he wanted “to complement the black-and-white photography of the film with a black-and-white score,” thus the use of strings only without the employment of woodwinds, brass, or percussion. In fact, Harvey asked me why there weren’t other types of instruments used in this show, and I pointed out Herrmann’s philosophy as the explanation.

Anyway, it seems as the audience thoroughly enjoyed this version of the film. I’m very curious to know how many audience members had seen this film for the first time last night. As I scanned the audience, I couldn’t make out many younger folk – like those in their 20s or 30s. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.

As I mentioned, Bernard Herrmann provided six scores for the temperamental director. He started with scoring Hitchcock’s 1955 principal comedy, The Trouble with Harry, 1956’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, also from 1956, 1958’s Vertigo, the espionage caper North by Northwest, from 1959, and 1963’s The Birds.

Herrmann was New York-born and bred and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx (my former childhood birthplace), New York University, and The Juilliard School. He formed his own ensemble in 1931, the New Chamber Orchestra, to explore avant-garde repertoire. In 1934, he joined the staff of CBS as an arranger and rehearsal conductor. His scores for Orson Welles’s radio shows led to an invitation to write the music for two of that director’s films, Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Thus began a 35-year record of writing musical scores for film and television that kept the composer quite busy. Herrmann died the night he finished scoring the music for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1975). In total, Herrmann composed the scores for 51 films, not to mention a good many radio productions, television shows, concert shows, and even an opera.

As for Psycho, the film “set a horror standard for generations to come,” according to our program. It also depicted frank discussions of sexual situations and even mentioned transvestism at the end of the movie, which was quite unusual for commercial films at the time. Also, this was the first time a toilet was actually flushed in a film, when the doomed heroine, Marion Crane, portrayed by Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother, flushes a piece of paper down the toilet in her cabin, Cabin 1. This happens just before the shocking and infamous shower scene. If you really examine the thrusting of the knife here, you will actually see that the knife does not penetrate Leigh’s skin at all. This is so different from slasher movies today that depict the most graphic effects of being knifed by dastardly characters all the time.

Anyway, this was Halloween and you wouldn’t know it. We met Elliot’s daughter in Rockville Centre at Press 195, a sandwich and burger joint, where “Emily” paid for our lunch. She wanted to honor both Elliot’s and my upcoming birthday in November.

From lunch, we drove to see “Joseph” at the rehab center where he’s still staying and recovering from surgery on a broken hip sustained in a fall at the center. We stayed about an hour and brought him a slice of pizza and three Diet Coke bottles. He was very appreciative of that. Within 20 minutes or so, we were joined by his wife, “Mary.” This was our cue to leave.

It’s getting late here, so have a good weekend.

Oh, tomorrow Elliot and I will be attending a dinner at Beth-El, in Jersey City, a gala dedicated to Elliot’s late aunt’s estate funding of a refurbished community center opening tomorrow, so I’ll not be writing my blog on Saturday. The event starts at 7, and I don’t expect to be home before 11. I’ll see you on Sunday, November 2.

And so it went!

Here’s the auditorium early on before the film began at 7:30.

Here is the playbill from the program at Lincoln Center.

Here is a view from down below. Maybe I could be suffering from “Vertigo” by looking down.

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, October 29, 2025. The unhinged “dictator” in chief sparked more fury on social media today when he threatened to send in more than the National Guard to U.S. cities if it’s warranted. This alarming pronouncement by this despot was covered in an online article for OK! entitled “‘Dictator’ Donald Trump Dragged for Threatening to ‘Send More Than the National Guard’ to U.S. Cities,” and it’s by Brianna Sainez.

Without any surprise, Dump’s declaration of sending more than the National Guard to our cities – read, just blue cities – he will never send troops to red states like Alabama, Kentucky, et al. that have more violent crime than the blue states he’s targeting – was raked over the coals by social media users far and wide.

The Orange Despot made this declaration aboard the USS George Washington in Yokohama, Japan, on Tuesday, October 28. He made this announcement to U.S. troops who were forced to listen to this guy bloviate.

The delusional leader stated, “We have cities that have trouble. We can’t have cities that are troubled (boy, is he the troubled one here) and we’re sending in our National Guard. And if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard because we’re going to have safe cities. We’re not going to have people killed in our cities.” In the meantime, this douchebag has indiscriminately killed 57 alleged drug traffickers in the Pacific Ocean and on the coast of Colombia without any evidence. Is this even legal?

Then the douchebag continued his despotic rant, “Whether people like it or not, that’s what we’re doing.” Then he fabricated the worst falsehood regarding what people want the federal government to be doing in their fair cities, saying, “You know, people don’t care if we send in our military (I fucking beg to differ since there was the matter of seven million protesters out on our streets last Saturday protesting just this horrible measure.), if we send in our National Guard, if use send in Space Command (why not send in the cavalry while you’re at it?), they don’t care who the hell it is. They just want to be safe. And we have safe cities now.”

Then he made the case worse for himself when he ridiculously claimed he could do whatever he wanted to. Without the courts, or “nobody would get involved.” He added, “And I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines – I could send anybody I wanted.”

Once this clip went out, a flurry of critics on social media rapped Dump for the despot he truly is becoming. One user commented, “This is a dictator fantasy. The president doesn’t get to ‘do whatever I want’ . . . Deploying the military against Americans would continue to spark legal battles, constitutional crises, and grave risks to civil liberties.” Another user wrote, “The American democracy depends on institutions that check power, not on leaders who brag they’re above them.”

One user hit the nail on the head, saying, “Trump’s unhinged fantasy of turning American cities into militarized war zones without a whisper of judicial oversight isn’t leadership, it’s the blueprint for a fascist dictatorship we’d all regret electing.”

When Dump previously announced plans to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., in August, citing rising crime rates, the data on crime rates have actually debunked that claim since rates had already dropped more than 25 percent in the last year. But Dump doesn’t look at facts, he just decides on gut instinct, even though it’s 99 percent wrong all the time!

Despotic comments aside here, Dump is also taking heat for his shambling performance in Asia in which he met with Japan’s new female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. There he appeared to be in cognitive decline when the prime minister had to forcefully take the president around to meet with dignitaries, where for one moment, it looked as if he strutted away without knowing where he was. Again, I didn’t watch the coverage from his Asia trip at all, and I can’t vouch for that. I did quickly watch a clip on my iPhone, though, and it does appear that the president looked befuddled there for a moment. Again, this could have been forestalled by a majority of American voters just voting for the better candidate in Kamala Harris, but, no, we had to vote for the Alzheimer’s case instead! And now we’re stuck with him declining right in front of our very eyes. Just like Ronald Reagan, and many people would claim Joe Biden as well. I would posit that Biden was far more cogent in his perceived decrepitude than this guy ever was!

A little note about tomorrow: my friend “Harvey” and I will be attending the screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho tomorrow evening at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic performing the score alongside the film. I noticed an ad online announcing the orchestra was doing this a while back, so I decided to buy tickets for it in honor of Halloween. Since Elliot was not interested in going, I asked Harvey instead. He agreed to go. The show starts at 7:30 and we’re meeting to have dinner before the production. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll see you, possibly, on Friday, which is officially Halloween. I don’t think I’ll go into the Village to watch the parade since rain is forecasted that day. Actually, rain is expected even tomorrow, but this won’t deter me from seeing the cinematic progenitor of all of those slasher films that followed it.

Have a happy Thursday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, October 28, 2025. I know I wrote that I might be absent from this page yesterday, but I’m here now. Our friend, “Patricia,” did take us out to dinner to celebrate our combined birthdays at Nick’s Bistro, on Metropolitan Avenue. The dinner was quite lovely; we shared some nice appetizers like a copious beet salad and crab cakes, while ordering individual entrees for each of us. I ordered the lemon ouzo chicken, while Patricia had lamb chops, while Elliot ordered the chicken kebab. For dessert, we asked for the chocolate mousse cake and shared it among the three of us. The dinner lasted only about 90 minutes, and then Elliot drove Patricia back to her apartment while also driving back to our block, with me parking the car just yards away from our apartment building. (Elliot gets a little wigged out with parking our not-so-new Subaru on a certain side, which is the left in this case.)

In the meantime, former President Joe Biden issued a dark warning against his successor in a speech delivered in Boston on Sunday in which he noted that the United States is facing “dark days” under this president, President Poop, but that the country is “more powerful than any dictator,” clearly painting Dump as a tinplated dictator. This announcement against his successor appears in an online article for Just News by Misty Severi entitled “Joe Biden claims US is facing ‘dark days’ under President Donald Trump.”

The former president made the comment while accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

The former commander in chief urged Democratic voters to stay optimistic about the country’s future, but not to ignore the current administration’s alleged attacks on free speech and tests on the limits of executive power.

“Since its founding, America served as a beacon for the most powerful idea ever in government in the history of the world,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. “The idea is stronger than any army. We’re more powerful than any dictator.”

Biden reminded the audience that the country’s history is “not a fairytale” and said the United States depends on a presidency with limited power, a functioning Congress, and an autonomous judiciary, which are all under massive attack by this cruel regime.

“Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden said. Biden went on to indicate that the country will “find our true compass again” and that “we will emerge as we always have – stronger, wiser, and more resilient, more just, so long as we keep the faith.”

Along with the comments made by the former president, the government has now entered its 28th day of being shuttered, with repugnicans not to be found anywhere, as repulsive MAGA Johnson furloughed his representatives weeks ago in order to avoid releasing the Epstein files. The shutdown has resulted in the furlough of roughly 900,000 federal employees and left 2 million working without pay. And where is the president during all of this? you might ask. He’s in Japan fumbling his way through meetings with Asian leaders. I refused to watch any coverage of the asshole. I dare say running away to Asia while the government remains closed is fucking bad optics. And the American people are paying close attention to what the Orange Turd is doing. And are massing together to register their displeasure with this administration.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, October 27, 2025. The government is in its sixth week of a shutdown orchestrated by only Republicans, not Democrats, as MAGA Johnson would have you falsely believe. And now voters are finally incensed over the continued shutdown that will have negative repercussions in major areas. Today an online piece by Joe Scarborough for MSNBC entitled “The GOP’s government shutdown could cost it the Virginia race for governor,” Scarborough makes the case that these ugly repugnicans will finally be held accountable at the ballot box.

Thus because Republicans will not negotiate with Democrats over Affordable Care Act insurance premiums that will rise precipitously for millions of Americans, you have federal employees, people in the military, air traffic controllers now working every day without pay. On the other fucking hand, you have members of Congress, who haven’t set foot in Washington, D.C., in weeks, still collecting their goddamn paychecks. Is that fair, folks? I dare say it ain’t at all. This will have the accumulated effect of enraging voters for upcoming races.

Scarborough writes, “Any Republican who thinks that’s not a political problem has their head in the clouds,” or, as I would say, “their heads up their ass.”

The GOP’s problems don’t stop there even. The U.S. Department of Agriculture now says that come November 1 (this coming Saturday), the 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will not receive their benefits. This just doesn’t affect Democrats; just like cuts to Medicaid, this will severely impact people in both red and blue states alike.

Now while thousands of federal employees continue to work without pay and millions of Americans are on the verge of losing much-needed benefits, we have an Orange Turd of a president not focused on reopening the government or forcing repugnicans to come to the negotiating table, instead he’s focused on demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a $300 million ballroom and giving Argentina a $20 (I think it’s now $40 billion) bailout.

Scarborough accurately forecasts that repugnicans will pay the price, and I say it will better come true. With just a week to go until Election Day in Virginia, the latest Washington Post-Schar School shows former Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger with a 12-point lead over her opponent, Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.

The MSNBC host also writes that “Voters know which party has a monopoly on power in Washington, and they’re going to hold it accountable.”

Thus this long-term shutdown will have consequences for the damn party in control of all the levers of government: the fucking repugnicans.

In the meantime, the horrid government that voters voted in again just announced that another foe of this asswipe is being investigated by Attorney General “Lapdog” Bondi, and that is Nancy Pelosi.

In the meantime, the demented president today revealed that he underwent an MRI during his recent checkup and brazenly lied about the results. He sounds more in like an Alzheimer’s fog every fucking day. In CBS News, an online article by Kathryn Watson discloses the sad story behind the growing decline of this president in front of the world stage. The article is titled “Trump reveals he underwent an MRI during recent checkup, calls results “perfect.”

Thus the Orange Menace told reporters he underwent the test during his recent checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he called the results in Trumpspeak “perfect.”

Dump underwent a second examination in early October – six months after a physical in April – just leaving for the Middle East. The president was asked if he received an MRI as a part of his “advanced imaging” his physician said he received at Walter Reed.

Here is where Dump devolved in Trumpspeak: “I did. I got an MRI, it was perfect, yep,” telling reporters aboard Air Force One today, en route to Tokyo during his Asia tour, adding, “I gave you the full results (sure he did!). We had an MRI and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.” Doesn’t he sound as incoherent here as always?

Then he positively dived into full-on Trumpspeak, saying that his doctors told him he has “some of the best reports, for the age, some of the best reports they’ve ever seen.” Dump also had doctors lie for him, saying that his cardiac age “was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.” They never said his mental age was that of a four-year-old, though. I dare you to believe this bullshit!

Tomorrow Elliot and I are having dinner with our friend “Patricia,” and I don’t know if I’ll be present here tomorrow evening. It depends; we’re meeting around 4:45 p.m. for a 5:15 reservation at Nick’s Bistro, on Metropolitan Avenue. I would dare guess that we won’t be out that long. How long could one linger over dinner?

Have a good Tuesday then.

And so it went!