I’ve been trying to think of something to say about everything that’s been going on lately. I can’t think of anything – I guess I’m just too shocked to think that it’s come to this in this country. Or depressed, I guess. I don’t know – can you be both shocked and not in the least surprised? ‘Cuz none of this surprises me. Nobody was dumb enough to actually believe there wasn’t plenty of racism (and sexism, bagism, shagism, dragism, madism, ragism, tagism…) in this country, but the assholes used to keep it among themselves and not out there in polite company. Now, well, now all’s fair in hate and loathing, on and off the campaign trail. There seem to be a number of people who think that Trump is likely to resign or otherwise be removed from office in the not-too-distant future, but I don’t fucking believe that for a second. The entire Republican political infrastructure is now built upon the concept of survival of the shittiest (and, man, it’s a race to the bottom for the title of “shittiest Republican”), and changing that would be like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. And never forget that the Democrats don’t suck, too. Not to say they’re the equivalent of what the Republicans have become by any means, but, let’s face it, they suck. Can you imagine what it takes to be the Party that allows Donald Trump to be elected President?

And that’s not even getting into the whole nuclear holocaust with North Korea as a distraction thing. Oy.

So, anyhow, I decided to do what any self-respecting American does when times are tough and push comes to shove. I stimulated the economy. Or the economy of Japan, via San Antonio, TX. In other words, I bought a new Toyota Tacoma (aka, the US version of the terrorist’s choice for pickups, which would be the Toyota Hilux). So, the bad news is it’s a Japanese truck. The good news is that it was built in the US. The bad news is that it was built in a non-union plant in San Antonio TX.

Always a source of pride to know you spent about 2.5x more than your WWII veteran of the CBI Theater lifelong union member dad did on the house you grew up in for a Japanese vehicle built in a non-union factory by people who hate Yankees (not that my dad felt any animosity toward the Japanese – at least not by the time I came around – unlike my uncle, who held a bit of a grudge, but then he was on two ships that were sunk somewhere in the Pacific, and he never was quite right. I think the VA hd him on the wrong meds for about 30 years).

But I suppose since I traded in a Japanese car built in a non-union factory in Kentucky, it’s kind of a wash (at least the TX plant isn’t in “Georgetown” which we all know still sucks).

Of course, the big news for today is the total eclipse of the sun, which will of course be the best, most beautiful eclipse ever, thanks to Donald Trump. Until he was elected, the eclipse was going to be in Mexico, but the negotiator-in-chief made yet another one of his patented deals with God, and there you have it. Of course, since we didn’t vote for the fat asshole up here, we won’t get the full Monty. In fact, we’re only going to get about 68% totality, which I think means it’ll look a little weird, but not all that awesome. Plus, I’ll be at work anyway. Thank goodness I can watch it on the Internet, which is how I experience pretty much everything these days.

Oh well, time to get out there and seize the day. At least I’m not on call this week.