Jim Flanigan Looks at the World
Turning the Mundane into Fundane Since 2015
When Trump got COVID, I really didn’t care what happened. I knew he would get the best of care, and he did. If he hadn’t recovered, well, that would have been quite ironic. But now, I find myself wanting the best of health for Trump. I want him to live a long life, at least another 20 years. The reason is that I want to see him like this …
For as long as humanly possible. Am I a bad guy?
How in the bloody hell did I end up at this show over the weekend?
Some say it’s because I’m Father of the Year. I volunteered to take my 15-year-old daughter and her friend to see the feminist punk band Destroy Boys. You may remember them from their haunting ballad “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation.” Anyway, I took these two lovely young ladies into Chicago to Metro to see the show.
Continue reading “A Tale of Two Concerts”
I saw this story and was quite interested in the details surrounding this presidential campaign event.
The full details of the story absolutely must be read on the Page Six website, but if reading isn’t your thing, here’s a YouTube synopsis.
I am so disappointed. I really wanted the climate denying farter to be RFK Jr. and for this incident to sink his sad campaign. Am I a bad guy?
While I prefer my summer concerts to be outdoors, I kicked off my 2023 summer concert series with my wife at an indoor show at City Winery in Chicago where I recently saw some of XTC perform as EXTC. The great thing about venturing out in Chicago to do anything is that there are never any Fox News viewers out & about in Chicago. One of the great cities of the world is just a bit too scary for them. My message to Fox News viewers is to listen to Steve Perry of Journey and “Don’t stop believing” that nonsense. We really don’t miss having you around.
We had just seen Michael McDermott around Halloween last year do his annual Halloweensteen show where he pays tribute to Bruce Springsteen. It was a great show, and it was free, courtesy of local radio station WXRT, which made the show even greater. But I had never seen McDermott perform his own music. In fact, outside of absolutely loving one of his songs and having heard a few others, I was somewhat unfamiliar with his catalog. So, it was with some trepidation that I bought tickets to see McDermott perform his album Gethsemane on the 30th anniversary of its release.
Well, the gamble paid off. First, his Gethsemane album is a gem from beginning to end. No wonder he was being hailed as the next Dylan. You can listen to the whole album here.
But there have been big changes in McDermott in the 30 years since Gethsemane was released.
Continue reading “Summer Concerts Rock”
I thought I was done dodging political fundraising requests for a while. We just finished up local elections this month, and I did financially support local candidates. Just to clarify, by financially supporting candidates, I mean I went to their fundraising events and did not eat or drink an inordinate amount of the free refreshments provided.
But President Uncle Joe announced his bid for a second term yesterday, and look what he texted to my phone shortly after.
Now that’s awfully nice of him to personally text me, but shouldn’t he be focused on more important issues than texting me like Ukraine, high gas prices, inflation, climate change, and if I listen to Tucker Carlson (RIP), his son Hunter’s laptop that is likely full of Hillary’s missing emails? President Uncle Joe went on in his text to ask for money, which I thought was rude. It’s kind of like asking for a gold watch before you start a job. No, wait, it’s nothing like that. I guess anytime anyone asks me for money I think it’s rude. But I did decide to donate these items to the three announced Democrat candidates for president:
Continue reading “The Green Season”
My wife and I planned to go to a sunrise Easter service at a local cemetery. My wife wanted to go, because she’s a good person of faith. I wanted to go, because I was hoping it would be spooky in the cemetery. Considering we were expecting 30 relatives at our house for Easter, we chose to do other things at sunrise on Easter Sunday to prepare for our guests. As I cleaned our basement Saturday night, I made the choice to watch some episodes of Expedition Unknown on the Discovery Channel which involved Jesus, Moses, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I think that fulfilled my Sunday obligation.
We had some younger kids coming over on Easter, so I busted out the games. In the basement, we had air hockey, Twister, and Hungry, Hungry Hippos ready to be played, and they were. Thanks to some wonderful weather, I set up a few games throughout our ample backyard. However, choices were made by our guests to specifically not play one of the games. So, now is your chance to play a game and see if you can choose the game not played by our guests. Here are 3 of the games: badminton, bags, and ladderball.
Which game went untouched?
Continue reading “Easter Choices”
During this Arrestmas season, have you noticed how Republicans won’t say, “Merry Arrestmas” and will only say “Happy Holidays” or “Fuck off?” Come to think of it, they always say the latter to me. Dare I suggest that Republicans are waging a War on Arrestmas?
Okay, so I vowed in my last post not to go back to Trump coverage, but a friend sent me this today.
Continue reading “Merry Arrestmas”
I haven’t blogged for over a week. It would have felt good to take a blogcation except I was sick. Not that you cared. I didn’t receive one Get Well Soon balloon bouquet from any readers. I’m telling myself that maybe you tried but encountered some difficulties getting it to me.
Or, it may be due to what I hear is a helium shortage. Thanks, Biden. It’s hard for me to confirm such a shortage, because helium is an invisible gas.
A huge reason that I couldn’t blog this past week is because of writing.
Continue reading “At a Crossroads”
It’s March, so it was time to march today in our town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. I was supposed to ride in the back of a snowplow with other St. Charles Township elected officials, but with snow in the forecast, the township canceled so that all snowplows would be ready for snow removal. That’s actually very responsible but no fun. Instead, I marched with fellow Kane County and St. Charles Township Democrats.
The group of Democrats marching has grown quite a bit over the years. This year we had 2 US House representatives, an Illinois House representative, various Kane County elected officials and board membes, and me as the sole elected township official. In addition, we had Democrat candidates for our upcoming municipal election in April and many other local Dems. We’re kind of a big deal now.
Can you see me in the back holding the “Be The Change! Vote Democrat” sign? Barely, right? Why did I get stuck in the back? Well, I am tall, and I also looked ridiculous. See for yourself …
Continue reading “March March”I’m confused.
Editor’s Note: Duh! As if we didn’t know that.
Anyway, I’m gearing up for our local municipal elections in April in which our gaggle of St. Charles Township Democrats are supporting the campaigns of local moderate to progressive candidates for school board, library board, park board, etc. There is a hard right wing extremist group calling themselves Awake Illinois that also has candidates vying for seats. They are well known for their anti-mask, anti-vaxx platform and for crashing school board meetings and the public library without masks when masks were required.
They have other wacky ideas and are in general opposed to what they call “woke” culture. That’s where my confusion comes in. Can’t we consider them woke if they are part of Awake Illinois? Should they perhaps have chosen Asleep Illinois as their group name rather than a name suggesting they have been woke?
Editor’s Note: Why not sleep on it? Your readers are already.
With news that the Biden administration has now shot down a 4th airborne UFO today over Lake Huron, I am starting to worry about the Goodyear Blimp at the Super Bowl.
This is getting ridiculous. Classified documents have now been found in the home of former VP and current milquetoast Mike Pence. I’m shocked, especially after this …
I wonder exactly where they were discovered. Reports say in an unprotected area, so certainly not in Mother’s knickers. I find it interesting to see how Fox News is presenting visuals about the story of the Pence classified docs.
Wow, Pence has not aged well. Anyway, we all know what’s coming next – another Special Counsel named to investigate. I have a final question. How many Special Counsels being named does it take before they are no longer considered special?
Because of a family emergency this past week, I haven’t blogged for days. Now don’t go hoping for more family emergencies for me to keep me from blogging this week. During this family emergency, I’ve had a lot of time to think. It’s kind of a new experience for me. I’m not sure I like it so much.
Anyway, as I dealt with the family emergency, I tried to keep a focus on self-care. I planned to swim today as a way to care for myself. It didn’t happen, but that got me thinking about getting a tattoo. My two best buddies have tattoos, but I have none. Many years ago, when I was participating in triathlons, I considered getting a triathlon tattoo like this one.
I never did. Some of you may say, “Well, it’s never too late.” Unfortunately, there is one huge reason I can’t.
Continue reading “Time to (Th)ink?”
After the 12th vote, it’s becoming apparent that Kevin McCarthy will eventually become Speaker of the House. It may take one more vote. It may take twenty more votes. I have no idea, but I’m pretty confident that Republicans will eventually legitimately control the US House and the Speaker’s position, just like they tried to do violently and illegitimately two years ago. In the meantime, Republicans have occupied my mind. They have put a song in my head, and it controls my thoughts every time I see them roll out McCarthy to nominate him for another vote. This one …
It’s a lesser-known REM song, and the lyrics are quite political. But it’s not the lyrics or melody that the Republicans have stuck in my head. It’s the title. After each vote, I imagine Kevin McCarthy being dragged out of the House dead and then buried. When the new round of nominations start, I envision Republicans exhuming McCarthy and propping him up in the House for yet another vote.
It’s not my favorite REM song, probably because I don’t understand all the political lyrics. But I do understand the prescient lyrics at the end of the song that may be a glimpse into life in a Republican-controlled House the next two years.
“Exhuming McCarthy (Meet me at the book burning)
Exhuming McCarthy (Meet me at the book burning)”
I’ve read that Trump is considering a third party presidential run in 2024 if Republicans refuse to nominate him. He is drawing comparisons to Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party back in 1912. I think that is a perfect analogy for Trump’s campaign today, including the name with just a small modification. Rather than the Bull Moose Party, Trump should more accurately call it the Bull Shit Party.
I have watched gas prices continue to drop to under $3 per gallon, and conservatives are very quiet now concerning how high gas prices are President Joe Biden’s fault. If they were smart (Spoiler Alert: They’re not), they would note that gas prices have been dropping since Trump entered the 2024 presidential race. There must be a correlation.
I saw Trump on his Truth Social network suggesting that the cold weather and winter storm we had a week ago proves that there is no climate change and global warming. So, if climate change and global warming have been resolved, did Joe Biden fix them?
I hate the thought of the Republican clown show running the House of Representatives in 2023. However, considering the Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and White House from 2021 through 2022 and accomplished absolutely nothing except another tax cut for the rich, I think the next 2 years may be unproductive but impossible not to watch in a car crash sort of way. Buckle up. I am sure House hearings on the search for Hillary Clinton’s emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop that may be located in Benghazi will start soon.
Our family suffered a loss this past week as my wife’s oldest sister passed away at the beginning of the week. I was not much in the mood for posting funny stuff this week, but I did learn just a bit about losses and gains in life.
Of course, our biggest loss was my sister-in-law. She had been in hospice care for months, so her passing was not unexpected. But I gained some perspective as to how much of an impact she had on people’s lives. She had lived in an assisted-living facility for the past 15 years due to numerous health conditions. I didn’t think she could have much of an influence on other’s lives, but I was so wrong. One of the other residents came to visit her while I was there. The resident told me how she much she will miss my sister-in-law and how she was her best friend. Everyone matters and has value. Sometimes we just need to take a closer look.
We also lost the wonderful fall weather we have enjoyed. It’s cold now. Winter is on the way. And if you are a reader of this blog, you know how I feel about winter. If you don’t follow this blog, here’s a link to a poem about winter.
So, what do I gain?
Continue reading “Contemplating Loss & Gain”
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 