Oldest birthday is in the books

So it's that time when, of the four boys, the last of the birthdays has come and gone.  It's our fully adult and grown oldest son.  Like all oldest kids, he's the trial and error child.  Yes the oldest gets the most attention.  Because everything is a first.  Often you don't know what you're doing and each and every life event, milestone or blindside has to be dealt with on a scramble and improvise sort of way.  By the time even the second child comes along, you have a feeling of 'been there, done that.'  Not that each child won't bring his unique challenges and experiences that require punting and hoping for the best.  But for the oldest everything requires such an approach.

That was certainly true with our oldest.  Each of our sons has faced his own issues and even obstacles in life.  Such is life for everyone.  But I'll admit, sometimes I think our oldest son must have run over Life's dog at some point. From the day he was born it was jump from frying pan and avoid the fire. 

He came home the second day after his birth because that's what insurance companies were doing at that point. New moms and newborns out the door after 24 hours.  The problem is, he developed a late build up of fluids that, had he been in the hospital, they no doubt would have caught.  As it was, on that night of his first day home he gave a giant gag and then promptly stopped breathing.  Being brand new parents we had no clue what to do but panic.  Fortunately my mother-in-law was staying with us.  Being a veteran pro-parent, she swooped into action, flipped him upside down, and hit him like a Tom and Jerry cartoon until he choked out the liquids and began to breath again.  We still shudder at what would have happened if she wasn't there.  Needless to say, one thing I clearly supported Bill Clinton on was his putting the kibosh on insurance companies playing that little game.

Unfortunately for our son, it was only the beginning.  And the first years of his life would see multiple hospital visits, doctor visits, infant surgeries and a host of other problems.  His first pediatrician - perhaps the best ever - was just starting out and we were both new parents, so there was a bond there. We were also among his first patients.  Plus we were there so often.  I could have had my mail delivered to his office and not miss a beat. Eventually we moved out of the Ohio Valley and I believe that helped somewhat.  But for the longest time he would be tripped up with health issues, and unfortunately it didn't just end when we came to Ohio. 

Nonetheless, he has never given up. Once he gets going that is. Waiting until the 11th hour to charge forth is his is kryptonite.  But once he throws himself in, he will typically go well beyond merely succeeding to full blown excelling.  In school I told my sons to do good at many things - academics, arts or music, sports.  And they mostly did.  Our oldest, being the oldest, held out at first with the sports. He had played soccer as a youngster, but wasn't terribly brilliant at it. Both of his younger brothers were better.  But he decided in 7th grade to go out for track.  Yuck.  It was sad to watch.  I won't get into the details.  But not to be discouraged, he asked me to coach him over the summer and he would try cross country in the fall.  By the end of the season his next year, he was the second fastest in his school and one of the fastest in the district.  

But that's been him. Readers of my blog know that he initially intended to go into the culinary world and be a chef.  He has an innate knack for making meals better than most high class restaurants at which we've eaten. My wife and I say he broke eating out for us.  Because there are few times we can't get him to make better than eating out.  But just as he was going full throttle, he suddenly got hit with a catastrophic food allergy that all but put an abrupt end to such a career in any realistic way.  Which obviously caused him a major setback. 

Nonetheless, he kept plowing forward in school.  He reconsidered his earlier thought of going into politics, since that was my initial college major back in the day. Nonetheless, I advised him that politics is like a demolition derby. It's a lot of fun to watch but I wouldn't want to drive in one.  Eventually, through a strange series of events in various classes and opportunities, he began to be involved in immigration issues and all the hubbub in that area.  He had already considered how to go into politics when he was younger, seeing the possibility of a law degree as the slingshot to go into the political world.  Now he began to put things together, and so he is now where he is.  He decided to revisit the idea of law school, but doing so to jump into that hot button of all topics today around international law and immigration.  

So now he's in it, up to his neck.  Owing to his grades from his undergrad days, he received a very hefty scholarship that takes care of the bulk of his schooling costs.  So far, two boys through undergrad work and one going into his second year and not a brass farthing of student loans between them.  All of our family chicanery has done some good. Though it's clear he isn't going to make it all the way through without needing some loans, added expenses and just living now being what it is. 

Still, he's bounced back yet again, and is going full steam.  He said he got through baby's first law exams and didn't do badly.   So overall, once again, doing pretty well.  Better than I would, that's for sure.  But as a whole, I find my sons are typically better than me in most things, and I don't mind admitting that.  

At one of his law school events, having learned to tie his tie from his old man

The calm uncle.

One more Ghost Run for the road.  Three of the boys go back to the original scene of the crime

The boys and daughter-in-law together to carve those pumpkins for another Halloween fest, since Halloween and our oldest's birthday have always been close at hand

And then there is Trump

In reflecting on the Blue flood we saw on Tuesday, there is one thing that absolutely stands out.  When it comes to President Trump and his Trump like shenanigans, I think more and more people see this:

It's from MASH's famous Dreams episode, where each character has some idyllic dream that is intruded upon by the war.  This is Doctor Winchester's dream.   His character, a replacement for the increasingly one dimensional villain Frank Burns, was a full, unpacked character that did justice to the show.  At times, they even flirted with the unspoken idea that Dr. Winchester was, in those rarest of moments, a more talented surgeon than Alan Alda's Hawkeye Pierce.  But the one mitigating factor was that however talented, was he ever in it for anything other than his own ego?  Note that unlike the other dreams, while there is a wounded soldier, the real intrusion into his dream is himself. 

I think of Trump today, making it about him.  I think of Trump for the last year.  And while I know he's up against the media's manipulation, he doesn't do much to help the situation.  Because at the end of the day, I get the hunch that more and more people who see Trump continuing to be Trump are like the ones watching the great magician Winchester in the above clip. 

Duh

So virtually anything to the right of center got a serious spanking in the elections.  Probably the biggest protest election since 1994.  I'm not shocked.  There are many reasons. But a few stand out.

First, the press has finally figured out Trump.  Don't make Trump the headline.  You can mention things he does - especially if they make him look bad.  But don't dwell on him.  No matter how bad the story, he feeds off it like some science fiction alien.  For eight years they kept Trump as front page, round the clock headline news.  And he grew stronger, not weaker, for it.  So simply go blackout.  Mention him, focus on some stupid thing like renaming the Atlantic Ocean, and then move on.

That includes not mentioning anything Trump has accomplished.  As far as I know from the media, Trump has accomplished 0% since taking office. A few weeks ago I saw a story about a Greenland deal.  What Greenland deal?  Unless you wake up and say you're going to set aside a few hours each day to researching what the Trump Administration has accomplished, you'll never know anything positive. 

But even if a negative story is mentioned, the negative won't be belabored. After eight years of not learning their lesson, they finally learned.  As long as you're making Trump the headline news, round the clock, 24/7, Trump thrives.   Just turn away.  And it worked.

It worked for other things.  The riots in Europe are mentioned, but not dwelt upon.  The ongoing massacre of Nigerian Christians?  Lied about then dropped.  Transgender activism?  Really.  When was the last time the MSM led with some major media blitz about Transgenderism?  They were all in on Transgenderism going into 2024 here in the Buckeye State.  Trans activists were given the bullhorn and allowed to spew anything they wanted.  That included defending changing minors' bodies around and pushing for laws to keep parents out of the loop.  By their own gleeful admission.  

That put the Dems in a bad spot.  They couldn't oppose it, while they seemed to know it was a bad look.  But in our post-George Floyd era, to fail to speak out is to endorse.  So the GOP was able to hang the radical transgender activism around the neck of the Democrats, and it worked.  But since then?  Like Trump, the press has learned just ignore entire stories if they don't help.  So this time, the GOP trying to hammer the warnings about Transgenderism fell on deaf ears, since we hadn't heard about it much for the last couple years. 

At the end of the day it's time to admit that the media exists, but it ain't journalism. 

And next, there is the fact that things are getting worse, not better, for more and more Americans.  The Iran War?  That's been a hot mess, as described by Trump himself.  How many months have we been assured it's almost in the bag?  And as I said before, the economy was improving last year, but now has tanked.  It's not easy to blame Biden when it's gotten worse after it got better.  And there is no end in sight.  

Then you had Conservative devotion to the eternal profit margin.  As I said, things are getting worse, not better, for a growing number of Americans.  Young people are especially jaded.  The cost of living has soared, and what you get for the cost is less than it used to be.

Heck, look at the Halloween candy this year.  As much, if not more, than it ever has been, with bags being 2/3 of, or even half, the size that they used to be.  Remember my fun candy post here?  Those bags of Cheapy McCheapface cost more than they have, but couldn't have been much more than half the size that they were even last year.  Housing costs.  Gas prices.  Food.  Utilities.  All as bad or worse than they've been, and often for less quality and quantity than ever.  Those who think the economy isn't so bad, please tell me how I can join your country club.  

And worse than that, what do Conservatives do across social media when it comes to concerns about the economy?  They lament the suffering?  They rail against the administration for putting it to so many fellow Americans?  They morn the struggles and the hardships that are besetting the average Joe and Jane America?  No.  That was conservatives going in to 2024. 

This year, as often as not, the strategy appeared to be to mock the people who are concerned.  Mock Gen-Z types.  Make fun of them.  Dismiss them.  Tell them to more or less suck on it.  Suggest people who are complaining are a bunch of stupid, lazy loafers. Yeah, that will do it.  Just ridicule people who are worried.  

Or worse, laugh at them as they're losing their jobs to AI or other corporate chicanery.  That's actually a thing.  My wife's employer has just announced  impending sweeping layoffs, owing almost entirely to AI.  Other corporations have already been doing so.  I've written for years how December is now when many in the workplace hunker down because is it no longer the month of Christmas parties and bonuses, but the month of job cuts and layoffs.  

And what do conservative outlets and satire sites do?  Laugh.  Post memes about cavemen worried that the new wheel will cost jobs.  Or that the employee went another week not losing his job to AI so he'll have to work another week.  Bwa ha ha ha!  Hey, it's happening and we're laughing at them!  Sort of like memes mocking those Jews in Germany who think there is a problem with the new government in the 1930s. 

I just don't get this. I've said the Right's dogged devotion to corporate interests beyond any other conceivable priority has long been its Achille's heel.  It's willingness to make war on the slightest government agency designed to help people while genuflecting before the marketplace, even if the marketplace is stuffing its pockets by throwing everything else that conservatives are supposed to value under the bus, is one of the great mysteries of the ages.  By throwing under the bus, that includes the USA, democracy and freedom, Christianity, the Western Tradition.  But I suppose if it's helping billion dollar corporations increase their billions, it's a price worth paying?

Finally you just have conservative dumb.  Ramaswamy's ad using Amy Acton's estranged mother who helped her husband try to beat the rap for raping Amy Action stands as one of the worst political anything in the history of politics.  And as if the ad wasn't bad enough, Trump, Ramaswamy, and JD Vance stood by it.  Hey!  So what if Acton was raped by her dad and her mom helped him?  If her mom helps us win, we're good with that.  

That's the worst, but I saw a lot of it across the Republican party.  Since Trump it's as if we don't know what to do or how to do it.  And there is no real consensus or unity to the right of center.  Perhaps the biggest problem among this post-Trump conservatism is that we are having a hard time admitting how far things have fallen.

Nonetheless, those are a few thoughts.  I said, and this time was right, that the GOP was in for a major beating.  And beating it was.  The Dems would be smart not to gloat, for that's what they did in 2020.  Far more than conservatives gloated in 2016.  There is an anti-status quo sentiment today, as more and more feel the institutions of society no longer have their back.  They will turn to anything or anyone who isn't establishment, as we saw in recent elections.  And unless there is a major turnaround, in 2028 it will be the same.  Again, no matter who stands for what, it will be if they represent the establishment status quo or not.  Which isn't a good thing, but it's a fact.