I just finished watching the daily press briefing by the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, and have to say that it was soooo refreshing to see a respectful and engaging briefing. First of all, it is a return to daily briefings allowing questions from the press corps and truthful responses from the representative of the president. After Sarah Huckabee Sanders left the Trump administration as the press secretary, there were not any press briefings held for over a year, because her replacement, Stephanie Grisham, never held a single briefing.  The last press secretary for tRump,  Kayleigh McEnany, was an expert at deflecting questions from reporters, spreading disinformation, and abruptly walking out of briefings if things started getting too hot. And, we all remember Sean Spicer, the first press secretary for tRump, who lied in his very first briefing about the size of the crowd at the inauguration, and then continued to lie throughout his tenure. I read the other day that he has applied to join the White House press corps as a reporter for the former president’s favorite new propaganda machine, Newsmax. I’m looking forward to a return to normalcy at these press briefings, as I’m sure reporters are also.

I certainly enjoyed watching the special program “Celebrating America” much more than I did watching the glitzy parties following Trump’s inauguration back in 2017. Do you remember Donald’s first dance with Melania that night to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way?” It reminded me of the times I had to chaperone a middle school dance. Watching Jill and Joe on their balcony observing that spectacular fireworks show was much more entertaining.  The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, was perfect for the start to the evening special.

And, WOW!! The name Amanda Gorman is one we will hear more in the future. I was blown away with her beautiful poem, “The Hill We Climb,”  that she finished writing the night of the insurrection on January 6^th. She is a wonderful example of the youth that will be leading our country in the future.

DEMOCRACY PREVAILED!! The war against COVID-19 is finally being taken seriously by our federal leadership. A sensical approach to getting our economy turbo-boosted by getting the Coronavirus under control is seen as a priority. The environmental policies of the former administration are being overturned. The future is looking brighter, my friends. I expect some bumps in the road, but I feel hopeful. Now, just get that shot in my arm. Ziggyman

I believe Dr. King would be shocked today at the plotting, the ugly words of hatred, the violence, and the burgeoning lack of values and morality we are experiencing in this nation. I know I am shocked. I never thought that in my lifetime I would see the kind of evil behavior and war against our democratic values that I see and read on a daily basis. I do believe that come Wednesday we will feel a calming and sense that the ‘adults are now in the room.’ Temper tantrums and bullying will not be tolerated. We will not see continual middle school adolescent attacks on those that don’t agree with the most powerful person in the world or an expectation that you must kiss the ass of that person if you want to be heard. It has already been refreshing to me to watch the manner in which the president-elect addresses the nation. His approach is to present facts, not lies; try to bind us together, not attack and marginalize; express a team approach to solving the problems at hand, not blame others or make it all about me, me, me.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to y’all! And remember that come Wednesday, we will have a new person leading this country who has values more in common with Dr. King than Vladimir Putin or Adolf Hitler. Rejoice!!

I need to quit today’s rambling now, as I need to prepare email’s to authorities in the State of Oregon who appear to be turning a blind eye to restaurants and other businesses that are openly defying the governor’s orders regarding indoor dining, masks, and seating groups larger than six. I just learned that one of our friends who owns the bar and grill we frequent, had a patron spit in her face yesterday because she told him he had to wear a mask until he was seated. That is totally unacceptable and disgusting. Ramble at ya’ later, alligator. Ziggyman

As I watch National Guard troops being dispatched to the nation’s Capitol and state capitals around the United States, I am reminded of late summer 1970 when my unit was activated for Vortex 1, the only state-sponsored music festival in the country ever and one of the most brilliant ideas coming from politicians that I can remember. For a little history, the summer of 1970 was at the height of the Vietnam war, on May 4th four students at Kent State University had been killed by Ohio National Guard troops during protests there, and protests were occurring all over the country. The American Legion was holding their national convention in Portland from August 28th to September 3rd and would bring about 25,000 Legionnaires to town, along with President Nixon. The FBI reported that they were expecting 50,000 anti-war protestors coming into Portland at that time to protest and riot. There was much concern by authorities that there could be widespread damage caused by the supporters of the two groups Anyhoo, the Governor at that time was Tom McCall, a person known for thinking “outside the box.” One of Governor McCall’s staff was a gentleman by the name of Ed Westerdahl, who had been meeting with the organizers of an idea to have an anti-war “biodegradable festival of life” called Vortex 1. The gov, acting on the suggestion by Mr. Westerdahl, made an agreement to have the festival, Vortex 1, held at the same time as the American Legion Convention and Nixon’s scheduled visit, which is why I consider this so brilliant. He and his staff secured a site about 30 miles from Portland at McIver State Park on the Clackamas River near the city of Estacada. Furthermore, he said that the police and Oregon National Guard would largely ignore non-violent offenses, like drug use and public nudity, and the festival became known as the “Governor’s Pot Party.” So where do I fit in all this? Those that know me would think that I would be right in the middle of a big party like this. Weed and naked girls. Unfortunately, I was a member of the Oregon National Guard at that time and the 41st Infantry Brigade was activated for the Legion Convention and Vortex. We had to report for riot training every weekend and some evenings during August in preparation for this event. Some units would be posted at the water reservoir’s around the city, some at Washington Park, and other’s, like mine, stationed at our headquarters with our jeeps and riot gear at the ready if rioting began. Fortunately, there were very few issues, and the Portland Police were able to deal with them without Guard intervention. The picture above is of my 51 year old fatigue shirt and the new combat boots that the Army gave me with 3 months left of my 6 year commitment. I told the Quartermaster that I was getting out in 3 months, but he said I had to take them anyway. I never did wear them because it would take too much work to get them “spit shined” like my other two pair.

I wish I had thought about Vortex 1 sooner. I could have shared it with the proper authorities as an antidote to the chaos in Washington. My idea would be Deliverance Festival 1, to be held somewhere away from D.C., just like Oregon did in 1970. You could advertise it to the tRumpanzees as a Patriot Party with lots of banjo players, some pigs and sheep available for your personal pleasure, prayers lead by Franklin Graham, some demolition derby cars, Rollin’ Rock in cans — you get the idea.

Enough rambling for today. Have a great evening! Ziggyman

Yeah, I know, it’s the middle of January and I’m posting a picture of our Christmas tree. This is one of the most perfect trees we have had in recent memory and, unfortunately, we couldn’t share it’s beauty with friends and family because of the COVID situation. So I’m sharing it with you today. We did undecorate it two days ago and it’s just sitting there in the corner nude, waiting for me to get off my butt and take it down and carry it outside.

The missus and I were watching a show on the Cooking Channel the other night and the host, Andrew Zimmern, went into a restaurant in Missouri for some good ol’ comfort food chow. Who does he sit down next to? None other than Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame, who said he eats in this particular restaurant often. Billy had trimmed his beard from his old ZZ Top days when it was damn near down to his belly button. It got me thinking that, other than our daughter, we haven’t been with family since last Christmas, so they haven’t seen Ziggyman’s Billy Gibbons beard. It’s now about the same length as Billy’s current whiskers, but by the time this pandemic is over, mine will probably rival Billy’s ZZ Top days.

I mentioned in my post yesterday that our power had gone out at 12:30 am following the huge wind storm. As I write this, we are still on generator power. I checked the PGE website and it now says they estimate our power to be restored at 11:00 pm on Saturday. I had to go down to town and get more gasoline for the generator this afternoon, and as I was going down the hill, about 2 miles from our house were two houses next to each other with trees on top of them — big trees. There were five trucks from Rich’s Tree Service working on getting the trees off the houses. I guess we’re lucky we just have a loss of power to contend with.

I also wrote yesterday about Oregon’s vaccination clusterf–k. The lead story on OregonLive.com today states “Oregon has almost 200,000 unused COVID vaccines. The state’s attempts to track them are a mess.” Yep, I’m not too confident that I’ll have access to that shot in my arm in the near future. Related to the coronavirus news, I see where more restaurants are not following the rules set by the Governor and Oregon Health Authority, by opening their establishments for indoor dining. One even posted a notice on their entrance door stating “If you are a government agent conducting an inspection our management requests that you get a warrant.” This particular restaurant serves liquor, as well as food. How naive, or emboldened by current politics, that they think an agent with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission or inspector from the Health Department needs to have a warrant to enter their establishment. The authorities better put a damper on this kind of crap immediately. Fine them, pull their liquor license, and if they have lottery machines, yank em’. It’s not fair to the restaurant owners and their employees who are following the rules in order to reach an end to this pandemic.

Whoopee! The power just came back on! I will leave you now, shut down the generator and prepare for this evening’s activities. Keep smilin’. Ziggyman

Yesterday I thought that I wouldn’t start my next post about the subject I most often ramble about — but, after a day that will have such historical importance, I can’t let it go. That subject probably thinks it’s great that he holds the distinction of being the only president to have been impeached TWICE. Poor Donnie’s world is crumbling all around him. Today he’s impeached (AGAIN). Over the past few days he has had allies, partners, and businesses flee from his world like stink on you know what. I saw a report this morning that son-in-law Jared Kushner talked his father-in-law out of migrating to fringe social platforms (like Parler and Gab) after he was booted from Twitter. My guess is that the family is starting to see the financial implications for them as a result of the recent announcements from some of these businesses they have been involved with for years. Three banks, two real estate companies, an e-commerce platform (Shopify), and the 2022 PGA Championship tournament have severed ties with the Trump Organization. Today, New York City terminated their contracts with the Trump Organization for ice rinks, the carousel, and a golf-course. I guess tRump is shellshocked at the corporate backlash from last week’s events at the Capitol and this great businessman who is a stable genius just can’t understand why he is being treated so unfairly. Huge crocodile tears, Donnie. And, all of this coming at a time when he and the fam have some very large financial debts coming up soon. I’m all for MAGA — Mega A-hole’s Going Away!!!

I see where Governor Brown is allowing folks who are 65+ years old to move up the ladder for getting the COVID-19 vaccine, about a month earlier than planned. Beginning January 23rd us old folks can supposedly get the vaccine into our arms, along with educators. I’m not holding my breath, however, as the roll out so far has been what I would term a major cluster f–k. The latest report is that Oregon has only used about 36% of the vaccinations we received over a month ago.

We had torrential rain and a heavy wind storm last night resulting in our power going out at 12:30 am. It is now close to 6:00 pm and still no power. We’re so thankful for our generator and an efficient wood stove for days like this. I saw a post on NextDoor Neighbor last week from a lady who recently moved up here, asking if people thought she should consider getting a generator. As often as we lose power, it’s a ‘no brainer.’ I was saddened to see where a flagger contracted by Portland General Electric was run over by one of the PGE trucks and killed on Highway 26 today. I feel for the family of the flagger and the poor driver of the utility truck.

Well, as I said it’s close to 6:00 pm, so y’all know what that means. COCKTAIL TIME!!! Hang in there and pray for an uneventful inauguration next week. Ziggyman

Fitting words for what we have been experiencing lately, and, it appears that things could get much worse over the next few weeks if the latest alarms from authorities about the potential for more extremist violence is correct. The good news I see this afternoon is that more and more Republicans are speaking out about last week’s insurrection and the part that the POTUS played in it. Republican members of both the Senate and the House have stated that they would vote for the impeachment of Donald John Trump. The latest coming from Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, who this afternoon said that Trump had “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.” “Everything that followed was his doing.” Trump, in the meantime, came out of hiding for the first time since his pep talk at his “Save America” rally last Wednesday, and, as expected, took no responsibility for the riot that occurred, saying that his remarks to a rally beforehand were “totally appropriate” and that the effort by Congress to impeach and convict him was “causing tremendous anger.” Yeah, for many Americans the anger is directed at the violence and the tearing up of the Capitol. For him and his Trumpanzees, it is the impeachment charge. I read articles containing interviews with his supporters and the crap that comes out of their mouth, and I just about start hyperventilating. Ah hah! That is why my blood pressure has been so high lately. Here’s one from a retired fire captain in Kansas,
“I’m so mad, I see red about the [expletive] steal,” said Lynn, 64, sitting in his Kansas farmhouse over the weekend. “I believe with all my heart that the Democratic Party stole the election, and I will never believe otherwise as long as I draw breath. Liberals, you’re driving us to civil war.” Liberals are driving us to civil war??? And how about this one from a female from Florida, “I never, never, never — I am emphasizing never — felt or heard anything that the president was instigating violence or encouraging people to go into the Capitol, to go inside and break the law,” she said. “I don’t know who did it. I don’t think it was Trump supporters, to be honest with you. When there’s a group where everybody’s mad and everybody’s in a rage and they want to burn everything, you can see it, you can sense it. But this was so peaceful. So peaceful.” These were her words, but can’t you hear tRump standing behind the lectern with that shit eating smile saying ‘but this was so peaceful. Soooo peaceful’?

I had a good laugh today, though, when I saw that tRump’s campaign spokesperson, Hogan Gidley, fawningly declared that Trump was the “most masculine person ever” to occupy the White House. Only a little man with the name Hogan Gidley would exhibit this kind of affection for that bunker coward. It kind of reminds me of my grand dog, Charlie, coming up to me wagging his tail and waiting for me to pull that peanut butter treat out of my front left pocket.

Hey, I have more respect for Bill Belichick today than I have in the past after he said he wouldn’t accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump following the tragic events last week at the Capitol. Smart man. Not smart men — Representatives Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan who fawningly accepted the award. Fawningly is one of my favorite new words. Can you tell?

Well, I guess it’s “Miller Time.” Ramble at ya’ later. Ziggyman

I’m not sure if this was Donnie’s reaction when he learned this afternoon that Twitter has suspended his account permanently or if it was when he heard that the House plans to impeach him for a second time. Took Twitter long enough to take this action, but better late than never. Helluva legacy Donnie boy. Tee Hee.

If you want to see what the pathetic “patriotic” Trump family was doing as the Capitol was being breached, just check this out. Turns my stomach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXM6h9elyTY&ab_channel=RoyBenjamin Over the next few hours following their party, five people died, including one Capitol police officer. I hope tRump is deposed and called to the stand during the murder trial of those that killed the police officer and the YouTube video above is played showing the Trump’s partying at perhaps the same time the officer was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher. “Law and Order” president my ass.

And how about this. While Don Jr. and his pathetic family and friends were partying, some of the terrorists inside the Capitol were smearing their own shit, I mean feces, throughout the building and left brown ‘footprints’ as they walked around the halls and chambers. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Donnie doing the same in the White House, though, because his ass is so puckered right now he’d have a tough time emptying his bowels.

It just broke my heart made my heart sing when I heard that a group of tRump supporters surrounded Lindsey Graham today in the airport and yelled and screamed ‘Traitor’! because of his little speech during the election certification. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy a bigger hypocritical jerk. I have this sense that Lindso is going to have to find himself a new golf partner. I know it won’t be with Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley. The stink on them is getting stinkier by the day. Hawley, over a span of five hours, was ripped by his legislative mentor, Senator John Danforth, who said that campaigning for Hawley was “the worst mistake I ever made in my life;” Simon & Schuster canceled their book deal with him “after witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,”; His top donor, who personally contributed 2.875 million to Hawley’s campaign, denounced him as a “political opportunist” who used “irresponsible, inflammatory, and dangerous tactics” to incite the rioting on Wednesday; The Kansas City Star ran an editorial saying “the blood” was on Hawley’s hands; and, calls for him to resign poured in to Missouri’s two major newspapers and from students at the law school where he once taught. And Ted has been trying to get in touch with tRump to see if there is anything he can do to comfort the poor little baby in the WH, even offering to bring his “ugly wife” along (I just made that up). Ooops, I mean what Ted is doing right now is trying to distance himself from Donald Trump. Cruz is so pathetic. I can’t wait to see him get his ass kicked before this is all over.

Well, it’s time to start the weekend with a nice little big cocktail. Have a great weekend! Ziggyman

“My party has gone batshit crazy,” “a kook. I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit to be president.” Lindsey Graham to Fox News in May 2016.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view he’s been been a consequential president. But today, first thing you’ll see. All I can say, is count me out, enough is enough,” says Lindsey Graham on January 6, 2021 during the electoral college certification following his sheltering in place during the breach of the Capitol. (Note: he was playing golf with King Trump on Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago and was a frequent guest of tRumps). What a hypocritical tool.

In one of my posts several months ago I said that, at some point in time, tRumps sycophants will “jump ship” and claim they never really supported him. Today it’s William Barr, John Bolton, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney, Elaine Chao, Stephanie Grisham, (Melania’s Chief of Staff), and so on. I guess what it took was a bunch of his congressional allies being told to “get your gas mask out from under your chair” as they cowered in their chambers in the Capitol building, after the Capitol was overtaken by a bunch from the Duck Dynasty following Trump’s “Save America Rally,” urging them to head to the Capitol to demonstrate against Congress certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Like many of you, I spent the day in front of the television watching in disbelief what was happening at the Capitol building. I am not surprised that there was a chaotic situation, as tRump has been promoting this type of behavior for weeks. What did surprise me is that we watched much worse than loud protests, but domestic terrorism, and an assault on our democracy. This was a coup of our democracy, initiated by the POTUS and carried out by a bunch of orange flavored kool-aid drinking cult members following the directions of their “supreme leader.” This act of insurrection was sickening. And what really pissed me off was watching the Capitol Police treating these terrorists with kid gloves, while several months ago we saw a much different picture at Lafayette Square during the Black Lives Matter demonstration. Some heads better roll following a thorough investigation of yesterday’s events and there better be severe consequences for those Trumpanzees who entered the Capitol and for those responsible for inciting this insurrection (Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Don Jr., and Congressmen Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Mo Brooks).

Trump’s legacy will be found on the same history page as Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Benedict Arnold. Until the Republican party grows a set of cojones and takes a serious look at what they have allowed to happen in this country over the past four years, I will refer to the party as the Benedict Arnold party. I do think that what we will be seeing in the near future is a pronounced divide in that party between the Benedict Arnold’s and a faction that will be more center-right in tune with the former governor of Ohio, John Kasich. They have seen what a kook, as Lindsey Graham once said about Trump, can do to the Republican party. The kook has pretty much destroyed the party for the next few years as they have lost the presidency and control of the Senate. The only good thing coming out of yesterday’s insurrection is that tRump, in my opinion, has lost an enormous amount of support from very influential people. I’m not talking about his “one tooth Johnny” supporters, but folks like the National Association of Manufacturers and other powerful individuals. His plan to run for president again in 2024 has just taken a big hit. Who knows, it could be a moot point if he is behind bars and most of his concentration is directed to being sure to not drop the soap in the shower.

Over the past four years Donald J Trump has increasingly demonstrated behavior that yesterday culminated in people with half a brain seeing that he is a certifiable monster. I guess that the hypocritical Lindsey Graham was prophetic in describing his favorite golfing partner the way he did in May 2016.

I’m back to writing, so keep an eye out for my Ramblings. Stay safe out there! Ziggyman

Is this charade ever going to end? When the Supreme Court rejected the GOP lawsuit to overturn Biden’s win in Pennsylvania yesterday, I thought ‘Thank God, this is going to be the nail in the coffin of all the BS since election day.’ But no, now I see where 17 states have joined Texas in asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the presidential race. It’s kind of like the Energizer Bunny — it just keeps going and going and to quote the great philosopher Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.” I am so ready for it to be over, as I’m sure y’all are also.

Monday morning I was eating some grapes while watching my morning stock news show on CNBC and all of a sudden had some pain in a tooth while I was chewing on those soft grapes. I felt around the tooth with my tongue and thought I detected a hairline crack in the back of the tooth. Throughout the day I kept running my tongue along the crack until, by evening, there was a kind of flap. So yesterday I called the dentist office and got an appointment for today. Last night I was eating some snack and a filling from that tooth fell out. So just like I did when I passed a kidney stone and saved it to show the doc, I took my filling and scotch taped it to a 3 x 5 index card to take to the dentist. As I was brushing my teeth this morning, half the tooth came off. So, I picked it up and added it to the 3 x 5 index card to show my dentist, thinking he would like to see it. When I got in the chair at the dentist office, the dental assistant asked me about my tooth and what was going on with it. I proudly pulled the index card out of my shirt pocket and showed it to her, thinking it would be helpful. I think it went immediately into the garbage can. When I was waiting to check in, a guy came out to the office manager and told her that he needed to schedule another appointment for a filling and crown. He asked her what the cost would be and she told him $1,187. When he left and it was my turn to check in, I told Caroline, the office manager, that I thought I was going to end up with the same thing as that guy, a filling and crown, and pulled out my 3 x 5 index card to show her. Anyhoo, the good news is Doc put in a temporary filling and will be able to rebuild the tooth with a permanent filling without having to do a crown. He was also impressed when I told him that the filling that came out was approximately 65 years old and he said he hoped that the one he puts in next week will last for 65 years. We talked a little about businesses and the terrible effect the virus was having on many of them. He said his practice has certainly felt it, but at least he had a job to come to every day. He told me that he had just read in one of his professional publications that in the United States not one single case of COVID-19 has been attributed to a visit to a dental office.

Speaking of COVID-19, I just read an article about the town of Mitchell, South Dakota and what they have experienced with the mask mandate versus the anti-mask forces. It is a very interesting read and shows just how political it has become. Read it here. After you have read the article, read the comments from people. The comments are as good as the article. I’m at the point that all of these freedom fighters who refuse to follow the guidelines that have been talked about by the medical experts for the past 10 months, wear a mask and socially distance, have a scarlet letter stamped on their forehead and when they get the virus they don’t get a hospital bed. Save the beds for those who are doing what we can to stop the spread and get Americans back to work. The cultists and “hoax” believers can get a dose of Clorox. Amen.

Have a great evening. Ziggyman

I don’t have much time to write this afternoon as we are getting ready to head up to celebrate the reopening of Skyway and have an outdoor dining meal. They have worked their bun’s off during the statewide two week pause so we want to support their hard work. Maybe I’ll make a 46 minute video of it. Any bets whether Barr{f} will be fired after breaking from the Donald and stating there is no evidence of election fraud? I also see where the White House communications director resigned today and will be starting her own consulting firm. I guess she doesn’t believe that Don will be the president for four more years. Smart lady. Anyhooo, I would like to give the prez and his loyal supporters a little bit of canine advice to just get over it and move on.

Have a great evening and look for my video tomorrow. Ziggyman