🎵 And I’m one step ahead of the shoeshine
Two steps away from the county line
Just trying to keep my customers satisfied
Satisfied 🎵

Simon and Garfunkel Keep the Customer Satisfied 1969

Today on Twitter/X Dave Chappelle who is no stranger to angering people had this to say about Charlie Kirk’s murder:

This is ironic given that Charlie Kirk defended him when someone tried to harm him onstage:

I tweeted about this already and I repeat that tweet here:

That’s really the thing, Chappelle knows it’s wrong, he knows he shouldn’t feel that way BUT he also knows that the majority of the people who watch him and follow him and certainly the majority of the people in Madison Square Garden watching his show would laugh at that line.

That’s why he used it. That’s what’s disgusting. He knew that what he was doing wrong and did it anyways for a laugh.

Now Mr. Chappelle has a 1st Amendment right to do what he did and people have the right to approve of it and I don’t dispute this for a second. Also while I understand Mr. Chappelle is not a Christian, as a Christian Charlie would pray for him and Christ has already died for his sin so the proper response is to pray for him but I’ll give the last word on this subject to St Thomas Moore as portrayed by Paul Schofield in A Man for All Seasons

I have no access to the next at work so I didn’t find out the results of the election till I got home after midnight. The news was very discouraging but the worst part of it all was this:

We have had the exposure of all kinds of fraud, from election fraud, to Somali fraud rings in Minnestpa & Maine and elsewhere and we’ve seen open violence from the left both within the states and internationally.

The voters still choose them.

It reminds me of Hal Chase who after years of fixing games was given a pass by MLB which led to the fixing of the 1919 worlds series, but in fairness it’s consistent with scripture where Christ says:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Matt 7:13-14

On the other side as Sgt Schultz said to Sgt Carter when he got a “Dear John” letter from home.

Sgt. Schultz: Let me cheer you up. Women are like War there is always another coming around.

Hogan’s Heroes: Request Permission to Escape 1966

In two years we get another shot, let’s make it a good one.


During my lifetime when the Democrats took absolute control of Massachusetts things reached a point where people who could not afford MA anymore but had enough to get out headed to NH. Yet once they got there they voted for the same policies that made MA unafordable.

This is apparently the case in Texas as people rushed to get out of California only to vote for the same folks who made their own state a shithole.

On the plus side U-Haul salesmen in Texas may see the same windfall that their fellows in CA had shortly as Florida stayed Red.


One of traits in human nature is to see a solved problem as a problem solved permanently rather than something that has to be managed to keep it from coming back.

Thus Donald Trump solving the border crisis and bringing about the drop in crime that resulted from it meant that many people who voted for Trump because of those problems figure they don’t need the GOP to solve it anymore.

It reminds me of the British voting out Winston Churchill as soon as the Nazis were finished and replacing him with a socialist who put Britain on the path whose fruits are being reapted today.

Socialism is always most attractive when people feel safe.


Speaking of problem solving the current situation for the Democrats is actually quite interesting as there is a great difference between standing in opposition and in actually governing. I suspect the next two years are going be very much like the first 5 minutes of the Doctor Who Episode The Keeper of Traken pt 4 where this exchange took place:

4th Doctor: Talking of entropy, what happened last night in the sanctum, the statue fading and struggling, that was most unexpected.
Tremas: It’s normal, Doctor. The reaction when a new Keeper succeeds. The effort weakens him. His power comes and goes at first.
4th Doctor: A C-reaction. Melkur all sweetness and reason because he’s vulnerable.
Tremas: Yes, stalling opposition until his power’s secure.

That’s where the Democrats are right now. They don’t have the votes to remove Trump and even if they nuke the filibuster Trump can veto anything they pass so I expect for the next two years they are going to have to try to put up a moderate face to keep the normals from defecting in 2028.

The question is will the radicals who won under the Democrat banner allow them to do so. Experience says no but we’ll see what happens.


Finally right now in Iran the mullahs are smiling at the election results but I suspect they shouldn’t be as they are now in more danger then any other time in the last six months because Trump is in the same situation that Abe Lincoln thought he was when he wrote this when he thought that he was toast in election 1864

“Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”

The new Democrat majorities don’t get sworn in until Jan 6th of next year.

If I’m Trump I take out Castro in Cuba now and follow up by destroying the Iranian oil fields.

If you take out Castro Cuba falls under it’s own power, If you take out the Iranian oil fields, even if the Mullahs retain power they will be unable to project power and will take at best years and at worst decades to rebuild.

Right now Trump has nothing to lose by doing this and the time to do is is NOW so it will be old news by the time election 2028 rolls around.

The leftists and socialists newly elected to congress might huff and puff but if Trump does this nothing they say or do will put the communists back in power in Cuba nor restore the Mullah’s power and wealth in Iran.

“It’s very simple” said the Abbot with the most serious look he had ever seen. “We can return to the monastery proper, you can resume your life & resume your vows with the promise never to reveal what you’ve seen to this point, or we can go through that door and you begin a new life of service and prayer, similar but apart from the monastery. One choice is not superior to the other, both serve Christ & glorify God, but one carries the burden of knowledge. What shall it be?”

He didn’t hesitate: “Abbot shall we go inside?”

Last time: A Comical Stereotype Next Time: The Long & Short of it

It’s the first of the month so you will not be surprised to see the monthly indulgence calendar post but before we get to that I want to tell you an interesting Exorcised Salt story from Halloween yesterday.

It’s been a while since I’ve been around to give out candy on Halloween but this year I had the day off and had time so I decided to do so, but with a twist.

As you might have noticed Exorcists and Exorcisms have been big online lately. Several priests who do them (each Catholic diocese is supposed to have an official Exorcist and if one isn’t appointed the Bishop would be considered the chief one). have been online.

What you might not know is that in addition to actual exorcisms of people there is exorcism of objects and places. For example when a priest blesses a house it is a minor exorcism. (My own parish priest always does this in broad daylight, never at night as he puts it: “Why give the enemy home field advan salt, oil and water is exorcised (video playlist here) by a professional exorcist. What you might not know is that I had salt and water exorcised there and keep it in the house.

I bring this up because a while back an exorcist I think it was Fr. Dan, told a story about a woman who rented an office in a building full of new age stuff that got her nervous who was advised to mix some exorcised salt into the paint that was being used to redo her office. She suddenly noticed that other people renting in the building who used to visit suddenly didn’t enter the office not even to have cookies that she made, oh they’d poke their head through the door and say “Hi” but for some reason wouldn’t come in.

You might also know that several exorcists & at least one former Satanist turned Catholic evangelist have talked about the real nasty & even murderous stuff that goes down on Halloween ( I suspect it’s no coincidence that the reformation began on the day) and this got me thinking so I decided on an experement.

Before I visited my father’s grave around noon (He would have been 105 yesterday) I took some of the exorcised salt and sprinkled a line from one corner of my property to the other covering both the walkway and the steps on the side and another coving the back gate. I didn’t use enough so that you had a visible white line but enough so that you would have to pass the salt to go up the walkway.

When I got home from mass about 15 min before trick or treating started I put on the outside light to show that we were giving out candy, but I went two steps further.

  • I put the candy outside on the lighted porch so it could be seen
  • I put a chair out there and rather than waiting inside sat there reading some Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo)

In short I made sure that there was no question that this house was giving out candy and I waited. As expected kids and parents came to the door. Some parents waited at the walkway but that isn’t unusual so I thought nothing of it.

What WAS interesting was when a group of loud, rowdy and profane teens hit the house across the street. Normally those kids would have headed to my house next but inexplicitly they completely bypassed my property despite me and the candy being there.

Later on there was a pair of teenage girls who came by and it was even odder, they were on the same side of the street and not only walked by the house but seemed not to notice the property existed looking straight ahead until they passed.

I shot a video telling the story last night:

For the rest of the night that was the pattern, every now and then some people would just bypass the house. Invariably those people would be teen above the age of reason (and thus capable of mortal sin and/or inviting a demon in which Mortal sin can do).

I found it very….interesting. Feel free to make of it what you will.

Also be aware that for the next eight days starting with today there is a special Plenary indulgence offered annually for anyone Catholic who visits any cemetery and prays for the dead. This act normally gives a partial indulgence but during the Octave of All Saints day (including all souls day on the 2nd) this indulgence is Plenary under the usual conditions.

  • Communion on the day of the indulgence
  • Confession within 20 days before or after the indulged event (one confession covers all indulgences during that period)
  • Prayers offered for the monthly intentions of the Pope

For the indulgence to be plenary you must have no attachment to sin.

So take advantage of those indulgences either for yourself or someone who has died, be aware you CAN’T obtain an indulgence for a living person other than yourself.

Anyways here is this month’s indulgence calendar: