THIS & THAT #30

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE

Back in the 1960s, the blustery 36^th President held tight reins over many of his subservient Democrats, including his Vice President, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, formerly a liberal Senator from Minnesota. Hubert was aiming to eventually run for the Presidency, and to do so; he would have to remain a loyal lap dog to President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The November 1966 front cover of Esquire magazine depicted Hubert as a dummy on LBJ’s knee, being manipulated by Lyndon the ventriloquist.

In 2017, a bombastic President tightly holds the reins over his frightened Republican elected officials, including his Vice President, Michael Richard Pence, who was raised in Columbus, Indiana. On his Wikipedia page, Pence affirmed that he was a Christian, conservative, and a Republican, in that order. He will probably acquiesce and vote for a name change to his birthplace if his boss says so. There are nineteen other locales nationally that incorporate the name Columbus, in one form or another.

Pence will have to prioritize his options concerning his eventual bid to become the nation’s next president, based on what happens to his puppeteer or ventriloquist, namely DJT.

Please see the final paragraph regarding Michael’s options.

Pence, the former governor of the grate state of Indiana, was assigned the task of attending the October 8^th Indianapolis Colts home football game against the “rebellious” San Francisco 49ers. He knew that some of the 49ers might not stand at attention during the playing of the National Anthem, as did his boss.

Pence had flown in from Las Vegas at an estimated cost of $100,000, and then after quickly exiting before the game began as part of the planned publicity stunt, he flew to Los Angeles at a cost of $142,500, to attend a Republican fundraiser. That’s a total cost of $242,500 that will be paid for by American taxpayers.

A PUPPET OR A DUMMY

It’s encouraging to know that Pence and Trump are working together to make America grate again, as the veep proudly boasted.

"I left today's Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem," Pence wrote on Twitter.

While Colts players stood arm-in-arm at their home game in Indianapolis, more than 20 of the San Francisco 49ers players knelt during the anthem, as they have for weeks. It was a move that should not have shocked Pence, an Indiana native, whose face clearly demonstrated his disapproval of the action on the field.

"While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don't think it's too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem," Pence tweeted. "I stand with President Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem."

Trump took credit for the departure of Pence and his wife from the stadium in a later tweet, saying, "I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen."

All true Americans are proud of our Second Lady, and I have been unable to find anyone against our soldiers. Those in the Executive Branch seem to be the ones attempting to divide our country even more so, by perpetuating this nonsensical thinking to appeal to their base.

If You Are Waiting

For President Pence

You will have to be patient, since as of Saturday, October 28^th; there will be 1,103 days until the next presidential election on November 3, 2020.

The 46th President won’t take office until January 20, 2021. The only way Michael Richard Pence could become President any sooner, would be if (1) Donald J. Trump resigns from office because of boredom, (2) resigns from office after being severely criticized while receiving a salary of only $ 400,000 a year, (3) resigns from office because he wants even more time to play golf at his various courses, (4) or is impeached for conduct unbecoming a President. There are probably other ways Trump could leave office earlier than planned, but I will let others figure them out, for I am not an expert on the subject, nor do I want to become one. There's enough confusion emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and the golf courses, as it is.

A Super Day, To Get Away

Just went to Google and typed in the words “Super Bowl 2015,” and there were “About 209,000,000 results in 0.21 seconds.”

This year’s Super Bowl XLIX is noted in Roman numerals once again, to show even the most cynical of critics, the importance of this special event. Does anyone, except a Latin major, know what that translates to in the Arabic numerals we use to designate most everything? I told my wife that I weighed CLXV this morning, the exact weight I was at in high school. She just frowned.

Wikipedia devotes fourteen, ready-to-print pages of coverage, including forty-three listed references, more than those found in many doctoral dissertations.

The game will be broadcast on NBC-TV in the States, and in at least sixty other countries including such football hot spots as Macedonia, Albania, Moldova and Bulgaria, along with the Arab world.

If you hurry, you may be able to catch a flight and make it to the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona where the game will be played. There are even some last-minute seats available at the bargain price of $8,700.

NBC is charging $4.5 million for one 30-second commercial, a price that’s up $500,000 from the record set for last year’s game. The projected television audience should exceed last year’s 112.3 million viewers, however I won’t be one of them.

Sunday’s weather forecast for here in Santa Cruz is for sunny skies and a high of 73, so we will either be walking on the beach or biking during the pre-game narishkeyt (nonsense). When the game begins, we will easily find a good seat at a local movie theatre, followed by a great meal in a nearly empty restaurant. It will be one that doesn’t have four, huge television sets mounted on all of its walls.  It won’t even have one.

In case you are wondering, this is Super Bowl 49. However, such a designation sounds too mundane for such an important cultural event, and who would pay $8,700 for a ticket to attend?