Odds 'n Ends July 17, 2026

I've been meaning to sit down and write a blog for awhile now, putting it off and putting it off.  I might have to put time aside on a certain day every so often and just hammer it out.  I've always got something to say.

I wonder if I should give the video blog thing a try, because it's the last perceptive link to context in physical media.  You can't completely get across your ideas strictly in text like you could a spoken word, with visual aid.  Though text has its advantages.  I can type something, re-read it, and change my mind, whereas when you speak, it's out there, and sometimes you have to retract.  But then the same can be said for text.  

Anyway...

This'll be an odds 'n ends post.

Knowing Nolan

*  Every three years is a Nolan year, last time being Oppenheimer, this year being Odyssey.  I'm looking forward to seeing the show, even though I'm not familiar with the Homer story.  I almost feel kind of uneducated knowing how well known the story is, and I've just never read it.  I went out and got the book American Prometheus that it's based on and only got through the first couple of chapters, simply because the typeface is so small in the book; I had to give it up because of my eye strain.  Not giving up on it though - I've got to get my eyes tested soon!  But anyway, the scale and scope of the story is monstrous, especially for an IMAX screen, which Nolan faithfully champions with all his movies now.  Hopefully we'll be seeing it next week.  There's also Spiderman Brand New Day coming in a couple of weeks that I'm looking forward to a lot.

"Listen..."

*  We did see Disclosure Day on preview day, the day before official release.  I knew that reviews for it would spoil a lot of it and probably be unfavorable to many critics, so I wanted to see it for myself first.  For anyone who's into UFO lore, a lot of the subject matter in the film will be quite familiar, and will 'get it' more, but this is a movie that's going to age not unlike many of Spielberg's stories, that is to say, revelatory as time passes, not unlike Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which Spielberg was way ahead with.  It did moderate box office business, but the real buzz will happen when it's out on VOD and blu ray.  Something it didn't quite touch on, understandably, was much of the religious aspect of disclosure.  I think that UFO theology and spirituality will merge noticeably in the coming months and years.  I recommend to anyone to read a book by Chris Bledsoe called "UFO of God", where Bledsoe really comes across as 'chosen', by something, and he equates his experiences with Godly and angelic characteristics.  He even claims he was healed of serious illnesses with his encounters.  He summons 'orbs', or light beings, at will regularly, and even takes videos of them that he posts online.  Government is paying attention to him, and with the recent spate of people investigating all things UFO disappearing (in some cases, being unalived), I kind of worry about him.  He's quite the gracious, humble guy.  And completely apolitical, which I think is of utmost importance when you approach that kind of subject matter.

Back in the U.S... back in the U.S... back in the U.S.S.A

*  American politics is really screwing up the world lately isn't it?  You have a mentally unstable, dementia ridden, child-raping, cannibalistic, wife abusing (let's face it, he either killed Ivana or had her killed), incestuous, racist, closet gay/homophobe combo, felonious, con artist, criminal-coddling demon in charge of the free world, who's hell bent on taking away said freedom to benefit his ultra-crooked family and friends and tank his country's prosperity in order to succumb to Netanyahu's and Israel's far, far right wishes.  The war he started with Iran, which he's trying so hard to drag the world into, is a constant distraction of the release of the Epstein files, which, when the truth comes out, he knows will absolutely decimate his empire for good.  In fact, it could be so cataclysmic that the political and entertainment industry could collapse under the weight of it all.  And I'm all for it.  If 2025 ushered in the Age of Aquarius and enlightenment, that would mean that the dark corners of society will have light shone in them and the world can begin healing.  It's been happening, and is happening, and will intensify as the days go by.  By the end of this decade, a very different world order will be upon us, and the U.S will not be at the center of it anymore.  The U.S. under Trump has really revealed the demonology at the center of its power, puppeteered by Israel and its motivations.  Notice I didn't say 'Jews', because radical Israeli politicians among the Jewish are grossly misrepresenting them, and most of them know it.  It's interesting how republicans point fingers at Canada saying we're becoming communistic when they themselves are at that forefront, but that's classic republican MAGA projectionism.  And the richer you are, it seems the more conservative you get, because you're holding on tight to that stupidly excess money.  And a simple millionaire isn't really that rich anymore.  But there is no such thing as a billionaire who is not a crook.  

Fungi Friday

*  This'll be a fascinating end to the week for me, as I'm going to embark on a journey with psilocybin, or magic mushrooms.  I'm choosing the Golden Teacher route, which is a 'beginner's' mushroom for the experience, that being it's not as intense or anything like other species of them can be.  I've heavily researched it and am taking all the precautions, and am going into it with eyes wide open.  Magic mushrooms, as a lot of us are hearing now, are supposed to be massive allies for brain function, which can potentially really help people like me with anxiety and neurological issues.  I read a lot of literature saying that they help the brain restore pathways and even actually physically heal it, so, I'm taking the responsible and practical approach to this and am looking forward to the experience.  The one thing that held me back was how emetophobic I am, or extremely afraid of vomiting, which seems to accompany some mushroom users.  So I researched it and found that you can actually make tea with the mushrooms so that you don't have to actually eat them, which is where the problem can be for me.  Watching this video helped in my research.  I may actually take videos of my experience and post them here, because if this really turns out well, I'm going to be championing it for everyone with mental illness, anxiety and depression.  Gemini is also assisting me in tackling this venture.  Note that I'm chiefly doing this for practical purposes and not recreationally, although I don't condemn or condone that.  We'll see where this road leads. 

Yahu for Putin

*  The collapse of Russia appears to be imminent.  For anyone who's truly paying attention, and I don't mean to mainstream media which seem to be cheerleaders for the 'mighty' Putin, it's pretty clear who's in charge of things right now.  If Putin and his cronies fall to the wayside, that opens up gates for other floodwaters to flow.  I believe Russia is subservient to Israel, and are working closely with Israeli hardliners to take down the U.S.  It isn't hard to see.  Clearly, Trump is compromised via the decisions he's making in attacking Iran on Israel's behalf, and Netanyahu knows how soft Trump is in his decision making - not to mention, people may forget that Jared Kushner is clearly beholden to Israel himself and is their Trump whisperer.  So... if Russia falls, eyes will turn toward the middle east, where leverage thru Putin will have vanished, which changes the dynamics of the Iran war significantly.  Without Putin's assistance, Iran may fall as well, but not from the war from the U.S., which is illegal in the ICC anyway.  Definitely potential Hague fodder.

That's a long fuggin' bungee

*  I don't know what to think of my hometown of Moncton these days.  We just had municipal elections that we hoped would set in action some kind of remedial program to deal with the homeless and get to the bottom of the rampant drug use, but absolutely no progress has been made that I can see.  The cost of shelter here is absolutely nuts, and power is the same.  Let me say this... I believe we lost our police force years ago when Camille Theriault was premier, and he and then-mayor Leopold Belliveau didn't do anything to support Monctonians who largely wanted to keep our local police.  In fact there was a campaign across the city to support the city police.  But we got the RCMP anyway... and less policing.  All while the city's population is exploding.  I would bet the RCMP, as they are now known, are frustrated behind the scenes at their lack of preparedness and resources.  I had high hopes Brian Murphy would be elected mayor this year and do something, but apparently he lost by a few hundred votes.  We now have mayor Shawn Crossman, whom I did not vote for because he didn't support a simple request by a friend of mine; and that was enough to lose my trust too.  I'll tell you this... Moncton is a hair's breadth away from becoming a true shithole city.  It's tragic and shameful how far we've dropped, and everyone else is talking about us.  We literally have a bad reputation for our lack of action on our problems.  I didn't vote for Susan Holt, either, because I didn't trust her to do what needed to be done.  And I was right.  Look... all you have to really do if you live here is take a long walk.  Walk downtown in Moncton and head to the bridge and walk across.  Step around the streets there.  Clean.  Hardly any noisy vehicles.  No homelessness.  And more greenery and less concrete.  I mean... I understand Covid hit us hard, really hard.  We have the hospitals, so the impact hit harder near them.  But that's over six years ago, ffs.  Why is this city so slow to bounce back??

I guess that's good for the time being.  If you're reading this, thanks for coming by!  I appreciate you.

Doom and gloom

The American election is over.  What the hell happened??

Hindsight is often 20/20.  Here's my take on it.

Kamala came out of the gates to great fanfare.  Biden made it clear in the debate that he's in no condition to lead the U.S. for a second term.  If it were more clear that he wasn't running for re-election, perhaps the selection process could have been more concise.  Harris was basically coronated upon Biden's stepping down.  Now we're left wondering if Biden was right all along... could only he have defeated Trump?

Harris didn't have ample time to really mount an effective campaign.  Here's the ugly truth:  The very people Trump threatened all of his campaign to deport voted him into power.  Hispanic voters put him way over the top.  There was no shortage of black voters for him either.  I really hope that Muslim voters for Trump survive this, because they need to see what they've done to themselves.  And that's IF they get to stay.  And IF they survive the hate that's about to swarm their existences.

And here's my takeaway from the whole ugly situation - this election was all about estrogen vs testosterone.  On Kamala's side, you had the "swifties" (that's a small 'S' on purpose there), Beyonce fans, movie stars, and countless celebrities vouching for her.  On Trump's side, you had your Dr. Phils, Kid Rocks, Dana Whites and Joe Rogans.  The fact of the matter is this:  America is not ready for a female leader.  They should be, but they are not.  They are not evolved enough.  Neither is Canada, for that matter.

Rogan has a massive, massive audience, rife with machoism and alpha-male delusion.  Trump's campaign was a counter to Kamala's women-can-do-it-better appearance which very much upset the egos of the right.  She went on Fox and basically did the job, but she skipped Rogan, who fully endorsed Trump upon his interview with him.  Not being on Rogan may have been the tipping point.  She was fully capable of handling herself, so her decision not to appear on the podcast is a puzzling one, especially in retrospect.

Looking back, not giving Gavin Newsom, governor of one of the world's biggest economies (California), should have been given much more serious consideration.  Instead, he wasn't given any.  The fact that he's a man evidently would've given the Dems more of a chance.  One must wonder how different this outcome would have been had Newsom been in Harris' place.  The short-sightedness of Trump voters is staggering.  The dirt poor actually helped billionaires elect a faux-billionaire into power... again.  The entire rest of the free world sees what a threat he is to the world's democracy factions, steadily being whittled down by the far right.  

The ramifications of the results of this election are going to be felt for many, many years.  Ukraine will now be forced to surrender to Russia, who will then proceed to invade more European territories in its bid to re-establish the Soviet Union.  Trump will stand idly by while this happens.  Tariffs will be erected and crush taxpayers.  All the criminals responsible for the Jan. 6 debacle will be freed.  White supremacist groups will be empowered.  Jobs will be lost.  The poor will remain poor, and perhaps become more so.  Lumber trade in Canada will be choked by Trump's protectionism.  NATO will once again be bullied by him, and will return to its weak pre-Biden stature.  Under Biden, NATO was never stronger.  That will change.  By the way... Trump has said outwardly that he would not support a country that doesn't pay the full 2% of its GDP on the agreement.  Canada pays around 1.6%.  Also... after Alaska, Russia is right next door to us.  Literally.

The FDA is toast.

Reproductive freedom, at best, will be state by state in its acceptance.  Trump himself may cause abortion rights to be completely eliminated.  If your crazy uncle raped your 12 year old daughter, too bad for her.  Miscarriage?  You might get charged and even go to jail.  Gilead is upon us.  

The Dems gambled on reproductive freedom being the sole issue for voters, basically ignoring the male electorate.  That's what a lot of it comes down to.... Trump catered to the men, Harris to the women.  Somehow, he managed to convince more men than Harris did women.

Elon Musk will get carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants with the aerospace industry, including militarization, and also including colluding with Putin, which has already been happening anyway on a regular basis.  The U.S. will become Russia.  If Trump dies, J.D. Vance will take his place, which could be far worse.  Don't count this out from happening.  Trump is 78 and unhealthy.  Upon this happening, you may see Vice President Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Don't laugh or shrug.  There's a real chance of this coming true.

And what's the next January 6 going to entail?  Will the Dems peacefully hand over power?  They must.  Not to do so would undermine what the party is all about to begin with.  Biden appointed Merrick Garland to AG with confidence he would resolve the legal matters regarding the attempted coup in 2020.  Garland dragged his feet the entire way, only hiring special counsel Jack Smith near the homestretch of the election.  Smith didn't have ample time or resources to get the job done, as much as he wanted to get it done, and even with a real measure of urgency.  But the Supreme Court is already stacked in Trump's favor.  And the 6-3 republican ruled judges have Trump's back if worse comes to worse and he actually was looking like he had to resort to it.  I've said for years that Garland is in Trump's pocket.  I still think he is.

Trump is to be sentenced later this month for his 34 felonies.  He can pardon himself when he takes office.  He will get away with everything.  Everything.  Tell me, "pro-lifers", is it worth it?  Because abortion will not be wiped out.  Only legal abortion will.  Support for newborns is the ideal anti-abortion strategy.  Quell the fear of what's to come for expecting mothers.  Don't fucking threaten them with jail time.  And stop giving excuses to deadbeat dads.

So long to Obamacare.  Trump's "concepts of a plan" will take good care of you, I'm sure.

Brace for more heartless deportations and more kids in cages, being separated from their families, likely permanently.

Oh, and one more before I go.... the next pandemic, if it happens with the Orange Turd in power like last time, will be an even bigger shitbowl than Covid-19.  A potential Covid-20 may just be unrecoverable.  And Robert Kennedy Jr. will see to it.

We'll be watching that meth lab underneath us and watch what they're cooking. 

Because Pierre Poilievre, whose campaign is being run by actual Trumpers, is next here.

May the God you believe in help us all.

The God I worship is super-clearly not the same God pop culture wants us to believe.

I pray now for awakening.  For hope.  Not to sleep.... but to be WOKE.  Yes, I said it, and I mean it.  Either wake up, or deal with it.

Peace and love to everyone.  

And I so, so very much want to be wrong about just about everything here.

GET UP, and get that COVID outta here

 2021 is here!  Finally.  But let's not kid ourselves.  We ain't out of the woods yet.  We're still in the thick of it.  

Covid pretty much sucked the life out of the year, didn't it.  That was rhetorical.  But every holiday, every birthday, every day off, was tempered by this historic illness.  We weren't allowed to be around a lot of people.  Folks died alone in their hospital rooms because no one was allowed around them because of how contagious this damned thing is.  And there are/were deniers and skeptics that this is actually happening, which just floors me.  Since '16 when Trump was elected, trust in media has eroded very quickly in favor of bullshit false 'facts', when in reality, only the fringe news sites and stations that support the authoritarian-wannabe were truly guilty of mass falsehood spreading.  The weak-minded bought into it, but even more scary, people you would expect to come out against this kind of scary fascism actually wound up supporting it.  It got scarier every year since then, and now it's coming to an explosive end later this month.  Make no mistake... the U.S. is the country seen as the leaders of the free world, but even countries around the world watching them feel sorry for them and are frightened at what they're becoming.  Being in Canada, we're direct next-door neighbors, so what happens there has the biggest effect on us first.  No one in the media outside of Canada's own seems to recognize that fact.  

On a personal level, things haven't been too bad since I last posted here on Ragnar.  This in spite of a crazier than usual holiday season.  You might have heard that some companies actually thrived during the pandemic, while others simply shut down.  I work for one of the thriving companies, where business actually went bionic.  My wife had it the same.  Her postal outlet that she runs is experiencing record business, thanks in no small part to how she operates the place with our daughter and one other who handles a shift or two a week.  Myself, I've worked overtime pretty much every week, and my job's quite physical, so I go home every day wiped right out.  We quit the gym because of too many restrictions due to Covid, and we'll go back when it's back to normal.  Whenever that is.  

Regarding myself and my head's state, I've actually kept things together through the season.  Only one panic attack... and I don't even remember it, because I guess I had it in my sleep.  Janice witnessed it, so I can't really say what I did, except that I appeared to be 'convulsing' before I actually got up and whatever happened.  All I remember is taking THC oil that Janice administered to me.  I think during that day, signs of an attack were there, but I just didn't really pick up on it.  I was fidgety, annoyed and as Janice would say, had the 'jimmy legs' where I was twitching all the time.  I remember coming around and feeling exhausted, though, because those attacks are exhausting.  I'm quite wary of what can happen when I experience one of these phases.  I often dream about them -- dream of going through them.  But this was the first time I know of that I acted one out in my sleep.  

But I don't know what exactly to do about that.  I have no psychologist, because it's not free and quite pricey.  I have no psychiatrist because he bailed on me.  And my own doctor only really believes me if Janice vouches for me.  In other words, I'm on my own.  I don't believe in pseudo self-help books or videos or news clippings or anything, because each and every one of us experiences something different.  I can be watching a video, for example, of somebody telling me something related to a person with depression and anxiety, but it does not address me because my circumstances are so different.  As I've exhaustively stated before, I've had multiple concussions throughout my life, along with a number of traumatic experiences.  YES, people have been through worse.  But no one experiences the same as another every time.  I'm quite lucky to be alive.  Thanks in large part to my wife and my daughter.

Anyway... apart from that 'phantom' anxiety bout, I've maintained the course quite well.  There are other health things to be addressed.  My ENT sent me for a barium x-ray of my digestive tract, suspicious that the nodes on my vocal cords, which I'm having removed via surgery January 18, might be the result of acid reflux.  I don't believe that to be the case, but getting a closer look at my stomach isn't something I object to, in order to rule out everything.  She thinks I might have a hernia in my tract.  If that's true, that could be yet another surgery, though only laproscopic and nothing too major.  Getting my nodes taken out isn't terribly major either.  It'll leave me voiceless for a couple of weeks, which takes me out of work for that time.  It seems the beginning of the year is where I have to watch it.  Last year in February, I broke my wrist.  A year before that, I was taken off for stress leave for three months.  Before that, I had one year that started with sinus surgery, followed by knee surgery, plus multiple bouts with kidney stones that required multiple surgeries.  So the beginning of every year these days gives me the heebie-jeebies a little.  

I guess I can take solace in the fact that every time I was confronted with something, after it knocked me down I always got back up.  When I did see a psychologist before my coverage ran out, she told me I was resilient and should tell myself that.  If I was told that story about someone else, I would tell them they were resilient.  Why wouldn't I say that about myself?  But I can't.  Most of the time, I feel like I deserve what I get.  I have quite a guilt complex, I guess.  If I have bad "karma", I'd like to know how much more I have to pay.  And with what.  But, alas, I don't believe in karma.  Too many really bad folks get away with everything, and too many good folks never get a break.  It's nonsense.

One challenge facing me in the new year is my manager at work.  The guy I've had for ten years is leaving, and a new one is coming in.  Nothing at all against the new guy, I don't even know him.  But the boss I know, knew me.   He knows my medical history and all the quirks related to it, and was very supportive.  I think I've been quite lucky that way.  When I leave for surgery in a couple of weeks, the old boss will be going and the new one stepping in.  I guess I'm kind of nervous because I've dealt with many asshole bosses since I left driving for BJ's Subs and Catering in '07.  Two of those bosses made me seek supplemental help for my anxiety and mental issues.  I guess I'll remain hopeful and be cautiously optimistic.

Anyway, the road ahead...  I'm looking forward to getting this vaccine, and hoping to God everyone who's against it comes around and gets it too.  There sure are a lot of conspiracy theories out there against it.  One thing I've found about conspiracy theories (ever notice the very word contains the words 'cons' and 'piracy'?) is that they're always bullshit.  I used to love that stuff.  It was great entertainment.  But not a lot more than that.  For too many, they've taken the place of facts and useful information and science.  It really pisses me off with so many of these church goers saying they're above the law and that God will protect them when they go to mass.  Never mind that you're not supposed to put God to the test.  You can be faithful and still go by the rules that society presents when things like Covid go awry.  

How well the world prospers in the year to come depends solely on how many people take the vaccine against this crushing illness.  I'll lean toward the positive side, and hope that this coming summer brings us back to some semblance of normality.  I refuse to accept the term 'new normal'.  This is NOT normal, and I do not accept it as such for any length of time.  We've had to make adjustments to deal with this abnormal situation.  To say it's the 'new normal' is to relinquish hope.  We will get back to normal, but this is not normal, what we're dealing with right now.  But... we won't get back to normal if we're going to constantly remain divided.  Division is borne from far right politics.  And by far right, I don't necessarily mean conservatives.  Far left is just as dangerous... but there is no far left.  You might argue that with me, but we've never been in any danger of going that way.  We ARE in danger of slipping into totalitarianism and authoritarianism.  The Progressive Conservatives in Canada, for instance, gave way to just Conservatives.  Removing 'Progressive' from the title is everything.  The PC's, at least, were very aware of environmental issues; even if I didn't agree with much of their financial credo.  When the PC's became C's, Harper came in and annihilated scientific records related to preserving the environment and deregulated many of the laws and rules people had to follow to protect them.  Trump is doing even worse to his country.  I still feel a stir of anger in me when I think about when Harper made a clandestine meeting with Trump at the White House at the beginning of his presidency.  No one knows what they discussed.  I suspect no one ever will know.  But Stephen Harper scared me the way Trump does.  He's basically Trump with a brain.  I have hope with the Conservative's new leader Erin O'Toole, though, he at least doesn't seem as mean spirited and confrontational as his predecessor.  The only way I'd want to see the Conservatives take over right now is with a minority government; although really, that's how I like all my governments.  The people  in power need to stay accountable that way.  It's why I'm glad Trudeau's Liberals are a minority.  Too many in his cabinet don't know their asses from their elbows.  Bill Morneau, his now former finance minister, buried Canada in debt long before Covid did.  If they didn't have a path to getting out of our $20 billion deficit before Covid hit, how are they supposed to get us out of this $400 billion tsunami?  The Conservatives would bring in austerity measures, which are highly unethical when Harper pulled it.  That's why I say. sure, give the Cons a shot... with a MINORITY.  I can just imagine where we'd be if the Liberals pulled off a majority last election.  All this being said... I'm still Green all the way.  They're the only realistic party out there; though the NDP impresses me more and more these days too.

When Lent comes along in February, I'm going to be making a few 'sacrifices'.  I'll be cutting down drastically on meat consumption, like we do every year, but also, I'll put social media completely on hold.  Facebook has become Hatebook.  I never took to Twitter because that's the most toxic place of all of them.  I'll have to be more active with my e-mail.  But there are far too many lies and hatred spewing from my computer screen these days.  It's downright sad.  If I have any friend on social media that shows crazy negativity without any facts to back it up, they're gone.  I hate doing that, too.

Anyway, the new year is here, we're scheduled to see KISS in Bangor in August, which was postponed from last September, and it'll just be nice if we can get to a place where we don't need to wear a mask or count the people who are around us.  This is not how we're supposed to live... but it's how we have to live until this virus is defeated once and for all.

Thanks for tuning in to read this.  I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.  Better times are on the horizon.

Till then, fire up the colortinis and watch the pictures as they fly through the air.

Good night.