Quick hits ...

... because a lot is going on.

First, let me add my prayers for healing and my heartfelt sympathy to those already offered to the many families and friends of those 49 people cut down in Orlando, as well those injured, along with any and all impacted by this horrible act of senseless violence.

The events in Orlando have opened up a series of emotional and impassioned subjects like a band-aid ripped off of a nearly-healed wound.

Gay Pride - this butcher focused his violence on a nightclub focusing on gay clientele. Those who were killed and injured, by and large, subscribe to that lifestyle. That is their right - and they did not give up those rights because they chose that lifestyle.  So all you "they deserve it" and God's judgment" types can stick it in your pious pie-holes. No one deserves to be murdered - and no one can make that judgment but God.

I have gay friends, because we respect each other. They do not try and "change" me and I don't try to "change" them. As a Christian, their lifestyles are between them and their maker and it's not for me to judge.  Beating gay people into submission with a Bible is not why the Bible was written.

This could have happened at a movie theater, a church, or a party at work. In fact, it has.

Gun control - I do not own a gun. I do know how to use them as I had to take gun courses in college and in the military. If the day comes that I do get a gun, it will be for one simple reason: Some part of my life needs to be defended with a deadly force, and no one but me can defend it.

It is important to note that I believe firmly in the concept of overwhelming advantage. If I am placed in a situation similar to what I have described above, I want to walk away successful - me breathing and the threat bleeding. I do not believe in applying just enough force to keep the threat at bay until help arrives. If I have to win that scenario, I want to win by as much as possible.

If that level of success can be achieved using BB guns, great. But if my odds or success go up with a weapon that delivers more firepower at a faster rate, I'd be all in for as much as I can afford.

That is why, my liberal friends, AR-15s are fine with me. As long as they are legal,

I know this post is not real funny. Hard to make this subject humorous. And I am sure no one in Orlando is getting a smile.

We're back ...

... well, I'm back, anyway.

To say "we're back" indicates I am more than me, which I am not. It could be said that my Mary Jo could take a portion of the credit (what credit it deserves) since she is my partner, my muse and my inspiration as well as my love.  She'd be the only person I want to be "We" with.

It also presumes that I have been somewhere.  I have been away - a couple of times - but I managed to get back to the ranch on the cul-de-sac each time, so I am a living testament to the effectiveness of Google Maps.

Yay, technology.

A few of you out there - and to be honest, there are only a few of you out there - might be a bit surprised that I am re-blogging after being gone for such a long time.  But consider this - Last time I broke off, it was four years before I re-started.  This time it's only been about two years. That's a 50 percent improvement.

That sounds like Obama Administration thinking.

So what has driven me back to the keyboard?  There is so much to blog abut right now! All kinds of irony, lessons of experience, and vast oceans of smart-aleckyness to cross.

And what is better to start with than politics? It's an election year, after all, and I am a political junkie from back in the days before Carter. And I proudly proclaim that in all that time, I have always cast my vote for my presidential preference each and every Olympic year. (Yes, presidential elections, Olympic Summer Games and leap years always occur in the same year. One of life's little oddities.  I'm kind of scared that I know that.)

This year, however, I am seriously considering passing up on what I consider an obligation of citizenship. Might just go fishing that day. Why? Because whatever I catch is bound to be better than whatever is on the ballot.

Let's start with my own political affiliation ... I don't have one. Registered independent. That way, I am excused from these stupid primaries, caucuses and tribal council votes. More importantly, I'm the voter that has to be swayed. Ya gotta work a little to get my vote. I like to be wooed, Pursued. I play a little hard to get.

Yes, I am still talking politics here.

Mind you, as independent as I claim to be, I haven't picked the Democrat since, well, Carter.  I line up on the right side of most issues, but I get off the Republican wagon when they just got too blamed preachy for my taste. A little too much telling everyone how they ought to live. You can't be elected to be Chief Justice of Morality Court.

So, on one side, there's Clinton. Hate her. Just hate her. Can't stand her droning, nasally, middle-school principal lecturing voice no matter what she's saying. Don't care if she's a woman. Don't care if she's politically savvy. Can't spend four years avoiding hearing the President that gives me the the old nails-on-a-chalkboard sensation whenever she gives a speech. So she's out.

Then there's Trump. I still don't see how he beat out 16 other candidates by using tactics he got off an elementary school playground, but it is what it is. Actually, Donald and I have a little in common.   We both grew up in great regard of our own opinions, and when threatened, we both reacted badly (Donald shouts insults; I just wet my pants).

The difference? I turned nine. Donald, apparently, has not.

Right now, I cannot bring myself to look at Trump, listen to his ideas, and actually consider him viable for the big house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Just can't do it.

Third party? First off, there really isn't anyone so popular, so inspiring, so monumental out there that could get enough votes away from the Dead-Head Duo (Clinton/Trump) to make any change. Secondly, no one wants the job. The only less attractive job vacancy in the country is Trump's potential VP choice.

So, to quote the immortal movie "War Games," the only winning move is not to play.  "War Games." Go ahead, Google it. Ally Sheedy was annoying, but it was a cool movie.

I hope that I will find a candidate and get behind said candidate. But it ain't looking good.

Also, the argument Republicans are making with "Vote for Donald, or it's just like you are voting for Hillary" is pure guilt-trip fallacy. If the Republicans couldn't get a nominee that people can vote for, not against someone else, then that is not my fault. If the Elephants can't find a candidate with positives, then using logic like "the lesser of two evils" won't get me off the lake on Election Day.

Mind you, Democrats are not doing much better. This election has been deeded to Clinton since Obama election No. 1. That does not sit well with the undecideds, so the Democrats ran a field of three guys with a pulse and little else, and Bernie Sanders - a Socialist.  (OK, you potential Jeopardy contestants, who out there really knows what a Socialist believes in? As opposed to, say, a Marxist or a Communist? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" starred Matthew Broderick, who was also in ..."War Games." See what I just did there?

Anyway, Bernie brought that Crazy Uncle Joe flavor to the campaign that Biden usually stakes out for himself. And his "win or die" approach makes people not realize that this was in the bag for Hillary from the beginning.

O.K., we can give that a rest for now.

The next big thing in the news is the Bathroom Uprising of 2016.  You know the story, so let me just add this - being the Public Bathroom Monitor sounds like a job for folks who couldn't pass the TSA Exam; Pardon me sir, please prove you are a Sir; if they would put half the energy and effort used in arguing this issue into keeping public bathrooms clean, that alone might improve things; add a third gender of bathroom for these transgendered folks, with doors labeled "Men's" Women's," and "Decide once you're in there."

And while I'm about it - hey transgenedered folk, just because people object to you using the bathroom in the room you are not equipped for does not mean the objecting people are hateful, bigoted, or wishing bad things upon you. A difference of opinion is not always based in hatred. That works for a lot of other issues, too.

There. Phil Robertson (The Duck Dynasty guy) has been making that point for awhile. Gotta say I agree,

Hey Phil, perhaps you'd consider a third party run. If not, come join me and we'll slaughter a few crappie on Election Day.