Sunday thoughts and misogynistic comments towards reporters

Let me just start this off by saying yes, I'm a guy and I like seeing beautiful women. Also, when I see a new female reporter on TV, her looks are the 1st thing I notice...it's human nature. However, it takes a pretty shallow person to focus on looks alone. Buffalo has plenty of very attractive female reporters, including a few former beauty pageant winners but for me, the way they do their jobs is what's most important to me. Personality is a big factor as well. I don't care how attractive a person is...if they have a rotten personality, they could do their report in a bikini and I wouldn't tune in.
The reason I bring this up is because I caught some tweets this morning from Jenna Harner, an attractive sports reporter from WIVB whose enthusiasm for her job shines through in her reports. Apparently, one of her colleagues got an email from a viewer telling she needs to change her hairstyle. There is NO instance in which that's remotely acceptable. A few years back, Erica Brecher got an email from some guy complaining about her glasses. Now personally, I think she's attractive with or without glasses but the only person who needs to be satisfied with the way she looks is herself and, to an extent, her then-fiance now-husband Andrew. Now, there's a reporter who used to work in Buffalo who's changed her hairstyle since leaving and, to be honest, I think her past hairstyle was a lot better look for her, even though she's still a beauty. I still follow her on social media because, in addition to her beauty, she's great at her job and has a great personality. You know what I've said to her about her hairstyle? NOT A DAMN THING...because it's none of my business and it wouldn't be even if she were still in Buffalo. She's been happy with it and presumably her husband has been happy with it as well. No one else needs to have any input on how she looks. It's one thing to pay a beautiful woman a compliment but insulting a woman's looks is never acceptable.
For me, my favorite female reporters are the ones who can cover a light-hearted story that makes you feel good but can also convey the gravity of a tough story to make you aware of how important it is. Erica Brecher and Angela Christoforos are both great with that. When it comes to sports reporting, some guys sadly don't give females the respect they deserve. Melissa Stark and Suzy Kolber are a pair of national names who are great at their jobs while still turning heads. Locally, I loved Lauren Brill before she left for Cleveland because she treated every interview with the same importance, which can mean a lot to a person. I remember when the Bills had training camp in Fredonia and I went regularly and got autographs in my media guide. In 1996, while waiting for players to come by, I witnessed a fan hold out some trading cards for a 6th round pick to sign. When the player told him that he wasn't on those cards, the fan just dismissed him and left. That player looked a little hurt by that but he brightened up when he came to me and I had my media guide opened to his page to sign. It may seem such a small thing to treat people well but it can mean the world to some people...something that Brill understands.
Physical beauty is great for a reporter to have but their looks aren't usually what they have their jobs for and they shouldn't be insulted if something in their looks doesn't please you.

Sunday thoughts---the Wall and Trump’s shutdown

Let me start by saying the very idea of Trump’s wall is STUPID…it’s not about border security….it’s a monument to Trump’s ego and maybe a financial boon to his allies (where’s he planning on getting the steel? His own buildings aren’t built with American steel.)…nothing more.

For one thing, most illegal immigration is a case where people come here legally and overstay their visas so why is Trump focused on the border to Mexico? It’s twofold…it’s well-known that Trump is a racist and to be fair, Mexico has a lot of crime. When that “caravan” was coming that Trump talked about before the election (afterwards, not so much), there were people wondering why they didn’t just seek asylum in Mexico. Why would refugees fleeing a crime-ridden country seek asylum in another crime-ridden country? I swear, if people had to prove they had common sense before posting on social media, the world of social media would be a lot smaller.

Another issue…the length of the border itself. The border between the US and Mexico is 1933 miles…counting natural barriers like the Rio Grande and the Colorado River. There’s a lot of border space that Trump is ignoring along Canada (5525 miles),the coastlines, and the shorelines of the Great Lakes.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21729.pdf

He claims he wants to stop criminals from coming but what’s to stop criminals from going around the walls….or under or over as they’ve done for years with the current barriers? Not a damn thing! The only people his wall would stop are the poor who are coming here to seek asylum…which is legal. If Trump were really concerned with securing the borders, he’d construct a wall all around the United States but wait…that’s just by land or sea. Most illegal immigrants arrive by air…guess we need a dome. Sounds stupid, right? Just like the wall. There are already barriers in place and yes, some could be improved upon…but in no way, shape, or form, should natural barriers be interfered with in any way.

That brings up another point…the effect on the environment. There are wildlife refuges right where Trump wants to put some of his wall. Humans share this planet with other life forms and we’ve already driven some species to extinction. Our planet has a very delicate eco-system and every species has a part to play in it…though what houseflies and mosquitoes contribute is beyond me. We need to protect our planet. The movie Independence Day featured aliens who visited worlds to plunder their natural resources and essentially kill the planet. Who needs aliens when we’re doing that on our own? We need to protect our wildlife and environment because despite what the orange idiot says, climate change is very real. The movie 2012 looked at what we could be looking at if we don’t clean up our act. Truthfully, the movie did go to extremes…we aren’t looking at an ice age like that anytime soon but our polar ice caps are melting and ocean levels are rising while the habitats of some animals are disappearing. We’re not past the point of no return yet but it’s not far off if we don’t work on cleaning up our acts.

https://www.vox.com/2018/3/28/17152644/trump-border-wall-texas-environment-refuge-butterflies

Back to the shutdown. It’s been going on for over 2 weeks. Some people are out of work because of it. Some are stuck working with no pay. Neither of those situations is acceptable to anyone with a soul. The Democrats have come up with plans to reopen the government and fix those situations. Republicans have been in favor of these same plans…but Mitch McConnell, whose love for blind obstructionist tactics is well documented, refuses to let anything happen unless his fuhrer is ok with it. When did Congress stop being about checks and balances and go to being a rubber stamp on whatever the President wants? Trump is about as evil a politician as we’ve ever had but let’s face it, enablers like McConnell are complicit when they refuse to do the jobs they were elected to do…not to block an agenda or to serve an agenda, but to serve the American public to do what’s right for the nation.

Looking ahead to 2019-a resolution re: social media When they go low, we go high…words to live by

Social media can be a wonderful thing…can easily keep in touch with lots of people at once and not just people you personally know. With me, I’ve connected with old friends from before social media, people from tailgating, and a lot of people through my work with the Jills and Bandettes. And that’s just Facebook. I’ve lost track of all the people of celebrity status like actors and actresses and pro athletes that I not only follow but follow me back on Twitter and/or Instagram.

Unfortunately, there’s a negative to social media as well…and I’m not talking about the addiction that some people have to it that keeps them from paying attention to the world around them. While you can easily connect and converse with people you want to, you can also get sucked into connecting and conversing with the dregs of society as well….the bigots and the ignorant hateful people. The last few years, with a career con artist and renowned bigoted moron in the White House, those types of people have come out of the woodwork, no longer hiding in the shadows and under sheets like they used to. Scary thing is, with social media, you find out that you know many of those people...it’s an eye opener to find out that the people you thought were great people have some ugly bigoted skeletons in their closets.

Anyway, I’ve become a lot more politically aware the last few years and have weighed in on social media…unfortunately, many of those dregs like to “weigh in” as well…but since they don’t have facts on their side, they generally just hurl insults. Now, while I’m generally bringing facts to the table, I confess I’ve hurled plenty of insults back in addition.

So for my New Year’s resolution, I’m curbing the insults as much as possible. Some will slip out, I know but I’m going to try to follow the mantra of 2018’s most admired woman, Michelle Obama. “When they go low, we go high.” Instead of hurling insults right back, when I’m tempted to, I’ll simply block them. They’re not worth the time to insult.

For example, over the weekend, I paid a compliment to a friend on a photo she posted on Instagram. Then yesterday, some clown with a private account made some stupid and stalkerish comments towards me after that compliment. Rather than point out his obvious issues, I simply blocked him. People whose only goal on social media is to be scumbags are likely just as bad away from social media and they aren’t exactly getting a heavenly reward when all is said and done.

2018 my year in review

2018 has been a big year with some a couple of major changes for me, both of which I wondered if they’d ever happen.

First, after 22 years, I dropped my Bills season tickets…a decision I didn’t make lightly and has been coming for a few years to be honest. Since 2012, going to games has gotten to be less enjoyable for me each year. In 2006, when my season ticket partner bailed on me halfway through the 1^st game, I started sitting alone. For the 1^st 6 years of that, it wasn’t an issue…between people I knew around me and my work with the Jills, I kept busy. In 2012, it got a little less enjoyable and in 2014, it got even less so.

The tailgating was a different story…it stayed fun a little longer but the last few years, all the effort put in with all the prep work on Saturday, getting there early on Sunday to try to save spots for people that take for granted that you can save spots forever, cooking food that started going to waste, trying to get everything put away so we can get into the game on time, and all the clean up the next day…it started taking its toll. Add into that the increased costs between tickets, parking, and gas as well as all the drive time, it just wasn’t worth it to me to continue more than a few games a season. Maybe one day I’ll get them again…though if the Bills move downtown where tailgating will be compromised, the odds will be against it.

Secondly, I bought a house…it’s nothing spectacular but it’s mine and unlike the way my apartment had started falling apart after my original landlord passed, it’s nice. I still have a lot of work I want to do with it but I’m happy when I get home…and not just because I’m getting home to my boys. Speaking of whom, they have their own room though they don’t spend much time there in the winter…the only heating duct upstairs is in the spare bedroom and they like to sleep on or near that lately lol. Beyond that, it’s so nice being able to take my laundry to the basement instead of a Laundromat and having my own driveway is incredible. When I got home from Erie this past Friday, the car has remained parked instead of having to move it at 10am every day. Hell, today was the 1^st day I even went to the car since Friday! There’s a bunch of stuff I want to do next year with it…get the gutters cleaned and guarded and filling the side yard so I can get it planted being the top ones. Right now, it’s all roots through much of the side yard so I’m figuring if I can get an inch or 2 deep of dirt in there, I can plant grass and make it worthwhile.

2018 movies---the year in review and the year ahead

It started off with Black Panther on Feb 16…outstanding from beginning to end and in all honesty, probably deserves a few Academy Awards

Avengers Infinity War was next up on May 4 and it really lived up to the hype

Solo on May 25 filled in some gaps from before A New Hope and while I thought it was better than The Last Jedi, it didn’t live up to the franchise

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom DID live up to the franchise and I eagerly await the next film in the franchise

Ant-Man and The Wasp built on the success of the 1^st movie very well, I thought…and the tie-in with Infinity War was well done, I thought.

Sharknado 6 wrapped up the series nicely and I’m going to be disappointed not seeing Fin, April, and Nova kicking ass next summer. The scenes with the young Nova, played by Cassie Scerbo’s niece were incredible. I do wish more of the Shepard family had had bigger roles to play in the movie. They could’ve made the movie to fit in a 3-hour block instead of a 2-hour block and it would’ve felt less rushed. Now I just want to find the box set…with deleted scenes…not in a Blu Ray format. So far, I’ve only seen Blu-Ray available and I’m not buying a new machine for 1 set of discs.

Aquaman was the final film I saw in the theater and out of the DCEU films, the only one I would say was better was Wonder Woman and even then, by a small margin…easily blows away Justice League, Man of Steel, and Batman vs Superman. There was a little continuity issue seeing as how this was set after Justice League but it was a great flick, IMO…the cinematography might have even been better than Black Panther’s.

I saw a few others on TV that I passed on in the theaters…Rampage was great…Jumanji surprised me somewhat…lacked the gravitas of the original but The Rock and Kevin Hart together is a great pair…Game Night was funny…Deadpool 2 was funny but far inferior to the original...Blockers was pretty funny--Kathryn Newton is going to be big someday, mark my words

Looking ahead to 2019

March 8 Captain Marvel…I’m not incredibly familiar with the character other than the fact that in the comics, Rogue took her powers before going straight and joining the X-Men but it’s going to be a big movie in the Marvel Universe

April 5 Shazam…this one is kind of iffy…looks more campy and goofy than most superhero films but if it’s tied in with the DCEU, I may have to go see it

April 26 Avengers Endgame…obviously a must-see especially after what happened in Infinity War

June 7 Dark Phoenix…definitely seeing this X-Men movie but am hoping it’s better than Apocolypse. While I enjoyed Apocolypse overall, it had severe flaws…Magneto, Storm, and Psylocke as Horsemen? Hopefully Marvel gets the X-Men back soon and they can do some justice to the characters.

June 14 Men In Black International. No way can Hemsworth and Thompson replace Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but they had great chemistry in Thor Ragnarok and this movie does fit into the MiB continuity

July 5 Spider-Man Far From Home…The 1^st movie in the next phase of Marvel movies. I enjoyed the 1^st one but it definitely had its flaws…still not a fan of Spidey being so close to Stark…he should stand on his own…and Zendaya’s character just doesn’t seem right. Plus, Flash Thompson was never an academic whiz in the comics.

August 2 New Mutants…delayed from 2018 and to be honest, I may end up skipping it. When it was first announced, it looked like an X-Men tie-in but it doesn’t seem to be much of one and it’s more in the horror genre than a superhero film

October 4 Joker…looks to be an origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime…I’ll have to wait for trailers and more info before I look into seeing it

December 20 Star Wars Episode IX…hopefully it’s more like The Force Awakens or Rogue One than like The Last Jedi or Solo. I’m sure some love everything Star Wars no matter what, even Jar Jar Binks, but the original trilogy was a masterpiece and a lot of what’s released since then just doesn’t measure up. Out of the 7 films in the series released since Return Of The Jedi, Rogue One was the best, IMO

There’s a few more I wanna see but nothing that grabs me enough for the theater…The Upside with Kevin Hart, Godzilla King Of The Monsters, Jumanji 2, and Masters Of The Universe

LGBT Pride and homophobia, Roseanne and racism, and Samantha Bee and disgusting comments

I haven’t done one of these in a few weeks because I’ve been so busy trying to get set to move. Now I’m in a holding pattern on that because, despite having a closing date on May 31st and ensuring I had everything prepared on time, the title company is dragging its feet and it’s looking like I’ll have a few more days to wait…which I might be grateful for only because others have waited much longer. That being said, all parties should abide by the terms of the contract.
June is LGBT Pride month and I’m sure there are plenty of homophobes fuming over it…same way racists hate Black History Month. Why do I make that correlation? Because like race and heritage, sexuality isn’t a choice. I’ve known plenty of LGBT people over the years and even had a bisexual man as a roommate once. None of them simply chose it nor could they…it’s feelings, it’s chemical. I’m straight myself…but I never chose to be…I just am because I’m only attracted to women. Some people try to point to the Bible as their reason for being homophobic. Well, besides the fact that the people who wrote and translated and retranslated that book didn’t have the knowledge that we have today, like the proven fact that dinosaurs were around long before man, homophobes are ignoring one main fact. Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. In fact, his overlying message was acceptance and love for all. Sorry, but homophobes don’t seem to have much respect for Jesus Christ. Some will say in response “love the sinner, hate the sin” but how’s it a sin to be how your Creator made you? In all honesty, it’s more than bigoted to be homophobic, it’s kind of conceited as well when it really gets down to it. Too often, people think that if people think a certain way different than them, they have to be wrong or damaged somehow. Personally,  I understand that some people are homosexual or bisexual and I get that it’s chemical and emotional. When it comes to transsexuals though, I don’t understand it. Here’s where I differ from homophobes…I don’t understand transsexuals but I don’t fear what I don’t understand either…homophobes fear what they don’t understand. Also, when it comes to marriage rights, marriage is a legal contract and depriving someone of legal age of the right to enter into a contract is unconstitutional and well, bigoted and reprehensible. Religious groups have a right to not perform the ceremonies but LGBT are and should be legally allowed to enter into a contract of marriage. To want to deny them that right is a show of non-support for the Constitution of the United States.
Roseanne Barr got her show cancelled the other day after making a reference to apes when talking about a woman of color. Personally, I never thought much of her show but it’s sad that a couple hundred people are out of work because of this. There is talk, at least, of bringing back the show without her…a move I applaud. In the 80s, Valerie Harper was written off her self-named show and it was successful for a few years afterwards…it can be done. Regarding Roseanne herself, her ex-husband and others that know her seem to feel she needs psychiatric help and I hope she gets it. She’s obnoxious and inappropriate, but I don’t believe she’s truly racist…though her support of Trump can certainly make her look like she is. I’m not saying that supporting Trump makes a person racist, but it does show that racism doesn’t bother them much at all.
Finally, Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a feckless C U Next Tuesday and the same people defending Roseanne’s racist tweet are vilifying her for it….even though, none, if any of them, vilified draft-dodging coward Ted Nugent for saying the same thing about Hillary Clinton. If one disgusts you and not the other, you’re a hypocrite and aren’t upset about the word being used at all. Both instances disgust me but I will say I’m less upset with Samantha Bee for saying it…not because I think Ivanka deserves it, but because Samantha Bee apologized for it…still waiting on Nugent but he’s not man enough to apologize. Regarding the White House calling for Samantha Bee to be fired, the fact they hosted Nugent in the Oval Office, an affront to those of us weren’t too cowardly to serve our country, makes them hypocritical…as well as criminal…since apparently politicians aren’t permitted to influence private companies into making employment decisions…but we saw last week that Trump doesn’t care about that law.

Sunday thoughts…home buying, liberals vs conservatives, generalizations, and the Bills

I picked out a place and even got a price agreed on. The inspection went well…a few minor issues to address early on and some odds and ends that can be addressed over the course of the next few years. I gotta say the whole process is stressful as hell…and expensive! I knew closing costs would be pricy but they’re exceeding my expectations. Looking at a closing date of May 31 and I’ll have to get a few things bought for it before then…so the savings account is going to dip a few grand.
Politics is no less ugly now than it was during the Presidential campaign two years ago and quite frankly, there’s a lot of fucking idiots out there. Not every conservative voted for Trump nor did every liberal vote against him. Also, not every conservative is against gun control nor is every liberal for it. If we want proof how ugly it’s gotten, look to NRA member Ted Nugent. The draft-dodging pedophile called for the murders of Democrats yesterday. Hopefully, he’ll be locked away one day soon.
Here’s an undeniable fact…you need both liberalism and conservatism to have a productive and positive society…extremism is the real problem, not liberals and not conservatives.
A lot of people like to generalize people who disagree with them….but they’d throw a fit if they got generalized in a similar way. There are young adults and teenagers who have been into this Tide Pod challenge or condom challenge and because of that, people are unwilling to listen to anyone of that age. Their reasoning seems to be that all teenagers and young adults are doing the same thing that a few of them have done. Now, we know the KKK endorsed Trump for President and that the bulk of white supremacists groups still support him…if we can judge all teens because a few have eaten Tide Pods, can’t we also judge all Trump supporters as white supremacists? See how that works? Personally, I know a number of people who support Trump, as insane as it sounds…but there are only a handful that I can think of that could be seen as bigots, let alone white supremacists. I can only think of one who proved himself to be completely racist, and I immediately deleted him from my friend list. The point is, generalizing a large group based on the actions and words of a few is beyond stupid.
The drop-dead date on renewing my Bills seasons is past…my seat is officially released and I know it’s going to be kinda weird not going to the Ralph 10 times a year anymore. 22 years, since Kelly’s final season and Moulds’ 1st, is a long time but between cost, the lower amount of enjoyment I’ve gotten out of it the last few years, it just had to end. To be honest, the last season I really enjoyed was 2011. Add into that the home-buying and the passion isn’t as strong as it used to be. I’m still tuned into what’s happening with the team but my focus hasn’t been as strong on it as it used to be. I like McDermott and the future of the team and I’ll be tuned into every game this fall…but going to all the games…isn’t worth the cost to my wallet and my body anymore. I’ll still try to make a game or two each season though. The 11th game of the season is a target for me this year…Pinto Ron’s 400th.