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.

Sunday thoughts—the Bills, the Bandits and the NLL, and home buying

Trust the Process…that’s the phrase that head coach Sean McDermott got trending in Buffalo last season and it paid off for the most part when we made the playoffs for the 1st time this century. So far this offseason, there have been a flurry of moves, most of which would be silly to question. That being said, I don’t blindly trust anyone or anything. Two moves concerned me when they happened. Our DB corps was totally brand-new last season but performed like a unit that had been together for years…firing the DB coach to bring in someone else seems risky to say the least. Trading away Tyrod was also a risky move but it seems less so now with the addition of AJ McCarron.
I had seasons for 22 years but 2018 won’t see me in Orchard Park more than a few times…the cost being the primary reason…the return on spending about 10% of my take-home isn’t worth it to me. Game days are more work than fun and I’m exhausted for an entire day afterwards. Funny thing is, when I was actually doing work on gamedays, it didn’t feel like work. Since 2012, the gameday experience just hasn’t been as enjoyable to me…and took an even bigger downturn in 2014. The product on the field is a positive…in 2017, it was the best part of the gameday experience…but without the blackout rule, I’m not worried I won’t be able to see the game if I don’t go. I’ll try to make a few games but all ten…not happening.
When I dropped my Bandits seasons 2 years ago, I didn’t lose interest in the team and kept watching games on the NLLTV app last season…but between the terrible job NLLTV did and the realization that the Bandits organization, not a rogue security guard, is the reason I had to drop my seasons, I haven’t watched any this season since the opener.
Another reason I haven’t been paying attention to the Bandits and have distanced myself from talking about the Bills so much is the fact I’m trying to buy a home. Between my landlord not doing much in regards to repairs and the desire to not have to deal with the issues of renting…neighbors who let their dogs unload anywhere and a more controlled, and hopefully smaller, expense, I’ve been focused on that a lot…just a case of getting to see a few homes before someone else snatches them up. I already missed out on one because my last realtor decided to ignore my emails while another realtor sold a house I wanted to see.

Sunday thoughts...affairs, tariffs, North Korea, Parkland, and Tyrod

Trump’s affair with a porn star…shouldn’t be surprising to anyone…though her standards must have been pretty low at the time. The fact that he’s a serial adulterer is well-known…but “conservatives” like to think of themselves as moral. Sorry, but supporting someone like Trump is immoral but that’s not a conservative vs liberal thing. When people make it about political parties or ideologies instead of simply about the people involved, they keep things from improving.

Trump’s tariffs…I honestly don’t have an issue with tariffs being imposed…but to the rates of 25 and 50% are beyond insane. Tariffs should be in the single digits so as to help make it more financially sound to utilize American suppliers but without crippling companies that don’t.

The meeting with North Korea…I’ve always been more for diplomacy than violence. That being said, I don’t know if Trump is the right man for the job. He's not known for his diplomacy.

This week, Wednesday, marks the 1-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting and as such, it’s been chosen as a date for protest to improve gun laws. Some have pointed out that people like Cruz could’ve been stopped had he felt more included among his peers and that students should work to end bullying and make others feel more welcome in social circles. That may very well be true and I’d be surprised if that’s not something that many student groups around the country will address as well. One of Parkland’s most famous alums, actress Cassie Scerbo, is the Vice-President of Boo2Bullying and she plans to visit her alma mater next week. The walkout is far more than just a protest, though…it’s also a way of honoring the victims of the Parkland shooting…which is why it’s to be 17 minutes along.

Trading away Tyrod…I’ve never been convinced he was the answer at QB but outside of the salary cap benefits, it seems risky to have traded him already. Could we get someone a lot better? Definitely…but there are no guarantees. Hopefully this gamble works out but as the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

Saturday Thoughts—celebs and politics

A lot of people seem to like to attack celebrities for expressing political views the last few years and honestly, that’s wrong to do on many levels.
First and foremost, everyone has the same Constitutional rights regardless of celebrity status and to claim that celebs don’t deserve to have the same rights as the rest of us is a slap in the face to those of us who swore oaths, fought, or died to defend the Constitution.
Secondly, it’s hypocritical in many ways.
I’ve seen several claim that the only thing they should speak about is their job…are these people restricted to the same rules? I doubt it since it’s doubtful that they’re being paid to insult celebrities.
If they take issue with celebs making a political statement, do they take the same issue with a celeb having the opposite viewpoint? I doubt it…Alyssa Milano and Don Cheadle are a pair of celebs I follow who get attacked for their views almost non-stop. Alyssa rarely acknowledges the attacks while Don likes to return fire on occasion. I don’t see conservative celebs getting attacked nearly as much, let alone by the same people who attack Milano claiming that celebs shouldn’t share political opinions. You know what that tells me? It’s not that people are upset that celebs share their opinions…it’s that their opinions differ from those of their attackers. That shows weakness of character on the part of the attacker. They’re either too fragile to handle the fact that there are famous people who don’t share their views…or else the celebs speaking up are making the attackers doubt their own views.
The people attacking celebs for expressing political opinions…who did they vote for? The majority seem to have voted for a reality TV star…again…hypocritical and hard to take seriously.
I recall years ago that people were upset that celebs didn’t utilize their fame to make a difference…now they’re trying to and they’re still upset…people just have to complain.

Saturday Thoughts

Yet another mass shooting happened this week and predictably, right-wing extremists are trying to deflect away the blame from where it belongs…gun violence. There are restrictions on fertilizer and you have to take off your shoes for TSA because of murders and attempted murders involving those two things…but people really can’t handle restrictions on guns? Here’s why…the NRA…the most corrupt and dishonest lobbyist group in America. They fill the pockets of hundreds of politicians with the sole goal of selling more guns from the gun manufacturers that fund them, They use those bought politicians as sales people and con the gullible public into thinking that the politicians that won’t take their blood money want to take away their guns…when that’s not even remotely the case. Gun sales soared during the Obama Presidency...because gullible schmucks were conned into thinking he was going to try to take them away.


Now, I’m as pro-2nd Amendment as anyone but many people who love that amendment don’t understand it. Nowhere does it state that there can’t be regulations on gun ownership. People need a vocabulary lesson on the meaning of the word “infringed.” It doesn’t mean regulated or restricted…it means that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be taken away.


There have to be regulations and the ones that are in place are a joke, apparently. The shooter in Florida had red flags aplenty but still passed a background check? Those background checks are clearly not working. The fact that the FBI didn’t do their jobs and investigate and confiscate his gun after he made terroristic threats on the Internet could’ve saved lives but he shouldn’t have had that type of gun in the 1st place. One of those regulations that should be in place that isn’t would be to put people with mental issues on a list that would keep them away from guns like those. Sadly, that is a regulation that was undone by Trump. This isn’t to say this week’s shooting is on Trump…the gun was bought before he undid that restriction and Cruz’s mental issues weren’t covered under the restrictions that had been in place. Instead of undoing those regulations, a responsible President would make them tougher.


People in general aren’t advocating for taking away guns…just ensuring that people who aren’t sane, that are shown to have criminal intentions, shouldn’t be allowed to get them. People like to claim that someone who wants a gun will get it, legally or not…but by that reasoning, why have laws at all? When you remove the legality of something, you make it harder to get…that does deter some people. While that won’t prevent all murders, it WILL save lives. There is no fool-proof way of saving everyone as much as we’d like there to be but if you think that a mentally disturbed individual having a gun is more important than saving the lives of innocent children, you might be mentally disturbed yourself.


Again, this is NOT about taking away guns…if you believe I’m saying anything of the sort, take a remedial reading class. If you believe politicians are trying to take guns away from law-abiding sane citizens, you’re gullible and I have some oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. If you’re against strong background checks, then maybe the police should keep an eye on you.


Regarding the AR-15 and other guns that are commonly called assault weapons, some have said to ban those. Personally, while I think that no normal citizen has ANY need for them, my solution is to make the background checks more thorough than background checks for the basic shotgun or rifle used for hunting or the pistol used for personal home protection. You need a license to drive a car but you can’t use that license to drive a tractor trailer…and a CDL is a lot harder to get than a basic license…same principle.

Saturday Thoughts

Chick Fil-A is coming to Buffalo soon…it’s a controversial restaurant


People say their food is far better than that of other restaurants that serve chicken sandwiches. I had it once and yes, it was very good…but I don’t get the hype. They stay closed on Sundays for religious reasons as dictated by their founder…their choice. Not the best business idea but again, their choice. Their founder has a backwards view on gay marriage and can be categorized as a homophobic bigot. Sexuality is no more a choice than skin color. Maybe it’s even less so if that’s possible…lol…Michael Jackson ring a bell? To be in favor of depriving the legal rights of a person because of something that isn’t a choice isn’t Christian, it’s bigoted. Now, some are against Chick Fil-A because of those views of the founder. Me, while it’s nothing I’d go out of my way for, I don’t think it’s fair to punish employees who may not share those views.


People are lacking some facts where it comes to military pay. Currently, an E-2 makes $21,520.80 per year. I used E-2 as a baseline because when I was in the Air Force, I was only an E-1 for 6 months…while in Basic and in Tech School. Current NYS minimum wage is $10.40/hr, which adds up to $21,632 a year for 40 hour weeks. On the outset, that looks bad…that someone flipping burgers makes more than an E-2 in the military. However, that analysis is completely false and here’s why. In the military, housing and meals are completely covered when you live on base. If you’re making minimum wage in the private sector, you have to pay for meals, rent, and utilities that you don’t have to pay for if you’re in the military. Even if you get off-base housing, you get allowances to help cover housing and food costs. Also, if a military member is deployed into a hostile area, they get combat pay. This all isn’t to say the military is overpaid by any means, but to compare their pay to private citizens without all the facts is ignorant and/or dishonest. Put it this way…a few months before joining the service, I bought a new car with payments of about $270 a month…which I could never afford at my current pay. When I was in the service, I was not only able to afford that car payment, but I was frequently making double payments.

Saturday Thoughts

Regarding ignorance, it’s not a crime or a character flaw to be uneducated about a subject. No one knows everything. However, what does look bad is to comment on something we don’t know much of anything about. I see it happen every day and we all do it, myself included. It happens with virtually every topic imaginable, including history, politics, TV shows and movies, and definitely in regards to cheerleading. Any of us with any experience in the realm of pro cheerleading knows that the biggest aspect isn’t what you see on the sidelines, but with community involvement and the next generation. I started up my website in the summer of 2001 and it wasn’t until I started working closely with the Buffalo Jills in 2005 that I understood that so people not understanding it is to be expected. However, ignorance becomes more severe when one ignores the experts on a topic, whether it be pro cheerleading or science. We can’t eliminate ignorance nor can we expect to always avoid commenting on a topic we’re not educated on. However, we can attempt to get better.


Regarding the State of The Union address this past week, I’ve done a good job on following the advice of my previous paragraph. I didn’t watch more than small snippets of it because Trump is like country music to me…I can only handle listening to his lies in small doses. That being said, what I did see showed his speech to be more of the same that we’ve seen…lies in and about the speech from a pathological liar and con artist….taking credit for things started under Obama and claiming it was the most watched SOTU Speech ever to name a few examples. How people can believe anything he says when he’s a proven liar through and through is beyond me.