Flawed but Fun Holiday Movie

December 14, 2025

 

I was enjoying the absurdity of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in “Oh. What. Fun.” until the part when she neglected to say those four important words: “Help me clean up.” I couldn’t muster up any sympathy for that scene.

 

Other than that, and the scene where her family can’t send one simple text—“On my way to pick you up”—I enjoyed the movie.

 

I guess they don’t make movies about moms who are not doormats and don’t put up with crap; or how could they have the heartwarming ending where people realize what they’re doing wrong?

 

Still, it was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

Watering Down the Law

 

December 14, 2025

 

Archaic law in Illinois and Missouri:

 

Casinos can’t be on land, they’re supposed to be on riverboats—or “water-based”.

 

1. If you’re going to allow casinos, what does it matter where they sit? (Except economically, for the chosen few communities who have water available)
2. The ways of getting around the law are many and varied:

• Put a casino boat in a river in the middle of town (Elgin, IL)
• Have most of the building on land, but have an outcrop over the water (St. Louis, MO)
• Build an artificial lake adjacent to the river, and put the casino on that (MO)
• The latest: Pump river water into a basin below the casino floor (Peoria, IL)

 

It looks like the law is excellent as an exercise in creativity, but not good for much else.

 

 

Maybe Try Some Holy Water

December 13, 2025

 

When you’ve got a leader so irrational that he bombs fishing boats for smuggling drugs, while at the same time pardoning a notorious drug kingpin who was actually in jail, you’ve gotta wonder:

 

What drives him?

 

The corkscrew mind of the incumbent president may be due to dementia, or it may be something else. Perhaps he’s fighting inner demons that make him try to destroy everything good that he sees. (I’m familiar with the type.)

 

Since logic and scathing editorials aren’t working, perhaps we should look elsewhere for our salvation.

 

Anybody know an exorcist?

 

 

 

Does He Think They've Changed Their Minds?

 

December 11, 2025

 

I don’t write about all the outrageous events going on, simply because there are too many of them. (In fact, a couple of months ago I started to write a post about how horrible government deeds are so prolific that we’re getting numbed to them, and how that is a very bad thing; but I was too overwhelmed to write it. Consider this that post.)

 

So I’ll turn to one that the rest of the country is probably unaware of, so it’s not rehashing news you’ve already heard.

 

At President Trump’s behest, his loyal followers in Missouri redrew the congressional districts to favor Republicans. When they got wind of the proposed change, People Not Politician, a political action committee, started collecting signatures for a referendum to put the matter to a vote by the citizens. They got over 300,000 signatures, more than twice the number needed to get the issue on the ballot.

 

Was the Secretary of State impressed by the action? Indeed he was. He was so worried that the issue might come to a vote, and the gerrymander be rejected, that he declared that signatures collected before the governor signed the bill into law would be rejected. So, there go 92,000 signatures. Then he said that since he didn’t approve the form of the referendum for two more weeks, signatures collected before that wouldn’t be counted, either.

 

Probably just as well: Who knows how many people might have changed their minds between September 29 and October 14^th?

 

Maybe somebody can start collecting signatures to kick him out of office.