Author Archives: Sam Ross Jr.

It is inarguable that the Democrats have an overabundance of simpletons and generally questionable types on the national scene.

AOC, Crock Of It, Crying Chuck, Swellballs, OhMar, Tllllllllaib, Pimp Guy, Cackling Kamala, Greasy Hair Guy, Clueless Joe, Barack Hussein and on and on and on.

But, Republicans have their share of disingenuous boobs, too. Obstructionists, rebels without a cause, all of them possessing the intestinal fortitude of craven cowards, these Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) are a stain on the party and not exactly the type of folks you’d want to share a foxhole with, what with their propensity to fold like tents in hurricanes.

I propose a Republican Hall of Shame for these Quislings.

Begin with Rand Paul, once a respected maverick, but now a petty type who will say or do anything for a little more time in the spotlight. He’s become an opportunist who never lets the good of the country get in the way of his fragile ego.

Most recently, Paul, as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, tried to torpedo Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to head homeland security by voting against him.

Paul had a sore butt because Mullin once described him as a snake, which I would say is an insult to the reptiles. Also, Mullin has noted that having seen Paul in action, he understands why a neighbor beat the crap out of him in the past.

Randy Rand saw a chance for revenge against Mullin. Of course, instead of inviting Mullin out into the parking lot to decide things, Paul sought to take advantage of his position on the committee to torpedo Mullin.

Fortunately, Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted for Mullin and he advanced to consideration before the full Senate by a razor-thin 8-7 margin.

In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t vote for Fetterman, but I wish I had. Also, I didn’t vote for Dr. Oz, the carpetbagger that Republicans ran against Fetterman. As I recall, I voted for myself in protest of Republicans failing to provide a viable candidate.

But, Fetterman increasingly is notable as a voice of reason in the Democrat Party and, now that Democrats are out to get rid of him for that grievous offense, I will be voting Fetterman in the future.

While Rand Paul is in the spotlight currently, he is just one of many disappointing Republicans.

Let’s also nominate for the Hall of Shame Thom Tillis (yeah, the pompous guy is a Thomas but won’t settle for Tom). He’s headed out the door after this term and is taking advantage of not running for re-election to be a major obstructionist. If Trump and the administration is for it, Thom is against it. That applies to Federal Reserve matters, the SAVE act, you name it.

Most likely, mouthy Thom realized he’d made a powerful enemy in Trump, who would have endorsed anyone running against him in a primary and old Thom was likely to lose, so he just decided to leave.

You can’t fire me, I quit.

If Thom would just leave, no problem. But, he’s trying to make a mess of things before that, and that speaks to the idiocy of Republicans rebels.

Give Democrats their due, they don’t hamstring Democrat policies. They stick together and when they have a majority, they wield it like a club. Republicans, unfortunately, never get that memo.

Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are distaff Rand Pauls. Type the words “Collins and Murkowski” into the Bing search engine and the first result is a Newsweek story about Democrats relying on the two to block Republican plans.

Like Rand, they just love being in the spotlight, courted for their votes any time a huge issue is on the docket. Often they succeed in throwing sand in the gears. Why don’t they just follow Thom out the door?

Marjorie Taylor Greene has resigned from the House of Representatives, amid a flurry of what could be described as unhinged criticisms, suggesting she’s having some of what Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent have been smoking.

Before we leave, posthumous recognition for the Hall of Shame is deserved for John McCain and Dick Cheney, two egomaniacs who failed to recognize and appreciate how Trump had remade the moribund Republican Party into a national force once again.

Trump’s success wounded these two geriatric types and, in their dotage, they became favorites of the leftist media because they were all too willing to attack Trump anytime someone stuffed a microphone up their noses.

This is quite a Republican Hall of Shame cast we’ve proposed, but admittedly not an all-inclusive one. The Republicans have a deep bench of petty backstabbers.

The pitch was not a strike, the last toss of Sunday night’s World Baseball Classic epic between the United States and the Dominican Republic.

But, the umpire called it a strike, ending the game with a strikeout looking that preserved a 2-1 U.S. victory. The result sends the hosts into the championship game and the losers to the sidelines.

A story on ESPN.com observed that the bad call was an aberration from umpire Cory Blaser, noting he “otherwise called a consistent and strong game behind home plate.”

I’d agree with half of that, he was consistent. Where many Major League umpires have a strike zone roughly the size of a mail slot, Blaser’s zone was consistently the size of a mail truck.

He called pitches out of the zone left and right, up and down, strikes. This helps account for two gifted offensive teams totaling just three runs. The Dominican Republic, by way of background, had averaged 10 runs a game previously.

Give players and management from the Dominican Republic credit for dismissing the gaffe call as just part of the game.

That is correct. When an umpire is calling a large strike zone, you have to take that into account by the ninth inning.

And both teams had chances to score more runs earlier, including each inexplicably failing to push in a tally with runners on second and third, just one out, and prolific hitters Fernando Tatis Jr. for the Dominican Republic and Aaron Judge for the Americans at the plate.

Tatis would have gotten another chance if that pitch been called a ball and resulted in a walk. If.

Ironically, Major League Baseball will have automated ball-strike challenges this year. You can bet the next World Baseball Classic will, too.

There was a strong Pittsburgh feel to this game. Pirates ace Paul Skenes lived up to expectations, allowing just one run in 4 1/3 innings. You wonder what he could accomplish if the Pirates ever gave him a supporting cast.

David Bednar, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning, is a Pittsburgh native who attended Mars High School. He also pitched for the Pirates from 2021-2025.

Mason Miller, who protected that 2-1 lead in then ninth, also is a Pittsburgh native, and attended Bethel Park High school.

Bednar alluded to Pittsburgh grit from Miller and him during a postgame TV interview.

At least Bednar now gets to go back to the New York Yankees and Miller returns to the San Diego Padres, two franchises looking to spend money and compete for titles.

Skenes, unfortunately for him, is stuck with the Pirates.

Hockey fans will recall the Detroit Red Wings and Penguins facing each other in consecutive Stanley Cup Finals (2008 and 2009), with each team winning once.

Fast-forward to 2026 and the fortunes of these once-proud franchises have taken a dive, with both contesting near the bottom of the chase just to make these Cup playoffs.

If those playoff began tomorrow, both would be in the field, which would break a nine-season absence for the Red Wings and a more modest three-year run on the outside for the Penguins.

The prediction site moneypuck.com gives the Penguins a 76 percent chance of making the field, but only 35.8 percent to survive the first round.

The Red Wings are a 63.8 percent pick to make it, and only 27.4 to make it past the first round.

To borrow from the movie “ Dumb and Dumber,” so, you’re telling me there’s a chance.

If I were betting on such a thing, I’d suspect the Penguins will slip in, but the Red Wings will not.

The Penguins currently sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 81 points. The New York Islanders are third with 81 points, but have played one more game, so that’s the tiebreaker for now.

The Red Wings, with 80 points, are in the second wild-card spot, behind Boston, which also has 80 points, but has played one fewer game. Close behind Boston and the Red Wings are the Columbus Blue Jackets with 79 points and the Ottawa Senators with 75. Of note, the Senators have played two fewer games than the Red Wings and one less than each Boston and Columbus.

The Penguins fortunes have been hampered by the injury-related absence of Sidney Crosby, a malady suffered in the Olympics at the hands of serial offender Radko Gudas, who currently is serving a five-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit that ended the season of Toronto’s Auston Matthews.

Speaking of suspensions, the Penguins also have been playing without Evgeni Malkin, who got hit with a five-game penalty for mistaking the head of Rasmus Dahlin for a pinata and hitting it with his stick.

Malkin can return Monday, when the Penguins play at Colorado, generally considered the best team in the league. Crosby initially was expected back sometime this month.

Despite the absences of high-profile players, the Penguins have shown some guts, including rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win Saturday night vs. Utah to get a win. That, and a monster comeback win against Boston last week, have given the Penguins four points that have kept them in a playoff position.

The Red Wings also have some key injuries, including to center Dylan Larkin, who was a member of the U.S. gold medal winning team in Olympic hockey. But, even before losing Larkin, the team has looked to be about to go on another March collapse, for the third straight season.

Detroit led the Atlantic Division as of Jan. 24 and now is almost out of the playoff field. It’s a familiar scene to frustrated Red Wings fans as their team cannot finish out games, even when leading late or playing inferior competition.

The good news Saturday was the Red Wings erased a two-goal deficit in the third period vs. a strong Dallas team, The bad news is the Red Wings found a way to lose in overtime.

Circle March 31 on your calendar. The Red Wings play at Pittsburgh that evening, by which time the Red Wings likely will have played themselves out of playoff position.

The Penguins might need the two points desperately themselves by then as they will be coming off a stretch in which they will have played Colorado and Carolina twice each, as well as one game each with Dallas, Ottawa, the New York Islanders and Winnipeg.

Getting a gift two points could be just what the Penguins need. Think of it as another Red Wings-Penguins game that means something, at least for one side.

Last week, on the same day no less, a guy named Mohamed and another named Mohammad attacked Old Dominion University (Mohamed) and a Jewish center in Michigan (Mohammad), looking to do harm.

The Old Dominion Mohamed, according to numerous reports, barged into an ROTC class, confirmed it was, indeed, ROTC, yelled “Allahu akbar,” and began shooting. He killed the instructor, a decorated military veteran, and wounded at least two others before some class members sent Mohamed to his 72-virgin reward for martyrdom in the cause.

These heroic students reportedly used a knife or knives, what with Old Dominion being a gun-free campus. I guess Mohamed missed the signs prohibiting guns. And I wonder whether the students will be punished for possessing a knife or knives on campus.

A little background on Mohamed: He’s reported to be a former member of the Army National Guard (yes, ours) who pleaded guilty in 2016 to a felony charge of aiding the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Mohamed got out of prison early (in 2024), because, well, no one really knows. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone.

Authorities are said to be “investigating” whether this Old Dominion attack was an act of terrorism.

Move on to Michigan Mohammad, who plowed his truck into the Reform synagogue and preschool, but didn’t manage to harm anyone, other than himself. When security guards began shooting at him, Mohammad is reported to have accelerated the process by shooting himself.

Born in Lebanon, he had come to the U.S. on a visa given to him because he’d married an American citizen. Eventually, he became a citizen, too.

Ah, but there are reports he recently lost two brothers, members of the Hezbollah terrorist group operating in Lebanon. These two siblings were said to be working a rocket unit, dangerous duty with the Israeli Air Force frowning on such and willing to do something about it, like the air strike that took out the brothers.

Michigan Mohammad also is reported to have had a niece and nephew killed in Lebanon fighting.

Hey, but rest assured, he was on our government radar as a potential problem due to his family being Hezbollah and all that. But, the bureaucrats charged with keeping us safe felt Michigan Mohammad was not a member himself and therefore not a threat. Wrong. Again.

If he was willing to ram a truck into a Jewish center and try to kill or injure people, does it really matter if he carries a Hezbollah membership card?

This incident has been called antisemitism, but, again, more investigation is said to be needed before we can throw out the T-word, as in terrorism.

This would be laughable if the subject were not so serious.

Each day I awake hoping to find the world returning to sanity, and each day there is yet more disappointment. The way these stories and investigations have been handled is additional evidence of how entrenched the insanity is, among media, bureaucrats and, to a lesser extent, the general public.

God save us.

I guess I’m supposed to be relieved that Italy beat Mexico Wednesday night in the World Baseball Classic, allowing our over-rated and under-performing United States team to slip into the knockout stage of the event through the back door.

In truth, even though I am quite the baseball fan, this matters little to me. I’ve decided to give only passing attention to this Theater of the Absurd, sporting category, that is the World Baseball Classic.

The whole concept, athletes playing for their country, or home territory, is a farce when it comes to the World Baseball Classic.

I understand this sort of thing was true to a tiny extent in the past Winter Olympics, with two American females, a skater and a skier, competing for China because the grass (as in money) was greener there.

That didn’t bother me so much because I was there almost entirely for the men’s hockey, and that USA gold medal winning team had all domestic talent on the roster.

I’m pretty sure every player could speak English, knew the words to our National Anthem, pays taxes to the IRS and needn’t fear if ICE officers were in the neighborhood.

The, shall we say, loose rules the World Baseball Classic has in determining eligibility to play for a given team came to my attention when Lars Nootbaar played for Japan in 2023.

I doubt you’d find many Nootbaars in a Tokyo telephone directory. Research at the time indicated Nootbaar was born in California, to a Dutch father and Japanese mother. Choosing to play for Japan, instead of the Dutch team, just might have had something to do with Japan standing a better chance of winning, which is exactly what happened.

Fast-forward to this spring’s World Baseball Classic and, even though I was paying little attention, I was stunned when I caught part of one game looking for a college basketball contest and saw a Puerto Rico game in which Nolan Arenado was playing for Puerto Rico.

That’s Nolan Arenado, born in California, who played for the United States teams in this event twice previously – 2017 and 2023.

How did this happen? Reports online note his mother is of “Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.” Was that different in previous years? No.

But, according to no less a source than Arenado, as quoted by USA Today, “I wanted to play for the USA again, but I didn’t get the call.”

Puerto Rico did call and, due to those ridiculously loose eligibility rules, Arenado is playing for the island team.

Pitching in that game at the time was Seth Lugo, born in Shreveport, Louisiana, but who could opt to play for Puerto Rico because a grandfather was Puerto Rican.

Fittingly for the purposes of this blog post, the sensation of this World Baseball Classic has been Italy, which stunned the United States 8-6 in pool play. There have been reports since that the American manager incorrectly thought his team already had advanced to knockout play before that game, therefore watered down the lineup, and also that a lot of players partied well into the night leading up to the game.

That setback meant the United States needed Italy to beat Mexico Wednesday evening for the U.S. to advance and it happened, by a wide 9-1 margin.

The announcers were giddy, talking about what a great day it was for baseball in Italy. Not exactly.

Italy’s starting pitcher vs. Mexico was Aaron Nola, who threw five scoreless innings and just happens to have been born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ah, but his GREAT grandparents on his father’s side emigrated from Sicily and in the WBC, that’s good enough (abbastanza buono).

Nola is one of nine pitchers on the Italy roster born in the United States. That means only six pitchers from that group actually were born in the country they represent in this event.

The best split is among the two catchers on the Italy roster, one from the U.S. and one from Italy.

Of the 13 position players, 11 are Americans. There also is one Venezuelan and one Canadian, meaning the Italy roster has ZERO position players who were born in Italy.

A fitting coda to this Italy-Mexico game was the final out for Mexico was hit into by Randy Arozarena, a Cuban-born player who defected to Mexico in 2015 and got around to becoming a citizen in 2022, in part to play in events such as these. I guess he didn’t have any distant relatives from Mexico.

That, my friends, is the World Baseball Classic in a nutshell. Spare me all the talk of national pride.

In the spirit of our times, when online prediction sites allow people to bet on almost anything (but not necessarily be paid off when they are correct) I hear that area types are wagering over which happens first, a house along Bedford Street in Dale Borough collapses, or the Inclined Plane resumes operation.

Inspired by such things, I did some multi-tasking last week while giving my brother a ride to a doctor’s appointment, taking him on a tour of our area lowlights, and there are many.

Picking him up downtown, I noted the Inclined Plane continues in a period of suspended (pun intended) animation.

Just today, I checked for an update on inclinedplane.org to see where we stand. If I am reading a timeline on the site correctly, work is done or coming close to that, and then we will be beginning a period of various testing and training that is estimated will take 150 days, that being arrived at in two 30-day segments and one 90-day chunk for said procedures.

A note on the timeline pointed out these estimates are subject to change. Color me shocked. Wasn’t this supposed to be done maybe a year ago?

So, it seems the best-case scenario is about 150 days, give or take, from here, which should carry us well into August.

After picking up my brother, we swung up Main Street to check on the progress of Central Park. It’s now a massive mud pit.

Although the numbers regarding cost change frequently, area elites are spending about $7 million to give the hoi polloi something we didn’t really want. They’ve taken what used to be a tiny sylvan setting in the center of our declining downtown and are, supposedly, in the process of turning it into yet another paved expanse.

Why are they doing this? There was grant money available to be garnered and dispensed among friends of the elites.

Denuding the area of grass and mature trees is a problem for which there is no short-term solution, at least regarding the trees. As I pointed out to my granddaughters, who currently are 7 and 8 years of age, respectively, by the time they are as old as I am (70) they might again have trees to sit under in the park.

It was onward from Central Park to Dale, where the collapsing house was found to have sagging roof line resembling the spine of a swayback horse.

The house having survived winter snows, so far, is a point in its favor. But, I wouldn’t want to be living in it currently.

From there we took a tour of various points of interest in Walnut Grove and Oakland, looking at houses we formerly lived in, or spots where such houses once stood, but no longer exist.

A bonus was trips past sites of many former schools we once attended but, again, no longer exist.

The dessert was a drive-by of a Lorain Borough house formerly occupied by our late mother.

By the end of the tour, we both were suffering a bit of ennui regarding it all. For rational types, living in this area is a daily dose of frustration and sadness.

Among the absurdities of our times, ranging from rampant fraud that is enabled and encouraged by the political left, to absolute failure in some locations (New York City, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Boston, etc.) to enforce existing laws, we have our ongoing commercial driver’s license embarrassment.

Simply put, individuals unable to read and sometimes even to speak English, are being sent out on the roadways at great peril to the other drivers, having somehow received a commercial driver’s license. Nary a day passes, it seems, without a report of an unqualified CDL holder killing innocents by driving recklessly, or videos being posted on social media of such errant drivers doing ridiculous things such as driving the wrong way on divided highways or attempting to navigate residential streets with their rigs.

It was with a sense of amazement that I heard a huge percentage of CDL licenses issued by – who else? – California, had no name on said license.

My state of Pennsylvania apparently has gotten in on the action, minting CDL holders without regard to qualification, as long as one is a member of a protected minority class.

It seems the political embarrassment has gotten to be too much for Gov. Josh Shapiro, who aspires to higher office. Log on to pa.gov, search for CDL information, and you are greeted by a yellow box headlined “Changes to non-domiciled CDL product issuance.”

The paragraph that follows blames the Feds for rules dating to the past September that prohibit handing out CDLs like Crackerjack prizes to anyone wearing a turban or otherwise possessing necessary insulation from being subject to both common sense and the law.

For some time this CDL scandal has amazed me, a former holder of a Pennsylvania Class B CDL. I have no experience with procedures of other states, but I can testify from firsthand knowledge the CDL process in Pennsylvania I experienced about 16 years ago was vastly different.

To begin with, there is no way in hell a person could have passed the necessary tests, particularly those administered on computer terminals, without being able to read English. Passing the actual driving portion would have been similarly challenging.

The man who gave me my on-road test would ask me about signs, which would have been tough to read were I not literate in English.

Back to those computer tests, I seem to recall I had to take five on the day I obtained my license. There was a general knowledge CDL test, along with separate tests to receive endorsements to operate a school bus, passenger bus, and display knowledge of air brakes and handling hazardous materials.

The workers at the Walter’s Avenue PennDOT center laughed at me when I said I’d be taking all five tests and reminded me they left for the day in four or five hours.

I took all the tests, in what I recall was 45 minutes, and passed easily. Then I took the driving test and I was certified.

Again, based on my experience, there is absolutely no way – ZERO CHANCE – someone unable to read English could have passed these tests.

And yet, Pennsylvania has been certifying such types as CDL worthy for years – until the federal government under President Trump re-injected sanity into the process just last September.

Rest assured, this institutional bastardization of the laws, enabled by left-wing politicians and their entrenched bureaucracy, is yet more evidence of a cancer too long ignored that Trump is attempting to cut out of the system.

Is it really that much of a reach to think a Democrat party eager to aid and abet such lawbreaking, as well as immigration tomfoolery and other manner of fraud, would draw the line at manipulating elections?

The aptly named SAVE Act is perhaps the last chance to stop future Democrat election steals by requiring voter ID and limiting the absurdity that mail-in voting has become. Republicans, as usual, are asleep at the switch.

A daily escapism for me is to indulge in some old television shows, from an era when political correctness and Woke ideology would have been considered a form of insanity. I find it relaxing in a nostalgic sort of way.

Back then, the casts were not required to “look like America,” nor were they mandated to have a dozen or so non-binary types featured prominently, or to have plots “ripped from the headlines.”

Against that backdrop, a half-hour comedy called The Andy Griffith Show, set in the fictional hamlet of Mayberry, N.C., could enjoy a run of eight seasons and 249 episodes on CBS.

Ironically, star Andy Griffith (Sheriff Taylor) and his TV son Opie (Ron Howard) have since gone very public as two prominent members of the leftist Hollywood crowd. But, watching the show, we’d never have known about the politics. Their politics (admittedly Opie probably had none then; too young) weren’t shoved in our faces as part of the experience.

Just the other day I was covering this ground in a call with my cousin, singing the praises of the separation of politics and entertainment we once enjoyed.

Alas, while watching an Andy Griffith Show rerun Monday night, I was reminded that even back in 1961, when the episode in question aired, they were manipulating the message.

The plot of this show had Opie being bullied daily on his walk to school, surrendering his 5 cents in milk money. Man, I actually remember when we paid 5 cents a day at school for a half-pint carton of milk.

In fact, one of the neighborhood rumors in my former haunt of Oakland, was how a juvenile delinquent “allegedly” burned down the school, either intentionally or intentionally, while trying to rob said milk money after hours.

Back to the TV show, Opie compensated for the bullying by getting an extra five cents from Aunt Bee, or Deputy Barney Fife, so he didn’t have to choke down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without a drink. The bully suggested he drink water, but Opie parroted Aunt Bee in noting he needed the milk to make his bones strong.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that growing up, well, I could have bought a lot more milk.

Eventually, Sheriff Taylor got wind of the extortion and, while fishing, maneuvered Opie into standing up for himself without directly confronting him or addressing this situation.

Sheriff Taylor told Opie he recalled when he was in school how a bully tried to steal his favorite fishing spot. But, the Sheriff added, he also recalled having learned a lesson in school about someone in the early days of the country saying “millions for charity, but not one cent for tribute.” Translation: Don’t pay off bullies.

At this point, I was screaming from the comfort of my chair. The quote had been altered, likely intentionally.

The actual quote is “Millions for DEFENSE, but not one cent for tribute.”

It expressed an impassioned position of the upstart United States not to pay protection money to foreign governments or freelancers such as the Barbary Pirates.

I called the cousin to share this and point out it was likely unpalatable to someone in the operation, perhaps even Griffith himself, to pay homage to defense, and thus the word “charity” was substituted.

So, even then they were massaging the message. But, at least they were subtle, a far cry from the didactic and pedantic messaging of the moment.

For that I am grateful and so am willing to overlook this small example of such indoctrination from 65 years back, but not without first duly noting it here.

The Panicans are back, in full-throated doomsaying.

Have you heard, America is losing this military confrontation with Iran? That’s what the Panicans are selling and, a pathetic number of simpletons among the public and in the LameStream media are buying it, or simply feigning belief for political reasons.

Never mind that Iran missile and drone retribution attacks have dwindled about 90 percent in less than a week.

Never mind that anyone near the top of the Iranian pyramid of political power has been transported to the afterlife.

Never mind that Iranian expatriates around the world are celebrating in the streets and dancing a la President Trump to the YMCA song.

Never mind that Iran’s Arab neighbors are not reacting well to the flailing missile and drone incursions from Iran into their territory, presumably in search of Americans serving in those locales.

I mean this thing’s been going on about a week now. Another endless war!

Again, we’re losing! Can’t win! Hopeless cause! Drastic mistake!

I remember the pathetic Baghdad Bob from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi mouthpiece who insisted all American soldiers would die (they didn’t) and was denying any U.S. progress even as our troops were taking Baghdad outside Bob’s broadcast point.

We laughed at Baghdad Bob as a clueless buffoon, but he’s getting the last laugh. He has many, many domestic imitators these days, equally detached from reality.

The Panicans are afoot in financial media, too. The same discredited fools who said President Trump’s tariffs would send the world into full-blown financial panic and economic depression, that he would, “stop the motor of the world,” to borrow from the line of character John Gold in the book “Atlas Shrugged,” are back

It didn’t happen. It didn’t come close to happening.

These same purveyors of doom porn, far from being humbled, have shifted their focus to the Iran conflict which — see if this sounds familiar – they insist will result in full-blown financial panic, economic depression and World War III. I think some had World War III in their tariff doom, too.

Admittedly, crude oil prices are up big, and predatory providers of gasoline have rushed to raise pump prices immediately, despite, as we noted here the other day, the trip from being oil to gasoline is about a month-long process. So, the gasoline you are paying more for now, cost the provider a whole lot less.

Beyond that, stock and bond markets supposedly have been as bombed out as Tehran. But, if you check the major stock averages, they were down about 2, 3 or 4 percent this week, depending on which you index pick.

Interest rates rose, but not as much as the Panicans imply. The yield on a 10-year treasury bond is 4.138 percent. It was a bit below 4 percent in November 2025. A 30-year fixed mortgage has an interest rate of 6.17 percent today, up from 6.03 a week ago.

Crash? Collapse? Skyrocketing rates?

I don’t think so.

Dare I suggest this is being fueled by yet more Trump Derangement Syndrome?

The media, the Panicans, they can urinate on your head and tell you it’s raining. But, you don’t have to believe them.

When the news flow is huge and time is short, our response is an installment of news and views.

NEWS: Jasmine Crock Of It lost the Texas Democrat primary for U.S. Senate Tuesday and was sent to the kids table to wait out the likely end of her political career on a national basis.

VIEWS: Crock Of It’s response was to scream voter suppression because, she alleges, her confused voter base needed more time to cast their ballots once they figured out where they should vote. Imagine, an election denier in a DEMOCRAT primary. And, if you’re keeping score, Cackling Kamala came up a loser again as a strong supporter of Crock Of It.

NEWS: Crock Of It lost to James Talarico, who’s been described as a straight Pete Buttigieg.

VIEWS: Democrat establishment types desperately wanted Talarico, presuming he is more electable in a general election than Crock Of It. As the undertaker said, remains to be seen. Talarico is a cocktail of contradiction, citing his Christian faith while pushing universal healthcare, gender-affirming care for children, the gay agenda and a southern border as a front porch with a “giant welcome mat.” There’s more, but you get the picture. If Talarico can win the Texas Senate seat against any credible Republican opposition, it’s time to turn out the lights.

NEWS: According to a poll put out by CBS News, President Trump is on the clock in terms of approval of his actions vs. Iran. If he gets it done in days/weeks, his approval is plus-52 (76-24). But, if that lingers to months (plural) that falls to negative-8 (46-54).

VIEWS: This American lack of patience is nothing new. I recall (and looked it up to test my recollection) that way back in 1982, when the United States was involved in Strategic Arms Reduction Talks with the Soviet Union there was no instant success. Negotiator Edward Rowny noted that Russians play chess and were “deliberate.” On the other hand, he continued, “We in the West like to play (instant-reaction) Pac-Man.” These days, Rowny might cite our social media addiction to reinforce that point.

NEWS: The Iran action has sent crude oil prices rocketing upward and with that, gasoline prices.

VIEWS: Gasoline prices increased almost immediately at outlets near me. This, despite the fact that, depending on various factors, the average time it takes for a barrel of oil to be turned into gallons of gasoline is about a month. We should be paying higher prices in a month, not now. A television report I heard while typing this indicated we might be looking at 30 or 40 more cents in increases per gallon. There is even a rocket and feathers analogy to explain this: Gasoline prices rocket up when oil prices increase, but fall softly like feathers when oil prices plunge. Simply put, it’s price gouging, sort of like the way precious metals dealers always charge a substantial premium above spot price when you buy, but were undercutting that spot price by huge amounts with their offers when you tried to sell to them during the all-time high price spikes of gold and silver in January.

NEWS: A native of Senegal, who reportedly became an American citizen in 2013, committed a mass shooting in Houston early Sunday that killed three and injured 13.

VIEWS: Likely you have seen pictures of the deceased shooter, with his Property of Allah hoodie and T-shirt underneath that seemed to bear the image of an Iranian flag. A search of the shooter’s home is said to have discovered Iran flags and pictures of Iran leaders. Yet, the FBI can’t say this is terrorism and is looking into that possibility.

NEWS: Looking to head off possible terrorism, officials ask citizens who see strange activity or behavior to “say something.”

VIEWS: I ask, to whom should we say something, and will any actions be taken if we do say something? Too many of these criminals have been brought to the attention of authorities beforehand and nothing happens. Even if there are arrests, think of how many criminal acts in general are committed by people with lengthy arrest records and pathetically short periods of incarceration. If I say something, then do something.

NEWS: The New York Post reports that tampons in the men’s room at Netflix helped torpedo that firm’s attempt to take over Warner Bros. Discovery.

VIEWS: Netflix, with the reputation of using its streaming platform to further far-left agendas, was trying to convince legislators and regulators it was really mainstream, despite all the evidence to the contrary. However, when a Republican legislator who was part of a delegation visiting the Netflix headquarters found a basket of tampons in the men’s bathroom, that spoke volumes. Netflix officially pulled out (pun intended) citing not wanting to get into a bidding war with another would-be acquirer. However, the takeover would have required approval from regulators and perhaps Congress, which likely would not have been forthcoming following the tampon disclosure. First, I didn’t know Tim Walz was a Netflix executive. Also, can this be described as an attempted streaming buy sidelined by a streaming story?