Let us talk about control. Individuals, elites, businesses, governmental agencies and governments themselves all like to feel that they are in control.

Sometimes they are. Often, eventually, they are not.

It was both fitting at the time – the mid-1960s – and prescient anticipating our present day circumstances, that the spy spoof TV series “Get Smart” had the hero agent working for CONTROL. It was a fictional counterintelligence agency that seldom, either with agent Maxwell Smart, or in total, was in control of the situations. It was ironically funny.

Loss of control these days shows in various ways, from the individual shuffling after his truck being taken away on a flatbed, pleading for a halt in a true Shane! Come back! moment, to headlines that greet us daily.

The elites of our Federal Reserve Board of Governors believe they are in control of the bond market with their machinations. The runaway rise in interest yields Wednesday and Thursday, despite the Fed types holding their fed funds rate constant in a Wednesday afternoon announcement, says otherwise.

People who earn their living specializing in following bonds are amazed at the volatility in what used to be a sedate, measured investment arena.

This inability to control the rise of interest rates is coming from the same people who thought just over a year back that they could control inflation. “Transitory” they called it then. The huge rise last year in prices and the continuation in 2023, albeit at a milder level, speaks to anything but control.

Our war hawks think they can control the situation in Ukraine, as they feed hush money to Zelenskyy. But NATO allies are growing tired and our coffers are growing low on reserves, leaving the Napoleonic Zelenskyy (a height and ambition reference) shaking a begging bowl short on fresh alms.

Someday, in the not-too-distant future, these hawks might awaken to a reality that control of our proxy has been lost and the Russians have been dealt provocation sufficient to unleash nuclear weapons.

Those in positions of power in left-wing cities think they are in control of their fates. They believe they can pander to illegal immigrants with promises of being sanctuary cities, but recoil in horror when those illegals take them up on their offer and they find their city resources unable, or unwilling, to meet the challenge.

Our government and many families think they can spend well beyond their means indefinitely, without consequence, either by running ever-increasing budget deficits, or by maxing out credit cards.

The government declares “crises” in order to divert attention and maintain control. Pandemics are created or imagined. Social media, with its typically leftist ownership and staffing, is utilized to censor dissent.

Lapdog news media outlets are co-opted to maintain the official narrative, no matter how it might conflict with the facts.

But what happens when the desired control is lost, both economically and politically?

Those fluent in Johnstown history can appreciate the metaphor of strained dams finally succumbing to the inevitable, with devastation to follow.

When control is lost, when the dams burst, damage is immediate and indiscriminate.

Likely those who would seek to control already are aware of that eventuality. You would do well to consider it, too.

The trailer fairies seem to have visited Dahlia Street very early Wednesday, before most were up and about.

It would seem these imps absconded with a trailer, one of many formerly moored on the street as an in-your-face protest of those who would depend on the rule of law being enforced, not to mention believing generally in good citizenship.

As a grandfather to three young girls, and being married to a woman who has “fairy gardens” of various figurines displayed during the good weather months for the girls’ amusement, not to mention entertaining them on sleepover nights with fairy stories, I am well-acquainted with the fairy world.

True, there are bad fairies. But mostly, there are good fairies, who seek to do helpful things for others. This is why I suspect fairies in the removal of the eyesore trailer. They helped a lot of people with their pixieish act.

It almost made me eager for another nightfall, that the fairies might do more good.

Imagine my surprise when, during the course of returning from a combination prescription pickup and pleasure drive, I saw strange activity on Dahlia Street Wednesday evening.

It was maybe 7:10 p.m. I’d been downtown and had heard firsthand the City Hall clock striking 7, then had come almost directly home.

It was a period of dusk, which the dictionary defines as the darker stage of twilight. Speaking of twilight, this was stuff fit for the classic Twilight Zone television series.

There was a figure evident in the gloaming, looking more like the bridge troll from the fable of Three Billy Goats Gruff. Said personage was fiddling with . . . a trailer . . . appearing to lash it to the back end of a tow vehicle.

I’d happened onto the equivalent of a Bigfoot sighting and, in the excitement of the moment, didn’t think to pull out my smart phone to snap a quick photo as evidence. I guess you will just have to take my word for it.

As I slowly continued along the street, the figure got into the tow vehicle and drove off. I followed cautiously to the end of the block and made a right turn to head to my garage.

Imagine this! The tow vehicle and trailer turned into the alley ahead of me.

Now the Mustang I was driving seemed to hesitate for a moment. Perhaps the machine was recalling the trauma of recently almost having been backed into on the very same alley, by a similar looking vehicle.

But the troll/fairy/elf/imp/sprite at the wheel of the tow vehicle continued driving with his freshly claimed trailer.

Me? I stabled the Mustang and went inside to share – with appropriate excitement — what I had seen.

And I can’t wait to see what visions Thursday will provide.

Last week, Answer Man tried to talk Steelers fans down off the bridges in the wake of the one-sided thumping by the San Francisco 49ers.

A week later, things look a little brighter and Answer Man is feeling the flush of accurate prognostication.

The original thought was based in part on the reality that the Steelers are the NFL’s Rasputin. You need to shoot them, poison them, drown them and hang them before they are vanquished. Also, the Steelers still could and should win 9 or 10 games due to the pathetically easy schedule, coupled with the fact that the division rivals can’t seem to sweep the Steelers.

If you watched Cleveland choke Monday night, and lose star running back Nick Chubb for the season in the process, you got a little preview of how AFC North opposition seems to tremble at the mere sight of the three hypocycloids (stylized red, blue and gold stars) in the Steelers’ logo.

Already Cincinnati is 0-2, with star quarterback Joe Burrow limping due to a lingering calf injury.

Baltimore is 2-0, but the Ravens still have the wildly inconsistent Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Even as the announcers were praising Jackson during a Sunday telecast, he made one of his characteristic poor reads on a passing play, narrowly avoiding an interception.

Then, an apparent strip sack of Jackson and subsequent Cincinnati recovery was wiped out by a questionable penalty against the Bengals

Shifting narratives on a dime, the telecast then showed a montage of Jackson fumbles from the previous week.

Jackson will make mistakes at critical junctures. Count on it.

Yes, the Steelers can’t expect to score two defensive touchdowns a game, as they did vs. Cleveland. And there will come a time when Kenny Pickett won’t be able to count on the opposing quarterback out-stinking him.

But the Steelers also have what should be easy wins vs. the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans coming up, so they should be 3-1 heading into an Oct. 8 home game vs. Baltimore.

Now Answer Man reaches into his metaphorical mailbag, the one he stuffs with questions of his own making.

Q: What did you think of former Yankees star pitcher David Wells showing up for an oldtimers day event, taping over the Nike logo on the jersey and generally blasting the Woke movement that has invaded sports? Sign me, Auntie Antifa from Bitter End, Tennessee.

A: Auntie (Anti?), it did my heart proud to read what Wells did, then to see him double down on it all during a Tuesday morning appearance on a cable television business show. I just wish he had more current athletes standing up to the politicization of sports.

Q: Are you buying more optimistic talk from the Pirates’ front office about the future? Sign me, I.M. Doubtful from Nothing, Arizona.

A: Hey, Doubtful, it’s been wait until next year almost annually since I was a young man. This year the slogan seems to be at least we’re not as bad as Oakland and Kansas City. The Pirates could be better next year, but you seldom go wrong betting on the organization to find a way to screw up things.

Q: When are big-time college sports going to cut the student-athlete crap and admit to being the semi-pro operations that they are? Sign me, Nomar Hypocrisy from Embarrass, Wisconsin.

A: Nomar, if someone can keep a straight face regarding the Colorado football program, with 86 new players on its roster this year, then there is no hope for truthful discussion. This sort of thing, and the free-agency of the transfer portal, has turned college football into an outright NFL minor league. College men’s basketball is no better, being largely an NBA farm system. Don’t forget these “amateur” student-athletes making money from merchandising their names, images and likenesses. Sure, those performing in most women’s sports, as well as men’s minor sports such as fencing and wrestling, tend to be traditional student-athletes. But as far as the high-profile college sports, to quote from the Great Biden, “Come on, man!”

The debate raged during my youth whether you starved a cold and fed a fever, or the other way around.

In reality, it is best to supply ample nutrition and hydration for both ailments.

When it comes to curing an attention whore, there is no debate. Just starve him or her. That is, deny them the attention they so desperately crave to make palatable their otherwise shallow existence.

Along that line, I went to the Monday meeting of Southmont Borough Council looking to blend into the background. No sense giving any added attention to those craving same. I would not avail myself of the five-minute window council provides to interested spectators to make a statement on items under consideration.

But, after watching the customary blend of profane bullying alternating with playing the victim card, I felt compelled to join into the discourse. Borrowing a page from the usual antagonists, and with the customary pre-meeting signup sheet seemingly having been dispensed with, I maneuvered myself into the final speaking slot.

I highlighted outright conflicts in what I had heard by some earlier speakers, dispensed a personal experience or two, and sat down.

Back home, in the calm of night with others asleep, it’s time to embark on dishing out the starvation diet. The blog entry will attempt to avoid totally providing specific attention to the addicts.

Blog metrics reveal quite a few checks of the home page already in recent hours, without actually viewing a post. Perhaps anticipating this offering as an attention snack?

Sorry. No soup for you.

The meeting began with a rare moment of agreement as all seemed to participate in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

This was a curious meeting, with some members phoning in, and being delayed in voting because of the communications lag, or commenting late, thereby providing some light diversion.

There was a lot of back and forth on semantics regarding an ordinance, such as what exactly is a large truck.

In a bit of unintentional amusement, there was an attempt by antagonists to portray themselves as people of peace and love.

Mostly, the big news was the passing of an ordinance designed to quell parking abuse as a sort of vendetta for some lost court cases regarding claims to ownership of a paper alley.

Whether or not this will resolve the issue and return the neighborhood to a more tranquil existence remains to be seen.

What is clear is that residents aggrieved by outrageous actions went through the system to address their concerns and perhaps received some redress.

The borough solicitor, after the official meeting had ended, advised those in attendance to do something similar in urging our district attorney to take an interest in addressing ongoing disruptions of the meetings in a bastardization of free speech.

I wrote my email to the DA before compiling this post. Hopefully, he will follow the path of Southmont Council and get on the right page, eventually.

To have lived decades in Greater Johnstown is to have experienced the steady drip of losses year after year after year.

In no particular order, during my lifetime I’ve seen us lose our steelmaking industry, a host of supporting companies, most of our underground coal mining, our low crime rate, a large amount of our population, many of our formerly desirable residential areas, downtown department stores, hilltop malls, local ownership of media outlets, functioning infrastructure and even success at the once-proud Johnstown High School football program.

Of late, we’ve gotten word of another impending loss, that being the Thunder in the Valley motorcycle event that likely won’t be back next summer. I’ve written of this before, but felt compelled to write again because the local newspaper was out with yet another tale regarding Thunder in its most recent weekend edition.

Curiously, the story led with the assertion that putting a “precise” economic value on what losing the event would cost “is not possible.” I’ve been saying that for years, but from the standpoint that the impact is overestimated in keeping with promoting the all-tourism-all-the-time mantra we hear constantly being pitched as our economic salvation.

The thing that stuck out in my mind is that I seem to recall vividly the $20 million number being offered a lot in regard to Thunder.

As an aside, I pride myself on my memory, although a flood of TV advertising suggests someone my age (68) needs chemical aid to recall what they had for yesterday’s dinner.

In a self-performed memory test, just last week I called a former Tribune-Democrat colleague, Mike Mastovich, who is the hockey history guru of Johnstown.

I was recalling the days when we had a very good minor league team, the Jets, and they played a Czech national team. I wanted Mike to confirm my recollection that it was in the late 1960s, possibly 1968, and the Czechs had won, 8-4. He checked this in one of his books. Bingo. Bingo. Bingo.

Further research by me revealed that earlier in 1968 the Czechs had won silver medals at the Winter Olympics, behind the Soviet Union team and ahead of the Canadian team.

The Jets eventually became another another Johnstown loss decades back, to be replaced by the Chiefs and now the current Tomahawks, who will end up leaving some day, too.

Back to Thunder: A quick internet search confirmed my $20 million recollections to be accurate.

I found entries on the WJAC-TV web site for 6/27/17 ($20 million) and for 6/28/21 ($20 million).

There also was a 5/23/20 posting on the Tribune-Democrat’s web site, under the byline of the very same guy who wrote the Saturday 9/16/23 piece. That 2020 story, lamenting the COVID forced cancellation of Thunder, cited an “estimated $15 million to $20 million annually” pumped into the region by the event.

There was no citation for the source of this estimate. But I’m wondering how just a few years later the best the story could do was an estimate of “millions of dollars” with the disclaimer that exact numbers are impossible to determine?

Why not recycle the oft-used $20 million estimate?

Allow me to leave you with a story, perhaps apocryphal, that I’ve seen attributed to the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

As the story goes, Churchill inquired of a woman at a dinner whether she would sleep with him for a million pounds (back when British pounds were worth much more than U.S. dollars). She would.

Churchill was then said to have asked, “What about five pounds?” to which the indignant woman replied words to the effect of, What sort of woman do you think I am?

Replied Churchill: We’ve already established that. We’re just haggling about price.

A long time ago — as I recall it was during a dinner having to do with a forthcoming boxing program at the War Memorial Arena — I was having a debate with a sports guy from a local TV station about journalism.

He was being his usual pompous self, indulging in orgy of self-promotion. I pointed out he actually was in show business, not journalism. Oh, he sniffed, and what do you mean by that? was basically his comeback.

Said I: “Because before I sit down at the keyboard to write, I don’t feel the need to slap on a wig and makeup.”

So it was often in discourse between print guys and TV types, the latter ones being those whom a print colleague used to dismiss as the “blow-dry boys.”

Understand, there were and are some very good TV journalists. But there were and are more superficial types on the TV screen.

Did you ever wonder why most whom you see on TV news or sports, particularly at the network level, are above average in terms of physical attractiveness? Are they truly the best journalists, or simply the best looking?

How about those sideline babes during sports broadcasts? I can think of only one prominent example who is not extremely attractive physically.

On the other hand, your average newspaper type (and I include myself in this category as a retired example) tends to be below-average in the looks department.

I tell you all this because my thoughts are on journalism today, for reasons both local and national.

First, the local. I tuned in a noon news broadcast Wednesday so my wife might see the weather, which for some reason she considers worth the effort. I tell her to dial up accuweather.com or weather.com on a computer or her smart phone at any time and she will get what she needs without having to sit through tedious reports on the latest about Centre County, Altoona, Clearfield or DuBois – this from a station whose main building sits in Upper Yoder Township less than two miles from my house.

On this day, the local anchor was relaying the arrest of the escaped murderer in Eastern Pennsylvania, an illegal immigrant by the way.

The video showed a Pennsylvania State Police spokesman, a Lt. Col. George Bivens. I’m thinking since it’s a rank before his name, he’d be a Lieutenant Colonel.

But the gifted journalist reading the script referred to him as a “Lieutenant Colonial.”

Call the Peabody Award people and don’t forget the Emmys.

Even as this fresh take on ranks was being shared, word nationally was that the White House Legal Counsel’s Office, an arm of the Biden Regime, had put out a warning to media covering the Impeachment inquiry regarding Biden.

Since the nation’s justice department, along with select state justice operations in deeply blue cities, have been weaponized to Get Trump!, the letter had all the earmarks of a this-could-happen-to-you communique.

Think of the scene in the movie “The Godfather” when the severed head of an enemy’s prize horse was left in said enemy’s bed. He got the you-could-be-next message as judged by his hysterical screaming.

It speaks volumes, considering the typical lapdog approach of LameStream media in covering Biden’s many foibles, that such a warning to the media even was thought to be needed from the Biden machine.

Perhaps it was due to their shock and horror that CNN, a usually dependable propaganda arm, had the temerity to fact-check Biden on many things, including the false claim that he had been at Ground Zero a day after the 9/11 attacks.

When a reporter asked a Biden spokesman about several of these Biden mistruths, the guy totally ducked the question.

But CNN, of all places, actually chronicled a bunch of Biden’s baloney. They began with the 9/11 claim. He actually got there nine days after the attack, not the next day.

CNN also recounted three instances in the same recent speech of Biden misstating facts ranging from claiming to have witnessed a Pittsburgh bridge collapse (he didn’t), claiming his grandfather succumbed a day before Biden’s birth in the same hospital (he’d died more than year earlier IN A DIFFERENT STATE!) and also recounting a favorite story about a conversation with an Amtrak conductor (he was dead by the time the supposed conversation was said to have taken place).

Journalism isn’t what it used to be, but perhaps CNN’s return to calling out mistruths by Biden is a welcome change of direction.

Or maybe, as a cynic might posit, the new marching orders from the Democratic Deep State machine are to wound Biden’s image seriously, that he might withdraw from the race and allow the Democrats to replace him with a candidate whose charisma and mental acuity are not on a cucumber level.

Of all the misinformation, propaganda and outright spin we face on a daily basis, nothing can compare to the pap being spewed by the electric vehicle lobby.

Typical of climate crazies, they make outrageous claims as to the imminent death of our planet, claims that must be pushed further into the future when the appointed dates for climate Armageddon come and go with nothing more than slight ripple in our existence.

We all were going to be living in a veritable water world by now with all the polar ice melted due to global warming. Or maybe our world would be smoldering cinder. Remember opportunist Al Gore and, more recently, the screaming girl?

Then, having changed the buzzwords to climate change, we were to perish from brutal storms – winter, spring, summer and fall.

Floods alternating with droughts, warm when it should be cold and vice versa, that was our inescapable fate. If only more of us would leap on the electric vehicle bandwagon, all could be saved.

The climate crazies have revealed themselves to be hypocrites and massagers of the facts on many fronts, none more transparent than their changing opinion of Elon Musk.

Back when Musk’s Tesla company was selling EVs based mostly on monstrous tax credits offered by Uncle Sam, anyone who dared define Musk’s status as anything less than environmental god was promptly canceled.

But Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it as X and, more importantly, restored free speech on the social media platform. Environmental zealots, like most of their left-wing brethren, can’t stand when their claims are subjected to statistical analysis. They can’t win in open debate, and so there must be no debate, lest the sheeple take off their blinders and realize they’re consistently being sold a bill of goods.

But the EV propaganda continues, even if Musk has been relegated to Hillary’s Undesirables category.

Traditional auto manufacturers are rushing to field EV fleets, even if they are losing money on the endeavors almost across the board. No matter. They are bowing to wishes of their political masters that the internal combustion engine will be the death of us all.

Intellectually challenged sorts such as Clueless Joe Biden wants half of the cars sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.

Sounds good, until you crunch the numbers.

Where will all that additional electricity generation capacity come from? It’s been calculated that keeping an EV charged for a year is equal to running 50 refrigerators per household. Our electric grid already creaks and groans during periods of high demand, and consumers are asked to sit in the dark, either sweltering or freezing depending on the season, that the grid might remain operational.

Too many EV types think electricity magically appears from those outlets in the wall.

But we’ll just add more wind and solar power, the EV types insist. Already that has been proven to be a pipedream. Those “renewable” sources are not dependable, being subject to the whims of nature.

And how is most electricity currently generated? Why, by burning fossil fuels. But you’re not supposed to look behind that curtain.

The long-term cost of EVs also has come under scrutiny. They tend to cost more upfront, but the promoters argue that is offset in part by tax credits ranging up to $7,500. But why should I as a taxpayer subsidize your purchase?

Worse, EV promoters conveniently look the other way regarding the high cost of battery replacement, and the matter of what to do with the expended battery packs. There currently is an image of an invoice making the internet rounds of a nearly $30,000 charge to replace an EV battery pack.

No less a left-wing fact-checking operation that Snopes has been forced to concede it is accurate. But, but, but, but, they argue, it’s not for the current GM product.

So what? I checked the VIN on the invoice and it is for a 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The invoice cites 70,489 miles. In just 11 years and 70,000-plus miles, a $30,000 maintenance fee. And you don’t get tax credits for that.

The propagandists insist the bill is less for newer cars. $20,000? $15,000? $10,000? It’s still a lot.

And this doesn’t even factor in the reality that EVs don’t perform well in the real world. Heat or cold can drastically reduce their range. Ford’s electric pickup truck sees its range drop dramatically while towing or hauling a large load, just the things you might buy a truck to do.

Also, at least one test found it hard to recharge the thing at most stations with a trailer hitched on the back.

Speaking of charging, recently our beloved Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm organized a four-day dog and pony show designed to demonstrate the utility of EVs on a road trip.

The group was accompanied by a reporter from National Public Radio, ordinarily a reliable propaganda arm.

But this reporter told the truth. She recounted how the Granholm caravan (no Teslas, likely for political reasons now that Musk has left the reservation) didn’t get the expected range. When a need to recharge was anticipated and advance people saw a lack of charging outlets, a dirty internal combustion car was sent to block access to a charging station so that it was ready when Queen Granholm arrived. If you have advance people to block out charging space for you, you are a candidate for an EV. Otherwise, not so much.

The aggrieved family, with a baby in its car, didn’t like sitting in the Atlanta heat waiting for the charger while the Queen arrived, so they called the police.

Two more points about the EV lunatics:

First, they might do well to consider the environmental damage done by lithium miners in pursuit of the battery metal.

Also, they might take the time to read and think about a story from leftist outlet MSN.com, that a full 20 percent of the so-called “early adopters” of EVs — the crazed virtue-signalling types who couldn’t wait to be the first on their block to save the environment — are opting to go back to traditional internal combustion engine transportation now that the hype of EVs has fallen victim to the reality of the experience.

Angst is great among Steelers fans after their beloved Black and Gold gang took one on the chin Sunday, or to quote coach Mike Tomlin from his postgame address, “got kicked in the teeth.”

The 30-7 beatdown came at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, a game not as close as the final score would indicate. The 49ers are being touted by some as Super Bowl material. The more optimistic among the sporting gentry had thought the Steelers were poised for some measure of greatness themselves this season– before Sunday, that is.

Predictably, these rabid Steelers fans, famed for dramatic mood swings based on the latest performance of their team, are ready to throw in their Terrible Towels and stop this season a mere one game into the festivities.

They had seen their vaunted defense humbled. They had seen quarterback Kenny Pickett suffer the worst day in the state for a guy named Pickett since the famed charge at Gettysburg during the Civil War.

But hang in there, people. The Steelers still have an ace in the hole, that being their customarily soft schedule.

Take a trip to the sharpfootballanalysis.com site and you will see the Steelers had what was considered the seventh easiest schedule in the NFL entering the season.

The key to this schedule analysis is it is not based on the backward-looking metric of teams’ records in the previous season, but the more realistic Las Vegas oddsmakers predictions of win expectations for teams in 2023.

History indicates there is something to this.

For example, of the 10 teams thought by Vegas to have had the hardest schedules at the beginning of the 2022 season, only two made it to the playoffs.

By contrast, six of the seven teams having what were considered the easiest schedules made the playoffs.

This strength of schedule is significant because the NFL, unlike big-time college football, does not allow teams to schedule games with teams from Sisters Of The Poor or School For The Blind to pad the record and allow a veritable bye week while still getting in some play under game conditions.

Theoretically, the NFL scheduling system penalizes successful teams with tougher schedules. But the concept is flawed in that it is based on the previous year and there is a rotation system that sets up teams with games vs. a specific division from the opposing conference each year.

If you get lucky in drawing a down division, your road got that much easier. Also, sometimes you have an apparent tough team late on your schedule, but by the time you meet the team it has been decimated by injuries.

Regardless, schedule strength, while not completely scientific, seems to be a better indicator when we are looking ahead based on how the wise guys rank win prospects of NFL teams.

I see the Steelers winning three of four games against the AFC South opposition (Jacksonville, Tennessee, Indianapolis and Houston) and even with the loss to San Francisco, taking three of four games with the NFC West (remaining games are with LA Rams, Arizona and Seattle).

Break even in six AFC North Division games, which the Steelers tend to do (including last year), and you’re up to nine wins. Grab one additional victory somewhere along the line and you’re at 10 wins and in playoff contention.

Despite the present despair, the Steelers very easily could be 2-2 after upcoming games with Cleveland, Las Vegas and Houston have been played.

If I’m wrong and they’re 0-4, give it up. If they’re 2-2, keep the faith.

Thunder in the Valley, the motorcycle rally that was cut adrift from official support Thursday, is a metaphor for Johnstown in general.

Once a thriving, vibrant thing, Thunder succumbed to discord, competition and general lack of effective promotion. Sound familiar?

We wrote in this space not that long ago, regarding the most recent event, that it had become a pale imitation of its early days – sort of like Johnstown. But we didn’t expect the event to lose its official backers, at least not this soon.

One of the tourist people, who never did get around to announcing the specific bottom line for the 2023 edition, was quoted in a story on the WTAJ TV web site claiming the event never broke even in any of the 25 years it was held.

If we accept that, then even in the early days, when the event drew hordes of bikers and gawkers, it didn’t pay the expenses. So, who’s to think anyone down the line can take over running the event and hope to make money, without a healthy infusion of handouts either private or public?

Imagine this sad news being broken to a select group of national left-wing types.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Motorcycles? Come on, man! You know, I own a Corvette. Almost lost it in a home fire, just as tragic as that Hawaii thing. Did I ever tell you about the time when I was a lifeguard at a swimming pool that I faced down the leader of a Hell’s Angels gang? Old Corn Dog really turned tail when The Big Guy threatened to withhold funding unless he left. And don’t think just because I fell off that pedal bike awhile back that I can’t ride a hog. Right, Dr. Jill? Hog, that’s a Harley, right?

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Johns Town (Pause. Spontaneous cackle) Johns Town. Motor Cycle. Thunder. That would be loud. The thunder and the motorcycle (More cackling). But I can assure you if anything should happen to Joe Biden, I’m ready to ride to the rescue on my motor . . . cycle . . . in Johns . . . town . . . or where . . . ever . . . it . . . might . . . be . . . necessary.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS: I can understand Johnstown’s problem. You throw open the door, declare yourself a sanctuary city and then illegal immigrants, or bikers, show up and take over and leave the city unable to meet the logistical challenge. I commend Johnstown for biting the bullet and admitting to a failed experiment. I only wish my electorate would allow me to speak the truth about our illegal immigrant problem, the one I’ve said will destroy New York City, by putting the blame squarely on my fellow Democrats and their open-border policies.

PRESIDENTIAL PRODIGAL SON HUNTER BIDEN: Fear not, Johnstown. I will put in a call to The Big Guy and we should be able to make this little problem go away. We have a brand, you know. Just tell me you have a high-paying opening for a guy with zero tourism organizing experience, one that has my name written all over it, and your problems are over.

OPRAH WINFREY AND DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON: Recognizing losing this $20-million-a-year infusion into the local economy will sting, we are organizing an effort to appeal for donations. We will seed this with $2.50 cash money from our own funds and count on the little people coast-to-coast and around the world to make the bulk of the donations that we can present in our names. By the way, is there any cheap real estate available in Johnstown, which I understand soon will rival Hawaii as a tourist destination?

Long time, no write.

This being the week of my birthday, I gave myself the gift of detachment from the ugly realities of what is happening internationally, nationally, locally. That meant no paying attention to unfolding life and, by virtue of that, writing no blog entries.

I recommend these breaks, the pauses that refresh, to anyone. While the world churned away, feeding the wants and desires of the tinpot dictators, attention whores and spinmeisters, I watched a lot of TV reruns. I will continue that by ignoring the opening tonight of yet another virtue-signalling NFL season.

Call it cheap escapism, much less expensive than jetting off to some tropical island for a respite.

There was an abundance of the old Perry Mason series episodes to be viewed, available many times each day on my satellite TV provider’s channel 82.

There also was a smattering of old movies on channel 132, some Magnum, PI, episodes and various other dated television and film opportunities.

In one Magnum episode tonight, Frank Sinatra’s character dispatched two thugs who had raped his granddaughter. It was raw and fitting.

I marvel at those simpler times as recorded on film, when Mason’s private investigator buddy Paul Drake could say “Hi, beautiful,” to Mason’s secretary, Della Street, and the world didn’t brand him a sexual harasser.

A lot of people smoked in those shows, drank alcohol and generally lived their lives free from a more modern form of addiction, that being to social media and political correctness.

There was a stark contrast in shows of that era between good and bad, something accentuated by them being filmed in black and white.

No room, back then, for hucksters, navel gazers, poverty pimps or race baiters to be glorified in the story lines. The public recognized wrong from right and the people putting out the shows were very aware of that, so they didn’t try to turn every show into a propaganda piece to appease the far left causes of the moment.

Entertainment was just that, entertainment, not political indoctrination. Similarly, I recall the actual news broadcasts of the time were direct, to-the-point recitations of facts, not opinion, narratives and propaganda passed off as the truth.

For those of you too young to recall such a time, I invite you to revisit it indirectly by viewing some of the great TV and films of the past.

Do this with a mix of inquisitiveness, close study and open-mindedness.

Compare then to now, and shed a tear for what we have become.