I'm sitting here watching Outnumbered on Fox News. Today's guest is Taya Kyle, the wife of former Navy Seal Chris Kyle, who as most know, died at the hands of a troubled fellow service member at a gun range in Texas. Am I the only one who thought the story of Marcus Latrell, in the movie 'Lone Survivor' was way better than 'American Sniper?' Two weeks ago, as Rick Perry declared for president, he had Marcus and his twin brother Morgan flanked on each side of him...scowling all throughout the speech.
What does any of this have to do with poker, or my current state of mind? Oh...nothing. Sorry. But I am at the point where I am getting real sick of the news. Mainly because it inevitably leads to some super-aggravating thread on Facebook that leads me to think I am living among Super Idiots. The fact there are people in this country who will actually vote for Hillary Clinton for president makes my brain hurt. The presidential 'race' has already begun, and I just don't think I have the patience or the stomach to sit and watch all the phony speeches, the awkward posturing, the talking out of both sides of their faces...etc etc etc. It's literally the worst of what American TV has to offer. The only thing that seems to interrupt this period of obnoxious TV news...is your occasional cop-killing, or your racial incident and it's resulting fallout, and of course, your big-news-of-the-day occurrence: A train derailment. A vanishing airplane. The latest ISIS story. Rockets fired from Gaza. I mean...seriously...does the news ever really change?
This week's big news item...is the 21 year old asshole who went into a predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina...sat there for an hour, almost changed his mind and didn't carry out his 'mission' because the church-goers were ''so nice to him" but then eventually opened fire on them...killing nine of the most innocent victims you could ever imagine. The only ones in memory who come even close...are the 20 kids who were gunned down by Adam Lanza (who bears a rather creepy similarity to this prick Dylan Storm Roof) for no apparent reason whatsoever. Granted, there are still some who think none of that happened. Whatever.
Dylan's goal was to start a race war. Hate to break it to you dickhead, but there has more or less been a race war going on in this country for quite awhile now. Just because there aren't battle lines drawn and daily gun battles going on in the streets doesn't mean there isn't a war going on between the two races. Ironically, dead-man-walking Dylan picked the wrong town to pull his dastardly deed. And in the wake of this tragedy, the fine folks of Charleston have proven that. The doors to the Mother Emanuel Episcopal Church were opened to all this past Sunday...and the mix of white and black church-goers heard a powerful sermon from Rev. Norvel Goff that only served to bring the tight-knit community even closer together. Nice try Dylan...epic fail! Even Al Sharpton and his band of rabble-rousers were encouraged to take their act elsewhere. The 'Hands Up Don't Shoot' posse...that has rumored to be funded by George Soros...as he's been sued now by 'professional protesters' claiming to not have been paid for their 'work' in Ferguson and Baltimore....even they were chased away by the city of Charleston.
If this isn't progress...I don't know what progress is! Which brings me to the next topic on this subject. The Confederate Battle flag, and its existence in places like government buildings.
Can we just be 100% totally honest for a second? Can we all agree that there is no good reason whatsoever to have a flag...ANY flag...fly over anything that only serves to anger some people? I mean...what is the point? The people who are fighting to NOT have this flag removed? Do they take daily treks to those government buildings to salute that flag? Or are they just fighting so hard because they are stubborn? Because they don't want to feel like they were defeated?
After being raised in the north until I was 35...my view as an outsider of the Confederate flag, was that it always kind of had a connection to slavery. Now...if I dig deeper into history, which very few people do, I discover that it was actually only used by the Confederate armies while in battle against the Union armies. Was the Confederate flag an official symbol of slavery? No. It wasn't. Was the Civil War fought because of slavery? That is a point you can debate. No, not directly it wasn't. But it was a factor, or catalyst for what brought it about, for sure. So it's pretty easy to make the connection for some.
When we go to the beach, and see that 'gentleman' driving the gigantic truck that has been boosted about 8 feet off the ground, and has the huge rebel flag raised on a pole in the back of his truck...is that guy ever NOT a redneck who probably uses the 'N-word' on a regular basis? Seriously...how many 'classy white folks' do you see wearing rebel flags on hats or t-shirts or flying the flag on their front porch? If I am a black person...I'm sorry, but its real hard for me to think these people are wearing rebel flags because they are honoring the memory of the Confederacy or their fallen soldiers. Who's kidding who? There are times that I think blacks are being overly sensitive, or even dramatic about some things that are going on in our society right now. This? This is not one of them. I think they have every right to be totally offended, and pissed off about this stupid flag issue.
Nikki Haley did the right thing yesterday. She said all the right things. I am hopeful that the required number of votes are cast to make what she proposed a reality. And hope that this leads to a popular movement that leads to the removal of this racially divisive flag to be removed on all government buildings. Hey...if you are that person who thinks you need to fly it above your own property? Go for it. No one cares. We will all just look at you like we've been looking at you for years now. That won't change.
If this country is EVER going to make strides to come together, it needs to start with the simplest of deeds, and this flag issue? It's the simplest.
That's all I have to say on that subject. But back to me hating the news...or being sick of it. I would just like to thank HBO and Showtime...as well as online sites like Hulu and Amazon, for saving TV. Because you sure as hell are NOT finding it on network TV anymore...with all the crap that they are putting on there, whether its the latest piece of shit reality show, or the garbage sitcoms they are putting out like 'Two Broke Girls.' How in gods name does that lousy show stay on the air? And haven't we evolved enough in the entertainment business to the point where they can finally stop using 'canned laughter' during the taping of their shows? When I hear that...it becomes all I pay attention to. I don't even hear the dialogue anymore...just that fake, shitty laughter.
All the best shows are on premium TV now. The other night, Squirrel and I did something we haven't done together in years...we sat on the couch, no phones, iPads or computers...and we watched the premier of 'True Detective' followed by 'Ballers' and both were awesome! Add that to the list of 'Game of Thrones' (not me-I have yet to make that plunge) 'Veep', the 'John Oliver Show', and several others...and its just about the only place I get my entertainment anymore.
It's Tuesday the 23rd. Squirrel and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday...though we celebrated it all weekend. We've been together for 14 years. Wow! Time flies! Things couldn't be better. Tomorrow we head to the beach for four days...to stay with her family, watch a ton of baseball games with her nephews...and hopefully get some time at the pool. Yes, the pool...I'm not getting in that water! Flesh-eating bacterias, sharks! No thanks! As soon as we get home from that, I have 3 days to get my stuff together and any errands run, then take off for Vegas, for poker!
I've sold out the poker package for the Minions...with some on a wait list in the event the last 8 remaining people who still owe don't come up with their money. $45k is in...with only $5k out. If you look up on the right-hand side, you'll notice I finally got our logo made...20 hats showed up today, 6 (to be personalized) for our Minions and myself...and the other 14 sold and shipped by me to our investors who wanted one. The T-Shirts also got made...again, 6 for me and the players...and 14 to sell to investors, I think 12 have been requested so far. And finally...hoodies! Those were $65 each..and yeah...all the Players' hats, t-shirts and hoodies are on me! So I really hope one or all of them do some winning! That, or I hope I make a big lick in my tourneys at the Venetian! I am promised the t-shirts and hoodies on Thursday...which is great except that we won't be home until Sunday!
If anyone out there would like a hat, or a t-shirt or even a hoodie...let me know by emailing me at ThePokerMonkey1@aol.com and I will get you taken care of. And no...I am not making a single cent off of these! They are being made by Custom Ink and you pay what I pay.
I'm outa here!
MONKEY
What does any of this have to do with poker, or my current state of mind? Oh...nothing. Sorry. But I am at the point where I am getting real sick of the news. Mainly because it inevitably leads to some super-aggravating thread on Facebook that leads me to think I am living among Super Idiots. The fact there are people in this country who will actually vote for Hillary Clinton for president makes my brain hurt. The presidential 'race' has already begun, and I just don't think I have the patience or the stomach to sit and watch all the phony speeches, the awkward posturing, the talking out of both sides of their faces...etc etc etc. It's literally the worst of what American TV has to offer. The only thing that seems to interrupt this period of obnoxious TV news...is your occasional cop-killing, or your racial incident and it's resulting fallout, and of course, your big-news-of-the-day occurrence: A train derailment. A vanishing airplane. The latest ISIS story. Rockets fired from Gaza. I mean...seriously...does the news ever really change?
This week's big news item...is the 21 year old asshole who went into a predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina...sat there for an hour, almost changed his mind and didn't carry out his 'mission' because the church-goers were ''so nice to him" but then eventually opened fire on them...killing nine of the most innocent victims you could ever imagine. The only ones in memory who come even close...are the 20 kids who were gunned down by Adam Lanza (who bears a rather creepy similarity to this prick Dylan Storm Roof) for no apparent reason whatsoever. Granted, there are still some who think none of that happened. Whatever.
Dylan's goal was to start a race war. Hate to break it to you dickhead, but there has more or less been a race war going on in this country for quite awhile now. Just because there aren't battle lines drawn and daily gun battles going on in the streets doesn't mean there isn't a war going on between the two races. Ironically, dead-man-walking Dylan picked the wrong town to pull his dastardly deed. And in the wake of this tragedy, the fine folks of Charleston have proven that. The doors to the Mother Emanuel Episcopal Church were opened to all this past Sunday...and the mix of white and black church-goers heard a powerful sermon from Rev. Norvel Goff that only served to bring the tight-knit community even closer together. Nice try Dylan...epic fail! Even Al Sharpton and his band of rabble-rousers were encouraged to take their act elsewhere. The 'Hands Up Don't Shoot' posse...that has rumored to be funded by George Soros...as he's been sued now by 'professional protesters' claiming to not have been paid for their 'work' in Ferguson and Baltimore....even they were chased away by the city of Charleston.
If this isn't progress...I don't know what progress is! Which brings me to the next topic on this subject. The Confederate Battle flag, and its existence in places like government buildings.
Can we just be 100% totally honest for a second? Can we all agree that there is no good reason whatsoever to have a flag...ANY flag...fly over anything that only serves to anger some people? I mean...what is the point? The people who are fighting to NOT have this flag removed? Do they take daily treks to those government buildings to salute that flag? Or are they just fighting so hard because they are stubborn? Because they don't want to feel like they were defeated?
After being raised in the north until I was 35...my view as an outsider of the Confederate flag, was that it always kind of had a connection to slavery. Now...if I dig deeper into history, which very few people do, I discover that it was actually only used by the Confederate armies while in battle against the Union armies. Was the Confederate flag an official symbol of slavery? No. It wasn't. Was the Civil War fought because of slavery? That is a point you can debate. No, not directly it wasn't. But it was a factor, or catalyst for what brought it about, for sure. So it's pretty easy to make the connection for some.
When we go to the beach, and see that 'gentleman' driving the gigantic truck that has been boosted about 8 feet off the ground, and has the huge rebel flag raised on a pole in the back of his truck...is that guy ever NOT a redneck who probably uses the 'N-word' on a regular basis? Seriously...how many 'classy white folks' do you see wearing rebel flags on hats or t-shirts or flying the flag on their front porch? If I am a black person...I'm sorry, but its real hard for me to think these people are wearing rebel flags because they are honoring the memory of the Confederacy or their fallen soldiers. Who's kidding who? There are times that I think blacks are being overly sensitive, or even dramatic about some things that are going on in our society right now. This? This is not one of them. I think they have every right to be totally offended, and pissed off about this stupid flag issue.
Nikki Haley did the right thing yesterday. She said all the right things. I am hopeful that the required number of votes are cast to make what she proposed a reality. And hope that this leads to a popular movement that leads to the removal of this racially divisive flag to be removed on all government buildings. Hey...if you are that person who thinks you need to fly it above your own property? Go for it. No one cares. We will all just look at you like we've been looking at you for years now. That won't change.
If this country is EVER going to make strides to come together, it needs to start with the simplest of deeds, and this flag issue? It's the simplest.
That's all I have to say on that subject. But back to me hating the news...or being sick of it. I would just like to thank HBO and Showtime...as well as online sites like Hulu and Amazon, for saving TV. Because you sure as hell are NOT finding it on network TV anymore...with all the crap that they are putting on there, whether its the latest piece of shit reality show, or the garbage sitcoms they are putting out like 'Two Broke Girls.' How in gods name does that lousy show stay on the air? And haven't we evolved enough in the entertainment business to the point where they can finally stop using 'canned laughter' during the taping of their shows? When I hear that...it becomes all I pay attention to. I don't even hear the dialogue anymore...just that fake, shitty laughter.
All the best shows are on premium TV now. The other night, Squirrel and I did something we haven't done together in years...we sat on the couch, no phones, iPads or computers...and we watched the premier of 'True Detective' followed by 'Ballers' and both were awesome! Add that to the list of 'Game of Thrones' (not me-I have yet to make that plunge) 'Veep', the 'John Oliver Show', and several others...and its just about the only place I get my entertainment anymore.
It's Tuesday the 23rd. Squirrel and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday...though we celebrated it all weekend. We've been together for 14 years. Wow! Time flies! Things couldn't be better. Tomorrow we head to the beach for four days...to stay with her family, watch a ton of baseball games with her nephews...and hopefully get some time at the pool. Yes, the pool...I'm not getting in that water! Flesh-eating bacterias, sharks! No thanks! As soon as we get home from that, I have 3 days to get my stuff together and any errands run, then take off for Vegas, for poker!
I've sold out the poker package for the Minions...with some on a wait list in the event the last 8 remaining people who still owe don't come up with their money. $45k is in...with only $5k out. If you look up on the right-hand side, you'll notice I finally got our logo made...20 hats showed up today, 6 (to be personalized) for our Minions and myself...and the other 14 sold and shipped by me to our investors who wanted one. The T-Shirts also got made...again, 6 for me and the players...and 14 to sell to investors, I think 12 have been requested so far. And finally...hoodies! Those were $65 each..and yeah...all the Players' hats, t-shirts and hoodies are on me! So I really hope one or all of them do some winning! That, or I hope I make a big lick in my tourneys at the Venetian! I am promised the t-shirts and hoodies on Thursday...which is great except that we won't be home until Sunday!
If anyone out there would like a hat, or a t-shirt or even a hoodie...let me know by emailing me at ThePokerMonkey1@aol.com and I will get you taken care of. And no...I am not making a single cent off of these! They are being made by Custom Ink and you pay what I pay.
I'm outa here!
MONKEY
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