Leave a comment Posted on Changes, Clusterfuck, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Dystopian America, Science Fiction

A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint, November 15, 2026

Processing Corruption Overload and a Casual Sunday with PapaDeanBear *with music*.

[Cue the main theme from “Escape From New York.” Call me Snake.]

Ahhhhh Sunday. The day of rest. Even God said “Fuck this shit, I’m tired” and handed control over to Adam and Eve and said, “You’re on your own, don’t fuck it up.” We all know what the fuck happened… (yeah, I read the Bible, Catholic upbring y’know? Glad I shook that shit off. – PDB)

I digress. So instead of doing my usual mass consumption of the news (mainly through my Yahoo homepage and YouTube) I thought I would shake it up by firing up Spotify (had to install the app again since I changed computer systems) and ruminate on all the bullshit that I have absorbed and still try to make sense of.

[Current on Papabear’s playlist, “Stereotomy” by The Alan Parsons Project, 7+ minutes of prog-rock perfection.]

It’s gotten so bad that when I go into the living room to talk to Dan, the first question out of his mouth is “What the fuck did he/they do now?” referring to Trump or his corrupt cabinet.

[Listening to Genesis, “That’s All.” Love me some Phil Collins vocals.]

With all the bullshit and fuckups that are going on in the world, I have forgotten about the simple pleasures that make me happy. Reading, for example. I have a shitload of mostly fiction (heavy science-fiction biased) books that I have accumulated over the past 50+ years. Just holding a book in your hand, relaxed, absorbing the written word at your own pace. (My niece Sheryl is the same way, reading helps keep her life in balance.)

[Listening to The Escape Club, “Wild, Wild West.” Dancing in my seat. Gotta move to the beat that we love best…]

Music…well music is a part of my life and I haven’t listened to it in quite a while. There was a time where when got out of work and needed to decompress, and putting on headphones/putting in earbuds and cranking up the tunes to drown out the grumpiness that I get after a stressful day. I realized that any music that I was listening to usually came up occasionally on YouTube (and the algorithm does suggest stuff that I like) and that wasn’t healthy. Hence, getting the app on my workstation again and firing it up.

[Listening to Wang Chung, “Dance Hall Days.” I feel goosebumps when the synthesizers kick in.]

Music does change my state of mind when I am stressed out. I deliberately avoid hard/metal rock (with a few rare exceptions.)

[Now playing: Gary Numan, “Cars.” The perfect song for someone who is a bit agoraphobic.]

“Here in my car I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors, It’s the only way to live. In cars.”

My music playlist is filled with a varied list of artists. Some of them are:

  • Pink Floyd
  • Led Zeppelin (one of the hard rock exceptions)
  • Fleetwood Mac
  • Gary Numan
  • The Alan Parsons Project (and Parsons’ subsequent solo work)
  • The Power Station
  • Asia
  • Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
  • Genesis
  • Mike and the Mechanics
  • Phil Collins
  • Robert Palmer
  • Rush

Yeah…I am more or less a prog-rock animal, but I have shit in my playlist that is all over the place…I just set it on shuffle and let it go. (And since I pay for Spotify, no commercials) Yes, it is escapism. Given how fucked up everything is on this little blue marble that we live on, can you blame anyone for looking for an escape?

[Now playing: Eddie Money (with Ronnie Spector, “Take Me Home Tonight.” Great song about yearning for love.]

There are various ways to escape. Me, I used to drink to excess (yes, PapaDeanBear is an alcoholic. I’ve been sober for six years.) Some people turn to hard drugs (note, I am a cannabis user,) some turn to extreme sports. Some turn to sex, some people try to connect with people of a similar demeanor. Some people write to express their frustrations with the world (yeah yeah dear readers, I am also holding a mirror up to me. – PDB)

[Now playing: Robert Palmer, “Every Kinda People.” The perfect anthem for celebrating cultural diversity…you know, what the current administration absolutely fucking hates!]

Yes, Papabear does use literary references in writing, and sometimes I use musical references. Too many people are so intent on pigeonholing other people into categories that can be used as a dog whistle to inflame others. A prime example, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Epidemiologist. Physician. Director of Health and Human Services for Wayne County in Michigan. Now the Senator-Elect for Michigan. Yet the only thing that is constantly hammered on in the messaging from the Republicans is that he is Muslim, and wants to enact Sharia law in the United States. (And Dr El-Sayed said himself “Do not believe the people who say I’m for Sharia law, I’m for shawarma law. If you get a shawarma and it’s got lettuce in it, it’s not shawarma, it’s just a sandwich. Someone has lied to you.” Now THAT is the way to disarm critics!)

[Now playing: Alan Parsons, “Turn It Up.” A song about speaking up when shit is hitting the fan and letting people know that things are seriously fucking wrong.]

“If there’s something you find to believe in, then the message must get through. So don’t just sit in silence when you know what to do. Turn it up. Turn it up, make it louder. Turn it up. Turn it up, make it louder.”

My writing has purpose. Not necessarily in the grand scheme of this fucked up universe, but a combination of therapy and frustration. Yeah, I can write the damn thing, post to WordPress, post links to it on Facebook, Twitter (I fucking refuse to call it X) and BlueSky. And hope someone will read it and maybe, maybe get the spark to open another tab in the browser and search for more information. Yes, I can be a little strident in my disdain for the current state of society. I’m gonna write about it. And I ran across a quote by Jay-Z (don’t judge me,) “Through our voices we really can affect change.” Yes, PapaDeanBear is just one voice, and as long as the First Amendment stays in existence and I am still alive, I am going to use that voice. Yes, I can be profane and sometimes I am wrong, but hopefully I can inspire others to use their voices.

[Now playing: Al Stewart, “Time Passages.”]

“The years run too short and the days too fast, the things you lean on are the things that don’t last, well it’s just now and then my line gets cast into these time passages. There’s something back here that you left behind. Oh time passages, buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight.”

Over the 67 years that I have been on fragile blue marble that we call home, I have seen a lot of shit go down. The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, and yes even Charlie Kirk. The takeaway from that is for all those who want progressive change (except for Kirk,) there will always be someone who wants to silence their voice (and yes, just as the First Amendment protects my speech, Charlie Kirk has the right to say what was on his mind, as repugnant as it was.) The Watergate indecent which toppled Richard Nixon’s presidency. The taking of hostages in Iran after the Pahlavi regime was toppled. The fall of The Berlin Wall. The first moon landing. The explosion of the Challenger 73 seconds after it launched in 1986. The destruction of the Columbia when it reentered the atmosphere in 2003. I have lived through the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 9/11 attacks, the Great Recession, The COVID-19 pandemic. 14 presidencies. (The dipshit in the White House is counted as two different administrations.) The deaths of friends and family members (especially my sister Agnes over three years ago, which hit papabear very hard because she was the family anchor.)

[Playing “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel…kind of appropriate for the mood I am in now.)

“We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning.
We didn’t start the fire. No, we didn’t light it but we tried to fight it”

That is the whole point of my writing, someone has to document the shit that is happening. Given the current propensity of the mass media machine and the political machine to gloss over the real facts about what is going on in the world, independent media has a moral imperative to expose the backroom dealings and the corruption that has permeated the our society. Our society has changed so much in the past ten years, and the commiditization of information sources has resulted in a bias that people aren’t even aware of. The other reason I write I gave before (see above.)

[Playing “Right Now” by Van Halen… An anthem to take action.)

“C’mon turn, turn this thing around. Right now, hey it’s your tomorrow. Right now, c’mon, it’s everything. Right now, catch a magic moment, do it right here and now. It means everything”

The thing is, things ain’t gonna happen unless you get off your fuckin’ ass and DO SOMETHING!” Some people volunteer to make things better for others (like my husband Dan, who volunteers with SAGEUpstate.) Some people go into politics to hopefully effect change for the betterment of humanity. And a sign that change is possible, the shifting of the political makeup in Washington (due to a higher than average turnout in the midterms) a more progressive/liberal makeup in both the House and the Senate will be sworn in on January 6.

And of course, there will be those of us on the fringes, who are observing the degeneration of our society into dystopia, and taking hands to the keyboard to push back against the dystopian narrative. Myself included. As long as the First Amendment is protected, and I am still breathing I will point out the bullshit.

Stay informed, folks. Stay vigilant.

-30-

(c) 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr. all rights reserved.

2 Comments Posted on Chinese Spying, Clusterfuck, Conspiracy, Donald Trump, Hegseth, Lutnick, Shopping

A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint, November 13, 2026

Corruption Overload and More Retail Therapy with PapaDeanBear and PapaDan.

Yup, PapaDeanBear is back with more domestic bliss and his usual bug up his ass.

Another fucking week, more fallout from the midterms, more Hegseth (Kegseth) getting a new asshole ripped from all directions, Howard Lutnick (or is is Nutlick hmmmm) getting his ass in the wringer over the whole Nvidia/embargoed chips being sent to China/Jensen Huang boning a Chinese spy AND a fellow Nvidia executive thing. Yikes! Corruption overload!

Okay, you know that I like to document the little retail trips and dining out experiences that Dan and I have. It’s just as much for my sanity (*alleged*) as getting things that we need for personal and household use. Papabear did his usual shit, which is wake up, drink coffee, eat a couple (or more depending) of cannabis gummies, and bury his snout in the news. Well, I have been getting news fatigue lately. Skim the headlines, click on an article IF it piques my interest. YouTube is kinda the same thing, I haven’t going to my usual political favorites (Jack Cocchiarella, MeidasTouch, Brian Tyler Cohen, LegalAF) as much. It became SSDD (same shit different day, not solid state disk drive (which I have in my dual 24 inch monitor AMD Ryzen 5/Windows 11 Professional workstation.)) When Dan asked if I needed to run errands, I said yes, I needed the respite. So he said, “Get your ass dressed and lets go.”

So once I got my ass dressed, I settled in the seat of the Compass and laid out the itinerary:

First stop, my credit union to withdraw cash (I like to keep cash on hand in case of emergencies, and he knows where I keep it in case he needs some.)

Second stop, the cigar store (for cigars and lottery tickets.)

Third stop, the dispensary for the aforementioned cannabis gummies.

Final stop, Price Chopper for grocery items.

So Dan and I venture out into the wilds of Onondaga County, in our trusty CUV (compact utility vehicle that looks like there is a duck invasion on the dash,) armed with my debit card and a mission. Since the Interstate road system here is a total clusterfuck at the moment (because of the Interstate 81 construction) we take the surface streets, which is a challenge in itself. Basically, instead of the usual political conversation, it was Dan and myself ranting about the dumbfuck moves that other drivers are making (and yes, Papabear was quite profane. Do you expect anything else? – PDB)

Make it to the credit union, wait a little bit, then get called up. Make the withdrawal, make chit-chat with the teller. Tell her that I like having a *little* extra cash on hand just in case things start to go south. (Yeah I was decompressing and still showing a couple of little signs of paranoia.) She apologized for the wait, I said it’s wasn’t necessary. (Hell, I’m retired, what the fuck else am I gonna do?)

Back on the road to the cigar store. Again, on surface streets (except for Burnet Avenue, it’s brutal on the suspension.) The road that we take, Erie Boulevard East, passes underneath the Interstate 81/Interstate 690 interchange) and we see all the trees that were growing there since the interchange was constructed were all ripped up. Nature again takes a back seat to progress. (sad face emoji) On the trip in, we did touch on was, if Hegseth is impeached…he loses everything. Government housing, security detail, his military pension and the pension he earned at Secretary of Defense (or WAR, as roid boy/Fox News weekend anchor likes to call it.) If he thinks that he is going to go back to Faux News as an anchor…yeah right. They ain’t gonna touch that with a full hazmat suit on top of wielding a ten foot pole.

At the cigar store, I shoot the shit with one of the clerks while I am cashing in the lottery tickets and getting more (scratch offs for Dan, MegaMillions and PowerBall for me.) I get my usual cigars, finish my purchases, and head back to the car (or CUV if you wanna split hairs, like I give a shit.)

Now to the dispensary…sativa and indica gummies (I take the sativa during the day, and we both take the indica during the night.) Let’s face it, sometimes you have to alter your mental state to deal with the shitshow that society has become. (And not so surprising, I see a lot of people in my age group shopping there.) So I get back to the Compass, and we head off to our next stop (so I think.)

As we are going to the street that is on our journey home, he gets in the left lane (instead of the right like we usually do) and I am like “WTF?” Well, when I was in the dispensary, the hubby got a phone call from a friend looking for a ride home. (Ding ding ding! That triggered the altruism subroutine in the hubby’s brain.) What the fuck am I going to do? Say no? Wouldn’t work with Dan (and besides, he does all the driving in our household, Papabear is just along for the ride (and maybe I will go into the reasons that I don’t/can’t drive in the future.) So we proceed to the medical district (an area Dan and I are more than familiar with) and pick his friend up. And proceed to…Solvay. Unfortunately, she had to deal with Papabear. And I have no filter at times, especially if cannabis gummies and the political clusterfuck is involved. And the poor girl had to hear it. (She knew how twisted my mind can be because apparently, I was a frequent subject of conversation with his coworkers.) So, once this little side quest is done, we proceed to the street that will take us to the promised land (also known as Price Chopper.)

Finally! We get there, and proceed to get the items that Dan needs (and stuff that catches Papabear’s eye.) Right at the outset, one box of potato chips that have numerous flavors, and a box of SunChips in various flavors. I cruise by the deli case and grab two tubs of store brand hummus and go looking for Dan. He didn’t use the wormhole, so I found him easily. Now we just wander the emporium of foods, picking out what we need (and want.) Dried veggies to put in your ramen, more chili crisp. A couple of boxes of crackers. The baking supplies that Dan needed (he makes a chocolate brownie bundt cake that is really good.) No cookies, still have Fig Newtons and Oreos at home. Creamer for Dan (Papabear drinks his coffee black, thank you very much.) Oh, yes…a turkey. Forgot that Thanksgiving is coming up. Cranberry sauce. The other items we will get when we are out and about. Once we have passed through the self-checkout (and they changed the goddamn display again, sheesh) and amused the attendant with our old married couple bickering) we exit the temple of magnificent foodstuffs, load our groceries into our modern-day beast of burden and head home. (I don’t need to tell you the what we do next, you saw that in the previous installment of my blog.)

Now, while all this is going on, dear reader, the political situation was pretty much going through in the back of my mind, collating what I know and trying to make sense of it so I can put the words to the screen. My latest takeaways:

The Democrats are going to keep hammering Hegseth with impeachment proceedings until either Speaker Mike [Slang Term For a Penis] gives up and lets it go through, enough Republicans finally get fed up with Hegseth (and there have been a LOT of rumblings on Capital Hill among the right-wing rank and file to override the Speaker and allow it to be pushed through,) Trump decides to cut his losses and fire him, or Hegseth succumbs to the pressure and resigns. (The last two scenarios won’t prevent Hegseth being impeached.)

And now the news has been rife with the scandals surrounding Nvidia (Jensen Huang boning a Chinese spy and another C-suiter at the company) and Howard Lutnick (Nutlick) being involved in the transfer through *alleged* third parties of restricted chip technology that Nvidia has developed. And of course, the fake-haired orange spray-tan poster boy for corruption himself, Trump. He will still whore himself for the cameras and do his usual shtick, which is pontificate about his ballroom, his arch, and the “improvements” to the East Potomac Golf Links to make it a “world-class championship golf course,” which is another grift, because the East Potomac Golf Links is a PUBLIC golf course, and Trump wants to make it so the corporate sycophants and his political cronies don’t come into contact with the public in general because they consider us beneath them.

I am heartened in the fact that people like Trump and their ilk will get what is coming to them. The recent flipping of both the House and the Senate *could* be the harbinger of what is going to happen to the political system as we know it. Come January 1, the tables will be turned on the entrenched right wing, and they will be held accountable for the damage that they have done to this country.

That is all for now, Papabear is gonna finish watching Buff’s Garage and Pole Barn Garage clean up an 1986 Ford F-250 to make it somewhat presentable (and use it as a tow rig.)

-30-

(c) 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr. all rights reserved.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint, November 6, 2026

Retail Therapy and Dining Out (or more adventures with PapaDeanBear and PapaDan.)

Another day, another adventure that is my life. Yup, PapaDeanBear is back with another one of his long winded blog posts.

The previous day (11/5,) I told Dan about a new Chinese/seafood buffet that opened up in the toxic floating mall/domed city from “Logan’s Run” (aka DestinyUSA, one of my favorite places to go (not, there is no Sanctuary.)) Yesterday, we went to the cigar store (for cigars and lottery tickets) and the dispensary (to get cannabis gummies.) Today, I said I wanna go to the supermarket (didn’t feel like running the six miles to Wallyworld, and Price Chopper is a five minute drive from our house.)

Yeah, you see where this is going…PapaDeanBear…mildly stoned…in a supermarket.

Dan: “All we need is milk and bread.”
PDB: “Hold my coffee.”

Now, when you go grocery shopping with me in tow, let’s just say that papabear drives the hubby nuts with his antics. So, we cruise past the deli department, I notice store-brand artichoke and spinach hummus is on sale, and I haven’t had hummus in a while. In the cart it goes. I notice a display for store-brand spring water (Dan mentioned we needed some,) 24 packs on sale, three for ten dollars. In the cart it goes. Now we are doing the cruise the store and see if there is anything else that we need (or want.) He found frozen haddock fillets, buy one get one free. I’m always down for haddock. Down to the dairy department, a gallon of milk (store-brand of course,) then as we were going down the dairy isle, Dan asked me if I was going to get some cheese. I hadn’t had any in a while so I went and got three packages of (store-brand) cracker cuts, consisting of pepper jack, habanero cheddar, and New York extra-sharp cheddar.

Now the real fun begins…

We cruise down the front of the store, ducking into aisles as needed to get what we need. (None of this going one way down the aisle shit, I do what the fuck I want.) Dan stops in the baked goods aisle, grabs a couple of loaves of Freihofer’s bread (on sale, two for six dollars.) I duck down the soup aisle and pick up a couple of six-packs of Maruchan ramen noodles (soy sauce and beef flavors, my favorites.) I look around all the ramen because there is one specific item that I wanted but can’t find it, but then I smack myself on the head and mutter to myself, “Dean you fucking idiot, the Asian foods are one aisle over!” Soooooooooo, I go over to the next aisle (Dan had left me the cart at this point, because, dear readers, you know of my husband’s ability to open a wormhole and transport himself to another section of the store.) Sure enough, I found what I wanted…CHILI CRISP! (I toss a teaspoon full in with my ramen to perk it up.) Now it’s time to get “the goodies.” Meaning crackers and cookies. Two boxes of Ritz fresh stacks (jalapeno pepper and zesty herb) and two party size packages of Oreo’s (Original and Golden.) One large box of Cheez-Its. One last stop, the coffee aisle. Two big boxes of K-cups, Eight O’Clock original blend (on sale) and (store-brand) decaf. Whew, now I am done.

(An aside: You notice that Dan and I purchase store-brand items as much as possible. The quality is just as good as the name brands and they cost less. We generally don’t buy name brands unless it is on sale or it’s a specific item that they don’t have a store-brand equivalent (such as the ramen noodles.) – PDB)

So, papabear gets into the register queue, puts down the order divider, and starts loading things on the belt. Where is Dan, might you ask? I see him over by the health and beauty aisle, talking to someone familiar. I push it out of my mind for the moment, because I am more involved with checking out, bagging the groceries, and paying for it all. Once that is done, I wheel everything out to the Compass, pop the hatch (I have my own key fob,) and load the groceries and the bottled water in the ass end (just a little automotive Tetris, newbie level, not warehouse-club-stock-up-for-the-apocalypse-level.)

Once the load-out is done, I secure the Compass and walk back into the store, and corral Dan. I was going to chastise him, but then I recognized the woman that Dan was talking to. It was our friend Ginny, and one of her sons. She used to work with Dan at the hospital, and she was at our wedding fourteen years ago. Since we haven’t seen each other in a while, we shot the shit for a bit and then we had to get home. I won’t bore you with the details of unloading the Compass and putting everything away (you’ve seen this movie before.)

So we have a few hours to kill, so we usually do the same shit that we usually do, which is me on my dual-monitor workstation ingesting the news and political shit on YouTube, and Dan is in the living room playing either r/slash videos on YouTube, or a Tetris clone, all the while RuPaul’s Drag Race is on the big screen.

So, going out to dinner. I heard about this Chinese/seafood buffet on Facebook, and I suggested to Dan that we should try it. So, I pulled on my gray Carhartt hoodie (one of the perks of working for BCI, they never went bargain basement on the clothing that they gave us) because the temperature was going down and topped it off with my camo BCI hat. Off in the Compass we go for the fifteen minute drive to Destiny USA. Since we’re in the car, what does papabear do (mind you, I ate a couple more gummies and drank a can of cannabis-laced soda before we left) when he and Dan are in close proximity to each other? Care to venture a guess?

Yeah, papabear starts going off on politics. The main subject…Pete Hegseth (aka Kegsbreath, aka the poster boy for roid rage) and how utterly unqualified he is to run the Department of Defense (or WAR, as he likes to call it.) Given that the House and the Senate have shifted blue, the odds that Hegseth will be impeached is high, especially since Representative Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) introduced articles of impeachment. (Lets just say that Kegsbreath has pissed off a LOT of people on both sides of the aisle.) (Another aside: If Trump gives Hegseth a preemptive pardon, it does not shield him from impeachment.)

The conversation is cut short as we arrive at the mall, park the Compass, and then go to the skybridge that goes over Hiawatha Boulevard to the mall itself. While we are walking across, I look at all the screens suspended from the ceiling blaring advertisements, (they’re pushing IKEA pretty hard,) and comment to Dan that we are pretty close to a “Brave New World” scenario. (You can blame my love of science fiction, dear readers.) So, we reach the mall itself, go to the nearest directory (touch screen, mind you,) and locate the restaurant. (Ain’t technology grand?) An escalator ride down one level, a short walk, and we’re there.

The restaurant…well, it’s pretty much the standard Chinese buffet, but with a heavy seafood component. One thing that was…well…glaring was the décor. Now, when I go to a Chinese buffet, I expect a certain décor. You expect Asian themed artwork, Chinese calligraphy, soft Asian music in the background. Nope, not here, not a fucking chance. For one thing, there were dolphins all over the place, SILVER FUCKING DOLPHINS! Like, some bright boy used CRISPR to splice the DNA from The Silver Surfer into dolphin embryos, and this is the end result. Mind you, I don’t mind dolphins, as a matter of fact I think that they are magnificent highly intelligent creatures. But silver dolphins? Yikes! And the music…some sort of techno stuff that I didn’t recognize (my techno tastes run more to Kraftwerk.) Yeah, papabear had a little bit of sensory overload. (Focus Dean, focus.)

I’m not a big seafood eater (I’ll make exceptions for deep-fried haddock, scallops, and clams) but the sushi bar caught my eye. Once were seated and our drink orders taken (Starry lemon-lime soda for Dan, hot tea for me,) off to the sushi I went. I hadn’t had sushi in a while, but I knew what I liked (California roll mainly.) So I grabbed what I wanted, then looked for the wasabi. Found it, and took a little dish of it with me. Papabear forgot one thing…WASABI CLEARS OUT YOUR SINUSES! (Oops.) The rest of the food actually was pretty good, and they had steamed buns with black bean filling which thrilled me. The rest of the meal was spent eating and of course, papabear going on about politics. Then dessert…there was a green cake with a vanilla icing I suppose, and another that looked like flaky pastry layered with cream…okay I will try them. The green cake, I would think that it would be matcha flavor, but nope. Just cake with green food coloring. The flaky pastry was exactly what it was, flaky pastry layered with cream. Now, since the pandemic, the buffets have been moving away from self-serve ice cream, and more to prepackaged single serve. But I found the diamond in the rough…Scooter Crunch Bar! That made my evening. Once we are done and I settle the bill, we venture back into the proto-dystopian temple of consumption and commerce. I ask Dan if he would like to stroll around a bit, and he says yes.

Now, when I am in this state of mind, I become some sort of grade-B cultural commentator who thinks he is like Henry Rollins. Game on. Snark is online and fully charged. Targeting system online. Target lock…HOT TOPIC. Dan and I go in, and all I had to say was…HOLY SHIT! When did Hot Topic become so dark/goth? I remember when it was more light and humorous. Is it a reflection of how the younger generations feel right now? It even bothered Dan. I said, “Well, if I ever go goth, I’ll know where to shop.” Dan just said, “Yeah right, uh-huh.” (Yeah, Dan knows when I am full of shit. – PDB)

Onward! So we stroll some more, and I point out how many storefronts are empty, a sure indication that the economy is kind of fucked at the moment…prices rise, people have to cut back and concentrate on the basics such as food, housing, health care, utilities. No disposable income. Next thing you know, “store going out of business” signs. (To quote Number Six in Battlestar Galactica, “All this has happened before and will happen again.” Ummmmm, should I lay off the science fiction references? – PDB) I have never seen less traffic on a Friday night than tonight.

Let’s keep moving…and we run across a mall mainstay. Spensers. Had a pretty eclectic collection of gifts to choose from. I remember when they were the exclusive retailer of LavaLamps. Now, whoa! It’s become more…sexual. They had the usual pop culture t-shirts, (Dan pointed out a couple of House, M.D. shirts, because I can be a bit like him at times.) Venture deeper in the store, and it goes a little out there…novelty lingerie and jewelry, actual phallic shaped candy, a beer bong funnel with the end being…well…phallic. (Yikes!) And there were t-shirt racks, and it had some of the rudest things on them that I would never add to my collection of my shirts. (I have two, count them two shirts that are rude, one of them has been seen on Facebook and YouTube, but I would never wear them in public. – PDB) I pointed them out to Dan and he said, “Yeah…right.” (Which is Dan-speak for “That is fucked up,” which only said in the privacy of our car or home.) So we exit Spensers, and head back into the mall. More walking, and we get to the end of the mall where Macy’s is anchored. Up the escalator to the second level, and we start walking back the way we came. While walking back, Dan spied out of his little eye…Yankee Candle, another mall mainstay. Ooookay, I know where we are going, we’re like the Enterprise being pulled in by a Borg tractor beam..resistance is futile, y’know? (Oh come on, you know I couldn’t resist putting in a Star Trek reference. – PDB) It’s changed a lot since I have been there, lots more different candle types. The salesperson actually helped us pick out scents that would be good for our kitchen. We start going back because we’re getting a little tired. We pass by the Apple store, and it’s like nope, AMD Ryzen 5/Windows 11, and Android for me. We continue our walk back, all the time me making snarky (and sometimes profane) comments about the stores we pass (and Dan giving me “the look” when he thinks my comments go a little too far.) So, we make it back to the skybridge, down the escaltor to ground level, and get back to the Compass.

The drive back home is more or less a repeat of the trip down, getting into political discussion. The topic this time was Susie Wiles resigning as Trump’s chief-of-staff, and Stephen Miller being elevated to the post, which is what he really wanted, unfettered access to Trump without Wiles running interference. (There are too many theories floating around about this, such as Wiles was pushed out, she stepped down for her health (because she is a cancer survivor,) or she just got sick of the bullshit (mainly Miller and Natalie Harp doing an end run around her to get to Trump,) and said “fuck it I am out of here.”) But then, he has to contend with the Natalie Harp factor. Trump is obsessed with her because she uses her sycophantic devotion to make him feel good (which aggravates both Melania and Ivanka to no end.)

Let’s face it everyone, this little internecine war that is happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is going to get weirder and worse. The Democrats taking both the House and the Senate more than likely has thrown Trump into a mental tailspin, and who knows what the fuck he is going to do next?

Stay informed, folks. Stay vigilant.

-30-

(c) 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr. all rights reserved.

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More Retail Therapy for PapaDeanBear, and assorted thoughts. (September 8, 2026)

Note, the events described took place on September 5, 2026

Part 1: Pregaming retail therapy

Going out for some more retail therapy with the hubby…we actually blocked out some time, but I had a few things to do first. One, clip digital coupons for the warehouse club that we go to. (Note: The hubby and I have been getting a little paranoid lately because of all the problems in America, the Ukraine, and the Middle East. We have been not hoarding, per se…but going overstock on certain things we need just in case we need to hunker down. Canned items, cleaning supplies, emergency freeze-dried food, batteries, and so on.) Okay, coupons digitally clipped…if there is something that we need when we see it, I can search with my phone and see if there is a coupon for it (and clip it right then and there.) I print out the coupon list on our Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet Pro 9015 printer (which Dan bought without my input, he just went with HP because I said so,) staple it together with a Swingline desktop stapler (in beige, not red sadly. Big “Office Space” fan here,) and go on to the next step. (While this is going on, I am consuming cannabis gummies and cannabis-infused cola, this is important later in the narrative. I have social anxiety on top of a mild case of agoraphobia, and cannabis helps me deal with it. – PDB) On to part 2.

Part 2: Papabear’s ablutions

Now that the clipping is done, it’s time to make Papabear presentable. I usually go a couple of days between showers, given that I am pretty much home most of the time now. (That goes into my sense of paranoia that I have been feeling given all the news that has flooded the airwaves and the Internet. I’ll come back to that in a bit.) Into the shower my fat ass goes. (Stop imagining me naked, you pervs!) I had to unwrap another bar of Irish Spring (my soap of choice) because I wanted to get clean. Hot water always. Scrub my body, get the stink off. Next, rinse my mouth out with Walmart store brand cool mint Listerine. Then, the pièce de résistance…shampoo. Now this fat old man has been growing his hair out for a long time…and I have been wearing a big beard on and off for the past 31 years. Suave 2-in-1 for men, I don’t waste fucking time (it goes back to before I retired from BCI, and would have to get up at 3:15 am to get ready to be at work at 5:00 am.) A nice hot shower is one of the simplest pleasures you should NEVER deny yourself, and it gets you in a good frame of mind. The cleansing complete, it’s time to dry off and gear up. Safety orange Buckeye Corrugated t-shirt (used to get them for free every year before I retired, and they didn’t cheap out on them.) Black Stanley rip-stop work shorts, held up by black suspenders (my pants slip down if I wear a belt.) White AND1 ankle socks and my black Sketchers Slip-Ins (damn, they’re comfortable.) (And no, I did NOT go “commando,” I wore underwear. Pervs.) Then to accessorize. Casio WaveCeptor watch on left wrist, wallet in my back pocket, keys and vape in my right front pocket, smartphone (Galaxy S20 5G) in my left pocket. (Trust me, having a smartphone is necessary when shopping with Dan. I swear to fucking god, he has the ability to conjure up a wormhole and transport himself and the cart to another section of the store. Usually I will call him, and politely ask where he is. If I am pissed off though, then I text him “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU???” Tie my hair back? Nah, I channel my inner hippy and let the hair flow. And a hat of course, it was between my camo BCI hat, and my denim bear paw (in pride colors) hat. The bear paw won out. On to part 3.

Part 3: The Trip To The Wholesale Club

Now that I am clean and fit for human consumption, it’s time to go to the warehouse club (oh alright, I will tell you which one it is, and it ain’t Costco (although I like going there also.)) Don’t snicker, don’t laugh…it’s BJ’s Wholesale Club. (And your filthy minds just kicked in. Pervs. Stop watching “Beavis & Butthead.) I climb into the Compass in the passenger side and Dan starts the car and drops it into drive. (Note, at this time the cannabis that I consumed earlier is starting to kick in, and I become a bit more…loquacious. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. – PDB)

Because of the Interstate 81 viaduct/clusterfuck that is ongoing, Dan decided to take the long way around to East Syracuse (where the warehouse club is located,) which is to pick up Interstate 481 (which will become part of 81 when the viaduct becomes fully operational) and go the long way around to pick up Interstate 690, which will take us to the Bridge Street exit that the warehouse club is located on. Basically, 11 miles from where we live. I ask Dan to change the satellite radio to the 70’s station, because a Michael Jackson song came on, and we both are sick of hearing him on the 80’s channel. (Nothing against him per se, just that we’re both sick of hearing his music on constant rotation on the 80’s channel. Way to go, SiriusXM.) But like we usually do, we make conversation. About what? Usually I drive the conversation in the car, and for the past few years it usually winds up being about politics. I tend to keep up with politics a lot more than Dan does (you can thank MeidasTouch, Michael Popok, Jack Cocchiarella, Brian Tyler Cohen, and David Pakman for that.) I’ve become downright obsessive about keeping politically aware since Trump’s first term. Basically, I caught Dan up with the latest efforts of Trump to fuck with mail-in voting and being slapped down by The Supremes time and time again, even though the court skews conservative (which in Trump’s addled mind means that they’re in his pocket.) Oh, and we talk about Pete Kegbreath (oops Hegseth) and his efforts to “reshape” the military. (Like getting rid of *qualified* military officers, because they expose all his shortcomings as a leader.) Okay, enough of that…we’re at BJ’s (stop the goddamn snickering, you pervs.)

Part 4: Finally, At The Wholesale Club!

The objective has been reached…and we step into a clusterfuck. Parking lot filled, the cart corral is seriously down in available carts. We get a cart, and step into what I can call “retail paradise.” No glaring neon, the only noise is emanating from the MASSIVE HDTV displays. (Dan looks at me and says one word… “No.” He knew I was looking at the 85” OLED sets.) There was a display for Tide detergent pods, and sure enough I had a coupon for it. Game on. On the last BJ’s run, I had purchased AA and AAA batteries. Since the in-store coupon was still valid, I purchased C and D cells. You never know when you need them. The next hour was an exercise in “do we need it,” and the answer is usually “yes.” Now, given that our rug-wearing, fake spray-tan, narcissist who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue decided to get into a pissing match with our neighbors to the north over tariffs and considering that the majority of our paper products are made with Canadian timber, Dan and I both agreed that we should double our stocks of paper towels and toilet paper just to be prudent. And of course, I had store coupons for them. Berkley-Jensen (BJ’s store brand) and Charmin.  (We both remembered the run on towels and TP during the pandemic, and the “prepper persona” kicked in at that moment and we both decided it would be prudent to stock up on the paper products and batteries. – PDB) Next up, cleaning supplies. More laundry detergent, more Oxi-Clean, more Palmolive dish detergent (it softens hands while you do dishes.) Once we collected all the non-food items we need, we move on to the grocery section, which is my favorite part of shopping here. Dan picks up a package of boneless and skinless chicken breasts (he divides them up and individually wraps them and then puts them in the chest freezer that we have downstairs in the cellar.) Better With Cheddar sausages, and a two pound tub of cottage cheese (my choices.) Single-serve packages of Frito-Lay snacks in a 30 pack. Same thing with cookies, normally I would grab a couple of party size packages of Oreos at Wallyworld or Price Chopper, but this time it was Fig Newtons and Lorna Doone shortbread cookies. (I’ve been restricting myself in terms of snacks, and portion control is the way to go.) 8-pack of diced tomatoes, an 8-pack of Amy’s Organics lentil and vegetable lentil soups (mainly because I like lentil soup and of course, I have a coupon for it.) And Dan then reminds me about the coffee, and since I have coupon for Maxwell House (not a coffee snob here) in the cart it goes. Now we’re getting into the personal care (what used to be called health and beauty aids) section of the store, and the only thing on the list is body wash, (Dan prefers it over bar soap.) But then I spy with my astigmatic eye…DARK CHOCOLATE SEA SALT CARAMELS! (Oh yeah, Papabear is gonna get those!) Now to the checkout. The one thing that Dan is adamant about is going to a regular checkout, and not the self-scan. (I have no problem with it, but we did have a rather full cart.) Checkout goes smoothly, and then the final total comes up: $424.00. Another chunk outta my Visa card (it’s not a credit card, it’s a debit card. I don’t buy things unless I have the cash available to cover it.) Now to play automotive Tetris, which means put everything into the ass end of the Compass. Didn’t put the seats down this time, because we didn’t have a lot of bulky stuff aside from the paper products which went in the back seat.

And we get to the final chapter in this retail therapy post:

Part 5: The Trip Home and Subsequent Unpacking

The trip home was a little different. Instead of going Interstate 481, we take Interstate 690 to the exit that is on our way home. More talk about politics in general. I pop a couple of Altoids in my mouth, take some hits off my vape (nicotine, not cannabis) and just have a leisurely drive home. But the challenge is yet to come…unloading the Compass. First step, unlock the front door. Second step, locate the orange and white menace and restrict him to one room (usually it’s the upstairs half-bath but in this case it was Dan’s bedroom.) Final step, prop the front doors open so we can move things from the car to the house efficiently. (The reason I restricted BeBe to one room, that way he doesn’t get underfoot and/or try to escape through the front door. Also, we have to move things down to the cellar and he has a tendency to sneak downstairs when we aren’t looking, and then I have to shake the container of Temptations (a cat treat) to lure him back upstairs.) Finally, we can relax. I get a cup of decaf from the Keurig, park my ass in front of my workstation, finish the cigar that I had going before we went shopping, and log in and catch up with our world in crisis.

Part 6: The Final Synopsis

Why am I writing this? Well, we all have to have coping mechanisms in these uncertain times. Mine is writing (always have been a bit of a literary bastard, and besides, I took writing courses when I was in college.) Dan has needlepoint, and he listens to r/slash on YouTube. We both have shopping, making sure that we are prepared when the shit really hits the fan. I am starting to believe that when it does, it won’t be an outside enemy that precipitates having to bug out at a moment’s notice, but civil unrest that will cause everyone to hunker down and ride it out. That is what I have been prepping for, and I managed to get Dan on board with it.

Again, I may be reading too much in the current state of this fragile world we live it, but with the current leadership (what a fucking joke) we have right now, a president who is trying to remake Washington into a replica of his shithole in Mar-A-Lago, a secretary of defense who has the position because HE LOOKS GOOD ON TV, a FBI director who couldn’t investigate himself out of a paper bag, and has his own brand of booze (shades of Trump Vodka anyone) and an attorney general who constantly drags his feet in regards to the Epstein files and complying with court orders. And now that we have a populous that is getting sick and tired of all the fucking shenanigans coming out of Washington, which has been reflected in polling numbers across the political spectrum that show that the American public in general is pretty sick and fucking tired of the constantly changing rhetoric that indicative of a president who DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HE IS DOING!

Okay, that is all I have to report on, basically retail therapy is just another escape from the shitty world that we are currently experiencing. Or is it? PapaDeanBear, signing off for now.

– 30 –

(c) 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (August 11, 2026)


PapaDeanBear’s Monday…Retail Therapy, New Kicks, Watch Service, Dinner, and my Orange and White Menace.

The hubby and I headed to the temple of retail hell (aka DestinyUSA) that has pretty much become the domed city from “Logan’s Run.” (There is no sanctuary.)

But papabear digresses…first up, new shoes.

The ones that I have are a little worse for wear, so I got some Sketchers Slip-Ins which have Goodyear soles for slip resistance, (which they actively market to senior citizens such as myself.) Next, some sandals. Again, Sketchers. I found a pair that I liked and was pretty close to the ones that I had a while back and I wore out. 133 dollars spent

.

(The new kicks)

Next, the watch.

This watch basically has sentimental value. It’s a Casio WaveCeptor analog watch with a small LCD display that shows the date. I have had this watch since 2006, when I bought it to replace a Casio DataBank watch that pretty much broke. All I have had to do is replace the battery, and set it when I got home. (I actually have to get the little owner’s manual out because setting it is a little convoluted!) 33 dollars spent.

(My Casio WaveCeptor analog watch)

Finally, the supermarket. The hubby wanted to get a few things for dinner. Family pack of ground beef (he wanted to make meatloaf,) side dishes of my choice (I told him flat out not to bitch about what I chose, in this case was pre-made sides in the meat case.) Picked up milk, bread, eggs, cookies (Classic and Golden Oreos,) and pre-sliced snacking cheese (habanero cheddar and smoked gouda.) 103 dollars spent.

At the end of Papabear’s Retail Therapy, the total came out to 270 dollars.

As for the orange and white menace, he is basically stoned on catnip and was being a goofball, so papabear had to take photos of him.

(BTW, dinner was meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, baked cheese potatoes, and french green beans. – PDB)

-30-

(c) 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (August 6, 2026)

Fucking around with AI

Decided to play with ChatGPT:

create a fictional interview about the wife of a bald, short and skinny deputy chief of staff to the president and how she can’t be sexually satisfied until she sings the praises of a sociopathic malignant narcissist president who expresses joy at cutting social welfare programs because the wrong people might get benefits, and that gives the aforementioned deputy chief of staff a pathetic erection.

*****

Absolutely—here’s a fictional, darkly satirical interview that keeps the sexual element suggestive rather than graphic.

**“He Gets So Excited When They Cut Medicaid”: An Interview With the Wife of the President’s Deputy Chief of Staff**

**INTERVIEWER:** Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. First, how would you describe your husband?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Oh, he’s very loyal.

**INTERVIEWER:** I meant physically.

**MRS. WEXLER:** Oh. Well, he’s short. Very short. Bald. Very skinny. He looks like someone assembled a human being from spare parts and then forgot to add confidence.

**INTERVIEWER:** And yet he’s Deputy Chief of Staff to the President.

**MRS. WEXLER:** That’s the funny part. He has enormous power. He just doesn’t have much else.

**INTERVIEWER:** What do you mean?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Let’s put it this way: my husband can get the President to fire a cabinet secretary before breakfast, but he can’t reach the top shelf without a step stool.

**INTERVIEWER:** How did you two meet?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He was working on the President’s first campaign. He came home one night absolutely glowing because the President had spent twenty minutes explaining that poor people were ruining America by receiving government benefits.

**INTERVIEWER:** That was romantic?

**MRS. WEXLER:** For him? Apparently.

**INTERVIEWER:** What happened?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He told me, *“You should have heard him. He was so happy.”*

**INTERVIEWER:** Happy?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Ecstatic. Apparently the President had discovered that someone somewhere had received $38 in food assistance while technically owning a used automobile.

**INTERVIEWER:** And that excited your husband?

**MRS. WEXLER:** You have never seen a man become so enthusiastic about fiscal policy.

**INTERVIEWER:** How does this affect your marriage?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I have learned that romance, for my husband, is largely ideological.

**INTERVIEWER:** Explain.

**MRS. WEXLER:** There are certain things I have to say.

**INTERVIEWER:** Such as?

**MRS. WEXLER:** That the President is a genius. That nobody understands economics like he does. That cutting food assistance will somehow make America prosperous. That people who need housing assistance are probably scammers. That the President’s instincts are always correct.

**INTERVIEWER:** You have to say these things?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Not *have to*. But if I don’t, he becomes distracted.

**INTERVIEWER:** Distracted?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He starts staring at the television. Then he’ll sigh and say, “The President is surrounded by idiots.”

**INTERVIEWER:** And that ruins the mood?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Completely.

**INTERVIEWER:** So what happens when you praise the President?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Suddenly my husband is paying attention again.

**INTERVIEWER:** How enthusiastic are we talking?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Let’s just say that when the President announces another round of cuts to social programs, my husband develops a remarkable spring in his step.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s a delicate way of putting it.

**MRS. WEXLER:** I’m a delicate woman.

**INTERVIEWER:** Do you actually admire the President?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Absolutely not.

**INTERVIEWER:** Yet you praise him.

**MRS. WEXLER:** I also tell my husband that the casserole he makes is delicious.

**INTERVIEWER:** And it isn’t?

**MRS. WEXLER:** It tastes like drywall mixed with regret.

**INTERVIEWER:** What does your husband say about the President in private?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He calls him a transformational leader.

**INTERVIEWER:** Does he believe that?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I don’t know. I think he believes that being physically close to power makes him powerful by osmosis.

**INTERVIEWER:** Does the President know about your husband’s… enthusiasm?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Oh, the President knows everything.

**INTERVIEWER:** Everything?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He once walked into a meeting and said, “Wexler, you’re looking very happy today.”

**INTERVIEWER:** What did your husband say?

**MRS. WEXLER:** “Thank you, Mr. President.”

**INTERVIEWER:** And was he?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Let’s just say I had to listen to another twenty-minute lecture about welfare fraud that evening.

**INTERVIEWER:** Is there anything that turns your husband off?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Compassion.

**INTERVIEWER:** Seriously?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Absolutely. Once, during dinner, I mentioned that a single mother might actually need assistance to feed her children.

**INTERVIEWER:** What happened?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He put down his fork.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s it?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He said, “Don’t start.”

**INTERVIEWER:** And you did?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I asked him whether he thought the President might be wrong about something.

**INTERVIEWER:** How did that go?

**MRS. WEXLER:** We ate dinner in silence.

**INTERVIEWER:** Final question. If you could change one thing about your husband, what would it be?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I’d make him approximately eight inches taller.

**INTERVIEWER:** Why?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Because then, at least, when he stood next to the President on television, viewers might mistake him for an actual adult.

**INTERVIEWER:** And if you could change one thing about the President?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I’d give him a conscience.

**INTERVIEWER:** Does your husband know you feel that way?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Of course.

**INTERVIEWER:** What happens when you tell him?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He gets very quiet.

**INTERVIEWER:** And then?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I tell him the President is a historic genius.

**INTERVIEWER:** And then?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He smiles.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s it?

**MRS. WEXLER:** That’s marriage.

*****

now add some digs about the size of his member and have her describe it’s length, thickness, and how long he can stay erect

*****

I can keep the joke going with non-graphic sexual innuendo, but I can’t provide explicit measurements or detailed descriptions of his genitals or sexual performance.

**INTERVIEWER:** You mentioned your husband’s physical shortcomings. How does he fare in other departments?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Oh, let’s not pretend the man was issued an impressive set of equipment.

**INTERVIEWER:** Meaning?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He’s a very small man with a very large opinion of himself. I’ll let your readers draw their own conclusions.

**INTERVIEWER:** Is his confidence justified?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Let’s just say that his ego has considerably more girth than anything else he’s bringing to the marriage.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s a fairly brutal assessment.

**MRS. WEXLER:** You haven’t seen him standing beside the President during a press conference. The President is talking about dismantling the social safety net, and my husband looks like he’s just been handed the keys to a Ferrari.

**INTERVIEWER:** So the President’s policies are more stimulating to him than anything else?

**MRS. WEXLER:** I’m afraid so.

**INTERVIEWER:** How long does that enthusiasm last?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Oh, not long. He’s a government employee, after all. Even his excitement seems to have a budget ceiling.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s cruel.

**MRS. WEXLER:** Marriage is cruel. Marriage is looking at the man you love and thinking, *“That’s it? That’s the entire package?”*

**INTERVIEWER:** What happens when the President announces another benefit cut?

**MRS. WEXLER:** My husband suddenly stands taller.

**INTERVIEWER:** Even though he’s short?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Especially because he’s short.

**INTERVIEWER:** And when the President praises him?

**MRS. WEXLER:** He becomes insufferable. You’d think he’d personally negotiated the Magna Carta.

**INTERVIEWER:** What’s the secret to keeping him happy?

**MRS. WEXLER:** Tell him the President is brilliant, tell him poor people are probably gaming the system, and never, ever suggest that the man in the Oval Office might be wrong.

**INTERVIEWER:** That’s quite a prescription.

**MRS. WEXLER:** It has fewer side effects than marriage counseling.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (March 29, 2026)

Papabear had a bit of a crisis…

Let’s just say up front, I am only relating this as a way for all of you to get a little glimpse into papabear’s life. (Bear with me, it gets interesting. – PapaDeanBear)

Yesterday, the house was a bit of a madhouse. My husband had volunteered to do the main course for a spaghetti dinner for our local senior LGBTQ+ organization, SAGEUpstate (link at the end.) Well, in all the madness of moving stuff from our kitchen to the car, our orange and white menace 🐱slipped out. We didn’t notice at the time.

I actually went to the spaghetti dinner later on (had to Uber, goddamnit) to help the hubby with cleanup and loading the car with leftovers and unused canned tomato products and pasta. So my darling hubby and I get back from it, unload the car, and get settled for the night.

The next day, I am looking around for my boy, and I can’t find him. I ask Dan (my husband) if he has seen the cat, and of course he says “Don’t worry about it, he’ll turn up.” (Fuck you very much for your reassurance.) So I am sick with worry. I love my furbabies, they are family.

So, I go through out the day doing things to distract myself, try to dispel my mental agony, like watching some of my favorite YouTube channels. So, I am basically trying to distract myself and failing, and my despair worsens.

About an hour ago (as of this writing,) my hubby barges into my den, and sure as shit, he has the orange and white menace in his arms. What happened was, Dan had taken the house horse (our Great Dane) outside to go potty (we have a fenced in back yard) and she went and chased away a feral cat that was stalking the birds that congregated around the bird feeder. He went to get her to bring her in, and sure enough the goddamn cat was sitting there behind the garage.

Suffice it to say, this cranky, cigar-smoking old man broke down in tears knowing that my boy is safe.

If any of you are an LGBTQ+ senior citizen, here is the link to SAGEUpstate:
https://www.sageupstate.org/

(And my boy’s name is BeBe, short for Butterball. He is a bit of a chonk. The house horse’s name is Della. – PDB)

-30-

© 2026, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.



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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (December 23, 2025)

Papabear here, and the suppression of the truth is in full swing at CBS, Bari Weiss (who was hand picked by David Ellison (and his daddy the oligarch Larry Ellison) and Donald Trump) has thrown away any impartiality of a once revered news organization (CBS used to be called The Tiffany Network because they had very high standards when reporting on current events) and has, along with Fox News and all the other right leaning outlets, have become basically a state-sponsored propaganda machine. There are independent media sources who actually report the truth instead of the bullshit that the Trump administration wants us to swallow. Two of the best examples are MeidasTouch (although Ben Meiselas needs to slow down a bit and get some real rest else he is gonna work himself into a stroke,) and The Young Turks (where one of the hosts, Cenk Uygur was threatened with deportation by Katie Miller (wife of the idiot/alleged fascist Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller) on dipshit Piers Morgan’s podcast.) So, here is the report that CBS suppressed, but has seen the light of day thanks to Global TV in Canada. Sure enough, it’s hit YouTube in the US thanks to Cory Booker (https://www.youtube.com/@CoryBooker.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiehEMlNiCI&t=28s


Merry Christmas, everyone.
PapaDeanBear

-30-

(c) 2025, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (September 14, 2025)

Hello Dystopian America!

Here’s the NEWS!

Brian Kilmeade makes a statement on “Fox & Friends” that mentally ill homeless who refuse to get off the streets and/or help or treatment should be euthanized by lethal injection. Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolph Hitler proceeded to exterminate 250,000 mentally ill/disabled people.

His words: “Or involuntary lethal injection or something — just kill ’em.”

After walking back his statement, he doesn’t get punished by Fox News.

Matthew Dowd, a political analyst for MSNBC made this statement about Charlie Kirk while talking with MSNBC anchor Katy Tur:

“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”

BOOM! Immediate termination by the higher-ups at MSNBC. And this is happening while Comcast is preparing to spin off MSNBC as a separate network, and controversy and antagonizing the government would make that impossible.

Gee, sounds like shades of Stephen Colbert getting shitcanned right before the Paramount/CBS-Skydance Media merger, which was pretty much orchestrated by Donald Trump because he controls the FCC, ergo the broadcast licenses of the CBS O&O (owned and operated) television stations.

(And if you have been watching Colbert, you have seen him just push everything to the limit on his show, because they cancelled him and they can’t do a goddamn thing about what he puts on short of pulling the plug and having Colbert sit out the rest of his contract.)

Is the mainstream media running scared? You’re goddamn right they are. And this is the first step in the slide to an authoritarian regime, control the media to control the narrative. Then they can feed the public any kind of bullshit that that they can dream up in their twisted little minds.

(I wrote a blog post in August 2021 about a weird fucking dream I had that sort of touched on the dystopian nightmare that we have now.)

https://deanbasler.com/2021/08/14/a-curmudgeons-viewpoint-august-14-2021/

Trump is sickly, mentally ill, and delusional. All this bullshit that he does such as paving over the Rose Garden to make it look like his shithole “resort” in Florida, building a new ballroom at the White House, because “the American people want it.” NO WE FUCKING DON’T!

What do Americans in general want? Affordable groceries. Affordable housing. Health care without restrictions. Being able to worship in their own way. Being able to love someone openly regardless of gender.

What have we gotten?

An attorney general (Pam Bondi) who just parrots whatever rises to to the surface of Trump’s adderal-fueled pea brain.

A communications director (Steven Cheung) who looks like the rotting corpse of the Pillsbury Doughboy who also parrots whatever rises to to the surface of Trump’s adderal-fueled pea brain.

A deputy chief of staff (Stephen Miller) who at the base is a self-hating Jew and chief architect of the Trump administration (Joseph Goebbels reincarnated?)

A FBI director who has no fucking clue how to run the FBI (Kash Patel) and can’t provide a straight answer when he is grilled by Congress. Not to mention his deputy (Dan Bongino, who does have law enforcement experience) who was more concerned with being a media personality than a law enforcement official. (And was slammed by former colleagues in the Secret Service as basically a grandstander.)

A White House press secretary (Karoline Leavitt) who is basically nothing more than eye candy for Trump and just keeps broken-record-ing the same shit over and over when grilled by the White House press pool.

And to top it all off, a sociopathic businessman (Elon Musk) who was brought in to “improve efficiency and reduce costs” in government, but according to projections, will potentially increase the deficit to $2.6 TRILLION by fiscal year 2035.

And to top it all off, there is the main man himself, DJT (and his demented Tattoo JDV, Fantasy Island anyone?) constantly changing the fucking goal line because he is a superficial sociopathic malignant narcissistic unhealthy sack of shit who shoves his tongue so far up the assholes of strongmen and dictators that Febreeze should be carried by his protective detail to mitigate the shit-smell that comes out of his mouth when he speaks.

Am I fucking scared? Yes! I am fucking scared! The current administration is turning against anyone who isn’t white, straight, Christian, and greedy.

There are signs of life in the American political landscape, though. The MAGA base is starting to show cracks in the foundation, as the tariffs and hardline ICE crackdowns are destroying trust in the government. Governors of states (JB Pritzker in Illinois mainly) are telling Trump to NOT send the National Guard into cities to “assist” law enforcement like they did in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. (As of this writing, Trump has backed off Chicago and is now saying that he is going to send the National Guard to Memphis, TN to “combat rampant crime.”)

Also, there is independent media that should be watched and read, such as Mother Jones and The MeidasTouch Network. Sure, the mass media is good at shoving the big picture at you, but they are driven by advertising dollars. They don’t want your attention to stray from the pretty flickering picture box with all the ads blasting their audio at you in Dolby Atmos.

Okay, I got a bit verbose again (blame the cannabis sativa gummies, cigars, and dark roast coffee) so I am going to wrap this up by saying:

VOTE IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS! I think that there will be a larger turnout than in the general election that brought Trump back to power, because the vox populi have seen what has happened over the past eight months. If public sentiment is any indication, both the House and the Senate can be swung over to the left, and act as a check valve on whatever bullshit Trump can dream up in the remainder of his term.

I am Dean Basler, and I support (and also wrote) this message.

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(c) 2025, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.

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A Curmudgeon’s Viewpoint (September 9, 2025)

Madness Is The New Normal

There is something that I have been noticing on my Facebook feed…since Trump started his second term, I have been noticing a drop in pro-Trump posts from people in my friends list. Is the fact that Trump has created turmoil with his blatant racism (i.e. ICE raids where they have NO FUCKING BUSINESS BEING THERE such as courtrooms, schools, and private businesses,) his sucking up to some of the worst dictators in the world, and his isolationist and schizophrenic policies concerning tariffs which has upended the economy and enriched his cronies, has turned pretty much everyone against him (which includes Republicans who used to be pro-Trump.) But the evangelicals that he courted in his first run are sticking with him, despite all the despicable character flaws that he shows.

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(c) 2025, Dean A. Basler Jr., all rights reserved.