I CAN BARELY SUMMON THE WORDS

I feel lucky that I am a sane and flexible humanitarian--otherwise my head might have exploded at some point in the last two weeks.  Where to start?  How about in one of my favorite places--the South:

--Let's start with Mr. Huckabee who, as a born again, has the "right" to tell us members of the tribe what the impact of the Iran deal means for Israel.  He believes it brings Israelis to the door of the ovens.  A not so subtle message regarding the Holocaust.  Why isn't he back in bum fuck Arkansas chewing tobacco and drinking moonshine?  Let's be clear that when the Huckabees of the world join up with the Sheldon Adelson's of the world, they are dangerous.
--Then we have the fine folks of Pensacola and their NASCAR relatives who refuse to put away their confederate flags because it is part of their heritage.  Yup, that racist heritage symbolized by the flag.  That's why given them great praise for removing the flag from state buildings is misguided.  It did not change attitudes.  And with leaders like Cruz, Perry, Huckabee, Graham, and all the rest, we can expect nothing in the way of enlightened leadership.
--Rick Perry would like laws allowing guns to be taken into movie theatres--this in response to the recent murders in Lafayette, Louisiana.  That is a leader telling us his solution.  Even Jindal did not go there.
--Florida, wouldn't you know, leads the country in the incidence of leprosy.  Maybe if the migrant camps in Belle Glade were sanitary and folks there (mainly immigrants, Donald) made a living wage, this could have been avoided.
--Cincinnati being on the border qualifies in my geography as a Southern border town.  No surprise then that the latest in a too long list of white police men killing African American citizens occurred there.  And he lied but ooops he was wearing a video cam which captured the truth.
--One of former Governor Perry's finest (yes a white policeman) arrested an African American who protested a tad too much for him and he sent her off to jail where she committed suicide.  He lied but he also had a video of the incident proving the truth.
--And the Donald may be from New York but he might as well be from the south what with his racist and downright nasty views on immigration.
--Enough--one can only hope that these Republicans will destroy each other.  I secretly hope one of the crazies gets nominated and then we shall see what we are made of.

A right to the belly and a left to the nose--the Hub of the Universe (that would be Boston) got hit twice this week.  First our Olympic bid blew up and fell apart (and this is not about sports).  It is about the vision of what a city can be.  I honestly did not care but I heard one too many whines about "ooh the traffic will be so bad" or "ooh, it will be so disruptive".  I will let Shirley Leung from the Globe summarize this:  "If New York City is the city that never sleeps, Boston has become the city that never lets anything happen".  Right along with that we have our Mayor suing to stop the one casino approved for Eastern Massachusetts.  My take on him is this:  Be careful of anyone who has "reformed" and wants the rest of us to jump on his or her
bandwagon. Mr Brady got the second punch--and again I honestly do not care.  However, I am berserk that some of his fellow NFLers who possess/use drugs, abuse women/children, and drive while impaired get smaller suspensions than he gets for playing with a football (maybe).  Greg Hardy got convicted in a court for god's sake of domestic assault and had his suspension reduced from 10 games to 4.  and don't tell me they are different.  It is the optics, baby--the optics and the values.  And finally this about our fine city.  Saw Trainwreck with Amy Shumer which I loved.  Filmed mainly in NYC which apparently has no problem with offering tax breaks to the film industry.  We have a BIG problem with it and may not continue it.  My response is to refer you to Shirley.

Ends and Odds:
--A kid in a stroller wheeled by the other day (and not an infant--a kid who could clearly walk) with two parents.  Had a helmet on.  Can you please give me a break?
--Braintree, a suburb south of here, had a celebration to say hip hip hooray about the arrival of new wheels for a cannon displayed on its common.  Seriously?
--Globe Metro section this week.  Three articles in order of size.  Smallest about a murder in the city.  Mid size about a cop verbally abusing a driver.  Largest about a "crisis" in the honey bee industry.  Care to discuss priorities?

And finally:  Jon Stewart has only 4 shows left and, if you have seen him this week, you know how much he will be missed.  No sports section since I have said too much and what I did say kicks sports to the curb. I am off to the great towns of Western Massachusetts so you won't hear from me again until school is back in session.  Enjoy your summers. Thanks to A, a reader from the Rockies, I will close with this quote from Fidel in 1973: "The world will talk to us when America has a black president and there is a pope from Latin America".  Nuff said?

Sayonara.