I’ll tell you. I woke up one day and I was an old fuck. Went to the Dr. six or eight weeks ago, had sinus pressure, no congestion, near constant headaches, and my tinnitus was louder than a train. Turns out I had a few things going on.

First, they said my blood pressure was a little high. And a little bell in my head went *ding* I’ve been told that a few times over the years, and as I had to drive to the Dr’s office, a minimum of 25 minutes to an hour, depending on which Dr, I’d tell them “I got behind two slow asses on the way here,” or “I had to drive 50 minutes on the interstate to get here.” I, we, just wrote it off as temporary high blood pressure due to stupid people. But this time I was like, wait a minute, this has been going on a while now. We will circle back around to that.

Dr. informs me I had bronchitis in my left lung. Well whoop tie do! That’s one steroid pack and a round of antibiotics.

Turns out, we had a helluva pollen season this spring. Many people had issues. So did I apparently. But I was super lucky. I have a retracted eardrum. A what? Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either. Turns out, that your Eustachian tubes, when you’ve been subjected to a lot of dust/pollen, can get clogged. Causing a pressure imbalance in your ear. Which in turn causes the ear drum to get sucked inward. Son of a!

So they sent me home, I took my antibiotics and the steroid pack. Was also monitoring my blood pressure, where there aren’t quite as many stupid people. And it’s been running high. Ranging from 150-180 on the high side. I had a follow up visit after a couple of weeks, and I brought them a damn chart showing my blood pressure, three times daily, because I knew that would give them a better picture than a one time check at the office. So now I’m taking a little pill every morning for blood pressure.

The retracted ear drum is still a problem. I can’t go diving with it. Probably shouldn’t fly either, not like that’s likely anyway. But here I sit, spring has done sprung into summer, and my dive rig sits idle in the yard. It’s killing me. From what I’ve read it can take months for a retracted ear drum to pop back into place… Just great.

I can still cut the grass and ride the motorcycle. Do stuff around the house. But dammit man, I feel hog tied and half useless.

I hope y’all are faring well.

…and everyone with half a brain is upset about it. Which is as it should be. Righteous indignation is perfectly appropriate in this situation. This should not be happening in a free country, supposedly governed by our Constitution. Free speech, and honest inquiry should not be infringed.

But let me ask you this, if you or I, or any concerned bystander, witnessing a passel of cops, deputies, troopers, or ICE assholes, committing an obvious case of racist fueled abuse, had the guts to ask them what the hell was going on, what do you think would happen to us?

I’ll tell you what would happen, we would be taken down roughly, handcuffed, thrown in a squad car, and be dragged off to jail. Once there, the “authorities” would piss around about letting you have your phone call, and treat you as a goddamn criminal. Just for having the balls to speak.

Us peons have never enjoyed the courtesies our Senators judges, and wealthy folks enjoy. What we have here is a case of trickle up asshole-ery. The assholes, are no longer respecting the folks who used to live the shielded life, against the kinds of thing we have suffered with on a daily basis. Officer Friendly isn’t so friendly anymore. Officer Friendly was a damn lie from the get go.

I was taught about Officer Friendly in grade school. If you ever had a problem, tell Officer Friendly, he is there to help you. Wonderful book illustrations showing Officer Friendly helping the child. I believed in Officer Friendly.

Then when I actually encountered Officer Friendly, expecting Officer Friendly, he actually turned out to be a real asshole. And damn near every one I’ve met since. I say this a LOT, “you will see a lot of Barney’s before you meet any Andy’s. If you’re half as old as me, you might get that.

What has been happening to our elected officials isn’t new. Not by a long shot. What’s new is, the line of privileged entitlement has been crossed. This is a new level of evil. Brought about by our own Felonious Orange.

I too, am outraged at what’s happening. But there’s a tad of schadenfreude mixed in with my concern. On one hand, it’s actually kind of nice seeing the shoe on the other foot. On the other hand, I do fear where this is heading.

When the revolution needs me, call.