Monday Muckraking

• Well, the world didn't end Wednesday morning.  I followed my planned election night regimen the night prior, expecting to be severely depressed at bedtime, only to find that Providence had intervened.
• I've noted many times that DJT would not have been my choice to carry the 'R' banner, as well as that I believed Joe Biden would've been a better candidate for the 'D' team.
• Will the swamp be drained?  Who knows?  What is certain is that an HRC administration would have only resulted in a more toxic swamp, so at least there's a possibility of reform, a chance that would have been deader than a doornail in four years.
• A few protesters on the left coast are talking the possibility of secession or civil war.  Hyperbole much?    Texas has often been ridiculed vis-á-vis secession talk.  I have noted in the past that in Texas' case, the real secession would not be just our State (though there's something to be said for restoring its 1845 boundaries), but a wide swath of states from the Atlantic and Gulf, through the heartland, joining a couple or more of our Canadian neighbors, eh, with Alaska.
• The electoral map sure looked a lot like what I've described for years.  The notion of California, Oregon - and maybe Washington - starting a civil war by secession is pretty far-fetched, because unless there's a counter-force trying to keep them, it's not really a war, is it?  Still, the mind giggles at the notion of the 1st Oakland Mechanized Division rolling down the interstate in columns of Priuses, tie-dyed troops bearing bongs and salad-shooters, led by General Chelsea...wait for it...Manning.  ;-)
• The Hitachi 3.5 SATA HDD on my desktop PC has apparently expired, forcing me for the time to use my Lenovo tablet for blog-posting.  Oh, bother...  I'm going to ask my IT friend if he has a usable drive for cheap, as I'm not so much interested in getting a new PC.  If I had to, I could use a BT keyboard with the tablet, but still.  I won't try to blog from my phone.
• It's said that Ruger and S&W stocks (the market kind) took a hit, with the spectre of Kommissar Hillary now in the rear-view.  Since retail delivery channels were probably inventory heavy based on the expected election outcome, wonder if bargains will abound for Black Friday and the Christmas buying season?  I have been a .45 fan for a quarter-century, but got a slim/compact 9mm last BF at Academy.   Recent technology advances in the ammo industry have narrowed the performance gap considerably, so I'm contemplating a standard-size 9.  The last one such I owned was in the 1980s.
• Gwen Ifill has died.  I frequently watch the PBS news update at 9:00, which she co-anchored with Judy Woodruff.  Despite the general bias of the news media, her reporting seemed to me as competent and professional as any, and certainly well above such hacks as Chris Matthews and similar others.  Conspicuous by her absence on election night, we now know why.  Godspeed, Ms. Ifill.

What's next?

• In mere hours, we'll know who to gripe about, or who will be griping, for the next four years.

• "Like a drunkard in the night/swingin' left and swingin' right/Republican or Democrat...Don't tell me to take it easy/'cause I've been there, done that."  Henley has a great gift for lyrics and irony.
• A couple of days ago, I noticed one of my headlights was out.  No hay problema, creo que tengo otros en el parts bin.  So I found a new bulb, and yesterday popped the hood to swap it out.  Only. To. Find.  That I needed a 9007 instead of the 9004 bulbs which I had.
• Oh well - all of life's problems should be so simple.
• In case you need a confidence builder/pick-me-up, take this quiz.  If you're over 45, born in America, and miss more than three or four of these, you probably should be flogged on the public square.
• I got a 98%, missing one question because I didn't know who Viola Davis was.  Still don't.  Don't care.
• Last Tuesday I stopped after work at a chicken place named for a fictional sailor.  After waiting about 5-7 minutes while Maria¹ the assistant manager called out a couple orders for the sparsely populated dining room, and Hector¹ clocked back in from his break to work the cash register, I thought some fried fowl might soon be heading home with me.  Then, Cameroon dude¹ walks in, asks/gestures if I've been served or not (I had not, and so said) and Hector proceeds to take his order instead of mine.  I shrugged at Bob¹, the next guy in line, and walked out.  Edit #3: Forgiving as I am, I gave the chicken folks another try tonight, walking out the door with my order in under two minutes.  Even managed to eat my chicken without choking.
• Coming to America, indeed.
• I'm hoping my reruns channel is campaign-free tonight.  Not sure I need any more of the mental masturbation that goes along with all the punditry. Edit: I ran some errands early this evening, getting home to watch my sit-coms as planned, around 8:15.  At that time, I would've agreed with dinglenutz over at the circus blog, that the news outlets are dragging out the results so as to keep eyeballs through the evening.  But as the evening wore on (gratuitous Harvey reference) - it's now a bit past 10:00 - it's looking like a real race.
• A great episode of Carson the other night, from May 15, 1992 - his last week on the air - featured Eastwood, Letterman, and Bob Hope. Edit #2: Carson tonight had a St. Elsewhere-era Howie Mandel on the show.  Mandel was über zany - I think Johnny genuinely didn't know what to make of him.

¹ Not necessarily their actual names