I have been so wrapped up in the release of my book that things have piled up on my desk and I appreciate you letting me clean some things off.
My book has finally been released in both paperback and electronically via Kindle on Amazon. Just go to www.Amazon.com and enter the book title, The Smartest Generation, and it will magically appear.
Thank you all, who have read it already, for your kind words. It feels pretty weird to be a published author after thinking about it for so many years. Sales are about what we expected. As of last night I have cracked the top 663,500 rank for total books and am already in the top 26,000 on Kindle Memoirs.
I am waiting for my publicist to schedule my appearance on either the C-Span 47 show, About Books, or Jimmy Kimmel Live. As a new, semi-celebrity, I have a ton of questions so I talked with my cousin the long time writer/producer in Hollywood for his advice.
I asked him, as a semi-celebrity, do I need to also wear my sunglasses inside my own house? He replied that yes in fact I must always wear them, even at night, and that I now must put up many more mirrors too. Great advice and I'm sure I will be reaching out to him with many more questions.
Yesterday, an old friend, from high school and college, called and, unlike a former President, he finally conceded that he was done with the beloved Cubs. He had been sending me a text every day that the Cubs won counting down to the 81 win total that he predicted at the beginning of the year.
I had been steadfast in reminding him that they were going to be lucky to win 70 games and yesterday he finally came to his senses. Well, about the Cubs anyway. He still has other issues we won't get into here. This team might be record breaking and for a franchise that has come to represent losing that is saying something.
The White Sox are in free fall also and look like they may not make the playoffs which would be the upset of the season. There is very little to be excited about for baseball fans in the second city right now.
The important news, however, is that it is only going to get worse. Nearly everyone connected with the NFL in any capacity, from the guy who carries fourteen balls to the kickers on the back field, to any hall of famer who is still alive is predicting the Bears to be the worst team in the NFL this season.
I smell a number one overall draft pick that they will screw up and the lifetime of mediocrity will go on. Fans already know that even though they are putting themselves in a great position to turn things around with some top draft choices, they will find a way to pick the wrong guys.
But wait, it gets better. Once the season starts and everyone realizes that the Bears are unwatchable, the Blackhawks will be rolling out their mess over on West Madison. Another team in Chicago who could not figure out how to sustain a winning team going forward.
Why can teams like the Minnesota Twins, the St. louis Cardinals, the Tampa Bay Rays, and on and on always figure out how to stay near the top of the pack every season with the limited resources they have and the teams in a major market like Chicago can't win two decades in a row, forget about two years in a row.?
It is going to be a long cold winter for sports in the big city.
Speaking of messes, let's talk trust in the police in America. It is easy fodder for conservative taking heads and politicians to slap around anyone that dares say anything negative about the police. I get it. There are 99.9% of the police out there that are doing a wonderful and brave job of protecting us all and we should thank them every day for their service.
Unfortunately we hear too many stories like this and that trust gets evaporated in seconds.
In Arizona, a man, in obvious mental meltdown, jumps into a lake while the police are watching him. He can't swim and as he realizes that he is drowning they tell him they will not jump in to save him and they watch him die.
In Texas, a deranged shooter enters a school and starts picking off teachers and children while the police stand around outside, for over an hour, and let him massacre these poor people. Children are calling 911 and begging the police to come save them and they are standing around outside like idiots doing nothing.
In New Jersey, a policeman offers to help a woman and her daughter find a place to stay after they go to a local police station for help. The officer gets her a room and then repeatedly rapes her, in front of her daughter.
This is just one week of stories about the police destroying not only their sacred oath to serve and protect, but destroying people's faith in the police. We have to do better and the police are going to have to work really hard to overcome years of this type of stuff in communities of color.
I may not always agree with the politics of our Presidents but I have always respected the office, except for when Agent Orange was in charge. I have always felt that, generally, the President gets way too much credit when things are going well and and way too much blame when they aren't.
Right now gas prices are at an all time high. Inflation is at it's highest point in nearly 40 years. We are possibly heading into a recession, the border continues to be a mess, the fight over abortion is about to rage out of control, local election integrity is about to be tested like never before, democracy is at the precipice, and the innocent people of the Ukraine are being slaughtered by Russia for no reason.
Joe Biden's ratings are horrible. He is being blamed for everything happening around the world. Today, a poll showed that people would vote for Trump rather than Biden. That is how much we have lost our collective minds. Why would anyone want Trump back in power?
Here is the reality of things, as even a very, very conservative publication recently published. The Washington Examiner is about as conservative as it gets and even they pointed out last week that gas prices, inflation, and a recession are not Biden's fault. They rightly point out that these are problems all over the world, not just the USA.
I was surprised to actually see them admit this since the main role in Washington politics is to blame the other guy for everything. Biden can do something about the crises at the border but he can't control gas companies from extracting huge profits from us, or inflation from going wild, or idiots being in charge of state elections, or even stop the Supreme Court from rolling back abortion rights because they are personally against them.
No sane person on earth should be even thinking about the return to power of the former President. This guy has, and continues to, work 100% of the time to destroy our country. No matter his faults, Joe Biden is still a million times better than the last guy.