Drobkin's Comet

 

Dr. Augustus Drobkin is inarguably the acknowledged preeminent expert in the rare and highly specialized Astronomical subspecialty, Cometology. If he were himself a comet, he would be the brightest ever seen in the heavens; going back from even the dawn of recorded history. Yes, he's that good. The Shizz. Top Banana. Shooting Star?

Well he's no shooting Star. Dr. Drobkin has devoted his long life in search of the rarest of all comets. One which has only one reference to having been seen, as recorded in an ancient text dating back to the earliest historical record. Written in stone, to give you an idea of how far back we're talking here. Old. Really, really old.

Yet, after all those years of doggedly persisting in his search, alas, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And then one day, as you might expect from the story title, Drobkin's Comet, he got an eye on the prize. 

Here's how that moment transpired ...

Dr. Drobkin was having his lunch one day when he was unexpectedly interrupted by the high school intern. The kid was there to help, mainly with mundane tasks around the observatory. Low level stuff. Gopher, it's called. ["Hey kid! I'm and 'Idea Man'. I have an idea. See that mess over there? Why don't you go and clean it up?"] Good for building character. Better than spending hours at video games, or selling drugs, or chasing girls. Also, being around such great minds, the lad was expecting to get a leg up into his aspired Astronomical career.

So here's the deal. [Say his words in a squeaky, high falsetto for the full effect.] The kid comes running into the lunch room, all excited; beside himself. "Dr. Drobkin, Dr. Drobkin! I didn't have a chance to bring you your tea yet, but I ... I saw something! Really big! You won't believe it!" "Young man", the good doctor sternly snaps, "never mind your amusing little fancies, where's my tea?" "Right away, sir. But ... but, I have to tell you something!" "Okay, okay, what is it?", the lofty doctor sarcastically asks."

"Well, Dr. Drobkin ... I accidentally nudged the main telescope on my way to brewing you your luncheon tea. I tried to put it back in place. Did the best I could. Well, anyway, I took a look in the eyepiece and I saw this comet. I checked the books, and it's not listed! I think I discovered a first. Maybe even the really big one!"

To say that Drobkin's jaw dropped is putting it mildly. He hurried to the observatory, and sure enough, that damn kid stumbled right on top of it. The Lord works in mysterious ways may have it's truth, but Augustus was not amused. That damn kid! Damn! Motherfucker!

Well, you should know that in a situation such as when one is the underling to high poobah experts, you know who's gonna get the credit. Dr. Augustus Drobkin. He's in the books as the discoverer of the nearly never before seen comet, now known throughout the scientific world and in the public imagination as "Drobkin's Comet." 

The kid, he got a attaboy and a pat on the back. There's a good boychick! Now, go get that cup of tea. 

Take a look for yourself ...

Here's a tale recounting how the good doctor may have had his comeuppance.

The Drobkin Fart ...

Dr. Drobkin is a world famous authority in a highly specialized field of Astronomy, Cometology. He had earned his undergraduate degree, his Masters, and his PhD at the university in his hometown. After that he was practicing as a researcher at the highest level at the venerable Mount Palomar Observatory in California

He wrote a significant paper and has been invited to deliver the paper at a conference, which by coincidence is in his hometown. He is called to the dais. The room is full of distinguished personages; the men wearing tuxedos, the women properly attired for such an august event. Dr. Drobkin approaches the dais and puts his papers on the lectern. As he’s about to give his talk, suddenly the papers all slide down to the floor. He bends over to pick them up, and as he does his tuckus is against the microphone. And at the very wrong moment, he lets one ride. It reverberates around the room, magnified by the microphone. 

Somehow he regains his composure and delivers the paper. No sooner is he done but he grabs everything up and makes a quick exit through a rear door, vowing never to come back to the town again.

Many years pass, his mother is on in years and he has to go back to town to care for her. He does so under the name Dr. Cohen. He makes a reservation at the local Hyatt under that name and gets there under cover of darkness. As he checks into the hotel, a bright eyed and bushy tailed room clerk says, “Good evening Dr. Cohen, have you ever been in our town before?” 

The doctor says, “Yes, as a matter of fact, young man, I grew up here and I got my education here; got my undergraduate, my doctorate, and my specialty degrees at the university and I moved away.”

The young man asks, “So why haven’t you been here for so long?”

“Well, a number of years ago a very embarrassing thing happened here, and I just didn’t feel I could come back and face the people in the town.”

The young man says, “Doctor, far be it for me, a young stripling, to advise a distinguished older gentleman such as you. But, if I can give you anything from my experience in my own young life, things that I thought were embarrassing and people noticed, I later found out that nobody even knew that they happened. And I’m sure that’s probably true about the thing you think is so embarrassing.”

The doctor says, “No, I doubt that anyone has forgotten what happened.”

The young man says, “Well, was it a long time ago?”

“Yes, it was a very long time ago.”

 “Was it before the Drobkin fart, or after?”

A lot to unpack ... from the social media:

I apologize! Whew, I know I’ve been highly critical of the Trump presidency.

But to be fair, and in the spirit of coming together, I'm here to apologize for all my rants and just admit that President Trump wasn’t that bad ... other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hypersonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But other than that. . .

Valentine 2021

Be sure to open your Valentine . . .

We are introducing you to the heart throb of the Wronski family. Young, strapping Cousin Valentine. Undeniably, the pinnacle of the Wronski genetic potential. Men want to be him. Women want to be with him. Him ... he just wants to get on his pony and ride.

Excuse the photo, Val is seen here after just getting back from a long day in the saddle getting all sweaty and hot, searching hither and yon for a little lost baby lamb. Aw, shucks. How cute is that?

He was even thoughtful enough to go to town on his way back to pick up the biggest box of candies and a big red rose, just for you. That kitten in the photo is his constant companion, little miss Fluffy. And, as you may have guessed, he got Mom to bake something just for you. Mom's Apple pie. (Val is, after all, the Apple of her eye.)

Now, ladies, some words to the wise. Certainly Val has more than enough muscle for a good tussle. And he isn't near done sowing his wild oats. But, he is a sensitive New Age kind of guy. Maybe even a little bashful. So, please, be gentle.

All Wronski's are lovers. Val takes the cake. And, the girls too.

Happy Valentine, dear one.

Click here for a special page of love songs.

Are you a "Deplorable"?

 Are you a "Deplorable"?

Take this short quiz and find out ...

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Indicate whether you even need instructions.

2. Select only one from each set of choices from either column A or column B.

3. Add total checks from each column.

4. If you don't know what we mean by "column", please indicate that too.

5. Send your answers along with a self addressed stamped envelop together with a check $39.50 made out to C.A.S.H. 

Politics, politics, politics

 Dear elected officials,

The game in politics seems to be politics, politics, politics. I'm sure you folks want to do the right thing; but, as long as it's politically expedient. No?

You should know — and I suspect you do, but cynics that you seem to be, you let it slide because it's the votes, votes, votes — that we the citizens are looking at things in terms of issues and facts. You, on the other hand, seem to just be tossing red meat for us to scarf up in exchange for those votes.

And we know from when we're being bullshitted. Not just lying, but using words in crafty ways to manipulate and corral. Like the car dealer advertising a "Big Sale". You show up and one car is discounted. But, probably hidden away so you can't find it. What about the "Big Sale"? Sure, we have lots to choose from, and they'll all for sale.

This disconnect is not healthy. While you address us coming with hidden, and not so hidden, political agendas, we relate to what you're saying as you giving us what's real and important. Many of us take a lot of it to be actual fact. You and your media supporters also elide opinions and conjectures into facts. 

Trust. Huh? What's it good for? It's the warp onto which the weft of social discourse and action is woven.

Since too many votes are along party lines, this leaves the voters in the dust. 

Trump’s first impeachment was voted down by the Republicans in the Senate. In other words, purely political. Certainly looks that way. It leaves a lot of left leaning voters with the lingering idea that he in fact was stone guilty but for his party striking it down on purely technical grounds; i.e., you had the voting majority. 

Now we have the prospect of another impeachment. We already know — the legitimacy of impeaching a President no longer in office notwithstanding — the Senate Republicans will vote it down. Looks like it, anyway. Again, a huge swath of the population, already worked over and worked up over how he “staged a coup” will see this as acquitting a guilty man on purely partisan, political grounds. 

Of course, a person is innocent until proven guilty. In a court case with an acquittal the defendant goes free. With this impeachment business, like I said, it seems that he’s still guilty in a lot of eyes except for getting off the hook on the simple grounds that his supporters outnumber his detractors in a Senate vote. The cause of justice? Well, it seems to hinge on what party you favor.

Oh, and that Swalwell. Good example of the hypocrisy imbedded in the political landscape. Let’s overlook who he was [?] im-“bedded”with.

Let’s add a sobering reminder of the incendiary language coming from the “loyal” opposition. Will we be seeing any contrition or consequences over that? [Maxine!] 

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