ennispolitics.com is the personal cathartic leach field I designed to absorb the mental vomit I need to purge from my brain when it feels like it is about to overflow. And, while it is personal, anyone is welcome to trudge through it…though, thankfully, few do.

I often express my thoughts and opinions to friends and family probably more than is welcome, but I don’t demand they agree with what I say or think. I just try to explain what makes sense to me.That is what is contained herein.

I don’t shout and protest. I’m not trying to change the world. I’m not qualified. Nor are most others.

I might comment on any subject in an effort to try to understand it myself, but I don’t care if you are gay or straight, black or white, old or young, stupid or sage, disabled or otherwise. Your lives are your lives. As long as we don’t hurt others, we are entitled to live our lives the way we please.

So, if you disagree with the words you find in my blog, feel free to leave a respectful comment, start a blog of your own or follow the lead of the great philosopher, Jimmy Durante, who observed, “Why can’t everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?”

I was watching Rachel Maddow the other evening as she was waving the imaginary red flag about Trump nominating a conservative to the Supreme Court post recently vacated by Justice Kennedy.  Her fears were intense, but mitigated by her quirky “I know more than the rest of you unwashed masses” grin.

She zeroed in on two great threats. 1) The possibility of Rowe v. Wade being overturned. 2) The possibility of overturning the ban against executing minors.

Rachel’s fear is that the right afforded women by Rowe v. Wade to exterminate absolutely innocent unborn children, due to the inconvenience of their existence, could be abolished (Yikes!) ; and that teens not yet 18 years of age, guilty of gruesome murders, might be executed if the ban on this practice were to be overturned. (Good grief, no! They are too young!)

It’s sadly hilarious she doesn’t see the problem with her logic.

Ms. Maddow is a great communicator with the innate ability to make her points crystal stupid.

But…that’s Rachael Maddow!

Let me take a stab at clarity and logic. I’m pro-life. And that includes the teens. I also believe (controversially in some circles)  that all lives matter… even Rachel’s.

Four people familiar with the situation told this reporter Rod Rosenstein said he feels “used” by the Whitehouse. Other unnamed individuals state the four people familiar with the situation aren’t actually familiar with the situation.

Official(s), requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks, say the Whitehouse is negotiating with Martians to repaint the Statue of Liberty in rainbow hues and may replace the Bible she holds with a billboard for Jimboy’s Tacos and the torch with a 27 foot tall dildo. Neither the Whitehouse nor the Martians have responded to our inquiries by the time of publication.

Anonymous sources tell this reporter Nancy Pelosi bakes cookies in her sleep. Friends of Pelosi have denied these reports are factual because, as one individual in a fez, belly-button ring and swim flippers put it, “Nancy doesn’t know how to do anything.”

Declining to identify themselves, several fishermen fell off pier 39 in San Francisco. Multiple anonymous witnesses stated the fishermen appeared drunk and poorly dressed at the time of the incident. One witness, named Peter Stovall described the incident in his own words, “You’re an idiot, aren’t you?. Go away!” No bodies have yet to be recovered.

Of all these accounts, I believe Peter is the most credible. That’s who.

The concept of sharing is something taught to children at an early age. It is a beneficial social interaction. One person has “something” another does not. The person who “has”, transfers ownership of a portion of that “something” to another person who” has not”; and now both “have” some of whatever “something” was shared.

When the “has” person gives to the “has not” person, the “has” person feels pleasure in the knowledge they have benefitted the “has not” person and the “has not” person feels appreciation that the “has’ person sacrificed on their behalf. This is a win-win situation.

The concept of entitlement completely changes the paradigm of the exercise.

When the donor is pressured into forced charity, the donor’s pleasure is extinguished and replaced by a feeling of being robbed. The recipient’s feeling of gratitude is thwarted unless the donor releases more than an equitable share of the property. Under this paradigm, simple 50/50 appears only fair and doesn’t rise to the point of sacrifice and cannot be praised.

Right or wrong, these are the emotions catholic to our species.

Further, recipients while not sated, tend to lose the ambition to put forth effort acquire on their own, because it isn’t necessary.

There is, in the air, the current push to pronounce certain properties and services innate human rights of individuals, even though much of what is discussed has only recently come into being through technology and the talents, ingenuity and efforts of others. Abortion, electronic communication, health care, housing and minimum wages are included in the argument. These are not innate rights. They are only societal entitlements, subject to revision. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness stand separately as  innate rights.

All things go off the rails when human nature ( a completely unchangeable force ) is ignored.

The only humane way to go through puberty is in a medically induced coma.

Chicken soup is no substitute for a good old fashioned slap upside the head.

I heard somewhere the name, Wilma, translates into, “Look what I stepped in!”, in some foreign language. Why would anyone choose such a name for their chinchilla?

It’s a good thing screw on kneecaps was just a fad.

Why do they call them toadstools? Toads use benches.

Don’t forget,  your decision to behave as though you have the I.Q. of seven, comes the responsibilities of an idiot.

A little after 12:30 p.m. Singapore time (9:30 Pacific time) while walking with Kim along the hotel portico, Trump told reporters he would speak to them in a couple of minutes after a “signing”.

What could that mean?

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if it was a treaty or non-aggression pact of some sort? A single meeting between two narcissists solving a decades old conflict (if only temporarily). Wouldn’t that put an odd spin on the way things had been handled previously?

It is only 12:50 Singapore time right now and the “signing” has yet to be completed. Maybe I’m a foolish optimist or just a fan of farcical humor, but I’m betting on something extraordinary.

I’m sitting here with breath like bait… bated breath? …whatever.

Quick afterthought as the “signing” is in progress: Whatever this so-called “signing” entails, it won’t be the end of the issue. Final details will need to be negotiated and ironed out. I think this could be effectively done by representatives of both sides. In this case, Dennis Rodman and Kanye West, while Trump coaches Kim on his golf swing at Mar-a Lago.

Kayla McKeon has become the first registered Capitol Hill lobbyist with Down syndrome. She is quoted as saying one of her favorite phrases is, “I am ready, willing and able.” That phrase alone would indicate she has risen the ethical bar for lobbyists far higher than nearly all other lobbyists could hope to achieve.

but…

She has also said, “I feel powerful knowing I am walking in the same steps as congressman and women”…”I can feel the power radiating as I walk around the Capitol.”

So, maybe not.

I don’t remember ever hearing anyone refer to the human foot as “splendid”. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; but feet? Come on!

Admittedly, the foot’s design is quite amazing. Filled with 26 tiny bones, it is able to absorb enormous pressures as we go about our everyday routines of  walking and running and stumbling drunk into alleyways. Not to mention reducing the need to land on our heads as we show off our skills on the backyard trampoline.

But for all its usefulness, the foot is a goofy looking appendage. Unlike the hand, which is issued in one basic design, the foot comes in myriad forms. There are wide feet with short, apparently non-jointed toes which don’t touch the floor when standing straight up (but will touch the floor when keeling forward into an alleyway drunk) and are barely discernible from those of a duck. There are feet with long, many jointed toes which retract like string onto a yo-yo (an uncomfortable procedure while wearing ski boots).

Speaking of footwear, the are open toed shoes which do nothing more than display the front of your foot akin to a fist full of flesh-colored crayons.( Unless you are wearing toenail polish…then it can look like a fist full of multi-colored crayons).

And then, for some baffling reason, there is toe jewelry. Toe rings, to be precise. Really? You think this is attractive? Toe rings will never be practical until the human being evolves apposable  big toes enabling the ability to diddle with the ring  in the same fashion our wives do with their wedding rings when they are considering divorce.

Foot odor. Ta-da! I’ll bet you were wondering when I would address the elephant in the room. Foot odor is caused by bacteria reacting within the sweat our feet produce. There are about 250,000 sweat glads in the average foot (fact)… (give or take 1,000 and depending on how many fewer or extra toes you have and the sales tax rate in your area). Feet produce a bunch of sweat, which normally evaporates or is wicked off by sweat-socks. Each foot produces 425 gallons of sweat on an average day (unconfirmed). One cup per day has been confirmed, but I am unable to find the size of the cup the research references.

Oh well.

Companies spend enormous amounts of money sponsoring the news media. The reason is simple…Advertising works!

The news media are pervasive, powerful forces in the lives of everyday folks. When they promote products, the products sell and companies profit. People who hadn’t thought about buying a product often realize they want the product. That’s good for the economy.

When the media irresponsibly hype a story by not only reporting the story, but purposely drawing great attention to the story, people who hadn’t thought about the subject of the story tend to think more about it. This is where copycats come from.

Not too long ago Robin Williams committed suicide by hanging himself. Kate Spade also left the world this way the other day. Antony Bourdain hanged himself this morning in France.  In all these cases, the media went crazy with excessive coverage.

Strangely, the media noted how, when these things occur, the general suicide rate rises substantially. The media don’t recognize the correlation.

Schools shootings have become all too common and are always sensationalized. The media blame guns. Seventeen year old Dimitrios Pagourtzis wanted to commit suicide and hatched a plan to shoot up his Texas high school. He did so, killing ten people and injuring ten others. He couldn’t bring himself to actually die in the effort and was taken alive. He’s indicated he wanted his story to be told. By whom? The media, of course. You see, he knew he’d become famous through his heinous deed. He is just another copycat.

What is the answer? The answer may lie in how these stories are covered. How much the media hype the story.

The media need to cover the news and these stories are news, but here’s the caveat: Having been a newsman myself, I can tell you suicides of average folks are almost never covered by the media. The same is true with gang related violent crime. News stations don’t want to aggrandize gang members and their nasty behaviors. So, why do they do the opposite with celebrity suicides and school shootings? Answer: Ratings = $.

More social responsibility is required from the media. Don’t hold your breath.