2024

Time for another entry in my annual list of things I'd like to see happen next year.  But first, let's see how this year stacked up to last year's list, with comments in ALL CAPS:

A rising stock and bond market.

STOCKS UP NEARLY 25%, BUT  BONDS FLAT.

That Vladimir Putin is purged as a leader.  Any mysterious and/or violent way is acceptable.

IT WAS A BIG ASK.

Newly remodeled bathrooms in my house.

100%

Me attending a major sporting event.

DOES A KANSAS BASKETBALL, NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL, OR INDY CAR RACE COUNT?

Elon Musk leaves Twitter, or I leave Twitter for another similar service.

NO BUT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE.

Drought relief for the western U.S.

NOT REALLY.

Me getting a golfing hole-in-one or eagle.

NOPE.

MAGA-death, and a crop of moderate presidential candidates for 2024 who aren't aged 70s or 80s.

UNFORTUNATELY, LOST GROUND HERE.

More acceptance and usage of plant-based proteins.

I SUPPOSE YES, BUT NOT AT ALL WIDESPREAD.

And now, my new annual list of things I'd like to see happen next year:

The demise of the MAGA movement via defeat of their candidates in the 2024 elections (repeat).

Streaming service mergers and resulting price decreases.

Downside my residence -- or in the alternative, have my trailer trash neighbors relocate.

Finally get my Real ID driver's license.

Delegitimization of the LIV golf tour.

Consistently avoid working on Mondays and/or Fridays.

More pay-at-the-table restaurants.

A new technology device or service I want but don't have

It Isn't WOITH It

Over a decade ago, I started to write a number of blog posts about people (politicians) I considered to be Whacked Out In The Head, shortened to the acronym WOITH.  I stopped adding to it years ago, it seemed / seems a juvenile thing to do, it took time away from other things I wanted to write about, and frankly, there would be no end to the list.

However, due to the overwhelming number of very deserving new candidates that have crawled out of various holes since 2016 or so, I've decided to make one last(?) update of WOITH award winners.  There are really too many to list, so I'm simply going to name it as a group:

Every so-called MAGA republican.

This includes now high-ranking folks in the U.S. Congress, including current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a truly weird, conspiratorial, and homophobic person.

It includes a new, even crazier generation of Iowa politicians, mostly (but not all) older white guys who think people want them to ban books, legislate medical care, and minimize vulnerable people.  

And of course, it includes the leader of the band, DJ Trump, a malignant narcissistic, grifting, admittedly fascist, wannabe dictator.  He's as WOITH as it gets, and unfortunately very good at trying to get weak-minded folks to be more like him.