et ceteras

Welcome to Homicide

That is the title of my uncle's book. He worked more than 20 years for the Tampa Police Department and more than 11 of those were spent as a homicide detective. I have always liked listening to his stories, several of which are recounted in this book.

Uncle Rick did not write Welcome to Homicide to publish it. He wrote it to give to his kids so they would know more about his experiences. But, thanks in no small part to Aunt Barbara, it has found a publisher and you can purchase a copy for yourself by going here or here. I recommend you do so, and I'm not biased even though I am (and I trust you now what I mean).

9:35 pm

That's what time it is (Eastern) as I start typing this post, and the graphic on TV just showed that with 19 percent of Iowa's precincts reporting, Ted Cruz has 29 percent to Donald Trump's 26 to Marco Rubio's 20... I expect that to change several times before the night is over, possibly by wide margins... Also, the TV scroll shows Hillary Clinton edging Bernie Sanders by 51-49 on the Democrat side... We shall see later, perhaps tomorrow, precisely how it shakes out.

Crack up

There has been much talk among the commentariat about the GOP cracking up, based solely on the ascendancy of the carnival-barking non-conservative Donald Trump. But why has there been no talk about the Democratic Party cracking up, based on its choices being limited to an outlaw one-percenter and a spittle-chomping faux socialist? I'm just asking.

Well said

In a column published today, Kevin Williamson typed something with which I wholeheartedly agree: "As the first real electoral contest gets under way in Iowa, we should spend a minute thinking about real problems vs. imaginary problems. More specifically, we should think about which candidates are using imaginary problems to avoid talking about the real problems, and the extent to which they are doing so."

10:21 pm

So much for my above prediction, typed just 46 minutes ago, that the numbers "will change several times before the night is over." Fox News just called the caucuses in the precise order they were at 46 minutes ago, though the percentages now are not precisely the same as they were then.

Right now, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Cruz has 28 percent to Trump's 24 to Rubio's 23... And I recall that just a few days ago, all the experts were saying Trump was invincible and Rubio was an afterthought... Well, like Tone Loc once said: Uh-uh, I don't think so. Look out for Rubio because he might be the one... And please note that I typed "the one," not "The One."

10:46 pm

Speaking of Marco Rubio, I have been listening to his "third place speech" for the last several minutes and he sounds, frankly, downright awesome. Again, look out for him. There is something Reaganesque about him.

10:52 pm

Trump just gave a very good concession speech. It was positive, not churlish. And open-hearted, not spiteful. I am not endorsing Trump and I will not be voting for him in the Florida primary, but he just exceeded my expectations.

Super Bowl   

It is six days from now and I will probably post something about it before then, but tonight I will say this: I don't know who to root for!

North Carolina is my favorite state, but I have liked the Denver Broncos since long before the Carolina Panthers even existed... My age (45) would like to see Peyton Manning win another Super Bowl, but I have a big problem with the fawning press he always receives... So I don't know what to do!

But whatever. Who cares? For those of us who don't have a vested interest in either team, may this year's Super Bowl be competitive and may it be a great diversion from the drudgery of life.