Communications, healthcare, project management. Ready for something new. Wine drinker, travel junkie, TV watcher, lapsed blogger. I still wear all the hats.
In America, a warehouse store. A fully roasted chicken costs five dollars, the raw chicken beside it costs seven, and I stood between them like a man between two truths.
Golden. Hot. Seasoned. Spinning in glory under the lights, in a line of its brothers. Four dollars and ninety-nine cents.
I checked the raw birds. Seven dollars. Pale. Cold. You must do everything yourself.
This is not commerce. Commerce does not move backward. Somewhere in this building, mathematics lies defeated.
I asked the man at the counter. "How is the cooked bird cheaper than the raw bird?"
"Been five bucks forever. They keep it that way."
"But the store loses."
"Yep. On purpose."
On purpose. I held my receipt with both hands.
In my land, a lord who lowered the price of rice in a hard winter was remembered for generations. They built him a small shrine. This store does it every day, with chicken, and tells no one.
A woman behind me grew tired of my reverence. "It's just a chicken, sir."
It is not just a chicken. It is a wound the merchant takes on purpose, so that anyone, on any day, with five dollars, eats like a lord. The bird is the message. The price is the vow.
I will confess: I bought two. I did not need two. The second was not hunger. It was gratitude, and it was delicious.
Some prices are not prices. They are promises.
I return every week now. I take one bird. I bow toward the deli, briefly, so as not to alarm the staff. They have begun nodding back.
The vow holds. The bird turns. Five dollars.
Long may it spin.
Things most Americans agree on:
Groceries cost too much.
Tariffs suck and make no sense.
Congress and Presidents shouldn’t trade stocks.
The debt is a mess.
The border should be secure, but legal immigration is good.
Endless wars are stupid, especially ones that nobody wants and have never been explained.
Americans are exhausted.
AI is like my new best friend that also might be trying to take my job, my ability to think for myself, and my humanity in the process. Yo like I love you, but WTF, but I still love you.
Diversity is actually awesome! The opposite is boring AF.
Canadians are super fucking cool.
Mexicans are chill.
Putin isn’t a good guy looking out for America’s best interest. Rocky IV and Miracle are great movies.
Good neighbors are a blessing.
Freedom of religion and coexistence without having to blow each other up is probably a good idea.
We all question, are we alone in the universe?
We all fuck up along the way.
Epstein didn’t hang himself.
The Trumps and Epstein were best friends for decades. It’s like Bert trying to tell us Ernie was just an acquaintance in the same social scene on Sesame Street back in the day.
The Cowboys suck. Go Birds!
Things we’re told to fight about:
Me.
Laptop.
Vaccines.
Transgenders in sports.
Pronouns.
That’s the joke.
If we DO mind — as we do, the favor being too much, the ask to do someone else’s job — we’re instantly the villain.
As we defend ourselves from the “can’t you JUST” “what’s the problem?” attacks, our position becomes that much harder.
We’re taught to “just” get along.
One of the easiest manipulations, the most impossible traps is the “Would you mind if..��� method. Along with its “is it ok if … ; can you do me a favor?” variants, it sucks.
It instantly puts the asked in the trap: if they don’t mind they’re stuck going along with, agreeing.
The Republican Party quietly deleted their own ad attacking Ken Paxton's record on crime... because Paxton is now the Republican Party's nominee to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.
Figured if the ad is important enough to delete, it's important enough to see...
Billions of taxpayer dollars are funded to who the hell knows for nothing that helps the country. Meanwhile the People have nothing. Example: the PACT Act was 2022 and as far as I know, Camp Lejeune families haven’t seen squat.
After Nixon’s “I am not a crook” tax scandal, the IRS mandated that the president’s tax returns be audited yearly.
Every president since Nixon (except Trump) publicly released theirs.
With the new DOJ settlement ending his audits, Trump is essentially announcing “I am a crook.”
Louisiana just canceled our elections. I am speechless. Early voting was 2 days away. All of this is happening because our governor, Jeff Landry, is still angry that the ENTIRE STATE rose up against him and voted against him trying to REWRITE our constitution in weeks last year