There sure is a lot of hate in the news these days, isn’t there?

I woke up at 7:30 this morning to a deafening thunderstorm with rain so torrential it actually sounded like somebody was aiming a fire hose at the windows. Another three inches of rain was in the forecast and we definitely got it ... PROBABLY IN ONE HOUR! The blue star on the following map denotes Howdygram headquarters.

And now I thought y’all might enjoy an artsy-fartsy “drone’s-eye-view” of flooding here in the Dallas metro area! Hard to believe that other parts of Texas are so much worse than this ...



According to the National Weather Service, 43 trillion gallons of water have fallen from the sky over Texas during the month of May. Our rainfall total here in Mesquite — NOT counting this morning’s storm — is 16.67 inches.

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There sure is a lot of hate in the news these days, isn’t there? Sometimes it’s enough to make this senior citizen vomit all over the Internet. Today my rant will address a hate epidemic directed at Muslim families living here in the U.S. It’s been happening here in Texas for months; today’s example, though, comes from Phoenix.

Phoenix has a substantial Muslim-American population, so on Friday a crowd of rifle-toting Christian patriots wearing  “FUCK ISLAM” tee shirts decided to disrupt prayer time at a neighborhood mosque. They were also waving American flags and using bullhorns to scream insults at Muslim women. It looked like a Tea Party rally on steroids.

“This is proof that tyranny is in America,” said protest organizer Jon Ritzheimer, adding that he’s receiving threats against his life for being a raging asshole. “I'm having to sell my house! My family is going into hiding!” Ritzheimer was surrounded by bodyguards wearing those non-inflammatory “FUCK ISLAM” tees. “They're calling for lone wolves to behead me. That’s terrorism right here in America!”

Poor little clown! He was frequently drowned out by one of his buddies using the P.A. system to accuse Muslims of being pedophiles and rapists, state that Muslim women are too stupid to drive a car and repeat popular right wing talking points that all Muslims are terrorists and murderers.

The irony? Many of the protesters covered their faces and nearly all of them carried assault weapons. What a bunch of dickless cowards.

So here’s the question I’d like to pose to the organizer of this revolting hatefest: If Muslims surrounded a Christian church during prayer time, armed to the teeth wearing “FUCK JESUS” tee shirts and screaming insults on a bullhorn to Christian women, what would you think of them?

Mr. Ritzheimer, YOU are the “tyranny” that’s infected America. What a miserable example of patriotism and what an embarrassment you are as a Christian. I HOPE SOMEBODY RUNS YOU OVER WITH AN ICE CREAM TRUCK AND THEN WRITES “FUCK RITZHEIMER” ALL OVER YOUR BODY WITH CHOCOLATE SYRUP.

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It’s almost 9 p.m. and time to start pondering dinner. I’VE GOT A CRAVING FOR PIZZA HUT. Maybe I’ll order my favorite thin crust Super-Supreme with diced tomatoes and no olives and spend a little time in family room watching movies.

Tonight’s movie festival will include one or two of the following, which I’ve been saving for whenever Sam is out of town because he’s no fan of Doris Day or Joan Crawford: Calamity Jane (1953) starring Doris Day and Howard Keel; Romance on the High Seas (1948) starring Doris Day and Jack Carson; and Johnny Guitar, a 1954 cult film starring Joan Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge and Sterling Hayden.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. Shalom to you and yours.