And though it seemed as if 2024 was really 20 months long, I fear that many of us are already missing the relative calm and stability of last year.  Sadly, I fear that many of you are only waking up to the changes that are about to overtake us.  But that is for another day.  Today we celebrate the winners of my quadrennial “I told you so” contest – Everyone’s A Genius In Hindsight 2024.

I added an extra question for this contest, “What will be the big, unexpected story of 2024?”  The answers fell mostly along partisan lines and I wasn’t sure if these were predictions or a wish list.  Several predicted that Donald Trump would be sentenced to jail, or worse.  Putin’s demise was a close second.  Rob A. earned a ½ point with his guess that both Trump and Biden would drop out of the 2024 race.  A few guessed (hoped) that the Russia / Ukraine war would end.  Jennifer K., who came close to pitching a shut-out, predicted that Hillary Clinton would come out of the closet.

As always, no one scored 100%.  And that is the point.  We may be experts in our particular area of interest or profession, but we are guessing when it comes to other topics.  A little humility goes a long way. Twenty brave souls joined me in guessing the outcomes of last year’s major competitions. Twenty!   You could find more “experts” in just a few minutes on Facebook or Linked In.

1. The President of the United States December 30, 2024 _______________________.
2.  The Democratic nominee will be__________________________________.
3. The Republican nominee will be_________________________________.
4. The winner of the 2024 Presidential election will be________________________.
5. The winner of the Ohio Senate election will be ___________________________.
6. There will be ____ justices on the US Supreme Court on December 31, 2024.
7. The winner of the February 11, 2024 Super Bowl will be _______________________.
8. The Cleveland Guardians will win ______ regular season games.
9.  The Cleveland Browns will win _____ regular season games.
10. The Academy Award for best picture will go to _____________________________.
11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will close December 31, 2024 at _____________.
12. A gallon of milk will be $_____ at Heinen’s Mayfield Village on June 30, 2024.
13. Wild Card – The big, unexpected story of 2024 will be _______________________.

Sixteen of the participants had Joe Biden as still the President on December 30^th.  And though eleven had Trump as the nominee, only two of us, Mendy G. and I, had Kamala Harris as the nominee for the Democrats.  The predictions for the winner of the presidential race were all over the map.  Only three guessed that Donald Trump would win, Angela E., Carol F., and David P.  Angela and Carol finished in a three-way tie for second.

Some of the categories appear to have been easier than others.  Almost everyone, even Howard N., had the answer 9 for the number of Supreme Court Justices while only Mike L. predicted that Bernie Moreno would be the new Senator from Ohio.  That answer helped Mike finish tied for second.

The sports categories presented a real challenge for this year’s participants.  No one predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would win the Super Bowl, though eight of us did have the 49ers.  Close but no points.  The Guardians won 92 games!  Mike L. and I had the closest guess at 88.  The Browns were an abysmal 3 – 14.  Football fanatic Bill M. came closest with his prediction of 7.  Eleven of us predicted double digit wins.  We really should know better.

The Academy Award for Best Picture was awarded to Oppenheimer.  Six contestants had the right answer.  The price of a gallon of milk on June 30^th was $3.19.  I awarded points to the four participants, Angela E., Carol F., Ivan G., and Linda M. who were within 20¢.  No one else was close.  The Dow Jones closed at 42,573 on December 31, 2024.  Our winner, Ivan G., predicted 42,000!  That answer propelled him to the top with 6 ½ points.

Second Place with 5 ½ points were Angela E., Carol F., and Mike L.  Since Angela and Carol will be taking over my business in August, it is also up to them to take over this contest in December 2027.  I hope that all of you, whether you participated this time or not, will enter to predict the elections of 2028.  I know that some of you are already wondering IF there will be a real election in 2028.  Start writing down your guesses now in case you end up in a gulag somewhere in Greenland. (Too soon?)

As for the tie breaker: Recorded at the Agora on June 18, 1979, it became an anthem and was later covered as the theme song of a popular TV show ______.  I expected everyone to know that Ian Hunter was right.  Cleveland Rocks! .

DAVE

www.againreally.com

Picture – At The End Of Our Rope – David L Cunix

“…Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia.  In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines.  Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia.  But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control.  Officially the change of partners had never happened.  Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia.  The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.”  1984

The Russian Immigrant was almost giddy as he discussed his possible vacation plans for 2025.  He wants to visit Canada and Panama, and he might even take his son to Greenland.  He wants to see what Trump has gotten us.  Boris (name changed) has been here for a couple of decades, long enough to forget the hardships and dangers of living under an oligarchy. All that he has left is a fuzzy memory of an orderly society.  And now, now he is going to be on the right team.  He hates the same people the leader hates.  It is all so black and white.  His family did not escape Russia to live in a different Russia.  His family overcame the challenges of moving halfway around the world to live freely in the United States.

Oligarchies and strongmen offer simple answers to questions you didn’t know you had.  And if you aren’t focused, you might find yourself caught up in the mob.

The news has stories of Trump threatening Panama, trying to buy Greenland, whether or not it is for sale, and insult our two biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.  Trump treats sovereign countries as if they are as weak and feckless as Ted Cruz.   Is this a negotiation gambit or a distraction, a way to deflect our attention from his questionable Cabinet picks and Project 2025 domestic programs?

I think that we are suffering from a failure of imagination.  It isn’t the fake hyper masculinity of the foreign policy or the embracing of the culture wars.  It is both.   The goal is to overwhelm, to create the sensory overload that would allow all of this to become possible.  We are blindfolded and swinging at a Piñata while it is being moved just outside our reach.

Listen to Trump talking about Canada and you hear Putin talking about Ukraine.  Are there only three countries, the U.S., Russia, and China?  Read Project 2025 and you find the remaking of society.  Control.  Your choices are no longer yours to make.  It is important to keep us off balance, our focus on threats, real or imagined.    Fears of Haitians eating house pets will soon be forgotten as the next caravan of migrants come marching towards our border.  But the next caravan might be amassing along the northern border!  We must prepare ourselves.  Who will protect us?

1984 ends with the protagonist, Winston, overcoming himself.  It will not be so easy to get 300 million Americans to overcome themselves, to get us to willingly accept the equivalent of 1984’s:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The battle has already begun.  It is up to each of us to stave off the transformation of the United States of America to the Trumpian version of Oceania.

Dave

www.againreally.com  

Picture – Stay On The Trail – David L Cunix

 

Theresa is a long-time Trump supporter.  I have known Theresa (name changed) for decades.  I wouldn’t have described her as a Republican in the 70’s, 80’s or even the 90’s.  But now, now she is not only a Republican but she also delights in pointing out the apostates who aren’t sufficiently Republican enough. They are RINO’s, Republican In Name Only.  Of course, for those of us who have been following politics for decades, the idea that fealty to Donald Trump is what makes someone a real Republican is both depressing and amusing.

I was talking with Theresa last week.  Somehow we started to talk about Project 2025 and how it could impact health care.  She was quick to note that Trump had disavowed any involvement with Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation.  I laughed.  First, there are plenty of interviews showing the close connection between Trump and the authors of The Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.  Secondly, and more importantly, no one really thinks that Trump spends any real time thinking about policy.  I reminded her that Trump had subcontracting out the selection of judges to the Federalist Society.  His focus is on the money.  Who will ignore the Emoluments Clause?  Who will ignore his Washington Hotel, his self-dealing, his graft?  He and his family got what they wanted while the Republican establishment got a big tax cut and judges, including three Supreme Court Justices.

Theresa still wanted to distance Trump from Project 2025.  I mentioned the 199 times the word “Abortion” appears in the document.  She reminded me that a member of her family was involved in a car ride to New York State in the mid-70’s to terminate an accidental pregnancy.  So wouldn’t this ban on abortion bother her?  “No David”, she said.  “I’m glad that it went back to the states”.  “What would have happened if this was the law in the 70’s” I asked.

“I’m Catholic” she replied.  “I’m against abortion.  And there will always be an option.”

Theresa is a safety valve girl.  She is happy to stand on principle.  She is fine taking away YOUR rights as long as she, her cousin, or even if G-d forbid her daughter needs reproductive care, they will have options.  She or they will be able to hop on a plane or take a long car ride to needed medical care.  Not just abortion, but the full spectrum of female reproductive care would be available to them.  Theresa is positive that the laws may change, but people like her will always have access.

Theresa may or may not be right.  Do you want to live in Theresa’s America?  I think we can do better.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Only Real Safety Valve – David L Cunix

 

My last name is not difficult to pronounce, if your elementary school taught phonetics and you were paying attention.  If you know how to pronounce cucumber, you know how to pronounce Cunix.  I have, of course, had my name mangled by countless people.  Kids in school would tease me with variations of my last name.  Each of them would applaud themselves as if they had created a new insult.  It wasn’t.  The moron in seventh grade wasn’t even a tiny bit more creative than the jerk in second.  Some people have difficulty properly pronouncing Cunix the first time.  Once corrected, they never have a problem again.  Others will never pronounce my name correctly because they don’t care or they don’t respect me.  I’m not cowed by their ignorance.  In truth, a schmuck is just a schmuck.

Our current vice-president is Kamala Harris.  For many years she has been telling people her name is pronounced “comma-la, like the punctuation mark”.  There are people who mispronounce her name because it is uncommon.  That is understandable.  But you will hear people knock her name because it isn’t Jane or Mary.  And you will hear people mispronounce her name intentionally.  She will not be intimidated by this.  She heard these slurs on the playground in second grade.  Why would she be frazzled be a 78 year old second grader using the same slurs now?

We are about 100 days away from the election.  Don’t be distracted.  There are serious issues.  This blog as well as my other blog, Health Insurance Issues With Dave, will be detailing the way Project 2025, the Republican Study Committee, and legislation pending in both Columbus and Washington could impact our lives.   Ignore the juvenile insults.  Focus on the issues.

We’ve got work to do.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – It’s A Race – David L Cunix

 

I enjoyed watching Miles Straw play center field.  Straw came to the Guardians in 2021.  He earned a gold glove for his exemplary fielding in 2023.  Unfortunately, he was as bad at the plate as he was great in the field.  He hit one home run in 2023.  His last one had been two years earlier.

I have enjoyed having Joe Biden as our president.  And I know that he is still more than capable of serving our country.  Does he have four more years in him?  I don’t think so.  And this Sunday Joe Biden formalized his decision that even if he had the ability to hold the office for another term, what he didn’t have was the ability to campaign effectively for the job.  The debate and his subsequent press conferences proved that he was all glove and no bat.

Did you watch his speech?  If you did and you appreciated it, cool.  If you did and you found it lacking, well that is OK, too.  If you didn’t watch the speech, here is the link.  It is only 11 minutes long.  This is history-making.  You have time.  But if you didn’t watch it but are sharing your opinion, then you are only parroting the talking points from Rachel Madow on MSNBC or the disgraced former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, on FOX.  Or are you getting your information from a Russian troll toiling in a meme cubicle farm in Drekestan?

There are people who enter public service to do public service.  Some of them are Democrats.  Some of them are Republicans.  That means that they may see how the government should function differently, but their goals, a successful United States of America, are the same.  Let’s take a moment to appreciate a true public servant, Joseph R. Biden.

We can resume the political fight in 3, 2, 1…

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Numbers Are The Numbers – Sally Cunix

 

I posted pictures of this cheesecake and immediately received several requests for the recipe.  I was also told that no one wants to hear the story behind this creation or even how the cherries at $3.79 per pound were irresistible.  “Just print the damn recipe.”

Cherry Layer:

1.75 Lb.            Cherries

2 t                      Splenda

1/8 t                   Vanilla

1 T                     Potato Starch

¼ C                    Dark Rum

Cream Cheese Layer:

16 oz.                Cream Cheese, softened

2                         Eggs

1/3 C                 Splenda

2 t                      Vanilla

½ t or so           Lemon Zest

Crust:

2 C                     Almond Meal

5 T                     Melted Butter

2 T                     Liquid Sweetener

1 t                      Cocoa

1 t                      Cinnamon

¼ t                     Vanilla

1                         Egg

Butter for 9 inch glass pie pan.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Preparation

1.          Wash and pit the cherries.  Careful with the pits.  Place in big pot
2.          Cook the cherries on low to medium heat.  Stir occasionally.  Goal is to get the juices released.
3.          Mix the dry ingredients for the crust in a big bowl.  Add the egg and liquid ingredients.  Mix with your hands and then put into the greased pie pan.  Make sure that the pie pan is totally covered.
4.          Stir the cherries.  Add the vanilla at the 20 minute mark.  Add the Splenda a few minutes later.
5.          Combine the rum and potato starch. Once enough liquid has been released, take the pot off the heat and stir in the thickener.  This can be dumped into the crust in a few minutes.  The goal is to have a nice layer of cherries.  If there looks like too many cherries, enjoy a couple now.
6.          Put the cream cheese into a big bowl and beat with an electric mixer to get it started.
7.          Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it is fluffy.
8.          Put cream cheese layer on top of the cherries.
9.          Put pie into oven.  Turn temperature down to 350.  Bake for 35 minutes.  I like the center firm.  If you are concerned, check this at the 30 minute mark.

Enjoy!

Dave

www.againreally.com

Pictures – Cherry Cheesecake – David L Cunix

 

 

 

We could have been attorneys.  How many times have you trudged through a day at work and stopped, thought for a moment, and realized that it could have been worse.  You could have listened to your parents’ nudging and become an attorney.  And yes, there are those who might point to the fact that I’m an insurance agent, someone contributing to the bottom line of some heartless insurer, but I didn’t contribute to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer or argue before a judge that a US president could order S.E.A.L. Team 6 to murder a political opponent.  We have to keep things in perspective.

But if you had to be an attorney, you might want to be someone like Michael R. Dreeben, the gentleman who represented the United States (us!) at last week’s hearing about presidential immunity.  Mr. Dreeben was working a tough room, with some of the justices no longer even pretending to be apolitical.  Here is the link to Amy Howe and the invaluable ScotusBlog.  And if you really want to immerse yourself in the oral arguments, here is the link to the transcript.  Mr. Dreeben was masterful in his presentation of both the history and logic of the lower court’s decision.  He reminded the Court that it has “never recognized absolute immunity for any public official”.  The Justices were more interested in conjuring up hypothetical scenarios.  Mr. Dreeben was too polite to call “Bull Shit”.

I had a solution to the government’s presentation issue.  Mr. Dreeben needed another co-council.

Chief Justice Roberts:

Mr. Dreeben

ORAL ARGUMENT OF MICHAEL R. DREEBEN ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT

Mr. Dreeben:

Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court:

The Court has shown a great interest today in hypothetical scenarios.  My co-council, Vincent Gambini, will be addressing these serious concerns and issues.  Mr. Gambini.

Mr. Gambini:

Your Honors! May it please all of yous:

We are asked to think about a President having absolute immunity.  That could be very dangerous.  We have also been told that the President could face some punishment IF, and only if, he was first impeached.  Let’s think about October 2024.

President Biden and Former President Trump agree to a nationally televised debate in October 2024.  Both of them have their own motives.  Trump has a plan.  His goal will be to shake hands with Biden as they enter the stage and to force him to cry out in pain.  They walk across the stage towards each other.  Trump is totally focused on the agony he is about to inflict.  BAM!  Biden sucker punches Trump!  Fat.  Flabby.  Glass Jaw.  The autopsy said it was a heart attack.  Regardless.  Trump is dead before he hits the floor.  The audience is in shock, but Biden is totally calm.  He turns to the camera and says, “That was an official act.  I just protected the country from a potential autocrat.”

Your Honors, there was quite an uproar.  One of Biden’s biggest supporters, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), took to the floor of the Senate to express his anger and dismay.  Here is his speech.  The Republican controlled House of Representatives impeached President Joseph Biden the next week.  Ten Democrats joined the majority for the final vote.  By now the election has occurred and Biden wins easily.  The trial in the Senate is contentious, but there aren’t 60 votes to remove the President.  And when it is over, Senator Schumer (D-NY), who had voted in Biden’s favor, addresses the American people.  Here are his full remarks.

Should a President, any president, have absolute immunity?  Should the political act, impeachment, be necessary to address a criminal act?  That is up to you.

#          #          #          #          #

We live in dangerous times, times when the most cynical amongst us have great power.  I don’t believe that Justice Thomas or Justice Alito would want ALL presidents to have unbridled power.  Perhaps they need an attorney, one who isn’t too polite, to remind them of the consequences of their decisions.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Suits Not Robes – David L Cunix

Vincent Gambini is the title character in the movie – My Cousin Vinny.

My mother and her sister had very little in common.  So when they agreed on something/anything, it got my attention.

Sally and I visited my Aunt Jean in Columbus every other week during her last year of her life.  At least once during each visit she would note that she had outlived both of her parents.  That was important to her.  I never mentioned this to my mother.  Fast forward 8 or 9 years later and my mother would always find a way to include in our phone conversations that she had not only outlived her parents, but that she had even surpassed her sister.  It was the contest she was born to win.

My father died on August 2, 1994, one month and two days prior to his 69^th birthday.  So we can safely round up to 69.  And I am about to turn 69 on February 4^th.  I have no idea what my father thought of such things.  I don’t think we ever had a serious conversation about anything. But I can hear Aunt Jean and my mother.  I don’t feel like celebrating.  I don’t feel guilty.  This is just a moment, the time that I turn 69 years old and officially outlive my father.

I hope to put this moment behind me.  What I have done during my life may have some value.  I certainly appreciate my longevity, but I’m not ready to take a victory lap.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – Just A Day In Ohio In February 2024 – David L Cunix

This article is being written on December 26, 2023.  It will be edited for publication on January 5^th, after I have received all of the entries for this year’s contest Everyone’s A Genius In Hindsight – 2024.  I hope that you participated.

This post contains my answers.  20 brave souls entered this year.  Brave in that they won’t be able to pretend that they always knew who would win the presidency in November or just how good, or bad, the 2024 Browns really were.  I truly appreciate each and every participant.  A year from now, in early January 2025, we’ll see how well they did.  Now is the time to go on the record with my predictions.

First, I really hope that most of my predictions are wrong.  I’ve been sitting on this article for over a month.  I don’t wish to be negative, but I had these predictions in my head as I was drafting the quiz.

1. The President of the United States on December 30, 2024 Kamala Harris
2. The Democratic nominee will be __Kamala Harris
3. The Republican nominee will be __Nikki Haley
4. The winner of the 2024 Presidential election will be __Nikki Haley
5. The winner of the Ohio Senate election will be ___Sherrod Bown
6. There will be __9_ justices on the US Supreme Court on December 31, 2024, though not necessarily the same 9 that are on the bench today.
7. The winner of the February 11, 2024 Super Bowl will be ___The 49ers
8. The Cleveland Guardians will win _88__ regular season games.
9. The Cleveland Browns will win _10__ regular season games.
10. The Academy Award for the best picture will go to __Maestro
11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will close December 31, 2024 at _29,000
12. A gallon of milk will be $4.59_ at Heinen’s Mayfield Village on June 30, 2024.
13. Wild Card – The big, unexpected story of 2024 will be _2024 will be a year of state funerals.  A year of darkness.  It will remind us of 1968__.

Tie Breaker: Recorded at the Agora on June 18, 1979, it became a local anthem and was later covered as the theme song of a popular TV show.  __Cleveland Rocks by Ian Hunter_.

The future will be created by our actions, not our predictions.  Let’s all work together to create that better future.

Dave

www.againreally.com

Picture – The Predictor in Chief – David L Cunix

Of course, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to post Cleveland Rocks!

 

Within days of the horrific terrorist attack of October 7^th, the world’s focus seemed to shift to the terrible plight of the innocents living in Gaza.  We were told how there was no food, no reliable energy sources, no water.  My question at the time was how Hamas could have the resources to mount such an attack, fire thousands of rockets, and built miles of underground tunnels without any money.  Obviously, the millions of dollars sent to Gaza from Qatar and the other Arab countries were either diverted from the needed infrastructure or were mixed, with the donors’ blessings, with the Iranian funded war machine. Well, it was obvious to me.

My friend, Steve, asked a better question.  Yesterday he asked, “What did they do with the dirt?”  What a great question.  No one is denying that Hamas has built hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath Gaza.  Videos show the tunnels are deep, long, and wide enough to store weaponry and transport troops.  One tunnel was wide enough for a tank.  What did they do with the dirt?

His question has haunted me for over 24 hours.  Many of our elected officials as well as the newspaper and television reporters constantly tell us that there is a huge difference between Hamas and the rest of the Gazan population.  It was Hamas, not the Gazans that staged a pogrom. How could the ordinary citizens of Gaza have known about the plans, the weaponry, the tunnels?   We are asking the wrong question.  We have been asking “Who Knew” when we should have been asking “Who Didn’t Know”.

We have been told that Gaza is overcrowded.  Who didn’t see trucks and heavy equipment moving through the streets to the entrances of the tunnel construction?  Who didn’t see the convoy of dump trucks hauling away dirt and rock?  How did none of the doctors or administrators notice the command centers located on/under hospital grounds?  Nor did these same doctors think it odd that some of the hostages were brought to the hospital?  So who didn’t know?

We hope and pray that the rest of the hostages will be returned alive.  And we hope that they receive the long term support they each will need to recover from this terrible ordeal.  But that goal does not negate the important task of destroying Hamas.  Who rules Gaza next?  I don’t know.  An Israeli puppet would not be successful.  Another Iranian surrogate would lead to more attacks.  What lessons have they learned in Gaza?  Have the Gazans learned that leadership like Hamas only brings poverty and destruction?

We can’t begin to find workable solutions until we start to ask the right questions.

Dave

www.AgainReally.com

Picture – There Is No Reason To Hide If Nobody Is Looking – David L Cunix