Observations…

Sitting in the Red Carpet at Dulles, I noted there were a group of TVs showing CNN and a group showing Fox News. NONE of the CNN TVs were being watched, nor were there even any people sitting in those areas…


Fast forward to the LAX Red Carpet, all the TVs but two with ESPN on were on CNN.  I asked why Fox News wasn’t being shown, and I was told “It’s not allowed in here”…


Interesting… But then it IS LA, nuff said…


And what is it with the androgynous ‘males’ wearing the big watches, no socks and the crappy attitudes???  Is that just a Kalifornia thing or what?  One of them was sitting across the aisle from me on the leg to Hawaii, and he was basically being a shit to the flight crew and the people around him.


Hawaii is down ‘significantly’ on visitors, guesstimated at 35% less folks. Very little traffic yesterday coming in from the airport, beaches are sparsely populated, and the restaurants are half empty…


I did meet a 90 year old and his wife this morning at breakfast, he’s a retired submariner, planning on spending tonight in his ‘old’ room at the Royal Hawaiian, just like he did in 1944, when it was an R&R hotel for the USN Submarine Force.  He was saying he’d talked to the management and will actually get the SAME room he had back then. Pretty neat!!!


Managed to ‘sleep in’ till 0400 this morning, so I’m only half jet lagged… sigh…   

Comments

Observations… — 19 Comments

  1. Well I have always heard that guys that wear big watches are “compensating” for something.

    Glad you made it back and good for the “hide with pride” vet. God bless him and I am glad they took care of him!

  2. CNN? FOX? Why watch either… or any of the major news outlets in this country. Propaganda isn’t news. There are far better sources for accurate news… and none of them originate within these borders.

    Shame… isn’t it?

  3. I’m with Mule Breath. I don’t watch TV anymore, although BH usually has it on. What I hear, I’ve already read. TV news makes you put your brain in neutral while you wait for the yappers to say something worth hearing. Video clips help you pass the time.

  4. Don’t judge the guy with the big watch and the pissy attitude. You may be a jerkoff someday yourself.

    I’m not surprised that Hawaii is seeing a drastic drop in tourist numbers. A lot of us are burying our spare nuts for a long winter, and trips to the beach are a luxury I can’t afford. Although the thought of sitting on a nice beach with a cold drink sounds really good right about now.

  5. Interesting observation about Dulles. Wouldn’t you think there are more news junkies there than most places? Now watching conservative TV.

    LA? They think the world revolves around them.

  6. Was that some secret hidden Red Carpet at Dulles? I thought I’d been in them all at IAD, and nearly every single time they are packed to the rafters.. every seat is taken.

    But here’s to safe travels.

  7. I work in a federal building. They have TVs mounted near the guard station. They are ONLY allowed to have CNN on – I asked.

    But I agree with Mule Breath and Suz. I’ve seen Fox make a horse’s patoot out of itself on certain issues itself. So I don’t rely on it any more than on CNN. If it’s interesting, read in depth. If not, meh.

    Very cool with the vet.

  8. The guys with the big watches confuse being pissy with being masculine because they’ve never been in close proximity to real men, only their adrogenous ‘posse’. They are the counterparts to women who confuse being bitchy with being assertive.

  9. If it wasn’t for the TSA the wife and I would probably go visit Hawaii.

    As for CNN vs Fox, I hate them both. Fox is better but still leaves much to be desired. For the most part I get my news from the blogs, Drudge, and Google News. Much of what Fox is following is mainly because the Blogosphere wouldn’t let it die.

    It doesn’t surprise me though that the bastion of LA banned Fox News. Can’t have anything disturbing the sheep indicating that there’s a problem.

    @Midwest Chick, Well said. She said exactly what I would regarding the dicks with big watches.

  10. Speaking of WW2 and the Royal Hawaiian, I see that DOD Head Panetta is telling Congress to NOT cut the Defense Budget, because, on a per capita basis, we are about to hit Defense Spending Levels that are at a PRE-WW2 Level. So when you look out at the Mighty Mo and the Arizona, just think of what our Military Standing was in 1939, and look what we had to go through to become #1. Then realize that our current Commander-in-Chief is willing to lower the Republic’s Safety and Security to below that of 1939 Romania.

    Meanwhile, the Chicoms and Tsar Putin’s Rodina are on a Military Expansion Binge….

  11. We rarely fly commercial anymore. If our Cessna can’t make it someplace, then we figure we don’t need to be there.

    Jerkoffs like the “big-watch asshat” you encountered on your flight are a big reason why.

    As a vet and ex-federal lawman, I have found my tolerance for such assholes grows slimmer and slimmer the older I get, and I become less and less shy about calling an asshole an “asshole” right then, right there, right to his/her face.

    A few of our more passive acquaintances tell me “one of these days, someone is going to. . .”

    I tell them that’s fine, but until then, I refuse to be one of these pacifist sheeps who let the fake wolves bully everyone around them. You stand up to them, let them get their bluster out, refuse to back down one damned inch, and I’ve YET to have one such asshole not back down and shut up.

    Grumbling and being pissy, yes, but no longer a pain in everyone’s ass.

    I remember when that’s what we used to stand for.

    What the hell has happened to us?

    Thank God for the younger generation of returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve seen more of these young people call out the “bullies” in grocery store check out lanes, public parks, etc.

    Maybe the fact that these men and women just got through fighting for the rest of us has something to do with it? Maybe some of us older warriors have forgotten what we fought for?

    Who knows. What I do know is that assholes exist because we tolerate their existence and give them no reason not to continue being an asshole.

    We have met the enemy. . .

    –AOA

  12. Correct: for the most part Fornicalians ARE assholes. Lived here all my life. Which is why I no longer live in a population center: I hate people.

    Frankly, I’m massively surprised that Fox is playing in ANY public venue anywhere.

    BZ

  13. Was just in Jax and O’Hare today and asked myself the same question about HLN or CNN on and wishing it was Fox.
    Yeah Fox acts stupid frequently, but don’t we all?
    Better than CNN, that’s all, and I think NFO’s point was that people were gravitating to the Fox channel.
    I hate it when I tell a punk or rude driver off, and a family member gets all “he might have a gun!” on me trying to get me to stop.

  14. Keads- At least ‘some’ folks in Hawaii still care about he vets!

    MB/Suz- Good point, and yeah, it IS a shame!

    DB- This guy was ‘maybe’ early 30s… Even the Japanese tourism is off, which REALLY has the locals scared…

    WSF- good point! LA may ‘think’ that… 🙂

    Andy- This was the one a C-19, and it wasn’t full…

    PH- Yep, and ‘news’ really isn’t anymore… it’s ‘infotainment’

    MC- I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I think you’re right!!!

    MM- Concur!

    Les- EXCELLENT points! Your former bubbas are worried…

    AOA- Understand, but I can’t get a Cessna with the legs I need… sigh… And ‘some’ of us still stand up to the assholes.

    BZ- Gotta agree with ya Sir…

    Ed- True on ALL counts…

  15. It makes you wonder how CNN and MSNBC can stay on the air.

    It makes you wonder about the changes that made the younger men so very different. I bet it is the school system.

  16. They must be the new counter-culture. Join the crowd, everybody’s doing it. I’ll just wait around till being polite and having manners becomes the new counter-culture, TYVM.

  17. Fresh- Don’t blame ya

    LL- And don’t forget the flakes, and they ALL come out on a regular basis!

    ADM- Yep, the emasculation of the American male…

    Jim- Agreed!