It is almost December 23rd and that means that Festivus is nearly upon us. (Actually, Festivus is floating holiday that can be observed whenever one chooses to.) It is traditional on Festivus to air one’s grievances. This is the Gasbag’s time of year. He can bloviate, bitch and moan. He can air out his grievances. He can complain and gripe. He can do what my wife says is what he does best. So I’ll sit back with cigar in hand and sip on my Old Fashion and do what I do best……….Gasbag.

2022, it has been a rough year. There have been many topics to gasbag over. In my opinion it does not get any better than the world of entertainment. Entertainment has provided such high quality topics before and this time they totally outdid themselves. It’s hard to believe that the country was so riveted by the Amanda Heard, Johnny Deep trial. You can get any lower than a pic and testimony of Amanda Heard’s feces in Johnny Depp’s bed. The country was mesmerized by it. People were glued to the TV screen. So much for entertainment. A new low.

What about music….Are there any grievances that can be aired in 2022 in the music world? Let me see… Doja Cat, Karol G., Latto, Rosalia, Gunna and Future feat Young Thug, Bad Bunny. How can we forget the worst song of the year. The Applebee’s song…… This is music? What happened to “Seasons In The Sun”, “You Light Up My Life”, “Boogie Oogie, Oogie”, “You’re Having My Baby” and ‘Disco Duck”.

Anything in the sports world to Gasbag about? Plenty. I just refuse to Gasbag about DeShawn Watson, Tom Brady. What more can be said about UNC beating Coach Rat Face not once but twice. ACC and NCAA tourney. A piece of heaven. As beautiful as that was we had the obsured banning of Novak Djokovic because of his refusal to take the covid vaccine. Banning him from entering the United States where tens of thousands of unmasked fans sitting practically on top of each other watched Carlos Alcaraz? take the title.

There was also a huge trade in 2022, maybe one of the biggest trades of all time. For sure the most lopsided trade ever. It was worse than Jimmy Johnson hosing the Minnesota Vikings when they received Hershel Walker and the Cowboys getting 25 future Hall of Famers in return. That trade was the trade of a basketball player who tried to slip some hashish oil or vape with TCH for a guy called” The Merchant of Death” the world’s most notorious arms dealer who sold a s**tload of weapons to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America. He has been out of action for a while but rumor has it he will been playing shape sooner than later. There wasn’t even a person to be named later. How did Putin find someone to swing that sweet deal? He is one hell of a General Manager.

Politics? I really can’t think of too much there. Pretty normal year…..Oh wait there is that pesky issue we have…….you know the one where eight to ten thousand people entering our country daily. People who are illegally crossing our borders and may be harboring a myriad of infectious diseases while we Americans are being told we need to be vaccinated, boosted again and also in some places being told that we need to mask up…….again…… and of course we need to stay six feet away from every other human being in order to participate in society. However doctors and engineers who want to work in America for the benefit of America must take many exams, fill out endless paperwork, and wait for years for possible approval but any illiterate, unskilled migrant or criminal can stroll into the U.S. with a plethora of fentanyl and other drugs while we shout to the rooftops about how we have to do what is best for our children.

What about gasbagging about how in this great country the religious condemn abortion yet scores of people every year are exonerated because of faulty investigators, bigots, shoddy police work and incompetence. There is no cry of injustice to those who have spent most of their life imprisoned for crimes that they didn’t commit. Those who have even been taken off of death row and exhonerated. There isn’t a sound or a peep from those who put so much value on that life. I consider myself a Christian and I have never understood being pro capital punishment and anti abortion. I have always felt death for those who commit horrible crimes was too easy. Being locked up forever in solitary would be worse than death.

I could gasbag about the fact that one must be 21 years old to buy beer or cigarettes, but one can vote at age 18, and get an abortion or have gender mutilation surgery as an early teen.

Gasbag about gun control? I have given up on that. 2022, much like 2021, like 2020, like 2019. It goes on and on and nothing changes……ever. Thoughts and prayers do not seem to be working. Every time we have a shooting my heart fill with grief. I am shocked, pissed and dismayed. Why can’t we focus on doing something about all the violence and not wait until we have another Uvalde or Sandy Hook.

Should I gasbag about Sam Bankman-Fried who built a house of cards on a foundation of deception. He created a limitless line of credit funded by some of my assets…… I mean customer assets.

Do you want to have a big meal with the family during this Festivus season? That’s is going to cost you too. The average yuletide meal is up 16.4% over 2021, which was up 8.2% from last year. Bloomberg is reporting on a new Harris Poll that says a full one-third of Americans this year are considering foregoing gift-giving altogether because money is too tight.

Maybe if we can’t afford to give gifts we can reflect on the true reason of this Christmas season. Maybe we can give the gift of mending a quarrel. We can forgive a Republican or Democrat. Maybe we could listen, smile, laugh, laugh a little more. Turn off Amanda Heard and Johnny Depp and listen. We could hug someone tightly and whisper “I love you.” We can make Christmas one long, extended gift of ourselves to others—just like God’s great gift of love to us. Unselfishly. Without announcement. Or obligation. Or reservation. Or hesitation. Merry Christmas all my devoted fans!!!!!