By Patrick F. Cannon

Many years ago, I took a course in auto tune up. You learned how to change spark plugs and points and check the timing with a cool timing light. You could also change your own oil and filter, and a bunch of other stuff. Most cars needed a tune up about every 10- or 12,000 miles. Over time, as electronic, then computerized, systems took over, it became impossible to service your own vehicle.

            I had a mechanic once who took new customers only when a current customer recommended and vouched for them. The last time I went there with my Chevvy station wagon, they told me they were closing. I was incredulous – losing a good mechanic was like losing a favorite barber! Why? I asked. They were all getting on in years, and they decided they didn’t want to invest in the computers they would need to service the new cars.

            The other day I went for my emissions test. When they first started doing this, they would insert a probe into your exhaust pipe, which would sniff to see if you were emitting noxious gases. Now, they plug into your computer, which tells them immediately if your engine is naughty.

            There was a time when you could open your car’s hood and see not only the engine, but all the stuff that went with it – battery, generator, distributer, spark plugs, starter, water pump, etc. In my 3-series BMW, the battery is in the trunk. There is no dip stick to check the oil; you now do it through the computer. When you open the hood, all you can see are the filler caps for the windshield washer and cooling system tanks. The engine is hidden beneath a plastic cover that informs you you’re driving a BMW.

            You may not realize it, but all this engine bay covering and general complexity adds to the cost of service. Simply getting to components takes time. The mechanics must move and/or remove stuff just to get to what they need to fix or replace. They charge – in Illinois – about $130 an hour to work on your car, and the clock is ticking while they try to uncover the defective widget.

            As it happens, I have an exceptionally fine mechanic, Pete. A week ago, after discovering on a day when the temperature reached 80 that my air wasn’t working, I brought it in. The refrigerant was gone. Pete and his guys tried to locate a leak but couldn’t find one during an inspection of the components they could see, probably because all the refrigerant was already gone. They put new refrigerant in, so the air is working again.

            But Pete wants to find the leak if any, so I’m going to bring the car back in three or four weeks, whereupon it will be put on the lift and inspected with infra-red lights and special goggles. In some areas, they’ll have to use a special probe to get at otherwise hidden components. If there’s a leak, they should be able to find and fix it. At $130 an hour, plus parts.

            Look, cars are better now. They last longer, they’re safer, they even talk to you if you get lonely. But all that comes with a cost. All an owner can do now is maybe change the oil, if they can find the filter that is.

            I had a Volvo wagon back in the early 1970s. It was orange and had a brawny four-cylinder engine. Everything in the engine bay was clearly visible. It had dual SU carburetors. These were ubiquitous in British cars of the period, and Volvo also used them for a time. I loved them. If the engine started running a bit roughly, I could get a regular screw driver and easily adjust them until the engine smoothed out. Now, cars have fuel injectors. They work better, but good luck fixing them (or even finding them!).

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

Irony of ironies, the liberal environmentalists who bought Tesla electric cars as a statement of their commitment to greener planet now find that the man who brought them to the market is anathema to their more radical liberal brethren, who have taken to vandalizing the cars he created and sells. Some owners are covering over the Tesla name or sticking on bumper stickers saying they hate Elon Musk too!

            Now that he is running the country, Elon Musk discovered that there’s a price to pay for getting involved in politics. Sales of his cars are declining here and throughout the world. While increasing competition is responsible for some of this, Democrats who can afford it are unloading their Tesla’s at a loss and buying the competition. (Of course, if you’re a Musk and Trump supporter, you can grab a bargain!).

            Musk, of course, has so much dough that a billion here or there is hardly noticeable. Anyway, in a typical example of Trump hucksterism, the president urged his acolytes to buy a Tesla, sitting in a red one on the White House Lawn, and saying  he would buy one himself. He can also help his pal by making sure he gets even more government contracts. And I’m sure Elon’s DOGE buddies will make sure not to fire or layoff the government employees who sign his contracts and checks.

            In general, public corporations are wise to avoid politics or divisive cultural issues. Anheuser Busch, now part of InBev, the world’s largest brewer, learned that lesson when a member of its marketing staff thought it would be a keen idea to expand its market for Bud Light – once the country’s best-selling beer – to a new audience. Why not have a transexual “influencer”  tout its great qualities? Are they not an untapped market? Had someone with common sense been part of the decision process, they might have reminded those young marketers that many if not  most of Bud Light drinkers had voted for Trump and shared his animus toward transexual people and their supporters. Bud Light sales tumbled. Ironically, it was replaced as America’s best-selling beer by Modelo, another InBev brand. Brewed in Mexico, its  days may be numbered too!

            As with so many issues regarding sexuality, it’s a complicated issue and the country is divided. Most corporations realize that taking political positions can potentially alienate half of their customers. Despite what many people may think, public corporations have only one real obligation – to make as much money for their shareholders as possible. In doing so, they must also obey the law and pay their taxes just like we do.

            This does not mean they can’t complain when they feel the government is doing things that affect their profits, like the Trump obsession with tariffs. Even so, notice that they are trying not to upset Trump too much while suggesting that higher tariffs might be a problem for the consumer, and the sale of their products to overseas markets. They dare not call the president nuts. Of course, I have no such problem.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

Back in January 2022, I bought a small share in three thoroughbred racehorses trained by the highly successful Chad Brown. Some time ago, I reported in this space on my experience with this new venture. I thought it was time to give an update.

            As a reminder, I buy my small shares through an organization called My Racehorse, which buys young horses at auction, then sells small shares to goofballs like me. Over the years, they have purchased a Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic in 2020, last year’s champion sprinter, Straight No Chaser, and many other winners and stakes winners. Over the years, I have had shares in five noble steeds. Not a winner among them.

I have been going to the races since 1957, and have been to numerous tracks in this country, and in England, Ireland, France, and Hong Kong. Before I bought my shares, I was fully aware that only about 7 in 10 thoroughbred foals ever make it to the races; and only 5 in 10 will ever win a race. But hope springs eternal.

One of my first steeds is Ein Gedi, a filly bred in Ireland, purchased at a sale in this country as a two-year old for $600,000. She got to the races later in 2022, finishing seventh, then fifth. She was a lovely filly, but her trainer suggested she just wasn’t terribly interested in being a race horse, so she was sold as a broodmare prospect for $200,000. The buyer sent her back to Ireland. Another in the first group was Three Jewels, a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He cost $320,00 as a yearling (one-year-old). Poor guy had a series of physical setbacks and didn’t get to the races until he was four. He finished eighth, soon suffered a minor injury, and was retired. He is alive and well in a horsey retirement home.

Last in that group was the filly Night Combat, who never made it to the races. She had been a relative bargain at $100,000. She fetched the princely (or is it princessly?) sum of $1,000 at auction and is now in California as a broodmare.

Two of my horses are still in training. One, Secret Crush (his sire is Candy Ride!) has earned $27,00 back of his $300,000 purchase price. So far, he has finished third and second and has shown some promise. He had a bit of a fever, but he should get back to racing soon. Finally, my latest purchase, the now three-year-old filly, Reputation, has started twice and earned $4,500 back of her $450,000 purchase price. I think she will eventually win but is unlikely to win back her purchase price. But females have a residual value as broodmares, so maybe I’ll get lucky. As a winner (I pray), her breeding suggests a substantial value.

Before you take up a collection for me, I have only spent about $600 total for the joys and frustrations of horse ownership. And, unlike a real owner, I don’t have to pay recurring bills for training, feeding, and veterinary services. The average cost of keeping a thoroughbred horse in training is about $40,000 a year. As far as I’m concerned, my $600 gives me cheap thrills (well, not yet, but one lives in hope!).

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

One of  the reasons I subscribe to the New York Times online is it’s the only daily newspaper that still covers the fashion world. In its heyday, the Chicago Tribune also had a reporter on hand for the runway shows in Paris, Milan, and New York. Alas, they now struggle to even cover the political shenanigans in Chicago and Illinois.

            It’s always a pleasure to see the pouty fashion models suffering malnutrition for their art. While the female models were always of the bony sort, male models tended once to be more the buff, athletic (tennis not football) types. Like the women, these days they also seem to be sourced from Siberian orphanages. In the real world, meaning Chicago, one rarely sees anyone dressed in the latest couture fashions. Or walking with that strange gait that models use to get down and back on the runways.

            As for me, I was more or less fashion forward in the 1960s. It was the era when one’s business costume consisted of a natural-shoulder suit, button-down collar dress shirt, striped or foulard tie and winged-tip dress shoes. Brooks Brothers would be the ideal supplier. “Preppy” or “Ivy League” were used to describe the look. For some of us, the 1960s are still here.

            I once owned many suits since business decorum demanded it. Now, I own one, but it looks just like the ones I wore for some 35 years. I had it made to measure in 2023, and I was amazed at how much more it cost than  the last one I bought in 2000. I’ve worn it three times, most recently in August 2023 for a family wedding. Oh, and I also own a navy blazer, and on New Years Eve, I wore it and a tie. I just checked my tie supply – all seven are either striped or foulards!

            Those of you who see me occasionally will know that I’m a large fellow. Given the preference for gaunt male models, the only way I would be on fashion show runway would be with a broom. And apparently this  taste for the skinny also applies to the silver screen.

            The ideal male for many years was virile and rugged. Think Gary Cooper. Think Burt Lancaster. Think Clark Gable. Think the recently deceased Gene Hackman. Of course, none of these fellows could have played Bob Dylan, which Timothee Chalamet did with distinction. But his type, lean and dreamy looking, seems to be in the ascendent.

            Chalamet is also one of the young actors who wear the designer clothes you think no real person wears. That’s him there on the red carpet. He appears to be real. I wonder how I would really look dressed the same, but in a larger size? I should seek out the designer and ask if they have it in XXXL.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

Early in the 20^th Century, artists of all kinds were given to issuing manifestos that claimed they were breaking with the restrictive rules of the arts establishment by creating new and exciting art for the modern world. What they were doing – the Dadaists, Surrealists, Expressionists, Social Realists, etc. – were creating new rules. And so it goes.

            Written manifestos have mostly gone out of fashion. But unwritten rules do not. One seems to be that art is created not for the enjoyment of the general, literate public, but for – in the case of the visual arts – for the critics and collectors. Realism, or “representative” art as its often called, is relegated to a lesser status. A painter of undoubted talent like Andrew Wyeth may be admired by the general public, but the giant balloon figures of Jeff Koons fetch the big bucks.

            I lived in Oak Park, Illinois for more than 40 years, and  still live next door. It is the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway and was the  home of Frank Lloyd Wright for 20 years. Edgar Rice Burroughs was also a former resident, and many other notables have called Oak Park home. Yet, aside from one portrait bust of Wright in a local park, no statues of any of them grace Oak Park’s public spaces. Nor are any schools named for these most famous residents.  It could be that their somewhat checkered pasts have disqualified them. Unlike Washington Irving, who died before Oak Park sprang into existence. New Rules.

            Oak Park is, however, the home of a good deal of public sculpture; indeed, its downtown area is littered with it. While a  few of them have some whimsical charm, most are bits of metal welded into abstract forms. Most people walk past without a glance, as if they were street lamps. Nowadays, the only sculpture representing real people seem to honor sports figures – in Chicago, Michael Jordon, Ernie Banks. Ryne Sanburg, and Bobby Hull are among those honored.

            Abstract artists in general seem to be facing a dead end. What can they do that hasn’t already been done? Can they improve upon – or do something radically different – than Mondrian, De Kooning, Pollack, Kelly, or Rothko?  Perhaps they can call upon A.I. to help them out? Abstract artists were and are not now usually willing to discuss the meaning of their work. You decide, they say. I remember listening to a psychiatrist on Charlie Rose’s PBS program (before Charlie got erased) who said he was so overcome with emotion looking at a Rothko color-field painting that he began to weep. He claimed it had nothing to do with Rothko having committed suicide, just the power of the painting itself.

            On a recent “CBS Sunday Morning” I was reminded that Andy Warhol’s garishly colored photograph of Marilyn Monroe sold for $140 million at public auction. As it happens, I have a vintage hand-colored photograph of my brother Pete and me, which I guess was taken when he was three and me two. In those days, it was common for photo studios to take black and white photographs and hand color them. Of course, they charged extra for it, but I’m sure our parents thought it was worth the expense. Since I’m sure I could get an excellent copy made, I’d be willing to let the original go to auction. You just never know what it might bring. I’d settle for a mere $14 million.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon (and with apologies to cartoonist Harry Bliss)

By Patrick F. Cannon

On September 30, 1938, when I was six months old and frankly didn’t notice, Adolph Hitler for Germany, Benito Mussolini for Italy, Edouard Daladier for France, and Neville Chamberlain for Great Britain signed an agreement which would cede the German-speaking Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia to Germany. The latter were not a party to the negotiations. They were given the option of accepting the agreement, or going to war with Germany

            Chamberlain also got Herr Hitler to sign a paper that bound Germany and Great Britain never to go to war with each other. When he got home, he brandished his letter and claimed he had helped guarantee “peace in our time.” Winston Churchill, who had been raising the alarm about Hitler for years, commented: “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You choose dishonour. You will have war.”

              The Czechs, no longer having allies, chose to accept an agreement they had no part in, and the Germans duly occupied the Sudetenland on September 30, 1938. Now helpless, the Czechs could only watch as the rest of their country was occupied in March of 1939, beginning foreign occupations that would last for 50 years. While Britain and France abandoned the Czechs, they did guarantee to come to Poland’s aid if Germany invaded, which they did six months later. The ensuing World War II caused the death of approximately 70 million soldiers and civilians.

            It appears that initial negotiations to end the current war in Ukraine will be between the US and Russia, with other interested parties, perhaps even including Ukraine, brought in later. When it’s all over, and Russia’s Putin adds more of Ukraine to his former grab of the Crimea, perhaps President Trump will deplane at Andrews Air Force Base, and trumpet for all to hear that he has brought “peace in our time.”    

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

Business owners and managers are inevitably faced with decisions about staffing. The reasons are diverse: inferior performance, automation, sales decline, changing product mix; and on and on. The Capitalist economic system, which has raised people from poverty throughout the world, can also seem cruel when profits are at stake.

            While I toiled for most of my career in the non-profit world, I still occasionally had to fire or lay employees off. I took no joy in it, since I know firsthand how it was to lose a job and face all the uncertainty that looking for a new job entails, especially when you have a family.

            President Trump – whose only job has been being Donald Trump – has had no such compunctions. His most memorable public utterance has been “you’re fired!” He did it with great glee on the “reality” program that made him famous outside of his native New York. Of course, the people who got fired knew only one of them was going to get hired, just like the missies who appear on “The Bachelor” know only one will get the famous Rose.

            You who read this blog regularly will know that I believe that governments at all levels spend too much money. What we have needed for a long time is a president and Congress that would work together to systematically eliminate wasteful and unneeded programs and the employees who operate them.

            Instead, we have a president who thinks Congress is an annoyance. If  Republican members do his bidding, fine. If not, or they take too much time, President Trump just goes ahead and does what he wants, regardless of any pesky laws that might annoyingly be on the books. I predict that he’s also going to ignore the courts too, in hopes he’s made cowards of us all.

            In case Trump voters haven’t yet noticed, he doesn’t care about you. Just as he doesn’t care about the lives and families of the people he and his deranged accomplice Musk are so gleefully firing. They don’t exist for him as living, breathing human beings who mostly are just doing the best they can in the jobs they’ve been given. It’s easier to think and say that they’re sub human denizens of the “deep state.” Mostly, they just go to work and do what the laws tell them to do. And that’s part of the rub – many of them know their president is guilty of most of what he was charged with, and he hates them for that knowledge.

            Finally, I’ve been getting emails from Republican lawmakers from around the country asking for dough to help them support President Trump in his efforts to “Make American Great Again.” Obviously, they have been given talking points from on high because they inevitably mention that President Trump is donating his $400,000 a year salary. As it happens, he did donate his salary to various entities during his first term. And he can certainly do the same this time since he shamelessly monetized his first term and is going even bigger this time. The lowest estimate of his income during those years totaled about $1.6 billion. Match that, “Crooked Joe!”          

            I don’t doubt that former President Biden’s family parlayed their relationship to make some extra bucks. But did he or his family break any laws? If they did, why didn’t the Republican House of Representatives, with full investigative and subpoena powers for two years, find anything? Anyway, there seems to be no law that prevents a president from using his office to enrich himself. He just can’t accept bribes (emoluments) from foreign governments or potentates. Or will he ignore that part of the Constitution too?

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

I was watching an interesting program on the Science Channel about the reopening of a four-hundred-year-old mine in England’s County of  Cornwall. It seems the ancient mine, which once produced copper and tin, is now known to contain Lithium, a key element in modern battery production. When the program was over, there was a promo for an upcoming feature on the continuing search for Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, if you prefer the scientific moniker.

            In case you have missed it, Bigfoot is a giant, human- like creature that roams the forests of our great Northwest, often sighted by hiking scientists, but so far never captured. Occasionally, a lucky hiker spots one and takes a murky photo or video of it. They seem to be about 8 feet tall, proportioned like a human (decidedly not like an ape or bear), covered in hair, and looking quizzically at the camera wielder. None, at least so far, has waved, or sauntered over to say howdy.

            You would think, given our modern tracking devices, we would have long since been able to corner one and toss a net over him, but no luck so far. Nor have our friends and fellow scientists in the distant Himalayas, where a similar creature called the Abominable Snowman (scientific name: Yeti) is said to roam. They may be related, but the Yeti has white fur, no doubt a climatic adaptation, like the Polar Bear or the Snowshoe Rabbit.

Failure to catch one of the creatures has not dissuaded the intrepid scientists, who seemingly will continue their searches so long as the Science Channel keeps supporting their efforts. We also have this and other channels to thank for not giving up hope that one day they will capture a life form from outer space.   

Of course, there have been numerous books, movies and television shows that present us with a little green man or two. Who can forget the charming ET? Sometimes they even look like John Lithgow, to fool us into thinking they’re just like us (heaven forbid). I’ve lost count of the number of folks who have been abducted and held against their will in a flying saucer or dinner plate. After hurtling through the cosmos and visiting strange and wonderful planets, the captives are released to warn us to mend our ways or suffer unimaginable woe.

Now, the universe is really big, and its vastness might include planets that can, like ours, support life in some form. Apparently, there are scientists sending messages through the ether in hope someone out there will hear them and respond. I’m sorry to say, so far only silence. I have no problem with them continuing to keep trying if it doesn’t cost too much.

Many of your fellow citizens believe that little green men have managed to reach our planet, and they’re being studied at a remote place in Nevada called “Area 51.” The government claims it’s a secret facility for testing advanced aircraft, but they would say that, wouldn’t they? Or at least according to the conspiracy theorists who have found their own niche on the Science and other “reality” channels. On the surface, the aircraft testing claim seems plausible, but what happens underground?

Could the government be breeding more little green people? If so, to what end? Are they way smarter than us? Could they solve the mystery of what goes on in Donald Trump’s brain? Or explain the popularity of the Avocado? Or – and I know this is a stretch – explain to me what was wrong with the old math?

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

t

By Patrick F. Cannon

Maybe it worked for you, but using the excuse “but Johnny did it too” never worked for me when I got caught breaking the rules when I was a kid. But, as we know, the concept dies hard.

            Wrong is wrong, no matter who does the deed. Former President Biden giving a pardon to his son Hunter, and preemptive pardons to the rest of his family, was wrong. His son Hunter was found guilty by a jury of his peers and would almost certainly have had to spend time in jail. Many fathers and mothers have seen their sons do time for breaking the law and would have loved to wave the magic pardon-power wand. No dice for them though.

            Biden also pardoned many who served or were serving long sentences for minor drug offences that under current law would be much shorter. I have no problem with that, or with preemptively giving pardons to former Trump officials who have since gained his ire, among them former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Miley, and former national security advisor John Bolton. (In a typical show of vindictiveness, President Trump has also taken away their security details, despite (or because of?) an ongoing threat from Iran.)

            But what President Trump did in either pardoning or commuting the sentences of all 1583 January 6 rioters was also wrong, but on a larger scale, and for more serious offences. Now, I’ve heard people claim those folks were just peaceful protestors. Bullshit. I watched the events live. As it happened. In living color. I saw the police being trampled and beaten. Many of the members of Congress who fled for their lives now pretend it didn’t happen. That tells you all you need to know about today’s politicians. If there is a single Republican politician who has condemned the pardons, please tell me. On the other hand, some Democrats did rightly condemn Biden for pardoning his son.

            It’s past time for eliminating the president’s pardon power. The abuses are getting more numerous and egregious. Our criminal justice system, while imperfect, works well in most cases. To eliminate the pardon power would require a constitutional amendment, a very, very difficult proposition. Of the roughly 11,000 that have been proposed in our history, only 27 have been approved.

            But as the abuses mount, we should at least start the process.

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon

By Patrick F. Cannon

Back in August, during my failed run for president, I proposed a few sensible ideas for cutting the Federal budget. It included mandating that every department cut their discretionary budget by five percent a year each year for at least four years. This would force them to decide what was actuallly important for the taxpayer, and what clearly wasn’t. In addition, I suggested that all the food, housing and other anti-poverty programs be consolidated and that those eligible receive only one check.

            Now that Donald Trump is president again and has loosed the likes of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on a trembling bureaucracy to force them to cut trillions from the budget, I have an idea which would be symbolic of their sincerity. Since Musk does business with the government, a noble gesture would be for him to discount his bills by a similar five percent! And not only him, but all the other companies who have gotten rich at our expense!

            Let’s take the Department of Defense as an example. Of their total budget of $820 billion, a company like Lockheed Martin pockets $64 billion. Surely, they could afford to give the poor taxpayer a mere $3.2 billion rebate. Raytheon could kick in $2 billion, Northrup Grumman $1.75 billion (I could go on, but you get the idea). You may not be aware of this, but Musk’s Space X alone does nearly a billion dollars a year business with NASA, and he may well have contracts with other agencies.

            Jeff Bezos’ Amazon does business with all levels of government, local, state, and Federal. He has also entered the space rocket business, so no doubt he will be doing business with NASA (maybe he already does). And President Trump’s new buddy, Mark Zuckerberg, is also a major government contractor.

            Now, their wealth is subject to the vagaries of the stock markets, but Musk is the world’s richest man, worth roughly $250 billion; Bezos has nearly $200 billion in assets; and Zuckerberg a mere $180 billion.

            If they put their money where their mouths are, they could set a fine example of patriotism by offering us (our taxes pay for all this) that five percent discount. If they did, how could companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman, and the other major contractors not follow suit?

            I’m reminded of the wealthy corporate executives who went to Washington during World Wat II to assist in the war effort. They were of course paid for their efforts – and handsome $1  a year (nearly $20 in today’s dough!).  I’m sure Mssrs. Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg are no less patriotic?  

Copyright 2025, Patrick F. Cannon