NOT IN THE SCRABBLE DICTIONARY

 

We rent a mid-size SUV when we go to Costa Rica. Although the roads have improved a lot over the years, it's never a bad idea to have all wheel drive. However, when we arrived at the agency hours late, they didn't have what we booked. They offered an "upgrade", this behemoth. I didn't like it. I mean, the thing had mood lighting on the inside that changed when you played music. The name is like all those mysterious Chinese products you see on Amazon. Someone puts a bunch of Roman consonants and vowels in a box, shakes it, and sets out any short string that is pronounceable in a European language. I half-expected someone to say "bless you!" after I said the name.                     

OUT THERE POLITICS, PART 2 OF 2

I pulled up behind this big SUV at a stoplight and happened to have my camera on the seat beside me. There's more to it than you can see in this low-res version. The red sticker in the bottom center of the window has an outline of Santa and two reindeer with the words Sleighin' Libs. The upper left has a cartoon of an elephant, a symbol of the Republican Party with an assault rifle in its trunk and the words Raised Right. Upper right is a cartoon of Trump in red, white and blue with both middle fingers raised. Lower right has a sticker that says Republicans - Working Like Crazy To Support The Lazy (!). The sticker in the lower left is mostly illegible but has the words We The People, the opening phrase of the U.S. Constitution, in its iconic script.

 

It frightened me. I was not about to cut this person off on the road.