It is a rare (and blessed) fog-free early morning, here in Suckingtomatoes (the State of Californicatia’s capital city). Digging into today’s ‘to-do’ agenda, after my first cup of all-important jingle juice, I exceeded expectations by getting past a particularly challenging hurdle (a writing project  that had had me stumped for days) and celebrated by taking the grrrrryl to a major local park for her early AM “sniff & squirt” ritual.

Shortly after arrival, she got to meet a couple with their 8-month-old Siberian puppy (of 8-months, and already as big as a Canadian Gray Wolf!). As is characteristic with Siberian females, Nala (my grrrrryl) is quite tolerant of and amicable towards juvenile critters, both animals and humans. Falling reflexively right into the ‘nurturing mother’ role as female canines often do around puppies, she even let the pup playfully tug on her tail without complaint. Such delightful stuff always warms the cockles of my wizened little heart, c'est certain!!

A bit further along the trail, I came upon a young guy walking 5 different ‘Heinz-57’ breed doggies in-hand. One of them, bless his humaine heart, was a ‘special needs’ pup, apparently afflicted with paralysed hindquarters, but rigged-out with a nifty little, two-wheeled cart that bore the weight of his rear-half, giving him full mobility.

It really restores my faith in my fellows to see such generous acts of human charity towards deserving pups such as this. Sadly, though, since for every single such good-hearted and humaine person there seem to be many dozens of sh*t-for-brains (or perhaps just not fully evolved) people who thoughtlessly abuse or otherwise mistreat animals in their care.

In my opinion, all animal abusers should be legally prohibited from ever owning “pets” again, at the very least, but as we all know in today’s “progressive” defund-and-deregulate social environment, the existing penalties for animal abuse...even the most serious offenders...consist of a mere slap on the hand and a judicial ‘tsk-tsk.’ [If I were KING, I’d have their heads off in a trice!]

Also in the vicinity of the trail were a number of VERY cute XX runners, clad in those leg-huggers they call (I guess) ‘Yoga pants.’ At risk of sounding like the old-style chauvinist I am (in my heart of hearts), the sight of a well-preserved, fit woman running brings warmth & joy to this bleak old heart of mine! [Or maybe it’s just a vestigial ancestral memory of hounds scenting a fox in the woods? Who really knows?] Of course, there were also the pairs of women (all equally ‘healthy’ and comely, of course) here and there on the running trail who clearly...how shall we say it delicately?...appear to be of the women-who-prefer-women type.

But this IS Suckingtomatoes, after all, the promised land of LGBTQ+ types and lesbians, more’s the pity since they all relocated from SFO to the state capital, now the heart of politically correct, DEI/woke critical theory and magical equity-land USA! But enough of this sort of ‘toxic male’ observation, slap-slap, tsk-tsk! 

It was and is a great day, with no fog, to get everything off to a not wholly lugubrious start [No goshdern fogs and lottsa dogs! Whoopee!]

On the way back to the home paddock, we passed by a local boulangerie de croissants of no small repute, so a stop was mandated to get a cappuccino and a couple of tasty pastries (one for the pup...I strongly suspect she has, despite her 100% Siberian pedigree, a small percentage of French Poodle in her makeup).

They have a sidewalk extension with tables sturdy enough to clip the grrrrryl to (with a carabiner), so I went in to get the goodies. Several tables (in Austria they are known as 'Stammtisch') are often occupied by a coterie of ‘regulars’, one comprised of Asian oldsters and another with Caucasian geezers; so being in an unusually good mood, I beamed generously at both groups as I converged on the bakery display case and sghted-in on the goodies with a broad grin. [The Chinese guys scrutinising me with side-looks doubtless wondered what I had been smoking, chuckle-chuckle.]

A croissant for the grrrryl (naturellement) and an exotic strawberry/cream-cheese pastry decoction for me and we headed back to my sidewalk-fronted table to troll for cute ladies (I exaggerate, since I welcome conversation with any so-inclined passerby, without regard to age, gender or appearance). I’m just a regular ‘Mr. Geniality’ when I’m in a good mood but a snarly beast when I'm not (think Jekyll/Hyde).

But as far as ‘trolling’ goes, despite my not necessarily being that hard-up for attractive XX cuties to admire (I married one), I must admit that Siberian Huskies, especially those that that are as naturally gorgeous as is my grrrryl (who is a regular piece of furry eye-candy) are perfect for ‘chumming the XY waters’ for some engaging XY (if necessarily brief, human contact, en transit) persons. After all, regardless of how old a guy is, it’s always encouraging to elicit some feedback that one still has a certain ‘attraction’ quotient, despite a few visual ravages of time on the map.

As some of you know, I have many assumptive theories that in some cases are not adequately backed-up with hard evidence. This is often the case with highly opinionated people who regard themselves as the soul of reasoned balance. One of these theories of mine is that people who naturally gravitate to dogs are the salt of the earth. Those who seem to have no demonstrable affection for pups are to me the ‘lemon-pepper of the earth’, by contrast.

Besides, my 15-year-old grrrrryl lost an eye to an errant, sharp Camelia twig last year and now only has the one good eye left. [Think here, for those of you born back in the 50s or so, of that beloved Walt Dizzy (sic) animated movie, ‘LADY & THE TRAMP’, in which one of the central dog characters is an older, worldly female Pekingese dog named ‘Peg.’ Peg’s character is naturally beguiling and empathetic, but she also has only one eye and so the “Aw...gee!” empathy factor is generally off the charts for any otherwise beautiful pup that has suffered the tragic misfortune of losing one of its arctic-blue eyes...usually.

Speaking of that, I actually worked with a rather attractive young woman years ago who had a similar affliction, an otherwise rather unfortunate human defect that typically garners extra sympathy. I swear her personality actually matched that of the Disney Peke named ‘Peg’ (worldly and poignant). And this woman was just as adorable with her “defect” as the animated doggie character Peg was with hers! Funny how reality so often mimics make-believe, isn't it?

As for lovers of kitties/cats and domestic felines (I’m going to stick my neck way out here...), this specific group of animal lovers also manifest a certain definably stereotypical quality (they tend to be mostly women, usually somewhat older and quite often inwardly-turned or even traumatically introverted individuals who have generally had some bad experiences with men).

I hate to think that, by extension along this line of reasoning, women who dote on cats excessively may also tend to have subtle (or not-so-subtle) anti-social aspects to their essential nature, but.... Since it has been demonstrated that dog-lovers have been observed, by and large, to be more gregarious than the social mean, it would therefore seem somewhat reasonable that cat-people might tend to fall into the antisocial category (to varying degrees, certainly). I myself like cats but I am not obsessed with them.

But enough of this admittedly precarious thought-projecting. One thing I tend to do on my early morning walkies with the grrrrryl is to engage in creative thought, deep-drilling into what the morning may prompt me to dwell upon. This sometimes takes the form of coming-up with snappy lead-in titles (QED: The title of this piece here, "We the Pimples...") for my writings, since no example of good or even great writing can possibly succeed without a clever title.

In recent years, particularly right now with all the adolescent street demonstrations, I briefly reflected that back in the 70s, the social norms were such that grammar school (read: ‘elementary school’) students were not encouraged by their emotionally wound-up teachers to bust out of their pedagogic prison to yell, scream and otherwise violently denigrate laws and Federally appointed enforcers of those laws. Officers who are merely trying to enforce our existing immigration regulations and codes.

College and university students in the 70s, on the other hand, were generally assumed to have matured enough by the time they entered the ivoried halls to at least form rudimentary, semi-reasonable (and hopefully semi-mature) attitudinal opinions about current political and social goings-on, at least sufficient to embed themselves in seething masses of screaming, chaotic human protoplasm to give lawfully authorized regulatory enforcers the middle finger and whack them over their helmeted heads with professionally printed (thanks to George Soros-funded, neo-Social-Communist professional agitators) placards of protest (replete with their snappy high-quality ‘ad-agency’ formulated slogans, etc.).

Not so, today, and among those masses of bored, action-seeking, excitable and ‘argument-of-least-resistance’ youths, whom (to cite merely our local Suckingtomatoes demonstrations of anti-ICE displeasure) we find include the entire enrollment of lower-level grammar schools, turned out with their teachers’ urging to do so.

Keep in mind that the average mentality and intellectual acuity of these kids is roughly on the same level as that of cheap custard-vanilla ice-cream...not well-solidified and subject to being easily melted by heated rhetoric that...(think: Dude, that rilly sounds so effing KOOL!)...that has come to them straight from professional radical leftist provocateurs’ pre-scripted playbooks.

The simple truth is that the kids in reference, inside the tiny, vacuous cerebral caverns of their as-yet un-developed, ‘tabula rasa’ minds, could care less about the actual, complex and not-at-all simple underlying constitutional arguments being raucously objected to. They merely welcome any impromptu and spontaneous “officially approved” excuse to ditch school for a day and excitedly clog the streets, because that’s where the action is!

Not stuck away in the boring old stuffy classroom, where they MAY, if lucky be occasionally reminded by some adult in the educational matrix that they are there mainly to learn how to 1) mature, 2) develop rational, critical thinking processes, 3) formulate their own balanced, fact-based and thoughtful opinions, 4) differentiate between ‘emotions’ and ‘reasoning’, and 5) perhaps even learn a few things that might enable them to much later become a job-holding, productive member of greater American society.

And so, whereas back in my Bezerkeley undergrad days, those of us out on the streets excitedly baiting the ‘pigs’ were at least ‘semi-mature’ young savages with some college or university behind us, those on the streets of Suckingtomatoes yesterday, kicking-in ICE car taillights, screaming obscenities at officers, and trying so hard to achieve peer-martyrdom for the cause, were almost entirely grammar school kids! More fun than a barrel of H.L. Mencken’s circus ‘monkeys’, eh? Dude!

OK, my job here is done. Time to casually depart the scene and amble off to whatever secluded corner is nearest and contemplate my navel for a while. [Aside to self: OMG! Is that a piece of belly lint I missed?] ...and the day started off so nicely, too!

PS: For a very relevent and thoughtful report on the recent 'Children's Crusade' ICE-protests across the country, see this (reprinted below, also) commentary by Samantha Koch, who has said it ever so much better than I could ever hope to: 

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"The Patriot Post® · Anti-ICE Student Walkouts Erupt Across the U.S.

By Samantha Koch · February 5, 2026
https://patriotpost.us/articles/124832-anti-ice-student-walkouts-erupt-across-the-us-2026-02-05

"Recent weeks have seen a wave of student walkouts around the country, with school-age teens and kids leaving class to join protests against actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). From California to the Midwest, students are marching through streets, holding signs, and chanting slogans, criticizing deportation policies and recent high-profile incidents involving federal agents. This even involves kids who are far too young to read the message they are promoting, let alone understand it. The demonstrations have been part of a broader, coordinated effort tied to nationwide calls for walkouts and economic disruption aimed at pressuring the government to defund or dismantle ICE entirely.

"On their face, these walkouts have been framed by the organizers as student-led protests, supposedly meant to allow them to express their own concerns about deportation tactics and the chaos surrounding ICE operations.

"In northern Indianapolis1, for example, high school students walked out and lined a busy street, holding signs with messages including “ICE kills” and “No one’s illegal on stolen land” — all based on the idea that they were supporting their immigrant classmates. One 18-year-old involved in organizing told reporters she wanted to show support for diversity and fairness.

"There were even coordinated calls nationwide under what some activists called a “National Shutdown2” — a broader strike urging people to skip work, school, and shopping to protest ICE funding and enforcement practices.

"But not everyone accepts the stated claim that these walkouts are spontaneous, grassroots student movements. Documents and organizing guides from liberal activist groups have surfaced, suggesting the protests were carefully planned and coordinated — going well beyond spontaneous student expression.

"A recent Washington Examiner investigation3 reported that liberal activist organizations — including the Sunrise Movement and UNIDOS Minnesota — circulated materials to high school students in Minneapolis on how to protest ICE, complete with suggested tactics and messaging. One training guide even encouraged tactics such as buy-and-return actions at big-box retailers like Target, a strategy designed to inconvenience shoppers and employees, disrupt sales, and deliberately harm the business.

"Preparation for the walkout included slides presented to students, packed with carefully selected messaging and buzzwords intended to drive engagement and participation. “‘We are seeing this surge in ICE agents because we live in an authoritarian regime,’ [one] slideshow shown to students reads. ‘ICE is being used to terrorize and divide everyday people, while billionaires get richer.’”

"Along with growing questions about who is actually behind these protests and why these age groups are being heavily influenced to join, there’s also concern about the loss of classroom time, particularly in schools where academic scores are already below average.

"Columnist Geoffrey Ingersoll put the question bluntly4: “Can the public school children participating in ‘ICE Out’ protests even read?” He’s sounding the alarm about the consequences of turning schools into political activism spaces rather than educational environments.

"Fox News highlighted5 an outside student union in Rhode Island that played a major role in the walkout for students across the Providence School District, drawing criticism for engaging in political actions and detracting from classroom instruction. Another report6 noted backlash after Chicago Teachers Union members staged protests at a retail store over immigration policy rather than prioritizing educational outcomes.

"So what’s really happening here?

"Many students are likely acting in good faith, motivated by a genuine desire to protect classmates or community members. But evidence that organized political groups are doing much of the behind-the-scenes work — shaping messaging and steering students toward explicitly anti-ICE positions — raises several red flags. Young people’s limited life experience and incomplete understanding of complicated policy issues make them especially vulnerable to having their worldviews guided in one direction, with little exposure to opposing perspectives or meaningful debate.

"The efforts by these outside groups are not illegal, but they should raise questions about who’s shaping these movements and whether students and parents fully understand that influence. Are parents even included in the decision to use class time for these activities?

"For many parents, that’s the heart of the issue — especially when school environments become channels for adult political goals. Parents have a fundamental right to decide what ideas and values their children are exposed to during their formative years. When school time is spent marching through intersections with signs bearing predetermined messaging or chanting slogans instead of learning history, math, science, or literacy, the role of moms and dads quickly erodes, and their input becomes irrelevant. In a time when many parents are already concerned about academic performance and the future prospects of young Americans, tying up instructional hours with organized political activism — whether around immigration enforcement or any other hot-button issue — is seen by many as a distraction from core educational goals and an infringement on conversations that should be led by parents in the home.

"There is also a legitimate concern about safety. While most reports describe demonstrations without incident, any time crowds of teenagers leave supervised classrooms and gather in traffic and city streets, the risk increases.

"Public schools exist to educate, not to serve as training grounds for one political perspective or another. Teachers are supposed to teach English, science, math, and how to think, not what to think, acting as self-appointed political leaders.

"For America to thrive, we need kids who are well-educated, curious, well-rounded, and ready for adulthood — not students whose primary after-school activity is gearing up for the next opportunity to line the streets and scream the slogan of the day at passing vehicles. If we genuinely want young people to be informed and engaged citizens, that work should start with a solid education, not spending school hours making liberal educators feel validated."

Links

1. https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indiana-schools-student-walkout-ice-protest
2. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5712766-national-shutdown-set-for-friday-what-to-know/
3. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/4431020/activist-group-organize-minneapolis-high-school-student-ice-protest/
4. https://dailycaller.com/2026/02/02/ingersoll-public-school-children-ice-out-protest-read/
5. https://www.foxnews.com/us/rhode-island-activist-slams-adult-run-nonprofit-promoted-student-led-anti-ice-school-walkout
6. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chicago-teachers-union-sparks-backlash-with-video-harassing-target-employees-over-ice-as-test-scores-plummet

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ATTENTION READERS AND AD AUTHORS:

Just spent a LOT of time editing and correcting the numerous errors and mistakes that you may have noted in the above piece ('We the Pimples...', etc.), only to have Author's Den's WYSIWYG glitch-up and lose my revisions with a cute little message saying "Oops! Can't find that page! Our author support team has been contacted!" Well, that's just hunky-dory, isn't it? It does not, however keep me from having valuable editing/proofing efforts repeatedly disappear down some AD wormhole! Anyone else having problems like this? With AD software that doesn't respond, dumps you out of your already 'logged-in' status in the midst of some editing/proofing work, or otherwise feigning to be "Sorry, but we goofed (and are uncertain why!)" GRRRRR!