Thanks to Brenda of Oklahoma for our TGIF Joke of the Week
Raoul’s 2 Cents. October 23, 2026
The Favor
Please move on to the jokes if you don’t want to ponder.
WARNING: Serious stuff today.
I had a strange and very vivid dream last night: I had just parked my van outside the arrival area of an airport in a third world country. There was a mess of tourists who had just arrived and they were looking for a ride to their hotel. One of the expats asked me if I knew anyone who could drive them to their destination. And I said “sure, I can do that … I can take 6 of you and your luggage in my van … just wait here.”
As I walked towards my van, I noticed a guard at the entrance. He was making sure no unauthorized taxi was able to come in. “So that’s why there’s a shortage of taxis or Uber drivers … they had to be authorized!”
The guard pointed me to the airport security office to get permission and lo and behold, the head of security was an old friend-of-a-friend. I asked him if I could be allowed to pick up some people in the waiting area. He was extremely friendly and helpful. He understood it would be a lucrative job because I could charge up to $500 because these tourists were desperate. Dollar signs appeared in my eyes. Then in the privacy of his office, he whispered “there’s price for this favor. I want 20 percent of what you make.” I was staring at corruption in the face. This sleazy government official with his slick hair, manicured nails and thousand dollar suit must have the same deal going with a short list of drivers. The moral man in me said “No!” but the hundreds of thousands of dollars of huge potential profit was hard to resist.
Justification: I thought of my family and all of the things we could do with that money. Besides, other people were already doing it. No one would know of our secret agreement. It was a difficult decision.
Then I woke up.
My first question to you: What would you have done? Stop and think. Be honest.
MY TAKE AWAY
This scenario helped me understand the tangled web of corruption in government. I suppose you’ve heard of the billions of dollars paid to the Somalis in Minnesota … the billions of dollars already spent on the High Speed Rail System in California with hardly any track installed, the Daycare and Medicare scams, the payments made by Venezuela and China to several senators and congressmen, etc (the list is long and includes corruption in both parties). If one of these people (who was sworn to secrecy) flipped, the dominoes will start to fall.
My dream helped me see how easily anyone could fall into that trap, how deeply entrenched they are and why they are so desperate to bury the investigation. It’s too late to turn back. They’ve already sold their souls.
I grew up under the Marcos dictatorship. I have met some of these evil powerful people who unashamedly demanded kickbacks from our company. I know people who were “eliminated”. I recognize corruption. I’ve heard the sob stories of those who were sorry … that they were caught … indifferent to the lives they ruined.
This November election, the powerful and worried people at the top of the food chain will bank on their subordinates to be too busy to research the facts. They have manipulated media to spread their lies. Blind fools will trust their party to have their best interest in mind so they will vote along party lines (even though the party has long deviated from its original noble mission).
My second question to you: Will your vote be for your party or will your vote for the good of the country?
Of course, this is just me. TGIF people!
Quotes of the Week
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
— Mahtma Gandhi
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
— Carl Sagan
“The guilty always scream the loudest.”
— Anonymous
“A man who has never gone to school may steal a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”
— Teddy Roosevelt
“If absolute power corrupts absolutely, where does that leave God?”
— George Deacon
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
— Mark Twain
“When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.”
— Ron Paul
“If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.”
— Proverbs 29:12
“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
— Romans 12:19
Memes of the Week
Send me your jokes & memes so I can share them with the rest of our TGIF family. This week, we thank Brenda of Oklahoma, Norm of Encino, Don of Los Angeles, Art of Sierra Madre, and Colleen of Arizona.
I found these:
I collaborated with my friend and jokester,Terry Cassel for these below.
