Health insurance is great until you get sick

 That's the sentiment of many.  In the wake of the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last Wednesday outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel many folk have gone on social media and unleashed a torrent of vitriol against the health insurance industry in general and Brian Thompson and United Healthcare in particular.  Seems some ai-driven program denied the claims of at least one-third of United Healthcare subscribers who actually had to use their insurance.  The wonders of our health insurance system - you pay into the program your whole life, you get really sick one day and finally get a notice in the mail "Claim Denied" and have to foot the bill yourself.   You're not Diddy.  Never understood how so many cancer survivors and their families use up their entire life savings and eventually go bankrupt.  I thought that's why we have health insurance.  Hannity would probably say at least that's not socialism.  Health care in America.  I thought Obama fixed all that.  I can't wait for the Singularity.

Back In The Day

 Saw an old video of Hillary talking about the problem of illegal immigration.  Deport the illegal criminal ones she said and the rest who are hard-working should have to pay a big fine and back taxes and LEARN ENGLISH to eventually become citizens.  Protect our borders and learn the language?  She out-Trumped Trump.  Give her a MAGA hat.  These were the Democratic talking points back in the day.

There really is not going to be any massive detention facilities for the illegals waiting to be deported.  How long would they take to build? Are they going to sprout up like McDonald's and dot the landscape?  "Mommy what's that?"  Are the Ancient Aliens gonna come back and spring them up out of the ground like the pyramids?  Then the immigration courts are gonna be clogged up for years and you'll be spending $40 for a head of lettuce.  Ain't gonna happen.

And a happy TDS to you:)

The Trump legal bundle is being dismissed

 As in have a nice day.  DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith says let's move on.  No community service in Yonkers when he leaves.  Nothing.  Meanwhile Trump has said he will impose massive tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on Day One.  A lot on his plate on Day One.  Securing the border, deporting the illegals, tariffs.  So who's coming in from the North anyway?  The illegal French?  Canadian drug cartels?  It's so much bloviating.  I think Day One will be more like settle in, move the furniture around and have a cold one.

Pre-inaugural bloviating

 Prediction -- There will be no mass deportation of non-criminal illegal aliens not unless Trump doesn't mind people paying $40 for a head of lettuce.  Meanwhile Morning Joe and Mika are catching flack for meeting up with Trump at Mar-A-Lago.  The Left doesn't like don't hate - participate.  Trump told them he wants to work with Democrats.  Damned if you do damned if you don't.   Wondering any illegal help at Mar-A-Lago?

When did loyalty become such a dirty word?

 Trump filling up his Cabinet posts quick.  The msm is spinning everything he does in a negative light saying he's packing his Cabinet with fierce loyalists.  When I was growing up the word "loyalty" had more positive connotations.  Loyalty used to be considered a virtue.  A dog is loyal to its owner.  A wife or husband is loyal to their spouse.  A worker is loyal to their company and doesn't sell trade secrets.  I could use a few fierce loyalists in my own life.

BTW where is the Bobby slot?

The existential meltdown continues

 I have actually read in some online forums about people who have broken down emotionally and mentally over the Trump victory and have to be counseled.  I kid you not.  Now let's remember Trump also won the popular vote and his victory was big enough you could call it a mandate.  The legacy media is pretty much dead at this point as they're not as influential as they thought they'd be.  People are gravitating more towards alternative independent media like Joe Rogan and not even giving a passing thought to what the New York Times has to say these days.  Ole Gray Lady hubris.

Whither this blog?  Start any post even mildly favorable to Trump and there's threadshitting.   I don't plan on this place becoming a dumping ground or landfill for Trump hatred over the next four years.  Criticism yes but there's a fine line between that and unhinged, valid takes and deranged rhetoric.  I'm also seeing a lack of critical thinking skills like Trump wants every Latino person who voted for him to leave the country.  That's just low-effort shitposting.  Another one people who haven't gone to college don't know how to vote that's just plain intellectual snobbery.  You know some calculus and some Nietzsche that makes you special?  Saw a bumper sticker once that said "Without Truckers America Stops."

Word of advice to the Democrats:  Next time leave Taylor Swift out of it.

Is McDonald's now a swing state?

 Media giving this maybe more attention than it deserves.  As we all know Donald Trump worked the fry station at a Philadelphia-area McDonald's over the weekend and held a kind of impromptu news conference through the drive-thru.  He has called into question Kamala Harris work history saying there's no evidence she worked at a McDonald's during summer break while attending Howard University.  Media giving this LOTS of attention calling to task his lies and baseless claims once again.  On a scale of 1 to 10 it hardly registers with me.  It's really not that important.  Everyone knows Trump talks out of his ass.  Maybe what we should be asking is was RFK Jr. okay with his stint at McDonald's???  He took Jr. on board to make America healthy again.  Is Jr. pissed?  I mean Trump could have put the produce away at a Whole Foods or something.  Does Bobby feel used in any way?

I like McDonald's btw.  Kamala Harris and Trump both like McDonald's.  The media taking this way too seriously imo.  Bobby probably confused at this point.

Trump is pretty fly for a white guy Part 2

 Apparently there's an issue with not enough black men who are automatically going to vote for the Harris/Walz ticket.  Heresies and blasphemies!  Obama has admonished them and now Kamala Harris has promised $20K in forgivable government loans for 1 million minorities to start businesses.  Harris also wants to legalize pot not an uncommon position but is also looking at it from a business potential angle.  I recently took out two loans through my union but nothing in the fine print about not having to pay them back.  On the pot front my neighbors are big potheads.  I'll be enjoying my fine Navy Flake MacBaren's pipe tobacco on my front porch and the smell of pot is always wafting over from the porch next door.  Modern-day Americana.  Norman Rockwell with a modern flair.  

So too many black folk have a nostalgia for the Trump first-term pre-pandemic economy.  Even the Trump loathing media admits the price of groceries was lower back then.  Black voters thinking out of the box.  A problem for the Dems.

Why doesn't Oprah fund Planned Parenthood?

 Planned Parenthood is not a self-reliant organization.  They suck heavily from the teat of government.   I mention this because I see on my newsfeed that Vance said Trump would take a chainsaw to PP if elected.  Oh the humanity!  Nobody is saying PP would cease to exist however and it's almost as if the headlines are conflating the two.  St. Jude doesn't suck from the teat of government but relies heavily on private donations.  But PP is a public health group you say.  OK but a mainstay of their business is performing abortions.  Abortion is arguably the taking of a human life etc.  Maybe Taylor Swift can run the whole operation.  Not understanding why it's axiomatic and morally obligatory for taxpayers to fund them in the first place.  Just my view.

Does your vet need to know Shakespeare?

 Does your gastroenterologist need to know calculus?  How many existentialists does it take to change a light bulb?  You do not need to be a well-rounded individual unless you're Chris Christie.  Many conservatives like Charlie Kirk are now making the case that you do not need a liberal arts college education to get ahead in life.  Worked under a young and talented chef back in the day.  He had a little higher education under his belt but he preferred to dive into the labor market at an early age.  You learn by doing.  Teach kids how to make money.  I vastly recommend trade schools over college unless college is your thing.  I'll never forget the tour our chef friend took us on at the famed Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park New York.  Young people zeroing in on their passion that's what it's all about.  In France our chef friend said chefs are practically revered.  He also said if you're a chef you'll never be out of a job.  College graduates on the other hand often have trouble landing their dream job right away.  Paying back student loans another current issue although the CIA costs a pretty penny too.

College.  What a racket.

Does Trump really want the job at this point?

 Or is he doing a reappraisal?  Two assassination attempts.  Will this remain some kind of aberration or is it probable there will be more attempts on his life?  Saw recent headlines is Trump suffering from PTSD from the first assassination attempt and has he lost that fighting spirit?  If he does regain the WH will things only get worse?  If he does get assassinated while in office he wouldn't be able to complete the work of MAGA.  Ego versus personal safety is he evaluating that calculus as well?  Maybe his selling $100K watches is really his yearning to go back to the regular business world from which he came and which he's good at and known for.  Under normal circumstances I would not be posting this but we are not living in normal times.  Two attempts on a man's life can seriously interfere with his psyche.  He has the delegates he has the nomination and he has a fighting chance in the polls but the msm seems to be boxing off the two assassination attempts and treating the rest of the campaign with their usual anti-Trump bias putting the two attempts on his life as more of a historical footnote.  This election season is not normal and nothing is normal.  It's not like we can just pause the whole thing but have to go through the wretched motions.

I'm just trying to say something a little off the beaten path.  Let me know in the chat.

The NYC Mayor - Diddy do it?

 NYC Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 5 charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting foreign campaign donations.  The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Damian Williams said Adams took over $100,000 in graft and used his office to try to help Turkey.  Before becoming Mayor of Gotham Adams was the Brooklyn Borough President and is also a retired captain in the NYPD.  He has an extensive police background.  The alleged scheme started in '021 and continued after he became Mayor.  Adams says Biden is getting back at him for his criticism of his handling of the migrant crisis in NYC.  NYS State Governor Kathy Hochul has the power to remove him from office.  Question is if everybody's corrupt who's gonna drain the swamp?

Meanwhile Donald Trump has started his own watch collection with watches going as high as $100K.  Do you have to take out a reverse mortgage to buy one?  Talk to Tom Selleck?  Snoop will probably get one.  YOU walk down the street with one and you will be robbed.  Why now though?  Why not wait 'til after the election?  Has Trump given up on the middle class and given that issue to Harris?  What is the watch supposed to do for you?  Maybe Elon will get one too.  I just wanna know what time it is.

The TV scene.  More channels than ever and some nights there's nothing on.

Neither candidate is talking about the price of Fancy Feast

 

Drove past a vacant lot today.  Used to be a gas station that they razed to the ground only they left part of the sign up.  Gas at 2.55 a gallon.  Had to be sometime before the Biden Administration era.  T. Swift can easily get a truckload of Fancy Feast delivered to her estate.  For the rest of us it's should I go debit or credit?  Cash on the barrelhead is usually out of the question for most folk.  It's jacking up my grocery bill and they're small cans too.  Talking about the cartons of course.  Seems to be a feline fave.  I always pay cash at the gas station btw.  If I'm gonna use the Visa I want it for something tangible like a garden power tool or clothes at Kohl's not for something as ephemeral as a few days worth of driving.  Don't understand the people who are always using credit for gas.  If I'm gonna go in debt I at least have a nice air fryer/toaster oven sitting on my kitchen counter.

As part of my ongoing aging blogger series my next field of inquiry is varicose veins.  That'd be Misty btw one of my former house ferals.

While you're watching the Olympics

 

Health food stores are a kind of niche market.  They give off a kind of eco-hippy vibe and  I don't think they can always sustain themselves businesswise as several have closed in my County of Westchester, NY alone.  They're great if you're looking for a non-fluoride toothpaste or aluminum-free solutions to your armpit funk but not so great for everyday basic grocery shopping imo.  Their tea tree oil mouthwash did help me with a bad case of gingivitis though but I still want my Little Debbies.

I never understood veganism.  I get vegetarianism but what do vegans have against eggs and milk exactly?  Eat a vegan cake or cookie and it's full of oil.  Never understood how it took off as a concept and reached the status of trendy to the point of vegan restaurants and cookbooks.  Pity the poor kid being thrown a birthday party by vegan parents.

Lastly I wouldn't trust the bathroom tissue in these organic markets.

Interesting

 On Day One of the RNC last night Trump made his first public appearance since the attempt on his life.  The most stunning moment of the night for me was Sean O'Brien president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters practically skewering Big Business in the keynote speech.  He ripped Amazon a new one.  First time in the 121-year old history of the RNC a Teamsters boss spoke.  Trump is clearly going for the populist working-class vote and stealing the Democrat's thunder.  Might have been reading the BB commentaries on corporate greed.  A brilliant move in this author's opinion.

The Amish have sold out

 

I bought this at an ACME supermarket.  Nice big bar.  I prefer to split it down the middle and put it on a plate.  There's also an Amish-style potato salad.  I haven't tried their pipe tobacco yet.  Is there an Amish app?

It's getting harder to shop these days

My backyard has come to resemble a vacant lot these days with overgrown weeds so went to the Home Depot.  Lots of stuff under look and key now.  Essential garden power tools behind a cage.  I mean is someone really gonna try to leave the store with a giant pole trimmer?  Then the public restrooms have  some sort of a control box on the door with nine numbers and a secret code.  Black guy yelled to the nearest clerk there's people waiting here and I threw in my 10 cent humor and said there's gonna be diarrhea all over the place.  Target too lots of stuff under lock and key now.  I understand the Gillette 5-bladers and items like that but everything you used to just grab and examine first?  Sometimes you just give up and go home.

Went to a Rivertown library today.  They have a new parking system.  Instead of meters (they have no lot) you have to go up to a pay station and get a slip to put on your dashboard.  Ok I can adjust but it took me about a minute to pay and get my stub and I go back to my car and there's a $50 parking ticket on my windshield.  I had to go to the nearby Village Hall to clear this up and the cop at the desk voided it out.  Progress.

Why is everybody so anal these days?

There's no legal requirement you have to congratulate the other guy

Trump may give his concession speech a year from now or never.  As long as he leaves the building January 20th.

When are the second stimulus checks coming?

Thank you for practicing unemployment

How are the people who have binge watched "The Munsters" gonna vote?  The media churning out as many anti-Trump articles as possible can work in reverse.  Will Dr. Fauci retire sometime next year and hit the links?  Meanwhile the New York Times somehow thinks they're mainstream.  Are they performing colonoscopies yet?

Race - How does defunding and dismantling police departments work in practice?  If you hear gunshots in your neighborhood do you call your local community activist?

I haven't been going to church lately.  I don't want to go and they say we're at 25 or 50% capacity and get turned away.  I haven't been tithing either.  Take it up with the Lord.

Thoughts on self-driving cars

AAA envisions a self-driving car reality and sees this as pretty much inevitable in the near future. I get their news magazine and they seem completely on board with this. I'm not. The level we're talking about here is not fully autonomous so a driver has to be behind the wheel at all times but then he/she mostly lets the car do its thing at least on open highways although I've seen other videos on YouTube showing folks driving cars with adaptive cruise control with the self-driving feature in slower stop-and-go traffic. I'd rather have a fallible self-aware human being in control of the car at all times instead of relaxing and letting advanced tech take over which can and will go wrong. I can probably come up with a list of other reasons why I'm against. What with ai robots and self-driving cars trucks and buses just around the bend and now flying cars on sale for the bored rich and some people on jetpacks (you can easily search all of these on YouTube) what can go wrong???