Word on the street is Homan is going to start deporting in Chicago

 Who elected this guy?  He's like a law unto himself.  When does he hit Yonkers?

Homan's gonna kick some illegal ass

 I have a better proposal.  First off absolutely secure the border.  Plug that thing with Flex Seal if you have to.  Maybe let a few of the top chefs through but THAT'S IT.  Next absolutely deport the criminal element and expeditiously at that.  Get The Rock to help if you have to.  Now here's where I get off the MAGA road.  Of the remaining millions who haven't committed any crimes and are hard-working have them maybe pay a fine and some back taxes like Hillary said once.  Then they have a choice.  Take the citizenship test and learn English or else you have to leave.  You can't stay here perpetually in this quasi state.  You have to become official.  Call it forced assimilation if you like but it's less medieval. 

So that's it.  Let's move on.

Ah well there's always ice fishing

 MN Governor Tim Walz was "a little surprised" he and Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump.  He feels "I did the best I could."  Not in the VP debate with Vance you didn't you knucklehead.   In his first post-election interview with KSTP a Minnesota news outlet he said "It felt like at the rallies, at the things I was going to, the shops I was going in, that the momentum was going our way."  Rallies can be a lot like rock concerts.  You go to a blink-182 concert and you think the whole world likes blink-182.  So puberty blockers and transgender surgery for minor kids had nothing to do with your loss.  It's really that the rest of the country isn't progressive enough is his take.

I hope you run into a nice school of yellow perch.

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:)

Is being over-informed a good thing?

 A lot of old people watch the news all day.  Had an uncle watched the news at 5 a fire in Brooklyn.  Then he watched the news at 6 the same fire in Brooklyn.   OK so now you're extremely well-informed now go watch a movie.  Old people also big on the weather.  I don't have to look at my weather app anymore.  A customer tells me what it's gonna be.

Being overly or extremely well-informed also means absorbing through a kind of unconscious osmosis the biases of the mainstream press.  Watched the PBS Newshour last night.  Story about "Rising Hate."  They had on an "expert" from the Southern Poverty Law Center who tied it all into MAGA and Trump's cabinet picks.  RFK Jr. might be a little quirky but he's a hater?  The SPLC is a lot like the ADL.  They hate conservatives and conservative groups.  No counterpoint on the Newshour of course. 

Maybe I'll rename myself the Grouchy Blogger.

Wondering how long this is gonna take

 The Senate has A LOT of Trump nominees to go through.  The Gaetz thing - for me it wasn't the sexual rumors just that every time I saw a newsclip of him he was being combative.  Temper issues.  Reminds me of the neighborhood hothead.  Someone's dog craps on his lawn and they have to call the police.  I think RFK Jr. will be the most controversial.   Maybe Tulsi Gabbard.  The ones like Dr. Oz unless he went to a Diddy party should breeze right on through.

Political junkies

 Perpetually pissed off about politics.  They may not be able to unclog a toilet but politics is the subject they know best.  Most people might know their local representatives but the political junkie knows every Congressman and Senator in all 50 states and their respective scandals.  It's hard to keep up to speed with them.  "What do you think of Mr. Pepperidge's nomination to be Assistant Secretary of the sub-Interior?"  Who?  My late aunt God rest her soul passed away a few years back from a cancer.  Politically conservative they say she argued politics with her liberal son-in-law right up 'til the end.  Dunno.  I'd be pondering my mortality.

When I came back from my 3 year blogging hiatus I had to google Tulsi Gabbard.  I'm always a little behind the curve and a day or two late on today's news.  Gotta take care of the feral cats.  Half of my YouTube search history is about health problems.  Rearranging my finances.  Puttering around the house.  I'm busy.

What's up with the political junkies?  Like a bunch of angry nerds.

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.

Today is Election Day

 

Watching election integrity like a hawk.  Top issue for many voters.  I think this election has brought out a lot of weird anxiety and stress in people.  It's hard to not become too emotionally invested in this but half the country is going to wake up upset tomorrow morning assuming they don't resolve this by 11:00 tonight.  Whatever the outcome if it's close the next president does not have a mandate.  Some talk of a Trump landslide although most polls don't reflect that.  

Take it easy.

MAHA vs. The Raspberry Zinger

 Sounds like a Japanese monster movie.

The Jr. influence.  Trump has promised if elected to stop fluoride from being put into our nation's water supply.  I really don't have an issue with that.  Why was it put in in the first place?  I drink a fair amount of tap water and still had a tooth decay on me.  People point to scientific consensus.  Bear in mind though scientific consensus was once in favor of lobotomies and electroshock therapy.   Just sayin' consensus sometimes evolves and isn't etched in granite.  Don't know if RFK Jr. plans to ban fluoride from toothpaste though and we may have to all switch over to Tom's of Maine.  I kind of prefer to not get cavities.

Lots of pro-abortion ads on the TV.  There might be some people out there who are ok with paying higher food prices for the next four years so long as they can arrange for an abortion.  Talking about the Harris voters.  Worked in a library once and the older secretary told me that back in the day people didn't even like to use the word "abortion."  Had a negative connotation.  Now it's like hey abortion.  They say nobody is really for feticide though.  People just do it a lot it seems.

Election Eve.  Just rambling:)

Ethnic humor doesn't fly anymore

 The NYT has studied Trump's campaign speeches and says they have grown harsher and darker.  Trump throws in a penis joke to lighten the mood and there's a bee in everyone's bonnet.  Ethnic humor -- You might be able to get away with a few Irish jokes but the better comedians have moved on.  Back in the day on his radio show Stern used to say A LOT of racial things.  Didn't stop Kamala from talking with him though.  Just watched the 12 minute clip of comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's recent MSG rally and a small portion was devoted to what you would call racial humor.  Yes cringe - groan.  Times change.  Every once in a while you need to open up the window and look outside.  Jon Stewart defended him as a roast comedian who once roasted Tom Brady.  My take calling PR a floating island of garbage is rough even by ethnic humor standards.  Having said that it doesn't affect the race in the least imho.  On the other hand the Left's claim that Trump has it on his bucket list to be an aging Hitler now that's HILARIOUS.  A tyrant for life with dementia.  ROFL!!!

To prognosticate or not to prognosticate

 Normally I would not prognosticate a presidential election this close but I will although not with supreme confidence as there will be millions of Americans default voting against Trump.  It will come down to the economy as it usually does.  Harris can point to this or that positive economic indicator but what people are paying for groceries is still too high.  Too many people still remember the Trump pre-pandemic economy when a trip to the supermarket was more normal.  This remains an albatross for Kamala Harris.  People also have been paying too much at the pump although I went to the station the other day and the cost took a remarkable dip.  What a coincidence!  Most voters are not academics and don't intellectualize that presidents don't really control the price of oil.  It was the Biden/Harris Administration during this time.  Correlation in the public mind and that's usually enough.  That the polling is still this close shows the defects in Trump's personality have had a negligible impact.  Disposable income trumps Trump you could say.  I want more disposable income to buy cigars.  To the undecideds Harris might be different than Biden but why take the chance?  If you vote wrong that's a long four years.  Trendy issues like climate change and trans issues those are more issues for the Left imo not bread and butter for most folk.  Abortion could have a significant but overall limited impact since people's views run the gamut.  It's the economy stupid.

Trump wins.  Not by a landslide but he comes out on top when the dust settles.  My somewhat shaky prognostication.

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.

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.

Kamala Harris' politically alienating campaign

 Yes I realize the automatic rebuttal here that Trump is alienating but she is supposed to be the anti-Trump and a uniter and a healer.  A key part of her campaign of course is abortion but that's a subject that's alienating by its very nature.  It's like if a standup comedian made a night's worth of fat jokes but half his audience was fat.  By emphasizing or over-emphasizing the abortion issue by default you're alienating people who may not even have strong political positions on this but who in their spiritual gut feel abortion is not a great thing.  If push came to shove and they were unemployed they wouldn"t feel comfortable working in an abortion clinic say.  Basically what she's doing is appealing to the default voters in her party's base but who else?  How big is the who else camp that would even be swayed by this?  It's kind of settled into a philosophical issue for many.  Discuss it over a pipe smoking session?  That's enough of a ramble.

Is this post alienating enough?

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.

Is Chef Boyardee the biggest problem facing our country right now?

 RFK Jr.'s endorsement of Trump has seemed to reinvigorate his campaign at least to a degree and now has everyone talking about our food supply.  Browsing YouTube and same topic.  An alarming increase in chronic diseases, diabetes Type 2, stroke and so on down the list.  BB is like the smart guy on Barney Miller he can break it down for ya.  Why are they blaming our food supply all of a sudden for an increase in our collective medical ills?  I shouldn't say all of a sudden as this has been a topic for years but it's really taken off now with the Bobby Kennedy factor.  Why isn't everyday stress being talked about along with a myriad of other factors?  OK we're a nation of fat-asses.  That's simply a matter of putting too much food into your body the same way an alcoholic puts too much drink into his system.  Is Little Debbie the villain here?  Nobody told you to eat the whole box.  Now with Jr. by his side is Trump gonna have salad bars at all his campaign stops?  I wasn't fat shaming before btw just sayin'.  Best thing you can have in your bathroom is a large mirror for when you step out of the shower.  Stopped me dead in my tracks one day and I said this and no more.  What kind of regs does Bobby have in mind anyway?  I'm not getting a smaller government vibe here.

Ramble over:)

What's the deal with the over-polling?

 Seriously though we have polls coming out of the ass.  We could have polls of polls.  What did you think of our last poll?  Harris and Trump haven't even had their first debate yet and I would submit these early polls mean nothing.  Every time I turn on my phone there's another Trump/Harris poll.  Harris has better hair than Trump.  Polls in the past have sometimes proven to be wildly inaccurate.  Remember when Hillary was supposed to win the election handily against Trump?  The polls might mean more if they take a break and don't poll for awhile.  Dunno.

I was never polled in my life.  Well maybe once I got a call on my cell and answered a series of questions.  Where are these people on the street stopping people to ask their opinions?  I'm still waiting to be taken seriously.

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