The Home Depot - how Tom Homan gets more done

 Trump now says we have to use lots of common sense about the illegals.  The migrant farm workers and those in the hospitality and leisure industries are essential workers hard to replace they're telling him.  Will we see a change in direction, of tone? So Trump is still lagging behind Biden's deportation numbers this is not a sports contest.  Homan and crew should be helping them pick the vegetables and ask them how their day is going not loading them into paddy wagons.  Homan laying down the law at a press briefing.  There's no grayscale with him just be a hardass.  Watched some NYC ICE footage last night on the news.  The always masked ICE agents lack simple basic professionalism and seem to have an apelike intelligence.  Dr. Phil has sure taken a hard turn to the Right but he's from Texas.  As they used to say in the Old West f#@k you and the horse you rode in on.

Are we EVER gonna get to the cost-of-living?

Trump is at war with his own country

 It might be any day now Marines come up the Hudson River to land at the Yonkers City Pier.  As I said in my last post the majority of today's conservatives ain't that freedom loving to begin with.  Yes I'm looking at you Hannity.  They have no issues with the Trump Administration censoring pro-Palestinian speech on campus.  They're ok with the Administration monitoring the social media posts of foreign students.  They're down with the possible militarization of major US cities in response to the growing ICE protests.  No libertarian concerns whatsoever.

One of the first things any would be dictator/fascist does is go after freedom of speech.  MAGA is just a bunch of gutless wonders, a cult at this point.  In my view Trump is a hater and a joyless prick no matter how FOX News and Dr. Phil try to spin it.

Gen. Trump wants to send more troops into American cities

 I guess the National Guard isn't good enough.  I thought they were troops.  Trump wants to militarize more US cities in response to the growing ICE protests coast to coast.  ICE is actually a kind of rogue agency created in the wake of 9/11, an offshoot of DHS.  Basically what Trump wants to do is set up a police, a military state with a vast ai surveillance system, an Orwellian database of every single living American courtesy of Palantir Tech.  Laura Loomer is down with this.  So why do the vast majority of conservatives still support Trump despite these existential threats to freedom and privacy?  They're not really that libertarian to begin with.  This is not to say they need to be full-blown libertarian but they should be more libertarian than they are.  More stuff should bother them but it doesn't.  Instead they constantly fall back on blaming the media and the Democrats.  So what happens if Trump gives the go-ahead for Marines to shoot rioters in US cities?  Will Charlie Kirk cheer?

Dark days ahead.  I hope I'm wrong.

Trump - the social unrest president

 He just loves to agitate the population doesn't he.  Bypassing CA state and local government he sends in the National Guard to quell the LA riots/protests.  On top of that he sends in a few hundred Marines - the few the proud.  Folks are rightly upset over Homan's goon squads and their operations in LA and ICE protests have now gone coast to coast.  Trump wants American citizens to get used to a military presence in American cities.  He wants to set up a police, a military state that's what this is about.  An AI advanced surveillance system to go along with that and too many Americans are already willing to give up their rights and freedoms for added security and safety.  Govern me harder Daddy!

Maybe one of these days Trump will get around to tackling the cost-of-living but I doubt it.

The Orange Man loves the drama

 Trump has made it a cornerstone of his presidency that he hates the immigrants.  Biden deported his fair share of illegals to be sure, Obama even more but they never talked about it much or made a show of it.  Now the ICE Capades in LA and the accompanying protests some of them violent Trump has sent in the Nat'l Guard (w/the Marines as backup?).  Trump lives for these moments and they help define his presidency.  ICE has become a kind of rogue agency something you see in a bad action flick. No name badges.  Masks.  Kidnapped people in broad daylight at times.  Where's Jason Statham?  What are we a Third World country?  Trump and Homan - alpha males without the sex appeal.

Here's hoping the next presidency is a calmer administration.  We don't need the drama.

Political bunker mentalities

 The majority of people have not cultivated the political ability to criticize their own side.  They are either down with everything their preferred political side does or if they do have some issues from time to time they simply keep quiet about it and look the other way I'm guessing for what they see as the greater political good after all the other side is worse.  A very binary view of things.  BOTH sides do this btw it's not just a MAGA thing although it may be particularly politically pronounced there.  Basically it's why we never have any real political progress in this country.  So how's your bunker doing today?

On a dryer note Trump's big beautiful bill for the rich

 They'd be getting the bulk of the proposed tax cuts according to the CBO.  The bill would also explode the deficit and national debt.  Proposed millions or billions to build ICE infrastructure read detention facilities for illegals.  Also making it harder for folks to access Medicaid and food stamps thereby amounting to cuts without technically calling them cuts.  More Republican opposition in the Senate where the bill may not pass or stall.  Musk is against the bill saying it would undermine the whole work of DOGE.  He's not wrong.  Democrats have no power at the moment and can't seem to get back on track.  Still hard for me to process that a cognitively impaired old guy with cancer was in the WH for 4 years.  Budget bills are usually boring topics but merits some discussion.  So that's it for today.

Ever have a conversation with a Trump cultist?

 It's spooky.  I personally know at least three of them.  Now we all have our political leanings.  I'm not talking about those who are supportive of Trump but the true believers out there.  When you gingerly and politely bring up even a mildly negative point about Trump they rationalize it.  There's no hesitation about it either as if they've imbibed the talking points. They agree with and defend EVERYTHING the man does and says.  For me personally Trump is not positive.  He doesn't inspire and unite and has no real gravitas for the most important position in the land but for them it's always the Democrats and the media's fault.  The Trump cultists it's a phenomenon. 

Less executive orders mean less tangles with judges

 As a practical matter.  A wise young manager I had once said you have to choose your battles.  This does NOT mean the judges are right on all the issues.  They're not but many see themselves as gods, the most powerful branch of the government but that's a separate post and I've blogged about it.  Trump started his second term like gangbusters with a swagger and a new sheriff in town kind of 'tude.  Practical advice lose the 'tude!  You can't govern for four years on executive orders alone.  You're not a monarch.  If the issue is important enough yes have at it with a judge but you don't have to right every wrong or every perceived wrong in four years.  Leave that to the next guy or gal.  Trans soldiers there can't be that many of them let it go.  DEI I had to google what this meant but it seems to be taking up a huge chunk of the President's time and on and on it goes.  What does it all matter if most people are going to sucky jobs in the morning?

I don't know what the guy's doing.

Fighting Harvard doesn't help people put food on the table

 Or pay the rent or manage the mortgage or take the animals to the vet.  Most of us wouldn't be able to get into Harvard.  Most of us wouldn't be able to afford Harvard hence I hardly ever think of Harvard.  Much of what Trump is doing in his first 100 days, I mean the executive order stuff aimed at socio/cultural issues like DEI I would describe these actions as low-impact meaning they don't positively affect the average person.  Many of the Trump obsessions he's trying to codify into law don't help the bulk of Americans afford basic living.  Trump has so much on his plate it's just leading to political diarrhea and nothing substantive in his second term.  Harvard doesn't need the federal funding but that's besides the point.

Everything but the cost-of-living.

Trumpian economics is a lot like quantum physics

 

You can't understand it.  Looks like we're in a bear market now.  U.S. futures are way down and last few days Wall Street and the global markets have been tanking.  Sen. Ted Cruz is starting to get pissed and Elon Musk has been taking potshots at Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro.  Trump says it's all medicine to make it all better.  Just a spoonful of bullshit I guess.  The UAW likes the tariffs though.  Some House Repubs are worried and have put stuff on the table.  CA is looking to still do business despite the tariffs.  New cars sales are up all of a sudden.  Folks buying wheels now before the tariffs drive the prices up.  Pop a prozac?  Maybe stock up on the Christian Brothers.

We got enough on our plate.  My thing is Trump didn't campaign on bring the pain.

I can't be wrong

 Trump has a complex personality type.  Not sure of the exact clinical diagnosis but besides narcissism a key element is the attitude I Can't Be Wrong.  This is not uncommon.  You see it in the business world a lot.  Companies and corporations might do things that seem stupid to the average employee but they never reevaluate as they go along but just forge ahead anyway even if they eventually drive the company into the ground.  I've seen it firsthand.  Will never take corporate responsibility.  They can't be wrong.  It's a funny way to go through Life though with that attitude.  At the root of many problems.  Maybe this goes a way explaining Trump's popularity in a way he mirrors us.  It's frightening in a leader though.  He's not the cerebral type but the GeeeZers will always sing his praises.  

I see Dr. Phil has made a hard turn to the Right going on ICE campouts with Homan.  Do they roast marshmallows together?  BTW who the hell is this Laura Loomer chick some unofficial advisor to the president?

Warehouse cat. Union job.

 

Yonkers has a bit of a rat problem.  Messy neighbors.  Yards that look like Sanford and Son's.  A cat will wait patiently for over one hour to catch one rat.  He's on vacation btw.

I'll have an LGBTQ hold the mayo

 So far Five Guys haven't changed their name to Five Gays but we do have or had DEI sprinkled throughout society until Trump outlawed them.  He's issued executive orders on everything that annoys him and has even given orders on statues and monuments.  He's taken over the Smithsonian and Kennedy Center why I don't know.  Maybe he wants to hold an awards ceremony for himself.  He's issued tariffs on cars but has said to car makers don't pass the added cost onto prospective car buyers.  Ok no prob DUH.  Nothing yet about the price of eggs or Fancy Feast.  No real bread and butter issues to date just side issues and strange personal obsessions.  BTW can we still honor the memory of Sidney Poitier?

The richest man on the planet is coming for your retirement savings

 When is the Right going to wake up and smell the coffee?  That's the kind of woke I'd like to see.  MAGA let in the Trojan horse.

Part of the problem is judges see themselves as gods

 The other part of the issue is you can't just impeach judges for making stupid decisions judicial arrogance notwithstanding.  Talking of course about President Trump vs. federal judge James Boasberg who thinks he has the power to turn around planes in midair.  This ain't a movie.  Trump deported a bunch of alleged Venezuelan gang members back to an El Salvodoran prison.  Boasberg claims the order was signed in the dead of night and is pressing the government why they disobeyed his order to turn the planes around and return them to U.S. detention.  It was part of the reason though why the American people put Trump back into office to do things like this.  But at any rate it's the system we have but Trump is taking it to another level by calling for the impeachment of federal judges.  The drama never ends. 

It'll probably take them two hours to get into their own portal

 Mixed messaging from the Trump Administration

Illegal migrants now required to register an online account with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency or face fines or imprisonment or both.  Goes into a big DHS databse.  Part of the statement says that if they leave now they might be able to come back and enjoy the American Dream.  Seems more of a call for self-deportation.  Drop the head of lettuce and go back.  If not then at least register an account with us.  Civil liberties groups are concerned.  I'm a little confused.

But does he know how to install an attic ladder?

 On a budget. Contractors charge too much.  So I woke up this morning to find the front gate wide open, went out to close it and found a homeless Mexican sleeping on the front porch in the corner with his own bedding and about three of those reusable shopping bags.  Regardless of the situation I ALWAYS go downstairs first to set the coffee and then feed the cats I mean if the house isn't on fire or something.  We called the cops they came and the man got up and took his stuff and left.  I asked the lady cop if they take him anywhere and she said no.  Homan might offer him a nice place to stay with three square meals a day and running water dunno.  The homeless guy left empty peanut shells all over the place snacking during the cold night.  Also left his bedding on the sidewalk which I had to throw out.  Code Enforcement you know can't take a chance.  Welcome to the Big YO.  What would Hannity have done?

Patio needs a little work.  Does he do masonry?  Ho ho ho and a bottle of Jose Cuervo.

Paying a mortgage on a house that no longer exists

 The finer details for survivors of the LA fires

Even if reduced property taxes no matter what.  Good to know.

Basic thuganomics. 

Never understood congestion pricing

 Don't get me wrong traffic can sometimes be existentially annoying.  You're stuck in traffic, you made a wrong dietary decision earlier in the day and your stomach is now percolating.  Heard of a story of a woman who ruined her front car seat once because they were blasting rocks on the Sprain Parkway in Westchester and so some lanes were closed.  "OH God please deliver me and I promise to be good!"  Also from a philosophical standpoint we're all given a finite time on this Earth and being stuck in traffic is totally wasted and non-productive time you can never get back.

Having said that I don't understand the whole logic behind congestion pricing.  Set to start in Manhattan starting January the 5th.  If you dare to enter the Congestion Relief Zone (sounds like a cold remedy), generally the Central Business District below 60th Street your E-Z Pass will be charged a toll.  The tolls on trucks depending on size range from $14.40-$21.60 during peak hours.  There are discounts for driving after dark.  NJ has been fighting this tooth and nail. People can't help it if their jobs take them into certain areas.  It's like they're being punished and it's an effort to control human behavior.  Yes I'm aware that congestion pricing has been around since the 70s and has been tried in places like Singapore and London and that many economists are in favor of it and sing of the bennies but I think it's loopy, harebrained and unfair.  It needs to be shelved permanently. 

The whole subject makes my head congested.