At this stage of the game if you still have Trump bumper stickers on your vehicle you're a cultist

 I know at least two people like this.  One at my workplace and the other one a neighbor.  After only a few months into Trump's second term any reasonable person left right or middle would have concerns.  I get the denialism up to a point but something has to give.  Trump sending illegals to places other than their home countries how is this even legal?  Trump now suing the WSJ over its factual reporting on his long-standing friendship with Jeffrey Epstein he's trying to chill a free press and the list goes on.  I'm not big on political bumper stickers but sometimes there comes a time you have to scrape them off.  The Trump cult scene at this point it kind of has the feel of the acid scene in the cemetery in Easy Rider.  I just long for the days when we can get a mature adult of whatever political persuasion in the WH again.  You ever notice Rubio's face?  Every once in a while you get that WTF's going on look.

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.

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?

What to do in the meantime

 

Some of the federal workers who have been fired have been offered their jobs back.  It's all getting very confusing.  Meanwhile Musk is going to use some AI program to evaluate workers' responses as to how they justify their jobs.  What does ChatGPT think?

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.

A political ramble through the workplace

 This is going to be counterintuitive.  Democratic bosses and Republican bosses.  The people I'm about to describe were very open about their politics of that there was no doubt.  Now you would expect a Democratic boss to be very pro-the worker but......Many years back I worked under a Democratic head chef very anti-Trump and very pro-Hillary.  We're not talking the restaurant scene here either which can be highly stressful by its very nature but food markets.  This man however despite his politics was universally disliked by the workers under him.  Numerous complaints to HR.  Unfair to the workers.  Made a woman cry once.  FF to now and the current head chef an avowed and hardcore Democrat is similar.  Both taskmasters.  You already have a lot on your plate and here's a few more scoops.  Current chef hard to have a rational discussion with.  Guy at work had cancer since passed away but at the time Chef became impatient because he was out a lot because the doctors were trying to get a handle on it.  On the other hand I've had Republican bosses who were nice and fair-minded.  Few years back when my father passed away the young head chef at the time a pro-Trump Republican said if there's anything we can do and take as much time as you need.  Very family oriented.  Said the same thing to another co-worker whose Dad had passed sometime before mine.  I thought the Trumpublicans were supposed to be horrible people.

All this is highly anecdotal on my part and I'm leaving the broad brush aside.  Studies have been done showing a fairly high percentage of bosses are mentally ill in the first place and this cuts across party lines so there can be many explanations.  What stands out in my own personal life experience though is how counterintuitive political affiliation can be when it comes to bosses in the workplace and what you would expect.  I welcome your anecdotes.

Is society becoming angrier?

 

Is it the election?  The price of food, 5G, something in the air or water, solar storms, too many boosters, Judge Judy?  The cost-of-living. the Middle East, Google, the weather, medical bills, bad digestion?  Trump......

The Rise of the Kens and Karens

I'm seeing it in retail.  From my end food service.  They come in for an item you don't have that day.  Instead of talking about with the department they go to the manager.  Manager gets involved.  Rookie deli clerk makes their sandwich slightly off as per their instructions they go to the manager.  You're short-staffed that day everyone called out that's not my problem.  Angry shoppers.  I'm a quiet shopper.  I don't make issues.  I don't get the workers in trouble.  Mild Z.

The blogosphere.  Everyone just calm down and let's talk about barn owls.

Open thread

Talk about what you want.

I don't know if any of you have ever worked with a former nurse's aide but seems to me, it's my impression that they tend to look for health problems in other people.  Chef at work has a small lump, probably a cyst on the back of his shoulder.  He's not working shirtless of course so I probably would never have noticed until she told me about it.  Dishwasher somewhat overweight and she says she walks funny and told her she has the wrong shoes.  One day she said I have dry hands and bought me a small bottle of Jergen's which is fine but maybe you don't have enough to do we can put more on your plate.  My late aunt God rest her soul was a retired RN and once told an Amish woman her socks were too tight and was cutting off her circulation so there's a trend here.  Now nobody's coming to work with a tumor on the side of their face the size of a basketball like you see in those infomercials for Mercy Ships.  We all have something.  An imperfection, health ailment or problem that's not life hreatening that we live with or manage or even totally ignore.  Some may see a doctor some may not.  Most of us are not Rockefellers with endless funds.  I work alongside a young Spanish guy with a deformed ear.  I'm sure he's aware of it I could care less.  To be filed under mildly annoying.

Or we can discuss Kate Middleton:)

The $15 minimum wage

Not being a doctrinaire hardcore conservative/libertarian the idea of some kind of minimum wage always made sense to me but with this liberal consensus of late that it should be raised to $15/hour across-the-board I'm tempted to chuck the whole thing out and leave employers the hell alone. This is what happens when you try to intellectually compromise with liberals ("yeah some kind of mandatory bottom makes sense") but you're thinking very low and go slow over time and eventually they want everyone to make what a bus driver makes. Entry-level burger flippers at McDonald's: $15/hour and so we'll see how many clerks your local McDonald's franchise hires. Fair to strong bet longer and slower lines, angrier customers and some places closing down altogether. It's not an idea whose time has come, it's an idea whose time should never come.

The post-50 years

It must be in keeping with the aging trend but I find myself sleeping less.  I fall asleep ok but I find myself prematurely waking and most of the time not really getting back to sleep.  An alternative Alex Jones theory of tinnitus: maybe we can simply hear things other folks can't hear.  While others may enjoy their joblessness it has a weird effect on me.  It brings to the fore any depressive issues that may exist and when you're past the half-century mark you think alot more about your own mortality.  Life really is short and tortoises live alot longer than man.  Also when you get older you start taking the issue of hell more seriously, at least I do but I was raised Catholic and it never really leaves you.  I've blogged about this before, I actually don't like work but I also don't like being out of work if that makes any sense.

Further thoughts on Pope Francis

Haven't been selling as much seafood at work as we thought we would despite a fairly strong demographic showing of Catholics in the area then I thought maybe I missed the memo, maybe this theological modster changed the rules again and we can now eat meat on Fridays during Lent. He has so many things in his head that are spilling out right now (e.g. civil unions) that the Vatican is scrambling to spin things along the lines of don't read too much into his words he's still upholding Church teaching but I'm wondering how long they can do this before they say Houston we have a problem. He was recently voted Man of the Year by BOTH Time magazine and the gay-rights magazine The Advocate so unless he's down with that I would have expected a polite but clarifying letter-to-the-editor to the gay review. The phrase I'm hearing most lately is he's some sort of rock star. That's kind of an interesting analogy considering the personal history of most rock stars and it kinda puts faith on a cheap pop culture level (Justin Biebs in charge of interfaith/ecumenical affairs?). If I may borrow a line from the classic Sidney Poitier movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Francis seems to be saying to all the mostly dead popes except one who have gone before him "it's time we got the dead weight of your generation off our backs" (Spencer Tracy was a great actor btw). Things are murky right now but Francis' foglight seems to be beckoning in the opposite direction so try not to hit all those traditionalists bobbing in the water as you steer towards some progressive's promised land. Does he have a Facebook page yet?

Cyber-nosy management (or watch what you tweet)

Not a week goes by when I don't read about the issue of watch what you post on social media it may affect your future job prospects or job you already have. Tesh is big on this but he's big on all the latest trends anyway and he just goes with the latest mainstream thinking as it evolves. My feeling - a boss who snoops in your cyberspace is not worth working for plain and simple. The ONLY matter at hand is are you qualified to get done the job at hand done? Look you get a busted pipe in the middle of winter I don't care that the local plumber may post socialist ravings on his blogsite nor should the plumber's boss care if he's a good one. I'm truly not getting this issue and why it's so much discussed and why some bosses feel the need to delve into your online personas. Of course if you're posting a personal scat video online then ok but by and large Free Speech is like a reservoir, row around and dip in and troll what you like it's all good and it's no concern of anyone else's much less a potential employer. Then again I don't put much stock in your basic job interview, I mean you could suck at them and still be a kickass worker but the smooth talkers and bs-artists always skate through. "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" dunno, my hands shake when I have too much coffee? Discuss:)

Wintertime ramblings

I wonder if the mayor of Atlanta believes in global climate change. I've lived through bigger snowstorms in the past but this winter has been very disruptive. Yonkers hasn't been preparing the roads this winter, what's up with that? Couldn't get out on some days so couldn't blog and comment. Well I could but my browser app on my smartphone that I've been using just fine all this time has become erratic and I've had trouble logging in lately and here I thought I was cool with the technology. Maybe it's this vast NSA info-vacuum/umbrella they have covering the world right now that have been giving people's devices problems. Guys just what is it that you're looking for? A bad winter for me, not only the app but the roving dog that killed a neighborhood cat, a mysterious pain that comes and goes in my hip area (bursitis?), Dad tripped inside and pulled a muscle but is doing better and work is weird. Philip Seymour Hoffman -- you know I think the Charlie Sheen/Justin Bieber stuff is all made up hype and PR, make 'em into bad boys but the ones we never suspect are really doing stuff. I never got the whole heroin thing, first off I hate needles and what happens when you run out of places to shoot up? I'm just getting back on track here. Guys can I have my app back?

Workplace malaise

I think it's time for a fresh blog.  Politically I can't latch onto anything at the moment and so I figured I'd do another work blog.  The workplace, it's been said companies and corporations have become more impersonal over the years.  Now I've had many jobs in my life, a quite varied resume but back in the day you were more like Family.  Most recently I've been getting over a severe groin pull and told my boss about it and even called out sick one day.  This is really a weird ailment because the pain is worse at night and in the morning but when you're active during the day you kinda forget it even exists.  Mild activity is better than staring out your bedroom window all day but anyway I took the one day and when I got back nobody really asked me how I was.  While everyone knew what the problem was because I told them and it's kind of awkward talking about your nether regions but no person in authority came up to me and said do you need some time off? not that I would've used it but it's nice to ask.  You know, concern.  Then there's the winter weather.  You could have 1 1/2-2 feet of snow and the place is still open and if you do call in there's a kind of weird silence on the other end of the line ("you mean you're not coming?").  Minor criticisms -- now I'm of the opinion that let's say you've put in 20 years at a place, they know your work product and on balance you're damn good and so one day some boss levels a mild criticism at you for whatever.  Nothing earth-shattering mind you but imo it shouldn't be brought up as the bulk of your work production over the years really outshines the minor bad and you do work through various ailments which people tend to forget so what's the purpose of the nitpicking point?  Oh yeah they're cutting back the hours on alot of people because of ObamaCare which I'm sure it's not Obama's fault and I ain't understanding the problem correctly.  I've got some years to go but I'm retiring the first day:)

OK so Florence Nightingale she's not

I found this item on the website of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.  Since the TS Life & Hope Network is obviously an anti-euthanasia organization I just had to read about this incident but after reading it at least two times I came to the conclusion there was no pro-euthanasia motivation that I could detect on the part of the nurse involved or her place of work although I do think she and her facility were tragically mistaken.  I blame the lawyers.  At my workplace for instance one of the co-managers came over one day and we had a kind of impromptu meeting and the gist of it was if a customer is in need of some type of urgent medical attention just call 911 and leave it at that.  Attend the person in need but that's it, don't try to help them yourself so I politely said what if someone is choking on a chicken bone can't you perform the Heimlich?  I mean by the time the paramedics arrive and he said well ok but you have to be properly trained and certified in these life-saving procedures.  Well the reason he gave that you're not supposed to help the person in need besides calling 911 is your workplace can be sued later, YOU could even be sued if something goes wrong.  Better to sit back and do nothing and wait for the ambulance to arrive and just hope they're not navigating heavy traffic.  Again I blame the lawyers.  Interesting scenario though, a lawyer is choking on a chicken bone......

How does Jay Carney do it day in and day out?

I know he used to be a member of the media and probably swings liberal himself but still.  There's been other presidential spokesmen who have quit for reasons known only to them but is he really that into this gig?  I mean Hillary doesn't look like she's having any fun, she looks bored and tired half the time and she's trekking the globe and she's leaving.  It's like at work when you have a bad manager and we've all had them but there's always one who's his right-hand man who gets offended at the slightest critique>>>"oh no no no he knows what he's doing" and the two really dig each other but to everyone else it makes no sense.  The BS Spokesman, a job I could never do.

Conservative post-election analysis

Now we get into the sheer entertainment spectacle of conservative cannibalism and zombie apocalypse, now they're working on Romney's leg.  The problem was outsourcing as if Made in Indonesia just happened yesterday, no but maybe Romney should have been from the Midwest instead of the Northeast.  Romney didn't reach across the cultural aisle to shake hands with Hispanics the fastest growing demographic in the country but if memory serves they were on prominent display at the RNC along with many prominent Republican women.  Other conservatives want Republicans to start killing fetuses and joyfully pass out Rear Entry silicon-based lubes to gay couples and maybe smoke a couple of doobies too while they're at it you unhip out-of-touch crowd.  Here's a thought though, what if Romney did nothing wrong? what if the country is simply more liberal or wishy-washy or whatever?  What if some people are simply stuck in some form of economic masochism, you know some young guy out of a job for quite some time now but who has simply gotten used to the Routine of sleeping in every day and then circle-jerking to the Price Is Right models and he can go out and buy at least the cheaper gas station porn with his government handout when the old stuff isn't fresh anymore?  HOW do you appeal to a populace in constant moral/social flux anyway who know more about the Kardashians than the national debt and deficit or Benghazi?  I think Mitt Romney was a strong candidate, strong enough in a bad economy to win and certainly stronger than McCain was so in 2016 what'll happen is maybe they'll throw up a Marco Rubio or a Chris Christie or put them in tandem somehow and when they lose too the conservative post-election analysis/post-mortem will begin all over again with ever fresh and creative deconstruction.  Obama got a strong storm bounce of that there is no doubt and I think Chris Matthews (free speech again) hit upon the truth here.  You know it's funny about Obama he seems to court every possible voting bloc except the white male vote and I totally agree with Bob Woodward who said on the last episode of Meet the Press that Obama has to start having a much broader message beyond his core constituencies.  You want Romney to go out and escort a woman to the nearest abortion clinic or offer his and Ann's bed for a gay romp while they go out shopping at Target? well if you think it'll help but I have to laugh over here in Westchester County practically every Democrat candidate for every conceivable office including dogcatcher touted I AM PRO-CHOICE and my brother goes most people don't care about that at least not right now, where are the JOBS?  One last thought, if the conservative pundits know what's best why don't they run?

The new norm

Conservatives sound positively suicidal.  Listening to Rush on the way home after Election Day and he said it doesn't jibe.  Ann Coulter said if we can't win with Romney in a bad economy we've reached a tipping point.  Conservatives in general have the ominous foreboding they're somehow outnumbered but Z-man has spotted a political trend of late and it goes both ways.  Bill Clinton was a two-termer, so was George W. Bush and now Obama.  I think the populace at large now sticks with the same leader for reasons of political and social stability, at least we know who he is.  This also helps on the foreign stage, doesn't confuse world leaders and a foreign policy gets a chance to work itself out and while I didn't agree with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on everything I'd much prefer him over the socialist Hollande.  So basically I think the new norm may be Americans want a president to finish the job whatever that job is and if he doesn't put a positive end to it all he'll get his just and deserved blot in History.  Kinda tolerant and fuzzy but I ain't that way.  If the economy doesn't improve however those hordes who voted for Obama have no right to complain and  I like to reserve that right and so I voted for Romney/Ryan of course.  It wasn't a good day for the GOP in general and for those of you who like to say the GOP needs to become more moderate on the social issues in order to win I have one thing to say: Linda McMahon.  Fiscally conservative and socially moderate as they say she looked good on paper and put together some very professional ads for the Senate slot in CT against Chris Murphy.  In fact if you didn't know any better you'd think she was the incumbent and she also spent a hell of alot of money or so I heard.  Wasn't even close and I don't think professional wrestling had anything to do with it.  Did it ruin my day? no, I just went off to work and did my usual, didn't get into the whole Rush/Coulter mindset.  There was alot of talk among the pundits on Tuesday night and the day after about the country's changing demographics and how they helped Obama and the Democrats, more Latinos and less whites say although if I were a Democrat and heard some chucklehead at one of the media roundtables say the less religious are somehow more inclined to vote Democratic I'd be offended.  You talk about your Tea Party and OWS movements but be on the lookout for perhaps the next big trend/movement, the movement to get rid of the Electoral College.  Where do I sign up?  Oh I know the framers put it there and I think the original rationale may have been to provide some kind of counterbalance to the natural stupidity of the American public but I was never a fan of the EC even when I was a kid and this movement can definitely be bipartisan, after all the case can be made that Al Gore should at least have been a one-term president.  I mean why not just let the six battleground states so-called vote for the President and the rest of us can just take the night off?  First president to win re-election with a jobless rate over 7.2%, the new normal:)

50 Shades of Crap

It's kind of a slow blogging cycle at least for me, nothing I could latch onto of late.  I mean yeah Sandra Fluke introduced Obama at some political function, he still seems to be milking that one and I was reading in my Catholic New York that he and Romney are gonna speak at the annual Al Smith Dinner in NY and...but hey wait a minute didn't his HHS Dept. and Sebelius just cause endless grief for the RC Church and other religious institutions? yeah a few lame jokes will smooth that over.  Maybe he'll even tell a birth-control joke or two, who knows?  Then I see the guy I'm actually gonna vote for, Romney, is actually a murderer according to some Super-PAC and this is just the longest hottest most horrible miserable summer for me in a while.  Getting attacked by mosquitoes practically on a daily basis even in my sleep and then there's the Fishbowl of Work to deal with.  Look folks are bored at work, I get it and maybe you have a temporary health issue or whatever and it makes for fodder and no it's not your paranoid vibe at work again, they really are talking about you and everybody else for that matter.  If I were in charge I'd make sure everybody has enough work to do.  New manager has a habit of sometimes leaving old food in the showcase like pulled pork so I talked about it with a co-worker and his attitude was give the guy a chance (the fruit of liberalism?), didn't seem to get my point like I was being a meanie.  Now I'm all for giving people chances, God knows I wouldn't be perfect in that role either and I'm not a prick but at what point is giving somebody a chance a lowering of standards, defining deviancy down?  I see Costco won't carry Joan Rivers' new book so she chained herself to a shopping cart and bellowed into a bullhorn.  Kristen Stewart/Rob Pattinson...you see the material I got to work with? but I'll be honest I kinda follow this stuff and I'm definitely on his side.  There was a new massacre at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, they're not Muslims but they look like them and their faith system is very googleable.  I checked my e-mail just now and see I got like a hundred fresh comments, dunno what everyone is talkin' about I gotta go see.  Time for a fresh post, carry it on over here if you like.  I'll put the coffee on and get the crullers rockin'.  Had a couple of Jamaican beef patties last night, they're good and all but left a kind of slight aftereffect.  It's definitely time to plan the next vacation:)