Whatever happened to the mass deportations?

 We may need to strike the S off TDS and just call it TD or Trump Derangement.  The senior editors over at the National Review think taking Greenland by force is not a totally insane idea and Hannity is glossing all the lunacy over by simply posting Don Jr.'s nice video of his trip to the autonomous Denmark territory to make Greenland great again nothing bellicose about it (library word look it up). Meanwhile Germany and France are warning Trump over his threats.  Whatever happened to no new wars and working to end the ones we have now?  What does the MAGA base think of these latest developments?  Trump is either in the pre-Alzheimer's stage dementia or both.  There would have to be serious closed-door discussions at this point about possibly invoking the 25th Amendment Section 4 somewhere down the road.  Meanwhile Homan is probably thinking we got the buses all lined up for the migrants why are we now switching to geopolitics all of a sudden?  He ain't even president yet.

Hell's going on?  I'm willing to eat my vote.  Maybe they'll make a movie about it someday.  "Life Inside the MAGA Cult."

I didn't vote for Trump so he could rename the Gulf of Mexico

 I also didn't vote for Trump so he could use military force to take Greenland and take back control of the Panama Canal.  He didn't rule that out at his Mar-A-Lago news conference.  Plausible scenario: Trump is officially deemed Nutz as per the requirements of the 25th Amendment Section 4 and JD Vance becomes president.  I don't hear other conservatives even talking about this despite Trump's growing list of strange obsessions.  Trump has lost sight of his own MAGA mission.  His mind has become like one of those Monty Python animated cartoons I watched growing up.  He and Biden can become roommates in some kind of ward or home (needs script).  Unless this is all shtick. 

Why not Puerto Rico becoming the 51st State?

 It's already a U.S. territory.  In the wake of woke Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's resignation Trump is again saying Canada should merge with the U.S. to avoid tariffs and enjoy lower taxes.  He also wants to buy Greenland from Denmark and says we need to retake control of the Panama Canal.  I'm getting a spooky feeling this is not going to be a normal presidency.

Don't know if this is a false issue or not

 I wasn't actually going to say anything about Jimmy Carter.  Am I required to?  So the latest Trump controversy is the President-Elect is upset that the Dems want to fly the flag at half-staff on the day of his inauguration to honor the recent passing of Jimmy Carter.  So my thing is today is January the 4th.  The inauguration is still slightly more than two weeks away.  HOW LONG are the flags supposed to fly at half-staff anyway?  What's the rule on this?  Sure when a former head-of-state dies there'll be three funerals and the whole thing will go on for a month so I guess the funereal feelings can well wash up against Jan. 20 but again if anyone knows the rule on the flag thing let me know.

There's always been a kind of rough consensus that Jimmy Carter wasn't a great president but a decent human being.  There were the long gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis but he also negotiated the Panama Canal Treaties and of course is well known for the Middle East peace accords.  He did better work post-presidency.  Took up a hammer and nail for Habitat for Humanity and put his work pants on.  A devout Christian also taught Sunday school.  Made it to the 100 Club with Kirk Douglas.  Must've been all the peanuts.

Thoughts?

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.

Day One of the New Year

 A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the entrance to the Trump Hotel in Vegas.  Being investigated by the FBI as a possible terrorist event.  Driver killed and a few others suffered minor injuries.  Also a truck plowed through crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans around 3 in the morning and killed at last count at least 15 revelers and injured 35 others.  42-year old Army vet and Texas native Shamsud-Din Jabbar was the driver and killed in a shootout with police.  Had an ISIS flag in his pickup.  Both the Cybertruck and pickup both rented through the car renting app Turo.  Possible link between the two events being investigated.  FBI thinks Jabbar was not a lone wolf but possibly had terror associates.  NYC and Yonkers recorded their first murders of the New Year.

Not an auspicious start.  It would have been really nice not to have anything to blog about today.  Ease into the New Year ya know?

Have a Happy New Year!

 It should be an interesting 2025.

For your consideration

 Considerable discussion has been given to the Dead Internet Theory.  My own view we're at least halfway there.  As far as conspiracy theories go there are scraps of truth.  This is a real post btw.  I really do have to cut my sidewalk grass in Yonkers.

I'll always watch a good Nosferatu

 Don't go to the movies much anymore.  Most of the great movies have already been made.  Ever wonder how many movies are actually in existence?  Has to be astronomical.  Out of the sheer number of movies that have been made how many are actually worth watching?  For me a golden age was the 70s throw in the late 60s.  Do you have a favorite movie critic?  Rotten Tomatoes - BOTH Citizen Kane and Casablanca got 99% fresh scores.  So who was the 1% who didn't like them and why?  I wanna hear their thoughts.  Roger Ebert tended to overreact to movies he didn't like.  You can criticize the excessive violence in I Spit On Your Grave but I found it interesting as a cult classic.  Ebert thought it was the worst movie ever made.  More worthy candidates for that one.  How hard is it to be a movie critic anyway?  All you have to do is meet a deadline.  You ain't spitting chickens for a living.  Bruce Lee movies.  He actually made fighting off an army of fifty men believable that's how well the fight scenes were choreographed.  The only one to come close imo is Jet Li.

Thoughts on the movies?

One might mistakenly think Elon Musk is the incoming president

 Nominally tapped to cut government waste and inefficiency with Ramaswamy he sparked a MAGA civil war the other day (see previous post) and now writes opinion pieces for German newspapers.  Writing in Die Welt he said the AfD is the best hope for a dying Germany.  AfD is a fairly new political party there gaining a lot of populist support and could be a player in that country's upcoming snap elections on Feb. 23.  Could become a strong voice in the Bundestag or lower House.  I'm your Captain Google doing your work for you so you can relax.  AfD as in Alternative for Germany (Deutschland).  Many call it a far-right extremist and radical party mostly focusing on moving the migrants the hell out or in some cases at least forcibly assimilating them.  You will speak the German.  Vance also supports the AfD.  Many folk find Musk and Vance's support of the party alarming.  Homan might be considering some work over there when he's done over here.  Meanwhile Laura Loomer's blue check on X is currently under review.  I don't know what that means exactly.  In other news......

But what about our guest lettuce pickers so our H-1B visa holders can enjoy their salads?

MAGA CIVIL WAR ERUPTS

First off Trump hired some Indian-born foreign guy to be his ai advisor.  Now presidents need ai advisors?  Musk and Ramaswamy are all for extending the stays of our highly skilled foreign workers in the tech field.  Musk says a shortage of them is the main problem facing Silicon Valley and Ramaswamy called American culture mediocre (think Family Guy and Judge Judy - editor).  MTG kind of agrees with them.  Trump ally and hard-righter Laura Loomer, Matt Gaetz and the hard-core MAGA base say they're straying from the original MAGA policy on immigration.  Nikki Haley took issue with Ramaswamy's X post.  Things are getting heated.  Pass the popcorn.

BUT WHAT DOES HOMAN THINK???

Forget about retaking the Panama Canal

 President-Elect Trump is putting too much on his plate.  Focus instead on 3 main areas: the economy, border security/illegal immigration and foreign affairs.  THAT'S IT and maybe scale back on the social media posts.

Biden may as well pardon Diddy at this point

 In addition to son Hunter President Biden has also pardoned about 1,500 Americans mostly released to home confinement during the pandemic for non-violent drug offenses.  Being with the missus can be punishment enough.  In addition Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 federal prisoners on death row who will now be serving life behind bars.  Not a supporter of the death penalty myself but didn't know Biden was such a passionate opponent.  Trump has promised to become an execution machine while in office.  Is there anything not on Trump's to-do list?

Biden also pardoned the mailman for delivering the mail late.

Happy Holidays to you and yours

 

Whatever you celebrate.

2024 Year End In Review

 Trump Trump and Trump. 

Building a better blog

 Cats?  Pipe smoking?  The Middle East?  No foreign policy post for Dennis Rodman in a Trump Administration?  My drone is better than your drone?

Recent case in Yonkers.  A couple brought a very young cat which was severely injured to a local vet clinic and dropped it off without giving their names or phone numbers.  Anonymous good Samaritans but there's a bad twist.  Cat later died and tested positive for rabies.  The County Health Department is desperately trying to track the couple down to have them tested for the virus.  Got me googling rabies again with my hundred other topics.  Rabies is still generally considered fatal but...

As always though talk about anything you like.

The Dummies Guide to the Middle East

 I'm not one of those knowledge off the top of my head type guys.  I'm more of a Captain Google tbh.  Wikipedia the Assad dynasty in Syria and you could easily go into the wee hours.  Get your brandy snifter.  Bashar al-Assad during his earlier life actually graduated medical school and then went to London to train to be an eye doctor but was recalled back to Syria after his older brother died in a car crash and he then became heir-apparent to the regime....military academy...Syrian occupation of Lebanon...Arab Spring...Syrian Civil War...war crimes...human rights violations...chemical weapons...the UN, Obama, Trump.  Turkey's Erdogan later became a kind of foe and worked behind the scenes...LOTS to go through.  Bashar al-Assad has now been ousted as we all know by rebel forces and the head of HTS an al-Qaida offshoot is practically running the new government.  Turkey is heavily involved and the new HTS-led Syrian government is trying to moderate its image.  Putin has granted al-Assad and his family political asylum in Moscow.  He may have brought a bag of gold coins with him.  He always wore nice suits and believed in climate change and even recognized the State of Israel in private.  Otherwise a brutal dictator.

There I've done my homework.  Trying to give this blog some heft.

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?

RFK Jr. meeting with the Senators this week

 To shore up support for being confirmed as Secretary of HHS.  Possible topics of discussion:

Dead bear cubs.  Whale heads.  Cap'n Crunch.  Chocolate Twinkies.  The benefits of drinking raw milk from a bucket after squirting it from a cow's udder.  Under his tenure where to go for a tetanus shot if you step on a rusty nail.  How he seduces so many women (is it the croaky voice over a romantic candlelit roadkill dinner?)  Will we all have to shop at Whole Foods from now on?

Not a shoe-in by any stretch.  I give it about a 50/50.

No drones over Yonkers yet

 If there were I would simply chalk it up to Yonkers keeping track of who's not cutting the grass along their sidewalk and who's late on their property taxes.

Mysterious SUV-sized drones have been spotted flying over areas of New Jersey and New York.  Aliens?  Some weird social experiment being run by a university?  Google?  Iran?  China?  Putin?  The FBI?  The CIA?  The military?  Some brilliant 10-year old young Sheldon type kid operating a fleet of drones from his parents' basement?  A plan to rescue Diddy?  Some type of Trump illegal immigrants surveillance project?  Is Homan operating these things?

People are alarmed.  Congress is concerned.   The FBI doesn't have answers.  Somebody knows something. 

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.

Throwing the illegals under the bus for a pardon

 That's the liberal take on NYC Mayor Eric Adams' meeting with incoming border czar Tom Homan at Gracie Mansion today.  Sure he might need a pardon someday but he's not throwing them under the bus.  They might wind up on the bus though.

Your .02.

Let's go on a ramble

 

Talk about what you like.

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.

Christmas At Mar-A-Lago

 Would make a great holiday special.  Hosted by Joe and Mika.  Special appearances by Mark Zuckerberg and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.  Trump jokes Trudeau looks like Fidel Castro's son.

Homan Fights A Migrant Caravan.  With Chuck Norris.

Whoopi Goldberg - Keeping It Psycho.

Life In The UK special.  Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi talk about life in the Cotswolds region in South West England after moving there following Trump's election.  Special appearance by John Cleese.

You got any better ideas?

I don't recall......

 During my 60+ years on this Earth I don't recall any other president who right after he won the general election we talked about it non-stop everyday right up until the day of his inauguration the following January.  That's almost a good solid 3 months of hype if you do the math and that's the way it's headed.  Normally since Jan. 20 is still aways away, we haven't even made it through Christmas yet you would think this would be a good time to discuss a garden-variety of other subjects no?  Also not getting the continued uproar over the Hunter Biden pardon.  Presidents have the power to pardon, many pardons are controversial but at a certain point it's time to move on.  I don't care if Jon Stewart and some MSNBC host are upset.  Also why is Whoopi Goldberg acting perpetually deranged?  She looks like some medieval gladiator in a movie with a pickaxe.  Put her in a movie with Jet LI.  She looks like she could scare a pitbull.

Everybody calm down.

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:)

What do Donald Trump, Joe Biden and NYC Mayor Eric Adams have in common?

 All three believe our legal and justice system has been compromised, that they or in Biden's case his son have been the victims of political prosecutions.  Watched a recent Jimmy Dore podcast in which he talked about the media and Hunter Biden.  I'm taking an idea from there and expanding on it here. 

Trump of course has had his myriad legal problems.  There was the hush money case in Manhattan and the Jack Smith legal bundle since dismissed.  Hunter recently convicted of federal gun charges since pardoned by his father.  Read the WH statement about selective prosecution.  Then there is the complex case of NYC Mayor Eric Adams to go on trial next April.  Charges include bribery, corruption, wire fraud and donations from foreign nationals notably the Turkish government.  Adams too feels it's all a political witch hunt.  Now on to the main point.  Biden and Adams now have a special camaraderie with President-Elect Trump.  If you notice Trump and Biden are now BFFs and Adams has pledged all he can to help Trump deport criminal illegal aliens from NYC.  The common thread in all this is all three see the justice system as being corrupt.

It's not about the Rule of Law.  The legal and justice system is part of the swamp is what all three are saying in their own way.  That's the case that Trump, Biden and Adams are making.  Selective prosecutions, the weaponization of our justice system.  Who else will join the growing list?  That's the main thesis for today folks.

I haven't read the Trump Bible

 

I've drifted away from reading.  Haven't read a book cover to cover in probably years.  I'm more into pipe smoking and pondering and a little yardwork from time to time.  Reading is mostly a sedentary activity.  You're not circulating the blood.  Helps your mind but maybe not your health.  If anything I'm a skimmer and a scanner.  I like the field guides and a few reference works.  Worked in a public library for a few years back in the day.  Books more important than food for some folk.  One guy checking out the latest spy novels said he doesn't care if Village Hall burns down but not the library.  Consider the tons of books in the library that just sit on the shelves gathering dust and never get read.  Do most authors need another source of income to get by?  Ever read a toothpaste tube?

I pardon thee son

 President Biden pardoned son Hunter who pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges and was convicted on three gun charges.  Reverberations on Capitol Hill as expected.  I really don't have an issue.  Blood is thicker than water.

Rachel Maddow and the Covid Chronicles

 Maddow has issues with Trump's cabinet picks particularly Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to head the NIH.  He was a signer to the Great Barrington Declaration out of Stanford University which was basically against covid lockdowns in general and said herd immunity is the way to go.  There was an important caveat to this however: targeted protection for the most vulnerable groups (e.g. the elderly, people with co-morbidities etc.).  In other words during that covid timeframe you didn't invite Grandma over for the holidays.  We all understood this, everyone was on the same page but Maddow has outright lied about Dr. Bhattacharya and his views.  This wasn't exactly the Swedish model that basically said go about your business and the deaths will frontload early and then level off.  In the U.S. we had one of the highest covid death rates despite the lockdowns and mitigation efforts the 6 Foot Rule not even based on science as Fauci later admitted.  No matter to Rachel Maddow.  We also have early footage of Maddow stating emphatically that when you get covid-vaccinated the virus can't use you as a host and transmission stops with you blah blah blah which we now know is not true.  My brother has been hyper-vaccinated which is what most doctors still recommend these days and he still came down with a few cases of hardcore covid.   I'm not even clear whether Maddow and her hero Dr. Fauci even believe we have functioning immune systems but many people say she's in the pocket of Big Pharma and the military/industrial complex.  Word on the street is she's dragging MSNBC down the tubes with her.  Rumor is Musk might buy MSNBC outright.  Maybe Walmart, maybe Yonkers, maybe a feral cat colony island.  The times they are a'changing.

Trump has a lot on his plate on Day One

 We keep hearing about DAY ONE.  Most incoming presidents might move a painting around and kick the furniture a little but not Trump.  On his to-do list:  Secure the border, deport all the illegals, impose massive tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico and Drill Baby Drill!  He has so much on his plate for Day One he's just trying to get ahead of it all.  Homan is probably fighting a bunch of illegals in the parking lot as we speak.  Trump might address the Nation any day now.  The thought occurred if they had already 25th Amendmented Biden by now Kamala Harris could at least say she was president.   Put that on the resume.

This term "anti-government"

 Been meaning to do this post for awhile.  When the SPLC and the ADL list someone or a group (usually conservatives) as "anti-government" or "anti-government extremists" you're supposed to go OMG No! but the phrase itself is not automatically good or bad.  In order to be pro-government you have to have a government worth supporting.  If you oppose the governments of say North Korea or Putin's Russia nobody says that's a bad thing.  A libertarian supports limited government.   Only an anarchist is opposed to all government.  Most of us just pay our taxes and follow the law.  To be 100% pro-the government you're probably a fan of statism which is really worship of the State.  Most of us criticize government from time to time.  Property taxes are too high too many regulations whatever.  I think this term "anti-government" is used most often by aggressive defenders of the status quo. It is designed to intimidate you into not criticizing the government or the State TOO MUCH.  If you or your group wind up on the SPLC and ADL lists your political philosophy is automatically assumed to be bad and people are supposed to avoid you.  They mix you in with the Nazis and the skinheads when maybe all you wanna do is eliminate the federal income tax.  I always say as usual do your own research and have a nice day.

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.

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.

A Room With A Liberal View

 Lots of people wondering how "The View" has been on the air for 30 years.  Basically a bunch of liberal chicks sitting around a table with one token conservative.   Sometimes they start yelling.  I thought "The View" was supposed to be a light and frothy show.  Instead you get Whoopi Goldberg's anti-Trump meltdowns.  The other one Sunny Hostin who I never heard of before says uneducated women voted for Trump meaning they never went to college.  So wait a minute your WHOLE education up to but not including college doesn't count?  Then she says racism and misogyny also were big factors that got Trump in.  The price of pet food had nothing to do with it?

Word on the street is "The View" might be on the chopping block along with Morning Joe.  Elon Musk might buy everything that's not nailed down.  Maybe buy Yonkers who knows?

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.

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?

The media are in denial about their own relevance anymore

 They couldn't even influence the election.  They relied heavily on the fake polling industry to show a neck and neck race to motivate people to vote for Harris but Rasmussen were the only ones predicting a Trump landslide and if you notice they never quoted the Rasmussen numbers.  The American voters have spoken.  The media doesn't respect landslides or the will of the people.  You can give The New York Times and The Washington Post to people for free and many are not gonna read it.  Good for lining a birdcage or wrapping fish.  Now Trump's Cabinet picks are no good.  Expect four more years of a negative drumbeat from the msm.  Meanwhile the rest of us have moved on.

The great MAGA betrayal

 So about Trump's cabinet picks I'm hearing this and I'm hearing that.  Bunch of rabid war hawks being nominated going against all the MAGA principles.  Others not happy about Marco Rubio being tapped as Secretary of State.  I'm hearing that Matt Gaetz is the least likely to get confirmed and it has nothing to do with the edge of seventeen sex allegations.  Everyone on board 110% pro-Israel of course.  Huck even opposes a Palestinian state.  Gabbard is in there.  RFK Jr. ready to run wild.  A FOX News host running Defense?

We have aways to go before the Inauguration.   Normally this is boring and dry stuff for me.  I'm not a political junkie but Trump's cabinet picks are generating quite a bit of discussion.  There is even some talk of MAGA protesting Trump.  Me?  I just live my life and feed the cats.

The question is Diddy do it?

 The trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs is set for May 5th of next year in Manhattan.  Diddy is charged with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and prostitution.  Other charges can be added.  If convicted Diddy faces life in prison.

The feds have 100 electronic devices of his they got from his LA mansion and Miami estate and are currently trying to extract data.  We're talking terabytes of information here!  Maybe Bill Gates can help.  He is currently in a federal lockup in Brooklyn and a bail package seems unlikely.

He ain't livin' right.  The saga of 50 Shades of Diddy continues.

RFK Jr. hit the honey pot

 RFK Jr. tapped to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  A powerful post which oversees the CDC and the FDA.  Cross-pollination or people who were once in Big Pharma now working for the FDA a big issue for Kennedy.  Also don't expect any massively expedited vaccines on the market without long-range safety data first.  Operation Warp Speed belongs on Star Trek.  Dunno about the raw milk.

An interesting and eclectic Cabinet.

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?

A welcome oasis away from TDS

 

Might be a good time to showcase some of my photography.  I don't have any cryptids though.

Cranberry Lake Preserve.  West Harrison, New York. 

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.

Trump's war on women continues with his selection of a woman to be his Chief of Staff

 Little known Susan Summerall Wiles or Susie Wiles for short.  Was Trump's campaign manager.  67-year old grandma and daughter of the late American football player and broadcaster Pat Summerall.  Back in the day involved in Reagan and Florida politics.

The New Republic.  I used to read this when it was just a mag in Barnes and Noble.  Kind of a liberal version of National Review I would read it on occasion.  With Michael Kinsley as editor I found it a tolerable read.  He's gone on to other things and now it's just straight up deranged political commentary basically untreated TDS.  Reminds me of the scene in Easy Rider when they drop acid in the cemetery.  

Is Trump gonna find a role for Snoop?

Is Pfizer working on a pill for TDS yet?

 You can find people melting down over the Trump victory all over the Internet.  It's entertaining to watch tbh but truthfully if these people keep this up over the next four years their health is going to suffer.

Joe Scarborough and Al Sharpton talking racial smack over at MSNBC saying black men didn't want a woman for president.  Now there's two sober analysts.  Thought - Maybe black men don't like the price of food like the rest of us.

America's mental health crisis continues.

My take on the Trump victory

 Kamala Harris should never have been the Democratic candidate.  Exit polling showed most voters had concerns about the cost of living and the economy.  The incumbency or in this case part of the incumbency doesn't normally win with that kind of data.  The Democrats should have gone with someone outside the WH and surprised there was no real discussion of this apparently between the time Biden dropped out of thr race and the start of the DNC.  They may have still lost with another candidate but their chances would have been at least slightly better imo.

There will be the liberal wailing and gnashing of teeth over the next four years.  Also Trump will be dealing with a hostile media on a daily basis led by the New York Times.  As my friend said let the man do his job and finish the work he started.  IF he had won the last time against Biden he'd be nearing the end of his second term right now and liberals and the Left could finally get on with their lives or at least be free of the TDS episodes and suffering.  Instead this is what you got deal with it.  You're out of tune with the American people.