First we stole Venezuela's oil. Now we're after Cuban cigars?

 They say Cuba is next on Trump's hit list after Iran.  Is there a missile crisis?  The way I was brought up only the Congress has the power to declare war it's such a serious undertaking.  Call me quaint.  War is Hegseth's version of Viagra.  Cuba - the only question is what's in it for Israel?

Good suction for 5 minutes

 Three's Company misunderstood conversations.  This is the Z-man Consumer  Reports.  Recently got the Horsepower Duck which promised to be a handy little hand-vac.  Manual says 16-20 minutes run time which would be fine for my purposes but it always dies out after five minutes.  Just now I used it to vacuum up all the cat hairs and dust on my stair treads.  Got halfway through and had to recharge the thing just to finish the job.  Couple summers ago bought that As Seen On TV Arctic Air device which is like a mini portable AC just add water.  Gave off good cooling action for a while but the coils and interior became all rusty in no time and I wound up throwing it all out.  Excuse me while I go Flex Seal my pipes.

Readers of this blog know what a bad winter I endured.  Frozen pipes and a broken smart water meter which ain't cheap courtesy of the City of Yonkers.  Had to call the pros in.  Last two weeks my shower was giving me a problem.  An old diverter valve the flap broke off.  Whenever I took a shower it was like someone peeing on me so yesterday got a new one at my local hardware store and tried to install it myself.  Got a touch more complicated than the YouTube how to video so easy a 10-year old could do it in five minutes so I called a professional plumber.  Again.  The plumbing community loves me.  I'm helping put their kids through college.

Does anyone know of any As Seen On TV products that are actually decent?  A cat crapper?  Anything?

The missing checks

 Never got that 5K DOGE check.  Never got the 2K tariff rebate check either.  That would've been 7K total nice for some home improvement.   On the other hand NYS Governor Kathy Hochul promised New Yorkers an inflation refund check and delivered difference being she wasn't talking out of her ass.  Don't float something if you're not serious.  BB is probably right the money went to fund Hegseth's war games.  Maybe after Trump topples Cuba he can install the son over there.

My friend the Trump junkie.  Driving him home yesterday and trying to bring up different topics.  Movies from the 70s.  Robert Duvall.  Even Bigfoot couldn't stop him from proselytizing for Trump.  He brought up Kristi Noem and why Trump was right in firing her.  Appointed her the shield of feral cats in Latin America or something.  My friend brought up her muti-million dollar advertising campaign and something about a private jet.  Just as an outside observer looking in I offered even though I probably disagreed with most of what she said and did, spinning the ICE abuses for example she was extremely loyal to Trump and seems to me he pushed her off the subway platform.  Ethics?  When did that ever bother Mr. Trump before?

What's wrong with Lindsey Graham?

Ìs Hannity into Irish kickboxing?

 The warmongers over at Fox News.  Sean Hannity armchair warrior.  Probably never even picked up a rifle to shoot a duck.  You know things are serious when even Megyn Kelly is distancing herself from Trump over the Iran War.  She who spun the ICE abuses.  The rift in the Trump base is widening.  Trump is both impulsive and compulsive.  Is there a disorder for that?  Makes important decisions without considering the consequences.  Banned the penny now a woman at work doesn't know what to do with all her pennies.  The Strait of Hormuz now a huge problem for Trump.  The new Ayatollah, Ayatollah Jr. now closing it off.  Affecting the global economy.  Will you get your SHEIN shoes?  Hannity can afford to pay more at the pump.  YOU may have to have sardines for dinner.  Hegseth says it may take some time to take control of the Stait.  Maybe he can put some of his hair gel in the water and set the place on fire.

According to my Analytics I'm even getting blogviews in Vietnam.  I don't know what this means.

Remember when gas prices rose under Biden

 Some people put Biden "I Did That" stickers on the gas pumps.  Now we can put Trump stickers on the pumps.

Another Khamenei chosen as Iran's Supreme Leader.  The son.  That's some regime change.

7th US Serviceman killed.  Trump telling Americans to expect domestic terror.  Noem fired as Secretary of DHS.  I think Trump put her in charge of feral cats or something.  She went above and beyond for her man.  Thrown under the bus.  That's the Trump M.O.  Does the guy have any real friends?

Losing the midterms;)

A visceral take on the Iranian action

 No tears here for Khamenei.  Saw some of our American protesters on TV.  I never understood the soft spot for dictators on the part of the Left.  Never understood the soft spot for radical Islam on the part of the Left.  Having said that Trump didn't campaign on taking out the Ayatollah.  A key part of MAGA was not so much anti-war but no foreign wars or entanglements.   Joint US/Israeli action striking Iran.  Again whatever Bibi wants Bibi gets.  That too goes against another key part of MAGA America First.  So a kind of mixed reaction from me.  Ali Khamenei now officially deceased did have thousands of those Iranian protesters killed.  No grief here for the ex-Iran Supreme Leader.  However since this is all about regime change who will succeed him?  Does Bibi have him all picked out?  Unclear.  Will probably also affect the oil markets.

Chaos in the Middle East.  What else is new?

Black Panthers in Philly and Demented in Davos

 Never a slow news day under Trump.  How long how long oh Lord before we return to normal governance? Stocks rebounded after Trump said he won't take Greenland by force but he did say Iceland a few times at the WEF.  Despite the country and world being in total turmoil guy at work just likes to talk about the weather.  Nurses on strike in NYC.  Don't get sick here.

An aside about the Better Business Bureau

 Might be of limited interest to readers with all the big things happening but I have kind of formed an opinion now of the Better Business Bureau.  This blog has toggled back and forth between basically All Things Trump and my bad online shopping experience with SHEIN.  The finer details are in previous posts.  Filed a complaint with the BBB and this thing went back and forth for a few weeks.  SHEIN places almost the whole burden on the consumer to in effect basically somehow proving your lost parcels went to the wrong address.  Lost about $500 to them which they won't refund.  The BBB concluded the matter today informing me that they feel SHEIN acted in good faith and addressed my concerns.  There were no real offers from SHEIN or compromises even so the BBB couldn't even get me a half result.

My newer view now of the Better Business Bureau is they are probably fine for informational purposes only but lacking any real enforcement powers they shouldn't be in the mediation business at all.  In my modest view they're an overrated organization.  My sister made the point Trump should go after online retailers like SHEIN and stuff like that and I agreed Trump would be better if he did just a few minor useful things for most people rather than the stupid epic things he's doing now so tangent back into politics if you wish.

Things are not normal in the Trump Era.  The quality of our institutions are not what they used to be.  The Better Business Bureau.  Pretty much a paper tiger.  It's like the bad retailers don't even fear them anymore.  Shop at home.  Go local;)

Trump can't keep up with Obama's deportation numbers

 Despite everything that's been going on and I don't recall anything as horrific as this happening during the Obama years.  Obama the deportation king at around 3 million.  Biden did his fair share too only they didn't talk about it much.  This is why Trump consigliere Stephen Miller has them hitting burrito stands and Home Depot they're not reaching goal.  So I was thinking about the physics of the situation.  ICE cop stands purposely in front of Renee Good's SUV and she has to take off from a totally dead stop what's the maximum amount of speed she could have reached anyway?  I didn't really understand that new (ai?) bodycam video Trump put out.  Supposed to be a bombshell.  Megyn Kelly all over it.  Kind of a nothing burger in terms of justifying the agents.  Maybe Hannity can deconstruct it for us.

Wisdom for today.  It's better to let an ICE agent drag you out of your car and beat you up than try to take off.

The few remaining people who still support Trump are not MAGA

 President Trump has betrayed MAGA not the other way around.  Trump has betrayed MAGA most notably on foreign policy to wit no foreign interventions and no regime change wars.  America First NOT Israel First.  Trump is a war criminal at this point.  He invaded Venezuela, kidnapped its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and now claims to be in charge and running that country.  This was never really about drugs but all about OIL.  The indictment against Maduro and his wife doesn't even mention fentanyl.  The rest of the Venezuelan government is still largely intact and Trump has threatened an even more brutal attack if the lady VP over there doesn't comply.  Venezuelan paramilitary forces everywhere.  Sound familiar?  Boots on the ground would mean guerilla warfare = quagmire for years.  Now Trump has his sights set on Cuba and possibly Greenland an important NATO ally.  So far the military is obeying Trump's every illegal order.  Thorny issue.  They might want to reconsider that or be held to account somewhere down the road.  Putin has made his chess move saying release Maduro now.  China the same.  MAGA has already abandoned the POTUS in droves.  What remains are those few remaining supporters and loyalists.  That's not MAGA.  They're beyond MAGA.  Now we're talking cult territory.  Weren't we just talking about the Trump/Epstein Files like a few days ago?

Donald J. Trump.  Madman on the world stage.

The only way to stop Trump is to bring him before the International Criminal Court

 Any country can file a motion.  However with America's military might probably won't go anywhere.   War crime charges have already been filed against Bibi by the ICC and he's still happily conducting his little genocide with our help btw.  The other avenue is impeachment and that's very unlikely to happen.  Turns out Trump if you read the news reports was really after Venezuela's vast oil reserves all along.  Most fentanyl comes from Mexico.  Don't confuse me with the facts though.

Yet another distraction from the Trump/Epstein Files.  Glad Anonymous is exposing Mr. Trump on YouTube though.  Just wish they'd get rid of those silly masks.

A New Year's Resolution

 I generally don't make them but going forward no online shopping for me.  Would have to be an absolutely necessary purchase like if I ever feel the need to get a hearing aid but other than that I'm done.  There are two groups of SHEIN customers.  The first group are people who never had a problem with them and the second group are former customers who had to deal with Customer Service.  I'm thinking maybe the UPS Claims Dept. is partially driven by ai although I don't know this.  Might explain some things.  Something hasn't been right since Trump got elected.  Maybe it's the tariffs.  SHEIN is a Chinese company so why should they give their American customers refunds?  Just a theory.

We're a nation of compulsive shoppers.  Probably half the people in Target don't really need anything.  You always see them coming out of the store with plastic storage containers.  Credit card debt in this country is at an all-time high.  What's up with people always passing you on the escalators?  Everyone's in such a hurry.  My mother used to have a saying about such people.  What are they in a hurry to get to their grave?

It's gonna snow?  Go to Home Depot and get another shovel.  You already have five.

Maybe UPS lost her package and denied her claim

 'Tis the holiday season.  NY AG Letitia James files suit against UPS.  It is what it is.

Merry Christmas. 

SHEIN now accepting donations and UPS not taking claims seriously

 To round out a previous post.  Shopping at the online retailer SHEIN is a Jekyll and Hyde experience.  The products that I have bought all have good quality and were delivered either very fast or in a timely manner.  That's the Jekyll side.  The Hyde side is Customer Service.  That's really only if you have a problem or issue and pray you don't.   First you encounter the ai bot of course but even when you decide to engage with an actual human agent they talk like bots too.  Pre-fab cut and paste generic responses.  In two cases they sent me the message my orders were delivered only I haven't found them to this day.  It's hard to find a SHEIN phone number from the site or app so you wind up messaging them.  You go in a circle with different agents.  They can't seem to progress beyond "our records indicate" and make no serious attempt to resolve the issue.  Many people across the web have posted about never receiving their packages from SHEIN despite SHEIN insisting the carrier delivered them.  SHEIN then does not offer refunds or replacements even when the customers request this.  In my book if an online retailer accepts your money and you never receive the product that's a donation not a business transaction.  Which leads me to UPS.

Filed a claim with UPS for my lost items.  Received a confirmation e-mail stating that an investigation has begun and that I need to do nothing in the meantime and they'll contact me in 8 business days.  I replied to this that I could not retrieve the image the driver supposedly took as proof of delivery.  A few days passed and today they sent me a final e-mail saying they closed my claim because they were unable to contact me to assist in the investigation this despite them having said as I just noted that I don't need to do anything while they look into the case.  Also there was no box in the original claim application for my phone number.  At any rate they still obviously had my Gmail address so what's wrong with that?  UPS messed up and won't do right.  They used to be a top-notch carrier.

The moral of the story is that it's better to go to an actual physical store and buy things.  The other thing is in this Era of Trump nobody is wrong.  I think maybe Bill Clinton started that.

Maybe Sasquatch took your package into a portal

 The pros and cons of online shopping would make for a too lengthy post but some of us adventurers encounter the occasional "delivered but never received" quandary.  Happened to me a few days ago and it wasn't theft as I was having my pipe session on the front porch at the time.  The website gives helpful pointers in such a situation.  Did you check behind the holly tree in the backyard maybe?  OK so then you check parts of your neighborhood and do some casual walks and some casual talking.  Some light research of mine indicates it's not mostly theft but technical reasons.  Maybe the driver accidentally butt-scanned something dunno.  So now you contact Customer Service and as a rule they never want to help you.  Maybe not a telephone call could be a live chat.  It's obvious they don't want to do any actual work even though they have all the logistical information at their fingertips.  "Our records indicate that your package was delivered on..." so now it's a kind of philosophical conundrum.  You have it but you don't.  It's quantum.  Then maybe you file a claim with your carrier and they're looking into it.  Mystery open.

Shopping is funny.  Maybe you can find a chair already made but sometimes you have to put it together yourself.  Happened to my brother.

What is the GOP plan on health care?

 As near as I can tell it's  better to go bankrupt  because of astronomical medical bills than to have a government-run system because that's Communism.  Trump wants to extend ACA subsidies.  Repubs don't know what to do.  Many people, far too many in this country are living paycheck to paycheck.  They're not anti-doctor but can't afford medical bills right now.  Something would have to be an absolute medical emergency for them to see a doctor.  I'm sure Speaker Mike Johnson doesn't have this anxiety.  There's no advanced country in the world which would want to exchange health care systems with us.

Maybe I'm due for this and maybe I'm due for that but I have a house to run and haven't received any of the checks yet promised from the Trump Government.   Maybe the question can be asked at the next presser.  The POTUS: "Let me pull them out of my ass."

When a grouch is nice you're nervous

 A little bipolar action?

By all accounts yesterday's meeting between NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and President Trump at the WH went very well.  It was cordial, civil and even charming.  Trump said some of Mamdani's views are a little out there but said he hopes he'll be a great mayor and they'll work together.  They discussed housing, affordability and other matters.  At one point a reporter asked Mamdani if he thought Trump is a fascist and Mamdani started to speak but Trump waved it off and said it's OK to say yes it's easier.  That's a little skill right there.

Dunno.  Had a deli manager back in the day who was a real grouch.  One Christmas he bought everyone a bottle of Australian Yellowtail and we were like what's up with that?  Trump goes in and out of the clear state a lot.  Is it all shtick?

MTG resigning in January.  Will probably wind up with a talk show or podcast.  You haven't heard the last from her.

I'm 62 years old come next March

 Can I get a 50 year mortgage?

Well it took an act of Congress for Trump to finally fulfill one of his campaign promises namely to release the full Epstein Files.  Transparency in government.  Who's Bubba?

Pot - Kettle - Black

 In a post on Truth Social President Trump called MTG "wacky" and "a ranting lunatic."  The Trump brand is toxic at this point and expect more Republicans next week to vote for the release of the Epstein Files.  Handwriting on the wall.  After next year's mid-terms turn into a big blue wave Trump becomes a lame duck.  Probably one already.  On so many fronts has done the opposite of the core MAGA principles.   He has exploded the deficit and has started or wants to start more wars.  On the Epstein front he acts like he's hiding something.   Personality-wise he's pretty much a piece of shit.  The Cult of the Orange Man.  Only a few stalwarts left.

Government shutdown finally ending

 Eight Dems struck a deal.  Has to pass through both Chambers of course and be ratified by His Highness but damage already done.  SNAP on hold.  Airports in turmoil.  Didn't stop Homan's Heroes though (wish I thought of that one but borrowing from BB).  Longest in history.  If Trump got a third term he'd land us into even a longer one and over something stupid.

I wish in the next three years we'd get a return to normal governance.  Fairly normal?  Semi-normal at least?  But the Trump Administration is an inversion, the reverse of the normal way things should be.  Putting the cart before the horse, counting your chickens before they're hatched or having diarrhea after you take a shower.  He's making cooing sounds now of a 2K tariff dividend check for most Americans except the highest earners.  Something tells me that may go the way of the DOGE check.

To paraphrase a Billy Joel song Christian Brothers will get you by.