What happened to the drones?

 Lots of assorted topics out there not really coalescing into a blogpost per se.  The LA fires and the politics of the LA fires.  Elon Musk opiner-at-large now wading into British politics and the groomer gang scandal which is at least ten years old.  Melania's outfit at the Jimmy Carter funeral.  Congestion pricing in NYC.  TikTok.  Just off the top of my head 17,000 doctors signed a letter opposing RFK Jr.'s nomination to be HHS Sec'y.  That one kind of surprised me.  Diddy updates.  Mangione.  My God it's COLD outside!!!  The Trump Follies.  News cycle going too fast for me.

The drone thing.  Wha' happened?

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 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.

MAHA vs. The Raspberry Zinger

 Sounds like a Japanese monster movie.

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

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

Election Eve.  Just rambling:)

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.

Medical records I'd like to see

 Kamala Harris has released her medical records to goad Trump into releasing his.  Trump's physician said he is in excellent overall health.  Remember this is a man who once underwent a colonoscopy without anesthesia.  Kamala - Trump health nothing to see here.  RFK Jr.'s medical file might be interesting though.  Here is a man who once said worms ate part of his brain.  Sounds like a House episode.  Also and we don't know this for a fact but there is a good chance he has eaten roadkill sometime during his life.  He says you can get some sort of license for this.  Guess he keeps it in his wallet.  Is it laminated?  How often do you renew it and what is the fee?  He's driving home along the parkway somebody hits a deer and he's automatically thinking of the best recipe for venison.  His voice.  I don't know if he's given an official medical reason for this but people are curious.   The Jr. health file might be a treasure trove of medical esoterica.  A real rabbit hole.

The only problem is Woodward isn't a trash writer

 I'd sooner trust him than Tom Selleck trying to sell me a reverse mortgage.  Woodward's new book War - According to the book Trump and Putin had at least seven private calls since Trump left office.  Also Trump allegedly sent Putin Covid-19 test machines during the peak of the pandemic when there was a shortage.  Trump calls Woodward "a storyteller who has lost his marbles",

POT - KETTLE - BLACK

Steven Cheung Trump's communications director said Woodward's book is "the work of a truly demented and deranged man" who suffers from TDS.  Did he make up Watergate too?

There's other stuff in the book.  Lindsey Graham calls visiting Mar-a-Lago like visiting N. Korea everybody has to clap when Trump enters the room.  Biden's complicated relationship with Netanyahu and his angry tirades over the Israel/Hamas War yada Yada.

I'm no fan of the media by any stretch but it ain't Maury Povich writing.

The Democrats and their hurricane-making machines

 Latest conspiracy theory being peddled by Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I'm beginning to think she might be a left-wing plant to make conservatives look bad.  The Democrats can't even make health care affordable for most Americans how are they gonna control the weather?

On to Trump.  The New York Times is taking his latest campaign rambles and rants, lies and misinformation very seriously indeed but they're missing something big time here.  Let me illustrate with an anecdote.  Back in the day we lived close to an older couple.  The elderly husband eventually developed Alzheimer's.  The wife asked my sister for a favor if she could just take him out and walk him around the block.  Nice day and a group of black guys hangin' on the corner.  As my sister and her ward got closer he started using the N-word.  Why this even came out in an Alzheimer's state is itself an interesting question.  I mean why not "look at the pink elephant"?  Anyway he was like "look at the (N-words)" etc. etc. They were naturally getting a little upset, just a tad mind you until my sister explained to them he had Alzheimer's.  They completely understood and let it go.  Last time my sister took him out for a walk btw.  Now my point about the Ole Gray Lady and the mainstream media in general.  IMO Trump has some cognitive issues.  Something is off.  Don't think it's weed.  Might be pre-Alzheimer's, dementia or something else.  DO NOT treat Trump's pronouncements and latest utterances as you would a normal person.  You don't fact-check some old guy in a nursing home say who's rambling on about when are the elves gonna bring in his food.  You let it ride but that's the problem with the msm they're missing the bigger picture.

Having said that I don't know what the problem with MTG is.

Cap'n Crunch causes cancer?

 RFK Jr. is making all kinds of claims about the food we eat.  This seems to have caught fire in conservative media which is usually wary of the potential for a nanny state.  Apparently the federal government is still after him for cutting the head off a dead whale back in the day.  Isn't there some kind of statute of limitations for whale head cutting?  Actress Cheryl Hines is reportedly looking to divorce him over an alleged affair he had.  Maybe it has more to do with the lack of junk food in the house.  Personally I will risk cancer for a chocolate Twinkie.  Meanwhile Melania Trump wrote some book and disagrees with her husband over abortion.  Couldn't this wait until after the election?  Hasn't she ever heard of put it in the 'fridge it'll keep?  Melania your husband is trying to run a campaign.  At least I think he's trying to run a campaign.  Raspberry Zingers are to die for.  Is that to be taken literally?

Neither candidate is talking about the price of Fancy Feast

 

Drove past a vacant lot today.  Used to be a gas station that they razed to the ground only they left part of the sign up.  Gas at 2.55 a gallon.  Had to be sometime before the Biden Administration era.  T. Swift can easily get a truckload of Fancy Feast delivered to her estate.  For the rest of us it's should I go debit or credit?  Cash on the barrelhead is usually out of the question for most folk.  It's jacking up my grocery bill and they're small cans too.  Talking about the cartons of course.  Seems to be a feline fave.  I always pay cash at the gas station btw.  If I'm gonna use the Visa I want it for something tangible like a garden power tool or clothes at Kohl's not for something as ephemeral as a few days worth of driving.  Don't understand the people who are always using credit for gas.  If I'm gonna go in debt I at least have a nice air fryer/toaster oven sitting on my kitchen counter.

As part of my ongoing aging blogger series my next field of inquiry is varicose veins.  That'd be Misty btw one of my former house ferals.

Thuganomics

What do you think about Mark Zuckerberg's revelations that the Biden WH relentlessly pressured Facebook teams on a daily basis to censor certain Covid content that went against the narrative?  Zuckerberg now says he regrets caving into government pressure which btw when the government gets involved in these areas it technically becomes censorship,  Also Zuckerberg now admits FB demoted the New York Post's coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story at the time which could have potentially influenced the election by suppressing information from the voters at least those who don't read the New York Post.  Do they read the NYP in Idaho?  Talk about possible election interference!

DOES KAMALA HARRIS SUPPORT GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP???