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."

After reading RFK Jr.'s sex poems

 I want to become a monk.  His past affair with journalist Olivia Nuzzi took a literary turn.  The Bard of Smut.  Also from the ticker a federal judge has tossed the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and ex-NY Attorney General Letitia James.  Betcha didn't see that coming!  Pentagon wants to court-martial Sen. Mark Kelly over his taking part in that refuse illegal orders video.  Russia/Ukraine peace plan still being worked on and Trump has some kind of health care plan.

I long for the slow news days.

Binge watching drug commercials

 I say put 'em all together and have a marathon.  Hosted by RFK Jr.  Might cause liver problems. 

Good time to travel no? Hop on a flight

 What was the bone of contention again to cause the entire Government to shut down?  Health care for illegals?  Release of the Epstein Files?  A UFO cover-up?  I forget.  Trump likes to break his own records.  Longest government  shutdown in history.  Second longest also held by Trump during his first term.  Trump doesn't like the government being open apparently.  Homan and ICE still doing their work though come rain or shine.  Meanwhile Pelosi's retiring after 100 years in the Congress.

My toilet bowl started glowing last night.  Are they retesting the nuclear program in Yonkers?

A broken clock is right twice a day

 By my calcs for every ten bad things Trump does he does one good thing.  The release of the remaining hostages in Gaza or trying to get Big Pharma to lower drug prices.  So for Trump to do five good things he has to do fifty bad things.  You do the math.

I suppose I have to talk about it

 I had wanted things to become less contentious around here but it's inescapable.  RFK Jr. being grilled by the Senate.  From the clips I watched seemed mainly about covid and the covid vaccines.  They really built a religion around these covid vaccines so many people were predicting there would be an orchestrated coordinated attack against RFK Jr. by the elites right about now.  In fact there's a leaked memo from Bio about this.  The rest of us have moved on however but some people are still taking the shots.  I'm not sure when full immunity is supposed to kick in maybe after the 17th booster?  I'm thinking there would be at least a public clamoring for a better product on the market by now.  This is not about the public health it's about the $$$$$$.  I didn't want to go down this road again.  Not a fanboy of RFK Jr. but a large swath of the public has lost faith in ThE SciEnCe.  You know it's really weird the Left used to criticize Big Pharma.  Guess times have changed:)

Gain of Fauci

 So what's new on the health front?  YouTube is the McDonaldizing of information so I tend to go there.  Bite-size med news.  Casual hobby of mine poking around health topics.  Did not know gum disease can cause severe headaches.  Teeth can be at the root of a lot of stuff.  The human body is complicated.  The lymphatic system is your sewer system and it can get clogged from time to time.  In my YouTube feed.  After 60 everything goes downhill.  Ass leakage, fungal toes.  Sore hip.  Hair growing out of your ears.  Scattered sleep.  You laugh you pull a muscle.  Brain fog.  Nowadays when you see the doctor you're supposed to tell him what drug you want him to put you on.  Saw an old guy once in the library walking down the stairs backwards.  My late Dad did that.  Supposed to ease the pain or something.   Things to look forward to.

I still have my goblet of Christian Brothers in the evening and two good cups of strong coffee in the morning.   No rest for the weary.  Keep going.  Learn some things.  Posting about Trump everyday hurts the brain.

Are you better off now than you were under Biden?

 For me no or about the same.  I'm able to cover my bills but they hold me back.  Very little savings.  My health plan sucks.  Went to Urgent Care not that long ago thinking I had a UTI which actually turned out to be a minor stone.  Insurance paid some but I racked up $500 on my Visa.  Helped the woman doctor get a new Gucci handbag.  Oh wait that was under Biden so maybe I can blame him.  I'm sure it's better now.  Getting rid of the illegals hasn't raised my wages according to Homan trickle down or trickle up theory.  Even if you don't view Trump negatively as I do there really is no net positive to Trump being president.  Haven't received my 5K DOGE check yet or $600 tariff rebate or the NYS help me with inflation check promised by Gov. Hochul.  Can't afford major home improvement right now although my roofing guys did fix my attic ladder recently.  What a mess up there too!  Did a migrant make his way in?  Few months back woke up to find a Mexican sleeping on my porch.  Rambling but keep having to put off my cruise promised by Trump.  Weren't we supposed to enter some kind of Golden Age?  Not sure if I step on a rusty nail now if I can still get a tetanus shot.  Have to check with Bobby.  We got serious issues going on and the Left is upset by Sydney Sweeney jean ads.  That's my musing for today:)

Chronic moral insufficiency

 Homan bankrupting small farmers in CA through the ongoing ICE raids.  The majority of the field workforce gone in many cases.  The migrant farm workers have either been arrested or are afraid to report to work.  Skilled laborers.  Fruit rotting on the vines.  You I'll be paying more for produce in the near future.  Agriculture Sec'y promises automation and putting Medicaid workers to work in the fields or something like that it's confusing.  As ICE is obviously afraid to go after the criminal aliens we might soon be left with some sort of imbalance.  After Homan's work is finally done they might be the only ones left after all the hard-working law-abiding ones have been deported.  Hannity and Charlie Kirk will be able to afford a bag of cherries.  You won't. 

Welcome to Trump's dystopia.

How did Biden's prostate cancer turn turbo overnight?

 Latest conspiracy theory.  How did Biden's A-team of doctors miss the early signs?  The PSA is known to be one of the more accurate medical tests out there.  My tiny bit of medical knowledge proferred here.  Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men but is often the most manageable except when it turns aggressive and even that takes time so how did Biden get a clean bill of health in July of 2024?  I believe presidents even have oncologists on staff now so did this just show up now and at such an advanced stage?  So many people are now saying he had the cancer while in the WH the whole idea being to keep Trump out of the WH in the first place so it was covered up basically.

Can Woodward maybe get to the bottom of this?

There is nothing inspiring about the Trump presidency

 The dismal 2nd term continues.  I honestly thought Marco Rubio was a decent choice for Secretary of State but he's turned into a dick.  He's boasting he revoked 300 Visas of foreign students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.  Actually it may be more he lost count.  He says those coming here from abroad to colleges and universities are here to study and learn and to earn a degree.  Has he never heard of intercollegiate sports?  The Vietnam War protests?  Thou Shalt Not Criticize Israel.  Rubio somehow conflates condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza with support for Hamas.  Expect more judicial spanking.  Meanwhile RFK Jr. in his mission to make America healthy again has cut about 10,000 jobs from his own agency.  So where are all the Fruit Loops cops gonna come from?  On the Greenland front Trump is now making almost daily veiled threats against the island nation.  Denmark is not amused.

You can't make this shit up.

Long

 Trump's Joint Address to Congress last night.  He practically said everything he was expected to say.  Dems look constipated.  Heckler with a cane was escorted out early.  Some Dems holding signs saying "False" and "Save Medicaid".  Some girl walked out midway through with a "Resist" t-shirt on.  Bernie Sanders had to leave early.  Still not getting Gulf of America and Greenland.   Are we building a telescope there?  Big focus on immigrant crime. Republican pep rally basically.  Then the Asian rum took its effect and I went to bed.

Trump reminds me of Mr. Mayhem on the Allstate commercials

 Shock and Awe.  The DOGE.  Have Musk and Trump showered together yet?  Do we really need cancer research?  When am I going to get my tax refund?  Will Trump change the street cleaning days in Yonkers?  Layoffs of thousands of federal workers.  When can I expect my first DOGE check?  Will Medicaid still cover nurse visits?  When is ICE coming to Yonkers?  Trump wants Zelensky to pay the money back with rare earth minerals.  Like what?  Hannity was more interested in what Musk had to say.  Why does Musk want the personal details of millions of Americans?  When are we going to Mars?

Chaos.

Hide the Lucky Charms RFK Jr. confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services

 If RFK Jr. were a veterinarian would he advise against getting shots for your dog or cat?

Tariffs on Greenland?

 I'm not getting it.  Nobody wants to retire and move to Greenland.  It's a strategic military location and is said to have rare mineral resources.  OK.  25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting today but Trump cut China some slack with only 10% tariffs.  His endgame may be to end the federal income tax and fund the government with tariffs.  Is he shifting the Overton Window?  What's the deal with Greenland?  Can't really put a golf course there.  The subject never came up on the campaign trail.  Look every president does things we disagree with.  Biden didn't do enough to protect the gray wolf.  There was his covid authoritarianism.  I always thought it would be interesting to have one of the Star Trek spinoff shows do an episode on the crew encountering the race of Covidians who always stand six feet apart and worship a Fauci-like figure but I digress point being Trump is taking things to another level and how did the National Review become part of the MAGA cult?  When he's done deporting can he get back to the price of Fancy Feast?  Health care?  Families shouldn't have to go bankrupt because somebody has cancer.  Homan is in his glory but can we take a breather?

BTW can Trump at least slip in a stimulus check or two to my direct deposit?

The RFK Jr. confirmation hearings

 

Rather intense.  Dems didn't warm up to him but no Repubs really came out against.  Said he's not anti-vaccine but pro-safety.  Not against the measles or polio vaccines or kids getting their shots.  Says he'll keep more in line with Trump's views on abortion mainly being an issue for state control.  Appeared at points to confuse Medicare and Medicaid.  No discussion of roadkill recipes.  Another day of questioning. 

Thoughts?

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?

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.

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.