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.

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.

Because he thinks he's all that

 Usually off-year elections ain't all that interesting but the main focus this time was Zohran Mamdani's early win in the NYC mayoralty race.  The Groper had a respectable showing at 42% but his political career is over.  Sliwa continues to run for things but probably couldn't even get Sidewalk Inspector for Yonkers.  Mikie Sherrill handily won the gubernatorial race in NJ and a Democrat lady won the governor's race in VA.  Other key races across the land went to the Democrats.  Trump had a typical solipsistic take in his post-election analysis.  Republicans lost heavily in part because his name wasn't on the ballot.

WHY does Trump worship still exist and are there really going to be free bus rides in NYC?

Trump 3.0 - The Shitshow Continues

 May this never happen.  The King will be a doddering old fool at that point.  Steve Bannon says there's ways around the 22nd Amendment and believes Trump is an instrument of Divine Providence.  To what end explode the deficit and start wars against little countries?  The Nutty Emperor.  Oh SNAP food aid is about to end for millions of Americans but the military will continue to get paid because one of Trump's donor friends is covering their salaries.  Government shutdown with no end in sight but Chef at work tells me the stock market is doing well.

Perhaps Megyn Kelly can explain all this.

Lazy contractors

 I have to gripe.  Couple years back the lady who owns the house in the back had a new fence installed for her yard.  Very nice.  My Dad passed away a few years ago so I'm in charge now.  Caretaker of the land my land.  We have a spacious backyard.  Tall fence way in the back for privacy.  Thin slats of wood intertwined with metal coils.  My Dad would do some things in a totally makeshift sort of way.  Used to have morning glories creep up it back in the day but now the English Ivy got to it.  Dilapidated.  Can't afford a new fence right now.  DOGE never sent me my check.  Ordered some dog barrier fences online to fix some gaps at both ends.  Cleaning up there the other day.  Noticed many empty Sakrete plastic bags saying cement and sand and stuff beyond the barrier fence but still my property.  Also some old latticework.  Plastic bottles of Poland Spring with a lot of water still inside.  Wasn't there before.  A mess.  Look I don't even mind if you piss on my tree but what's with people not being able to finish off a simple 16 oz. bottle of water?  You don't have to be a Columbo to figure the fence installers left all that garbage there.

Taking away from my blogging time ya know?  What would Homan do?

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:)

You have now entered the political Twilight Zone

 The weird Trump cult continues.  No special requirements.  No need to graduate from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  Homan will train you.  Just a willingness for a patriotic 14-year old boy to beat up his neighbor.

You Can't Make This Shit Up.  An ongoing series. 

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:)

The ICE Age

 When compassion, empathy and logic became extinct.  Pondering weird and strange careers or at least those jobs that don't make you feel good about yourself at the end of the day.  Putting animals to sleep in a shelter.  Working in a slaughterhouse.  Abortionist.  Corpse cosmetologist - fairly benign but off the beaten path.  Pornos - said to the Jamaican chef one day do people actually have sex that way and he shook his head no and we both laughed.  So the ICE career I hear they're recruiting.  So say busting into some Latino home and taking away the Grandma and making all the kids cry or shutting down a taco stand and then going home to dinner, playing Xbox or kicking back and watching the game do you get that sense of accomplishment like you helped humanity that day and made the world a better place?  Takes a certain type.

Had to post something today to keep up with the faster-paced blogs.  You know AOC said something and we have to discuss it or Schumer farted on the Senate floor.  Trump's whole second term is just chase down the immigrants.  Could be a video game.  Homan has a good day and goes home and bangs his wife;)

CDC says American fertility rate at all-time low

 In keeping with the philosophy of natalism Trump is managing this issue by deporting as many people as possible and specifically targeting the group who tend to have the most kids the Spanish.  Do the math.

I don't wanna hear anything more from this Administration about having more kids.

Trump promises to flood the zone in NYC with ICE

 Just what we need more drama and social unrest courtesy of Hardass Homan and it's gonna get hot too.  It's amazing that they got rid of all the criminal aliens already.  The worst of the worst all gone.  Geeez that was quick!  Now they can focus on the regular aliens.  Mexicans with string trimmers, taco stands, fence installers, gardeners and landscapers, hotel and restaurant workers, construction sites.  Who knows where they'll be sent to.  Some Aleutian island?  BTW what's a Cuban person gonna do in Africa?  Wondering who does the Homan Estate?

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

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

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.

Mass deportations, mass amnesty or mass amnesia?

 So I can't make heads or tails out of this now.  Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk says the push is on for Trump to pull a Reagan and grant amnesty to 25 million illegal aliens or whatever the number is.  Pressure from the business community.  Trump is working on the legislation now or else it's somewhere in the big beautiful bill.  The calculus is it would help the midterms which don't bode well for Republicans.  In MAGAville even such talk is considered A Bad Thing.  Meanwhile Homan continues to bother the livestock in CA.  Maybe Homan's real purpose is to create a shitshow thus the need for amnesty.  Is Trump at heart an ideologue or a pragmatist?  Will he betray MAGA?  All I know is that in 10, 15 years we won't remember a damn thing.

Not sure Netanyahu knows what a ceasefire is

 Someone should crack open a dictionary for him.  The news it's hard to keep pace anymore.  Musk forming his own political party.  Fringe activist Laura Loomer now an unofficial national security advisor.  God help us!  Flooding in TX.  They're saying the Trump cuts didn't help they made things worse.  Dunno are we still working on cancer?  Homan is out of control but he goes to church every week.  Wreak social havoc and then take your soul to the cleaners every Sunday.  A president being mediocre is not the issue for me it's the sheer weirdness of this Administration.   All you can do is take up a hobby in the meantime and hope it passes quickly.  Not sure why he still has fans.

The DOGE cuts make no sense in light of the big beautiful bill just signed into law

 It's like all those federal workers lost their jobs for nothing.  No rhyme or reason.  It's a philosophical contradiction and politically incoherent.  It'd be like a household with a strict budget scrimping and saving and cutting barely able to pay the mortgage and property tax but then decides to subscribe to cable or satellite TV and add five new credit cards.  I know there are actually households like that.  Big difference is we don't have a government printing press.

Trumpism is not conservatism.  It's just a bunch of mad fantasies.  The weird Right is already selling Alligator Alcatraz merch.  Ron DeSantis is the creepy flavor of the month.  Hello big blue wave come next year.  Cults always fail in the end.

The Home Depot - how Tom Homan gets more done

 Trump now says we have to use lots of common sense about the illegals.  The migrant farm workers and those in the hospitality and leisure industries are essential workers hard to replace they're telling him.  Will we see a change in direction, of tone? So Trump is still lagging behind Biden's deportation numbers this is not a sports contest.  Homan and crew should be helping them pick the vegetables and ask them how their day is going not loading them into paddy wagons.  Homan laying down the law at a press briefing.  There's no grayscale with him just be a hardass.  Watched some NYC ICE footage last night on the news.  The always masked ICE agents lack simple basic professionalism and seem to have an apelike intelligence.  Dr. Phil has sure taken a hard turn to the Right but he's from Texas.  As they used to say in the Old West f#@k you and the horse you rode in on.

Are we EVER gonna get to the cost-of-living?

Trump is at war with his own country

 It might be any day now Marines come up the Hudson River to land at the Yonkers City Pier.  As I said in my last post the majority of today's conservatives ain't that freedom loving to begin with.  Yes I'm looking at you Hannity.  They have no issues with the Trump Administration censoring pro-Palestinian speech on campus.  They're ok with the Administration monitoring the social media posts of foreign students.  They're down with the possible militarization of major US cities in response to the growing ICE protests.  No libertarian concerns whatsoever.

One of the first things any would be dictator/fascist does is go after freedom of speech.  MAGA is just a bunch of gutless wonders, a cult at this point.  In my view Trump is a hater and a joyless prick no matter how FOX News and Dr. Phil try to spin it.