No rest for the weary

 

My bones are getting old.  Creaky.  Left hip gets sore sometimes.  It'd be nice to just lie down somewhere.  Just sayin'.

Yeah the South Africa thing is embarrassing

 Speaking as one who voted for the man.  Trump's game of Gotcha! with world leaders.  Next he might hold a press conference saying the government captured a Bigfoot meanwhile it's just some giant eco-hippy who shops at Whole Foods.

If this is conservatism then I have tits

 Got off the Trump train awhile back ever since Gulf of America.  Many of you are still on it happily blowing the whistle.  A new OTA channel came on my TV the other night - Newsmax 2.  Must be important.  Watched a little bit and my impression is I don't think Newsmax fully understands the idea that people have the right to protest proposed Medicaid cuts.  A few channels over I have OAN.  It's usually at this time I'll watch the infomercial for Omega XL or the Emeril Lagasse air fryer.  Don't know why almost the whole conservative movement has hitched their wagon to Trump.  Sure there are some lone critics and holdouts here and there like Glenn Greenwald and Candace Owens but for the most part it's this massive nonstop collective right-wing orgasm.  A real freakoff.

I'm not against the idea of a Golden Dome but how do you fire tens of thousands of federal workers shutter entire agencies and then say we need a multi-billion dollar Golden Dome to maybe even include our neighbor up North? The tariffs are confusing and need to end but Trump wants businesses to just shut up and absorb the extra costs without passing them along to the consumer.  Executive orders don't strike me as having the quality of durable law, comes totally out of his whimsy and not the Congress but he feels this is the way to govern and on and on it goes.

Geeeeeez......

I'm more an observer at this point

 I don't want any President to fail.  We've had presidents in the past whom I never voted for but I still wanted them to do good things.  Trump however doesn't seem to be on a track to do too many good things.  He doesn't always get his facts straight either.  Everyone can get their facts wrong once in a while but with him it's all the time.  It's like he has his own version of reality.  It'd be nice if he rights his course over the remainder of his term and becomes semi-normal at least but doesn't seem likely.  At best it's the kind of Administration you endure although there's still a hell of a lot of stalwarts out there.

This blog lags behind a little bit

 I'm not a political junkie.  I follow politics in a tangential general sort of way but I don't follow say every bill working its way through the Congress.  My cats need to eat.  I have yardwork to do.  I'm not like the old people who look at the TV screen all day and follow the news 24/7.  I see the headlines on my devices that's enough.  Ok so the leader of South Africa met with Trump at the WH.  Trump has given refugee status to some white Afrikaaners.  Trump has accused the leader of some kind of genocide.  Perhaps Trump is projecting onto him what he should be saying to Bibi but I'm not a shrink.  I know way back in the day the South African government was harassing the white landowners but again I'm too busy of late to dive down these rabbit holes.  Media calling it false.  Again I'm not up to speed on a lot of stuff.  I'm more likely to google lizards of New York State as I have varied interests.   I don't discuss politics with my vet or when getting an oil change.  FWIW I don't think Biden was healthy enough to hold the most important position in the land but at the same time I don't think it amounts to treason so you can call me not a team player.

Just some light opining here.  Pour yourself a drink and let's have a chat.  Not everything is binary.

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?

Does James Comey want a restaurant to deny Trump service?

 Never short of something to blog about.  As you know former FBI Director James Comey posted something on FB (later deleted) that he was walking along the beach one day and found a sea shell configuration in the form of "8647."  Major controversy followed and the SS is currently investigating him for possibly calling for Trump's assassination.   In restaurant parlance to 86 someone is to deny them service.  Also bouncers in bars may have to 86 or remove someone.  Perhaps the most common interpretation is when the mob uses the term it means to take someone 8 miles out of town and put them 6 feet under.  Trump is of course the 47th president hence the sinister meaning of "8647."  Tulsi Gabbard wants Comey in jail over this.  Comey's a dick and Chris Wallace recently destroyed him in an interview over the whole Russiagate hoax.  He's as corrupt as they come but what do you make of all of this?

The X-rated Diddy trial

 Just talking about it might earn you an NC-17.  If I were to provide verbatim court transcripts this post might come with a warning for sensitive viewers.  Court TV is covering it in their own way of course but so far when I turn Court TV on during primetime they're not discussing Diddy as you'd expect but some other trial.  Court TV is a family show after all where they talk about serial killers and spousal murder.  I myself don't have the money to run freakoffs.  Hey Google didn't correct that word must be in the vernacular now.  I just want to make sure I have enough money to pay my energy bill so ConEd doesn't flicker my lights.

Some people feel he's gonna get off.  Weird sex is not a crime so long as there's consent.  I'm into vinegar.  Been buying tons of it to kill off poison ivy in my backyard.  Diddy likes the baby oil for his hobby.  It's I don't know not making a prediction here but he ain't livin' right.

Word on the street

 Is President Trump will soon officially recognize a Palestinian State.  Angling for a Nobel Peace Prize to show Obama.  Meeting with the Saudis, the new Syrian president putting Netanyahu on the back burner for now.  Helped free the last American hostage without his help.  Rumor has it he has cut off direct contact with Bibi.  As part of the nuclear energy agreement with the Saudis he has dropped the Biden era stipulation that they recognize the State of Israel.  Also got a major investment deal going.  More than major.

Down through the decades with each succeeding president the Middle East has taken up way too much of our foreign policy time.  If he does officially recognize the State of Palestine I'll give him more than a few points for this.  Would be a good legacy if he controls the other zaniness.  So far Trump is an assortment. 

Ever have a conversation with a Trump cultist?

 It's spooky.  I personally know at least three of them.  Now we all have our political leanings.  I'm not talking about those who are supportive of Trump but the true believers out there.  When you gingerly and politely bring up even a mildly negative point about Trump they rationalize it.  There's no hesitation about it either as if they've imbibed the talking points. They agree with and defend EVERYTHING the man does and says.  For me personally Trump is not positive.  He doesn't inspire and unite and has no real gravitas for the most important position in the land but for them it's always the Democrats and the media's fault.  The Trump cultists it's a phenomenon. 

Should be interesting

 The new American pope Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago now Pope Leo XIV was a heavy retweeter of Trump criticism on social media before his election to Pontiff in particular re Trump's immigration policies.  Trump said on his Truth Social the first American pope in history is a great honor.  I say it would be great if Leo and Homan shared an ale together.

Stay tuned......

A conclave and Nancy Grace will be in her glory

 Diddy trial to start any day now with jury selection still underway.  Don't know the questions the potential jurors get.  "Did you ever see the music video 'Hypnotize' with Biggie and Puffy?"  Got to thinking if I had even a fraction of Diddy's money uppermost for me would be major home improvement e.g. electric staircase going up into the attic with wifi and cupholders.  Telescope up there too.  Kitchen and bath remodel.  The backyard - Inground swimming pool, small Chinese garden/pond with exotic fish, some Greek statuary here and there.  It would never dawn on me to run a sex trafficking ring.  He ain't livin' right.

The Conclave - I don't follow the stuff.  Mainly older Italian guys with a few Africans thrown in the mix.  Keep getting videos in my YouTube feed about the last pope of the End Times but I don't get my theology from Mel Gibson.  You have your Catholics who are more into bingo and bake sales then you have your more eschatologically-minded Catholics who speculate about Antichrist stuff.  YouTube sends me things all the time I never searched for.  A gorilla fighting an alligator.  Clickbait.

So we got a couple of topics going.  A diversion from the usual Trump stuff.

2 dolls instead of 30

 Trump has announced 100% tariffs on all foreign-made movies.  It's hard to figure out why certain things bug the man.  Said in an interview with NBC News he's not sure if he believes in due process or not.  Does he not know how to bone up for interviews?  MTG no longer a fan.  You kind of want to forget he's president.  He's like a kind of depressing backdrop as you go about your life.  Won't seek another term.  On a brighter note they told me at work the bird flu is over.

Papa Trump

 I had to cogitate on this one.  By now we've all seen the ai-generated image of Pope Donald.  In and of itself this is not that offensive.  Put it in the mildly amusing folder but I think the timing is bad and he seems to have succeeded in angering the bishops.  In my view it's unbecoming of a serious Administration.  Imagine if Uncle Joe had done this.

Just my 2 cents.

The PBS thing is to distract you from not getting your $5,000 DOGE check

 Trump is the everything but the cost-of-living president.  Trump also wants to defund NPR through executive action.  Actually ending taxpayer funding for both NPR and PBS would require an act of Congress as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created by that body in the first place.  I don't listen to NPR so don't have much to say.  As for PBS let's say they do have a political slant most of the shows on PBS have nothing to do with politics.  Saw a sewing show once that put me to sleep.  Bob Ross takes the edge of a rough day and you have your penguin documentaries and cooking shows and music specials.  Also a lot of stuffy British fare.  Don't watch PBS as much anymore.  Heavy channel-surfer or just watch YouTube.

When is Trump gonna take over Yonkers?

Trump's First 100 Days in Office - Take a walk on the wild Right

 Arresting judges.  We don't need no Education Dept.  Bomb the Houthis.  Hey hey ho ho DEI has got to go.  You're fired then rehired.  Deporting the wrong people.  DOGE it baby!  Tariffs.  Trade wars.  Funding freezes.  Bibi.  Gaza.  Zelensky.  Putin.  Harvard.  You wanna protest on campus?  STFU.  Have you checked your cat for anti-semitism lately?  Executive orders.  Homan.  Cap'n Crunch.  Food dyes.  Measles.  Gulf of Trump.  Greenland.  Have you caught up on your texts today for maybe secret Yemeni war plans?  Closing USAID.  Who needs to eat?  Scale back the medical research grants already.  Cancer shmancer.  Low polls blame FOX News.  Tell the judges to go fuck off.  Bondi.  Patel.  Lawfare.  Trump vs. trans soldiers.  Canada as the 51st state?

Can Fall Out Boy make a song out of all of this?

The media made me do it

 Yes the left-wing media doesn't like Trump.   Never did.  This was really obvious during the campaign.  My daily newsfeeds were saturated with anti-Trump stuff.  If the media could have gone with Trump ate somebody's dog they would have gone with Trump ate somebody's dog.  Having said that Trump has tracked a nuttier course than I would have expected but conservatives are still blaming the msm.  Trump lost me after Gulf of America and Greenland.  The media didn't make him almost trigger a worldwide recession.  Not speedily correcting deportation mistakes.  Squelching free speech on campus etc. etc.  To paraphrase Flip Wilson's Geraldine the media made me do it.  Not good enough.  Doesn't wash anymore. 

Less executive orders mean less tangles with judges

 As a practical matter.  A wise young manager I had once said you have to choose your battles.  This does NOT mean the judges are right on all the issues.  They're not but many see themselves as gods, the most powerful branch of the government but that's a separate post and I've blogged about it.  Trump started his second term like gangbusters with a swagger and a new sheriff in town kind of 'tude.  Practical advice lose the 'tude!  You can't govern for four years on executive orders alone.  You're not a monarch.  If the issue is important enough yes have at it with a judge but you don't have to right every wrong or every perceived wrong in four years.  Leave that to the next guy or gal.  Trans soldiers there can't be that many of them let it go.  DEI I had to google what this meant but it seems to be taking up a huge chunk of the President's time and on and on it goes.  What does it all matter if most people are going to sucky jobs in the morning?

I don't know what the guy's doing.

Fighting Harvard doesn't help people put food on the table

 Or pay the rent or manage the mortgage or take the animals to the vet.  Most of us wouldn't be able to get into Harvard.  Most of us wouldn't be able to afford Harvard hence I hardly ever think of Harvard.  Much of what Trump is doing in his first 100 days, I mean the executive order stuff aimed at socio/cultural issues like DEI I would describe these actions as low-impact meaning they don't positively affect the average person.  Many of the Trump obsessions he's trying to codify into law don't help the bulk of Americans afford basic living.  Trump has so much on his plate it's just leading to political diarrhea and nothing substantive in his second term.  Harvard doesn't need the federal funding but that's besides the point.

Everything but the cost-of-living.

Pope Francis passes away one day after meeting with JD Vance

 There could have been a heated exchange about migration.  Maybe Trump wants to annex the Vatican.  A Homan/Francis meeting would have been most interesting.  The Breaking News - Pope Francis passes away at 88 after a bout with a long illness.

Kind of controversial among popes.  Not popular among the more conservative Catholics who felt he was confusing in his mixed messaging and didn't exactly uphold Church teaching at all times.  Big on climate change.  More liked among progressives is a fair assessment. 

Catholicism an ongoing topic of interest to me.  Varied and diverse.  Catholic prophecy - Fatima and LaSalette.  Rome losing the Faith.  Antipopes.  3 Days of Darkness.  Mystical phenomenon.  The Saints.  Keep getting Padre Pio videos in my YouTube feed.  He said cats are special and God put them into your life for a reason.  I love Church music.  Acoustics in my house of worship are bad.  Can't hear what anybody is saying or else I need an amplifier.  How much money do ushers make?  One Sunday morning usher looks like he came out of Hawaii Five-O.

Vance said he was happy he got the opportunity to meet the Pope.  Francis might have been wondering where is the Christian Brothers?