In a surprise move Homan deports himself

 What do you guys think of the ICE raids?  They haven't hit Yonkers yet but I didn't check the list.  Obama holds some sort of record for deportations.  Unk Joe deported his share without the fanfare.  Are there any women out there who find Homan sexy?  Can Homan deport Diddy?  The Pope and the Bishops have issues with Homan and Trump and Vance said some things.  Is Melania going back to Slovenia?  Maybe Gordon Ramsay can have a spinoff Top Illegal Chefs winner doesn't get deported.  Selena Gomez was crying.  Maybe we need a boring president like Gerald Ford.

Forgive the clickbait. 

Government by executive order

 Trump's executive orders continue at a dizzying pace.  Covers all situations and issues great and small.  Might issue an order stating SNL should go off the air.  Trump operating in this make-believe monarchical framework of his.

Reading A LOT about ICE raids.  One news item said they went into some Chicago elementary school later amended to oh no that was the Secret Service.  What would either of them be doing at a grade school?  Is Trump planning a visit?  Did some student write an anti-Trump essay?

Not getting the TikTok ban temporarily on hold.  Has to do with data mining by the Chinese government.   So the Chinese government peers into my boring life and today learns I plan on cleaning the attic.  Not sure how this violates the national security though but I'm not as bright as the smarty-pants over at the National Review.  YouTube is funny.  Watched some attic ladder installation videos last night.  One said so easy a 10-year old could do it all you need is a drill a saw and a couple of other things then you'll see some false comment like "thanks Frank the Handyman I did it."

I'm just a rambling man;)

How much weight do Executive Orders have?

 I mean beyond the merely administrative technical stuff.  They never really impressed me as having the permanence of real law and besides that they can be legally challenged.  Laws or proposed laws have to go through the cumbersome process of passing through legislative bodies first where they are then debated and discussed.  Executive orders instead give off a whiff of whimsical autocracy.  "I hereby declareth I don't like polka dot ties."  The other thing that strikes me as silly is each succeeding president can simply issue executive orders that are the exact opposite of those of the previous Administration.  Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico.  I don't care if he wants to rename it the Gulf of Yonkers it has no weight with scholars or academics or meets international standards of acceptability.  How 'bout the Yucatan Peninsula?  What strikes Trump's fancy here?  Where does it end?  There's a whole bundle of Trump executive orders dealing with immigration alone that are sure to be challenged in the courts.  This is not the way government is normally run it just gives any new president a sense of ephemeral power.  It's like a make believe scepter.  Go play with your crayons.

How 'bout an executive order that declareth that henceforth and going forward there shall be no more executive orders?  Forevermore.

Diddy was going to perform but he couldn't make it

 (Alternative title: Rough Day For Shaw)

Quite a pageant.  The swearing-in ceremony was quite long.  Had a strong religious, Christian flavor.  An all day affair.  Watched Trump's Inaugural Address.  A lot to go through comment accordingly.  Wants to put an American flag on Mars and Musk was ecstatic.  Said in his speech there are only two genders and that he would sign an executive order declaring such.  Who knew such a simple biological fact would be so controversial.  There was the parade and then an address by Steve Witkoff Trump's special envoy to the Middle East who was instrumental in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.  Earlier Trump had already signed his first few executive orders back at the office.  These were mostly technical in nature having to do with things like cabinet and sub-cabinet appointments the most notable being going forward all flags will be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day.  I had hoped to publish something earlier in the day but it was a long wait before he signed a few more executive orders at the Capitol Arena the most notable this time being sending a letter to the UN saying we are withdrawing from the Paris Climate Treaty then it was off to the Oval Office to sign a large number of other executive orders.

A LONG day.  TikTok also back online thanks to Trump at least for the time being.  Sounds like a deal is in the works.

The Eskimos probably think we're a bunch of wussies

 Inauguration events gonna be indoors.  Gonna be too cold outside.  One of the coldest inaugurations on record.  Fresh out of pipe tobacco and cigars.  Gotta make a trip today.  Gonna be a cold week.  Take three puffs and go inside?  Don't know if Hulk Hogan is gonna yell "scumbags".  Not gonna watch I'll see it on the news later.  Moanin' Homan rarin' to go.

Paying a mortgage on a house that no longer exists

 The finer details for survivors of the LA fires

Even if reduced property taxes no matter what.  Good to know.

Basic thuganomics. 

Of bluster and bullshit

 Should I keep my autograph book handy in case Homan and crew come to my workplace?  Greenland, the Panama Canal, the annexation of Canada, mass deportations...Trump is not going to invade a NATO ally.  It's not worth going to war over the Canal.  We never had a state the size of Canada makes no sense and we don't have the infrastructure for mass deportations.  Not so much in the hot air category though is a serious growing consensus that Trump is the one mostly responsible for this historic ceasefire/hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.  He even sent a Middle East envoy over there to take part in the negotiations and this is all pre-the Inauguration.  Biden has issues with Trump getting most of the credit.  Don't be jealous.  As for Trump being an expansionist president in the Polk tradition I highly doubt it.

So what is bluster, what is la mierda and what's the real deal here?  We'll just have to wait and see.

Bibi was only playing around

 He bombed a few hospitals in Gaza but Trump has promised "all hell will break loose" in the Middle East if Hamas does not release the rest of the Israeli hostages by the time he is inaugurated.  I almost said installed as Trump has a kind of monarch complex.  It won't be good for Hamas or anybody else he said.  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Also where can Netanyahu travel these days?  The ICC has issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and the Polish PM said he'd arrest him if he comes that way.  Our own House in turn has voted for sanctions against the ICC.  If Trump follows through on his threat to unleash hell in the Middle East he too could wind up on the ICC docket someday.  Meanwhile Trump said he will sign 100 Executive Orders on Day One.  About what?  Sidewalk cleaning in Yonkers?  Also where is T. Swift these days?  Will she send a multi-million dollar aid package to LA County?

What's so funny?

 So I was watching some streams of the Carter funeral just now.  EVERYBODY was extremely somber.  The Clintons, Kamala, Bush et al first row and in the second row sat Obama and Trump.  NOBODY talking to each other just immersed in their own grief.  Everybody looked absolutely grief-stricken like you're not supposed to pass away at 100, everybody but Obama and Trump who were amiably chatting away and then Trump said something to Obama and Obama suddenly broke out into his wide trademark grin and started laughing at something.  Melania had some kind of Amish mourning outfit on and Kamala looked back at Obama and Trump for a moment like they're not in keeping with the solemnity, nay the gravity of the occasion.  This is being analyzed from many different angles and I haven't heard a theory yet.

It's all shtick folks;)

Trump got a better deal than Martha Stewart

 RE the Trump hush money criminal case in which he was convicted of 34 felonies which is more than some serial killers might get the judge in the case Juan Merchan today sentenced or shall we say gave the President-Elect an unconditional discharge and wished him Godspeed in his second term.  No jail time, no probation, no fines even.  None of his rights have been restricted.  My TMI closet is already full but for those who are interested in this kind of stuff Trump was convicted of among other things falsifying business records to arrange a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.  Basically a soap opera crime.  Now without this hanging over his head he can focus on more important matters like invading Greenland and ending birthright citizenship.

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."

I didn't vote for Trump so he could rename the Gulf of Mexico

 I also didn't vote for Trump so he could use military force to take Greenland and take back control of the Panama Canal.  He didn't rule that out at his Mar-A-Lago news conference.  Plausible scenario: Trump is officially deemed Nutz as per the requirements of the 25th Amendment Section 4 and JD Vance becomes president.  I don't hear other conservatives even talking about this despite Trump's growing list of strange obsessions.  Trump has lost sight of his own MAGA mission.  His mind has become like one of those Monty Python animated cartoons I watched growing up.  He and Biden can become roommates in some kind of ward or home (needs script).  Unless this is all shtick. 

Why not Puerto Rico becoming the 51st State?

 It's already a U.S. territory.  In the wake of woke Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's resignation Trump is again saying Canada should merge with the U.S. to avoid tariffs and enjoy lower taxes.  He also wants to buy Greenland from Denmark and says we need to retake control of the Panama Canal.  I'm getting a spooky feeling this is not going to be a normal presidency.

Don't know if this is a false issue or not

 I wasn't actually going to say anything about Jimmy Carter.  Am I required to?  So the latest Trump controversy is the President-Elect is upset that the Dems want to fly the flag at half-staff on the day of his inauguration to honor the recent passing of Jimmy Carter.  So my thing is today is January the 4th.  The inauguration is still slightly more than two weeks away.  HOW LONG are the flags supposed to fly at half-staff anyway?  What's the rule on this?  Sure when a former head-of-state dies there'll be three funerals and the whole thing will go on for a month so I guess the funereal feelings can well wash up against Jan. 20 but again if anyone knows the rule on the flag thing let me know.

There's always been a kind of rough consensus that Jimmy Carter wasn't a great president but a decent human being.  There were the long gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis but he also negotiated the Panama Canal Treaties and of course is well known for the Middle East peace accords.  He did better work post-presidency.  Took up a hammer and nail for Habitat for Humanity and put his work pants on.  A devout Christian also taught Sunday school.  Made it to the 100 Club with Kirk Douglas.  Must've been all the peanuts.

Thoughts?

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.

Day One of the New Year

 A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the entrance to the Trump Hotel in Vegas.  Being investigated by the FBI as a possible terrorist event.  Driver killed and a few others suffered minor injuries.  Also a truck plowed through crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans around 3 in the morning and killed at last count at least 15 revelers and injured 35 others.  42-year old Army vet and Texas native Shamsud-Din Jabbar was the driver and killed in a shootout with police.  Had an ISIS flag in his pickup.  Both the Cybertruck and pickup both rented through the car renting app Turo.  Possible link between the two events being investigated.  FBI thinks Jabbar was not a lone wolf but possibly had terror associates.  NYC and Yonkers recorded their first murders of the New Year.

Not an auspicious start.  It would have been really nice not to have anything to blog about today.  Ease into the New Year ya know?

Have a Happy New Year!

 It should be an interesting 2025.

For your consideration

 Considerable discussion has been given to the Dead Internet Theory.  My own view we're at least halfway there.  As far as conspiracy theories go there are scraps of truth.  This is a real post btw.  I really do have to cut my sidewalk grass in Yonkers.

I'll always watch a good Nosferatu

 Don't go to the movies much anymore.  Most of the great movies have already been made.  Ever wonder how many movies are actually in existence?  Has to be astronomical.  Out of the sheer number of movies that have been made how many are actually worth watching?  For me a golden age was the 70s throw in the late 60s.  Do you have a favorite movie critic?  Rotten Tomatoes - BOTH Citizen Kane and Casablanca got 99% fresh scores.  So who was the 1% who didn't like them and why?  I wanna hear their thoughts.  Roger Ebert tended to overreact to movies he didn't like.  You can criticize the excessive violence in I Spit On Your Grave but I found it interesting as a cult classic.  Ebert thought it was the worst movie ever made.  More worthy candidates for that one.  How hard is it to be a movie critic anyway?  All you have to do is meet a deadline.  You ain't spitting chickens for a living.  Bruce Lee movies.  He actually made fighting off an army of fifty men believable that's how well the fight scenes were choreographed.  The only one to come close imo is Jet Li.

Thoughts on the movies?