Venezuelan Pardons to Come

We had another cool one last night, though this morning's temps was a few degrees shy of the 21 (F) we had a few days ago, we still dropped into the low 20s (F) overnight.  Today's high should be top off somewhere in the low 30s (F),  Tomorrow, however, our daily highs will be back up in the 40s (F).  That's a good thing.  The only thing I don't like about winter is spending money on the heating bill.  While I do use the Central Air in the summer, the thermostat is set high enough so the unit is not running constantly.

Yesterday was a shopping day, workout day, and writing day.  All three were accomplished.  Buying a triceps pull-down was first on the list.  They are available online, but at far more $$$ than Dick's was charging.  Then I zipped over to my local BJs for coffee and Spam, that's for Howie, and then to my local Giant supermarket.

The rest of my Christmas ham was turned into ham salad.  I love the stuff.  One of my memories of being stationed in San Diego is walking down to the mobile canteen on the pier and buying a ham salad sandwich, Ding Dongs, and a Dr. Pepper.  I don't eat Ding Dongs anymore, and only rarely drink soft drink, but I still love a good ham salad sandwich.  Sometimes I will toast them with cheese.  Let me tell you, that is truly delish.

Back before Christmas I did order a smaller pull-down bar before Christmas.  The last time FedEx scanned the package was on January 1 in Latham, Kansas.  The bar was supposed to be delivered on January 2, but didn't arrive.  Now I'm waiting for them to give me a new delivery date.

The ACA subsidies have expired because Republicans wanted them to.  So, who is going to be paying more for insurance?

In general, insurance is going up for everybody in one way or another.  My friend Patty works in the insurance industry and she tells me that some of the premium increases have been as high a 81%.  This makes Republicans happy.  They do not believe that your tax dollars should go to help someone disadvantaged to get health insurance.  Their view is that if these individuals can't afford health coverage, well it's just too damn bad.  This is going to get ugly.

And a bit about the Maduro capture.  I heard notifications popping into my in box overnight, so I knew something was up.  I know there are dipshits out there who are happy that the wanna be dictator in America has supposedly taken down a Venezuelan dictator.  In truth, this whole invasion is to benefit big oil; their greed never stops.  As for Maduro?  In spite of Pammy Jo Bondi's posturing and Rubio's almost ribald rhetoric, Maduro really has nothing to worry about, as long as he can afford to pay the bribe.  For those who don't know, Orangie just pardoned the Honduran president/dictator who was found guilty of smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that pardons are running between $1 and $6 million. Just start prepping yourselves for gas prices to go up.

Destiny

Well, here it is, Friday the 13th and I'm off work - I requested the day off, not because I'm in the least bit superstitious, but if I didn't pick a specific day I might have ended up working 8 days in a row.
I plan to accomplish a lot today, but know if I end up chalking 4 or 5 things off a very long list I will be satisfied, getting more done will be groovy gravy.
Amazon sent me an email  letting me know that my order for Destiny 2 (PC version) will be shipping early and I should get it on 10/23, which is nice since previously all 3 new games were going to arrive on 10/27.  This means I'll get to start killing alien scum sooner than I thought.  For those who don't know what Destiny 2 is, trailer is below.

And what about that Idiot Jerk in the White House?  Evidently he just issued another Executive Order which stops government reimbursements to insurers which offset the cost of premiums to low income individuals.  He so desperately wants to be a dictator, wants to crush people's lives with the dash of a pen.  One of the main reasons the repeal of the ACA failed was because so many lower income people who had health coverage would no longer be able to afford that coverage.  The Idiot Jerk doesn't care about those people - he never has.

I saw where Bob was lambasting those bonehead Log Cabin Republicans in a Not My President section.  I paid a visit to their website.  These people are really, really screwed up in the head.  If you have a barn and it catches fire, there are certain animals who, when taken out of the burning building, will rush back inside.  That's what Log Cabin Republicans do, and they do it so cluelessly.  They want to be devoutly, pro-gun, social conservatives without realizing that multitudes upon multitudes of devoutly, pro-gun, social conservatives want to lock them all up inside their log cabin and set the damn thing ablaze.  They are a stupid people who willingly give their dollars to candidates who want to pen them up in internment camps.  They will never learn.  The barn door is open, the barn is turning into an inferno, and they will stand their lowing the lamentable "I support you... I support you... I support you."  This is their destiny.  

Suunto vs Garmin as Idiocy increases.

So, I called Suunto to find out if their is compatible with the Galaxy S8 - their response was "no problem," in fact, after doing a just a little research it seems that only Garmin is having problems with connectivity, and those companies that had issues have corrected them already.  hhhm, is did I make a mistake and buy an expensive bauble for my wrist?  I guess the more important question is will I make an investment in a Sport Watch which actually does what it says it does?  I went with the Fenix 3 HR because of years of good experience with Garmin, however prior to my last Forerunner, I'd owned a Suunto Volcano, which did everything it promised.  The apps used by the Fenix need to be purchased, those by the Spartan don't.  The Spartan is hand made in Finland and I liked pickled herring.  Garmin's are American owned but manufactured in... China.  I can afford switching to Suunto, I'm just not wild about the color blue.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the Idiot in the White House says he's going to let the ACA implode, or explode, or what verb happens to be sitting on the tip of his tongue.  This is funny, because neither of those 2 things is happening.  And evidently he had a more private tête-à-tête with his Crush Boy Vlad.  Scrumptious, right?  And without a translator - must have been talking the language of love... oh, wait, Melanoma was with them, wasn't she?  And she speaks Slovakian or Russian, or... well, what ever.

What makes the past  couple of days even lovelier is that rather than blame the Idiot in the White House for the healthcare failure, Conservatives are blaming their Republican Senators.  Delicious, right?  Grab your bibs and napkins, we're all about to witness a GOP Piranha Feeding Frenzy!

"Yo, Mitch!  They're looking at you bud with chompers on the ready!"

The Water Barrier

Okay, so I got on the scale this morning and the damage wasn't as bad as I was expecting, a gain of 2.9 pounds.  To off set that I jumped on the eliptical and burned off 364 calories.  It's all give and take, you see.  There's a price for everything.
Big Seig is out barking at Mrs. Puff's granddaughter, who's busy putting garbage out on the curb.  He'd be much quieter if she'd just walk over and pet him on the head.  That never happens though.
I also get to back to work today as well.  For 3 days, and then I'm off again for 2.  I have a fixed shift, now if only I could get a fixed schedule, well, that would be ducky.
This week will, I suspect, be tumultuous for the Idiot in the White House.  The problem with Conservatives is that he will have no problem if the country runs out of money.  How do I know this?  Four bankruptcies, at least I think that's how many he's filed.  If they don't give him what he wants, he'll just let the country go broke for a day or two.  He has even planned a weekend getaway to Harrisburg, which is way too close to me, as the crow flies, about 2.3 miles.  Luckily he'll be on the East Shore and a very wide Susquehanna River will create a water barrier.  There will be protests, of course, and if things don't go too well for him this week, I suppose they will more raucous than ever.

I actually live in the upper left hand corner, on a very high hill and the Idiot will be on the right hand side, near those white buildings.

My only worry is that those Crazy Conservatives will cave and give him what he wants.  Of course, that will make them look bad to their constituents, and would, pretty much, represent the defining moment of failure for their party.  Just imagine, American taxpayers saddled with paying for a fence only a bunch of racists want, and a health care package that everybody knows is bad.  Because it's not about what's good for America, it's all about the Idiot getting his way.

New Rug, Bannon busted, and other stuff

So, my Mom's back at Graysonview and more than a little confused.  I had breakfast with my brother this morning and told him that being sent to the hospital is always bad for her; she doesn't understand.  Her Cardiologists say they believe she had heart stress, and so varied her meds.  Sounds ho, ho, ha, ha to me.  Oh, I looked there is a Heart Stress diagnosis, but still, being sent to the hospital because she got a bit wobbly was probably the cause.
Saw this headline about the ACA and had to post it in Facebook.  This must really piss off Conservatives, you know?  They hate anything and everything sourced by Democrats, especially the ACA.  Wow, I wonder what it's like being part of an ever shrinking minority.
Saw that Steve Bannon has been demoted... though they're not calling it a demotion.  In fact, they lied and said he was part of the NSC just to keep his eye on Flynn.  Wouldn't be surprised if he was part of the transitional team's Russian Contingent.  Either that, or his hugely bad advice has finally been scented out as being bullshit.
After breakfast I zipped down to work and bought... a new rug for the living room.  The old was over 5 years old and been through both Lily's and Seig's puppyhoods.  Time for a replacement.  I've been looking for a while nothing caught my eye until this past week.  I walked into the flooring department one morning saw this rug.  At first I thought it was too bold and too busy, but after looking at it for about 3 hours this was the perfect replacement.

And since I didn't go to the gym today, I'll have to go tomorrow in the AM.

Oh, and I'm scheduled to work the next 6 days... well, maybe not.  I have personal time on the books so I may work 3 and then take a personal day.  Mostly it depends upon how my sales figures look.  If they're good enough to skip a day... well, more power to me.

Anti-Hero of the Hour - American Freedom Caucus

So, Trumpcare failed.  I was expecting there to be a Twitter overload around 3 AM, and there wasn't...  Cynical me says they new the ultimate outcome on Thursday and delayed the actual announcement until Friday to keep the stock market from going into a death spiral.  And the reason there was no Twitter Storm?  The Idiot in the White House did what he's always done in the face of losing battle:  he walked away.  That's right, in his mind he filed it under legislative bankruptcy and it has joined the other bankruptcies of his past, in a dirty closet.  And the Anti-Heroes of the hour were not some fine, upstanding congressmen who realized what a disaster this legislation was, rather a group of self-centered, ultra conservatives were the ones who gave the Idiot a one finger salute.  You see the legislation, as it stood, didn't go far enough.  People... human beings with pre-existing conditions were still going to be covered, and prenatal care, among other things.  These conservatives hate that their tax money is going to be spent for these things.  You see, the American Freedom Caucus is really, really greedy.  If you think Golum had a thing for the Ring, you should try and get between members of the American Freedom Caucus and their money.
In fact, this group has become the Achilles tendon of the the GOP, they will hobble every piece of legislation that doesn't kiss their greedy, social conservative asses.  That's right, these are the people who totally hate Planned Parenthood among a litany of other things.  They are uncontrollable.

And if the Idiot in the White House wants to push any legislation through Congress, he's going to need to bend to their will... or else get remove them from power.  In fact, if the GOP had any intelligence (which doesn't seem likely) they should have already started working with possible candidates who are less... strident in their political beliefs.  Of course we know that ain't going to ever happen.  The Republicans are too desperate for their votes in order to stay in power.

So, for right now, the American Freedom Caucus members are Anti-heroes.  Isn't it nice to know that they might actually be good for something?

So, will his head explode?

He being the Idiot in the White House.  You see, sometime today the House of Representatives is going to vote on the legislation that will repeal and replace the ACA.  They're doing it today because the Idiot made a campaign pledge to his Trumplodite hoards.  Just about everybody, including some of those voting, has pretty much said this bill is a legislative cluster f**kover for the American people.  Of course, the Idiot in the White House doesn't care about the American People.  He doesn't care about their opinions, or what they want, or what they feel they need.  Neither do a lot of Republicans.  The idea that some of their tax money might be helping someone pay for health care makes their blood boil.  We're talking about THEIR tax money, those cheap sacks of shit.
Unfortunately for some, their own political careers are at stake.  Constituents over and over again, all over the country, have been telling their representatives how much they hate this legislation.  The question of the hour is, will they listen to those whom they are supposed to represent, or to the Idiot in the White House, who really only wants to boast that he killed the ACA?  They also know how much he lies.
Many of those voting today were behind the Dump Trump campaign that failed.  Well, here's their chance.  Give him what he wants and probably kill their own political careers, or make his head explode.

Actually, I suspect, the better question might be:  are they going to be spineless and cave, or discover that they have actually grown a pair over night? 

And don't forget that dandy Randy Paul, who's trying to bolster his own conservative cred by cheering on the 'nay sayers.'  

In the end, it wouldn't surprise me if this kettle of worms gets pushed to one of the back burners where with the other GOP pots of shit where it can simmer for years.