Tomfoolery

 Happy April First!  I don't do fool's jokes since I've always thought the jokes to be more about tricking people rather then fooling them.  Only the initiators seem to think their jokes are amusing.  And I have yet to meet a person on the receiving end who slapped their knee and roared with laughter.  Honestly, no one wants to be treated like a fool.

Yesterday was kind of boring at work.  I expect the same today since we have rain.  The forecast is for showers on and off, with temperatures hovering around 47 (F).  This is my hump day, no fooling.  After today I will have 3 consecutive days off.  I am anticipating those approaching hours.

Something has changed at work, however.  One of the managers picked a new radio station / playlist.  Mostly 80's music.  So now we're listening to ABC, The Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood.  I have to chuckle whenever Frankie comes on.  I bought that double album, and I'll never forget my surprise at opening the jacket to find a giant penis inside.  That was rather bold and brave of Frankie, wasn't it?  Oh, wait, can I show this?  The blog's supposed to be rated PG 13?

Click to boldly embiggen

Well, I guess that was a bit of tomfoolery, now, wasn't it?  Actually, I don't know if the model's name was Tom or not, so tomfoolery might not be the correct word.

And Uncle Joe revealed his infrastructure plan yesterday followed by an almost ear shattering, collective shriek from Republicans.  They hate it when Americans are put first.  Most of them couldn't even give him a grudgingly nod of approval when he signaled out Amazon as paying no taxes.  You see, Republicans love their lie about trickle down economics and if we start taxing Amazon, we'll also start taxing other large corporations like AT &T.  Remember that big tax cut they gave AT &T?  Remember how AT&T made headlines by giving a meager portion of that back to employees?  Well, that gift only happened once.  Well, AT&T was one of those corporations still getting that nice tax break when Covid hit... and they started cutting jobs.  Believe me, there was no tomfoolery there.

Crap, more rainy weather

We're supposed to have heavy thunderstorms today.  We had a thunderstorm watch the other day and ended up with a sprinkle.  The temperature is supposed to drop with the high only reaching the mid 60's (F).  Looking at the long range forecast (2 weeks out), this seems to be a pattern.  Just like last year.  While so far May hasn't been that bad, last year it was one of our rainiest months.
Of course there's a new stench permeating the ground of the the White House.  You know?  The aide who made that terrible McCain comment.  She apologized saying it was meant to be a joke.  Who in their right mind would want to be defined by that?  I'm sure there supporters of the Idiot Jerk found it funny, as well as the Idiot Jerk, himself, which is why we've heard nothing from him.  But then he's a scumbag.
One joke that is funny are the pseudo bribes by AT&T and Novartis....  Notice, I'm calling them pseudo bribes since legally they haven't been classified as bribes... yet.  Be prepared for large staffing changes at both companies as they attempt damage control.  For those who don't know, we are seeing "The Art of the Deal" in action.  Middle management money launderers used as proxies.  Useful people who are dufus enough to take the blame.  The Idiot Jerk will shrug and frown and wash his hands, irritated because now he's going to have find some other numb nut to do his dirty work.  That's where the real 'art' is, finding the next fool.
I was going to ride the bike this morning but didn't.  I did, however, order some more colorful socks.  They should be arriving today.  I'm excited.  Personally, I think it's having to work the 5 days in a row.  After a 2 day break there's going to be 6 days in a row.  Then I'll have a mid-week weekend and another 4 days in a row.  When I am off the forecast is for cloudy, showers, and thunderstorms.  I'd go part-time but I want to get a new car next year and that means banking some bucks and dealing with a car payment.
I think I'll go play around with the dumbbells a bit to burn off these somber vibes.

Corporate Greed

Well, yesterday those bozo Republicans gave their stamp of approval to a tax overhaul that is vastly unpopular, something gear to show they can actually finish a job even if it means shitting on most Americans.  I watched a bit of video where Paul Ryan was blub, blub, blubbing something about how this will end up being a great benefit to the middle class, notice I said watch, not listen.  You see when you don't listen you can observe better, see that while his lips were mouth words, his eyes were unblinking, little blue ice cubes. There was no connection between what he was saying and what he was feeling.  He is nothing more than calculating, conservative ambition, a man who is committed to his beliefs and to his Party but cares nothing about humanity.  Is it any wonder there are rumors about him retiring?  He wants to move into the corporate environment where his greed can be satiated.
And then the CEO of AT&T said that this Tax Credit was so wonderful AT&T was going to give over 200,000 employees a $1000 bonus.... before Christmas if the Idiot Jerk signs this legislation in time.  At first glance this sounds simply amazing, that AT& is going to $200,000,000 back to its employees.  That's a lot of money.  A lot of people were wowed over - not me, for a couple of reasons:  With support from this Administration, the FCC wants to end Net Neutrality which means AT&T can charge what ever they want, if you want faster Internet speeds it'll cost you.  (Are you getting a bitter taste in your mouth?)  And then there's the bit about AT&T wanting to buy Time/Warner - the Justice Department is saying "hold on there a minute."  Well, anybody with half a brain knows that if you kiss the Idiot Jerk's ass, make him look good, he gives you what you want.  (This is beginning to smell a little shitty, isn't it?)  But the real topper is AT&T's finances from 2016.  Looking at those $ figures I realized this bonus was pretty much the equivalent of AT&T blowing a snotty kiss to their associates.  They have over a $17 Billion positive cash flow.  That's like money in the bank.  And that $200,000,000 is a little over  0.0117647058823529%  When you see these figures you realized that AT&T's gift to their associates is rather putrid... in fact, we should start asking why they don't do this every year.  That answer's simple:  Corporate Greed.  Corporate Greed says that giving your average worker a bonus is a waste of money.

In case you're wondering, I do know a little bit about what I'm talking about.  You see I work for a little, home improvement retailer known as Home Depot.  Home Depot has something called Success Sharing (think bonus program).  Everybody gets a bonus.  The more successful your store, the bigger the bonus.  In 2017 my total bonus package was over $1300 (that's the none manager figure which is higher).  That AT & T bonus?  With all the money they have, it's on the cheap side, don't you think?