Welcome to polling hell

Well... I decided to take a personal day today rather than go into work, which gives me 10 days in a row off - in 4 weeks my tenure will pop another 3 weeks vacation into my box.  If I stay full time for another 6 years I'll get 4 weeks of vacation...  I don't think that's going to happen, the full time bit, you know?  Part-time?  Sure.  Of course, I did get a cool reception when I called in but... well I have time on the books because I don't take personal days that often.
Anyway, as most of you probably saw, the Idiot Jerk in the White House let loose with a Twitter tirade yesterday, his 200th day in the Oval Office, mostly because his base is beginning to crumble.  Ain't this fun!  Brookings has a nice bit about it and includes a link to the Quinnipiac Poll.  Here are some more really, really bad numbers for our non-president.  Let's be honest here, many of us are beginning to enjoy rubbing his nose in his own shit.  There's even a rosy little bit on how 52% of Americans would now prefer to have a Democratically controlled House.  The Crazy Right cannot hold their position, they are beginning to fall apart.  This is what happens when a minority hate group manages to get themselves into a position of power.  Understanding the majority, being able to include the majority, reconciling themselves to the fact that they need to compromise and deal with the majority?  These have long been problems with the Republican Party.   They are not the voice of authority for the majority, and so they fail.
And all of those Tweets yesterday AM?   They show that the new Chief of Staff, John Kelly, is unable to control the Idiot Jerk in the White House.
Since today is now going to be the first day of my vacation, rather than tomorrow, I've already started rearranging my schedule.  Leisure time is important, but there are still things that need to be done.  Hey, and you never know, I might be able to find 7 naked men and all of us could form a pyramid.

Outnumbering the Idiots

Here is an interesting article in Brookings regarding these past few elections.  I was pretty much aware that Democrats outnumber Republicans.  My take is that if more Democrats hadn't believed the polls that Hillary was going to win, and had gone out and voted, we wouldn't have the Idiot in the White House.  More racists and haters went out to vote for their Supreme Idiot while a lot of levelheaded, humans paid the price of an assumption.  Even if you think your candidate is a sure shot, go out and vote.  And if you're one of those fools who stayed home because you didn't like either candidate?  Well, look at what's sitting in the Oval Office.
On this side customer service Hell, about a month ago I sold 3 expense roller blinds to a contractor (think $990 plus tax).  While I was on vacation, he returned them, saying that I had ordered the wrong color.  I checked yesterday and... you guessed it, Bali shipped the correct color, a light gray.  Did this contractor re-order them in a darker gray?  That's what you would think he'd do, right?  I mean, we've had customers where the wrong color has been shipped, or the color doesn't work for them, and they always re-order... but not this contractor.  He took his credit.  Was the color off that much?  Most likely not.  What probably happened was that his client looked at the blinds and said "You spent almost $1000 on these!"
The Hoodie Guys were not at the gym this morning, so maybe they don't have a regular workout schedule.  You know, just show up every now and then hoping to, maybe impress people.  And the best App for the gym seems to be something called Gym Timer which costs either $6 or $8, and it's a recurring charge.  Oh, and you have to use PayPal.  I don't use PayPal.  I sent the designers an email telling them this, adding that I only use my Amex or my Visa for Internet purchases.  Their response was that "we're looking into adding other forms of payment."  Translation:  Not in the near future, which means I'm not going to buy it.

Hoodies and Brookings

So, I went to the gym early this morning.  I've been looking for an app for my Fenex 3 HR that will let me track my routine and so far... nada.  Sure, some of them try and come off as masterpieces of workout software, but mostly they're just timers: you press a button to start the set and then press the same button to stop the set.  You can get pretty much the same thing for your phone, but when I'm at the gym my phone is in my car.  I hate carrying shit around in my hands, let alone keying in data between each set of hammer curls.  What a pain in the ass.
The hoodie guys were there this AM.  There's usually a different group there everyday.  Today there were 4 of them with their hoodies up: 4 of them, all regulars, 3 looking fit and 1 whom I shall say was... irregular.  They stay together, taking turns on the equipment, not talking, just standing there in their hoodies.  There's one who occasionally pulls his hoodie back but doesn't look around when it does so, just stands there momentarily, as though he's giving you a few seconds to admire the view.
Brookings had an interesting article yesterday regarding the life span of middle aged whites in certain areas of the country.  They are not handling globalization well at all, the end result being they are dying off from alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, and just terribly bad health.  What was particularly striking was that, even though this was not brought up, those counties and states where these issues are really bad supported the Idiot in the White House.  Not that I should have been too surprised when I looked at the maps and saw this was happening almost exclusively in Idiotland.  While some people may disagree with me, I say that this is an outstanding example of how evolution works.  Survival of the fittest, those least likely to adapt will die off.  They get old, they get fat, they lose their teeth, and blame someone else for their misfortune.  They applaud when the Idiot talks about an apprentice program without understanding the first step is up to them - they have no idea what initiative is, let alone using it as a springboard to a better life.  They like to point fingers.

Tomorrow I'm back at the cardio.  I did get a new app for that... 99 cents, which may be all it's worth.  I'll find out won't I?

Failure of Megyn Kelly & Tax Cuts

So, I see Megyn Kelly has an interview coming up on Father's Day... ho, ho, ho, and lots of people are upset because her subject is none other than Alex Jones, performance artist and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire.  I don't see why they're upset, I mean, no one ever said she was astute, or smart, or intelligent.  Her interview with Putin was panned by everybody except, perhaps, the Idiot in the White House, because the questions she asked were mousy, intending to reveal absolutely nothing.  She gave him a stage on which he got to show America that he wasn't at all a dictator who had corrupted the Russian Constitution in order to stay in power for 17 years.  There were no questions about opposition party candidates disappearing, or being jailed, or even assassinated.  In fact, I was surprised she didn't try and get him to say, "don't worry, be happy," in English for a 2nd time.
And now she's going to do the same thing with Alex Jones.  While people don't expect her to eviscerate him, they would like to see him bleed a little truth... and that's never going to happen.  He's going to survive unscathed because no pointed questions will be asked.  She's not going to try and pin him down or pry open his phoniness.  That's not her game.  If you watch, you're going to see a cookies and milk interview and nothing more.  You see, for Megyn Kelly the truth isn't in the details, it never has been.  For her, truth comes in the size of her paycheck.
And then there was this interesting article about the failure of Tax Cuts.  One of the major planks of Conservative philosophy is that tax breaks grow the economy.  Trickle down, you know?  Except they never work... ever.  Companies and people don't reinvest, they bank the breaks and cuts and call it profit.  A large percentage goes into bonuses because it's considered revenue.  Of course, don't tell a conservative that, they'll call you a liar.  Conservatives love their tax cuts, of course, they also like Megyn Kelly, most likely for the same reason that Roger Ailes liked her.