The Expendables.

 Today's supposed to be nice.  Our outside temp is in the mid 70s (F), humidity is low, and there's only a 1% chance of rain.  The long range forecast is extending this forecast for the next 15 days.  That's fine with me, by then we'll be at the end of August, with only 3 weeks left until Autumn arrives.  

Of course, I'll have another birthday in the fall and I'm fine with that.  Honestly, I don't mind the aging bit, I just hope I don't simply fall to pieces when I hit my upper 90s.  There are times when I will sit and look around the house and realize that everything I have will be gone, that does bring on occasional moments of melancholy.  And then I'll wonder where I'll be; in a senior facility?  My mom was in a very nice senior facility.  She wanted them to cater to her more than they did, and so was not happy, of course, my mom desperately wanted to be a matriarch and that never happened.

Yesterday I once again added my phone number to the state "no spam calls" registry.  I get at least one scam call daily, on some days I'll get 3 or 4.  This should eliminate most of those calls.  In France they're passing a law to make scam calls illegal and Morocco, of all places, is complaining.  Evidently over 50,000 Moroccans work in call centers.  Damn!  I'm sorry, but having a job where you're required to harass millions and millions of people is not what I'd call an acceptable career.

And yesterday was Howie's birthday.  As always, we had cake and ice cream (vanilla cake and vanilla ice cream).  He ate the ice cream (French Vanilla) but totally ignored the cake.  Perhaps the butter creme frosting did not meet with his approval.

He also got a toy, a stuffed chicken.  He loves that!!!

And of course, the big news story was lying Karoline Leavitt is quitting.,.. in 2 weeks.  While many want to think this is because she  came to her senses, they are wrong.  Lying Leavitt would eat flaming shit balls if she thought such a feat would make her important.  What's more likely is that when Orangie abandoned his by sneaking away in a catering truck, he not only left her behind, but he took his most favorite of assistants Natalie Harp.  Don't know who Nat is?  She's the blonde bimbette who is constantly by his side.  Nat's known for carrying a portable printer so she can print of newspaper headlines and articles.  She's also unofficially known to be Orangie's diaper girl.  When he shits in his pants, she wipes his ass and puts him in a fresh diaper.  Basically, he chose an ass wiper rather than an ass kisser to save when he fled Turkey.

And, because his administration is like a sieve unable to keep leakers in line, the threat that sent him cowering among the pre-cooked meatloaf and lasagna, was reported to him by the Israelis who wanted to insure America continues to war with Iran.  The CIA is now confirming that this was a low level threat.

I'm betting Orangie's decision to only save Harp and Hegseth is rattling around like a rabid rat in a rusty cage among those he chose to sacrifice.  Now Stevie Miller, Scottie Bessent, and Marco Rubio know just how expendable they are.

Seven Dials

We have 20 (F) outside.  There's a lot of bright sunshine.  We're in the beginning of a warming trend that will peak tomorrow with temps in the 40s (F) and rain.  Then, our temps will drop again, climbing only slightly as we head into next week.  I had hopped we might be getting a mild winter, that does not appear to be the case.  This means I will have to spend more money on my heating bill than I would have liked.  Utility expense are continuing to rise.  I'm so glad we don't have one of those new data centers near me, otherwise I'm sure my electrical bill would have gone through the roof.

And I did do stuff yesterday.  No workout, though.  And I was supposed to get a ride in.  That didn't happen.  I did get a bunch of writing done.  And I also baked some drop biscuits that were ho hum, just okay.  Howie wasn't even interested, so maybe ho hum is being too kind.  Dinner was a stromboli from Al's pizzeria.  I was going to make pork stir-fry, but that didn't happen.  I'll cook that this evening, making enough for tomorrow's lunch.

Yesterday was another sort of nappy kind of day.  Overcast and cold all day.  Yuck.

I did watch Seven Dials on Netflix last evening, all 3 episodes.  Back when I was in the Navy, I was still a voracious reader and, lucky for me, the exchange store in Subic Bay sold paperbacks of almost all of Agatha Christie's mystery novels.  Even though she is most known for her famous sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, she did write a number of books with other sleuths.  Tommy and Tuppence were 2 of them, and they were interesting.  The Seven Dials Mystery was a stand alone book, though Scotland Yard's detective Battle does show up in other Christie mysteries.  I don't remember being impressed by the book, though as I watched the series certain elements did strike a familiar cord, one of which she later used in one of her better known books Death on the Nile.  I thought the first 2 episodes were good, but in the 3rd, and what should be the most important, things began to unravel.  Instead of having me on the edge of my seat, the reveal was disappointing.

Yesterday Elena Marcado gave her Noble Peace Prize to the Orange Anus.  She is, I believe I'm putting this kindly, pretty much of a Twit.  She gave him her prestigious award because she believes he will look kindly on her.  She thinks he will help her become president of Venezuela.  I don't doubt she believes in a lot of things, possibly even the tooth fairy.  The Orange Anus has already called himself the "acting" president of Venezuela.  He is not going to give that up.  There's a pic of her leaving the White House with a red bag of MAGA swag.  I do hope she understands that's all she's going to get, unless she turns full MAGA and lets the US bleed Venezuela dry.

And there are whispers circulating that Orangie's team is in the process of looking at recalibrating Minneapolis, since a majority of Americans are rejecting the violence they see ICE pursuing in that city.  Sadly, that's not what Stevie Miller wants.  So, I have my doubts on any sort of change.

One Battle After Another

The outside temp here in Central PA is 64 (F) and it isn't going to get much higher, a few degrees perhaps.  Overnight we had on and off soaking rains.  We need them.  The showers are supposed to hang around for a few hours, the wind is supposed to pick up, and the temps are supposed to climb a few degrees.  This looks and feels a lot like the beginning of Autumn.  How seasonal things get is anybody's guess.

I did fix the left drain in the sink yesterday, for the most part.  There's still a bit of a dribble.  The problem was that the red rubber gaskets located where the joints screw together have begun to deteriorate.  With the seals going, water begins to drip, drip, out.  Two of the seals have been fixed.  This morning sometime I will fix the thirds and final seal.  Yes, that's right, I was deal with three seals, and not the barking kind.

Yesterday was also cardio day, so I rode over 11 miles in Corsica.  It took me over 45 minutes, and my average heart rate was 122.  Total calories burned? 404.  I was happy.

And for the first time in a long time, I went to the movies last evening to see One Battle After Another.  I liked it for a number of reasons:  it's definitely pro-immigration making it quite relevant.  It mocks white Christian Nationalists; one of the main antagonists being a group of ultra rich white men belonging to supremacist group called the Christmas Adventurer's Club.  And, besides the occasional foray into drama, for the most part it's funny, almost zany at times.  Lots of Oscar nominations for this one including DiCaprio and Sean Penn.  

For those who missed it, Pammy Jo Bondi had to testify at an Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, at least that's what was supposed to happen.  She refused to answer so many questions and when she did she always deflected.  An example:  when asked if she'd seen pictures of Orangie with underage girls in the Epstein files she started her response with "What about the fires in California."  This was a yes or no question.  She could have said "no," and many Republican Senators would have sighed in relief.  However, she deflected.  Perhaps she realized that a negative response might possibly lead to perjury charges against her in the future.  People who are certain about what they believe the future to be will always lie, so I suspect Pammy Jo may be a bit uncertain about certain things.

Finally, AOC said the Stephen Miller is 4 feet 10 inches tall.  Truthfully, he's probably an inch or so over 5 feet.  Still, now we know one of the reasons he's such a vile, angry man: he suffers from short man syndrome.  So, maybe we should start calling him tiny Stevie.

Intros & Narrators

 Our morning mid-week temps here in Central PA are still in the mid-60s (F).  Daily highs tomorrow will start climbing back up into the 90s (F).  That's find.  We are in summer, as season where nights are hot and days are hotter.  Friday's high temp should be in the mid-90s (F),but then the cool off begins as we head back down into the 80s (F).  The risk of afternoon and evening thunderstorms seems to be waning a bit.  These are the dog days of summer.

Yesterday was a day of massive accomplishments!

I talked to my friend Justin about the holly bush out front; he had just gotten off working the night shift and was in no condition to do any trimming.  So I pulled on my big boy britches and went out and trimmed the bush myself.  An hour later the bush was trimmed back to a normal sized and cleanup was complete.  That was in the  morning. 

In the afternoon I went for a 10.87 mile ride in Corsica, a ride with some decent hills.  During that 50+ minute ride I maintained an average heartrate of 128 beats per minute.  I was very pleased.

As some of you know I will, on occasion, listen to music when I write.  When I do so it's usually just one specific artist that manages to hit one specific note in the theme of the book.  This process is serendipitous.  While writing The Body Under Ice I listened to quite a bit of Spanish guitar music.  For The Body in the Tower it was Fallout Boy.  For The Body in 4/4 Time, what I'm calling a musical mystery, it seems as though I've settled on Bastille.  Here's a song called Intros & Narrators that might help you understand what I'm talking about.

No one should be surprised that Mikey Johnson shut down the House of Representatives a day early, his only other choice would have been to let Congress vote on releasing the Epstein files and that was a vote Republicans would have lost terribly.  A lot of people believe that Republicans are protecting a Pedophile, and they are, but most importantly they are protecting their slim hold on power.  Except for his personal polls, most polling shows his approval rating sitting in the very low 40s.  That number is going to keep on eroding.  Tariffs are kicking in and Americans are going to be paying more, much more for certain products.  And don't doubt that Americans will be paying the difference.  General Motors missed plan by $1 billion and Wall Street will put a stop to that loss very fast.

I saw some clips on Threads last evening where the Orange Anus was speaking at some meeting.  He was talking about cavities in the earth that had oil, and that we had drained, and that we had filled up again.  Total nonsense.  And I'm frightened that it is the likes of Pammy Jo Bondi, and Stevie Miller, and Noem the puppy killer who are actually running the country.  Having Orangie in charge is bad enough, but having losers like this acting as co-dictators is a recipe for total disaster.

A note to Jaime Dimon

 Holy Crap!  The outside temp was 16 (F) when I woke up this morning!  Even though forecasters only predicted yesterday's high to be in the low to mid 20s (F), it actually climbed up to 28 (F), and today they are telling us that we're supposed to hit the low 30s (F).  Knowing that the change in weather patterns is effected by the Earth's rotation, I'm wondering if this Polar Vortex is going to continue across the Atlantic.  If it does, people in the Europe prepare yourselves, it's a real cold biter.

The new thermostat is working well.  It's toasty in my house, well, except for the living room which has always had a bit of a winter chill.  That has more to do with a lack of insulation, something that did not exist when the house was built in 1905, than anything else.  To be perfectly honest, you only really notice it when we have subzero weather.

Work yesterday was ho hum heh.  The full time associate had customers.  I didn't.  Not that I had a problem with that.  They have me scheduled for 22 hours for the next few weeks, but then in the 2nd week of February I'm down to 17.  Years ago, when I was first hired as a part-time cashier, the February doldrums meant I might get 5 hours a week.  This is not a good time to be a part-time cashier.

So, tell me, do you think Howie did something bad?

So the Orange Anus has set up a DEI snitch line.  If you're a bitter white person who believes that your company or organization is hiring People of Color instead of white people, you can send a snitch email accusing them of... what?  Racism?  I saw several bits about this yesterday, all of which included that detestable email address so good, American citizens could flood, and hopefully crash the website. 

Orangie's administration has also put a freeze on hiring minorities because they feel it is so much better to give an unqualified white person that job.  I don't know what the number is, but quite a few People of Color working for the Federal Government have been put on paid leave.  In case you think this is just a temporary problem, don't, this is the work of that white supremacist Stevie Miller and that apartheid Aryan Elonia.  Every time Orangie makes an appearance, he tends to lose incoherence.  While this continues, the unemployment rate is going to constantly increase as these decent human beings lose their livelihoods.  This adds to the Chaos, and let me remind you again, Wall Street hates Chaos.  Wall Street hates unemployment because that means people who aren't earning wages are not spending money.  Wall Street needs people to spend money.  Conservative stupidity has always crushed the economy, and it's doing it again.  Jaime Dimon, a billionaire douche if there ever was one, said yesterday that Americans are just going to have to get used to paying higher prices.  Here's a note to Jaime, people can't spend it if they don't have it. 

This will not save Trump's ass

 What can I say, the weekend has finally arrived.  Today is supposed to be gloriously sunny (I work this afternoon), however tomorrow there is a 90% chance of rain (I work then, too).  They're forecasting the rain to continue into Tuesday, the first day of my mid-week weekend.  Next week I only work 3 days, that's fine with me.  This past week it was 4.  That's almost too much time to spend at the store.

I've been chatting with my brother about the house next door, advising him to disincline himself to purchase.  I get bad vibes.  Too many issues.  The new roof will cost between $20 to $25 thousand.  The big bugaboo is water damage.  Any time you have water involved; it is not a good thing.  Without ripping out the walls there is no telling where the leak might be.  Because water is involved, mold might also be part of the picture.  Mold remediation is very expensive.

And King Chuck has been formally announced.  I think I'll call him Chuck until he proves he's got the DNA of a Charles.  His mother was Elizabeth, never a Liz or a Beth.  Chuck, however, needs to earn his name.  Almost every article I've read has noted that he is not nearly as popular as his mom.  At 74 years of age, he has definitely had enough time to prove that he is not a 'people person.'  His sons are both much more popular, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people have started the timer, counting down the days until he passes, and William is crowned King.

I was walking through Petra yesterday:  2.70 miles averaging around 3.6 miles per hour.  It is so much bigger than people think.  Of course, most only know it from movies.  Believe it or not, this too is Petra.

Sometime, either before or after Bannon was indicted, he evidently said that "I have never laundered anything."  Looking at his pictures on the Internet, many find his comment not too surprising.

Oh, and speaking of Stevies, Steven Miller has been subpoenaed.  I believe he has already sat with the January 6 committee at least once, now, however; he'll have the chance to use the 5th amendment.  In fact, it seems as though both Stevies have had a very bad week.

And both the DOJ and Trump's turned in their lists of Special Masters.  One of the items Trump's team wants is for the Special Master to look at every single document.  This is how you define the intention to delay.  Trump believes that the Republicans will take back the house in November.  They won't.  He thinks that's going to save his ass.  It won't.  What will be interesting is this will help define how deep the collusion runs between Judge Cannon and Trump.

Bladerunner 2049, the Idiot Jerk, an the evil bitch

Well, it's 0620, the temperature outside is 76 (F) and it's drizzling - the normal temperature for this time of year is supposed to be in the mid - 60's... and my Central Air is running.  What's wrong with this picture?
Today is Columbus Day and I have off - the 3rd of my three days.
I went to see "Bladerunner 2049" yesterday.  My niece's husband posted on Facebook that it was a 'Masterpiece,' so I corrected him.  The movie is good... but not great.  The acting is all very good, some of the performances will most likely be recognized come Oscar time.  Visually stunning at times, "Bladerunner 2049" is certifiable eye candy.  But then there's the story line which takes almost 2 hours and 45 minutes to unfold.  The first film, all those years ago, was fast paced - remember Harrison Ford chasing Joanna Cassidy through the shops and crashing through the glass?  There is action here, but nothing at that pace.  What I noticed was a lot of variation, or re-imaginings of scenes:  Deckard and Leon Kowalski is now Gosling and Bautista.  Questions Deckard asks in the first film are realized in the sequel:  "You look down and see a bee crawling on your hand, what do you do?"  I thought it was good, but not great.  I wasn't bored, didn't find the movie dragging, however my friend Patty said she thought it dragged on and on at times.

Politically speaking, yesterday was another banner day of stupidity for the Idiot Jerk in the White House, in fact, there was more fun there then a three ring circus.  The feud between Corker and the Idiot Jerk is beginning to really tear the GOP apart.  The Idiot Jerk will support a weakened DACA, but only if he gets 10 billion for his wall.  The Mini Idiot Jerk (Mike Pence) walked out of an NFL game because "his boss gave him walking orders.  Steve Bannon is only going to back Conservative candidates running against the GOP.  Oh, and there's some grousing among the GOP that the 'Middle Class Tax Cut' is going to be fairly non-existent.  Did I miss anything?
And finally, I Googled the ACLU vs Cornwall Lebanon School District and came up with bit about the evil Mrs. Miller.  Evidently she forced a 2nd grader to stand in front of the class and recite the Lord's Prayer because when he'd done it at his chair, he recited it with his eyes open. 

Lebanon Daily News 6/25/64     Mrs. J. Herbert Miller, Eric's homeroom teacher, explained the incident when she appeared as a witness before Judge Follmer. She said Eric was one of three pupils called upon to recite the prayer with closed eyes. Her attention to the eyes- open incident was called by the other pupils, Mrs. Miller testified. She further pointed out that she was merely carrying out a routine instructional function by requiring that an act improperly done be performed again in the correct manner.

From Secretary of State to Office Manager

I saw where the GOP has named Candice Miller to chair the House Administrative Committee.  This is a more then a bit funny.  There have been complaints for years, in fact there are some who feel it's one  of the reasons they lost the election, their women representatives have always been relegated to token status.  After Romney's loss, Fox News actually had three women on to skirt around the issue.  One of them made the point that they're only brought out when they're needed for a photo op.  That was not a very nice thing for a loyal Republican to say.  However, it is as true now as it was when McCain chose Palin for his running mate.  Of course now they say Palin just wasn't vetted correctly.  I think that's horse shit.  I'd say you can bet your bottom dollar the GOP high command gave McCain their approval.  I'm sure they thought she'd be like all Republican women, you know?  Keep their mouths shut and do as they're told.  Unfortunately for them Palin chose not to follow the script.

Candice Miller, Chairperson for the House Administrative Committee

Now they've taken the former Secretary of State for Michigan and made her, for all intents and purposes, Office Manager for the House of Representatives.  What's almost hilarious about this insult is there are a lot Republicans out there who will point to Ms. Miller and say "See, there is a place for women in our party."  You can bet those white guys in their navy blue suits who run the party are no doubt smirking to themselves, muttering, "there, that should keep them satisfied."