Solving a Problem Like Maria

This afternoon's high is supposed to be in the low 80s (F).  We have 71 (F) right now.  The sun is shining.  Though, as we should all expect by now, there is a threat of thunderstorms this afternoon.  In fact, for the next week our afternoons are going to be threatened by thunderstorms.  Highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 80s (F), though there does seem to be a cooling trend on the horizon.  This is a good thing.  Everyone I know is ready for Autumn.  Though what late Autumn and Winter are going to be like is anybody's guess since El Nino seems to be supersizing out in the Pacific.  If I'm remembering correctly, the last time we had a serious El Nino, out winter was extremely mild.  

Yesterday was quiet here.  I'm in the process of taking all of my Trainwell workouts and and modifying them, keeping certain exercises and routines and throwing others out, like squats.  Squats are out.  There are quite a few other quad and glute focused exercises in which you don't need to squat.  I did one of the preliminary routines yesterday and was rather pleased.  Other exercises will be added until I end up with a routine that runs around 50 minutes, or so.

I also broke the 3 pounds of angus ground beef I'd bought at Karn's in 8 oz servings, that's 6 servings at about 380 calories each.  Those servings should last for a while since I tend to eat more chicken and pork than I do beef.

And, of course, the breaking news was about Maria Bartiromo getting fired by Fox.

So, Fox Entertainment is no longer asking "how do we solve a problem like Maria."  I'm hearing that she has already hired a "high profile attorney."  This means that Fox is once again going to be going into court because of the Orange Anus.  They last time this happened they settled out of court with Dominion Voting, paying Dominion $787 million.  Can you hear me laughing?  Things are going to get real interesting if this makes it to the Discovery stage of the trial.

People are wondering if this means Fox Entertainment might be trying to cut the umbilical cord of propaganda between themselves and the White House.  Have they, so to speak, seen the writing on the wall?  Possibly... somewhat.  More likely I think they're trying to butter both sides of a slice of bread, cover their asses, so to speak, if the midterm elections go horribly wrong for the Republicans.  How would something like that effect their viewership?  The only time Fox will take the side of the loser is if they find that by doing so viewership is going to increase.  At this point, with Orangie's approval rating on the economy at 29% I'm suspecting they're not seeing a good return on an investment by claiming he is now one of the downtrodden.

Oh, and the government just released the jobs report for August.  Don't believe them.  ADP reported that only 38,000 jobs had been created.  Orangie's team, on the other hand, pulled the number 162,000 out of their ass.  

 

Wild Horses

Showers are in the forecast for today.  Temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s (F), which isn't bad for this time of year.  I have to work this afternoon, so the forecast doesn't really effect me that much, as long as we don't have we don't have storms with wind shears that rip off the tops of trees.  Right now our outside temp is 57 (F).  That's good sleeping weather.  Soon I'll have to pull the first of several blankets out of storage.  

Yesterday was an interesting day.  My morning workout is evolving.  We're putting more mobility exercises into the mix because I am getting older.  The strength exercises keep my muscles from slowly fading away, and the mobility exercises will hopefully still keep me functional when I get to be old.  

Grocery shopping was completed after the workout.  Pasta and Spam were picked up at BJs Discount Store (the Spam's for Howie).  Then there was a stop at my Giant supermarket where I used coupons to buy red grapes and asparagus.  I had planned on buying ground been, but there's no way in hell I'm spending $7 a pound.  

An appointment was made to have my furnace prepped for winter.  I also renewed my driver's license.  This should last until 2030.  I had to laugh when I saw that I'd gotten my first license in 1968.  

And tariff negotiations fell apart with Canada; they're just tired of the tariff bullshit, as is just about every other country on this planet.  Things are going to get more expensive.  But don't worry, the loser with 6 bankruptcies running this country is going to start importing ground beef, from 2 mystery countries,, at a 23% discount.  As expected, the beef industry is upset.  Thanks to the guy they voted for, they're now having to deal with so many problems, including screw worm.  There's a saying, "you get what you pay for."

Though I did see this morning that the importing cheap ground beef has been put on hold.  If that's true, I'm wondering if it's because of the beef industry's complaints, or because many Americans are worried that they might actually be buying ground horse.  You seen, unbeknownst to some, the administration has been rounding up wild horses.

These horses are being sold to a mysterious country at $25 a pop so they can be slaughtered... for food, possibly ground horse.  

And this should come as no surprise, but because of the details included, many believe the leaks about Natalie Harp are coming from a high ranking official in the administration, someone who feels that she is usurping their power.  I suspect that this is also a person whose loyalty has been broken, and who now feels they need to punish the Orange Anus.  Possibly someone left on the decoy plane?

Blind to the Real World

We're going to warm today.  We're also going to be humid.  Our outside temp is a balmy 74 (F), and yes, we are under a heat advisory.  While the afternoon temp is supposed to top off at 94 (F), the real feel is predicted to be around 103 (F).  This is what I call stinky winky weather, where I get the urge to run around the backyard like a rather inhibited satyr for all of the world to see.  Don't worry, it'll never happen.

So, I had my physical yesterday.  I'm healthy.  I've reached that stage of life when I have to take off my shoes and socks so they can poke my feet to prove I don't have any neuropathy.  I'm fine.  Orangie has to deal with 22 specialists while I get one doctor who thinks I'm funny.  He did tell me that I don't look my age, which was nice.  My sugar's a tad too high, so we're going to up my metformin.  He told me that besides helping my glucose levels, this might also help me lose weight.  Believe me, I'm all for that.

I get to go to work today.  Yee Ha!  With the impending high real feel temps, I momentarily did think about taking off, but then decided that getting paid to sit on my but my be a better use of my time.  Of course, I do have more than enough time on the books and there are things that I can do around the house, like vacuum up the Howie hair.  Honestly, I've never had a dog who sheds as much as Howie does.  Of course, I do have to take into consideration that Heat Advisory.

And I went food shopping on Tuesday.  Yowza!!  Inflation is the highest it's been in 3 years.  This was quite noticeable while I was filling my grocery cart.  Whole milk is up to $5.02 a gallon.  That's the New Low Price.  Last week the Old Low Price was $4.99 a gallon.  There are now so many items in every aisle with New Low Price stickers.  This is a family pack of hamburger with 20% fat.  The total cost is $32.66, and this is before the price of beef goes up because of screwworms. 

I was surprised that the Federal came out with the news that inflation had increased.  Knowing how this administration is rife with deceit, I'm suspecting that the 4.2% is on the low side.  Oh, and the trade deficit hasn't been this wide in 30 years.  That's almost as long as I've been living in my house.  Shit.  And things are going to get worse.  

A vast number of Americans believe that Orangie's UFC Cage Match in the front lawn of the White House is a bad thing, that's according to an IPSOS/USGov poll.  This is something that this administration, as well as the Republican party, simply fail to understand.  Their only concern is about being in power.  Instead of taking this into consideration, they're dancing around singing "We're in charge!  We're in charge!"  They are blind to the real world.  They've have living in a delusional world for decades.  Reality is going to do more than bite them in the ass.

And in case you're keeping county, Orangie has claimed that a peace deal in on the table with Iran 34 times.

Where's the Beef?

 We're under a heat advisory for today.  Right now our outside temp is 76 (F) and it is only going to get hotter.  Now that doesn't mean the mercury in our thermometers will be climbing into the triple digits.  Nope.  The forecast is for our temp to hit 95 (F), it's the "real feel" of 104 (F) that's the reason for the advisory.  Thunderstorms this weekend will knock our temps back down into the upper 70s (F) to mid 80s (F).

Yesterday was definitely a meh day when it came to getting things accomplished.  I was scheduled to work and that put a damper on my enthusiasm to do anything else.  I did get some words written, but just a few.  I also got a mini-upper body workout in, but even that was lame.  Certain muscles need more than 48 hours to recover, that's why the week gets broken up in to specific days, such as leg day, and back day, and arm day.  Muscle growth is slow to achieve.

Work, itself, we pretty meh, too.  My supervisors needed to help me cut vinyl.  She doesn't know what she's doing so it ended up all flippy floppy.  The roll should have been firm and it was saggy.  She's a dip.  In her middle 60s, she wants to move up into management and so she's focusing mostly on numbers.  She's taking the wrong tact.  She spends much of her time sitting at a computer and ignoring the fact that even our store manager is out in the aisles packing down product, filling holes in the shelves.  She doesn't understand that the position she wants is a labor intensive 50 hour a week job.  They're not going to promote someone who just wants to supervise.

For those who are counting pennies, the cost for a pound of ground beef is $6.19 here in Central PA.  That beats the national high of $6.12

For those who didn't see, Volkswagen missed their plan by $1.6 billion.  They are the 2nd car company in less than 2 weeks that missed by over a billion.  This is because they're eating the tariffs.  Wall Street is not going to let this continue.  Those car tariffs are going to be coming our way and the cost of a new car is going to go through the roof.

There is chatter that a trade deal with Japan might actually get signed, which is terrible.  The new tariff is supposedly 15%, the old tariff was 2%.  Those added costs are going to be passed on to the consumer, and the added revenue will be paid to billionaires.

Jerome Powell publicly disagreed with the Orange Anus yesterday on live TV.  Orangie's butt was already burning from South Park mockery.  His ego can not deal with this public ridicule.  And he's leaving for Scotland where everybody hates him.  There are going to be protests.  Good.

New approval ratings were released and Orangie's overall approval rating is 37%.  What's truly devastating about that number is that is approval rating among Independent voters is down to 27%.  That number is simply horrific since neither party can do anything without the Independent voters, and right now less than one third of them approve of Orangie and his administration.