Trump's Swindle

 Everybody's working for a rainy weekend!  Well... that might not be quite right.  I'm sure there are certain areas of the country where it is sunny and dry, but not here on the eastern seaboard.  And the rain is going to continue.  

Lily went and did her morning business outside in steady rain and when I left her back in she ran straight to the chair with the towel.  She loves being dried off.  Truthfully, she doesn't care if she's wet or not, but being toweled is a lot of fun.  Biggie?  He's still being a slug-al-bed.  He lifted his head to look at me as I pulled open the curtains to let the dreary morning light creep into the bedroom, then gave me a snort, and laid his head back down.  

So, I was putting together the bar cart for my laundry room yesterday afternoon and there was a disaster, one of the pre-formed, fake wood cross pieces used to hold the drawer split as I was screwing it to the left leg piece.  My most favorite words just burbled up quite naturally.  "Son of a bitch."  So I shot off an email to the seller, and they responded this morning.  They will be sending me a new part.  They asked for a picture, so I'm sending them this one.

Yesterday was rather quiet politically speaking.  Though not really purely political, Alex Jones declared bankruptcy in an attempt to hold onto his millions.  Nobody thinks that's going to work, since his lies about the Sandy Hook shooting were intentional, used as a source of making money.  This scumbag can never pay enough for the evil he has wrought on suffering families just so he could make a buck.

South Carolina may become the first state that counts in the Democratic nomination process, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire.  Iowa Republicans are pissed.  Chaos, they shrieked, mostly because they have this desperate need to be first.  In their minds, that makes them special, and for them special is far more important than anything else.

And the closing arguments were held yesterday.  The prosecution was specifically detailed in mentioning that Donald J. Trump was not only aware of the tax fraud, but also sanctioned it. He is a greedy pig, you know.  Of course, the defense went completely bazonkers.  They fought long and hard to prove that he was not a greedy pig who had no problems breaking tax laws in order to appear wealthier than he really was.  This went on for fifteen years.  Sit back and think about that number. Then think about all of the money you have, as an individual, paid to the federal government in taxes.  All that time, Donnie was skipping around thinking his swindle was going to work, making him tax free.

Cheaters

 We have about a 55% chance of rain today.  That's okay.  I work 6.5 hours.  That means I get a lunch break.  Lunch will be leftover beef stew.  I made some yesterday at the same time I was baking an olive oil spice cake.  Tasty stuff.  I like spice cakes.  I added walnuts because... well, I like nuts, too.  I like olive oil cakes, too; their moistness is incomparable, though I'm thinking of adjusting the recipe, cutting back on the oil, at least for one cake to see what happens.

However, I must admit that other than baking the cake, I spent most of yesterday as a slug, checking out the news, watching random YouTube videos, napping on and off.  

After over 100 hours, I've pretty much had it with Elden Ring.  While the game was fun, there were issues.  In most games increased experience is what lets you 'level up' (as Bastille sings in Distorted Light Beam).  In Elden Ring you level up by gaining runes, which you get by killing enemies, selling gear, or cheating.  I'm at level 88. To level up I need over 46,000 runes.  To get that many, I have to grind my way through areas I've already completed to slowly increase the number of runes I have, as a result some players have discovered ways to farm runes.  There are also ways to cheat.  Players put out videos on YouTube as tutorials: one guy, who was at level 731, cheated.  I have no patience for cheaters.  If they cheat in a video game, they'll cheat in life.

And what about Alex Jones' $45 + fine?  He thought he could cheat his way out of paying anything by having his company declare bankruptcy.  However, the fine is being levied against him, not his company.  And there are 2 more settlement cases waiting for him up in Connecticut.

And, finally, the Biden Administration is going to pass some major legislation this weekend, and it turns out most of the country approves.  Gas prices are going down, and approval for Democrats is going up.  This does not mean that the MAGA base is no longer a jellified cluster fuck, just that a majority of Americans is realizing that their extremism needs to be permanently checked.

Freedom of Speech

 Shall we say hello to Friday, the last of my 4 consecutive days off?  Starting tomorrow, I'll be working for 3 days.  No problem.  I honestly don't mind this part-time gig.  As I've said before, these meager hours a week allow me to keep banking my Social Security checks.  Besides, that giant home improvement retailer gave me a 90 cent per hour pay increase that started on 8/1.  

I called my neighbor's wife yesterday to give her my condolences, as well as find out what happened.  Mike evidently woke up from a nap, was all sweaty and had some chest pain.  She called the ambulance, however, by the time they got him to the hospital it was too late.  Right now, she is staying with her daughter and son-in-law down in Maryland.  They'll be coming up next Friday to start cleaning out the house.  That will take a while.  Both she and Mike were accumulators.\

Much is on the agenda today, including an olive oil spice cake.  We should all have a little spice in our lives!

I hung my new clock yesterday morning.  At present, it is losing time, about 5 minutes every 24 hours.  Instructions are to wait between 2 and 3 days before making any adjustments.  The old clock chimed every half hour, this clock chimes every 15 minutes, though it's not nearly as loud as its predecessor.

Crooked picture

On Britney Griner:  this stupid woman, who never took into consideration the antagonistic relationship that exists between the US and Russia, accidently packed a near empty bottle of hash oil and has now turned herself into a tool for Putin to use.  Shortly after she was sentenced, the Russians said they were ready to begin serious negotiations for a prisoner swap.  Being a tool is not good.

Alex Jones was fined yesterday.  He will be fined again, hopefully multiple times.   He whined something about his First Amendment rights.  For those of you who don't know, the 1st Amendment allows us freedom of speech, however it does not eliminate accountability from that which we say.  Jones believed he could get away with saying whatever he wanted.  He profited from lies that he knew were lies. That is not the freedom of speech our forefathers intended for us to have.

Mike and the Pizza boxes

 They're predicting that the temps are supposed to climb up into the mid 90s (F) today.  I don't doubt the forecast, yesterday we got up into the low 90s (F).  Tomorrow?  Rain is on the way and the temps are supposed to cool back down.  Whatever.

My new clock arrived yesterday.  It will be hung this morning.  Tiling was also done in the kitchen.  I've a little more to do before I'm finished.  The glass tiles I used for my backsplash now cover the area behind the stove.  I will need to grout and seal them, but then one more step is completed in finishing of my kitchen.

My neighbor, Mike, died.  Don't ask me when, or why because I don't know.  Tuesday was garbage day, so last Monday his wife took out their garbage cans.  When I got up last Tuesday, their car was gone.  When they hadn't returned by Wednesday, I figured they'd gone down to see one of their kids in Maryland.  Yesterday, I got a card from her in the mail which began with "I suppose you've heard about Mike."  Well, I didn't.  Her husband was not a like able person.  For most of the 29 years I've lived here, I've had to deal with his anger management, and alcohol, and drug abuse issues.  The problems?  Too numerous to list here.  Well, maybe just one.  Twelve years ago, 3 young men rented the end townhouse across the street; they were friendly and funny, and made me laugh.  On weekends, they would have small parties with maybe 3 or 4 friends who parked on the street, sometimes either in front or behind Mike's car.  Mike didn't like this, so he used pizza boxes to try and block off our side of the street.  That's right, he put a pizza box in front of his car and one behind.  Of course, it didn't work for obvious reasons.  This incensed Mike, so he drank all night, and the next morning went over and pounded on their door.  When they answered, he pulled a knife and threatened to kill them if they parked on our side of the street again.  They promptly had him arrested.  Believe me when I tell you this was just one of the things, we in the neighborhood dealt with on a fairly regular basis.  You shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but ever since I got his wife's card all I've been able to do is laugh and think of how big an asshole Mike was.

Here's a bit of a pallet cleanser, my elephant ear plant.

And the fallout from Tuesday's election in Kansas is still dropping like dung on the GOP.  I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying it.

Every senator voted to admit Finland and Denmark to NATO, except for 1, Josh Hawley.  He must think that's the masculine thing to do.

Finally, just a bit about Alex Jones.  His scumbag attorneys accidently gave the prosecution his phone records and text messages over the past few years.  I watched some of the videos.  We can only pray that the worst will happen to him.  I do know a whole lot of people want to get their hands on that information, including the IRS, the January 6 committee, and the DOJ.  I hope they take his passport, because I do believe Jones has suddenly become a flight risk.

Today's routine

Well, here it is Wednesday, my 2nd day off, (thanks to the personal day I took yesterday) and I'm loving it.  I got so much done yesterday, including 45 minutes on the elliptical - a nice way to burn off over 500 calories.
Today is supposed to be a bit warmer and a tad more humid.  That's fine.  I have central air.  I also want to get some yard work done - there is a tone of it, from the wacking of the week to the mowing of the grass.  In less than 3 weeks my vacation drops in and I"ll be able to start scheduling vacation days off again.
I saw where Twitter kicked off scumsucker, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for one week.  This is just be beginning.  His lies and hate have been totally deleted from so many social websites.  He makes money off of his deceit so I'm all for letting him starve.  Supposedly there are crazy right wing websites clamoring for his content.  I doubt very much if they're going to be able to provide him with the same level of income he has now.  Looks like it might be beenie weenies for Alex.
And yesterday sometime, probably while I was mopping the kitchen floor, Sarah something or other, the voice of stupidity, admitted there actually might be a tape with the Idiot Jerk using the 'N-word.'  Someone needs to tell that honey the odds are heavily in favor of more than one tape in existence. 
And also, sometime yesterday, the idiot Jerk called Omarosa a dog.  Holy Shit.  Am I the only one who thinks this might a new show for the Lifetime Channel?  How about "Going to Hell in a Hand basket" for a title?  Or maybe a better one would be "Racist Republicans on Parade."  I'm sure with a little training Ivanka, Jarod, Melanoma, and Sarah, and Stevie Miller could all do some Busby Berkeley routine... with feathers!

If you stick with it, you'll even get a shot of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone ogling from back stage.
Oh, and speaking of Manafort, I saw where his defense did nothing.  No witnesses were called.  Evidently they had the courtroom sealed for 2 hours.  No one was allowed in.  When they opened the doors, Manafort's attorneys had rested their case.  Smart money is saying they didn't want anybody to watch him flip into somersault routine.  Either that, or they're expect the Idiot Jerk to swoop in wearing his red 'hammer and sickle' just in time to save the day.  That didn't happen.  Perhaps because the Idiot Jerk was too busy barking at Omarosa.