Naked!

 Thursday has arrived.  I get to work today, but for only 6 hours.  Yesterday was very showery, with rain falling on and off through most of the day.  Lots of rain.  What they call a soaker.  And, in spite of that, I got quite a lot done.  Of course, I didn't stay up late the night before binging on TV series that fill time without substance. I find that a lot of the series that air on streaming services tend to dilly dally around the plot rather than get to the point.  They present us with a host of side stories featuring peripheral characters that only vaguely touch upon the main storyline.

I took a walk through the Louvre yesterday while I was on my treadmill.  Lots of commercials.  And it was packed with people.  A word to the wise:  if you're in Paris and want to go to one of the greatest museums in the world, go early.  It opens at 0900.  Be there at 0901.  As a result, there were only 8 or 9 other people standing in front of the Mona Lisa, rather than the 200 or 300 packing the room later in the day.

And I know there are several readers who desperately wish I'd show a little skin, well, here you are, the real me in all of my naked glory reclining in the tub.  Enjoy.

Steve the scumbag Bannon, is turning himself into authorities today. It's my understanding that he's a little concerned about this indictment.  If found guilty, this one would bring him real jail time and possibly ruination.  Now, doesn't that make you feel good, the idea of Steve Bannon being ruined?  Let's be honest here, he's too old, and fat, and scabby to be very popular in prison.  Besides, I don't doubt that most inmates will see through his bullshit.

And Mitch McConnell was giving some sort of Republican presser yesterday and for the most part those journalists asking questions were playing softball, but then...  a reporter asked him about the top-secret documents Trump had a Mar a Lago.  Suddenly the presser ends, though not before Mitch informs the reporters that this investigation is all anybody has been talking about for the past month.  The words are barely out of his mouth, before he and the other Republicans make a quick exit.  Heading into the midterms, the Republicans have lost control of the conversation.  Here's a vid from Forbes.  The question is towards the end.  I found it amusing that he didn't even say 'good afternoon.'  They all just turn and high tail it out of the room.  It's almost as though a picture of Steve Bannon naked flashed in front of their eyes.

MAGA Breeders

 And the weekend has started for some of you.  Weekends are when I work.  We are approaching the slow times of the year, so by the middle of December I'll just be putting in time to get a paycheck.  My hours will go down, but that's okay.  I'm sure some of you know what I mean.

Yesterday I had my car inspected.  $158.  That's terrible for a brand new car which has no problems.  $80  of that was for the oil change.  Me thinks I'm going to need to start going to one of those places that changes your oil for $35 in order to save me some bucks.

I did chat with the NYT yesterday about cancelling my subscription.  Previous experience has taught me to always chat, never talk on the phone since you're always connected to a high powered sales shark.  As some of you might suspect, I didn't cancel, however my subscription rates have changed... dramatically.  I will pay 50 cents a week for the next 52 weeks, and then my rate will go up to $2 per week... for eternity, or as long as I decide to subscribe.  That's a big drop from $18 per week.  It's digital, believe me, they can afford it.

In my book The Body in the Tower, something happens in what I call the Greek statue garden of the Louvre.  The museum calls the space something else, however for my purposes I redubbed it the Greek Statue Garden.  Since not everyone has been to the Louvre, this is what I was talking about.  It probably doesn't look the same today, since I took this about 12 years ago.

I saw where they arrested the parents of Ethan Crumbley.  Good.  For those who haven't realized it yet, they are MAGA breeders, a none thinking couple who have never quite made it into reality.  The only thing missing from the photo of their front porch was the Trump sign.  They were not too shy about posting their opinions on social media, because of that we have a long MAGA history to look draw from.  One of my favorites was from a letter the mother sent to Trump in which she said, "I'm tired of being fucked in the ass, I would rather be grabbed by the pussy."  Because of their stupidity, their lives are now over, since, they somehow avoid being incarcerated, they will face years, and years, and years of civil lawsuits.  Sadly, we all know they will never pay enough.  

You can touch it

Well, it's Wednesday and I'm off work, so this is definitely not my Hump Day.  I'm off tomorrow as well.  Retail, you know?  Ain't no such thing as a regular work week.
I listened to an interesting podcast on Gallup about the shrinking GOP base.  The gist of it, for those who can't spare the time to listen, is that uneducated whites make up the majority of the GOP base, about 42%.  Five years ago they made up 45% of the base.  Their numbers are in the decline.  They are also becoming stridently more Republican... yep, they're getting redder even as they shrink.  Interestingly, it is the Idiot Jerk in the White House who is intensifying their... hue.  He has done this by picking targets the uneducated embrace, like immigration.  Paradoxically speaking, after Romney had his ass kicked the GOP spent lots of money to find out why, and, of course, the answer was minorities.  They just weren't reaching people of color... any color.  They decided the best way to grow their party was by converting Hispanics to Conservatism...  Their problem is no one told the Idiot Jerk in the White House, who has chosen to make the immigration of Hispanics and incendiary issue.  His uneducated, white base loves this.  Everybody else is saying... "what the fuck?"
AM had said that when she was at the Louvre there had been no glass pyramid, so I thought I'd share a picture of what you see when you take the escalator down.

And yes, if you want, you can touch it... and no, I didn't.  Back when I was in high school, there was a guy in my class who was expelled because he'd said to a girl he was sitting next to in study hall, "touch it, make it rise."  The last thing I wanted to do was rest the point of that pyramid in the palm of my hand and watch it grow....💫💫💫😃

The Good, the Bad, and the Nominations

Okay, so the Golden Globe nominations came out yesterday - they were interesting.  However, one in particular stood out.  A nominee for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical was that every popular Christian Bale.  You know who I'm talking about, he's a real cutie (with a bit of a temper).  He plays Dick Cheney in a movie called "Vice."  And it's considered a comedy...  Are you laughing yet?  What caught my attention was his picture.  He gained a couple of pounds for the film, as you can see.

If you're like me, you can smell an Oscar nomination.
So I had a conversation with Met Life yesterday about my Mom's funeral benefit.  I was told they mailed it to me on Tuesday.  I was a bit harsh - no language, I don't curse or swear at people over the phone, it does no good.  My voice usually drops an and I use phrases like 'lack of professionalism' and 'demonstrating the total inability to understand the distress,' and 'failure to show any consideration.'  The agent kept repeating 'my condolences,' and how it takes them 7 - 10 business days to process the paperwork.  Of course that's pure bullshit.  This is the age of computers.  You report a death and the agent clicks a box on his / her computer screen which sets some future date for the paperwork to be generated.  In today's high tech world the first human hands to touch that paperwork might actually be an associate as the envelope is loaded into a tray for a bulk mailing.
And now for a bit of irony.  In the project I'm working on there are 2 characters with the last name 'Blanchet' who work at the Louvre.  Gerrard is the Directer of Antiquities.  Last evening, while researching organizational positions at the Louvre, I discovered that the actual Directer of Antiquities' last name is... Blanchet.  I'm not too good at Probability, if anyone is, can they give me the odds of that actually happening.
And finally for today's funny bit.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House wants to nominate Heather Nauert for the position of Ambassador to the United Nations.

She's a spokesperson for the State Department and has been for about a year and a half.  She has no political... or policy experience.  Nikki Haley was a 2 time governor - that's experience.  So, what does Heather have going for her besides being blonde?  Well, before she became a Spokesperson, Heather was an anchor and correspondent on Fox and Friends, the Idiot Jerk's most favorite show.  Evidently that was a Home Run on her resume.

Disney's War

I saw this yesterday on the NBC news page and got a laugh.  Evidently some crazy in Texas has accused Disney of declaring war on Christianity.  Oh, and it isn't just Disney, this wacko lists a whole slew of companies because they stood up to the hate bill in Georgia.  Some crazy named Saenz, who's president of something called Texas Values.  I checked out the home page and the comments are all negative, especially in regard to what he calls "freedom."
Anyway, I got to thinking this was exactly the same thing that happened 2,000 years ago when Christianity was growing out of its underground religion status.  Back then the gods were really old, having been around for what?  About 3,000 years.  I'm sure the priests of Zeus said the very same thing, "there's a war against the gods!"  And they persecuted Christians; threw them into arenas to be slaughtered by gladiators because they represented a change to the status quo.  Society was changing.  Society is always going to change, there's no stopping it.  Religions come and go.  They stick around for as long as they are able to adapt.  If they can't evolve with every thing else, they slowly disappear.  Me?  I've always had a fondness for the gods, especially Mercury.

Dashing, isn't he?  Wouldn't you like him to chase you down the street?  I actually touched him once on one of my walks through the Louvre.  

Anyway, will groups like Texas Values, and idiots like Saenz ever understand Disney is not at war with them?  Of course not.  Their beliefs are too rigid.  Their is no room in their faith for adaptability.

Inevitably they will die off.  It's called evolution. 

The Louvre - and how to visit

I saw in the NYT this AM that the director of the Louvre is being revamped to make it more tourist friendly.  Several years ago, when I wandered through the museum, I didn't really have much of a problem.  But then I will have to admit I'm not your average tourist.  Seeing the Mona Lisa was not my soul purpose for being there.  That painting is, unfortunately, one of the main reasons attendance is so high.  Everybody wants to see the Mona Lisa.  I saw it and took a couple of pictures.  Surprisingly, there was a small crowd, but it wasn't at all bad.  Of course, as I'd said earlier, I'm not your average tourist.  I went to Paris to celebrate my birthday, which is November 8, not a peak tourist time.

Above is one of the pictures I took of the Mona Lisa... and there were not a lot of people in the room.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of people there, but there were no long lines.  I bought my ticket and walked in.  My plan was just to wander around the museum.  That's what I did.  Here are my hints for a hassle free visit to the Louvre.  Go in an off season.  Visit on a week day rather then a weekend.  Be there in the morning when it opens, the earlier the better.  Have a good map, I bought a detailed book - it was well worth the money.  And, most important, plan on spending the entire day there.  I did.  If the only reason you go is to see one painting, you're going for the wrong reason and you're most likely going to end up being disappointed.