Clown Show
16/10/22 06:57
Election deniers! Election deniers! The libs make me sick. You'd think that they never denied one or more election outcomes. They sure as hell denied that Trump won in 2016. They've been denying elections for years. But, now, when the republicans say that an election was stolen, we're roundly criticized and taken to task for denying the outcome of an election. You want to hear someone deny the outcome of an election? Wait until we take back the House and Senate in a few weeks. They'll be crying like stuck pigs. Oh, and there is no fucking way on God's green earth that Joey Bumbles Biden got 81 million votes in 2020.
I was listening to some clown on the radio yesterday lamenting the fact that republicans were pouring money hand over fist into Secretary of State races countrywide. "My God, these election deniers will be in a position to run and decide elections," he said. It's as though if you are a Secretary of State, you actually get to decide such things. Is this what the democrats have been doing all along? Is this how they've been stealing elections and guaranteeing outcomes for their political party? Does this come even close to explaining why some states have an absolute stranglehold on elections? I think that is what they are saying. Republicans winning these positions, assuming that happens, will now guarantee free and fair elections.
I caught a few minutes of this democrat stooge running for governor in Arizona yesterday, one Katie Hobbs, and I swear to God that she was about as empty a suit as I've ever seen run for office like forever. Calling her a moonbat doesn't even come close to describing what I was watching on the telly. I wouldn't hire her to be my damn babysitter, much less turn over the keys of the state to her. She was everything that everyone despises when they think of what the democrat party has become: Vacuous, woke, evasive, radical, simple-minded, power-hungry, ideology-driven, and racist to the bone. Everything is about equity, diversity, and inclusion. It's in-your-face insane and over-the-top nonsense. These people have no business in positions of power. I was thinking to myself, who in their right mind would vote for this claptrap of a candidate?
The missus spent the better part of the day yesterday in the kitchen making a nice corn chowder. It was labor intensive, and I think she dirtied every last pot and pan we own in the process. She made it from scratch, as they say. She bought the ears of corn, steamed the ears of corn, stripped the corn kernels from the cob, and boiled the corn cobs for a good hour which gave her a nice stock. She had a bag of small potatoes which she then peeled, which I've told her a thousand times don't need to be peeled, and added a few other ingredients to the broth before finishing up. We debated as to what milk we would add to the pot, and we settled on a 2% variety. I prefer a creamy consistency, but that is not what we ended up with when all was said and done.
It ended up a little on the watery side, and I mentioned to the missus that adding a little cornstarch might have given it a bit more body. I think she took my comments as constructive criticism, but one can never tell about these sorts of things. I was also a little surprised that the flavor was a little bit flat, considering all the ingredients that went into the chowder. I secretly added a little all-spice to my portion when she wasn't looking, and it livened it up a little. The actual corn that went into the chowder was, of course, delicious. It came right off the cob, so why wouldn't it be? Right? And, there is something warm and comforting about the combination of potatoes and corn on a cool Fall day, so there's that. With most of the stock consumed, I suggested to the missus that we buy a bag of frozen corn and that we buy a nice piece of fish to add to the leftover broth, and we'll be ready to party hearty once again. Nice.
I'm waking up this morning to all kinds of tweets about the Ruskies and their all-out assault on Ukraine. There was something about missiles flying over Moldovia or some such backwater country. I don't think Moldovia is a member of NATO, so maybe it doesn't matter one way or another. Might it drag Moldovia into the conflict? Would it matter? Then there was something about one of the Russian missiles striking the German embassy in Kyiv. I thought that all of these embassies were evacuated when the war started in earnest. Oh, right. The Ukrainians were wanting to invite them all back so they could say that they were holding up just fine in the face of the aggression being waged by the Ruskies. What Zelensky was really doing was bringing everyone back to the embassies so that, God forbid, the Ruskies would bomb the embassies, and then he'd have all of NATO getting in on the action. He's a sly mother fucker, he is.
I suppose it's time to start thinking about squaring away our back deck and putting things away for the winter. I should do this stuff while it's still warm outside. It will just be more painful if I wait to do it until the really cold weather comes. We're a few weeks away from that eventuality, so I might just wait now for a spell of warmer weather when I can take care of everything in one fell swoop. I have storm doors to put on, air conditioners to take down, air conditioners to cover, gutters to clean, leaves to rake, deck furniture to put away, and maybe a few other things that I'm not thinking of at the moment. The leaves from our red maples are dropping more and more by the day, and I'm wondering if mowing them instead of raking them might work better this year. Mulching is good for the lawn. Right? It will make for fewer leaves to rake and drag across the street in weeks to come. We'll have to see how that works out.
I'm still kicking myself for not buying a cord of wood for the wood stove. Temperatures are easily into the thirties here and there during the early morning hours, and, although it's not as cold indoors, it's still chilly enough that we're tempted to turn on the heat just to take the chill off. I talked to the missus about buying some kind of space heater which she can use without having to turn the heat on in the entire house just so she can stay warm while sitting at the computer. You read all these stories about homes burning to the ground because of poorly grounded or misused space heaters, and it's enough to give you pause. I still think it's not a bad idea, so we'll see if the idea gets some traction as we get a bit deeper into Fall here in the Northeast. Oh, and I'll need to get out the snow blowers to make sure that they are in good working order for the first snowfall whenever that comes along.
I mentioned something to my neighbor a few months ago about helping her out with snow removal this coming winter since she was in the planning stages of getting a knee replacement. The knee replacement has come and gone, and I see her getting along seemingly well and maybe even better than expected. That is to say, she's up and walking her dog these days without the use of a cane or whatever. It leaves me wondering what help she might still need this winter with snow removal, my offer aside, and she's not mentioned anything, so am I still on the hook or what? I've always done her driveway since that is a one-and-done, and then I'm back home in maybe twenty minutes from beginning to end. The extra work I offered to do involved clearing a path out to her composter and maybe a bit of a path on her property so she can walk her dog without having to take him out on the heavily sanded or salted road in front of our homes.
She hired a local lad to do her lawn over the course of the summer. I'm sure she was more than happy to pay him a few sheckles so she could spare the wear and tear on her bad knee prior to it being replaced. I'm just thinking out loud here, but what if, what if, she paid that very same lad a few sheckles to come and clear the paths that I offered to do for free? I wonder what, if anything, she still thinks of the offer that I made. I don't charge her for my services, so it might behoove her not to take advantage of my better nature and maybe walk back any expectations she might have of me doing more than I usually do. She's said nothing, so I'm thinking that she still expects me to follow through on the offer I tendered. I worry a little bit that the extra work might be too much for me, and then what? Is this a concern that I should share with her? It won't do either of us any good if I collapse on her front lawn in the middle of a Nor'easter in the middle of January.
Do you think we'll see an October surprise this year? I'm referring to what we've come to expect just ahead of a major election that may or may not change the trajectory of certain races. Some October surprises are manufactured, and, as such, we might learn something new about a candidate that we didn't otherwise know. These so-called revelations are not typically something that favors said candidate. Remember that tape and video about Trump a week or two from the 2016 presidential election where he said something about "grabbing them by the "pussy"? Someone had that tape all along and only released it when they thought it might have the most impact. That's a good example of an October surprise. Not all October surprises are manufactured, and maybe it's something as simple as an offhanded comment that derails a candidate. There's a lot at stake in these upcoming midterms, so I'm expecting the unexpected. I'm guessing it will be of the "manufactured" variety.
I've always liked Tulsi Gabbard. She's the congressman from Hawaii whose term ended in 2021. She's easy on the eyes, so let's just get that out there upfront. The missus reminded me that she ran for president on the democrat ticket back in 2019. Once I saw the clips, I recalled quite clearly a few of her more impactful comments when she was on the stage debating her Democratic opponents. She's good on her feet and smart as a whip. Her party embraced her early on, but that all changed when she took positions that were not in line with those of her party. Fast forward to yesterday when she announced that she was leaving the Democrat party. It made perfect sense to me, and the only question I had was why she didn't leave her party sooner. She's a maverick in every sense of the word, so it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. She said nothing about her future plans, but I wouldn't mind, and this is just me, seeing her run as Trump's VP in 2024. Women like Tulsi Gabbard don't just go away.
I saw some footage of a John Fetterman interview with someone from MSNBC yesterday, and it struck me as odd. Why would a left-wing outlet like MSNBC, who just incidentally would love to see someone like Fetterman win the Pennsylvania Senate seat up for grabs in November, not only talk disparagingly about Fetterman's shortcomings in the wake of his recent stroke but also have him on camera reading the questions on a computer screen that had been posed to him by the interviewer? His cognitive impairment is such that he can't process verbal communications and, as such, requires that they be converted to text so he can more fully understand the questions being posed to him before formulating his responses. It was all so contrived. Too contrived, if you ask me. This is all about lowering expectations for the debate he has planned with OZ later this month. It's a godamn scam, and MSNBC ought to be ashamed of itself for its complicity in the scam. These are the kinds of political hijinks that voters find so reprehensible, and I hope he's held to account by the voters.
It's now come out that the Pfizer MRNA vaccine was never intended to stop transmission of the Covid virus. They have an executive from Pfizer on the record saying as much. Where was this person three or more years ago when everybody on the fucking planet was being forced to take the vaccine to protect grandma and grandpa from contracting the virus? People were losing their jobs and their livelihoods because they refused to take the jab. It never had anything to do with preventing transmission, and this asshole from Pfizer knew it and said nothing. How much do you want to bet that Fauci knew it and said nothing? We shut down the fucking country, and still, crickets from Pfizer on the transmissibility issue. There was simply too much money on the table, and we had too many politicians willing to take that money. If this so-called vaccine doesn't stop people from transmitting or contracting the virus, what the hell are we talking about here? It's all coming out. It makes me sick.
I was telling the missus last night that we need to start thinking differently about our choices for the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections. She thinks Dr. Oz is a nut job so let's use him as an example. It isn't about Dr. Oz and how the missus or others might feel about his being a loon. I disagree with her assessment, by the way, but that's neither here nor there. The point is that we republicans don't take back the Senate unless we hold our collective noses and vote for these candidates, come hell or high water. The same can be said for Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race. You may disagree with his stance on abortion, and you may even disagree with how he handled the abortion issue within his own family, but voting for his opponent or not voting at all could mean the difference between taking back the Senate and not taking the Senate back. The good news is that, should we take the Senate back, we'll have enough MAGA senators in the well of the Senate to oust McConnell as Majority Leader. I think the missus agrees with me. It's hard to tell sometimes.
I'm a little worried about the Ev man. He doesn't seem quite like himself lately. That's my spidey sense talking, but it's pretty reliable, so I think I may be on to something. I'll give him a call today and see if I can't lend him a helping hand one way or another just to get him over the hump. Maybe that means helping him tidy up his place. If I'm right about what I'm seeing, he could probably use a hand with the dishes or whatever. He's probably let things go maybe a little too far. If it's catching up on things, I can help with that. More often than not, he's receptive to offers that he knows will help when not accepting the offer means going further and further down the proverbial rabbit hole. He knows and maybe appreciates the fact that I'm all business and totally non-judgemental when I do show up on his doorstep. I do what I can. Sometimes it's enough, and sometimes it's not. Just file this under, "every little bit helps."
I'm going to have something of an abbreviated session this morning because I need to work with the missus to get a friend of hers reconnected to the internet. This friend of hers lives about an hour south of here, so we'll be doing this over the phone. It seems like an equipment failure since both he and his wife have no internet access. He is on a PC with Windows 2007, and she has a Macbook of some kind. They have Xfinity as their internet carrier, and Xfinity has a few online tools that we can use to troubleshoot this issue. If I'm not mistaken, this friend of hers has a dual-use Modem/router. If I can reboot it remotely, we might be able to narrow down the issues. If it's an equipment issue, then Xfinity will have to pay them a visit and replace said device or devices. This is going to take some time, but her friend has a couple of appointments, so I'm not sure how much we'll get done in the time that we do have. Is it possible that someone inadvertently unplugged something with their feet beneath the desk? Indeed.
The CPI data is coming out at 8:30 am, so we'll see how that plays out in the financial markets. We could see major moves either up or down depending on the numbers, but that will probably have little to no impact on the planned interest rate hikes ostensibly already scheduled by the Fed. The markets have been on a decidedly downward trajectory in the past few months, so getting more of the same if we get a "bad" CPI number shouldn't surprise anyone. A rip higher is possible if we get a good number, but this is not how bear markets end, so people should keep that in mind. In other words, don't throw all of your sheckles into the market, thinking that the bulls have returned. It's never that simple. Will the CPI numbers be fudged because of the upcoming mid-term elections? I'd like to think not, but politics being the bloodsport that it is, it wouldn't be the first time someone put their fingers on the scale at the last minute to help someone out. And, more than likely, it won't be the last.
The missus and I went to Whole Foods in Portsmouth yesterday. We weren't looking for anything in particular, but we hadn't been there in a while, so thought it might be nice to stop in. The first thing I noticed when we arrived was that their parking lot was half empty. That's never a good sign when we're talking about a high-end food store like Whole Foods. It's good for shoppers who don't like crowds when they shop, but it's not so good for people who are concerned about the financial well-being of their favorite food store. Maybe it's just a sign of the times. You know, people living from paycheck to paycheck and all the rest. Their deli section was completely shut down, which seemed to me to be yet another indication that business was slow and getting slower. They also have a hot table section of sorts where you can buy things like mac and cheese by the pound. It was oddly in need of replenishing, but it looked like they were disinclined to do so. There were just two of eight registers open.
I don't know why I'm so attuned to things that are so-called economically sensitive. I'm the guy who sees heavy traffic on a day when the stock market is rallying, and I'm thinking that the traffic has something to do with the fact that people are out and about because of the wealth effect that people feel when stocks are going up. The converse is true as well. When the stock market is declining, as it has been this year, people are less likely to be out and about, so I would expect to see fewer and fewer people going to places like restaurants, etc. People, and let's just call them consumers, are not out doing what consumers are supposed to do: Spend money. So, I was not surprised to see that downtown Portsmouth was quiet and maybe quieter than one might otherwise expect in the middle of October. Gas prices are also inching up again, so that's not helping. If there's a case to be made for turning this ship of ours around, I'm all ears.
It's now come out that Joey Bumbles Biden asked that the Saudis delay their cuts in oil production for six weeks in order to keep gas prices low here in the states, or at least until the mid-term elections have gone by the boards here in the United States. What? Tell me that that isn't exactly what they impeached Trump for when Trump told the Ukrainians that he'd approve certain military hardware if they could see their way to providing Trump with information on the Biden Crime Family. We're talking quid pro quo here, folks. Forget the stupid fist bump and all the nonsense that the Biden-friendly media is feeding you. That fucking stooge of a president was asking a foreign government to collaborate in a scheme to sway an election in our country. Is that not the very definition of treason? This is what the democrats accuse the Ruskies of every four years when it looks like the Republicans are on track to win. Well, you are going to get your comeuppance, Bumbles. The Republicans are going to impeach your sorry ass, and it can't happen soon enough for my tastes.
One of these days, I'm going to upgrade our television. We have an old Sony that we bought, I don't know how long ago, for maybe two thousand bucks. It was the bee's knees back then. It wasn't a Plasma television, but maybe it was the next best thing. Since then, we've seen generational changes in television technology, such as 4k, 8k, and all the rest. The prices have come down, and the quality has gone up. It's a buyer's market. The China's, the South Korea's, and the Japan's can't turn them out fast enough. But our television works just fine, so there's not much of a need to go out and buy a new one. Truth be told, I'm not sure that I can tell the difference between a 4k and an 8k or whatever. I have a discriminating eye, but when it comes to parsing pixels, I'm an average Joe at best. I'll get around to upgrading one of these days, and I'll convince myself that my new television is better than my old television, but the truth will likely lie somewhere in between the two. Maybe there's something to be said for upgrading just for the sake of upgrading. Stay tuned.
Speaking of giving two shits, I could give two shits about the January 6th Committee. I thought they would just have their last meeting, and that would be the end of it. I was wrong. They had their last meeting, but they couldn't help but want to make an even further spectacle of themselves by subpoenaing President Trump. Is it their hope that they can convince just enough of their rabid leftist followers to get out to vote, so the democrats don't lose the House majority on November 8th? Are they thinking that this wet dream of theirs of getting Trump to testify under oath on national television will help them turn out just enough of their rabid fans to keep Pelosi in power as Speaker of the House? It smacks of desperation, but then again, they are a desperate group. Trump shouldn't agree to any of this, and when the republicans take back the House in January 2023, the January 6th Committee will be no longer.
Oh, right. About that CPI data. It came in hotter than expected. Futures were down like crazy in the hour before the financial markets opened here in the US. That is what you would expect to see when bad news crosses the wire. Not sure why, but the markets rallied throughout the day and ended up in the up 2-3% range in all indices by the end of the day. It was a total contrarian view. The market, or at least the Dow, had been down some 5k points in the last thirteen days or so maybe things were just oversold. It's that reversion to the mean thing again. If you were a trader, you had to be pulling your hair out. I mean, who even knows where to begin trading these wacky markets? Was this the bottom that everyone has been looking for? Was it time to push all of your chips into the middle of the table and hope for the best? The very next day, all indices gave back their gains from the previous day. On the week, the NASDAQ was down some 3%. Pissah.
More locally, I'm a big fan of Karoline Leavitt, who is running against that pansy, Chris Pappas, for the congressional seat here in District one in New Hampshire. She was Tucker (FOX) last night talking about parents' rights and the fact that some local school systems here in New Hampshire are not informing parents when their school-age children are raising issues related to gender, sexuality, and some such. The problem is, some judges are supporting the school systems over the parents. Are parents' right's not paramount when it comes to these types of issues? Of course, they are, and any judges and school officials who believe differently ought to be frog-marched out of their respective classrooms and courtrooms. Glen Youngkin won the governorship of Virginia on these very same issues, and Ms. Leavitt can do the same here in New Hampshire when it comes to turning over the congressional seat. God willing, of course.
Wherever I look on social media these days, I'm seeing Ms. Leavitt at this or that forum talking about the issues of the day, and this is what it takes if you want to go to Washington to represent your constituents. Getting national exposure by going on shows like Tucker (FOX) can't hurt, and I appreciate Tucker giving Ms. Leavitt the bandwidth to do her thing. She'd be one of some 500 congressmen, but we republicans need to take every last fucking seat available if we're to take back the House in November. We can't take any seats for granted, and that's why it's so important to get on shows like Tucker in addition to crisscrossing the district day in and day out, stumping for votes. We can pray for a red wave, or better yet a tsunami, on Election day, but it's important to dot all of our I's and cross all of our T's in the meantime just in case we end up with a garden variety turnout. Is that even possible in this day and age with Bumbles sitting in the Oval Office? As for General Bolduc, copy and paste.
I'm hearing good things about Hershel Walker's Senatorial debate last night with that leftist, Reverend Warnock. I don't know Warnock from the man in the moon, but I figured that if he's been delivering sermons for the better part of his life before winning the Georgia senate seat, he was probably pretty good on his feet. I certainly didn't want to see him slicing and dicing my man, Herschel, and, from what I'm hearing and seeing in the wake of the debate, that did not happen. I think Herschel held his own, and that's great. Maybe expectations were so low that all he had to do was show up, and he'd have the proverbial participation trophy at the end of the night. We'll see what, if anything, this does to boost his favorability/unfavorability ratings. That could take a few days to shake out, so be patient. The more I think about it, Herschel could end up being the dark horse candidate of the 2022 midterms. Wouldn't that be something?
What is this I'm hearing about Elon Musk and the Starlink terminals? I think that's what they call them. Apparently, he's been footing the bill all along for putting these so-called satellites in orbit that give the Ukrainians internet access across the fruited plains in Ukraine. It's allowed the Ukrainians to wage a more effective and deadly war against the Ruskies, so that's a good thing. Now, Elon is requesting that the Pentagon foot the bill for providing ongoing satellite service. He's not looking for reimbursement of monies already spent, so that seems reasonable. Why would the Pentagon even have to think twice about this request from Elon? The fools in Washington have given Ukraine north of $75 billion of our tax dollars to date, but that's an issue for another day. Do not get me going. And, the Justice Department just announced that they are investigating Elon having something to do with his purchase of Twitter. Let me guess. They will promise not to prosecute Elon if he continues to self-fund the Starlink program. I hope he tells them to go fuck themselves. Oh, and unless someone ponies up some cold hard cash for the satellites, I'm outta here. Good stuff.
Is there any significance to Xi being elected to another term as President of China? That happened today so I guess we'll see what it all means. Reports have it that he said something to the effect that China will not hesitate to use force to accomplish their objectives. I'm paraphrasing, of course. It sounds like China is delighted with the result of their takeover of Hong Kong as well and, if I'm not mistaken, Xi said something about unifying Taiwan with mainland China. While his remarks about Taiwan were not unexpected, the good people of Tawian can't be happy about what this may mean for their tiny island short term. Loosely translated, I think Xi's comments could be interpreted as follows: "Game on", as it relates to Taiwan. Meanwhile, Bumbles Biden is off on one of his daily jaunts where he plans to pick up an ice cream cone. I'll have two scoops, dearie. His sycophantic followers follow him around while screaming from the sidelines, "What's your favorite flavor ice cream," Mr President? "What's your favorite flavor?"
Maybe he was in the ice cream shop and maybe he wasn't when he leaned into the ear of a prepubescent girl the other day while putting his hand on her shoulder and muttering for all the world to hear something about her not dating until she was thirty-years old. When is this going to stop? Why can't this old fool keep his hands off young girls? One tweet I read on Twitter suggested that at 18 seconds into the creature feature, and yes, that is what we all saw, you could actually see him sniffing the young child's hair. It gives credence to every other story and picture we've seen over the years about this creep's perverted predilictions when it comes to children. And yes, you can include the story from his daughter's diary about "taking showers with dad." Yet, 80 million people voted to install him as president of our great country. Or, did they?
I was listening to some clown on the radio yesterday lamenting the fact that republicans were pouring money hand over fist into Secretary of State races countrywide. "My God, these election deniers will be in a position to run and decide elections," he said. It's as though if you are a Secretary of State, you actually get to decide such things. Is this what the democrats have been doing all along? Is this how they've been stealing elections and guaranteeing outcomes for their political party? Does this come even close to explaining why some states have an absolute stranglehold on elections? I think that is what they are saying. Republicans winning these positions, assuming that happens, will now guarantee free and fair elections.
I caught a few minutes of this democrat stooge running for governor in Arizona yesterday, one Katie Hobbs, and I swear to God that she was about as empty a suit as I've ever seen run for office like forever. Calling her a moonbat doesn't even come close to describing what I was watching on the telly. I wouldn't hire her to be my damn babysitter, much less turn over the keys of the state to her. She was everything that everyone despises when they think of what the democrat party has become: Vacuous, woke, evasive, radical, simple-minded, power-hungry, ideology-driven, and racist to the bone. Everything is about equity, diversity, and inclusion. It's in-your-face insane and over-the-top nonsense. These people have no business in positions of power. I was thinking to myself, who in their right mind would vote for this claptrap of a candidate?
The missus spent the better part of the day yesterday in the kitchen making a nice corn chowder. It was labor intensive, and I think she dirtied every last pot and pan we own in the process. She made it from scratch, as they say. She bought the ears of corn, steamed the ears of corn, stripped the corn kernels from the cob, and boiled the corn cobs for a good hour which gave her a nice stock. She had a bag of small potatoes which she then peeled, which I've told her a thousand times don't need to be peeled, and added a few other ingredients to the broth before finishing up. We debated as to what milk we would add to the pot, and we settled on a 2% variety. I prefer a creamy consistency, but that is not what we ended up with when all was said and done.
It ended up a little on the watery side, and I mentioned to the missus that adding a little cornstarch might have given it a bit more body. I think she took my comments as constructive criticism, but one can never tell about these sorts of things. I was also a little surprised that the flavor was a little bit flat, considering all the ingredients that went into the chowder. I secretly added a little all-spice to my portion when she wasn't looking, and it livened it up a little. The actual corn that went into the chowder was, of course, delicious. It came right off the cob, so why wouldn't it be? Right? And, there is something warm and comforting about the combination of potatoes and corn on a cool Fall day, so there's that. With most of the stock consumed, I suggested to the missus that we buy a bag of frozen corn and that we buy a nice piece of fish to add to the leftover broth, and we'll be ready to party hearty once again. Nice.
I'm waking up this morning to all kinds of tweets about the Ruskies and their all-out assault on Ukraine. There was something about missiles flying over Moldovia or some such backwater country. I don't think Moldovia is a member of NATO, so maybe it doesn't matter one way or another. Might it drag Moldovia into the conflict? Would it matter? Then there was something about one of the Russian missiles striking the German embassy in Kyiv. I thought that all of these embassies were evacuated when the war started in earnest. Oh, right. The Ukrainians were wanting to invite them all back so they could say that they were holding up just fine in the face of the aggression being waged by the Ruskies. What Zelensky was really doing was bringing everyone back to the embassies so that, God forbid, the Ruskies would bomb the embassies, and then he'd have all of NATO getting in on the action. He's a sly mother fucker, he is.
I suppose it's time to start thinking about squaring away our back deck and putting things away for the winter. I should do this stuff while it's still warm outside. It will just be more painful if I wait to do it until the really cold weather comes. We're a few weeks away from that eventuality, so I might just wait now for a spell of warmer weather when I can take care of everything in one fell swoop. I have storm doors to put on, air conditioners to take down, air conditioners to cover, gutters to clean, leaves to rake, deck furniture to put away, and maybe a few other things that I'm not thinking of at the moment. The leaves from our red maples are dropping more and more by the day, and I'm wondering if mowing them instead of raking them might work better this year. Mulching is good for the lawn. Right? It will make for fewer leaves to rake and drag across the street in weeks to come. We'll have to see how that works out.
I'm still kicking myself for not buying a cord of wood for the wood stove. Temperatures are easily into the thirties here and there during the early morning hours, and, although it's not as cold indoors, it's still chilly enough that we're tempted to turn on the heat just to take the chill off. I talked to the missus about buying some kind of space heater which she can use without having to turn the heat on in the entire house just so she can stay warm while sitting at the computer. You read all these stories about homes burning to the ground because of poorly grounded or misused space heaters, and it's enough to give you pause. I still think it's not a bad idea, so we'll see if the idea gets some traction as we get a bit deeper into Fall here in the Northeast. Oh, and I'll need to get out the snow blowers to make sure that they are in good working order for the first snowfall whenever that comes along.
I mentioned something to my neighbor a few months ago about helping her out with snow removal this coming winter since she was in the planning stages of getting a knee replacement. The knee replacement has come and gone, and I see her getting along seemingly well and maybe even better than expected. That is to say, she's up and walking her dog these days without the use of a cane or whatever. It leaves me wondering what help she might still need this winter with snow removal, my offer aside, and she's not mentioned anything, so am I still on the hook or what? I've always done her driveway since that is a one-and-done, and then I'm back home in maybe twenty minutes from beginning to end. The extra work I offered to do involved clearing a path out to her composter and maybe a bit of a path on her property so she can walk her dog without having to take him out on the heavily sanded or salted road in front of our homes.
She hired a local lad to do her lawn over the course of the summer. I'm sure she was more than happy to pay him a few sheckles so she could spare the wear and tear on her bad knee prior to it being replaced. I'm just thinking out loud here, but what if, what if, she paid that very same lad a few sheckles to come and clear the paths that I offered to do for free? I wonder what, if anything, she still thinks of the offer that I made. I don't charge her for my services, so it might behoove her not to take advantage of my better nature and maybe walk back any expectations she might have of me doing more than I usually do. She's said nothing, so I'm thinking that she still expects me to follow through on the offer I tendered. I worry a little bit that the extra work might be too much for me, and then what? Is this a concern that I should share with her? It won't do either of us any good if I collapse on her front lawn in the middle of a Nor'easter in the middle of January.
Do you think we'll see an October surprise this year? I'm referring to what we've come to expect just ahead of a major election that may or may not change the trajectory of certain races. Some October surprises are manufactured, and, as such, we might learn something new about a candidate that we didn't otherwise know. These so-called revelations are not typically something that favors said candidate. Remember that tape and video about Trump a week or two from the 2016 presidential election where he said something about "grabbing them by the "pussy"? Someone had that tape all along and only released it when they thought it might have the most impact. That's a good example of an October surprise. Not all October surprises are manufactured, and maybe it's something as simple as an offhanded comment that derails a candidate. There's a lot at stake in these upcoming midterms, so I'm expecting the unexpected. I'm guessing it will be of the "manufactured" variety.
I've always liked Tulsi Gabbard. She's the congressman from Hawaii whose term ended in 2021. She's easy on the eyes, so let's just get that out there upfront. The missus reminded me that she ran for president on the democrat ticket back in 2019. Once I saw the clips, I recalled quite clearly a few of her more impactful comments when she was on the stage debating her Democratic opponents. She's good on her feet and smart as a whip. Her party embraced her early on, but that all changed when she took positions that were not in line with those of her party. Fast forward to yesterday when she announced that she was leaving the Democrat party. It made perfect sense to me, and the only question I had was why she didn't leave her party sooner. She's a maverick in every sense of the word, so it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. She said nothing about her future plans, but I wouldn't mind, and this is just me, seeing her run as Trump's VP in 2024. Women like Tulsi Gabbard don't just go away.
I saw some footage of a John Fetterman interview with someone from MSNBC yesterday, and it struck me as odd. Why would a left-wing outlet like MSNBC, who just incidentally would love to see someone like Fetterman win the Pennsylvania Senate seat up for grabs in November, not only talk disparagingly about Fetterman's shortcomings in the wake of his recent stroke but also have him on camera reading the questions on a computer screen that had been posed to him by the interviewer? His cognitive impairment is such that he can't process verbal communications and, as such, requires that they be converted to text so he can more fully understand the questions being posed to him before formulating his responses. It was all so contrived. Too contrived, if you ask me. This is all about lowering expectations for the debate he has planned with OZ later this month. It's a godamn scam, and MSNBC ought to be ashamed of itself for its complicity in the scam. These are the kinds of political hijinks that voters find so reprehensible, and I hope he's held to account by the voters.
It's now come out that the Pfizer MRNA vaccine was never intended to stop transmission of the Covid virus. They have an executive from Pfizer on the record saying as much. Where was this person three or more years ago when everybody on the fucking planet was being forced to take the vaccine to protect grandma and grandpa from contracting the virus? People were losing their jobs and their livelihoods because they refused to take the jab. It never had anything to do with preventing transmission, and this asshole from Pfizer knew it and said nothing. How much do you want to bet that Fauci knew it and said nothing? We shut down the fucking country, and still, crickets from Pfizer on the transmissibility issue. There was simply too much money on the table, and we had too many politicians willing to take that money. If this so-called vaccine doesn't stop people from transmitting or contracting the virus, what the hell are we talking about here? It's all coming out. It makes me sick.
I was telling the missus last night that we need to start thinking differently about our choices for the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections. She thinks Dr. Oz is a nut job so let's use him as an example. It isn't about Dr. Oz and how the missus or others might feel about his being a loon. I disagree with her assessment, by the way, but that's neither here nor there. The point is that we republicans don't take back the Senate unless we hold our collective noses and vote for these candidates, come hell or high water. The same can be said for Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race. You may disagree with his stance on abortion, and you may even disagree with how he handled the abortion issue within his own family, but voting for his opponent or not voting at all could mean the difference between taking back the Senate and not taking the Senate back. The good news is that, should we take the Senate back, we'll have enough MAGA senators in the well of the Senate to oust McConnell as Majority Leader. I think the missus agrees with me. It's hard to tell sometimes.
I'm a little worried about the Ev man. He doesn't seem quite like himself lately. That's my spidey sense talking, but it's pretty reliable, so I think I may be on to something. I'll give him a call today and see if I can't lend him a helping hand one way or another just to get him over the hump. Maybe that means helping him tidy up his place. If I'm right about what I'm seeing, he could probably use a hand with the dishes or whatever. He's probably let things go maybe a little too far. If it's catching up on things, I can help with that. More often than not, he's receptive to offers that he knows will help when not accepting the offer means going further and further down the proverbial rabbit hole. He knows and maybe appreciates the fact that I'm all business and totally non-judgemental when I do show up on his doorstep. I do what I can. Sometimes it's enough, and sometimes it's not. Just file this under, "every little bit helps."
I'm going to have something of an abbreviated session this morning because I need to work with the missus to get a friend of hers reconnected to the internet. This friend of hers lives about an hour south of here, so we'll be doing this over the phone. It seems like an equipment failure since both he and his wife have no internet access. He is on a PC with Windows 2007, and she has a Macbook of some kind. They have Xfinity as their internet carrier, and Xfinity has a few online tools that we can use to troubleshoot this issue. If I'm not mistaken, this friend of hers has a dual-use Modem/router. If I can reboot it remotely, we might be able to narrow down the issues. If it's an equipment issue, then Xfinity will have to pay them a visit and replace said device or devices. This is going to take some time, but her friend has a couple of appointments, so I'm not sure how much we'll get done in the time that we do have. Is it possible that someone inadvertently unplugged something with their feet beneath the desk? Indeed.
The CPI data is coming out at 8:30 am, so we'll see how that plays out in the financial markets. We could see major moves either up or down depending on the numbers, but that will probably have little to no impact on the planned interest rate hikes ostensibly already scheduled by the Fed. The markets have been on a decidedly downward trajectory in the past few months, so getting more of the same if we get a "bad" CPI number shouldn't surprise anyone. A rip higher is possible if we get a good number, but this is not how bear markets end, so people should keep that in mind. In other words, don't throw all of your sheckles into the market, thinking that the bulls have returned. It's never that simple. Will the CPI numbers be fudged because of the upcoming mid-term elections? I'd like to think not, but politics being the bloodsport that it is, it wouldn't be the first time someone put their fingers on the scale at the last minute to help someone out. And, more than likely, it won't be the last.
The missus and I went to Whole Foods in Portsmouth yesterday. We weren't looking for anything in particular, but we hadn't been there in a while, so thought it might be nice to stop in. The first thing I noticed when we arrived was that their parking lot was half empty. That's never a good sign when we're talking about a high-end food store like Whole Foods. It's good for shoppers who don't like crowds when they shop, but it's not so good for people who are concerned about the financial well-being of their favorite food store. Maybe it's just a sign of the times. You know, people living from paycheck to paycheck and all the rest. Their deli section was completely shut down, which seemed to me to be yet another indication that business was slow and getting slower. They also have a hot table section of sorts where you can buy things like mac and cheese by the pound. It was oddly in need of replenishing, but it looked like they were disinclined to do so. There were just two of eight registers open.
I don't know why I'm so attuned to things that are so-called economically sensitive. I'm the guy who sees heavy traffic on a day when the stock market is rallying, and I'm thinking that the traffic has something to do with the fact that people are out and about because of the wealth effect that people feel when stocks are going up. The converse is true as well. When the stock market is declining, as it has been this year, people are less likely to be out and about, so I would expect to see fewer and fewer people going to places like restaurants, etc. People, and let's just call them consumers, are not out doing what consumers are supposed to do: Spend money. So, I was not surprised to see that downtown Portsmouth was quiet and maybe quieter than one might otherwise expect in the middle of October. Gas prices are also inching up again, so that's not helping. If there's a case to be made for turning this ship of ours around, I'm all ears.
It's now come out that Joey Bumbles Biden asked that the Saudis delay their cuts in oil production for six weeks in order to keep gas prices low here in the states, or at least until the mid-term elections have gone by the boards here in the United States. What? Tell me that that isn't exactly what they impeached Trump for when Trump told the Ukrainians that he'd approve certain military hardware if they could see their way to providing Trump with information on the Biden Crime Family. We're talking quid pro quo here, folks. Forget the stupid fist bump and all the nonsense that the Biden-friendly media is feeding you. That fucking stooge of a president was asking a foreign government to collaborate in a scheme to sway an election in our country. Is that not the very definition of treason? This is what the democrats accuse the Ruskies of every four years when it looks like the Republicans are on track to win. Well, you are going to get your comeuppance, Bumbles. The Republicans are going to impeach your sorry ass, and it can't happen soon enough for my tastes.
One of these days, I'm going to upgrade our television. We have an old Sony that we bought, I don't know how long ago, for maybe two thousand bucks. It was the bee's knees back then. It wasn't a Plasma television, but maybe it was the next best thing. Since then, we've seen generational changes in television technology, such as 4k, 8k, and all the rest. The prices have come down, and the quality has gone up. It's a buyer's market. The China's, the South Korea's, and the Japan's can't turn them out fast enough. But our television works just fine, so there's not much of a need to go out and buy a new one. Truth be told, I'm not sure that I can tell the difference between a 4k and an 8k or whatever. I have a discriminating eye, but when it comes to parsing pixels, I'm an average Joe at best. I'll get around to upgrading one of these days, and I'll convince myself that my new television is better than my old television, but the truth will likely lie somewhere in between the two. Maybe there's something to be said for upgrading just for the sake of upgrading. Stay tuned.
Speaking of giving two shits, I could give two shits about the January 6th Committee. I thought they would just have their last meeting, and that would be the end of it. I was wrong. They had their last meeting, but they couldn't help but want to make an even further spectacle of themselves by subpoenaing President Trump. Is it their hope that they can convince just enough of their rabid leftist followers to get out to vote, so the democrats don't lose the House majority on November 8th? Are they thinking that this wet dream of theirs of getting Trump to testify under oath on national television will help them turn out just enough of their rabid fans to keep Pelosi in power as Speaker of the House? It smacks of desperation, but then again, they are a desperate group. Trump shouldn't agree to any of this, and when the republicans take back the House in January 2023, the January 6th Committee will be no longer.
Oh, right. About that CPI data. It came in hotter than expected. Futures were down like crazy in the hour before the financial markets opened here in the US. That is what you would expect to see when bad news crosses the wire. Not sure why, but the markets rallied throughout the day and ended up in the up 2-3% range in all indices by the end of the day. It was a total contrarian view. The market, or at least the Dow, had been down some 5k points in the last thirteen days or so maybe things were just oversold. It's that reversion to the mean thing again. If you were a trader, you had to be pulling your hair out. I mean, who even knows where to begin trading these wacky markets? Was this the bottom that everyone has been looking for? Was it time to push all of your chips into the middle of the table and hope for the best? The very next day, all indices gave back their gains from the previous day. On the week, the NASDAQ was down some 3%. Pissah.
More locally, I'm a big fan of Karoline Leavitt, who is running against that pansy, Chris Pappas, for the congressional seat here in District one in New Hampshire. She was Tucker (FOX) last night talking about parents' rights and the fact that some local school systems here in New Hampshire are not informing parents when their school-age children are raising issues related to gender, sexuality, and some such. The problem is, some judges are supporting the school systems over the parents. Are parents' right's not paramount when it comes to these types of issues? Of course, they are, and any judges and school officials who believe differently ought to be frog-marched out of their respective classrooms and courtrooms. Glen Youngkin won the governorship of Virginia on these very same issues, and Ms. Leavitt can do the same here in New Hampshire when it comes to turning over the congressional seat. God willing, of course.
Wherever I look on social media these days, I'm seeing Ms. Leavitt at this or that forum talking about the issues of the day, and this is what it takes if you want to go to Washington to represent your constituents. Getting national exposure by going on shows like Tucker (FOX) can't hurt, and I appreciate Tucker giving Ms. Leavitt the bandwidth to do her thing. She'd be one of some 500 congressmen, but we republicans need to take every last fucking seat available if we're to take back the House in November. We can't take any seats for granted, and that's why it's so important to get on shows like Tucker in addition to crisscrossing the district day in and day out, stumping for votes. We can pray for a red wave, or better yet a tsunami, on Election day, but it's important to dot all of our I's and cross all of our T's in the meantime just in case we end up with a garden variety turnout. Is that even possible in this day and age with Bumbles sitting in the Oval Office? As for General Bolduc, copy and paste.
I'm hearing good things about Hershel Walker's Senatorial debate last night with that leftist, Reverend Warnock. I don't know Warnock from the man in the moon, but I figured that if he's been delivering sermons for the better part of his life before winning the Georgia senate seat, he was probably pretty good on his feet. I certainly didn't want to see him slicing and dicing my man, Herschel, and, from what I'm hearing and seeing in the wake of the debate, that did not happen. I think Herschel held his own, and that's great. Maybe expectations were so low that all he had to do was show up, and he'd have the proverbial participation trophy at the end of the night. We'll see what, if anything, this does to boost his favorability/unfavorability ratings. That could take a few days to shake out, so be patient. The more I think about it, Herschel could end up being the dark horse candidate of the 2022 midterms. Wouldn't that be something?
What is this I'm hearing about Elon Musk and the Starlink terminals? I think that's what they call them. Apparently, he's been footing the bill all along for putting these so-called satellites in orbit that give the Ukrainians internet access across the fruited plains in Ukraine. It's allowed the Ukrainians to wage a more effective and deadly war against the Ruskies, so that's a good thing. Now, Elon is requesting that the Pentagon foot the bill for providing ongoing satellite service. He's not looking for reimbursement of monies already spent, so that seems reasonable. Why would the Pentagon even have to think twice about this request from Elon? The fools in Washington have given Ukraine north of $75 billion of our tax dollars to date, but that's an issue for another day. Do not get me going. And, the Justice Department just announced that they are investigating Elon having something to do with his purchase of Twitter. Let me guess. They will promise not to prosecute Elon if he continues to self-fund the Starlink program. I hope he tells them to go fuck themselves. Oh, and unless someone ponies up some cold hard cash for the satellites, I'm outta here. Good stuff.
Is there any significance to Xi being elected to another term as President of China? That happened today so I guess we'll see what it all means. Reports have it that he said something to the effect that China will not hesitate to use force to accomplish their objectives. I'm paraphrasing, of course. It sounds like China is delighted with the result of their takeover of Hong Kong as well and, if I'm not mistaken, Xi said something about unifying Taiwan with mainland China. While his remarks about Taiwan were not unexpected, the good people of Tawian can't be happy about what this may mean for their tiny island short term. Loosely translated, I think Xi's comments could be interpreted as follows: "Game on", as it relates to Taiwan. Meanwhile, Bumbles Biden is off on one of his daily jaunts where he plans to pick up an ice cream cone. I'll have two scoops, dearie. His sycophantic followers follow him around while screaming from the sidelines, "What's your favorite flavor ice cream," Mr President? "What's your favorite flavor?"
Maybe he was in the ice cream shop and maybe he wasn't when he leaned into the ear of a prepubescent girl the other day while putting his hand on her shoulder and muttering for all the world to hear something about her not dating until she was thirty-years old. When is this going to stop? Why can't this old fool keep his hands off young girls? One tweet I read on Twitter suggested that at 18 seconds into the creature feature, and yes, that is what we all saw, you could actually see him sniffing the young child's hair. It gives credence to every other story and picture we've seen over the years about this creep's perverted predilictions when it comes to children. And yes, you can include the story from his daughter's diary about "taking showers with dad." Yet, 80 million people voted to install him as president of our great country. Or, did they?