Come What May
28/08/22 07:10
I don't feel much like writing this week. Maybe I'll take the week off. I know myself well enough to know that if I do that, I'll likely not start up again. Then where would I be? I'd have to start anew somewhere down the road. Where, pray tell, would that be? It's' quite possible that the longer I go without writing, the longer it will take me to get up and running again. I might as well bite the bullet now and get this party started. I don't even have much to say this morning. Do I have anything to say? Just more pissing and moaning is what I'm seeing and hearing. Get focused, Johnny boy. You've got one job, so don't mess it up. Write about politics if you have to but just do it. Fucking do it!
The missus and I are watching this show on STARZ called "Becoming Elizabeth." You would be correct if you think it has to do with England, kings and queens, dukes and earls, and castles called Somerset. It appears historically accurate if what the missus tells me is on point. What strikes me as odd about the show is that the actors use the word "fuck" and its various versions quite often. I had to ask the resident historian, and yes, that's the missus, was that word even in the English lexicon back in the day? What if it wasn't? What would the point be of using a term commonly considered vulgar in a show that is otherwise prim and proper as it were? Me thinks a little more research is needed. God willing, I'll get to the bottom of this conundrum.
This is one of those mornings where I can just as easily go back to bed after doing this here journal. It's dark and overcast out of doors this morning, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that rain was in the forecast. We've had very little rain this summer, so getting rain today would be welcome. I can see myself passing on breakfast and just collapsing on the bed. Covers or no covers, I could be down for the count. Wake me up and eleven if I'm still asleep and not a moment sooner. I'm no longer the resident short-order cook, so I have no obligations one way or another to get up sooner. That was my choice, so I'll suffer the slings and arrows that go along with making that decision. Hate me if you must, but make your own fucking lunch. There's that word again.
Overall, I've been very pleased with the comings and goings of our local Hummingbird population this summer. I have a couple of feeders up, and I've done a good job, if I do say so myself, of keeping them filled and occasionally topped off with the freshest and sweetest water for my little buds. I love to watch them come to the feeder after I've filled it with cold sugar water from the fridge. I've often wondered how the water's coldness, seeing as no such thing is available in nature, can be so enticing to an animal like the Hummingbird, who is not otherwise accustomed to drinking chilled nectar. The truth is that you couldn't pry them off the feeder even if you tried, especially on the hotter summer days, the likes of which we've seen this summer in spades. In three weeks, they'll be gone only to return next year when and where we'll do this all over again.
It's good to know that the hottest summer days here on the coast are behind us. Well, if we do see more hot days, it's more than likely that they'll not last long. I welcome cooler days and nights, changes in the foliage, fewer and fewer tourists flocking to our town beaches, and less traffic on the roadways hereabouts. I think traffic has been down overall this summer due to $5 per gallon gas at the pump, although prices have come down a little in these last three or four weeks. It's no coincidence that things are improving as we get closer to the mid-term elections. Those mother fucking democrats are rigging the election game left and right. Don't look over here. Look over there. They are still raising interest rates in an inflationary environment, which can't help. It will accelerate layoffs, drive up unemployment rates, and it will have 401k owners on suicide watch. I'm not sure they have the necessary arrows in their quiver to win this battle. Maybe reducing student debt and providing another stimulus plan to the masses will get the job done. Remember, the ends always justify the means.
This morning, I read an article that spells out the Biden Administration's role in orchestrating the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. Wait one fucking minute. I thought they told us they had nothing to do with the raid. They have been strangely silent since the raid took place. Of course, Biden and his brownshirts had a role in the damn raid. That is what tyranny looks like. They jail their political opposition or, worse yet, poison them so they either can't run because they are in a medically induced coma or they no longer desire to run because of the danger it poses to them or their families. When will the Biden Administration be brought to heel for their transgressions against the American people and our Constitution? Does any of this warrant impeachment? I guess that's up to the political party currently in charge in the House. Since the democrats have the majority, you'll not see articles of impeachment anytime soon. So, this treachery goes on indefinitely? Sadly, yes.
Mrs. G mentioned that the financial markets were doing better this past weekend when we were over for a visit. I'm sure that she's seen her investments come back from the precipice, which is a good thing as far as she's concerned. I wanted to tell her that we're still in a bear market, and we've likely not seen the lows put in yet. I wanted to say to her that the bear market is a process, just as a bull market is a process. I wanted to tell her that as long as we're seeing the kind of froth and speculation in the market at present, that is another indication that a low has yet to be put in. She's not a bridge jumper, so seeing lower lows is probably not the worst thing for her. I'm not sure if she knows what a bear market rally is, so I didn't bother telling her that the current bear market rally is getting a little long in the tooth. We're fourteen percent off the lows, and that's about average for a bear market rally. If I'm right about any of this, we're going to hades sooner or later. Whatever you think, it will be worse. Oh, and I told her none of this. Live and learn.
We had primary races last night in NY and Florida. All Trump-endorsed candidates won easily and quickly. There were a couple of bell weather races that democrats won. I'm not sure that bodes well for any so-called red wave come November. It seems that the abortion issue has the leftists getting out to the polls while inflation is maybe less of a driver. Wake the fuck up, people. Abortions are a local issue now. Why are congressional candidates running on abortion issues? Perhaps they think they can get abortion codified at the national level. Here we go again with the "this is my body, and I'll do with it as I please" crowd. Whatever happened to the sanctity of the individual (fetus)? Anyway, without Trump getting behind any number of these candidates in the Fall, we could see disappointing results. That is unacceptable with the fool, Bumbles Biden, in the White House. Does anybody fucking care that we have an invasion on our southern border because of Biden?
Nothing is worse than waking up the morning after and learning that your candidate or candidates failed to win their races or races. I know there's a message in there somewhere, and it's a message that could be a problem were it to go countrywide. I'll have to avoid listening to progressives on the radio today because there is nothing worse than a gloating leftist. They have to be licking their chops after last night. Mind you, not so much in the state of Florida because Florida is becoming redder and redder when it comes to its politics. I'm worried about those states where the margins are tighter and what that might mean for Senate races and House seats. I don't want to see any seats go from solid red to leaning red, or worse yet, solid red to leaning blue. I will be listening to the conservatives on the radio today. Maybe I can glean a glimmer of hope, or someone can talk me down off the cliff after last night. It's all about Trump now. I know it, and the democrats know it. What will they do?
I'm still trying to get my brain around this clown, John Fetterman. He's running for the Senate in Pennsylvania against the republican candidate, Dr. Oz. The missus says that Dr. Oz is a quack, but that's a story for another day. He's an accomplished heart surgeon, a well-established author, and a media guy in his own right. Who cares if he doesn't live in the state of Pennsylvania? The Fetterman guy is a hot mess. But it's worse than that. He had a severe stroke recently, and I think he's been on the campaign trail for a total of fifteen minutes since "recovering" from his stroke. The videos of his campaigning are hard to watch. It's one of those Biden deals where it has you wondering why his loved ones are allowing him to go on with his campaign, knowing what they know about his obvious medical shortcomings. It seems almost selfish on their part. Like Jill Biden, Fetterman's spouse isn't about to let her husband's medical condition get in the way of her hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Come hell or high water; she's going to be the wife of a United States Senator.
Not if Sean Hannity has anything to say about it, is what I would say. I believe Hannity is responsible for getting Trump to endorse Oz in the Senate race. Hannity goes on air every night now, saying one thing or another about Fetterman and playing every video clip available. Of course, none of the clips are in the least bit flattering, but that's the point. It seems odd to see a high-profile talk show host like Hannity take such a personal interest in a person running for the Senate, but I think it may tie back to promises made to Trump in exchange for Trump's endorsement of Oz. Hannity has even challenged Fetterman to come on his show and debate him on God only knows what. Do the two men have a history that I'm unaware of? It seems they do if you listen to Hannity's ranting and raving. It looks pretty personal at times. I can't imagine Fetterman accepting the challenge, and Hannity will play that card until the cows come home. Hannity even threatened to show up at one or more of Fetterman's rallies to confront him. I'm not sure Fetterman has several rallies in him. Here we go again with the running from the basement business.
This morning, I'm reading a story about the United States sending another delegation over to Taiwan. This comes on the heels of Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in the last month. I think there may have been another visitation between the two. Is this Biden deliberately poking Communist China with these visits? Is this America putting her best foot forward and telling the Communists in China to take their bullshit about Taiwan being one of their provinces and sticking it where the sun don't shine? I think all of that is possible. I don't know where it all ends up, and I'm not even sure who's right about who has what rights when it comes to Taiwan. I know that Taiwan manufactures most of the silicon chips used in everything we Americans use daily, from toasters to automobiles. It wouldn't take much to cut off that supply if China decided that the United States was meddling in its affairs. It seems all very non-negotiable to me if we're to believe China's rhetoric. Is fighting Taiwan's war for them, or coming to their defense, worth even one American life were it to come to that? I don't even know where I'm going with all of this.
I keep thinking about the Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI. If Trump had documents that he, for whatever reason, wanted to keep to himself and not send to the National Archives, why would he keep them at Mar-a-Lago? Why would he keep them in a place that would more than likely be the first place that the government would come looking if it wanted to get those documents back? Hell, Trump could store them anywhere. What would stop Trump from making copies of the documents he wanted, and he could turn over the originals to the National Archives? Or, he could keep the originals and turn over the copies. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Trump baited the FBI into raiding his home for political advantage. It also wouldn't surprise me to know that he made one or more documents available to the FBI raiders that would ultimately come back to bite them somehow. Take that, you mother fuckers. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. These are things that I can see Trump saying and doing. They had their turn, and now he has his. Revenge is best-served cold?
We all know what Bumbles Biden is doing with this forgiveness of college debt thing. He's buying votes ahead of one of the most important elections in the history of our country. We've never been in greater peril as a country under Bumbles Biden, and people are likely to run, not walk, to the polls in November to vote the democrat bastards out. I'm not sure what the calculus is, but Biden and his corrupt administration seem to think that if they buy a few votes, they can somehow stem the bleeding. I hope he's wrong. I hope he's spectacularly wrong. Maybe he knows that the House of Representatives is a lost cause, but maybe he thinks that he can salvage a few senate seats.
Who the fuck knows what that lame brain is thinking. Is there even any truth to the proposition that people whose debt he's forgiven are going to go out and vote for him? I suppose he could dangle the ten-thousand-dollar figure out there as a carrot with the implied promise that he'll be doing even more if they vote for him and his political party. It's brazen, and it's also illegal. He has no such authority. We have Pelosi on video saying as much. Only Congress can do this. Somebody, anybody, sue this POS Potus. I'm talking to you, the Republican party. Are you fearful that pushing back will get you in hot water with your constituents who may need a little debt relief? I can tell you that the guy or gal who never got a college loan because he or she had to work to support their family instead of going to college is going to sing your praises for standing up for them. Suffer the damn slings and arrows and do your damn job. This is what we sent you to Washington to do.
My goal was to drive 100 miles. I took the Ev man's car in for his annual inspection and knew it would be a shit-fest. Not because there was anything wrong with his car, mind you, but because he has an issue with his "check engine" light that stems from God only knows what. This is a recurring theme with annual inspections where the engine light on his car is an issue. They passed everything else but asked that I put a few miles on the vehicle to see if the light would come back on after being reset in the shop. I'm going to ask that they refresh my memory today when I return the car to the shop as to what exactly I'm trying to accomplish when I'm out there putting miles on the car as I did last evening. I put 95 miles on the vehicle and the engine light never returned. I think that's a good thing. Will they now give me a sticker for the car or will they insist that I put even more miles on the vehicle? What if the engine light did come back on? Then what? Like I said, a shit fest.
Is it true that the 1.4 billion dollar lottery winner hasn't come forward since the winning ticket was announced four weeks ago? It seems inconceivable. The store that sold the ticket should put the video of customers coming and going into the store on the day the ticket was sold on a loop to see if they can't jog a memory or two. At a minimum, you would think that the winners might notify the agency that manages the ticket sales that they have the winning ticket and they're working with their attorney to put their affairs in order before taking possession of the monies. I think the winning ticket was sold in a state where the winner or winners can choose to remain anonymous. Not that it matters in this case but who knows? If there were multiple winners because a group of people went in on purchasing the ticket, we would have heard from one or more of them by now. I'm just spitballing here because that's a lot of dough to leave on the table. It seems to me there ought to be a way to figure out who bought the damn ticket. All I know for sure is that it wasn't me.
What the hell is going on in Europe with energy? What is this I'm reading where folks will have a long cold winter with many losing their lives because they can't afford to heat their homes? Boris Johnson is telling his Brits that they will have to bite the bullet when it comes to supporting Ukraine, even if that means they will struggle to survive the coming winter due to the escalating price of fuel supplies. Pubs across the fruited plains in Britain have announced that they may close 60-70% of their pubs due to the cost and availability of fuel. Macron says that the days of abundance are coming to an end, and sacrifices will be required of the good people of France in order to fight back against the instabilities of the war in Ukraine, rising prices of fuel, climate change, and inflation. I'm paraphrasing here and there, but you get the gist. How is the movement to "Green Energy" working out for you over there? Is it fair to say that they only have themselves to blame? It's time to let Ukraine fight its war with Russia. Joey "Bumbles" Biden, are you listening?
Imagine shorting the financial markets yesterday, thinking that Jerome Powell's speech would be dovish. That would have been a good play, given what happened in the markets. Every other word coming out of his mouth in his speech from Wyoming yesterday included the word "pain." That is a word you've seldom heard from any Fed heads. We're coming up on mid-term elections for chrissakes. Joey Biden wants people to go to the polls in November with the financial winds at their backs. That will never happen if the Feds go all hawkish and raise interest rates like there's no tomorrow. Who does that to his boss when his boss is already struggling to get his political party in Congress across the finish line? Mr. Powell seems to think killing inflation in the crib is more important than any election. Maybe he has visions of people needing to bring wheelbarrows full of cash to buy a loaf of bread. It's the kind of stuff that keeps Fed heads up at night.
The markets tanked on his speech from Woods Hole, Wyoming. Every index was down between three and four percent. There was nowhere to hide. Powell never explained what he meant by "pain," but the general interpretation was that it meant you would be poorer. You would have less of everything, and you would learn to make do. The consensus is that we're in stage two of a four-stage inflationary bear market. This latest bear market rally has given folks roughly fourteen percent of their money back off the lows and renewed hopes that we're on track for a new bull market run. Was the plunge in the market yesterday the end of the current bear market rally? Is it just the beginning of another market routing, the likes of which we saw earlier in the year? Some say there wasn't enough panic in the market move yesterday, and without panic selling, the prospects that a continuation of the current bear market rally is still on the table. Interesting.
The missus picked up some rocky road ice cream yesterday at a local ice cream joint. It was pretty good, but I hate having it around the house. Not because it doesn't taste good but because it tastes too good. I'm not a big consumer of ice cream, but it will do in a pinch. Just so you know, eating ice cream is not a guilt-free indulgence. One thing I like about this ice cream is that it's pretty darn rich. When you consider that it's loaded with nuts, marshmallows, and chocolate chips, it makes for a meal in and of itself. One scoop is all you need. The missus is lamenting that we have so much left over after having a portion or two for dessert last night. She's saying they had so many flavors that she might have rather had instead of getting as much of the rocky road as we did. You only live once, little darlings. Enjoy what you have on hand, and stop looking in the rearview mirror. There is always tomorrow until there isn't.
I read somewhere that the two people who tried to sell Ashley Biden's diary have now been sentenced to prison. That's right; I said Ashley Biden. She is the daughter of the current president of the United States, Joey Bumbles Biden. I think they found the damn diary under a mattress in a halfway house where Ashley Biden had spent time recovering from this or that addiction. Since when is selling a journal that you found somewhere a crime? Does this have anything to do with the entries in the diary referencing Joey Biden taking showers with his young daughter? How sick is that? We Americans have long been aware of Biden's sniffing this or that young child and often while on camera, which tells you the depths and depravity of his predilections when and where children are involved. But, with your daughter? In any other world, that is what they call incest. Imagine a world where someone found Ivanka Trump's diary with similar notations. All hell would break loose in the media. When it comes to the Bidens, it's fucking crickets. Do we or do we not have a Department of Justice?
We're coming up on the month of September in a few days. I love September! I'm just putting that out there. We're done with the hot days of summer and we're on to the refreshingly cool days of early Fall. The summer crowds will thin considerably over the next few days as schools start their Fall sessions. Moms and dads who stayed away from the beach during the summer because of the crowds may come around here and there but we're otherwise left with the early evening dog walkers and the people probing the sands along the shore with their metal detectors looking for buried treasure. You couldn't ask for anything more if you're a bicyclist. It's time to simply enjoy the rarified air that comes along with a bike ride along the ocean. With fewer distrations and fewer dangers thanks to the absence of cars and people, it's easier to concentrate on the nautral beauty of one's surroundings. Headwinds while riding will be less daunting and tailwinds will be more than welcome as usual. That's just the way I like it.
We'll be heading off on vacation soon. I sure hope there's a good place to do my journal up there. I don't need much. I just need a place off the beaten track where I won't bother anyone when I'm whacking away at the keys on my keyboard in the early hours of the morning. I'll wear headphones if I have to if I want to listen to a little background music while I write. It shouldn't be all that difficult. I have a compliant fam who is used to me doing what I do when it comes to this here journal. They give me the space and the time to get done what I need to get done. I'm getting better too at working around distractions when people are around when I write. Do what you have to do, little babies. You know where to find me if you need me. Oddly enough, there may be a few more demands on my time when vacation finally rolls around so I'll need to prepare myself for that eventuality. If that means getting up even earlier, so be it.
The missus tells me that we're in for a few days of temperatures in the upper eighties this coming week. I do not like hot weather, no I do not. I thought we had seen the last of the dog days of summer but it seems we have not. We're a couple of days out from September so it can't last long. Right? It's a little like getting a snow storm in April. It's inconvenient and not much fun, especially after a long and snowy winter, but you know the snow won't last long and you know better days are right around the corner. I don't know yet what weather awaits us when we're on vacation but storm systems come and go very quickly where we're going so trying to predict anything is a fool's errand. You take it as it comes. That said, an endless succession of rainy days would not be welcome since we'd like to get in a little boating. The Ev man could use some time behind the wheel and we're happy to turn the navigating over to him for as long as he likes. This is what good parenting looks like.
The missus and I are watching this show on STARZ called "Becoming Elizabeth." You would be correct if you think it has to do with England, kings and queens, dukes and earls, and castles called Somerset. It appears historically accurate if what the missus tells me is on point. What strikes me as odd about the show is that the actors use the word "fuck" and its various versions quite often. I had to ask the resident historian, and yes, that's the missus, was that word even in the English lexicon back in the day? What if it wasn't? What would the point be of using a term commonly considered vulgar in a show that is otherwise prim and proper as it were? Me thinks a little more research is needed. God willing, I'll get to the bottom of this conundrum.
This is one of those mornings where I can just as easily go back to bed after doing this here journal. It's dark and overcast out of doors this morning, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that rain was in the forecast. We've had very little rain this summer, so getting rain today would be welcome. I can see myself passing on breakfast and just collapsing on the bed. Covers or no covers, I could be down for the count. Wake me up and eleven if I'm still asleep and not a moment sooner. I'm no longer the resident short-order cook, so I have no obligations one way or another to get up sooner. That was my choice, so I'll suffer the slings and arrows that go along with making that decision. Hate me if you must, but make your own fucking lunch. There's that word again.
Overall, I've been very pleased with the comings and goings of our local Hummingbird population this summer. I have a couple of feeders up, and I've done a good job, if I do say so myself, of keeping them filled and occasionally topped off with the freshest and sweetest water for my little buds. I love to watch them come to the feeder after I've filled it with cold sugar water from the fridge. I've often wondered how the water's coldness, seeing as no such thing is available in nature, can be so enticing to an animal like the Hummingbird, who is not otherwise accustomed to drinking chilled nectar. The truth is that you couldn't pry them off the feeder even if you tried, especially on the hotter summer days, the likes of which we've seen this summer in spades. In three weeks, they'll be gone only to return next year when and where we'll do this all over again.
It's good to know that the hottest summer days here on the coast are behind us. Well, if we do see more hot days, it's more than likely that they'll not last long. I welcome cooler days and nights, changes in the foliage, fewer and fewer tourists flocking to our town beaches, and less traffic on the roadways hereabouts. I think traffic has been down overall this summer due to $5 per gallon gas at the pump, although prices have come down a little in these last three or four weeks. It's no coincidence that things are improving as we get closer to the mid-term elections. Those mother fucking democrats are rigging the election game left and right. Don't look over here. Look over there. They are still raising interest rates in an inflationary environment, which can't help. It will accelerate layoffs, drive up unemployment rates, and it will have 401k owners on suicide watch. I'm not sure they have the necessary arrows in their quiver to win this battle. Maybe reducing student debt and providing another stimulus plan to the masses will get the job done. Remember, the ends always justify the means.
This morning, I read an article that spells out the Biden Administration's role in orchestrating the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. Wait one fucking minute. I thought they told us they had nothing to do with the raid. They have been strangely silent since the raid took place. Of course, Biden and his brownshirts had a role in the damn raid. That is what tyranny looks like. They jail their political opposition or, worse yet, poison them so they either can't run because they are in a medically induced coma or they no longer desire to run because of the danger it poses to them or their families. When will the Biden Administration be brought to heel for their transgressions against the American people and our Constitution? Does any of this warrant impeachment? I guess that's up to the political party currently in charge in the House. Since the democrats have the majority, you'll not see articles of impeachment anytime soon. So, this treachery goes on indefinitely? Sadly, yes.
Mrs. G mentioned that the financial markets were doing better this past weekend when we were over for a visit. I'm sure that she's seen her investments come back from the precipice, which is a good thing as far as she's concerned. I wanted to tell her that we're still in a bear market, and we've likely not seen the lows put in yet. I wanted to say to her that the bear market is a process, just as a bull market is a process. I wanted to tell her that as long as we're seeing the kind of froth and speculation in the market at present, that is another indication that a low has yet to be put in. She's not a bridge jumper, so seeing lower lows is probably not the worst thing for her. I'm not sure if she knows what a bear market rally is, so I didn't bother telling her that the current bear market rally is getting a little long in the tooth. We're fourteen percent off the lows, and that's about average for a bear market rally. If I'm right about any of this, we're going to hades sooner or later. Whatever you think, it will be worse. Oh, and I told her none of this. Live and learn.
We had primary races last night in NY and Florida. All Trump-endorsed candidates won easily and quickly. There were a couple of bell weather races that democrats won. I'm not sure that bodes well for any so-called red wave come November. It seems that the abortion issue has the leftists getting out to the polls while inflation is maybe less of a driver. Wake the fuck up, people. Abortions are a local issue now. Why are congressional candidates running on abortion issues? Perhaps they think they can get abortion codified at the national level. Here we go again with the "this is my body, and I'll do with it as I please" crowd. Whatever happened to the sanctity of the individual (fetus)? Anyway, without Trump getting behind any number of these candidates in the Fall, we could see disappointing results. That is unacceptable with the fool, Bumbles Biden, in the White House. Does anybody fucking care that we have an invasion on our southern border because of Biden?
Nothing is worse than waking up the morning after and learning that your candidate or candidates failed to win their races or races. I know there's a message in there somewhere, and it's a message that could be a problem were it to go countrywide. I'll have to avoid listening to progressives on the radio today because there is nothing worse than a gloating leftist. They have to be licking their chops after last night. Mind you, not so much in the state of Florida because Florida is becoming redder and redder when it comes to its politics. I'm worried about those states where the margins are tighter and what that might mean for Senate races and House seats. I don't want to see any seats go from solid red to leaning red, or worse yet, solid red to leaning blue. I will be listening to the conservatives on the radio today. Maybe I can glean a glimmer of hope, or someone can talk me down off the cliff after last night. It's all about Trump now. I know it, and the democrats know it. What will they do?
I'm still trying to get my brain around this clown, John Fetterman. He's running for the Senate in Pennsylvania against the republican candidate, Dr. Oz. The missus says that Dr. Oz is a quack, but that's a story for another day. He's an accomplished heart surgeon, a well-established author, and a media guy in his own right. Who cares if he doesn't live in the state of Pennsylvania? The Fetterman guy is a hot mess. But it's worse than that. He had a severe stroke recently, and I think he's been on the campaign trail for a total of fifteen minutes since "recovering" from his stroke. The videos of his campaigning are hard to watch. It's one of those Biden deals where it has you wondering why his loved ones are allowing him to go on with his campaign, knowing what they know about his obvious medical shortcomings. It seems almost selfish on their part. Like Jill Biden, Fetterman's spouse isn't about to let her husband's medical condition get in the way of her hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Come hell or high water; she's going to be the wife of a United States Senator.
Not if Sean Hannity has anything to say about it, is what I would say. I believe Hannity is responsible for getting Trump to endorse Oz in the Senate race. Hannity goes on air every night now, saying one thing or another about Fetterman and playing every video clip available. Of course, none of the clips are in the least bit flattering, but that's the point. It seems odd to see a high-profile talk show host like Hannity take such a personal interest in a person running for the Senate, but I think it may tie back to promises made to Trump in exchange for Trump's endorsement of Oz. Hannity has even challenged Fetterman to come on his show and debate him on God only knows what. Do the two men have a history that I'm unaware of? It seems they do if you listen to Hannity's ranting and raving. It looks pretty personal at times. I can't imagine Fetterman accepting the challenge, and Hannity will play that card until the cows come home. Hannity even threatened to show up at one or more of Fetterman's rallies to confront him. I'm not sure Fetterman has several rallies in him. Here we go again with the running from the basement business.
This morning, I'm reading a story about the United States sending another delegation over to Taiwan. This comes on the heels of Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in the last month. I think there may have been another visitation between the two. Is this Biden deliberately poking Communist China with these visits? Is this America putting her best foot forward and telling the Communists in China to take their bullshit about Taiwan being one of their provinces and sticking it where the sun don't shine? I think all of that is possible. I don't know where it all ends up, and I'm not even sure who's right about who has what rights when it comes to Taiwan. I know that Taiwan manufactures most of the silicon chips used in everything we Americans use daily, from toasters to automobiles. It wouldn't take much to cut off that supply if China decided that the United States was meddling in its affairs. It seems all very non-negotiable to me if we're to believe China's rhetoric. Is fighting Taiwan's war for them, or coming to their defense, worth even one American life were it to come to that? I don't even know where I'm going with all of this.
I keep thinking about the Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI. If Trump had documents that he, for whatever reason, wanted to keep to himself and not send to the National Archives, why would he keep them at Mar-a-Lago? Why would he keep them in a place that would more than likely be the first place that the government would come looking if it wanted to get those documents back? Hell, Trump could store them anywhere. What would stop Trump from making copies of the documents he wanted, and he could turn over the originals to the National Archives? Or, he could keep the originals and turn over the copies. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that Trump baited the FBI into raiding his home for political advantage. It also wouldn't surprise me to know that he made one or more documents available to the FBI raiders that would ultimately come back to bite them somehow. Take that, you mother fuckers. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. These are things that I can see Trump saying and doing. They had their turn, and now he has his. Revenge is best-served cold?
We all know what Bumbles Biden is doing with this forgiveness of college debt thing. He's buying votes ahead of one of the most important elections in the history of our country. We've never been in greater peril as a country under Bumbles Biden, and people are likely to run, not walk, to the polls in November to vote the democrat bastards out. I'm not sure what the calculus is, but Biden and his corrupt administration seem to think that if they buy a few votes, they can somehow stem the bleeding. I hope he's wrong. I hope he's spectacularly wrong. Maybe he knows that the House of Representatives is a lost cause, but maybe he thinks that he can salvage a few senate seats.
Who the fuck knows what that lame brain is thinking. Is there even any truth to the proposition that people whose debt he's forgiven are going to go out and vote for him? I suppose he could dangle the ten-thousand-dollar figure out there as a carrot with the implied promise that he'll be doing even more if they vote for him and his political party. It's brazen, and it's also illegal. He has no such authority. We have Pelosi on video saying as much. Only Congress can do this. Somebody, anybody, sue this POS Potus. I'm talking to you, the Republican party. Are you fearful that pushing back will get you in hot water with your constituents who may need a little debt relief? I can tell you that the guy or gal who never got a college loan because he or she had to work to support their family instead of going to college is going to sing your praises for standing up for them. Suffer the damn slings and arrows and do your damn job. This is what we sent you to Washington to do.
My goal was to drive 100 miles. I took the Ev man's car in for his annual inspection and knew it would be a shit-fest. Not because there was anything wrong with his car, mind you, but because he has an issue with his "check engine" light that stems from God only knows what. This is a recurring theme with annual inspections where the engine light on his car is an issue. They passed everything else but asked that I put a few miles on the vehicle to see if the light would come back on after being reset in the shop. I'm going to ask that they refresh my memory today when I return the car to the shop as to what exactly I'm trying to accomplish when I'm out there putting miles on the car as I did last evening. I put 95 miles on the vehicle and the engine light never returned. I think that's a good thing. Will they now give me a sticker for the car or will they insist that I put even more miles on the vehicle? What if the engine light did come back on? Then what? Like I said, a shit fest.
Is it true that the 1.4 billion dollar lottery winner hasn't come forward since the winning ticket was announced four weeks ago? It seems inconceivable. The store that sold the ticket should put the video of customers coming and going into the store on the day the ticket was sold on a loop to see if they can't jog a memory or two. At a minimum, you would think that the winners might notify the agency that manages the ticket sales that they have the winning ticket and they're working with their attorney to put their affairs in order before taking possession of the monies. I think the winning ticket was sold in a state where the winner or winners can choose to remain anonymous. Not that it matters in this case but who knows? If there were multiple winners because a group of people went in on purchasing the ticket, we would have heard from one or more of them by now. I'm just spitballing here because that's a lot of dough to leave on the table. It seems to me there ought to be a way to figure out who bought the damn ticket. All I know for sure is that it wasn't me.
What the hell is going on in Europe with energy? What is this I'm reading where folks will have a long cold winter with many losing their lives because they can't afford to heat their homes? Boris Johnson is telling his Brits that they will have to bite the bullet when it comes to supporting Ukraine, even if that means they will struggle to survive the coming winter due to the escalating price of fuel supplies. Pubs across the fruited plains in Britain have announced that they may close 60-70% of their pubs due to the cost and availability of fuel. Macron says that the days of abundance are coming to an end, and sacrifices will be required of the good people of France in order to fight back against the instabilities of the war in Ukraine, rising prices of fuel, climate change, and inflation. I'm paraphrasing here and there, but you get the gist. How is the movement to "Green Energy" working out for you over there? Is it fair to say that they only have themselves to blame? It's time to let Ukraine fight its war with Russia. Joey "Bumbles" Biden, are you listening?
Imagine shorting the financial markets yesterday, thinking that Jerome Powell's speech would be dovish. That would have been a good play, given what happened in the markets. Every other word coming out of his mouth in his speech from Wyoming yesterday included the word "pain." That is a word you've seldom heard from any Fed heads. We're coming up on mid-term elections for chrissakes. Joey Biden wants people to go to the polls in November with the financial winds at their backs. That will never happen if the Feds go all hawkish and raise interest rates like there's no tomorrow. Who does that to his boss when his boss is already struggling to get his political party in Congress across the finish line? Mr. Powell seems to think killing inflation in the crib is more important than any election. Maybe he has visions of people needing to bring wheelbarrows full of cash to buy a loaf of bread. It's the kind of stuff that keeps Fed heads up at night.
The markets tanked on his speech from Woods Hole, Wyoming. Every index was down between three and four percent. There was nowhere to hide. Powell never explained what he meant by "pain," but the general interpretation was that it meant you would be poorer. You would have less of everything, and you would learn to make do. The consensus is that we're in stage two of a four-stage inflationary bear market. This latest bear market rally has given folks roughly fourteen percent of their money back off the lows and renewed hopes that we're on track for a new bull market run. Was the plunge in the market yesterday the end of the current bear market rally? Is it just the beginning of another market routing, the likes of which we saw earlier in the year? Some say there wasn't enough panic in the market move yesterday, and without panic selling, the prospects that a continuation of the current bear market rally is still on the table. Interesting.
The missus picked up some rocky road ice cream yesterday at a local ice cream joint. It was pretty good, but I hate having it around the house. Not because it doesn't taste good but because it tastes too good. I'm not a big consumer of ice cream, but it will do in a pinch. Just so you know, eating ice cream is not a guilt-free indulgence. One thing I like about this ice cream is that it's pretty darn rich. When you consider that it's loaded with nuts, marshmallows, and chocolate chips, it makes for a meal in and of itself. One scoop is all you need. The missus is lamenting that we have so much left over after having a portion or two for dessert last night. She's saying they had so many flavors that she might have rather had instead of getting as much of the rocky road as we did. You only live once, little darlings. Enjoy what you have on hand, and stop looking in the rearview mirror. There is always tomorrow until there isn't.
I read somewhere that the two people who tried to sell Ashley Biden's diary have now been sentenced to prison. That's right; I said Ashley Biden. She is the daughter of the current president of the United States, Joey Bumbles Biden. I think they found the damn diary under a mattress in a halfway house where Ashley Biden had spent time recovering from this or that addiction. Since when is selling a journal that you found somewhere a crime? Does this have anything to do with the entries in the diary referencing Joey Biden taking showers with his young daughter? How sick is that? We Americans have long been aware of Biden's sniffing this or that young child and often while on camera, which tells you the depths and depravity of his predilections when and where children are involved. But, with your daughter? In any other world, that is what they call incest. Imagine a world where someone found Ivanka Trump's diary with similar notations. All hell would break loose in the media. When it comes to the Bidens, it's fucking crickets. Do we or do we not have a Department of Justice?
We're coming up on the month of September in a few days. I love September! I'm just putting that out there. We're done with the hot days of summer and we're on to the refreshingly cool days of early Fall. The summer crowds will thin considerably over the next few days as schools start their Fall sessions. Moms and dads who stayed away from the beach during the summer because of the crowds may come around here and there but we're otherwise left with the early evening dog walkers and the people probing the sands along the shore with their metal detectors looking for buried treasure. You couldn't ask for anything more if you're a bicyclist. It's time to simply enjoy the rarified air that comes along with a bike ride along the ocean. With fewer distrations and fewer dangers thanks to the absence of cars and people, it's easier to concentrate on the nautral beauty of one's surroundings. Headwinds while riding will be less daunting and tailwinds will be more than welcome as usual. That's just the way I like it.
We'll be heading off on vacation soon. I sure hope there's a good place to do my journal up there. I don't need much. I just need a place off the beaten track where I won't bother anyone when I'm whacking away at the keys on my keyboard in the early hours of the morning. I'll wear headphones if I have to if I want to listen to a little background music while I write. It shouldn't be all that difficult. I have a compliant fam who is used to me doing what I do when it comes to this here journal. They give me the space and the time to get done what I need to get done. I'm getting better too at working around distractions when people are around when I write. Do what you have to do, little babies. You know where to find me if you need me. Oddly enough, there may be a few more demands on my time when vacation finally rolls around so I'll need to prepare myself for that eventuality. If that means getting up even earlier, so be it.
The missus tells me that we're in for a few days of temperatures in the upper eighties this coming week. I do not like hot weather, no I do not. I thought we had seen the last of the dog days of summer but it seems we have not. We're a couple of days out from September so it can't last long. Right? It's a little like getting a snow storm in April. It's inconvenient and not much fun, especially after a long and snowy winter, but you know the snow won't last long and you know better days are right around the corner. I don't know yet what weather awaits us when we're on vacation but storm systems come and go very quickly where we're going so trying to predict anything is a fool's errand. You take it as it comes. That said, an endless succession of rainy days would not be welcome since we'd like to get in a little boating. The Ev man could use some time behind the wheel and we're happy to turn the navigating over to him for as long as he likes. This is what good parenting looks like.