This and That
24/07/22 07:00
I got an e-mail from Mrs. G yesterday. She thanked me for the Moe's sub we dropped off the other day when we visited. Moe's makes a mean Italian sub on a nice fresh roll with a dressing that's hard not to like. It's not for the health-conscious folks who want to avoid sandwich meats and white bread that spikes your blood sugars but, hey; you only live once. I had a hankering that Mrs. G might like one of their subs, and I love to surprise her, so we picked up a half sub while stopping for gas. If I'm not mistaken, she and Mr. G used to stop by Moe's with some regularity back in the day. Who doesn't like going down memory lane from time to time?
We received our property reassessments the other day from our town. Valuations have gone up, and that comes as no surprise. My initial reaction was that there would be a tax increase commensurate with the increase in our property value. As I'm reading a bit more about this process, I understand that there is usually a proportionate decrease in the tax rate. Everything else being equal, the reassessment shouldn't result in a tax increase. I think these reassessments are done every ten years, but I'll be damned if I can remember what happened ten years ago with the last assessment. I'll have to look that up.
I compared our assessment to other property reassessments hereabouts and found that some seem out of whack compared to ours. In other words, their property valuations didn't even come close to market value, according to what I could determine using the Zillow.com site. That means the tax burden is being allocated disproportionately amongst properties in town, and that's what I mean by "out of whack." Do people drop a dime on their neighbors when this happens? Does it make for a less pleasant gathering on the usual neighborhood get-togethers? Do we have assessors doing the bidding of property owners rather than looking out for the welfare of the town they serve? Is it safe to say that I smell a rat?
I'm full of ideas this morning. I suggested to my neighbor that, should she have to sell her property due to her reassessment, she marry her friend and double her deduction in order to reduce her capital gain for tax purposes. I'm not even sure how that would work, but why not. Is there something in the tax code that says you must be married for a specific time before filing as a married couple (joint return)? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Right? I'm no CPA, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night, so there's that. Besides, what are friends for if you can't give them a little tax advice here and there? I need an extra cup of coffee.
The missus gave me a haircut the other day, and I'm not sure it was one of her better cuts. I'm to the point with haircuts where I couldn't care less about what it looks like as long as it's shorter. I can always throw a cap on if worse comes to worst. If I could figure out how to cut the hair on the back of my head, I'd be cutting my hair, and that would be that. Maybe I should do everything I can, and then, for the parts I can't get to, I can have the missus weigh in with her clippers. I don't think she cares what my hair looks like, but she probably agrees with me when I say that shorter is better. The good news is, at least when it comes to haircuts, that the darn stuff grows back, so it doesn't make any sense to be losing sleep, much less a marriage, over a bad haircut.
Now that it looks like Elon won't be buying Twitter, I'll need to keep my snarky tweets to myself if I want to keep Twitter as my newsfeed. That's easier said than done. You know how I like to call a spade a spade. I'm guessing that Twitter monitors will look for people like me as we get closer to the November election. They'll be looking to suppress or shut down opposing views of their leftist candidates when posted, which might put me in their crosshairs. I can always sign up again as someone else, and it won't be the first time I've had to do that to stay on the platform. Call me the king of workarounds.
I was listening to a few political shows this past weekend, and I heard a caller or two, presumably all republicans, calling in to complain about specific republican senatorial candidates not fighting back against ads placed by their opponents in states like Ohio, Georgia, and other places. Knowing the Republican candidates as I do, and we're talking about Herschel Walker, JD Vance, and maybe Dr. Oz here, it struck me as a little weird that they wouldn't be fighting back. I mean, these guys are fighters.
They are all Trump-endorsed and well positioned after winning their primaries to go full bore into the races in their respective states. Do you suppose these callers were callers from the other side of the aisle looking to create mischief? Maybe they are looking to create the misperception that these candidates are unwilling to fight for themselves. If they aren't willing to fight for themselves, why should I bother going to the polls for them? I suppose anything is possible.
I was telling the missus last night that I've noticed that it's almost dark outside when I get out of bed in the morning these days. We're just a month out from the longest day of the year, and here we are. I used to think that I woke up at the crack of dawn every day based on the amount of daylight in the bedroom, but now that I think of it, it probably has more to do with the time than it does with the amount of sunlight available. If I'm not out of bed by a specific time, then I won't have the time to do everything I have planned to do on any given morning. If I don't do what I like to do, what I enjoy doing, then that makes for a miserable Johnny. The longer I stay in bed, the greater the chance I'll be distracted by this, that, or the other thing when I get up. I'm getting better at working through the distractions, so I feel good about that.
The missus and I stopped into a local supermarket (Not Whole Foods) last night to pick up a few things. It's one of the better supermarkets in the area, so just putting that out there. The store's produce section was about as depleted as I've seen. Both the fruit and vegetable sections looked as though they had either not been restocked recently or, maybe less likely had been bought up somehow. It can't have anything to do with this so-called global famine we've heard about. Right? It was shocking. We didn't see any similar shortages in other store sections, so it didn't warrant much more conversation. It might have been something as simple as the night shift not showing up. You know how hard it is to find good help these days.
I keep hearing and seeing stories about Trump and questions about when he might announce his candidacy for the 2024 Presidential campaign. I think the stories are designed to ramp up speculation to the point that even though Trump is not on the ballot in November, the democrat party will want you to believe that he is. If they can put Trump on the ballot in November, they think it might incentivize their voters to get out there and vote blue (Democrat) until it hurts. Nothing triggers a liberal more than Trump, and that's just a fact. I can't tease out all the variables when it comes to Trump deciding to announce before or after the midterms, but the libs are convinced that if they can put him on the ballot, then that's a good thing. I think that they are even pushing out fake polls showing Trump losing to DeSantis just to get Trump to jump in before the midterms. They are a despicable bunch. Will fake polls get the job done?
Speaking of elections, the State of Maryland held its primary yesterday. One of the republican candidates won with the help of an endorsement from Trump. I'm also reading reports that any number of Democrats voted for Trump's pick as well since they considered Trump's pick to be least likely to win in the general election. In other words, Democrats flocked to the polls to vote, not for their candidate but for the person from the opposing party they thought would be the least likely to beat their candidate in the general election. What the hell kind of Tomfoolery is that? Is that not the classic definition of a rigged election? Here's hoping that this strategy of theirs delivers Trump's pick for the win in November. Fuck them and the trojan horse that they rode in on.
The Republican voters in Wyoming may see a similar strategy employed by the Democrats when they hold their primary a month or two from now. The problem for the Wyoming Democrats is that they aren't enough to make a difference. You can put the lot of them on the head of a pin in the state of Wyoming, and you'd still have a hard time finding anyone to admit to being a democrat. Sorry, I'm running short on metaphors this morning. That's good news for Liz Cheney's Republican opponent in Wyoming's upcoming primary. It also ensures that Wyoming will send another Republican to the House of Representatives in January 2023. Anyone but the never-Trumper, Liz Cheney.
I have to laugh. Every time I read this or that story in the news about Covid, the story seems to take on a different twist. The latest is that this newest variant makes it more likely than not that the more injections you've had, the more likely it is that you'll come down with the virus. What kind of twisted logic is that? Show me the data. Please show me the study that supports that theory. The truth is, the more shots you've had, the less protection you have against the virus. It has nothing to do with the latest "variant."
To put it another way, they developed these vaccines not to protect you from the virus and not to stop you from transmitting the virus, but rather to weaken your immune system to the point where you'll need annual, if not bi-annual, injections from the same company's that developed the vaccine in the first place. And in perpetuity, I would hasten to add. Does anyone want to talk about all the footballers who have keeled over on the field of play?
I read this morning that just 16 percent of the people hospitalized with Covid in my state were unvaccinated. Twenty-nine percent were "unknown." What does that tell you? It means that the virus is not much of a threat to people who have not been vaccinated. It tells me that someone is lying about the twenty-nine percent. You know they know their vaccination status. They don't want to tell you because it would prove my point that most people who end up in the hospital are vaccinated and, more likely than not, have received every booster offered ad infinitum. That's a lot of bullshit serum running roughshod through your veins. The missus and I got the first round, which was one and done for us. Why would we want more shots if it increases the likelihood of getting sick or, worse yet, dying? Fuck Fauci and fuck Big Pharma.
I bought a new air pump yesterday. I've had this old mini-compressor kind of thing that I purchased at a local tire store ages ago, which takes forever to inflate my bike tires. It's one of those frogs in the boiling water kind of things. It probably worked well once upon a time, but over time, it has worked less well. I finally got to the point in the last week or so where I said to myself, Johnny Boy, it's time to find another something to inflate your tires. I saw a nice little air compressor for $39 in Home Depot, which I figured had to be the bee's knees after using what I've been using for the past ten years. I may have had this old thing for the past twenty years. Anyway, what took me twenty minutes to do previously, and that's no word of a lie, I now do in ten seconds or less. I was so impressed that I dragged the missus out to the garage for a demonstration. I told her not to blink, or she might miss the magic. Well, in so many words anyway.
I finally got around to setting up our new microwave. I used it for the first time and discovered that it's a little challenging to see the inside of the microwave through the tinted glass door when it's running. What is that all about? I'm so accustomed to watching things go round and round when they cook in the microwave that I'm a little lost when I can't see what's happening behind the glass. Is it boiling over? Is it doing what it's supposed to be doing? Making matters worse is that I can see through the tinted glass but not without a supreme effort on my part. Who in their right mind thought that this design was a good one? Maybe I left a filament on the device that I should have taken off when I removed it from the box. It's quieter than our last microwave, so that's good. The missus doesn't like the digital clock. She says, "it's too bright." I agree with her. I like Samsung products, but the design team fucked this one up good.
These are design flaws that you would never know about until after you purchased the item. I suppose I could have read something about it in a write-up or some consumer magazine that covers these things, but who has the time to do all of that before deciding to purchase the appliance? The less you pay for something, the more likely it is that you'll never bother doing any research. That's just a fact. These appliances are so cheap that they are essentially disposable if you think about it. These are also the kinds of things that a typical homeowner rarely replaces. When was the last time that your microwave broke down? It just never happens. Time will tell whether or not I decide I can live with this appliance that doesn't do everything I want it to do, so stay tuned. Life is too short, or so they say.
I don't know what to make of this story about the Secret Service losing texts from the period in and around the so-called "insurrection" on January 6th. I don't know if that's a good thing for Trump. I do know that the January 6th committee is not happy about not having access to the texts. I should probably conclude from the committee's unhappiness that this might be good for Trump. Does anyone believe they couldn't produce the texts if push came to shove? If what they're saying about the missing texts is true, it appears that Trump may well benefit from the Secret Service's so-called incompetence. It's also possible that the Secret Service is covering up their involvement since having a hand in the creation of or furthering of said insurrection would make them complicit. They've denied any involvement thus far, so any evidence to the contrary cannot possibly see the light of day if they are to remain unindicted co-conspirators or, worse yet, the one party solely responsible for orchestrating the entire affair. Is any of this plausible?
I told the missus to get cracking and do today's Wordle. I did it this morning, and I got it in three words. I got three out of five letters in my first two words, none of which were in their proper location. The missus asked me to tell her how many tries it took me before I guessed correctly, but I refused to answer her question. I think it puts an excessive amount of pressure on the missus to get the answer in the same number of tries it took me to get the answer, and it increases the likelihood that she'll give up if she fails to get it in the same number of tries. Does any of this make any sense? Is there a better way to explain it? I have to tell you, though, that the word I ended up getting (APHID) is one of those words you'd likely not expect to see with this game. It's one of those words that one might well ask themselves, is APHID a word?
Newsflash: Biden has Covid! Wait one fucking minute. Isn't this the same ass hat who told us not that long ago that if you were vaccinated, you wouldn't get the virus? Isn't this the same ass hat who sat down in the West Room of the White House and televised his getting one or more boosters as an example of what good Americans are supposed to do in the middle of a pandemic? I thought they said that keeping up to date on your boosters would protect you from the virus? Now that we see it never helped demented Joe, I think the message is clear: The vaccine doesn't work. It doesn't stop you from getting the virus, and it sure as shit doesn't prevent you from transmitting it. But we all knew that, didn't we? But, make no mistake about it. The Harris toadies in the White House are circling the wagons and measuring the drapes in the Oval Office. Word has it she is even interviewing prospective Vice Presidents. All in plain sight, I might add. Meanwhile, Joey enjoys his daily serving of oatmeal, Melba Toast, and pulp-free orange juice in his private quarters.
The January 6th Committee held another televised hearing last night, which I did not watch. The Committee focused on the 187 minutes during which the "insurrection" was underway and what was known about Trump's activities during those fateful hours. Here's my take: What Trump was doing or not doing is none of their fucking business. Who the fuck do they think they are asking what our Commander-in-Chief was doing in the privacy of his quarters at the White House? We already know that Trump had approved any number of whatever to be available that day to provide protection should there be any threats against the institutions in and around the Capitol. We also know that Trump's offer to protect personnel and property was either ignored or simply not put into place as it should have been. In other words, if he were planning a coup, he wouldn't have approved the placement of troops in and around the Capitol. Case closed mother fuckers.
There's this whole other thing going on with this Committee where they seem more interested in having people get on the stand to rant about their first, second, and third-hand stories about the character flaws of one Donald J. Trump. I think the Committee knows that even if they send a criminal referral to the Justice Department, nothing will come of it because they've not made their case. That being the case, their goal now is to reach out to every last person who may be open to either turning against the man they once supported for President or, conversely, get those individuals who already hate Trump out to the polls in 2024 to make sure that he never wins another term as president. CNN and other leftist media outlets were quite successful during Trump's time in office in spinning similar falsehoods and slanderous exaggerations about the man they and their liberal lackeys once revered back in the day before he came down the escalator with Melania in 2015 when he contributed generously to Democrat candidates and causes.
Maybe it will work for the Committee, and perhaps it won't. How insidious is that? It is a travesty of justice that this "Committee" is allowed to do what they're doing. Most people see this kangaroo court for what it is; A sham of a "court." And then there are the talking heads on radio and television which provides an echo chamber for the Committee's dastardly deeds to ensure that it all gets amplified and spilled out into the ether for the public's consumption. To a talking head, they are incredulous that our country's Attorney General hasn't issued an indictment, and they are putting him on notice that, until he issues that indictment, the cacophony of criticism will not stop. They will bring the appropriate pressure to bear. That's how it works. Please pay attention to the words they are starting to use to denigrate Trump further. One turd-in-the-fishbowl I was listening to the other day referred to Trump as "unfit" to be president. What the hell does that even mean?
I think I ate one too many chocolate chip cookies. Why do I do that to myself? I should know better than to buy the damn things. If I don't have them in the house, I won't be tempted to eat them. In theory, that's the way it's supposed to work. In other news today, Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, was found guilty in a courtroom in Washington DC of two counts of ignoring a subpoena from the January 6th Committee. Not sure what it means or where it goes, but it's a damn tragedy if he had some sort of presidential privilege and the judge on the case did not allow him to use it as a defense. Bannon is the original honey badger for protecting our country and Constitution from the leftists who would sell us down the river to China or others before allowing Trump to get back into the White House. His daily "War Room" show is a must-see for every red-blooded God-fearing American. He brings the "receipts" five days a week.
Bannon's attorneys are expected to file an appeal that may take the proceedings into the next Congress when the conservatives will likely return to power. Once in power, they will likely deem the January 6th Committee an invalid exercise in political mischief. As such, no criminal statutes apply to people who choose not to appear before said committee. My concern is that he will be jailed in the interim, although there may not be a legal precedent for doing so. I know the leftists are soiling their trousers thinking about Steve being in jail and all that entails, but their wet dreams may be put on hold if the Trump-appointed judge decides in Bannon's favor. I don't know that Steve is a flight risk, so there's that. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner he returns to his rightful place in the War Room for his usual show, which plays six days a week, the better.
I couldn't stay awake for Trump's rally last night in the great state of Arizona. I'm sorry I missed it. Arizona looks like one of those states where we can pick up a MAGA (Make America Great Again) gubernatorial candidate in November (Kari Lake) along with a senatorial seat if the feisty and brilliant 35-year-old Blake Masters wins both his primary and the general election in November. Ms. Lake is promising a lot, so I hope she comes through for her constituents if elected. Arizona has a republican governor already, but he's a RINO (Republican in name only.) She has promised to blow up the drug tunnels linking Mexico and Arizona, and she says that she doesn't care if she takes out a couple of narco-terrorists in the process. Oh, and she's going to finish building the wall. Yeah, that wall. The one Trump tried to build when he was president. The wall the democrats wanted to stop him from building every step of the way. Now we know why. Flooding the Americas with illegal and criminal immigrants is job number one. So that you know, they're not sending their best.
I called Mrs. G out of the blue from aisle number five yesterday while shopping in our local supermarket with the missus. "Do you have anything on your list for me, Mrs. G?" I asked. I think she was tickled that I was checking in, and she collected her thoughts for a minute or two before giving me a few things to purchase for her. She loves scala bread, so I wasn't surprised to hear she wanted a couple loaves of scala bread. I had already put a quart of orange juice for her in my basket. I reminded her that I would buy the kind of orange juice that her doctor suggested she drink. You know, the stuff with the extra calcium. I still don't have a good sense of her tolerance for pulp, so I usually try to get a middle-of-the-road variety just to be safe. We've gone back and forth on the potato chips she prefers in the not-too-distant past, so, despite not hearing a request for the same, I threw a big bag of Lays potato chips in the cart. She doesn't care much for the kettle chips, and she doesn't like the chips with ridges—still, no sight of the missus.
Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate for the state of New York, was holding a rally the other day somewhere in the state when he was attacked by a man wielding a knife. That was the headline in so many words. Mr. Zeldin wasn't hurt, and his assailant was quickly wrestled to the ground and held until the police arrived. It turns out that the current governor of the state (Governor Hochul), Zeldin's opponent, had published a list of public events where her followers could find Mr. Zeldin should they be so disposed. Some of the wording in the publication was reportedly incendiary. I think Zeldin was referred to as an "enemy," and some language may have suggested that Zeldin was "dangerous." Is this the state of our politics these days in our country? Hochul publicly condemned the actions of the assailant but, make no mistake about it, from her perspective, this guy had one job, and he failed miserably.
I finally caught up with some video taken of the attack, and, as attacks go, it was about as lame as I've seen. It appeared as though the assailant, the alleged assailant, I should say, walked up to the candidate on the stage and, if I didn't know better, it looked like he was there to shake hands or maybe even hug candidate Zeldin. I mentioned that the assailant had a knife, but it looked more like one of those palm-held letter openers one uses when processing bulk mail. I've never actually seen anything like it, but it didn't look like much of anything, much less something you would use to harm someone. What he planned to do with the "knife" is still unclear. There wasn't a visible blade the likes of which you might use to penetrate an object, so "stabbing" someone with it would be a stretch. I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this other than to say it was just weird—contrived, most certainly, but by whom?
The Ev man is doing well. He drops me a message now and then, usually in the early morning, asking me to send him a few clams so he can pick up breakfast at the local Shell station. The missus and I dropped off a nice meatball sub for him yesterday afternoon on our way to visit Mrs. G. He's partial to sub sandwiches from Moe's, so that's where we go. I find their meatballs to be smaller than the average meatball, and I prefer a larger meatball. That's just me. He stops by the house at least once a week to chat with the missus and me. He has been texting us quite a bit, or at least more than usual, I would say, and I'm beginning to wonder if he doesn't have too much free time on his hands. Too much of anything can be irritating. Know what I mean? I'm talking about his texts here. The good news with texts is that you can ignore them if they are seemingly insignificant. Sometimes, you're just not in the mood to shoot the shit. That doesn't make you a bad dad. Does it?
We received our property reassessments the other day from our town. Valuations have gone up, and that comes as no surprise. My initial reaction was that there would be a tax increase commensurate with the increase in our property value. As I'm reading a bit more about this process, I understand that there is usually a proportionate decrease in the tax rate. Everything else being equal, the reassessment shouldn't result in a tax increase. I think these reassessments are done every ten years, but I'll be damned if I can remember what happened ten years ago with the last assessment. I'll have to look that up.
I compared our assessment to other property reassessments hereabouts and found that some seem out of whack compared to ours. In other words, their property valuations didn't even come close to market value, according to what I could determine using the Zillow.com site. That means the tax burden is being allocated disproportionately amongst properties in town, and that's what I mean by "out of whack." Do people drop a dime on their neighbors when this happens? Does it make for a less pleasant gathering on the usual neighborhood get-togethers? Do we have assessors doing the bidding of property owners rather than looking out for the welfare of the town they serve? Is it safe to say that I smell a rat?
I'm full of ideas this morning. I suggested to my neighbor that, should she have to sell her property due to her reassessment, she marry her friend and double her deduction in order to reduce her capital gain for tax purposes. I'm not even sure how that would work, but why not. Is there something in the tax code that says you must be married for a specific time before filing as a married couple (joint return)? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Right? I'm no CPA, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night, so there's that. Besides, what are friends for if you can't give them a little tax advice here and there? I need an extra cup of coffee.
The missus gave me a haircut the other day, and I'm not sure it was one of her better cuts. I'm to the point with haircuts where I couldn't care less about what it looks like as long as it's shorter. I can always throw a cap on if worse comes to worst. If I could figure out how to cut the hair on the back of my head, I'd be cutting my hair, and that would be that. Maybe I should do everything I can, and then, for the parts I can't get to, I can have the missus weigh in with her clippers. I don't think she cares what my hair looks like, but she probably agrees with me when I say that shorter is better. The good news is, at least when it comes to haircuts, that the darn stuff grows back, so it doesn't make any sense to be losing sleep, much less a marriage, over a bad haircut.
Now that it looks like Elon won't be buying Twitter, I'll need to keep my snarky tweets to myself if I want to keep Twitter as my newsfeed. That's easier said than done. You know how I like to call a spade a spade. I'm guessing that Twitter monitors will look for people like me as we get closer to the November election. They'll be looking to suppress or shut down opposing views of their leftist candidates when posted, which might put me in their crosshairs. I can always sign up again as someone else, and it won't be the first time I've had to do that to stay on the platform. Call me the king of workarounds.
I was listening to a few political shows this past weekend, and I heard a caller or two, presumably all republicans, calling in to complain about specific republican senatorial candidates not fighting back against ads placed by their opponents in states like Ohio, Georgia, and other places. Knowing the Republican candidates as I do, and we're talking about Herschel Walker, JD Vance, and maybe Dr. Oz here, it struck me as a little weird that they wouldn't be fighting back. I mean, these guys are fighters.
They are all Trump-endorsed and well positioned after winning their primaries to go full bore into the races in their respective states. Do you suppose these callers were callers from the other side of the aisle looking to create mischief? Maybe they are looking to create the misperception that these candidates are unwilling to fight for themselves. If they aren't willing to fight for themselves, why should I bother going to the polls for them? I suppose anything is possible.
I was telling the missus last night that I've noticed that it's almost dark outside when I get out of bed in the morning these days. We're just a month out from the longest day of the year, and here we are. I used to think that I woke up at the crack of dawn every day based on the amount of daylight in the bedroom, but now that I think of it, it probably has more to do with the time than it does with the amount of sunlight available. If I'm not out of bed by a specific time, then I won't have the time to do everything I have planned to do on any given morning. If I don't do what I like to do, what I enjoy doing, then that makes for a miserable Johnny. The longer I stay in bed, the greater the chance I'll be distracted by this, that, or the other thing when I get up. I'm getting better at working through the distractions, so I feel good about that.
The missus and I stopped into a local supermarket (Not Whole Foods) last night to pick up a few things. It's one of the better supermarkets in the area, so just putting that out there. The store's produce section was about as depleted as I've seen. Both the fruit and vegetable sections looked as though they had either not been restocked recently or, maybe less likely had been bought up somehow. It can't have anything to do with this so-called global famine we've heard about. Right? It was shocking. We didn't see any similar shortages in other store sections, so it didn't warrant much more conversation. It might have been something as simple as the night shift not showing up. You know how hard it is to find good help these days.
I keep hearing and seeing stories about Trump and questions about when he might announce his candidacy for the 2024 Presidential campaign. I think the stories are designed to ramp up speculation to the point that even though Trump is not on the ballot in November, the democrat party will want you to believe that he is. If they can put Trump on the ballot in November, they think it might incentivize their voters to get out there and vote blue (Democrat) until it hurts. Nothing triggers a liberal more than Trump, and that's just a fact. I can't tease out all the variables when it comes to Trump deciding to announce before or after the midterms, but the libs are convinced that if they can put him on the ballot, then that's a good thing. I think that they are even pushing out fake polls showing Trump losing to DeSantis just to get Trump to jump in before the midterms. They are a despicable bunch. Will fake polls get the job done?
Speaking of elections, the State of Maryland held its primary yesterday. One of the republican candidates won with the help of an endorsement from Trump. I'm also reading reports that any number of Democrats voted for Trump's pick as well since they considered Trump's pick to be least likely to win in the general election. In other words, Democrats flocked to the polls to vote, not for their candidate but for the person from the opposing party they thought would be the least likely to beat their candidate in the general election. What the hell kind of Tomfoolery is that? Is that not the classic definition of a rigged election? Here's hoping that this strategy of theirs delivers Trump's pick for the win in November. Fuck them and the trojan horse that they rode in on.
The Republican voters in Wyoming may see a similar strategy employed by the Democrats when they hold their primary a month or two from now. The problem for the Wyoming Democrats is that they aren't enough to make a difference. You can put the lot of them on the head of a pin in the state of Wyoming, and you'd still have a hard time finding anyone to admit to being a democrat. Sorry, I'm running short on metaphors this morning. That's good news for Liz Cheney's Republican opponent in Wyoming's upcoming primary. It also ensures that Wyoming will send another Republican to the House of Representatives in January 2023. Anyone but the never-Trumper, Liz Cheney.
I have to laugh. Every time I read this or that story in the news about Covid, the story seems to take on a different twist. The latest is that this newest variant makes it more likely than not that the more injections you've had, the more likely it is that you'll come down with the virus. What kind of twisted logic is that? Show me the data. Please show me the study that supports that theory. The truth is, the more shots you've had, the less protection you have against the virus. It has nothing to do with the latest "variant."
To put it another way, they developed these vaccines not to protect you from the virus and not to stop you from transmitting the virus, but rather to weaken your immune system to the point where you'll need annual, if not bi-annual, injections from the same company's that developed the vaccine in the first place. And in perpetuity, I would hasten to add. Does anyone want to talk about all the footballers who have keeled over on the field of play?
I read this morning that just 16 percent of the people hospitalized with Covid in my state were unvaccinated. Twenty-nine percent were "unknown." What does that tell you? It means that the virus is not much of a threat to people who have not been vaccinated. It tells me that someone is lying about the twenty-nine percent. You know they know their vaccination status. They don't want to tell you because it would prove my point that most people who end up in the hospital are vaccinated and, more likely than not, have received every booster offered ad infinitum. That's a lot of bullshit serum running roughshod through your veins. The missus and I got the first round, which was one and done for us. Why would we want more shots if it increases the likelihood of getting sick or, worse yet, dying? Fuck Fauci and fuck Big Pharma.
I bought a new air pump yesterday. I've had this old mini-compressor kind of thing that I purchased at a local tire store ages ago, which takes forever to inflate my bike tires. It's one of those frogs in the boiling water kind of things. It probably worked well once upon a time, but over time, it has worked less well. I finally got to the point in the last week or so where I said to myself, Johnny Boy, it's time to find another something to inflate your tires. I saw a nice little air compressor for $39 in Home Depot, which I figured had to be the bee's knees after using what I've been using for the past ten years. I may have had this old thing for the past twenty years. Anyway, what took me twenty minutes to do previously, and that's no word of a lie, I now do in ten seconds or less. I was so impressed that I dragged the missus out to the garage for a demonstration. I told her not to blink, or she might miss the magic. Well, in so many words anyway.
I finally got around to setting up our new microwave. I used it for the first time and discovered that it's a little challenging to see the inside of the microwave through the tinted glass door when it's running. What is that all about? I'm so accustomed to watching things go round and round when they cook in the microwave that I'm a little lost when I can't see what's happening behind the glass. Is it boiling over? Is it doing what it's supposed to be doing? Making matters worse is that I can see through the tinted glass but not without a supreme effort on my part. Who in their right mind thought that this design was a good one? Maybe I left a filament on the device that I should have taken off when I removed it from the box. It's quieter than our last microwave, so that's good. The missus doesn't like the digital clock. She says, "it's too bright." I agree with her. I like Samsung products, but the design team fucked this one up good.
These are design flaws that you would never know about until after you purchased the item. I suppose I could have read something about it in a write-up or some consumer magazine that covers these things, but who has the time to do all of that before deciding to purchase the appliance? The less you pay for something, the more likely it is that you'll never bother doing any research. That's just a fact. These appliances are so cheap that they are essentially disposable if you think about it. These are also the kinds of things that a typical homeowner rarely replaces. When was the last time that your microwave broke down? It just never happens. Time will tell whether or not I decide I can live with this appliance that doesn't do everything I want it to do, so stay tuned. Life is too short, or so they say.
I don't know what to make of this story about the Secret Service losing texts from the period in and around the so-called "insurrection" on January 6th. I don't know if that's a good thing for Trump. I do know that the January 6th committee is not happy about not having access to the texts. I should probably conclude from the committee's unhappiness that this might be good for Trump. Does anyone believe they couldn't produce the texts if push came to shove? If what they're saying about the missing texts is true, it appears that Trump may well benefit from the Secret Service's so-called incompetence. It's also possible that the Secret Service is covering up their involvement since having a hand in the creation of or furthering of said insurrection would make them complicit. They've denied any involvement thus far, so any evidence to the contrary cannot possibly see the light of day if they are to remain unindicted co-conspirators or, worse yet, the one party solely responsible for orchestrating the entire affair. Is any of this plausible?
I told the missus to get cracking and do today's Wordle. I did it this morning, and I got it in three words. I got three out of five letters in my first two words, none of which were in their proper location. The missus asked me to tell her how many tries it took me before I guessed correctly, but I refused to answer her question. I think it puts an excessive amount of pressure on the missus to get the answer in the same number of tries it took me to get the answer, and it increases the likelihood that she'll give up if she fails to get it in the same number of tries. Does any of this make any sense? Is there a better way to explain it? I have to tell you, though, that the word I ended up getting (APHID) is one of those words you'd likely not expect to see with this game. It's one of those words that one might well ask themselves, is APHID a word?
Newsflash: Biden has Covid! Wait one fucking minute. Isn't this the same ass hat who told us not that long ago that if you were vaccinated, you wouldn't get the virus? Isn't this the same ass hat who sat down in the West Room of the White House and televised his getting one or more boosters as an example of what good Americans are supposed to do in the middle of a pandemic? I thought they said that keeping up to date on your boosters would protect you from the virus? Now that we see it never helped demented Joe, I think the message is clear: The vaccine doesn't work. It doesn't stop you from getting the virus, and it sure as shit doesn't prevent you from transmitting it. But we all knew that, didn't we? But, make no mistake about it. The Harris toadies in the White House are circling the wagons and measuring the drapes in the Oval Office. Word has it she is even interviewing prospective Vice Presidents. All in plain sight, I might add. Meanwhile, Joey enjoys his daily serving of oatmeal, Melba Toast, and pulp-free orange juice in his private quarters.
The January 6th Committee held another televised hearing last night, which I did not watch. The Committee focused on the 187 minutes during which the "insurrection" was underway and what was known about Trump's activities during those fateful hours. Here's my take: What Trump was doing or not doing is none of their fucking business. Who the fuck do they think they are asking what our Commander-in-Chief was doing in the privacy of his quarters at the White House? We already know that Trump had approved any number of whatever to be available that day to provide protection should there be any threats against the institutions in and around the Capitol. We also know that Trump's offer to protect personnel and property was either ignored or simply not put into place as it should have been. In other words, if he were planning a coup, he wouldn't have approved the placement of troops in and around the Capitol. Case closed mother fuckers.
There's this whole other thing going on with this Committee where they seem more interested in having people get on the stand to rant about their first, second, and third-hand stories about the character flaws of one Donald J. Trump. I think the Committee knows that even if they send a criminal referral to the Justice Department, nothing will come of it because they've not made their case. That being the case, their goal now is to reach out to every last person who may be open to either turning against the man they once supported for President or, conversely, get those individuals who already hate Trump out to the polls in 2024 to make sure that he never wins another term as president. CNN and other leftist media outlets were quite successful during Trump's time in office in spinning similar falsehoods and slanderous exaggerations about the man they and their liberal lackeys once revered back in the day before he came down the escalator with Melania in 2015 when he contributed generously to Democrat candidates and causes.
Maybe it will work for the Committee, and perhaps it won't. How insidious is that? It is a travesty of justice that this "Committee" is allowed to do what they're doing. Most people see this kangaroo court for what it is; A sham of a "court." And then there are the talking heads on radio and television which provides an echo chamber for the Committee's dastardly deeds to ensure that it all gets amplified and spilled out into the ether for the public's consumption. To a talking head, they are incredulous that our country's Attorney General hasn't issued an indictment, and they are putting him on notice that, until he issues that indictment, the cacophony of criticism will not stop. They will bring the appropriate pressure to bear. That's how it works. Please pay attention to the words they are starting to use to denigrate Trump further. One turd-in-the-fishbowl I was listening to the other day referred to Trump as "unfit" to be president. What the hell does that even mean?
I think I ate one too many chocolate chip cookies. Why do I do that to myself? I should know better than to buy the damn things. If I don't have them in the house, I won't be tempted to eat them. In theory, that's the way it's supposed to work. In other news today, Steve Bannon, Trump's campaign manager in 2016, was found guilty in a courtroom in Washington DC of two counts of ignoring a subpoena from the January 6th Committee. Not sure what it means or where it goes, but it's a damn tragedy if he had some sort of presidential privilege and the judge on the case did not allow him to use it as a defense. Bannon is the original honey badger for protecting our country and Constitution from the leftists who would sell us down the river to China or others before allowing Trump to get back into the White House. His daily "War Room" show is a must-see for every red-blooded God-fearing American. He brings the "receipts" five days a week.
Bannon's attorneys are expected to file an appeal that may take the proceedings into the next Congress when the conservatives will likely return to power. Once in power, they will likely deem the January 6th Committee an invalid exercise in political mischief. As such, no criminal statutes apply to people who choose not to appear before said committee. My concern is that he will be jailed in the interim, although there may not be a legal precedent for doing so. I know the leftists are soiling their trousers thinking about Steve being in jail and all that entails, but their wet dreams may be put on hold if the Trump-appointed judge decides in Bannon's favor. I don't know that Steve is a flight risk, so there's that. As far as I'm concerned, the sooner he returns to his rightful place in the War Room for his usual show, which plays six days a week, the better.
I couldn't stay awake for Trump's rally last night in the great state of Arizona. I'm sorry I missed it. Arizona looks like one of those states where we can pick up a MAGA (Make America Great Again) gubernatorial candidate in November (Kari Lake) along with a senatorial seat if the feisty and brilliant 35-year-old Blake Masters wins both his primary and the general election in November. Ms. Lake is promising a lot, so I hope she comes through for her constituents if elected. Arizona has a republican governor already, but he's a RINO (Republican in name only.) She has promised to blow up the drug tunnels linking Mexico and Arizona, and she says that she doesn't care if she takes out a couple of narco-terrorists in the process. Oh, and she's going to finish building the wall. Yeah, that wall. The one Trump tried to build when he was president. The wall the democrats wanted to stop him from building every step of the way. Now we know why. Flooding the Americas with illegal and criminal immigrants is job number one. So that you know, they're not sending their best.
I called Mrs. G out of the blue from aisle number five yesterday while shopping in our local supermarket with the missus. "Do you have anything on your list for me, Mrs. G?" I asked. I think she was tickled that I was checking in, and she collected her thoughts for a minute or two before giving me a few things to purchase for her. She loves scala bread, so I wasn't surprised to hear she wanted a couple loaves of scala bread. I had already put a quart of orange juice for her in my basket. I reminded her that I would buy the kind of orange juice that her doctor suggested she drink. You know, the stuff with the extra calcium. I still don't have a good sense of her tolerance for pulp, so I usually try to get a middle-of-the-road variety just to be safe. We've gone back and forth on the potato chips she prefers in the not-too-distant past, so, despite not hearing a request for the same, I threw a big bag of Lays potato chips in the cart. She doesn't care much for the kettle chips, and she doesn't like the chips with ridges—still, no sight of the missus.
Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate for the state of New York, was holding a rally the other day somewhere in the state when he was attacked by a man wielding a knife. That was the headline in so many words. Mr. Zeldin wasn't hurt, and his assailant was quickly wrestled to the ground and held until the police arrived. It turns out that the current governor of the state (Governor Hochul), Zeldin's opponent, had published a list of public events where her followers could find Mr. Zeldin should they be so disposed. Some of the wording in the publication was reportedly incendiary. I think Zeldin was referred to as an "enemy," and some language may have suggested that Zeldin was "dangerous." Is this the state of our politics these days in our country? Hochul publicly condemned the actions of the assailant but, make no mistake about it, from her perspective, this guy had one job, and he failed miserably.
I finally caught up with some video taken of the attack, and, as attacks go, it was about as lame as I've seen. It appeared as though the assailant, the alleged assailant, I should say, walked up to the candidate on the stage and, if I didn't know better, it looked like he was there to shake hands or maybe even hug candidate Zeldin. I mentioned that the assailant had a knife, but it looked more like one of those palm-held letter openers one uses when processing bulk mail. I've never actually seen anything like it, but it didn't look like much of anything, much less something you would use to harm someone. What he planned to do with the "knife" is still unclear. There wasn't a visible blade the likes of which you might use to penetrate an object, so "stabbing" someone with it would be a stretch. I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this other than to say it was just weird—contrived, most certainly, but by whom?
The Ev man is doing well. He drops me a message now and then, usually in the early morning, asking me to send him a few clams so he can pick up breakfast at the local Shell station. The missus and I dropped off a nice meatball sub for him yesterday afternoon on our way to visit Mrs. G. He's partial to sub sandwiches from Moe's, so that's where we go. I find their meatballs to be smaller than the average meatball, and I prefer a larger meatball. That's just me. He stops by the house at least once a week to chat with the missus and me. He has been texting us quite a bit, or at least more than usual, I would say, and I'm beginning to wonder if he doesn't have too much free time on his hands. Too much of anything can be irritating. Know what I mean? I'm talking about his texts here. The good news with texts is that you can ignore them if they are seemingly insignificant. Sometimes, you're just not in the mood to shoot the shit. That doesn't make you a bad dad. Does it?