A nasty little speech

I didn't watch it and according to most accounts I didn't miss much.  If you expected anything more than the fantasies of the ultimate poseur, you would have been disappointed.  According to those who subjected themselves to the hour or so of time they will never get back, the speech was by turns a brag on an economy he has had precious little to do with, a bellicose warning to North Korea in the same vein as the Shrub's diatribe against Saddam in 2002 and swipes at immigrants with his proclamation that "Americans are dreamers to".  A thoroughly obnoxious performance by the accounts of people I respect.  I'm sure "Fox and Friends" will be heaping praise on the *president's performance as will much of the right wing media.  Some on the far right will be disappointed in the lack of mention of a "deportation force" to ethnically cleanse the country of the 11 million people without papers.  I can't believe we will have to go through this charade 3 more times.

The Broken Meter

I refer to the "Outrage" meter, a metaphorical device the MSM uses to measure the political temperature of the electorate.  Thanks to the latest tRumpian  maneuvers by the House Intelligence committee, my internal outrage meter is probably irreparably damaged.  According to the chair of the committee, it is right for them to release a memo based on classified information, but not right for the minority to release its own memo which comes to a somewhat different conclusion.  To quote the title of a recent book, this is "How Democracies Die".  When the party which controls all levers of government power stifles the minority in service to an authoritarian leader bent on defying democratic norms, the stage is set for the gradual loss of freedom.  Like the proverbial frog in a slowly heated cauldron we won't realize the loss of our democracy until it is well done.  The *president won't allow the release of memo which supposedly details anti-Trump fervor at the FBI until after his state of the union address, but I'm sure he will preview its contents along with his many and various grievances. 

A brief respite

A couple of days where the mercury managed to stagger above the freezing mark!  My largest seed and growing supply order arrived.  Can it be that spring is just around the corner.  NOT!   This morning a chill wind and temperatures in the teens would disabuse anyone but a diehard winter lover that spring on the NCR remains but a faint hope at this point.   Hot soup will remain the meal of choice at Casa Monzeglio for the nonce.  Meanwhile, apologists for the tRump administration are poking  their heads out of their bunkers like wizened ground hogs, hoping the winter of their discontent will soon be over.   In the NYT, one of Cheeto Jesus' economic advisors trumpeted the continued gains in the stock market and a couple of corporate decisions to repatriate money to the US as proof positive that the administration's economic vision has overtaken the Obama years The Donald now owns the economy.  Of course when the inevitable recession comes it will be the Democrats fault, especially the perfidious Muslim usurper's.   And so it goes.

Blowing up bubbles

As I watched the evolving scandal involving Cheeto Jesus' attempt to fire the Robert Meuller  less than a month into his tenure last year, I wondered what my conservative counterparts would be watching on Faux News.  Probably the latest conspiracy theories regarding FBI perfidy and attempts by the "deep state" to overthrow our dear leader.   Naturally that is not what they think.  So we go back to our respective corners and hurl invective at each other via third parties.   Will it change?  I doubt it, especially since the well funded puke funnel on the right will continue its mission of convincing a large minority of Americans that their government is illegitimate unless it serves the purposes of a tiny number of billionaires who don't even realize they will be caught in the maelstrom if their ostensible program of government remodeling creates a citizenry opposed to even the basic functions of modern government.  Someone needs to pop the bubbles and start a real conversation.   But first, we need to agree on what constitutes facts.

Secret Societies and the Deep State

It is amazing to me the new war on the intelligence community presently being waged by the right and its proxies.  Of course, for most of the combatants, the word intelligence is reason enough for the fight.  They certainly don't believe you need it in order to oppose  it.  Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is a case in point.  He maintains that a "secret society" exists in the FBI which is planning a coup against tRump.  Meanwhile, Rushbo opines that although the "deep state" couldn't get Al Gore elected in 2000, it was able to finagle the Shrub into going to war in Iraq by feeding him false intel regarding Sadaam's WMD.  As in all of its conspiracy theories, the right attributes nearly supernatural powers to its foes, even as it mocks their weakness.  What is particularly crazy about the latest jihad is its focus on the agencies in the government the right has historically supported.  The FBI, the NSA and CIA have fought against all the shibboleths of the right.  Communists, socialists, black panthers and liberals of every stripe were the targets of the buttoned down G-Men.  Of course, the communists are now the allies of the NRA and right thinking Murcan's, so Russian meddling in US elections by definition cannot be a bad thing.  I imagine the National Review will be quoting Pravda as a source in the near future.

Them was the good old days

One of Canada's largest grocery chains, Sobeys, has partnered with a British firm to begin a home delivery program in many eastern cities.  It will start by 2020 in Toronto.  When you step back and think about the idea, in many ways it seems like a solution looking for a problem.  The ostensible reason for home delivery is millenials seem to have no time to spend shopping and are looking to outsource the onerous task.   As a barely technology literate baby boomer, the whole thing seems like more trouble than it is worth.  Leaving aside the fact the entire UK could fit into one of Canada's smaller provinces and the British company's business model is predicated on a densely populated model, where is the constituency for this service.   I can remember the milkbox on our back porch back in the 50's and the glass milk containers sealed with a small piece of cardboard.  The deliveryman was one of several who dropped off milk and pastries to a clientele widely separated geographically and not nearly as mobile as the following generation would be.  As more local stores opened, the delivery model became less and less profitable.  Why should it suddenly become relevant again in an era when there are seemingly stores on every street corner.  I'm mystified even by the local Hannaford's "to go" program which essentially shops for you after you send in the order.  You still have to go to the store, pay the bill and pick up your groceries.  The time savings seems negligible to me.   It will be interesting to see if Sobeys new initiative is economically viable.

Being a Democrat means always having to say you're sorry

It is hard to be a member of the Democratic political party in 2018.   The energy surrounding the party is energizing and palpable.  Constituencies that never had representation, such as LGBTQ and Dreamers have found champions.  Women in the age of tRump are also feeling empowered.  The massive marches over the weekend proved to many that the women's movement is here to stay and will make a huge difference in the next election cycle.  However, many of the stakeholders in the party and the media are still operating like it's 1999.  The government shutdown over the weekend is a case in point.  The media couldn't condemn the movement fast enough with the explicit message that Dems were losing the battle with McConnnel and his henchman.  So Schumer accepted CHIP funding and a nebulous promise that there would be a DACA vote before the latest CR expires on Feb. 8.  The real solution to the problem will be Dem majorities in the House and Senate, and if the party plays the excellent hand Cheeto Jesus has dealt them the election of 2018 will provide the votes needed to fix the immigration system.  In the meantime, continuing apologies to a disappointed base will be the order of the day.

Being the grownup is hard

Sometimes this government seems like a group of 10 year olds trying to decide what to do on a Saturday afternoon.  Almost everyone has a pretty good idea, but one or two loud voices proclaim their way is the only one which will produce a good outcome.  So the argument goes on until it is too late to do anything but head home for dinner.  When the parents ask what happened during the day, the response is "nothing".   Fast forward to 2018.  The ten year olds are now leading Congress and the *president is again proving he is only 9 and insecure about it.  Unfortunately, thanks to gerrymandering and voter suppression by the GOP and a Democratic party made up of historically politically apathetic voters, we are now at a crossroads.  Will the grownups take charge and move the country forward or will the 10 year olds continue to dither.

Golfing while the American Dream burns

What more perfect metaphor for the dysfunctionality of our political system than the spectacle of the *president heading to south Florida for a golf weekend as the Congress struggles to keep the government funded as it faces a government shutdown at midnight.  I won't even go into the details of the hush money tRump's personal lawyer paid a porn star to not spill the beans regarding sexual encounters (ugh!) with the putative commander in chief.  There have been a half dozen scandals regarding the *president in the past year which would have toppled any other administration in US history.  The bar is now set so low that the Donald's boast he could shoot someone dead in broad daylight on 5th Avenue in NYC and not be prosecuted is starting to seem prophetic.  However, the idea we should stand by as this travesty of a man spends the weekend golfing while the fate of nearly a million "dreamers' are held hostage is more than this observer can stand. 

The stupid....it hurts

This morning, I steeled myself and checked out the letters to the editor section of the paper of record.   Because the Gray Lady has consistently criticized the tRump administration (or lack thereof) since its inception, the editors felt they needed to print letters from supporters of Cheeto Jesus.  Needless to say, most of them were as appallingly uninformed as you would expect the average viewer of Faux News.  For the most part they credit the continued strength of the economy to The Donald and laud a foreign policy which has seen our standing around the world sink to new lows.  The latest news regarding the *president's affair with a porn star will probably just increase their support of their testosterone fueled leader.  That he treats the press as an "enemy of the people" is a feature, not a bug.  I have no doubt 30% of the German population would have written similarly fulsome paeans to Hitler in 1944.  There seems to be an irreducible percentage of the population of any given country who applaud an authoritarian leader, even one as lazy, ignorant and bumbling as the miscreant now holed up in the White House.  I look forward to the Times dedicating its editorial section to those of us who voted for Hillary Clinton and what we make of the contrast between her and the poison pill we swallowed last November.

How we need to stop worrying and love the bomb

According to National Review columnist David French, people need to think clearly about nuclear war!   After all, even if a North Korean nuke hit the center of Honolulu, only a fraction of the people in the city would be killed!  French says the survivors should make sure they have shelter and supplies so they can continue living until help arrives.  Imagine, normalization of a potential nuclear war.  It brings to mind the "duck and cover" drills my fellow boomers endured in grammar school in the 50s and 60s.  How anyone believes civilization will carry on in the event of even a minor nuclear exchange is far beyond me.  If you take a hard look at how our modern world is organized, most people would agree a nuclear event in even one major US city would virtually destroy the economy.  Imagine hundreds of thousands dead and millions more exposed to lethal doses of radiation.  As one commentator put it, " conservatives must feel they will win the feudal games".  The rugged survivalists with their arsenals will live a few days longer than the rest of us, until their water runs out and the supply of beef jerky is poisoned.  Welcome to the latest fantasy.

More in anger than in sorrow

As has been asked so many times in the last year, has the *president gone too far in his latest rant about immigration from "shithole" countries?  Judging by the diametrically opposite takes from right wing and mainstream media sources, it all depends on who you talk to.  Most congressional republicans either deplore the comment or more reprehensively deny it was made, as per the new line from the White House.  In the country, only 31% of respondents in a recent poll feel tRump is preserving the American way of life.   If the 69% who disagree with that statement vote their feelings in November, there will be many sleepless nights in the West Wing in 2019.   Meanwhile as his proverbial Rome ignites and burns, The Donald celebrated MLK day by playing golf at his exclusive course in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.  No word on who was included in his foursome, but it is doubtful any of them were black.  Disrespecting Dr. King was probably not a conscious decision by Cheeto Jesus, but just a normal day for this profoundly dysfunctional jerk.

Bitterly below

At 18 below zero Fahrenheit, stuff happens.   If you have a weak battery, your car will not start.  If you have electric windows on said car, they won't open, although why you would want to roll them down in that temperature is questionable.   We had that kind of weekend on the NCR.  Rain on Friday causing ice jams and flooding on many rivers, followed by 10 or more inches of snow and the aforementioned freezing temperatures.  Fortunately, the snow ended early enough on Saturday so clearing the driveway was not  a matter of guesswork in the dark.  Ah, winter in the north country!

The mythical Boomer power trip

I meant to rant about how the baby boomers screwed up the world ever since the first one was conceived in the late 1940s, but in a Trumpian moment, I forgot about it.   Now, Joe Biden has reopened the debate by telling millenials to "Give me a break" if they are feeling they have it tougher than boomers.  Personally, I think Uncle Joe should STFU and fade into the sunset.  If he is even a Boomer it is just by courtesy, as he is over 70 which as far as I can tell makes him one of the younger members of the "greatest generation".  I will grant to millenials they have it harder than most of us did.   Even if you financed your entire college education in the 1960s and 70s with borrowed money you wound up with a manageable student loan which depreciated in the early 80s with high inflation.  Meanwhile, a 4 year education today can run upwards of $200.000.  This sum entitles you to a job which pays in inflation adjusted terms less than most boomers made in the 80s.  However, the rap that boomers screwed up the entire world is laughable.  Carter, Reagan, George Bush the elder were from the aforementioned "greatest".  While not responsible for the conditions which led to the Great Depression and WW2, the survivors of these events reaped the rewards of being the lone superpower for a generation and proceeded to despoil the world in an orgy of consumption.  Many boomers rebelled against this regime, but through the early 90s were not in powerful positions in government or industry.  Even Bill Clinton and the Shrub were fringe boomers who got to where they were by sucking up to their elders.  Al Gore might have been the only one of us who might have altered the trajectory we are on, but he was effectively silenced by the media noise machine controlled by people with the conscience of a Rupert Murdoch.  What I am saying is the first boomers with any power were in the Obama administration and they were effectively hamstrung by elderly republicans in Congress.  I hate to say it, but the tRump administration is staffed up with many boomers who ventured to the dark side.  If this is truly the time boomers are finally wielding real power, I admit I am ashamed of my generation.  I can only hope the 2018 and 2020 elections allow us some chance at redemption.  But to say we are responsible for our present predicament is simplistic and unjust.

Mayhem at the Daycare center

Cheeto Jesus let the cat out of his racist bag yesterday.   At a "bipartisan" ( one democrat and a dozen republicans) meeting to discuss immigration reform, our president let it be known he resents the fact we admit brown or black skinned people from "shithole countries" like Haiti, El Salvador and most of Africa.  Instead we should be encouraging immigration from countries like Norway.  Now, there is no way to spin this admission, and thankfully the White House didn't even try.  I wouldn't want to be the press secretary at today's briefing for any amount of money.  The spawn of Huck will earn every penny she is paid when confronting the fallout from her boss' admission of blatant racism.  Of course there are many of my fellow Americans who will cheer this new low in presidential rhetoric.  I almost wax nostalgic for Tricky Dick and his homespun way with words.

Crime and coverup

As more and more evidence piles up pointing to collusion between the tRump campaign and various Russian entities, it becomes more and more difficult for the GOP to continue running interference for The Donald and his administration.  More than 30 republicans are already heading for the exits and each "retirement" makes democratic control of the House more likely.  Imagine democrats with subpoena powers giving the White House a proctology examination for 2 full years!  In the process, they will probably also uncover the conspiracy of obstruction the republican party has deployed to cover up their president's crimes.  I wonder if some of them may be vulnerable to obstruction of justice charges.

Healthy, wealthy, but not so wise

According to the latest studies on health and mortality, the wealthiest 1% of men can now expect to live to the ripe old age of 89, an increase of 6 years of life expectancy since 1980.  The poorest 20% on the other hand will live to an average of 79 years, a zero gain since the previous study.  I don't know  about you, but 13 years seems to me like a pretty large gap.  Some of the difference is caused by the opioid epidemic, some by poor health habits like smoking and obesity, but the major cause is the increasing wealth gap between the rich and poor which is being exacerbated by the latest rounds of tax cuts.  People making $10,000 or less will see their taxes increase by $182.00/year through 2027, while millionaires will see their taxes cut by over $6,000.00/year during the same period.  Meanwhile, the dismantling of the ACA and failure to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program will continue to make health care for the poorest among us a precarious proposition.   This is just one  in a continuum of issues which increasingly stratify the social classes in the US based on shares of the national wealth.  But it is also the most glaring difference.  13 years of life stolen from the poorest by the wealthiest.  

Transportation

Most Americans are blissfully unaware of transportation costs.   Many who buy from online retailers such as Amazon, QVC and Wayfair seem to think free delivery implies no costs.  The reality is somewhat different.   Most freight in the US moves by truck, and the regulations controlling trucks are changing for safety related reasons.   Truckers will now be regulated by electronic logs which are virtually impossible to evade.   Drivers will have to shut down and rest after a 10 hour shift, whether they have been driving or waiting to load and unload.  While these regulations have been in effect for those hauling "dry freight" for some time, it now applies to all long haul trucking.  The effects on food prices, especially perishables like fruit and vegetables will be felt both immediately and long term.   For many items, like potatoes and other traditionally cheap bulk vegetables, the freight to move them may actually exceed the value of the commodity itself.   This has happened rarely in the past, but will now become a commonplace.  The distribution system Americans take for granted is changing and will become increasingly expensive over time.

Thanks Obama

According to Kevin Drum, the republican party as an institution is in its death throes.   As things now stand, with even a moderate democratic party turnout in the mid-term elections this year, the GOP will be "squashed like bugs".  This will in turn exacerbate a long time defection of white voters who will be increasingly disgusted by the party's appeal to a racist, xenophobic base of low information voters.  tRump's share of the overall white vote declined from Mitt Romney's share.  He did attract more high school graduates, but lost among college educated voters.  Republicans will continue to lose the more educated white demographic even as their brand becomes ever more toxic to blacks, Hispanics and Asians.  It looks like the republican party will become a regional party who will control vast swaths of rural America in the short run, but as more rational redistricting is forced on gerrymandered states by the courts, the GOP will cease to exist as a factor in national politics.  Future historians will point to Obama's election as one of the precipitating events in the demise of one of the two national political parties at the beginning of the 21st century.   Thanks Obama.

Climate change blues

The east coast of the US represents about 1% of the land mass of the earth.  Unfortunately it also is the present nexus of global power.    The wielders of this power in many cases have a vested interest in continuing the world's reliance on burning fossil fuels to produce energy.  Certainly the present administration and the majorities of House and Senate republicans prefer to continue our suicidal energy choices.   They will be pointing to the record cold blanketing the eastern US as some sort of proof that "global warming" is a hoax.  The truth is, 90% of the rest of the world is baking in record warmth.  2017 will either be the warmest year on record globally or certainly in the top 5.  That all the warmest years have happened in the last 10 years is not a coincidence.   If there are any humans alive in 500 years, the historians among them will point to the climate anomaly on the most powerful nation of the early part of the 21st century as possibly the major cause of irreversible climate change which may well render many parts of the globe uninhabitable 100 years from now.  Meanwhile, pass the hot chocolate and put another log on the fire!

The grifter and family

With the publication of Michael Wolff's new book, "Fire and Fury" we can pretty much confirm this is an accidental presidency.  That most aides and staff quickly concluded their boss was little better than the village idiot is cold comfort.  Thanks to Russian collusion, James Comey and a national press obsessed with "both siderism" we will probably have to deal with this until at least 2020.  The scary part is, even if every allegation in the book is confirmed, tRump would get at least 30% of the vote running against a generic democrat and probably more if the opponent was a woman.  Somewhere, Jesus weeps.

Grumpy New Year

Being in the produce business is an exercise in disappointment.   Trucks not available, produce not available, customers not available.  When two out of three are available, the third is not.  Long holiday weekends in the winter are the absolute worst.  People are sick, trucks don't start.  Customers are cranky and so it goes.   The weather is brutal from southern Florida to northern Quebec and everywhere between the extremes and it is supposed to get worse this weekend with high temps below zero here on the NCR.   Happy New Year!