Good Friday morning from my Hunker-Bunker overlooking the Puget Sound in Seattle.  It’s a balmy 38° F outside, my cat is snoring on her pedestal next to me and the geothermal heat pumps and floor heaters in this joint are keeping the place at a comfortable 70°F .  I don’t have to be anywhere but here today and I intend to take full advantage of having nothing constructive to do.  Including posting here.  LOL

In case you didn’t notice, I’ve taken all of the music I’ve posted here so far and made one continuous jukebox.  You can  look in the menu above for FULL MUSIC LIST, click the link here:

>>FULL MUSIC LIST<<

I take requests, you know.  This is but a tiny fraction of what I have.  Okay, on with the day…

Without any further ado…

Headlines That Caught My Eye This Morning

Item 1:   Johnson feels heat from Trump, conservatives to reject Senate border deal

As the MAGA turns…

This isn’t about the border.  It has absolutely nothing to do with what is needed or what’s best for the country as a whole.   It is ALL  about ‘party purity’, and never passing anything unless the majority — if not the entire party is voting in favor.    It doesn’t even matter if most House Republicans are on board with something, all it takes is the thumbs down by one member of the minority-led “Freedom Caucus” to put the kibosh on anything.  Never mind that the realities of the numbers in Congress pretty much indicates that this is the best deal they will ever get during the rest of this legislative session.

But this is also a presidential election year, and some Republicans say a deal could neutralize a potent political issue for their party.  So this has NOTHING to do with country, and EVERYTHING to do with one political party, and to hell with the roughly 70 percent who do not identify with that malignant party.

Since the House is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, Republicans hardly have any kind of a ‘mandate’ to do anything radical at the moment.  With the Senate in control of the Democrats, and the need to reach at least a sixty percent bipartisan threshold to pass anything, it would require a BIPARTISAN effort in BOTH fucking houses of Congress to get even the framework of a Migration/Immigration/Border policy law to pass and make it to the desk of the president.

This is that moment in time that is guaranteed to you.  Is it perfect?  Nope, and it probably never will be.  But it’s the proposal we have now, and if anyone wants to build on it in the future, then it’s already there, ready to go.  Nobody knows what the political situation will look like in 2025 until the election is all over and done with and a new POTUS and Congress is seated.

For fuck’s sake, take this proposal now.  Campaign on making it better.  Think of it as a good START.

But no, one of the usual Freedom Cocks will move to vacate, and they will spend the next month or so arguing over who is next to sit up on the dunking tank seat.

Item 2:   Bannon blasts Johnson for saying Biden presidency is ‘God’s will’

First:  Bannon?  ick.  What a greasy bile stain.  Second:  I agree with him in the sense that this isn’t a theocracy.  Third:  I get what Johnson was saying.  The non-secular version would go something like this:  “We get the president we were supposed to have at this moment”.    In this case, fate made Biden president.  That, and the Electoral College.  Also, COVID, the economy, COVID, the economy.  If the election had been held in November 2019, Trump might have won.

So basically, we ended up with the president we were supposed to have for that moment in time.  It just IS.  Or, “God’s will”, if you believe.

Item 3:   What Republicans Used to Believe

Oh wow.  Where to start.  I used to identify as a “Republican”.  I went “Independent” during first Reagan term, and have voted the Democratic ticket by necessity ever since.  I even skipped the 1984 and 1988 election cycle because I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either candidate.  I also skipped 2004 for the same reason.  I may skip this one coming up, and I am sure I am not alone.

But hey, if you want to see how much the Republican Party has changed, take a look at the 1956 Republican Party Platform in comparison to the Trumpublican Party today.  Yesterday’s ‘Dixiecrats’ are running today’s Trumpublican agendas.  For those of you who were unaware, it was the Republican Party that used to be the progressive party.  Democrats were the more socially conservative party.

Item 4:   ‘Strategic’ New Hampshire primary voters line up against Donald Trump

“Strategic”, meaning Left-leaning independent voters voting in a Republican primary.  Stacking the deck by interlopers.  It’s done every two years by people of either party.  It only works in the ‘winner-takes-all’ outcome.  The purely democratic way to do it is to just count the total number of votes for each candidate.  The candidate with the most votes wins the nomination.

I would also be in favor of an Amendment that does away with the Electoral College and just tally all the votes and the clown with the most votes becomes ringmaster of the circus for the next four years.

Item 5:   Flames seen shooting out of a Boeing 747, prompting an emergency landing in Miami

As someone who has never once even remotely been affiliated with the  National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), all I can give you is my out-of-my-ass opinion about this:

“Well, FUCK.  Good thing I wasn’t on that plane.”

Item 6:   Trump vs. Biden? No thanks. As 2024 election ramps up, many wish it were over

I think a lot of people will sit this one out if there isn’t a major shakeup in the next six months or so.

Item 7:   Insane Las Vegas Law Might Jail People for Taking Photos

Well, not quite.  Almost, but not quite.  It’s about loitering or lingering on major roads, bridges, and walkways for the purpose of getting that ‘perfect shot’.  There are a shitload of people trying to get somewhere, and if a handful of people are just stopping and snapping photos, then it clogs up the arteries and people can’t get to where they are going.  I see the logic in it.

But will things get as bad as the guy who wrote this story?  Will people end up in jail for six months for simply snapping a photo on your cell phone in Las Vegas?

No, of course not.  But if you are impeding the flow of traffic either on foot, in your car or on a donkey?  That’s what the ordinance is trying to control.  If it is used as a measure to stop people from any other constitutionally protected activity?  Then a court can weigh in and set limits.

Item 8:   Britain blows up drones with £140m LASER dubbed ‘DragonFire’ in incredible first – with each shot costing just a tenner

ZZZZAP!   Me Likes.

Item 9:   China Is Buying Up US Farmland, But Just How Much Isn’t Clear

This is absolute lunacy.  NO foreign nation should own even one square molecule of real estate on US soil.  A revocable lease?  Sure, but not own, even by proxy.  No property, water, mineral rights period.  Revocable for any reason.

Item 10: Elon Musk’s losing streak is heading for Tesla

Being a member of the “Lucky Sperm Club” does not make a person smart or a financial genius or wizard.  Maybe being an active drug addict isn’t helping things any?

Item 11:  Tesla owners complain they are stuck in “car graveyards” with batteries not charging

Yeah, some batteries lose efficiency at certain temperatures.  Maybe having some kind of heating system to keep the batteries warm might solve the problem?  I used to have a block heater on my vehicles when I lived in Toronto.  It was kinda mandatory if you wanted to start your car.    Glow plugs for diesels.  Does Tesla (or any of the other EV manufacturers) have a plan for cold weather like they’ve had in the mid-West?  It would be funny if Tesla has had a package to insulate and heat the batteries and customers chose not to add it.  This could be just like “undercoating”…

Item 12:  Hunter Biden Associate Says GOP Misrepresented His Closed-Door Testimony

Oh gee, BIG surprise here.  Look to see Abbie Lowell bring in their own court reporter so they can get their own verbatim transcript for public release.  It’s all about shining a bright light on these political cockroaches.

What In The Hell Did I Just Watch?

Detective Forst – Netflix

After a series of murders strike the Tatra Mountains, Detective Wiktor Forst steps in to solve the case with the help of journalist Olga Szrebska.  Another Polish crime drama.

Music I found on the Rott Server

Today’s selection brought to you by the letter

“T” and a couple of stragglers

Memes From the Meme Box

I receive dozens of memes in my Meme Box on a daily basis from people all over the landscape.  Some are political, some topical, but most are just everyday events with a little fun inserted.  My absolute favorite are just photos that will speak those thousand words clearly.

Whatever’s clever

“him”.

Kids are way too depressed these days…

This has to be a hoax.  I don’t think anyone is THIS stupid…

… but I could be wrong

Laters