REPOSTED FROM: Really? Seriously?
Good morning from my Hunker-Bunker perched on a hill overlooking the Puget Sound in West Seattle. It is 0600, and as I gaze out the window at my desk, I see only the reflection of myself, as it is still a bit darkish outside. It is 42° F and overcast outside according to the little guy trapped inside my Echo Dot. He tells me that it will be 51° F and our usual rain drizzle off and on throughout the day. My only plan for today is spring cleaning the Hunker-Bunker, hauling a bunch of trash to the dump, and doing battle with Social Security first thing this morning. So basically, my plan is to slog through the day, in various stages of anger and disgust — most of it directed at “the government”, of course.
Tell me, which do you think is worse dealing with, the IRS or Social Security? Have you ever tried to contact either on the phone in the past year or so? See what I mean?
The news seems “interesting” this morning. There’s a lot to snort and snicker at. I’ll try to keep it balanced, but my main go-to for crazy news in the morning is Drudge because I am usually in a hurry to belch this out so I can get on with my real-life daily activities. A person should only wallow in this shit for so many minutes a day…
Headlines That Caught My Eye This Morning
Item 1: What’s Wrong With the Economy? It’s You, Not the Data
A large number of us have this really sour outlook on our lives as it relates to the economy. I am constantly seeing memes posted on FaceCrack showing photos of what $100 worth of groceries looks like today. Some of it is exaggerated, or distorted by buying the most expensive brand to amplify the point, but the point is still valid: groceries do cost about $30 more per $100 than they did five years ago. “In my day, gas cost 22 cents a gallon. Those were the days…”
Yes, when I first started driving, you could fill up your car for under five bucks. Sounds cheap, doesn’t it? If only gas were that cheap now… But the thing is, gas wasn’t cheap back then, any more than it is expensive now. Relatively speaking, it’s about the same now as it was back then. What has changed is the value of our dollar, relative to when I first started driving.
The global inflation, brought on by a global pandemic that completely shut down major supply chains coupled with our own increased spending throughout that pandemic has raised prices faster than would have normally occurred. That extra forty-one cents you pay for a gallon of milk? Picture those prices in 2028 instead of 2024, if there hadn’t been a global pandemic. That’s where we would have been during a normal inflationary rates.
So we are getting ‘sticker shock’. I bought a dozen eggs for $5.59 yesterday. It seems like it was not that long ago that I was paying $2.29 for 18 eggs. Not being one to restrain my vocal disgust, I blurted out loud enough to be heard three aisles over, “What in the FUCK?!“… (I have no filter in public, and I am often strategically loud, as most of my friends can uncomfortably attest LOL)
The thing is, our incomes have increased considerably in the past five years and for the most part has kept pace with the rise in costs. But as always, the increase in income will lag the increase of costs.
At a risk of sounding trite, we have entered another “new normal”. Unlike previous periods of inflation, where spending shrank as a result of higher prices, Americans have spent the past five years spending like drunken sailors. Many of us spent windfall money on home improvement projects, putting an even greater strain on the supply chain. Our demand for supply at inflated prices increased in the face of economic ‘norms’.
Are you better off today than you were five years ago?
Many off us are. Some of us are still catching up, for whatever reasons they have. But it is hard to ignore the fact that there are a shitload of people in this country who are homeless, substance-addicted-turned-criminal nuisances. It should be a national shame, given the fact that almost all of them ended up where they are at because they were priced out of their existing homes and had nowhere else to go. But that is a subject for rant another time.
The point is, most of us are in a better position now than we were a few years ago, but it is all relative.
Could it be better? Sure, I suppose so, but it would only be temporary. By its nature, the economy is always in flux. Sometimes it is working in our favor, other times it is screwing us. We try to stay on top of the waves.
Item 2: Tired of late messages from your boss? A new bill aims to make it illegal.
You are under NO obligation to be around a phone when you are no longer on the clock. The only exception would be if your job required you to be “on call”, during certain established periods. If that’s the case, then you probably should be compensated for it.
Just don’t answer the phone.
Item 3: Behind the Curtain: How Trump’s mind works
The headline makes it hard for anyone not want to at least scan the article. We all have that morbid curiosity that makes it impossible to resist looking. I mean, go ahead, try not to click on the link.
But hey, check out Deejay T’s playlist at Trump’s clubs…
Are they going to put him before a firing squad, with Governor Abbott giving the order to “FIRE!”?
Item 5: Israel’s Protest Movement Re-Emerges With Focus on Bringing Down Netanyahu
• Call for Early Elections
• Pressure grows to suspend arms exports to Israel
• Tel Aviv GPS Scrambles as Awaits Iran Revenge Attack
There were FOUR related headlines on Drudge this morning, meaning there is a LOT going on over there and none of it is any good.
As I’ve been pointing out off and on over the past six months, there were a lot of things going on in Israel over the past eighteen months that wasn’t being covered in the rage-driven cable news channels or partisan social media platforms because it didn’t involve ‘stolen elections’ and other ‘conspiracies’, Right and Left grievances and other sorted partisan scandal. Israel’s troubles was just internal squabble to most people that was pretty much ignored.
But Israel, originally a secular nation being taken over by the Religious Right (a topic I would be glad to debate any time you want) has been pushing back against the pre-war coalition government and Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to neuter the Judicial branch of government to avoid criminal prosecution for his alleged personal crime(s). (Seems to be a lot of that going around lately, huh?)
Throughout the past Summer and into the Fall, a growing number of people were coming out to protest against Netanyahu’s government. There was a greater pressure calling for a new election prior to the Hamas attack on October 7th. Unless you were getting your news from “outside sources” such as the BBC and other international news sources, you probably got the highlights if you heard anything about it at all. If anything did manage to make it onto cable news, it was usually misinformation or complete misrepresentation of the events. It probably is/was considered ‘Left-wing’ agitation.
They weren’t just the “Left” who were protesting. Israel has a large population of secular and non-Jewish people who are not on board with a Right wing authoritarian government. They are not on board with the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, nor do they support the wanton murder of Palestinian land owners by Jewish settlers taking over that land because they were told they have the right to by the government. Members of the IDF have also been involved in the murders of Palestinian people and have literally gotten away with it. Israelis are starting to take notice, and have been protesting this as well.
But we don’t get that kind of news here on the cable news channels unless it is skewed in in direction that fits our US/political viewpoint of the world based on your brand of the “News”.
If you want to know what is REALLY going on in the world, and even right here in our own country, I would suggest checking in with the BBC World Service News.
WARNING: A lot of what you hear may come as a shock to your pre-conceived notions and world viewpoints. It may even upset you. But understand you are getting the actual views and voices of people currently on the ground, personally witnessing events, not writing about them thousands of miles away from the event. If nothing else, it gives you the vantage of seeing the world from other people’s eyes…
There seems to be a conspiracy for just about everything now. Some shadow group is pulling the stings on everything. Joe Biden is on a mission to ruin Easter. Space lasers and Jews. Nothing is as it seems. “They” are out to get us. Enslave us. Kill us…
We stream too much dystopian entertainment — it is showing in how we view the world…
When you start adding religious faith to the equation, you can get some people who “see” things that us non-believers (or non-delusional — your pick) don’t.
I’m sure that I am a “wicked” person in the eyes of quite a few people. It’s alright, my outright disdain for organized religion in general sustains me and comforts me against being even the least concerned. I love being told that I am “going to Hell” if I don’t chance my ways. Wouldn’t I first have to believe in the concept of “hell” before I become concerned about it?
Besides, from everything I’ve ever read or heard about Satan, he sounds like a pretty normal guy to me. He doesn’t seem to have any serious hang-ups. A bit misunderstood, if you ask me. Seems to get kind of a bad rap, for nothing…
They will never catch me. I’m too smart for them. I took all the precautions to cover my ass, they will never know it was me.
Item 8: Noted Tesla bear says Musk’s EV maker could ‘go bust’ and stock is worth $14
In case you haven’t been paying attention, ‘Elmo’ Musk has been slowly losing his mind over the past few years. ‘Eccentric’ would be putting it mildly. Maybe it is his abuse of mind-altering drugs along with cocaine, meth, and opiates, to regulate his mood. He’s become a drug-addled buffoon who has been losing money hand-over-fist. It has gotten so bad that the US Government is concerned about possible national security issues as it relates to its numerous government contracts with his companies.
Item 9: Christianity’s decline has unleashed terrible new gods
Item 10: What Are We Told About the Health of Biden and Trump? They Decide.
NEWSFLASH: I hate to break it to you, but we have never been privy to the health and welfare of any of our previous presidents. We weren’t aware of Reagan’s mental decline during his second term in office. We weren’t told of Nixon’s alcoholism, we heard nothing of Kennedy’s Addison’s disease. We knew nothing FDR’s bad health. We were never aware of Woodrow Wilson’s stroke while in office, where his wife literally ran the presidency for the rest of his term.
We can only go with what they, or their handlers want us to know, and by what we can can observe by whatever video footage we view. Sometimes we get to see one of them trip or stumble, and it gets amplified by showing it over and over again. You should see me stumble and trip on the stupidest things. It can be pure comedy.
Do both of these guys blurt out the craziest shit?
Does a chicken have lips? Of course they do. They all did and will. Bush was famous for his “Bushisms”, remember those?
Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.
What In The Hell Did I Just Watch?
The Accountant – Netflix
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.
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