Breathe Deep, the Gathering Gloom

It is a Tuesday morning in the Realm and I am at home in my Hunker-Bunker almost enjoying a month-long vacation from people. The wife-unit is up in Canookistan for the week working on some Netflix show, and I have sole custody of the cat.

We are getting ready to renovate another property next month, and I need to take a break now or it will be six months before I have the time to take another. In addition to the new carpet, vinyl, closet systems and furniture, I have 228 new geothermal heat pumps, a new cooling tower and closed loop to install during this reno. The old system is from 2006 and a bit past its EOL.

Out with that old, in with the new…

I say I’m ‘almost’ enjoying the vacation. I don’t do vacations well.

Headlines That Caught My Eye This Morning

Ugh. The news is like finding a pound of old raw hamburger in the back of your refrigerator. You know it looks bad through the plastic wrapper, and will smell even worse if you were to open it to stuff down the disposal.

Item 1: Johnson’s risky impeachment bet

The odds of getting Democrats and Republicans in Congress to agree on anything as comprehensive as healthcare or immigration is about the same as winning the grand prize on a slot machine. It doesn’t happen often, and the missed opportunities only add to the odds of ever accomplishing anything. Even greater are the odds of getting control of the White House and both Houses of Congress with a super-majority in the Senate.

Whenever you get one of those magic moments, you usually try to move heaven and earth to squeeze whatever you can out of those opportunities. If you are winning an on an issue that has stymied your party for decades, you should LEAP at the opportunity before it fades away.

What is Johnson doing in the House these days?

He’s trying like hell to get enough support to pass Articles of Impeachment against the DHS Secretary in a House with a majority of one vote, for … checking notes … refusing to close the border without legal authority that WOULD have been given to him should the House decide to pass the proposed bipartisan legislation in the Senate.

While there is always the slim chance that Trump may be elected president in November, there is more of a chance of the moon colliding with Texas on January 22, 2025 at 1300 hrs than Congress ever getting together and passing any kind of comprehensive legislation on immigration in the Trump regime.

That’s just reality.

Item 2: Toby Keith, country singer-songwriter, dies

That was a bit of a shock for me this morning.

Item 3: Florida could adopt new solution to homeless crisis: camps

Excuse me, but new to whom? Seattle has been dealing (poorly) with homelessness since 1854. We even have our own wiki page on the subject. I-5 is an elevated freeway that elevated for almost ten miles through the city. The areas underneath this stretch of freeway has always been called “the Jungle”, and there have always been hundreds of people living there.

Up until the last ten years, it’s pretty much been one of those “out of sight, out of mind” kind of problems. I mean, everyone knew there were homeless people living in Seattle, but nobody really knew (or even cared) about the extent. The homeless either camped out under the freeway in little communities or the more enterprising would use whatever little cash they could scrape up and get a motel room for a night or a week.

There is no one definitive reason or cause for homelessness. While drugs and crime are associated with homelessness, not every homeless person uses drugs or commits crimes. Very few are ‘lazy’, and it might surprise you to learn how many are holding down jobs. Good jobs. Most homeless people aren’t there by choice.

Why do homeless people turn down services?

There are a few very legitimate reasons, and they might surprise you. First of all, being homeless is a full-time job. Your everything is what you have constructive possession of — basically what you can carry with you. If your life is centering around being employed, you have a schedule you are required to follow. You have to be able to present yourself with clean hygiene and a safe place to stash your belongings, while at the same time protecting the space you have to sleep. If you need additional services, you would have to take a day out to just apply for that. If you DO get into the first stage of a shelter, there are curfews that do not allow for a full time job.

For ANY homeless program to work, they need to start subsidizing existing rents, and deposits for those homeless people who cannot afford the market price for rent. They also need to start building more low-income housing to replace the tens of thousands of low-income units that they tore down. THEN they can start focusing on those people with needs, such as a criminal court for the criminals, and drug and alcohol treatment for the addicted.

That’s too fucking expensive, you fucking liberal!

Is it? Do you know how much money Seattle/King County has spent on homelessness in the past ten years without anything to really show for it?

Over a billion bucks.

You read that right. We’ve spent a billion bucks in the past ten years, only to see it increase. That’s just Seattle. Virtually every major-metropolitan city in not only this country, but Canada as well has spent billions of bucks on trying to ‘solve’ the homeless problem. The ONLY thing they haven’t done is to actually subsidize some or all of the rent for the homeless and marry it with a social-service “safety-net” that addresses the problems and ‘graduates’ the individuals up and out of the program.

King County is trying to do something like that by buying up older motels and inns and converting them to housing for the homeless, but boy-howdy, the people living in those areas are pitching a bitch because of it. Everyone wants something to be done about the homeless, just don’t house ANY of them in MY neighborhood…

Item 4: Rashida Tlaib outraises entire Michigan congressional field

It’s the end of the world as we know it — and I feel fine.

I don’t know why people are surprised or shocked about any of this. You may not like anything about Rashida Tlaib or her politics, but she does represent ONE district out of 435 districts in this grand and diverse nation. and apparently enough people in that district like and approve of her to keep sending her back to the Swamp to represent them. The fact that she has raised the most money out of all the other congresscritters in Michigan is only a testament to her superior ability to con suckers out of their cash.

Are we complaining because a Muslim Congresscritter of Palestinian extract has raised a larger bucket of cash than everyone else, or are we admiring her ability to sucker the rubes?

I’m guessing it all depends on whether you like and/or respect her or not.

Item 5: Arizona GOP lawmakers back bill to prohibit satanic displays on public property

From the “Be Careful of What You Are Asking For” Department

Remember all those state and local legislatures that started created laws and ordinances allowing things like the Ten Commandments and other Judeo/Christian memorabilia to be erected and displayed on public property? If you allow one religion or belief, you MUST allow any and all others.

Item 6: Appeals court denies Trump immunity in DC election case

Well, of course. There is no such thing as “total immunity” for anyone in this country. A president is “immune” for the lawful activities that fall within the scope of his or her position. Bill Clinton, while president, committed a felony for which he was charged and convicted after he left office. The last I looked blow-jobs in the Oval Office is not within the scope of duties of a sitting president. Neither are campaign activities such as delivering a political speech at a rally.

Trump was a citizen while he served as POTUS. The POTUS is immune, the citizen is not.

Item 7: People really think Netflix turned Alexander The Great gay

They also made Freddy Mercury and George Michael gay, dammit!

Oh fer fuck’s sake, are we now complaining about likelihood of Alexander the Great being gay? If you hadn’t noticed, almost every historical and modern depiction of the guy has him looking pretty fucking gay, if you ask me. Imagine being dominated by Alex…

Honestly? I am not offended, nor do I care. Does his sexual proclivities detract from the underlying story? Nope. It’s not a life style story, it’s a story based on historical facts.

You will never find an “historical accurate” story on Alexander the Great or any other historical person or event. We only have the ‘highlights’ of those people and events, and for Alexander, the amount of actual information we have is surprisingly little, relative to other people and events. This leaves a lot of ‘creative license’.

That said, there is some evidence that Alexander the Great might have favored men.

But again, who the fuck cares?

Item 8: Tesla driver pulled over after wearing new Apple vision glasses on highway

“Tesla Driver” is the new “Florida Man”.

Sadly, we can’t keep the “Tesla Driver” in Floriduh. I just had to check: this particular “event” was in Palo Alto California, apparently in the western cousin-sister-uncle state of Floriduh.

We have a shitload of Tesla Drivers here in Seattle, and a lot of them would still have trouble being a passenger in a Toyota Camry, let alone a driver of a Tesla. A lot of them will let the ‘auto-pilot’ take over while they put their make-up on in the morning — on the freeway. So why should it surprise anyone that someone would be driving a Tesla with a brain chip and virtual reality?

I mean, look at the idiot at running the company..

What In The Hell Did I Just Watch?

La Brea – Peacock Plus

On September 26, 2021, a massive sinkhole opens in the middle of Los Angeles at the site of the La Brea Tar Pits and Wilshire Boulevard. Hundreds of people, vehicles and buildings (including the distinctive Petersen Automotive Museum) are pulled into its depths. The survivors find themselves trapped in a mysterious and dangerous primeval land where they must band together to survive. The show follows Eve Harris, Gavin Harris, Izzy Harris, and Josh Harris who are separated by the events and attempting to reunite. Gavin has visions providing glimpses of when and where Eve and Josh are. The sinkhole and the sudden appearance of Teratornis has attracted the attention of the United States Department of Homeland Security who are studying a similar event in the Mojave Desert. As the series progresses, the investigators realize that the sinkholes provide a temporary portal to the same location in 10,000 BC. Meanwhile, the survivors struggle to find a way back through the portal before it closes.

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.