So Much for Easing Off Into the Sunset

Early last month, I wrote a post about my hopes and dreams for retirement, which is that I can finally take it easy and do things that I want to do. Of course, my time frame was about two years down the road. Looks like that’s not happening.

Remember when I wrote about telling my boss my feelings about a prospective forced return to work? It’s not prospective anymore. They want us back in three days per week, starting right after Labor Day. Months ago, I heard it would happen when my company moves to a new building in January. But last week, my boss said the directive would be early September instead. I hoped there would be some kind of appeal process or other wiggle room to negotiate because I have no intention of complying.

Well, the memo came out yesterday and there was zero wiggle room. It’s happening to everyone, even those who don’t live near our offices. (I have no idea how that’s going to work.) It came from our CEO and contained lots of happy talk about enhanced collaboration and teamwork. They’re offering us two more personal days too, and two weeks in the summer when we can work from anywhere (just like I can right now).

As I mentioned before, I’m the only one who does what I do. If I were to disappear, they would be truly fucked. There are complicated processes and details surrounding my world. I have some self-written procedures, which I may or may not share. Without my guidance, no one would have the slightest idea what to do.

My first instinct was to nuke the whole thing from orbit, but after conferring with my brother, he convinced me I should offer the 90 days the company wants before retiring, on the condition that I do that time at home. He said I’d regret going out in a bad way. And if they don’t go along, I can retire effective the day after Labor Day, the first day we’d have to go in.

So I spoke to my boss this morning, and as I suspected, this is a universal edict. Even knowing the barrel I have them over, they would not let me run out my time training my replacement at home. So, I told her I’d be retiring on September 2^nd. I didn’t yell, didn’t get pissed, and just remained calm and resolute. I could see the panic set in as she realized that I couldn’t possibly train anyone fully in only 18 days, without devoting eight hours a day to it. And if I did that, all my real-time duties would remain undone. It’s not like I’m going to kill myself accommodating them, not after robbing me of two years’ work.

Yes, I know I could just go in, but I don’t see it that way. I feel like they changed the deal. They gave me 100% work-from-home status for the last five years, and my life is fully adapted to that. Going into the office again, with the 90-minute round-trip commute, lack of lunch options, and having to work in the middle of an open-walled circus, is not my idea of fun.

My dad always said he’d work as long as he enjoyed it and his boss didn’t bug him. I’ve been using that as my guide all along. I’m lucky that I have the option to retire. In fact, I told the boss this morning that if this had happened 10 years ago, “yes, I’d go into the office, but I’d be resentful and probably do a half-assed job.” All positive feelings about my work and the place would be gone; just as gone as the likelihood I’d ever take a call or answer an email after hours, like I do now.

She wanted me to talk to an HR guy and gave me his name, so I could “ask questions and learn about the process,” and I emailed him immediately. He never responded, which was not a surprise. I do want to hear what they have to say before I do anything irreversible, which is the only reason I didn’t submit my plans today. I wonder how many people are doing the same. Maybe I’m an outlier, maybe I’m part of an open rebellion. And maybe cooler heads will prevail, and accommodations will be made.

However, until then, my next task is to determine the maximum pressure my printer/scanner can withstand when I sit on the glass, to create my resignation letter.

Headline Newz

As one of the dozen or so people who still get a daily paper, I usually scan through the stories at lunchtime, on my way to the crossword puzzles, with an eye out for blogging opportunities, which I capture with my iPhone camera. There’s always something to latch onto, especially with my paper’s new ownership, namely the guy who owns Republican media mouthpiece Sinclair Broadcasting. They never fail to take the Republican side, not only on the editorial page, but throughout what’s supposed to be the straight news.

Very few of the stories are written by in-house staff. Most are farmed out to Sinclair and Fox News outlets. Like this one, from “The National Desk,” which is what Sinclair calls its national 10:00 PM news.

In a nutshell, this story gives credence to the Attorney General from Mississippi, who is complaining that AI is biased against conservatives. He goes on to blame fact-checking.

I can see where he’s got beef. When it functions properly, AI should deliver conclusions based on facts at hand. When these facts run contrary to Republican talking points, they must be “biased,” right? That’s how it works in the Republican media bubble. If the facts go against their dogma, the facts must be wrong. They’ve been believing their own bullshit for so long, it’s become second nature.

Pointing out what’s true and what’s false is not a matter of bias, but proof. And no proof will knock the scales from the eyes of these MAGA idiots.

Two weeks ago, there was a staff-written article about the Nation’s AG blaming lower courts for holding up too many of the president’s orders.

This could have easily been headlined, “President refuses to issue Constitutional orders.” Still, the paper takes the view that all those findings against the clearly unconstitutional executive orders coming from the White House are all a big conspiracy, rather than judges literally doing the jobs they are required to do.

It’s also rich that Republicans have used this very same machine to derail anything Biden or Obama tried to do, by filing lawsuits with judges known to be down with the Republican cause. See, when they do it, it’s fine. When it works against them, it’s a vast conspiracy.

Oh, and if you “have a tip” that makes Democrats look bad, be sure to hit up this writer, because they apparently can’t find enough news to report on their own, once they turn all the local Fox News stories into transcripts.

A couple of days before that last joke, they ran this one:

And this one is from the AP, so it’s presented fairly straight, as they quote someone labeling this attempt to re-categorize natural gas as green energy, as “green-washing.” This is just more Republican sophistry. The gas coming from the Louisiana swamps is cleaner than the hot air from those hyping this ploy.

Republicans are trying to repeat what they did when they created “clean coal,” something that never existed. They just changed what they called it and pretended they were actually doing something about climate change. Republicans understand that so many people never get into the weeds with details. They just skim the headlines and absorb the impressions contained therein. So it doesn’t matter if it’s really green or not; a lot of people will believe it is, which means Republicans have something other than an empty cupboard when their constituents want to know what they’re doing about the obvious weather volatility we’re experiencing.

“Hey, don’t blame us, we’re all-in on green natural gas. But the Democrats want you to give up your cars and ovens!”

Lastly, we have another AP article about one of the last remaining Republican wet dreams, getting rid of all limits on buying politicians political donations. 

As if Citizens United wasn’t bad enough, and to demonstrate how the rich are never satisfied with the billions they already have, now they want to remove all remaining barriers to literally buying federal policy that caters to them. Given how they’ve already ruined government, I have no doubt the Roberts Court will continue ransacking the government until we inevitably start putting the billionaires' pictures on our money.

The BUTTS Will Crack the Country

Looks like the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is halfway home, now that the House has passed its version. What it should be called is the Big Ugly Trump Tax Shift, or BUTTS Act. The tax cuts for the rich get the most publicity, but the Republicans stuffed a lot more in there to cement in their dream of a top-down economic system, meaning the top gets whatever they want and throw the scraps down to the rest of us.

We should be greatly alarmed at this turn of events. But not so alarmed as to make shit up. I almost lost my mind when I saw this meme floating around this weekend:

The thing that set me off was that first bullet, that the president can delay or cancel any election. That’s the big red button… the tool that sets them up for life, AND, the one I’ve been predicting they’ll use. And they may, but it’s not in the bill. I did a little digging and didn’t find any reference to canceling elections. (And I surfed through the bill itself, looking for the word “election.”) It’s not there, so that’s one bullet dodged, for now.

Also, there isn’t anything in there about identifying protesters, although there is a lot of material about the use of AI. The part I found galling is that there is language to prevent states from regulating the use of AI in advertisements. The Republicans are 100% against that because, obviously, AI makes their go-to tactic of disinformation that much more convincing. They’re literally enshrining their right to lie to us more effectively, for personal gain.

But there is plenty to scare you in this bill. This graphic does a good job of illuminating the heinous infiltration and dissolution of our current government:

Everything in here is designed to benefit those who have the most, and keep it that way. So far, all the GOP resistance has come from those who don’t think the denuding of the government has gone far enough. That’s why we have to bring pressure to bear on those few Republicans left who pretend to be moderate. We need the Lisa Murkowskis, Susan Collinses, and the like to step up and declare that they’re either representing their constituents or shilling for the rich.

Further, we need to make sure there are no Democratic turncoats… no Sinemas or Manchins to sabotage their own people. I’m not foolish enough to think that the Fat Cats haven’t bought themselves some Democrats, just in case.

But again, the thing that worries me is that the Republicans are acting like they don’t need to worry about any more elections. They’re rolling out this giant turd in public and telling easily disprovable lies about what it all means.

We do have some facts that favor the continuation of free elections. After all, the president only has limited power over the election process:

- Election Timing: The Constitution grants Congress the authority to set the timing of federal elections, meaning the President cannot unilaterally postpone or cancel an election.

- Election Oversight: Elections are primarily managed at the state level, with each state responsible for organizing and conducting its own elections.

- Emergency Powers: While the President has emergency powers, they do not extend to altering election dates without congressional approval.

- Influence on Election Laws: The President can advocate for changes to election laws, but actual changes require congressional action.

- Appointment Powers: The President appoints members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which oversees campaign finance laws.

That would all be fine, but it assumes that things are going to continue in a lawful manner. The way this administration has established itself, it has its own police force, direct control of the Justice Department, doesn’t follow judicial rules it doesn’t like, has the media playing cheerleader and whitewashing the ugly parts, so it is therefore answerable to no one. There’s nothing to stop them from rigging, nullifying, or indefinitely postponing meaningful elections.

Great Moments in Advertising

Now, so I don’t leave you ready to fling yourself out of a high-rise window (aka taking Putin’s Staircase), have a look at this shot I took from the TV yesterday from the Orioles/Cardinals game.

I want to know who green-lit the name of that tire company for use in America. Shouldn’t there have been someone in the room, some dude who knows American idiom, to go, ”Hey guys? I don’t think you realize how this is going to play to a bunch of drunks sitting on their couches.”

Sure, maybe the founder is a Kumho. And he probably comes from a long line of Kumhoes. And maybe this would work if they were selling rubbers and not tires.

If they insist on keeping the name, they should at least lean into it. Make some commercials that say,

“You’ll feel safe and secure on some Kumhoes.”

“Nothing gives you a smooth ride like Kumhoes.”

“Kumhoes will keep you in the driver’s seat all night long!”

I mean, how long until they roll out the advertising for their sister company, Stankyho?

Director's DVD Commentary: I probably shouldn't have cropped that picture so closely on the right because it looks like I clipped off some of the name. Rest assured that I did not. That is one righteous Kumho and not the creation of some fanciful editing.

Move In or Move On?

 I saw this story last week, which made me want to call “Shananigans!”

They also say that remote workers rank highest in “job engagement,” but they’d rather focus the headline to align with the corporate desire for butts in seats.

I think this poll was constructed to reach this conclusion. The people I know who work from home, like me, can’t be happier about it.

In fact, I just had a conversation with my boss about it last week. Our company is moving from our current office building into another one, after our lease expires in January. She said they’re looking for a full Return to Work for those assigned to the building. I responded that it’s good that I’m not assigned to the building, because I’d fight that with every fiber of my being.

She seemed surprised, not only that I don’t want to return, but that I’m not assigned to the building. She hasn’t been my boss for a year yet, so there are some things she doesn’t know. For example, in 2020, when COVID flipped the world upside down, my company rolled out a plan to let people work 100% from home if they met certain guidelines, which I did. So I jumped on that with both feet and was granted permanent WFH status. I said I’ve been happier here than during any other part of my professional career. That was only a slight exaggeration. There was a short time, back in the early 2000s, that I was part of a nice, young, fun crowd who would do things together off hours, all the time. But those days, as well as almost all of those people, are long gone.

She wondered if I’d gotten the email about the new building, which apparently went out last week. I said I hadn’t, probably because of what I had said earlier, that I’m not tied to the building. I told her I didn’t even get an invite to the last two Christmas parties we had there.

“So what don’t you like about the office?” she asked.

I gave her the full, unfiltered rundown: I am home alone all day long. That means no conversations or phone calls are going on around me, so I can concentrate much more easily. There are practically zero interruptions. I don’t have to get lunch out of a machine (which is our main choice at the office, if you don’t want to pay $25 for lunch at a nearby restaurant). I don’t have to maintain an office wardrobe. I don’t have a 90-minute round-trip commute, so once I log off, I’m at home with my wife, talking about our days. And with our “open-office” design since 2015, I’ve never been so uncomfortable at work throughout my entire office-dwelling career.

And before she could bring up missing out on the “collaboration” that management loves to promote, I said, since I’m the only one who does what I do, there is no need for me to collaborate with anyone. I have more than enough opportunities to talk with her about anything I may need during our scheduled calls. I ended by saying that the last five years have been a wildly successful proof of concept test because my areas of responsibility have never been in better shape.

So, will that get me out of moving back to the office next year? Maybe. Or maybe they’ll use that as a way to can my ass, to get out of paying me unemployment or a severance package. Because if they try to force me to go in, I’ll have to seriously consider immediate retirement. And do you remember how I’m the only one who does what I do? That would come back to take an expensive bite out of their corporate asses if I were to disappear.

The only thing that keeps me from making my retirement an absolute guarantee is the insurance aspect. I’d either have to pay through the nose for COBRA coverage or join my wife’s medical plan and lose all my doctors.

Sure, they can put the screws to me, but I can screw them right back. I’m hopeful that we can back away from the abyss and they can just let me do my job. In another year or two, I’ll be happy to train my replacement and skip on down the road to begin my Golden Years. (Assuming we critics of the current Administration haven’t been rounded up to a detention camp, of course.)

And to that end, I noticed this story in the local Baltimore (Sinclair) Sun:

Of course, the new Administration is removing any trace of Affirmative Action from military forces. The last thing they’re going to want is when they unleash the army on an urban location where US Citizens are protesting, having soldiers think twice about rounding up or mowing down people who look like them. They’re whitening the military for more reasons than just to provide more jobs for fair-to-middling crackers.

I also have to point out the further deterioration of our local rag. It’s bad enough they’re taking news copy from local Fox News broadcasts, now they’re adopting clickbait tactics. Behold this headline:

“Citations issued for 1 offense are skyrocketing.” Oh boy, what can it be? [click] Expired tags. Ho hum.

Before we know it, they’ll be running headlines promoting “that one weird trick…” that fixes overbites, bad posture, and night blindness. 

The shittification of print media continues…

 

One (hundred) Days at a Time

On Wednesday, The Felonious Guy reaches the lauded 100-Day mark of his administration Reign of Terror. Only 100 days.

[sigh]

It feels sooo much longer, doesn’t it? When was the last time you got up in the morning without worrying what the MFer did this time? Every day, it’s a new test to see if you can withstand the latest assault on America. We’ve seen tariffs, sky-high prices, destroying federally funded science, schooling, rolling back safety precautions regarding our food and the environment, general bellicosity involving invasion threats to Greenland and Panama, and I could go on for the rest of the page, but it’s just too depressing. Also, arresting judges, threatening law firms, human trafficking, selective prosecution of anyone who dares criticize him, and gutting services to Americans to trade off cutting taxes for those who have the most already.

Sorry, the rest tumbled out after I meant to stop.

America has become a laughing stock, no longer an anchor at the Cool Kids’ Table. He can’t even make it through a funeral without embarrassing himself. There he was at the funeral of Pope Francis, shining blob in his blue suit amidst a sea of mourning black. And the putz falls asleep, right in front of everyone.

(No, do NOT tell me he was deep in prayer. That guy wouldn’t know how to pray for rain if his ass were on fire.) He’s checked out. If they’re not kissing his butt, he’s not listening.

If you need more proof that Melania is checked out, it’s the fact that she didn’t wake him up. She could have at least offered a nudge or two in the ribs to get him back among the living. Or maybe a stiletto heel to the top of the foot.

I think the people in charge of Vatican funerals put him up front on purpose, just to highlight what a low-forehead clown he is.

But yes, the 100 Days… That means today we’ve got 1362 more to go, assuming he isn’t re-re-elected or self-appointed in 2028. There is so much more time for who knows what damage he’s prepared to do. Three years down the road, we may be looking back at THIS as the Good Ol’ Days.

Today, resistance is most certainly NOT futile. It’s a requirement if we’re going to live in a people’s democracy ever again.

Sundowning

Meanwhile, the Conservative Media continues its psychological influence operations. The Sinclair Media-run Baltimore Sun laid some cards on the table last week, if you know what to look for. In this case, it’s the one bit of local good news. Naturally, they buried it on page 8 of the paper, bottom left corner.

You’ve got all the Ugliness/Incompetence in Baltimore stories front and center, and the part where the city came off the 25 Most Dangerous Places in the US list is placed where it’s most likely to be overlooked. You gotta hand it to them… they keep coming up with new ways to claim even more turf for the richest Americans. Stay tuned; soon you’ll see an OP/ED asking for Jeff Bezos to buy Baltimore outright and use the infrastructure for Amazon warehouses and storage. They can’t wait to hand over the keys to the kingdom to one of their own kings.

And today, we have this adventure in Headline Distortion:

This is a story about how Democrats are working out amongst themselves how to move forward, with David Hogg and the new crowd looking to make big changes, shake things up, and usurp the Old Guard. And the old guys, naturally, won’t go without leaving claw marks on the door frames.

The headline suggests something else, though. “While Dems search for identity…” OK, the usual Dems in Disarray story, “Lawmakers take a different approach.”

See what they’re doing? The Dems are over here, while the Lawmakers are over there, even though the story is literally about Democratic lawmakers. But the headline suggests they’re two different things, and they’re at odds. If you read the article, you find out what the real story is, but so many people only glance through the headlines on their way to the sports and comics. The headline is often the only impression they get from the paper.

It’s kind of like they used to do with magazine ads back in the 70s and 80s, when they’d bury subliminal messages in the periphery or add sexual imagery in the markings on the ice inside a glass of Scotch. (They may still do that, but with the lack of circulation in print media, they probably can’t afford it anymore.) They are designed to leave an imprint in your mind, whether you actually absorb the ad/story or not.

When Bias Escapes the OpEd Page

Please consider this article from last week in the Baltimore Sun. On the surface, it looks like bad news for Maryland’s Democratic governor. But when you read the story, you can see it’s not necessarily so.

Note that last year, the Sun was purchased by the owner/operator of Sinclair Broadcasting, a nationwide network of conservatively-slanted TV stations, including Fox-affiliated outlets. The change in editorial slant was more like a U-turn, but unlike before, the “slant” now occupies the news sections.

To summarize the first few paragraphs, a Maryland poll shows lousy ratings for TFG, his pet Elon, (or is it the other way around?), and a majority approval for the Governor. Governor Moore’s approval rating was 55%, versus 36% and 30% for the other two. But the Governor’s numbers fell by five points so that’s what makes the headline. Don’t underestimate the importance of headlines; for many readers, that’s all they ever see of a story, so it makes an impact. Multiply this effect by every relevant story the paper runs and you can see the desired effect take root.

So this article could just as easily have said, Poll shows “Governor’s approval almost twice that of Trump and Musk.” But they want to leave a negative imprint on the reader instead.

They could also have highlighted that “Among Democrats, 83% of the respondents approve of the job Moore is doing.” That’s a big chunk of the base. Only 17% or less opposed? Sounds like he’s doing what he was elected to do.

The poll goes on to inquire about how economic conditions are being felt by residents. They lead with “only 42% say economic conditions for them and their families fall in the “excellent” or “pretty good” range.” To me that sounds pretty good. To think 42% of the state thinks they have it good? Compare that to Arkansas or Mississippi. They also lump the 58% who think they’re doing “only fair” and “poor” together. If “fair” is even half of that subtotal, that means 71% of the state thinks they’re doing “excellent,” “pretty good,” and “fair.” Those are stats I’d campaign on, but the Sun has reported them like a dirty secret scandalously revealed. Again, compare those stats to those of the red “parasite” states.

There’s also a paragraph on the question of whether the state is “moving in the right/wrong direction.” I’m always troubled by this question because there are any number of reasons someone might say an entity is moving in the wrong direction, even when they support the person in charge. Personally, I think that this state and every state is moving in the wrong direction because of what’s happening in DC. And if I responded as such to the poll, you can see how they'd use that stat as an attack on the governor, which was clearly not my intent. You should always disregard this question when it comes to polls.

Performance Art

It looks like the Republicans were campaigning for Oscars of their own lately, given all the performances they put on for the people.

In February, TFG signed a useless executive order outlawing something already outlawed.

Naturally, Fox “News” promoted it because they’ll promote anything that stokes grievances about brown immigrants. Obviously, illegal immigrants are already ineligible for federal benefits of any kind. They can’t get unemployment, Social Security, WIC, or anything else. This bill signing wasn’t anything more than the usual “tough-guy” posturing TFG enjoys so much. And I guarantee he’ll be reciting this later as “proof” of the effectiveness of his Administration, while his lapdogs lap it up.

In another issue that is as hilarious as it is sad, the Unqualified Stand-In for the Secretary of Defense, in his sweeping efforts to pretend there are no gay people in the armed services, authorized the removal of a photograph of the legendary aircraft, the Enola Gay. (Not because of the “Enola” part.)

I feel that one might be quietly walked back just because the idea is so preposterous. Hegseth was so determined to play the role of Military Macho Man, he let his minions, who don’t know history from hysterectomy, trash a famous image of a national treasure just because it has the word “gay” in it.

Just to be sure the “banned” subject matter isn’t forgotten, let me display for you, from deep in the Bluz Archives, this shot of my Great Uncle Ants (giant guy on the right) with the Enola Gay, from when he served with the SeaBees in the South Pacific.

Uncle Ants was the star of this old story I once told, about how he came in from a night out at the bars, stumbled over what he thought was his even more drunk brother, wrestled him up the stairs to bed, scolding him the whole time, only to find out he’d lugged a rolled up carpet up to the second floor.

It was also while Uncle Ants was in the South Pacific that my grandfather figured out a way to get some booze to him and his bunkmates while they were in a dry war zone.

I think Sec. Hegseth should have to go through some of the people that were on the ground in WWII, before screwing around with their history and artifacts.

There was another grand performance at the State of the Union address last week, and I’m not referring to that ranty, rambley, run-on ridiculata spewing from TGF, nor the cane-raising protest from Rep. Al Green. I mean the burly security guards hustling a lone, elderly US Representative off the floor and out the door. I bet their Moms were proud of them. I know the MAGAs were, because there’s nothing better to them than a Black guy getting kicked out of a venue.

The next week, Rep. Green was actually censured by the House. It’s funny how talking back to a president has never been something for which anyone has ever been removed or censured before. I wonder what the difference is now…

Not pictured: The other dipshit who called President Obama a liar during his SOTU address.

Yep, that’s right. Everything’s OK if a Republican does it. (And that’s just taking the polite angle and blaming politics. There’s a good chance the real reason involves something… darker.)

Last Friday, I saw that the Baltimore Catholic Archdiocese has decided to start offering the rite of Confirmation to 9-year-olds.

Seriously.

Like any 9-year-old is savvy enough to make a decision about his spiritual well-being. Hell, I don’t think 14-year-olds (like me at my own confirmation) are qualified either, but that’s still better than this! The kids are only doing whatever their parents have told them to do. But sure, let the Church put on a big song and dance about how these kids have “chosen” to entertain Catholic beliefs. They can pretend all they want.

Luckily, it’s not like these Confirmations are binding. The kids can still come to their senses a little further down the road, like I did. As George Carlin said, “I was a Catholic right up until I reached the age of reason.” Eventually, many will open their eyes and ears, take a good hard listen to what they’re being fed, see that much of it is fantasyland, and the rest is nonsense, with few of the positive platitudes actually playing out in real life. Feeding the poor, healing the sick, welcoming the strangers? That’s just for church. In real life, the people wrapped the tightest in their religion are the first ones to disregard all that pansy empathy stuff, stick out their hand and ask, “Where’s mine?”

Granted, this push may be more because they can count the confirmed as individuals in their congregations. In other words, it’s stat padding.

When people eventually fade away from the Church, they don’t usually go through any kind of notification process wherein they formally tell the Church that they are leaving. They just stop showing up, which allows the Church to keep the person on the books.

It would be nice to think that if there really was a “crisis of confidence” and the Church wanted to make an honest effort to gain and retain followers, they would adjust their policies, procedures, and messaging to connect with more people. But apparently, that’s too hard, so they’re cooking the books instead.

Amen.

Hitting Home

Sorry for the late post this week, I was crammed yesterday. Onward…

Last week, in Nan’s Notebook, she asked a good question about how the current Administration’s actions directly affect us. Not big-picture stuff like the end of the Nation as we know it, but tangible effects felt by real citizens. I was going to answer, but once I thought about it for a second, I realized there was enough for a full post. So, not wishing to carry on so long in someone else’s Comment section, I decided to bring it here.

Yes, there are several important ways TFG is screwing me, right now, aside from his failed (and never actually intended) promise to lower grocery costs.

·      The threat of losing Social Security and Medicare colors everything right now. Republicans have the opportunity to accomplish that for rich benefactors have been yearning for decades, which is killing or curtailing our social safety net. Without these things, personal savings vehicles become paramount.

·      To that end, the new economic uncertainty we see around us cost my 401k over $10,000 in just the last week and a half. I just finished moving the rest of my 401k investments around into safer but lower-yielding options. (And I had them in fairly conservative entities to start.) I had considered such moves before the 2008 Big Bank collapse but never pulled the trigger. Consequently I got my ass handed to me, financially. It took me years to recover from those losses.

·       Tariffs on steel and other construction goods will increase the cost of new cars. My job involves managing a fleet of cars for my company. Driving up the price of a new car will affect the efficiency of the operation. If the cost gets too high, the Powers That Be may end this particular program and fold up the fleet for good, rendering me unemployed.

So, to summarize, I could easily lose my job, Social Security, personal retirement savings, and affordable insurance. How’s that for tangible effects? I used to have a solid retirement plan that would be executed in the next couple of years, but now that plan is on hold—all because the richest men in America want more.

Other more speculative issues include:

·      The end of our democracy, leaving me and everyone else disenfranchised. I think we’ve seen our last clean presidential election, and I’m not even sure about the midterms. I believe that the reason all this chaos has been unleashed, including touching Social Security, the famed “Third Rail of Politics, is because they don’t plan on allowing the rest of us to weigh in again with our measly “voting rights” again. They paid a lot of money to get things the way they’re going now and they won’t let “the people” anywhere near the levers of power again. GOP Congressmen are condemning their own angry supporters at town halls as paid actors or just running away. They don’t seem to have any fear of reprisals. They’d rather rely on their faith that the newly rigged system will keep their place at the trough so that they don’t have to justify their behavior to the unwashed masses out of the need to con them into giving him their votes again.

·       This international belligerence may prod some wingnut, foreign or domestic, to set off a nuke in Washington DC. Living nearby in Baltimore, I’m in the danger zone, depending on the device involved.

·       I have to worry about wearing my new Ohio State/College Football Championship hat because it’s red and might get mistaken for a MAGA hat. That could get me shot while I’m sitting in the car at a red light.

And there’s more, there’s always more because we don’t know what atrocities this asshole is going to unleash next. It certainly won’t be anything that can quantifiably make our lives better. And we don’t even have to wait for the next shoe to drop; he’s got a big speech on TV tonight where I’m sure the next outrage will be revealed.

It’s not like I’ll be tuning in, though. I’d rather watch a monkey pleasure himself than listen to that guy give a speech, despite the conceptual similarities between the two. I’ll get the gist of it in tomorrow’s news and blogs.

Who Could Have Possibly Predicted?

It sure didn’t take long for TFG to backpedal on one of his biggest campaign promises.

It boggles my mind that anyone even believed this promise, let alone voted on it. Just those who weren’t paying attention to anything but Fox “News,” I guess. Obviously, there is no button a president can press that lowers prices. And this Administration wouldn’t, even if they could. Some of their biggest donors are the ones reaping the benefits of higher prices. There’s no way they were going to give campaign money to someone they knew was going to derail the gravy train. This was a bald-faced lie from the get-go.

And let me remind you again, about who kicked up a huge protest when VP Harris proposed an actual anti-price-gouging program. The Republicans threw a fit, calling it anti-capitalist, pro-Socialist, and un-American. And people really thought they were going to lower prices? His tariffs are going to make things even worse! Unreal.

There were more headlines last week that demonstrated whose side Republicans are on. (It ain’t ours.)

House Republicans are trying to halt free tax filing with the IRS.

They are doing the bidding of the for-profit tax filing businesses and e-programs like Turbo Tax. It’s ridiculous in concept that we have to pay extra to perform a task we’re required to do. And it’s not like it’s too difficult to set up. It’s nothing complicated, other than it threatens the interest of those who make money off of the basic act of filing tax returns.

It’s like this with lots of things. Maryland is one of three states that prevents grocery stores from selling beer and wine. Last week, our Governor proposed changing that, which I embrace with both arms and both legs. Naturally, the liquor store lobby is up in arms about it and has begun reapplying the pressure that’s kept this development from occurring all along.

I get it, some businesses lose money. But that’s the price of every advancement.  Carbon paper companies went out of business when copy machines were invented. Buggy makers lost out when Ford started their first assembly line. Is anyone still crying about cassette manufacturing plants going belly-up? It’s the natural order of things. When better ideas come along, lesser ones fade away and their purveyors adapt.

That’s progress, as embodied by progressive people. And we all know who opposes progressives at every turn, right? It’s the “populist” Republicans, who shoot down any idea that helps the average population because the rich are making too much to give up on the status quo.

They could shore up Social Security for the next century, merely by raising the maximum income cap. But no, they want to cut benefits to us instead. See how that’s better? They get to keep their yacht money and all we have to do is struggle to pay bills and outlandish medical costs during the “golden years” of retirement. That’s much better for them!

Just wait for the next big tax cut bill. You’ll see, once again, how the filthy rich get a massive tax cut and the rest of us get a few token crumbs. Even after all the bad publicity from the 2017 version, they’re all set to do it again. Our complaints are short-lived until we move on to the next outrage, but the money lingers on.

That’s always how you know who politicians really work for… just follow the money.

A Killer Insurance Policy

It looks like we’ve finally gotten around to having Death Panels in the healthcare industry, but it hasn’t turned out quite like the insurance execs imagined.

Last week the head guy at United Healthcare was gunned down on an NYC street in a targeted hit. Some young guy wearing a hoodie and medical mask came up behind the guy as he left his hotel, and put three bullets into him. Somehow, the assassin slipped off and has been on the run ever since.

You know, some stories just put a smile on a guy’s face. I don’t see the killer’s personal reasons yet, but I’m sure we will in due time. But it’s a good bet that United Healthcare gave someone in his family a run-around, possibly with fatal ramifications.

I’m not exactly tap-dancing over this story, but I’m not terribly bothered either. Let’s just say I’ll treat this story with the same amount of care and compassion that UHC exhibits when declining to pay for life-saving treatments for their customers.

It’s about time some of these blood-sucking CEOs get some skin in the game. They’ve become a little too comfortable screwing over their customers in pursuit of even more obscene corporate profits.

These leeches are used to being the guys at the controls of the peasant catapult. Maybe a ride or two in the bucket will change their ways.

I’d like to think that maybe some of these execs might realize the kind of pain their company policies inflict on the public, but I think it’s more likely that they’ll just raise premiums and get more security for the corner office guys.

The older I get and the more I have to interact with the medical insurance profession, the more convinced I become that the only civilized solution is single-payer/Medicare for all. We’re the only first-world country that has a for-profit medical system, so it’s not like it can’t be done. It just can’t be done HERE because the parties who are making billions of dollars in profit will never allow such a change to happen. So they buy presidents and senators to ensure that no such proposal ever sees the light of day. Maybe executions ARE the only way…

Late Addition: Welp, about 2 minutes after I posted, I saw that they caught the guy. So much for being timely. Please note that everything written above was before I learned the news.

“Missed it by THAT Much…”

There was an article in today’s Sinclair (Baltimore) Sun about how the DOGE brothers, Musk and Ramaswamy, want to bring federal workers back to the office as a cost-saving and debt reduction measure.

Yes, that’s how wrong these guys are about how to reduce expenses. They think a WFH force costs more money.

Out of all this poorly-written “Sinclair National Desk” gobbledygook, there is one semi-coherent statement and the article framers take it in the wrong direction.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said “Something I’ve been pushing on is getting the federal workers back into the offices or eliminating the buildings they occupy.”  

The correct answer is staring them right in the face. Sell the damned buildings! A staff that’s working from home is far cheaper than providing real estate and utilities. (They’re also happier and can be more productive.) And then you have the bottom line gravy of the sales proceeds.

And I’d even wager they might know of someone with a real estate background who might overpay for the property so he can put up a tacky hotel on the site.

The thing that bothers me is that they’re pushing a total logical fallacy. These buildings are on the books, period. Whether they're full of people or not is immaterial… they’re still being paid for.

The problem is psychological! They don’t feel they’re getting their money’s worth so they want butts in the seats. Regardless of where the butts are, they’re still paying for the buildings. So if they’re serious about cutting spending, the clear choice is to sell the office buildings and develop better WFH strategies.

There’s one thing to remember about all this fake “waste-cutting” the Republicans are pushing. It’s not to cut the deficit, it’s to pretend these cuts will pay for the massive tax cut for the 1% that they’re about to unleash. Republicans don’t give a shit about the deficit unless there’s a Democratic administration. That’s when they cry for austerity. But as soon as they’re in charge? Bring on the tax cuts for the rich and maybe, if you’re very good, a few bits might trickle down to the rest of us. When it explodes the deficit? They’ll propose cuts to Social Security and Medicare and the rest of the programs that benefit the general public, but they never liked because they can’t easily skim. Then they’ll worry about the rest of it once the next Democrat takes charge.

PS

Last week I posted about the infamous Hunter Biden Pardon, and how he should widen it to include everyone with whom he’s related associated.

“President Biden ought to leave one more pardon for the end of his term, covering his wife, his other kids and grandchildren, his maids, landscapers, chefs, doctors, trainers, valets, mail carriers, Uber drivers, pet groomers, pizza guys, soda fountain guys, milkmen, and the lot. Call it the Pardon Me but Go Eff Yourself Act. Tell’em to stick that up their transition.”

Now this week, there’s a movement coming to preemptively pardon some of the other players in TFG’s revenge fantasy, like Adam Schiff, Liz Cheney, and Dr. Fauci.

I agree with this course of action as well. These people have committed no crime other than daring to disagree with the new emperor. If the Republicans can proclaim that they want revenge trials of their political opponents, the least we can do is defend our own. Not that it’s being seen that way by the Republicans. Hoo-boy no. It’s the end of the justice system, to them. (As if their guy hasn’t done enough damage.)

But that’s what these people do… they loudly go on offense and then cry when their enemies play defense.

PPS

The week before that, I posted about shrinkflation and how everyday we’re getting less for our money. Over the weekend I saw this graphic that seemed apropos:

This is the old “olive jar” story living on. And I also noticed another example… bacon!

One pound used to be the default size for a bacon package. They still have some one-pound packages, but over the years, you more frequently see 12-ounce packages, that look very similar to the pounders. I think they space out the bacon a little more. The only way to tell at a glance is to check the net weight. And how often do we really do that?

Identifying a Hit Piece

Mainstream media is letting the country down in a big way, by abandoning their traditional roles of truth-tellers in favor of exhibiting favoritism. And I don’t mean leaning one way or another in editorials; I mean writing most stories (outside the sports page) with bias, either cheerleading or condemning as their side would have it.

The most obvious symptom is the sanewashing of TFG, whose daily ravings get reformatted by news editors into something that might make sense. Offensive or off-putting material is ignored or translated, leaving readers and viewers with a vastly different view from what was actually said.

Just over the weekend, TFG decided to make the late Arnie Palmer’s dick into headline news. Sure, we’ve all heard about it not, but not until after the New York Times posted about the appearance and cleaned up the reference, before indirectly mentioning the reference, before the leaked word of mouth eventually caused them to report on what was said. In other words, they had to be dragged into doing their jobs.

This is going on with multiple media outlets day after day. If any one of these word salad ramblings had come from the President or Vice President, it would have been the top story for several news cycles. But because A) they want a horserace and B) the ownership and publishers want their thumb on the scale for the Republicans (which benefits their massive corporate operations) they reshape the news to deprive independent and undecided people of information that may influence them to vote Democratic.

I have another example from the front page of Saturday’s Baltimore Sun. While it’s not focusing on the presidential race, it’s taking shots at the sitting Democratic governor, Wes Moore and it uses many of the same biased techniques we find in the presidential coverage.

You know it’s going to be a hit piece when Fox 45 appears in the byline. They’re a local Fox affiliate that specializes in ambush TV journalism, popping up out of nowhere to pepper local pols with questions while on their way to their cars and then running the most flustered responses.

The point of the article is that Governor Moore is out campaigning while juvenile crime happens.

This is a classic construction, “How can they do ‘this’ while ‘this other thing’ is happening? The details don’t matter, you can fill in the blanks. It’s like, “How can we send money to Ukraine while there are homeless veterans? or How can you talk about mass transit when housing prices are so high?” The answer is usually, “We can do two things at once,” but that seems to be beyond the reach of these “content providers.”

No public official actively works on a single problem 24/7/365. And solving “youth crime” is like solving homelessness or poverty. It ain’t happening by anyone any time soon. And it’s not like there wasn’t youth crime during the previous (Republican) administration. Youth crime doesn’t get solved until there are enough other ways to make enough money to compete with gang or drug life. These guys aren’t going to start working at Arby’s or picking crabs down on the shore, so any solution would need to be massive and grassroots, just like the kind of proposal Republicans always shoot down as too expensive. But that former governor is running for Senator so they want to dirty up his Democratic successor.

So it goes on to say that the Governor’s Administration “broke its silence” on the issue. Watch out for that phrase wherever you see it. That is almost always a false construction. Breaking one’s silence assumes there is an actual, willful silence to begin with, which is different than merely not having said anything yet. I’m just “breaking my silence” on youth crime today. Did I have a silence before? Nope, I just haven’t talked about it yet. If anyone would have asked earlier, I’d have been happy to discuss it. It’s hardly a groundbreaking event.

So, where is the Administration’s statement? We don’t know yet. Next, they go to some critic who wants to add his own two cents. This guy, they breathlessly point out, is a Democrat who wants to speak negatively on the subject. All the complaining and snide inferences are on the front page column. The Governor’s actual statement is buried on the last page of the front section, after the furniture ads.

This is what the media has come to. As a former J-school student, I’m pained by what passes for news coverage today. Unfortunately, I don’t see it improving in the near or distant future. Like almost every other commodity in the 2000s, the news is monetized to the max. There is no point if it doesn’t make money or accumulate power. And with the continued contraction of every industry into no more than several major players, all the news will be bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated to convince you that what’s best for the biggest corporations just happens to be the same as what’s best for you.

It’s just that they’ll be raking in the money and we won’t.

G'Day Bruce

Going to concerts used to be a primary form of entertainment for me. Some of that just comes with youth, but much of my concert history was because I worked in record retail for 13 years, starting in college. The job was shitty but the perks made up for it: free albums/tapes/CDs, posters, various swag, and of course, concert tickets.

From 1979 to 1996 I saw 95 concerts. In the 28 years since, only 14. And that’s fine… there are far fewer bands that I would even consider going to see. Sweetpea and I have only seen three. One was John Mellencamp, one of her favorites. That was a birthday gift for her in 2019.

Two years ago, we saw ZZ Top. It was my 5^th time seeing them and it seemed like each show was shorter than the last. This time, they started encores after an hour of playing, and the show wrapped up 18 minutes later.

This brings us to last Friday when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band played Camden Yards in Baltimore. (The baseball park where the Orioles play.) These tickets fell into my lap.

I had considered trying to go when the show was originally scheduled, but you know how Ticketmaster is with the big shows… First, you have to join some kind of club to get a special access password or some shit. Then log on at the split second the website opens for business. And maybe, just maybe, you win the right to pay an outrageous sum for the privilege of being allowed to attend. Who needs it?

Bruce postponed the 2023 concert due to health issues and later rescheduled it for last weekend.

My brother had bought a pair, I suspect on the secondary market, for him and his oldest son to go. But in the gap between the original show and the make-up date, the #1 Son moved to Philadelphia for a new job. #2 son was away at college. So, not wanting to go with anyone else, he offered the tickets to me. So thank you, Bluz Brother, for your incredible generosity.

I’d seen Bruce once before, on his 1985 Born in the USA tour, Pontiac Silverdome, north of Detroit. That was when he was at the height of his powers. He played for 3:20, not including a 35-minute intermission. He also told great stories, had detailed introductions to songs, and genuinely made all 68,000 of us feel like he was talking to each of us. That was an amazing experience. It was like, “How will any other show ever measure up to this?”

Like we did for the ZZ Top show, we decided to make a trip out of it and book a hotel downtown for that night. All the better not to have to worry about sitting in a massive parking lot traffic jam at 11:00 at night.

Unfortunately for us, all the “good” hotels were booked up, no doubt at the moment the new date was announced. But I managed to find a Days Inn about 2 blocks away. Not fancy, but it would do. All we needed was a place to crash for the night. And because this was an “event” night, they wanted $358 for this small, outdated room. Price gouging is real, folks! But whaddya gonna do? It was worth it not to have to fight the traffic.

Anyway, the seats were tremendous. Thanks again, bro! We were in the club level, first row. That’s the tier directly above the lower bowl, and being in the front row, there’s no one to stand up in front of you! Hallelujah! Given that Sweetpea is barely 5’1”, that’s always a consideration.

The place was pretty full but this wasn’t a rowdy crowd. It was mostly a bunch of white senior citizens. I don’t remember seeing anyone younger than 30. But that’s to be expected now at shows from the rock and roll dinosaurs of my youth.

This was our vantage point before the show started. No mosh pit, just some organized folding chairs. The stage was by the centerfield wall, with the legendary Warehouse lurking to the right.

At the stroke of 7:30, the lights went down and the band took the stage. Immediately, I tapped Sweetpea on the shoulder to acknowledge that her prediction was correct that Bruce would open with Hungry Heart. (Opening line: “Got a wife and kid in Baltimore, Jack/I went out for a ride and I never went back.”)

For a 74-year-old guy, Bruce looked damned good. While he was spirited and energetic, he wasn’t doing any more end-to-end stage runs that ended up with him sliding on his knees. 74-year-old knees are nothing to play around with, after all.

This time out, there were no long stories, no charging everyone up like a Baptist preacher. He didn’t say much in this show, in fact, he barely spoke from the opening number until the 15^th song. Until then, all we heard between songs was an impassioned “1-2-3-4…”

I’ll tell you, video screens are what make these big shows enjoyable. I barely even followed the action on the stage… not that you could really see anything. I just watched the near-side video panel. But here, (above) you could see where he came down the steps, up close to the audience. He did that frequently throughout the show. I don’t think video screens became commonplace at concerts until the late 80s to early 90s. Before then, you just had to try to weasel your way up front to get a good view. I know in my old days, when I was going to see a band at a club or small hall, I’d get there when the doors opened, so I could dash up front to get close to the stage. Back then I could stand for the whole show. Now, it’s all about getting a good seat.

Some other thoughts via pictures:

There’s nothing more Rock n Roll than Bruce and Little Steven sharing a mic for a big chorus. I didn’t get to see Steven the first time around so I was glad he was there this time.

Is there anyone who gets a bigger sound from such a small drum kit than Max Weinberg? The guy can really pound. But his kit looks like something you'd get a kid who's just learning.

Saxophone duty was handled by the late Clarence Clemmons’ nephew. If you closed your eyes, it definitely sounded like The Big Man.  The kid played his ass off. One of the night's best moments was during 10^th Avenue Freeze Out. I was wondering how they were going to handle this part… When the line came up: “A change was made uptown when The Big Man joined the band…” they showed the unmistakable silhouette of Clarence, followed by some other pictures of him and the late E Street keyboardist Dan Federici. Oh man, that hit me right in the feels. I actually choked up a little.

Bruce did a cool thing I liked when we went down close to the crowd. It wasn’t exactly Angus Young soloing while being carried through a raging crowd on his roadie’s shoulders, but it was very Man of the People. Nobody was grabbing at him though. Mostly they wanted to take selfies.

As he was winding up with a raucous version of Twist and Shout, he hollered to the crowd, “Do we look tired?” as he wanted to know if the crowd wanted more.

With an incredulous look, he shouted, “You think you can outlast the E Street Band??”

Man, no one outlasts these guys. They may be old, but they run a well-oiled machine. It’s a joy to see people at the top of their craft, entertaining a crowd.

He wound up the show by 10:30, clocking in at an even three hours, (In other words, like more than two ZZ Top shows.) 

Worth every penny.

Director's DVD Commentary: My apologies if you were lured here by the headline and expected to see something about Monty Python's legendary Australian Philosopher's sketch, wherein everyone is named Bruce and they end with the classic "Philosopher's Song," containing the immortal lines:

"Aristotle Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle,

Hobbes was fond of his dram.

And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart,

'I drink therefore I am.'"

It's just that whenever I hear the name "Bruce," this bit is my go-to frame of reference.