The past 11 months of the current administration has been a whirlwind ride of Presidential orders, the BBB and an assortment of “deals “connected to Tariffs (tariffs are taxes paid eventually by the consumers). The wider world of business uses discussions about trade to benefit all parties as much as possible, this arrangement has benefitted everyone for many years until now. With the advent of “Trumplestilskin” we have seen “flim flam”, sleight of hand, subterfuge and outright lies become norms in many areas including our national discourse. The current GOP Congress has besmirched and debased the once honest brokers in right side politics. They have joined the long line of “puckerers”who have deserted their electoral base (who they were elected to protect and serve). There appears to be no guardrail too sacred to supplant or alter to aid the “Boss”! The long list of “acting, appointed (with no Congressional input) members” of this administration have brought lawsuit after lawsuit with little to no stronger evidence than the “nightly utterings of a child”. This iteration of Governing appears to be no more than stooges waiting for the next Rant in order to function.
Might I suggest that all of us put on our grown-up pants, forget party lines and determine what type of Americans we want to be and be diligent in our information consumption. We can be the ally and leader the rest of the world has seen us to be and want us to continue to be or join the “kiddy” table! Billy Shakespeare stated that “all the world’s a stage and we are merely players ( loosely stated by me), we the United States have forgotten who the real leaders are and they are us!
Home Warranty Companies or Extended warranties For a Variety of Objects and machines.
How to select:
Get a copy of their mission statement, contract or statement of operation.
Determine if their customer service is local (speaking your native language)
Request in your native language if you need it.
Do not believe the statements of coverage and the cadre of contractors across your area or the country.
Better Business inquiries usually do not yield much useable information. Even if the company has good or bad rating.
In their advertising they tout how many contractors they have, 24-hour service.
The reality: The service quality depends on the company’s relationship with the contractors.
1.Your basic fee may be less that the contractor fee.
2.Replacement or repair price is negotiated with the contractor to get the cheapest price for the job.
Relative to their location: contractors have a basic fee (which the customer pays) to make the visit and evaluate the problem. When the evaluation is complete the contractor provides that information to the company and the company approves the evaluation after some negotiation (the company always goes for the cheapest way not necessarily best way e.g. If you have a high-quality product and the repair would exceed the price of replacement, the company will offer the customer a” token” amount for replacement maybe with installation according to the product).
Summary:
Read the contract
Talk only to customer service people who speak your language
Get specific details on Contractor fees (even if you have a contracted fee with the company All of these companies express their ability to service but have the basic objective of getting as many signed up as possible but can and will fail the customer at some point usually in the negotiation with the contractor. Remember contractors are being hosed as well as the customer and for that reason the better contractors do not remain in the service of these companies. The hype of what you save in time and money from these companies varies from state
Wow, those military parades can’t even keep a totalitarian awake. Jun 16
President Trump’s Shitstaffel Chief Stephen Miller, who is currently getting a busy signal from his wife, the New Musk GF Du Jour, has had a busy week rounding up school children, four year olds, and people who pick crops to feed his emaciated Goebbels face.
He had Trump send U.S. Marines, the California National Guard, and any loose Boy Scout troop to patrol the streets of Los Angeles, to no real effect, since what was, in fact, going on was 4,000,000 people getting ready to go to a Dodgers game, brunch, or Disneyland.
This cartoon features a device called “transmogrification”, which means that you make a human into some other weird, surprising object. I think. As I have previously noted here, I am always looking for a little phrase that I can turn into a drawing. They’re not puns, per se, they’re word play. So I kept thinking about the phrase, “Stephen Miller’s biggest fan,” which, of course ultimately called for me converting Trump into an actual fan, which was surprisingly easy to do. Sometimes, this doesn’t work, at all. This worked fine, as Trump’s mouth is open all the time when he’s not pouting. Throw in a whirling blade, build the face around it, and there you go.
I am remiss in not featuring Miller more. I drew him a few times during Trump 1.0, but mostly haven’t done that much about him. I can see this needs to be done much more going forward. It’s my patriotic duty.
I can only imagine the chitchat between Miller and his equally odious wife when he found out she was going to join Musk and his 12 other wives in California.
X-wife, if you will.
Anyway, let’s move on, shall we?
I couldn’t resist doing this, even being part of the Resistance. I have always called The Home Depot “The Home Despot”, and even genius buddy Joel Pett, my colleague late of the Lexington Herald Leader (don’t get him started, either) said he calls it the same thing.
When I set out to do a storefront, I always have to take some care that it at least vaguely resembles the actual business. I drew Walmart the other day, for example, and carefully reproduced the Walmart logo. In this case, I noted that Home Depots usually have that orange lattice on the top of the building. Not exclusively, but usually. When I draw lattice (most frequently on NASA rocket launch gantries, I am usually kind of winging it. I suppose if you carefully examined the lattice, you would probably note that it isn’t technically correct, but I also know it’s unlikely you will give it that level of scrutiny, and thank God.
Then there’s the tank.
I almost never look at tank photos anymore, and just draw a tank the way I want it to look. I suppose that now I have brought this up, I also may have to do that, just to amuse myself. I remember looking at older cartoonists work in 1980, and noting that they would draw television cameras from 1950, with multiple interchangeable lenses sticking out. I would sigh, and draw them correctly, because I am so hip and with it.
I drew a camera a few years ago, and I got a note from a cameraman saying, hey buddy, you might want to check out the way cameras look now, which I did. Wow, were they off. I assume this means that there’s now a new generation of cartoonists looking at my cameras and shaking their heads about how out of it I am.
I’m 64, after all. You can’t keep up with everything. I used to listen to American Top 40 in 1976 and knew every single on the Billboard chart, and whether it was rising or falling. “Oh, Bungle in the Jungle has dropped to Number 24”.
Let’s resume the countdown. NUMBER THREE!
Normally, I don’t like to do cartoons like this, which are simply paens to someone. I’m not above it, but I was delighted to see and hear Gov. Gavin Newsom’s speech the other day where he acted like he wasn’t exactly setting the table for his political future. He sounded like a guy who actually was passionate and sincere about the direct threat of authoritarianism facing this country, California, and him.
Look, I know Newsom is, in fact, a politician likely lining up for 2028, if we have an election, which I do not assume at this point. But he showed a lot of courage and character, and I give him props for doing so.
When doing these types of cartoons, the subject is usually dead or leaving office. There is a fine line between interesting and cornball, so I kept thinking “beacon”. That’s when I saw Gav as a lighthouse. I also really enjoyed drawing this as:
I enjoy drawing water.
I enjoy drawing dark skies.
I enjoy drawing blue and yellow drawings.
I enjoy drawing Newsom.
Newsom is beyond good-looking, honestly. I’ve talked to him many times in person, and I find myself looking at him as an objet d’art—how did they do that? He looks better in person; he almost has an AI appearance to him. Obama: same. JFK: same. Reagan: same. When we have to tackle the good-looking politicians, male or female, it’s something of a challenge. Prior to television, it was perfectly normal to elect politicians who weren’t handsome or pretty. Radio faces, and all. Now most electeds look like weekend weathermen or saleswomen at Nordstrom.
Next?
This was kinda fun.
I’ve never drawn the iconic JFK birthday song by Marilyn Monroe, who was dressed in “skin and beads, and I didn’t see the beads,” according to historian and Kennedy guy Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.. Finally I got my chance here.
I had originally labelled Marilyn Monster as “FASCISM,” which would have fit better. Labeling is tough, people, and the only space I had was where you see it, although in closer examination I could have put it on the tail. I then decided to say “AUTHORITARIANISM,” which was still a bit more accurate than fascism, although I am very open to your counterarguments.
I have a difficult time understanding the lack of outrage over the actions of “commander Chaos” and his drain circlers. History has shown the same actions were taken in the 1930’s when A. Hitler lied and cheated his way into German Government. Even though Germany was in poor financial shape due to an ill-advised war in which they lost, the people were aroused over untrue issues and against certain people who were deemed “unfit, not German enough or otherwise undesirable”. When called to task over the treatment of so-called non-Germans, MR. H decided to squeeze an easier target and proceeded to persecute anyone Jewish. He so thoroughly indoctrinated the population in hatred of Jews that everyday people ignored the brutality against the Jews and often joined in.
The plight of the Jewish community was widely reported by those who fled and newspapers in Europe, but no one listened or paid much attention except to the “outrageous” statements blaming the Jews for everything that he could. All of this while the general public needed relief from the poor economy left after losing the war and having to pay reparations.
Instead, while making Jews the target of attention, he began building his “war Machine”, the German people did not notice (or did not want to) because they had good jobs in the munition and steel factories that were producing war machine and materials. He went after books, trashed Jewish businesses, raided Jewish homes and took anything of value. Took the residents took work camps building the infrastructure for the war machines and the soon to be “camps’ for Jews and other so called unwanted people aka, gays, Hungarians or anyone who was not able to prove German citizenship.
Fast forward to 2024 Donald J Trump elected to the Presidency! After the fiasco of his first term and the extensive rhetoric leading up to this one, his supporters didn’t learn anything or did not pay attention when he stated exactly what he was going to and is doing it. His broad strokes do not discriminate, and all are encompassed in them. WE the people need to wake up and insist on action from our elected officials especially the supporters in Congress who are facilitating his actions.
The recent media coverage of FFLOTUS’s signing of executive orders was a media stunt even though these E.O.’s are being executed. The current Congress will do little to stem this flow as it takes the attention from their activities. The Congress will continue to use this cover no matter the cost to the country at large. FFLOTUS sees executive orders as proof of his ability to manage the country and a photo opportunity. These E.O.’s will certainly bring legal challenges but to FFLOTUS any legal challenges is good for his as it keeps his name in the public space. This thinking may be a bow to the saying “any publicity is good publicity”. The advisors to FFLOTUS appeal to his ego when touting the use of press covered E.O. signing as opposed to working with Congress (which he owns) but brings less press coverage.
As an opinion: Anything done by FFLOTUS legal or not brings press coverage which all this Presidency is about. It is potentially a cover for the Congressional Republicans to create their own version of government with the tacit approval of FFLOTUS as long as he gets credit. Is it possible that FFLOTUS sees lawsuits of any kind a badge of honor and an opportunity to be in the spotlight?
Apparently, we have a showman (who thinks he’s a Shaman) seeking a legacy of “good Governance” through poor choices of Cabinet members as long as they are loyal. These choices are supported by the GOP as long as they can tout their “accomplishments” when elections come around once more. “Lest WE Forget!”
WE are bombarded by ads for insurances related to our homes and automobile. These ads all tout their ability to protect your homes and autos from expensive repairs. Bear in mind that these policies are not the normal home insurances we have in conjunction with our homeowners and autos. These are policies to cover repairs and not catastrophic events such as complete loss of use, temporarily or permanent. All of these additional insurances all make the same promise in their ads and from their many unwanted or unrequested cold calls. All tout themselves as the best by “star” ratings. If you read the “fine print” in their contracts, you will find that these contracts are definitively slanted toward the company’s “benefit. The language is extensive and worded in a pseudo legal manner. These companies use out of country non- native English speakers as customer service. Many times there is a lapse in understanding due to the limited English understanding and often your words are being translated as you speak but not with the common understanding of the language (conversational English). The worst of it is the claim of “1000”s of qualified contractors they have access to, “qualified” is subjective and often nonapplicable. To be clear ” Do Not Accept any Statements as to how great they (the company) are. If you decide to look into any of them, please read the ratings and pay particular attention in the reviews of 3 stars or less. Even the big star ring can be suspect as rating companies make money off of these listings.
Comments Off on Why WE Need to Stop Donald J. Trump!
Lest we forget is an often used but largely ignored quote that, in reality, we should always have in mind in this age of mass and fast communication. Reaching people widely through mobile phones and the internet has been a great tool for the world population as a whole, but modernly it has become a tool for the spread of misinformation. The phrase increasingly used to describe the purveyors of this misinformation has been articulated in one or more of the statements below.
POPULIST: Populism often entails presenting “the people” as the underdog. Populists typically seek to reveal to “the people” how they are oppressed. In doing so, they do not seek to change “the people”, but rather seek to preserve the latter’s “way of life” as it presently exists, regarding it as a source of good.
Fascism: is a far-right form of government in which most of the country’s power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party.
Autocrat: an absolute ruler, especially a monarch who holds and exercises the powers of government as by inherent right, not subject to restrictions.
It is hard to define Donald Trump as any if not all the above definitions fit to some degree. Previous owners of these descriptions were the fomenters of several wars in the modern age which left the world and countries in chaos. It is odd that with the lessening of Historic education and often religious zeal seem to go hand in hand. The people who espouse and follow the above tenets all follow the same path of destruction and suppression which end s up in public uprisings and falling governments. If we allow the election of Donald Trump as president to cite Donald Trump “we won’t have a country!”
Comments Off on No generation ever feels empowered, why?
Engagement is empowerment! In order to feel empowered is to dig through the obvious trash and look back a bit at what has occurred. Each administration benefits from the work of the previous one (sometimes). When the time to elect a Head of state arrives look at history and understand what was done and the effect it has now. All work done is not grandiose, fully 90% is done by routine daily work. Sensationalism is to benefit the larger public many of whom want instant action, but Government does not work that fast sine what they do affects millions not just a few. Following the crowd is not the way to change government, voting with intelligence is!
The past 8 to 10 years has revealed how badly our government has been run. This less to do with the President than the long serving Congress. Granted that all persons elected to the highest office are not suited to do or even make an attempt at doing the job but many over the years have listened to the counsel of staff members who have expertise in the assorted positions and or the most part enable the “chief Exec” to accomplish their agenda. This country has angry people for a myriad of reasons from the ridiculous to the sublime. Many of those reasons are based on incomplete, inaccurate and slanted information (also called alternate facts). The long serving Congress uses it voting power (when they have) it to further the agenda of the sitting President (when it’s to their advantage) or their deep pocket donors. We now have State executives using the same game plan to further agendas which do not benefit the majority of the American public. The first to feel the negative effects of these agendas are the poor, handicapped and neediest (not to mention a double effect on people of color no matter their origin). History has all of the information we need to remember what can happen in America if we are not well informed. Simply put: Russian pogroms, German (Nazi) death camps, African continental Fascist groups are all past and present indicators of what is happening now and can increase if we are not wary. Currently we have people serving(?) in Federal legislatures and state Legislatures who have no idea what lawmaking is about but managed to con enough voters to gain the office. They have played on the anger of voters (who are largely uninformed) by them and the media. The solution is fairly easy: Voters need to spread their attention around to multiple news sources and remember: Democracy Dies In Darkness—Done In By Ignorance And Apathy.
THANKSGIVING: ALL OF IT
Virtually everything learned in school about Thanksgiving is a lie, including the central story of the feast celebrating a partnership between Native Americans and early European settlers. The Pilgrims were fanatical and violent religious zealots who considered indigenous Americans savages, and the Indians naturally resented their presence. The modern, feel-good story is propaganda that’s only 120 years old, but there was a celebratory feast in Massachusetts in 1637 — proclaimed by Gov. John Winthrop for the return of Puritan gunmen from hunting and murdering hundreds of Pequot Indians.
AMERICA GAVE THE WORLD DEMOCRACY
The rise of America undoubtedly shattered the era of kings and queens ruling over monarchies, which had existed in Europe for centuries. But the common schoolhouse lesson that America invented democracy would be news to the Greeks, who introduced “demokratia,” or direct rule by the people, which included three branches of government, in 507 B.C.
YOU NEED MILK FOR STRONG BONEs
Milk is absolutely necessary for a strong, healthy body — if you’re a growing cow. A series of studies have found no evidence that cow’s milk improves bone health, but have shown dairy has a negative effect on overall health, including on bones. The milk myth has been pushed by the dairy industry, which lobbies the USDA (whose previous chief recently took a cushy, high-paying job as CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council).
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS AN ABOLITIONIST History teachers are quick to remind students that Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator.” In reality, however, Lincoln’s views evolved over time and he came to anti-slavery movement late in the game. He said publicly and repeatedly that he would tolerate slavery to preserve the Union. His anti-slavery sentiments, at least early on, seemed more pragmatic than moral, as revealed in his famous “house divided” speech.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION FREED THE SLAVES Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was limited in effect — first limited to slaves in rebel states, and then not universally known. The holiday of Juneteenth, celebrates the moment June 19, 1865, that Union soldiers rode into Galveston, Texas, to tell America’s last remaining slaves they were free. This was news to the slaves, who had never heard of the proclamation, signed two and a half years earlier.
POT IS A GATEWAY DRUG Anyone who went to school during the just-say-no era of the drug war knows that while marijuana itself isn’t so bad, experimenting with it leads to addiction, incarceration, and death from street drugs. For years, educators accepted the “gateway” theory, a 1950s scare tactic that has since been widely debunked and acknowledged as myth in 2016 by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Social ailments such as poverty, bad home environment, and early exposure are better indicators of future addiction.
SLAVERY ENDED WITH THE CIVIL WAR
The 13th Amendment supposedly ending slavery still allowed forced labor as punishment for a crime. Convict leasing existed in every Southern state for decades after the Civil War. Tens of thousands of Black Americans who committed no real crime were kidnapped off the streets by corrupt local sheriffs, convicted in informal local courts for vague “crimes” such as vagrancy, issued fines they couldn’t pay, and sold to businesses to work in mines, timber yards, farms and railroads in conditions often worse than slavery.
AMERICA IS THE FREEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
“It’s a free country” is a mantra most kids probably hear before they even get to school. The reality, however, is that 22 countries are freer than the United States. The Human Freedom Index ranks America No. 23 on its global list, based on government size, religion, labor, trade, rule of law, and basic freedoms such as movement and association.
ALBERT EINSTEIN FLUNKED MATH
Many sub par math students have been consoled by encouraging teachers who remind them that even Einstein — history’s most famous mathematical genius — flunked math class. He did not. He mastered differential and integral calculus by 15, and taught himself algebra and geometry with books his parents bought him before he was 12 so he could master the fields on his own over summer vacation.
WATER TOWERS STORE DRINKING WATER
It’s true that some water towers store drinking water, but even in those cases, the main function of a water tower is to create water pressure. Most drinking water comes from wells, reservoirs, lakes or rivers. The reason water rushes out when you turn on your faucet is because massive stores of water in vertical, gravity-fed water towers apply enough pressure to force water to flow through your municipality’s network of underground pipes leading to your house.
THIS WILL GO ON YOUR PERMANENT RECORD
Generations of teachers and principals kept students in line with the most ridiculous threat in the history of U.S. education: The next behavioral infraction will go on your permanent record. There is no permanent record. Some districts do keep files on students that contain personal information and attendance records, but even in those cases, anyone who isn’t the student or the student’s parent — including college admissions officers — can’t access the record without a written release.
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