How are those sanctions and tariffs working, trump?

Well…with the latest round of sanctions that the idiot trump imposed on Iran yesterday, the reaction from them was so what? You’ve been imposing sanctions on us for forty years and we’re still here…this, with the announcements from Russia and China that they will ignore any sanctions and still trade with Iran, along with increasing trade between Russia and China, shows that the rest of the world has basically given up on the US since idiot boy started to use his fourth grade understanding of international trade to try to bully the world into doing what he wants. The way that trump is going about trying to punish everyone for everything by using trade along with ignoring our European allies is doing nothing but diminishing our standing in the world and trump’s lies has most of the world ignoring us. Making America great again, huh trump? As the studies start rolling in on the idiotic tariffs that trump has imposed, it appears that he single-handedly has destroyed overseas markets for our agricultural products for a generation or more…killing our largest market by forcing China to go elsewhere for the billions and billions of dollars of soybeans, corn, pork, and every other product that Russia and South American countries are all too happy to supply…and with the long term contracts that have been signed with China, these sales are gone forever. Never in the history of this country has one person done so much to damage our economy as trump…and yet, the farmers keep saying they will vote for him again for some reason…okay, for his unbridled hate and racism…traits that trump voters must share to continue to support him…impeach….

June 25th

Well…that really sucks…woke up at 4:11 this morning but no luck with getting back to sleep so I am worn out today…and I’m not sure if the coffee is going to do the trick…just damn exhausted and this is now starting to get really old…with all of that, it was an okay day yesterday and I did get two rides in between the rain showers and it looks like a sunny day today so two rides will be on the agenda to torture my legs some more…didn’t get much done yesterday but I do need to get some stains out of the carpet today along with some kitchen cleaning and I do need to cook some chicken that has been marinating for a couple of days so I can have some more tacos…and I have a couple of errands to run so I am going to start the car today for the first time since last Thursday…not sure why I am going to buy 10 more pounds of chicken but at 29 cents a pound, how can I pass that up? I wonder how low DD can go? Will they be paying me to take chicken next? That would be cool…more later…

The banal face of evil…

Well…as every damn day goes by, trump and his evil cronies continue to torture children in…let’s say it…concentration camps on our southern border in direct violation of both US law and international treaties. If you haven’t seen it, you need to see the attorney for trump’s US arguing in front of an appeals court that the jailed children don’t need to be provided soap, toothbrushes, beds, blankets, or adequate food…arguing that having children sleep on concrete floors under bright lights is “safe and sanitary” and that the US is not obligated to do any more since they contend they are here “illegally” when asylum seeks are protected by law after presenting themselves at the border. This is the banal face of evil that trump and his cronies present every day while they rip children from their parents at the border and then try to justify keeping them in sub-human conditions…and, in this case the evil doer is named Sarah Fabian….I wonder how she goes home to her own kids when she is part of the torture machine that trump and ICE has built whose only purpose is that torture of “brown” people who the repubs and the right just hate because they are brown. For a little context here, even prisoners of war are guaranteed all of the basics of self care…food, water, hot showers, soap, clean towels, beds…that trump is trying to justify withholding from these children. These people are just evil…and if I were them, I’d be planning on never leaving this country again or they are going to have to answer for their crimes against humanity in the Hague….and even though I don’t believe in hell…if it did exist, there would be a special place in the lakes of fire for everyone who does this to children….

June 24th

Well…it was kind of a boring day yesterday even with races and soccer on all day…I did get two rides in but I’m not sure about today…it is kind of cool that it is already almost 70 outside and it’s not even 6:30 yet…so getting out on the bike before 7 is going to be an easy one today…slept okay last night and don’t feel too bad this morning…don’t hurt much, either, and I’m not sure why that would be…went hard on both rides and that should have made my legs hurt today but they are just stiff…we’ll see when I get on the bike…I am having a cup of coffee before the ride so that will help….didn’t get much done yesterday and today will probably be the same with the US women’s team playing at 11:30…I probably should start the car today and maybe run some errands but I really don’t need any food…the freezer is filled with chicken and I have some more marinating so I’ll have chicken tacos all week…had four of them for lunch yesterday and I was uncomfortable all afternoon even though the filling for all four was just one small chicken breast…but the tortillas alone were 400 calories so I guess I overloaded with about 800 for lunch…still feel full this morning so I think I’ll lighten up today…more later….

June 23rd

Well…just figured out that getting out on the bike at 6:30 with the temp 57 degrees will really wake you up…and that is why I’m running a little late today..wanted to get the first bike ride in before the rain came in and I had to ride over and get the paper before I came here to do this one…haven’t even started the car since last Tuesday so I guess I’ll have to at some point….slept okay last night and don’t feel too bad this morning even without coffee…yow…I just realized I had a good bike ride without any coffee…I wonder how that happened? Oh, well…I’m going to pour some down now as I do this and then read the paper…then the F1 race is on at 9 so at least I won’t be too bored…didn’t get much done yesterday but laundry and a little cleaning and I still need to clean some today but no cooking with the fridge full of leftovers….I think I probably need to eat more today since I only had tacos and an egg salad sandwich yesterday and that is not enough to support 2 rides…but, I need to read the paper and have more coffee before the race….more later…

Best damn tacos….

Well…as you can see, I don’t think I’m going to do a political one today…at least not right now…just got back from ride number 2 and haven’t had a chance to catch up on the news yet..but, I did want to talk about something light and a little more fun…as you saw from this morning, I have been tinkering and trying new recipes to keep me from getting more bored with my food lately…so far, I have figured out a great homemade pizza crust, an alfredo sauce that is better than any jarred sauces I have tried, and just today, I tried what was called “food truck chicken tacos” and they were the best damn tacos I have ever had…with an overnight marinade of lime juice, olive oil, cumin, chili powder, garlic, and cilantro, the chicken was yummy even before I made them…put the tortillas in my sauce pan to heat them and made them really soft, then I built the tacos with lettuce, tomato, 4 cheese Mexican blend, the pickled red onions I made the other day and just a hint of salsa….they tasted really fresh and yummy and it is now my go to taco….no more beef ones for me…

June 22nd

Well…another 4:34 morning but I don’t feel to bad so I guess I can live with it…I did lie back down for a little while and that was a nice transition to getting up instead of just climbing out immediately…and I slept okay that that’s a plus…I just wish the damn crack in my thumb would heal so it doesn’t hurt when I shift the bike…that has been annoying for the past few days and I need to continue to treat it and hope for the best…and I’m getting out on the bike here in a few minutes but decided to have a cup of coffee and do this before I get out today…and I need to get out and back here before 9 to see F1 qualifying but I’ll be out by 7 so that won’t be a problem…I am going to make chicken tacos for the first time for lunch today and have had the chicken in a marinade overnight to get the flavor into it….and I made my best pizza ever yesterday…didn’t over bake this one and the crust came out soft and chewy so I think I have my pizza figured out…it will be interesting to see if I can repeat it but that won’t be a for a few weeks…and that put a question in my head…why do they put so much salt in frozen pizzas? Mine has about a half teaspoon in a 14″ and it tastes great…and it has very little fat with using turkey pepperoni…hmmmm…okay…need to watch F1 practice and finish my coffee so I can get out on the bike…more later…

Saw Barnstorm on tv…

Well….was flicking through the tv channels the other day and came across the 2017 Colorado Music Hall of fame celebration concert and to my surprise, one of the groups being honored was Barnstorm, Joe Walsh’s second group after the Jame Gang. Over the years since the early 70′s, I had never seen them play and they are one of my favorite groups from that era…I still listen to their music almost every day on the bike ride and it was so cool to see the three original members up on stage…with Joe, Joe Vitale, and Kenny Passerelli…and they did three songs off the first album that I have never seen played live before even with seeing Joe Walsh play almost a dozen times…I was a little curious what the music press thought of them at the time since I still think Barnstorm was a niche band that only my friends and I knew about but there were reviews in Rolling Stone and other magazines that called the album a “masterpiece”…who knew?  All I know is the music still makes me smile after more than 40 years…

I don’t believe a word of it…

Well…it appears that idiot boy trump ordered an attack on Iran last night but, with planes in the air, called it off at the last minute citing that he didn’t know that 100 to 150 people could be killed and trying to convince people that it would be too much just for Iran shooting down an unmanned drone. Now, where the hell do we start with this one? As you know, I feel that military action should be the last resort in any conflict but that view is certainly not shared by Pompeo or Bolton, who feel that war is always a good thing and that fear is the best negotiating tool…but, that might not be right…they think the US should NEVER negotiate with anyone…that everyone should just do what we want them to under the threat of attack…their idea of negotiating is to bully people to their viewpoint and that no other nation’s interests are of any consequence. But, there may be something additional operating here…since Iran is a friend of Russia, I’ll bet there was a last minute phone call from Putin telling trump to stop the attack…trump had already gotten what he wanted from the aborted attack…it was just a distraction from the tightening noose here in the US where Jerry Nadler has said bluntly that Hope Hicks WILL come back to the House and she will answer their questions…and that includes Don McGahn who refused to testify earlier…and today, Felix Sater is in front of the House for testimony on the trump Moscow project…and just yesterday it was revealed that there is a major new investigation into Deutsche bank’s refusal to report don jr. and trump’s transactions with the bank for money laundering after the people at the bank in charge of that reported it to the higher ups and they declined to turn the information over to the authorities. So, there are many reasons why the attack was called off last night…and one of the ones on Twitter that made me laugh is trump called it off because it would have meant that he would actually have to do some work and that would cut into his golf and “executive time”…that one is probably the right one…impeach…

June 21st

Well…have been rushing around here this morning trying to get going to get out on the bike in the fog but I just looked out and it has mostly cleared so I thought I’d come here and do this before I get out…and that gives me the chance to have a cup of coffee and it is strange how much that helps the legs…it is much more of a chore to ride without it…slept okay last night but I think I need a new pair of earplugs…have lost one each of the past few nights and that is annoying even with the place upstairs being empty…no dreams to speak of either and I was getting used to having them after a few days…oh, well….I have a split in my right thumb that has been hurting like crazy the past few days since I use it to shift and that is keeping it from healing…got some vinegar in it yesterday when I was making some pickled red onions and that was just too much…kept it hurting all afternoon no matter what I did even with washing it…cripes…didn’t get much done yesterday but one bike ride since it was raining most of the day but today looks like I can get two in…and I am going to make a pizza for lunch along with getting some chicken in a marinade for tacos for tomorrow and that is going to be a new one for me…more later…