Well…with the people of the New York Times on strike today, I think it’s a good time to think about unions and the good they’ve done in this country and around the world. Look, if the owners of companies would treat workers with the respect and fairness they deserve, there wouldn’t be a need for unions…but as you know, most of the people running companies spend their time trying to figure out how to hoard the fruits of labor for themselves and have been very successful at it…after all, ceo compensations is now over 300 times what the average worker makes when it used to be closer to 50 and companies have never been more profitable…the modern weekend is a result of union bargaining as is the 40 hour work week and when you look at it, unions built the middle class here and around the world….and I’m happy that there is a resurgence of unionization here in the US after both the government and the rich and powerful have spent decades attacking them and buying laws that made it harder and harder for people to band together to try to level the playing field….but there is still work to be done and I’m glad someone is doing it….so, don’t read the Times anytime soon to support the people there…they can use the help….
All posts by James DeVol
December 8th
Well…damn, up at 4:08 this morning but laid back down til a little after 6 but didn’t feel like there was any sleep in there but there must have been…no dreams at all, though, and that means the sleep was pretty crappy…at least my back doesn’t hurt too much today but my abs do and that sucks….it looks like I’ll be riding indoors this morning with the temp only getting to 30 or so but I may get outside later if I get motivated….if I ride twice a day for the rest of the month, I may get close to the goal for the year since I’m sitting at 5,800 as of yesterday but to do another 250 miles by the end of the month? Not sure if that’s doable but I do feel good that I did as many as I have….didn’t get much done but laundry yesterday and I really should get to work on this place today but it’s unusual that I have such a lack of motivation that has gone on for months now…should have finished the dining room by now and I know all I have to do is start but I just don’t feel like it….oh, well…going to be working on leftovers for the next couple of days but I do need to cook some of the chicken I got yesterday…but that will wait til tomorrow since I still have soup to use and tons of ham left….not much to do today…just need to get on the bike by 8 so that gives me time to read some news and have another cup of coffee….I think I’ll hit 1,000 miles indoors this morning and that has been a lot of work….more later…
Brutal ride…
Well…damn, that was a brutal ride…I did get two in outside today but even with little wind, they were just brutal for some reason…and I think it may be that I only had one meal yesterday and that is not enough to support doing 30 miles on the bike and I didn’t even get to lunch until almost 2pm so I think that will set me up to only have one meal again today…or I can have a bowl of soup later since I do need to use the turkey soup leftovers up before they spoil….and I did get chicken legs quarters for 59 cents a pound today and now I have 10 pounds of those that need to be frozen but I think I have room for them but it will be a tight squeeze to fit the leftover ham in to save up for making ham soup in a couple of weeks…have already heated my back once as I wait for the dryer to finish up with the bedding and couch blankets in it….haven’t even read the news today…darn, I better get going…
And they say they’re not fascists…
Well…when you hear the repubs complain when they are called fascists for doing fascist things…just remember that they have a scheme to ignore voters and just install whoever they want in whatever office that is in the supreme court today…it’s called the independent legislature theory and it’s main tenet is that state legislatures are the only bodies who can set rules for voting in federal or state elections…and they argue the legislatures can ignore any votes they want…so dem votes will never be counted in repub controlled states again…how do you guys feel about that? This crackpot theory that is based on a lie is being argued right now and all of the conservative justices are just drooling that they can help out their repub cronies to just nullify elections they don’t like…that’s not fascist, right? Yeah, in reality that is right out of the fascist playbook on the first page….and the only reason it was taken up is alito wanted it so we know it doesn’t have to have any basis in law, truth, or reality for him to embrace it….look, if these guys are allowed to make this legal, this democracy is gone but that is what the repubs want…they know demographics are slowly dooming them electorally so they have to get the ultimate cheat authorized by the court…geez…
December 7th
Well…damn, running late this morning with getting up at 5:40 and then lying back down until almost 7:30 and than never happens…but I don’t feel like I slept at all and it’s going to be hard to get going today…need to be in the shower in 20 minutes to get out for the grocery run and I don’t want to do it…it’s only 29 out there right now and that is too damn cold to ride outdoors so that may have to wait til the afternoon…the weather says it’s foggy out there right now but it’s not light enough to see that yet….looks like it could be ice fog since it’s pretty cold out there….didn’t get much done yesterday but make the big dinner for lunch but I do need to do some laundry today…there are no soccer matches on today so I won’t have any excuse for not working…but do I need one? To not feel guilty, yes…darn, haven’t even read the news yet this morning and it looks like I won’t get to it til the afternoon so there won’t be any topics until then…I know there has been a lot happening so it should be pretty easy to find one for today….okay, need to get more coffee in me before I can even think about getting going…so I think I will…more later…
Hide the ketchup…
Well…I guess the waiters at trump’s tacky resort in Florida should hide the ketchup now that the trump organization has just been found guilty on all counts in it’s fraud trial in NYC…you know the one…not paying taxes on gifts and compensation for it’s execs and lying on tax forms…all that kind of stuff…now this won’t result in prison time for the idiot boy but it does show the techniques that were used to defraud the government in this case were probably used in the criminal case that is winding it’s way through the courts in NY…oh, and the NYC AG just brought in a new prosecutor to use this information for the criminal case against every damn one of the trumps….get moving Bragg….
Almost got away with it…
Well…after getting out for two hard rides outdoors today, and my back not hurting much with heating it as soon as I got off the bike, I thought I got away with it…but nope, my back just froze up completely after sitting on the couch for a few minutes…and now my abs are getting back in the party, too…crap…I guess I could take something for it since I didn’t take anything yesterday….I did cook the big ham I got yesterday and I’m a little confused…it really doesn’t taste like anything…maybe a little bit like ham but not HAM! Like it should….I’ve seen this before with cheaper hams and it is a little disappointing since I’ve been looking forward to this for a month now…oh, well…life is full of disappointment…and it was only 8 bucks so no big loss…thinking about getting some shrimp tomorrow at Meijers since they have pound packages buy one get one free but that still makes it 5 bucks a pound and I wonder if it’s worth it or not? I guess I’ll have to think about that one….
The January 6th committee strikes..
Well…great news out of the January 6th committee this morning when it was announced they are going to make criminal referrals to the Justice department from the evidence they gathered…and one of the key parts of the announcement is that it is referrals plural, so there are going to be more than one…and one of them has to be against the idiot trump but I curious who the second or third or fourth is going to be…if you watched any of the committee presentations, it was clear the they had trump in their sights since he was the ringleader of the whole thing but rudy could be one or even Mark Meadows…or it could even be one of the lawyers who helped trump push his bullshit…I guess we’ll see…oh, and the new special prosecutor brought in to take over the investigations of January 6th at the DOJ just issued a whole bunch of subpoenas to people in states like Michigan where trump and his cronies tried to install slates of fake electors…so there is movement in the investigation there, too….let’s put this bluntly, if trump is not indicted from either of these investigations, this country is lost…there is no excuse for the DOJ to ignore his criminality anymore so get at it DOJ…geez…
December 6th
Well…how much does ending uncertainty cost? In my case it’s 3 grand or so and it appears to be worth it…didn’t sleep well at all last night with getting up twice and then out of bed before 7 and I have a headache…didn’t take anything for the allergies last night and I’m paying for it right now…I had a laugh this morning when the old saying “wake up and smell the coffee” actually happened when I did…yeah, I have a weird sense of humor…it is nice that I don’t have any more doctor or dentist appointments for a couple of months and I am going to enjoy that…at least for the next week or so…I did start getting into Yellowstone over the last few days and the thought hit me it’s the Sopranos set in Montana….and I watched the Guardians of the Galaxy christmas special last night and it was such good natured fun that it made me smile….I have weird taste in shows at times…I am going to make a big ham today that I got for 8 bucks yesterday at Meijers and that should last me for almost a week…and I am going to try to get outside on the bike today for two rides since the wind is down to only about 6mph but it is still too cold to go out til around 9….but it will still be in the 30’s so I’ll need full thermasuit but I will be able to watch Route 66 and have more coffee before that….not much to do today…just going to cook the ham later and then watch some soccer…I really should clean but I’m not sure if I will…I should do bedding today and probably will but that won’t be til this afternoon….just want to sit here for a bit and have more coffee….probably should heat my back as I sit to prep for the rides…more later…
Just got back…
Well…just got back from the periodontist and I like this guy but it is going to cost over 3 grand…the good news is that he thinks he can save the rest of my teeth…made a comment that younger doctors would just pull all the teeth but he doesn’t work that way…older man…probably close to my age and I like the idea that he has been doing this since the 70’s…so the work starts the end of Feb….I’m going to have a cocktail tonight to celebrate…