Halloween 2019

Class Warfare in the Blizzard of 2017

Winds increase from a strengthening nor’easter, blizzard conditions will bring dangerous travel over the interior Northeast, while a wintry mix, rain and flooding continue to advance northward along the coast through Tuesday.

The storm has forced a State of Emergency to declared in multiple states.

Blizzard conditions with heavy snow, very low visibility, plus drifting snow will clog streets and highways from parts of central and eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey and over much of Maine and New Brunswick.

But as I was digging my car out, I couldn't decide is it Class envy or Class warfare? I guess throwing that snowball at the passing SUV gives you why I made the word choice.

We are in StormWatch™

For those of you in the flyover country - you're about to get spanked. Hard. And on the bright side, O'Hare Airport will be clogged - which will pretty much grind the entire nation to a halt tomorrow. Hope you folks have your provisions prepared.

Kent: Let's check the death count from the killer storm bearing down on us like a shotgun full of snow.

Weatherman: Well, Kent, as of now the death count is zero. But it is ready to shoot right up.

Kent: Oh my God. [shakes fist at heaven] Damn you snow!

Some Sense of Snow

According to CNN, there is snow on the ground right now in 49 states, with Florida being the only exception. How unusual is this? “This is extremely unusual,” says CNN, “though it’s hard to put a date on when this last happened because records aren’t kept on this kind of event.”

Actually, you non reporting nor remembering lazy morons it happened exactly 11 months ago, with the only difference being that the holdout then was Hawaii, and that's only because no one wanted to hike up a volcano to see if there was any snow on it. A USA Today article reporting on the phenomenon in 2010 quoted weather service meteorologist Brian Korty as saying that “it’s extremely rare to have so many states with snow.”

No, Detroit playing in a Super Bowl is rare. Snow in January is getting downright predictable.

Meanwhile, in the south...

Sunday Comics: Week in Review

Hope you had enough liquor to make it though your family gathering for the Solstice festival - or whatever crazy ceremony you've labeled it... if you're reading this, you made it to the finish line.
Meantime, everyone's heralding Mr. Obama the big winner from the Lame Duck Snowpocolypse 2010.

It's all a matter of perception, really.
And the view from the center...
And, of course, no one has bothered to think about the children...
Ah, but all that matters is the White Christmas that just keeps on giving. And giving... and you can't take it back. And that sucks.
Hope you make it with me to the finish line at the end of next week. Then we put some new numbers up - and try to slug through it all again.

PS - WHY THE HELL IS SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON TUESDAY? That not only doesn't make any lippity sense - it's messed up my entire evening.

Threat Neutralized

Thank Jebus they're finally cracking down on the terrible terrible threat of snow globes. We can all sleep safer tonight knowing that a snowglobe will not be used to hijack and crash an airplane over our fair cities.

Threat Neutralized

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Donald Duck - Snowball Fight 1942

Snowball Planet Hoth

A recent admission from Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher reveals Hoth, site of the doomed rebel base in the first act of The Empire Strikes Back, to be home to more than one kind of snow.

“We did cocaine on the set of ‘Empire,’ in the ice planet,” she said in an interview while promoting her one-woman show in Australia. “I didn’t even like the coke that much, it was just a case of getting on whatever train I needed to take to get high.”

No, Carrie, you were supposed to get on the last transport... not the Falcon.

MORE, - including juicy bits about being on the set of the Blues Brothers

How come the only thing I can think of is... "Do you have any idea what the street value of this planet is?"

The Week In Review/Sunday Comics

Ah, the week in review already. First off, there was this big useless and showy Healthcare summit.

Despite yielding a few points of agreement, Thursday's health care summit primarily served to highlight major — unbridgeable — differences between the two parties' agendas for the CSPAN viewing audience. If the summit was collegial, underlying tension spilled over at times into silly slap fights involving President Obama and the Republicans. Accusations of budgetary "gimmicks" to claims of partisan timekeeping, here's a look back at the defining clashes of the big showy Blair House pow-wow.

1. Retro 2008
When John McCain charged the Democratic bill was the product of "unsavory deal making," Obama shot back: "We're not campaigning anymore. The election's over." A flustered McCain responded, "Well, I'm reminded of that every day." A bit later though, he got revenge. Cornered by a question from McCain about why some Florida seniors got special treatment on Medicare, Obama conceded, "I think you make a legitimate point." McCain, looking as surprised as anyone in the room, didn't reply.

2. Paul Ryan's smackdown
In a feisty speech, Rep. Paul Ryan (R, WI) described the Democratic bill as a "ponzi scheme" full of accounting "gimmicks and smoke and mirrors" and sought to discredit official projections showing it would reduce the deficit. Critics jumped on the moment as if it were some major GOP victory. "The expression on the president's face as Ryan made his case was absolutely priceless," says Matthew Continetti in the Weekly Standard. "Simply put, he looked like someone who realizes he's met his match." Or maybe someone just told him that he isn't wearing any clothes?

3. Reconciliation
Throughout the summit, Republicans pushed the Dems not to pass health care reform using reconciliation, which would allow a sidestep a GOP filibuster in the Senate. Lamar Alexander asked Obama to "renounce this idea" of "jamming" the bill through Congress "using reconciliation." After all, he said, the process has "never been used for anything like this." But Obama kept the option open: "I think most Americans think that a majority vote makes sense." Except that according to polling data, a majority of Americans are against THIS bill. They're for change in Healthcare, just not THIS change.

4. Any one bother to fact-check that?
While making the GOP's opening remarks, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee claimed that insurance premiums "will rise as a result of the Senate bill." Obama countered that this was "not factually accurate. The cost for families for the same type of coverage as they're currently receiving would go down 14 to 20 percent." Bloggers immediately scrambled to pick a winner, with most seeming to settle on Obama. "The record is tricky," says Brian Beutler in Talking Points Memo. But overall "Obama is correct."

5. Judges?
In addition to serving as moderator and head debater for the Democrats, Obama was also the official timekeeper, which is to say, Wink Martindale. Which pissed off the GOP. Ninety minutes into the summit, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted that Democrats had spent 52 minutes talking compared to only 24 for Republicans. Obama shot back: "I don't count my time, because I'm the president." Lovely.

It snowed again. There was also another earthquake. I'm sure the earthquake will be all we talk about this coming week.
And Mr. Toyota went to Congress this week...
There's been a lot of talk about how to 'fix' the country lately. That the government is broken. The government isn't broken, it's the government that reflects the country. Just as we had an oil man running things the last 8 years. Now we have a squabbling mess where no one takes responsibility for the problems or issues they created. That is a perfect mirror reflecting the population in my eye.
But to be fair, the Federal Government wants to expand their reach and influence into the average American's life [more taxes, services for others] while the States and local governments are raising fees and taxes while screaming poor and cutting services. I can't understand how you can raise taxes more than 50%, cut the program you're raising the taxes for - and then still cry poor. If anyone can explain that to me, I'm all ears. You may also want to explain that to the electorate, before they start hoarding guns and ammunition - what, they already are?
That's this week, see you next.