I can't - I just Can't

What dark time is coming, what dark time is here
The prophet emerges in garments of fear
He calls to his people to come to the feast
They gather unto him to wait for release
Alleluia

Remember the warnings, forget what you're told
The heart of the temple is hollow and cold
The face of the prophet is tired and creased
He raises his cup and falls to his knees

- we have entered the abyss - we have been warned by those who know - those who have seen. - witnessed this before.  We have examples around the world  - we know  by the blatant open visits Viktor Orban has had with our soon to be Dictator.  Bought an paid for by teh Richest man in the world...   

- The play book is about to unfold,,,,   Project 2025 - that The Orange jesus proclaimed that he knew nothing about - is getting ready to be implemented full force.  Authors of that playbook have been nominated to Cabinet posts and positioning in the Government where they can do the most harm,,  Nominated because of their Expertise of the Agency  and / or subject matter - OH HELL NO = 

Nominated because they bent the Knee and kissed th Ring of the Mango Mussolini.

They stand ready to implement what ever policy President Musk and his errand boy Donnie - say to implement - 

We will see the Jan 6th insurrectionists - over 1500 of them - pardoned. People that assaulted the Police officers - that have pled Guilty to the Crimes they are charged with.  No bigger miscarriage of justice than these Pardons - what happened to the PArty of Law and Order ??

Get ready for the round up of immigrants - Detention camps - similar to what we did to Japanese folks after Pearl Harbor.  But you like that cause you hate these folks like Dumpo hates them.  Along with a slew of new immigration laws - and the open disregard for the Rights of these folks to process of law - now if they are criminal - let them be dealt with by the Courts - the ones that you think should left the Cheeto man go free....

The extension of and passage of new Tax law - for the Rich and Morbidly rich,  the ones that bought Dumpo - the ones that he said he would help and WE the People will pay for it all.

let's remember the Promises - 

Lower gas prices 

Lower Grocery prices 

Inflation goes to Zero

Closing of the Border and MASS Deportations

Oil Drilling - as if was are not already producing more oil than EVER..

Ending the WAR in Ukraine. 

Rolling back environmental regulations- specilly of you invest in The Orange Jesus's family trust to the tune of billiuons of dollars,,

Tariffs on incoming goods  - from Canada , Mexico, and China etal.....

I frankly do not see how we as the Republic survive 4 years of the Madness that is about to engulf us - the LIES that will be told , the Resting on knowledge of people that have NONE - as them being the Experts - The fawning over the Putin's / Orban's and Un's of the World as great leaders , The impact that this administration will have on our lives (not for the Better) - The FAFO stage that those who voted for him are about to see - that HE LIED to YOU -- He told you what you wanted to hear - he made up stuff to get your vote - and NOW - he does not need you anymore except for one thing - to BE SILENT - To continue to praise the Messiah, To buy into the $hit he is selling because you can't admit you F'd up and supported a Madman ....  

medicare UHC and CMC decision....

 Ok - here is why this is crazy....   

1st - we received 2 letters  back in November saying that UHC's contract with Conway Medical (that's  what group all our doctors are in)   was ending December 31st - and if no agreement was reached we would still be seen at CMC - just Out of network ,, now I don't know what that means as far as cost goes - but betting it would be more ....   I talked to a lady there at CMC  that knew all about this and she said the talks were still on going with UHC ....   but yes - no agreement has been reached - this was Dec 5th - One day Before we needed to make. decision to stay with United Health or go with another carrier ....  we chose to stay -  

and then on the 31st at about 2pm - we get this email that say s that an agreement - 3 years  - has been reached,,,,,,   SO - like 28 days after you needed to decide what coverage you was taking for 2025 - they reach the agreement  ....   knowing full damn well people Already needed to amke a choice.....  although it worked out - does not seem right..

Conway Medical Center (CMC) and UnitedHealthcare (UHC) have finalized a new three-year agreement, maintaining in-network access to all CMC services and providers for UHC members. This agreement covers all UHC plans, so you can continue receiving the exceptional care you expect from CMC without any disruption. What this means for you: - Continued in-network access to all CMC services - No disruption to your care - No changes to your current benefits - Business as usual for all appointments and procedures

Easy and Hard...

 Do you know that Hardest thing to to do 

And the Right thing to do - are Usually the same thing.

Nothing that has meaning is Easy - 

Easy doesn't enter into Grown-up life....

Sometimes the hardest Roads lead to the most meaningful destinations.......

Nothing

 I don't even know what to say to say about a child that does not even bother to call his Parents on Christmas Day...  and Wait - I know y'all gonna say - "you need to talk to him about it " !!  And that's TRUE......

It's just the way it worked out that we stayed here at home for the Christmas Holiday -  went to neighbor's for Christmas Eve, but we had to plans for the Christmas day....   and ended up cleaning the Traeger grill,  washing some of the Cat Quilts and blankets - much to their dismay as then the don't smell like them ,, and they need to put down a new layer of Cat hair on them....   

We were very happy that two of the Kids call us to share the Grandchildrens toy haul with us,,, and the Grandkids were great showing us what toys that Santa left for them,..... we love that stuff - we can't be there  with everyone , we know that ,,,   -  and it is difficult that we are separated from everyone  but the kids have their own lives and anyway we can't live in 3 places at once ..... -   -  so not Getting to talk to and see the 3 Grandsons really sucks,,,,, I will admit this  hits harder with my wife....   

We did get  a text of  a "Merry Christmas"  and hoping that we enjoy the day from our D-in Law - then thinking  that we would get a call from our Child sometime during the day so we could talk to the Grandchildren -  and ,,,,,,,,,,, NO - nothing - no Calls no Texts no nothing,,,,   Now,  EVERYONE - especially those with Kids are busy as hell on the Eve and the Day - very stressful - I remember ......   But nothing - nothing ???? WTF ....   Forget for a moment what that teaches the children - that you can  just ignore (yea thats what it feels Like ) your Parents....   I do wonder IF my D- In -law calls her parents ??  and that it's all just my son that is the A-hole that can't be bothered ....  

Those of us that a bit older - know that Parents are not around forever..... and so Grandparents follow that path  also - you as a child are fortunate if your parents live to see their grandchildren grow up even a little...    I think the Phenomenon  that these days people need to get a higher education to secure a career that will - hopefully - pay off after College or Tech Schools, or whatever they pursue - so they  find a partner  later in life (not like we did - married at 24 & 19 respectively - and the 1st child  just two years later)  and children after that - means that they are older having kids and so their Parents are obviously older when they become Grandparents - we are by far not the only ones that see this scenario play out,,,  What I mean here is that WE ain't livin forever - and missing saying Merry Christmas one year Does not insure that your parent will be around the NEXT YEAR .... 

I guess that this is the way that I need to address this right now - but  IT can't end here

I can't keep up..........

  Republicans in Congress kick the can down the road to March. Democrats in the House and Senate pitched in and helped pass a stopgap funding continuing resolution to keep the government open until March. It does not include the lifting of the debt ceiling which Trump and Musk wanted to prepare for the next round of borrowing trillions from American taxpayers to give to their billionaire friends as tax cuts. Nor did it cut entitlement programs, which so pissed off rightwing Republicans that 34 of them voted against the bill. But those corrupt Republicans who love the morbidly rich and hate average Americans haven’t given up hope; here’s the operant sentence from the article in today’s Washington Post about the vote: “Johnson  proposed a handshake deal with fiscal hawks in his own party to try next year to slash mandatory spending — programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ health care and food stamps — by at least $2.5 trillion while raising the debt cap by $1.5 trillion, according to three people familiar with the details.” That’s how they plan to get to a $4 trillion tax cut transfer of wealth from all of us to the top 1% this coming spring: Get your popcorn.  - From Thom Hartmann

Why is President Musk endorsing the “German neo-Nazi Party”? Both President Musk and his sidekick Donald Trump are in deep with the Chinese Communist Party (which has given millions to the Trump family and where Musk makes roughly half of his Tesla cars and many of his billions) and Vladimir Putin (both are reported to have had multiple phone calls and other communications with the Russian dictator over the past two years, including Musk cutting off Starlink internet access for Ukrainian drones that were supposed to attack the Russian fleet in Crimea). Musk this week also endorsed the Nazi-infested German racist, far-right party Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and in the past has endorsed other European hard-right politicians and parties including in France and the UK. Putin’s involved in a major effort to disrupt democratic governments around the world, mainly through using social media and video channels, and it increasingly appears that an anti-democracy coalition is forming here that includes several American and other rightwing billionaires and the Trump operation. Ruth Ben-Ghiat expands on this extensively in her excellent Lucid newsletter this week; it’s well worth the read (and subscribing to). Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul (R-Crackpot) has suggested Republicans in the House should make Musk their Speaker (and third in the line of succession for the presidency), an idea that’s been endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene and others. The Constitution doesn’t have a citizenship requirement or election requirement for the job, so it’s a real possibility, although probably wouldn’t get the necessary votes if Johnson is taken down. No matter what, though, unless Musk and Trump get into some sort of major personality conflict (which I consider unlikely; Trump just wants to play golf and be loved, while Musk wants to get involved, presumably to protect the billions he gets in federal government grants and subsidies), it looks like the Muskrat is going to be America’s new overlord regardless of having or not having any official position.

Trump is already walking back his promises. Why don’t the headlines simply say, “He Lied”? The main promise Trump made to American voters before the election was that he’d “immediately” lower grocery and other prices. Anybody with even a tiny bit of civics education knows that’s nearly impossible; the president doesn’t control any agency or have any power other than the bully pulpit to affect marketplace prices. Just ask Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter, who were both one-term presidents largely because of inflation. Nonetheless, Trump repeated that promise over and over and voters believed him. Now, as Todd Beeton points out in his excellent Big Picture newsletter, Trump has dismissed this promise as something he never really intended to do because, as noted, it’s simply not possible. When asked on Meet The Press if he’d keep his promise to lower prices, he replied bluntly, “I can’t promise anything.” Right. He’d also promised he didn’t know anything about Project 2025 and their plans to gut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other popular government programs; now he’s stocking his administration with the actual authors of that document. He’d also promised to end the Ukraine war the day after his election; now it just looks like he’s going to leave that democratic nation and its millions of people to the tender mercies of Russia’s brutal tyrant and his rapist soldiers. Finally, Trump promised not to attack Social Security with his campaign sending out literally millions of flyers to homes in swing states saying he’d protect the program; that’s already in the crapper as the DOGE caucus and Musk’s people are examining the program for cutbacks. Republican Rep. Greg Lopez went so far as to bluntly tell Social Security Works’ president Alex Lawson, ‘there will be some cuts’ to Social Security. The three areas where it appears Trump may keep his promises are putting an anti-vaccine crackpot in charge of our vaccine programs, cutting more taxes for his billionaire donors, and setting out on a revenge spree once he controls the Justice Department. This is going to get ugly fast.

If you think it BAD now,.....

Will the next Potus sign off on throwing millions of Americans off their health insurance and raising the rates for the rest of us ?

A new report from the  Congressional Budget Office (CBO) notes that if Republicans’ get their desire to expire the “enhanced premium tax credits” from the Inflation Reduction Act that help people underwrite the cost of their health insurance, “3.8 million [people], on average, in each year over the 2026-2034 period” will lose their insurance and “insurers will raise premiums for the remaining enrollees.”

 No surprise here; as any Republican will tell you,  billionaires don’t need help with health insurance, why should the rest of us get assistance? Cynthia Cox, vice president and Affordable Care Act policy researcher at KFF, told CBS News that if Republicans let the tax credits expire, millions of Americans “could go from paying no more than 8.5% of their income to easily paying 20% or more. I imagine a lot of those folks would drop coverage.”