It wasn’t what I’d call warm on Saturday, but the Big Yellow Ball was out in a blue, blue sky, so I had that going for me, which was nice.
Hmph. After six consecutive days of healthful outdoor exercise I thought I’d award myself a day of rest yesterday.
Should’ve kept an eye on the weather wizards. ’Cause today, it’s snowing again. Bah, etc.
Happily, I wrapped and shipped the latest “Quick Spin” video to Adventure Cyclist on Sunday, so I won’t have to check the integrity of those Jamis fenders today. Instead, I can go for a short run in the snow, see if I can find a new place to fall down.
And it could be worse. It could not be snowing in January, and come June I would be bitching about being on fire.
Or I could be an unpaid federal employee standing in line near the Trump International Hotel in DeeCee, waiting for some free food.
Radha Muthiah, president of the Capital Area Food Bank, tells The New York Times that her organization has had to reassess its targets, which now include people “making upward of $60,000 a year.”
“What was more interesting than the number were the types of calls: individuals who had never had to request food,” she said of those contacting the food bank. “Many had donated, but had never expected to be on the receiving end.
“What this experience is showing them is that so many of us live paycheck to paycheck. Any time of emergency — whether a medical emergency or something else — how quickly one can become vulnerable.”
Some federales are hunting other work, whatever they can find — babysitting, driving for Uber, substitute teaching. This may or may not keep other Americans from landing those jobs.
Notes FDA employee David Arvelo: “Who’s going to hire me not knowing how long I’m going to stick around?”
One common thread running through all these stories involves infernal combustion: people who suddenly can’t afford gas, insurance, car payments, whatever. The humble bicycle looks awfully good by comparison. Unless, of course, it’s snowing.
Tags: Adventure Cyclist, federal government shutdown, Quick Spin, Snow
Mad Blog Media 
January 22, 2019 at 9:31 am |
Heard Jose Andres is up for a Nobel. Can’t think of a better guy to give it to. I’ve done a couple of hurricane relief efforts for USACE/FEMA, and Chef Andres make our Class I resupply efforts look like a family picnic. We were feeding hundreds, he’s feeding millions. We were opening tray-packs and serving cold sandwiches, he’s handing out meals that critics rave about in magazine reviews.
January 22, 2019 at 9:38 am |
Unfortunately, at this point there’s nothing the president* could do to change what’s left of the minds of his supporters. But anyone with two synapses left to rub together should be able to understand that it doesn’t take an MBA or even a GED to figure out that not paying workers until they’re at the breaking point and then giving them backpay for not working is not our finest hour, voodoo economics-wise. We need another name that’s even dumber than voodoo for this guy’s grasp of how a business should work.
January 22, 2019 at 10:37 am |
Of course, we’re talking about the dude who hires contractors to do his bidding, and once the work is complete, either stiffs them or tells them they can accept pennies instead of dollars or sue him, thereby racking up legal bills on top of everything else.
He’s not just dumb, he’s mean. Mean dumb is the worstest.
January 22, 2019 at 12:17 pm |
Fat Nixon just needs to call his fantasy crisis an emergency and get on with it already! Fits just fine with all the other BS he’s been slinging since…forever.
January 22, 2019 at 10:37 am |
I left a comment on the road trip post about a book, a compilation of insults, that I bought at the used book store that supports our public library. Here are some more beauties about our asshat in chief.
His wife worships him; so does he.
He’s suffering from I-strain.
You can’t help admiring him; if you don’t, you’re fired.
He’s a real big gun of small caliber and an immense bore.
We would be better off trusting a rabbit to deliver a head of lettuce.
He’s trying to save both his faces.
We can’t call him a cheap politician; look how much he’s cost us taxpayers.
And my favorite today,
You can count on him to lay down your life for his country.
January 22, 2019 at 10:54 am |
The old gag about the post turtle also comes to mind. You see a turtle parked on top of a fence post, and you think:
— He didn’t get up there by himself.
— He doesn’t belong up there.
— He doesn’t know what the hell to do while he’s up there.
— What kind of a knob would put him up there in the first place?
January 22, 2019 at 12:04 pm |
Beauty!
By the way, how does one get away with a compilation of 2000 insults without crediting the source. I assume they are all public domain from decades of use by numerous people.
January 22, 2019 at 2:55 pm |
I love this update on Fraternal Love on a restaurant in Lithuania.
It’s fairly obvious to everyone, let’s hope Mueller finds the evidence..