11.2.15

I'll start out with this one:

Kenny G Plans To Hold One Note On The Sax For An Entire Flight

Lord have mercy. I won't ask you to watch the whole fawning interview, that would be far too painful for anyone. But read some of the comments. Like this one from Judy Gross - I was at one of his concerts when he did this. And I have to say it was annoying as hell. God help the people on the plane that have to listen to this crap. I can easily visualize Kenny leaving the plane with a soprano sax shoved at least halfway up his ass by an unruly mob of passengers.

Lyin' Ryan

It is no great earth shattering news that politicians are liars. Well maybe Honest Abe and Jimmy Carter never lied but the latter was certainly the worst president of modern times, I'll take a skilled prevaricator every time, thank you.

I opened up the newspaper this morning to the headline Ryan won't work with Obama on immigration. Supposedly Obama isn't trustworthy enough to make a deal with.

What a crock of shit. The reason that the Republican Party can't make a deal is because they are at war with themselves on this issue. And one of the quid pro quo's that brought the Freedom Caucus into the fold for Ryan's coronation was a promise to Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks that there would be no immigration reform until 2017.

Why not be honest, why lay the blame on Barry? Don't piss on our legs and tell us it's raining. It was fait accompli, yet you pass it off on Obama when you couldn't get your own house together.

*

The GOP has a latino problem folks, demographically, rhetorically, anyway you care to spin it. If they were honest with the public about their feelings regarding immigration reform, they could probably not win a national election today.

Ryan on Face the Nation: "I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue. He tried to go it alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive orders, so that is not on the cards," said Ryan for the Sunday morning show. "I think if we reach consensus on how best to achieve border and interior enforcement security, I think that's fine."

What Ryan doesn't mention is that Obama wasn't really alone here, he had a bipartisan Senate on his side as well in crafting a reform framework, including one Marco Rubio, and this push pull process is normal, in fact it is called governing. But now the GOP can kick the immigration can, or political hot potato ,down the street and blame it all on Obama's dishonesty.

*

Their relationship with hispanics will not be helped by them pulling the plug on Telemundo for the February debate. The GOP candidates, whining about debate questions that they all chose not to answer last debate, are coming off like petulant babies bawling about the big, bad news media. Bwaaa! Never fear, Glenn Beck has offered to moderate.

*

I almost feel bad for Jeb. Sure he is a tool for the uber wealthy to get uberwealthier but he seems like a decent enough guy. It is so untoward to see him fall all over himself promising to get tougher and eat nails for breakfast, and proclaim that he knows that he has to get better at the debate thing. Poor bastard, he has no fire in his belly and I think the sooner he gets out of a contest that he thought was going to get airmailed to him and gets on with the rest of his life, the happier he will be.

*

A 71 year old man from Netanya was stabbed by Palestinians today, one of several stabbings. People in Israel are a little sore at the moment because there was a military procession and funeral with honors for two terrorists (freedom fighters) who tried similar stabbings last week.

Abbas not only called for a military funeral but also a monetary stipend for the stabbers. Even allowed the crowd to fly their Hamas flags.

Thousands of Arab mourners on Sunday filled the streets of the Sair and Surif villages near Hebron, in Judea, for the funerals of two terrorists who were killed by Israeli forces in October, after stabbing attempts. The Israeli authorities delivered the bodies of Raed Jaradat, 22, and Mahmoud Ghneimat, 20, to the Palestinian liaison department early Sunday morning, and the remains were transferred to the Hebron public hospital before they were taken to their hometowns for burial.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, in a radical deviation from protocol, ordered to conduct military funerals for both terrorists. Abbas also ordered that the families of the terrorists receive financial grants.
In another diversion from protocol, the PA Chairman permitted flying the yellow Hamas flags at the funerals, even though in Hebron, whose Arabs are strongly affiliated with the rival organization, there is a ban on raising Hamas flags.

Obama, who once again used an opportunity to lecture and chide the Israelis during the anniversary of Rabin's death the other day, has been characteristically mum regarding the stabbings and incitement.

Whoever is our next president, I hope that he or she can heal the outright hostility that this President has shown the jewish state and try to bring back a little balance to the relationship.

*

Obamacare is looking to me like more and more of a joke. I know quite a few doctors and none of them want to work with the plans, many are going broke, the government won't pay diddly for Medicare reimbursement. Now news that many of the country's plans lack access to specialties.

About one in seven health insurance plans offered on the federal marketplace in 2015 did not provide access to in-network doctors for at least one medical specialty, researchers found. For the new study, the researchers looked at 135 health insurance plans in 34 state marketplaces that were available during the 2015 open enrollment period, when people can select their plans.
Using the plans' physician directories, they looked for in-network specialists who would be covered by insurance, including obstetricians/gynecologists, dermatologists, cardiologists, psychiatrists, oncologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, rheumatologists and pulmonologists.
Overall, in April 2015, 18 plans in nine states lacked in-network specialists for at least one specialty within a 100-mile search area, and 19 lacked specialists within a 50-mile radius.
Endocrinology, rheumatology and psychiatry were the most commonly excluded specialties.
Another seven to 14 plans had fewer than five in-network doctors in those fields.
When the researchers repeated their search in May, six of the 19 plans lacking specialists had added more providers.
The researchers also found that people enrolled in plans that lacked access to specialists had high out-of-network charges for doctors' visits and medication. In some cases, they had to pay half or more of all costs.
"What this basically translates into is huge out-of-pocket costs for the consumers," Dorner said.

*

Carly Fiorina wants the girls on the view to debate her and "man up." Isn't that perpetuating awfully sexist stereotypes? Meg Whitman says that Carly isn't qualified to be president. Ouch!

*

 The Huffington Post has long since given up the sobriquet of respectable news outlet. I am so tired about reading about Nicky Minaj's latest tantrum and Miley Cyrus's nipple slip. Lord help us.

*

Wonder if there is anything real behind this anonymous KKK data dump which claims to divulge the identities of some very key politicos including John Cornyn? I will withhold judgement.

*

Pigs at the trough

The Chargers departure northward is imminent, can't be soon enough. If there was ever a primer on how not to deal with a fan base, it is the disgraceful behavior of the Spanos family. They make $300 million dollars a year, every year,  on an initial $80 million dollar investment and of course it is not enough. They are going to take their shiny toy to Carson where they can charge psl's and make oodles more dough.

Marc Fabiani, an old frontman for the Clintons, is the lightning rod who gets to play resident asshole in this drama and take all the heat but Dean is the real architect. I suggest he not come back to visit the area any time soon. Fans can hold grudges a long time. And make sure to take Fabiani with you.

He will go down with Charles Hatfield, the rainmaker, C. Arnholt Smith, Tom Hom and Jerry Dominelli in the infamy ranks of the city. There team plays like bullcrap and the fish rots from the head. Instant Karma, Deano, just wait.

*
Had a crazy dream last night. Was hanging out with Bob Dylan at a condominium in Temecula. Very involved. Dressed got in the car, Visions of Johanna was on, a New York session version that smoked. Turned the channel and got more Dylan. Was hoping it wasn't a sign, that he hadn't kicked. He hadn't. Whew!