Why do Republicans in Congress continue to protect the madman in the White House? He is not their party leader. He is a party of one. There is no conservative Republican party any more. There is only Trump.

The only plausible explanation for this lock-step support is that they are afraid of Trump. Or more specifically, his voters. They're afraid those voters will punish them at the polls if they do anything to oppose him.

Instead, they should consider this a "teachable moment" for their constituents. They should go back to their states and districts and explain that this is not normative or acceptable governance. They should educate their voters on why extraordinary measures are needed to correct it, and act accordingly. As the old saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole stop digging.

On the other hand, they are certainly entitled, indeed welcome, to continue down the path of their own party's destruction. They will not, however, like the outcome in November 2020.

Holmes said Sondland had responded that Trump cares only about "big stuff." When Holmes said that the Ukraine war was big, Sondland responded, " 'Big stuff' that benefits the President, like the Biden investigation that Mr. Giuliani was pushing," Holmes said.

Witness overheard US ambassador tell Trump that Ukraine would investigate Biden

Jean Knight - Mr big stuff

REPORT: “TN officials failed to distribute $214 million+ in federal CHILD CARE FUNDS to low & middle-income TN parents since 2015.”

With $730M in TANF funds, that’s ~$1 BILLION this TN GOP supermajority has kept from our most vulnerable. @GovBillLee https://t.co/xrqxbX4zcB

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) November 15, 2019

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Raise your hand if you still think Medicaid block grants are a good idea.

It begins.

Live on C-SPAN

The officers spoke to Michael Pelletier, who is the Chief Operating Officer for TrueCore, which operates the facility. The officer noted that Pelletier was filling in for the facility's director, who had walked off and quit a few days earlier.

It took 24 officers to contain inmates at Mountain View facility in incident 1st reported as medical call

TrueCore Behavioral

Our first snow is 3 weeks earlier than last year. Looks like about an inch. Will it be gone by noon?

Voice prompted phone systems are driving me crazy. It's bad enough when you call a company that you have to go through the automated systems to get the help you need. But, now, instead of pressing a number for what services you need, the phone systems want you to speak your response. Not a number but a word or sentence. I'm pretty sure they don't have the nuances of different dialects. Thus you have to repeat yourself often to get the desired result.

Also, I love it when they start out saying the options have changed. Then they go into options for their address, directions, or website information. This takes up my time to actually get to the service person I need.

My call is very important to them? Really?

History of Veterans Day...

(link...)

Ghost is developing a kit that will allow privately owned passenger vehicles to drive autonomously on highways. And the company says it will deliver in 2020. A price has not been set, but the company says it will be less than what Tesla charges for its Autopilot package that includes “full self-driving” or FSD. FSD currently costs $7,000.
...
The kit will let human drivers hand control of their vehicle over to a computer, allowing them to do other activities such as look at their phone or even doze off.
...
While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could potentially step in, Ghost’s approach, like Tesla, hits a sweet spot of non-regulation. It’s a space, that Hayes notes, where the government has not yet chosen to regulate.

What could possibly go wrong? Heh.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha... Do you hate us so much you have to lie and take away needed services?

... the Social Security Administration also announced that the amount of income subject to SSA taxes will be increased to $137,700. This is a 3.6% increase from the $132,900 of income... in 2019."

The cost of living adjustment for Social Security will be 1.6% in 2020. This is 43% percent less than the cost-of-living increase of 2.8% that was received this year, 2019.

However, the cost of living adjustment has been even less in the near past.

Historical cost of living adjustments: 2.0 in 2017, 0.3 in 2016, 0.0 in 2015.

"The average retiree will receive a bump of $24 to their average monthly Social Security benefits."
...

... the trustees for Medicare projected the standard monthly premium in 2020 for Medicare Part B, which would increase by $8.80 per month from $135.50 to $144.30 per person. This alone would eat more than a third of the 2020 Social Security cost of living increase."

...when half (most?) of the artists on your "favorites" playlist are deceased. Here's a partial list from mine...

Half of the Beatles. Most of the Allman Bros. Leon Russell. Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. Elvis. Tom Petty. Joe Cocker. Prince. Glenn Campbell. Otis Redding. Aretha. Marvin Gaye. Half of Little Feat. James Brown. Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane). John Bonham. Keith Moon. Wilson Pickett. Johnny Cash. B.B. King. Terry Kath (Chicago). Ginger Baker (1/3 of Cream). Johnny Winter. Glen Frey (Eagles). Sonny Bono. Half of Sam & Dave. Frank Zappa. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Robert Palmer. Ric Ocasek (The Cars). Sharon Jones. David Bowie. Dick Dale. Walter Becker (half of Steely Dan). Maurice White (Earth Wind and Fire). George Jones. Almost half of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Toy and Tommy Caldwell (Marhhall Tucker Band). RIP.

On a more positive note, Keith Richards will outlive us all. After he plays at Eric Clapton's funeral.

Follow here...

Absentee/Early vote:

Kincannon: 48.76%
Mannis: 51.24%

Update: with 14 precincts reporting, Kincannon has taken a five point lead and Mannis has conceded.

It found the states’ decision over Medicaid expansion has had a cumulative impact on mortality among older adults, leading to 19,200 fewer deaths in Medicaid expansion states from 2014 to 2017, while states that decided against expansion “likely resulted in 15,600 additional deaths” that could have been avoided.

Continued...

Polls are open from 8AM to 8PM. Info here...

Mann Packing Co., Inc. (Salinas, CA) announced today the voluntary recall of a series of vegetable products sold to select retailers in the United States and Canada. The voluntary recall is a response to a notification by the Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency of a potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. To date, public health officials have not reported any illness associated with these products.

The fresh vegetables are packed under various brands, e.g. Del Monte, Kroger, HEB, Mann's, Marketside, O Organics, Signature Farms, Sysco, Trader Joes.

We had a couple of rebates paid in the form of pre-paid credit cards. I was checking the balance on one of them and realized it was expired. Thankfully we had used all but about $5 of the value. Another one had not been used but expires this month. Glad I checked.

Anyway, these things are a pain to use at retailers because you may not know how much is left on the balance and/or end up trying to split the purchase amount between different cards/payment methods.

Solution (if you use Amazon): Add them to your Amazon gift card balance. That's what I did for the one that was expiring. The Amazon "reload" page is: https://www.amazon.com/asv/reload/. From there, add your rebate/pre-paid card as a new payment method. Then "reload" your balance for the full amount of the card using that card as the payment method. Wait a couple of days to make sure the transaction clears, then remove the card from your Amazon account.