Sunday Serendipity

By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor

A lovely work for a Sunday. Just right for coffee and a croissant.

Enjoy the music and enjoy your day!

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59 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. jace, croissant? heck, a sausage biscuit with scuppernong jelly might even go better. thanks as always for a lovely way to start the day.

  3. Nice selection Jace.

    SNL was on fire last night. The cold open and Weekend Update had me RFLMFAO.

    Well, I sprung the clocks forward … now on to watches.

    Weve got a week of wintery weather coming. Time to see about a groundhog hunting excursion. Should I go south to French Creek or north to Punxsutawney?  Freddie and Phil, beware.

  5. Patd, I gotta go with Jace on the croissant. Sausage and scuppernong jelly most certainly does not go with g major … b minor perhaps …

  6. so are pigs flying and hell freezing over?  any chance the pols and pundits will come to their senses today?

    the lineup from the hill:

    ABC’s “This Week”: Mulvaney will appear on “This Week.” Rep. Adam Schiff  (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, will be on the show, as will Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Sen. Tom Cotton</a (R-Ark.) is also on the guest list.

    CNN’s “State of the Union”: Mulvaney is slated to be on with Jake Tapper. The show will feature several members of Congress, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Mark Meadows, (R-N.C.).

    CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will be on the show this week, as will Sen. Bernie Sanders</a (I-Vt.). Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has vowed to vote “no” on the proposed GOP healthcare plan, will appear as well. Paul has dubbed the new GOP plan “ObamaCare Lite” and is pushing for a clean repeal of the original healthcare law.

    “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, will be on the show. Jordan has said he will vote against the new plan and will introduce a clean repeal of ObamaCare. White House economic advisor Gary Cohn is also slated to appear this week.

    NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Price will be on with Chuck Todd this week, as will Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R).

  7. b minor calls for starbucks and cream cheese danish.  maybe a krispy kreme on the side?

    better yet, lox and everything-on-it bagel

  9. the hill: Bush ethics lawyer on Trump-Russia ties: ‘KGB agents running around the West Wing’

    “It makes no sense to run a government this way,” Painter said. “This is a completely chaotic situation, and then Gen. Flynn lied about his contacts with the Russians, lied to the vice president, and we’ve had the attorney general in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee say he did not contact the Russians when he had contacts with the Russians.”

     

    “People are not being honest about their foreign contacts, and talk about this ‘deep state theory’ as if there are somehow Obama moles in the government under the Trump administration,” Painter continued.

    “It’s the KGB agents running around the West Wing or the national security council.”

    Lemon appeared shocked by Painter’s language saying “Wow, wow! That is a pretty strong — that’s pretty strong, Richard.”

  10. Jace’s fine tunes and PatD’s morning news briefing, I’m ready for my day.

  11. Beautiful Jace and I’m going to Patd’s for the lox and bagels.  Anyone for a champagne brunch?

  12. If you missed SNL last night, they came up with the perfect perfume for the woman most likely to wear orange:  IVANKA

     

  14. Dear Chuck Todd,

    Being on an insurance company roll is not the same as having access to healthcare.  ACA & ACA-compatible plans are worthless crap.

    What happened to erasing state lines to make the polls bigger?

    But yes, Chuck, means test. You’ve got that right.

    If they do this based on age instead of means testing, do the Repugz think seniors, or those approaching senior status, are going to vote for them in 2018?

    Obamacare is garbage.
    Trump/RyanDon’tCare is stinkier garbage.

  15. Ack!  But I get insurance through my employer, but they don’t pay for all of it.  And, we’re small company, so we’re in a pool with other companies of our size.   What we ended up with is is a policy like they sell in the exchange.  Not ACA, but ACA-compatible and it’s worthless!

  16. The plans in California are good

    blame your local, state legislators if your insurance is bad

  17. Thanks Jace

    It seems to go real well with lightly toasted home made bread slathered with butter and local honey.

    Jack

  18. BiD

    Did you ever thing that you need to be blaming your cheap ass company for their shitty insurance?

    But no, it’s all Obama care’s  fault.

    <insert eye roll>

    Jack

  20. Not quite sure why I’m in a mood for this but it seems time to make another trip to Cuba with Ry Cooder & the Buena Vista Social Club

  21. BiD & Jack

    Then there is the small matter of the State of Texas doing everything possible to sabotage the ACA.  If they had taken advantage of all the provisions and bolstered the Community Health Care system, the population is big enough to provide an excellent cooperative system.  Heaven forbid the Texas government do anything to benefit women, brown people, or those with less than a million in the bank account.  Next thing you know they might want to vote.

  23. Big puffy pancakes here  Mr.Cracker’s breakfast rotation depends heavily on items that are carriers of Vermont maple syrup

    Personally my ideal Sunday morning breakfast is bloody mary,really good coffee and eggs benedict I like the classic but also some of the variations especially crab but the pulled pork one just doesn’t sound good at all

  24. English eggs in a basket here.  Light breakfast – later afternoon Mexican dinner.

  25. kgc, try “eggs bubba” … eggs perkily atop sausage patties sitting cozily upon fresh baked biscuits all covered with  thick tasty white gravy.  goes especially well with bloody marys (celery stalk stirrer de rigeuer of course)

  27. no white gravy ….even loaded up with sausage

    I liked that version Craig’s dad makes for him — sausage patty and I think bacon.

    And I have to stick with the english muffin.  I want to like biscuits but I don’t

  29. oooh just remembered a great late breakfast post great late nights:  huevos rancheros (very porky homemade green chili sauce a must)….  and some of solar’s ta-kill-ya on the side

  31. I do like huevos rancheros and using green chili pork would be an excellent change up

  32. The docs fled ACA plans here, too.

    Jack- It is a small company & that’s what they can afford. I’m greatful I don’t have to throw away 100% of the premiums out of my own pocket.

    You’re on our own unless, heaven forbid, there is a surgery or other catastrophic event.  Then,  stay on your toes & make sure every provider at every clinic & hospital is still in-network on the date of service, because it changes constantly.  Make sure you get pre-authorization for everything including meds, because maximum out-of-pocket means NOTHING.  There are many loopholes that the lawyers & financial engineers at the insurance companies have built to protect their profits from pesky policy-holders.

    The insurance companies are pulling out of the exchange, too.  Is that just here or is it nationwide?

     

    Brunch: popcorn & a banana/coffee smoothie.

  33. As a public school teach you would think we would be able to get good coverage at an affordable price.  My district offers health insurance to all full time teachers.  When I checked it would cost about $1450 per month – and that’s before any additional like cancer coverage, hospice, nursing home, etc.  I am fortunate that my wife is a Physician and her coverage for the family is part of her contract with the hospital.  That’s almost 40% of what I make (before taxes).

    Sad. . .

  34. excerpt from the hill:

    But he noted that not very long ago, the president said he was willing to “keep the U.S. attorney there in New York.”

    “And then suddenly, he’s, I guess, changed his mind,” Cummings said.

    “I’m just curious as to why that is and certainly there’s a lot of questions coming up as to whether … President Trump is concerned about the jurisdiction of this U.S. attorney and whether that might affect his future,” he continued.

    “You look at everything surrounding the investigations — there are a lot of questions that need to be asked, but again, the president does have that prerogative.”

    Last week, watchdog groups asked Bharara to investigate Trump regarding foreign business deals, according to The Washington Post. The groups requested the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York look into whether the president had gotten benefits from foreign governments, in violation of the Emoluments Clause.

    “I think that, again, what has been happening is that there is an air of distrust that has been brought on by President Trump himself,” Cummings said Sunday.

    “So I think that in part, the president has created this situation for himself. But yea, sure, no doubt about it, when they asked about the Emoluments Clause and possible violations of it and the U.S. attorneys relationship to that, I think that had perhaps something to do with.”

    When pressed further on whether he thinks there might be a connection, Cummings said: “There very well may be.”

  35. Wow. So many great breakfast ideas. Now that crab cake Benedict sounds like a real winner.?

  36. cnn:
    McCain also expressed his concern with the mounting questions about the relationships between Russian officials and people tied to Trump, who advocated for better relations with Russia during the campaign.
    “There’s a lot of aspects of this whole relationship with Russia and (Russian President) Vladimir Putin that requires further scrutiny, and so far, I don’t think the American people have gotten all the answers,”McCain said. “In fact, I think there’s a lot more shoes to drop from this centipede.”

  37. Is the ACA perfect? No, but eighteen million people have some access to healthcare that they would not have otherwise.

    There is no republican proposal here other than a return to those golden days of yesteryear when you paid through the nose for health insurance and health insurance companies either cut you off when you maxed out or denied you out right due to preexisting conditions either real or imagined.

    Make no mistake about it, what republicans are saying here is that if you don’t have enough money to pay ridiculous premiums and co pays you don’t need or deserve healthcare.

    They call it free market, I just call it death panels.

  38. McCain always had such a way of clarifying what was already obvious to everyone.

    Of course the American people haven’t gotten all the answers Primarily because people like the good senator are unwilling to ask the hard questions. What a waste of oxygen and carbon McCain has become.

  40. Jace…  wonderful selection!

    We have breakfast out with friends every Sunday.  We eat at several places, so it depends on where we are…   but my favorite is eggs benedict with ham, home fries, and a good cup of joe.  I do skip lunch when I eat that.

    So we are expecting a big snow storm here on Tuesday.  Good!  All our snow melted while the ground was still frozen.  We need the snow pack to help alleviate our drought.  That is…  unless….  water really does just come from the tap (and food comes from the grocery store)…   🙂

  41. But you don’t get “affordable” access to healthcare just because you have a insurance card.   The uninsured were going to the ER (an expensive way to take care of a problem), and many were paying nothing (Parkland Hospital in Dallas is where most in-insured ended up).

    Nothing has changed except that insurance companies are collecting money  either from folks who can barely afford a policy or via government subsidies, but they still don’t have access to healthcare.

    Some docs aren’t in-network & others won’t see anyone with a policy from the exchange (like my clinic; I had a heck of a time convincing them that my plan was just ACA-compatible, but employer-provided); high premiums, high court-pays, high deductibles.

    More money, fewer choices & you have to fight the insurance company for any benefit.

    Sad, indeed.

     

  42. http://www.alternet.org/right-wing/trump-voter-appalled-healthcare

    I don’t wish anyone bad luck or misfortune but really this lady is too much. I would be temped to tell her to ‘suck it up butter cup’ you are partially responsible for this mess. Decisions have consequence and bad decisions have bad consequences. Enjoy the Trump years, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

    Wait  till they come after her social security

  43. Don’t know how npr works but today here on the Michael Feinstein show his guest is Neil Sedaka…..for any aficionado of fifties-sixties pop music it’s riveting

  44. “Song Travels”, with Michael Feinstein

    Neil Sedaka, graduate of the Brill Bldg.

  45. In the course of my cancer treatment, I’ve met a woman who signed up for the ACA in January 2016. Three months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Just over a year later, she is on her way to being cancer free, and is about to schedule her breast reconstruction surgery.

    In our conversations during our infusion treatments, she has confided to me that without her ACA coverage, both she and her family would have been financially broken, and she herself would have been dead about six months ago.

    I don’t know about other states, but this is just one among many stories in Washington State that show how the ACA works to the benefit of subscribers. Is it a perfect system? Nope. Does it save people’s lives and financial independence? Yup.

    I have insurance through my employer. I look very carefully at the cost summaries that come to me monthly for my care over the last five months. Absent my company benefits, and absent an ACA option, there is no way I could have afforded my care. While not in the upper stratosphere of wealth, my Lady and I do very well. Even so, we could never have made it through without some kind of insurance.

    There’s no need to repeal the law. The need is to keep what works and examine what doesn’t work and fix that. When it was determined that my condo complex had significant interior water damage and other structural issues, the entire complex wasn’t demolished. Remedial construction peeled off the exterior down to the studs and rebuilt the place to code. I think the analogy holds for the ACA. Don’t demolish it…just peel it back and fix what needs fixing.

  46. travis, the critters have to go through the motions and vote formally for a repeal if not for only  “to keep their promise” but because so many hated Obama(iow a black man succeeding). they will then only change the name and tinker with the rest…. even the dems said some tinkering needed to be done.  hopefully, they won’t do more damage but it looks like they will, not for their base but for their donor handlers.

    bid, insurance prices were going to go up anyway, with or without Obamacare.  aca at least mandated an 80/20 provision/administration requirement and capped the tax benefits of ceos salaries over $500,000. the pre-exist conditions and other actual health care  goodies may survive if we’re lucky, but say goodbye to free preventive and wellness care bennies.

  47. This is the republicans fault, period.  Any new major legislation like the ACA will need ongoing tweaking and changing until it is a performing system.  The republicans refused to do anything to the ACA as long as that black man was in their white house.  Now, they’re going to kill it / change it, whatever as long as they can say that they cancelled the premier accomplishment made by that black man in their white house.
    I will admit, however, that Hillary Clinton was probably the poorest choice the Democrats could have picked as their nominee.

    And of course, skim off a spitload of money for their uber-rich donors / masters.

  48. It’s amazing that docs in some states agreed to accept ACA patients, while some would not.

    Did insurance companies back out of the exchange in all states or just the red ones?

    I still say the Scandinavians have it right.

  49. In WV it didn’t matter whether you bought on or off the exchange. Our medmal industry drove prices through the roof and of the initial 3 providers only BCBS hung in. Prices on or off the exchange were the same. And here no docs “fled Obamacare”. O’care, Medicare and Medicaid dominate the market. Some docs opted out of Medicare, but they were the minority. The docs I know like to get paid something for the care they provide.

    But as for food, just finished pressure cooker wrhite turkey chili. It’s become a weekly build here and one of Mrs. P’s favorites. The fresh cilantro, lime and avocado absolutely make the dish.

  50. 54 degrees outside, cloudy, raining for a couple of days but just a bit misty now (South Texas Coast).  It’s Chili night!  On the stove a cooking, green chili cornbread in the oven, Nathan’s hot dogs about ready to go on.  Nothing better! (we skipped the Mexican dinner)

  52. Thank you Jamie – a copy of this will be hanging in my Social Studies classroom.

  54. Soul food breakfast and Little Italy Dinner

    Coffee, turkey with gravy, turnip greens, and sweet potato for a late breakfast. Dinner : oniony/garlicky burger-like thingies & tomatoey salad w/garlicky Italian dressing for dinner, with lager to wash it down. *hic*

  55. Question for the lawyers here:  Can Trump receive a Presidential pardon for acts of treason should he be impeached and removed from office? Essentially, are there limits to such pardons?

  56. Besides being a former frequent bush crime family appointee, Painter is a law prof at the University of MN, a major and highly respected attorney manufacturer. I don’t know what to make of him. He appears to have had at least one stroke. That may effect his seemingly perpetually grumpy demeanor. Is he clear-sighted or a grim alarmist, Mr. Practical or a paranoid who hears strange voices ? I think he’s the former, but for our nation’s good, I hope he’s the latter.

  57. All the chili sounds good! Gonna be lamb chops and parsleyed potatoes round here tonight. May open a bottle of Malbec. Caramel sundae for after.

  58. He can pardon himself to prevent prosecution, but it won’t prevent his removal if Congress ever gives him the hook.

  59. XR, Trump could pardon himself? Seems squirrelly and something he would try. My guess if he’d do so while out of the country, and maybe wind up rooming with Assange. Sexual predators of a feather…

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