I promised my wife that after we got settled into our downsized place at the beach which is now our permanent home, I would take care of my medical issues. So I’ve got my hip replacement scheduled at the end of the summer and have an appointment to see a surgeon for my hernia. I went to a dermatologist to look at a crusty thing on my back. She wasn’t impressed and focused instead on a pigmented area on my neck. Shave biopsy: melanoma. Not invasive, but I’ll need an excision. Aargh!

@SECRET_ASIAN_MAN Only in this case it’s the opposite.

I’m getting an uneasy feeling of deja vu with all this talk about the “almost certain” indictment of Trump in the drip, drip of revelations. Weren’t we all convinced Trump would get his comeuppance when we were waiting for the Mueller Report to be released? Just sayin’. Hope I’m wrong.

I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll have a real summer this year.I put in a swimming pool in my backyard back in February. Normally, I’d already be a month into swim season by now. But I’ve only been in once - back in April when we had a short-lived heat wave. Water temp then was 76 degrees. It’s now 70. El Niño?

So, the stock market plunged in the last week because making a deal for raising the debt ceiling was in doubt. The analysts said. Today, it looks like the deal will go through. What does the market do? You guessed it. It went down.

Yes, you’re right and I misspoke. @TwiHusband and I have been through that already, but thanks for weighing in. Frankly, what annoys me is not the term but the pettiness of it. Is that all they got? But for those whose goat has been gotten by the MAGA crowd in this way, I have a solution: be like the Republicans and have the same word as adjective and noun. Democrats could then be Democratics!

@TwiHusband Yeah, if it occurred to me, it must be too obvious!

Democrats like the fact that “Democratic” with a small D implies they’re the party of democracy. Hey, I have an idea: Democrats should start calling themselves Democratics. Take that, Republicans! 😊

@TwiHusband That’s what Republicans want to do - annoy the left. But it’s so petty and not even logical. Why would using Democrat as an adjective be disparaging on its face? It’s not like they say Democrap. Oops, I shouldn’t give them ideas!

@TheNewsOwl Former Trump sycophants are coming out of the woodwork now. Will voters ignore that baggage?

@Queasy Exactly!

@Anouk @MidnightRider @LnzyHou I think we’re in a situation reminiscent of the 2016 race. Trump was the only candidate Clinton could have beaten, and vice versa. Now Trump is the only Republican Biden could beat and vice versa. (Look for Sununu to get into the race.)

We should remember that democracies are relatively new on the world stage. When times are tough, and the people get angry, they tend to gravitate to autocracy, it seems. Look at Hungary and Turkey, for recent examples. Doesn’t surprise me that would-be autocrats like Trump and DeSantis have large followings.

@janallmac But only if the president was a Republican! We’ve seen that movie before.

@TwiHusband You’re right. I misspoke. But. Democrats don’t call themselves Democratics. Republicans have an advantage there - both adjective and noun.

Here’s something to ponder: If a Democrat president cut taxes for the rich (which would never happen, of course), would Republicans be outraged that this would increase the deficit and ruin the economy?

@JLong If they disallowed overweight bags, then their excuse would make sense. But they don’t.

@JLong Yeah, the planes are already fully fueled. Next, they’ll be weighing passengers and charging more for being overweight. Wait! They’ve already started doing that! Not charging more yet, but we’ll see.

Got a question. Two, actually. If you’re charged extra for overweight bags on a flight, yet those bags are still allowed on the plane, what’s the point? And how is that extra fee used?

@John_Ripley I’m even less of a casual fan. I don’t watch the NBA at all unless the Celtics are vying for the championship. It’s ironic, since I’m a huge college basketball fan. But once the lucky few get to the next level, I’m pretty much done.

Alas, the Boston Celtics’ attempt to make history, a la the 2004 Red Sox, fell woefully short last night. Now we’ll have a Denver and Miami team in the finals. No offense to Nugget and Heat fans, but I’m pretty sure the TV coverage for the series would have preferred another matchup. I predict low ratings.