Today is Saturday, November 11, 2023. Today is Veterans Day, and, on this occasion, the current President, Joe Biden, released an attack ad on his challenger for the 2024 presidential contest, Donald J. Chump. The ad included the former president’s own words in attacking him for his horrible record of spewing venom against our own veterans of foreign wars. As today was Veterans Day, President Biden was at the Arlington National Cemetery to give a speech, while the current repugnican frontrunner appeared at a rally in New Hampshire. The new ad is featured in an online article for the Washington Examiner by Jenny Goldsberry entitled “Joe Biden releases Veteran’s Day attack ad on Trump.”

At one point, the video ad plays back Chump’s own disgusting words, particularly when he said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s full of losers.” The video also quotes “Bone Spurs” Chump as having told the father of a fallen soldier: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” It also included disparaging comments he’d made against the late Senator John McCain who was a veteran and a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

The video ends succinctly with these sagacious words, “If you don’t respect our troops, you can’t lead them.”

For his part, Chump did share a post to his social media platform Truth Social to honor veterans ahead of the holiday. Maybe he realizes that on this solemn occasion, he better not disparage the millions of men and women who have served their country in the armed forces, as he has done so many times before.

In the meantime, the country is facing a government shutdown in just six days. To prevent the unacceptable, the House GOP (“Guns Over People”) announced a new two-step plan for funding the government in advance of the deadline. That deadline will be this coming Friday right in time for the Thanksgiving holiday season. What great timing!

This plan is covered in an online CNN article by Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox, and Manu Raju entitled “House GOP pursuing two-step plan to avert government shutdown.”

Newly elected MAGA Mike Johnson announced the plan on a GOP conference call with members Saturday afternoon. The plan, as it is currently constituted, doesn’t fully embrace the wishes of his far-right-wing conference members since it doesn’t include the deep spending cuts his right flank pushed for, but it instead extends funding at its current levels.

“The first bill would extend funding until January 19 and would include funding for military construction, Veterans Affairs, transportation, housing, and the Energy Department. The second part of the bill, which would extend funding until February 2, would include funding for the rest of the government.”

However, neither bill includes additional aid for Israel or Ukraine.

As for Democrats endorsing the plan, it might be hard for them to reject the idea, given that funding for the agencies would stay at current levels. A Senate Democratic leadership aide signaled his openness to Johnson’s funding plan, telling CNN, “It’s a good thing the speaker didn’t include unnecessary cuts and kept defense funding with the second group of programs.”

At the moment, Democrats are privately critical of Johnson’s strategy, saying keeping the government open in two steps is untenable. But they also acknowledge Johnson avoided spending cuts, which had been their red line. The big question is this: How many Democrats will ultimately support the plan?

If lawmakers fail to pass a spending plan by Friday, many government operations will grind to a halt until Congress acts. Government functions that are deemed essential, however, will continue.

On a national scale, government shutdowns can have far-reaching economic consequences, hampering growth and promoting uncertainty, especially if they drag on. Some of these costs include raising the unemployment rate, lowering the growth in gross domestic product, and raising the cost of borrowing. So let’s see what happens during this crucial time and hope the House will not dig in and fail to pass a spending bill by Friday. And Democrats cannot be seen as being as stubborn as repugnicans during this period since we can’t lose any momentum going into 2024.

It’s getting late here since Elliot and I were out for most of the day spending time with my Cherry Hill friend’s son and daughter-in-law and new baby in Bayonne, New Jersey. As you might recall, we accidentally went out there last Saturday because I thought our engagement was for Saturday, November 4. It wasn’t!

So this time, we left Queens around 12:15 to get to Zander and Nalah’s relatively new domicile in Bayonne. I had breakfast at home this time; last week, we had a delicious breakfast at Beachwood Cafe in Jersey City. This was unnecessary this time.

We got to the young couple’s apartment just around 1:30 when we were originally expected. Now we were treated to a very delicious lunch prepared by Nalah that consisted of salad and pasta with shrimp. For dessert, we had tea and an apple crumb pie. We didn’t overstay our visit; we left about 4:30 since their daughter was ready to take a nap. The parents themselves seemed tired as well. Another reason to leave at that time.

Before entering the Holland Tunnel, we shopped a little at a local supermarket called Lidl, a concern I’ve never heard of before. Looking the company up on Google, I’ve learned that the operation is German owned and that it carries its own brands, focusing on low costs. It seems that Lidl’s prices are astonishingly inexpensive – even cheaper than Walmart and warehouse clubs. No wonder the store appeared crowded.

By the time we drove back to Queens, it was time to have dinner, so we stopped at the Jax Inn Diner on Northern Boulevard. We’ve dined at this spacious, brightly lit diner before and we have been quite satisfied with their extensive menu. So we decided to share a dinner this time: chicken francaise. The portion we had was definitely way too much for one person to consume, so we were happy that we ordered just one entree.

So we got back after 8 or so. Now it’s 11:15 – where did the time go? I know: I was playing around with a new Retro Audio Tabletop Media Player, bought from a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog that we received a while ago. This new device will replace our old Bose player that is working quite erratically these days. I began playing several CDs on it while trying to set the clock. That took some time.

Have a great Sunday.

Stay safe and be well.