08:03 – We finished the BBC Wartime Farm series last night. That was the last of the BBC Farm series. I told Barbara I wished they’d make more. She wondered what was left to make Farm series about. I suggested Neolithic British Farm, Roman British Farm, Saxon British Farm, and Norman British Farm.
More relocation stuff to deal with today via phone calls. It’s getting late enough in the year that we may not be able to get this done until the first half of next year, but we’ll keep plugging. Almost everyone involved wants this sale to go through: us, the listing agent, the selling agent, the bank and other creditors, and probably all the neighbors. The only ones who don’t want the sale to go through are the current owners. As our agent said, they’ve been living there for free, running up bills and debts, and they want to continue living there on other people’s money for as long as they can. They’re already bankrupt and judgment-proof, so they’re motivated to throw up as many obstacles as possible and just keep living in the house. At this point, Barbara doesn’t think we’ll get the house unless we drive up there, drag them out, and shoot them.
17:28 – We’re just back from Sparta. We met our agent and the home inspector at the house, and spent the next 90 minutes or so looking at everything. The inspector didn’t find anything serious. Stuff like a GFCI socket that needs to be replaced, some loose weather stripping on the bottom of one garage door, and so on.
One surprise. When we got there, I started following the inspector around while Barbara walked around shooting pictures inside and outside. She shouted up from the basement that it looked like they were taking the woodstove with them. I thought she was kidding, but she was right. They disconnected the pipe to the flu and disconnected the ducting. I didn’t think one was allowed to rip out items that were physically connected to the home, but they obviously plan to take the stove with them. That pisses me off, but at least they’re packing stuff up, so it appears they’re going to show up at the closing.
We also spent some time driving around town to familiarize ourselves with where things are. We filled out an application to join the rifle club. Apparently, shooters are a majority in Sparta. That doesn’t surprise me from those few people we’ve met. Our real estate agent is a shooter, as is another agent at her agency. He’s an officer of the Alleghany County Rifle Association, so we filled out an application while we were sitting in his office. We need a sponsor, and he volunteered to sponsor us. Our real estate attorney is also a member of the ACRA, as is her husband, who owns a gun store. From what I’e seen, I’d guess probably 75% of the adults and teens, men and women, in Alleghany County are shooters. We also filled out an application to join the electric power co-op, and found out what we need to do to get Internet service. There’s already fiber-to-the-home, and the lady at the Internet co-op said all they had to do was press a few computer keys to get the service turned on once we give them the word.
While we were signing up at the electric co-op, I noticed large propane containers and propane appliances out in the display area. I asked about those, and the lady explained what they offered. Assuming the sellers do carry away the woodstove, we’re going to buy an unvented propane heater to heat the basement finished area. It’s only 25,000 BTU/hour, but that’d be plenty to keep us warm and to keep the upstairs pipes from freezing. That heater will consume propane at a bit over one pound per hour, or roughly four gallons per day. A 100-gallon tank will last nearly a month running 24 hours a day. That’s probably plenty to cover us in any normal power failure situation, but I still may talk to them about installing something larger, say 250 or 500 gallon.
Barbara was lobbying in favor of propane. I wanted to go out and buy a woodstove. She understands why I want a renewable fuel but she makes good points about the advantage of propane over wood in normal circumstances. But I’ve already told her that I plan to build an outbuilding eventually, and that will certainly be heated with wood.
RBT, as has been said, those are the kind of people who trash a place when they leave, or leave hidden ‘surprises’. Like a baggie of chicken guts hidden in a duct. It doesn’t burst until it rots enough, so you miss it on inspection.
Very careful exam is called for, and if Collin gets weird, look for a reason.
nick
Ayup. Our agent referred to them as “white trash”, which surprised me given how nice the house is.
WROL,
as society breaks down, expect more of this.
Just one of a bunch of street justice stories that ran this week:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315182/Beaten-stamped-shot-dead-cold-blood-Horrifying-moment-two-suspected-robbers-filmed-lynched-angry-mob-Venezuela.html
nick
Holy crap, this video is disturbing.
WTF is wrong with euros? They are applauding the invaders.
http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/
Yes, it’s a propaganda video, but it is VIDEO. It happened. It’s happening. There is video. Can’t be denied.
nick
@RBT, I’m with Barbara on this one. Maybe a “commando” raid in the middle of the night.
Gee, I’m in a sweat mood this morning (not).
BTW, @RBT many emoticons/emojis that should work in WordPress are not working. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?
“Yes, it’s a propaganda video, but it is VIDEO. It happened. It’s happening. There is video. Can’t be denied.”
It’s “Camp of the Saints,” “World War Z,” and and a hadji version of the old Nuremberg rallies.
White “nationalist’ types have repeatedly said over the years that it’s a genocide against the white race. They have been wrong, and badly wrong at that; it’s suicide. What the late James Burnham wrote about long ago in “The Suicide of the West.” A pioneering text but there have been several others since of equal importance, mostly by Europeans themselves. We note that the resistance seems to be coming largely from the former Eastern Bloc countries.
Let’s see them walk across the Atlantic, I, or someone else might say; we have these huge moats on either side, isn’t it great? Shipping would seem to be out; too long and too dangerous. But planeload after planeload could simply bring them to Mexico, Cuba, Canada, etc. and from there they can certainly walk, and have done so in smaller numbers. We all know our southern border is a complete joke; they could hike across by the hundreds of thousands per month. Would O Kanada clamp down on incoming hadji swarms? Their recent record does not inspire confidence.
And once here, would they not receive the same ass-kissing and welcome from our lords temporal with the usual cornucopia of goodies? In preference to native citizens?
“Maybe a “commando” raid in the middle of the night.”
I really hope you don’t run into a giant pile of shit in trying to get that house out from under the parasites, Bob. You guys have a lawyer, amirite? He or she might wanna get on top of this right away, nip it in the bud. Once gone, go through the place with a fine-toothed comb, of course.
“Gee, I’m in a sweat mood this morning.”
Don’t wanna know. Hope it was fun for you.
The only ones who don’t want the sale to go through are the current owners
Which makes me wonder how you are going to get them out when the sale is final. You cannot physically throw them out as that would be considered assault. You can ask them to leave but they could tell you to pound sand. You would then have to go to the local marshal and have them evicted. My understanding on eviction is that doing so is not easy based on stories of people trying to evict squatters. And if you do have to evict them they might trash the place, rip out plumbing and wiring, scorch wood floors, kick holes in the walls, basically make the place unlivable. Hope it turns out better for you.
I would make the final closing based on your inspection and vacant property, as in nothing left. Final inspection by you, checking every outlet, attic inspection, plumbing inspection (every faucet, under the sink, flush every toilet twice at the same time), breaker panel inspection, duct inspection (buy your own inspection camera).
Once you have the keys immediately replace all the locks. Buy a set at Home Depot before the closing and have them all keyed the same. Immediately after leaving the closing table go to the house and replace all the door locking hardware with your new stuff.
Current title holder should already have filed an order to vacate. Usually 30 days to a judgement which I’m guessing has happened and defaulted to a judgement to vacate. Now the owner needs to have it enforced. Should be the local sheriff. If the current title holder wants it they can get it done. Off duty deputy sheriffs will often do it if their boss allows it, for a resonable payment.
As usual, Fred is on top of things:
http://fredoneverything.org/missouri-taking-the-national-temperture/
Good luck on the house Dr. Bob. I guess some underclass scum are occupying the house. What are the “squatter” laws in NC? They may drag this out for months.
IS and Hezbollah fighting it out. Sad, eh?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-13/at-least-four-killed-in-southern-beirut-suburb-explosions/6937360
I think Fred is more or less nuts but do agree with him that sports scholarships to universities should be abolished. If you can’t get in on academic merit you don’t belong there.
“Campus Crazies on ‘Million Student March’”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/12/live-updates-campus-crazies-on-million-student-march/
Well, that was predictable.
If you can’t get in on academic merit you don’t belong there.
What’s that got to do with money? Why would an institution concerned with education be interested in sports?
Almost everyone involved wants this sale to go through: us, the listing agent, the selling agent, the bank and other creditors, and probably all the neighbors. The only ones who don’t want the sale to go through are the current owners.
Here in Texas, when they sell the house, the people inside legally convert from owners to tenants. That change in status can be a big problem as the get-them-out clock gets restarted.
A friend of mine from India told me once that these problems were routinely solved in his home country by four large guys with baseball bats. He even had a term for it.
WTF is wrong with euros? They are applauding the invaders.
One of my favorite parts in the “Independence Day” movie is when the people go stand on top of a building in downtown Los Angeles during the alien invasion. They have welcome signs and are having a great party. Right until they die as the space cockroaches turn on their obliteration ray.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_%281996_film%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/
Wasn’t ID the film where Dallas got nuked? Or was it Houston? ISTR it was Dallas but the Wikipedia article says Houston…
huh, some good came out of a game:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3315359/How-survive-nuclear-fallout-Experts-reveal-basics-living-world-riddled-radiation-simple-way-tell-ve-exposed.html
nick
ISTR it was Dallas but the Wikipedia article says Houston…
It was Houston. The nuke was set off downtown. As I recall the observers were on I-45 to the SE of downtown, near the University of Houston campus.
Barbara was lobbying in favor of propane. I wanted to go out and buy a woodstove. She understands why I want a renewable fuel but she makes good points about the advantage of propane over wood in normal circumstances.
Get both.
There is only one thing that can help you now. Santa Gun!
It was Houston. The nuke was set off downtown. As I recall the observers were on I-45 to the SE of downtown, near the University of Houston campus.
I took my family to the midnight showing of “Independence Day” at the Meyerland theater on July 4, 1996. It was full so we went to the 230 am showing. You could have heard a pin drop in the theater when they nuked Houston. Everyone realized that we were all dead.
Assuming the sellers do carry away the woodstove, we’re going to buy an unvented propane heater to heat the basement finished area.
I still worry about CO production from these heaters.
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Propane-Vent-Free-VF30KBLUELP/dp/B000UPR5TY
At least there is an O2 sensor and a tip over sensor.
What is your altitude? That is one piece of information missing from Google maps.
@RBT, in most states, they cannot remove anything connected to the house. That includes stoves, workbenches, a vise on a connected workbench, and certainly not a woodstove. Lighting fixtures, ceiling fans, and even curtains are NOT removable.
You should get a cash allowance for anything they take. Or ideally stop them from taking anything you want.
Unless it was marked DNC- does not convey- or the equivalent for your state, it is included in the sale price of the home.
They are stealing from you already.
nick
@RBT, in most states, they cannot remove anything connected to the house. That includes stoves, workbenches, a vise on a connected workbench, and certainly not a woodstove. Lighting fixtures, ceiling fans, and even curtains are NOT removable.
You should get a cash allowance for anything they take. Or ideally stop them from taking anything you want.
Unless it was marked DNC- does not convey- or the equivalent for your state, it is included in the sale price of the home.
They are stealing from you already.
@nick, how do you stop them?
I’m sure that if RBT calls the sheriff then the sheriff will say sue them. Maybe the title insurance company?
Once the transaction closes, they are tenants, not thieves.
Hasn’t closed yet.
Offer was for the house as it was shown.
They change the contents, or materially change the home, they have to pay.
If they do it AFTER the close, it really is theft since it isn’t theirs any longer.
nikc
Two of my brothers and I were once about to buy a triple-decker down in Woosta, Mass, thirty-five years ago, and each of us was gonna take a floor; I worked at the campus within walking distance and had a guaranteed loan all set up with minimal money down from the university. We were about to sign and then found that the owners had ripped out the furnace heater on each floor and taken them away. Right there we said, fuck you, buh-bye. I mean, what else had they done or not done right up to and then after the closing? Yet another bullet dodged for all three of us.
I agree with Mr. Lynn; get both propane and wood heat going there. You may not use the wood at first but it gives you a chance to get it set up and learn the system and where the best wood delivery is from in that area for the best price.
And after what wife and I went through here with the finance company and the VA paperwork, we both wish you and Barbara and that friggin’ mutt the best of luck in getting through all this shit. Tell the current occupants about me and Mr. SteveF, and how they really don’t wanna see our smiling faces at their front and back doors.
Apropos of Fred.
Bob,
Are the BBC Farm Series available on Netflix? I looked, and didn’t see them.
Further drama with the girl my wife and I sorta take care of. Rather, more drama with her nutcase mother. The mother played ditch-the-kid at dance lesson yesterday. (Noontime lesson because of the school holiday.) Luckily my wife had the day off, was somewhat nearby, and had her cellphone, so she could pick the girl up … with dance clothes and shoes, no outside clothes or shoes, no jacket despite the wind and rain … and not having eaten yet that day. Grr. We stuffed some lunch into her, then I took both girls to a McDonald’s Playland, where they played for a couple hours and ate a second lunch while I chatted with my mom. (My daughter ate well, but the other girl ate every crumb of her kid’s meal and a medium order of fries and an ice cream. And probably would have eaten more if I’d thought to offer it. Just turned 8, and very skinny.) Came home and did Chinese homework and piano practice and played some more. On balance a good day for both girls … until the dad blew off coming to get his daughter and Nutcaserina finally showed up — just before 21:00 on a school night — and started screaming about how she needed the dance clothes and someone had stolen them and she wouldn’t let her daughter go home without them… while the kid was standing outside in too-small borrowed clothes, tap shoes, and no coat. I eventually found the dance clothes and the crazy bitch finally let the kid into the car and left. Both girls were very upset, go figure.
This evening, the crazy bitch dropped the kid off at our house unannounced (and unfed since yesterday afternoon, except for school lunch). I was telling her that my wife and her mother were at the emergency room and I was kind of busy and stressed here, but she walked away while I was talking. So I fed the kid and set both girls to working on their Chinese homework while I continued working on plumbing and dealing with the mess left from my mother-in-law leaving the house in a hurry this morning. I have no idea where the father’s been through all this; at work, I suppose, or drinking, or with any luck mixing narcotics and alcohol.
Lest anyone wonder, yes, child services has been called. More than once, I think. For whatever reason, the kid is still with her parents. So far as I know, the mother has never been involuntarily committed, nor even given a citation for child endangerment. Yep, the system sure works all right…
Suggestions welcome. I won’t discuss murder, and certainly not on someone else’s site — this whole “accessory before the fact” bullshit is bullshit, but that’s the way the bullshit rolls. Child services hasn’t helped. Peer pressure helps for about a day at a time at best. I could try knocking the crazy out of her by smacking her upside the head with a hammer, but that gets close to murder, which I’ve already said I won’t discuss.
@steveF,
My mom just moved in with her best friend’s family at some point. It was later than 8, I’m pretty sure. It beat the route her two sisters took, married at 15.
I see two questions that need answering. Is the kid better off in state care? I’ve got some idea there, it would have to be REALLY bad before I’d wish that on anyone. Do YOU want to raise the kid? If not, is there any other family for the kid to live with?
In any case, giving her some stability and food seems like a good thing. Showing her the alternative to the crazy will surely help.
If you decide you will raise her, just encourage the mother to leave her with you more often. It will probably quickly become most of the time. Get her to sign a power of attorney, so you can make some decisions for the kid once she’s staying with you most of the time. Talk to a real attorney, probably sooner rather than later. Crazy mom could make your life hell with one phone call.
good luck, it’s tough all around.
nick
FWIW, what I know of foster care is that is sucks for the kids.
@Bill Anderson
Most of the episodes are available on youtube, although the quality is very uneven and some eps are missing.
They are not available thru legitimate channels.
nick
Yes, I’m willing to take the girl in immediately. We have a spare bedroom, even. (We’d have to box up or dispose of Son#1’s left-behind crap, but that’s not much work.) (And we really should do something about the big-ass, multi-color stain on the carpet. Because there’s no lack of common sense and basic mechanical ability like a Chinese lack of common sense and basic mechanical ability, and Son#1 and my wife were doing something with ink for a printer and made a big-ass, multi-color mess all over everything.) (But, bottom line, the room could be slept in tonight, cleaned out and moved in by the weekend, and turned into a little girl’s room within a couple weeks.)
However, her parents and especially her mother don’t want her staying here overnight. I hesitate to try to figure out what’s going through a crazy person’s head, but the mother is concerned that someone will deliberately do something to the kid in order to frame the mother for child abuse, so she wants to keep her under her thumb. Never mind that the mother plays ditch-the-kid, doesn’t let her eat at home (because “they” have poisoned the food in the house to poison the kid and, you guessed it, frame the mother), and sometimes takes off for days at a time without telling anyone. Ref observation on craziness, above.
Short of murder, which I’m not discussing and won’t admit to considering, the best I (and my wife) can manage is what you said: give her a safe harbor, feed her, give her birthday presents and such, let her just sit on the couch and hold a teddy bear when she’s upset about her mother throwing away all of her toys again.
Broken sternum?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/12/man-ran-cop-texas-sanctuary-city-3-time-deported-illegal-alien/
“He is suffering from a broken sternum, nose, ribs, tibia and ankle, along with a fractured vertebra and skull, officials of the Greater Dallas National Latino Law Enforcement Organization told the DMN.”
How is the cop even still alive?
the best I (and my wife) can manage is what you said: give her a safe harbor, feed her, give her birthday presents and such, let her just sit on the couch and hold a teddy bear when she’s upset about her mother throwing away all of her toys again.
You are doing the right thing here, the best you can in very difficult circumstances. This problem should fix itself in eight years or so. Maybe sooner when the little girl changes into a little woman and beats her mother to death with a baseball bat. Wait, I never said that.
I didn’t think one was allowed to rip out items that were physically connected to the home, but they obviously plan to take the stove with them.
A freestanding stove, like a fridge, may not be considered part of the home. When we sell our house, the SubZero fridge and the Dacor range are not part of the purchase unless it’s negotiated in. (I’ll probably want to sell them.) I’m not sure if the ice maker would be ours to take or not.
I’d think a wood stove, with a chimney, and a heat resistant pad, would be considered “attached”, but someone will know for certain.
Unless you didn’t want it anyway, I’d put them on notice.
nick
‘course, it might encourage them engage in sabotage, or it could be that they were gonna anyway, so either way, I’d want them to leave the stove. At least they should have to argue about it and give something up.
@Mr. SteveF; as you know, what Mr. nick sez makes solid sense. And consult with an attorney as the situation is ongoing. I’d add, don’t try to do too much; any little bit you are doing already to remove a bit of Hell from the girl’s life is doing the Lord’s work and will likely never be forgotten. (I use “the Lord’s work” in either a secular or theological sense according to however the reader wishes to interpret it.)
The situation you’re attempting to deal with is pretty much, how can I say it, nightmarish, and must seem increasingly so to the girl, who now gets a glimpse of how normality works in a household. I’d certainly try to get some advice and/or help from someone else meantime, though. And FWIW, we wouldn’t do anything different up here from what you’ve done already.
Another blowout week. I am supposed to be in semi-retirement, but that is not working out. (Not that I am complaining. Yet.) Hard drive containing all the programming at the radio station is crapping out. Although it is 95% backed up in 2 different places (100% backed up if you combine those), it is much easier to try and copy off all the files on the old drive before it fails. It refuses to submit itself to M$ disk assessment tools, according to one of our IT guys.
So I spent most of the day obtaining a new drive and setting Robocopy off to clone the drive. I forgot to include the progress bar in the command line incantations, so no telling how long it is going to take. It was less than half finished when I left for home, and suspect it will be well into tomorrow before it finishes. Was relieved when the Robocopy process did not interrupt programming, which the failing drive was also providing.
Once the copy is finished, I will swap the drives, and go through the skipped list and try to get those to copy manually one at a time—which they probably will not.
Meanwhile, I mentioned previously that both the iHeart and Cumulus radio conglomerates are sick puppies. Both have caused the unemployment of thousands of people. Cumulus admitted that it has lost 2,000 people to voluntary (as opposed to forced) resignations, and that has cost the company 1.8 million during the period, and hurt Cumulus’ reputation badly. Cumulus’ WLS in Chicago, which was once one of the top-rated stations in the nation, and #1 for decades in Chicago, is ranked at #36 last time I checked.
One of the longtime career pro’s shoved out onto the street by these huge conglomerates writes a blog while sitting on the sidelines. His latest entry shows how—even if iHeart could corner the entire yearly revenues of all radio stations in America, which is billions,—it still could not pay off the still greater billions it has in debt. That debt situation is unsustainable.
http://darrylparks.com/2015/11/11/wanna-buy-a-radio-station-really-cheap/
There is a lot of concern here about government debt, but the private sector is in far worse shape, IMO. When I mention this current state of just the 2 largest radio conglomerates to stock brokers and others, their response is that radio is not the only sector where this situation exists—there are many others, some with worse case scenarios. Personally, I think SHTF scenarios are more likely to be triggered by the private sector, like in 2007/8 than government. And I suspect that it is already too late for any change in government in late 2016 to correct or avoid further disastrous scenarios. I know I have said the opposite in the past, but things have continued sliding downhill much longer than I expected. It appeared that a real turnaround was beginning in 2011/12, but this year’s 4th quarter looks bad to everyone in almost all sectors—especially retail. That ain’t good. And in view of that, optimism about next year seems misplaced to me.
Give this kid a medal!
http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/11/13-year-old-kills-home-intruder-riddles-second-suspects-car-with-bullets/
Cue up Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”
http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/11/religion-of-pieces-jihadi-blown-up-during-live-interview/
“…but things have continued sliding downhill much longer than I expected. It appeared that a real turnaround was beginning in 2011/12, but this year’s 4th quarter looks bad to everyone in almost all sectors—especially retail. That ain’t good. And in view of that, optimism about next year seems misplaced to me.”
Indeed. The job market also sucks rocks. Frankly I don’t even know why jobs are even posted up here; I’ve sent in my stuff now for a dozen of them in the last couple of months and can’t even get a simple acknowledgement. Yet I see in the local rag today that the state is having trouble FILLING their open IT positions. Maybe that’s because, like the private sector, they want a complete alphabet soup of IT acronyms in your resume, with an MBA in IT, while also being a granola-head lefty type into Agile and Scrum bullshit, AND to somehow know as you step across their threshold, every square inch of their hw and sw infrastructure already. Then you will be expected to pull regular 60-hour weeks, be on-call with pagers and cell, and eventually, to train your foreign drone replacement.
Frankly, between that ongoing shit, and what the State has been busy doing or not doing, I’m pretty fed up. Bring it. Fuck it, let it all burn. It’s coming sooner or later anyway, why not get it over with while some of us can still pull our weight.
(bear in mind it’s now after midnight here and I’m up late and been dealing with my own admittedly tiny and minor fembat issues compared to Mr. SteveF’s, and I just wrapped up Veterans Day bullshit and having a 90-minute session with our combat group that we ran entirely by ourselves again, no moderator, shrink or social worker. We were also advised that our group is “famous” now in the system. Whatever that means. So, per usual, I’m stupidly bent outta shape and pissed off late at night just before toddling off to the Land of Nod. Some imbeciles (like me) never learn.)
Pax vobiscum.
@Steve
A space (bookshelf, drawer, dresser, box, doesn’t matter) at your place that she can keep things precious to her. Include a couple sets of clothes, you’ll have to buy them. Treat her like she’s homeless (she is, effectively).
Research emancipated minors. I don’t know how early that can be done.
Wish it weren’t illegal to send her to me. My husband and I would take her in a heartbeat.
If it’s possible for her to hide it, a cell phone her insane mother doesn’t know about.
Help her memorize and rehearse calling for help from sources other than yourself as a backup. I hesitate to suggest ‘official’ help agencies as I have zero faith in those agencies.
Also, carefully consider not being alone with her. Not because she would ever accuse you, but because her mother could.
A childhood friends mother mentioned to her psychiatrist that her known for lying mentally disturbed daughter said someone had touched her. That someone was tried and convicted with neither the mother nor daughter ever being questioned. That was in the ’80’s and the world is even more evil now.
From what you’ve described about the mothers instability I wouldn’t put it past her to accuse you of something heinous. Lawyer bills defending yourself, successfully or not, can ruin you.
Bad stuff happens to good people. Help the child, but watch your back.
And there it is. Solid.
“How is the cop even still alive?”
My Dad had a shipmate die from an infected splinter. Another took two .50 caliber rounds from a Japanese Zero through the gut and lived.
The splinter guy was a whiny slacker. The Zero guy was a quiet man who’d help anybody who needed it and wouldn’t quit the the job was done.
My Dad thought it boiled down to character.
Chuck wrote:
“And I suspect that it is already too late for any change in government in late 2016 to correct or avoid further disastrous scenarios.”
Do you think the government will try (or be prevailed upon) to bail these companies out? On the basis of too-big-to-fail.
@SteveF,
I think what you and your wife are doing for the little girl is wonderful. I would suggest doing what you legally and discreetly can to document the mother being nuts. I don’t know what New York’s video and audio recording laws are. But if you can figure out how to legally and discreetly record mom’s tantrums, I would. I would also make notes of who else knows what is going on. I would hope at least some of the girl’s teachers would notice there is a problem, even if they are powerless to help her. Someone has to notice that when the school serves school lunch, the child devours it ravenously regardless of how icky it is.
Have you thought about sending a snack to school with your daughter that she can give to the other girl to eat just before she goes home from school? Or sending a couple of pop tarts to school every morning so the girl can have breakfast? Or playing dumb at the next parent teacher conference and saying something like your daughter says her friend is always hungry and seeing how teacher reacts.
I never thought I’d say something like this, but look on the bright side, maybe the dad will send the mom to the giant insane asylum in the sky just before he checks into the giant rehab in the sky.
Anyway just wanted you to know that someone appreciates what you are doing, and would be glad to help if I could.
@SteveF, this ol’ Dad is extremely saddened by your situation, but I am enheartened by what you are doing and the good advice coming through this forum. All the suggestions that I would make have already been made.
I Particularly like @Jenny’s first suggestion and comment: “A space (bookshelf, drawer, dresser, box, doesn’t matter) at your place that she can keep things precious to her. Include a couple sets of clothes, you’ll have to buy them. Treat her like she’s homeless (she is, effectively).”
IMHO, it will take a sympathetic person in Child Protective Services (a rare breed) to intervene and do what is right for this child, and by right I mean removing her from the destructive dysfunctional family she is in and placing her with a real family that has demonstrated compassion, your’s.
I agree, and I also agree with whoever suggested documenting as much as possible. Document, document, document. And, as someone else said, never ever be alone with the little girl. Can your wife take the lead on this?
Thanks for the advice, all. Especially Jenny’s suggestion of a place for the girl to call her own. I dope smacked myself for not thinking of it months ago.
Some of the suggestions don’t work (the girls go to different schools) and some we’re already doing (slipping her pop-tarts or breakfast bars to put into her coat pockets), but most of the rest we’ll either start or do more regularly. -sigh- Crappy situation. She loves her parents but recognizes there are some deficiencies in her home life. -sigh- Just do the best we can and hope it’s enough.
“She loves her parents…”
Even though they treat her so badly? Wow. But yeah, providing a safe harbor could be a huge help.
Don’t dope-smack yerself; you’ll knock off that halo you’re wearing.
Ha. Hardly. But she’s an innocent here and doesn’t deserve the crap she has to put up with. And, from a societal point of view, if I can keep another kid from turning into a homicidal psychopath, I’ll try my best. (Not that that’s a major concern here. Girls are much less likely to become psychopaths than boys are. However, girls with crap childhoods are likely to become relationship trainwrecks. And mothers who abuse or murder their children are very likely to have had crap childhoods, though that’s turning the Bayesian crank backward.)
“She loves her parents…”
Even though they treat her so badly? Wow. But yeah, providing a safe harbor could be a huge help.
Stockholm Syndrome to the Nth degree.
Nah. Banks are one thing, because they are a corner foundation of the economic system. Radio stations are pretty meaningless in the overall scheme of life—especially in America, where people listen for only a couple hours a week, instead of other countries’ 4+ hours per day. (After all, you’re in good hands with Wall Street—they took that daily 4 hours in America and did such a good job driving people away from the radio, that the US 4 hours daily dropped to 2 hours a week.)
The problem with all of this, is that the guys making the decisions at the top of the chain (Bain Capital and Thomas Lee partners in the iHeart case) will be untouched by the collapse that is inevitable. Because they don’t use their own money! They get financial partners like pension funds, trust funds, and investment funds that you and I might buy stock in. It is those people who will take the beating here, while the Romneys and Lees will not be touched—literally. That should be criminal, IMO, but it isn’t in this country. Free enterprise, free markets, and the perfect capitalist system of corrupt republican semi-democracies, etc. don’t ‘cha know.
Years ago, my stockbroker told me that computer algorithms had allowed currency traders to make money no matter which direction the currency went. It is the same with Bain and Thomas Lee—they get their money from creating these over-leveraged conglomerates, and they get their money early in the process and it cannot be touched later. What happens to the companies they bought is of near zero interest to them later in the game and only affects the Bain and Lee names from a PR standpoint. But the principals there will still continue on by just using a different business name, thus escaping paying any price at all for their greedy, job-contracting, schemes to laden once going businesses with completely unaffordable (and totally unnecessary) debt (which cash THEY TAKE out of the business) sending both the businesses and the economy the economy as a whole on a fast track into bankruptcy. What a country! What a political system!
My dad had me read the two books by James Dale Davidson (“Blood in the Streets” and “The Great Reckoning”) back in the ’80’s when they first came out. I laughed and pooh-poohed the scenarios in those books (which never came to pass before my dad did), but I ain’t laughing today.
I’m laughing today because it’s better than crying. It’s all becoming a huge bad joke.