09:41 – It was 53.7F (12C) when I took Colin out at 0715 this morning, sunny and with a slight breeze. It’s now up to about 72F (22C).
FedEx showed up yesterday with a bunch of boxes from an order I placed Thursday afternoon. As the guy was unloading the boxes, I told him I was glad they’d shipped FedEx instead of UPS. Maybe 50% of the boxes we receive via UPS appear undamaged, but the other half are invariably bashed up, ripped, crushed, and so on, sometimes so badly that items have actually leaked out through the gaps that UPS reseals. That isn’t unique to where we are now, either. It was the same in Winston. Basically, USPS almost never damages shipments, FedEx damages maybe 10% of them, and UPS damages them as often as not.
At any rate, we now have several hundred each of beakers, 10 mL and 100 mL graduated cylinders, red and black alligator clip leads, etc. etc. to get checked in, inventoried, and packed away. We’ll do that this afternoon, because there are three more even larger shipments due to arrive over the next few days.
And I see that things continue to heat up on the Korean peninsula. The Norks had yet another failed test missile launch yesterday, but if the world continues to allow them to test ballistic missiles, they’ll eventually get it right. The Chinese have already threatened to use force to bring NK back into line, with some rumors saying the Chinese are even considering using nukes. One way or another, the Kim regime needs to be toppled, even if that means China annexing NK. At least there’d be adults in charge if that happened. As things stand, the Norks are basically rabid dogs, and there’s ultimately only one solution for rabid dogs. You kill them before they attack someone. But this isn’t our problem. The Chinese, Sorks, and Japanese need to deal with it before it gets even further out of hand.
* * * * *
Agreed. There’s a lot more justification for “regime change” in North Korea than there was/is for Syria, Egypt and Libya.
61 here now and supposedly heading to 70; overcast and expecting showers and t-storms through Monday; only sunny day this week might be Tuesday.
Mrs. OFD is in Magdalena, NM today and heading toward her ten days’ gig in El Paso, TX. But before she does that, she’s gonna check out these places:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_G._Jansky_Very_Large_Array
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_Ridge_Observatory
Meanwhile the ol’ decrepit husband will be puttering around here with cleanup operations and the new computer box.
The best comment I’ve seen on yesterday’s nork failure was “As regards the North Korean missile launch, Trump had the Russians hack the erection.” But I’m the one who made that comment, so my impartiality may be questioned. (But, following the lead of Democratic congressmen, I refuse to recuse myself from investigation, debate, and voting on this topic.)
Mrs. OFD is in Magdalena, NM today and heading toward her ten days’ gig in El Paso, TX.
If they’re driving, this place is worth the stop.
http://www.frontierrestaurant.com/
The Frontier was the only memorable place we visited on our quick drive escaping the Northwest. We came down through Moab, UT.
The Chinese have already threatened to use force to bring NK back into line, with some rumors saying the Chinese are even considering using nukes.
Someone needs to stage a large nuclear demonstration for the wannabe nuclear states in the Middle East. “You may acquire a few nuclear weapons, but this is what a multiple warhead H-bomb MIRV can do to your capital cities if you f*ck with a nation that does not have a population living in the 10th century.”
North Korea is an excellent teaching opportunity.
“If they’re driving, this place is worth the stop.”
I think she’s just barreling through, a five-hour haul, but will let her know and meanwhile have bookmarked it for future ref in case she or both of us visit the area again. Gracias, amigo!
“North Korea is an excellent teaching opportunity.”
Possibly. But I also worry about prevailing/drifting wind patterns heading our way, mostly, but anybody’s way, really. Methinks it would suffice to knock out their primary development/launch facilities and the main perp/s there. Methinks also another handful of MOABs might do the trick.
Methinks also another handful of MOABs might do the trick.
They drop those from C-130s. You have to get the planes close enough.
Sadly, I don’t believe the theories that the X-37B is testing a Thor-like system. That capability would work really well in this situation, and the “Rods From God” demonstration would make quite an impression in the Middle East, much more so than nukes.
I was thinking a seal team with a Barrett. Missiles on the pad are very vulnerable.
Or maybe they just had a laser target designator.
Or my first and least likely, thought, space-based laser. Isn’t the air force space plane still in orbit?
n
I wonder how many tRump “Tax Day” frauds are now at Coachella. All the Celebriturds for sure. Please keep ensuring tRump is re-elected.
” You have to get the planes close enough.”
Render them deaf, dumb and blind and full speed ahead.
Here’s a lot of good points and funny stuff:
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2017/04/take-breath.html
But I agree with Coulter that we have zero strategic national interests there; ‘no more children should suffer’? Seriously? We have chillunz suffering right here in town. Chillunz suffering everywhere; are we now the world’s juvie officer, too? WTF?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M61rE63eRiM
Gives me bad ideas, though; photoshop pics of dead babies and children outside various college and university humanities departments, MSM headquarters, and other prime Clinton Archipelago locations. And the Planned Parenthood sites go w/o question. Post ’em all over the net and sit back and wait. Most of those places are either directly or indirectly involved in the suffering of more children than one tinpot dictator in Syria ever managed.
(and don’t forget Madeline “Not-Too-Bright’s” house; she thought a few million dead civilians, including women and children, is a reasonable price to pay…for what?)
Just finished up the first round of the Veneration of Hester. We’ve got the fertility symbols, bunnies and eggs, we’ve broken our fast, and soon we’ll start preparing the feast to welcome her and the Spring back.
No fatted calf, but we will be cooking part of the delicious and versatile pig.
I understand that some other religions have observances on this day, and I wish their adherents all the blessings of the day.
nick
(in all seriousness, wishing for joy to the world and peace on earth. Not gonna get it, but still wishing….)
Oh, 85F, 67RH and blue skies.
Little one was up at 4:30AM to get ready for the Easter Bunny. Got her back to bed, then at 5:30 the daddy got up and hid the loot. 730 saw the kids rise and shine. They were more excited than Christmas morning. I guess running around and finding things then eating candy for an hour is more fun than opening boxes of clothes…..
n
(can’t hide the night before or the possums get the eggs)
For those that are bored here is the link to the streaming service we use for my church’s broadcast. I am considered a staff member as I am compensated for my time. Not much but more than I make as a substitute.
https://boxcast.tv/channel/tcapt9z7rjryf5c3p5rj
You can see past broadcasts. We just started using the service and the first couple of broadcasts suffered at spots with the sound. There is no way to know the level of the sound in the streaming box. We know what we are sending but don’t know how the box handles the sound. Needed to install an inline compressor and expander and are still adjusting the settings.
STEM is one of the foundations for advancement and riches in the US and the world, so of course SJW scumbags want to destroy STEM education.
Bad news from Turkey:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4416464/Erdogan-poised-expand-powers-Turkey.html
Suddenly Bosfor became much much wider…
E.U. will suffer, Putin will celebrate… again.
ADDED: Of course, Turkey will suffer too. One aspect is that many bussineses will leave. Same as UK. Wrong use of democracy.
Someone needs to stage a large nuclear demonstration for the wannabe nuclear states in the Middle East. “You may acquire a few nuclear weapons, but this is what a multiple warhead H-bomb MIRV can do to your capital cities if you f*ck with a nation that does not have a population living in the 10th century.”
I am ok with this.
North Korea is an excellent teaching opportunity.
I am not ok with this unless someone takes out the 8,000 ??? nork artillery pieces pointed into Seoul. After all, Dear Leader is the head of a death cult and he wants to take as many with him as possible.
“You can see past broadcasts.”
Yup, loud and clear, Mr. Ray. Fine job! Good camera footage, too. Someone must know what they’re doing.
“…SJW scumbags want to destroy STEM education.”
I knew they’d get around to it eventually. These people don’t stop and never give up. Go for your engineering degree and subject yourself to that crap? You’d be far better off apprenticing yourself somehow to real engineers and learning on the job, in conjunction with the books, of course. And without the contemporary distractions and horse-shit and expense of these places.
“Bad news from Turkey”
Pretty much always bad news from Turkey for a long time now, over a hundred years, in fact.
And speaking of past history; on this day in history the Romans finally got into the Masada fortress and found the inhabitants all dead by their own hands. Also on this day, the Scottish took a hard drubbing and defeat from the English at Culloden.
BTW, Rush feels that Trump had a come to Jesus meeting with Xi. Trump apparently told China that he was going to label them a currency manipulator unless they fix the nork situation. You do not want the USA to label you a currency manipulator.
First, a minor correction: it’s businesses
And you’re wrong. Totally wrong. For one thing, there is no evidence that the UK economy has suffered from the Brexit vote, no matter how the BBC tries to play up every little whisper as sign of impending doom. (I think the German press has also been playing up the “fact” that Britain is crashing, but I’m not confident enough of my German to be sure that’s what they’re saying.)
For another thing, and more importantly, this is exactly the correct use of democracy. The Brexit plebiscite allowed the ordinary subjects to state what they wanted, without their “betters” — the globalists and the profiteers — telling them what they’re going to get. And their “betters” do not like democracy in action. As demonstrated by that vote, the voters might get it wrong — meaning the voters don’t choose a course of action which is in the globalists’ and the profiteers’ interests. There have been calls for a “confirmation” Brexit referendum (known as holding the vote again and again until the stupid voters get it right) and there have been calls for disregarding the results (known as an aristocratic coup). Those are both examples of doing democracy wrong.
SteveF nails it.
Yes, that’s what most of the German and EU press claim, and it’s totally bogus. And the EU is famous for requiring do-overs when a vote doesn’t go their way. See, e.g., the Lisbon Treaty itself.
Let those who wish to be ruled by tinhorn mini-me dictators in Brussels go their own way and let those who want out from under that mess, exit accordingly. The Normals in the UK want out and voted on it, and now the lords temporal are trying every way they can think of to negate it.
Meanwhile pay zero attention to the BBC and Der Spiegel and other such MSM liars, bullshit artists, snake oil hucksters and bunco swindlers. When you see their lips moving, it generally means they’re lying, same as over here.
Mr. SteveF did, in fact, nail it. Good and hard.
It sounds dirty when you say it that way…
Well now, that’s how we like it up here…good….and hard………..and dirty.
And a tip o’ the hat to Auntie Entity!
The vast majority of people vote emotionally not rationally. And they democratically elect their “betters”, which usually vote rationally not emotionally (because they usually have more knowledge and skills and focus on the voted subject).
And Brexit was an emotional vote where a score of only 52% (? or so) had very important consequences. I find it wrong. If you vote emotionally (masses vote) regarding very important issues, at least require a bigger percent for validation, like 66%.
…and make them keep voting until they get it right.
“…their “betters”, which usually vote rationally not emotionally (because they usually have more knowledge and skills and focus on the voted subject).”
“Betters” meaning elected officials? Not here. And I doubt anywhere else. To be a professional politician immediately implies narcissistic psychosis, if not diabolical narcissism as defined by Ann Barnhardt and explained quite nicely by her. These people are not like you and me; they’ve taken on other personalities and behavior.
And we certainly cannot assume that they know better than us, although that is exactly what they would like us to think. We purportedly elect them to represent us, not allegedly know more than us and make decisions “for our own good.” That has worked out horribly for Europeans and for us over here.
“We know better than you and that is why you must obey us.”
Fuck that.
Climbing out of the hole?
http://www.thediplomad.com/2017/04/climbing-out-of-obama-foreign-policy.html
I dunno. Maybe. Just by flinging some missiles at an air base in Syria? New sheriff in town, blah, blah, blah. Well, we’ll see.
And when did we ever “beat up” on Israel? Heaven forbid! They’ve been running our State Department and foreign policy for decades now. Pat Buchanan called their factotums over here “the amen corner in Congress,” and was excoriated as an anti-Semite for it. Bullshit!
And they democratically elect their “betters”,
President Donald J. tRump. Need I say anymore. How about Coffin Cankles Clinton? Barry Sotero The First? These “betters” are all career politicians who line their pockets off the taxpayers backs. Most of our FUSA politicians come out of Congress and millionaires. I see very little difference in most countries around the World. Don’t do what’s best for me, do what I tell you. Anything else is not a democracy.
Except for tRump, but my point stands. Like Mr. SteveF during the “Silence of the Lambs.” Nice summary above, btw, sir!!! Mr. OFD is still my hero, though.
Barry and The Mooch hanging out on a super yacht. Tom Hanks, Oprah, Springsteen, Geffen, you know, ordinary folks like you and me. Barry writes a book about sucking Choom and Coke and gets millions. Just like you and me. Do you really think Barry’s books are worth that? Libturdian payback to our “betters.” They’re staying in luxury at Marlon Brando’s island. Think they are paying for that? Like you and I would. Fukstik.
Don’t do what’s best for me, do what I tell you.
Ah, but to tell what you want (and assuming you are acting responsible), it requires from you to be informed well on all aspects, to know the consequences, and so on. That is rational thinking and acting. Or else is just emotional responses and desires. How do you scale these things up to milions of people forming a nation with thousand of problems and desires, how do you scale without handle this process to some guys and tell them to figure it all out? (and pay them for it)
“Mr. OFD is still my hero, though.”
Sniff, sniff. I thought *I* was your hero.
Putting politicians in charge is NEVER a rational decision. Probably 99.99% of politicians are literally psychopaths. They’ll never act in anyone’s interest but their own. Give the free market and capitalism a chance.
So you think that the voters are children, who must be protected from their simple and short-sighted whims? For their own good, of course. And of course the aristocrats or representatives or bureaucrats will act in the citizenry’s best interests, rather than in the interests of themselves or their “class”.
And if you can believe all that, I have a wonderful real estate investment opportunity for you.*
Though I wouldn’t think you would believe all that. Didn’t you just have mass protests against the corruption of your “elected” “betters”?
Even if the voters make choices that you think are not in their best interest, they are, in fact, adults and free to make their own decisions regardless of what you think.
* That may be a cultural reference that doesn’t translate. I mean I am about to take advantage of your naivete to cheat you.
Damn, Mr. SteveF! You must of had Wheaties for breakfast. Or slept in a Holiday Inn last night.
“…I have a wonderful real estate investment opportunity for you.*”
The older and more succinct expression was “I’ve got a bridge I can sell you.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker
Just because I prefer to screw around and act the lightweight or the troll most of the time, doesn’t mean I’m incapable of observation and thought.
I’m saying that masses vote emotionally and this aspect is aggravated by the lack of education, access to information, electoral bribes, manipulations.
I’m saying that the elected decision makers are acting more rational than the average voter and are more skilled than him.
Between the average decision maker and the average voter, I’m saying that the former takes a better decision.
Regarding Turkey.
Didn’t we see this in 1932 and 33? A certain Herr Hitler also assumed wider powers. Fortunately Turkey will never be the same threat.
Nobody remembers. Nobody cares.
“I’m saying that the elected decision makers are acting more rational than the average voter and are more skilled than him.”
You’re delusional.
Give the free market and capitalism a chance.
That’s interesting but how does would it work?
Let’s say the people needs a MedicCare. What do they do? Choose a private company to design this law? How do they elect it?
These would be lack of education, control over information, electoral bribes, and other manipulations performed by… just whom, exactly? Perhaps the “leaders” whom you’re trusting to make rational decisions?
Better for whom? More rational by what criteria? The leaders may well be making rational decisions for their own benefit, but that’s not exactly what we were talking about, above.
And if you think these leaders are in the best position to make the rational decisions, why exactly were Romanians upset about Grindeaunu, and Ceaușescu before him? They were your leaders, making rational decisions. Should be paradise by your standards, right?
Let’s say the people need a tapewom.
With one or two exceptions, who speak from what is good for themselves rather than from what is good for the US as a whole, you won’t find a whole lot of support for Medicare* on this forum.
* Note the spelling.
You’re delusional.
If that’s the case, then if we take what I’ve said and negate that, it would look like this: the elected decision makers are acting less rational than the average voter and less skill than him.
In this new case, why would this average voter elect the former??? Why elect someone he considers to be a fool?
Grindeaunu and Ceaușescu must have been, by definition, smarter and more knowledgeable and thus always making better and more rational decisions. I bet the latter was thinking about that as he got marched out to be shot. “Shit, what the fuck did I do wrong???”
(In actuality, he gave up arguing with them pretty fast when he saw what was coming, and I give him that, but Mrs. C. was harping and pissing and moaning all the way out.)
And I gotta admit that a large proportion of “the masses” are emotional and stupid, but they’re not evil psychopaths, either. To be told they’re getting what is deemed good for them and stepped on when they complain about it. We’re really tired of that shit here, and we can see that a lot of Brits and Europeans are also really sick and tired of it. Thus Geert Wilders, Marine LePen, Viktor Orban, et. al.
Someone mentioned neutron bombs a while back; I could see that in Mordor and Brussels.
@SteveF, I didn’t said just rational, I said more rational, and it was said while comparing them.
Socrates had an argument saying that a person who does wrong with intention might be better than one who does wrong without intention. The former being more skillful than the later.
There weren’t free elections choosing Ceausescu, and the average voter is still supporting Grindeanu Government.
Oh, I understand the distinction. It applies in many circumstances: eg, would you rather the car in front of you be driven by an idiot or by an asshole?
But you’re ducking the question. If you think that a ruler, despite venality or other corruption, would make more rational decisions which would be better for society than the decisions made by the unlettered masses, why did you take part in the protests a few months ago? Sure, the leader was corrupt, but he was making rational decisions because he had better information than the poorly educated and cynically manipulated masses. Those more rational decisions are good, and therefore you should have kept him in place rather than let the populace express their will.
What does that have to do with anything? You started the conversation by complaining about democracy — specifically the “wrong use of democracy”. Selection of leaders — implicitly with the selection of leaders who are more capable or less corrupt than other contenders — is no more a “correct” use of democracy than is directly overturning the decisions of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
The idiot in the car would kill me, the asshole would keep me alive and perhaps contented enough because that would benefit him too.
I protested against they attempt to fool us by escaping justice, and I demanded their resignation. I protested so this case be visible so others pay attention at the scam, that is: to educate them. I didn’t vote for those crooks in the first place and I think they are others better than them. The crooks backed up, and the protests fade out soon. I was not pleased just with that, but realistically I can not do more. As I said the average voter supports them still.
Fine job! Good camera footage, too. Someone must know what they’re doing.
Thank you Mr. OFD. My role in the church is producing and directing such broadcasts. I have two other people that I have trained to direct with the ultimate responsibility of the production falling on me.
I was given the job because the current punk was leaving and I was not afraid to push buttons. Knew nothing about video, switching, on-screen graphics, scan converters, and all manner of other surprises along the way.
My church broadcasts live, only church in East TN that does so. While it is a cable channel and not OTA, it is still live, warts and all. Tough to convince people preaching, especially guest speakers, that I have to, and will, cut them off at 11:58. I have no choice. I have a 1:38 playout that is necessary to provide copyright protection and to allow some slack for the cut-over. The owner of the cable channel has some manual timers that turn off his modulator at 10:40 and we turn on our modulator. At about 12:00 noon his timers will turn on his modulator. Having two modulators on at the same time produces some real crap.
Not to just jump in onto Eugen, but there are two things wrong with this statement from my point of view.
“The vast majority of people vote emotionally not rationally. And they democratically elect their “betters”,
At least here, they aren’t electing their betters, they are electing their “servants”. In practice it doesn’t work out that way because the servants forget and become the masters.
“which usually vote rationally not emotionally (because they usually have more knowledge and skills and focus on the voted subject).”
I agree that people vote emotionally. I do not believe that our elected servants vote rationally, except as it is rational to vote their OWN self interest. They seem to only vote in the interest of those that put them there when they need to be re-elected. The rest of the time, they certainly don’t take a reasoned and knowledgeable position on issues. They take the position that will get them re-elected or will repay favors to the money men.
It is American tradition to reject ‘masters’ outright. The left has been working to change our essential character to seek a master, thinking that they will be the master. They are SHOCKED when the people begin seeking a master/savior and choose a strong man, far right, and reactionary.
Since we don’t have a direct democracy for issues, except in some states at a state referendum level, it is very rare for someone to vote for someone who is a subject matter expert on anything. People vote for public persona, and stated platform (even knowing that politicians almost NEVER follow thru on their platform. Hope springs eternal…. This is why people were shocked that Trump has done anything that he campaigned on.)
Some voters are pragmatic, and vote for only the one who will do the least damage. Some vote because they like someone’s appearance or gender or skin color. Some vote because they believe the platforms. I don’t know anyone who will admit to voting for a daddy to make decisions for them.
I’ll admit that this may be an American thing. It is very hard for me to understand why anyone would have voted for the EU anyway, but then we are nationalistic, patriotic, and independent, despite the best efforts of the progressive/globalist/left.
Please continue helping me refine my own ideas though, hearing a genuinely held viewpoint that is not mine is valuable to avoid the ‘echo chamber’ effect.
nick
Whew!
Selection of leaders — […] — is no more a “correct” use of democracy than is directly overturning the decisions of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
I was using “wrong use of democracy” referring to an emotional vote where the outcome is really tied. Having an emotional vote and that close tie, you are basically dealing with a 50% – 50% situation. Is like flipping a coin.
Choosing a leader like that is ok: they both had similar chances, and as effect, no change happens yet except of seats.
But choosing by flipping a coin for important matters like Brexit and Turkey’s constitutional changes is NOT ok. I think that the outcome of the emotional vote should be more evident (clear) in order to take the big step.
“My role in the church is producing and directing such broadcasts.”
And a dahn fine job, from what I can see. All clear as a bell. I liked today’s sunrise service the best; the guy singing “Old Rugged Cross” did a fine job, too.
I’m a music snob and most of our Roman Catholic parishes use a lot of shitty 60s and 70s type folkie-derived rubbish which sets my teeth on edge; usually very treacly and eminently un-singable. Then they wonder why few in the congregation participate; amazing, though, isn’t it, around Xmas time when you can’t shut them up. Or in any parish that uses music from before, say, World War II.
I’d rather have some of the well-known Protestant songs and hymns, and African-American spirituals and gospel stuff than the contemporary drivel in most churches.
Luckily for elitist fascist me, my Latin Rite parish has male cantors and a womens’ schola sometimes, and the music is always from Ye Olden Times, when it was actually musical and singable.
Got it. I still think you’re wrong, but your statements are now consistent.
And a dahn fine job, from what I can see. All clear as a bell.
We use broadcast studio cameras, high dollar stuff from 20 years ago. And that is a problem. The equipment is aging and starting to fail. Lot of stuff patched together. Scan converters mandatory because of the mix of digital and analog.
All that is fixing to change. I have a benefactor who has informed me that I can replace all the equipment. A company is coming tomorrow so I can explain what I want and give me a price.
New cameras, grip controls and lenses that work with the controls, 10″ color monitors for the camera operators (currently using 5″ B&W) at camera lens level rather than above the cameras. Flat panel monitors in the studio. A couple of 12×12 matrix switches. A multiview display controller (in addition to what the switcher provides) All SDI interface so no scan converters. Camera will be running over fiber to the controllers (then SDI to the switcher). That fiber will also provide talkback and tally over the same wire. And all HD. What you saw was SD upscaled to HD.
” I have a benefactor who has informed me that I can replace all the equipment. A company is coming tomorrow so I can explain what I want and give me a price.”
SWEET!!!
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam ..
Happy Easter, Mr. Ray, and to your church down there in the banana belt…
I was using “wrong use of democracy” referring to an emotional vote where the outcome is really tied. Having an emotional vote and that close tie, you are basically dealing with a 50% – 50% situation. Is like flipping a coin.
Aren’t all politics emotional ? I rarely see cold hard facts in politics, it is more pie in the sky type of stuff (cue the Fleetwood Mac and Rolling Stones songs for various campaigns).
I remember when Fleetwood Mac played at Larry Klinton’s inauguration party “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” while they all held hands and danced around the stage. With the re-election, I made a point of cuing up “Chains Keep Us Together” every chance I got. With the Stones, I forget, but it musta been “Start Me Up”. Also the theme song for Winblows 95. Another disaster-in-the-making.
Then we have Fed crime stats and Obola’s mass commutations, where he released 1,700+ criminal scumbags back into the communities. What a piece of rancid pig-shit.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/16/how-federal-agencies-keep-americans-in-the-dark-about-crime-statistics/
And good-bye London:
https://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2017/04/09/london-423-new-mosques-500-closed-churches/
One of my ancestors, William Hardy, got married in Paddington Station circa around the time this house was built and then migrated to southeastern Maffachufetts to joing more of the family with his young bride. Probably got a minaret there now with some howling dervish screeching shit out over the ‘hood every few hours.
I believe it was Churchill who said voting/democracy was the worst political decision making system except for all the others. I think that WAY too many issues today are decided in the political/government sphere rather than a market. I have seen credible estimates that, absent government, personal income would be 8X what an individual makes today.
As long as I’m making sweeping generalizations, markets work no matter what constraints are put upon them. An obvious example is recreational chemical use. Drugs are commonly available in prisons for a price, a complete failure of governmental prohibition.
Why are toilet flow rates a matter of government concern? Why are water prices a matter of nose counting instead of a pricing mechanism? The number of boondoggles instituted by government fiat fill books without end! Let’s not even get started on airports, air traffic control and the TSA.
Kids in bed, ham back in the fridge, candy (begun to be) eaten…
Good long day. All I managed was getting 2 vehicles washed and some of the trash and kid debris out of them.
Cukes and Zukes are flowering. Apple trees are very tentatively leafing, the pecan and peach are leafing. Blueberry bushes are still looking good but need to get in the ground.
Had another stalk of broccoli from the same plant. It’s very tasty.
Harvested a pound of collard greens for dinner today. Got good strong plants finally.
Ebay sales are down this month. I expected a slowdown in Feb, but did ok until this month. Means I’ve got to hustle some more stuff onto the listings, but I’ve now got to go away for 5 days on a rewards trip for my wife’s job. NOT looking forward to that.
I’ve got things to do, and don’t like to be thousands of miles from the kids or home, and disarmed to boot due to the location.
Speaking of that, TSA found a tiny little knife that somehow got into my travel altoids tin boo boo kit. It’s a gerber STL 2.0 which is tiny, flat, and sharp. Perfect for the altoids tin, but the one marked MED ONLY is supposed to be sharps free. They found it on the return trip, which means they didn’t find it on the outbound. I was told the (not actually TSA) inspection at MCI was particularly thorough, and it was. Gave it up as I only pay $1-3 at the surplus store.
I can confirm that the trauma shears in my blowout kit went unremarked so the word must have finally gotten all the way down to the checkpoints that scissors with short, blunt blades are OK now.
7yo asked about Easter at dinner, so we told her about the Biblical story, and some additional info for context. Her reaction was “that doesn’t make sense.” Indeed, if you come at it cold, it does not. We skipped the pagan parts as she was only interested in the Christian story. Good questions too. “Is there anyone alive now who saw it?” Nope. It was written down. “Did the guy who wrote it down see it?” Nope was likely 100 or more years later, and given the average lifespan, that’s several generations. “Why would anyone believe it?” It’s called ‘faith’ when you believe something that can’t be proven. “Quit talking to me about stories that can’t be proven and don’t make sense.” Ok. Smart cookie. Still needs the bible stories for cultural literacy though.
nick
Gee whiz, this Nightraker person sounds like…like….some sort of…libertarian, or anarchist….
Yeah, it does truly seem like almost everything gummint touches turns to shit. And it’s not only drugs in the industrial prison system gulag that imprisons over two million people, most of them convicted of nonviolent crimes, but some of them can live like princess in there. You’d think you were in some kinda banana republic country or something. Girlfriends, boyfriends, tee-vee, innernet, dope, booze, gambling, you name it.
Mrs. OFD just called and had made it to El Paso, TX, after cruising around NM and the large array telescope site, everything closed today for some odd reason. She ran into a couple in our age bracket who’d lived in Montpeculiar, VT for a couple of years and they had her over for tea and she’s having dinner with them next Friday night when she heads back up that way for the weekend. The husband is an MD whose parents were Mennonite missionaries in…..Vietnam, where he was born in 1953, same year as me and RBT. Funny chit can happen anywhere, and that was pretty funny chit for Easter Sunday in the middle of freaking New Mexico nowhere.
“… Still needs the bible stories for cultural literacy though.”
Plus there’s a lotta great stories in there. Some pretty wild stuff sometimes, too. I might also mention that some extremely smart people over the past couple of thousand years believe/d those stories, people way smarter than the average person or even all the smartypants so-and-so’s on this blog. Including scientists, engineers, and doctors.
Very quiet Easter Sunday here; the sun came out for maybe an hour, and I walked around the back yard with all three cats and the mutt and then we all came back in the house. They all stick to me like glue when mama-san ain’t here, and often even if she is here.
It’s good to see a clear thinker, especially one so young. You must be very proud.
Agreed.
I don’t hold with the belief that Christianity and/or the Roman Catholic Church were the sine qua non of the scientific revolution in Europe or the philosophical enlightenment that led to Locke and the rest, but neither do I believe the church/Church were totally irrelevant. Likely we’ll never know for sure just why the enlightenment took place in Europe rather than elsewhere, or at all; as we all should know, history is not a science. At best, history is description, free-form interpretation, and speculation, probably in equal parts.
[snip] SJW scumbags want to destroy STEM education. [snip]
Wow, so much bullshit in that woman’s pronouncements that I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I’ll try:
Dear Professor Riley: When I’m in an automobile, about to cross a large body of water via a brand new bridge, I don’t care one whit about the sex life of the civil engineer who designed the bridge. Neither do I care about said engineer’s theology, set of reproductive organs, membership in the Elks club, views on Western hegemony, etc. I do care as to whether or not said engineer understands statics, dynamics, tensile strengths, and all the other components of actual civil engineering.
I’m a proud papa, for sure.
Both of them amaze me and can totally catch me off guard. Lots of comments from people about their vocabulary and articulateness…
n
added- which comes from reading. Challenging stuff by modern standards, but that’s the difference. If you want them to grunt out ‘see jane run’ then read that. If not, read something better. I like the old Little Golden Books for their full vocab. Not the new ones though. We’ve gotten thru most of the Roald Dahl books, the full Swiss Family Robinson, all the Harry Potters, all the Little House books, and are starting our way thru some more classics with the 7 yo. Will be repeating with the 5 yo, only the wife and I will switch so I’ll read the books she read this time around and vice versa.
They’ve got a ton of fairy books and various others too.
added – forgot the complete Borrowers series too.
“Wow, so much bullshit in that woman’s pronouncements that I wouldn’t know where to begin. But I’ll try:”
Pointless exercise.
Dig this: a quarter-century ago I was a grad student/TA at a large and prestigious Northeastern university English department. We were required to take a course in Theory back then and with my usual rotten luck I ended up with two maniacal fembats whose specialty was French feminist critical theory. One of them even admitted that when she flew (swanned around the country to various MLA junkets and conferences and suchlike) in airplanes, she knew empirically that she was totally dependent on modern engineering and technology devised by men (almost all white men of European descent) but nevertheless persisted in foisting this critical theory version of the emperor’s new clothes on succeeding classes of students anyway.
So the smarter or more accurately, more clever and slick of these people, know exactly what they’re doing. No point attempting to reason with them or the willing dupes and useful idiots.
A well-known and infamous cis-hetero rayciss fascist has more to say on the subject:
http://fredoneverything.org/
“Articulateness” is a word, bit I don’t think it should be on account of it sounds so ugly. However, the better-sounding word, articulation, just means they can move their fingers and stuff, which is hardly going to impress other parents with the awesomeness of your kids. It’s a puzzle, all right, one which can probably be resolved only with beer.
Yah, Fred’s recent article is largely a rehash of what he said a couple times before, but it bears repeating.
““Articulateness” is a word”
but I almost changed it twice… and I only left it when it didn’t get a red squiggle.
It is ugly, especially in light of what I am talking about.
n
Here’s a very interesting flick coming out this year; I’ve kicked in a few bucks for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHnrzQNpno
OFD…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-17/secret-uk-tomb-found-to-contain-remains-of-5-archbishops/8447424
Wow, pretty wild.
But hey, they only recently discovered the remains of King Richard III under a damn parking lot. Last English king to die in battle, and he gave ’em what-for, too, went down like a warrior knight against multiple assailants. And I LOVE the play, inaccurate though it was/is. “Now is the winter of our discontent…” etc.
Another trailer for “Lies of Omission:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r15H7BvVlqc
Some really good folks in this flick. Needs to be distributed far and wide as soon as it comes out.
As long as I’m making sweeping generalizations, markets work no matter what constraints are put upon them. An obvious example is recreational chemical use. Drugs are commonly available in prisons for a price, a complete failure of governmental prohibition.
Yup.
Why are toilet flow rates a matter of government concern? Why are water prices a matter of nose counting instead of a pricing mechanism? The number of boondoggles instituted by government fiat fill books without end! Let’s not even get started on airports, air traffic control and the TSA.
There is a fine line between the public good and governmental over-regulation. I believe that we, the USA, crossed that line many, many years ago. I cannot tell you where the line is, but I can tell you when we have crossed it.
For instance, the public good is clean water and clean air. Yet, the public good is not ultra clean water and ultra clean air. Dumping bad gasoline and raw sewage into public waterways is bad. Disposing properly of these items is good.
Regulating the flow of water through toilets, faucets, and shower heads across the nation is bad. But if a region is short of water, regulating these items is good, for that region (state). There is so much heavy handedness coming out of Washington, DC that they have forgotten who is the master and who is the servant.
And when did it become ok to tax people half of their income ? This is not the public good. People should be taxed equally and I believe that this is constitutional. Income tax should be like sales tax, the same across the board. Everyone should pay an equal percentage of their income, no deductions. Whatever the tax rate is, that rate should be applied to the first dollar and to the ten billionth dollar.
‘there is no evidence that the UK economy has suffered from the Brexit vote…’
That rather depends on what you consider evidence. The weakness of Sterling and the rise of prices for consumer goods have been widely documented.
I am at a family gathering in Ireland at the moment. With some hundreds of ‘clan’ members, many of whom are of above-average intelligence and skills, we have a good smattering of clever, highly-placed people in business, industry and goverment in several countries around the world. Brexit has been a recurring topic of conversation. The commerce and industry relatives basically all indicated that the major players in their fields are at advanced stages of jumping ship from the UK. Banking and insurance is decamping to Dublin, Frankfurt/Main and Luxemburg. Retailing is redirecting new investment away from the UK to eastern European and far eastern markets, and manufacturing is looking at eastern and southern Europe. The government and politics folks tell me there are credible efforts underway to move Northern Ireland and Scotland out of the UK and back to the EU.
I know data is not the plural of anecdote, but what I am hearing tells me that there are real changes afoot which will show up in the ‘evidence’ in due course. Whether .gov.uk can be trusted to produce unmanipulated statistics showing the true effects is another issue, of course.
Banking and insurance is decamping to Dublin, Frankfurt/Main and Luxemburg.
I’m curious if Paris and Berlin cities are on that list too. A while ago, before the Brexit vote, I read in Le Figaro some articles about how analysts and politicians expect that the financial status of London will fade out in favor of those cities, and what Paris can do to compete for that with Berlin.
I think if Macron wins the elections in France, Paris will be in a good shape to attract those financial institutions.
Thanks for your comment, Denis.
So some businesses from Britain and Turkey will move to Eastern Europe. Here we already have a scarcity of workforce . Part of those new jobs will be filled up by people returning home from the Western Europe and part of the jobs will be filled up by the refugees (although not that many exists). I’ll bet Hungary will be employing a lot of those immigrants and be happy with that (without admitting it).
“Income tax should be like sales tax, the same across the board. Everyone should pay an equal percentage of their income, no deductions.”
Agreed. And we did had that here in Romania (and it was great!), and still have some. But the socialists, know that the average voter bring them in power, and since him is poorer and not that bright, they bribed him by legislating a much lower VAT for food, they lift the income tax for lower pensions revenues, and they are working to lift it for lower wages too, basically returning us back to a progressive income tax and complicating things a lot by introducing some form of the American model of taxation per household, when some deductions can be applied and so. And to help people calculating their taxes, the government will hire about 40,000 financial consultants and pay them a total of 1 billion EUR per year. They say the system will be similar with the the one for family doctor concept. You’ll go with your receipts and papers to the financial consultant and there they will calculate your taxes… The law is currently in under construction, but they want it introduced starting with 2018.
That unique income and VAT taxes that we had were approved by politicians that I consider much better than the current ones. The formers had a fragile majority and the 2008 crises soon ended that. So I disapprove statements like these made here: “Probably 99.99% of politicians are literally psychopaths. They’ll never act in anyone’s interest but their own.”
Added: Those better politicians we had in power, also drastically reformed the Justice increasing its independence. As a result many politicians and crooks behind them did/are doing jail time, including a former prim-minister. The justice laws have survived to this day (also because of our recent protests). But the current crooks in power have at least another 3.5 years to try to mangle with them… Their tactics is to bribe the average voter with unsustainable wage increases, tax cuttings and populist measures, and when the voter seems happy enough go and smash the laws in their favors (crooks’) and reward themselves too.
Thanks for the data points Denis.
“The weakness of Sterling and the rise of prices for consumer goods have been widely documented.” People try very hard to control the price of their currency, but like anything sold, price is what people will pay. There are many factors to influence that price, not the least of which is manipulation by insiders. Having watched the exchange rates for several years now, I’m convinced that they are divorced from outside factors for the major powers and maybe for the minors as well. It’s just one more game in the casino. And while the UK kept the pound, other countries in the EU had their money price dictated by the EU, in that they used the Euro and that is divorced from their local economy anyway.
Weak local currency was typically seen as a plus to bring in tourists and foreign money. Has that changed?
And anyway, the cost of consumer goods is rising everywhere due to inflation destroying the value of the currency and savings. (with exceptions that I repeat here when I notice them.)
“Banking and insurance is decamping to Dublin, Frankfurt/Main and Luxemburg.”
They only moved en masse to the UK because of artificial reasons, so it’s not surprising that they would chase the next artificial reason. They are like poor renters, moving from apartment building to apartment building chasing the ‘move in specials’ and ‘one month free rent.” Perhaps the outrageously high rents and property values in London will come down, allowing natives the chance to own finally. And, if they come down enough, the speculators and foreign investors will jump back in and run up prices again.
“Retailing is redirecting new investment away from the UK”- is the UK short of stores? Are your relatives really saying that EU retailers don’t want UK money? Really? cuz wal+mart certainly does.
” manufacturing is looking at eastern and southern Europe.” As it has been for years. There were reasons why it didn’t make sense then. Have those reasons changed? Are there suddenly vast pools of untapped labor? State of the art factories sitting idle? The EU in general has been benefiting from the cheap labor from eastern european countries and from young people moving around freely. NO service workers in Stavenger Norway were FROM there when I was there. Everywhere it’s Poles or Lithuanians, or Romanians, changing sheets, diapers, or clearing tables. If the UK loses access to that pool of cheap labor and has to put some of their own unemployed to work, how is that a minus for the man in the street?
In the end it comes down to control. Is the UK better off under the control of locally elected and accountable officials, that share a common culture, or are they better off under the control of distant unaccountable bureaucrats who don’t give a fig about the man in the street ANYWHERE, but particularly in the UK?
Like any change, there are short and long term repercussions. Will they be better off after Brexit than they would be with Brussels robbing the bank to prop up their insiders and failing states? I think so, but this is their fight not mine.
n
Nick…
+1000
It’s just more in the continuing battle. The US fought a war over this in 1860-1865. Unfortunately, the good guys lost, and states’ rights, the original basis of our republic, lost to the federalists. The US has been going downhill ever since.
Throughout history, the war has been between freedom lovers, who want the smallest, weakest, and most local government possible, versus the statists, who want the largest, strongest, and least local government possible. I’d be happiest if we had zero government, because even the tiniest, weakest government inevitably expands and results in what we have now. As Franklin replied when a woman asked what the Constitutional Convention had given us, “A republic, if you can keep it.” We couldn’t.
We couldn’t then, and we certainly can’t now, not when our common culture keeps disintegrating and no one cares, and in fact, many welcome it.
It’s just more in the continuing battle. The US fought a war over this in 1860-1865. Unfortunately, the good guys lost, and states’ rights, the original basis of our republic, lost to the federalists. The US has been going downhill ever since.
Throughout history, the war has been between freedom lovers, who want the smallest, weakest, and most local government possible, versus the statists, who want the largest, strongest, and least local government possible. I’d be happiest if we had zero government, because even the tiniest, weakest government inevitably expands and results in what we have now. As Franklin replied when a woman asked what the Constitutional Convention had given us, “A republic, if you can keep it.” We couldn’t.
Given the choice, people will vote for Santa Claus just about 98% (SWAG !) of the time.
Again, one of the many reasons I’m anarchist, not a minarchist. No voting. No government.
Anything that increases personal freedom is to be lauded and supported; anything that reduces it is to be deplored and opposed.
But muh roads! Muh bridges! Muh clean wotta! Muh nashunal security!
And if everyone thought like you and me, RBT, anarchy might work.
But real human beings have no taste for anarchy. 99% of them, anyway. They’ll fall in line behind any man on a white horse who promises them saaaaaaafety from the big, bad world.
There IS no safety for those who are unwilling or unable to fight for it.
Sure, but the 99% will kneel to the Man on a White Horse who promises it.
And I don’t know about you but I’m willing but not capable of killing the sheeplike 99%.
-shrug- Or say to hell with the 99% and go full Draka. I’m repulsed by the notion of holding slaves myself, but have to admit that most people do like their chains.
Provided illusional safety and security, most folks would kneel and kiss their chains and the jackboots of their conquerors. Kinda like too many Euros and Murkans are doing or willing to do for the musloid invaders.
The paradigms of today, as ill and creaky as they are, still seem to satisfy enough to keep most folks well insulated in their normalcy bias. I hope that the paradigm destroyer is economic rather than military as I’m less than 10 miles from a tertiary or quaternary target. Even the commentariat here, myself included, haven’t taken the admittedly drastic steps necessary to minimize Leviathan’s death throes.
It is the common acceptance of fiat currency that keeps the status quo. It is my unclear hope that post crash power will be decentralized to an extent that money is separated from politics as state and church were at the Founding. Should probably read more man in the street stories from Greece.
And I get a tiny, wry smile from the probably apocryphal story of the wealthy Frenchman of the 1930’s who could see the 2nd war coming. He sold everything and moved himself and his family to the other side of the world. The story was that the island he picked was Guadalcanal. Oops.
I kinda believe that the financial house of cards is gonna be the harbinger of the major system reboot. When that goes, in a country of this size and the third-largest population in the world with countless guns and ammo, things are gonna get sporty real fast, especially in the urban metro areas.
I also think it’s inevitable; as some economist said at one time or another, I forget who, when something can’t go on anymore it will stop. $20 trillion in debt that they admit to, mountains of fiat currency, and I doubt any of the top economic bonzes and nabobs have any more idea of what is gonna happen than we do.
What’s it gonna look like when an empire of this size is suddenly and utterly bankrupt? (we’re already morally and politically bankrupt).
I believe our “masters” will drag this out for a couple of decades. At which point, what are us geezers in our 80’s gonna do? I feel bad for my kids. They are going to get hit right in the face with the shit storm.
Can technology save us? Maybe our Robot Overlords will jack us all into The Matrix.
what are us geezers in our 80’s gonna do? I feel bad for my kids
Indeed. At that time I will be in my mid-eighties, which is consistent with the demise of the parents, uncles and aunts on both sides of the family. I have no reason to believe I will break the spell of the evil witch from eons ago that was cast upon my family.
I also feel my son, now 34, will have to deal with some significant issues that may jeopardize his survival.
Sporty. Yeah, ‘fraid so. Venezuela is a preview of coming attractions. There the corrupt military is in charge of food distribution. My hope, somewhat faint, is that the black market here would eventually supplant the above ground market and starve the monkeys.
I’m not at all sanguine that a crack up boom will take decades to arrive. Interest rates have been near zero for 8+ years. That has made for only a veneer of lethargic economic normalcy. Any little spark has the potential to burn up the house of cards. Another earthquake in Japan or the Big One in California, a successful cyber attack on power or financial systems here, something more than the sport wars vampiring us now, a crack in some Chinese shadow bank getting out of hand or any of a thousand other black swans.
Our “betters” are not particularly competent. Grasping, vindictive and armed, but not competent. They are easily blindsided being more interested in their office turf and budget. Will Rogers said something about thanking goodness we don’t get all the government we pay for, heh. The only good thing is that their reactive policy will be in the nature of “doubling down” on what has already been proven not to work. Eventually, some child will notice the Emperor has no clothes and the rest will believe him.
We are cruising on the inertia that, today, it is in no one’s interest to light a match to that card house. But the fiat financial system is a house of cards and one day it will fall down, matches or not.
I don’t expect to reach my 80s. Probably go out in a fuckin’ blaze of glory!
Son and DIL and grandkids are in the East Bay ‘burbs outside Sodom-on-the-Bay and they absolutely LOVE it out there.
Daughter will be 25 in June and still not graduated from university and is in more or less constant SJW normalcy bias.
They’ll all be in for an extremely rude awakening and there is nothing, nothing, I can do about it. If I open my mouth about anything they immediately turn it off, don’t wanna hear it; I’m an old decrepit fascist war vet all fucked up with only wacky and stupid shit to say. Thus mote it be.
And here’s a case where they double down:
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/talentless-entitled-bint-for-congress/
Why the hell not, eh? And by the time she gets in, Cankles will probably be pushing up daisies and stepdad Larry likewise. Web was unavailable at press time.
This is getting like German cities in the 1920s and 30s with brownshirts versus Bolsheviks:
https://medium.com/@Cernovich/political-violence-is-here-now-the-question-is-who-can-do-it-better-ef58fcbe1d91
Hats off for Mike Cernovich, incidentally. He’s doing great work out there, also Stick Man.
Avoid cities. Avoid crowds. Avoid “events.” Unless, haha, unless you are accompanied by a “Nazi” escort platoon.
And my late-night blizzard of links continues; what else, really, are ya gonna read at midnight?
http://buchanan.org/blog/war-cries-drown-america-first-126827
Not a big surprise but some of us had hoped for better, like Patrick.
War without end, I guess. Sooner or later chickens come home to roost.
Quoting Ol’ Remus from the Woodpile Report:
” It wasn’t communism that brought down the Soviet Union and it isn’t socialism that’s ravaging Venezuela. Not directly. It’s corruption. It will be corruption that takes us down too. Inflation, deflation, bubble implosions, fiat currencies and central—formerly: king’s—banks, they’re all visible pustules of the underlying malady. The world’s economies and governments have all but forfeited their legitimacy. They’re being outed for what they most nearly are: criminal enterprises with a dress code, looting their lands and, at the end, each other.”
Then there is Malcom Gladwell in a long winded but worthwhile talk on legitimacy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPsfgEk00kU&t=1393s
Perception of corruption is the destroyer of the perception of legitimacy, hence Mr. Trump’s election. I suspect his apparent sinking into the swamp instead of draining it is a function of “expertitis” (which spell check doesn’t like) or deferring to the “experts” when a decision comes up outside his experience.
More and more nakedly apparent corruption will de-legitimize the American political and economic system. Then, sportiness.
Sportiness followed by rampant spiciness.
Just watched a Jimmy Dore rant on the Syrian caper, which at least had a couple of funny moments, after having watched a Paul Joseph Watson rant on how the top elites of Murka and European countries are pedophiles; boy was that disgusting and depressing.
We’re ruled by evil people on both sides of the Atlantic. Dore’s a prog liberal but he knows what’s going on. Watson’s on the other end of the spectrum and he knows what’s going on, too.
This can’t last.
This can’t last.
With the USA being the reserve currency of the world, that covers up a multitude of sins. A multitude, I tell you.
We are not even halfway down the road to failure. But when the failure comes, it will be spectacular. And over a long time. Maybe 100 years.
Halfway to failure? Could still mean next week or even tomorrow. I’m guessing within five years. Tops. The reserve currency monopoly is fading fast. We can back it up with “gunboat diplomacy” but we’re getting to the point where other players don’t wanna play our imperial game anymore. We gonna kill everyone else in the world?
Failure will be sorta spectacular at first, and then just snowball along for many years, probably decades. We’ll all be long dead, but our kids and grandkids will be dealing with it in spades. We all lived during a little window in time, an anomaly, a “golden age,” of sorts, after the Good War. These are the good old days, like in that old Carly Simon song.
Halfway to failure? Could still mean next week or even tomorrow. I’m guessing within five years. Tops. The reserve currency monopoly is fading fast. We can back it up with “gunboat diplomacy” but we’re getting to the point where other players don’t wanna play our imperial game anymore. We gonna kill everyone else in the world?
Nah, 10 to 20 years unless Trump doubles down on the federal deficit.
Failure will be sorta spectacular at first, and then just snowball along for many years, probably decades. We’ll all be long dead, but our kids and grandkids will be dealing with it in spades. We all lived during a little window in time, an anomaly, a “golden age,” of sorts, after the Good War. These are the good old days, like in that old Carly Simon song.
Spectacular in the sense of the absurd and horrible. The first failure point that appears to the citizens will be the ATM machines as the credit network fails to fund. I am not sure what the second failure point will be but it might be a federal seizure of all IRA and 401K accounts to be “invested” in federal tbills. Followed shortly by capital controls, bank holidays, etc, etc, etc. Oh yeah, the stock market will dump about 90% of its value in the middle of this process.
Yeah, I remember thinking the same thing when I was a kid, listening to my parents and grandparents talking about WWI, the Spanish Flu, the Depression, and WWII. Then of course was the Cold War, which constantly threatened to become hot very quickly and with no notice. I remember when I was 9 years old helping my dad build and stock a fallout shelter during the Cuban missile crisis. And quickly following, the mid- to late-60’s, with Vietnam, the Kennedy and King assassinations, blacks rioting, looting, and burning in the cities, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Manson Family, etc., soon followed by Kent State. I learned very young and with frequent reinforcement that we live in a very dangerous world and that anyone who doesn’t do his best to be prepared for any eventuality simply has no sense.
And all along, from the time I was in elementary school, I was reading history. I soon realized that “bad times” are in fact the normal state of things ever since prehistoric times and that we should be thankful when times are not as bad as they might have been. And then I think about my parents’ and grandparents’ generations and what they went through. They just dealt with it as best they could, and we’ll just have to do the same. And, as was true for them, the government will not only not help, but will hinder.
I’m glad I don’t get depressed, because I look at everything with my eyes wide open. I decided decades ago that most people are stupid, and most are like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. They’ll think about it tomorrow.
“With the USA being the reserve currency of the world, that covers up a multitude of sins. A multitude, I tell you.”
It does. The petrodollar and Treasuries accumulate in foreign coffers to pay for oil, the lifeblood of modernity. Interesting that both the former Libyan and Iraqi leaders made noises about accepting something other than dollars for their oil, and Iran does so now or recently due to “sanctions” . Syria is in the way for rival pipelines from Iran/Russia and Iraq/US. Hmmm.
Those trillions of dollars held overseas hold value today, but tomorrow? The treasury spends more than they take in by at least a trillion a year, diluting all that overseas $$. It is a fragile and brittle system and timing is not predictable, but it is definitely a train coming down the tunnel, not a light at the exit.
Most derps too blind, often willfully so, to see that light coming at them from the tunnel. And just as in real life, that train is moving a lot faster than one’s perception of its speed.
Apropos of nothing much, probably, there was a 32-year-old woman sitting in her car on the railroad tracks down in Colchester last week when a train came along. I dunno if her car stalled or she was sightseeing or staring at her pixels and texting or sexting or committing hari-kari or what, but she ain’t wid us no mo. Once dat train comes out of the tunnel, lots of folks ain’t gon be wid us no mo.
Nah, 10 to 20 years unless Trump doubles down on the federal deficit.
+Uno
Dreamers. I hope y’all are right, though.
But in ten years I’ll be 73; in 20, 83. Except I don’t think I’ll make the 20 and be lucky to make the ten. My dad was gone by 71 with early-onset Alzheimer’s and his dad by 79 with old-age cancer. HIS dad gone by 60, probably from depression and alcohol, and then HIS day by 40-something as he coughed his coal-dusted lungs out in a Taunton, Maffachufetts railway station. The women, of course, all live well into their 80s.
You’ve been saying that for at least three years.
Ditto. Or rather, I don’t know if I get depressed or not, because I don’t care. I set goals and I work to accomplish them regardless of enthusiasm or depression or obstacles.
(Though I reserve the right to bitch about things that annoy me.)
Yep. There’s a reason I’d cheerfully kill 90% of the species if I could select which 90%.
“You’ve been saying that for at least three years.”
So it’s two years now. I’ll stick by that.
Tempus fugit, etc.
Here’s another fun event for tonight:
http://www.oanow.com/townnews/university/live-coverage-from-the-auburn-campus/article_a9620ca8-23e7-11e7-a8d3-fb610b88333b.html
And Coulter will be at Berkeley the 27th, lol. That should be a real pissah.
I’m getting the last word here.
No, you are not, MrAtoz.
.
Nope.
I’m off to Our Lady of The Dauber services at the Red Rock Casino. It could be a long night.
The other players in the game are already moving to obviate the dollar’s reserve status.
Russia and various partners are trading oil directly in local currencies.
Russia and various partners built their own alternative to the SWIFT clearing network.
Various countries are repatriating their physical gold.
The US NEEDS a world wide reset to get rid of all the unbacked funny money the banks have been printing. We need a new starting point. They only way that can happen is major calamity.
5 years? 10? 1? Who knows? That it will come apart is a given, but the timing is unpredictable.
nick
Mr. OFD and Mr. SteveF know:
TWO YEARS
Still here.
Still here.
You win.
Finally.
And Coulter will be at Berkeley the 27th, lol.
Hopefully, she will have a platoon of Marines clearing the way for her. And a platoon covering her six. My former USMC son says that a SAW is an awesome clearing device at 200 rounds per drum. Until it jams or the barrel droops beyond all recovery.
Local LE will probably be useless, as their brass is beholden to the local ruling commie collectives, so that means either the right Feds or CHP guys, and/or her own security, which I am led to believe are ex-Seals. If I was her, I’d add a couple of platoons of Marines with a couple of SAWs and grenade launchers.
Which brings to mind: how is it that this level of security is needed for someone like her or Charles Murray or Milo, but when commie assholes show up to speak at universities, there has been, and is no, violent rioting by right-wingers?
That pretty much spells it out: we’ve been mollycoddling these scum for decades and it’s about way past time for some major pushback while we still have the chance.
The popo actually doing something in ‘Bama:
Auburn takes Berkeley to school as police unmask anti-fascists outside Richard Spencer speech
I think some of the anifa pussies were actually crying.
Rip their goddam masks off and lock ’em up. That goes for any “alt-lite” or “alt-right” guys messing around, too. Anyone with weapons obviously show premeditated violence other than “self-defense” and should be arrested and charged accordingly. Except for lawful gun owners, haha. That probably eliminates just about all the commies.