Tues. Nov. 8, 2022 – Vote. Make them work for it.

By on November 8th, 2022 in culture, decline and fall, march to war, polemic

Not really cool, and certainly damp.   Then not really hot, and still damp, although actual cool is supposed to be coming.  Just not today, or yesterday.   It was 93F in the sun at my house in the afternoon, according to my unfortunately placed weather station.   Radio said 80F at 5pm, so I’ll take that as more accurate, but still, 80F!

Oh well.  Mostly caught up on auction stuff.   Fewer bargains as more people find the auctions and bid.   Fewer bargains at the thrift stores too.   The stores have raised prices (as they do periodically, when they get jealous of resellers), and they are FULL of resellers looking for a “come up”.  They are having the same staffing issues as the rest of the working world, and so shelves are a bit bare and the stores are disheveled.   Signs of the times.  Eventually the flow of free stuff to the thrifts will reduce or cut off, and there will be a shakeout in that industry too.   The ‘returns’ reselling space is getting very crowded with some of my long established auctioneers dipping their toes in this month.   The ‘little  guys’ might have a chance if their overhead is low, but the big guys have the capital and the staff, and can gobble up bigger lots.

As a nation, we can’t just open boxes from China, we can’t have an economy based on giving each other massages and haircuts, and we can’t just keep reselling the same cr@p to each other, ’round and ’round.   We have to make stuff, adding value to it as we do.   When I see all the stuff we used to make domestically in these estate auctions, it depresses me no end.   Clocks- we had dozens of manufacturers.  Ditto for radios, tools, household goods, textiles, white goods, appliances.  You could build your house, furnish it, park your car in it, and EVERY SINGLE THING would have been made by your neighbors and your countrymen.

It wasn’t just us.  Even Canada had a domestic industry for housewares, and even TVs.  Now we have chinese drywall, brazilian lumber, iron work imported from INDIA, clothing from vietnam, electronics from china and singapore, gasoline from Norway, and food from Chile.   We enrich the middle men, support virtual and ACTUAL slavery, while impoverishing our neighbors.   What can’t go on won’t.

Big changes coming.  Lots of people will be grist for the mill of change.

Try not to be one of them.   Live through to the other side.

Stack some stuff, then stack some more somewhere else.

nick

92 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Nov. 8, 2022 – Vote. Make them work for it."

  1. Greg Norton says:

    January 2023. Trump for Speaker.

    It is certainly possible. The Speaker does not have to be a member of the House. The caucus would have to be united, however, with only a few dissenting votes allowed for members in close districts.

    I don’t see something like that happening unless the lame duck session does something insane in a fit of rage before January, assuming things are not going to go well for the Dems today. Of course, that’s possible too.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    As a nation, we can’t just open boxes from China, we can’t have an economy based on giving each other massages and haircuts, and we can’t just keep reselling the same cr@p to each other, ’round and ’round.

    We outsourced the opening of the shipping containers from China.

    The recession that should have happened early in the Shrub Administration  never corrected the capital misallocation from the 90s so now we have everyone’s retirement dependent on their house values and the FAANGs.

    Please, don’t give me TSLA. Tony doesn’t make money selling cars.

    Unless we want to live in the third world, everyone will have to accept a haircut.

    And a lot of forgotten knowledge will have to be relearned in the US, including management. Working in a factory sucks, but the current crop of C-suite occupants doesn’t have a clue about getting things done in an environment where no one wants to be there.

  3. brad says:

    Wishing y’all luck in the midterm elections.

    Trump is useful for the moment, but he needs to transfer his following to a successor. He is far too old – who want’s an 80-year-old president?

    One also hopes that his successor won’t surround himself with yes-men. Trump always has been utterly incapable of accepting criticism, or admitting to mistakes.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    I loved the taste of the government cheese.

    69F and damp.   Overcast atm, but at least it’s not dark 🙂

    n

  5. Greg Norton says:

    Trump is useful for the moment, but he needs to transfer his following to a successor. He is far too old – who want’s an 80-year-old president?

    Trump has ego and he sees an opening because the Dems potential crop of 2024 Jesus Candidates is going to be thinned significantly today, and the Republican bench is young enough to try again in 2028.

    I doubt it will happen.

  6. SteveF says:

    who want’s an 80-year-old president?

    81 million people, allegedly.

  7. Ray Thompson says:

    – remember way back when, some people predicted that he’d only make it just over two years, so that Kamel could finish his term and get two of her own?   Well, that is coming up.

    I still believe that is a very real possibility. Sponge Brain will be allowed to resign for “personal reasons” which is really saying he has dementia and is incapable of holding the office. Much I dislike the man, consider him an idiot who has done nothing his entire career, at least let him go with dignity.

    The Camel will now be the top dog. She will bring in possibly Hillary for the VP position. Or possibly Pelosi. But after Pelosi’s latest incident with her family and other remarks I make that a long shot.

    Trump is useful for the moment, but he needs to transfer his following to a successor.

    I really don’t like Trump. He is an egomaniac that is just an annoying person. At least he knew how to run a company (I think), didn’t take crap from anyone, and knew what he wanted to accomplish. Trump would always ask for 50% more in a program than what he wanted, conceded to reduce funding, and be happy. He got his 100%, the opponents thought they won because the program was reduced by 50%.

    Hillary got in her position through what I call gangster tactics. People that got in her way were eliminated under suspicious circumstances. Hillary was a lawyer which added to my reason to dislike her. After her less than successful lawyer career politics was the choice. A career where incompetence is rewarded by manipulating people.

    In 2016 I had a choice between two people I did not like. Trump who I despised, and Hillary whom I despised even more. 

    In 2020 I still had a choice between two people I did not like. I still despised Trump but at least the country was doing OK. Foreign threats were under control, the brown invasion was manageable, and cretin foreign leaders were not so quick to challenge the US. The other choice was Sponge Brain who has done nothing his entire career. A career based on leaching off the people. A person who was showing signs of senility but ignored by the media.

    Biden’s first day in office the executive orders that were signed were done out of spite, not reasoned decision making. Biden is currently incapable of making decisions and is instead relying on his handlers. He will remain in the office until February or a few months later. His days in the office are numbered in my opinion. The Camel is having nightly orgasms just thinking about it.

    I have already voted, republican where possible, if two republicans vote against the incumbent. Sad state of affairs in the election system.

    Trump always has been utterly incapable of accepting criticism, or admitting to mistakes.

    I think that is true of every single politician. Trump was just more annoying and made no bones about telling someone off.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    Homeowners have lost $1.5 TRILLION in equity since May as home prices start to drop: Three quarters of pandemic-era buyers now say they regret getting onto property ladder as prices fall  

     

    House prices have started to drop with homeowners losing $1.5 trillion in equity since May as three quarters of those who bought in the pandemic say they regret getting onto the property ladder.

    4.5 million cash-strapped Americans are turning to SECOND JOBS jobs to supplement their incomes – in 6% increase from last year 

     

    More Americans are turning to second jobs as the holidays approach and inflation rates continue to stay high, making many pinch pennies.

    – things are getting tighter.

    n

  9. Greg Norton says:

    The Camel will now be the top dog. She will bring in possibly Hillary for the VP position. Or possibly Pelosi. But after Pelosi’s latest incident with her family and other remarks I make that a long shot.

    Mayor Pete. Chasten has probably already been out to One Observatory Circle to measure for the drapes.

    That’s assuming that a VP is nominated and makes it to a floor vote. Whoever the Speaker is when Kamala moves up could refuse to schedule a vote, making that person de facto VP, and the Senate will require a compromise candidate.

    Mayor Pete is serious Deep State, sufficiently so that Mittens and the usual RINOs could vote for him to “honor tradition”.

  10. brad says:

    Homeowners have lost $1.5 TRILLION in equity

    Price bubble. That’s a meaningless figure.

    Imho, unless it is your actual business, buying a house for short-term profit is just gambling. You buy a house to live in for the long term. The last place we bought, we lived in for 20 years. Our new house, we will have to be carried out of, hopefully 30 or 40 years from now…

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Price bubble. That’s a meaningless figure.  

    – true for the stock market too, and everyone’s IRA/401K.    The difference being mainly that housing is an illiquid asset that you can’t necessarily sell when needed.  Since most people don’t spend enough time in their homes to pay off the mortgage, being able to sell when needed is a major consideration.   

    The paper gains have psychological effects as do the paper losses.   And the paper losses have a way of turning into actual losses that is not the same for paper gains….

    n

  12. Greg Norton says:

    Price bubble. That’s a meaningless figure.

    Imho, unless it is your actual business, buying a house for short-term profit is just gambling. You buy a house to live in for the long term. The last place we bought, we lived in for 20 years. Our new house, we will have to be carried out of, hopefully 30 or 40 years from now…

    Americans have sat and watched twenty years of HGTV propaganda, dreaming about retiring on a tenbagger (10 times purchase price) return on the “investment” in their homes. Psychologically, they are not prepared for what’s coming in house price readjustments as 30 year fixed rates revert to historical norms.

  13. Pecancorner says:

    Just a teenage orca fad?  The article implies orcas know that disabling rudders disables the ship.

    Terrifying moment pod of 7 orcas SINK a sailing yacht off Portugal

    “Researchers believe that the attacks are being carried out by just a few young male orcas, and could simply be another temporary cultural fad. 

    Other examples of temporary cultural fads in teenage orcas include playing with prawn and crab traps, and wearing dead fish on their heads as hats. 

    In a 2004 study, researchers from Dalhousie University explained: ‘An example is the “dead-salmon carrying” fad of the well-studied “southern resident”, fish-eating, orcas of the Puget Sound area of the northeast Pacific. 

    ‘It began with a female in K-Pod carrying around a dead salmon in 1987, spread to the other two pods in the southern resident community over a 5 – 6 week period and then stopped. 

    ‘It was noted a few times the following summer, and then never again.’   “

  14. CowboyStu says:

    My house is up 35 times from what we bought it 55 years ago.  I am not worried about downward fluctuations.

  15. Greg Norton says:

    My house is up 35 times from what we bought it 55 years ago.  I am not worried about downward fluctuations.

    California created an artificial shortage starting with Prop 9, and I won’t deny the geographical location advantage in some parts of the state. The whole planet wants to live there.

  16. CowboyStu says:

    California created an artificial shortage starting with Prop 9, and I won’t deny the geographical location advantage in some parts of the state. The whole planet wants to live there.

    YUUUP!   I’m in NW Huntington Beach and 1 ½ miles from the coast.

  17. Ray Thompson says:

    Researchers believe that the attacks are being carried out by just a few young male orcas, and could simply be another temporary cultural fad.

     At least they are not eating Tide Pods which places the Orca youth higher in intelligence than many teenagers.

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    Argh, I’m getting so much election spam to my phone text msgs.

    n

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wearing fish as hats?

    Crazy killers…

    n

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    Interesting, especially since the BOL is served by a VFD, consisting of one or two people on most days…

    NFPA releases annual U.S. Fire Department Profile

    The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released its annual U.S. Fire Department Profile report last month. The report provides an overview of local and municipal fire departments in the United States using data gathered from the NFPA’s most recent Survey of Fire Departments for U.S. Fire Experience During 2020 and the NFPA fire service survey from 2018–2020.

    The report’s key findings show that in 2020, the nation’s fire service was comprised of:

    • 29,452 fire departments. Of these, 18% were all career or mostly career departments and protected 70% of the US population.
    • An estimated 1,041,200 career and volunteer firefighters. Of these, 364,300 (35%) were career firefighters and 676,900 (65%) were volunteer firefighters.
    • Nationwide, 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17% provided advanced life support (ALS).
    • 89,600 firefighters were female (9%). Of the career firefighters, 17,200 were female. There were 72,400 volunteer firefighters who were female.
    • 50% of firefighters are between 30 and 49 years old.

    Read the full report along with supporting data tables and related reports on the NFPA’s website.

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    Yeah, oops, my bad… 

    Health system data breach due to Meta Pixel hits 3 million patients

    Advocate Aurora Health (AAH), a 26-hospital healthcare system in Wisconsin and Illinois, is notifying its patients of a data breach that exposed the personal data of 3,000,000 patients. The incident was caused by the improper use of Meta Pixel on AAH’s websites, where patients log in and enter sensitive personal and medical information.

    Meta Pixel is a JavaScript tracker that helps website operators understand how visitors interact with the site, helping them make targeted improvements. However, the tracker also sends sensitive data to Meta (Facebook) and is then shared with a massive network of marketers who target patients with advertisements that match their conditions.

    In August 2022, U.S. healthcare provider Novant Health disclosed its improper use of Meta Pixel in its implementation of the ‘MyChart’ portal, exposing 1.3 million patients.

  22. lpdbw says:

    In August 2022, U.S. healthcare provider Novant Health disclosed its improper use of Meta Pixel in its implementation of the ‘MyChart’ portal, exposing 1.3 million patients.

    Funny how there’s no mention of Epic, the developer of MyChart, in this news snippet.

    Of course, the democrat party is partly owned by Judy from  Epic, so I’m not surprised the media would downplay that aspect.

  23. MrAtoz says:

    LOL, plugs calls a lid for the day. Gotta prepare his lies for tomorrow.

    Let’s see if the Redumblicans got the message out. It’s either a red tidal wave or, meh, the usual changing of a few seats. We really need State laws where counting is over at midnight. Period.

  24. Pecancorner says:

    Interesting, especially since the BOL is served by a VFD, consisting of one or two people on most days…

    I don’t know their entire protocol and system, but the way ours works is that for fires, more than one Fire Dept usually responds. We call the county 911, and they dispatch not only our own VFD, but also others. When we had our house fire, three different departments responded.  

    For EMT, again it depends. When I’ve called for Paul, in both cases only an ambulance has arrived, but these were urgent not emergency calls. Also in both cases, the crews were tall women who had mastered their tools and techniques for lifting the patient safely (safely for the patient).   

    That was not always the case. For a long time, cities sent a fire truck along with every EMT call to assure someone strong enough to handle the patient was available, and EMT crews were as likely as not to consist of two 5″4″ females.    Maybe they’ve gone back to logical physical requirements for the job. 

  25. paul says:

    The Flusher of Hearing Aids went to the hearing aid joint today.  Not a big deal.  His tests and such are still current. The replacement will arrive in a week.

    The set cost the original $3000 including his hearing test.

    So, by that, The Flusher was expecting to pay almost $1500.  A grand, anyway.  But nope.  $250.

  26. SteveF says:

    When I’ve had to call ambulances for my wife or mother-in-law, about five times in the past ten years, between a third and a half of the ambulance crew members were women. They all were short and … burly, I guess. Definitely carrying plenty of fat but also carrying plenty of muscle. They were able to do their share of getting someone on the stretcher and then getting the stretcher down the three steps from the house to the sidewalk.

  27. dkreck says:

    A month ago we took my MIL to Costco to replace the ear piece on her hearing aid. Free btw. Noticed the Resound GNs that I paid $2700 for in Feb 21 were now selling for $1800 a pair with charger. Flushers were probably a very old model to be that low now. Well all are dropping now that the ‘professional audiologist no longer have a lock on the retail.

  28. Greg Norton says:

    Of course, the democrat party is partly owned by Judy from  Epic, so I’m not surprised the media would downplay that aspect.

    Play/sing the song first and then you can speak about Judy.

    Good day, Sunshine …. Good Day Sunshine …

    She’s a legendary wacko, even for tech CEOs.

  29. Lynn says:

    As a nation, we can’t just open boxes from China, we can’t have an economy based on giving each other massages and haircuts, and we can’t just keep reselling the same cr@p to each other, ’round and ’round.   We have to make stuff, adding value to it as we do.   When I see all the stuff we used to make domestically in these estate auctions, it depresses me no end.   Clocks- we had dozens of manufacturers.  Ditto for radios, tools, household goods, textiles, white goods, appliances.  You could build your house, furnish it, park your car in it, and EVERY SINGLE THING would have been made by your neighbors and your countrymen.

    It wasn’t just us.  Even Canada had a domestic industry for housewares, and even TVs.  Now we have chinese drywall, brazilian lumber, iron work imported from INDIA, clothing from vietnam, electronics from china and singapore, gasoline from Norway, and food from Chile.   We enrich the middle men, support virtual and ACTUAL slavery, while impoverishing our neighbors.   What can’t go on won’t.

    Big changes coming.  Lots of people will be grist for the mill of change.

    The big problem is that the last of the baby boomers are retiring.  65 million people are getting a Social Security check and hopefully have some money stashed away.  46.7 million retirees, 5.9 million survivors, and 9.5 million disabled workers.  It is truly a huge number.

        https://www.zippia.com/advice/social-security-statistics/

  30. Brad says:

    The big problem is that the last of the baby boomers are retiring.

    True, but…the first of the baby boomers are now 76. Mortality will soon start taking its toll, if it hasn’t already. 

  31. RickH says:

    Creating a new mineral (previously only available in outer space) for permanent magnets (see here

    This is why the discovery of synthetic tetrataenite is so exciting, Jonathan Hykawy says. The compound is so tough that manufacturers could make permanent magnets out of it for all but the most demanding pieces of machinery. If that happens, the US could fill a huge part of the magnet market itself, and reduce its need for certain rare earths. And it would make for a huge shift in America’s relationship with China. No longer would the US be beholden to a competitor for these key materials or dependent on them for certain parts essential for the production of vital technology.

    There is a potential downside, however. Rare earths aren’t just used in the production of permanent magnets. They’re used in fiber optics, in radiation scanners, in televisions, in personal electronics. If a big part of the rare earths market disappears because of tetrataenite, Hykawy says, the production of all of these other important rare earths could be disrupted. They could become significantly more expensive to produce, which could drive up the cost of a range of consumer and industrial goods.

  32. Lynn says:

    who want’s an 80-year-old president?

    81 million people, allegedly.

    When Trump became President in Jan 2017, I had a very low bar for him.  All I wanted was a conservative SCOTUS justice.  I got three of them !  Everything else he got accomplished is just icing on the cake.

    Don’t discount the fact the federal bureaucracy was out for him from day one.  And he was falsely impeached twice !

    6
    2
  33. Lynn says:

    The big problem is that the last of the baby boomers are retiring.

    True, but…the first of the baby boomers are now 76. Mortality will soon start taking its toll, if it hasn’t already. 

    Yup.  But if you make it to 76, chances are that you will make it to 86.

    My father in law told my wife that he was going to die in less than ten years when he was 72 or 73. She scoffed rightly, he died at 87.

  34. Lynn says:

    Wishing y’all luck in the midterm elections.

    Trump is useful for the moment, but he needs to transfer his following to a successor. He is far too old – who want’s an 80-year-old president?

    One also hopes that his successor won’t surround himself with yes-men. Trump always has been utterly incapable of accepting criticism, or admitting to mistakes.

    Trump at 80 has way more energy than I do.  His father was building houses in Queens until his late 80s and lived to be 93.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Trump

    5
    1
  35. Lynn says:

    “Amazon rolls out Rivian EVs in new cities for holiday deliveries”

        https://www.utilitydive.com/news/amazon-rolls-out-rivian-evs-electric-vehicles-new-cities-holiday-deliveries/636031/

    “The company has more than 1,000 electric fleet vehicles making U.S. deliveries and plans to have thousands on the road by the end of this year.”

    I think that I have seen one of these in our neighborhood.  Very quiet.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    When Trump became President in Jan 2017, I had a very low bar for him.  All I wanted was a conservative SCOTUS justice.  I got three of them !  Everything else he got accomplished is just icing on the cake.

    Don’t discount the fact the federal bureaucracy was out for him from day one.  And he was falsely impeached twice !

    The jury is still out on Kavanaugh. The seat shapes the Justice, and he’s sitting in Kennedy’s chair.

    Kavanaugh and the Old School Marm caved on jab mandates for healthcare workers.

  37. Lynn says:

    “”Give Kremlin A Warning”: US ‘Nuclear Apocalypse’ Submarine Enters Mediterranean Sea”

         https://www.zerohedge.com/military/give-kremlin-warning-us-nuclear-apocalypse-submarine-enters-mediterranean-sea

    “Multiple reports show the world’s largest nuclear submarine, the USS Rhode Island, left the Port of Gibraltar on Spain’s south coast last week and was last seen entering the Mediterranean. British newspaper Daily Express said the nuclear submarine is “reportedly heading towards the Black Sea.””

    My goodness, she is a big girl. Not much hot bunking on her. One of my son’s friends slept on top of a torpedo for all of his deployments, he strictly had 8 hours, two other guys shared the bed.

    I am of two minds on this.  One is that it is a provocation.  Two, it is a deadly threat.

  38. Lynn says:

    The jury is still out on Kavanaugh. The seat shapes the Justice, and he’s sitting in Kennedy’s chair.

    Kavanaugh and the Old School Marm caved on jab mandates for healthcare workers.

    Nah, Kavanaugh voted to get rid of Roe v. Wade.  Either he did it because of his principles or else the old black man threatened to beat him with his cane.  Either is fine with me.

  39. dkreck says:

    What’s the rush?

    https://www.kcra.com/article/california-covid-19-state-of-emergency-to-end-in-february/41656804

    California’s COVID-19 state of emergency will be terminated at the end of February, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced on Monday.

    Newsom administration officials said Monday’s announcement was meant to give state and local government and businesses across California time to prepare.

  40. EdH says:

    Well, I voted. 
     

    It was sprinkling so I went to the polling station in the old outlet mall- plenty of room inside. 
     

    It went well, I had everything already noted down on the sample ballot, and the new electronic machines are neat.  
     

    Currently you get a blank paper ballot with all sorts of identity stuff on it After identifying yourself. I had sort of a fast pass they’d sent to my home address so it went quick. It goes into the machine, you make your choices on a touchscreen, you can review it electronically, it then PRINTS to paper, which you can review again, then it sucks the paper in and puts it into a ballot box.

    They werent using picture ID, but the guy in front of me was cautioned that he already had a mail-in on record and that THIS would over rule that. He was cool with that, he’d apparently had second thoughts about a court appointee…or was testing the system.

  41. EdH says:

    California’s COVID-19 state of emergency will be terminated at the end of February, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced on Monday.

    Newsom administration officials said Monday’s announcement was meant to give state and local government and businesses across California time to prepare.
     

    Or just maybe  Gavin and other party stalwarts need time to further loot the state:

    https://californiaglobe.com/articles/exclusive-gov-newsoms-byd-mask-deal-profitable-for-insider-dealmakers/

  42. Geoff Powell says:

    Just to distract from the deadly serious business of the midterms, I’ve finally got the phantom drain on my car’s battery fixed.

    Last month, as you may recall, I was having consistent overnight discharge of the car battery. Researching this online, I found a car electrics shop that claimed to have fixed exactly the problem I was seeing – car radio did not turn off with the engine, and the volume control did not work.

    On this vintage of SEAT Ibiza (the 2001-2 model year) the radio is custom, and integrated with the dash. So I drove down at the appointed time, and the shop removed the radio and half the dash to test it. And found a fault with the main logic board for the entire dash, which for reasons known only to SEAT’s designers, is housed inside the radio box : a double-DIN size black box behind the dash, whose controls are integrated with (among other things) the aircon controls. To fix this, they had to keep the radio and the dash until they could obtain a remanuactured (not new, the car is 20 years old) logic board for it.

    They told me (by email) that they had the board on Saturday, and we made an appointment to have the radio refitted this afternoon.

    Long story short, I have the radio re-installed, and it works. Total cost for the diagnosis and repair came to somewhat over £700, but that’s cheaper than buying another car, and I have working wheels again. The other option would have been to scrap the car, which seems like overkill.

    Incidentally, the fixit people agree with me that SEAT made a mistake in doing this. I suspect SEAT realised as well, because, AFAIK, they didn’t do it again.

    G.

  43. SteveF says:

    When Trump became President in Jan 2017, I had a very low bar for him.

    Hillary Clinton will never be President.

    Anything else was lagniappe.

  44. paul says:

    Ehh…. putting the logic board in as part of the radio has to be a bean counter thing.   Chrysler is no better.

    My ’02 pick-up went wonky.  No brake lights.  Just running lights and low beam head lights.  No gauges other than speedo.  No power locks, at all.  Power windows worked.  WHY is all this crap built into the instrument cluster?  And not a box that plugs into the wiring harness? ALA an Electronic Ignition Module.  To save 50¢ per vehicle?  Some folks need flogging.  Desperately.  And then hanged, slowly, by their hands tied together behind their backs so they can enjoy being drawn… 

    And Nissan?  I have no clue.  I don’t know how much the radio is integrated.  The air controls seem to be a separate system.  Same for the instrument cluster.

  45. paul says:

    Hillary Clinton will never be President.

    Sitting in a restaurant for lunch and CNN is on and Comey was pretty much saying “yeah, she did all this (with the mail server and the rest) but we aren’t prosecuting because it would affect the election” was an odd thing.  Anyone here doing near that would be in Leavenworth or Gitmo.

    So, yeah, I voted to Trump so she couldn’t win.

  46. Lynn says:

    It was sprinkling so I went to the polling station in the old outlet mall- plenty of room inside. 
     

    It went well, I had everything already noted down on the sample ballot, and the new electronic machines are neat.  
     

    Currently you get a blank paper ballot with all sorts of identity stuff on it After identifying yourself. I had sort of a fast pass they’d sent to my home address so it went quick. It goes into the machine, you make your choices on a touchscreen, you can review it electronically, it then PRINTS to paper, which you can review again, then it sucks the paper in and puts it into a ballot box.

    The 100+ year old church on the road to my office always has early voting and election day voting.  I voted last Tuesday ? with only three of us voting.   But last Friday, they had a line out the door a hundred feet long at 7pm.  Today they have a line out the door that is 200 feet long.

    And we now have the custom printed ballots also.  Works like a champ and easy for recounting.  Plus you can vote anywhere in the county.  Just vote on the electronic device, print your ballot, take your ballot to the tabulating machine, and stick it in for tabulating.  There is a sealed box under the tabulating machine where the ballots land in.  I have no idea who the manufacturer is but it just works and there is a printed copy for hand recounts.

  47. Lynn says:

    Hillary Clinton will never be President.

    Sitting in a restaurant for lunch and CNN is on and Comey was pretty much saying “yeah, she did all this (with the mail server and the rest) but we aren’t prosecuting because it would affect the election” was an odd thing.  Anyone here doing near that would be in Leavenworth or Gitmo.

    So, yeah, I voted to Trump so she couldn’t win.

    Hillary would have been a vicious and incompetent president. Worse than Biden.

  48. MrAtoz says:

    Wouldn’t it be the shites if during tRump’s big announcement, he brings out DeSantis and endorses him for President.

  49. Lynn says:

    “Citadel (The Palladium Wars)” by Marko Kloos
       https://www.amazon.com/Citadel-Palladium-Wars-Marko-Kloos/dp/1542027241?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number three of a three book military science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by 47North in 2021. I suspect that there will be more books in the series as there are eight books in his Frontlines series.

    The Gretians lost the system wide war to the Alliance of the Gaia system several years ago. With a half million dead and trillions of ags expended, feelings still run high even though it has been almost two decades since the armistice. And the fifteen percent of Gretia GDP being paid as war reparations and the Alliance occupation of Gretia are breeding continual resentment against the Alliance.

    Somebody is fomenting terrorist incidents on the ground in Gretia and in the Gaia system using piracy. And now nuclear weapons are involved. With Rhodia’s new stealth corvettes, there is now tracking of the terrorists. BTW, the series reminds me a lot of the time period on Earth between WWI and WWII.

    The author has a website at:
       https://www.markokloos.com/

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (5,190 reviews)

  50. RickH says:

    Sorry – anyone Trump endorses will not get my vote. Trump lost my confidence because of his election denying actions. And statements since.

    This also goes for anyone that ‘parrots’ Trump fantasies. 

    My personal feelings. YMMV.  (And not going to get into any argument about it.)

    5
    17
  51. SteveF says:

    but we aren’t prosecuting because it would affect the election” was an odd thing.  Anyone here doing near that would be in Leavenworth or Gitmo.

    In 2016 there was a series of news items. One was General Petraeus being accused of giving classified information to his biographer (and lover), for which he was eventually sentenced to probation and a medium-size fine. Another was a submariner who took a selfie which included a control panel. He went to prison for a couple years. (That apparently keeps happening; I hear about something along those lines once a year or so.) Another was an Army guy who accidentally gave a journalist information which had been reported in the newspapers but which was still classified. He reported himself to CID (?) and ended up in prison for a couple years. And then there was Hillary Bitch Clinton, private servers, hit lists, classified information, blackmail, bleach bit, and … no jail time, no fine, no conviction, not even a prosecution.

    Meanwhile, a bunch of stuff in my head will be classified for another 40 years, give or take, and I face jail if I do more than hint around the edges about it. Even if a little of it has been reported in the open press, some of it is obsolete, and some of it is more embarrassing to The Powers That Be than actually important to the security of the American people, it’s still Top Secret. I have no expectation of special Clinton or Betrayus treatment, so I need to keep quiet.

    Gotta say, it puzzles me to hear retired Special Forces guys talking about some of the places they’ve been. I ask whether it isn’t still classified that the US had troops in X location in Y year. Yep, it is. So why are you talking? -shrug- I think the total of what I’ve said about Africa was that there were US “military advisors” there, weighing in on one side of a multi-way civil war. It was a shithole. The CIA was also involved. All sides were barbarians, referred to as human beings only as a courtesy. Looking at it a couple decades later, we might as well not have bothered. That’s it, and it doesn’t narrow things down hardly at all. Manage to extract any classified information from that and I’ll buy you a coffee if we ever meet.

  52. CowboyStu says:

     Anyone here doing near that would be in Leavenworth or Gitmo.

    YES!  I worked for many years in Sensitive Compartmental Information programs.  Consequently, I know how wrong those actions of hers were and I would never do such.

  53. Greg Norton says:

    Nah, Kavanaugh voted to get rid of Roe v. Wade.  Either he did it because of his principles or else the old black man threatened to beat him with his cane.  Either is fine with me.

    Kennedy voted with the conservatives on Obamacare. The Old School Marm went with the liberals.

    Kavanaugh often goes along with Roberts on schooling the voters about the consequences of poor political choices. I think they leaned against striking down the large employer jab mandate, but it became clear that there would have been a mass Not-So-Quiet-Quitting in January had it gone into effect. They gave Biden the win on the healthcare workers.

    Amy Comey-Barrett has shown signs of morphing to fit the Payola seat as well. Except instead of being DeSantis payola with the woman from Miami, it is Pence’s payola … and Touchdown Jesus’.

    Only Gorsuch has been hard core, but he’s in Scalia’s chair.

  54. Greg Norton says:

    In 2016 there was a series of news items. One was General Petraeus being accused of giving classified information to his biographer (and lover), for which he was eventually sentenced to probation and a medium-size fine

    Patreaeus was the tip of the iceberg in Tampa, something Trump failed to take care of while in office the first time.

    The Orange Man lost his nerve on a number of subjects. Its time to look at the bench and present a stark contrast to Biden.

  55. ITGuy1998 says:

    My personal feelings. YMMV.  (And not going to get into any argument about it.)

    Then why say it in a public forum? 

    Whatever, SteveF said it best. Hillary will never be president. I gladly voted against Hillary, and I’d do it again.

  56. CowboyStu says:

    Remember when cankles lied about the Monica Lewinsky event when she said:  “It didn’t happen”?

    So I am going to vote for someone who made such an obvious lie?

  57. RickH says:

    Then why say it in a public forum? 

    Why not? Opinions are expressed here every day.

    8
    2
  58. CowboyStu says:

     Oh yeah, then when the semen stained dress came out, cankles did not admit that she was wrong nor did she apologize.

  59. Geoff Powell says:

    @cowboystu:

    admit she was wrong nor did she apologize.

    It’s impossible for an experienced politician to do either.

    G.

  60. Ray Thompson says:

    cankles did not admit that she was wrong nor did she apologize

    Politicians never admit they were wrong or that they lied.

    anyone Trump endorses will not get my vote

    I sort of feel the same way, just not 100%. I don’t trust Trump, don’t like Trump, would never accept an invitation to dinner with Trump. Unfortunately in the last several elections the voters have been left with little choice. Voting against someone is a sad reflection on the election. I voted for whom I thought was the lesser of two evils. Given such a choice in the last several elections I felt like not voting but that does not solve the problem.

    Your personal opinion is yours, and in my personal opinion, personal opinions are not wrong.

    9
    1
  61. Greg Norton says:

    I sort of feel the same way, just not 100%. I don’t trust Trump, don’t like Trump, would never accept an invitation to dinner with Trump.

    At Mar-A-Lago? Lots of history involving that property so, yeah, I’d go.

    The only house more (in)famous on the island is the former Kennedy compound up the road.

  62. Lynn says:

    Amazon stock closed at $89.98 today.  Might be a good time to pick some up.  Or, might be a bad time. 

        https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN?p=AMZN

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  63. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    The Camel will now be the top dog. She will bring in possibly Hillary for the VP position.

    Commie Harris won’t be able to do it. In order to still have the possibility of having two terms of her own – which is NEVER going to happen – Biden would need to stay in office until January 21. But the new, probably Republican, Congress will be sworn in early in January. If Harris were to nominate a VP, it would have to be somebody acceptable to a Republican Congress. 

  64. Lynn says:

    I just heard a Christmas commercial for Home Depot on the radio.  Why ?

    My wife says that Xmas is a four letter word.

  65. PaultheManc says:

    @paul

    Flusher of Hearing Aids

    Coming from the UK, I don’t understand.  Please explain. (Hearing aid user.)

  66. Greg Norton says:

    Amazon stock closed at $89.98 today.  Might be a good time to pick some up.  Or, might be a bad time. 

    The stock spent most of 2019 in this range. The technicals suck for it to go higher anytime soon.

    The fundamentals aren’t that great either. I’ve been hearing people complain about the AWS tools for more than a year, and AWS subsidizes the retail which allows Amazon to “delight” the customers.

    Something tells me that the customers aren’t going to be delighted for much longer.

    Plus Amazon produced the first season of the most expensive TV series in history, and it laid an egg with the very audience the program should have … delighted.

  67. CowboyStu says:

    @cowboystu:

    admit she was wrong nor did she apologize.

    It’s impossible for an experienced politician to do either.

    I agree 100%.

  68. dkreck says:

    Unfortunately in the last several elections the voters have been left with little choice. Voting against someone is a sad reflection on the election. I voted for whom I thought was the lesser of two evils. Given such a choice in the last several elections I felt like not voting but that does not solve the problem.

    Well you can vote for the Giant Douche or the Turd Sandwich. Doesn’t really matter.

    Interesting time going to drop off my ballot. There is a ballot drop off box just about .5 mile from my house in front of the county fire station and I went to drop off about 4. There were dozens of cars on both sides of the street and maybe 50 people lined up. Turns out the box was stuffed full. Someone said they were coming to fix it in about 10 minutes – yeah right. I mentioned to several peeps that you could just go to a polling place and drop too. I mentioned two nearby churches being used. It was like no one knew this so I headed out.  About two miles the other direction. No crowds, no problem. I was almost tempted to drive back by and look and see if anyone had shown up. Didn’t bother. 

  69. Lynn says:

    Alex Samuels

    Nov. 8, 8:51 pm

    “LOL, Zoha, I’m glad that Crist is “at peace” with losing tonight, but, as I’ve reported earlier, he put a lot on the line by running tonight. In fast, he risks losing his political credibility. According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis of perennial losers, political candidates who lose three elections in a row are not considered serious politicians. (I’m looking at you too, Beto O’Rourke!)”

    Yup, Bozo is toast.  Unless, he can find $100 million to run against the junior senator from Texas, Cruz, a real Latino in 2024.

  70. Nick Flandrey says:

    My voting experience today was with the new machines.   I really liked the several times confirmation, and the auditability of the new system.   It would still be possible for the tabulating scanner to be messed with, but a manual audit would identify that.  

    The first place I stopped was just off a main street, and has had early voting so people know it’s there.   Line at 1215 was quite long but moving briskly.  I decided to go to another polling place, about two blocks away, and I was the only one there.    They sent some worker to let the first place know, and more people showed up, but still no line.

    The two critical issues in Harris county were Greg Abbott and getting rid of Lina the thieving socialist Hidalgo, county judge and EMgmt head.   There were over 100 races on my ballot, two pages of ‘no contest’ winners, and a few bond issues- parks, public safety, parks, and streets.   They wanted several hundred million dollars in total. 

    -=–

    did my pickups.   Went to my storage unit and did some sorting and shelf building.  Didn’t gain any space yet, but ran out of the special clips that metro rack shelves use.   I need to find some more, ideally locally.  Ran out of daylight a bit sooner than I expected.  

    — kids were off school today.  No idea why, couldn’t have been voting…

    n

  71. Nick Flandrey says:

    @PaultheManc,   “flusher” because he dropped one in the toilet just as he flushed (story was yesterday in comments.)

    n

  72. Ray Thompson says:

    Coming from the UK, I don’t understand.  Please explain. (Hearing aid user.)

    Did something over the toilet and just as he flushed a hearing aid fell out of an ear. Gone forever. Nothing complicated, just a simple mistake.

  73. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wow, she’s the spitting image of Michelle Phiffer in Scarface, when she’s a coked out zombie, ie. the “your womb is so polluted” scene…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11396403/Elle-Fanning-cycles-different-outfits-shares-set-snaps-fittings.html 

    Or maybe she’s ‘livin’ on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine…’

    n

  74. Lynn says:

    Or maybe she’s ‘livin’ on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine…’

    I love the “Trucking” song.

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafY6sZt0FE

    Some days I want to put a Dead sticker on my cowboy cadillac.

    And then there is “Driving that train, high on cocaine, …”.

  75. Lynn says:

    Coming from the UK, I don’t understand.  Please explain. (Hearing aid user.)

    Did something over the toilet and just as he flushed a hearing aid fell out of an ear. Gone forever. Nothing complicated, just a simple mistake.

    That hearing aid is not gone forever.  If you want it real bad, it is in the septic tank.  Just gotta vacuum for it.

  76. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    Lynn:

     If you want it real bad, it is in the septic tank.  Just gotta vacuum for it.

    Something would need to be made of platinum and encrusted with emeralds to be worth doing that. 
     

  77. Greg Norton says:

    “LOL, Zoha, I’m glad that Crist is “at peace” with losing tonight, but, as I’ve reported earlier, he put a lot on the line by running tonight. In fast, he risks losing his political credibility. According to a FiveThirtyEight analysis of perennial losers, political candidates who lose three elections in a row are not considered serious politicians. (I’m looking at you too, Beto O’Rourke!)”

    Charlie Crist is done. His “safe” Congressional seat went back to the Republicans tonight.

    Little Marco won big too.

  78. Lynn says:

    Charlie Crist is done. His “safe” Congressional seat went back to the Republicans tonight.

    Little Marco won big too.

    Florida looked over at California over the last two years and saw statism and authoritarianism during the Koof.  They decided to walk away from that, for now.

  79. Lynn says:

    Looks like Georgia is headed to another runoff.

       https://www.cnn.com/election/2022/results/georgia/senate

  80. Greg Norton says:

    Florida looked over at California over the last two years and saw statism and authoritarianism during the Koof.  They decided to walk away from that, for now.

    Governor Newsom’s in-laws moved from California to Naples this year and made a big donation to Republicans.

  81. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like Georgia is headed to another runoff.

    The Libertarians in Georgia need to get a grip. Chase Oliver is a Prog.

  82. Nick Flandrey says:

    Oops, my bad… made a mistake!

    Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts now says she ‘may have made a mistake’ when she said she was forced to have sex with Alan Dershowitz at the bidding of Epstein – as she sensationally drops case

    • Virginia Roberts dropped a defamation case Tuesday she had brought against attorney Alan Dershowitz in 2019 with no financial payment made to either side
    • She sensationally admitted that she ‘may have made a mistake’ by claiming that she was forced to have sex with Dershowitz when she was a teen
    • Roberts said she was ‘very young’ and in a ‘very stressful and traumatic environment’ when she was around Jeffrey Epstein
    • She claimed this led her to wrongly identify Dershowitz
    • Roberts claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times when she was 17 at Epstein’s bidding 

    –no apology.

    n

  83. Nick Flandrey says:

    “circling around” to a recent conversation…

    From one of my first responder email lists.

    Fires in flooded electric vehicles after Hurricane Ian raise concerns

    When Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, significant storm surge brought salt water from the ocean inland, submerging many vehicles at least partially in salt water.

    In the weeks following landfall, several electric vehicle (EV) fires were reported in southwest Florida. To date, there have been at least 10 EV fires in Collier County, at least one fire in Lee County, and one on Sanibel Island that burned two houses to the ground. These fires are believed to be related to the effects of saltwater submersion on the vehicles.

    According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), residual salt within the battery or battery components can form conductive “bridges” that can lead to short circuit and self-heating of the battery, leading to fires. The time frame in which a damaged battery can ignite has been observed to vary widely, from days to weeks. This means there is the potential for more EV fires to occur in Florida in the coming weeks.

    Florida’s State Fire Marshal wrote a letter to the NHTSA on Oct. 6, requesting more information and guidance on how to respond to these incidents. The NHTSA’s response emphasized the importance of first identifying any flooded electric vehicles and then moving them at least 50 feet from any structures, other vehicles or combustibles. The effort to identify flooded EVs and relocate them to safe locations is still ongoing in southwest Florida.

    These recent EV fires in Florida have raised some broader questions about how to handle damaged electric vehicles safely and practically, especially as EV sales are expected to increase dramatically in the next few years. EV battery fires can be very time- and resource-intensive for responders. There are safety risks for responders related to the emission of toxic and flammable gases from damaged batteries, and the unpredictability of thermal runaway and re-ignition.

    For responders, the NHTSA’s reply to Florida’s State Fire Marshal referred to its 2014 guidance for first responders and second responders, developed in collaboration with the United States Fire Administration, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and others. These bulletins were revised after the 2012 flooding from Hurricane Sandy submerged several hundred EVs in salt water, leading to several fires in Fisker EVs. The 2014 bulletins now incorporate response guidance related to hazards from flooded EVs.

    NHTSA also referred in its response to NFPA training for responders on alternative fuel vehicles that was developed with funding from NHTSA and the Department of Energy.

    The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) published a bulletin last year, Fire Department Response to Electrical Vehicle Fires, with guidance for responders pre-, during, and post-incident. IAFC just conducted a webinar this week to address some of the ongoing concerns with response to EV battery fires associated with saltwater submersion, in light of Hurricane Ian and the recent fires in southwest Florida. This webinar was recorded and is now available free of charge after registration.

  84. Nick Flandrey says:

    And I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the  Tropical Storm headed toward the east coast.   If you aren’t already ready, get busy!  Take notes, remedy any deficiencies, and do better next time.

    n

  85. Lynn says:

    And I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the  Tropical Storm headed toward the east coast.   If you aren’t already ready, get busy!  Take notes, remedy any deficiencies, and do better next time.

    n

    https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT17/refresh/AL172022_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/233431_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

    Hat tip to:

        https://www.drudgereport.com/

  86. Alan says:

    >> I am of two minds on this.  One is that it is a provocation.  Two, it is a deadly threat.

    Obviously a plan made above Joe’s pay grade. 

  87. Alan says:

    >> Something would need to be made of platinum and encrusted with emeralds to be worth doing that. 

    City sewers FTW. 

  88. Alan says:

    >> kids were off school today.  No idea why, couldn’t have been voting…

    No polling places in schools in TX? 

  89. Alan says:

    >> I’ve been hearing people complain about the AWS tools for more than a year, and AWS subsidizes the retail which allows Amazon to “delight” the customers.

    Sorta wondered if Tony ever though about getting into the cloud business to help subsidize his other endeavors.

  90. Alan says:

    >> I just heard a Christmas commercial for Home Depot on the radio.  Why ?

    Seems like overall holiday shopping will be less this year (cue the ‘Inflation’ theme song) and best to accelerate advertising to be better positioned to grab a bigger slice of a smaller pie. “Black Friday Sales” emails are flooding my inbox. 

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