Cold this morning. Supposed to be clear and warming later. We got some rain yesterday after noon. Depended mostly on what part of town you were in, but with the front came strong winds and a drop in temps. It was 69F when I woke up, and 45F when I went to bed.
Did some errands. Picked up some auction stuff. Filled the Ranger with gas at $2.79/gal. Costco gas was empty. It was a bit eerie to not have to wait in line.
Was going to shop Costco, but D1 and her friends missed their bus, so she called for a ride home. It wasn’t their fault, one of the other kids was disruptive while they were doing “rainy day dismissal” and calling each bus number in each classroom. Got permission to bring her friend and another classmate home too. Both kids live only a couple of blocks away from us.
But that did eat up an hour of my time. Plans. Yeah. Even when I only kinda sorta make them, the universe laughs at me…
Today, I might try for a pickup. Or I might do other things. NOT GONNA SAY. Maybe I won’t get thwarted. 😉
I’m trying to stack some money by getting some stuff sold, but it’s a slow process for some reason. I’ll have to stack some stuff instead.
Better get to it.
n
Now you’ve done it. Attempting to outwit Murphy’s Law is the surest way to get Murphied.
Somebody has to pay for the Fox acquisition. Iger can’t blame Cheapek for that fiasco.
PE is still 60. If they don’t sell Fox, a lot of people will lose their jobs to pay for that catalog.
40F and saturated. Forecast says clear and up to 70F later. Say it with me… “We’ll see.”
n
Rivian isn’t going to be around that long.
Nothing to see here. Everything is fine. Move along.
https://apnews.com/article/john-fetterman-politics-pennsylvania-stroke-health-24e69a44c3362a055a6e10ccd81282f0
Yeah, he’s fired. Geesh, $380k/year?
https://www.fox7austin.com/video/1178199
Yessirree, share prices reflect nothing but underlying value of a publicly traded company….
– Robinhood and Cosmos BOTH had price decreases after this mess.
n
Robinhood is a tool of the brokerages who provide the trades for “free” out of their dark pools. Someone took home a nice bit of change through the “accidental” short sales.
The Feds still hold 7% (?) of the stock through the Bankman-Freid asset seizure.
I believe this needs serious consideration:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-real-danger-of-illegal-alien.html?m=1
When
someone you likeTrump applies the tax laws to his benefit, it’s ”because he’s smart”. Whensomeone you don’t likeRomney does it, he’s a cheat. Noted.Chris Jervey, sorry your comment a couple weeks ago got caught in the spam filter.
Welcome. If it happens again (probably because of the links) try again without the links and let me know.
n
>> Rivian isn’t going to be around that long.
My son recently canceled his ‘buy and flip’ Rivian deposit for exactly that reason.
Not sending us their best indeed.
– – I can’t even imagine the lack of awareness that would let a young woman want to travel to Mexico and then get drunk or high and let her inhibitions lower… along with her awareness.
I can sort of get it for fairly safe domestic locations. It’s still foolish, but while you might get more than you bargained for, you’re probably not going to be sold to slavers or killed.
The whole history of spring break FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS used to be that you were surrounded by people just like you, all looking for roughly the same thing, and to blow off a little steam. It isn’t at all like that anymore. Every one of the traditional areas is filled with predators and people who just go for the easy access to impaired young people.
n
Predators naturally go to where prey congregates. The stupider the prey, the better.
Didn’t realize he was still with us…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11732167/Burt-Bacharach-legendary-composer-pop-songs-dies-94.html
n
Marvin Hamlisch died about a decade ago so you may have been thinking of him.
Hamlisch and Bacharach both won Oscars for music in big Newman/Redford films
Songwriter for the incomparable Dionne Warwick
Can you point me to a post here where somebody said tRump is smart or even a post where someone said they “liked” tRump?
The gist about Bishop Mittens is he thinks he is Holier than the rest of us and can do no wrong. God is on his side!
IMHO, there are several who comment here who are supportive of Trump, and/or are in that area of political ‘inclination’. They have been less vocalized since the events of Jan 6. Some opinions have changed since then.
Again, IMHO.
And some people here are more ‘centered’ in their political leanings.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11731793/The-real-life-Breaking-Bad-drug-fronts-hid-plain-sight-US.html
I’ve driven past this place.
n
I’ve been and still am “supportive” of trump. I don’t “like” him. I don’t “dislike” him either although I dislike some of the things he’s done and said. I do have strong dislike for other piggies at the political trough.
I left the troll comment (straw man, false equivalence, personal attack) up because it’s possible it was someone else, and while I found the tone to be an issue, there might have been some merit in looking at the idea.
I can’t recall anyone here celebrating any tax avoidance by Trump beyond a general celebration of paying as little as possible legally. Which I am supportive of. If Mittens uses a rule to his advantage that no one else can use, I might take exception or wish Congress would address the law, but if it’s lawful, then it is smart.
Everyone should pay as little as possible. Starve the machine. There is no virtue in paying taxes.
n
Jan 6 and the end of political freedom in the US doesn’t enter into my feelings toward trump.
That we have US citizens in prison for the last two years, denied bail, and alleging torture and mistreatment and denial of access to legal representation, for lesser crimes than those widely committed by people with different political views who have received no penalty is a travesty.
Show me the stores looted and burned to the ground on Jan 6. Show me angry mobs throwing explosives and hard objects at police while trying to blind them with lasers. Show me protesters from Jan 6 seizing control of public land for weeks on end, setting up checkpoints and cordons, shooting people who ‘breach their perimeter’, and I’ll call it a riot.
I’ve seen riots. Jan 6 in DC wasn’t a riot. Nor was it insurrection. At worst it was vandalism and tresspass, and even then, prove to me that the people in prison were involved in any violent acts, and prove to me that the people shown committing the violence were Trump supporters and not agent provocateurs.
n
btw, you do that by having a TRIAL. Presenting evidence. Letting a jury decide on guilt. Holding US citizens for years without trial for misdemeanor offenses is wrong.
In today’s US, “centrist” means “slightly to the right of Stalin”.
I don’t like Trump, never have, never will. My comments were about his tax strategy. Every American should do the same, use every possible legal loophole to pay as little in taxes as possible. I like his tax strategy.
I also feel the 1/6 hearings were politically motivated and had little resemblance of any trial. I also feel the crimes committed on 1/6 do not warrant the sentences handed out. There was a lot of fear acting by political clowns who wanted to get their face on the evening news.
I feel the current crop of congress and senate critters are some of the most worthless people ever in those positions. They are corrupt, self-centered, inept, clueless dolts. They made the tax laws that Trump is using to his advantage. If the truth were really known I suspect all of them are pulling the same stunts.
I feel that all members of congress, senate and the executive branch should have their tax records made public. Including the records of immediate family to include spouses, siblings and children. The public needs to know how someone can amass a $44 million dollar net worth on about $200K a year. It wasn’t by prudent saving.
Viewpoints about Trump are all over the place here, but Mittens is generally despised.
Neither one needs to be anywhere near the Republican nomination for President or Vice President again IMHO. Both lost their nerve when it counted.
Romney makes Trump look as pure as Cyndi Lauper vs Madonna.
Let’s extend this idea to “all gov employees”. From a just starting out file clerk or janitor to all the way up.
Contractors, too. At least the board, the C-suite, the executives, and the vice presidents.
Currently 79F in the sun. Clear and sunny.
Been avoiding work. Reading the Tx Legislature investigation into the Uvalde school murders.
It isn’t pretty.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fierce-backlash-project-veritas-sidelines-james-okeefe-after-pfizer-bombshells
I guess he didn’t follow the advice of never giving up majority ownership…
n
Plus Pfizer.
O’Keefe will be back one way or another, but that Pfizer video is going away.
>> Viewpoints about Trump are all over the place here, but Mittens is generally despised.
Anybody who straps their dog in it’s dog carrier to the roof of their car is total scum.
The cost of my natural gas service has gone up 80% over last year. Electric has increased 50%, water and sewer is up 40%. Well done sponge brain.
Ray, we may all freeze but can take satisfaction in having saved the planet.
>> The cost of my natural gas service has gone up 80% over last year. Electric has increased 50%, water and sewer is up 40%. Well done sponge brain.
Ehh, just bitter that the mention of your photographic efforts at the HS got dropped from the SOTU.
I think anyone receiving a check from the Treasury, except a refund, should not be eligible to vote. I include myself as a Social Security recipient. I could be persuaded that retired veterans be an exception but I’d fear that would be a camel’s nose under the tent. Would ruin photo ops of the incumbent at the polls. Take the wind out of the sails of public unions and the Free Stuff Army.
re James O’Keefe, he should do a Veritas-special investigation of the board members and see who’s been bought and who’s being pressured.
re Ray’s alleged utility price hikes, nonsense. We have only 8% inflation, so you must be imagining things.
Agreed, and also agreed about military veterans being the nose under the tent.
I believe this needs serious consideration:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-real-danger-of-illegal-alien.html?m=1
So, at some point are the citizens of the USA going to be fighting against the invaders from the third world at large ? Just like the South Africans did and lost ?
When
someone you likeTrump applies the tax laws to his benefit, it’s ”because he’s smart”. Whensomeone you don’t likeRomney does it, he’s a cheat. Noted.If I remember correctly, Romney was one of the upper level hedge fund managers who lobbied Congress to get the “Carried Interest” law. Now if I get income from a hedge fund, I pay normal income, social security, and medicare taxes on that income. If Romney gets income from his hedge fund then he pays only capital gains tax, no social security tax, none or partial medicare tax.
Two taxpayers and they are being treated differently by the tax law. That is not right.
Don’t get me started on Bill Gates charitable organization that he transferred all of his assets to.
I left the troll comment (straw man, false equivalence, personal attack) up because it’s possible it was someone else, and while I found the tone to be an issue, there might have been some merit in looking at the idea.
Definitely a troll. Fake email address.
Chris Jervey, sorry your comment a couple weeks ago got caught in the spam filter.
Welcome. If it happens again (probably because of the links) try again without the links and let me know.
Should we move it to today ?
Rather than barring military retirees from voting, I would REQUIRE completion of military service as a PREREQUISITE for voting, sort of like Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”.
Alley Oop: Nuclear Fusion
https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2023/02/09
“When two atoms love each other very much…”
This is why I still read Alley Oop.
So, at some point are the citizens of the USA going to be fighting against the invaders from the third world at large ?
– yes. and as aesop has said, your skin will be your uniform. And atrocities will undoubtedly follow. Cartels have no problem with atrocities.
n
Nice!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dJhtDEuTvqo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JlkmUDJ2fgk
Some people are incapable of serving. Some form of alternative public service perhaps in that case.
I would prefer that anyone on welfare that provides more than 50% of the person‘s income, be barred from voting. The tendency of leaches to vote themselves money is too great.
Yak Yak Yak.
Get it through your head. It no longer matters WHO votes.
It only matters who counts the votes.
You’re rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
It’s a nice academic exercise, though. I get it. I might argue, for instance, that you should only vote if your private income exceeds your government pay and benefits. And only in person, and only on election day, and with an ID, at your neighborhood polling place, with only English language ballots. And vote fraud is a capital offense.
Can’t go? Disabled? Out of country, even in the service? Too bad.
I assume you mean the sword. 🙂
Splitting wood takes different tools for different types of wood. Growing up, I needed wedges for elm, which was very fibrous. Now that I am near the Pacific mountains, softwood rules. For that, I found this to be the best:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-sotz-monster-maul-axe-wedge-1825982679
Bought mine in about 1979, and it is the only one I have used that has never stuck in softwood. Also unbreakable by anyone less than Paul Bunyan. Amazing, especially for beginners. I have seen skilled woodsmen split all kinds of wood with axes and mauls using a technique that uses a twist of the wrist to rotate the head and impart a splitting force to the wood. Easier to watch than to learn. I never mastered that, but the Monster Maul made things much easier and safer. A tool that will outlive me. I still use it occasionally, but I don’t do logs much any more because I have a large amount of scrap lumber that might outlast me.
@drwilliams, that is one fit young lady.
n
Ray Thompson says:
Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” did not require MILITARY service; ANY kind of assigned federal service qualified to earn you the privilege of voting. If somebody was incapable of doing anything other than separating marbles by feel, that would qualify.
“Because the government doesn’t care one bucket of swill whether you join or not! Because it has become stylish, with some people—too many people—to serve a term and earn a franchise and be able to wear a ribbon in your lapel which says that you’re a vet’ran … whether you’ve ever seen combat or not. But if you want to serve and I can’t talk you out of it, then we have to take you, because that’s your constitutional right. It says that everybody, male or female, shall have his born right to pay his service and assume full citizenship—but the facts are that we are getting hard pushed to find things for all the volunteers to do that aren’t just glorified K.P. You can’t all be real military men; we don’t need that many, and most of the volunteers aren’t number-one soldier material anyhow.”
“So for those who insist on serving their term—but haven’t got what we want and must have—we’ve had to think up a whole list of dirty, nasty, dangerous jobs that will either run ‘em home with their tails between their legs and their terms uncompleted…or at the very least make them remember for the rest of their lives that citizenship is valuable to them because they’ve paid a high price for it.””
I would agree with you about “welfare” being a bar against voting, but I don’t think Social Security qualifies as “welfare”. That’s money that I earned, 15% taken out of every paycheck, money that I could have invested myself, if I had received it. Now, I’m getting some of it back, and if I live to age 85 or so, I MIGHT get it ALL back. But no guarantees.
@JimB, I’ve been using up a bit of lumber at the BOL and I don’t actually like how it is burning. Takes forever to burn even a 2×4 I split in half or thirds, and there isn’t any nice flame. It’s good for me as the house is less likely to burn down, but doesn’t work too well in the fire pit.
n
“Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire)” by Cedar Sanderson
https://www.amazon.com/Trickster-Noir-Pixie-Hire-2/dp/0615998852?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number two of a three book fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Stonycroft Publishing in 2014. I am now reading the third book in the series.
Bella accepted Lom’s marriage proposal but can she keep Lom alive alive after he was captured and tortured by the Low Fae Kingdom ? And then the king of the High Fae Kingdom sends Bella out to kill the rest of the hiker eating ogres around Mt. St. Helens. So Bella grabs her uncle, the immortal Raven, and her Alaskan cousins to do battle with her magic and a .600 caliber Nitro Express rifle.
Fairies, Pixies, Dragons, Ravens, Firebirds, Wood Elves, and Baba Yaga, oh my ! This series just builds more and more very quickly.
The author has a website at:
http://www.cedarwrites.com/
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (63 reviews)
@JimB
I thought the technique was nice, too, but I should have put it in quotes–Nicole says it multiple times.
A couple years ago I saw a demo on a Swedish splitter> Had an asymmetrical head that did the twist naturally. I was tempted, but $300 for a new topy without lithium batteries is probably not going to happen at my age.
@Nick
Yeah. Fit. But it was her enthusiasm unboxing the sword that got me watching .
I offered to opt out of the retirement portion of FICA nearly four decades ago, if those funds (payroll deduction and employer contribution) would go into a retirement fund that I could direct.
Since the government took that money from me for decades (including years where I paid both parts), I’m going to decline to give up the right to vote. Particularly in light of the myriad of other ways that fedgov extracts taxes.
But if you want to take the vote away from Social Security recipients, would you then be willing to exempt them from other taxes? All those excise taxes that are buried in prices and unseen, gasoline taxes, taxes on the phone bill to give free cell phones to deadbeats, property taxes (yeah, I know that’s “local”, but fedgov affects them), and, of course, estate taxes?
Should people on welfare give up the vote right away, or should their be a grace period for people who need help for a limited time? If you take welfare Dec-Oct and drop it for Nov before resuming again, do you get to vote?
@lpdbw
Strange, isn’t it, that people managed to vote before billions were invested in good roads and subsidized public transit.
Wouldn’t agree with disenfranchising those in the service.
FBI HQ Retracting Richmond Field Office Document Targeting ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholics’
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/02/fbi-hq-retracting-richmond-field-office-document-targeting-radical-traditionalist-catholics/
Our ProgLibTurd puppets have the hate group list we will use to defend ourselves…
Defund the FBI, Start by closing the Richmond office and firing everyone except the guy that leaked the memo.
Show of hands: How many people think this would have been implemented except for the leak?
Two places I saw log splitting today
https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2023/02/interesting_9.html
But as the first comment there notes.
Use a power splitter.
We Must Demand a Demonstration Project of a Mainly Renewables-Based Electrical Grid
Francis Melton AT THE MANHATTAN CONTRARIAN
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/09/we-must-demand-a-demonstration-project-of-a-mainly-renewables-based-electrical-grid/
As I have suggested before, DC is the logical place.
And it is self-evident that the funding must come from DC itself, with no funds from outside, either through taxes or “contributions” in money or in kind. No generous “help” from the Biden’s and Lebron’s good friends the ChiComs.
I suppose we could let the good citizens of the District prioritize who gets squeezed during a power shortage. I’m sure they would want to keep the ac running for fedgov and shut theirs down in the interest of the republic.
@dkreck
Yeah:
“fitted with .440 solid carbide tips”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U75uLruKhOw
Hmm. Of course, your climate is much wetter than here. That might be the main difference. I have an assortment of fir, redwood, a little pine, and various kinds of plywood and particle board. Even if it gets rained on, it usually burns with a tall orange flame, which is just what our heating fireplace wants. The rear and sides of its firebox are heavy sheet metal, and absorb radiant heat. Air is forced around the rear of the firebox and into the room. The front has glass doors, and outside air is piped in for combustion so there is no draw on the inside of the house. The now-defunct brand is Heatform, and was made in So Cal. It gets its name from the application: it is a form for a masonry fireplace. Its other feature was that it had all the critical dimensions built-in, so the mason couldn’t mess up the design and efficiency. I sometimes refer to it as a poor man’s wood stove. Its downfall is that its efficiency falls with a small fire, but I use it for rapid heat for only a few hours at a time.
I have burned everything except oil in it, and that includes some coal. Coal tends to burn inside the pile, with less radiant heat because there is little to no flame. Hard woods like oak burn hot, but with less flame than soft woods. We used to burn about four cords of wood in it each winter, and that was only for backup heat; 80% of our space heat is a solar system with air as the transfer medium. We have since added insulation to our walls (the ceilings were already good) and windows, and now use less wood. I am tired of fires and wood processing, and plan to add a solar assisted heat pump to our mix of heat; hopefully in a year or two. Our electric rates have not gone up as much as other areas, and much less than gas, which I don’t have.
The most renewable form of electric generation is nuclear fission… if we were to use breeders to reprocess the fuel rods. Small Modular Reactors might be good also.
Yeah, never happen. Dolts.
Biden blew up Russia’s pipeline.
Russia wants him to pay.
Russia claims Ukraine is part of Russia.
We’re sending billions to Ukraine.
There’s your reparations Vlad–go and take them.
Biden blew up Russia’s pipeline.
Russia wants him to pay.
Russia claims Ukraine is part of Russia.
We’re sending billions to Ukraine.
There’s your reparations Vlad–go and take them.
Um, Vlad might actually do that. “Russia ‘massing 1,800 tanks, 700 aircraft & 500k men for new Ukraine assault in 10 DAYS’ after Zelensky begs UK for jets”
https://www.the-sun.com/news/7347369/russia-zelensky-new-offensive-ukraine/
Looks like he is going to use the old tried and true Russian method.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
@Lynn
The problem now is that they can’t find 50 guys that know how to fire a rifle, much less load one.
Absolutely. With ~100 million not voting in the 2020 election, legitimacy of any “winner” is already suspect and a general perception of illegitimacy is corrosive to the continuation of the regime.
That is the problem with service as a prerequisite. Some 90% or so of adults today are not veterans of any part of fedgov. Hard to convince that super majority of legitimacy to rule/lead.
Disenfranchising those whose livelihood depends on productive citizens seems a reasonable price for “public service”.
The goal of the proposal is to eliminate the conflict of interest in “the advance auction of stolen goods” that Mencken defined an election.
The proposal doesn’t eliminate employees of Raytheon or Lockheed or Electric Boat, so it’s certainly not perfect.
Social Security is not actuarily sound and involuntary participation in a Ponzi scheme shouldn’t be an “out”. The ~60 million recipients are a huge voting block that the young should certainly resent.
For the poor schmuck who needed a SNAP card for a few months between elections, loss of franchise for 1 cycle seems a modest price. Those who make a career of suckling at the teat don’t deserve a voice at the table, having proven they are not really adults.
Helvering v Davis established that Social Security was general welfare, not an investment scheme.
A Ponzi scheme would eventually run out of money.
That day is already visible. But the rules are fluid. They’ll means test, raise rates, or increase age of eligibility or some other way. See France today with strikes/protests regarding increasing retirement age above 60..
The Dems used to talk about seizing the 401(k) plans and private pensions, actively holding hearings on the subject when they held Congress, but those numbers applied to the debt would be meaningless now.
Fired City Manager walking.
The idiots on the Austin City Council need a scapegoat to protect their own careers.
https://www.fox7austin.com/video/1178688
Oh, they will get around to that, things get desperate enough. Invent some new kind of unsellable bond as “compensation” and a new well paid bureaucracy to calculate the pittance paid out. Then there will be some real leverage for ESG implementations since that bureau will own all that probably vastly depreciated stock.
@Lynn
The problem now is that they can’t find 50 guys that know how to fire a rifle, much less load one.
I forgot to mention the Russian Army officer with a handgun and a megaphone voice. While they are marching to the enemy lines, if the first soldier cannot shoot the rifle then the officer shoots him in the back. The second soldier picks up the rifle and starts shooting. If the second soldier cannot shoot the rifle then the officer shoots him in the back and the third soldier picks up the rifle and starts shooting. Rinse and repeat until out of men or the enemy is dead.
This is how the ten million man Russian Army defeated the 1.5 million man German Army invading Russia in WWII. Not pretty. Not efficient. But when your average soldier was working on a collective farm just days before, horribly effective.
BTW, this is how the Russians lost 11 million soldiers in WWII.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/world-war-two-casualties-by-country
Yup, worker’s paradise, Russia.
The Dems used to talk about seizing the 401(k) plans and private pensions, actively holding hearings on the subject when they held Congress, but those numbers applied to the debt would be meaningless now.
You gotta use newspeak. The Dems are planning on investing our IRAs and 401ks in Government Tbills.
Activate The Hammers of Bob. I smell troll.
Activated. A particularly foul and nasty one, it dropped four spams on us.
It smelled worse than Slimer and was more icky.
Tuesedays and Thursdays.