Mon. June 19, 2023 – Busy, then driving, then work, work, work…

Hot and humid again today.   Sunny.   Might be a breeze.  The only thing making it at all comfortable yesterday was the strong wind.

Had a nice day yesterday.  Mostly hid from the heat and watched videos.  Mostly instructional videos…  learned about heavy equipment.   I’ll soon be putting that to the test.

I’ve got a couple of things to pickup today, then load the truck and go…

I don’t think it will be that easy, it never is.

But.  If it is, I’ll be headed up to the BOL to do a week of work.   Hopefully I’ll get done what needs to be done.  You guys are along for the ride in any case.

I’m stacking up knowledge, skills, and improvements to my BOL.   What are you doing?  Stack something.

nick

50 Comments and discussion on "Mon. June 19, 2023 – Busy, then driving, then work, work, work…"

  1. Ray Thompson says:

    First, again.

    Train was late by almost an hour leaving Berlin. That will mess with our other connections in that we have to take a local train during rush hour. Not good.

  2. SteveF says:

    And don’t lecture me about being fitted for a serf collar if you have even one mask at home or in the car.

    I carry a number of disposable masks (the “face diaper” kind) and a balaclava with me. For minor disguise and plausible deniability, not because I’m worried about the dempanic or similar (fake) contagion. ref Daniel Penny. His life would be better now if he’d taken three seconds to slip a face diaper on right before putting the dindu in a choke hold, and then disappeared into the crowd as soon as the train doors opened.

  3. drwilliams says:

    @Greg

    Better to just give up and submit to the serf collar.

    “And don’t lecture me about being fitted for a serf collar if you have even one mask at home or in the car.”

    False equivalency. And I wasn’t lecturing you.

    I came to my conclusions about “masks” early, based on “Real Science” i.e., the kind that holds up in somebuddy else’s lab when they check it: Can’t stop bb’s with a chain link fence. Yet I put one on for the kabuki when I had too, and yes, still carry some in the car. I think they’re with my FLASHLIGHTS!, and balaclava, and watch cap, and oversize sunglasses, and throw-away jacket, and the other standard kit.

  4. MrAtoz says:

    Happy Juneteenth, ya losers.

    All Hail The Amish!

    Now pay your reparations.

  5. SteveF says:

    June 19, 1953: The Rosenbergs were executed for treason. Truly a day worth commemorating.

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  6. Clayton W. says:

    And since I haven’t mentioned it for a while, one of the biggest failures of nerve in the history of the U.S.A. was the refusal of NASA to even look for wing damage to Columbia before crossing their fingers and trying re-entry. Yeah, “they couldn’t have fixed it anyway”. Yeah, the decision tree if they found damage was horrible. But, yeah, what a great day it would have been if the crew had rebelled and sent the message: “Houston. About that decision not to look. We took a vote and decided that we want to know. We’re going to do an EVA and assess the damage.”

    They COULD have changed the re-entry profile to minimize heat in the damaged area, although that would likely have cause enough damage to make the shuttle a total write-off.  Or so I’ve heard.

    There was no mechanism to do an EVA on the shuttle unless it was very carefully planned.  Much equipment had to be shut down prior to an EVA because the astronauts had to breathe a pure oxygen atmosphere for some time (IIRC 3 days, but don’t quote me) because the suits were pure O2 at reduced pressure and much of the shuttle equipment does not get adequate cooling in a low pressure O2 environment.  Air-cooled equipment on a spaceship.

    But hey, the idiot that denied the look by satellite was promoted to head the independent safety group at NASA because “He now knows how important it is.”

    I WISH I was making that up.  🙁

  7. Greg Norton says:

    I just looked up a recent ‘leccy bill. 64.4p/kWh, less “government help with bill” of 31.8p/kWh, for a net charge of £341 approx. for a month. Just ’leccy, there’s gas as well (we’re “dual-fuel”, as are many households in UK) so we pay more ffor energy than even Cali.

    The “government help with bill” doesn’t get mentioned in the press here when we see the horror stories about UK electricity costs.

    That’s a pretty steep electric bill for a place with a latitude, marine environment, and climate not too different than Portland or Seattle.

    This time of year, due to an unusual geographic arrangement, Portland usually had 100s for about a week after the Solstice, but I don’t remember an electric bill being much above $150.

    A lot of places in the US are dual-fuel, but the expansion of the suburbs in the 70s and 80s happened so fast that electricity, telephone, and, eventually, basic cable were the only infrastructure able to keep up. Gas fell out of general use in the Sunbelt in particular.

    Florida also had the infrastructure problem of everything south of Gainesville being swamp. Anyone selling a house in the state on the Peninsula is the proverbial ‘con artist selling swamp land in Miami’.

  8. Clayton W. says:

    It is generally an increase of system efficiency from 80% to 90% if you can capture the latent heat of the water being condensed in the system.  SWAG.

    I live in Florida.  VERY hard water with LOTS of limestone.  There used to be heat pumps installed that transferred the heat to shallow well water.  GREAT efficiency, but they destroy themselves ‘quickly’ (For certain values of quickly, but life span is much lower that heat pump to air).  I always assumed the lime killed the heat exchangers.  I don’t hear about new systems using that any longer, so I guess the ROI is not good.

  9. drwilliams says:

    @Clayton W.

    I worked on two products that became part of the STD. Minor ones, out of tens of thousands, but I rubbed shoulders and was aware of other efforts. There was an upgraded tile demonstrated in 1981. Dropped from shoulder height it bounced when a standard tile shattered. I knew a guy working on carbon composites that incorporated SiC. Much tougher. Neither ever implemented.
    The SiC guy would have been the one I’d call if there was a C-C composite problem. He was not NASA, not in the same industry by that time, but was still probably one of the foremost practical experts.
    For every “do” in the past tense there is first a “try”. I’d rather EVA without flushing all the N2 from my tissues than quit because “procedures”.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    I remember very clearly from commentary and probably articles at the time the shuttle first flew (and not into space) discussion of providing a “patch kit” for missing tiles.    It would be some sort of paste that would be applied to fill any gap in the skin.

    I guess that was either impossible, or cut for weight.

    ——————————-

    hot already, and sunny.

    ——————————-

    Guys please remember that no one here “KNEW” anything.   We/you might have suspected, believed, been told, or any number of other descriptions for how you felt or thought, but the only ones who KNOW are the perpetrators.   Go back and read this site from that time.   Seriously.   It’s easy enough, you can directly edit the URL to get close and then use the nav tools.

    We had good sources, alternate interpretations, smart people, and skeptical posters.    

    Hindsight is easy, and (Sarah Hoyt does this and it’s massively annoying) dancing around saying “I KNEW it! ” as more comes to light isn’t the same as knowing   as it was happening.

    We STILL don’t know with any sort of certainty what happened, or why.    At best we are the 7 blind men describing the elephant.  At worst, we are the people watching and listening to the blind men, and then coming up with our own animal to describe.

    “Masks” are not a monolithic thing.   Everything from PAPR to t-shirts has been described as a “mask”.  You can’t make any statement about “masks” that is the least bit meaningful without more lawyerly defining and clarifying than  Bill Clinton on the stand for sexual misbehaviour.

    “COVID” by any name is not a monolithic thing.    There are dozens of variants with different levels of harm, severity, and even symptoms.   You can’t make any statement about “COVID” that is the least bit meaningful without more lawyerly defining and clarifying than  Bill Clinton on the stand for sexual misbehaviour.

    “People”, “patients”, “the sick” and “the dying” are not a monolithic thing.   Pre-existing conditions, general health, the level of care received, living conditions, age, and dozens of other factors contributed to how sick a person got, which variant got them, and what their outcome was.   You can’t make any statement about “patients” or “people” that is the least bit meaningful without more lawyerly defining and clarifying than  Bill Clinton on the stand for sexual misbehaviour.

    Epstein didn’t kill himself.   Maxwell has a cache of ‘insurance’ under a dead man switch.   Tyrants gonna tyrant.

    n

    and unless it’s the troll, assume positive intent here, text is too easy to misinterpret.

    10
  11. CowboyStu says:

    EdH, JimB and ……… :

    My Son In Law enjoyed our trip to Indian Wells Brewery and Lone Pine so much that he wants to do another in September.  This time also stopping in to The Joint in Randsburg.  I did go there once, but that was maybe 45 years ago.  I would also like to buzz through California City,.

    I’ll post back when the date is chosen.

  12. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    The primary reason that there was no “patch kit” was that both the ceramic tiles and the C-C composites were thermally processed during manufacture to temps above 2000F. There was no formulation for a patch that could be cured in place during a mission.    

  13. SteveF says:

    There was no formulation for a patch that could be cured in place during a mission.

    Did they try toddler’s instant, microwavable oatmeal? Once that stuff dries on the bowl, it’s virtually indestructible.

    — 

    re who knew what and when re the dempanic, I’m sticking with what I’ve been saying for over three years: You don’t need to know virology or epidemiology or anything like that, so long as you’ve encountered enough liars and thieves in your life. By mid-April 2020 it was obvious that they were lying, whether knowingly, deliberately, and maliciously or simply pretending knowledge when all they had were best guesses.

    See also: anthropogenic climate change

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  14. Clayton W. says:

    See also: anthropogenic climate change

    Yup, or what used to be called weather.

  15. PaultheManc says:

    By mid-April 2020 it was obvious that they were lying, whether knowingly, deliberately, and maliciously or simply pretending knowledge when all they had were best guesses.

    My position is somewhere between SteveF and Nick, probably closer to SteveF.  My call, same as SteveF, in mid April 2020 was to let everyone under the age of 46 (based on the granularity of the data I could see) get on with their lives, protect the elderly and vulnerable, and give advice to those in between, but allow them to make their own decisions.  A bit later in 2020, a number of knowledgeable people came up with the Barrington Declaration, which largely mirrored my views and aligned more to what Sweden was doing.  I do not know everything, but I believe there was enough information to reach that conclusion and I still feel strongly that that would have been the correct call – but ‘politics’.

  16. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Pizza Elves, Inc.

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/06/17

    Dilly bars are great too.

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    We believed, and we may yet be proven right, but there are things like the increased death rate by vax that I fervently hope are unfounded.   

    There are people who want to ‘do the right thing’ and are convinced they did.

    There are people who are always seeking power/control/influence over others and they got it.

    There are people who just want to be left alone, who mainly were not allowed to.

    Anyone who knowingly lied about something material, that directly led to deaths should be tried and convicted of at least involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide, depending on circumstances.   Anyone with a ‘duty of care’ should be tried if they lied.   The argument against conspiracy theories is that people can’t secretly act and keep the secret and that works against anyone who lied about wuflu too.  Truth will out.   Given time and attention.    And depending on the truth, there will be a reckoning. 

    ————–

    anyone else notice the attempts to ‘keep up the scare’?

    Monkeypox

    Marburg

    Bad flu in Australia

    [insert ‘see, nobody cares’ meme]

    They can try, but like most things with historical significance, they won’t be able to do it again, not in the same way.

    n

  18. Lynn says:

    Wizard Of Id: New Trapdoor

        https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2023/06/19

    All of the castle moats that I have seen were muddy and nasty.  That moat looks too clean, especially with the creatures inhabiting it. 

  19. Lynn says:

    anyone else notice the attempts to ‘keep up the scare’?

    Monkeypox

    Marburg

    Bad flu in Australia

    [insert ‘see, nobody cares’ meme]

    They can try, but like most things with historical significance, they won’t be able to do it again, not in the same way.

    The Epoch Times is screaming about monkey DNA in the vaccine.  I have trouble believing that.

        https://brownstone.org/articles/green-monkeys-you-say/

  20. Lynn says:

    “‘The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves’ Should Not Be a Template for Energy Policy”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/06/17/the-beatings-will-continue-until-morale-improves-should-not-be-a-template-for-energy-policy/

    “The US’ electrical grid system is divided into a series of regional operators whose job it is to maintain consistent, reliable power and…ah hell I’ll just borrow their words. One of them, PJM, is “ a regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.” In that region are 65 million people for whom PJM aims to “ensure the safety, reliability, and security of the bulk electric power system” – that’s from their mission statement.”

    “In early 2023, PJM issued a report stating that existing baseload power generating facilities were being retired faster than adequate replacements are being constructed, which is increasing reliability risk and adding risk of rolling power blackouts.”

    “You can use your imagination as to why existing (coal and natural gas fired) power plants are being shut down prematurely, and what kind of replacements are being developed (wind and solar). – activists are running the show. You can also imagine the consequences. This isn’t rocket science. Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones that work when the weather cooperates, and the results are predictable.”

    “You can use your imagination as to why existing (coal and natural gas fired) power plants are being shut down prematurely, and what kind of replacements are being developed (wind and solar). – activists are running the show. You can also imagine the consequences. This isn’t rocket science. Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones that work when the weather cooperates, and the results are predictable.”

    80+ year old grandmas cannot handle 100+ F heat very well.

  21. Lynn says:

    “Garage doors on raised house in Nassau Bay bewilder social media users”

        https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/harris-county-house-elevated-garage-18117308.php

    “The massive brick house on stilts appears to have two garage doors—with no way for cars to access them from the driveway. “The garage doors confuse me… In Nassau Bay, TX,” Borgmann captioned the photo. Since Borgman shared the image on May 19, the post has gone viral, garnering 13,000 likes, over 900 shares, and thousands of comments from people who were just as confused.”

    Where is the elevator ?

    I ain’t washing the windows or cleaning the gutters.

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    80+ year old grandmas cannot handle 100+ F heat very well.

     for the greenies that ‘s a feature not a bug.   Too many humans sucking on mommy gaia’s teat after all.   

    Re, the house, it looks like they just lifted a slab on grade house w/out regard to the garage.   Assuming someone who buys it would covert the garage and change the doors to bay windows or some such.   It’s probably bare concrete and studs inside if it flooded.

    n

  23. Greg Norton says:

    “Garage doors on raised house in Nassau Bay bewilder social media users”

    Replacing the doors with a real wall would probably put too much weight on the raised slab.

    Another possibility is that they went over budget raising the house and converting the construction loan to a mortgage would have been a problem for the bank, forcing the owner to decide between aesthetics and foreclosure.

  24. MrAtoz says:

    Anyone who knowingly lied about something material, that directly led to deaths should be tried and convicted of at least involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide, depending on circumstances.

    Agreed. Except most of these “people” are goobermint employees. As long as someone as brain-dead as plugs is in charge, there will BE no charges.

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    1
  25. Lynn says:

    “A New Clan (4) (Star Kingdom)” by David Weber and Jane Lindskold
       https://www.amazon.com/New-Clan-Star-Kingdom-Weber/dp/1982192755?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number four of a four book young adult science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2023. This series is a prequel to the very popular Honorverse series of over 30 books now. I expect to purchase and read any future books in the series.

    Five treecats have now adopted humans on the frontier planet Sphinx and people are starting to notice. Whats more, the treecats and humans are still purposefully understating the treecats intelligence and lethality. And the adopted humans are starting to note the weak mental connections to their treecats and realizing that it is a life bond.

    David Weber has a website at:
       https://www.davidweber.net/

    My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,036 reviews)

  26. MrAtoz says:

    The lost sub by the Titanic gets weirder every time I refresh The DM. Now there is a possibility it is stuck in the wreckage. No comms at all, to me, means it is toast (imploded), or the company sucks dead bunnies on safety protocols.

  27. Lynn says:

    “Fake savings bond scheme leads to $50M in losses and issues for legitimate savers”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fake-savings-bond-scheme-leads-091450592.html

    Fraud is everywhere now !

  28. CowboyStu says:

    From above:

    Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones……..

    I guess that if 34 hours is 1 day and that 365 days is one year, is that not 7 years?

  29. Greg Norton says:

    “Fake savings bond scheme leads to $50M in losses and issues for legitimate savers”

    The only way to get paper savings bonds right now is through a tax refund.

  30. Lynn says:

    Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones……..

    I guess that if 34 hours is 1 day and that 365 days is one year, is that not 7 years?

    Yes.  And the old school (fossil or nuclear) facilities are expected to run for 70 years.  But, the new so-called renewable facilities are expected to run for only 7 years …

  31. Ken Mitchell says:

    MrAtoz says:

    The lost sub by the Titanic gets weirder every time I refresh The DM. Now there is a possibility it is stuck in the wreckage. No comms at all, to me, means it is toast (imploded), or the company sucks dead bunnies on safety protocols.

    The thing that surprised me was that it lost comms an hour and 45 minutes after submerging. The bottom is TWO MILES DOWN, and I’d be surprised if it could go down so quickly. But a hull rupture on the way down might make sense. 

  32. CowboyStu says:

    From above:

    Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones……..

    I guess that if 24 hours is 1 day and that 365 days is one year, is that not 7 years?

    Corrected my post above.

  33. Lynn says:

    The lost sub by the Titanic gets weirder every time I refresh The DM. Now there is a possibility it is stuck in the wreckage. No comms at all, to me, means it is toast (imploded), or the company sucks dead bunnies on safety protocols.

    The thing that surprised me was that it lost comms an hour and 45 minutes after submerging. The bottom is TWO MILES DOWN, and I’d be surprised if it could go down so quickly. But a hull rupture on the way down might make sense. 

    It looks like an old propane tank.

        https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-submarine-missing-rescue-mission-underway-newfoundland-canada/

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    Finally loaded up.   Showering, since I’m soaked with sweat, and headed out.

    n

  35. JimB says:

    EdH, JimB and ……… :

    My Son In Law enjoyed our trip to Indian Wells Brewery and Lone Pine so much that he wants to do another in September.  This time also stopping in to The Joint in Randsburg.  I did go there once, but that was maybe 45 years ago.  I would also like to buzz through California City,.

    I’ll post back when the date is chosen.

    Thanks for the long notice. I will definitely join you in Randsburg if I can. September looks like a good month. I really enjoyed meeting you and your family.

    In other news, I have heard that California City has a problem with rival gangs associated with marijuana growth and control. I don’t know whether this is a threat to tourists or more likely to locals who happen into their territory. I would imagine that you will be safe if you stay on main roads. I haven’t been into Cal City in many years.

  36. drwilliams says:

    “I worked on two products that became part of the STD”

    STS. Sheesh.

  37. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    “Guys please remember that no one here “KNEW” anything.”

    I knew early on that the CDC and NIH were gaslighting about masks. Health physics and filtration theory says the only potential effective filtering medium is N95 minimum. Cloth was obvious kabuki.

    The question was: Why? 

    1. Early on there was no other potential remediation except isolation. Was it to give people a sense that they had some control?
    2. Was it to give the government a chance to sweep up all the available N95 respirators for the health professionals at higher risk? (Remember, the cupboard was bare–Obama blew the chance to replenish the stockpile after SARS)
    3.  Was it to delay panic until N95 production could be ramped up? There was some motion in this direction.

    With the implementation of the lockdown and the nonsense that accompanied, it became obvious that imposing government control was the goal. Again, the question was: Why?…

    Now we can look back at the whole sequence, and more evidence is trickling out. The general shape is pretty obvious, but there is a lot of detail to be filled in. Too soon to write the definitive history, but at this point it certainly looks like it will be written.

  38. SteveF says:

    STS. Sheesh.

    I was wondering…

    “Yah, me and drwilliams go way back. I knew him before he had a fertility-impairing disease named after him.”

  39. drwilliams says:

    “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”

    Still, in these ideologically charged times, suggesting to one’s classmate that their unique view of the universe is out of sync with, well, the universe is “despicable.” Despicable means “deserving of hatred or contempt.”

    Hatred.

    That is the lesson that a Church of England teacher at Rye College in East Sussex imparted to her students last week, as she chastised students for not embracing her lesson on Diversity and Inclusion.

    One of the students does, indeed, insist that she is a cat. Another asked the obvious question: “How on Earth can you believe you are a cat?” Because, indeed, she is not a cat. Anybody with half a brain could see that. Even Biden and Fetterman could see that, I think, or Biden would say something like “God love you; you are so brave!”

    What is truly striking about this conversation–besides the fact that a middle-school teacher would viciously insult her students in this manner–is how even the teacher understood that her argument about gender identity must lead her to deny that there is a species barrier as well. Biology itself has to be denied as relevant to identity or else the entire intellectual edifice falls down.

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/06/19/how-can-you-identify-as-a-cat-when-youre-a-girl-n558964

    Perhaps this points to the reductio ad absurdum that will bring down the house of cards being built in the public schools.

    A girl can believe she is a cat and be affirmed by the school, implicitly denying the species barrier. 

    If there is no species barrier, then there is nothing to prevent a cat identifying as a girl.

    Example: Cat comes to school with student. Cat has limited language skills, but student has worked with cat to develop communication, and affirms that the cat identifies as a girl. (Note that perceived cat gender cannot be relevant by the previous rules). Other students affirm the cat’s identity. Can the teacher overrule? Can the principal? The school board? Cat is a girl is a student becomes thousands of dollars in tax revenue to the school. 

    What can be the achievement required for passing grades when there is no species barrier? 

    If there is no species barrier is there a barrier to fantasy species? How many genders are there? Is vampire a gender? Student identifies as vampire and other students willingly line up to donate blood? 

    Where is my Complete Works of Lewis Carroll and the trunk with the Oz books? Do I know any Ann Rice experts?

  40. drwilliams says:

    The Flash (They/Them) Bombs; Disney/Pixar’s Elemental Also Crashes

    —Ace

    “The Flash,” a superhero adventure starring Ezra Miller, emerged victorious over Pixar’s “Elemental” in a battle of box office lightweights.

    This weekend’s two new releases were once expected to ignite the summer blockbuster season; instead, both entirely missed the mark. “The Flash” stumbled with $55 million and “Elemental” collected just $29.5 million in their respective debuts. Both films fell short of already-low expectations. Worse, they were pricy endeavors, costing $200 million to make and roughly $100 million to market, so they are shaping up to be huge disappointments in their theatrical runs.

    A week ago I mentioned Doomcock’s and Kamran Pasha’s rumor that Disney might try to sell Lucasfilm. WDW_Pro had a good reason for why that can never happen: Right now, investors all kind of know that Disney is in trouble but don’t know-know it.

    If Disney were to sell Lucasfilm, which would have to be at a loss, suddenly they would have actual proof that Disney had run Lucasfilm into the ground. Yes, they kinda knew this, but if Lucasfilm sold for $1.5 billion, down from its original $4.05 billion price, investors would know-know it.

    And then they would also consider that Pixar, bought for $7.4 billion, has also been run into the ground, the MCU, bought for $4 billion, is also producing very “meh” movies too.

    And what has Disney done with its $70 billion purchase, Fox Studios? Almost nothing.

    So the moment Disney confirms that LucasFilm is now worth less than half than what they paid for it, investors begin figuring that these other pricey purchases are also probably worth less than half of what Disney paid for them, and Disney’s share value plummets on this new information.

    So selling LucasFilm for $1.5 billion would probably wipe out $10 billion of Disney’s share value.

    That means that Disney has to hold on to all of these purchases just to hide their real (greatly diminished) value from the market.

    https://ace.mu.nu/

    Ouch!

    Maybe a merger with AB InBev?

    Or, since they’re heading down the drain, Kohler?

  41. Lynn says:

    “NPR “Honors” Fathers By Celebrating Pregnant Dad Story”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/npr-honors-fathers-celebrating-pregnant-dad-story/

    I don’t know what this is but it is not a man.

    Funny comment:

    “It’s a good thing Kayden got that job at the circus as the bearded lady so she can make ends meet. But, who would impregnate the bearded lady is still a mystery.”

  42. drwilliams says:

    Follow-up on the vehicular murder of 5 women in Minneapolis last weekend:

    his conviction in California in a September 2018 hit and run case. A 2020 headline in the case reads,

    Driver in Montecito hit-and-run that put woman in coma sentenced to 8 years in prison.

    Montecito is a small beachside town near Santa Barbara, CA. The report from local TV on the 2018 incident continues:

    Derrick John Thompson, 23, pleaded guilty to evading an officer, causing injury, leaving the scene of an accident, causing permanent injury and conspiracy to possess marijuana for sale – all felonies.

    Indeed, the police found the following in Thompson’s car:

    Officers searched the vehicle and found more than 17 pounds of marijuana and over $20,000 in cash.

    Thompson was eventually identified as the suspect and was arrested and extradited from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Meanwhile, the woman that was hit by his vehicle fought for her life while in a coma for several weeks.

    His 8-year felony conviction appears to have resulted in little prison time, if any. Had authorities in Minnesota and California taken the career of Mr. Thompson more seriously, then 5 young women would still be alive today.

    The Star Tribune reports that Thompson’s Minnesota driver’s license was reinstated in March 2023.

    The Star Tribune is also reporting that Thompson was driving a 2023 Cadillac Escalade that he rented at the airport just 25 minutes before the collision.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/06/why-do-we-tolerate-crime.php

    Obvious questions:

    How much has been paid to some very good attorneys in the last ten years to keep this guy on the street, and if he has paid them himself with drug money, how is it that the IRS and FBI and MN BCI have no interest?

    How does a felon with enough license violations to warrant an extra digit for the points field get his license reinstated?

    How does a felon with his driving record rent a vehicle?

    The state, of course, may pull shitte like this with impunity*, but the car rental company is most certainly going to get their deep pockets turned inside out by the attorneys for the five young women who were killed. 

    *from the linked article regarding Thompson pere:

    Neither his lawlessness nor his pro-crime positions disqualified him from Minnesota’s legislature. On the contrary, he got the DFL endorsement in his district and Governor Tim Walz said of him: “I’ve known John for years. His fierce advocacy and commitment to his community is exactly what’s needed in the State Legislature right now.”

    Maybe friends in high places?

    It’s also worth noting that the State Legislature seat was in Saint Paul, not Minneapolis where the crime occurred. Little Mogadishu is twofold not going to care much for any soft soap application. The tell is going to be whether U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar sticks her oar in, indicating she sees this as a way to marginalize the white power structure in the MN Democrat Party and put the skids under the fat old liar in the governor’s mansion.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    Maybe a merger with AB InBev?

    Or, since they’re heading down the drain, Kohler?

    Apple’s cash pile is being eyed again.

    Whatever InBev did with the marketing, they did not crank out substandard product for a decade.

    Modelo is just another flavor produced at the same facility.

  44. Greg Norton says:

    “It’s a good thing Kayden got that job at the circus as the bearded lady so she can make ends meet. But, who would impregnate the bearded lady is still a mystery.”

    People like to get their strange on.

    Failing that, the bearded lady can shave.

    Think “Elliot” Page wouldn’t like a piece of that Brie Larson/Disney-type action?

    Or something like Fleabag’s deal for Lara Croft from Bezos?

  45. nick flandrey says:

    Made it up here where it is 87F and 86%RH at the dock.  No breeze at all.   Sweaty standing still.    Why yes, I would like to do outdoor work for the next 6 days….

    The companies that paid the Danegeld to the ESG ratings agencies are discovering that they’d have been better off just burning that money.   It would have cost less in the long run.

    n

  46. Alan says:

    >> 

    Replace facilities that can run 24/7/365 with ones……..

    I guess that if 34 hours is 1 day and that 365 days is one year, is that not 7 years?

    “Always up” 

    24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

    The 365 days is redundant. 

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    Redundant but the expression was coined to emphasize that it was all the time- all day, every day of the week, and all year- no holidays…

    Cooled down to 84F which is tolerable.  Gentle breeze helped too.   Stars are out, sometimes, with hazy clouds other times.   Too humid for great seeing, but nice naked eye while sitting on the dock listening to the radio.

    Off to bed now, got gear coming in the morning.

    n

  48. Alan says:

    “365”

    So off on February 29th’s?  😉 

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