Wed. July 5, 2023 – just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

Hot again. Humid still. But a tiny bit less obnoxious than it’s been. It was a bit cooler overall yesterday, thanks mostly to some overcast. I’m hoping for the same today.

I worked all day. They did swap out the dumpster so I was able to move my concrete rubble in only one step. Guy said they have been going through office staff (dispatchers) like kleenex, and they don’t understand that some customers can be put off, but some need their dumpsters right away. One of the jobs he did was a pickup at a business that was closed for the holiday, but they told him to reschedule me. He called and we got it worked out. Sharp guy, and dedicated.

I put some details in yesterday’s comments about the day and spending some time with the kids. It was a good day.

Today I’ll be cranking away. If I don’t finish, I’ll have to extend the rental again. Still cheaper than getting the machines back later. Especially since finding time for ‘later’ is difficult. This was a crazy amount of work but this is also the time I set to do it. So I grind on…

Sometimes preparedness is just grinding on. Stack something.

Always be working to improve your situation.
nick

51 Comments and discussion on "Wed. July 5, 2023 – just keep swimming, just keep swimming…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Heading home this morning from a fast 4th trip to South Texas.

    Maintaining op sec meant I could not post about it Sunday afternoon when I first saw it, but the local supermarket in one of the beach communities had a Bud Light demonstration table set up by the distributor in front of the beer coolers.

    I wonder how much money that cost the distributor. Or if the scene was replicated at bigger stores like HEB back on the mainland.

    The real estate is private property that far inside the store so I didn’t take my chances with pictures.

    At least a couple of “woke” companies had very bad holiday weekends.

    Oh, and before I forget, on the subject of corporate hand waving, SpaceX’s facility is … “flame kissed” as Tim Allen would have put it back in the day. Seeing that first hand was Monday’s road trip.

    Nothing is going to launch from there for a while. I got a couple of pictures with zoom on our “real” camera, but the company had a lot of vehicle traffic back and forth between the pad and “Starbase” facility which seemed to have no poiint beyond discouraging anyone from doing exactly what I was there to do that afternoon.

    The state highway to the launch site was trashed, and my wife was already nervous so we headed back to civilization after about 10 minutes.

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    79F and looks like it will be a repeat of yesterday.  Starting with partly cloudy, ending up broiling…

    – did some mentally ill person shoot up something?   I missed that.  Thin pipe.

    Kids and wife are safely home allowing me to continue my Sisyphean task of removing sand.   At least my liver is intact, although I don’t like the sound of bird wings around my head…

    Bacon is cooked, and will be eaten soon.  Coffee is brewed and will be in a mug with cream and sugar in moments.    On the way to starting my day.

    Ah, bacon makes everything better.

    n

  3. Greg Norton says:

    – did some mentally ill person shoot up something?   I missed that.  Thin pipe.

    Crosss dressing Amish in Philadelphia. The story quickly disappeared when the photos hit the wires and the race of the suspect went national.

    The media thought they had “the one” for a little while, however.

    White and middle aged, preferably with a MAGA hat picture online, would have meant Corn Pop in full Adderall Anger mode addressing the country yesterday and announcing some ridiculous EP which has probably been in the desk drawer since the afternoon of January 20, 2021.

    Mr. Potato Head would have put on his “angry eyes” from the stash of parts.

    We watched “Friends” repeats at night and avoided the local stations’ news except at breakfast in the hotel. I can’t even tell you about the malaria outbreak even though we were in the heart of the “hot zone”.

  4. drwilliams says:

    If the House has anyone with any sense they will have emergency hearings on the serious breach of White House security over the weekend. Call the heads of Secret Service and FBI to explain what happened and what steps are being taken in the investigation. Ask about the video camera record in the White House Library. Ask for the result of fingerprints on the evidence. Ask if interviews of WH employees have turned up any leads. Inquire as to their assessment that this could have been an attack on POTUS. etc, etc

  5. lpdbw says:

    Kids and wife are safely home allowing me to continue my Sisyphean task of removing sand.   At least my liver is intact, although I don’t like the sound of bird wings around my head…

    Wait…  Mixing your classic Greek  fables a bit, aren’t we?  Given the sunshine you’re dealing with, perhaps Icarus would have also been apropos.

    Stay hydrated, Nick.

  6. EdH says:

    A shovel and a wheelbarrow suffices for my patio project.  Three loads a day is all my back permits.  No rush, end of the month will be fine for this section.  Then compacting, then gopher wire, then weedblock, then base and sand and, finally, pavers. 

    In other new ‘My‘ Winco made the DM:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12264981/Shocking-video-shows-LA-officers-slamming-woman-ground-pepper-spraying-FACE.html

    My guess is that everyone involved is guilty.

  7. drwilliams says:

    5. 51 former U.S. intelligence officials sign letter attesting that cocaine hydrochloride is consistent with Russian Disinformation. 

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  8. SteveF says:

    My chicken setup is a 10’x20′ enclosed run with a small, mobile coop sitting atop a covered cage, about 3.5’x6′. I keep the food and a small water container in the cage (to protect from rain and somewhat protect from sun) and usually keep the bigger water container out of the cage but in the run. The coop opens into the cage and I open them both in the morning so the birds can roam the entire 200 sq ft.

    For whatever reason, most of my supergenius /sarc chickens aren’t drinking from the large water tank. The small one holds only a pint or so and lasts only an hour or so on a hot day. That means that for the most part my supergenius /sarc chickens are thirsty until I check on them, see that the small water is empty, and fill it, at which point they squabble over first access to it.

    It’s a hot, sunny day and I’ve decided not to fill the small tank for the third (fourth?) time. I did top off the big tank. See if my supergenius /sarc birds figure out that yes, there is another water container less than ten feet away. Given their intellect /sarc, in a couple hours I expect to find half of my birds either dead  or gasping their dehydrated last.

    I’d be more appalled at their idiocy /notsarc but I’ve previously had two teenage sons and currently take care of a varying number of teenage girls, plus keep an eye on a brain-rotted mother-in-law and a brain-rotting wife. The birds are just more of the same.

  9. Lynn says:

    “If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/07/if-you-dont-hold-it-you-dont-own-it.html

    “That’s a maxim often heard in the precious metals industry, where many would-be purchasers have learned the hard way that buying metals “on paper” is a dangerous game.  The practice involves a holding company buying the metals on the purchaser’s behalf, and storing it.  The only proof the purchaser has that they own it is a certificate issued by that company.”

    “The biggest fraud of its kind yet uncovered proves yet again the unwisdom of that approach.”

    A US court has ordered two precious metals companies to pay almost $146m (£115m) after more than 500,000 American Silver Eagle coins went missing.

    Don’t trust anyone nowadays.  We have completed the transition from a high trust society to a low trust society.

  10. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Furries

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/07/05

    Where are the 100 foot long extension cords ?

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Mixing your classic Greek  fables a bit, aren’t we?  

    – why yes, glad someone noticed.   My toil may be Sisyphean, but at least I’m not Prometheus, tho’ my crimes are probably not as noble.

    n

  12. drwilliams says:

    6. Cocaine Mitch dropped it.

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  13. Lynn says:

    I am still looking for a beekeeper to remove the bee hive in the downed tree between me and my neighbor.  I have contacted THREE local beekeepers who are busy for the next three weeks.  Here is a beekeeper in Austin (too far away):

        https://www.tiktok.com/@texasbeeworks/video/6968527379262147846

  14. paul says:

    Maybe look around at the Farmer’s Market and such to find someone selling honey?  They might like a colony for another hive.

  15. drwilliams says:

    Dibs the honey!

  16. drwilliams says:

    7. Karine Jean-Pierre insisted Wednesday that the cocaine discovered in the White House over Independence Day weekend was found while the Bidens were away, and that the substance was discovered in an area where West Wing tours take place. She also confirmed that she believes in the Easter Bunny, whose pronouns are fwee/fwix.

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  17. drwilliams says:

    Los Angeles did not record a temperature of 80 degrees or above for the 60 days comprising the entire months of May and June. The is NOT unprecedented, as it did occur as recently as 1873, when the population was 1/300 what is it today, and 0% alien invaders.

    When asked if discovering cocaine in the White House was unprecedented, KJP responded quickly: “No more questions today.”

  18. Lynn says:

    Dibs the honey!

    You gotta come get the hive to get the honey !

  19. Lynn says:

    “Tesla Q2 deliveries easily top estimates as price cuts take effect”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-q2-deliveries-easily-top-estimates-as-price-cuts-take-effect-163826255.html

    “For the quarter, Tesla reported global production of 479,700 units with deliveries of 466,140. The delivery figure easily topped Wall Street consensus estimates of 448,599 units, as well as the prior quarter’s total of 422,875. Both production and delivery totals for the second quarter were all-time records for Tesla.”

    “Analysts and investors focus more on delivery totals because they most closely track sales totals, which Tesla does not release. Breaking down delivery totals, Tesla delivered 446,915 Model 3 and Model Ys and 19,225 higher-priced Model S and Model X vehicles. The company also said 5% of its sales were subject to lease accounting.”

    Somebody is buying a boatload of Teslas.  That is almost a run rate of two million vehicles per year.  No wonder I have a new Tesla dealership just five miles away from my house.  Just wait until the Cybertruck is released any month now.  And, Tesla starts shipping the Semi in quantity instead of the 40 or 50 that they have sold to date.

  20. paul says:

    Yesterday the newest new PC was acting weird.  Like, pretty toasty warm.  System Interrupts (SI) was pounding the CPU to 60 and 80%.

    Re-booting didn’t help.

    I looked on-line and supposedly if SI is doing that you have a problem with USB.  Ok, I did clone the old PC onto a 1TB stick and I did pull a huge amount of stuff from stick to new PC.  Maybe something got hot?  Hope not.  Or maybe the USB keyboard and mouse got weird.  I have no idea.

    I ran the virus scanner that Win11 has and went to bed.  This morning, nothing found.  The new PC is noodling along at about 3% CPU and “just warm”.  SI is using 0% CPU.

    I’m going to watch it for a couple of days.  If it happens again I’ll swap keyboard and mouse from another PC.

    I have Thunderbird imported.  That was easy, just edit an ini file.  Firefox bookmarks too, just need to get the Bookmarks Toolbar set up.   Then double check everything and call it done.  Saturday, I suppose.

  21. Lynn says:

    I have Thunderbird imported.  That was easy, just edit an ini file.  Firefox bookmarks too, just need to get the Bookmarks Toolbar set up.   Then double check everything and call it done.  Saturday, I suppose.

    Thunderbird was built by nerds for nerds.  Pretty simple to use. For nerds.

  22. Rick H says:

    @paul – perhaps Windows was reindexing, which takes a lot of disk time. Especially on slower USB-type memory. Depends on the interface for the USB ‘drive’. 

  23. Denis says:

    my Sisyphean task of removing sand.   At least my liver is intact, although I don’t like the sound of bird wings around my head…

    Ah, lpdbw beat me to it. I saw what you did there. Tantalising!

  24. paul says:

    I just had a call from “something” that they are going to send a process server and signature will be required… call us at 888-whatever and reference case number (insert Windows activation code) for more information.  And yeah, no.  I’m not going to re-play the voice mail 18 times to get the phone number and the case number.

    Well.  No company name.  There’s been nothing in the mailbox so I suppose they don’t know where I actually live.

    Is this a new way to sell an extended car warranty?  I’m pretty sure I crossed all the T’s and dotted all of the I’s with Mom’s estate.  

    Annoying. 

  25. Lynn says:

    I just had a call from “something” that they are going to send a process server and signature will be required… call us at 888-whatever and reference case number (insert Windows activation code) for more information.  And yeah, no.  I’m not going to re-play the voice mail 18 times to get the phone number and the case number.

    Well.  No company name.  There’s been nothing in the mailbox so I suppose they don’t know where I actually live.

    Is this a new way to sell an extended car warranty?  I’m pretty sure I crossed all the T’s and dotted all of the I’s with Mom’s estate.  

    Annoying. 

    Scam.  Phishing.

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

  26. paul says:

    Windows had already re-indexed.  That was my first thought.   I’m using the USB3 ports for data.  The blue ports.  The keyboard and mouse are on the USB 2 ports. 

  27. Lynn says:

    “State Dept. cancels Facebook meetings after judge’s ‘censorship’ ruling”

        https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/state-dept-cancels-facebook-meetings-after-judge-s-censorship-ruling/ar-AA1dtCxu

    “One day after a Louisiana federal judge set limits on the Biden administration’s communications with tech firms, the State Department canceled its regular meeting Wednesday with Facebook officials to discuss 2024 election preparations and hacking threats, according to a person at the company.”

    “State Department officials said all future meetings, which had been held monthly, have been “canceled pending further guidance,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve working relationships. “Waiting to see if CISA cancels tomorrow,” the person added, referring to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

    Just wait until all of the plaintiffs get a money judgement from the USA and the provider for canceling people’s first amendment rights.

    If I was the provider, I would tell the government people to get the heck out of my office.  Their liability is immense here for cooperating in secret with the government.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  28. paul says:

    I saw what you did there. Tantalising!

    I’m missing a thought but I think a three head dog is involved.  

  29. Denis says:

    From yesterday…

    A fair amount of banging and fizzing going on outside, and has been since dusk.   Oddly, for all the guns out here, no rapid fire mag dumps like we hear in Houston every holiday.

    I expect you have stacks, so you might not have seen the current price of feeding gubs. I also wouldn’t be wasting my supplies by mag dumping in the air.

    Lynn, very sorry to hear of your daughter’s latest health crisis. I hope and pray that the medics can help her and do as little additional damage thereby as possible. I had a bowel resection some years ago because of acute diverticulitis. It is a non-trivial intervention and recovery took a long time. Best wishes.

  30. Lynn says:

    BTW, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is building a new six million ft2 campus using several office buildings to house its 22 agencies.  That is just about the size of the Pentagon.  The cost so far is $3 billion and rapidly rising.  Just imagine what the salaries of those 300,000 ? 400,000 ? people cost.

        https://federalnewsnetwork.com/facilities-construction/2020/07/dhs-headquarters-consolidation-has-a-new-tentative-plan-at-st-elizabeths/

    http://www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com/

    Fancy !

  31. Lynn says:

    “Oath Keepers leader convicted of seditious conspiracy warns Trump: ‘You’re going to be found guilty’”

        https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/jul/4/stewart-rhodes-convicted-oath-keepers-leader-warns/

    ““Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, staring down an 18-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, said his trial laid out a blueprint for how special counsel Jack Smith will convict former President Donald Trump.”

    “Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper who founded the Oath Keepers militia group in 2009, said the federal government is working to turn Mr. Trump’s inner circle against him and scare off potential witnesses for the former president’s defense.”

    ““They’re going to do the same thing to President Trump that they did to me,” Rhodes told The Washington Times from the D.C. Department of Corrections Central Detention Facility, where he is kept in isolation.”

    “He sent a grave warning to Mr. Trump: “You’re going to get railroaded. You’re going to be found guilty if you try to go to trial. So everyone’s been demoralized and more likely to take a plea deal and agree to ‘test-a-lie’ against President Trump.””

    “Rhodes stressed that prosecutors used his words, not his actions, to convict him of seditious conspiracy — one step below treason.””

    This is not right, this is political persecution.

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  32. Greg Norton says:

    I am still looking for a beekeeper to remove the bee hive in the downed tree between me and my neighbor.  I have contacted THREE local beekeepers who are busy for the next three weeks.  Here is a beekeeper in Austin (too far away):

    Houston doesn’t have beekeeper supply stores who can refer you to someone?

    We have two within a 15 minute drive of us, one fairly new.

    One of the Senior developers installed above me at the tolling company during the pandemic was a pretentious jerk with a hobby farm up in Florence. He kept bees and is currently unemployed according to Linkedin. I can pass his web site link privately if you’re really stuck.

  33. Greg Norton says:

    Somebody is buying a boatload of Teslas.  That is almost a run rate of two million vehicles per year.  No wonder I have a new Tesla dealership just five miles away from my house.  Just wait until the Cybertruck is released any month now.  And, Tesla starts shipping the Semi in quantity instead of the 40 or 50 that they have sold to date.

    Any month now.

    Internally, Toyota still believes a $100k street price.

    The worst kept secret in the industry is the RAV4-based pickup coming next year.

  34. Lynn says:

    The worst kept secret in the industry is the RAV4-based pickup coming next year.

    The makes an incredible amount of sense.  Ford cannot keep the Maverick trucks in stock.

    What would make more sense is a Prius truck.
    https://www.torquenews.com/8113/3-reasons-toyota-should-make-pickup-prius

  35. Lynn says:

    “Toyota’s Solid-State Battery: Redefining Hybrid and EV Possibilities, Including the Iconic Prius”

        https://www.torquenews.com/8113/toyotas-solid-state-battery-redefining-hybrid-and-ev-possibilities-including-iconic-prius

    “Revolutionizing the future of the Prius, Toyota’s groundbreaking Solid-State battery breakthrough offers an astonishing 745-mile range and 10-minute charging time. With these unprecedented advancements, the iconic hybrid vehicle is poised to captivate a wider audience and redefine sustainable mobility. Get ready to embark on a greener, more efficient journey with the Prius of tomorrow.”

    Make this into a Tundra that gets 30+ mpg with a 700 mile range and you have a new customer.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    “The biggest fraud of its kind yet uncovered proves yet again the unwisdom of that approach.”

    Physical silver, delivered within a week, is hard to buy right now. My preferred vendor doesn’t have any, and I looked at prices of their rounds just a few weeks ago, curious about the value of what I lost on that last fishing trip.

    I don’t know if I’d bother with silver Eagles, and buying a paper silver product of shares in an account holding Eagles is just asking for trouble.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    The worst kept secret in the industry is the RAV4-based pickup coming next year.

    The makes an incredible amount of sense.  Ford cannot keep the Maverick trucks in stock.

    What would make more sense is a Prius truck.
    https://www.torquenews.com/8113/3-reasons-toyota-should-make-pickup-prius

    The Toyota would be built on TNGA, which has the hybrid option, but that platform is also the base for the RAV4 Prime, arguably the most interesting Toyota production vehicle in the US right now.

    TNGA would also enable Toyota to offer a normally aspirated non-turbo 4 cylinder model on the cheap, something Ford cannot do in the Maverick and still meet CAFE.

  38. dkreck says:

    https://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/07/how-hot-was-it.html#more

    My Gawd! The hottest in 125,000 years.  The science is settled. Been hitting a 100″ here and my pool is up to 90F. 

  39. Greg Norton says:

    Supply chain issues hit Buc-ee’s hard today. The big New Braunfels store was completely sold out of fountain Coke and Pepsi products when we stopped, and all they had left pre-packed were some 20 oz Coke product (Diet and Classic) bottles hidden on the bottom shelf of the refrigerated case.

    Plenty of Bud Lite, however!

    Lack of the drink options was visibly killing the food sales. Gasoline is a loss leader at that place.

    You know it is bad when even the Coke/Pepsi Zero are gone.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    If I was the provider, I would tell the government people to get the heck out of my office.  Their liability is immense here for cooperating in secret with the government.

    I’ve always believed that the presence of “Lean In” on the Facebook payroll was the Deep State putting one of their own in a key position at the company.

    Not that “Lean In” knew how to do much, but she worked for Larry Summers at Treasury as an intern during the Clinton Administration so, at a minimum, she knew how to keep her mouth shut.

    Or not shut. Decide that one for yourself.

  41. drwilliams says:

    8. Hunter says it’s not his coke, but wonders if the owner will get it back since there are no charges?

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  42. drwilliams says:

    @Greg Norton

    Or not shut.

    Still in reference body part as in para above?

  43. drwilliams says:

    Pepsi Zero has been reformulated again. Probably took out more of the caffeine. I may as well set up to carbonate my cold brew.

  44. drwilliams says:

    flippin’ Brits

    boycott Vaseline!

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/07/05/british-corporation-demands-that-americans-return-land-to-indigenous-americans-n562612

    Strangely silent on the sins of the Canadian government. Wankers. Berks.

  45. drwilliams says:

    9. The cocaine wasn’t found in the White House Library after all, it was found in a closet, kind of a cubbyhole that looks kinda like the Library, that anyone could have access to, even the public, maybe even Narnia, or …

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  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    @denis, “Tantalising!”  – I actually LOL’d.   Thanks.

    WRT windows indexing, I always turn it off when I install a new drive.   Then it only has to mark relatively few files.   It won’t just turn off the service, and the rotten bastages will occasionally index anyway.    I don’t use windows search, so indexing doesn’t help me in any way that makes up for the resources it uses.

    Worked until dark, didn’t quite get done with the side patio backfill.   I’ll be calling off the equipment tomorrow night.   The estimate with the additional time is gonna be close to $10K for the rental.   If I go past tomorrow night, I’m in another week, and might as well keep going for several more days.   There are more things I can do…  the skid steer is  incredibly useful.

    Thunder and a storm off to one side late this evening, and the biggest most intense rainbow I’ve seen in a long time.     Really awesome.  I’m glad to have seen it, and glad we didn’t get the rain.

    My fisherman neighbor’s wife fed me dinner tonight.   She thinks I’m working too hard to cook dinner too.   I’ll take it, homemade hamburger and fries with cake for dessert beats HungryMan, or leftovers from yesterday.

    It’s down to 79F so if there is any breeze at all, I’m headed down to the dock.

    n

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    No breeze.  Stifling even at 79F.   

    All praise be to Mr Carrier, I”m going to my cool, dry bed.

    n

  48. lynn says:

    There is no more bee hive.  Jose and Jose set the tree on fire this afternoon.  I got home at 11pm and one of the logs was still on fire with flame coming out two feet tall.

    I was worried that the flame was going to set the Spanish moss in my 60 foot tall Cypress tree on fire so I grabbed my 100 foot water hose, added a 50 foot extension, and hosed the log down for 30 minutes.   The log was two feet across and about 18 inches was open due to the bee hive and fire.

    Sigh.  I suspect the fire was out when they left but the log formed a chimney and they did not properly put it out so it probably relit after they left.  Me, I have a smidgen of fire training and know that you put water on something for five minutes after the smoke is gone.  Sigh.  I really don’t want my house burned down today.

  49. Denis says:

    @denis, “Tantalising!”  – I actually LOL’d.   Thanks.

    Ha! Finally, someone gets the benefit of my classical education!

    Lynn, glad you averted disaster. That would have been a bit much.

  50. brad says:

    I am still looking for a beekeeper to remove the bee hive in the downed tree between me and my neighbor.

    You can always use a can of insecticide. Wasp spray should work.

    I know, I know, I’m going against all the current press. Honeybees are valuable. Actually not. Honeybees have been cultivated for domesticity and their prevalence is a serious problem for all of the wild bee species out there. That’s assuming the hive is honeybees in the first place.

    There is no more bee hive.  Jose and Jose set the tree on fire this afternoon.

    That also works 🙂

    they are going to send a process server and signature will be required

    Most likely a scam.

    If it actually happens, then you will have the info you need. You can decide at the time whether you want to sign or not – probably not. At least, that’s how it works here: you can refuse to accept service.

    rapid fire mag dumps

    What idiots. Aside from the simple cost (those are expensive noise makers), those bullets do come down *somewhere*…

    DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is building a new six million ft2 campus using several office buildings to house its 22 agencies.

    This is the agency that didn’t exist before the Shrub created it with the help of the Patriot Act? Geez, that’s some successful empire building…

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