Ok, it’s cold. Winter has fallen across the US, and it’s cold in a lot of places. Mid-January. Not really a surprise. Not record cold either, or record snowfall, just “cold”. Yeah it’s unpleasant to be out in the cold. Yeah, it’s more difficult to drive safely, which btw isn’t actually a concern for a large part of the population even on a sunny day, judging by what I see on the road. Yeah, some people always die when it’s cold. They die when it’s hot, and they die when it’s perfectly average. I am tired, tired, tired of people attempting to manipulate me and the rest of the country. FFS. Do what it takes to deal with the reality we live in. This used to be called common sense.
And there endeth the rant.
Nothing new here. Kids are home, because the roads are slick and the buses aren’t set up to deal with it. Neither are the parents for that matter. The rarity of the situation means that prudent stewards of our tax money didn’t spend it “just in case”. Well, they spent it on something else, with even less chance of solving any issues, unless their issue is a lack of hookers and blow, but in any case, it doesn’t make sense for Houston to have stockpiles of salt, and snowplows. I was quite shocked to see the tollroad spraying something on the road surface Sunday as part of their “protocol.” Shocked that they had the spray rig, shocked that they had anything to put down…
But hey, someone was doing some disaster planning, and they actually bought stuff, trained on its use, and deployed it, instead of leaving the plan in a three ring binder on someone’s shelf. I’m kinda impressed.
Spent yesterday doing small jobs around the house.
Supposed to do a pickup today, maybe more than one, but I’ll bet they wave us off. In that case, I’ll do more stuff around the house.
There’s always stuff.
Year end adds additional stuff too.
Do some stuff today. Inventory, polish, clean, read a manual, touch base with a friend, or stack. Or just do some relationship maintenance…
nick
Seems rather short-sighted. Long-term value would be larger with a name which is associated with high-quality graduates. If every student who pays tuition gets a degree, the school will come to be identified as a diploma mill and the degree will be effectively worthless for employment purposes.
Field service work isn’t for me. If the client or user just needs to have something set up or needs some instruction, that’s fine. The problem comes when there’s a problem with the product I’m working on or – the big one, in my experience – the salesman lied or overpromised in order to get the sale. I won’t tell a lie and I categorically won’t take the blame for a problem which someone else caused, so I identify the bug in the software (with workaround, if known) or throw the salesman under the bus for lying to the client. This causes butthurt all around.
The South Carolina facility is the future of Boeing production in the US. Haley has connections.
Nimarata only lasted a year on the board IIRC.
In the US, a Masters in CS program without a thesis requirement at a state school tends to become a diploma mill for foreign students, particularly Subcontinent. At my grad school alma matter, the incentive to water down the curriculum was $10,000 tuition per semester per overseas student.
RINO men fantasize about getting their strange on with Nimarata.
Who owns the toll road? What’s the speed limit?
18f this morning heading to a low of -1f tomorrow morning. 10” of snow on the ground. It will be at least 8 days before it starts to melt. The local roads are almost impassable.
It really is as bad as you think, and more. At least in megacorp (to borrow from boggleheads) that is. DEI up the wazoo, snowflakes everywhere, crying about everything and DEMANDING recognition and praise for the most minor task. I dislike people in general, and this crap isn’t helping. If I wasn’t in the most expensive time of my life, I would really be planning on trying to retire at 55. That’s a dream though, as I’m paying for two households because of the boy in college. I gladly do it, as it is my promise, and gift, to him.
I am working towards an early retirement plan though. I’m saving as much as I can right now, and will take a serious look again once my son is off the payroll (3 or 4 years depending on intern/co-op schedule). The rough goal is 10 years (at 60).
Well, the tears of the Cowboy fans are going be an issue in places. Their saltiness might help a little tho.
That isn’t a big deal here. People hate Jerry Jones with a passion.
NFL expansion will eventually go to San Marcos.
It is 17ºF by me in SA. It is supposed to hit the mid-30’s to stave off the freezing. There is a wind chill advisory. Apple weather has upped its Thursday high to 71ºF with the dipping to the 40’s on Saturday, but then highs in the 60’s for next week.
Ugh, I’m working on getting pre-qualified with a home lender in Vegas. For the umpteenth time, hopefully the last time. If everything works out, I imagine I’ll be providing a 100 documents of various types. They always want two years of this and that, and just before approval they will want updated documents.
MrsAtoz still have VA benefits left, so there should be no money down.
Here in my end of my Great Plains flyover state it got down to -16℉ (-27℃). We also got about 11″ (28cm) of snow last week . Add in the high winds and drifting and our well-equipped and experienced snow removal crews were barely keeping up with the major roads. Consequently, the residential roads are basically hard packed snow at this point and they couldn’t plow them if they wanted too. You’ve only got so long to plow a road before enough traffic has driven over it that it becomes a lost cause. I imagine it’s sort of like driving on the permanent ice pack in the Arctic. Though, temps should edge above freezing next week and start melting it off. That’ll make for a wet sloppy mess for a while.
It is amusing to watch the evolution of a snowstorm around here. It starts off with a forecast. Then, there’s the exaggerated stories as everyone adds a couple of inches of accumulation to whatever the forecasters said for the sake of story-telling. The grocery stores get hit (this is especially true if it’s the first major snow of the season). Apparently, you need 6 gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, 3 dozen eggs, and as many frozen pizzas as your freezer can hold. All because the roads may be bad for a day or two. The snow begins (usually several hours after the forecast said it would). Schools will cancel. Unless they’ve already cancelled several times this school year. The likelihood of school cancelling is inversely proportional to the number of snow days already used this year. Everyone huddles at home for the first 2 days. Then, everyone gets cabin fever and FOMO and suddenly the temps and road conditions that were so bad 48 hours ago are now an acceptable risk as everyone heads out to do mostly bullshit stuff.
I’m the guy in shorts and a lightweight hoodie when it’s 30℉. So, I tend to acclimate pretty quickly to winter temps. I’m also not too intimidated by icy roads or low visibility driving. So, very little keeps me at home and I tend to be business as usual not matter how bad the winter weather. I’m the guy that the restaurant employees see walk in the door and they look at each other and ask, “Seriously?! Who comes out in this?” lol
Jerry Jones went to Oklahoma.
I’ve written before how important winning the shiny metal hat at the Red River Classic is to the “Texas Exes” (UT Austin alumni).
Nothing that Steve Sarkisian did this season really matters in improving his job security. He failed to win that hat for the strippers to wear at the post-game party and will start next season on the hot seat.
I don’t think the alumni have been happy with Coach Sark from Day One, and the reason has nothing to do with his ability or lack thereof to coach the team.
That’s Texas.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/01/16/maddows-meltdown-when-trump-won-the-iowa-caucuses-exposed-medias-path-forward-n605262
Trump’s communication director needs to inform MSNBC that future access to the White House will depend on the history of the news organization reporting accurately and fairly. Fully owned subsidiaries of the Democrat party nee not apply.
That’s a lot of French toast.
Apparently, you need 6 gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, 3 dozen eggs,
My niece in Wa. state noticed The shelves emptied of perishable goods … got a WTH? text from her.
Those are rookie numbers! I dress like that when it’s 0F, though I’ll almost always wear some light work gloves.
The chickens are complaining at me because they can’t run around the yard. Technically they could but they’re unhappy because they don’t like the snow on the ground. They are not appreciative of the warm (32F), dry coop or the snow-free run with cardboard and straw to insulate their feet from the stone, nor of the food and water and other comforts that I provide. As I said before, it’s basically like having six more wives, except that their complaints aren’t quite as non-stop and they don’t cost nearly as much.
it’s basically like having six more wives, except
– except that you can’t kill and eat them when you get tired of their shirt…
——————-
well, it’s 26F, sunny, and gusty.
Neighbor called. Water was gushing out of pipes on my house… the backflow/vacuum breaker on the sprinkler froze and broke but just now thawed and started spraying. Wife even reminded me about it, since it popped last time, but I thought the system was empty. Nope.
I’ve got the re-build kit from last time. It’s at the BOL in the shed, so I’ll have to bring that home before we can run the sprinklers again.
Water heater is fine, and working, but the line to the ice maker in the fridge might have an issue in the attic. I got about 2 cups of water, then it slowed to a trickle. Hmm.
——————
Have to get dressed and head out. I’ve still got one company that wants people driving out into the country to do their pickups. And I’m wet from turning off the geyser.
n
Ugh, it is time to check my various financial institutions:
A Very Disarming Story! Georgia United Credit Union Bans Guns and Ammo Purchases From Bank Accounts
This is just DEI dumb, but I bet more banks/etc will do the same. I haven’t bought a gub in a while. Can you imagine your card is turned down because you have an account at a woke bank? I hope account cancellations crush this credit union, or better yet, get the CEO fired and change the policy.
No tobacco purchase either, geesh.
This is discrimination. Didn’t SCOTUS rule on this with making payments to the NRA ?
“National Rifle Association v Vullo”
https://www.aclu.org/cases/national-rifle-association-v-vullo#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20the%20NRA%20sued,%E2%80%9Cother%20gun%20promotion%E2%80%9D%20groups
“On January 9th, 2024, the American Civil Liberties Union filed its opening brief on behalf of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in National Rifle Association v. Vullo, a key First Amendment case before the Supreme Court this term. The brief argues that a New York state regulator’s attempts to blacklist a nonprofit advocacy group and deny it access to financial services because of its controversial viewpoint violated the First Amendment. This is a critically important First Amendment fight: if government officials can pressure the businesses they regulate to blacklist the NRA in New York, then officials in other states can punish other advocacy organizations in the same way–including the ACLU itself.”
and
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/national-rifle-association-of-america-v-vullo/
I’ll bet that you never thought that you would see the ACLU supporting the NRA in a court case.
Neighbor called. Water was gushing out of pipes on my house… the backflow/vacuum breaker on the sprinkler froze and broke but just now thawed and started spraying. Wife even reminded me about it, since it popped last time, but I thought the system was empty. Nope.
I did the backflow preventer at the house Sunday afternoon along with the office complex. It took ten minutes for the 1,800 feet of sprinkler pipe to drain down. The wife was there giving me all kinds of helpful comments. Not.
Those are rookie numbers! I dress like that when it’s 0F, though I’ll almost always wear some light work gloves.
I wish that I had worn work gloves Sunday for all my freeze work. Shoot, I was not even smart enough to bring duct tape or insulation tape to the office. So I used strapping tape for all of my insulation repairs. Now my fingers are all cut up. And I had work gloves in the truck.
Why are the weather yappers on faux TV not talking about “global cooling” and resultant “climate change” in downward temperatures?
Jerry Jones went to Oklahoma.
Jerry Jones was the right tackle on the 1964 University of Arkansas National Championship Football team.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Arkansas_Razorbacks_football_team\
This is why TAMU and Arkansas play every year at Jerry’s World in Arlington, Texas.
My sympathies.
My
lastmost recent house I paid cash for. An odd but pleasant experience after bowing and scraping to lenders & their obnoxious demands much of my life.Don’t project your squeamishness on me…
Besides, even if you are squeamish, there’s always composting and then using the “mysteriously disappeared, oh, how could she leave me and the children” ex to grow vegetables. And if even that is too much for your delicate stomach, compost, grow vegetables, feed vegetables to a pig, and then eat the pig.
Modern problems require
modernage-old solutions.I game my son a large chunk of money when he purchased his first house so he could reach the 20% down payment goal. I wanted him to avoid private mortgage insurance. The lender wanted to know where he got the money. Reasonable as they don’t want him taking out another loan to satisfy the down payment.
The lender came to me and I told them I gave him the money. The lender then wanted to know where I got the money. I told them it was none of their business. They said it was. I told them when my name is on the paper then it is their business. If my name is not on the paper then their interest in my financial activities was none of their business. They still balked but eventually approved the loan.
I almost paid cash for the purchase of my truck. If I financed with Ford I got an additional $1K off the price. As soon as I got the first loan payment coupon, I paid the entire balance.
When I bought the Highlander (used) I finance through the credit union as the credit union offered $250.00 for any car loan for a car that was less than 5 years old. Two days after I got the loan, and the $250.00 was deposited in my account, I paid off the loan. The CU initially said policy was I had to keep the loan for 1 year. I asked where that was in the loan document. It wasn’t and they agreed. I was able to keep the $250.00.
When my mother-in-law purchased her new Toyota she financed through the local credit union using the dealer financing agent. She got a discount on the car. She was told she had to keep the loan for six months per dealer financing policy. I told the dealer that what she does with her loan, at the credit union, is none of the dealer’s business. The dealer back pedaled and said that was for loans through Toyota credit.
I like playing games with finance companies.
My bad. Barry Switzer was head coach at Oklahoma, whom Jerry hired to be his sock puppet when Jimmy Johnson walked out and drove home to Islamorada.
Either way, the association with Oklahoma lingers. The Cowboys are not big here.
The state has a smallish stockpile of deicing fluid and sand in the Houston area. I remember them using it at least 5-10 years ago.
Dak Prescott eliminated in the wild card round in a blowout while Baker Mayfield advances.
Who would have called that in September?
The TV decision makers won’t allow it, but the Super Bowl could still happen between two members of the “Fired Lovie” club.
They’ll spray an icemelt solution around here ahead of bad weather. It’s not going to keep the roads clear, but it’s meant to prevent that first bit of precipitation from turning into a sheet of ice (especially if you have freezing drizzle or rain turning into snow as temps plummet). You can usually tell they did it as you can see the streaks of it running neatly down the road. About 20 years ago, they tested a system at intersections where there was spray nozzles built into the curb and they could remote trigger them to spray busy intersections with icemelt. It only lasted a couple of winters and they were never widely deployed, so I’m guessing they didn’t get the test results they wanted (or, it was too expensive).
One of my friends in Alabama is totally solar with a battery storage system that he built himself and excess sales to the grid in Alabama. His solar panels are totally iced up this morning. You might be able to see his amazing picture. His 30+ kw of solar panels are making 9 kw today.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=7612858418746891&set=pcb.7612858875413512
How far south in Alabama?
How far south in Alabama?
Jackson. 50 miles north of Mobile.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jackson,+AL+36545/@31.7835652,-88.6181669,8.33z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x889ac976139fddcf:0x1c388e805c863d08!8m2!3d31.5090521!4d-87.8944435!16zL20vMHE1eXE?entry=ttu
And we are back up to 32 F. Woohoo !
Oops ?
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/oops.html
Was that a good fairy or a bad fairy ?
Pearls Before Swine: Still Above Dirt
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2024/01/16
Rat is eternally pessimistic.
Yes.
Plenty of Swiss after an easy masters as well, but international students are the bread-and-butter.
“The “something for nothing” society?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-something-for-nothing-society.html
I have seen this going on. Both sets of my grandparents did not leave me a penny nor did I expect them to. I am striving to leave my children something but cannot guarantee anything.
I don’t consider a Masters in CS listed on a resume to be serious with a GPA below 3.75.
NASA throws people without grad degrees through a thesis-free CS Masters at U. of Houston Clear Lake, but most of the other MSCS grads from Texas schools I’ve encountered have been from overseas.
“Almost Half of Warren Buffett-Led Berkshire Hathaway’s $358 Billion Portfolio Is Invested in Only 1 Stock”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/almost-half-warren-buffett-led-122000641.html
I will spoil the need to read the article.
.
.
.
.
Apple. Who would have thought ?
Yeah. I’m an only child, and I have no idea what I’ll eventually get (dad is very tight-lipped). Besides a couple of smaller items of sentimental value, anything else is just a bonus (or headache, as I will be the only one to dispose of a lot of stuff).
I’ve already had a discussion with my son about inheritance. I told him my goals were to make sure his mom and I were set. Anything else is just a bonus. I’ve modified that in the past few years, and have told him I plan on no inheritance. Health care, as I’m observing for a set of in-laws, is the big x factor. I want to help him out as he gets started in life. I’ll at least contribute to a house down payment, buy him a tool or 20, etc. I’m also contributing above what he can to his Roth IRA. That will grow to more than any inheritance I can ever give.
What surprises most people is that The Gecko does not hold Microsoft.
I don’t remember the stock ever being a big part of the portfolio, even when Gates was the heir apparent as figurehead Chairman.
The Gecko is a lot higher tech than most people think. He’s very big into supplying the EV agenda through his wholly-owned subsidiaries, and I would say that’s the focus of the future growth of BRK for the next decade.
If the initiative fails, he always has the hedge of Oxy, control of the North American tanker car fleet, and the political influence to stop pipelines.
Oh, and Texas just gave him his generator slush fund, with delivery not due until 2029. Float!
The Gecko is right in that the stock is not a screaming buy without a 2-3 year time horizon. I haven’t run my numbers in a while, but my last block is just marginal compared to previous purchases.
@ITGuy1998
In other words, you’re giving him his inheritance piecemeal, and in advance.
That’s not the same thing as no inheritance.
“We are doomed”
https://www.carette.xyz/posts/we_are_doomed/
“The only system with a good software compatibility that I know is Windows, and this explains a ton of things keeping very old UI/UX frameworks, software and APIs to run, for example, Windows 95 compatible games like “Roller Coaster Tycoon”.”
“Otherwise, you are doomed.”
The C++ committee has screwed up and continues to screw up by not creating a graphics standard for C++.
Some pictures from the snow. Mostly birds because I could do those from the window. I finally went out for a short stroll and took my iPhone.
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Winter
Time sink if needed. Page 2 is the better page.
“Magic Slays (Kate Daniels)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Slays-Daniels-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0441020429?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number five of a ten book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. There are short stories and followon books to the series also. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2011 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. I am now reading book number six in the series, I have all ten books now.
Kate Daniels’s universe sucks. Forty years ago, the tech world crashed over the entire Earth and was replaced by the magic world in the form of a magic flare. Guns don’t work, cars don’t work, electricity and phones do not work. But magic works. Good magic and bad magic.
After a week, the tech world came back to a drastically changed world. And radically fewer humans. And the magic world came back after a while. And the tech world came back after that. And so on and so forth. Each world can last a few weeks or a few hours.
Kate Daniels is a mercenary in Atlanta, Georgia. And she has dropped out of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid since they are a specist organization (humans only !) and she is now the consort to the Beast Lord. The previous fight with her 7,000 year old aunt revealed that she is not human. Kate and the Beast Lord are living in the regional shapeshifter home to 1,500 shapeshifters in Atlanta. Kate carries a large magic sword. And many knives. And she has magic blood.
I liked everything about the story. I especially liked the very clear distinction between the tech time and the magic time. I had never thought about it that way. The series may be inspired by “Ariel” by Steven Boyett and “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling except those never interchange the tech time and the magic time, they just transitioned to the magic time.
The authors have a website at:
https://www.ilona-andrews.com
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (7,117 reviews)
Lynn
OpenGL, but Apple threw that under the bus.
Most of my 90s games don’t run on Windows 7 or later due to Redmond ratcheting up access permission restrictions.
Linux has the ultimate devotion to backwards compatibility at the C API level, a core part of the development philosophy since 1.0 of the kernel.
C++ is a problem because of the STL licensing circus in the 90s and the GNU response.
I’ve already had a discussion with my son about inheritance. I told him my goals were to make sure his mom and I were set. Anything else is just a bonus. I’ve modified that in the past few years, and have told him I plan on no inheritance. Health care, as I’m observing for a set of in-laws, is the big x factor. I want to help him out as he gets started in life. I’ll at least contribute to a house down payment, buy him a tool or 20, etc. I’m also contributing above what he can to his Roth IRA. That will grow to more than any inheritance I can ever give.
Health care is an incredible future cost. As I expect the federal government to undergo a financial apocalypse in the near future, I suspect that Social Security and Medicare will both become means based. Basically, if you own a house, I expect you to get neither.
We provide a safety net for our two surviving children while we can. One of them, our 36 year old daughter, is disabled and will never leave home except to a assisted living facility. Or with her brother (over his dead body is what he thinks of that right now). The future is incredibly hard to predict.
All of my investments are tax infested. I expect these investments to get raided XXXXXX reinvested by the feddies some day.
“Sam’s Club Launches New Digital Innovations Further Enhancing Members’ Shopping Experiences”
https://corporate.walmart.com/about/samsclub/news/2024/01/09/sams-club-launches-new-digital-innovations-further-enhancing-members-shopping-experiences
“That’s why we’re excited about our latest technology advancement that will resolve a key member concern: waiting in line for receipt verification to exit the club. The new tech announced at CES will deliver new levels of convenience by leveraging a first-of-its-kind application of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision technology to eliminate queuing at the club’s exit area. The move to use digital solutions to drive a better member experience builds on Sam’s Club’s existing technologies, such as Scan & Go™, to provide members with a more convenient shopping experience and differentiate Sam’s Club as a segment innovator. ”
You know, if they could get rid of the stupid exit queue, that would be awesome.
Hey, how about trusting your checkers? Monitor them. Exiting the store should funnel everyone through a check stand.
“DLL Hell” has been memory holed?
I hit the Amazon Go store every morning when we were in Chicago. The accuracy ran about 50%, and where the system messed up was always missing a charge on an item I took out of the store.
My guess is that having a system watching items getting pulled off of the shelf at Sam’s and recording the purchase as it goes out the door would be easier because most of the merchandise is larger, but it is kinda creepy.
Try MSVCRT build number even if you have the right rev of DLL.
The build number problem screws up a lot of embedded Python software. I did embedding properly at the Death Star, but a lot of companies don’t, particularly game publishers.
Redmond used to send us all the reports from the IBM employee laptops reporting crashes with embedded Python, but it was never my embedded Python interpreter.
A lot of IBM employees spent a lot of time doing something other than their jobs with the ThinkPads in the 00s.
About a quarter of the states have musty laws on the books requiring offspring to look after parents financially. I expect that those statutes will be dusted off in the near future.
Thankfully, Texas is not one of those states, but the 2026 trim notices will inspire much angst among the populace, particularly retirees, which will lead to the November 2027 ballot Texas Fairness In Taxataion initiative, championed by Governor McConaughey as it was developed by the Legislature.
The title might be different, but the money grab is coming.
All right, all right, all right.
And the Geico Gecko will still be two years from delivering the first electricity to the grid from those generators we are buying now.
Red Hat (essentially IBM) used to guarantee customers that software compiled for a current RHEL release would remain supported 10 years at a minimum. I don’t know if that is still true.
My personal experience goes back to building one last public release of the Linux NetClient with RHEL/CentOS 3 i386 in 2009 and hearing reports of the binaries continuing to run well for IBM employees, even the GUI, on most Intel Linux distributions until a few years ago. The reason that the software no longer works has nothing to do with the binary.
I know the GUI still runs on current Fedora.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/01/16/chicago-deep-freeze-has-created-a-tesla-graveyard/
one fix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_9aVzf5fC4
And the Geico Gecko will still be two years from delivering the first electricity to the grid from those generators we are buying now.
If the money comes through ERCOT, then those tightfisted tightwads at ERCOT won’t release a penny until MWs are delivered. If the money comes from the Land Office or the Railroad commission, then a few carefully placed campaign donations will free up the money yesterday.
Red Hat (essentially IBM) used to guarantee customers that software compiled for a current RHEL release would remain supported 10 years at a minimum. I don’t know if that is still true.
The biggest problem with operating system compatibility is not software but the hardware. Intel and AMD move their CPUs so fast that Windows 7 will reputedly not even install on current CPUs. If you can get past the install issue by faking the cpu version in BIOS then I am hearing that Windows 7 is not reliable on current CPUs.
Windows 7 would run on the new CPUs if Intel and AMD provided the drivers.
At least, none are available publicly.
They would have to be WHQL signed, however, and Microsoft is not going to do that.
I’m sure that Microsoft provides signed drivers to customers who offer enough money.
Thankfully, Texas is not one of those states, but the 2026 trim notices will inspire much angst among the populace, particularly retirees, which will lead to the November 2027 ballot Texas Fairness In Taxataion initiative, championed by Governor McConaughey as it was developed by the Legislature.
If one of the retirees is 65, then your property tax on your house is locked down at the year you turn 65. My wife turned 65 last year so they locked the property tax at the 2023 amount. It has taken them three tries to get this right for us so I hope that we are finished now.
If you retire before 65, and you do not get on SS Disabilty, you are screwed. Nothing is locked down and you had better have a large retirement pot out there.
“US carries out new airstrike against Houthis in Yemen”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-carries-new-airstrike-houthis-yemen/story?id=106414037&utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News%3A%20Weather%2C%20War%2C%20Tax%20Relief%20%7C%20January%202024&utm_id=01HMA6GANDA6560EBW88151SD1
“It’s the third time the U.S. has hit Houthi sites used in Red Sea attacks.”
You gotta say this about Joe, if you piss him off, he will keep on hitting you until you stop your nonsense.
I’ve got a large pot of pulled pork cooking…
Should be ready soon.
Did my rounds, got some good stuff at the mormon thrift store.
Waiting for pork to finish, had to sample it, yum…
n
The vast majority of the voters believe that the reduction they will see this year on the trim notices will be permanent.
Pray the Supreme Court rejects WA State’s capital gains tax, enacted without changing the state’s constitutional prohibition on income tax.
“White House Hosted Its First ‘Climate Corps’ Info Session. It Was Exactly What You’d Expect.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/01/16/white-house-hosted-first-climate-corps-info-session-was-exactly-what-youd-expect/
“The president’s American Climate Corps will put 20,000 Americans to work, get them trained, get them paid and turn green investments into a green workforce, marking a new era of youth-powered climate action all across our country,” Markey said.”
Jobs for 20,000 antifas. I wonder if they will be required to show up to get paid.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Here’s What FBI Agents Found When They Removed Hunter Biden’s Gun From the Evidence Vault
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2024/01/16/heres-what-fbi-agents-found-when-they-removed-hunter-bidens-gun-from-the-evidence-vault-in-2023-n2168817
No wonder the Secret Service couldn’t see the handgun–it was covered in the cocaine they were ordered to ignore.
Someone needs to introduce a bill in the house requiring felons who were convicted of drug and firearm possession and are sons of former presidents to be incarcerated under contract to an African nation. I understand South Africa has lots of farms formerly owned by white farmers that have not been amenable to producing for the new owners. Repurpose as a nice rustic Club Transvaal, provide a valuable service, get some much-needed currency exchange for a country whose economy has been wrecked by evil whites, and let Hunter bond with a few of his jailers. Who knows, there might be one called “Corn Pop”.
“You gotta say this about Joe, if you piss him off, he will keep on hitting you until you stop your nonsense.”
FJB couldn’t find Yemen on a map if they labeled it in his favorite color of crayon.
ADDED:
and told him he would get ice cream for the right answer.
“We got a bunch of dead robots out here.”
Get the climate fraudsters on the telly and ask them how this could be so.
Kerry and The Gorehole should be first.
“You gotta say this about Joe, if you piss him off, he will keep on hitting you until you stop your nonsense.”
FJB couldn’t find Yemen on a map if they labeled it in his favorite color of crayon.
Sure. But Joe has got people working for him that can pronounce “Yemen” and know how to shoot / drop / throw missiles in to it.
We still have the best military in the world. I don’t think that it is the most expensive military in the world, yet.
Wait a minute….
So I’m over 70, and my Texas property tax is supposed to be locked in and not increasing? The Bexar County assessors office has sent me increased property tax bills for the last 2 years. Did I forget to check a box somewhere?
Perjury In a J6 Trial?
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/01/perjury-in-a-j6-trial.php
The video is damning. David Lazarus is tracked minute-by-minute on date-and-time-stamped government CCTV cameras. He gets to the stairs where he swore to have observed four Oath Keepers minutes after those same cameras show that they had exited the building.
Watch the video.
There are four men in prison because Lazarus and Officer Harry Dunn lied their asses off.
Lazarus was brought in to backstop Dunn’s second story, which made claims wildly different than his first FBI interview. He didn’t make this shiite up on his own–he was selected and coached and there had to be a lot of other people involved.
Joe Biden’s handlers, the Democrats under Pelosi, the Capitol Police and the DOJ conspired to keep the videos away from the defense and the American people.
The only way we can build prisons fast enough for the Democrats is to offer a bunch of able-bodied foreign invaders citizenship and construction jobs. Points for ignorance of bulding codes and permits, and more points if they know which end of the shovel to grab.
It’s past time to set the dogs on Liz Cheney, drag her fat ass out of whatever hole she hides in, and take a page from the Spanish Inquisition.
@Lynn
Look at it this way:
FJB is the CIC. He is the only one that can give such an order. Our exalted military leaders with the four multi-pointed things on their shoulders who would receive such orders are supposed to be intelligent.
If a neutral observer watching video of FJB in public appearances where he has been carefully prepped to be at his best concludes than he is non compos mentis, how is it that they, having to interact with him in unscripted fashion, can reach the conclusion that such an order is lawful?
I’m serious about watching that video.
Four American citizens, observing a Capitol Police Officer in the throes of a mental health crisis while heavily armed, chose to assist by forming a human shield between the officer and the crowd that was causing his freakout.
Their reward was conspiracy, false prosecution, perjury, and prison.
Wait a minute….
So I’m over 70, and my Texas property tax is supposed to be locked in and not increasing? The Bexar County assessors office has sent me increased property tax bills for the last 2 years. Did I forget to check a box somewhere?
You’ve got to file a form, similar to your Texas Homestead form. There might be a three year lookback but I am not sure of that. Your CAD (county appraisal district) office will have the form on their website.
The net effect is that they lock the property tax dollar amount (tax ceiling) on your homestead property at the year you file the form. Or something like that, I have not read the law. Upon reading the following faq, it appears that the tax ceiling is only for school taxes.
https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/age65older-disabled-faq.php
I’m serious about watching that video.
Four American citizens, observing a Capitol Police Officer in the throes of a mental health crisis while heavily armed, chose to assist by forming a human shield between the officer and the crowd that was causing his freakout.
Their reward was conspiracy, false prosecution, perjury, and prison.
If I knew that I was going to be arrested and tried for anything in a dumbrocrat hell, I would not be there. I would assume that the trial would be a kangaroo court and that the judgement would be a foregone conclusion.
This started with Tom Delay being tried and convicted for money laundering in Austin 20+ years ago. Faked charges and a fake trial which was vacated by the Texas Supreme Court.
“This started with Tom Delay being tried and convicted for money laundering in Austin 20+ years ago. Faked charges and a fake trial which was vacated by the Texas Supreme Court.”
If success is defined as taking the hated conservative out of the action, then the strategy has been successful ever since. Trump has only been able to defend himself because of his personal wealth, the unwavering support of voters, and the miscalculations and overreach of the Trump haters running the lawfare.
So the question is: What the hell did letting bygones be bygones in 2016 and not prosecuting Hillary Clinton get us except more of the same?
I said it was a mistake then, and if it’s repeated the whole country is at risk if the Democrats skate again and come back into power.
The only way forward is to win the election. If that means that millions of people need volunteer to be poll workers, stand guard over ballot boxes and polling places with cameras, and have response teams ready when the frothing mobs of anti-Semites try to use force, then that needs to be done.
Win the election. Then start killing snakes.
@Lynn
You’ve mentioned that you are much more partial to Flint’s 1633 than 1632.
If you have a copy of the latter, I would recommend rereading the scene were Rebecca is told how Grantsville came to have a Jewish family.
I never met Eric Flint although I admired his work greatly. As a former union organizer I would put the chances of his identifying as a Democrat at about 99%. I wonder what he would think of the party now?
The only way forward is to win the election. If that means that millions of people need volunteer to be poll workers, stand guard over ballot boxes and polling places with cameras, and have response teams ready when the frothing mobs of anti-Semites try to use force, then that needs to be done.
The fix is already in, they have been planning this for years. I expect dumbrocrat strongholds like Philadelphia, Phoenix, Atlanta, etc to vote at 200% to 300% of the registered population, thereby swinging their battleground states. I expect many of the illegals to vote, I expect massive blank ballots with only the spot for Joe punched, etc, etc, etc.
Two takes on the Iowa caucus: Mine and Tucker Carlson’s
By Andrea Widburg
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/two_takes_on_the_iowa_caucus_mine_and_tucker_carlsons.html
If you don’t do anything else, cue Tucker’s synopsis of Nikki Haley’s financial backing about 5:30, and then the last minute that lays out the Democrat strategy to make her the Republican candidate.
In between he talks about Haley’s “conservative” positions. Haley’s individual positions are bad enough, but as a whole they are frightening.
“Chinese scientists ‘create’ a mutant coronavirus strain that attacks the BRAIN and has a 100% kill rate in mice – as they admit there’s a ‘risk it spills over to humans’”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12969105/chinese-scientists-lab-coronavirus-kill-rate-mice.html
If this is true, then these people are crazy.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Two takes on the Iowa caucus: Mine and Tucker Carlson’s
By Andrea Widburg
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/01/two_takes_on_the_iowa_caucus_mine_and_tucker_carlsons.html
If you don’t do anything else, cue Tucker’s synopsis of Nikki Haley’s financial backing about 5:30, and then the last minute that lays out the Democrat strategy to make her the Republican candidate.
In between he talks about Haley’s “conservative” positions. Haley’s individual positions are bad enough, but as a whole they are frightening.
If I were a betting man, I would take even money bets that Nikki Haley is going to be Trump’s VP. The Trumper likes attack dogs.
Nikki Haley’s positions:
“Illegal aliens are not criminals.” For amnesty.
Supports BLM’s rioting: “It must be personal and painful for everyone.”
More billions for Ukraine as she takes donations from the weapons industry.
Vaccine registry for Americans.
Accepts climate change as a national security issue and wants to accept “climate refugees”
Users must register with the government to express opinions on the internet–no anonymity.
So relax. 40% of the Republican voters in New Hampshire will be Democrats.
Iowa allows voters to make phony party declarations and caucus to screw up the opposition. The results from Bolshevik City last night (follow the link I posted last night:
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/01/15/establishment-rallying-to-trump-live-results-from-iowa-n605132
find the results tabulation, then use the pull-down menu to look at Johnson County, where Iowa City/U of Iowa is located), and Tailgunner Tom’s Turf (Story County, where Iowa State U is located). Compare them with non-university counties of similar population that are not known for their liberalism and it’s pretty obvious that the Halley vote was a false flag operation.
Indeed, the Johnson County results look like an equal does of fraud: Haley magically gets exactly one more vote than Trump in the final tally.
This is going to be an election of tricks. There will be tricks all around on both sides. There will be false flags and feints. There will be rumors and innuendos.
Dadgumit, I did not finish my thought since I am working on our really nasty bubble point of a mixture algorithm and it is occupying my thoughts.
Anyway, I would not trust what any of the candidates said at this point. I would only look to their previous behavior and sayings to try to get some idea of what their future actions might be.
@LYNN; Thank you very much!
@Lynn
You’ve mentioned that you are much more partial to Flint’s 1633 than 1632.
If you have a copy of the latter, I would recommend rereading the scene were Rebecca is told how Grantsville came to have a Jewish family.
I never met Eric Flint although I admired his work greatly. As a former union organizer I would put the chances of his identifying as a Democrat at about 99%. I wonder what he would think of the party now?
I have about a half dozen of the Grantsville (1632) books. I have over 500 books in my SBR that I am wanting to read. I just added around 20 books over the holidays, if I wanted my wife to know I would tell her myself. So I am not ready to reread 1632, yet.
I would like to think that Eric Flint would be ashamed of the dumbrocrats right now. In fact, I am hoping that many people who formerly voted for the dumbrocrats to be ashamed of them.
My paternal grandfather had voted democrat all his life. When he was about 74 in 1984 ???, he took me and my son to a July 4 picnic in Sherman to hear Phil Gramm switch parties. My grandfather switched parties that day too. I have a newspaper picture of me somewhere with my three year old son on my shoulders shaking Phil Gramm’s hand. I was wearing a TUGCO (Texas Utility Generating Company) hat so I got an attaboy from Phil Gramm (he knew who we were) and my bosses when I showed the picture around later.
The democrats have been going crazy for a long time. We got tired of their nonsense in Texas in the 1980s and 1990s and kicked them out of power.
@LYNN; Thank you very much!
You are welcome. I assume for the tax ceiling thing. I hope that works out for you.
“URGENT: A new Chinese paper shows (again) why gain-of-function research on risky viruses should be banned as a crime against humanity”
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/urgent-a-new-chinese-paper-shows
“It’s all downside, except for the scientists who get paid to do it. What are we waiting for, another lab leak?”
Was it one of y’all who recommended the Mother of Learning series by nobody103?
Very, very long books. Excellent character development, interesting premise. I though I might lose patience, but so far they make for a very satisfying evening read for a couple of hours. I’m only halfway through the second book, so still a long way to go 🙂
I understand the attraction of research, but there comes a time when anyone but a psychopath must let their ethics take charge. They have little understanding of what their genetic changes are going to do. It’s all “let’s add/delete this sequence and see what happens”. Russian roulette, with other people’s lives at stake.
Heck, after the escape of the last engineered coronavirus, even a psychopath would have to think twice before working on this stuff.
Yup. It is going to be one very, very ugly election. Which geezer would you like to rule your country? The senile puppet or the loose cannon?
The US desperately needs a better election system. Proportional voting or whatever, but the current two-party system is irredeemably broken.
That was I.
Skin in the game: If you don’t pay more taxes than you receive from the government, you can’t vote. If you’re not subject to conscription and being sent to the line, you can’t vote.
For that first point, I include welfare, salary as a government employee, salary as a government contractor, government pensions, and even socialist security.
For the second point, I oppose the draft and draft registration, but as long as we have it, make it a part of the voter eligibility requirements.
You are obviously the reincarnation of Robert Heinlein.
Except that I’m much more traditional sexually.