Another day of great weather, unless you’re a plant. Then it’s past due for some rain. Humans though, we’re lovin’ it. I see more people and dogs in the evening than I’ve seen in years. And that’s with Monday having a bit warmer evening than the last week. I think it broke 80F at some point, but it didn’t stay there. Today should be the same.
I was partially productive. I got stuff up to the attic, stuff down from the attic. I even put up the simplest Halloween decor, a string of funny flags. I cut and packed some pork loin while getting dinner ready. One roast, some thin and some thick chops, and one roast to eat now… Pork loin roast is one of my go to meals. Garlic salt, some bacon strips, bake for 20 minutes per pound, and 20 minutes, and get some sides ready. Easy prep, easy cooking, and delicious. Easy cleanup too.
Today I’ve got a pickup or two, depending on mood, and all the stacked up tasks I’ve been avoiding. Kid duties got a bit simpler as D1’s 4-5pm appointment is done, while D2 has an afterschool activity that needs pickup at 445pm for a couple of weeks… and another appointment from 630-830pm. All are in the same area which means a lot of back and forth for me. I am so in the habit of combining trips, and making loops that it offends me on a deep level to go back and forth to the same area multiple times in the day. I have to just get over myself and do it.
Which is good advice for life in general.
And stacking, that’s good advice too.
nick
Bain. 10% per year or die trying.
And EBay. Look at how well HP did with hiring Meg Whitman as CEO after the disaster of Lucent “magic” with Carly Fiorina.
Everyone wants a tenbagger, even those in the “tres commas” club.
I had no idea we were $200k in the hole for the student loans until after my wife finished residency and we bought a house.
I still trusted that she would manage the problem until we moved to Vantucky still $67k under with me unemployed. Wow, was that a mistake.
Since then, I’ve become a b*tchy doctor’s wife and dug us out of the mess. I certainly understand where those women come from now.
The crazy thing is that the loans were paid off about six years ago, but when rumors of Corn Pop’s repayment scheme started, Navient offered my wife to reopen $20k of the debt without my knowledge or consent on the premise that the loan forgiveness would let her have “free” money.
Ramsey is right. The student loans and the people behind them are evil. Plus society sends a wrong message to women about financial infidelity being ok as an empowerment issue, compounding the problem.
My friend’s divorce lawyer says that, lately, it always starts with the “ladies only” 50th birthday trips to Vegas.
What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas, especially once the edibles start flowing.
Florida wants in on that market. Legalization is on the ballot this Fall.
60F and clear this am, with sunrise coming up…
soon.
Time to make the donuts.
n
Yes indeed. It is a cash cow for the lenders, backed by the federal government. It targets those with the least common sense about finances. Those that have no clue about how interest accumulates. They think 10% interest on $100K is only $10K. They have no concept that 20 years later that interest may be more than what they borrowed.
Don’t be setting yourself above others. I have made worse mistakes. Especially when I bought my first boat and got scammed on the loan.
That I find hard to believe. Maybe it is the people I associate with as there are no bottom feeders in my circle.
Sympathy for your loss. It really makes the drug problem hit home.
I really don’t like the FEDs war on drugs and how little they accomplish. Part of me says make antibiotics prescription, everything else everyone is on their own. But then I see stories like this and realize there are people that without external intervention and control will make fatal choices. Bummer.
I did my civic duty yesterday and voted for tRump three times.
Rookie.
The battery in the Highlander went bad, all of a sudden. Enough power for the lights, not enough to start. The computer went wonky and displayed all the dash warning lights, an extra message in the center display saying airbag and safety restraint system was faulty and needed repair.
Easy enough to replace the battery. It was an 84 month battery, Toyota branded, which I think was replaced about five years ago. You have to bring the vehicle, and the battery still installed, into the dealer to get the pro-rated warranty honored. It would cost more for a tow truck than I would get in pro-rated money.
Since I had to take the battery out, removing all electrical energy, (yeh, I should have hooked up the charger), the computer has de-learned (un-learned?) all the driving behavior. Shift points are now different, idle is higher than normal, etc. It will take a few trips to get everything back to normal.
Batteries have gotten expensive. Over $250.00 for a new battery with a three full replacement warranty. Yes, I got a top of the line battery. Experience from boating taught me to not skimp on a critical battery.
Subbing again today. There are a couple of worthless sh*ts in the first period. They feed off each other. Yesterday someone was making a popping noise. I told the class to quit. The noise appeared again. Those two cretins were laughing the loudest so they got sent to the office. Whether is was them or not making the noise, they suffered the consequences.
One of the worthless sh*ts is absent today. His partner in their antics is suddenly subdued. Whether it was getting tossed in the office or the missing accomplish, I don’t know, and don’t care.
Some of these kids have no idea that not passing this class means they will not graduate. Maybe that is their goal. Just get to the age of 18 and drop out. In TN if you are under the age of 18, not in school, the state takes the driver’s license.
The wife has decided to remove the awning in the back patio and replace it. We had to use the electric chainsaw to cut down the old structure. It took three trips to the dump, a 1.5 hour round trip trip, to dump all the wood. I had to cut most of the pieces again to get them to fit in the back of the truck.
This is the replacement, three of them, for a total of 48′ in length.
https://www.backyarddiscovery.com/products/16×12-hawthorne-traditional-steel-pergola
They arrive by truck, dumped in the driveway. 800 pounds on a long pallet, four boxes to the pallet. Heavy stuff to move from the front of the house to the back. We use the pickup.
We have installed the first of the three. Each is about $3K, made of steel. 16’x12′ and about 7′ foot high. It took us four days to install the structure. We did not work all day, just a few hours. The wife wants to make the middle unit two feet higher. That will mean making some sort of wood extension for the lower part of the vertical posts. We have an idea of how to do the extension.
I have ordered the second unit. We will finish that before ordering the third unit.
Texas and Nevada?
The Sheriff in Bexar needs to go.
Plus, while I think Texas going blue is inevitable, we should try to make sure it doesn’t start this cycle with a Colin Allred victory.
A Senate seat changing parties in Florida in 1988 was the beginning of the end for the Dems in that state for at least a generation.
I think my head is bleeding, from beating it against a wall… I have been chasing an obscure input bug for ages. It’s just a silly, stupid student demo program on Android. Double-tap the screen, and a circle appears and starts moving. Tap on the circle to make it disappear again. Only: the taps were being delayed by half-a-second. I tried anything and everything I could think of. Everything that ChatGPT could think of. I lost hours on this idiocy. It never occurred to me that single-taps were being ignored until Android was sure it wasn’t actually a double-tap. I tripped over that almost accidentally, and now I feel really stupid. Aaargh
The loans are a cash cow for the Federal Government on most of the debt since 2010. The lenders get a fee for handling the paper, but the Treasury receives the interest payments.
We had to pass that bill to find out what was in it.
Quoted for truth. A lesson I learn all over again every few years, and all too easy to forget.
re: Heroin death, and drugs in general
It sucks. At least cancer gives you the illusion there is no free-will component. My musician son, 35, has lost so many friends to drugs and suicide that I’ve lost count. And just recently a 33 year-old cousin to “suddenly”.
I wish there was an easy answer. On the one hand, the war on drugs was never serious, and was always an abject failure. OTOH, the overall loss of freedom it caused was possibly worse than the scourge of drugs.
But it is a scourge of drugs. That’s the part of legalization that we libertarians so often miss, and a big part of why I left Libertarianism. It is simultaneously possible to hold these 2 thoughts: It should be legal for adults to do X, and no one should, under any circumstances, do X.
Sorry; he was the only Dem I’d voted for in the last 20 years, but I DID vote for Javier Salazar in 2020, because I liked what he had said about prosecuting BLM terrorists, AND because the Republican candidate for Sheriff had ZERO law enforcement experience. Alas, he turned out to be VERY toxic on the illegal alien problem. Fortunately, the Republican nominee for Bexar Sheriff is equally qualified, and SOUNDS like a real Republican. So there are two votes that Salazar won’t get this year.
And with that, we’re off to vote.
I voted straight Redumblican. There were a bunch of Dumbo only races. They got no vote.
Wearing a fake ‘stache and reciting “speeky no engrish” let’s you vote multiple times in certain States. Southwest is still running their $69 special to some of those States.
jk
Decriminalizing and legalizing should be two separate debates.
There is a difference.
This. I suppose I’m out of touch, but I honestly don’t understand how or why so many people get into drugs.
Anyway: how does one prevent it? Outlawing drugs obviously doesn’t work. Once someone is into the scene, it is very hard to rescue them. So the most important work is on the next generation: how do you prevent people from starting down that path?
I only know things that don’t work. War on drugs, prohibition, Just Say No, DARE.
I suspect there are things that might work, but are outside my ken. Like community, good education, some kinds of Christian fellowship.
But to get to any of those would require a great culling of the anti-community, anti-educaction, and anti-Christians. Figuratively or literally.
Not being an advocate here for indulging!
Most youth employment is not particularly engaging and/or the long term consequences of personal choices encourage temporary escape into chemical ecstasy or at least euphoria.
The War on Drugs is just latter day Prohibition. Didn’t work for alcohol, doesn’t work for heroin. Alcoholics and Addicts may, probably will, end tragically, badly. Adding incarceration or just dealing with any part of the criminal justice system makes a personal problem even worse.
How did Jerry P put it? Darwin in action.
Like anything, you have to decide that IT IS NOT FOR ME. Most people need to be able to articulate their reasons why not, if only to themselves.
One big reason is to maintain your agency and independence, both concepts that are denigrated and devalued by current education and social pressures.
————
Last night at dinner, while discussing school assignments, D2 mentioned that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes using cocaine. She was quick to point out that it wasn’t illegal at the time and he used it as a stimulant. Yup, NONE of the drugs were illegal at the time. In fact they were commonly available. People were free to CHOOSE (if they had the means).
Choosing often meant a slow descent into degradation and death, and people could see that around them everywhere. Some did it anyway. Some didn’t.
Now the initial choice is made for you, and the consequences are not clear.
nick
My younger brother was a user of drugs when he was younger. While in the USAF he was an air traffic controller. He said for the night shift they would sit around smoking weed and there was usually a cloud of smoke in the tower. He had also used some hard stuff but never got attached. That all stopped when he became a commercial pilot. After he reached mandatory retirement age he has resumed his activities with marijuana or items with the extract.
I have done any of the stuff. When people around me would start smoking a joint, I would leave and go somewhere else. I had zero desire to try any of the stuff and that remains with me today.
I had no idea we were $200k in the hole for the student loans until after my wife finished residency and we bought a house.
Woof. That was a problem.
Ben Carson is right, we need to do something different about educating doctors in this country.
The speed at which the middle-aged and elderly crowd has fully embraced “chewables” is worth a study. They all justify it for various physical ailments, but in the end it’s just a big chunk of the 50+ crowd regularly getting high on THC gummy bears.
Drinking is on the decline. The younger generations haven’t embraced it as quickly as previous generations did. Teenagers throwing “keggers” isn’t what it once was. Many prefer weed or sober living. They’ve even gone from saying a glass of red wine is good for the heart to saying you probably shouldn’t drink alcohol at all. Ever.
But it is a scourge of drugs. That’s the part of legalization that we libertarians so often miss, and a big part of why I left Libertarianism. It is simultaneously possible to hold these 2 thoughts: It should be legal for adults to do X, and no one should, under any circumstances, do X.
I totally agree. It comes down to personal responsibility.
And the War on Drugs has turned the Sheepdogs among us into Wolves.
The War on Drugs is just latter day Prohibition. Didn’t work for alcohol, doesn’t work for heroin. Alcoholics and Addicts may, probably will, end tragically, badly. Adding incarceration or just dealing with any part of the criminal justice system makes a personal problem even worse.
BFF’s daughter got a new job in Fort Worth two weeks ago. She walked into the job on the first day and they told her that she was fired for having a drug possession on her record in California. She had already quit her old job. That might have been the tipping point on going back to heroin.
TPTB will ramp up importing MBBS practioners and, eventually, build schools for them here, importing the students as well.
I know of at least one school in development now. I could drive you to the site in Florida, 20 minutes from Tampa Airport.
A traditional doctor or even an American nurse practioner will be only for very rich people.
The AMA is cooperating with the MBBS scheme, even to the point of letting them use the MD initials if state law allows.
“Is the Left Realizing That It Was Better Off With Joe Biden as Its Candidate?”
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/10/22/is-the-left-realizing-they-were-better-off-with-joe-biden-n4933537
“Forcing Joe Biden to drop out to let someone younger and less senile take his place was supposed to give Democrats a shot at winning the White House when Donald Trump appeared on the verge of a landslide victory. For a while, Kamala Harris was succeeding, but the month of October was a disaster for her campaign. Now we’re seeing more talk about how the Democrats would have been better off keeping Biden.”
“”No matter who wins, we have to ask: Would President Biden have been a better candidate and choice despite suffering from the effects of age and 81 years?” asks Harlan Ullman over at The Hill. “Further, suppose that the disastrous June 27 debate with Trump had not taken place, or that Biden had been firing on all cylinders that night. Would Biden have been forced to withdraw? And whether Harris loses or wins, some will ask whether Biden might still have been a better candidate.””
Yup.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Short form:
Get caught with hard drugs, they get inserted where the sun never shines.
Long form:
Get caught with hard drugs, found guilty at hearing, they get inserted where the sun never shines.
First offense gets a reprieve.
No Narcan.
Money profits from hard drugs? Treated interchangeably with the drugs: convert at the going rate and inserted where the sun never shines.
Excess fentanyl accumulated and loaded onto drones. When the fleet reaches a trigger number, take the next set of GPS coordinates off the list and send them south.
Fund a public study to predict the effects of seeding 10,000 lbs of fentanyl dust into the atmosphere 5,0000m over Beyjing.
After Harris loses the knives are going to be out for the anti-democrats who pulled the coup on Biden. The biggest loser will be Obama, whose people are also bedded in the Harris campaign.
I hope the “brothers” Obola likes to talk down to will finally see he is a rich turd-bucket that gives a rats-ass about their poor asses. He’ll probably deploy Big Mike to fend the “brothers” off. Run to the hills, Obola, run to the hills.
Obama runs the party in an uneasy power sharing scheme with the Clintons,
A Harris loss will hurt the Clintons more since she is their creation through Willie Brown.
Nothing is certain untie Congress certifies the vote, and even then something unexpected could happen.
Early voting is now open.
I ususally follow a blanket rule of voting against all tax increases and bond issues.
Are there any in the Houston/Katy area I should reconsider?
The only one I see on my sample ballot is HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT, PROPOSITION A, which is about a 30% increase over the existing tax rate.
I apologize for the shouting, but that’s cut’n’paste from the sample ballot.
“Is Boeing on the verge of collapse?”
https://unherd.com/newsroom/is-boeing-on-the-verge-of-collapse/
“According to a turnaround plan announced last week, Boeing intends to raise about $15 billion in shares and convertible bonds. The news comes just ahead of plans to lay off 17,000 workers, or about 10% of the company’s workforce.”
“Its labour troubles are far from over, however. Last month, about 33,000 unionised Boeing employees went on strike, with labour representatives upset over stagnant wages and downsized benefits. Striking members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have turned down an initial offer from Boeing for a 25% raise over four years.”
Go woke, go broke.
“Overnight Success: Biden’s Climate Splurge Gives Billions to Nonprofit Newbies”
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/10/22/overnight_success_bidens_climate_splurge_gives_billions_to_nonprofit_newbies_1066437.html
“After gaining nonprofit status in August 2023, the organization was awarded $940 million by the Biden administration just eight months later in connection with the White House’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which aims to provide financial assistance to reduce carbon emissions and reduce pollution. ”
“The Justice Climate Fund is not the only nonprofit newcomer suddenly made rich by the GGRF. Within a month of gaining nonprofit status from the IRS, Power Forward Communities, which reported 2023 revenues of $100, was awarded $2 billion.”
“Critics note that many of the awardees are run by politically connected figures. The single biggest winner in the awards, which were announced in April, was the Climate United Fund, which is slated to receive $6.97 billion. The fund’s directors include prominent Democrats, such as Phil Angelides, a former California State Treasurer. After this article was published Climate United told RCI that Anthony Foxx, who served as Transportation Secretary in the Obama administration, was “listed as a board member for our [grant] application but did not commit to serving post award.” A press release on the group’s website names Foxx as a member of its “Inaugural Board of Directors.””
I see that the dumbrocrats have successfully looted the USA treasury.
You can’t spend it if you ain’t breathing.
n
Just another reason why back doors are bad.
if it’s there, someone will use it.
n
It’s more inportant for the security services to be able to collect data at will, than it is for the Great Unwashed (us!) to be able to communicate securely, so there will be more such leaks.
G.
Which I hope most of you figured out.
No. Boeing will survive in some form, but they may choose to accelerate the move out of WA State.
YGBFKM: Another Kamalagiarism Scandal?
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/10/22/ygbfkm-another-kamalagiarism-scandal-n3796129
It is not surprising that the Democrat presidential nominee is a liar and a thief. As a co-conspirator in the abrogation of the security of the southern border of the United States, I would argue that traitor, murderer, and rapist are appropriate, too.
Thinking about a GoFundMe for Kamala Harris.
It would fund an exclusive club, with membership limited to Harris and Hillary Clinton, both losers to Trump.
Funds would be used to buy table and chairs, an ice machine, a large refrigerator, and a reefer unit for liquor.
Also have to find a location with a loading dock for frequent liquor deliveries.
Well, THAT was interesting. We went off to the most convenient Bexar County polling place, and parking was a zoo. VERY congested. My wife is disabled, and wanted to try out the “curbside voting”, and we lucked out; one of the designated spots was open. I figured that since I was able-bodied, I wouldn’t be able to do that, so I walked over to the voting line. An LONG voting line. A 90-minute long voting line. Fortunately the weather was quite pleasant.
None of the nearby proctors seemed to be bothered with some of the voters in line wearing Trump t-shirts, which I have read has been a problem elsewhere. And everybody seemed friendly, at least to the extent that they weren’t buried in their phones. I didn’t see any Harris shirts. One of the proctors did say that she’d never seen the volume of voters for early voting that she’d seen yesterday and today, and I’ve read that MANY of the polling places had been swamped. But the line kept moving, I showed them my LTC as an ID, and voted.
She waited on hold in the truck for 20 minutes, then told them where she was; about 5 minutes later, a proctor came to the truck, collected her ID, and in about 5 minutes more, brought one of their remote voting tablets, and she voted there in comfort in the truck. Apparently quite a pleasant experience.
Turns out that we could have had “head of the line” privileges if I had just pushed my wife in her wheelchair, and been out in 20 minutes instead of almost 2 hours, but it was a pleasant 2 hours. Then she offered me a trip to In-n-Out as a reward, so we did that. drove home, and took a 90 minute nap.
>> Musk responded:”
If you’re in TX and want to buy Rivian, consider this to start – Rivian has (so far) just three service centers for the entire state (Houston, Austin and Dallas).
My son was on the Rivian wait list. He canceled his reservation and bought a Model Y.
Tony is way ahead building out the support infrastructure.
I worry that early voting gives anyone who would cheat an advantage knowing how many fake votes they need. They know turnout. They know how counties and districts typically vote. They can add the two together and adjust their cheat accordingly.
n
>> Easy enough to replace the battery. It was an 84 month battery, Toyota branded, which I think was replaced about five years ago. You have to bring the vehicle, and the battery still installed, into the dealer to get the pro-rated warranty honored. It would cost more for a tow truck than I would get in pro-rated money.
@Ray, no roadside assistance/towing coverage?
None of the nearby proctors seemed to be bothered with some of the voters in line wearing Trump t-shirts, which I have read has been a problem elsewhere. And everybody seemed friendly, at least to the extent that they weren’t buried in their phones. I didn’t see any Harris shirts. One of the proctors did say that she’d never seen the volume of voters for early voting that she’d seen yesterday and today, and I’ve read that MANY of the polling places had been swamped. But the line kept moving, I showed them my LTC as an ID, and voted.
Our early voting place was swamped again today. My friends in Abilene reported a 50 minute wait in the Abilene mall to vote early.
Me thinks that Texas is going hard red. The blues are getting bluer and the reds are getting redder.
Another rich bastard outs himself as being on the epstein tapes…
n
Kamala has good reason to be a drunk:
https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=412012
so. not her fault. k?
Yes, but it only works “on the road” and not in a driveway, anywhere. The location must be a road, highway, street or interstate where the location is a hazard or puts the vehicle at risk. Parked at a curb in a residential area, no coverage. Parked in a parking lot, no coverage. Another insurance scam.
Rivian is right on the edge.
Ford received a Federally guaranteed bailout during the Shrub administration, but it was done quietly.
IIRC, the Ford family put up a bunch of stock as collateral, and that is when Bill Ford had to step away from the CEO role in favor of Alan Mulally from Boeing.
If Colin Zachary wins the Senate seat, that will be a sign that change is coming.
Someone credible may challenge Abbott. The crazy thing is that the deadline to register to run is only a little more than a year away.
OTOH, the moment Abbott steps down and declines another run, the cabal will start working on putting Geogre P. (Diddly) Bush into the Governor’s Mansion, and that would more or less be the same as a Dem.
Holy Crap: Josh Hawley Shows No Mercy After Shooting Event Hosted by Democrat Opponent Goes Wildly Wrong
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2024/10/22/holy-crap-shooting-event-featuring-josh-hawleys-opponent-proves-that-guns-and-democrats-do-not-mix-n2180938
No RSO, from which all other stupidity flows.
It’s too bad that ricochet didn’t hit Kunze or Kinzinger and put out an eye or kill them. Then a REAL life-saving gun control bill could have been introduced:
STRIPPING DEMOCRATS OF THEIR GUN OWNERSHIP RIGHTS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD.
It’s just more of their normal projection. If we suck at this so bad, despite our obvious superiority, then think how bad YOU must be…
n
Trying for an early bedtime today. Again. Still… whatever, I’m headed to bed… might read all night, but I’ll be in bed.,,