Thur. Nov. 7, 2024 – so it’s all so very obvious now, is it?

Cool but still damp. Clear and sunny warming things up later. Yesterday was pretty nice by the afternoon. It’s great to drive around with the windows open, even if you might need a bit of heat or A/C to put things right. I need another warm dry day to get my decor dried out and put away.

Yesterday I did some auction stuff. Did one pickup on the north side. It’s near the LDS thrift store, Deseret Industries. I always go in and shop when I’m in the area and it usually pays off. This time I got an Aquatainer for $3, two big spools of direct burial cat 6 cable, which I have plans for here and at the BOL for $25 each, and a big old CB radio for resale, either at the Hamfest or online… and I got some irrigation supplies and some medical stuff too. Then I got the kid from school, and did stuff at home including some domestic bliss. I’ll fold the clean clothes later today.

Today I’ll be trying to rent a drywall cart to help with moving my new bed, and doing other stuff on the list. I rented the trailer so that’s done. I shouldn’t have any pickups, and kid taxi duties don’t kick in until 3pm so I MIGHT be able to make some progress around the house. That’s the plan, Stan.

————–
I’m finding the news to be entertaining… lot’s of “this is why the Kamel failed” articles. NOW they see it, NOW they know it, NOW it’s so obvious. Well, where were you last week, or the previous months when it was obvious to US? In South Park getting high on your own smug?

The only question now is, well there are lots of questions. Still plenty of uncertainty, even if one branch of the tree is known. We’re on the “Trump won the election” branch, but it forks and twists, and is riddled with parasites, storm damage, weakened branches, etc… There are still a million bad things that can happen, but now there are also good things too.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and try to get through it.

And stack of course.

nick

75 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Nov. 7, 2024 – so it’s all so very obvious now, is it?"

  1. brad says:

    NOW they see it

    Yeah, I was thinking much the same thing. I also enjoy pointing out: As bad as Trump is, what does his win say about the quality of his opponent? Yes, she is that bad. Most of Europe doesn’t understand that, because they view her through the rose-tinted lense of the MSM.

    Given the apparent win of both the Senate and the House, Trump is being handed quite the mandate. I wish I didn’t think he would squander it, but that’s the way to bet. He accomplished very little in his first term – about the only thing you can say is that his inactivity extended to not starting any new wars.

    Anyway, here’s hoping he does something sensible in his second term.

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    More Supreme Court Justices would be enough of a legacy.

    Both parties are full of talk, but when both had iron clad majorities, they didn’t do anything.  That’s because they don’t WANT to do anything to endanger their grift, but also a problem you solve is a problem you can’t use any longer.

    And with the majority of those in .gov, the LESS they accomplish, the safer We The People, and our rights and liberties, are.

    With Trump,  the idea is to take names and kick @sses.   We’ll see if that’s even possible.

    ————-

    Cool-ish and mostly clear this morning.  Had my first sip of roasted bean broth, and it was good.

    Now to move the rest of the herd along…

    n

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Ferrera, who is said to be ‘sick’ that Trump was re-elected, will join a growing number of celebrities who have recently moved to the UK, amid growing tensions in the US. It was reported earlier this week that the Ugly Betty alum, 40, was planning to relocate across the pond with her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, and their son Sebastian, six, and daughter Lucia, four.

    – buhbye!  Enjoy the taxes…   and calls to prayer…

    The Club I Don’t Get It, Infidel crowd also loves feminist icons.

    PR stunt. How long ago was “Ugly Betty” now? Plus, over 40 actress.

    Only old people watch network TV.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    More Supreme Court Justices would be enough of a legacy.

    Return CAFE to 38 MPG and a bill put through Congress, signed by Trump into law, not an EO, stating that only Congress can change it.

    50+ MPG has always been impossible. Look at the TSLA numbers every quarter from “regulatory credits”. That’s where Tony makes his money, not by actually, you know, selling the cars. 

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m either surfing the edge of the zeitgeist or leading it.   Which would be scary.   A short while ago I mentioned that I hadn’t thought about the group Styx in a while, but they were HUGE and their music is still good.  I wondered why we don’t see or hear them anymore.

    Suddenly Styx is popping up everywhere.   

    If my comments gave you a little nudge, let me know.   

    n

    (could be pure synchronicity, or “coincidence” and that’s what my rational mind says.  But.)

  6. ITGuy1998 says:

    He accomplished very little in his first term – about the only thing you can say is that his inactivity extended to not starting any new wars.

    Besides the non-liberal Supreme Court justices ( I can’t call them conservative based on their actions), he cut taxes. Those tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2025, so hopefully he can get them extended or even increased.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Besides the non-liberal Supreme Court justices ( I can’t call them conservative based on their actions), he cut taxes. Those tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2025, so hopefully he can get them extended or even increased.

    Trump has recently backpedaled on the SALT deduction limit, however, which is unfortunate.

    Four years ago, the Dems campaigned on lifting the limit to appeal to their suburban women voters in the suburbs of DC and the tech hubs, but they abandoned the plans once ensconced in office.

    Yeah, betrayal. Trump tho.

    Lifting the limit might influence the midterms but it would be a costly bribe which probably wouldn’t work anyway. Virginia still went for Kamala.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    It was very satisfying to see all those long faces as they tried so very hard to figure put what went wrong. To simple to say ” your candidate sucked.”

    – Michigan Prepper

    – From the comments over at Zero’s place.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    It was very satisfying to see all those long faces as they tried so very hard to figure put what went wrong. To simple to say ” your candidate sucked.”

    One year ago, on a Saturday morning in The Wisconsin Dells, the place looked like a ghost town at 11 AM, all the tourist traps empty except the Ross store at the outlet mall. That place was a zoo, three weeks before Thanksgiving/Black Friday.

  10. drwilliams says:

    @brad

    ”He accomplished very little in his first term – about the only thing you can say is that his inactivity extended to not starting any new wars.”

    2017 tax cut:

    base rate lowered from 15% to 12%

    standard deduction increased from $13,000 to $24,000 for married couple

    death tax exemption went from $11 to 23 million

    All expires in  2025 unless 

    extended. They need to make it permanent. 

    He made huge strides in getting control of our southern border  

    That is far beyond most definitions of “nothing”.

    The Democrats fabricated two impeachments and wasted valuable time. 

    Not going to happen this time, if they are tied up in criminal prosecutions as they should be. 

  11. MrAtoz says:

    Suddenly Styx is popping up everywhere. 

    “Come Sail Away” is one of my favorite songs of all time. I listen to Styx all the time.

  12. Jenny says:

    Rogue Electors. Assassination.
    Stonewalled by bureaucrats. 
    Age. 

    I’m trying to be optimistic. It’s not coming easily. 

    Lots of weird health stuff this year has left me worn down. Lots of bloodwork, ultrasounds, supplements, different exercise. Sleep is complete borked and temperature regulation is whacky. I’m praying hard 2025 is a fresh start. 50’s are odd.

    On the rabbit front. My sole buck inexplicably died this week. Breeding season resumes January / March and I’ve got 7 growouts born 8/20/24 to choose my next buck. But he was a really nice boy and not yet two years old. No signs of illness or distress, nothing on the cameras. Alive then dead. Boom.

    Cello is going pretty great. The new 7/8 size has been an enormous blessing for playability in my small hands. Played for two hours yesterday, no pain or soreness today. A friend and I have been playing simple piano / cello duets after church. Joyful.

    Daughter is stretching boundaries in all the typical pre-teen / teen ways. She got grounded for a month, a week later repeated the behavior and added a month to that. Dumb dumb dumb move. The month grounding was apparently not enough to dissuade her so we’re adding some additional consequences. 

    Parenting is not for the faint of heart. Nor is aging. Here we are, doing both -laughter-

    A friend at work is retiring in the new year. I was planning on 3rd quarter 2030, after talking about why he chose January, I’m likely to shift to January as well. Running numbers to see if that’s 2030 or 2031. Big piece of his decision was taxes on his cashed out leave, and being switched to the retiree insurance plan (resetting deductibles etc to zero).

    10
  13. Greg Norton says:

    Rogue Electors. Assassination.
    Stonewalled by bureaucrats. 
    Age. 

    I’m trying to be optimistic. It’s not coming easily. 
     

    Nothing to lose and powerful allies in the Governor’s Mansions, particularly Florida’s, his new home base.

    DeSantis don’t surf, and his likely successor doesn‘t either.

  14. brad says:

    @Jenny: Tween/teen girls are known to be…challenging. Good luck!

  15. Ray Thompson says:

    @Jenny: Retire on December 31. Especially if going on Obuttwad Care. I learned an expensive lesson.

  16. crawdaddy says:
    @Jenny: Retire on December 31.

    It really depends on your company. A lot of big corporations have vesting of HSA, 401(k) contributions and other benefits tied to employees being “on the books” on December 31 or whatever the corporate EOY is.
    I have been a victim of that policy, but have also had an unexpected positive financial experience by starting a new job on December 31 (my other insurance was expiring on 12/31, and I negotiated that date so I would be covered if something bad happened over a long holiday weekend.)

    You probably also want to look into what Ray mentioned.

  17. nick flandrey says:

    “I’ll be reviewing data from multiple sources with hopes of learning why that happened, and I welcome what that process might teach me.’ 

    Selzer’s poll for the Register and Mediacom days before the election predicted Harris would win by +3 percentage points. But Donald Trump went on to trounce the vice president by over +13 points in the Hawkeye State. 

    – maybe the lesson is “mind your own F’ing business.”

    n

  18. drwilliams says:

    Andrew McCarthy Thinks a ‘Clemency Package’ Is in the Works for Trump, Hunter Biden

    “I also think from what I can gather that sort of a deal is coming together because everyone understands that President Biden is going to pardon his son Hunter. That is not going to go down well — at least if it’s in a vacuum because, of course, he vowed he wouldn’t do it, not that anyone took that too seriously,” McCarthy said on “Fox and Friends.” “But I think it goes down easier for the country if it’s kind of like a clemency package where the Biden-Harris Justice Department dismisses the two cases against former President Trump, President-elect Trump, because they can’t be prosecuted at this point anyhow. He will be the sitting president of the United States. Then Biden pardons Hunter.”

    McCarthy thinks a deal would send a message that it’s time for this politicized (Democrat) weaponization of our law enforcement institutions to come to an end

    https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2024/11/07/andrew-mccarthy-thinks-a-clemency-package-is-in-the-works-for-trump-hunter-n2181685

    No deal.

    It would send a message that Garland and Smith want to stay out of jail. They can start practicing their suction.

    Joe can pardon Hunter, and the coda for his presidency is that he goes out a stone liar just as he came in. 

    Hunter has legal woes–so does FJB. What’s the status of limitations on treason? And there needs to be a trial proving definitely that Joe was in felonious possession of Top Secret documents stolen from a SCIF when he was a senator. Prove it, and then let him claim non compos mentis. Or, Joe, we can make a deal: you for Garland, Mayorkas, Pelosi and the rest. 

    It ain’t retribution, baby, it’s basic American jurisprudence: equal protection under the law. Done with asymmetrical lawfare. Done, done, done. Ask the J6 families how much forbearance they got. 

    10
  19. nick flandrey says:

    Everyone wants to make a deal AFTER they’ve been caught.  Until then, it’s “F that guy.”

    n

  20. Ray Thompson says:

    You probably also want to look into what Ray mentioned.

    I thought Obuttwad care premiums were based on a person‘s income. It is, but for the year, not the month. I got stuck with thousands in premiums for 4 months. My income for the year was over any assistance limit. I had no income those 4 months and it was rough. Without any coverage the IRS penalties were significant. Yeh, I got screwed with Vicks Vapor Rub. 

  21. drwilliams says:

    tingly!

  22. Greg Norton says:

    when the blacks came for Kamala, it wasn’t pretty:
     

    By that point in the evening, Kamala was probably finishing her second “juice box” and speaking fluent drunkenese.

  23. Ray Thompson says:

    speaking fluent drunkenese

    How does one know the difference?

  24. Lynn says:

    ★ Election 2024 ★     https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

    President
    Harris/Walz       226
    Trump/Vance    312

    U.S. Senate
    Democrats        45*(-3)
    Republicans     52(+3)

    U.S. House
    Democrats    185(-3)
    Republicans 196(+3)

    There are still 3 Senator and 54 House races to be resolved.

  25. Chad says:

    Anyone ever figure out why Nevada is ALWAYS so f’ing slow to count votes?

  26. drwilliams says:

    A military judge has reinstated the plea deals that Lloyd Austin attempted to vacate three months ago. The unnamed judged ruled that the Department of Defense lacks the authority to undo court orders in these tribunals, and to remove their convening authority ex post facto. That will allow the masterminds of 9/11 to spend the rest of their lives in super-max facilities rather than face the death penalty:

    https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/11/07/military-judge-overrules-defense-secretary-reinstates-plea-deals-for-911-masterminds-n3796767

    Now send Austin to Gitmo.

  27. Lynn says:

    The USA debt is getting ready to hit $36 trillion.

        https://usdebtclock.org/

  28. Lynn says:

    Given the apparent win of both the Senate and the House, Trump is being handed quite the mandate. I wish I didn’t think he would squander it, but that’s the way to bet. He accomplished very little in his first term – about the only thing you can say is that his inactivity extended to not starting any new wars.

    I strongly disagree with your comment here.  Living here in the USA, I saw many, many, many, many improvements after eight disappointing years of Bush and eight backward years of Obama.  Trump’s first term was a breath of fresh air even way down here in South Texas.

    1. THREE new conservative SCOTUS justices (If nothing else then that satisfied me)
    2. 150+ new conservative federal appeals and district judges
    3. A significant tax cut package that reduced personal and business taxes to spur the USA economy
    4. Made the bureaucracy cancel three existing laws for each new law
    5. Re-armed the military which was out of ammo due to the Iran / Afghanistan wars and dozens of area conflicts which Obama refused to buy (several hundred billion dollars)
    6. Was impeached twice wrongly by the Imperial Senate
    7. many, many, many more items were fixed that were broken by Bush and Obama

    There is a huge list of hundreds of items somewhere that I do not have the time to find.  

  29. Lynn says:

    Lots of weird health stuff this year has left me worn down. Lots of bloodwork, ultrasounds, supplements, different exercise. Sleep is complete borked and temperature regulation is whacky. I’m praying hard 2025 is a fresh start. 50’s are odd.

    @Jenny, please have yourself check for Lyme disease which is actually a single or mix of at least two bacterial diseases.

    My daughter’s first two symptoms back in 2002 or so was shifting sleep times and body temperature regulation problems.  Then she lost her thyroid to three huge goiters in 2005.  Then the sleep started moving forward a hour or two each day.  Then the massive migraines.  Then the mini strokes.

  30. Greg Norton says:

    speaking fluent drunkenese

    How does one know the difference
     

    Kamala starts to make sense because, once inebriated, she can’t remember the lies.

  31. Lynn says:

    Return CAFE to 38 MPG and a bill put through Congress, signed by Trump into law, not an EO, stating that only Congress can change it.

    50+ MPG has always been impossible. Look at the TSLA numbers every quarter from “regulatory credits”. That’s where Tony makes his money, not by actually, you know, selling the cars. 

    I have two friends with Toyota Priuses.  Both get 50 to 55 mpg regularly in them.  Both of their cars are clown cars for me, feels like I am wearing a coffin.

  32. Greg Norton says:
    1. Was impeached twice wrongly by the Imperial Senate
       

    The House Impeaches. The Senate conducts the trial.

    BTW, did you notice that Adam Schiff took Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat? That one has kinda slipped under the radar this week

    3
    1
  33. Lynn says:

    It was very satisfying to see all those long faces as they tried so very hard to figure put what went wrong. To simple to say ” your candidate sucked.”

    – Michigan Prepper

    – From the comments over at Zero’s place.

    Not very many men are willing to put a very liberal progressive woman in charge of the USA.  Especially one with no children and sounds like a Karen.  Most men already have a mama or wife telling them what to do.

  34. Greg Norton says:

    I have two friends with Toyota Priuses.  Both get 50 to 55 mpg regularly in them.  Both of their cars are clown cars for me, feels like I am wearing a coffin.
     

    On the highway?

    I get 44 on the highway in my Camry with ethanol-free gas. 

    Regular gas is around 40.

    Going to New Orleans last year, I filled the tank in Baytown and still had enough range to reach the destination when we stopped in Baton Rouge to fill up so we could visit Oak Aliey the next day without stopping.

    CAFE of 38 was hard enough on the manufacturers.

  35. Lynn says:

    On the rabbit front. My sole buck inexplicably died this week. Breeding season resumes January / March and I’ve got 7 growouts born 8/20/24 to choose my next buck. But he was a really nice boy and not yet two years old. No signs of illness or distress, nothing on the cameras. Alive then dead. Boom.

    Heart attack with a congenital heart condition.  Many human males die at age 15 to 20 of a heart attack.

    God gave us mammals a single heart with a two stage pump.  My research says that a single heart system uses 150 calories a day.  A double heart system would use 250 calories a day.  God had a budget and he chose to give that 100 calories per day to our brain which uses 300 calories per day.  Plus, a double heart system would have cavitation problems in low use times of the day (sleeping).

    God designed us for the tough times.  The human race lived in food poverty until 150 years ago.  I try to remember that in my prayers.

    7
    1
  36. Lynn says:

    I have two friends with Toyota Priuses.  Both get 50 to 55 mpg regularly in them.  Both of their cars are clown cars for me, feels like I am wearing a coffin.
     

    On the highway?

    I get 44 on the highway in my Camry with ethanol-free gas. 

    Regular gas is around 40.

    Nope, in the city on regular gas.  Those vehicles get better mileage in city driving than highway driving due to the brake recovery systems.  

    The Prius is an incredibly optimized vehicle, a very fancy enclosed skateboard that somehow meets all safety regulations.  The plug in variant gets over 70 mpg.

  37. Lynn says:

    Joe can pardon Hunter, and the coda for his presidency is that he goes out a stone liar just as he came in. 

    Half of Hunter’s problems are income tax issues in California.  Joe cannot pardon state offenses.

  38. EdH says:

    Anyone ever figure out why Nevada is ALWAYS so f’ing slow to count votes?

    Basically they say it is mail-in/early ballot verification issues, and lots of close races causing recounts:

    https://www.deseret.com/politics/2024/11/06/ballots-unverified-signatures-election-2024/

    OTOH other states have that, and don’t take so long.

  39. EdH says:

    Up to Fresno tomorrow to buy a used small (48″) pto bush hog.   

    My neighbor and I will go halves, it will make fire abatement a lot easier in the spring.

    In the spring “used” will be unobtanium.

  40. Lynn says:

    “Jay Powell says Donald Trump couldn’t fire him even if he tried”

       https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jay-powell-says-donald-trump-couldnt-fire-him-even-if-he-tried-203952244.html

    One thing that I know is that Donald Trump enjoys a challenge.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    Not very many men are willing to put a very liberal progressive woman in charge of the USA.  Especially one with no children and sounds like a Karen.  Most men already have a mama or wife telling them what to do.

    This is doubly true in the case of a progressive woman who got where she is in life on the basis of being attractive and having the lung power to suck a Prius through a straw.

  42. drwilliams says:

    “BTW, did you notice that Adam Schiff took Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat? That one has kinda slipped under the radar this week”

    when he gets convicted and jailed with the rest of the J6 committee, it won’t look like a good move. 

  43. paul says:
    on the basis of being attractive

    To each his own.    She does nada for me. 

  44. paul says:

    Last night’s movie was The Andromeda Strain.  1971.   I’ve never seen it.  I’ve read the book a few times. 

    Funny thing.  The outer space germ kills by turning your blood into powder.  Oh….. kind of like the clot shots filling veins and arteries full of stringy goo.   Yeah.  I guess BillG has read the book. 

    ===

    Tonight’s movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  I have what is tagged as a “Diamond Edition”.  It has the movie on a DVD and the movie on a Blu-ray plus another disc of stuff on Blu-ray.   I think I bought it at the Incredible Universe up there around Plano and Garland.  Or maybe the Incredible Universe in Austin.  Many years ago.  

    I watched the BluRay disc and dang…. both the picture and  audio are awesome.   It’s the 2009 Blu-ray release.  If there is a 4k version, I simply don’t see how it could have a better picture.

  45. Lynn says:

    I watched the BluRay disc and dang…. both the picture and  audio are awesome.   It’s the 2009 Blu-ray release.  If there is a 4k version, I simply don’t see how it could have a better picture.

    Standard Blu-ray is 2K wide by 1K tall which is pretty dadgum good.

  46. Lynn says:

    “It’s time to plan the prosecutions”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/11/its-time-to-plan-prosecutions.html

    “Now that President Trump has been elected the next President of the United States, it’s time to acknowledge the reality of the situation.”

    “Trump should have been elected to a second term in 2020.  That he was not is due solely and demonstrably to fraudulent manipulation of the results.  We wrote about it at the time, exhaustively (see, for example, here, here and here), as did many other observers and commentators.  The progressive left denied that for all it was worth, and the progressive news media played along.  For the past four years, any mention of vote manipulation in any form has been preceded by the words “false” or “lies” or “unproven allegations”.  Well, this election has just showed us the reality, as these two graphics (widely circulated on the Internet and social media) demonstrate:”

    https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAd-LYYUGjg5nj8rlr8pkW4_FT9DI1IGPkHU5qJWYr9FJsXBShOvZPirPnB6TTFEn6a4oRKkQS6hTDlLsXtT4zu_319iHqEbtm6tyV7vjOHUbsE7jcbnHoPC_4ejexIDfmMzdK1rSvKa4plWDSpCEwS7VsmJv0ab8M_wa1AHNN9VgR0jlizcFX7R7qsA/s550/Election%20figures%201.png

    So where did those missing 18 million votes go to ?

    Did 18 million people really stay home this election that voted in the 2020 election ?

    I ain’t buying that 18 million people voted in 2020 and stayed home for this election.

    And I am worried that I missed the Rapture also.

  47. paul says:

    I have perhaps 10 Blu-ray discs.  Picture on all are great.  The player “upscales”  DVDs (or something like that) so I save a couple of bucks and buy DVDs.  Picture looks very good to me.

  48. Greg Norton says:

    I watched the BluRay disc and dang…. both the picture and  audio are awesome.   It’s the 2009 Blu-ray release.  If there is a 4k version, I simply don’t see how it could have a better picture.

    Standard Blu-ray is 2K wide by 1K tall which is pretty dadgum good.

    Blu-ray also has more flexibility with audio channels and display ratios other than 16:9 and 4:3.

    If you have a DVD with a 2.25:1 movie, 60p on the top and bottom have been sacrificed to make the 16:9 playback ratio stretch the video to look correct on players adhering to the standard.

    Occasionally, you’ll get a DVD player which will offer other aspect ratios, but those do not meet the technical standard to get the DVD Video logo.

  49. paul says:

    Trump’s second term is going to be interesting.  Hopefully he will ignore the entrenched bureaucracy as to  picks for various positions.  They certainly didn’t help during his first term.

  50. Greg Norton says:

    Tonight’s movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  I have what is tagged as a “Diamond Edition”.  It has the movie on a DVD and the movie on a Blu-ray plus another disc of stuff on Blu-ray.   I think I bought it at the Incredible Universe up there around Plano and Garland.  Or maybe the Incredible Universe in Austin.  Many years ago.  

    The Incredible Universe stores became Fry’s in parts of the country about 27 years ago, when Tandy gave up on the chain concept.

    Fry’s did nothing to the gutted stores.

  51. paul says:

    My TV offers various aspect ratios.   I have it set so over the air fills the screen. I really never thought to see what the disc player offers.  Great, another rabbit hole.  And if a per disc setting,  forget it. 

    Hey, I’m cool.  Full screen.  Or like Snow White tonight, original aspect and black side bars on the screen….. it’s still like having a 45 inch Trinitron hanging on the wall. 

  52. Greg Norton says:

    “It’s time to plan the prosecutions”

    It’s time to fix the mess Biden made, starting with the “wars”.

    The prosecutions will have to wait. Trump has to make sure the midterms don’t put Hakim Jeffries in the Speaker’s chair.

    For starters, the Dem who took Colin Zachary’s place in the 32nd, Julie Johnson, should have a spotlight on her bid for reelection in two years.

    Unfortunately, Texas “Republicans” are stupid about it.

  53. Lynn says:

    “This is a good time to be optimistic. I certainly am.”

        https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/this-is-a-good-time-to-be-optimistic-i-certainly-am-151712/

    “It started with the Antonine Plague in the late 160s AD, most likely a really bad smallpox epidemic that killed 8 million people across the Roman Empire.”

    “Then came the barbarian invasions… a tidal wave of migrants pouring across Rome’s northern border and plundering the countryside.”

    “The Roman government also bizarrely spent a fortune doling out vast sums of money to adversary nations– a sort of bribe (they called it ‘tribute’) to make sure that foreign powers wouldn’t attack Rome.”

    “But instead, those adversary nations smelled weakness and used the money to build up their own military capabilities and menace the Empire… all courtesy of Roman taxpayers.”

    “But in the year 270, a new emperor came to power– former general Lucius Domitus Aurelianus, known to history as Aurelian.”

    “Aurelian’s success as emperor was nothing short of astonishing. In just five years, he managed to retake all the breakaway provinces and reintegrate the empire… and his swift military successes struck fear in the hearts of Rome’s foreign adversaries.”

    “Aurelian also made much needed changes in the Roman government and economy. He prosecuted corruption, terminated incompetent officials, reformed the currency, and eliminated the outrageously expensive alimenta welfare program.”

    One can only hope that Trump is as successful.

    11
  54. Greg Norton says:

    Oh, please, God, not Cornyn.

    As much as I despise Rick Scott RINO-FL, he would be a better Republican leader than Cornyn.

    https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4977673-senate-gop-leader-thune-cornyn/

  55. Lynn says:

    “Energy Blog: Solar Momentum Can’t Be Stopped, Experts Report”

        https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/energy-blog-solar-momentum-can%E2%80%99t-be-stopped,-experts-report

    ““If these rates of rapid coevolution are maintained, solar PV and wind power appear ready to irreversibly become the dominant electricity technologies within one to two decades,” the researchers reported, “as their costs and rate of growth far undercut all alternatives.””
     
    “What’s more, the researchers found, the rise of low-cost wind and solar would lead to a so-called tipping point, where the market position of fossil fuel power would be disrupted. “The policy and finance spheres should prepare for a rapid disruptive transition,” they concluded.”

    We are already seeing solar power as cheaper than fossil fuel power in Texas.

  56. Lynn says:

    “’I Will Crawl Over Broken Glass’: Candace Owens Endorses Alex Jones as Trump Press Secretary”

        https://rumble.com/v5mxotw-i-will-crawl-over-broken-glass-candace-owens-endorses-alex-jones-as-trump-p.html?e9s=src_v1_upp

    I would pay money to see this.

    Hat tip to:

       https://thelibertydaily.com/

  57. paul says:

    If not Alex, hey, Candace, YOU take the job. 

    3
    1
  58. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14054993/james-carville-americans-tricked-donald-trump.html

    ‘The one distressing thing about this, we won the surrogate battle 95 to 5. We had two ex-presidents out there, we had every rock star, cultural icon, athlete you could imagine,’ he said. 

    – and despite the distractions, people rejected the ACTUAL candidate.

    ‘We had a superior field operation, the canvassing, the door-to-door stuff,’ he continued. 

    ‘They just stole every dollar, they did none of that. They were vulgar, crude, rude people. And we also raised more money,’ he said. ‘You look at all the intangible advantages we had, and it didn’t amount to anything.’ 

    – all the money in the world won’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse.  The best you can hope for is to convince people they’ll like the pig’s ear just as much.  Which they didn’t.

    Carville assessed that Trump was elected because he was able to make the argument that ‘everything that happened to you is a result of migration and disorder.’ 

    ‘At the end of the day we had every advantage but we had the perception of disorder on every kind of level – foreign policy, border policy, economic policy,’ Carville said. ‘At the end of the day, it seems to me that the operative word is people want order and will pay anything to have order.’  

    — or it could be that your candidate was teh sux.  And the guy she worked for was teh sux.   And no one likes to be lied to by a liar.   

    – ha ha

    n

    10
  59. Lynn says:

    Given the apparent win of both the Senate and the House, Trump is being handed quite the mandate. I wish I didn’t think he would squander it, but that’s the way to bet. He accomplished very little in his first term – about the only thing you can say is that his inactivity extended to not starting any new wars.

    Anyway, here’s hoping he does something sensible in his second term.

    Here is the first accomplishment of the second Trump administration: “Iran-Backed Houthis Reportedly Declare Ceasefire Shortly After Trump Victory ”

        https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-backed-houthis-reportedly-declare-ceasefire-shortly-after-trump-victory

    My guess is that they do not want to see the B-2s and B-52s flying overhead, dropping tons of bombs on them.

  60. nick flandrey says:

    looks like -25 instead of the rumored -50 but not an attack yet… so that’s good.

    The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates, amid reports that Donald Trump will allow Chair Jerome Powell to remain in his job until 2026.

    The central bank made a 25 basis point cut Thursday, bringing rates down between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent.

    Lower rates are good news for consumers as it makes borrowing money less expensive, and should mean cheaper loans and credit card rates eventually trickle down to Americans.

    It is the second consecutive time the Fed, led by Powell, has cut rates this year, following an aggressive rate-hiking campaign to curb inflation.

    n

  61. Lynn says:

    Wow, look at the 2024 House map:

       https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/live_results/2024/house/

    That is unreal.  

  62. nick flandrey says:

    BTW,

    anyone have DOS cmd foo to give me a ren command to change a whole directory named with this pattern

    10 Speaker For The Dead – 4J.mp3 

    to one with just the last two characters?

    4J.mp3

    ren *4?.mp3   * 4*.mp3 doesn’t work.. . ignore the spaces, I needed them for the editor to not italicize and to leave the * in place.

    n

  63. nick flandrey says:

    Ah, I did it like a savage, poking at it with a mouse in the File Manager.

    and I did it for 9 directories with 11-12 files each, and it was still faster.

    n

  64. drwilliams says:

    Carville’s best idea was investing in Billy Beer in 1978.

    It’s been downhill for him eve since.

  65. Greg Norton says:

    anyone have DOS cmd foo to give me a ren command to change a whole directory named with this pattern

    10 Speaker For The Dead – 4J.mp3 

    to one with just the last two characters?

    I don’t think a single line ren would do it. You would need a script of some kind, but that would consume a good hour or so.

    Brute force just works for one-offs.

    Sadly, I’m seriously out of practice with scripting.

  66. lpdbw says:

    The victory I wanted so much is here, and I am unable to share my joy.

    My girlfriend has no idea what my political beliefs are.  She threatened to disown her son if he bought his pillows from the Mypillow guy.  I have my reasons for staying with her,and they mostly depend on my caring for her in spite of her ridiculous beliefs, because of our shared past and her past actions.  And  unfortunately, she’s dependent on me at the moment,  due to the  Biden economy.  I may even love her.

    I don’t post on Facebook at all, but I read it to keep in touch with family.  My daughter-in-law has made it clear that anyone, whether friends or family,  who supported Trump can just block and unfriend, and she doesn’t want to hear from them ever again.  I don’t know how I’m going to interact with her next time we meet, which will be December.  She’s got my middle son wrapped around her finger, so there’s a chance if I alienate her, I’ll lose him.

    I’ve been watching non-stop YT videos and X postings, and wallowing in the victory laps and liberal tears.  But I can’t share, and I can’t watch with anyone else.

    I remember the dark days after the elections of Carter, Clinton, Clinton redux, Obama, the return of Obama, and the theft by Biden’s people.  And the joy of Reagan, and the minor satisfaction of the various Bush wins.  Trump 45 made me fearful that he would be no better than the hag, being a NY democrat at heart, so he ended up surprising me.  But my joy on election day was limited to the defeat of the fascist criminal Hillary, not the victory of a good man.

     I deserve to savor this one, and to hope that Trump has learned his lesson about the backstabbers he selected last time, and how to avoid them this time.

    But I’m enjoying it alone.

    11
  67. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “We are already seeing solar power as cheaper than fossil fuel power in Texas.”

    Trump DoE should make demonstration projects top priority. Select the place, put up the fence, cut the interconnections to the grid, and have them show the world. If they need fossil fuel generation it should be inside the fence–along with the fuel.

    One of the projects should be a blue state. Delaware would be an excellent choice–legacy of FJB. 

  68. nick flandrey says:

    Not alone brother, not alone.   71 million of us, and a good dozen right here.

    n

  69. mediumwave says:

    Not alone brother, not alone.   71 million of us, and a good dozen right here.

    A baker’s dozen (literally: My last name is Baker. 😀 )

  70. Charlie says:

    Nick, try this: 

    • backup your folder
    • open a command prompt
    • cd to the folder with the files to be renamed
    • type powershell, press Enter, paste this:

    Get-ChildItem -File | ForEach-Object {
       $extension = $_.Extension
       $newName = $_.BaseName.Substring($_.BaseName.Length – 2) + $extension
       Rename-Item -Path $_.FullName -NewName $newName
    }

    Warning – it was generated by an AI tool, and I did very little testing. It won’t do subfolders (I think), and no idea what happens if some file has only 1 letter in the name, etc.

    And thank you very much for keeping this site alive!

    11
  71. Lynn says:

     I deserve to savor this one, and to hope that Trump has learned his lesson about the backstabbers he selected last time, and how to avoid them this time.

    But I’m enjoying it alone.

    Wow, you have a lot more self control than I do.  My wife has threatened to beat me with a stick if I don’t keep quiet around our very liberal daughter.

    And BTW, there are 71 million to 80 million of us celebrating the win, depending on who you believe as people are claiming that 20 million more votes have yet to be counted.

  72. Lynn says:

    We need to do something about the District of Columbia.  I don’t know what but over 90% of the bureaucrats voting for one party is just wrong.

        https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/live_results/2024/state/dc/president/

  73. brad says:

    The victory I wanted so much is here, and I am unable to share my joy.

    @lpdbw Not quite the same situation, but I’ve mentioned that Europe was totally for Harris. So I am also reticent about sharing my views of the situation, namely, that Trump was the lesser evil.

    It’s the same with Israel: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran could just stop attacking. When they do attack Israel, it seems to me that Israel has every right to counterattack. I am particularly impressed by Israel’s ability to go after the leaders, who normally sit in safety while sending other people to die.

    I’ve said as much to the family. But younger son takes part in pro-Gaza protests, and older son just let it be known to the familiy that they shouldn’t discuss politics with me, because I am “out there”. Huh? I would have thought a right to self-defense was obvious.

    So I generally try to avoid discussing politics, because apparently holding different opinions isn’t acceptable…

  74. JimB says:

    @lpdbw, we seem to share most of what you put in your post, which is similar to a lot of folks on this site, so you are not alone.

    I am not very political, but am fortunate to have friends and family who agree with me. Those who don’t agree are mutually respectful to the point we can have civil discussions. The few who are not tolerant avoid the subject. My situation is much more benign than yours.

    I hope some with similar opinions will chime in and give you the support you seek.

    Let’s salute a new golden age!

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