Fri. Mar. 14, 2025 – my best friend in high school’s birthday, but not mine…

Cool and damp. Clearing later, I hope. Overnight it was a bit hazy and the clouds were moving through. See yesterday’s last comment for my view of the eclipse.

Spent the day doing small things. Raked leaves from a flower bed. Cleared a drain. Worked on the concrete saw, in preparation for cutting some drain trenches in the driveway. That will let me work on drying out the “workshop” which will let me move stuff out of the garage… all part of the plan. Did some other small things.

Today will be similar. Wife and kid are headed home, but I’ll stay another day. I have pickups Saturday that I can get on the way home. Otherwise, I’d probably stay ’til Sunday. Lots of people up for the Spring Break weekend.

I think I’ll try cutting the slot for the trench drain in the driveway. Or I’ll start on the camera install. I probably won’t pull electrical in the attic unless it’s cold out. I don’t like working in attics alone, and my buddy is sick with something so he can’t watch me. Chemo and radiation take it out of you, and he picked up whatever is going around. D1 was coughing and snotty this week, and now W is showing symptoms too. I’m still ok.

Staying healthy when you are older is harder and I think probably more important than when you are younger. The D3 I’m taking seems to be helping me avoid all the bugs the kids bring home. It certainly isn’t sleep or clean living.

Not stacking much this week but I’m working on the BOL, and that counts too. Find something that needs doing and do it.

nick

29 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Mar. 14, 2025 – my best friend in high school’s birthday, but not mine…"

  1. Ray Thompson says:

    First post, and central time to boot.

    Nothing planned for today. Wife will be making cookies. I may nap.

    Tomorrow is the long drive to Slidell. I have to watch for the LA state police just across the state line with Texas. The speed drops from 75 to 70 and some people don’t pay attention. The I-state in LA has always been less than smooth with expansion joints poorly done so a thump-thump-thump… occurs for a long distance.

    Then there is that long bridge over the swamps. No trucks are allowed in the left lane which is largely ignored. Truck drivers either cannot read, don’t know their left from their right, or just don’t care.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Tomorrow is the long drive to Slidell. I have to watch for the LA state police just across the state line with Texas. The speed drops from 75 to 70 and some people don’t pay attention. The I-state in LA has always been less than smooth with expansion joints poorly done so a thump-thump-thump… occurs for a long distance.
     

    Amish hookers and their pimps were working the Love’s just before Baton Rouge when we drove to New Orleans last year.

    Old school.  Except for the phones, the girls could have been extras in any exploitation flick made in the last 50 years.

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    72F, windy, and light overcast.   Not a terrible day to be doing outdoor work.

    Coffee is brewed.   Bacon is made.   Egg is cooking.

    Past time to start the day.

    n

  4. EdH says:

    Overcast, 37F and a snow front passing tbrough, though melting as it hits the ground.

    Sunday is supposed to be sunny and 70F.

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    How could I forget???
     

    Happy Pi Day everyone!

    n

  6. dkreck says:

    Eat a Pie!

    Hey that’s my pie.

  7. MrAtoz says:

    Set Virtue Signal to M-A-X-I-M-U-M:

    ‘Trashing the Climate to Own the Cons’! Here’s What Dem Sen. Mark Kelly Traded in His Tesla For

    A Tahoe, really, what a fak-fuk climate simp. He just got tired of plugging the thing in for hours. He can gas up that giant gas guzzler in 10 minutes.

    Save us from Climate Change, just not by Hitler tRump and Mussolini mUsk.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    Save us from Climate Change, just not by Hitler tRump and Mussolini mUsk.

    The Dumbo’s insist on using Rules For Radicals even after the sheeple are starting to get wise.

  9. drwilliams says:

    Schumer Chooses Option 2, Shiite Sandwich with Side of Humble Pie

    https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2025/03/14/breaking-schumers-surrender-is-complete-n2186664

    video road kill meme for Schumie:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMRrsVaF7ek&t=1s

  10. drwilliams says:

    You Won’t Believe Why Johns Hopkins is Cutting 2000 Employees

    “…the elimination of foreign aid funding has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States.”

    When I looked at enrollment numbers for Johns Hopkins something struck me: they have 6,044 undergraduates and 25,231 graduate students. I can guarantee you that some of those graduate students are doing studies that will help the world and they will go on to do amazing things in their fields. I can also guarantee you that more than half, perhaps 70%, will likely never get a productive job in their field and are being taken for a ride. 

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/03/14/finally-universities-are-cutting-staffs-bigly-due-to-federal-budget-cuts-n3800752

    This is fallout from shutting down USAID.

    Columbia Punishes 22 Students for Building Takeover (Update: Another Arrest by ICE)

    A further breakdown suggests that Columbia expelled six students (in addition to the three already suspended by Barnard College). That means there were about 16 suspensions/degree revocations. One of the people expelled happened to be the president of the graduate students’ union. Naturally, CUAD is threatening to file a federal case claiming the school is trying to bust the union.

    Also today, we’re learning that the Trump administration has given Columbia a list of demands. These are the things the school must do if it wants to have $400 million in government grants restored. They were given a week to comply.

    Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that one of the Columbia students who had her student visa revoked for advocating for violence and terrorism self-deported using the CBP Home App and ICE arrested a Palestinian student for overstaying her expired F-1 visa.

    Kordia first entered the US in 2016 on a tourism visa and obtained a student visa the next year, sources said. But in 2021, the feds terminated her visa for lack of attendance. She then applied to have her revoked visa reinstated and was approved later that year.

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/03/14/columbia-punishes-22-students-for-building-takeover-plus-a-dhs-search-on-campus-n3800768

    Indian student self-deports. “Palestinian” “student” overstays is an deceptive understatement. So the lingering question is where was she getting support? They need to deep-dive investigate these illegal aliens and when the threads pull together make a federal case for conspiracy to subvert immigration laws, season it with some RICO, and expedite the court schedule.

  11. Greg Norton says:

    When I looked at enrollment numbers for Johns Hopkins something struck me: they have 6,044 undergraduates and 25,231 graduate students. I can guarantee you that some of those graduate students are doing studies that will help the world and they will go on to do amazing things in their fields. I can also guarantee you that more than half, perhaps 70%, will likely never get a productive job in their field and are being taken for a ride. 

    Foreign grad student tuition is easy money. I wonder how many CS majors are in there for the piece of paper with the Johns Hopkins name at the top.

  12. drwilliams says:

    Tuned in and watched my traditional 30 seconds of college basketball tournament. They are still carrying the ball down the court rather than dribbling. meh.

    And “physicality” is still not a word, “Jane the wordslut”.

  13. drwilliams says:

    Report: The Plot Thickens on the Scandal Over Who May Have Been Using Biden’s Autopen

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/14/the-plot-thickens-bidens-signature-scandal-may-blow-wide-open-n2186676

    There’s evidence he didn’t sign.

    There’s no evidence he authorized the autopen to  sign.

    There’s no record of him signing.

    There’s no standard for witnessing.

    The rats are beginning to speak.

    Will it be dead on a park bench or suicide in a holding cell?

  14. Greg Norton says:

    There’s evidence he didn’t sign.

    There’s no evidence he authorized the autopen to  sign.

    No one thought about maybe using the pen to sign off on a rescue mission for the astronauts?

    The launch this afternoon was perfect, and they stuck the landing on the booster.

  15. MrAtoz says:

    There’s no evidence he authorized the autopen to  sign.

    A good point. What is the procedure for the autopen use? Wouldn’t POTUS have some offical wet signature document authorizing it’s use. I mean all those pardons were signed by autopen.

  16. drwilliams says:

    The Bushies had a 30-page justification for the remote signing of a particular document.

    If I ever tok my cynical hat off I would be putting it back on now: The dog didn’t bark on that night, or to make it clear, it is darned suspicious that some PLT’s didn’t try to make things more difficult by challenging that use in court. The fact that they didn’t indicates at a minimum that they saw benefit in normalizing this use, beyond similar uses by PLT’s POTUS’s in the future. Not in the same room because he’s 3000 miles away today becomes not in the same room because he’s taking a drugged out nap in the Biden White House.

    I can sign a traffic ticket without a notary, but anything that involves a few bucks requires confirmation.

    FJB “signed” away billions of dollars without a fly on the wall. And signed documents under authority possessed by no one else in the world.

    Left one thing off the list involved:

    FJB has no memory of signing.

    ADDED:
    Quote from the NY Post article:
    The autopen, housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House, hasn’t been used only for weighty documents — such as pardons issued to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Dr. Anthony Fauci in the closing days of Biden’s term.

    ” In fact, the pen has been used by White House staff to ink everything from kitchen utensils to sports memorabilia.”

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/14/the-plot-thickens-bidens-signature-scandal-may-blow-wide-open-n2186676

    The inescapable conclusion ifs that the ap was not under control.

  17. drwilliams says:

    more from the NYP at the above link:

    “We have gone significantly further than [the] need for express approval, both in this Administration and in the First Trump Administration,” Scharf wrote.

    “Our practice around autopen usage is far more restrictive than most previous administrations. We do not use the autopen for documents that exercise the powers of the Presidency. So, for example, we do not use the autopen for executive orders, presidential memoranda, decision memoranda, nominations, appointment orders or commissions, or bills to be signed,” he wrote.

    Trump should submit a draft of legislation to be introduced in both houses codifying that limitation into law, and making any use of the autopen subject to verification and physical logging procedures without which  documents will not be recognized as being legally signed by the POTUS.

  18. drwilliams says:

    Columbia Punishes 22 Students for Building Takeover (Update: Another Arrest by ICE)

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/03/14/columbia-punishes-22-students-for-building-takeover-plus-a-dhs-search-on-campus-n3800768

    I’m reposting because I missed something earlier: Take a look at the uncaptioned photo at the head. That is almost certainly “Khalil” out front at a demonstration. There were countless videos taken at Columbia, and the arrogance of the demonstrators and the “journos” covering them makes it extremely likely that there is posted video that shows him and others on visas violating that law by advocating for Hamas, a terrorist organization.

    Khalis is married, and hopefully his wife is also on a visa and can be deported, along with any children. Then follow up with a court case dissolving any claim those kids can have to citizenship, based on their parents violation of the terms of their visas.

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    Thunder, lightning and rain coming down.   I don’t think I’ll get a little fire tonight.

    I did get everything outside buttoned up so I can just leave in the morning if it’s still raining.

    Maybe I’ll watch a movie…

    n

  20. Greg Norton says:

    I’m reposting because I missed something earlier: Take a look at the uncaptioned photo at the head. That is almost certainly “Khalil” out front at a demonstration. There were countless videos taken at Columbia, and the arrogance of the demonstrators and the “journos” covering them makes it extremely likely that there is posted video that shows him and others on visas violating that law by advocating for Hamas, a terrorist organization.

    In Winter, the demonstrators usually have pricey European outerwear which is relatively unique outside of the theme park countries.

  21. drwilliams says:

    Grill fire tonight. Steak.

    Microwaved the Yukon Golds and green beans.

    Toaster oven for the garlic cheese toast.

    Cellar for the Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest (born on 8/21/20). 6% abv. Higher alcohol beers develop as they age. This one has a bit more complexity, but probably won’t get any better, so it goes on the drink list. Very good with the steak.

    and after a suitable interval, strawberry rhubarb pie.

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    brats with mustard, and sauteed asparagus… got them off the grill just as the rain started.  It’s stopped, and only 65F, so I could go down to the dock and have a tiny fire, but I think I’ll shower, read, and sleep. 

    I’ve got an early start tomorrow.

    n

  23. drwilliams says:

    just skip to 6:30 and watch:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELGLQY9cqds

  24. Nick Flandrey says:

    More retail apocalypse

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14500647/dollar-general-chain-store-mass-closures-retail-apocalypse.html 

    Dollar General is closing 96 stores in early 2025, along with 45 locations under its pOpshelf brand. 

    Another six pOpshelf stores will be converted into Dollar General locations, the company said in its latest earnings report released Wednesday. 

    The discount retailer, which operates more than 20,000 stores nationwide, said the closures come after a review of its store portfolio — with the shops all not making enough money.

    The company has not yet announced which stores will be affected. 

    The closures come as Dollar General faces up to the reality of Americans spending less, particularly low-income shoppers. Vasos said many customers are struggling to afford even basic necessities. 

    ‘Many of our customers report they only have enough money for basic essentials, with some noting that they have had to sacrifice even on the necessities,’ CEO Todd Vasos said as the retailer announced October to December earnings. 

    Dollar General joined a growing list of retailers warning of weak annual sales and profit as it gave its earnings update.

    It said its consumers were struggling to afford  essentials as high inflation and economic uncertainty dent their spending power.

     Things gotta be pretty tight if you can’t afford the dollar store.

  25. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ice cream car!   Robot dog!

    n

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    Just need the clothes dryer to finish so I can move the last load into it and then I can sleep.   It’s always something…

    n

  27. MrAtoz says:

    Khalis is married, and hopefully his wife is also on a visa and can be deported, along with any children. Then follow up with a court case dissolving any claim those kids can have to citizenship, based on their parents violation of the terms of their visas.

    I believe she is US and is how he got a Green Card. I wonder is she has the guts to go to terror land.

  28. lynn says:

    Cherry pie here with vanilla ice cream.

  29. lynn says:

     Things gotta be pretty tight if you can’t afford the dollar store.

    Dollar General is not a dollar store like Dollar Tree.  

    We have a Dollar General in Crab, Texas by my house.  They have items up to five dollars including bake yourself frozen pizzas (SNAP).

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