Tues. May 6 (or 7), 2024 – hopefully the rain has passed, for a bit anyway… – Daynotes Journal (2024)

Greg Norton says:

I made the mistake of opening Reddit again. There are a couple of Swiss groups. On one of those is a person who has moved to Switzerland (they apparently had citizenship through a parent), and intends to renounce their US citizenship. Reason? Because they want to bail on $600k of student loans.

First, what were they thinking? Second, why does the government guarantee these loans? Otherwise, no lender would ever offer a student that kind of money. Seriously nuts.

My guess: Dentist. They’re always the group in the most trouble with loans. $1 million isn’t uncommon.

Ever since the Federal student loan program was nationalized with interest payments going into the US Government’s coffers, the sky has been the limit with tuition increases.

My daughter was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design this year.

$68k tuition annually.

Yeah, that isn’t happening. The suggested Parent PLUS loans would put us in hock at a number greater than my personal accumulated 401(k) balances, effectively making our household insolvent except for whatever unicorn fart number that the house is worth.

For an art degree from a Fancy Lad school.

Greg Norton says:

I made the mistake of opening Reddit again. There are a couple of Swiss groups. On one of those is a person who has moved to Switzerland (they apparently had citizenship through a parent), and intends to renounce their US citizenship. Reason? Because they want to bail on $600k of student loans.

Just curious – does renouncing citizenship work with regard to the student loan balance?

If the loans didn’t pay for some kind of professional medical diploma then the money went into lifestyle.

The lifestyle probably included flights to … Switzerland!

Dirtbag.

Greg Norton says:

Commencement isn’t for another two weeks at God-forsaken Blue State U.

Nick Flandrey says:

76F and mostly clear. Sun is trying to get out.

n

Nick Flandrey says:

We’ve had the same bus driver for D2 this whole year. He’s been rock solid, arriving exactly on time almost every single day. Maybe twice? there has been any significant deviation. I just stood in the front lawn and waved him on since we’re going to the orthodontist instead of riding the bus to school. I’ll do my part to help him stay on schedule…

What a difference to last year where we had a different bus driver every couple of weeks and their arrival time could vary by 20 minutes or more.

Hard to get good employees.

n

Nick Flandrey says:

I don ‘t think your debts get discharged just because your citizenship changes. And I can’t imagine the Swiss giving him citizenship if he’s a deadbeat. Is he already a dual? Most countries require that you bring assets INTO the country with you.

Unless you are a “refugee”.

n

drwilliams says:

Revocation of degrees should be automatic when the loans that paid for them are renounced.

Nick Flandrey says:

Illegal from Guatamala, enters thru Mexico, ends up in Florida, with a bunch of family, who are also illegal…

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13389723/Migrant-arrested-kidnapping-raping-pre-teen-weeks-illegally-crossing-border-given-2027-immigration-court-date.html

And who apparently think sex with an 11 yo is JUST FINE if they acknowledge the child…

Lopez is alleged to have raped the girl in a van that was parked outside her family home.

Incredibly, the girl’s mother banged on the side of the van where her daughter was being held and she was able to escape.

Lopez then ran out of the van, saying he was sorry and asked for forgiveness.

The affidavit said the child and Lopez live in the same apartment building.

The mother didn’t call the police initially because she was afraid that her own immigration status might be called into question. She had also had a prior incident when her daughter was taken from her by authorities.

The 11-year-old girl told investigators how Lopez grabbed her hand and told her to ‘get into the van.’

She explained how he started touching her and that she pushed Lopez away and was able to get out of the van, only for him to pull her back inside the vehicle.

The girl then outlined to investigators how Lopez sexually assaulted her.

Police then went to Lopez’s apartment to question him but as they did so, he escaped through a window in the back of the home.

Lopez sister-in-law appeared to now know what he had done.

‘It was 9 at night and the mom came into my house saying that something happened with her daughter and Marvin,’ Hermencie Vasquez said to WPTV. ‘I asked Marvin what would he do if she got pregnant and if he would be responsible, and he said yes he would be responsible for the child.’

There is no universe where this is ok.

n

brad says:

My daughter was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design this year. $68k tuition annually.

Insane. I know they’ve also gotten more expensive, but…state schools?

Also: Art and Design? Almost everything under that title is not a career, but rather a hobby. She needs to study something she can earn a living with. Get established, then pursue art on the side.

Revocation of degrees should be automatic when the loans that paid for them are renounced.

Nah, just make the schools liable for them. All problems solved – suddenly, loans would be very restrictive, and tuition would drop back to sane levels.

brad says:

I don ‘t think your debts get discharged just because your citizenship changes. And I can’t imagine the Swiss giving him citizenship if he’s a deadbeat. Is he already a dual? Most countries require that you bring assets INTO the country with you.

Yes, unfortunately. He apparently was born to at least one Swiss parent, so he already has citizenship.

Nick Flandrey says:

‘Far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire,’ said Indira Venkateswaran, AARP Senior Vice President of Research.

‘Everyday expenses continue to be the top barrier to saving more for retirement,’ she added.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13387985/nineties-magazine-predicted-modern-cost-living.html

Jebus H. the language suggests a rats nest for a brain. Lack of options for saving.. they don’t have piggy banks? mattresses? bank accounts? guitar shops?*

No. what they lack is money to save at the end of the month. Because of choices like spending $24 on a lunch.

n

* my wife’s co-worker was an addict and yet a high earner. He would buy guitars when he was flush, and sell them when he was broke. The added friction of the transactions slowed his spending and allowed him to put some value aside for later. If he left it in accessible cash, it would all vanish.

PaultheManc says:

@Nick – not wishing to teach my ‘grandmother to suck eggs’, but a letter to the bus driver’s employer would provide some recognition for him?

Ray Thompson says:

@Jack:

Ray had the math backwards in saying California got more in fed $$$ than its residents paid

Does that include all the federal money for the pork projects, such as high speed rail that is billions over budget and goes nowhere? The military bases, the highways, the massive water projects? A lot of that money is federal grants as California is too broke to afford such projects.

PaultheManc says:

Reflecting on a Sunday evening ‘happening’.

I was in a local food retailer doing a small shop, when suddenly to my right there was a young employee shouting at a young man with a big bag on my left who was cleaning out the meat cabinet. She was shouting at him to get out, but I would expect she is instructed to not physically engage with the thief, and he was taking little notice.

I did not think, I immediately stepped forward and physically ushered him to the exit (he complained about the rough handling!!).

The young employee said that that was the third of fourth time he had stolen from the shop that day. He had the appearance of someone with a drug problem.

I acted on instinct, rather than a considered response. Pleased with the outcome, but it could have been quite different.

I have made two citizen arrests when I was younger and not on my own. I might be programmed to die?

brad says:

@PaultheManc: I find it completely wrong that shops just let theft happen. If the shop doesn’t have security personnel, just lock the doors and call the police. Tell the other customers why they are being delayed. In areas where this is a persistent problem, arm and train the shop personnel.

I’m sure that won’t work for every shop, but just putting up with looting is not the solution.

Ray Thompson says:

No. what they lack is money to save at the end of the month. Because of choices like spending $24 on a lunch.

And $12.00 cups of coffee each day at Starbucks. There is a reason “bucks” is as the end of the company name.

The other that gets me is people complaining of having no money and smoking a pack of cigarettes each day. Probably each person in the partnership. With 12 lottery tickets in their pockets and stopping at the lottery counter at the QuickieMart to get buy some scratch off tickets while holding a six pack of beer in one hand. But they certainly saved a lot of money on dental procedures by not doing any.

Ray Thompson says:

If the shop doesn’t have security personnel, just lock the doors and call the police

The person may be armed and harm others in a desperate attempt to leave. The liability for the store is huge and may not be covered by insurance. If insurance does cover any personal harm, the coverage will probably be dropped and the store will not be able to find other coverage.

A high powered laser, with a green dot for aiming, fitted with AI (ain’t everything configured as such today?) that burns a small hole in one of the arms (or both) and failing that target the cheeks next. Might be cheaper than insurance.

drwilliams says:

But drugs are a victimless crime.

Ray Thompson says:

But drugs are a victimless crime.

Until you are a victim.

EdH says:

Seems like I have heard this before, somewhere…

AI Engineers Face Burnout Amid Tech Industry Rat Race

—–

It occurs to me that there is an AI version of the “Tragedy of the Commons” going on.

There is a Commons, which is a combination the lower Upper class, and the Middle class, which has money to be used to purchase AI related products.

And then there are AI proponents, which seek to replace the jobs of these people.

No individual AI replacement “solution” will take the jobs of everyone, and each vendor of such a application hopes that there will be still be enough people gainfully employed to buy his product.

MrAtoz says:

I just watched the recorded Apple iPad event. Some impressive new iPads at even more excessive prices. Must…have…new…iPad Pro. For continued access to Elysium.

LOL, Timmy starts out hawking Vision Pro. I wonder if that is because sales are in the tank? $3,499 starting. Sure.

Timmy shows the first three “creatives” and “students” using the new iPad. Amish, Amish, Asian… And a train full of POC not paying attention during some iPad guru’s presentation. Does Apple really believe the iPad user base is NOT WHITEY! Heresy! I take that back!

I do not get kickbacks from Apple.

PS Can we just scrape “jack” from the bottom of our shoe?

drwilliams says:

Israeli tanks have taken the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah. The vermin have no escape.

Now if they would just announce that there will be no prisoners taken if a single hostage is killed.

EdH says:

I just watched the recorded Apple iPad event. Some impressive new iPads at even more excessive prices. Must…have…new…iPad Pro. For continued access to Elysium.

Like the desktop PC did years ago, the new iPhones and iPads have reached (and passed) the point of diminishing returns to the users.

Even the True Believers are starting to notice the scam.

The only new hardware Apple has is the helmet.

Denis says:

Hi, Nick. The date in the post title is incorrect. Unless I am mistaken, today is 7 May 2024.

Obviously, all comments posted before this one are invalid 🙂

drwilliams says:

Siete de Mayo.

Rick H says:

I adjusted the title (but not the link, as that might bork comment links) of today’s post.

Nick Flandrey says:

Aye, I’m a bit out of sorts today… didn’t notice…

n

Ken Mitchell says:

Given The Chance, Austin Voters Escape Austin

https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=57993

Linked from Instapundit https://instapundit.com/646070/

MrAtoz says:

Must see on X:

John Fugelsang LOSES It After Nick Searcy Sends Him the Bee’s Hilarious ‘Woke Jesus’ Video and LOL

The BB video is hilarious.

Biden’s Latest Gaffe on Taxes Is a Refreshingly Unintentional Moment of Honesty

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut now and then. Yeah, he’s gonna raise your taxes, idiots.

paul says:

The out of date mustard? The seller replied.

“Sorry, for any inconvenience this may have caused. We actually don’t sell that mustard anymore. I can submit a refund, and over ride the having to return the item. Again, sorry about that.”

Refund applied to my gift card balance. That was painless.

paul says:

I escaped Austin.

From what I’ve heard, Lamar from 183/Research/Anderson Lane (it’s a mess) north to Braker isn’t very nice anymore. Ghetto isn’t the right word. “Rio Grande Valley” comes close.

Lynn says:

Freefall: Communal Showers

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff4100/fc04057.htm

Yeah, wolf hybrids don’t do well in communal showers.

Lynn says:

“ERCOT issues Weather Watch as blistering heat threatens Texas”

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/ercot-texas-grid-warning-19444474.php

The power grid manager says the watch is due to “unseasonably high temperatures.”

It is hot and muggy out there baby !

ERCOT will be spinning all of the gas turbines up at 5pm when the 16,000 MW of solar power starts going away.

Lynn says:

I adjusted the title (but not the link, as that might bork comment links) of today’s post.

Aye, I’m a bit out of sorts today… didn’t notice…

The two of y’all do a great job together keeping this place running. I really appreciate it.

Lynn says:

I made the mistake of opening Reddit again. There are a couple of Swiss groups. On one of those is a person who has moved to Switzerland (they apparently had citizenship through a parent), and intends to renounce their US citizenship. Reason? Because they want to bail on $600k of student loans.

First, what were they thinking? Second, why does the government guarantee these loans? Otherwise, no lender would ever offer a student that kind of money. Seriously nuts.

The whole student loan program is one gigantic brain fart.

Edit: I wonder if that will actually work? For $600k, I would seriously hope that someone would come after them, garnish their wages, whatever. I suppose the lender doesn’t care, though – government guarantee…

Hi Brad, I hang out in five reddit groups. The printsf group is fairly volatile with 317K users. The moderators go crazy trying to keep it civil.

I have been banned and scrubbed from the reddit wormfanfic group for stating my opinion that Taylor Varga is better than Worm. Oh well, their loss.

The USA federal student loan program looks to be terribly mismanaged. But, I am seeing doctors claim that their student loans are routinely over a quarter million. I cannot imagine.

Lynn says:

As I was driving around I did see that the local bayous are at higher than normal levels. I crossed the San Jac river in the middle of the bridge and couldn’t see down to see what it looked like though. Google gave me flood warnings when I navigated to my auction pickup in Kingwood (north and east, where all the flooding starts to show up as you head out of Houston proper.) I didn’t see many signs of flooding though.

One of my auctioneers did show me a picture of his car flooded to the door handles in Porter.

Oh crap, gonna be lots of “fixed” vehicles on the used car lots again with mysterious electrical problems.

Lynn says:

My daughter was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design this year.

My son’s best friend is the backgrounds art manager at an LA game software studio. You know the one. He makes $400K per year. He has a masters in art design from SMU (ivy league wannabe college in Dallas, Texas).

Lynn says:

Israeli tanks have taken the Gaza-Egypt border crossing at Rafah. The vermin have no escape.

Now if they would just announce that there will be no prisoners taken if a single hostage is killed.

I wonder if Israel is going to open the gates to Egypt and let the two million Palestinians freely go through. That will get the Egyptians blood to pumping. If so, this is a very gutsy move but it solves their Gaza strip problem.

Lynn says:

“Study Finds ‘Significant Increase’ In Cancer Mortality After 3rd COVID Dose”

https://ktrh.iheart.com/featured/houston-texas-news/content/2024-05-02-study-finds-significant-increase-in-cancer-mortality-after-3rd-covid-dose/

“In Japan, 86.5% took a 3rd Covid vaccine jab, compared to just 15% here in the U.S.”

The 30 year analysis paper on the Koof vaccines may be very interesting. It will probably be squashed.

Lynn says:

Reflecting on a Sunday evening ‘happening’.

I was in a local food retailer doing a small shop, when suddenly to my right there was a young employee shouting at a young man with a big bag on my left who was cleaning out the meat cabinet. She was shouting at him to get out, but I would expect she is instructed to not physically engage with the thief, and he was taking little notice.

I did not think, I immediately stepped forward and physically ushered him to the exit (he complained about the rough handling!!).

Good for you. But dangerous.

Had he pulled a knife or a gun on you then I hope that you were prepared to defend yourself.

Many of these local shops and stores are complaining that when the pilferage rises above 3% then they cannot stay in business. Not good if you enjoy having a local store.

Back in the 1970s, the 7-11 corner stores would randomly put shotgun squads in their stores in the back. The thieves soon learned that they did not like playing Russian Roulette.

I wonder if we will start getting shotgun squads in the stores some day ?

EdH says:

Siete de Mayo.

—–

A friend mentioned that CostCo was super busy today.

I reminded her that the weekend was the Cinco de Mayo holiday, so this was Cinco de Ketchup for everyone.

Apparently I am now blocked?

SteveF says:

He makes $400K per year. He has a masters in art design from SMU (ivy league wannabe college in Dallas, Texas).

That’s equivalent to talking about your classmate whose cover band went on to sign a million-dollar deal with a major label. Take a look at the median earnings of the would-be musician or actor or graphic artist or pick-up basketball player and then tell me that going a couple hundred thousand into debt in pursuit of the dream is a good investment.

Most college degrees have essentially no market value. They are luxury goods, and borrowing to buy luxuries is a foolish move.

… And I believe that I’ve found the topic for my next essay. Time permitting.

lpdbw says:

re: pilferage, shotgun squads

Even in Texas, it’s frowned upon to shoot someone for theft. Sometimes legal, but will get you a heap of legal trouble proving it.

In some places, like Cacafornia, you could have private security arrest, handcuff, and hold a suspect, caught red-handed with witnesses and videotape, and the prosecutor won’t even let charges get filed. I suspect Harris county in Texas is much the same way.

You can’t SSS and get away with it, so your shotgun squads only work if you’re suffering aggravated robbery, preferably with a gun, and can claim self-defense.

Most of the pilferage is grab-and-go, and the insurance risk is too high to stop them. That’s why even in Katy, TX, Walmart and CVS are locking up more and more aisles behind plexiglas.

EdH says:

I wonder if Israel is going to open the gates to Egypt and let the two million Palestinians freely go through. That will get the Egyptians blood to pumping. If so, this is a very gutsy move but it solves their Gaza strip problem.

I doubt they want a fourth war, this time with Egypt.

Plus, why would they want to let the mass murderers live, to appease the left?

“It is better to be feared than loved” – some old white dude.

The middle east respects a strong horse, so looking at it coldly: reducing Gaza to rubble and killing anyone that took part in October 7 should garner plenty of that.

Greg Norton says:

My daughter was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design this year.

My son’s best friend is the backgrounds art manager at an LA game software studio. You know the one. He makes $400K per year. He has a masters in art design from SMU (ivy league wannabe college in Dallas, Texas).

I’m not going to roll the dice on personal insolvency to give my kid a piece of paper from a Fancy Lad art school.

Greg Norton says:

My daughter was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design this year. $68k tuition annually.

Insane. I know they’ve also gotten more expensive, but…state schools?

Also: Art and Design? Almost everything under that title is not a career, but rather a hobby. She needs to study something she can earn a living with. Get established, then pursue art on the side.

SCAD is not a public university, but the full ride scholarship awards at UT Austin this year are $100,000 just for the tuition/books.

paul says:

I’m not going to roll the dice on personal insolvency

Absolutely.

drwilliams says:

“In other words, the linked site counts what the citizens pay on one side, and what their state government receives on the other.”

Money flows both ways between every state and the federal government. The linked website, like many, is playing games with partial accounting. For example, California has the largest federal payroll (combined military and civilian) of any state, representing billions of dollars in federal money being spent in-state.

Greg Norton says:

My son’s best friend is the backgrounds art manager at an LA game software studio. You know the one. He makes $400K per year. He has a masters in art design from SMU (ivy league wannabe college in Dallas, Texas).

Your son’s friend should save his money. Microsoft/Bethesda just announced significant layoffs, and the other studios are not far behind.

Get Woke Go Broke has cripped the games industry as well.

Lynn says:

“Amazon unveils first electric seaport trucks amid push to slash tailpipe emissions”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-unveils-first-electric-seaport-180339844.html

“LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Amazon.com on Tuesday will unveil the first of a dozen Volvo electric big rigs it plans to deploy this year to pick up cargo from the nation’s busiest container seaport in southern California.”

“The e-commerce giant said it already has eight of those semi trucks in use at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, where every so-called drayage truck must be zero-emissions by 2035.”

I wonder if all of the big truck makers have electric trucks coming ?

I have not heard how the Tesla Semi is doing.

Greg Norton says:

Nah, just make the schools liable for them. All problems solved – suddenly, loans would be very restrictive, and tuition would drop back to sane levels.

Schools are liable for their results with tuition paid under the Federal student loan program in the US.

Borrower Defense.

Right now, it is an obscure mechanism, but going that route is going to get a lot more popular in the near future.

Lynn says:

xkcd: Good and Bad Ideas

https://xkcd.com/2929/

We would have lost WWII without leaded gasoline. The bombers and fighters both required 100+ octane gasoline which was only achievable using massive quantities of tetra-ethyl lead in those days.

Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2929:_Good_and_Bad_Ideas

drwilliams says:

Judge In Trump Classified Docs Case Indefinitely Postpones Trial Date

https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/07/judge-trump-classified-docs-case-indefinitely-postpones-trial

Letting Biden off scot-free when he unlawfully possessed classified documents he “acquired” while a senator and vice president already mooted this case as an election issue. Postponing the trial date just takes it off the Dems lawfare list.

If it does ever get to trial on of the first things the defense will do is challenge the legality of Smith’s appointment, which was not lawful based on the special prosecutor law.

Meanwhile in the news today: One of the NY legislative cheerleaders of the “get Trump” law passed to re-open the statue of limitations to benefit E.Jean Carroll’s expired claims has been hit with a rape allegation in a case reopened by the same law, which he now claims is unconstitutional.

Ray Thompson says:

I have not heard how the Tesla Semi is doing.

Probably stuck somewhere between Barstow and Baker waiting for tow or a large diesel generator.

drwilliams says:

@Lynn

We would have lost WWII without leaded gasoline. The bombers and fighters both required 100+ octane gasoline which was only achievable using massive quantities of tetra-ethyl lead in those days.

Asbestos was an important war materiel also.

Ask the Brits how heat pumps are working out for them.

Lynn says:

“The 2024 election campaign in a nutshell”

https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-2024-election-campaign-in-nutshell.html

“Remember the acronym TINVOWOOT – There Is No Voting Our Way Out Of This – because you’re going to be hearing it a lot between now and then.”

What Peter said. We are so screwed. Just the average 30% inflation per year for the next decade is going to hose us.

Lynn says:

Asbestos was an important war materiel also.

Ask the Brits how heat pumps are working out for them.

We did have a replacement for Asbestos, CaSi something. It is just not as good an insulator.

The heat pumps are working fine between the electrical brown outs occurring daily and weekly. Oh, and the economic incentives are bankrupting the nation. And some people don’t like the heat pumps because the heating air is 120 F instead of the natural gas heating air at 140 F.

Nick Flandrey says:

Yummy frozen meat. Just saying…

n

dcp says:

my opinion that Taylor Varga is better than Worm.

Agreed.

A variation, Great Grand-Uncle Schimmelhorn’s Toolbox, is much the same as Taylor Varga. It starts with a slightly different twist, but is still a lot of fun: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40531458

Nick Flandrey says:

Youtube decided I needed to see some vids about people having shop accidents. The woman who cut the tip off her thumb had a very good suggestion.

If you work with tools in a shop, have a PLAN for where to go if you have a hand injury… not just any ER will do.

https://www.assh.org/s/hand-trauma-center-network

Nice interactive map.

n

drwilliams says:

Unscientific American

Science journalism surrenders to progressive ideology.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/unscientific-american

Just another PLT rag.

The last paragraph of the article:

Unfortunately, progressive activists today begin with their preferred policy outcomes or ideological conclusions and then try to force scientists and journalists to fall in line. Their worldview insists that, rather than challenging the progressive orthodoxy, science must serve as its handmaiden. This pre-Enlightenment style of thinking used to hold sway only in radical political subcultures and arcane corners of academia. Today it is reflected even in our leading institutions and science publications. Without a return to the core principles of science—and the broader tradition of fact-based discourse and debate—our society risks drifting onto the rocks of irrationality.

Scratch a “progressive activist” and you’ll find a mindless communist who believes that they will be the ones in control after the revolution. More likely a ballistic lead attractor.

Greg Norton says:

Scratch a “progressive activist” and you’ll find a mindless communist who believes that they will be the ones in control after the revolution. More likely a ballistic lead attractor.

The “Animal House” reboot “Where Are They Now” reel.

“Big Mike” White House Aide. Raped in prison.

Killed by his own troops in Ukraine.

drwilliams says:

[The Times of Israel:]

In an announcement detailing the clauses to which it had agreed Monday in the latest proposal for a deal, the terror group said, “During the first phase, Hamas releases 33 Israeli detainees (alive or corpses).”

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the terror group had explicitly told mediators that some of the 33 hostages it would release under the first phase of the prospective deal would not be alive. The Times said it was not clear whether the terror group had informed interlocutors how many of the 33 would be alive.

A failure to release 33 living hostages would appear to conflict with Israeli demands

A shame. Israeli could have countered with an offer to swap Palestinian prisoners in the same alive/dead ratio, but instead has embarked on the “making good Palestinians” project.

Funny how the Arab nations have evolved the same definition of a “good Palestinian”.

drwilliams says:

YGTBFKM, Kathy Hochul

The Governor of New York thinks that Black kids don’t even know what a computer is. Never even heard the word.

No, I am not kidding you. She said that and likely believes it. This is even a theme among Democrats who are so disconnected from the world you and I live in that they think this crap.

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/05/07/ygtbfkm-kathy-hochul-n3787928

The video meme is hilarious.

What can I say but: “Kathy, you ignorant sl*t”

Nick Flandrey says:

Just another PLT rag.

has been for years. I forget what finally triggered me, but I canceled at least 15 years ago.

n

Lynn says:

“Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Shifts-Daniels-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0425270688?tag=ttgnet-20/

Book number eight of a ten book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. There are short stories and successive books to the series also. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. I have all ten books now and will read book number nine later.

Kate Daniels is a mercenary in Atlanta, Georgia and engaged to the former Beast Lord. All of her life, she has been running from her father, a 5,000+ year old all powerful mage currently known as Roland. In the Bible, he is known by another name. Roland has killed all of her brothers and sisters so she expected the same treatment when he found her. Now Kate is trying to figure how to live with him knowing where she is and popping up in her life constantly.

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.

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.

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 (11,263 reviews)

Lynn

Ken Mitchell says:

I wonder if Israel is going to open the gates to Egypt and let the two million Palestinians freely go through. That will get the Egyptians blood to pumping.

Egypt HATESHATESHATES the Muslim Brotherhood, because MB assassinated Anwar Sadat 40+ years ago. And Hamas/Gaza is entirely controlled by the MB. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anwar_Sadat

Ken Mitchell says:

Kathy Hochul Steps on Tongue with pResident Joe Biden, who said “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids”.

Ken Mitchell says:

Just another PLT rag.

has been for years. I forget what finally triggered me, but I canceled at least 15 years ago.

I cancelled my SciAm subscription in the mid-1990s after, IIRC, the fatuous “man made climate change” issue. And I cancelled my 30+ year NatGeo subscription when THEY did that.

Greg Norton says:

The Governor of New York thinks that Black kids don’t even know what a computer is. Never even heard the word.

Reparations will be huge for Apple and Tesla.

SteveF says:

What can I say but: “Kathy, you ignorant sl*t”

I’ve been calling her Kathy the Ho since about two days after she took over for Handsy Andy.

SciAm lost my subscription in the 1980s when they lied about the Strategic Defense Initiative.

drwilliams says:

The DOJ’s Doctored Crime Scene Photo of Mar-a-Lago Raid

New disclosures in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s espionage case against Donald Trump reveal the FBI tampered with evidence to create the infamous photo–and DOJ has lied about it for nearly two years.

A Stunt with Potentially Case-Killing Consequences for DOJ

New court filings in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s espionage and obstruction case against Trump and two co-defendants conclusively demonstrate that the government used the cover sheets to deceive the public as well as the court. The photo was a stunt, and one that adds more fuel to this dumpster-fire case.

Jay Bratt, who was the lead DOJ prosecutor on the investigation at the time and now is assigned to Smith’s team, described the photo this way in his August 30, 2022 response to Trump’s special master lawsuit:

“[Thirteen] boxes or containers contained documents with classification markings, and in all, over one hundred unique documents with classification markings…were seized. Certain of the documents had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status. (Emphasis added.) See, e.g., Attachment F (redacted FBI photograph of certain documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container in the ‘45 office’).”

The DOJ’s clever wordsmithing, however, did not accurately describe the origin of the cover sheets. In what must be considered not only an act of doctoring evidence but willfully misleading the American people into believing the former president is a criminal and threat to national security, agents involved in the raid attached the cover sheets to at least seven files to stage the photo.

Classified cover sheets were not “recovered” in the container, contrary to Bratt’s declaration to the court. In fact, after being busted recently by defense attorneys for mishandling evidence in the case, Bratt had to fess up about how the cover sheets actually ended up on the documents.

Here is Bratt’s new version of the story, where he finally admits a critical detail that he failed to disclose in his August 2022 filing:

“[If] the investigative team found a document with classification markings, it removed the document, segregated it, and replaced it with a placeholder sheet. The investigative team used classified cover sheets for that purpose.”

But before the official cover sheets were used as placeholder, agents apparently used them as props. FBI agents took it upon themselves to paperclip the sheets to documents—something evident given the uniform nature of how each cover sheet is clipped to each file in the photo—laid them on the floor, and snapped a picture for political posterity.

Missing Paper Trial and Messy Boxes

But Jack Smith might have bigger problems. During the raid, agents took a box in its entirety if it contained papers with classified markings; the box usually contained other items, which is how the FBI ended up with so many of Trump’s personal belongings.

So, in order to flag the location of the alleged classified record in the box, agents, as Bratt noted, used the cover sheets as placeholders. (The classified records were then placed in a separate secure file.)

But now defense attorneys claim, and the special counsel concedes, that some placeholders do not match the relevant document. “Following defense counsel’s review of the physical boxes…and the documents produced in classified discovery, defense counsel has learned that the cross-reference provided by the Special Counsel’s Office does not contain accurate information,” attorneys representing Trump’s co-defendant Waltine Nauta wrote in a May 1 motion.

The motion forced the special counsel to admit the error. “In many but not all instances, the FBI was able to determine which document with classification markings corresponded to a particular placeholder sheet,” Bratt wrote.

In other words, in their zeal to stage a phony photo using official classified cover sheets, FBI agents might have failed to accurately match the placeholder sheet with the appropriate document. This is a potentially case-blowing mistake, particularly if the document in question is one of the 34 records that represents the basis of espionage charges against Trump.

And there is another issue in connection with the cover sheets. Defense attorneys also noted that in at least one instance, the location of the cover sheet in the physical box didn’t match the FBI’s accounting. “[The] sheet…does not appear for several hundreds of pages later than the FBI Index indicated it would. Defense counsel’s review of these materials calls into question the likelihood that the contents of the physical boxes remains (sic) the same as when they were seized by the FBI on August 8, 2022.”

Which Bratt also admitted is an issue. After the boxes were transported from Florida to the hopelessly corrupt Washington FBI field office (another scandalous aspect of the case since the investigation should have been conducted in southern Florida not in another jurisdiction), a private company took scans of the inside of the boxes. But according to the defense team, the current condition of the boxes does not match the scans taken in August 2022.

Bratt explained that “there are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans.” He then offered a list of excuses including how some “boxes contain items smaller than standard paper such as index cards, books, and stationary, which shift easily when the boxes are carried, especially because many of the boxes are not full.”

https://www.declassified.live/p/the-dojs-doctored-crime-scene-photo

Earlier accounts of the postponement did not include all the information. The FBI conspired to poison the jury pool, inflame public opinion with a staged photo that was beyond doctored, it was a chimera created from mismatched parts. The lead prosecutor deceived the court and effectively lied about the origin of the cover sheets, and then was forced to retract their claim that the evidence was secure and untouched.

This case will be dismissed. Had Lee Harvey Oswald not been murdered by Jack Ruby, the federal government could not have prosecuted him with this kind of evidence tampering.

Bratt should be the one being prosecuted.

drwilliams says:

@Ken Mitchell

I cancelled my SciAm subscription in the mid-1990s after, IIRC, the fatuous “man made climate change” issue.

@SteveF

SciAm lost my subscription in the 1980s when they lied about the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Another PLT milestone was the full-issue dissing response to Bush’s 2003 SOTU address espousing hydrogen power–after decades of discussion of the advantages of hydrogen power.

The final phase was the total cover-to-cover PLT propaganda raison d’être described in the article I linked earlier.

Lynn says:

I am so mad at the tire guys at Sam’s Club that I could spit. I had the wife order two Michelin Defender tires to replace both of the front tires, including the tire that she blew out Sunday when she hit the curb.

So, she goes over to get both tires replaced today and they talked her out of replacing both tires. They only replaced the blown out tire and moved the new / old front tires to the back.

I am not only replacing tires with 13,000 miles on them but I am changing from Michelin standard tires to Michelin Defender tires. A very different tread and tread depth.

So now I have an unmatched back axle on her Highlander and some day if we rotate the tires, I will have unmatched tires back on the front. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous above 50 mph, this is how you get wheel hop at speed and roll the vehicle. We drive this vehicle at 80 mph all the time.

So I may have yelled a little bit and she is going back tomorrow to get the other now rear tire replaced.

Since when do tire guys install unmatched tire on the same axle ??? This is the first law of tire management, never have unmatched tires on an axle. In fact, I am wondering if I should replace all four tires.

I had a plan, I bought an ultra safe vehicle for her and maintained it that way …

Lynn says:

The Governor of New York thinks that Black kids don’t even know what a computer is. Never even heard the word.

Reparations will be huge for Apple and Tesla.

Huh ?

Lynn says:

I wonder if Israel is going to open the gates to Egypt and let the two million Palestinians freely go through. That will get the Egyptians blood to pumping.

Egypt HATESHATESHATES the Muslim Brotherhood, because MB assassinated Anwar Sadat 40+ years ago. And Hamas/Gaza is entirely controlled by the MB. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anwar_Sadat

Yup. So if Israel dumps two million Palestinians into Egypt, do you think Egypt will take that lying down ?

There is a rumor that the Egyptian gate guards have been letting the Palestinians go through the gate into Egypt for something like $10,000 per person.

BTW, Bobby Kennedy was killed by a Palestinian “Christian” in California in 1968. I would say that we have a big beef with the Palestinians too.

Rick H says:

@Lynn … sorry for your tire experience at Sam’s Club.

I stand by my recommendation of “America’s Tires” (Discount Tire in some areas). Never had an issue with any of their service, and I’ve used them for decades.

Ken Mitchell says:

Lynn; Back in Cacafornia, I always bought tires from “America’s Tire Store”. Turns out that the same company here in Texas is called “Discount Tires”, and they still had access to all my records here. I’ve never had a problem with them, and I highly recommend them. They’re not the cheapest tire store, but the tires are good quality, fairly low priced and the service is excellent.

drwilliams says:

After demonstrators were arrested

In a press conference on campus Tuesday afternoon a group of faculty said that they want to “correct the record” on what happened on campus during the “Gaza-solidarity encampment” saying it was a “peaceful and inclusive” space for learning and discussion.

However, according to UNC administration, some protesters in the encampment in Polk Place on campus saw participants breaking into academic buildings after hours, propping doors open to locked buildings, tearing down barricades, pushing through officers to forcibly enter campus buildings, hitting police and other vehicles, throwing furniture in front of police vehicles injuring officers, entering classrooms during finals to cause disruptions, and throwing water bottles and fluids at University workers, police and administrators.

A group of PPLT faculty have threatened to withhold grades as a protest.

The administration has given them a milquetoast reminder of their duties. The response should be a policy of immediate termination, and any students involved should be finding an attorney to launch a federal lawsuit against the faculty and administration.

Note this from Twitter:

UNC Chapel Hill is a Marxist stronghold. It is 13th largest research university in the U.S. and ranks **FIRST** for federally funded social and behavioral sciences research and development.

https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/05/unc-provost-office-supports-sanctions-for-instructors-who-improperly-withhold-grades-in-protest-of-suspended-students-in-anti-israel-protests/

Apropos of an unrelated discussion here, this is an example of federal dollars flowing back into a state that are not part of a state budget and so not captured by a simplistic analysis. I’d hazard that the total such for Stanford, USC, UCLA and other California universities is easily in the billions of dollars.

It’s also an example of a federal budget area that could be carefully pruned the the water table with a 30″ chainsaw. It ain’t science and the U.S. taxpayers never needed it and certainly don’t now with FJB’s $33 Trillion and counting deficit.

Maybe the NC taxpayers would like to consider whether sending $10 million to DC to get $9 million back with a nice rubber stamped grant to diss another aspect of everyday tradition is a good enough deal that they want to fund it themselves.

Hey! I wonder what would happen if all the car dealers in the area decided to decline to do work on vehicles owned by PPLT faculty that withheld grades as a protest? And got joined by the rest of the business community, some of whom doubtless have affected students in the family?

Ken Mitchell says:

So if Israel dumps two million Palestinians into Egypt, do you think Egypt will take that lying down ?

The Egyptian government has built, and re-enforced, and expanded, and raised and lengthened their wall between Gaza and Sinai. I can’t imagine that Israel has any intention of breaching the Egyptian’s wall.

There is a rumor that the Egyptian gate guards have been letting the Palestinians go through the gate into Egypt for something like $10,000 per person.

I hadn’t heard that one, and it would be the business of the Egyptian government to handle it if there were any truth to it. Which I sort-of doubt. But if the Palis can afford it, and if some Egyptian guard will go for it ……..

Lynn says:

I stand by my recommendation of “America’s Tires” (Discount Tire in some areas). Never had an issue with any of their service, and I’ve used them for decades.

I used to use Discount Tire 30 years ago. Then Sam’s Club came out and beat everyone’s prices on tires by a significant amount (5 or 10%). So I have been going to Sam’s Club for the last 20+ years. I am very frugal but I will not compromise safety. Looks like it is time for me to change back.

drwilliams says:

@Lynn

Since when do tire guys install unmatched tire on the same axle ??? This is the first law of tire management, never have unmatched tires on an axle. In fact, I am wondering if I should replace all four tires.

I don’t see a reason to replace all four.

Get the auto department manager on the phone and yell at him. If he gives you any crap: “Well, I could ask for the store manager, or I could even escalate it to the Sam’s Club district manager. But I won’t. Instead I’m going to call the district rep for Michelin and ask him it they will stand behind their dealer’s recommendation in writing. If not, then I will ask him what corrective action they intend to pursue, starting with a call to the Sam’s Club district manager suggesting that they start requiring experience for your position.”

Nick Flandrey says:

Lovely dinner with my sibling, and the rest of my family. Haven’t been to the place in years and it’s significantly different than I remember, but it was good. Upscale food in a mid-scale setting (we were on the patio) and in our suburban area.

Delicious, and not priced out of line for the type of food and setting.

There was a range rover parked in my spot on the street when I got home. Whole area is gentrifying I guess. First Starbucks, now a fitness place that just does stretching, soon there won’t be anywhere to get authentic chorizo… We’re gonna be the po’ folks on our street if this keeps up.

n

drwilliams says:

@Lynn

“I used to use Discount Tire 30 years ago. Then Sam’s Club came out and beat everyone’s prices on tires by a significant amount (5 or 10%). So I have been going to Sam’s Club for the last 20+ years. I am very frugal but I will not compromise safety. Looks like it is time for me to change back.”

You’re better off spending the extra 5-10% with a professional shop that you can build a relationship with. You’ll get the money back in better service.

Lynn says:

“Good Samaritan Killed at Houston McDonald’s”

https://rumble.com/v4trif6-good-samaritan-killed-at-houston-mcdonalds.html

Good Guy tried to calm down another customer who was abusing staff. That customer went out to his truck, got a gun, returned and killed the Good Guy. The shooter then drove off and no one has any idea who he is.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13392841/Texas-lawyer-killed-McDonalds-customer.html

drwilliams says:

sad:

Swiss army knife maker to produce version without a blade

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/07/swiss-army-knife-maker-to-produce-version-without-a-blade

Note that the Swiss Army knife in the photo has four blades.

So they’re going to produce a specialty tool for bicyclists without a knife blade? Maybe a special little wrench to adjust the tone of the bell, or a special little tool to put a curl on the streamers?

I have a specialty tool for AR15’s. It has a knife blade.

drwilliams says:

‘No safe place’: people in Rafah describe terror as Israeli assault begins

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/07/gaza-aid-agencies-down-to-less-than-days-fuel

Funny how the terror of going to a music festival and being shot, killed, raped, mutilated, and seeing your family die before your eyes under the savage assault of terrorists harbored by a sad*stic regime that makes syphilitic rats look sane just isn’t important.

Bob Sprowl says:

I had a very bd experinece with Costco tire service. Next time I will go to Discount Tires.

When I lived in NC I had a locla shop I bought tires from for 35 years with no problems and great prices.

drwilliams says:

“The shooter then drove off and no one has any idea who he is.”

Tell the police he looked Jewish and the no doubt progressive DA’s office will be hot to track him down.

Ken Mitchell says:

soon there won’t be anywhere to get authentic chorizo…

What is “authentic” chorizo?

Wikipedia says “Chorizo is a type of pork sausage originating from the Iberian Peninsula. It is made in many national and regional varieties in several countries on different continents. Some of these varieties are quite different from each other, occasionally leading to confusion or disagreements over the names and identities of the products in question.”

So, it came from Spain and Portugal, and now everybody claims that only THEIR version is really “chorizo”?

Greg Norton says:

The Governor of New York thinks that Black kids don’t even know what a computer is. Never even heard the word.

Reparations will be huge for Apple and Tesla.

Huh ?

Black kids know about iPhones, iPads, etc., just like any other kid.

Reparations won’t be millions of dollars, but a hundred grand or so per person is possible.

Greg Norton says:

Since when do tire guys install unmatched tire on the same axle ??? This is the first law of tire management, never have unmatched tires on an axle. In fact, I am wondering if I should replace all four tires.

Check the date codes. If the tires are pushing six years old, you want to replace all four.

Also check the date codes on the new tires. They may not be so new at Sam’s/Costco, something I learned about recently when I pulled nine year old tires off the Solara after replacing the entire set at Sam’s in 2017.

Do the math kids.

brad says:

The middle east respects a strong horse, so looking at it coldly: reducing Gaza to rubble and killing anyone that took part in October 7 should garner plenty of that.

Hamas could stop this at any time. All they have to do is lay down their weapons and surrender. They won’t, because they want maximum civilian casualties. They don’t care if those casualties are their own people. In fact, for political purposes, they prefer it that way.

Turning over dead hostages? Seems like a great way to really piss off the Israelis.

brad says:

Really annoying… I have a couple of email addresses that have to be visible on the Internet. There are various ways of protecting those addresses, so that spambots don’t recognize them. I just got the first ever spam on one of those addresses. Annoying, because that means some spammer has now found the address and put it on a list.

brad says:

Next fun for the day. Try to create an “electronic patient dossier” (EPD), which requires using a particular national electronic ID service. Which requires you to activate fingerprint or face recognition on your smartphone. Which my phone only supports for unlocking (which is a bad idea, security wise), but otherwise refuses to allow apps to access.

This has literally been a multi-day process, just to get stuck on this. How a non-IT person would ever have gotten this far, is a mystery to me. I suspect there aren’t many EPDs in use…

Nick Flandrey says:

@ken, I was mostly joking about the chorizo, it’s nasty stuff when you look at it. Tastes good, but worse than hot dogs…

The second chain car wash place is about to open in my neighborhood and maybe that’s a better indicator than not finding “authentic” mexican food in Texas…

(I personally don’t really like TexMex as a food style, I came to love the Baja California style when I lived in San Diego. TexMex tastes like poverty.)

n