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Mr Frosty thru 6-15-2024

Saturday 6/15/2024

Let's rock.
Immigrants too.

Usually, I claim I don't pick the music, and I don't—really. 

But I did pick these. 

Kiss your mom.

You Need To Know 

It's also fun.


From the NYTimes

AI and You 

Amanpour has AI as a topic on her Saturday morning hour on CNN. She often has a different perspective. One of the guest's comments is that we are walking into the AI world with our eyes open, and it will affect sales if the business gets it wrong. 

This is simplistic thinking. The economy works a lot different than that. 

After there's a depression from all the people laid off, there may be legislation to limit AI in the workplace and hiring, but not likely before. 

Money rules and as long as money works, AI will get free reign. 

As far as no one will have to work, we're never all going to be like Elon and make blunders like buying Twitter and still make a living. Without action, the world will devolve into pre-Renaissance Europe, serfs, and lords. We're nearly there now, the justice system is already there.

Good Sabbath 

It's such a pretty world, today. Look at the sunshine.

Morning World 

Much love. It's sunny early in California.☀️

Friday 6/15/2024

Don't Ask 

What Happens to Gifted Children

Some brilliant people don’t want to spend their lives at work, slaving away for eminence. They have different values and prefer to do other things with their time.

From the NYTimes
Reminds me of my college days.
Animated.

Markets 

I tuned into the Ponzi scheme network this morning to check on the reaction to the Fed.

What I found was rich people sitting around talking about not paying taxes anymore. They were giddy.

We need that guillotine for them, too.  Good riddance!

Let them use bandaids. 

This ain't colonial France, the plebs have weapons.

Advice 

There's an investment advisor who recommends getting out of cash now that the S&P is stratospheric. She realizes they need new suckers to keep buying tech and AI stocks from them at these prices.

Listen, tech is in flux; AI will never make money. All AI will do is weed out the weak, and guess what?  That's rich people and their marginal businesses paying minimum wage. Good riddance.

Here's my take. This is no real 'up.' And there is never up from up; there's correction.  

It's your money. Don't throw it at them.

TSLA 

It's time to short this POS. Now that there is competition, there's no buzz. It always was a Ponzi scheme. Ron Baron is not honest, Elon is not a genius. 

That's the landscape.

Beam Me Up 

Gray matter huh. Listen, MSFT, AMZN, and AAPL are the indices. 

Your analysts are sucking air.

Monetizing AI

The only companies generating any cash flow from AI are mega caps selling air to the uninitiated people. These newbies feel they don't really have a choice, but they have nowhere near the knowledge base to make a coherent decision.  That's why there is any cash flow at all. An intelligent person wouldn't bet the company on employees who couldn't spell AI a week ago, and they couldn't.

This milieu is particularly true of Oracle. They have monetized the chipsets, and when the speculative spend runs out and someone wants to know what they got for this million-dollar time-sharing bill, Oracle customers will slam on the brakes, and a quarter or so later, so will Oracle.

Morning World 

Much love 💸

Thursday 6/13/2024 

Festivus In Foggybottom

Ol' Yellowstain was holding court in DC. Well, it wasn't really court. The only thing in common is the would-be King, and if there's a God, that shouldn't happen, but it might. 

He showed up on the Hill and complained about the justice system that found him guilty 34 times. The airing of the grievances. I don't think he mentioned the half a billion in fines he's accrued in civil cases, or the other 3 felony cases. I think its 60 or so felony counts between them, and he's likely to be found guilty in all of them unless he can manipulate his way into re-election and cancel the prosecution. 

If he is re-elected, well, those who didn't go along will pay, that was the point he wanted to make today. They all smiled. Here's a thought: if he loses, you'll share his fate. 

This is a must-win for him, but even re-election won't save his reputation or his business. 

That tangled web of deceit, karma, has his ass. 

Let's face it: Donald is over. The only question remaining is whether he's in prison, that's it.

Ms B.

Biden may be a senior, but he's not done a blessed thing for seniors. Most seniors on SSI are struggling. So are low and middle-income Americans. He's not done a blessed thing for them either. 

Child tax credits, SNAP benefits, have both been done for a year. The tax cuts for the wealthy, who always seem to do well just like he says, are still there. 

The poor don't get that shot he brags about unless you include minimum wage and homelessness.

This is reality.

It's topical.

Or readonable facsimile
On sale.

Trump and Congress 

An evil man, lightning should strike and set us all free from him.

But, you know that.

He's in Washington to remind them what happens to them if they don't go along.  He isn't a leader, he's a gangster selling protection, the second oldest profession in NYC.

Con Man Candidate

Go ahead, punch the stupid bully in the face.

We could sell tickets. Trump would.

Morning World 

Much love ❤️‍🩹

Wednesday 6/12/2024

Friendship

The NY Times is running a week-long series on friendship, presumably on how to make yours better. Step one is a test to identify your primary 'friendship type.' I'm a butterfly, according to 20 or so questions. I take exception to the label. I looked at some other classifications, and some fit better in some ways but not others.

A lifetime of being 'the boss' may have jaded me. A lifetime of being a genius certainly has. I pursue friendships where I have intellectual compatibility. I've yet to find much.

Still, I'll finish the series. Knowing the process is good, and I'll apply it liberally to my thin guest list.

Good luck with yours.

From the NYTimes

Truth 

There wasn't an emoji for truth. Think about that. But that's what we're going to talk about this morning. I don't usually speak to strangers, but a few conversations about what's happening in this country turned the lights on. There is so much nonsense and bullshit it chokes the life out of truth.

I heard someone on one of the news channels yesterday who offered that Hunter was taking the blow for his father, and when he got out of prison, he would be a made man in the Biden crime family. 

Ok, pardon me, but !#(% you. This is just nonsense and worse. Let's parcel out a couple of paragraphs of truth.

Trump is a convicted felon. He IS a gangster. Everyone not on the payroll or not performing fellatio to garner his favor will tell you. His mob of hangers-on and neer-do-wells is common knowledge. His support in Congress rests with ill-mannered loud minions, some of them with a past history of sexual pandering of minors. 

He's also got three felony court cases pending, and not for buying a gun while high.

There's that little thing that he instigated and his minions planned on Jan 6, and he's dirty as sin on that issue. Still, he's managed to lawyer his way into delaying the due process. We won't see him stand before the man until after the election.

Then there are those stolen secret documents, among them super secret details on the military and those love letters from Korean Kim.  The Archives would have made a copy for him if he'd asked probably, but a mob boss doesn't ask permission, he takes.

There's an election fraud case, too, a state case. 

The presidential election is his last-gasp chance at redemption. If he doesn't win, Donald Trump will never walk free again, 

I'm all for that. This man is the worst criminal the US has ever encountered. 

Here's a prediction. Trump loses and spends the rest of his life as a convict.  You can bet he's already shopping the book deal around.


It's also pretty clear SCOTUS needs work.

Two Tier Justice

One more thing, there is a two tier justice system, but it's not the presidents fault. If you have money, you can get away with almost anything.

So don't let them con you into thinking justice is not compromised, and don't let Trump use it to make injustice the law of the land as a remedy.

Morning World 

Much love 🙂‍↕️

Tuesday 6/11/2024

Audie's Perplexion

I smile somewhere hidden when I see Ms Audie and the rainbow-puking kittens commercial. We live that meme here on the blog. 

Word.

Let me explain quantum mechanics and how it relates to political instability.

Justice Reborn 

We're all excited about the possibility. Justice is impartial to money and influence. 

Of course, that didn't happen. 

Donald Trump is still on the loose.

Juror 10

It's enlightening and a little disturbing hearing the thoughts of juror 10.  In hands like these lie the fates of us all should we garner prosecutorial attention. I could have written, in case we break the law, but honestly, we all bend the rules. Most of the time, no one takes note if no one else is affected.

It may be an oxymoron that all people with a substance use disorder have weapons, and that's why this stings.  I understand the objective of the law and agree with it. However, it leaves the societal problem of addiction unsolved.

If even a President's son and the bereaved wife of his brother can become crackheads, maybe there's a bigger problem in America, and it affects the wealthy and the poor. Is that our only hope for justice?\

I would offer that what's missing is an absence of hope, even for the silver-spooned gentry. America no longer meets its commitments to its citizens. 

Kayla T. 

Congratulations on getting out of that CNBC Ponzi scheme network. 

Morning World 

Much love 🌺

Monday 6/10/2024

Hunter's Karma 

There is not much doubt here. It's a shame he had to put it in the book, but that's hard to ignore. It will be hard on Mr Joe, and hard on Hunter, the 'mom always liked you best' 1 meme.  

The prosecution is a little too tit-for-tat, and it's a shame. It's always a shame. Being a President's son doesn't make it better or worse. 

At least he didn't light the judge's pants on fire and act the fool.

1  I note that the penalty for years is references people need Chat-GPT to understand.  That's a Smother's Brothers meme.
No worries.
I'm there.

Ex-Presidents On Probation 

If one made a list of the consecutive letter combinations possible in American English and 10000 monkeys with typewriters, how long would it take before that phrase appeared? My highly acute intuition tells me this must be longer than an American male's life expectancy; therefore, we're all incredibly lucky. 

No boozing, no loose women, no breaking the gag order. I guess bribery and conspiracy to obstruct justice are still okay, but that's what a lawyer would tell the average delinquent and misbehaving thug

Hypothetically, using that same group of monkeys, how long before they type:

Trump Sentenced To Prison

I guess we'll see, huh?

Say It Ain't Siri 

The AI in the Shuttered Room 

It's the child locked away in the attic, hidden from view, with just a small window and a few cute lines. She can set an alarm for you and she can change the volume, but you'll probably have to try a few times.  

I wouldn't classify it as useful. i can't imagine why they call this AI.

Apple is the anachronism of technology corporations in that they do not meet expectations and still succeed. Maybe it's the bully on the block with an M on the cape, making them look good.

I don't mean to be unkind, but honestly, Apple should try harder. 

They've announced improvements. I'm skeptical. 

Hey, Siri! Let’s Talk About How Apple Is Giving You an A.I. Makeover.

Apple, a latecomer to artificial intelligence, has struck a deal with OpenAI and developed tools to improve its Siri voice assistant, which it is set to showcase on Monday.

From the NYTimes

It's the instruction set that gets you
Driving all the old men crazy

Cheerleading Aggression 

I have one of the cable stations streaming, and there is video of IDF and a helicopter; purportedly this is the hostage rescue footage. The report commentary mentions that the IDF had taken on Hamas fighter garb as camouflage, which in a war would be a war crime.  The panelist gives Israel an out to the war crime violation by calling it an anti-terrorist police action.  

What a crock. [Don't fall for these Jedi mind tricks.]

The report also contains images of rubble and reports that 275 Palestinians were killed; Israel says it's more like 100.  The IDF has the opinion that the murder of 100 civilians has better karma than the murder of 275 civilians.  They don't read the papers I guess.


Mr.Joe, ahem. Do I have to come over there?

Morning World 

Much love ☃️

Sunday 6/9/2024

Thumbs

I'll tell you a story

The Sundipped Pundit

If it's Sunday, we're writing about things that don't seem to make sense, and alternative facts meet Jesus. 

I nearly always feel challenged to choose the topics to cover. Usually, the criteria include filling the appropriate amount of white space with a few topics and no Encyclopedia Britannica stuff.

In earnest, most of the time, the list fills itself.

The Dead Pool 

Congressional Confidential
Trump's Second Best
Hunter's Blunders
The Future of War

Congressional Confidential

It was a dark and stormy mid-morning in foggy bottom, and what was on the agenda was murder.  The murder of the legislative calendar. The Republican boss in Mar A Lago was pulling the strings, and the Speaker of the House had his hand on the gavel, poised to strike. The gavel quivered and someone loud and unquoted spoke.

Legislation denied. 

The Red Hat mob was running things. 

Trump's Second Best

It's that time of year — running mate time. The list for Donald's sidekick is long; I won't bother repeating it here. The bifurcated thought process Trump faces is mind-boggling. He needs someone crooked enough to be loyal enough to do his bidding, not crooked enough to outsmart him, and able to do the job.

This is common for despotic leaders. They need competent people that they can trust, and that kind of people don't want the job. Eventually, the job outgrows what one maniacal leader can personally supervise, and the organization collapses.

I also have the opinion that Trump is so far down the list of qualified candidates that second best to Trump is somewhere south of Michael Cohen. 

That's number two squared. 

Eenie Meanie

The list of people Trump considers capable of filling that list is interesting. It's really like being Most Likely To Be Indicted in the hypothetical administration yearbook.  It's sobering to think that if he were to be elected, Trump would have to fill a great many critical positions, and most of his besties are in jail. Where oh where do you find a henchman these days? 

Trump Is Hiring 

Maybe an online resource; you just have to have an AG in your pocket . Indeed he does. There must be one risen that high and living so low out there somewhere. 

Hunter's Blunders

It's easy to talk about someone else's troubles, perhaps blame bad behavior on absent parentage or neglect, but things are never really that simple. The road to dependency is long. 

I am sympathetic in cases of personal conduct. 

I never had much of a Jones for anything, but I love my coffee, so who am I to judge? 

Good luck with your legal issues.

The Future of War 

I started to write this in the morning, and I knew right away. I thought by waiting, I could probably find a way to navigate this topic without discussing morbid issues like death. But war is about death. The military will counter that war is about inflicting casualty, maiming people, burdening health care, and destroying the capacity to recover and respond. As a result, people die. 

It's a questionable exercise any way one chooses to examine it. The only good thing about war seems to be the recovery from it, when the shelling stops. 

We seem to persist evermore in the perfection of war. As I said, when I started this morning I knew the answer immediately, and as it turns out, abstinence alters no outcome here. 

The only future of war is always the end of war. 

Morning World

Much love 🗿

Saturday 6/8/2024

There Is No Future In It
Let's Dance

Score Board


Dead Palestinian civilians 275+

Dead IDF soldiers 1

Hostages freed 4


No Comment.

Good Sabbath

Morning World

     Much love... 💨

Friday 6/7/2024

House In Order

The week flew by again, and I found myself on a Friday with few corrections and lamentations to boggle my evening. Yet I look at the world, and it seems certainly none the better for being a week older.

I had no prior intention of paying any particular attention to D-Day so close to Veterans Day; it would have passed largely unnoticed by me. 

It's difficult to fully grasp the impact of these events. We very much need to try.

Other than that, we're good.

I do this as a practice, and I encourage everyone to take it up. 

Sabrina's Dilemma
We're Good

Biden In France

I've quoted Barak Obama's comment 1 that presidents tend to be either inspirational or organizational previously. I don't find Mr. Joe inspirational. I'm hoping he can pull organizational together. 

Some call Mr. Joe's Pointe Du Hoc talk Reagan-esque.  I've always been amazed at Reagan's popularity. He was an actor. He read scripts prepared by other people for repartee at the end. Without a script, Ronald Reagan was not a good father. Without a script, Ronald Reagan wouldn't have been president.

When Joe speaks and his speechwriter sounds like Reagan's speechwriter, it may be due to the research on prior speeches before they wrote this one. Maintain some distance. This is not a game. Use your perspective and your whole brain. When they tell you these are not the droids you're looking for, at least check the registration. 

Mr. Joe needed to speak; he needed a speech. If it inspires you, act on it. The world needs more activists. Have a seat. 

I wrote about D-Day yesterday. It's complicated. 

The Ukraine 

I try not to interfere in foreign policy, and I've avoided the Ukraine issue because there is a long history of political instability with respect to the region that predates any treaty or border. 

The argument cannot be made to justify Putin's expansionist, nearly empirical designs for Ukraine, and the argument can not be made that the Ukrainian government is a democracy, at best, a partial democracy. The arguments I hear seem to use alternative facts. This is why I don't comment on Ukraine often. 

We elect presidents to make these decisions with the best facts available, and I don't interfere. I have mixed feelings about it, and you should as well. 

Talking about it in Normandy, I have mixed feelings about that, too.

1 I have no documentary evidence Barak Obama said this, it's something I recall.

Morning World 

Much love 🪷

Thursday 6/8/2024

So Good

Write Your Name

Retribution

Donald J. Trump exclaims that he is going to put Mr. Joe and the Mrs. in jail, all those special prosecutors will be specially prosecuted, naysayers and never Trumpers will be executed, and anyone that doesn't genuflect gets the gas. 

I got over the shock of hearing a candidate and ex-president declare war on his political opponents and vow to use the justice department and the AG to accomplish it, no rumor, no lie.  Perhaps there's something about his mindset that is compelling. 

Maybe he's right; you have to do it. Let's put Donald J. Trump in an Iron Maiden and throw away the key. After all the harm he has done, what IS a sufficient punishment? 

The difference, of course, is that Donald will be in prison, spouting his threats until he expires; we'll be fine.

D-Day Plus Many

I have walked on that beach and faced that ocean on a blustery day.  The townspeople had cautioned us not to poke around on the dunes; there was still live ordinance. I tried to put myself there on that day. I scanned the dunes from the edge of the waves and imagined the scene on the beach. 

The emotions we carry around with us on this day don't capture that moment; we like to remember the battles as won and try not to think about the rest of it. 

It's complicated. 

Most of our families served in one way or another; on days like this, sometimes you can still see it in their eyes 

Looking at the world as it is today, we've all got mixed feelings too.

Fold and Collate

It's one of those days.

Morning World 

Much love👾👾

Wednesday 6/5/2024

Everything All The Time
On My Way

Markets 

I'm catching up with the markets a bit this morning; I just listened to a cable news head remark that inflation isn't really that bad, and therefore, we should expect a Fed rate cut, probably in September. 

The next guest had the opinion that the market would sell off on the news of the 1st rate cut, which would prove that you can time the market, but you have to be awake or cheat. 

The sell-off may stick, and the talk will be about the fragile economy because marginal businesses see the market and panic; most businesses qualify statistically, i.e., run by the owner and few min wage people and low-income management: a restaurant run by the cook, with a silent partner for example. 

The economy is a mess, and it's because of business.  

I know, one example is no proof. Please review recent financial crises.

The concern is always about the big pockets and the big movements, probably because the talking heads work for the big pockets; the little guy is chaff. 

It's a schizoid experience, one hand eating the other, business for money's sake.

I don't come here often. It's not my neighborhood.

There's Always A Sucker Somewhere

Health care, we all need it, an insurance company usually pays for it, or you go without. 

Coding is magic. United Health and others see it as a license to steal. I imagine this guest's corporation has the same plan. An analysis of procedures that are completed that insurance won't pay for yields pre-qualifying procedures based on those criteria. This would likely result in people being denied a procedure; that's the end game here. Given the political environment, women's health should light up in your brain. 

How do they steal? Maybe you need X, but often people who get X also get Y, so they bill for Y too; perhaps you needed Y, maybe you didn't, or maybe you didn't get it. Maybe you don't even know. Billions. This is well documented.

This company seems to guarantee that they have found all the places the government checks for fraud, and may help the healthcare company charge for Y all the time, with no questions. As a bonus, they will probably bounce your abortion procedure because it's illegal if it is.

These stories drive investment decisions. 

I didn't name the company; that's not the point here. 

Cramer "There's always a bull market somewhere."

Bloomberg doesn't have CNBC's issues.

Baron, Tesla and the Doughboy

People don't want electric cars, the infrastructure is not there. Gas is the best use case for petroleum; we have the infrastructure and are accustomed to the maintenance cycle.  There is a time and a place for everything, we're not really prepared.

I would never consider a Tesla vehicle. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but I see gas stations everywhere, charging stations not so much. I can fix a car with an engine, this is a large toy train car. That's how I feel. 

This man, the fire behind Elon's flamethrower, Baron, is a capitalist. Listen to anything he says at your peril. He will tell you that himself, just ask him. 

The Doughboy? He's branched out into curating porn on X. I hope X employees can work remotely. 

EV's

About the industry that no one planned: now that China is competitive, look for the market to dry up for US production. President Biden is taking action on this, which means it's not going to get cheaper any time soon; the tendency will be to support the US in the corporate person of TSLA at the expense of price competition and tariffs. 

Price point is pivotal at this juncture.

Apollo Buys Carvana

Kiss Carvana goodbye. Apollo will sell the assets and auction off what is left, which is next to nothing. It was an online car sales company, sans the inventory; what's left?

Enough market, and I didn't even get to Fast 5150. Everything, all the time.

Morning world 

Much love 🎊

Tuesday 6/4/2024

Gort! Klatu Berada Nickto

I have been bingeing those really old sci-fi movies, The Day The Earth Stood Still  is another Robert Wise film. 

Take Me To Your Math Tutor

I first saw this movie at a very young age, and watching that visor rise and start to twinkle once sent me under the covers. In a modern light, post-Marvel, I mean, Klatu doesn't look like he'd use the wrong silverware on purpose and is not much of a threat.

https://youtu.be/rFOkCEdEaQU?si=EglS3oEdQ-uIX528 

There is one part in the movie where all the electricity stops at noon for precisely an hour. Everyone is so calm. Can you imagine? Anyway, Michael Rennie plays a well-mannered spaceman, the kind you'd let park their spaceship on your baseball diamond.

Patricia Neil is beautiful, 'Bud' from FNB is impetuous, 'Aunt Bea' appears, and Hugh Marlow plays Donald Trump. 

Full of meaning, if one is looking for it.

You gotta love this movie. 

It's Tuesday
Girls Like You

We Have Sun

It's burning like no one is watching.

Border Collar

Immigration is another immortal problem, mostly because everyone with an interest likes some part of it just like it is, and taken in total, that's what we have. On the one hand, someone wants cheap labor; on the other, someone else doesn't want crime.  

Immigration is really the sideshow, the governing factor. 

I think closing the border is practical. A daily limit seems to admit that, and deny it. 

I'll stay out of immigration, as I said, everyone with an interest prevents the solution. 

Progressive Ms J 

It may be possible to achieve immigration reform, at least for parts of it, solely with legislation.

That is up to Congress, that would be you. I can't even formulate a passing precis for immigration law, I am all ears to hear yours.

If I may suggest, concentrate on an employment to citizenship track, that might pass.

Inside Your Head

Someone is saying Dem's need to learn to lie better.  I would advise the opposite, obviously. I think part of the problem is that the image versus reality is so stark. This fellow and his bubble analogy need to take a time out. If people are living in a bubble, it's time to smell the coffee.

The reality is that since those food giveaways stopped, America has been suffering. Maybe not your America. 

The first clue was when the antiperspirant moved behind locked plastic panels. 

How bad do things have to be for you to steal deodorant?

-----

And as a practicing Jew, I still say defund Israel; this is an unjust action, I won't even call it a war. In a war, there are two sides and battles. This is brutal bombing until the rubble bounces with people.

What Shall We Do Today 

I picked at breakfast, and I have some coffee. It's June gloom, so we'll see the sun around noon maybe, I was being hopeful below.

Perhaps the AI, I still could draw some pictures. 

They look like this.

No, you're not suppose to.


Oh, this is old. Years.

You don't think it looks like software?

I have been meaning to start a new book, maybe I'll write today.

Morning World 

Much love 🌞

Monday 6/3/2024

Some Guy 

Yes, I still watch CNN sometimes. I'll watch Kassie, for example, and others as I happen to drift, but I have my face in that great streamed consciousness that is the internet and media a great deal, just hopefully not predictably. When I need a nap, it's  Star Trek re-runs. 

I don't think I've read Ms Doris. My head is in so many flower pots I'm sprouting daisies out of my ears, I don't get around to reading a whole book often. I'm much more likely to start writing one.

Happy Birthday Sweet 16

🎼🎶

Much love Mr S.

History

History can be a guide to the present, perhaps? It's a good theory. But people re-write history because it looks different over time. I would not suppose that a history could be an accurate model of reality except nearly instantaneously over a limited period.

Don't misunderstand, I'm a history fan. Every historian writes history differently; that's why they bother. Forgive me if that is presumptuous.

The things we haven't been through yet, perhaps because calmer heads have always prevailed in the persons of authority and power. 

These days, that's where the problem festers.

Monday Mondial

Welcome to Monday, and welcome to a new month. The month everyone wants to plan the wedding. It's probably the weather. 

Chaos Pulses

Meanwhile, there's a mass shooting, and anyone with information yada yada yada.  We've all seen all this so many times we could all write a Law and Order episode, except for me; I've never seen one. I'll stick to heroines saving the galaxy in timeships using magnifying glasses. (The Magic Sands)

But you can feel it in the world. Tension, the twig about to snap. It's a lot of things; after some analysis, the obvious and almost everything else.

War In Palestine

The elephant with the bloody tusks in the room is Netanyahu, the other pachyderms the wrinkled cabinet of total war. Mr Netanhahu seems to plan on fighting the war until Palestine is dust,  forced we are to believe by popular politics, and manipulative politicians.  They all talk of peace, no one talks peace. Mr Joe read a copy of the Israeli peace proposal on the air. As it turns out, the offered peace proposal had an end to hostilities built in.  

To the bloody elephants, there is no reason to stop marching.

Dumpster Trumpster

It takes more than thirty-four felony convictions to keep Donald Trump down. He's still selling hats and shoes, and if you have a lot of money, who knows, maybe Poland.

We should worry about NATO if he were to be elected, but perhaps we'll be preoccupied with the riots in the streets when Trump invades France for the wine cellar. Didn't he try to buy Greenland? Oh, the crazy fun times ahead. 

I know, come on, due respect for this ex-president, but I am showing remarkable restraint in avoiding it. Donald has recovered from his panic attack and was on TV again with six lawyers in tow. It seems as if no one stops to listen to what he says really; a passerby grabs a selfie with the convict; the press takes the image, grabs a sound bite, and writes "he's at it again" on their reporter's notepad.  

The press still talks like he's viable, and someone always has numbers to make you nervous. It's all very uncomfortable, like waiting for the trap door to suddenly let loose and drop Donald. 

There are still a bunch of felony trials ahead. The bonestripper in Valkenvania was nothing.

https://youtu.be/GjD_9FrokEI?si=V5FFljtiOx_LqC4B Nothing But Trouble Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, Demi Moore

Morning World 

Much love🌴

Sunday 6/2/2024

Cheeseburger In A Pair Of Vans

Actually, a double cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato, light keykup, mustard, and mayo.

And a Coke.

Cheers, sunshine.

There Was A Crooked Man

From the NYTimes.

A Felon in the Oval Office Would Test the American System

Some are wondering how the Constitution’s checks and balances, meant to hold presidents accountable, would work if the next president elected were already a felon.

The Sundipped Pundit 

If it's Sunday, it's time to remind you that this isn't your father's politics; it's something from a Marvel movie, some people have said. 

I may get to the following:


Dumpster Fire Bingo 

Conviction Election Convictions
War in Palestine
10000 Dead In Guyana


And whatever the rest of you spark my interest in.

Conviction Election Convictions

The impossible has happened: a bona fide criminal is running for President.

Still.

Clearly, the founding father's convictions didn't allow for such a man. I would hope they never dreamed America would see such a man's genesis. They would not expect that kind of a man to pursue the office. 

Do I dare ask what is wrong with America? 

I like to blame NBC and the Apprentice programs for convincing the great huddled masses DJT wasn't what he was.  They are good at PR at NBC. No one has done anything about that.  

Donald Trump will end his days in custody, which is probably inevitable. 

Re-elected? I don't think America is that myopic. 

War In Palestine 

Mr. Joe announced a peace plan to end the war in Palestine. I'm not convinced Israel and Netanyahu ever want to end the war; this may be his vision for the future.

With Ms Harris in the White House, it's a tough lobby for Joe. I wrote about this earlier in the week.

This is the worst example of injustice on Earth, and it's gone on long enough.

This war is unjust. Defund Israel.

10000 Dead in Guyana

There are not, at least as far as I know. Pretend I was counting fatal traffic accidents beginning last March; it's probably true. If that's not true in Guyana, you know it must be true somewhere. 

Fifty million was donated to Ol' Yellow Stain's Campaign and Legal Expense Fund overnight, all from first-timers. 

That's how you'd write the press release. Is it true? Come on, this is Donald Trump. If it's not true, he'll make it true, even if he has to shoot someone in Times Square.  It makes his numbers go up.

Like I said, 10000 Dead In Guyana, film at 11.

Morning World 

Much love 🎉

Saturday 6/1/2024

Dear Prudence

Here’s how long it takes workers to become 401(k) millionaires

From the WaPost

These aren’t microwave millionaires. They know it takes time to grow their portfolios. They have been investing in their plans for an average of 26 years, with an average balance of $1.58 million.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/05/31/401k-millionaires-how-to/ 

The Andromeda Strain

As We Consider Mars

I like the idea of a movie every week. This is a memory. 

I hope you have your COVID shot, you'll feel better about things when you watch the movie.

https://youtu.be/cGWmYeX8YJk?si=r2NhgUj6p-UbQ31b 

Space, The Final Frontier 

Most objects of interest in space are too far away to even consider a probe. The speed of light traps us here near Earth.  This is unfortunate, I agree completely. Nearby is Mars, it's pink, and you can see it sometimes in the evening.  

I maintain it's misspent money to go through all that to plant a flag on Mars and congratulate ourselves if we make it back (and it doesn't kill us). The challenges are large with much risk to human life. In the end, we may find out Mars may be too harsh and too difficult to reach for people to consider for habitation, even temporary, or for anything else. 

Fans of rockets and space, which would include me, get upset when I mention not funding these projects. They love the idea of a great big American multi-color party planting lichen on Mars.  Explorers, ok. But this stuff costs money, billions of dollars. 

If we had the money, ok, but we don't, and one-percenters don't play that, they go for a ride in Bezos' party capsule. 

Let's take a look at Africa, just anywhere on the continent. Tell me if lichen grows there first.  Africa isn't Mars, and people struggle to survive there. How much of a hint do you need I don't want to be rude. 

I'm all for space travel. When I have a starship and warp speed, I plan to do a lot of it. Until then, why be selfish? 

It really should be Final, ya?

Semantics 

Like many of you, I think I write too much. You probably think I write too much, too. It's the words, it is like they are arming themselves against us, some of us more than others. Every word I type seems to have its own mojo, its own spin, its own flavor as if every person interprets the meaning of things through experience derived by empirical means. Which is exactly why I say words are arming themselves against us. 

It's our own fault.  We're doing them wrong. 

There are things that are not subject to a great deal of interpretation. Justice was once one of them, apparently. 

Check Your Definition

I've heard the phrase 'if he wasn't an ex-President...' many times, and each time, it begins a sentence that outlines how justice is defined, even for the worst offenders, if we can be honest here, with a kinder edge, as if we are afraid to admit that our assumptions about our leadership can at times be legitimately questioned, and our judgments incorrect.

It depends on what the definition of the word 'is' is, was our first stop on the journey. We're well travelled now but some of us are slow to follow the signs.

We've witnessed the dismantling of perfectly good semantics in favor of alternative facts. 

Every child has heard the tale of the Pied Piper. How do you think it became so remembered? 

But back to words. I'm not going to hold them responsible for what others think they mean. People don't get a pass.

Good Sabbath 

It's misty in southern California, June gloom arrived right on schedule.

Snip Snip Snip

So yeah, the blog is done on this side. It'll be right here, promise, just with a thinner footprint.

Necessary Things

It seems the blog reaches some internal limit on iPhone Chrome instances, at least my particular iPhone and this causes Cannot Load Page errors. The recommended workaround is to close the browser, restart the device, and one or both usually works, but it's probably easier just to give the blog a once over.

A little off the bottom, I promise not to tickle.

There, you're all rolled over. Didn't hurt a bit I bet?

Yesterday's News 

...so to speak.  I put it all over here