Collective Soul --- Shine ( repost )

12/31/25:

Author: Florence M-P

In the Database!

Update:

last posted on 12.29.16 :

This song popped into my head. I knew I had posted it before...if memory serves, I was feeling poorly at that time..

Felt a lot better today.   Got out a bit and heard this one on the radio as before.  Why not repost it?  I like it...

original post follows immediately...


Just heard this on the radio while in my Nissan.  The hubcaps arrived this morning, or should I say last night, but the delivery guy didn't knock or anything.   I didn't know that they were there.  So, the hubcaps are on the car, and it should be good enough for the inspection sticker I couldn't get last week.  My permanent license should be there tomorrow, but if not, no problema.  I'll just have to make another trip.

Anyway, that song was familiar from the nineties, but I didn't know the name of it, nor the artists.

I found the lyrics and notice how clean they are.  That was rare even 20 years ago.

"Aggressive venting: SpaceX's own fog machine"| SpaceX Starbase

 

  Author:  NASASpaceflight

  Description:  SpaceX Starship Updates, near the end of 2025.  SpaceX continues to demolish the original launch mount, and prepare to upgrade it in order to accommodate the latest designs of the Version 3 Booster, and Starship.

  

   
  

The Ugly American Myth is a concoction of leftist propaganda

   If so many folks are suspicious of the corporate legacy media, then why does this garbage seem to cling on so much?

   Perhaps you could blame it on the amygdala.  Shorthand: the lizard part of the human brain.

  Maybe Capt. Kirk can figure it all out.   Or Chuck Norris.

I know! The Easter Bunny!

What's the real reason for stories like this?

    Speculation: Could be a psy-op to depress MAGA enthusiasm. Also to boost left-wing enthusiasm. Somebody wants the Dems to win real badly, and it may not necessarily be all Democrats. Also, consider the source --- Bloomberg. Quoted a Heritage "hard-liner". Why use these type of persuader words? The idea is to give it more credibility, when there could be reason to doubt it.

  Poll numbers ARE indeed down. That is why some type of action is necessarily in order to stem these losses, and even turn them back around.

What Makes Starship's Water Deluge System So Unique??

 

CSI Starbase

Description: "Deep Dive Investigation will teach you the step by step process for building your own Starship Flame Trench"

First Time Hearing "Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner!

 

Comment:

  This one was on the radio, and seemed like a good idea to include it in the database.  Better yet, include it as a reaction video, and here is a favorite presenter-- "The Charismatic Voice".  The song is quite relatable, as yours truly spent a crap-load of time trying to learn to be a guitar player too.  Ah, but it didn't work out; as many other things didn't, alas...

Future Bug on the Windshield

12/29/25:

This one HAS to be in the database. lol

2/19/23:

Been checking music videos and I remembered this one...

Surprising reactions to this song from some folks...

Somebody said it saved them from committing suicide.

Originally posted on Dec 12, 2011

Dumb joke alert:

What did one bug on the windshield say to another bug on the windshield? Bet you don't have the guts to do that again!



Update:

I took a screen shot of this guy flying by his buddy. The speed is tremendous, he's there and then he is gone. His buddy had to duck, so you can see how close he is to the ground and going so fast. Dangerous stuff!

to see this click me!

Europe and US losing the farm?

  Epoch Times article

  Quote :

    "Over the past two years, farmers across Europe have mobilized at a scale  ;    that should dominate headlines. Instead, it has been treated as background         noise."

   Europe and America, as well as the rest of the so-called "free world" are destroying themselves, but why?  To solve imaginary problems with imaginary solutions.

  What's the reaction of the controlled opposition?  Raise phony issues and try to divide itself so that it can lose the next election to the ones at the source of the trouble.

  Makes me wonder who and what these people are protecting.

Cutting Through the Fog and Conflict Within Current U.S. Republican Politics

  The Conservative Treehouse

Comment:

  Since this Epstein stuff started, I've been eyeing the re-establishment of the Political WTF category.  Indeed, what the f**k are we doing to each other?  So many good things are happening, but people are unhappy?  WHY?... It makes no sense, unless...

  The 64K question is why. And the 64K quote here is this:

      Traditional Republicans want a midterm loss.

  I've got news for you people, or perhaps you already know. This has always been the case. In 1964, the liberal wing of the GOP voted for LBJ. Since that time, the rails have gotten greased towards more and more government.

  Traditional Republicans aren't interested in being an opposition party. That election in 1964 proved it. Nothing has changed.

  MTG is still a fake.  She's trying to pre-empt any mention of her in the campaign for her replacement.  This is a controlled opposition move.  Run like hell against her, and the rest of the fakes.  Anti-MAGA types would rather lose than to win, for if they win, they'd have to govern.  They'd much rather be a controlled opposition.  Screw that!

Victor Davis Hanson: The Subtle Threat of Democrats’ Sophisticated Crudity

 

  Comment:

  Found this on Free Republic...

  Some of the stuff going on out there that puzzles me a bit.  Is it some sort of psy-op?  Why would Trump's polls be going down, for heaven's sake?

  Could it be this "crudity", but even so, how does that stack with the opposition? Still doesn't make a lick of sense to me.

  Video goes in database.

  Description: The comparison between Trump and his critics

Miscalled Democrats are going to keep driving entrepreneurs out of "Collyfornia".

 

Where's the "Governator" when you need him? The "Governator" was all-Hollywood, and nothing real.

Peter Thiel is leaving California if we pass a 1% tax on billionaires for 5 years to pay for healthcare for the working class facing steep Medicaid cuts.

I echo what FDR said with sarcasm of economic royalists when they threatened to leave, "I will miss them very much." https://t.co/5N8FxBqJww

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) December 27, 2025

Bari Weiss v Megyn Kelly

 

Bari Weiss is mostly an unknown to me. Call that a caveat type situation.

Bari Weiss is an improvement, don' t let anyone tell you otherwise

 

Subscribe to Sharyl’s Substack https://t.co/f8ie77LRcW Comment: People like to complain about no convictions, but ask yourselves this: Would this information ever have seen the light of day if Kamala Harris was POTUS today? You know that it wouldn't. Moral? Kwicherbellyakin.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) December 27, 2025

In an ideal world, I would agree with Gen. Flynn

 

But we live in a REAL world. The REAL world's courts won't convict a fellow partner in crime. So what do you do about THIS? There is a limited amount of things that can be done at any one time. How does it benefit MAGA to chase down improbable convictions, when there is a MOUNTAIN of stuff that must be done RIGHT NOW?

It's a matter of priorities. Convictions in these cases is most unlikely. You may get a few, if you are very, very lucky. This won't justify the time and expense in going after these people.

There is a real danger that MAGA will end as soon as Trump leaves office. Considering what will likely take its place in that event, it should behoove you to make sure as humanly possible that that event DOES NOT TAKE PLACE.

That meeting did happen and I asked many more questions and learned many more things. To date, this WH has yet to reach out because there are people who want the 2020 election to go away. Take a guess at some of the names.

The rigged won’t go away, yes, it was rigged and we were…

— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) December 27, 2025

If the concern was about the welfare of children...

 

Then please note that this is being done NOW. You can play around with the Epstein Files until the cows come home, and there wouldn't be a doggone thing to show for it. Just sayin'.

🚨 BREAKING: @SecKennedy announces "six decisive actions" to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation:

"So-called 'gender affirming care' has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people... we’re done with junk science, driven by… pic.twitter.com/q4iWbmSNEj

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 18, 2025

Election 2020 scandals confirmed

 

I'm all for getting some justice here. The question is how do you get that justice? If you go to the courts, the corrupt jurisdiction will NOT convict any of their fellow partners in crime. It is almost masochistic to even attempt such a thing. The only benefit that MIGHT be obtained would be to show their obvious corruption.

What can be done here that isn't being done ?

Fulton County admits the wrongdoing now, five years too late for it to matter. But if you bring it up when it matters, they indict you and threaten life in prison to shut you up. https://t.co/FwJvMYpkF7

— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) December 18, 2025

Bronowski's Warning

12/27/25:

Here's another gem. It will go into the database. Author:  Reginald Beardacus

From Description: "Bronowski laments; humanity will continue to progress, but not necessarily with the West at its forefront."

Quick Update: This gem will lead to other gems, such as this. Well, there are 17k posts on this blog, over a period of 15 years. There's some good stuff here.

5/29/12:

A Clip from the Ascent of Man, Episode 13.

The warning is about the retreat from knowledge.  He says Western Civilization is giving up.  But this series was first aired over 40 years ago- just before his death.  How has that played out in the intervening time since his death?

Knowledge seems to continue in certain areas and decline in others.  One example of advancement is the internet and computers.

But the decline is seen elsewhere in space exploration and nuclear energy.  There are those who may argue if this is really a decline.  It may not be, if aneutronic fusion is perfected.  But that is a gamble.  If that gamble doesn't pay off, the West will have put all of its eggs in a barren basket.  If fusion cannot be perfected, what about fission energy?  It looks like this has definitely fallen out of favor, but what if that judgment has been premature?  If so, this is a retreat, which is not based upon scientific evidence.  It will have been a self inflicted injury.

The other sign of decline is in the slow advancement, if not outright abandonment of the exploration of space.  This too could be a premature judgment.  For the value of space exploration could be in finding those things that are claimed to be in short supply on Earth- unlimited resources.  It will have been a self imposed limitation, which is supposedly based upon the notion of limits to growth.  But what if that is incorrect?  What if the limits are only those that we impose upon ourselves?  What if you could settle space, which according to some claims, could hold orders of magnitude more people, with a civilization comparable to what exists now in only advanced nations of the world?

So the decline of the West may occur because of premature judgments.  The judgments in turn, are not necessarily based upon knowledge, but a belief in something that is not knowledge.  It could be a belief that science is the cause of trouble, not a solution for the troubles of humanity.  Is science the problem or the solution?  The answer to that depends upon a vision for humanity.  If humanity is to be remain locked upon this Earth, then limitations will be imposed that will avoid the solutions that science can provide.  The decline will continue.  As Bronowski says, the advance of man will continue, but by others instead.  As for myself, I'm not so sure.  If the West doesn't do it, it may never be done at all.

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman

12/26/25:

One more, and then I'll ease off of this. This video was taken down, and I substituted a Rick Beato video for it.

Title: Why THIS Is The Greatest Country Song

Author: Rick Beato

2/20/25:

Going to edit this because the video isn't there anymore, so I'll replace it with Rick Beato's analysis of it. He has a very high opinion of the song.

See the video below as the replacement for the originally embedded video.

Originally posted 6.8.17, updated

8.8.17:

Glen Campbell has passed away.  He was 81.  In these videos, he looks so young.  Life is short, don't you know.


the original post follows:

A hit song from the sixties.  That was supposed to be the swinging sixties.  Hmm.  Pretty innocent time, if you ax me.

Yes, I like the song.

Review of the Movie "The Arroyo"

12/26/25:

Here's another video to add to the database. The video embed itself is at the bottom of the post.

Author: Bill Whittle

Description: It's about The Arroyo Trailer video

8/17/25:

I don't think I've ever posted anything about the "obvious" connection between "The Arroyo" and "No Country for Old Men".

Next thing that is "obvious", is the question of why would they pattern it upon another movie? Perhaps Declaration Entertainment missed the boat. The reason for the movie being made was a sort of protest against the kind of movies being made in Hollywood.

Of course, it has all gotten worse. Hollywood is worse than ever.

Declaration Entertainment was going to do another movie that might have been a knock against Star Wars and Star Trek.

If Declaration Entertainment missed the boat, what might they have done differently? Maybe having a sense of humor. They took themselves a bit too seriously. Like we all do. That's our problem.

Note: I used scare quotes around the word obvious. If it was so obvious, then why didn't I notice this sooner? No answer except that it seems dumb in retrospect.

Update, 9/23/23:

Just spent a bit of time perusing some reviews of the "documentary" about Cleopatra. I won't link to it. Just mentioning it here in the context of what Bill Whittle tried to accomplish a decade ago. It is also worth mentioning there was a movie that re-did Barbie. Yep, it was not well-received.

So there it is again. Just a whole lot of belly-aching, but doing absolutely NOTHING about it.

I tried. I contributed to the movie "Arroyo". Modestly contributed to it. If people would just get off their asses and DO something, good things MIGHT happen. But noooooooo. You've got all the belly-aching and nothing done about it. Indeed! We've got "conservatives" who would prefer to fight US than to fight Democrats!

the original post of 10/5/22 is directly below:

Hollywood Stasi, an old story

It appears that those Americans who oppose the powers-that-be cannot sustain a movement long enough for it to reach fruition. That is a fault that should be remembered first BEFORE you start bellyaching about the political left. We've been down this road many times before, yet the results seem to be the same. It is the continual drift to socialism, societal decay, and failure. The fault dear Brutus, may lie within us.

Nothing will change until there is a sustained movement that cannot be denied. This is what Paul Krugman and his ilk are so afraid of. Krugman called it "movement conservatism". There's a clue about the left that Krugman may not have wanted to be emphasized. He called it "movement" conservatism. The only kind of conservatism that the left likes is the kind that doesn't move. In other words, it is dead, or might as well be.

Hollywood can make movies that cast conservatives as villains, but why can't "conservatives" do anything about that? Oh, but there's a lot of bellyaching. You're not going to change the left, but you can certainly beat them at their own game---provided that there's still the opportunity to do so.

Declaration Entertainment attempted to do that. But the "conservatives" failed to rally behind it. Perhaps because there wasn't the perceived need. Has that changed? So you get this post on Instapundit, which is a link to somebody who wrote a post about the "Hollywood Stasi". It just seems to be in the mold of talking but not doing anything about it.

What to do? Conservatives need to get the "fire in the belly". Also, to see alternatives being brought to the market, while we still have one. As Dan Bongino says all the time, we need an alternative economy. We have to be able to impose real financial pain on the left, or there won't be alternatives to the left anymore. One way is to compete with Hollywood. Hollywood is anti-conservative. Companies like Declaration Entertainment could have provided that alternative in that economic space of making movies.

There's more to it. It is a comprehensive plan and movement that is needed. That's what the left seems to have had so much success with. They've had that success because nobody has had that fire in the belly to see it to completion.

All talk and no action is no longer permissible. Time to get moving.

Update coming:



Originally posted Mar 8, 2014



This will be a short review.  First of all, a background.  The movie was a Bill Whittle project.  It was made by an outfit called Declaration Entertainment, which I helped fund as a "citizen-producer".  As a consequence of my support, they now just got around to sending me a copy.  It is also true that I dropped out after a short term, so I didn't fund it all the way to its completion.  Okay, so the criticism can go both ways.

I went in thinking that this may have been a "jerk-off" fantasy, as so many things are in our society these days.  To my surprise, it didn't not confirm that.  However, there was an element of unreality to it that I must call out.

The good guy is injured in a manner that probably made him incapable of doing what he did in the climax.  That's the unreality.  But the unreality was necessary for the film to reach its climax.

It is true that, in the movies, the "good guy" wins.  Even today, in Hollywood movies that Whittle objects to, the "good guy" wins.  But, what is "good" and what is "bad"?  That's the rub.  It all depends upon where you're standing as to the identity of that personage.

In this movie, the good guy wins.  After all, he's just defending what's his.  Even in Hollywood, the guy here can be a hero.  Nothing out of the usual here.

I think what Whittle wants to do is to motivate people into not being sheep, and start acting like free men.  I applaud that.  The main character is a man in that mold.  Someone we used to look up to.  Today's Hollywood would make this guy into a villain because he's just too macho for today's tastes.  There's the difference, perhaps.

Today's men are driven into passivity.  Today's men are told that it's okay for them to literally be like girls.  So, it shouldn't be a surprise that that is the way some of them behave.

Yet, in this movie, the women are bad ass too.  It doesn't necessarily follow the old sex type mold.

It's an okay movie.  But it may shift a bit into the unreal mode in order to keep the hero heroic.  That's a small fault to find.  Otherwise, a movie can't be a movie without some artistic license.  People have to have their fairy tales.

The Stupidity of Our Federal Government

12/26/25:

I'll add this and possibly other of the most visited embedded videos.

Title: Jim Kennedy - Link Between Thorium and Self Reliance in Rare Earths & Energy @ TEAC4

Author: gordonmcdowell



10/16/25:

 

With my skin-suit theory, I'll posit a new corollary to it as follows: If it is potentially a very good thing for the USA to have, the leftists will try to destroy it. The point being that America already has it too good, and doesn't need any more good things because the rest of the world doesn't have enough of these good things.

 

The U.S. has more rare earth minerals than any nation on Earth—an estimated $12 trillion worth.

But thanks to endless permits, lawsuits, and land bans, we depend on China and Russia for critical materials.

We don’t have a mineral shortage—we have a leadership shortage. pic.twitter.com/MX61aQrlx3

— Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) October 15, 2025

 P.S.  Maybe it isn't the "stupidity", but something else.  Let's say "malice" instead.   That is, the malice of the political left.  Could Trump reverse this?  Perhaps.  But Trump had better deal with the deeper issues, which is this malice of the left.  It has no end to it.  Something like this, but actually not based upon anything real, but mostly phony grievances conjured up out of thin air.

 

Trump DOES get it, as shown in video below; but why can he not just deal with them in the way the need to be dealt with?

 

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump UNLEASHES on the fake news and Democrats for accusing him of "weaponizing" the justice system

"DON'T tell me about us going after them. If anything, we've been very, VERY SOFT. I wouldn't be that soft, I'll tell you that!"

"They want to put my SON… pic.twitter.com/cHYBOke8kQ

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 15, 2025

3/3/25:

It bears repeating, even at the risk of being tiresome. The speaker here is distinguishing between two different types of ores. There's an ore with Thorium in it, which also holds all of the Rare Earths we're looking for, and another without Thorium. This other kind is preferred for some strange reason, and consequently, we do not obtain the Rare Earths. It isn't from the lack of Monazite ore, in which the Thorium resides, it is because the regulators are prohibiting it due to the TINY amount of radiation that Thorium emits.

Pretty silly, eh? It isn't any more dangerous than all kinds of other things we already do, but it is prohibited as if it were some of the most dangerous substances out there.

A banana has more radioactivity in it than a equal mass of Thorium. It's dumb policy. The talk above is over 10 years old. Evidently, the policy still exists. But we can buy it from Ukraine! What nonsense.

3/2/25:

With all the talk about rare earths these days, it seemed well to remind everyone that there is no shortage of rare earths in America. Instead, the shortage is in the brain power. Wherever you find Thorium, you find rare earths. There's a lot of thorium deposits in America. So all the talk is wrong anyway. Quick update: It should be mentioned that any offer to purchase any such thing from Ukraine is a total gift. One has to wonder why the offer was even made at all. There are two optional explanations: 1) stupidity, or 2) treason. Either one is not good.

5/28/13:

On vivid display in the Jim Kennedy talk at TEAC4 last year.  By the way, I'm going through each of these in sequence and this is the fifth of the series.  Anyway, he closes with this one, enough to get this old man's blood pressure up through the roof.  It should get yours up too if you care anything at all about our future.

link to financial times.com article

link to Washington Times article

The Ugly Truth About Avocados (You Won’t Like It)

  Author: Dr. Eric Berg DC

    Description: Why you should be very careful about avocados and avocado products. They are not what they are being presented as.

    Question: Is it my imagination, or does there appear to be a lot of stuff like this out there?

    Of course, the best solution is to grow your own stuff, but there is a lot of resistance to this from the regulators.  Of course there is!  If everybody took care of things themselves, there wouldn't be any need for regulators.  Sort of like police who don't take care of public safety.  It really isn't the fault of individual police officers (or is it?)  You do whatever the boss who writes your paycheck tells you to do ( or not do).

    The problem isn't that there isn't enough government. The problem is that government doesn't do what they say that they will do.  It is the same problem as with the merchants who sell you phony stuff. DISHONESTY.

What can tragedy tell us?

  A terrible story here; one that may illustrate a few truths about human nature. Actually, it is but one of many stories within a larger tragedy that was the aftermath of the Great Galveston Storm of 1900.

  Before beginning, there's a feeling among some people that goes something like this:  Why mention such a terrible story?  Why spend your time reading it, and writing about it?  This isn't speculation, because a question like that was put to me before.  So that thought is appropriate to mention here.  The answer to the question is that the story is about truth... If you want to wear rose-colored glasses, and pretend that everything in the world is peachy-keen, you will run the risk of being unprepared when disaster does indeed strike.  And it will.   You can count on that.

  Others may read it and say those people were to blame for their own fate. But that happened in 1900. They didn't have the warning systems that we have today... You really cannot blame them entirely; but there was a history of storms wiping out coastal cities along the Gulf Coast, prior to this one. More than one town got obliterated when one of those storms hit.  The risk of living there had to be well-known before this tragedy occurred.

  Yeah, but what do I get out of that story?  Just a snippet of it will reveal the point which I am trying to get across.  For even in the midst of horror, it is necessary for some folks to step up to the plate, and do what needs to be done.  Here's a paraphrasing of the snippet.  I won't quote directly from the Texas History book. The story is that something had to be done about the enormous number of dead bodies.  The bodies were decomposing rapidly, and the corpses had to be dealt with.  There simply was no time to waste.  There was difficulty getting men to volunteer for the task of placing the corpses on a barge and sinking it in the midst of the Gulf, far away from shore.  The city was under martial law, and a company of men with bayonets had to be summoned to compel a group of men to perform this awful task.  For if it was not done, a grave risk of disease could have wiped out the rest of the survivors.  Corpses were bloated, and some were already bursting.

  But what is the point?  The point is that those people could not be reasoned with. Even when it was reasonable to see that it was a necessary task that had to be done IMMEDIATELY, NOBODY WAS WILLING TO DO IT.  Force had to be applied. So you can wear your rose-colored glasses all you want. You can deny that people would as a rule, refuse to do what is necessary. But then, you find a story like this.

  If you still don't get the point, then I don't know what else I can tell you. Complaining about how awful everything is won't make things better.  You have to step up and DO SOMETHING.  Hopefully, it is the right thing.  For if force is going to be applied, it could easily be for the wrong reasons.  In that situation as well, it is necessary to do something.  Whatever that action may be, you may have to pay the price for it, and that may be your freedom or your very life.

  

Count your blessings, not your troubles...

 

       Maybe folks prefer to think of terms of what they don't have, as opposed to what they DO have. Even though the Democrats' commies' policies are to blame for the "unaffordability crisis" as opposed to Trump's solutions, they still have the gall to campaign on it. Yes, and win on it, even though they'll just make things worse again.

  There's a lot of folks still suffering because of what the Democrats commies did, but there's no guaranteeing what they might do if things don't improve for them. Therefore, let's not rest on those laurels.

Celebrating the Best Year for American Conservatives Ever by Jack Cashill

Tis The Season to Be Jolly!

Read on Substack

AI Is Making Critical Thinking a Survival Skill — 3 Practices to Build It

 

Author:  Think To Learn

Description:   The 3 steps that are intended to improve one's thinking skills; which are weakening as an side-effect of AI dependency.

Video : "How The US Magically Creates Money"

 

  Note:   This will be the first in the new database of videos. The database will be managed outside of the blogger platform. A lot of the data is encoded into the post. This will aid in cross-referencing it on the database.

  Author : Primal Space

  Description: youtube video discusses how money supply is made

How to integrate the new coding skills into the blog

 

    According to W3Schools, I must be some kind of whiz.  But I don't agree.  As of now, the integration of these new-found skills just hasn't translated into much of significance.  What little of significance that was indeed accomplished, had to take place outside of their system.  But that isn't really relevant, except as a way to explain.  So there it is.

  Now that the calendar project has concluded, what's next?  Integration into my blogs, of course.  But how?  Well, better organization is a good thing, so let's try that.

  It so happens that the one thing I've learned in making the calendar was how to manipulate a small database.  But this blog is much bigger.  If I could manage this blog outside of blogger, perhaps I could improve it.  That's the idea.  So the idea is this, construct a database of posts that I want to include in a database.  The database can be queried in order to find whatever I cannot find while using blogger.

  Yep, blogger cannot help me find some posts.  It's happened before on this blog, so likely, it will happen again.  Maybe this will help, or maybe not.

  I don't know if I'll retro-fit the blog with this database.  I'll start small, and then move to bigger things if it works okay.

  I'll start with videos.  One thing I've noticed is that video embeds tend to get obsoleted a lot.  I'd like to start doing a check on embedded videos.  If one gets taken out, I can updated it with another.

  So, to begin I will start with embedded videos.  These embeds will go into a database. That's all for now. Time=12:02 PM local

1:26 PM:

   Ok, the posts are in, and the database is created, and now has two videos (posts) in it. What's next? Some python code to access it. That should be easy. Famous last words? Nope. The single-machine offline is very predictable. That thing they got over at W3Schools isn't.

  

Something familiar about this...

 

President Trump and Doug Burgum’s Department of the Interior just won the internet with this Christmas video. pic.twitter.com/PhVrUKWR0j

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 24, 2025

Jingle Bell Rock

 Christmas Eve already?!? It snuck up on me, as usual.

Lighten up the mood, a little, I guess. Plenty of time for the rough stuff, if it comes.

This tune reminds me of a different time in the past. It was written in the late fifties. It still got airplay in the sixties, which is a time I'm remembering. Things were NOT perfect back then either, but somehow the bad stuff isn't remembered. Just nice stuff. Funny how memories work, eh?

Frame this one, because it is important

 Bill Whittle's "Tribes". On pjmedia...

  There will come "A Time for Choosing", and if that may seem familiar, it certainly is. It is Ronald Reagan's famous speech. I draw some ideas from that, and a few more from Whittle's essay.

  Bill Whittle's piece came out after the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Shucks, I thought it came out after 9-11. This is how one's memories can trick you over time.  The remarkable thing about that time is that President George W. Bush's reaction to the Democrats was rather pitiful.

  Imo, it is important enough of an essay to memorialize it, because we are in a time in which it will become necessary to choose sides in the Culture War.

  "The Culture War", as Pat Buchanan coined it in 1992, is a thing, whether or not you acknowledge it. You are going to have to choose sides in that, because the outcome of that war is how the future will enfold. One side or the other will win this war. The denial of its existence is a guarantee of defeat.

  There are those who would rather do anything other than to confront the evil, and then there are the "sheep dogs", who will confront the "wolf". The left is the "wolf". You have to choose to be just another one of the sheep, who do nothing but complain, but the wolf won't hear the complaints, but will feed upon the sheep without mercy. Such is the future ahead of us if we fail.

  I don't necessarily agree with everything that Whittle says. In particular, about having to choose to be a sheep-dog. In times of war, all able-bodied men were called upon to defend the country. In that case, the choice is either to run off to "safety", or join the fight.

  Once again, the fight is already upon us. Either we rise to meet the threat, or we WILL be subjugated. Denial is not an option, here.

Scene from the film "Witness": The Amish Way v. John Book's way

 How accurate is this depiction of the Amish?

   There are folks who would much prefer the Amish way. The Amish way will keep the peace. However, will it keep your freedom?

   Let's dissect this scene. The Amish were getting harassed by a few thugs, who thought it funny to make fun of, and abuse people who were fundamentally passive and non-violent. The Amish Way was to do nothing about the harassment. But John Book, being a Philadelphia detective, was accustomed to using violence when he thought it necessary.

  So, when John Book was asked to stand down, because it wasn't the Amish way, he refused. Book went over to the guy, who proceeded to act in a provocative way towards someone who he took to be non-violent. Instead of being non-violent, he got a punch in the nose. That was John Book's way. It is easily contrasted here in this scene.

  There are many folks who think the Amish way is the better way. But what do YOU think?

  Let's take a situation in which a thug is harassing an elderly person, who cannot fight back. This is a scene that you'll see repeated often these days. It happens all the time in the "blue" cities. The police do nothing. But what happens to the helpless ones? Aren't the police supposed to protect the helpless? Well, in blue cities, it doesn't happen anymore.

  In my opinion, I'm more in line with Book's way, than the Amish way. People who will abuse the helpless need an ass kicking. That's plain and simple common-sense. How else are you going to protect the innocent, but to intervene forcefully when something wrong is occuring? If the police won't do it, then somebody else MUST.

  The thug faction, particularly in the Democrat commie party, is acting this way towards the helpless. Yet, they have the gall to call you violent if you oppose them. Bullshit.

   The Democrats, whether they know it or not, are acting EXACTLY the way the Nazis and Communists did in Europe prior to WW II, in Germany. You see, that is what the Amish type fear. They seem to believe that if you wish it all to go away, then it will. But the only way to stop Hitler was to kill him. The only way to stop the commies, was to be armed to the teeth, and be prepared to fight them on their own terms AT ANY TIME.

  The so-called "free" world won the Cold War, only to the lose the peace. The Amish faction has taken hold, and is demanded of the citizenry to be still, and take the abuse from the political left. So, we "won" the Cold War only to surrender to the left in order to keep the peace with them? Screw that!

  The commies want your guns so that they can abuse "WE THE PEOPLE" at their leisure.  I sure hope that there are enough patriots who can see through this shell game, and call it out.  If need be, to kick their asses once and for all.  If there isn't, we will be subjugated by them.   There IS NO OTHER WAY.  The Amish way will not result in keeping our freedom.  It will invariably lead to the loss of our freedom.  You can take that to the bank.  It is what the commies tried to do during the Cold War, and they are at it again.

You just don't know people sometimes

Something most unusual just happened.

Well, it is not like me to let things go by without having something to say about it.

But it is hard sometimes. So this will be a response, but not to name names or anything like that.

Is it really bad for someone to make a stand when a stand is absolutely necessary? It seems to me that there are some folks out there who think it is naughty to stand up for yourself. I cannot even begin to understand how someone could come to that opinion.

I really have to wonder about such a person, when such weakness can be an open invitation to aggression from those who are so inclined. In the case, that I will not mention, it seems that weakness is being made out to be a virtue. This is a perversion, which is a vice.

I know all this sounds pretty oblique, but you really cannot make a virtue out of a vice. A weak response to a in-civil person will not change any attitudes, but likely only to harden them against the weak. In short, you must stand up to the bully, not give in to him.

Any attempt to sugar coat cowardice is a vice in itself.

Starship Update (What about it) 2 days ago, today is 12/22/25

Not exactly "new" News, eh?

Comment:

   Basically, Felix is saying that Ship 39 is ready for testing.  Booster 19 is nearly ready.  By today, it could be ready.  That's because the "news" is 2 days old.  Events move fast these days, and you've got to be fast too, in order to keep it.

Posting is lite recently

Well, there's not much to discuss lately. Maybe football. But who cares about that? Obviously, I do. But will that get eyeballs on this blog? Probably not. But there's nothing else.

Since I spend most of my NFL time on the Texans, that narrows it down even further. The three hottest teams in the AFC put their winning streaks on the line, and two of them kept their streaks alive. The Jags and the Texans are in the same division though. Bad break for the Texans. I was hoping the Broncos could keep THEIR winning streak going, but they fell to the Jags, who kept their winning streak alive instead.

The Jags now have the inside lane towards the division championship. Even if the Texans win their last two games, and go 12-5 for the year, it may not be enough to win the division if the Jags win their last two. But those games should be relatively easy for the Jags, and more difficult for the Texans.

A long way down in the seeding that could be. The Texans could end up as the 7th seed, which means no home games in the playoffs.

The Broncos really screwed the Texans by losing that game. The Broncos could afford to lose, but the Jags could not.

Now that I've bored the crap out of everyone, I'll shut up for now. Time to do other stuff.

Bannon still thinks 2026 is winnable

12/21/25:

   When it comes to politics, how do you even know? You've got polls, but polls can be manipulated. Once upon a time, it seemed like elections could tell you something, but how can you tell anymore? The political left has managed to make the ballot box meaningless as all get out. How can you know anything about the public will when so much is being done to obscure it?

   The legacy news media? Forget it. The legacy news media is controlled by a small number of corporations. They'll tell you only what they want you to know. Chances are, what you hear from the talking heads is just what somebody wants you to believe, and has little to do with the truth.

   Politicians? Bureaucrats? Academia? None of these sources seem trustworthy, either. Well, it seems we are like the former Soviet Union. A dissident there once said to trust only your own crooked eye. What a world.  If America is really any different from that place, I'm an astronaut.

12/14/25:

Here's the piece I saw on Revolver "Here’s why Bannon is ‘white pilled’ on 2026 midterms…"

Comment:

  He seems to be both upbeat and downbeat at the same time. How can that be?

  His analysis about the old-guard GOP is dead on target, however. If the old-guard get their way, the 2026 mid-terms will be a disaster.

  Many things to keep in mind about, which seem to have been forgotten already.

1) The lack of convictions from Pam Bondi as AG. But remember how Trump nominated Gaetz, and his nomination was shot down? Who did that? Was it not the old Guard GOP who did that?

2) The fact is that Trump has to work with what he's got to work with. On the Democrat side, there are those who want to jail him, and for no other reason than to oppose them; impeach him, even though he didn't do anything that the Democrats said he did; and 3) when the Democrats try to prove anything, they have no evidence because they IS NO EVIDENCE.

3) The old-Guard GOP want do not want to govern, they only want to keep the opposition under control. So to reward them for their disloyalty to the people who elected them, this would be a grave error on the part of true blue MAGA. It would be an error because it's not Trump to blame, but the old-Guard GOP, who never wanted him, never supported him, and only tolerated him because the base DID. In summary, he's dealing with FAKE everything, which is all around him. MTG is just a part of the fake support he has. She could not have been serious about MAGA, and do what she did. She is FAKE. She was only interested in what it could do for her, and now that it hasn't she has flipped.

  Bannon says there needs to be a lot of work. Unfortunately, there is little time left. We are getting rope-a-doped. That was the strategy that Muhammad Ali used in his fights. If you get the other guy to punch himself out, he can be beaten. The ones doing the rope-a-dope on us are the Democrats AND the old Guard GOP. Why else play into the Democrat hands by refusing to do the things that will insure victory? The old Guard GOP continues to do this time-and-again.  They play loyal, but they deliver NOTHING.  Rope-a-dope.

  The old Guard must get in line, or be shown the door. End the filibuster, and pass the Trump agenda, and watch it work. But they won't. So MAGA must do what we must, or all will be lost. The old Guard must go.

  The voters must be persuaded to buy-in on MAGA, because the old Guard will CASH US OUT. It will time to eat bugs, because that the kind of thing that we will forced into. Like the phony assed COVID JAB, the lockdowns, and riots. All of this will be coming to a place near you, because that is what we will be getting from the Dems commies. The old Guard MUST know this, but they do NOTHING.

Come to think of it, the political left is terminally full of it

 

Mark Tapscott @ insty has this little nugget of gold

So, I embedded the substack page, below:

America First Is Not Hatred—It’s Stewardship by Virgil Walker

By Virgil Walker | Sola Veritas

Read on Substack

Of course it isn't hatred. Why is this hard to understand? Perhaps because self-hatred is drilled into people's heads from the cradle. Shucks, why don't you people just blow your brains out, and get it over with?

Trump making a "move"

Shutting down the green card scam, and the like.

After a conservative was assassinated at Brown U, President Trump makes his move… https://t.co/K0Dx3WvFbC --Trump is suspending the visa lottery program, which is the culprit here and in other horrors at the hands of un-vetted immigrants, who don't belong here.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) December 19, 2025

The California man-made disaster

  In case you don't understand these boxes, there's scroll bars on the side.  Just scroll down in order to see the content.




   The biggest mystery of them all, is this: How is it that the GOP cannot beat these guys? The only explanation that I can think of is that they don't want to win.  

Therefore, none of this matters if the GOP won't govern, and doesn't care to govern; because of these failures of the GOP, we are stuck with the same thing that is happening in Collyfornia.

Let's not forget about the other blue strongholds. They are going down the tubes as well as Collyfornia. Trouble is this: if you don't beat them, their escapees will invade the red states and do the same thing that they did to the blue.  It's merely a matter of time.

  So VDH breaks down the disaster that is now unfolding in Gavin Newsome's state. Watch the video, and see America's future, unless somehow you can get the GOP to get its act together.

Some links to chew on

  In case you don't understand these boxes, there's scroll bars on the side.  Just scroll down in order to see the content.




YouTube took down the video, now on Rumble. See comments at post linked to. The reason screwtube took it out was to suppress dissent.

ObamaCare subsidies are dead.  Question:  Do people still get subsidies or not?  Or was this just another big spending spree from the commies, who want to destabilize America before subjugating it, and "WE THE PEOPLE".

Dems win big in Kentucky: Dems win big in Kentucky. Whoop-dee-do. There are blue districts in every state,including Texas. In other words, there's a lot of propaganda out there that's designed to keep the commies fired up, and dishearten the patriots.

There needs to be a big pushback. Don't let them win the propaganda war, nor any other war.

Fake poll:  During the Biden mal-administration, Americans were being shunned, and jobs (and everything else) were going to foreigners. In Trump 2.0, over 2 million new jobs for Americans. The illegals are being sent back to the shit-holes that they crawled out of.  Faster please!

Bannon 2.0 - Another Trump Chief of Staff Creates Another Hot Mess

Conservative Treehouse

There's a clever little poem about a snake. Yep, entirely appropriate to understand who you are dealing with when you are dealing with a snake. There are plenty of two-legged species of snake, if you follow my drift.

Too much foolishness out there.

Focus Fusion's chief muckety muck has a few words to say

Comment:

  Lest anyone think my trashing of Rob Reiner is all about the politics, be aware that I support Lerner's work on aneutronic fusion. Lerner is no MAGA guy. Indeed, he appears to be blue as blue can be.

  Personally, I don't give a rat's ass what someone's politics is, no matter how unwise it may appear to be. I don't get the sense that Lerner is a fool, though.

  Maybe it is I who is the fool for supporting the dude.

  People may wonder why James Woods, a conservative guy; would be friends with a guy like Reiner. You know, you really don't have to hate a person for their politics.  But if a person really is a jerk, and Reiner seemed to be a world-class jerk to me; I don't see any reason why I have to like the SOB.

  But James Woods liked him. There's no accounting for taste.

  By the way, I read that Reiner was not so gracious after Charlie Kirk was murdered. I won't waste tears of Reiner.

Wet Willie -- Keep on smiling

You can probably view this song in a lot of ways. Generally speaking, it can be viewed as a "pick me up", at the time of adversity. There's always adversity, just some folks want to keep their heads buried in the sand in their effort to wear rose-colored glasses.

Rose colored glasses are not worn here.

Can you do anything about people who insist upon being stupid?

Folks may consider that to be excessively harsh. But harsh words are irrelevant. While you worry about harshness, the world you depend upon may be crumbling from within, and yet you insist upon irrelevancies; which makes you STUPID.

This tweet is a prime example of the kind of stupidity running rampant out there. What can you do about people who insist upon being stupid? You can try harsh words, but that may backfire. They insist that you are being mean to them, and will double down on their stupidity. Maybe we should just give up on them. There's no hope for the terminally idiotic.

If you give up on them, what does that mean? Only that they are part of the problem, and act accordingly. If the shit is going to hit the fan, the best thing to do move in the opposite direction.. Know what I mean, Vern?

I had a conversation with a client yesterday that made my brain hurt.
At one point she said something about Trump’s “treatment” of immigrants & how mad it made her. Probably 20 minutes later she started telling me about some issues she was having with neighbors. She said this… https://t.co/2PECTW6Dth

— Willa, aka Liberty Belle, the 355 🇺🇸🔔 (@LBelle355) December 3, 2025

You might lead a horse to the water,

 

but you cannot make him drink.

MARK PULLIAM: MAGA Meets Sisyphus: Can Trump 2.0 Overcome Its Many Challenges? I do not question t https://t.co/tGY6AiaE87 --- Been saying it for years. The GOP needs a major overhaul. It's not a complicated idea, but for some reason, it seems to go over everybody's head.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) December 16, 2025

Comment:

This is an equal opportunity blog. I will give everybody an equal opportunity to get pissed off. It seems that a bunch of GOP'er have caught the lefty disease. Can't take the truth, so they pretend to be what they aren't; and to believe in what expressly is not true. Just like a good commie should.

What Abe Lincoln said about those who complained about General Grant

  Too many folks want to focus in on the irrelevancies. Lincoln had a hard time finding a competent General in order to fight a war to preserve the Union. Lincoln chose Grant, but the complaints came in anyway. Grant won some victories in the west, and it must have impressed the President, as other Generals seemed to fail miserably against the Southerners.

  So the objection was about his drinking. Lincoln replied that it was his understanding that Grant no longer had that problem. But if that was not the case, he would inquire about and see what Grant was drinking. Then he would give all of his Generals a barrel of it.

  What did drinking have to do about winning battles? But those folks who complained about Grant's alleged drinking were worried about that, instead of focusing their attention on how to beat General Lee.

  Why bring up that story? Well, doesn't it seem that people like to focus on the irrelevant when it comes to whatever? The so-called conservatives want to focus on character issues in those that they don't like. It would seem that they should focus on how to get people into office who will actually do something about those problems. But they'd rather focus on the irrelevancies.

  Yet people talk about nothing getting done. Ten to one, the complainers are focusing upon completely irrelevant things.

The rest of the "meathead" is dead. There is something to learn from this.

 

All these "conservatives" who conserve nothing, but watch over the destruction of this country and DO NOTHING; do nothing for me at all. Sorry if it hurts your itty-bitty feewings, cupcakes. The country stands on the brink of destruction, and the only thing you can think of is how you can screw Trump.

Conservatives really are built different.

Even those who sharply disagree with Rob Reiner's politics are overwhelmingly sending prayers and hoping he's okay amid this tragic news from his home—no gloating, just humanity.

Compare that to the outright celebrations and vile wishes…

— GunTreasure (@GunTreasure) December 15, 2025

What a bunch of virtue-signalling claptrap!

Here's a different point of view:

Wow

Rob Reiner's son did 17 rehab stints while still in his teens.

I can't believe Rob Reiner was so insanely political.

How can you claim to have absolute knowledge about what is best for everyone else when your family is a complete disaster?

— Freedomain - with Stefan Molyneux, MA (@StefanMolyneux) December 15, 2025

I found the tweet from the link.

Comment:

  And here's my opinion. I know some of you will love it. heh



  He really must have been a meathead after all. Ooops! That must make me a non-conservative. What a naughty boy I am.

  It's really not nice to speak ill of the dead. But this dude wasn't really alive anyway. Nor is any other brain-dead lefty.

  A suspect in the murder is Reiner's own son. Well, that is possible. But get this: my Dad didn't raise up a single alcoholic nor drug-abuser; even though he was fond of the brew himself. He had too much sense.  He had what he called "common sense", which is what the left sneers at.

  It shows what could happen when somebody, who is liberal, gets hold of a kid, and makes him as crazy as he is himself.

Something nice about Reiner, from a friend, who appears to be as clueless as any other lefty. If you've got to have something "nice", here it is.

One of the last conversations of Reiner. From the UK, by the way. What's happening in jolly old England right now? Hmmm.

No shortage of idgets in this country, alas

Saw this on Instapundit, will link to them in order to follow the thread:

When I became a man https://t.co/36fghOYJUs ---It is amazing to me how much foolishness there is out there. Reminds me of this essay about stupidity--that stupidity is the most dangerous thing. Well a fool must be stupid, otherwise they'd be harmless. MTG is a fool.

— BootsandOil (@BootsandO6892) December 15, 2025

Comment:



  So, am I the one who's wrong? Well, I am often wrong, and can be wrong this time. But until somebody shows me where I am wrong, I am going to believe that I am right.

   I do not believe that MTG had to do what she did, and she definitely showed a lack of loyalty to her benefactor. She owed Trump more than that.

   So, now she is MAD. Well, boo-hoo, baby.   A lot worse can happen to you, and just might. Incidentally, that is not a threat. I wish no harm upon you, and nobody within MAGA should either.  I'd wish you all the best, but you just cannot admit your error.  At the very least, if you had a problem with the man, you should have taken it to HIM, instead of running off to his enemies.  For that makes you the fool. You have destroyed whatever credibility you have, and now you whine about it. Again, boo-hoo baby. You did it to yourself.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard Discusses Ongoing Efforts to Find and Remove 18,000 Known Terrorists Who Entered U.S. Under Biden

Conservative Treehouse

Reaction (BINGO):

  Haven't read it carefully just yet. It seems to jibe with what the privacy guy said, which was embedded in a post yesterday.



We are being controlled, and if not so now; will be so; and in short order if they are allowed to prevail.

The Google Botnet

The modern world has the internet.. the older generation had TeeVee. Either way, it was/is a control mechanism. Freedom is an illusion. Either way, it is bad. But at least, it is modern. If it's modern, it's got to be better, right?? Right???

Obligatory post, 12/12/25

 

The entire day today was spent wrestling with the computer coding for a small-time project. I don't know if I losing my shit, or what. It shouldn't be this hard.

It's very time inefficient, to say the least. There is very little feedback from the system as to what is wrong with the code. If there's a grammatical error in the syntax, the thing just stops working, with no indication of what is wrong.

Aggravating to say the least. There are other things to do, but this is taking up all my time.

Anyway, bear with me. Maybe I'll figure the doggone thing out, and finish the project before the first day of the New Year. I cringe as I write this.

Down in flames?

Sometimes it pays to be prudent. Just like "Papa Bush" used to say in those Dana Carvey impersonations. ( I think) "Gotta be prudent!"

140 Democrats voted to impeach Trump yet again

They'll never learn.

Who was it that defined insanity as the continuance of a behavior that always produces the same result? It really is crazy on that other side.

Times have changed. Which is kind of the point that the link makes...

My mom was a homemaker (because Dad insisted), and she never cheated. How do I know? Because she wasn't that kind who would cheat. But she did watch a lot of soap operas on TeeVee.

A houseful of kids will tell daddy if momma was up to something too. Plus a bunch of kids will keep momma busy. Know wha I mean, Vern?

This sucks

This may be getting too personal, so if you don't like that kind of thing, ignore this post.

12/11/25:

   Actually, a small subsidy could help pay for the Ivermectin I'd like to use. That bill is now before the Senate, or it may have been voted down already. Not to complain here about getting or not getting a subsidy to pay for a highly overpriced generic, but the GOP needs to DO SOMETHING, and not be seen doing NOTHING in the face of Democrat intransigence. The Dems don't give a rat's rear end about helping anybody, they just want to exploit the situation.

   The position that the party is taking is not going to win votes. It won't make any difference in MY vote, but I don't speak for anybody else. The GOP is screwing up here. The GOP is allowing the filibuster rule that the Democrats don't want to stop THEMSELVES, but will use to STOP THE GOP. If you don't fight fire with fire, you are going to lose. That is all.

12/10/25:

  This may be too personal, but here goes anyway.

  The ObamaCare vote is of interest to me because of my own condition. Unfortunately, it may be getting worse. The reason for this is unclear, but there may be a way of settling that issue. I don't look forward to that. But that is something I have to decide for myself.

  I bring the political fight over it into the discussion, not because I want more subsidies for myself, but I'd rather have CHOICES. I feel as though I'm being herded into doing what I don't want to do, all because of what some powerful people want to do to all of us.

  I'd like to try Ivermectin for awhile. My doctor advised against this, but things being the way they are, I have my doubts about her advice. It's all because of the way things were handled during COVID. The trust is gone, and that didn't have to happen.  I feel that chemo is being pushed on me, when there may be other options.

  There's nothing wrong with trying Ivermectin, but I object to the prices being charged for a generic drug. I could pay for all of it myself, but why so much for a generic drug? Unfortunately, I think that the prices for generics are way too high because policy makers, in all their wisdom, want the prices to be high. Those of us who may need help are being denied our choices.

  I've sat on this for months now, without taking action. I feel as though my options are being limited by those who have power to affect these things.

  Now it is becoming clear that this may have bad results for me personally, but I accept the consequences of my own decisions. For better or worse. But the cost of this treatment, and having to do it the way that I would have to do it, leaving me frustrated and angry. Why SHOULD I be denied something that MIGHT work?

  I know what they'll say. The doctor said that it wouldn't work, but didn't these doctors say a lot of other things too? That's the way it is now, and none of this was necessary. It was a struggle over politics. The answer is not reward these people, but to hold them accountable. But how do you do that?  BTW, the doctor gave some lame-ass answers to my questions.  Another opinion.  Maybe.  I'm kinda stuck here, though.  Just bitching to be bitching, I guess.

  People won't listen. So there it is. It may be too much to share, but that is what it is.
 
  My tone has gotten a bit nasty, I'm trying to be reasonable here. But it isn't a reasonable time these days. Anyway, that is all.

ObamaCare vote in the Senate

12/11/25:

  The GOP needs to unite and begin offering a real alternative to the Dems, or they will lose ground. This AP story may not be totally accurate in all aspects, as I haven't followed it that closely. But seemingly doing nothing in response to the Democrats just isn't going to cut it with a lot of voters.

   A small subsidy that encourages thrift is a good and reasonable compromise. If these people won't compromise, and at least offer something to people to replace what they've come to depend upon, then they will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats. The Democrats may not win this particular battle, but they may win the WAR, which will be at the ballot box in November 26.

   The GOP is misplaying their hand on a misguided adherence to what, exactly? Fiscal restraint? Yea, verily, but that battle cannot be won at this time. Haven't any of them heard of the necessity of a strategic retreat?

  The Dems are playing the people like a Stradivarius. Unfortunately, it will likely succeed, unless the GOP gets its shit together, and soon. End the filibuster, and pass the GOP plan, dammit.

12/10/25:

   The outcome of this vote may leave a bad taste in all of our mouths--regardless of your politics. You may have to do something, or accept something that you don't like. Otherwise, you may have to prepare yourselves for a big loss here. If you are the GOP, your inflexibility may result in electoral losses. That same can be said of the Democrats. Whoever handles this best is likely to win in the end. That's a warning for all concerned.

   How are things going with this? Very badly, I see. At least according to AI, both measures are unlikely to pass. The GOP plan would likely reduce costs, meaning that it COULD work, but won't because of politics.

   The Democrat plan might pass except that it would be filibustered on the GOP side. Actually, the GOP bill would also be filibustered, because the Democrats already did that prior. So the AI is being presented as a GOP filibuster as the stumbling block, but the Dems are just as likely to filibuster the GOP plan.

   The difference is that the GOP could work in reducing costs, but the Democrat bill would continue to fund the soup-to-nuts version that will cause premiums to rise.

   The Democrats are using this as an issue to win the mid-terms, but they are actually to blame for the pain, as in the shutdown. They may get rewarded for this, and have their malice being covered up by the legacy media.

   The public won't get the whole story, and will tend to agree with the Democrat propaganda.  What's at stake here is our personal freedom to choose what we want for ourselves.  We are at risk at getting stuck with nationalized health care, or a continuing worsening financial circumstance that could lead to even a worse outcome.

   What to do about this? End the filibuster. The Democrats are abusing it. The GOP plan is a reasonable one, but the Democrats are playing power politics. The legacy media will help the Democrats fool the public. The Democrats REALLY want universal health care. They are tanking the system in order to have the excuse to take it over.

   The GOP needs to do what it has been forced to do--end the filbuster. I hate that, but that is what it is. The way I see it, the Democrats have no ethics, and will take advantage of anything they can. They are taking advantage of the rules which favor the tactic of filibustering in order to defeat a reasonable bill that could solve the problem that they claim to care about, but don't really. If they did, they would sign on to the GOP plan.

   If the facts are that the GOP itself refuses to pass this bill, then it should result in a faction fight within the caucus to get this bill passed. It should be passed even though it is not the best policy, however it is likely the best that we can get. By demanding everything, you are risking the loss of everything.

   The GOP is a reasonable bill and should pass. Let the Dems filibuster it, and maybe the blame will fall upon them. If the GOP won't end the filibuster, and won't pass the GOP bill; then they are shooting themselves in the foot. Once again, that is a faction fight that has to be taken to voters in the primary.

   You may not like that, but that is how it is.  Personally, I don't like ending the filibuster and I'd prefer not to subsidize health care, but the Democrats are forcing the issue.  The situation is what it is, and it is better to accept this, than be forced to accept something even worse down the line.

12/9/25:



  It's the deal that ended the shutdown. The Senate will vote on the plans, the GOP one; and the other guy's one. (ooh. How sensitive of me!)

  This other stuff has distracted me from the subject, but there was something about it regarding Dick Morris' comments on it. If there's a "soup-to-nuts" that funds a lot of useless stuff, then it will be a failure. Trump doesn't support that. He favors the GOP version of the bill. Hopefully, this can pass, and the POTUS will sign it.

  The other guy's soup-to-nutso drove up the health care premiums, and therefore this GOP should be a big improvement. That's why the other guys are opposed.

  I'm still a bit incensed with these people, but I am controlling it a little. How sensitive of me... /sarc

Keyboard warrior

12/9/25:

   Uh oh! It does look like a lot of keyboard warrior-ing is going on with this here blog. Time to re-assess what I'm doing. It is really easy to get caught up in the emotion of factionalism, and ultimately and maybe tragically; thereby going too far.

   Has it gotten to that point yet? Maybe. I will henceforth be vigilant in opposing this tendency. There is no doubt the ease of how one can fall into this deadly trap.

   At the best, this blog is about solutions to problems. Fighting is not a good solution. Better to solve our problems peacefully, as opposed to letting it slip into violence.

   But there is a very strong urge to do just that. Political violence should be resisted and condemned. This is why it is so worrisome that so many people today view that as a justifiable way of resolving differences.

   We have freedom of speech in order to handle our differences, but that requires that all agree to settle our issues with each other through debate. However, debate can devolve into the scene that resulted in Dan Quayle getting insulted in front of a national audience, and folks cheering it all on.

   That was then, nearly 40 years ago; but now it is seen as okay to kill your opponent. What's next? Whatever that is, it isn't good.

   It's always "those other guys". But the blame can be affixed on us all.

   I can only state what I believe with a certain amount of passion. But when that passion is judged to be too dangerous for anybody to see, then what? If that be the case, we are all in a very bad spot. In truth, I was getting in despair awhile back. But things seems to right themselves almost like magic. Maybe it was all a mirage. A trick upon my senses.

   What does the future hold for us with Trump? I think it should at least be given a chance. There are very many against his vision, and have gone to great lengths to stop him. I think that is unfortunate, because I think he can help America a whole lot. Our current leadership, if it can be called that, has managed to run this country into the ground.

   We need a new direction, and Trump has been stymied thus far. To judge him a failure at this point is really not fair to him, nor to OURSELVES. We owe it to ourselves to see how this will turn out. If the mid-terms produce a Democrat victory, it will all be swept away, and I fear a real downturn will commence at that point.

   That's my point of view. It will not be changed, because if there's one thing I feel pretty sure about, the current regime (not Trump but his opposition) has let this country down.

   There's a real effort to stop the guy yet again. But what is so great about the direction we were going that so many think it should continue?

   That is all for now. I don't advocate violence, but persuasion. But if it comes to violence, then there's nothing to do but be prepared for it, and meet it on its own terms.

3/24/16:

The idea for this post has been floating in my head for the last few days.  Since I haven't posted anything today, why not start now?

It is easier to write something than to say it to somebody's face.  It is lot safer to deliver an insult in the safety of one's home.  Lots easier to be brave when there is no real risk.

I am pretty hard on some folks because of their lack of action.  Don't recall if I ever called anybody cowards, but I know I have insulted groups of people here before.  Probably more than a few times on this blog.  Yet, I want to keep that to a minimum.

This is a blanket apology for any of those times.

One group I know I insulted is the so called conservatives.  Not that they don't deserve criticism.  Only that I may have gone too far with some of what I said.

I don't want anything from the conservatives.  The only thing I'd like to see from them is a bit more forcefulness in their approach.  Interesting how they focus in on those who'd rather be on their side, but pull their  punches when going after Democrats.

While saying that here, I don't want to be the keyboard warrior.  No sirree.  I won't kid anybody here about my capabilities.  All I wanted to do here is to help.  Don't want to fight world war three on the keyboard.

Last night I was in a rage.  At least I didn't give vent to it.  Now was as good a time as anybody to swear off the keyboard warrior routine.

What kind of fool is MTG?

Opinion:

  Certainly, in this country; and especially this time, one has to be prudent in one's own affairs. It's like the scene in the 1972 movie The Godfather, in which the Don advises his son Michael, in how to conduct the business that he was in. To paraphrase the Don, he said that women and children can be careless, but a man cannot be careless.[note: damn! a typo needed correction, fixed now!]

  MTG is careless, and now she is complaining to 60 Minutes about death threats. Really, MTG? Are you so totally naive as to believe that someone in the MAGA group would issue death threats? If anyone in MAGA actually DID do that, they would be a even bigger fool than you are appear to be. The political left, which is VIOLENTLY opposed to Trump, would have no compunction about murdering YOU, and then blaming TRUMP for your death.

  That is why your going on 60 Minutes or The View is so completely careless and foolish, that there in NO NEED for MAGA to off you. You have already done that to YOURSELF. For your own sake, and your well-being, you should STFU, woman.

  Lest there be any misunderstanding, Democrats approved of the attempted assassination of Trump, and did indeed approve of the actual MURDER of Charlie Kirk. Did either of these men deserve this for doing NOTHING but be in opposition to these wolves in sheep's clothing? To align oneself to such a malignancy is foolishness of the lowest rank.

  A plain fool is mostly harmless, but a damned fool is dangerous. To himself/herself and others. MTG is nothing but a damned fool.

  The main character in the movie, mentioned above, was in a dangerous business. An attempt was made on his life earlier in the movie, and Michael had a major part in his continued survival. Therefore, I think it wise to understand that in these days and times, when so many who think political violence is called for, that the actual practice of politics has become quite dangerous. These are not normal times, and if MTG hasn't got the sense to understand that, she doesn't belong in this business.

  Evidently, MTG hasn't quit with her nonsense. She's a "woman scorned" now, and she's going to have her satisfaction. But that isn't going to be satisfying to her if it gets herself killed.

  I don't buy that this is MAGA. The commies are capable of anything. Don't be fooled. But MTG isn't very wise to associate with these people. If 60 Minutes will not condemn ALL political violence, then going on that show was a big mistake. Same with the other show with those gals who haven't got the sense enough to "pour piss out of a boot".  The people on 60 Minutes are just using this woman, and she is willing to play their fool.

  Even though I think MTG is a fool's fool, I wish no harm on her. Indeed, the opposite. Evidently, MTG doesn't know what she's up against. She needs to shut the hell up.

  One final word... If MTG really knows what she is doing, she's not MAGA, nor ever was she MAGA. For she would be, in that case, a LIAR, and and extremely dangerous one at that. But I won't go that far. Not yet.

Here's the scene that is being referenced here:



It may only be a movie, but these movies are researched, so that they could be believable. Therefore, I think it is an apt example of the point that I'm trying to make. Take it as you wish... @ 11:00 AM

after 11:50 AM:

Just saw this on Free Republic

12 noon:

  Now this is just silly... Does she think that SHE'S MAGA now?!?

  MTG is becoming a rather bad joke. I feel another rant coming on...

  Don't make me open this!!!

  Reserved for upcoming rant... posted on 12/8/25/

12/9/25:

   This isn't necessarily "the" rant, but it may be considered "a" rant--if you please. The deal here is that the commies just don't give a rat's rear end about the "children". The "children" are just a prop like everything else. In this case, to get Trump through the phony concern about the children (underage girls) in the much discussed Epstein files.

   The commie dogs are still chasing that car, but they may not like what they catch if they do catch it.

   You can be assured that they don't give a damn because of the way that they've acted in the past... Look how they treat innocent kids these days, ie. parading perverts in front of the kids. Does anyone seriously believe that they give a crap about kids when they do that???

   But what about the orange man bad? Shouldn't we know if he did something wrong??? Well, if there was anything wrong, the commies would've moved heaven and earth in order to get those in front of the public a LONG TIME AGO. Therefore, you know that the commies don't give a rat's rear end in the first place, and what they do care about, isn't there. Or we would've known a long time ago.

   So, for MTG to join them on this basis is fake. Which means that she is FAKE.

   Should I go on, or do you need more? @ 7:48 AM

circa 11:00 AM:

   Just read this link which covers this fool's interview on 60 minutes.

   When she blurted out that a lot of them are disloyal behind Trump's back, she did them no favors. Just more foolishness on MTG's part. Why tell on your supposedly sympathetic collegues? Nobody should trust you because you haven't got enough sense to keep your big trap SHUT.

   You see, they probably shared their confidences with her, and now she goes on 60 minutes and tells the whole world about their disloyalty to the Big Guy.

   Nobody likes traitors, not even their beneficiaries, the commies. She won't get anything from the commies, either. What a fool.

circa 3 PM:

   Just so there's no misunderstanding one thing: MTG owes her erstwhile career to none other than Donald Trump. Without his endorsement, she wouldn't have won her race, and she would still be a nobody. For all Trump did for her, she does this. She's very ungrateful, and disloyal individual. If she had a problem with the President, she could have taken that to him behind closed doors, and maybe they could have worked out something. But she did this.

   She just attached herself to his name, and now she stabs him in the back. She aligns herself with the political opposition, who does not care a whit about her and her problems. They just want to use her in order to harm the President. Thanks a lot, MTG.