Saturday, February 22, 2025

Cast Away (2000 film) Deep Dive







Wow. And I thought that the best part of this flick was Tom Hanks singing "Light My Fire".

















Redesign of Stage Zero



For the nerds out there, here you are. By the way, this guy is nerdy, but he isn't white.





Friday, February 21, 2025

A question on the issues of the day

2/21/25:

Bird flu my buns.











2/4/25:

Bird flu? Schmerd flu. Give the chickens some masks. That will fix em up just like it worked for COVID.



DEI must die







An argument was actually put forth that DEI is merit, and that the merit is theirs. That's how the social justice warriors justify what they're doing. But this is 180 degrees out of phase with the truth. The truth is that they're enforcing quotas, which is illegal. In addition, they are trying to make true merit ILLEGAL and IMMORAL. Totally Orwellian.













The opportunity is now



The GOP never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.





These institutions are like a vampire, and the only way to kill off the vampire is with a wooden stake to the heart. This is what is being proposed, a wooden stake to the heart of the pinko project.













P.S.:

8:50 AM:

It should be noted that an audit isn't really possible because the Democrats ( and their willing accomplices in the GOP ) obviated that possibility when they allowed funding to be approved without any means to make an audit possible. DOGE has stated that already, and added that almost $5 trillion of spending cannot be traced. Without any traceable means of determining where the money went, there can be no audit.

Of course, that fact will make an excuse possible. Just like when the GOP folds under pressure every time. Carville blamed Trump for the spending on COVID, but it was the Democrats that pushed for lockdowns and shutdowns. It was the Democrats who pushed for the spending needed to recover from the damage that the lockdowns and shutdowns caused. After getting the GOP to do their bidding, the Democrats ( like Carville ) then blame the GOP and Trump for what they caused.

In a sense, Carville is right. If the GOP had resisted the COVID madness, there wouldn't have been the spending. At some point, the GOP has to stop being afraid, and step up to the plate and get it done. All Carville is really doing is trolling the GOP for its weakness.





Thursday, February 20, 2025

Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman



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.


Kash Patel will be confirmed



Kash Patel vote in US Senate, with respect to FBI Director



Party line vote, looks like he will be confirmed. It is not yet official, but as of this writing he has 51 votes. That will be enough if it holds up.













Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Maybe we need a government shutdown

11:53 AM:



American Thinker: The federal government is funded through March 14. Will the Republican House and Senate pass a bill before that deadline? Over the years, Republicans have usually caved to Democrat insane demands rather than be held responsible for a government shutd...







This subject of public finance has me a bit perplexed. After reading glib stuff in the past that says that all you have to do is rollover the debt, it sounded simple. But what if that is not what happens? What I mean is, when paying interest on the debt, does any principle ever get paid? If not, then you cannot rollover the debt. You have to keep taking out debt in order to service debt.

Consequently, in order to keep from defaulting, you have to cut spending BELOW the level of revenue intake. This will allow payment on principle and interest. Then you can fund whatever can be funded on available tax revenues.

But I'm not clear on all that because I don't know exactly what happens, and what is meant by payment of interest on the debt. Therefore, if the above speculation is correct, you have to pay down principle and interest in order to keep the debt from rising. If you are at your limit, you have to pay off some of your debt on your credit card. The government's credit card has no limits. They just like to pretend that they do.

Ten to one I'm not making myself very clear here.

Let's just say we've got a big shit sandwich here, and everyone is going to have to take a bite.







1:19 PM:

This is nuts. You're going to need nearly all of that to refinance the debt that is rolling over soon. Plus you have to pay interest on the debt. Sending the money back to voters may be popular, but it just defeats the purpose of the entire exercise.

Maybe you could rollover the debt with the savings, and issue greenbacks to pay for the interest. Freeze the debt at current levels. Freeze future spending to revenue levels actually earned through income and actual work.

What's in a name?



A rose is a rose is an onion



The phrase above is from a Hemingway novel. It was turning a phrase from Shakespeare, and I thought I'd use it for this post. I need something to write about. Putting up stuff every day is not that easy sometimes. Anyway, this is about the words we use. I've been meaning to discuss the recent name changes. Particularly about the Gulf of Mexico, which is now being called the Gulf of America. Hence, the rose is a rose is an onion reference.

I lived pretty close to the Gulf, as we call it these parts. We don't use the whole phrase, just the word "Gulf". If you stand on the Seawall at Galveston, point East towards what looks like an ocean, and say "the Gulf", everyone will probably look at you like you're crazy. Sometimes words aren't even necessary. Everyone can see what it is and where it is. It's pretty danged big. If you fell off the Seawall and into the Gulf, everybody will know what you mean. You don't need the extra words.

There's an interstate called the "Gulf Freeway" in those parts. It isn't called the Gulf of Mexico freeway. Just the Gulf Freeway. Changing it to Gulf of America won't make any difference. Nobody uses the extra words. If you did, you'd get another funny look.

There's a building in Houston called the Gulf building. Or is it still called that? Let's say there used to be a building there called the Gulf building. It is or was the office for the oil company called Gulf. They had some gas stations once, which were bought out by Chevron. But there's still a few Gulf gas stations around. We don't call them Gulf of Mexico gas stations. I guess I made my point. A rose is a rose is an onion.

It was called the Gulf of Mexico for a long time. Why change it? But then again, why knock over statues and such? Some politicians decide to rename stuff, and that is what happens. I wish the politicians would just fix real problems. There was no real problem there, and changing the name doesn't change a rose into an onion. Know what I mean, Vern?





Beyond Ridiculous



"Less is more" doesn't necessarily work. The more speech the better MIGHT work if there's a geniune interest in listening.



This is beyond ridiculous by Tom Knighton

Read on Substack




If there are no words, then maybe you could use art. The art that comes to mind at this moment is this 60's song.









Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Jordan B. Petersen interview of a J6th defendant



What Really Happened on January 6th, Dr. Simone's personal story in her own words



I'm not familiar with her, nor do I watch much of Jordan Petersen's videos. Luckily for me, I wasn't in DC on J6th. It looks like these J6'ers have been treated very unfairly. Now these commies are screaming about how mean Trump is. What a crock.





International relations

2/18/25:

Via Free Republic: "The End of the Transatlantic Alliance"



A number of times I got reminded of a conversation I had when I was still doing Uber. I recalled writing a post, but I couldn't find it again when I was thus reminded of it. I don't think I looked all that hard. Anyway, I found it this time.

The political left in America loves to indulge the Europeans. In fact, they'd like to re-create America in the European image. Funny that they would do this when they won't fund the military to secure it. Neither will the Europeans fund their own militaries to secure themselves. I asked this German guy that very question. He could not say why they won't do anything about it even though they are worried about Russia. It all comes down to America to handle their security, but America has its own problems.

Trump wants the Europeans to fund their own militaries. There seems to be a reluctance to do that.

Seems like the Poles and the Swedes are funding their militaries. But these countries do not have the bulk of the population.

France seems interested in sending troops. Macron sounds a bit crazy to me. Macron is not Napoleon. Napoleon lost to Russia. As for Russia, I just don't see them as that big of a threat. Europe seems more like a nagging wife than an ally. It's like we should handle their problems for them. If Europe isn't prepared for war against Russia, what the hell does that have to do with America?

Europe wants to act as one, but cannot pull it off. They should have a defensive alliance, which is what NATO was originally. Now they want to expand eastward, and that sounds aggressive to me. For Europe to yield on Ukraine at this time is no defeat for Europe. The Russians wanted all of Ukraine, but they'll get a portion of it. Seems like a fair deal for peace. It's no defeat to take that deal.





3/11/19: Updated,
posted on 3.10.19
3.11.19:

The German guy was following the talking points of the media.  The media has way, way too much influence in this country.  There's not much that can be done about that, or so it is said.  Did you know that only a handful of corporations control the media?

Yet, who benefits from that????  But the German guy was talking about Germany.  I don't know that country, but if it is anything like this country, the media has got a strong grip on people over there as well.

The media is not our friend.

3.10.19:

On a recent Uber ride, I had a German on board.  We engaged in a lively and friendly discussion about international relations.

His English was impeccable.   Not even an accent.  He could pass as an American.  Nobody would guess that he is from Germany.  His knowledge of history was first rate.  Indeed, he impressed me with his knowledge, and I must say, that his may well surpass my own.  But I won't be overawed by the guy, that is not the point.  The discussion was interesting.  Most interesting, indeed.

What did I learn?

There's a problem with our European allies.  This needs attention.   I hope somebody in Washington is on this, because if they are caught napping, we might have a problem.

He is concerned about a war with the Russians.  What he said seems plausible.

It may well be nice if we could negotiate a peace with Russia, but if that fails, our arms will have to do the talking.  He doesn't think the Germans are prepared for a war.  I thought that odd, since they seem to be worried.  They are more worried about the Americans than the they are about the Russians.  But the Americans aren't interested in taking over their country.  The Russians?  If they are worried about the Russians, maybe they should be concerned about that as a possibility.

He mentioned the German's recent warlike history, and so there may be that.  Nevertheless, if they are to remain independent, they need to be persuaded to increase their readiness.  That's the big challenge that needs to be met.

I would have liked to have talked longer, but the ride was about 30 minutes, so it was all too brief.


Cooking the books



This town (DC) needs an enema!















Opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one ( updated )

2/18/25:



An update on the investigation. I watched 18 minutes of it. Discussion is mostly focused on the altitudes of the two craft involved in the crash. See video below.







2/4/25:



NTSB confirms helo was too high. Comment: Not a lot of info in this article. Apparently, that one little bit of info is all they ran the story on. But it is something. It means that the black boxes and the radar data with respect to the altitude, weren't that far off. There may have been some reason to think there may have been a discrepancy. However, even if there is a discrepancy, the fact remains that the chopper was out of its "lane", so to speak.



2/1/25, 11:33 AM::

Did the (army) helo leave the base without authorization? Reading through the comments brings that possibility into play. Base was said to be requesting helo to return. Shouldn't have left without one other person, and the take off may not have been authorized for this type of flight.









1/31:25:

Me too. A reaction to this tweet, ya'll.









Comment:

Like it or not, the choppers are allowed to do this near a busy airport, which seems crazy. Anyway, it has been a regular thing, and that alone is not a reason for why the crash happened. HOWEVER, the crashed chopper did appear to be TOO HIGH. These choppers are restricted to 200 ft and below, and must stay on the far bank of the Potomac. This chopper that crash was at 350-400 ft, and that's too high. Notice in the video here how low they are to the ground.

I agree with the tweet that this seems crazy to me. There's a lot of info out there, but all of the sudden, it has dried up. I'm trying to pick up on this investigation again, but it is proving to not be so easy. Incidentally, that's how I came across that info about regular chopper flights in this area. That was quite interesting bit of info to me, but now I can't find it again. But there's other stuff. This tweet is one.



Note: this post got a bit discombobulated, and I can't explain it. Two tweets got mixed up, and how does that happen? Anyway, the chopper appears to be in the wrong place. That's all I have on it now.---end @ 2:49 AM 1/31/25

9:29 AM:

There was one video in which an experienced pilot said that helo altitude could be kept as low as 100 ft, so if the collision was at 300-400 ft, the helo was in the wrong place. The black box will tell the tale of the altitude where the collision occurred. There's a report that the black box has been recovered.

There are other reports, but I will classify those as noise. You don't go into motivations as a possibility until you know exactly who is in the wrong.

Update: 2/1/25, 9:38 AM This is why you don't report on everything you see out there.  It's the Bongino Rule.  I suspected that the rumors of transexuality were just that.  You need confirmation of info like that, and to report it as soon as you see it could be a mistake.  We still don't have all the info on the pilots, so you really can't say for certain if it has been completely debunked.   The investigation is just getting started.

Monday, February 17, 2025

There is a saying that may be applicable here

It is a paraphrasing of something you might hear from time-to-time: "God looks after drunks, little children, and the United States of Anerica". Once you consider the mess we're in right now, you'd better hope that last group hasn't lost that one little bit of good fortune. Our luck may be running out.

The insanity of minting a trillion dollar platinum coin

2/18/25:

There was something that made me curious, and I looked into it. It turned out to be a dry hole. Nothing more to say on this subject for now.



2/17/25, 11:48 AM: 

 

You know things are bad when something crazy starts to sound like a good idea. As long as we're going bat guano crazy, why stop at a trillion? Why not mint one for the entire debt. Instead of creating debt, use the coin to back the greenbacks that will pay down the debt. At no interest.

You could mint rhodium coins. Those are the priciest metal on the markets these days. About 4k per oz. Maybe the Wizard has the answers.

2:07 PM

The Wiz says we're up that certain creek, and we have no paddle. He also says the Krugman is fulla sheet, main. It will be big bad inflation to do the coin trick. Aw, shucks.



 

 

10/6/21: Update:




Minting a trillion dollar coin

Comment:

Just when you thought things couldn't get any crazier, now this...



The original post on 1/8/13 follows







Rick Moran,  American Thinker

To use that authority to backdoor the 17th and 18th trillion dollars of the national debt would be, according to Castle, "so far-fetched and so black helicopter-ish a type of methodology of trying to resolve something like this that I think the public would totally scoff at it."
Comment:  I repeat, how is this any different from what they are already doing?  If this is crazy, then it all is.

But, I could have told you that already.


Fountain of youth



Evidently, the fountain has not run dry---yet.



If you read down the list, you've got some folks who came across on the Mayflower---I kid you not. Or they hit their heads on the rock.





Ah, so

Kobayashi Maru scenario.

Aren't you dead?









Sunday, February 16, 2025

A new monetary policy needed



Most of what is proposed here is already in practice



What about the rest? All new debt is being used to create monetary expansion. Therefore, to stop this, and/or at least slow it down, begin to issue "greenbacks" in order to finance government.

We all are probably aware by now of the efforts to shrink government expenditures. But not all excessive expenditures can be removed all at once. An adjustment time is needed. Therefore, whatever can't be cut now, can be financed with greenbacks. One law may need to be set aside. It is the one that stopped Lincoln's financing the Civil War with greenbacks. The central banksters of that time put an end to that. Time to put an end to the banksters. If not a complete end, at least a sharp curtailment of their power.

In reality, the current debt will have to be serviced. To end it all in one fell swoop will risk outright rebellion. Even a curtailment of their power will be very strongly opposed. Once obtained, power is unwillingly given back.

Then, how to do this? Instead of allowing the Federal Reserve Bank to set interest rates, do the following: 1) Do not set the interest rates, allow them to float 2) by doing this, allow the market to set interest rates. How? Through the current Open Market operations. There will be an interest rate that will support current commodity prices. The market will seek that equilibrium point, and the interest rates will fluctuate according to market conditions. These conditions will not be entirely based upon a commodity like GOLD. Instead, as broad a collection of commodities as possible. These will make up an index, and the target price of that index will be the goal of policy.

But what happens to the Federal Reserve? Eventually, it will have to go. For the moment, it's services will have to be unwound. It's not clear how to work out how to remove ALL public debt. Therefore, some will have to stay until such time that it can be phased out. But no more debt should be issued. If there's a Federal deficit, it will have to be financed by greenbacks. NO NEW DEBT FINANCING through debt creation. Old debts will be serviced and paid off gradually. Interest payments will decrease over time as debt is retired.

Instead of supporting a debt servicing arrangement by setting interest rates, the rates will set monetary policy according to market conditions. There will be a gradual weaning off the debt creation scam that is swamping our financial structure. Eventually, the debt monster will lead to catastrophe, and will have to end at some point. The sooner the better, but people are going to have to get used to the idea. After all, most people don't understand how monetary policy works anyway. The public will support it if they are educated to understand how it works, and why it needs to change. It needs to change, because the banksters are stealing our freedom and sovreignty away from us. Interest expenses are tribute to their tyranny. End that tribute or lose all freedom.



Debt and the Constitution



The 14th Amendment to US Constitution, Section 4, with respect to public debt



A discussion is here in the "good old" Wikipedia.

The interpretation of this section is up to the Courts and to Congress, or so it appears.



Explaining commodities



Meant to be a comedy, but it is also quite true









Greenbacks galore



2/16/25:



In his book, Free to Choose, Milton Friedman said that money has taken many forms over the years. The natural thing is to create a currency in order to facilitate trade, as people are inclined to trade with each other. This can be observed in prisons, where cigarettes are used as a currency between inmates. If it isn't cigarettes, it would be something. This is an inevitability, because something is going to be used as a currency. It doesn't have to be gold, it can be anything that will be accepted.

For those who feel nervous about a greenback currency, there is a way to back it. But if you use gold, the gold will be manipulated in order to gain control over the currency. Hence, a type of serfdom will be imposed by the banksters. At this very time, the price of gold is being manipulated It is ALWAYS being manipulated, to serve the purposes of the banksters. We are enthralled to the banksters. A greenback currency that is backed by something that cannot be easily manipulated is the way of freedom from the banksters.

I would suggest that we lock out the banksters, and take over our own currency. We need to take precautions to stop an attempt to take it back over. For short periods, the USA had currency freedom. It had it prior to the Revolution. It had it after the Jackson years. It had it briefly during the Lincoln years. For most of the years after Lincoln, there was some limited control of the currency, as the banksters wore it down until they took over again with the Federal Reserve Act. The banksters are relentless in their attempts to enthrall us all.

How to do this in such a way that the banksters will not easily get their power back? That is the question.



2/15/25:

How to slash $1 trillion from spending in one year



The concept is simple. Just replace the currency with Federal Notes, as opposed to Federal Reserve Notes. It may not seem like a difference, but there'd be one BIG difference. A Federal Note will not pay interest because it isn't created through debt. No debt, no interest due on bonds. It's the bonds that cause the interest on the debt. If there's no bonds, then there will be no debt. If there's no debt, there will be no payments on the debt, which costs the Treasury $1 trillion per year.

Would this be inflationary? I don't know, but somebody thinks it wouldn't be. It would be seamless. The only difference is how the money is brought into existence. The way we do it now is by debt. The debt is owed to investors in bonds.

This was done during the Civil War, and the currency was called "greenbacks". We'd be going on Lincoln's greenback system.

The only ones to suffer would be the central banks who now get interest paid to them through the debt incurred in creating the money. No new laws need to be written, but you may have to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and perhaps a Civil War Era law that replaced the greenback. Lincoln had to abandon the greenback under duress from the central banks.

The central banks are not our friends, ya'll. This would probably work, but there'd be a lot of resistance. Backing the buck with gold won't do the trick. Gold is too easily manipulated. It'd have to be the greenback. Discontinue the Federal Reserve Bank, and use Federal Notes issued directly by the Treasury, and save a lot of money in interest.