Nicki demands: stop trying to shove a false Trump-Clinton dichotomy down my throat! And Charles Murray might agree. Illegal gun marketing? Oh pleeeaase, writes Bear Bussjaeger over at TZP. Couric didn’t just go “the Full Rather.” She went way beyond Rather. Her second feeble apology doesn’t change that. Out with ya, Katie! Begone! “How America Lost its Mojo.” Its geographic and economic mobility mojo, that is. And related: the housing market horror story ain’t over yet. Hm. Too bad this gutsy seven-year-old didn’t have a firearm. OTOH, this man didn’t do too bad without one.
8 CommentsMonth: May 2016
… Now that momentum is building for the one true “DC outsider” candidate, an independent who’s bound to make an impact. Yes, Sweet Meteor O’ Death has distinct advantages over both The Hillary and The Donald. I was even going to buy a bumper sticker* for this outstanding write-in candidate. In the end, I quailed at the price and did not order. Yet the price does hint, at the very least, that SMOD is a sincere believer in capitalism — at least in the “whatever the market will bear” wing of capitalism. —– What? You think Sweet Meteor O’ Death**…
20 CommentsI don’t really care, and I suspect most of you don’t really care, how people “self-identify.” Boys who feel more like girls? Girls who feel more like boys? Men who feel like puppy dogs? White women who think they’re black? People who want to have themselves made over to resemble serpents or cats? Fine. Dandy. Don’t care. Vive la difference! and all that. It’s a big, diverse world, and there’s room for all, as long as they’re peaceable. If people want to get surgery or have tattoos or cross-dress or whatever pleases them, more power to them as long as…
22 CommentsJim Bovard writes in Reason on the high price of security theater. Then he went on C-Span to talk about it, too. Which takes us to Richard Rahn’s “Kill the regulatory parasite.” Oh, Katie, Katie, Katie. You went the full Rather. You should never go the full Rather. And at least he didn’t make phony-baloney excuses. A recent study says that the threshhold-based blood tests used by states to determine whether legal pot users are impaired or not aren’t based in sound science. This wild-and-crazy pro-pot-user claim comes from those mad radicals at … the American Automobile Association. AAA. John…
14 CommentsIt was the premise of the Politico article that drew me in. It was the claim that politics of 2030 would be shaped by the ghastly presidential election of 2016. There would be big changes to come.
Given the tumult of the times, I don’t doubt that one bit. The contest between The Hillary and The Donald, and all the odd and shifting v*ter alignments and policy preferences around it, is bound to reverberate into the future. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about. I wondered if others were coming to similar conclusions. So I read.
And read. It’s quite a long article.
13 CommentsSo … after last week’s discussion about TracFone and whatever URGENT ACTION item it was doing such a lousy job explaining … problem solved. Recap: All they were saying, without actually saying it, was that my 2G phones are about to become obsolete. The fact that they weren’t actually saying it, and the fact that any contact with TracFone other than buying and adding airtime is always painful threw me a bit. But by Sunday, I had a nice little touchscreen 3G phone — $7! — that did everything my old phone did, but could also send and receive photos…
13 CommentsYou don’t say! “The TSA is failing spectacularly at cybersecurity.” You don’t say! “The economy is running on monetary fumes.” You don’t say! Doctors are overscreening for cancer. You don’t say! Fed prosecutors need ethics lessons. Um … maybe. But those lines at Disneyland generally don’t kill you. If that’s all enough to drive you to drink, here’s a 5,000-year-old beer recipe. Not to mention evidence that beer may have helped kickstart civilization. Why the very poor have become poorer. While technically only a book review, this is jam-packed with interesting data and thoughts. But occasionally good news strikes. Terry…
2 CommentsJust past the halfway mark of my six months without home Internet. Not too painful so far, right?
Its original purpose of lowering monthly payments to clear last year’s home-improvement debts kind of went kablooey when Dave quit paying for the blog. At that point, I emptied savings to clear nearly all that debt, figuring any unnecessary monthly payments would not be a good idea right now.
Kept a small emergency fund, of course. Always keep a small emergency fund unless you’re living in your car and eating out of Dumpsters.
My latest foundling
Meet my latest forest foundling …
7 CommentsThe barefoot one didn’t manage to freeze Mama. Reading this article, I’m not sure whether Colton Harris-Moore is a naive young kid or a crass hustler who’s going to head right straight for trouble again when they release him from prison this summer. “This Bud’s for you, America.” Another one to read mainly because it’s by George Will, who writes like a barbed angel. The whole business with Budweiser’s temporary name change is as pathetic as it is cynical. Why are house prices soaring across this Great Land of Budweiser? One guess. When headlines lie: “American Airlines is fed up…
6 CommentsIf this has happened to you — particularly if you managed to resolve the issue — I’d like to hear about it. Got a text from Tracfone this morning: URGENT — Network changes in your area — ACTION REQUIRED — You MUST call … Blah blah. I called and all I got was, “Press 1 if you already have your replacement phone. Press 2 if you need to purchase your replacement phone.” No other info. No option for reaching a human being (which wouldn’t help much, in any case, as I’ve never spoken with a Tracfone rep who could speak…
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