Thanks for doing the opener, Rick!

Nice Job!

Hear! Hear!

Except for it being chilly at night, I had neglected to think about the official change of season. My air conditioner was finally started when fall arrived, although it had been installed in June - we were waiting for "electrical components" for the entire Summer, before it could actually be used. Now, of course, I don't need it.

The Seahawks, although officially 1-1, have been abysmal, but then, so has Russell Wilson. The divorce has not been kind to either side. But, both the UW Huskies and WSU Cougars are - as of this morning - undefeated, with 3-0 records. Still, seasons change, and so do records. The Mariners are surprisingly still expected to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in 22 years, but they have managed to go 3-7 over the last 10 games, and keep fears of the playoff drought intact. It doesn't help that their best bats are disabled at the worst possible moment.

The Dobbs decision has also changed the electoral season's forecast - only 47 days to the midterms! - as women have been registering at a torrid pace, and Republicans have been slumping in the polls. Dems Can't Count on More Good News (Cook Political Report) Trump, of course, is upsetting the applecart and Republican pols. Speaking of which, I think this will be the Winter of his Discontent, with no Glorious Summer to follow.

But at least next Summer, I'll have A/C.

Let's get real and rip that Band-Aid off.

I really REALLY HATE that even Mediaite can't get this straight!
It's not an insult to imply that Graham is gay, the INSULT is that, if he IS gay, he's a closeted self-loathing gay man which is a danger to EVERYONE gay and straight alike.
The whole reason the "OUT" movement exists is because self-loathing closeted gay men do some pretty awful and vicious things to innocent people (gay AND straight) to compensate for their self-loathing.

Witness J. Edgar Hoover, just as one example.

Lindsey Graham's constituents are mostly the type who thought Liberace was straight.
To be fair:

So did my mom!
She had a canned response: "He's not homosexual, he's just very mild mannered!" (which always elicited HOWLS of laughter)

No pun intended, I'm sure.

Jeffrey's mom:

The whole reason the out movement exists is because of ACT-UP from the early 90s as push-back to the Regan Administration's lack of federal funding for the HIV crisis and finding a cure and closeted homosexuals said nothing and pretended to act str8 - so they were outed.

Dr. Fauci was involved in the Reagan Administration's foot-dragging. He has since seen the light.

My mom had a great sense of humor but I'm afraid her gay-dar was nonexistent.
You still would have loved her, she was a sweetheart...she would have liked you too but I guarantee she would have said something like "You're such a handsome young man, why don't you have a girl?"

Fauci started out a "a good Catholic boy" so it's not surprising he took a little time to get up to speed.

Alameda County Sheriff Deputy (SF Bay area) arrested in double murder after failing psyche exam. Forty-seven other Deputies on leave for failing their psyche exam.



Um…IT IS as bad as it sounds.

via SFist.com

I wonder what the Alameda County HR thought “D. Not suited” meant? The guy didn’t wear a suit and the tie to the evaluation? And there were 48 of them with failed psyche evals and they were hired anyway and given a badge and gun?!? Incredible!

Texas AG flees home to avoid being served subpoena.

via TexasTribune.org

Totally normal behavior…if you’re a coward.

If the weather forecast is accurate I've got a mutherphoking hurricane bearing down on my ass.

I hope not, because said "muh-fuggin" hurricane is one of the largest ones I've seen in a very long time.

Landfall has moved south to Sarasota and moved up to Wednesday night. Stay safe Greger.

Perfectly formed eye as it emerged from land over western Cuba. It’s a CAT4 right now.

The sooner it makes landfall the better for me. F*ck South Florida, they can all eat sh*t and die.

It was raining when I went to bed, it's raining now. Wind is already gusting in the 20s.

It's Cat 4 right now but will degrade to a tropical storm by the time it reaches me. More or less the same storm that hit Puerto Rico and Cuba.

We might see 12-15 inches of rainfall with gusts 60 to 80 mph. I haven't stocked up on anything or made any preparations...what's a cripple gonna do, eh?

I thought it would pass well west of me.

Remember Donald Trump and his Sharpie drawn hurricane prediction...? He's been here long enough to call himself a Floridian and that's how we do hurricane forecasts here.

A glance, a dismissal, denial, denial, denial until it's right on top of us.

Northerners have been rushing around for days, boarding up windows and throwing lawn furniture in the pool. Hoarding all manner of things. I coulda placed a grocery order but didn't want the delivery guy to have to bring me groceries in the rain.

I'll wait til it's over then make them share the loaves and fishes with me.

The current path is to enter Ft. Meyers, become a tropical storm and head due north, and exit at Daytona Beach and could become a hurricane again once it reaches the Atlantic.

Ian hit North Captiva Island and will ride the channel between Punta Gordy and Port Charlotte.

President Biden has said the feds will do everything they can to help the people of Florida. Isn't that strange? A politician who cares about the people who voted for the other guy!

Meanwhile De Santis is being investigated for kidnapping, in connection with his publicity scheme to spend 17 million taxpayer dollars to trick those legal Venezuelan asylum seekers to fly to Martha's Vineyard. What can I say? Some politicians go out of their way to do good. Some go out of their way to do evil.

Now that Perry Greene has filed for divorce from Marjorie Taylor - are they still cousins? At least Majorie can console her grief in the arms of her tantric sex guru. And, Perry will get right back in the saddle.

I did NAZI any of this coming.

Apparently Lauren Boebert is having her own domestic problems, too. Well, elect clowns, and you will get a circus.

FEMA uses Waffle House's operational status as a measure of how severe a storm is.

via NBC News.com

Oh, he doesn't give a sh*t about them...this is a contest between him and DeSantis for political points.

It's still raging out there but the worst has passed and I never lost power. The neighborhood looks the same as yesterday as far as houses and trees. I think it passed a little south of me.

The dog freaked out and woke me during the worst of it, about 5 AM, I suddenly had a 90-pound dog standing on top of me. Some aluminum fascia came off the house and I think the noise might have scared him. He spent the rest of the night on the pillow beside my head, which pretty much overwhelmed the pillow and any chance I had of rolling over on that pillow and going back to sleep.

The wind has died down a bit but the rain continues. The dog was able to go out for a pee but continues to cling to me.

As hurricanes go this wasn't bad, at least here in my neighborhood and I hope the rest of Clermont came out as well as I did. A major part of Florida is under totally f*cked conditions right now.

And many Floridians just had their insurance canceled.

The folks in Fort Myers would beg to differ.

Just before the hurricane or a long while before?

If a long while before, how are people able to get mortgages without insuring the home?

If just before the hurricane, pretty sure that's illegal and the insurance carriers will have to pay anyway - unless the insurer files for bankruptcy. Then us taxpayers will foot the bill collectively for all of those mostly Republican voters in west Florida that hate socialism so much.

Time-lapse video in Fort Myers

One company went insolvent and bailed days before the storm.

I seriously don't know anything about the problem other than it was some screw-up in state legislation/regulation.

I see headlines but it doesn't concern me.

Regarding Ft. Myers, in two words...f*ck 'em. When it comes to hurricanes, it's every man for himself. The coastal regions serve as human shields, cannon fodder so to speak. So that we in the hill regions might survive and have power in the morning.

The more miles between me and landfall the better. I feel their pain, I have been in their shoes, and trust me, all of them would rather it was me than them...ya know?

Agreed. I’ve come across many of them in my internet public forum travels (one in Fort Myers specifically) and I concur.

Fort Myers storm surge... I know it well. It took out the family fish-camp on the west coast in '92 or thereabouts in Crystal River.

The No Name storm.

It looks like the damage here is liable to be off the scale. I heard rumors of 20 foot storm surge...death toll could be massive. Just talked to a friend who lost him home in Pensacola during the last one...

Everybody's poking their heads out and checking on each other. There's no power out at my old house...

I'll be able to get in the powerchair and walk the dog around the neighborhood soon to survey the immediate damage, unless that rain band north of me sweeps through...maybe I'll go back to bed.

My sympathy is reserved for the folks that had to stay, like first responders. Not much for those who decided to "ride it out" just because they were too dumb to evacuate. Their stupid choice puts those first responders in danger. Glad the storm bypassed your town, Greger. Otherwise you could be in a world of hurt, with your limited mobility.

My wife, a one time resident of Coco Beach, is somewhat envious, having that strange lust for powerful storms that doesn’t wane until the one that kills a person.

Very glad you are okay.

I've mentioned I was stationed in Florida. Watching the storm, seeing all the places I know devastated, and not being able to reach my comrades has been difficult, but not as bad as the folks experiencing it. I visited Greger while I was there. I'm glad you're okay, my friend.

Nature has a way of leveling the playing field. Literally.

Another beautiful series of nature films, Moving Art, on NetFlix by my high school classmate Louie Schwartzberg. The first one is on Tahiti, and it's simply gorgeous.

The mayor of Sanibel, a city on a barrier island west of Ft Meyers was interviewed on ABC News this morning and she stated “we will rebuild.”

The question is why - you’re a barrier island.

It's mostly a summer playground for the rich, Rick. And a winter refuge for wealthy snowbirds. That's why they'll be able to rebuild.

Everyone on those islands were insured to the max. They're beautiful little islands though, maybe the best shelling of anyplace in the state. But it's exclusive real estate and it may be 100 years before another hurricane blows through town.

Why not rebuild? Because you don't approve? Did SanFrancisco rebuild after the earthquake, and the fire, and the tech invasion? Did they ask for your approval before rebuilding?

Did they rebuild the ferry after the crash? Or abandon ferry service because the ferry might crash again?

Why ever re-build anything? Especially all those poor people's houses. The ones who "refused" to buy flood insurance. You'll get your wish there. They won't be rebuilt.

Greger is right. Sanibel is to Florida what the Hamptons are to New York and what Bel-Air, Malibu and Holmby Hills are to Los Angeles.

The death toll is Lee County is expected to be several hundred. DeSantis sounds really presidential to me.

Residents of Florida's Lee County now know what it's like when their leader "tosses rolls of paper towels" at them for relief. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didn't even acknowledge them, lying outright about how Lee wasn't even in the cone of Ian's path.
https://twitter.com/DWUhlfelderLaw/status/1576647571417669633

DeSantis says "people are pulling together." Last week DeSantis was labeling doing so as "socialism."

Obviously DeSantis was reading the map that had the cone that Trump drew with a Sharpie.

That's pretty normal. Everybody is a Libertarian, until they have a problem that's bigger than a "rugged individualist" can handle. Then they clamor for Socialism. The simple truth is that there are problems so big, that only government can handle. Those tend to be natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc. The big difference is that they affect a lot of people at once, so there's no clear loser who built his house out of straw. Of course, the question is why didn't the barrier islands building code require everything on pilings 20 feet above sea level?

Because as we found out with Champlain Towers South, 8777 Collins Avenue, Surfside - Florida does not care much for building regulations.

Then you have cities like Fort Myers that allow mobile homes to be built so close to the water in hurricane country which is completely asinine.

ALL HOUSECATS ARE LIBERTARIANS.

I've had a couple of minor health setbacks keeping me away from my desk. A couple of weeks in bed with my foot elevated and now, not one but two ulcers on my cornea cropped up. I misdiagnosed it for a week and treated it all wrong.

Dawned on me last night what was really going on so I hit the ER early this morning, and the ophthalmologist soon after.

My eye hurts like hell and I can't spend much time in front of a computer or go out in the sun at all...but I'm on top of it and hope to be back making your lives miserable soon.

Looking forward to it! Get well soon Greger.

Looks like DeSantis has been telling fibs about the evacuation of Lee County and it wasn’t in the hurricane cone. Lee County was in the cone ever since Ian left Cuba. Archives from NOAA show this.

Some people are saying that DeSantis didn’t want the schools closed on MO 09/26 because the schools are used for evac centers and DeSantis wanted the schools to remain as schools…ergo late evac notices to Lee County folks. Now DeSantis and Lee County officials are pulling the “personal responsibility” card on the folks that didn't evacuate.

On vaca right now. Didn't go anywhere...more of a staycation. Had some guy out this morning marking where all of the utilities are on the property.

Took Rocksus back down to Gig Harbor so he can stay the rest of the week with his other family. I'll get him back on Friday.

Took in a movie today. Haven't been in a theater for over two years at a minimum. Really can't remember the last movie I saw in a theater. Might have been when I lived in Portland, actually.

Anywhoo...

Saw "Bros." This is a movie from Billy Eichner. A lot of people don't like Billy because he's surly and negative. Judd Apatow produced it. Universal backed the movie and distributed it.

Billy plays a podcaster who is also involved in opening the country first LGBTQ+ history museum located in NYC. The movie is a Rom-Com (Romantic-Comedy) and is Hollywood's first gay Rom-Com.

I went to see it only because the movie will probably NOT have a second weekend. The movie was $25M to make and returned $4.8M over the weekend.

For starters, the movie was over-the-top at the beginning. Even I winced at some scenes in the movie. Billy ripped the gay bandage off and exposed the audience to things that I feel were too far advanced for the country's very first gay Rom-Com. The movie was also very preachy about gay history in the United States. Billy left nothing on the table about new discovery about the gay community for future movies. It's all out on the open now.

The movie did calm-down in the middle and got better at the end. But, i think it was too late. I think audiences would have walked out in the beginning part of the movie.

Having stated all of the above, watching a movie on the big screen is a WAY BETTER experience than home theater with sound system. I actually forgot how great seeing a movie in a theater is. I need to do that more often.

Why did Ron DeSantis start his own hurricane relief fund charity and put his wife in charge? Is the Red Cross, United Way not good enough? Sounds really grifty to me.

SCOTUS Justice Jackson is starting her tenure off well.

Justice Jackson tells the Alabama solicitor general that the Framers of the 14th Amendment did NOT intend it to be “race neutral or race blind,” so taking race into account to protect minority voting rights is perfectly constitutional.

For decades, conservative justices insisted the 14th Amendment demands a "color blindness," prohibiting race-conscious remedies designed to help racial minorities.

KBJ just directly challenged this claim on originalist grounds, arguing that it gets the history dead wrong.

Conservatives claiming that the 14th Amendment Is "race-neutral' is as asinine as stating the 19th Amendment is "gender-neutral."

Conservatives have met their match. Hizzah!

But wait! There's more! Justice Jackson asks the Alabama solicitor general:

Ron DeSantis feels he is above the law and cannot possibly be found guilty of grift, graft or corruption.

…or Ron sees Trump’s grifting and getting away with it and wants in on the action.

Forty-eight million in two days even with a 1% management fee (I have no idea how much Ron’s charity is actually passing on), THAT is a lot of money for a two-day haul of $480K. Not bad work if you can get it.

DeSantis is a primary reason why I seldom visit the state of my birth. Talked with a cousin last night. She said their house in Gibsonton had some damage but it is fixable. I was born in Tampa and spend my early childhood in Gibsonton, which was called "Gibtown" back when it was the home of the carnies, but my father died in an industrial accident when I was 9 months old and she left the state with me in tow when I was five. I need to get down there to visit relatives. Long overdue.

Doug

Even the self-described "Florida Cracker" is happy to see ol' Joe. Ron...not so much.

Turns out Russia has gifted Ukraine more military equipment than the U.S. has.

Russia keeps abandoning their equipment and running away.

It appears the Republicans have some serious issues going into the midterms - namely circling the wagons around a 100% no abortion for any reason candidate who paid for an abortion eleven years ago, for one and hypocrisy for another.

A lamp shade with an (R) by its name could be a Republican candidate. It’s all about power and control for these people. Hopefully middle-America sees the Republicans for the phony politicians which they are.

It was never about "saving babies" or "think of the children!!"

Dana Loesch:
“I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles.
I want control of the Senate.”

https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1577442950044426240

Today’s conservatives have been exposed for feigning to have one set of values, when they really have another - as one would expect conniving sociopaths to behave.

Christian Walker to dad Hershel: “Wear a condom.”

Damn son, that was harsh!

I suspect most of their party feel the same way!!

Of course Republicans want to control the Senate, and by extension government, on their march towards American Fascism where they are in control.

Trumpists and Republican-fascists of the MAGAverse have constructed an alternate reality in which the basic understanding of facts and truth - and also the meaning of democracy and freedom - have been debased and distorted. Fascism is fueled by such "alternative facts," and malignant realities. This fracture is something that Republicans aim to exploit and to further advance in the future.

We should not HAVE to fear a party majority in Congress.
The reason so many do is because that party is now openly expressing their contempt for democracy, for elections, for any form of opposition. They are fully engaged in an authoritarian mindset that demands loyalty to the party, not the country, at any cost.
And that party is fully aligned with the government of a known hostile foreign adversary which is now threatening nuclear annihilation.

Dark Brandon name-checks Republicans who voted AGAINST the infrastructure bill as socialism, who are now begging for some of that sweet, sweet government money for projects in their state. CNN

* Dark Brandon - an explainer.

This Twitter meme in the link below is hilarious. The Ukarinians are so on-point with their memes:

BACKGROUND: After the Russian Federation illegally occupied Crimea in 2014, an 11-mile sea bridge was built between Crimea and Russia in 2018. Vlad Putin attended the ceremony for its opening. To say the bridge is a pride to Putin is an understatement. Yesterday, October 7, 2022 was Vlad Putin's 70th birthday.

via Twitter

OMG Rick, ICYMI the Twitter feed for "Defense of Ukraine" has been posting DAILY uploads of their captured war booty!

It's AWESOME!

This morning birthday boy Pooty said that the bridge would be repaired and operational in three days, as if he thinks the Ukrainian military will never target the bridge again.
Yeah right, keep dreaming, Pooty-boy.

Kruschev gave Crimea BACK TO Ukraine sixty-some years ago.
I guess Putin doesn't remember that because it happened when he was a little boy.

The source of the explosion is not clear. It's not a missile as the collateral damage does not suggest that. If explosive materials were placed, there are too many cameras that would have recorded that. If it was a truck bomb, the truck was driving towards Crimea which means it originated in Russia.

Russians living in Crimea are lining up at gas stations to return back to Russia (...where they belong.)

Having grown-up in Los Angeles, I know that there has always been animosity between black residents and hispanic residents. THAT is why there has been a lot of gang problems between the Bloods and Crips and Sureños, Barrio Mojados, and any gang with -13 at the end.

Los Angeles changed overnight after the Rodney King verdict acquitting white officers of brutally beating a black man in 1992. A lot of Black residents moved to Las Vegas and Phoenix, their homes were purchased by hispanics.

Nury Martinez, a Democrat, was on the Los Angeles City Council until this recording came out, and lived the animosity as her racist and bigoted speech shows.

The difference between this call-out of racism from the Latina Dem city councilperson's Los Angeles cultural animosity between black and Hispanics and the recent racism of sitting Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Republican Senate hopeful Joe O’Dea (CO) is that both Tuberville and O'Dea are white and are on the national stage and is simply a plain old example of GOP plantation racism.

The View's take on the LA City Council person's racism and bigotry:


This conversation between the hosts validates what I posed above.

When Saudi Arabia and UAE cozy up to Putin and lower oil production by 2 million barrels a day, and then Putin states the decrease is not meant to hurt anyone - don’t believe Vlad, although Tulsi Gabbard probably will.

22-year old MAGAt incel arrested in plot to mass murder 3,000 woman at Ohio college.

* Incel explainer here.

Alex Jones ordered to pay the Sandy Hook families nearly a $1 billion in damages.

via Twitter

And over in PragerU land, Dennis appears to have constructed a straw man so large it can be seen from space.

PRAGER: NO Secular Argument Against Incest


Bearing in mind that every Far Right accusation is a mini-confession, try to imagine Prager's internet porn search history.

WWJD?
"I dunno, does he have a hot sister? Okay then!"

That’s no straw man…that’s the Burning Man effigy. Dennis thinks he’s cool.

Here’s the thing about Dennis. He’s has three kids from three different baby mama. The Bible documents incest in Genesis 19:30-36. Lott’s daughters got him drunk, them molested him and both daughters got preggers. Let’s not even start with Caine, Able, and Eve.

Incest seems to be big in the Duggar family as well. Some people say that incest is a game the entire Duggar family can play.

Ms. Jean-Pierre has a valid point.

Yesterday, Michael Cohen was interviewed by Nicole Wallace about the whole Stormy Daniels matter for which Michael went to prison for. Here’s the thing: Michael mortgaged his house to pay Stormy the $150K and Trump was to pay Michael back. As you probably have aleady speculated correctly, cheap and chintzy Trump never did - because Trump never pays his bills.

…but here's the kicker: Trump took the tax deduction for paying off Stormy as a ”legal fee.” Michael sourced the $150K and Trump took the deduction. THAT is such a Donald Trump move.

I didn’t know you had a Disqus account Jeff.

Welp, today is my first day back to work after being off for vacation for the past 15 business days. Started vaca on a Thursday and going back to work on a Thursday. My plan for going back in Thursday was to sort through the 1,000+ emails I expect to face when I get to work for two full days, then have the weekend off, and start Monday off organized and getting things done.

In six weeks, I get another 15 days vaca for my anniversary at work is coming up.

Woke up at 12:45 afraid I was going to over-sleep for my first day back to work. Alarm is going off in 55 mins. Think I’ll make a chili cheese omelette for breakfast before I head out to the ferry.

Trump posted a video consisting of Christopher Walken narration stolen from an old movie called Poolhall Junkies, set to footage of Trump doing supposedly heroic things like catching a pen that someone tossed to him. and he compares himself to a lion fending off attackers. It’s nothing short of pathetic really.

via Twitter

Mebbe these folks should stop watching Fox News?

¯\_(: / )_/¯

Which folks?

He's never forgotten it, or when he dropped his ice cream and mommy wouldn't buy him another.

I guess I do but I am probably the dumbest Disqus user on the planet because apparently I piss off the Disqus gods regularly and it won't work. Then suddenly it does again.
How did you find me on Disqus? I ask because I haven't a got a clue!

Ya THINK??

By the way I imagine most here heard that the female Good Humor Man has now left the Democratic Party.

The folks who believe the lies and misinformation.

Fox News viewers least informed

Consuming Fox News content associated with decreased knowledge of science and society.

Fox News current event knowledge in the basement

You posted on Mediaite and I clicked your name and saw that you’ve been active lately.

Go to Disqus.com and hit HOME and see your posts and all the people who replied to you. I am one of the people.

Hey NW_P…don’t be such a stranger.

re: Tulsi

I had no idea that she went to Moscow a week after Putin invaded Ukraine in February, I only found out a few days ago when she quit the Dem Party. The visit to Moscow was mentioned in the article for her reason to quit the Ds citing Dem POTUS ol’ Joe provoking nuke war with Putin by aiding Ukraine.

THAT woman really needs to stop skipping her meds.

You literally can’t believe the facts that Tucker Carlson tells you say Fox lawyers:

The problem is that Fox Viewers literally DO believe everything that Carlson verbally vomits.

Coming Soon!
The new Bond Villains!

I have been obsessing lately about two topics: Ukraine and the 2022 midterms. In a way, they are related topics, both wars of democracy against autocracy. I know Ukraine is an emerging democracy, but I think its progress has been genuine.

80 years ago we were in an existential fight to preserve the liberal democratic order - the free world - from 3, related, forms of totalitarianism. After the war, the fight continued against a fourth. The struggle hasn't really changed in the intervening years, although the forms have evolved.

I think I'm going to start a couple of related threads: one comparing Ukraine's existential fight and our own; the other discussing the forms of totalitarian autocracy and how silly it is to distinguish between communist and fascist forms.

Hear hear! We need to take some lessons from the Ukrainians because they're showing us what growing a pair is like. Communism and fascism may spring from different sources and have differing aims and means of control but in the end, once you get to a certain level of extreme, they both begin to suffocate people with the same efficiency.

I think Tulsi should just move to Moscow and be done with it. I can't imagine what the people of Hawaii were thinking when they elected her four times.

Welp, the conservatives' bright idea of the UK leaving the EU has turned-out that be financial ruin for the UK. The Pound Sterling is as its lowest value in history. All because of "immigrants" migrating to Europe where also coming to Britain. That's quite some schadenfreude for racism and bigotry.

WORD TO THE WISE: Listen carefully to what a conservative has to say, then take the complete opposite action of they are proposing.

GOP Candidate Caught Masturbating Near Preschool While Watching ‘Interracial Porn’

Pro'lly an incel.

I just read something hilarious: When the transcontinental railway was being built, the Western company (Central Pacific) and the Eastern company(Union Pacific) were offered incentives for laying track from Sacramento and Omaha. Congress never specified where they should meet, to make it competitive. So they both kept on going and laid about 250 miles of tracks in parallel, never meeting! Finally, the issue was settled, and they ran tracks to meet at Promontory Summit, Utah and drove the Golden Spike.

The Golden Spike was of course removed after the ceremony, and is now on display at Stanford University, founded by Leland Stanford, one of the original investors in Central Pacific. There was a LOT of skullduggery involved with both companies, common for those times. And the incentives were huge: 6,400 acres of land (later doubled to 12,800) and $48,000 in government bonds for every mile of track built. Kind of unfair that the Western guys had to get through the Sierras, so the Eastern guys laid a lot more miles.

Interesting fact: The bill authorizing it was signed by Abraham Lincoln. Almost all the Eastern workers were Irish immigrants and Civil War vets. Almost all the Western workers were Chinese immigrants. The head guys of each company took a swing at The Spike, and missed, probably because they were both hung over from the previous night's party. Railway workers had to drive it in, and later pull it out.

Boris Johnson coming back? What a sh!t show. This is the guy who ran on and got elected promoting Brexit. Conservatives are so good at mucking things up. We have that history as well in this country.

I used to believe Brits were smarter than Yanks but I guess it was just some subconscious response to the accent.

Professional liar Sarah Hucksterbee Coloniel-Sanders, said during a debate today that Blue States are full of people mudering each other. Turns out, like everything Sarah says, Sarah's murder rate assertion is a lie.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals tells Lindsey Graham to get his scrawny ass down to Atlanta and talk to District Attorney Fani Willis' Grand Jury.

Not sure what Miss Lindsey's problem is...he's only a witness.

Personally, I think that DA Willis needs to move Graham over to the target column. After all, GA SecState Raffensperger and his deputy Gabriel Sterling have implied that the senator pressured them to disappear Democratic ballots in two phone calls in November after the election.

Russia considering major withdrawal. I wonder if this has to do with two recent failed nuke tests - one undersea and one underground.

My contention has been, if the money that was earmarked for keeping Russia’s military functional was grifted, I have suggested that probably the same for Russia’s nuclear program. Notice that Putin is no longer nuclear saber rattling?

What is she hiding from?

Just putting this out there in the Ranterverse:

GOP members of Congress whose PPP loans were forgiven:

Brett Guthrie (KY): $4.3 million
Carol Miller (WV): $3.1 million
Vern Buchanan (FL): $2.8 million
Roger Williams (TX): $1.43 million
Kevin Hern (OK): $1.07 million
Markwayne Mullin (OK): $988,700
Mark Kelly (PA): $970,100
Matt Gaetz (FL): $476,000
Vicki Hartzler (MO): $451,200
Ralph Norman (SC): $306,520
Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA): $180,000
Greg Pence (IN): $79,441
Ralph Abraham (LA): $38,000

Golly! None of these folks are people of color! What?!? PPP loans were only for whites? You don't say!

It turns out that as a witness, Lady G cannot invoke the 5th Amendment - all questions must be answered. Given this, some answers may incriminate Lindsey and he moves to the target column.

THIS why the lady doth protest.

It all makes sense now.

on ABC's This Week..., Jonathan Karl interviewed Nancy Pelosi, asking about Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Nancy on Trump: He's not man enough to speak under oath to the J6 committee

Nancy on MTG: Ol' what's her name (when asked about Greene's assertion that she will be given more power if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) replaces her as speaker.)

Nancy doesn't give any fcks anymore.

Who didn’t see this coming?!?. Pathetic!

I don't know why, but I couldn't believe it when I first heard this.

It makes me wonder why was it the Honorable Justice Thomas that made this decision? Of all the justices, it was the one that will not recuse himself from anything 2020 election related due to his wives beliefs.

They must be testing the waters again.

I guess I have been too naïve to think that the Supreme court was above partisanship. BLAH!!

Uh ohhhh, that sounds like you're getting "hysterical". <<<----sarcasm alert.

When they say Chief Justice Roberts has lost control of his court, they're not kidding.
Roberts is almost "Weekend at Bernie's" material now.

It’s not just Ginny’s beliefs…it’s her actions. Not only was she in on the planning…she was in contact with Mark Meadows on J6. Then in the Trump documents.access request by the J6 Committee, Clarence was the “1” in the 8-1 decision that Trump sought to injunct the J6 Committee’s request access to Trump documents. In those docs was Ginni Thomas’ emails to the planners of J6. Clearance swears up and down that he and Ginni never discussed J6. Uh…huh. .

Thomas was the Supreme Court Justice in charge with 11th circuit requests, so the request from Graham should have gone to Thomas. But he should have immediately recused himself and passed it on to another Justice or the whole court (minus himself). He violated a federal statute that says he needs to recuse when his spouse is involved with the issue at hand. Ginny was in the election overturn effort up to her neck. It's known she planned illegal actions with Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and others, probably including Lindsey Graham. So Clarence Thomas has blatantly violated 28 U.S.C. § 455 Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge.

Who is it that can enforce such rules upon the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court.

Or a willing Congress might have impeachment powers.

If laws were broken perhaps the DOJ could indict Justice Thomas for failure to recuse himself?

Lock him up! The Democratic battle cry!

Likely nothing will come of it, Graham has a certain amount of immunity, this temporary stay is just to give the courts time to decide if that immunity applies...

What's the point of impeachment, if there is no removal?

No need to worry about it, Rick, there will be no impeachments or removals.

Along and along Justice Thomas will die and we will be rid of him.

Mike Pence: No right to freedom from religion.

ChristoFascists are coming for secularists.

So I guess secularists need to be terrified?

I think I hear their hobnailed boots on the pavement now...

Terrified is not the correct emotion, more like annoyed. I've never met a ChristoFascist that wasn't also a cuckold.

--Don't forget the PERSECUTION part.
'Lefties want to scrap religion!'

Explain to us how that works, Mikey.
Seem to me your own people were trying to scrap you, hanging you by the neck till you were dead.
Who is responsible for the outcry, Mike?

Clarence Thomas didn't get the memo when he agreed to consider Lindsey Graham's asinine request not to talk to the Fulton County DA Grand Jury.

The DOJ could get a Grand Jury to indict Thomas for violation of 28 U.S.C. § 455. If they found him guilty (which is pretty obvious), there is no penalty specified for violating the law. But Article III, Section 1 says:


I suspect a case could be made that willfully violating the constitution for corrupt reasons, is NOT "good Behavior".

Thomas and his wife are prime examples of the Republicans trying to thrawt the rule of law and the Constitution Yet, it's the Democrats who are "just as evil" according to some.

I don't see Dems ignoring Grand Jury subpoenas.

Paul Pelosi violently attacked in the Pelosi home by a man identified as David Depape.
Depape beat Mr. Pelosi with a hammer while screaming "Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?"

SUSPECT IN CUSTODY

https://apnews.com/article/paul-pelosi-assaulted-156ece77186eb11b97260af3c5122f67

both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... both sides are equally bad... nam yo ho reng ge kyo

Yup...some MAGAt "looking for Nancy."

These people are sick.

Uh uhhh tut tut Rick, both sides are equally bad! Don't forget the 2000 people who stormed the baseball field trying to kill Steve Scalise. Both sides, Rick.

The country is in a very sour, dour, mood with election anxiety. We just need to know the results so we can plan accordingly and keep America a free democracy for EVERYBODY.

When it comes to online discussion platforms, there is an environment for public discourse obviously, a place where people of different ideological persuasions can come together and can reason somewhat like a town square.

This can be for good or for ill. We can celebrate this, or we can go down a very dark path if that’s where our nature draws us to. Presenting thoughts for the sake of argument to rile folks up is nothing short of trolling, and is, quite frankly, obnoxious.

Quite right, Rick, and that's why I'm leaving. there is no room for argument here. Only one point of view is tolerated. Folks get riled up too easily.

Nothing but hatred...and fear. And insults for anyone who doesn't toe the party line.

It’s so awful to “hate” (read: strongly dislike) a political party openly trying to destroy democracy in America with their lies of voter fraud and takeover of the U.S. Capitol on J6’21 and would have harmed then VPOTUS and Speaker if they found them. While at the same time, then POTUS communicating via an untraceable phone app called Signal with a known political dirty trickster who aligned himself with two eager militia groups willing to harm others to keep the then POTUS in power.

I just don’t get people who discount what was done on J6’21 as just another day in politics. I guess that I probably never will.

We all make choices in life.

You win the internet Rick!

ReaderRant loses a member, The Democrats lose my vote.

But you have chased me away from here! With lies and twisted half-truths.

The question really is: should folks with an opinion that J6'21 was no big deal exist on Reader Rant? Of course! Should I have to tolerate those opinions? I guess that is what the ignore feature is for.

I have singularly "chased you away"? My posts don't reflect that. Seems that you have had issues with other Ranters. In fact, you specifically referenced the number 'four." But...sure...it is all on me...

Talk about lies and half truths...the projection is breath-taking.

Fun Fact: Trump is tying up four courtrooms in NYC & Brooklyn next week on four separate civil or criminal issues directly involving him.

Meanwhile, Trump the king of breaking norms is whining on his second-rate "Twitter" account that holding court hearings on him before the mid-term elections is not adhering to norms.

Irony is lost on the orange clown.

Oh! I thought Moses looked like Charlton Heston. My bad.

...because witnesses normally don't have something to hide.

Graham seems to think that the laws of this country do not apply to him as a sitting senator. Graham has fought for months to avoid testifying to the Fulton County special purpose grand jury about his efforts to help Donald Trump steal Georgia. Of particular interest to prosecutors are two calls Graham made to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabriel Sterling, both of whom have implied that the senator pressured them to magically disappear Democratic ballots.

That’s good news. But we’re still in the special grand jury aspect of this thing. The special grand jury can recommend indictment, but then a regular grand jury must be impaneled. So, we’re talking at least next year here. I have no doubt that Trump tried to interfere in the election here, but the wheels of justice turns slowly at best. Trump will get his or what is coming to him probably later than sooner, but it will happen.

This discussion is related to Lindsey Graham. As a Senator from N.C., Lindsey reached out to the SecState of GA to ask that Democrat ballots be disappeared. Lindsey called twice.

Initially, Lindsey stated he was working in the capacity of this job. The problem is involving himself in the matters of a state he does not represent. In what capacity of his job would he need to involve himself in the matters of another state?

#TwitterLayoffs reminder: Republicans call rich people who buy companies "Job Creators." That's the excuse they use for not taxing them.

Stealing this, I leave you with this potato.

I think it's a lot more likely Moses looked like Yasser Arafat, considering how elderly people look in that part of the world.

Russia experiences heavy loses on three fronts. Kyiev in full blackout due to Russia shelling Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

GOP says they wont fund Ukraine’s defense against Russia should they come to power after the midterms. Of course not, the GOP are enamored with Putin and fascism.

Interesting story:

Disposing of Embryos in Tennesee

When asked, Tennessee AG wrote that the state's trigger law makes it murder to dispose of fertilized embryos never implanted in a woman, because "human life begins at conception". It would also make removing extra embryos from a woman's uterus abortion as well, after IVF implantation. When somebody pointed out how stupid that was, he changed his mind. But why? If their current abortion law makes all ending of a one day old embryo illegal, why wouldn't these acts also be illegal?

This shows how ridiculous their abortion law is, when their fantasies meet reality head-on. I think somebody is bound to sue, on behalf of all those poor murdered babies! Then they either change the law, or just outlaw IVF in Tennessee. And perhaps for Tennessee residents going out of state for IVF.

They never punish the men who commit the sin of Onan, wasting their seed upon the ground.

Hard act to follow!

Can someone remind me how to change passwords, before my probationary password expires, or democracy ends?

Tat

Got it, I think!

Welcome back PuttyTAT

Another hurricane is hitting Florida tonight. This 'cane hasn't gotten much coverage due to the mid-term election. Media is starting to focus on it now.

What's Ron DeSantis' plan for dealing with climate change and its ever-more-powerful hurricanes? Stop being woke? Stop all drag shows in the state?

The majority of Florida voters don't seem to care because they keep electing politicians that deny reality like presidential election results and climate change.

Perhaps voting against relief bills for hurricane clean-up will bring that red state around to climate change reality.

Interesting paper discussed on TWEVO today: Some researchers figured out four immune system genes that had different allele frequencies in English and Danish populations around 1350 AD. One allele was present in about 40% of the population before the big Black Death pandemic, and then about 70% afterwards! This is yet another real life example of Natural Selection: People without that allele tended to die before reproduction. And yes, this was the gene allele responsible for plague and HIV immunity. But interestingly, it's not really specific to Yersinia pestis or HIV, since one is a bacteria and one a retrovirus. Instead this is a gene for an enzyme that snips fragments off a pathogen protein, so they can be presented to CD8 lymphocytes for antibody production. And guess what? It seems to work for SARS-COV2 as well! Which could help explain why some people seem to never get Covid-19 and never develop antibodies.

It actually "supercharges" the immune system, but in doing that may increase susceptibility to autoimmune problems like Crohn's Disease. Of course, evolution doesn't care what goes wrong when you get beyond reproduction age!

Hurricane Nicole has weakend to a tropical storm, less than 39 mph winds. Crisis averted.

Belarus is whining about Ukraine mining the Ukraine side of its border. It has long been thought that Russia will mount a second attempt to take Kiev in Spring 2023.

If Ukraine IS mining their side of the border with Belarus, it’s to prevent a northern invasion by Russia. Besides, Ukraine can do whatever they want - it’s their country.

>mining their side of the border with Belarus

Good idea, since Belarus has acted as a Russian proxy throughout the war. I don't think Ukraine needs anything from Belarus ever again, so they can cut roads, rail lines, and bridges as well.

Last night was the 6th episode of the 48th season of SNL - and the best episode this season, so far. The cold open jumped on the Toxic Trump bandwagon via "Fox & Friends". Dave Chappell hosted and performed a monologue with his trademark story-telling, taking controversial topics, hitting them with hard truth in a humorous way. The monologue was 15 mins long.

Speaker of the House Trump? Don’t laugh

Anything is possible however SoH means he doesn't get executive immunity.

Bloomberg Financial did an analysis of Trump's intake from his rubes. Trump spends 0.91 to bring in a dollar. That's only 0.09 cents profit per dollar.. That means, on $100,000,000 (one-hundred million), Trump's profit is $900,00 (nine-hundred thousand). That's nothing. Trump probably spends $900,000 a month keeping his golf courses green.

That guy can't do ANYTHING right.

I'm sure Meg McCain will be crying into her Cocoa Pebbles in the morning now that AZ has flipped blue.

That tired orange thing running for POTUS again is completely laughable. Trump loves losing doesn’t he?

¯\_(: /)_/¯

This goes back to my assertion that Trump has been the greatest asset the Democrats have going for them. Because of Trump the Democrats gained control of the house in 2018, a blue wave election. Then in 2020, the Democrats gained control of the senate and the presidency. Trump handed both Georgia senate seats to the democrats in the January 2021 senate runoff. Now the midterms, Trump personally destroyed the red wave as the GOP limps to control of the House. Trump by his choices of very poor-quality candidates, too extreme, perhaps too MAGA to win in the general election like Walker, Oz, Laxalt, Masters Bolduc etc. He single handed help the Democrats retain control of the senate. Then Trump also chose a bunch of house candidate who lost in districts that a normal, non-MAGA republican candidate would have won.

If I were a democratic political strategist, I’d keep Trump around as the leader of the Republican Party just because of his influence in picking and getting nominated non-electable candidates come general election time. Him running and being nominate for the presidency in 2024, that would be heaven sent for the Democrats.

Today, Nancy Pelosi resigned as Dem Leadership going into the next term, with class and dignity.

I moved to San Francisco between Christmas 1990 and NY Day 1991 to start college in January 1991.

I remember walking around Union Square (the high-end shopping district) and the ladies generally wore bright red winter coats. I remember thinking: This is a classy place.

How about if you were a strategist in Weimar Germany in the Thirties?
Mind you, to be clear, I am not labeling you as a Nazi, I'm simply asking if you've really given any serious thought to the fact that allowing Trump ANY foothold whatsoever is playing with dynamite.

Are you so unaware of the similarity in fash historical patterns that it escapes you how close we came?

Here’s what Senator Sanders had to say.

“As an American, the idea of another Trump campaign and all of his lies and divisiveness and his efforts to undermine American democracy is an absolute horror show. … On the other hand, I got to say that as a politician who wants to see that no Republican is elected to the White House in 2024, from that perspective, his candidacy is probably a good thing.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders, quoted by the New York Times.

https://www.pensito.com/2022/11/14/sanders-welcomes-another-trump-prez-run/


I’m of the same mind as Sanders. Trump running for the presidency again in 2024 would almost guarantee the Democrat wins. Independents don’t like Trump and they aren’t about to vote for him. Even this year, while independents vote for republican non-Trump chosen candidates over Democrats, they voted for the democrat in races which involved a Trump chosen or MAGA Trump candidates.

Examples how independents voted, here in Georgia they went to Kemp over Abrams, but for Warnock over Walker. In NH independents voted for R Sununu but voted for D Hassan over Bolduc, OH, independents went big for DeWine, by 25 points, but went to Ryan by 1.

Unlike you, I’m not worried one bit about Trump. I’d be more worried about who replaces him if I were you. Trump's obnoxious, uncouth, rude personality along with his childish antics like name calling and throwing of temper tantrums, his 3rd grade schoolyard bulling tactics won't fly among independents. Too many dislikes him and history has shown one usually doesn't vote for someone you dislike.

Donald Trump's Former Aide Shared a Brutally Honest Take on His Re-Election Chances

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/donald-trumps-former-aide-shared-172538931.html

You now have this. This is best way to go as far as I’m concerned.

Garland names Jack Smith special counsel for Trump criminal probes

From this article about the appointment.

https://news.yahoo.com/garland-appoint-special-counsel-trump-184223079.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

“According to Garland’s order, Smith will take over the entirety of the probe into the presence of numerous White House records and documents with classified markings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office in January 2021. Smith will also take over the ongoing investigation into “efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021” as well as related matters.

However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., will retain control over investigations and prosecutions of people “physically present on the Capitol grounds” on Jan. 6, 2021, Garland’s order said. About 900 people at or near the Capitol that day have been charged criminally with offenses ranging from trespassing to seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government.”

I think this was the right thing to do in the right way.

It's not like the Rs had a 2022 platform to run on anyway. Politicos like Gym Jordan are losers in life just like their orange god.

Hey kids! I've been away again, vacationing at Disney World, then central Washington, and am only now getting back into the swing of things. I have when gotten all my wine purchases sorted yet!

Boy, so much has happened:a Special Counsel appointed; the fall of Kherson; weather extremities; an election! I got some serious catching up to do!

How do you think DeSantis will fare? Except for being smoother, he's cut from the same childish fragile egotistical authoritarian cloth.

Alaska senate race, Murkowski has taken the lead with 97% of the vote counted over Trump endorsed and MAGA Tshibaka. But Alaska has ranked voting, so this will go to round 2 since no candidate received 50% plus 1 vote in the first round.
Rep Lisa Murkowski 112,519 43.32%
Rep Kelly Tshibaka 110,861 42.68%
Dem Patricia Chesbro 26,874 10.35%
Rep Buzz Kelley 7,484 2.88%
This will probably go to a round 3 once Kelly is eliminated, to to round 4 once Chesbro is gone. Dem Chesbro’s 2nd choice should be Murkowski which in my opinion Murkowski will end up being the winner.

Ponderer, Tshibaka will join a list of Bolduc, NH, Oz PA, Masters, AZ, Laxalt, NV as Trump chosen, endorsed losers. In states where a non-Trump chosen Republican candidate, in my opinion probably would have won. Then there’s Trump chosen Walker GA. Who will be in a runoff against Warnock. Chances are you can add Walker to the list above of Trump endorsed, chosen senate candidates who lost in states that probably should have gone republican this midterm.

The Trump factor in my opinion was huge in having the democrats retain control of the senate.

Welcome back.

I take it Ponderer, you’re talking Presidential 2024. DeSantis still has to get past Trump in the GOP primaries. Here’s the latest on the 2024 GOP presidential primaries.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/e...blican_presidential_nomination-7548.html

On DeSantis, I wouldn’t underestimate him. Everything you say is true. But DeSantis can attract the independent vote in a way Trump could never do. Independents are closed on voting for Trump, but very much open voting for DeSantis. DeSantis doesn’t have the obnoxious, rude, uncouth, egotistical persona that Trump has. DeSantis actually acts like a grownup, not some 4-year-old spoiled brat with his name calling and throwing of temper tantrums. DeSantis looks presidential. Don’t laugh, that’s important to independents.

More to the point, DeSantis isn’t known nationwide like Trump is, but still 40% of independents have a favorable opinion of him vs. 34% unfavorable, 26% in the don’t know, haven’t heard of him column. Trump, independents give Trump a 33% favorable, 60% unfavorable. If DeSantis ran against Harris which isn’t farfetched in 2024, Harris is viewed 31% favorable, 52% unfavorable by independents. Advantage DeSantis.

All of this is irrelevant, the election isn't today, things change.

One thing won't change. Harris will never get the 2024 Democratic Party nomination.

...not because she's black, but because she is a woman. Voters will for vote for gay Mayor Pete for POTUS before they vote for a woman for POTUS.

¯\_( : / )_/¯

I don’t think so either Jeffrey, Harris isn’t liked by Democrats either. I really have to wonder why Biden chose her as his running mate. She’s from California, a cinched state as far as the electoral college goes, why not someone from a swing state? The ideological divide wasn’t that big, so ideological wise, choosing Harris didn’t mend fences between moderate and liberal or progressive democrats. Other than fulling a campaign promise of choosing a woman of color, I don’t see what picking Harris accomplished.

I had hoped Biden would choose Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta Mayor or Stacy Abrams from Georgia. Tammy Duckworth was on the list. Here’s the list Biden choose from.

https://www.vox.com/2020/7/30/21346478/joe-biden-running-mate-vice-president

Neither.
Not because she's a woman or because she's black but because she just isn't qualified.
She may at some point in the future but "do nothing" and "did nothing" comes to mind.

According to Gallup, 94% of all Americans would vote for a woman to become president. Here’s the list:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/254120/less-half-vote-socialist-president.aspx

Of course, Democrats wouldn’t vote for a woman if she was Republican conservative nor would a Republican vote for a woman due to her being a democrat liberal. Ideology and party affiliation has a major part to play here.

Last night’s mass shooting is the 601st this year. This is week 46 in the year 2022. That means 13 mass shootings a week in the US this year.

It certainly shows how many bots and sockpuppet accounts there are on Twitter, as Donald Trump has never won a popular vote in his life.

Now that Elon has restored the orange menace’s Twitter account. What could possibly go wrong with THAT?!?

Twitter's IT infrastructure is currently in Payne Stewart mode, and it will either encounter an insurmountable glitch or its load balancing servers will crash.
And it will end with a whimper of 404.

Elon Musk is not a tech guru. He is not a "people person". He's a dysfunctional child with a hell of a lot of money.

"not a People person" says it all for Autism Spectrum Disorder which Musk has!
Must Autism Spectrum

As it is biological, not learned, do not expect him to change!
However, maybe he figured out a way to "sell short" on Twitter, and is impatient for his big payoff!
Ya heard it first here!

Tat

Hmmm...that's an interesting take. I forget there are such things as "selling short." How does one place bets...erm, buy into short selling? Seems like a lot of money to be made. Like short selling the GOP House for the next two years.

I don't know Pup! But here,as of Nov 2, are the largest share holders after the takeover deal.
Twitter shareholders
Lots of Arab Country wealth funds are large share holders.
I tried to understand the stratergery of protective puts and calls involved in "buying a collar", but I gave it up, because as you know, dogs like collars but cats hate them!

Buying a collar, in simple terms

In other words, a bunch of Saudi princes love controlling Twitter, just as long as their own people aren't permitted to use it. How many Saudis are allowed on Twitter outside of the Royal Family?

Too blunt a tool.
It's not accurate to just say: "Because AUTISM".

I am on the spectrum as an Aspie and I'm very much an outgoing and gregarious person.
I'm a bit on the dorky side but I try to take pride in being outgoing.

It's a very minor point because overall the assessment of Musk may be accurate, so all I am saying is, it's important to look at autism spectrum disorder not AS a "disorder" so much as a very individual case by case issue where each person on the spectrum is a bit different.

There are a few common traits shared by many but the way it works on them is often very different from person to person.

Case in point: Both Dan Aykroyd and Elon Musk are on the spectrum but would you say it's safe to cast them as having a lot of similar behavior patterns?
Nope.

I think the folks who publish the DSM made a mistake when they removed the Asperger sub-type.

I highly recommend Slumberland on Netflix. It's listed as a movie for children, but it is amazing. Just look at the credits at the end. They list dozens of special effects companies, and literally hundreds and hundreds of technicians, artists, etc. About 1/4 of the movie takes place in the "real world". All the rest is dreams within dreams. And as usual for dreams, weird stuff happens!

I'm not even sure the main characters were real or CGI during the dream sequences, it's that well done. If they can do this, they can do anything you can think of. We have reached the point where human actors are not needed to make a movie.

Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to all in ReaderRant from me, my wife Amy, and Capitol Hill Blue. We're thankful that our democracy has survived another year and for the thoughts, participation, and help to keep this forum online for the past 28 years.

Again, Happy Turkey Day. Have a good dinner and don't be careful if you head out for Black Friday.

Doug

Not finished yet. We still have to drive a stake through the still beating heart of fascism.
Happy Turkey Day to all of you.

The Pilgrims of 1620 were a lot like the Christian Nationalists of today. They *said* they were against religious persecution, but, in reality, they just wanted to be the ones who got to do it.

For both, "Religious Freedom" is a lie.

Enjoy the day off with good food and good friends! Happy Thanksgiving Ranters!!

The war on Thanksgiving

Smokey the Bear goes zaddy - some folks hot and bothered by it.

Personally, I’ve always been a fan of bears.

In fact, I’m going to Furball Seattle this Saturday.

It's supposed to snow in my area this coming Wednesday/Thursday - looking forward to it. I love when it snows - its so pretty. Plus I get to work from home.

Growing up in El Lay as I did, the best I could ever hope for snow, was hail. A hope for a snowy Christmas always gave away to the reality of 85-degree Christmas days and warm, sunny Christmas just didn't cut it for me.

When I lived in El Lay, if I wanted to see snow, I have travel at least 90 minutes to see it.

After I moved to the PNW in September 2014, it was one of the early days of January 2015 when I experienced my first snowfall at home - when snow came to ME. It was so exciting. Me and Sammy-dawg were the first ones to walk around in it. I left my footprints, and Sammy left his paw prints. It had stopped snowing by the time Sammy and I walked around outside, and everything was so quiet and still. It was pretty dang awesome.

$69.00 for a pair of brand new Levis? Seriously?!?

I'm sure Levi's child-labor factories in Indonesia are making the jeans for WAY less than that! Then Levi's gives "40% off" for Black Friday. Set an outrageous price for ONE PAIR of jeans, then look like a good guy by "lowering" the price 40%. What a racket!

(Yes, I still bought some - I usually go clothes shopping for myself once a year on Black Friday).

As of late Saturday night 11/19/22, there had been 601 mass shootings in the US in 46 weeks. That is 13 mass shooting a week.

"There is no way to stop these shootings" says the only country in the world that has mass shootings on a regular basis.

The official account of the Republican National Committee was called out for posting a fake George Washington quote today.

Another mass shooting last night - this one in a tony Atlanta neighborhood, making this event the 613th mass shooing in the US in 47 weeks.

Many 2A defenders say that having a domestic version of the made-for-war AR-10 is a right.

Trump posted on Truth Social “give me freedom or give me death”. I say, if you insist.

It’s Ironic that Trump brought back the firing squad during his tenure for some reason. I think a firing squad is a fitting punishment for a former POTUS committing espionage and treason against the United States.

Welp the snow event has been moved up to Tuesday and only for a few hours. Oh well. What I have noticed since moving to the PNW is that it usually snows when no one is predicting it to snow, and snow usually comes when the day before is super sunny with completely clear skies and really cold crisp air.

Fox News hosts are outraged (!) at Whole Foods because the grocer is honoring a call to stop purchasing Maine lobster because there are only 340 right whales left in the Atlantic Ocean - and the whales are getting caught up in the fishing nets.

…as if Fox News viewers even shop at Whole Foods. Please!

It's the twenty-first century and we can do almost anything except figure out how to stop killing whales when fishing for large tasty water bugs?
Yeah, the world might have to learn how to live without the tasty water bugs until the industry decides it can figure out how to avoid killing whales as "just the cost of doing business".

The health of the world's oceans is taking a major step in a very bad direction because losing the largest ocean mammal on the planet is bound to have serious consequences.

Too bad Thuglikkkans can't understand that.

RIP Christie McVie

Stevie sang the anthems but Christine sang the LOVE SONGS because she had a voice like HONEY.

Speaker Boehner?



Kevin doesn't have the votes

Rwingers never disappoint.

More about the super secret non-House member candidate for Speaker.

Elon put out a Matt Taibbi multi-thread Tweet yesterday in the hope of stirring up crap about the DNC trying to influence the 2020 election. Taibbi is a Russian-invasion denier - he said Russia would NEVER invade Ukraine. Elon decided that Taibbi would be a credible voice to tell us what happened with the “Hunter Biden” “laptop” story.

Elon's hand-picked Russian apologist and self-described "reverse male chauvinist" left out the specific details of a warning by the FBI - that included Hunter Biden and preceded the NYPost story by months - that are necessary context to the stupid decisions Twitter made. But the silence about those details is anything but “what really happened.”

Taibbi is so deep in his conspiracy theories he didn’t realize that that - a surrogate of the sitting President demanding that Twitter give his campaign advance notice of their content moderation decisions - is closer to a First Amendment violation than suppressing the Post story, no matter how asinine Twitter’s decision was.

...of course Tucker Carlson and Fox News glum onto this "Twitter story" which should tell you that there's nothing to this batsh!t crazy reveal.

Self-described "alpha male" rages about Starbucks' non-festive, all red cups.

The thing is, that was five years ago in 2016. Nick Adams seems five years late, and five dollars short of a venti macchiato. Also, that rage seems steroid induced - just saying.

Irony is lost on this idiot:

Yes Rudy, "people need to be held accountable." I agree. Let's start with YOU.

When life imitates art...



Calling Chuck Jones...

This guy is NOT a stellar thinker...

Too early to call! 69% of the vote in!

Michael Fanone and Speaker Nancy Pelosi - two people who have been deeply impacted by the violence in politics today. She feels his pain, and he, hers. You can see it in their eyes.

Raphael Cruz asking for privacy when he's all for taking a woman's privacy away over her own body is rich.

Bill protecting same-sex, interracial unions passes House

The House of Representatives this morning passed the Respect for Marriage Act, the last step before it goes to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. Once the law is on the books, states and the federal government will have to honor all legal marriages from any state, even if the Supreme Court at some point reverses its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Missouri GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler tried to run for the US Senate in Missouri this past cycle and she had a hard time breaking through the field to be the biggest lunatic of all, but that was a testament to the level of lunacy in her primary. For pete's sake, horrible human being Eric Greitens was one of her opponents.

Vicky took to the floor of the House of Representatives and cried over gay people’s ability to marry. This is a reminder that tears aren’t always an expression of vulnerability - sometimes, they’re from being forced to yield power.

Kristen Sinema quit the Dem party and now is an "Independent." (Read: Whichever lobbyists gives her the most money.) The woman is a 100% lobbyist money whoar - she is beholden to lobbyists, not constituents.

She was going to be primaried anyway in two years.

GOP FANTASY: Paul Whelan is a noble member of our military.

REALITY:

Yahoo Finance’s coveted company of the year: Costco




(Advance to the 0:55 second mark)



Interview with Craig Jeilneck, CEO

This will be a busy week, for reasons that have nothing to do with politics or health issues. On Thursday, my wife Amy and I will celebrate 43 years of marriage, a surprise for both of us since we both had failed first unions with our spouses. Next, I will turn 75 on Saturday, another surprise for someone who never expected to reach age 30, much less 43 more years over that age.

Our thanks to Jerry Garcia for writing and singing "What a long, strange trip it's been."

This a good time to also remember and thank each of you for your support of ReaderRant, the reader forum for the oldest political news site on the Internet. A year ago, I was shutting RR down, but the support and help from many of you kept it going on a new server with much-appreciated help and financial support. I can never repay you properly for your belief and aid.

Thank you and Amy and I will raise our glasses of non-alcoholic wine to you. Without you, we would not be here today.

Doug

I knew your wedding anniversary was coming up as I know its around Christmas. Did not know December was your Bday too, Doug.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday!

We both have much in common. Karen and I both had one bad marriage each before rediscovering each other and we're on the cusp of our own 25th in a few months. Happy Birthday!
I'm ten years your junior and I find myself humming that Dead song to myself as well.

God Bless you and your lovely wife, Doug.
We're all lucky to know you.

We may be entering another decade of "the great fraud": FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried charged with fraud ; Danske Bank pleads guilty to resolve long-running Estonia money-laundering probe; Elon Musk’s Big Twitter Adventure Will End in Disaster

Each of these is a MULTI-billion-dollar scam, as big, or bigger than Enron, WorldCom, Bernie Madoff, Charles Ponzi...

Breakthrough on the fusion energy front:

Fusion Breakeven Surpassed

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore lab in California ran a fusion experiment that used 2 megajoules of laser energy to ignite and got 3 megajoules out. That far exceeds breakeven.

It's coming!

I am happy for my children, but I don't think I'll ever see it in action.

I wrote about this on SU 12/11/22 on the Science thread, but it's not showing up in the Current Topics in the left-side column. So I wrote about the thread not showing up on the Tell It To The Editiors, and now Tell It To The Editors is not showing-up in the left-side column.

Trump's anti-immigration policies have hurt America:

Labor Shortage

I've been posting about this for a while. Looks like some economists agree.

Did any really expect stellar policies from a six-bankruptcy, failed businessman who doesn't know his ass from a hole-in-the-ground and is too stupid to know he's stupid?

I responded to your thread to see if that changed its status.

Not showing up. Neither did Dear Editors from a few days ago.