Ol' J.D. Is Out? Later Breaking Thoughts

Increasing winds of opinion about J. D. Vance.

In sum, they seem to say "that was fucking stupid".

To pick the inventor of the accelerator of all that donnie is wrong about as donnie's running mate.

As vance continues to slide - with ever increasing royalties for his book (he comes out financially ahead, an oddity for a trumpite) it's fun watching all the "how do we get rid of him?" videos.

So just get rid of him.

I can hear it now, donnie saying "and now, my new, and so respected make america great partner ...".

It's coming:

George McGovern’s original running mate in the 1972 presidential election was Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri. However, after it was revealed that Eagleton had undergone treatment for depression, he was replaced by Sargent Shriver.

Maybe if ol' J.D. had had shock treatment he'd be able to weasel out of being apparently nuts?

Probably not.

Anyway, he's not nuts?

Just deeply evil?

Have you noticed that his wife looks like a hostage?

Twitching, emaciated, deep space stare and all that hostage stuff?

Maybe an illegal alien?

Probably is?

Ex-dopers like J. D. all manifest female-hostile-syndrome?

And native born american women mostly don't put up with that Appalachia barefoot and pregnant shit?

Unless they are aliens and they find a charismatic ex-doper from the region to get them citizenship?

Or maybe not an ex doper?

Just askin' questions here.

 

Chicago: Joe And Me And The Lake

 You Know.

The Lake.

The Lake of the Ozarks.

It usta have, maybe still does, The Clown.

The Clown had great hamburgers, great cole slaw.

Usta put the slaw on the burger, when I ordered one, after coming in, after drinking and skiing.

For most of the day.

Really good.

Those hamburgers with that slaw.

Of course they were really good without the slaw.

I liked them with.

That was at The Clown.

The Clown had a drink called The Derailleur.

I thought at the time that that was because the roads adjacent to The Clown were favorite haunts of bicyclists.

But I don't know.

Now.

Nor did I then.

Now, years later and years more suspicious of words and their meaning I need to default to the logic of then.

It just sounded right.

Then.

In any event that drink did de-rail you.

Really good.

Anyway, and to get to the point, Joe and I were driving around the Lake one day.

Joe was my son.

Still is.

I can't remember why we were doing that, but I think it was because I wanted to buy a used boat.

And driving around the lake seemed to me to be the best way to find a boat.

It wasn't.

But that's a different story.

What it was was a great way to spend a few hours listening to Chicago.

Some station was doing an all day Chicago reprise.

That was sublime.

That day on The Lake of the Ozarks.

Ol' J.D. Is Out?

 Increasing winds of opinion about J. D. Vance.

In sum, they seem to say "that was fucking stupid".

To pick the inventor of the accelerator of all that donnie is wrong about as donnie's running mate.

As vance continues to slide - with ever increasing royalties for his book (he comes out financially ahead, an oddity for a trumpite) it's fun watching all the "how do we get rid of him?" videos.

So just get rid of him.

I can hear it now, donnie saying "and now, my other make america great partner ...".

It's coming.

Here's An Image Of A Sack Of Shit

 

Oh, I forgot: a lying sack of shit.

Some Stuff About Costco; And Maybe About America

 The Economist has always been positive about Costco.

They, every year or two, have an article about what a well-run company it is and how well they treat their employees, especially compared to a prime Costco competitor - Walmart.

Economist points out with atypical British glee that Costco runs financial rings around Sam's Big Sweat Shop: they pay their people; they have medical benefits; they have retirement; but in all the financial measurements, they beat the pants off Walmart.

I guess that's why I keep seeing the same employees at Store One over the years.

But then, I am a Costco devotee.

Most of what I buy that I would otherwise buy in a grocery I buy at Costco.

So, I was really interested in the most recent Economist article about the company.

Net, net it said that most of Costco's profit is derived from annual membership fees.

I have read articles over the years excoriating Costco for that fact.

"You're supposed to extract your profit from the price of the stuff you sell, not some 'loyalty fee' so say the gurus of business economics, not the value you provide your customers.

Back to the Economist article that I am referencing; they said that the reason for Costco's continued growth, success and better-than-Walmart numbers is value.

Costco's customers renew their membership every year because they consistently get best products at best prices and check out with best employees of a best company,

I have not bought Best Foods mayonnaise at my local grocer recently because their price is $9.75 for a quart.

Yesterday I bought a two quart jar of Best Foods mayonnaise at Costco for $6.99.

I shop at Costco at least four times a month.

My membership fee has just been increased to $130.

That's $2.70 a store visit.

Even if I add that $2.70 pro rata store visit surcharge to the $6.99 Best Foods Mayonnaise, I come out $.06 ahead on double the mayonnaise  

 

I Just Found This In My Poems Draft Folder

 I didn't even know I had a poems draft folder.

But there it was.

And here is the poem - there are others - but I want to share this one that I want to share.

I have no idea what it means.

But do poems ever really mean anything?

Pretty much done: is what you may be

Pretty much done: when all you seem to see

Is the book, the bottle, the bed and the key

Pretty much done: the key to the door, or maybe infinity

Pretty much done: whatever it may be

But, pretty much done can’t replace

The feeling of a face

As it brushes yours

Pretty much done: the other shores

Pretty much done: the day you first saw the center of the earth sea

Pretty much done: that vision seemed, then, to be infinity

Infinity rhymes nicely with key and be and see so let it be

I guess that is ok; we shall see

Pretty much done:  why did you cry that day when you saw the sea?

You cried that day on the vantage of the sea because it was you that day

And there was me.

Pretty much done.

Is what a poet would say

About this brief metric essay

Pretty much done.

Roger's Song

 Several years ago - I was in Paris for an extended stay, so that is probably why the mundane inspired an attempt at art.

I got an email from a long-term friend.

He was looking back while looking forward while cursing time and being, as always, an iconoclast.

I read it a couple of times (I had had a great day wandering Paris and I was three glasses of Corbieres into my evening, back at my apartment, and I was just spoiling for some reason to write about something).

The tone of the email, underneath the obvious, was a deep tone of melancholy.

I picked up the challenge and ran with it.

I decided to write a poem that I thought Bruce Springsteen would have written if he had gotten that email.

Here it is.

My family didn’t have too much

But we never really cared

America was always there for us

And most of us all shared

Just put a boat in the harbor then

We could always catch some perch

And laying off their skeletons

We’d take them to the church

Where Fridays after work was done

We’d fry the gathered catch

And pretend we all were rich folks then

As a kid that seemed the best

The best that life could ever be

The best of times so far

But darkness lurked all over us

Like being trapped inside a jar

A jar so full of smoke

That nothing could be seen

But nothing seemed enough for us

So we made the most of lean

Lean times, slim pickins was all we had

Clouded by that jar

The best that life could ever be

The best of times so far

I was different from most of them

I got a college rag

I got a job with IBM

Success was in the bag

But darkness lurked around me still

That jar now clear to see

That nothing was too great for me

So nothing would I be

I made a lot of money

And pissed it all away

Finally moved to somewhere warm

That’s where I am today

And thinking thoughts behind me

I finally may believe

That going back a lifetime

Is my last reprieve

Now I sit here wondrin’

Why I even care

Michael didn’t get me

And nothin’s really fair

My mind goes back at night time

To the fish out on the bay

That bay’s all filled with sand now

But why should I just stay

Stay here among the dying

The crippled and the dead

When packing up when dawn comes

All of this could be shed

And trek back to where I came from

Back up to the north

Back to where I came from

Back up in the north

Back to where the sandbar

That once had been the bay

Is now a metered parking lot

The perch all gone away

Still cold as hell in winter

With tons of winter snow 

No new business no hotels and nothin’

Nothin’ for to show

For all the time now long gone 

For all the smoke that’s cleared

And America still is there for us

So nothing should be feared

And trek back to where I came from

Back to where I still own

Some land that once was left to me

Two plots with each its stone

The graveyard plots of yesteryear

The prizes left me to win

Or prizes left me to own.

Bing On Tariffs

 

I decided that I would find out if Bing/Copilot is as dumb as the MAGA crowd.

donnie keeps saying that he is going to bring in a huge amount of money from nations who export to the US - mostly China - by putting huge tariffs on all imported goods.

Since most of what Americans buy is imported, that, donnie says, is going to bring us scads and scads of money; so much money in fact that he can cut taxes to the bone - for rich people and corporations.

And China will foot the bill.

So, I asked Bing some questions.

Noel: "Who pays the tariff on imports?"

Bing: "A tariff is a tax on imported goods. Contrary to what some might think, it’s almost always paid directly by the importer (usually a domestic firm), not the exporting country. So, when the United States imposes a tariff on something, it’s the US importer who bears the cost, not the foreign exporter. If you’re importing goods subject to duty under the United States Harmonized Tariff Schedule, you—the importer of record—must pay the tariffs."

Noel: "So the American people don't pay?"

Bing: "Correct! The American people don’t directly pay the tariffs. Instead, it’s the importers (usually domestic companies) who bear the cost when importing goods subject to duty. These tariffs are collected by the U.S. government from the importers."

Noel: "Who gets the tariffs paid by the importers?"

Bing: "The U.S. government receives the tariffs paid by the importers. These funds contribute to government revenue and can be used for various purposes."

Noel: " So the importers pay the government a lot of money and the people get cheap imported goods.  That's a good deal isn't it?"

Bing: "Indeed, it might seem like a good deal at first glance. Importers pay the tariffs, and consumers benefit from access to cheaper imported goods. However: while importers pay the tariffs directly, they often pass some or all of the cost to consumers through higher prices."

Noel: " You say "often pass some or all of the cost to consumers". Don't they really pass all of the cost?"

Bing: "You raise a valid point! In practice, importers often do pass most of the tariff cost to consumers. While they absorb some of the expense, the majority is indeed shifted to end-users through higher prices. So, you’re right—it’s more accurate to say they pass almost all of the cost."

Noel: "I wonder why trump wasn't 'more accurate'?"

Bing: "Ah, the nuances of political communication! While precision is essential, politicians often use language strategically to convey their message or appeal to specific audiences."

Noel: "Could he be lying?"

Bing: "As an AI language model, I don’t make judgments about individuals’ intentions, but I can provide context. Politicians often use simplified messaging to convey their stance on complex issues. Whether it’s intentional or not, statements may not always align with the full reality."

Noel: "So the MAGA bunch will figure it out next time they check out at Walmart?"

Bing: "When the MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters check out at Walmart, they’ll likely notice the prices of imported goods. While the full impact of tariffs can be complex, the practical result is often higher prices for consumers. So, yes, they’ll feel it in their wallets!"

Noel: "Nice talking with you!"

Bing: "Thank you! It’s been a pleasure chatting with you too!" 

 

A Lotta Lies

I watched the RNC last evening. A big difference between this year and previous conventions was that EVERYBODY was spewing lies, not just donnie the dildo. I was surprised that even hostage families had a lot of lies to tell.

I had to wonder how much the RNC paid all those civilians to deliver their lines.

You can tell when Vance is lying: he puts his hand over his heart.

Sent from my iPhone

"Assassination" Primer

 Starting at 17h03 on 13 July I started documenting the nature of the hoax that has served as prologue to the RNC.

The fortuitous nature of the whole charade is so laughable that it's unbelievable that even people as gullible as the MAGGOTS would swallow it.

Scripted Shooting At trump Rally

The Most Contrived Image Of This Century

What Was The Tool?

Perspective On The Scripted Assassination Attempt

The Grifter Even Grifts A Staged Assassination Attempt

The Assassin's Cell Phone

President Vance

That United We Stand Bullshit

Praline Pecans From Costco

 I asked Bing/Copilot "Has Costco discontinued praline pecans?"

Bing replied:

"Yes, Costco has discontinued the Kirkland Signature Praline Pecans. These delicious pecans were coated with a sweet praline coating and came in a 40 oz jar. Unfortunately, they are no longer available for purchase. If you’re looking for an alternative, consider trying homemade pecans from the heart of the Mississippi Delta—they’re packed with essential nutrients, healthy fats, and antioxidants."

Bing pointed out that they were still available from Amazon, though.

With a little uplift in price.

At Costco they were $14.95; do suppose these two Seattle companies are colluding on a fiendish price fixing gambit? 

It's a short supply chain from Store One to the Sphere.

That United We Stand Bullshit

 donnie is a grifter, liar, convicted felon, convicted civil criminal and convicted sexual predator.

So when he starts spewing his "conciliation and bind up the nation's wounds" speech only morons will believe it.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

That's his target audience.

President Vance

 J. D. Vance will assume the presidency shortly after 20 January 2025.

The nation will descend into grief at the death of donnie the dildo who will die from complications from his gunshot wound.

Fired From The Stranger

 I just heard a local Seattle news item.

One of the writers for The Stranger was fired for a Twitter post.

She wrote "Make America Aim Again".

Good thing I'm unemployed.

The Assassin's Cell Phone

 When that is cracked there are going to be some phone calls to and from Laura trump.

And Ol' Margery.

I heard somewhere that that is what "Q" is saying.

They should be real interesting.

Sample: "Remember, you're supposed to miss". 

And: "What's your Bitcoin number?"

I Wonder What Bishop Usher Would Say?

 I had some questions for Bing/Copilot:

I have recently read about a third species of human, now extinct, that co-resided with Homo Neanderthal and Homo Sapien humans, and bred with them.  What is its name?

The third species you’re referring to is Homo heidelbergensis. Many researchers consider it a common ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals. This fascinating species lived side-by-side with our ancestors in ancient Africa, and their interactions left a genetic legacy that still influences us today.

How long ago did they live?

Homo heidelbergensis lived approximately 700,000 to 200,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene. These ancient humans existed in both Europe and Africa, and they are considered a chronospecies, representing a crucial point in our evolutionary history between modern humans and Neanderthals.

Are Neanderthals part of the homo clan?

Neanderthals are Homo Sapiens’s closest-known relative. We coexisted with them for thousands of years, up until the end of their long reign around 40,000 years ago. While we sometimes unfairly characterized them as lumbering dimwits, recent discoveries reveal their surprising complexity. Neanderthals even left behind intriguing structures in Bruniquel Cave, France, hinting at creativity and perhaps symbolism. Genetic evidence confirms that we interbred with Neanderthals, making them partly our ancestors, even though we didn’t evolve directly from them.

Are there any other homo varieties?

Certainly! Apart from our species, Homo sapiens, several other fascinating Homo varieties have existed on Earth. Here are a few:

Homo Rudolfensis: Existed around 1.9 million to 1.8 million years ago. Their physical characteristics remain somewhat mysterious due to limited cranial fossils.

Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Antecessor, and Homo Naledi are also part of this diverse lineage.

The Grifter Even Grifts A Staged Assassination Attempt

 Even if the recent "assassination attempt" had been anything but staged, and if it had played out in reality as the current story has it in MAGA fantasy, donnie would be the great grifter of presidential assassinees.

A bloody ear?

C'mon folks.

Wishing speedy recovery?

Recovery from what?

Hemorrhoids are more life threatening. 

Perspective On The Scripted Assassination Attempt

 

It's worthless turnabout, but after years of "Q" and rest it's at least a lot of fun to tucker the carlsons.

What Was The Tool?

 I would like to know what donnie used to make his ear bleed in yesterday's staged "assassination".

I remember a long time ago when I used to play with blades from my father's Schick razor dispenser, I cut my fingers a lot.

I assume it was something like that.

Has anybody found an antique Schick razor on the stage "where donnie went down"?

Just as a side note I asked Bing/Copilot about the tumbling of an AR-15 223 caliber bullet (they do that, you know, that's why they are so popular as hunting rifles; they hand over deer burger at point of conquest). I always thought that they tumbled through the air; it turns out they don't tumble until they enter the target.

"An AR-15 bullet can tumble when it strikes a target, causing it to yaw or change its orientation mid-flight. This tumbling effect can result in increased damage to the target1. The .223 and 5.56 bullets used in AR-15s tumble upon impact with the body, influenced by factors like shot location and ammunition type."

The Most Contrived Image Of This Century

donnie and his crew outdid themselves yesterday.

Not only did they stage a successful "assassination attempt", but they also staged an image composed to rip off Liberty Leading the People.

Good day for donnie the dildo.

Bad day for the dead people.

But donnie and the RNC were busy making an omelet and we all know ya gotta break some eggs.

Scripted Shooting At trump Rally

 The trump campaign's faux assassination has succeeded.

One has to admit it was gutsy.

His people winged him barely; if they'd missed, he would be dead.

The totally required knee jerk reaction from the Secret Service has put the stamp of reality on this RNC staged event.

The end has begun.

From The Authors Of Project 2025

 This was in the Washington Post with the headline;

(Of course, since it was in my MSN newsfeed it might be fake news, AI predatory journalism or radical left Democrat lies. Probably is. One of those.)

 Trump allies at Heritage declare 2024 election illegitimate in advance

Barbra Streisand kidnapped by Hamas. Antifa-BLM protesters taking over a migrant detention facility. The FBI arresting Donald Trump two days after winning the election.

These were among the far-fetched scenarios imagined by a simulation of threats to the 2024 election showcased Thursday by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The presentation, delivered at the foundation’s Washington headquarters, stated as a given that the Biden administration was already engaged in a sweeping conspiracy to use multiple forms of federal power to influence the presidential election. It did not supply any evidence.

“As things stand right now, there’s a zero percent chance of a free and fair election,” said Mike Howell, executive director of Heritage’s Oversight Project. “I’m formally accusing the Biden administration of creating the conditions that most reasonable policymakers and officials cannot in good conscience certify an election.”

The report said a key finding was that the sitting president is the greatest danger to the peaceful transition of power, with no mention of Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss. Instead it offered that conclusion as justification for doubting the outcome of the 2024 election and trying to reject anything other than a Trump victory. Trump himself has repeatedly declined to say he will accept the results or rule out a violent response. He has told his supporters that he can only lose through cheating.

Howell said the exercise would lead Heritage to file more litigation over election procedures. He also said it should help the public resist “psychological operations” that he claimed were used in 2020 and are being used again. He didn’t say who supposedly ran the operations.

Nice Summary Of The Future From The Daily Beast

 Add this to Project 2025 and we've damn near got Utopia.

Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) on Thursday accused “the angry feminist movement” of emasculating men and said the U.S. should “work our way back” to 1960 if former President Donald Trump wins in November.

In a House floor speech that could have been lifted from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Grothman went after supporters of government-funded childcare programs and said President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty “took the purpose out of the man’s life, because now you have a basket of goodies for the mom.” He added, “They’ve taken away the purpose of the man to be part of a family. And if we want to get America back to, say, 1960, where this was almost unheard of, we have to fundamentally change these programs.”

Grothman said “the breakdown of the family” was caused by the U.S. government in the 1960s and “people like Angela Davis, well-known communist, people like the feminists who were so important in the 1960s.”

“So I hope the press corps picks up on this, and I hope Republican and Democrat leadership put together some sort of plan for January, in which we work our way back to where America was in the 1960s,” he added.

Joe And George

George Washington led a rag tag band of fellows for seven years in a series of skirmishes, guerilla actions and battles; in the end, with late breaking help from the French navy the colonists and General Washington defeated the British and Washington gave the world a new country.

Washington was President of the Philidelphia Convention that gave us our Constitution.

Later he became first President of the United States of America.

He served in that office for eight years - two terms.

He could probably have served to death - there was no term limit in the Constitution and Washington was one of the most revered people in that looming new century.

He could probably have established a dynasty and defined the presidency in such a way as to make it an institution indistinguishable from any monarch then extant.

But he didn't.

That notwithstanding, he surely could have served a third term.

But he felt that the new country was better served to test its mettle in the world under new leadership.

He felt that the transfer of power - unheard of in those times - peacefully and co-operatively was a revolutionary concept needful of demonstration and testing in real time in the real world.

So, he declined to run for a third term, returned to Mt Vernon and gave his new country its head to run as it might in the world under leadership newly chosen as the people and the Constitution dictated.

He was a great man; he gave us our country, he took the levers of power to get it going, and then he turned it over to us to keep on course.

And his faith in us has been warranted; we have done a lot of things great and significant.

Now we need another great man to relinquish the presidency to a new generation.

Joe Biden gave our country back to us in 2020.

Now he needs to give the responsibility for competing for leadership of that country over to someone else.

Before we lose it again, this time permanently, and to darkness, futility and oblivion.

Gaza Not A War

 Over the last several months since 8 October 2023 when I started commenting on the Gaza situation, I have intermittently talked about massive cumulative mayhem: the Israelis have indiscriminately killed upwards of forty thousand women and children - some men too - but the IDF specializes in women and children.

To get that massive number the IDF has had to go to where the women and children are: homes. hospitals, markets and highways to and from places where the IDF has directed the women and children to relocate to; the IDF has gotten really good at hospitals; they can get a two thousand pounder right on the center of the facility; the shock wave does the rest.

Gets a lot of women and children - good bang for the buck - the American buck.

If you want to see a summary of all of that, please see:

The Gaza Primer

If you do read all of that I wonder if you will draw the same conclusion that I have drawn: the IDF actions in Gaza are not a war, they are a tantrum, a drawn out, beating head on the floor, howling tantrum.

Two Ents

 I met these in Parc Buttes des Chaumont.

It Always Ends The Same

 When the vector and intensity of the stuff of the day taste, smell and sound like a sinking ship, it always ends the same.

I adopted this truth as truth when Ted Kennedy went down in flames and off the road and into the water.

Back in the late 60s.

And that is the taste, smell and sound of the "situation" since last Thursday night's debate debacle.

Joe Biden is going to drop out.

Since it's too late and since Kamala is unavoidable, the whole fiasco is just that.

We had a good 236 years.