*For those of you worried about how late I am: My thyroid has gone a big insane again, in the sense of extremely low. Yes, tests have been made and blood drawn for further tests. I’m currently waiting for results so we can figure out how/where to start with medication. Until then, I’m back on aderal, simply because the alternative is being almost comatose. But I’m having trouble functioning and, as per aderal, go down many many rabbit holes if I’m tired. It’s like Super-ADD-SAH*
I don’t know if you guys are aware of this, so I thought perhaps I should write about it.
I know there are no tanks on the street, and that I know of, no TV station has gone solidly to playing Green Acres back to back and this was not what I expected when I voted, so it took till a couple of days ago for me to go “Dear Lord, this is a revolution.”
Let me unpack that sentence above because I can see several people taking it wrong.
So, let’s start with “this is not what I expected.” It’s not. I expected the first term all over again. This doesn’t mean I ‘regret’ it or “am upset”. I will capture a tweet from Jagi Lamplighter about that, because I can’t put it better than she did:
Now that we’ve established that, moving on: what I expected, in my wildest dreams, where somehow Trump got beyond the barriers that held him back in his first term was the roll back of some of the crap that made the US a basket case under Biden. You know, actual semi-effective border control. Maybe a few thousand deportations. Perhaps a reining back of the stupid regulations, and some drill baby drill.
But I didn’t actually expect revolution. A revolution that rolls back the now long established corruptions imposed on our system by the likes of FDR.
At first I was in shock at the speed and compass of the EOs and other work going on. And then–
Well, part of it is my health, but I’m having real trouble controlling this. I will read the news on my phone first thing in the morning, because it’s weird and exciting. And then I have to fight to work during the day, because I’m fascinated by this show which is more interesting than anything Hollywood has produced in decades.
And in the middle of all this it was only a couple of days ago that I realized this is a revolution.
Well, you’re in luck, because I have a lot of experience in revolutions. No, not in leading them, unless you count “revolutions in a classroom” or something like that. And even then, I was usually too lazy to do anything.
BUT I have experience in finding yourself in the middle of a revolution where everything is changing and things you always thought permanent and immutable get yanked out from under you. Of course, this revolution doesn’t seem to be going in the way of things get worse, not in an overall thing (though they can be for individuals) so that’s an improvement over the ones I know.
But with that in mind, here’s some advice:
1- Don’t be scared. Yeah, I know, fast change, even fast change you wanted is always scary. And this is very fast change. But control it, okay. think clearly about what it’s happening, and what the consequences might be. This is very important.
2- First, it will allow you to NOT fall for propaganda, like the idiotic idea that they’re going to abolish social security, something even Trump said in his inaugural speech he won’t do. (I’m hoping they phase it out and stop taking separate taxes for it, so that in 40 years they CAN shut it down. I realize a good way to start doing that is means testing, and that that is likely to affect us, as we’ll never fully retire unless incapacitated. I’m fine with that.)
3- It will also allow you to fight back the fear that if we do this “they’ll do worse to us when they win.” If we do this right, when they win they’ll be a different party. We’re moving the Overton window at a fast clip. Reagan moved the overton window enough that the next time they won they were the “new democrats.” This demands a far bigger change on their part. Also, they did this to us pretty much under both Obama and Biden. Only not as fast/thorough because they couldn’t. They never succeeded in getting us to give up guns, so they couldn’t.
4 – Be aware there will be glitches and hard times. Look, if someone waved a magical wand and the federal government was suddenly within tight constitutional limits, there would still be bad consequences.
Sure, most of what the feds are financing is utter bilge, when not actively anti-American, and making things worse for everyone in the world as well as the US. (In fact, that’s the shock. Guys, this is me speaking, and I didn’t know how much of the leftover USSR bullshit propaganda and lies we were financing across the globe. Censorship, even.)
But some of it has little sub branches, and not immediately obvious connections to what you, yes, you do for a living. Like, you might have no hand in growing worse viruses to kill humans, but your lab might still be tied to federal funding (Partly because the government ran out/limited all other sources of funding.) In which case things will get lean for a while. And you should have prepared for it last year, but the next best time to prepare is now.
The same with apparently everything from game makers to magazines. They shouldn’t have been getting fed funds, but they were, and so you might be affected/find yourself temporarily unemployed.
And obviously a lot of people work in the bureaucracy who aren’t bad people, etc. And they will be unemployed. This is sad and in some cases tragic, but there it is. Things can’t go on, and change will hurt someone every time.
Now, if you are offered the 80k, take it. I bet you in eight months there will be other job opportunities. And you don’t want — don’t want — to be laid off instead.
But you know your situation better than I do. The point is, instead of being locked in “This is all terrible, because this terrible thing happened to me” you should be thinking through options and what to do to improve your chances of coming out of this smelling like a rose.
5- The minimum you can expect is supply disruptions, say on the level of covid lockdowns. People are being deported and self-deporting and there’s talk of e-verify. Just in trucking remember they MADE companies hire illegals. And frankly the empty factories gave me the pip. Yes, it needs to be done, because when there was a quarter in which NO ONE born in the US was hired, we have massive problems. Also it’s been used to depress wages. Also frankly mass immigration isn’t healthy for anyone, even those coming in. So it needed to be done. (And honestly they’re being very gentle, it’s just the propaganda is causing more self-deportations than they counted on.) Still, it’s another, even I hadn’t realized problem had got that bad, and therefore I now know there will be massive disruptions. Not because Americans don’t want to work, but because it’s illegal to hire them at under minimum wage. Also don’t worry too much. The money we save on the social services that permit illegals to work for almost nothing will reduce prices of some things, like medical care.
It will fix itself, but meanwhile be prepared for supply disruptions. As someone who tends to I’m telling you not to go overboard, but having enough essentials for a couple of weeks are a thing.
6- Be aware there will be opportunities and new enterprises and ways of doing things opening up. Keep abreast of what’s happening in your field. Don’t assume it’s all bad and get locked in depression. Even bad revolutions open up new (usually in that case counterproductive) job and enrichment opportunities.
In this case, if they remove the constraints on business even a little, I bet you there will be plenty of new opportunities and chances to work at whatever level and career you work.
7- Don’t be scared, but be prepared to throw your weight behind less-disastrous alternatives. Not only is this a revolution, but people are very angry. Such circumstances are slippery. I don’t think the people in charge right now are a danger, as such, but any disturbance, like, say the idiots on the left killing the employees going through records, and things could tumble completely insane.
So be ready to be the “slow down” voice and the one that tries to at least dissuade people from gallows.
8- At the same time, hold on to your principles. All of us will face difficult circumstances and choices because again, things changing very fast, and every time that happens opportunity and jobs appear and disappear, and you’ll have to decide what you can do, and how you can survive. Hold on to your principles. If at all possible to survive without compromising them, do so, because there is a price for compromising them. For you and for society.
9- Hold on to your hat. This year promises to be LIT and I’m not sure next year will be any slower. DO try to do at least some work, rather than spend the time trying to track everything.
I suggest you limit yourself to say half an hour of news reading, then go work.
And meanwhile, enjoy the revolution. Yes, we need a miracle for everything to go right, but we’re already in the middle of a miracle. What’s one more?
10- If you come here, and there’s a clip of the Green Acres opening, THEN it’s time worry.
According To Hoyt 
There is a LOT going on. And a lot of bias. Much does sound good, but I do expect some pain. And not just from opposing forces. More… Even beneficial drugs can have unpleasant side effects
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Listen to Ox! Ox may not be smartest critter on earth, but Ox wise!
to wit I spent not quite 6 months on a nasty regimen of chemicals called R-CHOP-21. The Hematologist/Oncologist said “Some people compare this to a marathon, but they’re wrong Its a 15 round championship bout with Muhamad Ali or Joe Frasier” And yet I’m still this side of the grass nearly 12 years later. It was NOT fun but yet was absolutely necessary.
The US was experiencing Stage 3 Socialism trying real hard to move to Stage 4 (which is invariably fatal). Somehow (and I will NOT exclude divine intervention after some of the crap that happened this summer) we got injected with some seriously strong Anti Socialist drugs. Those are now taking effect and the cancerous cells are being constrained or eliminated. Unfortunately like the treatments for blood cancers they are nasty broad spectrum drugs and will eliminate some perfectly healthy cells. They just eliminate several orders of magnitude more cancer cells. Presumably, the Physician doing this knows his business and will watch for the dangerous side effects ) such as the build up of dead cells, cancers metastasizing etc.
To return to my doctor’s metaphor we finished round 1. We’re winning on points and have landed a couple good body blows. But just because the guy in the other corner looks like Corporal Klinger crossed with a Ru Paul drag show escapee mauled by a tiger doesn’t mean it’s time to let up and feel sorry for him. We need to go back in and have no mercy. A third round knockout is better than a 15 round decision both for us (The US) and the opponent. If the Democrats keep being this pointless mess and Hogg as their vice chair and their recent convention they’ve shown utter cluelessness on this front. Single party rule even by a well meaning party invariably leads to corruption. We NEED a decent 2nd party. The Republicans stopped being that somewhere before Bush the Younger and the extent of the spread of our cancer comes partly from that.
Taht said this is no time to get squishy and having many RINOs ostensibly on our side squish is in abundance. Our opponents placed us on death’s ground and we realized it. It may be foolish to go in against a Sicilian when death is at stake but it is far more dangerous to corner Americans such that they can’t escape. We need to remember that peril and know if we don’t finish it this time we probably won’t get a second time.
In the words of another wise man, “Fight! Fight!! Fight!!!”.
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Brutal metaphor, but I believe accurate.
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And for some of us it seems like nothing is changing, and that every change still offers us nothing, no opportunity. Yet we continue to root on for what is right even if it puts us six feet under.
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I expect belt-tightening at Day Job because of the trickle-down cuts, even though Day Job gets no direct federal funds. However, if there is more funds for other things available, then that might balance out. If not, well, we tighten belts.
Maybe this is the time to get serious about that textbook I keep muttering about writing, among other things.
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Hope you have a good endocrinologist more than an Internist managing this. If your thyroid is really low and you are symptomatic replacement with T3 initially will get you back where you belong as T4 alone take a while. Often a little adrenal support is also needed. Free consult available off line if you need it.
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Well… endocrinologist wanted more tests to get the picture accurately. Look, I’m just glad she saw there was a problem. 15 years ago was… interesting.
Funny thing was it seemed fine until the Portuguese crud, and then it all went nuts. Though perhaps it wasn’t fine before.
Anyway the problem right now is the tests haven’t come back. I called to make sure they had my contact. They do. they were also puzzled the tests aren’t back. Sigh.
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Ah, my concerns are much relieved. Now back to figuring it out which goblet of wine is poisoned.
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All of them. All of them are. I’m seriously confused as to why the tests aren’t in A WEEK LATER. I’ll call them today. My new glasses aren’t in either. What is going on?
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Disruptions and hysteria, mostly. Some people are melting down mentally, and others are popping corn like there’s no tomorrow, so a lot of stuff isn’t getting done the way we might prefer.
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If you were using the VA you’d be expecting a response in another 2 weeks. And your new glasses would be wrong. Don’t worry, be happy.
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Ah, would you believe that I didn’t notice that Sarah hadn’t made a post today. [Nervous]
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You don’t love me….
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I didn’t notice, but then I work nights and sleep days, so…
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I’ve been so giddy the last two weeks that I’ve become semi-addicted to the news again. Yikes! I thought I had left that behind. The only red flag I have is Trump creating the sovereign wealth fund. Given the way we collect taxes that could quickly end up being the government owning the economy, but that’s a worry for down the road.
Not tired of winning yet, but it is tiresome listening to the lamentations of some of my online friends. It still doesn’t occur to them that everybody doesn’t agree with their political delusions. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7292376415482589186/
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I am going to have to steal “DNC – guarranting a 8 years Vance presidency!” (or words to that effect).
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From your lips to the Author’s ears… 12 years like this and we might have returned to a more normal world in the US.
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Dangit, Sarah, I’m sorry your health is such shite, and glad you know how to address it. Really glad you know yourself well enough to look at things more or less objectively.
The description of how we feel is so perfect I’m screen-capping it and sending it everywhere: Megyn Kelly said it felt like Christmas morning every day.
Trouble is, I obsessed for about a week from Inauguration/Liberation Day, and it nearly crushed me. I couldn’t work, couldn’t sleep (I don’t sleep much anyhow but it was worse), and I got so ramped up watching things I couldn’t control that I was raging at the smallest thing, like spilling a glass of milk or dropping my glasses on the floor. I just cannot watch or read about things going so beautifully, so completely utterly beautifully.
I think POTUS T. really honest to goodness believes the Lord Almighty saved him to do this work, it’s got that level of zeal associated with it.
And like Sir Rhodri says, much of it doesn’t make my life any easier, in fact, it’s going to make things tougher–finding work, dealing with health issues, trying to make things happen with imagination and no cash. All the things. Everybody’s got something.
I’ll get to the bottom of this on Thursday when I go to see a specialist, but I may have issues living at elevation, even this skimpy 2,200-foot we’ve got here in Post Falls. I’ve lived all my life at sea level. As soon as I moved here three years ago–a necessary and wise move–my body started throwing fits. Skin is a raging disaster of eczema/dermatitis/ugh-shite; I’m so dizzy most of the time that I can’t do anything that involves moving my head from a straight upright position–no yoga, a real fear of hiking/camping because “what if…” that I’ve never had before; the works.
I got honest with myself in the past few months, and I miss the Pacific Northwest, and my family such as it is. Now I may “have to” move back to sea level just to get my body back where it’s not raging/allergic/dizzy. How to do that? Prayer and asking for help, and a heavy dose of creative imagination.
And I’m more optimistic about things in general than I’ve been in a long time, who knows where that comes from.
The lost post is making up for all the times I’ve scooted in, read enough to know everyone is as well as they can be, and running away.
Bless you all, and may Himself bless the Republic.
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Wikipedia says the elevation of Lewiston is 745 feet. Perhaps you can stay in Idaho?
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Maybe so, thanks for the idea.
I’ll see what the Dr says Thursday.
I miss the PNW more than I’d realized.
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Technically Idaho is PNW. But I understand.
There is scruby skinny trees and there are big tall trees. Yes, Ponderosa Pines are nice big trees, but high desert Juniper and Lodgepole Pine, not so much.
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Idaho is inland northwest.
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:)
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I don’t know about technically, but it’s considered the Inland Northwest.
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“Inland NW”
Makes sense to differentiate the high desert prairie areas from the greener areas west of the Cascades. Really even southern Oregon, south of say Cottage Grove, is different from the northern section. About the only relatively consistent terrains in Oregon are west of coast range, alternating from sand and sandstone to obsidian bluffs, and the Willamette valley itself.
Just I’ve always heard that Oregon/Washington/Idaho were PNW, or “Oregon Country”.
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I’ve been to the PNW and I can see why you miss it!
Prayers up for your health issues. And also that you find a Home, this side of our True Home.
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You bless me, dear sister! I’m blessed on all counts–
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Extreme southwestern WA is fairly rural and the blueness is relatively restrained. (Aside from the very woke yarn shop run by a lesbian couple…but one of them has cancer so I’ll cut them some slack).
The area I’m thinking of is a tourist area, though, so the population varies and I suspect real estate near the ocean is insanely expensie.
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I love this area–there are many pockets of “red” up and down the Puget Sound coast. And yes, property is insanely expensive regardless.
It’s more expensive to live in Idaho, which surprised me. State tax kicks your butt. Tax on food, fees on everything. I won’t miss it, honestly.
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I think I know the yarn shop you mean. (I live near Olympia, $deity help us, so we journey to the Extreme SW WA area fairly frequently.)
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It’s in Ilwaco.
First time we were there, you could wander in to the fishmonger and buy just-off-the -boat king salmon. Post-covid, that’s all gone.
The yarn ladies are also indie dyers and produce some gorgeous spinning fiber and yarn. But they are totally conforming to the social mores and customs of their class while imagining themselves as brave freethinkers standing up to the Forces of Reaction.
I buy from them anyway.
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Ilwaco, yeah. I love the country down there, but it was jarring to find a yarn shop AND a bookstore both trudging down the Leftie Lane. (I disremember if the bookstore was actually IN Ilwaco or in the next township down the road. Same trip, though.)
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There is a used bookshop next door to the yarn shop. They weren’t completely leftist; of course when you handle used books you have to take what you can get.
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Used to be a yarn shop downtown Longview. Been 40 years since I was there. Used to haunt it 82 and 83. Quit knitting because none of us can wear knits. Computer programming took over the creative side.
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Re the constant dizziness: you might look up BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) and see if it relates at all. Then look up the Epley maneuver, which can resolve the BPPV.
Please note: This is just one possible cause of dizziness, but worth at least looking into. I speak from personal experience, and for me the EM did work, after more than a month of walking around half-dizzy most of the time.
Note that based on symptoms I had ruled out ear infections, sinus infections, and a couple of other more nasty things. When you see the specialist you may learn of other things that can cause your symptoms.
May you find the cause and the solution soon!
And my apologies if this posts twice – WP is being reluctant. ;-)
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You understand completely! I’m getting tested for that and a half dozen other things tomorrow morning, 0740, having ruled out all the other obvious sinus/ear issues.
Lol, the clinic warns you that you’re going to get dizzy and barf, probably, as a part of the tests. Sigh. If the Epley worked more than an hour or so, I’d continue that. Things have just gotten to the point where I’ve got to find a pro to check me out.
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My personal experience with BPPV was when I quit taking Ca supplements and drinking milk, and started Mg supplementation in various forms (epsom baths, Mg oil, cautious oral supplements), the BPPV disappeared entirely. FYI YMMV IANAD
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Sounds like you’re on the right track. When the vertigo is constant it really sucks. It can be multi factorial in one person. Like me. Pinched cervical nerves, pinched cervical spinal cord, damaged sensory end organs, screwed up mid brain, amblyopia. You want to make sure that a full workup includes both and ENT and a neurologist, imaging of cervical spine and brain stem probably a good idea as well as ENG and EMG. Hope you have good insurance.
Also, both the COVID vax and COVID itself can cause multiple cranial nerve issues including the vertigo and double vision. I foolishly took one Moderna which turned out to be from a batch associated with lots of similar side effects. That info is officially not released by FDA, but I have it as I have ways. One day, they’ll pay. Maybe after Elon gets done with USAID, CIA, DOJ he’ll some of his crew on the FDA for JFK Jr.
There are many PT’s that specialize in vertigo issues. FYZICAL is one franchise that is pretty good and has many franchises about the country. Maneuvers like the Eply can provide short term relief, but many months of daily use may be necessary to get full benefit. The duration of each position should be managed by a smart PT. I need a minimum 2 minutes each position, have gone to 5 min at times but even with my watch timer vibrating I kept falling asleep before I was done, LOL. The series I do has been personalized to address the most serious canals affected, has part of Semont grafted on to the end.
Rapid barometric changes, windy days with high micro particles in the air, and lots of other things can also aggravate the problems. For me driving down the hill to town, a drop of 800 feet, can be nasty. Also look out for vibration damage – an electric toothbrush or a sonic tooth cleaning can also mess with inner ear.
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My wife Em had an episode of that just after Christmas. She’s been doing a course of exercises and it’s working, but she has needed help with several things. One reason my posting has been sporadic. And late.
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Blood oxygen drove us out of Colorado; I was starting to feel ten or fifteen years older than I actually was. We were at 6700 feet (Sarah knows the place/house) and my doc told me to move at least a mile straight down. After giggling at the joke, that’s what we did, albeit on the oblique, and now (at 1375 feet in NE Phoenix) I feel like an old man who’s not gasping for breath anymore, at least.
All of which is to say I know what you’re feeling–it’s a serious business–and will put you on my prayer list. Persevere.
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To say I treasure your thoughts and prayers would be an understatement, Jeff. Check this out–it’s as if Himself is acting before we pray. It’s as if He knows our hearts… lol.
Met yesterday with a vestibular specialist I had specifically selected. Best medical pro I’ve ever dealt with: I was in tears about 15 minutes in. Why? Because the vast majority (if not all) my issues are related to feeling unsafe away from HOME and family–my sister and her husband who live North of Seattle. My stress and anxiety are crushing my physical body, and making it virtually impossible to create anything. My body is also somehow allergic to North Idaho, though I won’t pursue this: I’m going HOME.
I had not realized the depth of my love for the PNW, where I was raised, where I learned to hike, and ski, and recover from hypothermia, fish, all the things. It’s emotional even writing about it– I know the rivers’ names.
So please do pray for me and the move and all the related things. Money is tight, as it is for many, and the system isn’t set up to support someone with low income getting a good apartment and *then* finding work. We’re supposed to have all that sorted nice and neat, and this isn’t that!
I’m in the best of hands, as the past month or so has proved again.
Blessings, and thanks very much.
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Will keep you in our thoughts and prayers as you make your move HOME and better your health.
I hear you on “money is tight”. Son has money (because he has few actual expenses, and is not a spend thrift). Son has credit rating established. An “excellent” rating, but “thin” (per the loan administrator for his car, 5 years ago). But he cannot get a, decent rental, apartment or house, in a safe or even unsafe area, locally. Because monthly rentals, plus utilities, are so high that the combination exceeds the “allowed monthly income percentage”. He is looking to buy. But until the promised housing dip and interest drop occurs, and the right house comes along, mr. not-a-spend-thrift won’t bite. He does NOT want roommates.
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Roomates are #$%@. Unacceptable. You’ve raised a wise son.
Thank you so much not only for the prayers but for the story–isolation and stress are eased so much just by knowing I’m not alone. I mean, you *know* you aren’t but until someone says something, you wonder.
Income requirements that demand 2.5x the rent for even ghetto housing are the norm. I have so many advantages–great credit, lots of history, VA assistance (which may explode my blood pressure before I actually talk to someone!), and even then it’s a bear.
This year may get worse/harder for us before it gets better. Making prayers and divine intervention even more precious.
Thank you. I’ll pray for your son as well.
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Turns out it was destroying me too. At aobut the same altitude. But I’m now fixing the other stuff.
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And, for those of you too young to even have seen the reruns, here’s the ORIGINAL (from 1965!) opening to Green Acres. The entire “stuff the balls of overcooked spaghetti” gag running theough the entire series of shows was a small treasure, especially as the writers kept track of how many were in those drawers. Keep track of those tiny details, writers – at least some in your audience will know and appreciate it!
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Loved this show, and old enough to have seen the originals.
Mr Haney… lol.
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I could play Eddie Albert and Sarah Gabor’s role. Let’s do a remake.
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The Democrats are blaming the American people for not being who they wish we were.
I think the…least painful way to let go of the Socialist Stupidity tar-baby is to make it voluntary. Anybody can opt out. If they do, they don’t get any of the money taken from them back. THAT would bankrupt the country. Their choice would be between continuing to be bled white supporting an unsustainable Ponzi scam, or abandoning their sunk cost.
It’s not the government’s job to spare people from making hard choices.
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I don’t think it has to be an all or nothing opt out.
The government is perfectly capable of tracking everything you put in, and what you will get out. That’s what the nice little statements they send out every year say, at any rate.
All they have to do is put a box on your W-2 that says “I want to have Social Security contributions (or whatever they are) withheld from my paycheck”. And if you don’t check that box, the money doesn’t get withheld.
If people can choose, every time they fill out a W-2, whether they want to put money into their Social Security. One could, if one were so inclined, put money in at one job, and not put money in at the next. Some will participate, and some won’t. And the government just pays them out at retirement according to what they put in.
People who choose to not put any in can then do whatever they want with the money they don’t give to the government.
I think that if they did that, the system would atrophy and die on its own, without anyone having to abandon the “sunk cost”.
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So basically a government run 401k? Who chooses where it invests / holds the money?
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My Dad suggested a mixed system. Those who are already on SS or within 10 years of retirement, nothing changes. Those younger who have paid in can choose to have traditional SS, have their share including the employer portion put in a retirement plan of their choosing, or drop it and self invest. Those who have paid in for less than 10 years get the last ywo options.
He sent his plan (well over 50 pages) to Congress, and got a form letter back. This was in the late 70s.
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That might have worked back in the 70s. It’s too late now. 45 years of feckless politicians have seen to that.
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I too, will have to limit the news to a few minutes here and there, but the biggest news this week was all the details of the inner workings of USAID. We knew they were corrupt, but Holy Poop, it was worse than we dreamed.
And who the heck is writing this plot? Parts have been lifted from Smith’s “First Lensman“.
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You know, I have been thinking the same thing. All last year I was thinking that the problems Trump was facing were straight out of the presidential election chapters of First Lensman. It just occurred to me a couple of days ago that this could be counted as a case of “science fiction writer predicts the future” (like Heinlein’s scene with cell phones in Space Cadet).
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You know, the absolutely mind blowing thing was listening to Space Cadet after many years of not reading it (it’s not one of my must read every few months) and I’m cleaning and listening to it….
It took a moment before the brain went “That was written BEFORE cell phones.”
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As was Puppet Masters. RAH really got some of the technologies right (although given phone turnover I don’t want one embedded behind my ear). We also get CAD/CAM (as Drafting Dan) in Door Into Summer and Elon seems to be working on Flexible Frank… We may Finally get Rosie from the Jetsons. We may finally be on track for the 21st century we were promised.
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Unless I misrecall, RAH predicted call-screening using the old-style phone recorder boxes decades before they happened. Don’t remember which book it was in, but I think it was one of his juveniles.
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Well, Trump can sort of pass as, “Rod the Rock,” Kinnison, but who’s Virgil Samms? Elon? He seems more likely to fit in the slot of Nels Bergenholm…
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Buckaroo Banzai
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Elon has a band?
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He has a band of merry auditors….
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Musk-ateers
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<snort> That either deserves a load of carp or high praise and I lean toward the latter. Bravo Zulu Well Done…
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”Laugh-a while you can, monkey-boy!”
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Perhaps Vance as Samms? Although he is NOT auburn haired and does not (as far as I know) have gold-flecked eyes. Maybe he is a carrier for M1CR? Although even as pretty as Usha Vance is I would expect no redheads from their direct children. M1CR is a recessive so descendants could carry it (25% chance). Be on the lookout for Vance descendants marrying folks with Scottish surnames.
Although this is NOT a Lensman timeline we missed WWIII (phew I think). Though Maybe Gray Roger/Gharlane was running Obama/Biden although that was very sloppy work indeed for it to be Gharlane.
I’m afraid my visualization of the Cosmic All is sketchy at best, I’m just an L2. For a bettor visualization check with Kimball Kinnison, Worsel or Nadreck. Best yet check with Mentor, although he’ll likely just politely tell you to bugger off or spend 3 hours wanting to detail where every hair fell from your last haircut (or slime cleaning in my case, no hair).
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If he’s not welcoming you, you better hope he just politely tells you to bugger off. Ask Helmut how the Arisians handle gate-crashers.
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With JD Vance as Conway Costigan? I can see it.
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I’ve been tracking news, only to get the very late responses from the DNC. By the time they respond, President Trump has already moved on to the next item, or even beyond, and the EO has done it’s job, or the EO is now been delayed because someone caved.
As far as SS going away. I think SS is going to evolve into forced self directed savings VS go away. After all why give up 7% forced match? Add that to 401(k), and IRA’s, then post work years financially should be, for most, achievable. Not all because we know of too many who end up raiding their future to cover now.
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If I didn’t already know the concept of the OODA loop, I’d sure be learning it right now. They’re still responding to what he did 2-3 moves ago, which means they’re constantly blindsided by the next one.
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DNC think they are inside the loop but they are so far out they might as well be walking the plank over the Grand Canyon, and leaping.
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Well, they ARE plenty loopy…
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They have left the plank and are treading thin air, holding an anvil.
It they look down, it’s curtains for them.
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The recent events do resemble binge watching Road Runner cartoons.
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Left: “yipe!”
(long descending whistle)
bam! (Dust plume)
Trumprunner: “Ptbtbpthptbtbt!” “BEEP! BEEP!” zooooooooooom!
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“But I didn’t actually expect revolution. A revolution that rolls back the now long established corruptions imposed on our system by the likes of FDR.”
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Never expected anything like it, and yet it’s happening. Between Trump’s terms, I used to pray at my bedside that the next election would result in the secrets being brought out into the light. I was thinking of things like voter fraud when I prayed. But it appears that my prayers might very well be answered in a way, and to an extent, that I never thought possible.
“We’re moving the Overton window at a fast clip”
Even without the Overton Window movement, Trump is making changes that can’t be resolved just by new EOs four years from now if a Democratic president somehow took office. The cesspool of corruption known as USAID is DEAD! Yes, it could potentially be revived by a new president. But it would require recreating the organization from the ground up, including hiring a whole new set of employees to work at the place. The current former employees aren’t going to sit around for four years waiting to see if the next president recreates their old job. They’re going to go looking for new jobs, so most of them won’t be available if it somehow gets revived four years from now. So even if the Establishment somehow did get power back four years from now, they’d have to start over instead of building off of existing organizations. Logistics don’t automatically fall into place just because the President said so.
“But some of it has little sub branches, and not immediately obvious connections to what you, yes, you do for a living.”
As the employees of Politico *might* be about to discover. As I noted this morning in the comments for yesterdays’ post, Politico apparently didn’t pay the most recent employee paychecks. They’re blaming it on a technical issue. But an awful lot of people are looking at the timing, and saying, “Hmm…”
As has been repeated frequently in the comments over the last week or two, it’s apparent that Trump was very busy during the last four years. Plans were made that are now being executed. This wasn’t spur of the moment stuff. A response is slowly coalescing from the establishment, but it’s still forming. I’m curious what they’ll finally settle on as the best way to confront Trump’s actions, and when that decision will be made. I think that’s probably what I’m the most nervous about right now.
Meanwhile in Southern California, protests have been going on for the last few days in Downtown Los Angeles over the deportations. Lots of Mexican flags all over the place, with a few others from the Southern Hemisphere also appearing. And they’re blocking traffic, which is something that the pro-Palestinian demonstrators started doing after October 7 The pro-illegals demonstrators used to know that showing non-US flags hurt their cause. But after four years of Biden, they’ve apparently forgotten that. Today the school kids joined in, with a crowd appearing in front of LA City Hall, and school kids issuing sound bites with words like “stolen land”, and “valuable contributions to the country”. But people are noting that the cops appeared set to arrest the demonstrators on the very first evening that the demonstrations happened… and then suddenly left. And those people are questioning why Mayor Bass – who most of them are already annoyed with – isn’t keeping these people off of the streets that are already a mess just due to normal LA traffic.
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I gather there’s evidence Politico was getting government funds. *Spit.*
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So how much of the Dem -friendly media infrastructure is about to tank, assuming USAID goes to zero?
This could be… big. Well out of proportion to the actual fiscal savings.
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Based on the latest dumps, it appears to the Reader that all of the MSM has been funded by the government. Explains a lot.
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And probably Hollywood and trad publishing. AND most of the semi-terrorist domestic organizations, like ANSWER and BLM.
It’s bizarre. It’s like each of us paid $500 a month to a guy to beat us up and lie about us.
I don’t even know what to do with this.
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$8 million, apparently.
And an awful lot of Federal subscriptions to Politico at the “Pro” level, which costs $10,000.
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So was the deceptively misnamed Politi’fact’. I’ve always said they lean so far left their heads are lower than their feet. Now we know why.
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Evidence? How about “missed payroll”? (Grin)
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You are very correct, Sarah, that this is a revolution. Unlike one seen in these United States ever.
The closest was the fascist takeover of the government during Woodrow Wilson’s terms and the rabid national socialism of FDR’s reign of terror.
We are seeing actual appointees not caving to the bureaucratic state, for the most part, looking at you Mr. Temporary FBI director (who won’t compile and give the White House a list of all FBI employees involved in the Jan6 prosecutions.) When in previous administrations appointees tended to back down or be fired when going against the Deep State.
The political tsunami is so big, I don’t think the system will ever ‘recover’ to the way it used to be prior to Trump II.
Trump came in to this term of service differently than in his previous term. He had plans and things already to go this time. He’s not listening to entrenched politicians anymore. He has no problem firing someone who looks like they might be stabbing him and the country in the back.
This is crazy. And fun. And somewhat scary like having vertigo and inner-ear issues but still going on roller coasters. We may all , collectively, need to sit down and let our heads stop spinning just to understand what’s going on, but the longer we ride, the better the ride will be.
Looking forward to the whole 1st month and see how much destruction and re-aligning happens.
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“… looking at you Mr. Temporary FBI director (who won’t compile and give the White House a list of all FBI employees involved in the Jan6 prosecutions.)”
According to https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/02/04/fbi-into-the-valley-of-j6-rode-the-5000-n3799486, the FBI coughed up the list earlier today. At least, it’s a list with over five thousand names on it. If some names were left out, inadvertently or on purpose, it’ll take a little more time to learn that.
Seems the Democrats aren’t the only ones having trouble keeping up, the news is moving so fast. (Don’t take that as a slight on you; I’ve basically given up trying to keep up, and I’m just working on my own job and enjoying the new Instapundit headlines each morning).
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I don’t expect to be able to keep up. DNC should be able to. Interestingly enough been reported here, but DNC haven’t twigged to that DOGE is working out an already established agency created by Obama. If they had a clue they wouldn’t be spending the money on fruitless lawsuits. Oh well. Guess they are infusing the economy. Would be money they can’t spend doing something else.
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As we’re already seeing, they’ve already found two judges to issue restraining orders. One in CT, one in DC.
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Translation: What President Trump wanted to have happen.
On the Birthright Citizenship President Trump campaigned on getting it before the SOTUS. DEM’s took the bait.
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this this this
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Maybe I’m stating the obvious but we’ll have to fix the labor laws. With the slave labor being deported the factories will have to hire Americans but they still can’t afford to do so at some stupid ass $25 an hour plus roll ups. It’s impossible.
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I’m predicting a lot of automation, but yes.
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Many things have started that. A LOT of picking of crops that was human done in the recent past already got automated because even cut rate labor couldn’t get the costs down to imported versions, Similarly many entry level jobs (order taking, burger flipping) have been working on automation. Kiosks to order and apps on phones to order are they first wave of that. This is some serious disruption and stuff is about to get really weird.
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Re crop picking … it’s all automated around this small farm town, the church still has a refrigerator labelled for Migrant Ministry … but there haven’t been any migrants for the 7 years I’ve lived here … I’ve asked around what the parish does for Migrant Ministry and can get only the vaguest answers “well, we used to mumble mumble” … nobody really remembers. So the lefty loonies shrieking about picking the crops … they are so stuck in the 1960’s , sheesh.
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Might want to open that refrigerator. Probably needs to be cleaned out and repurposed. Might be needed for food pantry.
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They will sneer at you about commodity cheese, too, although that ended ages ago.
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I think Trumps team understands that they can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, so they are working in stages.
There are a lot of tools and leverage points that they have yet to roll out, so grab some popcorn and enjoy.
As for the idiots complaining the tomato harvest, much of that is automated or done by migrants on special visas. Even cute, but hard working, girls can handle it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzIwHLbzN_4
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i think i will make pasta tonight! 😎🤙🏻
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I’m already pondering how all this disruption will affect this year’s show season. Certainly it’s going to affect our stocking decisions, although our convention roster is pretty well lined up.
But people who are worried they may not have a job are less likely to be spending — our eBay sales this winter have been pathetic. OTOH, my ebook sales have been better than I realized, mostly because there are more streams coming in now. (I’m right in the middle of pulling numbers together to do our taxes, since we need them done and in before our first show of the season, which is the middle of next month).
No doubt this will all be a win in the long run — but we have to stay afloat this year, and we had to book several of our biggest cons last year, before the election. So we have a fair amount of money tied up in booths for them, and I’m hoping they won’t be a bust.
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Yeah, the good news is we’re finally cleaning out the Agean Stables. The bad news is we’re down stream.
Absolutely needs to be done, but going to be a bit pungent for a while, and make sure to boil the water.
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First, Miss Sarah, please get well soon!
Second, Eddie Albert Jr was a hero at Tarawa, so Green Acres was probably therapy.
What did he do?
Albert was awarded the Bronze Star with a “V” device for valor. It was a lot harder to win a medal in WW2 than wherever the heck General Milley got his fruit salad.
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Holy crud. What a thorough guy.
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Part of that Overton window moving?
Disney’s new Snow White movie.
Yep. Way to outrage millions of fans across generations into actually paying attention to how horrible Hollywood has become.
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I’m still somewhat surprised they let that monstrosity loose. I think it was last year they said it wasn’t coming out, or was on indefinite hold because of the backlash at the time against it. The fact that they’re releasing it suggests either they NEED the money or they really don’t have anything else to fill the slot and hopefully get people in theaters. Considering all the lawsuits they settled last year and the fact that they’re overworking their special effects and animation crews…maybe it’s a combination of the two.
Either way, nice of people to finally notice what Disney’s been trumpeting for the last four to five years and slowly filling their films with for some years before that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgPDxRkci_A
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There’s an AI-generated song with all the lyrics made up of actual YT comments responding to the Snow White trailer.
Finally, AI put to good use.
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I’ve seen it – one of the sharpest comments was “I’d rather sit on my TV and watch the couch.”
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LOL
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No, it was pretty clear to me that Disney was going to get the movie out. There had been a constant stream of changes, starting with changing the dwarves back to dwarves. If they’d decided to dump it, they wouldn’t have put all of the extra time and effort into the changes.
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It’s actually in theaters?
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Not yet. Official release date is March 21 2025. It’s already 12+ months late (original having been March 2024 moved in October 2023). At this point Disney has so much sunk cost I don’t think they can bring themselves to shoot it. On top of that they are racing against a 2032 date of the original Snow White going public domain so wish to extend some of the music etc by republishing a changed version. They don’t seem to care that it will be lucky to make $50 Million in American release. Given Production costs of (estimated) $209 Million they’re going to have to do NO promotion to even hope to break even with worldwide take. ANd not like their going to get ANY merch sales from dwarfs that are far into the uncanny valley. Most likely merch sales will be of the Evil Queen and the Poison Apple (Go Apple Go!!!).
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im not surprised at all, knowing how retarded most liberals are nothing they do surprises me, its all fun and games for them till they lose, then they have a tantrum. F em
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The Long March through the Institutions is finally being countered by layoffs, restructurings, and shuddering of institions. In a couple days USAID will effectively cease to exist, and President Trump is already preparing to gut the Department of Education to the extent possible, pending legislation to eliminate. 1000 gone at EPA, hundreds gone at DOJ, thousands at FBI to date.
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The Long March turning into lemmings off a cliff?
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Go Lemmings Go!
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Actually, even lemmings aren’t that stupid unless scared by Disney nature photographers. Maybe the nature photographers threatened the lemmings with the 2025 Snow White release?
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(grabs saddle rope tightly)
YEEEEHAAAAAWWWWW!!!!
Thanks again, Biden, for giving Trump four whole years to build a team, stock it with plans, and root out turncoats.
Hey Donks, remember when we warned you not to go too far, that there would be consequences? Write this on the back of your hands, “FAFO”.
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Who do you think you are, Major Kong? :-D
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Who had “Teach you to cheat (2020) DEM’s!” on their bingo card?
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Yes. This is the biggest case of Karma ever.
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An outcome to be fervently hoped for.
Yes, I know that lemmings don’t actually behave that way but lemmings are smarter than leftists.
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Lets see if this works…
https://imgflip.com/i/9j3vtc
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OK, how about:
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The DNC has learned some interesting lessons from this.
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Correction:
DNC should “have learned some interesting lessons from this.”
Reality check?
DNC has worked at learning nothing.
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I have to say that it hadn’t even occurred to me to be alarmed by what’s going on. My anxiety so far has been that the train will stall on the tracks rather than continuing to move forward.
Now, the suspensions of funding could interrupt the part of my income that comes from copy editing, as scientific publishing is heavily subsidized, but I hadn’t gotten to thinking of that as something to worry about. Now that I think of it, I have to say the whole enterprise is dubious and needs a cleanup, so I’m not going to complain if it gets one. But with recent revelations I wonder how much of overseas science and scholarship are actually being paid for by U.S. taxpayers?
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I’m only alarmed at the potential down stream effects, because of how fast it’s going. Societies have a preference for gradualism. OTOH because of the nature of the left, it has to be fast. So, here we are.
And by nature I’m a sans culotte — notice nature, not action — I’m all for burning it all down and starting clean, and team heads on pikes is very loud at the back of my head at an instinctive level. I feel government should not only be tiny but terrified. So part of me is EXHILARATED. It’s just rational me going “Wait, what supply issues are we going to have down the line?”
Also it might be me looking at these two and a half weeks and hearing grandma’s voice going “When the alms are too big, the beggar should be wary.”
OTOH like you, while it might affect our bottom line, I could care less. We’ll manage and scramble. We’ve been doing it for 40 years.
It is the duty and very great privilege of the free individual to strive for his living and his desires. Any attempt on the part of any official institution to guarantee anyone a living and his “needs” always results in tyranny. If you look into it, you’ll find it appears to be a law of nature.
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Re “tiny but terrified” – this is the most positive development. The deep bureaucracy folks were running a bit concerned before the election when voters appeared as though they might not be doing as they’d been told so emphatically, but now the GS-community are bleating to the corporate press about how they (gasp) might not be able to continue in the comfortable consequence-free workplace-free lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed!
The absolute best are the stories from the grant-supported community, which has been even more panicked given how little they were actually doing – there’s a link from Insty to a story about a guy who lives in trust-fund-ville somewhere who is appalled and bereft, since he has absolutely no actual skills.
Oh, my, let me go recompose myself.
”Tiny” appears to be at least the trending direction, but “terrified” seems to have arrived, and it’s glorious.
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A few people have been noting these upper-middle-class “managers,” who are very skilled at grant-writing and “administration,” and nothing else, are going to transform leftism: they will be much more professional, very good at running right up to the edge of, “not illegal but intensely annoying.”
And some of them are already pleading for a military coup to, “save democracy,” and their jobs.
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“Not quite illegal but intensely annoying” — doesn’t that describe most Leftroids? :-P
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If you dig deep enough (see USAID), I suspect the “not quite” part goes away.
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Holy crap. 2 major things in the last day:
They are hitting the Dept of Education
Trump is talking about the US repossessing Gaza.
Wild times…
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They need to hit the Department Of Education with a 100 ton wrecking ball. Then crush the rubble with a Caterpillar D11. (Only because they don’t make a bigger bulldozer)
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ditto Sarah, could care less, would gladly give up anything that requires payment for the chance to watch the epic dumping. Ill figure it out
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Others have mentioned this but I’ll quote Junior: “As has been repeated frequently in the comments over the last week or two, it’s apparent that Trump was very busy during the last four years. Plans were made that are now being executed. This wasn’t spur of the moment stuff.”
Those plans had to have involved dozens of people at the very least, and yet nothing leaked about the EOs (some clearly already written by lawyers and ready to go), nor the scale of the Purge (we knew some of the targets, because he campaigned on hitting them, but some were unexpected), the rapidity of the deportations (somebody had the information ready for Homan on Minute One), or even the full slate of Cabinet nominees (other than the obvious big name ones).
That kind of discipline is unheard of among Republicans, which shows that the core group is not RINOs.
I hadn’t heard that Trump was using Obama’s agency to unleash the DOGEs of War.
Brilliant.
As to people complaining that Elon’s Musk-eteers are all too young to know anything about how the government works: that’s their best feature.
Time to go watch “1776” again.
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I know. It’s glorious and exhilarating, and just slightly scary, like a good roller coaster ride. And all this might not have happened if Trump hadn’t turned his head at the precisely right moment.
Fight, Fight, Fight!
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“The Lord helps those who help themselves” seems to be part of the theology of Trump.
But he does seem to be very grateful for that Help from above. He is running with it like it’s a race.
And offering Elon a free chance at Mars in exchange for helping with the data…it has been a very good deal.
I knew that most of fandom wouldn’t be grateful because it was Trump, but I love it. I love it all. The White Witch’s power is broken, and Spring has finally returned.
Aslan is on the move. Maybe I feel it even more than in 1989-90, because it’s not just “I am going to survive personally.”
I see my own country shedding the chains put on her over so many years, and the old US history textbooks from my grandpa’s day coming back to life. It is lovely and absurd, and I just wish everyone were enjoying it as much as me.
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I have to say that it’s been a far-out blast, watching the strong lights come on, and seeing the wave of governmental, quasi-governmental and NGO cockroaches scattering … and all the establishment media can do is gibber incoherently. I’d say that Musk and his troop of wonderkind are so far inside the OODA loop that the roaches and media are looking up their own asses.
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The back stabbing of #45 from the RINO’s is very clear. President Trump didn’t get where he is by being stupid or blind. He learned his lessons hard. I am not surprised that plans were laid. I am surprised about the scope. Pleased. Thrilled. Not only signing the EO’s, but noting the full realization that the EO’s are as good as he, or his successor Vance, are in office. That it takes the full support of the legislator bodies to make the stamp of permanency on the EO’s. Not only that, that he and his has not 4 years to get that done, but two years. Although with the current DNC wouldn’t surprise me if the RNC increases their majorities people are that pissed and getting angrier. But I won’t take this last to the bank until it actually happens. Thus, remember, two years!
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Which is where their court strategy comes in.
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Whose court strategy? DEMs? They are walking into President Trump’s court strategy. Think President Trump doesn’t have a plan to prevent slow walking to the Supreme Court? Or better, if the EO isn’t “legal”, then it is to wake up the House and Senate, then pass a law. Now on birthright citizenship, that does take clarification by SOTUS. That is exactly where President Trump wants it. Going after people born here to non-citizen parents aren’t the top priority (parents, eventually, at which time the parents have to make a choice). DEMs are just playing into what President Trump wants.
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There have already been restraining orders issued on the trannys in prison EO. USAID is low hanging fruit, because it doesn’t really issue regs (or have laws backing their existence, although they are in appropriations).
What I expect to happen is that when something that has active regulations (like the EPA) AND a number of laws to base them on, a court is going to say “until those regulations go through the legal requirements to remove them, or Congress repeals the law, you have to enforce them (and spend accordingly) and keep the personnel to do so, so the laws are faithfully executed.”
Is it horse hockey? Yep. Can it serve to tie things up? Also yep. Will Trump prevent that by not following the restraining orders/injunctions? We’ll see. We’ll also see how closely SCOTUS follows the election returns. They have been timid on some things until now. Clarifying Bruen leaps to mind.
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True. But where is it said How Many Personnel are needed, until everything listed above is done? Just forcing people out because they don’t want to come into work in the office (trust me, I have my own problems with that order, because people can work productively, and more productively without supervisors present. But that is a different rant.) will take care of part of the cuts. Anyone who is cut does not have to be replaced (we’ve all seen that in the private sector, whether the “cut” was voluntary, or forced).
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THIS.
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ICE didn’t have leaks. And ICE had to have gotten its ducks in a row in order to be able to strike as swiftly as it did.
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I was trying to get a tv channel on Amazon (found the videos won’t play on Mint/Brave) but one channel was all Green Acres, All the time. My thoughts went to you, Milady.
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Dear Lord.
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One thing that may directly affect us is that our next door neighbors (and renters) own a nice house in Mexico, to which they planned to retire but could not, as a cartel took it over. If Mexico actually cleans up the cartels, we may find ourselves looking for new renters; they always did want to return to their family there.
In a bit of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, we’re unsure of their actual legal status, though they’ve been here so long without trouble that I’m not sure whether they would actually want to return to their homeland. Besides, they actually DID come here to work, and work hard. Do I wish they were unambiguously US citizens? Yes, but also our immigration system is so incredibly messed up that it’s much harder to achieve citizenship legally than to just . . . walk across the border, get a driver’s license, and live your life.
I’m of two minds about that. Obviously there should be some kind of effort on the part of the emigree when moving countries, but also, does there really need to so many hoops to jump through and so much expense involved that a legal status within your new country becomes prohibitive? At least for non-criminals, that seems to be a real issue.
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Citizens, not needed. Green card holders, hell yes.
Yes, the immigration system is broken, but enforcing it will stop the games companies have been playing to sideline… well, everyone, but mostly our young.
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“Wide gates and tall fences.” Mind you, there’s a discussion to be had on how wide the gates are, but the concept of making it easier to be legal than illegal would be a nice start.
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Sarah: you are a treasure. And quite right in your suggestions. We are in the midst of something glorious, but also fraught with uncertainly and possibly danger. It behooves all of us to be watchful in attitude, sober in judgement and prepared for what may come down the pike. Kudos to you for a great outline of today’s events and sage advice. P.S. I link to you on ‘X’ now and then, if you do not mind. Sharing Sarah is a good thing.
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Kirk [Lefty-Lib-Demos] : You fool, look around you! The planet’s destroying itself!
Kruge[Sane People] : Yes, exhilarating, isn’t it?
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Nicely done Sarah. Hope you feel better soon.In #2, you mention SS and that it could take 40 yrs to fix that. I agree with your thought. The big problem I see is that they managed to worm this idea into people’s heads that it’s “my money”, rather than just another tax and spend program. I think it needs to be attacked with long range strategy. For example, I’d be ok with lifting the limit on the tax for wealthy people, AND don’t raise their benefits for those extra payments. While doing that, make it clear that you are simply taxing them, and they’re not getting their own money back. After some period of that, propose rolling ALL payroll taxes into general income tax, pointing out that they are now both just taxes on income. Maybe this can work, maybe not. My point is that it’s people’s attitudes about SS that need correction.
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I honestly would still prefer a national sales tax. As a small business owner, the onus of PAPERWORK is preventing me having time to expand my business.
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When I started a business I realized it would be very useful to have a helper. But a look at the local labor laws quickly revealed that I would have to hire two people; one to do some work, and the other to handle the avalanche of paperwork overhead required for having an employee.
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I just keep looking at what Britain and the EU et al have done with “three percent and no more personal/death/property taxes” and shudder. National sales tax (the VAT) has, thus far, has not helped clarify things or reduce the regulatory burden.
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It’s a fair time to remember the Thomas Sowell Principle: There are no solutions, only trade-offs.
It’s also a fair time to offer the corollary that, if you make enough good trade-offs, everyone ends up better off — apart from the truly malevolent and parasitical.
That is the kind of “so much winning” I believe I can handle. Let’s try it in practice and see if I’m right.
Republica restituendae.
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Yep. Precisely that.
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It’s like being on a roller coaster. We slowly ground up the ramp to the election, and now we’re on the downhill side, twisting upside-down and looping the loops.
It’s a bit discombobulating, but I like this ride so far.
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It’s the kind of ride I bought my ticket to get, but in my hindbrain I was expecting to be let down again. There’s always talk about bringing out the meat axe and closing whole government departments, but it never amounts to much, or anything.
This time, it is looking like I am getting the full ride. Like a lot of people, I am not totally processing it yet, possibly because there is just too much for one human to process.
My considered reaction is somewhere between “Wheeee!” and “Faster, please.”
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means testing for SS?
i have paid into it for over 40 years, i damn well better get at least some of it back.
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Now that raises an interesting question. How much did I contribute during my working years? And how much have I received in payments during retirement? And was it a good ROI? Darn you, Tommyboy, there’s a tough problem for me.
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Sign up for SS site: https://secure.ssa.gov
Requires a Login (dot) gov login id and password (newer requirement).
There is a report that shows your contributions by year. Mine go back to 1973. You will get one when you actually sign up for SS so you can verify the years used to calculate your SS benefit (whether done at age 62 or later).
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Make sure you include the opportunity costs of not having control of that for your own investments.
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As with any pyramid scheme, they already spent your contributions. You may or may not see anything depending on how long before it totally collapses. So like Bernie Madoff’s victims, the most you can practically aim for is seeing the perps off to prison.
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We used to joke on paydays that we’d just paid grandparents and parents SS payments for the month. Took all 6 of us (which says something because 3 grandparents and mom weren’t getting much. Dad’s was “decent” for degrees of decent. Mom’s getting his now.)
Now hubby jokes with the self employed golf club members as being the 14% -ers, thank you for contributing. OTOH once they hit maximum, they respond back “Not this month!”
Have to joke about it.
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I started collecting SS when I turned 70. I once figured out that, had the money been invested at the most conservative rates of interest available over the years, I’d have about $2 million now. I figure anything I get back is restitution for what was taken from me.
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My, my, my, the HAS been an exciting adventure!
There haven’t been so many of Sharky’s minions routed by Hobbits since the scouring of the Shire.
It has been more than shocking to see Musk and his intrepid band discover what in the Isengard has been going on at Michel Delving Mathom House.
Seriously though, the thing that concerns me is how quickly they were able to track this stuff using the massive amounts of data the government has at its disposal.
Since we know TPTB have everything on everyone, that means no one is “secure in their papers”.
It doesn’t escape me that we are very, very lucky that the Great Eye did not get ahold of this ring before the Hobbits did.
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THIS. ALL OF THIS.
Sarah and others have been pooh poohing my concerns over how easy it is for some bureaucrat to focus his attention on us and probe everything you do.
Well, guess what? You’re now seeing what I was worried about. And now that the orcs have seen it’s possible, they’ll want to grab that tool and use it. Unlike the One Ring, this will “answer to any hand that grasps it.”
Our electronic records and activities are exactly the same as “our private papers”. And obtaining our consent to reveal them by deliberately misleading “terms of service” through a “private industry” cutout isn’t valid.
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We haven’t been poopooing Steve. just telling you there were ways around it.
Trust me, I’m waiting for the reason I’ve bene singled out for funny stuff to come out. Because since 2020 it’s been way above coincidence levels.
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Also, I did some research and I found that they just unofficially renamed the United States Digital Service, created under Obama, Department of Government Efficiency. It still has the official name as far as I could determine.
Since it was an already created entity, they didn’t have go through Congress.
Legal and very cunning, if I may say so.
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It was changed from the US Digital Service to the US DOGE Service, so, yes, same acronym and everything.
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One of the things that Milton Friedmann went into in his book “Free to Choose” was inflation. In the early stages, inflation looks like economic growth. With more money injected into the economy, the demand for goods and services goes up. People buy more, say, pencils. Normally, when demand for pencils goes up, demand for something else goes down (because the money spent on pencils is now not available for other things). So pencil sellers get more from their suppliers, pencil manufacturers get more wood and graphite, and brass and paint and rubber and so on. Normally, resources would shift from making other things to making pencils. However, with inflation, they can’t do that because that other stuff is also experiencing increased demand. Thus, they bid against each other and prices go up until quantity demanded (overall–some things more, some things less) falls back to where it was before just with higher prices. But for a while, it looks great.
Thus, there is an incentive to inflate the money supply for that short term impression of economic growth. And when things catch up and we start feeling the bad effects, why, what else are they going to do to “fix” the downturn but inject more money into the economy. And so we get the inflationary spiral.
The problem is that ending that inflationary spiral has the opposite effect: an economic slowdown/downturn. When I took our dog recently to the vet the vet said that “Trump would get us into a depression.” I bit my tongue. Did not want to get into an argument. But my thought was “well, yeah”. There’s no way to do what must be done for the medium and long term health of the economy that isn’t going to be painful in the short term. Handling it carefully can mitigate the pain somewhat, but there’s no way to avoid it.
And I say this as someone who’s getting bit by it.
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Watching the hysteria over the latest from Trump and DOGE, I m reminded of the line spoken by Governor Lepetomane in Mel Brooks classic, Blazing Saddles:
“We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen!”
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As a recipient of the 92 Peace Dividend (AKA Massive RIF of the US Military), all I have to say to the Government workers that are about to have a change in lifestyle: Suck It Up Buttercup. Move on. As I was told back then “It’s for the good of the country”.
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So my favorite “ain’t never going to happen” has always been to fix the student loan program. Basically, take it out of the government’s hands, but require a couple of things: 1. That any such loans can be discharged in bankruptcy, because making it otherwise is what started this whole college cost spiral, and 2. Require loan originators to hold on to the loan for several years into the repayment period, no passing the hot potato.
This would have exactly the sort of disruptive effect that you’re talking about here. Suddenly, a lot of very worthy students wouldn’t be able to sell themselves into debt slavery—and a lot more non-academic types would also not get caught in that trap. Colleges would have to pivot hard. I have teens, so those sorts of effects would undoubtedly hit my family pretty immediately.
Anyway. My “ain’t never going to happen” might be the sort of thing that does, now. If somebody takes a look at it and realizes the easy fix.
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My favorite proposal is to make the edumacational institution co-sign each student loan. Put stuff in, like extended credit impact or similar, that penalizes students for just shirking them off, but also make the true beneficiary put some skin in the game for the result.
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Sounds great to me. I managed to escape both rounds of college without taking out a loan, but I watched people drop out of grad school so they could work to pay off undergrad loans. Among other problems.
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I was expecting the typical governmental glacial pace of change. I’ve been loving the Victoria Falls pace of falling bureaucracy.
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Take care of yourself.
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Your blog is such a refuge. Thank you.
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It seems another decrepit left-wing politician is having a hard time staying on his feet. Mitch McConnell fell down twice in the Senate chamber.
All together now:
Vichy Mitchy’s falling down, falling down, falling down ♫
Vichy Mitchy’s falling down
Bye, bye RINO!
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Remember the Governor of Kentucky is a Democrat. We might find ourselves longing for someone as. conservative as the Murder Turtle.
In the House, NY’s government is trying to postpone replacing Elise Stefanik if she resigns from the House to take a position in the Administration.
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President Trump is doing exactly what the American people elected him to do. Making the Democrats lose their shit is just a nice bonus. Popcorn, need to buy more popcorn.
Trump is cleaning out the Augean Stables and the maggots are squealing. :-P
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Dizzy from all the Winning. And to think, all I ever asked of Mr. Trump was that he not be WASP Dilma
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