All Bets Are Off
23/02/19 09:15
I wish we hadn't waited so long to follow up with the folks working on Evan's housing application. I think we didn't lose a lot of time but a day or two in the process as we wind down to the expiration date is meaningful. And they sent us a new form to fill out which surprised us a little bit. Is this a form that is sent out after other things have been approved or is this a form intended to muddy the waters and possibly put his application in jeopardy? I guess we'll never know but we have yet another weekend where there's nothing to be done but wait for Monday to roll around when we'll hopefully hear something. It's painful.
What is this business about arresting Bob Kraft of the Patriots in a sting in Jupiter, Florida? He is apparently being charged with solicitation of a prostitute and there may be broader charges of trafficking for the owners of the establishment. How did Mr. Kraft get himself into their predicament exactly? The massage parlor was in a strip mall and was for all intents and purposes a respectable albeit seedy joint. What billionaire worth his salt would waltz into such a place much less avail himself of their saucy, secretive, and seductive services? Did he think nobody would recognize him? Did he care? Did he think he was untouchable given his vast resources and his bulletproof public image?
The libertarian in me says that consenting adults doing as they wish with their bodies is a god given right and that the authorities should spend their precious time going after real criminals. In other words, prostitution should be legal. The reports also say that "bigger" names were involved in the sting but these names have yet to be reported. Why is he being singled out? It is a misdemeanor charge and one that would not have him spending even a night in jail so what is the point exactly? Does it have anything to do with the fact that he is a Trump supporter? It's hard to say why things play out as they do in the press these days but to say a lot of it is politically motivated is an understatement.
If I've asked Evan once I've asked him a million times not to drink out of the bottle. I'm referring to the bottles of spring water that I like to keep in the refrigerator and which I find uncapped from time to time sitting in various places throughout the house. Apparently, that is asking too much of him. I've decided that I just won't buy that particular bottled water again until he moves out. It's a pretty big bottle so if he's swigging from a full bottle it pretty much renders it unusable for anyone else in the family. No one likes to drink water out of a bottle that someone has been already drinking from. It's simply unsanitary.
I do hope that the humanitarian aid we've sent down to Venezuela will get into the country today and that the embattled president Maduro will allow it to get into the hands and homes of the people who desperately need it. That is unlikely to happen given his defiant posturing as of late. I'm against our country determining winners and losers when and where sovereign governments are involved but this is in our hemisphere and we cannot from a national security standpoint allow an illegal and leftist government to go unchallenged. This is especially true when their very constitution calls for democratic elections.
Cuban, Russian, and other forces have coalesced around Maduro making his ouster less likely in the short term. We don't want a ground war just a stones throw away from our southern border so Trump needs to proceed with caution. He is doing just that. He is supported by many countries around the world in calling for Maduro's ouster. Perhaps more importantly, the US under Trump was the first country to recognize Guaido as the rightful president and many other countries around the world followed suit. God willing, it's just a matter of time now before Maduro and the military that supports him loses their grip on power.
I need to bring my bike inside and do a bit of work on it. I wish I had one of those bike stands that holds it off the ground so I can do what I need to do. I do have a stand that is used for people who want to ride their bike indoors so I might give that a try. One of my front derailleurs is not working properly so I'm not accessing the full range of gears available to me on any given day. Do I know what I'm doing? Hell, no.
Can I look it up on YouTube and follow along just enough to get the job done? I think so. I will say, and I was telling Nancy this yesterday, riding my bike during the winter months is really really hard on the bike. The dirt and accumulated grit threatens to grind everything to a halt. I'm just hoping to stay far enough above the fray so that I don't give in and just buy a new bike. There is a teaching moment here and I just need to get in touch with my inner mechanic in order to, as they say, git er done.
I'm wanting to purchase a new computer sometime soon. It's daunting to think about everything I need to consider before making that purchase. It's even more daunting to think about the process of getting the set up right so that it appears seamless to the end user (Nancy.) I'm also contemplating using my current computer as a server rather than retiring it outright. It can house all of my movies and shows in addition to years worth of accumulated home videos and pictures. I've never set up a server so that will be a challenge.
Do I wait to see Apple has to offer with their updates on their iMacs and Mac Pro's before making the purchase? Probably not. I'm not sure that either one of those devices is the right one for me. I no longer need the horsepower of a Mac Pro because I do little to no video processing and I've never been a fanboy of the iMacs since I'm liking to choose my own peripheral devices including monitors, mouses, and keyboards.
I can't say enough about my Mac Pro which I purchased back in 2018 and still runs like a charm although it has been a while since I've been able to update the system software given the outdated architecture of the machine. It will live on as a server forever and a day if I can figure out how to set it all up. Only once in the 11 years I've owned the machine did I have to bring it in for servicing when the screen went dark and I didn't have the tools or the resources to sort it out. It needed a new video card so that was an easy and somewhat inexpensive fix. Nancy asks me on occasion what she will do when I am no longer here to fix things. Where exactly does she think I'm going? Never mind.
I'm really liking the way the 2020 presidential election cycle is shaping up. Bernie Sanders is back in the race thinking that his platform of socialism is just what the democrats need to get them across the finish line come November 2020. There are just enough of his democrat competitors in the race who think as he does so I'm thinking they push the party further and further left and so far left that middle America will reject them outright when the time comes to cast their votes.
The moderate democrats, who are older and mostly white, don't stand a chance with this new base of leftists. Sanders has long pointed to leftist regimes the likes of which is currently in power in Venezuela as a political model to follow. That country is mere shadow of its former self and is falling and failing more and more with each passing day. Not a good hill to die on for the likes of Sanders and his democratic brethren.
The suburban housewives that handed many a win to democratic candidates in the 2018 mid terms are now split 50-50 on support of Trump's immigration policies including the building of a wall on our southern border. This is a seminal moment in the formulation of Trump's arranging an expanded base that will ensure that he gets reelected for another four years. The election of our first female president is going to have to wait. I do hope that the republicans are thinking ahead on the woman issue and god only knows we could use our own version of a Maggie Thatcher when the time comes. It damn well better not be that pissy little once never-Trumper, Nikki Haley. We can do better.
Speaking of socialists, I can't get this whole Amazon debacle out of my mind. New York City had competed against a slate of other states and won the bid as a potential location for a new Amazon headquarters. It promised thousands and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenues to the ailing city. The governor of NY had just recently decried the shortfalls in revenues and the relocation of many of their more profitable businesses to points south and west where tax policies were more favorable for high income individuals and corporations. The new Amazon location was just the elixir that the city and state of New York needed to restore those lost sources of revenue.
But it was not to be. Amazon ran into a phalynx of leftists and socialist leaders led by none other than AOC who promised their constituents that they would fight the good fight if Amazon did not relent and give in to their demands. It was tantamount to extortion and Amazon was having none of it. Good for them. It wasn't enough that Amazon would and could single handedly bail out the state and city once they were up and running. AOC wanted her pound of political flesh and she was willing to queer the Amazon deal if that is what it took.
Little AOC and her band of socialists that voted her into office in 2018 wasted no time taking a victory lap when Amazon finally decided not to go through with the investment. Public officials who had worked so hard to secure the deal were stunned. In an ironic twist of fate for the leftists that run New York and embrace as they do "democratic" values, it is precisely the power of the few that can ultimately dictate which battles are won and which battles are lost. Cooler heads failed to prevail and that was that.
For those who are so proud of AOC and her accomplishments to date in Congress and on the streets in her district, I ask the question, "how do you like them apples"? If I had to guess, I would say she is destined to be a one term congresswoman who will return to her job as a bartender when all is said and done. To make matters worse, she commented in the wake of Amazon's decision to pull out that they could now use the $3 billion in tax incentives that were offered to Amazon to "better the lives of the people of NYC." Even with an economics degree from BU, she didn't understand that the $3 billion would only materialize if Amazon was up and running. It's beyond belief.
What is this business about arresting Bob Kraft of the Patriots in a sting in Jupiter, Florida? He is apparently being charged with solicitation of a prostitute and there may be broader charges of trafficking for the owners of the establishment. How did Mr. Kraft get himself into their predicament exactly? The massage parlor was in a strip mall and was for all intents and purposes a respectable albeit seedy joint. What billionaire worth his salt would waltz into such a place much less avail himself of their saucy, secretive, and seductive services? Did he think nobody would recognize him? Did he care? Did he think he was untouchable given his vast resources and his bulletproof public image?
The libertarian in me says that consenting adults doing as they wish with their bodies is a god given right and that the authorities should spend their precious time going after real criminals. In other words, prostitution should be legal. The reports also say that "bigger" names were involved in the sting but these names have yet to be reported. Why is he being singled out? It is a misdemeanor charge and one that would not have him spending even a night in jail so what is the point exactly? Does it have anything to do with the fact that he is a Trump supporter? It's hard to say why things play out as they do in the press these days but to say a lot of it is politically motivated is an understatement.
If I've asked Evan once I've asked him a million times not to drink out of the bottle. I'm referring to the bottles of spring water that I like to keep in the refrigerator and which I find uncapped from time to time sitting in various places throughout the house. Apparently, that is asking too much of him. I've decided that I just won't buy that particular bottled water again until he moves out. It's a pretty big bottle so if he's swigging from a full bottle it pretty much renders it unusable for anyone else in the family. No one likes to drink water out of a bottle that someone has been already drinking from. It's simply unsanitary.
I do hope that the humanitarian aid we've sent down to Venezuela will get into the country today and that the embattled president Maduro will allow it to get into the hands and homes of the people who desperately need it. That is unlikely to happen given his defiant posturing as of late. I'm against our country determining winners and losers when and where sovereign governments are involved but this is in our hemisphere and we cannot from a national security standpoint allow an illegal and leftist government to go unchallenged. This is especially true when their very constitution calls for democratic elections.
Cuban, Russian, and other forces have coalesced around Maduro making his ouster less likely in the short term. We don't want a ground war just a stones throw away from our southern border so Trump needs to proceed with caution. He is doing just that. He is supported by many countries around the world in calling for Maduro's ouster. Perhaps more importantly, the US under Trump was the first country to recognize Guaido as the rightful president and many other countries around the world followed suit. God willing, it's just a matter of time now before Maduro and the military that supports him loses their grip on power.
I need to bring my bike inside and do a bit of work on it. I wish I had one of those bike stands that holds it off the ground so I can do what I need to do. I do have a stand that is used for people who want to ride their bike indoors so I might give that a try. One of my front derailleurs is not working properly so I'm not accessing the full range of gears available to me on any given day. Do I know what I'm doing? Hell, no.
Can I look it up on YouTube and follow along just enough to get the job done? I think so. I will say, and I was telling Nancy this yesterday, riding my bike during the winter months is really really hard on the bike. The dirt and accumulated grit threatens to grind everything to a halt. I'm just hoping to stay far enough above the fray so that I don't give in and just buy a new bike. There is a teaching moment here and I just need to get in touch with my inner mechanic in order to, as they say, git er done.
I'm wanting to purchase a new computer sometime soon. It's daunting to think about everything I need to consider before making that purchase. It's even more daunting to think about the process of getting the set up right so that it appears seamless to the end user (Nancy.) I'm also contemplating using my current computer as a server rather than retiring it outright. It can house all of my movies and shows in addition to years worth of accumulated home videos and pictures. I've never set up a server so that will be a challenge.
Do I wait to see Apple has to offer with their updates on their iMacs and Mac Pro's before making the purchase? Probably not. I'm not sure that either one of those devices is the right one for me. I no longer need the horsepower of a Mac Pro because I do little to no video processing and I've never been a fanboy of the iMacs since I'm liking to choose my own peripheral devices including monitors, mouses, and keyboards.
I can't say enough about my Mac Pro which I purchased back in 2018 and still runs like a charm although it has been a while since I've been able to update the system software given the outdated architecture of the machine. It will live on as a server forever and a day if I can figure out how to set it all up. Only once in the 11 years I've owned the machine did I have to bring it in for servicing when the screen went dark and I didn't have the tools or the resources to sort it out. It needed a new video card so that was an easy and somewhat inexpensive fix. Nancy asks me on occasion what she will do when I am no longer here to fix things. Where exactly does she think I'm going? Never mind.
I'm really liking the way the 2020 presidential election cycle is shaping up. Bernie Sanders is back in the race thinking that his platform of socialism is just what the democrats need to get them across the finish line come November 2020. There are just enough of his democrat competitors in the race who think as he does so I'm thinking they push the party further and further left and so far left that middle America will reject them outright when the time comes to cast their votes.
The moderate democrats, who are older and mostly white, don't stand a chance with this new base of leftists. Sanders has long pointed to leftist regimes the likes of which is currently in power in Venezuela as a political model to follow. That country is mere shadow of its former self and is falling and failing more and more with each passing day. Not a good hill to die on for the likes of Sanders and his democratic brethren.
The suburban housewives that handed many a win to democratic candidates in the 2018 mid terms are now split 50-50 on support of Trump's immigration policies including the building of a wall on our southern border. This is a seminal moment in the formulation of Trump's arranging an expanded base that will ensure that he gets reelected for another four years. The election of our first female president is going to have to wait. I do hope that the republicans are thinking ahead on the woman issue and god only knows we could use our own version of a Maggie Thatcher when the time comes. It damn well better not be that pissy little once never-Trumper, Nikki Haley. We can do better.
Speaking of socialists, I can't get this whole Amazon debacle out of my mind. New York City had competed against a slate of other states and won the bid as a potential location for a new Amazon headquarters. It promised thousands and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in tax revenues to the ailing city. The governor of NY had just recently decried the shortfalls in revenues and the relocation of many of their more profitable businesses to points south and west where tax policies were more favorable for high income individuals and corporations. The new Amazon location was just the elixir that the city and state of New York needed to restore those lost sources of revenue.
But it was not to be. Amazon ran into a phalynx of leftists and socialist leaders led by none other than AOC who promised their constituents that they would fight the good fight if Amazon did not relent and give in to their demands. It was tantamount to extortion and Amazon was having none of it. Good for them. It wasn't enough that Amazon would and could single handedly bail out the state and city once they were up and running. AOC wanted her pound of political flesh and she was willing to queer the Amazon deal if that is what it took.
Little AOC and her band of socialists that voted her into office in 2018 wasted no time taking a victory lap when Amazon finally decided not to go through with the investment. Public officials who had worked so hard to secure the deal were stunned. In an ironic twist of fate for the leftists that run New York and embrace as they do "democratic" values, it is precisely the power of the few that can ultimately dictate which battles are won and which battles are lost. Cooler heads failed to prevail and that was that.
For those who are so proud of AOC and her accomplishments to date in Congress and on the streets in her district, I ask the question, "how do you like them apples"? If I had to guess, I would say she is destined to be a one term congresswoman who will return to her job as a bartender when all is said and done. To make matters worse, she commented in the wake of Amazon's decision to pull out that they could now use the $3 billion in tax incentives that were offered to Amazon to "better the lives of the people of NYC." Even with an economics degree from BU, she didn't understand that the $3 billion would only materialize if Amazon was up and running. It's beyond belief.