Althouse: Wild ice morning.

December 26, 2020

Wild ice morning.

137 comments:

Jay Vogt said...: I thought that you might have been bringing up "Wild Rice". I don't hear to much more of that as a Minnesota / Wisconsin thing. I used to all the time.

Merry Christmas.; 12/26/20, 1:22 PM
wild chicken said...: Lovely.

Now the long slog to springtime...; 12/26/20, 1:25 PM
Joe Smith said...: Strap on the skates...; 12/26/20, 1:26 PM
DavidUW said...: Another “article” in the usual mainline propaganda stating we have to wear masks after vaccination.

We’re up to at least 1/day.

But this isn’t about control. Nope. “Sciences” my precious says this will be the only virus ever that is transmissible after a successful vaccination, a Scientific claim made, as they might say if another were making it, without evidence.; 12/26/20, 1:53 PM
Lurker21 said...: Now that I have my own hashtag, is there someway I can monetize my contributions here?

I got the cheap data plan and T-Mobile will probably make me pay through the nose for my overages.; 12/26/20, 1:55 PM
Arashi said...: Wait till they decide to declare a climate crisis that requires us all to stay home, only shop online or at most once a week if using a car, no travel by personal vehicle (bicycles maybe excluded), no vacations, etc. I mean they have the pump primed with the WhuFlu to get the population to comply...; 12/26/20, 1:56 PM
Birkel said...: Arashi,
Let's cut to the seasonal chase.
The Leftist Collectivists plan to decrease the surplus population.
Bah humbug.

I wish for them exactly what they wish for me, of course.; 12/26/20, 1:58 PM
Original Mike said...: "Another “article” in the usual mainline propaganda stating we have to wear masks after vaccination."

I'm curious what their argument is. On the face of it, it sounds loopy.; 12/26/20, 2:02 PM
MadisonMan said...: I'm guessing that pretty soon I'll have to have vaccination proof in my SmartPhone to access anything at all on campus here.
(SMH); 12/26/20, 2:06 PM
Rusty said...: OM
"because we say so." Has been my read.; 12/26/20, 2:09 PM
Original Mike said...: Surely they make some hand-waving attempt to make it sound sciency.; 12/26/20, 2:10 PM
stevew said...: Fauci lies, he admits to it.

Next fall when flu season commences flu shots will become mandatory as will mask wearing and social distancing.

Lovely photo. Mrs. stevew and I walked the beach today at midday; tide was low and still on its way out. Half a dozen surfers though the conditions didn't look great to me, irregularly timed waves, breaking early, with the wind blowing off the tops, but, what do I know. Thirty minutes out, thirty minutes back. Lots of people doing the same; not so many that we ever got closer than 20 feet to anyone. Most with no masks. All seemed in a cheerful mood. People in Maine are friendly, waves and hellos, not like MA. One old guy, older than me, says, "Hello" when we made eye contact. I replied, "hawahya"; "freezin'" says he. We both laughed.; 12/26/20, 2:29 PM
Howard said...: Lovely picture. The ice gives an illusion of low tide.; 12/26/20, 2:35 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Hmm Meade described it as a Wild Ass morning. You’ve obviously cleaned it up for your younger readers.; 12/26/20, 2:51 PM
Quayle said...: Cummon Dover! Move your bloomin’ arss!; 12/26/20, 3:03 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Fauci lies, he admits to it."

Water is wet.; 12/26/20, 3:08 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Ice guards the border

of cold-hearted Mendota

...do I see kids in cages?; 12/26/20, 3:08 PM
YoungHegelian said...: "Wild Ice Morning"

Sounds like the name of a Joni Mitchell song.; 12/26/20, 3:13 PM
Ken B said...: Made pizza dough today. I did the much ballyhooed Roberta's pizza dough recipe. Sticjky gooey mess. I finally had to flour the crap out of the stuff to knead it. It ferments in the fridge overnight, so we taste it tomorrow. But I cannot see following that recipe again no matter what.; 12/26/20, 3:15 PM
tcrosse said...: When Mendota freezes over the ice serves as a lubricant to keep the north wind sliding over, slicker than snot on a ski slope.; 12/26/20, 3:25 PM
Birkel said...: Pizza and increased cancer deaths for Karen B.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cancer-tsunami-screening-delays-covid-1.5844708

Blame Canada.
It's not even a real country any way.; 12/26/20, 3:36 PM
Josephbleau said...: Mendota it's said never gives up her dead when the bronze of Hegg statues disgrace her.; 12/26/20, 4:48 PM
Kai Akker said...: Our government prints money and passes it out to all adults. Imagine that operation again. Prints money, hands it out to almost every adult. The only debate? The only debate is over how much to print and hand out.; 12/26/20, 4:48 PM
Josephbleau said...: Full fathoms five Hegg lies, coral of his bronze be made. These are pearls that were his eyes. that fought the enemies of black people.; 12/26/20, 4:52 PM
Josephbleau said...: "Our government prints money and passes it out to all adults. Imagine that operation again. Prints money, hands it out to almost every adult. The only debate? The only debate is over how much to print and hand"

Like the panda, eats shoots and leaves.; 12/26/20, 4:54 PM
Josephbleau said...: The question is, why does our benevolent government not give $1MM dollars to everyone in the US? that would create equality, no?; 12/26/20, 5:02 PM
Lawrence Person said...: UT disbands PC police.; 12/26/20, 5:03 PM
Jersey Fled said...: An article in the Oregonian dated December 22nd claims that a single person who went to work sick with covid was responsible for the deaths of 7 co-workers from the disease.

Lets do a little back of the envelope calculating on this one.

First, more than 95% of those who catch the disease recover. So for this person to have "killed" 7 people, statistics would say that he would likely have had to infect 140 people. Amazing.

Yet according to rt.live, the rate of transmission for Oregon is currently 0.91. In other words, each person passes the disease along to less than a single person.

140 people vs less than 1 person.

What are the odds of that?

One in 10,000?

One in 100,000?

One in 10 million?

I call BS.; 12/26/20, 5:11 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: "An article in the Oregonian dated December 22nd claims that a single person who went to work sick with covid was responsible for the deaths of 7 co-workers from the disease."

There were 13 covid deaths related to the Diamond Princess cruise earlier this year. And one guy is responsible for seven? Seems unlikely.; 12/26/20, 5:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: Our government prints money and passes it out to all adults. Imagine that operation again. Prints money, hands it out to almost every adult. The only debate? The only debate is over how much to print and hand out.

This is not a bug. It's been a feature of US policy for the last 40 years. Only a very small amount of money is created by the central bank. Most of it is created by the banking industry.; 12/26/20, 5:46 PM
Mr Wibble said...: An article in the Oregonian dated December 22nd claims that a single person who went to work sick with covid was responsible for the deaths of 7 co-workers from the disease.

Lets do a little back of the envelope calculating on this one.

First, more than 95% of those who catch the disease recover. So for this person to have "killed" 7 people, statistics would say that he would likely have had to infect 140 people. Amazing.

Yet according to rt.live, the rate of transmission for Oregon is currently 0.91. In other words, each person passes the disease along to less than a single person.

140 people vs less than 1 person.

What are the odds of that?
...
I call BS.

12/26/20, 5:11 PM

There are always going to be some outliers in any population. It depends on a lot of other factors. People aren't uniform. If he worked a job with a lot of older workers, a lot of people in ill health, etc., then the risk rises. If he worked a job where people were in close contact and not taking any precautions, then the risk of infection rises.; 12/26/20, 6:08 PM
Kate said...: My Son The Actor came over for Christmas. He works Background on a regular show. They're all tested 3 times/wk for covid. Although he told the story for a laugh, he also said it's an unsustainable, invasive practice that the cast/crew on set hate.; 12/26/20, 6:17 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: If you have a tip for the FBI, from now on please also mention
you saw a garage-door pull with your report.

thank you.

"Before the explosion the suspect, Anthony Quinn Warner, had been reported to the FBI TWICE. How many times have we heard this same story where a person is reported but still carries out an attack?"; 12/26/20, 6:19 PM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: I spent the day fishing, so I just now saw the post about the wall of books. I didn't get into the comments since it was long past, but I thought it funny that I did just what was recommended to keep books you feel.

I had a wall of books that was ceiling height and 12 feel long. I only took a handful. The rest went to the library.

Clavell's Shogun series, Fear of Flying, Centennial, The Stand, Marley and Me, The Womens Room, Black Beauty.

They were the only ones my hands moved into the 'keep' pile as I was boxing them up.; 12/26/20, 6:28 PM
Kai Akker said...: Hardly, J. The stimulus bill earlier this year was the first serious direct cash handout across the entire adult population ever, to my knowledge. And now we're onto a second. I know, there had been a $100 check or something back in the pits of the '70s, IIRC. But these are of a different order of magnitude. And it is financed by the Fed monetizing debt sold by the Treasury, part of the never-ending QE Fed policy.

So we have now begun simply to hand out money, none of which we are generating from tax receipts (since tax receipts don't even cover the conventional operations of government). It's remarkable and also remarkable that this is already starting to seem like routine, rather than a bizarre endgame of fiscal policy. Thus the Fed is working out simpler ways to deposit money directly into people's accounts, rather than have checks printed and mailed out.

Josephbleau, no, $1mil may be good as far as it goes -- but how far is that? How would it make us all equal? It would only emphasize the differences between those with $1mil and those with $4mil, $8mil, or $64mil. And college tuition at an Ivy would immediately be priced at $500K per semester. Just more trouble than they're worth, those mils.; 12/26/20, 6:30 PM
J. Farmer said...: "Before the explosion the suspect, Anthony Quinn Warner, had been reported to the FBI TWICE. How many times have we heard this same story where a person is reported but still carries out an attack?"

Generally, there is not that much a tip can do if it's unrelated to an active case. We'd especially need to know who made the tip, how and where it was made, when it was made, and what exactly was reported. The FBI is more of an investigative authority than a law enforcement authority. Whoever made the report to the FBI should have involved the local police, county sheriff, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; 12/26/20, 6:40 PM
Original Mike said...: "Josephbleau, no, $1mil may be good as far as it goes -- but how far is that? How would it make us all equal? It would only emphasize the differences between those with $1mil and those with $4mil, $8mil, or $64mil. And college tuition at an Ivy would immediately be priced at $500K per semester. Just more trouble than they're worth, those mils."

"Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it."; 12/26/20, 6:44 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: "The question is, why does our benevolent government not give $1MM dollars to everyone in the US? that would create equality, no?"

No. When I was a boy, my father told me that if you took all the money in the world and divided it up equally among everyone, within two weeks, half the people would have all the money and half would be broke.; 12/26/20, 6:47 PM
Birkel said...: If I got a million I would make my broker very happy by delivering to him another million dollars.
With no consumer debt it would not make sense to do anything else.

Well, except for paying for things I would need to purchase at their new prices after the enormous inflation that would immediately change our consumption curves, making my back up condiments enormously valuable, my pantry would be worth $50,000. The venison in my freezer would be worth even more. I might buy a bicycle in order to avoid gas purchases.

Also, a unicorn.; 12/26/20, 7:04 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Kai Akker:

Hardly, J. The stimulus bill earlier this year was the first serious direct cash handout across the entire adult population ever, to my knowledge. And now we're onto a second. I know, there had been a $100 check or something back in the pits of the '70s, IIRC. But these are of a different order of magnitude.

Stimulus was provided in 2001 under Bush's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, in 2008 under Bush's Economic Stimulus Act, and in 2009 under Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Only in the first two were actual checks sent out. In the latter, the money showed up in the form of a reduction in holdings on taxes.

And it is financed by the Fed monetizing debt sold by the Treasury, part of the never-ending QE Fed policy.

The size of the deficit is not directly related to QE. The deficit fell after 2009 as QE was increasing. The program was halted in 2014, and the deficit started rising again during Trump's first term. It resumed again earlier this year to provide liquidity.; 12/26/20, 7:06 PM
Tomcc said...: Rt1Rebel @ 6:47: When I was a boy, my father told me that if you took all the money in the world and divided it up equally among everyone, within two weeks, half the people would have all the money and half would be broke.
I seem to recall that this theory has been borne out by studies of million-dollar lottery winners.; 12/26/20, 7:08 PM
Jupiter said...: How they did it; 12/26/20, 7:15 PM
Jupiter said...: "There are always going to be some outliers in any population. It depends on a lot of other factors. People aren't uniform. If he worked a job with a lot of older workers, a lot of people in ill health, etc., then the risk rises. If he worked a job where people were in close contact and not taking any precautions, then the risk of infection rises."

Plus, it was published in the Oregonian, so it is just a lie that some Communist made up.; 12/26/20, 7:20 PM
Birkel said...: J Farmer is misinformed about the deficit after 2009.
The government spent the deficit "off the books" and it was therefore uncounted on the official government records.
The debt increased that year by a nearly identical amount as the year before, and the year after.
And that is the way to measure the deficit without government lies redefining what the official numbers are.

It's complicated.
But basically the government lied about the deficit every year Obama was in office.
Only after a Budget was passed after Obama left office did the deficit return to rough accuracy.

The same thing is about to happen under President Harris, of course.
Off the books spending is a lie.; 12/26/20, 7:26 PM
Jersey Fled said...: I call BS on Mr Wibble.; 12/26/20, 7:28 PM
Michael K said...: A nice primer on Civics 2020 style.

Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Understand this dynamic and you understand how politicians become multi-millionaires on much lesser salaries; and why ‘We The People’ are insignificant and annoying gnats to their business model. Here’s how it works right now.

Outside groups, often called “special interest groups”, are entities that represent their interests in legislative constructs. These groups are often representing foreign governments, Wall Street multinational corporations, banks, financial groups or businesses; or smaller groups of people with a similar connection who come together and form a larger group under an umbrella of interest specific to their affiliation.

Sometimes the groups are social interest groups; activists, climate groups, environmental interests etc. The social interest groups are usually non-profit constructs who depend on the expenditures of government to sustain their cause or need.

Civics in 1952 was never like this.; 12/26/20, 7:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Annie C- "They were the only ones my hands moved into the 'keep' pile as I was boxing them up."

I feel your pain. Going through that now. I kept the Gita. The Bible. The Four Pillars of Zen. Why? I don't even know anymore. Check this out though. I bitterly clung to the books that informed my life. I called out those here, to help me let go.

Robert Cook replied.

Robert F'n Cook.

Ain't this boogie a mess?

(BTW, Robert...appreciate the help. I'm down to 70 volumes from the last 300.); 12/26/20, 7:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: Liberty U. is running all over the Coastal Carolina thugs. It’s almost like God is on their side.; 12/26/20, 7:45 PM
chuck said...: An article in the Oregonian dated December 22nd claims that a single person who went to work sick with covid was responsible for the deaths of 7 co-workers from the disease.

I wouldn't trust anything reported in any newspaper or magazine if it doesn't come with all the details and evidence. Remember the reports of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally leading to more than 250,000 new cases? I was hoping the returnees would wipe out MN, but it didn't happen.; 12/26/20, 7:48 PM
Narr said...: My books will likely have to be pried from my cold dead fingers--and then should be used for my funeral pyre.

Or burned page by page for heat when the proud tower collapses.

Narr
Maybe not in my lifetime; 12/26/20, 7:55 PM
Birkel said...: Hyperlinks to primary sources or it didn't happen.; 12/26/20, 7:56 PM
Narr said...: Skating away on the thin ice of a new day?

See if this works for you, and complain to the mgmt if it doesn't--

imgur.com/gallery/6vreFkB

Narr
Drink!; 12/26/20, 8:02 PM
bagoh20 said...: "An article in the Oregonian dated December 22nd claims that a single person who went to work sick with covid was responsible for the deaths of 7 co-workers from the disease."

That's not that amazing considering that Governor Cuomo went to work one day and killed thousands, and he got that ball rolling before lunch. The lefties think that makes him sexy.; 12/26/20, 8:09 PM
John henry said...: A few weeks ago I mentioned that I'd read Dirt by Bill Burford. He uprooted his wife and small children and moved them to Lyons France so he could learn to cook French food by working for free in various French restaurants.

Dirt in the title refers not to the hybrid of the restaurants but to the terroir of dirt in which the food is grown.

I have no more desire for French cooking after reading than before. That is, close to none but the book was interesting throughout.

He spent 5 years there doing this.

What I didn't realize was threat he had done something similar with Italian cooking spending years working for free in NYC celebrity chef Mario batali's high end restaurant Babbos.

Then he spent a couple years in Italy including a year in a Tuscany butcher shop.

I just finished "Heat" about that experience. Highly enjoyable. With the added benefit that I already like Italian food.

Had I known, I probably would have read heat before dirt just for chronological order. But I don't think it makes much difference.

I think I also mentioned reading his "among the thugs" about British soccer hooligans. Not bad but I didn't think he could get a whole book out of it and he couldn't. I really thought he was trying to hard by the second half.

Starting dirt, I thought he seemed like someway of a dick. I changed my mind about halfway through. Not Dickish so much as a bit odd. Just the way I like my writers.

So what's everyone else reading?

John Henry; 12/26/20, 8:16 PM
reader said...: Ken B with really wet dough you can try using the slap and fold kneading technique. I use very little bench flour now that I’ve started using this method. If it gets annoying when the dough sticks to your hands you can wet your hands occasionally while you work.

Bertinet’s Slap and Fold Technique

Slap and Fold; 12/26/20, 8:19 PM
narciso said...: https://t.co/fllsHfQMBP?amp=1; 12/26/20, 8:26 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

The government spent the deficit "off the books" and it was therefore uncounted on the official government records.
The debt increased that year by a nearly identical amount as the year before, and the year after.
And that is the way to measure the deficit without government lies redefining what the official numbers are.

I am not entirely sure what you are referring to regarding the government spending deficit off the books. There are certainly ways to reduce the appearance of the deficit (e.g. borrowing from federal retirement funds). But if we want to simply minus the debt from the beginning of Obama's term to the end, we get $8.8 trillion. Doing the same for Trump, we get about $6.6 trillion.

If there are other numbers or other measures that you prefer, I'd be interested in taking a look at them if you have a link or can at lease point me in their direction. Thanks.; 12/26/20, 8:28 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Generally, there is not that much a tip can do if it's unrelated to an active case."

How about the ones that are related? Ones that come from credible sources?

Do the Tsarnaev brothers ring a bell, comrade?

The FBI are fuck-ups and their reputation will take decades to recover, assuming the institution is around that long...

Comey and his Homies are a disgrace.; 12/26/20, 8:32 PM
Joe Smith said...: Oh, and the biggest mass shooting in American history...silence.

The vaunted FBI doesn't have a single fucking clue.

Does anyone really believe that?

Odd how not a single media outlet has bothered to follow up on such a trivial event.; 12/26/20, 8:38 PM
narciso said...: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/12/attorney-sidney-attorney-sidney-powell-releases-270-page-document-on-massive-2020-election-fraud-involving-foreign-interference-releases-270-page-document-massive-2020-election-fraud-involving-foreign/?utm_source=; 12/26/20, 8:41 PM
J. Farmer said...: @John Henry:

What I didn't realize was threat he had done something similar with Italian cooking spending years working for free in NYC celebrity chef Mario batali's high end restaurant Babbos.

Then he spent a couple years in Italy including a year in a Tuscany butcher shop.

I just finished "Heat" about that experience. Highly enjoyable. With the added benefit that I already like Italian food.

I never read Buford's Dirt, but I did read Heat a number of years ago. I was more interested in his work with Dario Cecchini than with Batali, though I did enjoy that part of the book, too. I grew up around the restaurant business but never in it. I always thought it would be a great experience to take time off to stage in a professional kitchen. When Batali's #MeToo accusations came about, the culinary world was "shocked." I remember thinking, "Didn't any of them read Buford's book?"

I still think the best book on the reality of a chef is Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. I am certain he appreciated the irony of becoming a celebrity chef in response to a book that shit on celebrity chefs. If you've ever seen the Channel 4 documentary Boiling Point, which chronicles Ramsay's effort to open his namesake restaurant after leaving the Chelsea restaurant Aubergine, he similarly shits on the notion of the celebrity chef.; 12/26/20, 8:43 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Joe Smith:

How about the ones that are related? Ones that come from credible sources?

Sure. That's why I said before we could make a meaningful judgment, we'd need to know "who made the tip, how and where it was made, when it was made, and what exactly was reported." Ones made in person with evidence at a local field office are a lot stronger than ones made on the telephone to the headquarters in DC. And certainly the FBI has institutional problems, but that is a separate question from the one at hand.; 12/26/20, 8:53 PM
eddie willers said...: Clavell's Shogun series, Fear of Flying, Centennial, The Stand, Marley and Me, The Womens Room, Black Beauty.

With that list, may I recommend the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon?; 12/26/20, 8:58 PM
DavidUW said...: The FBI is both unconstitutional and a waste of $9.3B annually.; 12/26/20, 9:06 PM
Kai Akker said...: J. Farmer, no checks were written to every adult American. This is the first such time. But carry on in your alternate universe.; 12/26/20, 9:06 PM
John henry said...: J farmer,

Thanks. Just downloaded the sample of kitchen confidential

John Henry; 12/26/20, 9:11 PM
Kai Akker said...: Nor was QE ever halted, J. Farmer. Bond purchases by the Fed have occurred every month for years and years now. They fear stopping because of market expectations. It's a mess.; 12/26/20, 9:13 PM
narciso said...: Noble house in and of itself was a slog, taipan had its moments.; 12/26/20, 9:14 PM
narciso said...: The stand could do with some trimming probably about 200 pages.; 12/26/20, 9:21 PM
narciso said...: Then again i governed about 125 years of exposition, in about twice the length so i can understand the temptation to over explain.; 12/26/20, 9:25 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Sure. That's why I said before we could make a meaningful judgment, we'd need to know "who made the tip, how and where it was made, when it was made, and what exactly was reported."'

And yet, nothing was done about Boston...that's my point.; 12/26/20, 9:29 PM
madAsHell said...: The vaunted FBI doesn't have a single fucking clue.

Does anyone really believe that?

Odd how not a single media outlet has bothered to follow up on such a trivial event.

Yes, but like voter fraud, they need time to manufacture.......the evidence, and the fall guy.; 12/26/20, 9:30 PM
mockturtle said...: Oh, and the biggest mass shooting in American history...silence.

The vaunted FBI doesn't have a single fucking clue.

Does anyone really believe that?

No one with a brain in his or her head. But just like Epstein's murder we aren't allowed to know the truth. Anytime the ABC's are involved it will be crickets.; 12/26/20, 9:33 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Kai Akker:

J. Farmer, no checks were written to every adult American. This is the first such time. But carry on in your alternate universe.

Checks will not be "written to every adult American" this time either. It's limited by adjusted gross income for starters.; 12/26/20, 9:33 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Joe Smith

Yes, thank you. The Brothers Tsarnaev came to our mind also.

Our point was the peculiar priority and interest level on behalf of the FBI,
using the Bubba Wallace incident to highlight the absurdity.
In our view, no matter how iron-clad a tip about a possible racist door pull
could ever be, despite all the who-what-where-why vetting of a gold-star source,
it still should never required the involvement/response of 15 FBI agents,
whereas egregious actors/plots "slip through the cracks" without the vigorous
involvement that a fake noose triggers.

In the U.S. and its territories, FBI special agents may make arrests for any federal offense committed in their presence or when they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed, or is committing, a felony violation of U.S. laws.

https://www.fbi.gov/about/faqs/what-authority-do-fbi-special-agents-have-to-make-arrests-in-the-united-states-its-territories-or-on-foreign-soil

FBI Won’t Arrest Rioters, But Sent 15 Agents To Investigate ‘Absurd’ Bubba Wallace Noose Story

https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/23/tucker-carlson-fbi-rioters-bubba-wallace-noose-hate-crime-hoax/

Google "FBI knew but did nothing" for a panoply of examples

...and remember: "If you see something, Say something!"; 12/26/20, 9:35 PM
narciso said...: Perhaps epstein had his fingers in too many pots; 12/26/20, 9:36 PM
Kai Akker said...: This is our first delivery of helicopter money, this year and presumably next. And the Fed is readying a delivery system to make it available as regularly as possible. IMO, the federal government crossed another line of financial action and I think it's a big one.; 12/26/20, 9:41 PM
Birkel said...: J Farmer: "The deficit fell after 2009 as QE was increasing."

The above statement is misleading because you were misled by the lies told by the feds.
The Stimulus was a one-time spend, allegedly.
However, under the 1974 Budget Act that amount was spent every year, plus COLA upward adjustments every year so long as there was not a formal budget passed.

No budget was passed BECAUSE the Democraticals wanted that spending every year.
But they didn't want the political hit.
So they never passed a budget and the Stimulus was paid every year.
But it was still a one-off that is not counted as deficit.

But the debt went up.

The government misled you and I have been saying this same thing for more than ten years because I happen to know something about it.; 12/26/20, 9:43 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Our point was the peculiar priority and interest level on behalf of the FBI,
using the Bubba Wallace incident to highlight the absurdity."

We agree on this...

The best way to get action is to report a real crime, but spin it as a civil rights violation.

Bomb in Boston? Fuck off.

Shooting up a country music concert? Go to hell.

Garage door pull shaped like a noose. Send in the 101st Airborne.; 12/26/20, 9:44 PM
Birkel said...: Don't believe me.
Read the 1974 Budget Act.

https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Congressional-Budget-and-Impoundment-Control-Act-of-1974/

That's what I did.; 12/26/20, 9:47 PM
narciso said...: They didnt want to investigate too closely

https://narcisoscorner.blogspot.com/?m=1; 12/26/20, 9:48 PM
Kai Akker said...: ---It's limited by adjusted gross income for starters.

$198,000 married filing jointly. That is the top few percent of the income spectrum. 90% or higher of Americans qualified for helicopter money.; 12/26/20, 9:51 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @2narciso

re: your corner
is that a 'rincon' or 'esquina'?; 12/26/20, 9:53 PM
Kai Akker said...: So what will stop helicopter money drops in the future? Dow 50,000? What conditions will seem too painful for elected officials to permit Americans to endure?; 12/26/20, 9:54 PM
madAsHell said...: So what's everyone else reading?

Field Operation Manuals, and maps.

Why would you ask??; 12/26/20, 9:55 PM
narciso said...: I guess its more of a kiosk.; 12/26/20, 9:56 PM
Big Mike said...: Only 15 FBI agents for Bubba Wallace? Peanuts! Don’t forget they sent 29 and a tame CNN camera crew to arrest septuagenarian Roger Stone.; 12/26/20, 9:56 PM
madAsHell said...: Let me paraphrase Joan Baez.....

Where has all the ammo gone?
Long time passing.; 12/26/20, 9:59 PM
Joe Smith said...: "$198,000 married filing jointly."

Good news is, I won't be seeing any.

Bad news is, I won't be seeing any.

$198k jointly in CA is not rich.; 12/26/20, 10:03 PM
Ken B said...: Reader
Will check it out. Thanks.; 12/26/20, 10:07 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @narciso

ok! If newly launched, best wishes!; 12/26/20, 10:07 PM
Kai Akker said...: ---Bad news is, I won't be seeing any. $198k jointly in CA is not rich.

Should you be? Iow, should the govt be printing money and passing it out? Is there a shade or penumbra of moral hazard in such a policy -- not to mention fiscal hazard?; 12/26/20, 10:09 PM
narciso said...: Remember that movie midway from last year

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-004/h-004-5.html; 12/26/20, 10:17 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

No budget was passed BECAUSE the Democraticals wanted that spending every year.
But they didn't want the political hit.
So they never passed a budget and the Stimulus was paid every year.
But it was still a one-off that is not counted as deficit.

Pardon my obtuseness, but I'm quite confused. I do not know what you are referring to or mean by "the Stimulus was paid every year." For the sake of simplicity, let's just consider the FY2009 budget. According to official records, for FY2009 revenues were $2.1 trillion, expenditures were $3.5 trillion, and the deficit was $1.4 trillion. Are you saying that expenditures were actually larger than that figure?; 12/26/20, 10:18 PM
Birkel said...: J Farmer:
Add up the total deficits reported under Obama.
Then look at the cumulative increase in debt.
Those two numbers are not the same.

Now ask why.; 12/26/20, 10:36 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/26/20, 10:41 PM
Birkel said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/26/20, 10:42 PM
Joe Smith said...: "Should you be?"

No. And I wouldn't expect to. The good news is, we make too much money.

My issue is, I paid close to $198k in taxes last year (good).

I think that's too goddamn much, and any checks coming my way I would consider a rebate.

As I've said many times, 'rich people' use very few services but pay for everyone else's...; 12/26/20, 10:43 PM
Birkel said...: The 1974 Budget Act uses baseline budgeting.
That is mandated for the federal government by law.
So if spending last year included a one-off spend, the new baseline will EXclude that one-off IF AND ONLY IF a new budget is passed.
However, under the 1974 Budget Act, if no new budget is passed the baseline will INclude ALL spending.

So COLA will be added to the spending from last year and for future years too, if no new budget is passed.

So never passing a budget under Obama meant the one-off Stimulus was spent each of Obama's 8 years plus a COLA every year.
But because it was a one-off expense it was not included in the deficit.

It was included in the increase of the debt, YoY.
And that is why the debt increases and the reported deficits were off.; 12/26/20, 10:45 PM
bagoh20 said...: "So what's everyone else reading?"

Some blog from Wisconsin.; 12/26/20, 10:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Good one bagoh...that's just...a good one.; 12/26/20, 11:06 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger narciso said...
Noble house in and of itself was a slog, taipan had its moments.

I liked both of them and the sequel, "Gaijin." It was history by a good writer.

I also read Clavell's "Whirlwind"

One of his anecdotes in that book is about a TWA stewardess in a harem. One of my boat buddies had a TWA stew as a girlfriend and she knew stews who disappeared in the middle east. They were all warned not to go out alone but some did and were never seen again. That was Egypt.; 12/26/20, 11:16 PM
narciso said...: Well that is a risk, specially since the 80s; 12/26/20, 11:17 PM
Michael K said...: With that list, may I recommend the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon?

I have read most of them. She reminds me of Jean Auel but less research and more fantasy. I have read four of the series. They tend to dissolve into romance fiction.

She does have an interesting history.; 12/26/20, 11:20 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Where has all the ammo gone?”

That is what everyone should be asking, but probably only gun owners, mostly on the right, who are asking it. Manufacturing has been running flat out for months, but we seem no closer to catching up than when the shortages began last winter and early spring.; 12/26/20, 11:25 PM
narciso said...: Gabaldon was the founding editor of Science Software Quarterly in 1984 while employed at the Center for Environmental

I wouldnt have guessed

Studies at Arizona State University.[11] During the mid-1980s, Gabaldon wrote software reviews and technical articles for computer publications, as well as popular-science articles and Disney comics.[10] She was a professor with an expertise in scientific computation at ASU for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.[10][12]; 12/26/20, 11:26 PM
narciso said...: Not a typical chick flick writers bavkground

Gabaldon grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona.[8] She earned a bachelor of science in zoology from Northern Arizona University, 1970–1973; a master of science in marine biology from the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1973–1975; and a PhD in behavioral ecology from Northern Arizona University, 1975–1978.[8][10]

Career Edit; 12/26/20, 11:34 PM
Joe Smith said...: "One of my boat buddies had a TWA stew as a girlfriend and she knew stews who disappeared in the middle east."

When doing the European backpacking thing in '81 I was in Spain and decided to go to Morocco.

At that time it wasn't safe for men to go alone so I hooked up with someone (ironically from my college) to travel with. Good thing for me he was also a judo champion.

When there, the hostels had 'missing' flyers of young women who had travelled there alone. Mostly blonde and Swedes.

They didn't take precautions...; 12/26/20, 11:35 PM
Joe Smith said...: “Where has all the ammo gone?”

The only practical advice I have is learn how to reload.

Or buy a gun in an odd caliber that nobody else is looking for.; 12/26/20, 11:36 PM
Anonymous said...: "Where has all the ammo gone."

A man can carry only so much ammo. You pick it up as you go along, from the man who fell before you. It's an uncomfortable thought, but that's how it works. Don't get an odd caliber. Get what everybody else has. If you fall, you supply them. If they fall, they supply you.

We're taking about offense, aren't we?; 12/27/20, 12:08 AM
effinayright said...: @Jersey Fled:

Good GOD, man! You don't want to be accused of actually making SENSE now, do you???!!; 12/27/20, 12:18 AM
effinayright said...: J. Farmer said...
Our government prints money and passes it out to all adults. Imagine that operation again. Prints money, hands it out to almost every adult. The only debate? The only debate is over how much to print and hand out.

This is not a bug. It's been a feature of US policy for the last 40 years. Only a very small amount of money is created by the central bank. Most of it is created by the banking industry.
**********

funny....all that money I and millions of Americans got last spring came in the form of government checks or direct deposits from the US treasury. What did the banks have to do with it?

If you're saying that the money deposited in the banks allows them to lend it out and effectively create more demand and maybe more wealth (at least for a time)...sure.

But that money wasn't originally "created" by those banks. The Fed and Congress have to do something first.; 12/27/20, 12:24 AM
Joe Smith said...: "A man can carry only so much ammo. You pick it up as you go along..."

That might work if you're in the military, but most of us aren't.

We're just schlubs scanning the shelves of the local Bass Pro Shop.

The caliber I want used to be very popular, but has since fallen out of favor.

Maybe that will make ammo easier to find for me...; 12/27/20, 12:32 AM
Joe Smith said...: "funny....all that money I and millions of Americans got last spring..."

You got money?

Hope you spent it on ammo : ); 12/27/20, 12:34 AM
Gospace said...: Remember Stephen Paddock? In his early 60s, has a younger mistress/girlfriend, a crapload of guns, that to this day no one knows where they came from, shot up Las Vegas? Mysterious background? Gave away his property before the apparently motive free never explained rampage? And nobody really knew what he did for a living.

Well, now we have Anthony Quinn Warner, in his early 60s, with a mysterious young woman who deleted her Facebook page who was given his house before he blew himself up in Nashville. Nobody knows (yet) their relationship. And- nobody is quite sure what he did for a living, or where he got the explosives, or any motive. I will note that he gave his house to Michelle L. Swing after election day- which I suspect, but cannot prove, is relevant.

Speculation is running rampant on Anthony Quinn Warner- along with misinformation. There's an Anthony Warner who's a registered explosives dealer in TN- in a different city where an Anthony D Warner lives, so he's the likely dealer. Of course the conspiracy theorists see both actions as deep state false flag attacks, though the motive for Las Vegas is unknown. Arms deal gone bad? Prelude to gun confiscation? For our own good, of course...

There are many similarities between the two- almost enough to make you wonder if there's an endless supply of white men in their early 60s willing to die performing nefarious deeds for some 3 letter agencies for a hidden payoff of some kind to family or friends...

Some of the speculation is that Nashville was an opening salvo in a clandestine war between white hats and black hats in the deep state- but which side? Depends on weather you believe the ATT building was a communications data center for the NSA or the CIA. And of course, which side you think is the white hats.

In Las Vegas, as far as we know, all the targets were completely random. That's one big difference- in Nashville the ATT building was specifically targeted. The other big difference- the Nashville event was designed to minimize human casualties, the Las Vegas event to maximize them. Why? A question we'll never know the answer to.

One comment I saw on both events that everyone here will likely agree with- no matter the political persuasion or Trump support status- the government, the 3 letter agencies, the police, no matter what they discover, will lie to us about it. We, the people, will never know.; 12/27/20, 12:40 AM
Jason said...: Got the Ronavirus. Yay, me.

Got home, having just received my test results via email, and the first thing that happened is my advanced stage COPD mother who lives with me demanded I help her get out of bed and into her wheelchair and unhook her continuous oxygen and push her outside so she could smoke the cigarettes that put her in the wheelchair and on oxygen in the first place.

When I said I’m not going in there and I’m not getting close enough to pull you out of bed she got mad at me and accused me of not giving a shit about her at all and got mad at me for making her breakfast in the morning.

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend!; 12/27/20, 12:43 AM
Joe Smith said...: @Jason...

Get well...your mom too...; 12/27/20, 12:47 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

Add up the total deficits reported under Obama.
Then look at the cumulative increase in debt.
Those two numbers are not the same.

Now ask why.

Ah, okay. I understand the point you are making now. It is certainly true that the summation of "total deficits reported" is greater than the "the cumulative increase in debt." But this is nothing unique to Obama or Democrats and is not a result of the CBO baseline calculation. It's largely a result of different accounting methods between how the fiscal year's budget and the year's net operating costs. Cash basis versus accrual basis. Benefits paid to federal employees, military members, and veterans is one of the bigger drivers of this.

Consider Trump's first two budgets, FY2018 and FY 2019, both during the Republican-controlled 115th Congress. The budget deficit for 2018 was $779 billion and for 2019 $984 billion. However, net operating costs for those two years was $1.2 and $1.4 trillion. The two deficits are reconciled annually in financial reporting.; 12/27/20, 1:23 AM
J. Farmer said...: @wholelottasplainin':

What did the banks have to do with it?

If you're saying that the money deposited in the banks allows them to lend it out and effectively create more demand and maybe more wealth (at least for a time)...sure.

But that money wasn't originally "created" by those banks. The Fed and Congress have to do something first.

It is a myth that banks must rely on their deposits in order to make loans. Most commercial banks practice what is known as fractional reserve banking. The banks are only required to hold reserves as a fraction of their total loan liabilities. The Fed can change the reserve requirement or increase reserves through open market operations.; 12/27/20, 1:45 AM
walter said...: "Whoever made the report to the FBI should have involved the local police, county sheriff, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation"
And whoever received initial report should have employed their relative expertise to funnel appropriately.; 12/27/20, 2:33 AM
Birkel said...: No, J Farmer.
Just no.
The total of the reported annual deficits was much, much lower than the total increase of the debt.
And what happened under Obama was unique.
It was unprecedented.
The fact that no budget was passed under Obama is a blue.

Seriously, just remain ignorant already.
You're exhausting.; 12/27/20, 6:38 AM
MayBee said...: Jason- good luck, man.

Gospace- there is speculation that Warner is/was a 5G guy-- you know, the people who think 5G is really dangerous.
The quitclaiming of his property to the woman in California is really weird, especially since she obviously knew about the first property and quitclaimed it to someone else, only to receive another. She has a TN connection, so she must know him somehow. At first I was thinking perhaps there was an Only Fans thing going on, but who knows? Maybe a daughter who had been put up for adoption or something.

As for the Las Vegas shooter, that will always be weird. It didn't help that before that, Obama's FBI had edited the transcripts of the Pulse nightclub shooter to remove references to Islamic terrorism.; 12/27/20, 6:49 AM
donald said...: So I got to Atl-Hartsfield this morning. Huge lines, but I got through ticketing then to security where they decent job of getting people through after you passed the gauntlet of dogs and heavy artillery. Then it was time to pass through the metal detectors. I start walking and all of a sudden grotesquely fat TSA agent yells, “whatchu doin’ You gonna run over her (His not quite as fat sub literate fellow goon squad hack)”? Me: “Whoops, sorry”. Them: Death stare. Me: “What (I’m immediately pissed, but that’s all I said)”? Her: “I don know if I can deal with dis”. Me: “What was that? Mind trying English”? Her: Death stare. Me: “Get me your boss”. Them: “Go”. Me: “Nope, boss, now”. Them: “Over there”. Me: “Ok”. At desk: “Those two do not have the aptitude or basic temperament for this simpleton job”. Desk idiot: “Good day sir”. : Me: “Hopefully one day before I die your job won’t exist anymore and you and the fat broad will be turning tricks in East Point”. Desk idiot: Death stare.

I look forward to the coming civil war.; 12/27/20, 7:34 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: MayBee said...

. . .
As for the Las Vegas shooter, that will always be weird. It didn't help that before that, Obama's FBI had edited the transcripts of the Pulse nightclub shooter to remove references to Islamic terrorism.

Yeah was a through-the-looking-glass moment. In the 911 transcripts, the shooter, Mateen, will only talk about his allegiance to the Islamic State. The 911 operator keeps trying to get Mateen to give him more info, but Mateen stuck stubbornly on message, saying only that he was a soldier of the Islamic State and the shooting was in revenge to Americans attacking the IS in Syria.

Obama's AG, the loathsome Lynch woman, redacted the words "Islamic State" and all other references to Islam from the 911 transcripts.; 12/27/20, 7:42 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

The total of the reported annual deficits was much, much lower than the total increase of the debt.
And what happened under Obama was unique.
It was unprecedented.

I'm sorry, but this is not accurate. If you add up the budget deficits for FY2001 to FY2008, the total is approximately $2 trillion but adding up the additions to the debt for the same fiscal years totals about $4.4 trillion. If you add the budget deficits for FY2009 to FY2016, they total approximately $7.3 trillion and the total addition to the debt is about $9.5 trillion. If you do the same for FY2017 through FY2020, you get total budget deficits of $3.5 trillion and addition to the debt of $4.3 trillion. That's without including the Covid funding.

Under three different administrations, the sum of budget deficits has been smaller than the sum of additional debt. Back in December 2006, the GAO published Understanding Similarities and Differences between Accrual and Cash Deficits, and it covers lot of information about the differences in budget deficits versus net operating costs.

What Drives Changes in Cash and Accrual Deficits from Year to Year?
"Some changes in the cash deficit from year to year can be and have been due to changes in dates when cash is scheduled to be paid or received...In contrast, Congress sometimes changes the due date for tax payments, which can shift cash receipts from one year to the next...However, the accrual deficit has also been driven by three additional factors:
• legislation that obligates future government resources,
• changes in methods or assumptions for estimating long-term liabilities, and
• changes in federal accounting standards

...Indeed, the largest change in the accrual deficit in recent years occurred between 2000 and 2001 when legislation was passed that extended TRICARE—health care benefits for military employees—to Medicare-eligible military retirees and their beneficiaries. This change alone increased the estimated value of future benefit payments and the accrual deficit by over $290 billion in 2001. However, because these benefits will not be paid until future years, the cost was not reflected in the cash budget deficit."; 12/27/20, 7:47 AM
mockturtle said...: Jason, God bless you and your mother. I'll pray for you. What a dilemma!; 12/27/20, 8:51 AM
Michael K said...: I wouldnt have guessed

Studies at Arizona State University.[11] During the mid-1980s, Gabaldon wrote software reviews and technical articles for computer publications, as well as popular-science articles and Disney comics.[10] She was a professor with an expertise in scientific computation at ASU for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.[10][12]

That was the interesting history. The story I read was that she decided to see if she could write a novel. "Outlander" is more like a one-off and the story ends at the end of the novel. Obviously, it became hugely popular so she revived the plot and has done very well.

Jean Auel apparently got interested in stone age culture and skills. She took courses on such things as flint napping. Her novels began as an interest first, then writing about them.

That was all I meant.; 12/27/20, 10:13 AM
Michael K said...: Jason, I have personally seen COPD patients smoking a cigarette through a tracheostomy, like the scene in "Dead Again."

Good luck.; 12/27/20, 10:14 AM
Narr said...: Jason, caring for wretched and ungrateful older folks is the pits, for sure. And those nicotine addiction stories are no news to me.

My wife, as I've mentioned before, is Diana Gabaldon's biggest fangirl. I got her the latest 1000-page Outlander tome for Christmas. She told me years ago all about the authoress's scientific background, which is interesting but doesn't make me any more curious about her or her books.

Oh, the second part of the Alexander von Humboldt and America show is on CSpan3 at 500pm CST.

Narr
Watch and learn; 12/27/20, 11:42 AM
Birkel said...: Yes, J Farmer, I admit you will never attempt to understand or learn anything.
Now we are square again, Smug.

Fucking dimwit.; 12/27/20, 11:55 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Excitement yesterday afternoon, as the wayward prodigal son, wife, and kids came to visit their mother (my partner). We also had in attendance her daughter, son-in-law, and ultimately two of his (kinda - younger one isn’t biologically his...). Great time was had by all, except maybe when my partner started lecturing her son about having voted for Biden. Oh, and the excitement of having hooked the harness on the cat to a retractable leash. He went crazy, streaking from one end of the house to the next, bouncing off the front door, racing back, around the living room. Rinse and repeat. Quite humorous, except the women were mortified by that. They ineffectually tried to catch him. Which I somehow managed to do, and calmly detached him from his infernal tormentor, the retractable leash. He spent the rest of the afternoon recovering under my bed upstairs.

So, this morning, said partner shows up with her phone. It won’t ring. Hmm. Yep. Ringer turned off. Easy fix. I don’t know if she is just a technophobe, or really can’t see this stuff. Given her new 20/15 vision from cataract surgery last summer, my money is on technophobia, combined with her obdurate, recalcitrant, nature. He daughter calls me, because she can’t get her mother. Happens at least once a day, so I have a custom ring for her. I explain about the ringer, and suggest that she try her mother again. Then I get a shout from said mother to come downstairs, at once. Immediately. I reply that she should come up. She needs the exercise, and she was just as close. That wasn’t going anywhere, of course. But I knew that - it was just a delaying action. Finally, dressed, I sauntered downstairs to see what the problem was. Apparently, she puts her cell phone (yes, the one I just turned the ringer on for) in the sink, when she sits on the toilet in the half bath downstairs, in order to keep it from falling into the toilet. I think that you can probably see where this is going. Her strategy works (normally) because I am forbidden to use that toilet, because I am, well, a guy. So I (well trained, as I often remind her) either go upstairs, or use the toilet in the guest suite downstairs. My guess is that one of the other eight visitors (all related somehow to her) left the drain closed, when they were done. And, yes, her phone is currently waterlogged, and I am headed to the grocery store to buy rice, to maybe dry it out. And if that doesn’t work, maybe to AT&T for a new one. Oh, I should add that the rule in MT is that the drains stay closed so that icky spiders, etc, don’t join us via that venue. Hard sometimes to keep the rules straight. Apparently, it is down for MT and up for AZ. Seems backwards somehow.; 12/27/20, 12:13 PM
Michael K said...: Bruce, my wife is definitely a technophobe. She has a smart phone that is plugged in to the charger 24/7 and never used. She uses the house phone that has five remotes around the house but doesn't even know how to dial my iPhone.

She was an ICU nurse and far more adept at pressure transducers and the like than I was but that was also 40 years ago.; 12/27/20, 12:25 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Oh, and that means that she is home, alone, without her cell phone. I left her mine, and told her to only answer it if it is her daughter’s custom ring. The idea is that it will also ring for me on my Apple Watch and iPad, and I will answer I’d it is anyone except for her daughter. And if she needs me, she can call her daughter and have her call me. Whoops. First, iPhones automatically lock. She knows my super secret code, of course, but remember the technophobia, combined with a recalcitrant and obdurate nature? The other part maybe even worse - if she calls her daughter to get in touch with me, said daughter’s calls will be ignored by me, because I assume that they are intended for her mother. Maybe the solution is to text the daughter to have her husband call me instead, if her mother needs to talk with me. Getting too complicated. Maybe I should just pick up the rice and head home, instead of getting stuff at Home Depot across the street (which is where I was going in the first place).; 12/27/20, 12:29 PM
Michael K said...: Half, at least, of the stuff I send to my kids is text. They don't even answer their phones most of the time.; 12/27/20, 1:34 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

Yes, J Farmer, I admit you will never attempt to understand or learn anything.
Now we are square again, Smug.

Fucking dimwit.

Hahaha. I love disagreeing with Birkel. I've never seen a grown man throw such hissy fits in response. I was curious how much pushback you'd tolerate before blowing a gasket and was pretty sure that last reply would flip the switch.

In any event, if you have any links or references regarding the topic we were discussing, please feel free to send them my way. I'm not closed to the idea.

Hugs and kisses. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.; 12/27/20, 3:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Bruce-"I should add that the rule in MT is that the drains stay closed so that icky spiders, etc, don’t join us via that venue.'

I'm in Idaho. Not a native. See spiders in the tub sometimes, but never put 2 and 2 together. Once again, thanks Bruce. Nobody ever tells me the rules.

Lived in Arizona for 8 years, and when a scorpion showed up in the tub, it was all hands on deck. Never paid much attention to spiders.; 12/27/20, 6:05 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Hahaha. I love disagreeing with Birkel. I've never seen a grown man throw such hissy fits in response."

What in his posts suggests to you he's a grown man?; 12/28/20, 7:37 AM