RANT: Tesla and other EV’s should be considered a national disgrace

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11668015/Devastating-photos-cobalt-mines-Democratic-Republic-Congo-power-Apple-Tesla-more.html

The shaming images that show where our iPhones, laptops and Tesla cars REALLY come from: The truth about the Congolese mines where kids are paid $2-a-day to dig for cobalt

  •     Images from the Shabara mine and others in the Democratic Republic of Congo show young children mining  
  •     They dig for cobalt, the chemical element that is used in almost every tech product on the market today 
  •     Apple, Tesla, Samsung and Microsoft are the other end of the complex supply chain  

By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter For Dailymail.Com
Published: 08:24 EST, 30 January 2023 | Updated: 09:14 EST, 30 January 2023

*** begin quote ***

For years, big tech companies like Apple and Tesla have assured the customers of their glossy stores and showrooms that all their goods are ethically sourced and sold. 

But a new series of images taken from inside mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 90 percent of the world’s cobalt is mined and used to make the batteries that power our tech-led lives, raise uncomfortable questions. 

Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today – a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but this is a national disgrace.  And, all EV’s should be scorned.

I’m speechless.

—30—


ECONOMICS: Recongize reality and change the retirement age to 75 or 85?

Monday, January 30, 2023

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/raise-social-security-age-least-75

Raise The Social Security Age To (At Least) 75
by Tyler Durden
Sunday, Jan 29, 2023 – 06:30 PM
Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute

  • On January 10, the French government announced plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

*** begin quote ***

One thing raising the age has going for it is that it’s been done before. A 1983 change very gradually increased the full-benefits age from 65 to 67. That’s much too little, and even an increase to age 75 would be a mild reform. Other reforms, up to and including abolition, should include means-testing pensions and totally defederalizing and decentralizing the program. But it’s also easy to imagine the tidal wave of opposition from activists who vehemently oppose even a very mild reduction in Social Security payouts. Raising the age won’t make Social Security just, prudent, or wise. But cutting federal spending is always the right thing to do.

*** end quote ***

As horrific this change wood be, it’s needed to prevent economic catastrophe.

Time to unwind the Ponzi scheme.  Those, that are close to their retirement age (i.e., 55), don’t have enough working time to adjust to the loss or reduction in Social Security benefits.  And, don’t forget that there is a terrible age discrimination problem when workers turn 40, 50, or 55. So evidently, those under 40 are going to take a real haircut.

I doubt the current crop od politicians and bureaucrats have any stomach for the pain to be inflicted on themselves and the general population.

One thing is for sure, “they” can’t print their way out of this one.

—30—

On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 10:39 AM Luddite wrote:

“Back in the day” when I was making some decent coin, I was always pleased each year when I reached the maximum income required on SS withdrawals each month. I remember a couple of years when I received some big January bonuses that they stopped taking out SS in April! In my opinion, the easiest solution to preserving SS is to remove the cap on income. I understand that the reason we even have a problem is because the crooks raided the fund years ago and have never paid it back, but given the current situation I believe removing the cap is the easiest and least painful solution. What say you? (Also understanding that I just poked the libertarian’s cage!)

# – # – # – # – # 

Taxation is theft. 

Starting from that basic principle, “eliminating the cap” merely allows the current plundering to continue. 

A radical reform is required to truly correct the problem.  Will some get hurt, yup. 

To minimize the pain, the young should be excluded, the old exempted, and the middle get the full retirement age adjusted. 

Say a 40 goes from 69 to 80, 50 goes from 68 to 75, 55 from 68 to 70. 

Then in 40 years social security goes away.

It’s only fair way to unwind the ponzi scheme.

Yes, fiscal reality sucks.  Economics is the dismal science. And, TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” From Robert Heinlein’s classic)!

Sigh.

—30—


RANT: Big Pharma, Big Government and Big Media are all in bed with one another and “We, The Sheeple” get screwed

Sunday, January 29, 2023

https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/01/project-veritas-pfizer-video-and-the-new-triumvirate-big-pharma-big-government-and-big-media/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=project-veritas-pfizer-video-and-the-new-triumvirate-big-pharma-big-government-and-big-media

Project Veritas Pfizer Video and The New Triumvirate: Big Pharma, Big Government and Big Media

In Vino Veritas: Project Veritas undercover video with Pfizer executive goes viral on Twitter, but most of mainstream media is smothering the story.

Posted by Leslie Eastman Friday, January 27, 2023 at 07:00pm 47 Comments

*** begin quote ***

In ancient Rome, men who want to wield enormous influence and become fabulously wealthy while doing so would form triumvirates (e.g., the Marc Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian in 43 BC).

We are now living under a new triumvirate: Big Pharma, Big Government and Big Media.

Thanks to the now-unchained Twitter, a viral video from Project Vertias that purportedly shows a senior Pfizer employee talking about covid vaccine and “directed evolution” has spread widely social media.

However, despite the shocking revelations from that seemingly high-level executive, there has been no detailed, follow-up analysis on the content of the video by American news organizations.

*** end quote ***

Wonder what happens now?

Nothing!

—30—


RANT: AMAZON PHARMACY like Hotel California — you can check in but not out!

Saturday, January 28, 2023

https://pharmacy.amazon.com/chat/start-chat

Amazon Pharmacy Virtual Assistant

Hi there. A few things to mention before we connect you with an Amazon Pharmacy Customer Care agent…

12:48 PM

Need to speak with a pharmacist? Call 855-745-5725. Our pharmacists are available 24/7…

 12:48 PM

Ferdinand

 12:48 PM

cancel

Amazon Pharmacy Virtual Assistant

When typing your questions or responses, be sure you don’t include any personal or sensitive information…

12:48 PM

The current wait time to chat with an Amazon Pharmacy Customer Care agent is minutes. If waiting isn’t possible—and we’re sorry for the inconvenience—you can call us now at 855-745-5725.

# – # – # – # – # 

Only an on-ramp.  Second RX I entered, they couldn’t include it.  Nor match my insurance price.

Then there was no obvious way to cancel.

After 45 minutes on hold by phone and same waiting for chat with agent, I found away.  GO to change your credit card and there’s an option to cancel;

I urge you to consider NOT getting involved with it.  Like PillPack, it just didn’t work as advertised.

Argh!

YMMV

—30—


INSPIRATIONAL: Remember the bravery of ‘The Angel of Warsaw’

Friday, January 27, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11661539/LORD-ASHCROFT-recalls-forgotten-heroine-Holocaust.html

As the world marks liberation of the Nazi concentration camps… LORD ASHCROFT recalls the forgotten heroine of the Holocaust who smuggled 2,500 ghetto children to safety in coffins, suitcases… and even a toolbox

  •     Irena is all but forgotten despite the fact that she saved around 2,500 children 
  •     She died in 2008 with brief tributes to the bravery of ‘The Angel of Warsaw’

By Lord Ashcroft For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:00 EST, 21 January 2023 | Updated: 17:00 EST, 21 January 2023

*** begin quote ***

The pretty, dark-haired young woman in a nurse’s uniform felt her heart thump inside her chest as she presented her identity papers to the Nazi soldiers guarding one of the few entrances to the Warsaw Ghetto.

It was the summer of 1942 and the truth about the Germans’ brutal genocide of the Jews was becoming horrifyingly clear. The knot in her stomach shifted slightly as the guard gruffly waved her inside. Agonisingly, she knew that if the truth of her secret mission was revealed, she would be tortured by the ruthless, sadistic SS and then shot.

She sighed with relief, but knew an even more heart-rending task lay inside the walls of the ghetto, where up to 500,000 Polish Jews had been corralled ten-to-a-room in a warren of buildings and streets in an area little larger than a square mile. There, the stench of death and disease was appalling. Thousands of half-starved people wandered around with just rags to protect them from the bitter cold.

*** end quote ***

On the anniversary of the Nazi concentration camp’s liberation, we would all take the time to read and reflect upon this human tragedy.  And the heroes and heroines, who risked everything, to save babies.  It’s hard to imagine having that much physical courage.  Not sure if I could do it; hope I would but until you have to act will you really know.

All those, who deny that the Holocaust happened, must be repudiated and reviled as mentally ill.

I can’t imagine their mental workings that can ignore all the evidence and personal testimony.

Argh!

—30—


RANT: It’s the vaccine, stupid

Thursday, January 26, 2023

https://palexander.substack.com/p/its-the-vaccine-stupid-its-the-vaccine?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=579356&post_id=97982296&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

It’s the vaccine, stupid, it’s the vaccine; Bill Clinton said ‘it’s the economy, stupid’, I am saying ‘it’s the vaccine, stupid, it’s the vaccine’; when you hear it, know it came from me, also known as ‘Dr. Paul ‘lock them all to hell up’ Alexander’ on the speech circuits.

Dr. Paul Alexander

# – # – # – # – # 

I read all the news about “sudden deaths” and wonder why we don’t have mandatory autopsies to determine a cause of death.  

This is a slow moving national disaster. 

We need to know “the truth”.

“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.” Colonel Jessep in A Few Good Men played by Jack Nicholson

—30—


POLITICAL:A framework for dealling with illegal aliens

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4124726/posts

*** begin quote ***

US citizens get chance to play role in resettling refugees

1/20/2023, 11:45:23 AM · 30 of 30

Rurudyne to Oldeconomybuyer

No refugees. Deport all the illegals. Close the doors for a decade.

*** end quote ***

I’d start with all the CRIMINAL illegals. 

Parole all non-criminal aliens pursuant to good behavior.

Dreamers (aka, those who were brought in illegally as children) get special consideration and put on a path to citizenship (i.e., stay clean and out of trouble).

For States or other Gooferment unit that declare themselves as sanctuaries, no Federal funds for any purpose. 

If they’d like to secede, let them. 

When we run out of criminal illegals, then reassess the situation.

IMHO

—30—

 

 


POLITICAL: Sorry DJT45, “you’re fired”

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/01/19/he-cant-undo-what-he-did/

HE CAN’T UNDO WHAT HE DID

He can spin it and rationalize and lie, but the vaccines are his baby. They failed miserably and are now killing and maiming millions. The blood of vaccine victims are on his hands. This fake pandemic was never going to be like 1917. He locked down the country. He kept Fauci and Birx as his top advisors. Trump can’t weasel his way out of what he did.

Jeffrey A Tucker @jeffreyatucker

This is simply incredible. He is criticizing Florida for locking down when the truth is that 1) he ordered lockdowns nationwide, 2) blasted Georgia for being the first to open, and 3) dismissed and criticized Sweden the whole time!

# – # – # – # – # 

I think back to the Apprentice TV show.  Pre-presidential DJT at the end of one show, he sympathized with one of the contestants and reviewed how he failed and what he might have done.  Then ended with the classic line: “You’re Fired!”

So too, DJT45 has to own his role in the national Covid disaster.  I can sympathize that “everyone” was in a panic, he got bad advice from characters who had a hidden agenda to see him fail as well as a financial motivation for everyone getting the Jab.  But, as a NYC builder, he should have been much more savvy.

So, DJT45, “You’re Fired”.

Go to the sidelines and help the country avoid future disasters.

If I were you I’d urge ending the CDC, the FDA, the FBI, the CIA, and DHS.  Become this era’s Andrew Jackson.

—30— 


VETERANS: A hero silenced; whet else don’t we know?

Monday, January 23, 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11649147/Hero-pilot-Cpt-Royce-Williams-shot-5-Russian-Migs-secret-dogfight-receive-Navy-Cross.html

Hero pilot who shot down at least FOUR Russian Migs in classified dogfight in 1952 to receive the Navy Cross: Captain took on seven jets alone and was shot 263 times – but was ordered not to tell anyone for fear of sparking war

  •     Capt. Royce Williams was sworn to secrecy for more than 50 years over fears that his battle against seven Soviet fighters could spark war with Russia
  •     Now the 97-year-old is free to tell his tale and is due to receive the Navy’s second highest award for combat valor on Friday at the San Diego Air & Space Museum
  •     In a ferocious dogfight, Williams downed at least four Migs despite his jet being so badly wounded he considered bailing out into almost certain death

By Ross Ibbetson For Dailymail.com

Published: 11:10 EST, 18 January 2023 | Updated: 13:36 EST, 18 January 2023

*** begin quote ***

A hero pilot who shot down at least four Russian Migs in a classified dogfight at the height of the Cold War which saw his jet shot 263 times is to receive the Navy Cross.

Retired Navy Captain Royce Williams was sworn to secrecy for more than 50 years over fears that his battle against seven Soviet fighters could spark war with Russia.

Now the 97-year-old is free to tell his tale and is due to receive the Navy’s second highest award for combat valor on Friday at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

*** and ***

The national security peril soon dawned on Navy command who discovered Williams had engaged the Soviet Air Force.

Migs flying in the Chinese and Korean air forces were known to be flown by Soviet volunteers but this was an escalation with potential to turn the Cold War hot.

*** end quote ***

Yes, Heaven forbid, the American people would be told the “truth”.

Better to allow a hero to be silenced.

Argh!

At what point will “We, The Sheeple” ever get the whole truth.

I think of all the MIAs, KIAs, and other veterans who are denied their due.

And don’t get me started on “homeless vets” while illegal criminal aliens live comfortably in hotels.

—30—


INSPIRATIONAL: Meditation to defeat a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world

Sunday, January 22, 2023

https://bigthink.com/the-well/attention-span/

The Well
How to unlock your “peak mind”

  • “What you pay attention to, is your life.” Where do you place precious brain resources?

Amishi Jha

*** begin quote ***

There’s a shorthand that we can use to think about this. The term is VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. The world today feels like it’s a constant VUCA environment, but there’s another challenge that our attention faces, and why many of us feel like we’re in an attentional crisis. Frankly, the brain was designed to be lured by, for our evolutionary success and survival, certain kinds of information; threatening information novel information, self-related information, and even things that are fun and enticing. I’m talking about the ‘Attention Economy.’ Everything is being done by teams of engineers to actually capture your attention and keep it there; your attention is the product. Finally, the mind can be hijacked away by something called ‘Mental Time Travel.’ That means that our attention is not in the present moment, so when we’re thinking about the past, our attention is fully in the past, same thing with the future. About 50% of our waking moments, we aren’t in the present moment.

*** end quote ***

When I first learned about “meditation” in Comparative Non-Christian Religions  — yes, I got another D  — I thought it was a lot of “Barbara Streisand” <synonym for excrement>.  Later, when I was in USAF survival school, we were encouraged to practice it for when we became a POW  — luckily I never left Maryland.  But, the lessons kept being repeated to me.  “Lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned.”  — ― Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Not sure when I began to take “mindfulness” seriously; I do now.

YMMV

—30—

 

― Frank Sonnenberg