POLITICAL: Replace “Pick One” with “ranked choice” aka “instant runoff”

Monday, October 28, 2024

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/RANKED-CHOICE/zdpxqrolgvx/?utm_placement=newsletter

An alternate voting method that puts a premium on finding a majority and allows voters to rank all candidates, not just cast a single vote for their favorite.

By Travis Hartman and Tiana McGee
Published Oct. 24, 2024 09:00 AM EDT

*** begin quote ***

In the United States, when only two candidates are on a ballot, the results are normally quite clear — the winner has a majority, or over 50% of the vote. But when there are three or more contenders, the vote can easily split in a way that allows for someone with less than 50% of the vote to win. Which means a majority of the votes were for someone other than the winner. 

*** and ***

Alaska and Maine are currently the only two states that use this style of voting for federal elections, though Hawaii uses ranked choice voting for its special elections.

It is being used by over 50 cities in the United States and has been in place for over 100 years in Australia and Ireland.

*** end quote ***

This seems to be a vast improvement over the current system.  And it eliminates the “wasted  vote” syndrome.  

For example, here in New Jersey, voting for a third party candidate is a waste of time, attention, and effort.  The D’s swamp everything.  Without Ranked Choice Voting, voting for a Libertarian “wastes” a vote.  With it, my vote eventually counts for something.

Think the powers that own this country will ever allow “We, The Sheeple” to express their preferences?  I don’t think so.  But I could be wrong.

Kudos to Reuters for a simple graphic explanation that even a fat old white guy injineer could understand.

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TECHNOLOGY: Not all USB-C / USB-A cables are the same?

Sunday, October 27, 2024

 

2024-10Oct-27 horsebpower box. 

Interesting that their “usb” won’t power anything else.  And my usual “usbs” won’t charge the scrubber.  Their “directions” say you must use their usb to  charge the scrubber but no reason why is given.

Argh!

So what did they do to screw up the usb?  And, I guess if you damage it or lose it, you have to buy a replacement from them?

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: “End The Fed” and bring back prosperity

Sunday, October 27, 2024

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/10/lew-rockwell/why-equality-is-bad-2/ lewrockwell.com

No Compromise With the Fed! – LewRockwell

By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

*** begin quote ***

Some people argue like this: Although the Fed as it now exists is very bad, a nation needs a central bank to regulate its money supply, and the Fed is better than nothing. That being so, we should try to urge the Fed to adopt a non-expansionary monetary policy. In this view, calls to “End the Fed” are mistaken. I’m sure most of my readers already know what I’m about to say, but, just to be clear, that view is disastrously wrong. We do not need a central bank, and to argue in the way indicated is to betray the great Murray Rothbard and the great Dr. Ron Paul, whose slogan “End the Fed” has galvanized so many of us.

*** and ***

The transitional demands, then, must be framed while

  •     always holding up the ultimate goal of liberty as the desired end of the transitional process; and
  •     never taking steps, or using means, which explicitly or implicitly contradict that goal.”

Let’s do every we can to end the Fed now! On this, there can be no compromise.

*** end quote ***

Imagine a world with no Central Banks!  Unimaginable?  Think of the USA before 1913, and you can imagine that.  Where “inflation” was negative.  Real money  —  commodity money  —  circulated freely.   Foreign coins, like the Spanish real, were used along side of gold and silver coins.  Prices were always coming down.  Want to save your old age, put some coins in a jar on the mantle like my paternal grandmother did  — right under her rifle over the mantle.

The best argument against the FED or any central bank that “prints” money is that it allows the Gooferment to inflate the currency to pay for wars.

#ENDTHEFED

We don’t need it and it’s evil.

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ADHOC: Car thieves steal fobs

Saturday, October 26, 2024

https://local.nixle.com/south-brunswick-twp-police-department

Alert: Crime Alert – Police Warn of Suspects Trying to Steal High-End Cars

# – # – # – # – # 

Breaking into houses to find the fobs.

Comes under the heading of: FAFO.

How long before they eventually break into the house of an armed citizen?

“No law ever written has stopped any robber, rapist or killer, like cold blue steel in the hands of their last intended victim.” —W. Emerson Wright

“I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.’ But duty is an adult virtue—indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be a ‘juvenile delinquent.’ But for every juvenile criminal there are always one or more adult delinquents—people of mature years who either do not know their duty, or who, knowing it, fail.”  ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers    

I’m a gun owning pro-life pro-choice little L libertarian; not a “victim”.

I’m sorry if a “juvenile delinquent” gets hurt or killed, but that is the price of crime that they have to pay.

Dona Nobis Pacem

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: FEMA’s Real Purpose

Saturday, October 26, 2024

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/10/brandon-smith/femas-real-purpose-suppressing-americans-and-preventing-civilian-organization/

FEMA’s Real Purpose: Suppressing Americans And Preventing Civilian Organization
By Brandon Smith Alt-Market.us
October 24, 2024

*** begin quote ***

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was founded on April 1st, 1979 under the Jimmy Carter Administration during the height of a nearly decade long stagflationary crisis and the Iranian oil crisis. Under Executive Order 12127, its stated goal was to centralize all disaster related efforts under a single top-down entity. Specifically, FEMA ended the more localized Civil Defense Agency, which was focused on community based emergency response, and it federalized all disaster coordination under a single top-down system controlled by the Oval Office.

*** and ***

We just witnessed a repeat of this behavior from FEMA and the affiliated agencies within their oversight. We saw local EMS being advised to prevent civilians from helping their communities. Supplies were once agaun being blocked, people with drones were being told not to help find survivors, people with helicopters are were threatened for helping save survivors and little aid reached Helene victims for weeks. Elon Musk’s Starlink was even been prevented from providing satellite internet services to affected regions until the story went national and the Department of Transportation was forced to address the problem.

*** and ***

I argue that this is all deliberate. FEMA and the federal government at large are still using Operation Garden Plot-like protocols with two goals in mind…

 

First, they are trying to acclimate the populace to the idea that civilians can’t help themselves and that they should do nothing. They do this by constantly interfering with civilian efforts and disrupting donations. If civilians are working on their own to save US communities from calamity then they might one day realize they don’t need the Federal Government for anything. The establishment NEEDS people to believe that they can’t survive without government aid and protection. Luckily, at least in the aftermath of Helene, it seems that many communities are working on their own to fix the situation.

If civilians start doing things for themselves, the establishment machine becomes obsolete.

Second, I suspect FEMA is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with. Katrina was a clear beta-test for martial law disguised as an emergency response. Katrina was Garden Plot and Rex-84 realized. They want to see what Americans will put up with. Helene is yet another opportunity for these agencies to apply overt control and see if Americans will conform or rebel.

*** end quote ***

Time to end FEMA, DHS, and bunch of other Federal Gooferment agencies.

People need to help each other and send the Federal Gooferment back to their offices.  They just actively interfere with “We, The Sheeple” doing what they have done for eons  —  survive by helping each other.

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: Looking for a cross platform notepad

Friday, October 25, 2024

Looking for a cross platform notepad

  • Tried EVERNOTE  — not free
  • Using Apple NOTE app free but doesn’t share with Android
  • Tried OBSIDEON  — too complex
  • Tried NOTATION  — too complex
  • Trying ANYTYPE  — initial setup was easy across MAC, IOS, and ANDROID 

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TECHNOLOGY: What is old becomes new again! Pagers have a use case!

Friday, October 25, 2024

https://pagersdirect.net/pages/are-pagers-still-a-thing

Are pagers still a thing?

ARE PAGERS MAKING A COMEBACK…ARE THEY STILL A THING?

What???? Do Pagers even exist anymore?

Who’s still using pagers in 2024 and why?

*** begin quote ***

If you find yourself using a cell phone by itself and it works for you as most people do…That’s great, but if you are like the majority of our clients, you most likely have a specific task that a pager or pager app on a cell phone does even better than just texting or voicemail on their phone. Perhaps you have cell phone signal reception issues in your area or need another way for your IMPORTANT calls to get through and get your attention…whatever the reason, the people using pagers today have found specific niche reasons why a pager or pager app compliments their cell phone and smart watch.

Primarily, a separate pager phone number offers privacy and a means for urgent notifications that stand out above and beyond text messaging and helps differentiate a normal text or phone call from a high priority, urgent phone call.

In 2024, our clients are faced with some unique challenges and situations that didn’t exist even 5 years ago…

One example is robocalls / spam phone calls. Millions of junk phone calls are made daily. Some people are just fed up with getting calls from unknown numbers about their car warranty expiring or other scams and don’t even answer the phone when they see a number they don’t recognize. Today’s latest smartphone operating systems allow smartphones to silence calls from unknown callers and send the calls directly to voicemail. With this enabled, sometimes important calls are missed. 

Another example is the banning of cellphones in schools. Want a simple way to be able to get in touch with your child and let them know of an urgent message such as a schedule change or emergency at home? Perhaps just a positive emotional reinforcement such as a “Good luck, You’ve got this” on the day of a big exam. Give them an alphanumeric pager and simply send a short email to the pager’s email address.

*** end quote ***

I found this “use case” very persuasive.  I was thinking about school shootings.  Schools are banning cell phones, but I don’t agree.  Parents need to know their child is safe!  I think of the victims  — parent and child  — saying “I love you”, “I’m coming for you”, even “Hide!”.  Maybe I just don’t understand the problem.

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2024-09Sep-24

California Schools Must Restrict Phones Under New Law Signed by Newsom

Argh!

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Shawn Hubler, Troy Closson

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NOTRECOMMENDED: LULU open source firewall

Thursday, October 24, 2024

While I like the idea of having a firewall to protect me from the likes of ISPs and Applications, I tried LULU and could get through the install.  Maybe I’ll try again when I have time to waste.

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QUOTE: “They murdered, … … but they kept the Faith.”

Thursday, October 24, 2024

https://www.lewrockwell.com/political-theatre/motto-for-catholic-protestant-and-orthodox-military-chaplains-and-military-chaplaincies-around-the-world/

Motto for Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Military Chaplains and Military Chaplaincies Around the World
By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
October 15, 2024

“They murdered, they tortured, they maimed, they raped, they hated, they lied, they robbed, they plundered—but they kept the Faith.”  — Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

https://www.emmanuelcharlesmccarthy.org/

Thank you for visiting this website, which is a compilation of all the work that Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy has done in the last fifty (50) years plus. The purpose of this website is to provide information on the Nonviolent Jesus of the Gospel, which calls for a radical alteration in thought patterns, verbal patterns, behavioural patterns, and emotional patterns.

Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, born October 9, 1940, is a priest of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Byzantine-Melkite, in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. He has been a Catholic priest for forty years, ordained on August 9, 1981, in Damascus, Syria. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with majors in philosophy and English from the University of Notre Dame in 1962.

# – # – # – # – #

I found this quote and it shocked me.  Since VietNam, I’ve always been against war as a strategy or tactic.  I’ve seen the two children of a VietNam vet die prematurely from the effects of Agent Orange on their father.  

The “peace movement” during Nixon’s administration was mostly and astroturfed Communist / Democrat / Leftist attack on the conservative Republicans.  It was inauthentic!  When the D’s came to control the Gooferment, nothing changed.  And, ever since the welfare / warfare state as delivered on what Ike warned about  —  perpetual war for the Military – Industrial – Congressional Complex.  We have the deficits to show for it along with the debt and unfunded liabilities.

Maybe MLK, Gandhi, and Bob Murphy are right.  Non-violence is the path to peace.

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ECONOMICS: UniParty is responsible for debt, unfunded liabilities, and Gooferment deficit spending

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

https://internationalman.com/articles/david-stockman-on-the-battle-of-the-liars-trump-versus-harris-and-the-folly-of-uniparty-economics/

David Stockman on The Battle of The Liars… Trump Versus Harris and The Folly of UniParty Economics
by David Stockman

<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2024-10-18>>

*** begin quote ***

The Dem candidate brags about 16 million new jobs on the Harris-Biden watch and Trump claims the Greatest Economy Ever—evidenced in part by low inflation that his successor purportedly blew sky high.

Both are lying. Both ignore crucial matters of context—such as stage of the business cycle, Fed policy actions, forces arising from the $105 trillion global economy in which US growth, jobs and inflation are inextricably rooted and the fact of lag times in transmission of Washington policy into economic outcomes.

*** and ***

In any event, the real culprits are the spenders and money-printers. And not surprisingly, both candidates want more of both.

Editor’s Note: The amount of money the US government spends on foreign aid, wars, the so-called intelligence community, and other aspects of foreign policy is enormous and ever-growing.

It’s an established trend in motion that is accelerating, and now approaching a breaking point. It could cause the most significant disaster since the 1930s.

*** end quote ***

I keep banging the drum on “debt, unfunded liabilities, and Gooferment deficit spending at all levels”.

The UniParty makes picking the “lesser of two evils” a frustratingly failed strategy.

As Tom Woods says “No matter who I vote for I get John McCain”.  Sadly true.

All “We, The Sheeple” can do is prepare for the eventual collapse of the dollar when the debt becomes unrepeatable.  Till then remember the old military directive “get small in your hole”.   

As when I was counseling FOWG “turkeys”  —  Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a NON-OFFSHORABLE white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.

That’s the same advice for dealing with the UniParty’s economic disaster.

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