DISCOURAGING: When the relationship fizzled two years later … … 

Monday, April 27, 2026

https://nypost.com/2026/04/17/lifestyle/why-resale-value-of-wedding-or-engagment-rings-is-so-low-expert/

Dumped and down $6,000! Bride-not-to-be stunned to learn just how little her unwanted ring was worth: ‘Jaw hit the floor’
By Marissa Matozzo
Published April 17, 2026, 6:47 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Breakups are hard — but this price tag might hurt even more.

After splitting from her fiancée, Australian teacher Mia Pimentel figured she could at least cash in on her engagement ring and move on.

Instead, she got a reality check that hit harder than heartbreak.

The couple got engaged in 2021 after five years together, exchanging rings to seal the deal.

But when the relationship fizzled two years later, they each held onto their sparkler — including Pimentel’s 1-carat diamond solitaire, originally worth about US$ 6,500

*** end quote ***

The song said “diamonds are forever” BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), that does NOT transfer to relationships.

It used to be true when all there was were natural ones; not anymore.  Manufactured diamonds are worth a lot less and indistinguishable from natural by the average Joe or Jane.

Lesson to be learned here is don’t overpay and don’t get hustled.

A ₿itcoin would be much more romantic.  (At least to me!)

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DISCOURAGING: Colorado Bill Creates New Adult Vaccine Liability Shield

Thursday, March 5, 2026

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/colorado-bill-creates-new-adult-vaccine?publication_id=520511&post_id=189155260&isFreemail=true&r=69c47n&triedRedirect=true

Colorado Bill Creates New Adult Vaccine Liability Shield While Authorizing Pharmacists to Independently Prescribe Vaccines: SB 26-032
Creates legal presumption that vaccine injuries or deaths were not caused by the vaccine.
Jon Fleetwood
Feb 25, 2026

*** begin quote ***

Colorado lawmakers are advancing legislation that would create an entirely new section of state law governing adult vaccination—including a provision establishing a legal presumption that vaccines did not cause an individual’s injury or death unless proven otherwise.

The new Colorado bill comes as U.S. Senator Rand Paul has introduced federal legislation to eliminate the longstanding liability shield protecting vaccine manufacturers, placing the issue of legal immunity for vaccine injuries at the center of active legislative efforts at both the state and federal level.

*** end quote ***

Wonder how much Big Pharma paid for this “gem” in Colorado?

Ignoring the fact of Federal Preemption of State Regulation, how can a legislature be so “tone deaf” to reality?

With the litany of “vaccine” injuries —  and they redefined what a vaccine is —  would not Jenner be shocked to see his work perverted —  how can anyone is their right mind just go along with the “purported science” tell us.

Just a the Gooferment perverted the word “Insurance” and applied it to the Social Security Ponzi sheme that is still crippling up today, so to “vaccine” went from a boon to mankind to a curse by a simple redefinition.

I hope there is a special circle in Hell for these criminals.

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DISCOURAGING: Antitrust actions led to a major breakup in 1984 and tremendous economic losses

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

https://cordcuttersnews.com/att-marks-150th-anniversary/

AT&T Marks 150th Anniversary as It Shuts Down the Traditional Phone Lines That Made It What It Is Today
By Luke Bouma
on February 25, 2026

*** begin quote ***

Government intervention shaped AT&T’s trajectory in the mid-20th century. Antitrust actions led to a major breakup in 1984, dividing the company into regional operating companies known as the Baby Bells, while AT&T retained long-distance services and equipment manufacturing. Over the subsequent decades, the company navigated deregulation and competition, reacquiring several of its former subsidiaries and expanding into wireless and broadband. Notable developments included the first satellite telephone call in 1962, the implementation of the 911 emergency system in 1968, and the historic call to astronauts on the moon in 1969. In the 1970s, AT&T pioneered fiber-optic cables using advanced lasers and glass fibers, setting the stage for high-speed data transmission.

*** end quote ***

Silently, Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats transformed the old MaBell from a “widows and orphans” stock into a national disaster.  

Maybe it was due for an overhaul but the social and economic cost were staggering. 

Personally, I did ok but I lost a “career” and my Mom lost millions in her stock and savings.  

Many old folks beleived the company’s paternalistic promises to their own detriment. 

Saddest of all was the loss of Bell Labs.  It was a scientific miracle for America.  It was shattered by politicians and bureaucrats who could not see its value to the nation.

So sad.

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DISCOURAGING: It’s the debt, deficits, waste, fraud, corruption, and the deep state.

Thursday, February 19, 2026

https://internationalman.com/articles/the-empire-killer-strikes-again/

The ‘Empire Killer’ Strikes Again
by Nick Giambruno
2026-02Feb-11

*** begin quote ***

The US federal government has the biggest debt in the history of the world. And it’s continuing to grow at a rapid, unstoppable pace.

While the US government can extend the charade of solvency longer than any other entity on the planet, not even the most powerful empires in human history can do so forever, particularly when they start to struggle to pay the interest costs.

The situation has reached a tipping point.

That’s because the federal debt’s annualized interest cost exceeded the defense budget for the first time last year.

It’s on track to exceed Social Security and become the BIGGEST item in the federal budget.

*** end quote ***

It’s the debt, deficits, waste, fraud, corruption, and the deep state.

Everything else —  Big Pharma, Military Industrial Congressional Complex, Illegal Immigration, and Socialism rot — are all “minor” in comparison.

“We, The Sheeple” MUST wake up and demand the politicians and bureaucrats address the national debt NOW.  Let’s have some old fashioned “innovation” —  no Federal welfare period, full stop.  No Federal intrusion into States. Let’s have some long term Gooferment bonds in gold to refinance the 39T$ in Gooferment debt.  With a plan to pay it off over the next 100 years. 

Argh!

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DISCOURAGING: Any wonder why crime is rampant in the USA?

Sunday, February 15, 2026

https://nypost.com/2026/02/07/us-news/five-robbers-three-wanted-by-ice-held-up-couple-in-nyc/

Armed migrant robbery crew busted after NYC hold-up— immediately released without bail
By Tina Moore
Published Feb. 7, 2026, 2:55 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Wilson Eduardo, 18; Emerson Valenzuela, 20; Christopher Serrano, 18, and Edwin Ramos, 18, were arrested and charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and menacing, police said.

They all pleaded not guilty and were released on non-monetary conditions, online court records show.

*** end quote ***

Any wonder why crime is rampant in the USA?

Sorry, but criminals get back out on the street before the cops get the paperwork done.

“Victim disarmament is the view that it is somehow better to see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose, than see her with a gun in her hand.” — T.D. Melrose

The cash cows of the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerk can’t even defend themselves.

But politicians and bureaucrats get armed security?

Argh!

And, three of the CRIMINALS has ICE “detainers” on them.  Lot of good that does.

Sorry, but the gang called Gooferment is failing in its “raison d’être”, reason for existence.

Time to start impeaching judges!

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DISCOURAGING: The ongoing NY Archdiocese scandal is just sad

Thursday, February 12, 2026

https://nypost.com/2026/02/05/us-news/ny-archdiocese-accuses-chubb-insurer-of-double-dealing-on-sex-abuse-cases/

NY Archdiocese accuses insurance company of double dealing on sex abuse cases, posing as victims’ rights group
By Carl Campanile
Published Feb. 5, 2026, 6:55 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

“Knowing the insureds face more than 1,500 Underlying claims involving allegations of the gravest magnitude, Chubb reassured them to their face while secretly stabbing them in the back for years,” church lawyers said in the filing. “Such fraud and sabotage easily meet the threshold for moral culpability necessary for punitive damages.”

*** end quote ***

If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas, or in Latin, qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent. “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas” has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin ‘s Poor Richard’s Almanack

It saddens me that this moral disaster keeps coming back up again and again.

An “insurance company” subverting the interests of its insured to avoid paying off?  I’m shocked.  Shocked I say.

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca

It’s a total disgrace that the Catholic Church has not purged itself of everyone connected to this scandal.  

And, to make it about money, just seems to amplify it and make it worse.

Argh!

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DISCOURAGING: Still no Hippocratic oath for architects

Monday, February 2, 2026

https://jeffjacoby.com/31233/the-drawing-that-killed-my-father-family

The drawing that killed my father’s family
by Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
January 25, 2026

*** begin quote ***

Unlike the medical profession, which established the Nuremberg Code in the immediate wake of the Nazi doctors’ trials, architecture resisted establishing ethical standards for decades. Not until 2020 — nearly 80 years after Dejaco drafted the whiteprint that paved the way to the Final Solution — did the American Institute of Architects adopt new ethics rules. But those rules specifically address execution chambers and torture facilities. They say nothing — certainly nothing explicit — about designing concentration camps, deportation infrastructure, or industrial-scale crematoria like those Dejaco created.

“There is still no Hippocratic oath for architects,” van Pelt told me.

I went to Los Angeles wondering, as I so often have, how educated professionals — architects, engineers, lawyers, railway administrators — could have facilitated the Holocaust. The whiteprint doesn’t answer that question, of course. It underscores it: an artifact of how ordinary professionalism can be bent to monstrous ends.

There is no evil so monstrous that people cannot be induced to do it, or to avert their gaze while it is being done, if it serves their professional, social, or ideological interests. Dejaco’s drawing is evidence. So is everything that happened afterward.

*** end quote ***

“There is no evil so monstrous that people cannot be induced to do it”?

Yet, usually on Facebook, I read stories where ordinary people took great person risk to save people they didn’t even know.

The Greek Island where the Bishop and the Mayor gave the Nazis the demanded “list of all the Jews” with only their two names on it. 

Or the woman who smuggled Jewish babies out of the ghetto.

Or the fellow who pretended to be a Spanish consul to write out passes.

Or the Japanese guy who wrote passes in direct disobedience to his superiors.

Or the priest who turned a seminary dorm into a hide out.

Maybe there are a few good souls that can be counted on?

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DISCOURAGING: Catholic youth basketball game parents set a new low bar for conduct

Friday, January 16, 2026

https://nypost.com/2026/01/15/us-news/nyc-parents-erupt-into-massive-brawl-during-catholic-youth-basketball-game-at-staten-island/

Parents erupt into massive brawl during Catholic youth basketball game in Staten Island
By Bonny Chu, Fox News
Published Jan. 15, 2026
Updated Jan. 15, 2026, 7:21 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Spectators ejected by a referee for disruptive behavior at a CYO basketball game will now face a one-year ban.

“The mission was about the kids,” Fossella, whose children reportedly played CYO basketball, said during a press conference.

“The mission was about teaching them responsibility. The mission was about them having a good time: the kids. The kids are the center of this universe here. And every once in a while some spectators get out of control and ruin it for the kids and ruin it for everybody else.”

*** end quote ***

Hard to imagine that could occur.

When my sainted wife was coaching 6-8 grade girls basketball, she had ONE instance where ONE parent was getting “too EXCITED with the refs”.   She immediately called a (valuable) time out, left the team with her assistant and me, stomped across the court, and QUIETLY read the parent the riot act.  That was the last we ever heard him do that at a game. The Old Lady didn’t want any <synonym for excrement> distracting “her” girls.  

Hopefully all involved are properly “instructed in the error of their ways”.   For Catholics to behave like common street thugs is a terrible example to set for their children, other children, and the world in general.

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*** end quote ***

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DISCOURAGING: Seems like “Somali Immigration” is a national disaster!

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/01/watch-gop-rep-brandon-gill-busts-receipts-during/

WATCH: GOP Rep. Brandon Gill Busts Out the Receipts During Hearing and HUMILIATES Democrat Witness After Dem. Asserts Massive Somali Immigration Stengthens Minnesota
by Cullen Linebarger Jan. 7, 2026 12:20 pm

*** begin quote ***

GILL: Let me ask you one more: What percentage of Somali-headed households are on welfare in general?.

BALLOU: I don’t know.

GILL: It’s 81%…After ten years of being in the United States, what percentage of Somali households continue to be on welfare?

BALLOU. I don’t know.

GILL: The number is 78%.

*** and ***

GILL: What percentage of working-age Somalis who have been in the U.S. for ten years or more, how many of them speak English very well?

BALLOU: I don’t know.

GILL: The answer is about half. That seems pretty low, doesn’t it?

*** end quote ***

Hard to see any positive impact of “Somali Immigration” except that the D’s seem to like it just fine.  The Taxpayers of Minnesota and the USA may have a much different perspective.

I have a few “modest” solutions:

  • All felons are immediately deported.  If they are naturalized citizens, then they are immediately “denaturalized”!
  • All Federal programs must end.  If States want to fund something, then they can do it.
  • All immigrants must pass a basic English test or will not be admitted.
  • All immigrants must have a sponsor, just like back in the old days.  The sponsor bears responsibility for those they sponsor —  if a felon is committed, the sponsor goes to jail.

That should clean stuff up in a hurry.  It’s all about incentives.

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DISCOURAGING: The Trump administration is really like a Monty Python skit

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

https://internationalman.com/articles/dropping-the-facade-propaganda-power-and-the-absurdity-of-empire/

Dropping the Façade: Propaganda, Power, and the Absurdity of Empire

by Chris MacIntosh

*** begin quote ***

It’s like we’re living in a live Monty Python skit. If we are to consider that the Trump administration can end wars started by previous administrations (pretty easy to cut the funding), then the current podium donut of the Deep State in the US has failed spectacularly.

Existing wars: Ukraine and Israel’s war. Can’t really call it a war, but… well, that conflict.

Trump has continued to fund the oligarchs in Ukraine. He’s continued to fund the Zionists’ genocide in Gaza. He’s bombed Iran on behalf of his handlers. He’s bombed Yemen, funded and assisted in the overthrow of Syria and installed the previous head of ISIS (you can’t make this shit up). And he’s now threatening war with both Venezuela and Colombia on the laughable excuse of “drug trafficking.”

It is the most insane inversion of the truth. I understand how history tends to unfold, and reading through the collapse of previous empires I’m quite sure that none were so terribly absurd as this. Curiously, the rest of the world is no longer playing by the empire’s rules.

*** end quote ***

In this article, he uses “words” and phrases that are really quite good.  I particularly like the phrase “podium donuts” to describe pundit and spokespeople who say a lot of words but really say nothing.  There is a “word” “shulbit” which I haven’t heard since I worked on Wall Street.  They used it to describe politely <synonym for excrement from a male cow> accounting. 

The substance of the whole rant is that DJT4547 could stop these conflicts with the stroke of his pen.  What can anyone do to him?  That hasn’t been done already.  Impeachment?  Sure go ahead and try.  He can’t be reelected, so there’s no threat there.  “They” have already tried to kill him twice.

DJT wants to have legacy?  Just cutoff the money supply to ALL foreign and domestic war mongers.

Remember Gandhi?  He stopped Muslim Hindu violence cold with a hunger strike.  

That’s a peace prize that is within his grasp if he just has the stones to do it.

I’d like to think I could, but it would take a heroic level of courage.

Dona Nobis Pacem

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