MONEY: The Federal Reserve has been unable to “provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system”

Thursday, September 25, 2025

FROM 1440 https://join1440.com/

*** begin quote ***

Federal Reserve Cuts Rates

The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-percentage-point cut in benchmark rates yesterday, bringing the range to between 4% and 4.25%—the lowest level in almost three years. The bank signaled the possibility of two additional cuts this year.

The decision saw the Federal Reserve prioritizing a hiring slowdown over inflation. A sluggish 22,000 jobs were added last month; weekly jobless claims reached their highest level in four years last week. The US has also downwardly revised job growth by 911,000 for the one-year period ending in March. Those concerns trumped sticky inflation, with consumer prices rising 2.9% annually last month.

The bank voted 11-1 in yesterday’s decision, with the only dissenter being newly appointed Fed Governor Stephen Miran, who preferred a half-point cut. Governor Lisa Cook participated in the meeting after an appeals court ruled the White House lacked authority to fire her. The White House plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

*** end quote ***

“Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.” — Milton Friedman

"Paper money eventually returns to it's intrinsic value, zero ...

Why do we have a “Federal Reserve Bank”?

The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. IT ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians.

Why do we need them to “set” interest rates?

We don’t,  In essence, they are “price fixers”.  And, as we know, no one can know the correct “price” of anything.  The free market allows buyers and sellers to set a price where they are both “satisfied”.  Otherwise, it “win-win” or “no deal”.  

Why is there one “prime rate” of interest?

Because that allows the Gooferment to manipulate the market.  By hiding the “true cost” of money (i.e., the interest rate), buyers and sellers are making decision based on a fiction.  Everyone loses.

Why do we have “inflation”?

Milton Friedman: ‘Inflation is taxation without legislation.’  The FED “prints” money and the market reacts to the change in “the supply of dollars”.  It’s a silent thief that steals wealth from everyone who has an “old dollar” especially the poor, those on fixed incomes, and savers. 

# – # – # – # – #

As gun-owning pro-life pro-choice little L libertarian, the market for money should be free from Gooferment.  The Federal Reserve has been unable to “provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system” which is its intended purpose.  So let’s follow Andrew Jackson’s lead and end the Federal Reserve Bank.

FYI, he was the last President to have zero debt.

Argh!

— 30 —


MEME: Protect us from what?

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

— 30 —


TECHNOLOGY: Why can’t I compile a spreadsheet?

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

https://a.tldrnewsletter.com/web-version?ep=1&lc=834d23bc-ea90-11ec-9258-0241b9615763&p=fed2061c-8fbc-11f0-a7bf-214dec94fde6&pt=campaign&t=1757673580&s=aa29e0273801d56e71f15cc32a41f44053f1403baf33cd1ccbc2231fcfb6c211

TLDR 2025-09-12

*** begin quote ***

That giant mountain of spreadsheets and screenshots standing between your startup and your success. 

*** end quote ***

Why hasn’t someone come out with a simple way to “compile” a spreadsheet?

Once I’ve “perfected” my spreadsheet, why can’t I “freeze” into an app.  That app would allow input BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), not allow formulas or formatting changes.

When I was the bar manager at my local American Legion post, I had several spreadsheets for various functions.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t share them with my team because invariably some one would mess it up the formulas or format.  So even when we got square to take credit cards, my data entry work didn’t ease up; it increased.  Argh!

I could have coded an app in assembler, Fortran, or COBOL, but why bother?  That was more work than just entering, and in some cases, reentering the same data.  Luckly, COVID came an killed the Post’s business.  Thanks to Gooferment diktats and no reduction in fees to non-profits, we went from stay afloat to being underwater. Argh!

I still would like  de able to “freeze” a spreadsheet.  Maybe I should apply to Apple, Microsoft, or Google to develop it for them.  I don’t see them doing much to advance spreadsheet technology? 

FWIW!

# – # – # – # – # 

p.s., I’d like some TLDR swag. Laugh!

https://refer.tldr.tech/3dabce84/

— 30 —


GUNS: A 30-06 from 200 yards puts a huge hole in deer; Chralie Kirk wasn’t shot with that round

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

https://tomrenz.substack.com/p/charlie-kirk-mrna-and-government?publication_id=792813&post_id=173712846&isFreemail=true&r=69c48n&triedRedirect=true

Charlie Kirk, mRNA and Government Fraud

*** begin quote ***

Now, let’s talk about the Charlie Kirk tragedy. I’m not buying the official story one bit, no lone gunman, no “tranny shooter” nonsense they think we’ll just swallow because it fits some stereotype. The details don’t add up. They say Charlie was hit with a .30-06 from 200 yards, a round that’d blow through you like a freight train. But no exit wound? No spray? Come on, that’s not how physics works. Something’s fishy, and it reeks of another government cover-up. I’m not saying I know what happened, maybe foreign interference, maybe powerful folks didn’t like Charlie’s message, but the narrative stinks, and I don’t trust a government that lies as easily as it breathes.
 
*** end quote ***

George carlin quote 3 500x270.

I think we have more than enough examples of this.  Pick your favorite:

  • JFK
  • MLK
  • RFK
  • Any of the CIA “operations”
  • Covid
  • The FED
  • Any Gooferment “temporary” program
  • 9/11
  • FDR and Pearl Harbor
  • The Lusitania
  • Gulf of Tonkin
  • Etc. etc. etc.

And that’s just off the top of my head. 

When do “We, The Sheeple” wake up and resist?

Probably when they are disarmed and being sent to camps.

Argh!

— 30 —


MEME: One Well-Worn Pre-1965 Silver Dime With Just Melt Silver Value Now Costs $3.15 in FRNs

Monday, September 22, 2025

https://survivalblog.com/2025/09/21/jwrs-meme-of-the-week-65/

— 30 —


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Gooferment diktats and “inspections” don’t keep us safe

Monday, September 22, 2025

https://www.malone.news/p/homesteading-the-food-emancipation?publication_id=583200&post_id=173665120&isFreemail=true&r=3snn7d&triedRedirect=true

Homesteading: The Food Emancipation Proclamation
By Joel Salatin
Robert W Malone MD, MS
Sep 15, 2025

*** begin quote ***

If you said, I want to buy a can of your homemade canned tomato soup, I can’t sell it to you. The current system only allows availability in the marketplace from the industrial choice. If you ever notice a food recall, they’ll put down the brands that are being recalled. There’s 25 brands, they’re all coming from the same tube. People walk into Walmart and they say, well, what do you mean we don’t have food choice? Look at all the brands, all the colored labels. Well, they’re all industrial. So what we want, what the society, the culture is yearning for right now. Buyers want affordable unadulterated food. You can’t get that at the supermarket. Old farmers need a way to get out. We talked about that on the tour. Young farmers need a way to get in and inner city food deserts need a solution besides the food bank.

*** and ***

In order for me to offer you a chicken pot pie, did you like that chicken yesterday? Yeah. Yeah. In order for me to offer you a chicken pot pie, I have to have an inspected kitchen, a hasp plan, hazardous analysis, critical control point plan, and there’s no template for making these. And if you take the template off the inspection service website, they will automatically cast it out.

I have to have a licensed bathroom, not a composting toilet, and it doesn’t matter that our kitchen is a hundred yards from two in our house, two in mom’s house. It has to be on site, a licensed leach field for that bathroom and a certified cold chain with 24 7 thermometer, computer microchip reading. That’s just to get you a chicken pot pie.

*** and ***

Ultimately, these food safety laws have nothing to do with food safety. All other hazardous substances, prescription drugs, fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, name your thing, you can’t buy them. You can’t give them away. You can’t possess them, and you certainly can’t feed ’em to your kids. But food, the prohibition is only on the seller. You can buy it, you can use it, you can feed it to your kids, you can feed it to your neighbors, you can give it away. You just can’t sell it. So who’s kidding? Who here is this really food safety? If it was really dangerous for me to butcher a beef in the field and take out a T-bone steak and sell it to you, if it was really dangerous, it ought to be I can’t give it away. You can’t buy it and you certainly can’t feed it to your kids. So the hypocrisy of this is so glaring that it defies imagination.

*** end quote *** 

Argh!

What more can I say?

Sorry but the Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats have a slew of regulations that don’t make sense.

Let the “free market” decide what we can and can’t put in out bodies.

We are NOT the Gooferment’s “livestock” to be “managed” at their whim.

— 30 —


QUOTE: Hate speech does not exist legally in America … …  … … 

Sunday, September 21, 2025

“Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech, there’s gross speech, there’s evil speech, and all of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.” — Charlie Kirk

— 30 —


POLITICAL: You can’t reason with crazy

Sunday, September 21, 2025

https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/futility-of-trying-to-reason-with?publication_id=1119676&post_id=173510671&isFreemail=true&r=3snn7d&triedRedirect=true

Futility of Trying to Reason With Lunatics

  • Widespread jubilation at the cold-blooded murder of Charlie Kirk reveals not only ideological possession, but also widespread mental illness.

John Leake  —  Sep 13, 2025

*** begin quote ***

For several years I’ve been turning over in my mind an idea that initially struck me as far-fetched, but now strikes me as a distinct possibility. Could it be that people suffering from some degree of mental illness are now heavily influencing or even directing cultural, political, and economic affairs? To put it more bluntly, are we now being constantly buffeted and even, in some jurisdictions, governed by lunatics?

*** and ***

I would rather take my chances at bull riding or venomous snake handing than try to reason with deranged college students. 

*** end quote ***

I’m beginning to realize that expecting change from lunatics is like “waiting for Gidot”, the second coming, an honest politician, or the Second Coming.

As such, I’m going to stop trying.  Best to keep to myself and my blog.  Not that anyone cares.

Sadly, it’s frustrating to see things that are so OBVIOUS, and those things must be in Panes 3 and 4 of everyone’s Johari window. (the Hidden area known to self but not to others, and the Unknown area known neither to self nor others)

Sadly.

# – # – # – # – # 

The Johari Window model is a tool used to improve self-awareness and interpersonal communication. It consists of four quadrants: the Open area (known to self and others), the Blind area (known to others but not to self), the Hidden area (known to self but not to others), and the Unknown area (known neither to self nor others), helping individuals understand their relationships better.

— 30 —


MACOSX: Upgrade 26.0 issues

Saturday, September 20, 2025

MAC OSX 26 upgrade

2025-Sep-15

  • Big download and long delay getting it; aborted once and restart seemed to pick up where it left off
  • Multi-hour estimate; left it running overnight

 

2025-Sep-16 0911 

  • wipes out Marsedit 5.3.7 blog settings … …
    … … no heads up from anyone.  Took a few minutes to repair.
  • mac osx 26 lost share action for gmail … …
    … … no obvious fix

2025-Sep-16 1150

  • Firefox 142.0.1 (aarch64) appears to send every link thru google … … 
    … … can’t seem to capture or reproduce?
    … … seems that clicking a link in email gets passed to Google search engine?
    … … Firefox 143.0 (aarch64) updated on restarting Firefox?

2025-Sep-19 1000

  • All tasks when tabbed out now become minimized.  Giant PIA!  Initial inet search shows no fix.
  • Firefox 143 appear to route all new links thru google some how for some reason.
  • In Finder 26 the share selection with a file selected does n’t have “mail” which should have been Firefox Gmail. 

 

 

  • … … Next?

 

— 30 —


MONEY: Why can’t I have cheap gas?

Saturday, September 20, 2025

I can hope!  I remember 25¢ a gallon with full service, trading stamps, glassware, and a clean windshield.  Then Gooferment “counterfeited” more dollars.  That quarter translates to $5 today. Argh! 

———- Forwarded message ————

From: New Jersey 101.5 <nj1015@trenton.mail.townsquarenewsletters.com>

Date: Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 6:31 AM

Subject: The truth about NJ gas prices

 New Jersey top news… View in browser Don’t expect $2 gas in New Jersey — expert calls it ‘a fantasy’Gas prices in New Jersey have jumped 11 cents since Labor Day, driven by rising oil costs and refinery maintenance with hopes for lower prices as winter blends roll out.

— 30 —


RANT: Here’s the interefernece I was referring to in my previous post

Friday, September 19, 2025

https://nypost.com/2025/09/18/media/heres-the-real-reason-abc-suspended-jimmy-kimmel-live/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3

Here’s the real reason ABC has suspended ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
By Charles Gasparino
Published Sep. 18, 2025, 10:31 a.m. ET

*** begin quote ***
Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk weren’t just noxiously offensive and seemingly misleading — their timing was also incredibly bad: They threaten to derail Nexstar’s $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, telecom insiders tell On The Money.

The already controversial deal — which would combine two of the nation’s largest owners of local TV stations — poses significant antitrust questions and needs a close review by the Federal Communications Commission and its conservative firebrand chairman, Brendan Carr.

Kimmel’s comments made that approval even dicier. That’s why Nexstar publicly announced Thursday that its stations would no longer carry the show, telecom insiders tell On The Money. Ditto for ABC, which produces and distributes “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to broadcasters like Nexstar — and likewise has business before the FCC.

*** end quote ***

Here’s the conflict of interests!

It was wrong when the D’s did it.  It’s still wronger when the R’s do it.

Argh!

— 30 —


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: DJT47 should find out if the Gooferment was involved in this suspension.

Friday, September 19, 2025

https://nypost.com/2025/09/17/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-f-king-livid-over-abc-pulling-live-report/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3

Jimmy Kimmel reportedly ‘f–king livid’ over ABC pulling ‘Live!’ — as Trump cheers ‘great news for America’
By Anna Young
Published Sep. 17, 2025
Updated Sep. 17, 2025, 10:27 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

Jimmy Kimmel is reportedly “absolutely f–king livid” over ABC’s decision to ax his late-night talk show following backlash to his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination — while President Trump cheered the move as “great news for America.” 

The comedian, 57, was left fuming over the network’s Wednesday decision to suspend him and pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” after he unleashed a hateful tirade against the gunned-down conservative activist during Monday night’s monologue, sources and producers told the Daily Mail.

*** and ***

Nexstar Media Group, the major broadcast company that serves as a primary affiliate for ABC, confirmed that it would “preempt” Kimmel’s program in the wake of his remarks.

*** and ***

But after Monday’s blunder, the FCC chairman says the only reasonable step for ABC, parent company Disney, and the Emmy-nominated host is to issue a public apology — noting that the network’s “unprecedented” rejection of Kimmel by broadcasters is “an important turning point” in the media. 

“This action today by NexStar and Sinclair, frankly, it’s unprecedented,” Brendan Carr told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. 

*** end quote ***

Early reports indicated that Nexstar Media Group was seeking FCC approval for something.  That seems to have “disappeared”.  Was this a quid pro quo to make DJT47 happy?  If so, it’s UNACCEPTABLE.

I’m no Jimmy Kimmel fan. BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), was this “suspension” rooted in politics.  Sure seems so.  When you see some of the many examples of “trash” that the broadcast networks air, this seems “mild”.   

 What would the FCC say about George Carlin now?

As much as I dislike Kimmel, this is just WRONG.  And, he should get his show back on the air.

DJT47 should IMMEDIATELY: 

  1. Find out any and all conversations between the FCC and ANY Gooferment bureaucrat with Nexstar Media Group and ANY ABC (or Disney).
  2. Fire anyone in the Gooferment who was involved in this affair.  (The Gooferment, like Caesar’s wife must be above reproach.)  Someone MIGHT have been trying to “please the boss” and gone way too far.
  3. Invite Kimmel to the White House, like he did with Bill Mahr, to have dinner and discuss this and many other topics.
  4. If Kimmel is starting a podcast or internet show like Tucker, then DJT47 should offer to be his first guest.
  5. Everyone, who purports to support the First Amendment, should let DJT47, Nexstar Media Group, ABC / Disney know that this is just wrong.  (I will!)

What would Charlie Kirk be doing?  Certainly, not trying to shut down an opinion.  Any opinion.

Argh!

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” — often misattributed to Voltaire

Two memes sum it up!

Because Hate Speech Isn't A Thing - Imgflip

 

— 30 —


SECURITY: Don’t forget the old printer as a “data leak”

Thursday, September 18, 2025

FROM TLDR Information Security 2025-09-10

*** begin quote ***

USB drives are still a problem – but they’re not your only data exfiltration risk (Sponsor)

While most organizations focus on blocking USB devices, attackers and insiders can just as easily steal data through network shares, cloud storage, or even local folder access. You need visibility and control over ALL storage access points.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, but I remember that brokers used to keep a shadow book at home.  Meticulously copying or printing duplicates of “their” Client accounts.  

Now it’s easy to just use your phone to take a picture.  AI or software will even extract the text from the picture so no reentering data drudgery. 

I’ve even seen utilities that will put files into QR codes for backup and recovery.

Never underestimate human inginuity to get what they want. Be it drugs, sex, money, or data.

— 30 —


MEME: PSA about “free sppeech”

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

[JR: Seems to sum it up quite nicely to me?]

— 30 —


POLITICAL: When to clean the slate and start the next cycle anew?

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

https://survivalblog.com/2025/09/03/survivalblog-readers-editors-snippets-228/

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

James Wesley Rawles September 3, 2025 

*** begin quote ***

Reader R.W. in Oregon had this comment:

“Well, it took a long time but I’ve come to the conclusion that politics is like the weather. People can bitch about it but there’s not a d*mn thing they can do about it. Politics is gonna happen with or without us.

Our votes haven’t meant sh*t since before reconstruction, the “Parties” and “Machines” captured or created by bankers and industrialists made short work of that. There’s no “Right” or “Left”, it’s just “Us” vs “Them”.

Thank God for people like Smedley Butler who had the courage to call it like it is. What he said applies to the entire world, not just us. Read: “Against the Grain”. Greed and avarice breed tyranny.

The most insightful, wise and thoughtful dissection of that premise, in my opinion, is still the Federalist Papers and various books of the Bible.

Eventually, every corrupt and rotting government finally picks a war (all wars are bankers wars) or drives their economy and culture into the ditch and the people won’t take it anymore. Our job is to know when to clean the slate and start the next cycle anew.

That is the one thing we can do. And, as we are one of the last peoples on this planet to retain that one very important right, the rest of the world is looking to us to do it. 

*** end quote ***

A most interesting dictum to us all.  When is enough enough?

Do we wait for “them” to start herding us in to freight cars?  We know from history what comes after that!

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn 

Or do we, like “quiet quitting” and “quiet firing”, just refuse to kowtow to ever more increasing intrusive demands, diktats, and “trends”?

I think that ₿itcoin is the first step.  Instead of “saving” in “dollars”, I’m “saving” in ₿itcoins, GoldBacks, junk silver, and gold rounds.  Let them figure out how to “inflate” those.

YMMV

— 30 — 


IOS: IOS26 upgrade — issues list

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

IOS26 Upgrade —  Issues list

2025-Sep-15

  • Big download and long delay getting it

— 30 —


NEWJERSEY: Mikie Sherrill’s voting record is bad news for the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

https://savejersey.com/2025/09/if-given-the-chance-sherrill-will-turn-n-j-into-a-giant-charlotte-light-rail-train/

If given the chance? Sherrill will turn N.J. into a giant Charlotte light rail train.

September 10, 2025  —  Matt Rooney 

*** begin quote ***

I don’t care what a politician says, Save Jerseyans.

Especially once they’ve developed a record? I care what they actually do, and Mikie Sherrill’s voting record in the U.S. House of Representatives gives me reason to believe she’d be a law-and-order DISASTER as New Jersey governor.

New Jersey is already struggling under the current cashless bail regime, and as the stomach-churning murder of a young immigrant woman on Charlotte’s light rail system vividly illustrates, the consequences of having a leaders who aren’t tough on criminals are inevitably fatal.

*** end quote ***

Typical “democrat” soft on everything important!

For a veteran and pilot, I’d have expected a more realistic platform and record.

Not that the R is much better. 

Argh!

To quote from the movie “The Far Side of the World” Master and Commander Capt. Jack Aubrey: “There! I have you! You’re completely dished. … one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?”

It’s just about as significant.

— 30 —


MEME: About last night’s “emmys”

Monday, September 15, 2025

— 30 —


ENCOURAGING: “Forbidden” llists are counter-productive to censorship

Monday, September 15, 2025

https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/from-forbidden-to-top-sellers?r=3snn7d

From Forbidden to Top Sellers

  • If books are any indication, the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex is losing in the marketplace of ideas.

John Leake  —  Sep 09, 2025

*** begin quote ***

The dummies who tried to impose a censorship regime in the United States should have understood that their scheme wouldn’t work.

Key actors in the “censorship-industrial complex,” as Michael Shellenberger calls it, should have understood that their enterprise was doomed to fail, just as the Catholic Church’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books), maintained between 1560 to 1966, was doomed to fail.

Notable authors on the Index included Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel de Montaigne, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, André Gide, Nikos Kazantzakis, Emanuel Swedenborg, Baruch Spinoza, Desiderius Erasmus, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, René Descartes, Francis Bacon, Thomas Browne, John Milton, John Locke, Nicolaus Copernicus, Niccolò Machiavelli, Galileo Galilei, Blaise Pascal, and Hugo Grotius.

Rather than censoring and banning ideas, it’s always better to discuss and debate them. 

*** end quote ***

I remember in Catholic High Skrule each week, the Diocesan newspaper (I forget the name) would print the Forbidden Books and Forbidden Movies lists.  And the good Christian Brothers would make a point of reminding us that these would damage our souls.  Little did they realize it was, just like Adam and Eve, tempting us.  I know everyone tried to read or see these “evil demons”.  Most of us succeeded.  Word quickly spread which were worth the effort and which weren’t.  Laugh!

I don’t think it made a difference.  

If I was the Principal I would have put the summer required reading list as “Prohibited” and it would have gotten read.

Sigh!  Those were the “easy days”.

— 30 —


ETC: Links I thought were interesting

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Ten Years Post “Cheating” – EPautos – Libertarian Car Talk

More On Charlie Kirk, The Qatar Strike and the Russia’s Netcentric Military Doctrine

A Common Trait Among Mentally Disturbed Women: Deviant-ated Septum

Writing Articles For SurvivalBlog, by Richard T.. The intention of this letter is to motivate readers of the blog to submit articles.

Some Catholic Schools Adding Armed Response After Annunciation Shooting &ndash; Bearing Arms

We betrayed Russians in 1945. We’re doing it again in 2025. :: Jeff Jacoby

— 30 —


MEME:Teach the criminal to fear the victim by LtCol Jeff Cooper

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Jeff Cooper Meme

— 30 —


GUNS: Lessons from the Charlie Kirk assassination

Sunday, September 14, 2025
 
2025-Sep-12 1206
 
Update: “Investigators say the suspect left palm prints on the roof and a shoe imprint as he fled— a grave mistake.”
 
— 30 —

MEME: In reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk

Saturday, September 13, 2025

The True Story Of 300's Battle Of Thermopylae

Paratattein (παρατάττειν) “Form the line!” — attributed to Leonidas to prepare his men for battle at 

<< in reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk >>

— 30 —


INSPIRATIONAL: Some times you can use your image to your advantage and do good for the world

Saturday, September 13, 2025

{tip of the old tin foil hat to <Stephen E. Phelps Jr.> for sharing!}

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A3MmpKyce/

True Stories

Dolly Parton once walked into a boardroom full of men in rhinestones and heels — and walked out owning her own masters. The executives thought she was a naïve country girl who’d sign anything. Instead, she quietly bought back her publishing rights, a move so rare at the time that even industry sharks didn’t see it coming. Decades later, when Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” sold 20 million copies, the checks went to Dolly. She didn’t just write the song — she owned it.

That’s the paradox of Dolly. She leaned into the dumb-blonde jokes, the wigs, the over-the-top curves — and used them as camouflage. People underestimated her, and she liked it that way. Behind the glitter was one of the shrewdest business operators in music. She built Dollywood in rural Tennessee, turning her home into a tourist empire. She funneled money into children’s literacy programs, giving away more than 200 million books. And she did it all while letting the world laugh at her “backwoods Barbie” image.

The kicker? She admitted the caricature was intentional. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” she quipped. The hair, the nails, the laugh — they were her armor, her Trojan horse. She could sparkle her way past prejudice and still walk out with the contract that made her untouchable.

Even Elvis tried to own her. When Colonel Tom Parker demanded half the rights to “I Will Always Love You” for Presley to record it, Dolly said no — sobbing in her car, heartbroken, but unyielding. It may be the single most profitable “no” in music history.

Dolly Parton’s story isn’t about a country diva in sequins. It’s about a woman who weaponized underestimation, sold the world a joke it wanted to hear, and laughed all the way to the bank — while handing out books to children on the side.

# – # – # – # – # 

Way back when, in the 70s, some of my friends were playing a game.  I think it was called “Facts in Five”?  One of the challenges was to name the smartest person you knew of.  My wife assured everyone that she had my answer cold. “Einstein”!  Nope, I had written down “Dolly Parton”.  She went nuts and the entire group.  I explained that she was the shrewdest business lady and the most charitable. I knew of Dollywood and her book donations. 

This story reminded me of that game and added some details about Ms. Parton IDK. 

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POLITICAL: The Young Democrats and Young Republicans of Connecticut issued a joint statement

Friday, September 12, 2025

https://reason.com/2025/09/11/after-charlie-kirks-murder-politicians-can-back-away-from-the-brink-or-make-matters-worse/

After Charlie Kirk’s Murder, Politicians Can Back Away From the Brink, or Make Matters Worse

  • The political class has been pushing the country towards a conflict nobody should want.

J.D. Tuccille | 9.11.2025 3:00 PM 

*** begin quote ***

The Young Democrats and Young Republicans of Connecticut issued a joint statement denouncing the murder.

“What happened at Utah Valley University this afternoon is unacceptable,” it reads. “We reject all forms of political violence. There is no place in our country for such acts, regardless of political disagreements.” 

*** end quote ***

Finally a little bit of sanity returns to politics.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/quotes/

*** begin quote ***

    Nehru: Think of what you can do by living, that you cannot do by dying… What do you want?

    Gandhi: That the fighting will stop. That you make me believe it will never start again.

*** end quote ***

This quote is preceded.  By a line, something like, “I will fast until the violence stops to atone for my part in stoking it”.  Something like that.  It’s seems that ALL politicians need to take this example and tone down the posturing.

No one should be stoking the flames of violence for any reason.  Certainly not for their political gain.

Argh!

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NEWJERSEY: Who gets sued for the vax injuries?

Friday, September 12, 2025

https://newjerseymonitor.com/briefs/nj-to-maintain-covid-19-vaccine-access-despite-new-federal-restrictions/

NJ to maintain COVID-19 vaccine access despite new federal restrictions
By: Dana DiFilippo – September 10, 2025 12:22 pm

*** begin quote ***

The New Jersey Department of Health has authorized pharmacies and pediatricians statewide to give COVID-19 vaccines to anyone 6 months or older, a move meant to protect access to the shots after federal health officials last month announced new eligibility restrictions limiting them to people over 65 or with other health problems.

Acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown issued an executive directive Monday denouncing the “unfounded and unsupported barriers” the federal Food and Drug Administration created in rolling back vaccine access.

*** end quote ***

Let the lawsuits begin!

Does the law preempting suing Big Pharma still have any effect?

If I was a Doctor or Pharmacist, then who’s directions do you follow?

If I was the Insurance Companies, then I’d warm the lawyers.  This is going to be a giant mess.

Argh!

Remember “informed consent”?

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