SAD: 25 years ago … … it’s history

Friday, September 11, 2026

https://manhattan.edu/

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Jaspers, Family, and Friends,

We gather today in quiet reflection to honor all those profoundly affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

With heartfelt solidarity, we extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims, their loved ones, and the courageous individuals who responded in the aftermath, many of whom still carry the weight of that day.

We also specifically remember the Manhattan University alumni whose lives were tragically lost on September 11, 2001, and whose legacy will forever remain a part of our community.

*** end quote ***

They say you can only read history when you’re down and out.

A dogma during my military service was “after action reports” and “lessons learned”.

What have we learned?

I’d assess it as “very little”.

  • “We” are still up to our necks in a “meddling Middle East policy disaster” with no end in sight.
  • “Our” Gooferment still lies on almost everything; even trivial stuff.
  • Congress is an impotent geriatric old-age home for has-been politicians.
  • Deficit, Debt, Inflation, Money Printing, and other fiscal crimes are still the oder of the day. (The taxpayers’ shit sandwich!)
  • Bread and circuses are used to amuse the common folk while the those people run amok.

Where does it stop?

IDK

Argh!

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MEME: Your current dollar is only worth $0.574 of what it was in 1924

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

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POLITICAL: Ask Harris — “Why did you lie to the American people about Biden’s deteriorating mental health?”

Saturday, September 21, 2024

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/wayne-root-president-trump-called-me-right-after/

WAYNE ROOT: President Trump Called Me Right After Debate. I told Him ABC Clearly Gave Kamala Harris All the Questions in Advance.

by Assistant Editor Sep. 11, 2024 12:40 pm

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Clearly only 2 things happened before last night’s presidential debate…

Either Kamala’s best friends who run ABC gave her all the questions in advance of the debate…

Or Team Kamala gave the questions they wanted asked to ABC.

I told President Trump the exact same thing last night, right after the debate. What happened last night wasn’t normal. More importantly, Kamala’s debate performance wasn’t possible- not without a lot of help from her friends. 

*** and ***

I told him he won- because no matter how negative the questions, no matter how vicious and biased the moderators, no matter how hateful Kamala was…in the end, all that matters, all that will resonate…are the four issues most middle class Americans care about…

And you won on those four issues all night long: the economy, inflation, crime and the open border disaster.

That’s it. That’s all that matters. And you won on those four issues. Most Americans are with you. All the rest is B.S. and will be forgotten.

*** and ***

*Who is really running the country?

*Why did you lie to the American people about Biden’s deteriorating mental health?

*Inflation is killing American families. It was close to -0- when you took over. What did you do wrong?

*Why do you support giving citizenship to every illegal alien and free healthcare to all of them, while taking away private healthcare from American citizens?

*Do you feel responsible for all the women and children murdered by illegal aliens you and Biden welcomed into our country?

*Do you see Venezuelan prison gangs taking over entire blocks of U.S. cities?

*Why do you support letting transgender illegal aliens into our country, and asking US taxpayers to pay for their sex change operations?

*Why are you and Biden against free speech? Why do you order censorship of conservatives and critics?

*You say you support women’s rights, so why do you want boys to play women’s sports, and take away scholarships from girls?

*You say Trump incited an insurrection, but didn’t you do exactly that by egging on BLM rioters, and trying to raise money to bail out BLM criminals, rioters, looters and torchers?

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Well, the “sorority connection” and Donna Brazile’s involvement certain make me question the “fairness”?

I won’t forget the topic (questions) that weren’t asked.

The National Debt, the unfunded liabilities, the continuing deficit spending, and the resulting inflation.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Kamala Harris is a communist at heart and economically illiterate!

Saturday, August 17, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/08/15/us-news/republicans-economist-slam-harris-plan-to-lower-food-prices-economic-lunacy/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3

Kamala Harris’ plan to lower food prices is ripped to shreds by Republicans, economists: ‘Economic lunacy’
By Victor Nava 
Published Aug. 15, 2024
Updated Aug. 15, 2024, 9:50 p.m. ET

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Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan to grant the federal government expansive new authority to control food and grocery prices was roundly criticized Thursday by several Republicans and economists, who argued that it was “big government on steroids” and “economic lunacy.” 

The 59-year-old Democratic presidential nominee’s economic agenda calls for the “first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries” to be implemented within her first 100 days as president in order to “bring down Americans’ grocery costs and keep inflation in check,” according to the Harris campaign, which released details of the plan ahead of Friday’s official unveiling. 

*** and ***

Jared Walczak, a researcher and vice president at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, pointed out the slim profit margins companies selling groceries are making even as prices on food skyrocketed under President Biden.

“When Kamala Harris cites price gouging by grocers, these are the industry profit margins she’s railing against,” Walczak wrote on X, including a graph showing the 1.2% profit margins grocers made last year compared to 8.5% profit margins across all industries. 

When Kamala Harris cites price gouging by grocers, these are the industry profit margins she’s railing against. pic.twitter.com/IYnWjxLa07

 — Jared Walczak (@JaredWalczak) August 15, 2024

*** and ***

“Price controls are a SERIOUSLY bad idea,” he wrote on X. “They lead to shortages, severe misallocations of capital, and distort the ability to prices to signal the information we all need to make choices.” 

‘They didn’t work when tried by a Republican (Nixon) and they won’t work under a Democrat, however strong the ‘vibes,’” Gregg noted in a separate post. “They only cause shortages and misery.”

“Will no fiscally responsible Democrat call out this irresponsibility?”

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I remember Nixon’s gas lines.  (Even Odd plates in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee.  We had one car and access to her brother’s with one even and one odd.  So when I went to work in the “bad plated car”, she would go sit on a gas line with the “good plated car”.  Sometimes for hours.  What a total waste of attention, time, and resources across all of society.)

I remember, that when I started driving in the sixties, three silver dimes would buy a gallon of regular gas.  Today those same three silver dimes, sold to a coin dealer would get you 6$, which would buy a little less that 2 gallons of regular gas.  And, today the gas is better and goes further.  Even after food (cord) is turned into “fake gas” and adulterated into regular gas. Argh!

SO what happened between the 1960’s and the 2020’s? 

The FED “printed” a shit load of dollars which the politicians spent like drunken sailors (at least sailors spend their own money).  More dollars change the same amount of goods leads to inflation.

“Inflation is theft, you’re stealing value from people who save money.”-Ron Paul

William Rusher, the editor of the conservative National Review, quoted economist Milton Friedman as saying that “if the government were to take over the Sahara Desert, there would be a shortage of sand in five years.”

So only a socialist / communist would seek price controls.  What to curb inflation, #endthefed and restore fiscal discipline to the nation.

I’ve often thought the USA’s downfall has been at the hands of the Progressive Left.  Some changes like ending slavery were excellent; although done very badly.  Others, like the 14th, 16th, and 17th Amendments were disastrous.  The opponents of the Constitution were stunningly accurate in their predictions of what could go wrong,  And did!

“Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man’s rights as easily as a king can.” Mel Gibson as the character Benjamin Martin in the movie The Patriot http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/quotes

I hope that “We, The Sheeple” recognizes that Harris is a whore that climbed the political ladder in the most disgusting way.  And, if she’s elected, then the USA is finished as a democratic federal republic.  Just like all the other empires crashed on a mountain of debt, so too will the USA.

Argh!

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VOCABULARY: Ever heard of “trading sardines”

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

https://www.curzioresearch.com/stay-away-from-these-trading-sardines/

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In 1896, the discovery of gold in Canada’s Yukon territory launched an era now known as the Yukon-Klondike gold rush.

Over the next two years, 100,000 miners flooded into the area in search of the next big gold strike. 

But it was far from easy… 

The trek was treacherous… The competition was fierce… And the weather was glacial.

During the winter of 1896–1897, the water around Alaska’s ports froze solid, which forced shipping to shut down completely.

The result was a major food shortage—and skyrocketing prices for the little amount of available supplies.

In the most isolated regions of Alaska, a single can of sardines—which cost $0.10 in New York—sold for many times that amount. And thanks to the demand from starving miners, the price kept rising.

Legend has it that one miner, desperate for a meal, bought a can for $100.

But when he went to open it, the fish was rotten.

He tracked down the seller, demanding his money back.

The seller was confused—asking the buyer why he would open the can in the first place.

He told the miner, “Those are trading sardines, not eating sardines.”

This piece of market lore is a commonly cited metaphor for speculative trading, where an asset can keep rising… and traders—suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out)—keep bidding the price higher. Meanwhile, the asset is—from a practical standpoint—worthless.

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ECONOMICS: Measuring the FED’s inflation over time

Saturday, February 3, 2024

https://schiffgold.com/commentaries/wildest-inflation-red-flag-vegas-table-limits/

Wildest Inflation Red Flag: Vegas Table Limits | SchiffGold

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Take the Las Vegas Strip. Casinos on the Strip, long known for trying to take the money of everyone from the highest high-rolling whale to the coupon-clipping low-roller camped out at Motel 6 or Excalibur Casino, are now finally admitting that some dollars aren’t worth the effort of taking. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported on the declining number of tables where you could play blackjack in Las Vegas while the amount of revenue earned from blackjack stayed high even as casinos offered worse rules to players, such as paying out 6:5 when a player receives a “blackjack” rather than the traditional 3:2. Strip casinos are also doing away with low table limits, meaning that players that want to risk $5 or $10 on a single hand of blackjack are struggling to find a game.
 
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​Wow.  I remember 25¢ craps where I learned to play.  And 10¢ a way Keno on 15 lines.  Sigh.  I miss the cheap buffets, “free” rooms, and $1 per seat “shows”.  Progress?  I think not; INFLATION due to the FED and Gooferment spending.
 
#ENDTHEFED
 
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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: How about the sneakiness of the Gooferment with our “money”

Friday, November 10, 2023

FROM NEXTDOOR

Ronald P. Society Hill • 2 Nov • 

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The sneakiness of manufacturers! 

One has to be so aware of how manufacturers dupe their customers. 

We have been a big fan of Chock Full O’Nuts Coffee for many years. Always liked to wait for when the coffee went on sale for $1.99 per can. The new sale price at ShopRite reducing it from $5.69 a can is now $2.99. We put the coffee in a canister instead of using it out of the can. Suddenly the canister did not get filled. Apparently the amount of coffee that is now in the can is 10.3 ounces instead of 13 ounces! So now the sales price went up 50% and the quantity of coffee went down over 20%. 

I have found that manufacturers slip in a new reduced package size when they put the item on sale and customers don’t pay attention to the quantity. 

This is not unique to this company but seems to be practiced widely. It is always buyer beware.

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Let’s not ignore the Gooferment’s role in all of this.

It has inflated the number of dollars in circulation by several trillion.  

Don’t you think that has some role in all this?

See my blog rants about penny candy, nickel cigars, and dime comics!

Shrinkflation is the manufactures’ response to a dollar devaluation.

“Dollar stores” are proliferating because that’s what people can afford.  

I can’t imagine shopping for food in a dollar store, but I think we are going to see more of this.  Not less.

Time to vote the clowns out and just resist.

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DISCOURAGING: What’s messed up and what’s not

Saturday, March 18, 2023
https://www.survivalmonkey.com/threads/it-is-all-falling-apart.70122/
 
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Pretty sure everyone with even a couple of functional brain cells can see that everything is falling apart. Whether by design or coincidence can be debated, personally I believe it is a mix of by design and unintended consequences thrown in for good measure. Inflation, Crime, Random acts of violence, a failed public education system, supply chain malfunctions, work force participation, illegal immigration, food shortages, sheer Government incompetence, Polarization and Deep Divisions, A general mix of fear and hostility out in society. The list just keeps going to the point that the list of things NOT wrong and messed up is a lot shorter than the list of things that ARE wrong and messed up.
 
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I’d point out the SVB depositors bailout as a “national disaster”.
 
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MONEY: “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” -Voltaire, 1694-1778

Thursday, March 16, 2023

FROM AN EMAIL FROM BITCOIN.COM

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Unlike dollars, there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin

“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” -Voltaire, 1694-1778

The history of fiat money (ie. money issued by government decree) shows that governments consistently increase supply far beyond demand. This invariably leads to devaluation of the currency over time, something that we experience as inflation. Looking at some examples:

    The U.S. dollar has lost 96% of its value since 1913

    The euro has lost 40% of its value since 1997

    The pound has lost 99.602% of its value since 1751

“It’s going to be very hard to unseat bitcoin as a store of value, because it’s got a 14-year brand, and there’s a finite supply.”  — Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller

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I have put some spare change into ₿ and bullion on the off chance that the USA goes into a hyperinflation.  Based on the spending by Congress and the “printing” by the FED  — 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.  — I think more and more that this is a distinct probability.  Look at Turkey, Venezuela, Nigeria, and many other countries.  That’s what a runaway inflation looks like.

YMMV FWIW FAIWWYPFI 

“Bullets, beans, bandaids, bullion, booze in a safe retreat”  — Unknown

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MONEY: “Blue Light Special” announcement — fiat currencies like the U$D are being stolen by “inflation”

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

The 5 Stages Of Getting Orange-Pilled
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/5-stages-getting-orange-pilled

 — via my feedly newsfeed

# – # – # – # – #

​I’m at “acceptance and hope” stage​.  Back when the employment model switched from “lifetime employment” to “job hopping/consulting”, I told my turkeys that there was now “Blue Light Special” announcement like at the now defunct Kmart to tell them that “the game” had changed.  So to, now, imho, the “financial game” has changed and no announcement is being made.  Bitcoin, alternative forms of money, and other commodities are replacing fiat currencies like the U$D, Euro, and others.  Only the Russian Rouble has made the shift.  All other forms of fiat are subject to “inflation” aka Gooferment Theft. 

Unfortunately, not many have gotten the “non-announcement” and so will pay the tax and take the losses.  Heaven help the bond holders who will get triple screwed (i.e., inflation, loss of income, and loss of capital value) when the 1/7 seesaw rocks against them (i.e., 1% rise in interest rate yields a 7% decrease in the dollar value a bond).

FWIW YMMV and TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” From Robert Heinlein’s classic) 

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