Rebane's Ruminations
June 2024
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["Relocation firm moveBuddha looked at searches for 100,000 moves just this year, and five of the top ten were people looking to get out of the Golden State for almost anywhere else. "5 of the top 10 exit metros are in California, the firm reported on Monday. 'Los Angeles has the highest interest in outbound moves, with 42% more outbound inquiries than runner-up San Francisco. Per capita, the prize goes to San Francisco.'" (more here)  And NPR reported this morning that Sacramento's legislative rock apes are planning to start paying farm field workers their regular pay is they are prevented from working by a "natural disaster" like a heavy rain, flood, cold weather, etc.  The given reason is that we (Californians) want to "earn their trust" and stay in their goodwill.  Of course, the added taxes required and increased debt encountered from all this will just goose the state's exodus rate.  gjr]

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62 responses to “Sandbox – 17jun24”

  1. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    AHHHHHHH fresh kitty litter! –
    During the first press conference in about three weeks, reporters asked Jean-Pierre if the White House was “worried” about Biden’s curious behavior that “appears to be a pattern.”
    The questions came after a video on Sunday showed former President Barack Obama walking Biden off the stage after the president appeared to freeze at a fundraiser. Another video from last week appeared to show Biden wandering off into the distance in Europe before Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turned him back to the group of world leaders watching a skydiving show.
    Neither video was accurate, Jean-Pierre claimed, repeatedly avoiding questions about whether or not Biden is “fine.”
    “Yeah. We, and I think you all have called this the ‘cheap fakes video,’ and that’s exactly what they are. They are cheap fakes video. … They are done in bad faith,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
    About one-third of Democrats doubt Biden’s mental fitness, a Harvard/Harris survey recently found.
    Another poll revealed that 82 percent of Americans harbor concerns about Biden’s physical and mental health.
    Only about one-third of voters say Biden is physically or mentally fit to serve a second term, Quinnipiac found.
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/17/cheap-fakes-white-house-claims-videos-of-joe-bidens-public-malfunctions-are-fabricated/
    😉

    Like

  2. Scott O Avatar

    Winner of today’s “least self-aware” award:
    “Rep. Maxine Waters stood at the podium in front of a federal judge to tell him of the nightmares that stemmed from a Texas man’s threats…”
    The US Atty. adds to the merriment:
    “Threats to harm or kill elected officials are anathema to our nation’s values and must not — and will not — be tolerated,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said”
    I’m surprised they didn’t add a quote from Schiff about how terrible it is to threaten public officials.
    No one is above the law, but there sure are a boatload that are invisible to the law.
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/maxine-waters-tells-judge-nightmares-215903482.html

    Like

  3. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Its official now SF is the queen of the shitholes –
    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-worst-run-city-124906216.html
    😉

    Like

  4. fish ole’ Avatar
    fish ole’

    Godspeed Willie Mays!

    Like

  5. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    That will leave on mark on team creepy grampa joe –
    “I keep looking for signs that this is going to go back to normal and I don’t see it yet in the polling of anything,” Enten told anchor John Berman. “We’re careening towards a historic performance for Republican presidential candidate, the likes of which we have not seen in six decades.”
    Trump appears to have made particular inroads with younger Black voters, he suggested. “Look at Black voters under the age of 50. Holy cow, folks! Holy cow!”
    Support for Biden among that group has “careened down” from an 80-point lead in 2020 to a 37-point lead now, Enten detailed. “That lead has dropped by more than half. I’ve just never seen anything like this. I’m, like, speechless because you always look at history and you go, ‘OK, this is a historic moment.’”
    Enten said it could point to “a historic moment right now where Black voters under the age of 50, which have historically been such a big part of the Democratic coalition, are leaving in droves.”
    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/cnn-data-reporter-speechless-donald-065504319.html
    😉

    Like

  6. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    A seismic shift? =
    Former Obama fundraiser disenchanted with Dems flips to Trump: Biden ‘asleep at the wheel’
    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/former-obama-fundraiser-disenchanted-dems-180027115.html
    😉

    Like

  7. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Decisions, decisions should team creepy grampa joe and the socialists go with the kackkler in chief or cankels???
    Democrats could replace Kamala Harris with Hillary Clinton, columnist argues: ‘Why not
    https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/democrats-could-replace-kamala-harris-114027741.html
    😉

    Like

  8. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Perhaps a death knell to the overreaching bumbling administrative drones –
    Judicial deference to agencies is particularly troubling given that so much of our lives is now governed by the administrative state. Agency employees aren’t legislators; they are politically unaccountable and sometimes unremovable agency bureaucrats. And yet they regulate everything from gas stoves to Greek yogurt — often prosecuting people before their own in-house judges with far less due process than courts, making the agency judge, jury and executioner.
    Judicial review of agency cases is already very circumscribed. Chevron deference tilts the playing field even farther in favor of the agency. Rather than putting vastly important policy decisions back with the politically accountable Congress, and allowing judges to stand as a check on governmental overreach, Chevron deference encourages Congress to pass these difficult decisions off to their politically unaccountable friends in the executive branch and then leaves those decisions free of judicial review.
    But aside from any of these technical arguments about Chevron, there’s a more basic principle at play. If you walk into court, who do you want judging your cause: the people prosecuting you or neutral judges? It’s not just the fishermen, but all of us who should want the latter.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-this-supreme-court-term-a-group-of-fishermen-are-poised-to-undo-an-injustice/ar-BB1otcJT?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=6e048f73741f45128e42c473e31160b6&ei=17
    😉

    Like

  9. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Happy Juneteenth, where we celebrate Texas giving up their secession struggle and the freeing of their slaves.
    The last slaves in the US were freed the following December 31 when Delaware had their slaves walk out their doors.

    Like

  10. fish ole’ Avatar
    fish ole’

    What did you expect….it’s Bidenworld!

    Expensive Incompetence: US Giving Up On $230 Million Gaza Aid Pier

    I totally get why Punch likes him….
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/expensive-incompetence-us-giving-230-million-gaza-air-pier

    Like

  11. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    “Gibs me fitty billions and three cents or teh kids edukayshun getz it”!
    Headline – “Teachers union head: ‘Conservatives don’t even want black children to be able to read.’”
    Perhaps….but the progressives at the Chicago Teachers Union will make sure!
    https://www.thecollegefix.com/teacher-union-head-conservatives-dont-even-want-black-children-to-be-able-to-read/

    Like

  12. Scott O Avatar

    fishy 8:06 – Stacy Gates:
    “That is literally a part of the oath that they take to be right wing.”
    Literally!
    It looks to me that the American leftists and Dems have adopted a tactic of complete insanity as a way to further their objectives. It’s actually not a bad way for them to go. They certainly can’t display any competence or achievements. And how do you form a reasoned argument against madness?

    Like

  13. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Posted by: Scott O | 19 June 2024 at 08:43 AM
    It looks to me that the American leftists and Dems have adopted a tactic of complete insanity as a way to further their objectives.

    That’s Mr. scenes premise…..and as you both say it seems to be working for them! The other part of the equation is the “Stupid” factor…..for that we have the good folx at Punchy Brand Industries™ to thank for holding up their end.

    Like

  14. George Rebane Avatar

    There is so much in the above comments for our liberal and leftwing readers to respond and debunk, that is if they had a leg to stand on. Instead, as a one-tune band they continue their incessant TDS drivel. That they ignore material citations of their overall malfeasance in governance is evidence of the strongest kind that they truly are a fraud on our republic.

    Like

  15. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    They dont want to recognize the people are not buying what they are selling –
    In Canada, like the U.S., EVs remain a tiny fraction of new car sales — indicating slowing consumer demand that both governments had wrongly predicted
    At the same time, more than 1.3 million gas-powered cars were sold in Canada last year, making up the overwhelming majority of cars sold.
    In the U.S., President Joe Biden is reportedly pumping the brakes on his EV mandates that would require nearly 7-in-10 new cars sold in the U.S. market to be EVs rather than gas-powered cars by 2032. The regulations would essentially mandate that American consumers buy EVs.
    The report came as polls showed that Biden’s EV mandates were wildly unpopular.
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/19/green-new-flop-canada-unlikely-to-reach-100-electric-vehicle-goal-due-to-lack-of-consumer-demand/
    😉

    Like

  16. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic.”
    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/

    Like

  17. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Team creepy grampa joe and the socialists cannot talk to regular folks –
    https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/06/19/poll-inflation-and-economy-top-priority-for-americans-abortion-last/
    😉

    Like

  18. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Happy Juneteenth everyone……

    Watch: Gavin Newsom’s Oakland, California Transformed Into Warzone On Juneteenth

    I guess nothing more need be said except that “it must have been those racist cops”!
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-gavin-newsoms-oaklandcalifornia-transformed-warzone

    Like

  19. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Progressive priorities…..

    Car Dealers Idle Across US After Second Cyberattack…
    Hospital hack turns deadly as drugs given to wrong patients…

    This of course is far more important…

    “Senate resolution apologizes to ‘hundreds of thousands’ of LGBTQ federal employees”

    Gotz to keep teh voting blocs nailed down!

    Like

  20. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Happy Juneteenth.
    re: fisho@6:55AM
    I had to look around for a sec for real footage. Naturally, everything on youtube is MSM where they take a one-sentence story, a 5 second clip, and some talking head tells you how they feel for 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
    https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1803783172875862215
    As a side note…I went through the exercise once of trying to get youtube to not feed me pages of TV stations and the like for a given story. I used some sort of blocker and just kept at it. It was an impossible task, there were literally hundreds of MSM things that came first no matter how many I culled. It’s getting harder to find original sources.

    Like

  21. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “Senate resolution apologizes to ‘hundreds of thousands’ of LGBTQ federal employees”
    It would be genuinely interesting to watch the planning for something like this.
    Somebody in a position of power within the (D) machine has a bright idea, election coming up and all.
    Find some sponsors.
    Make sure the votes are lined up.
    Go to your friends in the media to make sure it’s properly advertised.
    Fire up your social media ‘influencers’.
    Execute and release in some optimized order.
    Wash, rinse, repeat.
    There’s nothing really new here, it’s the way that politics worked in ancient Rome although they were quicker with the knife work, but I’d like to know the current thinking and science behind it all.
    Selling things to the hoi polloi is a refined art anymore.

    Like

  22. Scott O Avatar

    Pretty interesting – Congress has paid 17 million in hush money for sexual “misconduct”. In other words tax money spent to cover for crimes.
    What fed employee got hauled into court for this?
    I’m sure Paul is shocked and appalled at this news as he is most upset at this sort of “hush money” crime.
    Right, Paul?
    You lefties are so full of shit, you can’t even get off the couch to write a rebuttal.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6f9Ow8cJlg
    In 1983 there were 2 congressmen found to have had sex with 17 yr old aides.
    The R was booted from office but the Dems cheered their guy on and he was re-elected.
    It truly does help to have no morals if you are on the left.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_congressional_page_sex_scandal
    The great part is that Massie points out that even more tax payer dollars have been miss-used in an attempt to “influence” an election by trying Trump in court on a complete stitch-up.

    Like

  23. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Ethical questions? At The Washington Post?!?!

    Robert Winnett Won’t Become Editor of the Washington Post

    …..not since the 30’s….!
    https://www.wsj.com/business/media/robert-winnett-wont-become-editor-of-the-washington-post-84c9f42a

    Like

  24. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Wow Scott you are going back over 30 years on your 7:18 post. Also Reagan was President then. Why didn’t he do something about it?

    Like

  25. Scott O Avatar

    Clueless Paul:
    “Also Reagan was President then. Why didn’t he do something about it?”
    Paul can’t read. The post had to do with congress.
    And the point was proving that Trump is being brought up on fabricated crimes.
    Nothing he did was illegal, Paul.
    Interesting that Paul and the left think using the govt to go after innocent people to win elections is OK. That’s “their democracy”.

    Like

  26. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Posted by: Scott O | 21 June 2024 at 10:23 AM
    Clueless Paul:
    “Also Reagan was President then. Why didn’t he do something about it?”

    Remember Scott…it’s not substantively different than showing a dog a card trick……!

    Like

  27. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Starlink Mini, a new product. Being introduced as an add on to Starlink service, A flat square phased array antenna, about a foot on a side.
    Up to 100Mbps. First roll outs … you got to keep the starlink service at $120 a month, and add this for $30 a month.

    Like

  28. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    re: Gregory@11:38AM
    I’ve seen those mentioned here and there. Seems cool for portability. Built-in wifi router?
    It would fun to see how much money has been tossed on the fire by government for rural internet when they might as well have just tossed a few shekels to Musk. Of course, in ‘progressive’ land, he’s become a sort of Hitler along with Trump.
    On another note, I ran into a pretty good set of essays: https://pluralistic.net/ wherein I learned the word ‘bezzle’.

    Like

  29. George Rebane Avatar

    re PaulE 954am – Ahh yes, another leftwing shibboleth – if it wasn’t done then, then there’s no sense in doing it now. This goes along with their overused ‘if you can’t show an existing example of what you propose, then it can’t be done.’

    Like

  30. Scott O Avatar

    George 12:05 – It’s worse than that. Notice that Paul wants to know why Reagan didn’t “do something” about it.
    No POTUS is in a legal position to do anything about a matter concerning the House or Senate ethics committee. He just doesn’t want to face the fact that he’s cheering on a fascist govt that runs innocent citizens through the legal mill to break them financially and politically.

    Like

  31. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “No POTUS is in a legal position to do anything about…”
    Putting on my discount psychiatrist hat, maybe it’s a matter of him having a need to personalize mass movements, mass effects. Minstrels, typically being hypersocial folks, want to attach a face to a policy….thus all the mewling about Trump and Reagan and whatnot. If you don’t like Trump as a person, then all else follows.
    The worse part about mass movements is when you are swept up into one. Like a fish ignoring water, a month’s worth of political flags and a march on Sunday seems absolutely fine. I’d find a MAGA parade and vexillology in just as poor a taste. Naturally, not following banners and shouting slogans is usually a bad move since a)they are a successful strategy for seizing resources and b)like ants, they can smell you are not from their colony, but that’s not a thing I can help.

    Like

  32. The Estonian Fox Avatar
    The Estonian Fox

    Bad news from 2nd Par. on page 133 of https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9js5291m
    “..fossil fuels bring a number of downsides, like climate change, potential population overshoot (and associated myriad pressures on the planet), pollution and environmental damage.
    More subtly, a near-complete dependence on fossil fuels has transformed human expectations in a way that could result in failure to adapt once they are no longer available. Superior substitutes are not guaranteed, and inferior replacements may not be gracefully adopted.”
    This is where ‘superior’ = small or large fusion, or M-a-M batteries (matter-anti-matter); ‘Inferior’ = wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, fission, biofuels, hydrogen (unless we teleport it from the sun or Jupiter). Bad times ahead, relatively soon.

    Like

  33. Scott O Avatar

    EF 3:53 – “…potential population overshoot…”
    Perhaps a few more decades of unlimited mass illegal immigration will help?
    I’m not worried. Humans have shown themselves to be quite adept at getting rid of excess numbers of other humans if the availability of resources for life become scarce.
    One must remember that we are shutting down our own consumption of fuel such as coal so that later when the CCP takes over there will be plenty for them to ship back to China.

    Like

  34. Scott O Avatar

    scenes 1:02 – “If you don’t like Trump as a person, then all else follows.”
    That would point to people like Paul. But he’s never met Trump and most of what he claims he doesn’t like about Trump is based on some lie about Trump that Paul wants to believe. I think it’s more that Trump haters don’t like the IDEA of Trump. Some one who would rub their faces in reality. They just can’t handle it and so they end up hating the medium that brings them the message they don’t want to hear.
    OTOH – I’ve never met Trump, but from what I’ve seen and heard about him that is accurate, I don’t think I would want to keep his company. But Trump is running for POTUS, not “My New Best Buddy”. He’s far from my first choice, but here we are. Vote for Biden (or whatever place-holder is inserted) or Trump.
    Personally, I’d like to live out my life without the need to shoot humans dead. But sometimes needs must.

    Like

  35. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Meet Tyler Cherry, the new Biden White House Associate Communications Director.
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-promotes-biden-official-compared-police-slave-patrols-abolish-ice
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/style/tyler-cherry-jakob-stronko-wedding.html
    roflmao. I just love this timeline. I never thought that so many funny things would happen in my dotage.
    I think this dude might be just the thing to replace the current VP.

    Like

  36. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Posted by: scenes | 23 June 2024 at 09:17 AM
    The ploy has to be….”make it so crazy that it’s unmockable”.
    Mission accomplished!
    I understand Punchys™ attraction to the man (not Mr. Cherry….) and his policies.

    Like

  37. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    The whining from the AP….simply delightful!

    Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans

    Yep….totally beyond the pale…..progressive groups would never demonize their…..
    https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-president-project-2025-33d3fc2999a74f4aa424f1128dca2d16

    Like

  38. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    So….???

    Brags Joan Rivers voted for him — but she was dead…

    ….like death ever stopped democrats from voting!
    https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/141178/donald-trump-claims-joan-rivers-voted-problem

    Like

  39. fish ole’ Avatar
    fish ole’

    Punchy Bait……
    While I’m sure that once the numbers are looked at by someone competent this will resolve itself…..nevertheless I leave this gift to you!

    Trump beats Biden for ‘king of debt’ title as market braces for crush of federal bonds
    Trump approved $8.4 trillion in new debt to Biden’s $4.3 trillion

    The author of the piece is named “Chris Matthews” so one has to wonder…..
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-beats-biden-for-king-of-debt-title-as-market-braces-for-crush-of-federal-bonds-6bca5ba7
    PS: Alas no ….not the Chris Matthews!

    Like

  40. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Ya about those 51 intel ‘experts’ election interference –
    Seventy-one percent of Americans believe accurate reporting of Hunter’s “Laptop from Hell” could have altered the 2020 presidential election, TIPP Insights polling revealed in 2022.
    https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/06/25/congressional-report-cia-interfered-2020-election-colluded-biden-campaign-discredit-hunter-laptop-story/
    😉

    Like

  41. The Estonian Fox Avatar
    The Estonian Fox

    from the BBC – VW to invest up to $5bn in Tesla rival Rivian
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ddmxmz1lpo
    “The partnership will give VW immediate access to Rivian’s software allowing the German car maker to use it in its cars.”
    Looks like the VW software engineers will have no problem passing the newly revised gasoline mileage test numbers with their new EVs. This time though, they (probably) won’t have to fake the mileage numbers.

    Like

  42. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Just wait till it’s medical care…..

    Millions Call IRS for Help. Two-Thirds Don’t Reach Anyone…

    ……but it’s free……!
    https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/taxes/irs-customer-service-phone-call-data-fe7c0e65

    Like

  43. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    A sad old man…

    Like

  44. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Emery?
    Emery?
    Emery?
    😉

    Like

  45. Scott O Avatar

    I realize that the “debate” has all the news media a-flutter, but reality grinds on:
    “Ballooning U.S. budget deficit is killing the American dream”
    Zerohedge?
    No – USA Today.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/ar-BB1oYWwK
    Just like the folks that were “shocked” at Joe’s performance at the debate, we’ll see the financial gurus who pushed the Modern Monetary Theory being “shocked” at how large the debt has become.
    “Golly – where did this come from?” they’ll shriek.
    I remember the left’s fav financial idiot Paul Krugman claiming the debt is nothing to worry about until it reaches our nation’s annual GDP. He’s still at it:
    “Addressing Paul Krugman’s Case Against Debt Worry”
    https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2024/06/18/addressing_paul_krugmans_case_against_debt_worry_1038420.html
    They need to hurry up that all-digital national currency thing – it will be swell.

    Like

  46. fish ole' Avatar
    fish ole’

    Posted by: Scott O | 28 June 2024 at 08:18 AM
    I think you’re being a little overdramatic here Scott….after all…..we owe it to ourselves.

    Like

  47. Scott O Avatar

    “after all…..we owe it to ourselves.”
    And as Mencken put it – “we’ll get it good and hard”.

    Like

  48. fish ole’ Avatar
    fish ole’

    Posted by: Scott O | 28 June 2024 at 11:22 AM
    And as Mencken put it – “we’ll get it good and hard”.

    👍

    Like

  49. Scott O Avatar

    “‘Now we rebuild Britain’: Triumphant Keir Starmer delivers first speech as Prime Minister as he vows to deliver change”
    This should be fun. Just how Britain gets “rebuilt” is left for another day, possibly never. Sounds great to the goobers, though.
    What has happened in GB should be a warning to the GOP in the US. Labor really didn’t win – in fact they carried less votes on percentage than many of their defeats. It was the Conservative Party that fell apart trying to move to the center and be Labor-Lite. They became the party of standing for nothing. Obviously GB is not the US and is highly socialistic, so Labor always has an easy time of it until they have to actually rule and they fail due to Thatcher’s Dictum – “…until you run out of other people’s money”. And that they will do in no time at all.
    Further:
    “But we can make a start today with the simple acknowledgement that public service is a privilege and that your government should treat every single person in this country with respect.”
    Right – unless you exhibit wrong-think.

    Like