Guard Dog

LOL not as prepared as I used to be! I had the perfect homestead to survive the fiscal apocalypse but I sold it. But @Amentepis, of course, correct. He usually is. There really is no need to worry about anything. If I can do something about it there is no need to worry about it and if I can't and it's out of my control there is still no need to worry.

Well, it's not working on me. I'm not afraid of anything.

Scientists Make Breakthrough in Warping Time at Smallest Scale Ever When I want to make time speed up I just play Crusader Kings 3

No way. Jim Webb would have made the best President on the Dems. But he had no shot because he was a Blue Dog, Vietnam Vet AND a war hero (Navy Cross) and wasn't a communist. He wasn't into social justice and didn't think Fidel Castro was the greatest leader of the 20th Century so he had no shot of being nominated. But he would have been a competent and moderate President. Not flashy, not in the news every day. Bob Bullock in 2020 was in the same mold. Ditto for Bill Weld on the GOP side in 2020. In 2016 there were a number of GOP candidates that would have made a decent and competent caretaker of the executive office. But with the crazies controlling the nomination process candidates like that will be culled out every time.

He is an impulsive and irrational actor. Exactly who you don't want in positions of power. The problem with life is you get the test first and the lesson after. But don't be too harsh on 2016 America. If the other candidate had been anyone other than Hillary Clinton he would never have won I think.

IMO Star Trek ended the day Voyager got home. But, it was on life support after the last episode of DS9. Everything that came after was trash. In other more important news Paramount is making a mini-series about Bass Reeves. If you don't know who that is believe he's well worth five minutes on Wikipedia. If that's too much he was a runaway slave who became a US Marshal. And he was more of a badass at it than Wyatt Earp, Bill Hickock, or Frank Eaton ever were. If you DO know who he is I think you'll agree it's about time!

PJ O'Rourke He's been out of the spotlight for a little while but he was a big name in columnists in the 80's & 90's

i have to go to New York in two weeks. I've been to 39 of the fifty states and nine other countries. Never set foot in NYC though. Why the heck couldn't it be during baseball season? Going to be there for three days. I am trying to convince G to come with. If so we'll extend it to a week and play tourist.

Regarding the Jan 6 Commission one theory is they have no real motivation to reach a conclusion. The idea is to keep it in the news cycle through 2024. It terms of politics it's not a bad plan if that IS the plan. Plenty of hay to be made in that hayfield. But in terms of seeking actual justice it sucks. Again, if true. It would be short sighted. There is a very good chance control of Congress will change. If that happens the whole thing will likely be scuttled and I would like to read their conclusions. As for Garland, I am not impressed with him. I am very pleased he is not on the Supreme Court. It was dirty pool the way the Senate treated his nomination. They should have given him his Confirmation Hearing and voted not to confirm him. Declining to hear his nomination and THEN seating Kavanaugh under the exact same circumstances only makes the government hating cynics more hating and more cynical. But I would like to see him kill off Trump's political fortunes for good and all with a few indictments. Even if not of him just close enough. I have no doubt there is ample evidence to demand such.

Hard pass. Not doing that again.

Needed a laugh about taxes. The check I'm going to have to write to those money grubbing bastards this year is nothing to laugh about!

IMO the most effective punishment for kids is to deprive them of "things" and make them earn them back. When I was a kid my dad took away the Atari (for me) because of one thing I did or another. Probably a bad report card. My brother got to play but not me. That got my attention. Given the choice between that and a spanking which do you think was a bigger motivator? LOL this is a funny story though. My dad was an old school Southern Democrat Baptist blue collar guy. He made a joke of spankings long after they abandoned the practice. He'd say "Boy, go cut me a switch" whenever my brother and I did something foolish. In the southern US vernacular that means "go get a stick and bring it to me so I can whip you with it". Anyway, fast forward to when I was 18, leaving soon for the USMC and I'm helping him change the oil on our cars. I dropped the waste oil pan, made a hell of a mess. He joking said "Boy go cut me a switch". There was a fallen tree branch nearby. Big old oak branch. I must have weighed 80 lbs. I was 18, my dad early 50's. I picked that thing up and carried to him easily as can be and told him there you go if he could lift it! We laughed about that. He was a good man. I still miss him sometimes.

@Raithe fingers crossed for your dad

I saw the Outer Worlds 2 trailer today. THAT was funny! "Will this creature actually be in the game? No. Say goodbye to it forever" Self deprecating humor is hard to do right. They did it right.

I was pretty young when I realized that parents, teachers, principals, etc. were not going to hit you hard enough to actually hurt you. Once you grasp that concept that form of punishment is no longer a punishment.

When I was in elementary school corporal punishment was a thing. They gave you a choice: three licks or a one day suspension. Buddy THAT is a no brainer. Paddling is over in less than a minute and you don't have to tell your parents about it, nor explain why you are not going to school the next day. It was NOT a deterrent.

I was going to put this in the funny things thread but since we're talking about teachers: I don't know how @Hurlshotand his counterparts do what they do. I couldn't do it. But I am seriously lacking in patience and compassion.

There have been times I really wish I'd had children. And even more when I thankful I didn't. The world we live in these days makes me lean more to the latter.

I love built in bookshelves

Hey you're right! It takes FOUR books!

It's been a couple of years since I last had a sip of bourbon. I haven't really missed it but things going the way they have been lately.... getting sorely tempted!

Disgusting. It makes Pelosi's admonition not to upset the CCP all the more vile. If I were an athlete in the games I'd hope I had the courage to speak up.

Looks like Spring Training will be delayed. In a week exhibition games will be cancelled. The two sides are not very far apart on the issue of arbitration. The players want arbitration after two seasons. The owners want it after three except for the "super twos". Each has apparently decided this was a hill worth dying for,