Guard Dog

Trump is accused of colluding with a foreign government. It is later proven he didn't. How does he celebrate being absolved of the accusation? By colluding with a (different) foreign government. The only thing that makes this more bizarre is the accusing party used opposition research compiled by a member of a foreign intelligence service. You see what I mean about the whole thing being a sewer infested by s--t covered rats? All the rats are trying to tell you the other rats stink. But all you smell is s--t no matter what.

My difficulties with the IRS are now resolved. That is a bunch of f-----s you do NOT want to deal with. They seem to take a perverse pride in causing misery. I'd wager part of their training program includes torturing kittens to death slowly. Fortunately for me the settlement was favorable for me. Well, thanks to the tax lawyer I retained. Of course knock off what I had to pay her and it wasn't as good. Still better though. However since it was a dumb f--k lawyer who knew s--t all about tax law but still gives advice about it that got me into the mess I'm still down on the whole profession. No offense to Gromnir, Enoch, or Nep. A word of advice to my fellow Americans out there. Do not defer your taxes. Even if you think you can. Even if the law says you can. Just don't do it. Pay the sonsofbitches what you owe them every year. Hell even if you think it's wrong pay the f-----s anyway. They are like the f-----g mafia. It's cheaper to just give them what the f--k they want up front and get rid of them. Plus once that stinking camel gets it's nose under the tent it will assuredly start nosing into other things that had nothing to do with the original kerfuffle. Sorry for the rant. Writing checks to the goddamned government makes my chest hurt.

Exactly what I thought when I heard NBC was rebooting Battlestar Galactica. They will only f--k it up. The 2004 was not perfect but it was really, really good. When it comes to remakes it's a definite turn off to me. Unless the remake is going to be more faithful to the source material than the original. If a remake of TPB is closer to Goldman's book than the 1980's version then I'll watch. The Cohen Brothers remake of True Grit comes to mind as a "good" reboot because it was more in line with the Charles Portis novel. Denis Villenuve's Dune remake promises to be the same from everything I've read.

Watched a movie called Black 47 last night. Sort of like an Irish Rambo except the plot mostly made sense.

Oh wow. He was too young.

I'd LOVE to plant apples but the soil chemistry is all wrong. I hope I can keep these pear trees going. The doggone saplings were $70 each.

Don't know about that even. A few pages ago we established that is is a good thing when rich people and people who don't believe in man made climate change die. That's why I asked, only half jokingly; If it's good that they are dead wouldn't be really good to just kill them? After all, we can't have people thinking wrong thoughts, believing things untrue, and (most unforgivably) trying to convince others to join them in thoughtcrime.

I've spent the weekend trimming the trees and cutting, stacking, and drying the limbs for firewood. I also planted four pear trees in my back yard. The saplings were pretty expensive and a serious pain in the rear. The soil here is too loose so I dug out a planting trench and refilled with a mix of clay and loamy soil from my property up in Austin Peay. It takes three years before they are mature enough to bear fruit but they should bloom next summer. Can't wait. Going to cut more firewood today. It's starting to get cooler at last!

Three words for you: Concealed Carry Permit. Get one. A firearm is like a fire extinguisher. You will never need one until you need one. But when you need one you NEED one!

So this President called a foreign government and offered something of value in exchange for their intelligence services helping him defeat a rival. The last one thought it was perfectly fine to use drones to kill Americans. The one before didn't know where the power to declare war came from. God I miss the days when they were just f-----g their interns. And just think... one of the fools running right now will be the 46th President to this s--t is only going to get worse! Won't be needing that anymore!

Wow. Is sarcasm undetectable of just undervalued? HoonDing (BTW I finally found out where that name came from!) was just being sarcastic. Sharpie too (I hope).

Speechless. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-defends-conversation-with-ukraine-leader-11568993176

The day I got my own office was the day gaming at work became a reality. Life was better after! Not that I ever seem to have time for such distractions.

Troops to Saudi Arabia? And here we go again.

I suppose it's an improvement that you want them imprisoned. Many of your fellow WoT Foum posters want them dead. Well, I say we ban all cars. In fact I saw we ban the internal combustion engine altogether. Gone. Electric cars too because they must be recharged by electricity which of course is generated using fossil fuels. So... ban it all. BTW, my newest business venture: BAN ALL CARS! Save the planet. Buy a horse from Guard Dog!

This has been building for years. Since Wilson the Imperial Presidency has been a thing. Some might even argue since Lincoln but IMO it really starts with Wilson. Trump is the worst in my lifetime but if it wasn't him it would have been someone else. There is a joke/story/parable I have heard a few times. Mostly about Obama but it has been around before him. "You" are invited to dinner at the White House. During the dinner the President keeps taking things off your plate for the "starving children" starting with the dinner roll. When he takes the last thing off your plate and you protest the President tells you "You should have stopped me after the dinner roll". The US and it's elected representatives and Courts have sat quietly by and allowed President after President to usurp powers from the legislature and invent others from thin air. The legislature has even been complicit, ceding powers to the Executive and never taking them back. IMO they do it because all the members of Congress dream of the day they will have that power. Sooner or later someone takes the next step. The fact that so many people seem to approve of everything Trump does (a big reason I don't hang out at the VFW these days) is pretty upsetting as well. We are losing the checks and balances between the branches of government. But it's only happening because it's being allowed to happen. It can be stopped and rolled back at any time but it seems like it won't be. The ultimate check is, of course, the election. But there is not one person running not named Gabbard, Sanford, or Bullock that would make a decent President. And their campaigns are being snuffed out by their own parties and a "complicit media" so to speak.

If there was ever a "golden age" it was not a national condition but rather a regional one and not in every region at the same time. The only folks from the past whose lives I might have envied would be the free trappers of the Rockies in the Pre-Civil War west. It might be a hard life but with skill, a little luck, and staying on the good side of the Indian tribes of the day it would not be too terrible. Complete self sufficiency is an idea I find appealing. Anyway, back OT. I haven't finished the book yet and my knowledge of the events of 1919 is completely lacking in detail outside the broad strokes. It seems to me the real failure other than systemic and widespread racism is the utter failure of the police to make arrests that would even bring a case to the court. And the ones who were arrested we often the victims rather than the perpetrators.

Norse mythology was never my thing. The Greek pantheon was always more interesting. They got into trouble and had fun. Plus there is a lot more info about them thanks to Homer and others having a written language.

There was a time when our government was much more "hands off". Too bad that was wasted because people were so f-----g awful to each other. As Homer wrote "We men are wretched things." Also the court might have done a fair job not punishing the innocent it did very little service in punishing the guilty.

Now reading this. Bloody depressing.

This thread is becoming depressing. Obsidianites wishing everyone dead. Trumps shenanigans which went from entertaining, to disturbing to... whatever is now. Add to that the fact that the next President will either wreck the economy, feel up the interns, provoke a civil war, or be Donald Trump and we've got a lot to drink about. So, here is a little humor to lighten the mood

So it seems there was this hitchhiker walking down a long and desolate road on a dark, foggy night. When out of the fog a car appears and slows down next to him. Thinking he was being offered a ride he got in. As the car began moving he looked over and was horrified to see there was no driver. Then he was more horrified to see a curve in the road ahead. Just as he was sure he was doomed a hand reached in from outside the driver side window and turned the steering wheel. The hitchhiker was terrified. He sank down into the seat and held his breath. Every so often the disembodied hand reached in from outside the car and turned the wheel. Finally his nerve broke and he jumped from the car and ran all the way to the next town. He stumbled into a bar and ordered four shots of tequila, After downing the liquor he began telling the other patrons at the bar of his experience. Just then two big guys walked into the bar. One of them glances at the hitchhiker then turns to the other and say "Hey isn't that the little sonofabitch who got in the car while we were pushing it?"