Guard Dog

Nice write up: http://mag.bleacherreport.com/cristiano-ronaldo-steve-nash-power-50-cover-2018/?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

BTW, which country looks most like Skyrim do you think? New Zealand? Iceland? Scotland? The US & Canadian Rockies? Edit: Alaska & the Canadian NWT. Yeah, that's gotta be it. It has every climate.

I live in the USA. i like it fine. There is a lot that is positive about this country. There is a hell of a lot that could be improved also. We call ourselves the "land of the free" but we're really not. Maybe more so than we have been in the past. More than a lot of other places in some things. But we're still falling well short of that slogan. I've worked and lived briefly in a few other places. Mexico. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Kuwait (sort of. Not the best time to see it). I really like RoK. The folks I met were really nice. Japan is way too busy for me. Mexico, eh, Hermosillo & Monterrey were nice. Nuevo Laredo & Juarez not so much. I was in the PI after the damned volcano so I didn't see much of it. One country I am fascinated with is Iceland. Beautiful place, sparse population, stable economy, tons of outdoor activities. Sounds like my kind of place.

Here is is YOUR responsibility to secure housing for yourself and your family. It is a commodity which means it IS a widget. And the neat thing about it is there is a hell of a lot of it. I own a townhouse that I'm renting to a family for less than the monthly mortgage. Not out of the goodness of my heart. That is the going rate for a 2B 2B townhouse in Bartlett TN. I could raise the rent but then I might never find a tenant. But I imagine my tenants live in Bartlett because the same house in Memphis would cost a lot more. If rent is too expensive where you are looking, look somewhere else. The further you get from the center of a city the more the prices drop. You don't have a RIGHT to an apartment. And you sure as hell don't have a RIGHT to one exactly where you want it for the price you want it. If you like the location pay what it costs. If not, look elsewhere.

Well, I'm sure the people who make slightly less than you do will be appreciative of the sacrifices you make so they can pay less to probably live somewhere nicer. Yeah.... real sure. Of course if this happens their landlords are going to think "Hmmm.... they were paying on time when rent was 60% of their pay. But with this tax credit it's now 55% of their pay. Well, my taxes are going up to pay for this so I'll just raise their rent so it's 60% again". And of course rent hikes are not targeted (that would be illegal) so everyone's rent goes up 5% whether you qualified or not! See? Ain't economics fun? So a big hearty congrats to future Presidential candidate Kamala Harris for helping everyone out. Somehow she got a law degree without taking any classes on finance, real estate, and basic econ. But, as our current FEARLESS LEADER demonstrates, knowledge and experience are not a requirement for that job. As Fredric Bastiat once wrote “Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”

The California congressional delegation is proposing a tax credit for California residents dealing with excessive rent costs. https://www.harris.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/OTT182191.7.19.pdf Since taxation is nothing less than legalized theft, and is in and of itself immoral, I have no issue with giving people their money back. The thing is, it won't help the problem. If a widget is too expensive the only way to bring the price down is to stop buying widgets. When supply exceeds demand the price drops. Artificially helping people pay the high cost of widgets circumvents that. Plus landlords will be inclined to raise rents because of this. So it will likely exacerbate the problem it's trying to relieve.

You think you have problems?

Currently reading this. It's OK. Seems a little embellished and mundane at the same time. But eyewitness history is always interesting to me.

Do you guys know a hardback copy of the Planescape Campaign setting D&D books are going for over $500 each in new condition? I can't believe demand is that high. I saw some in a flea market a little while back.

I don't really remember my dreams. With one exception. About a week after my dog passed away I had a dream I was sitting in my usual spot on the river and he was there next to me. It's the place we scattered his ashes afterwards. It was a happy dream, bittersweet on reflection though.

Slightly off topic. What are the gun laws in Iran? Just curious.

Nothing to worry about here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/deficit-projected-to-top-1-trillion-starting-next-year-1531950742 Meanwhile I think I'm going to buy more seeds, chickens, dry food, and ammunition.

I have GOT to try this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dywTuPDiH-c

Wow you are looking lean and mean!

The world will end on July 27. Six days to go, woo hoo! Edit: Well shoot. The link to the video doesn't work. Well, you'll just have to take my word for it. Well, that is you'll have to take my word that some guy named Paul Begley said it would. I'll tell you what will definitely happen on July 27. The earth will get between the sun and the moon. Happens all the time. Only this time between Jewish holidays or some such. Assign what importance to that you will. Happens 3-4 times a year at least. I say we have a party. If you gotta go, go s--t faced. Hey there it is on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwCwVfKIalg By the way, Jesus also said "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." But, by all means speculate away. It's entertaining.

Don't forget Gromnir Bush has also been accused of masterminding 9/11 (albeit from folks with less credibility) while still being held in contempt as being a dim bulb by the same people. He'd have to be the greatest criminal master-mind of all time to do all that while appearing an affable dunce. Only in the realm of political analysis, where My Team > Your Team hubris is passed as rational reasoning, can those two conflicting notions be held by the same people simultaneously. I completely agree with your point. You know that old saying; success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. Had Iraq actually turned into a stable, somewhat egalitarian republic where everyone lives in peace and became a counterbalance to Iran the narrative would be very different and his credit would be diluted in a chorus of "me too". That was impossible though. Pity more people did not realize that.

Bruce your optimism is showing again. Apparently your expectations from him were a lot higher than ours. Nothing he has said or done or tweeted in the last two years has surprised any of us. The bar is so low it would take a lot to do that I think.

Yeah I posted that on the other thread. Like i said there, to make something go away you need to ignore it. All this noise about banning confederate symbols just makes people dig in their heels and do things like this. The way Memphis moved to get some statues out of a park was measured and stealthy enough not to have occasioned much grief if the folks in Nashville had not made such a big deal about it. Newton was more right than he knew. Equal an opposite reaction applies not just to force but social actions too. But it may be the people who wanted the confederate stuff gone WANTED the fight. It wasn't enough just to do it quietly. They wanted to provoke their opponents. Gifted1 said as much a little while ago. Our politics have devolved into an exercise of internationally pissing off the other side even if it means doing things that are self-defeating.

Like I always say, if you want to make something go away, you ignore it. Try to ban it and people push back, sometimes out of sheet stubbornness, and that thing you wanted to get rid of is more prevalent than ever. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/07/18/tennessee-confederate-flag-license-plates-increase/790710002/

Homes are investments, especially new ones. Gotta keep out home owner's that would bring down the price of homes in the area. More necessary now that the housing bubble burst in order to see returns on one's home. That doesn't give anyone decision making rights on the exterior decorations of homes they don't own. Unless it's an HOA. Then it does. An HOA is an agreement all the owners enter into together willingly. I have no problem with what they do among themselves.

I'd say if you don't like your neighbors paint job you have a few options: Move Buy their house Plant trees or build a fence so you can't see it Mind your own business and just live with it Go to hell They can take their pick. My little private property rant does not include "managed communities" with homeowners association. You know what kind of BS you're buying into there. If you choose to live in Mordor don't bitch about what Sauron & Orcs are doing. You signed up for that.

Hey I'm divorced, late 40's, live alone and I'm not very nice. So I'm not exactly getting a lot of action these days. My nation is going to have to cut me a little slack!

I despise this whole notion that you cannot do as you please with the property you own. That's MY name on the Warranty Deed. MY name on the check that pays the taxes and the mortgage. MY lawn mower that cuts the grass and MY sweat that maintains it. Who the HELL does anyone else think they are to dictate how I paint it, what plants I grow next to it, dogs or pets that live in it, etc? Here in the "land of the free" even your home isn't really yours anymore. It's only yours at the sufferance of whatever government entity decides to f--k with you that day and the nosy neighbors who decided your business is theirs. That's why I live as far from other humans as I could get and put up signs promising to shoot any I catch there uninvited. I prefer the company of animals.

Why don't hot russian red headed spies ever offer me sex for access? I'd cave in a second