Saturday Open Thread - 4/12/25: Odds and Ends
Good morning, good people!
I hope everyone has a planned and well-executed fun weekend ensuing. I encourage you all to jump for joy that you aren't Mahmoud Khalil, who had some bad luck from a Louisiana Immigration Judge.
He has 2 weeks to come up with a response to the ruling, but will at least be free on bail until his fate is decided. Rubio said his behavior posed a threat to US foreign policy. I think the definition of "threat" to include peaceful protests against genocide is as cowardly as it can get. Oh! Oh! I am afraid for my foreign policy! is also something pretty damn cowardly. Policy protection? Is the policy that weak and spindly?
I am hoping his appeals will work. If he can be deported for wrong-think, who can't be? There is this beautiful prison in El Salvadore, after all.
Now, for something totally different, let's share if we are getting ready for an economic collapse, a war (civil? world?), retirement, illness.
I have been working on a list of home repairs and improvements that I will finish before I retire and lose that income stream. Sort of a "get it while the gettin's good" plan. New fridge, freezer, dish washer, range, heat pump replacing the central a/c, added a room to the home, re-painted said home, and coming Monday, repairs to the front porch and ramp. There are a few upgrades left to do, and the plan is to get them done this year. At my age, this is truly The Final Upgrade. No worries about future product prices, availability, or ability to find competent workers.
I will start adding various over the counter meds to the medicine shelf, since he mostly come from China, or ingredients do.
I bought an suv, already have 3 more vehicles, and did some maintenance and repairs on them this past year. They are all in excellent shape. I should not ever have to purchase another automobile in this lifetime. Maybe the place I wind up in post-death will have a Jaguar and an autobahn. Sure hope so.
Maybe I should ask ahead of time? This is, so far, the only number I have found thus far:
Are any of you thinking about a sudden dramatic change in our ordinary commerce? Plans for it? Funny, my impetus was retirement, but now it is a big crash. Same plans, just different impetus now.
Well, the deer have started showing up frequently, so there is no need to go to The Hill Country for viewing. There might be other reasons to go somewhere, as has happened before, may happen again.
Every day brings some headline news that jerks us out of our comfort zone, so I expect today will be no different. Just get prepared for the worst, hope for the best, friends.
Let's us know what catches your attention, what you think is coming over the horizon, and if you are mentally, emotionally, physically, and materially prepared for it.
We should always share practical ideas and methods with each other.
It is an open thread, open to all topics anyone thinks is interesting, so share and share alike, friends!
Comments
Happy Saturday!
I have errands to run some time today, but will not be far away from you folks.
Let 'er rip!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
About the autobahn
When I was station in Germany with the Army 78/81. I drove on the autobahn and I learned real fast to use the far left lane for passing ONLY.
Good morning, la58!
So, the signs meant what they said? lol!
A friend and I had a day on our own before we joined a river cruise tour group. We hired a local guide and driver. We toured Hamburg, Bamburg, and Mad King Ludwig's castle. The guide stressed that the less time in the Mercedes, the more time in the castle, so we gave the nod to drive as fast as needed.
We spent a lot of time in the castle.
Btw, the guide had served in the Army, was based in Germany. He married a local, never returned back to the US. I hope your time there was a good experience.
Have a great weekend, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Well, Trump has
decided to exempt semiconductors, cellphones, computers, and monitors from the tariffs. But not resistors, capacitors, inductors, and the other passive components needed to build electronics. So Apple got what it wanted, since they don’t build anything here- but the rest of us are still energetically sucking hind tit.
https://archive.ph/DlYvU
Wonder what that cost them? He’ll probably change his mind (if any) again during today’s golf round.
Madness.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Good afternoon, usf!
One step forward, a half a step back.
The first to the finish line are the 1%. Many of the 99% never make it to the finish line at all.
I read today that ICE will not be deporting illegals who work in the farming sector or in the hotel industry. Citizens know how to drive tractors and pen cattle, vacuum a carpet, make up a bed, but they expect fair wages, so they get no jobs. Competition is at the bottom, not the top.
Well, we see it all out in the open instead of the last century of exactly the same hidden behind the curtains.
Have a great weekend and make a plan, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hola, otc! THIS Jaguar, right?
Don't have a planned weekend because our plans included stuff that won't be happeing for reasons beyond our control, erego will simply hope to have a good and busy one. Already busy gearing up for the busy part, picking anc choosing which, what, andhow.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yeah, el...
that exact one!
We will shop for an office calendar/schedule book, a storm door, an office chair, and drop off the suv for a minor repair. Lots of traffic, easy to miss turn offs, lots of one way streets, so strategy matters. Sounds fun, amirite?
I am bracing for price increases. We middle class and poor must fund the tariff plan so our betters can continue to Hoover up all money in the country.
Is not bitching about it the new expression of patriotism? Or is it waving a white flag?
Have a busy and discombobulated day, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning otc et.al
I guess there is no consensus about the
expectations and contours of after-life.
One person's idea of heaven may be another's
definition of hell and vice versa. Perhaps purgatory is
where are? In spite of what the zealots are trying to sell,
coming to peace with what you are is a good first step.
Thanks for the OT!
A mind that does not detest bad government is foolish.
Good morning, Cap'n!
Maybe life is purgatory, since we constantly sin and constantly regret, and constantly beg for forgiveness and understanding? Sorry, officer, I was driving too fast to notice the speed limit sign. Sorry, IRS, my math sucks, I'll use a calculator next time. Sorry I'm late, boss, there was a snake in my commode, and I will work late today, ok?.
One of the first sentences I spoke when I was 3: "I sawwy Lawd." Dear One expects me to say it when I am cooking and burn shit. I don't cook that much...
It will be interesting to see what Trump will reverse himself on today. Glad I am not running a business that depends on supply purchases and long term contracts. My office needs a $6 schedule book. They run the daily schedule for 6 months. 2 purchases a year.
The 32 mile drive is mostly through the forest and the wild flowers are really blooming, so it will be all fine and dandy.
Smooth sailing, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Trump is just expanding on what Biden did
.
Remember that Biden said that anyone who disagreed with him on the Covid narrative, that the 2020 election was stolen and didn’t adhere to the DEI and transgender policies were domestic terrorists.
Now Trump is deporting supposed criminals to El Salvador and he thinks that he can send American criminals there.
Boy talk about a slippery slope. If allowed then will the next dem president go even further and send people who misgender someone be sent to some hell hole too?
https://www.globalresearch.ca/another-week-twilight-zone-one-day-all-vic...
Phil links to the article explaining how dangerous this idea is.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/04/no_author/is-foreign-imprisonment-fo...
He’s telling MAGA to wake the hell up because….
“First they came for…and I didn’t speak up.”
So far I haven’t seen MAGA object to anything Trump is doing.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
They won’t.
Tribalism is too strong, and they would rather saw off the limb they themselves are sitting on just to “own the libs”.
The country is done.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Biden had no issue
with journalists and protesters being charged as terrorists, iirc, chica.
On occasion, I hear MAGAS criticizing Trump.
I am headed to the lumber yard, and when I get back, I will check out yur links.
Thanks, as always, for posting interesting tuff!
Meanwhile, I trust you are giving my client her deserved royal treatment?
Lol! She is the only princess I currently have on my client list!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
FDR had no problem sending U.S. citizens to concentration camps
in the desert (e.g. Manzanar) with not even the slightest trace of individual hearing or due process, based on ancestry alone.
Executive Order 9066
Korematsu v. United States
Many cheered and no one protested at the time. Everyone loves FDR. People just say, “It was wartime.”
Too often burned by my own naïveté, as a psychological defense I now tend toward the cynical view that despicable breaches of its own professed principles are the way American society has always reacted in times of war and tumult, and always will.
Did I say “American”? Hell, I may just as well have said “Western” (countries of the so-called “Free World”) in general. Look at the way pro-Palestine individuals are being treated in the U.K. or in Germany, where the leaders advancing appallingly authoritarian arguments are not even right-wing populist men but Green (Annalena Baerbock) and Social Democrat (Nancy Faeser) women.
In the U.K. and Germany too, restraints on state power are being tossed overboard in order to shield Israel from criticism, curb supposedly resurgent anti-Semitism, and in general protect chauvinistically and jingoistically inclined pro-Israel Jews from being made to feel uncomfortable in any way. The Trump administration is not an outlier here.
Iran and US have held talks in Oman with another session
scheduled next week.
The linked article is worth a read.
Boy that will show US corporations!
And didn’t anyone warn him about countries selling off treasuries or what his other boneheaded moves would do?
Hey ,Donald. It wasn’t China that got companies to offshore their jobs and factories you idiot. Things can be made more cheaper there as you damn well know since you have them making your MAGA products to sell to your MAGA supporters.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
I think I am remembering this right as being
a great example of corporations hunting down cheap labor forces.
A German car manufacturer (Mercedes, I think) closed it's factories and headed to Spain. After some years, Spain either changed their labor laws or labor unions formed, and the manufacturer shuttered the factories, headed for Romania. Romanians in Great Britain had to go back home after Brexit. They got low wage jobs at home for a "change".
Btw, the links you posted above are excellent. Phil Giraldi can lay out the scary end of constitutional law in such a succinct way, slipping in some humor at the preposterous nature of it all. He writes fun shock!
As for the Judge and Aaron video, it is a must watch.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yeah Phil is spot on
He is snarky funny, but his anger gets through at times.
The judge is livid at how Trump is ignoring the constitution.
CJ Hopkins asks Kennedy and Bhattacharya
why they are staying silent on Trump’s crackdown on free speech. I’m glad he’s speaking out after he has written essays about the Gaza genocide without actually taking a side. He didn’t want to hear about Israel’s past sins before October 7 and just wanted to blame Hamas for attacking the military bases. T’would have been better if they left civilians alone. I think that might have changed the narrative. Maybe.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
A two part response.
Also too.
That’s a great video!
He nails MAGA.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
Do as I say,
not what I do.
When Trump's merch is unaffordable, maybe he will stop his wicked ways.
Btw, expect prices on clothing and footwear to go way up. Goodwill stores will become all the rage!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey, humphrey!
Great cartoon!
I watched a 6 min. video from some middle east country tv station. Daniel Davis appeared, said the discussions were a better option than war, then said even if these mediators help hah out some deal, it would take teams of leading experts to formulate what is and isn't allowed with Iran's nuclear power plants. It will take quite a while.
As soon as the clip ended, away it went, and no amount of searching helped me find it for posting here.
Does anybody think their is a link between the Epstein client list and Bibi keeping the door open to starting a war with Iran with our help? Trump is sure not a nyet means nyet kinda guy, is he?
Enjoy your weekend, friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Trump is one o’ them quantum thingies — “qubits” they’re called?
On any given issue at any given moment, he’s in a superposition of both “yes” and “no” states at once.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qubit
Always enjoy their discussions
At 25 minutes in they show Bessent the treasury secretary talking about Trump’s tariffs helping Main Street because Wall Street has taken most of the gains.
He said he went into a food bank and “just too many people are needing to use them.”
Well, Scott cutting $230 billion from food stamps isn’t going to help the people relying on food banks.
Again not one damn thing Trump has done has helped Main Street or hurt the 1% outside the tariffs.
We’ve got scientists cleaning toilets at national parks and other places because Trump has fired contractors.
Is Mrs Obama cleaning her own house yet? Or any of the other rich bitches?
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
So, snoopy,
so you are not feeling the love and respect this administration has for us Main Streeters? Well, they have instituted some policies that are in our favor, such as...shit, I can't think of it.
I will post it when I run across it. It may take forever. Lol!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
During Trump’s first term, I was sent checks for $1200 and $600
under the Covid lockdown relief program, and I live overseas here in Germany.
So there’s that.
Under Biden, I got zip.
I hope that it is sooner rather than later.
Another great 'toon!
I may not bbe seeing MGAs peel away online, but I am in Trumpland, and his supporters I know personally are NOT happy campers.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I liked this one as well Humphrey
Nice find.
Had fun trying to read it. Reading translations is one of the few things that can take my mind off things.
語必忠信 行必正直
Good evening, soryang!
What do I think? This guy is SPOT ON.
I hope your weekend is going great, friend!
Thanks for the vid clip!
I dream of the day when the US decides not to lead, not to follow, but simply join brethren nations in helping each other
Idiocy, but I can dream, can't I?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I've been busy
worrying about that house. I need to sell, and find another soon, but it's not restored yet. Also, I'm here alone for the time being and some family are frustrated I didn't buy a house over there. Can't do two things at once on different coasts.
It's giving me a writer's block. Enjoyed the canned heat, always liked them. The Korean song Dream is my favorite. My taste in songs is somewhat dark or Han"ish" lately. The best songs or the ones I find most appealing lately cannot be cross posted making it difficult to share. I'll do a translation and then find the video won't load.
語必忠信 行必正直
sorry to hear of the bicoastal dilemma
.
well aware of demands and available responses
Your involvement in the site is a breath of fresh air
Thank-you for splitting your time with us here.
A mind that does not detest bad government is foolish.
谢谢 QMS
I don't know if that's the custom to respond that way. In Korean they say 아닙니다 animnida not so. Or between friends 아니다. It's unseemly to say thanks and acknowledge the compliment.
These are the two songs I'm thinking of 25, 21,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTsdPeUKlZg
and another one which I was thinking of, Lonely voyage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKcvMP_yb9s&t=107s
語必忠信 行必正直
sorry sayang, can not translate your response
seems to be just no
which in English is a negative
perhaps a cultural divide
I meant it to be a positive compliment
like, yes thanks
something lost in the translation?
unseeingly is not a very well developed concept here
either it is intended or 'left handed'
very nice songs
谢谢
A mind that does not detest bad government is foolish.
You are not alone.
We are here for you.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thanks OTC
As the song goes, I thought we'd be 25 and 21 forever.
語必忠信 行必正直
Dilogue works
featuring Wolff and Hudson.
I am only into it about 15 minutes, 1 hr 6 min long.
It is really good!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I posted this Thursday
and a shorter one with Wolf yesterday.
They explain things in a way even I can understand.
Trump has no intention of bringing companies back home. Listen at 30 minutes to see why.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
Oops,
didn't catch it, so h/t to our snoopy!
It does make the case in clear terms that we are a declining empire, which we should have never been in the first place.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The comedy continues
.
Crusade Against “Anti-Christian Bias” is Donald’s DEI
The circus continues no matter which party is in charge.
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
Well, Judeo-Christian
has some...problems, since both Judaism and Christian writings say we must kill the other.
Not easy to wash off hands and wash out brains from wrong-beliefs.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
On another note
.
.
wanted to thank you otc for maintaining an encouraging
presence on this site. It inspires me to try and engender a
lively dialogue here.
A mind that does not detest bad government is foolish.
Thanks, Cap'n.
Why be here as the C99% if we don't understand that we a have a commonality, and there is no damn reason why if we are all in the same group, we can't be friends? Or even extend love to one another?
I can disagree with anyone and still love them with all my heart.
My best friends in this world are the Dem chairman and the Repub chairman in the county!
WTF does it matter when we have a horrible flood, hurricane, drought, and so on...who comes to my aid?
And it doesn't mostly matter here on this site, IMHO.
It shouldn't matter ever.
You are just a good man with a good heart.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hmmm! I never thought of it that way but it does seem to
make sense.
You have to watch the short video to see what I am saying.
uh...
exactly!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
think I've had enough of zionist blunder
to last a couple of life times already
what is it with the silly skullcaps anyway?
oh, maybe the chosen ones need to self identify?
somehow above the human race (:-)
immortality is their idea of supremacy
god is in heaven, but the jews got there first
wtf
A mind that does not detest bad government is foolish.
Just another pawn of empire
.
https://www.rt.com/news/615683-trump-extends-russia-sanctions/
Trump extends sanctions for another year. So much for ending the war in 24 hours.
Trump has bombed Syria and Somalia and he’s currently bombing Yemen and threatening war with Iran while continuing the Ukraine war. Ukraine couldn’t be bombing in Russia without US boots on the ground. That’s pretty impressive for a peace president.
Yesterday he said that he was running out of patience with Putin because he wasn’t accepting the ceasefire. Boy I’d love to have been a fly on the wall with the talk between Putin and Witkoff. lol…
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
- Kevin Alfred Strom
One more song.
I am singing it while riding Secretariat's half broke grandson, vulture's in the tree set set off the horse on a 12 mile ride. Gotta say, he was fully broke at the end and i didn't get killed.
I have posted this, told the story about my Charleston horse, enjoy the song, disregard the impetus of posting it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981