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Saturday Open Thread 8/30/25: Odds and Ends

Good morning, good people!

Well, it is pretty clear that I and JtC are experiencing life altering events. We think of it as a temporary setback. We will grow older, and crankier, and way more likely to stand our ground against TPTB. And effing cancer.

I am occasionally distracting myself from, ya know, hubby health issues, and decided to clip out invasive vines from two crepe myrtle trees, since the guy I offered $20 to do it had just received internet for 30 days, wanted to play games. I did it, saved money, got exercise, and got some drive by horn honks and thumbs up for being so bad ass. Yeah, I am just all that! LOL!

I appreciate all the good will JtC has received.

So, my client divorcing her bad, bad, cheating husband makes her living posting stuff on Only Fans.

Her divorce settlement is agreed, so I do not have to go to court with her wearing her video outfits.

What my parents danced to:

What JtC and I dance to:

And that song, and especially that place, my brother holds fond memories of, and he would do more than dance.

Well, your turn, friends! This is an open thread, open to whatever anyone believes their friends here might want to read or hear.

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Enjoy the day, the weekend, and if you are into close encounters with wild animals, take a look:

Let 'er rip!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

QMS's picture

.
Brings back fond memories.
Thanks!

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7 users have voted.

Zionism is a social disease

@QMS Thinking back on my childhood, we flooded the air with music from the fancy stereo, the radio, and tv. From morning 'til midnight, and even then, at night I could catch WLS in Chicago and listen to the radio until I fell asleep! Well, that music infusion continues at my home even today.
Enjoy your weekend, dear friend.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

earthling1's picture

@on the cusp
My early pre-teen and up years found a 1937 RCA floor model multi-band radio as a headboard. It was so close I could work the controls while laying in bed. And with a 12" speaker inches from my head, I could spend most of the night "surfin" the shortwave airways picking out the different languages to determine the country I was listening to. I had a pretty sophisticated antenna for a 10 y.o.
Speaker was so close I could turn it down really low so my Mom didn't know I was staying up till 3-4 in the morning.
During the day I would crank it up to KFWB or Dodger games wherever they played (baseball would not be televised for a number of years in the future).
I know you and yours have some times ahead, but both of you are tuff enough to pull through anything together.
We are all here with you.
Thanks for the OT.

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2 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Getting outside is a great way to relieve any stress you may be feeling.
Loved the wild animal videos! Most of our close encounters were with the elephants wandering through the campgrounds. Learned to stand real still or slowly back away. Of course the vervet monkeys almost were a nuisance getting into your things if you were not careful.

Off to the Farmer’s Market this morning to see what I can find. Peaches and tomatoes are both ready to all to enjoy. Hope to find some good bargains today.

Have a great day to all. The weather here is turning to fall and so being outside is almost a requirement.

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9 users have voted.

Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.

This ain't no dress rehearsal!

@jakkalbessie I remember staying at a hotel in Kenya where the tour group went on daily safaris. It was a fairly sprawling complex, and it was a long walk from my room to the dining area. Well, on my way to breakfast, 5 hippos stood in the way, staring me down. As you know, the most likely critter out there to kill you without provocation is a hippo. They be lightin' fast! I backed slowly away, got into my room, called management to give me escort!
Enjoy your weekend, jb!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

I hope y'all have been getting some of this lovely cool weather in TX.

Bought some more broccoli plants this AM. I'll put them in this evening. Summer garden is almost gone. Sweet potatoes will go another 6-8 weeks, and then we'll manure mulch and put it to bed for winter (except for the two winter beds).

I've been buying silver at Trade day most weeks...an oz or two at the time. Spot is up to about $40/oz. I figure if the system crashes and burns, silver will be a good trading/barter item.

Well thanks for the OT!

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8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout It is in the mid-80s here, with some hard rains coming throughout the holiday. Now is the time to get in any outdoor chores done before the storms hit this evening.
Our plans to grill pork chops have been dashed.
While I was clipping vines, I had to watch out for piles of deer poop everywhere. They are the main reason a garden isn't viable here. The fencing required would be very expensive. It would take years of produce savings to break even on cost effectiveness. One day, we might try a greenhouse.
Well, we have a small supply of silver, and I want to buy some more. By all indications, we are in for an economic catastrophe, silver may just be the perfect barter asset to have.
Enjoy your weekend and the fruits of your labor, my friend!

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8 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp @on the cusp 7' deer fencing $20 for 100' at Tractor supply, 8' T posts $10, so basically $1 per foot. Borrow a slide hammer thing to pound them in, everyone has one.

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@ban nock I will pass along the info to JtC, see if he is up to the task. We also have rabbit and racoon problems, have to figure out how to keep them out.
We might go to Tractor Supply tomorrow for a grill cover, can check on the pricing then. I have the t-post driver right in my barn! And some t-posts!
We had a very large garden the last attempt we made.
Enjoy your weekend, friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@ban nock

...it ain't easy. However for us it was a summer of fencing or a deer eaten garden.

Not so much as the cost, but the labor and skill involved.

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6 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout are normal, cattle fence height. We don't have the equipment to pound in a 9 ft. t-post.
I forgot to mention we also have roaming wild hogs to keep out.
sigh, with gardening, it's always something...

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

earthling1's picture

@on the cusp
of low quality pre-1964 silver coins. As long as they still have the dates on them they still have "melt value" and can be used for everyday barter items. A silver quarter today has a melt value of $7 +/-.

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2 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

enhydra lutris's picture

starting with farmers' market. 90+ here today and more on the way, my tuen to gook, so planned entire week's menu to be done on the grill. Gonna be fun. Gardening and other outdoor work except cooking will all be done in early hours. Good on you trimming said vines, we've eliminated most of ours except passionflower which we keep well hacked back and bindweed or some similar thing which we pull every time we see any and there is always more in a week of so. Such is live.

You don't really need a market garden, though this isn't the time to do there. You can make a small kitchen garden in containers and beds and just fence the deer out of those small areas. One thing or another, we haven't had a ton of luck with basil in the past, but right now I've got one plant/bush that'll be good for several pesto dinners, so next yar I just might plant several. It's really worth it, as is going out and harvesting the herbs for today's feast.

Nice tunes, thanks. Good prep for checking out the news, which is, I fear, next on the agenda.

be well and have a good one.

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7 users have voted.

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 --

@enhydra lutris I have done the kitchen window herb thing in the past. We tried planting in large pots on the patio with some success, but now the deer just jump the fence and walk around our yard as though they own the place. Right now, there is a pile of deer poop at the front porch ramp. To get in and out of our home requires watching your step.
Deer hunting is no longer a thing. It is expensive, deer corn is expensive, the limit on how many you can legally kill is very small. The old timers have given up, and the young crowd has no interest in hunting.
We need to do something. I read this morning that the Gates product, Apeel, which is covering our fruits and vegetables, has been found to contain a cancer-causing ingredient.
I also read that Russia discovered the biggest oil field ever found in the Wedell Sea in Antarctica. WWIII coming soon!
Enjoy your week of cooking and grill, baby, grill!
Take care, dear friend!

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7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

But it's in the paper of record, not some whacky youtube, not sure it would go over well with this crowd.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/opinion/bernie-sanders-robert-f-kenne...

Deer tags here are $40, so about a buck a pound. Meat hunters here go for elk which yields 5X as much meat and some like the taste better.

I'm not much into catastrophe. Tech has been doubling every four or five years, I'm sure it will again when Trump forces the rates down. Bad policy, good for me.

Ukraine still closer to Crimea than the commies are to Kiev.

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@ban nock @ban nock the CIA and NYT?
I was unaware that Youtube was whacky and that viewers of Youtube was whacky.
While I do not share that opinion, I am glad you made your opinion clear to me, and everyone on the site. Now we know you think we are crazy. Cool. That's settled.
Now that the EUA protection for Covid vaxxes has been removed, the lawsuits will follow. I can't wait to see how Big Pharma reacts.
And to bring you up to date, Russia is a democracy that practices capitalism. There are no commies in Russia. Do what I did. Go there, meet people, make friends, and learn the truth.
Bernie no doubt get lobbyist support from Big Pharma. He is long since irrelevant.

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7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

this Youtube vid with Nima, Larry Johnson and Col. Wilkerson, is whacky and if you watch it and find it remotely believable, you, too, are whacky.
I am watching it now, find it to be brilliant, but I am also falling on my whacky sword.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

and you friends are whacky if you watch it.I am, OTCW. henceforth.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

lotlizard's picture

Extend the velvet glove of warm emotional “community,” concealing a well-worn, rust-covered iron fist slipping in a knife of propaganda and reputational assassination

Oh well

https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2025-08-29/media-gaza-investigations-...

Very disappointed at how many people, even close friends, are copping out when it comes to Israel, Gaza, and US-NATO-EU support for genocide. Also including political cartoonists I used to admire: Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Dan Perkins (Tom Tomorrow / This Modern World), Ken Fisher (Ruben Bolling / Tom the Dancing Bug) …

All anti-Trump, all the time, these people — yet not a word over Trump and 98% of the Congress serving a foreign regime with a ruthless, expansionist, blood-and-soil ideology

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@lotlizard Thanks for that article.
Who in their right mind would trust Israel to investigate their own atrocities and report them truthfully?
Most of my older friends who trend Democrat are more focused on flushing out antisemitism than stopping the genocide. For that matter, they do not use the word "genocide", either.
Who knows, but we may be required to sign a loyalty oath to Israel to obtain a bank loan one day.
Enjoy your holiday, friend!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

orlbucfan's picture

You will always have my thumbs up (!) for what you did for your friend snoopydawg (RIP). Smile You saw my comments to JtC about his bad Big C news. Yes, I've had an up-front-and-personal 'acquaintance' with this form of cancer. However, medicine has come a long way since 1969 when that curse took my father. JtC will make it. I have faith. I'm a regular of LD's The Progressive Wing. I started wandering over here cos of the weekly Photo Diary and joe s's excellent music diaries. LOL. Big diehard music junkie here, and it figures that he's a former DJ. As far as politics goes, my big worry is international: climate crisis. I'm a lifelong enviro even though I can't grow a garden cos I'll kill it if I look at it. I'm amazed that I have 6 healthy orchids and a nutcase poinsettia (ECFL resident.) So, you and your family enjoy the day and if you have temps cooler than 83 with low humidity, aim 'em my way. Rec'd!!

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5 users have voted.

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

@orlbucfan I drop in on TPW occasionally, and actually made a donation to get it going initially.
As for the late, great snoopydawg tragedy, the autopsy report was initiated in early July, will not be complete and released for 3 to 4 months afterwards. One next of kin was located, and that person gave me a call, as the Ogden police were thoughtful enough to provide my number. The relative did promise to share the report with me. If not, I can possibly get it from the coroner's office. We all need closure.
As for JtC, even his team of doctors are gobsmacked at his life history of being perfectly healthy, and that is a big plus as the starting point in his treatment. He is in damn good shape for the shape he is in. Once the traditional treatment is completed, we have the Tippen protocol meds as follow up.
We all need to make every day count, friend. And let the music rattle the walls!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

orlbucfan's picture

@on the cusp 1 will be following the JtC updates. I have a funny feeling his body was sending negative signals re: the colon. However, when you've had good health for all or most of your life, it's easy to miss them. Sad Man, I hear ya on simple pleasures, making every day count, and most important (to me): the POWER of music!! Yeah!! Cuidate, mi amiga. Rec'd!!. Smile

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3 users have voted.

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

lotlizard's picture

@on the cusp  
Edited to add: Never mind, found the threads now via search engine:

https://caucus99percent.com/content/rip-snoopydawg-updated
https://caucus99percent.com/content/final-update-our-beloved-friends-sno...

O, Master Death, I know we all have a date with you sooner or later, but pardon this lament of a mere mortal and her plaintive question — “Why now? Why snoopydawg, among the best of us?”

Hail, farewell, and G~dspeed, friend Tracy. Hail and healing, friend Sam, O little one.

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QMS's picture

@lotlizard
.
sometimes we just have to
move on. Life doesn't need to be
a torcher chamber.

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Zionism is a social disease