Saturday Open Thread - 6/6/26: Odds and Ends
Good morning, good people! I hope your day/weekend is going great!
Well, some "good news" in the event you are sort of stocking up your food pantries for the likely hard times to come. Walmart, Kraft, and Nabisco announced they were lowering their prices because their typical customers were going broke before the end of the month. While it keeps them up and running our food supply with minimal profit, to them, the end of their existence is when they lose their shoppers. Something is better than nothing. It isn't altruism. They are not kind corporations.
On Wednesday, The State Bar of Texas offered a free PDF download of how to retire. Retirement must comport with 7 Rules of Professional Conduct, formerly know as The Rules of Professional Ethics. They changed the name, likely due to the younger generation not knowing the actual meaning of ethics.
There are 7 rules. Only 1 applies if you just finish your cases and stop taking new ones. So, I am finishing up what I have on the books. Should be done by August or September. I will have no partial retainers to refund, and since I intend to keep my license for 5 more years, I do not have to give hundreds of people notices, do not have to even announce a retirement. All I have to do is just finish up all trials, stop being talked into taking new cases, and if no clients want their files back on closed cases, after 5 years I can just destroy all files and be done with it.
Some lawyers put their files in their attics. Others pay to have them shredded. But others may just take some scissors and cut them up and put them in separate garbage bags so that no documents can be read top to bottom, and, of course, there is always the burn pile. Since I will be practicing from home, online, doing deeds and wills, I will have no retirement to announce.
August? September? Maybe...
It has been rainy all week, not particularly hot, lots of deer action, and rabbits, and a few mosquitoes, which I wonder if they have been genetically modified by Gates, et. al.
A pleasant and unusually cool spring and summer for us. I will take it!
Some music we cooked by last night:
And my excellent sous cheffing insprired this:
Well, friends, this is an open thread, open to any topics that you want to discuss, and any news or info or ideas you wish to share with your friends here.
With that said,
Let 'er rip!
Comments
Happy Saturday, friends!
Lots of news happening, lots to share here.
Wars, "ceasefires" (giggle), threats, and nonsense. My idea of possible peace is inner peace. Sit in my newly built room with a view of my acreage and large picture windows that allow me to raise them, listen to birds, bees, and at night, frogs, crickets, cicadas, and owls. No mosquitos or snakes involved, thanks to screens, floor, and walls.
I haven't seen chemtrails in a couple weeks. Wonder what's up with that? I look forward to your input, my friends!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey, good morning
.
Lowering prices? Sounds like a PR stunt to me. Marketing BS.
Perhaps lowering inflated prices qualifies as giving us a break.
Raking consumers over the coals is the corporate MO. The grim
reaper smells blood. Hastening depopulation efforts so the few can
have more. Perhaps a bit too cynical but historical observations would
support that theory.
Glad you have a plan to disengage in the short term. Good luck!
On another subject - did you hear a judge in Delaware ruled that
corporations can vote? Thanks to Citizens United money is speech
and corporations are people. It is just another slippery step down the
slope that gives these "people" the right to vote. As Orwell observed in
Animal Farm some are more equal than others. Don't buy it.
Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning, Cap'n!
About those lower food prices, these corporations were alerting their plans to shareholders, as reported by The Financial Times. They were attempting to justify to their shareholders why they needed to go this route. Customers throughout the country were using checks and cash and debit cards for more or less 3 weeks, then the final week of the month saw the use of credit cards and a drop in customers. Moreover, for the last several years, with this one being the most obvious statistically, the heaviest spending occurs January, February, and March, when child tax credit money is depleted, then shoppers have to spend according to their salaries only. Sales begin to tank for the remainder of the year.
The globalists are, indeed, advocating for depopulation, encouraging the young to not have kids, encouraging the retirees to go into hospice if ill. The control of the food supply is absolutely trending toward artificial lab grown meat. A second cow had screw worms in Texas, and ranchers here fear they will be forced to kill their cows. I hope you like Mexican beef, as it is already beginning to dominate the market.
I may not have made it all that clear, but a violation of any of the 7 governing rules of retirement will get an attorney disbarred. Since I will be preparing the occasional deed or will, etc... from home, I am technically not retiring.
I hope you are enjoying your coffee and having a nice breakfast, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Seems to me
that if corporations are people,then people are corporations, subject to the same tax benefits.
For instance, corporations can charge off all costs of doing business against their yearly earnings, including depreciation of assets.
Therefore, Every citizen should be able to charge off all the costs of life, such as rent/mortgage (need to have a corporations headquarters), food (raw materials for operations), all medical bills (need to maintain corporate health), all costs of raising children (corporate growth).
Etc. Etc.
And all corporations should lose their immortality and automatically die at 76 years old
Jus' dreamin'.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
For sure, turnabout is fair play
.
at least in a just world. Are corps liable to capital punishment?
Perhaps if their "necks" were on the line, they might pull back
obvious criminal behavior. Just a bit. It is not all about the shareholders.
Exxon sentenced to the electric chair for crimes against humanity.
Or just paint a cannabis leaf on the tanker hull and get bombed by the Navy
in the Caribbean.
Zionism is a social disease
Craziness in Delaware, where most all
corporations are registered.
Well, a corporation is a document. I imagine that document standing in line at the polls, showing ID, walking to the voting booth, making clicks on the ballots, etc...don't you? After all, those documents get religious exemptions for this and that. Between Alito and Romney, here we are.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning...
A pleasant but thin trade day. Bought avocado's, organic blackberries and raspberries, but that was all.
We've been having cool (upper 50's to low 60's) in the morning. Rain is called for tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. We'll see. We could do with more. None the less it's been nice.
Still trying to catch up with the maintenance. Took out a cedar tree and sweetgum encroaching on the road. Got one nice cedar pole and some firewood, but now have to haul off the limbs to the burn pile. I put a rope around the pile and pull it with the tractor.
More power to your retirement. Sounds like the plan is working well. All the best with it!
Thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, LO!
We had some high gusts of wind this week, one of which broke off a large limb at my office, right where I park my car. Good thing it happened after closing time. It would have torn up my tiny convertible!
And rain? Almost daily here. It is raining right now. It is still not those rains that cause flooding everywhere, thank goodness!
Sounds like you and your partner, the tractor, have kept your holler in great shape! And keeps you in great shape, too!
Enjoy your work, play and sing, and enjoy your weekend, 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, thanks for the OT. Good luck with your
retirement process. Loved your comment aout "professional ethics" and shared it with my wife. I would quibble that there is a sense in which it has always been a percentage thing. Then again, it is 2 things: 1) Knowing what the word "ethics" means definitionally and 2) Knowing what ethics entails, ie how to behave ethically. Wth respect to the latter definition, it would seem that large numbers have always been ignorant of the meaning if we judge by their behaior. Consider, for most of my life the majority of congresspersons have been attorneys.
Have to feed the birds and get ready to head to farmers' market.
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 --
Good morning, El!
Yeah, attorneys in congress has tested the bounds of profession ethics, hasn't it? Taking bribes from lobbyists, insider trading, weaponizing politics, DOJ lawfare...sigh...
Clearly, what you can't do as a lawyer in private practice, you can do as a congress critter.
I think we are going to explore a nearby grocery store, just to check out what they stock, compare some prices.
We are preparing for the future, figuring at the end of the day, we will be po! Joke: George Foreman said, "When I was growing up, we had no money, couldn't afford 2 letters, so we was just po".
Have a fun weekend, dear friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Back at the farm today
Rained most of the night, but lightly.
Going to replant some Monarch butterfly plants we dug up out of the yard at home.
Those things are thriving and migrating out into the grass yard. All I can do is mow them over and hope that controls them.
Dug up a thyme plant that took over a whole corner of the home garden, which is 14' x 24'. It too is thriving and getting a little bossy with the corn and onions.
They should do well out here near the creek.
Thanks for the OT.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Good mornig, e1!
With gardening, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Years ago, I planted some lantanas near the front porch, specifically because they attract butterflies, and I wanted to watch them. Over the years, I had so many lantanas, just walking to the porch from the driveway required me to dodge them. I had to get them gone, maybe have 2 or 3 left. That's enough.
Something crossed my mind about warfare politics recently. Remember how Massie was smeared for remarrying 18 months after his first wife died? Now, Platner has some ex-girlfriends who broke up with him because they didn't like his attitude, and they are used to smear him. All the while, we have a president who is a pedophile?
Caveat: I do not always agree with Massie, but I have great respect for him. I have no idea what Platner is about, and know nothing about his political stances. I just know any and all of us aren't really like by our exes, otherwise, they would not be exes, and I know of no timeline for widower's greif periods.
I gotta watch this doe grazing around in the pasture like she owns the place.
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
Morning - noticed
the lower prices on my shopping round this week. Picked up the habit as a child when money was tight to visit regularly multiple grocery stores on the monthly shopping day. Then choice was limited to sales circular. Memorize the prices of other items to get a feel for where to buy if not on sale, each store generally has there own selection of loss leaders for the local customer base in addition to corporate campaigns. Produce quality is highly dependent on the skills of the manager of the store produce department.
Surprising how one can get a feel for a community based on the selection of items in a grocery store. When traveling I often browsed though at least one store to expand by culinary and cultural horizon. Now I monitor the local economy by watching the type of cars in the parking log, walking through a store observing content of cart, attitude of customers, inventory depth and mix, and products being promoted. It is more accurate than the financial publications.
A typical pattern for distressed industries is as follows. First the prices will drop to try to maintain sales, then product lines will be discontinued and then manufacture plants close permanently. We are fortunate, most of us have a full processing plant in our homes called a kitchen which will allow the option to cook or preserve our own food.
Some of my favorite products in the past disappeared due to company mergers, import licenses changes and business failures. My deepest set back inventory is my favorite condiments, spices and specialty products.
I have been following along this article to determine how well the author evaluated the disruption of Strait Of Hormuz.
Systemic Risk: A 12-Order Cascading Analysis Of A Zero-Flow Strait Of Hormuz Closure ZeroHedge March 5 2026
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
news on the Iran conflict from
45 minutes ago
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/06/world/live-news/iran-war-trump-israel-leb...
It is CNN, so expect it to leave out any suggestion we are taking losses, but it is a starting point.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I've written here before in comments about Crimea
and it's struggles to stay in gasoline etc. Today I read half an article on the new midrange drone technology that is allowing Ukraine to consistently hit targets at a midrange, and effectively isolate the peninsula.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-199590800
What this all does is push Russia's relatively safe areas to around 200km behind the front lines. Logistics becomes more difficult.
Trump in diapers causes me to chuckle.
Ha, ha
.
go fix your ball room chump.
Zionism is a social disease
Hey, humphrey!
Great stuff!
Anyone with two working brain cells is thinking about Trump's subservience to Israel in the context of The Epstein Files. Bondi, during her grilling before Congress, laid all the problems with the big reveal on some other employee. She missed her chance to change the trajectory of our country for the better, save lives, prosecute criminals, go down in history as an American hero of the highest order.
Anyway, those Lego vids are just GREAT!
Enjoy your weekend, my friend!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Tiananmen Square Myth, Reality...
Jamarl Thomas interviews Carl Zha
Tiananmen Square Myth, Reality, and What the West Leaves Out | Carl Zha
So which is it closer to, Maiden or Hong Kong? At the time this happened I was in South Korea, and AFKN (US military tv) was reporting on this virtually nonstop as a breaking story. I remember I thought this doesn't pass the smell test. Aren't these guys okay with Deng opening China?
I remembered the Iran Contra nonsense in the early eighties. Carl talks about roof top shooters but I haven't seen enough evidence of that yet. Those rioters who had guns, appeared to have taken them from soldiers they overcame or killed when they tried to prevent the PLA from getting to Tiananmen. In any case, they were already using deadly force against armor crews as Carl explains at a substantial distance from Tiananmen. I also recall at the time it was happening, the PLA seemed to be acting with remarkable restraint from the contemporary images.
This effort by the two of these guys to tell the story in a relatively brief video is an achievement. 46 min. Carl recommended a US documentary called Gate of Heavenly Peace.
Thanks for the Odds & Ends, OtC!
己所不欲，勿施于人。
For some odd reason
.
this tune floated to the top of my mind
go figure
Zionism is a social disease