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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Open Megaphone Day

stilton’s place, stilton, political, humor, conservative, cartoons, jokes, hope n’ change , open megaphone
"Snowflakes should seek shelter in 5...4...3...2..."
Remember how we joked on Monday about how Daylight Savings Time messes with our mind? Well, we actually weren't joking at all and we're still in a walking coma. We look like Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" if he was appearing in one of those ads showing the longterm ravages of meth abuse.

That's why we're introducing an exciting new feature for everyone to enjoy on those occasions when, due to unavoidable circumstances (like our EEG flatlining), we can't meet our own rigorously high standards of journalistic excellence. Specifically, we're putting the burden on YOU to come up with interesting things to talk about in the comments section!

We'll start you with several random thoughts to show how the game is played:

• Regarding the GOP healthcare plan, we think that hitching posts should be installed outside of emergency rooms so that when people show up who have chosen not to carry insurance, the providers can decline to provide treatment "for you and the horse you rode in on."

• Kellyanne Conway, who frequently serves as interpreter when communicating President Trump's ill-expressed thoughts to those who are fervor-impaired, recently stated that kitchen appliances like microwaves "can turn into cameras" to spy on people. In the future, we suggest that Kellyanne leave such wacky pronouncements in the microwave a lot longer, because they're definitely coming out half-baked.

• MSNBC's Rachel Maddow obtained Donald Trump's taxes from 2005 and, after much huffing, puffing, and innuendo about "Russian oligarchs," anticlimactically revealed that he paid $35 million in federal taxes that year (an effective rate of 25% - higher than that MSNBC paid) and the IRS found no wrongdoing whatsoever with his returns. Meaning that the only newsworthy part of the story is who committed a felony by leaking a private tax return...and how soon can we see Trump make an example of that individual?

And now, let's hear from YOU! (Remember, to get to the comments section just click on the title of today's post, or click on the number of comments just below the post).

62 comments:

Bob B said...

Fox News has gotten entirely too predictable. On any given night, Bill O'Reilly will admire himself, Sean Hannity will repeat himself, Tucker Carlson will bemuse himself, Greg Gutfeld will amuse himself, and Bob Beckel will wet himself...

mamafrog said...

Despite having said such a wooly pronouncement, Kellyanne was referencing these news stories, a fact that was conveniently ignored by the media.

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/05/504467134/despite-its-promise-the-internet-of-things-remains-vulnerable


https://www.wired.com/2015/12/2015-the-year-the-internet-of-things-got-hacked/


http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/04/17/hacking-into-your-home-tvs-refrigerators-could-be-portal-to-most-sensitive-info.html

As you can see, these are "reputable" sources reporting on the story.

miniskunk said...

Bully for you that you can afford health insurance. Many Americans such as myself still can't even under Obamacare. The deductible(aka non-coverage) before it pays anything alone would bankrupt me. To tell people they can't get medical help in an emergency because they lack insurance is bullpucky!

james daily said...


I wish like heil I had paid $35 million in taxes. Unfortunately, I did not pay close to that amount. Also noticed 9 MSNBC including the reverend Al have had tax liens filed against them. I doubt that will make the evening news.

Anonymous said...

The non-news about the Russian hacking continues unabated with loyal, lurking, determined Democrats confirming what they have long suspected, the Russian salad dressing connection, confirming Trump did have financial dealings with said Russians most likely in a Russian restaurant by ordering said dressing on his salad and a ham sandwich on Russian rye. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had her iphone hacked and insisted Trump was behind it, giving the Russians everything then needed to bring down Hillary but in reality it was she who tipped off the Russians that her phone was loaded with interesting stuff because Hillary snubbed her one time in the past. The rest is on the daily news.

Anonymous said...

I am sick to death about people "being entitled to health care." Its not a right. Why can't you demand free shoes if your shoes wear out, or demand a free meal if you're hungary.

I also note that those showing up at emergency rooms usually have cars, no doubt have a microwave, cable, and a mobile phone. I understand that these are priority items, unlike health insurance.

But the GOP uis full of shit. If you can't pay tough.

This emergency room stuff is paid for by those with insurance and is the principle reason healthcare is skyrocketing. Get the government out of healthcare.

If the market dictated the rules in healthcare costs would be down by 50% in ten years. I remember when doctors made house calls when I was a child, then they passed medicare.

The GOP should allow a 4,000 tax credit for each wage earner and 2,000 for each dependent. This could be used for glasses, dental, medicine, medical care and healthclubs (yes healthclubs or gyms). I am sick to death about the poor. I worked my way through college and grad school. My dad worked two jobs till I was 14. No one ever gave us a handout. And that is all I see today.

I'd also like those who demonstrate and employ violence or disturb the peace, disrupt business or normal events subject to a ten year sentence and a 10,000 fine. Peaceful assembly doesn't entail carrying bricks, iron rods and face masks.

REM1875 said...

Come on Doc it has to be more serious than a flat line EEG to stop ya - I mean we have a whole political party of flat-liners and it never slows them down.

Skip said...

After I finish this jug of bourbon I won't hafta listen to the left til noon.
So I got that going for me.

michael hutson said...

not much to say today Stilton except a general feeling of malaise about the state of free speech on campuses in general(first Milo Yiannopoulis,Gavin McInnes now Charles Murray?)and the news that the Confederate flag is banned on campus in York,SC so i guess we can't even talk about the causes of the nation's most heart-wrenching paroxysm now!

Bobo the Hobo said...

@Michael Hutson, just remember: today is yet another day Hillary Clinton will not be president.

Geoff King said...

Random questions:
.Does Nancy Pelosi really not see her own hypocrisy when stating that they need to read the Ă˜bamacare replacement bill before passing it?
.Does Kim Jong really want to become Un - living by threatening the U.S. with a nuclear attack?
.Does the major winter storm that hit the East Coast mean that Al Gore could get no flights out to Global Warming conferences?
.Does Trump saying he will cut funding to the U.N. by 50% bother anyone but the U.N.?

Bobo the Hobo said...

If Obama Care was considered a "tax", what prevents Congress from simply repealing that "tax"?

Rox said...

Rachael Maddow better known as Radical Madcow.

Anonymous said...

We know now why Trump refused to disclose his tax returns. He wanted MSM to eat crow when they finally got their filthy hands on the non-story.

Fred Ciampi said...

First of all, the USA needs a flat tax (perhaps to go along with the flat lining of our politicians). Second of all, and most important, last week the weather started clearing and the temperature rose up to the 60s. Wifey saw all the fallen branches, twigs, and a multitude of leaves all over the property and 'suggested' that they get cleaned up. "Well", I said, "my shredder committed suicide last year". "Get another one" said she. Woohoo, I went flying down to the chipper/shredder emporium and promptly purchased a nice gigantic chipper/shredder. My great grand kids love nothing more than to feed branches and such into a noisy, rumbling, spewing, and belching chipper/shredder. So, what happens? Next morning there's snow on the ground. Morning after, more snow. Today, 13 degrees. Grrrrrrr. I'm not sure if it's the CIA's fault, Russia's, or the government's in general. So there sits my nice shiny chipper/shredder saying "use me, use me". Now, at 13 degrees, all I can use is the product from my still. Sigh.

GenEarly said...

Trump paid 35 million!!! in taxes!!! Well, wonder what Bloomingbird paid then with 10X the income? I'll wager less than Trump......but that "progreSSive" deduction does favor the DemocRats!

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Bob B- I think you've summed up the Fox players pretty accurately. Of the group listed, I can really only stand to watch Tucker and Greg, and even they need to be careful about not becoming parodies of themselves.

@mamafrog- The danger from the "Internet of Things" is indeed very real. Devices that have cameras and microphones can function as spy devices, as can thermostats with motion detectors. And pretty much any "smart" appliance (yes, including microwaves) which communicate with the Internet can be hacked with ill intent - like becoming players in grouped Denial of Service attacks on websites. The problem with Kellyanne's statement is that it turns a genuine concern into an easy laugh line for the Lefties to mock.

@miniskunk- Read what I said again. The GOP plan would allow people to opt out (without penalty) if they choose not to buy insurance. Those are the people who are gaming the system, and whom I'm saying should face consequences for their actions. Those who genuinely can't afford insurance should absolutely have access to healthcare. Moreover, the GOP plan would again allow much less expensive insurance plans for "catastrophic coverage" which used to be very popular, but which Obamacare banned.

@James Daily- And keep in mind that the $35 million was just The Donald's federal tax. He also had to pay state and local taxes, sales tax, etc. And you bring up a good point: why the hell isn't Sharpton in jail yet?

@Anonymous- I've had it up to here (lifting hand above head) with the Russian hacking nonsense. Especially since none of the reporters who are still hyperventilating about the alleged misdeeds ever showed an iota of interest in Hillary's private, insecure, and likely often hacked email server which held actual government secrets.

@Anonymous- Indeed, health care can not be a "right" because it involves taking services from others. Compassion, on the other hand, dictates that it's a nice idea to provide reasonable health care to those who genuinely can't afford it. But should everyone always get everything (ie, a new liver for a penniless alcoholic)? No. And people who choose not to buy insurance should not subsequently be able to make themselves a financial burden to taxpayers.

It sounds harsh (and is!) but people's behavior (including procreative behavior) won't improve until there are real consequences for their actions - including doing without certain services. Some will die. Life is harsh that way.

And as long as I'm ranting, in order to deliver compassionate care to as many as possible, we need to make the penalties for welfare fraud immense.

@REM1875- The difference between me and them is that I have standards. (grin)

@Skip- You are clearly a jug half full kind of guy.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Michael Hutson- Sadly, "free speech" has become an oxymoron on college campuses. I think students would be better served by being compelled to listen attentively to potentially offensive speech and then discuss logically (not emotionally) the failings in the speaker's ideas.

@Bobo the Hobo- You know, that realization just never gets old.

@Geoff King- Good questions all, and with self-evident answers.

@Bobo the Hobo- The mandate is considered a tax and it could be repealed as such. Unfortunately, cutting off that flow of money would have messy repercussions which need to be addressed simultaneously.

@Rox- I'd love to see staffer sneak that into her "lower third" title onscreen.

@Anonymous- I've always believe the real reason Trump didn't share his returns is because he knew there was an anti-wealth sentiment in the country, and further knew that the media would misrepresent anything they could get their hands on (as indeed has been the case). If the IRS found nothing wrong with his returns, then what business is it of ours what's in there?

Mind you, Maddow tried to make the case that Americans deserve to know if Trump was getting money (albeit legally) from foreign governments, because that might influence him. But did Maddow raise those same concerns about the tens of millions Hillary was extorting from foreign governments, including the worst civil rights abusers in the world? She did not. Pure hypocrisy.

@Fred Ciampi- Maybe your family can put that chipper to use by staging a family production of "Fargo."

@GenEarly- Frankly, today I'd really like to see Rachel Maddow's tax returns! She vigorously made the case that such returns should be released for people in positions of public trust. Or is she saying that MSNBC isn't deserving of public trust?

M. Mitchell Marmel said...

If a hen and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how long does it take a grasshopper with a wooden leg to kick the seeds out of a dill pickle?

AMERICA HAS THE RIGHT TO KNOW!!!

Elbarto said...

Regarding daylight savings time, it's another reason that I love living in Arizona where we don't engage in that silliness.

Bruce Bleu said...

Rachel Madcow thinks she's a MAN, so let's get her incarcerated in a MEN'S PRISON ASAP!
I am so sick of these miscreants hiding behind an alleged Constitutional protection... it doesn't allow felonious behavior, and it's about damned time they pay the piper! It needs to be PAINFULLY clear that the REASON the "press" is protected is so the TRUTH can be disseminated, NOT so liars can bullsh*t their way to brainwashing stupid voters!
Fred Ciampi... the plot thickens... surely you've seen the FB photo of the dogs warning their owners that the Russians pooped in the hallway!

Anonymous said...

Everyone involved in leaking Trump's tax returns should be prosecuted, although it helped his image. Sadly far to often laws are broken with no consequences, no wonder there is no respect for newies or public officials.

Judi King said...

There's so much insanity on the part of the libtards and MSM I can't begin to pick a topic. I WAS concerned about how the fragile coastal libs, in the East, who most likely believe in the pseudo-science of global warming, felt about their latest blizzard. But really don't care much. As for FNC, the only show I really like is Judge Jeanine, if I am still awake, and I like Tucker but don't like his own show very much.

NaCly Dog said...

Ask for Obama's transcripts now that a Trump tax return was revieled. Make the media own their behavior, like shaming a bad dog.

Jack Wiegman said...

If those microwaves that the Russians used to bombard and spy on the US embassy in Moscow were aimed at the Democrats instead and they killed someone, would we be willing to give them a hillary on it?

Boligat said...

All the fuss over income taxes and the IRS would go away with the Fair Tax.

Every time anyone from the MSM complains about being excluded from the press pool, they should be told, "You wrote 5,295,618 column inches about the Russians hacking DNC, but not one sentence about the CONTENT of the dems emails and why those emails were written in the first place. As soon as you balance out your reporting we'll think about putting your name back in the hat.

Time to repeal OCare in its entirety. Then require that ALL prices be posted for all to see. Enough of charging a gazillion dollars and then accepting 1/4 gazillion dollars from the insurance company but not from an individual paying out of pocket.

Time for the Dept of Education to go away. The only thing needed at the federal level would be an office in the DOJ, consisting of one person, whose job it is to make sure that each state spreads public funds equitably within that state.

Anonymous said...

To have free security monitoring at your house, just mutter "terrorist type" comments every once in awhile around your " Alexis " and the government will watch your house for free..
I'm your Huckleberry

Anonymous said...

It seems American Bolsheviks have adoptedted the tactics and philosophy of their Russian cousins by trying and succeeding in shouting down or silencing any opposition. One might be forgeven for concluding that our Universities are hotbeds of Communist inspired revolution. But in this case, revolutiontion against an elected Government. Ooops, forgot that the Rusian Provisional government of 1917 was sorta elected and put forth a Constitution almost equal to ours in enumerated freedoms for the folks. But they were literally ground into the dirt by the nasty minority Bolshies. We can but hope that history does not repeat itself. Right, Comrades? Anybody seen this picture before?
Will

Phoebe said...

Boligat, about your statement that it's "[t]ime for the Dept of Education to go away. The only thing needed at the federal level would be an office in the DOJ, consisting of one person, whose job it is to make sure that each state spreads public funds equitably within that state."...

First, it's dangerous (and constitutionally questionable) for the federal government to tell states how to spend their money -- especially if the DOJ is being run by the kinds of racialists that we've had there for the past eight years. Second, as soon as a new office is opened in any agency, it won't consist of "one person" for very long. Soon, that person will need staff, assistants, staff for the assistants, more facilities to house all these personnel, an additional office to oversee the hiring of the new people, another office to oversee the acquisition and maintenance of the enlarged facilities, a supplies and equipment management team for all these new offices ... and so on and so forth. And eventually the "one-person office" will be so large that it will need to be broken off as a separate cabinet level Department ... and we're right back where we started.

MD Vickery said...

Ms Conway's comments possessed a bit of irony (or some heavy metal,) that substance that Trump frequently employs that the liberal idiots can't fathom. Such as when he "requested" that the Russians find Shillary's emails while knowing that said hard drive was sitting on an evidence shelf in the FBI's safe. His point being that the Russians - as well as the Chinese, Iranians, North Koreans and a Nigerian prince had already retrieved copies of that hard drive months prior, but liberal media types cannot fathom such simple concepts nor do they have the ability to realize that when Trump pulls their leg, it usually falls off in his hand.

Dave Neumann said...

I was going to post something. But when I started thinking about what, the list of leftist abuse, hypocrisy, self-indulgence, stupidity, and ignorance stretched to the edge of the galaxy. Not even NASA can find the end of the list. As a liberal once said to me, "What! You don't agree with me! What's wrong with YOU?"

GWashington said...

Below is my morning post to social media, which I will share with all of you.. hope you feel better Stilton! It took me a couple of days to get past the time change myself, but I made the mistake of working on Sunday, which always results in my losing track of days the rest of the week...

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09-Q1PqRzNI
Project Veritas releases hidden video of lawyer for the Teacher's Unions in New York telling two different undercover reporters about how he defended a teacher who was raping students at knifepoint, and all that happened to the teacher is that 'he resigned'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hWFg7yJiKE
CNN just KEEPS... LOSING... FEEDS... to people they don't agree with... IT'S AMAZING... ask yourself... when was the last time you saw a news station 'lose a feed' to something? With CNN, it HAPPENS ALL THE TIME...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=timMIc0BVOE&t=859s
Colin Flaherty of DON'T MAKE THE BLACK KIDS ANGRY, covers daily tv news reports of black mob and black on everyone violence around the country. Happens every day. On video. No other demographic commits this amount of violence. Colin has been putting these videos up every day, 3 times a day, FOR YEARS. Every time he hits 60,000 subs or so, youtube cancels his channel. I've watched that happen 3 times myself. NOW what youtube is doing, is they freeze the subs to the channel... for as much promotion as this channel gets on social media, and to not have ANY increase in subscriptions, is statistically impossible, which means, YOUTUBE is fraudulently manipulating Colin's stats. Now think about that. Why would YOUTUBE not want YOU to know about black mob and black on everyone violence in YOUR town?

So there's some truth for you folks. Do with it what you will. "

Walter L. Stafford said...

Ah, nothing like reading Stilton's Place to get the input of some folks such as "ministinker"
who obviously has problems reading the printed word. Oh well, they too are part of the fabric
of humanity.

Old Cannonballs said...

Oh the irony... . Donald Trump gets elected POTUS, and gun sales plummet. I guess O'Bummer was good for something.

John the Econ said...

Healthcare: I've pretty much given up trying to follow this or engage in meaningful debate with most people simply because of the mass ignorance that exists (largely purposely) regarding the meaning of the terms "insurance" and "health care". Largely because of bad policy going back 75 years that largely made "health insurance" and "health care" the responsibility of employers, most people do not know the difference, and use the terms interchangeably. They assume that their "insurance" will pay for regular and expected health care expenses, as if their auto insurance would pay for their oil changes and tires, or their homeowners insurance would pay for painting and a new roof.

I really haven't studied the GOP plan because whatever it is today will be something different next week, and it's really all just a kabuki dance before Trump signs some kind of "single payer" plan before fall 2020.

Kellyanne Conway: I don't know what to think of her; she's either a moonbat or a foil to draw attention from Trump when needed. Or both.

Rachel Maddow and Trump's Taxes: Breaking News - Trump makes a boatload of money, and then pays his taxes on it! Another fine example of "fake news" and and "Want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump". A great leftist media backfire. Even her fellow media Progressives who usually march in lock-step on this stuff are stepping back from this steaming pile of embarrassment.

Perhaps PMSNBC can convene a panel of all the tax experts they already have on the payroll to explain what is wrong with this.

Trump may be unpopular and a blowhard, but he can't hold a candle to these hypocrites.

Paul D Garber said...

As for Rachel Maddow, she also pinched herself to prove her tax return Expose' (which turned out 2 B in a flatline condition)was real & not "Fake News". I'd like to point out that pinching one's self is NOT definitive proof of anything. I hereby offer my services to her. If I could slap sh*t out of her, that would constitute real proof.

John the Econ said...

As for what's on my mind?

Filed under "The desire is more alluring than the actually getting":

Airlines Drop Cuba Flights, Citing Lower Demand Than Anticipated

Seems the number of people actually willing to go to a poor communist Caribbean country with a reputation for poor-to-non-existent customer service and human rights violations was greatly overestimated. It also didn't help when millennial hipsters raised on Che t-shirts and a lifetime of media fawning over the tropical worker's paradise with Eisenhower era taxi cabs started posting on social media that the place sucked and was nothing like the communist Ibiza they'd been sold on or imagined.

Headlines you will never see: "White Male Defenders of the Patriarchy Expel Refugee Woman of Color from Legislative Chamber for Speaking Her Mind" And yet it actually happened.

Vietnamese Refugee Punished in California Senate

"...California Democrats censured refugee and Republican state senator Janet Nguyen for speaking “out of order” on the senate floor when she condemned Vietnam’s communist rule that affected her and many of her Vietnamese-American constituents. Nguyen took issue with a ceremony honoring Tom Hayden, a former member of the body who was famous for protesting the Vietnam War and supporting Hanoi along with his then-wife Jane Fonda. As she tried to continue speaking, officers forcibly removed her..."

Remember the faux s***storm when only a few weeks earlier faux Indian Liz Warren was silenced on the Senate floor by Republicans? At least the GOP didn't call security to have her dragged out of the chamber like Democrats do. Funny how you don't hear the same level of hyperbole when the Democrats shut down speech.

Why haven't we heard anything about guns lately? When an airline passenger had shot up the Ft. Lauderdale Airport last January, the media was cuing up their gun control narrative as various reporters were seemingly aghast that people were allowed to legally ship guns in checked baggage. It seemed certain that we were in for another solid quarter of lectures on the dangers of white males and demands for more gun control when this inconvenient truth came out:

Airport Shooter Converted to Islam, Identified as Aashiq Hammad Years Before Joining Army

Oooops. Never mind. Both the issue and the incident disappeared almost immediately. The last thing they want to talk about is disarming schizophrenic Muslims.

And finally, speaking of Islam:

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/bbctwo/videos/1080140528761781/>The Real Housewives of ISIS</a>

See? There's still some non-PC humor out there. Enjoy it while you still can.

Boligat said...

Phoebe,

I understand your worry, but in this case I don't think so. All I'm saying is that when the states allocate their education dollars, they need to go to all students equally. A voucher system will do that. This has to do with the 14th Amendment (I think) that says that laws should apply equally to all. We had a long history of states sending more bucks to certain districts at the expense of others resulting in good schools and bad schools and I'm not talking just about the South here.

And speaking of laws applying equally to all, why does Congress get their own healthcare system?

John the Econ said...

Fox News: Haven't watched since Brit Hume retired from the evening news, which was probably the last straight news program on Fox, or any channel for that matter. I find the rest of their programming patronizing. Since giving up cable TV years ago, I don't miss it.

Spying Microwaves: While I am not aware of any microwaves with cameras and microphones, "Internet of Things" devices ARE a threat to your privacy. Too many of these things that people mindlessly plug into their homes are poorly designed, not secure, and most are not maintained or upgraded like your computer when vulnerabilities are discovered. Even when well designed, few people know how to secure them, or even that they need to be.

Russian Hacking: Absolutely nobody seemed the least bit interested in it when it was assumed that Hillary was going to win. That is why I'm not excited now.

In fact, notice now how the Democrats are backing off on the "Trump is owned by the Russians" narrative since it's come out the same Russian ambassador was meeting with far more Democrats than Trump people.

Another fine example of the existential problem the Democrats have today. They literally are guilty of everything they accuse everyone else of being. Fun to watch.

@Geoff King, the Democrats have the memory of a flea. It's the only way it works.

Colby Muenster said...

Geoff King said...
"Does Trump saying he will cut funding to the U.N. by 50% bother anyone but the U.N.?" 50% bothers the crap out of me; should be 100%! I would love the USA to tell the UN to go bleep themselves, and while they are at it, get the hell out of New York. But seriously, I was not aware that Trump did this, but I think it's funny as hell! Just guessing here, but I'll bet us taxpayers fund nearly 100% of the UN's budget. And the UN's main goal seems to be to undermine our constitution. It's like paying people who hate you to repeatedly kick you in the nuts while you give them a free place to live.

Madcow... I'd rather break my own fingers with a hammer than watch her show, but I'm betting the dialogue is going something like this: "Donald Trump made $151 million AND ONLY PAID $38 MILLION IN TAXES!!!!!" Am I correct? Turdheads like Madcow think rich Republicans should pay 100% tax rates because they just don't deserve that much money. It's perfectly fine if Bernie only paid 13% because he's not a rich Republican. Her sources say they "found" the partial tax return? Really? If I "found" somebody's tax return, and then published it, no doubt I would "find" myself doing time at the Graybar Hotel.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@M. Mitchell Marmel- And what exactly did the Russians have to do with that dill pickle?!

@jpb252- I heartily applaud Arizona's way of doing things.

@Bruce Bleu- We need to be careful about suppressing the ability of the press to reveal uncomfortable truths, but that doesn't mean there should be no standards at all (or no repercussions if felonies are committed).

@Anonymous- If Trump leaked his own returns (as some are speculating), then no laws were broken. If it was anyone else, then it should be treated as a criminal matter.

@Judy King- The crazier things get, the harder it is to care about the media tizzy du jour.

@NaCly Dog- I would love to start seeing leaks of Obama's college transcripts (including what name he was using, whether he was registered as a foreign student, and why no one remembers ever seeing him), his medical records, etc.

@Jack Wiegman- You bring up an excellent point that a lot of people probably don't remember. Microwaves (not microwave ovens) were directed at the US Embassy by the Russians. If I recall correctly (and I may not), hitting the windows with microwaves and then reading the reflections allowed the Russians to detect micro-vibrations in the glass caused by soundwaves in the office. In other words, they could listen in to conversations. The downside: all that microwave radiation causes cancer in the unwary victim. If indeed something like that was happening anywhere near Trump or Trump Tower, it would be a whole different ballgame.

@Boligat- I like all of your suggestions.

@Anonymous- Good idea! I think I'll start saying "bomb" and "Allah Akbar" at random times (as if I wasn't already under surveillance).

@Will- The idea that college students are shouting down and physically attacking others to prevent fascism is remarkably ironic. Not that the damn snowflakes understand "irony" anymore.

@Phoebe- You paint a very believable picture. Depressing, too.

@MD Vickery- There's clearly more sense in what Trump/Conway mean than in what they say. But I didn't cut the Obama administration any slack in that direction, and am not about to start now.

@Dave Neumann- It's true; when it comes to picking out reasons that the Lefties are crazy and annoying, it's like an endless buffet.

@GWashington- Great stuff across the board. Thanks for sharing!

@Walter L Stafford- Let's not be hard on @ministinker. This is an emotional and personal topic, and I can easily see how someone could misinterpret my sentiments. We genuinely need to be making an effort to make basic medical care affordable to everyone, and offer additional assistance to those who can't pay. Those who simply won't pay need to embrace actual risk...and consequences.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Old Cannonballs- I'm not sure if the demand for guns has tapered down, or if the market is simply getting saturated.

@John the Econ- I agree with your summation, which is why I'm not really investing myself in all the ins and outs of the proposed plan. I think that (sinking) ship has already sailed.

@Paul D Garber- I don't make a point of watching MSNBC, but if Rachel takes you up on your offer, please let me know when you'll be on the show so I can TIVO it.

@John the Econ- I never thought there was going to be much of a market for visitors to Cuba, and these numbers seem to prove it. Too bad Obama "opened" our relationship with Cuba just in time to assure that the people would remain impoverished and enslaved even after Fidel's passing.

Good points on the intolerance of the Left and the abrupt silence from the Left about guns when radical Islam is involved.

@Boligat- Somehow, it must become law that Congress cannot exempt itself from the laws they inflict on the rest of us. For that matter, I think pay raises and benefits should be voted on by the people in national elections.

@John the Econ- I'm really letting go of "news" broadcasts, too. It's all spin, and at my age I get motion sick easily. The Wall Street Journal is still my most reliable source for news and analysis.

Dittos on the "Internet of Things" and waning interest in the Russians.

@Golby Muenster- I have no love for the U.N. either. I'd like to see them move their HQ to another country ASAP.

And yes, the Lefties will still complain that Trump isn't paying his "fair share." It's all they know how to do.

Old Cannonballs said...

@Stilton Jarlsberg- Market saturated? How can the market be saturated when it's impossible to have too many guns?

NVRick said...

I'm not leaving the house today.
Remember: Beware the Ides of March!

NVRick said...

@Bruce Bleu Putting MadCow in a men's prison is a horrible idea. Imagine the class action suit filed by the men for "cruel and unusual punishment".

NVRick said...

@Anonymous
Last night when I first heard about the two pages of his return showing up in someone's mailbox, I immediately thought that The Donald arranged it to see who would run with it and make a fool of him/her/it self.

txGreg said...

@Colby Muenster, It turns out that the Tump administration (by way of Rex Tillerson) actually has apparently threatened to cut off U.S. involvement in the (laughably-named) U.N. Human Rights Council if they don't reform that den of thieves. That's still not cutting 100% of the U.N. but I'll take it as start.

@Old Cannonballs, Amen sir. If you can still count how many guns you have, you don't have enough yet.

NVRick said...

@Stilton Jarlsberg As far as compensation for our reps and senators: As they supposedly 'represent' their districts and states, those are the people who should determine what that compensation should be. So if CA wants to pay them $500,000 a year and MT wants to pay them $50,000 a year, that is what they should get.

pgm1972 said...

Rachel Maddow finds grenade, pulls pin, tosses it, (the pin, not the grenade), then runs around saying "Hey everyone, look what I found. Donald Trump pays his taxes." Wait! What? BOOM!

Shelly said...

What I don't understand at all is why the mainstream media does not recognize or refuses to admit is that they are continuing the exact same, if not worse, partisan behavior that cost them the election and their reputations. Their insane bald-faced hatred of the president is clouding their better sense. Doubling down on a losing strategy is just plain stupid. If Trump plays his cards right, and for the most part he has, he is going to roll them all the way to his reelection campaign. They just don't get it.

The same argument goes for the Democrats in Congress, especially their so-called leadership. Schumer and Pelosi? You mean Dumber and Dumbest? I hope they get mercilessly creamed in the mid-terms.

Barack Obama was supposed to be the savior of the black race and to this day they worship him as a demi-god. The facts don't lie, though. Black unemployment grew to its highest rate under him and dependency on government skyrocketed. That's his real legacy.

pgm1972 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pgm1972 said...

@mamafrog: It's not just the hacking from the outside you have to worry about. You think Obama is vengeful? Don't piss off the garage door opener, or he'll hack your internet enabled thermostat and try to have you ready for breakfast.

http://fortune.com/2016/01/21/nest-issues/

"After taking my Nest information, the company said it had pinpointed the problem, laying the blame on my link between the Nest and my Chamberlain MyQ garage-door opener. I had tied the two services together so that when I left my house, the garage door would tell the Nest to go into "Away" mode to reduce the A/C or heating bill.

Nest couldn't explain why my garage door was mysteriously communicating with my Nest at 4:30 a.m., let alone why it was telling it to jack up the heat when it didn't have the ability to control temperature in the first place. I disabled the link anyway.

When I asked Chamberlain for more information about the issue, it recommended that I follow Nest's instructions while it looked into things.

A few nights later, the Nest again tried to roast my family alive. This time the company blamed the problem on the integration with my Jawbone fitness tracker and asked me to disable that. After I did so, the problem disappeared."

(pgm1972 note: Sure, sure. It's always the fitness tracker they point the finger at. We now return to "The Internet-enabled Appliances of Our Lives")

Charlie Wood, CEO of Numerous, an Austin, Texas company that makes a productivity app of the same name, has experienced the same sudden heating issue on some of his five Nest thermostats. He doesn't have a Chamberlain MyQ linked to any of them.

He does however, have an idea of what was going on. Wood's Numerous app can read the temperature from the Nest app and display it on a person's mobile phone or tablet. It doesn't have permission to change the temperature, only to reflect it. "I know this because I wrote that code," he says.

Around the same time I was experiencing my own Nest issues, Wood received a call from an angry customer who had been told by Nest that Wood's app was causing her thermostat to crank the heat in the middle of the night. Wood, confused, told the customer he'd figure it out. Then he called Nest.
...
Nest's Greg Hu, head of the Works with Nest program, acknowledged that Nest continues its work on a server issue that makes it difficult for the company to pinpoint partner integration issues. "It's in the process of being corrected, and it will be," he told Fortune. More than 100 devices are part of the Works with Nest program, he said, and the company receives few support calls about them—so few, in fact, that he can listen to all of them. (Hu declined to specify how many support calls the program receives.)

Nest said in October that one in eight homes with a Nest product also have activated a Works with Nest device. It's the only number the company shares about the size and scope of the program. Nest has many partners; most of them are likely happy, just as most of its consumer customers are likely happy. But Nest remains the poster child for the smart home, and its missteps take on outsized importance. Hopefully it can fix its issues before Nick Bilton and yours truly get wind of it.

-------------------
(pgm1972 - And all this time, no one has noticed the crock pot sitting there with a sly smile on its face.)

Regnad Kcin said...

The fix for National HealthCare : Make military service mandatory for everyone Between 18-25 for 3 years, no exceptions, no exemptions. That way when they get out they get VA Care. Simple.
Dress Ms. Conway in a full black leather dominatrix outfit with whips and chains. Then, set her loose in the WH press room to restore law and order by teaching those whipsnades the meaning of civility and decorum.
Move the UN to the land of stinky cheese and rude waiters. Then, turn the empty bldg. into a giant Jewish delicatessen. Free parking with validation.
Mandatory voter ID for everybody of legal age. To make it accessible to the citizens, pay them $25 to acquire said card. That way, no one will complain about the "hardship" of owning one.
Put Rachel Madcow's picture on all the targets at the military rifle ranges. It worked for the FBI when they used Dillinger's pic at theirs.
Post Duhbama's college transcripts and Real birth cert. on billboards all across the country. That way everyone will know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Dear Leader was the most transparent POTUS ever.
Mandatory gun ownership and concealed carry training for everyone. 'Nuff said there.
Lastly, all citizens cease paying all taxes to the gummint. Then, we'll see what happens when the shoe's on the other foot. Make those poltroons work for a living in DC for a change. It's Miller Time !

miniskunk said...

@Stilton Jarlsberg No worries! I am not gaming the system at all by not having insurance. At worst I am rolling the dice that my health holds out. I get most of my care a from a local doctor that has a reasonable sliding scale discount based on income. I understand your concern about those freeloading. I avoid the emergency room like the plague as I have been raped by the billing dept every time I used one. Same for ambulance services if there is any way I can get to the hospital on my own power. A 1/2 mile trip in my town is $800 minimum and I know in some cities it is several times more. If I am so sick that without spending 10s of thousands of dollars that I will die, I'll just let nature take it's course. I'd rather die than be enslaved for the rest of my life with that much involuntary debt. Instead of reforming insurance, it's the medical industry that should be facing reform. They are the only game in town and they price their services in line with this. Get the inflated costs in check and insurance premiums will come back down.

John the Econ said...

Speaking of the "Internet of Things" and spying:

Maker of ‘Smart’ Vibrators Settles Data Collection Lawsuit for $3.75 Million

"The class action came after two hackers demonstrated in a hacking conference last year that it was possible to remotely take control of the vibrator and activate it.

“The usage information collected by Standard Innovation through We-Connect is extraordinarily intimate and private,” according to court documents from the plaintiffs. The two lead plaintiffs were anonymous, including an Illinois woman identified as N.P. who said she bought a $130 We-Vibe Rave and downloaded the app but was never warned about the data collection, The Chicago Tribune reported.

“Standard Innovation collected individual-level usage information – often tied to users’ personally identifiable addresses,” they said, adding that the firm “breached its customers’ trust, devalued their purchases” and “violated federal and state law in the process.”"


Seriously, I don't know how The Onion is staying in business these days.

Anonymous said...

I'm deliriously happy over this new blog ...
Yes, I live a quiet life.
Yes, I have a cat.
What's wrong with that? :)

MAJMike said...

The toaster got uppity and I shot it. My coffee maker complimented me on my shot group. Life is good.

Judi King said...

@ Regnad Kcin: All good ideas.

Unknown said...

What's with this Alt-Right term? Who made it up? And, who are they? - A bowling team?

I don't see any alt-right riots. I think the most the can be accused of is a non-PC comment or two..


I believe that in reality, they are a foil for SPLC to raise money with..

pkerot said...

Get the government out of healthcare!

Pete (Detroit) said...

IoT - I have NEVER understood the attraction of 'internet enabled' appliances. Programmable thermostat, sure. Internet aware, so I can change the program remotely? for 'only' 3x the price? Um, no, thanks.
And a web browser in the fridge, to remind me to pick up milk / eggs?
Or, worse, order them FOR me? That's not convenience, it's an ANNOYANCE...
Or maybe that's just me...

Back before the turn of the PREVIOUS century (LOVE being able to say that!) I was on the phone w/ girlfriend, talking about this new phone monitoring program called (if I recall correctly) "Raptor" She asked what I thought, were reports true?
"I was at beer club last night, the President told a joke. He thought it was going to kill, but it just bombed"
>click, click-click<
Her - "Ok, you just did that with the cradle"
Me - "Nope, didn't touch it"
Her - "Ok, talk to you later" hangs up...

No Moo Poo, I was there..
and this was nearly 20 years ago...

Cat Mama said...

Kellyanne Conway should be the first person hitched to the post outside the hospital you mentioned....on maybe they could admit her and KEEP HER FOREVER!