Something Random

[Handruin]

It won't teach them anything, they'll find some other scapegoat to blame.

 

[jtr1962]

They already did. They claim the government can control the weather, so it's sending hurricanes to punish red states.

 

[Mercutio]

1. Who is controlling the GOP? (I don't mean to sound like a tin foil hat wearing fool, but who decided to support an convicted felon as a nomination)?

I do believe this will sound pants on head crazy but I believe this to be the case:
The way that conservative politics worldwide works seems to be that tere's a group of billionaires with some form of niche interest in changing the way the world works. Some want widespread theocratic rule. Some are ultranationalists. Some have pet theories about alternatives to democracy. Others just want to make money without any restriction, even if that means absolutely annihilating the Earth as a habitable planet.

These guys fund Think Tanks and media companies to advance policy positions throughout the world. To some degree, these groups can coordinate their operations. Since these groups have largely compatible goals at the moment, they're often able to have an exchange of ideas at a policy level such that they can produce compatible plans to both politicians and the general public. This is why conservative talking points in the USA will appear "spontaneously" from multiple organizations and individuals at once. You'll see groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and far right or extreme libertarians like Curtis Yarvin advocating for the same policies in different ways, and at the same time, extremist groups with like the 3%ers also begin demanding the same things. It's because they all get their money from the same place.

I think at this point Russia, China and the Saudi government are also fully aware of just how far their money can go to influence Western political structures and that it's cheaper and easier to manipulate the media and our politicians than it is to fight wars, so that's certainly a factor as well, but at the end of the day we really, truly have to understand that we are in a hole that has been created by a combination of money amplifying speech and misinformation destroying any credibility of trust in science or institutions that used to be seen as common good.

I don't see a way out.

 

[ddrueding]

That isn't too far from my thoughts on things, Merc. It is one of the reasons I decided to locate the highest ground on the planet and stay there. Probably isn't enough, and it came at considerable cost, but we all do what we can I suppose.

 

[Newtun]

A friend sent me one of many cases in the new regime :

Our new ambassador to France … Charles Kushner
“…convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, & witness tampering, & was sentenced to two years' imprisonment…As convicted felon, was disbarred in three states. He received pardon issued by his son's father-in-law Trump on December 23, 2020.”

 

[Chewy509]

From an outsider, it certainly appears that he is filling positions based on loyalty to himself (or his family), rather than based on qualification or expertise in the field.

 

[Mercutio]

Well that might be the most correct statement ever made here in the pub.

 

[jtr1962]

Anyone know how to get a cat out from under a car? My cat ran outside last night. When I tried to get him in the yard he ran under my brother's car in the driveway. Good news is he's staying there, and with the fences he's contained to the driveway and yard. Bad news is he's been there for over 12 hours and nothing is working. I tried food, calling him, playing cat sounds, pushing him out with a broom, etc. I've left the side door open all the time in case he does decide to come in on his own but I hope it's soon. It's getting into the low 30s again tonight.

 

[Newtun]

Maybe the new Director of the U. S. FBI, Kash Patel:

• active promoter of Qanon conspiracy theory whose core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against Trump.

• promoted use of pills that, he said, reversed the effects of COVID-19 vaccines

 

[Mercutio]

Anyone know how to get a cat out from under a car?

Piece of shrimp on a string?

There's a mother cat who has her kittens every summer under a disabled man's car at my apartment complex. The car moves about four times a year so it's normally pretty safe for the cat. We (me and a couple downstairs neighbors) usually spend a few weeks convincing the the new guys to come out by leaving cat treats, tuna or wet food out. Sometimes we can get them fostered and adopted and sometimes we eventually take them to one of the no-kill shelters if there's room. Momma cat is VERY skittish and doesn't take the bait, but she does seem to understand that the people by the car are helping her babies. This year we set up an insulated outdoor shelter for her as well because she's definitely not an indoor girl.


Newtun, the simple fact is that every single person picked to head an executive department is going to be uniquely unqualified if not ideologically opposed to its stated purpose. These people aren't getting background checks that local postmasters have to have.

 

[jtr1962]

Piece of shrimp on a string?

There's a mother cat who has her kittens every summer under a disabled man's car at my apartment complex. The car moves about four times a year so it's normally pretty safe for the cat. We (me and a couple downstairs neighbors) usually spend a few weeks convincing the the new guys to come out by leaving cat treats, tuna or wet food out. Sometimes we can get them fostered and adopted and sometimes we eventually take them to one of the no-kill shelters if there's room. Momma cat is VERY skittish and doesn't take the bait, but she does seem to understand that the people by the car are helping her babies. This year we set up an insulated outdoor shelter for her as well because she's definitely not an indoor girl.

Thanks but I managed to get him. I checked under the car around 6:30 PM yesterday and he wasn't there. I didn't see him in the yard, either, so I looked all around the block. Turns out he was hiding in the vegetable garden between the compost bins but I forgot to look there first time around. Given how he fought his way out of my grip the first time I figured I wouldn't be able to carry him back, so I devised a plan. I bought over the small brown compost pail we got from the city. I think it's 15 gallons. I calmed him down for about 15 or 20 minutes so I could start lifting him. He started getting nervous and fighting but by then I had him in the compost pail. I closed and locked the lid, then bought him inside. He bolted out of the bathroom into my bedroom. Within a few minutes he was calm again. He looks none the worse for wear today after his ordeal. He was out for maybe 18 hours.

I need to make sure he's locked in another room whenever I open any outside doors. This isn't the first time but the other times I got him back in within a minute.

Nice of you to give the momma cat a shelter. It gets way colder by you than by me.

 

[Mercutio]

Give him a bath anyway. It's like picking a fight with a blender but better to know now if he found any fleas or has any wounds.

 

[jtr1962]

Give him a bath anyway. It's like picking a fight with a blender but better to know now if he found any fleas or has any wounds.

I started that yesterday, at least until he ran away. I'll give him a dose of flea treatment also. He had fleas earlier this year. No idea how given that he's strictly an indoor cat. Evidently the fleas in this part of the country developed a resistance to FrontLine. Advantage II worked with one treatment.