I used to fly a lot on business trips.  Without the commentary about doing the biz trips (No, not glamorous and not “touristy” that many think it is), I had piled up a lot of frequent flier miles.  While most of them were earned (and used) on United, I do/did have a smattering of miles on different airline left over – just not enough to use for an actual trip.  So, I get offers to turn in some of the miles for magazine subscriptions.

Sidenote: capitalism at its best – I voluntarily trade something that has little worth to me for something that holds much more value in the form of reading materials.  A win-win situation!

Well, this time I decided to try out Real Simple.  Now, I know it is a “womens magazine” having never read it before the first issue made it to my mailbox – I won’t try it again (I don’t fit their demographic, obviously) and will know not to spend my time reading it.  The other reason was when I read the Editor’s Note which made clear the obvious philosophical difference:

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“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small,but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”

– President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09

“Taxpayers trust, and expect, that IRS employees, as a whole, will safeguard their most sensitive personal information“

And the story:

Federal officials today announced arrests and charges in a stolen identity tax-refund scheme believed to involve more than $1 million in false claims and run by an IRS employee who was supposed to be assisting taxpayers experiencing problems resulting from identity theft.

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Given that I’m in the midst of writing about the left wing feminists and social justice warriors of the ‘Free the Nipple’ movement, this post appeared on my news feed at the absolutely appropriate time.

This is an epic take down of the people who demand you agree with them or they will bully you into submission. Just like the FTN crowd, if you don’t believe that women going topless is equality, you don’t believe in women’s equality.

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New Month, New Year, and I spent my morning working on GrokTALK! What does that mean, exactly? Because I am using a different laptop I need to run all the audio through it to see what sounds different. The sound from this device is superior to my previous laptop so changes must be made. I made a few, but can’t count on those until I test it up in Concord.

Format-wise, we are going to the traditional three segment hour from our current four segment arrangement. Instead of breaks every fifteen minutes on the hour they will be (roughly) every twenty.

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And that, pretty much, sums up most government programs that some person, sometimes of a good heart but lately of a political ideology, demand that others have to pay for (financially or otherwise) to make them feel good.  Because they have influenced politicians or bureaucrats “to do something” instead of doing the hard work of the actual doing themselves, I brand them hypocrites.  But that’s what we’ve gone to, this land called America; instead of the Can-Do people, it’s getting all but a done deal of “Get-Others-To-Do-It-For-Me” slackers.  What, ME go out and do the work of getting others to donate to or join me in the work?  That, that, that…..that’s too hard (er, “you mean *I* have to do it myself??”).

From Cafe Hayek in this same vein on minimum wage consequences (emphasis mine):

This minimum wage stuff is a head-fake; silly diversions so that political do-gooders can think highly about themselves, safe from any of the consequences.

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We could call it the tale of two Bills. Both Democrats. Both Hillary supporters. One is indicted as an alleged sexual predator, while the other has a comprehensive list of scandals and accusations of sexual predation (included below).

The black Bill gets the perp-walk, the white Bill gets off.

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Chris Christie is a man who speaks big on the campaign trail. When Christie campaigned for governor of New Jersey he was going put an end to judges legislating from the bench, by appointing those that would look at the law not make the law.

He has already appointed enough justices to the State Supreme court to tip the majority. So how did that work out? Not well. Not well at all.

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There’s a case ongoing in the courts in New Hampshire about women who want to be able to go topless.  They believe it’s their Constitutional right to do so.

They are known as the ‘Free The Nipple’ (FTN) crowd.

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At the head end of this Primary, the Establishment was all but crowning Jeb Bush as the Republican nominee.  Heavy weights (and heavy wallets) all came to him and much was made that NO one could withstand the latest scion of the Bush Dynastic Family reputation or money machine.  Yeah, this is why we play the game – and thus far, we can tell who is playing the better game

Snot Shot – Jeb: “You’re never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency”

Reality Chaser – Trump: “Let’s see I’m at 42 and you’re at 3”

And now:

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TANSTAFFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.  No matter what it is, SOMEone has to pay when some service or product is consumed.  The only question is who will get the bill.  That said, it seems like the Republican elected officials want us to either:

• Not watch their hands while they play the Political 3-card Monte shill game on us
• Actually want us to believe that they are most able to suspend this most basic Law of Economics.

Or both.  I grow weary of the political charades by which Republican elected officials tell us things, contrary to any kind of common-sense, basic language skills, logical reasoning and the Platform, and in which we know is deliberately false.  Not only that, but for journalists that don’t bother to challenge them on these falsehoods to the point that I don’t know who is whose lapdog and sycophant.

Like this nitwittery of the Kabuki Republican Theater (reformatted, emphasis mine):

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Jupiter Justice is a new book by a first time author, Don Hunt. I downloaded it on Kindle Christmas day and a few days later had finished it.

It’s about Rico Schroeder who is working for a design team on a station orbiting Jupiter. With a huge cash prize at stake they are hoping to be the first of several teams to successfully test a new engine design that will change space flight for years to come. When an old friend dies on a test flight for a competing team Rico is stunned. When another body turns up he finds himself thrown in to his previous life as an investigator, a journey that takes him through a harrowing series of encounters on a number of human habitats across the solar system.

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From Real Climate Science | Had Captain Cook been outfitted with low carbon candles, this tragedy could have been prevented.

English Climate Cultists are blaming global warming for flooding. In Response the good folk of Real Climate Science have unearthed evidence from 1771 of major flooding long before Al Gore or Michael Mann “made” global warming; hence the call for the low carbon candles.

1771 was the year Captain Cook discovered Australia. It was also the year that the 500 year old Tyne Bridge in Newcastle collapsed from a massive flood “twelve feet above high water mark in spring tides”

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