Rebane's Ruminations

Sandbox - 1feb23

[About time for fresh sand.   Please note the new Trump post for things Trump related.  Thanks. gjr]

Sandbox – 1jan23

[Well, Happy 2023 everyone and we might as well start the new year off with a fresh sandbox.  In the 19dec22 Sandbox Mr scenes offered an intriguing suggestion (830am) in an attempt to eliminate the detritus of TDS and things gratuitously Trump from continually contaminating practically every other topic with yet another boring lap around the Trump barn.  He suggested that RR add a Trump category and restrict posting of Trump-centric comments to that category.  I envision it being structured like the Sandbox with dated, and perhaps even topical, labels so that the comment streams don’t become too long.  I need to noodle on this and invite readers’ ideas about how it would work.  gjr]

Sandbox – 19dec22

[A continuing miss to Fox and other conservative outlets for not bringing up and highlighting daily ‘the border is secure’ lies of the anti-American Biden administration and presidency.  No president in our history has purposely or otherwise done so much damage to our republic as has this functional idiot in the White House.  gjr]

Sandbox – 5dec22

[Much appreciation for the concern shown by commenters to our pace of Covid recovery.  We have discovered for ourselves that all the stories about how it drains you of energy, and the time it takes to get back to normal are true in spades.  We felt the symptoms and tested positive on 21 November and got over the low point three days later.  But since then it’s been a real drag – every chore that requires moving your butt drains you.  Yesterday morning we did a big grocery shopping which laid us low.  Afternoon nappy-poos are a must.  This morning I tried a turn on the treadmill at half speed; could only last 15 minutes.  But we do sense that day by day we’re getting better; if we could only pick up the pace a little.  gjr]

Sandbox – 30nov22

[All the evidence for impeaching that lying SOS Alejandro Mayorkas applies doubly against Bumblebrain.  It was he who directed his DHS to open the border, let in millions of illegals, including criminals and terrorists of every stripe, fentanyl that has killed hundreds of thousands, and devastated our border cities.  Typically, the Republicans will be blowing it again if they ignore the main event and focus on the low grade ore instead.  Better yet, impeach them both - Mayorkas for following an unconstitutional and illegal order from the President to keep the border open while lying to the American people.  gjr]

Sandbox - 10nov22

[People who debate whether the glass if half empty or half full miss the point.  The glass is refillable.  A verity cherished by the Right and missed by the Left.  gjr]

Sandbox – 25oct22

[Has any reader witnessed an administration that in two years has managed to be so incompetent, corrupt, and spewing so many material lies per day?  Every commentator of conservative and libertarian persuasion has now written several articles listing in detail the Biden administrations atrocious handling of the economy, energy, crime, border, public education, drugs, foreign policy, … .  Can anyone mention ONE THING that they have gotten right?  And to cover it all up before 8 November, they and their lamestream are telling their dumber-than-doorknob constituents that everything is just hunky-dory, the country has never been better.  And to put a ribbon on it, half of America believes that horseshit.  gjr]

Sandbox – 8oct22

[In my considered opinion (nothing humble about it), more than on any proffered policy or politician, the upcoming election will be a referendum on the ability of the American electorate to govern itself.  Historically, the choices have never been more clear in which diametrically opposite way the wisdom of this crowd will choose for the country.  ‘A republic if we can keep it.’  gjr

Sandbox – 22sep22

[Bumblebrain’s foreign policy bungling and catastrophes have boosted the fortunes of America’s enemies who have now organized themselves into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of Asian nations, anchored by China and Russia with India and Pakistan already ensconced, Iran ready to step aboard, and Erdogan working to bring Turkey into the fold.  The SCO promises to become China’s answer to NATO and support its Belt and Road advances into the Middle East and Africa.  While the US continues tangled up in its political nightmare, Team Biden knows as much about this as it does about our "secure" southern border. (more here)  gjr]

Sandbox - 9sep22

[I wonder if anyone is counting Biden's daily lies.  And I'm talking only about material lies, the kind that affect our current or future QoL because they impact policy and legislation; and not political campaign or bombast promises that have not come true or have no chance of being realized.  Examples are, 'Our borders are secure', 'Taxing something does not affect its supply/availability', 'Injecting excess cash (not supported by increased production) into an economy does not cause inflation'.  I would like to see these lies, including their daily repeats, be tallied somewhere, mainly because these affect the beliefs of the lightly read population, especially before an election.  gjr]

Sandbox – 1sep22

[No doubt Jackson, MS (thanks for correcting my MI blooper) is also a shithole city under Democrat rule, and has been for decades.  Today’s water system breakdown is typical of how Soviet-style jurisdictions took care of their infrastructure with public monies going mainly into the pockets of corrupt politicians.  Today’s mayor of Jackson is Chokye Antar Lumumba, a proud textbook socialist who describes himself as a “progressive, socialist, and political revolutionary”.  Like with most of his ilk, maintaining a functioning infrastructure is not high on his governance to-do list.  Again, the overwhelmingly black residents of the city continue to bring it on themselves.  (more here) gjr]

Sandbox - 14aug22

[Been on travel the past week with connectivity a sometime thing.  Will be home soon, so everyone try to keep a lid on it until then.  Anyone know who is the foul-mouthed jerk ‘Donny Jr’?  gjr]

Sandbox – 3aug22

[As RR has argued for some years now, we Americans are competing with our enemies to see who will be the first to destroy the historical United States of America.  So far, we are winning.  Thomas Sowell echoes this with his 3aug22 ‘The Point of No Return’ that opens with, “This is an election year. But the issues this year are not about Democrats and Republicans. The big issue is whether this nation has degenerated to a point of no return -- a point where we risk destroying ourselves, before our enemies can destroy us.”  gjr]

Sandbox – 23jul22

[I suppose the one-sided discussion of Trump’s purported lies and lying will continue (Biden's lies are off limits).  Have any of the discussants considered what possible rewarding endpoints there are to such an ongoing debate that is now easily several years old?

In a 2024 Trump/Newsom contest, who would ever want to vote for a lying politician who has no other accomplishment besides always raising taxes and increasing regulations?  gjr]

Sandbox - 11jul22

[Apologies for letting the last sandbox get a little odoriferous.  I wonder how many of our Ruminators are planning on setting up bond ladders for the continuing rough ride in the securities markets.  gjr]

Sandbox – 26jun22

[It appears that the pro-abortion Left is continuing to violate laws and practice violence in demonstrating its opposition to the SCOTUS ruling that overturned Roe v Wade.  Compare the coverage of these protests on the various ideologically oriented media outlets.  None of the protesters seem to know what the ruling really said and how it preserves democracy in the land. gjr]

Sandbox – 16jun22

[Millions of workers are in their hammocks enjoying govt checks and depressing the labor participation rate to 62.3% from 63.4% at the end of Trump’s administration during which time it was increasing for the first time since the 2008 Great Recession.  Yes, during the entire ‘Obama recovery’ more and more people were leaving their jobs.  The participation rate includes worker with jobs and those actively looking for jobs.  This makes the cited 3.6% unemployment rate a hokey statistic; millions more are sitting on their butts enjoying govt handouts while employers are looking for workers and paying excessive wages to those working.  These high labor costs are another one of Biden’s Blunders which contributes to our soaring inflation.  Bumblebrain has given new meaning to ‘loser’. gjr]

Sandbox – 8jun22

[RCP numbers just out on Bumblebrain’s overall approval rating – drumroll please – 25% approve, 61% disapprove.  This is lowest approval rating ever for an American president.  We have a few select readers who should take special note of this rating on arguably the most incompetent and worst performing president the republic has ever suffered under.  And then to demonstrate once more the intellectual capacity of Democrat politicians, Sen Maggie Hassan (D-NH) announced from the Senate floor that she doesn’t have to suffer high fuel costs, because she drove from New Hampshire to DC in her EV, and didn’t have to worry about stopping at any gas station charging astronomically high fuel prices.  You see, charging your EV batteries is free, and that’s how you fight inflation.  Reminds me of the Dem congressman who was worried at a committee hearing that a Pacific island would “tip over” if too many of our troops were stationed on a military base there.  gjr]

Sandbox - 26may22

[Please post your mass killings comments under '... to protect the children'.  Thank you. gjr]

Sandbox – 17may22

[President Bumblebrain rushed up to Buffalo today to make some political hay out of the latest killing spree by a deranged shooter who claims to be a leftwinger, and is accused by the lamestream as being a “white supremacist” rightwinger.  In his speech to the nation our fearless leader’s pabulum included, “I promise you, hate will not prevail.”  What his adoring legions don’t understand is that hate doesn’t have to prevail.  Delivering occasional massacres here and there, hate can just keep boiling along at the current rate, as long as the killers know that wherever they decide to open fire, they will be the only ones with a gun.  gjr]

Sandbox – 3may22

[California’s 2021 population shrank for the second year in a row. (here)  Our local leftwingers have continued to ignore this phenomenon in the large, and most certainly deny its most proximal cause that can be remedied by rolling back the atrocious tax and regulatory policies with which our one-party monopoly legislature has burdened the once Golden State, and continues to do so unabated.  Reporting on this, the lamestream media (e.g. NPR) explains to its audiences that all this is due only to lower birthrates, Covid deaths, and not enough ‘immigration’ (aka influx of illegal aliens).  Nowhere is mentioned the ongoing Great California Exodus of businesses and workers numbering in the hundreds of thousands annually.  The state’s Democrats continue to count on their double dummy constituents to keep them in office and pay no attention to those behind the curtain who have put California at the bottom in about every measured QoL category. gjr]

Sandbox – 20apr22

[Had a wave of nostalgia reading ‘The Last of the Afternoon Newspapers’ by Peter Funt.  The last two are located in Livingston, Montana serving about 4,500 readers.  During my 10-13 age in Indianapolis, I had two paper routes - first one in the city where I carried a large canvas bag of papers strapped across my shoulder, and second one in the suburbs where much bigger saddlebags were permanently on the back rack of my balloon tire Schwinn.  As a kid I worked hard for the $5/week that sometimes was left over from my collections after I paid the Indianapolis News route manager for the newspapers I ordered and sold – every kid was a little businessman who was assigned a territory in which he had to market, deliver, and collect.  It was one of my early lessons about the real world of business.  Have any RR readers had a paper route somewhere in their past? gjr]

Sandbox – 12apr22

[Happy days are here again – California plans to introduce the 32-hour work week with 40-hour pay.  Another product of socialist economics and its new monetary theory coming to a job site near you. gjr]

Sandbox – 2apr22

[I have a hard time trying to imagine the proposed meeting between Zelensky and Putin.  One is an heroic leader of a small country besieged by a world-class dictator, kleptocrat, and thug who, in addition, openly seeks to murder the man with whom he will negotiate.  How in hell will the two talk to each other when Putin is the unprincipled tyrannous maximus who has gratuitously attacked his neighbor with the demonstrated intent to kill as many civilians as he can in order to bring Ukraine to its knees?  How do you talk to a man who wants you dead and has several hit squads in the field under orders to kill you?  gjr]

Sandbox – 23mar22

[With the sans-mea-culpa discovery of Hunter Biden’s emails by the leftwing media, we now have a widely available example of how the Dems impacted the 2020 election without necessarily messing with the ballot stuffing and vote counting itself.  As Bryan Caplan (Myth of the Rational Voter) showed some years back, the media can readily impact the outcome through the mass swaying of votes by how it covers and covers up news that shape voters’ attitudes.  You cannot censor lies without also censoring truth – it was ever thus.  gjr]