General Discussion, Tuesday, December 5, 2017

This entry was posted in Government, History, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

155 Responses to General Discussion, Tuesday, December 5, 2017

  1. czarowniczy says:

    Was looking at self-driving/autonomous cars – cheaper to buy an illegal immigrant to drive me around. Then there’s the issue of it actually functioning out here – friends who’ve tried to find us with GPS have ended up all over the place as the hinterlands are not as ‘GPSd’ as urban areas are. AH well, with our internet access still at somewhere around 1989 I’ll just have to be patient about the Car of the Future making out here to flyover country.

    Liked by 5 people

    • ImpeachEmAll says:

      Speaking of Car of the Future… 😉

      Liked by 4 people

      • czarowniczy says:

        Saw that a while back on the news. Great that someone gets to achieve his childhood dream. Probably could have done done mine but Mobile wouldn’t give up the USS Alabama and my lake wasn’t deep enough.

        Liked by 3 people

    • Menagerie says:

      I’m interested in your thoughts on self driving trucks. My oldest son is an owner operator, and following this issue closely. He is quite concerned about his future, and trying to come up with a plan to be able to switch careers and still of course support his family.

      My middle son, who is a very successful salesperson in controls and computer stuff and things I cannot explain, controls and automation that run whole factories, says that this is not going to have the impact, at least not for thirty years or so, that they say it will, and has a list of reasons why he can still prosper in trucking.

      Middle son, like his father, is a pragmatic realist who deals daily with engineers, automation, and blah, blah. So, not inclined to have the rose colored glasses on. Among other things, he thinks a driver who can work on the controls, override problems, fix things that go wrong, will be needed.

      It looks to me like if they do get automation in trucking they still need some drivers, but the pay scale might be less.

      Anyhow, do you have any thoughts on if this will happen, how soon, and impact on trucking?

      Liked by 1 person

      • Col.(R) Ken says:

        Not anytime soon (50 years) lots of trucking issues……

        Liked by 2 people

      • czarowniczy says:

        I don’t see drivers going away quickly for two reasons: Teamsters and LIABILITY. Even now if you have a self-driving car the auto companies cover their bumpers by saying you should still have hands-on-wheel just in case.
        Teamsters will be like the old train unions – long after cabooses were gone they had a conductor on the train. They didn’t make any new ones but held onto the remaining ones until they quit/died/retired.
        Same with ‘steam’ shovels and ‘steam’ rollers, long after the devices went to diesel the unions had a boiler tender on the job, same as conductor above.
        Until autonomous trucks can do everything sans human intervention there will still be a need for a human onboard.

        Liked by 1 person

        • Wooly Covfefe says:

          Fossil fuel trucks with human operators will go away when teleportation is invented.

          Musk’s electric semis won’t be viable for 100 years, if even then, because there is a severely limited supply of cobalt (mined with child slaves in the DRC) for the batteries.

          Until we can teleport things, Star Trek-style, we will have mostly fossil fueled trucks and human operators driving them. Even if we DID get teleportation, Teamsters would shut it down violently.

          Liked by 1 person

    • Col.(R) Ken says:

      Two of my favorites, an old steamer, and a pristine Chevy pickup…….

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Lucille says:

    HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED TUESDAY!

    Liked by 9 people

  3. Lucille says:

    Rural America Just Crowned Its New “Store of Choice”
    December 4, 2017 By Regan Pifer

    http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/rural-america-just-crowned-new-store-choice

    Liked by 2 people

    • Their prices for dairy products are still outrageous, though…

      Liked by 2 people

      • Wooly Covfefe says:

        And the cardboard inside of the “bargain” toilet paper rolls is about 3″ in diameter.

        You get what you pay for. I bought a bag of dry cat food from one a few months ago. Tripod had no choice, so he tried eating some, and immediately puked it up, onto my rug. Outside, I tried to give him another helping. He refused. And, I kid you not, a possum walked up to the bowl that night, as I watched. He sniffed it and walked away. I never bought bargain cat food again. Or toilet paper. I used to buy these ten-packs of microwave burritos from one of these stores. After a couple of years, my body quit processing them in any reasonable time-frame. They sat in my gut like bricks.

        Apparently the body, whether human, cat, or possum, quits recognizing fake food as food, and refuses to process it, even if the mind wants to. The possum was the smart one.

        Like

    • czarowniczy says:

      True dat – two Walmarts within a 20-mile radius but a Dollar General behind every cow. Great place to go for that little thing you need but don’t want to go into town for and our general store doesn’t carry.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Lucille says:

    Recipe: bacon & egg cups with cremini mushrooms

    bacon and egg cups with cremini mushrooms

    Liked by 4 people

  5. Lucille says:

    STELLA or MENAGERIE…could you go to CTH December 5 Open Thread and remove the apple pie recipe article I posted just a few minutes ago? It shouldn’t have been posted due to questionable links I didn’t notice when reading the article earlier in the evening. Thanks!

    Liked by 4 people

  6. nyetneetot says:

    Mornin’ stella! (Smiter of those that ought to be smote) 😎 🍸 (Long Island Iced Tea)
    Mornin’ WeeWeed! (Master Mixologist Extrodinare) 😎 🍸 (Old Fashioned)
    Mornin’ Menagerie! 😎 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Jack Daniels – Single Barrel )
    Mornin’ Ad rem! (Queen Felis catus) 🐱 🍸 (Flaming Lamborghini)
    Mornin’ Sharon! 😎 🍸 🍸 (earthquake)
    Mornin’ ytz4mee! 😎 🍸 (cosmopolitan)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (white wine and perrier)
    Mornin’ partyzantski! 🙂 |_| (Tom Collins)
    Mornin’ texan59! 🙂 |_| (Black & Tan)
    Mornin’ ZurichMike! 🙂 🍸 (fuzzy navel)
    Mornin’ Col.(R) Ken! (hand salute) 🙂 |_| (Boilermaker)
    Mornin’ czarina33! (aka czarina) 🙂 🍸 (Lynchburg Lemonade)
    Mornin’ czarowniczy! 🙂 |_| (Wild Turkey Rare Breed)
    Mornin’ letjusticeprevail2014! 🙂 |_| (Irish Car Bomb)
    Mornin’ Patriot1783-ctdar! (aka “ctdar”) 🙂 🍸 (grasshopper)
    Mornin’ tessa50! 🙂 🍸 (flaming volcano)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (sidecar)
    Mornin’ varsityward! 🙂 |_| (Godfather)
    Mornin’ MaryfromMarin! 😀 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Mortlach)
    Mornin’ Wooly Covfefe! (aka “Wooly Phlox” aka “taqiyyologist”) 🙂 |_| (Roy Rogers)
    Mornin’ Howie! (aka “doodahdaze”) 🙂 |_| (Classic Daiquiri)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Gin & Tonic)
    Mornin’ Sha! 🙂 🍸 (Lemon Drop)
    Mornin’ BigMamaTEA! 🙂 🍸 (Harvey Wallbanger)
    Mornin’ cetera5! (aka “Cetera”) 🙂 |_| (Blackberry wine)
    Mornin’ The Tundra PA! 🙂 🍸 (Gentleman Jack Whiskey Sling)
    Mornin’ lovely! 🙂 |_| (Backdraft)
    Mornin’ michellc! 🙂 🍸 (Salty dog)
    Mornin’ auscitizenmom! 🙂 🍸 (Kiss on the Lips)
    Mornin’ Margaret-Ann! 🙂 🍸 (White Russian)
    Mornin’ Auntie Lib! 🙂 🍸 (Tom and Jerry)
    Mornin’ holly100! 🙂 🍸 (Jack & Coke)
    Mornin’ Pam! 🙂 (Not even water)
    Mornin’ Ms.Tee! 🙂 🍸 (Mojito)
    Mornin’ koolkosherkitchen! 🙂 🍸 🍸 (Cuba Libre)
    Mornin’ ImpeachEmAll 🙂 |_| (Flaming Dr. Pepper)
    Mornin’ Monroe! 🙂 |_| (Stinger)
    Mornin’ Les! 🙂 |_| (Rusty Nail)
    Mornin’ shiloh1973! 🙂 |_| (Jack Daniels)
    Mornin’ TexasRanger! 🙂 |_| (Whiskey Smash)
    Mornin’ Ziiggii! 🙂 |_| (B52)
    Mornin’ oldiadguy! 🙂 |_| (Rum & Coke)
    Mornin’ smiley! (“stuck in spambucket”) 🙂 🍸 (Spanish coffee)
    Mornin’ derk! (“Stellars”) 🙂 🍸 (Kamikaze)
    Mornin’ Jacqueline Taylor Robson 🙂 🍸 (Shirley Temple)
    Mornin’ facebkwallflower! 🙂 |_| (Night Train Express)
    Mornin’ Ms. Cindy! (aka “Ms Cynlynn” aka “ms cynlynn”) 🙂 🍸 (1970 ducru beaucaillou)
    Mornin’ sandandsea2015! 🙂 🍸 (1961 Château Montrose)
    Mornin’ amwick! 🙂 🍸 (Blue motorcycle)
    Mornin’ hocuspocus13! 🙂 🍸 (1970 Chateau Latour)
    Mornin’ Sloth1963! 🙂 🍸 (1971 Moulin Touchais)
    Mornin’ MTeresa! (Ex-lurker) 🙂 |_| (Albanian Raki Moskat)
    Mornin’ Rhea Salacia Volans! 🙂 |_| (Hot Buttered Rum)
    Mornin’ joshua! 🙂 |_| (Mudslide)
    Mornin’ John Denney! 🙂 |_| (RumChata)
    Mornin’ litenmaus! 🙂 |_| (Stolichnaya elit, no ice)
    Mornin’ kinthenorthwest! 🙂 🍸 (A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_| (Smoking Bishop)
    Mornin’ patternpuzzler! 🙂 🍸 (Old Lady)
    Mornin’ Senatssekretär FREISTAAT DANZIG! 🙂 |_| (Red Russian)
    Mornin’ G-d&Country! 🙂 🍸 (Blind Russian)
    Mornin’ Gary! 🙂 |_| (Yuengling)
    Mornin’ valeriecurren! 🙂 🍸 (Flaming Sambuca)
    Mornin’ Lucille! 🙂 🍸 (Peach Schnapps)
    Mornin’ Lburg! 🙂 🍸 (Lburg lemonade)
    Mornin’ davidhuntpe! 🙂 |_| (Baileys Irish Cream on the rocks)
    Mornin’ skipper1961! 🙂 |_| (Brompton’s Cocktail – No cherry, no umbrella, no plastic monkey)
    Mornin’ mightyconservative! 🙂 |_| (Benjamin Franklin’s clarified milk punch)
    Mornin’ whiners and complainers! 😛 (No drink for you!)
    Mornin’ to people posting that I missed. 😳
    Mornin’ to all you lurkers! 😕

    Also just in case someday; mornin’ to Elvis Chupacabra, F.D.R. in Hell and sundance! :mrgreen:

    Breakfast!

    NEW and IMPROVED breakfast with extra bacon for ZurichMike!

    Christmas Donuts

    Liked by 9 people

  7. WeeWeed says:

    Mornin’ sportsfans!

    Liked by 7 people

  8. derk says:

    Morning Stella, all,
    That truck is a beaut! Not a gear head, guessing a Ford? 50’s era?
    Back up north, clear and cool, well mid 60’s for the next couple of weeks and no rain in forecast. Yay, good working weather.

    Keep firing away Mr. President. Some would say it’s one of his biggest detriments, think we may agree, one of his best weapons.
    Have a great day y’all!

    Liked by 10 people

    • Lburg says:

      Good Morning, Derk! It certainly keeps him in the catbird seat, doesn’t it? Now all we need is someone singing like a canary!

      Liked by 3 people

    • Wooly Covfefe says:

      It’s intriguing that Twitter hasn’t banned his account yet.

      Given that Twitter has banned far, far less well-known (conservative) people for tweeting ideas and thoughts far, far less incendiary that Trump’s.

      Twitters censors are inscrutable and Kafkaesque.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Given the sheer number of followers Trump has, I don’t think that would be a wise move on Twitter’s part. Right now I think they want to have some credible way to deny that they censor opinions don’t agree with. If they ban Trump, their denials go out the window.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Menagerie says:

        Something tells me President Trump generates a lot of traffic for Twitter. Second quarter 2017 they made 503 million in advertising revenue. They use promoted tweets and promoted trends, I read.

        Even in the promotion business, you have to have material that attracts people. President Trump has probably made those idiots a lot of money. I read somewhere that he has 44 million followers. As of October I saw that he had 39.7 million, far more than any other world leader, so I suspect the 44 million is accurate by now.

        Sure, lots of those followers hate him. Does not matter for revenue. Those followers have followers, and so on. President Trump is taking them all on a ride, like it or not.

        And I doubt they would be so stupid as to try to close the account of the President. The very vocal President who has a lot of loyal, if deplorable, supporters.

        Like

    • I get tired of hearing people complain about “Trumps’s antics on Twitter.” Please, people, the fact that the MSM is in total hysterics over Trump’s actions on Twitter is proof he’s doing a great job…at bypassing them! Ha!

      Liked by 2 people

  9. czarowniczy says:

    Had to get up early again, before dawn. Was feeling grumpy about it until I went outside. I looked up to see how the clouds were (front coming in) and saw the sky was crystal clear, robin’s egg blue…but…there were about a dozen huge, fluffy contrails crisscrossing in generally an east-west direction. The sun was still well below our trees to the east so there wasn’t the glare in the sky but it lit up all of the contrails a deep golden color and they glowed like neon. Not such a bad morning after all.

    Liked by 6 people

    • derk says:

      Love early morning contrails, ours out here go mostly north/south. Thought they just gassed us out here higher up and let it drift with the jetstream over y’all!

      Like

      • czarowniczy says:

        Same here, they usually get puffed but we’re in between a front and a moving somethingortheother and it appears winds aloft were stable.

        Like

    • Menagerie says:

      I should remember to go outside more, late at night and especially early morn. Every once in a great while I step out in the middle of the night.

      I am never sorry. City people probably mostly think the sky is the sky. No, it’s so very much clearer, cleaner, brighter, and more illuminated away from lights of town.

      Liked by 9 people

      • Sharon says:

        Yes. The night time sky in the country is something to behold – especially in the winter, I think. Sometimes in MN I would bundle up after dark and just go out and lay on the deck to try to take in the visuals…..

        My little Oregon town (in a county that went for Trump as most Oregon counties did) has a population of 24,000 or thereabouts. I’m very near the edge of it. 200 yards that-a-way, and I’m on the edge of fields that stretch to the horizon. Very, very much an agricultural area.

        In this 55+ up community, there are only occasional street lights so the night sky is not completely obliterated, so at night I can go either in my back yard or out in the middle of the cul-de-sac and see a good number of stars. Of course, nothing like the country, but very pleasing to my eye.

        One of our favorite past times in backpacking days in the Sierras, camping at 8-10,000 feet minimum, oh goodness – – snugged up in a sleeping bag and seeing the stars. So thick they were not individually observed, but in packs and piles. Just astounding.

        One of my favorite “information verses” about God is Psalm 33:6 – says that He is the star-breather! “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” How cool is that.

        Liked by 7 people

        • Wooly Covfefe says:

          God breathes stars. Amazing, isn’t it?

          Then he stretches them out like a curtain, just for us.

          Psalm 104 (KJV)

          1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

          2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

          3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

          4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

          5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

          Yes, I need to get out more, too. I remember standing for a couple of hours in a backyard in Lacota, MI, staring until my neck hurt, at the Northern Lights, more than ten years ago. It is still the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in the night sky.

          Liked by 3 people

      • czarowniczy says:

        Yeah, I can remember when we lived in NOLA we’d go up on the bridge in back of our house to see the moon thru the endless urban orange light pollution fog. Best skies in NOLA were during Katrina’s aftermath when all of the power was down.

        Liked by 3 people

  10. auscitizenmom says:

    Gonna leave here soon to take Foxy to the vet. Hopefully, she will be able to take off the dreaded cone. Her eye looks really good to me.

    Liked by 10 people

  11. Col.(R) Ken says:

    Czarina………banding of veins in esophagus not going as expected. Dr’s are doing reassessment. May try this procedure, “TRIP”. Can’t find this upper GI term…..are you familiar? Thank you!

    Liked by 5 people

    • The Tundra PA says:

      Good morning Colonel. Menagerie texted me an alert to your question, and it has taken some deep research to find an answer. What I have found is from Up to Date, a very well respected resource for medical personnel, by subscription only. This gets pretty into-the-weeds. If you want to go further, or have questions, please email me at: thetundrapa (at) yahoo dot com.

      I think you are looking for the wrong term, it should be TIPS. Here is part of what I found:

      For patients with esophageal varices, acute bleeding is typically managed with endoscopic variceal ligation, though occasionally endoscopic sclerotherapy is used. The goal should be to perform an upper endoscopy after fluid resuscitation and within 12 hours of presentation. If the bleeding cannot be controlled endoscopically, treatment options include transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement or surgical shunting. (endoscopic variceal ligation, EVL, is “banding”. Up to 20% of patients fail to have success with banding or sclerotherapy)

      *snip*

      Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt — TIPS placement starts with passing a needle catheter (Colapinto catheter) via the transjugular route into the hepatic vein and wedging it there (figure 1). The needle is then extruded and advanced through the liver parenchyma to the intrahepatic portion of the portal vein and a stent is deployed. A TIPS functions like side-to-side surgical portacaval shunt but does not require general anesthesia or major surgery for placement. Ninety to 100 percent of patients will achieve hemostasis following TIPS placement [1].

      Absolute contraindications to TIPS placement include heart failure, severe pulmonary hypertension, uncontrolled systemic infection or sepsis, and severe tricuspid regurgitation. Relative contraindications include hepatocellular carcinoma (particularly if central), portal vein thrombosis, and severe coagulopathy or thrombocytopenia. Complications of TIPS placement include portosystemic encephalopathy, technical complications (eg, cardiac arrhythmias, traversal of the liver capsule), and TIPS stenosis.

      Colonel, I hope this helps. Please do email me if you want further explanation or have other questions.

      Liked by 3 people

    • czarina33 says:

      Go to Mayo Clinic site, TIPS.

      Liked by 4 people

  12. Lucille says:

    Not quite sure what to get your gal for Christmas? How about a BACON SCARF?

    Or a nice comfy blanket for your guy…

    Liked by 2 people

  13. Lucille says:

    Our indefatigable President…

    WHITE HOUSE PHOTO OF THE DAY

    President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the Utah State Capitol | December 4, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

    indefatigable
    Fact vs. fiction on federal monuments
    President Trump visited Salt Lake City, Utah, yesterday to announce two major proclamations modifying the boundaries of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
    As usual, there’s plenty of misinformation making the rounds. Here are a few quick facts to correct the record:
    • Myth: No president has ever shrunk a monument. Fact: Monuments have been shrunk at least 18 times—by presidents on both sides of the aisle.
    • Myth: This move will sell or close national parks. Fact: No national parks are under review, and the Administration adamantly opposes wholesale transfer of any public lands.
    • Myth: The review was done behind closed doors. Fact: Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke personally held more than 60 meetings with local stakeholders, including numerous tribal groups.
    The media is exactly right on one point, though: This is a significant decision by the President worth reading about in full… https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/12/04/president-donald-j-trump-stands-local-communities-against-government

    Liked by 3 people

  14. czarina33 says:

    Seen on the road today:
    A man standing next to a sign “25 mph when flashing”.
    Mini- Cooper with license tag “LIVNLRGE”

    Liked by 3 people

  15. Lucille says:

    More snow fun on the tracks…

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Wooly Covfefe says:

    Vox Day is winning, lately.

    How Joy Reid’s Homophobic History Illustrates Vox Day’s Third Law of SJWs

    His SF and Fantasy books are as good as his Political Philosophy books, and his Fantasy is being favorably compared to both Tolkein and Lewis. And outselling TOR books with his new publishing company, Castalia House. His fork of Wikipedia is doing well, too. Infogalactic, SJW-free, even has a news page, and is constantly being made better. His 16 Points of the Alt-Right have been translated into many languages.

    We’re not Nazis, nor Fascists. They are both. And SJWs always project.

    We’ll eventually replace Facebook, Twitter (Hi, Gab!), and YouTube.

    They will go the way of Sears and Roebuck, and the Dodo.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. auscitizenmom says:

    lilbirdee12’s prayer:

    Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.

    Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.

    Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and Mike Pence and their families as they seek to lead America back to You.

    Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
    Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.

    We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
    Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.

    And, Lord, if it is your will, we pray that Judge Roy Moore will win his bid for the Senate.

    In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

    Liked by 3 people

  18. czarowniczy says:

    I’m gonna suggest where they can put the pointy part of the tree for Hillary.

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.