Another hot one, 80F at 6am. Forecast for record heat.
Whether we’re swirling around the edge of the toilet bowl, or at the dawn of a new age, it’s pretty clear that big changes are happening in the world. The march to war might be delayed a bit, or we might be getting played while our enemies align themselves and get ready. We might be headed toward civil war, as people on both sides seem almost to yearn for it. Who knows?
Or we might be headed into a general collapse. I think it’s well underway and we just don’t see the signs. Today is pretty much like yesterday, and so it’s been throughout history. Certainly our star is not ascending.
We have MASSIVE homelessness. We have a stunning number of people on welfare and other forms of .gov aid. We have lost control of our borders to the point that somewhere around 10% of the population is currently foreign invaders. They have spread throughout the nation, and are suddenly visible, like when a geometric progression doubles to the point you see it, then doubles again… just consider the number of machete attacks.
If people defecating in the streets, gangs pulling people out of buildings and hacking them to death, and record low workforce participation rates aren’t enough, consider the rise of socialism in our political realm. This is an idea that is opposite to our national character, but the long march has been so effective that openly socialist candidates can win party primaries. Our elites get wealthier, while our ‘normals’ get poorer, and civic institutions degrade. [consider than when I was young, it was entirely normal that a man in a skilled trade, as the sole breadwinner, would be able to afford a cabin on a lake, a pontoon boat, snowmobiles, a camper, etc. Contrast that to today.]
The very things we establish government to provide are no longer working. Clean water. Education. Safety and rule of law. Public works infrastructure.
Consider just thirty years ago. What was the relationship of the public to cops? Bottled water? Aid organizations? Refugees? What did inner cities look like? Gangs? Public infrastructure? What was public morality like? What was cultural sexuality like? Cultural violence?
Consider 40 years. 50.
I think we don’t see it because we are too close to the problem. Convince me otherwise. Or what have you done to prep this week??
nick
Grumpy and negative as I am this morning, scanner has cops working a barricaded female, and waiting for the Hostage Rescue Team….. someone is having a very bad day.
n
A year ago today we were in a heat wave, I was setting up a pc for my security cams (still haven’t got it out of the box), I was going thru stuff in my garage, and it was HOT.
OFD was just approved for his grad program, RBT had a plumbing explosion, and there was lot of talk about septic systems….
Some things change, some things remain the same.
n
102F predicted today and going forward. Doesn’t matter, we’re headed for the coast.
A reflection of Mr. Nick’s comments:
UT makes student reflect on ‘masculinity’ as punishment
Sweet jebus I hope he sues them for a cr@pton of money.
Whether he’s a stalker or not, he’s clearly right that they used his sex to determine punishment and treated him differently because he’s male. Which of course is illegal.
n
Iowa and Misery, I mean Missouri, had some terrible tornadoes yesterday. My Sister and BIL live in Webster City IA and my Preacher Nephew and family live in Ames IA. Their towns were on the edge so not too bad. But, Pella (my BIL’s hometown) and Marshalltown (family lived there for a while) are really devastated. The press pictures are nothing compared to the pictures my Sister is being forwarded on FaceJoke by her friends and her husband’s relatives. Cars and semis look like they have run through a grinder. Some major big employers have taken major hits that it will take a long time to recover from. Cattle feedlots have been leveled and lots of beef is no longer on-the-hoof. There is a lot of other agricultural damage that will be felt worldwide.
Me, just another weak (I mean week) in paradise, even though it is as hot as Hades with no relief in sight. Love our heat pump, it is just cruising.
Reference: Sudden’ tornadoes slam central Iowa, ripping through Vermeer plant and tearing chunks off buildings in Marshalltown and Bondurant
A reflection of Mr. Nick’s comments:
UT makes student reflect on ‘masculinity’ as punishment
Campus Reform is blocked at my job, but I found it elsewhere.
Yeah, Austin Metro/Travis County/UT is another planet. We live just outside the city limits in Williamson County, but we’re still too close IMHO.
Six years and counting before my daughter graduates high school …
Or what have you done to prep this week??
I am in the process of taking care of my heart issues. The ablation surgery, if successful, will allow me to get off the Rythmol and Warfarin drugs. I will still need a baby aspirin, or four, a day, but significant improvement. Plus I will need to go back on mild blood pressure medication, Metaprolol.
Taking care of your health is a prepping issue. Getting Rythmol in a long term event will be problematic.
And shaved one foot tall Y in my chest hair looks weird in the bathroom mirror. Oh well, they have to get at the skin for the umpteen electrodes for the heart testing.
BTW, I have a gripe about BCBS, maybe health insurance in general. I have a known and documented heart history going on nine years now. The doc’s nurse had to spend an hour on the phone with BCBS this week, getting them to agree to a heart nuclear stress test for me yesterday. The stress test is needful to make sure that I do not have any other problems that need to be fixed before the ablation. And the stress test is required by the anesthesiologist to ensure that I do not have an event during the 3 hour general surgery of the ablation. The nurse will have to go back to them for preapproval for my esophageal heart mapping procedure and then again for the actual ablation.
BCBS sells health insurance at a premium rate. They are supposed to be part of the solution. Instead, they are becoming part of the problem. The doc’s nurse does not have time to negotiate with BCBS for every procedure but she has to. The doc has 20 people scheduled for heart ablations at the moment, he performs one or two each day of the week. His nurse is working on getting 22 more scheduled, yours truly is one of those. What a bureaucratic nightmare !
This is why I say that we are headed to Medicare for All ™ in the USA. Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy has taken over at BCBS. Probably the other health insurance companies also from what I hear.
We have MASSIVE homelessness.
Do you have stats ? I suspect the homelessness is really mental derangement but I also think that it is a constant percentage of the population. If course, all of the immigration, illegal and legal, is creating a rapidly rising cost of housing.
We have a stunning number of people on welfare and other forms of .gov aid.
Welfare should not exist other than a short period of time. Ok, maybe the Work to Welfare program is ok.
We have lost control of our borders to the point that somewhere around 10% of the population is currently foreign invaders. They have spread throughout the nation, and are suddenly visible, like when a geometric progression doubles to the point you see it, then doubles again… just consider the number of machete attacks.
And honor killings, a sad practice that I never heard of until the last decade or so.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Forensic-expert-testifies-GPS-devices-of-13090098.php
Oh-oh, I had my GPS on and recording while walking my dog, July 18.
https://share.garmin.com/StuNicol4
Homelessness, for whatever the reason, is def increasing.
Every major city now has whole districts that are tent cities, houston included.
“van life” is a thing.
n
WRT “homelessness”:
In my area, I only have personal observations and anecdotal evidence.
The problem is no greater than when Obuttwad was King, it was just that it was politically incorrect to discuss it as a problem back then.
Now it’s “Trump’s fault” and it is okay to whimper and whine.
Now it is okay for the city/county/state to close down the homeless enclaves.
It is not that there is a lack of resources trying to help like churches/shelters/missions. Homeless individuals and families in my area have many places to get 3 hots and a cot, other than the jail.
IMHO the homeless scum that defiles our streets, bushes, and parks consider it there right to do what they want, whenever they want, and wherever they want. They say the shelters are unsafe and there is no privacy. I call BS.
My solution is drastic and politically incorrect. I’ll not state it now, so let your mind succumb to your wild imagination.
Homelessness, for whatever the reason, is def increasing.
Every major city now has whole districts that are tent cities, houston included.
“van life” is a thing.
A related problem is that the USA population in aging. I think that the average age is 41 now. Older people sometimes have trouble working jobs due to past injuries and move to disability or social security as soon as they can. That gives them a very fixed budget so they adopt “van life” as a way to cut expenses.
My solution is drastic and politically incorrect. I’ll not state it now, so let your mind succumb to your wild imagination.
I am guessing that you do not want to build PRCs, public residential complexes, at up to 50 stories tall, with hundreds of thousands of people warehoused in them.
I have really got to congratulate ERCOT on supplying cheap, reliable electric power for Texas. Looks like they rolled through a near peak of yesterday with nary a problem.
http://www.ercot.com/
Monday still may be interesting in a hellish kind of way. Our local forecast for Monday is now 103 F. North Texas hit 108 F again today and is forecast for 107 F on Monday.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond/77479?cm_ven=localwx_10day
Exactly the front page story in the LA Times this AM. A lady can no longer work, evicted out of her apartment, social insecurity and disability, and now living in her van.
@lynn said:
“I am guessing that you do not want to build PRCs, public residential complexes, at up to 50 stories tall, with hundreds of thousands of people warehoused in them.”
Cabrini-Green worked out well for Chicago, not.
I’m thinking along the lines of Soylent Green.
And you think that Soylent Green is a fantasy? No, it’s real life. Do you really believe what Soylent says is in the stuff? Just a first step.
The service advisor at Legacy Ford called me this morning and said, “Your evaporator piping was installed incorrectly and there will be another charge of $350 to replace the pipe”. I said, “Huh, Legacy Ford replaced my heater doors a couple of years ago”. Him, “Let me check into that and talk with the service manager”.
An hour ago, “Hey Lynn, we are going to pay for the new evaporator pipe and extra labor since it was obviously our problem from replacing the heater doors”. Me, “Sweet !”. Him, “Your Expy might be ready Saturday at noon now, call the service desk”.
“Obama Attacks Wealthy For Big Houses Before Returning To His $8 Million Mansion”
http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/19/obama-house-rich/
Rush is right again, just another Limousine Liberal !
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
Air vents…. I’ll look at the de-yellowing stuff. Painting the ceiling is not happening. I have popcorn ceilings. Cheap popcorn, as in styrofoam stuff mixed in something on the gray side of white. I tried to paint the ceiling when we moved in and it was “roll roll roll and texture coming off of the ceiling”. Nice, water based stuff. Not sprayed on bits of plaster or spackle like _every_ other house I’ve lived in my entire life. Then a bit of putting it back on the ceiling. The spare bedroom has a four foot square of bright white.
The paint didn’t go to waste. The places on the floor that looked like stains from over watering potted plants? No. More like untrained dogs peeing in the house.
I didn’t know about spray painting walls at the time. Now the house is full of stuff, and carpet, and I’d have to repaint the walls, too. Because overspray.
This house was a mess when we bought it. They were getting divorced and neither gave a shit about the place. The appliances went back to Sears. Every room had one 40 watt bulb. Except for the hallway and the dining room and living room. No fixtures for a bulb…
They took their ceiling fans (like who wants a fan over the dinner table?). They ate at the bar between the kitchen and living room. Cleaning that was major “ick” as in spray with 409 or Fantastic and scraping the grunge off with my driver’s license.
One of the neighbors was amazed that we made the place habitable. Her words.
It’s a nice house. Well built.
And you think that Soylent Green is a fantasy? No, it’s real life. Do you really believe what Soylent says is in the stuff? Just a first step.
I remember Dr. Pournelle speculating on several occasions that Purina Monkey Chow should be complete enough for human dietary needs. This was during the runup to Y2k.
Dunno if he ever tested that theory since Y2k never happened, and Jerry knew that his neighbor, Ed Begley Jr., would have cold beer if Studio City spent the early morning of Y2k in a blackout. In other words, he wasn’t concerned.
Maybe Soylent is simply reprocessed Monkey Chow. That would be much less of a scandal than the truth behind Juicero.
OTOH, age discrimination is rampant in tech on the West Coast. I speak from experience. When you use the “Logan’s Run” analogy, the young’n’s don’t get it. I suppose the same is true of “Soylent Green”. Maybe Soylent really is … people!
This house was a mess when we bought it. They were getting divorced and neither gave a shit about the place. The appliances went back to Sears.
I didn’t think Sears repossessed anymore. I remember when they lost the court case about their classic credit card terms 20 years ago and it has been all downhill from there.
I hung out with a girl in college whose parents got divorced in the late 80s. They let Sears take everything, and with the company in those days, that meant *everything* including bulk frozen food and carpet down to the tack strips — they let you keep those but not the pad.
Some things change, some things remain the same.
IIRC, Dr. Pournelle was still around but in a limited capacity due to Roberta’s stroke and his own bout of something.
Many years ago the husband of my MIL ran a rescue mission in downtown San Antonio. Catered to many homeless people. All of them, not one dissenter, did not want a home. Two guys had masters degrees in engineering. They just did not want to deal with the hassle of the government, paying bills, the IRS, anyone. They were basically “off-grid” and spent their days wandering the streets, sleeping in rescue missions, or under bridges.
The idea that the system made them homeless was not even on the long distance radar. It was the lifestyle they chose. They were happy, content, knew where to get resources such as food, shelter and clothes. They did not want to live in a permanent home. No amount of money thrown at them would change their lifestyle.
“No amount of money thrown at them would change their lifestyle. ”
This is certainly true of the long term homeless I’m familiar with in every area that I’ve lived. In fact, most of them had deadly habits and little self control, so too much money was a problem for them.
I’m thinking specifically now of the ‘van life’ set, that are one step from homeless by choice (sometimes choices very limited by circumstance.)
@lynn, ref to a blogger turned successful writer? Keeps chickens and little dogs?
Movie night tonight, and the pool water felt hot when I got in. Felt GOOD on my bones. Cool-ish breeze when out of the water and soaking wet.
Nice night out.
n
tell me this doesn’t read like an assassination…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5975821/Police-Doctor-fatally-shot-riding-bike-Houston.html
n
@lynn, ref to a blogger turned successful writer? Keeps chickens and little dogs?
???
Wait, are you talking about Marko Kloos ? Yup, I stole the PRC concept from him. His book series has one billion people living in North America. Plus the daily free soy 2,000 calorie MRE for the unwashed masses.
http://www.markokloos.com/?page_id=753
MrAtoZ turned me onto Kloos IIRC.
Movie night tonight, and the pool water felt hot when I got in. Felt GOOD on my bones. Cool-ish breeze when out of the water and soaking wet.
I am having to put a half inch of water in our pool every day now. 400 ??? 500 ??? gallons. That 15 step waterfall is beautiful (and sounds great !) but I suspect that it really vaporizes the water.
https://p.rdcpix.com/v02/l95a7fc43-m25xd-w1020_h770_q80.jpg
We don’t have a huge homeless problem here, but there are some. They fall into three pretty clear categories: the mentally ill, the drug addicts, and the illegal immigrants. There’s help for the first two categories – *if* they can be convinced to accept it. Often they don’t or won’t – and getting someone involuntarily committed is (and should be!) a high hurdle.
I’m not counting the Romani. They live their nomadic lifestyle, and the countries define places where they can stay for a while. But then, living a nomadic lifestyle isn’t really homelessness, any more than someone who chooses to live in their camper.
The illegal immigrants are, obviously, a whole ‘nuther problem. And thanks USA for bringing the discussion of separating families to us. Muddle-brained progressives are suddenly all upset, even if they don’t seem to know what they are upset about. There was a local jail that had a couple of family rooms, to hold families awaiting imminent deportation. They had cribs, toys, the whole nine yards. Nope, not acceptable, the town was taken to court and lost. The alternative of jailing the parents without the kids? Nope, not acceptable either. The only answer the progs want to hear is, apparently, not arresting illegals in the first place. Idiots.
I’m not counting the Romani. They live their nomadic lifestyle, and the countries define places where they can stay for a while. But then, living a nomadic lifestyle isn’t really homelessness, any more than someone who chooses to live in their camper.
I was floored when I encountered a pack of Gypsies working a gas station on the road southwest out of Lubbock towards Lampasas during our move to Austin. So much for xenophobia in Rural Texas.
Having worked for grocery stores during my formative years, I know the drill when it comes to the Romani. I got the h*ll out of there as soon as I finished pumping gas. I had to pee, but I knew better than to leave my (visibly overloaded) car unattended.
MrAtoZ turned me onto Kloos IIRC.
His “Frontlines” series should be required reading for the ProgLibTurdians so they can properly set up the PRC’s. Chicongo would be perfect. Just put a wall around it with mobile infantry on the ready to repel escapees.
Marko is a little too Sally Fields (you like me (squee) you really like me) with the libprogs in traditional publishing for my taste.
I read the frontline series until the aliens showed up, then stopped. It never quite gelled for me.
n
added- and his twitter leans lefty
Probably the other health insurance companies also from what I hear.
Medicare/Medicaid are even worse. For one, there are a vast number of drugs and treatments they routinely turn down. Want some of the new migrane or arthritis drugs? Sorry, no, live with the pain. Want an MRI to confirm a diagnosis? We don’t authorize them for that condition.
“I am having to put a half inch of water in our pool every day now. ”
Hah, piker!
We’re putting so much water into our leaking rec association pool, the cost is showing up in our chemical purchases. We’re going thru stabilizer and other chems so fast it hurts. The water bill sucks too.
This after we spent thousands on leak detection and remediation LAST year. 50+ yo pool takes a LOT of maintenance.
The estimate this time is $5k to $50k….
n
Nowadays SA has Haven for Hope, with prison beds, and a big steel fence with access control that doesn’t allow you to leave at night. The city tries to make all the homeless people stay there, at least sometimes.
This is why I say that we are headed to Medicare for All ™ in the USA. Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy has taken over at BCBS. Probably the other health insurance companies also from what I hear.
Try to find a doctor who takes straight Medicare without the supplement plans from places like BCBS. That will greatly simplify healthcare in this country — no one will get anything.
We’re putting so much water into our leaking rec association pool, the cost is showing up in our chemical purchases. We’re going thru stabilizer and other chems so fast it hurts. The water bill sucks too.
You cannot fix an old pool. You will eventually end up reguniting the pool and replacing the piping. My parents are fighting with a 50 year old pool also. I have told me dad that he needs to regunite or just break out the gunite and fill it in. As usual, he does not listen to me.
This is why I say that we are headed to Medicare for All ™ in the USA. Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy has taken over at BCBS. Probably the other health insurance companies also from what I hear.
Try to find a doctor who takes straight Medicare without the supplement plans from places like BCBS. That will greatly simplify healthcare in this country — no one will get anything.
My old cardiologist (#2) wanted me to have the ablation five years ago. BCBS flat turned him down. They said that I needed to go on Rythmol first. Now Rythmol is starting to not work and I bet that BCBS still fights my doctor anyway.
I don’t know where you are getting your information on Medicare. My parents are both stage 4 cancer in remission. They have had many chemo treatments and surgeries over the last five years at Methodist in the med center. Many MRIs, many Cat skans. My mothers treatments to date are $750K thru Medicare (list price).
The problem with Medicare is that it does not pay the cost of the procedures, much less any profit. This has to stop and Medicare has to pay the going wage. We will fix this when we get Medicare for All ™. If we do, otherwise things can get worse.
@lynn re: pool …
What about re-plastering? (I did that back in the early 1970’s.) Or are the pipe leaking ? (And what about a pipe pressure test?)
Just wondering…
I don’t know where you are getting your information on Medicare.
My wife is a GP. She deals with the mess every day.
The problem with Medicare is that it does not pay the cost of the procedures, much less any profit. This has to stop and Medicare has to pay the going wage. We will fix this when we get Medicare for All ™. If we do, otherwise things can get worse.
Things will get worse. Gradually. That’s my optimistic view.
Medicare pays enough to cover the doctor’s salary, but it doesn’t cover the bloated bureaucracy that turned medicine into a racket in the full legal sense of the word. Short of a war (not impossible), the Pournelle Iron Law prevails.
What about re-plastering? (I did that back in the early 1970’s.) Or are the pipe leaking ? (And what about a pipe pressure test?)
My parents have had their piping replaced twice now ? The problem is that the shifting concrete around the pool breaks the pipes again and again. And they have had the pool replastered once. The problem is that the ground under the pool is shifting so that needs to be stabilized.
I don’t know where you are getting your information on Medicare.
My wife is a GP. She deals with the mess every day.
And the GPs are treated the worst. $22 for an office visit. Medicaid is even worse, $18 for an office visit.
The hospitals are keeping their heads above water by extreme measures. My dad is involved with the hospital in Port Lavaca. He has told me about the work that they are doing for larger hospitals to keep their doors open. But Medicare pays them more to do the same work since their hospital is in the sticks. Absolutely freaking crazy to pay less in the cities than in the sticks.
And the GPs are treated the worst. $22 for an office visit. Medicaid is even worse, $18 for an office visit.
My wife’s gross is $15-20 per visit. Commercial insurance funds the bureaucracy — $300/visit in Vantucky (the evil Koch brothers Georgia-Pacific paper mills have very generous benefits), about half that number in Texas.
But Medicare pays them more to do the same work since their hospital is in the sticks. Absolutely freaking crazy to pay less in the cities than in the sticks.
The hospital probably pays more locums specialists than a hospital in Houston would. Young doctors don’t go to places like Port Lavaca unless they are desperate.
My wife’s Prog associate in Vantucky fled to Oregon after burning the hospital out in Fredericksburg for a bunch of money they invested in her out of residency. I figure she spent the whole time out there on the phone looking for another job.
My wife’s gross is $15-20 per visit.
One hopes that is on top of a significant base pay.
My wife’s gross is $15-20 per visit.
One hopes that is on top of a significant base pay.
Nope. I didn’t fully understand the situation until after I blew up my career and had to balance the books on what she made in Vantucky.
Of course, it made leaving Vantucky a no-brainer when I had my “that’s it” moment. $2 million top line, and we saw a low single digit percentage of it net at our house.
Plus we supported this moron, the “cocktail blogger”, husband of my wife’s Prog associate in Vantucky. I had my “that’s it” moment sitting in his living room looking at that custom bar which we indirectly paid to stock out of our household bottom line.
https://kindredcocktails.com/
Absolutely freaking crazy to pay less in the cities than in the sticks.
The theory is that cities have more young patients with private insurance to provide a profit. Rural communities are older and poorer, so they can’ cross-subsidize Medicare and Medicaid.