Tues. July 15, 2025 – kid comes home today, so I’m busy…

By on July 15th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Looking at the national forecast it is supposed to finally be clear today. Yesterday was still wandering storm cells. Nothing at the house, but several places I went to had rain, and W got poured on downtown. We’ll see if the two day forecast was correct.

I did auction stuff in the morning, (and a little bit of domestic bliss), then headed out to do my pickup. I got some good stuff for the BOL, and for the kids. Then I hit the goodwill outlet (the bins) because my self control is weak. It was a quiet day, and I got some good stuff, but mostly media – books, dvds, and some classic rock albums. It was about half stuff to sell and half stuff to use or keep. The desire to acquire was strong yesterday.

Today I’ll do office stuff in the morning, then head to the aeropuerto to get the kid. I’ve got one pickup to do, and I can do it on the way to the airport. That should leave me the afternoon to do some more stuff around the house.

I’ve got a couple things I really can’t put off any longer but I’ve been reluctant to do, for some reason. Nothing rational, just didn’t want to. Gotta push through that. Sometimes it’s hard to keep pushing.

It’s important to at least try though. And to stack. Be consistent with that.

nick

43 Comments and discussion on "Tues. July 15, 2025 – kid comes home today, so I’m busy…"

  1. brad says:

    Swiss mountains, with their hidden airstrips – two F/A-18s just whizzed by…

    We ate breakfast in the airport, two of us, $55.00. Ugh. What are you going to do? They have you trapped and they know it.

    True enough, you don’t have much choice. But it’s probably not even the restaurant being greedy: the airport charges enormous rent, because they know *some* restaurant will pay to be there. That just gets passed on to the customer.

    The hotel room was about $55.00 a night. But then they tack on that annoying resort fee of $45.00 a night.

    That seems crazy cheap, especially for anything around Las Vegas. I wouldn’t have expected you to find any room you want to stay in for under $200.

    Alas, I think tRump has “poked the pooch” on the Epstein files.

    Yeah, I don’t get it. He cannot be that dumb. His advisors cannot be that dumb. Really, the only thing that makes sense is that he found out he and/or his friends star in the files much more prominently that he expected. I hope he doesn’t get away with it – pedos need punished.

    It’s also strange that – only now – people have spotted that the video of Epstein’s cell was edited. That video has been out for years, and I’m sure nerds have looked at it before. Why now?

    Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County Dandelions

    I really enjoyed Blook County back in the day – still have the collections, even though the politics are very dated. But, nope, not going on Facebook for that.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County Dandelions

    I really enjoyed Blook County back in the day – still have the collections, even though the politics are very dated. But, nope, not going on Facebook for that.

    Facecrack. I clicked through and immediately exited the browser to flush the cookies.

    I still have a stuffed Bill the Cat toy in my home office. He keeps his posterior warm by sitting on my laser printer.

    Bill helped me do a “Kobayashi Maru” in corporate training at GTE so I owe him big.

    Dated politics? If Nigel Farage emerges as the new resident at No. 10 Downing, a lot of Margaret Thatcher material becomes relevant again, and the jury is still out on whether we will have another generation of Bush as President.

    P. Diddly waits in the wings.

    Breathed has done the strip revival thing before, however.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Yeah, I don’t get it. He cannot be that dumb. His advisors cannot be that dumb. Really, the only thing that makes sense is that he found out he and/or his friends star in the files much more prominently that he expected. I hope he doesn’t get away with it – pedos need punished.

    It’s also strange that – only now – people have spotted that the video of Epstein’s cell was edited. That video has been out for years, and I’m sure nerds have looked at it before. Why now?

    If rumors are true, BillG is back rockin’ and rollin’ in Redmond as the real power at Microsoft in one final attempt at historic relevancy at AI.

    If the Boy Genius spent his “reading weeks” on Pedo Island, that could be bad for his image.

    Gates wants to be Feynman. He will settle for Metcalfe. He doesn’t want to be “Pedo King”.

    Gates may end up with control of Epic Systems mated to Microsoft’s AI models.

  4. Ray Thompson says:

    I just saw a report that 20% of the vehicles financed in the US in Q2 had payments of $1000 or more.

    That is very true. The monthly payment on my truck is $1,300. I will have it paid off in three months.

    We are home. No problems on this return flight home. Except the entertainment screen on my seat. It did not work.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    Dated politics? If Nigel Farage emerges as the new resident at No. 10 Downing, a lot of Margaret Thatcher material becomes relevant again, and the jury is still out on whether we will have another generation of Bush as President.

    The other day, I heard another new term from Rita Panahi at Sky News Australia, “TINO”.

    Tory In Name Only.

    Now I can’t find the link on YouTube.

    Rita gave me my favorite description of Kamala Harris, “She (Kamala) always seems a bit too … refreshed.”

  6. Alan says:

    >>I read the threads where DMSO was good for your health.  I was tired and have numb feet and that was one of the things it was used for.

    So I ordered some.  A bottle arrived today.  No instructions or dosage recommendations.  The enclosed pamhplet said to go online.  I did.  Absolutely nothing about how to use it.  Lots of how wonderful it is.  

    I think I wasted my money.  

    Always take the disclaimer into consideration… 

    This is a dietary supplement and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The statements on the product have not been evaluated by the FDA.

    My PCP presses me to justify adding any supplements to my daily regiment. Which I appreciate given the cost of my new neuro Rx. 

  7. Alan says:

    >>I’ve got a couple things I really can’t put off any longer but I’ve been reluctant to do, for some reason. Nothing rational, just didn’t want to. Gotta push through that. Sometimes it’s hard to keep pushing.

    It’s important to at least try though.

    @nick, do you have a plan in your mind in which you “retire” someday? 

  8. drwilliams says:

    If BillG is in the E-files he ends as the second coming of PeeWee Herman. 

  9. drwilliams says:

    When I travel I always have a collapsible water container and snacks. For the latter my current fave is Kind Breakfast Protein.   And plain original Pringles. 

  10. Greg Norton says:

    If BillG is in the E-files he ends as the second coming of PeeWee Herman. 
     

    Pee Wee was busted in a low rent adult theater in an unfashionable part of Florida, not riding a private jet to Pedo Island.

    The US Virgin Islands is a haul, No one just happens to be nearby and drops in to see old friends on a slow Saturday night.

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s someone or ‘someones’ big, and probably someone T knows and didn’t suspect.   It’s someone who he either doesn’t want to burn, or if ‘someones’ they are big enough to cause a national crisis.

    It isn’t trump.   they’ve had the files and would have used them instead of making stuff up and all the legal wrangling they’ve had to do.   They changed the law in NY to go after him… no need for that if he’s on the list.

    ———————–

    @alan, Retire?  I didn’t want to admit it,because I still do all the things I do, but I’ve been retired at least 10 years.   I left regular employment 14 years ago when D2 arrived.    

    I can probably keep doing the kind of things I’ve been doing as long as I’m mobile, but I do need to get rid of accumulated stuff first.   I can pan for gold, as long as I get rid of the mountain of dirt I’ve been keeping to sift thru first.

    ————————–

    Sunny and clear so far.   Kid should be on a plane headed home.   My auction pickup will happen later, they only open at 2pm.

    Time for some tea and breakfast.

    n

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    Hmmm.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14904311/america-biggest-carmakers-production-best-selling-trucks.html 

    America’s second-favorite pickup is taking another break. 

    General Motors has again idled its assembly plant in Silao, Mexico — this time from August 4 through August 15 — pausing production of two of its biggest moneymakers: the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra

    It’s the second stoppage in as many months. The same factory also halted production for two weeks in early July. 

    The Silao plant is just one of several that build the full-size pickup trucks. They’re also assembled in Indiana, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. 

    I bet it’s a lot easier and cheaper to stop work in Mexico than Detroit or Canada.

    But broader geopolitical and economic factors might be playing into GM’s decision, analysts warn.  

    GM has said it is reevaluating how it will build some of its cars in the face of President Donald Trump’s 25 percent automotive tariffs

    Mary Barra, the company’s top boss, has said the company expects to pay between $4 billion and $5 billion in tariffs this year. She said the automaker doesn’t have plans to pass those costs on to consumers. 

    To reduce those costs, GM is investing heavily in stateside manufacturing. 

    n

  13. Nick Flandrey says:

    Lock out/ Tag out.     

    New employee?  Supervisor pushing the schedule?  Electricians on break?  No one speaks english?

    Teenager dies after being sucked into a meat grinder at a burritos factory

    By KEVIN ADJEI-DARKO

    Published: 03:45 EDT, 15 July 2025 | Updated: 04:15 EDT, 15 July 2025 

    A 19-year-old sanitation worker was horrifically killed after being sucked into a meat grinder at a California food processing plant.

    The unnamed teenager was working at Tina’s Burritos when the deadly accident unfolded just before 9.30pm on Sunday, according to the Vernon Police Department.

    He had been working an overnight shift and cleaning the industrial meat grinder when it suddenly switched on, pulling him into the machine in front of his shocked colleagues.

    The victim, a member of the after-hours sanitation team, is believed to have cried out for help.

    However, workers were unable to shut the equipment down in time to save his life.

    n

  14. Greg Norton says:

    It’s someone or ‘someones’ big, and probably someone T knows and didn’t suspect.   It’s someone who he either doesn’t want to burn, or if ‘someones’ they are big enough to cause a national crisis.
     

    Gates would be a big enough name to cause a crisis because everything is aligned for the Boy Genius to end up in control of most health records in the US outside of those belonging to VA patients.

  15. Ray Thompson says:

    That seems crazy cheap, especially for anything around Las Vegas. I wouldn’t have expected you to find any room you want to stay in for under $200.

    The rate depends on the night of the week. Weekdays are not terribly pricey. MGM Grand is $148 during the week. Friday night and Saturday night the price jumps to $300.00.

  16. EdH says:

    As Nick says, if Trump was in there it would have been used by the treasonous three letter agencies against him long ago.

    The underage girls are probably all of age now, they could come forward, name names, and petition to have their records released.

    We need a billionaire to back and protect them to make it worth their while to be in the media glare.

  17. Nightraker says:

    Google says a UAW line worker makes between $14 – $33/hour length of service dependent, averaging $28/hour.  My own experience is ½ a century out of date, but even then that was for an almost 4 day week, paid for 5.  There were holidays, scheduled shutdowns, vacation, sick days, something called “personal paid holidays”, COLA, and even a birthday payday.  Plus health insurance, lawyer fee for common life events, pension, stock awards, supplemental unemployment insurance and probably other compensations I’m forgetting.

    OTOH, like Lucille Ball’s famous scene, the damned line just doesn’t stop.  Mind numbing is an understatement.

  18. Greg Norton says:

    The rate depends on the night of the week. Weekdays are not terribly pricey. MGM Grand is $148 during the week. Friday night and Saturday night the price jumps to $300.00.

    The MGM had the monorail station the last time we went.

    Surplus Disney trains, but still in decent shape.

    Or were.

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    They were making a lot more than that when I was doing supporting stuff for automakers in Detroit.   

    That average must include the people outside of Detroit, where the manfs went to lower hourly wages, and not include the “allied trades”. 

    The freaking wallpaper hanger was UAW when I was there.

    n

    Or it includes allied trades like the janitorial staff, made up of illegals getting minimum wage.
    n

  20. EdH says:

    Looks like the latest in Daniel O’Malley’s  “Rook” series just arrived on my Kindle.

  21. EdH says:

    I just saw a report that 20% of the vehicles financed in the US in Q2 had payments of $1000 or more.

    Apparently 7% of buyers are 60 days delinquent on payments, with 3% more than 90 days.  Which suggests 14% are just  ‘occasionally’ missing a payment.

    When I was looking at travel trailer loans a while back I noticed that they had 144 month plans, that is 12 years at 8.5% interest. A travel trailer is basically scrap value after about 10 years, btw.

    It is not a 10 bagger house, or even a three bagger house.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    It is not a 10 bagger house, or even a three bagger house.

    A tenbagger house is not a tenbagger until it actually sells for that price.

    Likewise, a three bagger.

    People need to get a grip before the haircuts start rolling out.

  23. Gavin says:

    It’s someone or ‘someones’ big, and probably someone T knows and didn’t suspect.   It’s someone who he either doesn’t want to burn, or if ‘someones’ they are big enough to cause a national crisis.

    I’m thinking a Briar Patch scenario. The files will come out eventually; after the Left convinces itself they are sufficiently protected, they will force the release to attack the Right. Trump will ‘give in’. The Left declares a win, but will not be sufficiently protected, and will attack Trump for releasing the file, while they are being arrested.

  24. dkreck says:

    Teenager dies after being sucked into a meat grinder at a burritos factory

    Hard to believe in California. Every machine like that should have a lockout switch and every employee their own lock.

    I was at a cotton gin doing work in the office one day about 40 years ago when a long time veteran employee became a victim of just such an accident.  He had the lock, just didn’t take the time to use it. Not a good way to die.

  25. drwilliams says:

    The congressman, who was first elected to Congress in 2000, purchased with his wife a Potomac, Maryland, home in 2003 for $610,000, claiming on the mortgage paperwork that this home was their principal residence—even as they were presumably both registered to vote in California and he represented California in Congress.

    According to Zillow, the house is now worth more than $1.4 million.

    Bish said on the second page of the 2003 financing for the Maryland home, there is a section where the mortgage company checks a box to designate the property as a secondary home–and that box is not checked.

    Schiff and his wife refinanced the home in 2009, 2010, and 2013; each time, they asserted that the house was their principal residence, she said. “On each one of those mortgages, there’s a clause, Clause 6, that says that you will occupy that home for 12 consecutive months as your primary residence.”

    https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2025/07/15/awful-schiffty-trump-raises-questions-about-adam-schiff-and-mortgage-fraud-n2191653

    They’d better get to work prosecuting Schiff and James or give up prosecuting anyone for mortgage fraud.

  26. Ray Thompson says:

    The MGM had the monorail station the last time we went.

    They still do. It is the end of the route. And it still works. It only runs from 7:00 AM to Midnight. I guess in part to keep the bums off the trains which are air conditioned. In my opinion the monorail was a good idea, but fell way short on the implementation. It should have been extended to the Mandalay Bay south, and further north to the Winn hotel. The Winn hotel is close to the really huge shopping mall. It also misses some major hotels like Ceasar’s Palace and the Venetian.

    Rather than a back and forth, on the same route, it would have been better to make it a one-way route that made a trip to the major destinations on the strip. Basically, up one side of the strip and down the other side. I am certain there were massive politics and kickbacks involved during the planning and construction.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    In my opinion the monorail was a good idea, but fell way short on the implementation. It should have been extended to the Mandalay Bay south, and further north to the Winn hotel.
     

    The monorail predates the Wynn.

    Before 2000, the Wynn site was the location of the old school Desert Inn resort, where Bing Crosby and Bob Hope used to perform. Old school, but the property was nicely maintained right up until the day the complex was demolished.

  28. Greg Norton says:

    Before 2000, the Wynn site was the location of the old school Desert Inn resort, where Bing Crosby and Bob Hope used to perform
     

    The Desert Inn was also where Howard Hughes famously lived for several years in seclusion.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    That average must include the people outside of Detroit, where the manfs went to lower hourly wages, and not include the “allied trades”. 

    The member of the rank-and-file at CWA who ended the union’s threat of a strike against the Death Star in 2009 by appearing on PrimeTime Live to show off $80k worth of sex change surgeries lived in Cleveland. From what I saw, his/her income was at least six figures, with a house on an acre of land, a Mercedes SUV, and a stay-at-home spouse.

    Union thugs own the rust belt.

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    The monorail predates the Wynn.

    Las Vegas should consider extending the monorail. It certainly beats the traffic on the strip and walking in 110F heat.

  31. Nick Flandrey says:

    the location of the old school Desert Inn resort  

    – one of the entertainers I worked for played the Sands shortly before it was closed, AND the Desert Inn.  We joked that it was a curse power…  The showroom at the DI was old school, with places for mics to be lowered from the ceiling and then whisked away when the announcer was done.    They had the same setup in the ballroom of the Hotel Del Coronado.

    We had a lot of excess union labor at the DI- costume crew to wash up, props guy to move a stool, catering for a glass of water, and a full crew for the stage.   Dunno if we made money.   

    n

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    I was working at the Navy Yards in Philly when the electrician’s union was aggitating for higher wages.  Those guys were making $80/hr BASE rate, and pulling in overtime as a matter of course.  I was sympathetic until I learned that.  My crew was making more on the gig than I was…

    n

  33. Nick Flandrey says:

    BTW, Intel…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14904757/intel-mass-layoffs-job-cuts-one-state.html 

    Major tech company quietly quadruples number of layoffs as jobs apocalypse spreads

    By BEN SHIMKUS, CONSUMER REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    Published: 14:48 EDT, 14 July 2025 | Updated: 15:23 EDT, 14 July 2025 

    A once-dominant tech company is undergoing another mass layoff. 

    Intel is cutting thousands of jobs as it faces mounting pressure from tech competitors in artificial intelligence. 

    The chipmaking giant — which makes processors that power millions of Dell, HP, and Lenovo computers — filed paperwork on July 10 indicating it would lay off nearly 2,400 employees in Oregon. 

    That’s a major escalation from just three days earlier, when the company filed WARN paperwork that said only 529 employees were losing their jobs.

    The Oregon layoffs are likely part of a broader belt-tightening at the tech giant. 

    In mid-June, the company said it was hoping to slash about 15 to 20 percent of its workforce.   

    With Intel employing 109,000 globally, that would mean 16,350 to 21,800 staffers would lose their job.

    They are “Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers”.

    n

  34. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, Intel…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14904757/intel-mass-layoffs-job-cuts-one-state.html 

    Wall Street seems to have decided that Intel needs to be taken out behind the woodshed and shot in the head, with whats left ending up as part of Broadcom or Qualcomm.

    Meanwhile, Windows ARM laptops running Qualcomm’s garbage aren’t exactly setting the world on fire, and AMD is not the CPU of choice when building AI servers.

  35. drwilliams says:

    “the senator could face a criminal count for each time he paid his monthly mortgage.”

    FHA makes criminal referral to DOJ. 

    Begs the question as to why no such referral was made in 2023 when the information first came to light. Why not fire everyone who touched that file?

    The Schiff hits the fan. 

  36. Greg Norton says:

    Begs the question as to why no such referral was made in 2023 when the information first came to light. Why not fire everyone who touched that file?

    Everyone thought that the Biden thing would cruise to reelection.

  37. dkreck says:

    Poor Adam. They’re just pickin’ on him because he tried to rightfully impeach Trump.

    2
    2
  38. Greg Norton says:

    FHA makes criminal referral to DOJ. 

    Begs the question as to why no such referral was made in 2023 when the information first came to light. Why not fire everyone who touched that file?

    The bureaucracy at FHA believed that the winning Dem ticket in 2024 would promise $15-20k in tax credit/loan for first time home buyers along with 3% down mortgages, making existing homeowners in most metro areas into millionares and guaranteed full employment for real estate geeks.

  39. drwilliams says:

    Since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the $200 excise tax on most NFA-regulated firearms, such as silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns, the plaintiffs contend that the NFA is “now unconstitutional” according to the lawsuit.

    This is because Congress had originally justified the NFA under its power to tax certain firearms. Now that this authority can no longer be exercised, the plaintiffs argue that it has no constitutional basis. The plaintiffs are asking the court to “enjoin Defendants from implementing, enforcing, or otherwise acting under the authority of the NFA with respect to untaxed firearms.”

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/07/15/gun-rights-groups-file-big-beautiful-lawsuit-against-ridiculous-gun-control-law-n2660336

    Now do ObamaCare.

  40. Nick Flandrey says:

    Gov gets up to a lot of mischief because of and thru taxation.   Better to have less of it.

    n

    10
  41. Nick Flandrey says:

    Time to continue my strategy of retiring early.   I hope @lynn is home safe after his long and stressful day, and getting some of the rest he needs tonight too.

    n

  42. paul says:

    They are “Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers”.

    The multi hued hairstyles of HR hardest hit.   Maybe.

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