Author: Kim du Toit

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

…which explains all the Democrat screaming about deportations:

REMINDER: The reason Democrat judges are fighting so hard to keep illegals – even the criminal aliens – is all about control of the House. If illegals were removed or not counted for apportionment Democrats would lose 10 seats in the house giving the GOP a 27 seat advantage.

I forget who said it (Bierce and Mencken are the two major candidates), but it’s only half-true:

“When politicians talk, no matter the topic, it’s always about money.”

I’d modify that only slightly, to make it true:

“When Democrat politicians talk, no matter the topic, it’s always about power.”

If I Were A Paranoid Man

Marketing / Advertising

We’re all familiar with the situation:  you post something about a government conspiracy and the very next day you get a pop-up ad when you open a web page somewhere:

As I said in the title, if I were a paranoid man…

Not long ago I was running an errand which took me down the horrible I-35 south of Dallas.  It’s horrible not because of the road per se, but because to get to the I-35 south of Dallas from where I am, I have to somehow get around the Dallas downtown area, which as any local yokel will tell you, can be a terrifying experience.  (What tourists or newcomers feel when facing this situation I cannot even begin to fathom.)

Anyway, as any local yokel will tell you, South Dallas is a place to be avoided at all costs (think:  East L.A., South Side Chicago, Boston’s Combat Zone etc.).  Yet there I was, trundling along…

…and got a puncture which tore my right-hand rear tire to shreds.

Fortunately, it happened about 50 yards before an off-ramp, so I managed to get off the interstate and pull into a service station parking lot, there to await the arrival of roadside service.

Tangent:  I know how to change a tire, I’ve done it dozens of times before, but I’m decades older than I was the last time I did it, and as my insurance company provides the service for free… why the hell not?

However, I soon noticed that my environs were not the most salubrious, in that when I went into the little convenience store to get a Coke, the cashier was encased behind what looked like 12″-thick armored glass and stout steel bars.  The message was obvious, so I decided to forego the Coke and get back to my car ASAP.

I didn’t get back inside the car because that way I wouldn’t be able to get a 360° view of my surroundings, and more importantly, by standing next to the car I would have easy access to both my trusty 1911 and its backup, should that be necessary.

I waited for about an hour for the roadside service guy, and was only accosted by one scrote who needed a $5 gift “for gas to get to work”, a likely story as he looked like the last time he worked was during the elder Bush presidency.  Besides, I wasn’t going to get my wallet out only to be confronted by a knife.

Because if that happened, I’d have to shoot the asshole and then would come the cops, the call to my SCCA attorney, endless paperwork, confiscation of my 1911, forget about keeping my appointment… you get the picture:  all that hassle just because I might ventilate someone totally deserving of ventilation.

So I just pointed at my tire-less rim, and snarled that I had my own fucking problems and to leave me the fuck alone.

Which he did, fairly quickly and without any fuss.  Clearly, I didn’t look like a potential victim, for some reason.

Anyway, roadside service arrived and put on my “spare” (just a donut, 2,000-word rant omitted ).  Except that the donut was flat, despite the assurance from my last oil-change provider whom I’d asked to check on the thing (another 2,000-word rant omitted, but he just lost my business).  Fortunately, road service guy had one of those little quick-pump thingies which took care of the problem right there, so off I went, late for my appointment, but buoyed by the certain knowledge that afterwards, I’d have to stop by Discount Tires to get a replacement, oh joy, because there was no way the donut would get me the fifty-odd miles home, on said Dallas-area freeways where you get run off the road for daring to drive at only 70mph.

Anyway, I told you all that so I could tell you this.

Two days ago, I got an email which featured one of these:

It was the first such ad I’ve ever got in this manner, and if I were a paranoid man…

So the question is — because the coincidence seems a little too strong, even for me — how did these hucksters get my email addy?  From the insurance company, or the tire outlet?

Your guesses in Comments.

Afterword #1:  I actually already have one of the above in the trunk of the car, but I couldn’t remember when last I charged it up, which is why I relied on the roadside service guy to handle the problem.  I did recharge it when I got home.

Afterword #2:   I ended up getting four new tires, because apparently the 50,000-mile warranty didn’t cover tires that had passed the 100,000-mile mark some time back.  As the tire guy put it:  “You’re damn lucky you haven’t had at least two blowouts by now.” 
And the only way I was able to afford those four new tires was because of my Readers’ generosity during this, my Last Appeal (which still has a day or so to run, hint, hint ).

About Those Tariffs On China

Economics

When POTUS Trump announced high tariffs on Chinese goods, the Commies came back with retaliatory tariffs and all the New Economists (fresh from their discussions on vaccines) announced that oh noes we’re going to suffer because rare earth minerals  etc.

Um, maybe not (some excerpts):

China Just ‘Folded’ in the Trade War

Beijing has ordered its airlines not to take delivery of Boeing aircraft, and the plane maker has now flown back, from China to the U.S., three 737 Max aircraft that were about to be delivered. Due to the long order backlogs at both Boeing and Airbus, this punishment imposes, as a practical matter, almost no cost on Boeing. Yet if Trump were to order Boeing not to deliver parts or provide services to Chinese airlines, China would soon have to ground a large number of its airliners. 

However:

Companies in sectors including aviation and industrial chemicals said that some of their products had already been granted a reprieve, while local media reported that some semiconductors had been spared tariffs.

And the U.S. has the advantage because:

Unfortunately for Xi, he must make concessions. His economy is far smaller than America’s, and he is the one running large trade surpluses — China’s merchandise surplus last year against the U.S. was $295.4 billion, up 5.8% over 2023.

Worse, China’s economy is probably contracting, something evident from price indicators. The country is in a deflationary spiral: In March, the Consumer Price Index was down for the second-straight month and the Producer Price Index was down for the 30th consecutive month.

Meanwhile, China is in the middle of a slow-moving debt crisis, and Xi, having rejected consumption as the fundamental basis of the Chinese economy, must as a result export more to rescue the increasingly grim situation at home.

Trump has the right of it:  the U.S. is the big dog in international trade, and all the cheap shit that China exports to the U.S. pales into insignificance compared to the vital stuff we export to them — aircraft parts, technology and chemicals which they can’t reproduce by stealing the technology or reverse engineering, because their manufacturing equipment and systems are incapable of doing so.

I don’t comment on the tariff thing much because  a) the topic of macro-economics is, to put it mildly, not my strong suit and b) I suspect that Trump’s whole tariff initiative is part of a long game which I can’t figure out at the moment.

Especially when I read stuff like this:

President Donald Trump said Sunday that his tariff policy will substantially reduce, even completely eliminate, income taxes for some American workers.

Trump’s gang is full of big brains and even more experience, and given the 4D strategies constantly being used by the Trump Administration across so many spheres — economics, politics and even social — I’m left wondering whether the tariff thing should not be studied as a stand-alone initiative but as just part of a greater whole.

Revenue Streams

Taxes and Theft

As any fule kno, when a government is strapped for cash they will perforce come up with new ideas for “tax revenue streams” (a.k.a. “innovative methods to steal money from the public”).  Needless to say, they can’t just come out and say “we’re going to steal more of your money” because that might lead to public hangings…

…sorry, I went off to a warm and happy place there for a few moments.

Anyway, the theft has to be concealed beneath a maskirovka  of some sort, and the best one (apart from “national interest”) is “public health”, which shouldn’t fool anybody but it does, repeatedly and regrettably.

Examples of this abound, the latest being that of Head Thief, U.K. Division — sorry, I meant Chancellor of the Exchequer — Rachel Reeves, who wants to tax (wait for it) milkshakes.

The Chancellor has drawn up plans to impose a sugar tax on milk and yoghurt-based beverages for the first time, after concluding that they are damaging public health.

The levy will drive prices up by as much as 24p per litre, with officials expecting 93 percent of drinks on the market to be affected unless they change their recipes.

I think the British public should express their  rage  profound disappointment at this proposal by reverting to an age-old mechanism:

But they won’t, because as long as it’s for people’s health, you see, it’s acceptable.  (That sound you hear in the background is the bleating of sheep.)

News Roundup

Bad News

And you’re going to need that slug of gin to survive this roundup.


…ah yes, the “experts” at the International Monetary Fund, with their stellar track record of global financial predictions and management. [/snark]

In :


...and about damn time, too.

More Political Stuff:


...it’s Illinois, so he’ll just be replaced some other terrorsymp Commie asshole.  And the only “torch” I’d like to pass is the one I’d use to light his execution bonfire.

And still on the topic of Commies:


...and to think she was once my “representative” back when I lived in Chicago.  I used to write to her often, but she always ignored me — possibly because my salutation was “Dear Commie Bitch”.


...let’s embrace the healing power of “and”, shall we?

From the Police Blotter:


…well, so much for her Secret Service protection detail.  Also:

In International News:


...just another day in Merrie Olde England.  As is this one:


…


...crappy car, nobody cares.

In Sad Business News:


...no matter how famous the backer:  if the product is shit, nobody’s going to buy it.

Finally:


...I’m sorry, but “Whoopi Goldberg” and “going down” should never appear in the same headline.
#VomitAlert

And speaking of vomiting:


...I was unaware that lesbian porno movies required the services of a fluffer, but there ya go.

And in today’s 

 

And in our weekly stroll down :

Liz Hurley Is Now Bonking Billy Ray Cyrus
...well, after Shane Warne, nothing can be too disgusting, I guess.

And if he thought his heart was all achy-breaky, wait till he sees what she can do to his nether appendage.

It’s Not Just Humans

Drive Time

Yeah, people in the Western world have been getting taller (and fatter) over the past century or so, mostly as a result of improved diet — or a fuller diet, so to speak — and as a result, the widthwise expansion is seen as A Very Bad Thing by the Perpetual Scolds who bedevil our society.

I don’t know whether this growth is a good thing or a bad thing — I mean, the skeletal look is deemed attractive by the fashion designers and homosexuals [some overlap]  and by the very rich, who despite looking like they’re starving, are of course in no danger thereof.

However, in doing some research for a future post, I came across this pic of Range Rovers, as introduced and what they look like today:

…and it triggered an immediate flashback to my earlier post on bloat, in which I took aim at pretty much everything.

Am I the only one who thinks that the Range Rover on the left is almost dainty — a word which could never be applied to any Range Rover of any generation — and subsequently more attractive?

I know, I know:  the modern Rover is drenched with wondrous technology and (mostly government-mandated) safety devices compared to its predecessor — and I leave it to you to decide how desirable / necessary those additions are — but seriously?

Have we humans — or, to be more specific, the target demographic for Range Rovers — got so much fatter that we now need a double-wide to accommodate our Lizzo-like asses?