Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Saturday, January 13. 2024Saturday morning links
Why are American pedestrians getting run over so much more often than a decade and a half ago? A few simple tips: Look both ways, assume drivers are distracted or drunk, and quit crossing a road at night wearing black. Florida Man fun Social Distancing ‘Sort of Just Appeared’ The Orwellian Assault On The Past Continues Among the most shocking aspects of the current political scene is the fact that the American and the British left has been exposed as misogynistic, anti-Semitic and homophobic. One of the few remaining Sears stores is closing This Is San Francisco Democrats: We Need Illegals to Do Menial Tasks Stuart's Saturday Miscellany How Democrats Sold Out The Working Class - The Democratic Party is being gentrified into oblivion Fanigate Goes Full Jerry Springer Trackbacks
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The gradual dissolution of Sears is one of the saddest, inglorious stories in American business history. A liquidation of its remaining real estate assets, in a rather stealthy, sedate way. Sorry to see them go - I got a lot of great deals at Sears, over the past 50-odd years.
They could have matched Amazon - they had the warehouses, the delivery systems, but they didn't see a need to do it.
And so - they died. Out-competed for an economic niche they never really tried to move into... Sears was destroyed by it's employees. They paid their employees quite well and neither management nor workers were willing to adjust to the new reality. Of course they made other mistakes in an increasingly competitive business but their prime problem that they would not try to solve was they over paid their workers and thus had to over charge their customers.
Eh - I don't think it was the pay scales, I think it was refusal to innovate and get into the on-line retail market in a serious fashion.
They could have eaten Amazon, but didn't see them (or the online market, really) as worth bothering with. After all, people liked seeing the goods in person, and they were so very convenient at practically every mall in the US, with outlet stores in smaller towns - who's going to be buying on-line? Turns out enough people to severely damage their business... Darn shame, but they could have done a lot better... Sears failed before Amazon succeeded. Walmart beat out Sears. They did it mostly through lower prices. They kept costs down and offered more of everything than Sears did. A big factor in keeping costs down was the higher pay scales for Sears employees. But I do agree that Sears simply failed to compete. Their leadership failed.
So, the 6 foot distancing just appeared? Right. Those evil bastards just started getting their jollies by making stuff up. Look what these fools are doing at our command. Hey, what shall we try next? Here's and idea. Why not tell them to paint stickers on the floor, creating one way traffic through aisles at stores. Come on, nobody will buy into that. That is going to far. Ha. Look, their doing it!
Remember when Anthony Fauci said he is Science? Now it's okay to say the lab leak theory is plausible. Just a few short years ago saying such a thing would get you banned on certain social media pages. These people are criminals. Don't trust them. Just wait for them to admit that their vaccines are not all they are cracked up to be. Might even be dangerous to certain segments of the population. Once some geezer--even older than me--gave me some guff about walking the supermarket aisle "against the arrows." I told him I identified as a salmon, and was swimming upstream. A$$hole.
Yeah, more and more it seems like there wasn't any 'science' behind it all, just 'gut feeling' that got translated from 'We'll do this because it seems 'reasonable' and it'll look like we're doing something worthwhile.'
Masking was something. One-way in the stores was something. Social distancing was something. Shutting down schools to 'protect grandparents' was something. It was worthless - but it was 'something'. Because they had to do SOMETHING. Heaven forbid they DIDN'T come out with a 'plan' - it'll look like they hadn't been doing much at all to prepare for something like this. I could, in extremis, see taking 2 weeks to 'stop the spread' - and find out WTF ELSE we could do, figure out lethality rates, other treatments - and then go on with life. But we basically stopped the economic heartbeat of our country, and it's takes years just to get things going reasonably again. CDC dropped decades of health-care practices to go with the narrative, messing up their reputation totally. Friends of mine who worked there when Fauci was there said he was a camera chaser, always looking to be the guy at the center of attention - and was mediocre at best when it came to anything health-care related. But boy, could he turn on the charisma when needed... Oh, we've paid for his time in the spotlight - and we'll be paying for decades to come. And the CDC is STILL issuing warnings about Covid flareups, when the virus has mutated until it's less dangerous than the flu. When the next big bug hits, we'll mostly just ignore the CDC and get on with our lives. Jerry Nadler: Many Illegal Immigrants Needed To Pick Vegetables
What he means is Democrats like the vegetable currently in office as president. Listen to them! The Democrats are openly telling you that they want open borders and mass immigration forever. They are actually crafting a law right now that would admit 5000 illegals a day and make them legal, green cards and free stuff forever. And make no mistake that does NOT mean that once they reach 5000 they would stop further illegal immigration. No! This is simply a step that affirms illegal immigration is legal and the various courts will then decide that you can't set a limit at 5000 so everyone is allowed a green card. Everyone here illegally today will get green cards and citizenships and will vote and THAT was the plan all along. And they WON'T pick your vegetables because they will all be on welfare so why in the hell would they work in the fields. The Democrats are traitors selling out the country and the citizens just so they can have absolute power. Every town/city and state will soon be broke. Your elected officials will tell you that they worked as hard as they could to make the tax money pay for schools and police and roads but there just isn't enough money. They won't mention the billions spent on welfare for illegals. So your taxes will have to be increased. The counties will increase property taxes. Everyone of you who struggles to put a roof over your families head will be extorted to pay more taxes. The state will increase sales taxes. You do know that people on welfare are exempt from sales taxes, right? SO only those of you still working will pay. The state and federal governments will increase income taxes. Only the productive will pay. You do know that all of welfare is exempt from income taxes, right? And you know what the stupidest thing is??? About half of the middle class/working class will still vote Democrat because that is what they have always done OR because that is what their parents did OR because that is what their unions tell them to do OR (and this is the dumbest reason) because it pisses off their conservative family member. Look up "cutting off your nose to spite your face" in the dictionary and you will see a picture of your liberal brother-in-law laughing at you. We are so screwed! 'Democrats: We Need Illegals to Do Menial Tasks'
At least they're finally being honest. So many pedestrians getting run over... Put that damned cell phone away and you may live another day.
Assault on the past... Can't wait till we get to all the FDR, MLK, and Marx statues that can get melted down or run through the rock crusher. Re: Pedestrians.
No child in America is allowed to learn on their own about the physical environment. They are not allowed to walk to school without constant oversight. They are not allowed to go outside and play physical games. They have not been allowed to develop their ability to asses the situation they are in with their physical surroundings A second and equally important contributor to this phenomenon is this: every college campus in America is a "walk free" site. That is to say there are no (few?) crosswalks on campus. Every vehicle must drive in such a way that anyone on foot can step out in front and expect the car to slam on the brakes and save them from their stupidity--no looking required is the design of pedestrian traffic on campus. This lead to adults walking through traffic with the expectation that these care will also treat them as if they are special little gifts from the universe! They don't and they shouldn't. Pedestrians need to be taught about the difference between free walking and the rest of the world! They sure in the hell won't learn it while growing up! Pedestrians getting hit:
I'm not sure what the stats are for California, but it used to drive me crazy there with what I called the "prancers": They'd blithely prance across the street because they have the right of way. Yes, they have the right away. But that doesn't ensure that the driver of the car can stop on a dime because they pranced into the crosswalk with the car barreling down. There was a kid who was killed once and I'm sure it was because her father was a prancer. I hated driving though that neighborhood because it was full of prancers. As a pedestrian, I'd always make sure the driver was coming to a stop before I'd cross. Democrats: We Need Illegals to Do Menial Tasks
I thought that's what liberal arts majors are for. |