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The Sincerest Form of Flattery of Don Surber so Mini Linkfest plus Thoughts

Posted: January 27, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, blogs, business, crime, dynasty baseball, economy, gaming, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, media, medicine, nfl, online gaming, Sports, the courts, Uncategorized
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I have a lot of little things to say but not enough for an under the Fedora Day so today we’re going to give Don Surber the sincerest from of flattery and imitate his Saturday Link Fest with a few other thoughts:

First at Stacy McCain’s site we have a story about how thanks to a family squabble an iconic business will close:

The litigation later forced the family to change the name of its original location to Tony and Nick’s Steaks in 2022.
Anthony Jr.’s two sons — Anthony III and Michael, who were also employed at the sandwich empire — followed him out the door, taking copies of the company’s financial records with them and turned them over to federal investigators.
Those documents revealed that Lucidonio Sr. and Nicholas Lucidonio hid the success of their business from tax collectors by keeping two sets of books almost from the day the sandwich shop opened.

While one might have an opinion of members of an Italian (Sicilian?) family turning in another member of their family to the feds may I humbly point out that if they weren’t cooking the books it wouldn’t be an issue.

As my Sicilian parents who owned business taught me young, “Always pay the government first because they’re the only ones who can take from you before you go to court.”

2nd: Was at the bank today figured it would be an easy time since I needed to convert three $20 bills into two 10’s six 5’s and ten ones so I can make change if people at St Cecilia’s church want to buy tickets to the WQPH 89.3 FM Shrove Tuesday Brunch on the 13th (Details here). I figured it would take about 30 seconds invoving:

  • Opening the draw
  • Counting the bills
  • Giving them to me

Not anymore. Now a machine is involved so instead the teller has to

  • Take the last four of my social
  • Feeding my bills into the reader
  • Do tons of typing into the computer
  • Wait for the machine to spit out the bills when the typing is done
  • Print a receipt for the bills
  • Give me the bills and receipt

Machines don’t make everything easier

3rd: Over at Pirates Cove Mr. Teach notices climate folks trying to link “climate change” to ancient plagues. to wit:

While modern medicine has advanced considerably since the time of the Romans, this data offers insights into how diseases might change in our own changing climate. “Within the scope of the current climate change it is of major importance to understand the links between climate and human health and we unfortunately do not understand these links as well as we would like,” Zonneveld said. “Investigating the resilience of ancient societies to past climate change and relationships between past climate change and the occurrence of infectious disease might give us better insight into these relationships and the climate change induced challenges we are facing today.

He Quips:

One would have thought that an empire that could conquer so much of the known world, invent formalized sanitation, arches, pioneered early medical tools, concrete, the first bound book, and so much more, would have known not to use fossil fuels, hair dryers, ice makers, and plastics

It never ceases to amaze me that tens of millions have absolute faith in the never ending predictions of doom to come in 30 years when my own local forecast for Sunday has changed three times in the last 72 hours.

4th: I’m told the Doctor that I’ve had for the last 30-40 years or so is about to retire. Baring a major accident/incident before July I will likely not see him again.

This means I will likely have to get a new doc who doesn’t know me or my family or my past. This is normal but I’m not looking forward to it. If there was one thing I had no doubt about with my old doc it’s that he cared if I lived or died. Given what we’ve seen from the medical profession the last few years it will be very hard to get that impression from a stranger.

Of course as I’m in the back nine it more a question of what do I want to die from because in the end I have to die of something.

5th: The New Neo has some thoughts about the Jean Carroll defamation case and the type of precedent it sets:

I don’t think lawsuits like this one should be actionable, whether they be against Trump or anyone else. It should not be legally actionable defamation to say your accuser is lying about you and that you’re not sexually attracted to her. Nor was Trump ever found criminally liable for raping her, because the statute of limitations had run out by the time she made her accusations. I doubt her rape case would have held up in a criminal court anyway – unless it was a court composed of jurors or a judge who hated the defendant.

I predict that once leftists and left leaning institutions like universities are charged with defamation for insisting on their innocence in cases and have judgements made against them the injustice of this will suddenly become clear to the left.

Unexpectedly of course.

6th: If anyone is interested we have some openings in both the 1972 and the 1997 league for Dynasty Baseball.

If you’re up to it and have an interest give me a shout because the window for all of this is closing.

7th: Since I quoted Don Surber for the title of this post it behooves me to mention an interesting twist to the old “learn to code” crowd:

ITEM 14: What the nation needs is coders who learn to mine.

CNBC reported last month, “The U.S. is running out of miners. More than half the nation’s mining workforce, about 221,000 workers, is expected to retire by 2029, according to the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and the number of candidates willing to fill those slots is shrinking.”

Smart people are urging and/or putting their kids into trade schools where basic “manly” skills are taught as it’s becoming increasingly clear that the American left has basically evolved into the passengers of the B Ark of the Golgafrinchan fleet

8th: Since we mentioned the need for coal jobs it’s worth noting more layoffs of Journalists: First this week at the LA Times (Via Legal Insurrection):

As a general rule, most people are sympathetic when they hear about others who have lost their jobs due to layoffs, company closings, and the like.

But in the case of the now-former employees of the Los Angeles Times, that sympathy is in short supply among conservatives and others who were frequent targets of the paper’s agenda-driven news and opinion divisions.

On Sunday, Legal Insurrection reported that the left coast newspaper had announced that staff cutbacks were imminent, with around 100 people set to be let go. In response, unionized employees staged a one-day walkout and demanded, among other things, “to swap traditional seniority protections for those related to diversi

And now at Business Insider via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit who notes the irony in his shot chaser format:

IT’S TIME TO ADMIT THE SHUFFLEBOARD TOURNAMENTS ON THE TITANIC ARE THRIVING:

Shot: It’s time to admit the economy is thriving.

—Business Insider, December 31st.

Chaser::

I look forward to the plethora of articles from those journalists remaining insisting that the economy is better than ever. Perhaps AI can write them at the LA Times and Business Insider.

The NFL league championships are this week and from the NFC we are guaranteed a great story of overcoming adversity no matter who wins, either Detroit FINALLY making it to the Superbowl with a rejected QB or San Francisco making it led by the very last pick in the draft born the year Brady was picked and drafted 63 places later than him (262nd).

In the east you have Lamar Jackson the pre-emptive MVP facing Patrick Mahomes who now has made the AFC title game in his first six seasons as a starter. Comparisons to Tom Brady and questions if he will beat Brady’s six titles and ten Superbowl appearances are already flying but in the end no matter what he achieves when people ask who was better the record will show that when facing Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game or the Superbowl he was 0-2 against a Tom Brady at age 40 or over.

10th and last at Elder of Ziyon which is a must visit during the Israel Hamas war they note a rather amazing phenom at the UN, collective memory loss:

Q: Given the UN’s big role in Gaza, UNRWA, has there ever been any indication to the UN that tunnels are being built under the city?

UN: Not to us. I mean… it seems to me that all this infrastructure was built in a highly secretive way. I mean, I see it just as an observer… To think that the UN had any understanding of what was… any information about those operations, I think, is… No is clearly the answer to that.

This is even though the UN has admitted in previous years that tunnels were found underneath their own schools. 

In fact, former UNRWA Gaza director Matthias Schmale admitted that it is a “safe assumption” there were extensive tunnels under Gaza, in a 2021 interview:

If it wasn’t for the fact that Hogan’s Heroes was a fictional show I’d swear that the UN was recruiting heavily from descendants of the guards at Luft Stalag 13 for their uncanny ability to know nothing and see nothing.

Cue Schultz:

After Calling for Bill Belichick’s Head for Months Boston’s Sports Hosts are Shocked SHOCKED that Nobody Hires Him

Posted: January 26, 2024 by datechguy in nfl, Sports, Uncategorized
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There were a lot of people surprised when the Atlanta Falcons hired Raheem Morris as their new head coach after bringing in Bill Belichick for a 2nd interview for the position.

Once Jim Harbaugh was hired by the Chargers as their head coach after Jerry Jones surprised everyone by keeping Mike McCarthy in Dallas it became an article of faith that Belichick had the Atlanta Job. In fact they had actually reached a point were at least one person was arguing that the Atlanta Job is beneath him.

And then new news came that Morris is out and Bill is in the out in the cold. In fact the only head coach positions left are Seattle (Unlikely because they just got rid of an old coach who won a Superbowl) and Washington (A bad team that Bill would be lucky to turn into a playoff team in three years).

The radio hosts were amazed, shocked, outraged. They went on about the number superbowl appearances he had. How people didn’t appreciate him, how much he was a big reason why Brady was Brady. 

I couldn’t believe my ears.

For the last four months all you heard on Boston Sports Radio was a loud chorus either calling for Bill Belichick to be fired. Bill was too old, Bill was out of touch, Bill’s methods were out of date, Bill Drafted poorly, Bill didn’t spend wisely, he picked the wrong coaches, etc etc etc. The only question thing in dispute was should he be fired at the end of the season or should he be fired today.

And yet now after months of saying this every single day they are shocked SHOCKED , angry and outraged that no NFL franchise wants to hire Bill Belichick.

But I suspect the real outrage is due to something that was said on one of those networks a few days ago. The host talked about how once Bill gets a job they will have something to talk about to catch the listeners attention other than a losing football team that is going nowhere, which is what they believe the Patriots sans Bill will be.

So spare me the outrage that NFL organization around the nation took your words to heart.

It is well past time for the States to tell the Federal Government to pound sand

Posted: January 25, 2024 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The relationship between the States and the Federal Government today is vastly different from the relationship created by the Constitution.  The relationship has been completely turned on its head.  Today the States are mere administrative districts, almost completely subservient to a tyrannical and consolidated National Government. The relationship actually created by the Constitution is a loose republic of mostly independent States tied together by a weak Federal Government. 

The States transferred only a tiny fraction of their government powers to the Federal Government, while retaining the vast majority of possible powers.  This is enshrined in the Tenth Amendment.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Article1 Section 8 is a complete list, or enumeration, of the powers transferred to the Federal Government by the States.  Article 1 Section 10 is a complete list of all powers prohibited to the States.

For over a hundred years the Federal Government has operated under three delusions.  The first delusion being that all federal laws, executive orders, and Supreme Court decisions are the Supreme Law of the Land.  Second, only the Supreme Court can judge whether a law is constitutional or not.  Lastly, the Federal Government has complete control of the States. 

As you can see from Article 6 Section 2 of the Constitution, only laws pertaining to enumerated powers are the Supreme Law of the Land.

This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

 Supreme Court decisions are most definitely not the Supreme Law of the Land because they are not listed in the Supremacy Clause.  They are only the opinions of Supreme Court Justices, who are too often partisan hacks.

As you can see from this passage from the Kentucky Resolutions, written by Thomas Jefferson, the Supreme Court is not the final arbiter of all things constitutional; and the Federal Government does not have complete control over the States:

1. _Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

Also from the Kentucky Resolutions it is clear that the States can easily set aside, or nullify, all unconstitutional federal laws:

8th. _Resolved_…that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis,) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited,

The disgraceful Supreme Court decision discussed in this article, ‘Conservative’ Supreme Court justices side with leftists to keep the border open – American Thinker, is a perfect example of everything wrong with the Federal Government.

Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution states quite clearly that the Federal Government is constitutionally bound to protect all States from the invasion at the southern border.

The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union, a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.

From Article 1 Section 8 Clause 1, you can see that the Federal Government is responsible for the common defense of the United States, not the internal defense of the individual States.

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:

Texas has every constitutional right to defend itself.  So far Governor Abbott is doing the right thing by nullifying this atrocious decision: HOLDING THE LINE: More Razor Wire is Going Up in Eagle Pass, Texas [SEE IT] (hannity.com)

The #Unexpectedly Chronicles Democratic Socialists Support Hamas’ Oct 7th Attacks and then wonder where the (Liberal Jewish) Money Went?

Posted: January 23, 2024 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas, politics, Uncategorized
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Both Glenn Reynolds:

COMMUNISTS ALWAYS RUN OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: AOC-affiliated Democratic Socialists of America in ‘financial crisis.’ “The seven-figure deficit comes after the DSA, which leads anti-Israel protests across the country, did not publicly condemn the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.”

And Stacy McCain:

What? You’re telling me that socialists are not good at managing finances and budgets? I’m shocked — shocked! — by this revelation:

“Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are facing an internal bloodbath as they beg staff members to volunteer to lose their jobs amid a funding crisis.“

Note the decline in revenues for the Democrat Socialists of America. Stacy’s link notes interesting quotes from the piece:

The DSA said they “should be thriving,” but they instead are seeing a “decline in revenue, membership, and overall excitement.”
“We’re living in a moment when revived labor struggles and the fight for a free Palestine are galvanizing so many Americans,” the organization said, adding it’s “treading water” and things will continue to be tough.

They seem to not grasp the connection between a sudden decline in revenue and their support for the October 7th attacks and the connected campaign of intimidation of Jews on expensive college campus’ nationwide. ln one respect it’s reasonable that they believed this when you consider recent history:

They pledged allyship to other groups in their tent, not to Judaism or Israel. This was evident in 2019 when daily attacks began on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. Activist synagogues in places like Park Slope, which would have been at the forefront of marches had any other group come under attack, spent years staying silent about it. The attackers, often caught on video, were frequently other minorities, not MAGA hat-wearing white people as they would have hoped, so it was awkward to raise a fuss. Progressive politics was the code they followed, and Judaism was an identity umbrella like all the others in their movement. “As a Jew …” they would begin their lectures. As a Jew, they were rarely interested in Judaism.

After all if daily attacks on Jews in Brooklyn didn’t chase away the funds from “reform” or “conservative” Jews why should support for Oct 7th make a difference when it’s time for the Jewish parents of those kids to write a check? After all wasn’t leftism their true religion?

For many liberal Jews, it was hard to ignore that it wasn’t the boogeyman white supremacists that they had been warned about their entire lives. No, it was their professors, their co-workers at the nonprofit, friends of their college-aged kids calling for an end to Israel and celebrating the murder of Jews. And these hateful marches were not happening in rural Alabama, in the places they were taught to fear, but mainly in the bluest of blue cities.

The political bedfellows they had slept beside were sharply opposed to Israel doing anything but simply accepting the attacks of Oct. 7.

By Oct. 8, their “allies” had already taken to the streets, some in grotesque glee over the slaughter of Jews in their homes, others tearing down posters of kidnapped children, to say Israel should just sit down and take it.

In fact their difficulty in accepting the reality of who their actual friends are is perfectly encapsulated in this tweet:

Realty hasn’t hit the monied liberal community hard enough for them to support Donald Trump, the man who actually moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem after presidents had promised to for decades and never did, the man who pushed the Abraham accords. That, for now at least, is a bridge too far as it risks a final split from the media left.

It does seem however that reality has hit them hard enough that they’ve apparently decided not to fund the people who want to see them dead.

It’s a start.

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