Vote 'em if you got 'em...

With today being Halloween, let’s talk about the election, just not Trump and Clinton. Here are some other things at stake out there in this great nation of ours. May God have mercy on our souls.

● Bambi-killers: Montana, Indiana and Kansas are apparently planning to become the 18th, 19th and 20th states to create a right to hunt in their constitutions. No word on if this would include snipes, unicorns or man.

● Ha ha ha: Washington residents (and illegal Mexicans) will be voting whether or not to tax businesses on the carbon dioxide they release. I think they should do this because other states can use the businesses that flee. Sadly, the left is opposed because the initiative would use the tax revenues to help the people hurt by this and leftists don’t like the idea of helping those they hurt.

● Governor Lesbian: The leftist enclave of Oregon, a state known for witchcraft and the stench of hippies and meth, will be deciding whether to vote in their acting Governor Kate Brown. She’s apparently the first “bisexual” governor. Yawn. In this age of gay marriage and trannie bathroom battles, who cares about some woman who can’t make up her mind if she’s gay or not?

● Gimmick Voting: Maine is trying to end the current system of whoever-gets-the-most-votes-wins and replace it with a ranked system where you rank your candidate and then they work their way through the rankings. I guess it’s too hard to make up your f*ing mind in Maine.

● Lebensraum!: Massholes will be voting to require egg and meat producers to give each animal enough space to stand up, lie down and extend their limbs. This would basically wipe out things like puppy mills and “confined animal feeding operations.”

● Hang ‘em High: California and Nebraska may ban the death penalty. So far 18 states ban it. Oklahoma is trying to make it easier to use.

● Colorado: I told you about the single-payer nonsense in Colorado. We also are voting on a euthanasia measure. If this passes, then I’m opening a suicide booth in downtown Denver.

● White Power: Democrats are trying to replace two black Republicans with white liberals in the name of racial justice.

● That’s Hard: California may require porn stars to start wearing condoms.

● Let’s Kill Some Jobs!: Colorado, Arizona, and Maine will be voting to increase the minimum wage. South Dakota will be voting to lower it for teens. We should create a ballot initiative to lower the minimum wage for whites or males and watch liberals lose their minds trying to simultaneously claim that this is racist/sexist while arguing that low minimum wages violate human rights. snicker snicker

● Millionaire Tax: California is looking to impose a millionaire tax on anyone with an income over $200,000.

● Price Controls: Venezuela, er, California is planning to put a cap on the cost of drugs. Ah yes, that worked so well in East Germany and Venezuela that I can’t possibly see a problem with it.

● How, Kemosabe!: Massholes, Rode Islanders, and Jerseyites will vote to allow new casinos. Such racist pale faces... always taking the red man’s market share!

● Bag Man: Californians will be voting to overturn a ban on plastic bags in grocery stores. Why stop at plastic though? They should ban all containers in grocery stores.

Anything good in your neck of the woods?

Poll Thoughts

The LA Times has been keeping a running poll on the race. I thought I would share some observations of interest.

First, let me remind people that polls are worthless for a whole variety of reasons. Their only value might be in tracking changes over time, but not in predicting an outcome or explaining an outcome. Why? Because the person picking the population of respondents essentially decides the outcome. Also, people lie. People give protest responses. People game the system. And responding to a poll lacks commitment, so people can be more fanciful in answering polls.

With that in mind, here are some observations:

● There is something wrong with the narrative that Trump’s supporters are white trash. He wins among people with high school or less (52% to 39%) and some college (48% to 41%), but loses among college grads (36% to 53%). Ok, so he wins among the least educated. Got it. His followers are poor white trash.

Or are they?

By income, Trump loses badly among those earning less than $35k (53% to 35%) and those earning $35k to $75k (51% to 38%). He only wins among those earning more than $75k (47% to 44%).

How can this be? How can he win among the least educated, who should be earning the least, yet lose among the two lowest earner groups? Something is wrong with this narrative. Any thoughts?

● Despite his supposed implosion among Hispanics, Trump does way better than recent Republicans with Hispanics. Trump polls 33.4% versus Clinton’s 55.6% with Hispanics. Romney got killed by Hispanics 71% to 27%. That’s an Hispanic gap of 44% for Romney and 22% for Trump... half Romney’s gap.

● Women favor Clinton 50.7% to 38.8%. Remember how Trump would be destroyed by women? Romney lost 55% to 44% among women. That’s a gender gap of 11%. Trump’s gender gap is OMG... 11%.

● By the way, McCain’s gender gap was 13% and his Hispanic gap was 36%. So again, Trump looks pretty good.

● The effect of the overwhelming media bias can be seen in this: “Who will you vote for?” gives Trump the edge: 45% to 44%. But “Who do you think will win?” gives an overwhelming edge to Clinton 58% to 36.9%. Think about this. The race is 50/50 +/-2%, as all recent presidential races have been, yet the media onslaught has convinced conservatives that Clinton is winning by an unprecedented blow out of 28%. Do you understand the problem with media bias now?

Thoughts?

Open Thread

Just a couple minor thoughts. Didn't have time for much else.

1. The best reason to vote for Trump is to piss off all the right people. Right now, the left (and in particular the media left) are driving me nuts. I would love to see Trump win and watch all these people contemplate suicide.

2. TV ratings are down, just like NFL ratings and movie attendance. I'm wondering if this isn't related? Could it mean that we've reached a point of mindless-entertainment-saturation-syndrome (MESS)? Or is it that the quality of programming has finally started to lose people? Let's call this CRAP. Or maybe it's the politics? Maybe people are just sick of seeing politics everywhere? Let's call this BS. Ultimately, I don't know if this is just a MESS or if it's all CRAP or if the problem is BS. I suspect it's a combination of all three, but I definitely admit that little appeals to me anymore and the minute they turn political, I change the channel. At the same time, so much of what they are producing today is the worst kind of pointless. Not sure, but I think this is a self-inflicted wound, not a change in public behavior.

3. Lie down with dogs, wake up with flees. Amy Schumer really screwed the pooch, and I find it hilarious. She did a parody of the racist Beyonce video "Formation," which is about "the empowerment of black women." Yawn. Anyways, Schumer assumed that because she's a card carrying liberal that she could make a parody of this song. Wrong! The world of "strong" (read= whiny) liberal chicks is now in an uproar. Apparently, it's racist to parody THAT SONG. Really? So we are now inventing sacred cows? What's more, the comments have been brutal. Apart from all the typical whining, you have people hoping this ruins her career and threatening violence. I love it when the left turns on each other.

4. There was a flash mob of teens in Filthadelphia the other day. They roamed the city near Temple beating up students. Welcome to Philly... the land of feral children. BTW, I heard no condemnation from the likes of BLM, who recently took the time to object to someone using a football game to honor the police. Apparently, that was a racist show of force. Racist jerks.

Finally, don't forget that Rustbelt has given us another article over at the film site==> Film Article

The floor is yours. Please share your thoughts...

Project Veritas and Other Stuff

I am not sure what any of you think about James O'Keefe and Project Veritas, but here are some undercover videos they have released in the last weeks on some disturbing issues regarding voter fraud and campaign shenanigans that border if not directly cross into fraud. Of course, the Clinton campaign and the media have taken "the high road" and have ignored them. It was revealed today O'Keefe has been temporarily banned from Twitter. The good news is that some well-placed people in the videos who revealed too much have been fired for revealing too much but that's not enough.

The first video features the NYC Board of Election Dem Commissioner Alan Schulkin. After the release, there has been a call to have him dumped for basically telling the unguarded truth in my humble opinion. During our recent April primary, it was discovered that at least 100,000 legitimate registered voters had been struck from the voter rolls for no apparent reason. And our NYC Board of Elections is famous for losing ballots (conveniently), lengthy recounts, and other shenanigans that would and should raise the eyebrows of the DOJ if it was happening south of the Mason/Dixon line, yet has not.

In the video, NYC Democratic Commissioner of the Board of Elections Alan Schulkin is caught on hidden camera at a United Federation of Teachers holiday party admitting that there is widespread voter fraud in New York City.

The following are a series of three undercover videos released from Oct. 17-Oct 24 on exposing some fairly disturbing direct coordination between the Clinton campaign and political action committees (PACs) that are supposed to be completely independant. Because I am lazy, I have just cut-n-pasted the descriptions of each directly from Project Veritas. Enjoy!?

In this explosive new video from Project Veritas Action, a Democratic dirty tricks operative unwittingly provides a dark money trail to the DNC and Clinton campaign. The video documents violence at Trump rallies that is traced to the Clinton campaign and the DNC through a process called birddogging.

A shady coordinated communications chain between the DNC, Clinton Campaign, Hillary Clinton’s Super PAC (Priorities) and other organizations are revealed. A key Clinton operative is on camera saying, “It doesn’t matter what the friggin’ legal and ethics people say, we need to win this motherf**ker."

In the second video of James O'Keefe's new explosive series on the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign, Democratic party operatives tell us how to successfully commit voter fraud on a massive scale. Scott Foval, who has since been fired, admits that the Democrats have been rigging elections for fifty years.

Part III of the undercover Project Veritas Action investigation dives further into the back room dealings of Democratic politics. It exposes prohibited communications between Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC and the non-profit organization Americans United for Change. And, it’s all disguised as a duck. In this video, several Project Veritas Action undercover journalists catch Democracy Partners founder directly implicating Hillary Clinton in FEC violations. “In the end, it was the candidate, Hillary Clinton, the future president of the United States, who wanted ducks on the ground,” says Creamer in one of several exchanges. “So, by God, we would get ducks on the ground.” It is made clear that high-level DNC operative Creamer realized that this direct coordination between Democracy Partners and the campaign would be damning when he said: “Don’t repeat that to anybody.”

Of course, none of this should be surprising, yet it will be ignored because Trump has not been in any of them saying something stupid or incendiary.

FYI, I have jury duty this week and most likely won't be able to respond until later tonight.

Some Thoughts

Just some random thoughts to start your Monday...

● Congrats to the Cubs: The one thing I truly love about baseball is the sense of history. That is what gives the game its charm. The Chicago Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945 (the Indians haven't won since the 1948). They haven't been because of a curse caused by a man who wanted to bring a goat to a game but was forbidden. In 2003, the Cubs almost made it until a fan named Steve Bartman interfered with a catch and promptly became the most hated man in Chicago. It's moments like this and every single fan staying in that stadium until well after the game was over to celebrate which makes baseball an interesting sport... baseball embraces its peculiarities. For some reason I cannot understand, the NFL is trying to purge all that is not generic from its game.

● YawNFL: Speaking of the NFL, I am finding this season's game to be pretty boring. I think the problem is there are too many games on television, too much politics, too much talk of contracts and business, too many announcers spewing nonsense with no ability to tell a story, too much ADD, and too much decided by the Refs. It's cost the game its sense of being a game.

● Yay Colorado!: I like voting in Colorado. Just did it. Voted for President, Senator, Congress, state politicians, judges, constitutional amendments, tax plans and other stuff. I voted against ending "slavery," because that might end community service sentences. I voted against a Single Payer system. I voted against raising the minimum wage. I voted against Hillary and for Trump. I voted to mess with the parties. I voted to let our schools borrow more money -- they are growing so fast they need it, and against making it harder to let me vote for these things.

The most interesting was messing with the parties. Believe it or not, I voted to open Colorado's primaries because that's the only way I see to break the iron grip of the fringe on the Colorado GOP. I used to think the problem was states that let non-party people vote in primaries, but here the problem is that the GOP keeps nominating Religious Right types who are unpalatable outside their cult. This seems to be the only way to fix the party, so I voted to make it possible to let outsiders vote in the primary. Hopefully, this will open the party to normals.

● A Show of Farce: Putin just sent a handful of ships past Britain in what is being called a show of force. Never mind that the aircraft carrier is old and decrepit and needs its own tugboat in case it stops working. Never mind that the other ships look like something from some crappy third world navy made with ships bought from real navies after they are retired. Never mind that even if the carrier makes it to the war zone, it is nothing more than a huge target for anti-ship missiles. Let's see. Lousy military. Crappy economy. Failing demographics. Why are we afraid of Putin again? Oh yeah, he has nukes and a small d*ck.

● Fake Women Rock!: The UN just gave an award to Wonder Woman and named her their Honorary Ambassador For The Empowerment of Women and Girls. I find this hilarious because she's fictional... and was created by a man. Between this and People making Kaitlyn/Bruce Jenner their "Woman" of the Year, I'm left wondering if leftists actually like real women. Yeah, no irony there.

What a world!

Liberal Hypocricy Example 4,927,465

Short one tonight. Yet another great example of liberal hypocrisy. Trump made the claim that the election is being rigged against him and might be stolen. True/false? Don't know. Probably false, though there is always some minor fraud. What interests me is the liberal response. Everyone from the media to Hollywood to every Democrat to Clinton herself is in tears that Trump is somehow endangering democracy by suggesting there might be voter fraud. Dumbass Biden actually said Trump was "too stupid to realize the harm he's doing." Biden calling someone stupid? Really?

Anyways, let me point out the following:

● Clinton has been claiming that Putin is trying to rig the election to favor Trump.

● In 2000, Al Gore sued claiming voter fraud and every single liberal in the country lost their mind and screamed that the 2000 election was stolen. Do you remember how the Supreme Court and the Florida government were both smeared by liberals during and well after that election? How they called Bush illegitimate?

● Black unity is maintained by selling blacks in the idea that whites are "disenfranchising" their votes.

● From 2000 through 2008, liberals whined and spread conspiracy theories about voting machines rigging elections.

● It is routine for losing liberal Senators/Congress Critters to sue claiming voter fraud.

● Sanders people have been screaming about Sanders being defrauded and cheated throughout the primary.

● Liberals enjoy the theory that JFK stole the election from Nixon through voter fraud.

So honestly, go F* yourselves Democrats and media... but I repeat myself. If it's damaging to claim someone is trying to steal the election then it's time you apologized, atoned and STFU for your prior repeated cynical statements in that regard. Traitors.

How The GOP Failed With Trump

I could write a book on how the GOP has failed. Peevish irrelevant policies, intolerance, outsiders to American culture and American ideas, too cowardly, embracing extremism, reliance on talk radio and think tanks, etc. But today, I'm going to talk about one thing specifically. The massive attack on Trump by Clinton highlights just how poorly the regular GOP handles politics. What do I mean? This...

I have no idea if Trump will pull this election out or not. There are a lot of indications that he might. But there are just as many which suggest that he won't. That's not my point though. For my point, let us assume that the Democratic attacks are working. I think it's hard to claim they aren't. If Clinton wasn't a cross between Al Capone and a Sloth, the Democrats would be solidly ahead and not even looking back. How have they done this? Basically, they've:

1. Angered women at Trump;
2. Angered blacks at Trump;
3. Triggered the cowardice/surrender circuit in conservatives; and
4. Used their power to warp the culture to create a groupthink/herd mentality that demonizes Trump... someone the herd liked before.

So here's my question: if all this information was out there about Trump before, why couldn't someone like Rubio or Kasich or Cruz do this to Trump before? Indeed, their inability to crush him with this stuff before support solidified speaks volumes.

So why couldn't they? There are a couple reasons that come to mind and I suspect it was a combination of each:

1. They never thought to do it;
2. They didn't have very good opposition research;
3. They didn't know what to do with what they had; and
4. They lacked an echo chamber outside of a tiny circle of conservative bloggers to help them.

Number one is the very problem which created Trump. The GOP does not know how to fight. They don't have the instinct. They are still fighting by Marquess of Queensbury Rules in a Yo Mama Age. That's known as bringing a sternly worded letter to a gun fight. It is this inability/distaste for actually taking the gloves off and really fighting the enemy which has frustrated so many people that they turned to Trump because he seems to fight. This problem more than any other let Trump win the nomination.

Number two is the consultant problem. Over and over, the GOP hires the same "experts." These people apparently can't even be bothered to run an internet search. They have no idea how to put out feelers, how to float trial balloons or how to gauge the public. This is nothing new either. Did you know that the strongest attacks on Obama all came from the Clintons? They were just adopted by the right. The GOP needs to replace, en mass its advertising and media people. There are many professional organizations who do this sort of thing consistently for companies and organizations. Use them. Using them might have helped cut Trump off at the knees and could do a better job defending him now.

Number three is a problem of personnel. The Democrats love lawyers. Lawyers excel at politics. Trial lawyers in particular learn to argue anything on the fly. They can spin anything in any direction without needing to stop and think about it. They know when to change topics. And they never make idiotic statements that are easy to lampoon. The GOP likes doctors, who are trained to give advice sternly, businessmen, who learn to do corporate jumble speak to put you to sleep, and preacher types who speak only in hyperbole to true believers. None of these people understands spin, nor do they even seem to realize that the Democrats will spin the things they see. This is why so many GOP type suffer from foot in mouth disease and why they never sound particularly convincing. People who get that politics isn't about frank discussions but is about selling ideas and images could have captured the public's imagination long before they turned to Trump.

Finally, number four is the result of the conservative disdain for anything media -- the press, Hollywood, publishing, etc. That disdain allows the Democrats to amplify their attacks and forces the GOP to argue uphill. It also takes away a huge consequence-free test chamber to try out attacks. The idea that Trump is on cocaine, for example, was spearheaded by Hollywood.

Like I said, whether or not Trump wins isn't the issue to me. The issue to me is that the GOP couldn't have done to Trump what the Democrats are doing and that is the real problem here.

Thoughts?

Thoughts on the debate?

Just Breathe...

I don't know about you, but I am not sure I am going to make it through the next 20 days with my full sanity intact.

[Okay, full disclosure, I may not have actually started out with "my full sanity"]

But seriously, this election cycle is driving me insane.

And I know that I am not alone in this. Everyone is really anxious and nervous and stressed and showing signs of the strain.

So, let's take a few minutes to relax, take a few deep breaths, and then take a few more. [Being careful not to hyperventilate] If that isn't working, find the nearest safe room filled with kittens, puppies, balloons, and coloring books, or anything that can take your mind off current events.

Once you are all relaxed and calm, feel free to post your feelings about this election cycle below in a calm and relaxed manner. Just get it out of your system.

Now that you are all relaxed and calm, perhaps this is a good time to tell you that the final debate is tomorrow.

**********************************************************

And because you probably want to know exactly how much time we have left right down to the second until the 2016 Presidential Election is over, or as it is beginning to feel like...Countdown to Looking Glass***:




***Contest: Anyone who can properly identify that reference wins...

Optimism Delayed

I promised to provide some optimism about the US today, but I have to put that off. Apparently, I was a tad optimistic about the amount of time I would have this weekend. So instead, I have put together a quick update on Obamacare. The wheels are starting to come off the thing.


Here are some numbers that might interest you:

● Bloomberg News estimates that at least 1.4 million people will lose their health insurance next year, as private insurers drop their Obamacare plans. That's 1.4 million out of the 10 million plan participants. This is the result of massive loses resulting from the failure of a subsidy plan which sought to rescue the foolish plans by taxing the companies who competently priced their plans and giving that money to the fools. Welcome to the lessons of East Germany.

● 20% of Americans will have only one insurer to choose from. Nothing like a monopoly to solve problems.

● Because of the last one, premiums are skyrocketing. In Minnesota, premiums will rise between 50% and 67%. In California, they are rising 13.7%. Other increases include: Alaska 40%, Oklahoma 41%, Montana 35%, Oregon 17%, West Virginia 21.6%, Pennsylvania 10.5% and so on.

● Because of this, an S&P forecast anticipates an 8% reduction in total people covered this year even though the fine is increasing.

● 27 million people remain without insurance under this "universal coverage" plan.

I think what we're looking at is Peak Obamacare. At this point, it's covered all it will cover and I expect it to slowly slide into irrelevance. The question(s) that's left is (1) will some of the most noxious regulations be undone or is this sucker permanent? And (2) what will eventually replace it?

Whatever replaces it will be an even bigger mess is my guess. See, here's the thing. Our medical regulations are like a poorly done painting. And when people try to "fix" it with things like Obamacare, they don't clean off the canvas and start over, they try to fix the ugly painting by adding to it. The result is an even worse mess as the system gets muddier and loses its structure. It's never enough to wipe out the system because people learn to adjust, but it just keeps making things harder.

At this point, I think the savior of our healthcare will be physicians who go private and refuse to touch insurance. Essentially, a private system will need to develop apart from the bastardized mess we have. Will it happen? I think so. Americans are inventive and healthcare is important to them.

In completely unrelated news, Venezuela is apparently lifting its price controls on food. It seems that government control of prices was strangely causing people to starve to death and to turn to violence to feed themselves. Who knew? Perhaps the East Germans? the Poles? the Russians? the Chinese? the Vietnamese? the Cubans? Oh well, clearly, no application to the above.

Overkill?

I'm really starting to think the Overkill Theory is correct and yet the Democrats can't stop themselves.

Now we have a "super model" (who sold her body to sell products) who claims Trump talked about breasts... da horror! Hillary is freaked out that she was being stalked by Trump at the debate... and she wants to lead a nation? Michelle Obama was shaken to her very core that Trump sexually assaulted women... but she's cool with Bill Clinton who actually rapes them. Old lady octopus is being too clever by taking about his hands finding "landing spots"... who knew sexual assault was witty? The "ugly" press chick claims Trump kissed her when his wife left the room... of course, she doesn't have the recording which all reporters make to prove it (because who would keep that?) and she lied about being Melina's friend. A beauty queen whined that he walked into the dressing room... along with the press and family and handlers and everyone else. Another beauty queen heard Trump doesn't like black people. A black winner of the Apprentice is horrified that he was asked if he wanted to share the prize when no white person was ever asked that... nor was the prior black winner of course. Trump beauty shamed some ugly chick, fat shamed some hot chick who was dating a drug dealer, and made off-color jokes unlike any man (or woman) ever. Some woman who worked with him decades ago says he seems like the kind who would sexually assault women... coincidentally, she seems like that to me too! And so on. Yawn. Very tiring. Very whiny.

Some thoughts:

1. These allegations are all whiny and reek of political convenience. Using things like sexual assault as a matter of political convenience will only further reduce the credibility of the rape and race industries. Essentially, groups like feminists are disgracing themselves by playing this game. They are showing that truth is subservient to political desire to them.

2. That the media is pushing this as if they were the most blind activists, even smearing those who protest, has wiped out any credibility they have left.

3. This is overkill. This is the woman who whined wolf-whistle. Even if some of it is true, it no longer matters because it's lost in its own noise. And yet, the Democrats show no sign of stopping because they don't understand this. (Not to mention, there is a lot of nasty stuff in the Wikileaks emails which they need to keep out of the news.)

4. Clinton is desperate if she's digging this deep, and it's hurting her. That's why she still can't get above 46% and why Trump is coming back in the polls. This is going to be an interesting election.

Thoughts?


UPDATE: The Overkill and the hypocrisy continues:

1. Obama is attacking Republicans for only caring now about Trump's nastiness, but not before. Well, before, he was a Democrat and you were cool with him when he was doing this stuff, President Assh*le.

2. Democrats booed two more women who accused Clinton of rape. Apparently, it's cool to boo rape victims now. Funny, wasn't it a sin even to question their stories only a few days ago?

3. Clinton responded with the delusional: "We've had enough of this divisive poisonous stuff." Wow, you should tell that to your loser wife and her vile friends Bill, because that's all she's spewing.

4. Joe Biden actually said that Bill Clinton's past shouldn't matter because "he paid a price," whereas Trump's past should because "he's a sexual predator." That's the kind of vile hypocrisy statement that honestly makes me wish ill Biden. Maybe Bill can give him VD.

5. A woman sent Trump pubic hair in response to the "p*ssy" video. So classy. Shows that "those who are offended" are just as bad if not worse than anything Trump did.

6. New allegations: Trump called a deaf actress "retarded." He made women walk on tables so he could look up their skirts. Yawn. Trump laughed about being called a sexual predator. Etc. etc. etc. Overkill.

Pot Update

Some people thought legalizing pot would be the end of the world in Colorado. Others thought it would usher in a new munchie utopia. Well, Dave's not here, man... but the facts are and I thought you might be interested in how the pot experiment has been going in Colorado.

If you believed the anti-pot people, Colorado would turn into a nightmare world of jobless drug addicts all gateway-ing their way to heroin... like Baltimore. If you believed the pro-pot people, then somethingsomething panacea, man! The truth is that pot's been kind of a wash really... unlike pot heads who don't wash. Here are some facts:

● Crime is down in Denver in 2015, but it's not clear if that is because the improved economy, less active (re: stoned) criminals, or the simple fact they aren't arresting people for possession of pot anymore. So forget the idea that pot caused this. One thing we can say though is that crime is not up as many expected.

● Marijuana related ER visits have skyrocketed 30% from 739 out of 100,000 visits to 956 per 100,000 visits. There are 164 million of those each year in the US according to the CDC. This increase would translate into 5,367 more ER visits in Colorado each year. The average cost of an ER visit in 2015 was $2,168. The works out to $11.6 million in increased costs due to the pot change.

● Marijuana related hospitalizations have soared from 803 per 100,000 patients to 2,413 per 100,000 patients. There are about 405,000 overnight stays in hospitals in Colorado each year (313 million nationally). That means an increase of 6,520 hospital stays. At an average cost of about $2,896 per day, that works out to an additional cost to our health care system of about $18.9 million (over $10 billion nationally).

● On the plus side, marijuana brought in $699 million to the state's economy, along with $63 million in taxes.

● On the downside, those in treatment were slightly more likely to be heavy users -- 35.6% compared to 33.5%.

● Pot related DUIs are flat at 665 compared to 674. But driving deaths in which the person had pot in their system rose from 55 in 2013 to 79. I suppose that's a negative, but honestly, don't care about them.

● Juvenile pot arrests are up from 3,234 to 3,400. But surveys show that 80% of high school students don't use pot.

● Use among 18-25 year olds is up from 21% in 2006 to 31% in 2014.

So what does this mean? Crime didn't rise. Drug use rates didn't go up with kids, though it did go up with the retard set at 18-25. That said, it's still only 3 in 10. Users seem to be dying at a slightly faster rate. That's good.

Someone sent me this little bit of propaganda:

The truth though, as you see above is a tad different. Even if you take that whole $63 million and pretend it comes at no cost, that is nothing compared to our education budget of $3.7 billion. That's a 1.7% increase. Said differently, it equates to about $0.38 per school-day per student, assuming no overhead. But again, you need to offset the hospital costs, the costs of wiping those dead potheads off the asphalt, and the cost of doing whatever we're going to do with the users after they prematurely grow old and useless(er) -- it has been proven that long term pot use makes you stupid (as if we needed science to tell us that). Of course, it also causes breast growth in males, so maybe there's some reality TV show potential there to offset the costs of babysitting the morons. In any event, this assumes there are no negative medical or mental conditions connected to pot, and we know that's not true. I would bet you're looking at increased lung cancer as well, plus increased unemployment and underemployment.

Also, you can't really count on the tax revenue because we're getting tons of out-of-state potheads here to buy this stuff and try to go home and sell it. If a third of our sales are to tourists, then you're looking at only $40 million in tax revenue less $30 million in medical less whatever else isn't being counted. So much for all the billions of schools and homeless shelters we supposedly built. Morons.

All told, it's been a draw. Legalizing pot increased some problems, but didn't turn Colorado to shit. It's no magic bullet either. Dependency got worse, the cost of medical care rose, and there were more deaths. Basically, it's doing what you expect: it's hurting the weakest users while relieving white trash of their spending money, kind of like the Lottery, McDonald's, smokes, and fat burning products. So all in all... meh.

To Infinity And Beyond!

There was some fascinating news today. The news in question was Obama announcing that the US Government would "partner" with private sector companies to put people on Mars. In particular, there is a plan to send a person halfway there in 2020 and then they plan to land a person in 2025. How cool is that! That will be within our lifetimes! I can't wait to see this. That's actually kind of earth-shattering.

What makes this so earth-shattering is the total change in mindset here. Of all the things the federal government does, sending people into space has always been seen as something that was done exclusively by the government. Sure, there are some commercial companies trying it now, but they always seemed more of a gimmick. When it came to actual space travel, NASA was the only player.

But this announcement suggests that the feds now see NASA as an observer rather than a driver of the mission to Mars. In other words, it won't be NASA planning and executing the mission with private contractors supplying them with the stuff they need. Instead, it sounds like it's going to be the private companies doing the work along with NASA in a consultant role.

This means two things to me. First, it suggests that a seismic shift has been made in the role of government. In the past, the government would never have taken a backseat to a private company. The fact they are doing so suggests a realization that NASA is no longer the leader in the world of technology. It is a passing of the baton and a willingness to let the market take over the advancement of science and the national interest. That's a significant change in the role of government.

Secondly, I see this as the true opening of space to commercial travel. Had NASA kept a tight grip on this, then private space travel would likely never be more than just a few seconds flight to the upper atmosphere. This suggests that space will become an activity anyone can pursue. That suggests to me that we will get there faster and with more variety and with more purpose. It also means that people like us might one day get into space.

I really think this is important.

Thoughts?

Why GOPcons Make Awful Allies

I am shocked, shocked that Trump said something crude about a woman ten years ago. Honestly, I'm thinking it's time to vote for the woman who endangered national security and smeared the women her husband raped. After all, purity demands that I not vote for anyone who doesn't follow the Victorian code because I am an idiot.

Actually, I'm not an idiot, but far too many conservatives/GOPers (GOPcons) are. In fact, if I had to go to war, I would rather fight with liberals, hands down and here's why:

Democrats want to win above all else.
GOPcons like losing. They wrongly see it as noble.

Democrats will use any dirty trick, any weapon, any tactic to destroy their enemies.
GOPcons won't touch anything that wasn't considered gentlemanly in the Victorian era.

Democrats are forward looking and always try to make use of new inventions.
GOPcons are blind to anything "new."

Democrats know their friends from their enemies.
GOPcons can't separate the two.

Democrats always try to destroy their enemies.
GOPcons desperately need the respect of theirs.

Democrats use their moron fringe as a weapon, but don't let them make strategy.
GOPcons let their moron fringe set the agenda.

Democrats support each other to the death no matter what they do.
GOPcons look for reasons to betray their friends. In fact, they prefer to destroy each other rather than fight the enemy.

Democrats use propaganda as a weapon.
GOPcons believe every bit of propaganda that comes their way and see each as a reason to surrender.

Honestly, I'm sick of this. This has been the story of the GOPcons for my whole life. My first real memory of politics was the GOPcons turning against Ford for pardoning Nixon for a stupid robbery. Then they smeared Reagan when he ran against Carter. Everything Reagan did, some weak-kneed GOPcon declared the end of his presidency and all but demanded his resignation. Every election since, the left or right flank swears they will sit out or openly endorses the Democrat. Guys like John Warner in Virginia have never endorsed a Republican. What's more, they like losing... it makes them feel noble. They disdain the very institutions they need: Hollywood, the media, academia and law. They have no grasp of human nature or the public. And so on. And that's been the pattern ever since I can remember. Conservatism is dead until modern conservatives lose their taste for false martyrdom, cowardice and betrayal.

What bothers me even more is this. If Trump gets blown up, nothing will change. The GOPcons will go back to their bunkers, their churches and their ivory towers and the will feel smug about their purity. Meanwhile, average middle class America will keep suffering under a government that has destroyed their jobs, destroyed their healthcare and buried them under a mountain of taxes and debts to pay for vanity projects. It is a government that gets American soldiers killed with no plan to win "the war," which attacks the police as a proxy for fixing the ghettos, sells itself like a whore to big business, and prefers the company of foreigners to its own people. It is a government that stifles innovation. It is blind to right and wrong yet seeks to impose its own amoral code of conformity under the threat of force. That is Democratic rule. And no one can stop it because the GOPcons are busy jerking themselves off about their purity.

This needs to end. We need a party that casts off the fringers, the cowards and the political lifers. It's time we had a party that cared about the American public and its needs. How do we do that? I wish I knew.

Clinton v. Trump Debate #2

ONE NIGHT ONLY! POST YOUR DEBATE COMMENTS HERE.

And thanks once again to our very own Tryanmax, another stellar debate poster....

if you dare to watch tonight's format for the Clinton/Trump Face-Off (sadly not of the death duel it sounds like...), is a "TownHall". It will most definitely be advertised as an event "with spontaneous, unrehearsed questions from random questioners in the unvetted audience that no one chose beforehand", or something like that. But it will really be an unspontaneous even where the questioners/questions will have been vetted before hand and to maximize Trump's failings as a human being and no questions about "e-mails", "national security breaches", "Obamacare", or "economic" issues. Oh, or about an upcoming nuclear war with Russia after Obama called them out for "crimes against humanity".

However with the October Surprise that has consumed social media this weekend about Trump being a "surprisingly" loathsome sexist [unknown only to anyone living under an melting iceberg in the Anarctic with no Verizon cell service], there most probably will be lots and lots of questions directed to Trump, but none to Clinton in the "sexual predators as candidates and/or spouses" category.

There will be no penalty for not commenting, not watching, or crying tears of agony...

Have You Considered...

Once again I've got nothing worth repeating except this...

In this election cycle, this is as good an option as any of the human choices right now.

The floor is now open for discussion.

Some Random Observations

Yo! Some thoughts...

● Apparently, there was a debate. Mike Pence v. Tim Kaine and Elaine Quijano. It sounds like Pence beat them, but the articles saying that Sanders Kaine won were already written a year ago.

● So apparently, Hillary has been calling Sanders's supporters worse things than deplorables. It's too bad the left has no principles and no pride or they might actually stand up to her. That would be fun. But you know, they are the left and they'll do what they are told to do by the herd.

● Is it just me or has social media become an entertaining battleground of retards? Professional slut Amber Rose is whining that she got fat shamed by another Twitter hog. I am woman, hear me whine. Demi Lovato (a real name) is bitch shaming Taylor Swift for having only hot friends because it makes her fans feel fat. She them promptly quit the world for a few days as she deTwitters. It's definitely not funny to make fun of Kim Kardashian and wish she had died in the robbery... or so half the internet says. They are fun shaming the other half who are thinking it would have been funny if Kim had met her end tied up in a bathtub. And how dare Bruce Jenner -- damn, gonna get trans-shame for that one -- uh, Caitlyn Jenner post something about having a good time as poor Kim fought for her life in Paris. Snort, I mean, sniff sniff. Perhaps now Caitlyn will learn that being fake-sympathy-deficient shamed isn't fun. Isn't it funny that a bunch of people with no shame whatsoever throw that word around like it means something?

● I find it funny that we're supposed to respect the rights of the handful of a-holes who have attacked the National Anthem because it's gloriously American to protest someone else yada yada yada. Yet the same people who assure us of this use words like "disgrace" to attack those who protest the protestors. The latest is a radio station that won't be broadcasting the next football game of some team where most of the band refused to play the national anthem. Whined the enlightened few that this form of protest was "a disgrace." So all protests were created equal... some are just more equal than others.

● Whoops. The Pope just bitchslapped the gay movement. He called out schools who accept the idea that children can pick their genders and he spoke of a war against marriage. Funny how that didn't draw the interest of the same MSM who couldn't stop speculating that he was down with being gay.

● Uber-leftist Stephen King says he's "scared to death" of Trump winning the presidency. What does King know about fright? Judging by everything he's written since the 1970s, not much. He probably stole that quote from someone else too. That is his M.O.

● Hillary Clinton warns us that fat shaming can lead to suicide. Care to demonstrate, Madame Pantsuit?

● "What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a year?" asked Hillary Clinton. Sounds like a typical Democratic budget. Nevertheless, let me counter with this question: "What kind of genius loses four American lives, a laptop, four cell phones, three tablets and 33,000 emails all while pretending to be Secretary of State?"

Thoughts?

Signs & Portents...

Just a couple of issues to discuss while we are waiting for another "October Surprise" to drop and/or the Vice Presidential debates tonight (whichever comes first...)

Campaign signs and portents:
It came up last week in the comments here about the lack of outward signs of a pending Presidential Election. I travelled to Texas this weekend, and while driving around my parents' neighborhood in suburban Dallas I observed something very strange. I did not see one presidential campaign sign, bumper sticker or button in sight. Not one. Weird.

Further to that, my cousin has been taking a driving holiday for the last six weeks from Dallas across the Southwest and up the west coast Highway 1 through California, Oregon and all the way to Seattle. Without being prompted, she told me that she has not seen one campaign sign or bumper sticker during her entire trip. In a quick discussion on this topic with a work friend today, he said that in his neighborhood in New Jersey, there are surprisingly lots of Trump signs, but only one Clinton sign.

So the first thing is that many people are noticing this. The only conclusion is that it appears that no one wants to admit openingly who they will vote for. And I have to say, this is the first time in my voting life that I have ever known this to happen. Is this happening or not happening in your neighborhoods too?

Baseball signs and portents:
Is anyone else concerned that if the Chicago Cubs win the World Series, it will be a sign of the impending Apocolypes? I mean, they haven't won the World Series since 1908. And they choose this year to have the best record they've ever had and they might actually win? That's got to be a sign of impending doom, right? Nostradamus must have written an obsure quatrain predicted this or at least Revelations must say something about "there will be two leaders unworthy to lead in the land of milk and honey, and the final sign will be when the child of the northern brown hairy beast wins the series of bat-tles, this will be the final sign and will unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse." It has to be there somewhere. Well, I rooting for the Texas Rangers just to be safe.

A non-political event with other signs and portents:
It was just announce last week hailing the miracle of the birth in Mexico a genetically modified baby with 3 parents. You can read the article to understand the science of itLINK The primary mother carried a gene that was passed on to her two children who died in childhood. Through the miracle of science and genetic modification, a healthy baby was born. That's wonderful for the parents and has been hailed a a life-saving breakthrough. I am not sure what I think of this. I understand the intent, but like all amazing scientific leaps, it comes with a cautious downside. How far will go this go? We will end up have a super-race of genetically modified humans and an underclass of "naturally born" children like in the movie "Gattica"? Not to mention the legal ramifications of having three "natural" parents and the potential custody battles not unsimilar to using a surrogate.

And finally, just to get you in the mood for the Vice-President debate tonight, here is one of Tryanmax's wonderful posters just in time for....

Here's my poster for the vice presidential debate:#vpdebate #debates #LongwoodDebate pic.twitter.com/CRpklzoT1J

— tryanmax (@tryanmax) September 30, 2016

I figure since neither of these two have yet been revealed to be too controversial yet, it wouldn't be too horrible to watch. So if you are interested, come by and post your play-by-play comments...

Courts Update

There have been some interesting court losses on the left of late.

(1) The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an EEOC decision which tried to call it racial discrimination for employers to ban employees from wearing dreadlocks. Naturally, the delicates on social media are horrified at this. The ruling makes total sense of course. Employers have long been allowed to dictate grooming requirements and dress codes. Letting people force employers to accept whatever hairstyle they choose would undermine that completely. Even the attempt to call this racism fell flat, as the court noted that this is a hairstyle and therefore a choice, it is not "an immutable aspect of race." That this is true is proven by the fact that few black people have dreadlocks. But of course, the delicates want everyone to have everything they want... until they don't.

(2) The GAO issued a ruling on Obama's attempt to use a DOJ slushfund to pay insurers to participate in Obamacare. It said this was illegal. Interestingly, the ruling said that the law, as written, essentially required the government to collect money from the insurers who made too much (liberal speak for "were profitable") and use that to support the ones who lost money. Very socialist. The problem is that nobody made money under Obamacare, so there's nothing to pay the subsidy with. Obama is trying to use a DOJ slushfund which pays the government's legitimate legal debts to make around $15 billion in payments for the subsidy (the most this fund ever paid out for HHS debts before was around $20 million). The GAO struck this down, saying that only money collected in the program could be used. No doubt this will be appealed, but it is likely to kill Obama's attempt to save Obamacare. What's more, it will result in the government demanding about $2.7 billion back from these insurers. That will be a nice kick in the teeth. Oh well, lie die with thieves...

(3) In August, the Seventh Circuit upheld Wisconsin's right to require voters to show ID. Leftists cried. And in Illinois, a judge blocked an attempt by Democrats to allow same day voter registration.

(4) This past week, California passed a law imposing a minimum sentence for rapists whose victims are unconscious. This was done in response to the Stanford swimmer who got a six month sentence for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Liberal California giveth and liberal California taketh away. Anyways, the irony here is that liberals whine like babies whenever conservatives impose mandatory minimum sentence to keep liberal judges from excusing criminals. Now they have found a cause where they want mandatory minimums. Once again, this is proof that liberals have no principles. They have hyperbole positions of convenience to suit their emotional needs.

Thoughts?