Trains, Cars and Planes

Posted in experience, Gas tax, Politcal Opinion by

I have always had a fascination with trains, especially the steam locomotives. When I was seven, I had an electric train set, though it modeled a diesel. Don’t get me wrong. I love that train. My friends and I had a lot of fun with that train. In fact, from time to time we would combine train sets into a much larger set. The problem was that every time I was done with it, I had to put it up. It meant the next time I wanted to play trains, I had to put it all together.

A neighbor down the way had a train set in his garage. The table it was on could be raised and lowered. It made it far more convenient. More than that, his train only had two rails like the real ones. Mine had three. Besides, his had switch tracks. It didn’t have to go over the same tracks time and again.

Thinking back over it, I sometimes think I should have made my living with trains. I know it is hard work but you know, if it is what you like, it isn’t work.

When I was six, I rode on a train, from Ft Smith to Kansas City to Los Angeles. Then, after a few hours in Los Angeles, we went up to San Francisco. A person can’t do that anymore. Ft. Smith Arkansas no longer has passenger service. However, they do have an airport. From that little airport a person can go most anywhere in the world. Interstate 40 goes just north of Ft Smith. For those with automobiles, a person can go all over the US on the best interstate system in the world.

I guess, if a person from Ft. Smith wants to go on a train, he would likely have to go to Memphis or maybe Oklahoma. I went to a ten week school in Philadelphia and I dove my car. My wife got a friend to watch the kids a few days and we figured she could come up a few days before the school was over and drive back with me.

My first thought was that she could catch a train and save a dollar or two. So I checked. It was about 200 dollars more by train than my plane. So she went by plane. I looked at going on the train to St. Louis for a Cardinal game. Was that An eye opener. We drove.

It used to be that when you couldn’t afford to fly, you took took a train. It would appear now the plane is less, or the car.

I was over in Japan back in 1975 and they had a good inexpensive train system. I rode on them a number of times. I understand the passenger trains are having problems there now.

I absolutely love trains, but it would appear they are a vanishing breed. People keep trying to bring them back. They talk about high speed trains. They talk about light rail. No matter how you look at it they are far more expensive than any other form of transportation and I hate that.

When the railroads first started, they had an enormous advantage. The government provided huge rights-of-way and all sorts of government assistance. It appears their golden age was from about 1850 to 1960 was. However, with the assistance of the California government, they tried a simple high speed train, which was to go more or less from the southern part of the state to the northern part. It failed miserably before the first train ran down the track. Actually, they never finished the track and likely never will. They spent more for the rail than for the entire Transcontinental Railroad. All that tax money and now there is nothing. It is time to give it up. Those of us who hardly ride on a train should not have to pay for those that do.

Nowadays, the trains simply cannot support themselves. Year after year, the tax dollars are poured into the trains systems and they always come up with losses at the end of the year. Amtrak is more of a failure than the post office and I hate that.

If it is the desire of some private firm wants to build a train, fine. I have no problem with it. As I said, I like trains. However, if they plan on doing it, please don’t use the taxpayer to fund another grand failure.

As a side note, I would suspect that the train in California would have come closer to succeeding if they did not waste so much money. It is the problem when the government gets involved in things. For sure some of that money that went toward that train likely ended up in the pockets of some politicians. Government is a beast and it is the nature of the beast.

I like to watch trains and I like to ride on trains. It seems to be such a wonderful efficient means of transportation. Experience proves it wrong. Cars are about the same speed as trains are far less expensive. Worse, the only way you can change the route of the train is to change the tracks. That is very expensive.

I suppose there are some places the trains are holding on. Many people still ride them on the east coast. There is still the famous City of New Orleans that goes between the city of its name and Chicago. I don’t live far from the tracks uses. I have had to stop to let it go by. But considering the price of a ticket, I would suspect it won’t be running much longer.

Indeed, the day is quickly approaching when the only trains you will see are freight trains and the type we put on the floor and play with.

A Sterile Kiss?

Posted in Kamala Harris by

I saw a video last night. It was on a news program. It was of Kamala kissing her husband.

No big deal, right? They still had their masks on. Both of them. Really? And people ask me why I call them dummycrats.

I guess they were afraid of catching each other’s germs. I’m sure the masks were adequate protection. As for me, their logic underwhelms me.

Retractions, No Apologies

Posted in Abuse of Power, News media by

I am not writing about the story that was retracted. Many far smarter than I have done that. The brunt of my subject are those who wrote the story and those who believed it.

You see, they wrote the story with an anonymous source. That for me is more than enough reason to dismiss it unread. Nonetheless, all those people released the story, knowing that millions would believe them, and the gullible millions do. They believe the story because they want it to be true.

More than that, other news agency quoted the story. Hence, the lie went around the world a couple of times before anyone uncovered it.

So, when the lie is uncovered, when the liars are exposed, the news agency retracted the story. However, the story still exist. Somewhere out there in the minds of millions, it remains. They the writers and the readers are glad of it. The news agencies that originated it say, “Oops. Got it wrong.” However Mayor Giuliani is still the brunt of the story. The writers and the readers want it to be true.

And it would appear, no one is responsible for the error. Those who reprinted the story are guiltless because they cited the original story. They quickly and gladly reprinted what they likely knew was false because they want the world to believe the lie. When the lie is revealed, they don’t need to print a retraction as did those who wrote the falsehood. They are protected because they were only repeating the lie.

Worse, no one prints an apology. Why? Because they are not sorry. They would do it again in a minute.

And for those who believed it, I feel sorry for you if you can be so easily misled.

I have said it a fore, and I say it again. I cannot repeat it enough. Don’t believe any story that uses an anonymous source, that is, unless you want to be gullible. I would suspect, truth be known, half of those sources are made up in the author’s mind anyway. I also suspect I will never be proved wrong.

Experts

Posted in Abuse of Power, Controllers, Crazy Nuts, experience, Mistakes, President Trump, Pride, Reporters, Unions by

On my first day of college, I learned something we should all learn in junior high, the true meaning of the word expert:

An expert is a person who knows a whole lot about very little.

Throughout my life, I have been reminded of that. Let’s take Dr. Fauci. To be sure, he is very knowledgeable, but I don’t think I would let him treat me for a bad cold. He is an expert. He knows a whole lot about very little. Even so, even within his field of expertise, he keeps getting it wrong.

  • He said we shouldn’t stop people from coming in from China. President Trump did; and he was clearly right. Even Fauci himself said so, after he got wrong.
  • He said that the China virus has little for us to fear. Over a half million in this country alone have died from it. It had destroyed the economy. It was almost as if China intended it that way. Maybe they did. No one can prove they didn’t,
  • He said we should not wear masks. Then in less than month, he said we should. Eventually, he said we should wear double masks. At the end of the day, the masks apparently had little or no effect. Even now he says we should continue to wear them.
  • He said it would take 4 to 5 years to develop a vaccine. It took about 10 months. Close anyway. Sometimes, experts get it wrong; but really?

It has reached a point that whatever the man says, we should do the opposite. I simply put no faith in the man. For that matter I put no faith in the CDC. They also have been getting it wrong regularly, almost 100% of the time. Moreover, it would appear that they are now being run by the teachers’ unions. Really, do the unions know more about the virus than the CDC? Of course at this point, I’m inclined to agree. Then again, what do the teacher unions know?

If it were up to me and I would be able to do anything about the CDC, the first thing I would do would be to cut their budget and payroll to about a tenth of what it is now. Then I’d be sure to move them to smaller digs. It might do them some good to suffer a blow to their ego.

By the way, Fauci and his cronies have had all kinds of help from the press and big tech. Every time someone said anything about a real possible cure, they got shut down. It is quite possible that thousands died because of that. It is also quite possible that the press will never answer for it.

It is exactly what Coolidge meant when speaking of people who make decisions and are responsible to know one. When they make a mistake, who gets fired. Who gets thrown into the lockup when people die as a result of their carelessness. When people ask who was responsible, all the experts that work there say, “Not me!”

Economics, 101

Posted in Abuse of Power, Biden, Deceit, Liberals, Politcal Opinion, Socialists by

I have but one semester of community college but I have been around a while. I have eyes in my head and I can observe. I don’t know what they teach about economics in those big colleges, but one thing I learned by first hand observation is that economies are not static. Things change. Generally they change relatively slowly, but, occasionally, things really take a turn.

I noticed in the early 70s when gas went up, so did everything else. It wasn’t long that the price of meat went up. Then, even the price of soft drinks went up. I was just a sergeant in the Marines at the time and we started making changes in our household economy too. Instead of buying Cokes, we bought Shasta soft drinks (10 cents each, those were the days). Before, we did buy New York steaks every now and then. After, nothing but ground beef. Instead of going only to name brand gas stations, I started going anywhere where I didn’t have to wait an hour in line.

I’m kind of smart. That is to say, I don’t think I was the only one scrimping on things. It was likely that way all over the country, that is except for those who didn’t need to concern themselves with the cost of gas, or milk. There are some folks who bought what they wanted and paid no attention to the price.

Then there were the businesses. I imagine they were cutting corners. Do you know that at one time they had what they called box boys at supermarkets. They sacked your groceries, took them to your car and put them in your trunk. Then, with a smile, they said, “Have a good day.” Nowadays, we all cut corners. Not only do I do all what the box boy did do, but I also scan my groceries too.

It’s actually not that bad. I am getting older and it is getting to be more of a chore, but I manage. It is all so we can save a penny here and nickle there. I save a little. The store saves a little. The one who really suffers is the box boy. They are no longer around. They do pay kids to round up the carts now and then but even they are getting rare. Moreover, they are using those electric things that allow them to do the work of three. They have to pay for the electric things but they only pay the one boy. That not only saves salaries but many other expenses too. Only someone who has run a business can really tell you about all those little expenses that add up to real money.

Corporations, large and small, have expenses too. I have often said, if a person decides to go into business, the first thing he needs to do is hire a lawyer and an accountant. The lawyer might keep you out of jail and that accountant might keep you square with the IRS. You notice I said might. The big corporations pay fortunes on lawyers and sometimes still pay fines. Sears was sued by a guy using a lawnmower as a hedge trimmer. Guess what, Sears lost the suit.

Nowadays, when you buy something, you can’t find the instructions for the cautions and warnings. They are there for the lawyers and the people who like to sue “Deep Pockets.” The legality and the tax laws add millions of dollars to the cost of living every year. It has become part of the economy. The drug manufacturers would have taken years to come up with the vaccines because of all the laws and red tape, but President Trump cut through it all. He kept it safe but he ran a bull dozier though all that was not necessary. Hence, we started giving shots 8 or nine months after he made the decision. Government too, is part of the economy. The bigger it is, the more it costs us all. My question is, if the red tape was not needed, why was it there to begin with, likely for a bunch of bureaucrats — people who are not elected and answer to no one.

Now, Biden wants to raise taxes. It is a common misconception of dems. They think that if they increase taxes ten percent, revenues will go up ten percent. It doesn’t happen that way. Oh, it will for a while. Then people start finding ways around paying the taxes. They hire lawyers to find loopholes and they find have accountants to take advantage of them.

The little guy, the one running the little neighborhood market gets hit with the same taxes and laws, but he has no way to deal with them. So, the little guy pays the taxes and the big guy still avoids them. Hence, the lawyers love increases in taxes. For them, it is job security.

But that is not the end of it. Indeed, it is hardly the beginning. Biden wants billions for the big three auto-makers to start building electric cars. At the same time, he wants to raise corporate taxes. So, the big auto builders will build the electric cars… in Mexico. That way, they get the benefits of the billions from Uncle Sam while avoiding the taxes on their profits.

By the way, did I mention there are many big companies ready to move out of country to avoid the taxes. They likely started packing their bags as soon as they heard the results of the election. If they pay more taxes, it will likely be to some other country, like China. Where did Biden learn his economics?

The sad part is that he will likely never know his tax increase failed to draw the revenues he expected. He likely does not have the cognizance to find out unless someone tells him. And I don’t think anyone will tell him.

I Did Not Watch the Biden Show

Posted in Communism, Deceit, News Anchors, News media, Socialists, unbelievable by

I saw no purpose in watching the address by Biden. I guess it was a state of the union, but I don’t know. No one that I know of said as much. I guess if it wasn’t the state of the union address, Biden needs to write a paper to Congress. The Constitution does require some kind of report you know.

I thought about calling this post, “Lies on Lies.” Only I think I used a similar title before. However, I think the title is more applicable here. Biden told the lies and then the major media told the lies on the lies.

How is it that I know? I heard excerpts. I really don’t know who the bigger liars were between Biden and the major news media. Some of the stuff the media said, really? Can they really in honesty say how fabulous that speech was? I have seen better by eighth-graders. In fact, when I was going through instructor training, one of of my fellow students was an officer from Peru. Understandably, he had an accent. Yet his presentation was far better and more interesting than Biden’s

Then, all of a sudden, there are dozens of white newscasters that know more about bias against blacks than a man who was actually born black. I don’t know where he was born, but he lives in South Carolina now. That was right in the middle of it all. I think Tim Scott knows far more about being brought up black in the South, much more than Joy Bahar. I don’t get it. Just what school did she go to or training did she undergo that she is going to explain it all to Sen. Scott? How is it that she understands and he doesn’t? How is it that she can say she has experienced the atrocities he did first hand.

The thing is, it is much more than lying. It is plain outright stupidity as well.

Then again, it just might be that someone is putting those words in the mouths of those news broadcasters. It just might be that they have been told, “If you want to keep your job, you say what you are told to say.” It sounds a lot like Pravda. It sounds a lot like organized lying.

Plausible?

Posted in Abuse of Power, Deceit, Lawyers and Representation, Liberals, Lobbyists, The Squad by

Most of my books are pretty unbelievable. A couple of them are just almost plausible. There there are those that are simply, well, let’s just say even a young child would know it’s not much more than a modern day fairy tale. In one of the books there is a sub plot, one I thought ridiculous, though maybe a tad plausible. In it, there are people that turning teenage gangs lose on certain areas in the attempt to drive the property prices down.

Then, at the right time, the intention was to go in and buy the bargain property. Then, they would make sure the gangs would get rounded up and either jailed or sent out of town. Plausible? I guess, not likely.

Now, I am having second thoughts. Did some of the dems read my book and get ideas from it. I mean, there have been a whole lot of rioting going on and I am sure the dems are behind it. Anyone with a brain in his head can see that the property values are plummeting, some of which is prime real estate.

Now, once the rioting is over, I really would like to know who will be the ones who took advantage of the bargain real estate deals. Do you suppose some speculator will dive in and make some big investments? Do you suppose they will all have D s after their names. One or two just might be members of the House or or Senate. On the other hand, they might hide their possessions by keeping their names hidden in the corporate documentation.

Now, wonder. Is the plot so far-fetched after all. Makes me suspect I should have never written the book.

But it is a good book. It was called excellent by my agent. Thing is, I guess not so many agreed with him. My best selling book is “The Prepper,” and I don’t think it is nearly as good. It shows what I know.

Memories

Posted in Important things by

As for humans, the word can mean at least two things: that which is remembered and that which does the remembering. Ever since I was in high school, they fascinated me, both of them. I saw demonstrations of men hearing a hundred names one time and he is able to recite them back, in any order.

Me, you introduce me to someone, it generally goes in one ear and out the other. Then, I see the person five days later and I don’t remember their face.

I sort of get it. There are tricks to remembering names, or things. Still, I wonder, does in go into permanent memory or does he remember the names for a few days and he does a memory purge on them all. Besides, the trick only works when you are alerted. Then too, if it is permanent memory, wouldn’t it eventually cause an overflow?

Someone alerts you and introduces you to someone. You might remember the name forever. On the other hand, if you are not alerted, do you remember the name for five minutes?

There are, of course other things to remember besides names. When I was in school, the teachers kept trying to get me to remember dates. The one I remembered best was my birthday. Nowadays, there are a few other dates I remember, my wife’s birthday and our anniversary. Thankfully, both of them are easy, though I guess I ought make them public.

The other day a tune was going through my head so I tried looking it up on line. It took me 20 minutes to find it. I thought I was entering the title and I was entering some of the lyrics. The song was a fifties hit, “Make Yourself Comfortable.” Now I wish I hadn’t found it. It keeps going through my mind whether or not I want it to.

I have known people who have naturally good memories. I knew a master sergeant that certainly was better than any four men I ever knew, and I mean collectively. If I told the man I would be done with something at 3 PM, he was there asking for a status report at one minute after 3. Somehow, he could keep track of a dozen things at once without the paperwork. However, we did have plenty of paperwork to keep track of with twenty F-4 jets.

I guess bad spelling goes with bad memories. I never was good at spelling, even though I worked at it hard. Even today, I find myself using the wrong vowel until my spellchecker straightens me out. I guess, to some degree, that is one way to practice spelling. I don’t know why, however, to this day, I cannot spell the second word in FBI. (I think it’s those French messing with our language.)

The strange thing is that when I want to forget stuff, I can’t. When I want to remember stuff, I can’t. It sort of works backward to the desired way. Now and then, someone will ask me a question I know the answer to, and suddenly I don’t know it. For twenty or thirty minutes I try and try. Then, when I don’t need to know, it pops right into my mind immediately. It gets s frustrating.

It has gotten worse as I get old, but I have always had the problem. When I got off the bus in Needles, CA, a border patrol agent was right at the door and he asked where I was born. Now that is embarrassing. I knew it as I approached the door. Then, when he asked, I couldn’t remember. He put me in a group of people that that didn’t know English. I was 16 at the time.

On the other hand, my wife had an excellent memory. She worked in a hospital and she memorized these long account numbers and never got them wrong. Just how does a person do that?

A couple weeks ago, I yelled at my wife because she asked me the same question four times in less than five minutes. You see, she doesn’t remember so well anymore. I felt so bad about yelling at her for it and I told the doctor about it. He knew exactly what I was talking about. He said, “You could write it down or record it, but then that would anger her too.” I could so to speak, win the argument with nothing to gain.

A couple of weeks ago, she fell and broke her knee cap. I took her to the ER and I saw the photo. The bone was definitely in two pieces. The next morning, right after she woke up, she asked me why her knee hurt so much. I figure at this point, about all I can do is try my best to spoil her. Considering what she did for me, it is the least I can do.

The trick is, it means I must outlast her. Considering I had four bypassed about 20 years back, I don’t know if I can do that.

In it for the Money?

Posted in Fast Food by

All these years, I thought McDonald’s was in business to make money. However, over the years I’ve started wondering. The was the time the woman at the counter took my order and immediately went to back. I wondered what the reason. Then I found out. I heard her call out, “We need nickles!” This of course she did while I was in a hurry to get to work.

Then there was the day I went in to get some breakfast. After one of the employees stood there and talked on her phone for four minutes. I gave up and went somewhere else. It gives a new meaning to “Fast Food.” I actually wrote a letter to their headquarters over that one. I got a free sandwich over it. No real apology, just a sandwich. By the way, I did remind them that there were three other places nearby where I could get breakfast. They didn’t seem to care. It seemed to be a “So what,” attitude.

I guess they have gotten too many customers. they have this method of thinning them out a little.

Then the other night I ordered Diet Coke with my meal. Guess what, no Diet Coke. They wanted me to buy tea instead. If there is one thing I have learned about dining out — don’t buy what you don’t want just because they don’t have what you do want.

In this day where many of us are diabetic, I cannot understand any restaurant of any kind running out of their only diet drink. It is a triple whammy. It is almost as bad as a place that specializes in hamburgers running out of hamburgers. It’s kind of dumb.

In this case, it left me without a drink for my meal, which irritated me. This discourages me from returning. Moreover, it greatly decreased the profit of their sell. Soft drinks are very high profit items in fast food restaurants. It might seem odd, but they don’t make nearly as much off hamburgers (about 40 – 45% gross profit). Where their real money is made in the soft drinks (about 95 – 96% gross profit).

I don’t think the employees care. They draw the same pay regardless. Most employees, especially new one likely think they make more money off the hamburgers.

The third whammy is a little more long range. When I got my food, I went to a convenience store and bought the drinks, Diet Pepsi, which I prefer. Now I know I don’t have to rely on McDonald’s for Diet Coke. I can buy bigger better sodas for about the same price at a convenience store just down the road. Not only that, if I want, I can buy my sweets at the store instead of from McDonald’s.

Now, if word gets around, McDonald’s just might wish they had an adequate supply of Diet Coke for me.

Then again. I might be wrong. McDonald’s makes a lot more money than me. Moreover, they will likely never hear my complaint. If they do, they will likely assume their “so what,” attitude.

However, if they keep trying to thin out their customer base, they just might find out it works.

The Hazards of Opening One’s Mouth

Posted in Important things, law enforcement by

Joy Bayhar opened her mouth and all sorts of stupidity flowed out. Of the policeman who shot the young woman with a knife, she said, “He should have fired a warning shot.” “He should have shot straight up in the air.” “He should have used his Taser.”

Let me take the last one first. A Taser only has an effective range of about 10 feet. As near as I could tell from the videos the officer was at least 3 to 4 times that far. This also put her out of range of any other physical methods such as kicking her or striking her with a club. She was even out of range of a good horse whip. Time and distance eliminated all other forms of restraint besides the gun. Even then, if he did not act quickly, both might have ended up dead, the one from the knife, the other from the gun.

Shooting a bullet into the air is stupid, illegal and downright useless. Had he shot up in the air, it would not have stopped the woman from using the knife — and — the bullet might have come down on some passerby’s head. That sort of thing has happened before. That is why it is illegal.

Shooting a warning shot sounds nice, but where is the bullet going to go. It might work in war. Certainly ships still shoot warning shots across the bow of other ships. However, it is dangerous and inappropriate in situations such as this. Worse, it could result in a hostage situation. The perpetrator could pull the victim between her and the officer while continuing to hold the knife. Then what is the officer supposed to do?

Something else that might have happened even after he shot her. The perp might not have died right away. Indeed sometimes it may take as many as four or five shots to bring a person down, especially if they are on dope. It was horrible the way it turned out, but, given the circumstances, it was unavoidable.

I say circumstances because of how things were when the officer arrived on the scene. The fact is, it all went wrong long before he arrived. I really think, instead of investigating the shooting, we need to figure out what happened that led to these circumstances and see that they are not repeated. That is the real way to save lives. That way, the officer won’t have to be called out and he won’t have to shoot anyone.

In essence, this woman was killed before the 911 call was made. Joy Bayhar, if she was thinking, just might have mentioned that, instead of complaining about the one true hero in this whole thing. In any case, Bayhar should adhere to an old and true saying, before opening mouth, engage brain. Well, come to think of it, she might have done it that way, which would speak to her intelligence, or lack there of.