Brown-bagging it Without the Brown Bag

Some of “brown-bag it” to save money. I can’t imagine there are many out there that don’t know what brown-bagging it means but, just in case, this is the explanation. When in school, some of us ate in the cafeteria. Those that were not able, frequently carried lunch boxes to school. Those who could not afford lunch boxes, carried our lunches in brown bags.

Then there were those of us who could not afford brown paper bags. We carried out lunch in our plastic see through bags. Sometimes, I could buy a carton of milk, but I was always required to take the plastic bag home. It would be washed and reused the next day. I got weeks of use out of my plastic bags.

When my wife and I first moved to Desoto county with our two sons, I didn’t make much so my older son qualified to for cost free lunches. He really liked it because he traded for hamburgers. One day he had five of them, which made him sick. (He still likes hamburgers) After, he was told no more trading.

At any rate, as time went by, I started receiving promotions and, of course a larger paycheck. Then one year, we no longer qualified for free lunches. Strange as it seems, it took us about a week to get them to discontinue them. I suspect that no one would have ever said anything if I said nothing and let my sons receive the lunches. Thing is, unlike many, it does go against my grain to receive the free lunches. Besides, it hurt my ego. I did work hard for the privilege of paying for the lunches myself.

Now, once a day, my wife and I go somewhere to eat. Today, we went to McAlister’s Deli. I had one of their stuffed potatoes, which I could not finish. My wife had a cup of potato soup and a half ham sandwich. I paid for it. Right there at the counter, I pulled out my debit card and waved it over their magic reader. In a while, of course they brought us our dinner. I figure you ought to know. I mean the tax payers did put the money in my checking account. Shouldn’t I explain what I am doing with the money?

On the other hand, there are those who think they need not explain what they are going with the tax money entrusted to them.

By the way, I do want to thank everyone for the lunch.

Stretching Definitions

I just love the way the dems and their mouth pieces (AKA news media) love to stretch the meanings of words. They keep saying that Old Joe made a decision to step aside for Kamala. There are two problems with that statements. The man would have never made that decision without the proverbial revolver pointed to his head. The fact is, the decision was made for him. If Biden did make any decision to endorse anyone, it would not have been Kamala Harris. If anyone were to look just a little below the surface, I really don’t think Old Joe can stand the woman. Truth be known, not many can.

What truly happened cannot be called a decision. The proper word would be coup. Look it up. Matches perfect. Does not need to be stretched at all.

What’s In Their Heart

Of course I can’t tell what is in a person’s heart. However, sometimes I can make a pretty good guess at it. I mean, when they make it obvious, I don’t need a degree in mind reading to figure it out.

Consider the man that asks God to bless the USA and then goes off and sins as if there is no God. What they are probably really thinking is A. Give me all I want and ignore all the bad I do. B. I really don’t believe in all that. I’m just trying to get my followers to think I do. C. Isn’t it what everyone says? It sounds good anyway.

If there are any out there that disagree with me, I know what they believe by what they do. And what they do is very bad things without conscience. They say very bad things about people and lie continually without remorse. If they have any god, it is the party. Even if they do believe in God, they put their party above God. To them, the party is everything and it takes priority over life, family and country. It is the only way for them to reach the leadership of the party. It is not big brother. It is far worse.

Free Ads

When TV and radio stations provide advertising without charging for it, It’s not news. It’s free advertising and the dems ought to have to claim in as in kind income. Since Old Joe dis-mounted, the dems, especially Kamala have gotten a ton of free advertising. In one case, I saw over fifteen minutes of a thirty minute show dedicated to a build up for Kamala.

I took special note that during the entire segment, they did not say bad thing about Kamala They might suggest they don’t know any. No problem. If they ask me I can think of a few… and I have no degree in journalism. Maybe it’s just that my memory is not as selective.

As far as the IRS telling the dems to declare the ads as income, the dems need not concern themselves. The IRS is run by the dems. I don’t think any of the dems need to fear the IRS agents knocking on their doors. They will not need to worry about those most feared words in the US – “tax audit.”

Of course if they keep making it too obvious and the Republicans hold onto the House, they just might have a few questions for them. They just might have to answer to folks who have even more power than the IRS, the voters.

Besides, if they do make it obvious enough, the voters might figure it out and turn their radios and TVs off or worse, change channels. It’s what I do. If too many take the same idea as me, some of those folks working for those stations will start receiving pink slips, especially those stations that used to be paid for by the tax payers. I mean why should Republicans have to pay for ads for the dems.

Truth Be Told

I said I got it wrong and I did. Old Joe waited until Sunday to step out of the way for 2024. I said Friday late afternoon. I don’t know how I missed that but I did.

However, Truth be told, I am personally sure Old Joe already had decided to give up, probably Wednesday or Thursday. However, there was a lot of “horse trading going on” before the announcement could be made. Let’s face it, before giving in, he had to make sure he and his clan would not go to prison. I am sure there were other decisions to be made too, things we are not privy to.

However, Kamala does have a huge problem on her hands… finding a running mate. My guess is, whoever agrees to do it will be committing political suicide.

If she runs and loses, the running mate will never again run for anything. If she runs and wins, she will mess things up so badly, the VP will never again run for anything.

Finally, both Kamala and her running mate will have a stench attached to them permanently, especially Harris. She and the entire democrat party knew of Biden’s mental problems and swore they didn’t. Moreover, whoever takes over in January will face a nation in distress. Biden has done his best to destroy it, especially the border. It will take a man like Trump to get it straightened out. Kamala hasn’t a clue. She will just become another puppet of the dems as Old Joe was.

One question I leave y’ll with. Was anyone really surprised? Was anyone really deceived?

Okay. Two questions. You get the point. No surprises here.

Finally, let me make one more thing clear. Old Joe is not actually making the decision. It is being made by the leadership of the Democrat Party. As they say, he was made to see the handwriting on the wall.

Yard Sale

As we were driving home from eating, I happened to see a yard sale sign. It prompted me of an old memory. I guess it had to be around 1974 or 75. When I was teaching at MCAS El Toro, one of the other instructors, Sandy was teaching there too, another subject. He was known for going to the base dump every Saturday he could, he collected anything he thought he might could sell. Any time he felt he had gathered enough, he held a yard sale. He had actually gathered a reputation of having very good yard sales.

One Monday after he held one of these yard sales, he reported that he almost sold all he had. All he had left was a bowling ball. He took down his signs and decided to terminate the sale. He took the bowling ball inside in the hopes of selling it next time.

About 30 minutes later, he had a knock on the door. The late arrival asked if that was the place that had the yard sale. Sandy said it was but he sold everything. The man asked, “Everything?”

Sandy said, “Well, all I have left is a bowling ball.”

The man said, “I’ll take it.” He never asked to see it or what kind of price. And so it was that he sold everything he had pilfered from the dump. All it cost him was a little gas and the time it took. And, by the way, for those going green folks, he also helped to recycle.

Thinking back over it, do you suppose we should hire people to go through the dumps and collect stuff and sell it. It would decrease our rubble.

Fits Like a Glove

We call it a Trump movement. In reality, the movement was there a long time ago. It would appear Trump just sort of stepped into it. I don’t believe it was by accident. He saw a large group of people getting tired of overtaxing, over spending and an open border. Trump had a lot of competition. Of his competition, only one other wanted to close the border. The rest were in favor of keeping it as it was. The fact is, most of the Republican leadership like an open border. They like the cheap labor.

Those who wanted a closed border of both parties, had but two choices for president, Trump or Cruz. The rest, Republican or Democrat, very much prefer an open border, but for radically different reasons The fact that Trump wanted to decrease the taxes and spending was a big plus. The fact that he wanted to increase drilling for oil, was a big plus. On top of that, he more than cut the drug problems in half. Finally, to everyone’s surprise, he knew how to deal with the foreign leaders as well. There were many skirmishes all over the world. Before Trump left office, all fighting ceased. When Old Joe stepped in behind the oval desk, the border opened, the taxes went up, the oil price went up, and the shooting started and people began dying. Indeed over 100 thousand people a year are dying from drugs. People are now dying from real shooting wars and American security is in danger from without and within.

Now, the dems are in disarray. They always knew Old Joe was not fit for the office. Now every knows. Well, actually they all knew before but they all decided to close their eyes and cover them with one hand and voted for Old Joe with the other. Why? Because they did not like the way Orange Man talked, regardless of the excellent job he was doing.

I think I can safely say that Old Joe is not a perfect fit. In fact, that round peg will never make it into that square hole no matter how big that sledge hammer is. Right now, I guess the dems are finally admitting what they always knew.

The Inevitable Results of a Godless People

Most of those who regularly read my posts know that I am not a person who likes surveys. However, I would like one survey made of one question. I would like it asked of all criminals immediately after they are convicted. The one simple question, “Do you believe in God?”

I wonder how many would say, “Yes,” but I don’t wonder much. I would guess you would go through a month or two before you would find so much as one.

And then, people are puzzled over why the country is full of liars, thieves, child and wife beaters, and murderers. If only the parents would teach their children about God. If only they would take their children to church. If only our schools teach one hour about the Bible a week.

Don’t misunderstand me. Some very bad people come out of churches; some are even the leaders of the church. Moreover, I’m not sure but I got the impression that Al Capone and his like went to church on Sunday; regularly went to confession and had absolutely no respect for the law.

However, we do need that survey. I wonder if they would permit me to do it. More important, I wonder if they would permit me to publish it. I don’t think too many would like the outcome.

The fact of the matter is, the nation that is Godless will inevitably soon be lawless as well. Indeed, today we are a Godless and lawless society today. Truly, guns don’t kill people, but rather Godless people kill people, not the law biding Christians. To be sure, you can include the Godless politicians who are in favor of murdering the unborn, even to the point they kill the child just before birth. Why should anyone wonder when even our doctors practice murder? Why should anyone be surprised when the Ten Commandments are no longer permitted while homosexuality is permitted and and encouraged?

Where nothing is morally wrong, all is permitted, including murder.

Calculations & Calculators

When I first reported to NAS Memphis, I was assigned to Avionics primarily for one reason. I aced their math test. It had 20 regular math questions and 5 algebra questions. In the next 13 weeks, I went through a 16 week electronics school. Four weeks of it was math. We went all the way from “2+2” well into vector analysis.

You might find this strange, but back then, calculators simply did not exist. We used slide rulers. We performed all our math on what we called slip sticks. Nowadays, I don’t guess many even know what they are, let alone how to use them.

Actually, the little things were not foreign to me. I took algebra and electronics while in high school. One thing I learned between the two classes, I was very good at the math when applied to electronincs and in pure math, not so much. In electronics, I breezed through all the math. On the other hand, I spent many a frustrating hour working on the algebra. I never could figure that out.

When going through the school in Memphis, we did tons of math and came out second in my class. I still have problems with any advanced algebra problems, though I have no problem at all with tougher problems as related to electronics.

As I’ve said many times before, must just be something wrong with my brain.

However, when they came out with the basic calculator, I was elated. Most of my problem in algebra was simple math. You know, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. With a calculator in my hands, I didn’t make those mistakes. It was my highway to advanced math, I thought. When I hit calculus, it was like hitting a brick wall.

For a long time, I settled on that. Then one day, I bought one of those TI calculators with all the crazy functions on it. I sure do wished I had it when I was in high school. For that matter, it would have been great when going through the electronics school. I knew, as long as I pushed all the right buttons, the work would be perfect.

Then one day, I was going through the instruction book and found that I could use the calculator to find integrals. I followed the instructions and it worked, perfectly. For the following year or two, I went around explaining it to people who have math degrees and asked, 1. what is an integral and 2. why would I need one?

After access to the internet, I decided to see if someone on the internet could explain it. Well, yes and no. Yes they explain it, but no I still don’t understand it. I barely have grasp as to why I would need it. However, even there, I’m shaky. If I do have a situation for it and enter all the right numbers into the calculator, and I am sure I would get all the right answers. However, I still wouldn’t know how to use them.

I guess I have always been kind of a practical person. If I could find a person who could show me how to use it in electronics, I just might be able to get a grasp of it. However, without a purpose, it doesn’t seem to have a purpose.

I start out from Memphis and drive a constant 70 mph for a little over 2 hours west and I will be in Little rock. I guess that is something of an integral. However, how do I put that on paper and how is that applied to other things? On the other hand, If I start out and it takes 2 hours to get to Little Rock, I know I must have driven about 70 mph. I know that that is a differential calculation. I do it in my head, it is simple. I simply have no way to understand it on paper.

I know, until I can figure out how to put it on paper, I’ll never be able to go any farther. And it is frustrating to know that I have such a powerful tool in my hands and I’ll never figure out any way to use it.

Well, it is academic now. I’m retired. Besides I am old and learning has become very difficult for me. In fact, when I think about some of the old problems I worked on, I can’t even do them, though I used to do them in my head too.

The one thing that still bothers me is that some day, some time, I might come on a really difficult problem that would be really easy if I knew how to use an integral.

I Was Wrong

I’m really slipping. Second time this month. At any rate, to the best of my knowledge, Old Joe is still hold up in his home and saying he will not come out and play the games the godfathers of the Democrat party want to play.

I’m not sure, but I’d guess that the dems will start getting serious with the threats. On the other hand, Old Joe is likely pointing out a few skeletons the dems are hiding in their closets. I think what we are seeing here is a real power war held within the Democrat Party and they are firing salvos at each other daily, if not more frequently.

The disadvantage to the dems is that when fighting is internal, the damage can be severe and long lasting. But what else can they do? If Biden holds onto the nomination, the dems know it will be a crash and burn election. The power that they have been fighting for will figuratively go up in smoke inside a month or two after Trump takes the oath. They know Trump will not just threaten to reverse their accomplishments, he will do it. He did it before. Unlike any of the former Republican presidents, Trump owes nothing to anyone and he will close the border and open the oil spigots.

The county club republicans won’t like actually having to pay an honest wagees for labor and the dems won’t like losing all those wonderful potential voters. Iran, Russia, Iraq and the Saudis will not like the drop in oil prices. The Ruskies will have to give up their efforts to take over the world until another dem takes over the Oval Office.

You want to see how the dems try to do damage control, just keep an eye on the news for the next couple of months.

Just one more little reminder. The dems still have the 25th amendment. They can remove Old Joe from office in ten minutes. However, Old Joe will still remain the Democrat candidate for president. I am sure Kamala is also well aware of it. It puts her in a real quandary. Does she remain with Joe and figuratively go down with the ship, which will end her career; or does she abandon her “fearless leader,” and fall in line with her communists comrades.

Any way you look at it, I don’t see her winning. Even if she stays with Joe and they win, she will have distanced herself from the party. The only hope she would have is that she might say she did it for the party. Using the 25th after Joe takes his oath, Joe would be removed from office and she would be president; the first black woman pres. However, who in the world would she pick to be her VP? She just might have to get very desperate to find someone who would be willing.

Well, I suppose her husband would volunteer, but I’m not sure. He likely knows her too well.

THIS JUST IN. As they say, reliable sources suggest that there is an agreement, so to speak, a gentleman’s agreement. Old Joe would not pull out of the race, but he would lose the candidacy during the Democrat convention.

Well, that’s what I heard. This, of course brings up many questions. Can they really manage it? It would take very little to cause it all to blow up in everyone’s face. Just how will that play in the general election? Somehow they will have to explain how the leaders of the Democrat Party, the guardians of the democracy, just threw away the results of 14 million votes in the rank and file of the party.

I mean, I know why they would do it. They don’t want to lose the general election. They don’t want to lose their power. It is, as I aforementioned. It’s their damage control; AKA, panic.

Would this mean I was actually right. I wished I could say so, but no. I was still no. My guess was that he would already be out of the race. Besides, we still do not know how this will play out. As the guy said, Man’s best plans…