THE HIPPIES ARE WINNING .... KIND OF ....

I cannot believe I am starting this again ... but I went so far off tangent, I just could not find a way back without delving even deeper into other tangents ....

NEW STATISTIC from "They" ... whoever "they" are ... yeah, it doesn't make sense - but I can't remember the name of the group who came up with the statistic ...

It turns out that he birth rate in the United States has DROPPED ...

First off, I got the stat from This Week (ABC) and after seeing what hey had done with some tweets hey showed, I'm not surprised that they changed the wording ...

In the 1970s families averaged 2.8 children (remember, it's an average, they didn't actually only have 80% of a kid)

In the 2000s it fell to a family having an average of 2 children .... but single family homes were on a rise

Now in 2024 (it's not the New Year yet) .... they said that "a woman would have 1.6 children" in her lifetime ...

WAIT -- so we have lost not only and ENTIRE child, but a portion of one as well????

But ... it makes sense, actually.
We learned about it in Sociology class ....

The more prosperous a country gets, the fewer children it will have over time ... until it cannot maintain itself.

During the 60s-70s - when I was just an it-bit of a kid - the hippies were saying the US needed fewer kids .... check out old television shows on the era, even they had this crap written into their story/plot lines ....

And while many people might be thinking "it's birth control" or "termination" ... no ... there is definetly something going on ...

Basically, on average, more couples have to resort to fertility clinics and the like ... 

I don't know why ... but I've got some ideas .... which I will try to keep to myself ... these days, you can't be too careful ...

But - this means .... the drop in the birth rate ... that MEDICARE and SOCIAL SECURITY are going to be hurting .... and quicker that they thought it would!!

Remember - the current workers are not paying Social Security for their own retirement, they are actually payying for current retirees ....

Yup .... so say there are 100 retirees, and only 50 kids working ... each child carries the burden on 2 old folks ....

But in 15 years or so .... it will be 100 retirees and only 25 or 30 kids ....
That's almost 4 people each of those kids will have to take care of ....

But don't think those retirees aren't paying too ....

Yup, even when you are retired you still have to PAY TAXES ... sometimes at a higher rate than before ... why? because of the tax system.

dang it .... gone off subject again, huh?

R.I.P - PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER, 1924-2024

Tonight, they announced the death of the oldest former President .... ever ... 

President James Carter died today ... about a year after the death of his wife, Rosalind - they were unseperable until her death ... well, pretty much.

Until Biden, he was considered the worst President in American history - his presidency was riddled with problems ... from inflation to an oil crisis to an outbreak of war in the middle east to American hostages ... the only real bright light during his presidency was the Camp David Accords.

He had two huge mistakes during his presidency which forever tainted him ... and likely are what caused him to lose the 1980 election.

1)His "Malaise" speech ... 

Listen to it ... he basically blames the citizens for the troubles in the country ... 

2)US HOSTAGES ... when Iranian students overtook the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979, Carter tried to negotiate their freedom ... and the Iranians laughed in his face.

Most of us (I was in high school at the time) had no idea what needed to be done ... but the President of the USA should have ... and he did ... well ... nothing.

He lost his re-election campaign ... Ronald Reagan won - although, he put up a prety good fight, but he just couldn't get over the issues of his presidency.

He grew up on a peanut farm, but soon found he didn't want that life ... so when he graduated, he joined the Navy ... in fact, he served on a submarine - one of the first nuclear submarines of the US Navy ...and that was where he and Rosalind thought he would serve out his adult life ...

But then, his father died ... and instead of leaving the farm in the hands of his brother, Billy, he decided to leave the Navy and become a peanut farmer ....

But that just wasn't enough ... he jumped into public service and politics.

Soon he was the Governor of Georgia ... and from there he became the President in 1976 ...

You have to remember that he ran against President Ford - the only President/Vice-President who had never been elected into that role!  And Ford's biggest mistake, in many people's eyes, was pardoning Richard Nixon for his part in Watergate ...

Carter loved to blame most of the issues in the early years of his presidency on Nixon (he rarely mentioned Ford) ... but not as much as Obama did.

He could have ran for another term as President - he had only served one 4-year term ... and maybe, just maybe, he might have won this last round.  But, probably not - too many of us still remember.

His real character came out AFTER he left office ... he began the "Habitat for Humanity" organization ...

The program fixes up homes for low-income people - sometimes, they even build a house from start to end ... and it is a worldwide organization ...

Now if he had run after he had done all this - yea, I do believe he would have gotten back in office.

As he grew older he didn't slow down ... he still worked on-site with Habitat for Humanity - swinging a hammer, moving boards, etc - into his 90s!!!

The last few years, he has been in "hospice" - which is not what it once was, it is now usually in-home care, which is based more on "qulaity" of life, instead of "quantity" of life .... also known as "comfort care" .... it no longer symbolizes the "end of life" as it used to.

Well - now he is a peace ....
He is with his wife, Rosalind, and other family who went on before him.

He lived a loooooonnnnng life .... he taught Sunday school at his church (up until he was put on Hospice) ... he attended fmr. President HW Bush's funeral ... he had a FULL life, and then some.

Okay - one more thing about those hostages in Iran .... it turns out that he did try to rescue them at one point, but "chickened out" at the last moment - putting our Special Forces in danger.
The Iranians, however, did not respect him at all ... but they were afraid of Ronald Reagan -- once Carter was on the plane, and Reagan was sworn in ... the Iranians released the hostages, put them on a plane, and sent them out of the country ...

Geez - that had to be hard on Carter ....

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS/YULETIDE

I celebrate Yuletide, while my family celebrates Christmas ... the difference?  Not much .... not really.

We also celebrate on December 24th - the way my parents did - it makes things so much easier on the kids, but after 30+ years celebrating it on Christmas Day - we also used to host the family dinner for over 20 years as well ...

Missing that one day is tough to remember - but it should click in fairly soon.

It was so nice to have all the kids together - it's become such a rare thing these days ...

Grandson, Bubba, was so excited he refused to take his afternoon nap - and fought it every way he could ... and he showed how important BOXES are for kids ...

LOL - this spring/summer while I had gone back to the house in the city, I had to watch him for a bit while his mom & aunt went to the store "quick" - yeah, is over an hour quick these days? - and he was not happy with me, he wanted his Mama.

Well - I was packing the house and had a spare box sitting there - so I slipped him inside and made some car sounds and began to push/pull the box around.

OMG - he LOVED it!!!!!!

So while we were opening gifts, he found a box big enough to sit in ... and a new car was born!!!!

LOL ... you gotta love kids!

Later he climbed up in his Opa's lap (grandpa) and fell sound asleep ... finally ... of course, after all his gifts had been opened up.

We did a Buffet style of food - but we didn't over do it like I wanted to .... I have been up since 3AM, and just didn't have the energy .... but we did have:

Smoked Turkey (everyone loves when hubby smokes the birds, in fact it's the ONLY turkey my son-in-law will eat)

Yams - hubby was originally talking about doing a sit-down supper, but the kids liked the browsing idea better.

Chinese Salad - my oldest daughter has taken over making this, they say I just don't make it right ... it's shredded cabbage (we use coleslaw mix), grapes, chopped nuts, green onions, etc. in a simply Rice vinegar based vinegarette .... my mother-in-law made this a long time ago, and we loved it so much it became a Holiday supper staple ... originally, it called for cashews, but when the price got way too high, we found sunflower nuts tasted even better!!

Buns/rolls - gotta have those for making quick sandwiches.

Ripe Olvies - from my family, we stopped doing green ones as well a long time ago ... turned out I was the only one who seemed to eat them.

Pineapple chunks - from my hubby's family.  My family would have mandarin orange slices, but they just haven't tasted sweet enough for the last decade or so ... plus, again I was the only one eating them.

and then there was a plethera of cookies ... both regular and gluten-free.

As usual, the gluten-free member goes first ... that way she is less likely to have an allergic reaction, should anyone accidentally get wheat in/on the food.
Allergies are not anything to play with - and considering the consequences to her, it would not be pleasent.

It was a very nice, peaceful day.

The only thing missing was a new layer of snow .... and this weekend we are supposed to get up ino he 40s ... then we will get rain - RAIN - in December?!?!?!?

That's just not right!

OH MY GOODNESS - JOE - JUST STOP!!!!!!

You know, I wached the Sunday news programs yesterday - and I tried really hard NOT to jump on here and start on the "soapbox" ... but ... today ... today is a different story!

I'm currently watching The Faulkner Focus (FNC) - who has a substiture anchor today .... I can't remember his name, but he's a good reporter, I trust him - and he gave out a few more details, which were pretty much ignored on those Sunday shows ....

As you may have heard ... Joe Biden has gone Pardon and Clemency happy lately ... it's more than just pardoning his son ... for the past 11 years worth of crimes - which we likely don't even know about yet ...

It's not even the thousands of pardons that he has given to people convicted of drug crimes and sexual offenses ....  really Joe??? Sexual offenses too?????
What the heck do you have hiding in the back of your closet we haven't found out about ... yet???

Now, he has signed something - it's not a pardon, but it's not clemency either - which REDUCES the penalties for 37 of the 40 FEDERAL inmates ....

Reduced from DEATH to LIFE IN PRISON W/NO PAROLE ...

Wait .... isn't that what the Menendez Brothers are supposed to be serving right now???

This is BAD ...

The three which still have Death?
~Boston Marathon Bomber
~2 mass shooters (I will see if I can get more info on them, bu this was he way Good Morning America (ABC) put it this morning)

Official word is that "beging a devote Catholic" Biden believes the death penalty should only be used in cases of TERRORISM and HATE MODIVATED MASS MURDER ...

Wait - so just regualr "mass murder" shouldn't be punishable by death - only those which were "hate motivated"?????

WOW ... Mr. Biden - if you were a "devote" Catholic, you would be against ABORTION as well .... you, sir, are what we call a "Cafeteria Catholic" - you pick and chose what you will follow ....

Anyways - let's get off that subject - back to FNC ... so on the show, they highlighted just TWO of those who had their sentence changed ...

1)a man who murdered a 12-year old girl just days after making the girl watch him KILLING HER MOTHER ... sounds as if, the Mom & daughter were on a road trip, and he killed the mom, kidnapped the girl, and then killed her ... 

2)a man who SEXUALLY ASSAULTED and then STABBED 2 young girls (ages 8 & 9 yrs old) ... but he wasn't done yet ... 4 years later he RAPED/STRANGLED a NAVAL officer!!!!!!

2)a Church shooter in Charlston, NC

3)a Synagogue shooter in Pittsburg

So .... all mass killers.

Apparently, there is another person on this list who had killed 12 people, 4 of which were CHILDREN ...

Even DEMOCRATS are shocked by this - Amy Klobechar (D-MN) said "I have no doubt that there were some righeous pardons in this group ... but there are a number which make no sense at all"

AMY - just say what everybody is thinking .... TAKE AWAY HIS PEN - or box of crayons, which ever he is using these days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently, the list also included a JUDGE who had sentenced JUVIES to a detention center which was For-Profit (how the heck does that work??) ... even AFTER the center was being looked at for scandal ....

I'm going to guess he got caught in a sting ... but anyhow ... his sentence was COMMUTED ...

WTF????

He is now the WORST PRESIDENT in American History!!!!!!

I cannot believe he did this ...

I grieve for these families

DON'T LIKE THE RESULTS - JUST CHANGE THE RULES ...

OMG - What the heck are they teaching in schools these days???

My mother was right - it's not the "Department of Education" it's the "department of Indoctrination"!

So, as you might have heard by now .... Trump WON the 2024 Presidential Election ...

Not just the Electoral College, but the popular vote as well ... well, that hasn't happened in quite a while.

Why does it seem that every time the democrats lose an election, they suddenly feel the need to change the counting system??

There is a push now, in Congress - before the Republicans take all three branches - to eliminate the electoral college ... they are going to try ... again!

Now - Kathy Hockum (D-Gov. New York) is spreading lies that the system is "unfair" ... trying to convince people that representatives in WY (3 electoral votes) only represent 100,000 200;000 people each - whereas New York (28 votes) has 400,000 700,000 people per vote ...

Ma'am - that's what the census determines!!  It will not count any ILlegals which have entered your "sanctuary state" since 2020 - it won't count them in ANY state ... no one is picking on you!

If you don't like the system - make NY a weighted electoral college system, like they have in Nebraska & Maine .... I sure wish MN would do it.

Here's the way the elecoral college is set up:
~ every 10 years a census is taken across the nation to determine the population of each state
   ~ The numbers are used to figure out how many delegates each state receives
~ Each state is given 1 for each congresstional district (the number of Representatives sent to DC) plus 1 for each senator (for a total of 2, since each state is only allowed 2 senators)
~ WY only has 1 representative in the House .... NY state has 26 representatives ... each state is different, California has 53 representatives ...

So HOW might I ask, is this system "unfair"??

Just because a states population has risen within the 10 year span, does NOT mean the system is wrong -- everyone plays by the same rules .... no one is "cheating"

If they switch to a purely Popular voting system - you will find more corruption than in Russia!!!

I think a weightted system is the way to go .... one electoral vote will be given to the winner of that district ... then one vote will be given to the person who won the most counties/parishes, seems fairer than "most districts" and finally the last vote would go to the person who won that states popular vote.

Why?

Because if you look at MOST STATES, you will find that large cities - such as Houston/Dallas/Fort Worth in TX, NYC/Albany in NY, Los Angeles/San Francisco/Sacramento in CA, Mpls/St. Paul/Duluth/Rochester?St. Cloud in MN - tend to lean for one party, while the vast majority of the state leans the opposite way ....

You can go to wikipedia, look up whatever Presidential election you so chose ... it will give you a list of who won each state -- click on the state you are interested in, it will pull up the voting map of that state, eiher by district or county .... go to "county" and you will see how poorly represented each state is.

FOLLOW UP: MENENDEZ BROTHERS, RETRIAL?

So - I'm watching Good Morning America (ABC) and about 1/2 hour in, they have a story on the Menendez brothers ...

Well, If you've been here a while, you know how I feel about the whole Retrial movement .... I'm straight up against it .... 

I don't trust the "new evidence" they found (a letter which was supposed to have been written way back when ... only there's NO date ON the letter, nor is there even an ENVELOPE with a postage mark ... just the word of an aunt, who by the way, wants them out of jail) ...

Okay - I guess I've removed any doubt where my thoughts are ... remember, t.

he cousin, whom they say was supposed to have received this letter, had TESTIFIED during the first hearing - and NEVER MENTIONED this letter ....

It was also found that ONE OF THE BROTHERS - I don't recall which - was trying to get witnesses to COMMIT PERJURY on the stand during the FIRST TRAIL ...

Well, now it appears the FAMILY ... well, those who are SUPPORING the brothers having another trial, are trying to cry FOUL .... 

Apparently, the new D.A. of Los Angeles County - who just won the ELECTION - has been giving interviews about the case ...

And interviewing who he WAI NTS to interview about the case, instead of those who THEY want him to interview ... 

They feel he is 'PLAYING POLITICS' ... gee, almost like it's an ELECTED POSITION!!!

I have several issues with the push for the retrial of these two ... murderers - and, let's face it, what they did was an EXECUTION, plain and simple ....

Not the least of which, is the way in which the murders were done .... from BEHIND ... while the parents were WATCHING TV ... even SEASONED DETECTIVES said they couldn't believe the ferociousness of the murders - that's why they thought it was a mob hit at first!!!!!!!!

They are trying to say that the new DA isn't taking the allegations of sexual abuse seriously, and that he "boys" as they are being called ... again ... even by the reporters ... insert my eyeroll here ... 

The DA has pointed out that during Trial #1, it was brought up - in fact, Erik Menedez (the younger) TESTIFIED to it .... ON THE STAND ... DURING the trial ...

Not only did Erik talk about the abuse which happened to him .... but also to LYLE ....

I do not recall Lyle saying anything about it during the trial ... but then, it's been over 30 years ...

Everyone keeps pointing to them being "ideal prisoners" ... I'm sorry - this doesn't erase MURDER!

They are very lucky that they didn't receive the DEATH PENALTY back then ... although, I'm pretty sure CA had already ended Capital Punishment in the 1980s ... I remember the Manson family were sentenced to death, and while Tex had his sentence carried out, Charles was spared ...

I just don't understand how the people can't see this for what it was!

They keep bringing up "The Burning Bed" ... a real-life story of a woman caught in an abusive marriage, who no matter where she turned to, the law kept putting her back into that situation ...

DIFERRENCE is ... she sought help and was turned away at every turn ... she talked to people about it ... she went to the police to turn him in ... etc. etc. -- the laws were set up against her, and favored the man ...

There's a tv movie, starring Farrah Fawcett, which showed the case -- I do not recall the case other than that movie ...

I am actually surprised they aren't making an "Affluenza" defense -- born so rich, they didn't realize the law actually applied to them (different case, different defendant - but damn it, it worked!)

I know Lyle ... the older brother ... looked at Erik in surprise during an interview with Barbara Walters (gotta find the link to YouTube) when Erik suddenly started saying his mother sexually abused him as well ...
Lyle even says it was the first he heard of it ....

WOW - I'm thinking people these days are very easily swayed by social media ...

Guys - don't just go by Netflix or podcasts ...

Go back ... look at footage when this ORIGINALLY happened ...

Don't buy into all the hype ...

These two pick up, after the deaths of their parents ... at their hands and continued on with their lives ... not in woe, as Erik has tried to say, but spending like you wouldn't believe!!!!!

I say - let the sentence stand as it is ...

Trust the system ...

BREADK OUT THE NERDY TRIMMINGS ....

OMG - I just ran across this on YouTube .... and it's so good .....

Time to get your GEEK ON!!!!

IT JUST GETS WORSE ...

Okay - so in the state of Minnesota there has been 2 major stories about money fraud in the system ....

One was the daycare centers for Solmali children - which turned out NOT to have any children actually enrolled into the programs, there were a few different localtions .... 

The other is the Feeding Hungry Children (or something like that), which was supposed to be making meals for a boat-load of children in Minneapolis, but it turned out ... NO CHILDREN received ANY meals ... at all .... 

Now, there's is ANOTHER case of fraud which is stealing money from the state and federal government .... and they only have themselves to blame for getting caught ...

You see ... during the summer, a young Solmali boy wandered away from his house, and later was found in a body of water, where he had drowned ...

It turns out, there is an UNUSUAL number of Solami children being diagnosed with such rare problems as Autism .... 

So, parents in the Somali community began to ask why this was?  Why were their children so far outside of he norm??

Well, it seems part of the question has been answered ...

FRAUD

It turns out, there is a string of "clinics" which were supposed to be working/teaching these "autistic" children with life skills and socialization ...

But- thank goodness for tattlers .... aka Whistle-Blowers .... but really, it's tattling - as it turns out, the people who were hired - at minimum wages were NOT given any sort of training .... none.

And, by the sounds of it, there was no real curriculum for teaching said children.

According to the MN department of Health in 2023, there were 321 service providers (think "school" not teachers) ... but in 2018 there were only 41 service providers ....for the ENTIRE state ...

Remember, Autism is a rare condition - only happening in 1 in million types of thing .... until they began using the "sliding scale" of autism, in which just about ANYONE falls into one range or another ...

The amount paid??

$192 MILLION

That's up from only $6 Million in 2018 ...

Yeah - that's a 3100% INCREASE ....

If there was a corresponding increase in children with Autism - you can be damned sure the Department of Health would have been all over this ... or at least, they SHOULD BE!!!!!!

The question which should have popped into everyone's mind , should have been WHY is this happening ... and they should have jumped all over this!!!

But - no - under Governor Walz, they just gave up the money ... 

No investigation to make sure it was really needed ...

No checks on who was supposed to be enrolled ....

No Follow Up on anyone's part!!

Then to top it all off ....

When Walz was asked about the potential fraud ... he said he was "UNAWARE" of any FBI investigation ....

WHAT?!?!

Thank goodness he did NOT become the VP!

Could you imagine what the country would have been like wih him in office??  Only one heartbeat away from the Presidency????

That's scary shit!!

And I was wrong ... now that I think about it, here have been several other scandals during his time as governor - these are just the one's which use CHILDREN as their smoke screen.

PROPAGANDA, PURE AND SIMPLE ....

Okay - found this "short" on YouTube ... it deals with if men (USA vs Russia) and how they feel about Housewives .... they don't call it that, but tha's what this is all about.

My SON-IN-LAW .... he's actually married to my daughter .... is an adopted child from Russia .... I don't know from where, or which part of Russia he came from, just that he was about 6-9 yrs old when he came to America .... all legal, don't worry - and, no, he doesn't have any Russian accent, and claims he doesn't speak it any longer but my daughter says when he gets mad, he swears a lot in Russian!

Anyhow ... if you watch the short, they make it seem as if Russian men are all willing to have their wives stay home, and to support them.

Um .... I call B.S. .... I think the only one of them who is totally honest is the last man from Russia .... 

Not all American men are so short-sighted either -- there's actually quite a few who would rather their wives stayed home wih he children .... but running a single income home is NOT easy, especially these days.

My son-in-law is more like the LAST American in the short, than ANY of the Russians ....

So - is it "habitat" or "neredity"?

VERDICT IS IN: NOT GUILTY, PENNY SUBWAY CASE

The jury - after several DAYS of deliberation ... not hours ... DAYS ... have returned a verdict ... of NOT GUILTY on the lesser charge of 'NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE 

My understanding is that this means that he did the wrong thing, for he right reasons, but he should have known better - and it led to a death without meaning to ...

The jury had "DEADLOCKED" on the high charge of Mansloughter 2 .... which is basically the above one with more oomf and actual jail time ... I want to say up to 25 years.

But that charge was DISMISSED by the JUDGE after sending them back a couple more times to try and work it out .... interesting, but legal ...

So- from what I've heard on FOX NEWS - I want to be very specific here, because the other network channels had already finished most of their morning news programs ...

IN THE COURT ROOM - so one would assume, in he jury room as well - the PROTESTERS against Penny could be HEARD ....

yeah - like that isn't juror nullification ... 

but the judge let things go on ... and go on it did.

AFTER THE READING of the verdict ... it is said - by BLM members outside the court hiuse (they had been given a microphone and a podium) there was CHEERING in the courtroom - which, she is correct, it is NOT supposed to happen - but when the victim ... softley's father said something in the courtroom, he was ESCORTED OUT.

Okay .... I just heard what had happened .... from ONE reporter, who was actually THERE when it happened ...

the allowable cheering? The Defense attornies were CLAPPING ... the reporter gave me the impression that it was "softly" ... and I'm prettty sure there were a few gasps and sighs as well.

The victim's father? The reporter said he STOOD UP, and yelled to the Defense table "Do You Want to Get F;ing Killed?" .... I'm pretty sure the reporter cleaned that up, I can't see a distraught father using the term "F'ing"

Yeah -- THAT'S what got him removed from the courtroom ... he (a)swore and (b)made what can be seen as a DIRECT THREAT to memebers of the court!!!

He's actually LUCKY -- normally, they would put you in jail for a while ....

So now BLM ... which kids these days seem to think is a "movement" and not a "group" - no matter how you keep pointing things out - they have OPENLY CALLED for "action" 

They have called for BURNING of buildings and cars ...
They have called for PROTESTS ... these I don't have an issue with, as long as the follow the law while doing it - no blocking traffic, no pulling people from vehicles, no beating of bystanders ...
They have also called for - well, at least one person has called for it - RIOTS ...

Oh ... Crap ...

This will be George Floydd all over again ....

The guy's father said that when he (the victim) got on the subway, the first thing he asked for was FOOD .... and then the father jumped to "and he got killed"...

NO SIR - you son, your child (because we will always see them as children) didn't die because he wanted food ... he died because HE. WAS. OUT. OF. CONTROL. and because he was threatening bodily harm to other passengers.

I'm waiting for the "Wrongful Death" lawsuit .... which, unfortunately, Penny is likely to LOSE ...