The outcome for Lula’s party, PT (‘Workers’ party), was terrible for them. The right-wing now has a mandate in the senate. They’ll likely to be able to pursue the impeachment and removal of certain supreme court members, and rebuke the institution as a whole, which has dispensed with any pretense of being anything other than a tool to advance leftist policy.
Lula’s party now controls just 9/81 seats. Whereas Bolsonaro’s party controls 28/81. Minor parties control the remainder, ranging between 6 to 1. Many of these are right-wing or part of the maligned ‘Centrão’ which typically allies with whoever is the major party in power in transactional, self-interested exchanges of favors.
Follow up from a comment from me from yesterday. I got into it with leftys from Durham about the proposed Ad 3 here in Florida which will greatly reduce property taxes. Why leftys in NC care about such I don’t know. Anyway, the gist of their “argument” is that this is just another scheme to help the “rich” at the expense of the poor. Nevermind the data I showed that it will reduce property taxes for people with lower valued houses (which I assume are poor) to zero. Those with $2million+ homes will see a reduction but not significant in terms of percentage. I carves out schools, so no issue there. One wanted to know what waste could be cut, so I provided a link specifically for Jax. She then said, that’s because of all the Republicans in FL…I then hit her that the mayor of Jax is a Democrat…sigh…
So my question again is in the psychology of the left. They never define “rich”, but they certainly want to stick it to them. Why the great hatred (there’s that hate coming out of them again) of the”rich”. Class envy? They seem to want to blame all the ills of the world on the “rich”.
Anyone can give me some insight?
Correction: removal of certain members of the supreme court, although I am not knowledeable of the specific mechanics.
My in-laws tell me the election yesterday was very ‘alarming and stressful’ for the Supreme court.
Anyone can give me some insight?
==
“The rich” are well-to-do people who do not have faculty appointments.
Catherine Herridge:
NEW: DECLASSIFIED FBI Probe “PLASMIC ECHO”
– Appears to use FBI investigative tool known as a “Pen Register” to target phone calls of then campaign manager Susie Wiles
– Allegedly tracked nearly two dozen defense attorneys, five journalists, FLOTUS, political advisers including FBI Director Kash Patel
– Administration official characterizes as “intrusive tactics” by special counsel Jack Smith team
– Probe laid groundwork for classified records case against President Trump
Pen Register Trap and Trace or PRTT
– Surveillance tool collects non-content routing data
– Phone numbers dialed or received
– Call times and duration
Two Scenarios
– Used for criminal and national security investigations
– lower standard than probable-cause warrant
Potential Violations
– First (Freedom of Speech) and Fourth Amendments (unreasonable search and seizure)
NOTE: Former Senior FBI agent says it looks like a classic FBI “tickle the wire” operation.
After FBI agents contact Wiles, the bureau tracks phone calls to identify who she immediately contacts
“On 10 April 2023, FBI WFO (Washington Field Office) reviewed WILES’s telephonic activity to determine contacts of interest on the date of her FBI interview.”
Declassified records via @WhiteHouse transparency task force
Quebec is holding an election today. CAQ, which is what passes for a starboard party in Quebec, is due to be blown out of the water having squandered their time in office. PQ apparently have a chance to form a majority government and put a secession referendum on the ballot. The Statute of Westminster was enacted in 1931; it’s regrettable that the ill-conceived effort to maintain Quebec and the Anglophone provinces under one roof was not abandoned earlier. A velvet divorce might still be beneficial to both parties.
Physicsguy, a few thoughts about what drives the haters:
1. Envy disguised as hate. They’ll never admit they would gladly be rich.
2. Virtuous idiocy. Believing that as they’re fighting against the rich, they’re standing up for — even helping — the poor.
In an ignorant and unproductive manner, of course.
3. They are cheered on by tribe members and powerful politicians.
Double honorable! !
…
Really, it’s all super sad, super unhelpful. Obviously.
I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for what neo has been through recently. Care for the sick, death, mourning, trying to sort through her ex’es belongings, then her and her son’s illnesses…
It has truly been a rough month or so and, she is still ailing. However, as the saying goes, it’s an ill wind that blows no good.
If this has distracted her from posting her annual praise of candy corn… that is at least some, small benefit for us neophiles, the Internet and the English speaking world.
For candy corn is an abomination that, rather than being celebrated, should be cast into a bottomless pit along with the recipe for its manufacture so that all future generations of humanity are spared from it.
Anyone can give me some insight?
I’ve long thought hatred of “the rich” is just a knee-jerk go to. Effortless, and in their mind inarguable. It requires no thought and is usually an indication the speaker is dealing with something they can’t or won’t address in detail.
The real hatred is for the middle class. They know as long as it exists proletariat revolution is impossible. Via Marxists Internet Archive:
“The lower middle-class,” in Marx’s words, “has no special class interests. Its liberation does not entail a break with the system of private property. Being unfitted for an independent part in the class struggle, it considers every decisive class struggle a blow at the community. The conditions of his own personal freedom, which do not entail a departure from the system of private property, are, in the eyes of the member of the lower middle-class, those under which the whole of society can be saved.”
And this is the very reason why the lower middle-class masses are the most dangerous enemies of the dictatorship of the proletariat. They represent a very strong section of society. Their special interests are absolutely incompatible with the economic disturbances which are the inevitable accompaniment of transitional periods.
One should avoid candy as a rule. When not avoiding, Heath Bars, Andes Mints, Hershey with Almonds, Caramel.
physicsguy,
Absolutely bizarre. Marlene listed the likely reasons better than I could.
It’s also a tremendous failure of our educational system. The independence of the States is an extremely crucial component of the American system and its success. North Carolinians should be glad Florida is trying an experiment in taxation with no impact to North Carolinians. If it works, and things get better for Floridians, then North Carolinians may want to look at their own state and consider giving it a try. If it fails… no harm to North Carolinians. And, even if North Carolinians never have an interest in adopting such a plan for property taxes that’s fine because North Carolina and Florida are not the same states. What’s best for Florida may not be best for North Carolina. But let’s run the experiment and find out.
It’s sad but not surprising that these experiments are often ignored by states and local municipalities when they are successful. There has been press lately about the “Mississippi Miracle.” The state of Mississippi greatly improved students’ reading and math abilities through traditional educational methods; requiring students to study and work. This may reveal that there is not necessarily a direct link between school funding and educational outcomes. One would assume this would be good news for states struggling to improve the abilities of their students, especially students from low income demographics, like much of Mississippi. One would think school boards from New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles… would be descending on Mississippi to learn how to implement these methods in their school districts. Unfortunately, no. They would rather sacrifice their students’ futures on the altar of ideology. In 2020, 2021 and 2022 it astounded me that states continued to force children into masks during the school day, or simply did not permit in person schooling. There were states and school districts not requiring masking and the results were easily obtained. It was obvious masking or staying home from school were not necessary. And there was great risk of harm to students from continuing COVID policies. But school boards happily ignored the data out of egotism. School boards and union leaders’ confirmation bias was more apparent than student outcomes.
We have states running interesting experiments on school choice, taxation (9 states somehow manage to operate with no income tax), gun ownership/registration/carry, traffic laws, environmental standards… These experiments are crucial to America’s success. I think Marlene explained well why so many choose to ignore the data from these experiments, but hopefully the truth will win out.
Art Deco,
Hershey with almonds, or, even better, just chocolate covered almonds. I don’t care if the denizens of Los Angeles have to ration drinking water or the aquifer runs dry. Keep that water flowing to the almond orchards of the Central Valley.
Ye’ gods! Stand up for candy corn!!
– – – – – – –
(Regarding hate, what’s wrong with sheer hatred simply for the joy of it? Besides, if one can hate purely, deeply, virtuously, they generally don’t have to bother with tiresome items like facts, benefit of the doubt, context, the larger picture, etc. Besides, it’s soooo primal and cathartic…)
Hershey with Almonds
I’m the house that gives out full sized candy bars at Halloween. Trick-or-treaters are met with a table full of options. Reeses, KitKat, M&Ms, etc. and a handful of sour stuff like Warheads and Nerd Gummy Clusters. I love Hershey with Almonds, But I’m telling you, you can’t give them away. Kids won’t touch them.
So then I eat them, usually with a glass of wine around 9:00 pm.
physicsguy, Glenn Reynolds posted this John Cleese clip this morning. It explains your lefty friends well.
Saudi-Backed Yemen Forces Begin Bid to Retake Houthi Areas
Summary by Bloomberg AI
• Yemen’s government launched a full-scale military campaign to recapture Houthi-held territory after weeks of escalating conflict between the Iran-backed group and Saudi Arabia.
• The Saudi-led coalition will provide full operational support to Yemeni government forces to end the “Houthi coup” and said Saudi Arabia the right to defend its sovereignty.
• The aim is for the Houthis to be “eliminated”, according to the coalition’s statement, as the fighting has pushed up energy prices and led to increased military support from Western powers.
So my question is when does a straw finally break the camels back? All of this costs money – supporting the war effort of the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas – money that Iran doesn’t have.
Sue K. I eat one or two squares of 85% dark chocolate. Less sweet than Hershey’s.
“Troops repositioned to Rio Grande Valley after gunfire at Coast Guard”
The Center Square) – Hundreds of U.S. troops are being repositioned to the Rio Grande Valley after Coast Guard crew in Starr County encountered gunfire from across the Mexican border Sept. 26..
[…]
This is not the first time federal agents have faced gunfire. Last January, Border Patrol agents were fired upon in the Rio Grande Valley. This was after Texas border security efforts through Operation Lone Start expanded and the Texas General Land Office took control of Fronton Island. Texas DPS and OLS officers were deployed to combat cartel activity and potential Tren de Aragua criminal activity as Venezuelans poured into the country. They also replaced an erected Venezuelan flag on the island with a Texas flag, The Center Square reported.
Fabulous. Our world is media saturated, and much of it revolves around entertainment and story telling. And stories must have heroes and villains. So perhaps it is understandable that many people tend to view the real world this way.
It reminds me of a classic interview clip, with Phil Donahue interviewing Milton Friedman. CoPilot found the quote:
Milton Friedman’s famous line — “And where in the world are you going to find these angels who are going to organize society for us?” — comes from a 1979 interview on The Phil Donahue Show
Context of the quote
Phil Donahue asked Friedman whether, seeing global inequality, greed, and concentration of power, he had ever doubted capitalism. Friedman replied that no society is free from greed, and that the world runs on individuals pursuing their own interests
He argued that major achievements — from Einstein’s theories to Henry Ford’s innovations — came from individuals, not government bureaus, and that the only societies where masses escaped grinding poverty were those with capitalism and free trade
When Donahue pressed whether political self?interest was nobler than economic self?interest, Friedman turned the question back on the host: “Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us? Well, I don’t even trust you to do that.”
What “these angels” means
In Friedman’s usage, the “angels” are hypothetical, selfless leaders or bureaucrats who could perfectly organize society for the public good. He was skeptical that such people exist in reality, noting that politicians and officials are “just like us — greedily looking out for their own self?interest”
His point was that no one can be trusted to run society without self?interest, so relying on such “angels” is unrealistic.
When I look at who many of these politicians are, I see a lot of reprobates and low-lifes. And our government is still moderately restricted in its powers. Now imagine a government with the massive powers the socialists wish to imbue it with. What kind people will that government attract to political office, and will you trust them?
Re spiders
Large wolf spider in master bath
Wife (who doesn’t like spiders) “There is a huge spider in the bathroom.”
Me (who doesn’t kill spiders) “You mean Gertrude? She has been hanging out in there for a couple of days now.”
Wife “YOU NAMED IT!”
Large groups of duck have been arriving here at DuckSpa however I call the house itself The Spider House and post from time to time The Spider House Rules
My mother whose 91st birthday was two weeks ago has been released from the hospital where she has been since last Thursday due to dislocated jaw. Can’t visit today due WA ferry system collapse.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 09:21 AM]
Ana/SJs – #3 Samish running an estimated 70 minutes behind schedule
The #3 Samish is running an estimated 70 minutes behind schedule due to the service disruption on the route.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 08:10 AM]
Ana/SJs – Update:Cancelled sailings for Monday, 10/05, due to the lack of crew
For Monday, October 5, Vessel #1 Chelan and #2 Yakima will be out of service due to the lack of crew.
The #3 Samish will sail all-stops from Anacortes to Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and Friday Harbor
The interisland #4 Tillikum will assist with Anacortes-San Juan islands traffic this morning. This will cancel the 11:30 a.m. interisland sailings. The interisland will resume service at 2:30 pm to help school children and commuters.
New reservations and changes are blocked for Monday and no-show fees are waived. Reservation holders on cancelled sailings will be accommodated on other departures on a first come, first serve basis.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 06:47 AM]
Muk/Clin – Mukilteo/Clinton route is on 1-boat service on Mon. 10/5
The Mukilteo/Clinton route will be on one-boat service on Monday, October 5 due to a shortage of crew. All #2 sailings are cancelled.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 05:08 AM]
Sea/Brem-Seattle/Bremerton is on 1-boat service 10/5
Due to the lack of qualified crew, the #2 Chimacum is out of service on Monday, October 5. Dispatch efforts continue. All #1 sailings will sail as scheduled. Customers may experience loading delays.
Seattle / Bremerton
This will cancel the following sailings:
6:20 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
7:35 a.m. Seattle to Bremerton
8:45 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
10:00 a.m. Seattle to Bremerton
11:10 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
12:20 p.m. Seattle to Bremerton
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:50 AM]
PT/Coup – #1 Kennewick is out of service due to a shortage of crew and fog 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew and fog, the #1 Kennewick is out of service for the day between Port Townsend and Coupeville for Monday, October 5.
No show fees have been waived due to the disruption. Alternate routes are Edmonds/Kingston and/or Mukilteo/Clinton.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:11 AM]
Edm/King – Update – Route out of service due to shortage of crew, 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew, the route is out of service.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:58 AM]
Sea/BI – Seattle/Bainbridge Route out of service on 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew, the route is out of service.
Re: Latin American elections / End of USAid
Here’s a nice graphic showing that seven presidential elections in Latin American have gone conservative since USAid was ended. Plus Brazil now leans conservative with a run-off election to go.
Correlation is not causality, but it is interesting, no?
A fresh banger “short video,” a brilliant and inarguably strong case explaining “Why Leftists Are Painful to Debate” from “Liam Out Loud” on YouTube.
“Fantasies outrank reality” for them. Anything less is racism, sexism, classism, ableism, etc. Thus, “We are being tyrannized by delusions.” https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f7IZS62zhKc
He identifies the “engine” used by every Woke (Frankfurt School) manoeuvre, reduced to three lines…becomes “a closed loop.”
physicsguy at the top laments that the Left “seem to want to blame all the ills of the world on the ‘rich’. Anyone can give me some insight?”
Their crime against social justice (ie, equality) is perpetuating hierarchy, ie, inequality of wealth. Therefore, abolish billionaires (or whatever).
Leftists — see “Liam out loud” in my post — are stuck in a loop of dogmatic True Belief (as Liam adroitly explains). This makes them dangerous in power. And noxious pests at best in politics and socialising.
They are immune to being falsified by facts. For example, if we expropriated all of the billionaires and one trillionaire’s wealth in the US, it would last all of federal government spending not more than a single year.
Chases Eagles:
Your long post of Seattle ferry schedules indicates many ferry cancelations due to “lack of crew”. You might educate us further how crew are paid, what sick leave consists of, etc.. Or don’t people have to earn a living in the glorious Pacific NW?
”Small minded envious people is what they truly are. Then they need to concoct a philosophy that allows them to live with themselves.”
This is it. The left, much more so than the right, is driven by social status. They envy those above them, particularly those they feel are their social inferiors.
But envy is a sin, so in their minds they don’t do it, not directly. It’s a type of envy by proxy. ”I want to take all of Elon Musk’s money, sure, but not for myself. It’s for the poor.” The proxy part is what turns a sin into a virtue.
They can then broadcast that envy to the world to boost their own social status. Bonus!
So my question again is in the psychology of the left. They never define “rich”, but they certainly want to stick it to them. Why the great hatred (there’s that hate coming out of them again) of the”rich”. Class envy? They seem to want to blame all the ills of the world on the “rich”.
Anyone can give me some insight?
— physicsguy
Human nature.
At its root, it has a basis in evolutionary psychology. Our natural human instincts are shaped around life in a hunter-gatherer band, or something comparable. We haven’t been living in cities (i.e. ‘civilized’) long enough to matter in that. So, we naturally tend to analyze the world through those instincts, whether they make sense or not.
Which means that it sort of ‘feels’ wrong, dangerous, anti-survival, for some of the tribe to have so much more than the others. That instinct was precisely accurate for life in a hunter-gatherer band, but it provides a basis of envy and resentment that politics can build on today.
This isn’t just a left-wing thing, it shows up in different forms all over the place. Currently the lefty politics are amping it up and feeding on it, but it’s always there.
Also, that instinct is not 100% wrong even today. While disparate outcomes are natural and universal to a functioning economy, when enough wealth concentrates in a few hands, it is a threat, esp. in a republic. Too large a wealth disparity across social classes can destroy a republic, and the Founders knew that. Power tends to follow wealth (though not absolutely) and when one small group becomes wealthy enough in a republic, it begins to distort politics.
We’re seeing an example of that right now with the constant drumbeat of efforts to reopen the border and great amnesty to illegals and make legal immigration easier. Mass immigration makes labor cheaper and imports customers, it provides cheap nannies and scared maids and generally serves the upper class group interests. It harms far more people than it helps, but the concentration of wealth in the group it helps means it keeps coming back to life again when it’s knocked down.
Same deal with ‘free trade’. When it’s voted down or otherwise blocked, it promptly comes back to life through some other route, because the people in favor of it have money and thus can buy influence.
I think that most Democrat leaders work for government, government schools, or NGOs. And/or they are independently wealthy. They aren’t hurting for cash. The Democrat followers include Low Information Voters and the radical fringe.
“The Rich” is a perfect whipping boy, à la Alinsky.
Don’t know about the ferry issue. This hasn’t happened vbefore. My brother has power of attorney for my mother and lives about 5 minutes away but he was in Vancouver BC Thursday-Saturday. My wife took care of the hospital stuff Thursday and Friday using the Edmonds-Kingston run both ways both days. My sister lives on Orcas Island in the San Juans and took over on Saturday using that ferry both ways. Edmonds Kingston was supposed to be out of service overnight Tuesday Wednesday so BNSF railway could work on the road crossing in Edmonds. The tracks cross the ferry access about a block from the dock.
A new book, “Dear Land of The Free” is literally a love letter to America by a young French woman, Lea Martin (on X @leanotfromparis).
Briefly, Glenn Beck interviews the author, revealing at the end that she aspires to become a US citizen here and to raise her children to value American possibilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po54EaTQedo
Heartwarming.
I wonder, just how many traditional, natural remedies have the drug companies “disappeared,” managed to force off of pharmacy shelves, pushed down the “memory hole,” replacing them with comparatively very expensive synthetic remedies that they can make very large profits from.
I’ve just read about one such natural remedy (and I’ve read about other natural remedies having been given this same treatment, as well), a pretty powerful pain and sleep medication which had been known and used for thousands of years–including during the Civil War, when Morphine was in short supply–and which was reportedly still being sold by pharmacies in the early 20th century—a drug made from the sap from the wild lettuce plant.
But, as I understand it, a natural plant cannot be patented, so there is hardly any money to be made from such an unpatentable natural remedy (essentially a weed that grows all over the place) by pharmaceutical companies
SoP, if you don’t already know it, you might find this site of interest:
SoP,
My dad was very athletic and every day when he came home after practicing whatever sport happened to be in season, his German grandmother made him willow bark tea.
Willow bark was the original source for aspirin.
Re: Leftist hatred of the rich
Part of it is history going back to the French Revolution, as well as the concentrations of wealth and power vs the poverty and powerlessness of workers in the late 1800s/early 1900s.
The pushback from the left created unions and better conditions for workers, which I consider on the whole good things.
There really is no true, full capitalism these days. All countries, including the US, are mixtures of capitalism and socialism.
Where the magic proportion of one and the other is in that mixture IMO is the question.
Of course today’s left has made everything an oppressor vs oppressed binary. Hating the rich is a vestigial part of that.
I’m fond of spiders and never hurt them. I admit that if they’re more than about 1/2 inch long, I’m slightly reluctant to let them crawl on me, but I’m happy to have them nearby.
So let’s see now.
Any billionaires funding the Democrats / Dem socialists / Antifa / BLM?
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The outcome for Lula’s party, PT (‘Workers’ party), was terrible for them. The right-wing now has a mandate in the senate. They’ll likely to be able to pursue the impeachment and removal of certain supreme court members, and rebuke the institution as a whole, which has dispensed with any pretense of being anything other than a tool to advance leftist policy.
Lula’s party now controls just 9/81 seats. Whereas Bolsonaro’s party controls 28/81. Minor parties control the remainder, ranging between 6 to 1. Many of these are right-wing or part of the maligned ‘Centrão’ which typically allies with whoever is the major party in power in transactional, self-interested exchanges of favors.
Follow up from a comment from me from yesterday. I got into it with leftys from Durham about the proposed Ad 3 here in Florida which will greatly reduce property taxes. Why leftys in NC care about such I don’t know. Anyway, the gist of their “argument” is that this is just another scheme to help the “rich” at the expense of the poor. Nevermind the data I showed that it will reduce property taxes for people with lower valued houses (which I assume are poor) to zero. Those with $2million+ homes will see a reduction but not significant in terms of percentage. I carves out schools, so no issue there. One wanted to know what waste could be cut, so I provided a link specifically for Jax. She then said, that’s because of all the Republicans in FL…I then hit her that the mayor of Jax is a Democrat…sigh…
So my question again is in the psychology of the left. They never define “rich”, but they certainly want to stick it to them. Why the great hatred (there’s that hate coming out of them again) of the”rich”. Class envy? They seem to want to blame all the ills of the world on the “rich”.
Anyone can give me some insight?
Correction: removal of certain members of the supreme court, although I am not knowledeable of the specific mechanics.
My in-laws tell me the election yesterday was very ‘alarming and stressful’ for the Supreme court.
Anyone can give me some insight?
==
“The rich” are well-to-do people who do not have faculty appointments.
Catherine Herridge:
https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/2107087156086739326
Redacted document image at link.
Hans Mahncke: “The Jack Smith Operation Shows Lawfare Will Only Get Worse”, Federalist Mag.
https://thefederalist.com/2026/10/02/the-jack-smith-operation-shows-lawfare-will-only-get-worse/
Quebec is holding an election today. CAQ, which is what passes for a starboard party in Quebec, is due to be blown out of the water having squandered their time in office. PQ apparently have a chance to form a majority government and put a secession referendum on the ballot. The Statute of Westminster was enacted in 1931; it’s regrettable that the ill-conceived effort to maintain Quebec and the Anglophone provinces under one roof was not abandoned earlier. A velvet divorce might still be beneficial to both parties.
Physicsguy, a few thoughts about what drives the haters:
1. Envy disguised as hate. They’ll never admit they would gladly be rich.
2. Virtuous idiocy. Believing that as they’re fighting against the rich, they’re standing up for — even helping — the poor.
In an ignorant and unproductive manner, of course.
3. They are cheered on by tribe members and powerful politicians.
Double honorable! !
…
Really, it’s all super sad, super unhelpful. Obviously.
I have a lot of sympathy and empathy for what neo has been through recently. Care for the sick, death, mourning, trying to sort through her ex’es belongings, then her and her son’s illnesses…
It has truly been a rough month or so and, she is still ailing. However, as the saying goes, it’s an ill wind that blows no good.
If this has distracted her from posting her annual praise of candy corn… that is at least some, small benefit for us neophiles, the Internet and the English speaking world.
For candy corn is an abomination that, rather than being celebrated, should be cast into a bottomless pit along with the recipe for its manufacture so that all future generations of humanity are spared from it.
Anyone can give me some insight?
I’ve long thought hatred of “the rich” is just a knee-jerk go to. Effortless, and in their mind inarguable. It requires no thought and is usually an indication the speaker is dealing with something they can’t or won’t address in detail.
The real hatred is for the middle class. They know as long as it exists proletariat revolution is impossible. Via Marxists Internet Archive:
One should avoid candy as a rule. When not avoiding, Heath Bars, Andes Mints, Hershey with Almonds, Caramel.
physicsguy,
Absolutely bizarre. Marlene listed the likely reasons better than I could.
It’s also a tremendous failure of our educational system. The independence of the States is an extremely crucial component of the American system and its success. North Carolinians should be glad Florida is trying an experiment in taxation with no impact to North Carolinians. If it works, and things get better for Floridians, then North Carolinians may want to look at their own state and consider giving it a try. If it fails… no harm to North Carolinians. And, even if North Carolinians never have an interest in adopting such a plan for property taxes that’s fine because North Carolina and Florida are not the same states. What’s best for Florida may not be best for North Carolina. But let’s run the experiment and find out.
It’s sad but not surprising that these experiments are often ignored by states and local municipalities when they are successful. There has been press lately about the “Mississippi Miracle.” The state of Mississippi greatly improved students’ reading and math abilities through traditional educational methods; requiring students to study and work. This may reveal that there is not necessarily a direct link between school funding and educational outcomes. One would assume this would be good news for states struggling to improve the abilities of their students, especially students from low income demographics, like much of Mississippi. One would think school boards from New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles… would be descending on Mississippi to learn how to implement these methods in their school districts. Unfortunately, no. They would rather sacrifice their students’ futures on the altar of ideology. In 2020, 2021 and 2022 it astounded me that states continued to force children into masks during the school day, or simply did not permit in person schooling. There were states and school districts not requiring masking and the results were easily obtained. It was obvious masking or staying home from school were not necessary. And there was great risk of harm to students from continuing COVID policies. But school boards happily ignored the data out of egotism. School boards and union leaders’ confirmation bias was more apparent than student outcomes.
We have states running interesting experiments on school choice, taxation (9 states somehow manage to operate with no income tax), gun ownership/registration/carry, traffic laws, environmental standards… These experiments are crucial to America’s success. I think Marlene explained well why so many choose to ignore the data from these experiments, but hopefully the truth will win out.
Art Deco,
Hershey with almonds, or, even better, just chocolate covered almonds. I don’t care if the denizens of Los Angeles have to ration drinking water or the aquifer runs dry. Keep that water flowing to the almond orchards of the Central Valley.
Ye’ gods! Stand up for candy corn!!
– – – – – – –
(Regarding hate, what’s wrong with sheer hatred simply for the joy of it? Besides, if one can hate purely, deeply, virtuously, they generally don’t have to bother with tiresome items like facts, benefit of the doubt, context, the larger picture, etc. Besides, it’s soooo primal and cathartic…)
Hershey with Almonds
I’m the house that gives out full sized candy bars at Halloween. Trick-or-treaters are met with a table full of options. Reeses, KitKat, M&Ms, etc. and a handful of sour stuff like Warheads and Nerd Gummy Clusters. I love Hershey with Almonds, But I’m telling you, you can’t give them away. Kids won’t touch them.
So then I eat them, usually with a glass of wine around 9:00 pm.
physicsguy, Glenn Reynolds posted this John Cleese clip this morning. It explains your lefty friends well.
https://instapundit.com/826981/
Small minded envious people is what they truly are. Then they need to concoct a philosophy that allows them to live with themselves.
Chocolate must be dark chocolate.
Chocolate must be a available, type is a secondary concern. :0
Hershey with almonds? No way.. I’ll settle for just plain Hershey’s dark chocolate…!!!! Have to limit myself, but still manage a piece a day…!
Kate,
Leave it to John Cleese to be absolutely brilliant. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq8tnPwHFz8
From a Bloomberg article I can’t link to:
Saudi-Backed Yemen Forces Begin Bid to Retake Houthi Areas
Summary by Bloomberg AI
• Yemen’s government launched a full-scale military campaign to recapture Houthi-held territory after weeks of escalating conflict between the Iran-backed group and Saudi Arabia.
• The Saudi-led coalition will provide full operational support to Yemeni government forces to end the “Houthi coup” and said Saudi Arabia the right to defend its sovereignty.
• The aim is for the Houthis to be “eliminated”, according to the coalition’s statement, as the fighting has pushed up energy prices and led to increased military support from Western powers.
So my question is when does a straw finally break the camels back? All of this costs money – supporting the war effort of the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas – money that Iran doesn’t have.
Sue K. I eat one or two squares of 85% dark chocolate. Less sweet than Hershey’s.
“Troops repositioned to Rio Grande Valley after gunfire at Coast Guard”
https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/article_44fe43c3-91f5-479f-a7fe-4e326e14c59c.html
Kate,
https://instapundit.com/826981/
Fabulous. Our world is media saturated, and much of it revolves around entertainment and story telling. And stories must have heroes and villains. So perhaps it is understandable that many people tend to view the real world this way.
It reminds me of a classic interview clip, with Phil Donahue interviewing Milton Friedman. CoPilot found the quote:
When I look at who many of these politicians are, I see a lot of reprobates and low-lifes. And our government is still moderately restricted in its powers. Now imagine a government with the massive powers the socialists wish to imbue it with. What kind people will that government attract to political office, and will you trust them?
Re spiders
Large wolf spider in master bath
Wife (who doesn’t like spiders) “There is a huge spider in the bathroom.”
Me (who doesn’t kill spiders) “You mean Gertrude? She has been hanging out in there for a couple of days now.”
Wife “YOU NAMED IT!”
Large groups of duck have been arriving here at DuckSpa however I call the house itself The Spider House and post from time to time The Spider House Rules
My mother whose 91st birthday was two weeks ago has been released from the hospital where she has been since last Thursday due to dislocated jaw. Can’t visit today due WA ferry system collapse.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 09:21 AM]
Ana/SJs – #3 Samish running an estimated 70 minutes behind schedule
The #3 Samish is running an estimated 70 minutes behind schedule due to the service disruption on the route.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 08:10 AM]
Ana/SJs – Update:Cancelled sailings for Monday, 10/05, due to the lack of crew
For Monday, October 5, Vessel #1 Chelan and #2 Yakima will be out of service due to the lack of crew.
The #3 Samish will sail all-stops from Anacortes to Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and Friday Harbor
The interisland #4 Tillikum will assist with Anacortes-San Juan islands traffic this morning. This will cancel the 11:30 a.m. interisland sailings. The interisland will resume service at 2:30 pm to help school children and commuters.
New reservations and changes are blocked for Monday and no-show fees are waived. Reservation holders on cancelled sailings will be accommodated on other departures on a first come, first serve basis.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 06:47 AM]
Muk/Clin – Mukilteo/Clinton route is on 1-boat service on Mon. 10/5
The Mukilteo/Clinton route will be on one-boat service on Monday, October 5 due to a shortage of crew. All #2 sailings are cancelled.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 05:08 AM]
Sea/Brem-Seattle/Bremerton is on 1-boat service 10/5
Due to the lack of qualified crew, the #2 Chimacum is out of service on Monday, October 5. Dispatch efforts continue. All #1 sailings will sail as scheduled. Customers may experience loading delays.
Seattle / Bremerton
This will cancel the following sailings:
6:20 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
7:35 a.m. Seattle to Bremerton
8:45 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
10:00 a.m. Seattle to Bremerton
11:10 a.m. Bremerton to Seattle
12:20 p.m. Seattle to Bremerton
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:50 AM]
PT/Coup – #1 Kennewick is out of service due to a shortage of crew and fog 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew and fog, the #1 Kennewick is out of service for the day between Port Townsend and Coupeville for Monday, October 5.
No show fees have been waived due to the disruption. Alternate routes are Edmonds/Kingston and/or Mukilteo/Clinton.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:11 AM]
Edm/King – Update – Route out of service due to shortage of crew, 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew, the route is out of service.
[Last Updated: Monday, October 05, 2026 07:58 AM]
Sea/BI – Seattle/Bainbridge Route out of service on 10/5
Due to a shortage of crew, the route is out of service.
Re: Latin American elections / End of USAid
Here’s a nice graphic showing that seven presidential elections in Latin American have gone conservative since USAid was ended. Plus Brazil now leans conservative with a run-off election to go.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT0zXXjXMAAGRii.jpg
Correlation is not causality, but it is interesting, no?
A fresh banger “short video,” a brilliant and inarguably strong case explaining “Why Leftists Are Painful to Debate” from “Liam Out Loud” on YouTube.
“Fantasies outrank reality” for them. Anything less is racism, sexism, classism, ableism, etc. Thus, “We are being tyrannized by delusions.” https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f7IZS62zhKc
He identifies the “engine” used by every Woke (Frankfurt School) manoeuvre, reduced to three lines…becomes “a closed loop.”
physicsguy at the top laments that the Left “seem to want to blame all the ills of the world on the ‘rich’. Anyone can give me some insight?”
Their crime against social justice (ie, equality) is perpetuating hierarchy, ie, inequality of wealth. Therefore, abolish billionaires (or whatever).
Leftists — see “Liam out loud” in my post — are stuck in a loop of dogmatic True Belief (as Liam adroitly explains). This makes them dangerous in power. And noxious pests at best in politics and socialising.
They are immune to being falsified by facts. For example, if we expropriated all of the billionaires and one trillionaire’s wealth in the US, it would last all of federal government spending not more than a single year.
Chases Eagles:
Your long post of Seattle ferry schedules indicates many ferry cancelations due to “lack of crew”. You might educate us further how crew are paid, what sick leave consists of, etc.. Or don’t people have to earn a living in the glorious Pacific NW?
”Small minded envious people is what they truly are. Then they need to concoct a philosophy that allows them to live with themselves.”
This is it. The left, much more so than the right, is driven by social status. They envy those above them, particularly those they feel are their social inferiors.
But envy is a sin, so in their minds they don’t do it, not directly. It’s a type of envy by proxy. ”I want to take all of Elon Musk’s money, sure, but not for myself. It’s for the poor.” The proxy part is what turns a sin into a virtue.
They can then broadcast that envy to the world to boost their own social status. Bonus!
— physicsguy
Human nature.
At its root, it has a basis in evolutionary psychology. Our natural human instincts are shaped around life in a hunter-gatherer band, or something comparable. We haven’t been living in cities (i.e. ‘civilized’) long enough to matter in that. So, we naturally tend to analyze the world through those instincts, whether they make sense or not.
Which means that it sort of ‘feels’ wrong, dangerous, anti-survival, for some of the tribe to have so much more than the others. That instinct was precisely accurate for life in a hunter-gatherer band, but it provides a basis of envy and resentment that politics can build on today.
This isn’t just a left-wing thing, it shows up in different forms all over the place. Currently the lefty politics are amping it up and feeding on it, but it’s always there.
Also, that instinct is not 100% wrong even today. While disparate outcomes are natural and universal to a functioning economy, when enough wealth concentrates in a few hands, it is a threat, esp. in a republic. Too large a wealth disparity across social classes can destroy a republic, and the Founders knew that. Power tends to follow wealth (though not absolutely) and when one small group becomes wealthy enough in a republic, it begins to distort politics.
We’re seeing an example of that right now with the constant drumbeat of efforts to reopen the border and great amnesty to illegals and make legal immigration easier. Mass immigration makes labor cheaper and imports customers, it provides cheap nannies and scared maids and generally serves the upper class group interests. It harms far more people than it helps, but the concentration of wealth in the group it helps means it keeps coming back to life again when it’s knocked down.
Same deal with ‘free trade’. When it’s voted down or otherwise blocked, it promptly comes back to life through some other route, because the people in favor of it have money and thus can buy influence.
I think that most Democrat leaders work for government, government schools, or NGOs. And/or they are independently wealthy. They aren’t hurting for cash. The Democrat followers include Low Information Voters and the radical fringe.
“The Rich” is a perfect whipping boy, à la Alinsky.
Don’t know about the ferry issue. This hasn’t happened vbefore. My brother has power of attorney for my mother and lives about 5 minutes away but he was in Vancouver BC Thursday-Saturday. My wife took care of the hospital stuff Thursday and Friday using the Edmonds-Kingston run both ways both days. My sister lives on Orcas Island in the San Juans and took over on Saturday using that ferry both ways. Edmonds Kingston was supposed to be out of service overnight Tuesday Wednesday so BNSF railway could work on the road crossing in Edmonds. The tracks cross the ferry access about a block from the dock.
A new book, “Dear Land of The Free” is literally a love letter to America by a young French woman, Lea Martin (on X @leanotfromparis).
Briefly, Glenn Beck interviews the author, revealing at the end that she aspires to become a US citizen here and to raise her children to value American possibilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po54EaTQedo
Heartwarming.
I wonder, just how many traditional, natural remedies have the drug companies “disappeared,” managed to force off of pharmacy shelves, pushed down the “memory hole,” replacing them with comparatively very expensive synthetic remedies that they can make very large profits from.
I’ve just read about one such natural remedy (and I’ve read about other natural remedies having been given this same treatment, as well), a pretty powerful pain and sleep medication which had been known and used for thousands of years–including during the Civil War, when Morphine was in short supply–and which was reportedly still being sold by pharmacies in the early 20th century—a drug made from the sap from the wild lettuce plant.
But, as I understand it, a natural plant cannot be patented, so there is hardly any money to be made from such an unpatentable natural remedy (essentially a weed that grows all over the place) by pharmaceutical companies
SoP, if you don’t already know it, you might find this site of interest:
“The Lost Herbs”—
https://thelostherbs.com/
SoP,
My dad was very athletic and every day when he came home after practicing whatever sport happened to be in season, his German grandmother made him willow bark tea.
Willow bark was the original source for aspirin.
Re: Leftist hatred of the rich
Part of it is history going back to the French Revolution, as well as the concentrations of wealth and power vs the poverty and powerlessness of workers in the late 1800s/early 1900s.
The pushback from the left created unions and better conditions for workers, which I consider on the whole good things.
There really is no true, full capitalism these days. All countries, including the US, are mixtures of capitalism and socialism.
Where the magic proportion of one and the other is in that mixture IMO is the question.
Of course today’s left has made everything an oppressor vs oppressed binary. Hating the rich is a vestigial part of that.
I’m fond of spiders and never hurt them. I admit that if they’re more than about 1/2 inch long, I’m slightly reluctant to let them crawl on me, but I’m happy to have them nearby.
So let’s see now.
Any billionaires funding the Democrats / Dem socialists / Antifa / BLM?