Recent Comments

1. about 4 hours ago on John Deering

   I have one possible answer for that question. It’s been a while since ’65, so ari might not remember the event/protest/demonstrations.

   According to the official SCOTUS history site, the big Warren splash happened at the 500 Speedway here in India… ( … er… sorry. That’s Speedway, Indiana) where race goers were confronted with a billboard calling for Warren’s impeachment. Months previously, similar billboards had appeared some Southern states. One Robert Welch founded the JBS in late 1958 in — wait for it — Indianapolis, Indiana, where it waxed strong for a few decades and then faded. Welch, who croaked in ’85 was life-long right-winger who believed that anyone to the left of Hitler was a communist — which, naturally meant that Welch was synonymous with other card-carrying Nazis. This, of course, appealed to the other right-wingers, racists, male chauvinists, Jew and Catholic haters[#], all manner of other political and social liberals, etc., etc,. in US society. (They even campaigned against water fluoridation, a la Gen’l Jack Ripper, because [/s] it was a “communist plot” to corrupt our precious bodily fluids.) In ’91 the HQ moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, the birthplace of “Tailgunner” Joe McCarthy.

   [#] Its doubly ironic that the outfit’s namesake, John Birch, was a Baptist who served with some distinction during WW2 in the Pacific theater. Birch was killed by Chinese communists in August ‘45 while on OSS assignment in northern China. His remains were recovered, and Birch was given a (be still my quaking heart!) Catholic burial with military honors. Birch was sure that Mao was intent on taking over China, making it a Communist state, and then invading Korea. This was prescient on his part, wasn’t it? It brings to mind Patton’s warning in ’45 about future troubles with the USSR/Russia, an issue that it seems Patton predicted 80 years ago.

2. about 8 hours ago on Michael Ramirez

   re: " … they are on products the U.S. does not import from China."

   (COW)BOY HOWDY!! You sure got that wrong. The US imports most of its solar panels from China, or from other countries that make and export panels using Chinese sourced materials. In case you missed it that’s a LOT of solar panels, fully 3/4ths of the panels used in the US. Now, unlike the Trumpery tariffs, which tacked tariffs onto ALL imported Chinese goods#, Biden’s tariffs are limited to products which US manufacturers want in place so that, one hopes, domestic production is stimulated (which is the only valid reason for any tariffs.)

   (#) The US imports a lot of stuff from China because that’s what businesses (and by extension due to lower prices, consumers) want.

   Ergo the Business motto and Chinese response:

   Businesses: “We want cheap.”

   Chinese response: “You want cheap? We make cheap. How cheap you want?”

   Moral: Trumpery’s tariff policy makes everything costlier for consumers while US business practices won’t allow the more expensive — to them — increase in domestic production. It’s far easier to pass along the higher costs than to make it here — what with all those wage and benefit minimums, and OSHA requirements, and EPA rules, and pesky labor unions that support the workforce. Biden’s tariff policy will make some things more expensive with the goal of increasing domestic production of those things.

3. about 9 hours ago on Mike Luckovich

   If convicted the verdict will be appealed.

   (I almost typo-ed “appalled” instead of “appealed.” Come to think of it, there isn’t much difference, is there?)

4. about 9 hours ago on Learn to Speak Cat

   Lid open, if that helps.

5. about 9 hours ago on Herman

   Color TV’s had 2nd anode voltages of up to 20kV. About 60 years ago, while standing on a concrete floor, I got cross-ways of ONE terminal of a 15kV neon transformer# I was fooling with. The floor through my leather soled shoes served as the ground return path . I only did that one time. I still a faint scar on my hand from the arc burn. Generally speaking, shocks through one’s body from DC are less dangerous than AC under similar conditions. The DC can cause one’s heart to “clamp down” but the AC can initial fibrillation. Not to be neglected is the fact that loss of muscle control is common, too. That is, if one’s holding a tool, such as a pair of pliers, that contacts a high voltage source, one might not be able to release one’s grip. Current flow through one’s body of 2 or 3 ma. is painful, anything above, say 15 or 20 ma. is very dangerous, I think. Ironically, higher current levels, seem to be less dangerous if the shock is brief. GFCI’s have a trip current maximum of 5-6 ma., and that, I can tell you is VERY painful. Wet skin and large areas of contact both augment the hazards substantially, too. It’s the current flow that kills; static electricity and discharges from (modest sized) Tesla coils are uncomfortable, but the small available currents render them less dangerous. Also high frequency shocks (as from a Tesla coil) are less dangerous because the current flows on the skin surface rather than through one’s body, where the electrical resistance is much lower. The spasm resulting from a minor shock (even static electricity) can still kill one, if the result is, say a fall from a 20 ft. ladder.

   (#) Neon transformers are designed to supply a maximum amount of current, typically 15-30 ma. The higher the load resistance, the higher the voltage, and some transformers may be impedance protected — they can be short circuited indefinitely. The shock I got was at about 7500 volts, 1/2 the full voltage due to the center tapped secondary winding.
6. about 11 hours ago on John Deering

   Yes! Garland. That was a major brain fart, wasn’t it!#

   (#) Or, as my Uncle Ezra might put it: “Boy, ‘at ’n ’air’s purt near a blunder-MIStake wud’n it?”
7. about 15 hours ago on John Deering

   Gorsuch may or may not have been confirmed. He should have at least been nominated and voted on. Moscow Mitch prevented both events. Trump was a minority president* representing a minority of the electorate, yet he and Moscow Mitch jammed through the nominations of 3 right-wing ideologues to SCOTUS.

8. about 16 hours ago on Bill Bramhall

   Tariffs are a fallback position when a nation doesn’t, or can’t, produce the things that it imports and can’t export the things it makes.

9. about 16 hours ago on Clay Bennett

   I’ve voted against a lot of pols, too. But I have also voted FOR a lot of pols who were defeated (voting for losers is a Democrat’s pastime here in Indiana), as well as for a few Democrats who won — even here in Indiana. The latter category, winning Democrats, is unassailable evidence for just how bad some GOP pols are here in the Hoosier State.

10. about 16 hours ago on Arlo and Janis

    Kim Simmons (member of Savoy Brown) exploited the same play on the word “progress” on a cut (Hernando’s Hideaway?) on the “A Step Further” album.