C19 Open Discussion Week 17b

Posted on July 8, 2020 by grim

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339 Responses to C19 Open Discussion Week 17b

Chicago says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:14 am

Frist
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:24 am

Visualization of the Covid-19 strains in North America, It’s definitely mutated, but to be less lethal? No clue.

https://nextstrain.org/ncov/north-america?c=division&f_region=North%20America&r=division
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:33 am

Quarantine LBI? How about keep people from NY out of New Jersey already.

Wait until Governor Murphy sees this.

http://newjersey.news12.com/story/42344486/ship-bottom-restaurant-closes-following-covid19-exposure
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:36 am

Juice

Sounds good to me. Ban da bennies
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:57 am

Wasn’t Cuomo complaining when Rhode Island was looking for New Yorkers in March or April?

https://www.yahoo.com/money/new-york-new-jersey-and-connecticut-expand-coronavirus-travel-restrictions-191457253.html
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:07 am

Packed rental houses at the shore, no problem. Multiple friends/families crammed in. Whocouldaknowed?
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:19 am

Joys of home ownership, my 2nd floor zone AC is done. I had it recharged with R-22 and replaced the schrader valve, only lasted a few days before it leaked again so compressor is the culprit. I have had this 14 year old builder grade compressor recharged twice in 8 years and I replaced the fan and capacitors myself once, so it’s done for sure and I am not sad to see it go as it was quite noisy when it worked as it did not have a good sound deadening blanket.

Three quotes all came in within $300 of each other.

Lennox uses only aluminum coils these days no more copper, less oxidation they say a to handle the higher pressure of the newer R-410A refrigerant.

Lennox dealer offered me 24 months zero financing thru Home Depot, 10 year parts and three year labor. I went with that one it was the highest but they are doing a little bit more work, new thermostat, and they will file and pay for the permit too so worth the little bit extra. I will have to wait 3 weeks for install as they are super busy.

For now I picked up a portable A/C, it does the job well so far, and I can use it later in my man cave shed if I ever get that project started.
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:36 am

Grim

If only someone had warned them. Definitely not their fault
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:18 am

I wonder if this is really needed? Any way of getting an answer that’s not infected with partisan bias?

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/07/nj-will-now-require-people-wear-masks-outside-to-battle-coronavirus-murphy-says.html
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:22 am

“Impetuous boy! ah well, who wants to live forever?
Prince Vultan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5HfDIwNI8w
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:25 am

Japanese are way ahead of the game once again, just like the quality of their vehicles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8-5H53zxXE
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:35 am

How would one go about bringing a law-suit against a school district?

I am reading up on Abbott v Burke and all the subsequent Abbott rulings. I admit a strong bias, that the closure of schools in Spring 2020 was a violation of the children’s rights. I also argue that a continued closure of schools in Fall 2020 will be a continuation of the violation.

As of yesterday, the existence of public education has somehow become a political issue. The Trump administration is signaling that they will “pressure the governors” to open schools. That likely takes the form of pulling funding that is provided by the federal government.

My question is on the state level – Is it legally accurate to expect that the school taxes paid by a resident would require that the school provide adequate service? Not looking for a political discussion, I am interested in what the law says (or does not say). I know we have some teachers here, interested in your understanding.

It seems obvious to me that the NJEA is not comfortable with a full re-opening. They can very easily tell their membership to strike if they feel the working conditions are not safe. I think ultimately that is a losing proposition but when has that ever stopped anyone?

Anyone have some legal references that I can learn from?
Chicago says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:36 am

Pumpkin finally totally loses his shit.

https://nypost.com/2020/07/08/marshals-swat-team-in-standoff-with-gunman-in-new-jersey/
crushednjmillenial says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:36 am

Juice . . . how much were the three quotes?

What is the approximate square footage of your second-floor AC zone? How do you feel about Lennox versus Carrier?

I ask because my parents’ house needs a new A/C for one of their zones (or maybe it might be possible to repair). They have been doing ok by just leaving a different zone running and then placing a $20 fan from target in the zone that does not currently have A/C, but it will need to be fixed sooner or later.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:52 am

“How would one go about bringing a law-suit against a school district?”

Ask a school employee, they are better than anyone else at doing it.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:58 am

Homeboken, I’m thinking the opposite way. Forcing kids to be in schools that are demonstrably not safe yet is the really danger. Schools have neither funding nor staff to keep things clean enough, right?

Honestly I’m leaning towards making in-person attendance optional for the next school year. If you’re ok with the risk, sure go to school, and if you’re more risk averse we should accommodate for this as well.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:03 am

Homeboken,
Per your response the other day, most likely not. But I didn’t think so either-when you are in the soup things get distorted.
But if you ever want to just pm me for details. Or if you contact Stu he has my number.
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:11 am

AP – Personal choice has kind of always been an option? You always have the option to home-school your kid.

You also say “schools are demonstrably not safe” as if it is a fact. That is not a fact. That is an opinion.

I can safe – “Schools are the safest place on the planet” Does that make it true?

The point is – I anticipate that the NJEA is going to take control of this situation via their lobbying efforts and influence over their membership. If the schools were to offer each family the choice to attend or not attend, then I would be satisfied.

The rubber meets the road when the NJEA recognizes that a majority of parents WILL opt to send their kids to school, which will force their members to work.

Again, not an argument on saftey conditions or policies that need to be implemented. To me, the goal must be, in-person schooling, full-time for all students. Then work backwards from that.

I fear the NJEA goal is – “Keep students out of the schools” and then making whatever concessions they need to keep themselves out of a lawsuit. I do reject the idea that virtual or distance learning is acceptable. I have 3 kids in elementary school and my personal experience, is that the distance learning is a joke. There are zero standards or consistency. My claim is that many students are receiving education at a greater quality than others. Disproportionately having a negative impact on lower-income and minority students.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:15 am

“If the schools were to offer each family the choice to attend or not attend, then I would be satisfied.”

I agree, but with one caveat.
Family has to sign a disclosure freeing the district of a potential lawsuit.
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:17 am

Crushed – you will pay $5k for new coil and compressor with install give or take a few hundred. That is the going rate in NJ, you might be able to flush out a lower price but the equipment matters. It may only be 5 yrs vs 10 warranty, efficiency rating, quality vendor. Labor is usually the same regardless of size of the unit, unless you have family or friend in the business who will cut you a break. I prefer a break in price but my guy ( high school friend) was not coming to my place as he was too busy in North Jersey and was not giving me much of a price break (probably because my mother gave him hell and did not use him to replace her 45 yr old central A/C last year) so I went with the bigger company with the better warranty, financing, permits, etc.

For my second zone it’s 2 ton covers about 1200 sq ft. I have a 4 ton downstairs that cools most of the house, very cold no real dead zones for the A/C.

The only real difference in my opinion is the the bottom models, builder grade vs the mid-range. The high end ones with wifi etc aren’t worth it really if you go with nest or other home automation as the thermostat controlling it has not changed. Your mileage will vary but the newer equipment is generally higher pressure and more efficient and will be quieter as they all now put on sound deadening jacket except for the builder grade. Unfortunately the ratings system has changed, but as a rule the variable speed systems have a higher SEER and are more efficient. As we don’t live in Arizona you won’t run it all year and won’t realize the savings advertised.
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:18 am

Phoenix – I would sign that form in a NY minute, so long as it is limited to COVID only.
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:37 am

homeboken – Busy bodies in my town are ready with the torches and pitchforks over in-person learning but the Board of Ed is only meeting on Zoom, easy to mute somebody right? The survey questions were loaded up so there was there was NO ability to select full time in-person learning as a preference. It was some or none!

Best I heard heard is their advisory board has the school nurse on it. Heck they forgot to add the janitor who won’t have to do much either if school is not in-person.

I fully expect there won’t be full time in-person learning this fall and I fully expect to pay full price for it. How about a municipal tax break and layoffs? NOPE that only happens in other states.

As far as legal reasoning, as long as the Governor is King there is nothing to do until the King is overthrown in court or voted out of office. Both are long road.

Executive order 104.

“. All public, private, and parochial preschool program
premises, and elementary and secondary schools, including charter and
renaissance schools, shall be closed to students beginning on
Wednesday, March 18, 2020, and shall remain closed as long as this
Order remains in effect.”

“5. The Commissioner of DOE shall continue working with each
public school district, and private and parochial schools as
appropriate, to ensure that students are able to continue their
educations during this time period through appropriate home
instruction. Local school districts, charter schools, and
renaissance schools, in consultation with the Commissioner of DOE,
shall have the authority and discretion to determine home instruction
arrangements as appropriate on a case-by-case basis to ensure all
students are provided with appropriate home instruction, taking into
account all relevant constitutional and statutory obligations. “
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:57 am

This whole renaming is all the rage today….Tweets and stories about changing of names of buildings,schools, cities towns and streets sounds familiar. Remove Jefferson, Washington, York, Columbus etc.

History Rhymes the city of Tsaritsyn was was renamed to Stalingrad and then 40 years later renamed again to Volgograd when the next generation came in and wanted to remove the “cult of personality” as they called it then.

Remind’s me of these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:05 am

I’m at a graduation today. Pretty much every teacher I’ve talked to wants to go back to work. None of them are in the at risk population though.

Our district is allowing leave of absences.
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:13 am

Picked up a prescription last night.

No insurance $154
With our insurance $108
Using only the app goodrx. $17.69

Libturd would have been proud of me. Originally had it going to CVS because they have a drive thru pick up. They wanted $110. Was still $42 with goodrx. I thought that was bs. I remembered kroger also has a drive thru pharmacy so I checked goodrx and saw it was $17.69. I called kroger and had it transferred over. Would have been $108 at kroger with insurance.

And I used teledoc phone call with no copay.
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:14 am

Grim I’m in moderation
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:15 am

“Best I heard heard is their advisory board has the school nurse on it. Heck they forgot to add the janitor who won’t have to do much either if school is not in-person.”

And the school resource officer…
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:31 am

Homeboken, I stand by the factual content of my statement. It is not an opinion to say that community spread is real. It is not an opinion to say that schools have no plan or resources to deal with the problem.

I share your view that two options are better than one in this case.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:49 am

Juice, that phenomenon has been going on for literally thousands of years.
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:01 pm

AP – I guess I incorrectly assumed that your statement that schools are “demonstrably not safe” was in reference to students/staff dying from Covid-19. My apologies if my assumptions are wrong.

If you would indulge me, what did you mean by “demonstrably unsafe”?
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:12 pm

Schools are germ pits. Staff usually have the most developed immune systems. There are other countries that ran school or are doing it. We have some data on how feasible it is.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:16 pm

One teacher can teach 100 kids distance learning.

I don’t see why I should have to continue to paying teachers to the extent we need to for in-person education. I think we can furlough at least half the teachers.
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:20 pm

“The Police have an agenda. It would not surprise me if they are purposely not responding to crime. I mean, it’s not like they don’t have a bone to pick here.”

They shouldn’t respond promptly. Absolutely slow walk it. You want “defunding”? Here you go….

Active shooter uptown, four down? Send a car from a downtown precinct. No lights. On the avenues, not the FDR. There you go, m’fcukers. Enjoy.

Disclaimer/reminder: It is difficult to find, for reasons I’ve shared previously, a 50+ year old white suburban male with a more visceral dislike of local police than me. And I support them in this foolishness.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:20 pm

Based on what happened during the end of the school year, they are just pushing out standard curriculum with zero personalization.

So what’s the point.

1:200 might be even better if all we’re going to do next year is push out Google Classroom assignments.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:21 pm

Home, it’s very simple, it’s unsafe because community spread is real and growing. There is no vaccine. There are no protections in place, not even enough Clorox Wipes. Ask your local school district if they have the spare cash to augment their cleaning regime significantly. I live in Haughtyville and we don’t.
Walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:42 pm

Ap – just make teachers essential workers, problem solved.

As for the kids dieing from covid, a child probably has a better chance of being shot in school.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Walking, yes but they can bring it home and infect vulnerable grandparents for example, right?
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:48 pm

I just realized your comment re kids dying wasn’t about my post. My bad! : )
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:48 pm

AP – When would you feel comfortable re-opening the school? If your measure is the rate of community spread, then have you thought about what level of spread would be safe, in your opinion?

I am not being snarky. I am involved with the reopening plan in my district. I hear your school of thought from some. As long as there is spread, then it’s not safe. I hear from others that there is little concern for positive cases, so long as the death rate continues to fall. The herd immunity argument.

There is no great option present but what I gather from parents I speak to and via survey results is that we must start moving the ball forward regarding school openings. The idea that we extend the same distance learning plan that was put in place starting March 2020 into the next school year is a very small minority position, among parents.

Teachers and administrators have a different risk tolerance. That is being considered as well.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:56 pm

Thanks for that response, Home. I think we will need two modes of attending for a while. Ultimately family composition, risk profile, work demands, are too heterogeneous for a “one size fits all” solution.

Good luck in your town. I’m not sure you involved in BOE in my town but am in the loop and it’s really tough.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 12:57 pm

Typo: meant to say “I’m not directly involved in BOE…”
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:04 pm

Leftwing, what you propose above is blackmail.
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Some Florida counties ICUs at capacity already

https://nypost.com/2020/07/07/icus-in-florida-reach-capacity-as-coronavirus-cases-skyrocket/
Walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:19 pm

Also regarding opening schools vs stay at home. Dr fauci is pushing schools to open, stating the harm to kids from staying at home is greater vs going to school. I would need to dig into what he meant by greater harm, as it was a news blip and could be taken out of context.
Democratnomore says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:19 pm

“Disproportionately having a negative impact on lower-income and minority students.”

Hmmm

I am Puerto Rican, making my kids ½ Puerto Rican. My excellent father arrived in the Midwest in the 50’s and never once, never, took a food stamp or a welfare check. He worked his ass off, he made a comfortable home for his family, he often worked two jobs. (I understand that is not so easily done today but that is what we should be talking more about….the economy and how to fix the fact that the industrial job that rose my father from abject poverty to home ownership in a matter of years no longer exist.) He paid for my Catholic school, bought me a car when I was 17 ,paid for my college education (in the 80’s so much cheaper)and paid for most of my wedding to boot.

I agree that distance learning is not ideal for kids because of the lack of social interaction and lack of instruction (My son’s HS math class turned into a 15 minute video) but in no way is it especially hard on my son because he is a minority. Yikes.

I have an undergraduate degree and my husband has a PhD. We have super fast WiFi and all of the computer equipment we need and disposable income for books and tutors if required.

This is the problem in this country….we want to make everything about race. It is not.
I had terrible things happen to me when I was a kid because I was Puerto Rican. On the other hand, I grew up in a financially secure environment in an immaculately clean home and Catholic schools. Public schools in the city were terrible.
Apropos of nothing , the black kids were just as terrible to me as the white kids were.
Some things are about how much money you have, period. My child ended up doing better scholastically learning from home because he learns better from reading than listening and because my other child (now home from college) can tutor him in math and physics. Even so, I believe physically going to school would be better for my child’s overall wellbeing and happiness.
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:24 pm

The governor totally punted to the local school boards decide if they need to reopen, he mandated they close but never mandated they open.

State DOE punts to State Heath Dept and they punt to the Feds, where somebody says they must social distance is a 250 sq ft classroom. It’s going to be a complete disaster come Sept. There could be zero cases of any child below 18 and they still won’t reopen. Currently there were only 3,663 cases of children ages 5-17 out of 174,039 confirmed cases in NJ, so that whole kids might be Covid-19 super spreaders is baloney.
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:33 pm

“But as much as you hate fake news and feel the media is what killed the Right and not their actions. ”

Media kill the Right? They are the best thing that has happened. Recall, I am of and have spent during the last three months substantial time in flyover country. Including five days in a very important toss-up state last week…Anyone with an opinion that does not align with BLM feels permanently silenced. They are resentful. Tucker Carlson is now mainstream. I’ll let you know more, will be spending a few nights with some Ohioan millennials in two weekends…Lib, respectfully, you live in one of the most concentrated blue bubbles in America. It’s shading your view.

Even Lefties realize it, and are taking action…..

“folks ranging from David Brooks all the way to Noam Chomsky, and many other writers, join up and sign an open letter calling for open debate…resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting.”
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:37 pm

Home, it’s very simple, it’s unsafe because community spread is real and growing. There is no vaccine. There are no protections in place, not even enough Clorox Wipes.

This is an absurd argument. You need to get real. There are plenty of us, teachers included, willing to accept the minimal risk associated.

Stay in a bubble till the end of days.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:37 pm

I want to open up the schools too. Want the kids to enjoy the best social years of their life. That’s my position.

That’s why I don’t understand why so much hatred for college. It’s one of the best social experiences of your life, it’s a shame to not experience it. Unfortunately, some people have a little too much fun and fail out.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:41 pm

Grim,
If that’s the case, then let’s outsource all of those jobs to the Philippines and be done with it. We don’t seem to have a problem doing it with other careers now do we?
Then while we are at it fire half the police and put up traffic cameras.
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:41 pm

Have the administrators I know got their masters at an online college. If it’s good enough for the automatic increase in wage, then it should be good enough for the kids.

My older son’s day camp will be a good proxy for whether or not school will work. I told him that by week 4, I bet the camp closes with it’s first case of Covid. We’ll see. Judging by how 90% of the 14-29 year-old crowd is behaving, I bet I’m right.

Listen. D, my autistic son, has been doing remote learning non-stop since mid March. His school costs $135K a year, therefore the learning is excellent. Probably close to how good it was in person due to the lack of interruptions that occurred in his learning center. My first-grader, with some serious learning disabilities (he has no fine motor ability) spends 90% of his day online with his teachers without any supervision from us. If there’s a will, there’s a way. There is no will. American’s are lazy as fukc. Especially our public workers, with their union protections.

Schools will be online in the fall. You can bet me on it. What would be nice, would be if teachers actually spent all of their now free time working on making it interactive instead of lecturing in Google Meet. Nah, they’ll get paid either way. AND DON’T FUKC WITH MY PENSION!
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:46 pm

I can’t wait to see the “post Covid” health insurance premiums. Bet they jack up the consumers real hard.

Those on Medicare that suck up the most resources just pass on the bill to the taxpayers so why should they care. Get on a vent bet the bill is close to 1M.
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:48 pm

“Rapper Kanye West signaled he no longer supports U.S. President Donald Trump and said he had entered the presidential race to win it, in an interview published on Wednesday.”

Best thing that could happen to Trump, provided Kanye is really serious.

Trump received 8% of black vote in 2016. Clinton took 88%.

Who gets hurt more by Kanye?

The Black vote in MI went 92% Clinton. Trump won the State by 0.3%
The Black vote in WI went 92% Clinton. Trump won the State by 1.0%
The Black vote in PA went 92% Clinton. Trump won the State by 1.2%
The Black vote in NC went 90% Clinton. Trump won the State by 3.8%
The Black vote in FL went 84% Clinton, Trump won the State by 1.2%

These numbers are infinitely better for a Trump victory than any endorsement could ever be…..
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:48 pm

Democratnomore,

We have a lot in common. I no longer support the Democrats, they lost their way. I also take the same position that the race issue is overblown. I grew up and work in the poor urban landscape. I’m 40 years old…my experience has taught me it is a class issue being misdiagnosed as a race issue. It’s the truth.

For example, I’m white, but I’m Polish. I had to educate my inner city students that I’m white. They claimed that I’m not white, I’m Polish. Why? Their experience with poor immigrant polish families that remain in that area get treated like second class citizens. So they never looked at me as privileged. They felt sorry for me. And don’t even get me started on how much abuse I had to take growing up being Polish…
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:51 pm

^^^^^to my point on Kanye…….

Bill Clinton would be barely a footnote in history and each of him and Hillbilly would still be performing minor league graft in a backwater State as opposed to being one of America’s wealthiest families but for angry Texan…..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_presidential_election
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:53 pm

Grim, I honestly don’t believe my argument or position is absurd.

I have a low risk tolerance because the reward for increasing exposure is not worth it (for me and my family).

We still go out and enjoy life, kiddo has a chance to socialize in safer environments, but all day long in an enclosed space all day with 30 other kids is not something everyone is ready for.
Stuart J Weissman says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:57 pm

Left. I am well traveled. I am also extremely good at putting my biases aside. If you knew me closely, there is nothing you can say or do that could really even bother me. I am raised from some very thick-skinned stock.

Remember, I am one of the very, very, very few who said Trump would win (and pretty early) back in 2016. I saw it coming a mile away. This time around, I see another steam train coming. It’s the Trump was the absolutely worst president in the history of the country express liner. Sure he has some really devoted supporters. But his handling of the pandemic and his absolute refusal to wear a mask (something so simple and common sensical) are his ultimate undoing. I know a lot of people in Vegas, in Reno, in Florida, in Pennsy, in Texas and in California for starters. The undecideds who voted for Trump are clearly decided. They ALL feel Trump is a moron. Most Republicans now feel hoodwinked. You can only give an idiot so many passes. He’s chicken little. Sarcasm. Easter. Taxing the Hell out of China. It’s over. Even the Supreme Court won’t play his populist games.

Love Trumps Hate every time.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 1:57 pm

Good point, lefty. Will divide the vote. Might even be a strategy employed by Kanye to help Trump. You never know.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:01 pm

Leftwing, of course these numbers are good for the incumbent. Not like the two of them had a previous relationship and could have planned this. Spoiler candidate, but fair game.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:01 pm

Will this make America great again?

I know people don’t like govt workers, but should we really advocate for the elimination of more middle class jobs?

Phoenix says:
July 8, 2020 at 1:41 pm
Grim,
If that’s the case, then let’s outsource all of those jobs to the Philippines and be done with it. We don’t seem to have a problem doing it with other careers now do we?
Then while we are at it fire half the police and put up traffic cameras.
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:01 pm

Kanye? He’s the black man even black people hate. Who cares. He might have a bigger ego than Trump himself. If that is even possible.

Clutchin’ at straws now.

Just wait until this market rolls over (states running at 50% revenue).
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:03 pm

Kanye is not running! Morons!
1987 Condo says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:04 pm

Lib, I think the teachers are going to be told what to do by the administrators and/or the local BOE in the town. I think many will let the parent decide if they want to send the kids in or go remote on an individual basis.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:11 pm

Lib, of course this is 90% publicity stunt. But the margin in some places was razor thin, so it does spoil and of course it is intentional. He’s not going to be on the ballot anywhere though so I see your point.

It’s about deflecting the conversation/narrative of Democrat progress and he could be successful in some corners. If he gets people to not show up to the polls then it’s effective.

Kanye is actually well liked. A lot. His ties to the community appear solid, although he’s often chastised for his statements.
MidSize SUV says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:13 pm

Mid-Size SUV recos? Safety and reliability most important. TY

PS, Carrier no good. Don’t last. Lennox or Trane.
ExEssex says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:15 pm

We need f’ing kAnYe in the WH like I need a third nut.
ExEssex says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:19 pm

My guess is that teachers will be asked to be at school “more” than the work from home piece that is in place now. I’m thinking they have to clean the heck out of their rooms. Custodians in my old district didn’t “wipe desks/tables” no lie.

Kids will come in just a couple of days in week and in muuuuch
Smaller groups. My kid said it best. I think i’d Like the interaction but then I think ‘my bed’ is pretty cozy’. I laughed. She’s still deciding.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:21 pm

I take that Kanye is considered in the Black community similarly to how Elon Musk is elsewhere. Eccentric, reprehensible at times, but “on to something” to many/most and “a genius” to some.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:32 pm

There is no traffic camera work being done in the US, it’s all offshore today.
Walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:33 pm

Suv recommendation, I’ll throw out I bought my first honda accord, a 2018. Not an suv, but the materials used in hondas is very cheap and the layout illogical. Don’t mean to upset the honda fans. My 2008 Saturn has better seats and was better materials.
I would look at the Mazda cx-5 . Though in stop and go traffic you get a weird studder from the tranny. If your commute is not parkway stop and go traffic get it. Otherwise once you realize the slight shutter stutter at stop and go it will drive you nuts.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:33 pm

There are actually very, very few people involved in the process. It’s all AI recognition for license plates and vehicle makes/models. The only time people are involved is when the AI confidence is low, and the person trains the AI model by giving it the correct answer. The AI won’t make a mistake a second time.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:38 pm

I have a low risk tolerance because the reward for increasing exposure is not worth it (for me and my family).

We still go out and enjoy life, kiddo has a chance to socialize in safer environments, but all day long in an enclosed space all day with 30 other kids is not something everyone is ready for.

So stay home. Why do you feel you need to make the decision for me?
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:40 pm

The CX-5 is the best choice when it comes to bang for the buck and reliability. Honda and Toyota have priced their SUVs too high besides the CRV which will be too small. People love the Rogue, but I didn’t like it at all. Gator’s 2012 CX-9 has it’s first repair at 95K. New muffler and exhaust. Otherwise, perfect.
Democratnomore says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:42 pm

The way you describe the at home learning is not what happened in our district. The math teacher recorded her lesson (15 minutes long )daily. The social science teachers assigned reading and essays however only met ‘live’ once or maybe twice a week. All of these essays were due by midnight. There was very little synchronous learning and it was not the equivalent to in school learning by any measure. They also used the crappiest service when they did actually virtually meet.

This was fine for my kid because he is in HS already, has access to tremendous resources at home and is self motivated and. The way they did this in our district will be a disaster for most kids.
_____
Oh…Kanye as a protest vote is starting to look good. Where is a Ross Perot when you need one?
Somerset says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:43 pm

Lurker from Somerset County here.

To chime in on the school issue, in our town we caught wind that they would be sending a survey, and hundreds of parents emailed the board of ed pressuring them to make sure that full-time school was an option.

The effort succeeded, and those same parents have overwhelmingly voted to make that the primary option, but at this point what will actually happen is anybody’s guess.

Those of us that want our kids back in school are hoping that the main option offered is either full time at school or full time at home with no option to go back and forth. Parents who worry about their kid’s and families’ safety can continue with learning from home, thus reducing the number of kids in the classrooms for the parents who want their kids back at school full-time. Win-win.

Parents of elementary-aged kids in this area want kids to go back to school. Google classroom is a joke, with the instruction having zero standards and a completely mixed bag from teacher to teacher. The younger teachers seem to embrace and put creative thought into their curriculum online, while the older less tech-savvy, are basically treating this like a paid vacation and putting in minimal effort.

It’s our hope that they will be back in full-time school come the fall, but given how politicized and blown out of proportion this whole event has become it’s likely it’ll be some compromised unworkable mess.
Walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:45 pm

Lib, I’ll never understand why gm killed the Saturn. The stainless exhaust lasted for 250k, 18 years. It needed new supports at that point when it was given away to family.

I agree with cx-5. Very nice suv. It’s just that low speed stutter that could drive you nuts. Mazda said it’s normal.
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:48 pm

It’s pretty amazing how many Saturns are still on the road and in near perfect condition. I was thinking about that the other day.
3b says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:53 pm

I bought a Rogue for my wife two years ago. It’s great! I am still riding around in my 2001 Lexus RX 300. 200k miles and she is still going. Would not take it on a long trip, but for bumming around it’s great. I would like a small pick up after the Lexus goes. I like the Nissan Frontier.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 2:54 pm

I’m going to start paying a PhD grad student in India to do my daughters second grade schoolwork for next year.’

I’ll get her a full ride by the time she’s a teenager.
D-FENS says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:03 pm

This is NJ. If you are thinking of intelligent ways of cost savings you are kidding yourself. Teachers Union will bitch to their legislator cucks once homeschooling becomes more popular and get them to ban it.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:09 pm

Grim, not sure where I said anything about deciding for others. I said multiple times that both options should be offered, right?

Your risk profile matches and benefits from attending in person? There are teachers willing to do it? By all means, do it.

If you don’t have a need or have an inclination to attend in person, let’s accommodate that as well. Should be doable.
D-FENS says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:20 pm

Newer Nissans are crap. I was a diehard Nissan guy for years. Had a pathfinder, an xterra and a D21 4 cylinder pickup. Put 250k miles on a Frontier pickup. The new stuff is garbage. Loaded with Renault parts. The Pathfinder I bought for my wife was constantly in for recalls and repairs. Almost had the Pathfinder paid off and just gave up and traded it in for a Durango. I know the reliability reputation Dodge has but it actually is a cool SUV. I dig it so far.
3b says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:23 pm

Defens what would you recommend on pickup?
D-FENS says:

July 8, 2020 at 3:56 pm

First off, there is no such thing as a small pickup anymore. Once you come to terms with that, you can’t go wrong with a F150
BoomerRemover says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:03 pm

SUV,
I’m not sure a CX-5 is a medium sized SUV. Have any of you tried to fit a rear facing child seat into a CX-5? A CX-5 is a compact CUV.

I’m in the same boat, my $170 lease on my ’18 Equinox is up and I just got my third extension. The car has been fantastic. The rear seat leg room and hip and shoulder width is orders more roomier than a CX-5. A lot of features, intuitive touch infotainment and I happen to like the looks.

In the true compact category viable choices include: CX5.
On the roomier end of the compact territory you have the Equinox, RAV4, CRV, and the RDX. The Nissan is a non starter and do you really want a CVT?. There’s the Tiguan, but that third row isn’t really usable for adults.
In the true medium SUV category you will find the Ford Edge, CX9, and Santa Fe.

I was thinking about an Equinox at around $16K as the family beater but the Edge is so much more car for incrementally more money.

I can’t find another $0 down true drive off $170 lease on a small CUV. (leasehackr dot com).
zapaza19 says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:08 pm

On my 29th year with original twin Trane XL1200 units. Just had a Trane certified shop service these units and they are still operating at correct Superheat readings. Also tested the temperature deltas at the registers and they show readings about 16-18 degrees difference. Standard for the course. Only true down time on any of these units were due to 1) Sump heater going bad ($200 charge) on unit 1, 2) sump heater going bad on unit 2 following year. After seeing the first get replaced I did that job myself for the price of the part – $20 3) Evaporator fan motors failed after a dozen years or so. I swapped each out myself at 2 x $200, 4) a condenser fan failed after 25 years, swapped out for $225.
Each time a component failed, I replaced the capacitors myself. This is very important. Do it every 5 years or so. Also clean out the control box outside. Stink bugs once got in between the terminals of a switch and walla – no AC. Blew out that mess. Never needed a recharge. Still have a 30lb tank of R-22 sitting in my basement.

Nothing stops a Trane. At least those built in the nineties. They’re not as good anymore. Keeping my fingers crossed.

BTW, NJM offers a rider on catastrophic failure of HVAC components. $500 deductible. If you keep service records stating your components are in ‘good’ condition they will foot the bill. definitely worth it.
3b says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:11 pm

Defens Frontier size is what I am looking at. Don’t know much about pickups just thought it would be fun to have one, now that all the college tuitions are out the way. Would be looking for used/certified.
ExEssex says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:38 pm

I really like the Toyota’s decked out in their “off road” gear.
I know they had a subframe issue some years back, but I find these to be badass.
Ford make some gorgeous trucks though. The Raptor…. whoa.
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:40 pm

My district did a poll. We might be doing a mix of half the time in school and half the time virtual to give the kids socialization and keeping the number of kids in the building down. Each high school has over 3,000 kids and all of the middle schools have over 1,000. Flu and strep already spread easily in those buildings.

One teacher kept emailing and posting screenshots instead of links once we went virtual. Luddite LOL
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 4:46 pm

We have a pathfinder. I don’t like it. CVT transmission had to get replaced at 29,000 miles. AC went a few months after warranty ended. Was $1,000 to fix. I have much more faith in my 13 year old santa fe. Was going to ditch the pathfinder this summer and replace it with another hyundai but will wait till next summer. Don’t want to take on that expense right now.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:02 pm

I also understand many folks actually _need_ the schools to re-open.

It is a place of privilege to have both parents working from home, or otherwise not needing the child-care. Also to have a home or access to places where your child can get access to the educational resources and the at least somewhat quiet, comfortable work space they need.

I hope everyone gets exactly what they need, whatever the best for their families is, come September.
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:12 pm

AP – Didn’t you say that cops deciding to not respond to a crime in a certain neighborhood, or take the long route was black-mail?

Then you say that the teachers have to be present in order for me to have the choice of sending my kid back to school?

So cops are forced to do their agreed upon job, even if they don’t think it is safe for them personally.
But teachers can not show up to their job, if they don’t think it is safe for them personally.

This double standard was posted by you in less than 5 hours FYI.
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:12 pm

I agree they don’t make thinks like they used too. Spoke to my mom today. Her HVAC which was replaced last year was actually 50 years old.

Reminds me of that Married with Children episode where Al cannot afford A/C.
JCer says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:18 pm

I have carrier in my house, they are 12yrs old. My upstairs unit is on it’s last legs. Like juice I had to have it charged(r410a though) and then the unit was hard starting so I had to install a hard start kit to get it starting reliably, the compressor will be kaput shortly hopefully not this year, bearings are probably worn.

Frankly the quality of most of these units regardless of brand is very similar, the only big difference are the coils and the design being slightly better depending on the manufacturer. The rest is commodity components that are largely made by the same companies(copeland compressors, genteq fans and capacitors, etc), the higher efficiency you go the more proprietary it is, in NJ where you use ac maybe 4 months at most going above 16 SEER rating seems to be a waste, higher upfront cost, more costly repairs for energy savings that may or may not materialize.

Proper install and maintenance are critical to get maximum life out of these units, dirty coils kill compressors. Fundamentally there are two critical killers of cooling systems, coil leaks and compressor failure, the rest is somewhat easily fixed, the sealed system is not. If the system is miss-sized, the ducting is bad, etc you may short cycle which kills compressors. If you are buying a 14 SEER unit the labor is the majority of the cost the actual components might be a few thousand and the install about 3-4k.

Most HVAC contractors I’ve dealt with in NNJ are crooks who do shoddy work, I don’t know how much my compressors failure has to do Carrier vs. the sloppy install done here. So more important than brand be sure to find a good contractor who does neat work and properly designs the system.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:26 pm

Home, absolutely not. I was very precise, saying “are teachers willing to do it?”
JCer says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:29 pm

Juice part of it is the enviro-regs. First off old ac units use R22 which operates a lower pressure, most old systems were fixed orifice vs. having a variable txv, new coils are using thinner metal and modern compressors are built more cheaply. If they built stronger compressors and better coils those components would last longer but the increased complexity due to whats needed for efficiency means a 15-20 year old ac will not be cost effective to own too many things will break and it isn’t easy to repair them. Modern HVAC equipment is made to blow up at about 20 years, 10 years if you don’t maintain them.

It’s just like hydronic heat boilers, I have condensing boilers in my house, they are 10 years old and effectively on borrowed time at this point, my mom’s house had a circa 1975 Utica boiler, the thing was bullet proof I never remember a repair man coming and the thing is still being used. My 10 year old Utica condensing boilers are cr*p, every few years they need some expensive part, one cracked when it was 4 years old. I talked to the tech who installed them for the prior owner, he said he’d never put the high efficiency cr*p in his home, too expensive, too much to go wrong in something critical like a heating system for a few dollars in energy savings, just not worth it for our climate.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:32 pm

“TELEVISION IN CRISIS
Hollywood’s New Pandemic Protocols
Racing to figure out how to film before we run out of new shows.”

https://apple.news/ApGH9gptIQvq0JWGUzDgSlg
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:33 pm

Teachers have the option of opting for a leave of absence. It’s a personal choice. Someone will be hired to replace them for the year.

As far as student count goes, I already teach 100 kids. If you are talking about elementary, the online product was bad enough with 20 kids in teacher’s class. 100 in a class would be absolutely worthless.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:34 pm

It’s not in my temperament to force anyone to do anything against their will or self-interest.

Trust me, I sincerely wish for everyone to find an optimal, acceptable equilibrium. Teachers, cops, parents, students, protesters, etc.

Just saying that in this case one size may not fit all.
JCer says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:37 pm

From an environmental standpoint the shorter lifespan of the equipment really makes me wonder if it is better for the environment to be less efficient and have a longer lifespan. I know from the standpoint of my wallet it probably is better to have less efficient equipment.
JCer says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:40 pm

BRT as a father of young children, e-learning doesn’t work for most young kids. They don’t have the attention span and it is hard to engage them. With an individual tutor the young kids seem to do better as the teacher can directly engage with the kid, the large setting is pointless as they are just tuning the teachers out.
Andre L Pitanga says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:40 pm

Home, regarding cops choosing not to put themselves at excessive risk. I one hundred percent support that, I’d some in a professional and data-driven way, rather than as punishment against a particular area or group of people.

Many of the attitudes being contested by the protesters actually increase risk not just to the folks interacting with the police, to the cops themselves. Do you know what I mean?

I want to see every police officer go home safely every night. These reforms if properly executed (and that’s a huge if, I know) would help them do this, I believe.

That would violate the equal treatment rules that many of us hold dear.
Grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:42 pm

Seen a ton of condensing boilers needing replacement way too early.

My uncle is a plumber and he wouldn’t touch the original boiler in this place. No way he said, run it until it’s dead, but you may die first.
homeboken says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:43 pm

AP – I agree and I think we are closer in opinion here than I originally thought.

My problem is that my ability to choose what risk I am willing to tolerate goes out the window when the governor or superintendent, or cop, whomever, decides that they are the ultimate arbiter and decision maker.

If the NJEA decides it is too dangerous, then this entire school opening discussion is moot. They will instruct their membership to just not show up. Just like the police unions, if they tell cops, stand down, take only calls that you want. The system breaks down and it violates our social contract.

I pay taxes and I expect certain minimum services in exchange. Removing the service without reducing price I pay, is theft.
Grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:44 pm

His mantra was, replacing a perfectly fine low efficiency boiler with a new condensing unit means Zero ROI, never realize any cost savings.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 5:49 pm

Thanks, Home. I appreciate your response.

I would be very concerned if anyone compelled teachers to attend in person if they felt unable, unsafe or unwilling to.
Juice Box says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:06 pm

re: “shorter lifespan”

Yup planned obsolescence and other anti-consumer practices. Prevention of repairs is the newest one, when Apple started putting special 5 point screws instead of the six point Torx screws, what a PITA. I have repaired a few i-devices, I have a plethora of tools, it is a real pain when they design things this this way.

I can change a fan or capacitor and but when it comes to this stuff like brazing copper to brass it’s better to keep the warranty and let the pros do it, as if it ain’t an authorized distributor warranty is null and void..

Did you know the compressors today come pre-charged with refrigerant? Once you complete the brazing you just turn the king valve. Learned that from this old house. I did think about doing my own install but well I want the warranty and I really just don’t have time to futz with it for a day or so.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:18 pm

“I want to see every police officer go home safely every night.”

Too bad they don’t feel the same way about those that pay their salary.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:25 pm

Phoenix, a tiny minority. It’s not the feelings of individual cops as much as it’s a perverse structure they are forced to conform to.
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:25 pm

“as if it ain’t an authorized distributor warranty is null and void..”

Same with those split systems in a box you can buy. Practically plug and play-but no warranty if you do it yourself.

If global warming keeps cooking heat pumps might be able to do the job soon in NJ..
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:30 pm

“as much as it’s a perverse structure they are forced to conform to.”

Oh, those pesky things known as laws.
I get it. Like when it’s ok for them to lie to you, but not okay for you to lie to them.
And how no matter how vile what they do to you can be- don’t resist.

It’s only a few. Yeah I get it.
Statistics. Womp womp womp. Kind of like when you get told you have a rare terminal brain tumor- Grreeaaaaat. So the fact that it’s rare makes it any more pleasurable to die…
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:40 pm

Phoenix, the examples you gave like ” it’s ok for them to lie to you, but not okay for you to lie to them” are exactly the type of structure I’m talking about. Not the individual but the norms and practices, the culture.

Fresh kids 20 years old, idealistic. Wants to be a good cop and help everyone. Gets told he has an arrest quota to fill. Guess what happens next?
Phoenix says:

July 8, 2020 at 6:53 pm

Or these examples:
Women are good, men are bad. Or, better yet, must be hero to woman at all times.

Good luck changing that one..
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:07 pm

Phoenix, so you think that’s a pervasive issue in culture?Not challenging you, just curious to understand

Here’s a song to lighten up the mood. Women are Smarter, by the Grateful Dead : )

Whether fairly or unfairly, they are smarter. But h3ll has no fury…

https://youtu.be/pOJ-YEwIwZY
Walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:35 pm

Regarding boilers, if you have an old cast iron boiler keep it as long as possible. The home inspector told me I would need to think about replacing my 20 year old weil mclien boiler when I bought my house. It’s now 35 years old and I do zero in maintenance besides changing a prv, zone valve or circ pump. I looked into a high efficiency but the annual maint visit needed to maintain the warranty would kill the efficiency $ savings
Hold my beer says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:40 pm

Dallas county broke 1,000 cases again today.

The sick are getting sicker. ER visits for covid were 796, up nearly 200 from previous 24 hour cycle
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 7:56 pm

BRT as a father of young children, e-learning doesn’t work for most young kids. They don’t have the attention span and it is hard to engage them. With an individual tutor the young kids seem to do better as the teacher can directly engage with the kid, the large setting is pointless as they are just tuning the teachers out.

You are 100% right. Moreover, it doesn’t work for the bottom 50% of high school students either.
chicagofinance says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:05 pm

Hmmmm…. Briggy on the Hackey? Brigadoon? Slummit? or PRM?

AP says:
July 8, 2020 at 12:21 pm
I live in Haughtyville and we don’t.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:21 pm

Near PRM. How about you these days?
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:23 pm

Montclair is never returning to school, you have nothing to worry about.
grim says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:25 pm

Did you know the compressors today come pre-charged with refrigerant? Once you complete the brazing you just turn the king valve. Learned that from this old house. I did think about doing my own install but well I want the warranty and I really just don’t have time to futz with it for a day or so.

Yep, most mini-split units are almost plug-and-play, really good units will come with a set charge for the specific lineset length.
walking says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:44 pm

Is brigadoon -Millburn ?
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:47 pm

@GovMurphy
REMEMBER: There is no vaccine for #COVID19. There is no cure. There is no proven therapeutic.

There is only social distancing and masking. That’s it.

No proven therapeutic? How about dexamethasone, which reduces mortality for COVID patients requiring oxygen therapy and now part of NIH clinical treatment guidelines?

If you asked us, you wouldn’t have said something so wrong. Will you delete this? Look: https://covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/dexamethasone/
libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:53 pm

E-learning can work. But it takes a major effort. Let’s face it, our teachers, on average, are woefully behind on technology. Heck, my son’s graphic design class was on paste-up. No one has done paste-up since the early 90s. No one! My 9th grader worked attended school directly behind me in my office. His Columbia degree holding Bio teacher did nothing but lecture on zoom. After he asked one question of each student, you no longer had to participate. No cameras in any class were required. Of course, not a ninth in Glen Ridge does not own an iPhone. My son spent four months gaming and watching dude-approved videos from 9am to noon, while attending online school, and pulled high honors in a very challenging school system. The only teacher that really used her noggin was his Spanish teacher. Everything she did was truly interactive. Every assignment was a group assignment. There was no possible way to game while she taught her class because everyone had to answer her questions, not just one student. Now why was she so good and the rest so bad? She didn’t have tenure. Gotta love how these unions work for the taxpayer.

My autistic son has 1 on 1 attention at a minimum and sometimes 2 on 1 if not 3 on 1. His teachers are extremely motivated. All of them are extremely career oriented and have insatiable desires to learn and advance. They all run Zoom like they designed the interface. They embrace the “cloud” like it was meant to be embraced. If you asked the average high school teacher what the “cloud” is, they would probably make a toilet paper joke.

Next topic: I agree with D-Fence on the truck. F-150. The best. Sharp too, as always.

Next topic: Inefficient boilers – I have one of those ancient boilers in my current home. Thing is a work of beauty. Not only does it go and go without a hitch. It’s pretty cheap to operate and so easy to maintain. The engineering reminds me of my Weber grill. Everything is just very well engineered. Nine winters now, without a service call except for me being a blockhead once for forgetting to unclog one of the two valves on the site glass when it wasn’t starting. I was so embarrassed. I’m on my second McCain at the multi. First replacement was caused by a huge leak in the return which required too much fresh water exchanged, which quickly cracked the boiler.

Two new topics: First, the moment I shoot my mouth off about the SCOTUS not going Trump’s way, they pass a really dumb law which allows companies not to cover birth control as part of their health insurance. A really dumb decision as it will increase abortions, but ultimately shows why health insurance should not be related to employment. In the end, Christianity wins again.

The second new topic: Can anyone explain why foreign students should not be able to attend college here? Is this not pure xenophobia at it’s worst? Trump might not be Hitler, but he sure seems hell bent on using xenophobia to sell his program.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 8:53 pm

Grim, I don’t worry, I plan ;-)
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:31 pm

Lib, the foreign students thing was chilling. For anyone who values an open society, that is.
Stuart J Weissman says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:34 pm

AP,

Just trying to figure out what was gained by this decision? Anyone on the right want to posit a guess?
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 9:38 pm

Watched Cheddar News tonight. Refreshing. Very little left bias. Mainly just reporting the news. Nice.
Libturd says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:02 pm

Wanted to share.

The landscaping at my multi has become more of a jungle in places. I rented a gas pole trimmer to attack my 50 foot monster hedge, but it was way too heavy. It didn’t help that they didn’t have the shoulder strap, but it still was too much power for my needs. I started researching gas trimmers here and they are all relatively junky and overpriced. Found a crazy deal on Alli Express for a 4 stroke Honda 6 in 1 for $400 delivered. The same motor and trimmer only attachment was $700 at a local supply. The one I brought comes with everything. Even ear plugs, funnels, face shields, an extra pole length and 5 more heads including a well-built chain saw. It probably won’t arrive until September, but what a great toy this is going to be. It comes with an edger, two different weed trimmers, a hedge trimmer, a roto tiller, and one thing I’m not even sure what it does.

So psyched.
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:08 pm

E-learning can work. But it takes a major effort. Let’s face it, our teachers, on average, are woefully behind on technology. Heck, my son’s graphic design class was on paste-up. No one has done paste-up since the early 90s. No one! My 9th grader worked attended school directly behind me in my office. His Columbia degree holding Bio teacher did nothing but lecture on zoom. After he asked one question of each student, you no longer had to participate. No cameras in any class were required. Of course, not a ninth in Glen Ridge does not own an iPhone. My son spent four months gaming and watching dude-approved videos from 9am to noon, while attending online school, and pulled high honors in a very challenging school system. The only teacher that really used her noggin was his Spanish teacher. Everything she did was truly interactive. Every assignment was a group assignment. There was no possible way to game while she taught her class because everyone had to answer her questions, not just one student. Now why was she so good and the rest so bad? She didn’t have tenure. Gotta love how these unions work for the taxpayer.

Administrative decisions in most districts prevented teachers from being able to do anything effective throughout this pandemic. It was a shit show and some were better than others.
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:27 pm

“You always have the option to home-school your kid.”

I’d be doing this in a heartbeat if I still had kids K-12.

Get a few neighbors/friends together of similar backgrounds and views. Throw five-eight kids together, hire a couple teachers. Rotate houses.

Best educational experience your kids will ever have. Most efficient too.
leftwing says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:31 pm

“Leftwing, what you propose above is blackmail.” [re: cops slow walking calls]

Not a proposition nor blackmail. Just reality.

In what employment situation would it not occur? Someone screws with you so hard in your job, what are you going to do?

Maybe you guys all work in convents…Personally I wouldn’t have enough hours in a day to re-tell all the fcukery I’ve seen, both internally and externally.
JCer says:

July 8, 2020 at 10:55 pm

left, I don’t know how people haven’t noticed such things in the private sector. Demoralized teams start to mail it in, that is the human behavior 101 and it is exacerbated by being government employees….

Lib, your multi might look like that but my house looks like a jungle in south east asia. This is what I get for hiring american landscapers, my costa rican guy was good until his crew was deported, I have 2 acres it’s a nightmare.
AP says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:06 pm

Fair points, but keep in mind that many police officers actually know very well that the protesters are right on many instances. But they are powerless to even express this opinion publicly or be shunned.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 8, 2020 at 11:49 pm

America to teachers:

Educate our kids
Motivate our kids
Inspire our kids
Teach our kids remotely
Take our kids so we can work
Take on covid for our kids

Teachers: Any shot you could pay us a livable wage and generally just treat us like adults?

America: SPOILED TEACHERS!!!

https://twitter.com/amicsta/status/1280950534720061440?s=21
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 8:30 am

“…keep in mind that many police officers actually know very well that the protesters are right on many instances. But they are powerless to even express this opinion publicly or be shunned.”

Don’t disagree, but wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘in many instances’. And how is the ability to publicly critique your employer/peers and its ramifications different than any other job?

I think your position that officers would agree with ‘protestors’ has merit but mostly regarding the institution, and not in individual criminal encounters except in the most egregious of cases.

The ‘blue wall of silence’ is one example especially for younger officers. Also, institutionally, the hard chain of command exacerbated by operating in critical situations…meaning, in any other job when your senior/direct supervisor is stepping all over his own d1ck and about to blow up himself or the institution, juniors have an extended timeline and opportunity to intervene to change course. Not here.

In a violent encounter with a criminal we ask individuals to make life and death decisions in a split second with wildly imperfect information in a highly charged environment . It is a standard I could not meet. As such, I’m willing to give a wide degree of latitude to decisions made in those individual criminal encounters, as I suspect most LEO peers do.
Phoenix says:

July 9, 2020 at 8:36 am

Help me, I’m being attacked by a man in Central park. Come right away!!!

“In a violent encounter with a criminal we ask individuals to make life and death decisions in a split second with wildly imperfect information in a highly charged environment .”

A quick turn, a cell phone in your hand.

A misdemeanor……..
D-FENS says:

July 9, 2020 at 8:55 am

If you’re an SUV person…the new Ford Bronco is due out this year. Looks to compete with Jeep Wrangler. Removable top and BOF construction.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:09 am

Phoenix, not sure what your post means…..

You and I are on very much the same page having had similar experiences with the justice system, not to mention the overlay with the family situation….

Re: Central Park misdemeanor, could not agree more that the penalty does not fit the crime. I can’t imagine a worse non-violent crime than bearing false witness as it can absolutely wreck a life on a lie.

Problem is that until the law is changed it is just a very low level misdemeanor and, absent pure politics, in the paradigm of NYC’s justice system this crime ranks so far down the list there is no basis for any penalty even approaching jail time.

My ex’s lawyer blatantly lied to the Court on many occasions about material issues. Nobody cares. My own attorney advised me so. Actually as I expressed my incredulity and instructed her we needed to pursue his transgressions with the Court (given it was a lawyer doing so) I will always remember her advice. Yes, both sets of my attorneys were women.

The advice? “Let it go, nobody gives a fcuk”. From my counsel regarding what was effectively perjury by opposing counsel.
homeboken says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:18 am

Left – you had awful counsel.

AP – RE student visa – I don’t think the decision was thought of in terms of immediate positive gain, rather it seems like putting a lid on “potential” future costs.

Also – it’s essentially contract law. The student visa allows for foreign nationals to reside in this country so long as they are attending university. If they stop attending university for personal reasons, would we allow them to stay in country? It seems like the decision was made to plug a leak in the system that could (emphasis could) be a backdoor for citizens of other countries to establish residency.

I am not arguing that it was a good choice or a bad choice, it just seems that the motivation was about not allowing new immigration loopholes to widen.
homeboken says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:32 am

Libturd – Did you see the NYTimes OpEd piece yesterday? You could have been the author – Essentially saying that Biden needs to condition his participation in any debate on Trump release of tax return for 2016 and 2018. Once again, NJRERE is setting the tone for the national conversation!
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:33 am

“Left – you had awful counsel.”

Spend some time in a NJ Superior Courts….I’ve had three cases there over the last eight years….I can assure you my counsel are very solid, it is the system that is broken.

Also, side note, I am very friendly with several highly placed attorneys (including one on the panel that actually vets SC judges in a NNJ county) and very friendly with two SC judges. Friendly enough where over beers they tell me much more than their canons would likely allow. I can assure you what I and Phoenix relate here only scratches the surface of the dysfunction of the criminal justice system.
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:34 am

Supeeme Court ends it’s term today with rulings on Trump’s tax returns. Should be out within the hour.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:36 am

Also no counsel will ever bring anything against another counsel, and no judge wants to hear it.

Same as AP’s observation above about the cops being shunned….any counsel doing so would become radioactive and may as well hand over their license to practice…

Do an experiment….for sh1ts and giggles call around and try to retain an attorney to bring a claim against another attorney. You will run out of free phone minutes before you get a return call……
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:47 am

And last point on counsel, in the vein of advice to the posters here….

A good counsel is not one that pursues every legal point at any cost. To the contrary, your best attorney will keep you out of the Court room while getting you the likely outcome in the most timely and cost effective manner….

My ex- had a horrible attorney. Mindnumbingly pursued every point and started with most extreme position…she thought he was great for doing so…..

$300k in legal fees and three and half years later (second longest divorce case in our county at the time) when she got exactly what my attorney advised the case would settle for she realized her guy actually sucked.
homeboken says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:53 am

Left – fair point, admittedly, I have been very fortunate to not yet have to navigate the courts, for personal reasons anyway.

It just seemed, per your version of histroy, that your counsel was willingly allowing opposing counsel to lie in court, which was at your direct expense. Seems like an odd thing to just toss the hands up. Probably too idealistic of me.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:59 am

“It just seemed, per your version of histroy, that your counsel was willingly allowing opposing counsel to lie in court, which was at your direct expense. ”

Although mind boggling to me, especially given the standard of attorneys I dealt with through my corporate career, she was actually entirely correct.

No way in hell the judge was ever going to listen, it would have dragged out the process even longer, and in the absence of doing so I still ended up exactly where I should have.

Same as in most other ‘industries’ I suppose…..there’s the textbook teaching of how the job is done, and then there’s the real world operation. No matter how flawed we unfortunately operate in real world execution.
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:09 am

I seem thew colleges are now fighting in court in an attempt to prevent their ivy tower bubble from bursting.

F-1 visa issue is an interesting one. Case in point about 117,000 Chinese students were approved last year alone to attend college here, and the colleges are now suing because the law says if it’s online only they all must go home.

Will families from China, India, Korea, Vietnam and Japan want to really pay $50k a year for online classes?
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:14 am

Trump’s going to bust an artery….NY grand jury can get his tax returns per SCOTUS
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:15 am

Ruling pending on House lawsuit for the same…

Suspect SCOTUS is splitting the baby….give the grand jury the records, not the House…
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:26 am

Grand Jury is criminal indictments and is secret. NY state Tax Dept must not have anything on Trump if they did have a criminal referral it would have happened long ago perhaps before the 2016 election.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:26 am

Boom….House doesn’t get records
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:33 am

The NY case is very narrow….did Trump violate any laws on the payments to Cohen/Daniels on that matter…..

IIRC documents in the Cohen case indicate that payments to Daniels went through the attorney (Cohen) and may have been classified as attorneys fees or other expenses….if DJT paid moneys to Daniels and deducted them as expenses when not allowed to yeah, you’ve got some criminality there…

But, again, before everyone gets their underwear all twisted up like it or not this crime is very similar to the CP Karen misdemeanor in that it is rarely prosecuted and when it is usually results in a settlement and wrist slap. Not going to see DJT perp walked anytime soon or impeachment v2.0….
Libturd, throwing an occasional compliment when it is deserved says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:37 am

Left Wing, you said something very prophetic.

“Same as in most other ‘industries’ I suppose…..there’s the textbook teaching of how the job is done, and then there’s the real world operation. No matter how flawed we unfortunately operate in real world execution.”

This pretty much nails it on the head as to what separates the successful person from the average salary collector. Add effectively managing risk while showing a bit of entrepreneurship and you have the correct recipe to really move ahead in the private sector.

I often try to explain this to my 2%ers (average annual increase), but they seem satisfied in shunning increased responsibility.

One could probably argue that the lack of real world application is why the government is a giant ineffective turd when it comes to achieving any meaningful economies of scale.
homeboken says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:40 am

Left – wise words and all economic decisions should be double underlined at this statement. To pursue what we deem “morally” right, beyond the real world application of justice, is activism. There is a time and place for that, but I agree, not every hill is worth dying on.

“No matter how flawed we unfortunately operate in real world execution.”
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:44 am

Lib, thanks for the bone buddy….:)

And, I’m spending too much time on this blog so didn’t get around to it but wanted to reply to one of your posts where it appeared I may have offended you on your experience/travels. No such intent.
Libturd, the Master Beta says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:47 am

Trump taxes will not reveal anything illegal. Trump’s taxes will reveal how disgusting our tax laws are when it comes to how wealthy individuals hide personal profits through corporate operations. My guess is that the reason Trump hates it, is because it will make him look like he makes much less than he actually does.
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:55 am

Home,

On the international student take. I appreciate your response. Though I won’t argue with you that it will close the loophole for a few illegal immigrants to slip in. I would argue that if you can afford to pay tuition and housing here. Then I would gladly accept you (and your money) as an illegal.

There “real” motive here, is xenophobia and this is disgusting on so many levels.

If you think I’m pissed at how long it is taking my poor son’s court case to be heard. I can only imagine how the parents of THESE kids feel. Many, I’m sure have slaved to raise the money to send their kids to our schools. And you wonder why the Left sees Trump’s policies as hateful?
A Home Buyer says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:06 am

Lib,

And on the other side, with the reduction of all those cash cows maybe we’ll finally start reining in of costs for college, along with opening 117,000 spots for US citizens?

Culturally it may be a loss for both sides, But I think there are a lot of other issues to worry about than Chinese students getting an over priced education to flex their status in their own country by enforcing a law that does make sense.

If you can’t physically be here why are you getting a visa? :)
Bystander says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:06 am

“Add effectively managing risk while showing a bit of entrepreneurship and you have the correct recipe to really move ahead in the private sector.”

Lib, I agree that it probably does not take much to stand out but at same time, you really have to evaluate structure of organization and blowing winds. We had our second tech lead resign in 3 months (only 1 left). He worked India hours, US hours and generally got 4 star rating. They failed to promote him twice, just because they did not want to pay up. He is gone. I agree with him. I got 4 star rating and no raise in 2019 or 2020. JCer just got scr*wed as well. I think you have documented almost zero raises lately. I have 3 major initiatives in my world, on top of unrelenting red tape admin world. Stepping up another level for me, means having to plug holes in Pune and getting on calls at 11PM and 4AM. Will I do that knowing that they have been f*ig me and others for years..no thanks.
Phoenix says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:06 am

Left,
Phoenix, not sure what your post means…..

A false accusation with claim of threat.

An officer (I thought it was a weapon in his hand) I had to react.

(omitted: dead guy)

crime misdemeanor.
Phoenix says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:18 am

Left,
The general public thinks it’s Judge Judy. But it’s not.
The ex-parte crap-where you have no idea what your attorneys have discussed, then a judge returns and makes a comment that makes you realize they have no idea what the hell it’s all about.
How actors make accusations, professionals lie for profit or motive, and what you will need to do to defend yourself. How attorneys suggest vile tactics that no one will prosecute anyone for as its “too much work” for any of them.

How for some things-history means everything. For example, how many times you are caught speeding, or how many drug possessions you have. But when a certain person makes accusations – or steals from you- these things become “settled” and are never to be spoken about ever again in a courtroom-even though you never settled them, they did it for you by their inaction. So every time it happens again it’s like groundhog day.

Yeah left it appears we took similar paths, but my ex went one step further and it was a biggie. And the “heroes” that support the lying victims due to chivalry I can do without.

Good luck to anyone who steps foot in that arena. You will be lucky to exit with a pulse.
3b says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:29 am

Men have absolutely no rights, when it comes to divorce. My Brothers ex destroyed him financially. She was truly evil. Not to mention all the grief she caused in the family, prior to and during the divorce. After the divorce she pissed through everything. Fortunately, my Brother was able to nicely rebuild his life, but that did not include marriage. At the time he did not live in NJ, where the outcome would have been even worse.
Phoenix says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:41 am

And if you get one like I did, who somehow has a brain that locks into it’s resonant harmonic then goes into a feedback loop inside the cranium but looks attractive to the heroes in blue I wish you luck.
Grim fan another one says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:51 am

“If global warming keeps cooking heat pumps might be able to do the job soon in NJ”

I ran a split system exclusively in Somerset Cty on a small home… provoded decent heat even at several nights at 0deg F ambient.
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 12:27 pm

HoHum being home all the time with kids has it’s extra costs.

I used 3445 KHW of electricity last month, highest it’s every been. I am going to have to dial back a few things.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 12:59 pm

“The general public thinks it’s Judge Judy. But it’s not…”

Truer words never spoken.

“The ex-parte crap-where you have no idea what your attorneys have discussed, then a judge returns and makes a comment that makes you realize they have no idea what the hell it’s all about…you will need to do to defend yourself.”

Agree on the ex-parte. And should I ever need to re-enter the family court room I will represent myself. Had a customer of one of my businesses, was a divorced woman…real sh1t of an ex-husband, she hung around my office a little bit when my divorce was ongoing. She was constantly back in court, after the first go around she represented herself every time. She was an Italian working class mother, HS education, and adamant that it was the only way to go. Pro-se for her, she learned her rights and didn’t suffer foolish judges or attorneys. Sometimes if the other side throws down you need to go in there swinging, and that is done without counsel. What a fire plug she was.

“Yeah left it appears we took similar paths, but my ex went one step further and it was a biggie. And the “heroes” that support the lying victims due to chivalry I can do without.”

Can’t possibly imagine how you feel. Your situation crosses two horrific situations I experienced separately…the fiasco that is family court and a justice system that is benignly grossly negligent, and then mix in your kids….speechless, good luck, hang in there, don’t dwell on the past you can’t change, look forward….
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Well since the water parks are closed this is the next best thing.

https://www.nj.com/passaic-county/2020/07/woman-survives-being-sucked-into-drainage-system-under-nj-city-reports-say.html
ExEssex says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:39 pm

“Dumb Donnie” our first special needs POTUS.
ExEssex says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:40 pm

10:47 way too early to make that call.
Betcha they’ll find fraud galore.
Cheapturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:41 pm

“I used 3445 KHW of electricity last month, highest it’s every been. I am going to have to dial back a few things.”

Praise the window AC units. With 5 of us home (3 of us working from home, one on the iPad when not on the laptop for school and the other runt playing COD/Fortnight for 40 hours a week on a 4K gaming rig that would make NASA wink and cryptominers kvetch), we had our highest energy bill ever. 1,000 KWH! $118 for gas and $173 for electric. Our balanced billing is $260 a month. Our worst gas bill (that ancient inefficient Utica boiler) was $225.

Central air is the most expensive luxury there ever was. My bedroom is freezing like a hotel room btw. I keep it at 66 on an 8,000 BTU unit. I have only replaced one bedroom unit in the last 21 years. Gator JR has a Quasar AC unit that was already old when we found it in the multi when I first started renting back in 99. An old tenant must have left it behind. It is still kicking. I can only imagine how much energy that thing wastes. It’s tiny, but weighs a ton. It’s this one. No wonder why it cools so well.
It’s a 7,000 BTU hog. 700 watts an hour.

My 15K BTU behemoth (EnergyStar rated) which cools my entire 1st floor, only uses 1200 watts.
Bystander says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:43 pm

3b,

I had the luckiest divorce ever. My ex worked a company that filed IPO year before our divorce. She wanted to move to London to further her career and decided no kids on horizon. Things went down hill quickly from there. We had absolute money pit, dump of a home in Westfield. Her lawyer advised her to settle quickly and keep home because it was Westfield afterall. We estimated value of home and she paid out equity in settlement. This was 2008. Fast forward a dozen years and she sold home for less than we paid in 2011 and her company’s business model shattered and they never completed IPO. She saw millions coming her way in terms of shares and now she working some basic job in England. She was smart and hardworking but absolute Brooklyn psycho when it came down to it. Karma is a b&tch. Having a dumb laywer on other side really helps.
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:43 pm

And yes, I bring them inside every September.
JCer says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:44 pm

Juice, yes the power bills are crazy and the wear and tear on everything in the house is adding up. Lots of things breaking and needing repairs, ac, plumbing, electrical, toilets, and appliances are all seeing much more use than usual. Just the coffee bill is adding up. At least it is still less than the lunch bill at work! But still I thought my expenses would meaningfully go down and they haven’t. We have the cleaners coming weekly, between added utilities, repair costs, tutoring for the kid this little work from home adventure is saving me no money.

On Trump and his taxes, my father used to work for the Trumps, he designed a lot of their LLC structures. This stuff is designed to be obtuse, my suspicion is it would take another 4 years of his presidency if released to even determine what is going on. The 1000 page return of a real estate billionaire is not something easily examined, explained, broken down. I suspect Trump doesn’t want it out there because he will come under attack for it and it wouldn’t matter that the attack was invalid, the public would understand it so the Washington Post, Nytimes, CNN could use it for basically political slander. The big thing I don’t think he wants released is the carry over losses, he pays little in taxes because years ago he lost billions of dollars in the bankruptcies. People will see exactly how bad he was in business in 1991, which runs counter to his narrative.

As for the courts and Attorney’s, no offense to Attorney’s but many are really quite bad at their job, the other issue is you have judges who have a political bent. Just try to go to court against a tenant and see how much undeserved leeway the courts will give them. A good Attorney cares nothing for how it should work, the tactics employed should be about getting the other side to concede to your demands, that means you employ whatever tactics you can legally get away with. You want to get an expedient result, the legal system is a threat. Left’s ex’s-lawyer was good at billing which is seemingly the case with a lot of big law lawyers, if you want results they stink but boy can they bill. The whole point of all of that is to threaten you with extra costs and aggravation to get a better settlement. Perfect example, try to go to state tax court against your municipality the first thing they do is counter sue, it’s preposterous. I sued over the re-assessment and they filed a counter which was preposterous and the judge should not have allowed it. How can they argue the valuation is too low when they literally just set the valuation? The world operates as it does not as it should, remember the courts are part of the government and overburdened with cases they don’t want to deal with a lot of things. Unfortunately unethical behavior by lawyers is not a priority, anything you are going to bring to a judge had better be really tight. Unless it is irrefutable don’t even bother. Left is right the goal is to keep it out of the courtroom, once it goes to a judge in civil matters both parties lose.
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:47 pm

Not sure what happened to my sister in Ohio. She married a loser who never had a real job. On the other hand, she was pretty successful at marketing for medical textile companies. Not only did she end up with shared custody of the kid, but she couldn’t move without losing the kid and still has to pay alimony to her ex-husband. I always felt terrible for her.
ExEssex says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:51 pm

1:41 I’ll never forget the summer we moved to Chicago they had a heatwave.
We managed to find the last whirlpool window unit in the local Home Depot.
That thing cooled like crazy. Pretty much saved our lives! I loved that thing.
ExEssex says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:55 pm

I would never divorce my wife.
I married a freaking goddess. No lie.
The biggest challenge I face is keeping my hands
Off her during the day….it’s….a….challenge.
Scandinavian American. 5’9″….deepest blue eyes &
A mind for science. The second i met her my life changed
For the better. Knowing how the rest of the dating pool must look. Yeeesh
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:56 pm

JCer,

I hear you on things breaking. I had to replace two small corroded plastic parts in my dishwasher (the most painful $80 I ever spent because the parts could not have cost more than 25 cents to mold). Heck, we’ve gone from running the washer twice a week to every other day. I had to replace the valve in the shower as well as in my kitchen sink. Now I think my LED TV of ten years is going to need a new power supply. I also need to increase the amperage on our office circuit. A while back, I mentioned I had to replace a 3 three-year old light switch. It’s crazy what triple the use does for appliances. And on the coffee front. I am a total snob (which I think I discussed here before). A 5 pound bag of beans used to last me 6 months. Now I get 6 weeks.

The real savings we are seeing is from not eating out. Though our grocery bills have doubled. Our restaurant bill is pretty near zero. We used to spend $2,000 a month easy eating out. Now we spend 0.
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 1:57 pm

Essex,

Do those deep blue eyes work?
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:01 pm

That woman being sucked under Passaic for a mile and then being shot out into the Passaic River with only minor injuries can’t possibly be true. Especially the part about surviving after being in the Passaic River.
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:09 pm

Cheapturd – Pool pump and hot tub heater are probably 1/2 my bill. We had used only 657 KWH in March and it started to creep up in April to 869 KWH, then May to 1097 KWH then pool kicked in and hot tub and two zones of A/C and it went to 1,844 KWH in June.

My kid has a PS4 and a nice gaming rig he is on there allot, way too much but what can I do. Thankfully camp started this week and they are coming home exhausted, no electronics allowed. I run a few laptops as does my wife does for work.

I have kicked up the thermostats and dialed back the pool pump time three hours and maybe I will shut off the hot tub heater it’s been known to burn a Benjamin a month by itself.
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:15 pm

Libturd

What coffee are you using? I recently got a bag of kauai medium roast beans and think its great.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:39 pm

Busy day at work today, but I’ve been enjoy reading everyone’s comments during breaks.

Re coffee that 10 pound bag of Cuban whole bean from Costco is a great deal and quality stuff
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:42 pm

Kona mountain peaberry coffee. Last I checked, it was 50 bucks a pound and worth every cent.
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:48 pm

Btw, one of the things I do in the summer is take all the coffee grinds that I’ve used and keep them in a plastic container in the freezer. At the end of the week, I take them and put them in a french press and just let it cold brew in the fridge. I literally squeeze every last ounce of coffee out of the grinds. After that, I compost them in the garden.
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:49 pm

BRT

Mine’s the same brand. Was $32 for 1.5 pounds. I also like their mocha macadamia one too.
ExEssex says:

July 9, 2020 at 2:58 pm

1:57 20/20 vision….a one…and a two….

https://youtu.be/MomyaekDrdA
Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

July 9, 2020 at 3:35 pm

Yeah, I haven’t checked in a while. Price fluctuates. They also did these chocolate covered mac nuts that were amazing. I remember stopping in there on my honeymoon. The guy was so nice and all their products were amazing. Every year, if someone is going to Hawaii, I slip them like $150 and have them mail me back a bunch of products from the Islands. Papaya seed salad dressing, Maui Onion salad dressing, and Kona Coffee.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 3:36 pm

SCOTUS decision about Oklahoma native lands.

The system at work, Supreme Court making a series of fairly non-partisan decisions recently.

“Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, a Westerner who has sided with tribes in previous cases and joined the court’s more liberal members, said that Congress had granted the Creek a reservation, and that the United States needed to abide by its promises.”
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 3:42 pm

Thank G@d for the Separation of Powers. The framers were wise.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

“You want to get an expedient result, the legal system is a threat.”

Boom. Winner here.

“Left’s ex’s-lawyer was good at billing which is seemingly the case with a lot of big law lawyers, if you want results they stink…”

Lawyer and billing was fine, second counsel was a small family office, it was just that it took 3 years because as you note the ex-wife’s counsel strategy was….

“…to threaten you with extra costs and aggravation to get a better settlement.”

Dug in heels, wouldn’t yield. It also helped that as a condition to pendente lite I insisted on her picking up her own legal bills going forward. Figured it would incentivize a quick settlement, but she was too dumb to figure that out. End of day I was probably in for around 200k and she 150k.

“…the goal is to keep it out of the courtroom, once it goes to a judge in civil matters both parties lose.”

Best advice, if you are looking at a Superior Court case with not clearly defined damages (eg, value of a business, contractual dispute over collateral) unless you are fighting for an amount over $250k it is simply not worth filing. Even at that level after the judge plays Solomon and tries to split the baby and you subtract out your attorney fees you’ll be left with 75k. Settling at 1/3 of your realistic claim ought to be doable out of the chute and you save yourself a fcukton of aggravation. Sometimes (as was the case for me) you are the defendant and don’t have much choice but to play it out.

And there will always be counterclaim, if you are sued you’d be a fool not to file one.
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:03 pm

BRT

Your coffee is on amazon for $40 a pound
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:06 pm

Texas reported a new record single day covid deaths of 98 which breaks yesterday’s record of 60.

Dallas county had 1,201 new cases today

Austin is turning its convention center into a field hospital

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-updates-july-9-in-dallas-fort-worth/287-1c89a4ac-06a2-4ab9-add2-a8d216caa355
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:20 pm

I just watched Joe Biden’s economic speech and literally got lost in the moment. It was so amazing to hear his words of hope, comfort, sensibility, care, and promise for the future. I literally forgot about the current state of our country for just a moment, and it was just so wonderful, all of my worries just washed away. I cannot wait this election and going back to being normal country again, November cannot come quick enough.
3b says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:28 pm

Bystander: glad it worked out for you, if that’s the right thing to say,and yes that certainly is karma.
leftwing says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:45 pm

And, in my final installment of dispensing legal strategy from the viewpoint of the represented rather than counsel, for the benefit of the board here….

If you do find yourself as a defendant in a Superior Court civil suit with not well defined damages that is when you go ‘real world’ on your complainant.

After the sh1t show of the divorce where there were not those kinds of aggressive tactics I swore I would do it differently in the future. Problem on the next two suits was they were against LLCs, which required outside counsel representation.

Without getting into mind numbing detail the main claim against me was spurious, I was just the deep pocket. The second claim against me was 100% valid, but was being made the party that caused the first claim against me. I had withheld amounts due to them since there was no way in hell I was paying them out in the unrelated matter while the first claim they caused against me was pending.

Long story short I prevailed on my counterclaim in the first case, netting one third of the amount of proceeds that party won from the second party. In the cases between me and the second party, where there was no doubt I owed them and my counterclaims were dubious if not spurious, I prevailed and paid nothing, they dismissed their claims without prejudice.

2 and 0. How?

Hit them where it hurts. Licensure and livelihood.

Found out in discovery that someone very important to the parties in the second case, where I clearly owed money, had crossed a few lines that would have cost them serious pain with their professional standard board, likely their license. It changed no facts in their underlying claims but created an opportunity. They yielded all their claims, on the basis that I promised no action on that matter.

On the first case, I can’t even explain what I did to opposing counsel. All minor items, but all valid. I filed directly with the partners of his law firm on numerous occasions. I went to the bar. I was threatened by the law firm to cease and desist and told the same by my own attorney. I didn’t. I turned this attorney’s irrational, angry, win-at-all-cost client from a billing ATM into his biggest professional liability ever. I haven’t looked back, maybe I will, but I am sure I wrecked that guy’s career in that law firm. By the end of that case the partners had to have a hugely negative pavlovian response to both the client and their own attorney. Too fcuking bad.

That little Italian divorcee gave me some backbone. I should look her up and thank her.

Otherwise, if you or yours ever find yourself being sued understand the court system is the functional equivalent of an assembly line staffed by minimum wage workers just trying to clear the massive backlog without regard to quality or outcome. It is imperative you become your own vocal, active, and unrelenting advocate if you want results other than what that kind of process will produce if left to run its natural course.
joyce says:

July 9, 2020 at 4:45 pm

There’s plenty of politics in the USSC.

AP says:
July 9, 2020 at 3:42 pm
Thank G@d for the Separation of Powers. The framers were wise.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 5:01 pm

“I turned this attorney’s irrational, angry, win-at-all-cost client from a billing ATM into his biggest professional liability ever.”

If it’s not what you already do, you have a future in consulting : )

Joyce, for sure. Good to see across-the-isle decisions though. Small victories.
Walking says:

July 9, 2020 at 6:29 pm

Regarding the water park comment with the women getting sucked into the passaic river. They have been trying to fish out the car which also got sucked into the stream and tunnel for the last 2 days. In case anyone is near Brook and Main in Passaic Park you can expect some detours. Story is unbelievable.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 6:34 pm

I think the court is showing tremendous intellectual integrity. Doesn’t mean I personally agree with each decision, but making decisions making of principles and values.

Of course this is to be expected, but in days like this, when institutional lethargy and even decay is so rampant, it comes as solace
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 6:36 pm

Sorry for the typos “…making decisions based on principles and values”
chicagofinance says:

July 9, 2020 at 6:52 pm

I’m at work and didn’t see it. Is your post sarcastic? I can’t tell.

Juice Box says:
July 9, 2020 at 4:20 pm
I just watched Joe Biden’s economic speech and literally got lost in the moment. It was so amazing to hear his words of hope, comfort, sensibility, care, and promise for the future. I literally forgot about the current state of our country for just a moment, and it was just so wonderful, all of my worries just washed away. I cannot wait this election and going back to being normal country again, November cannot come quick enough.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 7:04 pm

Trump vs Vance is particularly remarkable. No one is above the law. How many other political entities globally would derive this outcome, I wonder?

Even other democracies, would they have the institutional fortitude to stay true to their constitutions?

Be very aware that the current administration for some reason was attempting to subvert this legal standard (claiming absolute immunity to prosecution for any crimes) held for over two hundred years and respected by all other presidents including Nixon and Clinton
3b says:

July 9, 2020 at 7:19 pm

Chgo: I was thinking the same thing.
D-FENS says:

July 9, 2020 at 7:34 pm

Generation X is the classy generation.

https://youtu.be/0vC1KTCgaME
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 8:00 pm

Sarcastic? He wants to buy American with American dollars, what a patriot!
chicagofinance says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:15 pm

I just watched it. Utterly connect the dots……. it wouldn’t be such a big deal except he has been in government for 50 years. He has accomplished nothing. What he offers is an actual government professional with experience and demeanor, but I don’t think I would elect him mayor of a small city against anyone with vigor and a modicum of charisma. He comes across as completely washed out.

I think Trump would tear him to shreds in a debate.

I think Biden needs to continue to lay back and let Trump implode.

chicagofinance says:
July 9, 2020 at 6:52 pm
I’m at work and didn’t see it. Is your post sarcastic? I can’t tell.

Juice Box says:
July 9, 2020 at 4:20 pm
I just watched Joe Biden’s economic speech and literally got lost in the moment. It was so amazing to hear his words of hope, comfort, sensibility, care, and promise for the future. I literally forgot about the current state of our country for just a moment, and it was just so wonderful, all of my worries just washed away. I cannot wait this election and going back to being normal country again, November cannot come quick enough.
chicagofinance says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:16 pm

Strengthen the union movement? GFU
MicheleGom says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:33 pm

Cunt Empire – https://cutt.ly/Eo5RU5B
Juice Box says:

July 9, 2020 at 9:45 pm

Chi – I was attempting humor. That’s all I got left for this election. I will be using my little “lost in the moment of words of hope, comfort, sensibility, care, and promise for the future” with everyone until now and the first week of Nov.
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:08 pm

Juice

Just vote for Kanye. You will have a woke card for life
Hold my beer says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:12 pm

Anyone have a good router recommendation for under $250? I’m thinking of getting a netgear nighthawk for $189 at Best Buy. Our current router is 7 years old from the cable company and is lagging a bit.
AP says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:22 pm

HMB, I did a bunch of research on this recently because the FiOS provided router is atrocious. Landed with the WRT AC3200. Around that price range. Very customizable and 4-directional antenna. Great reviews.

Re Kanye you’re not quite on mark, Kanye is not considered woke. He actually stands against “woke” dogma quite frequently and takes heat for it

Re Biden speech, couldn’t watch the whole 45mins, who has the patience. But here’s what I saw: not many gaffes, jokes landed, folksy reminiscences of Scranton seemed genuine
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:27 pm

Obsessed with trump…this is childish.

“New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio grabbed a roller Thursday to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of the namesake Manhattan tower of President Donald Trump, who tweeted last week that the street mural would be “a symbol of hate.”

De Blasio was flanked by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and the Rev. Al Sharpton as he helped paint the racial justice rallying cry in giant yellow letters on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower. Activists watching chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!””
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 9, 2020 at 10:31 pm

The pandemic is speeding meatpackers’ shift from human meat cutters to automated ones, but machines can’t yet match people’s ability

https://www.wsj.com/articles/meatpackers-covid-safety-automation-robots-coronavirus-11594303535?st=xe94whb9wnaq7wq&reflink=article_copyURL_share
Libturd says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:18 pm

Coffee.

Used to buy from a small farm on the Big Island. 5 pounds pure kona bean was $105 shipped. They got old and stopped farming. They recommended Smith Farms also nearby on the Big Island. I bought from them twice, but didn’t find it nearly as good. $140 + shipping for 5 pounds. None of it was/is peaberry. I never found the cost difference worth the almost nonexistent difference in strength of flavor. I was lost in the wilderness for about a year when I stumbled upon an absolutely amazing blend (I know, the coffee snob drinking a blend) in the farmers market in SFO (at the ferry terminal). I can’t stand Starbucks coffee. I don’t like bitter overroasted flavor. For whatever reason, this one blend has that bold creaminess that Kona possesses. Though it’s not cheap, I put it right up there with the Kona in flavor, so it’s really worth it. It’s called Conscientous Objector and it’s brewed by Highwire Coffee. $105 shipping included the last time I ordered 5 pounds. They also use some high end bags that keep the coffee really fresh, which is useful as I can only store 2 pounds in my fancy airproof coffee container. You can try it for $17 for 12 oz. Also. If you don’t own a burr grinder, you are not drinking good coffee.
NJGator says:

July 9, 2020 at 11:32 pm

Our district has sent letters out the week requesting parents pay their deposit for the district PreK program. This program is tuition based and costs roughly $9,000 per year. No decision has been made as to whether the program will be FT in person, FT remote or a hybrid. Before ponying up their money, parents have been inquiring as to what will happen if schools don’t open in the fall. This has been the response from the district: “We have had several requests such as this regarding PreK tuition reimbursement during virtual learning. While children are enrolled in our program, our teachers are providing a virtual learning experience, albeit from home.
GR staff members will provide lessons and activities for children during virtual learning times. Many of the lessons are computer and web-based where teachers will pre-record lessons or go online and offer live instruction for their students. Paper and pencil, movement, and play-based activities are also provided by the teachers. During virtual learning, teachers continue to assess and monitor children’s progress toward grade level expectations and therefore, the district is not offering tuition reimbursement during virtual learning. “

So essentially, if they close the school there will be no refund and the parents will be paying $9k to be responsible for home schooling with direction from the teachers. This spring, the live learning for the district preschool class was 3 20 minute google meets a day – one where a para read a story, one where the kids ate snack and one where the teacher played YouTube videos for the kids. This was apparently explained away by the supervisor as being acceptable because the teacher “can’t sing well”.
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:35 am

Left you nailed the legal system..

“the court system is the functional equivalent of an assembly line staffed by minimum wage workers just trying to clear the massive backlog without regard to quality or outcome.”

My point on the counterclaim on a property tax court case is in a normal year yes a counterclaim can make sense but when the municipality just did a reassessment is bizarre, how the h*ll do make a claim the assessment is incorrect when you just set it?

On coffee, I’m an espresso drinker so I tend to get Italian brands of coffee Illy, Lavazza or Segafredo. It costs less than the Hawaiian stuff you guys buy anywhere from $12-22 a pound, the problem is the quantity I probably have 10 shots a day.

On FIOS wifi, I bought a bunch of cheap wifi access points TP-Link, the fios router does the routing but all wifi is handled by the access points. I put 1 per floor, the coverage is pretty good and it covers the whole house. My house is wired for ethernet so it was pretty easy using PoE so the install is neat, the office grade access points seem to have stronger signal than the home grade stuff. Never rent their overpriced POS.

On Kanye, if he runs he’d be the only candidate not in depends. Given the choices, I’d probably pull the lever for Kayne as a protest vote.
DonnaLot says:

July 10, 2020 at 6:20 am

You are my heart – http://clickfrm.com/z6b4
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:49 am

DiBlasio cancels ALL outdoor gatherings in NYC. Except of course, any BLM or BLM related protest, those are perfectly safe.

How can I trick the virus into thinking my kids school is a BLM protest? I want them safe and it seems like Diblasio has figured out that with some proper PR, the virus will understand the importance of the movement, and head over to a Trump rally to spread. /s
TruthIsTheEnemy says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:10 am

Has the racial hatred hoax of 2020 ended yet?

You know the one where the left and propaganda industry attempts to exploit long standing racial grievances to mobilize minority votes. The one where the police are scapegoats for decades of failed democratic policies. The one where Marxist and anti capitalist anti democratic groups hide behind a cover of racial justice in order to advance their cause.

Oh, not until after the election assuming Biden wins? That’s right. We knew racial animosity whipped up this year, Biden couldn’t win without it, but no one could have predicted the depravity of it.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:36 am

Anybody with half a brain and elementary knowledge of media dynamics over the past several years should’ve recognized in roughly one millisecond that this story was manufactured bullshit, but I know that description would not apply to the vast majority of journalists and pundits.

“Colin Powell politely tells MSNBC that they (& many others) botched the Russian Bounty story w/ “hysterical” coverage. “Our military commanders did not think that it was as serious a problem as the newspapers were reporting & television was reporting… It got almost hysterical.””

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1281397591561961474?s=21
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:37 am

“When Noam Chomsky is calling out the far left and Colin Powell is calling out foreign government fear-mongering…how did we get here.”
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:39 am

“no one could have predicted the depravity of it”

Yes, no one could have predicted the depraved images broadcasts across the civilized world. No one could have predicted a complete institutional denial against even the mildest reforms as well.

Folks with an ideological ax to grind should temper their views with a more compassionate perspective on their fellow citizens well being and legitimate complaints

Are there folks on the extreme left attaching the perverse plans to a legitimate social movement? Sure, but that is not the central phenomenon to any fair observer
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:40 am

The left cries about how Trump is a threat to our society and is ruining it…..but crickets from the left when it comes to deblasio’s destruction.

homeboken says:
July 10, 2020 at 7:49 am
DiBlasio cancels ALL outdoor gatherings in NYC. Except of course, any BLM or BLM related protest, those are perfectly safe.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:43 am

For God’s sake, you are being used. It’s like trying to tell a girl in high school, that you care about, she is being played by the star QB. She believes what she wants to believes and nothing will convince her otherwise till she learns the hard way.

“Folks with an ideological ax to grind should temper their views with a more compassionate perspective on their fellow citizens well being and legitimate complaints”
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:50 am

Another individual expecting perfection. You have a better plan? Let’s hear your perfect plan.

Do you understand schools can’t declare bankruptcy. You start laying off all these teachers and shutting down schools, public schools might never come back again. So what exactly do you want schools to do with instruction during a pandemic. You want it and you want it all.

Do you know how much public schools save parents money. Most wouldn’t be able to educate their kids without it. Yet, you want to tear it down because you think it’s a ripoff? You really lost me..

“So essentially, if they close the school there will be no refund and the parents will be paying $9k to be responsible for home schooling with direction from the teachers. This spring, the live learning for the district preschool class was 3 20 minute google meets a day – one where a para read a story, one where the kids ate snack and one where the teacher played YouTube videos for the kids. This was apparently explained away by the supervisor as being acceptable because the teacher “can’t sing well”.”
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:53 am

Pumpkin, your comments deserves a response.

DeBlasio is an embarrassment on many levels. His publicity stunt this week does create divisions because many will fairly perceive that I stead of simply doing a professional job in his administrative duties, which are so urgent right now, he is engaging in a tit-for-tat with the president.

Re being played. I study current news from all sources, from Fox to Zero Hedge, to Fridge and beyond. I study the constitution. I talk one on one with folks from across the political landscape, from hardcore Trumpets to AOc supporters. I form my own opinions on each issue regardless if it is considered a left or right position.

TGIF!
TruthIsTheEnemy says:

July 10, 2020 at 8:53 am

Allowing destruction of private property, institutions/individuals you are sworn to protect, historical artifacts, that sounds inline with the taliban, Maoist or a lot of other backward movements, but for a democratic elected leader it’s sick.

Once you substitute political corruption for “institutional” bias the injustices make a lot more sense. I predicted on the early going that Murphy would not be able to legalize marijuana due to entrenched political power.

It could change now but he didn’t do it. The laws and the targeting that occurs are the way they are because politicians want it that way, and blaming it on the racist boogeyman is a diversion. Corrupt politicians are the problem but the typical fake news watcher takes the bait.

These cities are fvcked, dead and buried. They’ll never be the the same great vibrant thing they were just recently.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:04 am

“The “party of science” now wants you to believe the following:

-unborn babies with beating hearts aren’t human
-biological males should compete in sport with women
-coronavirus can’t spread at #BLM protests

Make America Sane Again.”

https://twitter.com/dineshdsouza/status/1281416399206977536?s=21
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:09 am

Newsflash empty suit:

Trump often launches into a monologue placing himself at the center of the nation’s turmoil. The president has cast himself in the starring role of the blameless victim – of a deadly pandemic, of a stalled economy, of deep-seated racial unrest, all of which happened to him rather than the country.
Both parties broken says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:13 am

Political pendulum swinging harder and harder back and forth. If Biden wins, he, along with astute people in his party have to keep it from going way way left to and beyond progressiville. At the same time, the Republican Party needs to remake itself too. On both sides, a lot of washed up, entrenched lifers (yes, I know JB has been at it for 45 yrs). The theatrics and yelling are all part of the dumbing down process. For once, would be nice to have a few from each side talking about the problems and having legit debate on how to solve them, always more than one way to skin the cat so to speak. Yelling and bad theatre is what is done when one doesn’t want to roll up their sleeves and work because yelling is a whole lot easier than doing. Get rid of pacs, dark money, lobbying and initiate campaign finance reform and term limits: with this, very little changes. PS, yelling = smoke screen.
TruthIsTheEnemy says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:16 am

Ok, I’ll play along.

What exactly did trump do that justifies painting BLM in front of his building in 30 foot yellow letters?

Or is the propaganda industry attaching him endlessly to their election year narrative in order to shape voter opinion?
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:30 am

Both parties are broken – I agree with your sentiment.

I used to be very much against congressional term limits. My position was that term limits exist every time there is an election. And the people have a right to choose whomever they want as their representative.

But I have abandoned that. The people are too prone to emotional voting. Term limits are an absolute must. Politics should not be a career, just a stop along the way.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:31 am

Truth, I personally don’t agree with that gesture. It escalates tensions unnecessarily and it’s in bad taste to boot.

Having said that the President, honestly, appears to be stoking division himself. He has a hard time turning off his “election cycle” lenses and seems to be catering to base, which is normal, but even going further and appealing to the more violent/intolerant instincts in his base.

That is a fair critique. Many politicians on the right and left are engaged in a zero sum game that Hurst the nation. It’s up to us as informed citizens to demand balance, professionalism, respect for the constitution and honest compassion for the plight all Americans are facing in this challenging time
TruthIsTheEnemy says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:32 am

Forum ate my reply.

Bottom line, dnc made a deal with the Marxist mob, and their agenda has been folded in.

In his massively diminished cognitive state, Biden will be steamrolled by the radicals. Think Hindenburg in his twilight.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:34 am

Imagine what could be accomplished by people that had ZERO fear of winning re-election.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:38 am

This is worth repeating again –

The left contends that our system is broken/racist/needs to be reformed or torn down and rebuilt altogether.

The system is comprised of people. Elected people, in particular.

The left answer to the broken system – Let’s put the guy that literrally created the system in charge. Sure he built horribly the first time, that’s what got us here, but he is certain to fix it now. After 47 years of experience, the guy is bound to get it right now.

Imagine having a kid that is addicted to heroin. You recognize there is a problem and want to do everything you can to change it. Your solution is to send your kid to live with his drug dealer, I mean, who knows more about drug use right?
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:42 am

AP,

Your empathy is admirable, but leading you down the wrong trail. I’ve been there, done that. You have a good heart and strive for a higher society, but civilization isn’t ready for it. We are not at the point in society where the go getters will produce for everyone else based on the goodness of their heart. Nowhere near that. Once you understand this, you have to give the economic equality and fairness for all movement a break, at the moment, it’s nothing but a pipe dream.

What’s more important than equality and fairness at the moment? Creating good jobs and figuring out how to raise the IQ and skills of the bottom half of society to prepare for the jobs and world of tomorrow. Once the majority of the population has raised their IQ and skills, and are happily employed in good jobs, everything else will fall into place.

There will be no racism(racism is a form of low IQ). There will be no obsession with why the rich have more, as an intelligent individual with a high IQ understands they could do the same. The most important part, the voter will be more intelligent; no longer will they be manipulated by bs in return for votes. Aristotle was correct; a democracy is dangerous when the majority of the voters are dumb and easily manipulated. They can be used as tool for power which is exactly what we are currently witnessing.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:43 am

Home, Trump is an incumbent so what’s your point? Biden has a fingerprint on the problem, Trump does as well.
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:46 am

9:38 the message is literally – there’s an imbecile in charge let’s get the seasoned veteran in and save the Country. The veteran can mobilize government because he’s not out to fleece it for his own gain. Biden also isn’t trying to use a Southern Strategy to woo voters.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:50 am

Pumpkin, “equality and fairness is a pipe dream”?

It has been said that “it’s a race between education and tragedy” so I take your point, but equality of opportunity (not necessarily outcome, I hasten to add!) and fairness in all things are an absolute must have, if not always at hand
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:53 am

Just look at Trump, you think he comes to power in a high IQ population? You think the obsessive hate for Trump becomes a movement in a high IQ environment? You think movements like BLM come to life in a high IQ environment? I can go on and on…think the point has been made. These are all populist movements exploiting low IQ to get votes/power.
BoomerRemover says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:10 am

Lib,
I am a big coffee guy, here are some of my favorite roasters:

Red Bird espresso blend (Montana) – IIRC ~$57 for 5lbs shipped. This blend is a staple of the coffee community but prep method is espresso only.
Northbound Coffee Roasters (Shasta, CA) – American Beauty espresso is amazing
Dragonfly Coffee Roasters – Crema Dolce is mellow and memorable (pit fruits, brown sugar)
I’m currently on a 5lb bag of Onyx Coffee Labs, Geometry blend. Bright, fruit forward, but a bit too much. I like a nice northern Italian espresso that does well in a double cap cup.

Browse around these roasters and you’re sure to find something. Your coffee selection will depend on your preparation method but clearly there is a coffee out there that ticks your boxes for less than $150 for a 5lb bag.
Chicago says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:19 am

I agree. Biden does support legalizing marijuana.

AP says:
July 10, 2020 at 9:50 am
Pumpkin, “equality and fairness is a pipe dream”?
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:21 am

AP – My point is this –

Trump political career = 3.5 years
Biden/Schumer/Pelosi = average 40+ years.

Being told my someone that they are going to change the system for the better, when they have failed to do so for decades is not a candidate I can support. Seriously, stop falling for the same tired old promises.

Try something new. I don’t care if you support D or R, just don’t bring a lifetime of failures in public office and try to sell me on your experience.
zapaza19 says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:24 am

Exassex,
When you start your dialogues with words like ‘Trump is an imbecile’ you admit that you already lost the argument. Name calling is always the last resort.

No more Kool-Aid for you!

oops. I am a hypocrite like us all. I, too resorted to name calling.
Juice Box says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:38 am

Trump sanctions Chinese over the Muslim detention camps. Bold move since Biden and Obama, including Hillary and Kerry were unwilling to actually confront China over the detention of a million Muslims and had eight years to do it, they were unwilling to take action like sanctions for the eight years they ran the executive branch.

Does it get any real play in the MSM play? Nope.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:38 am

Home, I understand your point now. Thanks

I would have trouble pulling the lever for Biden TBH.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:42 am

Just to clarify my previous statement, that is because I live in NJ. If I lived in a swing state it would be no contest, I would gladly vote Dem this time
Juice Box says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:44 am

I plan on voting by mail at least a few times one for each swing state.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:45 am

The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.

Joseph Stalin
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 10:49 am

Term limits, and one 6 year term for President.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:03 am

3b – I was arriving at the same idea. All candidates are hand-cuffed to their re-election prospects. Think Trump 2020 or Obama’s hot mic (I’ll have more flexiblity after the election). Let’s remove that risk.

House – 2 terms, 4 years max
Senate – 1 term, 6 years max
POTUS – 1 term, 6 years max
SCOTUS – 1 term, 10 years max
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:10 am

Can we get rid of PACs first?
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:10 am

Mushnick:

You can come out, now, Roger!

In his continuing role as the NFL’s Neville Chamberlain — the British prime minister who appeased Nazi Germany until it was too late to prevent World War II — Roger Goodell continues to pander to the bad acts at the risk of imperiling the good and welfare — and value — of the NFL.

Goodell has proven he would rather offend the NFL’s most devoted, fair-minded fans than the league’s most offensive players.

What was Goodell’s position on Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson’s astonishingly stupid, historically fabricated, hateful posts about Jews plotting to enslave blacks — as per the thoughts of the considerable Louis Farrakhan extremist wing of Black Lives Matter?

We don’t know. Goodell didn’t have the courage to attach his name to an NFL “statement” condemning Jackson. The NFL’s “statement” seemed to have been dropped from a cloud. Read between the lines, Goodell may as well have said, “Leave me out of this.”

He has, however, eagerly attached his name to statements decrying anti-black racism.

Meanwhile he shows up for photos with his minister of social justice — the N-wording, vulgar, women-degrading rapper Jay-Z, whose lyrics he still hasn’t dared read aloud in public. And you’ve seen what the Super Bowl halftime has become under Goodell, not to mention those “good investment” PSLs.

But following the flagrant, sickening anti-Semitism of a player, he hides.

As for Jackson, he showed up a fool — what would have been his “first” NFL touchdown was lost when he prematurely dropped the ball at the 1-yard line, and he has cost his teams multiple times by showboating — and he’ll go out one.

He has flashed Crips’ gang signs on the field, and in 2014 reported $250,000 in cash, plus jewelry, a gun and ammo stolen from his home. The gun no doubt was to protect himself from marauding Jews.

His apology this week was absurd. He claimed he’s not hateful toward Jews but was merely trying to “enlighten my people.” Enlighten them to what? His appreciation and admiration of Farrakhan and Hitler? A Jewish conspiracy to destroy blacks?

Meantime, those quotes Jackson misidentified as Hitler’s made no sense to repeat under any conditions. After all, the Nazi party blamed Jews for bringing blacks into the country to “bastardize” their German “master race.” Or did Hitler lead the Black Nazi Lives Matter movement?

Naturally, the outrage was tempered, nothing close to what would have happened had a white player similarly attacked blacks. That player would have been “John Rockered” out of the league. But the pursuit for equality through inequality remains a fool’s mission.

The New York Times yesterday carried not a word about the still unraveling Jackson ugliness, but did have a guest column decrying racism in the NFL, written by former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth. The NYT withheld word that Stallworth resumed his NFL career after 24 days in jail after pleading guilty to DUI manslaughter of a Latino man.

One of the disturbing takes on the matter, as reader Joe Smith noted, was the ESPN headline referencing Jackson’s ignorant, insidious posts as “controversial” — as if they were a close call at home plate or a legitimate issue for debate.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:11 am

Think of NJ – Who here believes Bob Menendez is the best choice to stay in the senate? The guy has been in office for 27 years.

Does anyone here feel great that Menendez has our best interests as his first prioirty? Seriously? 27 years of representation by 1 man. That’s enough.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:12 am

more

Stephen Jackson, a former NBA malfeasant and now the foul-mouthed co-host of a Showtime program, defended DeSean Jackson as accurate, just short on the right words. That’s all. He also threw in his own traditional Hitler/Farrakhan-resurrected claims about Jews controlling all the money. I’ll never tell where I stash mine!

But now, if Showtime cans him he can blame Jews.

DeSean Jackson’s teammate, Marquise Goodwin, wondered why poor DeSean is a bigger issue than Black Lives Matter. I think he was serious.

And perhaps NFL TV announcers will soon explain Jackson as having had “off-the-field the field problems” then move along.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:12 am

more

Not that the front-line, selectively blind equality crusaders such as Farrakhan, Goodell, Al Sharpton, Bill de Blasio, N!ke, Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James or either Jackson know — or care — but the preponderance of white blood shed during the 1960s Civil Rights movement was Jewish.

Two freedom marchers murdered by the KKK in 1964 were Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, both Jews.

They died as martyrs to racial equality. Now they’re suckers to it.

Coast’s clear, Roger! Those uppity Jews won’t bother you, anymore. They know their place. You can come out now!
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:14 am

I don’t think term limits matter that much. You might out a very effective politician unnecessarily. I think the voters need to educate themselves and turn off the damn news networks already. If the Dems can elect known crook Menendez and the Republicans can allow a perennial business loser to hijack their party on a platform of Xenophobia and hate. Then how will term limits make any difference. Maybe we make the right of voting require you pass an idiot test first?
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:14 am

Lib – I contend that the effectiveness of the PAC will greatly diminish with term limits.

That said, I feel equally strong about PAC’s being eliminated as I do about term limits being put in place.

Getting the money out of politics is a much trickier issue. Money’d interests will find a way to influence. That’s what they do.

But taking their lap-dogs out of office at regular intervals, will cut their effectiveness by a meaningful amount. It’s a start.
Juice Box says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:16 am

Goodell is not about to risk his private jet over this.
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:19 am

It doesn’t matter who is right homeboken. Until the country starts protesting like the BLM movement, nothing will change. Ever. Sad.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:22 am

“This is your reminder that the party of “tolerance” has absolutely no problem destroying a minority-owned business.

All this CEO did was praise @realDonaldTrump. Now they want him destroyed.”

https://twitter.com/dineshdsouza/status/1281605177242529800?s=21
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:25 am

Lib: I agree we might oust an effective politician, although I can’t think of one at the moment, but it’s a chance we have to take.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:38 am

Lib – If a politician is effective they have 6 years to prove their effectiveness.

I do not support the idea that there are only a few exceptional leaders and that those people deserve to stay in elected office for a an extended period.

I view any elected official in office more than 10 years as very similar to a monarch. There should no royal families or blood lines in the US.

And frankly, the truly exceptional leaders realize that they need to pass off their power to another person or generation of people. The mediocre narcissist believes that they are entitled to a life of power and influence. They are not.
grim says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:49 am

Establish term limits.
Eliminate PACs.
Cap campaign spending.
Eliminate career politicians, turn public service back into being “public service”.
grim says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:52 am

re: Goya CEO

Billionaires from Spain aren’t minorities.

Wealthy Spaniard = European, not Latino.

No? Am I off here? All of my colleagues in Barcelona and even Portugal consider themselves white Europeans.
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 11:56 am

Not really a big issue to me, so I understand. I guess I feel the way I do because an untainted(owned) politician will be such a rare treat. But I guess you guys are right. The mantle should easily be passable.

Oh, that Spanish teacher I praised yesterday. Gator corrected me. She makes $109K and must be tenured. Perhaps there is an argument that teachers should be payed more. Then Pump’s writes something and I question why I am not homeschooling. I mixed her up with Ryan’s Spanish teacher from the prior year. How many Spanish teachers do we need?
joyce says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:12 pm

We’d need to amend the constitution.

Libturd says:
July 10, 2020 at 11:10 am
Can we get rid of PACs first?
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:25 pm

Jews are generally smart, they realize everyone hates them and they move on.
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:26 pm

“…I don’t hate the poor, I just don’t want to hang out with them…”
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:32 pm

Look for lots of retirements:

https://time.com/5864158/coronavirus-teachers-school/
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Along with my other Nostradamus/chicagodamus calls…… (i.e. Biden must win)….. I think we have to take it a step further. Not only do we have to give in to the activists, so the public can receive prima facie evidence of what will really happen, we also cannot have Trump win.

I would predict a combo of the p^ssyhat demonstrations mixed with BLM chanting that the US is a discredited society. Maybe newly designed p^ussyhats with teeth on them….. who knows…. the cities could be crossed off for several years and tourism would be crushed.

I’m just trying to be pragmatic…… we are so fcuked….
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Grim the Goya people refer to themselves as Hispanic when it suits them(that’s their customer base), they are white people. They are republicans and have just a small amount of disdain for the latin american countries they do business in. My dad knew them, they generally preferred to source their goods either in the States or Europe, they have some facilities in PR and the Dominican Republic and their general attitude was those places were that they were very backwards, productivity was poor, and the governments were wholly incompetent. Goya is a well run company and an American success story, an immigrant came here with little trying to build his fortune and succeeded.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:47 pm

Cuban refugees whose familial wealth was nationalized are essentially Europeans and Republicans.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:48 pm

Grim,

Founder migrated to Puerto Rico from Spain. You make it seem like he was some rich Spaniard. At the end of the day, why should he experience massive protest because he thinks a President is doing a good job. It’s his opinion, and no one should attack him for it. It’s wrong…
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:58 pm

Anti-Semitism is one of the biggest problems in the world right now. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Once when I was in 3rd or 4th grade we took a class trip to an exhibit about the Holocaust. These images will forever be tatooed in my brain.

Anyone who studied history to even a minimal degree should speak out against anti-Semitism at every opportunity.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 12:58 pm

What a prick. Knock me down to make yourself feel better. Go be a teacher, you clearly are jealous of the profession and won’t be happy till the profession is paid a slave wage to save you some taxes. Get a life.

Do you really think teachers are getting rich off their job? Get the f’k out of here with this bs. You claim to hate trump for how he harms people, yet here you are doing the same damn thing. Treating teachers like second class citizens, because for some reason, you think they are overpaid and deserve slave wages. I would hate to be your boss.

Please don’t bring equality and fairness to your political positions when you clearly belittle any teacher just because they are govt employed and you feel they do nothing for their compensation. You are so biased it’s not even funny.

Essex, tell him how awesome the job is. Just peaches and cream, with a pension entree, and a side of summer’s off.

“Then Pump’s writes something and I question why I am not homeschooling. I mixed her up with Ryan’s Spanish teacher from the prior year. How many Spanish teachers do we need?”
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:12 pm

If that wasn’t enough, an angel of a Jewish surgeon basically saved my son’s life. Kindest, smartest, most professional person I’ve ever met in my life. Very humble and self-effacing yet an internationally recognized expert.

Mazel Tov!
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:18 pm

I always like to be among my people.
Strange bedfellows though. The right & the Jews .
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:19 pm

Goya is nothing but pure marketing. All of their food is sold at a premium though it’s usually significantly more processed (and that much unhealthier) than all of it’s competition. The marketing though is absolutely brilliant. Their premise is that if you are not buying Goya, then you are not supporting your Latino culture. Meanwhile, they are poisoning their own culture with lard and corn syrup laden crap. Sofrito and their other spices should really be banned.

As for the Trump thing? It just goes to show you how much their marketing is BS.
Libturd says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:21 pm

The Right and the Jews are about keeping more of their money. The whole friend of Israel thing is played out. Everyone is a friend of Israel, except for Muslim countries and the Vatican.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:28 pm

Anti Semitism is far more of a problem on the left than on the right from what I have seen.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:28 pm

Nothing against Jews, but just making a point. Polish people were destroyed by the Germans (and Russians), but no one talks about it. Polish people have been treated like crap for as long as I can remember, but not a word of it is ever brought to the attention of the masses. Completely ignored. Maybe polish are just not good at complaining, I don’t know.

One of the reasons I hated trump for a long time…ripped off polish construction workers. Anyone care or say anything about the exploitation? It was modern day slavery that no one gave a f’k about. At least slaves were given food and housing, these poles were sold on the notion they would get paid and received nothing in return for their labor. Nope, just focus on white privilege while ignoring the atrocities committed to the Poles over the last 100 years.

AP says:
July 10, 2020 at 12:58 pm
Anti-Semitism is one of the biggest problems in the world right now. It’s absolutely disgusting.

Once when I was in 3rd or 4th grade we took a class trip to an exhibit about the Holocaust. These images will forever be tatooed in my brain.

Anyone who studied history to even a minimal degree should speak out against anti-Semitism at every opportunity.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:40 pm

I almost didn’t exist. My grandma told me the story once in her life. She waited till I was a teenager. Broke down in tears and explained to me how her siblings and herself were almost taken to the concentration camps. The only way they escaped was pure luck. They were about to be taken away when something happened that required the soldiers attention…they were able to escape and make it to America. RIP, grams. Gone, but not forgotten.

Wonder how she would feel about this white privilege movement. Prob would have hurt her a lot to think that would she did in life was the result of her skin color according to some people. Yea, some privilege… almost taken to the concentration camps and killed, somehow survives and makes it to America. Busted her a$$ to move up in America. Sacrificing a lot to eventually move up from Yonkers to New City, NY. Her youngest daughter graduated from Columbia, becoming the first individual in my family to graduate from college (I was the first male).
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 1:46 pm

FYI, a lot of Hispanics are conservatives. They are die hard Catholics. Catholics preach working hard, helping, and doing what you have to do to get into Heaven. So a lot of Hispanics (that haven’t been Americanized and manipulated by urban democrats) carry these beliefs.
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:14 pm

“Imagine what could be accomplished by people that had ZERO fear of winning re-election.”

They would be bold.

Imagine what also could be accomplished by people that had ZERO incentive to sell out the population so that they may win the next election.

They would have honesty and integrity.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:16 pm

….. and the faculties of most liberal arts colleges and departments at Universities, and the students that have been inculcated by them….. and African-American intellectuals….. and anyone ………

Libturd says:
July 10, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Everyone is a friend of Israel, except for Muslim countries and the Vatican.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:17 pm

Why do Polish submarines have screen windows? To keep the fish out.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:19 pm

Shtup is a great word.

ExEssex says:
July 10, 2020 at 1:18 pm
I always like to be among my people.
Strange bedfellows though. The right & the Jews .
BoomerRemover says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:26 pm

What is this the I have a Jewish friend sharing hour? is this out JLM moment?

My grandfather helped hide a family in our attic. They’ve gone on to be successful doctors on both coasts here in the United States and have provided free health care for our family during our early years here. I was about to say strong bonds that have lasted generations but now that I think about it, it wasn’t all that long ago.

Antisemitism is disgusting. As is the disinformation campaign about who was responsible for the camps on Polish soil, which seemed to be making rounds in recent years.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:28 pm

Did you look at some of these individual stocks? WTF?
https://youtu.be/8XP80Lm_Ue4?t=72
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:28 pm

2:19 https://youtu.be/ZztrDsOUJeI
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:28 pm

“…the message is literally – there’s an imbecile in charge let’s get the seasoned veteran in and save the Country.”

Oh where would we be without the shrill theatrics of the Left….

Please do tell, what has the Orange Idiot has done to “imperil the Country” to such an extent that it needs “saving”?

Keep in mind, of course, that there have been 59 presidential terms….

So, rank Trump’s threat to the Country in this historical context.

Top Ten? Laughable
Top Twenty? Not even close.
Top Thirty? Unlikely

Among the Top Forty events over the last 244 years that have required the Country to be “saved”? Probably not, but at this point you are so deep into irrelevance it is the equivalent of the seventh round in the NHL draft…in other words fcuking meaningless.

SX, I thought you were retired teacher with a smoking wife and hot car, not some screechy, whiny little b1tch .
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:32 pm

Pumpkin, here’s some love for the Polish people as well. They stood up on horses and Bayonets against German tanks. Brave people. History sucks. Let’s make it better.
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:32 pm

Pumps, the poles have been abused through history no doubt. They were sacrificed after the war, they bore the brunt of the holocaust after the Jews most people don’t realize how many Poles were killed in the camps and that the Germans hated the poles almost as much as the Jews. The Germans even before the holocaust started were killing off educated poles, the idea was to enslave the poles, they wanted to ensure the polish population was illiterate as they would be easier to control.

Over the course of approximately 500 year their neighbors conspired to annex the country multiple times. Poland had a long history of being a safe haven for the Jews, the Polish aristocracy protected the Jews for hundreds of years. The Polish partitions actually were very negative for European Jewry as the treatment of Jews by Germany and especially Russia was much worse than under the Polish Crown.

Trump was very bad at paying lots of contractors, leaving unpaid bills was a past time of his, with him you either needed to be paid up front, given a bond, or have claim to significant collateral because most likely you were dealing with an LLC that had who knows what for assets.
SmallGovConservative says:

July 10, 2020 at 2:52 pm

grim says:
July 10, 2020 at 11:49 am

Establish term limits.
Eliminate PACs…

Those would all be good things, but we really wouldn’t need them if we were able to address the single biggest problem we have when it comes to the people that we elect to govern. The ultimate solution is actually easy to understand, though impossible to implement — we need to not allow women to vote in federal and state elections (just local elections). While we would no doubt still have corruption, politicians would at least be able to act in ways that are rational, reasonable and logical. That’s simply not possible now because acting in those ways (ie. balancing budgets, cutting programs, reducing the size and cost of govt, etc) will immediately get you labeled as a mean and uncaring bully, and potentially as some sort of ‘ist’ — and likely defeated in the next election.
homeboken says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:03 pm

As a conservative, I really wish you would change your name so I wouldn’t have to be branded with the labels you must get branded with.

What a brutally useless comment.

SmallGovConservative says:
July 10, 2020 at 2:52 pm
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:06 pm

2:28 I’m a little young to retire. Though I must admit it’s tempting.
NJ’s cash trickle will start when I hit 60. I’ll probably work at least until then.
It’s a huge question mark. But you are wrong, I’m a lil’ bit puussiefied.
I only drive/ride in cars with decent lumbar support, I moisturize daily, exfoliate occasionally and probably get turned down for secks more than a frat boy at a honky tonk.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:15 pm

Chi, “faculties of most liberal arts colleges and departments at Universities”

I never heard one anti-Semitic remark in the more than ten years I spent around higher education institutions. Seriously. Not saying there aren’t snakes in the grass, but honestly didn’t see a lot of that at all.

I hear it and see it all the time at “right wing” websites though.

Every once in a while some loony, mediocre associate professor failing out of tenure track comes out with some BS statements and gets smacked down. I see those
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:18 pm

“Pumpkin, here’s some love for the Polish people as well. They stood up on horses and Bayonets against German tanks. Brave people. History sucks.”

Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
Definitive tome on the topic, impeccably written with overwhelmingly primary research. Probably havenonly picked that book up a couple times since HS, but among the many passages that stuck in my memory to this day were first person accounts of the German taking of Poland…I can’t obviously recall the specifics but the mismatch was severe – Germans with the newest technology, tanks, while many Pole divisions were horse cavalry reminiscent of the prior century. The Germans literally rolled across the country reaching Warsaw in seven days, a ridiculous pace. The descriptions of the carnage of horses and men run over and left behind was astounding.

“Over the course of approximately 500 year their neighbors conspired to annex the country multiple times.”

Poland is not a country, it is a plat of land traded back and forth by the precursors of modern Russia and Germany over the centuries….
Fast Eddie says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:22 pm

Essex,

I only drive/ride in cars with decent lumbar support, I moisturize daily, exfoliate occasionally and probably get turned down for secks more than a frat boy at a honky tonk.

That tall, pony-tailed, blue-eyed, Scandinavian gal working her tail off is turning you down? And here I was envying you!! Say it ain’t so!
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:22 pm

“ExEssex says:
July 10, 2020 at 3:06 pm”

LOL.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:27 pm

Left Let’s not forget Poland was an empire before the Russians and Germans fought over it. The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.
ExEssex says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:34 pm

3:22 every great batter is never afraid to take the swing…
But since I switched to golf it’s my putter that I take out.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:42 pm

“If you want to wind up a Pole of a certain age, there is no more reliable means than quoting the old myth about Polish lancers charging at German panzer divisions in the second world war.

The story feeds a stereotype about Polish men being hopelessly romantic, hopelessly moustachioed idiots who would actually gallop their horses at big steel tanks.

Even this newspaper fell into the trap less than two years ago, when a columnist described the mythical charge as “the most romantic and idiotic act of suicide of modern war”. We had to append a speedy correction admitting that we had “repeated a myth of the second world war, fostered by Nazi propagandists”.”

“The most likely origin of the legend is a skirmish at the Pomeranian village of Krojanty on the first day of the German invasion, 1 September 1939. Polish lancers, whose units had still not been motorised, did indeed charge a Wehrmacht infantry battalion but were forced to retreat under heavy machine gun fire. By the time German and Italian war correspondents got there, some tanks had arrived and they joined the dots themselves.
The story was used first by the Nazi propaganda machine and then by its Soviet counterpart, to portray Polish officers (who were killed by Stalin en masse the next year) as absurdly careless about the lives of their troops.
What is most irritating to Poles about this particular fable is that it trivialises the Polish contribution to the allied war effort, reducing it to a single moment of whimsy.
In fact, as the war historian and Times columnist Ben Macintyre recently wrote: “The Polish contribution to allied victory in the Second World War was extraordinary, perhaps even decisive, but for many years it was disgracefully played down, obscured by the politics of the Cold War.””

AP says:
July 10, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Pumpkin, here’s some love for the Polish people as well. They stood up on horses and Bayonets against German tanks. Brave people. History sucks. Let’s make it better.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:44 pm

“Macintyre points out that one in 12 Battle of Britain pilots was a Pole, and some 250,000 Polish troops served with British forces, while a huge, largely forgotten role was also played by the Polish resistance.
The Home Army, as it was called, is thought to have been about 400,000-strong, and inflicted serious damage on German occupying forces throughout the war. The French resistance only grew to that size after D-Day, when the tide had already turned. But while the French were able to lead the liberation parade into Paris, the Polish Home Army and its memory were crushed by the country’s new Soviet occupiers, with western acquiescence.
To appease Stalin, the Poles were not even invited to Britain’s 1946 victory parade. No wonder our stories of futile cavalry charges drive them crazy.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/06/myth-of-polish-cavalry-charge
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:46 pm

Simple history video on the subject.

https://youtu.be/nrmbplVPBaE
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:52 pm

For true historians, this is a long, but good read on the subject. The poles actually defeated Germany tank units with Calvary, but most of you won’t know about that.

“Colonel Kazimierz Mastelarz appraised a grim situation on September 1, 1939. His 18th Uhlan Regiment, facing German motorized forces, was nearly cut off from the rest of Poland’s Pomeranian Army. Nevertheless, Mastelarz had been ordered to hold the line near Chojnice, in the Polish Corridor—the narrow slice of Poland that connected it to the Baltic Sea, but divided the rest of Germany from East Prussia. Making do, he opted for a mobile defense, counting on local forests and ravines to provide cover and a chance for ambush.

Following this strategy, the colonel charged two squadrons into the flank of a Nazi infantry battalion. Success was both immediate and ephemeral; though the cavalrymen sabered their opponents, German armored cars raced into the clearing and engaged with automatic cannon fire. The cavalry hastily retreated but Mastelarz and 19 uhlans were killed.

The next day, Italian journalists toured the battlefield, and were told the troopers died while charging enemy tanks.

Good copy for newsmen, this tale of lancer vs. tank also served Nazi propaganda purposes since it presented a modern Wehrmacht in contrast to the antiquated forces of their “racially inferior” opponents. A month earlier Das XX Jahrhundret published photos of “Polish cavalry in their strange, outmoded, and pathetic uniforms” but failed to note that they depicted reenacted scenes from the November Insurrection of 1830. The October 1939 issue of Der Pimpf, the official magazine of the Hitler Youth, featured an actionpacked cover showing Polish uhlans being mowed down by a Panzer V (NbFz), a tank that was not even used in the Polish campaign. The story was repeated over and over, even becoming part of Herman Bertram’s 1941 film, Kampfgeschwader Lützow.”

https://www.historynet.com/1939-polish-cavalry-vs-german-panzers.htm/2
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:53 pm

How did the story of “lancers vs. tanks” find a place in so many accounts of World War II? First, few English-speaking historians have a command of Polish, while more can read German. This effectively shuts out half the story from September 1939. Also, the scope of World War II made it easy for writers to gloss over the fairly short campaign in Poland.

Though official government histories might have set the record straight, the post-1945 political world made transparency impossible. The unpopular Stalinist regime of Boleslaw Bierut dominated Poland. To wean the public from any affection for the prewar government, tremendous propaganda efforts attempted to present unfavorable views of its leaders as Fascist collaborators. Since the old army was extremely popular, it too was a prime target in this campaign. Falsified documents appeared and military historians learned to make extensive use of adjectives like “reactionary,” “bourgeois,” “collaborating,” or “pro-Fascist.”

Stories of lancers vs. tanks were used to ridicule the prewar regime until 1956. That year, the nationalist government of Wladyslaw Gomulka emerged from the post-Stalin thaw that had swept through the communist world, allowing a more balanced review of the past. The documentary evidence was revived and writers attacked the lancer myth; since then, modern historians like Andrew Zaremba and Steven Zaloga have convincingly refuted the legend. As historian Zbigniew Zaluski pointed out even several decades ago, Poland’s past has often been “difficult” and “stormy,” but “certainly not stupid.”

Originally published in the Winter 2011 issue of Military History Quarterly.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 3:56 pm

So sorry when I don’t agree with the white privilege movement. Polish history calls bs on that naive movement.
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:00 pm

Hi Pumpkin, I am familiar with the Mythical dimension of that event and how it has been used for anti-Polish Russian propaganda.

The actual facts do point to extraordinary bravery. They were not foolish or romantic and had some anti-tank weapons, but not many.

Left, read that in HS school as well. Dusty old tome. To think that all that took place in living memory.

I appreciate you standing up for your people of origin.

T
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:10 pm

BoomerRemover, most do not realize how dangerous that action was on the part of your grandfather. People do not realize the great personal risk your family took in doing this. If discovered they would have killed everyone in the house and maybe the neighbors as well, hung in the street made an example of, the Germans were far more ruthless in Poland with people found hiding Jews than in Western Europe. He risked your entire families existence to save that family and that was a truly heroic action. People do not recognize the contributions of the Polish resistance/home army. They infiltrated Auschwitz(Wiltold Pilecki) and reported on the atrocities, they wanted the Allies to bomb the camps/trains to the camps. Many of the brave heroes in the home army were executed by the communists when they took over….
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:13 pm

Uhm, yeah, I’ll pass on history.net as a source for anything definitive…

Shirer…can’t say I’ve done any comparison on the merits of the likely hundreds of accounts of contemporary Germany in that period but it is authoritative and complete for anyone looking for a painfully documented and scrupulously objective review…thing is a doorstop, just googled it, 1200+ pages.

Not here to offend anyone’s ancestral honor, and my ‘country’ comment regarding Polish lands was tongue in cheek as I’m half polish and my father (all german) received an LOL when he researched and visited his ancestors’ hometowns.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:21 pm

AP,

Not meant as an attack, I took no offense to your post. I know you were being respectful. I’m only doing my part to teach when there is opportunity to do so.

Some more info I can throw at you to digest. It was the rainy season in Poland. Horses actually gave the poles the ability to move around in the muddy conditions. The poles used the horses to move around and then use anti tank rifles to pick off the tank units. They were actually successful against the tanks, but the german Air Force destroyed any chance of defending themselves. Poland was a poor country, hence, didn’t have the factory capability to produce modern weapons at the pace of Germany. So they never really had a chance. At least they never gave up. France are a bunch of pussies that didn’t even put up a fight. Poland on the other hand was taking on Germany and Russia at the same time. Talk about screwed. Yet, they never gave up and fought till the end at a huge cost to their population.

What hurts, no respect is given to Poland. They were a part of the Holocaust, yet excluded. They were a part of the reason why Germany lost wwII, yet no credit given. Talk about a used and abused population.

I’m glad to see that Poland is rapidly becoming one of the best economies in Europe. Their Air Force for the first time in history is more powerful than Germany and France. They are not taking any risks with Russia at its border.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/f-35-will-give-poland-more-advanced-air-force-some-major-nato-allies-163192
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:26 pm

Left,

The posts weren’t directed at you. I didn’t take your posts in a negative way.

History.net was the site of the article, but the source of the article is from:

“Originally published in the Winter 2011 issue of Military History Quarterly.”
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:28 pm

Pumps, the ignorance of what happened and how the Poles were fundamentally sold up the river after the war is sad. Most hear about Turing breaking the enigma, they don’t realize that largely cracking the enigma was done by polish mathematicians and without their early contributions the English likely never would have cracked it.

Also to say Poland didn’t exist as a nation is more than a little inaccurate, Poland existed as a nation for some 700 years, by that metric a lot of countries didn’t exist. The Piast dynasty came to power around the same time as the Holy Roman Empire. I’m sure a series of monarchies would be surprised to hear they were not ruling over a country. Remember it was Polish Hussars who saved Europe from an Ottoman invasion in 1683, how were they repaid they were invaded and partitioned by the very countries they saved. In retrospect maybe they would have been better off allowing Vienna to fall to the turks!
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:38 pm

Pumps those who don’t know there history are doomed to repeat it…

Before the partitions some of the Nobles advocated for a larger army but they decided rather than higher taxes they didn’t need it because they were surrounded by their “allies”, Germany, Austrohungary, and Russia. We saw how that worked out. Then in 1939 they were annexed by Germany and Russia and then after the war they were annexed effectively by Russia. How many times can you allow Russia to invade? They can’t afford to take any chances with Putin as their neighbor. People don’t realize it but Poland was actually doing comparatively better in the 1930’s than her neighbors, they had one of the highest growth rates in Europe, mostly because their economy was severely under developed.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:45 pm

Jcer,

Amen! Nail it. Always love your posts..

Poland could have been the most powerful country in Europe. Too much infighting with the nobles and too much betrayal by foreigners. Lithuania/Poland should have been a powerhouse. I’m actually 25% Lithuanian. My grandpa was born there, and moved to Poland during the war and eventually to America.
chicagofinance says:

July 10, 2020 at 4:59 pm

Vilnius represent…… Lithuanian, Slovenian, Albanian Muslim Jew.

Here is an explanation of what I am:
https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/nuremberg-race-laws-defining-the-nation/documents/instructional-chart
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 5:16 pm

Poland was a powerful country while Russia was still a backwater, it ceased to exist as a country for 150 years until the end of the First World War. It gets complicated, as when it was restored it was given a lot of land that contained large amounts of non Poles, including Ukrainians and Beylorussians, and the Poles established Polinization policies including forbidding teaching of native languages in schools. Poland was effectively a dictatorship during the period between the period between the two world wars.

Today within Poland there is and has always been tension between the conservative south, and the more cosmopolitan north. Big election over the weekend there. EU not happy with Poland as the government has been showing dictatorial tendencies these past few years. Lots of cheap Ukrainian labor in Poland too, which is causing tensions.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 5:19 pm

Chgo Vilnius is also Tatar’s, they were bought to Lithuania as soldiers; Charles Bronson was of Lithuanian//Tarta heritage.
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 6:48 pm

It’s funny I feel we have a bunch of people here on this site who’s family came from similar places. I’m a mutt but I have Lithuania, Poland, what is now Latvia, Ukraine and Belarus. Pumps Poland controlled much of that region when it was the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth so you had culturally Polish in most urban areas, you notice I don’t say ethnically because I don’t think it’s true but culturally Polish people living there for quite some time. My mom’s family was culturally Polish, many were Jews who escaped Russian Pogroms but they were city dwellers not in the Pale of settlement so they had cultural affinity to the Polish language and intermarried with other “Poles” but ethnically I feel they were somewhat diverse. Clearly the Jewish Poles didn’t look like the Polish Poles nor did the Lithuanian Poles look like the others either!

Pumps I don’t necessarily agree that Poland had the opportunity to be that powerful. They were a major state in Europe that was significant that almost no one remembers. If anything the history of Poland is an indictment of democratic ideals over dictatorship. The nobility in Poland was significantly larger and more powerful than their counterparts in other European states. The King in Poland was more or less a leader among equals when it came to the most powerful nobles. The nobles decided they didn’t want to spend money on a large standing army(I think their army was 1/5 the size of Germany) because Germany, Austria, and Russia were there allies and they didn’t think anyone would invade. Getting the consensus of the nobility which was approximately 15-20% of the Polish population took a long time, some saw the threat but they could not get the consensus in time to do anything about it and were essentially invaded before they could plan for a defense.

Eastern Europe is artificially under developed, it is not the basket case that Russia is. truth be told Eastern Europe should have a level of economic development similar to the rest of Europe, history prevented this. As such now that things have been righted I fully expect countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia to reach something close to parity with western European nations in terms of development. Slovenia and Croatia thanks to tourism are already more prosperous than most of Eastern Europe.

Chi just say it you would have been sent to the camps as would have I. I don’t know how you got Albanian Muslim and Jew into one person let alone Slovenian(which would most likely be Catholic, beautiful country by the way) and Lithuanian(I’m guessing Protestant)?, Albania is a very scary country, I went to Tirana it’s an unusual place, their national museum is probably one of the most depressing places I’ve been, Hoxa was a bad dude and he seriously messed up the people in that country. Nice seaside though, they have some really nice beaches, and those people like to drink a lot for a majority Muslim country. Economically though they seem to be doing better than Greece.
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:06 pm

“Chgo Vilnius is also Tatar’s, they were bought to Lithuania as soldiers; Charles Bronson was of Lithuanian//Tarta heritage.”

Pretty sure at one point the Tatars were punching into Poland/Lithuania and grabbing native Lithuanians as slaves…..

Bottom line, if you trace your heritage to continental Europe at the end of the day you’re a mutt and we’re all related. On that note…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzGnX-MbYE4
leftwing says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:09 pm

“It’s funny I feel we have a bunch of people here on this site who’s family came from similar places.”

New Jersey Real Estate Report
Real Estate, Economics, and Politics…and Polacks
AP says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:10 pm

On coffee, just opened a package a of Afficionado, roasted right here in NJ. It’s a blend called Dolce. Pretty smooth. I think Baldor’s delivers it.

Gotta grab a better grinder before moving onto single origin, I guess. Got a cheapo Mr. Coffee electric one for now.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:38 pm

Left No the Tartars were punching into Russia and present day Ukraine, from the Crimea, and selling people into slavery. Catherine the Great, put a stop to it by invading and annexing the Crimea to Russia. Stalin deported the Tatar’s and many returned to Crimea when the Soviet Union fell.
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:38 pm

left, even the non-polacks are somehow polacks……

From a genetic perspective you can almost divide Europe into quadrants, there is common European ancestry r1a and r1b that is the division and Germany is the dividing line. The R1 halogroups pretty much define what a European is, there are lots of other variations but pretty much all Europeans are cousins, it makes it all the more sad how they have fought wars against each other for centuries. Then again most Serbians and Bosnian are 99% genetically similar and they performed ethnic cleansing on their cousins in the name of religion.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:42 pm

Jcer Lithuania is predominately Catholic.
3b says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:43 pm

Sounds like a lot of Eastern European heritage here, I am the minority.
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:48 pm

3b wasn’t sure, thought there might have been a sizable Lutheran population in Lithunia for some reason…It appears I was wrong 77% catholic.
Grim says:

July 10, 2020 at 7:53 pm

Great story, and quite relevant, about Poland’s contribution to the founding of the US.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inquirer.com/philly/opinion/commentary/jefferson-kosciuszko-revolution-slaves-will-poland-20170915.html%3foutputType=amp

Read this a few times, and then take a look at what protestors did to the Kosciuszko monument in Lafayette Park in Washington.

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/kosciuszko-knew-that-black-lives-matter

In Poland, two philosophers who focus on the tradition of popular resistance—Łukasz Moll and Michał Pospiszyl—have drafted a petition addressed to the Polish government, urging it to make sure that the inscriptions remain part of the statue, as an expression of the demands of black people in contemporary America. The authors wrote (translated here from Polish): “We are certain that had Kościuszko been resurrected, he would himself write Black Lives Matter in big bold letters across his statue.” Whatever idea we may have about the future of the statue, if we wish to remain faithful to Kościuszko’s legacy, we cannot forget who he was.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:05 pm

Wasn’t about real estate, but one of my favorite days on the blog. I really enjoyed it. From jcer to 3b to grim….just really good stuff. Thank you, from someone who appreciated reading it.

“New Jersey Real Estate Report
Real Estate, Economics, and Politics…and Polacks”… lmao
JCer says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:18 pm

Grim, a pole supporting the plight of enslaved blacks makes perfect sense. Poland had a similar institution at the time, serfdom, it was not terribly different. As part of the the attempt at a Polish republic they were going to free the serfs. Kosciuszko was enlightened enough at the time to realize it was wrong for a person’s fate to be determined by where they were from or who they were born to. You never do hear about it but one of the big reasons for the partition was that Poland was going to free the serfs and Russia’s serfs were escaping to Poland. For those who say serfdom isn’t that bad, in most jurisdictions it was legal for the lord to murder his serfs, the lord determined how much labor needed to be provided, in practice it looked a lot like slavery. Even Jefferson spoke negatively about slavery, we will never never know why he didn’t free his slaves.
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:25 pm

Good read. These big investors basically put a floor on the market crash. They made suburban communities with cheap houses and good schools into rental markets. Used to be almost 100% owned.

I’m sitting here trying to think of the long term implications. Will the avg population become poorer in the long term? Housing has been the single biggest driver of wealth in American history. Lot of this generation will miss out on that as these investors boxed them out and forced them to rent. So yes, they put a floor on the market, but at what cost?

“Americans are giving suburban home rentals a new look as they search for affordable space during an economic downturn. A billionaire who made his fortune from storage facilities anticipated this moment nearly a decade ago.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/b-wayne-hughes-built-a-self-storage-empire-now-he-wants-to-rent-you-a-mcmansion-11594373433?st=3mb5872fj9hmzro&reflink=article_copyURL_share
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:29 pm

That’s pretty sad. Def give the article a read.

“The situation is even more bleak for people born in the 1980s. Nearly one in five lives below the poverty line, according to the consulting firm, the highest percentage for any cohort since the generation born during the Great Depression in the 1930s.”
The Great Pumpkin says:

July 10, 2020 at 9:31 pm

Yup, would love to know.

“Even Jefferson spoke negatively about slavery, we will never never know why he didn’t free his slaves.”
jcer says:

July 11, 2020 at 12:59 am

pumps, there is a big difference between running rental homes and self storage. The beauty of self storage facilities is that people deposit their stuff and leave, you aren’t dealing with tenants. It is a low touch business, build it rent it out collect the checks.

My father did some apartment complexes, they built, owned, and managed them. It was their least favorite business and these were in strong markets, NYC metro and south Florida. Apartment complexes are hard enough to manage, it is darn near impossible to run rental houses at a significant profit. The name of the game here is buy distressed property, rent it out to cover operating expenses, and profit upon the sale. The cash flow on single family homes, even purchased at fire sale prices is not good. The pay day is selling out when the values go up.

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