Cue the Scapegoats – Long Knives Weekend?

America stands on the edge of a Great Unraveling.  It’s like reading a story, written by someone on drugs.  Been an interesting read – up until here – but now the absurdity of plot begins to become clear.

Remarkably, it’s not on just one side of the political aisle, either. Both sides have (and this is exceptionally deferential on my part) “issues.”

Dem’s First

The special counsel who was charged with looking into the Biden mishandling of classified documents issued a report Thursday that was devastating.  Rolled out in mainly democrat New York this way: Special counsel says Biden ‘willfully retained and disclosed’ classified info, recommends no charges (nypost.com).

What’s more, the sitting president was characterized in most uncomplimentary ways.  Biden’s own DOJ said he has ‘diminished faculties and a faulty memory’: Classified docs probe reveals he left Afghan files next to dog bed in garage, forgot when his son Beau died AND couldn’t remember when he was vice president. Duh.

Then it gets worse.  Democrats – who have a tough time not talking out of both sides of their mouths – went into butt-covering move to excuse the “no charges” decision:  Why Trump was charged and Biden wasn’t, according to the special counsel.  Bring a salt lick with you.

There is a case, one long-time source explains to us, for the U.S. Defense establishment to throttle the commander-in-chief from having total control of America’s military. While we will never know the likely extraordinary lengths and risks to their careers that may have been involved, we’re advised, “Based on two incidents (I know of — maybe more exist, the JCS has by this hour “patched” the National Command Authority (NCA) to block unilateral Presidential “initiation” in absence of known active inbound threat(s).  Chair-JCS is the top of the ladder for the present, for obvious reasons.”

In our scenario building, we have two models.  Under one, Joe Biden remains cogent and in office.  Under the other, vice president Kamala Harris gets wheeled into the foreground to give America a sense of “competent team” in place if Succession is called-for.

I will leave it to you – after reading Biden Makes Stunning Mexico-Egypt Gaffe in WH Presser – whether this might be in the cards.  “Soft replacement” or “Gentle reinforcements.”

The GOP has “Issues” Too

We don’t usually see two political parties imploding at the same time, but these are historical times. Popcorn sales should boom.

For example, what really happened in Nevada this week?  What happened to the ‘Nikki Haley lost to herself’ stories?  They seems to have been papered over by later versions of reality like Donald Trump wins Nevada’s Republican caucuses after being the only major candidate to participate. Still, the primary was one thing (Nikki Haley is trounced by the ‘none of these candidates’ option in Nevada’s Republican primary) while the caucuses are another.

What’s ahead is a battle by the dems to keep Trump off the ballot at all costs. Did Trump engage in insurrection? US supreme court largely ignores question. On the other hand, maybe not entirely. Justice Brett Kavanaugh Delivers Reality Check to Colorado Attorney in Effort to Exclude Trump from Ballot: ‘Trump Has Not Been Charged with an Insurrection’.

Looking for a Template

We can almost see an historical rhyme in how scapegoating and political mayhem may play out at a national level, when we back up to the summer of 1934.  That was when an ascendant Adolph Hitler unleashed his SS loyalists. Wikipedia remembers the Night of the Long Knives.

“Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ordered a series of political extrajudicial executions intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis’ paramilitary organization, known colloquially as “Brownshirts”. Nazi propaganda presented the murders as a preventive measure against an alleged imminent coup by the SA under Röhm – the so-called Röhm Putsch.

Different worlds – then versus now – but we can see with an open Mexican border, an administration that is infiltrating thousands of military-aged males into remnant America, that there are now a growing number of Future models on the table.

Long Knives Model: We saved this one as a special category, in and unto itself.  Let me set this up by explaining a tactic in the game of chess.  Where, when you have a wide-open board (such as America has now), one way to focus the game is to deliberately get rid of as many pieces as possible.

This can be done through any number of vehicles, such as pawn exchanges. Or selective use of capture en passant early in the game when the middle game is setting up.

The objective in chess (tactically) is sometimes by eliminating pieces you can increase focus to move to the desired outcome.

And this is our point of kick-off for the day; in that we have “too many pieces on the board” for a good, clean advance in any direction.  So, one begins to wonder: Chaos rising, or a case where a “Night of Long Knives” (see the TV series Designated Survivor if you aren’t following) to “simplify things for We the People,” who are functionally “we the tax chattel” is pulled out of the hat.

Stay tuned.

Economy 

Ins and Outs.  Into a short position Thursday, stopped out, and now the market will likely try to rally into the close for the weekend.

Early futures today have us set to rally a bit more – and whether the mid-session begins to roll over, or if a rally carries to the close is mostly a yawner.

With the wave counts at a natural break point, not only could a daily high be in, but also a weekly high and that, could then, lead into a later-winter into May – kind of decline.  Then my consigliere will be arguing about whether there will be a last gasp over summer.

All in good time, I figure.

Bitcoin Higher: Up to the $47,500 level when we checked this morning. Reasonable people are warning Bitcoin (BTC) heading for huge rejection area – traders beware – Crypto Daily but the price is-what-it-is.

The Insanity Rolls Along

Never stops…

Death by DEI is still in play: WOKE-SANITY: Disney Considers Replacing Johnny Depp with a Black Woman as Lead in ‘Pirates’ Reboot.

Meet the New Racism: Shock Video: FAA Officials Discuss Plan to Reduce Number of White Males in Aviation. I may be a simpleton, thousand odd hour ASEL pilot, but short final, IFR is not a place for “racial anything’s.”  Competence is the ONLY metric. I swear to God, sometimes people have Leaky Brain Syndrome.

Reminds me of the emergency medicine joke:  “Next time you are having a heart attack and paramedics respond, isn’t it comforting to know they are the most gender and racially acceptable people that could be hired?”

Competence matters.

More usefully, then: Model Holly Valance: ‘Everyone Starts as a Leftie, Then Wakes Up.’. Seems we know a lot of late sleepers, though.

Around the Ranch: Wire Nightmare

Should be an interesting hands-on piece on our Ultra-Make.com website Sunday.  I’ll be going over how to track down a nearly 20-year old wiring error.  The kind of thing that is non-apparent.

Should be a hell of a set of charts on Peoplenomics tomorrow for subscribers, too.

Off to wrestle with wires. I’m apparently well qual’ed now to be a “breaker breaker.”  And here all this time, I thought the extra class ham radio ticket conferred immunity.

Nope.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

83 thoughts on “Cue the Scapegoats – Long Knives Weekend?”

  1. Death.

    “Death is the only wise advisor that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you’re wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, ‘I haven’t touched you yet.” ? Carlos Castaneda,
    Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan

    “Everybody in the world today needs to ask themselves how they will meet death.” – G.A. Stewart

    https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2024/02/09/the-gaslighting-of-a-nation/

    • From The Age of Desolation,
      “ The truth is not in the rhetoric, but the observable reality of what is going on in the world.

      Big things must be done very soon.”

      I wonder if Stu ever considered going a bit more public about this. – Maybe broaden his audience a lot more. Most folks have no idea about what’s in the cards here. Might find a hero out there.

      • Pathfinder Bob,

        G.A. Stewart: My intention is to recover from this move, play some music and make some videos that explain G. A. Stewart’s version of Nostradamus. Before I check out of this life there are some things that I want to do. My research on Nostradamus’ prophecies is now complete. I will be experimenting with more Green Screen videos in the studio that I have begun setting up and providing Dick Allgire and some other phonies with some YouTube competition and serious criticism. Some of the crazy shit in the Alternative Media needs a critic, maybe it is time for G. A. Stewart to become an entertainer.

        As some readers know, I have already created the opening credits to future videos.

        https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2023/12/15/burning-down-the-house-of-dick-allgire-and-other-cyberspace-phonies/

    • JC……my old mate :-)
      I hope you and yours are well sir.
      You remain one of THE best commenters on the internet.
      Your words, re Death, are prescient and to the EXACT point, as always.
      I have been over at G.A. STEWART’S superb site for a few years now (after you led me there)…….he is right on target, his work with Nostradamus, after so many years, is clearly the best in the world, and revealing itself right in front of our eyes.
      My eternal thanks to you both, but especially you JC……a friend I have never met, but found via Greg Hunters’ site more than 6 years ago I’d say.
      Anything I have I will gladly give to you, should ever you tell me you need it.
      My best wishes be with you always mate.
      Take care as we hurtle towards this…..this….phucking precipice!
      Regards,
      Ray, Canberra, Australia ??

      • Hi Ray,

        Good to hear from you, and many thanks for your kind words!

        You wrote:
        “I have been over at G.A. STEWART’S superb site for a few years now (after you led me there)…”

        And for me, it was George Ure, here at Urban Survival who led me to G.A. Stewart’s site.

        I’ve tried recently to leave some comments at USA WATCHDOG regarding valuable info on G.A. Stewart’s site but they don’t get past “moderation.”

        Best Regards,

        JC

  2. “Remarkably, it’s not on just one side of the political aisle,”

    The aisle.

    The Superbowl is going to have record viewership. This has to mean the NFL boycott is off. Bud Light is the proud sponsor.

    “Trump says Bud Light should be given a “second chance” after Dylan Mulvaney backlash”

    – 1 day ago

    The Bud boycott must be off too.

    Forgive and forget. ‘Bud Light is made by good people. InBev has been through enough.’

    That’s how it works.

    • “The Superbowl is going to have record viewership. This has to mean the NFL boycott is off. Bud Light is the proud sponsor.”

      You are in error.

      It merely means all the millions of “Swifties” who never saw a football game until their idol started banging Kansas City’s All-Pro tight-end (and 2nd-highest profile player) are going to tune in for incidental shots of the object of their affliction.

      I will absolutely watch any NFL game I choose. What I will NEVER do is contribute even as much as one cent to any team, team merch, team or political (municipal) fundraising, or anything else, with the sole exception of purchasing shares of the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly-owned professional sports team in the nation (maybe world?), should they ever have another offering during my lifetime.

      I will end my personal InBev boycott when A-B rehires all the drivers, sales reps, installers, and warehouse employees they canned, when they suddenly lost $32bln and went from #1 to #16 in sales. I still won’t buy Bud Light, but that’s because I discovered Yuengling is both a better beer, and is 100% American-owned.*

      * And BTW George, Yuengling is sold in your favorite Wal-Mart and Kroger stores, as well as all the liquor stores in Palestine.

      (Sorry, Steve. You’ll have to drive to Toledo. The nation’s oldest brewery doesn’t sell in Michigan. Of course, you could just buy Bell’s. Oberon now comes in four different varietals — one for each of Egor’s moods…)

    • Yo Steve, will never drink another INBEV product. Anyway, bud light is just on the other side of H2O. Just keep in mind the big game halftime show will be brought to you by dark one. Always go to the hot wash up on Monday by our friends at vigilant citizen. Always interesting reading. Mr. Bernays finest techniques will be on display come Sunday for the big game, from commercials to the announcers, look for it, once you see it things will never be the same.

      • I know people who watched the SB for the commercials. Unfortunately, about 7 years ago, the underlying harmonics of the commercials — virtually without exception — changed. They became less entertaining and more PC-preachy, and my acquaintances lost interest.

        I don’t watch the propaganda, or the halftime show, and rarely actually watch the game. I will have it on, and will likely be working on a computer (or six) so when something interesting happens, I’ll take a minute to check-out the replay (as I’ve done for many years.) If’fn the NFL and its sponsors want to Goebbels me, they’re gonna have to put the subliminals back into the soundtrack…

    • No; Not gonna watch. Haven’t watched in Dickens years and never will again.

      No; don’t drink horse piss, Bud/Buck/Boob Lite, etc., and all their ilk.

      Change begins with me. And you.

    • Bud Light is weak beer, but not bad. It was
      selected by many, many folks BEFORE Dylan
      Mulvaney. Because it was “light,” I guess.
      (I prefer Heinekin or Guinness or anything
      with some actual taste. I was a big Michelob
      fan for a while…) (but not the “light.”)

      Anyway, Bud Light was what it was BEFORE Dylan Mulvaney, and the brew itself hasn’t changed.

      Once the Corporate Morons go back to the
      image it once had, the brand will bounce back,
      because there’s nothing much wrong with the
      beer — it’s the idiotic MARKETING that was SO
      inapproprite and stupid. Shot themselves in
      the foot, the jerkwads.

      Clydesdales. Get some Clydesdales.
      Big, muscular horses, and cute yellow lab
      dogs as horse-pals, and huge, ornate and
      perfectly maintained old wagons…

      …ane the beer will flow like the Mississippi.

  3. (“America stands on the edge of a Great Unraveling. It’s like reading a story, written by someone on drugs.”)

    lol lol in a way it was written and controlled by someone on drugs with deep perverse deviance lol lol lol..

    JB said who was the smartest man he knew?
    drugs in the residence area of the white house ..sold access and contact to the head of the country for money drugs and access to his corrupt deviances..
    they should be incarcerated instead we pay for opulence dual standards ..

  4. Each morning I wake up, shake a bottle of crazy pills, swallow a dozen or so and prepare myself to read the news section of your column. I try to pick the most interesting crazy news item to comment on and there is no shortage.

    “FAA Officials Discuss Plan to Reduce Number of White Males in Aviation”

    So when the number of white males are in the minority, can the white males then claim discrimination and demand DEI?

    When the first plane crashes with a blind non-white midget at the plane controls (or in the control tower) and DEI becomes DIE for the passengers, will the hiring policy be changed?

    • DEI is already DIE with respect to a society, and I always refer to it thus.

      I am absolutely certain whomever came up with the terms immediately saw the joke inherent in the acronym, and I have little doubt they laugh their asses off every time they see it referred to as “DEI…”

      • It is not a joke, it is a plan against the White Man, White Woman, and White Kids.

        Cutting off access to many opportunities.

        Reverse Racism is still Racism.

        Pay attention, wake up, believe it!!!

        Then you can plan a course of action.

        • No, grasshopper, it isn’t.

          It is a plan to kill contemporary (Western) society — a means of punishing efficiency until a mentally, socially, medically, scientifically, mechanically, and militarily efficient lifestyle and existence is the sole province of the “chosen elite” — chosen by political affiliation and unbridled affluence.

          The racism inherent to the (DIE) process is a symptom and a tool. It is neither the cause nor the effect. You can rail against the racism, (and we all should), but you need to understand you are treating an annoying symptom, and that the actual cause is the desire of the NAZIs in Davos to establish a worldwide Fourth Reich…

        • But of course.

          That is why for the past 60 years the Leftists have been trying to pigeonhole us in as many cubbies as possible.

          Part of the power, and the magic of the U.S. has been “Out of Many, One.” We have been a melting pot, where the best of all cultures, societies, and ethnic menus (YUM!) were blended together.

          To destroy us, our enemies (predominantly DOMESTIC) have taken many steps, but one of the most-insidious is to change the above into “Out of One, Many.” The PTB divide and subcategorize PopUS in as many ways as possible, and when the number of possibilities begins to run out, they invent more ways to divide. DIE is one of those inventions…

    • The answer to that is the Same old crap different day this nation is on a downhill slide to an economic disaster there is not much available to stop it.

  5. “military-aged males”

    Many folks have insulated themselves from stores by using online ordering and delivery systems. I still shop in person but may quit after conceding the NFL boycott is silly talk.

    Anyway the other day I went to $WMT and had to walk through a group of people congregating at the doors who didn’t look or speak like me.

    This made me look around at the folks in the store and count the people who did look me. Out of about 110 folks 6 others looked like me and two were small children riding in a cart.

    By sight some of the others were African American, Asian American, Indian American and others I just couldn’t tell.

    While shopping I went out of my way and asked a worker who didn’t look like me for a price check. They didn’t speak like me but somehow knew I wanted a price check.

    I’m sure those of you who still use physical services see this too.

    • “By sight some of the others were African American, Asian American, Indian American…”

      Until these people, and all others, refer to me as a “North West European-American of mixed Celtic, Druidic, and Scandinavian Descent,” I will refer to them in written word as “Black,” “Yellow,” and “Black” (for people whose ancestry lies in that peninsula of southern Asia).

      I will refer to the peoples who inhabited this continent immediately before Europeans fled here to avoid death, as “Indians” (because the wise old Navajo woman explained to me that that was their true ethnic designation, and they were “damn’ proud of it.”)

      In speech and action, I will refer to them all simply as “people…”

      • I’ve been referred to as European American many times. Even in the workplace.

        Identifiers are common.

        I’ve also talked to people who don’t look like me or talk like me cite the demolition of Civil War statues as removing European attractions.

        I’m not going to argue or debate with them.

      • I tell my kids..be the blind man. you cannot judge someone by their race or religious practices.. there are good and bad in all segments of society. A blind person only knows how someone treats them and how they treat others around them..
        do unto others..
        .(” Golden Role-Taking and Empathy
        “Putting oneself in the other guy’s place” is yet another distinct principle, as is “walking a mile in the other guy’s moccasins” (the Navaho version). The first involves taking a perspective, the second, gaining similar life experience in an ongoing way. Notice thaOt “loving thy neighbor as thyself” requires neither of these operations presuming that we know how to love ourselves and need only extend that to someone. But of course we may not know how to love ourselves, or how to do so in the right way. The same can be said with identifying, role-taking or learning from another’s type of experience. Given that we may not be loving enough to ourselves, loving our neighbor is best accomplished by referring to prevailing standards. Our own proclivities or values are certainly not the final word. Just as with acting as we’d have others act toward us, loving thy neighbor concerns how we’re supposed to love others, as we should love ourselves. We must consult the community, its ethical conventions or scriptures (including Kantian or Utilitarian scriptures). The last word comes through a critical comparison of these conventions, in experience, with our proclivities and values.”)

    • I too have noticed men hanging out near the doors of stores. I tend to smile at people I pass and most people smile back. In the past year or so I have noticed that these men tend to scowl back at me.It was quite a shock the first time. The ones who scowl don’t seem to like old white women looking at them and smiling.

      There also has been a great increase in very hairy, very smelly men hanging around in places like the McDonald’s drive thru or sitting in Subway hoping for food. The last guy I gave money to for a sandwich just laughed and continued to just sit there. I also gave him a coupon for a discounted sandwich price and he didn’t seem to know what it was.

      • You are kinder than I am. I’ll help people with a jump start or similar request, but I’ll never give them money under any circumstances. Money changes people – I learned this from a customer service manager at a financial institution. When I worked there, I was able to observe it personally. Please be careful – some of these people are decent, and others are barely human.

      • Never ever give anyone Money .

        Food, a cup of Soup, a warm coat..

        Money is bad no matter what. You are doing more harm than good giving Money to homeless types.

        * Some of the truly great “masters” have been known to change their appearances and test students…dirty old, nasty man/women who asks you for specific amount. ** must be exact with test..no rounding Errors, exact.

  6. (“Ride ’em Joe Model: In this one, Biden’s meds keep working and he doesn’t have a sunsetting step down. His current plays are weak, though. Trying to appeal to the American Jewish vote as well as to well-heeled supporters of the Palestinians.”)

    hmm does he have to appeal to anyone at all..

    COG. .
    If the country is in a national state of emergency…theoretically..the way I understand it.. he can send congress home and stop the election..
    we already have seen examples showing how heads of agencies have appeared to be complicit in the activities..even smug about their complacency..
    it totally depends on how deep the control is as to how it plays out..in the end stories though the final scene is always the same.

    • hmmm after the last seven and a half years of anti Trump nonstop agenda..the amount of money that’s been spent. the attempts to destroy him on every level.. do you seriously think that he would be allowed to take the seat in office again?
      if stopping the election is the last choice they can make ..I totally believe that’s what would happen.
      opening the birders to what potentially could be an enemy army is totally threat enough to put the usa in a national state of emergency..of course who am I just some old low level schmuck in the middle of the wastelands..

        • You know I actually don’t..
          I guess I always assumed it was a poor man that is strong opinionated.
          I would like to believe that I have a well rounded character but keep being told in it’s by the kids that can’t see any of what I see coming..

        • I asked my dad, as a child, what a schmuck is. His definition has stuck with me:
          “a man who jumps in a barrel of titties and comes out sucking his thumb”

    • think of the comical side to all this.. those in charge are spending unheard of amounts of money trying to put an ex president in prison that is by far one of the countries favorites.. and they are going to make all the people that are supporting this ex president to pay for it.
      all while borrowing money from another country to send money to another country to secure their borders while promoting our country to allow what totally appears to be an overrun seize on our country..lol lol lol

      • I have often wondered if she was the star actress in the kids step mommy fantasy videos..lol lol those could be M&M’s… 18 of them would fill her mouth lol lol lol

  7. Dems are now very publicly claiming that constitutionally legal 3rd party candidates (e.g. Kennedy, Manchin) suddenly represent a threat to U.S. democracy.

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/third-party-panic-ensues-across-liberal-media-pundits-portray-threat-democracy

    The reality is that 3rd party candidates are not ‘threats to democracy,’ but threats to ruling Democrats’ and their quest for grabbing absolute political power.

    The rhetoric comes straight out of the Nazi Brown Shirt and later SS playbook.

    “Nazi strategists sought out the “soft spots” in the areas they planned to absorb or attack. Rival economic interests, racial and religious antagonisms, tensions between political groups, cleavages between workers and employers—these were studied in every detail.”

    . . . and . . .

    “Thus the rancors, grudges, and disloyalties of these elements would serve to divide a nation and destroy its unity. Every country has groups of discredited political figures, demagogues, extreme reactionaries, misguided idealists, and die-hards who can be misled by glittering promises. Play our game, the Nazis told some of these groups, and we will elevate you to positions of power and influence.”

    See: https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-2-what-is-propaganda-(1944)/enemy-propaganda

    Is history repeating itself? On that matter, I defer to the illustrious late American author Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) famously opined “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It often Rhymes.” IMO, it sure does feel like it’s ‘rhyme time!’

  8. Folks if you havenet been paying attention to the black swan the PBOC set off, the contagion is begining to spread to US shores. It starts with PBOC removing bailouts for Evergrande. The rest is made simple by this equation [[2008 ” financial crissis” + Lehman Brothers + DOTCOMM] x several orders of magnitude]. Enjoy.

    Go Blockchain? Printers are about to go Brrrrrrrrr. Its an election year after all.

    • Your coverage of the crisis in commercial real estate has been eye opening. There is another minor challenge for some commercial RE: condo conversion. In big cities some towers can be converted, but many aren’t economic to convert.

      Conversion involves ripping it to the frame. Similar to tv renovation shows you have to “rip the building to the studs”. Plumbing and wiring have to go as well as fire code would have to be for residential and some buildings would need to be re curtained. Re curtaining would involve taking the entire glass wall off and replacing it with a stone or steel and double glazed window curtain exterior.

      All of this would be expensive. In a big city with a taller tower it might be doable. But in a suburban setting where they have low rise buildings with huge floors and possibly an atrium it’s not very practical. Think about a four story structure which would have to be Re curtained because it has mirror glass walls.

      Imagine a four story building: While an atrium would be cool the rest would be expensive because you would have these 1500 to 2500 square foot units to comply with the need for bedrooms to have windows and interior hallways and likely a front door to the atrium. Unless you converted it to townhouses, which might be better because you would not need to build elevators, then you would be able to lower the costs of the units.

      The problem is that in suburban communities it’s more profitable to build houses in a subdivision than convert commercial property. Anyway those are my thoughts on low rise suburban office parks.

      • Conversion Cost is the reason empty Shopping Malls are virtually always ripped down. LOTS of useless empty space in the middle (court areas) in addition to it costing a lot to heat and cool and lots of spaces with NO outside walls that one can punch holes in for windows etc..

        As to why they take so long to rip down those vacant malls once vacant … think of how the large entities that hold their debt on their books do their accounting. IF they rip them down they have to take a loss on their books IMMEDIATELY, usually in the tens of millions but sometimes edging into the hundreds of millions of dollars. If they leave it up they generally can continue to just write it off year by year as each year’s loan payments are NOT made and not have to take a single huge loss in one year (and most of the lenders have financed MULTIPLE now closed malls so are looking at HUGE amounts of loans that need to be written off).

        In my state from the time a mall closes until it is ripped down generally takes from 8 to 12 years, though a couple of the largest ones are now approaching their 20th anniversary from when they closed, and are still (kinda) standing.

        Large vacant big box stores loans are better to hold in a loan portfolio since they can easily be converted to light warehousing (floor loading limits are what keep them from being light manufacturing or heavier warehousing), call centers, etc. so they seem to always retain some residual value.

      • This is the insanity of codes. Yes, they make good guidelines, but IMHO they should never have the force of law. I’d be happy to live in a large open vacant building with no windows and lots of shop space for creating and making, along with storing materials and tools. Many other guys would too. Women might want something different, but that’s on them.

  9. LAZY DAY OATMEAL CAKE
    Ingredients:
    1 cup uncooked rolled oats ( similarly dried bread can be used as a bread cake substitute for oats)
    1 1/4 cups boiling water
    1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
    1 cup granulated sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    2 eggs
    1 1/2 cups flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
    TOPPING
    1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine, melted
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    3 tablespoons cream or 3 tablespoons milk
    3/4 cup flaked coconut
    1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)
    Directions
    In a shallow bowl soak oats in boiling water for 20 minutes.
    Meanwhile proceed by measuring butter and sugars into beater bowl and beating until light.
    Beat in eggs and vanilla.
    Sift and measure flour, sifting again with the soda and spices.
    By this time the oats will be soaked and cool.
    Remove beaters from creamed mixture and fold in soaked oats.
    Sift flour mixture over and fold in.
    Turn in a buttered 9×9? pan and bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes .
    Mix all the topping ingredients.
    Do not remove cake from pan but while still hot spread topping over and put under the broiler until bubbly and tinged with gold.
    Watch carefully.

  10. When in the course of human events, it

    becomes necessary for one people to disolve the political bands which have connected them with another, …

    What say you?

  11. ” Rand Paul: McConnell Working to Funnel Money to Ukraine. Who has what on Mitch, we find ourselves asking…”

    Surely not McConnell’s ChiCom wife…?

  12. “Meet the New Racism: Shock Video: FAA Officials Discuss Plan to Reduce Number of White Males in Aviation. ”

    Oh, please, please, please, make the diversity hires the pilots for all official FAA flights…

  13. “I’ll be going over how to track down a nearly 20-year old wiring error. The kind of thing that is non-apparent.

    Off to wrestle with wires. I’m apparently well qual’ed now to be a “breaker breaker.” And here all this time, I thought the extra class ham radio ticket conferred immunity.

    Nope.”

    When I was doing OBSCs (Old British Sports Cars) I had to track down many non-apparent wiring errors. We called them “Lucas.”

    BTW, have you ever had to deal with a household breaker which developed an internal short…?

    • “We called them “Lucas.”” Ray that’s why the British drink warm beer. Because they have Lucas refrigerators!

    • It was 1967 out, and I was riding check-ride seat
      in an Air America twin otter out of Nha Trang —
      in Vietnam. My cargo was a briefcase with some
      printed materials for a few different locations.
      The drivers and I hit it off — all of us being car guy
      gearheads, with a minor in Brit sports cars. The
      weather even a few hundred feet up was MUCH
      nicer than down on the deck, so I liked these rides,
      I had to do once a month.

      As we shot the shit, the left seat says to me,
      “Look at the instruments.” I wasn’t a pilot. but
      I had some small knowledge of it all. I didn’t
      notice anything. Looked pretty normal — basic “T.”

      I said, “So?” He said, “Look closer.” I did. Still
      didn’t notice anything special. Said so.

      So, he says, “Nonononono — Look REAL close!”

      Then, for the first time on all these flights, I got
      scared. Looking closely, every clock proudly
      displayed “LUCAS ELECTRIC.”

      • Lucas made gauges? All I ever saw were Smiths and VDO, and an occasional retrofit S-W.

        I hope they didn’t make the altimeter…

  14. re: “Cue the Scapegoats”
    feat: Fire when Ready

    Folks,

    The “Deutsche Welle” website story on the Ukrainian changeover of military heads features a public domain image of last July originating from the President’s office. A jovial Mr. Zelensky was in Dnipro amidst an allegedly succeeding counteroffensive officially to congratulate his then military head Zaluzhyni as well as military head successor as of this week, Colonel-General Syrsky. Apparently both soldiers were celebrating July birthdays so Mr. Zelensky presented each a gift.

    The now fired Mr. Zaluzhni received a handgun and bullets presented in a fine woodgrain box engraved with his name. Colonel-General Syrsky was gifted an unframed print celebrating victory of the Ukrainian military.

    “Pravda” at the time gushed over Colonel-General Syrsky’s military service during the Soviet era. Now, let’s get back to the studio while DJ George enjoys a well-deserved lunch repast. In lieu, please accept thoughts for a new Ukrainian dark comedy series in development-
    “Russian Roulette”.

  15. Regarding the Night of the Long Knives – I’m recalling the movie “Seven Days in May” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Could the current situation of our country even dissolve more by this May to have something like this happen??
    Still sticking to my guns that after the “Death Cross” eclipse on April 8th the USA will be even less recognizable than it is now in however format that unfolds…..

  16. “Two incidents?”
    Lemme guess:
    1st – J. Carter, who at one point said America would “absorb” a Russki first strike,” and then, rather than retaliate, he planned to “sue for peace,” in the interets of not destroying the entire world. Long-lived tales in Song & Story in the hallways suggest, with little to no evidence, that a certain four-star took a rapid off-the-books trip to Moscow, and said to the folks there words to the effect, “Don’t you believe it. He (Jimmy) has a briefcase with some numbers and a radio, and WE (The JCS) actually have the hardware and the physical means to release it — regardless of anybody’s pipe dreams or decent intentions. “We’ll blow your asses to Hell.”

    2nd — During (right before) Nixon’s infamous psychotic break final farewell address/news conference, immediately before boarding Marine One — outbound for Andrews and points west. Essentially, a very similar “reassurance” was delivered that cool and logical heads were still in operational charge of the rockets.

    I have no proof of either, but they make sense to me. Do you allow an insane skipper to put the ship on the rocks; or do you act to prevent that? As I said, the Songs & Stories have echoed in the halls for decades. They persist.

  17. YEEE HAW! Just had a 6.3 earthquake at Naalehu along the south shore of the Big Island. Underground lava rumbles have been ongoing in the area. This may be a precursor to an eruption in the SW rift zone of Kilauea. This shaker was felt on Oahu some 200+ miles away.

  18. I got news for you hermits, ethnic and racial cleansing against light-skinned people of European decent in the American professional workplace has been going on for the last thirty years. The pilots are among the last to be targeted.
    On the plus side, it has opened up a lot of highly paid professional babysitting jobs for the competent hold-outs.

    • WTF? Whoever did it is probably gonna make about 8¢/hr after they cut it into enough pieces that they can scrap it without becoming Uncle’s guest. Looks like they got their transmitter and broadcast kit jacked, too…

  19. It occurs to me that the big Hawaii earthquake here occurred just hours after the second largest solar X-flare of this cycle happened, an X3.3. Hmmm…

  20. The S&P500 closed above the 5,000 level., record high. the Russell 2000 closed above 2,000., record high. The Nasdaq just missed closing above 16,000., just shy of an all time high. Even Bitcoin closed above $47,000.
    – Monday and all of next week, should prove to be very interesting.

  21. I noticed a little more Communism today at the ATM.

    The BoA ATM screen was trying to sell me PBS tickets.

    Both supported by Uncle Sam. Ha.

    That’s how it works.

  22. Poland?

    December 23, 2023 by George Ure
    Something odd has been swirling around Ure’s environment for 21 hours now involving Poland. No idea why, but here are the three oddities that have come along.

    https://urbansurvival.com/saturday-woo-woo

    February 09, 2024 by Hal Turner
    I have been reporting to all of you the developments in Poland that lead many to believe NATO will enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict before May 5. I have renewed my urgent suggestions that all of you have emergency “preps” like food, water, medicine, a generator, communications gear like a CB or HAM radio, and I want you to know what I am doing/have done to “prep” this show.

    https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/fyi-preps-for-this-show-if-the-worst-happens

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