vxbush 11/5/2025 5:45:20 AM

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vxbush 11/5/2025 5:53:32 AM

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vxbush 11/5/2025 5:55:21 AM

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Occasional Reader 11/5/2025 6:46:16 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 1:

I basically agree with you. I think the most depressing thing about yesterday’s elections as they show how far gone the Democrats are. No candidate is too far left for them at this point. No candidate is too crazy for them. 

Kosh's Shadow 11/5/2025 6:52:00 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 4:

Wanting an opponents kids shot? And they say the right is violent.

vxbush 11/5/2025 7:00:03 AM

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In #4 Occasional Reader said: I think the most depressing thing about yesterday’s elections as they show how far gone the Democrats are. No candidate is too far left for them at this point. No candidate is too crazy for them. 

Given that things that would have given previous voters serious pause--wishing death on an opponent, serious breaches of ethics, you name it--are no longer reasons to force a candidate to drop out, should I be surprised? No. I'm sure anyone other than Democrats who had such serious breaches in ethics would be forced to drop out, but Democrats never are. 

Occasional Reader 11/5/2025 7:07:56 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 5: Reply to vxbush in 6:

And then there’s Mamdani, who is basically a MAGA caricature of what a Democrat candidate is like now.  Yet he still won.

vxbush 11/5/2025 7:20:46 AM

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In yesterday's Coffee and Covid post, the author posits that the recent news connecting Tylenol during pregnancy to autism in children followed by the parent company of Tylenol being sold to Kimberly Clarke was a power move, whereby Trump showed off his power in moving the markets, generating another lawsuit was filed against the Tylenol maker,  and thus greatly devalue a company so it could be sold far cheaply.

Do I agree with this? I'm not sure. He definitely knows a heck of a lot more about business than I do, and scads more about real estate and how that works. NPR even said that Trump's press conference expanded the existing lawsuits, causing more people to call in and ask to be added to the lawsuits. 

Of course, I'm not sure the position posited by Coffee and Covid's author about the significance of the artwork on the wall confirmed Trump's power play, but he does like to send messages through his artwork choices in the White House. 

It's an interesting theory domino in the theory of presidential power and markets, to be sure. I doubt too many other people could understand the power they have in just a little ol' tweet.

JCM 11/5/2025 8:27:15 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 1:

In WA the (R) have thrown in the towel. Sure individual (R)s run and win outside the Seattle Metroplex. But the don't contest state wide elections.

The fraud pattern become apparent in 2000 Cantwell v. Gorton. It was close of to challenge but Gorton being "gentleman" conceded. The pattern didn't become apparent until 2004 Gregoire v. Rossi it was so obvious. The (R)s challenged it court but did so stupidly.

Since then they haven't bothered. 2024 the (D) candidate was deeply unpopular. He's a Newscumesque pretty boy socialist. The (R)s had Dave Reichert, Popular with name recognition. He was the detective who was in charge of the Green River Serial killer task force and capture him. Very effective 2 term Sheriff in King Co. Good record as a Rep. in Congress. He wins the primary but through some wild shit I still don't understand and makes the Kamala selection look like kindergarten shit. Picked a literal nobody with zero name recognition or history to run against Sideshow.

Talk about throwing an election.

I seeing he same crap across the country.
Have I said before I hate the (R)s more than the (D)s?

vxbush 11/5/2025 8:35:26 AM

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In #9 JCM said: I seeing he same crap across the country. Have I said before I hate the (R)s more than the (D)s?

Sundance has said repeatedly that Democrats get money so they can then acquire power, while Republicans acquire power so they can then get money. I haven't seen any counterexamples to strike that down. 

buzzsawmonkey 11/5/2025 8:45:09 AM

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While the Republican Party, to the extent that it actually exists, is riven with ideological disputes, poor messaging, and a spotty, at best, field of candidates, their actual problem is that they are, and have long been, the Palooka Party. A "palooka" is a low-level boxer who will hire himself out to fight an up-and-comer, with the understanding that after putting up the show of a fight for the first five rounds he will cave in the sixth and allow himself to be kayoed for the guaranteed short money.

That has been the Republican Party's modus operandi for years.

buzzsawmonkey 11/5/2025 8:48:05 AM

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And, while we're doing post-mortems:

Sliwa's claim to fame, organizing the Guardian Angels as a civilian patrol on the subways during the pre-Giuliani chaos years in NYC, was over 40 years ago. He is all but unknown to the younger generations of New Yorkers, who also do not know/cannot remember those chaos years.

He also belongs to a demographic---the Southern and Eastern European working class---which is now vestigial in New York. The older generations of that demographic are largely either dead, have moved away, or they and their descendents have risen in class, which makes Sliwa's delivery of any point or position, in tones and syntax similar to that of the old Dead End Kids, a complete anachronism.

Add to that that the New York Republican Party, to the extent it exists at all, does not support the few candidates it fields. Every single candidate for judge on yesterday's ballot was supported by both the Democrats and the Republicans, as well as one of the vestigial parties. So, where's the differentiation between the parties? Nowhere.

In addition, the Republicans did not bother to field candidates in several of the City Council elections; they did not offer a candidate to challenge the incumbent female councilmember who is just as much a radical Muslim as Mamdani.

vxbush 11/5/2025 12:56:56 PM

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In #12 buzzsawmonkey said: the Republicans did not bother to field candidates in several of the City Council elections

While I can appreciate not wanting to waste money, the idea of not even being willing to run a candidate blows my mind a bit. They couldn't find anyone to do it? No one? Have they no pipeline of college kids they can tap into? 

JCM 11/5/2025 1:26:12 PM

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UPS2967, the MD-11 that crashed in Louisville KY. NTSB confirmed engine no. 1, the left engine departed the aircraft during takeoff roll. Given that the plane the plane continued the takeoff roll it likely came after V1 or decision speed. The plane would have been heavily loaded and nearly a maximum fuel load for the 8-9 hour flight to Hawaii. So far 3 dead on the crew, 8 on the ground and several more missing. 

This on the face of it appears similar to AA-191 which had the no. 1 engine depart during take off, killing all 271 aboard.

That AA-191 was cause by improper maintenance which damage the engine mounting bolts, cause a small fracture which then over time and stress propagated until failure.

It is hard to image a maintenance crew repeating the AA-191 since that is part of training now. But it's possible.

I will expect a grounding of all MD-11 aircraft for inspections. UPS, FEDEX, KLM still use the MD-11 cargo variant. No passenger variants are in use.

Kosh's Shadow 11/5/2025 2:51:39 PM

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Reply to JCM in 14:

The MD-11 is the renamed DC-10 when that aircraft got a bad reputation. I never liked it.

Too bad the engine delays for the L-1011 made it too late to make money. A much better aircraft.

JCM 11/5/2025 3:09:32 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 15:

Some changes. Longer fuselage, larger horizontal stabilizer to improve pitch control, updated cockpit, winglets. Newer versions of CF-6 engine or PW4000. More range and great takeoff weight.

buzzsawmonkey 11/5/2025 3:16:12 PM

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Occasional Reader 11/5/2025 6:00:34 PM

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Buzz, perhaps you can do a “Rock The Cash Bar” song parody.