vxbush 11/18/2025 5:49:37 AM

1

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 6:14:10 AM

2

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 6:16:56 AM

3

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 2:

(chuckle) You and a zillion others.  But keep in mind, it started out as a political campaign song, by a candidate for Boston Mayor, IIRC.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 6:35:51 AM

4

Reply to vxbush in 1:

Thank you.

The key to what's inside Donald (to what literally drives him) lies in his father, Fred, and his older brother, Fred Jr.

Fred Sr. wanted Jr. to learn the business, AND LEARN FRED'S WAYS OF RUNNING IT, and eventually take over running the family enterprise.  Freddy wanted no part of that.  (Back in the day in NYC, while he was indeed very successful, Fred was generally regarded a something of a sociopath.  No feelings for others, using them mercilessly.)  Fred tried and tried to train Freddy, but Freddy didn't want to learn.  Fred cursed him in fits of rage, and the Family saw it.  Then Fred gave up and switched to Donald - not trying to teach him how to run the Trump Organization, but merely using Donald's early-twenties "personality" as the new "brand" of the company.

(In his youth, Donald bragged to the girls that his father was giving him an allowance of a million dollars per year.  Also, there's strong rumor from back then that he paid a friend to take the SAT test for him, so he could enter UPenn for his last two years of college.)

Freddy had descended into serious alcoholism and died of it in his early forties.  It's why Donald doesn't drink, and is the "why" behind the terrified little boy that's deep inside Donald today.  The little boy is obsessed with pleasing Daddy, and that means being right about everything, better than everyone else, and being knee-jerk hostile to criticism.

JCM 11/18/2025 6:41:59 AM

5

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 6:43:59 AM

6

In #4 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: FRED'S WAYS OF RUNNING IT

In the mid-Fifties, Fred Sr. was called before a US Senate subcommittee investigating fraud in the use of post-war FHA housing construction loans.  Fred was guilty as hell, but managed to talk his way out of it.

In the building and running of low-cost housing, Fred was the epitome of the successful cheat.  Thru the 70s and 80s, he did teach Donald how to inflate and/or hide wealth.  He also gave well over a half-billion dollars to his kids by using legal donation laws in an illegal manner.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 6:44:50 AM

7

Reply to JCM in 5:

OMG!

vxbush 11/18/2025 6:51:12 AM

8

In #4 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: Freddy had descended into serious alcoholism and died of it in his early forties.  It's why Donald doesn't drink, and is the "why" behind the terrified little boy that's deep inside Donald today.  The little boy is obsessed with pleasing Daddy, and that means being right about everything, better than everyone else, and being knee-jerk hostile to criticism.

His incredibly thin skin is very obvious, but what always gets me is that he changes his opinion on a dime and thinks no one notices. He claims to be a conservative and then is talking about sending out stimulus checks. It's ridiculous, and I like a lot of what he has done. 

vxbush 11/18/2025 6:56:31 AM

9

In #4 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: Freddy had descended into serious alcoholism and died of it in his early forties.  It's why Donald doesn't drink, and is the "why" behind the terrified little boy that's deep inside Donald today.  The little boy is obsessed with pleasing Daddy, and that means being right about everything, better than everyone else, and being knee-jerk hostile to criticism.

His incredibly thin skin is very obvious, but what always gets me is that he changes his opinion on a dime and thinks no one notices. He claims to be a conservative and then is talking about sending out stimulus checks. It's ridiculous, and I like a lot of what he has done. 

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 7:23:43 AM

10

Reply to vxbush in 8:
(1) The family's said, he's exceptionally good at "hoovering" - picking up on things that flicker past, remembering and using them later.  They also have said, the little boy is constantly antsy for "proving himself".  He says one thing this minute, promoting himself.  Then a bit later (and utterly unconnected with what he'd said earlier) he comes up with another thing which will promote himself.  The behavior's so off-the-wall, you have to get back to Fred Senior and all of that.

(2) His older sister (who became a Federal judge) called Donald a habitual liar.  That ties in with the little boy's fixation on proving himself.

Link that in with Fred Sr's affection for Dr. Norman Vincent Peale's "prosperity gospel" - that G*d wants us to be wealthy, and being wealthy shows that one is faithful.  (Peale was preaching to Manhattan island.)

Link that in with mega-pastor Paula White becoming Donald's (cough, snicker) "spiritual advisor" (chortle, groan) in or about 2002.

Link that in with Trump's 2015/16 campaign, where that part of the Evangelical Movement which had gone over to prosperity gospel became his core political base.  Andrew Breitbart had long since declared that Trump wasn't in any way "conservative", but the mega-pastors were able to flush that, and Donald's theatrics were "proof".

Link that with the quote that most voters feel, rather than think.  The mega-pastors and Donald knew how to milk that.  2016, conservative-feeling voters adored how Donald was able to drive the Left straight up the wall on Twitter.  That was what got him into the White House.  Feelings.  At Donald's end, there were no serious policies connected to it.  It was all emotive.

Research Louisiana's Huey Long, his methods for local political success.  Donald wasn't capable of following Long's details, but the Evangelicals were.

(3a)  Has he really "DONE" all those things?  Will they last, or is it hype and showmanship?  (3b) To what extent has his doing them been for his own benefit?  His efforts with MbS of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab Gulf are an immediate case in point.  The F-35 sales to MbS could easily bite America in the ass.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 7:35:31 AM

11

In #10 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: The F-35 sales to MbS could easily bite America in the ass

Yes, that's the Daily Mail, but I can give a mountain of detailed evidence of the rise of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, of the strength of its grip on the Riyadh Government, and of MbS's obvious hunger for authoritarian, possibly totalitarian, control.

MbS has kissed Donald's ass, and has promised him substantial profits from "business enterprises".  Donald is his (at least until MbS does something to piss Donald off.)

50 years ago, when Reagan was host on the weekly "Death Valley Days", conservatism had something to do with one's behavior.  Today's "Conservatism" has nothing to do with it.  Nothing.  You want proof?  Look at The Donald.

JCM 11/18/2025 7:45:16 AM

12

Digital Monoculture vulnerability?

Cloudflare says outage that hit X, ChatGPT and other sites is resolved

Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare was hit by an outage on Tuesday, knocking several major websites offline for global users.

A couple of weeks ago a major AWS server farm went down. A while back a Crowdstrike security update knock millions of Windows machines offline. A recent Win update wasn't much better.

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 7:58:28 AM

13

Reply to JCM in 12:
The site "medium" uses Cloudflare, and I've been using it to follow 3I/Atlas. Avi Loeb is actually more reasonable than many others, like one today that claimed to have found structure in an image of 3I/Atlas, but it looks like random pixellation effects to me.

Anyway, medium works fine on one computer, but another had trouble. Same internet connection. Probably each computer got a different server for load balancing.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 7:58:56 AM

14

In #12 JCM said:  .........  Monoculture

Are you familiar with the old nursery story about the Pied Piper?

People like Gates and Zuckerberg see themselves as that - leading their hero-worshipers off down the technological garden path.

Problem is ... they're right.

--------

It'd love to know if NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain got hit too.

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 8:07:10 AM

15

In #3 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: But keep in mind, it started out as a political campaign song, by a candidate for Boston Mayor,

(Charlie on the MTA) Yes, it was a mayorial campaign song. At least one version ends with "Vote George O'BRian"; whether that was a random name or the actual candidate, I don't know.

Ride the trains for free - vote for Zo Mamdani - get poor Mohammed off the MTA!

BTW, Scollay Square station is long gone, as is Scollay Square, famous for burlesque shows, Now Government Center, home to the ugliest city hall.

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 8:08:10 AM

16

In #14 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: It'd love to know if NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain got hit too.

I thought the Stargate was shut down,  and 3I/Atlas is a Goa'uld ship.

/////////////

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 8:10:29 AM

17

Back in 1972, some comic had a line about how in 1776, the US had Washington, Jefferson, etc and in 1972 the two top guys were Nixon and McGovern.

In 2024, the two top were Trump and Kamala Hamas. That's how bad things have gotten.

JCM 11/18/2025 8:18:02 AM

18

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 13:

Cool maybe I can be one of the chosen to beam up to the mothership!

I have clean underwear!

//////

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 8:23:35 AM

19

In #15 Kosh's Shadow said: Ride the trains for free

England's "Council House culture" - beginning to be created 150 years ago,

Disraeli's Tory "Conservative" party learned it could beat Gladstone's Liberals by giving the voters things the voters wanted for free.  (100 years later, LBJ did the same thing, saying it would cement the black community to the Democratic Party for a century.)

UK "Conservatives" created the societal mudbank that England's stuck in today.  Both Tory Maggie Thatcher and New Labour Tony Blair were against it, but could do nothing.  Today, it's being shifted to the 'boat people'.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 8:26:03 AM

20

In #17 Kosh's Shadow said: That's how bad things have gotten

OH BUT NOT AT ALL ///////

Kamala was VERY well-paid for her services to Willie Brown.  She must have been an Expert.  (duck and run)

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 8:27:48 AM

21

In #18 JCM said: Cool maybe I can be one of the chosen to beam up to the mothership!

As long as you know where your towel is.

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 8:28:48 AM

22

In #20 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: Kamala was VERY well-paid for her services to Willie Brown.  She must have been an Expert. 

Camel-ass knows how to hump.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 8:30:34 AM

23

In #18 JCM said: I have clean underwear!

If you insert a photo, it will be universally nominated as an addition to Kosh's reasons (posted late yesterday, will you were picking up your boy's car) for being expelled from the blog.

////////

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 8:32:35 AM

24

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 22:

We'ed not know better.

(Yes, I know, crappy English.)

JCM 11/18/2025 8:45:11 AM

25

Reply to preBoomer-Marinebrat in 20:

Expert of Professional?

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 9:35:50 AM

26

Reply to JCM in 25:

Apparently not a Professional, but that might be skirting the issuWHACKTHUDOW!!!

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 12:23:12 PM

27

Misplaced label on wire caused Dali bridge crash

When the ship was built, a lable was placed on a wire incorrectly, preventing a good connection

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 1:54:23 PM

28

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 27:

(...was at risk of collapse...) ...... "Among those on the list are the Golden Gate Bridge in California..."

Oh sh*t

(the illustration of label placement is extremely helpful, and understandable.  Someone in a hurry.)

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 2:02:17 PM

29

In #28 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: the illustration of label placement is extremely helpful, and understandable

That is one reason I used that link.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 2:36:16 PM

30

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 29:

Hmmm.  Yes.  It's interesting because it's odd.

Much of today's journalism seems to have been written by someone in pajamas sitting on their bed, typing on a laptop while reading from a local police agency's Facebook page regarding a major accident that happened on the freeway six hours ago.

There are no more "reporters out on the beat".  One of the Watergate fellows (Bernstein, I think) said several years ago that the present crop of journalists are ... "ill-educated and know nothing of history, and are focused on 'breaking the next big one'."

JCM 11/18/2025 2:42:46 PM

31

Reply to preBoomer-Marinebrat in 30:

I wonder if they even teach the 5 Ws any more in journalism school. Much of the media anymore is talking points devoid of any substantive information.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 2:49:39 PM

32

Reply to JCM in 31:

Don't know ... and a DAMNED INTERESTING question.

(I have a DVD of the Gable/Day movie "Teacher's Pet".  A few of the scenes are right where your question is headed.)

JCM 11/18/2025 2:53:25 PM

33

That takes all the fun out of it!

WSDOT no longer using artillery for avalanche control on Snoqualmie Pass

Typically, no description of the new system.

From what I can find a box with multiple explosive packages is set up in avalanche chutes. A remote signal tosses the explosive out into the snow and detonated.

preBoomer-Marinebrat 11/18/2025 3:14:50 PM

34

Reply to JCM in 33:

The Secretary Of War will be theatrically irate.

JCM 11/18/2025 3:26:46 PM

35

Reply to preBoomer-Marinebrat in 34:

One the old avalanche control devices was a M-60 Patton Tank.

buzzsawmonkey 11/18/2025 3:36:05 PM

36

In #30 preBoomer-Marinebrat said: Much of today's journalism seems to have been written by someone in pajamas sitting on their bed, typing on a laptop while reading from a local police agency's Facebook page regarding a major accident that happened on the freeway six hours ago.

Typing?  "Typing?" Man, are you behind the times.  They don't write this stuff, be it for print or for internet distribution---they dictate it into their li'l laptops, which is why you see so many laughable typos in everything.

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 3:43:55 PM

37

In #36 buzzsawmonkey said: so many laughable typos

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise

by Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar

I have a spelling checker,

It came with my PC.

It plane lee marks four my revue

Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,

Your sure reel glad two no.

Its vary polished in it's weigh.

My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,

It freeze yew lodes of thyme.

It helps me right awl stiles two reed,

And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen

Eye trussed too bee a joule.

The checker pours o'er every word

To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker's

Hour spelling mite decline,

And if we're lacks oar have a laps,

We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling

Is checked with such grate flare,

Their are know fault's with in my cite,

Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does knot phase me,

It does knot bring a tier.

My pay purrs awl due glad den

With wrapped word's fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet

Of witch won should bee proud,

And wee mussed dew the best wee can,

Sew flaw's are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays

Such soft wear four pea seas,

And why eye brake in two averse

Buy righting want too pleas. 

Kosh's Shadow 11/18/2025 3:44:32 PM

38

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 37:
Reference for that post