Wednesday Open Comments

Early in the 20th century, they called it “the war to end all wars”.  It seems now like a cruel joke to describe what became the opening act to the bloodiest epoch in human history.  Eighty years ago this week, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, raising the stakes in what began as an obscure assassination in Sarajevo.  America continues to pay in blood and treasure for grandiose blunders committed in Europe one hundred and five years ago.

This photograph by the Henri Cartier-Bresson captures just a vignette of the havoc wrought on mankind.  These desperate people on a dock in New York City in 1946 were waiting to see if any surviving loved ones disembarked from a European refugee ship.


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64 responses to “Wednesday Open Comments”

  1. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Mornin’ Gang

  2. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    GMC D-860 COE “Cannonball”

    “Smoke ’em if you got ’em – real trucks don’t have spark plugs”

  3. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    Alabama job growth continues as Labor Day approaches.

    As the country gets ready for its annual celebration of the workforce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is acknowledging Alabama’s record job growth.

    According to the Chamber, Alabama has added 40,000 jobs since July 2018. Alabama ranks 10th in the nation for job growth and 18th in the nation for wage growth.

    The average weekly earnings for Alabamians in June 2019 were $861.80, which is $45.83 more than what people saw the previous year.

    Alabama’s unemployment rate is at 3.3%, 16th lowest in the nation.

    “More Alabamians are working now than at any other point in our state’s history, but our work is not done yet,” Gov. Kay Ivey told Alabama Daily News. “We will not rest on our successes, but instead, we will build on them. Every Alabamian deserves a pathway to success, and we are certainly well on our way to achieving that.”

    During the month of August, Alabama saw several enterprises and business ventures begin.

    Abbeville Fiber, LLC just celebrated the beginning of operations this week at its 115-employee, state-of-the-art sawmill plant. It is the largest economic development project in Henry County’s history, with $40 million invested to date.

  4. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    According to shocking reports, people have purchased car parts at Walmart and then those cars have been involved in accidents, proving a direct correlation between selling auto parts and causing deaths.

    “We can no longer be complicit in an industry that kills over 3,000 people a day,” said a spokesperson for Walmart. “Every time we sell a muffler, steering wheel cover, or flame decal, we are potentially causing the death of a person, and we cannot support that any longer.”

  5. Super Dave Avatar
    Super Dave

    #4 Texpat, perfect analogy to selling guns and deaths from guns.

  6. Tedtam Avatar

    I posted this over yonder, but it’ll prolly get blocked:

    If we want to stop violence, one good way to do it is to raise mentally healthy kids into emotionally stable and responsible adults. Someone says something mean to you? If it doesn’t affect you professionally, let ’em say it. Prove them wrong. Don’t like that someone disagrees with you? Learn to discuss the issues or “live and let live”. Get proven wrong? Apologize, make amends, and move on. Get proven right? Don’t rub it in. Learn to live within yourself, strong in the knowledge of who you are.

    Codependency is hard to nail down, but the way I think of it is this: A codependent person is one whose locus of emotional health, and sometimes behavioral control, is outside of the self. Therefore, someone disagreeing with a codependent is seen as personally attacking or rejecting that codependent. Wear a MAGA hat? It’s personal. Rage over losing an election? Maybe it’s because it’s seen as personal and not just a political difference. (Or it could be an inability to handle loss.)

    Liberalism seems to breed severe codependency. The value of a person is recognized by belonging to a desired group. Others are devalued, less than human, called “racist” or “nazis” or worse. This makes it more acceptable to physically or professionally attack or destroy others.

    Look at the Occupy movement of some years ago. Property damage was accepted because capitalists were deemed evil. Never mind that some of those folks had spent their lives building their businesses to support their families, or that the people who worked in those businesses suffered. Look at the rage at the sight of a hat. Uncontrollable emotional outbursts are the sign of immaturity. Toddlers are taught to behave better. Stealing private property (anti-abortion signs, MAGA hats, political signs) is okay because those folks don’t deserve to keep their stuff or express their views. Beating up people because you don’t agree with them politically is just fine, because they deserve to feel pain because they aren’t being controlled properly.

    Then there’s the shootings. People unable to cope with life events in a healthy way react in ways that are not healthy.

    We need to raise healthy individuals, who learn to handle the vicissitudes of life with grace and care; who know they can’t get everything they want; accept that people are different in many different ways; and who focus on impriving themselves rather than controlling others.

    Unless, of course, your goal is to control others through socialism. In which case behaving in mentally unhealthy ways is a means to an end.

  7. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Rather than dealing with the confusion of numerous and ever growing pronouns, we should just address each other as comrade.

  8. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    Morning, everyone. I got up early today (8:30 and walking around is early for me) but after 50 years of getting up and getting off to work in the early, for reals… Well, I love it!

     

  9. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    Conrad Black has a dim view of the Ds electoral chances in 2020.

    HEADLINE: The Two Ticking Time Bombs of the Coming Election
    sub head: A disgraceful end for “deep state” actors and an implosion of the Democratic Party’s 2020 nominee are both very real possibilities.

  10. El Gordo Avatar

    Well I was preparing one of my masterpiece blog pieces when the screen flashed and away it went into the ether, never to be seen again.  So, _____ it, I’ll tell you all about it later.  Have a great day.

  11. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Askin for a friend:
    So guys (ladies too if you are so inclined) you got to the baffroom to relieve yourself and you see a roach doing the backstroke in the terlit, do you
    1. In total revulsion immediately flush the critter
    or
    2. Indulge in some outlandish schadenfreude using the roach as a target?

    I’ll return later to collect the results.

  12. El Gordo Avatar

    #11 – That’s too easy.  As hiliary would say, 100 million to zero.

  13. Tedtam Avatar

    There is a permit runner that we love to use – when she’s available. She’s smart, knowledgeable, and professional, and gets things done. However, she has a bad habit of dropping off the face of the earth for days at a time, and doesn’t communicate to her customers – even her biggest one – that she’s taking time off.

    We just finished a carousel of craziness trying to get some paperwork prepped and turned in for said customer, even though it’s not our job to do so. I feel badly for the guy I’m dealing with: his boss wants things DONE and is willing to pay for progress, but when your permit runner disappears, it’s hard to get things moving. I was going to try to submit the form(s) this morning to help them out, when – voilá!! – she reappears this morning.

    I’m glad I don’t have to break my day in half to do this, but geez, I wish she’d let folks know her schedule and have a backup plan for when she’s gone.

  14. Tedtam Avatar

    #11

    Immediate flush. I have images of that thing crawling up the side and into areas best left alone.

    By roaches, anyway.

    /shudder

  15. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Hamous may be in luck. All the Hipsters are enthralled with EaDo. Maybe they’ll vacate the barrio?

    “I think it’s a good opportunity for investing your money into something that’s going to continue to grow for years on,” said Tommy Walker, Houston Metro team leader for Turner Mangum, a real estate firm. The median sales price for the 77003 zip code — which is mostly made up of EaDo — went from $204,500 in 2010 to $342,500 in 2019, and the median sales price per square foot was $119 in 2010 and $180 in 2019, according to Houston Properties. And this is expected to grow even more.

  16. Hamous Avatar

    TexMo

    You can’t get rid of them once they’re established. They’re like cockroaches.

  17. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    11 squack
    Target practice time.

  18. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    #11, I’d pour a little shampoo on it to make sure it drowns and then flush.

  19. wagonburner Avatar
    wagonburner

    16 texpat
    She’s more refined than most of my kin.

  20. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    Things have really changed here in the 77003 area code. White people riding bikes and walking dogs. No Kroger carts being pushed down streets. The condos have jumped 45 and are going up west of it. Some are going up almost to Navigation. Some are behind us now, they call the city and complain about the stuff laying around. Lots of Cooper Minis around, reckon they are easy to park. A tea room across the street from Brothers Taco House. On a Saturday or Sunday there are hordes of people riding bikes, walking dogs, clogging up the eateries, etc.

  21. Bonecrusher Avatar
    Bonecrusher

    #11: Definitely target practice, \try to drown the pests.

  22. squawkbox Avatar
    squawkbox

    Do you think this woman is one of Wagonburner’s relatives ?

    For all we know that could be wagonburner. I was thinkin she looked like a “lady” from East County. I’d bet a $20 bill she is one of these people that watch youtube vidiots “explaining your rights”. Listen to this driver.

  23. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    16 Texpat

    That Reddit video would only play partially for me.

    I’m just really sorry that I didn’t get to see the old bitch getting tased.

    Thousand bucks says she voted for Hillary.

  24. Tedtam Avatar

    OMWord! What a feisty ol’ bitty! I also got to see the tree guy set the palm tree he was trimming on fire – while he was tied to the top of it. Scrolled down to see some more and had to stop at the bear getting “hit in the babymaker” while scratching his back.

    ROFLMAO!

  25. Hamous Avatar

    Eyewitness reports from Melbourne Beach confirm that, despite weatherguessers predictions of major beach erosion, Dorian actually replenished the sand significantly.

  26. Hamous Avatar

    I saw that lady on Live PD a few weeks ago.

  27. Tedtam Avatar

    OH, and just so y’all know, I’m about to be rich. Or Hubby is, anyway. It seems that he has some not-known-’til-now relative in Canada that died in a “ghastly car crash” nine years ago and in alllllllllllllllllll that time since, these lawyers have not been able to locate any fambly members. So, now, we stand to inherit well over $9M. The lawyer who faxed us said he’d do all the arrangements for 45% of the money. He proposed a 45/45/10 split, with 10% going to charity. What a sweetheart.

    Oops, I can’t collect now, because this was a confidential transaction. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.

    Dangit, y’all have ruined it for me.

  28. Katfish Avatar

    #28 – er………………..uh……………………..Gracie sure could stand an engine rebuild sometime soon……………jus sayin!!

    ROFLMAO     🙂

  29. mharper42 Avatar
    mharper42

    It’s nap time for Hitler… and Germany…

    Theme song from an old Mel Brooks movie…

    Later, y’all.

     

  30. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    28

    Toyota.
    Highlander.
    Limited.

    Thanks.

  31. GJT Avatar
    GJT

    Hey, it’s on sale.

  32. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    #32 Shannon are ya going car camping? Or is this a super stripped down version of Tedtam’s van life?

  33. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    Hometown Houston girl, Bellaire HS grad and presidential candidate Marianne Williamson in The New Yorker.

    Campaigning on her credentials hasn’t been easy: she’s had to debunk some myths and clarify some statements. She is not an anti-vaxxer, she insists—she apologizes for her earlier remarks on the subject—or a medical skeptic. “I’m Jewish,” she says, “I go to the doctor.” She does not, she says, even have a crystal in her home. “I know this sounds naïve,” she complains, but “I didn’t think the left was so mean. I didn’t think the left lied like this.”

    Yes, Marianne, you are incredibly naive.

    She’s 18 days older than me…probably born in the same hospital.

  34. Tedtam Avatar

    Well, guys, if I hadn’t blown the whole thang by tellin’ y’all about my windfall, I would treat you all, no problem.

  35. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    Late to the party again, but the posts above seem to say Hamsters have had a mostly good day today despite the heat.

    Come on Canada and open that door again, wider.

  36. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    #36 Texpat

    I read through Marianne’s reparations plan. I then clicked on her climate change platform and saw this.

    that rapid, man-made climate change and global warming represents a clear and present danger to our people, to our democracy, and to the world at large.

    I couldn’t read further. If by some chance you were born in the same hospital, it is quite obvious you received the extra parcel of cerebral processing power. Heck… maybe you even got everything destined for Marianne.

  37. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    38 Adee

    Did you see that Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) is retiring ?  He’s been there 40 years and is no. 2 in seniority in the House.  I think that’s more than long enough and, obviously, he does too.

  38. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Tedtam my Nigerian friend says you should call your new Canadian friend back. He’s positive the Canadian will go for a 50/40/10 split.

  39. Tedtam Avatar

    Tedtam my Nigerian friend says you should call your new Canadian friend back. He’s positive the Canadian will go for a 50/40/10 split.

    I was describing the scam attempt to the folks at my bank. “What amazes me is that people are so stupid they fall for these attempts!” Their responses were “Oh, yeah they do!” Followed up with stories of how they tried to stop obvious fraud attempts but the customers insisted. One lady got taken by her Nigerian, sight unseen, online boy friend for $20K, because he needed money to put his boy through private school – in Dallas. When he got the $20K in cash advances (at 26% interest), she was dumbfounded that he quit answering her phone calls.

    There were more, all unbelievable.

  40. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    39 TexMo

    She couldn’t win.  Her grandparents were poor Russian refugees who made their way to America in the early 1900s.  The Jews there were horribly persecuted and the only defense they had was to form labor unions to demand reasonable treatment.  The Tzar then set out to imprison or kill union members.  What better way is there to drive citizens into the arms of Marxism ?  Those Jews were hunted like prey and they escaped to Europe to later be murdered by Nazis or the luckier ones came to the USA and became leftist Democrats.

    I know them well.  I had a friend, a dyed-in-the-wool Socialist, who died in 2015 at 105 years.  Her parents fled the Ukraine in 1907 with the clothes on their backs and nearly starved to death before they found their way to Ellis Island.  She regaled me with her family’s incredible history.  Her family never lived under Communist rule, only tyrannical, autocratic Tsars.  Other refugee Jews I’ve known who lived under the iron boot on the neck were as anti-Communist as you could get.

  41. TexMo Avatar
    TexMo

    Texpat every Eastern European I know that grew up under Communism as a child is about as conservative as you or me. They are truly aghast at the drivel that comes out the mouths of those on the left every day in this country.

    They have a truly unique experience and I wish their stories could be heard far and wide.

  42. Hamous Avatar

    I grew up with post revolution Cubans. You’d be hard pressed to find a more anti-communist group of people.

  43. Texpat Avatar
    Texpat

    26 Hamous

    …predictions of major beach erosion, Dorian actually replenished the sand significantly.

    It wasn’t sand, Hamous, it was cocaine.  Lots of it.

  44. Tedtam Avatar

    RE: sand

    When Harvey destroyed our units on the San Bernard River, he dumped several feet of beautiful white beach sand on our lot. I joked with Hubby that we could raise the rent, now that we had beach front property.

    The alligators have a more difficult time accessing our lot now.

  45. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    I guess.

    I mean, like, Dude, I never saw an alligator on the beach.

  46. Katfish Avatar

    #35 – Wow TexMo – righteous BACA colors too!

  47. gtotracker Avatar
    gtotracker

    #47, Where did you find that? Smokey blues vocals and a really cool bass line, thanks.

  48. texanadian Avatar
    texanadian

    “Well, guys, if I hadn’t blown the whole thang by tellin’ y’all about my windfall, I would treat you all, no problem.”

    I haven’t read any of the comments and I need … oh, crap.

    As far as opening the door forget it. We are having our two days of summer, yeah, made it to 75. I am hording the heat as long as I can. I’ve heard |Oklahoma sucks, send some heat my way. The tomatoes are awful this year.

     

     

  49. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Where did you find that?

    She and Lou Anne Barton were big back in the day in Austin. I had all of their tapes.

    I wanted to be a groupie. 🙂

  50. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Or a roadie. 🙂

    Or….

  51. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    She and Lou Anne would pack Antone’s every time. They “owned” that place.

  52. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Angela, Lou Anne, and Marcia Ball made an album together and toured a bit together. Sellouts every time.
    I wore out that tape.

  53. Shannon Avatar
    Shannon

    Is it warm in here, or is it just me?

  54. Adee Avatar
    Adee

    #40 Texpat

    I had not seen that.  Mr. Sensenbrenner was a friend of my Dad, much his junior.

    He is a good man who has devoted much of his adult life to well serving the people of Wisconsin and certainly deserves his retirement to enjoy his remaining life at home.

  55. Hamous Avatar

    I have this album somewhere in my collection.

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