Mindconnection eNL, 2025-01-19

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Fighting Communism

1. The communist party is in disarray. Let's make sure it stays that way.
    
2. Brainless is doing all kinds of crazy, harmful things on his way out. Is this because he is still upset that this own party did a coup on him much like the coup that put him in office in the first place? It may be the case. This kind of behavior further damages the already bad image of the communists while also making Trump look better by comparison. The pardons, for example, remove any perceived "stigma" over releasing the J6 political prisoners. Perhaps Brainless is seeking to appease the Republicans, because once he's out of office he's much more vulnerable to being held accountable for his many crimes. But given his mental state, I would say Jill Biden and other members of the Biden Crime Family are having Joe do these things so THEY escape prosecution.
    
3. The communists cannot understand how we sane people chose a "convicted felon" and "Hitler" over Kamala. They are now saying it's because they didn't do as well as they should have in getting their message out. No, we heard their message. We felt it every day as the economic depression went on. We heard it as we were censored. We heard their absurd lies and concluded that not only can the communists not be trusted but they must think we are a special kind of stupid. Maybe we should get OUR message out to the communists and their acolytes that no matter what they say at this point we are not interested in eating any more of their sh** sandwiches. Last November, I saw pro-commie lawn signs. I will be talking with those acolytes as this year rolls on and cover this topic.
    
4. Here's the husband of a US Senator getting his "message out" to Commie Mala: https://twitter.com/i/status/1876294249035231636 . Hooray for him, and he set an example that should be followed from that day forward. We do not coddle our enemies, and Commie Mala made her hatred of America very clear during the four years she spent maliciously attacking it as part of Team Brainless.
    
5. In our society, stupidity addiction has caused far more death and destruction than heroin addiction. Just as the DEA goes after drug dealers, we must go after stupidity dealers. Try to get people to turn off their televisions. You can suggest a "three day fast" while also dropping a few truth bombs about the danger those brainwashing machines do.
    
6. You are probably already aware that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Castro is stepping down as dictator of Canada. Trump's goading about Justin as "governor" of our possibly new state of Canada was no doubt the precipitating factor. But this was a long time in coming, due to the severe degradation of the Canadian economy and the country's disregard for civil liberties in blatant ways (e.g., the trucker scandal). If communism falls, rather than merely recedes, in Canada that would be a major victory for civilization in our hemisphere.
    
7. It's also worth noting that Justin Castro effectively gave all of Canada a message of hope. "I, your tormentor, am ceding my power." It would be poetic justice if he "died suddenly" from myocarditis, but I suspect he never subjected his own body to the experimental gene therapy that has proven to be so deadly and disabling.
    
8. Argentina is currently in the process of de-communization, and it's going well. If Canada decommunizes, perhaps communism strongholds like Venezuela or California will be next.
    
9. One way to decommunize California is to get some election integrity laws in place at the state or federal level. This is exceedingly difficult to do, for a variety of reasons. Another way is to go after the election riggers personally. Republicans are loathe to engage in such tactics, preferring instead to bring a knife to a gunfight. There are several means of going after these people, and all we have to do is borrow from the Communist playbook. We can shame them on social media, spread rumors about them, etc. But unlike the commies, we won't have to make things up. People who see nothing wrong with election cheating also see nothing wrong with other behavior, which means with a little surveillance or digging they can be caught. Catching one or two of these people and making an example out of them will stop the others. There's been a major shift among tech billionaires recently, I'm sure a few of them would be amenable to funding such an effort. Please post this idea on any social media you participate in.
    
10. Mark Zuckerberg has decided to exit the censorship cartel. This is another major blow to communism: https://twitter.com/i/status/1876604988736348235 (0:16)
     
11. With Meta now exiting the censorship business, we have three major channels for free expression: Twitter (X), Tik Tock, and now Facebook. I predict the other non-legacy channels will fall in line shortly. That will leave the legacy media impotent and irrelevant, with a shrinking audience of the terminally gullible and permanently stupid. Still, we must help hasten their demise. If each of us liberates one person from the legacy media and each of them liberates one person, we can cure society of this intellectual cancer that almost destroyed civilization. Big thanks to Elon Musk for punching through the iron curtain by purchasing and liberating Twitter.
     
12. Major US Banks have withdrawn from the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), and idiotic organization that sought to push idiotic "solutions" to global warming via lending policies. This is a major defeat for the communists, a major victory for common sense and the world economy.

Our National Hero

• The certification of Trump's election took only 30 minutes. That is record speed. It's too bad it didn't happen four years ago.
• And for the first time in 50 years, it was the first time the certification of a Republican wasn't contested.
• Trump spoke at his lawfare trial sentencing: https://x.com/i/status/1877755140549095812 (6:17).

Let's Go, Brandon!

From the time this was sent out (Saturday), only two more days until he's gone. On Monday, we will be a free country again, and no longer under relentless and withering attack from this creep and his America-hating handlers. Good news, his staffers all cleared out on Friday. We are safe now from any further communist aggression against our country. And barring some last minute urge to nuke Russia or send Iraq another $100 billion for more missiles to launch against Israel, we are safe from any other insanity that would come via Brainless Biden.

Trump doesn't actually replace Brainless until Trump is sworn in, and that blessed event is slated for noon on Monday the 20th.

Bye Bye from Brainless

• One of the many ways that Brainless has given our country the middle finger during the last weeks of his "reign of error" was to award Hillary Clinton and George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom. You already read about this, no doubt. And you already know what Elon Musk and other sane people think about it. It's quite stunning, considering Hillary conducted a long war against freedom in America and Soros has funded anti-freedom communists in local elections all over this country (my own city council has two such commies at this time and has had others).
• Let's remember that it's just a medal. And it's bestowed based on the opinion of just one person. Biden never respected the Office of the President, but instead saw it as something to be exploited. His opinion carries no weight among the sane.
• Let's also remember that when Barry Soetoro was elected to be POTUS despite not being an American Citizen, the ninnies in Oslo awarded him the Nobel Prize for Peace. This boggled my mind at the time, as the guy had not yet done a thing to advance peace and in fact his rhetoric was divisive and false. In the ensuing eight years in which he illegally occupied the White House, he was one of the most war-mongering Presidents we ever had and he incited much unrest and violence within our borders. The ninnies in Oslo never recalled the medal or in any way admitted they erroneously awarded it.
• Brainless signed a bill that will accelerate the collapse of the Social Security system. The bill extends those benefits to federal retirees who are already drawing a federal pension. Yet another example of how Brainless and his fellow communists not only hate America but also hate its citizens. Undoing this latest travesty will not be easy, and it's yet another poison pill that the incoming administration must find the antidote to.
• Having no shame, Brainless issued an executive order requiring all USA flags to fly at half-mast for 30 days allegedly in honor of Jimmy Carter. The real reason is to fly them at half-mast on Trump's Inauguration Day, thus insulting both Trump and the memory of Carter. Governor Abbott of Texas has issued an order that in Texas flags will be raised on Inauguration Day. Several other of the 36 free states are taking the same position on this. IMO, flags should have been at half mast from the moment the coup was complete until Brainless was finally evicted. I personally have refused to fly the flag at any time since the coup.

Brainless Biden Joke Collection Offer

Some subscribers to this newsletter also subscribe to my joke list. And those folks have gotten a little cheer each Friday during the long ordeal that was the Brainless Biden Presidency (ending on this coming Monday). I wrote every one of those, and some are hilarious. I sent the last joke about our Vegetable in Chief this last Friday. Four years of 52 jokes is 208 of these zingers.

At no charge, I will send the collection to anyone who requests it.

These jokes can be useful for stress relief during our coming recovery. On Monday, our national hero will rightfully resume office and begin using that office to repair America instead of destroy America. They can also be useful for zinging back at the America Last idiots like the Democrat Governors Org, people with apparently terminal Trump Derangement Syndrome, the math-challenged, the delusional, and others who spew their idiocy at the rest of us (we can respond with humor instead of the vitriol and hysterics these ninnies use).

Nutcase Nancy Got Something Right (almost)

When Nutcase was Speaker of the House, I signed up for her "constituent" newsletter by using as my address a hotel in Transfrancisco. Since she was the most powerful (and destructive) woman on the planet, I wanted to get her lies directly from the horse's ass. Not once in all this time has she said anything true, until her letter of Friday the 17th. She said Joe Biden is one of the most consequential presidents in our history. Yes, and the consequences have been dire for not just the USA but for Israel and Ukraine. I needn't make a list for you, dear readers. Had Nutcase stopped there, she would have actually gotten something right for a change. But then Nutcase went on with a word salad in an attempt to claim we should somehow be thrilled with the economic depression, censorship, lack of police, record inflation, food shortages, record business closures, illegal alien flood (followed by horrific crimes by repeat offenders), threat of thermonuclear war, etc.

IRS Got Something Right (almost)

The IRS announced the reporting threshold for Form 1099K will be at $5,000 for 2024 instead of $600.  eBay, which has a lot of small sellers, worked hard to get this concession.

If you don't know what the 1099K is, it's a useless tax filing form that reports your total sales on a given marketplace. It does not account for expenses, costs of goods sold, returns, marketplace sales fee, etc. (the typical seller operates at margins of 10 to 18%). This would be like a car salesman reporting the value of the cars he sold instead of reporting his commission. Pointless, by any definition.

This pointless form does require pointless work on the part of the taxpayer. When filing, you do your taxes first then add the 1099K amount then expense that amount thereby having a huge "Other Expenses" figure--does this make any sense? It's just an extra burden that can add human error to an already completed perfect tax filing, which means maybe 20 years later IRS can hit you with interest and penalties and then take another 20 years to collect. If you are a 25 year old selling a few things on the side, that means you'd be 65 by the time IRS is done wiping out your savings, taking your home, etc. You'd have to work to age 105 to get back to where you were.

In case you are thinking, "But there's a Statute of Limitations" let me disabuse you right now of the notion that IRS has to follow it. They don't. There are all kinds of loopholes for them in the statute for appraisal (3 years from date of filing) and even more loopholes for the statute for collection (10 years). IRS is good at playing those games, rendering these statutes moot unless you have an extremely good attorney who can "return their serve" and hit the ball over the net. Such attorneys are rare.

The 1099K needs to go. As does the IRS.

California Got Something Right (almost)

The People's Republic of California has abandoned its totally idiotic plan of banning diesel trucks and mandating coal-powered trucks. They might have realized that this would mean an end to deliveries into the PRC and an end to shipments out. Sometimes, even these delusionals can be swayed by reality. Personally, I wish they had continued with this idiocy because it would have brought the communist craziness to a head and caused a collapse ultimately resulting in making California a free state. Perhaps the burning of LA will achieve this, or at least stimulate a strong movement that brings election integrity to California. That also would result in making California a free state because only the mentally feeble want what the commies offer.

Restating

President Trump has repeatedly suggested that The People's Republic of Canada become our 51st state. Elizabeth May, the leader of Canada's Green Party, suggested that California, Oregon, and Washington become part of Canada. Her proposal would solve our commie problem, by getting those three communist countries out of our House and Senate. It would make Canada even worse off than it is now.

I suspect a good solution is somewhere in between. We can look back in our own history and see that California was conquered by commies not all that long ago. And we can see their main tool has been election fraud. This supports the idea that California can be liberated by reducing election fraud. Perhaps a federal law can be passed that will require states to meet some minimal election integrity measures to receive any federal funding. Or perhaps the tech billionaires can personally fund an election integrity team to operate in key areas such as Los Angeles where the commie margin of victory is slim. Surely, something can be done. It does not stretch the imagination to assume that Washington and Oregon were conquered by the same means and can be liberated with similar measures. It does stretch the imagination to assume that the majority of people in those states enjoy living under communist rule, with all the loss of prosperity and civil liberties that brings.

As for Canada, we have a nice straight line on the map other than having Alaska where it is. And we certainly don't want the crazy Quebeccers pushing their French language fetish on us. It is a bad idea to give Canada statehood, though the noncoastal provinces might work out for statehood. Why is that? This is a nation whose sheeple willingly surrender their civil rights. Look at our Bill of Rights, and you see what they are missing. Why would any population put up with that for generation after generation? If we let Canada become a state, we'd have another California on our hands and our own republic would be lost.

Donald John Trump is no idiot, he plays 3D chess. His end game for a given tactic is usually not obvious. In this case, he has something other than Canadian statehood in mind because he also knows what the result would be. The commies want the District of Corruption to be a state so that they gain another House seat and two more Senate seats. Ditto for Puerto Rico. DC is a sure thing for them, because it is populated almost exclusively by people on the federal teat (deep state dependents).

Puerto Rico is less of a sure thing in terms of being a communist satellite state, because the people there are not so much living on the federal teat but needing more federal help for things like their electrical infrastructure. The commies always assume that poor people are stupid and that blacks and Hispanics are doubly stupid, so they figure they can manipulate the people of Puerto Rico if it becomes a state. I am not so sure. And not just because I reject the commie classification of people as stupid per their skin color or economic status. If the people of Puerto Rico wanted to be under communist rule, they would have been actively advocating for statehood. They have not.

The Deep Depression of 2021 - 2025, maybe 2026

The all-out assault on our economy from multiple angles has left us in a very deep economic depression. This was deliberate sabotage of our country, and it was very effective. Just as an example, the BLS reports and additional 1.1 million Americans are unemployed in December 2024 versus January of 2023. Keep in mind, this is the increase, not the total. It is not possible to discern the actual total, and it is always understated. The BLS counts only new filings for unemployment compensation (new meaning for the current period). But after 6 months an unemployed person can no longer file for unemployment so is no longer counted as unemployed. The exception is when a state extends the benefit period or the federal government provides additional unemployment compensation.

When you haven't been able to find a job for over a year, employers tend to read too much into that and consider you a bad potential hire. Many people in this situation take odd jobs under the table or try to file a fake disability claim. Others become self-employed, but lack the business acumen to make it work. A significant portion of these long-term unemployed simply become homeless.

The hope that came with the election of national hero Donald J. Trump to the Presidency has lifted our economy a bit. But getting us out of the depression itself is hugely challenging. I have heard Trump's solutions and he is on target. Gee, who woulda thunk a self-made billionaire would understand finance or economics? One reason this depression is so devastating is the massive increase in the federal debt, a problem Brainless is trying to exacerbate as much as possible before the commies are evicted. We are now paying over a billion dollars a day just on the interest on the debt, and of course the Fed has been inflating the money supply to pretend to pay for the debt. I doubt this depression will end this year. But I am certain things will get better. A lot better.

Let's do what we can to support DOGE and other necessary tools that will be used to save our nation. Part of "support" means to write to your legislators (senators and representatives) at both the federal and state levels and strongly request they work to reduce wasteful government spending and to streamline regulations so they are easier to understand and comply with.

A Quick Analysis of Presidents: the worst, the best, the most corrupt

Here are the nine worst US Presidents, in chronological order:

1. Benjamin Harrison, #23. RINO (aka "moderate Republican"). His spending spree and other economic mistakes caused the deep depression of 1890.
2. Woodrow Wilson, #28. Democrat. Said we'd stay out if the European powers went to war, so they did. World War I. "Negotiated" peace in such a way that a sequel was inevitable.
3. Franklin Roosevelt, #32. Democrat. His economic policies followed no logic or common sense. Turned a stock market crash into The Great Depression. He was the original Emperor Palpatine, and made repeated attempts to stack the Court.
4. Harry Truman, #33. Democrat. Dropped the Bomb twice, even though it was clear at the time Japan was about to surrender. Got us into the Korean War. Frequently overstepped his powers, as in the US Steel case. Like his predecessor, tried to stack the Court.
5. LBJ, #36. Democrat. His Guns and Butter concept produced doomed-to-fail social programs and the Vietnam War. He had no concept that resources are finite. Our economy was "on the ropes" for the next 16 years.
6. Jimmy Carter, #39. Democrat. His failure as POTUS was so obvious that he lost re-election by 489 to 49 in the Electoral College.
7. Dick Cheney, #43. RINO. Operating GW Bush like a puppet, Darth Cheney was the de facto POTUS. Among his other "achievements", he severely destabilized the Middle East via the unjustified Iraq invasion.
8. Barry Soetoro, #44. AKA "Barrack Hussein Obama. Democrat. He revived radical racism, destroyed our international reputation, made hatred "a thing", and severely damaged our economy. One of his big "achievements" was the Unaffordable Care Act. He was our first openly gay President, our first illegal alien President, and our first Arabic-Irish President.
9. Joe "Brainless" Biden, #46. Democrat. Pushed radical Marxism, pushed radical racism, sent our economy into one of its worst depressions ever, repeatedly goaded Russia into nuclear war (good thing Putin is sane), funded Hamas by sending Iran $5 billion and lifting the sanctions--which directly led to the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

What do you  notice about them? Yes, all of them were either Democrats or fake Republicans. That is not to say all Democrats were bad, for example Bill Clinton worked hard to reduce the federal debt. There was a saying among Republicans during the Obama era, "Well, at least under Clinton people had jobs."

I made a list of the ten best Presidents, and not a single Democrat was on it. I also looked at all of the Presidents who were not Democrats, and except for Taft they were all competent executives and except for Taft and Harding all seemed to be above corruption; they faithfully executed their oath of office. The other three corrupt Presidents are Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, and Joe Biden. Each of these last three was far more corrupt than his predecessor. And all three are Democrats, with the last two being strongly Marxist and strongly racist.

You might also notice the assassinations and attempted assassinations were all against Republican Presidents, starting with Lincoln and excluding JFK. Why was JFK assassinated? He was a Life Member of the NRA, he stood against the neocons who wanted to nuke Cuba, he was against war in Vietnam, and he was pretty much a Republican on the Democrat ticket.

Let's not forget Nancy Pelosi, a "shadow President" who greatly overstepped her limits as Speaker of the House. She is also a Democrat. Quite the pattern, here. What does it tell you about giving political power to any Democrat? The RINOs and necons share Democrat "values" (such that they are), and those are basically dystopia, dishonesty, destruction, discord, and disregard for the Rule of Law.

Mind Liberation

In the past few months, the New York Times published not one but nine articles attacking Falun Gong and its founder Mr. Li.

While any reasonable person does not take long to recognize this rag as an amoral purveyor of lies and propaganda, quite inexplicably many people actually read it. In fact, this gaslighter has about 10 million subscribers and there are additional sales on newsstands and newspaper dispensers. How many of those get the paper just to have something absurd to laugh at versus how many consider it a source of "information" is unknown. But I have personally encountered people in Mensa (the High IQ Society) who fall into the latter category and that is very scary. It means that even people with a lot of brain power choose not to bother using it when perusing a publication that is so patently devoted to disseminating disinformation.

Why the attack on Falun Gong and Mr. Li? The NYT is communist through and through, and because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been persecuting Falon Gong practitioners the NYT supports that effort. The persecutions include such things as forced organ harvesting.

The NYT is not just amoral but actively evil. If you know any individual under its spell, please make a personal project of liberating that person's mind. While the 10 million subscriber stat sounds enormous, just consider how many adults do NOT subscribe. There are far more of us than of them, and if a mere fraction of us work on mind liberation, the NYT will lose its entire subscriber base and cease to exist. Let's try to bring that about.

English

The communists and their civil strife instigators habitually abuse the language and redefine words on the fly in an effort to manipulate their victims. An example is the term "transgender woman". This is a man who pretends to be a woman. Let's be clear on something:

• Woman. A human being with the XX chromosome.
• Man. A human being with the XY chromosome.

Thus, a man who pretends to be a woman is still a man. You get your chromosomes at conception, the sperm that meets the egg has either XX or XY. This cannot be changed by any amount of surgery, drugs, or lying about yourself.

What should you do when someone uses the nonsensical term "transgender woman" explicitly or validates it implicitly by using the term "cisgender woman"? Interrupt and ask that person to stop playing word manipulation games. Then ask which chromosome pair the person in question has. The word manipulator won't be able to answer this, which is fine. You've made your point.

You can do the same thing with any other word manipulation. Simply call it out and insist on clarity. If they won't use clear English in response, conclude with something like, "You are refusing to communicate in clear English. Which means you do not respect other people and are simply trying to manipulate us through word abuse."

There is, however a difference between sex and gender. A person's sex is not "assigned at birth" or assigned at all. At the moment of conception, when the sperm meets the egg, either the Y chromosome is passed from the father (creating a male blastocyst, which after three weeks becomes a male embryo) or it is not (leaving it female). That is immutable. You cannot change your sex.

Gender is a social construct that basically involves roles and behaviors. Those of the male gender hold the door open for those of the female gender. A man can decide he wants to take on the female gender, so he might cross-dress (as Michael Robinson, aka Michelle Obama, does), work in a predominantly female career, etc. But he will always be a man. Ditto, a woman can "wear the pants in the family", work in a predominantly male career, etc., but she cannot change her sex. No amount of surgery, hormones, drugs, or flat-out lying can change your sex. This makes changing your gender a rather silly idea. It is far more rational to embrace the gender that goes with your sex, but personalize it. A lot of women, for example, find great satisfaction in "being one of the boys" by dint of doing something traditionally associated with being a male. For example, choosing to be an electrician or engineer. I have known many females who were fine electricians and outstanding engineers.
 

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The other day, Steve told me he ran into Ron and was impressed at how smart and well-informed Ron is.

What happened, here?

It's the echo chamber effect. When one brainwashed individual hears another brainwashed individual reiterate the BS, the reiterator is seen as "knowledgeable". What if we anti-narrative people are also in an echo chamber but do not realize it? While that is theoretically possible, it simply is not the case. The reason we are anti-narrative is we are intellectually curious, usually know BS when we see it, and gather facts instead of accept nonsense on its face.

But you should take some steps to guard against this echo chamber effect anyhow. That does not mean "hear the other side" as if the pro-vax people or the masktards might have legitimate views. It does mean having discussions with people who don't agree with you on everything. In these discussions, acknowledge when they have a point. You can also offer a counterpoint or ask them to more fully explain theirs. Stay away from obvious sources of disinformation, but peruse those that you offer a different take on things from what you are accustomed to.

A fallacy to avoid

As noted in our previous issue, my beloved Miss Ijit passed away at 15 and a half. Obituary is here: www.mindconnection.com/ijitlamendola.htm

She had fought a long decline in kidney health. As this went on, I thought we would get past that and she'd live several more years. Why did I think this way? When she was 4 or 5 years old, her vet (the first one she had) remarked on her good health and said she'd have a long life. I asked him to quantify. He said, "Some cats live into their early 20s." I did not ask him what he meant by "some cats" but instead assumed he meant cats that have a healthy diet, good exercise, and plenty of stimulation and whose emotional needs are taken care of. No, what he meant was some breeds that are real outliers (such as Siamese) can live that long. But my cat fell into to the 10 to 15 years range with 12 being about normal.

I had even confirmed his remark as true by using a couple of those online cat age calculators. Now I know they are wrong. Here is a brief explanation:

• They assume a linear progression after age 2 (stating each year thereafter is then equivalent to 4 years). The fact is that a cat is "senior" at age 7 (look on cat food cans, you will see this!). Those last three years before hitting the bottom of the lifespan age of 10 need to be weighted more heavily, and once the cat hits that limit then more heavily still.
• The average American male dies at age 75. The average American female dies at 79.3. That's a big enough difference that "human years" is a bit imprecise.
• The end points are not properly derived. The conversion formula needs to have a different factor per each year after 7, but in particular the end point should be the average for cats (12 years) and it should not keep progressing so that 20 cat years is 96 human years. The reality is a cat age of 15 years is probably 90 human years, but instead of showing that the calculators show a 15 year old cat to be 76 human years. Another year translates to 80 years, only another 4. It should be another 25, by my estimation (after having reviewed a lot of information).

We had switched from this vet to another, and then to another when that practice closed. So about a year ago when the third vet seemed concerned about kidney disease I had dismissed that because my cat was on a real food diet instead of being sentenced to stale kibble. But a few months later, she had lost significant weight and her gait had deteriorated. My solution? Take her to a fourth vet that offered chiropractic care and get what I thought she most needed for her gait problem.

But the vet who conducted the initial visit referred Ijit to the senior vet on staff. This doctor must not have gotten Fauci's memo to ignore the science. He convinced me to have a full panel, urinalysis, and x-rays. Our next discussion was about how to reduce the strain on her kidneys and what other actions to do to improve her condition. Her condition did improve, and because she was "barely 76" (instead of, in reality being over 90) I figured the disease part was behind us. I asked again about a chiropractor. This resulted in a referral to the owner of the practice, who operated the feline care center in a separate nearby building. She tried acupuncture and other things. Ijit's gait didn't improve and she didn't gain weight. The vet said, "You have done all you can do and I have done all I can do." Only then did I get a chiropractic referral. This did help Ijit with her back problems, but not with her atrophy, weight loss, and other issues. She wasn't 76, she was almost 100. This made a big difference.

Yes, a blood panel showed her potassium was up and other numbers had stabilized. But at her advanced age, her already stressed and damaged kidneys were just waiting to quickly degrade into the failure zone. Which they did. Looking back, I can see that I would have spared her a lot of misery and humiliation by getting our goodbyes done around Thanksgiving, and euthanizing her shortly thereafter. Or at least before Christmas.

The final vet to see her (on the day she died) said it was remarkable she had lived this long and astounding that she had done so as an indoor/outdoor cat. That got me to thinking about this whole cat age thing, and the next day I looked more deeply into the subject. And discovered the BS I had been fed was all wrong. Sadly, I had relied on it to make certain decisions.

What was the fallacy here? I think it's a case of confirmation bias. I am extremely healthy compared to a typical human. I gave my cat this same advantage. I had a wrong idea how long cats lived, and I knew someone who made major mistakes with caring for cats. That person told me that they die at 12 ,and of course I rejected that out of hand under the theory cats live into their 20s if you don't make the kinds of mistakes he makes.

But he was right, except some can live 2 or maybe 3 years longer with excellent care. Not to age 20, even though the cat age calculators show that. I wanted to see that, so didn't question it. When researching a question, don't stop at the bits of info that confirm the answer you believe to be true. Instead, dig deeper.

The Depression of 1890 was caused by several factors, including an earlier war between France and Germany--two nations that habitually and mindlessly shot each other's sons on the battlefield for no good reason. But the main factor was Benjamin Harrison's lack of fiscal prudence. He and his crooked corporate sponsors spent us into an economic depression, same as Biden and his crooked corporate sponsors. Like Biden, Harrison had inherited a robust economy and then eviscerated it. Like Trump, former President Grover Cleveland ran for and won a nonconsecutive second term. OK, I am being slightly dishonest here because Trump actually won three times but officially only once due to the huge turnout of fictional voters in 2020. But let's go with the (for now) official story that it's a split term.

Cleveland laid the groundwork for getting us back on our feet, and his successor William McKinley not only finished ending the Depression but also did a lot of things to make our nation much wealthier. Among those was the income from tariffs. Economic growth during his term was rapid. For this, he was assassinated six months into his second term. This NOT where we want history to repeat itself. Assassinations are often carried out not by planning and executing one, but by using rhetoric to incite nut jobs to (no pun intended) take their best shot. Teddy Roosevelt had been a thorn in the side of the establishment, and they pushed him into being Vice President. At the time, such a move was a political career ender. But in this case, it backfired and TR was catapulted into the position of POTUS.

TR did much to defang and declaw corporate predators. After serving two terms, he left the Presidency in the capable hands of his former VP Howard Taft. But Taft was easily manipulated and spent his entire term as a lackey for corporate predators. TR came back and ran against HT, splitting the Republican vote. This put Woodrow Wilson in the White House. And until Obama, WW was the worst POTUS in history. He gave us the IRS and the Frauderal Reserve. He promised Europe we would stay out of a European war, which of course greenlighted that war. Then we entered it anyhow at the very end, which kind of gave us the authority to dictate terms of surrender to Germany. Wilson did this in such a way to make a second world war inevitable. We also had a second Depression, called The Great Depression when the Marxist Franklin Roosevelt (much despised by the Teddy Roosevelt clan) turned a stock market crash into The Great Depression by wildly spending money on stupid stuff with no strategic plan, no logic, and no rationale.

And here we are again. We have concurrent wars, though not a world war. But our military is very weak on multiple metrics (out of missiles, demoralized by Woke, hardly any serviceable ships left, etc.). We have an economy that will require not one but maybe dozens of minor miracles for us to be prosperous again. And while we've been waiting since our national hero won a stacked election against incredible odds, the Marxist regime has tripled down on its efforts to do as much damage as possible before they are legally required to turn power over to people who don't have a visceral hatred of this country.

That's a lot of history boiled down into very little space.

What does it all mean for you today? It means the history of economic depression will repeat like Groundhog Day unless we actively work to change the underlying causes. If we want to be prosperous rather than saddled with debt, we need to do much more than clip coupons. We must remove from the communists the tools they use to harm us. The DOGE team will handle that at the federal level. But at the citizen level, WE need to handle the heavy work.

That means pointing out to television addicts just how toxic their mental drug habit is and helping them kick it. That means pointing out what the NYT gets wrong (everything) and why, or at least expressing offense when someone cites that rag in any way. When people send me a link to an article from NYT or a clip from CNN, I tell them I will not go there and to send me something from a credible source. If they hear this enough, they will distrust those propaganda outlets and also start ignoring them.

This is a more long-range thing, but it is work that must be done. And I admit to enjoying this kind of thing, especially after the intense censorship we non-gullibles have been under. Speak up then, and speak strongly. Shame people for even suggesting that MSNBC should be taken seriously or watched at all. Refer to The View as a show targeted to the very stupid and say, "You stopped watching it, I'm sure." Give them no quarter, and do not apologize.

After four years of increasing despair due to economic damage, those small businesses that managed to survive now have hope despite being saddled with debt and now lacking the funds to acquire inventory, hire people, grow, etc.. Ditto for individuals with various financial obligations such as increasing rent, increasing insurance costs, life events such as kids graduating or going to college, medical bills, home repair bills, replacing worn-out shoes and clothes, etc.

People can see across the finish line. They are making plans, but lack the funds to move forward and that problem is likely to persist for a while, yet. This state of affairs has produced a new kind of predator. This predator offers fairly cheap two-year (or thereabouts) loans. These are perfect for tiding people over until the economy has had time to recover well enough from the drubbing it has taken. So what's the problem?

These "lenders" are not interested in lending. They already know that the typical business has too much debt to equity, too much debt to profit, etc., to qualify for a low-cost, longish-term loan. Ditto for individuals whose credit scores have dropped 100 or 200 points due to the communist attacks on our economy since the coup. They make their money not by loaning, but by phishing for information. They provide an application that essentially mines a company or individual for information that can be used for identity theft or for holding one or more of their accounts for ransom. One of their tricks that gives them away is they require you to supply passwords to various sites they require you to sign up for. From this, they can use AI to build a profile that can be used by AI to crack your login credentials for other sites such as your banking and credit cards. One of these scam artists sent me a form that even asked for my e-mail password!

Another red flag is they phone you repeatedly. Legitimate lenders do not have time to do this.

Defense:

• Check Caller ID before picking up the phone. If it does not clearly say who is calling, do not pick up. If it shows your city in place of the name, do not pick up.

• If the offer seems like manna from heaven, consider it to be the affliction from hell. No legitimate lender is making great offers at this time. If that changes, big name lenders will also be making good offers. Some unknown entity simply does not have some kind of special advantage.

• If they keep calling you, it's as good as admitting they are crooks. End things there. If they persist, block their number.

• Assess your actual financial condition. If you are already deep in debt and finding it tough to service the various payments, adding another debt isn't the answer. Unless it dramatically lowers your interest payments or extends the borrowing window. For example, taking a $5,000 balance transfer offer with a 5% fee and 18 months to pay off would be smart if you have a $5,000 credit card balance you are paying 22% on. But generally, it's not smart to take on debt to pay debt.

• Cut expenses where you can. If you think really hard on this, you may be surprised at how much "fat" you can cut.

6. Health tip/Fitness tips

Statistics when this photo was taken, 10 days before my 63rd birthday: Height: 6'0" Wingspan: 6'1" Weight: 152.6 lbs, which is more than the 148.8lbs from the 2022 shoot. I am also leaner for this one (notice the striations in my left pec). Bodyfat: Unknown, but well below what the Tanita scale says is 5% Waist: 29 Chest: 48 Arms: 15 Quads: 20.25   Max bench press: Unknown, but I do 4 sets of 10 reps with 150 lbs to warm up on chest day Max squat: Unknown, but I do 4 sets of 8 reps of front squats with 90lbs to start Leg Day Cholesterol: In normal range, on low side Testosterone: Above the upper limit of the normal range   Last illness: 1971 Last workout missed: Spring of 1977 Training days per week: 6 Type of training: Split routine, heavy on supersets   Meals per day: 7 on training days, 6 on rest day Number of eggs eaten per day: Between 7 and 10 Percent of diet that is processed food: 0 Amount of meat, wheat, corn, or soy eaten annually: 0 Number of clot shots received: 0. ********* See all of my climbing videos here: https://tinyurl.com/ClimbingSigChannel. Some cool climbing  videos: https://youtu.be/s4G0ssyJ3hc https://youtube.com/shorts/5919UDqCXDc https://youtube.com/shorts/jYvKJ9mKyyE My hardest climb ever, a 5.11d on lead: https://youtu.be/UT5h0heUUBc . I made a dumb mistake initially, letting the rope wrap over my shoulder. Watch what happens. The scale: Beginner: 5.6. 5.7. 5.8, 5.9  (roped) / VV, V0, V1, V2 (boulder) Intermediate: 5.10a, b, c, d ;5.11a, b, c, d  / V3, V4, V5, V6 Advanced: 5.12a, b, c, d; 5.13a, b, c, d. / V7, V8, V9, V10. Elite and Pro: Even harder. Almost nobody climbs at either level at any of the 6 local climbing gyms.

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

I have looked at every communist party bill signed into law since LBJ took office and have not found a single one where the name of the bill isn't the opposite of what the bill does. Some fairly recent examples are the Unaffordable Care Act and the Inflation Acceleration Act, which were named (as if we are stupid) the "Affordable" Care Act and the Inflation "Reduction" Act. The same theme underlies all of them, namely you can get something for nothing.