TBoneTX

Very interesting comparison, from an obvious Democrat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Israeli Lesson Democrats Ignore at Their Peril What happens to democracy when a major political party loses its way and loses its connection with the electorate? As an Israeli American and an independent U.S. voter, I've seen firsthand the damage that can be done in Israel, and now – if Democrats aren't careful – in America. We can't let the same mistakes happen here because a competitive party system is critical for a functioning democracy. The Democratic Party is facing a serious challenge from the far left that mirrors the dynamics which drove the Israeli Labor Party from absolutely dominant to afterthought by the beginning of this century. The stark decline of Labor in Israel is a powerful lesson for the Democrats in how to misread, miscalculate, and ultimately miss the boat in speaking to an electorate with different needs, expectations, and worries. [...] https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/02/11/the_israeli_lesson_democrats_ignore_at_their_peril_153824.html

Paging pushbrk...

Her mental-health issues prevented her from giving her motive: namely, her motive was the mental-health issues.

This is quite interesting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Democratic State Leaders: Sanctuary Cities Must Be Exempted from Civil Rights Laws [...] Sanctuary Cities create revenue for local governments, investors, and CEOs by creating an economy of illegal-migrant workers, consumers, and renters. The migrants are paid little — but they are also much better paid and safer than in their homeland, and the state government provides many benefits, such as education for their children and healthcare. Migrants gain from the Democrats' Sanctuary Cities economic model even as Americans in those cities lose their civil right to a level playing field economy where they are not discriminated against as they compete for decent wages and housing. For example, median rents rose to $16,500 in 2024 amid an average income of $52,000. Roughly speaking, three full-time, minimum wage jobs are needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Minneapolis, according to a far-left group, the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Trump's enforcement is now ending the Sanctuary Cities' exemptions from the popular laws that protect Americans in their national market for wages and homes. [...] https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/02/10/democratic-treasurers-sanctuary-cities-need-exemptions-from-civil-rights-laws/

Too much Winning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trump has reversed the Biden-made manufacturing decline [...] In January, the ISM Manufacturing Index jumped 4.7 points to 52.6. That wasn't just an estimate beat; it was a blowout, and an important one. The ISM Manufacturing Index is the most widely followed survey of factory activity worldwide. When it moves above 50, the manufacturing economy is expanding. When it jumps nearly 5 points in a single month to decisively push past 50, something fundamental has changed. That "something" is Trumponomics finally overpowering the wreckage left behind by Bidenomics. The 52.6 reading marks the first decisive return to expansion since August 2022, ending a manufacturing downturn that dominated the latter half of the Biden presidency. Curiously, although the ISM manufacturing index is [...] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/feb/10/trump-reversed-biden-made-manufacturing-decline/

This clown is seemingly not just toast, but vulcanized atoms thereof. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Starmer palace coup is a national disgrace [...] The latest attempt by the Labour Left to topple Sir Keir Starmer and clear the way for more spending on runaway benefits and more unaffordable public sector pay rises instantly pushed up the borrowing cost on 10-year British debt to an even stiffer penalty premium over equivalent US Treasuries or Canadian, Italian, Korean, Malaysian or Moroccan bonds, for that matter. Yes, Moroccan. Gilt yields have come off their extremes since the Cabinet gave the Prime Minister a stay of execution. But nothing is resolved and we now have a wounded leader, limping on through a political minefield, and doubtless forced to give in again and again to agitators holding a knife to his throat. The authors of this factional palace coup have recklessly endangered a nascent economic recovery before it has reached "escape velocity". At worst, they risk pushing us over the edge and into a downward national spiral. [...] https://uk.news.yahoo.com/starmer-palace-coup-national-disgrace-135008146.html

Thrilling Wednesday report, see man: We did not leave the casa all day, no man. Miu was active and needy, wanting her new Instincts floor toy fired up twice man. We breakfasted/skoolbused Mini-B., groggy Two Guys man. Attempted Siesta #1 failed, at least we closed our eyes and rested man. Things started when we fired up the e-mail, oh boy man. Skool Prinsipul answered us regarding skoolbus issue, reply she man. We went back & forth with her fruitlessly, man. She asked us for a list of the weeks and days when we or ex-Mrs. T-B. would have custody, come on man. When we said that this was unfeasible, she punted us to Stoodent Affairs, punt us she man. Lunch was 2 turkey-&-cheese sandwiches, ingest we man. We took time to caucus in the Teams meeting, then siesta'd for a glorious hour, exhausted we man. After last nonresponsive e-mail from Prinsipul, we escalated, search we man. We found an Area Stoopervisor and a District Operations Stoopervisorette, write both we man. This was just before Many (2+2+1) p.m., si man. Then, at half-past Many (2+2+2+1) p.m., we get this from the Executive DiRectum of Transpurtayshun, previously silent he man, see man: "Good afternoon, si man. We apologize for the delay, si man. Our team is currently reviewing our system to determine whether this change can be made internally, si man. In the meantime, someone will be contacting you tomorrow regarding your transportation accommodation request, si man." We figure that this is very likely correlated, si man. Senior-level e-mails in late afternoon often trigger immediate internal escalation, figure we man. The timing strongly suggests that our message prompted the DiRectum of Transpurtayshun to re-engage, conclude we man. Ergothuswithforthly, we are finally in resolution mode, exhausted whee and glee man. We will strive for a standing authorization and not a temporary courtesy, distinction man. We will ask for the specific mechanism to avoid future denials, si man. We will ask when it takes effect, si man. We will ask whether drivers will receive written notice, si man. We will ask for confirmation in writing, si man. Din-din was hot dogs, baked beans, and cheaps/salsa, ingest like a picnic Two Guys man. Mini-B. then picked his next-year courses, finally man. We were also able to add likely choices for subsequent years, add we man. Mama T-B. then called to ask us about progress on taxxing, big surprise man. We distracted her by telling her of our other progress, si man. She said that the glass cover to her ceiling light fell to the floor and shattered, egad man. It was fortunately not on top of her, big lawsuit if so man. It caused a big stir, obviously man. Hospice situation unresolved but they're working on it, well OK man. We're still off-urinated that we've lost ALL of our helpful contacts, took months to collect them man. No party with the rubias tonight, no cavort we man. Thursday, we must itinerary GSs/ESs, si man. This will be difficult, see man: On Saturday, Mini-B. has a Debate tournament Many miles distant, man. We must arise at Many (2+2) a.m. -- si man, at Many (2+2) a.m. -- to get him there, man. Arrival time is almost too early even for the earliest local GSs, man. We are going to have to apply our finest itinerarying skills to overcome this, hopefully proficient we man. And that was/is our thrilling Wednesday, report we man.

The REAL question is, would WE want to associate with an inferior primate, truth man. You'd have fun inspecting our Simian Gap, certainly and no need to floss it man. Except we would charge him rent, $ucce$$ful Bu$ine$$ Typhoon we man.

You should be the one stressing, mam ma'am, for violating the LPoP rule by quoting our unread post, mam ma'am. Not a clue, no mam ma'am, but he wants a Business endorsement in hyskool, at least right now man. He may never have to work a day in his life, beneficiary of POTS* empire man. *buy yours today, si man! Gracias and true and we're seeing double double above, si D ma'am. We attended a Teams caucus with the skool counselors from half-till noon till 1 p.m. today, attend we man. We got answers to some of our questions and got to ask others, si man. The counselors are indeed concerned only with next year, for now man. And Mini-B. did submit his course choices tonight with minimal (in fact, no) yelling, finally man.

This ^^. They're spending too long inside the U.S. and not long enough out. The general rule is to stay out of the U.S. for twice as long as you've stayed in. This might tighten further.

I got hooked on them and then stayed in the forum, perhaps out of nostalgia, even after Gary and Kip and the other irreverent ones had long gone. Gary will have been gone for 12 years (gosh) as of Feb. 22. Does anyone know what became of him? I heard that Alla left him, but nothing more. Slim still pops in every year or so. He was last here 11 months ago, so he's due.

Eagerly awaiting your report!

Hopefully not long. The end is in sight!

Agree 100%. Well, we can add Ecuador, at least sometimes. Ecu is one of the few countries that stamps you both in and out. Some Ecu agents look for their entry stamp (insertion of a page into a computer that prints entry information) and put their computerized exit stamp on the contiguous or flip page. Other agents do it randomly, often pages apart, I remember a trip to northern Peru through a very rural and staggeringly beautiful southern-Ecu crossing called La Balsa. Ecus (including Mrs. T-B.) could enter Peru without passport stamps, but gringos had to be stamped in and out. A young and very bored Peruano border agent was assigned to this post. He was going to give me trouble, but our Ecu driver talked with him privately, and he let me through. The border was a gigantic bamboo-tree trunk stretched across the road. The guard and a buddy lifted the trunk so we could pass. On the other side was a small strip of stores. We went into one, followed closely by a mama hen and her chicks, who soon left through another exit. The next morning, we wanted to exit rather early, but the guard was nowhere to be found. Our driver asked in one of the stores, and they pointed us to a rundown apartment building across a muddy, poop-laden cow pasture. We slip-slopped our way there, and somebody rousted the guard (obviously hung over) from bed. He was not in a good mood. He dismissively exit-stamped my passport with use of a completely dried-up ink pad. At the end of my Ecu trip, the exit agent squinted at my passport and said, "La Balsa?" I nodded and pretended to squint at the passport. I laughed, and she laughed. That was a fun trip.

I've just remembered to add that the local SSA gave me a phone appointment for a precise time, such as 12:14 p.m. They were as punctual as an atomic clock. Very impressive for a governmental agency.