Speaker Johnson: A Reminder.

January 6 tapes. I hear you’re working it, but just in case you’re not, you did promise to release them. And surely you don’t want to be as big a shitweasel as KevinMcCrappy.

I have a personal interest in this issue.

Hey Ken Buck You Schmuck

I was so disappointed that I won’t get the chance to vote against you.

Well, no, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

You loser.

Maybe you won’t go to your grave before you figure out what an absolute asswipe you are, pretending to represent the people of Eastern Colorado while wearing one of the biggest RINO horns ever seen.

TABOR in Jeopardy

The one thing that has prevented the full Kalifornication of Colorado has been TABOR. That stand for TAxpayer’s Bill Of Rights, and it’s an amendment to the state constitution that was passed back in 1992. Not only does it forbid any kind of tax hike without a vote of the people, it even forbids governments to keep any surplus revenue if revenue should grow faster than inflation and the population.

In fact, TABOR is written such that if tax revenues are lower than expected because of a recession, that becomes the new baseline–you don’t get to return to previous levels just because. To the best of my knowledge it’s the only system in place, anywhere, where government revenues and spending (inflation adjusted and per capita) ratchet downwards.

COOL!! (Though unfortunately Referendum C in 2005 passed, and it eliminated the ratchet-down.)

Last year, in fact, I received a TABOR refund of $750.

This has done much to throttle the growth of government here. The effort to pass TABOR was spearheaded by a man named Douglas Bruce, who has to be the most hated man in Colorado politics.

Hated, that is, if you are in politics. Even Republicans don’t like him…but that’s because they’re stinking RINOs.

Bruce was careful to not just limit tax rates, but tax revenue, and he was wise to the tricks of government. TABOR mandates certain language be prominent in any referendum or initiative to raise taxes, and others in those that would allow the government to keep surpluses.

However, any amendment that can be passed, can be repealed and there is an amendment on our ballot this election, HH. It would gut TABOR.

Yes this isn’t the emotional gutpunch that the initiative in Ohio is, but if HH passes Colorado is in a lot of trouble in the medium and short term.

We’ll have to see what happens.

This Man is Pissed!

And if you aren’t…what the hell is wrong with you?

Is This Our Anthem?

Or at least our song to march to?

I’m sure most of you know I don’t believe in “devolution” or any variant of “we’re really still in charge” and certainly not the ones that come with “They’re waiting for everyone to wake up.”

No, I don’t think the good guys are in charge. But that makes it even more necessary that people wake up.

This might be the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of our age. (Or perhaps the recent trafficking movie was it. Or maybe both.)

Certainly there seem to be a huge number of people who are finally having the light bulb turning on when they hear this song.

Joining The Herd Of Lemmings

I’ve had cause to consider a few things. Maybe we’re going about it the wrong way, and we need to ditch Trump

Yeah, NO

Trump all the way! Why? Because being hated by the people who hate him is a sign of impeccable character, that’s why.

The haters can go fuck themselves with rusty twelve gauge bore brushes. I’d prefer ten gauge but that’s kind of scarce, so…I’m willing to compromise.

The RINO’s Dilemma

The RINOs who who have burrowed in and taken over most GOP organizations, from the state down to local organizations, have quite a dilemma on their hands, and most of them have their heads too far up their asses to realize it.

OK, I’m not talking about the liberal in a Republican area, who knows they’re in the wrong party, but is there because it’s the only game in their town; they hope to capture a nomination someday, at which point they’re guaranteed to be elected…otherwise, they never will be. These people are a hazard in any heavily conservative area.

No, I’m talking about the guys who are a little bit conservative and want to do some good by going into politics, and they’re in a closely matched area, closely enough that they can join the party they are most aligned with and still have a chance. They think the Democrats…particularly the ones who end up running for office…are nuts.

They don’t think much better of the Deplorable types, either. A bunch of bumpkins whose hearts are in the right place, mostly…OK a bit extreme. But they think Deplorables can’t understand that first you have to get elected, then work within the system to change things…a slow process. They genuinely want many of the things Deplorables want…just not as much. The government is spending too much. Or they need to spend money on highways instead of welfare for illegal immigrants. But they want to work within the system to get these things done.

Or maybe they think things are pretty close to ideal right now, and they want to nail it in place.

The problem is, that means they don’t stand for anything in particular. And it shows. They’re about as unappetizing to the electorate as a puddle of dog vomit. The folks in the middle, who they think they are appealing to because they themselves are not extreme, would honestly prefer a clear-spoken radical to someone who qualifies everything they say to the point where they sound like they don’t believe anything at all.

The problem these “Mild RINOs” have, is they just can’t see that. And the reason they just can’t see that, is their entire sense of self-worth is tied up in not seeing that. In their minds, they’ve worked tirelessly for their party, to keep those crazy Democrats out…only to have to constantly fight with a small number of crazy Republicans–who are only liabilities if they end up as candidates. They’ve fought the good fight, and if they can just find the right candidate, someone with some charisma, they might stop the crazies…without being too beholden to the OTHER crazies. In the meantime it’s not working. What’s a responsible guy in politics to do?

They simply cannot understand that the Republicans can’t succeed as the party of nothing in particular. Not really in the past, and certainly not today when people are starting to realize that no matter what they do in the voting booth, the country is still about to fly off a precipice. If they did see it, they’d suddenly have two choices: Go away and let the GOP succeed, or stay and fight. But “go away” isn’t really an option, because what’s the point of having a party now owned by the crazies, win?

Well, they have a dilemma…and WE, therefore have a problem. And we would have that problem even IF they realized that they had a problem…that they were the problem.

No one ever thinks they are the bad guy. Even Epstein probably thought he was the good guy. Right up to the moment where he didn’t kill himself.

So if you ever wonder why these unappetizing dufuses cling on even when their fingernails are being left behind…that’s why. They don’t understand no one wants them, and can’t imagine that no one should want them. And oftentimes their greatest pride is in all the hard work they’ve done for the party. They’re not going to give that up; it’d be psychological suicide.

If you’ve worked with these people, there’s a good chance you like them and consider some of them your friends. But even if so…we’re going to have to give them a good, hard shove. Because America is more important than those milquetoasts’ egos.

Justice Must Be Done

The prior election must be acknowledged as fraudulent, and steps must be taken to prosecute the fraudsters and restore integrity to the system.

Nothing else matters at this point. Talking about trying again in 2022 or 2024 is hopeless otherwise. Which is not to say one must never talk about this, but rather that one must account for this in ones planning; if fixing the fraud is not part of the plan, you have no plan.

Lawyer Appeasement Section

OK now for the fine print.

This is the WQTH Daily Thread. You know the drill. There’s no Poltical correctness, but civility is a requirement. There are Important Guidelines,  here, with an addendum on 20191110.

We have a new board – called The U Tree – where people can take each other to the woodshed without fear of censorship or moderation.

And remember Wheatie’s Rules:

1. No food fights
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
4. Zeroth rule of gun safety: Don’t let the government get your guns.
5. Rule one of gun safety: The gun is always loaded.
5a. If you actually want the gun to be loaded, like because you’re checking out a bump in the night, then it’s empty.
6. Rule two of gun safety: Never point the gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy.
7. Rule three: Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
8. Rule the fourth: Be sure of your target and what is behind it.

(Hmm a few extras seem to have crept in.)

Spot (i.e., paper) Prices

Last week:

Gold $2,006.60
Silver $23.19
Platinum $914.00
Palladium $1,148.00
Rhodium $4,650.00

This week, 3PM Mountain Time, markets have closed for the weekend.

Gold $1,993.20
Silver $23.31
Platinum $942.00
Palladium $1,142.00
Rhodium $4,525.00

Silver and platinum up while gold is down. Seems like perhaps gold spiked a bit hard and other metals are catchingup.

Large Bills: Setting The Record Straight

A few days ago the subject of large denomination paper money came up. And by large, I mean $500 bills and higher, up to $10,000

The assertion was made that we aren’t allowed to own them.

That is almost completely false.

What is actually going on?

Let me tell you where it is actually true. In 1934 (post Roosevelt Gold Theft), the US issued gold certificates in $100, $1000, $10,000, and $100,000. But these were not issued to the general public; rather the Fed used them for internal transfers. THOSE you cannot have.

But other types of large denomination bills were issued, from 1862 until 1969. (Yes, nineteen sixty nine). As it happens the last time any such bills were printed was December 27, 1945 (and they bore a series date of 1928 or 1934); but there was little actual demand for them so over twenty years later, we were still issuing them from that stock.

July 14, 1969 the bills were officially discontinued. The $5000 and $10,000 denominations hadn’t actually seen any use for years before that time.

The government did not demonetize the bills, nor did it confiscate them.

If you happen to have a $500, $1000, $5000, or $10,000 bill, you can keep it, unlike your doctor under Obolacare.

You can even spend it; it’s still legal tender–though that would be a dumbass move. But let’s say you were determined to spend it. The cashier wherever you are might not believe it’s real, but that’s not a legal barrier, that’s a practical one. You can certainly take it to a bank and they’ll give you the nominal number of benjamins for it.

(Far better, though, to take it to a coin shop. Because these bills invariably have collector value. More on that below.)

What happens to the bill at the bank? The bank is under strict orders not to pay that bill out but rather to turn it in to the Fed; the Fed will of course pay for the bill…and then destroy it. This is known as “passive retirement.”

Items like these are expensive enough that there are some hobbyists who like to track them (and having serial numbers makes that easier than with expensive coins). So as of May 30, 2009, there were 336 $10,000 bills out there, and 342 $5,000 bills. (And this includes older series back to the Civil War, so there are multiple varieties included in those numbers. Elon Musk can try to collect them all, if he is so inclined.) Many are in museums. All told, those two denominations are rare.

In many cases a $5,000 or $10,000 note is unique, the only one remaining of that design, or maybe two are known. Or none. And in a couple of cases (the $5K and $10K Legal Tender notes of 1878) they have all been redeemed, so none exist unless the government kept a sample.

$1000 bills are much more common, with 165,372 remaining.

Remember that back in those days, these were a lot of money, and there was simply no pressing need on the part of the man in the street for such bills. Even $1000 was likely more than a month’s pay. Between that and the great likelihood that a bill that size would be counterfeit, so few felt safe in accepting them. So they would be hard to spend, and you’d not want to carry one in your mad money. So these bills mostly got used by banks, for money transfers to other banks.

Binion’s, a casino in Vegas actually had a hundred of the most recent $10,000 bills, arranged in a horseshoe display to suggest luck, from 1966 to 1999. This casino eventually decided to sell the bills, and they did so slowly to avoid glutting the market.

I’ve seen some of those bills, a certain dealer in US paper money had a couple of them at a show I went to recently. I just looked at his web site and he has one of them (this one is not from the Binion hoard, though) for sale for $125,600.00. He has another pair of them, exceptionally well preserved (Gem 65 grade), consecutively numbered, that are from the Binion hoard, for almost a half million dollars but that pair has apparently been in inventory for about ten years. Many other notes are shown, but are marked SOLD (the site doesn’t show the price on those).

That same dealer is apparently fresh out of $500 bills (other than ones with stars in the serial numbers, and those will give you a nosebleed pricewise), but has a $1,000 in high grade for $11,500.

This guy tends to carry high-end examples. A more typical well-circulated $500 note is probably a lot cheaper (but I’d be surprised if they are less than $1000 in today’s market).

So: Yes we are allowed to own them. But you cannot go to the bank to get one, you have to buy it from a collector. You will pay through the nose.

And please, please, never, ever, deposit it at a bank.

Below: Pictures of the other series 1928 bills–the ones you are likeliest to see. The $10,000 appears to be from the Binion hoard.

Spring Forward, Fall Back, Hurl Into The Wastebasket

Yep, it’s that time again. Set your clocks back and stop pretending the day is an hour longer.

I get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. But it will be ducking fark when I leave work to go home.

I know I’ve talked about this before.

Time zones are based on something called “Mean Solar Time.” Midday can be defined as the moment the sun crosses from being somewhere east of south, to somewhere west of south. Or alternatively, you can draw an imaginary line from due south, through the sky to a point directly overhead, then continue on to due north. This line is called the meridian. When the sun crosses it, it’s noon.

So, trick question: How long does it take for the Earth to rotate once?

The correct answer to that depends on your frame of reference. If you are situated way out in space and you’re looking at the distant stars, timing the Earth’s rotation, you’ll get that it rotates once in 23 hours, 56 minutes and about 4.0905 seconds.

Not 24 hours.

This duration is called the sidereal day.

So how is it that we consider a day to last 24 hours? It’s because during the course of that sidereal day, the earth has moved through part of its orbit. As seen from the Earth the sun seems to have moved a bit, so the earth must rotate for almost another four minutes, in order for the sun to be “centered” on that meridian line again.

But there is another complication. The Earth is in an elliptical orbit. Sometimes it’s farther from the sun than at other times. If you were to assume the Earth’s velocity were constant, then when it’s farther away from the Sun, it’s not going to travel as far in its orbit (measured as an angle from the sun). So it will take less time for it to “re-center” the sun. Likewise when close, the sun will appear to move faster and the Earth will have to rotate a bit more than normal to re-center the Sun.

Now the Earth does not move at a constant speed, but that just makes things worse because it moves faster when it is closer to the sun and so this effect is magnified.

The end result is that the average noon-to-noon time is 24 hours, but rarely is a particular noon-to-noon interval exactly 24 hours.

Hence the concept of “Mean Solar Time.” If you imagine a sort of “average sun” that traverses the meridian every 24 hours, the time based on that average sun is “Mean Solar Time.”

And that’s great, if you don’t travel east or west.

The problem is at noon, your Mean Solar Time, someone a quarter of the way round the world (to the east or west) will be at or near sunset (or sunrise) depending on the direction. You can in fact measure this distance in degrees longitude (east or west), and with there being 360 degrees in a circle, and 24 hours in a mean solar day, that means if you travel 15 degrees longitude to the east, the mean solar time is an hour later than it was at your starting point. But even one degree of longitude makes a four minute difference.

[And you can reverse this. If you have a very accurate clock, you can set it to your Mean Solar Time. You can then travel, and then check where the sun is with instruments. It will be off from where your clock says it ought to be. How far off will depend on how far east or west you are. Thus you can use a clock as a navigation instrument. Once we had sufficiently accurate clocks (that wouldn’t be thrown off by a rolling deck), we could determine longitude at sea almost as readily as latitude.]

This didn’t matter all that much when you had to travel by foot, or on horseback. You’d travel to the next town, they’d have the town clock set to their mean solar time, and you’d adjust a little bit, assuming you even had a watch. If not, you wouldn’t notice that noon seemed to be coming a bit early or a bit late, because it would be only a couple of minutes’ difference.

But once railroading began, travel was faster and railroads had to deal with this to make their schedules accurate.

So ultimately, it was deemed more convenient to have a large area set all their clocks to the same thing, even if that wasn’t the mean solar time for everyone. And timezones were born.

There is, for example, a timezone which is based on the mean solar time for Greenwich, England, and that is where the longitude is zero. Our Eastern time zone is based on the mean solar time at 75 degrees west, which is five hours behind Greenwich. Central time? 90 degrees west, 6 hours behind. Mountain time? 105, and 7 hours. All fifteen degree/one hour intervals and who cares about 120?

If your town is somewhere about midway between two of these longitudes, your actual mean solar time is going to be off from what your clocks say by about half an hour, and you can pick whether you want to be half an hour ahead of mean solar time, or behind.

Such locations usually choose to be ahead, giving them a permanent half hour of “daylight saving time.” And in some places like Alaska the boundaries of the time zone are off at least 15 degrees, so they have built-in DST, even in winter.

But now we are saddle with the custom of moving our clocks forward for the summer and back in winter (which means places like Alaska get a double dose of DST during the summer; it’s noon on the clock when the sun would indicate 10 AM or perhaps even earlier.

But people seem to prefer it that way. Look at timezone boundaries. They are almost always east of where they should be.

So as much as I would like to kill DST, it’s never going to happen, and if anything does happen, we’re likely to just go to DST permanently, even if it means waking up and commuting in the ducking fark in the winter (also the coldest time of the day).

Fuck Joe B*d*n

Due to complaints about foul language, I’ve censored the most objectionable word in the title of this section.

B*d*n, you don’t even get ONE scoop of ice cream today.

(Please post this somewhere permanent, as it will continue to be true; the SOB will never deserve a scoop.)

Obligatory PSAs and Reminders

China is Lower than Whale Shit

Remember Hong Kong!!!

中国是个混蛋 !!!
Zhōngguò shì gè hùndàn !!!
China is asshoe !!!

China is in the White House

Since Wednesday, January 20 at Noon EST, the bought-and-paid for His Fraudulency Joseph Biden has been in the White House. It’s as good as having China in the Oval Office.

Joe Biden is Asshoe

China is in the White House, because Joe Biden is in the White House, and Joe Biden is identically equal to China. China is Asshoe. Therefore, Joe Biden is Asshoe.

But of course the much more important thing to realize:

Joe Biden Didn’t Win

乔*拜登没赢 !!!
Qiáo Bài dēng méi yíng !!!
Joe Biden didn’t win !!!