Friday, September 28, 2018

Diane Feinstein needs to pay for her malfeasance

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) received this letter from the disingenuous liberal Dr. Christine Blasey Ford describing an unsubstantiated sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh while they both were in high school.  Over the last week or two, any witnesses to this have all declared under penalty of perjury that it didn't happen.

No evidence to support the claim, none whatsoever.  Yet DiFi's staff leaked this letter to the Washington Post a mere week before confirmation vote in the Senate, despite Dr. Ford wanting to remain anonymous.  DiFi ratted out her constituent, defiled the confirmation process, and disgraced herself and the collaborating Democratic members on the judiciary panel.  

This was an attempt at overturning the will of the American people, a coup on our system.  Elections have consequences, and the victorious president should be allowed to seat whomever he feels is qualified for SCOTUS.  DiFi is in no position to thwart the results of U.S. elections, and she needs to be sanctioned in the most severe way possible.

If I were President Trump, I would issue a tweet to the citizens of California: either call for an immediate removal of DiFi from her senate seat via a recall, and replace her with a Republican acceptable to Donald Trump, OR: President Trump will close every military base in California and transfer the personnel and assets to other states; suspend all federal funds destined for the California treasury, remove any and all federal assets from California, suspend any and all federal infrastructure payments to California, demand an immediate repayment of any federal loans issued to any California interest, and on and on and on....then let the lawsuits fly, and tie up any funding for years to come.  

The citizens of California sent this rotten scumbag of a senator to Washington DC, they need to pay for this error, and they need to pay immediately.  

Of course, I am not President Trump.  But I think The Donald has it in him to fight back against this coup attempt by DiFi.  She needs to pay for her malfeasance and skulduggery, and she must suffer a very high price.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Would you trust this guy with your money?

Just look at this guy - he could be Lex Luthor's twin brother.  Ty J. Young is the guy on TV shilling the virtues of his 'can never go down' investment strategy.

If you trust this guy, you are making a huge mistake.  Mr. Young is an insurance salesman, selling you what all insurance sales guys sell: protection from bad things - for a fee.  An enormous fee, in most cases involving insurance products.

Mr. Young's product, which he never names in his ads, is nothing more or less than an annuity: a contract with his company that requires you to turn over a big gob of your money to him for a very long time, and he will trickle a portion of it back to you over the duration of the contract.  Annuities have a bad name for a reason, and that is why Mr. Young doesn't bring up the word, much like Democrats don't like calling what they believe in socialism.

Annuities have a place: they are for those who are deathly afraid of taking any risks with their money, and are completely willing to let the insurance company take those risks, reap the rewards and then give you back a sliver of what you could have made had you even a modicum of a backbone.  They are for cowards, and nobody else.

Anyone with half a brain can invest in the market, invest in real estate or invest in themselves as entrepreneurs.  Paying insurance companies to watch over your money is about the worst investment strategy anybody can possibly make.  If you give the idea of an annuity even a bare minimum of thought, you would figure out that the only way this can make sense for the insurance company to offer such a deal is that they make money off of your money well above and beyond what they pay you back.  They do with your money what you could have done, but didn't have the spine to consider.  Duh.  And once you give them your money and tie it up in an annuity, you can't get it back until the contract expires, many times 10 years or more into the future.  Or you can extract it slowly, one withdrawal a year (a surrender payment during the surrender period), or whatever punitive terms the insurance company gets you to sign up for.

In any event, just avoid annuities.  They are a bad deal, and don't let slick, slimy sales guys like Ty J. Young tell you any different.  You may as well give your money to Lex Luthor.




Saturday, September 15, 2018

When you build in a flood plain, plan for flooding. Duh

Every year, after each and every large snowfall or storm, we see those cameras panning mile upon square mile of flooded terrain.  North and South Carolina are now getting hammered with torrential rain, flooding the areas along the coast and inland rivers.  This happens periodically in flood plains....it floods. 

This is a re-post, with updated photos of the most recent (and not the last) flood event.  And I will dust this post off again (and again) every time I see flood stricken folk with their hands out to FEMA for taxpayer money to subsidize their past decision to build their homes in a flood plain.  

'Fredd', you say, 'you are one heartless sumbitch, bad mouthing these poor wretches standing knee deep in water in the middle of their living rooms.'  Yes, my heart is pretty darn immune to how this always works: build in flood plains, get flooded, cry in front of the camera and the taxpayer money flows your way along with the flood waters.   My suggestion: don't build in flood plains.  Ever.  They are all well known to geologists, meteorologists and even real estate agents.  Just ask one of these guys where the flood plains are, and they will be able to tell you exactly where they are located.  Then avoid building on them.  Duh. 

And every year at these times, we watch the governors of these flooded states clamor for a microphone and a camera to issue a declaration of a disaster area.  In this way, the federal government will send floods of U.S. taxpayer dollars to them, so that they can pass out relief funds to those unfortunate souls stricken so severely in their time of need, as tears flow from their red eyes nearly as much as the river that caused these tears.

In Illinois in particular (my temporary state of residence, I have vowed not to die here), the floods along the Mississippi happen virtually every year.  My first year in this area was 1993, and they tell me that the flooding that year was a 'one in 500 year event.' Now, only 23 years later, I am being told that the current flood is a 'one in 500 year event.'

If this pattern holds up, we will be hearing in a few years about yet another 'one in 500 year event,' as those poor wretches along the Mississippi are standing hip deep in water in their living rooms.

I can't understand why people who build their homes in flood plains are upset when floods happen (in flood plains).  They truly seem puzzled that their homes are suddenly full of water....again...in a flood plain.  I am guessing that the costs of this real estate are dirt cheap.  And that it pays off in the long run to simply rebuild every 10 years or so when the river comes along and sweeps their belongings away.

Do not under any circumstances, however, expect even a tiny bit of sympathy from me for these fools.  They are on the TV each and every year, tears running down their cheeks after their homes are destroyed by a flooding river.  I am not buying it anymore.  These tears are probably just part of their long term plans: build in flood plains on the cheap, get flooded out, and then stick your hand out as tears run down your face so that the governor can lay some money on you.  I am not falling for that anymore.  

News to people who build their homes in flood plains (namely along the Mississippi): your home will be flooded, either this year, or next year, or perhaps in 10 years.  But it WILL flood.  That's why they call the flood plain you built your home in a flood plain. IT FLOODS.

If you don't want to get your home flooded, don't build in flood plains.  There are plenty of lands in the US that are high and dry, above the flood plain; thousands and thousands of undeveloped high and dry acres, if not millions of acres, and if you build a home there, no flood will affect your life.  And if you decide to build in flood plains (where it always floods), don't expect the rest of us folk who build homes 'high and dry' to subsidize your decision to build in flood plains, where it floods.

Duh.