I can back out of my driveway now

After the last storm, I ended up with a mound of snow at the end of my driveway that was at about 5½ feet tall.

Yesterday as I was backing out, I realized I had no idea if one of my neighbors was coming down the road and I might back into them.

Today I went out with two shovels, a ice chopper and my old snowblower in an attempt to knock down at least half the height of the mound. I didn't want to use my new snowblower because the snow was hard. Not quite ice but really close to being ice. It's what I call glaciated snow.

It took me more than an hour but this is thre result:

I can once again see if I am about to back into someone.

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The Very Stable Genius launched his new war last night and, so far, it seems to be going his way. I hope it stays that way.

Look, when the Iranian student revolution took place in the 70s and they overthrew the Shah, no one thought it turn Iran into the absolute shithole that it became. It turned out that way simply because the students believed the ayatollah was on their side and he was the right guy for the job. What they failed to recognize is that the ayatollah was a religious fanatic who had his own agenda.

So for the last 50 years, the Iranians have been under the thumb of a series of religious nutcases who think murdering woman by hanging them from a construction crane is a good thing. And not only have the religious fanatics been awful for the Iranian people, they have also fomented religious fanaticism throught the world. They are the driving force behind such wonderful organizations as hezbollah, hamas, the houthi's, the palestinian islamic jihad (PIJ) as well as various Syrian militias. They also supply Russia with a lot of the drones used against Ukraine during Psycho Vlad's "special military operation".

In other words, the Iranian government has been the worst thing on the planet and have caused most of the worlds problems.

In my opinion, it's about time we did something about them. I just hope that the US military doesn't experience large scale injury/death.

I also hope that whatever government arises to fill the void in Iran isn't even more evil than the nutcases that have been there for the last 50 years but I don't think it's going to end well for them.

Oh, and get ready for all the previously mentioned terrorist groups to start attacking everyone they feel is involved. Hell, the houthi's have already threatened to blow up any ship passing through the Strait's of Hormuz

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The Bruins could not overcome the Flyers and they lost 3-1 this afternoon.

They are currently in the second wildcard slot, only two points ahead of the Capitals.

Their next game is Tuesday, March 3rd, when they take on the Penguins. Puck drops at7:00pm

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The Red Sox beat the Twins this afternoon, winning 13-8.

Grey threw a shakey start, facing 8 batters over 1⅓ innings, striking out 1 while giving up 2 earned runs and walking 2.

Duran is swinging a hot bat and he managed two home runs.

Their next game is tomorrow against the Orioles. First pitch is at 1:05pm and the game will be carried by NESN

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Here are some links:

• This is Massachusetts, one of the most corrupt state governments in the nation, and I know that somehow or another, this is going to cost me money.



• Make America Healthy Again...



• For those of you looking to downsize.

We have many internets again

Yesterday I was the recipient of a new router. Today I shut down the old mesh network and started up the new one.

I don't want to say that my network is complicated so I'll just say it took me three hours to configure the router for all my servers. The non-server stuff does not require any configuration and for that I am grateful.

So now all my servers are serving and I can once again do that voodoo that I do so well. Or whatever that old saying is.

As for my devices, all the ones requiring a 2.4ghz connection are happy again and everything now appears in the connection table.

Oh, and I'm once again getting the internet speeds I'm paying for...

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So the US military, probably the army, used their fancy laser system to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone this morning which resulted in another unplanned shutdown of a chunk of the airspace near the Texas border

There are a few things I want to say about that:

Border Protection uses MQ-9 reaper drones and each one costs about $30million.

I cannot find any information about the laser but I'm betting it costs more than $100 per shot. Since it's the government, I'd bet it costs in the hundreds of thousands per shot.

A MQ-9 drone is a small jet. That means that it's possible any small jet flying in the vicinity of the laser thingee is probably going to get shot down.

The FAA has told the military that if they plan on using that laser device, they need to let the FAA know so they can control the airspace.

What this all adds up to is the bumbling idiots running the laser thingee cost us at least $30 million tax dollars. It also means they do not give a shit about what the FAA wants or about the safety of the flying public. It's only a matter of time before they shoot down some small regional or private jet filled with people who are just trying to get from Houston to San Diego.

The federal government doesn't look like idiots.

They are idiots.

And Pistol Pete is the chief idiot. He is the biggest idiot of them all.

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Here are a few links:

• Bubba is still doing his best Sergeant Schultz imitation: "I know nothing! Nothing!"



• You'll notice I didn't want to talk about this.



• Key line in this story: "The Court is not aware of another occasion in the history of the United States in which a federal court has had to threaten contempt — again and again and again — to force the United States government to comply with court orders."

Out with the old...

...and in with the new.

My new snowblower arrived today and I am a happy guy. It is substantially easier to use than the old one and it is almost as powerful as the old one.

I peeled all the shipping plastic off it, drained the oil, filled it with nice new oil, filled it with gasoline and fired it up. Since there is no snow on my driveway, I cut into one of the many snow banks along my driveway. That machine bit into it like butter and it threw the snow about 30 or 40 feet.

I am pleased with my new machine and I'm betting that now that I have it, we will not see any more snow. Hell, we might not have any snow next year either...

And for the record, my wife was out on her daily walk with her friend and they ran across a guy who was licking up an old lawnmower. My wife asked if he took old equipment and he said yes and gave her his name & number.

I called him today and he will be picking up The Beast to take it to the great scrapyard in the sky. Or not. Maybe he'll see if he can fix it and sell it. I really don't care what he does with it. All I care about is it will no longer be in my garage.

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And in the world of things delayed, Amazon tells me that my new router has been dug out of whatever snow bank it was in and is now on its way to me.

It should be at my house sometime this evening and I will probably set it up tomorrow.

I told my wife it was on its way and she responded as follows,

She knows me very well...

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Time for yet another episode of, "How's the newest member of the family doing?"

The newest member of the family continues to thrive and grow.
Her mom and dad are also doing very well.

She is the cutest thing.

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The Red Sox managed to hold off the Rays this afternoon, beating them 7-5.

Crochet looked pretty good. He faced 7 batters, gave up a hit and a walk.

Chapman came in to replace him (hey, it's spring training. weird things happen) and he also looked pretty good. He faced 4 batters, gave up a hit and struck out 3.

Also, I am liking the new guy, Durbin. He reminds me a little bit of Pedroia.

Tomorrow they take on Atlanta and NESN will be carrying that game. First pitch is at 1:05pm

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Here are some links:

• Rodham is not happy with the republicans. You know, the people she once called "a basket of deplorables"



• When I was a little kid, we almost had a nuclear war over that island. Children in the US spent a lot of time practicing hiding under their desks. I don't have a desk to hide under...



• At this point, I would say that anyone who goes to Mexico for a vacation or to watch the World Cup is either insane or suicidal.



• Looks like Krazy Kim might be a little afraid of The Very Stable Genius.

Justina might be the best

I got a call from the young lady at the Lowes store where I bought my new snowblower, and she informed me that the assembler guys were in and they were assembling my snowblower. She then informed me that it would be delivered tomorrow!

If that machine shows up at my house tomorrow, I will call her boss and tell them that she is the best.

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On the other hand, my new router is apparently in some truck stuck in the snow somewhere. At least that is what Amazon is telling me..

Based on the fact it is now 7:00pm and the package is not listed as "Out for Delivery", I can assure you that the line "Now arriving today"is a lie.

Maybe that will also arrive at my house tomorrow.

Maybe it won't.

We'll know more tomorrow.

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No, I did not watch the 1 hour and 47 minute lie that The Very Stable Genius gave congress last night.

Speaking for almost two hours is something dictators do. Guys like Hitler, Stalin, Hussein, et el... used to give two hour speeches but they are all dead now.

I tried to read the synopsis of his speech this afternoon but the only synopsis I could find was from CNN and, as far as I'm concerned, CNN lies as much as FOX does.

I did read that he said gas was below $2.30 a gallon. Someone needs to tell me where that is because the best I can do is $2.49 at BJ's, a club store that I pay to belong to.

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Here are some links:

• I can't wait to learn what this is all about.



• I watched him yesterday against the Red Sox and I can say he is really good.



• This is why we need the death penalty.



• Oh Canada.



• More proof that anything can happen in a baseball game.

Dammit

The delivery of my new snowblower has once again been delayed.

Turns out the assembler guys only work at that particular store on Mondays and because of the storm we had this week, the assembler guys did not go to work. That means my snowblower did not get assembled.

The lovely young lady that called me today to explain the issue assured me she would find out if the assembler guys were coming in later this week or if they weren't coming in until next Monday. Once she had that answer, she will call me and let me know. Until then, she rescheduled my delivery for next Tuesday, March 3rd.

My big concern right now is that The Beast really had a hard time cutting the path to my neighbors house this morning and I am genuinely concerned that it is on its last leg.

If it dies during any of the small storms we are expecting this week, I'm gonna have to have use a shovel and trust me, I don't want to use a shovel. Fortunately, my wife is not some girly-girl and she is not afraid of physical labor. She always helps me when I shovel.

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The Red Sox get blown out today, losing to the Pirates 16-7.

In the world of baseball, if you are going to lose big, do it during spring training. Work the kinks out, learn from your mistakes and get ready for opening day.

Tomorrow they take on the Twins again. First pitch is at 1:05 and NESN is carrying the game.

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Don't forget that tonight is The Great Lie, if you are interested in that kind of thing...

The Very Stable Genius will start speaking around 9:00 tonight and he's already told everybody that "...it's going to be a long speech..."

No, I will not be watching it. I have some DVRs that need my attention.

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Here are some links:

• Man, we sure got a lot of candle companies in western Mass?



• I'm pretty sure a cracked window in your space ship is a bad thing.



• Good.



• Remember Psycho Vlad's little "special military operation"...

Barely made it

The Beast just barely made it today.

I got through 90% of the driveway before it died. I let it cool down for a bit, got it restarted and was able to finish the driveway.

Then another plow went by...

I went back out and man, it was a struggle getting through the snow bank. The machine just bogged down with every bite into the snow bank but fortunately, I was able to coax it through.

Unfortunately, I received a call today explaining that because of the weather, the delivery guys were running a day behind and I would not be getting my new machine until Wednesday.

Guess what it's going to do on Wednesday...

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The Supreme Court told The Very Stable Genius he could not impose tariffs without the approval of congress so he decided to impose tariffs using a different law.

This is the result of his decision:

Tomorrow night he's going to go to the capital building and deliver a State of the Union speech to his cult members. I say his cult members because it looks like the members of the other cult, the democrats, are boycotting him.

The main theme of his speech will be how well the economy is doing under his guidance. I bet a dollar that he's going to tell us that everything is cheaper than it was under Biden and that the financial markets are doing better than they were under Biden. As a matter of fact, I'm betting he says the name "Sleepy Joe" or "Biden" at least 6 times during his speech.

By the way, no matter what he says, nothing is cheaper under his administration. Everything either costs the same or it costs more tan it did two years ago. His tariffs have added at least 20% to the cost of most goods & services and if he says otherwise, he is lying.

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The Red Sox lost 2-1 to the Rays today, ending their winning streak. I wasn't able to watch but I did listen to the game.

Their next game is tomorrow against the Pirates and NESN will carry that game.

Unfortunately my buddy Walt will not be attending any of the games this spring training. He is heading back to Massachusetts to take care of his aunt.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "Talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media."



• If you feel like you need to increase your gloutney, go to Amherst.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.



• Replace them every six months? I'm pretty sure I know some people who don't change them every six months.

This is not good

I'm going to comment on something that I was going to ignore and it's going to be a rocky road for me to go down. Bear with me for a moment...

Two days ago, the SCOTUS finally got around to answering the question, Does Trump have the constitutional right to invoke tariffs without the approval with congress? Their answer was a 6-3 decision that said, No, The Very Stable Genius does not have the constitutional right to invoke tariffs without congressional approval.

They did this by examining the "major questions doctrine" which basically says that the president does not have power to act without specifically being granted the power to act by congress. This was the same doctrine they used when they told Biden he cold not forgive student loans.

Since a tariff is basically a tax and the constitution specifically grants congress the power to raise taxes, until congress tells the president he can raise taxes, he can't invoke tariffs.

It took the SCOTUS almost a year to decide this question and it looks like there is a reason it took a year. It's because they are all hypocrites.

It looks like SCOTUS is no longer a group of constitutional scholars providing a unbiased interpretation of the constitution. It looks like it is a body of politically-biased individuals who are all interpreting the constitution based on their political beliefs.

This, my friends, is a bad thing for the way our federation is designed to work. We are not a single country ruled by a single government. We are 50 indivudal states working together with the help of a federal government that was originally tasked with two things: "Provide a common defense" and "Regulate commerce between the numerous states."

The SCOTUS has always been a political middle ground between the two major political parties. It is supposed to look at the constitution and make decisions based solely on what the constitution says. For the last 20 years, it seems that branch of our government has become just like the other two branches of our government: hi ghly motivated by politics.

In other words, the Supreme Court was always the adult in the room. We don't seem to have that anymore which means we are now being governed by the children.

Spoiled, rotten, arrogant, self-centered little children who govern by the, "You guys are poopy-heads. I'm going to take my ball and go home!" form of government.

⧫
Today was the final day of the Olympics and I watched the mens hockey game between the US & Canada. I also watched the four-man bobsled which is three guys putting an immense amount of trust in one guy to drive like hell but not like a maniac.

It was, to say the least, a hell of a game.

It got a little sporty during the second period with several penalties being levied against both teams. As a matter of fact, at one point the US had two guys in the box, giving Canada a 5-on-3 advantage. Fortunately, the US penalty kill was successful and they held Canada scoreless. It wasn't until the end of the second period that Canada was able to sneak one past the goalie and tie the score 1-1.

The score remained 1-1 and the that is how regulation ended.

That meant sudden-death overtime and about 2 minutes into the OT period, the US put the puck in the net and won the gold medal.

There are several other events going on that will change this but as of noon today, the medal count looked like this:

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The Red Sox played the Blue Jays this afternoon and managed to win the game 11-10.

Tomorrow they take on the the Rays and it looks like there is no television coverage of the game. It will only be carried by WEEI 850 am radio. The next televised game is Tuesday when they take on the Pirates.

On a personal note, the closer was a young man named Jay Allmer who is the grandson of a neighbor of mine. My neighbor Freddy must be over the top to see his grandson pitching in a MLB spring training game.

Having an invite to spring training is an indication the team see's something in him and they might be thinking about moving him up. He is currently assigned to the high-A Greenville Drive. If they promote him, it will be to the AA Portland Seadogs. Next step after that is AAA Worcester Red Sox.

Who knows, maybe we'll see him in a Red Sox game at some point this season.

Always exciting to see someone with a local connection.

⧫
I've moved The Beast up to the front of the garage and then ran a quick test of my generator.

I guess I'm about as ready as I can be for the alleged "blizzard" they are predicting for us.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Is there a plague or something in Greenland? Or is this yet another case of our dementia-adled president imagining things that don't exist and trying to make us all believe they are true?



• Speaking of our federal government and it's dementia....



• No one should care if he was elected the mayor of some small town. He used a fake ID and lied about who he is. I'm willing to bet they still don't know his real name.



• There sure are a lot of attempts on his life.

A day late...

According to the weather dweebs, we will start getting snowed on at 4:00pm on Sunday and it will stop snowing at 7:00am on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service says,

Description
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM SUNDAY TO 7 AM EST TUESDAY...

WHAT...Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 10 and 20 inches. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph.

WHERE...Portions of central, eastern, northeastern, and western Massachusetts.

WHEN...From 4 PM Sunday to 7 AM EST Tuesday.

According to the email I received today, my new snowblower will be delivered sometime between 8:00am and 8:00pm on Tuesday.

I'm going to have to clear my driveway so the delivery guys can pull in and deliver the machine I'm probably going to wish I had to clear my driveway...

On the other hand, my wife and I were able to hack all the ice off the driveway that got dropped last night. It took us a while but now I won't have to deal with ruts/lumps while clearing it on Monday & Tuesday.

⧫
Today was the official start of spring training for the Red Sox. They took on the Twins and won 7-2.

Gotta tell you, they looked rusty to me. The Twins had a 1-0 lead through 4 when they made it 2-0. The Red Sox didn't score a run until the 5th. Then they scored a lot of runs.

Tomorrow they take on the Blue Jays.

I got nothing against the Olympics but I am very happy to have baseball back in my life.

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Speaking of happy, we picked up a new smart television today so now, when the Red Sox are on some streaming service, I'll be able to watch them on my tv instead of on my laptop.

I have no idea why I waited so long (I got the old tv back in 2008) to move into the world of smart tvs. I guess I'm just an old guy who doesn't like change.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Only in Florida.



• Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, Medal of Honor recipient.



• This is why I think Robert Kraft is a good human.

Another busy day.

Today was one of those days where I did not have a lot to do but I ended up doing a lot.

That means no post today.

There will be more curling!

The US mens team failed to qualify for the semi-finals:

The US womens team, however, qualified and they will take on Switzerland tomorrow:

That means more curling for me to watch!

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There may be some limited posting for me for the next few days because apparently my wireless router has decided to start having bad days. No good days, just bad days.

I noticed it a few weeks ago when out of the clear blue sky, my laptop said, "Do you want to connect to your hotspot?" which I thought was very weird since I was already connected to my home wifi.

Then, a week later, I went through a ton of problems trying to get a 2.4ghz device connected to my network which led me to believe the 2.4 radio was having issues.

Now I notice that where I used to have about 24 devices (smart plugs, TVs, phones, laptops, servers, etc...) connected to my router, I now only have 17 devices. And the devices that the router no longer sees as connected are getting through to the internet just fine. That means they are connected, the router just doesn't see them.

So I ordered a new network. It will be here on Monday. In the meantime, I expect we might periodically lose access to the internet or some such thing.

Such is my life. Everything decides to start failing at the same time...

⧫
The Very Stable Genius used the first meeting of his shiny new "Board of Peace" to announce his new war.

I'm going to point out one thing:

Being an aviation buff, I use various websites to track flights. I like to look for interesting craft or see what is flying over my house.

One of the sites has the ability to filter aircraft and one of the filters is for military aircraft. I'll pop the filter on to see where the C-5M out of Westover that just rattled my windows is going.

When I did that, I discovered a large number of C-5Ms, C-17s, KC-135 and KC-46 aircraft moving from the US to Germany and then over to various locations in the middle-east. For those of you living under a rock, the middle east is a region that contains Iran.

We are stocking up to do something over there...

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Yes, I know this is wrong and I'll probably rot in hell for posting it but it made me laugh so you get to see it:

⧫
Here are some links:

• You want to know what I don't care about? I don't care about the uniforms the Red Sox wear. I only care about how they play.



• In England, they are locking up the Kings little brother, but here in the US, we are ignoring the whole thing.



• Remember when we were friends with Canada? Good times, good times...



• This ass-clown screwed over a lot of decent hard working troopers.

Busy day

We spent the day out in Boston hanging out with our son, our daughter-in-law and our graddaughter.

Thet explains why there is no posting today.

There are, however, some links:

• Key entry from yet another excellent police log: PETTY THEFT: 9:25 a.m. at Ivy Park at Los Gatos on Blossom Hill Road. A naked male was walking around an assisted living facility with a bag wrapped around him. He took an umbrella and threatened to hit a worker with it when confronted..



• Trump's Florida boondoggle was a pretty good score for Doodie Calls!



• Boy, there sure are a lot of rapist pastors.



• Wow. Seems to me that at the very least, 'Thomas P' is an asshole...

Just a quick question...

I have been following this guys story for several weeks now and I had a thought.

In that story is the line,

"Mr Culleton entered the US in March 2009 as a tourist..."

That is then followed a bit later by the line,

"...he was in the final stage of the process of obtaining a green card when he was picked up by ICE agents."

Which leads me to ask,

If he got here in 2009 with the intention of staying, why didn't he start the process of getting a green card back then?

It takes anywhere from 2 - 10 years to get a one and that means that at the very latest, he would have gotten his legal resident status in 2019.

The reason I ask is because there sure seems to be a lot of people who suddenly realized they were in the country illegally and if they apply for legal status, maybe they won't get grabbed by ICE. And if they do get snatched off the street, they can say, "Hey! I applied for legal status and they just grabbed me off the street for no reason!"

I don't agree with the mass deportations that are going on because not everyone that gets grabbed and bagged is a criminal. Some of them are perfectly good people who would make great citizens.

But dammit, there are a lot of people in this country who are here illegally and it ain't right. It makes those people that went through the process look like fools for working their ass off to become a citizen.

People like my good friend Shahnawaz (I used to call him "my little brown friend" but my boss told me to knock it off) who came to this country from Pakistan and immediately started the process to obtain his US citizenship. It took him about 6 years to do it but we had a big party with lots of American flags when he became a citizen.

Getting back to Mr Culleton, add in the fact that it looks like the only reason he came here in the first place was because he was a wanted criminal in Ireland. We have more than enough illegal alien drug dealers in this country already so he is not the kind of person we should welcome with open arms.

There, I said my peace. I'll go back to shutting up about the whole illegal aliens and ICE thing now.

⧫
The US remains in third place in the medal standings

In curling, the US men have dropped to fifth place in the standings:

While the US women remain in second place:

⧫
Here are some links:

• He was not someone I thought much about but I'll give him credit for always showing up to help others.



• Isn't this the second time in less than a month that some guy with a woman's name has gone on a shooting spree?



• Just another case of crossbow violence.



• How the hell is this guy still alive?



• I'm beginning to think that Devers might be the adult in this whole thing.

Well, I bought a snowblower.

It will be delivered sometime in late February so expect sunny days and no snow at all during March and April.

In the meantime, with my luck being the way it is, I expect it will snow before the new one arrives.

I guess I'll just keep praying to the snowblower gods that The Beast keeps on rolling along.

⧫
I checked the Olympic medal count but I'm not entirely sure it's accurate. According to the talking heads on NBC, the US is in fourth place in the medal standings but the website says otherwise:

Maybe they only update the website at the end of the day.

⧫
I watched a little of the NESN "Spring Training" show today and captured this scene:

It's gonna be a great baseball season.

⧫
Time for an update on the latest addition to our family

She has started rolling over. My son says it was probably just an accident but once that starts, they usually quickly figure out how to do it. And that means she is close to becoming mobile.

That is when the fun will begin for her parents.

She is, of course, the perfect baby.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Damn. He was the perfect "consigliere" to Brando's Godfather but I loved him in Second Hand Lions and as far as I'm concerned, his reply to John Wayne in True Grit was one of the great line deliveries in movie history.



• Only in Florida.



• I realize that this might be considered "unAmerican" but I feel bad for the people of Cuba.



• That's a lot of crabs.

Persistence pays off

It appears that I may have found the snowblower I am looking for.

First thing tomorrow morning I will be running out to the store and looking at the machine to confirm that is indeed the one I want. I will then purchase it, have them assemble it and then deliver it to my house.

Do you know anyone that needs a giant 20+ year old snowblower that runs but needs work?

⧫
Once again it was a sportings kind of day for me.

Curling, golf, "big air" skiing, etc...

I like a sports-filled day.

⧫
And speaking of curling, the men and women are both doing very, very well.

The men are tied with Great Britain in third place:

The women have a solid lock on second place:

I think there is a pretty good chance we will see one or both of them on the medal podium when all is said and done.

⧫
Here are a few links:

• Yea, it might be time...



• Speaking of sportsball players: They should not move on from this guy. They should keep him on the roster.



• Hey, when you gotta go, you need a place to go.



• Some people have way too much free time.

Lunch and golf

Yesterday was lunch with some old friends who I haven't seen in years and then eighteen holes of golf at a golf simulator while consuming adult beverages.

That will explain why I neglected to post yesterday.

Today I am back in my usual space - on my couch watching curling.

⧫
Several days ago, the FAA shutdown the airspace over El Paso Texas with little or no explanation. The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) simply said, "No aircraft are allowed to operate within the airspace" which is quite different than most other NOTAMS, which usually say something like, 'No aircraft may operate with the airspace without permission from ATC/Center/person".

As it turns out, Hotshot Hegseth gave a laser weapon to the Border Patrol and the Border Patrol decided to use it against a child's balloon. That caused the FAA, who had just recently had a major loss of civilian lives due to the Army flying a helicopter into a plane that was landing decided in Washington DC to proclaim that this was a major concern and shut down the airspace. They did this because they felt inconveniencing thousands was better than killing hundreds...

Here is an article about the entire incident that might be behind a paywall so here are some memorable quotes from the article:

"The law, the staff members at the Pentagon explained to him, required extensive coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department, which could slow the testing of the system. Transportation officials could even block the system’s use if they determined that it posed risks to aviation safety."

"Mr. Feinberg felt the Pentagon had the authority to proceed anyway."

"Late Tuesday night, the F.A.A. administrator, Bryan Bedford, was caught off guard that the system was being used without authorization and concerned for public safety, believed he had little choice but to close the airspace for 10 days, according to more than a half-dozen people. It was an extraordinary decision that surprised the flying public and local officials."

"White House officials declined to comment on Friday, and referred to a social media post from Mr. Duffy, published on Wednesday, that said the administration 'acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.' But that narrative was disputed by multiple people familiar with the situation who said the border protection unit ended up shooting down a party balloon, rather than a drone. Military service members were present during the incident, the people said."

"The Pentagon had insisted to the F.A.A. that the lasers would not pose a risk to civilian aircraft, but the F.A.A., unconvinced, had asked for the military’s data and an opportunity to conduct its own tests, according to three people with knowledge of those discussions.

The requests were not satisfied.

In late January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to allow border protection agents to use the Pentagon’s new anti-drone laser technology."

That, my friends, is the federal government of the United States failing to work with itself. This government not only doesn't give a shit about us, the citizens, they don't even care about themselves.

Oh, and once again, they lied. They said they "acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion" when in reality they acted swiftly to shoot down the "happy birthday" balloon that some kid let go of when he walked out of the house.

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Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy a snowblower during a February that follows a very snowy January?

Let me tell you, it's hard.

I actually had one guy who said, "Nope, we don't have any. And we don't have any idea if we're getting any."

The closest store I could find that actually has snowblowers is down in West Hartford and they won't deliver to me up here in Massachusetts.

I guess I'll just keep praying to the small engine gods that The Beast keeps running or we don't have more snow.

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Here are some links:

• The US is like a guy that beats his wife and then says to her, "Look what you made me do. I love you and would never hurt you but you make me do it!"



• Key line in this story: "The Social Security Administration has instructed employees newly assigned to answering phones to tell callers expressing suicidal thoughts that suicide is 'one option'..."



• Good because they need him.



• Only in Florida.



• Nantucket: Home of the rich and famous...

Still in third place

The US athletes have garnered a few more medals but so have the other nations and they remain in third place.

In curling, the US women beat the Koreans 8-4 and then got beat by the Swedes 9-4 today. They take on the Canadiens tomorrow at 8:00am

The US men got beat by the Swiss 8-3 today. They take on the Canadiens tomorrow morning at 3:00am our time. I will not be watching that match.

I watched a lot of skeleton and speed skating today. Those people are all crazy.

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Here are some links:

• The federal government his de-evolved into a school-yard brawl.



• This does not sound good at all.



• It's only a matter of time before Trump sends in ICE and the troops because Massachusetts has fewer citizens and more immigrants...



• Only in Florida.
  (Must have been a hell of a game)



• If you steal from an elderly dementia patient, you should be taken out back and beaten with a broomstick until you have brain damage.

Who invented "two man" luge?

I can understand how luge and skeleton were invented. A bunch of drunk guys were probably hanging out at the top of a bobsled run and one of them said, "I bet I can get on this little tiny sled with no protection whatsoever and slide down this bobsled run faster than you can!"

The first guy did it feet first on his back (luge) and the next guy said, "Oh yea? Watch this!" and he did it face first on his belly (skeleton).

What I want to know is who is the guy who said, "Wait! I got a great idea! This will be so much fun! You get on the sled on your back and I'll lay down on top of you!" (two man luge).

Not only do those guys (and girls) have an interesting relationship, they are also kinda crazy.

In curling news, the US men's won their first round robin match again Czechia (or is it Czechnia?) this afternoon.

Tomorrow is the start of the women's round robin when the US takes on Korea. That will air at 9:15am on USA. The US men round continues when they take on Sweden. That will air at 5:00pm on CNBC

In other Olympic news, the US has moved up to third place in the medal count:

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Here are a few links:

• I don't understand gamblers.



• I'm kinda surprised Trump hasn't offered this guy a cabinet position...



• This is why you shouldn't feed wild animals.

Silver for the USA

The medal round in mixed doubles curling was held today. In the gold medal round, it was Sweden vs USA and Sweden was able to squeak by the US with a 6-5 win to take the gold.

Italy beat Great Britain 5-3 to take the bronze.

As far as total medal counts go, Norway and Italy are kicking ass. Norway has a total of 12 medals with 6 of them being gold. Italy has a total of 11 medals with 2 of them gold.

The USA has a total of 7 medals with 2 of them gold.

Curling will continue with the men's competition starting tomorrow and the women's competition starting on Thursday.

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Here are some links:

• The Patriots offensive line has begun its apology tour.



• Trump is making friends wherever he goes.



• This is actually a very good article that clearly explains Breslow's moves in the off-season.



• I don't have a ring camera but if I did, I probably wouldn't care if it was spying on my neighbors.

Not a good day for the Patriots

The Patriots offensive line was overwhelmed by the Seahawks and Drake Maye simply could not deal with the constant pressure.

The line could not hold the pocket open for any length of time and the pressure on Maye caused his brain to shutdown. He got sacked 5 or 6 times, had trouble completing passes and, too be honest with you, he seemed to have trouble making decisions on the fly.

For instance there were at least three occasions when the pocket was collapsing but there was a hole directly in front of Maye that he could have run through and possibly gotten a first down. Unfortuantely he cose to slide to his right and ended up getting caught.

As for the Seahawks and Sam Darnold, they didn't fair much better during the first half, scoring no touchdowns but getting close enough to make three field goals.

In the end, the Seahawks won the Super Bowl 29-13 and took home the Lombardi trophy.

As I said to Pat, "Oh well. It was indeed a good season overall and it was certainly fun to watch."

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As for the Red Sox, they may have filled their need for a third baseman.

They announced a trade today where they sent David Hamilton and two guys I don't know to the Brewers for Corban Durbin and two guys I don't know along with a draft pick.

Gotta be honest with you, I'm starting feel better about this season and I'm looking forward to watching them play.

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Here are some links:

• Rodney Harison took Tony Dungy to task over his NFL Hall of Fame vote. Near as I can tell, Dungy was unable to reply.



• Dear Downtown Springfield, your logo reminds me of a IUD...



• Next thing you know, Delta will be requiring employees on business trips to fly on Delta.



• She deserves to be locked in a small room and fed laxatives for a day.

It a sportings kind of day

I spent most of my day watching curling, luge, speed skating and parallel giant slalom (which is basically a snowboarding side-by-side race down a hill). Next up is the Superb Owl where I believe the Patriots will take home another Lombardi trophy.

In other sportings news, the Red Sox have yet to fill their infield needs and spring training starts this week.

Do I think the team will suck? No, I do not.

Do I have faith that Breslow will build/has built a competitive team? Yes I do.

Do I think they are the best team they can be? No, I do not but since I am not an expert in evaluating players and team needs, I'll refer back to my second statement about having faith in Breslow.

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Dear Very Stable Genius,
    You are a jerk.
Sincerly,
Me

I'm going to correct one of his quotes in that story just so you all understand why he is a jerk:

"...when you make it too easy and too cheap to buy houses, you make old people richer and you make it impossible for the next generations to obtain what we used to call The American Dream."

Watching my youngest and his wife struggle to find a way to buy their first home is painful for me. It's not like they are living some kind of extravagant lifestyle and are pissing away all their money. They are diligently saving every dime they can.

They are hard working, educated people that are getting beat up by a system designed to make people who are comfortable and well-off richer than they need to be.

And that includes me.

⧫
Here are a few links:

• I really hope he wins the $2.9 million...



• Best new term: "Trump slump".



• If you are ever in Gastonia, NC, stay out of the Wendy's.



• I wonder if Donald was flushing his diapers...

Insert interesting title here

Great Britain beat the USA in mixed doubles curling this morning. This moved them from second to third in the standings, just behind Italy.

We also watched a lot of freestyle skiing and, at my wife's request, figure skating.

I like the winter Olympics better than the summer ones.

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I get the best spam...

The best line in that email is, "Security Reminder: For optimal security, we recommend accessing your updated details on a laptop or desktop."

They might as well add, "running Windows 11" to the end of that sentence so they guarantee themselves a compromised computer...

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Here are some links:

• Weed: Is there anything it can't do.



• This guy is brilliant. Not only did he get millions from the robbery, the government then paid him $2,600 to flee prosecution and go live in Chile.



• There's gonna be a lot of unlicensed drivers in Florida.



• This is why I don't eat sushi.

Guess who watched curling!

I mentioned the other day that I don't subscribe to the two cable channels carrying curling, USA and CNBC.

My wife reminded me that every month, we can "pick & choose" channels in our package so I logged in to Spectrum and added the two channels to our choices.

I tuned to USA and there it was in all it's Olympic glory: mixed doubles curling!

It was great.

I'm very happy that I once again have sportings to watch.

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Speaking of sportings, the Red Sox are now 4 days away from the official start of their spring training camp and they still have not identified anyone to play third or first base.

I'm still going to be happy as hell to watch baseball I just wish I was little more comfortable with the infield.

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The Very Stable Genius posted a blatantly racist video on his truth thingee the other day and after everybody, everywhere got pissed at him, he took it down.

Then, in typical Trump fashion, he blamed an unidentified staffer.

And when I say everybody got pissed, I'm pretty sure Hakeem Jeffries summarized their feelings when he said, "F*** Donald Trump and his vile, racist and malignant behavior. This guy is an unhinged bottom-feeder."

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I have no idea what happened today but whatever it was, it sure made a lot of stock traders very happy.

That's a lot of points...

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Here are a few links:

• I suspect that he is terrified that he won't be remembered when he dies.



• In my town, the cyclists don't use signals. Hell, they don't even stop for stop signs.



• This is why you should "never 'reply all'".

Terrible hockey

The Bruins played a decent first period, going into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.

They then proceeded to make a mess of things in the second period, giving the Panthers numerous power plays, generally playing like shit and rolling into the second intermission down 4-2.

That was when the coach yelled at them or something and they came out for the third period playing like they were kinda okay.

Regulation ended with a 4-4 tie.

Neither team scored during the sudden death 3-3 overtime and the shootout was tied at one goal each when Marchand came out for the Panthers 4^th shot and put it into the net, giving them a 2-1 lead.

Mittelstadt came out for the Bruins 4^th shot and made a decent attempt but the puck stayed out of the net and the Panthers won the game 5-4.

The Bruins remain in the second wildcard slot but now they are one point behind the Sabres

Now that the Olympics have started, the NHL has gone into a hiatus. The Bruins next game is scheduled for February 26^th.

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And speaking of the Olympics, NBC can kiss my rosy red ass.

Turns out "streaming" means only people that subscribe to the Peacock streaming service can watch the "streaming" Olympics events.

I can tell you right now, that ain't gonna happen.

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Here are some links:

• Oh good. Inspector Clouseau is on the case. He'll have this solved in hours...



• I've got a good feeling about this game.



• I worked for 50 years and during that entire time, I was an at-will employee.



• I'm not entirely sure this is a good thing.



• That settles it, I'm not going to Maryland. I don't want to be trafficked.



• No word yet on whether or not he fell out of a window on the twentieth floor of a building.



• It's everyone's favorite holiday.

Yes, there is hockey tonight

The Bruins are still in the second wildcard slot but now they are two points behind the Canadiens.

They take on the Panthers tonight. Puck drops at 7:00pm.

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The latest collection of "experts" from the NFL have made their predictions for the Superb Owl:

• Keegan Abdoo: Seahawks 27, Patriots 23
• Michael Baca: Seahawks 27, Patriots 17
• Mike Band: Seahawks 31, Patriots 23
• Jeremy Bergman: Seahawks 20, Patriots 15
• Tom Blair: Seahawks 24, Patriots 21
• David Carr: Seahawks 20, Patriots 17
• Jeffri Chadiha: Seahawks 27, Patriots 20
• Eric Edholm: Seahawks 26, Patriots 19
• Gennaro Filice: Seahawks 27, Patriots 14
• Michael Florio: Seahawks 23, Patriots 13
• Christian Gonzales: Seahawks 27, Patriots 23
• Grant Gordon: Seahawks 28, Patriots 24
• Anthony Holzman-Escareno: Seahawks 24, Patriots 17
• Dante Koplowitz-Fleming: Seahawks 28, Patriots 24
• Bobby Kownack: Seahawks 28, Patriots 17
• Dan Parr: Seahawks 27, Patriots 20
• Kevin Patra: Seahawks 20, Patriots 18
• Chad Reuter: Seahawks 27, Patriots 23
• Marc Ross: Seahawks 35, Patriots 14
• Nick Shook: Seahawks 24, Patriots 13
• Lance Zierlein: Seahawks 24, Patriots 20


• Ali Bhanpuri: Patriots 24, Seahawks 21
• Brooke Cersosimo: Patriots 24, Seahawks 23
• Matt Okada: Patriots 23, Seahawks 20 (OT)

As you can see, only 3 of the 24 "experts" are saying the Patriots will win. The other 21 are convinced that the Seahawks have what it takes to win the game.

Look, I get it. The Patriots are a young team with a young quarterback and a new coach. They are the underdog in this matchup but I'm pretty comfortable saying that things will go the Patriots way and they will come out with a win.

If only so Kraft can rub the Lombardi Trophy in the noses of all the Hall of Fame voters who conspired to keep him out of the hall.

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Here are some links:

• I have a feeling that when he says "a softer touch" he means that instead of executing people in the street, they'll just beat the shit out of them and throw them in prison for excersizing their first amendment rights.



• Key line in this story that more "celebrities" should adopt: "So I can tell you, people shouldn’t care to hear my opinion, I’m a dumb redneck."



• Key line in this story: "No matter one’s political views, an adult bears a clear responsibility to exercise restraint, especially in the presence of children. Violence or intimidation directed at a minor – particularly during a lawful, peaceful demonstration – has no place in a constitutional republic that depends on the rule of law rather than force."

Eighteen days

In 18 days, the Red Sox will play their first official spring training game when they drive 6 miles down the road and take on the Minnesota Twins.

And yet they still do not have a third baseman...

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The Sabres beat the Panthers last night which moved them up and the Bruins down in the wildcard.

⧫
We spent the afternoon hanging out with the newest member of our family.

We have decided that she is not only the most beautiful baby on the planet, she is also a genius.

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Tomorrow, Olympic curling will commence and it will be available via streaming on my laptop.

Since curling isn't figure skating or downhill skiing, it isn't carried on the main network (NBC). It is instead carried by various low-end cable networks like USA or CNBC. Since I don't subcribe to any of those channels, I'll continue streaming it on my laptop.

Go USA!

⧫
Here are some links:

• I'm pretty much convinced that this is some kind of group conspiracy within the voters at the Hall Of Fame.



• I was not aware that Hillary Rodham was involved with Epstein...



• This is not good. Not good at all.



• Hey, she said she was gonna stab her...



• What the hell is with all these people saying they were disrespected? Do any of them understand the idea of earning respect?