Upstream of the Herd

Trump ruined so many lives with his lies and as his MAGA followers suffer the consequences of their actions, they are gradually forgotten by MAGA and almost everyone else as the world moves on without them. A lot of the Jan 6er's do their fundraising via GiveSendGo. I like to check and see how they are doing from time-to-time. Dominic Pezzola, who famously smashed the window on the Capital building with a shield stolen from a LEO and was sentenced to 10 years in prison has a active GiveSendGo account operated by his wife. She describes in her updates how his criminal activity, incarceration, and conviction has affected the family over the last three plus years. It's a sad read-- so many lives damaged so severely over Trump, who literally does not care about anything or any one if it does not satisfy an immediate need of his. After Dominic Pezzola's arrest, the Pezzola family initially asked for donations of $175K for living expenses and legal fees. They have raised $9...

My solution is pretty niche but I recently developed a quick-to-apply-and-quick-to-remove system to add a one thousand Watt power inverter to my hybrid car (a 2012 Prius). I've written a lengthy record of why and how I did this that can found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/nX7t5ly or by searching the title of this post: "How I Prepared My 2012 Prius Hybrid For Use As An Emergency Generator To Run My Refrigerator In A Power Outage. (Long)" This system is certainly not for everyone, but it is an inexpensive-to-initiate-and-to-remove, inexpensive-to-maintain, low-to-no maintenance, quieter, and cleaner method of preventing losing everything in my fridge- my primary motivating factor. Plus I don't have to store perishable volatiles in my garage. The system cost me $277. I think this is a good investment to prevent even just a one-time loss in refrigerated and frozen food in the next (and what now feels like inevitable) power outage. I also have a disabled person in...

Trump's bond in Georgia is $200,000.  This is the first time Trump has had to post bond. The Georgia Racketeering and Conspiracy indictment details:  https://www.scribd.com/document/665036274/Trump-Indictment-Georgia-081423# Trump's Georgia bond agreement details: "CONSENT BOND ORDER FOR DEFENDANT DONALD JOHN TRUMP The above-captioned matter having come before the Court for consideration of bond, and with consent of counsel for the State of Georgia and for the Defendant, the Court hereby GRANTS and ORDERS that bond is set in this matter as follows: (1) Bond Amount: Count 1: Violation of GA RICO Act $80,000 Count 5: Criminal Solicitation $10,000 Count 9: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 11: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 13: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 15: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 17: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 19: Criminal Conspiracy $10,000 Count 27: Filing False Documents $10,000 Count 28: Criminal Solicitation $10,000 Count 29: False Statemen...

 When I went job hunting a while back, I discovered all the facilities in my area (Houston) also have no-nicotine policies. That means I'm trapped at my place forever, I guess (but today is my very first day not smoking- it feels weird but I've made it through the day so far. 45 years. Yup. You read that right. 45 years of smoking.) One facility had a sign posted on the door to HR that said "We don't hire anyone who uses nicotine in any form" or something similar, so that includes e-cigs/vapes, patches, gum. It is understood that this no smoking policy is based on insurance costs.  I understand that most places with this policy only test at hiring. I did hear a reports of annual testing from one person but have no verification of that.  I also see how smoking could reappear as a problem when it's time for a company's annual enrollment period for health insurance benefits. My facility charges smokers an additional $600 per year in insurance costs (which mea...

 There's a new podcast coving Spacey, some of his history, and the charges against him. https://www.radio.net/podcast/the-kevin-spacey-trial-unfiltered While I will never defend adults hitting on minors, and I recognize that everyone has their own responses to unwanted (or even wanted) sexual advances, I also have questions about Rapp suffering 40 million dollars worth of 'severe psychological trauma' from the sexual advance he claims Spacey made on him when Spacey was 26 and Rapp was 14. The event is described in the podcast several times in detail using trial and deposition transcripts, and including Rapp's own words. I (female) certainly fended off unwanted advances from adults (both male and female adults) when I too was a poorly supervised/unsupervised minor and some of those advances were much more aggressive and problematic than what Rapp describes. Perhaps I just have something in me that made me more resilient or more resistant to damage from these advances tha...

Federal judge imposes longest sentence yet for Jan. 6 defendant  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/federal-judge-imposes-longest-sentence-yet-jan-6-defendant-rcna82982?fbclid=IwAR3krg7V8YY2vKum1Qy3N-PorQQYur3xB4_PR2NvYYNmzY4GoR3czCABs5s What was interesting in this news story is the while Schwartz pled for mercy and told the judge in public that he knew now that what he did was wrong, in private he was saying the complete opposite. I'm glad the prosecution presented proof that he was lying about "being wrong" and that the judge took that into account in the sentencing. The judge still gave him a lighter sentence (by about 2.5 years) that the prosecution asked for but the lies did not allow Schwartz to evade justice. I'm not sure if Schwartz was associated with any of the militia groups operating that day or was a "normie" used by them to cause the chaos of that day, but I'm hoping that the Oath Keepers who will be sentenced soon will al...

 The 183 page sentencing recommendations for the Oath Keepers has been released and it is brutal- and appropriately so.  The document is here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23801119-rhodesetalsentmem050523 The judge does not have to accept the sentencing recommendations but they seem entirely reasonable to me. 

  I'm starting a collection of these but some of them are quite obvious and intentional, others less so, and still others just may not be true: Progesterone- Pro-gestation hormone. Premarin - Pregnant mare's urine. Lasix- Lasts six hours. Morphine- named after Morpheus the Greek God of Dreams. Ambien- am (morning) bien (good). Surfactant- Surface active agent. Protonix- a proton pump inhibitor, it "nixes" protons. Lovenox- no Factor x, or no x ("Xa" is a coagulation enzyme). Vicodin- hydrocodone is 6x stronger than codeine. The Roman numeral for 6 is VI. VI+codeine =Vicodin. Macrobid- Macrodantin, twice a day. Glucophage- glucose phage, or glucose "eater" Versed- very sedating. Labetolol- "beta"- beta blocker. Procardia- "ca"- calcium channel blocker. APGAR- appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, respiration.

 I'm not making these so much any more. Not sure why- that needs some exploration. It could be Covid. And/or the losses. Or that I find it hard to offer hope- three lost this past week alone- when the risks are so high. Or that this is/was a ridiculous idea to begin with. Or perhaps that I've just run out of childish ideas. I dunno. Bur here are some I've made lately. There were more but I don't feel like hunting them down and posting them. Apparently I like giraffes.

" Mewling, puking babes. That's the way we all start. Damply clinging to someone's shoulder, burping weakly, clawing our way into life. All of us." Jean Shepherd from here:  The Endless Streetcar Ride into the Night, and the Tinfoil Noose From  In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash By Jean Shepherd https://www.nsftools.com/misc/EndlessStreetcarRide.html IF you find yourself feeling alone in the world, you aren't wrong about that. You have no one to rely on but yourself. That's just the way it is. Those that birth us often invest much in our survival. But that may be the extent of their investment. IF during your life and by some chance you happen to find someone who loves you for yourself, just they way you are, you are very fortunate indeed. It's unlikely that this will happen but it could. And IF that person turns on you- even after a significant amount of time- just remember:  " Mewling, puking babes. That's the way we all start. Damply clinging...

  As someone with many years at one facility and who is looking at retirement soon let me say this: Take care of yourself first. Any business has the primary goal of making a profit. If a business ever needs to decide between you and making a profit, they will choose profit-making, not you. So take care of yourself first. They do. You should too. So if that means job hopping periodically to increase your take-home pay and benefits, do it. Everyone always focuses on pay but benefits are important too. Hospitals and most medical facilities are wildly profitable- even the so-called "charitable organizations". It's a false belief that charitable organizations are self-sacrificing and aren't interested in making a profits. If you don't believe me, look at their financials yourself. They all issue "annual reports". You will be surprised at how much they make in profits. Here's what I would recommend: Got to work for whomever you please and sign up for thei...

 A guest post by my favorite person: "Let me tell y'all about the Pecos Cantaloupe, something I did not know nor care about until ten hours ago. The Pecos Cantaloupe is a rare variety of cantaloupe originating from—you guessed it— Pecos, Texas. It is often regarded as the best variety in the world and was once grown in large quantities throughout the Pecos region. However, the discovery of oil in west Texas inspired many growers to drop the whole "cantaloupe farmer" thing and pursue a much more lucrative career in fossil fuels. These days the Pecos Cantaloupe is grown almost exclusively by the Mandujano Brothers in the small town of Coyanosa. That doesn't mean there isn't commerical demand, though. My first (unwitting) encounter with the Pecos Cantaloupe was as a child, during a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. There had evidently been a bumper crop of the cantaloupe that year, inspiring Blue Bell to buy a whole bunch and use them to produce a limite...