This all fell last night. Although we had snow flurries all day yesterday there was no buildup until later. It was cold, 24F at my place early this morning. That gave us nice slight and fluffy powder snow, the best kind for skiing. No wind, so the snow stays on the Cannon trails rather than blowing into the woods.
Shaw's in Littleton. Looks like Shaws beat up on their supply chain and got a lot of stock in for Thanksgiving. They were offering it on sale today. Big 20 pound turkey went for $46 before Thanksgiving. It was marked down to $13 day after thanksgiving. Some things were still expensive. Nice Ribeye beefsteak $15 a pound. Lot of strange brandnames on stuff, brandnames I had never heard of before.
I heard a reason for the growth of skinless, boneless, tasteless chicken parts. Apparently the skin and bones are chopped up really fine and used to make chicken nuggets. Remind me to stick to recognizable parts of chickens, like thigh, and breast.
“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness---
When Jefferson wrote this he was thinking of contemporary England, which supported a heredity nobility. Birth into a noble British family, duke, earl, marquis, knight, granted all sorts of privileges denied to commoners.
In 1776, in America, Jefferson was saying that there would be no American nobility; every American would have the same rights at law, the same advantages in seeking government jobs and military commissions as everyone else.
Move forward in time to 1865, with the Civil War won by the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation made to stick by the Civil War victory, and “All Men are created equal” was expanded to include blacks.
Move forward in time again to 1920, when woman’s suffrage was legalized by Constitutional amendment, and “All Men” is restored to it’s meaning of “all mankind both men AND women”, which it bore in Jefferson’s time.
Writing about this in 2021 it is clear to me that the meaning of “All Men are created equal” is much broader today, then when Jefferson wrote it. This broadening is all to the good.
Daughter and Youngest Son decided to have Thanksgiving dinner with Mother. But they came an visited me in Mittersill Sunday thru Wednesday. We (the children actually) threw a before Thanksgiving family dinner up at the chalet. We had John and Maggie, Carol and Zach, and all the kids. Youngest Son wanted to do Tandoori chicken, which came out tasty, although a bit spicy. Despite outside temperatures near freezing, and snow flurries the big Weber grill was pulled out from the garage and fired up on the deck. The freed up the 24 inch kitchen stove for side dishes, basmati rice, cucumber salad, hot groovy bread.
A good time was had by all.
Biden's $2 TRILLION dollar (or is it $4 TRILLION?) Freebie and climate spending bill (super porkulus bill) squeaked past the house. Democrats are saying "It won't hurt, it is all paid for". Yeah right. The bill authorizes the federal government to spend $2-$4 trillion dollars, which means handing out cash, or writing checks, or doing electronic funds transfers. Right now, before the super Porkulus, federal taxes cover about 60% of federal expenses and federal borrowing covers the other 40%. Adding $2-$4 TRILLION in federal spending will require either a solid federal tax hike (unlikely) or a lot more borrowing. The Feds borrow money by printing and selling Treasury bonds, T-bills, which are nearly the same as money. Samuelson, author of the standard economics text when I was in college, called T-bills "near money". There is a 5 day a week, 8 hours a day bond market. Anyone can sell their T-bills for cash and get paid in two or three business days. For the feds to borrow more, is the same as printing more dollar bills. Inflationary that is. So the Biden people's claim that "It's all paid for" is false, us taxpayers will have to cough up the money sooner or later.
I have my children coming up, so I did some spiffing around the old place this Saturday. The place was built in 1962, so it ain't new, and many would call it old. I started out to clean the oven. This oven is a son-of-a-gun to clean. The lower heating element makes it impossible to clean the oven floor, unless it is removed. So I get my set of spintites to unscrew the heating element. Got the screws out, pulled the element forward and drew an impressive zap. I had forgotten that one end of the heating element was always hot, even with the oven turned off. So down to the basement to pull the stove circuit breakers. Juice off, I tried to disconnect the two wires leading from the stove to the oven heating element. One came off, the other refused to come off no matter what. Best I could do is tape the heating element up out of the way.
So I started to clean the oven grates. Part way thru this I noticed a lot of water building up under the kitchen sink. Some inspection revealed a broken hold down nut-thingy under the sink. So it's Saturday, Franconia Hardware is open, and down three mile hill I go. Mike has the right parts, Mike has the right parts for everything. Back up three mile hill I go. Install the new U bend. It leaks, I tighten the nut-thingies with a wrench. That manages to break the downspout. Back down to Mike's I go. He has a new down spout. It's getting dark by the time I get the kitchen sink drain back together. Then I have to finish up cleaning the oven and get the heating element back in place. I manage, by which time it is 5 o'clock. So I feed the cat and make myself a good stiff drink.
Long day.
The jury acquitted Kyle on all counts. From what I saw on TV, it did look like the people Kyle shot were really attacking him, and he shot them in self defense. The jury saw it that way and they spent more time looking at video of the riot than I did. Good thing for Kyle the jury was able to acquit on all charges. Weasel juries will try to split the difference, convicting on some charges and acquitting on others. That weasel makes the defendant guilty but the jury can point to the charges they acquitted and claim they were doing the right thing. In Kyle's case, the jury did the right thing and acquitted him on all charges.
In this case a white teenager shoots three white rioters. I don't see how anyone can call Kyle, or anyone else in the case a racist.
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial was in Wisconsin. Bill de Blasio and Mario Cuomo (New Yorkers both of 'em) had comments on the case. What do a couple of New Yorkers know about a trial in Wisconsin??
