A Better Way

There shouldn't be any Federal courts within 100 miles of the capitol. With the degenerate parasites that accumulate around such places, unionized Federal workers that shouldn't be allowed to collective bargain, lobbyists, and lawmaker assistants, there is no such thing as a fair and impartial jury. It would be even better if the courts are removed from the states bordering the capitol.

Some might say this removes the rights of those that live there, but considering what a piss-poor job of justice has come from that area, they should celebrate a less corrupt justice system. The extremely small percentage of the U.S. population that lives there should never have the power of the court to influence court decisions that affect the rest of the country. 

Wheeling and Dealing

Years ago, a local refinery was up for sale. One buyer offered a price, and the owners jumped on the offer, but one stipulation was demanded before the final deal: The buyer wanted a tour of the facility.

The tour was set, the buyer's specialists looked the refinery over, and found on large refining unit included as part of the facility had been mothballed for years. For those that are unfamiliar with petrochemical processing, restarting a unit isn't just the matter of flipping a switch. Many times the long period of not being used leads to expenses that can't justify making the effort, which was the situation. The unit was eventually demolished to allow space for a new one.

The offer was lowered accordingly, and the refinery was sold. After working in the facility, my opinion was it must have been a good deal, because much of the facility was old, needing some repairs, and would be exposed to newer regulations that demanded upgrades.

The new owner eventually sold the refinery, and it was sold again since then. The current owner appears to be in it for the long haul, since many upgrades were completed, and new units constructed. The long term employees are probably still not happy, since the original sale affected their pensions in a negative way. 

What inspired this post is the current haggling between Musk, and Twitter. Musk wants Twitter to prove less than 5% of their accounts are fake, and the deal is hinging on this demand, if not others. The original offer was $44 a share, but considering how things are going, that was the hook, and Twitter swallowed the bait. Twitter is not currently valued at $44 a share, and trading around the $37 mark. With the lack of a firm deal, those that wanted to make some big bucks might sell, and Musk will have leverage to lower his offer. 

Time will tell how this works out, but Musk is in the driver's seat. Unless someone else comes along to buy Twitter, he has the leverage, looking at the operation will give him knowledge of the cards, and Twitter can only go all in.

Deep in a Drought

It's unusual occurrence in my neck of the woods, but we're in a moderate drought. Rain has been sparse, and none is forecast for the next week. That will bring more stress to the trees, and anything needing to be saved will have to be watered. 

The vegetable plants are requiring some water daily, since there are few clouds, the humidity is lower than normal, and the hot sun is drying everything more during the 93 degree afternoons. The grass is starting to stress, and it won't be long before a burning ban is declared. 

Back in the nineties, we had a brutally hot summer. Afternoon temperatures were in the triple digits, and for one week, the temperature on our project site was around 108 degrees. We'd start at 6:00 am, if not earlier, and by 2:00 pm, everyone had enough, so we'd stop by 2:30. A few of our hands had to take a few hours in air conditioning to ward off the effects of heat exhaustion. Electrolytes were mandatory to survive, and I'd know when someone needed to take a break by their inability to get enough water. Too much only leads to vomiting and more heat exhaustion. 

Earlier than usual, we were rewarded with a real cold front in early September. It broke the heat, morning were comfortably cool, and the afternoons were pleasant. We needed it, and were glad for the change. 

Hopefully this summer won't be a repeat. If so, I have a huge amount of empathy for those that have to work outside.

A Sure Fire Response

 Apparently, those that want to keep abortion in all states decided that would interrupt church services to shout and disturb the service. That's not good, so I recommend church goers keep a cattle prod handy and show the protesters the door. It's much more humane than shooting them, although that would solve the problem for a long, long time.

Secret of the Court

The Supreme Court had an important draft of an opinion leaked. The big question is who? Some believe it's a clerk. Other's believe it was on of the justices, including Roberts. Me? I believe we'll never know because D.C. is such a rotten den of criminals, even those supposedly handling criminal justice are just as big of criminals.

 I find it hard to believe every draft isn't tracked completely, those that handle it are easily investigated, and the reporter that accepted the story can't be forced to turn over who committed such an egregious violation of law.