Free Republic

It's a public company and they have a responsibility to their shareholders, not just their employees and the community. That means sometimes they have to make difficult choices. It does not necessarily mean they can't be compassionate, but they also can't make stupid decisions either. If those stores were marginally profitable or maybe break-even, that'd be one thing. But no sense sinking cash into a rathole.

Grocers operate on a profit margin of about a penny on the dollar.

That's the marginal profit, you are correct. The thing is, they turn over their inventory 5 or 6 times a year, so on an annual basis they are doing better than the marginal rate would indicate.

But, c'mon, man, these people just need to learn to code, then they'll be okay. And the smart-as-a-whip (or so I've heard) Heels Up says they can reclaim all those land mines, so there's that as well.

You're referring to what Amory Lovins called matching the source to the end use, and it is one of a very few useful concepts he has articulated (although it is pretty much just common sense).

IIRC the GE 9HA.02 has a nameplate capacity of 825 MW with a net 64% efficiency. But that is at the busbar. There are obviously downstream and end use conversion losses.

Remember the 1984 contest for the Indiana 8th Congressional District. The ‘Rat House refused to seat the Indiana SoS-certified ‘Pub winner and did a half-dozen or so rigged “recounts” of their own until the ‘Rat candidate “won” by all of four votes. In a Nasty Pelousy House, I don’t like Tenney’s chances.

The actual yield was higher than estimated because there was a cross-section in one of the components (lithium or deuterium, I can’t recall which) which either was unknown at the time or had a larger value than measured (estimated). The fallout blanket contaminated the one Japanese fishing vessel which resulted a few fatalities. The blast also trapped some of our people in an observation bunker in a nearby island.

That is all true. The ‘Rats have crossed the Rubicon and they know it. And they know we know it. We are now in the land beyond the river. The ‘Rats have to go all the way now because they have no other way to go. And I think they know we don’t have the guts to push them over the side.

Its becoming a binary option. Up until now we trusted the electoral process to sort things out to a degree that at least an outcome would result that would seem fair to a majority of voters. We do not have a fair process anymore, and any kind of proposition that depends on it is doomed.

So, where does that leave us? As someone much smarter than me said a long time ago, something about the tree of liberty being watered now and then with the blood of tyrants and patriots. Like many here, I'm pushing the years where about the best I can do is defend myself and my loved ones, but the days of rucking the boonies are over. Maybe engage in a suicide-sniper style delaying action like the NVA used to do.

The fatal flaw is that Biden, like almost every politician, does not understand what science is about. They view it through a political lens, and it thus becomes a consensus-building process, one wherein so-called adherents seek to gather as many allies and votes as they can to push forward a predetermined political ideology.

Science is not that. Far from it. It is an open (i.e., confirm-able by others) process of seeking truth based on verifiable, empirical evidence and logic. It can be and is often ruthless and totally amoral in its progression. And those who practice it, and those who say they will "follow" must be prepared to stand alone against an otherwise opposing tide, until the truth is found out. If you are proved wrong, you have to own up to it. If you are correct, you have to be prepared to take the heat until your position is shown to be correct. Not many have the intellectual courage to do that, and I'm guessing their ranks among the political class are pretty thin.

But all of the points you make (and they are valid) depend on three key things, and that is the validity of the electoral process, the willingness of the people to make it so, and the belief that it is so. That's what makes self-governance wherein power is vested in an aggregate of eligible voters possible. We no longer have that. I am absolutely convinced that we won a popular and EC vote this year. It didn’t matter. If the electoral process illegitimate, voting in primary and/or general elections won't matter, whether it for the Office of the President or the local Animal Control Officer.

Summed up nicely by your exchange. I have followed and been involved in politics for over 60 years now, and lived through the Kennedy theft of 1960, the Goldwater debacle of ‘64, the heady times of he Nixon landslide of '72 and subsequent collapse, the recovery with the Reagan landslides of 1980 and ‘84, the long, weary, dreary years of Clinton and Obama. Then we finally get a President who will stand up for us, who won't lie down for the insults and lies of the ‘Rats, who wasn't afraid to tell the ‘Rats to their ugly, lying faces to stuff it. Then they pull this monumental in your face theft, get all of the corrupt judges and election officials aid and abet the theft, parrot the “no evidence” meme of the media while a veritable mountain of evidence is staring them in the face. I never thought it would come to this, but I'm ready to throw in the towel. If you know from the outset they are going to negate your vote, why bother? They appeal to us to vote because that is our voice. Trouble is, it isn't anymore.

Catholics may wanna string me up for this, but I feel comfortable thinking that the Almighty would prefer getting our priorities in the proper order... which is stopping the crime first.

It's a difficult dilemma. Priests I have talked to admit that occasionally they feel as you do. But they are bound by their oats of obedience to the teachings of the magisterium of the universal church. In the context of the sacrament of confession, the priest is the intercessor and acts in persona Christi, and is vested with the power to grant the penitent absolution, which typically involves some act of contrition. None of this makes the priest God, or usurps the power of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ, but it provides a means for the dispensation of the grace of forgiveness and repentance. Because of the connection between the penitent and the divine nature of the blessed sacrament, the church asks for confidentiality.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am just a clunky convert, so I be wrong about some of what is discussed above.

You're right, it made a difference. I mean, no excuses, taking hits and playing through pain is part of the sport. I saw a local news clip that said Fields was having trouble following through on his throws and couldn't rotate his body quick enough to get properly set to make a quick out to the checkdown receivers.

The strength coaches are going to make Teague their special project if he plays another year with the team. He's more of a slashing runner, one cut and go. He's got good speed with an open lane but adding some muscle will help him tack on some added yards after the initial hit.

The teams have been strong but it's like we're out of phase with the offense and defense. Last year we had the defensive strength but not enough firepower to overcome Clemson. This year we had the offense but the defense was somewhat spotty. Playing a team like Bama with players like DeVonta Smith, you'd better be 100%+ ready to play defensive ball.

Well, they sure stomped the hell out of my team. You earn your respect on the field and they certainly deserve it for that kind of blowout win. Say what you will about Nick Saban, he wins games.

Got the same thing yesterday. Mild fever and loss of taste. When you’re pushing 70, even a mild fever hurts.

There may be individual Militias and Neighborhood groups forming. There may even be sporadic shootings/fire fights, but with out a large organization it will be for naught.

Was just watching a disk of the first Red Dawn movie, the one with Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. There they had a mountain redoubt and were able to select small but key targets to harass the occupiers. They made use of captured weapons, but nothing too big that would slow them down or give away their position. Comm was by coded messages from broadcasts from the Free areas.

But they say war is a young person's game and as I am pushing 70 years old I can see how that is true. I could serve a role as a suicide sniper to carry out delaying actions while the main forces withdrew, kind of like the NVA did in Hue in the Tet Offensive. And I could push a button or drive a vehicle, anything that arthritic hips and knees will not hinder. I suppose if it came down to it I could take a few of the bastards with me rather than board the cattle car.

The ‘Rats have no record of wanting unity as reasonable people like us define it. To a ‘Rat, unity means complete and total submission to their authority, and lock-step agreement with all they do. IOW, “unity” means agree with them, or else. They will brook no dissent. If you insist on dissension, you will be shot.

Well, you're just not with it, then. C'mon, man. Look what that Sherwin guy said: "investigators had not seen evidence". Parse it out, Clinton-style. Here's how it works. Have an office assistant bring in all the evidence and set it out for the investigators. Since the office assistant is not an "investigator", they can claim the "investigators" haven't seen any evidence. Then bring in the investigators. One is an affirmative-action hire who is legally blind, so they can't say that they've seen any evidence. Another had their CoVid mask slip up over their eyes and he couldn't get it loose for the few minutes he "examined" the evidence, so he didn't see any evidence, either. A third "investigator" got a cell phone call just as he entered the room, and unlike a certain former President is unable to multitask, so he spent the entire time on his cell phone looking out the window. Then they had to go to lunch and did so not having seen any evidence. So, there you have it, a perfectly logical, technically accurate narrative of how "investigators haven't seen any evidence". Kind of like "We were never really alone." (Because other people were in the building.)

There is evidence, but they are DENIED.

C'mon man, I mean, girl! Get with it. This is the Harris/Biden administration-era Newspeak. Evidence denied by the all-powerful authorities means it doesn't exist. If they say there is no evidence, then there isn't, by definition (even if there is).

The first step in establishing a tyranny is to co-op the language. We've been down this road before. Listen with the ears of history, back to the late 1930s in Europe, when one particular despotic regime's modus operandi was, they'll believe it if we say it.

They call for unity, peace, calm, and then they throw gasoline on the fire.

I have encountered any number of people from the other side who spout this kind of rhetoric and I always make them this offer: I will accord Joe Biden the same measure of respect, peace, calm, and unity as the Demorats have accorded Donald Trump from the day he was elected.

Who could refuse a deal like that? So far, no takers. I wonder why that is?

It’s over gang. Even Trump has given up.

It was over the minute the Trump people placed their faith in the courts. When it comes to the electoral process, it is almost 100% certain that a court will not overturn a "verdict" at the ballot box. And once the electors have been certified at the state level and the results ratified, nothing is going to change it. The 'Rats know this. They know they need to do whatever it takes to fraudulently (or not) reach the point of validation by the cognizant state authorities. What frosts my butt about this latest theft (aside from the actual theft) is that the 'Rats rub our noses in it. They cheat in plain sight, and laugh at our outrage that anyone would object to their cheating.

But, what other options are there? The states have the authority to run their elections. The state legislatures could impose rules that would thwart a lot of the cheating, but that would be locking the door after the horse ran away. And most state legislators don't have the guts to stand up to the 'Rat fraud machine.