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Today the GDP figures came out, and they're not good.
The first quarter GDP numbers were revised downward UNEXPECTEDLY! Well, I expected them to be revised downward; but it dropped from 1.8% to 0.4%, which means there was virtually no GDP growth in the first quarter of this year.
Ace of Spades HQ.
The second quarter growth was estimated at 1.3%, and if the growth turns out to have been overestimated by the same margin as the first quarter's, then it means that Q2's growth was actually 0.3%, and while that's not zero, it is perilously close.
However, "recession" is "two or more quarters with negative or zero growth of GDP" and these numbers are still positive.
Barely.
...but do continue to believe all the numbers put out by Washington, D.C., even when they're coincidentally just barely good enough to keep things from looking dire shortly before an election year begins. Yeah.
Even if there's a recession in fact, there won't be a recession reported. Count on it.
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Market Ticker on the GDP revision: "There is no recovery to speak of. Four years into this the policies of the government and Fed have failed."
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Senator John Kyl, I have a commonly-used ironic sentence for you. "No, shit, Sherlock!" Of course the conservatives aren't in charge. They haven't been for decades!
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Even the Chinese communists understand that we can't keep this shit up. WTF.
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Gun owners are repeatedly told by liberals that having to wait to pick up a new gun after buying it is a perfectly reasonable precaution to keep someone from buying a gun and immediately going and shooting someone with it. You need three days at least to cool down before you can take that thing home with you.
But a 24-hour waiting period is an unreasonable infringement of rights when it comes to abortions. Why, the girl might change her mind and not have the abortion if she has a day to think about it!
I'm glad to see that the veto of this waiting period was overridden.
Oh, but a waiting period is a "dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors." And:
Paige Johnson, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, said this week that women don't need "state-scripted" counseling before they consent to a procedure they have already considered.Let's have some fun with that last bit, shall we?
"Women give this decision great thought, and these legislators have passed legislation that assumes women are not capable of making this decision," Johnson said.
"GUN OWNERS don't need 'state-scripted' counseling before they MAKE A PURCHASE they have already considered. GUN OWNERS give this decision great thought, and these legislators have passed legislation that assumes GUN OWNERS are not capable of making this decision."
$5 says Ms. Paige Johnson thinks that a waiting period for handgun purchases is just fine and dandy.
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Taping a cop in action is as serious a crime as rape at least here in the Peoples' Democratic Republic of Illinoistan.
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There is a reason that we--when speaking of something completely unexpected--refer to it as "a bolt from the blue".
You don't expect to be struck by lightning when the nearest storm is miles away. And in fact such events are pretty rare, hence the aphorism.
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"Wanna know why we're bankrupt?" The video in this DPUD post is pretty tedious to watch, but I watched it all despite the tedium because it's a perfect demonstration of how we got to where we are. It's entertaining in a kind of "Oh my God are there really people like that?" way.
(Answer: "Yes there are, and many more than you think." And their vote counts the same as yours. Sometimes more.)
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Inside: 80° and dry.
Outside: 77° and humid.
*sigh*
Inside, it's warm-ish and dry. Outside, it's cool-ish and moist. There is no apparent temperature difference across the front door.
It's only 2:30 right now, and the clouds are beginning to break up; I'm assuming that it's going to get hotter, which is why I'm not opening the place up and ventilating with outside air. But it looks like it'll be a cooler night tonight than last night, and hopefully it'll be dry enough that I can open up the windows again.
80° is a bit on the warm side for me. When I tried to sleep, I couldn't, so I had to get up and run the AC for a while to drop the temperature in here. Otherwise, it's not that bad as long as a fan's blowing on me, and I feel pretty good about not spending more money than I have to in order to keep the bunker from becoming a hotbox.
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Here's an important safety tip:
Though the salsa may not have grown moldy, and though you might have kept it in the refrigerator the entire time, it's no longer any good after being there for seven or eight months. It's probably safe to eat--but you'd have to be starving to want to eat it.
Last night I thought I'd have a snack, and decided to use up the salsa. I dipped one chip, then flushed the remaining salsa down the toilet. Yeah.
So I'll put salsa on the shopping list, and buy another jar, and eat some...and repeat this in six months.