If you recall, my first article was about how Mrs. N and I were able to retire earlier this year. We had big plans for travel. Covid had other plans. We had a two week tour of Portugal and Spain scheduled for April. CANCELLED. We had a one week tour of Peru, including Machu Picchu, scheduled for early September. CANCELLED. We had scheduled a trip to Colorado Springs in late August to help prepare us for the altitude of Peru. Even though the main reason for the trip was cancelled, we decided to still go.
Of course, it still didn’t go smoothly: the Airbnb we had reserved many months ahead cancelled on us a week before the trip. They said a foster child had been diagnosed with cancer and due to Covid…CANCELLED. Mrs. N was suspicious since the Airbnb was a separate building from their home (so why be worried about the Covid – we weren’t expecting to interact with you anyway), but we said we understand. The rate we had for the location of that Airbnb was apparently too good to be true; we couldn’t find a comparable one (at least not a week ahead of time). I still had a gold-level membership with Hilton from my former job and we found a DoubleTree in a good location for a reasonable price (plus free cookies!). The other thing that didn’t go smoothly was the return trip. We had a flight connection in Dallas to get home to Dayton, Ohio. Weather delays caused our flight from Colorado to Dallas to be delayed for hours and our flight to Dayton to be cancelled. We spent a night in Dallas. Thankfully, we had travel insurance, which should fully cover the additional cost (claim is still pending). And we’re retired, so we can afford to waste a day.
But other than that, it was a great trip. We did some cool hikes, saw cool stuff, ate good food and drank a variety of beer.
Hike #1, Garden of the Gods
Everyone told us that we had to go see the Garden of the Gods. We arrived there without a specific plan and kind of winged our hike. We initially walked around the “Central Garden”, which is all concrete sidewalk-like paths, but they tended to be crowded.
One of the formations as you enter Garden of the Gods
Kissing Camels formation
The Central Garden has stroller-friendly paths
We decided to get away from the concrete and the crowds and sought out some “real” hiking paths. We eventually went on parts of the Scotsman Trail and the Buckskin Charlie Trail.
View from the trail
View towards Pike’s Peak
On a later day, we returned to Garden of the Gods to check out Balanced Rock.
Balanced Rock
The road near Balanced Rock
Visit to Manitou Springs
As a reward for the calories burned at Garden of the Gods, we went to Manitou Springs to get some food/beer and do a little shopping. While in this little city, I realized that this area must be one of STEVE SMITH’s favorite places. There are many Sasquatch references.
A shop in Manitou Springs
We went to Manitou Brewing for a meal and beer. I had an Incline Burger, which was excellent, and we shared a flight of beers.
Manitou Brewing Co
A flight of Manitou beers
Manitou Springs is known for its multiple mineral springs located around the city. After our meal we went around the downtown area and tasted 6 of the 8 springs water. Supposedly they each have their own unique flavor, but they all tasted about the same to me – some seemed more carbonated than others.
Stratton Spring
Mrs. N likes to get Christmas ornaments from the different places we travel to. I found a Sasquatch ornament and had to get it.
My Christmas ornament
A Trip to Pike’s Peak
Besides Garden of the Gods, everyone told us we must go to Pike’s Peak. Even though we got a SUV rental car, we didn’t want to try driving to the peak. So, Lovey and I took a four hour tour (via bus). The bus tour turned out to be a good choice. Due to the Covid, they had removed all the windows of the bus so it was open-air. This made it easy to take photos along the way. Although it got colder as we went up to the higher altitude, the bus tour provided blankets and we brought layers to wear. Did you know there’s an annual race to the top of Pike’s Peak that has been run since 1916? Our tour was a few days ahead of the race and you could see preparations they were making for it (various signs, hay bales at the turns and porta-potties). The tour makes a few stops on the way up the mountain. We started feeling the altitude when we got up to 9,000 feet – I started to get a headache. We brought plenty of water and kept hydrated, which worked to alleviate any symptoms.
Sasquatch carving at first stop on the way up to Pike’s Peak
A view from another stop on the way up
They’re doing construction on a new visitor complex at the actual peak, so there were some limitations on where we could go. But we still had a clear view from 14,115 feet. Our tour guide said we were lucky – just a couple days earlier the smoke from the California fires had caused a haze that limited the view.
My first photo from the peak
Another great view from the peak
Construction at the Peak
Hike #2, St. Mary’s Falls Trail, North Cheyenne Cañon Park
The St. Mary’s Falls Trail is the most challenging trail we’ve ever done. It’s one of the top-rated hikes in the North Cheyenne Cañon Park. This hike starts at about 7,500 ft and goes up to almost 9,000 ft.
You start out from the parking lot (got one of the last spots!) on a wide path that curves around to the St Mary’s Falls trailhead.
The wide path from the parking lot
A view early on the trail
The trail mainly follows along a creek that I assume is fed by the St Mary’s Falls. It wasn’t very crowded and we often felt like we had the trail to ourselves. It took about 1.5 hours to reach the top of the trail and it’s pretty much a continuous incline that starts off reasonable for the first two miles, but gets steeper for the last mile. We brought water and snacks along to keep hydrated and energized for the hike.
A small waterfall along the trail
A stairway along the trail
After about an hour, Mrs. N found reasons to cuss whenever we turned a corner and found another steep path, steps or switchback; she just wanted to reach the end. The signage was also a bit misleading. There’s a sign that says “0.2 mile” left. As someone wrote on the sign with a marker, it’s actually 0.5 mile. Another sign said “500 ft” left – apparently measured by the same guy that got the 0.2 mile distance wrong.
We persevered and made it to the top, briefly savored it, then hiked back down.
St. Mary’s Falls
A memorial next to falls
The reward for this hike was another stop at a brewery. We went to the Colorado Mountain Brewery at their Roundhouse location. Another good meal (Ale Battered Fish and Chips) and flight of beers.
Colorado Mountain flight of beers
In part 2, I’ll share our hikes at the Red Rock Canyon Open Space and the Seven Bridges Trail at the North Cheyenne Cañon Park.
Absolutely gorgeous! Did you see Lt. Joe Kenda?
Cookies!
Lol, no – haven’t seen that before.
I didn’t know this article was going up today. Now I have to get Part 2 done soon.
(Lt. Kenda is a former CO Springs homicide detective that had a true crime show on Discovery; Captain Roger Victor with the cookies is a pilot/Youtuber)
https://youtu.be/eOB4VdlkzO4
A song for you.
Nice. Glad you were able to go
Did you see my text? 🙁
Yes 🙁
I have so many American Airlines vouchers, 2021 is gonna have to be ?
Thanks!
Great pics.
Thanks. I actually took all these photos with my Moto phone.
I really love The Springs.
Yes, I could definitely go back to see more.
I Lived in Canon City, right down the road, cool pictures, but what kind of Beers are they? which were good? which susked?
Let me check my Untapped app…
None of the beers sucked. My least favorite was the Panther IPA at Colorado Mountain, but that’s because I’m not a fan of IPAs. My favorites were at Manitou Springs: Perky Blonde, Bikini Bottom Blonde, Watermelon Wheat and Burro Barn Brown Ales. The blondes and the wheat were refreshing after a long hike and I’m partial to brown ales.
Aww, two caterpillars in their natural environment.
Looks like my street
Nah, they’re not hooked up to a fuel and lube truck with half a dozen hoses.
But can you tell from their color whether it’s going to be a tough winter?
I chuckled.
It’ll be a jaundiced winter, as Not Adahn alludes to below…
Devil’s Tower also had big construction going on when I was there
Preparing for the next encounter.
That’s what my mashed potatoes told me.
Awwww, that makes me miss living in the Rocky Mountains. *sniffle*
There’s no real hiking on the Scotsman Trail. Or are there no real Scotsmen on the hiking trail?
NO MATTER WHAT ON TRAIL, STEVE SMITH HAPPY SEE THEM!
That trail is a double black diamond.
Jelly
Man, oh man do I love that part of Colorado. I loved to pack a wee tent, a bunch of MREs, and hop on my velocipede for a few days of disappearing in the forests out by Woodland Park or Cripple Creek.
Cripple Creek is an interesting area. It is also a classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsdUzN20Sow
Hiked up Pikes Peak as a “boy sprout”. Because the adults in the group were wise they arranged for rides to meet us at the summit parking area. Not having to hike all the way back down may have been cheating, but it felt good at the time.
Excuse me. That’s Physically Challenged Creek.
I like that song.
Great trip you had. But it twisted the knife a little: I had to cancel a June trip to the Utah and Arizona national parks. Can’t wait for one more trip to the wild open spaces before the Harris administration starts rationing vacations.
No worries, I heard from a reliable source that vacation rationing will only be for 30 days.
FOOL you’re supposed to say 1 Month. That way they can raise the Vacation Ration to 7 Days when the Green New Deal destroys everything.
Hope you’re able to make it.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/12/14/the-absurdity-of-the-broken-glass-brexit-row/
OFFS!
I guess the UK isn’t going to be spared our degenerate politics after all.
It isn’t offensive, but if it gets you to do what they want, they will pretend it is.
Also referenced Kristallnacht
HEY! THATS OUR SHTICK!
1. Yes there is a benevolent interpretation, but you’re a hack.
2. The Dog Whistle is calling Angela Merkel a Nazi? See i remember when dog whistles were something that you said that the “racists” “really understood what you meant”. Is their argument that the true victims of Kristilnacht are the poor Germans who get called Nazis?
Of course, as i said above, the point isn’t to make sense, it’s to say whatever it takes to get you to do what they want. The left has had success with that in the past, but it seems to be waning in effectiveness.
Nice.
When I took the kids to Pikes Peak in August 2010 it was sleeting and the view was about 20 feet. Enjoyed the drive and trip though
OT: Need some input on a reply to a PA “COVID sheep”. Thanks.
That reads pretty good to me.
Well said.
Hit send.
Why do you want to kill grandma?
Because she’s a bitch
Also a narcissistic sociopath.
Because you’re an awful person and you deserve to be miserable.
Add this quote at the end.
T. Sowell, Economic Facts and Fallacies, 2008
Why would you want to limit something good?
:squints: You must be one of them Republinazis who just wants to kill single kids and starve poor childless mothers!
Good idea.
Nice, I’m stealing it.
Meh, I don’t understand the point. Most people don’t want to be convinced.
If its one on one, probably no use. If its social media, the goal is to convince 3rd parties.
?
You’re much more succinct than I would be in the same situation.
Mind you, I’ve terminated all of my legacy SMITE accounts, with one exception — I still have my Instagram account for my portrait portfolio work. Everything else is nuked. I tried posting the kind of thing you’re getting ready to post, and it didn’t do any good at all. In fact, it probably made me a bunch of enemies.
Oh well.
I’d remove the scare quotes around “her” in reference to the PA health commissioner. No use in muddying the waters.
Fair enough, thanks
Good, except for
virus still spreads because it is endemic to the population
Covid first hasn’t been around long enough to be endemic, nor are the current growth rates low enough to characterize it as being in an endemic phase, nor does an endemic disease preclude it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic.
Commie-1984 is appears to be endemic. It’s literally everywhere people are, and it has infected enough people that it will never go away, and the (first) pandemic peak has hit and subsided considerably. The only quibble is whether the percentage of the population that has it has stabilized, or whether that percentage is still rising.
If you listen to the “cases” hysteria, you might think it is still pandemic. Except those numbers are bullshit. The only way to tell would be to take a large enough representative sample of the populace, test all of them, and at a later date test all of them again, using a reliable test. Which, for political and moral reasons, ain’t happening.
Tell that to the Slovaks.
Is it OK if I copy that? ‘Cause I need to copy that.
Please feel free to do so.
Personally, I’d expand on rights a little more and find a succinct way to pose some or all of the following questions:
– If rights just go away when something bad happens, do they really exist at all?
– Even if you like the COVID response, don’t you think these powers may be abused by the government in the future?
– Does it worry you that many politicians have openly stated that they’re violating the state and/or national Constitutions and don’t seem to care at all?
1. Who cares? Do you want grandma to die?
2. Trump and Trumpism have been thoroughly defeated. No need to worry about bad government in the future.
3. The governors have been using state police powers. That’s totally constitutional.
I like it.
It was really nice 40 years ago, when I was in college. The last time I was there was probably 2001. I was amazed by how much it had changed.
Need some input on a reply to a PA “COVID sheep”. Thanks.
Needs more self-serving messianic hypocrisy.
Sasquatch Sign Co.
That picture made me laugh out loud.
Well done, and thank you.
STEVE SMITH NO LAUGH, IT GOOD BUSINESS SENSE!
Sorry [actually not sorry] we missed you while we were there.
NEXT TIME STEVE SMITH SAY HI. BY SAY HI, MEAN…
I made the mistake of not saving a link a got Here a while ago. Maybe somebody remembers it.
It was mask piece, the author had a worked with dangerous chemicals and had a picture of him working in a laboratory style breather as a young man.
He wrote about the effaccy of cloth masks, partial size, moisture and shedding. It was quite good.
I remember that article, but don’t have a link. However, it was on the AEIR website I believe.
Thanks! I can find it that way.
I remember that article, too. I believe it was this one:
The Year of Disguises
That’s the one.
Colorado Springs is pretty awesome. We did a similar trip four years ago without the hiking. Beautiful area.
Dividin’/Lyin’ Biden really struggled to get through this speech. Much of it is rage-inducing, sanctimonious horseshit. Watch at your own risk.
Needs more Aricept™ booster shots.
Putin and Xi are gonna roll that sad sack.
Never listened to a Clinton speech. Never once listened to a Bush speech, no Obama speeches. Didn’t even listen to Trump speeches.
No way I’m ever listening to a speech by this sack of shit. Not my president. Viva la resistance!
Glad the interruptions didn’t spoil the trip, and there were no personal STEVE SMITH interactions.
made me think of this.
LOL! Showed Mrs. N that and she agreed it was similar.
A step to far.
Time to burn the system down.
Oh gawd.
Fuck off with this shit
If they drop Inara, she can move in with me.
If they drop
InaraJayne,she can move in with me.So, he’ll be in your bunk? ;-)
And I suppose Kaylee met Mal via a standard interview process, and not because she was fucking the engineer in the engine room.
Disney: We’ll Fucking Milk our own Grandma for cash.
Give it to Kathleen Kennedy. I would say “jk” but it is probably gonna be woke anyway.
This shift in tone suggests the new version of Firefly might drop characters like Inara
Inara was like half the reason to watch the show.
Did you see us arguing?
No.
Trap.
Disneyfied Firefly? No thanks.
A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can remake wonderful stories… better. And I do not hold to that.
There is a worse possibility – they give it to Rian Johnson as make-up sex.
Either the Alliance will be full of literal Nazis a la Woke Watchmen and The Boys, or else it will be a misguided but well intentioned organization that the heroes ultimately realize has been right all long, because separatism is Nazism too.
Don’t they already have a PG space western in the Mandalorian?
Yes.
Fuck.
There is no need for a Firefly reboot. Let it rest in peace.
I enjoyed the original, and will ignore the reboot. So, for me, it will be as if the reboot never happened, and in the Deaniverse, it will have never happened.
So let it be written.
The all new woke River.
River, why do you love us?
Because you meddle!
My cousin and her husband died from Covid-19 last July.
I just heard that her parents (my aunt and uncle) have both tested positive.
Sounds like they sought treatment early and are not hospitalized.
STEVE SMITH HOPE THEM OK!
Oh, and since we’ve already gone OT, here’s a video for anyone missing Q’s posts.
Should be SFW, since it’s actually about business.
“Regeneration Projects” Mm hm.
My takeaway: EPCM psi helps your company plan for success.
“Successful” was my first thought when I opened that video.
https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1337990703092273152
Go Minnesoooota! The only way through is to make these orders unenforceable.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minnesota-covid-restrictions-restaurants-plan-defy-2020-12-14/
Here’s a map that shows the share of people wearing face masks in public on the state and county level. Even in the least compliant areas it doesn’t go below 74%. A couple of counties achieved 99%+.
Clearly, Wyoming COVID is polluting the rest of the country.
Daviess, KY gets its own county, but Warren doesnt? Warren is about 30% bigger.
That’s great! It means we’ll be over this by Christmas!
Hmmm… So comparing people wearing masks to deaths as a rate /100k (rate can be selected on bottom left), one might think that wearing masks works… Am I looking at that wrong?
SLD: I’m a staunch anti-makser, only wearing one when asked to on private property by the proprietors and even then only if I’d continue to perceive value in my staying there.
It doesn’t look that way to me. NM, PA, and IL to pick a few all have high mask wearing and yet are still seeing lots of new deaths per 100k. Also, take a couple pairs of adjacent states: NM and AZ vs. ND and SD. In both cases, the state with lower mask wearing has fewer new deaths per 100k.
The devil was in the deets. Thanks for those examples.
Actually, those pairwise comparisons are not consistent. On some dates, the trend is reversed. So a correlation identified at a moment in time is an unreliable snapshot and not going to tell the whole picture.
Yeah, to evaluate the effectiveness of masking, you need a longitudinal study that compares changes in masking rates over time, with changes in infection/hospitalization/death rates over time.
Saying, for example, that NY proves masking didn’t work, when NY had a huge spike before masking compliance was very high (I assume), doesn’t work. Showing that masking compliance has been high before and during the current wave, though, is a pretty strong argument that masking doesn’t work.
Or, you could simply compare the pore size in the cloth masks that most people are wearing to the size of viral particles and the fine aerosols that transmit them, and make a guess at the filtering efficiency of these masks and estimate whether certain types of masks are likely to do diddly-squat.
For an infected, symptomatic person, a cloth mask may not do much, since they will likely be coughing forcefully enough to expel viral particles through the fabric.
For an infected, asymptomatic person, even assuming that asymptomatic people can transmit the virus through breath, the cloth mask may do more since the force with which the virus particles will be expelled may be low enough to lalow capture by the mask.
For an uninfected person wearing a cloth mask as a protective measure, the cloth mask may be worse than nothing–if it stops viral particles at all, it holds them close to the nose and mouth of the wearer, concentrating them and increasing the likelihood of exposure.
That’s my logic.
Which is fine, and would be good as a basis for explaining why the real-world results suck.
But first, we need to establish that the real-world results suck.
Your approach is the same as all the “studies” that were promoted over the summer, showing that the exhalation of aerosols is reduced by masks. Great! But those didn’t answer the question of whether masks actually reduce infection.
We can posit mechanisms that might/should produce a given result (or shouldn’t/can’t produce a given result), but that doesn’t demonstrate whether they actually ro or do not produce the given result. I think we’ve got data now that could actually provide some support either way, if its analyzed correctly. If it turns out masks do help, then the studies on reduced exhalation of aerosols likely show the mechanism. If it turns out they don’t help, then your approach likely explains why.
Too bad that map doesn’t allow a date *range*.
No matter which date range you pick in the last six months, wearing face masks was more common anywhere in the US than in Japan in February 2020. People believe that masks work because they “worked” in East Asian countries.
If ypu are feeling particularly masochistic, you should do the Manitou Incline, 3,000′ elevation change in a bit more than a half mile. IIRC
More than a 45 degree incline? Pass.
Yeah, if I wanna just climb 3000 feet on a ladder, I can do that at home (one ladder, 300 times).
I wasn’t particularly sensible then.
Not the whole way, there is a will sapping false summit about 3/4 of the way up. Of courses, I was doing this in my early thirties when I was running fastwe than seven minute miles. If were to try that nowadays, my performance would be… suboptimal.
*gasps for air just thinking about it*
I probably need a couple bottles of oxygen. these days.
I’m with you on that. Sounds exhausting.
Particularly masochisitic?
“Marin [steet] is simply ridiculous; one advantage of doing it first is that all the rest of the hills will look easy by comparison. The main disadvantage is that it could kill you before you get a chance at any of the other hills. It crosses a number of quiet streets, which you can use as an opportunity to rest/cheat without getting off the bike; just turn down the side street and coast for a while as your heart rate comes back under your anaerobic threshold.
The first block is rather steep, perhaps a 14% grade. After that it eases up for 3 blocks, hanging at around 10% until the block before Spruce. That block is again above 15%, and it looks a little like it might be the road’s peak–it’s so steep you can’t see the road above it.
Of course, it’s not the peak. Crossing Spruce gives you a little break (remember to take advantage of CVC 57492.1: “the right-of-way must be yielded to people in extreme pain”), and then the next couple blocks again aren’t quite so bad. Then the block before Euclid is pretty nasty, pushing 20% grade, but really it’s just letting you know that you’re about to begin the hard part.
Past Euclid is where the road gets really absurd. The average grade from Euclid to Grizzly Peak is 22%, but that includes the flat intersections. Actual riding is closer to 25%, and that first block is probably near 30%. I don’t care how low your gears are, or how light your bike is; either you have the leg strength and aerobic capacity to ride up this hill, or you don’t. Good friggin’ luck.”
Nothing more than a daily bike ride in Berkeley past my great-aunt’s house.
That’s a nope.
UGH… Kids’ school just announced they are closed until 07 Jan 2021. There were 2 positive tests last week so they shut down for 48 hours to supersanitize the building. Today there was another positive, which pushes them over whatever arbitrary and capricious threshold the mayor has set so now they’re closed until after Christmas break. The maddening thing is the latest case is from a family who SELF-REPORTED!!! Why the fuck would you do that? Thanks for ruining it for everyone.
Huh. We get notices from our high school at least twice a week that someone tested positive. Yet…school goes on.
My HS senior niece tested positive a couple of weeks ago; I haven’t heard any dire news about her since.
It’s what really made me think of comparing the coronavirus testing regime to WADA.
Current forecast here is predicting 6″ of rain to snow tomorrow. My school district, which is currently 100% virtual anyway, has already preemptively canceled the remaining two days of school before Christmas break begins as a result. So much for ‘in the era of covid, snow days will be a thing of the past.’
Your pictures are great. This looks like a good trip. Thanks for sharing!
Seconded
Thanks!
If Biden dies of COVID before Jan 20th does Kamala become president?
Yes but she has to appoint Donald Trump as VP
Lol
I smell a sitcom.
Kamala and the Orange Man!
#cue jazzy opening theme
Alternate Universe Hat and Hair
Twentieth Amendment, Section 3:
“If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.”
Oh my.
Cause I couldn’t help but notice he was sickly and coughing last night.
I also couldn’t help but notice that 95% of the “colds” are actually (allegedly) covid right now.
I also can’t help but notice that he’s in the age range where covid becomes pretty serious.
So sleepy Joe has to make it until January 6? (when he may finally and technically be president elect…)
If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President,
I assume this is the inauguration, so if Biden croaks before then:
the Vice President elect shall become President
Harris takes over.
If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term
I read this as, before the Electoral College has voted (which they have), so I think this is moot:
then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
I’m not sure who would be the VP if Biden dies now. Maybe something in statute would resolve it?
Scum, help me out with the Jan. 6 date. Is that when “the President [is] chosen”?
That is the date when the Congress officially receives, counts, and certifies the votes of the Electoral College, in my recollection.
Senate certifies the electoral vote.
And I think the sitting VP has control over it? Which could lead to the least controversial way that Trump still pulls it off. Pence throws out all the contested states which have sent electors for Team Red and Blue and no one gets 270. Then it goes immediately to the House to choose the president where each state delegation gets one vote.
It’s not just the Senate, and not just certification:
Source: CRS Reports
More: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/15
Fair enough.
Interestingly, that mass of text allows for each vote to be separately challenged, and each challenge stops the counting until the challenge is resolved. Resolution of the challenge requires at a minimum, the House and Senate to separately resolve the challenges. If they disagree on resolution, the votes certified by the executive of the State in question then are counted. So, there’s very little chance of both the House and Senate agreeing to go against the certified slate of any given state, at least given the current makeup of the two Houses.
I think that is the first day of the new congress and when the EC votes are certified. I expect that when the Winged Hussars don’t come riding down the Potamic for Trump, they will then argue that it isn’t real until the 20th of Jan.
I Don’t know either, i think by statute the Pres can nominate a VP and be confirmed by the Senate? I think that may have been done in the past. If you look at the history of it, it wasn’t untill the 20th Century that the VP was replaced rapidly, or at all. John Tyler served out Harrison’s term without a VP, as did Andrew Johnson,
STEVE SMITH VOLUNTEER BE PREZYDENT. HIM FREE CASCADIA, EXECUTIVE ORDER!
Congrats. Glad you were able to make a trip too.
Thanks!
Beautiful country, particularly beautiful ending to the story.
Thanks.
So how does the Dept of Transportation get involved in disarming America?
Biden to nominate Buttigieg as transportation secretary
He’s saving Secretary of Public Safety for Beto
Beto. Buttigieg. They all look the same to me.
Make firearms hazardous cargo and ban all transportation on public infrastructure?
COMMERCE CLAUSE! It authorizes everything don’t you know?
Trump Joins Chorus To Abolish Electoral College Immediately
Because he has no understanding of the Constitution or law and everything he did correctly was a happy accident
You just got Beed.
I did – I didna mouseover de link. And also, it’s RS
If he did, we would immediately see a spate of chin-stroking pieces about how the EC is a fundamental American institution, essential to our republican form of government, blah blah, from the exact same people who have been shrilling for its elimination.
More likely you would see the left push “EVEN TRUMP wants to get rid of the EC”, and then the GOP would fold.
FOR ONCE, THIS BRING TEAR TO STEVE SMITH EYE, NOT STEVE SMITH BRING TEAR TO HIKER EYE!
OR BRING TEAR TO OTHER PARTS OF HIKER
That is pronounced differently.
STEVE SMITH NOT CRYING! YOU CRYING!
Obdurate willful denial of reality
Dr. Anthony Fauci would recommend that both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence receive the Covid-19 vaccine, which has been approved for emergency use authorization and is being rolled out nationwide.
“You still want to protect people who are, you know, very important to our country right now,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Even though the President himself was infected and he has likely antibodies that likely would be protective, we’re not sure how long that protection lasts.”
“I would recommend that he get vaccinated, as well as the vice president,” Fauci added.
Fauci also said that he really feels strongly that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris should be vaccinated “as soon as we possibly can.”
“You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January,” Fauci said of Biden. “So that would be my strong recommendation.”
Sure, Foochy. We know that’s true, based on the piles of reinfected dead bodies in your model.
I hope you die of a brain embolism, you revolting little homunculus.
I really really hate that man.
he’s a spineless bureaucrat who at various times has staked claims on every side of the issue. It makes total sense why the mediocrities that compose our technocratic buerecrat and chattering class worship him as some kind of sainted demigod. He’s a hero to hacks everywhere as a guy who rose to the top of the gov by being around the longest. The man has been wrong about nearly everything since the aids crisis and continues to get lavished with praise and notoriety.
What does he think a vaccination does?
Like I keep saying, apparently we have forgotten everything we knew about virology, immunology, and epidemiology.
Somebody really should ask Fauci “Since we don’t know how long immunity from being infected lasts, do we know how long immunity from the vaccine lasts?”
he has likely antibodies that likely would be protective, we’re not sure how long that protection lasts
This repugnant garden gnome doesn’t know how cold/flu viruses work? Or he is lying…
Did that little chipmunk face looking twat get it yet?
The most obnoxious person at my workplace just resigned (he’s a political).
Yay! Did he do it in the Town Hall?
LOL no, but that would have been fun!
w00t!!!!
I recommend playing this for celebration
I love when that happens.
One time that happened and all of us were finally free to share the horror stories over drinks after work.
Bullet impacts under very high speed camera – https://youtu.be/QfDoQwIAaXg
From the related video list: See through suppressor
That’s a lot of SPLOOSH
Watching Biden, he coughs far more than I do and I’m a heavy smoker, He’s ill, no doubt,
I’m a horrible person for saying this, but I would have an epic schadenboner if that A-hole actually got taken out by the ‘Vid.
Yeah.. but Kamala can really kill a boner.
End of year tax time prep
So the current interpretation of PPP loan forgiveness says that if you expect forgiveness, whether or not you apply for it in 2020, the IRS is considering all expenses associated with it as non-deductible on your 2020 returns.
Fuck
Have they decided yet whether the forgiveness of the PPP loans has to be recognized as income? Ordinarily if a debt is forgiven, its income. I gather this hasn’t been settled, though.
I have no idea why they would be saying expenses paid with PPP money aren’t deductible. It doesn’t matter where you get the money to pay expenses (earnings or debt).
Of course, if they say the expenses paid with PPP money aren’t deductible, and forgiveness of the PPP loan is income, then they have double-dipped and taking the PPP money starts looking like a bad idea.
It’s not income, but the expenses used to justify forgiveness are not deductible.
I was specifically not applying for forgiveness until January in order to push the tax issues into 202, but the IRS has taken care of that with the expectation of forgiveness clause.
If not corrected, tax time will put a lot of businesses that are currently hanging by a thread under.
push the tax issues into 2021
Yeah, but what is important is that the Government doesn’t shut down.
I still don’t understand why the expenses funded with PPP money aren’t deductible, regardless of forgiveness of the PPP loan. I get the IRS said “because we say so”, but what’s the rationale?
If they say expenses aren’t deductible, then there’s no way they can say forgiveness results in income. That would be a 100% double-dip on taxation. Say you have a $100K PPP loan that you fully applied to allowable expenses.
2020 – you can’t deduct expenses, so you pay tax on the $100,000 of income that would have been offset by those deductions.
2021 – you have to recognize income, so you pay tax on the $100,000 PPP loan that was forgiven.
I think you can do one or the other, and I see no reason to have a special rule for PPP – the expenses are deductible, and the forgiveness is income. If you want to give special tax relief to PPP businesses, go ahead, on the same rationale as you made the PPP loan in the first place.
From a tax perspective, the income versus deductible expenses is a distinction without a difference.
It matters on your GAAP balance sheets though.
Fucking criminals. The PPP loans are going to be a poison pill for many people.
Trump himself has not appeared particularly eager to be seen getting the vaccine, the person said, even though he has touted its development and wants to take credit for it. That is partly because he already had coronavirus and doesn’t want to be seen as skipping the line.
Since the start of the pandemic, the White House has dealt with an in-house outbreak of coronavirus several times. Despite that, White House staff have regularly flouted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations such as the wearing of face masks and social distancing.
That bastard Trump. Pulling a holier-than-thou grandstand play; “doesn’t want to be seen as skipping the line.”
“White House staff have regularly flouted” the rules. As commanded by the Rule-Flouter-in-Chief. CNN, man. They just can’t help themselves. They’re really gonna miss ol’ President Cartoon Villain, when he’s gone.
And so have the entire press corp.
EITE
Nice climb up Pikes peak.
Here is the girls way up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIdQxW8F2Q
I’m trying to pull out of this depression by watching Die Hards. Why, if policeman John McClane is at the Washington DC airport during a snowstorm, do all the terminal pay-phones carry Pac-Bell branding?
“Merchandising!”
If you’re noticing stuff like that, you aren’t self-medicating right.
Pac Bell won an out of region contract to provide payphone service at Dulles in the McClaniverse.
You’re watching too hard.
If not corrected, tax time will put a lot of businesses that are currently hanging by a thread under.
If they don’t have enough cash reserves to cover an unanticipated tax liability, they don’t deserve to stay in business.
*awards Mr. Brooks a six-figure sinecure at Reason magazine*
STEVE SORELY DISAPPOINTED. ONLY ONE DEPICTION NEAR ANATOMICALLY CORRECT.
AND THEN SIGN COMPANY ATTACH PENIS TOO HIGH ON TORSO.