A Glibertarians Exclusive – Too Many Goodbyes IV
San Francisco, California, July 1945
With a few moments to herself, the first free moments she had enjoyed since starting her shift six hours before, Sally Neal found a window overlooking Oakland. She smiled to herself. This time tomorrow I’ll be Sally Braxton.
The Oak Knoll Navy Hospital was an enormous facility, built to handle the seemingly endless flow of wounded soldiers, sailors, and Marines from the Pacific war. Sally had been ordered there from the Charity, after her service on the hospital ship prepared her to take over as a ward nurse in the sprawling complex in April. The hospital commander assured her promotion to Lieutenant Commander was forthcoming.
But the best news had been a week prior, when the light cruiser Chippewa Falls had docked at the San Francisco Navy Yard. The cruiser had taken some damage from a kamikaze attack – Tom was unhurt – and had been sent to Frisco for repairs. A wire from Pearl Harbor had let her know the ship was on the way, and in the week since the cruiser had docked, she and Tom had managed to get the required procedures and paperwork prepared in order for a wedding. The hospitals’ Chaplain, glad to preside over a happy event for a change, had readily agreed to conduct the ceremony in the hospital chapel.
And then there was Tom’s promotion. He was now Commander Thomas Braxton.
She looked out towards the Bay, towards the Navy base. Tom was out there somewhere. And tomorrow…
Tomorrow…
Someone back in the ward called her name. The rest of her shift beckoned; she remembered something her father had been fond of saying: “Work comes first.” She hurried to find out what the latest crisis was.
The next few days passed as though running before a typhoon. The wedding itself was a modest affair, with the CO of the Chippewa Falls standing up as Tom’s best man. Sally’s sister Edith had spent four days on trains to arrive from New Bedford to do duty as her maid of honor. Sally was floating on a cloud of joy when they finally stood in the hospital chapel, hearing Tom say, “I do.” Behind him, the Chippewa Falls’ Captain grinned widely. Sally’s sister Edith sniffed and wiped her eyes. On the word from the chaplain, Tom kissed Sally thoroughly to cheers from the tiny congregation.
Tom had managed to wangle a week’s leave, and more amazingly, had managed to find them a modest hotel room in a little place in San Jose. He borrowed an old 1931 Hudson Eight from a shipmate who had family in Frisco, and after accepting the congratulations of attendees, they borrowed a couple of empty hospital rooms to change into civvies for the ride to San Jose. Sally worried for a moment when she saw the pile of maps on the front seat, but Tom reassured her, “Oh, don’t worry. I talked with Pete, who loaned us the car, and I looked at the maps. I know the way to San Jose.” He grinned at the unintentional play on words.
Sally sat in the middle of the Hudson’s capacious front seat all the way, enjoying the feel of Tom’s arm around her.
Finally, she thought, things are working out. The war’s almost over. We’re married, at last. No more delays, no more waiting.
The honeymoon week went by quickly.
During the days, they walked for miles through the hills surrounding San Jose. During the nights… they did the things that honeymoons were made for.
“It’s funny,” Tom said one afternoon. They had driven the borrowed Hudson up into the hills and were walking along a ridgeline overlooking the town. “It’s so dry here. My grandparents had a farm in Ohio, down around Zanesville. You wouldn’t believe the springtime there, all the hills covered with wildflowers. Birds singing, frogs calling, crickets chirping. At night the whippoorwills called for hours. People talk a lot about California, but this place seems pretty poor compared to where I grew up.”
“I know what you mean. What they call a river here isn’t much compared to the rivers back east.”
Late that night, Sally awoke suddenly.
The hotel room window was open. Outside, the town of San Jose was quiet. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. “Three in the morning,” she said softly to herself. Beside her, Tom – her husband – slept on, his breathing slow and steady and somehow reassuring. Sally was still getting used to sleeping with someone else in the bed and was surprised at how much warmth Tom put off. That will be nice if we ever live somewhere with a winter.
She remembered Paul Murphy, a boy she had dated in high school. He sure had an Irish temper, she remembered, always one fight after another. His temper had never been aimed at Sally; his upbringing had been too strict on that score for him to ever contemplate hitting a girl. But she tired quickly of his belligerence towards male classmates.
Then there was Ryan Johnsen, who seemed to want to do everything in life except work. It had taken Sally only a couple of weeks and several pointed comments from her father to realize that the boy was shiftless.
Every boy I ever went with was no good in one way or another, she remembered. Until I met Tom. Could be that all those times that ended badly just happened to make me appreciate Mr. Right when he came along.
I could stay with Tom forever. And I will.
Tom’s breathing changed. He rolled over, opened his eyes. “Trouble sleeping, hon?”
“No,” Sally replied. She smiled. “Just woolgathering. And thinking about how much I love you. We’re going to have a long, happy life together.”
“Damn right,” Tom said, taking her in his arms.
On the last day, Tom received new orders. Even at their honeymoon quarters, the Navy had no trouble finding Tom, as they discovered when a yeoman knocked on the hotel room door as the new couple were having an in-room dinner.
Tom examined the message form. “It looks like my time on the Chippewa Falls is over, hon. I’m to report aboard another ship, over at Hunter’s Point,” he told Sally. “A heavy cruiser. I’ll be in charge of damage control, so I’ll be down in the bowels of the ship instead of on the bridge, but it’s a good move. The war’s sure to be over soon, and there will be a lot of scrambling, too many officers screaming for too few slots, so having some broader experience will help.”
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Sally said. “If something does happen, you’ll be down in Damage Control? What if you take a hit and the ship goes down?”
Tom hugged her. “Don’t worry, hon. The Krauts tossed in the sponge, and the Japs are all but finished. This thing’s going to be over by Christmas. They just don’t have much left to fight with. I’ll be fine.”
Sally sniffed. “I hope you’re right. When do you have to report aboard?”
“No later than the fifteenth. That’s the day after tomorrow. The ship has been ordered back out to sea, to do what, I don’t know yet.”
“All right.” She thought for a moment. “Just married, and another long, lonely stretch ahead – that seems to be our story, doesn’t it?” She wiped away a tear. “You haven’t told me yet what the ship is.”
“Oh. I thought I mentioned it. It’s the Indianapolis.”
***
Flowers on the hillside blooming crazy
Crickets talking back and forth in rhyme
Blue river running slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.
Situations have ended sad
Relationship have all been bad
Mine’ve been like Verlaine’s and Rimbaud
But there’s no way I can compare
All those scenes to this affair
You’re gonna make me lonesome when you go.
Oh hell. I suspected this was coming when I saw it was July ’45. Animal sent us up the bomb.
Of course, I also was waiting for you to completely throw a hook from the side by having them both die in a car accident or something.
Minor quibble — I would have expected a LtC in ’41 given the ramp up and all to push past Commander by ’45 if he were at all competent. The Navy needed all the experienced hands it could get, after all — he should have had his own ship (at least a DD if not another CL) by ’44, I would have thought. But that’s just a minor quibble.
Actually that’s not just a minor quibble, I think it’s a pretty valid one and it bothered me some while writing this. Add to that the fact that the guy in charge of damage control on a heavy cruiser probably would be a Lieutenant Commander, at most, not a full Commander. But I had a pre-determined end point I wanted to take the story to, and this sort of determined the character’s progression.
Well, you did make it clear this is an alternate universe to ours by virtue of USS Chippewa Falls even existing. So maybe in yours they ramped up Naval Academy enrollment back in ’36 and had a glut of officers they didn’t know what to do with when starting the war anyway. 😉 Your universe, you call the shots.
Just to be clear (since I’m talking to myself) — don’t let my quibbling make you think I’m not enjoying the story Animal. Only real gripe I have is that it is spaced out so far… I feel like a Victorian reader waiting for the next installment of Dickens sometimes reading your stories here. 😉 Thanks again for sharing it.
Quibbling doesn’t bother me in the slightest, in fact I read them avidly; your quibbles help me improve my work. And while I’m flattered at being compared with Dickens, I’m really not in that league – maybe someday!
Don’t forget, Dickens was paid by the word. So he developed some bad habits as a consequence.
unintentional play on words
Speaking of quibbles, that song wouldn’t come for another two decades.
Same.
And that was my thought when I first came out to interview in California (do the hills ever get to be anything but *brown*?). Believe me, I still miss the Southeast and rain. At least I’ll be back there for a little while soon….
I felt the same way the first time I drove through the area. My exact thought was “Is this all the natural beauty that Californians rave about? At least I understand where the fire issues come from.”
I saw some more beautiful places later that summer, but never shook that first impression.
When I arrived in Phoenix in the summer of 85 for a job interview, I was shocked by how barren and brown it was.
After living there for 5 years, we came home to Iowa one summer for vacation. Iowa was so green it made my eyes hurt.
Arizona along the Mogollon Rim is quite lovely though.
Everytime I drive through Arizona, Flagstaff and its environs is the only area where I think I might want to live. Of course, then I’d be a townie or something.
29 Palms is so brown, one of my wife’s friends started crying when she woke up after they drove in at night.
Oct and April are nice, the rest of the year you either roast or freeze.
I lived there for 7 long months. First place I ever lived that snowed. And the breezes during the summer made it feel like you’d just opened the oven.
That wind from the hills in July was something else.
We called it God’s hairdryer.
When I got there (after spending the summer at Camp Geiger) I liked it because it wasn’t humid. I was comfortable for the first time in months.
+1 I loved Payson and the surrounding area. Great hiking and a lot cooler than Phoenix.
We took the Boy Scouts camping near Payson in monsoon season. Definitely the loudest thunderstorms I have ever been in {but without the viscous winds of midwest thunderstorms.}
The Green in KY is the one thing I really miss.
But the rain that leads to the green? Not so much.
I am deeply alarmed at the dangerous new trend of glorifying a particular song from the ’80’s that was featured on a Netflix nostalgia-bait show. I consider this song not only offensive, but highly dangerous for what it teaches young children. In the song, a seconder talks about making a deal with a “God” to switch places with another, who is “up hill.” It is very clear to me that this song is about a Firster who wishes to engage in black magic to switch places with a Firster. That they would blasphemy against The Great Frister and engage in such underhanded and dangerous tricknology to become First. We cannot as a society condone our youths listening to such lyrics.
You only get to bitch about Runnin’ Up That Hill if you know who wrote it *without* help from Google.
Come on. That’s too easy.
But I won’t bitch about it, because it’s fucking brilliant!
Kate Bush – Rubberband Girl – Official Music Video
That video now looks like the start of one of the seedier things I may or may not have seen on the interwebs.
I had to look up who sang it. Listened to a few seconds. Don’t think I ‘ve ever heard it before.
I remember it as a new release.
Damn thing has been stuck in my head for a week.
They’re not being subtle with the use of it in the show – I have to assume a noble sacrifice is coming.
I just figured it was another song about pegging.
Uh oh.
I hope he’s a good swimmer.
+1 Quint
“Oh. I thought I mentioned it. It’s the Indianapolis.”
Uh oh.
The soviet clown show continues outside of primetime.
Trust me, by the end of the week you’ll see side by side videos of the Jan. 6 hearing with violent protestors trying to shut down the supreme court.
Do not click.
Unless you are Tres.
OMFG, we are through the looking glass.
Inspired by SETEC Astronomy, I plugged “Too Many Goodbyes” into the Internet Anagram Server. Lots of good ones. Some really weird ones.
Setting records every day.
Gas prices continued to climb on Monday, reaching a record high for the sixteenth consecutive day, AAA data shows.
Gas prices have risen about $0.15 since last week and more than $0.55 in one month. Monday’s record-breaking price reached $5.014.
Biden is setting transformation records every day! /white house press
Thanks Animal, I’ve been enjoying this.
OT – Pining for the fjords
Alex Jones, destroyer of worlds.
He is part of the right-wing media ecosystem that helped create Trump — and now he seems ready to ratchet up the movement, even while denigrating and looking past Trump.
Interviews with Jones’ former employees, high school classmates, teachers and other close associates — as well as police, court and congressional records unearthed by CNN — shed new light on his rise to popularity, the contrast between his on-camera and off-camera self, his fixation on profiteering, the way he views his fans, and elevated political clout.
In the past, he has been ignored by the media and dismissed as a clown.
That, says Mark Bankston — an attorney representing families of Sandy Hook victims suing Jones for defamation — has been to the detriment of some of his clients, and, now, of the country.
“Once you start looking at all the different places he appears in our culture and all the different places he appears in our politics, you understand that he has had an outsized level of influence for somebody like him,” Bankston told CNN. “And part of that is because he was able to fly under the radar for so long.”
LOL.
“Under the radar”, huh?
He was de-platformed years ago and still he haunts their dreams. Doesn’t hurt that his track record has turned out to be pretty damn good.
Under WHAT radar?
THE radar. Just underneath the radar. There’s no way he’s ever gonna get far…
I found out only a few years ago that the precursor to the band in your link was this band.
LeSabre Radar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH-tanTo1CM
Right, scum like Mark Bankstrom know what’s good for this country. Fuck off with your malicious lawsuits bankrolled by who knows (probably the usual gun grabber suspects).
even while denigrating and looking past Trump
The far right guy who doesn’t like Bush or Trump.
Just in time for the November elections.
Higher Unemployment Rate Looms as the Fed Fights Inflation
If the Fed has been forced to publicly acknowledge this now I assume Team Blue is trying to out in front of this. Problem is I don’t know what they do. Maybe more green energy dream jobs?
Given their current predilections, it’s going to be more demonization of their political foes.
Thanks, Animal. I needed a good tragedy to snap me out of my recent bout of optimism.
/JK, great story as always. Anyway, for all we know, Tom was one of the 316 survivors. Maybe I should hold on to that optimism.
OT – Get off my lawn!
Ocean City Looks to Stop Rowdy Teens
(Or go to Wildwood!)
They first looked to just ban dancing but were flummoxed by a solo performance in a nearby abandoned warehouse….
They’re not Baptists in OC, they’re Methodists. /pedant
“The crowds are larger than last year, the kids are drinking more than last year and there is more fighting than last year,” Police Chief Jay Prettyman said
A problem easily solved.
1) Hire a real man as police chief.
2) Ocean City is a dry town, you cannot buy booze there. Where are the kids getting their hooch?
And if all else fails…
3) If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Surprise – there are two convenient liquor stores, If you enter the island from either off the GSP from the south or from Somers Point and the 9th Street bridge.
/s guy who misses the traffic circle there and hates the damn lights
“from Somers Point and the 9th Street bridge.”
That one is still called Circle Liquors. Confusing to new arrivals.
I worked at the Acme down the road in high school.
“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
And then beat ’em.
In local news, one of the shopping areas recently had problems with teenagers fighting. So they created new rules.
I despise this various ages of majority in the US. Pick one and stick with it.
Entertaining to me is that (at present, I believe) it is 21+ for alcohol or tobacco in my area (tobacco just got bumped up state wide recently). However, Delta-8/10/0/ETC is 18+. That may change depending on if we get to vote for recreational marijuana in 2023.
I’m not so keen on his odds.
That was one thing I remember from my tour of the USS North Carolina.
When I was in the engine room, I knew if something happened for real, there’s a lot of stairs between here and the air.
I’m an optimist, dammit! STOP HARSHING MY BUZZ!!!
Through The Looking Glass
https://summit.news/2022/06/06/norwegian-feminist-faces-three-years-in-prison-for-saying-biological-men-cant-be-lesbians/
“To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.” ― Jacques Derrida
Alex hardest hit
She Wrote a Dystopian Novel. What Happened Next Was Pretty Dystopian.
Blue vs Blue
No can read NYT. Summary please.
I don’t pay either if you zap all the cookies it should go through.
The premise all “men” disappear instantly. The book hasn’t come out yet and I assume the writer is appropriately woke. However, that hasn’t stopped the 40 kinds of gender people from shrieking that it must banned.
thanks
I can’t be bothered to try to get through to the NYT. I don’t expect to find anything that I am going to want to read.
It encapsulates current liberal orthodoxy so I think it’s a way to get leading information on what fresh hell Team Blue is going to inflict on us.
They will inflict it on themselves. I won’t play along.
Is this a ripoff of “Y: The Last Man?”
My thoughts, too.
/deletes identical comment
The television version of Y did introduce several transmen characters, and subplots about them having difficulty finding testosterone, and how badly that would impact them.
So surprising that it didn’t get renewed for a second season.
TV series! Cool, I’ll check it out. Really enjoyed the comics.
Plisade:
The series was… not good.
Oops, need to calibrate the sarcometer. Thanks for the warning.
Let’s not forget –
World’s End Harem
This time it’s a virus. Also it had to be delayed because of COVID fear and angst. Followed by predictable feminist outrage.
It was also horrible with a dumb plot and poor writing. It had some good voice actors who I truly felt sorry for. OTH, 2D tits.
The idea of a person with a Y chromosome seriously identifying as a lesbian is just plain shit stupid.
That’s why you must accept and celebrate it.
THERE. ARE. FOUR. LIGHTS.
Soviet techniques have become instruction manuals and organizations like Amnesty International are enablers. What a messed up world this is.
Thanks for the story Animal.
And, OUCH, on the turn at the end.
Oof, I felt that one.
Damn good story, but that hurt a little.
+1 gut punch.
Man, I hope Cdr Tom is a good swimmer and has horrible BO that repels certain critters of the deep.
Tom is going to survive and be the lonesome one. The lyrics hold the key.
Larry Corriea fans, his swag store is open.
Pegging pox?
Several researchers reportedly “in advanced discussion” with the World Health Organization have proposed changing the name of the monkeypox virus in order to be “non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing.”
Twenty-nine co-authors from 11 countries outlined their proposal in a preprint posted on virological.org on June 10th: “Urgent Need for a Non-discriminatory and Non-stigmatizing Nomenclature for Monkeypox Virus.” …
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatizing,” the group of scientists amidst the ongoing outbreak.
“We therefore believe that a nomenclature that is neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmitizing [sic] will be more appropriate for the global health community,” continues the paper before proposing “hMPXV” as a placeholder.
“Urgent”
That said, let’s call it bullshitpox
“Urgent Need”
Sure, Jan.
Quasismallpoxlikedermatitis, anal sex subtype
Buttseckspox?
What about NON-African monkeys? Did you just erase them you bastards?
That’s what I couldn’t understand. No one is calling it Africanpox are they?
Poxy McPoxface?
Fedex tracking is so hosed. About 1/4 of the time, I get updates on shipments to my house that are wildly optimistic, then rollbacks to later dates, then eventually the thing shows up at the originally projected date, or a day or two later.
This time, fedex ground shipping from Oregon to PA…shipped on Thursday, estimated delivery the following Wednesday. Later on Thursday, I get an e-mail saying my delivery date has been updated to Friday (the next day). Then on Friday I get an e-mail updating delivery to today (Monday). I go look at the tracking info, and the package is showing as being en route in Minnesota somewhere.
Exact same.
Wildly optimistic estimate. Followed by a “pending” notification followed by a much delayed delivery from the initial estimate. After that it will arrive about two days before the much delayed date.
Maybe our packages are being diverted for inspection. Good thing I was just ordering a case of tinfoil.
Mine was a pair of shoes.
“I don’t know how a pound of meth got in there.”
I get great results from both FedEx and UPS. It’s rare that something gets waylaid in transit (usually wintertime).
You just can’t make it up.
Biden Admin Quietly Urging Companies To Purchase Russian Fertilizer
Yay globalism… heaven knows all the people thinking countries should do their damnedest to be able to provide the basics in case of war / external forces are just living in the past.
:eyeroll:
Yes, I know it involves messing with markets probably (this is why I’m a libertarian leaning conservative, not a True Libertarian ™ most likely), but I really firmly believe keeping anything for the military, basic food and energy production should be kept in-country whenever possible (spoiled by being in the US where it should be possible, I know…).
To some extent, this is a win. Anything that keeps the lunatics from going for total war is a benefit.
But apparently it hasn’t induced the lunatics to keep their dicks in their pants.
Stop spying on me.
Great, now Biden is trying to cuck American farms? Will this humiliation never stop!!??!?
Great story, Animal.
I’ll echo the quibble that a full Commander is very unlikely to be going to DC on even a giant ship…
But I can absolutely give you workarounds that could easily solve some of these.
1 – I don’t know how it was in WW2, but you typically get selected for promotion by a competitive board;
2 – a list comes out by seniority and they promote so many each month in order to get everyone promoted in time for next FY board and list;
3 – this can all be screwed with by getting “frocked” – the practice of having a promotion pending, but being allowed to wear the rank in advance (frocked) w/o the pay, usually in anticipation of a duty assignment/billet that demands the higher grade.
Hope that helps, but I don’t know when the ROPMA/DOPMA and all of the bureaucratization of promotions really came into being.
I think there was a toxic masculinity article where someone of fairly inferior rank was ‘promoted’ (?) By an admiral randomly and become the captain of a ship during WW2.
I remember people commenting on it that he may not have even officially held the correct tank to captain the vessel and winding if he would be paid at the rate, etc.
Oh…
Last spokes council, grounding ourselves in why we’re going to #ShutDownSCOTUS tomorrow. These unelected extremists are trying to steal our rights and roll us backwards on issue after issue – abortion, guns, environment, due process, &c. They are illegitimate & the people say no.
These people scare me.
Nope, the ones who scare me are the ones charged with administering criminal justice that won’t do a goddamn thing about these assholes.
If they meant “bureaucrats” by “unelected extremists”, I would be in full agreement.
That’s a felony. /FBI
According to the Pembroke Pines Police Department, a woman was handling a gun in a home in the Coconut Reef neighborhood when it discharged. Police said the bullet fatally struck the child.
The gun just discharged.
Was she a cop? Cuz’ that sounds like cop speak.
Yeah, I’d just kill myself if I was that dumb. Save the taxpayers some money on the trial. Assuming you buy that version of events.
On the off chance that some glib might be in eastern Iowa this weekend, check out Benz Beerfest.
The local beer club will be there, and I will be pouring some of my products as well.
The whole thing is coming down. So glad I spent my money on video games.
I blame myself.
Just last year or so I was thinking, “huh, I might be able to retire by 57″…
And here we are.
So do I.
I logged into my Fidelity account earlier today. I had to just do what I needed to do and not dwell on the rather significant difference between my prior balance and today’s.
Not working until you die at your desk is overrated anyway.
I was guilty of simply thinking “someday I might be able to retire…”
Same.
My wife and I were just talking about it over the weekend. I’m starting to get a little concerned.
I don’t live extravagantly, I save a fair amount. My wife has a modest pension, I have a partial Army pension (in 3+ years). I still don’t see how this will work out short of me working until 67 1/2 or 70 1/2.
I’m figuring on keeping my business going forever. Once I hit (probably) 67 1/2, I’ll stop accepting full-time, prolonged gigs and focus on audits, gap assessments, and so on – stuff that I can knock out in a couple of weeks.
I’m figuring on working 10-20 weeks a year for as long as my health allows.
(No work while salmon running!)
I understand….you have to have fishing time with STEVE SMITH.
Yup.
I’m still planning on retiring next year. We just might not be indulging in some things we thought we would.
Like food, heat and gas?
If we have to pare to the essentials, then those will just have to go!
Beer, whisky and wine have calories, you know!
I expect there to be a day when I file the paperwork to start social security and pension check. I don’t expect to stop working until I am just too old to make money.
Some of us don’t like the work we are doing and can’t wait to be out of it.
Retire, get a different job.
Hard assets ftw.
Old timers, don’t get too down. Soon inflation will pick up and the dollar value of your portfolio will go up. 😉
Seriously though, the market was way way up, so youre falling from a high height. Chances are it will go back up sometime soon. Maybe 3 years?
Three years is too long when you are already 65.
Hah. 65 is just getting warmed up. My boss just retired at 76.
My employer sent me a letter when I turned 65 explaining that I was eligible to file for my pension, but since I was still working I can’t. It went on to say that federal law says they have to pay my pension starting at 70 1/2 even if I continue to work.
So, worst case scenario:
File for social security at age 70 and keep working.
Start collecting pension at 70 1/2 and keep working.
Sounds right. No pension here, but intend to keep working until I can’t, and will file for SS at 70.
They killed out pension program and replaced it with a 401K almost 20 years ago. So the pension payment will be pretty fucking small even when it does come.
My father in law is 77, and he’s still working. He says he’ll think about retiring at the end of the year.
Which is what he said last year. And the year before. And the year before.
by then you should most your nest egg into something with less risk though, right? Enough to weather a down turn certainly, right?
Merger 1 replaced a good 401k program with a mediocre plan with limited options.
Merger 2 replaced that plan with a shittier plan with even fewer options.
I haven’t actually looked at my plan in a year. Hopefully, things will begin to recover in 2024 and be semi-sane by 2027.
I hope so too.
Wonderful. This could cut into EV utopia too.
The latest numbers on the microchip shortage: 2022 cuts surge past 2 million vehicles
Good fucking luck with that in a crashing economy.
I believe that historically the high end muscled through the downturns much better.
We’ll see how those 90k Grand Wagoneers do.
He said high end, not ugly as sin.
Is this a Jaws prequel?
No comment.
HBO guy who has worked on everything bad HBO has done just tricked all of you.
Give me the cheap gas. Democracy is assho.
Democracy has become a means of displacing responsibility for a myriad of problems and is nothing but a manipulative tactic at this point. Most people are so propagandized they don’t know which way is up.
That’s easily one of the more moronic things I’ve ever read.
Sounds like a democracy would allow us to vote for cheap gas, or something.
Which means you’d expect it more of CNN than HBO.
What would you rather have, a nice steak dinner, or someone stabbing you in the throat?
What would you rather have, Joe Biden as president, or you dying slowing in a vat of acid?
We could do this all day.
So, we get to roll back all the ballot harvesting law changes if we pay more for gas?
There’s no democracy in this country even if we assume the most non-controversial definition of it: free and fair elections. The Presidential election in 2020 was not a fair election. The person installed in the White House in January 2021 is not a legitimate president.
I’m still waiting for the serious question.
Good thing we crashed our economy to prevent climate change.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html
Obviously a plot by Big CO2 to lure us into a false sense of security.
This phrasing is priceless:
If they weren’t sociopaths, they would be happy the crisis isn’t as severe as they thought.
Power is a zero-sum game – if they don’t get more they are losing.
Pssssst, it’s not really about climate change.
well, ok?
September 2013?
PUBLISHED: 15:40 EDT, 19 September 2013 | UPDATED: 02:47 EDT, 20 September 2013
Sleepy Joe really bombs this introduction.
LOL
Almost topical to the story, too… So close.
Calling her that might make her explode with anger.
No need to nuclear from the start.
Now you guys are just fission for things to attack him with.
They just go right atom.
There’s really no way to stay neutron on the subject.
This is what happens when there is no moderator–nothing but prompt criticism.
He’s going to have some political fallout.
Hey Fat[-man]!
“Where are the Karen’s?” Now there’s a question on everyone’s minds.
“Imagine there’s no Karens”
It’s easy if you try…
Some incredible stuff in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBE2alP9YVE
I prefer this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY-kAnvOY80
That is awesome.
Hilarious!
I mean this was great!
…and then nothing else happened.