The president of the Canadian Association of Auto Parts Manufacturers was interviewed on the BBC News.....

……this evening regarding the effects of tariffs on auto manufacturing and sales. He characterized the parts that they make and ship into the US as being “ not something you can buy at Walmart” and as “engineered parts” designed for specific application and to “last for twelve years”. Oops. Twelve years? Really? Did he just spill the beans on planned obsolescence, or something worse? Limited lifespan? I know that dealers are only committed to having factory parts for the vehicles they sell for 5 to 7 years, way down from even the nineties, but this I hadn’t heard of.

Remember when the Sultan of Brunei was the richest man in the world? Silly man. Didn't he know.....

…..that there was no future in natural resources. One needs to work with the government to get really rich.

My understanding, from a "60 Minutes" segment years ago, is that the Social Security Administration has.....

……actual heavy duty, fireproof filing cabinets that are filled with U.S. Government bonds that represent the money that the federal government has borrowed from the Social Security Fund. These are part and parcel of our 18 Trillion dollar national debt. Am I right in thinking that some or all of the money flowing daily into this fund is just offset by more borrowing? Either way, how does Trump and his oligargh pals plan to raid Social Security, other than taking it over with private insurance? Starting from scratch? Buying the debt from the government at ten cents on the dollar?

Why does this Signal Chat Group make me think of Buck Turgeson?

Why do some "Old Farts" (I'm one) get big, colorful tattoos that they wouldn't have considered for.....

…..a minute in their youth? Trying to act/feel/look younger than they are? Or just appreciation of tattoos as art. My experiences at the men’s locker room at the YMCA tell me that most of the tattoos acquired after age 50 are pretty artless and ugly. And yes, I’m happy with my role here as arbiter of things aesthetic. Ugly is ugly.

Check out Pete Hegseth's comments in this video to fully appreciate what a political hack he is. It begins....

.......at the 7:20 point of the video.

Peanut allergies. In the 1950's, were school children occasionally carted off from the lunchroom experiencing.....

......anaphylactic shock? Or breaking out in hives and being told "you probably shouldn't eat peanut butter"? As a child of the fifties, I certainly don't remember such things. As a grandparent who occasionally visits elementary school cafeterias, I wonder when all the cautionary notes and posters about allergies, even "peanut free tables", first appeared.

Trump and Musk want to create a "strategic reserve" of government owned bitcoin and sell off the gold.....

…..reserves in Fort Knox. Have I got that right? Makes perfect sense in the bizarro world they are living in.

We lived in D.C. in 1973 and, at that time, the Washington Post ran a story about how hard it was to fire a government..

......employee. Their reporting used as an example one particular woman who was hired by an agency, made it through her probationary period and then just stopped working. She continued to come in every day, but just didn't do any work. The paper catalogued all the meetings, counseling sessions, letters, reprimands and ultimatums that the agency had to go through to finally fire her. If I remember correctly, it was a process that required two and a half years. I know that this was over 50 years ago, but I've got to wonder how it comes to be that Musk can just fire thousands of civil servants without more blow-back in the courts.

Side Note: This was The Washington Post that had just brought the world the Watergate scandal and had relieved us of Richard Nixon.