San Diego Local Order of Bloggers

Hey hey, we're the migrants

Silvio Canto, Jr.
9/30/2026 5:41:48 AM

              Hey hey, we're the migrants:  Mexico made a big mistake by letting them in. ---------------------The migrants are coming. They apparently walked into Mexico without a visa and are now walking to "el norte" as they call the U.S.-Mexico border. Let's get the story:    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a strong warning to a major migrant caravan that crossed into Mexico and was moving north with hopes of reaching the U.S.-Mexico border."USBP is closely engaged with its international partners to monitor their movement and any additional developments," DHS told Fox News in a statement. "[United States Border Patrol] USBP reminds migrants that under[...]

1958: "The Rifleman" made its US TV debut

Silvio Canto, Jr.
9/30/2026 5:43:35 AM

          Chuck Connors used to play baseball.    In fact, he played with the Dodgers and Cubs in 1949-51.   Connors, who was 6'5 and 190 pounds, never hit much:  .238 in 67 major league gamesOn this day in 1958, "The Rifleman" made its debut on US TV and an entire generation of boys like me grew up watching it.   Even now, I catch episodes on Saturday mornings over at AMC.The show's message was simple:  right and wrong, a widowed father who was a good role model and a cast of characters that we enjoyed every week.        P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.                 

How to Write When You Don't Have Time To Write

K T Cat
9/30/2026 3:42:17 AM

Whenever I hear authors interviewed, they talk about their writing process. For most of them, they carve out several hours in the morning to write. They sit at their desk with their coffee and blast away until their creative juices are spent.I can't do that. I get up and take the dog to the park for a romp. If I don't do that, the beast becomes absolutely intolerable later in the day. He's part pit bull, after all. No Labrador, of course, like they told us at the dog rescue place, but plenty of pit bull.Argh.Anyway, I come home from that, take care of some domestic chores and then get to work on my day job. If I can find 30 minutes in that to write, as I'm doing now, it's about all I get. I don't know about you, but I[...]

Regulating AI

K T Cat
9/24/2026 6:20:46 AM
 ... is silly.How exactly would you do it? It's software. Who is going to examine your code? How would you test such an open-ended system? If you're an AI rogue company, why not move to a country where they won't put you under a microscope?If China or India are signatories on some global agreement, how would you monitor compliance?If China refuses to sign on an rein in their AI and it really is going to kill us all, shouldn't we be bombing their data centers right now, before they become too powerful to stop?Meanwhile, the whole worry about it seems overblown. I read somewhere that "experts" were claiming that even airgapping computers couldn't stop AI systems from collaborating because they could communicate with each[...]

Why does America keep winning?

W.C. Varones
12/12/2025 8:48:00 AM

X:          Yes. But also, America's abundance of natural resources and history of fortuitous developments kinda seems like God shed His grace on thee.        Capitalism and divine providence are like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

Inflation is always and everywhere a progressive phenomenon

W.C. Varones
11/13/2025 9:31:17 AM
Excerpt from a text conversation with a young "democratic socialist":DS: Every time the US has become progressive, the right wing and the centrists said the policies were too unrealistic, but the civil rights movement still passed, and FDR is currently looked at as one of the best presidents of the past hundred yearsWC: Some times the right wing and the centrists are right. LBJ's Great Society has trapped millions in multigenerational welfare dependency. Obamacare has made health care unaffordable and is bankrupting both families and the US governmentLBJ's Great Society (and the Vietnam War) was what forced the US government to break the gold standard under Nixon, leading to all subsequent inflation crises. Inflation and all[...]

What Ails Us - But First Some Background

B-Daddy
4/6/2025 5:10:10 PM
Someone close to me asked me to give an overall take on the current state of politics and the prospects for our future. I thought to answer, but first want to explain how I analyze the political landscape.Here are some key principles that are worth repeating because we seem to forget them.1. A chicken is an eggs way of making another egg.      To influence the the size and numbers of your chickens, manage egg production and consumption. Demographics are destiny.2. Eggs are rare, sperm is plentiful.      Combined with 1 above, the most important variable component of demographic destiny is female reproductive behavior and strategies.3. Testosterone confers greater strength and aggression[...]

Bezos vs Burnham - Robber Baron vs Managers

B-Daddy
1/26/2022 8:32:44 PM
 Well not really; and not just because Burnham isn't a household name. James Burnham authored key insights on "managerialism" and predicted its eventual triumph over capitalism in his 1941 book "The Managerial Revolution," summarized here, but skip ahead 5 minutes (this is a great podcast). George Orwell provided this summary in 1943.Capitalism is disappearing, but Socialism is not replacing it. What is now arising is a new kind of planned, centralized society which will be neither capitalist nor, in any accepted sense of the word, democratic. The rulers of this new society will be the people who effectively control the means of production: that is, business executives, technicians, bureaucrats and soldiers,[...]

And Where a Salon Scribe Gets a Tad Out of His Swim Lane

Dean
11/11/2015 9:22:09 AM
Over the weekend, Salon writer, DAVID MASCIOTRA, caused quite a dust-up on social media with his own salute to the troops ahead of Veterans Day . Here is the headline, followed by the sub-headline and then followed by the first paragraph of the piece:You dont protect my freedom: Our childish insistence on calling soldiers heroes deadens real democracyIt's been 70 years since we fought a war about freedom. Forced troop worship and compulsory patriotism must endPut a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him. It is a particularly childish trait, of a childlike culture, that insists on anointing all active military members and police officers as heroes.If you desire, you can read it[...]

Football rules changes...? You've come to the right place

Dean
1/31/2015 2:04:56 PM

    Theres no denying that over the last few decades most all on-field rules changes made by the NFL have been exercises in increasing offense and scoring. This has created an arms race in a sense where the pendulum swings back and forth between the NFL offenses and NFL defenses whereby the offenses get aided by rules changes and the defenses counter with a combination of innovative schemes and superior athletes. To wit, for years, its been conventional wisdom that the best athletes in the world were in the NBA. Now days, we would add NFL defensive backs and possibly outside linebackers/rush ends into that mix (you dont think dudes like Richard Sherman, Darrelle Revis and J.J. Watt can ball a little?).But[...]

Monkeypox Confirmed in Congos Ebola-Hit Bunia as Health Officials Brace for More Cases 

Leslie Eastman

Five other potential cases are being investigated as the U.S. spends another $267 million to the region for the battle against Ebola.The post Monkeypox Confirmed in Congos Ebola-Hit Bunia as Health Officials Brace for More Cases first appeared on Legal Insurrection.

Texas Lifts Screwworm Quarantines as New Mexico Reopens Cattle Crossing 

Leslie Eastman

Meanwhile, scientists are testing a new drug that may be effective against the larvae.The post Texas Lifts Screwworm Quarantines as New Mexico Reopens Cattle Crossing first appeared on Legal Insurrection.