who do dems replace biden with?

I hope they panic and tear themselves apart. 

So, who rides in as their White Knight, understanding that the “white” and “knight” parts are both terrible for a number of reasons? The most fearsome candidate is Michelle Obama, but she pretty clearly has no interest in doing this job. Or any job. Neither does Bernie Sanders -- the communist will not be adding the White House to his long list of mansions. Maybe they would defrost Hillary Clinton, but the fact that we rarely see her anymore tells us that she’s not doing so great either. Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit would be 77 in 2024, and remember how seven years ago she had to be scooped up and loaded into an SUV after falling over from the strain of standing upright for a minute? At least we’ve dodged that nagging, bitter bullet -- unlike Vince Foster.

I kid, I kid. No really, I kid. I have a lot to live for.

Who else might take Crusty’s place? 

Well, in a grievous oversight, the Founders did not impose an IQ test for the office of vice-president, so if Joe pops smoke then Kacklin’ Kamala inherits the job. She would insist that it is her right to keep it and assume the 2024 nomination, but – not to put too fine a point on it -- everyone hates her and thinks she’s a borderline clinical idiot plus a total embarrassment. And that’s just her staff. 

Exactly who is going to get swooped up into the vortex of Kamalamania? Her weirdo husband? No one likes her. No one respects her. No one wants her. And again, that’s just her staff.

But we know that gross incompetence is no barrier to a successful Democrat candidacy, so she could still be in the running if she inspired fear in her competitors instead of loathing. They look at her and, instead of trembling at her wrath, they start thinking about how they would re-do the Oval Office. No one is afraid of her. She would have to go out and take the nomination, which means convincing the Democrat base to support her. She tried that once, before she ended up botching the vice-presidency -- you almost have to try to dumb enough to screw up a job that requires literally nothing but perfect attendance and not forgetting to breathe. The Democrat primary voters gave her about 1% of the vote -- she’s flirting with Asa Hutchinson territory. They were too kind.

No, her competitors will smell weakness and start circling her like wolves following the buffalo with a limp. 

Some kind of already are. Gavin Newsom (D-Contingency) has been running a shadow campaign for a year now just in case Faily McFailure falls out. He’s going all around the country telling other governors how they should run their states, and they are taking his advice, in a way. They see what Gov. Hairstyle has done in the Golden State and do the opposite. Gavin is good-looking and dumb, so he’s got that Kennedy thing going (the actual Kennedy in the race is a non-player -- he’s too weird even for the Dems). Still, picking him sets up a race between himself and Trump -- call that a wash -- or DeSantis, a guy who is running a successful state. Gavin offers the country the chance to make all of America modern California, which is as appealing a prospect as taking a bite from some San Francisco hobo’s half-eaten hepatitis and crank burrito.

There is Pete Buttigieg, who is very impressive to Pete Buttigieg. His unspoken premise is that all the jobs he previously had and failed at – mayor, transportation secretary, Alfred E. Neuman doppelgänger – have prepared him to fail as president. That’s certainly correct, but it’s not a selling point. Moreover, he’s got this Teen Woke Scold vibe, and by 2024 the wokeness backlash might be in full effect. “Roads are racist” might once again be seen as being just as transcendently stupid a concept as it objectively is.

Who else? Well, there are some governors who might take a shot. Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania is popular and comes from a key battleground state. Him being the Democrat nominee might be awkward, considering that so many of his parties leading lights yearn for the annihilation of the world’s sole Jewish nation. He does have the advantage of having a reputation of not being a total incompetent, though PA is far from a finely-tuned machine. But he is still stuck with the albatross that is all the Democrat nonsense he has to genuflect to, stuff that normal Americans are increasingly rejecting. It's unclear whether he (or anyone) can pull of a Sista Soljah moment by speaking some Democrat pagan blasphemy like “Crime is bad” or “Maybe men dressed as women should not be twerking in front of kindergartners.”

That’s the challenge for the Dem “moderates.” There are no Dem moderates, not if they drink the commie Kool-Aid, and if you don’t take a big gulp the pinko caucus will destroy you. That’s why Governor Jarad Polis of Colorado is problematic. His selling point is also that he’s not quite as left as the rest of the Dems, but he’s still pretty left. His state reeks of dope and is full of bums. America is getting sick of nonsense, and the problem for any Democrat is that the Democrat Party platform is all nonsense. There’s now a new name for moderate Democrats -- squish Republicans. Every other Democrat is a damn commie.

That’s about the extent of the Democrat bench. The problem with keeping a gerontocracy in power for a couple decades past its sell-by date is that you don’t build a bench. They built a sick bed. A lot of potential candidates got tired of waiting for guys like Biden to take their final tumble and went off to mess up things in academia or the private sector. That’s why if something happens to Grandpa Badfinger, the Democrats will have to belly up to a smorgasbord of mediocrity and dig in.

© 0.0.2023 by Kurt Schlicter, "TownHall".

A Day In The Life.

Up at 7a on Friday, I went thru my finger stick to check my BSL (Blood Sugar Level) and recorded it on my Diabetes 2 chart, made coffee and breakfast, took two 50mg Tramadol and a 300mg Gabapentin for lower back/hip/buttock/thigh pains, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP desktop to let 32 million lines of code load, had a couple smokes in the cool garage and checked the coming day's errands checklist. Just waiting for Rite Aid to get a much-needed Rx in from their distribution center, in NJ.

It was a cold, damp, and mostly cloudy 33° start to the morning, but at least it wasn't raining anymore or snowing. Yet. I fired-up the furnace to take the chill off, and scanned the news and weather sites. I needed to get my daily Talk Radio fix: "Chris Stigall Show LIVE" from 6-9a, and then the "Chris Plante Show LIVE" 9-12noon, and Rob Carson Show LIVE 12-3p. "Poor" Air Quality, and the last 7-8 days have either been "Unhealthy" or "Poor".

Now that we've just passed the Winter Solstice, Thursday 22nd, the days will be getting longer and the nights, shorter, as we head to the Summer Solstice in June. The Winter Solstice marks the day when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, a line that is located at 23.5 degrees south of the equator, and runs through countries like Chile and Australia, and is furthest away from the sun. The distance brings colder temperatures and less light. We sure don't need that DST v ET time change crap anymore, so the gov't needs to drop that abject stupidity. But they won't; they covet the power trip over us.

I spent most of the day, doing another load of laundry, paperwork, and listening to my selected TR (Talk Radio) Shows, until it got dark, temps dropped into the 20s, and I buttoned-up the condo for the night. After some dinner, I watched Discovery's "Gold Rush" series, all evening. Fine by me. I called it a night at 11p.

Sleeping-in until around 7:30a on Saturday, I got up to a very cloudy, cold 33° morning, did the usual routines and enjoyed Maui Fresh-Ground, Single Origin Coffee with the Marlboros. While listening to some of Rob Carson's Podcast Replays, I called Rite Aid to check on the Thursday-ordered 2 Combivent® Respimat inhaler, 120 doses of 20mcg/100mcg inhalers, and they just got them in, so I left to pick them up. A simple $45 co-pay and I was home, in VERY, VERY HEAVY TRAFFIC. Wowzer! After Pork, Sauerkraut & Mashed Potatoes for lunch -- a traditional PA Dutch good luck meal on New Year's Day -- and a long talk with Sherry, I hit the LR couch for a short snooze.

It truly sucks waking-up as it's going dark, but it is what it is, this time of year. I watched the 5p news, and fell into the Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" marathon until 11:30p, with the last of the "BUTTER" Chardonnay vino and a few "Beast" 6% drinks, and called it a night.

Awake at 8a on Sunday, a rainy, 39°, dreary Christmas Eve Day, I fired-up the furnace, made coffee, had a couple of smokes, and listened to some of the recent "CS Show" Podcasts. After some Apple Fritters and coffee for breakfast, I got ready for the day, bundled-up the garbage to take out to the curb for tomorrow Tuesday's pick-up. Life is good. I had a load of laundry to do, some paperwork and p'd/u Sis at 4p, to go to Mt Rose Cemetery. All that done, I was home by 6, had a light dinner, watched a remake of an old movie, "The Bible", for 3hrs, and crashed for the night at midnight.

Yo-Ho-Ho, Merry Christmas. Awake at 5a on Monday -- I tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't -- I did the usual morning routines, appreciated the new Maui Medium Roast Coffee Turkish Grind (all my coffees are) and a few Marlboros. With some old Rob Carson Podcasts on iHeart Radio, I scanned the weather and news sites. The Northern Plains and Upper Midwest are getting hammered with a blizzard, which'll come our way as rain in a couple of days. And speaking about ruining peoples' lives and Christmas: more feral, ghetto rate, nigger sambos robbing, shooting and murdering people #1 Here, and #2 Here and 99% in #3 Here, too. 12% of the population responsible for 75% or all crime, and 55% of murders. Go figure on them facts.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no one to do it with.

I switched over to Rush's last Christmas Show, in 2020, for a melancholy trip down memory lane.

After the last Apple Fritter and a couple of Croissants for breakfast, I did some troubleshooting on the solar light I brought back from yesterday's Mt Rose Cemetery visit, that Sis and I'd installed when we renovated The Chapel of Memories' interior and the exterior walkway w/ lights. I need some new rechargeable batteries, anyway; the ones I had left in the basement were corroded and have to be disposed of. Ordered right away, I'll have them by Thursday from Amazon. All of my AA, AAA, C and 9v supply, are fine; just those 2 packs gone bad.

After a large past lunch, I talked to Sherry and made plans for later in the week, grabbed a 3hr snooze on the LR couch, watched the early evening news and History's "Greatest Mysteries" until 11:30p, and closed down for the day. My cleaning lady, JoAnn, is in at 8:30, and I've got some afternoon errands.

Up at 6a on Tuesday, to a "balmy" 41° but very foggy and rainy, O-Dark-Thirty morning. Scanning the news and weather sites, I found this:

---

*** DENSE FOG ADVISORY! ***
• WHAT: Visibility one quarter mile or less, in dense fog.
• WHERE: Portions of central Pennsylvania.
• WHEN: Until 10 AM EST this morning, Saturday, December 2.
• IMPACTS: Hazardous driving conditions due to low visibility.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS:
• If driving, slow down, use your low-beam headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you. For dense fog safety information, visit weather.gov/safety/fog. [Dense Fog Warning! Climate Change! Global Warming! Kiss your asses goodbye. The demonKKKrats are still in charge, are going to destroy our country and way of life! Bend over and grab your ankles!]

---

After the morning routines, I tuned into the "CS Show" until 8a, and got ready for the day and JoAnne. I had a late breakfast, made a 2nd carafe of Maui Coffee, and kept checking the news sites. JoAnn arrived at 8:30, we chatted about Christmas and her expanding family of grandchildren, and she got to work. I had 3 Croissants for breakfast, suddenly lost energy and doubled-up on more coffee. JoAnne was done and gone by 11:30, I had lunch and grabbed a 90min snoozefest, on the LR couch. A rainy, cold and dreary day. All week, the Talk Show hosts are gone, with either "best of" or subs in for them until after 2024 starts.

The dense, heavy fog stayed with us all day, despite the morning and late afternoon rain. I stayed off the roads, primarily due to being 'errand free', for the day. I had a large lunch, a 2hr snooze, and found a new-in-the-box (2009) HP DeskJet D-1660 Printer replacement, on eBay, was just delivered around 4p, unboxed it and let it sit overnight on the DR table, to get to room temp, before installing. I have lots of the HP #60 printer B&W/color cartridges, so I need to use them up instead of discarding all that money. Also, that cheap, $79 printer's been the best one I've ever had, since 1987, when I started with computers. After dinner, I watched History's 11th season of "Curse of Oak Island" until 11p, and called it quits.

Awake and up at 8a on Wednesday, I upped the heat, though it was another mild 45° outside, a rainy and foggy morning. With coffee made, I had a couple smokes in the warming garage, scanned the weather and news sites and checked the day's calendar. Sherry's here at 1p, but otherwise I'm clear. Tomorrow's a minimal food shopping day, early afternoon. After lunch, I had some condo chores to do, in prep for Sherry, and we spent the afternoon in my office-sunroom, talking and listening to the continuing rain. She left early to p/u an Rx, I had some dinner and watched History's "American Pickers" and Discovery's "Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch". Lights out at 2a.

"December is not quite over, and 250,000 illegal aliens have crossed the border this month -- more than the number of people who stormed the beaches on D-Day, there is no way of telling who these people are and why they are here. There is no doubt that a number of those entering the country are fleeing poverty. Others are cartel members, drug and human traffickers, and possibly members of potential sleeper-cell terrorists from enemy nations border experts and members of law enforcement who were saying those things almost 15 years ago." More than sobering; I AM SO F•CKING ANGRY AT THIS LEFTIST CABAL DESTROYING OUR NATION, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! AND THE GOPe SHITHEADS ARE DOING NOTHING TO STOP AND REVERSE IT! All of them need to be charged, tried, convicted and executed for TREASON! MFBs.

Up after 8a, I did the regular routines -- heat, coffee, smokes, finger sticks, computer -- and scanned the weather and news sites. I tuned into the "CS Show" and "CP Show", both with sub-hosts, and got tired of the boring schmucks both, in pretty short order. After a quick breakfast, I left at 11 for 2-of-3 errands -- the 3rd can wait until next Tuesday -- and finally got back 2+hrs later. After unloading the Jeep, and putting 7 bags of groceries away, I had a quick lunch, did a couple small condo chores, and tried to reduce the paperwork pile on my desk. Around 4, I fell asleep in my office chair, for about an hour, called Sherry to chat, had some dinner and realized that it was another NBC (Nothing But Crap) Night on TV. I pointed ROKU over to Discovery+ and watched some recent episodes of last night's "Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch" until 11:30, and called it quits for the night.

Tomorrow starts a new week -- and almost new year -- here in the "Journal", and next week is clear, right now. I stay off the roads on New Year's Eve Day, Night and things should be back to normal, with all the drunks sleeping it off, during the following day. Too many accidents and needless carnage. The large staff here (LOL), and I, all wish you and yours, a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2024!

And So Ends an Era.

Now that you, the lucky ones, are beyond your steaming platters of pancakes and mighty rashers of bacon, and perhaps even a dram or two of grog in your coffee. . . and clawed your way through the bales of presents -- a merry Christmas to all -- and here’s something else to think about this morning:

You may have noticed that our country, formerly a republic of sovereign individuals, has become one great big racketeering operation run by a mafia-like cabal with Marxist characteristics — or, at least, Marxist pretenses. That is, it seeks to profit by every avenue of dishonesty and coercion, under the guise of rescuing the “oppressed and marginalized” from their alleged tormenters. Apparently, half the country likes it that way.

Much of the on-the-ground action in this degenerate enterprise is produced by various hustles. A hustle is a particularly low-grade, insultingly obvious racket, such as Black Lives Matter, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and “trans women” (i.e., men) in women’s sports. Some of the profit in any hustle is plain moneygrubbing, of course. But there’s also an emotional payoff. Hustlers and racketeers are often sadists, so the gratification derived from snookering the credulous (feelings of power) gets amplified by the extra thrill of seeing the credulous suffer pain, humiliation, and personal ruin. (That’s what actual “oppressors” actually do.)

Categorically, anyone who operates a racket or a hustle is some sort of psychopath, a person with no moral or ethical guard-rails. Hustles are based on the belief that it is possible to get something for nothing, a notion at odds with everything known about the unforgiving laws of physics and also the principles of human relations in this universe. Even the unconditional love of a mother for her child is based on something: the amazing, generative act of creating new life, achieved through the travail of birth. Have you noticed, by the way, that the birth of human children is lately among the most denigrated acts on the American social landscape?

The flap over Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, is an instructive case in the governing psychopathies of the day. I wish I’d been a roach on the tray of petit fours and biscotti brought into the Harvard Overseers’ board-room when they met to consider the blowback from Ms. Gay’s unfortunate remarks in Congress, followed by revelations of her career-long plagiarisms. The acrid odor of self-conscious corruption in the room must have overwhelmed even the bouquet of Tanzanian Peaberry coffee a’brew, and not a few of the board members must have reached for the sherry decanter as their shame mounted, and the ancient radiators hissed, and their lame rationalizations started bouncing off the wainscoted walls.

Apparently, Ms. Gay did not miss an opportunity to cut-and-paste somebody else’s compositions into everything she published going back to her own student years in the 1990s. She even poached another writer’s acknowledgment page. This is apart from the self-reinforcing substance of her published “research” justifying the necessity for DEI activism, for which she has become first an avatar and now a goat. The dirty secret of this perturbation — and the whole Harvard Board knows it — is that Claudine Gay’s career has been about nothing but careerism, and that this is also true of so many on the faculty and administration at Harvard, and surely at every other self-styled elite school from the Charles River to Palo Alto that had joined in the DEI mind-fuck.

It’s all one big status-acquisition hustle, the seeking of hierarchical privilege by any means necessary, including especially deceit, the politics of middle-school girls. Thus, you see on display both the juvenility of elite higher ed and its use of the worst impulses that prevail in social media, stoking envy, hatred, avarice and vengeance as the currency for career advancement. Claudine Gay was notorious earlier, as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, for wrecking the careers of faculty members (Ronald Sullivan, Stephanie Robinson, and Roland G. Fryer, Jr.) who refused to play the game like middle-school girls. She had no mercy.

The mental pain endured by the Harvard bigwigs must be excruciating, and of course they have themselves to blame because they walked right into the Woke hustle with their eyes wide shut. They bargained away their dignity, and the university’s honor, for mere brownie points in a fool’s game called Win big prizes pretending to care about your fellow man. The cognitive dissonance must be like little nuclear reactor meltdowns burning through the lobes of their brains. They’ve run out of a safe space to play “victim” in. The world sees them for the coddled, malicious fakes they are.

Cutting Claudine Gay loose is the unavoidable play now or Harvard will be stung by so many lawsuits from students previously punished for academic mischief that all the alumni lawfare attorneys in the cosmos standing snout to tail will not be able to staunch the hemorrhaging of the school’s endowment and then the fire sale of its chattels to satisfy the aggrieved plaintiffs’ pain and suffering. The Harvard board is just trying to ride out the holidays. Their prized participation trophy is coming off the mantlepiece. There really is no other way. Now, stand by and watch the rats rat each other out. And so ends the era of pretending about everything.

© 12.25.2023 by James Howard Kunstler, "Clusterfuck Nation".

Digital Chess.

As the uploads veered into the many thousands, it became more and more difficult for new adventurous users to figure out what, if any, software was at the archive to check out. This has led to specialized collections focused on one type of program, like the Computer Chess Club. People can use these collections as gateways to quickly testing the waters of now-decades of computer and software history, seeing the turns and twists of countless lost companies and individuals who squeezed every last bit of wonder and spectacle out of these underpowered boxes. Here's a collection of emulated chess programs and chess computers from the latter half of the 20th century, reflecting the many different efforts to make computers play chess as well as humans.