OlDawg

Give those columns some more of the little blue pill to stiffen ‘em up.

Wow! Chinese steel?

I won’t lie. I shop for certain items at Walmart. Not groceries. Typically, things like birdseed, fake Advil, shampoo, soap, fake Lysol, and stuff like that. Sometimes, I purchase car stuff. I double-check AutoZone to make sure my veteran’s discount won’t beat Walmart’s price. Basically, I buy stuff that is disposable, or I don’t expect to last long anyway. Some people live in an area where Walmart is their only grocery store around.

I think it’s a little of both. The ‘big boys’ may have originally eaten some of the tariffs. Then, they finally had to raise prices. So, we paid at least some of the tariffs via higher prices. I remember Walmart finally having to raise their prices on a lot of their goods since they get a bunch from China, and other foreign countries. As an aside, I spent a great deal of my youth in Bentonville, AR because my mom grew up there, and half my family still lives in the area. Sam Walton never stocked a foreign product in his original store. Everything was American made or grown. He’s probably turning over in his grave nowadays.

Sounds good to me as well. Of course, the companies that are lowering prices back down to ‘near pre-tariff levels’ are using their big, fat tariff rebate checks they received—that we payed for—to lower their currently raised prices on a small number of select items. Good marketing for them though. Just something to remember.

I squeak when I walk. I blame it on my shoes.

Walmart isn't lowering prices out of the goodness of their hearts. They're losing market share to Kroger again as the new Kroger CEO knows WallyWorld inside and out. He's the one who built them into what they are now. The new grocery wars should help us all as they battle it out. [Hidden Content] Incidentally, I bought Kroger stock almost 10 years ago at a little less than $20. It's done nothing but go up since. Nice, safe play in a defensive stock that's tripled in value during that time. I don't think people know how big Kroger really is, and what stores are actually Kroger. IMHO, Kroger branded items are some of the best around. I like many of them better than the name brands. Plus, they own their own dairy farms that supply their dairy products direct. Add in their gas rewards program (or you can choose grocery coupons), and you can do pretty well. One of the secrets--if you're going to frequent a place that has gift cards that are sold at Kroger--is to buy them with no upcharge, and get Kroger's 4x fuel points for buying what you're going to use anyway, and save up to $1/gal on your gas. Easy way to load up on fuel points quick. A $25 gift card to Subway--or wherever--gets you 100 fuel points, or .10/gal off on gas up to 35 gallons. Every 100 points is .10/gal off up to $1/gal. If you're a Top Tier gas buyer only--not needed unless your car is really exotic--Kroger gas follows EPA standards as far as quality. Just put in a bottle of Techron at every oil change if you have any qualms. You'll still save a bunch, and your engine will probably be better off with the occasional Techron anyway.

I’m anxious to see what Kade Dieudonne can do at the Varsity level. He’s another young RB in Simon’s mold in the making. Looks to be a baller. [Hidden Content]

No Lufkin?

Nurse at UTMB Galveston refuses to treat patients if Fox News is on in the room. [Hidden Content]

Kavanaugh did not rule the EO was unconstitutional. Kavanaugh ruled it violated a previous Statute, and that Statute could be modified. But, the EO couldn’t take effect due to the Statute—not because of the Constitution or any Amendment. Justice Kavanaugh disagreed with the majority’s constitutional holding, but he concluded that Trump’s executive order violated a federal statute, 8 U.S.C. §1401(a). “Congress could—consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country. But Congress has not yet done so.” [Hidden Content] So, effectively, the ruling was 6-3 to deny the implementation of the EO. But, not because of the Constitution in Kavanaugh’s decision.

You should check out George Washington.

Interesting piece of trivia: SCOTUS Judge Barrett has 2 adopted children from Haiti that are considered U.S. citizens under current law. If citizenship requirements were different, they would have to become naturalized citizens, and wouldn’t automatically become ‘direct’ U.S. citizens by adoption. If you follow through with this scenario, you could actually have a child of illegal immigrants be born in the U.S., automatically be a U.S. citizen, become of age, adopt children from another country that were under 16 years old, and all of them would be considered U.S. citizens the same as anyone born here by native, legal U.S. parents whose family tree had been born here and lived in America for generations. But, none of them would have been born by U.S. citizen parents. File that in the crazy but true files.

Yes. People are too lazy to read the actual opinions. That’s part of our problems. They eat what the press opinions feed them. The press wants to simplify, and the liberal press wants to make it seem like it was a slam dunk decision. It was far from a slam dunk decision. It was—in essence—4/4/1, with the 1 going with the majority for different reasons than the EO being unconstitutional. Kavanaugh said straight up the EO didn’t violate the 14th. It violated a previous statute by Congress.

I was thinking more along the lines of 'Manchurian Candidates.' Terrorists don't have to be citizens. Although, it could be argued that some members of our current government are already terrorists.