Joe Ricketts, founder, TDAmeritrade.

Analysis: True (in most cases)

27 kids registered. Plus likely 4-6 walk ins. (We don’t ever turn anyone away as long as we can fit ’em into the classroom)

I’ll be working ’til 5 or 6.

But it is paying it forward, and all that. 

Otherwise they would not be spending so much political capital in their efforts to drive him out of office with their push to impeach the man.

He must really scare them, and they must realize how badly they will lose against him in an election where they cannot manipulate vote counts easily. Trump won against them, beating the “Margin of Fraud” once, and they know they cannot manipulate the votes to the same magnitude the next time. 

It is NO LONGER THE FUTURE.

Blade Runner was set in….November 2019.

Also, if you knew what “Blade Runner” was referring to, then you ARE old.

Still no flying cars though. 

A 96 year old record smashed. Yet no claims of “Climate Change” since it doesn’t fit the meme of Thermageddon.

But, according to the “Climate”Experts””, this is just weather, not evidence that the climate is cooling or anything.
Of course not.

Odd how records that are broken to the warm side are “evidence” of Global Warming….But those that show (possible) cooling are just weather. 

I laid in bed for a while, trying to figure out what had awoken me….

Then I heard it. That sound that I could not identify…..

Now, if you are a guy, you likely know each and every sound that your house makes (and why), each sound of every piece of machinery, the creaks and groans, the noise every mechanism makes, the sound every pipe makes as it expands and contracts, the groans that the structure makes as it cools or heats up, etc.

This one was none of those. It didn’t fit. Wasn’t “normal”.

So I laid there for a moment, trying to figure out what it was…..
‘Twas a low hum.
then it quit.

then it came back.

Then it quit again.
Pretty much about on a 4 minute interval.
Then it came back. More or less 60 hz. Kinda like what a battery charger makes at high amps…..

Strange.

I got up, walked the house….couldn’t identify it. Couldn’t even localize it.
Put on a pair of shoes and went into the garage. Nothing.
Went down to the basement.
It got a bit louder.

I tracked it down to the east wall. There are only two pieces of equipment there, plus the washer and dryer, both of which are not turned on….but I unplugged them just to be sure that they weren’t the source. (They weren’t).

Wasn’t the water softener, either.

What WAS making that sound was the sump pump.
Seems that the motor (or impeller) was locked up. The motor was TRYING to start, but couldn’t turn. So it sat there, stalled, for about 2 minutes, humming gently. Then the thermal cut out would shut off the power and it would cool down.
Wash, rinse. repeat.
(The usual failure mode for these pumps is the bottom bushing wears and they become too noisy for me to tolerate, necessitating replacement)

The sump pit was full, at about 150% of the normal level.

Luckily, (or perhaps it is just good planning, I dunno) I had a spare all set up and ready.
Unplugged the power, pulled the pit cover, unscrewed the union connection to the standpipe, pulled the pump out, put the new pump in the pit, connected the union, plugged it in.
Let it run while I put the pit cover back on.
Total time to change it out was less than 10 minutes, and that long only because I was still only half awake.

I firmly believe that if you need a sump pump, you need a spare on the shelf. “2 is one and one is none” and all that….
Today I gotta go buy a new sump pump.

ETA: And, of course NO-One has the pump I need in stock.
(I still have 2 serviceable, but worn and noisy units as a backup though),

HIGHLY recommended reading. One of the few that are worth the price:

The Heretics of St. Possenti by Rolf Nelson.

Well written, well thought out, well researched.
And just a damned good book.

I was not compensated for this recommendation. I just think it is a good read. As good as (although different than) the Grey Man series

If he was a suicide case, then I still want to know how it was that the cameras and monitoring guards so conveniently were ineffective? Were those guards fired for incompetence? Were the whereabouts of all the other people working at the facility checked and accounted for?

You know (or at least, if you have more cognitive ability than cauliflower or cilantro, strongly suspect) that Epstein’s death wasn’t a suicide. Yet the media and our politicians have decided to let the case die a death by being ignored.
It shouldn’t be ignored.

At worst, those “Guards” should be tried. Anyone close to the area should be watched for 5 or more years to see if they got a sudden financial windfall (or are strangely and suddenly killed in a freak bowling accident or something).

No matter how we slice it, it appears that Epstein was silenced. And our government, Law enforcement, and our Media is allowing whomever orchestrated that death to get away with it.

So much for the rule of law. 

Where has he been all this time? Hiding? Choosing to not say anything? Being coached on what (and likely what NOT) to say?

This is like Kavanaugh’s accusers, or Anita Hill many years ago.

Why didn’t this dude show up back when the accusation(s) were first made? Why wait until now? Yes, he told some other diplomatic staffers, but the Democrats knew all about this and withheld him until….now? Why? Why wait, (unless there was a carefully crafted information campaign to discredit Donnie)? 

Curious.