Posts

The Good Thief

 "Without God, all things are permissible." -from "The Brothers Karamazov." Doug and I were brought together by circumstance. We were a couple of lost souls with a willingness to do just about anything. Both of us were sired by alcoholic maniacs, which is to say, our parents were obsessed with their own problems. There was very little energy left for raising children. So that was our draw. You either get the "Leave it to Beaver" parents or you get ours. I like to think of it as the "birth lottery."  So you do the best you can. Whining about the birth lottery might explain your unpreparedness for adulthood, but it garners no sympathy. And so it was that Doug and I stumbled through life and eventually came out on the other side. We very clearly remember our mistakes and we understand now, how it all came to be. It's not with a fit of rage or jealousy that I examine the perfect lives of others. I am an inquisitor. When I discover the perfect one

The Death of Norman Rockwell's America

This may or may not be an actual quote from Franklin Graham.  Time is like a river.  You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.  Reverend Franklin Graham was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville , Florida , when he said America will not come back.  He wrote: “The American dream has ended." The first term of Joe Biden has been the final nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and developed the greatest republic in the history of mankind.   A coalition of blacks, Latinos, feminists, gays, government workers, union members, environmental extremists, the media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the “forever needy,” the chronically unemployed that do not want to work, illegal aliens and other “fellow travelers” have ended........Norman Rockwell's America. You will never again out-vote these people.  It will take individual acts of defiance and massive

The Father of This Blog

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 I ran across this clip today after arguing economics and money with some prof and his loyal following on Twitter. What shocked me was that Milton Friedman used the term Frankenstein Government long before I ever saw this clip. Indeed.

Is the U.S. Government Willfully Trying To Destroy Our Reserve Currency Status?

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 It would appear so. Many years ago now, I named this blog "Frankenstein Government." I did that as the United States Government, Hank Paulson, and a host of other cowardly government banker types helped themselves to a one trillion dollar taxpayer funded bailout. Only in America of the 2008 variety, could you commit all sorts of felonies and fraudulent acts and escape prosecution thanks to Barack Obama. The minions grumbled a bit and then went away. Like they always do.  On this day, in 2008, we were nearly 10 trillion in debt.  https://www.usdebtclock.org/2008.html Some 15 years later, we are now 32 trillion in debt.  https://www.usdebtclock.org/ That cumulative cash burn smoothed out over 15 years is pretty close to 1.5 trillion a year. An enormous amount of spending, deficits, and debt accumulation. Now I don't want to get sidetracked here with "where did that money go" because we can't do anything about that.  If you are a real numbers geek, you can loo

Gold Remembers, So That You Can Forget

You will never, ever make money by owning gold because that's not the purpose of owning gold.  In practical terms, you must sell the good currency (gold) to buy the bad currency (US dollar) before it can be used. Gresham's law in reverse. Whether that's 1200 an ounce or 2000 an ounce makes no difference. Gold simply represents how much the currency has been debauched. Gold holds steady while the US dollar flops around like a fish on the riverbank. As the dollar rises- as it has been doing recently because of rate hikes- gold's value goes down. When rates go down and money is sloshing around everywhere- the value of gold goes up. It has always been that way. That's the way gold moves in the short term. Longer term... Gold has a US dollar inverse relationship. It sniffs out dollar debauchery and moves accordingly. It is the perfect barometer. Gold was 35 bucks an oz in 1971. It is 1830 bucks in 2023. That 5000% rise over 52 years represents the lost buying power of a

Guilty Until Proven Innocent, the George Kelly Story

 George Alan Kelly is a rancher who lives just north of the Mexico border on a ranch.  Now you might wonder, why would anyone buy a ranch on the Mexican border? Well, Mr Kelly bought the ranch back in 1997 when we protected the border. It wasn't a free for all until President Biden and his illegal immigration handlers turned it into a drug running, human trafficking, do whatever you want, war zone.  Perhaps Biden and friends should be charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigration. That'll be the day. At any rate, Mr Kelly is eating lunch at his home and hears a single gunshot and sees a number of men, likely Mexican nationals, on his property armed with guns that he believes were AK 47s. He arms himself, fires a few warning shots, and the aliens eventually disburse. He calls police. The police come out, take the report and leave. Hours later while searching his ranch, Mr. Kelly finds a dead body- shot thru the chest or back- depending on the entrance wound. He calls poli

Probably Homicide, The Edward Morrissey Story, Epilogue

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I have been back to Butte more times than I can count. I have visited the Granite Mountain Memorial and gazed to the southeast where the Granite Mountain/Speculator headframes used to stand. I have scoured Walkerville and the Alice Mine area- now overgrown with weeds. I have stood in front of the boardinghouse where Frank Little was kidnapped. It is gone, replaced with some hideous motel. I have been in the Hennessey Building as a child but never up on the Company's top floor. I have stood in the entryway where Jere Murphy was killed, and I've been in the ballroom at the Finlen Hotel where Murphy and other armed men were seen discussing something about 12 hours before Frank was murdered. And no matter what I do or what I read, I simply can't escape Edward Morrissey. What a piece of work. Violent, mean, ill tempered, and drunk. How does a guy like that become Chief of Detectives? He was in that position because that is where Jere Murphy wanted him to be. Two Irish born sons.