Husband’s car wouldn’t go in reverse, so he took it to a local mechanic. I had been to that mechanic in the past with my car and he was trying to charge me for a $3,000 part/work that turned out to be simple loose bolt. Whew! Glad I got a second opinion on that one! So…I didn’t trust him, but husband thought he’d be ok.

Husband was without a car far longer than the time the mechanic had said – about a couple weeks. Mechanic kept telling husband…should be tomorrow….two days….next week. Total run around.

Finally I took my husband down there and the car wasn’t there. I asked the mechanic where the car was. He didn’t know. HUH? He said he had someone pick it up to fix it.

I asked, “Who is the guy and where is the car?”

Somewhere in the neighboring town. That’s all he knew. He said he didn’t know how to get to that town, which I knew was a lie. Anyone who lived in the area as long as I knew he had, would know how to get to that town.

I asked, “You let someone take our car, without telling us, and you don’t know where it is?”

Are.you.serious?

Husband was really upset but I said “Let’s go” and we drove straight down to the police station. We shared the story and we were told that the mechanic was probably getting ready to sell the car because they’d had multiple complaints against him.

An officer followed us back to the shop and asked the mechanic about the car. The officer got pretty much the same answers we did but told him he needed to have that car back in 24 hours or he’d be charged with auto theft.

Next day, husband got a call: the car was back and fixed at close to $4,000.

Just a few days after picking it up, the original problem with the transmission happened again. We had the car towed to our home and I filed a complaint with small claims court for our money back plus court costs.

The court date came and the mechanic actually showed up! That was a surprise. He came and talked to us and said he was selling property in California and would be able to pay us the money but not that day. We went with him to speak to the judge who told him he’d have a month to get the money and set a new court date.

New court date came, husband got a call from him. The mechanic said his father passed away in California and he was out there so he wouldn’t be in court.

We went to court, told the judge what he told us, and the judge said he’d give him the benefit of the doubt and set a third court date.

After leaving court, I dropped my husband off at work and, on the way home, went right to the mechanic’s shop. He was standing outside smoking a cigarette. I turned around and drove in. He was nowhere to be found, but I asked one of the employees if he was there. Employee said yes….and went with me looking for him. I was not about to leave. He was hiding in the bathroom and I was going to stay there if it took all day and night.

Finally he came out and I had my phone’s video on. I told him I was so sorry to hear that his dad died, but I suspected the judge would be very interested in what I had to show him. Then I turned and walked to my car.

He came running after me and said, “Meet me at the bank, I’ll have your money.”

Which I did…and…he did.

Not me. Thank God

This guy I know was homeless. Came into our store to buy vodka. One night he was stumbling down an ally and fell on a discarded mattress. Hours later he came to. Felt something hard sewn into the mattresses. He ripped it open and found a briefcase sized box. There was about $40,000 USD inside. The dates on the bills were 10 yrs. old. So he decided he was “rich”. He went to a sleazy hotel that he knew and got a room. Then went and hit all the dive bars, bragging about what happened, handing out $100 dollar bills, and getting really drunk. Evidently he was in a black out. He woke up in that same alley on the same mattress. He got up went back to the hotel room. Someone had broken in and stolen all of the money he found. He did not even have one dollar left. On top of that he hadn’t paid for his room on advance. He just planned to do it later. The hotel manager already knew him and did not like him. The Mgr called the police, and he got taken in for a ‘ theft of service’ charge.

So within twelve hours he went from having enough money to get a new start in life, to broke, hungover, and incarcerated. I don’t think he ever got over that.

My takeaway:

Life can be very difficult when you’re stupid. So, try to show them a little more compassion.

2 reasons.

First, in 2016’s conflict, US Navy prepared to start a war against China for the sake of supporting Philippines, but, China displayed her determination to protect is sovereignty over SCS at all cost, and then the 7th fleet retreated from SCS and Philippines Sea.

From then on, ASEAN countries changed their stance on the disputes in and around SCS.

Second, Russo-Ukrainian conflict told every America’s puppet that they will be fucked if they became the cat’s paw of the US. The US stayed away from Ukraine while the latter was attacked, the US stayed intact, while Ukraine was crushed.

“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” —— Henry Kissinger.

It’s Official: The Wealthy Have Begun to Flee The USA Ahead of Election Day

Hal Turner World November 01, 2024 Hits: 7934

Wealthy Americans are making plans to leave the United States in the run-up to Tuesday’s election, with many fearing political and social unrest regardless of who wins, according to immigration attorneys.

Attorneys and advisors to family offices and high-net-worth families said they’re seeing record demand from clients looking for second passports or long-term residencies abroad. While talk of moving overseas after an election is common, wealth advisors said this time many of the wealthy are already taking action.

“We’ve never seen demand like we see now,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & Partners, which advises the wealthy on international migration.

Volek said that for the first time, wealthy Americans are far and away the company’s largest client base, accounting for 20% of its business, or more than any other nationality. He said the number of Americans making plans to move abroad is up at least 30% over last year.

David Lesperance, managing partner of Lesperance and Associates, the international tax and immigration firm, said the number of Americans hiring him for possible moves overseas has roughly tripled over last year.

A survey by Arton Capital, which advises the wealthy on immigration programs, found that 53% of American millionaires say they’re more likely to leave the U.S. after the election, no matter who wins. Younger millionaires were the most likely to leave, with 64% of millionaires between 18 and 29 saying they were “very interested” in seeking so-called golden visas through a residency-by-investment program overseas.

How Media Continue To Discredit Themselves

Do they not understand how boring this nonsense is?

How Russia, China and Iran Are Interfering in the Presidential Election (archived) – New York Times
Eight years after Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, foreign influence with American voters has grown more sophisticated. That could have outsize consequences in the 2024 race.

Written by three ‘journalists’ and published at the top of the NYT‘s homepage the intro reads:

When Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, spreading divisive and inflammatory posts online to stoke outrage, its posts were brash and riddled with spelling errors and strange syntax. They were designed to get attention by any means necessary.“Hillary is a Satan,” one Russian-made Facebook post read.

Posts like that ‘one Russian-made Facebook post’ (seen by how many?) ‘interfered’ in the 2016 election and were the reason for Hillery’s loss?

Now, eight years later, foreign interference in American elections has become far more sophisticated, and far more difficult to track.Disinformation from abroad — particularly from Russia, China and Iran — has matured into a consistent and pernicious threat, as the countries test, iterate and deploy increasingly nuanced tactics, according to U.S. intelligence and defense officials, tech companies and academic researchers. The ability to sway even a small pocket of Americans could have outsize consequences for the presidential election, which polls generally consider a neck-and-neck race.

U.S. presidential election campaigns spend billions of dollars on fine tuned advertisements aimed at carefully targeted micro-audiences. It isn’t even plausible that social media posts by this or that foreign actor could have comparable effects.

Russia, according to American intelligence assessments, aims to bolster the candidacy of former President Donald J. Trump, while Iran favors his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. China appears to have no preferred outcome.

Should we not be especially afraid of the ‘sophisticated’ and ‘difficult to track’ foreign interference by China because it has no preferred outcome?

Here is the NYT‘s example for it:

This year, a deepfake video of a Republican congressman from Virginia circulated on TikTok, accompanied by a Chinese caption falsely claiming that the politician was soliciting votes for a critic of Beijing who sought (and later won) the Taiwanese presidency.

How could a fake video of a Republican congressman with Chinese caption that was used to discredit a Taiwanese politician influence a U.S. election in which China has ‘no preferred outcome’? What is the logic therein?

I have no idea. Nor has the New York Times. It just claims that it does.

Whoever works in western media which carries nonsense like the above should contemplate how much they are contributing to this:

For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express “not very much” confidence.