Thursday, March 6, 2025

Davids Daily Dose - Thursday March 6

 1/. What really happened in that disastrous meeting of Zelensky/Trump/Vance? 

Bob Lefsetz gives us his thoughts.....

This reminds me of nothing so much as being called to the principal’s office in high school.

Somehow you offended the teacher, who wants you to respect them because of their twenty years of tenure, even though you’re more intelligent than they are.

Or some weasel kiss-ass cried wolf and since you’re the outsider, you’re the one who colors outside the lines, you’re at fault.

So you’re marched down to the office where some grand poohbah excoriates you, doesn’t want to hear your defense, just wants to sentence you to detention.

And when you emerge from the building having paid your penance, you run into the bullies on the schoolyard. There’s no one there to come to your defense. And it’s always the number two who is the consigliere, who warns you of the power of the number one, who stands there silently, staring at you, as you get ready to take a punch.

https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2025/02/28/zelensky-trump-vance/



2/. And so does Heather Cox Richardson.....

Today, President Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Vice President J.D. Vance joined Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office—his attendance at such an event was unusual—in front of reporters. Those reporters included one from Russian state media, but no one from the Associated Press or Reuters, who were not granted access.

In front of the cameras, Trump and Vance engaged in what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called a “mob hit,” spouting Russian propaganda and trying to bully Zelensky into accepting a ceasefire and signing over rights to Ukrainian rare-earth minerals without guarantees of security. Vance, especially, seemed determined to provoke a fight in front of the cameras, accusing Zelensky, who has been lavish in his thanks to the U.S. and lawmakers including Trump, of being ungrateful. When that didn’t land, Vance said it was “disrespectful” of Zelensky to “try to litigate this in front of the American media,” when it was the White House that set up the event in front of reporters.




3/. Wry humour.......



4/. A non-political and really interesting story about scammers, you know the ones telling you you will be fined for unpaid tolls......
Turns out they are in Myanmar, and are virtually slaves.....

There are usually no international flights out of the airport in Mae Sot, a town on Thailand’s border with Myanmar. But in recent days, hundreds of people here boarded direct flights back home to China. They had been rescued from Myanmar, where they were ensnared in a 21st-century scourge — online scam mills that have used forced labor to bilk tens of billions of dollars out of victims worldwide.

The chartered flights were part of a multinational effort that followed the trafficking last month of a Chinese actor to work in a fraud center, which scared off Chinese tourists from visiting Thailand. The rescue missions, coordinated by officials in Thailand, Myanmar and China, were pitched as a body blow to this industry of grift.



5/. Tom Tomorrow and the real President.....



6/. So what are we living through? The answer - a reality show......
A very insightful and serious story about how Trump has instinctively played to our 
TV culture of shallowness and sensation.....

The takeover of the Kennedy Center may seem like an afterthought in the furious drama of President Donald Trump’s first month in office. The abandonment of the transatlantic alliance, proposals to annex territory on multiple continents, the evisceration of national institutions, and overt claims to kingship are such eye-popping departures from precedent that the leadership of a somewhat stuffy, self-consciously elite performing-arts venue seems negligible by comparison. But Trump’s peculiar preoccupation with the Kennedy Center is symptomatic of a profound change in the nature of American power since his inauguration: America is undergoing a cultural revolution. “This is going to be great television,” Trump said at the end of Friday’s stormy session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It may as well be the motto of his administration.



7/. Just wait - Trump will have some flunky rewrite school history books just like this toon.....
Wait - they don't teach history in public schools any more.....


8/. Is Social Security an essential part of your retirement? 
Oops.....Trump and Musk are gunning for it.....

Tuesday night, Donald Trump stood before the nation and, with the full backing of billionaires like Elon Musk, laid the groundwork for the biggest heist in American history — the rapid, systematic destruction of Social Security, disguised as “reform.”

We saw the formal announcement of it during Trump’s State of the Union address, and the DOGE announcement earlier in the week that 7,000 employees at Social Securityare to be immediately laid off — with as many as half of all Social Security employees (an additional 30,000 people) — soon to be on the chopping block.

Republicans and their morbidly rich donors have hated Social Security ever since it was first created in 1935. They’ve called it everything from communism to socialism to a Ponzi scheme.

In fact, it has been the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of America, one now emulated by virtually every democracy in the world.



9/. These AI videos are amazing.....



10/. MAGA's next target? Women and women's rights.....
Amanda Marcotte with a disturbing story.....ladies you need to read this.....

For decades, the anti-abortion movement has aggressively promoted women into visible leadership roles. It's for cynical reasons, namely, to bat off entirely accurate accusations that the movement is misogynist. Never mind that there have always been women who are eager to police the bodies and behavior of other women. Enough people are credulous or at least disingenuous enough to think that "I'm a woman, which means I can't hate other women" is an actual argument. For ambitious women who wanted to climb the ranks of Republican politics, anti-feminism has long been the steadiest of ladders. The propaganda value of their gender outweighed their party's larger hostility to women in leadership. 

But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and Donald Trump is back in the White House, many on the right feel they no longer need to hide the naked sexism fueling their movement or put up with the annoyance of women in even token leadership positions.



11/. Sometimes change is not necessarily good!


12/. This struck a chord - Democrats are annoyingly safe, messages are filtered and lawyered to death. 
People want authentic feelings, emotions etc. Trump is a master at this.....

I'm a lawyer. When I look at Democrats today, I see myself. That's not a good thing.

Let's consider the 2024 presidential campaign. Democrats appeared to adopt the classic lawyer tactic of saying, "My client didn’t do anything." There’s good reason this has become a cliché: You win in court by showing that your client followed the law and the other guy didn’t. Which is why as a lawyer, you do everything in your power to make it seem like your client was off flying kites with his kids or staring out the window at pretty clouds while the other guy was doing the most.

In other words, you try to make your client seem like Kamala Harris and the other guy seem like Donald Trump.                    https://www.salon.com/2025/03/01/democrats-are-lawyering-themselves-into-political-oblivion-time-to-change-that/



13/. This is MAGA.....


14/. 2026 Elections? Yes - 2026! The "free and fair" election has already been fixed........

You can ignore Trump slyly hinting to the Lord’s chosen that he just might call off the next election.

“Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.”

But don’t ignore this: Trump won’t be calling off the election because he doesn’t have to. The Fix for 26 is already in.

The Republican plan is to win next year’s election this year. Yes, the voting will be bent, jacked and hammered this year, 2025, one year before the official voting. Because this is the year of The Great Purge.

And if The Great Purge doesn’t do the trick, Republicans are ramping up other vote suppression tactics they rolled out to win 2024, including a private army of MAGA-nauts who challenged over a million voters’ ballots in 2024 and plan on way more by the 2026 midterm.



15/. The Times with a video of how the Dems are going to win, based on what they are doing......or not.
Democrats - take a deep breath and watch this 4 minute video....



16/. Insurance companies in Florida are crying poor mouth, denying claims and hiking premiums, but they 
have siphoned billions out of Florida using accounting tricks.

TALLAHASSEE — While Florida insurers claimed to be losing money in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Michael, their parent companies and affiliates were making billions of dollars, according to a study obtained by the Times/Herald.

The start of the state’s insurance market meltdown came on the heels of those two storms between 2017 and 2019, as companies justified big rate increases to cover their losses.

But those financial hardships don’t tell the full story, according to the 2022 study that has never been made public and was released to the Times/Herald after a two-year wait for public records.                                                                                                                                                https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/02/22/florida-insurance-profits-desantis-regulation-investors-crisis/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email



17/. "The King of the One Liners......most amusing video.....



18/. Had enough? Want to move abroad? Then read this......

If the 2024 U.S. elections have you thinking about moving overseas, you’re not alone. Search volume for terms such as “where to move out of the U.S.” and “how to move to Canada” spiked from 400–3,800% in the days after November 5th. Before that, 15% of Americans had already considered leaving the country for political reasons, making expatriation a trend — not a fad.

Overall, U.S. citizens’ interest in living abroad has tripled since 1974.

After experiencing the transformative power of living overseas as a study abroad student in 2002, I moved abroad full-time and dedicated my career to helping others do the same. As an International Relocation Consultant, I’ve since helped more than 1,200 people move to 37 different countries. In my experience, some places are easier to move to than others                                                                                                               https://medium.com/@kristinmwilson/10-easy-countries-for-americans-to-move-to-right-now-4a8020d9ad01



19/. Classic SNL - Kristen Wiig with "Almost Pizza"....



20/. Here's a movie everyone missed......an early Keanu Reeves in "Constantine"....


Everything in Constantine is washed with green, as though the whole world were unwell and not just the film’s terminally ill hero. The color-grading choice was particularly popular in movies at the turn of the millennium, a sickly tint that conveyed metropolitan gothic sensibilities and disaffection while amping up the physical sallowness of already-pallid leads. The Matrix is the stone-cold classic, and Dark City has its devotees (Roger Ebert notable among them), but for me, Francis Lawrence’s directorial debut about a psychic consultant has always been the best distillation of this aesthetic. Constantine has such a palpable appreciation for the details of the universe it puts onscreen — from the stained subway tile lining John Constantine’s kitchen to the oxblood club chairs in a church to the lock of hair that keeps escaping to flop over Keanu Reeves’s forehead — that any grander point becomes incidental.

Not that the story is lacking! Constantine is deeply pleasurable in a way that has become easier to admit as the film, which just crossed its 20th anniversary this year, has been removed from the context in which it was originally received.



21/. An Italian TV series "The Leopard" - the Guardian loves it....

First the Americans came for British period drama. Now the Brits are getting their mitts on Italy’s heritage. In 2020, the US producer Shonda Rhimes sexed-up Regency England with lusty intrigue, soapy storylines and orchestral covers of pop hits to create Netflix’s smash-hit Bridgerton. This year, British screenwriters Benji Walters and Richard Warlow (The Serpent) and director Tom Shankland (SAS Rogue Heroes) are collaborating with the streamer on a bit of pop cultural colonisation of their own.
You can see why they would want to: The Leopard – the trio’s adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s seminal 1860s novel, set in Sicily – is sumptuous, sensuous, emotionally tempestuous and full of nice food; all qualities our homegrown costume drama tends to lack. But this sweaty, steamy series is far more than a treat for the senses. Behind the frills and the romantic thrills – at the centre of the action is a captivating young love triangle – is a socio-historically insightful tale of an elite clan’s descent into obsolescence.



Today's "Happily Married" Joke:
A group of women were at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with their husbands.
The women were asked, "How many of you love your husband?"  
All the women raised their hands.
Then they were asked, "When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?"
Some women answered today, a few yesterday, and some couldn't remember.
The women were then told to take out their cell phones and text their husband - "I love you, Sweetheart."
Next the women were instructed to exchange phones with one another and read aloud the text message they received in response to their message.
Below are 11 hilarious replies. 
If you have been married for quite a while, you understand that these replies are a sign of true love. 
Who else would reply in such a succinct and honest way?

1. Who the hell is this?
2. Eh, mother of my children, are you sick or what?
3. Yeah, and I love you too. What's wrong?
4. What now? Did you wreck the car again?
5. I don't understand what you mean.
6. What the hell did you do now?
7. Don't beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need.
8. Am I dreaming?
9. If you don't tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die.
10. I thought we agreed you wouldn't drink during the day.
11. Your mother is coming to stay with us, isn't she?. ........



Today's blond joke
Two blondes were working on a house.
One of them was nailing down siding. 
She’d reach into her nail pouch, pull out a nail, and either hammer it in or toss it over her shoulder.
The other blonde, curious, finally asked, “Why do you keep throwing some of those nails away?”
The first one replied, “Well, if I pull out a nail and it’s pointed toward me, I toss it—obviously, it’s defective. 
But if it’s pointed toward the house, I nail it in.”
The second blonde smacked her forehead and shouted, “You idiot! 
The ones pointed toward you aren’t defective… they’re for the other side of the house!”

Another blond joke
The Blonde and the Road Paint Job
A man hires a blonde to paint stripes down the middle of a road, giving her one simple rule: she must paint at least four miles per day to keep the job.
On the first day, she absolutely crushes it—eight miles! The boss is blown away.
The second day, she paints four miles. Not as impressive, but still meeting the requirement.
On the third day, she only manages two miles. The boss raises an eyebrow but figures maybe she’s just tired.
By the fourth day, she barely scrapes out one mile.
Frustrated, the boss finally asks, “What’s going on? You started off amazing! Why are you slowing down so much?”
The blonde wipes her forehead and sighs, “Well, I’m getting farther and farther away from the paint bucket!”


Today's awful joke
I had a call from a scammer the other day.
Me: “Hello.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Hello. This is Hymie Zeller from Microsoft Support. We are seeing a lot of virus activity from your device.”
Me: “Oh no. My device? Are you sure?”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Oh yes, we have many reports.”
Me: “Oh jeez. How can I fix it?”
NOT-Microsoft support: “It’s okay Ma'am". We can help you right now. Are you in front of your device Ma'am"?
Me: “Yes. I was just about to use it. I’m glad you called.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Yes Ma'am", we are going to help you. Can you please push the Start button?”
Me: “I think it’s already on.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Okay, Sir. Now you want to click on Control Panel.”
Me: “I don’t see that.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Do you see a bunch of information above the Start button?”
Me: “Yes.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “That is your Control Panel.”
Me: “Wow, I didn’t realize it had a name.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Yes Ma'am", now press on Internet Options.”
Me: “Yeah, I definitely don’t see any Internet options. I don’t think I purchased that feature. This is just a cheap one.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “They all have the Internet, . Press the Start button again.”
Me: “Okay, it’s the same as before.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “That’s okay Ma'am". We are going to restart your device. Can you please turn it off?”
Me: “Um … Oy..I don’t know how. I’ve never turned it off. Since I bought it, it just kind of stays on all the time.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “There must be an off button on your device. How do you stop it when it’s running?”
Me: “In those cases, I usually press the big button.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Okay . Please press that button.”
Me: “Okay.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Is your device off?”
Me: “No. The door popped open.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Door? Is there a disc inside the door?”
Me: “No, there’s a burrito.”
NOT-Microsoft support: “Why is there a burrito in your computer?”
Me: “Computer? I thought you said this was microwave support.”





Friday, February 28, 2025

Davids Daily Dose - Friday February 28



1/. A frightening, depressing and totally logical article about how the collapse of our, and indeed global society is already in process 
and there is nothing anyone or any government can do about it..
Reading this makes me happy to be "mature".....

Collapse isn’t loud. It’s not a Hollywood explosion, not a sudden black hole swallowing the United States overnight. There’s no singular moment when the world collectively gasps and realizes everything has come undone. Instead, collapse is a slow, grinding process — insidious, creeping, and patient.

A lot of people are waiting for a definitive moment of “global chaos” — a clear, singular event that heralds the beginning of the end. But here’s the thing: it’s already happening. People expecting the end of civilization to arrive like a meteor impact are missing the truth. Global collapse is more like a terminal illness — it weakens, depletes, and eventually kills, but rarely all at once.                                                                   https://medium.com/edge-of-collapse/forget-the-future-the-fall-of-society-has-already-begun-2bddafc3dba3



2/. James Carville with a plan for the Democrats on how to cope with Trump - do nothing.
This shouldn't be too hard for the spineless wimps we have.

The Republican Party is all too often effective at campaigning and winning elections, but there’s another fact about it that a lot of Americans forget: The Republican Party flat out sucks at governing. Even Tucker Carlson agrees with this. For all the huffing and puffing on the campaign trail in 2016, the first Trump administration largely amounted to tax cuts for the wealthy, 500 miles of a border wall and a destructive pandemic gone viral. George W. Bush got us into a harebrained war in Iraq and then tried to privatize Social Security while letting our financial system drive smack into the Great Recession. And George H.W. Bush governed his way into a one-term presidency because of the economy



3/. Speaking of spineless wimps, here's Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic House Leader, on the Rachel Maddow show.....



4/. Bob Lefsetz with a riff on where we are now.....

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Because the networks and the cable outlets are afraid of being sued by Trump.

The real reason the politicians wanted to get rid of TikTok is because they didn’t want you to have a voice. They wanted to quash public discourse. They wanted to continue the twentieth century top down paradigm which has been eviscerated by the internet.

But the revolution is happening. And it’s happening on TikTok. Because that’s where you see the stories in the news come alive. Most specifically, the town halls.

Accountability. While President Musk asks government workers to justify their jobs, to prove they’re working hard, congresspeople have been slacking. The only problem is, unlike Musk, congresspeople are accountable to the public.

And the public has had enough.                                                                                                                                                https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2025/02/23/21720/



Democrats....


5/ We have seen first hand how FEMA works [in Asheville], and they are professional and diligent......
Which is why dismantling the agency will be disastrous [sic].
This article tells us how bad it will be without FEMA....

After Hurricane Helene ripped through North Carolina, Francesca got to work. As an employee for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she was deployed to the state for a month to coordinate aid for impacted residents, which included feeding families and sharing information at community events. 
From the start, her work was more challenging than usual. Helene left behind a level of devastation so extreme “nobody should have to contemplate or hold in their head,” Francesca, which is a pseudonym to protect her identity for fear of retribution, tells me fourth months after the storm. In the weeks since, FEMA employees have been told they are no longer allowed to speak to the media without direct authorization, according to an internal email provided to Rolling Stone.



6/. AI is doing some amazing stuff on video......
Go full screen on this.....



7/. Andrew Sullivan on America's new place in the world, and it is not where we were....welcome to Trumpville.....

“The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest … The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies. We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny,” - Ronald Reagan at Pointe du Hoc, France on June 6, 1984.

It is a fascinating moment, isn’t it, when Reagan’s vision of the West is finally swept into the dustbin of history by a Republican president. 

And that is the only solid conclusion one can make after this week of astonishing incompetence and madness. We only saw Donald Trump’s foreign policy darkly in his first term — constrained, as he was, by a handful of white-knuckled Republicans in the executive branch. Now we see it face to face. It’s a vision where international law disappears, great powers divide up the planet into spheres of influence, and the strong always control the weak. It’s Trump’s vision of domestic politics as well. And of life. 

Control, plunder, gloat. This is the Trump way.



8/. SNL did a celebrity "Black Jeopardy", which was really funny but a guest appearance by Tom Hanks at the end where he seemed 
reluctant to shake the black host's hand has sent MAGA ballistic.....



9/. I tried to verify this story , but couldn't find any reference to Elaine Stefanik fainting......
I wonder if Google is deleting any anti-Trump stories?

Yesterday, in a press conference, Donald Trump:

Told his voters to buy his upcoming batch of NFTs featuring him as the various 12 Greek gods, and then ranted about how hot the female versions of him as the goddesses are, and how giant their breasts are. He said he always thought he’d have been one of the great beauties of all time if he had been a girl, and he cited his daughter Ivanka’s physical attributes to describe how his own body would have looked.

He then discussed his “big Trump brain,” and reminded the audience he had gone to Wharton. He also said he didn’t need college, and he had been smarter than everyone else around him, even the professors, and he knew it because he said he paid someone else to take his SATs, and no one figured it out, and he paid other students to do all his homework and take all his tests, and he was so smart he bought his way to a degree. He said that’s how you know he’s a genius at business: because he spent 10x more money for his degree than everyone else.



10/ If you've never seen any of these this is a good one to start with.....
World Order with "Have A Nice Day"....



11/. Thinking of fleeing the Trump madness to a supposedly sane country like the UK? Think again......
42003d59-fcaf-46b5-9843-5c95668c042c.JPG.webp

If the Trump project implodes, it might take with it the extreme and far-right European parties to which it is umbilically connected. Like all such parties, the hard-right Reform UK poses as patriotic while grovelling to foreign interests, and this could be its undoing.

But we cannot bank on it. The UK government must do all it can to prevent the disaster that has befallen several other European nations. If it fails to meet people’s needs and keeps echoing far-right talking points, we could go the same way as Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Finland, Sweden and Austria.

As well as working more effectively to keep Reform out of office, the government should ensure that, if the worst happens and Nigel Farage and his Death Eaters win in 2029, the foundations of an authoritarian state have not already been laid for them. But here too Labour seems perversely determined to prepare the ground for its traditional opponents.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2025/feb/22/keir-starmer-labour-illiberal-laws-hard-right-authoritarians?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other



12/. Republicans....
20250218edohc-a.jpg



13/. Do you own a Nazi car [Tesla]? Trade it in ASAP.....
ab685958-dc51-4c8e-bc56-80435a5e8c4e_3600x2400.webp
Elon Musk, an impossibly wealthy, drug-addled Nazi sympathizer, is making drastic, devastating, unaccountable cuts to our federal government. He is making decisions of great global consequence based on nothing but his own demonstrably ignorant ideas. He is materially harming millions of people around the world. He seems to be operating outside of the law. He appears to have nothing holding back his worst impulses. The Republican Party has opened the door for him, the Democratic Party believes itself to be unable to stand in his way, and there is no indication that the courts will be able to roll back the damage he has already done. It is up to us. 
As a regular person, it can seem impossible to plan and execute actions that would have a serious impact on the richest guy in America. Protesting and waving signs and calling your representatives are all things that you should do, but I know that they can often leave people feeling like their effort has not produced any real effects. You marched against the war and the war still happened. You marched against DOGE and they still defunded a bunch of cancer trials. Is any of this actually getting through to the well-insulated oligarchs?



 14/. Sara Bareilles with a wonderful version of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road".....



15/. A story on how home ownership has become a nightmare for some.....

“Ibought my home in a hurry in 2020,” said Meg, 60, an office manager from Maryland. “It was less expensive to take on a mortgage than to keep paying ever-increasing rents for my college-student daughter and me.”

Now housing costs consume 50% of her income.

Although Meg said she felt “grateful to have our little house”, the purchase has lost its luster. Her aging row home needs various repairs, while other costs associated with home ownership rose continually too.

“I had to take out an additional mortgage to replace the heat and AC system,” she said. “I keep increasing the deductibles on the home insurance to try to keep the premiums down. They ratchet up every year, while my income does not. I won’t be able to do more repairs unless our circumstances change significantly. Our necessities consume 75% of my income, with 50% of that housing costs.”



16/. Finally the Times is getting what's happening......
23french-jlcq-superJumbo.jpg.webp

I grew up a Reagan Republican in the middle of the Cold War, and I never thought I’d see the day when the president of the United States became the world’s most prominent and effective Russian propagandist.

Yet that’s exactly what happened last week, when President Trump began a diplomatic offensive against the nation of Ukraine and the person of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This month, the administration couldn’t seem to get its message straight. First it seemed to want to offer unilateral concessions to the Russian government — including by taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table and recognizing Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine — only to walk back the concessions days (or hours) later.

The cumulative effect was confusing. What was the administration’s position on Ukraine? Last week, however, the words and actions of the administration left us with no doubt — the United States is taking Russia’s side in the conflict.



17/. Damn - I wish these were funny....
1723ckCOMICstarwarsresistance.png



18/. Good story from the Tampa Bay Times on the condo market in Florida......
shutterstock_2495520045-2-1024x536.jpg
Time is up for condo owners across Florida to meet safety guidelines passed in the wake of 2021’s deadly Champlain Towers collapse.
Condo associations had until Dec. 31 to inspect aging buildings and come up with a plan to save for routine maintenance.
The market took a nosedive in the lead up to that deadline as owners rushed to list their homes to avoid paying for newly mandated repairs.
By the end of this year, associations will be required to fund reserves fully for the first time. Associations that have neglected to save for years could have to scrape together millions of dollars in a matter of months. That burden will likely fall on the shoulders of owners in the form of special assessments.


19/. If you live near Mount Dora this story is depressing. 
Long and Scott's farm is being sold for development, another farmer driven out of business by supermarkets using middlemen to screw the farmers. 
So the last corn farmer in Central Florida is closing his farm.
Of course it doesn't help if Lake County has never seen a development they didn't like.
481090659_1129870745816321_2332494449435980509_n.jpg
Dang.. Long & Scott Farms in Mount Dora which is a local landmark, will soon be no more.. 🤯Hank Scott, the farm's longtime owner, has announced plans to sell the nearly 700-acre property, paving the way for a proposed residential and recreational development. 👷‍♂️🏗️🏘️
The farm, located south of Mount Dora, east of Astatula, and west of Zellwood, has been a staple of the community for generations, offering fresh produce and a popular corn maze and fall festival that attracts families from across Central Florida. However, with rapid development expanding from nearby Orlando, Scott says the time has come to transition the land to a new purpose.
Scott said he is now under contract with a developer proposing a 266-acre residential community, a 289-acre golf course with open space, and a 91-acre conservation area. While he acknowledges that some community members may oppose the development, Scott believes the plan maintains a balance between growth and green space.



20/. Want to stay sane? Switch off your news alerts.....
Great advice......
hand-holding-a-smart-phone-with-breaking-news-story-on-it-2E1AYHB.jpg

How are you not going mad?” is a thing I’ve heard recently. “How are you not talking about this all the time, how are you merrily, some say stupidly, going about your business as if the world did not feel like a coin in an arcade 2p machine, being pushed slowly but definitely off the edge and tasting of blood?” My answer: I’ve turned off breaking news alerts. More than that, I’ve dramatically limited the news I read. How am I not going mad? This is how I’m not going mad.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/feb/23/want-to-stay-sane-try-switching-off-your-news-alerts?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other



21/. Robert De Niro in a TV series? Surely not, but here it is - "Zero Day"......the Guardian likes it!
WmVzRy5tapHWVn5pzgNJSi.jpg

There’s an awful lot of fun television around at the moment. I can only assume it is an equal and opposite reaction to, well, everything going on in the real world – and I’m very grateful for Prime TargetParadiseHigh Potential, the forthcoming new series of Reacher and various other vital antidepressant contributions to life.

But I think we can agree that there is always room for another serotonin-boosting entry into the viewing schedules. Enter Zero Day. It’s as fine a piece of hokum as you could wish to see – not least as it stars an on-form Robert De Niro in his first big small-screen outing.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/feb/20/zero-day-review-de-niro-trump?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other




22/. This looks good too, if you like boxing.....the Guardian gives it 5 stars.....
AThousandBlows_S1_Social_Static_16x9_PRE.jpg

Some will come for the boxing. The Peaky Blinders creator, Steven Knight, has set his latest endeavour in the East End of London and the shadowy underworld of late‑Victorian bare-knuckle fighting. The new series is called A Thousand Blows, and this is an understatement. Some will stay away because of the boxing. This would be a mistake, because it is about so much more. It is about all kinds of violence – that perpetrated against children by those supposed to protect them, against the increasingly poor by the increasingly rich, against women by men, against the colonised by colonisers – and what happens when you throw people together in the melting pot of a rapidly industrialising city where only the fittest can survive.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/feb/21/a-thousand-blows-review-the-irresistible-new-boxing-drama-from-the-peaky-blinders-creator?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other




23/. Rolling Stone ranks the best picture Oscar winners since 2000.....
And the one they rate #1 will surprise you and make you want to see it ASAP......
It's not this one below! No Country is #5.....
no-country.jpg

The Oscars have been around for almost 100 years now, celebrating a medium that was born in the last few years of the 19th century, became the art form du jour of the 20th century and continues to flourish in the 21st century. When we entered the new millennium, we all wondered how the movies would change and evolve — and if the ceremony that handed out “Hollywood’s biggest honor” every spring would change with it.

The answer is… yes. And no. And sometimes, kinda. And, as in so many of the previous century’s editions: WTF, Oscars!? We’ve gone back and rewatched every Best Picture winner since the year 2000, and the result has been eye-opening. Some films have aged poorly, some have surprisingly stood the test of time, some have reminded us that when Oscars gets it right, it can get it really right — and some movies will forever be cursed with being Crash. Our ranked list, from worst to best.




Today's Obituary joke
Anyone who has had to write an obituary for a loved one knows how challenging it can be.
That’s why we have to hand it to offspring of former New Orleans firefighter William Ziegler for penning one of the most entertaining tributes we’ve read.
Ziegler, 69, “escaped this mortal realm” on July 29. The family jokes that, unlike previous times, this was “not a ploy to avoid creditors or old girlfriends … he assures us that he is gone.”
The obituary appeared in the Times-Picayune on Friday. The publication has said the tribute “quickly went viral” and some have called it “one of the all-time great obituaries.”
Ziegler’s daughter, Sharah Currier, told the Times-Picayune that her dad would always pass along strange obituaries. “He would have loved this,” she says. “He probably would have forwarded this obituary to us.”
Here it is in its entirety:
He assures us he is gone
William Ziegler escaped this mortal realm on Friday, July 29, 2016 at the age of 69.
We think he did it on purpose to avoid having to make a decision in the pending presidential election.
He leaves behind four children, five grandchildren, and the potted meat industry, for which he was an unofficial spokesman until dietary restrictions forced him to eat real food.
William volunteered for service in the United States Navy at the ripe old age of 17 and immediately realized he didn’t much enjoy being bossed around. He only stuck it out for one war.
Before his discharge, however, the government exchanged numerous ribbons and medals for various honorable acts.
Upon his return to the City of New Orleans in 1971, thinking it best to keep an eye on him, government officials hired William as a fireman.
After twenty-five years, he suddenly realized that running away from burning buildings made more sense than running toward them. He promptly retired.
Looking back, William stated that there was no better group of morons and mental patients than those he had the privilege of serving with (except Bob, he never liked you, Bob).
Following his wishes, there will not be a service, but wellwishers are encouraged to write a note of farewell on a Schaefer Light beer can and drink it in his honor.
He was never one for sentiment or religiosity, but he wanted you to know that if he owes you a beer, and if you can find him in Heaven, he will gladly allow you to buy him another.
He can likely be found forwarding tasteless internet jokes (check your spam folder, but don’t open these at work). Expect to find an alcoholic dog named Judge passed out at his feet. Unlike previous times, this is not a ploy to avoid creditors or old girlfriends. He assures us that he is gone. He will be greatly missed.

Todays 5 undeniable facts joke
A wise person once said
1. We all love to spend money buying new clothes but we never realize
that the best moments in life are enjoyed without clothes.

2. Having a cold drink on a hot day with a few friends is nice, but
having a hot friend on a cold night after a few drinks - PRICELESS.

3. Breaking News: Condoms don't guarantee safe sex anymore.  A friend
of mine was wearing one when he was shot dead by the woman's husband.

4. Arguing over a girl's bust size is like choosing between Molson,
Heineken, Carlsberg, & Budweiser.  Men may state their preferences,
but will grab whatever is available.
AND...

5. I haven't verified this on Snopes, but it sounds legit --- A  recent
study found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer
than the men who mention it.



Today's blond jokes
One day a blond walks into a doctors office with both of her ears burnt. 
The doctor asks her what had happened. 
She says, "well... when I was ironing my work suit the phone rang and I mistakenly picked up the iron instead of the phone. 
"Well that explains one ear, but what about the other." 
"The bastard called again"


A blonde walked into an electronics store and said to the salesmen: "I want that tv." The salesperson shook his head and said, "No, we don't sell to blondes." So the blonde left and came back with her hair dyed brown and said: "I'll take that tv." Again the salesman said: "No, we don't sell to blondes." So she left again and came back with her hair dyed black and said: "I want that tv." But the salesman still said: "No, we don't sell to blondes."Finally the blonde got fed up and said, "That's it! How'd you know I was a blonde?!" she asked. The salesman answered: "Cause that's a microwave."
A blonde was taking helicopter lessons. The instructor said, "I'll radio you every 1000 feet to see how you're doing." At 1000 feet, the instructor radioed her and said she was doing great. At 2000 feet, he said she was still doing well. Right before she got to 3000 feet, the propeller stopped, and she twirled to the ground. The instructor ran to where she crash landed and pulled her out of the helicopter. "What went wrong?" The blonde said, "At 2500 feet, I started to get cold, so I turned the big fan off."


Today's lawyer joke
Two lawyers had been stranded on a desert island for several months.
The only thing on the island was a tall coconut tree that provided them
their only food.
Each day one of the lawyers would climb to the top to see if he could spot
a rescue boat coming...
One day the lawyer yelled down from the tree, "WOW, I just can't believe
my eyes.  There is a woman out there floating in our direction."
The lawyer on the ground was sceptical and said, "You're hallucinating,
you've finally lost your mind."
But within a few minutes, up on the beach floated a stunningly beautiful
woman, face up, totally naked, unconscious, without even so much as a
ring or earrings on her person.
The two lawyers went down to the water, dragged her up on the beach
and discovered, yes, she was alive, warm and breathing. 
One said to the other, "You know, we've been on this God forsaken island for months
now without a woman. It's been such a long, long time... So... Do you think
we should...well...you know...screw her?"
"Out of WHAT?!?" asked the other lawyer.