The last paragraph of the last rant was just my thoughts given my ability to connect the dots. I don’t believe that you will find it anywhere else. I haven’t. So enjoy my insights that you won’t find elsewhere.

That is the Supreme Court case involving congressional redistricting maps here in NC. And unbefitting my legendary laziness, I read the opinion because the left was as always acting like they destroyed the right and some commenters were suggesting that it wasn’t a big deal.

Rest assured that it’s not a big deal and while I agree with the majority ultimate conclusion, there are two reasons that they should not have ruled on the case. The first is that if ever there was a case that was moot, this is it. Let me explain.

The history of the case is complicated and confusing. In the original case the NC SC held that the legislatures plan violated the state constitution. The case was appealed to the Supremes and they accepted. However before the case was heard an election flipped the NC SC from Dem to republican and that court agreed to a rehearing and in fact held that the maps did not violate the state constitution. So at that point the Republican legislators, who were the plaintiffs, got the relief they desired and wanted the case dismissed as moot, but contrary to their normal predeliction the Supremes said it wasn’t and so heard the case.

The actual decision was very narrow and precise and involved what is known as the Independent Legislator Theory (ILT) basically that since the US Constitution says the rules for voting in federal elections are exclusively the province of the state legislature that they are therefore not subject to any judicial review. The court disagreed and said that judicial review by state courts was allowed. But the grounds are very limited, namely that the legislature violated the state constitution. In this case it was said that partisan gerrymandering was forbidden by the state constitution.

Now as I will explain below, that was wrong. However it is a very limited decision! State courts can’t decide that they will extend the date for receiving and counting ballots. Nor can they change voter identification requirements or signature verification requirements. Their power is limited to provisions that violate the state constitution or potentially federal laws.

The reason I think that the decision was wrong, as pointed out by Justice Thomas, the provision in the state constitution relied on only applied to redistricting in state legislature voting not federal elections.

Now here’s why I think they did it because they wanted to put the ILT to rest before 2024 elections and proscribed just what judges could and couldn’t do in the future. Consider this their way to stop the nonsense that happened in 2020 ahead of time so they don’t get caught in another conundrum after the election and certainly the wimp Chief Justice would want that.

Just in case you missed it. Late last week the Dems took a victory lap for reopening I-95 in less than two weeks when it was supposed to take at least three months. They said that’s why you should vote Dem because we along with our union partners get things done. Now you may wonder why you haven’t heard anything about it since that day.

The reason is because their scam got exposed. They didn’t do shit. There were two lanes on one side of the bridge that weren’t harmed and all they did was clean up the mess and turn a six lane road to a two lane road. That’s called a work around. They now have to actually begin to reconstruct the bridge.

Contrast this with RDS in Florida where they actually rebuilt a bridge in two or three weeks.

Today Fox announced that ten days before I complete three quarters of a century, they are rearranging their prime time lineup. Now it will start at seven with Ingraham followed by Jesse replacing Tucker. Then Hannity will stay in his same spot and Gutfeld will move up to the 10 pm spot.

Now I would have kept Jesse where he is because he is simply not Tucker material. He’s a usually funny midwit. I would have put Laura in Tucker’s spot because she a serious intellect who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, and can actually deliver an insightful and informative monologue. I know one of you doesn’t like her because she cuts off guests who start spouting nonsense. That’s one thing I like. Remember that in the beginning Tucker used to have on lefties and he would laugh like a fool but let them talk and then he realized how stupid that was and stopped doing it.

And lastly moving Gutfeld up is a good move because it makes it more likely that I will see it live and not having to watch it back the next day. My one concern is whether he can continue with the risqué nature of his show at the earlier hour.

Apparently she’s been getting a lot of criticism for appearing stupid on the Five, so she started out yesterday by saying she’s paid to be Debbie Downer and basically saying she’s just mouthing leftist nonsense because she’s apparently for sale!

I’m not sure that was any better.

The reason for this rant is that it occurred to me a couple days ago under basically Marketing 101 you have to know your audience and not offend it.

In the bud lite case their audience is not flat chested trans women floating around like a prepubescent wood nymph. And thus they took a big hit.

Truvada is an aids prevention drug. Their commercial is full of gay couples kissing and acting just like straight couples and even features a bit at the end where what I believe is known as a bear — a husky guy with a very hairy chest — being kissed on the lips by a younger thinner man. Now that may not be your cup of tea or mine, but they were playing to their audience. Most people reading this are probably not in the Truvada demographic but that’s okay. We weren’t going to buy it before or after the commercial. They potentially connected with their base and certainly didn’t offend them.

RIP! The purpose of this rant is to once again punch my curmudgeon ticket.

First I’m sorry for the people who died. No I take that back. I feel sorry for their survivors who unfortunately had kin that were narcissistic idiots who risked their lives for a completely useless joy ride This was nothing more than the ultimate, make that penultimate, example of conspicuous consumption. If you don’t know what that is, look it up it’s a staple in economics.

Remember these idiots paid $250K per seat to go on basically a sightseeing trip that they could have seen much better on the internet. No they went so they could say I’m richer than you and can do stupid things you can’t afford.

Btw the ultimate is people who pay I think it’s $1 million to ride Space X.

And I’m sick of people, particularly Clay and Buck, pretending that these idiots were explorers or people pushing scientific discoveries. They even compared them to Lewis and Clarke. This is total bullshit. They were going on a sightseeing trip to a place that has already been videotaped ad nauseam.

And here’s what I really object to. They all signed a waiver which on the first page said three times that death was a possibility. What I want added is that if something goes wrong, not one dollar of US taxpayer money will be spent to bail you out. How many millions did will we have to pay because idiots took a risk for no legitimate reason other than narcissistic vanity?

That should keep me in the curmudgeon society.

Just for those who are still concerned about the classified records case, here are a couple articles from very smart people utterly destroying the Smith indictment. Enjoy!

https://dcenquirer.com/trump-is-right-the-presidential-records-act-allows-presidents-to-take-whatever-documents-they-want

Okay last week it came out that the wife of the comptroller of Burisma, who died under suspicious circumstances, said she had the the bank account information where all the Magoo money was transferred and she wanted to testify before Congress and inform them of all the shady Magoo dealings. This week she was found mysteriously dead. Anyone want to bet Magoo is talking to the Clintons?

I had lunch today and as always I sat at the bar and my favorite waitress took care of me. However there was a woman a few seats away that talked on her cell phone the entire time I was there. I know way more than I need or want to about this woman, including her health issues, her legal issues, her marital issues and her love life issues. Please shut the hell up. If you’re going to talk, then go to a booth in a corner away from others. I came to enjoy a meal not listen to your problems.

If I get a call in those conditions, I say I’m at a restaurant and I’ll call you back. This idiot spent so much time talking that she had to put her food in a take home box! Please respect others privacy!