https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2023/08/07/meet-the-billionaire-who-built-a-fortune-price-gouging-customers-like-the-pentagon/?sh=656e0dd91658

Federal regulation. Full stop. The age of a typical GenAv flight line is enough to make a Havana parking lot snicker "Okay, Boomer."

Forbes thinks this is a story about a greedy corporate raider price gouging the government. It's really about the rules that make the "price gouging" possible.

The company takes advantage of peculiarities in the highly regulated nature of the aviation industry. Every part on a commercial aircraft, and the methods for manufacturing it, must be certified as safe and reliable by the Federal Aviation Administration. It’s a time-consuming and expensive process, and even with huge price hikes, most of TransDigm’s products remain a small part of the overall cost of an aircraft, mitigating the incentive for customers to seek out less expensive alternatives.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

CNN host Fareed Zakaria gets profane in uncensored Trump discussion

A bit of a chuckle.  I'm not terribly offended.  I am not reluctant to use a similar level of midl profanity in front of my children.  My reason for that is, I know the kids aren't listening to what I'm telling them to do (or not do). If they tell me later in life about their conversations with therapists over how "daddy had a potty mouth," I can at least take comfort to know that they listened at all.

How many times have I said that leftism is nothing more than a case study in psychological projection? (At least 3 since October, if the search function is to be believed  )

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/03/06/you-can-tell-what-leftists-are-doing-by-what-they-accuse-conservatives-of-doing-n2294209

We saw the "protesters", i.e.



But wait, there's this:

Limo torched in DC protests belongs to Muslim immigrant, may cost $70,000 in damages

Ashraf said he wasn't a supporter of Donald Trump during his campaign, but Friday's protests were completely counter-productive.  "I have a different point of view,"

Well done protesters -- you've tuned a Muslim immigrant into a Trump voter.  He couldn't have done that without you!

ht, Twitchy

I bought one of those color-changing LED tapes as part of making my kid's Halloween costume this year.  Nice and bright, plenty of colors. Pretty neat and nice to see LED tech developing. 

In a continuing effort to make my house my 'airport' (e.g., runway edge lighting and centerline stripe with home address in FAA-spec runway number font are planned when driveway gets repaved), I have a lamppost at the end of my driveway that I would like to fit with a rotating green/white beacon.  I wonder if anyone has yet marketed an LED light-bulb replacement that is a screw-in replacement to fit this bill?

"Donald Trump clearly meant racial profiling when he said profiling." -CNN's Carol Costello.

This can't possibly be why the public doesn't trust the media to tell the truth, can it?

CNN Defends Adding 'Racial' to Trump Profiling Comments, Insists They Knew What He Meant

The Marriage Problem That Comes Every Four Years

A Democratic sycophant True Believer admitted this four years ago (election fraud, BTW -- you know what Democrats say "never happens"). She thinks she did the "right thing".  Maybe if we (and he!) are lucky she won't murder her (ex?) husband to prevent him from voting Republican again.

Bonnie Pollak, a Democrat, weighed her options. Should she be loyal to her spouse, respect his legal right and mail the ballot? Or remain faithful to her deeply held beliefs and suppress his vote?
“It was a real dilemma,” says Ms. Pollak, 58 years old, a student in a doctoral program in social welfare who lives in Manhattan. “I decided to do the right thing.”
Ms. Pollak threw the ballot away.
. . .
Ms. Pollak, of the tossed ballot incident, says when their three children were young and went away to sleep-away camp, she sent each a long letter detailing why it was important to become a Democrat.