Where do I sign up for my Amazon refund? Short answer: you don’t—they’re supposed to find you. Here’s the quick version of what’s going on. Amazon agreed to a 2.5‑billion‑dollar settlement after the FTC said the company used ‘dark patterns’ to steer people into Prime and made it way too hard to cancel. Out of that, 1 billion goes in as a penalty and 1.5 billion is supposed to go back to customers who got caught in those tricky sign‑up and cancellation flows. If you’re in that group, you can get a refund of your Prime membership fees, up to 51 dollars. The first wave is automatic: if you’re eligible, Amazon…
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A killers Boarder Crossing
Let me get this straight: Victoria Sorocean was convicted in Moldova of premeditated murder with “exceptional cruelty”—torturing someone and throwing them from a ninth-floor window. She got 17 years. But instead of serving her time, she fled Moldova, walked into the United States illegally, and when ICE arrested her in 2020, the system just… let her go. She didn’t win asylum. She didn’t get some special humanitarian pass. What she did was weaponize the asylum appeals process as a stalling tactic—and it worked. After years of legal delays and claims, the Biden administration released her back into the U.S. in 2022. A convicted torturer and killer was walking around Los…
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Wake Up! Wake Up!
It wouldn’t wake up! Ima tap tap tappin on the keys, and click, click, clickin, the mouse. I reached up over the monitor to hit the power button, it tipped forward and I felt a release… Oh, what was that? How come it won’t come on? Something came unplugged! So I look and I can’t see, it’s kind of dark and I can’t … Oh, there it is… The power transformer came unplugged. Ok, sit down. Sip some coffee and wait. It always feels like forever waiting for a computer to reboot.
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Some Things Change
I grew up on a little gravel road off Winkleman rd, in Brady, Washington. Beaver Lane. Same house since 1972. The address has changed a few times, but the place hasn’t. Back then there were cow fields behind us, big trees on the hill, and enough wind in the spring to fly my homemade bird kites until they vanished into the woods. We rode bikes, motorcycles, even a horse or two up and down that road and out into the logging tracks. That was my world. The neighborhood filled in around us over the years. When I was a kid, it was folks like Dick McKee and “Larry and Linda”…
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Happy Thanksgiving!
Good morning, everyone! Before the chaos of cooking and cleaning takes over, I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Today, my house is filling up with family—grown grandkids and their girlfriends and boyfriends coming over. There’s a spiral ham going in the oven soon, pies I baked yesterday cooling on the counter, and no-bake cookies already calling my name. Mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and store-bought veggie and cheese trays round out the spread. Nothing fancy, just good food and good company. Thanksgiving reminds me how much I appreciate the simple things: a full table, laughter in the next room, and people I…
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2025—and There’s Still Lead in the Pipes
Coffee TalkGood morning—grab your coffee and join me for a minute. It’s 2025, and sometimes I look around and wonder how some things never change. Lead in the pipes at my granddaughter’s school—really? You’d think we’d have solved this by now. Pour yourself a cup and let’s talk about what’s still in our water, and why it still matters. Why Are We Still Here in 2025? Since 1986, there have been at least three major moves by Congress to “fix” the lead-in-pipes problem. Bans on new lead pipes, new funding bills, more EPA rules, and state mandates. Yet, somehow, the same story keeps playing out—this time, in a brand new high…
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The Time I almost went to Denver Cares
25 years ago. T&T, my friends Tim and I were on the 16th Street Mall in Denver, Colorado, passing around a ‘GaterVod’ when we all had to go up to the second-floor restroom. We were in there a little too long because in came a security guard came in and told us to move on. I had just enough in me to tell him “Wait a minute dickweed” and had heard just enough from me. “Wait here, I’m calling Detox”! Oh crap! What, oh, come on man. So we waited outside in front of the Cinemas waiting, and talking. By the time the Denver Care van came, we could have…
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The Proof Is In the Water
In the dead of night, the Navy destroyer cut its engines. Silent steel in the Caribbean, waiting. The cartel boats thought the water was theirs. They didn’t know the trap was already set. By dawn, they were surrounded—fiberglass hulls built for speed, not oceans. The Coast Guard offloaded 49,010 pounds of cocaine—street value $362 million. That’s not rumor. That’s not speculation. That’s barrels of powder pulled from the sea. And yet, headlines still claim “no proof.” As if the water itself didn’t testify. As if the destroyer’s wake didn’t carve evidence into the waves. You can stir it, you can muddy it, but you can’t hide what floats to the…
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I Live in a Shed
I live in a shed. Not the kind you’re picturing with lawnmowers and rakes—this one’s insulated, finished inside, and built to be home. I made the Murphy bed myself from a kit. There’s a bathroom with a shower and a macerating toilet, a vanity, a mini fridge, and an oak dining table. Solar panels on the roof keep the lights humming, and a 55‑inch TV keeps me connected. Fifty feet away, my daughter and granddaughter live in the house. I go in and out all the time. My shed gives me independence, but family is always right there. It’s freedom and connection, side by side. Out here in the county,…
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Seattle Is In Trouble.
Is Socialism Coming to a City Near You? 🏛️ Government Can’t Run a Business Seattle’s leaders are flirting with socialism under the banner of “equity.” Katie Wilson is pushing for city‑run grocery stores — a “public option” to replace private chains. In New York, Zohran Mamdani wants rent freezes and government‑subsidized groceries. Both claim the private market isn’t serving low‑income families. But history tells us what happens when government tries to run business: The pattern is clear: government ventures lose money, private industry adapts and thrives. Subsidized grocery stores will be no different. Taxpayers will foot the bill, consumers will still pay inflated prices, and inefficiency will rule the day.…
